RTHK: UK plan to fly asylum-seekers to Rwanda draws outrage

Britain announced a deal with Rwanda on Thursday to send some asylum-seekers thousands of miles to the East African country for processing.

Opposition politicians and refugee groups condemned the move  which the government says will stop people-smugglers sending desperate migrants on treacherous journeys across the English Channel  as inhumane, unworkable and a waste of public money. The United Nations said it raised a number of human rights concerns.

The plan would see some people who arrive in Britain as stowaways on trucks or in small boats picked up by the UK government and flown 6,400 kilometres to Rwanda.

Migrants have long used northern France as a launch point to reach Britain, either by hiding on trucks or ferries, or  increasingly since the coronavirus pandemic shut down other routes in 2020  on small boats organised by smugglers.

More than 28,000 people entered the UK on boats last year, up from 8,500 in 2020. Dozens have died, including 27 people in November when a single boat capsized.

Anyone entering the UK illegally  may now be relocated to Rwanda," Johnson said in a speech. Action, he said, was needed to stop vile people smugglers (who) are abusing the vulnerable and turning the Channel into a watery graveyard.

The Rwandan government said the agreement would initially last for five years, and that Britain had paid 120 million pounds up front for housing and integrating the migrants.

Rwandan Foreign Affairs Minister Vincent Biruta said the agreement is about ensuring that people are protected, respected, and empowered to further their own ambitions and settle permanently in Rwanda if they choose.

He said his country was already home to more than 130,000 refugees from countries including Burundi, Congo, Libya and Pakistan.

Rwanda is the most densely populated nation in Africa, and competition for land and resources there fueled decades of ethnic and political tensions that culminated in the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis, and Hutus who tried to protect them, were killed.

Johnson insisted that Rwanda had totally transformed in the last two decades. But human rights groups have repeatedly criticised President Paul Kagames current government as repressive.

Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said the claim Rwanda was a safe country is not grounded in reality.

Arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities is commonplace, and fair trial standards are flouted in many cases, Mudge said.

The chief executive of the UK-based Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, called the scheme dangerous, cruel and inhumane.

Britain says relocation decisions will not be based on migrants country of origin but on whether they used illegal or dangerous routes to reach the UK from a safe country such as France. The government said children would not be sent to the African country.

The United Nations human rights office said it had raised its concerns directly with the UK authorities.

A spokeswoman for the office said the UK was shifting ... its responsibilities and obligations under international human rights and refugee law onto a country which is already taking great asylum responsibilities.

Opposition lawmaker Lucy Powell said the Rwanda plan might please some voters and grab headlines, but was "unworkable, expensive and unethical. (AP)

This story has been published on: 2022-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Xi orders building world-leading spacecraft launch site

Xinhua) 07:53, April 15, 2022

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers a speech at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, April 12, 2022. Xi inspected the launch site on Tuesday and extended greetings to all the staff stationed at the site. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

WENCHANG, Hainan, April 14 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping demanded efforts to elevate a spacecraft launch site in southern China's island province of Hainan into world-leading standards when he inspected the site on Tuesday.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site.

He extended greetings to all the staff stationed at the site and asked them to shoulder their responsibility and be brave to innovate and make new breakthroughs.

After being briefed on the launch site, Xi inspected the launching tower and other facilities. He spoke highly of a series of key space missions launched from the site, including the launching of the space station core module Tianhe, the Chang'e-5 lunar mission, and the Tianwen-1 Mars probe.

Xi noted that Wenchang is the launch site of China's new-generation high thrust carrier rockets and the bridgehead of the country's deep space exploration.

The launch site should continue to eye the frontier of global space development and the major strategic needs of China's space industry, and comprehensively improve its modern space launch capabilities, said Xi.

China is scheduled to complete the construction of its space station this year. Tianzhou-4 and Tianzhou-5 cargo crafts, as well as Wentian and Mengtian lab modules will be launched from Wenchang.

Xi said the launch site should make meticulous efforts to ensure the missions' full success.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspects the launching tower and other facilities at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, April 12, 2022. Xi inspected the launch site on Tuesday and extended greetings to all the staff stationed at the site. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, inspects the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, April 12, 2022. Xi inspected the launch site on Tuesday and extended greetings to all the staff stationed at the site. (Xinhua/Li Gang)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Moscow [Russia], April 15 (ANI/Sputnik): Moscow will ramp up the scale of its missile strikes targeting objects in Kyiv in response to any attacks or sabotage on the territory of Russia, Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Friday. The spokesman said that high-precision Kalibr cruise missiles hit a military facility on the outskirts of Kyiv overnight. As a result of the attack on the Vizar Zhulyany machine-building plant, workshops for the production and repair of long-range and medium-range anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as anti-ship missiles, were destroyed . "The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to the commission by the Kyiv nationalist regime of any attacks of a terrorist nature or sabotage on the Russian territory," Konashenkov told reporters. (ANI/Sputnik)
Moscow [Russia], April 15 (ANI/Sputnik): Military personnel of NATO countries were captured during Russia's special operation in Ukraine, Andrey Klimov, the head of the Russian upper chamber's commission for the protection of state sovereignty, said on Friday. The West "continues its war [against Russia] with the hands of Ukrainians, as well as mercenaries," the official said, adding that military personnel of NATO countries are involved in the conflict. "We already have prisoners among the military personnel of NATO countries, we will show all this when we conduct trials, and the whole world will see what really happened," Klimov said. (ANI/Sputnik)
This comes after a delegation of six US congressmen headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez made an unofficial visit to Taiwan on Thursday for talks with the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and National Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng.

The sides are expected to exchange views on US-Taiwan cooperation, the threat of China, and regional security, Taiwanese news agency CNA reported.

"China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region. Members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US government's one-China policy," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a briefing.

Zhao said that the US "should abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communique" and stop any form of "official exchanges with Taiwan and avoid going further down this dangerous path."
Amid rumours of former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returning to Pakistan from London, a petition was filed in the Islamabad High Court on Thursday seeking to prevent the expected issuance of a diplomatic passport to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, local media reported. A lawyer, Advocate Naeem Haider Panjutha, filed the petition referring to media reports that said Nawaz Sharif was being issued a diplomatic passport on the instructions of newly elected PM Shehbaz Sharif, Dawn reported. The petitioner contended that as Nawaz Sharif was "a court absconder who was convicted by learned NAB (National Accountability Bureau) Court for corruption ... it is violative of law, a mockery of the justice system and disgrace to the nation if a diplomatic passport is issued to a convict". Moreover, the petition stated, that the country's courts had held that a fugitive would lose all rights a normal person was entitled to, adding that Article 25 of the Constitution had set clear standards against discrimination against citizens. "All the ordinary citizens will be discriminated if a convict is issued a diplomatic passport which has so many privileges and immunities, far more than the ordinary passport," the petition said. He also pointed out that Nawaz Sharif had passed "derogatory remarks against the serving military and judicial officials" at public rallies, which caused "disgrace, disrespect, injury and insult" to the Pakistan Army and judiciary. Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah will hear the petition on April 18. Nawaz Sharif, who is convicted in a corruption case, has been living in London on the "pretext of ill health" since November 2019, when the Lahore High Court had allowed him to leave the country for four weeks for medical treatment. Nawaz Sharif's younger brother Shehbaz Sharif had given an undertaking at the time that the senior Sharif would return within the stipulated time. Later, Nawaz Sharif sought extensions to prolong his stay in London on medical grounds. In August last year, Nawaz Sharif had filed an appeal with the British Immigration Tribunal after the Home Department refused to extend his stay in the country on "medical grounds" any further. PML-N leader Talal Chaudhry on Wednesday said that Nawaz Sharif is expected to return to Pakistan "before the next elections". Nawaz Sharif can legally remain in the UK till the tribunal issues its decision on his plea for his stay in the country. His passport had expired in February 2021. (ANI)
In a move that can escalate tensions in disputed seas, China has begun sending its most advanced fighter aircraft, the J-20, to patrol the East and South China Seas. Experts say the deployment of the J-20s shows two things: China's increased confidence in its military abilities, and its warning to other countries with a stake in the territorial dispute, reported CNN. With reportedly some 200 J-20s in service, the People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) "now has in regular service a fleet of advanced stealth fighters as good as the Americans, who remain the benchmark," said Peter Layton, a visiting fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute in Australia. He added that China's message to the world is: "Any foreign military aircraft intruding into China's claimed airspace in the East and South China Sea may now be intercepted by J-20s." While such a move would be politically fraught, the J-20's wide radius of action means it could patrol further out to sea, or stay longer in areas like the East China Sea, Layton said. However, state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times citing military experts said that the deployment is intended to "better safeguard China's airspace security and maritime interests." Ren Yukun, a spokesperson for the J-20's state-run manufacturer, added that it was a "training routine" for the J-20 to begin conducting patrols now that it's equipped with Chinese engines, according to Global Times. The announcement comes just weeks after United States Gen Kenneth Wilsbach, the commander of US Pacific Air Forces, said US F-35s and Chinese J-20s came into close proximity with each other over the East China Sea, reported CNN. The East China Sea and the South China Sea have both long been contested regions, with overlapping territorial claims by numerous countries. China claims almost all of the vast South China Sea as its sovereign territory. It has been building up and militarizing its facilities there, turning islands into military bases and airstrips, and allegedly creating a maritime militia that could have hundreds of boats. Meanwhile, in the East China Sea, China claims sovereignty over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, also known as the Diaoyu Islands. In recent years, the US has reiterated its promise to defend the Japanese islands in the event of foreign aggression. (ANI)
Moscow [Russia], April 15 (ANI/Sputnik): The possible accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO threatens negative consequences for stability in northern Europe, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. "It's no secret that the territories of these countries have long been mastered by NATO, large-scale military exercises were held. Why the alliance needs this is understandable. The goal is to continue building up military potential and geographic expansion, to create another flank for threats to Russia. And it's unclear why our Finnish and Swedish neighbors in the Baltic region need to turn into a new frontier of confrontation between the NATO bloc and Russia. The negative consequences for peace and stability in Northern Europe are obvious," Zakharova said in a statement. She stressed that the membership of these countries in NATO would not strengthen their national security. "They will automatically find themselves on NATO's front line. Moreover, NATO membership implies, in fact, the renunciation of part of the sovereignty in the development of decisions in the field of defense, and in foreign policy. However, this trend has emerged long before the current situation, when the EU member states, including its non-bloc countries, gradually turned into an instrument dutifully following the destructive attitudes of the United States and NATO," Zakharova added. Sweden and Finland need to understand the consequences of possible NATO membership for bilateral relations with Russia, as well as how it will affect the European security system, she said. "Naturally, the choice is up to the authorities of Sweden and Finland. But they must also understand the consequences of such a step for our bilateral relations and the European security architecture in general, which is now in a crisis," the statement says. Potential NATO membership is unlikely to help strengthen the international prestige of Sweden and Finland, Zakharova noted. "Potential membership in NATO is unlikely to help strengthen the international prestige of Sweden and Finland, which in their history were the conductors of many constructive, unifying initiatives. With the entry into the alliance, Stockholm and Helsinki will lose this opportunity," she said. (ANI/Sputnik)
"Imran Khan sold these gifts for Rs140 million in Dubai," PM Shehbaz was reported as telling journalists during an iftar he hosted a day earlier in the federal capital, reported Geo News.

He said that the expensive gifts included diamond jewellery sets, bracelets and wristwatches.

Shehbaz's revelation came in response to a question regarding a petition seeking the details of the Toshakhana that had been filed in the Islamabad High Court on which then PM Imran Khan had commented that the details cannot be revealed as per the Official Secrets Act, 1923.

Meanwhile, a former federal minister and PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry, however, refuted PM Shehbaz Sharif's statement, saying that the new premier is "throwing dirt on Imran Khan", reported Geo News.

According to the law, whenever a head of state receives a gift from another state or country, they have to give it to the Toshakhana. If they wish to keep the gift, they have to pay an amount equal to its value which is decided through an auction.

These gifts either remain deposited in the Toshakhana or can be auctioned and the money acquired through it is to be deposited into the national treasury, reported Geo News. (ANI)
China on Friday announced military exercises near Taiwan in light of a visit by US congressmen to the island. A delegation of six US congressmen, headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, arrived on the island on Thursday on an unannounced visit. They will hold talks with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and National Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng, Taiwanese news agency CNA reported. "On April 15, the Chinese People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command sent warships, bombers, fighter jets and other forces to organize multi-purpose combat patrols and conduct sea and air exercises in the East China Sea and around the island of Taiwan," the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army of China said in a statement. According to the Chinese military, these actions were organized in response to "recent erroneous US signals regarding the Taiwan issue," and are absolutely useless and very dangerous. "The one who plays with fire is sure to burn themselves," the statement added. In an earlier response, China had opposed official contact between the US and Taiwan. "China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region. Members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US government's one-China policy," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a briefing. Zhao noted that the US "should abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiques" and stop any form of "official exchanges with Taiwan and avoid going further down this dangerous path." He also reaffirmed Beijing's commitment to safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Taiwan's foreign ministry said this visit showed bipartisan support for Taiwan in the US Congress. This comes a few days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cancelled a planned visit to Taiwan, after contracting COVID-19. Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China for over seven decades. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan, which is a territory with its own democratically-elected government, maintains that it is an autonomous country. (ANI)
In Japan, scientific calculators are used in the classes of universities and technical colleges and Casio is renowned all over the world for manufacturing calculators."We have been selling scientific calculators for over 30 years. The sales destinations of the scientific calculator are schools and students in the educational field. Among them, "Gakuhan" is a system that helps school teachers and students to learn more easily using a scientific calculator. On the "Edu-port Japan" project, we have been conducting pilot classes in Thailand and Indonesia since July 2021. We would like to demonstrate the usefulness in mathematics class using a scientific calculator referring to exploration-type education in Japan and contribute to improving students' academic ability," said Koji Shinjo, a Casio Official. Casio trains teachers and builds a pilot curriculum in Thailand education, where scientific calculators are not used. Casio tries to use them for future math education by receiving feedback from students and teachers and verifying it. "A good point to learn using a scientific calculator is to confirm whether the answer is correct or not. The second advantage is to solve the question. Using a calculator saves the time to solve complicated questions. The third advantage is to help learning skills in many fields, including logical thinking, critical thinking, and question-solving skill," said Chotima Nooprick, Official, The Office of the Basic Education Commission, Thailand. "From now on, we would like to incorporate the know-how of this project and make improvements, for example, to develop pilot projects in African countries and Latin American countries where the educational situation has not been established," said Koji Shinjo, an Official of Casio.Casio is both a manufacturer and an educator. It aims to expand its coverage to other emerging countries as well. (ANI)
The speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, Valentina Matviyenko said on Friday that she is planning to visit China this fall to participate in the next session of the Russian-Chinese inter-parliamentary cooperation commission. "We hope that the epidemiological situation will allow us to visit your wonderful country, as we planned, in autumn this year to participate in the next 8th session of the inter-parliamentary commission," Matviyenko said at the meeting with Chairman of the Chinese Congress Standing Committee Li Zhanshu. She also noted that even in the face of unprecedented external pressure Russia and China retain an unwavering determination to further strengthen and expand the whole array of their interstate relations, Russia's Sputnik news agency reported. The 7th meeting of the Russian-Chinese inter-parliamentary cooperation commission was held on November 23. During the meeting, the Russian lawmakers underscored the intensity of the bilateral ties between Moscow and Beijing, stressing that collaboration in the field of energy, including oil and gas, as well as in the areas of innovative development and inter-regional cooperation develops steadily. Russia launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 28 which the west has termed an "unprovoked war." Subsequently, several western countries imposed crippling sanctions on Moscow. Moreover, the West has urged China to use its leverage on Russia to end the Ukraine war. (ANI)
"We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security," the note, originally in Russian and seen by the newspaper, read.

The State Department has not yet commented on the revelation.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the US considers sending to Ukraine Humvee armored vehicles, along with other sophisticated military equipment as part of the new aid package worth $750 million, which includes 300 Switchblades, 500 Javelin anti-tank missiles, 200 M113 armored vehicles as well as 16 Mi-17s helicopters.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after recognizing the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics. Russia says that its special operation is targeting only military infrastructure in the country.

In response to the military actions, Western countries have rolled out a comprehensive sanctions campaign against Russia, while supplying the Ukrainian military with lethal weapons. (ANI/Sputnik)
During the phone call, the PM Modi reiterated Vietnam's importance as an important pillar of India's Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific Vision, and sought to enhance the scope of the bilateral relationship, besides working for expeditious progress on existing initiatives.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a statement, said the two leaders complimented each other on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Vietnam being celebrated this year.

They expressed satisfaction over the rapid pace of wide-ranging cooperation under the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which was established during the Prime Minister's visit to Vietnam in 2016.

The Prime Minister also requested for greater facilitation of market access for India's pharma and agri-products in Vietnam.

The Prime Minister highlighted the historical and civilization links between the two countries and expressed his happiness in India's involvement in restoration of Cham monuments in Vietnam.

The leaders agreed to enhance defence partnership between the two countries.

PM Modi and Nguyen Phu Trong also exchanged views on regional and global issues of shared interest, including the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the situation in the South China Sea. (ANI)
The Afghan farmers called on the Taliban regime to provide them with irrigation facilities to save their crops. Expressing frustration over the lack of rain and irrigation for their farms, they urged the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock to look after the problems that will cause a reduction in yield, reported Tolo News.

This comes after the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that humanitarian organizations consider the recent drought in Afghanistan to be the worst one.

"Of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, 25 suffered from drought in 2021, contributing to a 20% decrease in cereal harvest over the previous year," the report said.

The Afghan farmers have sought aid from Abdul Rahman Rashid, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock for irrigation facilities. "The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock should help us so that we can do our farming," cited Ghulam Ghaws, an Afghan farmer, Tolo News reported.

Another farmer, Zahoor was quoted as saying, "There was no precipitation. Only some snowfall happened and it just stayed within the mountains. There was no rainfall,"

The statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Livestock show that over 70 per cent of Afghan farmers still depend on farming for their earnings. (ANI)
Scheduled power cuts will resume from tomorrow, with authorities disrupting the power supply for over 2 hours, Newswire reported.

The power cuts will be imposed in slots between 9 am to 6 pm, while power cuts will not be imposed at night, the report added.

Earlier this week, the World Bank said that Sri Lanka needs urgent policy measures to address its high levels of debt and debt service, reduce the fiscal deficit, and restore external stability.

The island nation faces a highly uncertain economic outlook due to fiscal and external imbalances.

Released on Wednesday, the World Bank's latest 'South Asia Economic Focus Reshaping Norms: A New Way Forward' projects the region to grow by 6.6 per cent in 2022 and by 6.3 per cent in 2023. The 2022 forecast has been revised downward by 1.0 percentage points compared to the January projection, mostly due to the impact of the war in Ukraine.

This comes as countries in South Asia are already grappling with rising commodity prices, supply bottlenecks, and vulnerabilities in financial sectors.

"The World Bank is deeply concerned about the uncertain economic outlook in Sri Lanka and the impact on people," said Faris Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.

"We are working on providing emergency support for poor and vulnerable households to help them weather the economic crisis and we remain committed to the wellbeing of the people of Sri Lanka, and to a narrative of sustainable and inclusive growth that will require concerted and collective action." (ANI)
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to hold rallies in Punjab after Eidul Fitr as part of efforts to counter the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) public meetings. According to sources, the incumbent ruling party has formulated its strategy in response to the former ruling party's mass mobilisation attempts, reported Express Tribune. The party sources further said that PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz and Hamza Shehbaz will jointly address these public meetings whereas Punjab President Rana Sanaullah will prepare a schedule of meetings. Moreover, the PML-N has also decided to start preparations for the general elections, Express Tribune reported. The sources added that Maryam and Hamza would look after the public front of the government's strategy whereas Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will take care of the governmental affairs. They said that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has directed Shehbaz to provide more relief to the people as prices of food and petroleum products have gone up.Prime Minister Shehbaz gave important instructions to his economic team regarding the provision of relief to the masses, said the sources. The PKR has shed over Rs 25 in value against the USD since the start of the ongoing fiscal year 2021-22. Former Pak Prime Minister and PTI chief Imran Khan held his first public meeting in Peshawar after his dismissal from power and announced that he would be holding rallies in all major cities of the country. Addressing the gathering, the former premier announced the beginning of a "freedom struggle", saying that he would continue to mobilise the people until the incumbent government goes for early elections. Imran Khan has become the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to lose a no-trust vote in the National Assembly. Despite several attempts to block the no-confidence motion, the proceedings took place late at night on April 9 with 174 members voting in favour of the motion in the 342-member House while members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were absent. (ANI)
The families of the Tianmen massacre of 1989 who are seeking to commemorate the occasion are harassed by the Chinese authorities. Sergio Restelli, writing in Insideover said the issue is still taboo in China. Around 10,000 Chinese people were killed by its own government for seeking democratic rights. Thousands of other peaceful demonstrators were injured, later hunted down and jailed. Chinese authorities detained, questioned, and arrested the families of the victims and social activists who were planning to mark the Tiananmen tragedy anniversary. Such suppression tactics have seen a surge since Xi Jinping took the reins of China in 2013. Every year, families especially mothers of those killed in the brutal military action in Tiananmen Square gather to seek justice for their deceased loved ones and to explain the "state-led terror and suffocation" they go through for seeking justice, said Restelli. Yin Min, whose 19-year old son was killed in the 1989 massacre, said "It feels that there's no end in sight. We are all at ages where death can happen any day, and we'd like to see the truth revealed and justice upheld while we are still alive." The protests which were started on April 15 were forcibly suppressed on June 4 when China's military crackdown led to a massacre of students protesting for democratic reforms in various major cities across China. The victims of the 1989 massacre are still waiting to get justice as accountability for the tragedy was never fixed, reported Insideover. Families and activists were kept under surveillance on the 30th anniversary of 2019. Chinese rights activist Hu Jia said the state security police followed her everywhere, even during a trek to remote mountains. Families of the victims were followed and their telephones were monitored in order to prevent them from marking the anniversary or speaking to journalists, said Restelli. The members of a group named 'Tiananmen Mothers' were placed under house arrest in the run-up to the 1989 movement's anniversary. Zhang Xianling, who lost her son in the Tiananmen crackdown said, "I asked them what date they would be leaving on, and they said they didn't know... Human rights violations are so common in China." As many as 131 'Tiananmen Mothers' published a letter in 2016 recounting their horrible ordeal while seeking justice. They said they were subjected to constant harassment, intimidation, and even false accusations by the Chinese security agencies. "For us, family members of the victims' families, it has been 27 years of state terror and suffocation. All these actions undoubtedly desecrate the souls of those who perished in the crackdown and insult the honour of the living," read the letter. Arrests, censorships, and surveillance are part of Jinping's "China Dream" that wants everyone to forget about the Tiananmen killings, said Sophie Richardson, China Director at Human Rights Watch. "But suppressing the truth has only fuelled demands for justice and accountability," she said. Yaqiu Wang, senior researcher on China at Human Rights Watch, said the Beijing government never paid a price at home or abroad for the Tiananmen Massacre, which emboldened state-sponsored abuses in the country. The families of the 1989 tragedy blamed the Beijing government for ignoring their appeal seeking a resolution to the "miscarriage of justice", reported Indsideover. (ANI)
The United States has expressed concern over the security pact between China and the Solomon Islands, saying this agreement will open the door for the deployment of Chinese military forces to the Pacific nation. "We believe that signing such an agreement could actually increase destabilisation within the Solomon Islands and could set a concerning precedent for the wider Pacific Island region," Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told a press briefing. "Obviously we are concerned about this," he added. This comes a few days after US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke with Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele about plans to reopen the US Embassy in Honiara and what US officials described as "joint efforts to broaden and deepen engagement" between the two countries. The concern comes as the island country could become China's military foothold in the South Pacific. The US had closed its embassy in the Soloman Islands in 1993. In 2019, the Solomon Islands cut its diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China. Australia and New Zealand raised their concerns regarding the security deal between the Solomon Islands and China as it will allow the People's Liberation Army presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Experts say that China's increased military activity and influence in the Indo-Pacific could destabilize the region as the island could also be used as a stopover for China's troops for tactical replenishments. Australia also said that China has intentions to build a naval base in the Solomon Islands to intimidate the continent, Washington Times reported. Concerns over military activity from China in the Solomon Islands were further echoed by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern when she said that she saw very little need for China's military presence in the Pacific region and urged leaders of island nations to not look beyond their Pacific family for military and security support. China was interested in increasing its military numbers and influence in the Solomon Islands, and as per the terms of this agreement, they would be able to send police or armed forces, Washington Times reported. Earlier this month, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said his country would not invite China to establish a military base. Even China denied it seeks a military foothold there. "Despite the Solomon Islands government's comments, the broad nature of the security agreement leaves open the door for the deployment of PRC military forces to the Solomon Islands," US State Department spokesperson told VOA, referring to China. "We believe signing such an agreement could increase destabilization within Solomon Islands and will set a concerning precedent for the wider Pacific Island region," the spokesperson added. (ANI)
Violence against civilians and other politically motivated violence continue to take place in Afghanistan after eight months of Taliban takeover of the country. Since the fall of Kabul, civilians have continued to be targeted by the Taliban and the Islamic State (IS), as well as by unidentified armed groups. The Taliban has been the main perpetrator of violence targeting civilians, perpetrating over half of the violence targeting civilians recorded by ACLED since 15 August 2021. Journalists and women, have been increasingly targeted, as have members of the Ashraf Ghani government and security forces. This information has been compiled by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, or ACLED, in partnership with an Afghan-run violence monitoring group Afghan Peace Watch. According to ACLED data, violence targeting journalists reached a high in August 2021 as the Taliban took over. Journalists have notably been targeted while covering demonstrations against the Taliban, particularly those led by women. ACLED records an increase in cases where journalists were attacked or harmed during demonstrations in September 2021. This repressive media environment has forced organizations monitoring political violence and protests in the country to adjust in order to accurately capture the reality on the ground. As ACLED moved to adapt to the changing media landscape after the fall of Kabul, it expanded its sourcing through the addition of new traditional media sources in several local languages, as well as deepening its use of forms of 'new media,' specifically social media. The analysis underscores the growing challenge of monitoring reports of political violence at a time when more than 300 Afghan news outlets have shut down. Roudabeh Kishi, ACLED'S director of research and innovation, told The Intercept that "The reporting environment, in addition to the political landscape of course, changed really dramatically after the Taliban takeover in August." "The outlets that remain open are facing a lot of censorship, and they are really unable to report on what's happening on the ground because of the security risks that they face. [Journalists] that do risk reporting anything that contradicts the Taliban narrative have faced threats, intimidation. And even beyond that, some have been jailed, some have been tortured." ACLED noted that attacks against civilians have increased in recent months. As scores of journalists and human rights defenders have fled the country following the Taliban takeover, groups monitoring incidents of violence have had to adapt. "It has become extremely difficult to collect reliable data," Ghulam Sakhi, a researcher with Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization, an Afghan-based human rights group whose members are now abroad, told The Intercept. Sakhi noted that victims of violence, particularly those released from Taliban detention, are being intimidated not to report their experiences. (ANI)
China is displaying reluctance in assisting with loan bailouts to Sri Lanka and Pakistan, which are facing severe economic and foreign debt crises even as the Asian giant was earlier keen on providing loans for various infrastructure projects in these countries, according to a media report. According to an analysis in The Straits Times, China's cautious approach reflects both a refining of President Xi Jinping's signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as well as a hesitancy to be seen interfering in messy domestic political situations. "Beijing has for the past couple of years been rethinking its external lending because their banks realized they were carrying a lot of debt with countries whose prospects of paying back were quite limited," Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore was quoted as saying. "This came on top of a tightening economic situation at home which also required a lot of spending, so there was less appetite to just throw money around wantonly," he added. China has become the world's largest government creditor over the past decade, with its state-owned policy banks lending more to developing countries than the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank in some recent years. The opacity around the terms and scale of some of that lending has been criticized, especially as the pandemic exacerbates debt problems in poorer countries, the report said. Notably, World Bank President David Malpass recently called China's opaque lending practices a "sizeable problem" and said that the country needs to improve its lending practices in the developing world. Sri Lanka's top diplomat in Beijing this week said he was "very confident" that China will come through with credit support, including US$1 billion for the country to repay existing Chinese loans due in July, the report said. However, the report said, China's role in helping to resolve ongoing crises in South Asia may be limited despite its status as a major creditor. Earlier this month, Jin Liqun, president of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, encouraged Sri Lanka to turn to the IMF for help in a meeting with Kohona. China's ability to assist either Sri Lanka or Pakistan with a balance-of-payments crisis is limited, particularly as Beijing's financial assistance is almost always tied to specific projects, the report said citing Muttukrishna Sarvananthan, principal researcher at the Point Pedro Institute of Development in Sri Lanka. "Even the IMF appears to be moving very slowly - if not abandoning - the requests of both Pakistan and Sri Lanka for their assistance," Sarvananthan said, adding, "Which sane bilateral donor country or international financial institution would pour money into sinking ships in both Pakistan and Sri Lanka?" (ANI)
United States Department of State Spokesperson on Ned Price on Friday said the US government agreed with the statement of the Pakistan Army regarding a "foreign conspiracy" to oust former prime minister Imran Khan. Price said that his country does not support one political party over another in Pakistan or anywhere else in the world. The State Department spokesperson made the remarks during a press briefing while answering a question seeking US comments on Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR) statements on Thursday. The ISPR is the media wing of Pakistan's military forces. Price dismissed the accusations that have been leveled by Imran Khan, saying "there is no truth whatsoever to the allegations that have been put forward." "We support the peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles, including respect for human rights. We do not support, whether it's in Pakistan or anywhere else around the world, one political party over another," Price said. He also underlined that the United States looked forward to working with newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his government "to promote peace and prosperity in Pakistan and the broader region". Days before the vote on no-confidence against his government, former Prime Minister Imran Khan alleged that the resolution against him was part of a "foreign conspiracy" hatched in the US, producing an alleged "threat letter" received from the Pakistani embassy in the US as evidence. According to the "threat letter" which was a diplomatic cable received from Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Asad Majeed, US's Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu had warned the Pakistani Ambassador that Imran Khan's continuation in office would have repercussions on bilateral relations. The US was said to be annoyed with Imran over his "independent foreign policy" and Moscow visit. In a press briefing on Thursday, DG ISPR Babar Iftikhar had categorically rejected the "foreign conspiracy" to oust the Imran Khan government as well as the involvement of the Army in any way in the no-confidence motion. (ANI)
In a major boost to the country's wheat exports prospects, Egypt, one of the world's biggest importers of wheat, has agreed to source wheat from India, said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday. Egyptian authorities have put India as one of the origins for this strategic commodity. Meanwhile, officials from agriculture quarantine and pest risk analysis of Egypt visited various processing units, port facilities and farms in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. The Commerce Ministry in a statement said the Egyptian delegation's visit to India follows several trade talks and meetings with the various wheat importing countries, which are exploring possibilities of sourcing grain from alternate sources as supplies have been disrupted because of the Russia and Ukraine conflict. During his visit to Dubai last month, Union Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal had also met Egypt's Minister of Planning & Economic Development Dr Hala El-Said and discussed India's readiness to supply high-quality wheat towards ensuring Egypt's food security. Egypt imported 6.1 million tonnes (mt) of wheat in 2021 and India was not part of the list of accredited countries which can export wheat to Egypt. More than 80% of Egypt's wheat imports estimated to be close to USD 2 billion in 2021 were from Russia and Ukraine. "We are aiming to export 3 million tonnes of wheat to Egypt this year," M Angamuthu, Chairman, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA), said. APEDA had earlier communicated to India's exporters to register with Egypt's public procurement agency - General Authority of Supplies and Commodities, which manages wheat and sugar imports to the north African country. APEDA will be sending trade delegations to Morocco, Tunisia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Turkey, Algeria and Lebanon for exploring possibilities of boosting wheat exports from India. India has set a target of a record 10 million tonnes of wheat in the 2022-23 amid rising global demand of the grain because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. According to estimates by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, India has exported a record 7 mt of wheat in 2021-22 which is valued at $ 2.05 billion. Out of the total shipment around 50 per cent of wheat was exported to Bangladesh in the last fiscal. Growth in wheat exports is driven mostly by the demand from countries such as Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Oman and Malaysia. However, APEDA is making efforts to boost wheat exports to other countries including Yemen, Afghanistan and Indonesia. India had been a relatively marginal player in global wheat trade until 2020-21. India could export only about 0.2 mt and 2 mt of wheat in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively. The commerce ministry has set up a task force on wheat exports with representatives from various ministries, including commerce, shipping and railways, and exporters under the aegis of APEDA. "We are working with several other ministries - agriculture, railways, shipping, exporters and state governments to increase our wheat exports significantly in the current fiscal," Piyush Goyal, minister for commerce and industry, recently said. Andhra Pradesh Maritime Board, which operates Kakinada anchorage port, mostly used for rice exports, has communicated that their facility could be used for wheat exports. India's wheat exports (in million tonnes / USD billion) (ANI)
As per NA Secretariat sources, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has a high chance of getting elected speaker, since no other NA member has submitted their nomination papers and the deadline has ended, reported Geo News.

The seat fell vacant during last week's political escalation when Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI's) Asad Qaiser stepped down from office on April 9 -- on the day Islamabad witnessed intense political activities when the voting on the no-confidence motion was set to take place.

But Qaiser -- being a PTI and Imran Khan loyalist -- delayed the session as much as he could before resigning minutes before midnight, as the Supreme Court's deadline for holding the vote on the no-trust motion was about to end.

Following his resignation, MNA Ayaz Sadiq chaired the session, and on April 10 at midnight, Khan was voted out of power, making him the first prime minister to be ousted through the democratic process.

Meanwhile, acting speaker Qasim Suri has also changed the schedule of the sitting of the lower house of parliament from April 16 to April 22, when the election of the deputy speaker is scheduled to take place, reported Geo News. (ANI)
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi told US President Joe Biden that India can send foodgrains to other countries amid the present problem of food stocks if WTO rules are relaxed, a UN report concerning the impact of Ukraine crisis has made a similar recommendation about the need of exemptions from food export restrictions. The UN report has called for exempting purchases by World Food Programme (WFP) for humanitarian assistance from food export restrictions with immediate effect. The recommendation, contained in the brief 'Global Impact of war in Ukraine on food, energy and finance systems' suggests a way forward for countries amid international food prices rising to an all-time high. It said members of the WTO will have the opportunity to formally adopt the measure concerning exemption at the World Trade Organization's Ministerial Conference in June this year. "Exempting purchases of food by WFP for humanitarian assistance from food export restrictions with immediate effect: Members of the WTO will have the opportunity to formally adopt this measure at the World Trade Organization's 12th Ministerial Conference to be held in June 2022," the UN report said. The recommendation is contained under the 'Food Recommendations' category of the report. PM Modi had referred to his conversation with US President while inaugurating the hostel and education complex of Shri Annapurnadham Trust at Adalaj on Wednesday and said he had told Biden that if WTO rules are relaxed, India can send foodgrains to other countries amid declining food stocks and a desire among countries to secure stocks to due to the Ukraine situation. "A war-like situation has developed and everybody is securing its stocks. In such a situation, the world is staring at a new problem as food stocks have started declining. During my discussion with the US President yesterday, I assured him to send food relief to countries if the WTO accords permission. We are ready to send the relief from tomorrow itself. We already have enough food for our people but our farmers seem to have made arrangements to feed the world due to the blessings of Maa Annapurna," PM Modi had said. "However, we have to work according to the laws of the world, so I don't know when WTO will give permission," he added. The Prime Minister had held meeting with the US President on Monday through video conferencing. The meeting was held ahead of 2+2 dialogue between India and the US. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had on April 13 presented the first detailed policy brief issued by the Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) on Food, Energy and Finance which he had set up to study the effects of the war in Ukraine on the world's most vulnerable. The Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance is a 32-member group, chaired by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, which includes heads of UN agencies, development banks and other international organizations. It was launched by Antonio Guterres on March 14, in response to concerns over the potential consequences of the Ukraine conflict as well as the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. (ANI)
Goldsmith, the first wife of Imran Khan, even shared the photograph of the poster which also gave the full address of her home in London

"Protests outside my house, targeting my children, anti-Semitic abuse on social media ... It's almost like I'm back in 90s Lahore," Jemima posted on Twitter with the hashtag Purana Pakistan in response to PML-N leader Abid Sher Ali.

Ali responded to Jemima and said, "He (Imran) has ordered attacks and protests outside [the] homes of his political opponents. He incites hate, homophobia and terrorism on [a] daily basis," he said. The PML-N leader also added that the protest would be non-violent.

Senior Pakistan journalist Hamid Mir also jumped into the conversation advising both the PTI and the PML-N both parties against protesting outside

"PTI must stop protesting outside the house of (Nawaz Sharif) in London and PML-N should not do the same outside the house of (Jemima). Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones on others," Mir tweeted.

Earlier this week, supporters of the PTI and PML-N clashed outside former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's London residence, Dawn newspaper reported.

A police contingent stood in a chain between the two groups as they chanted slogans against each other's leaders. (ANI)
Russia will increase missile strikes on sites in Kiev in response to any terror attacks or sabotage acts on its soil, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday, Russian media reported. Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman, said in a statement that the Russian forces will strike decision-making centres if the Ukrainian army keeps attempting to carry out sabotage acts. "Russia will increase the number and scope of missile strikes on sites in Kyiv in response to any terror attacks or sabotage acts on its soil", Major-General Igor Konashenkov said on Friday, TASS reported. The Russian spokesman also said, "Overnight, Kalibr sea-launched long-range precision missiles delivered a strike against a military facility on the outskirts of Kyiv. As a result of the strike on the Zhulyany-based Vizar machine-building factory, the workshops of the production and repair of long-and medium-range surface-to-air missile systems and also anti-ship missiles were destroyed" Taking to Twitter, a Ukraine local media outlet, The Kyiv Independent wrote earlier, "Mariupol authorities estimate that Russian shelling and airstrikes have already killed nearly 5,000 residents, including 210 children. The southeastern port city has been under siege since March 1." After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, western nations have imposed tough sanctions on the country. On February 24, Russia launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine, which the West has termed an unprovoked war. As a result of this, the Western countries have imposed several crippling sanctions on Moscow. (ANI)
Taliban has refuted a recent report released by the US State Department which acknowledged a steep fall in the human rights progress in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of United States' troops last August. In a series of Twitter posts, Zabiullah Mujahid, the Deputy Minister of Information and Culture of Afghanistan stated that human rights were violated when the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, according to Khama News Agency. "Human rights violate when US occupiers killed 200 people in a day and were bombing their homes and raiding women and children. And on a dark night dragged the people into prison, and kept up to 15000 political prisoners" the Khama New Agency cited a tweet by Mujahid. In addition, Mujahid said none of such barbaric activities were happening now and that every Afghan citizen has been guaranteed human rights and pondering over these rights was meaningless. Significant human rights issues occurred before and after the Taliban took over on August 15, 2021, the State Department said in its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Tuesday. The human rights issues included credible reports of extrajudicial killings by security forces; forced disappearances by antigovernment personnel; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by security forces, the report said. It also includes reports of serious restrictions on free expression and media by the Taliban, including violence against journalists and censorship; severe restrictions on religious freedom; restrictions on the right to leave the country. Meanwhile, the Afghan minister Zabiullah Mujahid also denied a New York Times report over the killings of security members of the previous Afghan government by the Taliban. Mujahid said there has been a general amnesty announced by the supreme leader Mullah Hebtullah Akhundzada and that no one has been killed, the Afghan media outlet said. (ANI)
The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) announced the restrictions on issuing fuel for various categories of vehicles starting at 1:00 pm on Friday (today).

Fuel will only be issued for LKR 1000 for Motorcycles, LKR 1,500 for three-wheelers, and LKR 5,000 for Cars, Vans, and Jeeps, Daily Mirror reported.

CPC Chairman Sumith Wijesinghe informed that the new regulations do not apply to Buses, Lorries, and Commercial vehicles.

Earlier, CPC had requested people to purchase only the required quantity of fuel as sufficient stocks of fuel have been supplied to filling stations, according to Colombo Page.

Sri Lanka's economy has been in a free-fall since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the crash of the tourism sector.

Sri Lanka is also facing a foreign exchange shortage, which has affected its capacity to import food and fuel. The shortage of essential goods has forced Sri Lanka to seek assistance from friendly countries.

India had earlier provided Sri Lanka with a USD 500 million Line of Credit for fuel purchases which are expected to exhaust soon (ANI)
"The European Union deplores the unjustified, baseless decision of the Russian Federation to expel 18 members of the Delegation of the European Union to the Russian Federation. The EU diplomats in question exercise their functions in the framework of and in full respect for the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. There are no grounds for Friday's decision by the Russian authorities beyond being a pure retaliatory step," the European External Action Service said in a statement.

The development comes after hundreds of Russian diplomats were expelled from various EU countries, especially after the killings of civilians in Ukraine's Bucha, which has been blamed on the Russian forces.

Countries that have expelled Russian diplomats include France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Greece, and Norway.

In February, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine after recognizing the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as "independent republics".

In response, western countries imposed a wide-ranging sanctions regime on Russia targetting the country's exports, wealthy individuals and even financial institutions. (ANI)
In a landmark judgment, a New Zealand court on Wednesday granted China's extradition request for a murder suspect. Chinese authorities accused Kyung Yup Kim, a South Korean citizen who has permanent residency in New Zealand, of killing a woman in Shanghai in 2009, according to court documents, reported CNN. Kyung will be extradited to China to face trial following a more than a decade-long legal battle. China first requested his extradition from New Zealand in 2011, but Kim's lawyers argued he could face torture and would not receive a fair trial under the country's murky judicial system, prompting years of legal wrangling, reported CNN. Like many Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, New Zealand does not have an extradition treaty with China. In its decision, New Zealand's Supreme Court ruled by three judges to two that Kim's extradition should proceed. The three judges in favour said they had received sufficient assurances from China and were "satisfied that there was no real risk Kim would face an unfair trial." Chinese authorities had assured the court that if extradited, Kim would have access to New Zealand consular staff, and be tried and detained in Shanghai rather than sent elsewhere in the country, according to the ruling. Kim has lived in New Zealand since he was 14 years old, according to court documents. His mother is also a New Zealand permanent resident, while his father, brother and two children are citizens. The case against him dates back to December 2009, when a young woman who worked as a waitress at a bar was found dead in Shanghai, according to court documents. At the time, Kim was visiting Shanghai and had rented an apartment there, reported CNN. Pieces of a quilt were found on her body -- which were identified by Kim's then-girlfriend as similar to one he owned. When police searched Kim's apartment, they found samples that matched the waitress' DNA. In China, courts, prosecutors and police are overseen by the Chinese Communist Party's powerful Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission and its local branches. China's judicial system has a conviction rate of about 99 per cent, according to legal observers. Human rights advocates say unfair trials and the torture and mistreatment of prisoners are common, reported CNN. (ANI)
As per the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the terrorists ambushed a military convoy who were near the Pak-Afghan border area, reported The Express Tribune.

ISPR further added that the security forces initiated a prompt response, and effectively engaged and killed four terrorists.

Earlier on Thursday, a soldier was in the Isham area of North Waziristan during an exchange of fire with terrorists in the district.

On Tuesday, a Pakistan Army officer and a soldier were killed during an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists in the South Waziristan district.

A total of 105 army personnel lost lives in such terrorist attacks with the first three months of this year recording 97 soldiers and army officers.

In the corresponding period of attacks, 128 terrorists were killed and 270 have been arrested, said ISPR. (ANI)
Having faced failure in projecting its own appointees as Tibet's spiritual leaders, China is now attempting to influence the appointment of the next Dalai Lama and forge an acceptance of the "selected" leader among Buddhist countries through diplomacy, a report said. Chinese efforts on fake narrative-building with a focus on bringing out the positives of Chinese policies in illegally occupied Tibet and manipulating historical facts to justify its occupation of Tibet reveals its craving for 'legitimacy', the report by Tibet Rights Collective, an advocacy and policy research group said. The report noted the failure of China in controlling Tibetan spiritual institutions by citing the example of the appointment of the 11th Panchen Lama. After the 10th Panchen Lama's death in 1989, the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso had identified 6-year-old Gedhun Choeki Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama. Subsequently, the People's Liberation Army abducted the 6-year-old Lama and his family, with their whereabouts still unknown to this day. Instead, Gyaincain Norbu was recognized as the "official" 11th Panchen Lama by the Chinese government in 1995 - a move since then decried by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and the Tibetan community alike. Gyaincain Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama is not seen on posters around Tibet, with his predecessor the 10th Panchen Lama being more visible, the report said, adding that this, in turn, reflects that the Tibetans have not exactly accepted his appointment as legitimate. China will now aggressively focus on controlling the reincarnation process of the current and the 14th Dalai Lama by building global credibility and support around the same through its Faith and Buddhist Diplomacy on the foreign front, the report said, adding, at the same time, ramping up its efforts to exercise greater control over Tibet on the domestic front. In this regard, China has employed the Buddhist Association of China (of which Gyaincain Norbu also serves as the Vice President) to hold the World Buddhist Forum since 2006. The last known World Buddhist Forum was held in 2018 in Fujian (south-east China) with over 1000 Buddhist scholars, monks, and representatives from over 55 countries, the report said. Notably, since the Forum's inception in 2006, the most revered Tibetan Buddhist, the Dalai Lama, has been excluded from participating in it while being called a "terrorist" and a "separatist" at the Forum's meetings. Similarly, China is also using its proxy Pakistan for conducting covert Buddhist and Faith Diplomacy with Pakistan hosting an International Conference and Art Festival for promoting Social Cohesion and Interfaith Harmony in March this year. China has also stepped up its Buddhist outreach to Sri Lanka, which remains a major Buddhist nation and is also being targeted by Beijing under its Debt-Trap Diplomacy, the report further said. As China builds up its global coalition for its notorious plans, nations believing in a rules-based order and the ideals of freedom, democracy, liberty, equality, and fraternity should come together as an opposing force against Beijing, the report concluded. (ANI)
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday said it will hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) foreign funding case every day, local media reported. Pakistan High Court on Thursday had asked the ECP to decide on the foreign funding case filed against former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) within a month, Express Tribune reported. Justice Kayani, who had delivered the judgment, said that if PTI received the funding from any prohibited sources then it would affect its status, including that of chairman Imran Khan so it becomes important to dig out the truth. The foreign funding case is pending since November 14, 2014, and it was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar who had alleged that there are some financial irregularities in the PTI's funding from Pakistan and abroad. On January 4 this year, the ECP's scrutiny committee submitted its report on the PTI's foreign funding case after 95 hearings. The ECP's committee was formed in March 2018. The report was based on eight volumes of records collected through the State Bank of Pakistan and said that the PTI leaders had "committed the violations of funding laws" by allowing the collection of millions of dollars and billions of Pakistani Rupees without any source and details from foreigners, according to a Dawn report. Justice Kayani also rejected the request to prevent giving access to case records to PTI's Babar and a request to remove him from the case proceedings. This comes after PTI filed the petition in Islamabad High Court, challenging the ECP's decision of rejecting the above-mentioned plea of the party which was filed on January 25 and 31. (ANI)
Jemima Goldsmith, the former wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, said on Friday that she felt the Purana Pakistan of the 1990s had returned after the PML-N announced tit-for-tat demonstrations outside her London home, Samaa TV reported. PTI activists in London have been protesting outside Nawaz Sharifs' Avenfield apartments for the past one week. The PLM-N this week announced that it, too, will hold a protest outside Jemima's house where Khan's "grown up children" live. Jemima tweeted, "Protests outside my house, targeting my children, antisemitic abuse on social media -- It's almost like I am back in 90s Lahore," sharing a poster of a protest against Khan scheduled to take place on April 17 outside her London house. She added the hashtag "Purana Pakistan" to the tweet. Many Pakistanis, especially PTI supporters, sympathised with her and some even went on to apologise, Samaa TV reported. Journalist Hamid Mir wished common sense prevailed on both sides. "PTI must stop protesting outside the house of Nawaz Sharif in London and PML-N should not do the same outside the house of Jemima, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others," he tweeted. In response, Jemima said that the difference is that she has got nothing to do with Pakistan politics and neither does her children. "They are low-key private individuals who are not even on social media," she added. PML-N leader Abid Sher Ali, who has planned the protest, said only Imran Khan could be held responsible for the situation. "He has ordered attacks and protests outside homes of his political opponents, he incites hate, homophobia and terrorism on daily basis. Our protest will be peaceful and non-violent. Condemn Imran Khan," he said. In another tweet, Ali tagged Jemima and challenged her claims of children being neutral by sharing a PTI rally picture. --IANS san/arm ( 323 Words) 2022-04-15-19:10:03 (IANS)
Maryam Nawaz Sharif, vice president of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday questioned Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for having purchased expensive gifts and asked him to reveal his other source of income. Calling Imran Khan corrupt, Maryam said how Khan managed to buy expensive gifts when there was no source of income other than the salary he used to get as the Prime Minister. Maryam attack on Imran Khan comes after Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif on Friday accused his predecessor Imran Khan of selling Toshakhana gifts worth PKR 140 million in Dubai. "Imran Khan sold these gifts for Rs140 million in Dubai," PM Shehbaz was reported as telling journalists during an iftar he hosted a day earlier in the federal capital, reported Geo News. Shehbaz made these claims during a meeting with senior journalists at PM House on Friday. PM said, "I can confirm you that Imran Khan took gifts worth Rs140 million from Toshakhana and sold them in Dubai," reported ARY News. If Shehbaz accusations are true then this is a breach of law because as per the country's law, any gift received from dignitaries of a foreign state must be put in the state depository or the Toshakhana. Shehbaz's revelation came in response to a question regarding a petition seeking the details of the Toshakhana that had been filed in the Islamabad High Court on which then PM Imran Khan had commented that the details cannot be revealed as per the Official Secrets Act, 1923. While defending the party, Special Assistance to the Former Prime Minister Imran Khan for political communication Shahbaz Gill, said that the gifts received during the foreign visits were deposited in the state depository. Shahbaz Gill while replying in a debate on the secrecy refuted the claims and called them false. Cases in regards to this matter are pending in the Pakistani courts. Cases against former prime ministers and a president including Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and Yusuf Raza Gilani regarding gifts received by them during official tours are pending. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gillani are named in a reference for allegedly obtaining luxury vehicles from the treasury by paying 15 percent of the actual price, reported the news channel. (ANI)
Closeup of gavel in court room

Two members of the Gypsy Joker Outlaw Motorcycle Club were sentenced to life in federal prison Thursday for kidnapping, torturing and murdering former Portland club member Robert Huggens in 2015.

Portland clubhouse president Mark Leroy Dencklau, 61, of Woodburn, and clubhouse member Chad Leroy Erickson, 51, of Rainier, face life in prison after jurors found them guilty of murder in aid of racketeering; kidnapping in aid of racketeering, resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, resulting in death, in December according to a release Thursday from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Oregon. Dencklau was found guilty of racketeering conspiracy, while Erickson was acquitted of the same charge.

Previous coverage:Jurors dismiss racketeering charge against Gypsy Joker gang member Kenneth Hause

Mark Dencklau and Chad Erickson will rightfully serve the rest of their lives in federal prison," Scott Asphaug, U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon, said in a statement. "These men prided themselves in using violence to intimidate others and increase their power and influence among club members and rivals. Organized violent crime has no place in Oregon and will not be tolerated."

The club is described as a hierarchical criminal organization where members maintained their status by participating in acts of racketeering including murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion and narcotics trafficking, according to court documents and trial testimony.

Since the 1980s, the club has been active in several states including Oregon and Washington and, until recently, operated six clubhouses in the Pacific Northwest, including one in Salem. The club also has international chapters in Germany, Australia and Norway, according to U.S. Department of Justice officials.

The club oversaw multiple support clubs in Oregon and Washington, including the Road Brothers Northwest Motorcycle Club, Solutions Motorcycle Club, Northwest Veterans Motorcycle Club, High-Side Riders and the Freedom Fellowship Motorcycle Club, department of justice officials said. Support club members conducted criminal activities in support of the Gypsy Joker club and served as a source of new members and revenue for the club, federal officials allege.

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Dencklau served as president of the club's Portland chapter from 2003 until his arrest.

On July 1, 2015, Robert Huggins, a former member of the Gypsy Joker's Portland chapter, was found lying in a field in Clark County, Washington, department of justice officials said.

Huggins' body was badly beaten and he appeared to have been tortured before his death.

Huggins was previously stripped of his club membership for allegedly stealing from the club and, after breaking into Dencklaus Woodburn residence, tying up Dencklaus girlfriend and stealing multiple firearms, officials said.

Dencklau and others kidnapped Huggins June 30, 2015 from a Portland residence and brought him to a rural property in Southwest Washington where they tortured and beat him for several hours.

Huggins suffered a fractured skull; lacerations to his chest and torso; and removed nipples. A medical examiner ruled his death was caused by multiple blunt and sharp force injuries.

Several members of the club, including Dencklau, Earl Fisher, 48, of Gresham, and Tiler Evan Pribbernow, 40, of Portland, were indicted in June 2018 on murder in aid of racketeering; kidnapping in aid of racketeering, resulting in death; kidnapping resulting in death; and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, resulting in death.

That November, Dencklau; Fisher; Erickson; Kenneth Earl Hause, 64, of Aumsville; Ryan Anthony Negrinelli, 36, of Gresham, Oregon; and Joseph Duane Folkerts, 61, of Battleground, Washington, were charged by superseding indictment with racketeering conspiracy.

In December 2021, the same jurors who convicted Dencklau and Erickson, dismissed a lone racketeering conspiracy charge against Hause, the club's national president and a longtime Aumsville resident, according to federal officials.

After pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge, Pribbernow was also sentenced April 12 to more than 11 years in federal prison. Fisher, Negrinelli, and Folkerts, who all pleaded guilty to the same charge, are awaiting sentencing, officials said. They face a maximum sentence of life in federal prison.

The case was investigated by the Portland Police Bureau and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Clark County Sheriffs Office, Oregon StatePolice, and the Oregon and Washington State Crime Labs, officials said.

Virginia Barreda is the breaking news and public safety reporter for the Statesman Journal. She can be reached at 503-399-6657 or at vbarreda@statesmanjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2. Unmute

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: 2 Gypsy Joker gang members get life sentences
Were waiting to see how some testing issues could impact the launch of NASAs next moon mission.

WATCH: Artemis 1: Spacecraft to take Americans back to the moon makes it to the launchpad

Teams at Kennedy Space Center have been testing the Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis I mission overt the past few days.

However, crews found a liquid hydrogen leak during the testing Thursday on the base of the mobile launcher.

WATCH: NASA looks ahead to more trips to the moon beyond Artemis I

Officials said the leak was discovered around 5 p.m. on the tail service mast umbilical, which is located at the base of the mobile launcher and connects to the rockets core stage.

READ: NASA offering to fly your name around the moon on Artemis I

Crews are set to discuss how they will move forward on a call at 3 p.m.

Click here to download the free WFTV news and weather apps, and click here to watch the latest news on your Smart TV.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office said Wednesday that 41 people were charged in a yearlong racketeering investigation that spanned Florida and North Carolina.

WINTER HAVEN  Forty-one members of a gang called Sex Money Murder, 31 of whom were from Polk County, were charged in a statewide, multi-agency racketeering investigation the Polk County Sheriff's Office said this week.

"For the first time in the history of Polk County, we did a gang wire-tap," Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a news conference Wednesday. "We call them T3's, where we listen to social media apps, where we listen to cell phones and their communications through court orders."

Judd said that the PCSO Organized Crime Unit started the investigation in March 2021 with the Florida Department of Corrections, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Attorney General's Office of Statewide Prosecution, and other Florida law enforcement agencies.

He said investigators identified the ranking structure and members of the gang, operating both inside and outside of prison, the Polk County Jail, and various other areas of Florida and North Carolina.

He said gang members were coordinating crimes, directing gang activities, recruiting new gang members, discussing bond payments and gang financing, including setting and collecting gang dues.

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Sex Money Murder is a subset gang of the United Blood Nation gang started in the 1990s by Peter Pistol Pete Rollock, who is currently serving life in prison, Judd said. Officials said Rollock is revered as the Godfather of the gang.

Judd said he suspects that the gang has connection to the unsolved 2019 shooting death of Shabreon "Shay" Collins in Dundee and the Winter Haven killing of Alphonsa "Nu Nu" Payne in 2020.

"Those two cases, we haven't made any arrests on," Judd said. "Those were the first two cases in over a decade that our homicide team was not able to solve. Do you know why? No one's talking. They're either gang-related and/or scared to death of the gangsters."

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Out of the 41 identified during the investigation, the sheriff's office said 12 are charged with racketeering for directing members in organized criminal activity like illegal drug sales, robberies, introduction of contraband into prisons, conspiracy to commit murder and coordinated attacks on other gang members.

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The racketeering charges are first-degree felonies punishable by up to 30 years imprisonment and significant fines. Gang-related first-degree felonies can result in life in prison.

The RICO Act, or Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, was designed to prosecute individuals engaging in organized crime, officials said. A person can be charged with racketeering if they engage in a pattern of racketeering, like committing two racketeering activities within a 10-year period.

Two of the suspects are still at large with warrants for their arrests.

Judd said Hernando Thompson Jr., 36, is the leader of the Florida division of the gang. He has a warrant for his arrest in Orlando for racketeering, conspiracy of racketeer and three counts of directing criminal gang activity. Xavier Ulysse, 27, of Lake Wales has a Polk County warrant on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. Judd said, after tapping into the alleged gang suspects' phone and social media conversations, detectives overheard Ulysse planning to kill someone detectives suspect is a gang member.

A string of home invasion robberies and other violent and property crimes associated with members of the Sex Money Murder gang started to rise in 2018, 2019 and 2020 in Polk County and neighboring Florida counties, the Sheriff's Office said in a release.

For subscribers: Polk supervisor of elections warns state's deadline on congressional maps is too late

Through the wiretapping investigation, detectives said they found that Cerenia Mixon, 22, of Lakeland was the secretary of the Polk County part of the gang. Detectives monitored the communication of Andree Romeus, 30, of Winter Haven, who they said acted as the Polk County leader. The Sheriff's Office said detectives were allowed to monitor the communications associated with the top two ranking Florida gang members, Thompson and James Roundtree, 33, of Lake City because of information found while listening to Romeus' conversations.

Suspected gang associates

Detectives said they arrested four of the suspected gang associates during an undercover operation at 425 Van Fleet Drive East in Bartow in July, where 719 grams of synthetic marijuana was seized. Marcus Mitchell, 19, of Lakeland, Telly Nance and 34, of Bartow and Deondre Powell, 25, of Lakeland were arrested. The Sheriff's Office said a male juvenile was arrested for possession of marijuana during the operation, as well.

With a search warrant for 3625 Kathleen Road Lot #7 in Lakeland, the Sheriff's Office seized more than 20 pounds of methamphetamine, 8 grams of alprazolam, 52 grams of oxycodone and 1,712 grams of Promethazine and arrested four suspects in September. Dashawn Bather, 25, of Lakeland, Laconia Blake, 31, of Lakeland, Antoine Cruz, 25, of Winter Haven and Destiny Daniels, 28, of Lakeland were all arrested on charges relating to drugs.

Jonathan Fleming, 33, of Wilson, North Carolina, and Maclindell Hardy, 29, of Fayetteville, North Carolina, were arrested in October while in Flagler County. Officials said Fleming was in Florida at a mandatory national meeting for the Sex Money Murder gang in Osceola County because he's the leader of the North Carolina division.

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Daniel Jackson, 29, of Winter Haven, Crameshia Jackson, 26, of Winter Haven and Dornell Anglin, 26, of Haines City were arrested in October. Deputies said more than 367 grams of methamphetamine, 160 grams of MDMA pills, 15 grams of marijuana and one handgun was seized. In an undercover operation in October at 2000 State Road 60 East in Lake Wales, detectives seized more than 112 grams of methamphetamine, a handgun and $2,790. Jamarr Cole, 37, of Lake Wales was arrested there on six charges.

Officials said Jasmine Weber, 28, of Winter Haven was also arrested in October during an undercover Lakeland operation at 131 Scottsdale Loop.

Detectives said they arrested Carlos Mercado, 24, of Lakeland during an undercover operation at 1035 Reynolds Road in December. They also seized 0.66 grams of fentanyl.

During a January operation near Reynolds Road and Ned Engle Boulevard in Lakeland, deputies seized more than 7 grams of fentanyl, 37 grams of marijuana, and a handgun. Demarrius Faniel, 30, of Lakeland and Anteria Bell, 28, of Lakeland were arrested.

Memorial Boulevard: 28-year-old Lakeland man dies after crashing into a semi-truck Sunday morning

On a search warrant for 2461 Avenue C SW in Winter Haven, deputies said more than 90 grams of MDMA, 28 grams of mushrooms, 134 grams of promethazine, 3 grams of methamphetamine and 249 grams of marijuana was seized in January. Danyell Coggins, 47, of Winter Haven, John Davis, 40, of Winter Haven and Wandy Noel, 30, of Winter Haven were arrested.

In a Florida Department of Corrections Probation and Parole Services routine probation check at 3655 Peregrine Way in Lakeland, Sheriff's Officials said Horatio Walker, 24, of Lakeland, Raquan Thompson, 22, of Lakeland and Tyreke Thompson, 20, of Lakeland were arrested in January. Kayshia Jenkins, 35, of Lakeland and Kalaysha Wilson, 22, of Lakeland were arrested in February.

A February undercover operation at 1502 Recker Highway in Winter Haven resulted in more than 40 grams of marijuana seized and the arrest of Andree Romeus, 30, of Winter Haven on eight charges including racketeering, conspiracy to racketeer, and three counts of directing gang activity. Leroy Scarlett, 29, of Bartow was also arrested in an operation in March where more than 30 gram of marijuana and $4,000 was seized.

Tonisha Fisher, 36, of Mount Dora was arrested on a search warrant for 416 E. Pine Ave. in Mount Dora in April for racketeering and conspiracy to racketeer. Judd said Fisher was the "first lady" of Florida because of her romantic relationship with Thompson. He also said Fisher booked the national gang meeting and collects member dues.

Donahue Stephenson, 33, Tyreese Cruz, 24, Rodney Street Jr., 25, and Antonio Taylor, 30 were all incarcerated in prison or jail when charged with racketeering in connection to the investigation.

The Sheriff's Office asked anyone with information about the two unsolved murder cases to contact Heartland Crime Stoppers for a $10,000 reward. Call 800-226-8477 or go to www.heartlandcrimestoppers.com. All tips remain anonymous. Judd said anyone with information on the whereabouts of Thompson or Ulysse can contact Crime Stoppers to be considered for a reward.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk sheriff: 41 Sex Money Murder gang members charged in investigation
On Wednesday, Russia sanctioned all but 41 House members in a diplomatic tit-for-tat with the United States amid mounting tensions over Moscows invasion of Ukraine.

Those on the sanctions list included 398 House lawmakers, including delegates from U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

The list did not fall along predictable lines. A number of GOP lawmakers who voted against recent bills sanctioning Russia were on list, while some of the leading Democrats advancing those policies were left off. Some of the most vocal Republicans supporting Ukraine were also not on the sanctions list.

The three votes included in The Hills analysis were a vote ending normal trade relations with Russia, an investigation into Russia for war crimes and a ban on Russian oil.

Despite voting against these bills, GOP members including Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) were still sanctioned.

However, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the committees chair, were not sanctioned, despite introducing the bill aimed at documenting war crimes committed by Russia.

The unsanctioned list also includes high-profile names such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Kingzinger (R-Ill.).

In a release announcing the sanctions, Russias Foreign Ministry noted that other U.S. lawmakers, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), had previously been banned from entering the country.

Here is a rundown of which House members were sanctioned by Russia Wednesday, and which ones were not.

Notable names left off the list:

Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)

McCarthy has been supportive of all three measures against Russia and has condemned others in his party for their criticism of Ukraine during the war.

After Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a thug, McCarthy said: Madison is wrong. If theres any thug in this world, its Putin.

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McCarthy has also previously advocated for the Biden administration to send Ukraine MiG fighter jets to combat Russian forces.

Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.)

Kinzinger has voted for all three measures against Russia and hit back at Republican colleagues who have voted against measures supportive of Ukraine.

He called it unreal after three Republicans voted against a resolution that reiterated the U.S.s support for Ukraines sovereignty after the invasion.

Kinzinger also previously supported a no-fly zone over Ukraine despite the unpopularity of the measures by other lawmakers.

This is a good moment to renew my call for a no fly zone, at the invitation of the Ukraine government. I fear if this continues, we will have to intervene in a bigger way, Kinzinger said.

Michael McCaul (R-Texas) and Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.)

McCaul and Meeks, each partys top members on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced the recently passed bipartisan legislation that calls on the Biden administration to document Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

Meeks said the bill requires the Administration to detail the process our government will undertake to collect, analyze, and preserve evidence of these war crimes, so that perpetrators of these and other atrocities are held accountable.

These horrific atrocities in Bucha have made one thing crystal clear: No country, no country, can remain neutral in the face of this evil. The entire world needs to rally against Mr. Putin and these war crimes, McCaul said.

Maxine Waters (D-Calif.)

Waters, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, has been adamant in her support of Ukraine and has called on all companies to halt business in Ukraine.

She requested more than 30 prominent corporate lobbying groups provide details on the mass exodus of companies that left Russia after Ukraine invaded.

Waters also wants a list of companies that continue to do business in Russia and an explanation for why they are still operating in the country.

Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.)

Malinowski, vice chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, represents the district with the largest Ukrainian population in the state of New Jersey.

Malinowski, who previously served in the State Department, has praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his actions and called for harsh sanctions against Russian elites quickly after the war began.

Endemic corruption and theft from the Russian people fuels Putins repression and military aggression; it is also his greatest political vulnerability, he previously said.

Republicans who opposed measures against Russia still sanctioned

Rep. Warren Davidson (Ohio) is the only Republican who voted against investigating Russia for war crimes who was not hit by Russian sanctions.

GOP Reps. Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Scott Perry (Pa.) all were hit by Russian sanctions despite their vote against the Russia war crimes bill. Greene, Biggs, Gosar and Massie also voted against barring Russia from importing oil to the U.S.

Davidson voted in favor of ending Russian imports of oil and halting normal trade relations with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Davidson also led a bipartisan letter after Russia invaded Ukraine to President Biden, telling the president to respect separation of powers and get authorization from Congress before any potential troop involvement in the country.

Republicans supportive of Ukraine not hit by sanctions

Other Republicans who were not sanctioned by Russia have been vocally supportive of Ukraines efforts to fight Russias invasion and voted in favor of all measures targeting Russia.

The list of unsanctioned lawmakers includes those who have introduced bills supporting Ukraine or were influential in major bills such as barring Russian oil and have visited the border of Ukraine in support after Russia invaded. The GOP members incluce:

Andy Barr (Ky.)

Gus Bilirakis (Fla.)

Kevin Brady (Texas)

Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.)

Richard Hudson (N.C.)

Mike Johnson (La.)

Mike Rogers (Ala.)

Michael Turner (Ohio)

Randy Weber (Texas)

Joe Wilson (S.C.)

More Democrats than Republicans dodged sanctions

The majority of those not hit by Russian sanctions were Democrats, despite the party almost unanimously voting in support of Russian sanctions.

Similar to the Republican list, the Democrats who werent sanctioned have been adamant in their condemnation of Russia invasion and have supported bills to target Russia in retaliation. They include:

David Cicilline (R.I.)

Steve Cohen (Tenn.)

Gerry Connolly (Va.)

Rosa DeLauro (Conn.)

Ted Deutch (Fla.)

Anna Eshoo (Calif.)

Steny Hoyer (Md.)

Sheila Lee Jackson (Texas)

Marcy Kaptur (Ohio)

William Keating (Mass.)

Raja Krishnamoorthi (Ill.)

Ted Lieu (Calif.)

James McGovern (Mass.)

Gwen Moore (Wis.)

Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.)

Frank Pallone (N.J.)

Adam Schiff (Calif.)

Bradley Schneider (Ill.)

Brad Sherman (Calif.)

Albio Sires (N.J.)

Chris Smith (N.J.)

Jackie Speier (Calif.)

Eric Swalwell (Calif.)

David Trone (Md.)

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  A Taiwanese pro-democracy activist who served five years in China returned to Taiwan on Friday morning, a Taiwanese government ministry confirmed.

Lee Ming-che was arrested by Chinese authorities in 2017 and charged with subversion of state power. His arrest was Chinas first criminal prosecution of a nonprofit worker since Beijing passed a law tightening controls over foreign non-governmental organizations in 2016.

Lee had given online lectures on Taiwans democratization and managed a fund for families of political prisoners in China.

Spreading democratic ideals is not a crime, said Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council in a statement Friday.

For the past five years, he served his sentence in a prison in central Hunan province. Lee arrived back in Taiwan Friday morning, flying from the southern Chinese city of Xiamen.

His arrest came after relations between China and Taiwan soured, after the island elected Tsai Ing-wen as president. Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party has advocated for Taiwans formal independence. China cut off contact with Taiwans government after Tsai came into office and now sends military planes flying towards the island on a daily basis.

China claims Taiwan is part of its national territory and claims Taiwanese nationals are also Chinese, issuing them a special identity card.
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Police, army and volunteer rescuers on Friday widened the search for dozens still missing five days after the deadliest storm to strike South Africa's coastal city of Durban in living memory as the death toll rose to nearly 400.

The "unprecedented" floods, which affected nearly 41,000, left a trail of destruction and at least 395 people dead.

"Sadly the number of fatalities continues to increase with the latest figure standing at 395," regional head of the disaster managing ministry Sipho Hlomuka said in a statement.

With the government coordinating the search-and-rescue operation, the official number of people missing in KwaZulu-Natal province stood at 55.

A fleet of cars and helicopters carrying police experts set out early Friday to comb through a valley in Marianhill suburb, west of Durban, to look for 12 people reported missing in the floods, AFP correspondents said.

It is an increasingly desperate search for survivors.

Travis Trower, a director for the volunteer-run organisation Rescue South Africa, said his teams had found only corpses after following up 85 calls on Thursday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa -- describing the floods as "a catastrophe of enormous proportions... not seen before in our country" -- urged Good Friday prayers for survivors.

"Let us pray for our people in KwaZulu-Natal so that they receive the healing that is required... so that they can get on with their lives," he told El-Shaddai Tabernacle church congregants in the eastern town of Ermelo.

Thousands of survivors, left homeless after their houses were destroyed, are being housed in shelters scattered across the city, sleeping on cardboard sheets and mattresses laid on floors.

Meanwhile volunteers, with gloves and trash bags, fanned across the city's beaches to pick up debris left by the massive storms ahead of an expected surge of Easter weekend holidaymakers.

- 'Absolute devastation' -

Software manager Morne Mustard, 35, was among the scores of volunteers, who included children, picking up debris and broken reeds from Durban's famous Umhlanga beach.

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"This is my local beach where I bring my kids, and this is where we spend our weekend, so this is for our community,".

He roped in workmates, families and friends to help clean up as beach restaurants offered free breakfast for the volunteers.

Recalling the day the rain fell, Mustard said, "It didn't feel real, absolute devastation, a horrendous sight, stuff spilling out on the beach must have come from someone's house... brooms and mops, household utensils, it was such a heart sore to see."

Some of Durban's poorest residents have lined up to collect water from burst pipes and dug through layers of mud to retrieve their scant possessions.

Ramaphosa declared the region a state of disaster to unlock relief funds.

Weather forecasters said apocalyptic levels of rain were dumped on the region over several days.

Some areas received more than 450 millimetres (18 inches) over 48 hours, or nearly half of Durban's annual rainfall, the national weather service said.

The South African Weather Service issued an Easter weekend warning of thunderstorms and flooding in KwaZulu-Natal.

"According to the warning that we have received, damaging winds are forecast for areas along the coast from midday (Friday) into Saturday evening," said Hlomuka, adding disaster teams were on "high alert".

Over 4,000 police officers have been deployed to help with relief efforts and maintain law and order amid reports of sporadic looting.

The country is still struggling to recover from the two-year-old Covid pandemic and deadly riots last year that killed more than 350 people.

bur-sn/bp
In 1987, Actor Josh Brolin turned down a film role as a "surfer guy" for a spot on a short-lived TV series that would, in the end, change his life. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

For most people, the vastness and splendor of the American West are sources of beauty, wonder and inspiration.

But wandering in those spacious landscapes can also lead to peril. Just ask Josh Brolin, the Oscar-nominated actor praised for his portrayals of complex characters at the mercy of forces outside their control.

In the Coen brothers' "No Country for Old Men," Brolin played welder Llewelyn Moss, whose discovery of the bloody aftermath of a busted $2-million drug deal in the middle of a New Mexican desert puts him in the crosshairs of a psychotic hitman (Javier Bardem).

And in Amazon Prime Video's new neowestern "Outer Range"  think "Yellowstone" meets "The X-Files"  Brolin portrays a haunted Wyoming rancher whose life is further upended when he comes across a massive hole with metaphysical powers in the middle of his property.

In both projects, something wicked his way comes.

"This whole metaphysical thing is really interesting to me and really fun for me," said Brolin of "Outer Range," maintaining that the project fits in with his quest to play offbeat, complicated characters: "I need to be scared."

Brolin, who scored an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of tightly wound politician Dan White in the Harvey Milk biopic "Milk," also starring Sean Penn, was in good spirits as he sat in a Los Angeles hotel room.

A few days earlier, he had presented at the Oscars, and referenced how Hollywood was still buzzing about lead actor winner Will Smith slapping Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

He compared the incident to the premise of "Outer Range."

"It's behaviorally fascinating, if you're able to take the judgement out of it and be somewhat objective," he said. "The parallel to our show is what people will do under extraordinary circumstances, and how many choices do you have when you're confronted with the unknown."

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"Outer Range" marks Brolin's first role as a TV series regular in nearly two decades. After all, he's been busy elsewhere, appearing in several large-scale films in the last several years: A major part in last year's space epic, "Dune," came on the heels of playing the supervillain Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame," another villain named Cable in "Deadpool 2," and headlining alongside Benicio del Toro in two gritty drug cartel dramas, "Sicario" and its sequel "Sicario: Day of the Soldado."

Although he did not know how audiences would respond to "Outer Range"  "my perspective on the show is meaningless at this point," he said  Brolin was encouraged by early positive reactions to the series, on which he is also an executive producer.

Asked what appealed to him about his character, Royal Abbott, he proclaims, "The Secret," alluding to the mystery at the series' center. "I'm not a big secret guy, especially now. I think I was before, and I think I understand what that is. The tone [it sets] as a paternal force  it's not determined all by Royal, but is dictated by him. And you see how that affects in a very negative way everyone in the family."

Even before he discovers the massive hole on his property, Royal has much on his mind. His daughter-in-law has vanished without a trace, and his family, including his religious wife Cecilia (Lili Taylor), is still grieving. He's at war with neighboring ranchers. A drifter named Autumn (Imogen Poots) who is camping on the ranch seems to have a sinister agenda.

"Outer Range" marks Josh Brolin's first role as a TV series regular in nearly two decades, after a string of parts in several large-scale films. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

"Outer Range" creator and executive producer Brian Watkins said he was inspired by his fascination with the West, where he grew up. "It's always been for me a place filled with equal parts wonder and danger. I always tell people you can walk to the edge of a tree line or stand before a mountain and feel like you're staring into another world or dimension. It's a place where exteriors shape interiors."

Abbott's discovery, said Watkins, "sets in motion a stratospheric chain of events that begins to reveal the void within him and his family. And Josh is just dream casting for this part. His performances in the past have informed and shaped our imaginations of the American West."

The first episode, in which Abbott is pursued in the darkness by enemies driving vehicles with bright headlights, might even be described as a shoutout to a similar scene in "No Country for Old Men."

"We needed someone who seemed to have a great secret and is torn up about it," said Watkins.

Brolin said he was drawn to the material for a number of reasons. "I grew up on a ranch in Paso Robles, California. Royal is a laconic man, and he reminds me of a lot of the guys I grew up with. It also reminded me of Sam Shepard, who was a good friend. It harkened me back to his earlier stuff, the sense of Sam. I also know on a practical level what will sustain me, like, 'Am I going to get bored with this halfway through?' Cause I'm not going to give 1,000%, whereas I normally would."

Brolin, whose breakout role came as Brand in "The Goonies" in 1985, recalled being offered a featured part in 1987, when he was in his late teens, in "Back to The Beach"  a comedy that was designed as a "comeback" for 1960s teen sensations Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello.

"I was offered the role of 'the surfer guy,' " said Brolin. "But I was interested in a role in this TV series called 'Private Eye.' When I said I would rather do that, people said it would never happen because they were looking at everyone, doing auditions around the country. Agents were telling me if I didn't do the Frankie and Annette movie, I was a dumb s."

Brolin stood his ground. "I said, 'I'll kick myself if I don't try for this, regardless of the outcome.' And I got the part. The series didn't last, but I met my first wife [actor Alice Adair] and the mother of my two oldest kids. That would not have happened if I had done that movie"  he paused before chuckling  "which, by the way, made $4. No offense to them."

After the frenzy of doing so many blockbuster movies back to back in 2018 and 2019, Brolin decided to step away from the business for a while. During the break, he and his wife, former assistant Kathryn Boyd, had two kids. "Being with them was very important to me," said Brolin.

After taking time off, he signed on for "Dune," which reunited him with his "Sicario" director Denis Villeneuve. "That movie is a work of art, whether you like it or not," said Brolin. "What everybody did collectively on 'Dune' was phenomenal, to create something like that with that book, which is the densest book."

He then jumped to "Outer Range." It was a rigorous shoot in Santa Fe, N.M. "The elements were brutal. At night, it would get down to eight degrees. Lili and I would be doing a scene, and in the middle of it, I'd see her starting to shake."

While proud of the series, Brolin said he's also aware that it's competing against a slew of other projects on streaming, cable and network.



"The only thing that makes it worth it is that you've created something that incites some emotion and is of a tone that I find inspiring. That's all you can do. And I have faith," said Brolin.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
"Game of Thrones" actor Joseph Gatt vehemently denied allegations he engaged in "online sexually explicit communication" with a minor, calling the claims by Los Angeles Police Department detectives "horrifying."

"I obviously want to address the absolutely horrifying and completely untrue allegations recently leveled against me. They are 100% categorically wrong and reckless," Gatt wrote in a statement posted to Twitter Wednesday. "I have confirmed errors and misleading information in todays press release. I am fully cooperating with police and LAPD to get to the bottom of this. I look forward to clearing my good name.

"Thank you to all of my friends and supporters who know that this is untrue and understand for legal reasons I cannot comment further on social media."

'GAME OF THRONES' ACTOR JOSEPH GATT ARRESTED FOR CONTACT WITH A MINOR FOR SEXUAL OFFENSE

Actor Joseph Gatt denied allegations he engaged in "online sexually explicit communication" with a minor. Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic

The LAPDs Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force began investigating Gatt after reportedly receiving a tip.

The "Dumbo" actor was arrested last week and was taken into custody April 6, inmate information obtained by Fox News Digital revealed.

EZRA MILLERS PROJECTS IN JEOPARDY FOLLOWING ARREST: REPORTS

Authorities executed a search warrant at Gatt's home in Los Angeles before he was arrested.

Gatt also had an outstanding felony warrant for his arrest stemming from a similar incident involving a minor victim, police relayed to Fox News Digital. He was arrested for contact with a minor for a sexual offense.

Actor Joseph Gatt arrives for the premiere of Gravitas Ventures' "Lust For Love" at the Harmony Gold Theater Feb. 1, 2014, in Los Angeles. Albert L. Ortega

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Police are now "seeking to identify any additional victims" following Gatt's arrest.
A state appellate court ruled this week that it will not block enforcement of the Pritzker administrations mandate that certain categories of public employees either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing.

The 2-1 ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeals upheld a Sangamon County judges decision on April 1 not to issue a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the policy.

The decision involved three consolidated cases in which public employees are seeking to overturn the mandate. The cases include suits against Gov. J.B. Pritzker, various state agencies, the Pekin Fire Department and the Deland-Weldon school district.

Pritzker first issued a vaccine mandate on Aug. 26, 2021, through an executive order that applied to health care workers, school employees, higher education personnel and students, and state employees who work in congregate facilities. The order also authorized other entities, both public and private, to enact their own vaccination and testing requirements.

The employees sued to block enforcement of the order citing the states Health Care Right of Conscience Act which, among other things, makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone for refusing to receive any particular form of health care that they find contrary to their conscience.

That law was originally enacted to shield health care workers from liability for refusing to perform or assist in abortions. During last years fall veto session, however, lawmakers passed an amendment to that law making a specific exception for health care measures that are intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The 4th District Court of Appeals ruled this week it will not block enforcement of the Pritzker administrations mandate that certain categories of public employees either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing.

That provision does not officially go into effect until June 1. But lawmakers inserted language in the measure stating the section is a declaration of existing law rather than a new enactment.

In other words, the General Assembly said it was only clarifying something that was ambiguous in an existing law, which in this case involved the word discriminate.

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The Sangamon County circuit court cited that law in denying the plaintiffs request for a temporary restraining order, saying that even though it hasnt taken effect yet, it can still be used as an aid in understanding the original statute.

But the plaintiffs appealed, noting the new law has not yet gone into effect while also arguing that even though the amendment claims to be a declaration of existing law, the legislature cannot retroactively change the meaning of an otherwise unambiguous statute.

Appeal from plaintiffs

In their appeal, the plaintiffs cited a 2020 decision from the 2nd District Court of Appeals involving the same statute that said there was nothing ambiguous about the word discriminate.

To the contrary, the ordinary meaning of the word is set forth in its dictionary definition, the 2nd District court wrote.

That case involved a nurse in a public health clinic who claimed religious objections to providing family planning services or referring patients for abortions.

In its ruling Wednesday, however, the 4th District appellate court said that simply because a word has a dictionary definition does not make its meaning within a statute unambiguous. In this case, the court said, it would only be discriminatory if an employer punished workers who refused to be vaccinated or tested as a matter of conscience but did not punish those who refused for other reasons.

Appellate court rejects argument

The vaccine and testing requirements, the court wrote, could actually be seen as merit-based policies because those who are vaccinated or tested are less likely to spread COVID-19 in the workplace.

The plaintiffs also challenged the vaccine and testing mandates under the Illinois Department of Public Health Act, which gives that agency supreme authority in matters of quarantine and isolation.

But the appellate court rejected that argument as well, saying that the employers in the three cases had not quarantined or isolated anyone, but had instead only threatened loss of employment.

To be fired is not to be quarantined or isolated from the community at large, the majority wrote.

Written opinions from judges

The opinion was written by Justice Peter Cavanagh, with Justice James Knecht concurring.

Justice Robert Steigmann wrote a dissenting opinion. He argued that the word discriminate has a clear and understandable meaning and that the legislature included in the statute numerous examples of the kinds of discrimination that are prohibited.

He also argued that the 2021 amendment to the Health Care Right of Conscious Act could be used as an interpretive aid in understanding the original statute because he found nothing unambiguous about the original law.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Ukrayinska Pravda

Iryna Balachuk - Monday, 9 May 2022, 08:50 In an attempt to avoid taking part in hostilities in Zaporizhzhia Region, Russian soldiers have shelled 20 of their own vehicles. Source: Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration on Telegram Quote from Zaporizhzhia Military Administration: "According to local residents, Russian troops have shelled 20 of their own vehicles in Polohy in order to avoid going to the front line; they blamed the shelling on [Ukrainian] resistance fighters in the temporar
People once traveled from around the world to experience Southern food from Aunt Fannys Cabin and now its legacy, laden with painful memories of racism, is a point of contention within the Georgia community.

Aunt Fannys Cabin, a restaurant in Smyrna, Georgia, was known as much for its irresistible Southern cuisine south of the Mason-Dixon area as it was for its racist depiction of plantation life. As of 1992, the restaurant has not been in operation but its dilapidated structure, a ghost of what it was in its heyday, remained to remind and even taunt residents in the area.

Ever since, the Smyrna and surrounding community have been divided on whether Aunt Fannys Cabin ought to be upheld and maintained for legacys sake, or whether it should be cast away with the racist past it descends from.

The contention lies in the ugly story behind this restaurants loveless handling of a painful past for African Americans. The restaurants success was not solely based on the famous Smithfield hams, fried chicken and macaroni squash; it had a darker relationship with the wider Black population. When the Campbells, a white family and owners of the restaurant, first turned the two-room cabin into a restaurant, they designed it as a depiction of the Antebellum South.

It was at first an antique mart and tea shop, with a few offerings from Williams food preparations. Once visitors took more interest in Williams southern cuisine, it became the center-piece of the restaurant: Aunt Fannys Cabin was born.

With Williams being the face of this new restaurant that evoked a blatant celebration of an oppression that kept Black southerners segregated and dehumanized, the Campbells didnt stop at the old mammy symbolism. Black boys were hired as servers, used to entertain guests and sing the menu to mostly white patrons while wearing wooden menu boards around their necks, according to the Washington Post in 1992.

It attracted many from across the country and the globe. Particularly through the 50s onwards it attracted many celebrities: Ty Cobb, Jackie Gleason, Liberace, James Cagney, Walt Disney, Martha Raye and Susan Hayward, who met her last husband there.

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When the Campbells sold the restaurant in 1954 some of the racist tropes and depictions of African American culture and history remained but the menu boys were banned in 1987 when the state labor board invoked child labor laws.

In the Atlanta area, there was Aunt Fannys Cabin. They made the black staff dress like slaves and hired young men or boys to wear the end around their necks. https://t.co/psDxXlrDX8 pic.twitter.com/yakJGXGHpi  Done with this crap (@nclivingnc) June 17, 2020

Most recently, officials made a decision to preserve Aunt Fannys Cabin, but not in its original location. Rather than spending money on rejuvenation, the site will be moved to a nearby farm.

Today, the divided reaction is as centered on the emotional triggers of the physical presence of the restaurant standing in the town as it is on the need to acknowledge and preserve history as it happened. Whether vocalized or not, it is clear that at the forefront of this debate lies the eponymous Aunt Fanny herself, a Southerner by birth who appeared to be a huge part of the small metro Atlanta community.

According to Smyrna historian Mike Terry, Fanny Williams was a pioneering civil rights activist who spoke out passionately against Cobb Countys Ku Klux Klan and helped raise money to build the states first all-Black hospital in Marietta. When the restaurant was at its height, Williams was said to be on the porch retelling stories of slavery for mostly white diners. This was a front, as Williams was actually born 3 years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation.

A Georgia Restaurant Has a Racist History. What Should Become of It? At Aunt Fannys Cabin, which closed years ago, young Black waiters sang for white patrons. The community is divided over how, and whether, to preserve the institutions legacy.https://t.co/B5gBbnHUhs pic.twitter.com/o0GJlTc7tz  soulPhoodie (@soulphoodie) April 7, 2022

For some, the ongoing fear ever since the restaurants demise is that Williams will be erased and shut out of the history for future retelling of life in Georgia.

The city is embarrassed and instead of figuring out how to honor Fanny Williams, they want to erase her, shared Maryline Blackburn, a leader of the Coalition to Save Aunt Fannys Cabin, a group of Black and white residents that worked to preserve the building in The New York Times. Those images of the boys with the menus are atrocious. However, that is a part of history. You cant change it. You cant take it away, sweep it under a rug to make yourself feel better about it.

Others believe that the restaurant is best to be erased from the history of Smyrna, as it does nothing to empower the Black community in the Atlanta region or indeed the country.

Why would we want to memorialize that, spend money on it, and stick a city of Smyrna sign on it like, This is our history, and were proud of it, said Councilman Travis Lindley, the task forces chairman during a November 18 gathering of task force members. There is nothing to be proud of.

Lisa Castleberry, who worked there in the 1970s, told The New York Times that simply passing by the now-vacant building regularly reminds her of a painful time in Smyrnas history. Upon learning of the decision to move the restaurant to a nearby site, Castleberry said that while she had hoped the building would be demolished, she was relieved that it would be moved from the city and she and others would not have to see it daily.

The question remains, do we hold a responsibility to maintain degrading, painful parts of Black history in our cities and towns or do we reclaim and remodel so to create safe spaces that represent progressive societies?

Related: Africatown, Where The Last Known Slave Ship To The U.S. Was Found, Wants To Attract Tourists
TheGrio spoke with agency leaders on ways their departments plan to fulfill President Bidens executive order to ensure government services are distributed equitably.

The Biden-Harris administration unveiled on Thursday a massive government-wide action plan to advance racial equity across 90 federal agencies with more than 300 strategies and commitments laid out by government leaders.

The announcements from the dozens of federal agencies are the start of fulfilling an executive order signed by President Joe Biden on his first day in office to advance racial equity across the entire federal government.

In a video announcing the racial equity action plans, President Biden acknowledged that the commitments laid out by his administration must not be seen as just a one-year project but a generational commitment.

These plans are an important step forward, reflecting the Biden-Harris administrations work to make the promise of America real for every American, said the president.

From the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Education to the Environmental Protection Agency, each federal agency released its action plan to advance racial equity to close the myriad gaps in services available to underserved communities.

Susan Rice, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, led the administrations racial equity apparatus to ensure that all U.S. departments adhered to President Bidens order to evaluate their agencies and implement strategies to ensure that their services reached communities that have been historically underserved and underrepresented, including Black, Latino, LGBTQ+, Tribal and rural populations.

Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice speaks during the daily press briefing at the White House on January 26, 2021 in Washington, DC. Rice discussed plans for President Bidens racial equity agenda. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Rice told theGrio, It will matter in everyday lives, whether youre trying to buy a home and want to be sure youre not getting cheated by the home appraisal, whether youre trying to access unemployment insurance and its too hard and the paperwork is too onerous.

Whether youre a Black mom trying to ensure that when youre getting ready to have your child and the options for you are such that youre not disproportionately likely to suffer adverse outcomes[or] Im a small business [and] I want to access federal government contracts and I want to export my products.

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She added, All of these are things that the federal government can play a role in rectifying What we are doing through this historic action is making sure that all of our agencies are firing on all cylinders to deliver for everybody.

The investments made by the federal government will show up in very real and tangible ways, said Rice.

The average American will see improvements in their ability to get unemployment insurance, their ability to get a small business loan, their ability to get a piece of the federal contract, their ability to access educational opportunities, and access health care that is affordable, explained Rice, who previously served as National Security Advisor to former President Barack Obama.

The passion for expanding equity and opportunity runs in Rices blood as her late mother, Lois Rice, was known as the mother of the Pell Grant program as she notably lobbied for the United States Congress to pass legislation that ultimately created the popular federal financial aid program that now supports millions of American college students annually.

Rice noted that President Bidens budget request would ensure that the maximum Pell Grant is twice as large as it was when he took office.

This is just one of the ways in which we are trying to bring greater equity and opportunity to underserved communities so that people who may not otherwise have the resources to go to college, whether its a two-year college or a four-year college, can do so, which we all know is one of the key things that one can do to have a brighter future and have the opportunity to build wealth, she added.

Students who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are notably large recipients of Pell Grants, as about 70% of them rely on the financial aid program. HBCUs are a focus of some of the racial equity action plans enlisted by agencies like the Department of Education and the Department of Energy.

Students and others listen during a discussion with US Vice President Kamala Harris as she tours Hampton University during a visit highlighting Historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs on September 10, 2021, in Hampton, Virginia. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

In addition to increasing the amount of investment in Pell Grants by the Education Department, other departments are committing to investing in educational and innovative programs targeting HBCU students. The Department of Commerce, for example, is ensuring that its U.S. Patent Office is undertaking initiatives to train students on how to navigate financial barriers in seeking intellectual property for their enterprises.

More notably, the Department of Energy is committing to increased investment in STEM research and workforce development at HBCUs (over $59 million) and investing $43 million to support apprenticeships for HBCU students and development programs for HBCU faculty at half a dozen of its national labs.

The Energy Departments senior advisor on equity, Shalanda Baker, who helped spearhead the agencys announced strategies, told theGrio that students will have the opportunity to research scientific data related to areas like climate change and innovation, or as Baker described doing, the actual work with lab professionals.

Its not always the sexiest stuff, but its an opportunity for them to really get to see how this work happens, and just get engaged so that they see that theres a place for them at the department [and] theres a place for them in these types of sophisticated research institutions, said Baker. She added that its also an opportunity for labs to see how great HBCUs are.

Beyond HBCUs, the Department of Energy is also focusing on other areas like ensuring that Black and Brown communities are better prepared for the effects of climate change, such as the weatherization of homes. Weatherizing a home entails upgrades that protect a home from the weather, such as the sun or rain, and reduce energy consumption.

The departments Office of Economic Impact and Diversity also released its criteria for identifying communities under the Biden Administrations touted Justice40 initiative, which commits 40% of federal investments in climate and clean energy to underserved communities.

The President campaigned on showing up for environmental justice communities, showing up for Black and Brown communities, and at the Department of Energy, the Secretary is committed to delivering on these commitments, Baker told theGrio.

TheGrio also spoke with SBA Administrator Isabel Guzman about her departments commitment to increasing the number of federal contracts for Black and Brown small businesses.

(Credit: Adobe Stock)

I really believe wholeheartedly that this is such a unique opportunity for the SBA, more of a known entity than ever before, to be able to build bridges to communities, underserved communities, especially for people of color who have not been able to overcome those historic barriers to capital access in which SBA specializes, Guzman told theGrio. Were just really looking forward to the push of this equity agenda and strengthening our actions as a result.

Guzman added, We recognize over the past 10 years the face of entrepreneurship has been changing, and so its become a strong priority across the board to better serve those entrepreneurs and meet them where they are.

Over at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement provided to theGrio that her departments equity action plan is an important milestone.

HUD, which recently announced new efforts to end racial bias in home lending and home appraisals, announced on Thursday that it would also invest in staff capacity and issue guidances and new rules to safeguard against housing discrimination, make improvements to its Homeless Response System by partnering with other agencies to reduce entry into homelessness from foster care, the criminal justice system, and other institutions, and to improve the collection of gender identity, race, and ethnicity data.

For HUD, equity is central to our founding principles and the work we do each day. Staff from all corners of our Department contributed to HUDs Equity Action Plan, which ultimately focuses on 2 key areas: reducing the racial homeownership gap and improving equity in the delivery of services to people experiencing homelessness, said Fudge. I am proud to join President Biden and the Administrations call to ensure everyone has access to an affordable place to live.

TheGrio is now on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post Biden-Harris administration unveils government-wide action plans on racial equity appeared first on TheGrio.
Bob Saget's three daughters were among those who said their final goodbyes to Gilbert Gottfried on Thursday.

Saget's adult daughters, Aubrey, Jennifer and Lara, were in attendance for the late comedian's funeral, which took place in Westchester, New York on Thursday morning, Gottfried's friend and fellow comedian Jeff Ross told PEOPLE.

"What was very heartwarming was seeing Bob Saget's daughters at the service," said Ross, who gave an emotional eulogy at the service, held two days after Gottfried died at age 67.

The beloved star and Saget  who died in January at age 65 due to head trauma  had a longstanding friendship and often crossed paths in the comedy world.

After the Full House actor's death earlier this year, Gottfried shared a note about his friend on Instagram. "Still in shock. I just spoke with Bob a few days ago," he wrote beside a photo of them with late comedian Louie Anderson. "We stayed on the phone as usual making each other laugh. RIP to friend, comedian & fellow Aristocrat Bob Saget."

bob saget and his daughters with gilbert Gottfried inset

Ilya S. Savenok/Getty; Jim Spellman/WireImage Bob Saget with two of his daughters

RELATED: Gilbert Gottfried Laid to Rest in Star-Studded, Joke-Filled Funeral: 'He Would Have Loved It'

On Wednesday, following news that Gottfried had died, Saget's widow, Kelly Rizzo, reflected on her late husband's friendship with the comedian by sharing a photo of them alongside Ross, 56, and Norm Macdonald, who died in September at age 61 after a private battle with cancer.

"Bob loved Gilbert so dearly, they had a special friendship," Rizzo, 42, wrote. "As he did with everyone in this photo. And sending my love to my wonderful friend Jeff as Gilbert's loss is beyond painful for him. Thinking of Dara his amazing & strong wife right now. Much love & support to his family."

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

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Gilbert Gottfried with Fellow Comedians Bob Saget and Louie Anderson

Gilbert Gottfried/Twitter

RELATED: Kelly Rizzo Pays Tribute to Gilbert Gottfried and His Connection to Bob Saget: 'Special Friendship'

Sharing that same image on Thursday, Rizzo added on her Instagram Story, "This photo is so surreal to me. And god bless Jeff for always making people laugh even in the saddest times. Bob loved all the people at this table so damn much. RIP sweet Gilbert. I had a long conversation with him in Jan when he called me with condolences and I reminded him how much Bob adored him. He was so so kind and sweet."

Gottfried died Tuesday from complications of a rare muscle disease, his publicist confirmed to PEOPLE. "Beloved and iconic comedian Gilbert Gottfried passed away at 2:35 p.m. ET on April 12, 2022, from Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia due to Myotonic Dystrophy type II," his rep said.

The actor and comedian was best known for his legendary voice, which he lent to the character Iago in Aladdin, as well as other projects like PBS Kids series Cyberchase. In recent years, Gottfried hosted the podcast, Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast!, which aired its latest episode on April 4.

kelly rizzo tribute

Kelly Rizzo/Instagram Kelly Rizzo's Instagram Story

In addition to Saget's daughters, Colin Quinn, Dave Attell, Mario Cantone, Susie Essman and Paul Shaffer all attended Gottfried's funeral service on Thursday.

Whoopi Goldberg, although not in attendance, sent a gift in honor of Gottfried, and comedian Sarah Silverman is planning on sitting shiva with a slew of the Aladdin voice actor's friends and family.

"The shiva tonight will be a star-studded event and the funeral was just absolutely perfect," Ross told PEOPLE. "Gilbert would have loved it. I saw so many great comics there paying their respects."

Continuing, Ross noted, "Some of the guys that helped Gilbert write those Comedy Central roasts  Aaron Lee and Jordan Rubin  they wanted to pay their respects. They were part of that team that helped him rip the roof off those roasts."

"It was cathartic but there was also a sense of relief," Ross added. "As I said at the funeral, Gilbert had been sick, he was tired, and he had perfect timing. He knew it was his time to get off the stage."

Gottfried is survived by his wife Dara, 14-year-old daughter Lily and 12-year-old son Max.
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The Daily Beast

Lauderdale County SheriffThe former lawyer for Casey White, who pulled off a spectacular escape with his jailer Vicky White from the Lauderdale County Jail in Alabama last week, is concerned about his one-time clients state of mind.Dale Bryant, who was Whites public defender in his appeal against 2019 convictions for a slew of violent crimes, told local news outlets that in his mind White could be drawn into a firefight with police if he is not on his meds. When Casey is on his medication and
A nurse gives a Pfizer-BioNTech shot to Gizelle Carrillo, 14, at Eagle Rock High School on Aug. 30. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

California will not require schoolchildren to be immunized for COVID-19 after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he is pausing a state mandate set to go into effect before the upcoming academic year while an influential Democratic lawmaker said he will drop his bill pushing even stricter inoculation rules.

Newsom made headlines in October when he announced California would be the first state to mandate the vaccine in schools once shots were fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for children ages 12 and older, with the requirement going into effect by July 1. On Thursday, the California Department of Public Health announced that the timeline will be pushed back to at least July 1, 2023, since the FDA has not yet fully approved the vaccine for children and the state will need time afterward to initiate its rule-making process.

Newsom's office said that after the FDA approves the vaccine for children 12 and older, state public health officials will consider recommendations from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other groups prior to implementing a school vaccine requirement.

Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is fully approved for ages 16 and older, and there is only an emergency authorization in place for ages 5 to 15, which is a lesser standard than full approval.

CDPH strongly encourages all eligible Californians, including children, to be vaccinated against COVID-19, California Department of Public Health Director and State Public Health Officer Dr. Tomas J. Aragon said in a statement. We continue to ensure that our response to the COVID-19 pandemic is driven by the best science and data available.

Newsoms mandate is limited to grades seven through 12 and allows parents to opt out because of personal beliefs. The state is required to offer broader personal belief exemptions for any newly required vaccine unless it is added through a new law to the list of shots students must receive to attend California schools.

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Newsom's announcement came hours after state Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) said he will pull from consideration Senate Bill 871, which would have added COVID-19 vaccines to Californias list of required inoculations for attending K-12 schools, prerequisites that can be skipped only if a student receives a rare medical exemption from a doctor.

Pan introduced SB 871 in January, saying it would ensure schools can stay open while offering backup to districts such as Los Angeles Unified that have struggled with their own mandates. He said the state needs to focus on increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines and ensuring families have accurate information about the benefits of inoculation.

"Until childrens access to COVID vaccination is greatly improved, I believe that a statewide policy to require COVID vaccination in schools is not the immediate priority, although it is an appropriate safety policy for many school districts in communities with good vaccine access," Pan said.

The bill, however, faced familiar backlash from anti-vaccine activists and parents who said the state should not make medical decisions for their children.

"This is a major victory for students and parents across California who made their voices heard," said Assemblymember Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin), a vaccine mandate critic.

In December, the L.A. Unified school board voted to push back enforcing its mandate from January to this fall, citing concerns over disrupting learning for students. At the time, the district would have had to transfer thousands of unvaccinated students into its online independent study program, which was already struggling.

The districts mandate will require students 12 and older to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by the start of the fall semester, unless they have an approved medical exemption or receive a rare extension. In delaying the directive, the district said 87% of eligible students had shown proof of vaccination, obtained a medical exemption or received an extension.

On Thursday, a spokesperson for L.A. Unified, after being asked about Pan scrapping the legislation and the state's vaccine mandate postponement, said the district will continue to review, assess and consult with our medical experts as we remain guided by the prevailing science and updated policies from local, state and federal health authorities.

Pan's decision to pull his bill marked the second time in recent weeks that a vaccine bill was held. Last month, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) said she would suspend action on Assembly Bill 1993, which would have required employees and independent contractors, in both public and private workplaces, to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment unless they have an exemption based on a medical condition, disability or religious beliefs. Wicks cited improved pandemic conditions and opposition from public safety unions.

The two bills were part of a larger package of legislation introduced by Democratic lawmakers who formed a vaccine working group earlier this year. The bills that remain active include Senate Bill 866 by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which would allow children 12 and up to be vaccinated without parental consent and Assembly Bill 1797 by Assemblymember Akilah Weber (D-San Diego), which would allow California school officials to more easily check student vaccine records by expanding access to a statewide immunization database.

Also moving forward is Assembly Bill 2098 by Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Campbell), which would make it easier for the Medical Board of California to discipline doctors who promote COVID-19 misinformation by classifying it as unprofessional conduct.

"I and my colleagues in the Vaccine Work Group will continue to advance policies to protect Californians from preventable COVID disease," Pan said.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
A California man pleaded guilty Thursday to threatening Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, federal prosecutors said

Eugene Huelsman, 59, left a voicemail at Gaetzs Florida office Jan. 9, 2021, in which he said, in part, Im gonna put a bullet in you" and called him a "tyrant," according to court documents.

The threat was a reaction to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump, who had lost the November election, Huelsmans attorney said.

Huelsman, of Thousand Oaks, which is near Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to one count of transmission of a threat in interstate commerce, the U.S. Attorneys Office for Northern Florida said in a statement.

The charge carries up to five years in prison. Plea agreement documents do not lay out a possible sentencing range.

Huelsman did not intend for the threat to be taken literally but acknowledged that it could have been, his attorney, Curtis Fallgatter, said Friday. He was just outraged about the attack on the Capitol, Fallgatter said.

He made a call that he shouldnt have, Fallgatter said.

Huelsman had been investigated in 2018 by the Secret Service for prior social media postings related to member of a former presidents family, a document associated with the plea agreement says. It does not name the president.

Fallgatter said that was a short Instagram message to Donald Trump Jr., which the lawyer described as die, with a profane word, and that it was not a crime.

Sentencing is set for June 30.
Even before the invasion of Ukraine, President Biden has been candid about Russia's aggression. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

You can watch for yourself.

A cyclist dismounts from a bike, walks it along one road in Bucha, Ukraine, and turns onto a street where a Russian tank is parked mid-block. The tank fires.

You see the result in another video made weeks later, after Ukrainian forces re-entered the town: Man and bike, both mangled, lying in the same spot you last saw him.

Tank versus man. If the cyclist had been a soldier at war, this would be horrifying enough. But he plainly wasnt. Inside that tank was another man. Playing sniper with its big guns. Against civilians.

This is just one bit of evidence of Russias war crimes in the mountain of proof that has piled up in just seven weeks of horror. At the behest of their commander in chief, Vladimir Putin, Russian soldiers are warring without provocation against a civilian population in ways we havent witnessed in our lifetimes.

And thats the unprecedented point: We are witnesses.

We are the first generation to see the atrocities of war or their aftermath, or both, through verified evidence like the aerial camera footage that memorialized the cyclists murder and through civilians cellphone videos. There are also the photos and videos from international journalists and broadcast networks and from human-rights organizations and forensic investigators already on the ground to document Russias crimes  Putins crimes. There will be more. Putin has doubled down, putting a new commander, the reputed Butcher of Syria, in charge.

Basement torture chambers. Beheadings and dismemberments. Executions of bound civilians. Sniper deaths of unarmed pedestrians. Corpses incinerated, desecrated, even booby-trapped. The Washington Post described 21-year-old Dmytro Chaplyhin, beaten black and blue and shot in the chest, his body tied to the tripwire of a mine.

Mass deportations of Ukrainians to filtration camps in Russia. Rapes of girls and women. Of 25 women held captive and raped in a Bucha basement, nine became pregnant, according to a Ukrainian human rights official. Bombings that killed dozens of fleeing civilians at a rail station, hundreds at a theater-turned-shelter for women and children, and others at a maternity and childrens hospital, one of scores of medical centers the Russians have hit.

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Excuse me if I dont join the tut-tutting about President Biden, after he once again departed from diplo-speak, this time to accuse Russia of genocide.

The presidents truth-telling on Tuesday followed undiplomatic remarks last month condemning Putin as a war criminal, before the Biden administration had officially applied that label, and ad-libbing about the Russian leader in a speech in Warsaw: For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power.

French President Emmanuel Macron led the critics, telling French television that Bidens remarks were unhelpful to peace-making. As if Putin shows any sign of wanting peace.

It was Macron, not Biden, who stepped in it: Genocide has a meaning, the French leader said, that might not apply between Russians and Ukrainians because these two peoples are brothers. The diplomatically self-righteous Macron essentially parroted Putins propaganda  echoed with genocidal overtones from the Kremlin and state-controlled media  that has long denied the national identity of Ukrainians to justify Russias subjugation of them.

Yes, words matter, especially the words of a U.S. president. And words like genocide and war crimes have distinct meanings, defined by international law dating to the Nuremberg trials of German Nazis. The United Nations 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide describes genocide as a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part.

Thats clearly what Biden had in mind when he said in Iowa on Tuesday that Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian.

Typically, however, the rare U.S. determination of genocide follows the governments exhaustive documentation and legal review. Well let the lawyers decide whether Russias brutality qualifies, Biden acknowledged, but it sure seems that way to me.

His short-circuiting of that process puts pressure on his administration to make the case officially, and could even lead to more direct U.S. military involvement in Ukraine, which he has resisted. Those risks are worth taking.

This is a 79-year-old president who, while famously prone to gaffes or emotional candor, marinated in decades of diplomacy as a senator, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and vice president. Yet as president, he finds himself as the leader of the free world during the first war to be livestreamed as well as photographed and filmed by countless victims, with all its barbarity in gory color. In response, cautiously chosen words from the American president would come across as just more diplo-babble.

I understand the diplomats wanting to be careful, and the president has to be careful as well, former Sen. Christopher J. Dodd told me. Yet Dodd, whose father Thomas was a prosecutor at Nuremberg before becoming a Connecticut senator, and who has focused on human rights law himself, said Biden understandably expresses his emotions given what hes seen, and in so doing has given voice to what most Americans think is going on.

The experts and diplomats tell us that, for all the evidence of war crimes, identifying and prosecuting the Russians responsible will be difficult. They say Putin most likely will never sit in the dock as Hitlers henchmen did, even if hes charged.

But we know what were seeing, and naming and shaming is not nothing. Let Biden be Biden.

@jackiekcalmes

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Canceling student loan debt through executive action is "still on the table," said White House press secretary Jen Psaki, after the Biden administration once again delayed the restart of federal student loan payments earlier this month.

The White House has faced continued questions about what the administration will do about the student loan debt crisis since the president took office more than a year ago. Psaki made the remarks during an interview with the podcast Pod Save America in Washington, D.C.

The White House announced last week it was extending the pause of federal student loans through August 31. That pause, which has been in place since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, was set to expire on May 1, but had already been pushed back multiple times under first the Trump and then Biden administrations.

"So between now and August 31st, it's either going to be extended or we're going to make a decision, as Ron referenced, about canceling student debt," said Psaki, acknowledging previous remarks by White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who said in early April the administration would make a decision before the previous May 1 deadline or extend the pause as well.

Psaki said the president's preference remains Congress taking action to address student loan debt because it's more permanent. President Biden has called for legislative action to cancel $10,000 in student loan debt, but action on student loan debt has seen no movement in the closely divided Congress.

Meanwhile, some Democratic lawmakers are calling for the president to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt, arguing Biden has the power to do so immediately.

More than 43 million borrowers now have more than $1.6 trillion in federal student loan debt, according to the Education Department. The average federal student loan debt balance is more than $37,000. Throughout the pandemic, most borrowers have had to make no payments toward their loans. And interest on federal loan balances have been set at 0%.

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While most borrowers remain in limbo over whether the administration will cancel student loan debt, the Biden administration has taken some steps to forgive certain student loan debt including for borrowers who were defrauded by their schools, debt held by those with permanent disabilities and through changes to the public service loan forgiveness program. More than $17 billion in student loan debt has been canceled since the president took office.

"Since Day 1, the president has been very focused on making sure we're protecting our borrowers and putting them first in the conversations and decisions that we're making," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told CBS News on Tuesday.

In announcing that the student loan payment pause would be extended through the end of August, the Education Department also announced it would be giving borrowers who were previously delinquent in student loan payments or in default a "fresh start." While exactly what the move will look like remains to be seen, Cardona said it would allow borrowers to get back on their feet and make sure there's no mark on their credit score as they begin to repay their loans.

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We finally know Cardi B and Offset's son's name.

Cardi B shared the first photos of her son, who was born on Sept. 4, 2021 on Thursday afternoon.

In the post, she still didn't reveal her son's name, only writing the dinosaur, wave, and teddy bear emoji.

Over on Offset's Instagram page however, he shared a different photo of the tot with the caption: "WAVE SET CEPHUS."

Cardi B later shared photos from an Essence magazine photo shoot of her entire family, including her and Offset's 3-year-old, Kulture Kiari. The shoot also featured Kody, Jordan and Kalea, Offset's children from previous relationships.

"Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen for me and our family," she wrote in her Instagram post. "I love having a huge family with all of our kids and Im grateful that we are making our blended family work."

Since his birth, Cardi B and Offset have largely kept baby Wave out of the public eye.

In a March post, Cardi B jokingly shared an extreme close up of her son's eye as fans asked for more photos.

Ugh I wish I can take my sweet baby teething pain away, she wrote at the time. He been sad all day.

When a fan replied that Our baby cousin got teeth coming in and we aint seen him yet," Cardi B shared the eye picture.

Thats all yall will get," she clapped back.

Baby Wave's low key internet presence comes in stark contrast to his older sister Kulture, who has her own Instagram account with more than 2 million followers and run by her famous mom.
A man from Georgetown received a 27-year prison sentence on Thursday after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.

Philip Abel, 36, was sentenced by a federal judge in Lexington Thursday after he previously pleaded guilty to enticing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct, according to the Department of Justice.

In addition to his prison time, Abel is also required to pay $15,000 in restitution, the DOJ said. He is required to serve 85% of his prison sentence, whichc would be nearly 23 years. He will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for life after hes released.

According to Abels plea agreement, he used Freenet, a file sharing network, to request files associated with the sexual exploitation of children. Law enforcement officials also found at least 30 deleted photos of pre-pubescent females in various sexual poses that were taken at Abels property.

Abel later admitted to the offenses. He pleaded guilty in September 2021.
Apr. 14The ProsperityPAC of the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce today announced campaign contributions to two local candidates in the May 24 Republican primary, an action that came two years after the PAC decided against injecting itself into Decatur's municipal election.

The political action committee said it will contribute $2,500 each to state House District 4 challenger Patrick Johnson and Morgan County Commission District 2 incumbent Randy Vest.

Johnson is facing incumbent Parker Moore and Sheila Banister for the GOP nomination in the district that includes portions of Morgan and Limestone counties.

Vest, completing his third term, is facing political newcomer Stephen D. Johnson, an operator for Hartselle Utilities.

ProsperityPAC is political action committee in which its funds are separate from the chamber operations.

 bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432. Twitter @DD_BayneHughes.
Apr. 14CHEYENNE  Mike Coughenour wasn't necessarily thrilled to walk a block in high-heeled shoes in below-freezing temperatures.

But he was interested in what the action represented.

Coughenour was one of several men and women who took part in Wednesday's "Walk in Her Shoes" event, put on by Cheyenne's Safehouse Services, which provides shelter and resources to victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking, elder abuse and trafficking. Attendees walked in high heels around the Depot Plaza, with some of the men carrying signs with slogans like: "I am man enough to walk in her shoes."

The event was held to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which takes place in April.

"From the military stance, from the society stance, we can do better," said Coughenour, who works as security forces manager for the Wyoming Air National Guard's 253rd Security Forces Squadron.

By putting on high heels, men were offered a humorous way to engage with a serious, pervasive issue. One out of six women have experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetimes, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, also known as RAINN.

And although women are more likely to become victims, men also experience sexual assault: about 3% of American men have experienced rape or attempted rape in their lifetimes, RAINN says. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 43% of men reported some kind of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetimes. (For women, it's 81%.)

Safehouse Executive Director Carla Thurin told the roughly two dozen people gathered inside the depot that, while the purpose of Wednesday's event was to raise awareness for sexual assault, it rarely exists "in a silo" away from other offenses, such as domestic violence, stalking or human trafficking.

Anna Nasset, who runs advocacy organization Stand Up Resources, also briefly spoke to attendees about her decade-long experience with stalking. She said her stalker, a man she didn't know, is currently serving 10 years in prison for the crime.

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Now, with her "decade of freedom," Nasset advocates for other victims and survivors of gender-based violence.

"I just go out and do whatever I can to make sure that others get that same justice," she said.

Nasset, who is based in Vermont, said she was asked to visit F.E. Warren Air Force Base to give a couple of talks. On Thursday, she planned to share her survival story, talk about how bystanders can prevent things like sexual assault, discuss issues of consent and describe how to support someone who has disclosed a sexual assault.

"One important thing is to start by believing," she told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

Thurin said it was Cheyenne's first "Walk in Her Shoes" event since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A focus of this year's event, the Safehouse director said, was to bring together members of Laramie County's Coordinated Community Response Team. The team, which meets twice a month, seeks to serve all victims of crimes like intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and child and elder abuse.

"(We) discuss what we're doing to make sure no victims fall through the cracks," she said. "Anybody who helps victims in our community comes to the table."

Alongside law enforcement, the CCR Team includes Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners from Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, the Laramie County District Attorney's Office, victim advocates at F.E. Warren, CASA  Court Appointed Special Advocates for children  and Safe Harbor, a children's justice center, Thurin said.

Coughenour joked that, after the walk, he'd be skipping the gym for the day.

"My feet hurt, calves are on fire ... but it gives that perspective, for sure," he said. "Doing things like this, bringing awareness  I can walk a little bit around the depot for a little bit more awareness."

Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack.
CHICAGO  Russian President Vladimir Putin committed a major strategic error in believing his invasion of Ukraine would fragment Western democracies, the British foreign minister for Europe and North America said in Chicago this week.

Instead, Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly said, Putin saw the NATO alliance and allied countries unite against Russian aggression in a sign of democracys resilience.

Democracy is messy. Democracy is untidy, and to an autocratic leader like Putin, it probably always looks as if its on the verge of collapse, Cleverly, the British equivalent of U.S. secretary of state, said in an interview in Chicago with the Tribune on Wednesday.

I think Putin read all the wrong lessons from the natural processes that liberal democracies go through  the elections, the criticism, Cleverly said. He was clearly not listening to the people who should know better or didnt know better and pursued this ego-driven attack on Ukraine. And then, when the messy, untidy democracies of the liberal world saw what happened, instead of falling apart like he thought we would, we pull together because thats what we do.

Cleverlys visit to Chicago was part of a tour, which that also included stops in Washington, D.C., Missouri and Minnesota, aimed at solidifying the United Kingdoms preexisting relationships in an really scary time amid a backdrop of pandemic and war.

In Chicago, Cleverly traveled to the Ukrainian Village neighborhood and spoke with residents there. He said it was quite tough, emotionally speaking with people whove got family members who are under attack. He also met with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul; Samir Mayekar, Chicagos deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development; and Michael Fassnacht, the president and CEO of World Business Chicago.

In Missouri, Cleverly traveled to Westminster College in Fulton, the site of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchills declaration in 1946 that following World War II the Soviet Union was draping an Iron Curtain of communist control over neighboring countries. The famous speech has often been cited as helping usher in the Cold War. Putins move into Ukraine has stirred a belief that he wants to lead a restoration of the Soviet Union as a world power after its internal collapse in 1991.

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In the 1946 speech, Churchill declared a special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.

You know, the fact that theres a Democrat in the White House and a conservative in Westminster, somehow that would pull us apart, Cleverly said, characterizing Putins view of the U.S.-U.K relationship between President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Totally the opposite. And I strongly believe that its been a shock to Vladimir Putin. And for me, I think its something that we should be incredibly proud of.

In addition to nations uniting on worldwide economic sanctions against Russia, Cleverly touted efforts that have provided military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. His visit came as Biden announced an additional $800 million in U.S. weaponry, ammunition and security assistance to Ukraine as Russia appears to gear up for a renewed assault.

Johnson, the British prime minister, made a surprise visit to Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a trip Cleverly said was aimed at demonstrating visibly and publicly that both literally and metaphorically the British prime minister was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with President Zelenskyy and gave the Ukrainians a moral boost in a really, really difficult time.

As to whether allied nations are doing enough to help Ukraine, Cleverly said, We need to give the Ukrainians the tools to push back and push back hard against the Russian invasion so that Putin is forced to engage properly with peace talks in a way that at this moment, up until this point, he hasnt been.

At the same time, Cleverly said, it was incumbent upon us all to highlight to the Russian people the horrors that are being perpetrated in their name, that they dont know about, and they currently are being lied to systematically by their own national leadership.

How this is resolved, ultimately, must be guided heavily by the Ukrainians. This is their nation. They are the ones who will decide when they would accept a peace settlement ... and what the terms are. Theyre the ones that will have to live with it, he said. Zelenskyy is not going to roll over. Hes not going to take a bad deal. We need to make sure, again echoing Winston Churchill, we need to give him the tools to get the job done.

But as the war in Ukraine continues, there also will be a price paid by the citizens of Western democracies over trying to rein in Russian aggression, Cleverly said.

I think we need to recognize that there is a bill to be paid and we are seeing this across the Western world  food prices going up, gas prices are going up  and those increases are a direct result of Putins invasion of Ukraine, he said.

Now, both in Washington and Westminster and in capital cities around the world, were going to have to do whatever we can to try and mitigate those pressures to try and help people get to work and fill their shopping trolleys and thats not going to be easy. But the simple truth is that these pressures became inevitable the day that that war started, he said.


The Daily Beast

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Carabinieri MIlano/FindMadeline.comJust a few days shy of what would be Madeleine McCanns 19th birthday, a break in the case points to everyones worst fears: that the young Briton was abducted, sold and killed by a pedophile sex ring that worked in and around the Portuguese resort town where she disappeared 15 years ago.Thousands of tips and hundreds of sightings over the years led to dead ends until Christian Bruckner was officially named a
Apr. 15One school in Clark County was honored with the Purple Star Award this year by the Ohio Department of Education for commitment to military families.

Northwestern Junior/Senior High School was one out of 263 schools to receive Purple Star designations as members of the Purple Star Class of 2022, ODE announced Monday. Ohio now has 431 active Purple Star schools.

Principal Lori Swafford said the school is honored to receive the award.

"Our staff believes it is important to support all of our students," she said. "We believe the military families in our district support our country and we want to do whatever we can to help support them."

The award program recognizes a school's commitment to serving and supporting students and families connected to the U.S. armed forces and Ohio National Guard.

"The Purple Star Award recognizes schools that honor and support the unique needs of military-connected youth and their families," said Interim State Superintendent of Public Instruction Stephanie Siddens. "I applaud these schools and their extraordinary commitment to ensuring students' success through academic and wraparound supports."

The Purple Star Advisory Board helps determine requirements for the award program. Schools must designate a liaison between military-connected students and their families and the school. The liaison then works with teachers to support the military-connected students in school and helps ensure families have access to necessary resources in the community.

"Purple Star schools are another example of Ohio's proud tradition of honoring our servicemen and women," said Gov. Mike DeWine. "As a community, these schools are embracing our military-connected students and their families, providing them with support and resources to meet those families' unique needs."
Demonstrators outside the Department for Business in London (PA Wire)

A scientist who was arrested during a climate change protest is on hunger strike after being denied bail, it has been claimed.

Activist group Extinction Rebellion claims Emma Smart, an ecologist, was detained on Thursday during a protest with 24 fellow scientists at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in London.

Smart, who is also refusing water, is being held at Charing Cross Police Station waiting for a court hearing on Saturday, the group said.

The Metropolitan Police have been contacted for a comment.

Along with eight other scientists, Smart has been charged with criminal damage after pasting scientific papers to the government building and glueing themselves to its glass frontage.

Their protests form part of XRs April Rebellion, which is calling for an end to all new fossil fuel investments immediately.

Emma was also one of the Highway 9 who spent time in prison over Christmas for breaking an injunction with Insulate Britain.

She said during her trial last year: This court may see me as being on the wrong side of the law, but in my heart I know I am on the right side of history. I will not be a bystander.

Emmas husband, Andrew Smith, said: What kind of world do we live in when scientists are forced to put themselves into positions of arrest and hunger strike to be heard?

And why has she not been released? This was a minor crime with no disruption to the public. Her treatment is disproportionate to her crime.

"Our politicians are aware of the severity of the climate emergency, every decision should be informed by science, not coerced for profit and greed.

Emma knows whats at stake if we dont stop fossil fuel investments and she is taking a stand for her nieces future and all those around the world suffering now from this crisis.

Everyone must stand with her now and come out on the streets to show the government that change is coming whether they like it or not.

Air quality scientist Pete Knapp from Scientists for XR said: The science is totally clear: we must not drill for new oil and gas. Instead we must move to clean energy as quickly as possible.

But our government only last week declared it will licence new fossil fuel exploration in spite of repeated and dire warnings from scientists that this will lead to disaster. This is the flagrant dereliction of duty that Emma is calling out, and they are locking her up for it.
Coco Li, left, announces the 10 college rejection letters she received with Lynda McGee during a college rejection party at Downtown Magnets High School. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

After months of suspense over their college acceptance decisions, the seniors at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles were much in need of a cathartic event: a college rejection party.

Holding court in the library, clad in cheery pink, stood Lynda McGee, the school's longtime college counselor who has helped thousands of students at her low-income, high-performing high school get into college. Only seniors with letters of denial could attend the rejection party  and they must ritually destroy the bad news in a shredder. The student with the most rejections would be honored with a paper crown and $50 bookstore gift card for having the gumption to try so many times. And everyone would get ice cream sundaes.

First up: the "Caltech shred." Students loudly booed the Pasadena science and engineering institute as four classmates destroyed their rejection letters. "Caltech doesn't deserve you!" McGee said.

Then came wild cheers for the shredders.

Nick Saballos shreds a rejection letter during a college rejection party at Downtown Magnets High School. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)

Nick Saballos, the son of a Nicaraguan immigrant who works as a minimum-wage parking valet, was rejected by Stanford and Harvard, among others, but announced he is deciding between UC Berkeley and Bucknell University. Miguel Balbuena, whose single mother is a cashier at a fast-food restaurant, was waitlisted by four campuses but plans to attend Dartmouth. Eric Xie-McCarthy and Nathan Ortega were denied by Cornell and Stanford but said they were considering offers from UC Berkeley or UCLA.

"This is a celebration of the fact that you took a risk," McGee told the four dozen in attendance. "You went for something that you werent sure would even work out and in some cases it did not. But you know what? Youre all going to college somewhere."

The 237 seniors in Downtown Magnets class of 2022 are about to take a leap that will reshape their lives, their families  and California, which will rely on this new generation of diverse students to move the state forward. Like tens of thousands of other high school seniors, they pushed through two years of pandemic isolation to stay focused on their college dreams and survived a brutally competitive year, marked by record-shattering applications to the University of California.

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Their roots are humble, but their grade-point averages are strong. Their college aspirations unfolded last fall when McGee boldly pushed them to claim a well-earned seat at universities they loved. Their parents are mostly immigrants from Latin America and Asia, many without college degrees who work as cooks and waitresses, parking valets and factory workers, caretakers and security guards.

Yet nearly all of Downtown Magnets' seniors are accepted to college and most enroll. Despite UC's surge in applications and lower admission rates last year, about 70% of the high school's students who applied to a UC campus were admitted for fall 2021. That included 22 of 56 applicants to UC Berkeley  an admission rate nearly three times higher than the university's overall admit rate of 14%.

The students navigated the U.S. college admissions process without the aid of high-priced consultants and tutors, most of them relying on the school's teachers and counselors, who have created a campus climate that is both nurturing and academically rigorous.

On UC Berkeley decision day, they wanted to be together when they opened their admission notices in McGee's college advising center.

Kenji Horigome, center, Nicholas Tran, 18, left, and Kristina Sanchez, 17, wait to hear about their acceptance at UC Berkeley. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

Kenji Horigome went first. He is the son of a single mother who works in a low-wage job at a Koreatown restaurant. They came to Los Angeles from Japan when Kenji was in fourth grade after losing his father to illness. Kenji worked hard to learn English, overcome loneliness and earn good grades  achieving a 4.3 GPA  so he could earn college scholarships and grants so as not to burden his mother with loan debt.

On this day, Kenji hunched over his laptop and clicked on the notice. His eyes widened. "Oh shoot!" he exclaimed, leaping out of his chair. Berkeley accepted him  and offered enough financial aid to cover his attendance without loans.

He is also weighing offers from Harvey Mudd College and the University of Michigan, which have both offered him full-tuition scholarships, and Bowdoin College. Kenji dreams of a career in astrophysics, with a good salary so he can treat his mother to dinner at a fancy Korean restaurant and buy her a designer handbag.

"The money I earn will be a game changer to escape poverty," Kenji said.



Kristina Sanchez went next, opening her decision.

"Naaah, rejection."

Kaylyn Bolanos, 17, right, just found out she was accepted at UC Berkley with a full scholarship at Downtown Magnets High School. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

"Whatever, Merced for the win anyways!" she said, referring to the Central Valley UC campus she is considering in hopes of eventually entering the new medical school being planned there.

Kristina also was denied at her top choice  Dartmouth  with her 3.8 GPA in the rigorous International Baccalaureate program. But McGee said she's the kind of student who will succeed anywhere because of her work ethic, maturity and sense of responsibility. Kristina was also admitted to UC Riverside and is leaning there after a campus visit last week impressed her with the natural sciences facilities, undergraduate research opportunities, diverse demographics and first-year student support.

"There were low points, dealing with the rejection," Kristina said. "I reached a point in the seven stages of grief where I was super sad. But I finally said, 'It's OK if you didn't get in. Overall your experience is going to be positive.' "

That was the message at the rejection party. "We worry about not being perfect," said Principal Sarah Usmani. "Rejection means you tried. They're going to have a great future."

McGee said she lets her students mourn. "Then its, OK, lets look at the positives. Lets find the right school. Lets look at scholarship opportunities.' ... My job is to make sure they dont feel bitter or lost."

Joey Lim, 18, left, Nicholas Tran, 17, and Zuyi Guan, 17, students at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles, work on their college applications inside the College Center at the school. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

This year's admission season featured some head-scratching decisions. Zuyi Guan  whose parents emigrated from China and worked in low-wage restaurant jobs until starting their own eatery  achieved a 4.4 GPA. She developed leadership skills in Chinatown activism that helped her successfully apply for a $100,000 federal small business loan for her parents during the pandemic. She was admitted to UC Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Yale and Dartmouth, among others. But she was denied at UC Irvine.

She is leaning toward Yale, which is offering a no-loan financial aid package that will give her an Ivy League education for less than $2,700 annually.

"So for those of you who are like, 'Wait. Yale took you and UCI didn't?' " McGee said after Zuyi shared her news. "That is college admission, folks: not predictable."

Dale Leaman, UC Irvines executive director of undergraduate admissions, said the campus was "super conservative" in its initial admission offers this year. That's because it overenrolled last year, after more students than expected accepted Irvine's admission offer. This year, Leaman said, the campus will admit more students from the waitlist if needed.

"I know that emotionally, it's a very challenging time for students and parents and families," Leaman said. "But a denial should not be a definitive moment in somebody's life. Students are going to find successful paths forward wherever they wind up."

Many of the Downtown Magnets students are determined to prove those words true.

Kevin Hernandez, left, talks to Emily Cruz, both seniors, inside the College Center at Downtown Magnets High School in Los Angeles. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Kevin Hernandez had a bad sophomore year, when his grades plunged from all As in his first year to a D in Spanish and C in Advanced Placement world history. He managed to rebound and achieve a 3.9 GPA but figured that wouldn't get him into top universities. His worst moment in this year's admission season came when he got rejection letters on the same day from UCLA, UC San Diego and UC Irvine. He dreaded telling his mother, an immigrant from Mexico who is a housekeeper and caretaker, and he questioned whether all of his hard work was worth it.

Then UC Santa Barbara offered him admission to its computer engineering program.

"I just needed at least one school to accept me, to see that I messed up one year but learned from my mistakes," he said.

Aleyia Willis also saw her grades slip during the pandemic. She never believed her 2.9 GPA reflected her true academic abilities but lost her confidence to apply to a four-year university and planned to attend a community college. McGee urged her to apply to California State University, which requires a minimum 2.5 GPA. Aleyia will be attending Cal State Los Angeles to pursue a teaching career.

Emily Cruz struggled with remote learning at home, where her mother wanted her to help clean, cook and babysit, questioning why she was always on her laptop. She dropped out of the International Baccalaureate program, unable to juggle the competing pressures, and her GPA slid from a 3.5 to a 2.9, too low to qualify for UC.

Lynda McGee, left, congratulates Emily Cruz, 18, who just found out she was accepted at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)

But her maturity, resilience, school leadership skills and intellectual curiosity showed the kind of promise that Emily's top choice, Brandeis University in Massachusetts, looks for in applicants to its transitional program, which offers intense academic support for underserved students. On Brandeis decision day, Emily came to the college center, nervously checking her phone every few minutes.

"Aaah, I got in!" Emily shrieked, her face lighting up as McGee rushed to hug her.

Kiana Portillo weathered an abrupt move from Honduras to Los Angeles as a fifth-grader. She was teased over her limited English, and dealt with her family's financial hardships and an absent father. She was so nervous about her UC application that her younger sister came to her side and pressed the submit button with her. Kiana was accepted by UC Merced but denied by UCLA, UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara.

No matter. Kiana is headed to her top choice, Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, which has selected her as a Posse Foundation Scholar. The prestigious award program offers a full-tuition scholarship, leadership training, academic support and a network of fellow recipients.

The university's rural setting and overwhelmingly white student body will be vastly different for Kiana but she takes that in stride. "I have to adapt, but that's what the whole college process is like: to adapt."

Back at the rejection party, McGee had one more ritual for her students before their ice cream treat. She directed them to stand, hold their plastic spoon aloft and repeat after her:

"I solemnly pledge to realize that my potential and promise is never determined by the college I attend," they recited. "And ice cream heals all wounds."

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Singing, chanting, and praying while walking from Homewood to East Liberty, community members gathered in the streets to call for peace and unity on Good Friday.

On Easter, we look at that as the resurrection day. So, were looking at the resurrection of the community, said Rev. Cornell Jones with House of Manna church.

Jones helped organize Fridays We Are The Village walk. He was joined by members of House of Manna church, Black Political Empowerment Project, the Neighborhood Resilience Project, and other organizations to promote the idea that it takes a village to end gun violence.

The police do their part, the outreach workers do their part, but to really impact the community, its all hands on deck, said Jones.

Chief Scott Schubert and other Pittsburgh police officers joined the effort.

The department has responded to 20 homicides this year.

Were all together, said Schubert. We have to be. Its not just the police and the community. We have to be as one. If we really want to help all of our communities, everybody has to be invested into it, not just one or the other.

Across all the citys neighborhoods, these groups say theyre ready to bring resources and positive change.

As tough as it looks right now, were going to resurrect from this violence right now, said Jones. Were going to be victorious. Were claiming that.

To view the resources available from these groups, click here.

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We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, although Amazon.com made losses for many years after listing, if you had bought and held the shares since 1999, you would have made a fortune. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Argent Minerals (ASX:ARD) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

Check out our latest analysis for Argent Minerals

When Might Argent Minerals Run Out Of Money?

A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. When Argent Minerals last reported its balance sheet in December 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth AU$3.8m. Importantly, its cash burn was AU$2.6m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of approximately 17 months from December 2021. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Is Argent Minerals' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Because Argent Minerals isn't currently generating revenue, we consider it an early-stage business. Nonetheless, we can still examine its cash burn trajectory as part of our assessment of its cash burn situation. With the cash burn rate up 31% in the last year, it seems that the company is ratcheting up investment in the business over time. However, the company's true cash runway will therefore be shorter than suggested above, if spending continues to increase. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of Argent Minerals due to its lack of significant operating revenues. We prefer most of the stocks on this list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.

How Hard Would It Be For Argent Minerals To Raise More Cash For Growth?

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Given its cash burn trajectory, Argent Minerals shareholders may wish to consider how easily it could raise more cash, despite its solid cash runway. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).

Argent Minerals has a market capitalisation of AU$28m and burnt through AU$2.6m last year, which is 9.3% of the company's market value. That's a low proportion, so we figure the company would be able to raise more cash to fund growth, with a little dilution, or even to simply borrow some money.

So, Should We Worry About Argent Minerals' Cash Burn?

Even though its increasing cash burn makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Argent Minerals' cash burn relative to its market cap was relatively promising. Cash burning companies are always on the riskier side of things, but after considering all of the factors discussed in this short piece, we're not too worried about its rate of cash burn. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 2 warning signs for Argent Minerals (1 is concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course Argent Minerals may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
AP/Madeline Monroe/The Hill Illustration

Russia reportedly warned the U.S. in a letter that shipments of sensitive weapons to Ukraine could lead to unpredictable consequences.

Well break down the letter and the assistance that Washington has sent Ukraine since Russias invasion began. Plus, well talk about the Pentagon backing Ukraines claim that it hit a key Russian warship with two missiles.

This is Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. For The Hill, Im Jordan Williams. A friend forward this newsletter to you? Subscribe here.

Russia warns of unpredictable consequences

Russia has sent a formal letter to the U.S. warning that shipments of sensitive weapons from the United States and NATO were exacerbating tensions in Ukraine and could lead to unpredictable consequences, The Washington Post reported.

The letter, which was viewed by the Post, added that the U.S. has flouted the rules governing the transfer of weapons to conflict zones.

Russia further accused NATO of impeding early peace negotiation with Ukraine in order to continue the bloodshed.

The State Department declined to confirm any private diplomatic correspondence.

However, a spokesperson added that it can confirm that along with allies and partners that we are providing Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of security assistance, which our Ukrainian partners are using to extraordinary effect to defend their country against Russias unprovoked aggression and horrific acts of violence.

How Washington is arming Ukraine: The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled $800 million in additional military equipment to Ukraine as Russia prepares to launch an offensive in the eastern part of the country.

The U.S. has rushed more than $3.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden administration, including $2.6 billion since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The most recent round of U.S. security assistance includes a mixture of arms and other supplies that Washington has already provided Kyiv, as well as new capabilities that had not previously been sent over.

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HAWKS MAKE INROADS OVER ARMING UKRAINE

Biden administration officials hawkish on arming Ukraine with more advanced and deadly weaponry are making inroads to shift a White House policy that has come under criticism for being too slow and cautious in its decision making.

While President Bidens announcement of the new $800 million security assistance fell short of the specific requests made by Ukraine, it also represented a real shift.

Charles Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the recent package of military assistance is a significant change and is a sign that the administration and U.S. allies have consistently turned up the heat against Russia.

Are there still red lines? Yes, he added, but said the U.S. has walked right up to those lines without crossing them.

Read more here

Pentagon backs Ukraines claim on Russian warship

Ukrainian forces hit the Russian warship Moskva with two Neptune missiles, causing it to catch fire and sink in the Black Sea, the Pentagon told The Hill Friday.

The U.S. assertion backs up the account of Ukrainian forces, who on Thursday claimed to have struck the Moskva with the anti-ship cruise missiles, seriously damaging whats known as the flagship of Russias Black Sea fleet.

Has Russia acknowledged this? Russia only acknowledged that the entire crew of the vessel was forced to evacuate after an overnight fire caused the ships stored ammunition to explode but did not mention an attack.

The Russian navy later attempted to tow the ship into port on the Crimea peninsula for repairs, but it sank.

Possible ramifications: The Moskva  which can carry a crew of about 500  gained prominence at the start of the invasion when it told Ukrainian troops on Snake Island to surrender, only to be told to f itself. The moment was widely shared as a rallying cry and sign of Ukrainian resistance.

Its sinking could prompt a ramp up of the Kremlins attacks on Ukraine. Russias Defense Ministry warned it will increase strikes in retaliation for hits on Moscows assets, even as it continued to deny the ship had been successfully attacked.

Read the story here.

Graham leads bipartisan trip to Taiwan

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) led a six-member group of U.S. lawmakers on a two-day visit to Taiwan this week, a visit that has sparked anger from Beijing.

Graham tweeted that the people of Taiwan are great allies of the United States and called Taiwan a beacon of freedom in a troubled region.

Who went to Taiwan? Graham along with Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) landed in Taiwans Songshan Airport in Taipei on Friday.

China reacts: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian in Beijing denounced the visit on Thursday, saying China is firmly opposed to any form of official exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwan.

Relevant U.S. lawmakers should abide by the one-China policy upheld by the U.S. government. The U.S. should  stop official contacts with Taiwan, and avoid going further down the dangerous path, Zhao said at a daily briefing.

We will continue to take strong measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Zhao said.

Chinas military also announced it had conducted military drills around Taiwan on Friday as the two-day visit by the delegation of U.S. lawmakers was underway.

Recent fears over Taiwan: China cautioned the U.S. against supporting Taiwan and trying to build a Pacific version of NATO earlier this year amid the crisis in Ukraine, which is resisting a Russian invasion.

Moscows actions raised fears about the future of Taiwan, over which China claims sovereignty.

More generally, worries about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan had stepped up over the last year.

Read the full story here.

ON TAP FOR MONDAY

The Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies will host a virtual event entitled Aerospace Nation: Understanding AFRLs WARTECH at 9 a.m.

WHAT WERE READING

Zelensky says world should prepare for Russia to use nuclear weapons

New texts show two GOP lawmakers offered advice to Trumps team on challenging election

Vulnerable Democrats buck Biden on Trump-era immigration fight

Thats it for today! Check out The Hills Defense and National Security pages for the latest coverage. See you Monday!

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A Florida man has been found guilty of murdering his wife and children and killing their dog at their luxury home near Walt Disney World in 2019.

Anthony Todt, 46, was sentenced to life in prison without parole by a court outside Orlando on Thursday, according to The Orlando Sentinel.

After more than six hours of deliberations, the jury uninanimously convicted him of killing his wife Megan Todt, 42, their children Alek, 13, Tyler, 11, and Zoe, 4, and their dog Breezy.

Judge Keith Carsten called Todt a destroyer of worlds, imposing four consecutive life sentences and saying: Not one of those lives was less valuable than the other.

Anthony Todt es acusado de matar a su esposa, tres hijos y el perro de la familia (Handout)

Uno de los cuchillos que supuestamente uso Anthony Todt para matar a su familia (Orlando Police Department)

Todt, a physical therapist from Connecticut dubbed the Disney Dad, denied the charges, claiming he was not there the night his family died and that they were first and foremost in [his] life.

Police had visited Todts house in Celebration, a planned community originally set up by the Walt Disney Company, on 13 January 2020 as they attempted to arrest him on charges of healthcare fraud, which have not yet been resolved.

Federal prosecutors had been investigating him since April 2019 on suspicion of billing health insurance companies for medical treatments that he never performed through his physical therapy business in Connecticut.

Anthony Todt testifies in Kissimmee, Florida, on 13 April 2022 (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

(Orlando Police Department)

The investigators discovered Todt living with his familys bodies, decomposing and wrapped in blankets. A medical examiner testified that they had been dead for at least a couple weeks.

Prosecutors had alleged that Todt had formed a murder-suicide pact with his wife so they could enter the afterlife together, saying: Everybody needed to die in order to pass over to the other side together because the apocalypse was coming.

In his testimony, Todd claimed that his wife had killed the kids and then killed herself, leaving him uncertain what to do, and that he afterwards tried multiple ways of joining them.

He said that his wife had become obsessed with reincarnation due to worsening health problems and believed the killings were necessary to allow the family to be revived in a better life. He denied any memory of confessing to detectives that he had killed the family himself.

However, prosecutors alleged that he had been motivated by wanting control over the lives of his kids and over the life of Megan, saying he had used his familys phones to send texts to their relatives.
High School students from East Jordan participating in the Business Professionals of America National Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas next month.

EAST JORDAN  Students from East Jordan Middle High Schools Business Professionals of America (BPA) chapter will attend the 2022 BPA National Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas, May 4-8.

The conference will bring together an estimated six thousand delegates from across the country to vie for top honors in business, finance, technology, marketing and health administration skills competitions; attend leadership and professional development workshops, receive awards for community services activities and elect the organizationss 2022-2023 national student leadership team.

The 2022 National Leadership Conference is presented by Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, the leading provider of certification exam development, delivery and program management services. Conference attendees have the option to complete software certifications from Certiport during the event in Dallas.

For students and chapter advisors attending the National Leadership Conference, the event is a culmination of a years work, said Brenda Jacobsen, chair of the organization's board of trustees.

We applaud these Business Professionals of America members for the energy they have devoted to advancing to nationals in competitive events, sharpening their career skills and contributing to community betterment through service initiatives.

Middle School students from East Jordan participating in the Business Professionals of America National Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas next month.

The students from the East Jordan Business Professionals of America chapter attending the conference are:

Sydney Guerriero - Business Communication Skills, Business Fundamental Concepts, Introduction to Video Production Team

Colette McLeod - Prepared Speech, Introduction to Video Production Team

Rhileynn Skrocki - Financial Literacy, Business Communication Skills Concepts

Avari McCoy - Introduction to Video Production Team

Levi Heise - Extemporaneous Speech

William Webb - Business Communication Skills Concepts, Business Math Concepts

Caitlyn Burks - Business Fundamental Concepts, Introduction to Video Production Team, Financial Literacy (State Champion)

Griffin Boyer - Financial Literacy

Lila Kelly - Business Law and Ethics

Haley Lafferty - Advanced Office Systems and Procedures

Eliah Heise - Extemporaneous Speech (State Champion)

Kyleigh McDuffie - Basic Office Systems and Procedures

Izzy Boyer - Intermediate Word Processing

Tommy Reid - Advanced Office Systems and Procedures, Alternate for Advanced Accounting

Sierra Roberts Dunlop is the faculty advisor

While in Dallas, participants will also have opportunities to network with other Business Professionals of America members and industry representatives, visit famous attractions in the region and participate in a walk that raises money for Special Olympics, Business Professionals of America's national service project.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: East Jordan students to attend conference in Dallas
Ed Buck, the former Democratic donor who was found guilty of injecting young Black men with methamphetamine, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison. The 67-year-old is convicted of targeting Black men who were experiencing homelessness, addiction and poverty, ABC 7 reports. Prosecutors said he would take them to his apartment for sexually charged sessions to inject them with methamphetamine and drug them with sedatives, with or without their consent.

Two of the victims, Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean, died from an overdose in 2017 and 2019 after Buck drugged them with methamphetamine in his West Hollywood apartment, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Bucks insatiable appetite for injecting people turned lethal twice, the memo stated.

Deans sisters expressed relief after hearing the verdict against Buck.

I knew then that Tim didnt die in vain, Joyce Jackson told reporters.

The former donor, who gave more than $500,000 to mostly Democratic causes, used social media platforms, as well as dating and escort websites, to solicit the victims, prosecutors said. Additionally, prosecutors said he relied on referrals from previous victims.

Buck, who was convicted of two counts of distribution of controlled substances resulting in death, was found guilty of luring Moore and another man to travel to Los Angeles to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors said he knowingly and intentionally distributed methamphetamine, using his home for the purpose of providing narcotics.

The former California Electoral College member injected the victims with increasing doses of methamphetamine until they became comatose, prosecutors said. Defense attorneys said the victims died as a result of serious medical conditions they were experiencing prior to meeting Buck.

More than 20 witnesses testified during the two-week trial. Four men said Buck pressured them to allow him to inject them with methamphetamine.

Im so happy that he will never see the light of day again, Deans sister, Joann Campbell, said after hearing the verdict. This man did terrible things to human beings.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is pushing back and defending her record after a report this week cited anonymous colleagues questioning if she was mentally fit to serve in the Senate and raising concerns about her memory.

Feinstein, in a statement, said that the real question is whether Im still an effective representative for 40 million Californians, and the record shows that I am.

I remain committed to do what I said I would when I was reelected in 2018: fight for Californians, especially on the economy and the key issues for California of water and fire. While I have focused for much of the past year on my husbands health and ultimate passing, I have remained committed to achieving results and Id put my record up against anyones, Feinstein added.

Feinsteins husband, Richard Blum, died earlier this year of cancer.

Feinsteins statement comes after the San Francisco Chronicle on Thursday cited four senators, three of whom are Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and a House Democrat from California, who raised concerns that Feinsteins memory is deteriorating and questioned if she could still do her job without significant staff assistance. Feinstein routinely has a staffer with her as she goes to and from Senate votes in the Capitol.

Its not the first report that has questioned Feinsteins mental agility, and the senator has pushed back on similar stories in the past through interviews or written statements. Politico reported in 2020 that Democrats were privately worried that Feinstein, then the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, could not handle leading committee Democrats on Amy Coney Barretts Supreme Court nomination.

Feinstein then set off a firestorm among progressives when she hugged then-Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) at the end of the hearing and thanked him for how he ran the days-long hearing. Feinstein ultimately announced that she would not seek to be chair of the committee if Democrats won the majority or the ranking member if they were still in the minority. It was a significant move for a caucus that still largely relies on seniority for plum committee positions.

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Sources also raised concerns about Feinsteins short-term memory to The New Yorker in a story that published in December 2020.

Feinstein, at 88, is the oldest member of Congress. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is younger than Feinstein by roughly three months and is running for reelection to another six-year term in November. If Democrats keep the Senate majority next year, Feinstein is in line to become Senate pro tempore, a position that would put her third in the presidential line of succession.

Both Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended Feinstein to the Chronicle. Some of her supporters have also criticized the stories questioning her ability to serve in the Senate, noting that Congress has had a string of aging male lawmakers.

Feinstein won reelection in 2018, where primary opponents raised her age as an issue. There have been public nudges since then for Feinstein to retire.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said that he would name a Black woman to the seat if Feinstein retired. And former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), while noting the decision is up to Feinstein, told the Los Angeles Times in 2021 that if Feinstein were to ask her for advice, Boxer, now 81, would tell her that shes had very productive years away from the Senate doing good things. So put that into the equation.

Feinstein, in an interview with the Chronicles editorial board after their story published, indicated that she planned to stay for her full six-year term, which would run into the first days of 2025. Feinstein made a similar vow last year after Newsoms comments.

Feinstein has had a trail-blazing career both in California politics, where she has been a decades-long fixture, and in the Senate. She was the first female Board of Supervisors president in San Francisco and went on to serve as mayor. She and Boxer were the first female senators from California, and she was the first female chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Feinstein, in her statement after the Chronicles story this week, touted her legislative record.

In the past few months, I successfully led the reauthorization of the bipartisan Violence Against Women Act, secured more direct government funding for my state than any other Democratic senator other than the chairman of the Appropriations Committee and secured additional funding to retain federal firefighters to help California prepare for the upcoming wildfire season, she said.

She also told the Chronicle editorial board  which called on her to resign if she is mentally unfit in a piece published Thursday  that no one had raised concerns with her directly.

No, that conversation has not happened, Feinstein said. The real conversation is whether Im an effective representative for 40 million people.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Finlands minister of European Affairs said the country is highly likely to join NATO as Russias invasion of Ukraine continues.

Tytti Tuppurainen told Sky News that polls in Finland, which borders Russia, show significant support for joining the alliance.

At this point I would say it is highly likely, but a decision has not yet been made, Tuppurainen said.

The minister added that the war in Ukraine has been a wake-up call to us all, particularly in regards to border security in Europe.

Tuppurainens comments come after Russia this week threatened nuclear deployments in the Baltics if Finland and Sweden join NATO. Both countries have taken actions toward joining the alliance, with the Finnish government issuing a security report to lawmakers and Sweden starting a review of security policy options.

Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a special military operation in the country. The conflict entered its seventh week on Thursday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine reads "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to preschool students at Nurture Preschool and Childcare in Byesville.

More than 20 excited preschool students sat on the carpet in their classroom Wednesday afternoon as Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine read stories.

Dewine read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and "Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter, during her stop at Nurture Preschool and Childcare.

Every child received a copy of "Peter Rabbit' to take home.

Dewine said she believes bonding starts when you put those books in homes.

"Not everybody is going to do it, but there is a lot more chance that those kids are going to make somebody read to them," DeWine said.

Ohio First Lady Fran DeWine hands out copies of "Peter Rabbit" to the preschool students at Nurture Preschool and Childcare in Byesville.

She said time spent reading  whether with parents, grandparents or older siblings  is time they are bonding, and developing that family bonding and establishing bedtime with books are things that are important to a child.

The story time session was a part of DeWine's effort to promote the Ohio Governor's Imagination Library program.

The program allows every child from newborn to age 5, in the stateio to receive a free book in the mail each month.

Children who are registered at birth will receive 60 books over the course of the five years.

Dewine said she became interested in the program after watching her grandchildren get their books in the mail and seeing how excited they were as they screamed "Read to me, read to me."

The program was formed in 2019, after DeWine started looking for ways to make the books available to all children regardless of financial situation or location. Financial support comes from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, the Ohio legislature and organizations in each county such as the United Way.

Dewine said reading to children early on is one of the most important things to do for them.

She believes Ohio will be stronger in the future as more children are exposed to books and reading early on, because they will have a better chance at success later in in life.

DeWine noted there have been several studies that show if children don't have books or they start kindergarten without books, they are less likely to graduate high school.

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"That is why I do this, because it;s getting books into the hands of those kids," DeWine said.

DeWine believes having the books and having the kids excited will encourage parents to read to them.

"I think every parent really wants to be a better parent and this helps them," DeWine said. "There are a lot of distractions these days, electronics, but the bond you get reading with that child is really very special."

As of the beginning of April, 44% of the eligible children statewide are enrolled in the Ohio Governor's Imagination Library. This month 316,435 children have received free books in the mail. Since August of 2019, 7.2 million books have been mailed to Ohio children.

Forty children in Guernsey County are enrolled in the program, which is administered through the local United Way. To enroll, visit www.ohioimaginationlibrary.org.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: First Lady Fran DeWine reads to Byesville preschoolers
The Hill

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace (S.C.) on Sunday said she supports exceptions to abortion bans in cases of rape and incest and to save the life of the mother, citing her personal experience with rape when she was a young girl. Asked if she thinks exceptions to abortion bans for victims of rape and incest should
MIAMI (AP)  A jury took just over an hour to convict a Miami-Dade officer of felony battery and official misconduct in the rough arrest of a Black woman who had called police for help.

Alejandro Giraldo was suspended after cellphone video circulated on social media in March 2019 showing him tackling Dyma Loving, who had called police to report that a neighbor had pointed a shotgun at her. Police body cameras also recorded the encounter.

Police officers can put their hands on people to effectuate a lawful arrest. If the arrest is unlawful, they have no more rights than the rest of us. And he sure as heck cant tackle her to the ground, said prosecutor Tim VanderGiesen.

Giraldo insisted he acted lawfully in subduing an unruly woman who was interfering with an investigation.

What you see there isnt a crime. What you see there is a police officer working the streets, dealing with a situation and maybe his bedside manner was off, his attorney, Andre Rouviere, told jurors. When he arrested Dyma Loving, it was after warning after warning that she was being disruptive.

Giraldo, who is Hispanic, faces up to five years in prison at sentencing. The jury consisted of two Black women, one Hispanic woman and three Hispanic men.

The video sparked outrage in a county where at least nine police officers from four different police agencies are awaiting trial on allegations they battered suspects while on duty, the Miami Herald reported. Three other officers have been acquitted since 2019 in excessive force cases.

The conviction of North Miami police Officer Jonathon Aledda was overturned by an appeals court in February. He had fired his weapon at an autistic man holding a silver toy truck, and hit the man's caregiver. Prosecutors declined to try the case again.

In Giraldo's case, video showed him pushing Loving into a fence and then taking her to the ground, where she was handcuffed. Loving was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence. Those charges were later dropped.

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The arrest report inaccurately said that Loving was causing a scene and was being uncooperative, prosecutors said.

Giraldos defense attorney countered that it was Loving and another woman at the scene who were out of control.

We thought that we had established that they couldnt prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges, but I guess the jury saw it a different way, and we have to accept the jurys verdict, Rouviere said after Giraldo was convicted on Thursday.
The Delta-Mendota Canal runs along the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley. Prosecutors say the former general manager of the Panoche Water District stole more than $25 million worth of water from the federal canal over 23 years. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

The former general manager of a Central Valley water district has been charged with stealing more than $25 million worth of water over 23 years, the latest development in a years-long saga of corruption and theft, federal authorities said Thursday.

A federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment against 75-year-old Aptos resident Dennis Falaschi, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the Eastern District of California.

He faces one count each of conspiracy and theft of government property, and three counts of filing false tax returns, according to the indictment.

Falaschi was the general manager for the Panoche Water District, which serves portions of Fresno and Merced counties near Dos Palos, Firebaugh and Los Banos, according to court documents.



The indictment does not name the water district, but in 2018, then-California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra announced the arrest and filing of felony charges against five individuals for the misuse of public funds amid widespread corruption at the district.

Falaschi is among the defendants in the ongoing state case.

The water theft scheme began in 1992, according to the federal indictment.

That year, Falaschi was informed that an aging, abandoned drain turnout on the Delta-Mendota Canal, part of the federal Central Valley Project, was leaking water into a parallel canal that the water district controlled, the document stated.

A gate inside a pipe that connected the two canals had been cemented shut years earlier when the drain was abandoned, but the cement had cracked, according to the indictment.

After learning about the leak, Falaschi allegedly told a water district employee to install a new gate inside the standpipe, which could be opened and closed on demand, the document stated. He later told the employee to put in a lid with a lock on top of the standpipe, and a roughly 2-foot elbow pipe angled at 90 degrees into the water district's canal.

"The lid concealed the theft because it prevented people from seeing that the gate inside the standpipe was functional," prosecutors said. "The elbow pipe further concealed and expedited the theft because it enclosed the water flow from the Delta-Mendota Canal into the water districts canal and was installed in such a way that it was generally submerged under the water."

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Falaschi then told employees to use the new gate and pipe to steal federal water from the canal "on multiple occasions," prosecutors said.

"He used the proceeds of the theft to pay himself and others exorbitant salaries, fringe benefits, and personal expense reimbursements," prosecutors said.

The diverted water was unmetered and traveled to a water district pump station, where it was lifted into the district's broader canal system, according to the indictment. It was combined with the district's other water sources and either sold to customers or pumped back into the federal canal so the district could collect water credits.

During the scheme, Falaschi allegedly told water district employees to misclassify the stolen water as reclaimed runoff from farms in reports presented to the district's board of directors, court documents stated.

In all, more than 130,000 acre-feet of water was stolen, according to the indictment.

An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre of land in a foot of water and is the standard unit of measurement in the water industry.

In April 2015, drought lowered the canals' water level enough for the pipe, lid and drain turnout to be discovered by authorities, according to the indictment.

Federal authorities also alleged Falaschi falsified tax returns from 2015 to 2017 and failed to report over $900,000 in income to the Internal Revenue Service that he received from private water sales, according to court documents.

The federal case comes after state officials opened an ongoing criminal case against Falaschi and four other defendants.

In 2017, investigators discovered 86 drums holding thousands of gallons of hazardous waste illegally buried in a Panoche Water District yard, according to coverage of the state case by The Times.

The state's case expanded to include allegations of misconduct that were revealed by an audit.

In a statement, Falaschi's attorney Marc Days said his client plans to plead not guilty to the federal charges.

"We just received the indictment and need additional time to review it," Days told The Times. "The indictment appears based on lies and misstatements."

The attorney said he plans to make further comments on the case "in the very near future."

If convicted on all federal charges, Falaschi faces a maximum sentence of 18 years in prison and up to $750,000 in fines, prosecutors said.

For the record:

5:48 p.m. April 15, 2022: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of one of the cities served by the Panoche Water District. It is Dos Palos, not Dos Patos.



This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
LANSING  Recently retired Lenawee County Health Officer Martha Hall is one of three people who will be presented with a 2022 Jean Chabut Health Policy Champion Award for their contributions to protecting and improving the health of Michigan.

Lenawee County Health Officer Martha Hall accepts the 2021 Community Pillar Award on behalf of the county health department. The award was presented by the Lenawee Community Foundation. Hall has also been named a recipient of a Jean Chabut Health Policy Champion award by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The awards are presented as part of National Public Health Week, according to a news release from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The Jean Chabut Health Policy Champion Awards are part of MDHHS' Hometown Health Heroes awards.

Our Hometown Health Hero awards are a way for us to highlight selfless and dedicated champions of public health who are making incredible efforts to improve the lives of Michigan residents, MDHHS director Elizabeth Hertel said in the news release. We celebrate all efforts, no matter how small or large, of health care professionals who make a positive impact on our state.

We are so pleased that Martha has received this award, Kasee Johnson, environmental health director for the Lenawee County Health Department, said in a news release from the health department. Martha has remained steadfast in her dedication to upholding the mission of promoting a safe and healthy environment for the residents of Lenawee County. She is a compassionate and tireless public health leader who has devoted countless hours to understanding and addressing the needs of the community. She navigated the pandemic with grace and professionalism, providing guidance and education to the community. We are a healthier and safer community because of her guidance.

The other recipients this year of the Jean Chabut Health Policy Champion Award are Kathy Moore of Public Health Muskegon County and Dr. Annette Mercatante of the St. Clair County Health Department. All share the same profession: they are health officers for local health departments in Michigan. These individuals were nominated either by a member of their staff or members of their community. They have demonstrated a commitment to the health and safety of their communities.

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Hall focused efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic on providing personal protective equipment to health care workers, providing consistent communication to the community offering best practices and up-to-date information to keep residents safe from COVID-19, increasing health department staffing levels to provide adequate case management and protecting vulnerable community members by organizing mass vaccination clinics, the release from MDHHS said.

MDHHS is also recognizing five individuals and one organization with Hometown Health Hero awards and identified 21 volunteer COVID-19 contact tracers who put in more than 150 hours of their own time to help support contact tracing efforts before permanent staff were in place and provided feedback on the technology and scripts and called thousands of people in Michigan about their COVID-19 status, the MDHHS release said.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Former Lenawee County health officer chosen to receive state award
A Banks County Sheriffs Office deputy shot a man who smashed his drivers side window with a hatchet after the two vehicles ran off the road, The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.

The GBI is investigating the shooting.

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According to the GBI, the deputy was driving an unmarked police SUV on U.S. 441 when a speeding truck passed him and the deputy flashed his emergency lights. The truck, which was towing a trailer, swerved into the deputys lane. The vehicles didnt collide, but they both ended up running onto an embankment near Shady Grove Road, according to the sheriffs office.

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The driver of the truck, Eric Edward Webb, 43, of Franklin, North Carolina, got out of the truck with a hatchet in his hand and began hitting the deputys SUV, breaking the glass on the drivers side window. The deputy fired at Webb from the SUV, hitting him multiple times.

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Webb was taken to a hospital where he is being treated for his injuries. The deputy was not injured.

Officials did not say if Webb has been charged.

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Gladys Pfluger, who donated land to the city and was a descendent of the original settler of Pflugerville died on April 8.

Gladys Pfluger, who donated land to the city and was a descendent of the original settler of Pflugerville, died on April 8. She was 94.

Pfluger was the only child of Fritz Pfluger and wife Selma Weiss Pfluger and a granddaughter of George Pfluger, who immigrated from Germany around 1850 and was the initial settler of the area. Gladys Pfluger was a lifelong resident of the Pflugerville.

She was instrumental in the first celebration of what would later become known as Deutschen Pfest. Pfluger and her husband Leon John Pfluger also donated land for Pfluger Park to the city.

The couple also opened the family owned and operated Hillside Hut, which was a popular venue for hamburgers and frozen custard before expanding the menu to include family meals.

She was a community supporter and generous of talents and treasures, said friend Vernagene Mott.

Born on April 30, 1927, Pfluger was was baptized and confirmed at Immanuel Lutheran Church, where she was an active and faithful member all of her life serving in the capacity of Sunday School teacher, Bible school leader and choir member, according to her obituary.

Pfluger graduated from Pflugerville High School in 1944 and from Texas Lutheran College with an associates degree in arts. She later graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor's degree in sociology and was a devout supporter of Texas A&M University, according to her obituary.

She is survived by six children: Susan, Jean, Janet, Terry, David and Donna, 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

A visitation at Beck Funeral Home in Pflugerville will be held from 3-4 p.m. Saturday. Funeral services will be at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Pflugerville on Monday at 10 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Gladys Pfluger, 94, donated land to Pflugerville for park
An unknown hero likely saved the life of a man badly burned in a vehicle fire, Turlock police said.

It happened at about 12:10 a.m. Thursday on the 200 block of D Street, a news release from the Police Department said.

The unidentified victim went by helicopter to a burn center and had surgery for life-threatening injuries, the release said. He might have died at the scene were it not for the help of the rescuer, who was seen on video by investigators but left the scene.

The video is not of good quality, TPD spokesman Sgt. Michael Parmley said Thursday afternoon, but it shows the rescuer approach and open the rear driver-side door to try to get the man out. The person is unsuccessful, so goes to the other side but still cannot free the man. The rescuer finally is able to pull the victim out through the vehicles rear hatch.

If this good Samaritan had not helped when they did, our investigation would look very different, Detective Brandon Bertram said. This person most certainly saved the mans life. A TPD news release Thursday said that as of the 2 oclock hour, the burn victim was out of surgery but still in critical condition.

Police and fire investigators would like to speak with the rescuer to help piece together what happened.

The release said the victim was in the back seat when the fire started. Witnesses reported it after hearing tires pop from the heat.

Firefighters arrived to find the vehicle engulfed in flames and the burned man in a nearby alley. They controlled the fire and turned the scene over to police and the Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit.

They have reported no evidence so far of arson, but the cause and origin were still unknown as of Thursday afternoon.

People with information can reach Bertram at 209-664-7323. They also can contact the Tip Line at 209-668-5550, ext. 6780, or tpdtipline@turlock.ca.us. They could be eligible for a cash reward through Crime Stoppers.
Apr. 14ROCHESTER  Local emergency response leaders met with Gov. Tim Walz Thursday afternoon, April 14, 2022, to share their view of how a proposed $300 million spread across the state could increase public safety and help agencies improve.

The visit was part of Walz's statewide public safety tour, which began on Feb. 23, 2022, with a roundtable meeting with local leaders and emergency services in the north Twin Cities suburb of Brooklyn Park.

Since then, Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan have traveled to Burnsville, Moorhead, New Ulm, St. Cloud, Stillwater, St. Louis Park, Duluth, Eagan and North Minneapolis.

"The one thing that has been consistent in this is that it is not consistent across communities, and there are solutions out there," Walz said.

Under the Walz-Flanagan budget to Move Minnesota Forward, Rochester would receive more than $2 million per year of the $300 million public safety plan. Olmsted County would receive more than $725,000.

If approved by the state legislature, the money, which comes from the state's $9.25 billion surplus, would be sent to cities and counties to invest in public safety efforts that local government entities determine useful or necessary.

Walz said the money would help triage short-term increases in crime, fund innovative approaches by communities and take a holistic approach to address "upstream" causes of crime.

"It's always better to prevent a fire than put one out," Walz said. "It's always better to stop a shooting before it gets there, and then to understated all the factors."

During the discussion, Rochester Police Chief Jim Franklin and Olmsted County Sheriff Kevin Torgerson also touted the city-county partnership with

embedded outreach specialists and social workers.

"This is what people are looking for when they talk reform, I think," Walz said.

The program, which began in July 2017, has grown from one social worker to four social workers. Rochester Fire Chief Eric Kerska said the fire department also uses the outreach specialists when dealing with calls involving vulnerable adults.

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Speaking on the community's needs, Rochester Mayor Kim Norton and Franklin both spoke of the challenges of recruiting new officers.

"Gone are the days where we just sit back and say the candidates and recruits are going to come us. No," Frankiln said. "We've got to get on offense, we got to go after them, we got to go after them younger and really incentivize them to enter into law enforcement, which includes cadet programs, internships, a very robust Community Service Officer, CSO, program."

Kerska spoke about the fire department's

creation of a high school program

that gets students college credits toward a career in firefighting before graduation. Recruitment, he said, needs to begin even before high school.

"We have to create the excitement for our high school program," Kerska said. "But we are talking about co-responding with mental health. Well if you think about recruitment issues, how about co-responding with the school system for public safety? How do we tie these things together because we have to build a feeder system early."

Investments in recruitment and retention adverting campaigns as well as student loan financing and retention incentives aimed at increasing interest in law enforcement are aspects included in the proposed Walz-Flanagan budget.

Many also spoke of the need for more resources for wellness programs for first responders as those in the field statewide have experienced an increase of early retirements due to post-traumatic stress disorder.

"Not only do we need help on the back end, but we need to do more on the front end. We've been doing a lot of that stuff, and I think we are a little lucky here because we are bigger agencies, but I'm going to speak for small town sheriffs and the small town chiefs  they don't have those resources  they've got nothing," Torgerson said. "If there is something that the state can do to help with this on the wellness end of things, I'm talking about whole wellness, physical and spiritual, something that really needs to be done on front-end. We are doing some good things here but we can do more."

Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety John Harrington, Rochester City Administrator and State Rep. Tina Liebling, of Rochester, were also in attendance.
Gov. Tony Evers vetoed legislation that would have dramatically overhauled education in Wisconsin by making all children eligible to receive a taxpayer-funded private school voucher, regardless of their household income.

MADISON  Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Friday vetoed legislation that would have dramatically overhauled education in Wisconsin by making all children eligible to receive a taxpayer-funded private school voucher, regardless of their household income.

Parents would have been able to sue school districts for violations of a new "parental bill of rights" under another bill Evers vetoed on Friday.

Evers, a former public school educator and state superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, rejected the legislation as Republicans hoping to unseat him in seven months make the policy idea central to their campaign against him.

Republican lawmakers passed a number of bills this session that would overhaul K-12 education knowing Evers would veto them. Evers has long opposed expanding the state voucher programs without overhauling how schools are funded in Wisconsin.

GOP lawmakers said Friday Evers was siding with school officials rather than parents in issuing his vetoes.

Subscribe to our On Wisconsin Politics newsletter for the week's political news explained.

The bill would have lifted enrollment and income limits in the state's private school voucher programs, allowing families who are already paying tuition at private schools to start receiving a taxpayer-funded subsidy.

The DPI, which oversees the voucher programs, estimated the plan could have raised property taxes by as much as $577 million for residents living outside of Milwaukee. Voucher advocates characterized the projection as purposefully inflated to deter lawmakers from backing it.

"It is remarkable to me that many supporters of this bill, who commonly express concerns about property taxes when it comes to supporting more than 800,000 public school children in our state, are apparently unfazed by the fiscal impact this bill could have on families due to the way these programs are funded," Evers said in a veto message.

The legislation was part of a slate of Republican-authored education bills approved by Republicans in the state Legislature earlier this year, which included the dissolution of the state's largest school district in Milwaukee  a bill Evers also vetoed on Friday.

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Wisconsin was the first state in the nation to launch a private-school voucher program for children living in low-income households  in Milwaukee in 1990. Since 2011, Republican lawmakers have expanded the program to include wealthier students and to areas outside of Milwaukee.

Overall, 48,919 students are enrolled in the state's four voucher programs, including those in Milwaukee and for students with disabilities.

Another 35,876 students attend the same private schools but are paying full tuition  many of which would have been eligible to begin receiving a voucher to subsidize the cost under the bill vetoed Friday.

Overall, about 119,000 students are enrolled in private schools across Wisconsin.

'Parental Bill of Rights' bill vetoed

Evers also vetoed a bill Friday that would have created a "Parental Bill of Rights" and allowed parents to sue governmental bodies or officials when these are violated.

Under the bill, parents could sue school staff who use the names and pronouns chosen by their students, if the parents disagree with those names or pronouns.

The bill also allows parents to review curriculum and opt their children out of classes or curriculum based on religion or personal conviction. It also lists rights to determine medical care, view medical records, engage with school boards and several other points  many of which lawmakers have said are already protected by law.

"Unfortunately, this bill is another in a string of legislation aimed not at supporting our parents, our kids, and our schools, and fostering those relationships that improve student outcomes, but at dividing our schools," Evers said in a veto message.

"Politicians on both sides of the aisle have to stop using our kids as political pawns. I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to sowing division in our schools, which only hurts our kids and learning in our classrooms."

More: Gov. Tony Evers vetoes Republican plan to break up Milwaukee Public Schools into smaller districts

More: Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, running for a third term, expects education issues to motivate voters in the fall

Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, said Evers' veto was tantamount to barring parental input in their children's education.

Wisconsin parents must have clear cut rights in our statutes. This bill would do that, Darling said in a statement. "Governor Evers seems to believe that government should have a bigger say than parents and that is flat out wrong.

Under the legislation, parents would be allowed to sue school officials if one of the following rights were violated:

"The right to determine the religion of the child."

"The right to determine the type of school or educational setting the child attends."

"The right to determine medical care for the child, unless specified otherwise in law or court order."

"The right to review instructional materials and outlines used by the child's school."

"The right to request notice of when certain subjects will be taught or discussed in the child's classroom."

"The right to opt out of a class or instructional materials for reasons based on either religion or personal conviction."

"The right to visit the child at school during school hours, consistent with school policy, unless otherwise specified in law or court order."

"The right to engage with locally elected school board members of the school district in which the child is a student, including participating at regularly scheduled school board meetings."

The bill was opposed by more than a dozen groups that lobby on behalf of public schools and board members and was supported by a group that promotes private school vouchers and a legal firm that often represents parents in lawsuits against school districts.

In a recent legal analysis of the bill commissioned by the School Administrators Alliance, which opposed the bill, attorneys concluded it would "make it extremely difficult for districts to manage and deliver a successful education to all students."

"Every parent will have a slightly different perspective on exercising these parental rights. Even in an intact marital family, parents might disagree on these rights, forcing school districts to attempt to mediate familial disputes to avoid legal action," Attorneys Mike Julka and Brian Goodman wrote in a legal analysis for the group.

"Finally, if the Bill becomes law, schools would have to individualize their approach to each family based on each parental request. Parents that are more assertive in threatening or enforcing their rights under the Bill will be able to control the educational environment for other families. This has the possibility of creating equity issues for students with families that are less assertive in exercising their rights."

Similar Parents Bill of Rights laws have been proposed around the country by Republicans aiming to curb COVID-19 safety requirements in schools, help parents fight against certain books and curriculum materials, and limit the abilities of transgender students to live in a manner they choose.

Make your voice heard. Find and contact your representatives.

Contact Molly Beck at molly.beck@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MollyBeck.

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: Evers vetoes bill to expand taxpayer-funded vouchers to all students
The fatal shooting of a 26-year-old Black man by a Grand Rapids police officer this month has created a new source of contention in the Michigan governor's race.

Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued a statement Wednesday calling for a "transparent, independent investigation" into the shooting of Patrick Lyoya who was killed on April 4 after a traffic stop. She said she spoke to Lyoya's family and "our hearts are with them and the Grand Rapids community who are dealing with unimaginable pain and loss."

"He had his whole life ahead of him," she said of Lyoya.

MICHIGAN POLICE RELEASE FOOTAGE OF OFFICER SHOOTING AND KILLING PATRICK LYOYA

Whitmer's personal outreach to Lyoya's family stood out to James Craig, the former Detroit Police Chief.

Craig told Fox News Digital he can't recall any time when Whitmer called him when one of his officers died in the line the duty, whereas he'd get calls from former Gov. Rick Snyder, FBI Director Christopher Wray and former Attorney General William Barr to offer condolences.

James Craig, the former Detroit Police Chief, is a Republican running to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan. Getty Images

"I can't remember one time where I've ever gotten a call from the governor expressing sorrow or support," Craig told Fox News Digital. "Not one. Unfortunately, I've had to deal with several officers who were killed in the line of duty."

Craig, a Republican who is challenging Whitmer for governor, said the contrast of outreach "feels political to me." He said Whitmer may have reached out to the Detroit mayor in those circumstances  he doesn't know  but he says a governor should call the chiefs directly and "should be at the funeral" for the fallen.

"As far as I'm concerned, she's not a real friend of policing," Craig told Fox News Digital.

OHIO LT. GOV BLASTS MICHIGAN GOV. WHITMER FOR 'UNREASONABLE, IRRESPONSIBLE' EFFORT TO SHUT DOWN OIL PIPELINE

A spokesman for Whitmer, Bobby Leddy, didn't comment on whether the governor called Craig directly, but he said that "when a member of law enforcement dies in the line of duty, Governor Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist II immediately turn their attention to the families and loved ones."

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The governor's office provided 11 examples when the Whitmer administration lowered flags across the state and issued statements of condolences for fallen police officers and firefighters, including Detroit Police Officer Rasheen McClain.

"Governor Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist II have called family members or met with them at funerals to offer their deepest condolences and the assistance of the state of Michigan as they go through an unimaginable loss," Leddy said in a statement. "Governor Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Gilchrist also lower the flags across the state in honor of fallen law enforcement or firefighters, and the flag is presented to the families."

At least three Detroit police officers died while Craig was chief and Whitmer was governor, according to "The Officer Down Memorial Page" that tracks police deaths.

Grand Rapids police released video this week of the shooting of Lyoya, which has sparked protests in Grand Rapids and demands for justice from his family who want the officer who killed their son criminally charged. They've said the shooting to "back of the head" was an unjustified use of fatal force and tantamount to an "execution."

The officer, a White man who has not been identified, allegedly pulled Lyoya over on the morning of April 4 because his car's tags didn't belong to the vehicle.

Lyoya, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, got out of the car before the officer could reach him, according to the footage from police. The officer asked for his license and told him to get back in the car, but Lyoya refused, then started running away.

MICHIGAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE JAMES CRAIG RESPONDS TO PROTESTERS: 'THEY WANT TO SILENCE ME'

According to the video released by police, after a brief foot chase, the officer grabbed Lyoya and the two started struggling for the officer's Taser. The Taser was deployed twice, but didn't make contact, according to police. After about two minutes, the video shows the officer pulled his handgun and shot Lyoya once in the head, killing him.

"You see a police officer escalate a minor traffic stop into a deadly execution," Lyoya family attorney Benjamin Crump said Thursday of the videos.

Whitmer's statement after the shooting said prosecutors will consider the evidence, follow the law and "take appropriate action on charges."

"Justice is foundational to safety, and without justice, we are all less safe," she said.

Whitmer's office also provided background information on her efforts to enact criminal justice reforms and prioritize public safety.

Another GOP challenger to Whitmer, Tudor Dixon, put out a statement in support of the police officer, saying Lyoya refused to comply with officer, "chose to take control" of the officer's Taser and "to physically and aggressively resist."

She blasted Whitmer for taking "the side of the criminal" and said she'd expect nothing less from the "defund the police" party. Dixon also criticized her "Republican opponents" for "cowering in fear" and issuing "mealy-mouthed 'let's wait and see' statements."

"I stand unequivocally with the police officer and our law enforcement officers in general," Dixon said in a statement.

Craig, however, backs Whitmer's call for an investigation and said he doesn't know all the facts to say whether the officer acted appropriately  and neither does Dixon.

It would be "totally improper for me, without knowing all the facts, to say everything that happened in this instance was proper."

Fox News' Paul Best contributed to this report.
Atlanta police are investigating a deadly shooting just blocks away from the Atlanta BeltLine.

Homicide detectives say they responded to calls of a crash on Donnelly Avenue where officers found a man inside with a gunshot wound.

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Channel 2s Justin Carter was on the scene Friday morning where the car had crashed through a chain link fence.

Police say the early stages of their investigation points to a second person being inside the vehicle with the victim at the time of the shooting.

Investigators say they believe the shots were fired from inside the vehicle, but have not called the second person believed to be inside a suspect.

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Witnesses told Carter they were shocked to see something like this happen in their neighborhood.

Its a quiet neighborhood. Its usually not like this. Its a shocker to me, said Brandon McDaniel.

The car is being sent of for processing to see what evidence police can get from it.

Police are still working to identify the victim, who is believed to be in his late 30s or early 40s.

IN OTHER NEWS:
After nine years, Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick is preparing to step down from his position as President of Howard University (HU).

The historically Black college and university (HBCU) announced the matter earlier this week in a statement made by Dr. Lance C. Morse, Chair of the Howard University Board of Trustees.

Today, @HUPrez17 announced his plan to retire by June 2024 as our HU President. We thank Dr. Frederick for his unwavering efforts to advance our historic institution. More details are forthcoming as plans to transition develop.



Learn more: https://t.co/h38U5KvbM6 pic.twitter.com/04DU3YIPto  Howard University (@HowardU) April 13, 2022

Fredericks retirement wont go into effect for quite a while, as he merely shared hed step down sometime within the next two years.

After 34 years as an integral member of the Howard communityas student, faculty member, administrator, and, over the last nine, as presidentDr. Wayne A. I. Frederick (B.S. 92, M.D. 94, MBA 11) recently informed the Howard University Board of Trustees of his plan to retire from the presidency by June 2024, committing to remain in place to ensure a smooth transition of leadership, the announcement reads.

We appreciate that Dr. Frederick has given us ample time to find the next great leader of Howard University and remains committed to fulfilling key components of the Howard Forward Strategic Plan, the statement continued. Over the next two years, Dr. Frederick will continue to give his undivided attention to advance our collective interests, drive impactful initiatives, and support the people that comprise our growing University community.

As noted in the announcement, Frederick has had a long history with Howard. He initially attended the HBCU as a student, earning a Bachelors in 1992 and a Doctor of Medicine degree in 1994. He went on to earn his Masters in Business Administration in 2011.

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A couple of years later, Frederick became the universitys interim president. He later assumed the full role in 2014, becoming Howards 17th President.

Fredericks nine years as Howard University President havent been all smooth sailing, especially over the past seven months.

From the student-led Blackburn Takeover this past fall to the faculty protests in March, Howard has been embroiled in controversy as students and faculty demand better living/working conditions.

Additionally, as Blavity previously reported, medical staff from Howard University Hospital recently went on strike as well.

On top of these demonstrations, the university has been one of many HBCUs throughout the country that has been the target of bomb threats. Howard also recently made headlines over on-campus vandalisms targeting historically Black fraternity and sorority plots.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Matt Dunham - WPA Pool/Getty Images

The United Kingdom announced Thursday that it plans to send some asylum seekers thousands of miles away to Rwanda, a move human rights organizations say violates international agreements on refugees.

Under the plan, migrants would have the option of staying in Rwanda, going back home, or seeking resettlement in a country other than Britain, The New York Times reports. Britain will give Rwanda 120 million pounds (roughly $157 million) to cover schooling, vocational and skills training, and language lessons.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government has a hardline immigration stance, and Parliament is now considering a law that would criminalize entering the U.K. without a valid visa. Johnson said on Thursday that it's impossible to "sustain a parallel illegal system. Our compassion may be infinite, but our capacity to help people is not." Johnson did not say if this plan would apply to every asylum seeker or some.

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour Party, called this a "desperate announcement by a prime minister who just wants to distract from his lawbreaking," referring to Johnson being fined for breaking lockdown rules. Tim Farron, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats, tweeted that the plan was crafted "to use innocent, desperate people as pawns" and "score culture war points."

Andy Hewett, head of advocacy for the British aid organization Refugee Council, told the Times that more details need to be revealed about the plan to determine its legality, but the proposal sounds like it could set a "dangerous precedent" and is at odds with Britain's commitment to the 1951 U.N. convention on refugees. "The principle of the convention is that people have a right to claim asylum in any country, that country should examine their asylum claim  and this completely undermines that principle," Hewett said.

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As the New York City police force continues to field criticisms over their handling of the Brooklyn subway shooting, the 30-hour manhunt has resurfaced both new and old critiques of the department, including the alleged mishandling of the investigation, their treatment of unhoused persons and a skyrocketing budget.

Several key details have emerged in the days since 62-year-old suspect Frank R James was arrested that suggest there were mishaps that couldve been avoided, which mightve even have led to an earlier arrest of the suspected shooter.

Mayor Eric Adams revealed in an interview with WCBS Radio that there was some kind of malfunction at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park on Tuesday morning, which failed to capture footage of the attack that sent 29 people to the hospital after police said 33 bullets were fired into a train car packed with early morning commuters.

Online, critics were swift to point out how inconceivable it seemed that a police force that adopted a $10.4bn budget for the 2022 fiscal year was unable to maintain the surveillance cameras that would have provided essential footage in the wake of Tuesdays shooting.

$10,400,000,000 NYPD budget and they couldnt get their radios to work in a crisis, the surveillance cameras malfunctioned and no officers prevented anything or apprehended anyone. But politicians plan to just throw more money at it, no questions asked, wrote Samuel Sinyangwe, a policy analyst and creator of Mapping Police Violence, a database of police killings in the US.

$10,400,000,000 NYPD budget and they couldnt get their radios to work in a crisis, the surveillance cameras malfunctioned and no officers prevented anything or apprehended anyone. But politicians plan to just throw more money at it, no questions asked.  Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) April 13, 2022

If the NYPD were an army, it would be one of the largest in the world. It has offices in 11 foreign cities. It has six submarine drones. If it can't stop an attack in its own city's subway system, it's not because of a lack of funding.  Gravel Institute (@GravelInstitute) April 12, 2022

Another user, @mythserene, took up the same point and referenced a 2019 audit conducted by the state comptrollers office of the surveillance cameras, in which the report notes that though the MTA had made progress in addressing the problems identified in the 2018 audit report, of the six recommendations only two were implemented, two were partially implemented, and two were not implemented.

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I am actually angry. Its bulls*** for @NYCMayor to double down on cop theater when he knew or shouldve known the cameras werent working. Look at this s***, the Twitter user wrote.

I am actually angry. It's bullshit for @NYCMayor to double down on cop theater when he knew or should've known the cameras weren't working.

Look at this shit. (2019 audit )



Techs missed CCTV preventative maintenance 52% of the time

Time btw 1st visit & repair: 40-217 days https://t.co/F3FKZfMxhc pic.twitter.com/Y8b45kkMf6  Serene (@MythSerene) April 13, 2022

In the 2019 follow-up audit, two of the recommendations that were partially implemented relate to repairing defective surveillance cameras and maintenance schedules for said devices.

For instance, the report states a recommendation to Ensure defective cameras are repaired timely, but the MTA was only partially able to implement the recommendation.

The agency did not set a standard time frame for camera repairs, it wrote

We sampled 24 of 525 trouble tickets that took longer than five days to close, of which 10 were for defective cameras (5 of which took between 43 and 323 days to repair), it continued.

We note that the total elapsed time between the first visit to assess the condition and subsequent visits to do the repair accounted for most of the time, ranging from 40 to 217 days.

A measure that was not implemented from the 2018 audit was to focus resources on meeting preventive maintenance targets.

I just dont understand how there can be no working cameras in places largely shared by the general public when the nypd got $10.4 BILLION budget to protect the very same people. https://t.co/0CmdV4Dhzu  Maya Angelique (@moneyymaya) April 12, 2022

The report notes that the agency failed to meet this recommendation, and that EMD continues to miss preventive maintenance scheduled for its CCTV system.

For example, from April 13, 2018 to April 30, 2019, EMD Radio and Security System technicians missed scheduled preventive maintenance almost 52 percent of the time (missing 586 of 1,136 scheduled preventive maintenance visits) for 216 CCTV cameras at four stations, the report reads.

Outside of the complaints circulating online regarding the defective surveillance cameras, there were others who took the manhunt for the Brooklyn shooter as an opportunity to criticise the forces Strategic Response Group, a counter-terrorism unit, which, as many pointed out, was deployed to a homeless encampment to evacuate tents on Wednesday while Mr James remained at large.

The subway shooter has not been found, but where is NYPDs anti-terror unit? At a homeless encampment with a few tents, wrote Joshua Potash.

The subway shooter has not been found, but where is NYPDs anti-terror unit? At a homeless encampment with a few tents. https://t.co/PF3Gfw16FP  Read Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell (@JoshuaPotash) April 13, 2022

More SRG arriving with zip ties. No notice was given for a sweep at this location. When asked, NYPD said they do not need to give notice. pic.twitter.com/7wYnLc5sCO  Isabelle Leyva (@isabelle_leyva) April 13, 2022

Kristin Richardson Jordan, a councilwoman of New York City Councils District 9, emphasised how measures such as these, despite having access to military equipment, facial recognition technology, robot dogs, drones, and 36,000 cops are still failing to protect New Yorkers.

We must invest in real public safety, for once and for all, the councilwoman wrote on Twitter.

NYPD has a budget of $10,400,000,000, access to military equipment, facial recognition technology, robot dogs, drones, and 36,000 cops yet still failed to stop yesterdays subway shooting in Sunset Park.



We must invest in real public safety, for once and for all  Kristin Richardson Jordan (KRJ) (@Kristin4Harlem) April 14, 2022

The truth is the NYPDs job isnt to fight crime. Their job is to wage war against poor people who cant afford a $2.75 subway fare, its to harass immigrant street vendors trying to make ends meet, and its to terrorize the unhoused and the activists defending them.

The truth is the NYPDs job isnt to fight crime. Their job is to wage war against poor people who cant afford a $2.75 subway fare, it's to harass immigrant street vendors trying to make ends meet, and it's to terrorize the unhoused and the activists defending them.  Kristin Richardson Jordan (KRJ) (@Kristin4Harlem) April 14, 2022

#ICYMI: As @NYCMayor continues to sweep homeless encampments citywide, we released a statement with our partners at @LegalAidNYC condemning this failed and inhumane practice: https://t.co/pVrrZrH1I6  Coalition for the Homeless (@NYHomeless) April 14, 2022

Mayor Adams, who banked his mayoral campaign on public safety and announced an ambitious plan for tackling the citys crime in his first few weeks of assuming the office, was also sharply criticised online for what some saw as dated policies that only provided a perception of safety but failed to deliver on that promise.

In his first month, Mayor Adams added 1,000 new NYPD officers to the subway system bringing the total to 3,500 cops who failed to stop yesterdays subway shooting in Sunset Park. Investing in more police isnt making us safer. Abolition is creative and we must move towards it, wrote Ms Jordan.

In his first month, Mayor Adams added 1,000 new NYPD officers to the subway system bringing the total to 3,500 cops who failed to stop yesterdays subway shooting in Sunset Park.



Investing in more police isn't making us safer.



Abolition is creative and we must move towards it  Kristin Richardson Jordan (KRJ) (@Kristin4Harlem) April 14, 2022

Eric Adams is asking for more cops to protect the city. The massive NYPD military he already controls couldnt stop the attack because they are inadequate and antiquated, not because there arent enough of them, wrote author and activist Frederick Joseph.

Eric Adams is asking for more cops to protect the city.



The massive NYPD military he already controls couldnt stop the attack because they are inadequate and antiquated, not because there arent enough of them.  Frederick "Pre-order Patriarchy Blues" Joseph (@FredTJoseph) April 12, 2022

The Independent reached out to the MTA, the NYPD and the New York mayors office for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
St. Joseph Indian Normal School (Photo/Chris Light/WikiCommons)

The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is heading up its own project to locate records and find the names and tribal identities of the Native youth who died while at one of the state's two Indian boarding schools, White's Indiana Manual Labor Institute and St. Joseph Indian Normal School.

Jeannie Regan-Dinius, director of special initiatives in the departments Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, said she suggested the project to her boss last June after suspecting that the two 19th-century schools wouldnt fall into the federal Department of the Interiors Indian boarding-school initiative.

We recognized pretty early that the Indiana schools would not fall into that study, because the schools were religious-based, Regan-Dinius told Native News Online. The initiative is a year-long investigation into U.S. Indian boarding schools, with a report due out this month, aimed at identifying each federally run boarding school in the country and the location of unmarked burial sites associated with them. A spokesperson for the Interior Department didnt comment on whether or not the federal initiative will include religious-run institutions, which received funding from the federal government and account for almost half of the at least 400 known boarding schools.

We knew that there was a cemetery at both schools, Regan-Dinius said. The goal is to find out how many burials there actually are, and (to try) to identify  if we can  who might be buried there, and then work with the tribal representatives and determine what's best. 

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For me, it's completing our history, she added. It's a way for us to take care of some things that happened in the past that shouldn't have happened.

Since October, Regan-Dinius has focused her attention on searching through archival material on White's Indiana Manual Labor Institute, a school in Wabash run by Quakers. It began admitting students in 1862 and was open for 34 years.

Story continues

Through records housed at Earlham College, a Quaker college in Richmond, about 100 miles southeast of Wabash, Regan-Dinius was able to count 310 students from 12 different tribes who attended White's Indiana Manual Labor Institute.

Shes traveling to the site, now a Catholic-run high school, on Apr. 25 to photograph its current headstones and see how they match up with the 22 deaths she counted in the schools records. According to her research, the schools cemetery only has nine tombstones.

The Department of Natural Resources will formally notify the 12 tribes whose students were taken to White's Indiana Manual Labor about the project by mail in the coming weeks. Most were Sioux from North and South Dakota.

We were waiting to contact the tribes until we had the list of the students in their affiliation, Regan-Dinius said. I finished that last Friday [Apr. 11], and so I have a letter that is being approved to go out to the tribes. We're hoping [in the] next couple of weeks to have that letter in the hands of the tribes.

She said that a local archeology firm, Stantec, has agreed to conduct ground-penetrating radar on the site for free if the tribes consent.

But after WTHR-TV, an NBC affiliate in Indianapolis, reported on the departments work on April 4, three tribes with historic ties to Indiana reached out to Regan-Dinius with concerns.

Shawnee Nation of Oklahomas Chief Ben Barnes told Native News Online that the news article made it seem as though the department was immediately going to begin ground-penetrating radar at the White's Indiana Manual Labor site without any tribal consultation.

This was alarming to me, as no one had talked to tribal nations, he said. Why are we putting the cart before the horse, when we need to talk to the tribes who had children attending these places? Because what happens if you find one? If its private ownership, will we be allowed to exhume our children? What if we want them to stay there? Is that even a tenable solution if the land is owned by someone else? There's lots of things to talk through. We need to find out also: Are these the only two [Indian boarding schools] in Indiana? Were there others?

Barnes said its unfortunate that the Department of Natural Resources didnt involve tribal nations sooner in its research process, and that they should have immediately initiated conversations once the WTHR story broke. He added that the department hasnt quite understood how many tribal nations might require engagement: The Shawnee Tribe has records from Kansas that show Shawnee children were sent to Indiana for boarding school.

Is this the one that our kids were sent to? Barnes asked.

Frankly, Indiana doesnt know what questions to ask, he said. Lets unpack that for a minute: In-di-an-a, Barnes said. It's clearly named after Indian people, and yet they act like they dont know what Indian people are. It seems a little paternalistic that they're going to get all the answers and then sit us down and tell us about it.

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, in present-day Michigan, also contacted the Department of Natural Resources when they heard the news earlier this month. Tribal Chairwoman Rebecca Richards wrote to Native News Online that, while they appreciate the departments efforts to investigate Indian boarding schools, they feel strongly that all parties involved in exploring sensitive historical sites should proactively consult with Native American Tribes in their area before embarking on such efforts.

Regan-Dinius told Native News Online that no work will take place on the property without tribal consultation.

For our part, I didn't even know which tribes to consult with until we did the list, she said. All we've done is the archival research. Our intent was not to leave anybody out, but to bring in the correct tribes when we got that information.

Regan-Dinius said records for St.Joseph's Indian Normal School, a Catholic-run school in Rensselaer, have been harder to find. The Jasper County Historical Society is helping search for any archival material about the all-boys boarding school. One of the buildings was converted to a residence hall for the now largely defunct St. Josephs College.

So that's next, she said, but it will require more searching and digging around in archives.

Whites Indiana Manual Labor Institute Clip

About the Author: "Jenna Kunze is a reporter for Native News Online and Tribal Business News. Her bylines have appeared in The Arctic Sounder, High Country News, Indian Country Today, Smithsonian Magazine and Anchorage Daily News. In 2020, she was one of 16 U.S. journalists selected by the Pulitzer Center to report on the effects of climate change in the Alaskan Arctic region. Prior to that, she served as lead reporter at the Chilkat Valley News in Haines, Alaska. Kunze is based in New York."

Contact: jkunze@indiancountrymedia.com
Marc Brenner/Bruce Glikas/The Daily Beast

Cyrano de Bergerac

Much is said, many times airlessly, about taking a classic text and rendering it anew. The latest adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac at BAM (to May 22), written by Martin Crimp and directed by Jamie Lloyd, is the real deal, and one of those beg-borrow-steal moments to acquire a ticket.

James McAvoy, sans big honker, plays the title role in modern dress on a starkly contemporary set, in which locations like bookshop and battlefield are left to us to summon in our imaginations, which we do thanks to the tabula rasa designed by Soutra Gilmour, who also does the costumes, and lit by Jon Clark, who does many magical things, most stunning of all conveying a battlefield using hundreds of lightbulbs.

Cyrano de Bergerac in Popular Culture

This production, a London transfer and a lovely blend of comedy, drama, and metafiction, features the same characters as Edmond Rostands classic, but its comedy and drama are both more pointed. There is a lot of exposed flesh. Delts pop. When Roxane (Evelyn Miller) finds out the truth about Cyrano and Christians (Eben Figueiredo) scheme to trick her for their own reasons, she is furious in an emphatically profane way. Christian loves her but cannot express it in words. Cyrano loves her, but his big nose, he feels, will get in the way in more ways than one. It makes every difference that McAvoy doesnt have a big nose. Again, we imagine it, but with a cast as talented as this having so much rich, subversive fun with the text, no prosthetics are needed.

Evelyn Miller as Roxane and James McAvoy as Cyrano de Bergerac. Marc Brenner

Tom Edden as De Guiche is both a beard-stroking comic villain and a legitimately nasty one. The play, which asks itself as many questions as the characters ask each other, even posits a believable attraction between the men and doesnt make the moment of its realization a joke. And throughout and around it, rap and spoken verse link every scene, with humor, pathos, and grief in absolute balance at absolutely the right moments. Ultimately, as its tantalizing last line suggests, this Cyrano is a play about languageand what a joy it is to see such malleability and mischief of the spoken word in service of that theme on stage.

Story continues

American Buffalo

Language is also at the heart of the David Mamets 1975 classic, American Buffaloa butchly intense play about, well, antique, possibly stolen coins. If you are passionate about nickels of yoreI mean passionate enough to smack people around the head with ironsthis is the revival for you (at Circle in the Square, to July 10).

Derogatory terms for lesbians and women generally pepper the text. The night this critic went, some people found this in and of itself funny, which at a time of rampant homophobia and transphobia in state legislatures and abortion being banned in states like Kentucky seems especially unfunny. But then Mamet himself would no doubt castigate those like me for our political correctness or wokeness, or whatever their gaslighting battering ram du jour is. Mamet was even on Fox News this week declaring that teachers were inclined to pedophilia; The New York Times reported hes also condemning the lefts anti-Trump psychosis in new essays. So, all is normal in Mamet-lad.

It is easy to see why all-star casts gravitate to the play, with its speeches and muscle-flexing vivacity. And so it is here, with Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell, and Darren Criss Mamet-ing at each other adroitly. Rockwell as Teach, the vexatious friend of junk shop owner Donny (Fishburne), is the best kind of powder keg and deranged motor for the whole performance. Coins, coins, coins. Will they rob some, get some, find the ones they covet?

(l to r) Sam Rockwell, Darren Criss, and Laurence Fishburne in American Buffalo. Bruce Glikas

A fourth character is designer Scott Pasks fabulous junk shop, which features a cluttered stage, and lights and other ephemera hanging from the ceiling. Fishburne is a solid voice of reason, and Criss plays a seemingly lost soul who also seems maybe just a little lost in the role. However, the in-the-round stage at Circle in the Square is a consistent treat of a setting to see such actors letting loose so intimately, particularly Rockwell, whose freewheeling menace and blunt nonchalance should be deemed Tony nomination-worthy.

Invective, repetition, manly backchat: The Mamet staples are here, but truly what gives with the damn coins? The actors make as much sense as they can of the foggy mystery and verbal extremity Mamet has written for them around these misplaced little shiny objects, but the playwrights hot airso visible on Fox News this weekbarely seems to merit his characters heightened tempers, much less our interest. Still, Rockwell rocks it.

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan and the United States are likely to hold a bilateral finance ministers' meeting next week on the sidelines of the Group of 20 gathering to be held in Washington, Kyodo news agency reported on Friday.

Both governments are currently negotiating the exact date for the meeting, which will likely be held around April 21, Kyodo said without citing sources.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
Emerson Lowery and Amariona Webber make a sale on Friday to Emily Galloway.

It's half an hour the start of the school day at Jefferson Elementary.

Most students have yet to even arrive for the day and already Evonne Jenkins' classroom is buzzing with activity. One student is attempting to move a desk into the hallway, two others are gathering up packs of pencils. Amidst the frenzy, a student walks in holding high a $20 bill proclaiming "We made our goal," before pitching in to help.

For a week and a half Jenkins' fourth graders have been selling pencils and pencil tops to their peers with the goal of raising $1,000 for an orphanage in Ukraine.

With that $20 bill - a donation from the student's grandmother - Jenkins' students have raised $1,000 for kids like them half a world away. By the end of the morning, they would raise a total of $1,160.

"We talk about current events periodically, and the kids know about the situation in Ukraine," said Jenkins.

Ja'Kerionna Phillips, Brooks Walker, Ava Canoutas, Walker Borders and Leonardo Adame-Moreno sell pencils to help raise money for a Ukrainian orphanage.

Those talks just happened to start after her class finished reading "Number the Stars," a children's novel about the escape of a family of Jews from Copenhagen, Denmark, during World War II.

Students said the book helped them empathize with young people fleeing their homes during an invasion and decided they needed to help.

"They are our age and have it so much worse than us. It made me want to help them out," said Olivia Russell.

Jenkins said she was able to contact someone connected to a Ukrainian orphanage through a mutual acquaintance.

Once everyone was on board with the plan, she purchased large packs of pencils and pencil toppers for her students to open and sell for $1 each. Each morning before school, students arrive early to set up shop in the school lobby, where parents drop their kids off every morning, and near the bus riders entrance to the school.

"They do pretty much everything. They sell it, they give change. I just buy the pencils," said Jenkins.

"We wanted to do this because they are having a hard time in Ukraine. We want to help the kids like us," said Emerson Lowery.

Story continues

Fourth graders at Jefferson Elementary have raised over $1,000 selling pencils and pencil toppers to their peers.

The effort has attracted a fair bit of community support. School board members, district administrators and community members have all contributed. Students wrote letters to local representatives including North Carolina Rep. Kelly Hastings and State Senator Ted Alexander, both of whom made trips to Jefferson to meet the students and make donations to the fundraiser.

On Friday, Alexander returned to the school to give the class a North Carolina flag previously flown over the capitol building in Raleigh to send with their donation to the orphanage.

"I think this is a great idea on so many levels," said Alexander of the fundraiser. "It's teaching them to care about others. They are learning about money and selling. I can't think of a better word for it - this was a pretty moxy thing to do. I'm thrilled and excited they hit their goal."

(From left) Fiona Jacobs, Olivia Russell, Ja'Kerionna Phillips, Leonardo Adame-Moreno, Brooks Walker and Walker Borders are seen Friday at the fundraiser.

Dustin George can be reached at 704-669-3337 or Dustin.George@ShelbyStar.com.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Jefferson Elementary students raise $1,600 for Ukrainian orphans
FRANKLIN (Somerset) - A township man has been charged with laundering more than a half-million dollars from online romance scams into accounts in China, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Singapore and Mauritius.

William Kwabena Goeh, 47, of the township's Somerset section, was one of four people charged with money laundering conspiracy by federal authorities. Goehl was arrested Wednesday and released on $100,000 bond.

The others charged were Nana Yaw Marfo, 37, of Virginia; and Shannon Braxton, 45, and Chevon Braxton, 42, both of Maryland.

Goeh and the others used bank accounts and accounts at credit unions to launder the proceeds obtained from victims of romance scams, according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.

Several victims, many of whom were elderly, throughout the United States fell victim to romance scams after meeting individuals online who they thought were interested in a romantic relationship, Selinger said.

Local: Why has a warehouse plan in Franklin drawn opposition from another towns mayor?

The victims sent thousands of dollars to accounts controlled by Goeh, Marfo, the Braxtons and others, believing the money was being sent for the benefit of their online romantic interest, Selinger said.

Goeh and Marfo opened up business bank accounts in the names of various entities to conceal the romance scam fraud proceeds.

Goeh allegedly received at least $530,000; Marfo received at least $4.7 million; Shannon Braxton received at least $500,000; and Chevon Braxton received at least $1.3 million.

The Braxtons withdrew a large portion of the fraud proceeds as cash, while Goeh and Marfo wired thousands of dollars overseas, Selinger said.

Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com

Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Franklin NJ man charged with laundering in online romantic scam
Clashes broke out on Friday morning after Israeli police entered the Temple Mount holy site in Jerusalem, with medics saying at least 152 Palestinians have been wounded.

Police entered the compound in large numbers shotly before dawn, said the administrators of the site  also known as Al Aqsa  as thousands of worshippers gathered at the mosque for early morning prayers two weeks into the holy month of Ramadan.

In a statement, police said that around two hours earlier, dozens of young people began to march in the area, carrying flags of both Hamas as well as Palestine.

They also threw stones and fireworks and began piling up rocks and other objects to prepare for further clashes, the authorities said.

Police were forced to enter the grounds to disperse the crowd and remove the stones and rocks, in order to prevent further violence, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Police said that the group pelted stones during morning prayers, but that police only went in to disperse the group after prayers ended.

The group then pelted stones at the Western Wall, which is located below the Temple Mount compound, prompting officers to move to enter the site, police said.

Videos of the clashes being shared online appeared to show worshippers barricading themselves inside the Al Aqsa mosque itself amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas. Other footage showed Palestinians hurling rocks and police firing tear gas and stun grenades.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it evacuated 152 wounded people to hospitals. The Islamic endowment which manages the site said one of its guards was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.

Hours after the violence, the police said that the violence had been ended and hundreds had been arrested.

We call on the worshipers to maintain order and observe the prayers in an orderly manner. The Israel Police will not allow rioters to disrupt the prayers and disrupt public order, said a statement by the police.

Story continues

Prime minister Neftali Bennett held a meeting with police commissioner Kobi Shabtai and public security minister Omer Barlev at a Border Police base in Jerusalem.

Later in a statement on Twitter he said:[We are] working to provide security for Israeli citizens."

The incident also drew condemnation from Palestinian National Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.

The storming of Al Aqsa Mosque and the entry of the occupation forces is a dangerous development and sacrilege, and it is tantamount to declaring war on our Palestinian people, said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the president's spokesperson.

The incident on Friday is the latest in a growing wave of violence that has erupted during the holy month of Ramadan, which coincides this year with major Jewish and Christian holidays.

Last year protests and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan boiled over into an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza.

In recent weeks tensions have been simmering after a series of attacks by Arab assailants killed 14 people inside Israel, prompting a wave of arrests and military operations in West Bank.

On Monday, Israeli forces said they had shot and killed a Palestinian man near the city of Bethlehem in the West Bank, reported the Associated Press.

Three Palestinians have been killed between Sunday and Monday which includes an unarmed woman who was shot and killed at a military checkpoint near Bethlehem.

Security has been heightened both in Israel as well as in the West Bank.

On Thursday Hamas called for an escalation against Israel and urged hundreds of thousands to attend Friday prayers in Jerusalem.

We are declaring a general mobilisation in all places where our people are located. We are calling on the masses to come out in the hundreds of thousands to protect our nation and our mosque," it said.

In a statement on Friday Hamas condemned the violence and said that Israel would have to bear the consequences.

Our people in Jerusalem are not alone in the battle for Al Aqsa. The whole Palestinian people and its noble resistance and its vital power are with them, said Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhum.

Israel's police said that security forces were on high alert and security had been beefed up at train stations, bus stops and hotels.

The Palestinian authorities said that they are cooperating with Israel to prevent a repeat of last years violence.

If there is an escalation tomorrow and there are casualties, we may get to Operation Guardian of the Walls round two, a senior security official was quoted as saying to Channel 12.
U.S. Asian American community faces impact of pandemic combined with racism: report

Xinhua) 07:58, April 15, 2022

People walk in a street in Chinatown in Manhattan of New York, the United States, June 24, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Anti-Asian racism is deeply rooted in American society, dating back to before the original Asian Exclusion Act of the 1880s, but it has risen during the pandemic with anti-Asian rhetoric from politicians.

NEW YORK, April 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Asian Americans have faced a triple threat of racial prejudice, mental health concerns in the community and economic loss, according to a new report from the Institute for Asian American Studies at University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston).

Fifty four percent of Chinese respondents and more than a third of Vietnamese respondents said people acted afraid of them because of their race, public media organization GBH NEWS in Boston, Massachusetts, cited the report on Wednesday.

More than a quarter of Vietnamese respondents said they felt threatened or harassed because of their race, and 15 percent of Chinese respondents said the same, according to the UMass Boston survey.

The report was the first to reach out to the Asian American community in the area using a multilingual questionnaire, reaching 199 respondents from various parts of Boston, Malden, Quincy, Everett and Cambridge.

Anti-Asian racism is deeply rooted in American society, dating back to before the original Asian Exclusion Act of the 1880s, but it has risen during the pandemic with anti-Asian rhetoric from politicians, Jyoti Sinha, founder of the South Asian Workers' Center and a professor at UMass Boston, was quoted as saying.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Joe Root has stepped down as Englands Test captain (Jason OBrien/PA) (PA Wire)

Joe Root has described his decision to step down as Englands Test captain as his most challenging but conceded it recently hit home how much of a toll the role had taken on him.

The 31-year-old resigns with a number of favourable records, but a disastrous 12 months of red-ball cricket essentially made his position untenable.

A recent 1-0 series defeat in the West Indies extended Englands winless run to five series, which included heavy losses away to India and Australia, and has seen the country taste victory only once in their last 17 Test matches.

Days after an all-too familiar capitulation in Grenada, Root highlighted the positives of the tour but has now brought his five-year tenure to an end in a move that could signal the beginning of the much-discussed red-ball reset.

As England Men's Test captain:



 Most Matches (64)

 Most Wins (27)

 Most Runs (5295)



End of an era. pic.twitter.com/RH2ioeIzNi  England Cricket (@englandcricket) April 15, 2022

Root, who will continue as a batter, said: I have decided to step down as England mens Test captain.

It has been the most challenging decision I have had to make in my career but having discussed this with my family and those closest to me; I know the timing is right.

I am immensely proud to have captained my country and will look back on the past five years with enormous pride. It has been an honour to have done the job and to have been a custodian of what is the pinnacle of English cricket.

I have loved leading my country, but recently its hit home how much of a toll it has taken on me and the impact it has had on me away from the game.

Root took over as captain from Sir Alastair Cook in 2017 and while he oversaw a disappointing 4-0 loss Down Under, his side bounced back to thrash India at home the following year before they closed it out with victory in Sri Lanka.

Story continues

Months after 50-over World Cup glory in the summer of 2019, the Yorkshire batter was again unable to reclaim the urn after Australia secured a 2-2 draw in the home Ashes series.

Joe Root celebrates a century at Headingley (Nigel French/PA) (PA Wire)

The arrival of Chris Silverwood as head coach was hoped to help England readdress their focus between red and white-ball cricket but the unexpected coronavirus pandemic occurred before an awful 2021.

A second successive 4-0 Ashes loss in Australia resulted in Silverwood, batting coach Graham Thorpe and Ashley Giles, who was managing director of England mens cricket, being dismissed but Root remained in post for the West Indies under the stewardship of interim head coach Paul Collingwood.

Positive signs were evident in the draws in Antigua and Barbados but, without key duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad who were surprisingly left at home, England were thrashed by 10 wickets in the final Test to go down 1-0 in Roots 64th Test as captain.

That figure alone is a record for the most number of matches as England skipper and his 27 victories puts him out in front in terms of overall wins, but another change of leadership has now occurred for the Test side.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my family, Carrie, Alfred and Bella, who have lived it all with me and been incredible pillars of love and support throughout, Englands second-highest run scorer in Tests added.

All of the players, coaches and support staff that have helped me during my tenure. It has been a great privilege to have been with them on this journey.

I would also like to thank all the England supporters for their unwavering support. We are lucky to have the best fans in the world, and wherever we play, that positivity is something we always cherish and admire, which is a huge drive for all of us out there.

I am excited to continue representing the Three Lions and producing performances that will enable the team to succeed. I look forward to helping the next captain, my teammates and coaches in whatever way I can.

Predecessors Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan have all called on Root to step down in recent weeks but the latter praised his fellow Yorkshireman for being the games best role model.

Vaughan wrote on Twitter: He (Joe) gave it everything with very little support for the red-ball team under his watch, then he had to deal with Covid times.

He still is and will (be) the games best role model for many, many years.

Hussain talked up Ben Stokes last month as a possible replacement for Root, who has not let the toll of captaincy affect his batting following a record-breaking 2021 where he scored 1,708 runs.

He gave it everything with very little support for the Red ball team under his watch .. then he had to deal with Covid times .. he still is and will the games best role model for many many years .. now enjoy being the senior player for many more seasons @root66   Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 15, 2022

Vice-captain Stokes paid tribute to Root on Instagram, saying: Been a great ride with you my friend.

Watching one of my great mates lead us all out on to the field was a privilege. You have given everything to English cricket and we all want to say thank you for your sacrifices and hard work.

Stokes is one of the few candidates to replace Root with the futures of experienced duo Anderson and Broad up in the air and not many other players guaranteed a place in the XI.

Tom Harrison, the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, talked up the integrity and humility of Root, but gave little mention of what is next for the Test side with a new captain, head coach and managing director all needed before the next series with New Zealand which begins in June.

Joe has been an exceptional role model during his tenure, balancing the demands of Test captaincy whilst continuing to shine brilliantly through his own personal performances, Harrison said.

It has been a privilege and a huge pleasure to have worked with him in his capacity as our Test captain, and I know hell continue to drive English cricket forward as a senior player.
Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel via Getty

More than two years after authorities found Anthony Todts family murdered and wrapped in blankets inside their rental home near Disney World, the Connecticut physical therapist was found guilty.

Todt, 46, shook his head as he was convicted of homicide for the December 2019 deaths of his 42-year-old wife, Megan, and their three children13-year-old Alek, 11-year-old Tyler, and 4-year-old Zoeyinside their Celebration, Florida home. Todt was also convicted on one count of animal cruelty for killing the familys dog, Breezy. The medical examiner found that all but Zoey had stab wounds.

After the verdict was read out, Todt spoke directly to Circuit Judge Keith Carsten, saying he loved his wife and kids, and in the same breath insisting that Megan had been verbally abusing the children. I maintain my innocence, he said.

You, Anthony John Todt, are a destroyer of worlds, Carsten then told him.

The verdict Thursday evening came after Todt took the stand in his own defense, claiming that even though he confessed to killing his family multiple times it was his wife who actually committed familicide. Prosecutors, however, alleged that Todt fatally dosed his family with Benadryl before stabbing her and the children in a twisted murder-suicide pact with his wife that would allow them to pass over together before the end of the world.

Crying Florida Dad Takes the Stand With Wild Explanation for Familys Deaths

Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinnell told jurors in her closing arguments Thursday that Todt took steps to try to deceive law enforcement after they found [the families] bodiestelling one detective that they bring their children into this world, they get to decide when they leave.

[Todt] wanted control over the lives of his kids and over the life of Megan, Pinnell told jurors in Osceola County Court.

Todts defense team, however, insisted that prosecutors could not prove that it was Todt who killed his family and not his wife. They pointed out that the medical examiner concluded Todts family died of unspecified violence but could not conclude whether they were smothered or to what extent the Benadryl overdose played a role in the murders.

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There are holes. There are gaps. There is reasonable doubt, Alesha Smith, Todts public defender, said Thursday. If the medical examiner cant give you the true cause of death, that goes to reasonable doubt.

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While on the stand Wednesday, Todt told jurors that his wife had life-long, chronic illnesses that were the impetus for her belief the family needed to die in order to be reincarnated into a better life. As her illness progressed, Todt said his wife began watching videos online that predicted the upcoming apocalypse and offered views on how to reach salvation.

She went from a very strong vibrant woman to barely holding on at 90 pounds, Todt said. She went from a mom who provided for everythingto a person who could barely walk stairs on certain days.

Eventually, Todt claimed, her unwavering belief about starting a new life prompted her to kill their kids with a Benadryl-tainted pudding pie then stab herself in the stomach.

I came home and my kids were dead, Todt said. It was the most horrible day of my life. What made it more horrible was that my wife died in front of me also.

But jurors heard a confession Todt allegedly made shortly after the deaths in which he told detectives that he and his wife came up with a plan to kill their kids and themselves in order to pass over before the apocalypse. In the taped confession, Todt said he first rolled over on top of Zoey until she suffocated then killed his two sons by suffocating them and stabbing them.

He said his wife then stabbed herself twiceand when that didnt work, he suffocated her with a pillow. Todt then allegedly admitted suffocating the dog.

I needed to save her soul, Todt said in the video, noting that he wanted his family on the other side. I wanted her to be with us.

Finally, Todt said he tried to kill himself in various ways, including trying to overdose on Benadryl and hanging himselfthen chickened out when he tried to use a knife.

Crying Florida Dad Takes the Stand With Wild Explanation for Familys Deaths

But on the stand, he said he did not remember confessing to the crimes at all, and only remembered telling his wife before she died that he would take the blame.

I was covering for my wife. Obviously unsuccessfully. I had no clue how my kids died, Todt testified.

The familys shocking deaths were only uncovered when relatives asked Osceola Sheriffs deputies to perform a wellness check around Christmas in 2019 after not hearing from them. Prosecutors said that an FBI agent who had been investigating Todts Connecticut business for medical fraud also asked the Florida sheriffs office to locate Todt. Ultimately, cops were able to enter the home after getting an arrest warrant for Todts alleged financial crimes. They found the heavily decomposed bodies of Megan, Alek, Tyler, and Zoey in the upstairs master bedroom all covered in blankets.

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The New York Times

On a rainy Thursday evening last spring, a 15-year-old girl was rushed by her parents to the emergency department at Boston Childrens Hospital. She had marks on both wrists from self-harm and a recent suicide attempt, and earlier that day she confided to her pediatrician that she planned to try again. At the ER, a doctor examined her and explained to her parents that she was not safe to go home. But I need to be honest with you about whats likely to unfold, the doctor added. The best place f
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea will remove most pandemic restrictions, including indoor gathering limits, as it slowly wiggles out of an omicron outbreak officials say is stabilizing.

People will still be required to wear masks indoors, but authorities could remove an outdoor mask mandate if the coronavirus further slows over the next two weeks, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said in a government briefing Friday.

Starting next week, authorities will remove a 10-person limit on private social gatherings and lift a midnight curfew at restaurants, coffee shops and other indoor businesses. Officials will also remove a ban on large political rallies and other events involving 300 or more people.

People will be allowed to eat inside movie theaters, religious facilities, bus terminals and train stations starting on April 25.

The new measures were announced as the country reported 125,846 new cases of the coronavirus, continuing a weekslong downward trend after infections peaked in mid-March. The countrys one-day record was 621,187 on March 17.

While health workers reported 264 virus-related deaths in the latest 24 hours, more than half of the countrys 2,800 COVID-19 intensive care units remained available.

Kwon pleaded that people remain vigilant against the virus, saying officials will be forced to tighten social distancing again if the pandemic brings another huge wave of infections.

He said it has become difficult to prolong social distancing rules, considering peoples fatigue and frustration with extended restrictions and the toll on the service sector economy. Social distancing measures have become less effective as tools to slow transmissions because omicron has been so much more contagious than previous variants of the virus, said Son Youngrae, another Health Ministry official.

Omicron has forced South Korea to abandon a stringent COVID-19 response based on mass laboratory tests, aggressive contact tracing and quarantines to focus limited medical resources on high-risk groups, including people 60 and older and those with preexisting medical conditions.

Starting in late May, officials will remove a mandatory seven-day quarantine period for COVID-19 patients and allow them to receive treatment at hospitals and local clinics just like other illnesses.

The country had already eased quarantine restrictions and stopped requiring adults to show proof of vaccination or negative tests when entering potentially crowded spaces like restaurants so that more public and health workers could respond to rapidly expanding at-home treatments. More than 900,000 virus patients have been asked to isolate at home to save hospital space.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)  Kosovo authorities on Friday condemned a recent string of armed attacks against police in which automatic rifles and hand grenades were used as acts of terrorism.

Interior Minister Xhelal Svecla said the latest attack occurred early Friday when a police patrol came under fire from an AK-47 assault rifle and a hand grenade near Zubin Potok, 55 kilometers (35 miles) north of the capital Pristina. Three other attacks against police occurred in the previous two days.

Svecla said that none of these attacks intended to frighten or eliminate police officers succeeded in their aim.

Police Chief Samedin Mehmeti said two police vehicles were damaged but their bulletproof windshields protected the occupants.

Mehmeti added that the previous evening, 30 rounds were fired from inside Serbian territory at a police patrol near a path used by smugglers.

Svecla accused Serbia of trying to destabilize Kosovo.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, a move recognized by the United States and most EU nations. Serbia has refused to recognize Kosovo as separate nation after 11 years of EU-brokered negotiations.

The U.S. Embassy said it was deeply concerned by recent reports of gun fire directed at police and strongly condemned this deplorable, unjustifiable violence. It also cautioned against speculation that would increase tensions.
Four cameras staked out a spot in front of Kris Bryants locker in the Colorado Rockies clubhouse, a sight that was hard for him to miss as he approached after pregame batting practice.

The Chicago Cubs four-game series against the Rockies isnt Bryants first time facing his former team with which he earned every notable personal and team accolades a big-leaguer can achieve. No, that came in early August after Bryant was sent to the San Francisco Giants as part of one-third of the Cubs opening-day roster being traded at the deadline.

I enjoyed my time in Chicago, but I dont know if it warrants a press conference every time I play them, a smiling Bryant said Thursday before the Cubs 5-2 victory in the series opener at Coors Field.

As Bryant embarks on the next chapter of his career in Colorado, he isnt forgetting his past.

I dont know if that chapter will ever close until Im done playing baseball because I rely on a lot of what I went through there to make me who I am now and help me in the future with the guys here, Bryant said. So Im not ever going to close that chapter because I had a lot of fun there.

The Rockies in March gave Bryant a seven-year, $182 million contract with a no-trade clause. Testing free agency yielded Bryant the big deal he showed he was worth during his seven seasons with the Cubs.

It doesnt feel like I thought it would feel, like, Im still like I was before I got traded or signed a contract, mentally or just competition-wise, Bryant said. But I can fall back on the fact that I know where Im going to be and I dont have to hear any rumors or any of that. So theres a peace in that.

Bryant was diplomatic when he spoke in the visitors dugout at Wrigley Field in September about whether an offseason reunion with the Cubs was still possible post-trade to the Giants. He said the things Cubs fans wanted to hear, keeping alive a modicum of hope Bryant could return in the offseason He indicated nothing would be ruled out, and, it turns out, he indeed meant that. Bryant stated Thursday there were very preliminary talks with the Cubs on shorter-term stuff.

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His focus now is on getting the Rockies into the postseason, and his foundation with the Cubs will play a part in that.

Its just a part of me and its part of who I am, Bryant said. Its part of why Im able to be in the position that I am today, and theres a lot of gratefulness and thanks to be had all around. ... A special time in my life, and I wont ever forget it.

There wont be werent many familiar faces when Bryant looks across to the visitors dugout during the four-game series at Coors Field. Right-hander Kyle Hendricks, catcher Willson Contreras, outfielder Jason Heyward and manager David Ross are his only teammates remaining on the Cubs from the 2016 championship team. Bryant said he always knew Ross would make a great manager and is very happy for his success, though he couldnt pass up a chance to rib Ross.

I mean, its hard to see him as a manager because I just think back to Dancing with the Stars, Saturday Night Live, looking like a fool, Bryant said. But a really good friend of mine, and hes always been in my corner, and Im always going to be in his corner  just not when were playing each other.

When informed Bryant had mentioned his stint on Dancing with the Stars, Ross joked, Im going to kill him.

Ross, though, has Bryant to thank for his Instagram account (GrandpaRossy_3), which has more than 451,000 followers. One night during 2016 spring training, Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Dexter Fowler were talking about Instagram while at dinner with Ross, who was out of the loop on the social media site. Bryant told him he needed to have Instagram. Ross arrived in the clubhouse the next morning, and Bryant alerted him to the Grandpa Rossy Instagram account he started for the veteran catcher.

Ross replied: Why the hell do I need grandpa? Im still playing.

Ross appreciates those memories and everything he witnessed Bryant handle from the pressure and expectations that surrounded him ever since the Cubs drafted him with the No. 2 pick in 2013.

I see the human side a little bit more than like the production side  I mean obviously his numbers you guys get to see and can judge that, Ross said. But what I see is a guy who cares a lot about how things are perceived, how his teammates feel about him, how hes viewed publicly. He cares a lot about being a really good baseball player and hes a good family guy.

Bryants legacy with the Cubs goes beyond what happened on the field. Bryant lost his grievance against the Cubs in January 2020 after an arbiter ruled against him gaining an extra year of service time. The decision came four years after Bryant filed his grievance, which came after winning National League Rookie of the Year in 2015. That year the Cubs kept Bryant in the minors to start the season for just 12 days at Triple A to work on his defense, as then-President Theo Epstein explained why Bryant was not part of the opening-day roster.

The new collective bargaining agreement addresses the service-time manipulation Bryant faced in two ways. The top-two finishers for rookie of the year in each league receive a full year of service time, regardless of when they were called up. And teams that promote their top prospects to the opening-day roster can be eligible to receive draft-pick compensation if the player finishes in the top threefor ROY or top five for the MVP or Cy Young Award.

Bryant understood he likely wouldnt win his grievance, knowing it was a hard case to prove, but hes happy changes have been implemented.

Im just a little disappointed I didnt get a rule; (Shohei) Ohtani got a rule, I didnt get a rule, Bryant said. Jokes aside, going through that process obviously wasnt fun. A lot of media attention on it, and I wasnt necessarily comfortable with it the whole time. But I knew that I had the best case for changing the way the system is run, and I felt that I needed to take it upon myself to do that for everybody.

With all the attention and the negativity surrounding it, it was worth it.

Bryant wants to do for the Rockies what players such as Ben Zobrist, Jon Lester and John Lackey did for him and the other younger Cubs en route to ultimately winning the 2016 World Series title.

I really want to embrace that opportunity I have here to do that, Bryant said.
MSNBC

In his opening monologue Thursday night, MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell issued rare praise for Sean Hannityfor having the moral clarity on Vladimir Putin that Hannitys good friend Donald Trump has lacked.

ODonnell referenced a March interview the Fox News host conducted with Trump, in which the ex-president declined to call Putin evil or even acknowledge that he has committed evil acts. ODonnell also cited a more recent discussion Hannity had with actor and humanitarian Sean Penn in which the two agreed that evil was an accurate descriptor of the Russian president.

Donald Trump still cannot bring himself to say anything like that, ODonnell said. Donald Trump does not have the moral clarity of Sean Penn, or Sean Hannity, when it comes to Vladimir Putin.

Trump again called into Hannitys primetime Fox News show on Wednesday, and ODonnell honed in on what Trumpagaindid not say.

Sean Hannity is not giving up on the dream of another Trump presidency, and he apparently has not given up on the dream of getting Donald Trump to look at Vladimir Putin through a moral frame, ODonnell said.

Although Trump did refer to Russias actions as genocide, as has President Joe Biden and his Ukrainian counterpart, the former president again passed on the chance to describe the Putin-initiated war in Ukraine as evil in our time, as Hannity put it.

Hannity could not have given Trump a stronger signal that he needed to answer this question the right way than by pointing out to him that he had already asked him this exact question the last time he was on Sean Hannitys show, ODonnell said after playing a clip from Wednesday nights interview.

And yet, ODonnell continued, Donald Trump said nothing. He said a couple hundred words that included NATO, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, NATO becoming rich, he said something really insulting about Chuck Toddbut he did not dare to say one insulting word about Vladimir Putin. Not one.

When Russia first attacked Ukraine, Trump lauded the invasion as genius and very savvy.

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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Lebanon is ready to work with Cyprus to exploit potential gas deposits in waters between the two east Mediterranean countries, Lebanons top diplomat said Friday, even though a deal on offshore rights hasnt been formally finalized.

Cyprus and Lebanon signed an agreement delineating their respective offshore exclusive economic zones in 2007, but the Lebanese parliament has yet to ratify it amid the countrys ongoing maritime border dispute with Israel.

Nevertheless, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Nicosia that with Cyprus theres no problem, once we found gas were ready to go, put it together.

We talked about it and I can assure you that Lebanon is ready to do it, Bou Habib said.

The Lebanese top diplomats remarks come as Europe is seeking new energy sources to wean itself off Russian gas in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Cyprus has issued exploration drilling licenses to ExxonMobil and partner Qatar Petroleum, a consortium made up of French energy company Total and Italys Eni, as well as Chevron and partner Shell, to most of its 13 segments in its exclusive economic zone off its southern coast.

To the north, Cyprus faces an intense challenge from Turkey which claims much of the islands EEZ as its own and has sent warship-escorted survey ships into the area  earning condemnation from the European Union, of which Cyprus is a member.

Cyprus was split along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The breakaway Turkish Cypriot north is only recognized by Turkey.

Lebanon's Bou Habib said a U.S. written mediation proposal submitted earlier this year that aimed at resolving the Lebanese-Israeli dispute, while much better than previous attempts, is not enough yet.

He said both Lebanons government and its lawmakers are all in agreement on what they seek from a deal with Israel.

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Therefore the response to the Americans hopefully would be soon and it would be one response, Bou Habib said.

Any discoveries within Lebanons own economic zone would be a long-term boon for the crisis-hit countrys beleaguered economy.

Lebanons economic crisis has been described by the World Bank as one of the worlds worst since the 1850s. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs since October 2019 and the Lebanese pound lost more than 90% of its value.
Liam Gallagher has expressed regret after sending a death threat to Atletico Madrid footballer Stefan Savic on Twitter.

Savics team faced Manchester City in a Champions League match on Wednesday (13 April).

The game was notable as it included several heated moments; Savic appeared to headbutt City player Raheem Sterling towards the end.

Ultimately, it ended in a 0-0 draw that moved City to the next stage while Atletico Madrid was knocked out.

Gallagher, an active Manchester City supporter, directed a public message to Savic just after midnight on Thursday.

Stefan Savic this is a threat if I come across you ya goofy looking C*** your dead MCFC, read a now-deleted message posted on his Twitter page.

On Friday (15 April), the former Oasis frontman posted his remorse about his words.

Liam Gallagher (PA)

Im really upset and annoyed at myself, his tweet began. I feel Ive let all my fans down by my outlandish behaviour Im a role model to GROWN UPS hope you can forgive me.

In response, fans have commented with advice for his social media interactions going forward, with one suggesting that he should never act when upset or angry.

The musician appeared to appreciate the comment, as he replied: Ok [thanks] for that advice Im really gonna take that on board.
Author Debbie Reed Fischer, of Boca Raton, has written a story in the new anthology "Coming of Age: 13 BNai Mitzvah Stories."

After being targeted by antisemitic bullies in Virginia, Libby is determined to fit in at her new school in Athens, Greece.

The plan is simple: Pretend to be Christian. Despite her parents' insistence that she have a bat mitzvah, she considers that Jewish rite of passage to be completely out of the question  until she discovers why it's important to her.

This is the promise of Debbie Reed Fischers tale in "Coming of Age: 13 BNai Mitzvah Stories," an anthology of bat mitzvah and bar mitzvah pieces debuting this month.

The cover to "Coming of Age: 13 BNai Mitzvah Stories.'

In Jewish culture, a bar/bat mitzvah is the occasion to take responsibility for oneself and to take responsibility for 'tikkun olam' (repairing the world), contributing to your community, said Fischer, of Boca Raton. My main character has to have the courage to let others know that she's Jewish, which is a risk for many kids, depending on their environment. But taking responsibility for oneself means having Jewish pride, having integrity.

Coinciding with the age 13, when most bar mitzvahs for boys and bat mitzvahs for girls occur, the 13 stories explore this coming of age event from diverse viewpoints: wanted, unwanted, realistic, historical, fantastical and even autobiographical.

The characters experience anxiety, doubt and self-discovery while preparing for their b'nai mitzvah. And whether celebrating with a lavish party with full band or in reception Room A with an accordion player, the traditions remain the same.

Antisemitism is a theme for one of the longest entries, a fictional story about a girl afraid to have her bat mitzvah because of past experiences. Theres a pandemic mitzvah, an outer space mitzvah on Planet Latke, and a fabulous story about time traveling back to biblical times (Noahs Ark!) as part of the preparation for a bar mitzvah.

Stacie Ramey is a young adult author who lives in Wellington. Her story in "Coming of Age" is based on Maimonides principle of giving before being asked. Her main character, Stef, needs to be kind to a boy who hasnt always made life easy for her, even after he embarrasses her in front of a group of kids. She has to look at herself and make changes in how she views people. She has to choose kindness.

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Ive never done an anthology before, so this type of collaboration was so much fun, Ramey said. The instructions were simple  it had to revolve around a bnai mitzvah. The rest was up to us, which is why there is so much variety in the stories.

Other authors hail from around the country, including California and Texas. Sarah Aronson, author of a dozen childrens books, lives in Illinois. Jane Yolen, author and editor of more than 350 books, wrote a poem for the anthology. Yolen lives in New York.

The book was co-edited by Jonathan Rosen of Tamarac, who said its important for Jewish kids to see themselves in literature  and equally, if not more so, for non-Jewish kids to see Jewish kids as being similar to them.

Ive been outspoken for a while about the need for Jewish representation in kid lit, Rosen said. And in the last 10 years or so, antisemitism has skyrocketed around the world as well as in this country, and I felt the need to do something to bring out Jewish stories.

Fischer believes the significance of the characters' age will connect with readers of all backgrounds.

Being 12 and 13 truly is like crossing a bridge into young adulthood, said Fischer, author of two young adult books and the middle-grade book "This is not the Abby Show," about a girl with ADHD. Everyone from every culture can remember that time, that crossing over. It's a kind of reckoning when you take stock of yourself and the world around you, as well as how you fit in and contribute to the world. It takes courage.

Fischer's grandparents made it to Cuba before World War II. All other members of their families were killed.

Being able to be in a book about b'nai mitzvah is, to me, proof of my family's triumph in surviving and thriving the horrors of the Holocaust, Fischer said. We (the Jewish people, including my family) are still here. That's a big part of what this anthology means to me.

Fischer said she was happy to see several authors in the anthology reference the fact that their families couldn't have b'nai mitzvahs due to oppressive regimes in other countries. She also enjoyed the humor in many of the stories, as coping throughhumor is a big part of Jewish culture and heritage.

Fischer was surprised during a recent New Mexico author's visit when one of the students told her that her book was the first book they ever read with a Jewish main character in it.

If books with main characters who happen to be Jewish were included in diverse books collections in public schools, it would open up a lot of minds and hearts, Fischer said. It would fight hatred against Jews and dispel a lot of stereotypes. The kid lit community needs to step up in that regard. This anthology is a terrific way to get that ball rolling.

The "Coming of Age" anthology can be ordered online at Amazon, Whitman, Indiebound and Barnes and Noble.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: New 'Coming of Age' anthology tells 13 b'nai mitzvah stories
Idaho authorities released a new mugshot Thursday of alleged "doomsday" cult mom and child murder suspect Lori Vallow Daybell, who returned to jail in Madison County after spending months in a hospital undergoing mental health treatments to ready her for trial.

Vallow and her husband Chad Daybell are accused of murder and other charges in the deaths of multiple family members  including her two children.

Investigators found the remains of her missing children, 7-year-old Joshua "J.J." Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, buried on Daybells ranch in Idaho after the couple had decamped to Hawaii in 2021.

ALLEGED CULT MOM LORI VALLOW MENTALLY COMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL, IDAHO JUDGE SAYS

Also dead are Daybells ex-wife, Tammy Daybell, who died just two weeks before the couple got married, and Vallows ex-husband, Charles Vallow, who died in a 2019 shooting at the hands of her brother, Alex Cox. He died in 2019.

An Idaho judge on Wednesday said Vallow was finally competent to stand trial after spending months in the custody of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

She arrived in Madison County Thursday, where she posed for a new booking photo with sunken eyes and straightened blonde hair.

Video: Lori Vallow confronted by reporter in 2020

LORI VALLOW MURDER CASE PROCEEDINGS SUSPENDED AS COURT SAYS SHE 'LACKS FITNESS TO PROCEED'

Police in Kauai, Hawaii, arrested her on Feb. 20, 2020 on an Idaho warrant after she failed to comply with a court order demanding the whereabouts of her children, who had been missing since Sept. 23, 2019. By March 5 of that year, she was extradited back to the mainland U.S. to face trial.

Photos show Hawaii police leading her away in handcuffs after her arrest. At the time, she was wearing a dark Kauai hoodie, black yoga pants and red tortoiseshell glasses. Within days, police brought her to a Hawaii airport to be extradited to Idaho.

LORI VALLOW, CHAD DAYBELL 'DOOMSDAY' MURDERS: A TIMELINE OF EVENTS

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Then in June 2020, investigators uncovered her childrens remains, and prosecutors brought new charges alleging Vallow and her husband had conspired to conceal or destroy their bodies.

Vallow reportedly believed she was "a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christs second coming in July 2020," according to divorce documents Charles Vallow filed before his death.

Daybell has written several apocalyptic novels based loosely on Mormon theology. Both were involved in a group that promotes preparedness for the biblical end-times.

Fox News' Sarah Rumpf contributed to this report.
A new roundabout project is set to get underway in Washington Township and its expected to back up traffic for months.

The construction project begins today at the intersection of Mad River Road and Alex Bell Road. The county said the roundabout will improve the flow of traffic.

There are more than 200 roundabouts in the state of Ohio, and more are starting to pop up across the state, drawing attention and controversy.

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People here havent quite gotten used to them, said Montgomery County Engineer Paul Gruner. Ive been watching some of the online chatter and people say a traffic signal will be less expensive, but thats not true. It was about 10 to 20 percent more.

The roundabout will cost about $960,000. Gruner said the intersection has concerned him since the 1980s.

In 1981, we were hired to put a traffic signal in here. There was a group that was very well organized and did not want any improvements made to Mad River Road, Gruner said.

However, since then Gruner said traffic has gotten worse at the intersection.

During peak hours, the traffic backs up to 1,000 feet in any one direction on these roads, Gruner said. Youll see people having problems determining whos right away there is. People wanted an improvement.

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Roundabouts reduce crashes by 35%, injury crashes by 75%, and fatalities by 90%.

They help traffic to move smoother, Gruner said. Most people after they try it a few times, most realize they like it.

As for traffic, for the next few months during construction, Gruner said to avoid the area and find another route.

We very much encourage people to take the post detours. We discourage them from taking residential streets to get around, Gruner said.

While the roundabouts can improve safety, they take some getting used to. Thats why Gruner said its important to take your time and always yield to the cars already in the roundabout.
Update: This story was updated on April 14, 2022, with information from the Marion County Prosecutor's Office.

Jermaine Lamar was convicted on April 13 of murder, attempted murder and carrying a handgun without a license for a shooting that seriously injured a woman and resulted in the death of Latashia Sims, according to the prosecutor's office.

A sentencing hearing for Lamar has been set for May 12 at 9:30 a.m., according to prosecutor's office.

An Indianapolis man faces charges of murder and attempted murder in connection with the shooting of his girlfriend and her friend last week.

Jermaine Lamar, 47, is accused of shooting his girlfriend, wounding her, and fatally shooting Latashia Sims in a GMC Sierra after they left his friend's house Nov. 29, according to a probable-cause affidavit. Both women were shot in the head.

Lamar's girlfriend told police that Lamar, who was driving, pulled over on I-465 and yelled at her for talking too much to his friend. Lamar exited the freeway and pulled onto a side street, she told police.

Police shooting: Man shot during standoff at Indianapolis driving school identified

She said he then shot Sims, who was asleep in the backseat. The girlfriend said Lamar fired again after her back to him, striking her, according to the affidavit.

Lamar flagged down a Hendricks County deputy around 11:47 p.m. near U.S. 40 and Spring Street in Plainfield, according to the affidavit.

He told Plainfield police the shooting occurred near I-465 and Washington Street in Marion County.

Lamar told police he pulled over so the women could use the restroom on the side of the road. Lamar said a car pulled up, and two men got out and began fighting with him, according to the affidavit.

One of the men hit Lamar with a handgun and then fired, Lamar told police. Lamar said he could not remember how many shots were fired, according to the affidavit.

Detectives interviewing Lamar did not see injuries consistent with being pistol-whipped, according to the affidavit. After they told him that, Lamar said he did not shoot the women, the affidavit states.

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Sims was pronounced dead at 9:01 a.m. Nov. 30, according to the affidavit.

Lamar's girlfriend, who was shot in the head near her left ear, was expected to make a full recovery, she told police.

Lamar was booked into the Marion County Jail on Nov. 30, according to online jail records. An initial hearing was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, according to online court records.

Lamar also faces a charge of carrying a handgun without a license. He was convicted of carrying a handgun without a license in 2010, according to online court records.

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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Jermaine Lamar convicted after shooting girlfriend, her friend in head
A man is dead, and a woman was shot in an attempted murder-suicide at a Lynnwood apartment complex early Friday, according to the Snohomish County Sheriffs Office.

At around 12:15 a.m., deputies were called to reports of a shooting at an apartment complex in the 12900 block of Mukilteo Speedway.

When deputies arrived, they found the victim, a 48-year-old woman, who had been shot in the torso.

Deputies gave first aid to the woman until medics arrived. She was transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle with life-threatening injuries.

A 64-year-old California man with a single gunshot wound to his head was found dead at the scene.

As deputies investigated, they learned the woman arrived at the apartment complex shortly after midnight, and as she was walking in the hallway on the way to her apartment, the man shot her and then turned the gun on himself, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

A gun was recovered at the shooting scene.

Authorities said the 64-year-old suspect was identified as the victims estranged husband.

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Correction: A previous version of this story gave an incorrect name for the deceased person based on information supplied to the Chronicle. It also included incorrect information on the number of homicides in 2022 in Richmond County. Brandon Peeples' death is the eighth homicide this year. The story has been updated.

A man was killed near Fort Gordon Gate One area Thursday night.

Brandon Peeples, 24, was shot on the 2300 block of Prague Court. According to the Richmond County Coroner's Office, Peebles died after being shot one time.

Deputies responded to the scene around 10:45 p.m. in reference to shots fired and a person being struck. Peeples was found with at least one gun shot wound to his upper torso.

He was transported to the hospital where he died at 11:23 p.m. Peeples' death is the eighth homicide this year in Richmond County and first in April.

The investigation is ongoing and an autopsy has been scheduled at the GBI Crime Lab.

Anyone with information on Peeples' death can contact the sheriff's office at (706) 821-1020 or (706) 821-1080.

More crime news: Court docket: Homicide suspects sentenced, bond granted to alleged gang leader

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Man killed in shooting near Fort Gordon Gate One Thursday night
In June 2019, Steve Wilson was going on a bike ride. Like many of us often do, he checked his phone beforehand, and saw a moving post about his friend's daughter. "She was a junior in high school at the time, she just received a life-saving kidney from a woman in town," Wilson told CBS News. "And they didn't even know this woman til they made the plea for their daughter."

"So, I became emotional. I just thought that is the coolest thing," said Wilson, who lives in Westchester, N.Y. "I took a long bike ride thinking that feeling would go away, and I kept thinking, 'I would love to do something like that one day.'"

After seeing the post, Wilson selflessly decided to become a living donor himself, donating a kidney, while he was alive, to someone he didn't know.

Steve and his wife at NY-Presbyterian Weill Cornell, where he had his surgery. / Credit: New York-Presbyterian

"I knew it would go to someone. It ultimately went to someone across the country," Wilson said. "They took my kidney at New York-Presbyterian Weill Cornell and they hustled it over to the airport and flew it out to the West Coast."

He said he still doesn't know the person who received his kidney and he probably never will, which he's fine with. He just wanted it to change somebody's life, he said.

Going through an elective surgery may seem daunting, but Wilson says all it takes is two weeks of your life for the operation and recovery. And to prove that it isn't burdensome, Wilson and fellow living donors embarked on an even harder mission: Summiting Mount Kilimanjaro.

"I do think that having that purpose made it a little bit easier. But there were some people  and I was one of them  that really plowed hard to get through. And the purpose behind it was the reason you just kept going," Wilson said.

Steve and his team reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro on World Kidney Day, March 10. / Credit: New York-Presbyterian

The team reached the summit on March 10  symbolically, World Kidney Day. As for whether the climb to encourage living donations was worth it, Wilson said he inspired at least friend to consider becoming a living donor, but he thinks the Kilimanjaro summit could have inspired countless others.

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"I think a lot more than one person will consider donating a kidney," he said. "Because so many people aren't aware that you can actually donate a kidney, that you only need one to live. Many people are born with one, and most people probably don't even know that."

Not only did the headline-making Kilimanjaro summit raise awareness for living donors, but Wilson's own donation turned into a chain reaction of giving.

"My kidney went to somebody. And then that somebody had a willing donor who wasn't a match, but that person donated to somebody else, and it started a chain, whereby three people received kidneys," he said. "All for, again, a two-week inconvenience to me."

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Man summits Mt. Kilimanjaro after donating kidney to spread message
Apr. 15The small herd of San Clemente Island goats on Sherri Talbot's Windsor homestead is among the roughly 1,700 of these goats left in the world.

But that's not what originally drew Talbot to the highly endangered breed. She got San Clementes because they don't stink.

At least, they don't stink as much as other goat breeds, which can have a very pungent and not pleasant amount of body odor. They also like to stick close to home.

"San Clementes don't have the same unique smell as other goats," Talbot said. "I did not want to have goats that smelled so much they would annoy my neighbors or would keep getting loose and into people's gardens."

Things took off from there, and today Talbot and her husband operate Saffron and Honey Homestead where in addition to the goats they raise Soay sheep, faverolle and standard cochin chickens, American buff geese and American chinchilla rabbits.

All are listed as endangered, rare or threatened according to The Livestock Conservancy, a national organization that tracks and promotes farm animals in danger of extinction.The animals on Talbot's homestead are also heritage or primitive breeds, meaning they have been around hundreds and even thousands of years and possess many of the same traits as their ancient ancestors.

Each of the endangered livestock breeds on Saffron and Honey Homestead number less than 2,000 worldwide and have fallen out of favor as modern agriculture skewed toward a few highly specialized, mass-produced breeds that tend to be more prone to disease and less hardy overall than the heritage breeds. Talbot sees the loss of these older breeds as a direct threat to Maine's food supply.

Modern, commercial agriculture relies on only a few breeds, each bred to be good for one thing, such as egg, meat or fiber production. If something wipes out one of those breeds, it can be a disaster, Talbot said.

"When you mass produce anything there are going to be some flaws," Talbot said. "All it takes is one mistake in biosecurity and suddenly you have nothing."

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She points to the recent news around avian flu as the perfect example of why these ancient and hardier breeds need to be saved and bred on small farms that can protect them from disease exposure.

"Look at something like avian flu where you can have a single virus wipe out hundreds of thousands of birds at a single time," she said.

Of the roughly 6,000 livestock breeds worldwide, 300 have gone extinct in the last 15 years and 1,350 are in danger of dying out completely, according to the conservancy.

The Livestock Conservancy looks at the heavy reliance on a single widely bred animal or bird as being as risky as a single stock in an investment portfolio.

The conservancy points to the potato famine of the 1800s when the single potato variety grown in Ireland  the Lumper  was wiped out by blight, causing the death of nearly 1 million people.

Breeds like the ones on Talbot's homestead don't grow as fast or as large as commercial breeds, so it can take longer to recoup the monetary investment if they are being raised for food and profit. But that pales in comparison to the benefits of these older breeds, according to Talbot.

The American Chinchilla rabbits, for example, were a breed popularized in the 1920s when chinchilla coats were in fashion. For those who could not afford the garment, a coat made from these rabbits was the next best thing.

The anti-fur movement of the 1980s caused the American chinchilla rabbits to plummet in popularity to the point that they almost went extinct, and were considered critically endangered just a few years ago.

These days there are only several thousand American chinchilla rabbits in the world but those numbers are slowly climbing because they make great pets and are good meat-producing animals.

They are also incredibly cute. Talbot's rabbit colony currently includes a half dozen or so baby bunnies ranging in ages from hours to several weeks old.

Like many of the older, established breeds of farm animals, these rabbits don't need any help from humans when it comes to giving birth or rearing their young, another selling point for Talbot.

In a nearby pasture there are several female members of the Soay sheep herd ready to give birth and will likely do so with no help from Talbot, though she is ready to step in if the mom is having a difficult time.

There are fewer than 1,500 Soay sheep in the world today. They come from the St. Kilda Islands in the United Kingdom and are a primitive breed that produce a wool that does not need shearing. Instead, a typical Soay sheep naturally sheds off about 2 pounds of wool a year.

Nearby in the poultry enclosure, the American buff geese  among the 500 in the country  take their jobs as guard geese very seriously. Talbot said the geese have fended off egg-stealing raccoons and on one memorable occasion, a hunting osprey. They are also prolific egg-layers.

Raising endangered livestock takes no more work than other livestock, according to Talbot. In fact, it may be easier as they tend to be more self-reliant and disease resistant.

But it can take a bit of effort to find animals, given there are so few of them around.

"Yeah, they can be hard to find," she said. "But once you have them established on your homestead or farm, I find them easier to raise."
Meghan Markle gives her coat to mother with baby during first Invictus Games appearance (Getty Images for Invictus Games )

Meghan Markle is being praised for her kindness after giving her coat to a mother holding a baby while making her first appearance at the Invictus Games alongside her husband Prince Harry.

On Friday, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were being escorted to the venue in The Hague, Netherlands, by competitors when Meghan reportedly noticed that the temperature was dropping and handed her coat to a woman who was holding her baby while accompanying them, according to journalist Omid Scobie.

Scobie shared a heartwarming video of the moment on Twitter on Friday, in which the duchess could be seen walking alongside the woman, who had her baby wrapped in a long camel-coloured coat.

En route to the venue, the couple were escorted by #TeamNetherlands competitors and family - one of whom was proudly carrying a newborn, the royal reporter wrote. Noticing the sudden drop in temperature, Meghan quickly handed over her coat to the mom to help keep the baby warm.

The moment, which was also captured and shared on Twitter from another angle, has prompted praise from fans of the royal couple.

A good mother is a good mother to everyones child, one person wrote, while another said: Despite all, she hasnt changed, still kind and thoughtful.

Others suggested that Prince Harrys late mother Princess Diana would be proud, with someone else writing: Harry found an amazing caring woman. His mom would be proud.

En route to the venue, the couple were escorted by #TeamNetherlands competitors and familyone of whom was proudly carrying a newborn. Noticing the sudden drop in temperature, Meghan quickly handed over her coat to the mom to help keep the baby warm. pic.twitter.com/mVDbg0sSgH  Omid Scobie (@scobie) April 15, 2022

Meghan wraps her coat on a baby  pic.twitter.com/IxrRUpJjHp  Sussexes (@Sussex98) April 15, 2022

Such a beautiful gesture! Can't love her enough!   The Last Monarch's Jubbly  (@meghaven247) April 15, 2022

Wow!! I was wondering why she took her coat off and didnt even notice the newborn. How sweet!  The Disney Itinerary (@disneyitinerary) April 15, 2022

The gesture took place while Harry and Meghan, who opted for an all-white Valentino suit for her first public appearance in Europe since 2020, were attending a friends and family reception for Invictus Games competitors on Friday.

The couples appearance marks the first of the Invictus Games, and follows a brief visit to the UK, where the duchess and duchess visited Prince Harrys grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

The Invictus Games opening ceremony will take place Saturday evening.
Apr. 15TROY  Miami County commissioners voted 3-0 Thursday to deny a proposed annexation of 260.360 acres from Bethel Twp. to Huber Heights in Montgomery County.

The property lies north of the Carriage Trails development in Huber Heights but is within Miami County and the Bethel Local School district.

The property owners listed on the annexation petitions are Gessaman Family Farm LLC; Gary L. Lavy, trustee; Raymond E. and Kriss Haren; and the estate of Charles Stafford.

The commissioners in October voted to deny a similar annexation of 233 acres. That petition included all the owners in the current petition except the Stafford estate.

The Thursday vote followed the commissioners opening their meeting to public comment on the request.

Joe Miller, an attorney representing the petitioners, repeatedly told commissioners they had no choice under Ohio law but to approve the annexation because the petitions filed met all seven conditions required by law.

"I would submit it's mandatory you approve (the petition)," Miller said. "To be blunt, no politics can enter into this consideration."

Issues heard in this and past annexation discussions such as traffic, schools, sewer and water services are part of the later discussions on zoning and development plans, not the annexation of land, Miller said.

Gary Lavy, trustee of his family's farmland, said the decision to sell was not easy. "It is not a land grab by Huber Heights. It is a request by the land owners."

Bethel Twp. Trustee Don Black spoke against the annexation.

"I am not here to tell you what you have to do ... I do not want it annexed to Huber Heights," Black said. He called for discussions between those who want to develop the property and the township.

"All we want to do is talk about it and figure out how do we keep it in Bethel Twp. How does he get some of what he wants and how do we, as residents, get some of what we want?" he said.

Commissioner Wade Westfall made the motion to deny the annexation. "The board does not believe that adequate water and sewer services can be or will be provided to the territory to be provided" by Huber Heights, he said.
Protesters outside the Grand Rapid Police Department demanded justice for Patrick Lyoya and his family on Thursday after a video showed an officer fatally shooting the 26-year-old Congolese refugee.

"I'm angry, I can't sleep, I can't eat, I'm shaking, traumatized," Lyoya's cousin, Jimmy Barwan, told Fox News.

Lyoya's kids have to "get their own justice," he said.

MICHIGAN OFFICER WHO SHOT AND KILLED PATRICK LYOYA SHOULD BE PROSECUTED, ATTORNEY BEN CRUMP SAYS

The Grand Rapids officer pulled Lyoya over because his license plate didn't match his car. Lyoya got out of the car and began to leave the scene during the exchange, video released by the city's police department on Wednesday showed.

After a brief foot chase, the officer grabbed Lyoya and the two grappled for about two and a half minutes, eventually struggling over the cop's Taser. The officer shot Lyoya once in the head, killing him, according to Grand Rapids police.

Protesters have gathered several times since the shooting and have said they would continue until they see justice for Lyoya's family.

"You can not bring Patrick back," a friend of Lyoya's, Lyon, told Fox News. "But we heard what his family wants."

"They want to see the officer that killed Patrick get charged," he said.

"He didn't deserve to die, and that's just the end of story," one protester told Fox News.

Another similarly said: "Patrick did not deserve to die. That was an execution. Arrest that cop, convict that killer."

Barwan, who described Lyoya as his brother and superhero, pleaded for people to continue speaking out for his family member.

"I'm asking for people not stop because not only are they speaking up for my brother, but they're speaking up for all of us," he told Fox News.
Photo Illustration by Luis G. Redon/The Daily Beast/Getty

What if nearly 4 million American children were plunged into poverty practically overnight? Surely, Americans would notice and raise their voices in righteous anger over the heartless decision that caused this sorry state of affairs. Right?

Actually, the answer is no. Because over the past few months ago this exact scenario has played out and no one appears to care.

Last year, Democrats in Congress with the strong backing of the Biden administration expanded and increased the child tax care credit as part of the American Recovery Plan.

Rare is the policy move that had such a dramatic and laudatory effect for American children. The United States has long had one of the highest child poverty rates in the developed world, but with the expanded child tax credit those numbers finally began to move in the right direction. Almost immediately, monthly child poverty in America was slashed by 30 percent. So, too, was child hunger, as more than 2 million kids no longer had to worry about not having enough food to eat.

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The expanded credit was a lifesaver for millions of American families, 90 percent of whom reported they spent the money on basic necessities like food, clothing, and education.

The policy was based on a simple conceptgive parents money. The credit was increased from $2,000 a year to $3,600 for a child under 6, and to $3,000 for those between the ages of 6 and 17.

Rather than giving parents a lump sum at tax time, the government issued advance payments for half the credit. So each month, the IRS deposited payments of up to $250 per child between the ages of 6 and 17, and up to $300 for kids under 6, into the bank accounts of more than 61 million families.

In addition, the tax credit was made fully available to families with little to no income. In the past, 27 million childrenapproximately half of whom are Black and Latinoreceived less money because their parents didnt make enough money. With the expanded credit, those children were finally eligible.

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In Bidens Build Back Better agenda, the expanded credit would have become permanent. But when the credit expired in December, Congress failed to extend it.

Almost immediately, millions of the nations most vulnerable children were plunged back into poverty.

According to a recent survey done by Columbia Universitys Center on Poverty and Social Policy between December 2021 and January 2022, 3.7 million children went from being out of poverty to being in poverty. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, over time as many as 9.9 million children could fall below the poverty line if the tax credit is not expanded.

And yet, this dramatic shift in the economic fortunes of millions of American children has barely registered with the American people or their elected leaders.

Instead, Republicans are worrying themselves with other issues allegedly related to the well-being of children.

In Alabama, the states House of Representatives passed a bill making it a felony to prescribe gender-affirming medications (like puberty blockers and hormone therapy) for trans youth. This week, Oklahoma enacted a law that would make nearly all abortions illegal in the state, even in cases of rape or incest. Floridas Dont Say Gay bill bans discussion of gender identification or sexuality in public school classrooms. Multiple states have enacted legislation banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools, for fear that it will make (mostly white) children uncomfortable. We are only months past fearsome debates about the efficacy of mask-wearing by children in schools.

All these measures are being taken to protect children from harm, though they are far more likely to hurt kids than help them. Yet, when it comes to keeping them out of poverty, no one seems to care.

One might imagine that Republicanswho for ideological reasons have long argued that taxpayers make better financial decisions than the governmentwould be excited to support legislation giving money directly to parents. And yet.

While Republicans have blocked the tax credit, an equal share of blame can be laid at the feet of Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who blocked President Bidens Build Back Better agenda, which would have made the tax credit permanent.

Manchin singled out the work credit and demanded there be a work requirement with the legislation, which would severely undercut its effectiveness. He also complained that people making $200,000 and $400,000 would still get the child tax credit the same as someone making $50,000, $60,000 or $70,000, even though thats not actually the case when it comes to the expanded credit. He also allegedly raised concerns that parents would use the tax break to pay for drugs.

Since Manchin has refused to budge on the issue, Democrats have largely stopped talking about it. At Bidens State of the Union address last month, the child tax credit got a half-sentence nodcoupled with a rhetorical call to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Theres been little indication from the White House that they have much interest in promoting the issue.

More remarkably, those most affected by the legislation dont seem to care either.

A recent Morning Consult poll, showed that 46 percent of those who received the benefit plan to vote for a Republican candidate in Novembers midterm election (43 percent still expect to vote for a Democratic candidate). In late December, Democrats enjoyed a 12-percentage point advantage among such voters.

One might expect free money from the government to be a relatively popular public policy. But public opinion polling found that the child tax credit fares worse than other elements of the Build Back Better agenda. In particular, older Americans were the least supportive, likely because theyre long past the age of raising children, and are also concerned about the impact of expanded benefits on their Social Security and Medicare payments.

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In addition, polling shows less support for expanding the credit to parents who arent working, even though doing so would punish their children. Since the late 1960s, Americans have been told repeatedly that poor Americansparticularly poor Americans of colorabuse government programs and that increasing benefits for some people means less for others. The child tax credit appears to be one more victim of such anti-government rhetoric.

Theres no question that we are living in a cynical political moment, but its a simply astonishing statement about where we are as a country that Americans are so indifferent to actual childhood suffering. Heres a government policy that had a tangible and positive impact for kidsand not only has it gotten killed, but no one seems to bat an eye about it. Thats Washington for you, the cynical would (reasonably) argue.

The death of the expanded child tax credit is, unfortunately, how Washington operates these daysa town in which political advantage is the only metric of success for an entire political party, and where one ill-informed senator can send nearly 4 million kids into poverty and pay zero political price. If anything, those who killed the credit are likely to get the greatest political benefit and those who pushed for it to become law will pay the biggest political price.

But it also says something deeper and more calamitous about our enfeebled and teetering body politic. When we cant agree on the importance of helping childreneven when we have overwhelming evidence of a program that workshow can we hope to ever use the power of government to help people?

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Mississippi State University senior Madelyn Slaten remembers feeling alone as a child when her mother was undergoing cancer treatment.

That changed once the Tennessee native started attending Camp Kesem in her home state. Camp Kesem is a summer camp for children ages 6 to 18 impacted by a parent's cancer. She said being around others with similar experiences validated her experience.

Four years at Camp Kesem motivated Slaten to found a chapter at MSU in 2019, the first in the state, to provide support for other children affected by cancer. The chapter planned to host similar camps to the one she had attended in Tennessee, but the coronavirus pandemic shifted camp online.

Virtual summer camps: Amazon, Apple, Walmart are offering virtual summer camp programs for kids

Now MSU's Camp Kesem is preparing to hold its first in-person summer program at Camp Hopewell in Oxford from July 24 to 30. Members are raising money and recruiting campers and counselors.

"It will be good to see the past four years of work come to life and see the campers and see the impact we have on them," Slaten said.

Madelyn Slaten, first row second from left, founded the Camp Kesem chapter at Mississippi State University. The Tennessee native attended the camp for four years through Vanderbilt University. Camp Kesem is for children age six through 18 whose parents have or previously had cancer.

How can Camp Kesem help?

The annual rate of cancer in Mississippi is 474.4 per 100,000 people, according to statistics from the American Cancer Society, which is slightly higher than the national average.

Susan Brooks, a staff advisor of the Camp Kesem chapter, sees potential for Camp Kesem to help children in Mississippi. They are an underrepresented group who don't always receive support while their parents are undergoing cancer treatment, she said.

"They have the same fears and worries ... but they don't always have the same outlet to express that," Brooks said.

Cancer care: Its time to hold insurers accountable. Lawmakers can increase access to top cancer care.

At camp, attendees can expect to take part in activities including as canoeing and ropes courses, arts and crafts and campfire tunes.

On site there will be mental health providers, a nurse and camp counselors who are trained to work with children. There are also opportunities for campers to talk about their experiences with cancer in small and large groups.

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Brooks and Slaten said the goal is to give children and teens a chance to play and be themselves.

"It doesn't have to be about mom or dad's cancer," Brooks said.

Children of Camp Kesem chapter advisors found support, community

Brooks said Camp Kesem has helped her own family. In the past two years, she and her husband Christopher, who is a MSU professor and advisor for the Camp Kesem chapter, have had cancer.

Brooks found a community and support during her treatment for breast cancer, but she wished her sons, who are 16 and 19, had some kind of support.

Cancer detection: University of Mississippi Medical Center to host free cancer screenings for women

When Brooks introduced Camp Kesem to her sons in 2019, they didn't want to go and spend a week thinking about cancer, but by the end of camp, they made friends and felt a level of acceptance they hadn't experienced before.

"It was really everything I hoped it would be for them," Brooks said.

Her sons attended Camp Kesem through the University of Alabama. In 2020, they attended virtual camp once the chapter at MSU was founded.

Brooks is currently undergoing treatment for kidney cancer, which she said was caught earlier than, and is more manageable than, her breast cancer.

The Mississippi State University chapter of Camp Kesem was founded in 2019. For the past two summers, it has held virtual camp sessions, like the one pictured here of participants eating s'mores. This summer will be the first in-person camp hosted by the chapter.

Preparing for camp

Slaten said the goal is to have between 15 and 20 campers. So far, the chapter has seven who are signed up for camp and is working on recruiting more.

Chapter members are trying to recruit outside of Starkville because students in town start school the same week of camp. Slaten said some of the confirmed campers are from Tupelo and Tennessee.

Slaten and other MSU students will serve as camp counselors. Some have had family members or friends with cancer or plan to work with children for careers, she said.

A fundraising gala was held April 1, 2022 in Starkville to benefit the first in-person camp hosted by the Camp Kesem chapter of Mississippi State University. During the fundraiser, attendees participated in a paddle raise to donate different amounts of money associated with support for the camp, like the cost to send one child to camp.

In preparation, the group has been fundraising throughout the year, including through a gala held April 2 at the Storehouse in Starkville. That event raised $15,000, which Slaten said will cover half the cost of camp.

She said it was nice to see the Starkville community support the mission, even if it was the first time many of them had ever heard about Camp Kesem.

How to register for camp and find more information?

Applications for camp are at kesem.force.com. Select Mississippi as the state location and register for Camp Kesem at MSU.

Applicants can say in the application if they need help with transportation to camp or camp supplies. Available options to get to camp include gas cards, carpools or pickup.

Members from the chapter can be reached at 662-205-0567, mississippistate@kesem.org and mississippistate.outreach@kesem.org

The camp can also be found on Facebook and Instagram @campkesem_msstate.

Reporter Mina Corpuz can be reached by email at mcorpuz@gannett.com. You can follow her on Twitter @mlcorpuz.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Camp Kesem at Mississippi State helps kids have fun, feel supported
The New York Times

KRYVYI RIH, Ukraine  The solicitation to commit treason came to Oleksandr Vilkul on the second day of the war, in a phone call from an old colleague. Vilkul, the scion of a powerful political family in southeastern Ukraine that was long seen as harboring pro-Russian views, took the call as Russian troops were advancing to within a few miles of his hometown, Kryvyi Rih. He said, Oleksandr Yurivich, you are looking at the map, you see the situation is predetermined, Vilkul said, recalling the
The day you return home from a vacation  also known as the departure day, since youre departing from the place you came to visit  can bring up feelings of wistfulness or stress. As a result, many travelers dont make plans or take advantage of those final few hours before they make the trip home.

Departure days can be such a drag, and its easy to just spend the day waiting to travel to the airport, Claire Summers, the travel blogger behind Claires Itchy Feet, told HuffPost.

But you dont have to get too wrapped up in the fact that youll be heading to the airport or train station  especially if itll make you miss out on opportunities for that final morning. Below, travel experts share their advice for making the most of your departure day.

Pack the night before

When I am traveling, I like to have all my belongings packed and organized the night before my last day, said Katie McIntosh, a travel blogger and creator of The Katie Show. This way I can maximize however much time I have on my last day there without too much stress.

Take the time to put most of your things back in your luggage the night before your departure day. That way you wont be scrambling to get it done before you head to the airport, and you can fit in some final morning relaxation or exploration.

Book a later flight

Perhaps the most obvious way to get more out of your departure day is to choose an evening or late afternoon flight if you have the flexibility. This frees up your morning for a final activity or stroll.

One of the things I try to do is book a later flight so Im not waking up super early to get to the airport, said Jessica van Dop DeJesus, founder and editor at The Dining Traveler.

Asking for a late checkout or making a plan for bag storage can help you better utilize your free time before departing. (Photo: d3sign via Getty Images)

Asking for a late checkout or making a plan for bag storage can help you better utilize your free time before departing. (Photo: d3sign via Getty Images)

Ask for a late checkout

If I have an afternoon or evening flight, the first thing I do is ask for a late checkout, Summers said. If thats not possible, then I make sure I can store my bags somewhere safe and that they have a bathroom I can use to get changed and maybe even take a quick shower.

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Alternatively, you can choose to check out extra early and leave your luggage with the front desk, freeing yourself up for morning exploration. Whatever you decide, just make sure you know what time you have to leave for the airport or other transportation hub.

I recommend working backward to determine when you need to leave for the airport, said Ben Julius, founder of the travel platform Tourist Journey. Once you know how much time you have, check with the hotel about the possibility of a late checkout or at least storing luggage.

Pick a laid-back activity

Any time you have left in the day should be treated like a bonus, Julius said. Look for short tours or experiences which can add another dimension beyond what you had otherwise expected or planned to see. It could be a food workshop or an art tour, or simply a visit to a few shops you didnt get to earlier in the trip.

If youre in a city, consider going for a walk, visiting a museum or gallery or having a long breakfast at a local cafe. If youre by the water, take one last swim or slow beach stroll. The idea is to do something laid-back with your extra time.

I like to wake up early, watch [the] sunrise, walk around the city, and eat breakfast or my favorite food Id tried in that destination one last time, McIntosh said. I dont try to rush around with an agenda, but rather just explore and be in the moment, absorbing that destination one last time.

Prepare a go bag

If youre in a warm place and want to get in a final beach walk and pool day, its useful to have a change of clothes  and even deodorant and a toothbrush  so you can freshen up and make sure youre not cold during the flight. The same principle can apply to pretty much any destination.

I recommend packing a small go bag filled with your travel outfit and necessities for the day you leave, said Victoria Yore, a travel blogger at Follow Me Away. This way, you can enjoy your morning or afternoon, and when it is time to leave, you can change your outfit to be prepared for a flight.

Even if you dont have a small go bag, you can still travel more comfortably by packing the pre-flight items youll need in a more accessible part of your suitcase.

Visit an attraction near the airport

If my flight is in the late afternoon or evening, then I enjoy going to the airport early, checking in my luggage, and going somewhere nearby to explore for a few hours before returning to board the plane, said travel blogger and TV host La Carmina.

She recommended looking for attractions within a 30-minute train or car ride from the airport, to avoid the risk of getting stuck in major traffic. Try to grab a bite while youre there, so you dont have to pay for overpriced airport food.

The Narita-san temple complex of buildings and grounds is located near Tokyo's international airport. (Photo: Giuseppe Peletti / 500px via Getty Images)

The Narita-san temple complex of buildings and grounds is located near Tokyo's international airport. (Photo: Giuseppe Peletti / 500px via Getty Images)

For example, if you are flying out of Tokyos Narita Airport, ride the train for 30 minutes to the nearby Shingon Buddhist temple, Narita-san, La Carmina suggested. If youre at Mexico Citys airport, take a 20-minute Uber to swing by Sonora Witchcraft Market. It often makes more sense to visit attractions like these on your outward-bound flight day, since they are located near the airport. This saves travel time and transportation costs.

Yore similarly recommended visiting the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa in Iceland before flying out of Reykjavik.

Upon departure, the Blue Lagoon is only 20 minutes away from the airport, so you can make the most of your morning by relaxing here, she said. Simply have a change of travel clothes and shoes in your go bag and you are ready to fly.

But be mindful of time

As youre taking advantage of the final hours of your trip, make sure to give yourself enough time to get to the airport and through security and other lines. If youre traveling internationally, remember youll need even more time.

One actionable thing I practice is setting a clear leaving time that indicates theabsolute latest time I should be leaving wherever Im going to be at, to head to the airport or train station with sufficient time, said travel blogger Rocky Trifari. By having a clearly defined hit the road time that includes a bit of a buffer for unforeseen circumstances, I can still plan to do things beforehand without feeling any stress or guilt. Ill keep an alarm set on my phone to make sure I dont leave any later than I planned to.

Samantha Patil, co-founder and CEO of the booking platform Well Traveled, also takes steps to make the departure process less stressful.

I try to pre-schedule a ride to the airport so you dont have to worry about it later on, she said. And youre free to go explore stress-free for a few more hours.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Friday celebrated the milestone birth anniversary of its late founder with a mass dance, fireworks and calls for stronger loyalty to his grandson and current leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.

The 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung comes after North Korea conducted a spate of weapons tests in recent months, including its first full-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017. Experts say North Korea aims to expand its arsenal and ramp up pressure on the United States while nuclear diplomacy is stalled.

Lets work harder in devotion to our respected comrade Kim Jong Un and on that path ultimately realize the dreams of our great president (Kim Il Sung) to build a powerful socialist state, the Norths state-run website Uriminzokkiri said in a commentary.

Kim Il Sungs birthday is the most important national holiday in North Korea, where the Kim family has ruled under a strong personality cult since the nations founding in 1948. Kim Jong Un became a third-generation leader after his father Kim Jong Il died in late 2011.

Kim Jong Un has pushed to advance his nuclear weapons while simultaneously reviving the economy. But a mix of pandemic border closures, U.S.-led sanctions and his own mismanagement have caused a massive economic blow in whats become the toughest moment of his decade in power.

On Friday, residents of Pyongyang, the capital, bowed and laid bouquets of flowers near the bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

State TV later showed thousands of young people  men dressed in Western-style white shirts and women in colorful traditional Korean garb  dancing in a Pyongyang plaza as fireworks launched from a nearby river bank lit up the night sky. The dancers circled a group of performers who held up yellow flowers to form the symbol of the Workers Party of Korea - a hammer, brush and sickle.

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North Korea often marks key state anniversaries with huge military parades featuring newly built missiles, especially during anniversaries that end in zero and five. Commercial satellites earlier indicated an apparent rehearsal for a military parade, such as people assembled in formation at the Pyongyang plaza, where such events were held in the past.

After North Koreas ICBM test last month, South Korean and U.S. officials said Pyongyang could soon launch fresh provocations like an additional ICBM test, a rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear bomb test that would be the seventh of its kind.

South Koreas military said recently it detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that it partially dismantled before it entered now-dormant nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.

I think theyll carry out a nuclear test once it finishes restoring its nuclear testing facility, said analyst Moon Seong Mook with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. There is no reason for them to bring back its testing ground if they dont plan to use them for a bomb test.

Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international communitys response to the Norths recent missile tests.

North Korea has recently resumed its trademark harsh rhetoric against its rivals. One of its international affairs commentators labeled President Joe Biden as an old man in senility, while Kims powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called South Koreas defense minister a scum-like guy and threatened to annihilate South Korea with nuclear strikes.
The police-radio call was dispatched in the evening hours of March 27 of a male not wearing any clothes. The man, it turned out, was 36 and from Atlanta. He was standing in the middle of the street at the intersection of High Falls and Blount roads in northern Monroe County.

A sheriffs deputy asked the unclad fellow what he was doing. What God told me to, the man replied. The deputy instructed the man to place his hands behind his back, that he was under arrest for public indecency. The man, according to an incident report that described the encounter, tensed up and refused.

Then the man tried to hit the deputy and kick him. The man was soon handcuffed and jailed on the indecency charge and also an obstruction charge for allegedly resisting arrest. The deputys report did not mention why the man was naked.

Dispatches: Two young women alerted the authorities one day in late March that someones trailer and truck were blocking a country road. They stated, an incident report noted, there was not enough room to go around it and they honked the horn twice. They said a man appeared and started yelling and hitting their car. They stated he was drunk and may have had other problems. . . . A Macon woman reported the theft of about $30,000 worth of horses to the sheriffs office in neighboring Monroe County. The March 15 theft complaint was apparently unfounded and its details were murky at best. But the woman was certain that someone close to her had pilfered the ponies. She also wanted to know who the sheriff is because she thought he might be a cousin of hers. He is not. The woman also said that she could not enlist the help of a family member in the matter because, as the report noted, she said, My daughter-in-law is a biddy.
NASAas SLS Moon Rocket Readies for Launch Rehearsal

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - MARCH 18: The SLS moon rocket topped by the Orion spacecraft stands at launch complex 39B following an overnight rollout from the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center on March 18, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Credit - Anadolu Agency via Getty Images; 2022 Anadolu Agency

It is a fact of orbital mechanics that the moon is steadily receding from the Earth. Every year the distance between the two worlds grows by 3.78 cm (1.48 in.), or about the speed at which our fingernails grow. Thats not much compared to the overall 384,472 km (238,900 mi.) average distance between the Earth and the moon, and theres no reason to worry that the moon will be bidding us farewell any time soon. Still, ever since April 1and especially in the last weekthe gap between the Earth and the moon suddenly seems wider than ever. For that, you can thank issues with the Space Launch System (SLS), NASAs brand new mega-rocket designed to return American astronauts to the lunar surface sometime this decade.

It was on March 17 that the towering 98 m (322 ft.) rocket emerged from its hangar in the Kennedy Space Centers Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and began its slow creep out to its launch pad. The rocket wasnt getting set to fly, but rather to undergo what NASA calls a wet dress rehearsal. That involves filling the giant machines tanks with 2.8 million liters (730,000 gal.) of liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel and running a simulated 45-hour countdown, taking it down to the T-minus 9.3 second mark before stopping the exercise, draining the fuel and rolling the SLS back to the VAB for further readying. The initial steps of the exercise began on April 1, and lets just say that if a Broadway-bound show had a dress rehearsal anything like what the SLS has had, the whole production would close out of town.

As NASA reports in an admirably candid blog, the last 15 days out at launchpad 39B have involved one headache after another, with serial breakdowns repeatedly forcing the countdown to be stopped. Among the most serious problems is a stuck helium valve on the rockets second stage that has prevented that stage from being loaded with fuel. The problem cant be repaired on the pad, but only back in the VABmeaning that even if the rest of the work went perfectly, the wet-dress rehearsal would still not be run to its planned completion.

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And the rest of the work is by no means going perfectly. Among the other problems to beset the giant rocket over the past two weeks: a liquid hydrogen leak in one of the vehicles umbilical cords; temperature fluctuations in the supercold liquid oxygen fuel which must be kept at -182 C (-297 F); and a troubling pressure surge in the liquid hydrogen flow line. All of this has prevented ground controllers from loading the liquid hydrogen tank to more than just 5% of its capacity and the liquid oxygen tank to more than 49%.

NASA has not said how many more times it will attempt wet-dress rehearsals before giving up. What it has said is that, one way or another, it will stay on the job and that the SLS will ultimately fly. For that bit of cockeyed optimism, NASA has history on its side. As veteran space reporter Bill Harwood of CBS reports, back in the 1960s, an intended six-day countdown of the venerable Saturn V rocket took 17 days to completelonger than the SLS has so far been at it. As history notes, the Saturn V ultimately flew, taking nine crews of astronauts to the moon and back. May the SLS have the same good fortune.

This story originally appeared in TIME Space, our weekly newsletter covering all things space. You can sign up here.
Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz have tied the knot (Getty Images)

Nicola Peltz Beckham has asked her famous friends and family not to give them any wedding gifts, after she tied the knot to new husband Brooklyn.

Instead, the 27-year-old actor, whose father is American billionaire Nelson Peltz, took to Instagram to ask people to donate to the Ukraine crisis.

The couple directed anyone who wished to give them a present to celebrate their recent marriage to anti-poverty charity CAREs Ukraine fundraiser, which aims to reach four million refugees fleeing the Russian invasion.

In an Instagram Story, Nicola shared a photograph of herself in her bridal Valentino gown holding hands with her father as they prepared to walk down the aisle in their family mansion.

She wrote: My dad spoke about this in his speech at our wedding. [Brooklyn] and I are devastated about what is going on in Ukraine and have asked for donations to CARE in lieu of wedding gifts.

Our link is below. Anything helps!

The couples lavish wedding, which cost US$3.5 million (2.67 million), was attended by celebrity guests including Gordon Ramsay, Eva Longoria, Serena and Venus Williams, and Victoria Beckhams former Spice Girls bandmate, Melanie Chisholm (Mel C).

The charitable request is similar to those made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding days.

Prince Harry and Kate Middleton asked people wishing to give them wedding gifts to donate to a fund for 26 charities instead in 2011, while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle listed seven different charities to donate to when they married in 2018.

Last month, David and Victoria Beckham helped to kick-start an emergency UNICEF appeal to fundraise for Ukraine, as Russia continues its full-scale invasion of the country.

David launched the appeal through his 7 Fund, a partnership between himself and the childrens charity.

He confirmed that the couple made a donation of an undisclosed figure to the fund, with reports suggesting it was a seven-figure sum.

Russias war in Ukraine began on 24 February. Since then, as estimated 10 million refugees have fled their homes in Ukraine, with 4.3 million going to neighbouring countries while another 6.5 million are thought to be displace inside the country itself.
The ComEd headquarters building, on in the 3400 block of North California Avenue in Chicago, as seen on July 17, 2020. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Still grappling with political fallout from a lobbying scandal, ComEd filed for a proposed $199 million increase in electricity delivery charges Friday, seeking the largest rate hike since 2014.

If approved by state regulators, it would add $2.20 per month to the average residential customer bill beginning in January 2023.

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The utility is pushing for the rate hike to fund infrastructure investments as electrification and renewable energy place new demands on the power grid. The filing with the Illinois Commerce Commission launches an eight-month process to determine if the increase is warranted.

The grid was designed decades before widescale adoption of renewables, electric vehicles, digital devices, industrial electrification and emerging sectors like indoor agriculture, ComEd CEO Gil Quiniones said in a news release Friday. We will continue working with local leaders and community groups to ensure the grid can meet the needs of all customers in the 21st century.

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The proposed $199 million rate increase is the largest by ComEd in eight years, and the last under a formula rate system that has been in place since 2011, which granted the utility control over customer-funded investments to improve its power grid. Beginning in 2023, regulators will have more authority over future rate increases.

Last year, ComEd was granted a $46 million rate increase, which added 16 cents per month to current residential bills.

This is bad news for Illinois consumers who are coming off the most expensive winter heating season in more than decade, and its why were working to build a more consumer-friendly rate-setting system in Illinois, Jim Chilsen, a spokesman for the nonprofit Citizens Utility Board, said in a statement. CUB will review ComEds rate-hike request and fight every dollar that cant be justified.

In September, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act into law, which requires Illinois utilities to get 40% of their power from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2030. It also set a goal of having 1 million electric vehicles registered in Illinois by 2030.

Chicago-based Exelon, the parent of ComEd, spun off Constellation, its former power generation subsidiary, into a stand-alone company in February. ComEd delivers electricity to more than 4 million customers across northern Illinois.

The clean energy legislation also transitions utilities to performance-based rate-making, which could make it more challenging for ComEd to raise rates in the future.

In simple terms, whats coming next is more transparency and collaboration with stakeholders in terms of the investments that were making, Chad Newhouse, ComEds vice president of regulatory policy and strategy, told the Tribune.

Newhouse said the proposed delivery rate increase next year may be offset by lower supply costs this summer, which are expected to reduce customer bills by as much as $10 per month. The ICC is also reviewing a proposed acceleration of benefits from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that would reduce delivery costs by 82 cents per month through 2025.

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Electric delivery charges represent about 40% of a customers total bill.

The political climate in Springfield may make any proposed rate increase a hard sell for ComEd.

Quiniones, who formerly headed the New York Power Authority, the nations largest state public power generator, became CEO of ComEd in November, inheriting a utility with an improving performance track record, and a lingering political scandal. In 2020, ComEd agreed to pay a $200 million fine in exchange for federal prosecutors dropping charges against the utility in an alleged bribery scheme to pass favorable legislation.

Despite the controversy, Newhouse believes the investment return over the past decade, from improved reliability to increased energy efficiency, shows ComEd can be a trusted steward for customer-funded infrastructure improvements.

Newhouse is hoping the ICC, which will have more authority to weigh in on the utilitys investments going forward, will agree.

Customers do get value from our investments, and it takes investments to meet customer expectations, Newhouse said. Despite where stakeholders, the commission and the legislature may be, thats going to continue to be our mantra.

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rchannick@chicagotribune.com
Potential Induction Healthcare Group PLC (LON:INHC) shareholders may wish to note that the Non-Executive Director, Andrew Williams, recently bought UK100k worth of stock, paying UK0.52 for each share. That's a very decent purchase to our minds and it grew their holding by a solid 46%.

See our latest analysis for Induction Healthcare Group

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Induction Healthcare Group

Notably, that recent purchase by Andrew Williams is the biggest insider purchase of Induction Healthcare Group shares that we've seen in the last year. That means that an insider was happy to buy shares at around the current price of UK0.53. While their view may have changed since the purchase was made, this does at least suggest they have had confidence in the company's future. While we always like to see insider buying, it's less meaningful if the purchases were made at much lower prices, as the opportunity they saw may have passed. The good news for Induction Healthcare Group share holders is that insiders were buying at near the current price.

While Induction Healthcare Group insiders bought shares during the last year, they didn't sell. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

Induction Healthcare Group is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insider Ownership

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. I reckon it's a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. Induction Healthcare Group insiders own about UK13m worth of shares. That equates to 27% of the company. We've certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

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What Might The Insider Transactions At Induction Healthcare Group Tell Us?

It's certainly positive to see the recent insider purchases. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. However, we note that the company didn't make a profit over the last twelve months, which makes us cautious. When combined with notable insider ownership, these factors suggest Induction Healthcare Group insiders are well aligned, and that they may think the share price is too low. While we like knowing what's going on with the insider's ownership and transactions, we make sure to also consider what risks are facing a stock before making any investment decision. For instance, we've identified 2 warning signs for Induction Healthcare Group (1 doesn't sit too well with us) you should be aware of.

But note: Induction Healthcare Group may not be the best stock to buy. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies with high ROE and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions, but not derivative transactions.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.



This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
A North Carolina college professor was charged with murder after his 6-week-old adopted son died from injuries that resulted from physical abuse, police said.

Van Erick Custodio, 42, was initially charged with one count of felony child abuse after Gastonia officers were called to a home on April 1 for the report of an infant in cardiac arrest.

Police said the infant, Lucas Birchim, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

During the investigation, detectives determined that the infants cardiac arrest was related to injuries sustained that were consistent with being physically abused, police said in a news release.

He died on Wednesday, resulting in Custodio's charges to be upgraded to first-degree murder.

Custodio has been in jail since Monday when he was arrested in York County, South Carolina. He has since been extradited to North Carolina and is being held on a $500,000 bond.

Custodio taught computer science at Belmont Abbey College. A spokesperson for the college said he was hired in 2019. At the time of the alleged incident, he was not teaching after requesting family leave.

He has since been suspended, the spokesperson said, adding that their "thoughts and prayers are with all of those impacted by this terrible event."
MarketWatch

Answer: The first thing to know is this: Federal student loans and about half of private student loans provide a death discharge, which cancels the remaining debt upon death of the borrower, says Mark Kantrowitz, author of Who Graduates From College? To find out if your private student loan could be erased in case of death, youll need to call your servicer and inquire about their policies. Have a question about getting out of student loan or other debt?
A long-running blockbuster Japanese series that Netflix started offering late last month features children as young as 2 out in the world "alone." "Old Enough!" shows unsupervised toddlers running errands and completing different tasks in busy cities.

And it's generating debate in the U.S.

"Old Enough" has been airing on Nippon TV, at first as part of another show, since 1991, according to The New York Times. And when its two, three-hour shows are broadcast each year, 20% of all Japanese viewers watch, The Guardian says.

The Netflix episodes are all 20 minutes or shorter.

Unidentified girl featured in episode of Netflix series

The Guardian says all the routes where the tots will be running the errands are checked beforehand for unsafe roads and suspicious people. A rigorous process is used to choose the tots who take part.

A key factor contributing to the show's popularity in Japan is the country's high level of public safety and a parenting culture that places a high value on toddlers' autonomy.

But in the U.S., "Old Enough! has sparked debate about whether children should be given that much independence at such young ages, including discussions about when children should be allowed to complete specific tasks such as grocery shopping or cleaning.

There's no telling whether the show will be as successful in the United States as it is in Japan, but the show's risky adventures will certainly be thrilling to some and frightening to others.

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Apr. 14Some Spokane high school students will walk farther to catch rides next year after the Spokane School Board adopted several strategies to address chronically late buses.

Following a lengthy discussion Wednesday night, the board voted unanimously to move ahead with several suggestions, including fewer bus stops and longer walks to school for middle and high school students.

The board also directed staff to explore a possible partnership with Spokane Transit Authority for the transportation of high school students and look into alternative options for certain choice and option programs such as the Libby Center and Express.

The only option that won't move forward is a proposal for earlier pickup times before school and later drop-off times in the afternoon.

The plan would have improved efficiency, but at the cost of more supervision at schools as some students would spend more time in buildings.

"That's not going to work," board member Riley Smith said.

The conversation around transportation is driven partly by a chronic nationwide shortage of bus drivers. Spokane Public Schools, which contracts with Durham Schools Services, has been plagued with late arrivals for most of the year.

The district and Durham are in the fourth year of a five-year contract, which has cost the district between $10 million and $13 million every year. A possible change will get more attention later, but Wednesday's discussion was limited to next year.

"This is sort of a necessary evil to do most of these things, but it will be an improvement over this year," board President Michael Wiser said.

The board considered delaying a vote but approved the other strategies.

"Any guidance we can give staff, the better," Superintendent Adam Swinyard said.

The biggest change will be an expansion of the district's "walk boundary" for middle and high school students. Currently, students without special needs who live within a 1-mile radius of their school are not eligible for transportation. That radius will grow to 1 1/2 miles but not for elementary students.

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Some board members were concerned about increased student exposure to neighborhood hazards such as traffic and crime, as well as inclement weather, but the district plans to explore options to mitigate both issues.

District staff also pointed out that the new walk boundary still will be smaller than in many comparable districts. For example, Seattle Public Schools has a 2-mile boundary for high school students.

Students at all grade levels will be affected by a decision to reduce the number of overall stops at the district. For example, it was noted that Chase Middle School now has 51 stops.

According to district statistics, students eligible to ride the bus walk an average of two-tenths of a mile to their stops.

Documents shared Wednesday night claimed that increasing walk distance to stops to a half-mile "will eliminate underutilized stops, increase efficiency and on-time arrival."

The latter issue was a major concern for the 677 people who participated in a district-sponsored Thought Exchange.

"There was much comment on arrival times," Swinyard said.

The idea of a partnership with STA intrigued board members, but many details must be addressed. Some high school students live in areas not served by public transit; others would need to change buses downtown, lengthening their commute.

The district and STA are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss those and other concerns around student tracking, safety and ridership rules.

The final short-term proposal would explore alternate options for students in Choice Programs, including those at the Libby Center, Spokane Public Montessori, Pratt Academy and APPLE Programs at Franklin and Garfield elementary schools.

Also affected would be students served by Excelsior, as well as those in Express programs.
Zhan Beleniuk of Ukraine celebrates after winning gold REUTERS/Piroschka Van De Wouw

In 2019, Zhan Beleniuk made history as the first Black member of the Ukrainian Parliament.

The wrestler also received a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, giving Ukraine their first gold in over 25 years.

Beleniuk says Ukraine is "not a racist country," but that it does have problems that need to be fixed.

In February, as Russian forces led a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, native-born resident Zhan Beleniuk was faced with the decision whether to stay in his home city of Kyiv with the threat of war around the corner.

He made the choice to stay to help support his country.

Two months later, Beleniuk says the city is still quiet. Though small pockets of people are beginning to re-enter the empty city, he says Kyiv is still far from the city it once was. "The situation seems [mostly] the same," Beleniuk told Insider. "There's a little more people now; [before], the streets were very empty."

Born to a Ukrainian mother and a Rwandan father, Beleniuk has always called Ukraine home. He was born in 1991, the same year that Ukraine won independence from the Soviet Union. For him, Ukraine has always been a free country. When he was young, his father died as a pilot in the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. His mother raised him as a single parent in Kyiv.

At the age of 9, Beleniuk took up wrestling, a sport that would eventually take him to the Olympics. Nowadays, while his sport takes him around the world, he says he misses his hometown while he's gone.

"It's my favorite city," Beleniuk said of Kyiv. "As a sportsman, I travel to a lot of cities around the world, but every time I do, I want to go home. Ukraine has given me all that I have now."

Beleniuk won his first gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, giving Ukraine not only its sole gold medal that year, but also the country's first gold medal in over 25 years. Beyond his career as an athlete, Beleniuk works to make change through politics. In 2019, he became the first Black member of the Ukrainian Parliament.

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Afro-Ukrainians are an underrepresented portion of the country's population.

Beleniuk represents a small community of Afro-Ukrainians that live in the country. There are also thousands of African students across Ukrainian universities. Many immigrants come from African countries like Nigeria or Morocco to attend quality medical and technical schools at lower costs.

Since the invasion, Beleniuk says he has seen propaganda created by Russia that casts Ukraine in a negative light. Much of the propaganda is framed as Russian forces saving Ukrainians from Nazi oppressors. Russian media outlets have also capitalized on reports of alleged discrimination against people of color at the Ukrainian border.

After viral videos of African migrants being denied entry on trains and borders while fleeing from Russian forces descending onto Kyiv, social media outrage ensued. Beleniuk acknowledges that racism does exist among some in the country, but he denies that it is an issue unique to Ukraine.

"This is not only [a] Ukrainian problem, it's a problem in every country," he said. "I think every country has some idiots." He said that while he can't speak directly about the experiences of African students or immigrants, he believes these instances do not represent the country as a whole.

"I am a man who has [lived] in Ukraine, who was born here, who has studied here, went to university here, and who became an Olympic champion and a member of Ukrainian Parliament," he said. "I can tell you about the racism inside our country, and I know the real situation. I know we have maybe some problems. But this problem [is not unique to us]."

Despite the dangers of staying in his hometown, Beleniuk says leaving home is not an option. He plans to stay to help his fellow citizens and support those out on the frontlines defending their home country. "We need support from other partners because you can't stay alone in this war."

"Ukraine was good [to us] before the army came," he said. "But now we have to protect our freedom and independence and combat this war to fight for our future."

Read the original article on Insider
Blueberry plants grow at a Stockton, Calif., farm owned by Farmland LP

Blueberry plants grow at a Stockton, Calif., farm owned by Farmland LP Credit - Cayce Clifford for TIME

The Dwelley family has farmed the fields of Brentwood, Calif., for a century, growing organic sweet corn, cherry trees, and low, leafy green beans some 50 miles east of San Francisco.

During every harvest, the Dwelleys deliver their bounty to grocery stores and wholesale markets throughout the western U.S. With rich soils fed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and hot days capped by cool, breezy nights, the region is ideal for growing produce. In recent decades, though, much of the neighboring farmland has disappeared. Strip malls and suburban tract housing have sprouted up as the Bay Areas population explodes and more farmers leave the business behind. For the Dwelleys, who lease most of their acreage from other families, the pool of available farms in Brentwood is drying up. So, since 2017, theyve started leasing land slightly farther afield, from a different type of farm owner: a private investment fund known as Farmland LP.

The funds managers acquire conventional farmland and convert it to organic operations; they then lease land to farmers growing specialty crops such as berries, vegetables, and wine grapes. Since launching in 2009, Farmland LP has snapped up 5,800 acres across Northern California, including the fertile fields just east of Brentwood, near the city of Stockton. The fund is among a handful of U.S.-based firms, including Iroquois Valley, Dirt Capital Partners, and Grasslands LLC, that are using their financial and farming expertise to remake the American agricultural landscape. All told, Farmland LP owns and manages 15,000 acres in Northern California, Washington State, and Oregon, with total assets valued at nearly $200 million.

John Dwelley, a fourth-generation farmer, grew up selling sweet corn and stone fruit from his familys tin-roof produce stand on the side of a dusty two-lane highway. Expanding to Farmland LPs nearby terrain is part of a larger plan to keep the family legacy going, he says, even as Brentwood transforms from an agricultural hub to a suburban boomtown.

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John Dwelley, a fourth-generation farmer, leases hundreds of acres from Farmland LP Cayce Clifford for TIME

For my sake, I hope to be farming until Im a ripe old age, says the 36-year-old, so I want to make sure that were setting ourselves up for long-term success. Today the family leases hundreds of acres from Farmland LP on top of the other acreage it owns or leases. Farmland LP, based near San Francisco, says it is working to make more organic acreage available at a time when land for farming and ranching is vanishing nationwide and rising temperatures threaten to disrupt the worlds food supply.

Read More: Climate Change Is Likely to Devastate the Global Food Supply. But Theres Still Reason to Be Hopeful

Tens of millions of acres of farmland have given way to warehouses, big-box stores, and sprawling subdivisions in the past three decades. Small farmers and ranchersfacing mounting debt, rising property taxes, and unstable commodity pricesare losing or leaving their property. With fewer young people following in their parents footsteps, older generations are retiring and selling family fields. The nation lost nearly 120,000 farms between 2011 and 2021, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

At the same time, many remaining farms are consolidating into large industrial operations growing a single commodity crop like soy or corn, often using chemical-heavy and water-intensive methods. In some states, excessive fertilizer use is polluting drinking water and contributing to toxic algal blooms, while the large-scale spraying of pesticides has stripped away habitats for bees and butterflies. Overworked soil and thirsty crops are especially vulnerable to drought, heavy rainfall, and other events made worse by climate change.

Farmland LP aims to both preserve existing farms and spare them from industrial monocropping, says Craig Wichner, the firms founder and managing partner. Instead, the fund promotes regenerative agriculture, an umbrella term for practices that help build healthy soils, improve water quality, and restore local biodiversity. The idea is that healthier plants will produce greater yields of higher-quality crops, so more money flows to farmerswho pay significantly higher rent on organic farmlandand to investors backing Farmland LPs fund. Our mission is to demonstrate that regeneratively managed farmland is more profitable than commodity farmland, Wichner tells TIME.

New housing being built in the Bay Area Cayce Clifford for TIME

Federal agencies and universities are similarly investing in the shift. In February, the USDA launched a $1 billion climate-smart commodities initiative to help food producers and forest owners adopt new practices and track carbon emissions.

Farmland LP is far from the only private firm betting on Americas fields and pastures. Despite the financial precariousness farmers face, land itself is an increasingly attractive asset. Prominent billionaires like Bill Gates and Ted Turner are among the largest owners of U.S. farmland. Institutional investors, wealth advisory firms, and individuals are claiming shares of arable land. Unlike the U.S. stock market and housing sector, agricultural land has consistently delivered positive annual returns over the past few decades through rent from farmers, rising land values, and federal subsidies.

Even so, the growing number of investor-farmers is raising concerns about who gets to participate in the agricultural sector, and how. Wealthier enterprises can stomach rising land values, higher rents, and market forces that favor large-scale production. But other would-be farmers are struggling to gain a foothold. That includes young farmersmany of whom are people of coloreager to produce food sustainably to serve their communities, says Holly Rippon-Butler, land campaign director for the National Young Farmers Coalition.

Read More: Theyre Trying to Wipe Us Off the Map. Small American Farmers Are Nearing Extinction

Such barriers are perpetuating long-standing disparities in U.S. farming, she says. More than 95% of the nations 3.4 million agricultural producers identify as white, according to 2017 USDA Census data. Explicit federal policies and practices over centuries barred anyone but white men from owning land, the consequences of which are clear in the current demographics. Black farmers in particular still face discrimination when applying for loans and accessing land, though social impact startups like the Black Farmer Fund are working to remove those barriers.

We need to start addressing that inequity if were going to have a viable future for agriculture in this country, Rippon-Butler says.

A blueberry plant in Stockton in February Cayce Clifford for TIME

The investment boom is also accelerating the cultural shift in farming communities away from hands-on, small-scale producers toward digitally managed farm systems with faraway landlords, whose priority is generating returns quickly, says Anuradha Mittal, founder and executive director of the Oakland Institute, a think tank in California. Along with environmental impacts, she says, the push for profits can create a race to the bottom in wages and working conditions for farm laborers.

Last summer, after a farmworker from Guatemala died in Oregons heat wave, state officials adopted emergency protections for laborers. As temperatures topped 100Fan extreme event exacerbated by climate changefarmworkers in the Pacific Northwest were still picking cherries, berries, and grapes without access to shade or cool drinking water, according to farmworker unions.

For its part, Farmland LP is a certified B Corporation, meaning its social and environmental performance is measured and verified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet higher industry standards. Its lengthy road to organic farming begins by restoring nutrients and healthy bacteria to the soil. To become certified organic by the USDA, conventional fields must undergo a transition period of three years, starting from the last application of synthetic fertilizer or pesticides.

Frank Savage, who manages Farmland LPs 5,800 acres in California, says the company usually starts by carpeting fields with a mix of deep-rooted grasses and broadleaf plants whose roots reach down 6 ft. to pull up minerals. It then leases the land to cattle ranchers and sheep farmers, whose livestock come to munch grasses and drop their nutrient-rich manure.

After the three-year transition, Farmland LPs managers will devise a 10-year plan for rotating crops on a property. That might mean growing vegetables for a few years, then grains, and finally returning the land to pasture for a three- to five-year stretch. The goal is to rotate crops in ways that benefit both soil health and the farms economics.

Since organic farmers cant deter insects or rodents with chemical pesticides, they have to find more natural solutions. It isnt as simple as just calling your pest manager out to shoot some chemicals, Savage says. To curb infestations of moles, which dig deep underground tunnels, his team built raptor perches and owl boxes to attract predators. The farmers also grow long hedges of shrubs, flowers, and other plants to attract pollinators and beneficial insects like ladybugs that devour tiny sap-sucking aphids. Wichner likens their approach to farming as a mosaic, rather than the uniform, single-plant fields of conventional farms.

Farming equipment on the Dwelley farm in February Cayce Clifford for TIME

Farmland LPs fields also cant use chemical herbicides. So farmworkers use hands and hoes to manually remove weeds that threaten to choke seeds as they sprout from the ground. The practice- is labor-intensive and time-consuming, and its partly why organic produce is more expensive to grow and buy in stores, says Dwelley.

Yet for all the careful planning, many factors remain outside farmers control. The past few summers, Dwelley and a crew of 60 workers had to wear masks while harvesting beans, at first because of wildfire smoke, later because of COVID-19, and then because of both at once. In October, Northern California experienced bursts of drenching rain, followed by months with hardly any measurable rainfall at all. For the Dwelleys, the swings in precipitation mean they likely wont be able to grow as much sweet corn as expected this year.

Still, though every year is different on the farm, demand for food is moving steadily in one direction: up. So is the need to conserve water and maintain soil health as the planet warms and weather patterns shift. To that end, in 2022 Farmland LP is preparing to launch its third and largest investment fund to date, with plans to expand in the Pacific Northwest and other U.S. geographies.

Wichner says the families who sell their acreage to Farmland LP know that its going to be farmed organically and regeneratively for the ongoing future, and not irrevocably become a parking lot or subdivision. The sale of that farmland is a really big fork in the road that sets up what happens over the next 50 to 100 years.
A Florida lawmaker wants to remove what she calls a "loophole" in Florida law that did not require the Orlando FreeFall to display a "maximum weight" sign outside the ride.

Tyre Sampson, 14, died after falling off of the Orlando FreeFall ride at ICON Park in Orlando, Florida, March 24. An operating manual for the Orlando FreeFall states that the maximum passenger weight is just over 286 pounds. Sampson was 6 feet, 5 inches tall and reportedly weighed 360 pounds.

Florida law allows manufacturers of amusement park rides to determine what goes into any passenger limitation signage displayed at the entrance to rides and what stays out of it.

Florida House of Representative member Geraldine Thompson, who represents parts of Orlando, said rides should be required by law to display any height or weight restriction.

ORLANDO FREEFALL: FLORIDA LAW 'LOOPHOLE' MAY HAVE LEFT TEEN RIDER IN DEATH TRAP: EXPERT

"We should make sure that there is signage as you approach the ride that indicates any height and weight restrictions," Thompson said. "It absolutely should be mandatory so that, as the consumer approaches the ride, he or she knows what the height and weight restrictions are, and family members and friends who were with that person would know what those restrictions are."

Thompson commented on social media reports purportedly showing the "rider qualifications" sign displayed outside the Orlando FreeFall, calling it "problematic."

The sign reportedly lists the minimum height for an individual to enter the ride, but does not mention weight. The SlingShot Group of Companies would not disclose to Fox News Digital whether the ride displayed a weight limit prior to the teen's death.

Additionally, Thompson said there needs to be a number of required training hours for amusement park ride operators, adding that the training component should not be a "checkoff" as it currently is.

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"I think there needs to be a specific amount of training that's required, a certain amount of hours of training that's required," Thompson said. "For example, when I go to the hair salon, I know that the stylist has received over a hundred and something hours of training, and that assures me that, you know, maybe my hair won't fall off. But, in this instance, we're talking about life and death.

FLORIDA FREEFALL TRAGEDY: STATE AGENCY HIRES FORENSIC ENGINEER TO INVESTIGATE TEEN'S AMUSEMENT PARK DEATH

The Orlando FreeFall drop tower in ICON Park in Orlando, Fla., March 28, 2022. Tyre Sampson, 14, was killed when he fell from the ride. Orlando Sentinel via Getty

"And I know that a form is completed and sent to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, but this should not just be a checkoff. You know, you check the box, and you send it. There should be a curriculum in terms of what the training will involve and a sign-off and some kind of certification that the operators have completed the required training."

Michael Haggard, who is representing Nekia Dodd, Tyre's mother, said that the Orlando FreeFall has a weight restriction but added that it "is not disclosed to anyone," according to ClickOrlando .

Ken Martin, an amusement park ride safety analyst and consultant, told Fox News Digital that a uniform code is needed to tell amusement parks what passenger limitations need to be displayed, as opposed to the current Florida state law that allows the manufacturer to decide.

FLORIDA FREEFALL TRAGEDY: AMUSEMENT PARK RIDE AT CENTER OF TEEN'S DEADLY FALL WAS BUILT IN DECEMBER

Martin said that "multiple causes" led to the incident involving Sampson but said the ride operator should have seen that the shoulder harness was not down sufficiently.

"I think it was multiple causes that led up to this occurrence," Martin said, "Once Mr. Sampson got on the ride, the ride operator should have come around, attempted to pull the shoulder harness over him and lock it. We all saw that  we know that the shoulder restraint did not come down where it was supposed to be and that, you know, is an issue."

An accident report filled out by an employee states that the seat harness was in a locked position after Tyre fell out.

"FreeFall was coming  down the tower. When the magnets engaged, the patron came out of the seat," an employee wrote in the report. "Harness was still in a down and locked position when the ride stopped."

Martin also said there should have been scales outside the ride that would have allowed Sampson to have been weighed appropriately. He added that there are scales made specifically for amusement park rides that don't make an individual's weight visible, but displays the color green or red, which would indicate if they are suitable for the ride.

FLORIDA FREEFALL TEEN DEATH: RIDE SAFETY EXPERT HARNESS 'WAS NOT ON CORRECTLY '

Sampson's father said in an interview with Orlando 35 that his son could tell something didn't feel right.

"When the ride took off, that's when he was feeling uncomfortable. He was like, This thing is moving.  That's when he started freaking out," Yarnell Sampson told FOX 35 Orlando . "He was explaining to his friends next to him  If I dont make it down  please tell my mom and dad I love them.' For him to say something like that, he must've felt something."

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced it has hired a forensic engineer from Quest Engineering to assist with the investigation of the FreeFall incident.

Nikki Fried, the Florida commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services, said potential rule changes could result from the investigation if warranted.

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Trevor Arnold, an attorney representing the operator of the Orlando FreeFall, said the operator is working with state departments in their investigations.

"Orlando Eagle Drop continues to cooperate at every level with all state agencies and departments conducting their respective investigations," Arnold said. "Fridays pledge by Florida lawmakers to effectuate change in our industry is welcome. We are committed to working with those in charge to make a difference, as the safety of the public remains Orlando Eagle Drops top priority.
If youve traveled with young kids, you know the look.

Its a mixture of contempt and sorrow, loathing and dread. It registers on the faces of your fellow passengers, diners, people standing in line to rent a car/check into a hotel/buy sunscreen/secure a pool towel.

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The moment they see you, it registers.

They need this vacation. They need to escape their email/rekindle their marriage/reclaim their time, and youve had the temerity to bring small, unpredictable humans into the mix. Their peace will be disrupted. Their flight will be cacophonous. Their mellow will be harshed. And its all your fault.

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Sometimes the look turns into words  harsh, judgmental words. Words that convey disappointment, really, in your failure to plan better plane distractions or pack better snacks or birth a quieter type of baby or stay home.

The looks and the words wound you, in all likelihood. You internalize them and revisit them, over and over, wondering what you could have  should have, lets be honest  done differently to avoid being such a colossal, epic vacation-ruiner for the nice people around you. You Google plane activities toddler when you get back home, once your wounds have healed enough for you to once again consider traveling outside a four-block radius of your home. You vow to be a better member of society.

Sunset in Puerto Rico. (Heidi Stevens/TNS)

Or maybe you do none of those things. Maybe you are a healthy, reasonable grown-up, secure in the knowledge that you are doing the very best you can with the circumstances in front of you and sometimes babies cry and sometimes toddlers melt down and sometimes tiny ears wont pop and, honestly, youre in public. Who expects public to be peaceful? Is public an antiquities museum? Did you miss a memo?

When my kids were little, I was not the healthy, reasonable jet-setting grown-up. I was a bundle of nerves and insecurities and exhaustion and guilt and regret and also pretty sure wed all return home with pinkeye and rotavirus.

My kids are 12 and 16 now and, honestly, the parts of our vacations that bring me the most joy are not the breathtaking views or spectacular sunsets or poolside mai tais. (Although I love all of those.) Theyre the utter lack of tears. Mine or theirs.

We just returned from a spring break trip to Puerto Rico. I was up early most mornings to sneak in a run before the real heat kicked in, and always there were a few lonesome, exhausted parents wandering the lobby, trying heroically to soothe a time-zoned-challenged baby  in all likelihood so the other parent and/or sibling(s) could continue to sleep.

I wanted to hug them, but that would have been weird. I settled for smiling at them, hoping it conveyed some kind of allyship.

Its tempting to second-guess every one of your parenting decisions, and theres always a chorus of critics and naysayers to feed your endless doubts. This is especially true when you travel with young kids. We should have driven. We should have flown. We should have gone to Disney. We should have waited a year. We should have brought goody bags (or was it free drink coupons?) for our fellow passengers like that woman on "Good Morning America" (or was it Facebook?). We should have stayed home.

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Im not here to tell you what you should or shouldnt have done. How could I possibly know? But I am here to tell you that I see you and I appreciate you and I want to give you a hug. Or help you find the goggles. Or hold the baby while you cut the toddlers crusts off. Or buy you a drink. And probably someone else around you does too.

Youre not as alone as you feel.

Whatever youre doing on your trip  trying to nudge your kids out of their comfort zone or show them a new source of joy and wonder or remind yourself what makes you feel alive or visit relatives you hardly see  you deserve that every bit as much as the guy in 27B deserves to escape his email. You did not surrender your right to joy or wonder or aliveness when you signed on to raise our future generations. You dont owe anyone a goody bag or a drink coupon.

And if, on the other hand, you are a person who is not traveling with young kids but simply sharing space with a person who is traveling with young kids, I nudge you toward kindness. You were also a baby once. And a toddler. You also benefit from a world in which childrens joy and wonder and brains and imagination are fed. Your patience is so much more appropriate than your disdain.

Parenting can be so, so lonely. And lovely, of course. But also lonely. Kindness really does go a long way.

Heidi Stevens is a Tribune News Service columnist. You can reach her at heidikstevens@gmail.com, find her on Twitter @heidistevens13 or join her Heidi Stevens Balancing Act Facebook group.
George C. Walker

Authorities on Friday arrested parole violator George Walker, a man who had eluded law enforcement since December after a third violation.

"George Walker was arrested today by law enforcement in Columbus on his parole violation and was taken into custody," said JoEllen Smith, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

Walker, 66, was arrested two days after The Dispatch reported on Walker's history of parole violations after he was convicted and imprisoned for two armed robberies on Jan. 21, 1986, one at a service station at East 17th and Woodland avenues on the Northeast Side and another later at The Clarmont restaurant on South High Street in German Village.

Walker was sentenced to 133 years to 214 years for the robberies. But he ultimately was paroled twice, each time violating parole.

He was sent back to prison. In July 2018, the Ohio Parole Board denied his request for a third parole. But Walker became eligible for parole in 2021, and after a July 8 hearing, the parole board granted his release. Walker was out again on Sept. 8.

He violated his parole a third time, and the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction had listed him as a violator-at-large since Dec. 22.

Retired Columbus police Cmdr. Bob Meader, who filed an objection to Walker's release in 2018, said he was told Walker was arrested at a McGuffey Road address in South Linden. Meader said the U.S. Marshals Service found Walker at the address and then called Columbus police to help.

"My hope is that the parole board will stop giving him chances to be a recidivist," Meader said.

"In other words, keep him locked up," he said.

Bret Vinocur, a local volunteer victims' advocate and president of the nonprofit Block Parole Inc., called Walker's arrest "tremendous on so many levels."

"It's obvious he's highly dangerous," Vinocur said.

"I've been following Walker for well over a decade. This is one of my first cases. I'm glad we got him back in without anyone being harmed," he said.

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Walker was first released on parole in June 2006. His parole was revoked by November 2007 after his first violation for drug use and his failure to enter and complete a substance abuse program that was a condition of his release.

In December 2007, Walker was indicted for felony drug possession. He was released on parole for the second time in April 2008, again with the condition that he complete a substance abuse program.

Walker failed to report to his parole officer and fled to Texas, where he was eventually arrested. His parole was revoked once again in April 2010.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Man who skipped parole for a third time arrested in Columbus on Friday
University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax  known for her history of racist remarks  said Black and Asian people are resentful toward Western peoples outsized achievements on a recent segment of Tucker Carlsons Fox Nation show.

Referring to Indian Americans, Wax said April 8 on Tucker Carlson Today: They climb the ladder, they get the best education, we give them every opportunity, and they turn around and lead the charge on were racist, were an awful country. On some level, their country is a s--thole.

Wax, who attended Columbia Law School and has taught at Penn since 2001, previously drew national attention when she said the U.S. would be better off with fewer Asians.

The executive director of the South Asian civic organization Indian American Impact, Neil Makhija, a lecturer at Penn Law, said Waxs overtly racist talking points have led him to doubt his colleagues capacity to teach students of all races.

The most unfortunate thing is that we have a lot of brilliant and incredible students at the law school, he said. It makes you question whether she can fairly grade or educate.

Wax didnt respond to a request for comment.

The university removed Wax from teaching a mandatory first-year class in 2018 and confined her classroom duties to an elective course, Makhija said. But he said she shouldnt have a platform at all.

These comments are the only reasons anyone knows who Wax is today, he said. She found a platform on Tucker Carlson, but very few others would grant her any credibility.  Shes simply trying to add a veneer of intellectualism to blatant racism.

In her appearance on Carlsons show, Wax mocked the anti-racist efforts of South Asian women, particularly those at the Penn School of Medicine. I feel like asking these people, why did you leave your country? Why are you here?

Carlson added, You dont show up in someone elses country and start attacking them.

Beyond the xenophobia, Makhija said, the attacks on Indian American physicians dont hold weight for a very simple reason.

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Whats extraordinary is most of those people she is attacking probably didnt even immigrate; they were born here, he said. Shes treating our own citizens as people who are less American and dont belong here.

Her appearance on Carlsons show wasnt the first time Wax has made anti-Asian remarks. In an interview in December, she said that Indians Americans should be more grateful to be in the U.S. and that the country would be better off with fewer Asians.

Penn confirmed that the school is in the middle of disciplinary proceedings against Wax.

The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School has previously made clear that Professor Waxs views do not reflect our values or practices, a representative said. In January 2022, Dean Ruger announced that he would move forward with a University Faculty Senate process to address Professor Waxs escalating conduct, and that process is underway.

Law School Dean Ted Ruger said in a statement this year that he has received multiple complaints since 2017 describing Waxs behavior as being disruptive to students and the school community. He called her thoroughly anti-intellectual and racist.

For Makhija, Wax is operating outside the realm of facts and doesnt deserve to be debated or given attention. Instead, he said, the emphasis should be put on South Asians voices.

I think whats most important is how the community responds, he said. How we as a community at Penn, and broadly amongst Indian Americans and allies, reject this.
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has vetoed a bill that would require social media users to register their legal identities and phone numbers, calling for a more thorough study of the measure, his spokesperson said on Friday.

Lawmakers had approved the measure earlier this year as they sought to thwart online abuse and misinformation, especially in the run up to the May 9 general election. But with Duterte's veto, the bill is unlikely to be passed before the poll.

Social media has become a key campaigning platform for candidates running for president, vice president, and thousands of seats in the two chambers of Congress and local governments.

Duterte's election victory in 2016 was partly attributed to a well-organised social media campaign, but critics have blamed pro-Duterte trolls and influencers for spreading misinformation to discredit and threaten opponents.

While Duterte had lauded lawmakers' efforts to address cybercrimes and other online offences, he disagreed with the inclusion of social media in the bill without detailed guidelines, said presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar.

The lack of guidelines "may give rise to a situation of dangerous state intrusion and surveillance threatening many constitutionally protected rights", Andanar said.

"It is incumbent upon the Office of the President to ensure that any statute is consistent with the demands of the Constitution, such as those which guarantee individual privacy and free speech," he said.

The veto should not, however, deter lawmakers from passing effective and strengthened measures that ensure a safe and secure online environment for Filipinos, Andanar said.

(Reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
Police in Altamonte Springs are looking for a man who, they said, robbed a Wells Fargo bank.

WATCH: Senselessly gone: Sanford police identify 2 people killed in shooting at apartment complex

Officers said the man entered the bank on State Road 434 around 12:50 p.m. and handed an employee a note demanding money.

The man received an unknown amount of money and fled the scene, investigators said.

Officers said there were no injuries, and there was no mention of a weapon being used during the robbery.

Photos: Altamonte Wells Fargo Robbery

Police said the man is around 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighs around 125 pounds.

WATCH: COVID-19 found in wastewater on the rise again in Seminole County, officials say

Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to call the Altamonte Springs Police Department at 407-339-2441 or 911.

READ: High winds quickly spread shed fire to home in Altamonte Springs, firefighters say

Anonymous tips can also be given into Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).

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Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, recently visited Queen Elizabeth II, marking the couples first return to the U.K. together since moving to California in 2020.

A spokesperson for Prince Harry, 37, and the former Meghan Markle, 40, confirmed to TODAY that the pair visited Queen Elizabeth II on their way to the Netherlands for the Invictus Games, which begin this weekend.

News of their meeting surfaced after the queen missed Maundy Thursday services at St. Georges Chapel. She is not expected to attend Sunday's traditional Easter services either.

Queen Elizabeth II revealed last week that she was tired and exhausted after battling COVID-19 in February.

But, that hasnt stopped her from working.

Shes actually come to a new work-life balance, if you like, NBC News royal expert Daisy McAndrew explained on TODAY Thursday.

The Duchess of Sussex has not publicly returned to Europe since March 2020 following the announcement that she and her husband had decided to officially "step back" as senior royals.

Members Of The Royal Family Attend Events To Mark The Centenary Of The RAF (Getty Images)

In the years since, the two did a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey and welcomed their second child, daughter Lilibet Lili Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, who will turn 1 on June 4.

The two are also parents to Archie, who will turn 3 on May 6.

Earlier this year, Prince Harry challenged the British governments decision to not allow him to pay for his police protection during his returns to the U.K.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex personally fund a private security team for their family, yet that security cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed whilst in the U.K., his legal representative said in a statement by email in January.

Last month, his spokesperson confirmed to NBC News that he would not travel to the U.K. to attend a memorial service that honored his late grandfather, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His grandfather died on April 9, 2021 at age 99.

Prince Harry was present at Prince Philips official funeral in 2021 in Windsor, England.

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This will be Prince Harrys fifth Invictus Games. He started the multi-day sporting competition, which honors wounded service members and veterans, in 2014.

The international sports competition runs from April 16 to April 22 in the Dutch city The Hague this year.

In 2017, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made her first public appearance at one of his events when she attended the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games in Toronto to show support for then-boyfriend Prince Harry.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexicos human rights agency demanded an investigation Friday after about a half dozen masked women dressed in black attacked a womans car with hammers and metal pipes.

The National Human Rights Commission said the assailants belonged to a group of radical feminists who took over one of the commissions office buildings 1 1/2 years ago in Mexico City's downtown historic district.

The female driver said the women demanded money Thursday for allowing her to drive down the street, which is where the commission's still occupied offices are located.

Mexico City prosecutors said they were investigating the attack as a robbery case as well as the infliction of damage because the car's windows were bashed out.

In security camera footage, one of the assailants carrying a megaphone and a hammer shouts, You know what the procedure is, apparently referring to the toll that the attackers were charging.

Later in the day, Mexico City police chief Omar Garcia announced that police had ended the takeover of the rights commission's building, and confirmed the occupiers were the ones who attacked the motorist.

The building where the attackers were has been recovered, in order to prevent it from being used for further acts that put citizens at risk, Garcia wrote in his social media accounts.

Members of a group of masked feminists calling themselves The Black Bloc have regularly smashed windows at buildings and bus stops during marches called over the last three years protesting the killings of women.

In September 2020, the group took over the human rights commission's offices along with relatives of crime victims. The victims' families were demanding that their cases be investigated.

The commission said it has been working with the families to meet their demands.

But the commission said it was not the first time that passersby had been victimized by the group of radicals.

The National Commission is concerned by the events that have happened around the site. A number of victims have filed complaints and publicly documented attacks, the commission said in a statement. It urged Mexico City authorities to end the occupation.
Kate Masur, the Northwestern history professor who started a deep online archive and history of pre-Civil War Black Illinois, chats with students Marquis Taylor and Mikala Stokes, who worked on the project, on April 5, 2022. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

If you were a free Black person moving through the antebellum United States, at least in theory, you faced a handful of stark options: Settle in a slaveholding Southern state, venture out into the vast unknown plains of the West, move into abolitionist New York or New England, or take a chance on one of the supposedly free states of the Midwest.

By 1848, according to the Illinois Constitution, slavery did not exist within its borders. On the other hand, some Illinois newspapers ran notices identifying runaway slaves so former owners could find them. And in 1853, a 26-year-old state representative from southern Illinois named John Logan  whose family had a reputation for grabbing runaway slaves  introduced what would eventually pass and become known as the Logans Black Law.

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Its message was loud: From here on, Illinois did not welcome Black people.

For the 12 years the law remained active, any Black person who migrated into Illinois had 10 days to leave; if they didnt, they were fined $10. And if they couldnt pay, they were subject to being sold at auction. In return for covering their fine, the purchaser could demand labor, without pay, for however long a judge decided.

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The case for the law sounds familiar in 2022: Supporters claimed Black people would be a drag on the Illinois public dole, generate crime and take the jobs of white people. Neighboring Ohio and Indiana began passing similar laws that said Black people couldnt testify against white people, that refused Black people the right to vote and that excluded any Black child from getting a public education.

The funny thing, in Illinois, is those new laws brought Black residents together.

Ten months after Logans Black Law passed, in Chicago, in a hall near Randolph and Clark streets, Black Illinoisans from across the state gathered for the first time. It was the Chicago edition of the so-called Colored Conventions Movement of the 19th century, which started in Philadelphia in 1830. The Black population of Chicago was small then. In 1837, there were only 77 Black residents; but 20 years later, there were just 7,500, statewide. The Black Law became an existential threat to the future of Black Illinois.

Delegates to the convention wondered openly if they should just leave the country. The proposal was nixed, and instead, they organized and protested. But they also discussed emancipation, education, labor, health care, the courts, voting rights and womens rights.

Even as slavery remained legal throughout the South, they planned a different future.

Or to put it another way, before Black Lives Matter, Black Power, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois and the NAACP, there were the Colored Conventions.

Youve never heard of them.

Northwestern professor Kate Masur, shown on April 5, 2022, started an online archive and history of pre-Civil War Black Illinois. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Probably most of us have not, said Kate Masur, an Oak Park native and history professor at Northwestern University who specializes in the United States before 1900. I would venture to say, what Illinoisans know about the history of African Americans in Illinois begins and ends with the Great Migration. Whats taught in classrooms about the 1840s and 50s? Slavery. Even now I hear, How do I not know this history of the Midwest?

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So, two years ago, Masur and a handful of Northwestern undergraduates and graduate students started work on an online exhibition of sorts, part of an even larger archive that now spans several universities and museums, to document the radical importance of the Colored Conventions movement, one of our first nationwide conversations on race. Recently launched, their website (coloredconventions.org/black-illinois-organizing) does not have the sexiest title: Black Organizing in Pre-Civil War Illinois: Creating Community, Demanding Justice. But its history is more accessible than academic and its intent is ambitious: No less than a reframing of Black Illinois itself.

The Colored Conventions Project website created by Northwestern history professor Kate Masur. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

There are two dozen profiles of Black residents in the 19th century, and histories of local Black churches, and vintage photographs of early Black communities, and data visualizations of settlement patterns of Blacks in Illinois, and charts tracing the growth of independent schools, and interactive maps that reveal where the Underground Railroad operated within Chicago  all of it centered on the conventions.

And thats just the Illinois website.

In terms of Black activism, we have an overly prevalent cultural image that real Black organizing only started in the 20th century, said Mikala Stokes, a Northwestern Ph.D. candidate in history who worked on the project with Masur. Theres a lack of understanding of how many Black people there were before the Civil War who had their freedom. The vast majority of Black Americans were enslaved, but that free population was not insignificant, and they were asking a question: What does it mean to be free and Black in a slaveholding republic? They were reaching hearts and minds out there.

So much of the national focus was on the anti-slavery debate  yet as the country heads toward the 20th century, theres also talk of Black citizenship, conversation about how African Americans helped build the country itself, theres an argument about whether the U.S. Constitution is pro-slavery, and if our policies are incongruent with founding American principles. The delegates in Chicago are making hypocrisies stand out. The idea that African Americans are American  that doesnt form out of thin air.

The Colored Conventions Project started in 2012 with P. Gabrielle Foreman, a Hyde Park native and African American Studies professor at the University of Delaware; shes now at Penn State, and co-director of the Center for Black Digital Research. A decade on, at least 2,500 academics have worked on the project, creating 18 online exhibitions.

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Why have we not heard enough about this early activism? asked Foreman in a phone interview. I think its because its not the kind of uplifting U.S. history that allows for the nice beautiful tidy arc that ends in something good  like the ending of slavery. These conventions were taking place in nearly every U.S. state and territory and instead of ending triumphantly and decisively, you read about the people who organized them, and their struggles, and what they argued about and you have to wonder: Why we are still arguing for basic things Black people were arguing for 70 years, in the 19th century.

The project began with one of her classes, she said. We were studying the networks of Black activism, and someone said, Why arent we focusing on women at all here? Which was a good question.

Black women had been instrumental in organizing the conventions, so the class voted to continue studying the history of the conventions. While Masur was working on a book that touched on those subjects  Until Justice Be Done: Americas First Civil Rights Movement, From the Revolution to Reconstruction, published last spring  she was taken with the depth of documentation that Gabrielles project included, which led to Masur teaching a Northwestern class on the Convention Movement.

The exhibit that Masur and her team recently completed is a model example of what her project intended, Foreman said, not merely a snapshot of a movement but something that captures a time. Really, its allowing us to see how questions of Black rights and white supremacy, which are so much a part of American history, were not just Southern or Northern issues but also central to the growth of the Midwest.

The Colored Conventions Project website created by Northwestern history professor Kate Masur. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune)

Among the more than two dozen families and delegates profiled in the exhibit, many were born enslaved, coming into Illinois from Kentucky and Missouri, settling near the Mississippi River. They became farmers and blacksmiths and barbers. Looking to create community, they also formed schools and churches and built businesses.

Chicago was not the hub of these early settlements, and yet some of the delegates laid the framework for the Chicago to come. James Bonner, an early Chicago activist who served as the Cook County delegate to the convention, was instrumental in building a new home for Quinn Chapel in what became the South Loop; its still the oldest Black church in the city (though the chapel that Bonner helped establish was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871). Mary Richardson Jones  whose home hosted Frederick Douglass when he was in town (including when he attended the convention)  sheltered fugitive slaves, raised money for the families of Black soldiers, created a Chicago literary society and served as a mentor to a much better-known Chicago activist, Ida B. Wells.

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I was really surprised by the interconnectedness of these people then, said Marquis Taylor, a Ph.D. student who worked closely with Stokes on laying out the narrative of the Chicago convention itself. Though they were facing these laws at home, they had railroads, and they were very much concerned about what was happening across the country. You had people from all over coming to the convention here. Theres a letter from one of the conventioneers apologizing to Frederick Douglass that he was going to have to leave Chicago early because he was due for yet another meeting in Nebraska.

To research these lives, the team dug into archives of small-town historical societies across the state, plus personal letters, census records, obituaries, church newsletters, newspapers and marriage records.

Valeria Lira-Ruelas, a junior history major at Northwestern who worked on the project, said she grew up around Rockford where she was taught almost nothing about the history of Black Illinois. I was in a lot of AP courses and they pretty much stick to the testing, and so you get nothing like a nuanced history. I mean, when I was a freshman (at Northwestern), I read (Kings) Letter From a Birmingham Jail  and I didnt know he went to jail! I was surprised to learn some people didnt like him! The nice thing is you get a sense these days of a push towards a more complete history.

Indeed, Masur particularly hopes to see their website being used in classrooms across Illinois (and has already started to work with history teachers at Evanston Township High School).

An exhibit like this could just sit there, I guess, she said. Or it could get worked into curriculums. Then you might start to see a shift in the way people think of the early history of this state and African Americans. When it comes to the story of Illinois, it doesnt have to be about just Abraham Lincoln.

cborrelli@chicagotribune.com
DaBaby at the 2021 BET Awards. Rich Fury/Getty Images

A man was shot outside the rapper DaBaby's home in North Carolina on Wednesday.

The man was trespassing, police told CNN. Police have not released the shooter's identity.

TMZ reported that it was DaBaby that pulled the trigger.

The rapper DaBaby shot a man outside his home in Troutman, North Carolina, on Wednesday, TMZ reported, citing unnamed law-enforcement sources.

Troutman Police reported the shooting but have not released the name of the shooter. Police confirmed to Insider that the property where the shooting took place is owned by DaBaby.

Officers responded to a 911 call around 7:45 p.m. local time Wednesday, where they found an injured man on the property's extensive grounds, local outlet KTLA reported.

Audio from a 911 call obtained by TMZ shows a man reporting he shot a man in the leg. He said the man was trespassing on his property and that is why he shot him. The man's screams can be heard in the background of the call.

Insider was unable to confirm TMZ's report that DaBaby is the man on the 911 call.

Police said that the man who was shot was not welcome at the home, KTLA reported. He sustained a non-life threatening wound to his lower body and was taken to the hospital, the outlet reported.

Police chief Josh Watson said that only DaBaby, the trespasser, and another unnamed person were present at the scene, KTLA reported.

No charges had been filed as of late Thursday, CNN reported.

"I can confirm the shooting did not occur inside the residence and that Mr. Kirk was on the property," Watson told CNN, using DaBaby's real name, Jonathan Kirk.

Watson did not immediately respond to Insider's out-of-hours request for an update. Representatives for the rapper did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

In a 911 call published by KTLA, a man can be heard screaming in the background as the caller says: "I shot him in his leg."

According to KTLA, the compound has high walls and a sign outside that reads: "We have guns and shovels."

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In 2018, DaBaby was arrested and charged over a fatal shooting in a North Carolina Walmart. He pleaded not guilty to the shooting, and the charges were dropped after a key witness failed to show up in court, Fox 46 reported.

He was later found guilty of a misdemeanor over carrying a concealed weapon, NME reported.

Last year DaBaby received heavy backlash for working with the rapper and alleged abuser Tory Lanez and making homophobic comments onstage. It prompted condemnation by artists he had worked with, including Dua Lipa, and dropped from festival lineups.

Read the original article on Insider
The Republican National Committee is sticking with tradition.

The RNC full membership on Thursday voted unanimously make no changes to their 2024 presidential nominating calendar, keeping Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada as the four early voting states.

The vote, at the RNCs spring training meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, approved recommendations passed by a committee at the national partys winter meeting in February. That panel was chaired by Iowa GOP chair Jeff Kaufmann and included the Republican Party chairs of New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

DEMOCRATS MOVE TO UPEND THEIR 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATING CALENDAR

"Thank you @GOPChairwoman and the entire RNC for reaffirming the rules that allow Iowa to hold our First in the Nation caucuses. Iowans take their responsibility seriously and stand ready to kick off our nations presidential nominating process!" Kaufmann tweeted minutes after the vote.

New Hampshire GOP chair Steve Stepanek told Fox News that "the RNC supports the carve-out states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada. We do it right in New Hampshire, and the RNC sees the tremendous value in continuing this schedule for the upcoming presidential primary."

CHAIR RONNA MCDANIEL MULLS MAKING BID FOR RECORD FOURTH TERM STEERING RNC

The RNC reaffirmation of its schedule came a day after the rival Democratic National Committee took a major step to shake up its longstanding presidential primary and caucus calendar, which has been led by Iowa and New Hampshire for decades.

The DNCs Rules and Bylaws Committee on Wednesday voted to require those two states, as well as Nevada and South Carolina, which hold the third and fourth contests in the DNCs schedule, to reapply for early state status in the 2024 calendar. Other states that are interested in moving up to the top of the calendar may also apply.

The move by the Rules and Bylaws panel, which oversees the partys presidential nominating calendar, would also potentially allow for a fifth state to obtain carve-out status, meaning it would get to hold its presidential nominating primary ahead of March 2024, when the remaining states are allowed start holding their contests.

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Iowas caucuses have kicked off both the Democratic and Republican nominating calendars for half a century, and New Hampshire has held the first-in-the-nation presidential primary for a century.

TRUMP 2024 TEASE DOESN'T STOP OTHER POTENTIAL GOP PRESIDENTIAL CONTENDERS FROM VISITNG IOWA AND N.H.

But the knock for years against both states among many Democrats has been that they are too White, lack any major urban areas, and arent representative of a Democratic Party thats become increasingly diverse over the past several decades. Nevada and South Carolina are much more diverse than either Iowa or New Hampshire.

Complicating matters, Nevada Democrats last year passed a bill into law that would transform the states presidential caucus into a primary and aim to move the contest to the leadoff position in the race for the White House, ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire. And compounding Iowa's issues was the botched reporting of the 2020 caucuses, which became a national and international story and an embarrassment for Iowa Democrats as well as the DNC.

Besides the four current four early voting states, Michigan and New Jersey have indicated that theyll apply for carve-out status.
BUCHAREST (Reuters) - NATO member Romania has grounded its remaining fleet of military MiG 21 LanceR jets as of Friday given their "considerably high accident rate", and will speed up a planned purchase of second-hand F-16s from Norway, the defence ministry said.

The move was unrelated to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which shares a 650-kilometre (400 mile) border with Romania.

Romania will continue to fly its small fleet of F-16 fighter jets acquired from Portugal, the ministry said, while allied states also have jets deployed to the country for enhanced air policing missions as part of NATO efforts to boost its eastern flank, especially after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Romania bought its first F-16 jets from Portugal in 2016 as it works to phase out its communist-era MiGs. The ministry said it would speed up the process to buy an additional 32 F-16 jets from Norway, which will give it an additional two air squadrons.

"The available resources of the aircrafts from the three squadrons ensure ... their operation for a minimum of 10 years and will form an air capability of transition to fifth-generation F-35 jets," the ministry said.

The last accident involving a MiG 21 took place in early March when a jet on air patrol crashed, killing the pilot. Seven soldiers sent to find him on a search-and-rescue helicopter mission also died in a separate crash.

Romania, a NATO member since 2004, plans to raise defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product next year from 2% at present, President Klaus Iohannis said in March.

The country currently hosts over 3,000 NATO troops and will have a permanent alliance battlegroup stationed on its territory.

More than 714,000 Ukrainian refugees have crossed the border into Romania since Russia began what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Russia has sent a formal diplomatic note to the Biden administration warning the U.S. against further arming Ukraine, two officials tell CBS News.

The note, sent to the State Department, revealed Moscow's irritation with President Biden's decision to continue to approve arms transfers as the conflict shifts to eastern Ukraine. It used the same type of language Russia has been using for some time to object to Western efforts to bolster the Ukrainian military against the invading Russian forces.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously described the strategy as part of a plan to increase Kyiv's leverage at the negotiating table, in an effort to eventually find a negotiated end to the conflict. The Washington Post first reported the diplomatic note from Russia to the U.S., and quoted Russian officials as saying the weapons shipments could bring "unpredictable consequences."

The note comes as President Biden approved this week an expansion of the type of military assistance that the U.S. provides to Ukraine, including $800 million worth of arms including artillery such as medium-range howitzers that can prove useful in this next phase of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"We won't confirm any private diplomatic correspondence," the State Department said in a statement to CBS News. "What we can confirm is that, along with allies and partners, we are providing Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of security assistance, which our Ukrainian partners are using to extraordinary effect to defend their country against Russia's unprovoked aggression and horrific acts of violence."

The U.S. has provided a total of $2 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since President Biden took office, according to the White House. The most recent round of assistance this week includes 800 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and 2,000 Javelins, and 155-mm howitzers, an improvement to Ukraine's long-range artillery that will help them go toe-to-toe with Russia. Last month, Congress approved $13 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, which the White House may continue to tap into for further aid allocations.

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"You know, we won't be able to advertise every piece of security we give because our allies and partners are supplying to Ukraine through us, but advanced weapons and ammunition are flowing in every single day," Mr. Biden said last week during a speech to North America's Building Trades Unions Legislative Conference.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told CNN in an interview Friday that the world should be prepared for the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Russia has now been at war in Ukraine for 50 days.

A senior defense official confirmed the Russian cruiser Moskva that sunk in the Black Sea was struck by two Neptune anti-ship missiles fired by the Ukrainians. The sinking of the flagship vessel is significant for Ukraine.

 David Martin contributed to this report.

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(Reuters) - A Russian court has threatened U.S. Internet giant Google and Wikipedia owner Wikimedia Foundation with fines for failing to delete what it said was "fake" information about the Ukraine conflict, Interfax news agency reported on Friday.

Russia's communications watchdog said on Thursday that Google would face fines over its failure to delete from video sharing site YouTube content that Moscow considers illegal.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Conor Humphries)
The Moskva, Russia's Black Sea fleet flagship, sank on Thursday after an explosion.

Russian state media reported in 2020 that the ship was due to take a holy relic on board.

It's unclear whether the relic  a piece of the "true cross"  was on board when the Moskva sank.

The Russian warship that was confirmed as sunk on Thursday may have been carrying a holy relic when it went down.

The Moskva, a missile cruiser that was the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, sank on Thursday following an explosion on board, Russian state media reported.

A news report from 2020 has given rise to the question of whether the vessel sank with a Christian relic  a piece of the "true cross"  on board.

The Russian Orthodox Church announced in February 2020 that the relic had been delivered to the then-commander of the Black Sea fleet, Vice Admiral Igor Osipov, and was at the fleet's headquarters in readiness for delivery to the ship "shortly," the state-run Tass news agency reported at the time.

Video: How Russian media manufactured alternate reality about the war

The relic in question is a fragment of wood just millimeters big, which according to believers is a piece of the cross on which Christ was crucified, Tass said. That fragment is embedded in a 19th-century metal cross which is itself kept in a reliquary, per the outlet.

The Moskva had a chapel on board for sailors to pray in, Sergiy Khalyuta, archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church's Sevastopol District, told Tass. He said the fragment was to be transferred at the request of its owner, an anonymous collector.

Insider was unable to establish when the relic was finally transferred to the Moskva or if it was on board at the time of the vessel's sinking in 2022. The Russian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The sinking of the Moskva, as a prized flagship, is a major blow to Russian morale, Western officials said.

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Moscow has ignored claims of responsibility from Ukraine, which says it struck the ship with a long-range missile from land.

The exact details of how the ship sunk are still unclear. Russian officials said on Thursday that a fire caused an explosion of the ship's ammunition on board, prompting an evacuation of the crew.

CNN cited a person familiar with the intelligence as saying that the US believes Ukraine's claims with "medium confidence."

The Moskva attracted headlines at the outbreak of the war for an exchange with Ukrainian border guards on Zmynyii, or Snake, Island as the ship asked them to evacuate.

The resulting conversation  in which the guards told the ship to "go fuck yourself," went viral and became a rallying cry for Ukraine's war effort.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Dr. David Azerrad was a controversial guest speaker who came to guest lecture at Saint Vincent College last week. The title of his speech was: Black Privilege and Racial Hysteria in Contemporary America.

Azerrad told the audience that the real color of visible privilege in America today is Black. He began his speech by saying he believed Kamala Harris wouldnt be vice president if she werent a woman of color in the time of George Floyd.

The outrage quickly boiled over on campus and in the community.

I couldnt even believe the college would allow the individual to speak there once they knew the topic, a former student shared.

Troy White Smith is a Saint Vincent graduate and said it was disheartening to see the college he once loved welcome this kind of hate. He said this would have never stood when he was a student.

Progressively, the speech just got worse, and they let it go on, and you can hear people in the audience saying are you kidding me, is this real, is this really going on? White Smith tells Channel 11 News.

He expressed how painful this must have been to experience for the Black students in attendance and on campus.

I just thought, why isnt somebody standing up and saying something? White Smith added.

Free speech expert Gene Policinski says inviting a speaker to campus doesnt mean its an endorsement, especially in private institutions.

The First Amendment is no guarantee against being offended, but it guarantees the right to respond to ideas we find offensive or wrong, Policinski tells Channel 11.

Policinski says he believes the antidote to speech we dont like is more speech and being able to counter what you believe is wrong.

Sometimes we need to hear those things that anger or upset us or make us physically ill because its important to argue against them, Policinski said. Were rarely able to silence the speaker. History tells us weve never been able to silence an idea.

Saint Vincent College released a lengthy statement about the speech, saying they regretted it being presented in this forum and acknowledging how deeply upset students are, reading in part:

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The examples used during the lecture by Dr. Azerrad including those which downplayed and minimized the role of several highly accomplished African Americans including George Washington Carver, the women who played a strategic role in the mathematics underlying the early launches of NASA, and his theory as to why Kamala Harris was selected as VP on the basis of her standing solely as an African American woman were demeaning in many ways.

Channel 11 reached out to Azerrad and requested an interview with him, but we did not hear back.

You can read the entire statement from Saint Vincent here.

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San Dieguito Union High School District Superintendent Cheryl James-Ward has apologized for remarks that stereotyped Asian students as high-achievers from high-income families.



The officials comments, seen as perpetuating the model minority myth, were reportedly made during a board training session on Monday on diversity, equity and inclusion.



Citing data that showed Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese students getting fewer D and F grades than other ethnic or racial groups, Michael Allman, a board trustee, asked James-Ward, Do we know why Asian students do so well in school?



In response, the superintendent said its because those students are from rich families coming from China.



We have an influx of Asians from China, and the people who are able to make that journey are wealthy, James-Ward said. You cannot come to America and buy a house for $2 million unless you have money.



She then cited her own community as an example.



In my community, in Carmel Valley... we had a large influx of Chinese families moving in, sight unseen, into our homes, into the community, and that requires money.



James-Ward added that entire families  including grandparents  immigrate to the U.S., allowing for a strong support system for students at home. On the other hand, some Latinx families simply dont have that type of money, and parents work jobs that leave them with no time to help their children.



The officials remarks quickly drew criticism from the community. The Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, whose leaders are Chinese American, said in a statement that her comments were deeply offensive, grossly inaccurate and intentionally divisive, which ill-fits her leadership role in a major school district, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.









A video of James-Wards remarks was also posted on YouTube and has been viewed more than 4,000 times. YouTube commenters responded by pointing out the diversity of Asian communities, as well as the value of meritocracy.



Absolutely shameful and ignorant comments. My parents are the perfect example of how hard work and discipline can lead to success in America. To study hard and achieve academically is the least I can do to respect their efforts. This was true back when I was in high school and college and remains true today, a YouTube user commented.



Others took the opportunity to highlight their own hard work.



Unbelievable pre-judgement and stereotype. I came to the United States 24 years ago, with only 200$ in my pocket. I lived in a basement, I worked in buffet restaurants and I walked more than 1.5 hours one way to the campus even during the coldest winter storm in Pennsylvania, one user wrote. Even under all the stress, I still managed to get two masters degrees within 2.5 years from a top 30 university, straight A. Don't be arrogant saying wealth is the only reason Asians do good at school.



Im an immigrant from China. I came here with $720 dollars in my pocket. In my first five years in school, I worked almost all weekends and holidays, another commented. Now both my wife and I have busy work. But we spend at least one hour per night with our kids when they are young. Our TV is not allowed to turn on on weekdays. We teach our kids the values of hard work. We told our kids if they fail at school work, they are the ones to be blamed, not other people or other ethnic groups. This superintendent doesnt want less advanced students to work hard so she can stay in power.



James-Ward reportedly responded to the backlash in an interview by saying her comments were taken out of context to cause a firestorm. The superintendent reportedly also faced a recent dispute relating to redistricting.



I shouldve said it differently, right, because the issue is very complex. I shouldve just left it at complex, she said.



Following the interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune, James-Ward called the reporter back to apologize for her comments, stating,



If I harmed any member of my community, I am deeply sorry, and that would never be my intent.







Featured Image via California Charter Schools Association

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The former Trump administration Environmental Protection Agency boss who resigned amid a series of bizarre scandals related to his use of federal resources is looking to return to government service as a US senator from Oklahoma.

Scott Pruitt, who ran the EPA from 2017 to July 2018 and previously served as the Sooner States attorney general, filed paperwork this week to run for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Senator James Inhofe.

Mr Pruitt joins Oklahoma Representative Markwayne Mullin, ex-Oklahoma House Speaker TW Shannon, and former chief of staff to Mr Inhofe, Luke Holland, in a crowded primary field.

The GOP attorney became widely known in conservative circles during his tenure as Oklahomas top law enforcement official for the myriad lawsuits he filed against the Obama administration, but became a reviled figure during his time leading the EPA for his profligate spending and penchant for secrecy and grandiosity.

In one memorable incident, Mr Pruitt was found to have asked members of his security detail to search the city for a type of moisturiser found at Ritz-Carlton hotels, and to purchase for him a used mattress from then-president Donald Trumps Washington DC hotel.

His security detail also drew scrutiny for its sheer size, which dwarfed the protective details provided to previous EPA administrators.

Mr Pruitt was also accused of abusing his position by pressuring Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy to grant his wife, Marilyn Pruitt, a restaurant franchise, and of spending exorbitant amounts of federal funds on travel, often on first class tickets and luxury hotels in spite of government regulations requiring lower-cost options.

He also drew rebukes from the Government Accountability Office for having spent $43,000 of taxpayer funds on a soundproof booth for his office, ostensibly to prevent career officials he deemed hostile to his agenda from listening in on his conversations.
PIERRE  The South Dakota High School Activities Association is trying to balance funding all of its activities with fairly compensating schools that host state events.

Wednesday the SDHSAA board of directors discussion about funding for state event hosts was sparked by a comment from Casey Meile, coordinator of athletics for the Sioux Falls School District.

During a discussion about site selection, Meile told the board, We lose a lot of money hosting these events while SDHSAA does profit.

SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos said it can look bad when a host school loses money on an event while the association turns a profit.

As an example, Swartos noted the combined state wrestling meet that Sioux Falls hosted. The association paid a hosting fee to the school district of $24,500, Swartos said, while the districts expenses were probably twice that. The association made a $104,000 profit on the event.

Its the profit that we make that funds the rest of our events where we lose money, Swartos said. Those events include debate, oral interp, all-state band, tennis, golf and gymnastics. Swartos also noted that profit from events helps fund the associations $200,000 catastrophic insurance policy in the event an athlete is injured.

Surrounding schools benefit from Sioux Falls hosting the meet, Swartos said, because they dont have to pay transportation or lodging costs. He said those schools could be asked to provide workers for the meet, taking some of the financial burden off the Sioux Falls School District.

That could cut down a lot of the cost of hosting that event, Swartos said.

The association expects a surplus of revenue this year. After the associations expenses are paid, Swartos said it could share that revenue with host schools.

The association would be using our surplus we have to make those sites whole, Swartos said. He told the board that action on such a plan could be on the June agenda.

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Basketball tournaments highlighted by lack of sportsmanship

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By Dana Hess

For the S.D. Newspaper Association

PIERRE  A lack of sportsmanship was a common theme when members of the South Dakota High School Activities Association staff reported on the recent state basketball tournaments. They made their report Wednesday to the SDHSAA board of directors.

SDHSAA Assistant Executive Director Jo Auch told the board that she attended the State B boys and girls tournaments.

Our sportsmanship is getting pathetic, Auch said, noting that she includes players, coaches and fans in that statement. A handful of people can make it miserable.

Auch said one fan was kicked out of a B tournament, led away in handcuffs.

SDHSAA staffers Randy Soma, who attended the AA tournaments and Dan Swartos, who attended the A tournaments, agreed with Auchs assessment.

Theres a lot of work we need to do in that area, said Swartos, the organizations executive director.

Board member Mark Murphy said he has observed coaches giving officials a hard time during games and that attitude is picked up by players.

They take their cues from coaches, Murphy said. I really think coaches need to help us in that sportsmanship area.

The statements were made during a portion of the board meeting set aside for staff reports. No action was taken.

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This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: SDHSAA hopes to share more revenue with schools that host state events
Most years, I come to the end of our 12 months together in filmdom and end up picking a smallish, nearly flawless picture for my No.1 slot. Then theres a larger, more expansive, more obviously imperfect No. 2. This year, The Rider, #1; Roma, #2. See?

Worst lists are different. I dont seem to veer in a particular direction for those, though nothing stings like a terrible comedy. Then again, at this point in the Marvel and DC superhero cycles (three clicks past the rinse cycle, and one click the right of enough already), theres something especially grinding about a franchise product rollout that holds next to nothing for you, personally. Its all personal, of course. Criticism is subjectivity, not objectivity.

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With this exception: These 10 films really were the stinkin worst.

10. Red Sparrow. A lugubrious semester spent in what Jennifer Lawrences Mata Hari knockoff describes as whore school.

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9. Death Wish. Sleaziest reboot of the year. Vigilante slaughter as self-actualization therapy. Director Eli Roth is a moral idiot.

8. Rampage. Joel Coen describes a directors job as tone management. For the years worst example of tone mismanagement, try the Dwayne Johnson/killer gorilla movie, cute one minute, punishing the next.

7. The 15:17 to Paris. Clint Eastwood couldnt figure out how to tell this true-life, good-news, anti-terrorism story, but he went ahead and starting filming anyway.

6. Aquaman (opens in Chicago Dec. 21). Even with a talented, versatile director (James Wan) at the helm, this one feels like being trapped in a Wisconsin Dells water park for, like, a week.

5. Avengers: Infinity War. Two billion dollars in the coffers cant possibly indicate a granite slab of mediocrity, can it? Can it?

4. Welcome to Marwen (opens in Chicago Dec. 21). See the documentary on Mark Hogancamps life and work sometime; the Hollywood version, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Steve Carell, turns everything to creepy sentimentality.

3. Death of a Nation. Dinesh DSouzas Trump infomercial equates the presidents accomplishments with those of Abraham Lincolns. No more need be said at this time.

2. Life Itself. From the creator of This is Us comes the most resent-able romantic weepie of the year.

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Melissa McCarthy in a scene from "The Happytime Murders." (Hopper Stone/AP)

1. The Happytime Murders. Brutally unfunny revenge on the Muppets, starring Melissa McCarthy, who also led one of the years best films, Can You Ever Forgive Me? Which proves the axiom: Everything truly wrong with a movie goes wrong long before the actors are called to the set.

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

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[ Best of entertainment in 2018: Full coverage ]
Sen. Sherrod Brown says that fintech companies don't have "consumer protections and safeguards that actual banks must adhere to." Bill O'Leary/Pool via REUTERS

Sen. Sherrod Brown urged Americans to be wary of fintech banking apps.

He says that consumers are vulnerable to losing access to their money through the services.

Fintech banking services have surged in popularity since the beginning of the pandemic.

Americans should beware of using banking services offered by fintech companies, US Senator Sherrod Brown told Insider.

Brown, who is the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, warned that fintech companies that provide online banking services  sometimes called "neo-banks"  are potentially dangerous, and make users vulnerable to losing their money.

"Fintech companies that want to act like banks  but without the consumer protections and safeguards that actual banks must adhere to  put people's hard earned money at risk," he said. "Consumers shouldn't be getting locked out of their accounts, leaving them with no way to access their money to buy groceries, pay their bills, or make rent."

Brown's warning comes on the heels of a recent investigation by Click2Houston.com's Amy Davis, which found that some users lost thousands of dollars through Chime, the most popular neobanking app in the US by far. Users lost their money through suspensions due to deposits marked as "unusual activity" that locked them out of the app, as well as a refusal to reimburse some people for hacking. Click2Houston also reported that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has received more than 2,267 complaints about Chime since 2020, with many users complaining about frozen accounts and fraudulent transactions that Chime refused to reverse.

"Given the important role we play in helping our members manage their money, we take our responsibility in the areas of regulation and compliance very seriously," a Chime spokesperson told Insider in a statement. "Chime products are designed and delivered in close partnership with our partner banks, The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank. Thus, unlike some fintechs, Chime member deposits are held in FDIC insured accounts at our partner institutions, which are subject to oversight by the FDIC and the OCC. Chime is also subject to the jurisdiction of CFPB, the FTC and the DOJ."

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Brown also said that privacy breaches, fraud, and hidden fees are also threats to be wary of when using these services.

Neobanks are growing in popularity, but operate under limited regulations

Although neo-banks offer checking and savings accounts, they aren't necessarily chartered like traditional banks. Chartered banks are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which provide a guarantee to depositors that they won't lose their money if their bank fails.

Neo-banks have surged in popularity during the pandemic. Bankrate.com estimates that there are about 23 million neobank customers, a number that is expected to more than double, to 50 million, by 2025. The appeal of neo-banks is that they offer low or no fee structures, early deposit access to consumers no matter how much cash they have, and complete digital access.

Brown's statement this week isn't the first time that he's urged caution about fintech banking. Last July, he wrote a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on behalf of the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, asking them to investigate the neo-banking companies, which they did.

Several state regulators have been investigating neo-banking services in the last few years as well. In 2019, for instance, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation began investigating Chime, and concluded that the company was violating state law by describing itself as a bank. Chime later agreed to stop using the word to describe its services.

Read the original article on Business Insider
SHANGHAI (Reuters) -China said on Friday that it will help hundreds of companies in key sectors to resume production in locked-down Shanghai, the commercial capital at the centre of the country's latest COVID-19 outbreak, as businesses warn of the growing economic toll of restrictions.

The announcement comes as a growing number of business leaders and analysts warn that China's strict "zero-COVID" policy is triggering economic disruptions that are rippling through global supply chains for goods from electric vehicles to iPhones.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will work with 666 companies making semiconductors, automobiles, and the medical sector to get back to work, it said in a statement late on Friday.

Teams have been sent to Shanghai to ensure the resumption of work at these key industrial companies, the regulator added.

Electric-car maker Xpeng and technology giant Huawei warned of looming industry-wide suspensions of output suspensions if suppliers in Shanghai and surrounding areas cannot resume work, while numerous foreign firms have recently announced production halts at their Chinese plants.

Airlines and the property sector are also feeling the pain.

Although Shanghai's 23,000 new infections on Friday were down from more than 27,000 the previous day, they included a record 3,200 symptomatic cases, versus 2,573 a day earlier.

Xpeng's Chief Executive He Xiaopeng issued a dire warning for the sector unless the situation improved.

"If the suppliers in Shanghai and its surrounding areas can't find a way to resume operations and production, in May possibly all of China's carmakers will have to stop production," he said on the Wechat social media app.

Richard Yu, chief executive of both Huawei's consumer business group and its smart car unit, mirrored He's sentiments in private comments confirmed by the company, adding that the industry faced huge losses.

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Shipments of some Apple products, as well as Dell and Lenovo laptops could also face delays, analysts said. [L3N2WD0NS]

On Friday the transport ministry announced a national pass system to let cargo vehicles move between higher risk zones without delays, as long as drivers have normal temperatures and a negative virus test no older than 48 hours.

An April 7 study by Gavekal Dragonomics found that 87 of China's 100 largest cities by gross domestic product have imposed some form of quarantine curbs.

COVID curbs have also hit travel nationwide, with flag carrier Air China reporting a drop of 70% in March traffic from a year ago.

Home prices stalled for a second month in a row in China's 70 major cities last month, official data showed on Friday, as the lockdowns sapped consumer confidence and undermined demand. [L2N2WD02F]

Some of those locked down in Shanghai have expressed frustration on social media over the difficulties in getting food and poor conditions at central quarantine facilities.

Most of Shanghai's shops were closed, except for some with half-opened shutters from which goods were being carried to waiting delivery drivers.

The city has converted residential buildings into quarantine centres but that is sparking protests from angry neighbours worried about higher risks of infection. [L5N2WC4XE]

(Reporting by David Kirton and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Kim Coghill)
Komal Sahi was home the night of April 15, 2021, when reports started streaming in of a shooting at the Indianapolis FedEx ground operations facility where her mother had started working the week before.

It was just so shocking, said Sahi, an immigration attorney in suburban Indianapolis. That warehouse had a lot of Sikh workers. From hearing my mom, it was like, you make friends because youre working with people like you. It was a community. Everybody knew somebody who worked there.

Just after 11 p.m. that night, a 19-year-old gunman fatally shot eight people at the facility, four of them from Sikh families. Sahis mother had been off duty that evening, but at Sahis aunts home the next day, that was all anybody could talk about. And the reaction was that this was a hate crime.

A year later, as the community honors the lives lost and wrestles with its collective trauma, some still question investigators conclusions that the attack was not motivated by bias but instead a premeditated act of suicidal murder by a former facility employee.

Our community has known much pain for many years because of how we look and who we are, Komal Chohan, whose grandmother was among the victims, said in a statement issued this week by Sikh Coalition, a national civil rights organization. If that is why my Naniji (grandmother) was senselessly murdered, I will never know. But I do know that she was a hardworking woman all of her life whose only hope was to see her family succeed.

Indiana's red flag law didn't stop fatal FedEx mass shooting. Has anything changed in a year?

In addition to Chohan's grandmother, Amarjeet Kaur Johal, 66, those killed were Matthew Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Jasvinder Kaur, 50; Amarjit Sekhon, 48; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Karli Smith, 19; and John Steve Weisert, 74.

Several months after the incident, Indianapolis police said white supremacist websites had been found on the shooters computer during a search of his home in early 2020 as part of a mental health check, but a subsequent FBI interview had determined he was not driven by any racially motivated extremism.

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Jaspal Singh, Dabinder Singh, Balbir Singh, Satwinder Singh and Kulvinder Singh pay their respects at a vigil held on April 18, 2021, several days after a 19-year-old gunman killed eight people, four of them Sikhs, at the FedEx Ground Plainfield Operation Center in southwest Indianapolis.

Amrith Kaur Aakre, legal director for the Sikh Coalition, said that detail, along with the number of Sikhs who worked at the facility and the number of Sikh victims, all of these things paint a picture, and its a picture that Sikhs and other marginalized communities know all too well."

Aakre said that as a highly targeted group, Sikhs are already "always vigilant. For us, it feels like a familiar refrain."

Many in the American Sikh community have been on edge since 9/11, when Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh entrepreneur in suburban Phoenix, was murdered four days after the terrorist attacks by a revenge-minded white mechanic who mistook him for an Arab Muslim. Then, in 2012, a white supremacist fatally shot seven Sikh people at a temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, before turning the gun on himself.

That was a huge blow for our community, said Sahiba Kaur of the Sikh American Legal and Defense Fund, based in Washington, D.C. We were already uncertain of our status in the U.S. and trying to show that we belong here, that Sikh values are American values. Now, in addition to Indianapolis, were seeing hate crimes. Everyone is a little frightened.

Hate crimes targeting Sikhs have risen yearly since the FBI began collecting those statistics in 2015, climbing 68% from 2019 to 2020, or from 56 to 94. Meanwhile, anti-Muslim hate crimes have fallen over that time.

Kaur attributed the rise in anti-Sikh hate crimes to a willingness by more victims to come forward to report attacks, in addition to the pandemic and anti-immigrant rhetoric stirred up during the Trump administration.

"People are speaking up more," she said. "But I do think the pandemic has played a huge role in how people are behaving toward us. Mental health problems are through the roof."

At Indianapolis' Sikh Satsang gurdwara, Jaswinder Kaur holds back tears at a gathering held on April 17, 2021, two days after eight people, four of them Sikhs, were killed during a mass shooting at the FedEx Ground Plainfield Operations Center, near Indianapolis International Airport.

This month, Sikh men were assaulted in two separate attacks in a Queens, New York, neighborhood and both are being investigated as possible hate crimes. In January, a Sikh taxi driver was assaulted by a man at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport. The suspect in that attack was charged with a hate crime.

Theres all these layers and layers and people ask themselves, when is enough, enough? Aakre said. When are people going to recognize that the community deserves justice? But until we see broad perspectives within law enforcement and the halls of power, I am concerned that we are not going to overcome those challenges.

Sahi, whose great uncle also works at the Indianapolis FedEx facility but was off that night, also wonders about the gunmans motives.

It felt personal, she said. It felt like it was an attack on a community and a people rather than just a random shooting.

A Sikh 'renaissance' in America's Heartland

Kanwal Prakash K.P. Singh says he was one of the first Sikhs to settle in Indianapolis. When he arrived from India in 1967 to work as a senior city planner, a local newspaper carried a blurb the next day asking readers if they had witnessed a turbaned, bearded man, he said.

Many people had not seen a Sikh up close and personal, he said.

Singh said he was determined to show locals not only that he could fit in but that he could help take the city from an afterthought to national prominence. Other Sikhs who arrived after him, he said, heeded his example of civic engagement, and hes now an architect, artist and Sikh community leader.

Sikhism originated in Punjab, in northern India, and is the worlds fifth most popular religion, with more than 25 million believers. Practicing Sikh males wear beards and uncut long hair under turbans.

Two decades ago, Indianapolis Sikh community was still relatively small, with few temples, but the recession of 2008 brought a new influx as struggling Sikh farmers in California sold off their land and headed for the more affordable Midwest. With minimal education, many found jobs in logistics and distribution facilities that had chosen the heartland for its central location.

Our claim to fame is that were within 24 hours of 75% of the U.S. population, said Mark Myers, mayor of Greenwood, an Indianapolis suburb that many Sikhs now call home. Were kind of the crossroads of America.

Sikh truckers traversing Indiana as they rumbled across the country saw the economic value of relocating to the Midwest from the expensive coasts, Singh said. They saw something familiar to them  the open spaces, trees and the fellowship of the neighbor next door, that informality of people saying hello across the fence.

Singh called the growth of the Hoosier Sikh community "a robust cultural renaissance in the Hoosier Heartland."

More than 5,000 Sikhs are now estimated to reside in the Indianapolis metro area, with 10,000 estimated statewide, and communities like Greenwood and Plainfield look like where I grew up, said Sahi, the immigration attorney, whod relocated to the area as a 10-year-old from Brampton, Ontario, a Canadian city with a large Sikh population. You go outside and see people like you.

From left, Gurpreet Singh and Maninder S. Walia hold their phones high during a vigil held April 17, 2021, at Indianapolis' Krannert Park for victims of a mass shooting at a FedEx ground facility in the city's southwest suburb of Plainfield.

Still, growing pains have accompanied Sikhs arrival into Indianas conservative, historically white enclaves. Sahi noted an incident in February at a high school just south of Indianapolis in which students bullied a Sikh student and knocked his turban off his head.

People dont necessarily know about different cultures and faiths, Sahi said. When I took world history, Sikhism was one paragraph in a chapter on India. If you dont have that background and awareness of what diversity looks like, there is some resistance. Its going to take time, but there needs to be a consistent push. It shouldnt just be in the wake of a tragedy.

'You just keep going': A culture of resiliency

On Sunday, Indianapolis Sikhs held a memorial for the FedEx shooting victims at the Sikh Satsang gurdwara, with Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett among those in attendance. Next week, eight trees will be planted at a central Indianapolis park in honor of the lives lost as part of urban beautifying efforts.

We continue to mourn the loss of our team members in the senseless tragedy that occurred nearly one year ago," FedEx Ground said in a statement. "FedEx Ground is extremely proud of our diverse and inclusive workforce at the station in Plainfield and April 15 will be a somber day of reflection. There is no higher priority for FedEx Ground than the safety of our team, and we have provided and continue to offer support in multiple ways to those affected."

Singh said city and religious leaders offered condolences and support in the wake of the shootings, and in the year that has passed, this kindness has only magnified. Walls that were there began to crumble. Have all the walls crumbled? No. Has the bullying in schools stopped completely? No. But we are on the right path. For us to survive, we need to be partners.

Confronting grief, however, has proved vexing for a community that doesnt often speak of trauma and mental health and typically copes by picking up the pieces and moving on. Before the shootings, no Sikh-specific services existed for victims of violent crime.

We grieve for those families and the loved ones they lost, Singh said. But at the same time, we need to move forward. One step at a time.

K.P. Singh bows his head during a gathering held April 17, 2021, at Indianapolis' Sikh Satsang gurdwara, where Sikh community members came together to mourn those killed in a mass shooting two days earlier at the FedEx Ground Plainfield Operations Center, near Indianapolis International Airport. Four of the victims were members of Sikh families.

Punjabi Sikh culture has been forged by oppression and trauma, Sahi said: Adhering to a faith that evolved in the 1600s even as its leaders were executed by Indian Mughal rulers, her grandparents lived through the harrowing migration that followed the division of India and Pakistan. Then, her parents generation saw the religious persecution of Sikhs in India during the 1980s and beyond.

For us, processing grief has always been about being resilient, she said. After the shooting, people didnt really pause to grieve. Weve been shaped by all of these historical events. Its generational trauma. You dont learn how to grieve because youve never been taught how. So you just keep going.

As a result, she said, people dont have the tools to deal with the anxiety and stress that accompany worries about venturing into society at the risk of being assaulted, or worse.

Recognizing the need to address the issue in a way that was culturally appropriate, the nonprofit Immigrant Welcome Center, in partnership with Central Indianas local health system, recently launched a federally funded virtual resiliency center to conduct culturally specific outreach and assistance to Sikhs through a pair of Punjabi-speaking Sikh community navigators.

Research consistently shows that people of color have more trust when you have people who look like them and speak their language, said Gurinder Hohl, the centers chief executive officer.

People think grief will pass, Hohl said. That is common in Sikh culture and one reason it was important for us to have a Sikh person to reach out to the community, to make them aware that its OK to feel loss and trauma when something like this happens.

For Sahi, hearing about the program came as a relief.

I really hope it works, she said. Because our community really needs those resources.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: FedEx shootings: Indianapolis Sikhs face lingering grief, doubts, fear
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP)  Reps. Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux flipped two longtime Republican congressional districts in Atlanta's northern suburbs by running against then-President Donald Trump and his divisive brand of politics.

But as they fight to keep their House seats this year, they're competing against each other.

After new congressional maps approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature made McBath's district more conservative, she decided to compete for Bourdeaux's seat. That's pitting two colleagues from the same party against one another ahead of Georgia's May 24 primary.

The race is an uncomfortable development for Democrats who would prefer to celebrate the inroads they've made in Georgia, culminating with Joe Biden becoming his party's first presidential candidate to take the state in 28 years. Rather than building on that success, which was driven in part by support in Atlanta's suburbs, the primary is pitting two of the party's rising stars against each other.

Bourdeaux, who has referred to McBath as a sister" and previously campaigned alongside her, said in a recent interview that she was pretty shocked by the primary challenge.

If the shoe were on the other foot, it would not have crossed my mind in a million years to go over to the sixth (district) and run against her, Bourdeaux said, lamenting that McBath was devoting resources to defeating her in the primary that could instead be directed at Republicans.

McBath said her push to remain in Congress is about my work to honor my son, not her primary opponent. Her 17-year old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a white man who was angry over the loud music the Black teenager and his friends had been playing in their car, spurring McBath into becoming a gun safety activist.

To keep that promise to my son and my family and my community, I have just refused to let Brian Kemp and the NRA gun lobby and the Republican Party decide who represents our communities in Georgia, McBath said in an interview, referring to the state's Republican governor and new maps state lawmakers drew based on the 2020 census.

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She added: Ive had many people say to me, I think youre making the right decision. Its a difficult decision, of course, but I think its the right decision.'

The contest is one of five major incumbent-on-incumbent House primary races that will unfold around the country this summer. They include Democratic Reps. Andy Levin and Haley Stevens in suburban Detroit; Republican Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney in the northern half of West Virginia; and Illinois congressional colleagues from both parties  Republicans Mary Miller and Rodney Davis and Democrats Marie Newman and Sean Casten.

For some of these contenders, trying to unseat a colleague is just a political reality that comes along with the once-a-decade redistricting process. In Michigan, Levin and Stevens each said they still considered the other a friend despite now competing for a new seat drawn by an independent commission.

When something unfortunate like this happens, to me, its nothing personal, said Levin, who opted to forgo competing in a newly drawn battleground district to instead challenge Stevens in a safely Democratic one.

Stevens said that, during a recent vote on the House floor, she pulled Levin aside to discuss a bill they'd been working on. Later, she said, it hit her that, Holy smokes. Im in this primary with him and, no matter what happens, were not gonna be colleagues.

The race in Georgia is especially stinging because it will stunt one of two nascent, promising political careers.

McBath won a House seat in 2018 from a suburban district that was held by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich for two decades. The former Delta flight attendant is known nationally as a fierce gun safety advocate.

The same year, Bourdeaux came within a few hundred votes of unseating a Republican in the adjacent district, before ultimately winning the seat in 2020. A former public policy professor and Georgia Senate budget director, Bourdeaux has worked on transportation and infrastructure issues. She was among a small group of House Democrats who urged passage last year of a bipartisan infrastructure law before agreement was reached on a larger Democratic social policy package.

Bourdeauxs redrawn district includes wealthy suburbs in Gwinnett County that have grown increasingly diverse in recent years. It has large Black, Hispanic and Asian populations. A stretch of Buford Highway that runs through the area has become a major draw for its breadth of ethnic restaurants.

The district is heavily Democratic, so the winner of the primary is expected to prevail in the general election.

The two have stayed fairly even in the money race. As of the end of last year, McBath had raised slightly more than $3 million, compared with Bourdeauxs nearly $2.4 million.

Bourdeaux has been endorsed by some top Gwinnett County Democratic leaders, while Everytown for Gun Safety, where McBath once worked, has runs ads on her behalf. Protect Our Future, a new Democratic super PAC backed by a cryptocurrency billionaire, has also vowed to spend big to boost McBath, prompting calls from Bourdeauxs campaign that her opponent should disavow funding from the group.

Jovanny Emery Sierra, a 27-year-old technologist at a medical company from Duluth, voted for Bourdeaux in the 2020 general election but is now volunteering for McBath. He said he was alienated by Bourdeaux seeming to prioritize the infrastructure legislation rather than a larger, White House-backed social spending and public works bill known as Build Back Better that eventually collapsed.

It just felt like a slap in the face, he said.

Others who live in the district say they feel anguished that McBath or Bourdeaux will be left without a congressional seat.

We have two great, caring people that are Democrats, but through this gerrymandering at the state Legislature, they just cut them up and dilute the democratic process, said Jim Shealey, 72. Shealey said he hadnt decided whom to vote for in May.

Still, Julie Pierce, 65, said McBaths decision to challenge Bourdeaux leaves me squeamish.

Pierce said shes always thought highly of McBath, but she sees Bourdeaux out campaigning much harder.

If youre going to parachute in, for crying out loud, parachute in and date me, Pierce said of McBath. Dont take me for granted.

___

Weissert reported from Washington.
International Gender Equality Prize, Tampere, Finland - 22 Nov 2021

Yazidi activist and the co-recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, Nadia Murad at the International Gender Equality Prize ceremony in Finland, on Nov. 22, 2021. Credit - Vesa MoilanenShutterstock

The UN Security Council met this week as chilling reports emerge of rape and sexual violence being used against women and children during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. One of the speakers was Nobel Laureate and justice campaigner Nadia Murad, who recently launched the Murad Code, a global code of conduct focused on gathering information about conflict-based sexual violence.

Raised in the ancient faith and traditions of the Yazidi people, Murad grew up the youngest of 11 children in Kocho, Iraq. She enjoyed history at school, loved playing with makeup, and dreamed of opening a hair salon one day. Instead, in 2014, her hometown was captured by the Islamic State. Fourteen members of Murads family, including her beloved mother, were among the hundreds of citizens who were massacred. Two of her brothers were wounded but managed to pull themselves out of the mass graves ISIS dug for their victims. Murad and the other women and girls of Kocho were abducted and held as sex slaves. She endured months of captivity before she escaped and found refuge in Germany. Since then, she has dedicated herself to securing justice for the Yazidi people, rebuilding what ISIS destroyed, and protecting other women and children against the use of rape as a weapon of war.

During our recent conversation, she told me that the international community must develop an urgent plan to respond to the sexual violence in Ukraine, and why victims need justice. I know when I tell my story and start talking about these issues, this will not bring back my mother, she said. But I and other survivors do this because we want to prevent this from happening to others, and we want accountability. Thats the number one concern of many survivors, when their stories are being told: they are hoping that their message will be used for justice.

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I began by asking her what her main focus and goals are.

NM: It is my belief as a survivor that we cannot separate accountability from prevention. If we do not hold those who have committed these crimes accountable it will not prevent this from happening to other women.

AJ: I could not agree more. That there has been such a lack of accountability for these crimes that has really emboldened people to behave this way, and not consider it a crime of war.

NM: For the first time, Germany has used universal jurisdiction to go after ISIS members. I do not understand why other EU members, the U.S., and others cannot follow that example. We have the evidence, we have the testimonies, we can hold them accountable. All we need is to follow that direction.

AJ: Its so clear how important it is to take all we now know, and to start to implement it as a new standard of practice. With Ukraine, what do you hope governments are doing at this time that might help with accountability?

NM: When ISIS attacked in their war against the Yazidis for example, they had a systematic plan to use sexual violence and rape and to violate women. But unfortunately when the international coalition was formed to defeat ISIS, they made the mistake of not considering specifically that violence against women was a main element of this war. Violence against women and sexual violence in particular in conflict zones is considered a side effect, collateral damage of these conflicts. In Ukraine, the key when world leaders talk about this, and for all of us, is trying to make that a main part of the plan to help the Ukrainian people. World leaders need to understand that whether its in Yemen or Ukraine or any other place, violence against women will occur and we should make sure that we have that in mind when planning to deal with these conflicts.

AJ: I think many people dont fully understand when they hear about this violence. Somehow they still associate rape with a sexual act, or they dont completely understand the horrors. They dont often know that its rape in front of a child, or rape of a child, or rape until the woman is dead. There is evidence that it is done to intentionally destroy the human being, the family, the community. If its not too much to ask, and not insensitive, could you help those who dont understand what it really is and why it is a weapon?

NM: Eleven of my sisters-in-law were captured by ISIS and taken into slavery. Some of them were my age, others were older, and some of them experienced this violence in front of their children, because their children were also taken into captivity with them. It was done in a visible way to destroy the family, destroy the woman, destroy the community. It wasnt done in secret, it was done publicly.

One thing I have been trying to do in my advocacy is explain to people in Iraq with whom I interact, [that] terrorist groups in the case of ISIS and others specifically focus on women to destroy communities because they know women are an essential part of their fabric.

Terrorist groups use rape as a way to destroy women because they know that this can stay with women. They know that the stigma and the shame in many communities follow a woman after sexual slavery and rape. This is exactly what ISIS did. It was not an accident. This was a systematic plan. ISIS intentionally wanted women to have children born of rape when they bought and sold them in sexual slavery. Because they knew for a small community like the Yazidis it would be difficult for the community to recover.

For my family these days, when I see my sisters-in-law after what they have been through, nothing is the same for us.. When we talk there is nothing for us to talk about as a normal family anymore. We look at each other, I know they dont want to talk about their stories of course, some of them never have. But I know when I look into their eyes there is so much they want to talk about but they dont.

AJ: For victims, for example in your home community, are there people working with the children of rape, or with those families to try and help them through in a therapeutic way?

NM: Yes, there are initiatives and groups that are helping. But there is no coordinated effort to try and find a holistic solution and focus on helping the women and children not divert the focus to other things.

AJ: So much comes down just to the rights of a woman or a child. And of course, when there is no accountability for the crime committed against you, it is a big thing to ask that victim to move forward. Its grossly unfair, its impossible. I have so much admiration for all the women like you who have somehowwith so much graceheld together and continued to do this work, in the absence of justice. I cannot imagine how hard it must be when you and your sisters-in-law and family members come together and sit with the reality of this.

NM: This is exactly it. Many times when my sisters and sisters-in-law talk to me they say, Why do you keep doing this? They know after what happened to them and to me and to our family, and they see that it comes with so many difficulties to speak up about what happened to you, especially coming from that region. It comes with shame and stigma and attacks and so forth. But someone has to say what happened to us. I know its the right thing to do because I know I will not be the last one to face this type of violence. So thats why I have to. I know its going to take a long time but I know its the right thing to do.

AJ: I think youre very brave, and your work is so significant, and you will continue to save other women and children. I know you have wonderful brothers who stood up for you, and I know my sons are like that in my life. So many amazing men and boys around the world are fighting against those men who commit those crimes, like your wonderful husband.

NM: Im going to say a few things about my husband and my brothers because I feel I need to. When I told my brothers, the ones that survived the mass graves in the camps, because 60 Minutes wanted to interview us together, the guy told me that if you do this interview the whole world will see you and listen to your story. I tried to convince my brothers and they were like You know we love you. We dont want you to face stigma and shame. But they supported me in the end and they came with me all the way from the camps to Irbil and they did the interview and they were proud.

And after I was doing this work, I knew I needed someone to support me, not just to work with me as a survivor but to love me, to respect me. When someone comes and asks me where and when were ISIS raping you, to tell them that this question should not be asked, she is a human, she is a survivor not a victim anymore. I found that in Abid, my husband. He listened to me. I dont think I could have done it without him. I hope that men in Iraq can look at Abid and see that he is supporting me and supporting this work and he is so passionate about what happened to women and girls, and not only Yazidis. I think we need more men and there are so many good men in the world who can support us.

When I founded Nadias Initiative, I just wanted to focus on documenting what happened to us and especially survivors stories and what ISIS did. I didnt want to be the one to rebuild the region because it was not my responsibility as a survivor. But after surviving and living in that displacement camp I learnt much more. I knew that being raped was one thing but living in a displacement camp is another whole experience, especially for women and girls. Everything I am doing for Nadias Initiative came from my experience, from witnessing everything in the displacement camp, in captivity back home and even before ISIS came. It takes time to do projects to document the evidence, but even with challenges we can use them to prevent what happened to us from happening to others.
A 92-year-old man in Tennessee was shot and killed by his son after he threatened his caretaker with a knife, according to the district attorney for Morgan County.

The son, a Texas resident, was visiting his father near Lancing, Tennessee  about 140 miles east of Nashville. The father began arguing with his caretaker and saying he wanted to fire her before picking up a long knife, according to a release posted on the district attorneys Facebook page.

The mans son asked his father to stop threatening the woman and warned him multiple times that he had a gun, the release says.

The father was moving toward the direction of the caretaker with the knife in his hand and refused to stop despite his sons warnings, the release says.

The son shot his father twice with a 380-caliber handgun, striking the man in the leg and around his stomach, according to the district attorney.

The man was pronounced dead later at a hospital, according to the release.

The caretaker recorded cellphone video after the man was shot that shows him holding the knife and continuing to argue from the chair where he fell, the release says.

All statements and the evidence at the scene at this time indicate the son shot his father in defense of the caretaker who was in danger of serious bodily injury or even death, the release says.

Officials will perform an autopsy and continue to investigate, according to the district attorney.

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South Korea will lift almost all social distancing measures, the government said Friday, citing a dramatic fall in reported cases of Covid-19 after an Omicron-fuelled surge, but the mask mandate will remain.

South Koreans will be required to wear masks indoors "for a considerable time ahead," authorities said, adding that they may lift the requirement to mask outdoors in two weeks' time, if cases continue to fall.

"The midnight business curfew and a 10-person cap on the size of gatherings will be lifted starting Monday," said Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum.

The decision marks the end of two years of strict distancing requirements, which have put huge strain on small businesses, and indicates South Korea is returning to normality.

Restrictions on eating inside facilities such as cinemas will also be lifted from April 25.

But requiring the public to wear masks indoors was "inevitable for a considerable time ahead," to prevent another outbreak, Kim added.

Officials will reassess whether to lift the outdoor mask requirement in two weeks, he added.

Much evidence suggests the risk of transmission outdoors is extremely low, and many countries, including the United States, have said masks aren't needed outdoors for vaccinated people.

The move comes after South Korea appears to have passed the peak of an Omicron-driven outbreak, with daily cases falling to below 100,000 last week, down from a peak of over 620,000 in mid-March.

More than 86 percent of the South Korean population of 51 million has been fully vaccinated, with the majority also receiving a booster shot.

South Korea is rolling out second boosters to vulnerable populations.

Around 20,000 people in South Korea have died from the coronavirus -- a 0.13 percent fatality rate, which is one of the world's lowest.

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KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan gestured in comments on Friday towards steps to ease tensions in the country six months after a military coup.

"We are embarking on a difficult period and we must all present concessions for the sake of our country," he said, noting the deteriorating economic and security situation in the country in comments at a Ramadan gathering.

"We are prepared to put forward what we can to create the atmosphere for a dialogue that leads to solutions," he added.

He, along with other military leaders, staged a coup on October 25, ending a two-year power-sharing arrangement with a civilian political coalition following the ouster of Omar al-Bashir.

Since then, at least 94 people have been killed in security crackdowns on protests and dozens have been arrested.

Burhan said that while there were no "political detainees," he met with the public prosecutor and the head of the judiciary to discuss expediting the release of detainees, among whom are key civilian political leaders.

He also said they discussed the possibility of reducing the current the state of emergency.

Such steps have been often requested by the international community as trust-building measures.

Burhan said these steps came in the context of concessions made by some political groups towards coming to an agreement.

Reuters earlier this month reported that a deal was under consideration, presented by parties aligned with the military, to form a new government.

Burhan had previously said that the military would only hand over power to an elected government. In Friday's comments, he once again called for political parties to come to a consensus.

In his comments, Burhan said that, unlike in the past, no one group should be in control of the political scene. In comments before and after the coup, military leaders accused the civilian coalition of monopolizing power.

Burhan also said that court orders that led to the return of scores of civil servants associated with the Bashir regime would be reviewed.

(Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz, writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
"Didn't we already get an 'Unbroken' movie?" you might ask, about "Unbroken: Path to Redemption." Is it even possible to have a sequel to a biopic? Faith-based film production company PureFlix thinks so. "Unbroken: Path to Redemption" serves as a bit of a coda to Angelina Jolie 's 2014 film about the amazing World War II survival story of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini, a minor corrective.

Both films take Laura Hillenbrand's biography as inspiration and adaptation material, but "Path to Redemption" picks up where Jolie's film faded into text. All the truly dramatic events from Zamperini's life like the 1936 Berlin Olympics, being shot down in the Pacific and surviving on a raft for 47 days, his time in a Japanese prisoner of war camp and being declared dead  all that is shoehorned into an opening credit sequence depicted in newspaper clippings. For "Path to Redemption," the action starts back home, after the near-death experiences and hero's welcome.

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Written by Richard Friedberg and Ken Hixon, directed by PureFlix journeyman Harold Cronk, "Unbroken: Path to Redemption" is a story about PTSD and the difficulties of normal life after surviving events that are very much not normal. The highs and lows go away, and plopped back in suburban Torrance, Calif., war hero Louis (Samuel Hunt) finds himself at loose ends and at the bottom of the bottle, the only way he knows how to cope with the terrifying flashbacks he endures of his crash, the raft, the prison camp and the Japanese guard that tormented him, "Bird" Watanabe (David Sakurai).

There's not all too much story to fill in the gaps left untold by Jolie's film, but "Path to Redemption" zeroes in on Louis' struggles to adapt back to life, even after getting married to his wife, Cynthia (Merritt Patterson), and having a daughter. It's an endless cycle of nightmares, drinking and career failures until Louis inches closer to rock bottom. It's not until his wife convinces him to attend a tent revival hosted by Billy Graham (played by Graham grandson and preacher Will Graham) does Louis see another way out.

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The journey from rock bottom to seeing the light is one we've seen before, and "Path to Redemption" doesn't break the mold, relying on melodrama and stereotypes to get us where we're going. The hardest thing for Louis to do is let his guard down, let go of his ego and ask for help in a humble way. It could be Jesus Christ or anything spiritual that happens to show up on the day you're ready to let it all go. It just happened to be Billy Graham for Louis.

But with all the focus on the bottom, "Path to Redemption" misses a lot of the good stuff at the top. The film is bookended with a trip back to Japan in 1950, photographed by Time magazine, where Louis demonstrates the power of forgiveness, a tenant of his faith.

Hunt gives it as all as the tortured Louis, but Patterson is the heart and soul of the film, giving a far more interesting performance as his long-suffering wife. While "Unbroken: Path to Redemption" provides some of the best production value for a PureFlix film to date, its focus on one moment in a life of incredible moments makes it feel unnecessarily prolonged, and a fussy correction to a film about Zamperini that already exists.

"Unbroken"  2 stars

MPAA rating: PG-13 (for thematic content and related disturbing images)

Running time: 1:38

Opens: Friday
Eyes glued to her two screens, Romanian Olivia Vereha works tirelessly to make sure an essential website for Ukrainian refugees runs smoothly.

Vereha, 34, is a co-founder of non-profit organisation Code4Romania that launched a platform called "dopomoha", the Ukrainian word for "help".

"The pressure is enormous, because things can change from one hour to another," especially when the flow of refugees increases suddenly, said Vereha, who is also chief operations officer.

Just 48 hours after Russia's invasion in February, the Romanian IT experts set up the website with a wealth of contacts and information aimed at helping those fleeing Ukraine to neighbouring Romania.

To date, nearly one million people have used dopomoha.ro, making it an indispensable tool for Ukrainians who suddenly find themselves in a country where they don't know the language, places or laws.

The website provides answers in four languages -- Ukrainian, Russian, English and Romanian.

More than 700,000 Ukrainians have entered Romania so far, of whom around 80,000 have remained. In total, more than 4.7 million have fled Ukraine since the invasion began, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.

- Verified information -

Co-founder Bodgan Ivanel said Code4Romania's 15 employees and some 500 volunteers from across the world, who work with the group, laboured "tirelessly" for two days to set up dopomoha.ro.

"Everybody these days should learn this word" dopomoha, the 34-year-old told AFP from the headquarters in Bucharest.

Partnering with the UNHCR and the Romanian government, the site also has information on the risks of human trafficking with women and children making up the overwhelming majority of refugees.

"99.99 percent of people who want to help are doing so in good faith. But when you get into the car of a stranger, it is important to be able to recognise the signs indicating that you are dealing with a possible trafficker," UNHCR Bucharest spokeswoman, Gabriela Leu, told AFP.

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Leu said she welcomed the platform's "reliability". Code4Romania also works with the authorities to keep track of those transporting or accommodating refugees.

Victoria Molodih, a 45-year-old volunteer at Bucharest's main train station welcoming refugees, said she has used the platform to help Ukrainian families find accommodation and navigate paperwork.

"We have posters with it all over the station," she said.

- Digitise Romania -

In its six years of operation, Code4Romania has a solid track record, working with the government to register voters and transmit election results in 2016 and to inform the public during the coronavirus pandemic.

The NGO aims to solve social problems with the help of technology in Romania where, despite being named Eastern Europe's Silicon Valley, digital services lag behind.

On the eve of the Russian invasion, the team was preparing to launch a case management system for organisations working with victims of domestic violence, a scourge that rages under the authorities' indifferent gaze.

The project has been put on hold -- alongside another intended to allow better civil society coordination -- for the team to focus on dopomoha.ro.

Code4Romania is one of a number of initiatives launched in recent years to try to fix problems they say the state fails to address, with some NGOs even building critical infrastructure like roads and hospitals themselves.

Ivanel, who had lived abroad for 11 years, was in the Netherlands with three friends when he decided it was time to try to find "digital solutions" to create "a better, more functional Romania".

The turning point for him was a devastating 2015 Bucharest nightclub fire that killed 64 people and injured hundreds, triggering massive street protests against Romania's lax enforcement of safety standards.

While Code4Romania has set itself the task of "digitising Romania because of the state's inability to carry out this operation," Ivanel remained hopeful about the younger generation, who work alongside him.

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By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) - A Ukrainian and a Russian woman took part in Pope Francis' Good Friday "Way of the Cross" service, but the meditation they wrote was scrapped after Ukrainians protested, saying the war made it inopportune.

The traditional Via Crucis procession at Rome's Colosseum had become embroiled in controversy earlier this week when the programme showed that the two friends, a nurse and a student nurse at a Rome hospital, would take part.

The candlelight service consists of the 14 Stations of the Cross, stages between the condemnation of Jesus to death and his burial. It is often customised so that those who carry the cross from one station to the next reflect world events.

Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of Ukraine's Byzantine-rite Catholic Church, called their inclusion inopportune and ambiguous because it did not "take into account the context of Russia's military aggression against Ukraine".

The original text of the meditation the two women had written spoke of death, loss of values, rage, resignation, and reconciliation despite bombings.

Shevchuk said the text, which had been approved by the Vatican, was "incoherent and even offensive, especially in the context of the expected second, even bloodier attack of Russian troops on our cities and villages".

Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, Andrii Yurash, also expressed his unease.

On Friday night, the original text of some 200 words was replaced with two sentences: "Faced with death, silence is the most eloquent of words. Let us all paused in silent prayer and each one pray in their hearts for peace in the world".

The crowd of several thousands people then fell silent for about as long as it would have taken to read the original, longer meditation.

Francis sat and watched the procession sitting on white chair.

In his own final prayer, he asked God to allow "adversaries to shake hands so they can taste mutual forgiveness, to disarm the hand raised by a brother against a brother, so that concord can spring from where there is now hate."

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Since the war began, Francis has only mentioned Russia explicitly in prayers, such as during a special global event for peace on March 25. But he has made clear his opposition to Russia's actions, using the words invasion, aggression and atrocities.

Moscow calls it actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" designed not to occupy territory but to demilitarise and "denazify" the country. Francis has implicitly rejected this definition.

The War in Ukraine is expected to continue to cast a shadow over the pope's remaining Holy Week activities.

On Saturday evening Francis will lead an Easter Vigil Mass in the basilica.

On Easter Sunday, the most important day in the Christian liturgical calendar, he will say Mass in St. Peter's Square and then deliver his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) message and blessing.

(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore."

"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" revealed that Dumbledore and Grindelwald can't fight each other.

The latest film, "The Secrets of Dumbledore," explains how their 1945 duel is eventually possible.

The "Fantastic Beasts" series, despite being named for a magizoology book written by franchise lead Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), deals primarily with the rise of Gellert Grindelwald, prior to his defeat at the hands of Albus Dumbledore in 1945.

The latest film has delved further into Dumbledore and Grindelwald than any other book or film in the "Harry Potter" franchise. The two rivals, and former lovers, are at odds in history, but the first two "Fantastic Beasts" films have made it impossible for them to fight each other just yet.

"Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" finally reveals how it's possible for Dumbledore and Grindelwald to have their giant showdown that ultimately ends in Grindelwald's imprisonment.

Warning: Major spoilers for "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore" ahead.

Fantastic Beasts 3 Dumbledore

Jude Law as Albus Dumbledore in "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore."Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Dumbledore and Grindelwald took a blood oath to not fight each other

"Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," the second film in the series, reveals that as teenagers Dumbledore and Grindelwald undertook a blood pact that wouldn't allow them to move against each other. It was the biggest obstacle in the way of the duel between the two that we know, from past "Potter" lore, to eventually occur in 1945.

At the end of the second film, Newt delivers the pendant containing Dumbledore's and Grindelwald's drops of blood to Dumbledore, correctly guessing that it's a blood pact. Dumbledore says that he may be able to destroy it, but it's unclear.

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Dumbledore struggles with the blood pact throughout 'The Secrets of Dumbledore'

The consequences of violating the blood pact were unclear in the second film. However, in an exchange at the Hog's Head, Aberforth Dumbledore's pub, at the beginning of "The Secrets of Dumbledore," Albus briefly demonstrates for Newt and Theseus what would happen if he attempted to move against Grindelwald.

The chain attached to the pendant begins to constrict around his skin, and the pendant itself becomes agitated.

Dumbledore warns that there could be consequences even if the pact sensed a betrayal in his heart.

The pact eventually breaks in a recreation of an old three-way duel

In Bhutan, Grindelwald moves to attack Credence (who's really Aurelius, Aberforth's son) after he betrays the dark wizard, revealing to those present that the qilin that chose Grindelwald was in fact a charmed corpse. Aberforth and Albus both move to protect Credence/Aurelius, effectively recreating the long-ago duel that left Albus and Aberforth's sister Ariana dead.

Somehow, this three-way conflict breaks the blood pact. Even Albus isn't certain why, but it could have something to do with Grindelwald's desire to harm Credence conflicting with Albus' desire to protect him.

With the pact broken, Grindelwald and Albus engage in a brief duel that appears to take place in a separate, isolated dimension. It ends in a stalemate, and Grindelwald escapes consequences once again and flees Bhutan.

The pact being broken finally means the door is open for Dumbledore to eventually defeat Grindelwald in 1945. In his obituary for The Daily Prophet, which appears in the second chapter of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," Dumbledore's friend Elphias Doge wrote that "no Wizarding duel ever matched that between Dumbledore and Grindelwald in 1945."



If the franchise continues, perhaps that duel is something we'll see in a future "Fantastic Beasts" film.

Read the original article on Insider
Jude Law plays Albus Dumbledore in "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore." Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.

J.K. Rowling first announced in 2007 that Albus Dumbledore was gay.

For years, his sexuality was never depicted in any canon books or films in the franchise.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore."

In 2007, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling made a remark that would echo in the franchise's fandom for years to come. Speaking at Carnegie Hall that year, she said that she had "always thought of Dumbledore as gay"  and that the relationship between him and his teenage friend Gellert Grindelwald had been romantic.

Since then, Dumbledore's sexuality has only explicitly existed outside of any of the franchise's main properties, and Rowling's words had never been confirmed on screen. She hinted in 2016 that the character's queerness would play a role in the "Fantastic Beasts" films, telling reporters to "watch this space," Time Magazine reported at the time.

Almost fifteen years after Rowling first confirmed Dumbledore's sexuality, it's finally made it to the big screen.

Warning: Major spoilers ahead for "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore."

Jude Law plays Albus Dumbledore in "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore." Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

'The Secrets of Dumbledore' opens with Dumbledore and Grindelwald rehashing their history

"The Secrets of Dumbledore" doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to establishing the relationship that the two men had with each other.

In the very first sequence of the film, Dumbledore (Jude Law) and Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen, taking over the role from Johnny Depp) speak over tea. While their exchange starts cordial, it later turns terse. Eventually, Dumbledore tells Grindelwald that he went along with his plans "because I was in love with you."

It's the first explicit confirmation in any "Harry Potter" film, or canon material for that material, of Dumbledore's love for Grindelwald, and by extension his sexuality.

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The pair's romantic past crops up throughout the course of "The Secrets of Dumbledore," and at one point Dumbledore describes his time together with Grindelwald as "the summer Gellert and I fell in love." After they clash at the end of the film, Grindelwald asks, "Who will love you now, Dumbledore?"

Dumbledore and Grindelwald in "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore." Warner Bros.

Throughout the film, there's an obvious layer of tension between the two that wasn't quite as evident in other films. As Insider's Kirsten Acuna wrote in her review of "The Secrets of Dumbledore," Mikkelsen's performance truly sells their romantic past, as well as Grindelwald as a charismatic leader.

While their romantic relationship doesn't progress farther than those pained one-liners in the movie  they don't kiss, but they're far from together in this film  the extra layer of shared history, and nuance, makes the relationship between the two men that much more compelling.

Dumbledore's sexuality has long been controversial, mostly because it was never depicted on screen or in the books

As Insider previously reported, Rowling has historically had a habit of dropping new lore about the "Harry Potter" universe and its characters outside of books and films. Dumbledore's sexuality is one such detail, as is the fact that, as the author tweeted in 2014, Ravenclaw Anthony Goldstein is Jewish.

Rowling has dropped pieces of information about Grindelwald and Dumbledore's relationship since first revealing it in 2007, such as in 2019 when she said that the two had an "incredibly intense" relationship that also included a sexual aspect.

Fantastic Beasts 3 Grindelwald, Mads Mikkelsen

Mads Mikkelsen as Gellert Grindelwald in "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore."Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

As the years have gone on, people have increasingly criticized her for dropping trivia about the queer relationship, as opposed to information about it appearing in any of the series' books or movies. Queer fans of "Harry Potter" told Insider in 2018 they were disappointed that Dumbledore's sexuality wouldn't be explicitly depicted in the second "Fantastic Beasts" film, with one fan telling Insider that the decision insinuated that Dumbledore could "be gay in Rowling's public appearance and tweets, but not on screen."

That tension between Rowling's words and what's been depicted on-screen has only increased as Rowling has repeatedly made transphobic remarks over the past several years. In addition to affecting the author's legacy, Rowling's persistent transphobia has also colored how people view her work, and the representation  or until "The Secrets of Dumbledore," lack thereof  of LGBTQ people in the franchise.

Lines referencing Dumbledore and Grindelwald's prior relationship were cut in the Chinese release of the film

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. agreed to remove six seconds of dialogue that reference the pair's romantic past from the film for its release in China. The lines "I was in love with you" and "the summer Gellert and I fell in love" were cut from the film.

"As a studio, we're committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors," a Warner Bros. spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter.

"In the case of 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, a six-second cut was requested and Warner Bros. accepted those changes to comply with local requirements but the spirit of the film remains intact," the statement continued.

Read the original article on Insider
(Reuters) - Donald Trump on Friday endorsed author J.D. Vance in the Republican Senate primary in Ohio amid a crowded race marked by negativity as many candidates have tried to ally themselves with the former president.

The winner of the May 3 primary will represent the party in the Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress, where the Republicans are expected to make gains off President Joe Biden's Democrats.

"Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not so great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades," Trump said in a statement.

Rivals in the contest include former state Treasurer Josh Mandel, former state Republican Chair Jane Timken, financier Mike Gibbons and state lawmaker Matt Dolan.

The winner will likely face U.S. Representative Tim Ryan, who is expected to win the Democratic nomination.

While some candidates actively seek Trump's endorsements to tap into his base, they are sometimes designed to seek revenge on Republicans who failed to support him previously and have not always made the handpicked candidate the favorite.

Vance is a Yale-educated lawyer and venture capitalist who published the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" in 2016. Initially a Trump critic, Vance visited Trump's Florida resort last year to meet with the former president, who won Ohio by eight percentage points in both the 2016 and 2020 elections.

A recent move to endorse celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania divided local party officials and stunned close advisers, two sources familiar with the internal deliberations told Reuters.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
A pair of Republican lawmakers traveled to Kyiv on Thursday, making them the first U.S. officials known to have visited Ukraine since Russia invaded in late February.

Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, who shared photos of the trip, and Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana visited the Kyiv suburbs and mass graves in nearby Bucha. Daines said the world needed to see what Russian President Vladimir Putin had done.

There is indisputable evidence of Putins war crimes everywherethe images of shallow mass graves filled with civilians, women and children are heart wrenching, Daines said in a statement. America and the world need to know about Putins atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up.

The bodies of 410 civilians were removed from Bucha and other suburbs in the aftermath of Russias destruction, Ukraines prosecutor-general, Iryna Venediktova, said this month.

President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Russian atrocities in Ukraine amounted to genocide, the first time he has leveled the accusation against Putin.

Video: Ukraine claims responsibility after Russian warship sinks

Daines said he was invited to meet with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv and Bucha after he met with leaders in NATO countries bordering Ukraine. Late last month, he joined a bipartisan congressional delegation that visited Poland and Germany.

Spartz, the first Ukrainian-born member of Congress, recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Biden administration to redeploy U.S. diplomats to Lviv to help with coordination in Ukraine.

We must be engaged to stop this atrocity and bring back peace and order to the European content, she wrote.

State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters at a briefing Thursday that the agency is "constantly evaluating and re-evaluating the safety and the security situation," saying the goal is to re-establish a U.S. diplomatic presence as soon as it is "safe and practical" to do so.

He argued that the lack of U.S. diplomatic presence on the ground "has in no way hampered our ability to coordinate and to consult with our Ukrainian partners."
On Friday, April 8, agents assigned to the El Paso Station Anti-Smuggling Unit along with the El Paso Sector Integrated Targeting Team and the Texas Department of Public Safety were notified of a possible stash house near Ascarate Park.

EL PASO - U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered two stash houses, disrupted five vehicle smuggling schemes, and encountered two individuals with criminal records the past five days.

On Friday, April 8, agents assigned to the El Paso Station Anti-Smuggling Unit along with the El Paso Sector Integrated Targeting Team and the Texas Department of Public Safety were notified of a possible stash house near Ascarate Park. Agents arrived and located over 50 adult migrants and two unaccompanied children harbored in unsanitary living conditions inside the complex. The migrants were from Mexico and El Salvador.

One of the four vehicle smuggling schemes disrupted during the weekend happened in Santa Teresa, according to a Border Patrol news release, when Agents encountered a gray Jeep with 12 people crammed inside. Information gathered during questioning revealed that the migrants were smuggled from Mexico, Brazil and Guatemala. The driver and one of the passengers will face prosecution under 8 USC 1324 Conspiracy to Transport, the release stated.

During the same time on Saturday, Border Patrol agents from the Deming Station encountered an individual that had illegally crossed the border near Hachita. Record checks indicated that the individual from Mexico had a previous criminal record for Possession with Intent to Distribute a Controlled Substance. The individual was transported to the Hidalgo County Detention Center pending prosecution for 8 USC 1326 illegal re-entry.

Later that evening, Border Patrol Agents assigned to the Clint Station apprehended an individual who was previously convicted of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault. The individual illegally crossed the international border east of Tornillo International Port of Entry and will face prosecutions under 8 USC 1326 illegal re-entry.

On Monday, April 11, Border Patrol agents from the Deming Station encountered multiple suspicious vehicles driving in tandem on Interstate 10. Upon inspection of the vehicles, 26 migrants and one unaccompanied child were located. The migrants from Mexico and Honduras were "crammed inside these small vehicles" and were attempting to be smuggled further into the U.S., according to the release. This failed smuggling scheme led to the apprehension of five principals that will face prosecution under 8 USC 1324 Conspiracy to Transport.

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On Tuesday, April 12, Santa Teresa Station Anti-Smuggling Unit along with the El Paso Sector Integrated Targeting Team and Homeland Security Investigations Team disrupted a smuggling scheme that led to the rescue of 23 migrants, the release stated. Agents witnessed six individuals board the trunk of a vehicle outside a house in Sunland Park. Agents also received consent to enter the property where they found 17 additional migrants. The migrants from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala were found in good health and were transported to the station to be processed accordingly.

Those subjects amendable to Title 42 were expelled back to Mexico and others were transported to the Central Processing Center to be processed accordingly under Title 8.

These events highlight our commitment to protect our community against the illicit actions of the transnational criminal organizations, said El Paso Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gloria I. Chavez in the written release. I am proud of the incredible work that our agents do every day as they continue to detect, identify and classify illegal entries, not only of those persons attempting to enter the country illegally, but targeting criminal organizations facilitating this type of illicit activity that disregards our nations laws.

Citizens are encouraged to report suspicious activity to the U.S. Border Patrol while remaining anonymous by calling 1-800-635-2509. Please visit www.cbp.gov to view additional news releases and other information pertaining to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Others are reading:

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: U.S. Border Patrol El Paso Sector experiences busy days
(Reuters) - Ukraine has agreed to receive 13 billion yen in financial support from the Japanese government and also signed an agreement for 500 million Canadian dollars in support from Canada, Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Friday.

"These are funds to finance our primary needs .... We are negotiating assistance at all levels with everyone who can help," he said in a televised video address.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
Russian missile cruiser Moskva is moored in the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Ukraine May 10, 2013. Reuters/Stringer/File photo

Ukrainian forces sank the Russian warship Moskva with at least 1 Neptune missile, the US confirmed Friday.

Both Ukraine and Russia on Thursday said the ship was damaged after ammunition detonated onboard.

The attack is a significant blow to Russian morale amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The US on Friday confirmed that Ukrainian forces sank the Russian warship Moskva with at least one Neptune missile on Thursday, according to media reports.

The confirmation from a US defense official comes after both Russia and Ukraine said Thursday that the ship was damaged after ammunition detonated on board, but the two countries offered different explanations for what went wrong.

Russian officials claimed that the ammunition exploded due to a fire on board and said the crew had been evacuated.

Ukrainian officials, however, said its border guards had struck the vessel with Neptune anti-ship missiles, causing "serious damage" to the vessel.

The Pentagon's assessment was based on recent intelligence and released on Friday. It aligns with Ukraine's version of events. The unnamed defense official told media outlets that there were likely casualties.

According to The Washington Post, the Pentagon observed some Russian sailors evacuating the burning ship in lifeboats. The ship later sunk in the Black Sea south of Odesa as it was being towed to Crimea for repairs, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The attack is a significant blow to Russian morale amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. The warship was a key factor in Russia's naval strategy in the Black Sea and had a crew of about 500 sailors, The Journal reported. The Pentagon official told The Post that Russia will not be able to replace the loss.

Russian ships have been firing at Ukrainian cities from the Black Sea since Russian forces first invaded in late February. Russia has two other similar ships, the defense official told The Post, but neither is based in the Black Sea. Russian warships will be unable to shell Ukraine-held areas or participate in any amphibious assault near Odessa without risking being struck by more Ukrainian Neptune missiles.

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The Moskva made headlines in February after an apparent audio exchange between the vessel and Ukrainian island border guards on Zmiinyi (Snake) Island went viral. When Russian troops told the fleet to surrender, the Ukrainian guards could be heard saying: "Go fuck yourselves."

Following the reported sinking on Thursday, Ukrainian officials began trolling the downed Moskva, referring to it as part of Russia's "submarine fleet," and a "worthy diving site."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk seen in handcuffs while being detained by security forces in an unknown location in Ukraine. Press service of State Security Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters

Putin ally Viktor Medvedchuk was captured by Ukrainian forces on Tuesday.

Medvedchuk was charged with treason and put on house arrest when he escaped in February.

Ukrainian officials said they seized 154 of his assets, including houses, apartments, and land.

Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday they seized assets belonging to Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician and Kremlin ally who was arrested earlier this week.

Medvedchuk was captured by Ukraine's security services while trying to flee the country after escaping house arrest in February. Medvedchuk, who leads a pro-Russian opposition party, was charged with treason last year.

The Ukrainian politician is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk's youngest daughter.

Medvedchuk was also thought to be Putin's top choice for replacing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a pro-Russia puppet leader if Russian forces had taken Kyiv. Ukraine even offered Russia Medvedchuk in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners  a proposal the Kremlin declined.

Ukrainian authorities said Thursday that they had seized 154 assets belonging to Medvedchuk, including 23 houses, 32 apartments, 30 plots of land, 26 cars, and one yacht, The Washington Post reported.

Medvedchuk was one of the richest people in Ukraine and worth an estimated $620 million, Forbes Ukraine reported last year. He owned three Ukrainian TV stations that were blocked in 2021 when Zelenskyy said they were spreading Russian propaganda and moved to freeze his assets.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian media reported a $200 million dollar yacht belonging to Medvedchuk was seized by government officials after having been docked in Croatia.

Ukrainian activists said last month they visited the mansion where Medvedchuk was on house arrest after he had escaped and that it featured a 19th-century railway dining car that included a gold-gilded toilet.

Read the original article on Business Insider
NEW YORK  David Mamet  the confounding, outspoken playwright that artistic progressives are dying to cancel  wrote American Buffalo in 1975 when he was just 27 years old.

Now, 46 years later, that same play is being revived, for the third time on Broadway, with a starry, accomplished and all-in cast made up of Sam Rockwell, Laurence Fishburne and Darren Criss, working under the energized direction of Neil Pepe.

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The script is a work of genius, of course, and a much-misunderstood masterpiece. And this revival  although lively and highly entertaining and far better cast than the 2008 attempt  doesnt delve so deep into the real emotional core of the drama. Pity. It has the horses to do so.

When he wrote this three-hander in a crumby hotel, Mamet had just returned to his hometown of Chicago after hanging around an East Coast college. By his own admission, he was lacking friends, skills and money. But Mamet would walk by the antique, or junk, stores on Chicagos North Side and he hatched the idea for a caper play about a kid named Bobby who hangs around such shady emporia and who finds himself caught up in a small-bore scheme hatched by characters named Teach and Donny to rob a rich Chicagoan out of his valuable Buffalo nickel. Hence the deceptively simple title.

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The plays three characters roar at each other in sparse patriarchal metaphor, demanding verbal submission and claiming victory, even though nothing they are actually saying or doing or achieving matters a jot in the grand scheme of things. These are small-time hustlers, masters of a universe of nothing.

Darren Criss and Laurence Fishburne star in David Mamet's "American Buffalo" on Broadway in New York. (RICHARD TERMINE/Richard Termine)

Male actors often love American Buffalo for its spectacular monologues (masterpieces of profane concision), and its singular display of pyrotechnic verbosity. And thats very much on display in Pepes production: A big-haired Rockwell roars onto the stage, every inch the 1970s hero in his own head only, and lets fly in every direction at Circle in the Square. The contrast with Fishburne, a rooted and physically imposing actor who locks eyes with Rockwell and cues up his unhinged verbal outbursts like a stationmaster dispatching trains, is rich indeed. Criss Bobby is like a caboose with whiplash, never knowing on which track to run.

Thats all cool to watch play out on Scott Pasks deliciously cluttered setting, especially as Pepe knows when to keep audiences in the dark. But what we dont really see here is the battle for Bobbys soul, the war of potential father figures influencing an unmoored kid, maybe a metaphor for American or whatever, but most clearly an encapsulation of the playwright himself.

Rockwell is terrifically flamboyant but could do to be more dangerous, just as Criss needs to show more of the price his Bobbys soul pays for hanging around with these two nefarious characters. If the play is to be more than edgy fun, it has to probe issues of parenting. And, of course, it also has to wrestle with another crucial Mamet theme: How American capitalism screws over those cut out of the elite, forcing them to emulate its competitiveness without any hope of real achievement. All they can do is damage. Both to themselves and to their young. The show hits some of those notes, but never digs far enough into the consequence of there being no consequence for anything.

Todays talk-show Mamet, of course, says stuff far removed from what this play is about, which is what his many detractors find so confounding. So be it. He is a writer who probed the American psyche and changed the course of 20th century American theater. He then changed himself. People do. It does not invalidate their work.

The best productions of Mamet always probe the vulnerability that this great American writer hid so carefully from casual glances, never more so than in this particularly brilliant script.

Audiences will have fun here, as they usually do with this play. We await, though, a more revealing revival.

Now at Circle in the Square Theatre, 1633 Broadway, New York; americanbuffalonyc.com

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Chris Jones is a Tribune critic.

cjones5@chicagotribune.com
(Reuters) - The United States is deeply concerned by violence in Jerusalem, where at least 152 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli riot police, the State Department said on Friday.

"We call on all sides to exercise restraint, avoid provocative actions and rhetoric, and preserve the historic status quo on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount," spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; Editing by Sandra Maler)
A U.S. official told Fox News on Friday that the latest assessment by the U.S. is that Russia's Moskva warship was struck by two Ukrainian missiles before it sank.

The U.S. believes the flagship of Russia's Black Sea navy was roughly 60 nautical miles south of Odesa at the time of the explosion.

Moscow has claimed the ship sank after a fire on board caused an explosion.

Russia's guided missile cruiser Moskva sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey, June 18, 2021. Reuters/Yoruk Isik

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES

"During the towing of the cruiser Moskva to the port of destination, the ship lost its stability due to hull damage received during a fire from the detonation of ammunition. In the conditions of stormy seas, the ship sank," Russias Ministry of Defense told state media.

U.S. officials also said Friday it is unclear how many Russian sailors may have been killed in the attack due to lack of satellite imagery.

The officials said it is believed that two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles were used in the operation.

U.S. officials cannot confirm where the ship eventually sank in the Black Sea, but it was headed east toward the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.

Fox News' Mark Meredith and Liz Friden contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The U.S. and India have agreed to engage in new talks about artificial intelligence and its use in matters of national security, an outgrowth of the nations deepening relationship at a time of sharpened Indo-Pacific focus.

News of the inaugural Defense Artificial Intelligence Dialogue came after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with their Indian counterparts, Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh and Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar, April 11.

Both the Defense and State departments acknowledged the topic in their accounts of the international get-together.

The United States and India signed a Space Situational Awareness arrangement, which lays the groundwork for more advanced cooperation in space, the Pentagon said in a readout. They also agreed to launch an inaugural Defense Artificial Intelligence Dialogue, while expanding joint cyber training and exercises.

Jack Shanahan, the first director of the Pentagons Joint Artificial Intelligence Center, described the prospective talks as a very significant event, one that is a logical extension of the flagship U.S.-India Artificial Intelligence initiative, or USIAI, launched around this time last year.

Its clear India has got an interest in bringing AI into national security, the retired Air Force lieutenant general told C4ISRNET April 14. So, this is a good chance for the two defense departments to work together.

On April 12, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Austin had the chance this week to speak with Singh about working with them on AI and other advanced technologies, like 5G.

All that was part of it, Kirby said. Ill leave it to you to decide whether those are breakthroughs or not. But, clearly what we saw yesterday was more concrete examples of the ways were going to continue to work with India to strengthen this defense partnership.

Few additional details were immediately available.

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It seems to me what youre going to see is an agreement just to, sort of, move forward and talk about potential projects that they can work on together, Shanahan said. And what I would expect is that it will not involve war-fighting operations, at least not initially.

The Defense Department has for years recognized artificial intelligence as a crucial technology, one that can accelerate decision making, enhance data consumption and, more broadly, offer a leg up on the battlefield. As of April 2021, the department was juggling at least 685 artificial intelligence projects, including more than a dozen for major weapons systems.

The US Navy had cybersecurity wrong. Expect change.

For decades the Indian community has helped shape artificial intelligence research and development in the U.S., according to Cleo Paskal, a non-resident senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

At that level, there has been an enormous amount of collaboration and trust building and cross fertilization, if you put it that way, informally, she told C4ISRNET April 14. The new dialogue, she suggested, brings things to a higher echelon.

If you look at the leadership in some of the biggest tech companies in the U.S., youll see a lot of people who grew up and did their training in India and then flourished in the U.S. in the sector, Paskal said. So, its a very natural compatibility that is now going much deeper, and in areas that are going to help the defense of both countries against some common enemies.

The Times of India in February reported the country was finally taking some steps towards ensuring effective use of artificial intelligence in its fighting forces. An AI council, led by the defense minister, had been established, the paper noted, as had an AI projects agency.

Indias Ministry of Defense in January 2019 said the process of preparing its forces for use of artificial intelligence had begun. AI-based tools, officials added, would improve military decision making, predictive maintenance, situational awareness and security.

Shanahan foresees an artificial intelligence boom in India.

It has all the elements already in place: an incredibly talented workforce, its got a remarkable research community, its got a technology ecosystem, he said. It just has not really moved as fast as, say, the United States or China or the U.K., or other countries. But I think that explosions coming.

The Defense Departments 2018 artificial intelligence strategy warned China and Russia are investing significantly in AI for military purposes. Three years later, a report to Congress on Chinese military power advised the country would increasingly leverage big data, cloud computing and automation while pursuing what it called intelligentized warfare, defined by the expanded use of AI and other bleeding-edge tech at all levels.

Advancements in adversarial countries threaten to erode our technological and operational advantages and destabilize the free and open international order, the Defense Department said in its 2018 AI stratagem. Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks on April 12 described China as the premier international challenge, whereas Russia poses an acute threat.

Again, Hicks said at a Defense Writers Group event, very consistent with the last few strategies in that sense.

India is obviously aware of the security hazards China imposes, Paskal noted, as the two powers share a border recently bloodied.

India is literally on the front line with China, she said. China killed 20 Indian soldiers in June of 2020, and India is very, very clear that its primary threat is the Peoples Republic of China.
El Shafee Elsheikh is the most high profile Isis figure to stand trial in the US (Syrian Democratic Forces/AFP via)

Guilty. As these two syllables rang out around Court Room 900 in Alexandria, Virginia today, and British Isis fighter El Shafee Elsheikh was found guilty of role in kidnapping and killing hostages, an eight-year chapter of pain for my family was finally brought to an end.

A long, cold shadow has followed my family around ever since my brother David, a humanitarian worker, was taken hostage and beheaded by Isis in September 2014. Held captive for 19 months in Syria, his death was filmed and broadcast for the world to see  one of 27 victims at the hands of a now-infamous British gang of terrorists.

The past few months have been especially confronting for the whole family, having to relive the worst days of our lives as they are played out in the media. The court case heard details about the conditions in which David was kept, which  until now  we were guarded from.

Nothing can prepare you for the feelings of helplessness, uncertainty  even guilt  that are anchored to the heavy burden of grief. It was something I observed during my 15 years as a psychiatric nurse, but only when you go through it yourself are you able to understand how crushing it can be.

In being found guilty, Elsheikh is the last of the three surviving members of the gang to be successfully tried for their crimes.

Aine Davis was convicted in a Turkish court in 2017, while Alexanda Kotey  who has already pleaded guilty  will be sentenced in the near future, during which I will be delivering a statement in court. The fourth, Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in an airstrike in 2015.

For the most part, Davids 44 years of life were full of happiness, service and acts of kindness. His drive to help his fellow man is what fuelled him, and it is that hunger which took him to places few people put on their then holiday list: South Sudan, the former Yugoslavia and Libya, to name a few.

What is most difficult for us as a family is that despite this rich life, his name and his proud legacy have been stolen from him by his executioners. He will be remembered instead for the horrific acts he was subjected to. Few will ever know the David I loved: the younger brother who brought joy into my life  and drove me up the wall  in equal measure.

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Although these two men were tried in the US, they are British  and their beliefs were moulded by corrupting, malicious influences in our own backyard. It would be easy to point fingers, or to be swallowed up by what ifs. For a long while, I was.

However, its always been in the Haines DNA to stand up and fight for what is right, and not to be overcome by setbacks, however big they might be. Instead, I took a more fulfilling path  at first for my own benefit; a way of confronting the deep-rooted pain that lived inside me.

I later realised that my way out of this darkness  through dialogue, tolerance and a will to understand others  was just as powerful a tonic for division and hatred elsewhere in our society.

In 2015, I set up Global Acts of Unity (GAU), an initiative which has taken me to schools throughout every corner of the country, delivering talks in over 400 schools and institutions, reaching more than 100,000 people to promote togetherness and bridge divides sown by hateful elements.

I have witnessed a tremendous response from those I have spoken to, and it has only strengthened my will to fight this fight and ensure no one follows the same path Davids enslavers did.

As the sentencing of Alexanda Kotey approaches, I prepare for the unenviable opportunity of addressing one of my brothers killers in person.

In truth, no prison term can fully justify the crimes committed against David nor account for the trail of heartache it set in motion. My mother, unable to process what had happened to her child, lost her grip on life and slowly drifted to her death.

My fathers dementia accelerated following Davids murder and he eventually passed in 2017. Not only did we lose David, but I believe my parents were also victims of their brutality, too. I have always laid the blame for their deaths firmly at their feet.

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That said, the proper process of justice provides some reassurance for me. The court proceedings  however hard they are to confront, with its focus on the perpetrators and the evidence of the evil committed  proves that the legal system can have a more profound, lasting impact for closure than responding with violence or hatred.

It is important to recognise how this separates us from those on stand  my brother was never given the fair justice that his killers have been afforded.

Although Davids bones remain buried in the desert, he walks with me every day. I will continue to fight to ensure his courageous, kind spirit  which stands in opposition to everything his captors represented  out-survives the legacy thrust on him.

Mike Haines OBE is the brother of humanitarian aid worker David Haines, who was brutally murdered by Daesh in September 2014 in Syria. Since that tragic event, Mike has devoted his life to spreading this message of togetherness through his Global Acts of Unity campaign to people of all backgrounds, faiths and religions. So far, he has spoken to over 100,000 students across 400 schools nationwide
Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

- Russia threatens Kyiv -

A Ukrainian military factory outside Kyiv is partially destroyed by overnight Russian strikes, AFP reports, as Moscow warns it will intensify attacks on the capital in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian soil.

The factory produced missiles allegedly used to hit Russia's Moskva warship.

"The number and scale of missile strikes against targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or sabotage committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime on Russian territory," the defence ministry in Moscow says.

Russian officials accuse Ukraine of sending two helicopters across the border to bomb a town in Russia's southern Bryansk region, wounding eight people. Ukraine denies the allegations.

- Russia complains over US weaponry -

Russia formally complains to the United States over its military aid to Ukraine, warning of "unpredictable consequences" if shipments of advanced weaponry go forward, US media report.

The diplomatic note comes the same week that US President Joe Biden pledged a new $800-million military aid package for Ukraine, including helicopters, howitzers and armoured personnel carriers.

- Germany offers military aid -

The German government says it plans to release more than a billion euros ($1.1 billion) in military aid for Ukraine, following complaints by Kyiv it is not receiving heavy weapons from Berlin.

Berlin has decided to increase its international aid in the defence sector "to two billion euros" with "the largest part being planned in the form of military aid in favour of Ukraine", a government spokeswoman tells AFP.

- Five million flee Ukraine -

More than five million people have now fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, the United Nations says.

- Russian flagship sinks -

Russia's missile cruiser Moskva sinks in the Black Sea after being damaged, Russia's defence ministry says.

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Kyiv claims to have hit the warship with Neptune missiles.

"The Moskva cruiser strike hit not only the ship itself: it hit the enemy's imperial ambitions. We are all aware that we will not be forgiven for this," Natalia Gumeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's southern military forces, says.

A senior Pentagon official says the warship was hit by two Ukrainian missiles before it sank, confirming Kyiv's account and calling it a "big blow" for Moscow.

- Warship stamp becomes collector's item -

A stamp depicting a Ukrainian soldier making an obscene hand gesture at the Moskva becomes a collector's item for Ukrainians who see it as a sign of "victory".

The missile cruiser gained notoriety in the early stages of the invasion when its crew called on a unit of Ukrainian border guards to surrender, only for them to defiantly refuse.

- Finland NATO bid 'highly likely' -

Finland's European Affairs Minister Tytti Tuppurainen says it is "highly likely" that Finland will apply for NATO membership, just hours after Russia warns of unspecified "consequences" should it and Sweden join the military alliance.

Moscow's military actions in Ukraine have sparked a dramatic U-turn in public and political opinion in non-aligned Finland and Sweden, which is also discussing joining the alliance.

- EU gas, oil embargo will take 'months' -

The EU is working on broadening sanctions on Russia to include oil and gas embargoes but such measures will take "several months", European officials tell AFP.

Russian energy exports are Moscow's main hard currency earner, and its oil and gas sales to the EU account for between a quarter of a billion to a billion euros per day, per different estimates.

bur-jmy/mtp/reb
President Obama hosts a Seder in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House in 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Clinton's staffers held the first White House Passover Seder in 1993, though Clinton didn't attend.

Obama became the first sitting president to host a Passover Seder at the White House in 2009.

This year, Harris and Emhoff will host the first known Seder at the vice presidential residence.

April 1993: President Bill Clinton's staffers held the first-ever White House Passover Seder in the Indian Treaty Room, though the president himself didn't attend.

President Bill Clinton speaks in the Indian Treaty Room at the White House. PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images

The Indian Treaty Room is in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, not the White House residence itself, but it marked the first time that White House staffers observed the holiday at the seat of the government.

Clinton press aide Steve Rabinowitz led the Seder, which included a catered kosher dinner, according to the Jerusalem Post. It wasn't an official White House event, but The New York Times reported that staffers hoped the president would attend (he didn't make it).

April 2008: As a candidate, President Barack Obama attended an impromptu Seder held by three staffers during his first campaign.

Barack Obama campaigns in Pennsylvania in 2008. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

The three staffers  Eric Lesser, Herbie Ziskend, and Arun Chaudhary  threw together a Seder in the basement of a hotel in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, when they realized they weren't going to make it home for Passover.

They had planned to make it a quick, low-key event after a tiring day. Then Obama popped his head in and asked, "Hey, is this the Seder?"

"The funny thing is that Arun and Herbie and I were planning a pretty casual Seder and the President, well, then he was a Senator, can be a pretty intense guy," Lesser told The Huffington Post in 2014. "So when we sat down he was very fluent in the story, he knows the story of Exodus of course, and we actually went through the entire Haggadah."

At the end of the Seder, when participants traditionally say "Next year in Jerusalem," Obama quipped, "Next year in the White House."

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April 2009: Obama became the first sitting president to attend and host a Seder at the White House.

President Obama hosts a Seder in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House in 2009. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

The following year, Obama wanted to continue the Passover Seder tradition that began on the campaign.

"The president just poked his head in one day and said 'Hey, Lesser, we're doing the Seder again right? I promised 'next year in the White House' and here we are!'" Lesser told the Huffington Post.

The Seder was held in the Old Family Dining Room. First lady Michelle Obama attended the event along with Sasha and Malia, who asked the Four Questions as is tradition for the youngest Seder attendees.

The New York Times reported that one of the guests brought macaroons that had not been cleared by the Secret Service and wasn't allowed on the White House grounds until Obama himself got involved.

March 2010: Obama hosted another Seder the following year, and he continued to do so every year of his presidency.

President Barack Obama hosts a Passover Seder in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House in 2010. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Seated next to Obama on the right is Jen Psaki, the current White House press secretary for the Biden administration. She was also present at the first impromptu Seder in Pennsylvania during the 2008 campaign.

April 2016: Obama held his last White House Passover Seder.

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama host a Passover Seder in 2016. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Over the years, Obama's White House Seder developed its own memorable traditions, including a reading of the Emancipation Proclamation and a speech from Chaudhary about the Hillel Sandwich made with matzo and bitter herbs.

"You know, the President makes fun of me because I every year make the speech about Hillel Sandwich ... And I remember one year we were running behind, and so I said, 'I don't want to make this speech,' and the President was like, 'You gotta make the speech! That's what you do every year  it's your thing,'" Chaudhary told the Huffington Post. "And it feels very much like a family, very much like tradition, and that's why I think it's so important to everyone to go."

April 2017: President Donald Trump did not continue Obama's Passover Seder tradition, though some aides hosted their own celebration.

President Donald Trump, with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in 2019. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Some speculated that because Trump's daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner are Jewish (Ivanka converted to Judaism before marrying Kushner in 2009) that the White House Seder tradition would continue. But like Clinton staffers did in 1993, Trump aides held a Seder in the Indian Treaty Room without the president.

March 2021: Second gentleman Doug Emhoff hosted the first-ever virtual White House Seder.

Vice President Kamala Harris participates in the White House's Virtual Passover Celebration with second gentleman Douglas Emhoff in 2021. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Emhoff is the first Jewish spouse in a presidential administration, and the celebration was the first White House Passover Seder to be open to the public.

Emhoff spoke about celebrating Passover as a child, which he said often involved attending Seder at his grandmother's home in Brooklyn.

"Now, of course, it's exactly what you're picturing. That apartment. The plastic covering on the sofa. The smell of brisket wafting in from the kitchen," Emhoff said. "And me, sitting there at the table, patiently waiting, just waiting, to dig into that delightfully gelatinous gefilte fish, which inexplicably I still love today."

Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, and first lady Jill Biden also shared Passover messages at the event.

"As Jewish families across the country and around the world mark this important tradition, we know you're all setting the Seder table with heavy hearts, but also with hope for the year ahead," the president said.

April 2022: On a call with Israeli president Isaac Herzog, Harris said that she and Emhoff will host a Seder at the vice presidential residence.

The dining room in One Observatory Circle, the vice president's official residence. Katherine Frey/The Washington Post via Getty Images

CNN reported that in addition to the White House's second virtual Seder on April 14, Harris and Emhoff will host family, friends, and Jewish members of their staff for an in-person Seder at Number One Observatory Circle. It is the first known Seder to take place at the official vice presidential residence.

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President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden reported a federal adjusted gross income of $610,702 last year, according to their 2021 federal income tax returns released by the White House Friday.

The president and first lady filed their income tax return jointly, and paid $150,439 in federal income tax. Their 2021 effective federal income tax rate is 24.6%.

DNC LAUNCHES TAX DAY AD BUY IN KEY STATES, CLAIMING A GOP TAX PLAN COULD 'RAISE TAXES'

The first couple also reported contributions of $17,394 to 10 different charities in 2021  with the largest gift, $5,000, being donated to the Beau Biden Foundation. The White House says the foundation is a public charity dedicated to ensuring that all children are free from the threat of abuse.

The first couple on Friday also released their Delaware income tax return, and reported paying $30,765 in state income tax.

The first lady also released her Virginia income tax return and reported paying $2,721 in Virginia income tax.

The first lady teaches at Northern Virginia Community College.

The White House said that these tax returns mark Bidens release of a total of 24 years of tax returns to the public.

The Bidens 2021 tax returns are similar to 2020, but include the presidents presidential salary.



An annual presidential salary is $400,000, however, because he took office on Jan. 20, 2021, Biden reports making $378,833 last year.

BIDEN'S $5.8T BUDGET PROPOSES ONE OF THE LARGEST' INVESTMENTS IN US NATIONAL SECURITY AMID WAR IN UKRAINE

In 2020, the first couple earned $607,336, which was down from the $985,223 they reported in 2019.

United States Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff are seen leaving France at Orly Airport on November 13, 2021 in Paris, France. Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff also released their 2021 federal income tax return, as well as their state income tax returns for California, New York and the District of Columbia. The second couple also filed jointly.

Harris and Emhoff reported a federal adjusted gross income of $1,655,563. The returns reveal the couple paid $523,371 in federal income tax. Their federal income tax rate in 2021 was 31.6%.

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Harris and Emhoff also paid $120,517 in California income tax, $2,044 in New York income tax.

The returns revealed Emhoff paid $54,441 in income tax for the District of Columbia.

U.S. President Joe Biden REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

The second gentleman teaches at Georgetown University Law Center and is required to file a D.C. return to pay D.C. income tax.

Emhoff resigned from the law firm DLA Piper LLP in January 2021. A White House official said as is typical with law firms, the firm is returning his partnership stake over a number of years.

In 2021, Emhoff's income from the law firm included income from sources within New York state, requiring the filing of a New York tax return and payment of New York income tax.

Harris and Emhoff contributed $22,100 to charity in 2021.
(SEATTLE)  Within the last year, two fossilized mammoth tusks have been snatched from Seattle-area businesses.

KIRO 7 reported the most recent theft, on April 6. In surveillance footage captured by downtown store Fossil & Stone, a thief is seen snatching a mammoth tusk.

After John Pohl, owner of the Tusk Building in the Eastlake neighborhood, saw that video, he decided to share his story.

My initial reaction is, why are they targeting tusk? asked Pohl.

As it turns out, back in July, two thieves broke into the Tusk Building and stole a mammoth tusk Pohl had displayed.

Theyre irreplaceable. They tell a story, said Pohl.

More news from KIRO 7

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(Reuters) - The wife of one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's top allies in Ukraine said on Friday that he has been beaten by the Ukrainian security service while being interrogated in detention.

At a news conference in Moscow, Viktor Medvedchuk's wife Oksana Marchenko said that one of two photos released by Ukraine this week showed he had been beaten.

Reuters could not independently confirm this, and neither Ukraine's security service, the SBU, nor the Kremlin immediately responded to requests for comment.

On Wednesday, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, said: "Those freaks who call themselves the Ukrainian authorities say that they want to beat testimony out of Viktor Medvedchuk, 'quickly and fairly', convict him, and then exchange him for prisoners." The SBU said on Tuesday it had arrested Medvedchuk, who has long advocated closer ties to Russia and is leader of the Opposition Platform - For Life party. The party is Ukraine's largest opposition party.

One photo of him in handcuffs was released on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's official Telegram account, and another was posted by the SBU on Facebook.

Displaying the two photos, Marchenko said one had been taken before he was interrogated and showed no sign of injury. A second image, which she said had been taken during his interrogation, showed him with his hair over his forehead.

"It shows a big bruise and marks which they have tried to conceal with his hair. There is no doubt that he was beaten in the first hours after his arrest," she said.

That photo shows what could be a mark on his forehead beneath a wisp of hair, although Reuters could not determine what caused it.

Three days after Russia moved its forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24, Ukraine said Medvedchuk had escaped from house arrest. He had been placed under house arrest in May 2021 and charged with high treason and later with aiding terrorism.

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The pro-Russian figure, who says Putin is godfather to his daughter, has denied wrongdoing.

The head of the SBU said on Wednesday that Medvedchuk had planned to escape Ukraine by secretly crossing into the breakaway Transdniestria region of Moldova, but that his plan had been foiled.

Marchenko said she wanted to know where her husband was, for him to be protected from abuse and for him to be granted medical care and access to his lawyer.

Zelenskiy has proposed swapping Medvedchuk for Ukrainian prisoners being held by Russian forces. Russia on Wednesday turned down this proposal with a warning that those holding him might soon be detained themselves.

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Frances Kerry and Howard Goller)
After an eight-year absence, the highly anticipated return of Batsheva Dance Company of Israel and esteemed artistic director and choreographer Ohad Naharin resulted in sold-out houses at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance for the Chicago premiere of Naharin's 2015 "Last Work" on Friday and Saturday.

The curtain opened on a redheaded woman in a long blue frock. She faces stage right, running toward the wings but going nowhere on an unseen treadmill built into the floor. She runs for a full hour, the entirety of "Last Work." On occasion I forgot she was there, but from time to time the sound score  a haunting mix of monotonous electronica and Romanian lullabies  dropped away, or the dancers stopped moving, and there she was, running a brisk but emotionless pace, thump, thump, thumping on that treadmill.

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She was a burst of bright color in an otherwise muted world. The rest of the cast, 16 dancers in all, meandered in and out of rigid gray walls set in the wings, exploring their space in slow-going groupings. The dancers connected effortlessly with a movement vocabulary that asked a lot, and should have looked harder than it did.

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The intensity of "Last Work" builds gradually, sometimes achingly so, but finally climaxes with a raucous burst of confetti and four men appearing near the stage's back wall. Their job, it seems, is to create clamorous dissonance. One plays an enormous ratchet noisemaker, another waves a massive white flag. The third screams into a microphone while stretching brown packing tape across, over, and around everything and everyone onstage, and the fourth faces backward, his body quivering, pulsing, maybe sobbing. He turns around to reveal a machine gun between his feet, coordinating with gunshots in the sound score. Amid this cacophony, that runner in the blue dress just keeps going, and is handed the white surrender flag while her castmates writhe slowly on the floor, wrapped in a web of packing tape. The lights abruptly click off, and my first thought was  huh?

In Friday's post-show conversation, Naharin said he wants people to get it  that his success as a choreographer is partially determined by his ability to communicate his point. But Naharin's MO is to create what he calls "new codes," seeking to break long-standing movement conventions, thus rewriting cultural norms.

The result can be jarring, and that's probably the point. Typical dance patrons don't expect or wish to see two dancers gyrating onstage with grins ear to ear, or pageant-style hand-to-heel leg extensions, or a dancer doing head rolls while bouncing in and out of the splits. Whether these moments are just tongue-in-cheek, or the purpose is to upset or offend, the goal is to do something unexpected and bend the rules.

Gaga, Naharin's signature movement style, has been so influential in the dance world that it's hard to find a contemporary company that hasn't adopted a bit of his aesthetic. But while everyone's busy emulating Gaga, Naharin reinvents it every day. In other words, "Last Work" shares little in common with the pivotal Naharin works that have shaped contemporary dance in Chicago and elsewhere. Sure, there's a mandatory low center of gravity and a super-bendy, amoebalike quality that, in another context, could look like popping-and-locking. Toward the end of "Last Work," there's a glorious, but fleeting, phrase of unison dancing that harks back to Naharin's most famous works  such as "Minus 16" (1999) or "Decadance," a compilation piece first created in 2000.

Perhaps what makes "Last Work" so different is a shift in the balance between order and disorder. Surrender can be a construct of obedience; there is freedom and catharsis in repeating something over and over. This is perhaps the purpose of the runner in this case, and a prominent quality in some of Naharin's earlier works. Throughout the hour, "Last Work's" more organized moments are the most palatable: like that previously mentioned phrase of full-out dancing, an orderly clump of dancers poking at the sky as they shuffle downstage, or a breathtaking series of seated meditations at the end. These sections demonstrate that little bit of restraint needed to rein in an otherwise chaotic experience. But Naharin's goal isn't to make restrained, palatable dances, so even in its softest moments, "Last Work" staunchly disregards today's choreographic conventions, some of which he made up. In a work that doesn't otherwise provide much of a through line, that feeling of watching a dance that doesn't follow any of the rules is exactly what Naharin's after. Job well done.

Lauren Warnecke is a freelance critic.

ctc-arts@chicagotribune.com







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Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 122 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey, anger management student, in "Dark Phoenix." The film, the latest in the "X-Men" franchise, costars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jessica Chastain. Read the review. (Twentieth Century Fox)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seen on March 10, 2022. Office of the President of Ukraine

Zelenskyy said the world must be prepared for the possibility of Russia attacking Ukraine with tactical nuclear weapons.

Tactical nukes are designed for use on a battlefield or for a limited strike. Russia is estimated to have 2,000 of them.

The chances of Putin using a nuclear weapon are slim, but some exp rts warn he could use one if he became desperate enough.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the world must be prepared for the possibility of Russia attacking Ukraine with tactical nuclear weapons.

In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper published on Friday in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin could use either nuclear or chemical weapons at some point during the war in Ukraine.

"We should think  not be afraid, not be afraid  but be ready," Zelenskyy said. "But that is not a question for Ukraine, not only for Ukraine but for all the world, I think."

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian lives don't matter to Putin, which could prompt him to launch such an attack in a war where his forces have failed to take any major cities at a cost of an estimated 10,000 Russian soldiers' lives.

Just days after Russia's February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Putin ordered Russia's nuclear deterrent forces on high alert, blaming NATO and Western sanctions. The move prompted immediate backlash from the international community.

Last month, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would use nuclear weapons only if it felt as though its existence was threatened by the West.

In response, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called out Russia for "nuclear saber-rattling," and slammed Moscow for "contradicting" its past statement about wanting to avoid nuclear conflict.

Tactical nuclear weapons, also known as battlefield nukes, are designed to be used on a smaller scale, on the battlefield or for a limited strike. Since the Cold War, both Russia and the United States have decreased their nuclear arsenal, but it's estimated that Russia still has 2,000 tactical nukes, while the U.S. has around 200.

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Researchers from Princeton's Science and Global estimate that if Russia were to use tactical nukes, more than 91 million people in Russia, the US, and NATO-allied countries could be killed within three hours. The researchers created a simulation showing how even one "nuclear warning shot" from Russia could quickly escalate into nuclear war.

"This project is motivated by the need to highlight the potentially catastrophic consequences of current US and Russian nuclear war plans. The risk of nuclear war has increased dramatically in the past two years," the project states on its website.

Although the chances of Putin using a nuclear weapon are slim, some experts believe he could use one if he became desperate enough.

"It's not a good thing, and it's not something I think everybody wants to jump to  including Putin. But this is everything for him now," Retired Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan, a former defense attache to Russia and senior fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, said of the war with Ukraine. "If he doesn't accomplish this, his own people will take him out."

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said all of the countries of the world should be concerned that Russia could turn to nuclear weapons as the war in Ukraine nears its third month.

Not only me  all of the world, all of the countries have to be worried, Zelensky said when asked by CNN on Friday if he was worried that Russia could use a tactical nuke. Because it can be not real information, but it can be truth.

Zelensky said he could see the use of chemical or nuclear weapons because for them, life of the people is nothing. We should not be afraid, be ready, but that is not a question only for Ukraine, he said. [Its for] all the world. I think so.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

Officials in the U.S. have accused Russia of war crimes in its invasion, which began on Feb. 24. Last week, Amnesty International published a report that detailed accounts of Russian forces extrajudicially executing Ukrainian civilians and repeatedly engaging in unlawful violence, including in the city of Bucha  where evidence of torture and beheadings has been uncovered in recent weeks.

Testimonies show that unarmed civilians in Ukraine are being killed in their homes and streets in acts of unspeakable cruelty and shocking brutality, Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, said in the report, adding, The intentional killing of civilians is a human rights violation and a war crime. These deaths must be thoroughly investigated, and those responsible must be prosecuted, including up the chain of command.

On Thursday, CIA Director William Burns said that "potential desperation" could cause Russian President Vladimir Putin to turn to nuclear weapons but noted he hadnt seen a lot of practical evidence.

Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that theyve faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons, Burns said at an event at Georgia Tech. While weve seen some rhetorical posturing on the part of the Kremlin about moving to higher nuclear alert levels, so far we havent seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern. We watch for that very intently.

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NBC News reported last week that the Biden administration is deploying declassified information  even when it is not rock solid  in an attempt to undermine Moscows propaganda and prevent Russia from defining how the war is perceived in the world.

A woman pushes her bicycle in front of a destroyed apartment building in Borodianka, Ukraine, on April 9. (Alexey Furman/Getty Images)

It doesnt have to be solid intelligence when we talk about it, a U.S. official said. Its more important to get out ahead of them  Putin specifically  before they do something. Its preventative. We dont always want to wait until the intelligence is 100% certainty that they are going to do something. We want to get out ahead to stop them.

On Friday, Russias Defense Ministry pledged to launch more strikes against Kyiv following the sinking of its naval flagship, the Moskva, in the Black Sea. Russia also sent a diplomatic note to the Biden administration warning the U.S. against continuing to arm the Ukrainian military or else face unpredictable consequences for regional and international security.

_____

What happened last week in Ukraine? Check out this explainer from Yahoo Immersive to find out.
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New Delhi: Elon Musk, who is famous as the Tesla CEO and an active user of Twitter, offered to buy Twitter for $43 billion. He also said the social media company needs to be transformed as a private company. His offering, however, invited a lot of memes and reactions on social media.

Under the hashtag, Ceylon Musk, many people asked to buy Sri Lanka instead of buying Twitter.

Sri Lanka defaults on $51 billion debt

Sri Lanka is currently facing an economic crisis and running out of foreign exchange reserves. A few days ago, it defaulted on all payments on its $51-billion external debt. Sri Lanka has now come under the club of small countries that have been unable to repay their debts.

Why netizens call Ceylon Musk to Elon Musk

Elon Musk in early April bought a 9.2% stake in Twitter and became the biggest shareholder on the platform. After Musks announcement, the share of Twitter surged as much as 27%, according to a regulatory filing.

As soon as Musk said he was interested in buying Twitter by paying $43 billion, netizens on Twitter said he should buy Sri Lanka for $51 billion. People also said that Musk can also rename it Ceylon Musk.

A user on Twitter wrote, Instead of bidding for Twitter at $43 Billion, Elon can consider bailing out Sri Lanka. He can have the island nation named after him or he can change his name to Ceylon Musk.

Instead of bidding for Twitter at $43 Billion, Elon can consider bailing out Sri Lanka ($48 Billion). He can have the island nation named after him or he can change his name to Ceylon Musk      Take That (@indhavaainko) April 15, 2022

Arrey bhay kyaa Twitter Twitter kar rahe hoEk island jaisa country Khareedo and name it Ceylon Musk, wrote a user.

Arrey bhay kyaa Twitter Twitter kar rahe ho Ek island jaisa country khareedo and name it Ceylon Musk. pic.twitter.com/XoYn9M1kgi  Nikita Singh (@grizzlypuff06) April 15, 2022

He can bail out Sri Lanka and rename the country, Ceylon Musk, wrote another user.

He can bail out Sri Lanka and rename the country, Ceylon Musk  https://t.co/x3utHZjs1O  Anil_J_IV (@follow_amj) April 15, 2022

Check more reactions here:

Disparity, thy name shall be Ceylon Musk pic.twitter.com/7dS50LsjKM  Subodh Ghildiyal (@subodhgTOI) April 15, 2022

Sir your Twitter bid  $43 billion

Sri Lankas debt  $45 billion

can You buy my beautiful country @elonmus? save our country and our people.!And lets name it Ceylon Musk  sirath (@sirath86) April 15, 2022

Ceylon Musk Trending on twitter

Elon musk be like : pic.twitter.com/ci3KIZboXU  Prathamesh Volvoikar (@Prathamesh_006) April 15, 2022

He should try adding $8 billion more, and pay off Sri Lankas external debt and request it to be renamed as Ceylon Musk pic.twitter.com/k4RQV1k2Wv  Ramachandran Srinivasan (@indiarama) April 14, 2022

Elon Musks Twitter bid  $43 billion

Sri Lankas debt  $45 billion

He can buy it and call himself Ceylon Musk  H/t Whatsapp  Kunal Bahl (@1kunalbahl) April 14, 2022
Chapter FKChapter FK met on April 8 at the Council Bluffs Country Club. Thirty-two members were present.

We started out with a program given by Lorne Seilstad, a local author. She gave a little history on several of her books and the process of writing and being published. Lorne had several of her books available for us to review. It was a very informative and entertaining program!

Our sister Elma Lynn attended for the first time in quite a while. We so appreciate her daughter for bringing her to join us.

Deann Over presented Peggy Tye with a gavel and a gift from the chapter in appreciation for all she did while serving as our president.

A notice from the Executive Board of International Chapter was shared regarding initiation ceremonies: The Executive Board of International Chapter is happy to announce that members will be joining the P.E.O. Sisterhood through our beautiful Ceremony of Initiation beginning again July 1, 2022.

President Patti Ford installed Kathy Fox as co-guard and Kathy Thomsen as Corresponding Secretary.

Reciprocity Brunch will be held on Saturday, April 23 at New Horizon Presbyterian Church.

Our next meeting will be on April 22.

PEO Sisterhood Chapter LPChapter LP of the P.E.O. Sisterhood welcomed invited guests and visitors to its April 12 afternoon reception at Our Saviors Lutheran Church to hear the opening program in a new series entitled Celebrating Council Bluffs in its 176th birthday year. The program featured well-known historian-speaker Dr. Richard Warner who, in his presentation, used video clips as illustrations in an overview of the territory known as Council Bluffs in its beginning years. Originally called Kanesville by native Americans living on the land, the name of Council Bluffs was made official when it became the terminus for railroads traveling across the land.

Preceding the program, visitors were invited to enjoy refreshments consisting of frosted cakes, Easter candies, and hot beverages as arranged by hostess, Debra Ebke, assisted by chapter members Darlene Schwarzkopf and Pauline Larsen.

In conclusion, Chapter LP president Beverly Fletcher presided over a short business meeting to address current and upcoming business matters that included a review of ByLaws, the recruitment and installation of new members, and a preview of chapter members original designs in arts & crafts for exhibit and sale at the upcoming Council Bluffs/Treynor Reciprocity Brunch on Saturday, April 23rd.

The next chapter meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 26, 1 p.m., at Our Saviors Lutheran Church, 600 Bluffs Street. The program  open to the public  will feature guest speaker Drew Kamp, President of the Council Bluffs Chamber of Commerce. His topic will be a salute to the City of Council Bluffs  entitled Where have we been, and where are we going?

Lewis Hustling Pioneers 4-H ClubThe Lewis Hustling Pioneers held their monthly club meeting on Sunday April 10, 2022 at Salem United Methodist Church at 6 p.m. It was attended by 11 members and eight parents. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, upcoming events and important deadlines were discussed. The need to make decisions regarding the soda truck at our county fair was communicated to the club. The meeting was closed with the 4-H Pledge.

Educational presentations were given by six members. Alex Graeve talked about hunting with his shotgun. Mary Graeve explained the many reasons to show at the Iowa State Fair. KayLynn Kepler-Thomason spoke on showing chickens at fair. Lyla Hanwright demonstrated cake decorating techniques. Jackie Kepler-Thomason talked about her pet goldfish. Jacob Kepler-Thomason presented his card collection to the club. The next meeting will be held on May 15 at 6 p.m. at the Salem United Methodist Church.
DES MOINES  As legislative and regulative roadblocks continue to prevent the year-round sale of the E15 blend of ethanol gasoline, a group of Midwest governors, including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, is pursuing a regional solution.

The proposal was included in notes published this week by the White House ahead of President Joe Bidens trip to Iowa, where he made a public announcement of his administrations plan to keep E15 at the pumps this summer.

Essentially, the governors are proposing the federal government regulate E10  the most common blend of ethanol currently available year-round  the same as E15, which has a higher ethanol blend and typically is cheaper.

Seven Midwest governors, including Republicans and Democrats, in November signed a letter to the federal government asking federal regulators about the proposal. The original signees were the governors Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Since then, Reynolds said Wednesday, the governors of Illinois and Kansas have lent their support to the proposal.

Because the proposal could be implemented on a state-by-state or regional basis, having that many governors on board is important, Reynolds said.

We have been working since last year on a Midwest waiver to this, she said. Im very excited about that.

Under current federal law, for the stated reason of limiting air pollution, the higher ethanol blend of E15 cannot be sold during the summer driving season, June 1 through Sept. 15, because of concerns it adds to smog during hot weather.

In 2019, President Donald Trumps administration used federal rule-making to eliminate the summer sales ban, making E15 available year-round in 2020 and 2021. But in December, a federal court struck down that rule based on procedure.

The Biden administration is making E15 available this summer by issuing an emergency order via the Environmental Protection Agency, citing the strain placed on the U.S. fuel supply by Russias military invasion of Ukraine. By its nature as an emergency action, its impact will be only temporary.

With the goal of making E15s year-round sale permanent, the White House included the Midwest governors proposal in its information relating to its announcement this week.

EPA is also considering additional action to facilitate the use of E15 year-round, including continued discussions with states who have expressed interest in allowing year-round use of E15 and considering modifications to E15 fuel pump labeling, a White House fact sheet said.

Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said he was pleased to see the White House mention that proposal and its willingness to work with those governors on a more permanent solution.

Basically, what we need is we need (E10 and E15) regulated the same, Shaw said at Tuesdays event with Biden at a biofuels processing plant in Menlo. We think thats headed in the right direction. And so thats huge.
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Chinese medical team starts one-year tour of duty in Zambia

Xinhua) 08:12, April 15, 2022

LUSAKA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The 23rd Chinese medical team started a one-year tour of duty in Zambia after it was inducted Tuesday during a ceremony organized by the Health Professions Council of Zambia (HPCZ), the Zambian health regulator, said a release Thursday.

Terry Musonda, the senior HPCZ public relations officer, said the medical team was inducted on various regulatory requirements outlined in the Health Professional Act of 2009 as they start their tour of duty.

The 28-member medical team, which was due for deployment to various health facilities in the southern African nation, was encouraged not only to focus on patient care but also to apply themselves fully in sharing medical knowledge and skills with the local practitioners.

While saying it was crucial for the medical team to share the best workable practices in the best interest of patients, the official urged them to uphold ethics that were universally accepted in the medical field.

The medical team, led by Yan Hongxian, arrived in Zambia last month. They pledged to provide high-quality medical services to the local people.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Would Showtimes The First Lady work better if it hadnt cast such famously recognizable actors to play Michelle Obama, Betty Ford and Eleanor Roosevelt? Whos to say, but I found it more difficult than usual to suspend my disbelief over the course of this 10-part series, which toggles between the three eras of each woman.

Projects like this need big names to get the green light, so here we are, with fully committed, if not always successful, performances from Viola Davis (as Michelle), Michelle Pfeiffer (as Betty) and Gillian Anderson (as Eleanor) in service of an approach that is more history class diorama than the stuff of riveting drama. Any one of these presidential first ladies could have  should have  been the subject of a stand-alone series, and threading their stories together feels arbitrary except for the fact that they collectively span the last century or so, leaping forward in three-decade increments with a focus on the Roosevelts in the 30s and 40s, the Fords in the 70s and the Obamas in the early 2000s.

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From left: Kathleen Garrett as Laura Bush and Viola Davis as Michelle Obama on the Obamas' first day in the White House. (Jackson Lee Davis/Showtime)

Its always fun to speculate about the marriages of public people  what are their conversations like in private?  and thats primarily what the series has going for it. Early in the campaign, we see Michelle rushing to her Kenwood home, concerned when her daughters inform her Secret Service agents are now installed at the house. Her husband is not even the nominee yet and he needs this level of protection? Barack (played by O-T Fagbenle) tries to lighten the mood as he coolly strolls into their kitchen: Boom! Your man kicked the Secret Service outta the house. I said, Look, fellas, I dont care how many guns you got, my wife doesnt like it  get to steppin. Now, strictly speaking, they cant leave the property  Shes not having it: Its not funny, Barack. Its not the only time his political aspirations and her focus on practical realities will come into conflict.

First-time show creator Aaron Cooley and showrunner Cathy Schulman (a seasoned producer; this is her first credit as a writer) take a reverential, sometime guileless approach in their portrayal of power structures, particularly as they relate the highest elected office in the nation. Michelle, Betty and Eleanor are women who pushed against the status quo in all kinds of interesting ways, but they also upheld it, and those uncomfortable complexities go unexplored. Showtime is calling the series a revelatory reframing, but thats far too grand a description for a show that has little interest in challenging assumptions or the official record.

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Hair and costume goes a long way toward conjuring the right silhouette, and of the three, Pfeiffer fares the best because her interpretation feels the most human-scaled. Both Anderson and Davis have a different sort of challenge, bearing the weight of women who have become icons. Interestingly, both end up rooting their performances in the set of their mouth  Anderson through false teeth, Davis through a pursed-lip expression. Pfeiffer, on the other hand, wears the characterization lightly, to her great advantage. Maybe its because, as portrayed here, Betty generally has a lighter approach overall despite (or maybe because of) her reliance on alcohol and pills. She wasnt without her struggles  theres a terrifically sharp confrontation late at night with her husband (Aaron Eckhart as Gerald Ford) about his decision to pardon Richard Nixon  but in terms of what it means to be a politicians wife, Betty has a sense of humor about the absurdity of it all, compared to the more tension-filled ambitions and exasperations we see Eleanor and Michelle cycle through during their husbands tenure in office.

Theres the issue of Anderson, who is miscast. Physically, shes just wrong for the role at 53 (Eleanor was 511) and the bone structure of her face, though exquisite, doesnt lend itself to shapeshifting into unglamorous figures; I felt the same about her turn as Margaret Thatcher on The Crown. Shes a tremendous actor, but these roles dont play to her strengths and the resulting performances have the feel of parody.

Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt. (Daniel McFadden/Showtime)

Davis fares better, nailing Michelles vocal cadence (if not the Chicago tonal quality of her voice) but more importantly, she embodies a woman of formidable intelligence who has little patience for political gamesmanship. When she walks into the White House for the first time, she clocks that most of the employees who maintain the residence are Black and she acknowledges each and every one of them. Then her eyes land on a painting thats a few hundred years old, depicting white military officers and, off the side, a crouching Black man. She stares in quiet, disgusted contemplation until Laura Bush (Kathleen Garrett) pipes in: Luckily, you get to choose your own art.

The Obama portions also benefit  in real life and on the screen  from the presence of Michelles mother, Marian Robinson (Regina Taylor), who is unreservedly supportive without sugarcoating a thing. After that tense conversation with Barack in their Chicago kitchen, Michelle goes to her mothers house to take a moment and think things through. Im just terrified my girls are going to see their daddys picture hanging on someones wall, like another dead Black hero, she says. Baby, her mother replies, it seems youve got two choices and both of them ending in that man doing what hes gonna do. The show frames Michelles objections primarily as a safety issue, which isnt quite accurate; the real Michelle Obama has said she never would have chosen this life for herself, in part, because politics felt mean. That nuance is missing here.

Years later, when Hillary Clinton is running for president, she asks (through an intermediary) for Michelles help on the campaign trail. Michelle is less than enthused: Were not invited to the table until theres a crisis with white women and then were in it together, she tells her mother. But when we ask for their support in anything we need, we get: Its a Black issue. Marian considers this. Im not wrong, Michelle says. To which her mother tells her of Donald Trump: If he wins, it seems to me its going to be a problem for more than just white women.

Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford. (Murray Close/Showtime)

I cant deny the satisfaction of seeing Michelle take Rahm Emanuel (Michael Aronov) down a notch or two during his brief turn as White House chief of staff. And her high school alma mater Whitney M. Young Magnet High School does not come off well either, with a guidance counselor attempting to steer a teenage Michelle away from Princeton, in favor of less prestigious schools.

There are also moments of sardonic humor. Theres a priceless look Michelle gives Hillary when she arrives at a campaign event and is nearly brushed off before insisting the candidate acknowledge the value of Michelles presence. Or the planning session for Betty Fords addiction treatment center thats capped off with tequila sunrises  she abstains but the group is happy to indulge. I dont know if this really happened, it has the ring of wild truth, though.

But 10 episodes in, you dont come away feeling you know the stories of these women any better, any deeper, than you already did. The series ends on a rousing note, which gives it the feel of a vanity project rather than an interrogation of newsmakers. Their stories are not in meaningful conversation with one another. But then, the show itself is not in meaningful conversation with history itself.

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The First Lady  2 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: Showtime

From left: Viola Davis as Michelle Obama and O-T Fagbenle as Barack Obama. (Jackson Lee Davis/Showtime)

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic

nmetz@chicagotribune.com

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Libyas National Oil Corporation has transferred $8 billion to the count of the Finance Ministry of the Government of National Unity (GNU) of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh who has refused to give up power despite his removal by the countrys parliament.

The funds, into two installments, have been sent to the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), said a GNU statement that was relayed by local media

The NOC had resisted the transfer of funds despite a call by the Head of the Audit Bureau, Khaled Shakshak.

The Central Bank of Libya (CBL), in this situation, wont be able to transfer foreign currency because of the blockage by the NOC and the only way is to use deposits overseas which can devalue the dinar, Shakshak protested.

GNU has been rejected by the House of Representatives (HoR) which in February replaced Dbeibeh by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, arguing that his term came to an end on Dec. 24.

HoR Speaker, also in a letter, urged the NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanallah to block oil revenues away from the CBL so the unity government cannot use the money, and to allow the government to spend subsidies and salaries only.

Dbeibeh has refused to step down and vowed to hand over power only after elections.

This week, he launched a plan to develop the oil and gas sector. The announced plan aims to increase oil production to over 1.4 million barrels per day by the end of 2022.
Attijariwafa bank won the award of Best bank in Morocco for the year 2022 during the World Best Banks Awards trophy ceremony organized by the prestigious American magazine Global Finance.

The new distinction confirms the position of Attijariwafa bank as national leader in its field of activity.

This award, the 9th won by the Moroccan banking institution, adds to the award for best investment bank won by Attijariwafa bank at the beginning of the year.

The 29th edition of the World Best Banks Awards trophy ceremony was organized in New York on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.

According to Global Finance, the winners of this years awards are the banks that have best met the needs of their clients in difficult markets and achieved strong results while laying the foundations for their future development.

The selections were made by the editors of Global Finance after extensive consultations with financiers, bankers, consultants and analysts around the world.

The objective criteria considered in this selection are asset growth, profitability, geographic reach, strategic relationships, new business development and product innovation. Subjective criteria include the opinions of equity analysts, credit rating analysts, banking consultants and others involved in the industry.

Joseph D. Giarraputo, Editorial Director of Global Finance said during the ceremony, following the enormous difficulties caused by the pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia conflict, these changes require increased attention to global trade relations. Our awards support decision-makers in selecting the best financial partners in the world.
North Plattes main approach to Great Plains Healths front door will be among streets tackled next week in the citys ongoing repaving campaign.

Workers wont be resurfacing West Leota Street directly in front of the hospital, City Engineer Brent Burklund said Thursday.

But Western Engineering Inc. crews will start Monday on laying fresh asphalt east from South Willow Street to Leotas end.

Burklund said it should be done in a day if good weather holds. We notified the hospital to give them a heads-up, he said.

Patients at GPH or its clinics, as well as other motorists, should plan on using West Francis and William streets to reach destinations in the hospital area, Burklund said.

Workers are now in the second half of the repaving projects that the City Council approved in 2021 and reaffirmed last month in the 2021-22 one- and six-year road plan.

Segments of 14 streets were part of that group, with a 15th added recently when Western Engineering said it could repave South Dixie Avenue south of West A Street. That was finished Wednesday.

Burklund said Leotas resurfacing work will be done with a mill-fill process, with one truck apiece in front of and behind the asphalt hot-mix truck to pick up millings.

That will allow Western Engineering to keep one lane open on Leota, a heavily used street on both sides of U.S. Highway 83.

The mill-fill process also will be used when crews repave East Francis Tuesday from Jeffers to Poplar streets and West Eugene Avenue Wednesday from U.S. 83 to Willow, Burklund said.

Westerns crews should wrap up work Friday on repaving stretches of West William Avenue and South Union Avenue west and north of Centennial Park, he said.

After next weeks Leota, Francis and Eugene projects, he said, workers should be ready April 22 to repave East Walker Road from the D&N Event Center to the NPPD Canal bridge if the weather holds up.

When work on Eugene begins, motorists in that area should plan to use West Walker Road until its done, Burklund said.

Still to be resurfaced after next week are long stretches of B Street on both sides of Jeffers; South Oak Street from B to Philip Avenue; and East Second Street from Jeffers to the east side of Jefferson Elementary School.

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There is nothing that cannot be discussed and worked out over a beer. Join me as I explore local beer, breweries and how they can civilize us.
The outlaws rode into town when Whitey Morgan and the 78 stole the stage at The Vogue on Friday night, April 8, 2022. This American honky tonk country band, based in Flint, Michigan, has been compared by Rolling Stone as a Waylon Jennings acolyte modern-day outlaw [with a] hard-hitting blue-collar brand of music, while NPR Music stated, Staying close to the sound and subject matter of classic outlaw artists like Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, and David Allan Coe, Morgan is poised to lead this hand-worn brand of country to the next generation.

Morgan has released five studio albums and a live recording from his hometown of Flint over a 15-year career, touring relentlessly, often with 200+ shows a year (pre-pandemic that is). His most recent project includes collaborations with acclaimed songwriters Travis Meadows and Ward Davis plus a cover of ZZ Tops Just Got Paid. Alongside Morgan, the 78s consist of Brett Robinson (pedal steel guitar), Joey Spina (guitar), Alex Lyon (bass), and Eric Savage (drums).

Indianas own Alex Williams opened the show, leading off the heist with his own outlaw country of the 70s in much of his music. Thankfully, the law must have been busy elsewhere this night.
The senior senator from California. Photo: Stefani Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images

Back in the day, I worked for a United States senator who decided to retire from office in his late 50s. He didnt have to. He was a very safe bet for reelection and had plenty of seniority, clout, and prestige in the Senate. Nor was he greedy and anxious to take a lucrative gig in the private sector. When asked about his decision, he said within my earshot, I figured it was time either to get out when I could still do something else or stay here until I died.

Many senators have chosen the latter path; there are currently seven octogenarians in the U.S. Senate. The oldest, 88-year-old Dianne Feinstein, has two years left to her fifth full term in Washington, D.C. Yesterday, her hometown newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, published a long article full of anonymous quotes suggesting that she may be mentally unfit to serve, as the headline bluntly puts it.

The piece can be interpreted  to put it even more bluntly  as an effort to push Feinstein into retirement, perhaps by some of the colleagues and staffers who chose not to identify themselves while recounting incidents of the senator having memory lapses and not recognizing old friends and associates. Its very likely there are ambitious politicians back in California who would prefer to compete for a gubernatorial appointment to an open Senate seat rather than running for the position in 2024, when no one believes Feinstein will run again. The Chronicle notes that the Senate can expel members via a two-thirds vote, though this process has been used to get rid of only 15 senators, one for treason and 14 for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War. Feinsteins alleged doddering, even if its gotten pretty bad, is hardly a dire threat to national security, so expulsion seems unlikely. The idea is to shame her into stepping down voluntarily.

The Shes losing it talk has been going on for a while. Feinstein defended herself in a March 28 statement to the Chronicle, in which she referred to her husbands recent illness and death  the sort of events that would affect anyone of any age. The last year has been extremely painful and distracting for me, flying back and forth to visit my dying husband who passed just a few weeks ago, she said. But theres no question Im still serving and delivering for the people of California, and Ill put my record up against anyones.

In a call with Chronicle editorial board leaders after the story was published, Feinstein defended her job performance again. She said no one has raised these concerns with her directly, and she plans to serve out the rest of her term.

I do not, thank God, still live in Washington, so I am not privy to the gossip that might clarify the extent of the disabilities afflicting the very senior senator from California. But my gut reaction is to defend her right to end her career on her own terms so long as she is still showing up for work. As the Chronicle piece concedes, her very experienced staff is capable of doing most of the analytical and constituent-services work expected of her. Shes already given up her chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee. These days, Senate-floor action mostly involves either noncontroversial or party-line votes and performative debates.

But heres the real rub: In 2018, Feinsteins last reelection campaign, her age was a major issue. I personally voted against her twice because I thought it was time for her to hang it up. She had a perfectly capable Democratic opponent in thenstate Senate Majority Leader Kevin de Leon, who won the endorsement of the state Democratic Party. De Leon had the benefit of youth and party backing, and he was a particular favorite of progressive activists who had come to loathe Feinstein on ideological grounds. Yet in the general election (which under Californias top-two system featured both the leading Democrats), the 85-year-old incumbent won by more than 900,000 votes even though de Leon won 59 percent of Republicans. Voters had every opportunity to retire Feinstein. They didnt.

The odd coalition opposing Feinstein in 2018 offers a good clue about the widespread calls in California and Washington for her to go away. She has few fans these days. Republicans cannot stand her on multiple grounds but principally deplore her long identification with the cause of gun control. The Democratic left may dislike her even more for her alleged chronic centrism and anachronistic embrace of bipartisanship.

Its interesting that the Chronicle piece features a photo of Feinstein embracing Lindsey Graham at the end of the 2020 Judiciary Committee hearings on Amy Coney Barretts nomination to the Supreme Court. It was an infamous moment for her progressive critics. One of my New York colleagues commented that the hug spurred blood-red outrage streaming into my face. Certainly, it was a very bad look for any Democrat at that moment. But was it a sign of mental decline? Thats not at all clear.

The infamous hug. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Look, I cant stand the thought of affectionate personal contact with Graham either, though like the South Carolina senator, Im from a part of the country where you can hug someone hatefully (bless his heart!). But their embrace doesnt quite meet the bar for treasonous conduct that has justified expulsions in the past. If there is evidence that Feinsteins condition makes her a very real danger to herself or others, bring it on. But otherwise, let her leave office in 20 months or before that if she so chooses. Maybe some of the faux concern being directed toward Feinstein should be redirected to Iowa senator Chuck Grassley, who is less than three months younger than her and is running for an eighth six-year term as we speak.

In an era of longer life spans, its no longer easy to know the line between old and too old. In 2024, the odds are good that well have a presidential contest between an 81-year-old incumbent and a 78-year-old rival, and the winner will once again have access to the nuclear codes. Nobody is giving Feinstein the nuclear codes. Yes, as the Chronicle notes, shes in line to become president pro tempore of the Senate if Democrats maintain control of the chamber. That would put her third in the order of presidential succession, behind the vice-president and the Speaker of the House. But in 232 years, no one other than a vice-president has ascended to the presidency through the line of succession. And if the republic could survive Strom Thurmonds 12 years as president pro tempore, ending when he was 98, a couple of years of Feinstein in that post is hardly alarming.

We can all complain about having a gerontocracy (Ive done it myself) and watch for some old pol to slip and fall or have a senior moment at the microphone, like kids chortling over Uncle Bobby falling asleep at the Thanksgiving table. But personally, Ive known U.S. senators who were young and vigorous and dumb as a post and who had the attention span of a gnat. Barring some clear and attributed evidence of misconduct or dangerous behavior, we shouldnt act like old folks are spoiling some lofty senatorial atmosphere of sparkling repartee and high-minded service. So lets leave the forced-retirement moves to voters and let old folks shuffle off to the rest home when they are ready.
Rick Scott Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Imagine the chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee putting out a detailed agenda to show what his party planned to do after the 2022 midterms if they retained control of the upper chamber. Suppose the document ranted and raved about Christian homophobes, overbearing parents, piggy patriarchal anti-feminists, and corporate whores and called for defunding the police everywhere, the immediate abolition of pickup trucks, and mandatory critical race theory instruction in all schools.

Of course, that would never happen in a million years. But its only a slightly exaggerated mirror image of what Republican National Senatorial Committee chairman Rick Scott has put out there as a manifesto for his partys midterm election campaigns. His 11-Point Plan to Rescue America is like a bad parody of what liberals think conservatives stand for. And thus its no surprise that Democrats are beginning to call attention to it.

Seriously, check out this rhetoric from Scotts plan. Its like a local John Birch Society chapters keynote address from 1959:

The militant leftnow controls the entire federal government, the news media, academia, Hollywood, and most corporate boardrooms  but they want more. They are redefining America and silencing their opponents.

Among the things they plan to change or destroy are: American history, patriotism, border security, the nuclear family, gender, traditional morality, capitalism, fiscal responsibility, opportunity, rugged individualism, Judeo-Christian values, dissent, free speech, color blindness, law enforcement, religious liberty, parental involvement in public schools, and private ownership of firearms.

But bonkers as the rhetoric is, the particular proposals are worse. Scott calls for a 12-year limit on most federal employment as well as moving most Government agencies out of Washington and into the real world. He also wants to cut the IRSs funding and workforce by 50 percent and impose a new minimum income tax on Americans who currently have no net tax liability.

When Mitch McConnell heard about this, he hit the roof. If were fortunate enough to have the majority next year, Ill be the majority leader. Ill decide, in consultation with my members, what to put on the floor, McConnell told reporters last month. Let me tell you what will not be on our agenda. We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of the Republican Senate majority agenda.

But the genie was out of the bottle, and Scott doubled down in a Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he bragged that he was defying beltway cowardice. So to the extent that he is a prominent Republican senator who runs his partys 2022 campaign committee, his agenda is fair game. And Democrats are pouncing on it, as NBC News reports:

In a peek of its upcoming messaging strategy, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee recently field-tested Scotts plan with swing state voters and found strong aversion to the tax increase language as well as the idea of sunsetting all federally funded programs in five years, which would mean ending Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

The DSCC found that these elements of the Scott agenda are particularly objectionable to key groups of voters:

This message drives the largest drop in Republican vote share among voters over 65+, Latino voters, and white voters without a college degree, according to Blue Rose Research, which interviewed 2,777 voters in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin via online web panels March 25-30.

You have to figure Scott was trying to appeal to a national MAGA audience, regardless of the potential impact on the swing voters Republicans need in 2022. Perhaps he only cares about 2024 and his potential as a presidential nominee competing with his constituent at Mar-a-Lago or his own governor, Ron DeSantis.

But Republicans nationally could pay for Scotts candor about what his party really wants to do.
DUBLIN, April 15, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "ASEAN Warehousing and Distribution Logistics Market- Growth, Trends, Covid-19 Impact, And Forecasts (2022 - 2027)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The ASEAN warehousing and distribution logistics market was valued at more than USD 300 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 10.5% during the forecast period.

Since the pandemic began in early 2020, ASEAN leaders have been forced to apply social distancing measures and lockdown cities on occasion due to the spread of Covid-19. Because of the massive closures of physical stores and dwindling consumer demand, traditional retail has been put under duress.

While the epidemic has caused a period of great instability for brick-and-mortar retailers, it has also accelerated the shift to online shopping channels that were already beginning in ASEAN countries.

Due to the sheer rising e-commerce sector, the ASEAN warehousing and distribution logistics market is expected to grow rapidly throughout the forecast period. High demand from last-mile logistics and rapidly developing transportation infrastructure are driving the market's expansion.

Due to the strong presence of foreign firms and government efforts such as Adapt and Grow, Go Digital, encouraging SMEs, and the logistics industry to grow, Singapore is a major country in the ASEAN region. Due to its geographical advantage and strong freight & logistics business, Singapore is a fast-growing country in the ASEAN area. The warehouse infrastructure has been substantially funded by significant players in the country.

The pandemic has boosted warehousing demand in certain areas due rise in e-commerce sales. Throughout the pandemic, BW, Vietnam's largest industrial for-rent developer specializing in the development of warehouses and factories for rent, received a huge volume of requests.

The company's long-term development plan enabled it to efficiently seize these short-term opportunities: it built light, modern, industrial warehouses to meet expanding manufacturing demand and exploding e-commerce expansion.

Story continues

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, demand for cold storage continues to rise, forcing cold storage businesses to adapt their supply chain models.

According to an industry report, international investors are showing a lot of interest in constructing cold stores in Vietnam to take advantage of the urbanization and retail modernization processes, which will transform the way Vietnam's large cities acquire new food sources. The supply lines will be relieved in the future as a result of considerable infrastructure investment and expansion, such as the Long Thanh International Airport.

Key Market Trends

Increase in Warehousing Space in Thailand:

In Thailand, warehouses are more than just storage rooms; they also house different value-adding operations such as just-in-time packing, assembly, and product customization.

Over the last five years, Thailand has experienced a phenomenal e-commerce surge. In Bangkok, an e-commerce warehouse cluster may be found between 15 and 23 kilometers along Bang Na-Trat Road. Thailand has seen a tremendous retail market expansion in recent years, with a steady increase in organized retail or modern shopping all around the country.

The improving level of life in Thailand, as well as the country's large young population and thriving tourism industry, have all attracted a slew of foreign brands, driving up demand for warehousing services.

Insights on Effect of E-commerce Growth:

With quality items, innovation, creativity, and new customer experiences, Asean e-commerce will progress from its infancy to a more mature stage. By 2025, online shopping in ASEAN is expected to be worth USD 172 billion, or 2.8 times what it was in 2020.

In 2020, Asean had added 40 million additional internet users, bringing the total number of internet users to 70% of the region's population. ASEAN has a huge young population, and its high GDP growth has quickly expanded the middle class, which is good news for the region's retail sector, which is expected to grow at a 5% annual rate through 2025. Consumers are beginning to buy higher-priced things online with a far higher level of trust as the e-commerce business matures.

Malaysia's industrial market has been steadily growing in recent years, owing to greater e-commerce penetration rates, which have resulted in increased storage space requirements to accommodate the surge in last-mile delivery as well as the structural move towards omnichannel retailing.

International retailers are progressively developing warehouses in Malaysia to increase delivery times, customer service, and product availability. IKEA, Nestle, Tesco, Zalora, and Lazada are among the global firms investing in Malaysian distribution hubs to grow their e-commerce footprint in the country.

COVID-19 has accelerated the growth in e-retailing businesses in both the warehousing and logistics sectors, and investors are actively looking at this strong asset class as an all-time favorite investment.

Companies Mentioned

DHL Supply Chain

Ceva Logistics

CJ Century Logistics

DB Schenker

Agility

Kuehne + Nagel

Yusen Logistics

Kerry Logistics

CWT Ltd

Gemadept

Tiong Nam Logistics

Ych Group

Singapore Post

WHA Corp.

Keppel Logistics

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1vahkw

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220415005080/en/

Contacts

ResearchAndMarkets.com

Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager

press@researchandmarkets.com

For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470

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A jury has found Derrill Richard Rick Ennis guilty of the murder of Lori Ann Slesinski of Auburn.

Just before 11 a.m. on Day 10 of the capital murder trial, Judge Jacob Walker of the 37th Circuit Court of Alabama entered the courtroom of the Lee County Justice Center in Opelika and delivered the verdict. Ennis was found guilty of both counts, including capital murder burglary and capital murder kidnapping.

After the verdict was read, Lee County District Attorney Jessica Ventiere told the judge that Arlene Slesinski, Lori Ann's mother, did not want to pursue the death penalty for Ennis.

Ennis now faces life in prison without parole.

Friends and family last heard from Slesinski on June 10, 2006. Her vehicle was found engulfed in flames at the dead end of Dekalb Street in Auburn, but her body was never found. In 2016, cold case investigators picked up the case and spent 18 months working on it. Ennis was arrested in Pilot, Va., and charged with capital murder in 2018.

The 12 jury members reached the verdict Thursday morning after listening to seven days of testimony, mostly from the prosecution, as well as closing statements from both sides on Tuesday.

Jury members spent all day Wednesday deliberating, and toward the end of the day asked for a computer so they could watch footage of Slesinski at Walmart on the last day she was seen alive, and also so they could listen to a recording of a call Ennis made from jail to his former boss in Virginia.

The jury heard from Slesinskis mother, friends and co-workers; Ennis former roommates, co-workers and friends; and law enforcement officers and forensic specialists.

During closing arguments, the prosecution focused on evidence it believed showed a struggle between Ennis and Slesinski, while the defense asserted that the case was built on circumstantial evidence.

Key arguments

Slesinski was last heard from on Saturday, June 10, 2006, before she went to Walmart. She had plans to hang out with a friend that night and the next day, but she never showed up.

After she didnt come in to work that Monday and Tuesday, she was reported missing to police.

During the trial, the prosecution pointed to missing items from Slesinski's trailer, including kitchen rugs that were later found in Ennis' apartment in Huntsville and shown in court; a Galileo thermometer, which a roommate said he saw in Ennis' room in Huntsville; and the cord for a landline phone.

Police also testified that the front door was damaged and scuff marks were on the walls in the hallway, and that they found a gold loop earring in the hallway with male DNA and a stretched out coat hanger under Slesinskis bed.

The prosecution also focused on Wednesday June 14, 2006, when Slesinskis vehicle was found engulfed in flames on Dekalb Street in Auburn next to the bowling alley where Ennis had worked.

A hand-rolled cigarette was mentioned often during the trial, which the prosecution said was found at the scene of the fire, was "fresh" and tested positive for Ennis' DNA.

The defense responded in closing statements by mentioning the size and power of the firehose used at the scene to quickly extinguish the fire and saying that everything on the scene was soaking wet. The defense asserted that the cigarette wasn't wet and that it was taken from Ennis' home and admitted into evidence by investigators as being from the fire scene.

Police testified they found a gas can in the woods behind Dekalb Street, and a man who worked with Ennis said it was stolen from the bowling alley.

Police also testified that when they were interviewing Ennis on Wednesday and Thursday, they saw scratch marks on his arms and hands, and that Ennis said he didn't know how he got them. Monday in court, Ennis testified that the scratches came from playing with his dog.

The prosecution also showed a variety of items found in Ennis' car, including a knife, fur-lined handcuffs, a scrub brush and multiple types of cleaning bottle, a list that Ventiere called "a murder starter kit."

Ennis defense attorneys pointed out that there was no residue of cleaner found in Slesinskis trailer after it was inspected on Tuesday June 13, 2006.

Forensics specialists who had inspected Loris trailer testified that swabs of the interior front doorknob of Slesinskis trailer tested positive for presumptive blood and matched the DNA profile of Ennis, and that a stain on the sheets from Slesinski's bed was also tested and found to be semen with a DNA profile that matched Ennis.

Ennis told the jury while he was on the stand Monday that he and Slesinski had sex at least twice before she went missing. His defense attorney said Ennis and Slesinski were friends with benefits.

Ventiere, the district attorney, told the jury during closing statements, Its very easy to say you had consensual sex with a woman you know is dead.

The defense said that Ennis left Auburn shortly after being questioned by police because his lease was almost up.

A former roommate testified that in 2007 he saw Ennis full name on a piece of mail, Googled it and went to a chat room, and that what he saw alarmed him and he told Ennis to leave his apartment.

roommate Abram Sissons testified that he had only known Ennis as Rick, and when he saw a piece of mail addressed to his full name, he Googled it.

Sissons said he found some articles and looked in chat rooms. At this point in his testimony, Judge Jacob Walker asked Sisson and the attorneys to approach the bench.

After a discussion, Sissons returned and said that after visiting the online chat rooms he called the Alabama Bureau of Investigation and then called Ennis to tell him to leave his apartment.

After spending the night away from home, the roommate said he returned to find the apartment "trashed" and the oven turned on with a glass of liquid and burnt materials inside.

Another man, who was working with Ennis in South Carolina in 2009, said Ennis told him hed gotten into some trouble and he had to get out of Auburn. The man testified that Ennis later told him he strangled a bitch and that she was a white piece of trailer park trash.

In her closing statement, Ventiere said, I think we can all agree there should be no reward for someone whos good at dumping a body. You should not get a prize for body disposal. You should be held accountable for their murder even though you were really good at dumping it."

At the same time, the defense called into question the motives of the cold case team. The 18-month investigation was not an investigation or reinvestigation of Lori, said attorney Todd Crutchfield. It was an investigation on Rick.
Performer Lucy Stoole rallies the crowd at Waldos Forever Fest, a celebration of marijuana culture, on April 20, 2019, in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Because it is the first year since marijuana legalization without COVID-19 restrictions, upcoming April 20 events will mark the biggest cannabis celebrations yet in Illinois, organizers believe.

With 420, an informal holiday and catchphrase for cannabis, falling on a Wednesday this year, celebrations will extend from this weekend to next, much like St. Patricks Day parades in Chicago.

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The festivities come even as Cook County courts continue to prevent the opening of 185 new retail businesses, primarily owned by Black and brown investors, while litigation continues over the licensing process.

Weve still got a long way to go, said Douglas Kelly, executive director of the Cannabis Equity Coalition Illinois. He called for new licenses to be released while the courts grind through the litigation.

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Still, in recognition of legalization and 420, the coalition will celebrate the night of April 22, with a party at a location to be disclosed only to ticket holders for the event, featuring music, raffles and an auction.

The biggest bash looks to be the Waldos Forever Fest held outside Dispensary 33 in Andersonville, which will shut down Clark Street from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. April 23.

The festival will feature musical acts, drag performers, local vendors, cultivators from around the state and food trucks on Argyle Street.

A series of related events will take place throughout the city, including Trivia for Stoners at Redline VR, movie night at the Davis Theater and a run of cannabis-related comedy shorts at Annoyance Theater called Spliff, Laugh, Love.

The last previous in-person Waldos Forever Fest was in 2019. The fest is named after a group of California friends known as Waldos who, according to legend, coined 420 as a code for getting high because they would meet to smoke at 4:20 p.m. This event will be much bigger, said Abigail Watkins, Dispensary 33s marketing director.

Under state law, using cannabis is prohibited in any public place, so the gathering is not a smoke fest  but, ironically, drinking is allowed at such events, and Lagunitas Waldos Triple IPA will be sold. The event is for those 21 and older, and is free, with a suggested donation to the Cannabis Equity Coalition Illinois.

Its been a long time coming for the cannabis community to have a celebration like this in person, Watkins said.

Groups like Parents Opposed to Pot Illinois continue to oppose the hype and commercialization of marijuana, warning of downsides like addiction and driving while intoxicated. But legal weed is gaining unprecedented popularity in the state, with sales nearing $1.8 billion last year, and continuing to climb.

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One sign of that success is a new mural painted in Wrigleyville for 420. The artwork was painted near Wrigley Field by local artist Olusola Shala Akintunde, and depicts a woman lounging on a boat, enjoying the lakefront and a joint. It includes a QR code with interactive augmented reality, commissioned by the cannabis shopping website Leafly.

Illinois has an extremely low ratio of cannabis stores, with 12 stores per million people, a fraction of those in other states, making more dispensaries critical to the growth of the industry, Leafly CEO Yoko Myashita said.

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The RISE dispensary in Mundelein has opened its own consumption site, by appointment only, meant for smoking or vaping purchases on site. Edibles arent allowed because of their unpredictable effects, and each group is asked to have a designated driver who wont partake for at least a half-hour before leaving, Village Administrator Eric Guenther said.

While dispensaries will offer a variety of special deals for 420, most of the celebrations will be held at other sites, so attendees may bring their own if they choose, but they wont have legal permission to consume on site.

Hideout Chicago will host Mr. and Mrs. Weedsday Night on Wednesday, featuring comedy, music, puppets and chaos, all for $10, with proof of COVID-19 vaccination and masks required.

More celebrations are scattered throughout the city and suburbs, many at private locations disclosed only to attendees, including the Freedom Festival at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Bensenville, billed as a private smoke-friendly event.

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Preceding 420, Elevated Flair, at the Beverly Hills Art Gallery, from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, advertised a bar with wine and CBD-infusions, vendors and a smoking lounge in a separate area.

And a Puff & Poetry event is scheduled for Saturday night above Mary Jane Cafe, at 7112 S. Yates Blvd. in Chicago. Organizer Felicia Silverman, known as 3yem Genesis, said the goal is to combine poetry with a cannabis-friendly space.

Its a nonjudgment zone for people to smoke and enjoy poetry, she said. They can come as they are and relax in a safe environment.
The prosecution and Lori Ann Slesinskis mother Arlene Slesinski expressed relief and satisfaction that the jury found Derrill Richard Rick Ennis guilty of the murder of Lori Ann Slesinski of Auburn.

We are absolutely thrilled with the jurys verdict, and we are so thankful that they showed such patience throughout this entire process," said Lee County District Attorney Arlene Slesinski. "Im thrilled that we were able to bring justice for Lori after such a long time, and its nice to say that the case is closed."

Its been a difficult road, I wont lie to you, Arlene Slesinski said. But I guess God has given me the strength to persevere.

Slesinski said when she sees her daughter again it will be a joyous moment in Heaven.

I believe Lori and all her family in Heaven are celebrating today, Slesinski said.

Since Slesinski was murdered, her brother died of cancer and her father died from COVID-19.

The jury spent about eight hours total in deliberation from Wednesday morning until Thursday morning.

Just before 11 a.m. on Day 10, Judge Jacob Walker of the 37th Circuit Court of Alabama entered the courtroom of the Lee County Justice Center in Opelika and delivered the verdict.

Walker read the verdict while Ennis stood in between his two attorneys, holding his hands in front of him. As Walker announced Ennis was found guilty on both counts of capital murder, including capital murder burglary and capital murder kidnapping, Ennis remained still and stoic.

Slesinskis family left the court room hugging and crying. Ennis friends and family members who were present were shaking their heads.

After reading the verdict, Walker initially released the jury for the day, and Ennis sentence was going to be decided Friday morning. But everyone was called back to the courtroom and Lee County District Attorney Jessica Ventiere announced that Slesinskis mother had decided not to pursue the death penalty.

Ventiere said that pursuing the death penalty would have meant years and years of coming back to court for appeals. The sentence of life in prison without parole is a shorter legal process, provides closure for the family, and Arlene Slesinski had decided it was the best option, according to Ventiere.

As long as hes locked away for life, thats all that matters to me, Arlene Slesinski said. As long as he has no possibility of parole, we feel like thats the best decision. I dont want to be dragged through this for the rest of my life.

Even though Lori Slesinskis body was never found, Ventiere said they still have hope that one day she will be found so they can give her a proper burial and really lay her to rest.

When asked if Ventiere believes Ennis will ever reveal where Slesinskis body is, she said she couldnt speak for him.

Slesinski added, Hes the type of person that will never speak. Lori is in Heaven and I know that, and thats all that matters to me.

Walker then sentenced Ennis to life in prison without parole. Ennis current girlfriend sobbed and leaned on the woman sitting beside her in the courtroom.

One of Ennis attorneys, William Whatley, said hes disappointed the jury found Ennis guilty. His other attorney, Todd Crutchfield, added that they disagree with the jurys verdict, but certainly respect it.

Hes our client, hes innocent, Whatley said. The jury disagreed with that.

After the guilty verdict was decided, Whatley said Ennis asked him to go ahead and file an appeal and thats what they plan to do.

He (Ennis) didnt have much to say because, you know, of course something like that, being found guilty of a capital offence, he was kind of stoic, which is what youd imagine, Crutchfield said. It wasnt anything unusual for somebody whos just been found guilty of capital murder.

Crutchfield also said Ennis friends and family members are devastated.

They declined to speak with media after Ennis sentence was decided, but issued a statement that said, We know Rick and we know he is innocent and he has our unconditional support.

Arlene Slelinski said that over the past 16 years since her daughter went missing and the past three weeks of the trial, her life has been full of tears and anxiety while still hoping her daughter would return.

Slesinski said she tried to protect herself psychologically by holding on to the hope that her daughter would return. She said she didnt want to admit it until Mark Whitaker took on the case. Whitaker is a senior special agent with the Alabama State Bureau of Investigation.

Whitaker described Arlene Slesinski as the bravest woman hes ever known and Ventiere as the best district attorney hes ever known. He commended the entire district attorneys office for the work done on this case as well as the Auburn Police Department, specifically Chris Murray, a former sergeant of general investigation at the APD.

This is probably the best day of our career, Whitaker said.

Since Whitaker started working on the case, he said hes kept a picture of Lori Slesinski to look at every day. He said hell see her again one day.

When asked what he thought was the main factor for the jury to decide on the guilty verdict, Whitaker said the jury believed in the hard work law enforcement did and believed in how Ventiere presented the case.

I just want to thank Jessica (Ventiere), Clay (Thomas), Mark Whitaker  my hero, Arlene Slesinski said while giving Whitaker a hug. I mean, I have so many law enforcement people to thank and so many family and friends. I just cant thank yall for everything, the love and support, especially all the prayers. Thank you.
Mental Health Benefits are Important to Workers, New Survey Shows

Employers can take steps to help support workers mental health.

A new survey revealed that mental health benefits are important to many workers.

According to a survey conducted by Lyra Health, these benefits were important to 84 percent of surveyed workers. About 29 percent said that robust and comprehensive mental health benefits are very important, and 55 percent said they are somewhat important.

The survey also showed that more workers faced declined mental health. In 2021, 31 percent of workers reported that their mental health declined. In 2020, that number was 24 percent, a one-year increase of 7 percent. Of all workers surveyed, 84 percent reported they had at least one mental health challenge in 2021, and 33 percent of workers sought care.

Of those who sought care, how did workers feel about their access to care through benefits? Over 60 percent reported that it was easy or very easy.

Employers can play an important role in improving their workers mental health and safety. The survey revealed that 92 percent of employee benefits leaders said, providing mental health support for their people became a higher priority for their company in 2021, and 93 percent said they expect it to stay that way over the next three years.

How can employers work to continue supporting workers mental health? An article by Corporate Wellness Magazine provides a few suggestions:

Establish workplace structures that support mental health"

"Listen to your people and put their mental health needs first"

"Make sure your employees can access quality mental health care"

"Create an open conversation around mental health"

Learn more about the survey and results here.
Ukrainian and international experts analyzing the flows of Russian oil and tankers have identified supplies of oil from Kazakhstan, which they believe contain clandestinely loaded Russian crude, Oleg Ustenko, adviser on economic issues to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Friday.

"Experts are tracking energy supply routes, thanks to which "Russia is desperately trying to finance its military machine," according to the official website of the president of Ukraine.

The experts tracking Russian oil use a program to analyze the movements of ships, taking into account various information, including the declared cargo, route, and insurance data, as well as historical models of navigation in different weather and market conditions.

After identifying what they believe is secretly loaded Russian crude with Kazakh oil, the experts sent warnings to relevant governments and companies, as well as to Ukrainian ministries, the Ukrainian Presidential Office said.

Ukraine has been calling for weeks on governments in the EU and on the EU itself to move and sanction Russian oil, arguing that oil revenues are fueling the Russian war in Ukraine.

Crude oil exported from Kazakhstan's CPC terminal moves primarily through the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) system, which passes through Russia transporting crude oil produced in Kazakhstan to the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, the EIA says. Some crude oil produced in Russia is transported in the same pipeline as CPC grade crude oil, but it represents around 10 percent of the crude oil exported through the CPC system.

Three weeks ago, crude oil exports from the CPC terminal off the Russian Black Sea coast were halted completely after sustaining "critical" damage, the head of CPC said. The disruption in crude oil exports was the result of major storm damage and continuing bad weather. Last week, exports resumed.

The CPC pipeline carries oil from Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to export infrastructure along the Black Sea coast. Most of the crude oil carried by the CPC pipeline belongs to Russia, Kazakhstan, and international oil majors such as Chevron. It remains a vital crude oil artery for Kazakhstan, accounting for two-thirds of the country's crude oil exports.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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KYIV, Ukraine  The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russias withdrawal  most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were simply executed.

The jarring number emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines alleged assaults on Russian territory. That ominous warning followed the stunning loss of Moscows flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. defense official said Friday was indeed hit by at least one Ukrainian missile.

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Amid its threats, Moscow continues preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also continues in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional governor Oleh Sinehubov.

Around Kyiv, Andriy Nebytov, the head of the capitals regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95% died from gunshot wounds.

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Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said.

More bodies are being found every day, under rubble and in mass graves, he added. The largest number of victims were found in Bucha, where there were more than 350, he said.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha gathered and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

A Russian tank destroyed in recent fighting is seen on a road to Kyiv, Ukraine, April 15, 2022. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

More violence could be in store for Kyiv after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.

The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Russia used missiles to destroy a facility for the repair and production of missile systems in Kyiv, Konashenkov said.

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports could not be independently verified.

However, Ukrainian officials said their forces did strike a key Russian warship with missiles. A senior U.S. defense official backed up the claim, saying the U.S. now believes the Moskva was hit by at least one, and probably two, Neptune missiles. Earlier, the Pentagon said it could not confirm the cause of the large fire aboard the guided-missile cruiser. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment.

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The Neptune is an anti-ship missile recently developed by Ukraine based on an earlier Soviet design.

The Moskva, named for the Russian capital, then sank while being towed to port Thursday after suffering heavy damage. Though Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only that a fire had caused ammunition on board to detonate, the loss of the ship represents an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.

The Moskva had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles. The last time such a large warship sank in combat was 1982, when a British submarine torpedoed an Argentine navy cruiser called the ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War, killing over 300 sailors.

The sinking reduces Russias firepower in the Black Sea, although military analysts disagreed on the events significance to the course of the war. Either way, the loss was viewed as emblematic of Moscows fortunes in a seven-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following the retreat from the Kyiv region and much of northern Ukraine.

A flagship russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted Friday in a boast.

In his nightly address Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the invaders gave us a maximum of five.

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Russias warning of renewed airstrikes did not stop Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly warmer spring Friday as the weekend approached. More people than usual were out on the streets, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and strolling hand in hand.

In one central park, a small group of people including a woman draped in a Ukrainian flag danced to the music of a portable speaker.

A renewed bombardment could mean a return to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of the invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations. Tentative signs of pre-war life have resurfaced in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes.

News about the Moskva overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, which Moscows forces have blockaded since the early days of the invasion. Dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders have held out against a siege that has come at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians.

Mariupols mayor said this week that more than 10,000 civilians had died and the death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities against civilians like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv.

The Mariupol City Council said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies that were buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials of people killed by them.

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Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, the council said on the Telegram messaging app.

Fighting continues in industrial areas and the port, and Russia has for the first time used the Tu-223 long-range bomber to attack the city, said Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Mariupols capture would allow Russian forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraines eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine. Russia has recognized the independence of two rebel-held areas of the region.

Although its not certain when Russia will launch the full-scale campaign, a regional Ukrainian official said Friday that seven people died and 27 were wounded after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv. The claim could not be independently verified.

Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office, told Ukraines Suspilne news website that Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

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A large explosion also rocked the eastern city of Kramatorsk, where a missile strike on a train station a week earlier killed more than 50 people as thousands heeding warnings to evacuate the Donbas area waited to leave.

Associated Press journalists in Kramatorsk heard the sound of a rocket or missile and then the blast, followed by sirens wailing Friday. It was not immediately clear what was hit or whether there were casualties. A day earlier, a factory in the same city was hit by an airstrike.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian strikes in the Kharkiv region liquidated a squad of mercenaries from a Polish private military company of up to 30 people and liberated an iron and steel factory in Mariupol. The claims could not be independently verified.

Fisch reported from Kramatorsk. Burns reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
While lockdowns in China are causing significant demand destruction and adding downward pressure to oil prices, the EU's threat to ban Russian oil imports has the potential to send prices significantly higher.

Oilprice Alert: Our trading specialists have just released a special report on how to play today's boom in oil prices. The current run-up in commodity prices has created a generational opportunity in the energy markets. Join Global Energy Alert today and receive our 20-page research report ''5 Ways To Play The 2022 Oil Boom

Friday, April 15, 2022

Chinas descent into an almost nationwide COVID lockdown has triggered the first large-scale demand roadblock of 2022, with some 45 cities accounting for 40% of the countrys economic output being under some form of mobility curtailment. On the other hand, the European Union continues to mull banning Russian oil imports, pushing up the Brent complex even higher compared to other regional benchmarks. ICE Brent front-month futures have closed the week slightly above the $110 per barrel mark, but uncertainty regarding both supply and demand will ensure volatility in the coming days.

Henry Hub Jumps to 13-Year Highs. Boosted by an unusually small gas inventory build for this time of year and a recent drop in nationwide US output, US Henry Hub futures rose to a 13-year high of $7.3 per mmBtu, marking the strongest weekly gain since August 2020 and bringing the 2022 to-date increase to almost 100%.

Putin Warns of Energy Flow Redirection. Russias President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow will redirect its energy eastwards and build new infrastructure toward Asia, arguing that unfriendly regimes in the West are driving up prices for themselves despite their dependence on Russian flows.

Chinese Refiners Cut Rates on COVID Demand Slump. Chinas refiners are cutting refinery runs at the biggest scale since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, cutting intake by 900,000 b/d in April (equivalent to 6% of domestic demand) as the country continues to grapple with COVID lockdowns.

EU Ban on Russian Coal Ramps Up Prices. After Brussels agreed on a phased-in ban on Russian coal, the regional benchmark API2 gained some 15% week-on-week and is currently trading around $320/mt, further buoyed by the EU ban on Russian wood which will presumably add another layer of coal demand in Europe.

Texas Oil Fields Face Worst Fire Risk in a Decade. With almost 85% of Texas suffering from drought for months, leaving grasses dried and ready to burn, the US Storm Prediction Center warned that parts of West Texas are under extremely critical fire risks. This is a risk for shale fields in the Midland and Odessa basins.

Italys ENI to Boost Egyptian Gas Output. In another move destined to boost liquefied natural gas supplies going to Europe, the Italian energy giant ENI (NYSE:E)signed a deal to boost gas production in Egypt, particularly at the supergiant Zohr field, resulting in some 3 billion cubic meters of LNG exports more this year.

Singapore Probe Finds HSFO Contamination Source. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said its preliminary findings found that the chlorine-containing contaminated high-sulfur fuel oil that subsequently tainted the bunker fuel of some 200 vessels was supplied by trading firm Glencore (LON:GLEN). Related: Worlds Richest Have Taken A $400 Billion Wealth Cut Amid Ukraine Crisis

New York Attorney Probes US Gasoline Prices. New York Attorney General Letitia James has launched an investigation into whether the oil industry has engaged in gasoline price gouging, only a week after representatives of US Big Oil testified in Congress that no one company sets the price for gasoline.

New Petrobras CEO Pledges Consistency. Jose Mauro Coelho was formally elected the new CEO of Brazils state-controlled oil major Petrobras (NYSE:PBR), vowing to maintain the companys pricing policies, contradicting the Bolsonaro administrations ambition of seeing fuel prices lower.

Saudi Arabia Not Against Splitting Contentious Gas Field. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait invited Teheran to hold negotiations to determine the eastern limit of the Durra natural gas field that the two Arab Gulf monarchies wanted to develop jointly, less than a month after Iranian officials called the Saudi-Kuwaiti agreement illegal.

Germany Mulling Fourth Floating LNG Terminal. Having secured three FSRU LNG projects via German energy firms RWE (FRA:RWE) and Uniper (ETR:UN01), the German government is now considering leasing a fourth floating unit to diversify its gas supply away from Russia.

Nigeria Approves $10 Billion Fuel Subsidy. Nigerias government approved a $10 billion petrol subsidy, increasing the state subsidy tenfold as high global prices and lower production at home (annual plan downgraded to 1.6 million b/d) continue to push domestic fuel prices up.

Japan Wants More LNG Investment. Japanese companies plan to step up their investment in upstream projects for liquefied natural gas to boost offtake volumes, with the ramifications of the Russia-Ukraine war intensifying competition for spot LNG cargoes globally, forcing Asian buyers to outbid Europe.

Wind Power Overtakes Coal and Nuclear in US Power Generation. For the first time ever, wind power became the second-largest source of electricity generation in the Lower-48 states in late March, overtaking both coal and nuclear and tallying a total output rate above 2,000 GWh.

By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com

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The European Union has started drafting its proposal for an embargo on Russian oil imports as its latest response to the war in Ukraine, the New York Times reported, citing Brussels officials and diplomats.

The embargo will most likely be introduced in a gradual way, similar to the planned Russian coal embargo, to kick in this August, to give importers time to find alternative suppliers, the report noted.

Ukraine government officials have repeatedly called for a full EU embargo on Russian energy supplies. EU members have discussed direct energy sanctions despite the fact that even indirect sanctions targeting Russias financial sector have contributed to higher energy prices in Europe.

Some EU members, notably Hungary, have opposed an energy embargo, arguing that the impact on their economies would be devastating. This is perhaps the reason why Brussels is discussing a phased approach. As for alternative suppliers, OPEC has already said it would not be able to fill the gap left by embargoed Russian supply.

A week ago, the European Parliament joined the pressure campaign, calling for a full ban on Russian oil, coal, natural gas, and nuclear fuel in response to allegations about atrocities committed during what Russia calls a special military operation in Ukraine.

According to the NYTs sources, the oil embargo will only be discussed after the second round of presidential elections in France in order to avoid adversely affecting incumbent Emmanuel Macrons chances of a second term.

The commission and E.U. members have smartly shied away from defining red lines that would trigger a sanctions response since Russia attacked Ukraine, Eurasia Group director Emre Peker told the NYT.

I expect the E.U. will shy away from defining triggers, as continued escalation by Russia in eastern Ukraine and revelations from Bucha and elsewhere continue to drive momentum behind a hardening European stance. Any other major catastrophes that unfold will just add more impetus to the E.U. response, he added.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Japan announced on Friday that it would release 6 million barrels of crude oil from its private reserves as part of the International Energy Agencys plan to release 120 million barrels of crude oil to ease the price of crude.

Japan is set to release a total of 15 million barrels as part of the IEAs stockpile release. The remaining 9 million barrels will come from Japans state reserves, although Japan has not yet disclosed the timing and method of release.

Japan will achieve the 6 million barrel release by letting local refiners reduce their private stockpiles by three days worth of domestic demandleaving the refiners with a new requirement of 63 days. The shift in reserve requirements will be valid from April 16 to October 18.

According to Reuters, Japan had 470 million barrels of crude in reserves at the end of January, or 236 days worth, which includes both state-held reserves as well as privately held reserves.

Japans biggest refiner, Eneos Holdings, halted crude oil purchases from Russia weeks ago, although some cargoes of Russian crude purchased earlier are finally making their way to Japan now. Idemitsu Kosan also halted Russian crude purchases, citing logistics and payment disruptions due to sanctions.

Prior to the invasion, Japan imported a little more than 4% of imported crude oil from Russia.

The IEA agreed earlier in April to release the second batch of crude oil from members stockpiles. Half of the 120 million barrels agreed to is set to come from the United States.

Brent crude is still trading above $111 per barrel despite the announced release, while WTI is trading over $106 as the EU works on a plan to stop purchases of Russian crude oil in the coming months.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Natural gas prices hit the highest level in thirteen years last week and, while the coal price rally was partly to blame, rising LNG exports played a part.

Biden has already committed to sending an additional 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas exports to the EU this year, a move that sent prices higher.

Europe is determined to wean itself off Russian natural gas following Putins decision to invade Ukraine, and U.S. LNG is one of the major alternatives.

Meet Europe, the newest and unlikeliest star on the LNG stage. Europe recently had to reconsider its emissions-cutting ambitions in light of the danger of an unprecedented energy crunch. U.S. natural gas producers are only too happy to help. Cue worries about a domestic shortage.

European Union governments have been discussing for weeks ways to cut their reliance on Russian oil and gas.

There have been claims that the EU can make it through the summer even if gas imports from Russia are cut because there is enough gas in storage. Still, Brussels has stopped short of imposing an embargo on Russian gas, with Germany admitting it cannot afford one.

There have been plans to reduce the overwhelming dependence on Russian gas by urgently finding alternative suppliers, including pipeline gas from North Africa and Central Asia, and liquefied natural gas from Qatar and the United States. And the United States has been eager to help.

President Biden pledged an additional 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas exports to the European Union this year in the form of LNG, while the EU pledged to create the demand for 50 billion cubic meters annually of U.S. LNG "until at least 2030".

Before the mutual pledges, Europe had already become the largest buyer of U.S. LNG at the start of this year, taking in a record 12.5 billion cubic meters in the form of the super-chilled fuel. But there is a problem. Demand, especially from Europe, is set to rise sharply this year: Wood Mac expects European LNG to add 25 metric tons by the end of 2022. Global supply, on the other hand, is seen adding 17 million tons.

The signs of this imbalance are already visible in the United States. Last week, natural gas prices hit the highest level in 13 years, and while some analysts blamed it on the coal price rally, record LNG exports certainly contributed to the trend.

Natural gas prices are "sensitive to any near-term supply concerns created by events like a ban on Russia coal exports, abnormally cold weather," Tortoise portfolio manager Rob Thummel told MarketWatch last week. But perhaps more importantly, U.S. natural gas stocks have fallen.

For the week ending April 1, the Energy Information Administration reported that national natural gas stocks were 17 percent below the five-year seasonal average. The agency noted that stocks of working gas were within the five-year average, and yet prices continued to rise.

Related: Chinese Refiners Cut Output At An Alarming Rate

Reuters' John Kemp noted in a recent column that U.S. natural gas stocks ended the winter of 2021-2022 at a three-year low of 1.382 trillion cubic feet. Working stocks, he also reported, were 19 percent below the pre-pandemic five-year average for the start of April. And all that was because of higher exports.

Summer is normally a lower-demand season, so prices may stabilize at more palpable levels while U.S. exports to Europe remain high, provided Europe has freed up space for the incoming gas. But then exports are likely to remain strong as the northern hemisphere heads into the winter of 2022-2023.

Sanctions against Russia will still be in place; the EU and the U.S. have made this clear, regardless of how the war in Ukraine develops over the next six or so months. If anything, by then, there will be more sanctions, possibly ones that directly target the country's hydrocarbons industry besides coal. And this suggests that the supply-and-demand situation with natural gas in the U.S. may become tighter.

Earlier this month, U.S. shale gas and LNG producers met with delegations from several EU member states eager to boost their purchases of U.S. liquefied gas. This eagerness could be crucial for final investment decisions on new LNG export capacity. But besides the eagerness, gas producers would need substantial long-term commitments in order for these projects to make economic sense.

Most of the eager LNG importers are quite small gas consumers, such as Latvia and Bulgaria. Others that took part in the meetings, such as Germany and France, on the other hand, are worthy future clients, despite renewable energy plans that may compromise their worth over the longer term.

Indeed, the industry itself said as much: "The capacity challenges in 2022 are great, but the opportunities in a few years are really terrific," said Fred Hutchinson, the chief executive of trade body LNG Allies, on the sidelines of the meetings.

These opportunities are not in Europe only, either. Asia is eager to reduce its pollution levels, and it is investing billions in gas import infrastructure, Tortoise senior portfolio manager Matt Sallee said this week during a regular podcast.

"The projects target using primarily US gas to reduce Asia's dependence on coal which cuts CO2 over 50%, a critical tool to achieving global emissions goals," Sallee said, noting, "As you can imagine the majority of investment is in China where over 30 LNG import terminals are under construction. The bottom line is between reducing Russian dependence for Europe and coal dependence for Asia an absolutely massive call on US gas exists over the next several years."

In all likelihood, therefore, we will be seeing more LNG export capacity coming on stream in the United States over the next few years. The problem is that during these years, prices for the commodity may remain higher than comfortable at home as demand from abroad runs high production tries to catch up with it. In other words, we may well see a repeat of the higher-for-longer scenario we are already seeing in crude oil.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Higher demand for heating and record LNG exports left U.S. natural gas in storage at the end of the winter at its lowest level in three years, after larger-than-normal storage withdrawals this past winter, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Friday.

Because of the higher withdrawals, by the end of March, the U.S. had the least amount of natural gas in underground storage in the Lower 48 states since 2019.

Working natural gas in underground storage facilities in the Lower 48 states totaled 1,387 billion cubic feet (Bcf) as of the last day of March this year. Inventories were 17 percent lower than the previous five-year average (201721) for that time of year, EIAs Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report showed on Thursday.

A colder January 2022 and record-high U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports led to more withdrawals despite the fact that domestic production of natural gas increased, the EIA says.

The U.S. is exporting record volumes of LNG as the United States looks to help European allies with non-Russian gas supply.

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union and the United States announced at the end of March a deal for more U.S. LNG exports to the EU as the latter seeks to replace Russian supplies, on which it is dependent. According to the terms of the deal, the United States will deliver at least 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas to the EU this year more than previously planned, the White House said in a fact sheet.

Earlier this month, U.S. shale gas and LNG producers met with delegations from several EU member states eager to boost their purchases of U.S. LNG. This eagerness could be crucial for final investment decisions on new LNG export capacity.

Record LNG exports out of the U.S. have sent the benchmark Henry Hub front-month futures to above $7 per per million British thermal units (MMBtu) this week, after the price hit $6/MMBtu just last week.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Almost 70 percent of Britons believe that not using Russian oil and gas in the UK is the right thing to do after Russias invasion of Ukraine, even if not using Russian energy products raises their energy bills even further, a new poll showed on Friday.

Days after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine, the UK said that it would phase out Russian oil imports by the end of this year and that Russian gas accounts for less than 4 percent of Britains supply. At the time of the announcement in early March, Russian imports accounted for 8 percent of total UK oil demand, but the UK is also a significant producer of both crude oil and petroleum products, in addition to imports from a diverse range of reliable suppliers beyond Russia including the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, and the United States, the UK government said.

In a poll for inews.co.uk by BMG Research, 69 percent of Britons say stopping the use of Russian energy products is the right thing to do, even if their bills may rise more. UK households already saw a major hike in energy prices as of April 1, when the so-called cap on energy prices was raised.

Asked what extra help the UK could provide to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia, 62 percent of Britons say provide more medical supplies, 58 percent support more UK sanctions on Russian oligarchs and businesses, and 51 percent would support the UK sending more military equipment to Ukraine, including vehicles and weapons.

In the wake of the Russian war in Ukraine, the UK is reconsidering its energy strategy and is leaving all options on the table to boost its domestic oil and gas supply and reduce dependence on foreign energy. The UK could even reconsider its 2019 moratorium on fracking.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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A potential EU embargo on Russian oil imports may be in the works, but drafting and preparing for such a ban would likely take several months, AFP reported on Friday, quoting European officials.

EU ministers and officials have started to discuss a possible embargo, and although many EU members now support such a move, othersincluding Germanycontinue to oppose a ban on Russian oil imports into Europe.

Following the footage of atrocities of Russian troops in Ukraine, the EU adopted a ban on imports of Russian coal last week. The embargo, however, will not go into effect until August 2022. The delayed embargo will give EU member states time to find enough alternative supplies.

As discussions about the next sanctions package now focus on banning Russian oil, EU officials tell AFP that a potential embargo could be months away.

Adopting measures on oil means undoing existing contracts, finding alternatives and preventing circumvention, an EU official involved in the talks told AFP, and added: That cant be dont overnight. It requires at least several months.

Some top EU officials, as well as many EU members, including the Baltic states and Poland, have called for oil to be the next step in punishing Vladimir Putin for the war in Ukraine.

Announcing the proposal to ban Russian coal, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a speech last week:

Yes, we have now banned coal. But now, we have to look into oil and we will have to look into the revenues that Russia gets from the fossil fuels.

However, Europe is split on an immediate oil embargo, with the biggest economyGermanynot willing to go for it, for now, saying an oil ban would plunge Germany, and Europe, into a deep recession.

On Wednesday, a German government spokesman reiterated Germanys position that it currently is against an EU ban on Russian oil.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The German economy minister has called on people to save energy in order to put pressure on Russia by reducing the country's consumption of gas imported from the newest addition to the world's pariah state list.

The specific recommendations made by Robert Habeck include less driving and greater use of public transport and trains.

"Every kilometer not driven is a contribution to making it easier to get away from Russian energy supplies. We are also protecting the climate," Habeck said, as quoted by Reuters.

Another suggestion the German economy minister made was for employers to offer their employees remote work on some days of the week. By staying at home, people would use less energy for transport.

"Wherever possible, one could work from home one or two days a week again - initially on a voluntary basis," Habeck said.

Another suggestion was for people to cycle or take the train instead of driving.

Habeck also said that with measures like this, it would be possible to reduce Germany's energy consumption by as much as 10 percent. Germany is among the largest gas importers in Europe, and Russia is its biggest supplier.

In December 2021, Russia had a share of 32 percent in German gas imports, followed by Norway with 20 percent and the Netherlands with 12 percent. Domestic gas consumption for the year totaled some 100 billion cu m, but imports topped 140 billion cu m.

Germany has been among the most vocal opponents to the war in the Ukraine, which has put the biggest economy in the European Union in a difficult position of a critic heavily dependent on the object of its criticism.

Despite this dependence, discussions are ongoing about an embargo on Russian oil and gas supplies to the EU, even though Germany has admitted it cannot readily afford to cut off imports suddenly.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Japan will increase investments in the production of liquefied natural gas abroad to secure supply, the country's industry minister said today.

"Russia's invasion of Ukraine has intensified competition for purchasing LNG, raising concerns about stable supply of the fuel for Japan," Koichi Hagiuda told media, as quoted by Reuters.

"The government needs to come to the forefront to secure LNG through cooperation with the private sector," the top official added.

Hagiuda also noted that global investment in liquefied natural gas production had declined amid efforts to decarbonize economies even though demand, especially in Asia, was on the increase.

While its demand for LNG grows, however, Asia has witnessed increased competition for the commodity from Europe amid the energy crunch and uncertainty about future supplies amid the growing alienation between the EU and Russia over Ukraine.

The latest developments pushed LNG prices even higher, dampening Asian demand for the superchilled fuel.

Europe is now the top destination of record-high U.S. LNG exports, while price-sensitive developing economies in the Asia Pacific are steering clear of the spot market and switching to coal and oil products as the price of LNG is unsustainable for them.

Japan, meanwhile, remains one of the top destinations for Russian liquefied natural gas. The country has stakes in two projects there, Sakhalin-1 and Sakhalin-2, and has said it had no intention of following Western supermajors and ending its presence in Russian energy.

These projects "are essentially important for energy security because the projects allow Japan to procure supplies below the market price, especially amid current high energy prices," Hagiuda said earlier this week, as quoted by Natural Gas Intelligence.

Nikkei Asia reported this month that if Japan exits Sakhalin-2, it could end up paying some 33 percent more for LNG imports annually. Japan is the biggest LNG importer globally in terms of capacity, with over 227 million tons annually.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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The UK will have enough gas to meet demand this summer and could sell more supplies to Europe due to low storage levels on the continent, revealed National Grid in its annual summer outlook.

It expects higher UK gas demand in the six months between April and September 2022 compared to last year  forecasting demand at 34bn cubic meters (bcm) compared to 31.9bcm in the same period last year.

Demand is very much in line with supply, chiefly from the North Sea and Norway, which is forecast at 34 bcm compared to 31.5 bcm last year.

The UK has pledged to phase out Russian oil and coal imports, and Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is considering a similar ban on Kremlin-backed gas supplies.

Currently, the UK gets around three percent of its gas from Russia, while the European Union (EU) relies on Russia for 40 percent of its needs.

National Grid suggested the UK would be in a position to provide supplies to the trading bloc, which is vulnerable to escalating geopolitical tensions.

The UK can export gas to Europe via interconnectors, and National Grid expects UK average exports to Europe at 5.4 bcm, up from 0.7 bcm last summer period.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree ordering foreign buyers to pay for gas shipments in roubles instead of euros or face going without Russian supplies.

Buyers would have to open up a Gazprombank account which would convert the currency prior to the transaction into roubles.

Most European buyers have refused to do this, prompting concerns about supply.

National Grid explained: This uncertainty, coupled with high gas prices and low EU storage, means that higher volumes of gas from alternative sources may be required to refill EU storage to minimum levels in preparation for winter 2022/23.

European storage levels ended the winter season at the end of March at 26.5 bcm, below the five-year average.

The EU has since committed to maintaining storage levels at 90 percent across the continent heading into this winter.

By CityAM

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A 14-year-old boy shot dead in the Homan Square neighborhood tried to warn his companion before shots rang out Thursday afternoon, police said.

Maleek Smith was with a male companion shortly after 2 p.m. at Polk Street and Lawndale Avenue when they encountered a shooter and had a brief interaction with the assailant, according to a Chicago police report.

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Maleek told his companion to Run! and they both raced north on Lawndale, when the companion heard gunshots and saw Maleek fall to the ground, according to the report.

Chicago police investigate on the 3600 block of West Flournoy Street, a couple of blocks from the fatal Homan Square shooting of a 14-year-old boy on April 14, 2022. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

The companion found someone to call 911; when officers and paramedics got there, Maleek, of the Homan Square neighborhood, was pronounced dead at 2:18 p.m., according to the report and the Cook County medical examiners office.

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An autopsy Friday determined Maleek died of a gunshot wound to the back and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiners office.

No one was in custody.

tmijares@chicagotribune.com
Some of Russias natural gas customers have agreed to pay in rubles for Russian gas, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Friday.

Last month, Vladimir Putin said that unfriendly nations should pay in rubles for natural gas.

Russia had set a March 31 deadline for the countries it considers hostileincluding the United States, all EU member states, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, South Korea, Japan, and many othersto start paying in rubles for natural gas.

The EU has rejected Putins demands for payments in rubles, while Russia did not immediately cut off the gas supply to Europe after April 1, partly because it is dependent on revenues from gas and partly because payments for gas delivered after April 1 are not due until later this month or early May.

The Kremlin has signaled the gas-for-rubles demand is just the beginning of a switch to the Russian currency for Russian exports.

We expect the decision [to switch to rubles] from other importers, Novak was quoted by Reuters as saying at an energy ministry in-house magazine.

The Russian official, however, did not disclose which buyers had agreed to pay in rubles for gas.

Armenia, for example, has already started paying in rubles for Russian gas, Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan told Russian outlet RBC in an interview published on Friday. According to the Armenian minister, the pricing of the gas is being made in U.S. dollars, but the actual payment is now being made in Russian rubles.

In the EU, Hungarywhose Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been in close ties with Putin for a decadesaid last week that it was ready to pay in rubles for Russian natural gas. With comments from officials over the past week, Hungary has broken ranks with the EU, which has been seeking to present a unified front in the face of Putins demands for rubles for Russian gas.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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An Easter miracle has occurred in Ukraine as a baby hare, who has been named Vuhana (Ears), was been rescued from a fire in the village of Iva
A group of friends gathered at a Motel 6 hotel room near 84th Street and Interstate 80 for a party.

Also present on Sept. 4, 2020, were an assortment of illegal drugs and a stolen handgun. Drugged up on Xanax, ecstasy and LSD, 20-year-old Mason Beaverson handled the gun, at one point aiming it at someone. Partygoers told him to stop.

Then, Beaverson pointed the gun at 17-year-old Evan Latto, who himself had ingested methamphetamine, opioids and marijuana, and pulled the trigger. Latto was killed.

Douglas County District Judge Timothy Burns said Thursday that the tragic events of that night show that guns and drugs dont mix.

This was a preventable accident, Burns said. Theres no question you didnt mean to kill (Latto) ... but youll be forever responsible for his death.

Under Burns sentencing order, Beaverson will be eligible to leave prison in less than a year and must be released in less than 3 years.

Lattos parents didnt think the sentence was long enough.

Brooke Latto uttered a profanity after the judges ruling.

And Brad Latto added: I dont think its fitting at all.

Beaverson, now 22, initially was charged with second-degree murder. In March, he pleaded no contest to amended charges of manslaughter and possession of a stolen firearm. In exchange for the deal, prosecutors also dropped two additional gun and drug charges.

Beaverson had faced a maximum of 20 years in prison on each charge. Burns gave him 5 to 10 years on the manslaughter charge and 2 to 4 years on the gun charge, but he ruled that the sentences would run at the same time. That meant Beaverson will serve 2 to 5 years, following state law that generally cuts sentencings in half. Beaverson already had spent 586 days in jail counting toward that time.

Abbi Romshek, an assistant Douglas County public defender, said Beaverson called Latto a friend and a cousin and would give him food, a phone charger or money for a hotel room when needed.

But Beaverson lacked the maturity to make good decisions, Romshek argued, because of how young adults brains develop, meaning Beaverson had difficulty saying no and thinking through the long-term consequences of his actions.

A friend had asked Beaverson to hold the gun because the friends mother wanted it out of the house, Romshek said. In addition, Beaverson had addiction issues and faced related drug charges  just a week before Lattos death, he had pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance. Two days before, hed had a hearing in adult drug court.

After Latto died, Romshek said, Beaverson couldnt sleep or eat in jail and was overwhelmed by flashbacks.

Hes already created a psychological prison for himself, Romshek said. Peace is not found in punishing others.

At that, Brooke Latto shook her head.

She told the judge that while she acknowledged Latto shouldnt have been at the party, she said the shooting wasnt an accident.

When you take a loaded gun and you pull it, thats intent, she said. He took away my future, my everything. ... His family gets to have him come home. I dont.

Shawn Hagerty, a Douglas County prosecutor, asked for a sentence closer to the maximum because of Beaversons inability to accept that he had made decisions that led to Lattos death  he continued to use drugs, he took possession of a firearm, he brought it to a party and he pulled the trigger.

He doesnt acknowledge that this was something that was in his control, Hagerty said. His choices resulted in someones death, and theres no more serious outcome than taking someones life.

The case is similar to a March incident involving a local teen who fatally shot his friend, except in that case officials have said alcohol instead of drugs was involved.

Blake Miller, 18, faces a manslaughter charge in connection with the March 12 death of his friend Tanner Farrell, 18. Miller was scheduled to appear in court this coming Monday, but waived that preliminary hearing Thursday and will be scheduled for trial.

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Demolition crews start work on the fire-damaged Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago's Englewood neighborhood on April 20, 2022. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Torchell McFarland was on her way home Friday afternoon when her phone began blowing up.

McFarland, a Sunday school teacher at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, learned her church, her foundation, was burning. She rushed over.

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Its been a part of my childhood, my upbringing, my identity of who I am, said a stunned McFarland. It shaped me.

McFarland, 40, has been a member of the church since 1991 and was a Sunday school teacher there for eight years.

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The church was just getting back to in-person services and Sunday school sessions after the pandemic.

McFarland said the children were excited to participate in this Sundays services. Easter celebrations are always a big deal, she said.

This was going to be the first Easter to be able to be in service, she said. So its hurtful that we wont be able to celebrate all together again this year.

The church has been there for generations of families, McFarland said.

Its been a big part of the community for so long, she said. And its been steady, its been the one non-changing thing. You can always count on it to be here. But now, what will that look like now?

No injuries were reported and the extra-alarm blaze, a 3-11, at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, 6248 S. Stewart Ave., was under control as of 4:05 p.m., according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford, who was on the scene.

The roofs gone, Langford said. Itll be an extensive if not total loss.

Antioch church. Heavy fire. Roof is in. Loss will be extensive pic.twitter.com/tXyOgs1k7G  Chicago Fire Media (@CFDMedia) April 15, 2022

Crews burst into the church after seeing heavy, dark smoke and flames, but it became too dangerous for them and as of 3 p.m. they had been evacuated, Langford said.

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Moments after crews got out, the roof collapsed.

Smoke thats dark in color, rather than white or gray, alerts firefighters that its a dangerous blaze with possible combustive materials.

The last service was held at noon, said Langford, who added everyone was out of the building as of 1 p.m.

We had no reports or people trapped, Langford said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a Twitter thread said her thoughts are with the congregation and the firefighters who put out the blaze.

Antioch is an anchor in Englewood, and I hope those impacted will find solace in their vibrant church community and their faith, the tweet said.

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My thoughts are with the congregation and the brave firefighters who worked to put out the blaze at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church.



Antioch is an anchor in Englewood, and I hope those impacted will find solace in their vibrant church community and their faith.   Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot (@chicagosmayor) April 16, 2022

Lightfoot said shes grateful for the firefighters actions, and that the city owes Chicago firefighters a tremendous debt of gratitude.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor, 20th, also shared her thoughts about the fire on Twitter, saying the church will rebuild.

Although this is a sad day, we should remember that of all days on Good Friday miracles are possible. We know our friends at Antioch Missionary Baptist will rebuild from the ashes, and we will do all we can to help make that happen   Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor (@taylorfor20th) April 15, 2022

Around 4 p.m., about 30 onlookers, including McFarland, stood outside near the church watching as firefighters put out the remaining flames and a light, sprinkling rain started to fall

Just to see it in this state is very shocking, its devastating, McFarland said. Its like a piece of your family.

Water from four aerial hoses was still dousing the large building at about 5 p.m. and ashes could be seen scattered along the track and on some of the football field of the Urban Prep Academys Englewood Campus, 6201 S. Stewart Ave.

Gerald Dew, pastor of the church for 21 years, learned of the blaze when a congregant called him, he said shortly before 5 p.m.

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I see new opportunities, Dew said. Its Good Friday. Jesus died on Good Friday, but he arose on Sunday. So if theres a loss of a facility for us on a Friday then theres also a new building in our future.

Dews next steps are to gather his members and make a plan for Easter Sunday celebrations, which will still happen.

We will worship and we will celebrate and we will praise the Lord, he said of Sunday.

As Dew stood in front of the church, four fire trucks continued to work on the smoldering blaze behind him.

I think it gives us greater reason to hope and trust in God, Dew said.
Nearly 2,000 Omaha Public Schools students will be walking through the doors of four new schools come August.

The district is shifting into the last phases of construction on two new high schools and two elementary schools as students are learning which ones they will be assigned to, depending on their home address.

Three of the four schools are located in South Omaha or Bellevue: Pine Elementary, at 10th and Pine Streets; Forest Station Elementary, at Fort Crook and Childs Roads; and Buena Vista High School, at 60th and L Streets. The fourth, Westview High School, is located at 156th and Ida Streets in west Omaha and south of Bennington.

OPS officials detailed construction updates Thursday during a tour of Pine Elementary.

The three-story elementary school will welcome about 300 students for the 2022-23 year, though it has the capacity to hold 450, said Charles Wakefield, chief operations officer for OPS.

When people visit Pine Elementary, they will find a secure entryway that leads to an open office with large windows to let in natural lighting. To the left is an outdoor patio that will be used as a classroom, and farther into the building is a parent-family room that can be used for meetings.

A wood-paneled wall stands near the office, built by remnants of the chapel once used by Grace University, a private Christian college that once sat at the Pine Elementary location. It halted operations in 2018.

We kept their gym and part of their building, got the rest of the building down to dirt and rebuilt the entire thing to build a great school for this community and a great school for our parents, Wakefield said.

The lowest level holds early childhood education classes, which were intentionally built into a storm shelter to limit the need to move younger students in a case of bad weather.

Classrooms are also equipped with large windows, along with new furniture and technology. Wakefield said district officials specifically chose furniture that can be sat on different ways, such as a chair that can be turned around to be sat on backward.

Stools and chairs can be sat on differently for modern learning, fidgeting kids, he said. The classrooms also all have sinks and mobile technology to impact kids as they go.

Wakefield said many of Pine Elementarys key features are incorporated in the design of the three other schools. Each schools design was also presented to community members and altered based on feedback. For example, people wanted contractors to keep the trees outside the entrance of Pine Elementary, and the district granted the request.

The schools are being funded by a $409.9 million bond measure approved by voters in 2018. The bond issue also includes a fifth new school  Bluestem Middle at 42nd and Y Streets, scheduled to be completed in August 2023  along with renovations to 25 existing schools around the district.

Wakefield said three of the four schools opening this year are in South Omaha because thats where the district has the most capacity problems.

That is where we have very tight classrooms, he said.

Castelar Elementary is one of the nearby schools that Pine Elementary will pull students from, along with Bancroft Elementary. Castelars current principal, Adriana Vargas, will be the principal of Pine this fall.

Vargas said shes been preparing for her new position by interviewing teachers who will be staffing Pine and developing ideas for decorating the building.

Ive been working with Bancroft Elementary as well and kind of visiting them, getting them familiar with my face as they transition to Pine Elementary, she said.

Denzzel Diaz, a current Castelar fourth grade student who will move to Pine for fifth grade, said hes most excited about meeting the teachers and students when he comes to the new school this fall.

Mrs. Vargas told me that this gym is, like, four of Castelars gym stacked together, he said.

Vargas said shes excited to develop her own school and give staff and students a fresh start.

Its always nice to have a fresh start, a new beginning, Vargas said. A new kind of goal is what we want our students to achieve. Its all about them ... and what is best for our students. And so kind of planning for that is always very exciting.

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An Air Force pilot accelerates the E-4B Nightwatch jumbo jet down Offutt Air Force Bases single runway, following the bend in the Missouri River as it soars into a blue Midwest sky.

Once at altitude, the pilot lines up with the boom of a KC-135 aerial tanker, slurping up thousands of gallons of fuel to power a long training mission.

Flights just like that have taken place for years, ever since the Air Force first fielded the E-4Bs as a National Airborne Operations Center in the mid-1970s.

Now, for the first time, those training flights are taking place virtually, in a newly refurbished simulator at a warehouse in La Vista. About 40 Air Force officers and civilians gathered Thursday morning for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the new CymSTAR Training Center simulator facility.

Were going to usher in a new age for the E-4 community, said Maj. Gen. Andrew Gebara, commander of the Louisiana-based Eighth Air Force and the Joint Global Strike Operations Center, who oversees the E-4 mission.

The four-engine jets have earned the nickname the Doomsday plane because one of their chief missions is to maintain communications between military commanders and units in the field in the event of a nuclear war.

The plane also has several classified missions and is used to carry the Secretary of Defense on official trips, said Col. Brian Golden, commander of the Offutt-based 595th Command and Control Group, which operates the fleet of four E-4Bs.

The flying command center has seating for up to 112 people in six sections. Its controls and communications suite have been hardened to withstand an electromagnetic pulse, a damaging burst of radiation.

At all times, Golden said, one of the planes is airborne and a second is on the ground, its crew alert to take off within minutes. He called it the foundation for (nuclear) deterrence for our country.

But until now, the 595th has never had a dedicated simulator for E-4B flight crews. Instead they have traveled to Denver or Miami to use commercial flight simulators for the Boeing 747-200, a civilian version of the E-4B.

By having this trainer here, it is so much more convenient, said Dan Marticello, a retired Air Force colonel who is CymSTARs CEO. It will increase the pace of training, the amount of training, and it will increase our readiness.

Though similar, the 747-200 was not an exact match for the E-4B. The flight engineers stations for the military and civilian models are considerably different, Gebara said. And E-4B crews could not practice aerial refueling  a critical skill for military pilots  in civilian simulators.

As a result, about 80-90% of pilot training is currently done in the jets and 10-20% in the simulator, Golden said. With the CymSTAR facility opening so close to Offutt, those figures will be reversed.

Thats a huge cost savings, he said. The E-4B costs $147,000 an hour to fly, more than any other Air Force jet. Simulator time costs only a few hundred dollars an hour.

At $16 million, that makes the simulator look like a bargain.

In just over a quarter year, Ill save the entire cost, Golden said.

Its not clear why the Air Force had not previously purchased a simulator for an aircraft that performs such a critical mission. But the 595th was able to get one now because 747-200s have nearly disappeared from the skies. None of the worlds airlines still fly them.

The Air Force purchased the simulator from Kalitta Air, a Michigan-based cargo carrier, which stopped flying 747-200s in 2017.

It has been rebuilt as a true E-4B simulator, with an accurate flight engineers station and the capability to practice aerial refueling. It also has state-of-the-art visuals and upgraded computer systems to meet Defense Department cybersecurity standards.

They did a good job. Its perfect. It looks like an E-4B, Golden said.

He said flight crews will begin using it in June, though a few pilots  including Gebara  tried it out after the ribbon-cutting Thursday.

The simulator comes online as the Air Force prepares to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the airborne command post mission. It was originally flown by EC-135 jets until the larger E-4s took over in the 1970s.

Formerly part of the Offutt-based 55th Wing, the mission transferred to the new 595th Command and Control Group in 2016.

The following year, an EF-1 tornado struck the Offutt flight line and damaged two of the E-4Bs, causing $8.3 million in damage. Then in 2019, the 595ths hangar was damaged and its alert facility destroyed in a devastating flood.

The units leadership now works out of the Riggs Building, formerly the home of U.S. Strategic Command and now the headquarters of the 55th Wing.

Flight and maintenance operations currently take place in temporary facilities at the Lincoln Airport during a two-year project to rebuild Offutts runway. A new permanent alert facility for the 595th is expected to be built in about five years.

The unit is also preparing for the retirement of its aircraft in the late 2020s, though the Air Force hasnt yet selected the model that will replace the venerable E-4Bs.

Its been a tumultuous time for a unit whose readiness the nation depends on.

Were supposed to be calm, in the background, always ready, Golden said. Were reliable for everyone.

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Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russia's withdrawal  most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were "simply executed.

The jarring number emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines alleged assaults on Russian territory. That ominous warning followed the stunning loss of Moscow's flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. defense official said Friday was indeed hit by at least one Ukrainian missile.

Amid its threats, Moscow continued preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also went on in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional Gov. Oleh Sinehubov.

Around Kyiv, Andriy Nebytov, the head of the capital's regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95% died from gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said.

It's not over: COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in US

Yet again, the U.S. is trudging into what could be another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline.

One big unknown? We dont know how high that mountains gonna grow, said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University.

No one expects a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population.

But experts warn that the coming wave  caused by a mutant called BA.2 thats thought to be about 30% more contagious  will wash across the nation. They worry that hospitalizations, which are already ticking up in some parts of the Northeast, will rise in a growing number of states in the coming weeks. And the case wave will be bigger than it looks, they say, because reported numbers are vast undercounts as more people test at home without reporting their infections or skip testing altogether.

At the height of the previous omicron surge, reported daily cases reached into the hundreds of thousands. As of Thursday, the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases rose to 39,521, up from 30,724 two weeks earlier, according to data from Johns Hopkins collected by The Associated Press.

Ukrainian mom's pain at watching daughter's burial on phone

LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Viktoria Kovalenko bore witness to the death of her husband and elder daughter when their car was hit by a shell in northern Ukraine.

By the time her loved ones got a proper funeral, she was 500 kilometers away, able to watch the burial only on a cellphone video sent to her by relatives.

Even in the relative peace of Lviv, a city little touched by violence in the war with Russia, it was an ordeal she couldnt endure.

Tears do not let me watch until the end, she said as she played the video in a wooded area where she was pushing her one year-old daughter Varvara in a stroller.

In early March, Kovalenko and her family were in their car, fleeing the area of the city of Chernihiv, one of the war's most intensely besieged.

Twitter adopts 'poison pill' defense in Musk takeover bid

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a poison pill defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musks proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private.

The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders  except for Musk  to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musk's stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition.

Twitters plan would take effect if Musks roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

The poison pill injects another twist into a melodrama surrounding the possibility of the worlds richest person taking over a social media platform he described Thursday as the world's de facto town square.

Twitter said its plan would reduce the likelihood that any one person can gain control of the company without either paying shareholders a premium or giving the board more time to evaluate an offer. Such defenses, formally called shareholder rights plans, are used to prevent the hostile takeover of a corporation by making any acquisition prohibitively expensive for the bidder.

Texas halts truck inspections that caused border gridlock

AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday repealed his traffic-clogging immigration order that backed up commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border, after a week of intensifying backlash and fears of deepening economic losses.

The Republican governor dropped his new rules that had required all commercial trucks from Mexico to undergo extra inspections to curb the flow of migrants and drugs and ratcheted up a fight with the Biden administration over immigration policy.

Some truckers reported waiting more than 30 hours to cross. Others blocked one of the world's busiest trade bridges in protest.

Abbott, who is up for reelection in November and has made the border his top issue, fully lifted the inspections after reaching agreements with neighboring Mexican states that he says outline new commitments to border security. The last one was signed with the governor of Tamaulipas, who earlier this week said the inspections were overzealous and created havoc. On Friday, he joined Abbott and said they were ready to work together.

When Abbott first ordered the inspections, he did not say lifting them was conditional on such arrangements with Mexico.

Officer's camera misses key moment of Patrick Lyoya's death

Body camera footage of Patrick Lyoyas fatal encounter with a Michigan police officer shows a close-up view of an intense struggle, but the video goes dark 42 seconds before the officer shoots the Black man in the head.

Its the latest high-profile case in which body cameras  touted as tools to hold police accountable  have failed, leaving prosecutors and the public to rely on bystander video for a clearer picture of what happened.

One expert said vendors could make changes to avoid accidental camera deactivations, though it's not clear that is what happened in Lyoya's case, and some activists said an accident seems unlikely. Regardless, Lyoyas family and their attorneys say it shows the importance of citizen video. The shooting was captured by Lyoyas passenger, with a cellphone, and a doorbell camera across the street.

Keep videoing the police because transparency is important for them and its sure important for us, said Ben Crump, an attorney for Lyoyas family.

The officer was on top of Lyoya, who was facedown on the ground, when he shot the 26-year-old Congolese refugee in the head April 4.

After bullets flew, NYC subway workers kept their cool

NEW YORK (AP)  When smoke bombs and bullets were unleashed on a subway full of morning commuters as it crawled toward a stop in Brooklyn, the train's driver, David Artis, couldn't hear the shots.

His first indication something was wrong was when passengers crowded near the door to his operator's compartment to report chaos, one car back.

Artis said after a moment of shock, his thoughts quickly shifted from, Oh my God! to concern for his passengers. He leaned on his emergency training.

Then it kicked in. Get them out, he said Friday after he and fellow transit workers were honored by the mayor for their response to Tuesday's shooting.

In a few minutes of lightning-quick decisions, Artis and train conductor Raven Haynes radioed in the attack, threw open the train doors and evacuated all of the passengers to another train on the same platform, then began getting aid to the wounded.

'Detest me with moderation,' Paris attacks defendant pleads

PARIS (AP)  The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 asked Friday for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims, wiping away tears during court testimony as he pleaded with survivors to detest me with moderation.

For years, Salah Abdeslam stayed silent about what happened Nov. 13, 2015 in the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. After his trial opened last year, he had a few outbursts of extremist bravado, but for months he refused to answer most questions.

Then this week, his words started flowing, in lengthy testimony that at times contradicted earlier statements. His words at times prompted angry outbursts from the public.

Survivors and victims families, who hope the extensive trial helps them find justice and clarity, had mixed reactions.

Abdeslam said the mastermind of the attacks convinced him two days beforehand to join the team of suicide bombers. The next day, Abdeslam said his brother Brahim showed him the cafe in northern Paris where Salah was meant to detonate himself in a crowd.

Trump backs GOPs JD Vance in US Senate primary in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Former President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed "Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance in Ohio's bitterly competitive Republican Senate primary, ending months of jockeying in a race where his backing could be pivotal.

In a statement, Trump described Vance as the candidate most qualified and ready to win in November.

"It is all about winning! he wrote.

The decision marks a major blow for Vance's top rivals  former state treasurer Josh Mandel, investment banker Mike Gibbons and former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken  who have been locked in a heated and contentious race for both the nomination and Trump's backing in a primary that is now less than three weeks away.

On Thursday night, dozens of Republican leaders in Ohio mounted a last-minute effort to urge Trump not to endorse Vance following a news report that said Trump had made a decision.

States scale back food stamp benefits even as prices soar

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Month by month, more of the roughly 40 million Americans who get help buying groceries through the federal food stamp program are seeing their benefits plunge even as the nation struggles with the biggest increase in food costs in decades.

The payments to low-income individuals and families are dropping as governors end COVID-19 disaster declarations and opt out of an ongoing federal program that made their states eligible for dramatic increases in SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. The U.S. Department of Agriculture began offering the increased benefit in April 2020 in response to surging unemployment after the COVID-19 pandemic swept over the country.

The result is that depending on the politics of a state, individuals and families in need find themselves eligible for significantly different levels of help buying food.

Nebraska took the most aggressive action anywhere in the country, ending the emergency benefits four months into the pandemic in July 2020 in a move Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts said was necessary to "show the rest of the country how to get back to normal.

Since then, nearly a dozen states with Republican leadership have taken similar action, with Iowa this month being the most recent place to slash the benefits. Benefits also will be cut in Wyoming and Kentucky in the next month. Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Tennessee have also scaled back the benefits.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  More than 900 bodies of civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces. That's according to the regional police chief, who spoke Friday. The jarring numbers emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to ramp up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to alleged aggression on Russian territory. That warning followed the stunning loss of Moscows flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. official confirmed was hit by a Ukrainian missile. Amid its threats, Moscow continues preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also continues in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol.

It's not over: COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in US

The U.S. may be heading into another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline. Experts don't know how high the mountain will grow, but they don't expect a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population. Still, experts warn the coming wave will wash across the nation and push up hospitalizations in a growing number of states, especially those with low vaccination rates, in the coming weeks. Most cases are now being caused by a subvariant known as BA.2 that is thought to be 30% more contagious.

Ukrainian mom's pain at watching daughter's burial on phone

LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Viktoria Kovalenko bore witness to the death of her husband and elder daughter when their car was hit by a shell in northern Ukraine. By the time her loved ones got a proper funeral weeks later, she was 500 kilometers away, able to watch the burial only on a cellphone video sent to her by relatives. Even in the relative peace of Lviv, a city little touched by violence in the war with Russia, it was an ordeal she couldnt endure. Tears do not let me watch until the end, she said as she played the video in a wooded area where she was pushing her one year-old daughter Varvara in a stroller.

Twitter adopts 'poison pill' defense in Musk takeover bid

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a poison pill defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musks proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private. The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders  except for Musk  to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musks stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition. Twitters plan would take effect if Musks roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

Texas halts truck inspections that caused border gridlock

AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repealed his traffic-clogging immigration order that backed up commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border this week. The Republican on Friday ended a new policy that required all commercial trucks from Mexico to undergo extra inspections to stop the flow of migrants and drugs. The inspections led to delays, prompting wide backlash and fears of deep economic losses. Some truckers reported having to wait more than 30 hours to cross, and others blocked one of the worlds busiest trade bridges in protest. Abbott lifted the inspections after signing new border security agreements with neighboring Mexican states.

Officer's camera misses key moment of Patrick Lyoya's death

Body camera footage of Patrick Lyoyas fatal encounter with a Michigan police officer shows a close-up view of an intense struggle -- but the video goes dark 42 seconds before the officer shoots the Black man in the head. Its the latest in a handful of high-profile cases in which body cameras have somehow failed, leaving prosecutors and the public to rely on bystander video for a clearer picture of what happened. One expert says that if it was an accident, its likely that vendors, who have been responsive to the technologys limitations, will make changes to avoid such deactivations in the future. Attorneys for Lyoyas family are thankful his passenger, as well as doorbell video from a nearby home, recorded what happened.

After bullets flew, NYC subway workers kept their cool

NEW YORK (AP)  When smoke bombs and bullets were unleashed on a New York City subway train full of morning commuters, train driver David Artis said his first indication something was wrong was when passengers crowded near his cab door to report the chaos. Artis said his initial reaction was one of shock. But, his thoughts quickly shifted to concern for his passengers and he leaned on his emergency training. Artis and his fellow transit workers were honored by the mayor for their response to Tuesdays shooting. Train conductor Raven Haynes was among those honored. She says she had a stoic attitude after the attack to help keep the passengers calm.

'Detest me with moderation,' Paris attacks defendant pleads

PARIS (AP)  The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 has asked for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims. In emotional court testimony Friday, he pleaded with survivors to detest me with moderation. For years, Salah Abdeslam stayed silent about the attacks on the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. Then this week, his words started flowing, in lengthy and sometimes confused testimony. Survivors and victims families, who hope the extensive trial helps them find justice and clarity, had mixed reactions.

Trump backs GOPs JD Vance in US Senate primary in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  "Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance has received Donald Trumps coveted endorsement in the race for Ohios open U.S. Senate seat. The decision ends months of jockeying in a Republican Senate primary where his backing could be pivotal. And it marks a major blow for former state treasurer Josh Mandel, investment banker Mike Gibbons and former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken, who had aggressively courted Trumps endorsement. The winner of the May 3 primary is likely to face Democratic frontrunner, U.S. Rep Tim Ryan, in November for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.

States scale back food stamp benefits even as prices soar

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Month by month, more of the roughly 40 million Americans who get help buying groceries through the federal food stamp program are seeing their benefits plunge. The reductions come even as the nation struggles with the biggest increase in food costs in decades. The payments to low-income individuals and families are dropping as governors end COVID-19 disaster declarations and opt out of a still-ongoing federal program that made their states eligible for dramatic increases in SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. The increased benefit were in response to surging unemployment after the COVID-19 pandemic swept over the country. The result is that depending on the politics of a state, people find themselves eligible for significantly different levels of help buying food.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BOISE, Idaho (AP)  Idaho Gov. Brad Little said Friday he wont participate in debates heading into next months Republican primary.

The first-term governor had been invited to participate in debates put on by Idaho Debates on Idaho Public Television and another put on by KTVB-TV.

Governor Little has a proven track record of cutting red tape, responsibly managing the budget and the economy, and providing Idaho families and businesses with historic tax relief and record investments in schools, roads, water, and other areas, his campaign said in a statement. Those historic accomplishments and facts are non-debatable.

Little has drawn several Republican challengers, including far-right Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. The governor and lieutenant governor run on separate tickets. Little has a significant fundraising advantage, and debating McGeachin in a statewide televised debate could give her a big platform with not much to gain for himself.

The two have sparred during the coronavirus pandemic, with McGeachin as acting governor issuing several executive orders while Little was out of town. Little rescinded McGeachin's orders each time.

McGeachin, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, tweeted that Little's decision wasn't based on a scheduling conflict, rather he just doesnt want to debate. Once again, he is showing his elitist attitude by refusing to address his record.

After Littles announcement, Idaho Debates officials said it was unclear if the governor's debate will be held without Little, and they were conferring with other candidates. They said it was the first time in more than three decades that a sitting governor seeking reelection had declined to participate.

Also on Friday, Republican state Rep. Priscilla Giddings backed out of a lieutenant governor debate against House Speaker Scott Bedke that had been set for Monday.

Idaho Debates officials said Giddings had previously committed to the debate, as had Bedke. Giddings, however, required her preapproval of reporter panelists, citing her concerns they would be biased. But Idaho Debates officials said they dont reveal reporters on a panel to any candidate in advance.

The decision to withhold the names of the panelists on the false pretense that this will suddenly make them fair and respectful leaves us with very little choice, said Giddings campaign spokesman Zach Lautenschlager in an email to Melissa Davlin of Idaho Public Television, the scheduled debate moderator. We are forced to refuse the invitation.

Bedke in a statement said he was happy to take part in Mondays debate and had also agreed to a debate on KTVB-TV with no preconditions.

Its unfortunate that the people of Idaho will not get this opportunity to see, firsthand, the difference between my record of delivering conservative results versus my opponents empty rhetoric, Bedke wrote.

Idaho Debates are a collaboration between the Idaho Press Club, Idaho Public Television, the League of Women Voters of Idaho and Idahos public universities.

Refusing to take part in the statewide televised debates ahead of the Idaho primary gives voters less opportunity to scrutinize candidates and potentially see different philosophies on display.

Idaho Public Television reaches nearly every household in the state, and we know from past comments that many Republican primary voters rely on debates to inform their decisions at the ballot box, Davlin said.

The governor and lieutenant governor races offer stark choices for voters, with Little and Bedke among the more mainstream Republicans that have dominated Idaho for several decades, and McGeachin and Giddings associated with the far-right that has been making inroads in recent years.

In conservative Idaho, the winner of the Republican primary in statewide races is almost guaranteed winning the general election. Democrats have not held the governors office since 1995 or statewide elected office since 2007.

Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson has also said he wouldnt take part in Republican primary debates this year.

Simpson, who is generally but not always aligned with Little and Bedke, has drawn a handful of primary challengers for Idahos 2nd Congressional District that hes represented since 1999.

The most notable challenger there is Bryan Smith of Idaho Falls. Smith ran against Simson in the 2014 Republican primary but lost. Simpsons campaign has said voters have already seen enough of Smith.

Republican U.S. Rep. Russ Fulcher, who has represented Idahos 1st Congressional District since 2019, didnt draw a primary challenger.

Several other Republican primary debates put on by Idaho Debates are still planned. Those include the candidates for attorney general on Tuesday, superintendent of public instruction on April 25 and for secretary of state on April 26.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Chicago is marking the centennial this week of the citys first Black mayor, Harold Washington, 35 years after he died during his second term in office. Heres a few things to know about Washingtons rise to legendary status.

Deep Chicago roots

Washington was born on April 15, 1922, at Cook County Hospital, grew up in Chicagos Bronzeville neighborhood and was among the first graduates of DuSable High School after it opened in 1935, catering primarily to Blacks whose families or ancestors had come to Chicago from the American South during the Great Migration.

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After serving in the South Pacific during World War II, Washington attended Roosevelt College, now Roosevelt University, where he became student council president. Early political activism including efforts to outlaw restrictive covenants on property, preventing Blacks and other minorities from owning homes in white neighborhoods, and trips to Springfield to protest measures like loyalty oaths for teachers.

He rose through the Democratic machines ranks  then aimed to dismantle it

In the early 1950s, Washington, then a law student at Northwestern University, started working for 3rd Ward Ald. Ralph Metcalfe, a former Olympian who was later elected to Congress. Washington rose through the Democratic machine ranks, eventually winning election to the Illinois House in 1965, to the state Senate in 1976 and  despite a short stint in jail in the early 1970s for failing to file a tax return  to Congress in 1980.

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But along the way, he increasingly asserted his independence against the machine and, as then-Mayor Jane Byrne steadily lost the support of many Blacks whod backed her, Washington was encouraged to run for the citys top job.

Harold Washington, accompanied by his fiancee, Mary Ella Smith, left, celebrates winning the Democratic nomination for the mayor of Chicago in 1983. Washington upset Mayor Jane Byrne and up-and-comer Richard M. Daley. (Anne Cusack / Chicago Tribune)

In a stunner, Washington won the Democratic primary, not only beating the incumbent but another opponent by the name of Richard M. Daley, son of the late mayor who himself had at times encouraged Metcalfe to dump Washington.

In the general election, Washington went on to defeat Republican Bernie Epton, despite Eptons support from many high-ranking Democrats, some of whom tried to stoke racist fears in white neighborhoods about the prospects of a Black mayor.

In his combative inaugural address, the new mayor proclaim(ed) the death knell of the Democratic machine, the Tribune wrote at the time.

One of his main rivals remains on the City Council

Washingtons early years in office were marked by the racially heated Council Wars with old-line opponents who, embittered by his victory, formed a white majority at the City Council behind Ald. Ed Vrdolyak to thwart the mayors agenda.

This led to court battles and an alternative city budget. And in September 1983, one of the most tumultuous council meetings in years, Vrdolyak questions Washingtons manhood and the mayor threatens to punch him in the mouth, the Tribune reported two years later.

Mayor Harold Washington and Ald. Ed Vrdolyak, 10th, have a rare, friendly conversation after a special City Council session in 1985. (Karen Engstrom / Chicago Tribune)

After that, the Tribune also noted, Vrdolyak lowered his profile in the Council Wars, letting his ally, Ald. Edward Burke, take the public lead in challenging the mayor.

In 1984, for example, Burke attempted to remove Washington from office when he failed to file an ethics form on time.

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Burke is now the longest-serving alderman on the council. But in 2019, shortly after marking 50 years on the council, he was charged with attempted extortion. He is still awaiting trial.

Washington died in office

Washington didnt merely die while holding office  he died in his office at City Hall. He was at his desk, talking with an aide, when he slumped over with a heart attack. It was Nov. 25, 1987, the day before Thanksgiving and less than a year after hed won his second term in office. He was 65.

His death stunned the city, and an estimated 200,000 people, some who waited for hours, paid respects when his remains lay in state at City Hall.

It also set off a bitter fight over his successor: A week after Washingtons death, Ald. Eugene Sawyer was chosen as acting mayor at the end of an all-night City Council meeting that saw, as the Tribune reported at the time, raw political power playing at its ultimate, complete with death threats, insults, shouting, arm-waving, boasts and bravado in the chamber.

Students salute the hearse bearing Mayor Harold Washington's casket as the funeral cortege passes Simeon Vocational High School on Nov. 30, 1987. South Side residents flooded out of their homes to stand in the drizzle and pay final respects to the late mayor. (Anne Cusack / Chicago Tribune)

Many Washington supporters wanted a different Black alderman  Timothy Evans, who is now chief judge of Cook County Circuit Court  to be the next mayor. And hundreds protested against Sawyer at City Hall that night, viewing him as an old-line politician and an unworthy heir to the political mantle of Washington, the Tribune wrote. Someone scrawled on the door to Sawyers ward office: Youre a traitor to Mayor Washingtons dreams.

At one point, Ald. Richard Mell, a Sawyer supporter, famously stood on a desk in the council chambers and shouted as he sought recognition.

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Sawyer would serve until the special election in 1989, when he lost in the Democratic primary to Richard M. Daley. In the general election, the son of the former mayor defeated Evans, who ran with the Harold Washington Party, and Vrdolyak, the Republican candidate.
The Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva rests deep beneath the Black Sea this morning.

Whether it lies there as the victim of Ukrainian missiles, Russian incompetence, bad luck or a combination of all three is unclear. What is certain, though, is that the biggest wartime loss of a naval ship in 40 years will raise troubling questions not only for Moscow, but for military planners around the world.

What caused the sinking?

The ship sank off the coast of Ukraine in the Black Sea on Thursday.

Russia's Defense Ministry says a fire of unknown origin detonated the ship's stored ammunition and the resulting explosions left the Moskva with structural damage. It says the warship then sank amid rough seas as it was being towed to a nearby port.

Ukraine says it hit the Moskva with anti-ship cruise missiles and that these sparked the fire that detonated the ammunition.

U.S. and Western defense officials seem to favor the Ukrainian account.

The U.S. believes with "medium confidence" that Ukraine's version of events is accurate, a source familiar with the latest intelligence told CNN.

The Moskva was armed with a range of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles as well as torpedoes, naval guns and missile defense systems, meaning it would have had massive amounts of explosives aboard.

When was the last time a ship of this size was lost in war?

The Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was torpedoed and sunk by the British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror on May 2, 1982, during the Falkland Islands war.

The General Belgrano and the Moskva were of similar size  each about 600 feet (182 meters) long and displacing 12,000 tons  though the crew of about 1,100 aboard the General Belgrano was more than double the size of the Moskva's crew of about 500.

Russia has not disclosed the number of casualties occurred during the Moskva's fire and subsequent sinking. A total of 323 crew died when the General Belgrano went down.

What does the loss of the Moskva mean for the Russian war effort?

The biggest effect may be on Russian morale. As the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, the Moskva was one of its most visible assets in the Ukraine war. Though Moscow carefully manages news about the war in Russia, it will be hard to hide the sudden absence of such a large ship.

And its loss will raise doubts about Russia's warfighting abilities, whether it was due to enemy action or accident.

"Both explanations for the sinking of the Moskva indicate possible Russian deficiencies  either poor air defenses or incredibly lax safety procedures and damage control on the Black Sea Fleet's flagship," analysts Mason Clark, Kateryna Stepanenko, and George Barros at the Institute for the Study of War wrote in their daily war briefing.

Carl Schuster, a former U.S. Navy captain, said the doubts went all the way to the Kremlin.

"It raises questions about naval competence 10 years after (Russian President Vladimir) Putin announced he was going to restore the navy's capabilities, morale and professionalism," Schuster said.

"It seems he has not been able to keep any of his promises for any of Russia's military services," Schuster said, noting Russia had suffered setbacks on land too.

But analysts are split on what impact the sinking will have on the Russian invasion.

The ISW analysts see it as a relatively minor blow, saying the ship was mostly used for cruise missile strikes on Ukrainian logistic centers and airfields. Russia has land-based systems and strike aircraft that can do the same thing, they said.

However, they added that if it was indeed a Ukrainian missile that led to the sinking, the Russian navy would have to rethink its operations, possibly moving ships farther from Ukrainian territory and adjusting their air defenses.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the Moskva's main mission was air defense for the Russian forces in the Black Sea.

"It will have an impact on that capability, certainly in the near term," Kirby told reporters.

A lesson for China?

Analysts say the sinking will be carefully studied in East Asia, especially if it is confirmed that Ukrainian missiles struck the warship.

In particular, analysts will be searching for any insight it might offer into any potential military conflict involving Taiwan  the democratically ruled island that Beijing's ruling Communist Party claims as part of its territory. Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to gain control of Taiwan and this has caused tensions with the US, which is committed to providing the island with defensive weapons.

Timothy Heath, senior international defense researcher at the RAND Corp. think tank, said the strike on the Moskva would underscore to both China and the U.S. "the vulnerability of surface ships" in any potential military clash.

Heath said in such a scenario the U.S. Navy would want to keep its surface ships well out of range of the anti-ship missiles Beijing has amassed on the Chinese mainland.

China, on the other hand, would be aware that Taiwan had been acquiring inexpensive anti-ship missiles similar to those Ukraine claims hit the Moskva, Heath and others said.

Because of that, "any potential (Chinese) invasion of Taiwan remains an extremely high risk mission," Heath said.

But some analysts said the Moskva's sinking has limited relevance for the situation in East Asia.

Thomas Shugart, a former U.S. Navy submarine commander who is now an analyst at the Center for a New American Security, said there were too many differences between the situations.

The Moskva's air defense systems are not in the same league as the more modern Aegis systems on U.S. Navy destroyers, and Ukrainian anti-ship missiles are not as good as Chinese ones, Shugart said.

And Soviet-era warships like the Moskva have been typically "known for their offensive punch, not for their defensive systems or their damage control," Shugart said.

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BLOOMINGTON  Moving to a new house, apartment or a college dorm room can be stressful.

Stashing belongings in a storage unit can alleviate that stress. But for some trying to turn over a new leaf in the Twin Cities, locking in the right space could spell trouble.

At least five Bloomington-Normal facilities, both small and large, are fully booked, and several more may sell out by the summer moving season, according to storage owners surveyed by The Pantagraph.

One lessor with no vacancy is Uncle Bills Self Storage, which owns and operates two locations in Normal.

General Manager Miles Wright, 34, said his grandfather Bill Wright started up in 1998 with acquiring a 146-unit property behind their current office on Kays Drive.

Dad was a realtor for 30 years, said Bills son and current owner, Mike Wright. So he saw the trends: people coming in and out, needing places to store.

Now managing 937 units, Miles Wright said demand for storage evolved as Americans began buying more stuff and ran out of space at home. But, they still need somewhere to put it all.

If you really listen to peoples needs, you can usually come up with some kind of service or a product, he said.

Right now, he said, the housing market and the pace of residential moving are driving the most demand for storage. Second are older people moving into assisted-living centers, and the third is increased hiring in the area.

Miles Wright said historically, college students have been big customers of their business, and in the past they could serve them all. Hes worried that those who started their storage search late this year could be left behind.

Colby Powers, a sophomore studying music education at Illinois Wesleyan University, said he knows other students who are having a lot of trouble finding storage.

"It's super hard to find a spot," he said, noting that the U-Haul on North Main Street by his campus is completely booked.

"Most storage units are full with people's cars or people's stuff," Powers said.

Matthew Woody, General Manager for the U-Haul on North Main Street, said they're referring customers to the larger U-Haul site on South Main Street.

Renting by the foot

Out of 12 self-storage companies contacted by The Pantagraph, eight said they either had just a few or less than five units available. There are at least 3,460 individual storage units built in the Twin Cities, based on a total calculated among ten storage businesses that disclosed capacity figures to The Pantagraph.

Monthly rates start off at a range of $70 to $150, depending on the size of the unit and the lessor. Smaller ones are 5 feet by 5 feet, and bigger options go up to 10 feet by 10 feet.

The average stay ranges from six to nine months, said Miles Wright, noting that there are renters who stay longer than anticipated  sometimes decades longer.

TJ Scott, general manager for U-Haul on South Main Street in Bloomington, said they have around 200 units available, but they could fill up by late spring or early summer.

And Nick Lurkins, business development manager for Tentac Enterprises, said one of their two storage sites, 503 N. Prospect Road in Bloomington, has been filled for several years.

If there is an opening there, he said, it gets filled within the week. Lurkins said they often get phone inquiries for storage; theyve also partnered with realtors at Berkshire Hathaway to hold two or three units for people buying homes in the area.

The Illinois Self Storage Association did not respond to repeated interview requests.

New units in Normal

In a resolution passed March 21, the Town of Normal annexed property at West College Avenue and Interstate 55, rezoning the parcel for general business.

Travis Yordy, who runs Main Street Mini Storage out of Morton, said he plans to redevelop that property in Normal into an 800-unit drive-up facility with security cameras and 24/7 access.

Construction will be done in phases, with the first 200-unit block ready by early 2023, he said.

He noted that along with the high demand for storage, construction costs have doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, unit rental rates didnt hike as much  that jump was only about 10% to 20%, he said.

Illinois State University student Colton Thies, majoring in music education, doesn't need a whole month of storage. His new lease starts three days after he moves out of the dorms.

"My friends have a house with a basement, so I'm probably just gonna throw (my stuff) down there for three days, if they're okay with it," Thies said.

Faithful foundations

The Wrights chalk up their successful occupancy rates to a fathers dream, spiritual devotion, and taking pride in serving customers.

Uncle Bill didnt foresee his business as a set it and forget it kind of investment, Miles Wright said, but as an environment customers could feel comfortable in. Amenities like well-landscaped grounds and soothing music were part of Uncle Bills dream. He passed away in 2012

Wright said they also keep Jesus at the center of everything here.

He said that extends from how they treat people and setting their moral background. They also give back to local charities.

Wright said: We feel like He's helped us out over the years on keeping us on a good path.

Contact Brendan Denison at (309) 820-3238. Follow Brendan Denison on Twitter: @BrendanDenison

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PEORIA  A Bloomington man was sentenced to two and a half years in prison Thursday for unlawful firearm possession.

Jose L. Arizmendi-Romero, 33, pleaded guilty in federal court last December to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm by an undocumented immigrant.

Bloomington police conducted a traffic stop in June 2021 because Arizmendi-Romero had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. He backed his car into a police vehicle, then drove away and crashed his car, authorities said.

Arizmendi-Romero returned to his residence, for which police had obtained a search warrant. The search warrant led police to seizing a 9 mm handgun and 52 rounds of ammunition, authorities said.

He was indicted on the charge in October 2021 and has been in U.S. Marshals custody since then.

Contact Kade Heather at 309-820-3256. Follow him on Twitter: @kadeheather

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BLOOMINGTON  A Kentucky man remains jailed in McLean County on sexual assault charges.

Daniel Wilcox, 22, of New Concord, Kentucky, is charged with five counts each of criminal sexual assault (Class 1 felonies) and criminal sexual abuse, which are charged as Class A misdemeanors.

Court documents accuse Wilcox of sexually assaulting a female between June 15 and Aug. 4, 2021.

The victim was between 13 and 18 years old and Wilcox was 17 years of age or over and held a position of trust, authority or supervision in relation to the victim, court documents said.

Wilcox was indicted Friday on a warrant issued last December. He was jailed in lieu of posting $25,035.

An arraignment is scheduled for May 6.

Contact Kade Heather at 309-820-3256. Follow him on Twitter: @kadeheather

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NORMAL  Illinois State University and the union that represents more than 300 of its employees have reached a tentative agreement in contract talks, averting a strike that could have started next week.

The university and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1110 bargaining committee released separate statements on Thursday evening announcing the deal. Instead of the strike that could have started Monday, the union said it would hold a ratification meeting.

The parties have agreed not to release details of the proposed contract terms to the public until they have been presented to members, the union said.

We are deeply appreciative of the outpouring of support that we received from students, faculty and members of other on-campus unions, which was so essential to our ability to achieve this agreement, said AFSCME Local 1110 President and Building Service Worker Chuck Carver.

The university said the terms would apply to a four-year contract through 2025.

Local 1110, which is part of AFSCME Council 31, has been in negotiations with the university since October after its contract expired in June. The local represents more than 300 employees in the university's janitorial, grounds, catering, dining center, and retail dining areas.

"ISU values the contributions of these employees and appreciates their service to the University and our students," the university said in its statement.

Wages had been a major sticking point of the talks. Under rates listed on the university website as effective Jan. 1, members make between $12.30 an hour for some intern positions up to $25.32 an hour for grounds equipment mechanics, nursery workers and tree surgeons.

Contact Allison Petty at (217) 421-6986. Follow her on Twitter: @AllisonAPetty

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CHICAGO - In November, angry citizens accused Downers Grove school officials of allowing pornography on library shelves.

Members of the far-right nationalist group the Proud Boys descended on the normally sleepy suburb for a school board meeting.

And the other side fired back, lobbing accusations of homophobia and hypocrisy.

But after all the voices were heard, Gender Queer: A Memoir, a critically acclaimed graphic novel about a nonbinary persons rocky journey through adolescence, remained on Downers Grove high school library shelves.

That outcome is fairly typical in Illinois, a state that has experienced few successful book bans in recent months, according to a new report by PEN America that found 1,586 fully or partially successful challenges nationwide between July 1, 2021, and March 31. (A challenged book was considered banned if access was diminished, for example, by removing it from library shelves but keeping it available for checkout at the circulation desk.)

PEN America has not issued a count of this kind before, but lead author Jonathan Friedman said that hes convinced that the 1,586 bans and restrictions represent an increase.

The issue has just exploded in the last nine months, said Friedman, director of PEN Americas Free Expression and Education program.

He pointed to conservative politicians efforts to restrict access to books they view as objectionable, as well as some school officials willingness to remove challenged books from shelves during the review process, which he said is not in keeping with best practices set forth by groups such as the American Library Association.

He also expressed concern about the types of books that are being challenged.

These arent just random books, he said. You can see targeting of books about race and racism, or (books) with protagonists of color, or with LGBTQ characters or themes.

Of the books that were fully or partially banned in the report by PEN, a nonprofit that advocates for free expression, 467 (41%) include protagonists or prominent secondary characters who were people of color; 247 (22%) directly address issues of race and racism; and 379 (33%) explicitly address LGBTQ themes, or had protagonists or prominent secondary characters who were LGBTQ.

The most banned book was Gender Queer, author Maia Kobabes own story of adolescent crushes, coming out, and forging an authentic gender identity. A 2020 American Library Association Alex Award winner, the book received a starred review from the School Library Journal, which described it as a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand.

Illinois saw only four bans or restrictions at three schools over nine months, according to the PEN study, which was based on news reports and information supplied by school districts and librarians. Downers Grove didnt make the list, but Community High School District 117 in suburban Lake Villa and Antioch did, due to a dispute over Gender Queer, which includes two drawings of people engaged in sexual activity.

District Superintendent Jim McKay said the book was removed from high school library shelves for about a month during a review of its appropriateness, but it remained freely available at the library checkout desk during that time. The book has been back on library shelves since about March 24.

I think its important that people understand that our schools are responsive to all kids, McKay said, and that means providing books that reflect students identities and experiences. Our school enrollment is becoming more and more diverse over time, and so should our library collection, he said.

The other districts where access to books was curtailed included ROWVA Community Unit School District 208 in Oneida, 175 miles southwest of Chicago. There, the novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was temporarily suspended from use in high school classrooms but remained in the school library, according to a January article in the Galesburg Register-Mail.

The newspaper said frequent use of profanity in the book was a major concern for those who wanted it removed from classrooms, while supporters said the book encouraged valuable classroom discussions about racial inequality. School district officials could not be reached for comment.

The Hate U Give, which was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, won a Coretta Scott King Book Award from the American Library Association.

At Lake Forest High School, two books were banned from the library, according to the PEN report: Gender Queer and Saga, Volume 1, the award-winning first installment of a graphic novel series that has periodically come under fire for issues such as nudity and a depiction of sexual activity.

Officials at the Lake Forest school district could not be reached for comment, but a February article in the high school newspaper, the Forest Scout, said that while both books would remain in the school library, students under 18 will need permission from a parent or guardian to check them out.

In Downers Grove, Gender Queer has remained on high school library shelves while a formal review process is underway, a district spokesperson said via email.

Friedman said the low number of successful book challenges in Illinois can be explained, in part, by regional politics.

In places like Texas and then later Florida (and) South Carolina to a certain extent, there have been politicians who have clearly made this an election issue. They want to be seen as being tough on books. And thats put additional pressure on schools. You dont normally see that in Illinois, he said.

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CROWN POINT, Ind.  A Chicago man has been sentenced to 105 years in prison in the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old girl found dumped in a trash-filled Gary, Indiana, alley with her hands bound behind her back.

Deonlashawn Simmons, 36, was sentenced Thursday by a Lake County judge in Takaylah Tribitt's September 2019 killing. The Chicago girl's body was found facedown with her hands bound behind her with cords.

A jury convicted Simmons of murder in March and he subsequently admitted to firearm and habitual offender enhancements. He has maintained his innocence and said Thursday he would appeal.

Tribbit, who was a runaway, was found in Gary not far from where Simmons' family lived, according to court documents. Her body was found five days after she and Simmons met at a birthday party in Chicago.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Doug Shaw, who called Tribbit's death an "execution," asked for the maximum 105 year sentence, saying "that's all the law allows us." He said the circumstances surrounding Tribitt's death were some of the cruelest he's seen.

Tribitt was a "defenseless child," Shaw said.

Simmons' attorney, Michael A. Campbell, had asked for a 56-year sentence, with five years suspended in favor of probation.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin committed a major strategic error in believing his invasion of Ukraine would fragment Western democracies, the British foreign minister for Europe and North America said in Chicago this week.

Instead, Foreign Office Minister James Cleverly said, Putin saw the NATO alliance and allied countries unite against Russian aggression in a sign of democracys resilience.

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Democracy is messy. Democracy is untidy, and to an autocratic leader like Putin, it probably always looks as if its on the verge of collapse, Cleverly, the British equivalent of U.S. secretary of state, said in an interview in Chicago with the Tribune on Wednesday.

I think Putin read all the wrong lessons from the natural processes that liberal democracies go through  the elections, the criticism, Cleverly said. He was clearly not listening to the people who should know better or didnt know better and pursued this ego-driven attack on Ukraine. And then, when the messy, untidy democracies of the liberal world saw what happened, instead of falling apart like he thought we would, we pull together because thats what we do.

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Cleverlys visit to Chicago was part of a tour, which that also included stops in Washington D.C., Missouri and Minnesota, aimed at solidifying the United Kingdoms preexisting relationships in an really scary time amid a backdrop of pandemic and war.

In Chicago, Cleverly traveled to the Ukrainian Village neighborhood and spoke with residents there. He said it was quite tough, emotionally speaking with people whove got family members who are under attack. He also met with Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul; Samir Mayekar, Chicagos deputy mayor for economic and neighborhood development; and Michael Fassnacht, the president and CEO of World Business Chicago.

In Missouri, Cleverly traveled to Westminster College in Fulton, the site of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchills declaration in 1946 that following World War II the Soviet Union was draping an Iron Curtain of communist control over neighboring countries. The famous speech has often been cited as helping usher in the Cold War. Putins move into Ukraine has stirred a belief that he wants to lead a restoration of the Soviet Union as a world power after its internal collapse in 1991.

In the 1946 speech, Churchill declared a special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.

You know, the fact that theres a Democrat in the White House and a conservative in Westminster, somehow that would pull us apart, Cleverly said, characterizing Putins view of the U.S.-U.K relationship between President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Totally the opposite. And I strongly believe that its been a shock to Vladimir Putin. And for me, I think its something that we should be incredibly proud of.

In addition to nations uniting on worldwide economic sanctions against Russia, Cleverly touted efforts that have provided military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. His visit came as Biden announced an additional $800 million in U.S. weaponry, ammunition and security assistance to Ukraine as Russia appears to gear up for a renewed assault.

Johnson, the British prime minister, made a surprise visit to Kyiv and met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a trip Cleverly said was aimed at demonstrating visibly and publicly that both literally and metaphorically the British prime minister was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with President Zelenskyy and gave the Ukrainians a moral boost in a really, really difficult time.

As to whether allied nations are doing enough to help Ukraine, Cleverly said, We need to give the Ukrainians the tools to push back and push back hard against the Russian invasion so that Putin is forced to engage properly with peace talks in a way that at this moment, up until this point, he hasnt been.

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At the same time, Cleverly said, it was incumbent upon us all to highlight to the Russian people the horrors that are being perpetrated in their name, that they dont know about, and they currently are being lied to systematically by their own national leadership.

How this is resolved, ultimately, must be guided heavily by the Ukrainians. This is their nation. They are the ones who will decide when they would accept a peace settlement  and what the terms are. Theyre the ones that will have to live with it, he said. Zelenskyy is not going to roll over. Hes not going to take a bad deal. We need to make sure, again echoing Winston Churchill, we need to give him the tools to get the job done.

But as the war in Ukraine continues, there also will be a price paid by the citizens of western democracies over trying to rein in Russian aggression, Cleverly said.

I think we need to recognize that there is a bill to be paid and we are seeing this across the Western world  food prices going up, gas prices are going up  and those increases are a direct result of Putins invasion of Ukraine, he said.

Now, both in Washington and Westminster and in capital cities around the world, were going to have to do whatever we can to try and mitigate those pressures to try and help people get to work and fill their shopping trolleys and thats not going to be easy. But the simple truth is that these pressures became inevitable the day that that war started, he said.

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SPRINGFIELD  A state appellate court ruled this week that it will not block enforcement of the Pritzker administrations mandate that certain categories of public employees either be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo regular testing.

The 2-1 ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeals upheld a Sangamon County judges decision on April 1 not to issue a temporary restraining order blocking enforcement of the policy.

The decision involved three consolidated cases in which public employees are seeking to overturn the mandate. The cases include suits against Gov. J.B. Pritzker, various state agencies, the Pekin Fire Department and the Deland-Weldon school district.

Pritzker first issued a vaccine mandate on Aug. 26, 2021, through an executive order that applied to health care workers, school employees, higher education personnel and students, and state employees who work in congregate facilities. The order also authorized other entities, both public and private, to enact their own vaccination and testing requirements.

The employees sued to block enforcement of the order citing the states Health Care Right of Conscience Act which, among other things, makes it illegal to discriminate against anyone for refusing to receive any particular form of health care that they find contrary to their conscience.

That law was originally enacted to shield health care workers from liability for refusing to perform or assist in abortions. During last years fall veto session, however, lawmakers passed an amendment to that law making a specific exception for health care measures that are intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

That provision does not officially go into effect until June 1. But lawmakers inserted language in the measure stating the section is a declaration of existing law rather than a new enactment.

In other words, the General Assembly said it was only clarifying something that was ambiguous in an existing law, which in this case involved the word discriminate.

The Sangamon County circuit court cited that law in denying the plaintiffs request for a temporary restraining order, saying that even though it hasnt taken effect yet, it can still be used as an aid in understanding the original statute.

But the plaintiffs appealed, noting that the new law has not yet gone into effect while also arguing that even though the amendment claims to be a declaration of existing law, the legislature cannot retroactively change the meaning of an otherwise unambiguous statute.

In their appeal, the plaintiffs cited a 2020 decision from the 2nd District Court of Appeals involving the same statute that said there was nothing ambiguous about the word discriminate.

To the contrary, the ordinary meaning of the word is set forth in its dictionary definition, the 2nd District court wrote.

That case involved a nurse in a public health clinic who claimed religious objections to providing family planning services or referring patients for abortions.

In its ruling Wednesday, however, the 4th District appellate court said that simply because a word has a dictionary definition does not make its meaning within a statute unambiguous. In this case, the court said, it would only be discriminatory if an employer punished workers who refused to be vaccinated or tested as a matter of conscience but did not punish those who refused for other reasons.

The vaccine and testing requirements, the court wrote, could actually be seen as merit-based policies because those who are vaccinated or tested are less likely to spread COVID-19 in the workplace.

The plaintiffs also challenged the vaccine and testing mandates under the Illinois Department of Public Health Act, which gives that agency supreme authority in matters of quarantine and isolation.

But the appellate court rejected that argument as well, saying that the employers in the three cases had not quarantined or isolated anyone, but had instead only threatened loss of employment.

To be fired is not to be quarantined or isolated from the community at large, the majority wrote.

The opinion was written by Justice Peter Cavanagh, with Justice James Knecht concurring.

Justice Robert Steigmann wrote a dissenting opinion. He argued that the word discriminate has a clear and understandable meaning and that the legislature included in the statute numerous examples of the kinds of discrimination that are prohibited.

He also argued that the 2021 amendment to the Health Care Right of Conscious Act could be used as an interpretive aid in understanding the original statute because he found nothing unambiguous about the original law.
The Illinois Senate adjourned its session April 9 just after 3 oclock in the morning. The House adjourned about three hours later, as the sun was coming up.

This wasnt the first time that the chambers worked into the wee smalls to finish their work, including a budget, and it probably wont be the last, but its getting to be a bit much.

Senate President Don Harmon told me afterward that, in the future, he would like to avoid adjourning session that late.

Harmon claimed that because of the remarkably collaborative and cordial working relationship among Democrats in the Statehouse, the willingness to accommodate each other and to try to make late adjustments to deal with ideas that came from this part of one caucus or that part of another caucus, all led to a very long night.

In the old days, Harmon said, a prior Speaker might have said Noon on Thursday and we're done. This time, we were trying to work and adjust and adapt and add and subtract things at the request of the caucuses. And it did lead to a schedule challenge at the end.

I can understand that explanation, but it was still severe for a whole lot of folks. Start earlier.

OK, lets talk about that state budget. Im going to throw some numbers at you, but Ill try to make this as simple as I possibly can.

If you want an idea of how crazy this fiscal year has been, just check the projected revenues when the Fiscal Year 2022 budget was enacted last year and compare them to where they are now.

Last spring, budget-makers settled on a $44.4 billion total revenue projection for FY22. As of last week, that number had risen to a whopping $49.2 billion  an increase of more than $4.8 billion, or almost 11%.

The unanticipated new money didnt come directly from the federal government. But it was no doubt a result of the federal economic stimulus programs.

The only debt paydown appropriation in the original FY22 plan last year was $928 million to repay interfund borrowing, and no tax breaks were included.

But now, because of that new revenue, additional debt payoffs, a larger rainy day fund and mostly one-time tax breaks will total $5.3 billion this fiscal year, a $4.4 billion increase above the originally enacted spending plan (not including the payoff of federal COVID-related loans).

The end of year surplus had been projected to be $1 billion, but that money was rolled into the overall spending plan by the new supplemental FY22 appropriation, and the state will now end this fiscal year in June with just $68 million cash, but with $1 billion in its heretofore empty rainy day fund instead of the $600 million initially proposed.

The new fiscal year, which begins July 1, will see its projected revenues drop by $2.6 billion, or about 5.4% from the latest estimate for this fiscal year. But thats still a 5% ($2.175 billion) increase over the FY22 estimate the budget-makers relied on last year.

Debt paydown and tax relief will fall from a high of $6.37 billion (including about $1 billion to pay off federal CVOID-related loans) this fiscal year to just $640 million next fiscal year, a difference of $5.73 billion.

Non-discretionary spending will fall by $51 million net, but most of those spending top-lines will see increases. That can happen because, as noted above, the states remaining $1 billion in COVID-related debt will be paid off by the end of this fiscal year. Pension payments and transfers-out will each rise by about $300 million, and group health insurance payments will increase by about $400 million.

Discretionary spending - apart from debt payoffs and tax relief  will increase by about $2.6 billion ($22.289 billion this fiscal year compared to $24.867 billion next fiscal year). The increases include P-12 education ($550 million), higher education ($240 million), human services ($1.2 billion), public safety ($300 million) and general services ($225 million).

The end of the coming fiscal year may be tight on paper. General Fund revenues are projected to be just $2 million higher than total spending next year. Yes, the state will have $1 billion in its rainy day fund just in case, and the states bill payment cycle can easily be expanded well beyond its current two weeks. But a worse than expected economic downturn could still cause some fiscal pain, although not nearly as much as in the days when the state had no cushion at all (or even no budget).

Rich Miller publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

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The Public interest and Account Committee (PIAC) has asked the Ministry of Finance to provide further and better particulars on how GH32.4 million disbursement to the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) was utilized.



The request, which was captured in the 2021 PIAC Annual report on oil revenue utilization and management, was part of recommendations made by the Committee to ensure transparency and accountability in the disbursement of oil funds at the Sub-national level.



The report noted that it was the first time since Ghana started receiving petroleum revenue in 2011 that the DACF received an amount of GH32.4 million though there was no report on the utilization of the amount.



Disbursement was made in fulfillment of a Supreme Court of Ghana decision in the case of Kpodo and Another v. Attorney-General in 2019, which asked that five percent of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) be allocated and disbursed to the DACF.



The ABFA is the account set up by the government to receive not more than 70 percent allocation from oil and gas revenue in support of government budgets on current and recurrent expenditure as well as PIAC funding.



DACF, as the latest recipient of the ABFA, was expected to receive the five per cent, amounting to GH129.26 million.



However, only 25.05 per cent of the amount which translates to 1.74 per cent of the ABFA was disbursed in 2021, contrary to the percentage specified by the Supreme Court, the report revealed.



PIAC has, therefore, emphasized the need for the decision of the Court to find expression in the Public Revenue Management Act (PRMA) which is under review as is the case with the ABFA and Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund.



PIAC recommends strict compliance with the 2019 judgement of the Supreme Court in the case of Kpodo vs The Attorney-General, PAIC said in a statement released on Wednesday.



It also urged the Ministry of Finance to collaborate with relevant institutions to develop appropriate guidelines on the utilization and reporting of ABFA disbursed to the DACF.





Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Nigeria's electoral commission on Friday suspended voter registration in most parts of oil-producing Imo state after an election official was shot dead by unknown gunmen, as the country prepares for a series of votes early next year.



Armed groups have since last year burned down electoral offices and police stations in states in the southeast, which government blames on the banned separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) group. IPOB denies the charges.



Independent Electoral Commission of Nigeria spokesman Festus Okoye said in a statement voter registration had been suspended at 54 centres and in three local government areas in Imo state, following the attack on Thursday.



Voter registration is taking place across Nigeria ahead of elections due next year that will choose a new parliament and president in February - with Muhammadu Buhari stepping down after serving the two consecutive four-year terms allowed by the constitution - and state governors in March.



But the country is plagued by growing insecurity, seen in gun attacks and kidnappings in the northwest, a festering Islamist insurgency in the northeast and attacks on government institutions by armed groups in the southeast.



Separatist groups like IPOB campaign for southeastern Nigeria, homeland of the Igbo ethnic group, to be an independent country. The region attempted to secede in 1967 under the name Republic of Biafra, triggering a three-year civil war in which more than a million people died, mostly of starvation.

Source: REUTERS









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Globally, 15th April each year marks a day to recognize the importance of medical laboratory science as a vital part of the health system.



The International Biomedical Laboratory Science Day (IBLS) is celebrated to increase awareness about the pivotal role of medical laboratory scientists in providing quality healthcare.



The Ghana Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists has joined scientists in the world to celebrate this year's IBLS Day which is under the theme "Testing Times; Biomedical Laboratory Scientists Role in

the COVID -19 Pandemic".



Read statement below:

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Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Some station masters and drivers at major bus terminals in Accra have lamented the low turnout of travellers ahead of the Easter holidays.



They blame the situation on transport fare increment and economic hardships.



In previous years, you wouldnt have come to meet empty vehicles here by this time. Most of them would have been on route to different destinations across the country for the holidays, Mr Justice Wiredu, Station Master, OA Bus Terminal, Circle, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).



Mr Wiredu said a few years ago  before COVID-19- passengers often awaited buses but that had changed, saying, this time the vehicles are here and there are no passengers.



He attributed the situation to the current economic hardships arising out of the increase in fuel prices.



Nana Afful, a Driver at the Terminal, claimed the dire living economic conditions in the country made a lot of people who would have wished to travel for the holidays rescind the decision.



Madam Pamela Levelle, a passenger, said rising cost of living with increasing transport fares had limited her visits to her hometown.



She said the situation was affecting her family relations.



Mr Asare Bediako, a passenger travelling to Kumasi, also said he could not travel as he used to do previously.



He, however, hoped that things would return to normal with transport fares coming down for us.



The situation was not so different at the VIP Bus Terminal at Circle, which has recorded a decrease in bus trips as compared to previous Easter holiday travels, due to low patronage.



Mr Adakabre Frimpong Manso, General Manager at VIP Bus Terminal, said the situation was due to the increment in fuel and its attendant fare increment.



He said after the COVID-19 pandemic the numbers were rising steadily until the current fuel increment worsened the situation.



Mr Frimpong Manso said the terminal operated two services, the standard four-seated tour and the executive three-seated tour, each going for GH50 and GH70, respectively, to Kumasi.



He added that a lot of people were opting for the standard four-seated tour because it was cheaper.



Mr Moses Duoabil, a passenger travelling to Bolgatanga, reechoed the concerns of economic hardships affecting travels.



Mr Frank Osei, Station Master, 2M Express Bus Terminal, said they experienced regular travels prior to the holidays and hoped the patronage would pick up.



Mr Osei said, so far, the passengers they had on board since morning were regular intercity travellers, not those going for holidays.



He said on a good day they could make 42 trips in weekdays and 72 trips on weekends.



The 14-passenger mini-bus charges GH50 and GH60 per trip to Kumasi.











Source: GNA









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Some commercial drivers in the Kwahu municipality of the Eastern Region are up in arms against chiefs in the Kawhu Traditional Council over their decision to charge for escort during the Easter festivities.



As per the escort charges, drivers will be given dispatch services to navigate traffic gridlock during the Easter festivities in the Kwahu enclave.



Per the initiative car owners who desire the service are to pay GHS 50 while corporate organizations are to pay GHS100.



Mr Isaac Osei, a local reporter at Kwahu told the Ghana Yensom morning show on Accra FM, Thursday, April 14, 2022, that the initiative was an arrangement the chiefs in the Kwahu enclave had with a private company by the name Dotcom Events as part of the management of traffic during the festivities.



According to him, drivers who purchase the stickers will be offered escort service when there is heavy traffic during festivities.



The sticker when purchased is expected to last for three days and the proceeds will be shared among the Kwahu Traditional Council, the private company, and the various Municipal Assemblies in the Kwahu enclave.



They are to share it by 20 percent each.



The escort service has ruffled the feathers of commercial drivers in the Kwahu enclave.



They are contesting that they have been driving in the area for all these years and if there is Easter around for them to cash in on the situation, the chiefs with the help of the company are offering escort services to drivers to beat the traffic for passengers not to patronize their services.



An individual has, however, petitioned the Transport Minister to halt the process.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









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The Institute for Energy Security (IES) has attributed the current power outages in the country to an inadequate generation capacity.



Speaking to Joshua Kodjo Mensah on Starr Today, a Research Analyst with Institute, Fritz Moses, stated that the country is not generating enough to meet the demand, hence the frequent power outages.



Asides from that, he also attributed the inability to generate enough power to the fire incident that recently occurred at the Aboadze switchyard plant.





The power outages in Accra, Western Region, Central Region and parts of Ashanti Region its something that need more detailed responses. Because the fact has been that have capacity about 5300 megawatt in the country now and our peak demand has been around 2400 megawatt so we should have an available capacity of 4000 megawatt.



But, if Aboadze plant goes off and we are experiencing intermittent power outages when Aboadze is providing about 1000megawatt and its way lesser than the excess generated from the dependent capacity. Its best to know whether we actually have enough available power to meet our needs, he disclosed.





He adeded, we think the root cause has been very unfortunate to say that we dont necessary have excess capacity in our generation because the in store capacity is not available all the time. The dependable or available capacity is always lesser than the in store capacity because most of the plants do not generate at full capacity.



Meanwhile, the Ranking Member for the Mines and Energy Committee in Parliament, John Abdulai Jinapor, has said Ghana risks another bout of power challenges if nothing is done about the current energy situation.



In a piece on Facebook, the former deputy minister challenged the claims by Vice President Bawumia that country paying over GHC17 billion for excess energy capacity.



The Energy Ministers press briefing this morning at the Information Ministry confirmed a system Peak demand of 3,469MW against dependable capacity of 3,861MW for Ghana in 2022 (find table below).



It is important to note that the Energy Commission has always recommended the Country ensures a Reserve Margin (insurance) of 18% above the peak demand. The reserve Margin which translates to 324MW, brings the total dependable capacity to 4,096MW, Jinapor said.



He further noted: From the Ministers own figures Ghana has dependable capacity of 3,861MW which is below the required capacity?. At this rate Ghana risk experiencing massive Dumsor if nothing is done urgently. So the question to Dr. Bawumiah is; where did you conjure those so-called excess capacity payments. We insist the Government publishes the breakdown of the so-called 17bn cedis payments on excess capacity. The deception is getting nauseating to say the least.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









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Minister for Energy, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has donated 20 thousand Ghana cedis to the Appiatse Support Fund.



Chairperson of the Appiatse Support Fund, Rev. Dr. Joyce Aryee said Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempehs donation, as she put it, is part of the collective effort by Ghanaians in the nation building agenda.



She thanked the Minister for his kind gesture towards the Appiatse Support Fund, and further called on other sector Ministers to give generously to the support fund.



Meanwhile, General Manager of Supergeona Enterprise, Madam Gloria Ayimah also made a cheque donation of GHC50,000 Ghana Cedis on behalf of her company.



The Chairperson of the Fund who received the donations expressed gratitude to all donors on behalf of the Committee members



She further appealed to other institutions and individuals to support and donate to the fund as the monies accrued so far is not adequate for the rebuilding and restoration of livelihood of the Appiatse community.



We were called to mobilize sufficient funds, as stated by the Honorable Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Samuel A. Jinapor, and I can say that, at this time, the money is not yet sufficient she hinted.



Global Media Alliance, Liebherr Ghana Limited and the Administrator and Secretary of the Appiatse Support Fund also contributed GHC10,000 and GHC45,000 respectively.











Source: Gbcghanonline.com









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A four-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot vintage rose stone mansion in Lincoln Park that rocker Liz Phair once owned was listed on March 31 for $1.45 million. (Cook County Assessor / HANDOUT)

A four-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot vintage rose stone mansion in Lincoln Park that rocker Liz Phair once owned was listed for sale on March 31 for $1.45 million.

Phair and her then-husband paid $510,000 in 1996 for the three-story house and sold it in 2001 for $660,000. Now divorced, Phair, a Winnetka native, has lived in Manhattan Beach, California, for more than two decades.

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In Lincoln Park, the house on Geneva Terrace that Phair once owned was built in 1897 and has a restored facade, 3  bathrooms and a kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances, floor-to-ceiling custom cabinetry, a walnut butcher block island with bar seating and an eat-in table overlooking the backyard. The homes primary bedroom suite is on the second floor and has a fireplace, built-ins, a two-story ceiling and two walk-in closets, along with an updated bathroom with dual sinks and a stand-alone tub. The top floor has a bedroom, an enclosed glass wall, south-facing skylights and walkout deck potential.

The homes lower level has a separate entrance, a large bedroom and a family room with built-in storage.

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The house was impeccable and the light (is) truly magnificent, listing agent Emily Sachs Wong of @properties told Elite Street. She also was the agent who sold the home for Phair two decades ago.

The home went under contract to sell just four days after it came on the market.

The house had a $19,913 property tax bill in the 2020 tax year.

Bob Goldsborough is a freelance writer.

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Bishop Abraham Kofi Bruce, Founder and Head Pastor of Christ Living Faith Miracle Ministry, has called on Christians worldwide to pray for the return of peace in Ukraine and Russia, as they mark the death of Jesus Christ.



As we mark this day, let's us unite and make use of the death of Jesus Christ today to pray for Ukraine and Russia for peace to reign again, he admonished.



Ukraine and Russia have been at war for three months since the latter invaded the former in early February, this year.



Delivering a sermon to mark Good Friday, Bishop Bruce said Christians must unite in prayer to bring peace between the two countries.



He said the death of Jesus Christ represented a watershed moment in the history of mankind's reconciliation with God.



"We received life in His death and today marks the beginning of we obtaining our lives from God in the death of Jesus Christ," Bishop Bruce said.



He said the death of Christ was marked by unusual occurrences demonstrating that an innocent and good man had been killed and that God had granted all access into His divine inheritance.



Bishop Bruce urged Ghanaians to forgive one another and forge ahead with unity.



"As we commemorate His death and agony, let us remember His benevolence and forgive one another," he stressed.





Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Former President John Mahama has described the Supreme Court (SC) decision against the Member of Parliament for Assin North constituency, James Gyakye Quayson as "a travesty of justice"



He said to restrain the MP from representing his constituency is "an affront to our democracy"



SC ruling



The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that James Gyakye Quayson cannot act as the MP for his constituency until the determination of the substantive case filed against him.



The Apex Court by a 5:2 majority ruling said The application succeeds. The MP is restrained from holding himself as MP for Assin North and restrained from attending Parliament to conduct business on behalf of the people of Assin North. The restriction remains until the final determination of the substantive matter. We direct that the case hearing be expedited



However, the former President in a post on social media said: "I cannot understand how an MP can be restrained from carrying out his duties when the substantive case to give finality to the question of his legitimacy has not been determined".



"Or is it the case that the outcome of the substantive case has been predetermined against him? The representation of the people is at the heart of our democracy. Any decision that denies the citizenry of representation is a travesty of justice and an affront to our democracy," he added.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Residents of Assin North in the Central Region have expressed concern about the ruling of the Supreme Court over their Member of Parliaments citizenship.



According to them, they will not vote for any other candidate, be it from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) or his National Democratic Congress (NDC), in case a by-election is called.



They are demanding that he returns to contest and take back his seat.



Speaking to Media Generals Thomas Vincent Cann a few moments after the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, April 13 that James Gyakye Quayson cannot hold himself as MP for Assin North until a case against him at the Cape Coast High Court is completed, residents said they are saddened by the outcome.



We saw a lot of good things in the man that he will come and help Assin North, an elderly woman by name Akua Ataa said.



We knew he was going to do good things for us so we massively voted for him and he won. Even it was President Akufo-Addos fault that he did not get his documents on time because [the president] shut the borders in the peak of the coronavirus.



She added: We are not going to vote if [Gyakye Quayson] is not made to stand even if the candidate comes from NDC, we wont vote.



Another resident, Quashigah Simon, popularly known as Rasta, said the barred MP embarked upon several projects which endeared him to the constituents and not only NDC folks.



He said Mr Gyakye Quayson provided over 1,000 street lights and started enrolling street kids into schools to fulfill a promise of sending 500 of the children back to school.



This told us that politicians who had stayed outside the country are more honest. The man is loved all over.



Meanwhile, the NDC has hinted at returning Mr Gyakye Quayson as its candidate in case a by-election is held.

Source: 3news









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The embattled member of Parliament for Dome Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has hinted at a return to Parliament to discharge her duties.



In a post on social media, Adwoa Safo intimated that she has a social contract with her constituents and will come to Ghana at the right time to advance their interest in Parliament.



Adwoa Safo said she is not unaware of the promises she made to her constituents and the country will always fight for their interest.



"I wont stay in the USA forever. I have a social contract with the good people of Dome-Kwabenya which I consider sacrosanct. In good time, I will be back to continue the good work we have done in the constituency and ably represent their interest and aspiration in the august House of Parliament, she shared.



Adwoa Safo was responding to an activist of the New Patriotic Party who had opined that Adwoa Safo was holding the party to ransom.



Adwoa Safo explained to the user with the name Domprehba Kwame that she is not unaware of her position in the party and will not assume that she is bigger than the party.



She also commended the user for promoting the works of the party on social media.



I truly admire your zeal for our dear party. Been following your exploits on Facebook. Keep up the good work."



Indeed the NPP is bigger than any individual but again, it is these individuals who make up the party. Let us learn to know before we pass judgement," she posted.



Adwoa Safo and two other MPs on the majority side have been referred to the Privileges Committee for not missing fifteen sitting days of Parliament.



On April 5, 2022, Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, ordered the aforementioned committee to probe the alleged absenteeism of Adwoa Safo, Kennedy Agyapong of Assin Central, and Henry Quartey of Ayawaso Central.



The Speaker's direction has however been challenged by the Muntaka Mubarak who is the Chief Whip of the Minority caucus.

Source: Ghanaweb.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Story of Passover: "Let My People Go"

The Story of Passover: "Let My People Go"

" " Members of the Samaritan community seal the oven after placing slaughtered sheep during the traditional Passover sacrifice ceremony at Mount Gerizim near the northern West Bank city of Nablu. MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images

The story of Passover starts with a Jewish people enslaved by a cruel Egyptian king. This king, called simply "Pharaoh," has just decided that his slaves are numerous enough to be a threat to his kingdom [source: Chabad].

To cut their numbers, Pharaoh orders the killing of every newborn Jewish male in the land. Moses' mother hides the new baby for as long as she can, and then, to save his life, sends his sister, Miriam, to lay him in a basket on the bank of the Nile, where Pharaoh's daughter regularly bathed [source: Chabad].

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The princess finds Moses, takes him home and raises him as a prince. Moses eventually discovers the truth of his ancestry, and when he is grown he leaves the palace [source: Teram]. He becomes a shepherd, and he lives quietly until the day he murders an Egyptian man he finds abusing a Jewish slave. Suddenly a fugitive, despondent, he turns to God.

God, hearing his call, reveals himself to Moses in a burning bush. God sends Moses to Pharaoh with this message: "Let My people go, so that they may serve Me" (Exodus 9:1) [source: Biblos, Chabad].

When Pharaoh refuses, Moses warns him of what will come.

When Pharaoh again refuses, God starts sending the 10 Plagues:

1. The Nile River, Egypt's prime water supply, turns to blood.

2. Frogs rain down from the sky.

3. Dust turns into lice, infesting every Egyptian and animal in Pharaoh's kingdom.

4. Cities are overrun by wild animals.

With each new plague, Pharaoh agrees to free the slaves; and with the ebbing of each new plague, he changes his mind [source: Chabad].

5. Disease kills out all livestock.

6. Agonizing boils cover the skin of every Egyptian.

7. A terrible, destructive hail falls from the sky.

8. Locusts wipe out Egypt's agriculture.

9. A complete, heavy darkness descends on the kingdom.

10. Every firstborn Egyptian male dies.

Before carrying the tenth plague out, God tells Moses to organize an animal sacrifice and smear the creature's blood on the door of every Jewish home.

God then kills each firstborn Egyptian male in Pharaoh's kingdom. They die at midnight on 15 Nissan, 2448 [source: Chabad]. Each Jewish home, marked with blood, is spared  "passed over" by the final plague of death. It is the 10th plague that shatters Pharaoh's resolve, as even his own son dies.

At this, Pharaoh commands the slaves out of his kingdom, and they take little time to pack. Bread for the coming trek has no time to rise. They simply grab the unleavened dough and rush to freedom, and the hot sun bakes the bread flat as they go.

But Pharaoh changes his mind, and by the time the Jews reach the Red Sea, they are trapped between the waters and Pharaoh's army. Moses turns to God, who tells him to strike the sea with his staff.

The waters part, revealing a path of dry land. Just as the last of the Jews makes it to the far bank, the sea comes crashing back together. The soldiers of Egypt drown. The Jews head into the desert, toward Palestine.

Passover commemorates this exodus from slavery to freedom -- and the "unleavened" part of the story plays a central role in the holiday's observance.

In short, all chametz must go.

Really? From a scientific standpoint, could the "miracles" of Passover have happened as described? Unlikely, but not entirely impossible, according to some scientists. For instance, one explanation for the "parting of the Red Sea" is a very, very rare event called a "wind set-down effect," which can cause a sudden, temporary drop in sea level [source: Lukas].
Proposed fusion mechanism between SARS-CoV-2 and eukaryotic host membrane. Credit: JACS

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's National Deuteration Facility has provided deuterated cholesterol for international research to gain a better understanding of how the Spike protein of the COVID virus, SARS-Co-V-2, infects human cells through a membrane fusion mechanism.

In deuterated compounds, hydrogen has been replaced by deuterium. Deuterated cholesterol can be used as a molecular probe to determine the stacking order of membrane layers and to determine how cholesterol is partitioned on the membrane.

Researchers from the Institut Laue-Langevin, the University of Cambridge and the Italian National Research Council have elucidated how fusion peptides, short protein sequences, initiate infection with COVID using a model of membrane interactions.

The peptides act as a bridge between the host membrane and viral envelope to promote fusion.

A critical stage in infection occurs when the Spike protein envelope of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus fuses with the membrane of the host cell to create a pathway for the virus to enter.

The research provided a detailed picture of the role of specific SARS-Co-V-2 Spike fusion peptides in the fusion process in a paper in The Journal of the American Chemical Society. Because of its significance, the research was featured on the cover of the journal.

As well as clarifying two prospective molecular mechanisms, they found that both calcium and cholesterol influenced interactions between the peptides and the host cell membrane.

The team of researchers used a suite of neutron analysis techniques, including neutron reflectometry and small-angle neutron scattering, to be able to distinguish between layers of the viral and host membranes and other neutron techniques to understand dynamic changes to the membranes.

Cholesterol was a key component of the cell membrane model and critical in its function in the study.

"The deuterated cholesterol layer provided contrast that could be distinguished from the other layer components," explained Dr. Robert Russell.

They found that presence or absence of calcium could affect the orientation of the cholesterol molecule, causing it to become thicker or thinner.

"The National Deuteration Facility is gaining an international reputation for the provision of highly deuterated lipids, such as cholesterol, for biomedical research. We have several international collaborations supporting COVID research," said Dr. Tamim Darwish.

"Our facility can produce relatively large quantities, that are generally needed in neutron experiments, and we keep them in stock.

"Although the neutron scattering associated with this research was carried out at Institut Laue- Langevin in France, many of our users choose to come to ANSTO to use our neutron scattering instruments because they can easily access the bespoke deuterated compounds from the NDF."

ANSTO's National Deuteration Facility is Australia's only molecular deuteration facility, which is partly funded by the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS)an initiative of the Australian Government.

Explore further Neutrons produce first direct 3-D maps of water during cell membrane fusion

More information: Andreas Santamaria et al, Strikingly Different Roles of SARS-CoV-2 Fusion Peptides Uncovered by Neutron Scattering, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2022). Journal information: Journal of the American Chemical Society Andreas Santamaria et al, Strikingly Different Roles of SARS-CoV-2 Fusion Peptides Uncovered by Neutron Scattering,(2022). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.1c09856
Credit: NASA/James Blair

A satisfying, audible "pop" marked a successful piercing of the sealed Apollo 17 sample container using the ESA designed and built piercing tool. The tool forms part of a gas sampling system with a gas extraction manifold, designed and built by Washington University St Louis, U.S..

Francesca McDonald, science and project lead of ESA's contribution to the Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program, is pictured at the center of this image with the piercing tool, which contains the pristine sample.

Francesca and colleague, Timon Schild, delivered the ESA piercing tool to NASA's Johnson Space Center in late 2021 in preparation of the opening of the specially curated Apollo 17 core sample, which had remained sealed under vacuum since its collection in 1972 at the moon's surface by Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan.

The job of the tool, jokingly called the "Apollo can opener" amongst the team, was to puncture the moon sample vacuum container in such a way as to aid capturing trapped lunar gases within.

This was successfully done in February 2022, with the fragile gases then collected in dedicated canisters via an extraction manifold designed by a partner team at Washington University in Saint-Louis, U.S.

"The piercing tool was bespoke designed for this Core Sample Vacuum Container (CSVC)," explains Francesca. Even if it's not used again, she notes that, "there are a lot of lessons learned that we can take for future exploration of the moon and Mars."

Combined science and engineering investigations are producing a set of findings on how well the CSVC performed and what can be learned for improving the sample return chain in the future.

The gas sample canisters are being sent to specialized laboratories around the world, including within Europe, for detailed studies using highly sensitive mass spectrometry analytical techniques to learn about the origin and evolution of volatile species on the moon and to understand the geologic history of the Apollo 17 landing site.

Follow up work is commencing to assess the full performance of the tool and to attain a set of lessons learned for future volatile-rich sample return, containment and gas sampling, which can inform Artemis and Mars Sample Return.

The gas extraction experiment is part of the larger Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program that is coordinating the analysis of several pristine moon samples from the Apollo era. And for the first time ever, ESA is involved in the opening of soil returned from the moon.

Explore further Opening a 50-year-old Christmas present from the moon
Satellite imagery from an atmospheric river landfall on January 25th, 2008 that triggered the disintegration of the land-fast ice in the Larsen A and Larsen B embayments that were visible five days later. MODIS-Terra Aqua images were acquired at worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov. Credit: Jonathan Wille

A team of researchers affiliated with multiple institutions across Europe has found evidence that suggests the collapse of the Larsen A and B ice shelves was due to the arrival of atmospheric rivers. In their paper published in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, the group describes how they tracked the movement of atmospheric rivers during the time period when the ice shelves collapsed and what their work reveals about likely scenarios unfolding in Antarctica as global warming continues.

Ice shelves form when ice from glaciers meet the sea, and instead of breaking, they float on top of the ocean. Prior research has suggested that as global warming continues, ice shelves have begun to breakup. And while such breakups do not contribute to a rise in ocean levels, their loss does allow the glaciers that spawned them to flow unimpeded into the sea, which does raise sea levels. Prior research has also shown that one of the major reasons for ice shelf break up is the flow of warmer water beneath them. In this new effort, the researchers have found that atmospheric rivers are also very likely a contributing factor.

Atmospheric rivers, as their name suggests, are currents of air that have different properties than the air around them. In most cases, they are warmer and thus carry more moisture. To learn more about the possible impact of atmospheric rivers when they flow into the Antarctic region, the researchers used a variety of tools, including a computer algorithm developed specifically to detect atmospheric rivers, and climate models and imagery captured by satellites. By identifying and following the paths of atmospheric rivers as they arrived at Antarctica, they found that one arrived in 1995 just before the collapse of Larsen A, and another arrived in 2002 just before the collapse of Larsen B.

An illustration of a typical intense atmospheric river over the northern Antarctic Peninsula and the associated observed meteorological features and impacts consequential to ice-shelf stability. Also, an example of a detected AR landfall on Feb. 6th, 2020, with the corresponding IVT values. The yellow, red, and green outlines are the shape of the AR as determined by the vIVT AR detection scheme, IWV AR detection scheme, and the original Antarctic AR detection algorithm, respectively. Credit: Communications Earth & Environment (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-022-00422-9

Further study of the two events showed that the warm moist air from the atmospheric rivers led to melting of the surface ice, which seeped into cracks and refroze, widening the cracks. That led both of the shelves to be exposed to ocean swells that tore them apart. They also found that atmospheric rivers played a role in triggering 13 of 21 iceberg calving events between 2000 and 2020.

Explore further Researchers identify biggest threats to Larsen C ice shelf

More information: Jonathan D. Wille et al, Intense atmospheric rivers can weaken ice shelf stability at the Antarctic Peninsula, Communications Earth & Environment (2022). Journal information: Communications Earth & Environment Jonathan D. Wille et al, Intense atmospheric rivers can weaken ice shelf stability at the Antarctic Peninsula,(2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-022-00422-9

 2022 Science X Network
The bright orange flowers of the Ecuadorian cloud forest herb Gasteranthus extinctus, long believed to have gone extinct, light up the forest understory as if begging to be seen. Credit: Riley Fortier.

Scientific names get chosen for lots of reasons they can honor an important person, or hint at what an organism looks like or where it's from. For a tropical wildflower first described by scientists in 2000, the scientific name "extinctus" was a warning. The orange wildflower had been found 15 years earlier in an Ecuadorian forest that had since been largely destroyed; the scientists who named it suspected that by the time they named it, it was already extinct. But in a new paper in PhytoKeys, researchers report the first confirmed sightings of Gasteranthus extinctus in 40 years.

"Extinctus was given its striking name in light of the extensive deforestation in western Ecuador," says Dawson White, a postdoctoral researcher at Chicago's Field Museum and co-lead author of the paper. "But if you claim something's gone, then no one is really going to go out and look for it anymore. There are still a lot of important species that are still out there, even though overall, we're in this age of extinction."

The rediscovered plant is a small forest floor-dweller with flamboyant neon-orange flowers. "The genus name, Gasteranthus, is Greek for 'belly flower.' Their flowers have a big pouch on the underside with a little opening top where pollinators can enter and exit," says White.

G. extinctus is found in the foothills of the Andes mountains, where the land flattens to a plane that was once covered in cloud forest. The region, called the Centinela Ridge, is notorious among biologists for being home to a unique set of plants that vanished when its forests were almost completely destroyed in the 1980s. The late biologist E. O. Wilson even named the phenomenon of organisms instantly going extinct when their small habitat is destroyed "Centinelan extinction."

Part of the team that rediscovered Gasteranthus extinctus traverses steep ravines in the forests of coastal Ecuador in search of rare plants. From left: Washington Santillan, Sr. Hermogenes, Alix Lozinguez, and Nicolas Zapata. Credit: Thomas L.P. Couvruer.

The story of Centinela was also an alarm to draw attention to the fact that over 97% of the forests in the western half of Ecuador have been felled and converted to farmland. What remains is a fine mosaic of tiny islands of forest within a sea of bananas and a handful of other crops.

"Centinela is a mythical place for tropical botanists," says Pitman. "But because it was described by the top people in the field, no one really double-checked the science. No one went back to confirm that the forest was gone and those things were extinct."

But around the time that Gasteranthus extinctus was first described in 2000, scientists were already showing that some victims of Centinelan extinction weren't really extinct. Since 2009, a few scientists have mounted expeditions looking for G. extinctus was still around, but they weren't successful. But when White and Pitman received funding from the Field Museum's Women's Board to visit the Centinela Ridge, the team had a chance to check for themselves.

The team presses and preserves the specimens collected during the day. Credit: Riley Fortier.

Starting in the summer of 2021, they began combing through satellite images trying to identify primary rainforest that was still intact (which was difficult, White recalls, because most of the images of the region were obscured by clouds). They found a few contenders and assembled a team of ten botanists from six different institutions in Ecuador, the US, and France, including Juan Guevara, Thomas Couvreur, Nicolas Zapata, Xavier Cornejo, and Gonzalo Rivas. In November of 2021, they arrived at Centinela.

"It was my first time planning an expedition where we weren't sure we'd even enter a forest," says Pitman. "But as soon as we got on the ground we found remnants of intact cloud forest, and we spotted G. extinctus on the first day, within the first couple hours of searching. We didn't have a photo to compare it to, we only had images of dried herbarium specimens, a line drawing, and a written description, but we were pretty sure that we'd found it based on its poky little hairs and showy "pot-bellied" flowers."

Pitman recalls mixed emotions upon the team finding the flower. "We were really excited, but really tentative in our excitement we thought, 'Was it really that easy?'" he says. "We knew we needed to check with a specialist."

Long believed to have gone extinct, Gasteranthus extinctus was found growing next to a waterfall at Bosque y Cascada Las Rocas, a private reserve in coastal Ecuador containing a large population of the endangered plant. Credit: Riley Fortier

The researchers took photos and collected some fallen flowers, not wanting to harm the plants if they were the only ones remaining on Earth. They sent the photos to taxonomic expert John Clark, who confirmed that, yes, the flowers were the not-so-extinct G. extinctus. Thankfully, the team found many more individuals as they visited other forest fragments, and they collected museum specimens to voucher the discovery and leaves for DNA analysis. The team was also able to validate some unidentified photos posted on the community science app iNaturalist as also being G. extinctus.

The plant will keep its name, says Pitman, because biology's code of nomenclature has very specific rules around renaming an organism, and G. extinctus's resurrection doesn't make the cut.

While the flower remains highly endangered, the expedition found plenty of reasons for hope, the researchers say.

Part of the team departs the field for the day with bags full of rare plant specimens, surrounded by the typical Centinelan landscape of tall, remnant trees scattered across pasture and farmland. Credit: Dawson White.

"We walked into Centinela thinking it was going to break our heart, and instead we ended up falling in love," says Pitman. "Finding G. extinctus was great, but what we're even more excited about is finding some spectacular forest in a place where scientists had feared everything was gone."

The team is now working with Ecuadorian conservationists to protect some of the remaining fragments where G. extinctus and the rest of the spectacular Centinelan flora lives on. "Rediscovering this flower shows that it's not too late to turn around even the worst-case biodiversity scenarios, and it shows that there's value in conserving even the smallest, most degraded areas," says White. "It's an important piece of evidence that it's not too late to be exploring and inventorying plants and animals in the heavily degraded forests of western Ecuador. New species are still being found, and we can still save many things that are on the brink of extinction."

More information: Rediscovery of Gasteranthus extinctus L.E.Skog & L.P.Kvist (Gesneriaceae) at multiple sites in western Ecuador., PhytoKeys (2022). Journal information: PhytoKeys Rediscovery of Gasteranthus extinctus L.E.Skog & L.P.Kvist (Gesneriaceae) at multiple sites in western Ecuador.,(2022). DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.194.79638
Credit: NASA

In support of the Biden-Harris Administration's efforts to advance racial equity in the federal government, NASA has released its first-ever Equity Action Plan. The plan establishes key focus areas that will allow the agency to track progress toward improved diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility both internally and externally to NASA.

"At NASA, all of our missions depend on our steadfast commitment to equal opportunity," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. "The Equity Action plan deepens our commitment to further identify and remove the barriers that limit opportunity in underserved and underrepresented communities. This framework anchors fairness as a core component in every NASA mission to make the work we do in space and beyond more accessible to all."

The four focus areas the plan addresses are:

Increasing integration and utilization of contractors and businesses from underserved communities and expanding equity in NASA's procurement process

Enhancing grants and cooperative agreements to advance opportunities, access, and representation for underserved communities

Leveraging Earth Science and socioeconomic data to help mitigate environmental challenges in underserved communities

Advancing external civil rights compliance and expanding access to limited English proficient populations within underserved communities

NASA will lean into the focus areas by further analyzing and assessing feedback received from an initial request for information. The initial request solicited insight from the public on whether, and to what extent, NASA programs and policies perpetuate barriers and limit benefits for people of color and other underserved communities. The agency also will work to implement enhancements to policies and programs that bridge gaps and provide more opportunities within NASA, the aerospace industry, and STEM fields.

This action plan is the latest step in the agency's Mission Equity initiative announced last year in response to White House Executive Order 13985, "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government."

Explore further Smoking in underserved communities nearly double the US national rate

More information: For more information about the Equity Action Plan and NASA's Mission Equity initiative, see For more information about the Equity Action Plan and NASA's Mission Equity initiative, see nasa.gov/mission-equity
Bulgarian students learn to use chopsticks during a celebration event with the theme of "Experience the Charm of Chinese Together" in Chelopech, Bulgaria, April 13, 2022. A series of cultural activities were held in Bulgaria to celebrate the upcoming United Nations Chinese Language Day. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Branding is everything in marketing and the public perception of a company and its products and services. If consumers engage with a brand, if they love a brand, they are likely to be repeat customers and moreover will often be evangelical in their representation of a brand to other people whether in the online or offline world.

But, as there is brand love, so there can be brand hate. The concept is discussed in the context of corporate social irresponsibility in the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics. Whereas much research has focus on the positivity of brand love, a team from Iran has investigated its opposite brand love and found that when corporate entities are irresponsible at the social level this can reflect negatively on their brand identity and consequently be reflected in changing the behavior of customers detrimentally.

In the digital age, many companies have come to recognize that they must have a strong and positive presence on the internet. Initially, this would have been in the form of a website and conventional advertising of that site in the media and on other websites. The advent of Web 2.0 and the era of so-called social media brought with it new opportunities for engaging with consumers and potential customers where electronic word-of-mouth allowed the crowd to almost dictate the public perception of a brand.

The notion of "going viral" became the dream of marketing executives everywhere hoping to push their product or service to a wider and wider audience. The public relations nightmare was when bad news about the company or its products took the same viral route. Indeed, earlier research has already shown that negative emotions surrounding a brand can have a greater impact than the positive on, in that case, detrimental brand awareness. When they once said no news is bad news, this really is not the case in the world of social media where a reputation can be destroyed by the crowd in an instant and a product "canceled" for any of countless reasons.

The work of Elaheh Roozbahani and Reza Salehzadeh of Shahid Ashrafi Esfahani University in Isfahan and Seyed Mehdi Mirmehdi of the University of Malayer in Malayer supports the idea that brands that do not operate in accordance with the consumer's perception of ethical, legal, and social issues are not ideologically compatible with consumers, which leads to negative emotions and brand hate. Irresponsible behavior in society ultimately leads to a negative reaction from that society. Companies from the ownership and board level down to the "shop floor" need to be aware of this and adjust their stance so that they and their brands take a more ethical and moral stance for the sake of society and for the sake of their bottom line.

Explore further Branding in the age of social media

More information: Elaheh Roozbahani et al, Evaluating the effects of corporate social irresponsibility on brand hate and its behavioural outcomes, International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics (2022). Journal information: International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics Elaheh Roozbahani et al, Evaluating the effects of corporate social irresponsibility on brand hate and its behavioural outcomes,(2022). DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2022.121919
Credit: Tom Vierus  WCS

An international team of environmental scientists has published a series of significant recommendations to protect, conserve and study the world's coral reefsthe "canaries in the coal mine" of climate change.

The Vibrant Oceans Initiative presented their white paper on the future of the delicate and crucial habitats at the Our Oceans Conference held in Palau on Thursday.

Drawing on expertise from universities and wildlife conservation groups from across the world, including the University of Leicester, the group provides six key recommendations intended to promote the "persistence and survival" of coral reefs.

Forecasts show that coral reef ecosystems around the globekey to huge numbers of marine species and a source of food, livelihoods, and cultural heritage for half a billion peopleare likely to become functionally degraded by 2050 if the goals of the Paris Agreement are not met.

Even with drastic emission reductions to ensure global warming is kept within 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, up to 90% of the world's corals could still vanish in the next three decades, leaving behind a reef structure that will lose many of its functions.

Jens Zinke is a Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of Leicester, whose research examines large coral habitats to track environmental and climate change over the last three centuries into the modern day. Speaking about the report, of which he is a co-author, Professor Zinke said, "Coral reefs are the 'canaries in the coal mine' when it comes to sensing ecosystems under stress from ocean warming due to climate change. Corals can sense when ocean temperatures exceed a dangerous threshold and warn us when we need to take measures.

Credit: Bjorn Svensson  WCS

"Our research has shown that coral reefs have been severely impacted by ocean warming in the past three to four decades, yet some reef locations show lower rates of warming or benefit from mitigating circumstances due to local oceanography.

"Some reefs have the ability to resist or recover from thermal stress faster than others, and these reefs may serve as sanctuaries under future warming. This is a major new research directionto find those locations and protect them before they are gone."

In 2018 the Vibrant Oceans group identified 50 reefs that are most likely to resist and survive climate change. The habitats are located largely in the Pacific and Indian oceans, with further reefs in the Caribbean and east of Africa.

Previously, the 50 reefs were mainly chosen at sites that escaped climate change. Now, the scientists call for a wider portfolio of reefs that should include resistant and fast-recovering reefs.

The group's latest recommendations, presented in the white paper "Forecasting Climate Sanctuaries for Securing the Future of Coral Reefs," include:

Continuation of the 50 Reefs approach as "climate change avoidance sanctuaries" as a priority for investment in coral reef conservation

Expansion of the 50 Reefs conservation portfolio for climate change to include coral resistance and recovery sanctuaries

Increase in support for regional evaluations of the health of the 50 Reefs portfolio, and sustainable financing initiatives to support the implementation of regional portfolios

Catalyzing large-scale, data-driven coral reef monitoring efforts to test and develop new models and predictions of climate sanctuaries

Use of the latest climate coral reef science to guide investments, especially as the impacts of climate change accelerate and produce novel environmental stresses and responses among reefs

Embracing a far-reaching approach to the management of 50 Reefs sites, including connections to broader seascapes, fisheries and water quality management, mitigation of other pressures (for example, industrial development), so that effective and equitable management has measurable benefits for coral reefs and coastal communities.

Explore further Caribbean coral reefs have been warming for at least 100 years
GLENS FALLS  Michael Bittel, president and CEO of the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce, will retire from the ARCC as of June.

The announcement was made by the chambers board of directors.

Bittel, 54, who has been the chambers president since April 2018, is retiring completely, he said.

He wants to spend more time with his wife, who he said has taken care of him for the last 25 years.

Now, its my turn to take care of her for the next 25, he said Thursday.

Bittel will not be stepping down until June. Between now and then, he will work with the board to find a new president.

We didnt know he was going to make this decision six months ago, said Marc Monahan, chairman of the ARCCs board of directors.

He added that Bittels decision was not unexpected, however, and they have been in communication about it recently.

Monahan said the board is in the process of putting together a search committee and will start looking for a candidate soon.

We are looking for somebody who is very comfortable with the political side of things, and someone who can advocate for businesses, Monahan said.

Monahan said that those are all characteristics that Bittel has, and that Bittel was able to speak in front of people at a ribbon-cutting event one minute, and next he was a liaison between regional businesses and political representatives.

Michael proved to be instrumental in connecting our businesses to local counties during the COVID shutdown. He had a constant open line for any of our chamber members who had questions. We had a seat at the table, Monahan said, referring to the state and county decisions that were made during the lockdown that had a direct effect on Capital Region businesses.

An example of this was when the chamber, under Bittels leadership, was able to secure more options in the way of child care services for businesses, on a state level, according to Monahan.

During the COVID shutdown, we worked really hard to get the information from every level of government to our members, Monahan said.

A big concern for the chamber and board was how the pandemic was going to affect the chambers retention rate for member businesses, or what the chamber calls their leadership circle.

The retention rate is better than it has ever been historically. We were able to keep all of our members during the pandemic and have even grown, Monahan said.

The chamber currently has 733 members, according to Bittel.

The chamber's leadership circle members give $5,000 or more per year to the chamber. The chamber's membership and the money from the leadership circle increased during the COVID shutdown.

Bittel also did a superb job collaborating with the other staff members at the chamber, Monahan said.

Hes done a lot to allow for businesses to grow, and reconnect some dots that may have been lacking before his time, said Carol Ann Conover, member services and events manager for the chamber.

According to a news release, Bittel said that the communitys greatest asset is its people.

I have been spoiled to work with a great team at the ARCC who will carry on the torch of loving and serving our community, Bittel said in the news release.

Monahan said that hopefully there wont be a drastic change as the rest of the team is staying, and that the chamber will be able to sustain its recent success.

Drew Wardle is a reporter for The Post-Star. You can contact him at 518-681-7343 or email him at dwardle@poststar.com.

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Police: Man got improper benefits

FORT EDWARD  A Fort Edward man was arrested on Thursday on a grand larceny charge for crimes allegedly committed from January 2020 to March 2021, according to Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy.

Theodus M. West, 46, was charged with a felony count of third-degree grand larceny following a joint investigation by the Washington County Sheriffs Office, the countys Department of Social Services and the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.

Police said that the investigation determined that West had failed to properly use transportation services funded by the countys Department of Social Services.

The improper use resulted in theft greater than $3,000, according to police.

West was arraigned and released pending a future court date in Fort Edward Town Court.

Contraband nets man prison time

FORT EDWARD  A Glens Falls man was sentenced on April 8 to 1  to 3 years in state prison for possessing prison contraband.

Matthew Poulos, 40, pleaded guilty in Washington County Court on March 11 to felony attempted promoting prison contraband.

He was arrested on July 9 after investigators from the Washington County Sheriffs Office determined he was in possession of dangerous contraband while incarcerated at the Washington County Jail.

Police did not state what the contraband was.

Poulos has a lengthy criminal history. In 2012, he was charged after police said he assaulted two corrections officers at Warren County Jail during a routine contraband search. He was serving a five-year jail term for drug sales.

Man gets 5 years in child sex abuse

BALLSTON SPA  A Halfmoon man was sentenced on Thursday to 5 years in prison for sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.

Anthony C. Lebrecht Jr., 34, had pleaded guilty in Saratoga County Court on March 29 to felony first-degree sexual abuse. He was arrested on Jan. 13. Police said he subjected the girl to sexual contact. The incident took place in Malta on Nov. 14.

He also must serve 15 years of post-release supervision. Lebrechts sentence will run concurrently to a sentence in Schenectady County Court.

The Schenectady Police Departments Youth Aid Bureau assisted in the investigation.
GLENS FALLS  An outdoor lighting local law adding a 60-watt limit on all exterior lights other than spotlights or floodlights has been approved by the Common Council.

The purpose of the law is to create regulations that will lessen the side effects of light pollution in the city, according to the law.

Jim Clark, councilman-at-large serving as the acting mayor while Mayor Bill Collins is on vacation, took time during Tuesdays Common Council meeting to publicly thank everyone involved in the creation of the law.

He specifically thanked Karen Judd, the citys attorney, and Diana Palmer, 3rd Ward councilwoman who chairs the Building and Codes Committee, for making the law happen.

We started this with the previous administration, and we couldnt get it done before then, Clark said. But we did now.

The local law, which must be approved by the state before being officially added to the citys code, does set a cap on wattage at 60 watts.

But a light fixture may be in compliance as long as it does not create a nuisance by polluting light onto a neighboring property.

The law describes a nuisance as a lamp or fixture that exceeds the 60-watt limit or the lumen equivalent of 900 lumens that is not pointed away or shielded from light trespass into a neighbors property.

The law also recommends that when possible lights installed include timers, dimmers and sensors to reduce unwanted light and energy consumption.

The law will apply to all residential districts in the city, as well as all cultural professional, two-family residential and multifamily residential districts. Concerns had been brought up about the citys lighting not being impacted by the law.

But the members of the council have said that residents can file complaints about city streetlights on the citys website.

Concerns had been raised in the previous months regarding the vagueness of certain aspects of the law.

Clarity was added partially by the wattage cap. Once posted, the law will also include an outline of lighting standards and how the city will enforce the law.

Clark said that he was thankful for all of the public comments and discussion had during council and committee meetings regarding the local law.

I appreciate all of the dialogue that we had. I think its a better law for it, Clark said. I think the job of this body is when we see something that negatively impacts our residents of the city it is our duty and responsibility to address it.

Once the state approves the local law, residents will be able to find it in the citys code under Chapter 129 Lighting on the citys website.

Jay Mullen is a reporter for The Post-Star covering the city of Glens Falls, Warren County and crime and courts. You can reach him at 518-742-3224 or jmullen@poststar.com.

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QUEENSBURY  The Warren County Board of Supervisors issued a proclamation during its meeting on Thursday honoring a veteran from Hague who was killed in the Korean War.

The board proclaimed April 22 as Sgt. Howard Belden Day in Warren County.

The day will serve to honor Belden for the sacrifice he made for the freedom of all Americans.

The town of Hague will honor Belden on the same day with a vehicle procession from the fire station to Veterans Memorial Park. The procession will be followed by a tribute ceremony in Beldens name.

Belden was 19 years old when he was reported missing from the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea in 1950. A vehicle convoy he was in was ambushed in battle.

The Army sergeant was missing for 71 years.

His remains were discovered in July 2018 following a summit between former President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea.

As a part of the U.S. military effort to bring the remains of fallen veterans home, Belden was accounted for on Oct. 14.

Prior to Sgt. Howard Belden Day, there will be a tribute for the Korean War veteran in Albany at the Korean War Memorial on Tuesday.

The vehicle procession on Friday will be followed by a tribute ceremony at the veterans memorial in Hague at 6 p.m. If there is inclement weather, the vehicle procession will end at Town Hall, where the tribute will take place indoors.

As a result of the efforts to bring soldiers remains home, there have been 112 positive identifications. Of those, Army Cpl. Walter Smead of Hadley and Army Cpl. Clifford Johnson of Columbia County have been buried in the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery with full military honors.

On May 12, Belden, who has also been honored in the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, will be buried with the same honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

Jay Mullen is a reporter for The Post-Star covering the city of Glens Falls, Warren County and crime and courts. You can reach him at 518-742-3224 or jmullen@poststar.com.

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BALLSTON SPA  In the next 10 days, the New York State Sheriffs Institute will begin its annual Honorary Membership Drive in Saratoga County.

Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo made the announcement on Thursday in a news release.

The Saratoga County Sheriffs Office is a unit of county government, but according to a news release, many concerns of law enforcement agencies are addressed better on a statewide level.

The state Sheriffs Institute provides centralized training programs and services for sheriffs offices throughout the state where the programs are unavailable or impractical at the county level.

The institutes flagship program is the Sheriffs Summer Camp for economically challenged children, which is in its 47th year. The program is located on Keuka Lake in central New York, and 840 kids attend from all across the state each summer.

The cost of the stay and transportation is completely covered by Sheriffs Institute, allowing children who wouldnt typically have the opportunity to attend summer camp to do so.

With many sheriffs deputies from across the state working as counselors side-by-side with the kids, the camp acts as a bridge between todays youth and law enforcement to foster positive relationships and help build mutual trust, Zurlo said.

He said that by becoming a member, people are helping the institute make communities stronger.

Financial support for many of the institutes programs come from honorary membership dues, according to a news release. Invitees are chosen at random.

Anyone interested in supporting the efforts of the institute by becoming a member should contact Zurlo if an invitation is not received. They can also visit sheriffsinstitute.org to download an application.

The institute is registered with the New York State Attorney Generals Charities Bureau. All donations made are tax deductible.

The state Sheriffs Institute is a nonprofit that was established in 1979.

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Bulgarian students learn about the Chinese opera face painting art during a celebration event with the theme of "Experience the Charm of Chinese Together" in Chelopech, Bulgaria, April 13, 2022. A series of cultural activities were held in Bulgaria to celebrate the upcoming United Nations Chinese Language Day. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)
TRENTON  With the first taxed and legal cannabis sales in the state set to start Thursday, a day after the widely marked weed holiday of 4/20, anybody over 21 will be able to buy the formerly illegal drug.

Apparently, that includes cops.

On Wednesday, acting state Attorney General Matthew Platkin sent a memo to police chiefs across the state, advising them that an officers off-duty possession or use of cannabis should not result in any discipline against the officer.

Use on duty is a much different story.

There should be zero tolerance for cannabis use, possession, or intoxication while performing the duties of a law enforcement officer, reads the memo. The safety of our communities and our officers demands no less.

The memo also indicates there should be no tolerance of unregulated cannabis use for officers whether on or off duty. That means weed bought outside of licensed facilities could result in discipline against officers, even when they are off the clock.

New Jersey to start recreational marijuana sales April 21 Recreational marijuana sales in New Jersey for those 21 and older will begin April 21. That's according to Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. The governor's announcement in a tweet comes just three days after state regulators green lighted permits for seven facilities that already sell medical cannabis to begin retailing recreational marijuana. The news comes about a year after the states regulatory commission started operating, and a year and a half after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question to permit recreational marijuana for people 21 and older. New Jersey is one of 18 states, along with the District of Columbia, that have legalized recreational marijuana.

According to the memo, the Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance and Marketplace Modernization Act signed by Gov. Phil Murphy in February 2021 states that departments and other law enforcement agencies cannot take action against officers because they do or do not use cannabis off duty.

Law enforcement agencies shall continue to maintain a drug- and alcohol-free workplace, which prohibition includes marijuana/cannabis whether regulated or illicit, the memo reads. New Jersey law differentiates between cannabis and marijuana, reserving cannabis for the regulated product purchased in licensed dispensaries and marijuana for the same plant purchased anywhere without a license.

A new drug testing policy that complies with the states cannabis laws is on the way, Platkin wrote in the memo.

Middle Township police Chief Christopher Leusner has doubts, not because an officer having a puff after work is fundamentally different than one having a bourbon on the rocks, but because of the challenges in determining when someone is under the influence of cannabis.

I dont agree with the policy. I dont agree with the law when it comes to police officers, he said Friday. As far as I know, theres no generally acceptable level where it says if you have this much THC in your system, you are intoxicated, and with that much you arent.

For instance, there is a consensus, and legal precedent, that if you have a blood alcohol content of 0.08%, you are too drunk to drive. Cannabis affects each person differently, Leusner said, and remains in someones system for about 28 days after consumption. While there are physical indications when someone is high, there is no objective means of testing that. Departments rely on drug recognition experts for charges of driving under the influence, but that is being reviewed by the state Supreme Court.

South Jersey store owners illegally sold marijuana, prosecutors say Investigators seized nearly $250,000 in cash and more than 100 pounds of marijuana from an i

Leusner said he does not want to face a situation in which there is an accident or a use-of-force incident and an officer has THC in his or her system.

A former president of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, Leusner said he traveled to Canada, where cannabis is legal at the federal level, to find out how departments have handled the issue. In some instances, he said, the policy was similar to what is laid out in New Jersey law, while one department had a policy that officers could not indulge within 28 days of the start of their shifts.

But Leusner said the law is clear, and New Jersey voters made their decision.

The voters have spoken. As law enforcement officers, our role is to enforce the law, he said. I respect the will of the people and the Legislature.

The memo from the attorney general has drawn fire, including from Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer, R-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland. She pointed out that marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, even as an increasing number of states have legalized it. It is listed as a Schedule I drug, along with LSD, heroin and MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

Anyone who wants to work in public safety must be held to higher standards, Sawyer said in a statement Thursday. Our men and women in law enforcement have the responsibility to make life-altering decisions on a daily basis, for themselves, their partners, for the public. I want to trust that they are at their best when doing so.

Egg Harbor Township and Vineland sites approved for retail cannabis sales EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP  With assurances that current patients of medicinal marijuana will not 

She pointed to the Colorado Springs Police Department, which prohibits officers from using the drug, and agencies in California that develop their own policies, citing western states that were among the first to legalize.

She also cited the lack of testing methods to determine levels of cannabis intoxication, a concern often raised in connection to intoxicated driving.

The Attorney Generals memo assures us the State Police will update their drug testing policy soon. What good will this do when there is no reliable test, no reliable measure of what constitutes marijuana intoxication? Sawyer said. We count on our police officers and troopers to be clear-thinking, engaged, and responsible. Marijuana use does not promote any of those things.

Contact Bill Barlow: 609-272-7290 bbarlow@pressofac.com Twitter @jerseynews_bill

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ATLANTIC CITY  Six people were arrested after police raided a drug production facility last week.

City residents Daniel Uribe, 35, Linda Bones, 34, Jose Santiago Jr., 30, and Jose Santiago Sr., 48; Bethany Fitch, 38, of Somers Point; and Anthony Whittaker, 44, of Bridgeton, all face drug possession and manufacturing charges, police said Friday in a news release.

Uribe, Bones and Whittaker were taken to the Atlantic County jail. The Santiagos and Fitch were issued summonses and released pending court, police said.

Detectives searched two apartments in the first block of South Texas Avenue at 3:17 p.m. April 7. The search warrant resulted from a two-month-long investigation, police said.

Inside one of the apartments, Uribe, Bones and Whittaker were found processing cocaine with tools, including a ladle with cooked cocaine inside and scales, police said. Detectives also found 53 grams of suspected crack cocaine, 120 buprenorphine and naloxone sublingual film packets, and items used to package illegal narcotics.

AT&T donates $40,000 to Salvation Army Atlantic City ATLANTIC CITY  The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for students to have both a r

In the other apartment, detectives found the Santiagos and Fitch, along with a marijuana-growing operation. They found nine marijuana plants, more than 1 ounce of cannabis, 4.5 grams of suspected crack cocaine packed for sale and 12 wax folds of suspected heroin, police said.

Detectives also recovered items used for the packaging of illegal drugs in that apartment, police said.

Uribe, Bones and Whittaker each were charged with maintaining or operating a drug production facility, two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance, two counts of possession with intent to distribute, distribution within 1,000 feet of a school zone and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The Santiagos each were charged with two counts of possession of CDS, two counts of possession with intent to distribute, possession of marijuana over 6 ounces and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Fitch was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

Contact Eric Conklin: 609-272-7261 econklin@pressofac.com Twitter @ACPressConklin

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CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE  Cape May County Democrats are running Julia Hankerson, of Woodbine, for county government.

Hankerson was one of two Democratic nominees for state Assembly in 2021, when Republican incumbents Antwan McClellan, of Ocean City, and Erik Simonsen, of Lower Township, kept their seats.

This year, she is set to challenge incumbent E. Marie Hayes and Andy Bulakowksi, of Lower Township, the Republican nominees for two seats on the county Board of Commissioners.

The county GOP supported Bulakowksi at a party convention in March. Hes set to run for the seat currently held by veteran county Director Gerald Thornton, who was first elected to the board in 1976 and, after leaving for several years, returned in 1995. Now 81, Thornton has announced he will not seek another term.

The five-member Board of Commissioners is currently entirely Republican, and the GOP has held the majority for more than a century.

Veteran Cape official Thornton won't seek reelection I decided after all these years, its time, Commissioner Director Gerald M. Thornton said 

If elected, Hankerson would be the first Black woman on the board. Daniel Kurkowski, the chairman of the county Democratic organization, said Thursday she will be the only Democratic candidate this year.

Dr. Hankerson is a fourth-generation Woodbine resident, long involved in her community, and has extensive experience qualifying her to serve as a County Commissioner, reads a statement announcing her candidacy released Thursday. She has owned and operated the Woodbine Wellness Center LLC and served as president of the Greater Woodbine Chamber of Commerce and the Woodbine AARP.

Hankerson has been a social worker/psychotherapist for 30 years and was vice president of the Board of Directors of Cape Counseling (now Acenda). She sat on the International Association of Social Work Boards Examination Committee.

She has been a professor at both Atlantic Cape Community College and Simmons University in Boston and is a member of the Atlantic Cape Human Services board of directors.

She also has run for office in Woodbine. She entered the race for Assembly in August 2021, after a late change in candidates for the Democrats in the 1st District. In that race, the two Democrats trailed well behind the Republican incumbents.

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A New Jersey man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly ran down a woman in a road rage incident that was caught on video. The footage filmed by a neighbor shows a car on a residential street in Elizabeth backing up and then chasing the woman onto a front lawn, as she slips and falls. Authorities allege 56-year-old Vincent Jean of Elizabeth was involved in a minor traffic accident nearby and began pursuing the woman after she began taking pictures of his car as he tried to flee. The Union County prosecutor's office has charged Jean with attempted murder, aggravated assault and other offenses. The 23-year-old woman was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
WEST LIBERTY  The city of West Liberty hopes to resolve differences with the West Liberty Volunteer Fire Department and EMS, but is exploring options for fire service if that is not possible.

The city issued a written response to the fire department, which announced its intent to resign from the city-controlled department and create a 28E agency governed by a board.

The fire department alleges improprieties by the city, a charge the city denied in its response, but did not detail citing pending litigation with the fire department.

West Liberty said it hoped for a third-party mediator to help them resolve the dispute before the May 1 deadline.

The letter contains substantive allegations that the City deems to be either wrong or wholly unfounded, the city said in its response.

The fire department claims the City has actively waged a war upon the department through dangerous bureaucratic moves that endanger the community, including deliberately stalling attempts to hire EMS personnel, according to a letter it sent the city of West Liberty.

The fire department letter also alleges incorrect accounting, mixing the departments funds with the citys general fund, and incorrect classification of expenses and donations, among other grievances. It said if West Liberty is not protected by the department, the insurance coverage for the property owners in the area served by the fire department would see a significant increase.

On July 5, 2021, the West Liberty Fire Department filed a petition in Iowa District Court for partnership dissolution, accounting, for damages, constructive fraud, and for temporary and permanent injunctions. The petition alleges the city of West Liberty has violated the provisions of the parties contract and breached its fiduciary responsibilities. The petition requests the court create a separate 28E agency.

West Liberty responded it remains committed to providing emergency services within city limits and rural community," and is exploring options for alternative fire and EMS protection services.

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A victim trapped inside a trench in Cordova has been rescued.

Rock Island County Sheriff's Capt. Ron Erickson said rescue crews got the man out of the trench at about 8:30 p.m.

Rock Island County Sheriff's deputies were sent to the scene at 5:10 p.m.

The man had fallen into a trench at 1316 2nd St.

The victim will be taken to a local hospital.

A MABAS, or Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, call went out to Quad-City area first responders.

Aiding the Cordova Fire Protection District at the scene were firefighters and first responders from Albany, Rock Island, East Moline, Moline, Silvis, Hampton, Rock Island Arsenal and Bettendorf.

This story will be updated as information becomes available.

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The Breakfast Optimist Club that serves the Illinois Quad-Cities has announced its annual Police Officer of the Year and Top Cop for 2021.

From the East Moline Police Department, Sgt. William Lind earned Officer of the Year honors. Lind was nominated for his work at the Quad-City Federal Gang Task Force.

Lind spearheaded one of the largest cases in the task force for illegal drug and weapon distribution in the Quad-City area. He also worked to stop several shootings in the spring of 2021 between two gangs that led to multiple arrests for firearms violations.

Lind also is involved with the Shop With a Cop and Holiday Food Baskets programs.

Moline Police Officer Cody Parmenter earned Officer of the Year honors after being nominated for improving the safety and quality of life in the community, building community trust and collaboration, and enhancing the professionalism, teamwork and integrity of the department.

Parmenter made more than 45 felony arrests, mostly for the delivery or possession of methamphetamine or other controlled substances, along with 25 arrests for driving under the influence.

He made several arrests for gun crimes, unlawful use of a weapon and armed violence.

Parmenter also developed a community-oriented policing program to emphasize the importance of staying in school and being a productive member of our community. The program strives to build and strengthen the relationship between children in the community and the Moline Police Department by recognizing students for their outstanding achievements, and police visiting them at school for a pizza party.

Parmenter also was awarded the Life Saving Award for his actions on March 15, 2021, when he saved the life of a citizen inside a burning house.

Parmenter also was named Top Cop for 2021.

Moline Police Chief Darren Gault said, We are very grateful for the recognition that the Breakfast Optimists have given the officers for their outstanding work to make our community a better and safer place.

These awards that are judged by community members are very special because they are independent evaluations of the officers without any influence from police management, Gault added. The appreciation from the community resonates throughout the department and is greatly appreciated.

East Moline Police Chief Jeff Ramsey said, Officers are recognized internally, but to be recognized by people in the community they serve means a lot to them.

Congratulations to all of the nominees and award winners, your dedication to the job and desire to protect and serve the community often goes unnoticed, but today you are being recognized, and deservingly so, Ramsey said. I appreciate our neighbors at the Moline Police Department and the working relationship we have.

Other finalists for Officer of the Year are:

East Moline Police Sgt. Kyle Schultz, who was nominated for dedication, training and expertise in developing officers in the department.

East Moline Police Det. Riley Reeves, who was nominated for efforts in community policing.

Moline Police Sgt. Joe Kluever, who was nominated for his work on difficult and complex juvenile investigation cases.

Moline Police Officer Adam Medina, who was nominated for his heroic actions in the face of danger in dealing with an armed person.

John Zelnio, Breakfast Optimist Club Top Cop Committee Chairman, said in a news release, The Breakfast Optimist Club members are very proud of our law enforcement officers and the great work that they do in our community. It was a great pleasure to honor these top six very deserving officers.

Founded in 1919, Optimist clubs work in their communities promoting good government, the military and patriotism, and support local youth projects.

Optimist committee members judged the applications for Officer of the Year and Top Cop based on heroism, community service, meritorious performance and club purpose.

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CAMBRIDGE  A Kewanee woman who pleaded guilty to child endangerment causing death was sentenced Wednesday to 180 days in jail and 30 months probation.

The felony charge is punishable by two to 10 years in prison.

Kewanee police responded to a dispatch of a possible opioid overdose at a house at 5:43 a.m. on March 28, 2021. Arriving officers found 17-year-old Austin Michael Huggins, who was ultimately pronounced dead. The coroner's investigation discovered the minor had lethal amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system.

Judge James Cosby said Patricia E. Allensworth, 27, would see more time behind bars with a jail sentence as opposed to a two-year prison term. Cosby said a two-year prison term would mean Allensworth would be out in about 61 days because of time already served while waiting to be sentenced.

Cosby, too, said a two-year prison term seemed heavy-handed in light of Allensworth's partial cooperation with police, being the only one to call 9-1-1 and relative lack of a prior criminal history compared to her three co-defendants, who are three- or five-time convicted felons.

Co-defendant Justin J. Padilla, 44, was sentenced to two years in prison. Jacob A. Metscaviz, 41, has a stipulated bench trial scheduled for May 13 and Timothy L. Waugh, 46, has a final pre-trial hearing set for May 23.

"They are career criminals. They are drug addicts. Ms. Allensworth, you somehow found yourself in their company," Cosby said. "You made a choice to associate with them, so it doesn't excuse your actions at all."

Nevertheless, the judge noted that it was because of what Allensworth was willing to tell police that "at least some of the details" of what happened in the home that night are known at all. He noted she was the one who ultimately called 911, even though she made a poor choice by not calling sooner.

Henry County State's Attorney Catherine Runty said the core reason why none of the co-defendants called 911 was they didn't want their own drugs  their own personal stashes  to be discovered.

"It was a selfish series of acts that led to the death," Runty said.

Cosby also noted state lawmakers have indicated that there is a presumption individuals receive probation unless the judge can justify imprisonment beyond the charges themselves.

The judge also noted that if Allensworth went to prison, she would not be there long enough to avail herself of resources to combat her addiction.

"She won't receive treatment," Cosby said.

As a condition of probation, Allensworth must undergo weekly drug testing for six months followed by a review of her probation on Jan. 16, 2023.

Rebecca Montgomery, the grandmother of the deceased 17-year-old, read a victim impact statement.

"I understand Austin died in pain, struggling to breathe. Why didn't you help him? Why didn't you call for help?" Montgomery asked. "What kind of monster are you? How could you ignore Austin as he died?"

At the conclusion of the hearing, Cosby addressed the 17-year-old's father and two grandparents who were present.

"Justice is never perfect," Cosby said. "I hope I laid out my thought process so you could see what's going on in my head. Quite frankly she's going to be in jail longer this way. I know that's little solace to the three of you, but it's at this time what I feel is appropriate."

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Carrie Lam urges elderly people in Hong Kong to get 4th COVID-19 vaccine dose

Xinhua) 08:16, April 15, 2022

HONG KONG, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam on Thursday appealed to people aged 60 or above who had received three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to get the fourth dose in a timely manner.

Lam received her fourth dose of the Sinovac vaccine at the Community Vaccination Center in the Hong Kong Central Library. She inspected the operation of the vaccination center after she took the jab.

The HKSAR government said last Friday that after considering experts' recommendations, persons aged 60 or above who had received three doses of the Sinovac or BioNTech vaccines could receive the fourth vaccine dose at least three months after their last dose.

"Currently, the first-dose vaccination rate of the age group of 3 to 11 and that of 70 or above account for some 60 percent and some 70 percent respectively of the relevant populations, far lower than that of the other age groups," Lam said.

The HKSAR government has been stepping up efforts to boost the vaccination rates of children and the elderly, as a matter of priority, to reduce their risk of hospitalization, serious complication or even death upon infection, she added.

On Thursday, Hong Kong registered 579 new COVID-19 cases by nucleic acid tests, and 464 additional cases through self-reported rapid antigen tests, official data showed.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
For the third year in a row, Thailand is celebrating its traditional new year Songkran in a water-free mode, despite the country being set to lift most COVID-19 control measures once and for all in the near future.

A parade of young Thais in colorful traditional costumes, an elephant with a lady dressed elegantly as the "Songkran Goddess" on its back, and music performances and dancers, marked this year's new year celebration in the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya on Wednesday, the first day of Songkran.

Handicraft exhibits, buddha statue water-pouring rituals, together with a food market, the local authorities are trying hard to make people get together to enjoy the festivities in a safer and dryer way.

To better contain the spread of the COVID-19 in the country, the Thai government has prohibited water splashing, powder smearing and foam parties, which the Songkran festival is most famed for.

Instead, this year's event focused on the traditional and cultural angles of the holiday, such as family values and ancient ceremonies, according to Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT).

Ekarat, a Thai visitor on Wednesday night's show, told Xinhua he noticed the effort from the event organizers who try to explain the cultural stories of Thailand from historic scripts in the form of performances.

For foreigners like David, a young tourist from Singapore, it was exciting to see that larger events can be organized again in Thailand. However, he was a bit disappointed by the absence of any water spectacles.

Unlike the previous two years, the country's COVID-19 taskforce this year has allowed interprovincial travel and further eased border control measures in order to lure more international visitors.

Since the start of the Songkran week, the rail system has seen a huge increase in passenger traffic. TAT estimated that throughout the long holidays, the southeast Asian nation will host a total of 3.34 million Thai and foreign tourists.

Despite the water splashing ban, social media revealed that people played with water guns in some tourist hotspots such as Patong beach in Phuket island and Bangkok's busy Khaosan road Wednesday night, which prompted the government to reaffirm the ban the next day.

Special forces and tourist police were sent to the area on Thursday, to prevent COVID-19 measure violations. Several roadblocks with police control points have been set up at both ends of Khao San Road.

"The number of visitors is the same as yesterday," Champ, a vendor at Khaosan road, told Xinhua on Thursday. He is happy to see people flocking to the street to celebrate the festival which keeps his business floating.

This stands in stark contrast to how Khaosan road looked just a few months ago, when it resembled a ghost town.

However, popular spots with crowds celebrating Songkran also posed a risk for COVID-19 outbreaks, which are predicted by medical experts before the holiday.

Thailand's health ministry said that the long holidays could intensify the spread of the coronavirus, with the number of new cases expected to exceed 100,000 per day afterwards.

Prasit Watanapa, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said Thailand's mortality rate is currently 3-4 times the government's target of 0.1 percent.

He warned that in face of a post-Songkran surge of daily cases, the government must keep the number of single-day deaths below 200 and the number of hospitalizations manageable to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed.
The 15-year-old operator of the boat involved in a fatal crash off the LeClaire levee told investigators at the scene that the other boat slammed into the side of his boat.

The minor is not being identified.

The 15-year-old driver told Iowa Department of Natural Resources officers in body-camera video footage played for jurors Friday in the involuntary manslaughter trial of James Thiel Sr. that those on the 35-foot Triton owned by Thiel Sr. were just chillin  and traveling downstream at 35 to 40 mph before the crash.

The DNR has estimated Thiels boat was traveling 60 mph just before or at the time of the crash.

When the teen saw the boat operated by Craig Verbeke, of Moline, he turned left, he said, attempting to avoid a collision.

(Verbeke) turned back into us, slammed into the side of our boat, he said in the video played for jurors Friday. They tried to cut us off. He turns this way (motioning with his hand) and goes under us.

Thiel, owner of Thiel Truck Center, was interviewed by DNR at the same time and said a boat belonging to his friend, Ethan Mahler, was next to the Triton as the boats headed south past LeClaire.

Mahler testified Thursday, however, that he was a considerable distance downstream of the Thiel boat as they approached and passed the LeClaire levee and said he was not immediately aware of the crash.

DNR Conservation Officer Erika Billerbeck, one of the investigators who interviewed Thiel and the 15-year-old boat driver at the scene, testified Friday: The first thing I noticed is he (Thiel) smelled very strongly of ingested alcohol  seeping from the pores.

She described Thiels wife, Gretchen Thiel, a Triton passenger, as very intoxicated.

Billerbeck also testified about the condition of the 19-foot Bayliner driven by Verbeke, who died in the crash with his fiancee, Anita Pinc, who was a passenger in the boat.

She said Verbekes Bayliner did not sustain any front-end damage, which she would expect if the boat had struck the Triton. It appeared the Bayliner had been struck in the rear left corner, she said.

Paul Sickman, a conservation warden with the Wisconsin DNR also testified Friday. Sickman was part of the investigative team that inspected and analyzed both boats. The resulting crash analysis indicated that Thiel's boat struck Verbeke's.

He echoed Billerbeck's testimony that the rear left side of Verbeke's boat was the initial point of impact. He said there was no evidence the Bayliner slammed into the Triton, contrary to the 15-year-old driver's statement.

The larger boat made a "complete override" of the smaller vessel, he said, adding that he saw no evidence that any action was taken by the Thiel boat to avoid the collision. One important piece of evidence, he said, was paint transfer on the front of Thiel's boat from the rear of the Verbeke boat.

"That accident happened, literally, in a split second," Sickman said.

A passenger on Thiels boat, Spencer Jewell, also took the witness stand Friday.

He works for Thiel at his auto dealership in Pleasant Valley, Thiel Truck Center, he said. Jewell said his boss would take him and his family boating about once a year, which was the day of the accident in 2020  Aug. 16.

He said he didnt know whether others on the boat were drinking alcohol that day, though he said his wife was drinking and he was looking out for their children. He said he did not see Mahlers boat after leaving the sand pits near Cordova, which is where they had been before heading south toward LeClaire.

He said his back was turned at the time of the collision. He was taking video with his phone just before the accident, he said, but his phone never was found and likely was thrown into the Mississippi River upon impact.

Another DNR officer also took the stand Friday.

Eric Wright said he helped seize the vessels involved in the crash and echoed another officers statement about Thiels reaction to their efforts.

He wasnt extremely happy that we were going to seize his boat, Wright said. He was photographing or videoing the whole thing.

He said Thiel was concerned about the minor driver and about his boat. Asked whether he also was concerned about the occupants of the Bayliner, he said, Not that I recall.

He also remarked that he smelled alcohol on Thiel.

An employee of Mercury Marine testified about his role in collecting data from an engine of Thiels boat. He did not supply details of what was recovered.

Also Friday, two more witnesses testified that they saw Thiels boat racing with Mahlers boat.

Dennis and Amy Whitlock were on a motorcycle on the LeClaire levee, they said, when they saw the boats racing. Both described the vessels as being side-by-side.

The state also called two witnesses from another boat who portrayed a scenario of the crash that had not previously been put forth.

Jeff Melsha, a Cedar Rapids bar owner, said he was driving a boat downstream from Port Byron and was just past the LeClaire riverfront where the Twilight riverboat is docked when he noticed Verbeke's boat.

He said Verbeke's boat was moving upstream, straight toward his boat. He said Verbeke veered to the right, but Melsha did not change course.

The crash between Verbeke's and Thiel's boats occurred moments later, he said. He spoke with someone on Thiel's boat right after the collision, he said, and someone on the boat asked him to tell the DNR the collision was not their fault.

One of Melsha's passengers, Anthony Dipple, said Mahler's boat passed them first, and he commented on the boat's high speed. He saw Verbeke's Bayliner cross the wake from Mahler's jet boat, he said, then veer out of the path of Melsha's boat.

"Not a second later, there was an impact," Dipple said.

"I believe it (Verbeke's boat) was hit in the side by the bigger boat," he said. "It's my opinion the little boat (Verbeke's) went in the direction the big boat (Thiel) was going."

Several witnesses have said Verbeke appeared to be getting out of the way of the Thiel boat by veering to the right, or starboard. Prosecutors said during opening statements earlier in the week that Iowa law dictates a starboard turn is the proper evasive action for both vessels when confronted with a possible collision.

The trial resumes Monday.

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Jamon Winfrey, a Davenport teen killed during a gunfight between two rival gangs in February 2021, tried to run away when the shooting started, according to testimony Friday in Scott County court.

Davenport police Detective Jordan Sander testified during a preliminary hearing for John Eddie Hanes III. Hanes, 18, of Davenport, is one of three men charged with first-degree murder in Winfreys death. The other two are Chrystian Smith, 18, and Javon Combs, 20, both of Davenport.

During Fridays hearing, Sander said Hanes was one of at least two gunmen who shot at the vehicle Winfrey was traveling in when the 14-year-old was killed on Feb. 24, 2021, in the 1300 block of Farnam Street.

Sander testified during questioning by Assistant Scott County Attorney Caleb Copley that Winfrey was a member of the Savage Life gang while Hanes, Combs and Smith are members of MMG (also known as the Mad Max Gang). Both groups have a "shoot-on-sight" order if a member of members of the rival gang is spotted, Sander said.

He said Winfrey was riding in a Nissan sedan that was stopped in the road to converse with the occupants of a Honda van.

Smith was driving nearby in a Hyundai Santa Fe with Hanes and Combs as passengers when Hanes pointed out members of Savage Life among the occupants of the two stopped vehicles. Sander said Smith drove up and blocked the Nissan sedan, which Hanes and Combs began shooting.

Sander said an individual in the Honda van returned fire and that Winfrey fled the vehicle. Winfrey's body was found the next day in a yard between houses in the 1300 block of Farnam Street not far from the shooting scene. An autopsy determined he died from a gunshot wound.

Combs was wounded in the gunfight and his blood was found in the vehicle in which he, Hanes and Smith were riding, Sander said.

He said his testimony was based on accounts gathered from witnesses, security camera footage and shell casings and other physical evidence recovered from the scene by investigators.

The security footage, Sander said, showed Hanes as one of the gunmen.

Spencer Roudabush, Hanes attorney, did not cross-examine Sander during the hearing.

District Associate Judge Michael Motto ruled the evidence was sufficient for the case against Hanes to continue and set his next court hearing for May 19.

Afterward, Hanes was returned to the custody of the Scott County Jail. He was being held on a $250,000 cash-only bond.

Combs had a preliminary hearing on March 25, in which Sander provided similar testimony.

Smith waived his preliminary hearing, according to court records.

Combs and Smith remained in custody Friday, according to court records. Each was being held on a $1 million bond.

Combs is next scheduled to appear in Scott County court on April 28 and Smith on April 21, according to court records.

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Authorities say a Rock Island man used a pellet gun to steal from another teen during an alleged home invasion.

Evan L. Vesey, 18, is accused of home invasion with a dangerous weapon, armed robbery and aggravated robbery, according to Rock Island County court records.

Vesey allegedly entered an apartment without permission on April 1 in the 3800 block of 26th Avenue in Moline, according to court records. Authorities claim he held the victim, a 17-year-old boy, by the throat and threatened him with the pellet gun then took shoes and a Chromebook.

Officers were called about 12:25 a.m. on April 1 for a report of a burglary at the 26th Avenue address, according to the Moline Police Department. When they arrived, the 17-year-old victim told officers several people broke into the residence, stole the belongings and left in an SUV.

An officer on patrol spotted an SUV matching the description of the vehicle in the 2800 block of Avenue of the Cities and attempted a stop the SUV, which sped away, according to police.

Moline officers chased the SUV into Bettendorf, where they were joined by Bettendorf police officers and the Iowa State Patrol, according to the Moline Police Department.

At one point, police said the SUV stopped and three people ran from the vehicle, which then sped away. Police stopped the SUV near the intersection of Middle Road and Spruce Hills Drive.

The police department identified Vesey as the driver and said a BB gun was recovered from the SUV.

A 15-year-old boy, whom police did not identify, was also arrested in relation to the incident and has a pending juvenile court case.

Vesey was being held Thursday on a $75,000 bail at the Rock Island County Jail. To be released, he would have to post a $7,500 bond.

Veseys next court date in Rock Island County is scheduled for May 3, according to jail officials.

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The Rock Island Arsenal's health clinic will now bear the name of a Black U.S. Army combat medic credited with saving countless lives during World Ward II, despite being wounded.

The clinic, located in Building 110 on the Arsenal, provides primary care services to more than 1,940 active-duty soldiers, retirees and family members. It will now be called the Woodson Health Clinic, named for Staff Sgt. Waverly Woodson, who tirelessly worked to treat numerous injured soldiers on June 6, 1944.

"This is a great day for our Arsenal; it's a great day for our Army," Major Gen. Christopher Mohan said. "Today, it is our distinct honor and privilege to name what was simply known as the Rock Island Arsenal Health Clinic for a true American Hero  someone whose heroism has gone unrecognized for far, far too long."

More than 100 U.S. Army personnel and officers, civilians and local officials gathered Thursday morning in Heritage Hall on the Arsenal to honor the legacy of Woodson during a formal ceremony that included members of the U.S. Army band.

Mohan said naming the clinic after Woodson went toward helping to right a "historic wrong" for racial discrimination and segregation Woodson experienced during his service to the country.

Woodson was a member of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalions medical team, the only African-American unit to storm Omaha Beach during the Normandy invasion on D-Day. Despite being wounded himself, Woodson treated up to 200 injured soldiers for 30 hours that day, removing bullets, setting broken bones, administering blood plasma and dressing wounds. He also reportedly saved four British soldiers from drowning, pulling them from the rough surf and administering CPR.

As a result of his heroic actions, Woodson was awarded the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, the Good Conduct Medal and he was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Woodson also was a member of the Army 1st Infantry Division. Established in 1917 during World War I, it is the oldest continuously serving division in the Regular Army.

"Sergeant Woodson did not consider skin color on the battlefield," Mohan said. "He did not consider who he was treating during his historic acts under withering (gun) fire on Omaha Beach. What he did was undervalued and underappreciated. Yet, the courage he displayed was of such magnitude, that it simply could not be ignored forever.

"We will try to make right by Waverly Woodson and give him his due by naming this clinic for him and dedicating it to his memory," Mohan said. "What Waverly Woodson did on D-Day must never be forgotten."

Woodson's son, Stephen Woodson, traveled from Maryland to attend the ceremony in person. His 94-year-old mother, Joann Woodson, stayed behind, but Army personnel said they would provide a recording for her to watch later of the ceremony honoring her late husband.

"It is truly overwhelming. My father right now is living vicariously through me," Woodson said. "This is truly the culmination of his medical career. He was honored to be a member of the 1st Army. I can't tell you how much this means to our family."

Woodson said it took years before he fully realized the enormity of D-Day in history, his father's role in WWII and the impact he had on so many lives.

"He was somewhat reclusive, as many WWII vets were until their later stages of life," Woodson said. "But he was also very, very active with telling me a lot of the stories he participated in. It's truly unbelievable. He was a first-class gentleman and he always had a dedication to his dream.

"A lot of things that he participated in, I didn't know about through most of my adult life," Woodson said. "He was very, very proud to be a member and have served in the 1st Army. He spoke of that often. We still have his 1st Army uniform  it's hanging in my mom's closet; that's how important it was to him."

Keynote speaker Retired Lt. Gen. Thomas James said he was honored to participate in the dedication ceremony.

"I am honored to have been in the same Army with Waverly 'Woody' Woodson, and to wear that (1st Army) Blockade patch" James said.

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CHICAGO  Because it is the first year since marijuana legalization without COVID-19 restrictions, upcoming April 20 events will mark the biggest cannabis celebrations yet in Illinois.

With 420, an informal holiday and catch phrase for cannabis, falling on a Wednesday this year, celebrations will extend from this weekend to next, much like St. Patricks Day parades in Chicago.

The festivities come even as Cook County courts continue to prevent the opening of 185 new retail businesses, primarily owned by Black and brown investors, while litigation continues over the licensing process.

Weve still got a long way to go, said Douglas Kelly, executive director of the Cannabis Equity Coalition Illinois. He called for new licenses to be released while the courts grind through the litigation.

Still, in recognition of legalization and 420, the coalition will celebrate the night of April 22, with a party at a location to be disclosed only to ticket holders for the event, featuring music, raffles and an auction.

The biggest bash looks to be the Waldos Forever Fest held outside Dispensary 33 in Andersonville, which will shut down Clark Street from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. April 23.

The festival will feature musical acts, drag performers, local vendors, cultivators from around the state and food trucks on Argyle Street.

A series of related events will take place throughout the city, including Trivia for Stoners at Redline VR, movie night at the Davis Theater, and a run of cannabis-related comedy shorts at Annoyance Theater called Spliff, Laugh, Love.

The last previous in-person Waldos Forever Fest was in 2019. The fest is named after a group of California friends known as Waldos who, according to legend, coined 420 as a code for getting high because they would meet to smoke at 4:20 p.m. This event will be much bigger, said Abigail Watkins, Dispensary 33s marketing director.

Under state law, using cannabis is prohibited in any public place, so the gathering is not a smoke fest  but, ironically, drinking is allowed at such events, and Lagunitas Waldos Triple IPA will be sold. The event is for those 21 and older, and is free, with a suggested donation to the Cannabis Equity Coalition Illinois.

Its been a long time coming for the cannabis community to have a celebration like this in person, Watkins said.

Groups like Parents Opposed to Pot Illinois continue to oppose the hype and commercialization of marijuana, warning of downsides like addiction and driving while intoxicated. But legal weed is gaining unprecedented popularity in the state, with sales nearing $1.8 billion last year, and continuing to climb.

One sign of that success is a new mural painted in Wrigleyville for 420. The art work was painted near Wrigley Field by local artist Olusola Shala Akintunde, and depicts a woman lounging on a boat, enjoying the lakefront and a joint. It includes a QR code with interactive augmented reality, commissioned by the cannabis shopping website Leafly.

Illinois has an extremely low ratio of cannabis stores per population, with 12 stores per million people, a fraction of those in other states, making more dispensaries critical to the growth of the industry, Leafly CEO Yoko Myashita said.

The RISE dispensary in Mundelein has opened its own consumption site, by appointment only, meant for smoking or vaping purchases on site. Edibles arent allowed, because of their unpredictable effects, and each group is asked to have a designated driver who wont partake for at least a half-hour before leaving, Village Administrator Eric Guenther said.

While dispensaries will offer a variety of special deals for 420, most of the celebrations will be held at other sites, so attendees may bring their own if they choose, but they wont have legal permission to consume on site.

Hideout Chicago will host Mr. and Mrs. Weedsday Night on Wednesday, featuring comedy, music, puppets and chaos, all for $10, with proof of COVID vaccination and masks required.

More celebrations are scattered throughout the city and suburbs, many at private locations disclosed only to attendees, including the Freedom Festival in Bensenville, billed as a private, smoke-friendly event.

Preceding 420, a Puff & Poetry event was scheduled for Saturday night above Mary Jane Cafe, at 7112 S. Yates Blvd. in Chicago Organizer Felicia Silverman, known as 3yem Genesis, said the goal is to combine poetry with a cannabis-friendly space.

Its a nonjudgment zone for people to smoke and enjoy poetry, she said. They can come as they are and relax in a safe environment.

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PADUCAH, Ky.  An Illinois man has been sentenced to a year in prison after admitting he illegally caught sturgeon and sold the fish roe to a caviar distributor in Tennessee.

Daniel Allen, 44, of Brookport, Illinois, pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act, which makes it illegal to transport and sell fish that were taken in violation of state law or regulation.

The shovelnose sturgeon were caught out of season in 2018 and 2019 using illegally sized mesh nets along the Ohio River on the Kentucky-Illinois border, according to U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett's office in the Western District of Kentucky. He also caught sturgeon near the Smithland Lock and Dam in an area closed to commercial fishing, the prosecutor's office said.

Kentucky and Illinois both regulate fishing for sturgeon and its eggs, which are marketed as caviar, Bennett's office said.

Allen was sentenced Tuesday to 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by two years of supervision. Allen also agreed to pay $10,000 in restitution.

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CHICAGO  A suburban Chicago man has been charged in the killings of his parents, whose bodies were found last weekend in a senior housing apartment complex on Chicago's North Side.

A judge ordered Ocie Banks Jr., of Berwyn held without bail Thursday during a bond hearing. Banks 33, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Ocie Banks Sr., 79, and Sheila Banks, 61.

Their bodies were found on April 10 in the Wilson Yard senior apartments by officers responding to a call for a well-being check. Both had been fatally shot.

Cook County prosecutors said during Thursday's hearing that Ocie Banks Jr. and his father went to his mother's apartment on April 8 to play cards. The couple was separated but still on good terms.

Prosecutors said surveillance video showed the father and son enter Sheila Banks' apartment, where she and two other people were inside. Hours later, she was seen on surveillance video walking her two guests to the elevator early on April 9 before returning to her apartment.

Three hours later, surveillance video showed Ocie Banks Jr. leave the apartment and then the building, prosecutors said.

They said video showed no one else had left or entered the apartment until officers discovered the bodies during a well-being check requested by other relatives who were unable to reach the couple.

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EDWARDSVILLE  A southern Illinois man pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting of a police officer at a gas station last year.

Scott Hyden of Highland entered the plea in a Madison County court in the slaying of Pontoon Beach Officer Tyler Timmons at a gas station, the Belleville-News-Democrat reported.

Timmins, 36, was a 14-year law enforcement veteran investigating what he suspected was a stolen vehicle at a gas station off Interstate 270, shortly before 8 a.m. on Oct. 26.

Illinois State Police said Hyden shot Timmins in the face and neck.

Backed by dozens of local police officers and other family members at Wednesday's hearing, Timmin's wife, Linsey Timmons, also a police officer, said the shooting was a "senseless act of violence."

"The outcome of the court hearing does not change what Hyden took from my family and me, but we are grateful that Hyden will never be able to harm another person for the rest of his life," she said.

Hyden was arrested at the scene of the shooting and charged with first-degree murder, felony motor vehicle theft and weapons charges.

Because Hyden killed a police officer performing his official duty, his plea ensures he'll serve a life sentence.

"This was a brutal murder of a hero who dedicated his life to serve and protect us all," Madison County State's Attorney Tom Haine said in a statement. "Now at least the justice system has ensured that Officer Tyler Timmins's murderer will spend the rest of his life in prison."

"Today justice was served, but it does not take away the pain our department has felt from this senseless act," Pontoon Beach Police Chief Chris Modrusic said at the hearing.

Pontoon Beach is a suburb northeast of St. Louis, Missouri.

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CHICAGO - Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the former top public health official in Illinois, has been hired as president and CEO of Sinai Chicago hospital system.

Ezike recently stepped down from her post as director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, where she became a prominent figure over the past two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to guide the states response. She became a familiar face to many across the state, standing beside Gov. J.B. Pritzker at regular news conferences about COVID-19, speaking to viewers at home in English and Spanish, and urging the public to get vaccinated and take precautions when necessary.

The safety-net system includes Mount Sinai and Schwab Rehabilitation hospitals on the citys West Side and Holy Cross Hospital on the Southwest Side. Sinai Chicago serves many people with low incomes and those who live in vulnerable communities.

Theres been a lot of talk about where I would go next, so Im so excited to share with everyone that this is the place, despite many opportunities, many calls and emails with many exciting chances to do more great work thats in line with my personal values, I know that the call to serve the communities that need help on Chicagos West and Southwest sides is my next calling, Ezike said at a news conference Thursday.

Ezike will be the first Black woman to lead the system, just as she was the states first Black woman to head the public health department.

Ezike was chosen after a nationwide search.

She said that she has devoted her career to promoting health equity, and is ecstatic to lead Sinai, focusing on those same issues. Many of the challenges in health care in Chicago are common issues across the country and must be addressed though collaboration and working with communities to address the disparities that affect health, she said.

Certain health conditions are more common on the South and West sides of the city than on the North Side, with great variation between life expectancies, such as a 30-year difference in life expectancies between Streeterville and Englewood. Over the years, a number of local hospitals and groups, including Sinai, have come together to try to address the disparities.

All of us know that just what happens within the walls of a hospital or a rehab facility or a clinic, thats just a small part of imparting health to a community, Ezike said. We know that equally or more important are having jobs, having housing, having safe spaces, being free from violence, being able to have grocery stores with fresh produce, all of these things are also tantamount to good health, and so we at Sinai Chicago need to be creative and innovative in our solutions to ensure that everyone has access to the things they need to live their best life, no matter where they live, regardless of their ZIP code.

Sinai Chicago Board Chair Vincent Williams said the health system is blessed to have Ezike, and Chicagoans owe her a debt of gratitude for what she did for us during COVID.

Before she became the states public health director in 2019, Ezike was medical director at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. Ezike is a board-certified internist and pediatrician who earned degrees from Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

She became director of the Department of Public Health after the agency faced criticism for its role in handling a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires disease at a veterans home in downstate Quincy during Republican Gov. Bruce Rauners administration. Under Ezike, the agency again faced tough questions from lawmakers, particularly Republicans, about how it addressed a coronavirus outbreak that tore through the state veterans home in LaSalle in November 2020. Some have also criticized her and the governor for their response to the pandemic, specifically, the restrictions that were put in place.

Ezike will take over at Sinai Chicago on June 13, replacing Karen Teitelbaum, who led the system for 15 years. Teitelbaum announced in September she planned to depart.

Chicago Tribunes Dan Petrella contributed.

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Organizers of the China Import and Export Fair, better known as the Canton Fair, have expanded their foreign trade networks by reaching agreements with more industry and commercial organizations from countries and regions participating in the Belt and Road Initiative and member states of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.



Themed "Connection between domestic and international dual-circulation", the Canton Fair, China's largest of its kind, is scheduled to take place online between Friday and April 24. The fair is usually held twice annually, in April and October.

"Expanding the trade fair's international circle of contacts will help boost trade for Chinese exporters amid global uncertainties brought about by the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic and other international factors," said Xu Bing, spokesman for the fair.

The RCEP, the world's largest free trade deal to date, covers 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and five free trade agreement partnersChina, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

After signing agreements with 14 industrial and commercial organizations from countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as other RCEP member states, the fair has so far seen 170 global trade partners register, Xu said.

"We have invited key buyers from our major partners to go online for business negotiations with Chinese exporters," said Xu, during a news conference on Thursday in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

China's foreign trade in goods reached 9.42 trillion yuan ($1.48 trillion) in the first quarter, up 10.7 percent year-on-year, said the General Administration of Customs.

ASEAN remained the largest trade partner of China in the first three months, with bilateral trade reaching 1.35 trillion yuan during the period.

"We are expected to ship more products to Japan in the years to come, which is a major export destination for us," said Zhou Meirong, a sales manager of Dongguan Ilena Furniture Co Ltd, which focuses on the production and sales of mattresses.

After the RCEP agreement took effect in January, tariffs on mattress exports to Japan were cut from 3.8 percent to 3.6 percent, Zhou said.

Focusing on improving the effectiveness of trade connections and user experience, the event's organizers said the Canton Fair would be designed to further optimize and enhance the functionality of the event's online platform and take various measures to facilitate interactions between domestic and overseas exhibitors as well as sourcing companies.

"Online exhibitions at the Canton Fair are not only an inevitable requirement to comply with the development trend of the digital economy, but also a pragmatic choice to deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Shu Jueting, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Commerce.

"It will break through time and space constraints, helping exhibitors and buyers achieve 24-hour negotiations, with lower costs and higher efficiency," Shu said.

A total of 16 categories of goods ranging from consumer goods to machinery from about 25,500 domestic and overseas companies will be exhibited during the 10-day online event.

Some 402 international companies from 32 countries and regions will also display their products online during the fair, according to the organizers.

The online platform this year has developed new functions for suppliers and buyers, including more accurate searches, online interactions and business matching systems, she added.

"It will be more interactive, allowing buyers and exhibitors to communicate more efficiently," the spokeswoman said.

Shu said the fair will organize 50 global cloud-based promotional events to facilitate trade matches and transactions between key domestic industrial clusters and branded enterprises' large international buyers.

In addition to basic services such as Customs, freight forwarding, finance, insurance and certification, the fair's organizers will introduce new services including China-Europe freight trains, cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses to help enterprises to improve trade chains.
Judge Matt Brown sentenced Barry Allman of Box Elder to 15 years in prison for aggravated assault.

Allman, 31, was originally charged with second degree murder in the Aug. 6, 2020, stabbing death of 33-year-old Lance Baumgarten, of Rapid City. His defense lawyer asked for 15 years with seven suspended to keep Allman accountable once he was released.

I dont consider the maximum sentence of 15 years to be excessive, Brown said to Allman. You will be given the opportunity of freedom sometime in the future, something that Lance Baumgarten does not have.

Allman pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault as part of a plea deal offered after his jury trial was cut short by a mistrial two days after it started. Brown ordered the retrial after prosecutors failed to inform Allmans defense that they offered immunity to witnesses of the crime. If Allman had been convicted in his original trial, he would have faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Lance Baumgarten deserved to live, Brown said before delivering the 15-year sentence with 452 days of time served. Whatever situation he was in when his life was taken, no circumstances that Ive even heard show he was doing anything other than sitting on a couch and enjoying himself.

The judge called Allmans actions callous and cold-blooded. Allman made a statement at the hearing. He said theres no excuse when someones life is taken and apologized to the family.

I knew Lance. He was a good dude, he said. All I can say is Im sorry for the situation and hope I can make a difference when I get out.

Baumgarten was stabbed during a gathering at a house in Rapid City on the 1700 block of North Seventh Street. After a 911 call at 4:50 a.m. on Aug. 7, he was taken to the hospital where he died of a stab wound to the chest.

Court documents stated witnesses claimed Allman prevented others from taking Baumgarten to the hospital. Allman said in court Thursday that he was told to leave and that he did offer to take Baumgarten to get medical help.

Family and friends of Baumgarten made statements to the court at the sentencing asking for the maximum sentence for Allman. John Murphy, Allmans defense attorney, made a point to clarify to the court that Allman never admitted to being the person who stabbed Baumgarten, only that he intended to harm him.

Lisa Thomas, Baumgartens sister, took the stand wearing a shirt with Baumgartens photo and the phrase Justice for Lance.

She described her brother as a wonderful person who had been in my life for a long time.

What you put in the universe comes back. Somehow or another, Thomas said. Fifteen years isnt anything for taking somebodys life. I hope he gets the maximum time.

Nate Williams, who identified himself as a friend of Baumgartens, took the stand despite Allman attempting to object to his testimony on the grounds that he supervised Williams at a previous job. The judge allowed the testimony.

That was my dog. That was my homie. I dont want him to look down and think nobody cares about him because I care about him, Williams said. He called Allmans decisions dumb and selfish.

Angel Flying Hawk, who is the mother of Baumgartens son, lamented the loss of her childs father. She addressed Allman through tears and said that it took a lot of courage for her to take the stand and shes afraid of Allman retaliating against her.

You took my sons dad from him. I hope God has mercy on your soul because now my son doesnt have a father, Flying Hawk said, listing things that her son wont be able to do with his father, like going to the skate park.

Its gonna take a long time to forgive you, Barry. And I dont know if I ever will, she said.

Barry Allmans brother, Tyler Allman, took the stand on behalf of his brother. He told the court that he felt sorry for Baumgartens family, but that his brother is not a bad guy.

Tyler Allman spoke of a difficult childhood and said that he and his brother basically had to raise themselves and that both of their parents are dead. He also said he knew Lance Baumgarten for nearly a decade and spent time in prison with him. He said neither his brother nor Baumgarten were completely bad people.

They were both at the same place doing the same thing, he said.

Tyler Allman felt the sentence was unjust and that anyone else who was present that night should be held responsible. One witness stated that Baumgarten was sitting on a couch for 45 minutes before 911 was called.

I believe that my brother didnt commit the crime. He was goaded into this because he was looking at life, Allman said. Given the circumstances, you know, nobody knows what happened.

Barry Allman has 30 days to appeal the sentence. Murphy did not comment on whether his client will appeal.

 Contact Shalom Baer Gee at sgee@rapidcityjournal.com 

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This week lets start with a quote by Albert Einstein. He said, The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. Put another way, we must change our thinking of the past to realize and facilitate change within our community today.

After the past couple years which impacted many small businesses and communities, it is important we remind ourselves of the real and tangible value small business brings to our community. Analyst Nick Rokke, of the Palm Beach Daily, recently indicated some astounding small business facts. Small businesses make up 99.7% of U.S. firms. They employ 49% of all Americans and create 64% of all new jobs. Stop, and let those figures sink in!

Prior to the last couple years, the locally owned business environment was generally favorable in most communities throughout the country. Government over time, and more recently with the help of COVID have become less favorable to small business. Even communities incorporating many of the proven tactics such as micro-TIFs, favorable tax rates, fewer regulations, city commitment, and other initiatives to assist small businesses, are struggling to survive.

Rokke also points out, with fewer regulations, businesses can more accurately predict the future allowing them to hire more employees and expand. Competitive tax rates allow businesses to keep more of their profits creating a stronger small-medium business base in the community. Micro-TIFs provide targeted funds for targeted areas of your community. City commitment and leaders can instill confidence and support.

Why do I point out the above information? Now is the time for every community in America to focus their efforts inward and determine if their community is doing everything possible to support and build their local business base. Now is the time for your community to double down on efforts to assure small business growth. Now is the time to create an atmosphere of innovation, change, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and synergy.

There can be many reasons why this may not be occurring in your community. It may be regional headwinds not seen in other portions of the country, such as being tied to oil prices. It may be local and state taxes coupled with regulation, such as we see in states like Illinois, New Jersey, or California stifling growth. It might be a soft labor market where open positions are hard to fill. The list of economic reasons is practically endless.

In spite of the reasons above and others that we could add to the list, each community must take their future in their own hands. Be the future you wish to see. If taxes are too high, offer tax incentives. If regulations are stifling, reduce regulations making start-ups easy and painless. If you havent taken advantage of micro-TIFs, look into it and see if that fits your community. You might be surprised. If you have a tight labor market, provide tax incentives for hiring locals in lieu of out-of-town employees. For every issue, there seems to be an excuse. Dont dwell on excuses, seek solutions overcoming your issues through creativity, innovation, and a willingness to invest in local people.

Many communities invest major dollars in courting national businesses, not that this is always bad. Evaluate the long-term impact of those dollars on your community. In most cases, the long-term impact is much worse than we can imagine or realize. Not to mention, when times get tough, national chains know no loyalty and will leave.

Most importantly, while investing in small business, simultaneously invest in your downtown and the surrounding area. Not only are your downtowns the eyes into soul of your community, but National statistics also indicate investing dollars into your downtown bring the highest return (ROI) to your community. When downtowns are left to deteriorate, you can assure other parts of the community will soon follow. You wont see it overnight, it will be like a cancer or degenerative process that slowly infects the body until it is too weak to battle back. On the other hand, I have yet to see a rebuilt and vibrant downtown that hasnt positively impacted the entire community.

Our downtowns are treasures, they link the past, present, and future together. They are what drives small business growth throughout the entire community. They are what connects the young, middle aged, and the mature. They are the future for those communities seeking answers to a better tomorrow.

John Newby, Pineville, MO. is a nationally recognized Publisher, a Community, Chamber, Business & Media consultant, and speaker. His Building Main Street, not Wall Street, column is carried in communities around the country. The founder of Truly-Local, dedicated to assisting communities, their businesses and media to build synergies that create more vibrant communities. He can be reached at: info@Truly-Localllc.com.
By 1862, miners had extracted enough gold out of the Gold Creek area to attract three wily entrepreneurs named Jernigan, Arnett and Spillman.

After carefully considering the business climate, the three soon opened a gambling house. Within just four days time, they managed to pick the miners clean of their hard-earned gold dust. But unfortunately for the three soon-to-be-rich gamblers, bounty hunters showed up to arrest them for horse theft.

They found Spillman and arrested him without difficulty. The two others were found engaged in a game of Monte in one of the towns tent saloons. As the bounty hunters stepped inside the tent, the two men were ordered to throw up their hands.

Arnett, who was dealing, instantly grabbed his revolver which he always kept handy in his lap just in case. But before he could raise it, he was shot dead with a shotgun blast, fired by John Bull. His partner Jernagin, ran into a corner shouting, Dont shoot, dont shoot, I give up. He and Spillman were then carefully tied up and placed under guard as there was no jail available for prisoners.

Proceedings were commenced the next morning by burying Arnett who had died with his cards so tightly clamped in his left hand that they could not be pried loose. They were buried with him.

The miners then convened a court in which the two remaining prisoners were tried separately. Jernagin convinced the jury that he had no part in horse theft, that he had joined Spillman and Arnett on the trail and that his only crime was that of bad association. After his acquittal, he was given six hours to skedaddle from the area. Spillman, described as a large, handsome young man, around twenty-five years of age, was found guilty and sentenced to be hung within an hour.

Thus, the first execution in what is now Montana, took place on the afternoon of Aug. 26, 1862. It caused the town of American Fork to be described as Hang Town on nearly all western maps for several years thereafter, although it was never known by that moniker locally.

While this manner of justice may seem to have been unduly harsh, it must be remembered that there were no organized courts at that time and place, that the nearest jail was at Walla Walla some 425 miles away, and that the community was too poor and too small for costly criminal prosecution.

Hence, it was advisable, by means of swift and sure vigilante punishment to strike terror into the minds of evildoers and to act in this manner as a restraining influence upon them. There would be many more such hangings until such time as more formal justice took over the reins from various vigilante groups.

A horse thief in the Old West was frequently hung due to the inherent value of a horse, where the loss of which could strand a cowboy, possibly out in the middle of nowhere, and greatly impact his ability to make a living. Hanging was a particularly gruesome affair because if the person being hung did not have his neck quickly broken, he would slowly strangle to death.

Former Englishman John Bull, who had shot and killed Arnett, would go on to become one of the most well-known and feared gunman throughout the West during the next 30 years.

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When the impressive new pipe organ first arrived at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in February, it wasnt exactly impressive. Daunting was more like it, as it was trucked from Canada in thousands of pieces, which for the first few days were scattered among the pews and aisles of the vast sanctuary like a giant puzzle waiting for someone brave enough to attempt to put it together.

Over the next month, craftsmen from Juget-Sinclair Organbuilders in Montreal gathered up all the pipes and parts and, fitting them together, installed the new instrument in the front of the church, near the altar. It marked a rebirth of sorts for the organ, as it was originally built and tested in the Juget-Sinclair shop  construction required 13,000 hours of labor, said Robin Cote, president of Juget-Sinclair  and then taken apart for packing and transport, and ultimately reassembled at the cathedral at 823 Cathedral Place, facing Monroe Park.

Instruments of this size and complexity can take years to complete, from design to installation. After such a long, painstaking process, what is the feeling for those who build it to finally bring a new organ to life and hear its voice in its new home?

Cote, who is only 39 but became an organ-building apprentice in his teens and has spent most of his life making the instruments, was in Richmond most of March fine-tuning the organ so that its sound will fit the cathedrals soaring space. As to the feeling, he offered a one-word reply:

Fantastic!

***

The rest of the world will be able to hear the new organ when it makes its public debut at the 11 oclock Mass on Sunday, April 24.

The cathedrals new pipe organ is a major milestone along a journey that started in 2016 when the churchs leadership began contemplating what to do about its grand but increasingly frail century-old gallery pipe organ in the back of the church. That instrument was installed prior to the opening of the cathedral in 1906 and has served the church well.

Over the years, the organ has been overhauled and rebuilt several times, but it reached the point where its parts were simply worn out, causing dead notes that no longer emit sound, in addition to major mechanical and electrical problems. In some places, the internal workings are held together by duct tape.

The church brought in three consultants to evaluate the organ. Their consensus? Theres nothing to be salvaged here, said Carey Bliley, chair of the churchs organ committee, which then went in pursuit of a new organ.

Because Sacred Heart is a building thats  a real treasure, not just for the Catholic community of Richmond but really for Richmond in general, we really wanted something that was going to be long lasting, Bliley said.

The committee traveled across the United States and Europe, researching organs, particularly those still performing beautifully after centuries of use. They settled on replacing the old organ with a new one that has roots in old-world technology: an organ that, while enhanced with modern electronics for added versatility and cutting-edge materials for longevity, still relies on mechanical, tracker action to play pipes that produce sound from compressed air just as such instruments always have.

On its way to commissioning a new organ for the balcony, the committee assessed the musical needs of the cathedral, which features an extensive musical program, and determined now would be the time to acquire two additional, smaller pipe organs. Both of those organs arrived in February, the larger of which is the one previously described, the so-called choir organ, which will provide music in the front of the church for smaller services and events, such as weddings and funerals. The third organ is a portable organ designed to accompany chamber groups or ensembles.

Once the old gallery organ is dismantled, the choir organ will serve as the cathedrals primary organ until the arrival of the new gallery organ, which is expected in 2024.

The total cost of the project, including design, construction, site preparation and installation of all three organs, is $3.2 million. All but about $300,000 has already been raised, Bliley said. Cathedral has a congregation of about 1,200 families.

Weve been very fortunate, he said. Weve had a really great response, even during the pandemic. Its really been a blessing that weve gotten to where we have so far.

In a statement, Bishop Barry C. Knestout of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond noted how the cathedral in each diocese sets a standard for how liturgies should be celebrated in the parishes of the dioceses and how music is an important part of worship.

As St. Augustine noted, When we sing, we pray twice, Knestout said.

The cathedral, a historic landmark built in the Italian Renaissance Revival-style, helps to visually lift the spirit of those who visit its space, Knestout said. This architectural setting provides an environment of beauty for the churchs celebrations, which, along with the music and reverent prayer, helps lift mind and heart toward God. The new organs will add to the visual beauty of the space as well as facilitate prayer through music and singing.

Beyond the spiritual significance for worshippers, the new organs represent a very big deal for the community, said Daniel Sanez, director of music and liturgy at the cathedral, and someone who will personally benefit from new instruments as the principal organist.

He described the cathedral as a refuge for music lovers because of the multitude of free musical offerings in the form of services and concerts.

They can come and experience beautiful things, he said. In essence, when people enter, we hope theyre having an encounter with God, a divine encounter. So these instruments are a tool for that.

***

Before Cote left to return to Montreal to work on other projects, including the cathedrals gallery organ, a more massive undertaking than the choir organ, he was asked if it was at all sad to complete an organ project  parenting it, in a sense, from design to installation  and then leave it behind in its new home.

Not really; its not sad, he said. Actually, its exciting, because you know that the organ will have its own life, and they will start using it  and its going to be fantastic for them.

Theres that word again.
Chesterfield police responded to an accident Thursday in which a child riding an electric scooter was hit by pickup truck.

Police spokesperson, Cpt. John Miller said the accident occurred near the intersection of Bach Lane and Vincent Lane around 6:07 p.m. Miller said a man driving a 2012 Ford pickup truck was traveling northeastward toward the intersection and struck a 9-year-old girl riding an 2022 Razor, electric scooter.

Miller said police attempted to fly her to the hospital, but due to inclement weather the med-flight helicopter was unavailable. Instead, she was driven to a local hospital, where she remains in critical condition. The girl has multiple broken bones, a chest injury and injury to her head, according to Miller.

The driver of the truck remained on scene and cooperated with authorities. He was issued a summons for driving without a license.

The crash remains under investigation.
Richmond voters could become the first in Virginia to pick their local elected officials by ranked-choice voting when all nine City Council seats are up for re-election in 2024.

The city is considering the move after the General Assembly in 2020 passed a law enabling municipalities to use the voting method for their local races. The bill  which includes a 2031 sunset clause  is meant to test the ranked-choice system so that lawmakers and election officials can evaluate whether to adopt it for statewide elections.

In ranked-choice voting, voters rank candidates from their most favorite to least favorite. The candidate who gets 50% or more of first-choice vote wins outright. If that doesnt occur, counting continues with the lowest-finishing candidate cut. That candidates supporters then have their votes transferred to the person they selected as their second choice. That process  informally called an instant runoff  continues until a candidate wins a majority.

Second District Councilwoman Katherine Jordan, the ordinances chief sponsor, said she introduced the legislation because various voter advocacy groups, such as the League of Women Voters and the Richmond Crusade for Voters, have expressed interest in the city adopting ranked-choice voting.

I dont see a reason to wait. I think the upsides of ranked-choice voting have been well documented, she said. I would like to see us continue empowering voters and candidates in our elections.

The proposed Richmond ordinance would only apply to the city council races. The mayor and all school board members  who are also up for reelection in 2024  would still be elected through the citys typical election process. School Board candidates win with a simple majority of votes, but the mayor must carry at least five of the citys nine districts to win.

***

Ranked-choice voting has long been a fringe idea among politicos, but it has started to gain traction with state lawmakers across the country.

New York City voters elected their mayor in a ranked-choice election last year. Statewide elections in Maine also use the system. And the Republican Party of Virginia last year used ranked-choice voting to nominate its candidate for the governors race.

Virginia Del. Sally Hudson, D-Charlottesville, said she introduced the state bill to enable local elections by ranked-choice voting after seeing more people step up to run for local and state offices. She said thats a positive development, but that voters have few options when there are more than two candidates running in a race.

We all know what it feels like to be torn between the candidate we like most and the candidate we think can win, Hudson said. Ranked-choice voting solves that problem. It lets you vote for who you really like no matter how many people run.

Hudson last year founded the nonprofit Ranked Choice Virginia to help advocate for local legislation and support officials interested in adopting the voting process. She said Richmond is the first Virginia locality to introduce legislation, but noted that Arlington County recently ran a mock election in August to test equipment and gather feedback.

In her home district, Charlottesville and Albemarle County officials have also expressed interest in adopting ranked-choice voting for their elections. Hudson said she hopes that localities test ranked-choice voting to help build momentum behind acceptance of it for statewide elections.

Local pilots are a great way to build support for broader adoption. That way the communities that are most excited to embrace it can go first, she said. We can tell people that voters use and love ranked-choice in Maine and Minnesota and New Mexico, but theres nothing like seeing it happen right here in Virginia to help bring more people on board.

Even in localities where officials are interested in adopting the system, there could be some resistance from entrenched politicians or election officials who arent sure if they have the resources to shift to a new voting method anytime soon.

Officials in Fredericksburg are currently evaluating a move to ranked-choice voting, but Rene Rodriguez, chairman of the citys electoral board, earlier this year said he doubts that the city can make the transition before local elections there in November 2023, according to a Free-Lance Star news report.

Rodriguez  a former candidate for the Fredericksburg City Council  said his experience helping administer the Republican nominating convention last year informs his opinion, noting that it leaves room for human error and other problems when votes are counted.

Well do whatever we need to do to support the city [of Fredericksburg] in whatever they decide. But I currently do not see the merits in ranked-choice voting and its applicability and potential for incidents, he said in an interview with the Times-Dispatch on Wednesday. I think those far outweigh the perceived benefits.

Richmond General Registrar Keith Balmer  the citys chief election official  said his office would be prepared to implement the change and personally thinks ranked-choice voting is a good idea. We have two years before implementation. Were already doing research on it, he said. The biggest thing is making sure theres a strong public outreach to educate voters on how it works.

***

Even if some officials are eager about ranked-choice voting, theres still a question of whether voters will come to embrace it, said Richard Meagher, a Randolph-Macon College politics professor and local political analyst. Its highly recommended by electoral reform folks because it produces broader consensus candidates, candidates with a broader sense of support, but I still dont quite know how that overlaps with the kind of racial history thats so important to Richmond electoral politics, he said.

Richmond voters have selected council candidates by district since the mid-1970s, after a federal lawsuit led to the suspension of local elections for seven years after they annexed part of Chesterfield County. The case landed in the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the annexation was racially motivated. Officials adopted the district system to replace at-large representation as a way to assure adequate representation for minority constituencies.

As the demographics of the city have shifted over the past decade  with the Black population declining below 50% for the first time in half a century, according to the 2020 U.S. Census  ranked-choice voting could result in Black residents losing political power, Meagher said.

Ranked-choice voting could prevent extreme far-right or far-left candidates from winning elections with just a plurality, he said, but that could create tension among constituencies.

What if instead of [Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield] you had a minority candidate with a really strong core support among black voters in the city, Meagher said. If theyre defeated by a ranked-choice system that ends up with a more moderate, white candidate, that sort of good governance program would seem to overwhelm a racial minority in a way that might be detrimental to them.

Julian Hayter  a University of Richmond professor historian whose area of expertise includes local African American politics and the Civil Rights Movement  said those uncertainties could be further exacerbated after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 determined that part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is unconstitutional.

The ruling stripped requirements that certain localities obtain federal authorization for changes to election laws and procedures. The purpose of the law was to prevent changes that could negatively impact racial or ethnic minority groups.

In a city thats changing demographically, particularly racially, its possible that a consensus candidate can win without getting a majority of Black voters, Hayter said. They might not take that constituencys preferences into account in their policy making.

Hayter did not say hes opposed to ranked-choice voting, but said there are pitfalls. Theres no silver bullet.

A public hearing on Richmonds ranked-choice voting ordinance has not yet been scheduled, but the councils Governmental Operations Standing Committee is slated to review it. The committees next meeting is scheduled for May 4.
STAFFORD  The owner of a home day care in Virginia is facing charges after three young children in the facilitys care were exposed to THC, authorities said Friday.

A deputy responded in March to a hospital in Stafford where three 1-year-old children had been taken after their parents observed lethargic behavior and glassy, bloodshot eyes, the Stafford County Sheriffs Office said in a news release. The hospital confirmed each child had been exposed to tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis.

A detective then responded to the day care the children attended and collected gold fish crackers from around the high chairs of the toddlers, the news release said. These crackers were sent to a lab, which confirmed the presence of THC.

The 60-year-old day care owner has been charged with three counts of cruelty and injury to children, the sheriffs office said. She turned herself in Thursday and was released by a magistrate on a $2,000 bond, according to the news release.

Court records did not list an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

Fire crews responded Thursday to 20-acre brush fire in Goochland Several emergency service crews responded to a multi-acre brush fire Thursday in central Goo
Tesla CEO Elon Musk speaks at a delivery ceremony for Tesla China-made Model 3 in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 7, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]

A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday showed that Elon Musk has made an offer to buy Twitter.

The billionaire has said he is willing to pay 54.20 U.S. dollars per share to buy 100 percent of the company. The all-cash offer will value the social network company at 43.4 billion dollars.

"I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe," Musk wrote in an email to Bret Taylor, Twitter's chairman of the board. The email was reproduced in the SEC filing, adding that "Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."

"My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder," Musk said. The offer was 54 percent premium over the day before he began investing in Twitter and 38 percent premium over the day before his investment was publicly announced.

Twitter released a statement confirming receipt of Musk's offer and saying its board will "carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action."

On April 4, Twitter confirmed that Musk had acquired a 9.2 percent share of the company to become its largest shareholder. But Musk later refused to join the board.

As a board member, Musk wouldn't be allowed to own more than 14.9 percent of the company.

Musk is now the world's richest man. According to Forbes, he is currently worth 273.6 billion dollars.
Mary Huskey Palmer, charged last year with fatally shooting her husband, now faces nine new charges and the possibility of decades in prison  or a life sentence, depending on arguments that could be made at trial.

Palmer, 51, was arrested after the death of Arthur Palmer III, a 38-year-old sergeant at the New River Valley Regional Jail. She was initially charged with second-degree murder and using a firearm to commit a felony.

A Giles County grand jury this week added more charges, including a charge of abducting her husbands daughter in a series of events that began in his Narrows apartment and stretched across the July 4 weekend last year.

Issued Tuesday, the indictments were sealed until they were served on Mary Palmer in the Western Virginia Regional Jail. This occurred Thursday night, Giles County Commonwealths Attorney Bobby Lilly confirmed Friday.

The new indictments are for abduction, two counts of robbery for taking the cell phones from Arthur Palmer and his daughter, grand larceny of Arthur Palmers vehicle, discharging a firearm in an occupied dwelling, and three counts of using a gun to commit a felony. There is also one count of felony child abuse for allegedly forcing Arthur Palmers daughter to remain in the room as he died.

The new charges carry potential maximum punishment of more than 75 years in prison. Lilly said that Virginia law allows a prosecutor to argue for a life sentence for the robbery charge involving the childs cell phone.

Second-degree murder is punishable by maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.

A date has not been set for Mary Palmers case to be heard in Giles County Circuit Court.

In February, at a preliminary hearing in the case, a police officer testified that Arthur Palmer is thought to have been shot in on the morning of July 3. His body was discovered on July 5.

At the preliminary hearing, Arthur Palmers daughter, now 13, testified that her father and Mary Palmer were separated but that Mary Palmer came to their residence July 2 for supper then stayed to watch a movie.

The Palmers had married in 2018.

The girl said that the morning after the supper and movie, she was awakened by a noise. She went into her fathers bedroom and was surprised to find Mary Palmer still there.

Her stepmother had blood on her clothes and was standing over her father, who lay on the floor next to his bed, the girl said. Mary Palmer held a pistol, the girl said, and was shouting that Arthur Palmer had ruined her life.

The girl said that Mary Palmer took her cell phone and made her sit down on the floor for a period of time. Her father was still alive, the girl said, but did not get up.

Lilly said at the preliminary hearing that Arthur Palmer was shot in the chest and bled to death on the floor of the bedroom.

Eventually, Mary Palmer made the girl accompany her on a drive into West Virginia, then to Mary Palmers residence in Pearisburg, and finally to Roanoke, the girl said.

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CHRISTIANSBURG  Montgomery County is the largest locality by population in Southwest Virginia, according to annual estimates released by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service.

The county as of July 1, 2021, population of 101,938  according to data published by the Weldon Cooper Center on Jan. 28 and recently referenced by some Montgomery officials.

By contrast, the city of Roanoke  which figures have long shown to have the most people by locality in Southwest Virginia  has a population of 99,883, according to the latest Weldon Cooper Center estimates. And Roanoke County, according to the numbers, is at 96,546.

Roanoke started the 2000s firmly ahead of Montgomery County, but the latter began closing the gap by the following decade, according to both past figures.

The 2000 U.S. Census showed Roanoke had a population of just under 95,000, well above Montgomery Countys 83,629. By 2010, those counts changed to 97,032 and 94,392, respectively, for Roanoke and Montgomery County.

The latest figures from University of Virginia-based Weldon Cooper Center are another sign of the continuous growth Montgomery County has experienced over the years.

Virginia Tech has long been credited as a key driver of the countys population and economic growth.

Municipal officials across the county have pointed to northwest Christiansburg, the community of Riner and the area along Prices Fork Road in and near Blacksburg as among the areas that have experienced relatively significant growth over the past several years.

As far as economic growth, one of the most recent and visible signs has been the redevelopment of the Christiansburg Marketplace, which plans show will involve a residential component.

The Weldon Cooper Center did note how populations in localities with relatively large college populations  such as Montgomery County and neighboring Radford  were often undercounted in the April 1, 2020, Census.

In order to correct this undercount, we have benchmarked the 2020 and 2021 population estimates on the Weldon Cooper Center estimates instead of the 2020 census count for localities with populations that are comprised of over 20 percent college students, reads a note on the institutes population estimates page. This includes Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Lynchburg, Montgomery County, Prince Edward County, Radford and Williamsburg.

Once the remaining 2020 census was released, the Weldon Cooper Center said it would further examine the discrepancies in college town populations and make additional adjustments if needed.

When using the latest census figures, Roanoke and Montgomery County, respectively, have populations of 100,011 and 101,323, according to a Weldon Cooper Center chart comparing the national April 1, 2020, count and the institutions 2021 estimates.

As far as what the Weldon Cooper Center refers to as planning districts, the New River Valley  of which Montgomery County is a part  remains firmly behind the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany, according to the population figures. The New River Valley and Roanoke Valley-Alleghany, respectively, show populations of 184,523 and 335,084, according to the 2021 estimate.

While theyre glad to see the localitys continued growth, some Montgomery County officials also view the increased population as a call for them to begin seriously looking at increasing their capacities for dealing with larger demands in services.

I personally like the growth, but we have to be prepared for it, said Montgomery County Supervisor Mary Biggs. Thats where the challenge is, where the balance is.

Among the operations that are expected to be increasingly impacted are, obviously, the schools, as well as parks and recreation, the planning department and social and community services, Biggs said. The growth creates a need to increase staffing numbers, she said.

The size of the county staff, however, has not really kept up with the growth, Biggs said.

One idea Biggs and her colleagues have recently discussed is a potential renovation down the road of the county Government Center, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary as its administrative hub.

Senior county staff members, however, have stressed that the recent talk over the renovation was preliminary and that no plans are in motion.

The county has grown and will continue growing, Biggs said. What we need to do as elected officials is we need to be thinking and planning for that growth.

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BEDFORD  Emergency crews responded to the Bedford Wastewater Treatment plant Friday morning for a hazardous-materials response after a chemical accident, but no severe injuries were reported.

During a regularly scheduled chemical delivery, two chemicals were inadvertently mixed together, causing chlorine gas to form. The chemicals, sodium bisulfate and sodium hydrochloride, are typically used in the wastewater treatment process and are safe individually but cause a hazardous situation when mixed together, said Megan Pittman, director of administration for the Bedford Regional Water Authority.

Employees of the plant, on Orange Street in the town of Bedford, called 911, and numerous fire, medical and hazardous-materials agencies responded.

Due to this incident, four people were transported to Bedford Memorial Hospital where they were treated and released. Twelve people were evaluated and treated on the scene. All people have been released from care, according to a Friday afternoon news release from Bedford-area officials.

Bedford police went door to door alerting 46 homes and seven businesses to inform them about the situation and suggest they evacuate. Blue Ridge Community Church opened a shelter for anyone needing a place to go, but as of Friday afternoon, no one had used the shelter, the release said.

After the incident was under control, emergency crews remained on scene to continue monitoring the situation, including testing air quality, and officials later reported detecting no chlorine gas inside or outside the plant. A visible plume of gas in the air had been reported early on during the incident.

Pittman said there was no disruption to wastewater services as a result of the incident.

We also do want to make sure that all of our customers know that water service has not been disrupted, said Pittman. The water is safe to drink. Our wastewater services are also functioning as normal, so citizens can continue to use that in their daily lives and in businesses as well.

Responding agencies were the Bedford County Department of Fire and Rescue, Bedford Fire Department, Bedford Police Department, Bedford Public Works, Bedford Regional Water Authority, Bedford County Sheriffs Office, Centra Health Transport, Forest Volunteer Fire Department, Life Care Ambulance Service, Moneta Volunteer Fire Department, Salem Hazardous Material, Roanoke Hazardous Material, Virginia Department of Emergency Management and W.E.L., a cleanup service.

A hotline has been established for anyone with questions or concerns: (540) 587-6060.
DANVILLE  Charges are pending after Pittsylvania County authorities seized 68 dogs from a home in Hurt on Tuesday.

A search warrant was served at a residence on Peninsula Place in Hurt with help from the Pittsylvania County Sheriff's Office, Pittsylvania Pet Center and animal control officers with the Pittsylvania County Department of Public Safety, a news release reported.

The exact location of the home was not disclosed.

Authorities discovered dozens of dogs  both male and female in a variety of breeds and ages  at the site. Many of the canines appeared to be in poor condition.

"A veterinarian was also on-site at the time of the search to initially evaluate the dogs," the release stated.

Officials determined the condition of the animals warranted the seizure for care and more evaluation.

"This is an ongoing criminal investigation and no other information can be released at this time," the release stated. "Animal control officers are in discussions with the Commonwealth Attorneys Office and charges are pending against the owner of the dogs."

The Pittsylvania Pet Center was closed to the public Wednesday and Thursday while staff members helped following the seizure.

Youngkin signs 'beagle bills' against animal cruelty Surrounded by almost a dozen beagles, Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday signed legislation to protect dogs and cats at breeding facilities  a legislative effort that stemmed from a series of animal welfare violations at a Cumberland County beagle mill.

Virginia Beach SPCA asking for help after more than 100 dogs found living in Eastern Shore home The Virginia Beach SPCA received 45 dogs Saturday that were surrendered from an animal hoarding situation on the Eastern Shore. In a Facebook post, the SPCA said there were more than 100 found inside a home on the Eastern Shore. Animal hoarding is defined by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as an inability to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, ...

Bristol man charged after dragging dog behind car A Bristol, Virginia man was charged Sunday after his dog that was dragged behind his vehicle died from its injuries, according to the Bristol Virginia Police Department.
Elon Musk perhaps wants to take over Twitter for some $43 billion, but share price movements suggest that this is either being viewed as another Musk gimmick or an end-game shareholders arent keen on.

Musks unsolicited takeover offer on Wednesday of Twitter for $54.20 a share, which is far lower than last summers $70/share valuation, also came with his very loud suggestions that the social media giant was not coming close to harnessing the true potential of a platform that has 200 million users daily.

"I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," Musk wrote. "However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form."

Earlier in April, Musk announced his purchase of a 9.1% share of Twitter, but then turned down a position on the companys board of directors. That alone had employees nervous, according to various media reports.

By Thursday afternoon, Musk was already starting to downplay his takeover bid, suggesting that he was not sure he would actually be able to buy the company, validating those skeptics who saw this as another potential publicity stunt.

Not everyones on edge. Republicans will be cheering Musk on because he is calling for less moderation and no permanent bans, simply time-outs for bad behavior on Twitter. Democrats will view this as open season on the spreading of disinformation and hate speech.

Musk describes himself as a free speech absolutist. Giving him control of a platform with 200 million daily uses could arguably turn Twitter into a free speech platform in the extreme. Musk proclaimed that this wasnt about money, but about creating a social media platform that is an inclusive arena for free speech.

Twitter has become sort of the de facto town square, so its really important that people have both the reality and the perception that theyre able to speak freely within the bounds of the law, Musk told a TED 2022 conference on Thursday.

In the end, the question really is whether human beings are evolved enough for a Musk-style free speech platform and the answer to that question boils down to pure politics and a very partisan understanding of what democracy is and how it is fostered.

Twitter employees are chiming in on whether Musk is a threat to social-media-induced democracy or its main poster child.

One Twitter employee told TIME that while Musks goals are aligned with ours in that we are certainly interested in protecting democracy, his idea of bringing more free speech to the platform was naive.

If you look historically, there have been a lot of platforms founded on this free speech principle, but the reality is that either it becomes a cesspool that people dont want to use, or they realize that there is actually the need for some level of moderation, the employee told TIME.
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The Russian warship now known as the Moskva began its life as the Slava, or glory in 1979 at the height of the Cold War in what was the Soviet republic of Ukraine
You are here: China

The Communist Party of China (CPC) is asking the public to contribute opinions on its 20th national congress to be held in the second half of 2022.

The CPC will receive public opinions and suggestions on the full and strict Party governance, high-quality development, comprehensive reform and opening-up, whole-process people's democracy, law-based state governance, socialist cultural advancement, people's livelihoods and ecological progress.

Opinions and suggestions can be made via online platforms, including the websites and mobile apps of People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and China Media Group, from April 15 to May 16.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
" " A baby's laughter  reward for all those tears. Stockbyte/Getty Images

Parents of newborn babies learn quickly there are many different ways for a baby to cry. One type of cry means the baby is hungry, another says the child needs to be changed and yet another may mean it simply wants some attention. Though these cries may seem indistinguishable to an outsider, parents learn to respond with exactly what their child needs.

Parents don't tend to put as much thought into what their child's laugh might mean, unless it's so diabolical that it clearly indicates an attack on another sibling. In fact, very few people think about differences in laughter at all.

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According to expert Robert Provine, laughter is specifically a social structure, something that connects humans with one another in a profound way [source: Provine]. According to his findings, people are 30 percent more likely to laugh in a social setting that warrants it than when alone with humor-inducing media [source: Provine]. That means that you're more likely to laugh with friends while watching a comedy together than when you're watching the same show or movie by yourself.

Though there are many ways to laugh, from giggles to guffaws and from chuckles to cackles, it turns out that we humans laugh for many reasons, some of them odd. And it's more than just the latest David Sedaris book or episode of "Saturday Night Live" that has us doubled over  90 percent of our laughter has nothing to do with somebody telling a joke. [source: Trump].

So what are some of the different types and reasons for all the laughter?
A few years ago, someone started a campaign to make Elsa the first lesbian Disney princess. It didnt get much traction at the time, just like the idea that Ernie and Bert were shacking up as domestic partners on Sesame Street.

Fast forward to 2022. Now, we have Disney executives caught in flagrante, as they describe their master plan to force adult sexual obsessions on toddlers. Christopher Rufo, who almost single-handedly alerted the country to the dangers of critical race theory in elementary schools, leaked video of a high-placed employee of the Manic (er, Magic) Kingdom getting all weepy about her pansexual and trans kids. This woman vowed to inject as much sexual theory and wokeness into childrens fare as humanly possible, because she wanted her own little darlings to see themselves reflected in the Disney characters.

Florida has become ground zero in the fight for family values and decency, as Gov. Ron DeSantis attempts to protect children from the excesses of progressive politicos who care more about social media approval than they do about the emotional and psychological welfare of minors. He has signed into law provisions that give parents more control over the education of their sons and daughters, and has erected a necessary barrier between the youngest students and the zealotry of LGBTQ activists disguised as teachers.

The so-called Dont Say Gay law did not bar the word gay from the Floridian lexicon. It simply, and clearly, prohibited the discussion of sexual orientation and gender issues in grades K-3, where they have no place and where inclusion of those subjects can only confuse tender minds. Of course, the folks who find fault in virtue and gain purchase through hypocrisy (protect the kids from GOP fascists and keep abortion legal!) think that a child who cant even walk yet needs to know that Heather has two mommies, and her uncles are actually her aunts.

Excuse me if I sound flippant, but the idea that a company beloved of boomers and subsequent generations is now controlled by social engineers of the most dangerous and egotistical kind is upsetting. I have canceled Disney Plus from my streaming account, because I can no longer justify subsidizing an organization that thinks toddlers should be exposed to adult concepts. To think that poignant, life-changing films like Old Yeller that marked my own childhood will now be replaced by digital cartoons that erase the distinction between male and female, is infinitely sad.

When you are talking about children, the rules are different. Same-sex marriage, adults who transition to an alternate gender, playing with pronouns and even First Amendment issues at the intersection of gender identity and faith are all fair game for debate. In an open society, mature adults can engage, even when they vehemently disagree.

But children dont have the coping mechanisms that adults have, and its exactly for that reason that they are treated differently under the law. That, in a nutshell, is why Florida passed the Dont Say Gay law, which is really just a last-ditch attempt to restore power and dignity to parents.

Those same parents used to be able to trust Disney to babysit their kids for hours on end. They didnt have to worry that some unsavory ideas were being shoved down the tikes throats under the guise of inclusion and diversity. They thought that Cinderella was looking for her Prince Charming, not that Prince Charming was considering how hed look in those glass slippers.

Childhood ends soon enough. In many cases, it ends far too soon, as with abused and neglected boys and girls who never have the chance to experience the unconditional love of caring adults. I have met those kids. Ive worked with them. Ive taught them. Im related to some.

To see Disney attempt to pull the rug out from under the parents who actually do care, and destroy that wonderful magic of childhood to appease some misguided adults, the same ones who persecuted the Boy Scouts for banning gays (even when no one asked for a boys sexual orientation before signing him up) is despicable.

Are we now going to worry about the sexual antics of the Seven Dwarves? Will we get a full-blown rundown of what happens when the prince climbs up Rapunzels braid and into her bedroom? Does the Beast get new pronouns? Does Ariel have a closer relationship with those fish than we were led to believe? And what about Sleeping Beauty? Has she really been alone in that forest all those years?

Walt Disney had a dream. The people who kidnapped that dream are trying to turn it into a nightmare.

Christine Flowers is an attorney and a columnist for the Delaware County Daily Times, and can be reached at cflowers1961@gmail.com.
DARLINGTON, S.C.  Darlington County Coroner J. Todd Hardee Friday morning released the identity of the man shot and killed in an officer-involved-shooting in the area of McIver and Old Florence Roads.

Hardee said Kenneth Brian Turner, 37, of Darlington was pronounced dead at the scene. The body will be sent to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston for an autopsy.

SLED agents are investigating an officer involved shooting in Darlington County. No other information is available at this time while agents continue to investigate, Renee Wunderlich, Director of Public Information for SLED, wrote in a release on the incident.

No Darlington County Sheriffs deputies were injured in the incident.

Agents from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division are investigating an officer involved shooting in Darlington County Thursday afternoon where an armed man was shot during an encounter with multiple deputies from the Darlington County Sheriffs Office, according to a release from the agency. SLED was requested Thursday afternoon by Darlington County Sheriff James Hudson Jr.

Thursdays death was the 10 officer-involved-shooting in the state this year. Darlington County had no such incidents last year.

Information gathered in the investigation will be summarized in a case file report to be submitted to the solicitors office.
HARTSVILLE, S.C.  The Democratic Womens Council of Darlington County will be hosting a town hall meeting at 6 p.m. April 25 for Gubernatorial candidate Mia McLeod.

The meeting is at Davidson Hall at Coker University. It is open to the public.

It is important that we bring candidates to the community so people can ask questions and get to know them, Democratic Womens Council of Darlington County member Barbara Carraway said. We will be bringing other Democratic candidates to speak as well. We want to give people the chance to hear the candidates and understand what their mission is for the State of South Carolina. The people need to be informed.

These town halls will continue because a lot of people dont know who to vote for and these town halls put a face to the politics. I believe that you have to reach the ground level people and the town halls we have do that.

McLeod is one of five Democrats running for South Carolina governor. She is the first African American woman to run for governor in South Carolina.

In an interview with the Associated Press, McLeod said she wanted to be the person that is running not because she is a woman and not because she is black, but because she is so connected to and so much like the people she represents.

The last Democratic governor of South Carolina was Jim Hodges. Hodges was governor from 1999-2003. It has been 19 years since South Carolina last had a Democratic governor.

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 Supreme Court order list full of (state-friendly) criminal justice per curiams and notable cert denial with statements | Main | Calling her life sentence "too harsh," Tennessee Gov grants commutation to Cyntoia Brown to be paroled after serving 15 years for juve killing 

January 7, 2019

Purported SCOTUS originalists and liberals, showing yet again that they are faint-hearted, refuse to consider extending jury trial rights to restitution punishments

I noted in this post the array of per curiam rulings and statements that the Supreme Court released today to get 2019 off to an interesting criminal justice start. Regular readers will not be surprised to learn that one particular decision, namely the decision to deny certiorari in Hester v. US, has me revved up. Hester involves a claim that the Sixth Amendment jury trial right recognized in Apprendi, Blakely, Booker and Southern Union is applicable to cases in which findings are essential for the imposition of criminal restitution. Dissenting from the denial of cert in a this lovely little opinion, Justice Gorsuch explains why this is only logical and is consistent with an originalist approach to the Constitution:

[T]he government argues that the Sixth Amendment doesnt apply to restitution orders because the amount of restitution is dictated only by the extent of the victims loss and thus has no statutory maximum. But the governments argument misunderstands the teaching of our cases. Weve used the term statutory maximum to refer to the harshest sentence the law allows a court to impose based on facts a jury has found or the defendant has admitted. Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 303 (2004). In that sense, the statutory maximum for restitution is usually zero, because a court cant award any restitution without finding additional facts about the victims loss. And just as a jury must find any facts necessary to authorize a steeper prison sentence or fine, it would seem to follow that a jury must find any facts necessary to support a (nonzero) restitution order. The government is not without a backup argument, but it appears to bear problems of its own. The government suggests that the Sixth Amendment doesnt apply to restitution orders because restitution isnt a criminal penalty, only a civil remedy that compensates victims for [their] economic losses. Brief in Opposition 8 (internal quotation marks omitted). But the Sixth Amendments jury trial right expressly applies [i]n all criminal prosecutions, and the government concedes that restitution is imposed as part of a defendants criminal conviction. Ibid. Federal statutes, too, describe restitution as a penalty imposed on the defendant as part of his criminal sentence, as do our cases. 18 U.S.C.  3663(a)(1)(A), 3663A(a)(1), 3572(d)(1); see Paroline v. United States, 572 U.S. 434, 456 (2014); Pasquantino v. United States, 544 U.S. 349, 365 (2005). Besides, if restitution really fell beyond the reach of the Sixth Amendments protections in criminal prosecutions, we would then have to consider the Seventh Amendment and its independent protection of the right to a jury trial in civil cases. If the governments arguments appear less than convincing, maybe its because theyre difficult to reconcile with the Constitutions original meaning. The Sixth Amendment was understood as preserving the historical role of the jury at common law. Southern Union, 567 U. S., at 353. And as long ago as the time of Henry VIII, an English statute entitling victims to the restitution of stolen goods allowed courts to order the return only of those goods mentioned in the indictment and found stolen by a jury. 1 J. Chitty, Criminal Law 817820 (2d ed. 1816); 1 M. Hale, Pleas of the Crown 545 (1736). In America, too, courts held that in prosecutions for larceny, the jury usually had to find the value of the stolen property before restitution to the victim could be ordered. See, e.g., Schoonover v. State, 17 Ohio St. 294 (1867); Jones v. State, 13 Ala. 153 (1848); State v. Somerville, 21 Me. 20 (1842); Commonwealth v. Smith, 1 Mass. 245 (1804). See also Barta, Guarding the Rights of the Accused and Accuser: The Jurys Role in Awarding Criminal Restitution Under the Sixth Amendment, 51 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 463, 472476 (2014). And its hard to see why the right to a jury trial should mean less to the people today than it did to those at the time of the Sixth and Seventh Amendments adoption.

Students of the Apprendi-Blakely line of cases have long known that there were not very good arguments to preclude the application of jury trial rights to criminal restitution awards, and those arguments got even weaker when the Supreme Court ruled in Southern Union that the jury trial right also applied to findings needed to impose criminal fines. And notably, Southern Union was a 6-3 ruling with only the traditional Apprendi haters, Justices Alito, Breyer and Kennedy, in dissent.

So why does the jury trial still mean less to the people today facing restitution punishments than it did to those at the time of the Sixth and Seventh Amendments adoption? The only answer I can provide is hinted in the title of post. Supposed SCOTUS originalists like Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas and Kavanaugh apparently do not want to here follow originalist principles to what would appear to be their logical conclusion. Supposed SCOTUS liberals like Justices Ginsburg and Kagan do not want to here protect a certain type of right of a certain type of criminal defendant. (Justice Sotomayor, who never shrinks from following constitutional rights wherever she thinks they must extend, joined Justice Gorsuch's dissent here).

When push comes to shove  or rather, when criminal defendants make a serious claim that a serious constitutional right should be given serious meaning  still too many justices seem to become faint-hearted in the application of their purported principles and commitments. Drat.

January 7, 2019 at 11:12 AM | Permalink

Comments

Do you think it is faint-heartedness or a sense that the Court has limited political capital and a lack of interest in spending it here?

I suspect that the need or perceived need to protect the Court's reputation as an institution will keep it from getting involved in large questions of nearly any kind, including this one.

Posted by: John | Jan 8, 2019 7:26:06 PM

Really, John? This issue hardly seems "large," nor one likely to involve any real "political capital"? I agree there is a lack of interest, but I see that as evidence of disinterest in taking originalist or liberal principles to their logical ends.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 8, 2019 10:16:46 PM

Restitution and fine are part of every state sentencing scheme I'm aware of. Likewise, I'm unaware of any that provide jury findings. So, yes, seems large.

Posted by: John | Jan 9, 2019 10:08:02 AM

Fair point, John, but many fines are "fixed" parts of sentence that goes automatically with the conviction. At issue is when an extra monetary sanction requires an extra finding to be imposed, and your comments provide an excellent reminder that we do not have a great accounting of just how often this is at issue and how often it is disputed so that a jury requirement could really make a big difference. But point taken and appreciated.

Posted by: Doug B | Jan 9, 2019 10:38:48 AM

I think restitution has been evolving from a probation condition to an independent judgment that is enforceable after the incarceration part of the sentence ends. When it was simply a probation condition in the discretion of the trial court, that seemed like more of a judicial function. The more that it becomes a right vested in the victim that the trial court must order, the more it seems like something that should be found by a jury (more properly under Seventh Amendment than Sixth Amendment). I fear that recognizing a right to a jury on this issue would add another significant layer of process on criminal case that will gum up the works for both victims and defendants to the benefit of only a tiny portion of individuals.

Posted by: tmm | Jan 9, 2019 3:17:08 PM

Restitution hearings in California are a joke:

Contrast the due process afforded a defendant in civil litigation over a contract claim with a defendant in a restitution hearing associated with a criminal case: courts have held that a restitution hearing does not require the formalities of a trial. (People v. Hartley (1984) 163 Cal.App.3d 126, 130.) You still wear a suit, tie and penny loafers if you are a lawyer, and address the bench officer with your Your Honor, but the other formalities, like due process and stuff, are, shall we say, on the skinny side. Little Dewey, third cousin of due process, shuffles into restitution hearings sporting jeans and flipflops. From a distance there is a resemblance, but Like Snoopys brother from Needles, Dewey is a lot thinner. There is no right to a jury trial. (People v. Rivera (1989) 212 Cal.App.3d 1153, 1161.) Hearsay is admissible. (Pen. Code, 1203.1d(d).) The amount of loss may be established by a probation report. (People v. Cain (2000) 82 Cal.App.4th 81, 8788.) Cross examination of the author of a probation report is not required. (People v. Cain, supra, 82 Cal.App.4th at p. 8688.) The court can base a restitution award on the hearsay report, so long as the restitution order is ultimately the courts decision. (Ibid.; People v. Hartley, supra, 163 Cal.App.3d at p. 130; Pen. Code.  1203.1k.) And the defendant has the burden of proving the amount of restitution requested is excessive. (People v. Hartley, supra, 163 Cal.App.3d at p. 130.) Due process much?

Posted by: Ken Hamilton | Aug 2, 2019 3:19:40 PM

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 "Enjoined and Incarcerated: Complications with Incarcerated People Seeking Economic Relief under the CARES Act" | Main | Split Eleventh Circuit panel creates circuit split over compassionate relief criteria after FIRST STEP Act 

May 9, 2021

How about Prez Biden and lots of Governors starting a tradition of granting lots of clemencies around Mother's Day?

The question in the title of this post is prompted by my persistent eagerness to see a lot more clemency activity from chief executives and also by this new story out of Illinois headlined "Protesters deliver Mothers Day card to Pritzkers house, demand release of incarcerated loved ones." Here are excerpts:

Against a backdrop of bright pink tulips, protesters stood outside Gov. J.B. Pritzkers Gold Coast home on Friday with flowers, signs and a painted piece of cardboard that read, Dear J.B., on this Mothers Day, set our loved ones free. That oversized Mothers Day card included demands that Pritzker sign clemency petitions to for prisoners they say have been wrongfully incarcerated and that he stop construction of a new youth prison at the Lincoln Developmental Center. Denice Bronis, an Elgin resident and member of Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity, said her son Matthew Echevarria, in prison for 22 years after being convicted of murder, contracted COVID-19 at Menard Correctional Center and still exhibits long-term symptoms. Mothers Day is just as much a day of love as it is a day of pain, especially for those who have experienced forced separation from our children, our loved ones, by the state, Bronis said.... Kiah Sandler, a Bronzeville resident with the End IL Prison Lockdown Coalition, said although the groups demands have shifted since Pritzker signed a sweeping criminal justice reform bill, there is still work to be done by the governor. Sandler said the coalition is asking Pritzker to lift that ban on personal contact during in-person visits, and also to grant more clemency requests to set loved ones free with the stroke of a pen.... A Pritzker spokesperson later sent an email stating Pritzker has granted clemency requests throughout the pandemic and the state prison population is at its lowest level in years  down 28% since 2019, including a 43% drop in female inmates. Holly Krig, a member of Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration, said it is horrific and cruelly unnecessary, that visitors and incarcerated people are not allowed to touch and also that visitors must be vaccinated; that means children under 16  who cant be vaccinated yet  cant visit. She said for younger children and newborns to maintain a relationship with incarcerated mothers, contact is essential. People can be released, people should be released and they should be released immediately, Krig said. We need to bring our people home.

As highlighted by recent polling discussed here, granting clemency to various groups of persons has considerable public support across the political spectrum. Focusing particularly on reuniting families though commutations and restoring rights through pardons on Mother's Day could be a big political winner.

A few prior recent related posts:

May 9, 2021 at 09:48 AM | Permalink

Comments

While I am dubious that it will ever happen, I could see a tradition of granting female inmates commutations in early May and male inmates commutations in early June so that they could, respectively, spend Mother's Day and Father's Day with their children.

Posted by: tmm | May 10, 2021 10:50:29 AM

Im not interested in political winners. Im interested in policy winners. Clemency should be used for gross injustice, not some punk who killed a man 22 years ago. Attaching it to Mothers is kind of sickening. Im tired of misplaced blame. The state did not separate the guy from his mom. The inmate did.

Regarding COVID: The same people complaining about non contact visits would be suing the state if the rates went up and an incarcerated family member died from COVID. Even worse, if a visitor contracted COVID from the incarcerated love one and died.

Its the typical kobayashi maru set up by the Inmates are the good guys, crowd.

Posted by: TarlsQtr | May 11, 2021 4:01:56 PM

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Chinese lawmakers will consider a draft law revision to provide tougher rules against trafficking women after a string of crimes triggered calls for crackdown and legislation.

The upcoming session of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, to be held from April 18 to 20, will deliberate a draft revision to the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, Zang Tiewei, a spokesperson for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee, said Thursday.

The draft, to be submitted for a second reading, will propose a "mandatory reporting and screening mechanism" to swiftly identify and handle crimes against women, Zang said.

Household registration and marriage registration organs, local governments, women's associations, and hotels will have to report to the police if they suspect women are being trafficked or abducted.

When soliciting public comments after a first reading of the draft, the legislature received over 420,000 online comments and nearly 300 letters from the public, Zang said.
 ACLU sues Maricopa County prosecutors over expressly threatening "substantially harsher" plea offers for those who exercise court rights | Main | AGAIN: You be the judge: what sentence for Michael Avenatti (and do the guidelines merit any respect)? 

The question in the title of this post is the headline of this lengthy New York magazine article by Zak Cheney-Rice. The obvious answer, of course, is "not soon enough," given that Prez Biden has gone his first six month, amid a global pandemic after campaigning as a reformer, without a single act of clemency. But the piece strikes a slightly more hopeful tone, and here excerpts:

According to the New York Times, the Biden administration has signaled, as recently as this summer and in multiple conversations with advocates, that he would use clemency both broadly and soon, with an emphasis on advancing his racial justice agenda. This is significant ... because over the last several decades, presidents have been using their clemency powers less often, waiting until later in their presidencies to do so, and leaving people in squalid and dangerous conditions for longer periods of time because of it....

In the waning days of Donald Trumps presidency, his administration issued a memo saying the thousands of people whod been released from federal prison to home confinement during the pandemic emergency period would be locked up again as soon as the order was lifted, if their sentences werent up by then. According to the Times, this is still in effect, and the Biden administration has been weirdly cagey about whether it would reverse Trumps order and let them stay home. These 4,000 prisoners are pre-selected and already free, so theyre easy candidates for commutations. The White House reviews the emergency declaration every three months. None of these reviews has yielded answers so far, and the next one is scheduled for July.

This situation is shaping up to be a test of Bidens ambitions regarding clemency. Theres no concrete reason to think the president wont make good on his promise to use clemency more than has become normal, but thats mostly because the bar is so low. Since Richard Nixon was president  a useful marker here, because thats when the era of mass incarceration started  theres been a fairly steady downward trend in presidents use of this unique power, which is granted to them by the Constitution, and which entails mostly commutations (which partly or completely cut short sentences) and pardons (which essentially wipe out convictions).

Nixon granted clemency to 926 people. Trump granted it to 237, bookending a period of more than 50 years, starting with Ronald Reagan, that saw the numbers drop below 500 and stay there, with one exception, through the present day. (With the caveat that this period has seen two one-term presidents, Democrats have usually been more willing to use this power than Republicans, but not by much. ) The one exception was Barack Obama, who granted clemency, mostly in the form of commutations, to 1,927 people, the most since Harry Truman. As of July 1, 2021, there were still 153,683 federal prisoners.

Biden has hinted that hell start sooner rather than later, possibly even before the 2022 midterms, which is a big deal because of the politics surrounding the issue. The American antipathy toward clemency is one of the main motivators behind the downward trend in pardons and commutations: The appearance of being soft on crime, and the possibility that someone you free re-offends in some politically inopportune way, makes it hard for presidents to rationalize pardoning people or commuting sentences with any regularity. To minimize the political fallout, they usually wait until late to start granting the bulk of them. Oftentimes, like in Trumps case, most get rushed through during a presidents last days in office.

The effect is that clemency has become really unusual. And when something is unusual, each decision becomes freighted with dramatic significance and scrutinized to the nth degree. There have, of course, been good reasons to monitor presidents clemency decisions. Trump used it to reward imprisoned cronies and mislead voters. Bill Clinton famously pardoned the husband of a wealthy Democratic donor. But the scrutiny is overwhelmingly due to its rarity, not its infrequent abuses. Its been fashioned into an almost cosmically precious blessing to those who receive it, rather than a workaday part of a presidents duties.

Plenty of ideas have been floated about how to change this on a systemic level. Rachel Barkow, a law professor of New York University, has spent years researching and developing ideas for how to make clemency more common, in part by making it less politically perilous and less vulnerable to conflicts of interest. Both of these goals probably mean removing such decisions from the purview of the Justice Department, where theyre mostly handled today. Federal prosecutors are responsible for these people being in prison in the first place. Their decisions  which often determine which petitions get to the president, for example  inevitably run up against the fact that theyre often undermining, and potentially reversing, their own work.

To reduce the political risk, Barkow suggests establishing a clemency board, composed of interests from across the political spectrum, and spanning a wide range of people who work, have worked in, or have been impacted by the criminal legal system, to process requests and seek out candidates. This would spread out responsibility enough to take the weight off any one person, thereby encouraging more commutations and pardons, especially for someone like Biden, who says he wants to grant them. (Several states already have boards like this in place. Barkow, citing her research and others, describes them as a necessary precondition where clemency is routine.)

Whatever the route, two things are clear about Bidens plan so far: he hasnt done anything yet, despite his signaling, and people close to him have indicated to the Times that hes not inclined to circumvent the Justice Department  meaning hes probably committed to an approach that preserves conflicts of interest and retains more political calculation than it needs to. This is bad for normalizing clemency. The president couldnt end mass incarceration or even make a major dent in it, even with a more proactive strategy  the federal incarcerated population is too small as a portion of the whole, for one. But he can wield clemency symbolically, telegraphing to federal prosecutors which cases are worth pursuing, for example. And in more practical terms, he can spare as many people as he can from what is functionally a life of terror, torment, and uncertainty, and can do so now and regularly moving forward to prevent needless suffering.

Jails and prisons are scary and often life-annihilating places, even in non-pandemic times, and there are untold numbers of people who shouldnt be there. Immediate fixes, though small, are available. The longer Biden waits and the rarer presidential clemency stays, the more unusual it will continue to be.
 "An Algorithmic Assessment of Parole Decisions" | Main | Split Iowa Supreme Court finds Sixth Amendment jury trial rights apply to (unique?) state law restitution provision 

April 15, 2022

Justice Department has new Pardon Attorney who is a former public defender ... which means ...?

I was pleased last night to see this great Twitter thread from Mark Osler spotlighting that the US Department of Justice this week officially has a new Pardon Attorney. As this new DOJ bio details, she is Elizabeth (Liz) G. Oyer who before her Justice Department appointment served as "Senior Litigation Counsel to the Office of the Federal Public Defender for Maryland, where she represented indigent defendants at all stages of proceedings in federal district court [and] handled a wide variety of criminal cases, ranging from complex fraud to drug and gun offenses, as well as violent crimes." Professor Osler, who is a leading national expert on federal clemency, has lots of good background in his thread about the appointment, and I am hopeful he does not mind my highlighting some of his key points here:

We've had "Acting" pardon attorneys for the past five or six years, so it means something that Pres. Biden has actually filled this slot. It's also significant -- and positive -- that he has given a career defender an important job in the Department of Justice. However, this doesn't "fix" the backlog of petitions -- or promise a future fix of the backlog -- because it appears the problem there may not have been the Pardon Attorney, but the bureaucracy that takes up the petitions after they are evaluated by the pardon attorney (DAG & WHC).... There are over 18,000 pending petitions, many of them now years old (including unresolved petitions from the Obama administration). It's a mess. We just know what kind of mess, or where the mess is located. The whole thing needs reform.

For a host of reasons, I am eager to see the federal clemency process completely removed from the Department of Justice, and so I support the FIX Clemency Act, discussed here, and other proposals to have an independent body assist the President in his exercise of his constitutional clemency authority. But as long as the current messy structure remains in place, it is encouraging to see that an experiences defense attorney has been placed into this important role. As ProPublica highlighted a decade ago, a DOJ Pardon Attorney eager to find reasons not to recommend clemency grants can really muck up the process in ugly ways. I am inclined to believe a former public defender is going to be more eager to find reasons to recommend grants.

in the end, none of this means much if Prez Biden (and anyone advising him on these matters) is disinclined to make use of the constitutional clemency authority. Of course, candidate Joe Biden promised to "broadly use his clemency power for certain non-violent and drug crimes." But, a full 15 months into his administration, Prez Biden has not granted a single pardon and has not granted a single commutation. With more than 18,000 applications pending, not to mention many low-risk, COVID-vulnerable persons released to home confinement by the Trump Administration, it ought not be that hard to find at least a handful of "non-violent and drug" offenders who deserving of clemency during Second Chance Month. Whomever is in charge of the matters at DOJ, where these is a clemency will there is surely a clemency way. As of now, though, it does not appear that Prez. Biden really has much of a clemency will.

A few on many prior recent related posts:

April 15, 2022 at 11:13 AM | Permalink

Comments

I dont think the pardon mess can be solved without bringing back parole at the federal level. Doug is of course correct that the body that recommends pardons & commutations to the president should not be part of the DOJ. But I cannot imagine presidents being eager to exercise this power generously, no matter who the suggestions come from. It is just too politically risky.

With a parole system, there would be a body that had the power to release over-sentenced prisoners with no action by the president being required. The president's commutation power would then be a last resort, rather than the only resort.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Apr 15, 2022 2:14:42 PM

The infrastructure of the U.S. Parole Commission has essentially been retained by the D.C. Parole Board, which still operates. While Federal prisoners lost the right to be considered for parole after 1988, D.C. defendants (who were sent into the Bureau of Prisons after Lorton Reformatory (located in Virginia) was closed down in 2000. In the years since 2000, the number of "Old Law Inmates" (sentenced before 1988) who were still entitled to be considered for parole has dwindled to fewer than 100. If Congress were to reauthorize parole for Federal criminal defendants, then the infrastructure of the D.C. Parole Board could be used to quickly implement the new law. It's a viable idea, and that infrastructure has been carefully preserved for years.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | Apr 15, 2022 8:43:53 PM

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 Justice Department has new Pardon Attorney who is a former public defender ... which means ...? | Main | Condemned due to be executed in South Carolina in two weeks opts for firing squad over electric chair 

April 15, 2022

Split Iowa Supreme Court finds Sixth Amendment jury trial rights apply to (unique?) state law restitution provision

A helpful reader made sure I saw the interesting ruling today from the Iowa Supreme Court in Iowa v. Davison, No. 200950 (Iowa Apr. 15, 2022) (available here). The start of the majority opinion should highlight why all Apprendi fans will want to check out this notable new decision:

A jury found the defendant guilty of assault causing serious injury and conspiracy to commit murder in connection with a shooting death. The district court later awarded restitution against the defendant under Iowa Code section 910.3B (2017). That law mandates an award of at least $150,000 restitution when the offender is convicted of a felony in which the act or acts committed by the offender caused the death of another person. Id.  910.3B(1). The defendant now argues that the restitution was statutorily and constitutionally impermissible because the offenses of which he was convicted did not include, as an element, causing the death of another person. We conclude that Iowa Code section 910.3B does not require a jury finding that the defendant caused the death of another person. But the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution is a different matter. The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the Sixth Amendment requires facts that increase the defendants minimum or maximum punishment to be determined by a jury. Because the $150,000 restitution is punitive in part, awards of such restitution must be based on jury findings. No jury found that the defendant caused the death of the victim of the shooting. Therefore, we reverse the award of restitution in this case and remand for further proceedings.

Here is part of the substantive discussion from the majority in Davison:

Courts have generally declined to apply Apprendi to restitution because restitution is usually compensatory and indeterminate. At first glance, Davisons argument faces a steep climb. Courts considering the matter have ruled overwhelmingly that Apprendi and Southern Union do not apply to criminal restitution. See, e.g., State v. Leon, 381 P.3d 286, 289 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2016) (Leon acknowledges that no court has applied Apprendi to restitution awards.); State v. Arnett, 496 P.3d 928, 933 (Kan. 2021) ([A]t least 11 of 13 federal United States Circuit Courts of Appeal have refused to extend Apprendi and its progeny to orders of restitution, not to mention the many state courts which have followed suit.)... Restitution under Iowa Code section 910.3B is punitive and determinate. By contrast, Iowa Code section 910.3B establishes a mandatory minimum of $150,000 awardable only if the defendants felonious acts caused the death of another person. It may be a low number for the nonmonetary loss attributable to a death of a human being, but it is a floorand it is awarded only if certain facts are found to exist. Under normal circumstances, a victim of crime in Iowa is limited to recovery of pecuniary damages, which exclude damages for pain, suffering, mental anguish, and loss of consortium. Iowa Code  910.1(6), .2(1)(a). Only when the defendant is convicted of a felony in which their acts caused the death of another person may the minimum amount of $150,000 be recovered in addition. See id.  910.3B(1). Like other forms of restitution, the restitution authorized by Iowa Code section 910.3B provides compensation. It serves a remedial purpose in compensating the victims estate. Klawonn, 609 N.W.2d at 520. But section 910.3B restitution is also punitive. In our 2000 decision, Izzolena, we detected several punitive elements in the statute. 609 N.W.2d at 548. Restitution under section 910.3B is awarded in addition to separate restitution for pecuniary damages. Id. Also, the statute establishes a minimum threshold amount of $150,000 for all cases, with no required proof of evidence to support damages excluded from the definition of pecuniary damages. Id. at 54849. For this reason, we found that the $150,000 restitution was subject to the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 17 of the Iowa Constitution. Id. at 549.

One concurring opinion frames the ruling in a notable way that seems worth highlighting (and which might entail that the Supreme Court would be disinclined to take this case up if there were a future cert petition):

The opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part argues that Apprendi should not be extended to restitution awards, but this merely begs the question. It is not disputed that courts almost uniformly have held that Apprendi does not apply to restitution awards.... And the courts opinion in this case says nothing different. The question in this case is not, as the dissenting opinion frames it, whether Apprendi should be extended to restitution awards. Instead, the question is whether section 910.3B is merely a restitution award or whether it also amounts to criminal punishment. The dissent assumes the former, but our precedents dictate the latter.

And here is the start of the partial dissent:

I join the courts opinion except for part III.B. I respectfully dissent from the courts holding extending Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466 (2000) and its progeny to victim restitution awards. Our court is the first appellate court in the nation to do so. Only two justices of the United States Supreme Court have concluded that Apprendi should be applied to require a jury to find all the facts needed to justify a restitution order. Hester v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 509, 50911 (2019) (Gorsuch, J., joined by Sotomayor, J., dissenting from the denial of certiorari). Seven justices declined to take the bait. See id. at 509 (mem.). Every federal circuit court of appeals to reach the issue has refused to extend Apprendi to victim restitution awards. So too has every state appellate court to reach the issue. I would follow the wisdom of that crowd.

It is not a given that Iowa would seek SCOTUS review of this ruling, and the distinctiveness of Iowa law here might make the SCOTUS Justices disinclined to take up this case even if Iowa does seek cert. That said, it seems worth noting that any forthcoming cert petition on this issue could possible engage some of the Justices who were not on Court back in 2019 when cert was denied in the Hester case. Back then, Justice Ginsburg and Breyer were apparently disinclined to take up this issue. But I suspect the new Justice Jackson might be much more interested in expanding Apprendi rights than her former boss has been. And, as I suggested in this post about Hester, if Justice Barrett is really the originalist that she claims to be, she too might be inclined to join Justice Gorsuch's call to consider this important Sixth Amendment procedural matter.

Though there is much to say about restitution and procedural rights in general (e.g., there is not discussion of burdens of proof or other due process issues in Davison), this cases has me inclined to talk up the broader question of whether the "new" Supreme Court might be somewhat more eager consider and question a lot of pro-state/pro-prosecution doctrines that seem inconsistent with the text and original public meaning of the Bill of Rights. The Apprendi line of cases helped me to understand that lots of established sentencing doctrines and precedents ought to make real textualists and originalists blush. If lots of precedents are going to start to be reexamined on textualist and originalist grounds, those ought also to include an array of (mostly pro-state/pro-prosecution) criminal law and procedure precedents.

April 15, 2022 at 11:54 AM | Permalink

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Seems wrong to me. The statute merely sets an irrebutable presumption floor to quantify the amount of the specific loss suffered by the victim. Whether the victim actually suffered the loss (ie died) is a sentencing fact. Same as if you created an irrebutable presumption that losing a tooth as as crime victim warrants restitution of $2500 -- that shouldn't logically make whether I lost a tooth more of a jury question than it would be if the prosecution had to submit my dental bills.

Posted by: Jason | Apr 15, 2022 10:24:12 PM

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Elon Musk acknowledged his bid to buy Twitter may fail, but said he has a "plan B" (AFP/Olivier DOULIERY) (Olivier DOULIERY)

Tesla chief Elon Musk said Thursday he's not sure his $43 billion bid to buy Twitter will succeed, but asserted he has a "plan B" in case of failure.

In his first spoken comments since the shock offer became public, Musk downplayed his concerns over money, though assembling the funding for an all-cash offer of this size is never simple.

The world's richest person would need to part with some of his mountains of Tesla stock if his offer gets board backing -- which is not guaranteed.

"I'm not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it," Musk told a conference in Canada, referring to Twitter. He went on to note that money wasn't the primary issue, saying "I could technically afford it."

Musk acknowledged he has a "plan B" if his offer fails, but refused to elaborate when pressed.

"For another time, I think," the billionaire said.

Musk's filing to US authorities on the proposal offered an idea of what he'd do if rejected: "My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder."

Musk last week disclosed a purchase of 73.5 million shares -- or 9.2 percent -- of Twitter's common stock, which ignited a roller-coaster of events, including his refusal to join the company's board.

In his comments Thursday, Musk reiterated his statements that the aim of his bid was to promote freedom of speech on Twitter.

"This is not a way to make money," he said.

"My strong intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization. I don't care about the economics at all," he added.

The serial entrepreneur's endeavors include driving a shift to electric vehicles through his automaker Tesla, private space exploration, and linking computers with brains.

His behavior, however, has raised eyebrows, prompted laughs, and sometimes drawn condemnation or even litigation.

jm/cs
Castel Del Monte in Apulia

The 13th-century citadel and castle (Castel del Monte) situated on a hill in Andria will host Guccis new fashion show on 16 May 2022.

Known for its unique geometric designs, Castel Del Monte in the Apulia region of Italy has been protected as a World Heritage Site since 1996. The thirteenth-century fortress will host Guccis next fashion show on 16 May, confirmed Alessandro Michele. Whether youre planning a holiday to Italy or simply looking forward to the show, here is everything you need to know about this octagonal-shaped structure.

Alessandro-Michele

Travel guide to Castel Del Monte in the Apulia region of Italy

Castel del Monte is one of the most famous cultural sites in Puglia, Italy mainly because of its unique architecture and historical relevance. The medieval palace was originally built as a hunting lodge by Emperor Frederick II who fell in love with the rich region, full of rivers, culture, and forests. Two years after his visit, he moved the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily from Palermo to Foggia, making this a seat of great power.

Castel Del Monte in Apulia





Castel Del Monte in Apulia





Castel Del Monte in Apulia

Alessandro Micheles decision to host Guccis next fashion show here is a part of his ongoing dialogue with historic places and is just the push for tourism that this unique citadel deserves. The castle is built 540m above sea level on a hill inundated with sunlight at every time of day due to its octagonal shape.

With eight rooms on each floor, the castle attains design perfection and has drawn much interest over the years. The structure was designed as a retreat and not a military fortress yet it continued to hold great power over the region. In terms of design, it blends elements from Northern Europe and the Islamic world.

With Gucci establishing the site as the runway for its next fashion show on 16 May 2022; its sure to draw in a global travel audience to this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

All Images: Courtesy Shutterstock.

The post This medieval UNESCO-listed castle will host Guccis next fashion show appeared first on Lifestyle Asia Singapore.
OMAHA  A major fertilizer company says the limits Union Pacific is putting on rail traffic to clear up congestion will delay shipments that farmers need during the spring planting season.

CF Industries said Thursday that the railroad ordered it to cut its shipments nearly 20%. Union Pacific has said it is limiting rail traffic and hiring aggressively as part of a plan to improve service after grain and ethanol shippers complained about shortcomings.

Federal regulators have announced plans to hold a hearing later this month about the service problems along Union Pacific and other major U.S. railroads that have forced some grain mills and ethanol plants to curtail production while waiting on trains and left farmers without a place to sell their crops because grain elevators are having trouble shipping grain.

The timing of this action by Union Pacific could not come at a worse time for farmers, said CF Industries CEO Tony Will. Not only will fertilizer be delayed by these shipping restrictions, but additional fertilizer needed to complete spring applications may be unable to reach farmers at all.

CF Industries said the limits will affect fertilizer deliveries to Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and California from its plants in Louisiana and Iowa. The company said it believes it is one of just 30 companies Union Pacific imposed restrictions on.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Kristen South said the measures the Omaha-based railroad is taking are designed to address problems in the supply chain that have clogged rail shipments. The railroad has also brought 100 locomotives out of storage and shifted roughly 80 crew members to high-demand locations.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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BELGRADE, Serbia  Hundreds of protesters have joined a right-wing gathering in support of Russia, carrying pictures of Vladimir Putin and T-shirts with the letter Z that has become a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The rally Friday in central Belgrade was organized to protest Serbias vote last week in the United Nations in support of Russias expulsion from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Serbia remains the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, but right-wing groups are angry that Belgrade voted against Moscow in the U.N.

Local media say that masked protesters lit flares and smoke bombs outside the offices of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during the protest and placed a Russian flag on the presidency building.

Several similar protests have been held in Serbia since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine. Many Serbians remain loyal to Russia, convinced that Moscow was provoked by the West to launch the invasion.

Anti-western sentiments in Serbia stem from a 1999 NATO air war that forced Belgrade to give up control of the Kosovo province. Belgrade has enjoyed Russian support in trying to retain a claim on the territory, which declared Western-backed independence in 2008.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

 We pray for you: Ukrainian Jews mark Passover, if they can

 Ukraines port of Mariupol holds out against all odds

 War Crimes Watch: The woman who would make Putin pay

 Ukrainian moms pain at watching daughters burial on phone

 Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a seven-month-old child, were killed in shelling of a residential neighborhood in the city.

Oleh Sinehubov said Friday in a Telegram post that 34 other people were wounded.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, has been heavily hit by shelling and rocket attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The citys position about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Russia and 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the separatist eastern regions of Ukraine gives it significant strategic importance.

A senior U.S. defense official says the U.S. believes the Russian guided-missile cruiser that sank Thursday in the northern Black Sea had been struck by at least one Ukrainian anti-ship missile, as claimed by the Kyiv government.

Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they also did not refute it. The senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, said the Moskva was hit by at least one, and probably two, Neptune missiles on Wednesday, creating the large fire aboard.

The official offered no further details beyond saying the U.S. believes the Russians suffered some number of casualties aboard the ship.

 reported by Associated Press writer Robert Burns

LVIV, Ukraine  The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a briefing Friday.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyivs regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% of the casualties had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said. The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900  and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.

He added that more bodies were being found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves.

The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses, he said.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha had been gathering up and burying bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

KYIV, Ukraine  Two civilians died of shrapnel wounds after a rocket was shot down near the southern Ukrainian city of Kakhovka, according to a Facebook post published by Kakhovkas municipal authorities that same day.

It was not a peaceful morning in Kakhovka. Five civilian residents with injuries were admitted to the Kakhovka Municipal Hospital. Two killed, three injured (one of them is in critical condition in intensive care, two have moderate injuries), the Kakhovka Municipal Territorial Community wrote.

The municipal body added that all five were hit by shrapnel after they left their homes to see the remnants of a rocket downed over the nearby town of Tavriisk.

It was not immediately clear which of the warring sides had launched the weapon, and which had shot it down.

The post went on to urge local residents to stay inside and keep away from windows if they hear gunshots or explosions.

The website of Frances state-owned radio broadcaster, RFI, appeared to become unavailable in Russia on Friday after the countrys media and internet watchdog added one of its pages with critical coverage of the war in Ukraine to its registry of blocked websites.

The communications agency, Roskomnadzor, has been restricting access to news websites this week in line with a ruling by Russias Prosecutor General on Tuesday, which mandates the blocking of outlets publishing information inciting mass disorder, extremist activity or participation in mass (public) events violating the established order, and unreliable information which is of public significance.

According to the Roskomnadzor registry, the authorities blocked an RFI article citing a story by French magazine Le Figaro which alleged Russian servicemen rape women in Ukraine, but the broadcaster said its entire website ended up being unavailable in Russia.

Earlier on Friday, Roskomnadzor apparently cut access to the Russian-language site of Russias top independent English-language news outlet, The Moscow Times, citing the same ruling.

On Wednesday, Russian state media also reported that the agency ordered a Russian streaming platform to remove all podcasts published by the BBC, whose Russian-language website was blocked in March alongside those of U.S. and German news organizations.

MOSCOW  The wife of a Ukrainian politician held by Kyiv on a treason charge has accused Ukrainian security services of torturing her husband and fabricating his escape from house arrest in a press conference held in Moscow on Friday.

Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, referred to her husband as a political prisoner, and claimed that she does not know where he is.

Medvedchuk was detained on Tuesday in a special operation carried out by Ukraines state security service, or the SBU. The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest several days before the hostilities broke out Feb. 24 in Ukraine. He is facing between 15 years and a life in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for mediating coal purchases for the separatist, Russia-backed Donetsk republic in eastern Ukraine.

I have no doubt that my husband was beaten within hours after his capture, she said at the press conference. I am appealing for help in establishing (his) real whereabouts. I call for help to stop the physical and mental torture.

She did not offer evidence to back up her claims, but referenced a televised statement made by Ukrainian officials on Wednesday, which said that Kyiv will aim to try Medvedchuk as soon as possible, give him the appropriate sentence, obtain evidence from him and then exchange him for Ukrainian captives held by Moscow.

Russias top independent English-language news outlet says Russian authorities have blocked its Russian-language website over critical coverage of the war in Ukraine.

The Moscow Times said Friday that its Russian-language website has become unavailable for some users and cited a ruling by the Prosecutor Generals office to restrict the access.

According to the news outlet, the authorities have separately blocked a page on the website with a story about 11 riot police officers who refused to fight in Ukraine. On Thursday, a journalist who first broke the story was jailed on the charges of spreading false information about the Russian military.

The Moscow Times said it hasnt received any formal notification from the government.

The Kremlin has sought to control the narrative of the war from the moment its troops rolled into Ukraine. It dubbed the attack a special military operation and increased the pressure on independent Russian media that called it a war or an invasion, blocking access to many news sites whose coverage deviated from the official line.

KYIV, Ukraine -- Mariupol City Council said Friday that local residents report Russian troops are digging up bodies previously buried in residential courtyards and not allowing any new burials of people killed by them.

A watchman has been assigned to each courtyard and is not allowing Mariupol residents to lay to rest dead relatives or friends. Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, according to a statement on the messaging app Telegram.

The claim could not be independently verified.

Earlier this month, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told the AP that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to the city to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.

Boychencko said that the Russian forces were taking many bodies to a huge shopping center where there are storage facilities and refrigerators. Mobile crematoriums have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it, and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burned, he said.

KYIV, Ukraine  Seven people died and 27 were injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the Ukrainian village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office told Ukraines Suspilne news website Friday.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are working to establish the circumstances of the attack, Dmytro Chubenko said. He added that investigators are also establishing the routes and destination of the vehicles transporting civilians across the Russian-controlled territory around Borovaya.

Chubenko said that Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

The claims could not be independently verified.

MOSCOW  Russias Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up the scale of missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines diversions on the Russian territory.

The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the countrys regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.

According to Russian officials, some 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursdays attack on the Klimovo village in the Bryansk region. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraines Chernihiv region shut down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.

Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.

LONDON  Britains defense ministry says the loss of Russias naval flagship will likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea.

The Moskva sank after being damaged in disputed circumstances. Ukraine says it struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack.

In an update posted Friday on social media, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the Soviet-era ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.

It said the sinking means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russias Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.

KYIV, Ukraine  President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians gave us a maximum of five.

In his late-night video address, Zelenskyy called it an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on Feb. 24 made the most important decision of their life  to fight.

Zelenskyy gave an extensive and almost poetic listing of the many ways in which Ukrainians have helped to fend off the Russian troops, including those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if its to the bottom of the sea. It was his only reference to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being towed to port.

Zelenskyy said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.

But they didnt know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want, Zelenskyy said.

OTTAWA, Ontario  Canada is sending soldiers to Poland to help with the care, co-ordination and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, including some who will come to Canada.

More than 2.6 million Ukrainians have fled into Poland since the first Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and over 2 million more have fled into other surrounding countries.

Defense Minister Anita Anand announced the deployment of up to 150 troops Thursday, saying the majority of the deployed troops will head to reception centers across Poland to help care for and register Ukrainian refugees.

Another group is being sent to help coordinate international aid efforts.

Canada has deployed hundreds of additional troops to eastern Europe since Russias invasion as the NATO military alliance seeks to both support Ukraine and prevent the conflict from expanding into a broader war.

KYIV, Ukraine  The head of the U.N. World Food Program said people are being starved to death in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol and he predicted the countrys humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as Russia intensifies its assault in the coming weeks.

WFP executive director David Beasley also warned in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kyiv that Russias invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.

The war that began Feb. 24 was devastating the people in Ukraine, Beasley said, lamenting the lack of access faced by the WFP and other aid organizations in trying to reach those in need amid the conflict.

The fluid nature of the conflict, which has seen fighting shift away from areas around the capital and toward eastern Ukraine, has made it especially difficult to reach hungry Ukrainians.

The WFP is trying to put food supplies now in areas that could be caught up in the fighting, but Beasley acknowledged that there are a lot of complexities as the situation rapidly evolves.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Good Friday men's prayer breakfast

The annual Good Friday Mens Prayer Breakfast will be held at Northwestern College in Orange City at 6:30 a.m. April 15. The special speaker will be a young farmer from Michigan who survived a horrific farm accident when a PTO ripped all of his clothes off and finally got help by driving his tractor to a road. His message will highlight his faith and the help he received from his wife and neighbors. To sign up for tickets contact 712-737-4909.

Holy Week events

St. Mark Lutheran Church (ELCA), 5200 Glenn Ave., will host a Good Friday service on April 15 at 7 p.m.

Good Friday Service will be at 6 p.m. on April 15 at Whitfield United Methodist Church. Message will be "Dialogue of Two Crosses," and "Nothing but the Blood of Jesus" will be played on the hand bells.

First Presbyterian Church of Sioux City will host a "Tenebrae" service with other local Prebyterian Churches on Good Friday, April 15, at 6:30 p.m.

Easter Sunday Services

Easter Sunday Services will be on April 17 at 8:45 a.m. at Whitfield United Methodist Church and at 10:30 a.m. at Riverside United Methodist Church. There will be a children's performance of "The Glorious Rainbow of Easter" and an Easter monologue of "Mary the Mother of Jesus." "Hymne a la Joie" will be played on the hand bells.

St. Mark Lutheran Church (ELCA), 5200 Glenn Ave., will host Easter Services on Sunday, April 17, with a Sunrise Worship at 7 a.m. and Festival Worship at 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.

First Presbyterian Church of Sioux City will celebrate the resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday, April 17, at 10:30 a.m.

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Dear Doctors: When my nephew was born last year, he had something the doctors called neonatal jaundice. It went away after a few weeks, and he seemed fine. Then the same thing happened when I had my daughter. Why do babies get jaundice? Is it dangerous for them?

Dear Reader: Neonatal jaundice is a common condition in which a baby's skin and eyes take on a yellowish tint within the first few days of birth. It occurs in up to two-thirds of all healthy newborns, and in the majority of cases, it does not indicate a health problem.

Let's start with the name of the condition itself. The word "neonatal" refers to the first four weeks of an infant's life. The term "jaundice" comes from the word "jaune," which means yellow in French.

The reason that jaundice causes a change to skin color is due to a buildup in the blood of a compound known as bilirubin, which is yellowish in color. Bilirubin is a natural byproduct of the breakdown of aging red blood cells. As blood circulates through the liver, the bilirubin that it contains is filtered out. The liver then breaks down the captured bilirubin into a form that the body can get rid of. These final compounds are sent to the small intestine where, after being further dismantled by certain bacteria, they exit the body via the stool.

While the baby is still in the womb, bilirubin is removed from the blood via the placenta. After birth, however, that job falls to the baby's own organs. A newborn's liver can take a bit of time to begin to function efficiently. At the same time, newborns have greater numbers of red cells than adults or older children, and the cells have a shorter life cycle. These two factors can easily lead to a buildup of bilirubin in the infant's blood. It can take a bit of time, sometimes up to two weeks, for the baby's liver to become effective at filtering bilirubin from the blood.

The symptoms of neonatal jaundice begin in the face, then move to the chest, belly and legs. In babies with darker skin, this change in color is sometimes easier to discern on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.

In the majority of babies, neonatal jaundice will resolve on its own, usually after a few days to two weeks. It's just a matter of waiting for the infant's liver to catch up to the amount of bilirubin that needs to be removed.

In very rare cases, the condition can signal a more serious problem. When bilirubin levels become high, babies can experience changes to behavior as well as to appearance. Behavior changes can include becoming fussy, poor feeding, developing floppy limbs and being unusually sleepy. If a problem is suspected, a blood test may be used to help with diagnosis.

Treatment can vary, from addressing potential dehydration with increased liquid intake to a range of medical interventions. All of this makes it important to have a health care provider monitor the course of neonatal jaundice.

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PHILADELPHIA  The frustration jumped off the Instagram page:

"I have never ever seen this many people trying to dump their dogs," posted Jessica Mellen-Graaf of the Philly Bully Team dog rescue.

Already swamped, her rescue team had received 20 requests in 48 hours from owners who wanted to give up their dogs.

"We knew this could happen," she said. "I just don't think we thought it was going to be this bad."

In the early months of COVID-19, the near-emptying of the nation's animal shelters was one of the few bright spots in a dark time. ASPCA data suggest over 23 million American households acquired a pet during the pandemic.

But as pandemic restrictions receded, many are returning to the workplace or finding COVID has otherwise altered their circumstances.

Animal advocates are now scrambling to find volunteers to foster homeless dogs. Fewer people want to adopt. And organizations say they're inundated with requests from owners to unload dogs they no longer want or feel able to keep.

"It's hard right now," said Marta Gambone of Phoenix Animal Rescue in Chester Springs, Pa.

Pet rescues and shelters help people giving up pets due to hardship, but Gambone and fellow advocates say a lot of the surrenders they're seeing now are a different story.

They are dogs like Nate, a playful, one-year-old German shepherd turned over to Phoenix recently by his family.

"He is smart as a whip, he's a great dog, but they surrendered him because they don't have time for him," Gambone said. "He's absolutely a COVID dog that somebody bought, and now that the people are going to work, they don't want to deal with him anymore."

Many of these "COVID dogs" are big breeds  a pet population that has become a challenge for animal shelters and rescues nationwide to foster or find homes, especially now.

"People get a puppy because it's cute, but that puppy grows into a 100-pound Mastiff or Boerboel," Gambone said. "We've seen a lot of dogs that are not the right match being returned because they're getting a lot bigger and they're getting destructive at home because they're not getting the exercise they need."

Angelica Giunta, president of Philly Rescue Angels, recently helped an owner who said he couldn't keep his young husky mix.

"My life circumstances changed," said the husky's owner, a Philadelphia professional who didn't want to be named.

Giunta found a husky rescue willing to help find a new home for that dog. No such luck for a young father-son shepherd pair another owner no longer wanted.

"The rescues are so full. I hate asking other rescues. I know how they feel," Giunta said. "I'm at capacity right now."

Especially upsetting to Mellen-Graaf of Philly Bully Team and fellow pet advocates is that many of these surrenders stem from lack of training  a fixable problem that some groups will even help with.

"A lot of what we're seeing is people struggling with their dogs having separation anxiety which totally makes sense," said Mellen-Graaf. "When they got these dogs, they were home all the time. They never taught the dogs to be alone, and they never bothered to crate train them. Now people are leaving their houses more often, and they're seeing this anxiety they unknowingly caused."

During COVID, many new owners couldn't get a trainer, couldn't afford one or didn't know how to do it themselves. A lot of these pets ended up with behavior problems.

Freddie Mercury, a young brown pit bull mix with pretty chestnut eyes and big, stick-up ears, was adopted from the Philly Bully Team as a happy, friendly puppy. But he was returned as a severely under-socialized young dog. The rescue paid for a board and train program for Freddie.

"He had to relearn structure and boundaries  all those things he wasn't taught as a puppy when he adopted," Mellen-Graaf said.

"He's looking for a home now," she added. "He's a good boy."

As tough as things are for private shelters and rescues, the situation ratchets up a whole other level at Philly ACCT, Philadelphia's open intake shelter where the mission is to take all dogs brought in, and where owner surrenders are way up.

"It's just a game of musical chairs every day, and unfortunately the cost sometimes is these animals' lives," said Sarah Barnett, ACCT's acting co-executive director. "We're having to timestamp (schedule for euthanasia) dogs that I never imagined we would need to because these were dogs we thought would leave  thought would get adopted."

Open intake shelters around the country are over capacity, said the director. ACCT recently had more than 120 dogs in space meant for 70. Lengths of stay are way up, but there aren't enough foster homes or space in rescues and private shelters to give more ACCT dogs more time to find a home.

ACCT tries to prevent surrender by helping owners keep their pets  offering to pay for veterinary care or training classes, for example  but lately, many seem less receptive.

"People really have reached their breaking point," Barnett said. "There are different issues that are just making people hit their brink and not be open to help or assistance in the way they used to be."

Meanwhile, ACCT has struggled with budget cuts as service demands have risen.

"That's why everybody is reaching out to the public whether it's fostering, adopting or volunteering," Barnett said. "Anything."

ACCT, for example, often waives adoption fees. Many shelters and rescues also offer help with veterinary care, training or other needs.

Maddie Bernstein, PSPCA's Philly manager of life saving, says they've been getting at least 10 surrender requests a day instead of the typical one to three, she said.

Cats are still finding homes, said Bernstein, echoing other shelter operators. It's dogs, and their higher care commitments, that are having a harder time.

Normally, this would still be the slow season for animal surrenders. Summer, with vacations and other plans, is usually when foster homes and adopters get scarce.

But now it's busy everywhere, said Mellen-Graaf of Philly Bully Team.

"I just had one of our shelter partners in South Carolina text me: "Can you please take a litter of puppies? Please, please, please,'" she said.

"I have nowhere to put them. But if they're going to be euthanized, I have to take them. I can't say no. They're puppies."

What to do?

"I'll find somewhere for them to go," she said.

She just didn't know where.

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The Shenzhou-13 crewed spacecraft, which has completed all its scheduled tasks, will separate from the space station core module Tianhe at an appropriate time and land at the Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Thursday.



The Shenzhou-13 crew, namely Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, have been ready for the separation, and the Dongfeng landing site is making preparations for the return of the three astronauts, said the CMSA.
SIOUX CITY -- The City of Sioux City will award $250,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to eligible nonprofit organizations that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city said in a statement that the Sioux City nonprofits must have been founded before Jan. 1, 2020 and experienced "negative economic impacts or disproportionate impacts of the pandemic" in order to be eligible to receive funding.

Although there is no minimum or maximum award level, applicants must strongly document why the specific amount of funding requested is needed. The majority of the awards are expected to be under $25,000.

Visit sioux-city.org/CARESActFunding to apply. The application deadline is May 6 at midnight.

Contact Stacey Frausto at 712-279-6328 or sfrausto@sioux-city.org for more information.

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SIOUX CITY -- A person was taken to a Sioux City hospital with non-life-threatening injuries Friday morning after a shooting in Morningside.

At 9:17 a.m., police responded to 2201 Gibson St. for a female shot in the leg.

When officers arrived at the scene, they found three individuals in the residence, according to a statement from the Sioux City Police Department. The injured female was taken to a hospital.

The statement said no suspects have been identified at this time. The investigation is ongoing.

The incident occurred roughly 14 hours after police responded to a shots fired call on the city's north side.

At 7:24 p.m. on Thursday, callers reported hearing shots fired in the area of Stone Park Boulevard and 32nd Street and from the area of Hamilton and Stone Park boulevards.

According to the statement, shortly after the shots were fired, witnesses observed a four-door silver car chasing a black car eastbound on Stone Park Boulevard.

Officers were unable to locate the suspect vehicle, but did find evidence of a shooting, according to the statement. No one was shot. The investigation is continuing.

Anyone with information about either shooting is asked to call the Sioux City Police Department at 712-279-6960 or 712-258-8477.

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SIOUX CITY -- The Iowa Department of Transportation is installing fencing around the Interstate 29 bridges over Perry Creek in effort to deter transients from congregating underneath.

The 6-foot, black, vinyl-coated chain-link fencing is similar to existing fencing along the interstate, which was put in place to prevent people from walking onto or across the interstate. Dakin Schultz, District 3 transportation planner, said the fencing project's cost is $15,000.

A fire, which ignited in a homeless encampment, damaged an Interstate 29 box-culvert bridge in Sioux City near the end of October 2019.

The fire consumed various tents and debris under the bridge, which was built only a year earlier. Propane tanks under the bridge further fueled the fire. No one was under the bridge at the time of the fire and none of the emergency responders were injured.

That fire wreaked havoc on the concrete structure of the bridge. The cost to repair it was estimated at nearly $1 million, and the repair work constricted traffic flow near the Wesley Parkway and Hamilton Boulevard exits.

"We had a serious issue back in 2019. After the replacement of most of the structure, we discussed some different measures to try to discourage the use of it for long-term occupation," Schultz said. "We came up with some different ideas. We ended up landing on the fencing option to see if that would do it."

Schultz said he doesn't know if fires under bridges, such as the one in 2019, are on the rise. The Journal reported on two other bridge fires earlier this year.

On Jan. 20, a fire broke out in a homeless encampment underneath a train bridge in the 100 block of Steuben St. No one was injured. The bridge, which is owned by BNSF, sustained "slight damage," according to Sioux City Fire Rescue officials.

Then, on Feb. 12, the Le Mars Fire-Rescue Department was called to a fire under the 24th Street S.W. bridge, which extends business Highway 75 in Le Mars to the Highway 75 bypass. That fire, which broke out underneath a city-owned bridge, was accidental in nature and likely caused by an individual cooking food. The damage was limited to the bridge's non-critical components.

Schultz said the IDOT will monitor the effectiveness of the fencing around the I-29 bridges after installation. The project's completion date is uncertain at this time, due to issues the contractor is having receiving material from the fabricator, according to Schultz.

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SIOUX FALLS  During its annual conference Thursday, the South Dakota Governor's Office of Economic Development honored Andrew Nilges with the Excellence in Economic Development Award.

Nilges serves as executive director of the North Sioux City Economic Development Corporation. The Excellence in Economic Development award recognizes an individual who has excelled in the economic development arena over the past year.

"North Sioux City has some amazing opportunities happening in their community, and Andrew Nilges has been instrumental in the success of these projects," the Governor's Office of Economic Development said in a statement.

Nilges has been a key leader in economic growth in North Sioux City, leading the community to create a vast new industrial park that will also include a significant expansion of workforce housing in the area, according to the statement.

"He has worked alongside GOED on several business expansions in the past year and has strengthened the partnership between local, state, and federal agencies to further the economic development goals of his community," the statement said.

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Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  More than 900 bodies of civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces. That's according to the regional police chief, who spoke Friday. The jarring numbers emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to ramp up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to alleged aggression on Russian territory. That warning followed the stunning loss of Moscows flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. official confirmed was hit by a Ukrainian missile. Amid its threats, Moscow continues preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also continues in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol.

It's not over: COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in US

The U.S. may be heading into another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline. Experts don't know how high the mountain will grow, but they don't expect a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population. Still, experts warn the coming wave will wash across the nation and push up hospitalizations in a growing number of states, especially those with low vaccination rates, in the coming weeks. Most cases are now being caused by a subvariant known as BA.2 that is thought to be 30% more contagious.

Ukrainian mom's pain at watching daughter's burial on phone

LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Viktoria Kovalenko bore witness to the death of her husband and elder daughter when their car was hit by a shell in northern Ukraine. By the time her loved ones got a proper funeral weeks later, she was 500 kilometers away, able to watch the burial only on a cellphone video sent to her by relatives. Even in the relative peace of Lviv, a city little touched by violence in the war with Russia, it was an ordeal she couldnt endure. Tears do not let me watch until the end, she said as she played the video in a wooded area where she was pushing her one year-old daughter Varvara in a stroller.

Twitter adopts 'poison pill' defense in Musk takeover bid

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a poison pill defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musks proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private. The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders  except for Musk  to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musks stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition. Twitters plan would take effect if Musks roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

Texas halts truck inspections that caused border gridlock

AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repealed his traffic-clogging immigration order that backed up commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border this week. The Republican on Friday ended a new policy that required all commercial trucks from Mexico to undergo extra inspections to stop the flow of migrants and drugs. The inspections led to delays, prompting wide backlash and fears of deep economic losses. Some truckers reported having to wait more than 30 hours to cross, and others blocked one of the worlds busiest trade bridges in protest. Abbott lifted the inspections after signing new border security agreements with neighboring Mexican states.

Officer's camera misses key moment of Patrick Lyoya's death

Body camera footage of Patrick Lyoyas fatal encounter with a Michigan police officer shows a close-up view of an intense struggle -- but the video goes dark 42 seconds before the officer shoots the Black man in the head. Its the latest in a handful of high-profile cases in which body cameras have somehow failed, leaving prosecutors and the public to rely on bystander video for a clearer picture of what happened. One expert says that if it was an accident, its likely that vendors, who have been responsive to the technologys limitations, will make changes to avoid such deactivations in the future. Attorneys for Lyoyas family are thankful his passenger, as well as doorbell video from a nearby home, recorded what happened.

After bullets flew, NYC subway workers kept their cool

NEW YORK (AP)  When smoke bombs and bullets were unleashed on a New York City subway train full of morning commuters, train driver David Artis said his first indication something was wrong was when passengers crowded near his cab door to report the chaos. Artis said his initial reaction was one of shock. But, his thoughts quickly shifted to concern for his passengers and he leaned on his emergency training. Artis and his fellow transit workers were honored by the mayor for their response to Tuesdays shooting. Train conductor Raven Haynes was among those honored. She says she had a stoic attitude after the attack to help keep the passengers calm.

'Detest me with moderation,' Paris attacks defendant pleads

PARIS (AP)  The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 has asked for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims. In emotional court testimony Friday, he pleaded with survivors to detest me with moderation. For years, Salah Abdeslam stayed silent about the attacks on the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. Then this week, his words started flowing, in lengthy and sometimes confused testimony. Survivors and victims families, who hope the extensive trial helps them find justice and clarity, had mixed reactions.

Trump backs GOPs JD Vance in US Senate primary in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  "Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance has received Donald Trumps coveted endorsement in the race for Ohios open U.S. Senate seat. The decision ends months of jockeying in a Republican Senate primary where his backing could be pivotal. And it marks a major blow for former state treasurer Josh Mandel, investment banker Mike Gibbons and former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken, who had aggressively courted Trumps endorsement. The winner of the May 3 primary is likely to face Democratic frontrunner, U.S. Rep Tim Ryan, in November for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.

States scale back food stamp benefits even as prices soar

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Month by month, more of the roughly 40 million Americans who get help buying groceries through the federal food stamp program are seeing their benefits plunge. The reductions come even as the nation struggles with the biggest increase in food costs in decades. The payments to low-income individuals and families are dropping as governors end COVID-19 disaster declarations and opt out of a still-ongoing federal program that made their states eligible for dramatic increases in SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. The increased benefit were in response to surging unemployment after the COVID-19 pandemic swept over the country. The result is that depending on the politics of a state, people find themselves eligible for significantly different levels of help buying food.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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You are here: China

An accident involving two freight trains carrying coal took place on Thursday in north China's Tianjin Municipality, causing some carriages to derail, according to local authorities.

The accident occurred at approximately 1 p.m. on a section of the Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway, the municipal emergency management bureau said.

Railway authorities have dispatched six rescue trains and nearly 1,000 rescue workers to the site. No casualties have been reported so far.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP)  Officials in a Georgia county are moving ahead with plans to build a launch pad for commercial rockets barely a month after residents voted to halt the project by a margin of nearly 3-to-1.

Commissioners in coastal Camden County confirmed in a statement Thursday that they voted earlier in the week to approve the purchase of ... property where the spaceport would be located.

The decision followed a March 8 referendum in which 72% of voters sought to halt the project by overruling commissioners' prior vote to buy land for the proposed Spaceport Camden.

Camden County officials have spent the past decade and more than $10 million pursuing a commercial spaceport for launching satellites into orbit. Commissioners say the project would bring economic growth not just from rocket launches, but also by attracting related industries and tourists to the community of 55,000 people on the Georgia-Florida line.

Opponents say the plans to build the spaceport on an industrial plot formerly used to manufacture pesticides and munitions poses potential environmental and safety hazards that outweigh any economic benefits. They forced the referendum by gathering more 3,500 petition signatures from registered voters to put the project on the ballot.

Critics, including the National Park Service, say rockets exploding soon after launch could rain fiery debris onto Little Cumberland Island, which has about 40 private homes, and neighboring Cumberland Island, a federally protected wilderness visited by about 60,000 tourists each year.

A big loss at the polls hasn't stopped county officials. Commissioners called a meeting Tuesday and voted unanimously to notify Union Carbide Co., which owns the 4,000-acre (1,600-hectare) industrial site on which the county hopes to build the spaceport, that they plan to move forward with the land purchase.

Its a continuation of arrogance and ignorance and just not representing the will of the people, said spaceport critic John Goodman, an elected councilman for the Camden County city of St. Marys. He said commissioners were defying "a very clear indication from the citizens to not be in the spaceport business.

Goodman was one of the spaceport opponents who sued earlier this year to stop the county from buying the land before the referendum could be held. He said they likely will go back to court to again ask a judge to halt the purchase.

The referendum upended the spaceport project at a critical juncture. After years of study and review, the Federal Aviation Administration granted Camden County a license in December to build and operate the spaceport, which would join 12 others already operating in the U.S.

But before commissioners could close on purchasing the property, a judge ordered that the land deal be put before voters.

Commissioners said in their statement Thursday that they expect the Georgia Supreme Court to declare the referendum invalid. The county has an appeal pending before the court that argues the state constitution doesnt allow voters to veto government projects such as the spaceport. No date has been scheduled to hear the case.

Commissioners have previously dismissed the referendum, in which 17% of registered voters cast ballot, as reflecting the will of a bare minority. Steve Howard, the county government administrator, recently has said the county is seeking private investors to help finance the spaceport. Then came the vote Tuesday to move forward with the land purchase.

The board determined that moving forward in this fashion was in the best interest of the county in order to protect the launch site operator license that was recently issued and the millions of dollars the county has invested so far in the spaceport, the commissioners' statement said.

Whether the landowner agrees to sell to Camden County with court cases over the spaceport still pending remains to be seen. Union Carbide said in a statement Thursday that it's evaluating the company's option agreement with Camden County in light of the county's ongoing litigation."

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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A wildfire that has burned more than 200 homes on the edge of a mountain community in the southern part of New Mexico and killed two people was caused when a power line was toppled by strong winds, according to state authorities.

Crews worked Thursday to restore power to parts of the village. The lack of electricity also has affected the school districts servers, email system and website. Firefighters used a break in what had been a steady stream of relentless gusts to make headway against the deadly blaze.

The remains of the couple were found Wednesday afternoon near their home after family members notified Ruidoso police that the two had tried to evacuate but were unaccounted for. Authorities were working to confirm the identities of the two people.

The fire had moved into a more densely populated area of Ruidoso, prompting more evacuations, about 5,000 people. Laura Rabon, a spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest, interrupted a fire briefing Wednesday to tell people to get in their cars and leave after the flames jumped a road where crews were trying to hold the line.

Weve had students whove lost their homes. We have to support them on Tuesday when school resumes, said high school English teacher Sara Ames Brown, who was with students when they evacuated by bus, with flames visible in the forest outside as they drove away.

Overnight, crews kept the flames from pushing further into the village, and Rabon said that progress continued Thursday as helicopters dropped water and ground crews secured lines on the east and south sides. They also put out hot spots in the neighborhoods where the flames raced through earlier this week.

The fire has torched an estimated 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) of forest and grass, and the strong winds that battered the area have left behind toppled trees and down power lines.

Fire officials and forecasters warned that persistent dry and windy conditions had prompted another day of red flag warnings for the eastern third of New Mexico and other parts of the Midwest.

Incident Commander Dave Bales said the strategy was attack while we can," noting that winds were expected to pick up again Friday.

We're trying to keep this fire as small as possible, especially because it's right in the community, he said. We've had a loss of a lot of structures so our crews are right there on the fire front going as direct as possible.

Six new large fires were reported Wednesday: three in Texas, two in Colorado and one in Oklahoma. In all, wildland firefighters and support personnel were trying to contain 11 large fires that have charred more than 40 square miles (103 square kilometers) in five states.

The National Interagency Fire Center reported Thursday that since the start of the year, 18,550 wildfires have burned about 1,250 square miles (3,237 square kilometers). That's well above the 10-year average of 12,290 wildfires and 835 square miles (2162.64 square kilometers) burned.

Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. The problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.

Elsewhere in New Mexico, wildfires were burning northwest of Ruidoso, along the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque, in mountains northwest of the community of Las Vegas and in grasslands along the Pecos River near the town of Roswell.

Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Davenport from Phoenix.

Cedar Attanasio contributed reporting from Santa Fe. Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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This is not the first time the South Dakota woman has been accused of unlicensed midwifery practice. in 2011, she had faced charges out of Custer County in connection with the death of an infant boy.
The Nebraska Supreme Court has suspended a Plattsmouth attorney from the practice of law for six months.

In an opinion issued Friday, the court said in June 2021, the Counsel for Discipline filed formal charges against James Owen, who has practiced law in Nebraska since September 2015.

The charges alleged "violations relating to competence, diligence, communications, fees and misconduct, some of which are attributable to his lack of appellate experience."

It involved a divorce case in Johnson County that ended up before the Court of Appeals, where he failed to respond or notify his client when the case was sent back to district court.

It was his first attempt to appeal such a case.

A second count related to his drafting of an order purported to have been signed by a judge and e-filed, though the judge hadn't signed it and it wasn't filed. The client later learned Owen had falsified the document.

Owen made a conditional admission that he violated his oath of office as an attorney and didn't contest the allegations, in exchange for a six-month suspension.

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The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Friday released a report, exposing growing anti-Asian racism in the United States.

The United States still takes pride in recognizing itself as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant country, the report says, noting that Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans are subject to discrimination and violations in various forms and cannot fully enjoy their human rights.

The report consists of three parts: Asian Americans facing rise in racist attacks amid the coronavirus pandemic; racism against Asian Americans not unique to the coronavirus pandemic; and reasons behind the rising anti-Asian sentiment amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The report attributes the rising anti-Asian sentiment to some U.S. politicians' racist coronavirus attacks on China; the effects of white supremacy; "the model minority" label shackling Asian Americans; the antagonism between Asian Americans and other U.S. ethnic minorities; and some U.S. politicians' actions that seriously undermine China-U.S. relations.

It can be inferred that in the post-pandemic era, even if the anti-Asian racism may subside, the racial attacks against Chinese Americans will continue to rise under the influence of anti-China political manipulation by U.S. politicians, the report says, calling for sustained attention of the international community to the issue.
Maybe the fourth time will be the charm.

An Omaha attorney was sentenced to probation Wednesday  the fourth time he has received a probationary term for a number of alcohol- and drug-related offenses.

Douglas County District Judge Leigh Ann Retelsdorf sentenced Robb Gage, 45, to 30 months probation after the former criminal defense attorney pleaded no contest to two felonies: possession of cocaine and possession of fentanyl. Gage also had possessed heroin, methamphetamine and mushrooms but pleaded to the two felonies as part of a plea bargain.

The maximum sentence for drug possession, a class IV felony in Nebraska: 20 months in prison.

The judge said Gages status as an attorney was not a factor in her decision to give him probation. Rather, Retelsdorf said, state law designates class IV felonies as the lowest category of felonies. As such, the judge said, probation is the presumed punishment unless there is a compelling and substantial reason to impose a prison sentence.

Gage has done everything he could to rehabilitate after his recent arrest, said his attorney, Greg Pivovar. He went to two residential treatment facilities, including the Betty Ford Clinic. Hes lived at a halfway house. Every week, he attends support group meetings, either Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous.

And Pivovar noted that, for the first time in his life, Gage has been convicted of felony offenses. Gage  who had done criminal defense work, including court-ordered appointments, primarily at the Douglas County Courthouse  had misdemeanor DUIs in 2004 and 2008.

In 2012, Gage narrowly avoided a felony conviction for aggravated drunken driving after he drove drunk while speeding, rear-ended another driver on Douglas Street and took off running on the street that stretches between the Douglas County Courthouse and the U.S. District Courthouse. In that case, Douglas County District Judge Michael Coffey reduced Gages felony DUI to a misdemeanor, after a toxicologist testified that Gage may have been under the .15 aggravated BAC threshold.

In this case, prosecutors allowed Gage to plead to two of the four felonies he faced but declined to reduce them to misdemeanors.

Its hard to say a felony conviction is a good thing, but it probably saved his life, Pivovar told the judge Wednesday.

Pivovar said a report provided to the court by the probation officer showed theres no other sentence for him but probation. Theres no question in the world that he will complete whatever this court tells him to do. Hes just looking forward to getting this behind him and getting back to being a lawyer, eventually, again.

Deputy Douglas County Attorney Dan Donnelly objected to probation, arguing that Gage didnt learn from his first three probations and that Gage should be held to a higher standard because of his status as an attorney. Donnelly pointed out that Gage was caught not only with the casserole of drugs but with a client who had hired Gage to fight heroin possession charges. The two were ingesting a buffet of mind-altering drugs, including potentially lethal fentanyl and heroin, in Gages downtown apartment.

Prosecutors questioned whether Gage was giving advice to clients that would stall narcotics investigations and would lead to each client getting a less-favorable result. Gage denied that.

It presents a huge conflict of interest, Donnelly said. Its our position hes not an appropriate candidate for probation.

Retelsdorf acknowledged that she had concerns because Gage was an officer of the court while he was engaged in criminal behavior.

We always have high expectations in the legal profession as well as the medical profession, she said. But I think the concerns the state has belong in the (attorney) disciplinary process.

I wouldnt punish him differently because hes a lawyer. I treat Mr. Gage just as I would anyone else who comes in front of me.

The Nebraska Supreme Court suspended Gages law license in an emergency order last year. Pivovar said Gage hopes to work his way back to regaining his law license but realizes it will take time.

For now, Gage is working at a restaurant and focusing on his sobriety, Pivovar said. Gage has said he has an addictive personality. Prosecutors have said he overdosed in 2017 and twice in 2019.

More recently, he had to be resuscitated with Narcan  a drug used to revive those going through an overdose. In August, while this case was pending, Gage was found slumped behind the wheel of his car near 30th and Lake Streets. Gage told police he had taken hydrocodone pills for a toothache, but authorities doubted that account.

After that episode, Gage told The World-Herald that kicking his addiction is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Wednesday he told the judge: I apologize for my serious misconduct.

Any more misconduct will result in prison time, Retelsdorf warned.

Youre very honest about being an addict, and thats obviously step one, she said. You have had multiple probations, so you know what will happen if you dont follow (probation terms). I can guarantee you the state will file a violation. And then I really wont have much choice.

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DES MOINES  Publicly, Iowa Democrats are putting on a brave face. But the reality is more grim: Their leadoff position in the countrys presidential nominating process is very much in danger.

Every four years, every election cycle since the modern system was created in 1972, Iowa has started the process of choosing the Democratic and Republican candidates for president. That has brought expansive attention to Iowa as presidential candidates make early visits to the state in hopes of building momentum.

But the national Democratic Party this week approved new rules that could shake up the order in which states execute its process of choosing the partys nominee. Under the new rules, states are required to apply to be one of the first four or five states to cast their presidential preference.

So Iowa is no longer guaranteed its enviable leadoff position in picking Democratic presidential candidates. And the criteria for early-voting states being established by national Democratic leaders will make it difficult for Iowa to make a case it should remain among the early voters.

Iowa Democrats will nonetheless make their case, they say.

Iowa will absolutely be applying to be in the early window and we will look forward to enthusiastically making our case, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn said in a statement.

Iowa state Rep. Jennifer Konfrst, leader of the Democrats in the Iowa House, said Thursday she is confident Iowa Democrats will be able to make the case that the state deserves to maintain an early-voting position.

I have confidence that we can make a good case for why we need to be first in the nation and why weve continued to show that we can play this role in an important and valuable way, Konfrst told reporters on a press call. I have full confidence that we can get there through the application process.

That application process, though, may be stacked against Iowa.

When choosing the early-voting states, the national party will consider multiple factors, including the demographic diversity of the states population, whether the state is considered a battleground in the presidential general election and access to the ballot  in other words, giving preference to states with primary elections over states like Iowa with caucuses.

Iowa does not fare well in those metrics.

Iowa is not a diverse state relative to most of the rest of the country; it is tied with Utah for having the seventh-highest white population, according to federal census data.

In the past two presidential elections, Iowa went for Republican Donald Trump by 9 and 8 percentage points in the general election. But Iowa does have a stronger line of defense here: Over the past nine presidential elections since 1988, Iowa has gone for the Democratic candidate six times and the Republican three times.

And, of course, on the Democratic side Iowa remains a caucus state. That can only be changed by state law. And even if Iowa Democrats wanted to change their primary process to an election from a political party event, Republicans currently have full majority control of the state lawmaking process.

It certainly does not bode well for the (Democratic) caucuses, the traditional first in the nation position, said Dennis Goldford, a political-science professor at Drake University who wrote the 2010 book, The Iowa Precinct Caucuses: The Making of a Media Event. If they havent passed on, so to speak, theyre certainly in critical condition.

The Democrats potential changes may not be noticeable to Iowa for another six years. If President Joe Biden seeks re-election in 2024, it is unlikely he will face any significant primary challenge. Thus, the Democrats presidential nominating season will not likely be competitive. It will probably be the 2028 election season before the Democratic presidential primary is competitive and garnering national interest.

The Democrats potential changes also do not impact Republicans. In fact, national Republicans on Thursday reiterated their plan to keep Iowa as the first state in their partys presidential nominating process.

That means its conceivable that in 2024 and beyond, two different states could start the parties presidential nominating processes.

Jeff Kaufmann, the Republican Party of Iowa chair, said Thursday that he, too, holds out hope that national Democrats will continue to include Iowa among its early-voting states. And he warned that if they take Iowa out of that position, that it will send the message that national Democrats do not value rural, Midwest voters.

Were going to go first. Iowa Republicans are going to go first. I want Iowa Democrats to go first, Kaufmann said. Even if theres a political advantage to me being able to say that (national Democrats) tossed Iowa overboard  I dont want to be able to say that. Because I think the state is going to be stronger if we go together. And I think the process is going to be stronger. So Im still going to stand with (Iowa Democrats).

Iowa Democrats and Republicans have long been forced to defend their enviable position on the presidential nominating calendar. The heat on Iowa Democrats rose to a fever pitch after the 2020 caucuses, when a new program designed to record and report the results on caucus night failed, leaving Democrats without official results for weeks.

Critics of the Iowa Democratic caucuses also point to the caucus format, which unlike an election requires participants to be physically present for a defined period of time, making participation challenging for individuals with physical challenges, or with family or work responsibilities that conflict.

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday ruled that Democratic Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer qualifies for the primary ballot, rejecting a lower court decision and allowing her to continue her campaign for the nomination and the chance to face longtime Republican Sen. Charles Grassley.

The courts decision leaves Finkenauer as the likely front-runner in a race with two lesser-known candidates ahead of Iowas June 7 primary. The winner will run against Grassley, who is seeking an eighth term in the Senate.

The court rejected a lower court's ruling that found that Finkenauer failed to meet a state law that requires candidates to submit at least 100 signatures from at least 19 counties to qualify for the ballot. A majority of justices agreed that a Polk County judge was wrong when he ruled that three signatures from two counties were invalid, leaving Finkenauer without enough signatures.

The court said the legislature last year passed new sections of the law that identified specific circumstances when objections to petitions should be sustained.

The legislature did not include missing or incorrect dates as one of the grounds for sustaining an objection to a petition. We conclude that the recent legislation prevails," the court said.

The court ordered the case back to the district court judge and an order is entered dismissing the objectors petition.

The court acknowledged it wasn't an easy decision.

Statutory interpretation is not like proving math theorems, and it is sometimes difficult to come up with a neat answer that is intellectually satisfying. In the end, we believe we must be guided by the legislatures last word on the subject, it said.

The Iowa Supreme Court ruling affirmed an earlier decision by an election panel that Finkenauer had qualified for the ballot. Two Republican activists had brought the initial challenge and appealed the panels decision to the district court.

Finkenauer called the Polk County Judge Scott Beattie's ruling a meritless partisan attack. Beattie was appointed in 2018 by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who also appointed four justices to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Finkenauer, of Dubuque, is best known as one of the first woman elected to the House from Iowa and the second-youngest female House member in U.S. history, winning election in 2018 at the age of 29 and just 10 months older than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York.

The other Democrats seeking the Democratic nomination are Mike Franken, a retired Navy admiral, and Glenn Hurst, a doctor and Minden City Council member.

Any of the Democrats would be viewed as longshots against Grassley, who has held elected office since 1959. He was elected to the U.S. House in 1974 and to the Senate in 1980.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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The battle over whether parents, or public schools and elites should decide what goes into the minds and souls of students has entered a second stage.

The Washington Times reports LGBTQ activist groups are complaining about parents who object to children as young as five being taught gender issues and reading books that contain profanities and anti-police messages.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the disingenuously named Office of Intellectual Freedom for the American Library Association (ALA), is quoted by the newspaper as saying, A parent or group should not have the right to restrict through government action what another parents child may choose to read. That will come as a surprise to many parents who have a right to believe their childs school lunch will not contain harmful substances, as well as the right to keep their kids from having a secular-progressive political agenda tainting their minds.

Caldwell-Stone has it backward. It is not the conservative and religious parents who have stirred up this hornets test. Its the left-wing secularists who are indoctrinating children and stealing their innocence. I suspect many parents want teachers to stick to traditional subjects. Parents can teach whatever they wish to their kids at home. The public schools should focus on catching up to China on subjects like science and math, as well as teach the full breadth of American history.

Caldwell-Stone apparently missed the significance of last Novembers election in Virginia, which saw Gov. Glenn Younkin ride to victory, largely on the issue of parental rights. Last week, Youngkin signed into law a measure that requires the states schools to notify parents if their children are assigned books or other materials with sexually explicit content.

In New Jersey, educators are taking the opposite approach. According to the New York Post, first graders will learn in sex education classes gender, gender identity, and gender role stereotypes from a film called Pink, Blue and Purple. Lets see how long it will be before New Jersey parents follow those in Virginia and show up at school board meetings, demanding the right to protect their children from what the education establishment and left-wing activists want to impose on them.

How is it that parents are encouraged to exercise parental control over their childs computer and movie choices (there are apps and icons for this), but when it comes to their schooling they are told to butt-out?

I doubt cries of censorship from the ALA will have the impact it did in the 1980s when the organization made similar claims about intellectual freedom over sexually suggestive books some wanted banned from libraries.

Few, if any, issues rank higher for parents than the well-being of their children. It is why school choice is an option in growing numbers of states. According to the website edchoice.org, There are 76 educational choice programs  in 32 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The one thing elected officials fear most is when voters start paying attention to what they are doing.

For parents who live in states that dont offer the school choice option they should, if possible, pull their kids out and put them in private schools, or home school them.

If private or home schooling are not feasible, parents can start showing up at school board meetings and demand their rights to be the primary educators of their children and the ultimate determinators when it comes to what they learn. Showing up and protesting at school board meetings worked in Virginia.

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Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's marriage ended in "mutual abuse", according to a therapist.

The former couple are in court in Fairfax, Virginia, in a multi-million dollar trial after Johnny sued Amber for $50 million for defamation after she wrote a piece for The Washington Post newspaper, in which she described herself as a victim of domestic violence, but the 35-year-old actress didn't name the 'Fantastic Beasts' star,58, so she has countersued for

$100 million.

In sessions without Depp present, Dr Laurel Anderson said via a video testimony: "It was a point of pride to her, if she felt disrespected, to initiate a fight. If he was going to leave her to de-escalate from the fight, she would strike him to keep him there, she would rather be in a fight than have him leave"

The clinical psychologist went on to claim that 'Never Back Down' star mber,35, had a "jack hammer style of talking" and that Johnny had "trouble" keeping up with her.

She continued: "Ms Heard had a jackhammer style of talking. She was very amped up. He had trouble talking at a similar pace. He was cut off a lot."

Ms Anderson went on to testify that the 'Edward Scissorhands' star had been "well controlled" for years before he met Amber back in 2012 - acknowledging that both he and Amber have a history of domestic violence in their families - and that Johnny was "triggered" during his marriage to Amber.

She is quoted by the BBC as saying: "With Ms Heard, he was triggered. They engaged in what I saw as mutual abuse."

Amber's lawyer Elaine Bredehoft previously told the jury: " He has punched her. He has kicked her. He has told her hes going to

f****** kill her, and he f****** hates her. Hes pounding at her, pounding at her. And then, he penetrates her with a liquor bottle."

However, a spokesman for Johnny vehemently denied the claims.

They said: "These fictitious claims were never made at the onset of Ambers allegations in 2016, and only advantageously surfaced years later once she was sued for defamation after noting in her op-ed that she was a victim of 'sexual violence'."

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Originally published on celebretainment.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, agents arranged, through the source, to receive a shipment of meth April 2 at a Sioux City business. Agents gave the source $5,000 in marked bills and electronic recording and transmitting devices and set up surveillance at the business.

Duenas-Topete arrived in one vehicle and the source in another. The vehicle in which Duenas-Topete was riding stopped, and he got out to talk with Contreras-Sebastian, who was in a parked vehicle with Arkansas license plates. Agents observed Contreras-Sebastian give Duenas-Topete a white plastic bag, which he put in his vehicle. All vehicles then left, Duenas-Topete heading west on Gordon Drive and Contreras-Sebastian heading east.

After the source contacted agents to tell them he had received his meth from Duenas-Topete, Iowa State Patrol troopers stopped both vehicles.

In the Duenas-Topete vehicle, which was driven by Montes-Topete, agents found a package containing 1 pound of meth in the map pocket of the front passenger door. The $5,000 agents had provided to the source was found in the glovebox of Contreras-Sebastian's vehicle. The source had given Duenas-Topete the money to buy the meth from Contreras-Sebastian.

After the deal, agents met with the source, who turned over a large plastic bag containing seven bundles, each containing approximately 1 pound of meth.

During questioning, Duenas-Topete told agents he was in contact with a person in Mexico who would arrange for multi-pound shipments of meth to be delivered to him in Sioux City. In the past two months, he received four shipments totaling 21 pounds and sold it in up to 1-pound quantities to others in Sioux City and Plymouth County.
Its simple math, really: In a family with eight children, it stands to reason, surely one of them must be queer.

Bridgerton has defied other expectations of a Regency-era love story: It is set in an alternate universe where the upper class is fully integrated and race is not an issue. (In the show, Queen Charlotte is played by Guyanese-British actress Golda Rosheuvel, treating some historians speculation that Charlotte was Britains first Black queen as fact.) The shows first two seasons focus on interracial romances, and the second season at least obliquely references the history of British colonialism in India. Why not a queer love story next?

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Theres one obvious candidate for such a storyline: On the show, Eloise is the most outspoken, most feminist Bridgerton sibling. She is not interested in becoming a debutante, delaying her appearance to pursue another year of studies. She often dismisses marriage, questioning why a husband and children are all that are waiting in store for women.

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We shouldnt have to search history books to find proof that Eloise can be queerafter all, Bridgerton is a reimagined universe and complete fiction. Nonetheless, romantic relationships between women did in fact exist in the Regency era.

[Read: Bridgertons Beloved Corgi Is a Total Fraud]

They were called Sapphists, said Noreena Shopland, a writer and historian of LGBT+ history. The term comes from the ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho, from the island of Lesbos, who wrote about her attraction to and love of women. (The word lesbian was not used as a sexual orientation until the late 19th or early 20th century.)

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One of the most famous examples from this era involves the Ladies of Llangollen, two upper-class Irish women who in the late 18th century left Ireland and moved together to north Wales. They lived together for 50 years, and, after sending back for one of their servants to join them, all three women were buried in the same plot with the same grave marker. They also lived during the reign of Queen Charlotte, the same time period as the Bridgerton series, and the queen was reportedly so interested in the couple she persuaded King George III to grant them a pension.

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People talked about them and talked openly about them. And they sort of talked about unnatural relations and that sort of thing, despite the fact that [the Ladies of Llangollen] did try to stop people talking about them in that way, said Shopland. Otherwise, the public perception, Shopland says, became that the two women simply chose a platonic, pure friendship over marriage and children. Today, we would accept theirs as a same-sex relationship.

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It would be easy to write a similar love story between Eloise and her best friend, Penelope Featherington. When Eloise isnt pondering whether there are any merits to a heterosexual marriage, she is holding hands with Penelope or running off to find where she is. This pairing is a fan favorite, and already has a name: Peneloise. Given her familys class, Eloise does not have to marry for economic security, unlike many other women of her time. She can pursue a friendship with Penelope, and they could live together independent of any men.

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Fiona Brideoake, Ph.D, whose research focuses on British literature and queer historiography, said that a love story between Eloise and Penelope actually makes quite a bit of sense for that time period. She points to Jane Austen, and how her novels are in many ways about the relationships between women. In Northanger Abbey, said Brideoake, We have every reason to believe Catherine is as interested in remaining close to Eleanor Tilneysister of her eventual husband Henryas she is to him.

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Season 2 ended with Eloise learning of Penelopes identity as Lady Whistledown and furiously rejecting her as a result. In that sense, the idea of Penelope and Eloises kinship in this world existing unnoticed amongst the imaginations of the various courtship narrativesand yet being the climactic breakup of this seasons narrative arc, of that being the engine of the storythat seems very attuned to many of the novels and historical examples we have in this period.

[Read: Why It Matters That Bridgerton Changed the Books Infamous Boob Sting Scene]

But Peneloise is not the only option. The shows writers could continue developing a relationship between Penelope and Colin Bridgerton, and stay true to the friends-to-lovers story those two characters enjoy in the book series. In that case, who should Eloise fall in love with then?

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There were thousands and thousands and thousands of women, more women than you could even count, who didnt want to live the life of a woman, said Shopland of this era, who also wrote A History of Women in Mens Clothes. It was surprisingly common for such women to cross-dress and live as men. It made it easier for people we would identify as lesbians, because one of them would become a man, and they would present as a heterosexual couple. And people lived like this for often 40, 50, 60 years as couples. This practice also enabled trans men to live authentically, said Shopland, allowing them to get married and often adopt kids.

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Almost every job a man was doing, a woman was also doing it while cross-dressing, including sailors and soldiers. In fact, Shopland says, it was so common that the newspapers began to question whether there were any male soldiers left.

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Anne Lister of Yorkshire was born in the late 18th century and is the inspiration for the BBC and HBO series Gentleman Jack. [She] was sleeping with half the women in West Yorkshire and detailing this in six million words of diary entries. She was taunted as she walked down the street by people calling out, Does your cock stand? said Brideoake. She certainly dressed in mens clothing, or dressed like the ladies did [but] in dark colored clothes. At a time in which fashionable young women wore white or light colors, Lister chose to wear dark, heavy fabrics [and] a top hat.

Lister was a coal developer and property magnate and in many ways took on the role of an 18th century male landowner. She eventually entered a relationship and married (without legal recognition) a woman named Ann Walker.

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Like the ladies of Llangollen, Brideoake notes, Lister was living very much in plain sight. Yet despite this cross-living being so common, its rarely seen on screen. Bridgerton could change that. In Season 2, Eloise develops a brief crush on Theo Sharpe, a printers assistant who introduces her to new ideas, including on womens rights. The love story ended as quickly as it began, but the show could still introduce a new, cross-living or trans character for Eloise to fall in love with. Introducing such a character would allow the show to tackle so many other queer issues it wouldnt be able to otherwise.

Whether it will remains to be seen.
One day in the seventh grade at my Catholic school, the youngest priest of the clergy came to talk with all the boys about puberty and sex. This was the late 80s, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, an atmosphere thick with repression. Standing in front of a chalkboard with his arms crossed, the priest told us masturbation was wasting the seed, though he didnt give us any details of what this seed was, really. Nor did he explain that our bodies, like little seed factories, were just starting to gear into production and would soon be in overdrive. Instead, he told us this seed was holy stuff, a gift from God intended for one day impregnating our wives. And he made it very clear: Masturbation was a mortal sin, the kind that sends you straight to hell.

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At home, the taboo around masturbation and puberty in general was reenforced. Dad loved to joke about sex, but nothing made him stare uncomfortably at the floor in silence like the subject of masturbating. Whatever changes my body was going throughwet dreams, new sprouts of hair in unfamiliar placesI needed to keep them hidden. The same way my dad stashed porn mags under his bed, or kept XXX VHS tapes concealed in a kitchen cabinet above the stove. Or the way my mom hoarded magazines like Cosmopolitan in the drawer of her bedside table, with dogeared articles about finding things like the clitoris or G-spot. These were things I knew of, but which we never talked about. So, at the age of 13, when I got a stiffy, I did everything I could not to touch it.

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Over the years, Ive worked against these attitudes in therapy, but this is my base coat. Ill never be totally free of them. And so, when I was in my early 30s and my partner found out she was pregnant with a baby boy, I worried Id pass on these inhibitions and tinges of shame. Maybe hed pick them up, like malignant radiation I was giving off, whether I wanted to or not.

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More than a decade later, Ive had the opportunity to live in a family where we think more freely about ourselves and our bodies when it comes to gender expression and to bodily pleasure. Our family vibe is cuddly, down-to-earth, and while we joke about the sometimes (OK, often) unpleasant sounds and smells our bodies emit, we also talk with frankness about sex, sexuality, pleasure, safety, and consent.

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My son reached seventh grade last September. When he was full of questions about masturbationWhen do people start doing it? How do you do it? Whats an orgasm like?we phoned a longtime friend he calls his uncle. If anyone knows about tween masturbation, its your uncle, I told him. He was obsessed.

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On speaker phone, his uncle said that was indeed true. Then he answered my sons questions and explained that its OK to feel all sorts of things while masturbating. Orgasm isnt always tops, or it doesnt have to be anyway. The experience was like calling a sex helpline.

While in some states, schools are being forced by anti-LGBTQ bills and prudish cultural attitudes to curb this kind of discussion, my son is fortunate to receive instruction at middle school that supports our talks at home. In advisory, for instance, he was taught not just about vaginal intercourse but about oral and anal sex. And in a science unit on sex and reproduction, he learned that mutual masturbation is a low-risk sexual activity for STDs. While the repressive Catholic school environment I experienced meant my peers mocked one another about jerking off, my sons friends laugh and talk about all the usual tweenage topicsballs, boners, boobswithout a patina of shame. (Im happy to report that Dees nuts remains as funny today as it did 30 years ago, when I first heard it.)

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Recently, when I went away on a writing retreat for a week, my son put all this talk into action. He brought himself to ejaculation on the toilet. I know this, because the first thing he did afterward was talk to his mom about it. He wanted her to know what had happened and also ask a question: It felt weird, but not great. Was that OK?

She reassured him: Its your first time; youll figure out what you like and how you want to do it. Later, he called me to tell me about it, and I said the same. Go slow, I advised. And whatever feelings youre having are OK. Its called playing with yourself for a reason! Have fun.

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A couple days later, he called again, this time to tell me that hed masturbated a second time, too roughly. There was blood. This brought up all sorts of bodily anxiety for me, as I worried that hed injured himself. But I tapped into my inner parent, breathing deep, being present for him. Did you ever consider using lubrication? I asked.

He hadnt. Nor had he considered how imagination plays into desire. Hed been going at it like a physical challenge, rubbing and rubbing until he ejaculated. I see it more like a dance between my body and my mind, I said. Arousal plays a part, not just the touching. Do you fantasize while you do it?

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At 12, hes yet to announce what kind of person excites him and said as much directly: Im not sure what turns me on.

I reminded him of how two of his favorite TV characters, Maya from Pen15 and Andrew in Big Mouth, experience desire not just for other people, but in an abstract way too, with toys or even by fantasizing about a tomato, or a pillow, or themselves. We had previously binged Big Mouth, a raunchy comedy about a group of seventh graders going through puberty. Its filled with gross-out sex humor and ridiculous double-entendres, but there are also episodes that discuss desire, gender, body image, the rainbow of sexual expression, and more. Pen15, in which Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle play themselves as eighth graders in the early aughts, helped, too. Both shows depict young people talking about pleasure, with recurring storylines about masturbation. Wed watch, laugh, and then talk about what wed seen in ways I never did when I was a young person, with my parents or with anyone else.

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I told my son that human desire is a wonderful and mysterious thing, and its OK to feel arousal without shame. Daydream, and see what happens.

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When I arrived home from my trip, I went to the pharmacy and picked him up a tube of K-Y Jelly and scentless lotion. After school, I sat with him and explained that lube would help make masturbation more pleasant, and gentle. Try both types and see what feels best, I told him. Dont be afraid to experiment. We looked at the graphic novel Lets Talk About It, by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, for illustrative tips on how to touch his penis. (Thats when the idea for this essay first came to mean essay which both my son and partner have readas we need more, not less, straight-up talk about how to discuss masturbation with our kids.)

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A few nights later, before bed, my son called me into his room. Dad, if I seemed emotional earlier today, its because I was touching myself and I had an orgasm.

He covered his face with his hands, cheeks red, though he had this big goofy grin on his face. Why are you covering up? I asked, remembering my own discomfort around this subject at his age. Do you feel ashamed, or embarrassed?

Embarrassed, he admitted. But then he said he felt proud of himself too.

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You should, I told him. Did it feel good?

He gave me a pure smile.

I told him then, I hope you always feel such joy with yourself. Its a beautiful thing sometimes, being human, having not just a mind and a heart but a body to enjoy.

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Because of all the bullshit baggage Id been saddled with, inhabiting pleasure, both by myself and with a partner, has been a challenge my whole life. I wish I could say its been healing to witness my son blossom open-heartedly into a sexual being, but the tide hasnt shifted just like that for me. Im hopeful, though, that one day Ill experience such full-body joy without inhibition.

In the meantime, Ill be there for my son as much as he wants me to, supporting him, loving him, being honest with him about whatever he wants to discuss. Trying, as much as I can, to be the adult voice of love and reason I wished I had in my life.
This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy.

Russia has had a bad week in Ukraine. On April 13, either a Ukrainian missile strike or onboard explosion took out the cruiser Moskva, flagship of Russias Black Sea Fleet; Swedens and Finlands prime ministers announced that they were moving toward a near-term decision to seek NATO membership; and the Biden administration announced its most impactful weapons transfer yet to Ukraine. That announcement followed President Joe Bidens April 12 assertion that Russian actions in Ukraine appeared to be genocide and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivans April 10 forward-leaning statement on Meet the Press of U.S. aims in the conflict: A free and independent Ukraine, a weakened and isolated Russia, and a stronger, more united, more determined West {that] are in sight, can be accomplished.

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Its been a good week for Ukraine and its supporters. The next move to watch in the war is that of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Russian forces are massing for a major assault in the Eastern part of Ukraine, from Kharkiv to Mariupol. Putin, obsessed with past Russian glories, real and imagined, may have his eye on May 9, the major Russian national holiday that marks the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. By then, he may hope to have  and for the sake of his own position, he may need to have  a visible success in the war to show Russians.

Putin may achieve such a success, notwithstanding the setbacks, losses, and blunders to date. Mariupol may soon fall to Russian forces, and their troops could advance elsewhere in Ukraines East sufficiently beyond the lines of Feb. 24, when the current phase of Putins war began, to allow a claim of success, however abbreviated. The Kremlin might, for example, be able to claim something like the liberation of the Donbas region in the East, and either recognize its independence or annex it. Putin could couple that with annexation of the Russian-controlled, Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia (whose puppet leader has already indicated interest in joining Russia). That could give some basis for a Putin claim to have reunited some of Russias lost empire and on that basis assert victory and vindication.

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In that case, Putin could then offer an immediate ceasefire in place and negotiations based on those new lines. Should Ukraine not accept a ceasefire in place, i.e., to de facto recognize Russian control of yet more Ukrainian territory, Putin may continue to attack Ukrainian cities, killing civilians, to pressure the Ukrainian government until it accepts these losses.

In such a situation, Putin might reasonably hope that some in Europe and the United States would urge the Ukrainians to accept a ceasefire to stop the killing. Putin might be able to accept either a simple ceasefire or a negotiated settlement based on the existing lines of contact. In either case, he would have gained territory, putting himself into a position to manipulate a frozen conflict from a more advantageous position, most likely while he prepares for a new offensive against the rest of Ukraine in the mid-term.

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The scenario above or something like it represents the best case for the Kremlin at this point. Its one reasonably possible outcome.

But that outcome depends on Russian battlefield success, on Russias ability not just to seize territory but to hold it in the face of both Ukrainian resistance and Western pressure. That ability has yet to be demonstrated. The most salient fact about Russias war against Ukraine is that Russia hasnt won it yet and may not win it at all. In the runup to the war, U.S. assessments of Putins intentions to attack were spot on. But U.S. (and European) assessments that Russia would quickly prevail on the battlefield were (thankfully) wrong,

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If Putins immediate objective is to achieve some battlefield success by May 9 and on that basis force a favorable settlement, the Wests play is to help the Ukrainians prevail on the battlefield and prevent the Russian army from seizing and holding significant amounts of additional Ukrainian territory. The West also must increase the pressure on Russia now, before May 9, to deny Putin a path to victory.

That leads to two policy conclusions. First, the United States and its allies should ramp up delivery of weapons to Ukraine, without dithering over offensive vs. defensive weapons, destabilizing weapons, supposed Russian escalation dominance, or patronizing characterizations of the impracticality of training Ukrainian soldiers to use complex U.S. weapons systems. I heard all those arguments during the Obama administration as it decided not to send any weapons to Ukraine at all, and echoes of those debates reoccurred during the awkward public finger-pointing about the transfer of Polish MiG fighter jets to Ukraine. Fortunately, the Biden administration seems to have moved passed the introspective agonizing stage: the April 13 arms package seems to have crossed a line of commitment.

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There need to be a lot of such packages, though. In fact, there needs to be a flood of weapons and ammunition flowing into Ukraine from the United States, the U.K., Germany, Poland, and other European allies. This needs to be a security-assistance logistics operation on the scale of wartime and warfighting, not peacetime.

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Second, the United States and its allies need to take sanctions and other economic pressure to the next level. The sanctions that the U.S., Europe, the U.K., and the G7 imposed immediately after Feb. 24 were strong. The rapid G7 move on Feb. 26 to freeze more than $300 billion of Russian Central Bank reserves was bold, swift, and prepared with laudable secrecy on a compressed timeline.

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Sanctions since have continued, but not at the pace and not to the degree that need requires. If Putin is going for a sort of win by May 9, the United States and its allies need to take steps before then to achieve as much near-term impact as possible. The Kremlin loves to claim that pressure will fail and that the Russian people will withstand any hardship. Russian history suggests otherwise: Russias failed wars of aggression more often result in domestic turmoil, even revolution.

Going for the strongest sanctions option means going after Russian energy exports, by far Russias greatest export earner. Thats a heavy lift and for good reason: Russia is the worlds largest oil exporter and gas exporter, and Europe is a major customer for both. Several months ago, the possibility of curtailing Russian energy export earnings was close to zero. But Europe has been moving fast toward doing just that: the EU has announced its intention to cut gas imports from Russia by two-thirds by the end of the year, though getting there will be a challenge.

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Going after Russian oil export revenues may be easier because supplies are more flexible. EU staff is supposed to be working on a timetable for ramping down EU imports of Russian oil. Germany, the key country in the European debate on energy sanctions, has spoken of stopping its imports of Russian oil by the end of this year as well. Senior German energy officials are weighing the possibility of high tariffs on Russian oil, the effect of which would be to lower Russian income from such sales even if they continued. Russia could of course try to sell its oil to alternative purchasers, probably at a discount, but the United States could squeeze such sales by threatening to sanction third-country purchasers of Russian oil, waivable if there were significant reductions in those purchases. (This was the policy the United States used to cut Irans oil sales, and it worked.)

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The public debate about energy sanctions has focused on immediate embargos on Russian oil and gas exports. Thats not the right standard: the point is to take funds from Putins war machine. The Wests objective should be to do as much as it can, as swiftly as it can. Announcing these or other sanctions that eat into Russian cash inflows before May 9 could frustrate Putins plans for a victory by May 9 and keep the pressure on him to end his war on terms better for Ukraine.

What might those terms be? Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly said that wars end in negotiations and has made clear that Ukraine is ready to offer neutrality, i.e., ending Ukraines aspirations to join NATO, and suggested openness to other sorts of compromises. Putin hasnt taken the talks seriously and recently halted negotiations, saying that they had reached a dead end.

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But Putins obdurate stance could change if the battlefield does not turn out his way. The Biden administration has rightly noted that decisions about terms of a negotiated settlement are Ukraines to make; that the United States will not push Ukraine into taking any particular deal. If the negotiations get serious, the United States and Europe will have to consider two difficult issues: the Russians will insist on sanctions being removed and the Ukrainians will insist on some sort of security guarantees, including from the United States and Europe. And neither the U.S. nor Europe, and certainly not Ukraine, will want to accept a deal that papers over a frozen conflict, giving Putin the ability to re-start the war.

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If the deal at hand were serious, a phased and conditioned lifting of sanction, based on Russian fulfillment of its terms, could make sense. Releasing the frozen Russian reserves would probably require an enforceable arrangement for Russia to contribute, voluntarily or not, to Ukrainian reconstruction.

For the present, however, there are no negotiations taking place. The next move will be on the battlefield. The United States and Europe have two tools to help Ukraine in its fight for survival: military assistance and sanctions. The task is to push forward now on both those fronts.

More From Just Security:

How International Justice Can Succeed in Ukraine and Beyond

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Prominent sinologist looks back on her life, regional bus transport in the Bratislava region almost back to normal, tax revolution delayed due to war in Ukraine.

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Good afternoon. Here is a quick summary of the main news of the day in our Friday, March 18, 2022 edition of Today in Slovakia.

Bratislava bus chaos almost over

Regional bus transport is almost back to normal in the Bratislava region. (Source: SME - Marko Erd)

Bus company Arriva, which has been operating regional bus transport in the Bratislava Self-governing Region since mid-November last year, has said initial problems with its service have been largely resolved. It said that as of February, 98 to 100 percent of scheduled bus lines are running, and it therefore does not expect further fines from the Bratislava Self-governing region (BSK).

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We have met our promise, i.e. that the situation would be resolved over the course of March, said Laszlo Ivan, general director of Arriva companies in Slovakia, as cited by the TASR newswire. By the end of March we will be able to eliminate even small shortages and completely stabilise the system.

The company also does not anticipate any more fines. It has so far incurred around 1.1 million in penalties for failing to send out buses.

More on the war in Ukraine

Slovakia is suspending cooperation with Russia in science, research and exchanges for Russian students as well as with Russian state institutions. It will also not finance planned bilateral projects, Education Ministry State Secretary Ludovit Paulis announced at a press conference on Friday.

in as well as with Russian state institutions. It will also not finance planned bilateral projects, Education Ministry State Secretary Ludovit Paulis announced at a press conference on Friday. The Education Ministry will allocate a one-off contribution of 200 for each pupil from Ukraine attending a local primary or secondary school. There are 1,773 students from Ukraine in Slovakia at the moment.

attending a local primary or secondary school. There are 1,773 students from Ukraine in Slovakia at the moment. Ukrainians have had the opportunity to visit the zoo in Bratislava free of charge for two weeks, with more than 1,400 going there in the last week alone. From Saturday, March 19, they will only be able to do so on weekdays .

have had the opportunity to visit the for two weeks, with more than 1,400 going there in the last week alone. From Saturday, March 19, they will . Bratislavas Old Town district will open two community asylum centres on Monday, March 21, for children from Ukraine and their relatives. One of the centres will be in Zichy Palace at Venturska Street and the second will be in Pistori Palace on Stefanikova Street. They will be open from Monday to Friday and visibly marked with the logo Ukraine Friendly Spot.

Photo of the week

Illustration photo (Source: Sme)

The first stork has arrived in Slovakia. It was spotted in the village of Nizna Olsava in the Stropkov region in eastern Slovakia on March 13, according to reports from the TASR newswire. Almost 2,750 storks come to Slovakia annually.

If you like what we are doing and want to support good journalism, please buy our online subscription. Until March 7, you can subscribe to spectator.sk for less than 10 cents a day (33.90)!

Feature story for today

Marina Carnogurska with copies of her published works. (Source: Jana Gombosova)

When 17-year-old Marina Carnogurska, having finished as a top student at one of the best schools in Bratislava in 1957, was told that she was not allowed to go to university, she burst into tears.

Her dream had been to study Bengali, but her father Pavols opposition to the communist regime in power meant she was denied the chance to further her education.

More than six decades later, she says is grateful for what happened then.

What would I do with Bengali? Moreover, I would never have got to study Chinese, the prominent Slovak sinologist, 81, says.

The ban on going to university was far from the only painful twist in her life, but looking back as she speaks to The Slovak Spectator at her home in Bratislava, she describes everything that has happened to her as being a single stream of energy guiding her to become a successful sinologist, a translator of Chinese philosophy and fiction, a writer of scientific works, and bringing about a meeting with her second husband.

Everything in my life has had a purpose, she says.

Award winning sinologist: Living the yin-and-yang life Read more

Other news

9,782 people were newly diagnosed as Covid positive out of 16,757 PCR tests performed on Thursday. The number of people in hospitals with Covid is 2,364. 303 more deaths were reported on Thursday. The vaccination rate stands at 51.25 percent. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here.

out of 16,757 PCR tests performed on Thursday. The number of people in hospitals with Covid is 2,364. 303 more deaths were reported on Thursday. The vaccination rate stands at 51.25 percent. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here. The Health Ministry is launching a process to reduce hospital debts. The ministry signed contracts with health-care facilities interested in participating in the scheme on Wednesday, March 16. Hospitals can vie for debt reductions of up to 575 million.

The ministry signed contracts with health-care facilities interested in participating in the scheme on Wednesday, March 16. Hospitals can vie for debt reductions of up to 575 million. Slovakias tax-levy reform , the so-called tax revolution, has been postponed , Economy Minister Richard Sulik said during TV JOJs politics programme Na Hrane on Thursday, March 17, citing the war in Ukraine for the move. An agreement on the reform was due to be reached by ruling coalition partners by June.

, the so-called tax revolution, , Economy Minister Richard Sulik said during TV JOJs politics programme Na Hrane on Thursday, March 17, citing the war in Ukraine for the move. An agreement on the reform was due to be reached by ruling coalition partners by June. The Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) party has seen the biggest rise in its support among political parties since the war in Ukraine, according to a recent poll by the AKO agency . But extremist parties Republika and Peoples Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) saw their support dip 2 percentage points. The poll was conducted for the political discussion programme Na Hrane on private Joj television and was carried out between March 8 and 11 with 1,000 respondents.

. But extremist parties Republika and Peoples Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) saw their support dip 2 percentage points. The for the political discussion programme Na Hrane on private Joj television and was carried out between March 8 and 11 with 1,000 respondents. The registered unemployment rate in Slovakia stood at 6.86 percent in February 2022, down by 0.1 percentage points month-on-month, the Office for Labour, Social Affairs and Family (UPSVaR) said on Friday, March 18.

Don't miss in Spectator.sk today

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Parliament approves milder punishments for marijuana Read more

If you have suggestions on how this news overview can be improved, you can reach us at editorial@spectator.sk.
Set out on Easter hikes or watch Slovakia's best films of recent years.

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Eating chocolate eggs sounds like a good plan for Easter, but you will hopefully find even better Easter ideas below.

You can spend the Easter long weekend at Slovak castles, go hiking, or watch some of the best Slovak films of 2020 and 2021, including one set in Odessa, Ukraine.

We also invite you to the post-Easter premiere of a dance performance.

Easter can indeed be a dangerous time period; as a 2016 story about curious Easter Monday incidents suggests, so the movie option is probably safest.

Celebrate Easter safely!

Artist Michal Skrovina painted the "Easter Whippers" glass painting in 1991. It is on display at the Orava Art Gallery in Dolny Kubin, northern Slovakia. (Source: webumenia.sk)

EVENT

Easter adventures at castles

The Slovak National Museum will host Easter events at some of its castles.

Alice will come back from a magical world to the Cerveny Kamen castle in the Bratislava Region at the start of the Easter weekend, and she will stay until April 18, Easter Monday, to take visitors on an adventure.

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Tours guided by fairy tale characters will also be held in extensive cellars of the castle, starting every hour on the hour from 11:00 to 17:00.

At the Modry Kamen castle, which serves as the museum of puppets and toys and is located in the south of central Slovakia, visitors will learn more about Easter symbols and traditions during the weekend, including how to make a whip of willows and decorate an Easter egg.

Games will be held in the nearby St. Anna Park as well. Spring flowers will blossom during the coming four days, the castle said, and it is promised to be fun for families to find and identify them all. If they are successful, they will find a surprise in underground cellars.

Easter-related events will take place at the following castles during the long weekend: Modry Kamen, Cerveny Kamen, and Betliar. (Source: Slovak National Museum - Betliar)

In Betliar, Kosice Region, children can look forward to an exhibition of animals in the park outside the manor house on April 16, as well as a fair of traditional crafts and a workshop for the little ones. Each child needs to bring two blown-out eggs for the workshop, though.

On Easter Monday, several chocolate and Easter surprises will be waiting for children visiting the manor house and the park.

Note: Fees apply to all three events.

Learn more about Easter in Slovakia

HIKING

Two rocks

As the weekend lasts longer, here are two Easter hiking tips, of which the former is in the west and the latter can be found in the east of Slovakia.

Cierna Skala (Black Rock, 662 m) is a hill in the Small Carpathians that hikers can reach in an hour by following a yellow marked hiking trail from the town of Plavecky Mikulas.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/ZmllJzd9oWg

What makes it attractive to hikers is its long and narrow rocky ridge and high rock walls. From up the hill, they can then observe the forests of the Small Carpathians and the Podunajska Nizina lowland.

From Cierna Skala, hikers can return to the town or walk further on to the Jahodnik recreational area, again on the yellow marked trail, and then to the town of Smolenice, which boasts a wonderful castle and a vast English park. The extended version of the hike (13 km) takes four hours to complete.

In eastern Slovakia, a rock called Folkmarska Skala (915 m), a beautiful limestone cliff formation, towers over the town of Kojsov. It dominates the northeastern edge of the Volovske Vrchy mountains.

Although the hill is covered with grass and trees, there are places from which people can enjoy nice views that can go as far as the High Tatras.

Folkmarska Skala. (Source: Jozef Marcincin)

To explore this former mining area, hikers need to follow, again, a yellow marked hiking trail, just as in the case of Cierna Skala. It takes about 90 minutes to reach the rock, though the trail is significantly steep. A trail starting in the Ruzin-Kosicke Hamre recreational area is not demanding, but longer.

OTHER TRAVEL IDEAS

Church: Romanesque Church of St Michael the Archangel in Drazovce.

Water: The canoeing experience in the Latorica protected landscape area in eastern Slovakia.

Hike: Baranec in the Liptov region.

DANCE

SLUK will premiere a new show

The Slovak Folk Art Collective (SLUK) will present the premiere of its new music and dance show The Passion - The Story of Man and the Earth.

We tried to put together the Christian theme, which relates to the Passion, and the theme of traditional folk culture and customs tied to spring, SLUKs choreographer and artistic director Stanislav Marisler told the TASR newswire.

The performance, which is directed by Alena Weisel Lelkova, does not intend to transcribe traditions or confront the Easter liturgy, he added.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/8HXchI1J9pA

The aim of our show is to interpret the story of man and the earth, the living tradition and biblical motifs by contemporary artistic means.

From the traditional culture, spectators can recognise the burning of Morena, a goddess of winter and death, and the erecting of Maypoles. As to Christianity, dancers will portray the stories of Judas betrayal, The Last Supper, and The Way of the Cross to name a few.

There is no spoken word, said the artistic director, all stories and scenes are portrayed through dancing.

Premiere: at 19:00 on April 24

Admission: 19 (buy a ticket)

Venue: Divadlo SLUK

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS FROM THIS WEEK

The Zechenters House in Kremnica, once owned by a Slovak travel author, will welcome back creative souls, writers and translators.

WEEKEND READ

A Ukraine-based film named Slovakias best picture

Coincidence or not, the national film award, Slnko V Sieti, for best picture has been given to a story set in Ukraine. The country is still being ravaged by the Russians.

The Slovak film "107 Mothers" premiered worldwide last September at the Venice Film Festival. (Source: Filmtopia)

The award ceremony took place the past weekend.

Ivan Ostrochovskys black-and-white drama Servants was a strong candidate for winning the main prize. The film speaks openly about how representatives of the Catholic Church were forced to collaborate with the communist regime in Czechoslovakia.

However, the Slovak Film and Television Academy decided that 107 Mothers would be named the best feature film. Director Peter Kerekes filmed it with Ukrainian women serving sentences in an Odessa prison, in the south of Ukraine.

Thats it for this week. Enjoy your Easter weekend! - Peter

Do you have any tips? You can reach Peter at peter.dlhopolec@spectator.sk
Foreign auto companies optimistic about Chinese market

Xinhua) 08:36, April 15, 2022

People visit the 18th China (Changchun) International Auto Expo in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province, July 9, 2021. (Xinhua/Yan Linyun)

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Foreign auto companies have expressed optimism about the Chinese market and consider China to be among their most important overseas markets, Ministry of Commerce spokesperson Shu Jueting said on Thursday.

In reference to a recent symposium attended by representatives of 17 foreign-invested auto and auto parts manufacturers, Shu said attendees were optimistic about China's long-term stable economic prospects and market potential.

China has lifted foreign ownership restrictions on the auto manufacturing sector, which the representatives said provided broader development room for foreign auto companies, Shu said.

The representatives also expressed willingness to increase investment in new-energy vehicle manufacturing and technology research and development in China, in a bid to seize the opportunities presented by China's transition toward innovation-driven and green growth, Shu said.

Despite challenges such as chip shortages and the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, China's auto production and auto sales respectively rose 3.4 percent and 3.8 percent year on year in 2021.

The new-energy vehicle market saw a particularly stellar performance, with both production and sales exceeding 3.5 million units.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

Recent COVID-19 flare-ups in certain parts of the country and related quarantines have complicated auto manufacturers' efforts to procure materials and ship products.

Shanghai and Jilin, the two regions of China most heavily impacted by COVID-19, are major manufacturing bases for auto part makers and automakers, with each occupying 11 percent of the national auto output, data from the China Passenger Car Association shows.

Facing supply strains, China has taken steps to facilitate logistics to ensure the supply of industry necessities.

A Ministry of Transport circular issued on Tuesday prohibits the obstruction of road transportation and the turning away of vehicles or personnel, irrespective of circumstances, and ordered more efficient COVID-19 screening along transportation routes.

A special coordination platform was launched by the Ministry of Industry and Information technology on Monday, pledging to help auto and supply chain companies solve practical difficulties in a timely manner.

In a bid to spur car consumption, a State Council executive meeting on Wednesday said that no new restrictive measures on car purchases shall be set at the sub-national level. Localities with purchase restrictions already in place should increase their new license plate quotas step by step. The consumption of new-energy vehicles and the construction of battery charging facilities will be supported.

Amid a challenging environment, authorities are advised to introduce more measures to stabilize car consumption, such as halving car purchase taxes, said Chen Shihua, vice secretary of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Culpeper Mid-Day Lions on Thursday unveiled a blue and yellow steel sculpture of a giant pair of eyeglasses next to the playground in Rockwater Park.

The striking piece, by local artist Roque Castro, is intended to raise visibility of the vision-focused charity work Lions around the world and here in Culpeper regularly do. The sculpture, purposely built to be strong and durable, also celebrates the 100th anniversary of Lions Clubs International.

Dr. Lee Simpson, a Culpeper dentist who is president of Mid-Day Lions, said he gets contacted almost weekly by someone needing assistance getting eyeglasses or an eye exam.

Lions are known as knights of the blind and have been noted for its sight support service since Helen Keller in 1925 challenged the global organization. In Culpeper, the club offers eye and hearing screening for all local schoolchildren at the beginning of the year.

Culpeper Mid-Day Lions also support other worthwhile community projects, donating some $60,000 annually to local, state and national nonprofits.

Culpeper is a special place, Dr. Simpson noted. He said he hoped the sculpture would generate exposure for the work of the Lions.

We wanted to create these glasses so folks in the community wonder what the heck are these horn-rimmed glasses of such a funny color doing up here? We wanted to do something that was functional, kids could climb over, play with it, Simpson said.

The Lions also provide hearing aid assistance and diabetes education. The local chapter holds bingo Sundays at Brandy Station Volunteer Fire Department to raise money for helping in the community.

This is a visual reminder of what we do, maybe try to get conversations started with folks who might need some assistance, Simpson said.

The club didnt want just want a pair of black, horn-rimmed glasses, he added.

We wanted something more lively, he said of the blue and yellow, the colors of local Lions.

Mid-Day Lion Lawanna Stanton came up with the idea for the local spectacles sculpture after reading about a similar project in the Lions International magazine.

A club in Nebraska was doing this and the park was getting ready to open, so I thought it would be a good fit, Stanton said. It looks wonderful!

The project was a long time coming, and a labor of love.

Castro said he was first contacted around four years ago by the local Lions about doing the commissioned piece. The club was very patient throughout the build process that spanned a pandemic, he said.

I love it. I think it turned out how we envisioned, Castro said at the ribbon cutting.

The eyeglasses are 10 feet wide and around 10 feet long and weigh roughly 800 pounds, Castro said. He had some help making them.

Tony Elkins was my right hand manwe worked on this side-by-side, Castro said. I pulled him in when it started getting a little too big to handle.

The piece will be a symbol of the hard work and dedication that Lions everywhere place into providing sight to the blind across the world, according to culpeperlions.org.

The local Mid-Day club is proud to be a part of that tradition and wanted to celebrate the anniversary of this work with an enduring piece of art.

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The Board of Trustees at Eastern Wyoming College have announced an unsuccessful search for the next president of Eastern Wyoming College. Following much deliberation and feedback from students, employees and community members, the decision was made that none of the candidates recently interviewed aligned with the needs of the college at this time. Three candidates were interviewed the last week of March and the first week of April.
A couple hundred Scottsbluff High School students walked out the front doors of the school Thursday, April 14, in a planned protest. The students waved signs with phrases like No means no and Blame the system, not the victim.

The students, led by a handful of organizers, put together a peaceful walkout in just 24 hours to protest sexual harassment and abuse, according to one of the organizers.

SHS senior and co-organizer Annabelle Jamison said, Me and two other friends started this yesterday, during second period, and by lunch, it was everywhere. I ran to everybody in my theater room, and I was like, Were doing a walkout. Something has got to change. Its April; its Sexual Assault Awareness Month. We got to do something.  By lunch yesterday, it was around the entire school that we were doing a walkout in protest of sexual assault, and it just blew up and it is beyond amazing what we did.

School administration also had caught wind of the upcoming protest and had conversations with some of the students and organizations involved in planning the walkout to figure out what was going on.

I met with a couple of student organizations ... and discussed just what the concerns were and how we can do better as a school, SHS Principal Justin Shaddick said. I think our students feel very strongly that they want to create a safe environment, a place where students can feel at ease reporting incidents, and how we handle those incidents on more of a delicate basis and show more support for victims. And through those conversations, I think a lot of positive can come from our policies and educating our students. I think theres a lot of educating that still needs to be done.

A letter from Shaddick went home to parents Wednesday night, stating that the school did not condone the event and that students who participated would be counted as absent.

While we honor our students rights to peacefully demonstrate, the letter read, Scottsbluff High School does not support or endorse student walkouts as they pose a substantial disruption to the learning environment and a students individual learning, as well as student safety may be compromised.  As a school, we would prefer to seek positive, educational and proactive solutions in place of student protests/walkouts.

Jamison said the protest was in response to different incidents that have happened at SHS and other schools.

There have been a few incidents  not just at the school, but a few other schools  where theyve kind of just swept some of the sexual assault things underneath the rug, she said. A few of my friends who started coming up and telling me stories about some things that happened (to them), and its happened to me a few times, so I just wanted to do something.

Despite the letter, hundreds of students participated in the demonstration, with faculty, staff, security and a couple of police officers on scene. A few victims of sexual assault or abuse shared their stories, disclosing to the hundreds of people there the trauma they had undergone. Others got up to encourage victims to not give up hope and to come to them if they need someone to talk to.

We wanted to do something that showed people that they werent alone anymore, and that its not OK to just brush it off, Jamison said. This is our life, and we should be able to speak up and feel comfortable and not feel so alone.

The protest remained peaceful throughout, and SHS senior Keara Sell, who was among those protesting, said she was proud of her schoolmates.

I was nervous at first. I thought with so many people coming out  What if someone does something and we get shut down? she said. I am amazed by the maturity level of the people who came out and the speeches that were given. It just went better than I could have ever hoped.

Shaddick said he was also pleased with the way the protest was handled.

The biggest thing we wanted to prevent was victimizing more students by naming names and targeting individuals. Those were two of our big things  no violence and no naming of names or targeting students, he said. Im very impressed that our students did not take part in that, and theyre very good about shutting down anything that they thought might be viewed as targeting other students.

Sell said the protest was not directed at any one place or person.

It was just a simple protest to show that, due to something thats happened in our school, that  its not against our school; its not against a specific person  its to show that here at SHS, we dont accept that kind of behavior, and were going to stand with the people it happens to and we wont ignore it.

Shaddick said a student committee will be formed to discuss these topics, review policies and look at what education can we bring in for students and provide education so students are more aware of the issues surrounding our school and our community.

For Sell and many others, the protest confirmed support for those who experience abuse.

I just want people to know that at Scottsbluff High School, we are a family and a community, and while we may have some people who act poorly and make horrible, horrible decisions, the rest of us are going to come together and support the people who are harmed, and we will stand for each other, and we want to make change happen.

According to social media postings from students, Thursdays walkout had been spurred by a students allegations that she recently had been sexually assaulted by a male student.

Scottsbluff Police Capt. Brian Wasson confirmed that police have investigated the allegations and forwarded a report to the Scotts Bluff County Attorneys Office.

Investigators have recommended that charges be filed against the male student, he said. A search of online court records did not indicate any charges had been filed yet.

Maunette Loeks, Star-Herald, contributed to this report.

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China and the EU have made important steps in the spirit of cooperation in the post-Cold War era. However, the international environment is not static. Unexpected developments disrupt continuity and require fast, occasionally unprecedented responses. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic seriously impacted Sino-European relations. People-to-people exchanges, a central pillar in this relationship, had to stop, often inciting misunderstanding and problems in public discourse. Most meetings between Chinese and European leadership, including their recent 23rd bilateral Summit, take place via videoconference. Participants can no longer visit the other side, while educational partnerships only continue in the digital sphere.



Additionally, the ongoing war in Ukraine challenges our values and also raises questions as to what support China and EU will provide. Stability and peace are no longer taken for granted. Although the prism through which China and the EU are looking at the conflict is different, they both share a common interest in seeing an end to the hostilities. Of course, their role in shaping or influencing a ceasefire will have its limits since neither actor is one of the belligerent parties. Notwithstanding existing limits, good coordination should help facilitate difficult efforts to address the crucial humanitarian and refugee problem. It also has the potential of reducing the risk of a global economic crisis.

In spite of turbulent times, the economic collaboration between China and the EU is progressing harmoniously. According to Eurostat, China was the third largest partner for EU exports of goods and the largest partner of EU imports of goods last year. In particular, EU exports to China reached 223.3 billion in 2021 compared to 202.8 billion in 2020 and 198.5 billion in 2019. EU imports from China amounted to 472.2 billion in 2021 in comparison to 385.1 billion in 2020 and 363.5 billion in 2019.

Germany, the leading European economy, has witnessed deepening trade interaction with China in recent years. German statistics show that German exports to China were 95.98 billion in 2019, 95.84 billion in 2020, and 103.64 billion in 2021. Imports were 110 billion in 2019, 117.3 billion in 2020, and 141.73 billion in 2021. A similar trend has been seen in other big EU countries. In France, for example, exports to China reached 24.4 billion in 2021, a 5% rise from 2020. And imports increased to 63.8 billion in 2021, a 10.7% increase from 2020. In Italy, exports to China amounted to 15.6 billion in 2021, 22.1% higher than last year. Meanwhile, imports were 38.5 billion, 19.4% higher than last year.

Trade numbers showcase the resilience of globalization in a world that constantly changes but does not abandon its interconnective nature. This is certainly encouraging for the future of Sino-European relations, which have been affected not only by the COVID-19 pandemic and the crisis in Ukraine but also by political and ideological disagreements. The freezing of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) remains the prime example.

China and the EU do not envisage a world where their differences would cease to exist. What they are striving to achieve is a framework of common understanding that will allow synergies towards common prosperity. Trade is the driving force, accompanied by investments. The opportunity for more joint actions does not stop here, and goes beyond the continents of Asia and Europe. Cooperation in meeting UN Sustainable Development Goals, above all in Africa, ought to be a moral responsibility for both parties. A less safe planet will damage their interests in the long-term. On the contrary, a more prosperous and peaceful planet will serve these interests, even if competition intensifies.

George N. Tzogopoulos is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/GeorgeNTzogopoulos.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
Cowlitz Countys COVID-19 cases remain flat amid a statewide uptick over the last three weeks.

The county recorded about 20 new cases per 100,000 people from March 29 to April 4, an average of about three cases per day. Thats down slightly from 23.5 per 100,000 the previous week and well below the January peak of about 1,550 per 100,000.

Cowlitz County has recorded a total of 22,885 cases and 343 deaths as of Tuesday.

Statewide, the most recent seven-day case rate was 62 per 100,000, up from about 53.1 per 100,000 the prior week and this years low of 40.2 in mid-March.

In King County, cases have increased from a low of 51 per 100,000 in mid-March to 120 per 100,000 from March 29 to April 4. The states most populous county has seen an increase in COVID hospitalizations as well, but the rate is low, at 1.9 per 100,000.

The state has not seen an overall increase in hospitalizations, which have remained steady at about 2 per 100,000 over the last few weeks.

Cowlitz Countys hospitalizations have also remained relatively flat, up slightly from zero to a rate of 0.9 per 100,000 from March 29 to April 4.

If the county aligns with statewide trends, there may be a slight bump in cases over the coming weeks, said Stefanie Donahue, county Health and Human Services communications manager.

We know a number of residents have immunity against COVID-19  whether it be from vaccination or getting sick, she said. This may play a role in preventing a surge in cases as BA.2 becomes more prevalent locally.

Despite the uptick, the state is not at a point where officials are considering a return to the indoor mask mandate, the Seattle Times reported Thursday. The requirement may be reconsidered if hospitalizations become stressed to capacity, said Mike Faulk, a governors office spokesman.

In Washington and Oregon, masks are required in health-care settings and long-term care facilities.

All of Washington, like most of the United States, is considered low risk, according to the Centers for Disease and Prevention. Ten of the 12 high-risk counties are in New York.

The CDCs risk levels are based on the seven-day case rate, the new COVID-19 hospitalization rate and the share of staffed hospital beds occupied by virus patients. The agency recommends everyone in high-risk counties wear a mask indoors and people at high risk of severe disease should do so while in medium risk counties.

On Tuesday, the CDC extended the nationwide mask mandate for public transit through May 3 to monitor a rise in cases driven by the BA.2 omicron subvariant.

Nationwide, BA.2 accounted for about 86% of cases as of Saturday, according to a CDC model that estimates more recent proportions of circulating variants.

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Poet Kelli Russell Agodon will be the guest at an online Northwest Voices Zoom event at 7 p.m. April 22.

To join the event, visit the Longview Public Librarys website at longviewlibrary.org/nwvoices.php.

Agodons newest book is Dialogues with Rising Tides, published by Copper Canyon Press. She is an editor and book cover designer at Two Sylvias Press, which she co-founded.

Her other books include a Foreword Indies Book of the Year in Poetry winner, Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room; Hourglass Museum, a finalist in the Washington State Book Award in Poetry, The Daily Poet: Day-By-Day Prompts for Your Writing Practice, with co-author Martha Silano; and Fire on Her Tongue: An Anthology of Contemporary Womens Poetry.

Agodon lives in a Washington state seaside town where she is an avid hiker and paddleboarder. The town is located on traditional lands of the Chimacum, Coast Salish, SKlallam and Suquamish people.

She teaches the Rainier Writing Workshop, a low-res Master of Fine Arts program at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. She also is part of Writing the Land, a project between local land trusts and artists to help raise awareness for the preservation of land, ecosystems and biodiversity, according to a press release from the city of Longview.

For details on Agodon, visit www.agodon.com or twosylviaspress.com.

Northwest Voices events are free and open to the public. The events are funded by the Longview Public Library, Lower Columbia College, the Friends of the Longview Library, the Longview Library Foundation and the LCC Foundation.

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The ambitious plan for a renewable fuel facility and connecting rail line in northern Oregon farmland is facing a legal challenge led by Columbia Riverkeeper.

Last month, NEXT Renewable Fuels Oregon got approval from the Columbia County commissioners for a 4.7-mile rail track connecting to the Portland and Western Railroad mainline and running adjacent to its clean diesel facility at the Port Westward Industrial Park.

On Wednesday, Riverkeeper, joined by Clatskanie mint farmer Mike Seely and 1000 Friends of Oregon, filed an appeal asking the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals to decide whether the new rail line goes against land-use laws.

Dan Serres, conservation director with Columbia Riverkeeper, said he believes the construction of the rail along farm and wetlands may put farmers at risk for flooding and crop pollution. He said by including a rail line, NEXT went against its original promises that all materials would come via marine transportation.

Thats a precedent we dont want to see set, Serres said. It raises red flags as to what other commitments NEXT is going to fail to keep.

NEXT Communications Director Michael Hinrichs said the company always planned on using the rail line only as a worst case scenario if marine transportation gets shut down for any reason.

We have never said that in an emergency situation, we would not resort to using a branch line, Hinrichs said. We have always included this in our permits.

Most, if not all, materials would go through Port Westward, with the rail designed to handle at most 40% of the feedstock import, according to law firm Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatts statement to the county commissioners on behalf of NEXT.

In its application to the county, NEXT conceded the branch line tracks might cause a maximum 10-minute delay in farming practices, promising to construct a private rail crossing for the passage of farm equipment.

NEXT Renewable Fuel rail map This diagram obtained from NEXT's public permit application shows where the company has proposed for each section of the rail branch line, whi

NEXT also committed to a wetland mitigation site as a way to compensate for the permanent removal of some wetlands at the project site, according to its permit applications.

County zoning laws generally prevent railyards and switchyards in agriculture land, so it fell to the Columbia County commissioners to decide whether NEXTs proposal counted as a branch line or a railyard.

Neither term is firmly defined, and reference to a dictionary is unnecessary, commissioners wrote in the countys permit approval.

They decided NEXTs proposal did not count as a railyard because NEXT was not planning on moving freight from truck to rail. It did not serve as a switchyard either because the line would not direct multiple trains into different travel directions.

Portland and Western Railroad sent a letter to NEXT in November with this same conclusion, according to county documents.

The land certification for that land absolutely does allow a branch line to exist there, Hinrichs said.

NEXTs branch line use is conditional: only 318 rail cars per week, no more than 100 attached cars in length, and it would not be allowed to stay on-site for more than 14 consecutive days. The line could only stay on-site to load and unload, with no long-term storage allowed, according to county documents.

Ultimately, the county commissioners decided it will not force a significant change or a significant increase in cost in accepted farm practices, according to meeting documents.

Serres said he disagreed with the ruling because the permit approval relied solely on interpretation of railroad terminology.

The Riverkeepers legal challenge now hinges on proving the branch line is in fact a railyard and therefore goes against Oregons land use laws.

Its important to recognize the people who live and farm there were the ones to point out repeatedly that this is not compatible, Serres said.

The nonprofit firm Crag Law Center will represent Riverkeeper, 1000 Friends and Seely in their legal challenge, according to a news release from Riverkeeper.

The county permit is still in place, so we will continue moving forward, Hinrichs said. Were still full-steam ahead.

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Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, attends the opening of the Tesla factory Berlin Brandenburg in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. The intrigue surrounding Musk's Twitter investment took a new twist Tuesday, April 12, 2022, with the filing of a lawsuit alleging the colorful billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his big stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices. Credit: Patrick Pleul/Pool Photo via AP, File

In 10 days, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has gone from popular Twitter contributor and critic to the company's largest individual shareholder to a would-be owner of the social platforma whirlwind of activity that could change the service dramatically given the sometimes whimsical billionaire's self-identification as a free-speech absolutist.

Twitter revealed in a securities filing Thursday that Musk has offered to buy the company outright for more than $43 billion, saying the social media platform "needs to be transformed as a private company" in order to build trust with its users.

"I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," Musk said in the filing. "I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form."

Later in the day, during an onstage interview at the TED 2022 conference, he went even broader: "Having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization."

Since it burst onto the scene in 2006, Twitter has been home to flourishing social and political commentary, shared news, scandal gossip, cat memes and dress color arguments. But it has also provided a platform for viral misinformation and lies, bullying and hate speech and gangs of trolls who can shout down posters they disagree with by unleashing tidal waves of vile images, threats and similar acts of online aggression.

Twitter has devoted a substantial amount of effort to stanching the latter while preserving the formerthough not always in ways that satisfy most users. Like other platforms, it has established restrictions on tweets that threaten violence, incite hatred, bully others and spread misinformation. Such rules drove Twitter's decision to ban former President Donald Trump following the 2021 Capitol insurrection.

The Twitter icon is displayed on a mobile phone in Philadelphia on April 26, 2017. Tesla CEO Elon Musk won't be joining Twitter's board of directors as previously announced. The tempestuous billionaire remains Twitters largest shareholder. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tweeted the news, which followed a weekend of Musk tweets suggesting possible changes to Twitter, including making the site ad-free. Nearly 90% of Twitter's 2021 revenue came from ads. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

Twitter has also become a destination for brands and advertisers, many of whom prefer stronger content restrictions, and a megaphone for high-profile figures like Trump and Musk, who's used it to rally supporters and promote business ventures.

Musk, who described Twitter as a "de facto town square," detailed some specific potential changes Thursdaylike favoring temporary rather than permanent bansbut has mostly described his aim in broad and abstract terms.

He said he wanted to open up the "black box" of artificial intelligence technology driving Twitter's feed so that people would have more transparency about why some tweets might go viral and others might disappear. "I wouldn't personally be in there editing tweets," he said, "but you would know if something was done to promote, demote or otherwise affect a tweet."

The billionaire has been a vocal critic of Twitter, mostly over his stated belief that it falls short on free-speech principles. The social media platform has angered followers of Trump and other right-wing political figures who've had their accounts suspended for violating its content standards on violence, hate or harmful misinformation. Musk has described himself as a "free-speech absolutist" but is also known for blocking other Twitter users who question or disagree with him.

While Twitter's user base remains much smaller than those of rivals such as Facebook and TikTok, the service is popular with celebrities, world leaders, journalists and intellectuals. Musk himself has more than 81 million followers, rivaling pop stars such as Lady Gaga.

Twitter shares closed at $45.08, down just under 2%, well below Musk's offer of $54.20 per share. That's generally a sign that some investors doubt the deal will go through. The stock remains down from its 52-week high of about $73.

The login/sign up screen for a Twitter account is seen on a laptop computer Tuesday, April 27, 2021, in Orlando, Fla. Musk is offering to buy Twitter, Thursday, April 14, 2022. He says the social media platform he has criticized for not living up to free speech principles needs to be transformed as a private company. Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux, File

Musk called that price his final offer, although he provided no details on financing. The offer is non-binding and subject to financing and other conditions.

Twitter said it will decide whether accepting the offer is in the best interests of shareholders. It's unclear, though, just how Twitter's board will react after evaluating the offer. It likely will negotiate, seeking a higher price per share, or it may want provisions to ensure that the board remains independent of Musk, said John Coffee, a professor at Columbia University's law school and head of its corporate governance center.

The board could adopt "poison pill" provisions to offer more shares and dilute the value of Musk's holdings, if Musk's stake grows to 10% or 15%, Coffee said. Even then, Musk could still take over the company with a proxy fight by voting out the current directors.

At the TED conference, Musk said he has the money. "I could technically afford it," he said to laughs.

Should Musk go through with his takeover attempt, he likely could raise the roughly $43 billion he needs, possibly by borrowing billions using his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX as collateral.

Most of Musk's fortune, estimated by Forbes to be nearly $265 billion, is tied up in shares of Tesla. The company allows executive officers to use shares as collateral for loans, but limits the borrowing to 25% of the value of the pledged shares.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. Musk is offering to buy Twitter, Thursday, April 14, 2022. He says the social media platform he has criticized for not living up to free speech principles needs to be transformed as a private company. Credit: Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP, File

Data provider FactSet says Musk owns 172.6 million shares worth $176.47 billion. Just over 51% of his stake already is pledged as collateral, according to a Tesla proxy statement. That means Musk could use the remaining stake to borrow about $21.5 billion. He also could borrow on his stake in privately held SpaceX.

Musk revealed in regulatory filings over recent weeks that he'd been buying Twitter shares in almost daily batches starting Jan. 31, ending up with a stake of about 9%. Only Vanguard Group controls more Twitter shares. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York federal court alleged Musk illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could punish Musk for hurting other investors by taking too long to disclose his buying up of Twitter shares, but it's unlikely that it will do anything to stop a takeover, said Chester Spatt, a former SEC chief economist.

"This is going to play out reasonably quickly," said Spatt, now a finance professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

Jacob Frenkel, a former SEC enforcement attorney now with the Dickinson Wright law firm in Washington, said it is difficult to prove an investor's intent in disclosure cases. "The mere fact of the violation around the disclosure does not mean that there was fraud," Frenkel said.

However, there is "plenty of fodder for an investigation" into whether anyone with knowledge of Musk's share purchases traded in the stock before Musk's public disclosures, Frenkel said.

Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition March 9, 2020, in Washington. Musk's great Twitter turnabout, in which he disclosed his massive stake in the social media company, got a seat on its board, publicly floated drastic changes and then turned down the board role, all happened in a week. Credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File

After Musk announced his stake, Twitter quickly offered him a seat on its board on the condition that he not own more than 14.9% of the company's outstanding stock. But the company said five days later that he'd declined. The decision coincided with a barrage of now-deleted and not-always-serious tweets from Musk proposing major changes to the company, such as dropping adsits chief source of revenueand transforming its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter.

The turnabout led CEO Parag Agrawal to warn employees earlier this week that "there will be distractions ahead" and to "tune out the noise and stay focused on the work."

Twitter hasn't done as well as its social media rivals and lost money last year. The company reported a net loss of $221 million for 2021 largely tied to the settlement of a lawsuit by shareholders who said the company misled investors about how much its user base was growing and how much users interacted with its platform. Its co-founder Jack Dorsey resigned as CEO in late November and was replaced by Agrawal.

"I'm not saying I have all the answers here, but I do think that we want to be just very reluctant to delete things and just be very cautious with permanent bans," Musk said. "It won't be perfect," he said, but there should be a perception and reality that speech is "as free as reasonably possible."

Explore further Tesla CEO Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Tesla and SpaceX Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk speaks at the SATELLITE Conference and Exhibition in Washington, Monday, March 9, 2020. Mercurial billionaire Elon Musk now says he wants to buy Twitter outright, taking it private to restore its commitment to what he terms free speech. But his offer, which seemed to fall flat with investors on Thursday, April 14, 2022 raises as many questions as it answers. Credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File

Mercurial billionaire Elon Musk now says he wants to buy Twitter outright, taking it private to restore its commitment to what he terms "free speech." But his offer, which seemed to fall flat with investors on Thursday, raises as many questions as it answers.

Among them: Is he serious? Can he get the money together? Would a sale make shareholders happy? And what would the social platform look like if he succeeds?

WHY IS MUSK INTERESTED IN TWITTER?

Ostensibly because the service, he says, isn't living up to its potential as a "platform for free speech." Musk insists that he's not interested in making money off Twitter and on Thursday said his motivation sprang from the realization that "having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization."

Twitter, like other social media platforms, suspends accounts for violating content standards, including on violence, hate speech or harmful misinformation. Its suspension of Donald Trump angered the former president's followers.

Musk has described himself as a "free speech absolutist"but he has blocked Twitter users who question or disagree with him. Regulators have also accused his car company, Tesla, of retaliating against Black workers who spoke up about discrimination.

HAS MUSK SAID WHERE HE WILL GET THE FUNDS TO BUY TWITTER?

No. And his regulatory filing says the offer is subject to "completion of anticipated financing."

During a Thursday on-stage interview at the TED 2022 conference, Musk noted vaguely that he has "sufficient assets" to complete the deal, adding: "I can do it if possible."

CAN HE JUST BUY TWITTER OUTRIGHT FROM HIS PERSONAL WEALTH?

Musk is the world's wealthiest man, according to Forbes, with a nearly $265 billion fortune. But much of his money is tied up in Tesla stockhe owns about 17% of the company, according to FactSet, which is valued at more than $1 trillionand SpaceX, his privately held space company. It's unclear how much cash Musk has.

"I do think this will be somewhat painful and I'm not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it," Musk said in his Thursday interview.

Musk could sell Tesla stock to raise moneywhich could hurt Tesla's share priceor borrow against his stock holdings. But Forbes notes that he has already used more than half of his Tesla stake as loan collateral.

WOULD TWITTER SHAREHOLDERS BE HAPPY WITH HIS OFFER?

The stock traded lower than the offer price of $54.20 a share Thursday, suggesting investors doubt the deal will go through. The shares have traded above $70 in the past 12 months and peaked at $80.75 in February 2021.

There has been executive turnover since co-founder Jack Dorsey's departure in November left Twitter with a new CEO, Parag Agrawal, whose initial actions have involved internal reorganizations. There have not been any major changes to Twitter, which, despite its outsized influence due to high-profile celebrity and politician posters, as well as a devoted base of journalists, has fewer users than social media rivals like Facebook and TikTok. Musk himself is a huge user, with more than 81 million followers.

Dorsey, still a major shareholder, has not indicated what he thinks of Musk's offer.

Twitter said only that it will look at the offer. A spokesperson declined to answer if the board will put in place a defense against a hostile takeover known as a "poison pill."

HOW MIGHT MUSK REMAKE TWITTER?

It's hard to know with Musk, and even trying to game out this hypothetical might be taking the man too seriously. By saying Twitter is not living up to its potential to be a "platform for free speech," he seems to be saying he would scale back content moderation. But he has also called for the company to crack down on spam accounts, which implies more moderation.

He proposed dropping ads from the serviceads are how Twitter makes moneyand making its San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter. He also seems to approve of a button to edit tweets.

WHAT CONCERNS DOES MUSK AS AN OWNER OF TWITTER RAISE?

Social-media companies struggle to contain misinformation and hate speech. Musk, whose tweets can lead online bullies to swarm his critics online, does not seem keen on content moderation.

"Regulators worldwide will be wincing at the potential free speech implications should Musk's takeover bid succeed," said GlobalData analyst Rachel Foster-Jones. "Musk is clearly serious about promoting free speech for the benefit of democracy, but the line between free speech and hate speech or misinformation is becoming increasingly muddied, and attempts to change Twitter could easily lead to these issues spiraling out of control."

In his talk with Anderson, Musk said that Twitter is " bound by the laws of the country it operates in, so obviously there are some limitations on free speech in the U.S. and of course Twitter would have to abide by those rules." But he said it was "quite dangerous" to have "tweets be mysteriously promoted and demoted" and having a "black-box algorithm."

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Twitter may hire bankers and advisers to help it review the deal, said Third Bridge technology, media and telecom analyst Scott Kessler. And other buyers could emerge. "It seems that if would-be strategic and/or financial buyers are interested in Twitter, they should probably engage now."

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
3D-printed glass lattices, displayed in front of a U.S. penny for scale. Credit: Joseph Toombs

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new way to 3D-print glass microstructures that is faster and produces objects with higher optical quality, design flexibility and strength, according to a new study published in the April 15 issue of Science.

Working with scientists from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany, the researchers expanded the capabilities of a 3D-printing process they developed three years agocomputed axial lithography (CAL)to print much finer features and to print in glass. They dubbed this new system "micro-CAL."

Glass is the preferred material for creating complex microscopic objects, including lenses in compact, high-quality cameras used in smartphones and endoscopes, as well as microfluidic devices used to analyze or process minute amounts of liquid. But current manufacturing methods can be slow, expensive and limited in their ability to meet industry's increasing demands.

The CAL process is fundamentally different from today's industrial 3D-printing manufacturing processes, which build up objects from thin layers of material. This technique can be time-intensive and result in rough surface texture. CAL, however, 3D-prints the entire object simultaneously. Researchers use a laser to project patterns of light into a rotating volume of light-sensitive material, building up a 3D light dose that then solidifies in the desired shape. The layer-less nature of the CAL process enables smooth surfaces and complex geometries.

A 3D-printed, trifurcated microtubule model. Credit: Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering

This study pushes the boundaries of CAL to demonstrate its ability to print microscale features in glass structures. "When we first published this method in 2019, CAL could print objects into polymers with features down to about a third of a millimeter in size," said Hayden Taylor, principal investigator and professor of mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley. "Now, with micro-CAL, we can print objects in polymers with features down to about 20 millionths of a meter, or about a quarter of a human hair's breadth. And for the first time, we have shown how this method can print not only into polymers but also into glass, with features down to about 50 millionths of a meter."

To print the glass, Taylor and his research team collaborated with scientists from the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg, who have developed a special resin material containing nanoparticles of glass surrounded by a light-sensitive binder liquid. Digital light projections from the printer solidify the binder, then the researchers heat the printed object to remove the binder and fuse the particles together into a solid object of pure glass.

Graduate student Joseph Toombs cradles a 3D-printed, lattice structure with a pair of tweezers in the lab. Credit: Joseph Toombs

"The key enabler here is that the binder has a refractive index that is virtually identical to that of the glass, so that light passes through the material with virtually no scattering," said Taylor. "The CAL printing process and this Glassomer [GmbH]-developed material are a perfect match for each other."

The research team, which included lead author Joseph Toombs, a Ph.D. student in Taylor's lab, also ran tests and discovered that the CAL-printed glass objects had more consistent strength than those made using a conventional layer-based printing process. "Glass objects tend to break more easily when they contain more flaws or cracks, or have a rough surface," said Taylor. "CAL's ability to make objects with smoother surfaces than other, layer-based 3D-printing processes is therefore a big potential advantage."

Scanning electron micrograph of a 3D-printed, hexagonal microlens array. Credit: Joseph Toombs

The CAL 3D-printing method offers manufacturers of microscopic glass objects a new and more efficient way to meet customers' demanding requirements for geometry, size and optical and mechanical properties. Specifically, this includes manufacturers of microscopic optical components, which are a key part of compact cameras, virtual reality headsets, advanced microscopes and other scientific instruments. "Being able to make these components faster and with more geometric freedom could potentially lead to new device functions or lower-cost products," said Taylor.

More information: Joseph T. Toombs et al, Volumetric additive manufacturing of silica glass with microscale computed axial lithography, Science (2022). Journal information: Science Joseph T. Toombs et al, Volumetric additive manufacturing of silica glass with microscale computed axial lithography,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abm6459
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China will continue prioritize its relationship with Pakistan in neighborhood diplomacy and firmly support Pakistan's goal of prosperity and revitalization, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Thursday.

According to media reports, Pakistan's newly-elected Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said, when meeting with the charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Pakistan, that Pakistan's new government attaches great importance to relations with China and will promote the building of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with more vigor and efficiency.

"China appreciates Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif's remarks," Zhao told a press briefing, adding that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and ironclad brothers.

Zhao said China stands ready to work with Pakistan's new government to facilitate exchanges at all levels, enrich and expand practical cooperation, build CPEC toward the sustainable, livelihood-oriented and high-standard objectives, and accelerate the building of a closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era to benefit the two countries and their peoples.
When Dawn Oden interviewed Jamie Alvarado in the summer of 2018 for a position at College Station Middle School, she did not realize how impactful Alvarado would be to her life.

On Tuesday, the two friends and co-workers will form an even deeper bond as Alvarado, the attendance clerk at the school, donates a kidney to Oden, who has a disease called IgA nephropathy  also known as Bergers disease  that affects her kidneys.

I say its a God thing, looking back at all the signs, Oden said. She got picked out of 100 applicants for that job.  [CSMS Principal Oliver Hadnot and she] picked her and we both agreed on her, and little did I know the person who was going to end up saving my life was right under my nose.

Students and employees of CSMS and the College Station school district lined the main hallway of the school, created cards and cheered for both Oden and Alvarado in a send-off Thursday before the Easter holiday. The pair will undergo the transplant procedure Tuesday at Houston Methodist Hospital.

Alvarado should be cleared to leave the hospital the same day as surgery; however, Oden, administrative assistant at the school, will not be back for the rest of the school year.

This will be Odens second kidney transplant. She received her first kidney from her brother in 2014 and was doing well until December 2020 when she contracted COVID. She said in May 2021 that her doctors believe the coronavirus prompted the second round of her disease, putting her back on dialysis and, eventually, the transplant list.

Oden said her doctors were hopeful dialysis could prevent the need for another transplant, but her family members began the process of testing to see if they were a match just in case.

Alvarado tested in December 2021 and found out she was a match.

It seems like from day one everything just fell into place, Alvarado said. Everything worked out exactly how it was supposed to work out; the results came back exactly how they were supposed to come back, and there havent been many hiccups. God has just been at the forefront of this.

Alvarado said the two did not know each other before she began at the school, but the connection they shared was immediate.

Im the person who has four quarters instead of 100 pennies, and shes definitely one of my quarters, Oden said. Even more than that, though, shes like a sister to me. Shes family. My family has accepted her as family. Its a bond.

Oden said there was only a teeny tiny chance she would find a match from someone who was not a living relative after she learned her sister could not be a donor.

That was very disappointing and [Alvarado] was in the room when I got the news, and she said, Were going to find a kidney for you. Where do I sign up? Oden said. I would never ask anybody to do that, and she did it.

Alvarado did not tell Oden she tested out of fear she would not be a match. She tested anonymously. Oden found out when someone let a name slip and she heard Jamie, and was the one to tell Alvarado she was a match.

I was shocked, but not in the least surprised because if you know Jamie, thats just what she does, Oden said. This whole campus is like this, from the top to the bottom.

Oden said she does not take that support from her campus family for granted, describing herself as blessed. That campus family includes the students.

In 2021, they raised money for Oden with a walk-a-thon and discussed how a person can be a live organ donor. They showed their support again Thursday.

Im never surprised with how giving this entire campus is, even the students, even though they can be bratty seventh and eighth graders. They really stand up when they need to, Oden said.

Alvarado added, Their hearts are as big as their attitudes, and theyre precious. Theyre sincere and they care.

Alvarado appreciates the well-wishes but was hesitant, at first, to share her story publicly. She wanted the attention to remain on Odens story, saying she is not doing it for a pat on the back.

My friend needs a kidney. I have it. Now its hers. And its that simple, she said.

However, sharing their story together has helped continue raise awareness for live organ donation with a school employee already asking to learn more when Alvarado returns.

Alvarado said she learned one shared donor can save more than 60 lives through kidney-swap donations in which one persons donor matches with another transplant recipient, whose donor matches with another patient and it continues.

So weve reached one on this campus; who knows how many lives can be changed with just that one, Alvarado said. Its something very new to me. I didnt have a clue about it prior to meeting her. Now, its amazing what people can do. You just have to know where to start, and once you get started, its a breeze.

Oden said that education and awareness about being a live organ donor is why she wants to continue sharing her story.

The timeline for Odens return to school is undetermined, but she is hopeful to come back in July. She said her doctors have reassured her they would not have her go through the procedure unless they felt confident it would succeed.

Alvarado said Thursday she is not scared, nervous or anxious about the procedure because she believes the positive outcome that it will produce.

Theres risk in everything, she said. Theres risk getting in my vehicle and driving to work every day. I do it. I mean, just because theres a risk in this, I wouldnt change it for the world.

Dawn has two amazing boys and a granddaughter that is her world, and if this doesnt happen, if she doesnt get this kidney, if things progress and get worse, thats time that shes not going to have with those people. Thats one less day, you know, to hold your grandbaby. Thats one less day to hear stories of your sons senior year in college. I couldnt imagine having one less day with my kids, and to know that I can change that, why wouldnt you. Its the outcome that keeps me going, and there is no fear.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Chihuahua Gov. Maria Eugenia Campos Galvan on Thursday announced a deal that will halt the new commercial vehicle inspections at international bridges connecting the two states that have bogged down border commerce  the second such announcement in two days.

Abbott said state troopers will continue inspecting every commercial truck entering Texas from the states of Tamaulipas and Coahuila  which share border crossings with the Rio Grande Valley, Del Rio and Eagle Pass.

As part of the agreement, Chihuahua will continue to implement security measures that Campos Galvan started when she came into office in 2021. In a news conference with Abbott in Austin, Campos Galvan called the agreement a win-win situation. Abbott called Campos Galvans security plan as the best border security plan that Ive seen from any governor from Mexico.

The deal with Chihuahua  which has a major border crossing at Ciudad Juarez, across the Rio Grande from El Paso  comes a day after Abbott reached a similar agreement with the governor of Nuevo Leon, the Mexican state that shares a narrow sliver of border with Texas that includes a major commercial bridge outside of Nuevo Laredo.

Last week, Abbott ordered Department of Public Safety troopers to inspect every commercial truck for illegal drugs and immigrants as they crossed at least four international bridges as a response to the Biden administrations plan to end Title 42  a pandemic-era rule by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that allows federal immigration officials to turn away recently arrived migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, including those who are seeking asylum.

Title 42, implemented in March 2020, is meant to be used to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But Republicans have said the rule is still needed to keep order at the border, which they say has been chaotic as a result of the Biden administrations immigration policies.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, or CBP, already conducts commercial inspections and has called the state inspections unnecessary.

Last month, Campos Galvan met with CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar in Washington, D.C. In the meeting, she told them her administration installed cameras with facial recognition and license plate reading technology to monitor vehicles entering Juarez, where drug cartel violence has plagued the city for years. She also said she ordered the move of the police headquarters from the state capital to Juarez.

During the news conference on Thursday in Austin, she said her administration would share intelligence with Abbotts office over any security issues.

Abbott agreed to halt state troopers inspections of commercial cargo at the Laredo-Colombia Solidarity International Bridge after Gov. Samuel Alejandro Garcia Sepulveda agreed to increase security on the Mexican side of the bridge.

The governors of the two other Mexican states that border Texas  Coahuila and Tamaulipas  also have reached out to Abbott seeking meetings to ask what they can do to end the enhanced state inspections at their international bridges, according to the two governors spokespeople.

Abbott said during the news conference that he plans to meet with the governor of Tamaulipas on Friday. He also said his secretary of state has been in touch with the governor of Coahuila.

On Tuesday, those same governors sent a letter to Abbott telling him the inspections are overzealous and criticizing his move as political grandstanding, saying, political points have never been a good recipe to address common challenges or threats.

The inspections have resulted in hourslong and sometimes dayslong delays for shipments from Mexico, including produce, auto and medical equipment and other items purchased by American companies.

During a Wednesday news conference in Laredo, Abbott celebrated the agreement with Nuevo Leon, saying, Sometimes it just takes action like that to spur people sitting down and working things out like the way that they are beginning to work out.

But a security expert and an official with the Tamaulipas government say the security measures Nuevo Leon has put in place are only a short-term solution. Drug cartels adapt to whatever security measures both countries implement and eventually find ways to smuggle migrants and drugs, they both said.

The Mexican government also has a culture of corruption, so its not unusual for cartels to bribe police or other officials to let loads of drugs and migrants through, said Adam Isacson, director for defense oversight at the Washington Office on Latin America, an advocacy group for human rights in the Americas.

If you take a place like Nuevo Laredo, the Northeast Cartel pretty much controls everything, he said. Just installing a few new roadblocks wont make much of a difference.

As an example, he pointed to the arrest last month of Juan Gerardo Trevino-Chavez, also known as El Huevo, the leader of the Northeast Cartel, which triggered gunfights throughout Nuevo Laredo between cartel members and the Mexican military. Cartel members also set 18-wheelers on fire on a key road into the city after his arrest.

On Wednesday in the Rio Grande Valley, news organizations in Mexico reported that members of a drug cartel had set fire to four 18-wheelers near the Pharr-Reynosa bridge. The Monitor, a McAllen newspaper, reported that drug cartel members set the cargo ablaze to force truckers to end their blockade in protest of Abbotts added inspections.

This is the way [drug cartels] put pressure for them to be able to continue  their illegal activities, said Francisco Galvan Garza, who works in the administration of Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Cabeza de Vaca.

Galvan Garza said any agreement between Tamaulipas and Texas will solve the border delays only on the Texas side.

Ultimately, he said, the federal governments of Mexico and the United States need to step up and find a solution to immigration. He said if Tamaulipas heightens its security measures even more, drug cartels will find ways to bypass them.

Cabeza de Vaca has been putting all his effort on securing the state during his five years in office, he said. The state has been more secure, but theres still a lot of work that has to be done.
A College Station woman has been charged with driving while intoxicated for the third time.

Bryan police said in an arrest report that officers who responded to a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of North Harvey Mitchell Parkway and Shiloh Avenue on Wednesday morning smelled alcohol when talking to Jennifer Diaz, one of the drivers involved.

Diaz admitted to drinking beer, according to the arrest report.

She has convictions for driving while intoxicated in 2001 in Brazos County and driving under the influence of alcohol in 2017 in California, according to court records.

Driving while intoxicated with at least two prior convictions could be prosecuted as a third-degree felony, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Diaz was released from the Brazos County Jail Thursday after posting $10,000 bail.
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It is April. Hummingbirds are humming. The sun is warming Mother Earth as she shakes off her winter chill. Tender buds are sprouting on trees and in the grow house behind Cousin Juniors shed.

That means its time for Nudity and Stupidity in the News  a semi-regular feature putting a spotlight on things that should stay covered up  Spring 2022 edition.

NO, VIRGINIA, THERE ISNT A PANTY CLAUSE: A new law in the Commonwealth of Virginia makes it a civil infraction to send a nude or sexually explicit photo of yourself to someone without their consent. Violators could face a $500 fine as well as being saddled with the nickname Tiny for all eternity.

Lawmakers worked on the legislation with a dating site called Bumble, which may not be the greatest name for a dating site.

(Jerry was kind of bumbling like the rest of them, but at least he didnt send me an unsolicited nude photo of himself.)

Despite its name, Bumble is serious about stopping unsolicited nude photos, which, according to their research, is a real problem.

Bumble said they found one in three women received a nude image and 96% of those said it was unwanted, according to an April 13 news report.

Bumble released the following statement: Were proud to have played a part in bringing standards of conduct on the internet closer in line with our standards of behavior in the real world. If it wouldnt fly walking down the street  or at the office, or in the classroom  it shouldnt be tolerated in your inbox!

Let me just say this. If a new law and threat of a $500 fine is all that is keeping you from sending an unsolicited nude photo to the nice lady at the bank, please seek professional help.

DISORDER IN THE COURT: According to various news reports, a 24-year-old Upshur County, West Virginia woman was accused of physically assaulting a male victim. Police say they witnessed the incident and the woman was upset over alleged cheating.

When she eventually appeared in court to answer the charges, she was naked (and later jailed.)

I was unable to obtain an official court transcript, so I just made one up.

JUDGE: Young lady, have you ever been up before me?

WOMAN: I dont know, your honor. What time do you usually get up?

JUDGE: Why are you naked in the courtroom today?

WOMAN: My lawyer wouldnt let me borrow his legal briefs.

And that is about all the courtroom jokes I can remember from old Three Stooges episodes.

THE SCRAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH: According a website devoted to Disney park news, two sisters ages 29 and 31 were vacationing with their family in Orlando in February, taking in all the Disney amenities as well as few drinks.

The website wdnt.com said problems began when they tried to go back to their hotel off Disney property. Their phone died. Disney Security helped them call an Uber. The Uber driver refused to take them, as he worried they were too drunk. The women argued while waiting for a taxi, and their night unraveled. The older sister called the younger sister a bad mom and slapped her. The younger sister threatened to punch her in return.

More words were said, a few clothes were shed and additional hands were thrown.

Deputies assisted (one sister) with putting on a blue jean jacket since she was not wearing any clothing, the sheriffs report said.

They were very intoxicated, the report noted. And endangered the safety of other guests and Cast Members at Disney Springs by physically fighting in a public area.

Though presumably no longer welcome at Disney, both sisters have been invited to spend their next vacation at Cousin Juniors place. Hell contact them on Bumble.

Scott Hollifield is editor of The McDowell News in Marion, NC and a humor columnist. Contact him at rhollifield@mcdowellnews.com
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U.S. Asian Americans have faced a triple threat of racial prejudice, mental health concerns in the community and economic loss, according to a new report from the Institute for Asian American Studies at University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston).

Fifty four percent of Chinese respondents and more than a third of Vietnamese respondents said people acted afraid of them because of their race, public media organization GBH NEWS in Boston, Massachusetts, cited the report on Wednesday.

More than a quarter of Vietnamese respondents said they felt threatened or harassed because of their race, and 15 percent of Chinese respondents said the same, according to the UMass Boston survey.

The report was the first to reach out to the Asian American community in the area using a multilingual questionnaire, reaching 199 respondents from various parts of Boston, Malden, Quincy, Everett and Cambridge.

Anti-Asian racism is deeply rooted in American society, dating back to before the original Asian Exclusion Act of the 1880s, but it has risen during the pandemic with anti-Asian rhetoric from politicians, Jyoti Sinha, founder of the South Asian Workers' Center and a professor at UMass Boston, was quoted as saying.
Central District Health Department is monitoring for local outbreaks of avian influenza.

CDHDs coverage area includes Hall, Hamilton and Merrick counties.

On March 16, USDA confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a non-commercial backyard flock (non-poultry) in Merrick County.

HPAI is also being detected in other states nationwide, including several in the Midwest.

The avian influenza is very contagious, said Jeremy Collinson, CDHD environmental health supervisor.

It is appearing across Nebraska currently, and last week was detected in Scottsbluff.

We just want to reach out to any poultry producers in the area, ask them to keep an eye on their flocks, Collinson said. If they happen to see anything sick in their flocks, get a hold of a veterinarian, get in touch with Nebraska Department of Agriculture. If they notice any unusual deaths or a large number of deaths in their flocks, make sure they reach out and contact the Nebraska Department of Ag, as well.

Nebraskas last avian influenza outbreak was in 2015, Christin Kamm, Nebraska Department of Agriculture communications director, told The Independent.

We encourage poultry producers to follow biosecurity measures. Those can be found on our website, Kamm reported.

The avian influenza affects populations of both wild and domestic birds.

While it can affect humans, it primarily affects birds, Collinson said.

If people are around sick birds, make sure they wash, and dont affect other populations of birds, he said. If youre with one producer, dont go to another one until youve properly sanitized, washed your hands, showered, changed shoes, anything like that.

Symptoms for birds include a decrease in water consumption, lack of energy and loss of appetite. Egg producers may see a decrease. There also may be nasal discharge, and coughing and sneezing from the bird.

There may not be any symptoms, and they may just die, Collinson said. Thats why, if they have any deaths that we would say are unusual, or a high number of deaths in their flock, to get in touch with the Nebraska Department of Ag.

Vigilance is stressed, Collinson told The Independent.

When they are out and about, if they have a flock of chickens or ducks, any type of birds like that, be careful, he said If they notice any of them are ill, take precautions. Dont be spreading it from one place to another. The big thing is, if you have some deaths, let the Department of Agriculture know right away. They will be able to do some testing to see if you have it in your flock.

Cases brought to the attention of CDHD are referred to the state Department of Agriculture.

For more information, visit the CDHD website at cdhd.ne.gov/news-events/bird-flu.html.

Nebraska Department of Agriculture guidelines for avian influenza can be found at https://nda.nebraska.gov/animal/avian/index.html.

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When serving a population consistently on the move, you have to move accordingly.

The Grand Island Public Schools Migrant Education Program, which serves youth in migrant families in Hall County, is currently serving about 115 individuals ages 3-21.

Amanda Levos is the GIPS Migrant Education Program coordinator. She said there are students constantly moving in and out of the areas schools.

Thats why this program is in place to really help with that interrupted education of students and being able to really help connect families to with their education, she said

A staff numbering fewer than 10 takes on the task of guiding kids on the move through the education system. Included in the group is facilitator Maria Vasquez, who works with children in grades kindergarten through fifth. Elda Martinez Cruz, a community liaison, takes the bookends of the program, serving preschool-aged children and out-of-school youths.

Vasquez, Martinez Cruz and Levos recently arrived back in Grand Island following a successful presentation at the 2022 National Migrant Education Conference. Their presentation was selected to be included on the conference docket after encouragement from the state of Nebraska.

The presentation  given twice  was well-attended, Levos said. I think we had 50-plus people both times. It was a packed room.

While it was an honor to be presenters, Martinez Cruz said the exchange of ideas with colleagues across the nation had the greatest value.

Not just whats being done on the front lines, she said. We had people that came in from (Washington) D.C. and talked about some of the policies that are being passed and in relation to migrant education. It was a really nice overview of all the work that weve been doing.

That work is both difficult and satisfying. Vasquez said she often has a caseload of about 40 students. I usually go through each school and talk to each social worker and find out a little bit more about the student. Sometimes they move out of Grand Island, they move out of state, and then they come back.

Vasquez does a lot of networking within the school system (most of the clients are students at GIPS). I meet with the teachers and with the social workers initially, just to let them know who I am, what program were working with, to try to understand the students a little bit better.

Martinez Cruz does a lot of home visits, she said, particularly with her younger clients  some of whom are in preschool. On the first home visit, I take them their materials, what were going to be using, she said.

Martinez Cruz comes up with the majority of her curriculum for both her younger charges and her out-of-school clients. Preschool-aged children get at least eight in-home sessions. Because the families work schedules sometimes dont mesh with a typical 8-to-5 workday, Martinez Cruz does home visits in the evening. Vasquez also keeps a different schedule.

Levos said its the nature of the population GIPS Migrant Education Program serves. I think we get stuck into that traditional 8-to-5 and with our families. Thats not when (migrant families are) most available. We have to be flexible with our time and how we support them.

The GIPS Migrant Education team provides educational support, like tutoring and helping families keep their students on the right track. Some dont necessarily need a lot of help, Vasquez said, but having a support system in place makes a difference.

The GIPS Migrant Education Program also helps make sure families are getting needs met like food and doctors appointments.

Levos said there are varying definitions of migrant families. Children who are eligible for GIPSs Migrant Education Program are those who have moved in the preceding 36 months due to economic necessity from one residence to another, from one school district to another. The qualifying individual might be a migratory agriculture worker/fisher or has moved with or joined a parent or spouse who is a migratory worker.

Despite the hefty workload the organization takes on, not every migrant child in the community is served.

Weve had about 200 students in the past, but I think those were just the ones that were recruited, Vasquez said. If there were more migrant families out there that knew about the program, those numbers could go up, and we can potentially serve more students  and we are looking for more.

The GIPS Migrant Education Program makes sure to take care of those they already have in the program. It can be difficult when a student doesnt return, Vasquez said. There is that wonder  I hope that theyre being served, theyre meeting their needs in the new state that theyre in.

Following this years conference, Vasquez and Martinez Cruzs minds were put at ease, Vasquez said. I saw how passionate migrant facilitators and workers are, how dedicated they are to their communities. It made me feel a sense of relief, knowing that our students could potentially move to California or Texas or Kansas, and that they will be met with just the same amount of love and devotion.

Jessica Votipka is the education reporter at the Grand Island Independent. She can be reached at 308-381-5420.

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Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny this afternoon. High 91F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low 72F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
BARRINGTON - Avian flu has likely killed hundreds of double-crested cormorants nesting at Bakers Lake near Barrington.

Wildlife biologist Chris Anchor said this is the largest outbreak of disease in wild birds hes seen in Cook County.

Ive never seen anything like this since I started working here 41 years ago, said Anchor, of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. Chances are this is happening in other places, and were not aware of it because no one is looking.

The outbreak, which affects wild, backyard and commercial bird populations, was likely caused by the same highly infectious strain of avian flu that is sweeping the country.

Since early February, more than 23 million birds in commercial flocks have been killed by avian flu or euthanized due to the outbreak, mostly outside of Illinois, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Cases have been reported in 24 states this year, with Iowa the hardest hit, The Associated Press reported. While poultry remains safe to eat as long as its properly cooked, the prices of eggs and other poultry-related foods are soaring.

Federal and state officials said this is the worst avian influenza outbreak in the United States since 2015, when more than 50 million birds died from the flu or were euthanized.

In Illinois, officials closed Emiquon National Wildlife Refuge and Emiquon Preserve in west-central Illinois from March 16 to March 25 after a likely outbreak among migratory geese. According to the USDA, avian flu was detected in a handful of wild birds found dead in Will, Champaign and other counties in March.

The outbreak at Bakers Lake appears to be the first large die-off of wild birds from the disease in Illinois, Anchor said. The state pathologist confirmed that seven double-crested cormorants discovered dead at the rookery tested positive for avian flu, he said.

Anchor collected the birds a few days ago after wading into the lake near the rookery where he discovered hundreds dead, some of them floating among the cattails and vegetation.

Though bird flu typically does not infect people, there have been some rare cases of human infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Anchor cautioned the public to avoid getting near or touching wild birds that look sick or are dead, especially aquatic birds and birds of prey.

Lincoln Park Zoo, Brookfield Zoo and other institutions recently brought their birds in exhibits indoors to protect them from wild birds that may be passing along the disease. Its a precaution, Anchor said.

Avian flu, in particular, shows up in wild raptors, shorebirds, geese, ducks and other aquatic birds such as cormorants, as well as domestic chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese. And there are many different strains, some less lethal than others.

The recent one is very deadly, said Michael P. Ward, senior ornithologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey. If the bird gets it, it dies.

Thats one reason why many cormorants may have succumbed to the disease at Bakers Lake. These birds are colonial nesters, breeding closely together, making transmission of the disease easy, Ward said.

Theres always avian flu going around, but this highly pathogenic version of it doesnt show up often, he said. Its usually found with waterfowl in tight areas and can cause a mass mortality event.

It often burns itself out quickly, Ward said, adding he hopes thats what will happen with the birds at Bakers Lake.

Officials are remaining watchful because birds like cormorants are still migrating this time of year and can carry it with them to different areas.

Herons, egrets, cormorants all get together in these rookeries where the disease can spread rapidly, Ward said.

Though the chances of humans getting avian flu are very rare, Ward said, Its something were more concerned about these days, given that COVID (likely) jumped from wildlife to humans.

Avian influenza spreads through direct, bird-to-bird contact. It can also spread to birds via contaminated surfaces and materials, including peoples clothing, shoes or hands, according to the USDA.

Birds that live in close quarters, like ducks and colonial nesters, are also susceptible to other diseases. Each summer, about a dozen of the birds at Bakers Lake are found dead from a fungal disease called histoplasmosis or a viral disease called Newcastle disease, said Anchor. Both diseases affect domestic birds, and histoplasmosis can be transferred to humans.

Anchor learned about the dead cormorants after being notified by Tom Regan, of Barrington, who was watching birds at Bakers Lake.

I saw one dead bird and thought, Oh, thats not unusual with a big colony on the island. Then I see these others dying  about 10 or 20  seeming to be writhing in pain, Regan said.

Great egrets, which also nest at Bakers Lake, were flying around and seemed OK, he said. Great egrets and double-crested cormorants were at one time listed as endangered breeding birds in Illinois.

When you see a large percentage of a population of birds disappear, its very dramatic and many people think its tragic, Anchor said. The birds become disoriented. They become uncoordinated. Its part of nature.

Reporting these sightings is important, according to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. If people encounter five or more dead wild waterfowl, water birds or raptors in one location, they should contact their local IDNR district wildlife biologist (www.wildlifeillinois.org/sidebar/contact-an-idnr-district-wildlife-biologist) or USDA Wildlife Services at 866-487-3297.

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The U.S. Small Business Administration recently held a three-day business education workshop for 25 Denmark Technical College students majoring in business administration, barbering, computer technology and cosmetology who are interested becoming entrepreneurs.

Angela Brewer, a business opportunity specialist with the South Carolina District Office of the U.S. SBA, led the workshop, providing tools and guidance students will need as they take their business ideas from concept to reality.

In this three-part workshop series, students learned the key steps to getting a small business off the ground, the ins and outs of various financing options, the basic requirements for borrowing money and what local resources are available to assist in starting and growing a small business.

I'm excited to see our partnership with the Small Business Administration flourish. Workshops like these help our students realize that owning a small business is within their reach. The skills they acquire through the SBA, paired with an education from Denmark Technical College, prepare them to build a successful small business in a myriad of fields," said Dr. Willie L. Todd Jr., president and CEO of Denmark Tech.

Day one of the workshop centered around planning for a healthy business, day two focused on crafting a marketing plan and day three taught the particulars of financial management and funding.

My experience with the SBA was a great enhancement to what Im learning in the classroom as a business administration student. Im excited about the prospect of putting what Ive learned into practice in the real world, said Aaliyah McKeithan, Denmark Technical College Student Government Association president.

Last year, Denmark Tech and the SBA signed a Strategic Alliance Memorandum (SAM) to strengthen and expand small business development throughout the local area. In accordance with the SAM, Denmark Tech and the SBA have developed a working relationship through their common mission of helping to start, maintain and expand small business throughout DTCs rural service area.

The SBA will hold two more workshops in the fall on tax preparation and credit worthiness. They are expecting to expand their offerings to local business and prospective entrepreneurs in the tri-county service area.

"We are looking forward to future workshops that will be open to the community as a whole. We appreciate the focus the SBA is placing on serving rural communities and underrepresented populations," Todd said.

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday he had discussed new military aid for Ukraine with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone conversation.

"In our new call, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and I discussed the next military aid package for Ukraine," Kuleba tweeted.

During the talks, the Ukrainian and the U.S. parties also coordinated their positions on further sanctions which will be imposed on Russia over its conflict with Ukraine, Kuleba said.

He also thanked the United States for its "unwavering support" for Ukraine.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Joe Biden said his administration would provide Ukraine with an additional 800 million U.S. dollars worth of military aid due to what Washington anticipated to be a "wider assault" by Russia in eastern Ukraine.
The American Red Cross is helping three people by providing financial assistance for immediate needs such as food, clothing and shelter, along with referrals to much-needed resources.
The newest Orangeburg County magistrate is James W. Rickenbacker.

Im grateful to have the opportunity to offer my services in this position, the 37-year-old said Tuesday.

Rickenbacker took his magistrates oath at the Orangeburg County Courthouse. His wife, Donessa, held his Bible and their daughter Zoie was nearby.

Orangeburg County Chief Magistrate Derrick Dash noted that Rickenbacker replaces the late Jacob Gillens, who was a part-time magistrate.

Magistrate Valerie Lawrence has been filling that position since Gillens death.

Lawrence has since taken a full-time magistrates position, following the retirement of Magistrate Sam Daily.

Rickenbacker studied at Florida A&M University, and noted his academic background in criminal justice.

For the past 10 years, Rickenbacker has worked in advocacy positions at CASA/Family Systems and serves on the board of trustees at Orangeburg County First Steps.

In remarks made after taking his oath, Rickenbacker spoke to the dozens of people who gathered for the ceremony, saying, I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for allowing all of us to be here today and placing me in this role.

Rickenbacker also expressed appreciation for Gov. Henry McMasters decision to appoint him to the position and for the recommendations of both Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, and Sen. Vernon Stephens, D-Bowman.

Rickenbacker is the son of former Orangeburg County Council Chairman John Rickenbacker and Hazel Rickenbacker. He thanked his parents and Dash for their guidance and leadership.

Everyone in this room I consider to be family and for you to take a few minutes of your day just to come witness this, it just means the world to me, he said.

Im just overwhelmed, he added, noting that some of his teachers, church family and other community supporters were in attendance.

It just goes to the old adage, It takes a village  so thank you for my village, he said.

Dash offered a bit of candid advice to the new magistrate.

A few words of wisdom: You will inherit more sisters and brothers, cousins and nieces and nephews than you can ever imagine, he said with a laugh.

You wont see them at the family reunion and you wont see them at church, but theyre going to know you. So just be prepared to have them call your name, Judge Rickenbacker is my uncle or cousin, he said.

Youll really enjoy this job, Dash said.

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD

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NORTH  Mayor Julius Jones refused a public comment from a citizen during the regular North Town Council meeting on Monday evening, April 11, because the citizen did not write down that he was going to speak on a topic directly related to the agenda.

Signing up for public comments requires that a citizen show that he or she is speaking about a topic directly related to the agenda or under consideration from a previous council meeting. This is according to a policy and ordinance that was effective March 14, 2016, from a previous administration. The agenda was posted over 24 hours before the meeting at North Town Hall, according to several sources.

If a person wishes to speak on a matter unrelated to an agenda item or previously discussed topic, they must submit a request in writing to the town clerk 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Shortly before the meeting was adjourned, Jones said, We have a sign-in for public comments, but the topic (the citizen wrote) says general. If you read the guidelines, it does not apply.

According to the policy, citizens must submit in writing to the town clerk prior to the meeting if they have a topic unrelated to the upcoming agenda or unrelated to a topic under consideration from a previous meeting. This policy is usually printed on the back of every agenda handed out at each meeting and has been done so for a little over six years.

Former Councilwoman Paige Jeffcoat, who resigned almost a month ago, stated in a previous article in The T&D that the towns public comments policy during meetings needs to change. No discussion of her resignation or the upcoming special election to replace her was done during Mondays meeting.

If you (citizens) have an issue that you wish to address, please go to the meeting and sign in, stating that you wish to speak during the meeting. You may be met with resistance, Jeffcoat stated after her resignation.

According to the February council meeting, Jeffcoat, who was still on council at the time, stated one of her constituents had been having trouble getting on the meeting agenda to discuss a land issue.

Jeffcoat asked Jones publicly during the February meeting why a citizens inquiries about getting on an agenda for a council meeting were not being answered.

Jones stated, We should not discuss this ... during open session. It should be discussed during a closed (executive) session.

Councilwoman Wanda Whetstone said that a citizen just needs to contact the town hall prior to a meeting to get on the agenda.

Jeffcoat alleged that the citizen had called multiple times and was not placed on the agenda.

Yet another citizen interrupted Monday nights meeting to ask a question about water quality. Jones asked rhetorically, May I finish, please?

This was not during the public comments part of the meeting, and the citizen was not adhering to policy and possibly parliamentary procedure.

Approximately 10 citizens showed up to the meeting Monday night where usually there have only been one or two during this year.

A television news reporter from a news station in Columbia came to the meeting, recorded it and was observed going toward the council chamber table at the end of the meeting to introduce herself to Jones and potentially ask him some questions.

Jones was observed walking away from the reporter quickly after she introduced herself. Jones did not say anything to her, and the reporter just stood there. Jones was unable to be asked additional questions by The T&D immediately following the meeting either. He rushed out of the council chambers and did not speak with citizens either.

Jones, during the meeting, however, did mention municipal and water and sewer budgets totaling over 1 million.

He said state Rep. Russell Ott had been scheduled to attend this meeting, as he had at a previous meeting, to discuss the American Rescue Plan, but Ott did not attend.

Jones also said that Comporium will be digging to put in fiber-optic cables in the town.

My understanding is that many people in the county were unable to get access to fiber-optic cable, Jones added.

He said the new cables, once placed, will allow students to better do their work over the internet and for telehealth video conferencing among other things.

Jones also discussed water department issues.

Our water tank is scheduled for cleaning in mid-April. They will be here in seven to 10 business days, Jones said. This is regular, routine maintenance of the water tank.

Approximately mid-meeting, still regarding water issues, council went into executive session to discuss a contractual matter with the OCAB Water Assistance program. No motions or decisions regarding this upon return to regular session.

In other business:

 Jones, in regular session, brought up parks and recreation issues as well. Chips have been ordered and were scheduled to arrive in March. They will be here in mid-April, Jones said. Councilman Jeff Washington said they will be installing a new lock on the womens bathroom at one of the facilities in town.

 Councilwoman Jennifer Williams stated she had recently looked at the flooding situation in North after the recent bad storms and had contacted officials in Orangeburg with reports regarding the flooding.

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COLUMBIA  A judge ruled Thursday that a lawsuit brought by four death row inmates challenging South Carolina's execution methods can move forward as the state attempts to carry out its first execution in more than a decade.

Circuit Judge Jocelyn Newman agreed to a request by the prisoners' lawyers to closely examine officials claims that they cant secure lethal injection drugs, leaving the electric chair and the firing squad as the only options for capital punishment.

Attorneys for the inmates, who have largely exhausted their appeals, argued that dying by gunshot or electrocution would be a brutal process which violates a state ban on cruel, corporal and unusual punishments, and that prison officials have shown little proof they can't get the drugs needed to carry out lethal injections instead.

The decision comes a week after the state Supreme Court scheduled the April 29 execution of Richard Bernard Moore, who has spent more than two decades on death row after being convicted of the 1999 killing of convenience store clerk James Mahoney in Spartanburg.

Moore, 57, is also first state prisoner to face the choice of execution methods after a law went into effect last year making electrocution the default and giving inmates the option to face three prison workers with rifles instead when lethal injection isn't an option. State law requires him to make that choice by Friday.

Lawyers for the state, who wanted the case dismissed, argued that neither electrocution nor the firing squad are cruel, corporal or unusual forms of punishment, noting the long history of both methods across the country.

Grayson Lambert, representing Gov. Henry McMaster, said the judge shouldn't let the prisoners continue to extend their legal challenges to stall their executions as prison officials try to carry out the new law.

Its telling that in every case where there is a plaintiff challenging the method, he always says the method he is facing is worse, Lambert said.

Newman previously denied a request last year by two death row prisoners, Freddie Owens and Brad Sigmon, seeking to block their scheduled executions with similar arguments. Those executions were later halted by the state Supreme Court because prisons officials had yet to set up a firing squad.

If executed as scheduled, Moore would be the first person put to death in the state since 2011. His attorneys are also asking a federal judge to halt Moores execution and declare both the electric chair and firing squad unconstitutional under federal law, among other legal challenges.

Moore's lawyers have asked the state Supreme Court stop the execution given the ongoing litigation. The high court has yet to rule on the request.

South Carolina is one of eight states to still use the electric chair and one of four to allow a firing squad, according to the Washington-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center.

There are 35 people, all men, currently on South Carolina's death row.

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(TBTCO) - Thi truong chung khoan van chua thoat khoi xu huong ieu chinh giam trong 2 phien sau ky nghi le keo dai. Tuy nhien, nhieu nhan inh eu cho thay, thi truong thang 5 ang uoc ky vong se thoat Sell in May (ban thao thang 5), khi mat bang gia a giam sau
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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday held a phone conversation with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son over bilateral ties.

China and Vietnam are close neighbors and both of them are pursuing a socialist path, Wang noted.

In a time of unprecedented global changes, a once-in-a-century pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, the two countries need to give full play to the political advantages of the two parties and two countries, and carry forward their traditional friendship of "comrades and brothers," said Wang.

The two countries need to run their own things well while maintaining the momentum for development and the revitalization, Wang said, adding they also need to strengthen strategic communication and make new contribution to safeguarding regional peace and stability.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that China will donate 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to ASEAN members within the year, Wang said.

China is ready to continue to provide Vietnam with anti-pandemic assistance, including COVID-19 vaccines, medical supplies and COVID-19 drugs, while pushing for early delivery of assistance to Vietnamese people's livelihood, Wang said.

Wang called for efforts from both sides to strengthen joint prevention and control efforts in border port areas to ensure the safety of people at border ports and goods exported to China.

Wang also expressed hope that the two countries launch more cross-border railway services, promote connections with the new western land-sea corridor, and build a "green passage" with smoother logistics for high-quality Vietnamese agricultural products exported to China.

At present, the situation in the South China Sea has remained generally stable with the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, Wang said, adding that it is precisely some forces outside the region with ulterior motives who are anxious that the South China Sea will not be chaotic.

It serves the common interests of China and Vietnam to maintain peace in the South China Sea, Wang said, noting that it is necessary to give full play to the role of the land boundary negotiations and the three maritime working groups, push for substantive progress in demarcating the waters outside the mouth of the Beibu Gulf and joint development in the South China Sea, and avoid unilateral actions that may complicate the situation.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, Wang said, calling for relevant parties to take this opportunity to reach an early agreement on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, so as to provide a more solid guarantee for the long-term stability of the South China Sea.

Wang also expressed hope that Vietnam will play an active and constructive role in this regard.

For his part, Son extended congratulations on China's successful holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and wished the 20th national congress of the Communist Party of China a full success.

Always regarding the relationship with China as a top priority of its foreign policy, Vietnam, he said, is willing to strengthen strategic communication with China, consolidate political mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and push for continuous development of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Expressing his gratitude for China's vigorous support to Vietnam in fighting the pandemic, he said Vietnam understands and respects China's COVID-19 prevention policy, and expects the two countries to continue to adopt flexible and effective measures to ensure the safety against COVID-19 and the smooth operation of ports.

Against the backdrop of complex international and regional changes, Vietnam is ready to work with China to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, reach a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea at an early date and maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.

He expressed the hope that substantive progress will be made in the consultations of the three maritime working groups of the two sides, with the demarcation of the waters outside the mouth of the Beibu Gulf to be promoted as a priority.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue. Wang said the Ukraine issue has once again made Asian countries realize that maintaining peace and stability is precious and indulging in group confrontation will lead to endless risks.

The United States tries to create regional tension and provoke confrontation by pushing the "Indo-Pacific Strategy," which will seriously damage the hard-won peaceful development in the region and seriously erode the regional cooperation structure centered on ASEAN, he said.

We cannot let the Cold War mentality return to the region and the tragedy of Ukraine be repeated around us, Wang said.

Noting that both China and Vietnam are socialist countries, he said that China is willing to strengthen unity and cooperation with Vietnam, resist external risks, cope with the spillover impact of the Ukraine crisis on the region, and play an active role in maintaining regional peace and stability.

Son said that Vietnam welcomes China's contribution to promoting peace talks, ending conflicts and preventing humanitarian crises.

Vietnam maintains that all relevant parties should abide by the UN Charter and international law, and seek a long-term solution to differences on the basis of respecting the lawful rights and interests and interests of all parties.

Vietnam shares many similarities with China in its position and hopes to continue communication with China on the Ukrainian issue, Son said.
An abortion clinic is set to open in Casper this summer.

The clinic would be the only facility to offer surgical abortions in Wyoming, and opponents have begun to organize against it.

Surgical abortions can end a pregnancy further in its term than abortions by medication. A Jackson doctor is currently the only provider of medical abortions in Wyoming.

The Casper clinics Second Street facility is still under construction, but its founder says it should be staffed and ready to open by the summer if all goes according to plan.

Its operated by Circle of Hope, a national health care nonprofit with a mission of providing reproductive care to underserved, rural areas. In addition to performing abortions, the clinic plans to offer family planning, OB/GYN and gender-affirming services.

Casper will be the companys first location, but founder Julie Burkhart said the organization is planning on expanding across the country. The nonprofit lists a Washington, D.C. address on its website, but registered the Casper address with the Wyoming Secretary of States Office earlier this year.

Casper is centrally located, so this clinic will be as accessible as possible to the majority of Wyomingites ... including people in the rural parts of the state, Burkhart said.

Its also positioned to be accessible to people in nearby areas of South Dakota and Nebraska, she said.

Protests planned

Abortion is a divisive topic in Wyoming  in this most recent legislative session, lawmakers passed three abortion-related bills through the committee stage, one of which became law. That bill would ban abortion in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

The clinic is working with a community advisory board of Wyoming residents from local churches, tribes and health care.

There is a robust, diverse community of people in Wyoming who believe that people should be able access the health care they need, including abortion, said Rev. Leslie Kee of Caspers Unitarian Universalist Church, who sits on the committee.

Opening this clinic is essential for those across our state who currently find that care is out of reach, including people living in rural areas, members of Native tribes, and those with low incomes.

But others in Casper and around the state oppose the clinics opening.

I dont think theres a market for it, said Michelle St. Louis, an anti-abortion Casper resident. We all know teenagers who chose to go through with their pregnancy, its not their first inclination to get an abortion. Most women dont want to do that.

Several local residents are planning a prayer event outside the facility on April 21, and a life chain demonstration the following Sunday.

A larger coalition from across Wyoming is coordinating a trip to Casper for the clinics anticipated opening in June, Park County Right to Life President Tim Lasseter said.

The groups are planning a peaceful protest for the opening, Lasseter said, reaching out to churches and anti-abortion groups around the state.

We expect there to be a large turnout, he said. Were not looking for confrontation, were just looking to let people know we disagree.

Marti Halverson, president of Right to Life Wyoming, said the statewide group is planning multiple tracks of opposition to the clinic.

The organization has some money were willing to put behind the effort, she said Thursday, but declined to specify what members were planning.

You have 53 life-friendly legislators, a governor who says hes pro-life, Halverson said. This should be shut down tomorrow.

Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Burns, opposes abortion and said the practice shouldnt be used as birth control. Bouchard himself was adopted as a baby, and said that since Americans are leaving the country to adopt children, there should be no reason to abort a fetus that could be adopted in the U.S.

Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, is also an abortion opponent. Casper is the wrong place for an abortion clinic, he stressed.

"The D.C. left-wing interests bringing this to Wyoming are wrongly and totally inconsistent with our Wyoming values," he said.

Burkhart says shes no stranger to opposition  shes operated reproductive health clinics in Washington, Oklahoma and Kansas. Her former boss, nationally known abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, was murdered in 2009 at his Wichita church.

We do recognize that there are people in Wyoming who are opposed to what were doing, including many in the state legislature, Burkhart said.

We hope that those who oppose our work will do so peacefully and without harassing or intimidating people seeking or providing reproductive health care.

Existing services

Surgical abortions can be performed later in a pregnancy than medical ones, which are limited to those who have been pregnant for 10 or fewer weeks.

Until recently, one doctor in Jackson did provide surgical abortions  though state health department statistics from recent years show very few were actually performed. But after the doctor sold his clinic to St. Johns Health in 2020 and resigned as a hospital contractor in October, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reported that hes barred from practicing there by a non-compete clause in the sale.

Another Jackson-based doctor is now the states sole abortion provider, though her office only offers medical abortions.

Because of legal restrictions and other barriers to abortion access, people sometimes need access to abortion care after that (10-week) period, Burkhart said.

Chelseas Fund, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance to Wyomingites seeking abortions, has assisted 63 people so far in 2022.

Their money helps cover the cost of the abortion medication, which starts at $350 for a mail-in dose. Nurse Cristina Gonzalez, who works with the fund, said they dont turn anyone away who needs help.

(The Casper clinic) would increase access because its providing options to individuals in the state, not overwhelming one resource, Gonzalez said. Now, if youre outside that 10-week time frame, youre looking at having to go to Colorado.

A Wyoming law passed in 2019 prohibits all abortions after viability, the point when a fetus could survive outside the womb.

According to the health department, 91 abortions were performed by Wyoming providers in 2020  the first full year the state required providers to report statistics.

One of those was reported as a surgical dilation procedure. Eighty-eight were medical, and the other two did not specify the method.

Among those who received abortions in 2020, 48 (or 53%) were already mothers to at least one child. Four had four or more children.

Every abortion during that year was performed before 10 weeks, though one did not report. More than half were performed before reaching six weeks of pregnancy.

Gonzalez said most of the people Chelseas Fund helps are single working mothers who already have children.

Follow city and crime reporter Ellen Gerst on Twitter at @ellengerst.

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The man had already left one voicemail on Sen. Larry Hicks personal cell phone. By the second message, the Republican senator from Baggs could tell that the caller was crazy mad.

Do not. Do not. DO NOT f*** with our Second Amendment, the voice in the message said. This is not the place to f*** about with our Second Amendment rights. God-given rights. Were going to vote you out.

Hicks wasnt shocked by the threatening call.

This is their intimidation tactic, he said.

At the time, the Wyoming Gun Owners had come out in opposition of a pro gun rights bill Hicks was sponsoring. Senate File 102  Second Amendment Protection Act, which later became law, prohibits state officials from enforcing federal firearms regulations. The gun owners group, founded more than a decade ago by Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, was supporting a similar bill, Senate File 87  Second Amendment Preservation Act. But that bill had a big distinction  it let residents sue cops  and it failed during the Wyoming Legislatures 2022 Budget Session.

Hicks had drawn WyGOs ire in years past. But hed never experienced the flood of messages that came when his bill was being worked in committee.

There were over 100 text messages on my phone, Hicks said. Thirty-some phone messages on my cell. Half a dozen at home. My staff said there were three or four at work, and a couple on staff cell phones.

It is an all-out campaign, he added. Emails, phone messages, text messages, anything they can get their hands on.

The deluge directed at Hicks was orchestrated by a group thats repeatedly pushed controversial gun bills at the Wyoming Legislature. Operated by far-right Iowan activist Aaron Dorr, the organization campaigned against lawmakers it labeled as moderate in the 2020 Republican primaries. The group drew outrage from top lawmakers for its campaign tactics and were investigated by the Wyoming Attorney General for failing to disclose its donors. A federal judge ultimately ruled that the Wyoming election law Wyoming Gun Owners was accused of breaking was itself unconstitutional.

Theres been a spate of media attention about the Gun Owners-aligned groups, which operate in a dozen states, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast, No Compromise, that spotlighted the Dorr family and their collaborators, who opponents describe as scam artists.

Although the gun bill the group backed in Wyoming this year fell flat, WyGOs role and influence in Wyoming politics do not appear to have diminished. Some observers say lawmakers are afraid of and beholden to the group, for fear of ending up a target. Other lawmakers who have been targeted told WyoFile its members have them afraid for their lives.

Im concerned about (WyGO) having incredibly unhealthy followers that are rabid, said one lawmaker who had heard the voicemail left on Hicks cell.

That guy is not well, the lawmaker said of the caller. That guy is unhinged. If he was in the Capitol, how would we feel about that?

The lawmaker asked to remain anonymous out of fear for their physical safety. Specifically, the lawmaker worries about the prospect of a shooting at the State Capitol.

The lawmaker described a situation in which a fire alarm sounded in the statehouse during a previous legislative session. The individual wouldnt leave the building for fear that it was a setup, designed to herd senators and representatives toward an awaiting shooter.

The potential is easily there, the lawmaker said.

Dorr, who traveled to Cheyenne a couple times during the 2022 budget session, declined to engage in hypotheticals about his members conduct when WyoFile spoke with him at the Capitol.

Ive never had a gun owner  one of our members  go to an area beyond aggressive support for gun rights, he said.

Rep. Bob Wharff, R-Evanston, who WyGO endorsed, said its unfair to fault the organization for the actions of its members.

When somebody is a member, they pay a membership fee, Wharff said. Aaron (Dorr) is the one that speaks for Wyoming Gun Owners.

Wharff has had to navigate similar waters, he said. Formerly the executive director of Wyoming Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, he once had to call and apologize to then Gov. Dave Freudenthal for an inappropriate call that one of his members made.

Hicks wasnt passively inundated with messages. He sent some of his own. Bouchard shared a text thread with WyoFile, which shows the Baggs senator sent him 11 messages in a 15-minute span. The messages ranged from Why do you hate cops to Run a good sapa bill to Why did you molest a child  an apparent reference to reports that Bouchard impregnated a 14-year-old girl when he was 18.

Hicks defended his actions.

I didnt send 300 emails out and give everybody his phone number, he said. I texted him directly.

Hicks experience as a WyGO target appears to be the exception, not the norm. Other lawmakers who have been WyGO targets said they were not subject to the same all-out communications campaign. Former four-term Sen. Michael Von Flatern, R-Gillette, was a Gun Owners punching bag before WyGO-supported Sen. Troy McKeown, R-Gillette, defeated him in the 2020 GOP primary. Even though WyGO-funded YouTube campaign advertisements leading up to the primary election listed Von Flaterns cell phone number and encouraged members to ring him, no one dialed.

They never called me, Von Flatern said. Aaron Dorr used Facebook and said how no-good I was, and blah blah blah, because I wouldnt back his quest for free guns for everybody.

Von Flatern blames his loss on WyGOs role in the 2020 elections.

They have clout, and they use it in the wrong way, he said. I stood up against them and I got kicked out. They wanted a Trump person in there, and I was never going to be a Trump person. I have too much thinking to do.

The no-compromise strategy WyGO employs is unapologetically brash and confrontational. After the Legislatures 2022 budget session wrapped up, Dorr took to Facebook to report on how it went. He dubbed Hicks and two other senators RINO traitors  the acronym standing for Republican in name only  for pushing SF 102, which he described as a destruction of the Second Amendment.

The bill Hicks sponsored and that Gov. Mark Gordon signed into law prohibits state officials from enforcing federal firearms regulations. But it does not allow residents whose guns are seized by law enforcement officers to bring civil lawsuits against law enforcement agencies directly. Instead, it leaves enforcement to county prosecuting attorneys.

Think about your county prosecutor, and ask yourself if you think theres even a chance, even a chance that they would bring the county sheriffs department into court for a (Second Amendment Protection Act) violation, Dorr said in his legislative recap video. You know as well as I do, county prosecutors, county sheriffs  these people are friends.

Hicks explained why his bill does not allow citizens to sue cops.

Think of your smaller communities around Wyoming, he said. Some officer inadvertently confiscates a firearm in a domestic violence situation. Under their law (the failed SF 87), (Wyoming residents) could personally sue him and then go after his employer for other expenses.

Hicks said he never considered giving into the pressure from WyGO to amend his bill.

If you fold, they own you, he said. And what message does that show? In a leadership position I have to stand up for the institution.

Hicks said there are fellow lawmakers who have folded to WyGOs pressure to keep a target off their backs.

Senators Bouchard, McKeown, Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, Tim French, R-Powell, Tom James, R-Green River, and Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, cosponsored WyGOs bill and voted for its introduction. Non-sponsor senators Affie Ellis, R-Cheyenne, Wendy Shuler, R-Evanston, and Charles Scott, R-Casper, also voted for introduction.

Former Rep. Dan Kirkbride, R-Chugwater, said he sensed that the WyGO pressure was getting through to his counterparts during his eight years in office.

I think people in the Legislature begin to look over their shoulder, thinking, Well, if I dont vote for this theyre going to come after me, he said. Theres almost an extortion to it. A bullying element.

Kirkbride, whos a rancher and gun owner himself, was defeated in 2020. WyGO-endorsed pastor and current Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, edged him in the Republican primary by an 8% margin. Dorrs group ran ads against Kirkbride, branding him as a gun-control fanatic.

I was in office for eight years, and a county commissioner for eight years before that  and in all that time nothing was said, Kirkbride said of his gun record. But then for 33 days right before the election, I was public enemy No. 1. It was extremely effective. Youve got to give them credit, it worked great.

Hicks is a 12-year Senate veteran whos up for reelection this year. Having just notched a victory over the Gun Owners by successfully pushing SF 102, he is confident a Dorr-backed challenger will vie for his seat. A self-described gun guy who said he owns dozens of firearms and travels the world to trophy hunt, Hicks scoffed at the gun grabber smear campaign that he expects is coming.

Yeah, Im a gun grabber, Hicks jokingly said. Thats right, I open my closet and there are so many guns in there I cant ever figure out what one to grab.

Im not going to back down from doing the right thing, he added. Ive got faith in the people of the state of Wyoming, and if Im wrong, Ive done the right thing.

WyGO champions in the statehouse like Wharff have stood behind the tactics and rhetoric the Dorrs and their members deploy.

We are fighting a battle, we are at war, Wharff said. These people are attacking our Second Amendment rights. If we dont stand up and push back  and I honestly believe this  if we dont defend our Second Amendment rights, all our other rights go out.

But those strategies earn quick rebukes from other fixtures at the Wyoming Legislature. Longtime lobbyist Marguerite Herman said the tactics shes seen from WyGO stand apart from those employed by any other lobbyist or advocacy organization.

Its just pure muscle and intimidation: Its crude, its artless, theres no finesse to it at all, Herman said.

Is it effective? she asked. Well, to the extent that legislators truly believe that this will jeopardize their reelection effort and to the extent that they let (the WyGO threat) guide them in what theyre doing.

The Legislature, she said, isnt doomed to a system where might makes right.

People have to be willing to not be elected. We need people who will say, Im not going to compromise my principles, and then hope that approach wins elections, Herman said. I really hesitate to castigate the electorate, but they should be better informed. They should check things out before they take them hook, line and sinker.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

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University of Wyoming researchers are developing a COVID-19 antigen test thats more sensitive than any rapid test on the market  18 to 32 times more sensitive, according to the researchers estimates.

UW chemical engineering department director Patrick Johnson, UW assistant chemical engineering professor Karen Wawrousek and UW chemical engineering student Moein Mohammadi, along with researchers at the National University of Ireland in Galway, contributed to research and development of the test.

Antigen tests look for molecules on the surface of the virus. Results come back within hours, making these tests much faster than polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which detect the genetic material of the virus. But theres a trade-off for that fast turnaround  antigen tests arent as accurate as PCR tests.

The test that UW researchers have been working on with their partners at the University of Ireland might be an answer to that problem.

The test detects the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, which is the protein that binds to cells and facilitates virus invasion. The researchers developed something called a surface-enhanced Raman scattering immunoassay to detect these proteins, according to the March paper they published in the American Chemical Society journal.

Raman scattering (also known as Raman spectroscopy) is a chemical analysis technique that reveals a molecules structural fingerprint so that researchers can figure out what it is. A surface-enhanced Raman scattering is just more sensitive than standard Raman spectroscopy. That enhancement can allow researchers to detect single molecules. And the immunoassay  assay, for short  is the process that allows researchers to detect the presence or quantity of a protein like the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein.

The design of the assay and detection process make the test more sensitive. The paper states that the assay can detect the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein at the femtogram level (a femtogram is one hundred trillionth of a gram).

Thats a lot more sensitive than commercial lateral flow assays  the rapid tests that use a paper device to detect SARS-CoV-2. Many of the lateral flow antigen tests for COVID detect the virus nucleocapsid protein rather than the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The nucleocapsid protein is also on the surface of the virus.

Negative results from current rapid tests arent very reliable. They are more accurate when testing people with higher viral loads. If you test positive for COVID with current rapid tests, its pretty likely that the result is accurate. But just because you test negative doesnt mean you arent infected; it might just mean the test wasnt tenacious enough to find those spike proteins in a sea of other molecules. The new test is much more granular in its detection of the specific SAR-CoV-2 protein.

On top of that, the team can quickly adjust the assay to detect new COVID variants. And the test allows multiplexing, meaning it could be developed as a rapid test that identifies not just COVID but also several other respiratory viruses.

That might sound complicated, but the result is a simple at-home or point-of-care test that can turn around highly accurate results in about 30 minutes.

Thats a lot of improvement all in one test. But the work isnt over yet.

The published paper describes just the first version of the test. But the researchers looked at this first version and saw ways to improve it, so theyre going back to the topic to build on their research and publish a second version of the test. The team at UW will be working on improving the assay.

The test hasnt been used for clinical samples yet, nor does it have the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations emergency use authorization approval at this point.

Wawrousek said the team is ultimately interested in exploring factors that impact the sensitivity, stability and cost of the test. They hope their research can be used as a model for the development of other diagnostic tests.

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Each year in the spring Jews around the world celebrate and observe the Passover holiday. Having a Passover seder dinner in which the story of the Exodus from Egypt in the Bible is recounted is the holidays familiar well-established custom and begins Friday night. Passover can be a holiday to renew a commitment to freedom to which all Americans of good faith can relate.

On Passover, there are two distinct threads. The holiday is called Pesach in the Bible in Hebrew and is therefore the only Jewish holiday known by two names. The two narratives are merged into one, a particularistic tradition and a universal one.

The Passover drama is for everyone because American freedom is derived in part from the Bible story of overthrowing tyranny and leaving Egypt for the Promised Land. The first colonists who arrived on these shores in the 17th century came for religious and economic freedom. Freedom was in the air and in the bloodstream of the American people always. The famous quote Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to G-d was first recorded in Massachusetts in 1688. This maxim is most often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, but it was Benjamin Franklin who first proposed it for the Great Seal of the United States in August 1776.

What is further fascinating was that Franklin wanted to make the Exodus, with Moses standing on the shore with his hand over the sea to overwhelm Pharaoh, as the first seal of the United States, but we went with the Bald Eagle holding arrows in one set of talons and an olive branch in the other. But what Jefferson did say is this: Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Retelling the Passover story each year provides eternal vigilance for the Jewish People, and freedom from the tyranny of slavery in Egypt under Pharaoh can be a source of inspiration to all Americans.

In Exodus before the Jews are even set free by Pharaoh, we learn how to observe the Passover holiday, including eating matzah and not eating unleavened bread. Strangely, what we learn first about though is the Pesach offering. Speak to the entire assembly of Israel take a lamb, examine it, collect all the people, slaughter the lamb and eat it. Take the blood of the lamb or kid and place it on the two doorposts and lintels of your houses. G-d says I will pass through the land of Egypt and slay every first born of Egypt, i.e. I will pass over the homes of the Jews, hence we also call this holiday Passover, even though the Torah calls it Pesach.

So far so good, any person, Jew or Gentile can get behind the idea that if you follow G-ds decrees, G-d will spare you and keep you alive. But then only a few short verses later, the same event gets repeated with a slightly different twist. The Jewish people will arrive in the Land of Israel, and they will need to retell this story. G-d speaks to both Moses and Aaron and says to them: This is the decree of the Pesach offering, no alienated person may eat from it. The exact Hebrew words for alienated person is ben-nay-char, which typically means someone who is not Jewish. Passover and leaving Egypt is for everyone, but only Pesach is for the Jews.

Freedom is the gold standard of human existence. But not everybody needs to become Jewish. Thats only for those who really want to be Jews and choose Judaism. Today what we have is a remembrance of Pesach by placing a roasted shank bone on our seder plate and referring to the Pesach offering when we read the Haggadah on seder night. The combined holiday of Passover/Pesach is a holiday for the Jews about freedom that can also be accessed and appreciated by all.

Daniel Wiseman is a resident of Casper, Wyoming, and the assistant rabbi of Temple Beth El in Casper. He wrote and edited for the Casper Star-Tribune from 1987 to 1994. For more information about the Jewish community in Casper, please go to www.jewishcasper.org.

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Two police officers were among four people injured after a gunman opened fire at a bar in Cunupia early yesterday morning.

The officers had responded to a report of a large gathering at the bar and minutes later a man fired at the officers and patrons.

The shooter ran off and escaped.

The incident occurred at around 4.40 a.m., at Big Timerz Bar, on the Southern Main Road.
 Flash

The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Friday released a report titled "Increasing Racial Discrimination Against Asians Exposes Overall Racist Nature of U.S. Society."

The following is the full text of the report.

Increasing Racial Discrimination Against Asians Exposes Overall Racist Nature of U.S. Society

The China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS)

April, 2022

For years, Asian Americans have been labeled as "the model minority" by the mainstream society of the United States, but this labeling creates only an illusion that there is no racial discrimination against them. Incidents that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic, such as some U.S. politicians' unscrupulous racist remarks and the wave of harassment and attacks on Asian-Americans, further proved this point. Recently, shootings in Atlanta have set off a new wave of fear among Asian Americans. On March 16, 2021, the shootings at three spas in Atlanta, United States, resulted in the death of eight people, including six women of Asian origin. This tragedy is the consequence of the mounting anti-Asian hate in the United States.

In the United States, there was a continued rise in the anti-Asian incidents during the period when the coronavirus pandemic ran rampant in the country. According to a report published on Nov. 18, 2021 by the national coalition Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate, from March 19, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021, a total of 10,370 hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islander people were reported to the organization, and a majority of the incidents took place in spaces open to the public like public streets and businesses. Statistics released by the New York City Police Department on Dec. 8, 2021 showed that anti-Asian hate crimes in the city rose by 361 percent from that of 2020. Some media commented that the actual number of hate crimes against Asian Americans in New York was much higher than the number announced above because many victims did not make any police reports. According to the public opinion survey jointly conducted by The Economist weekly magazine and YouGov in March 2021, 70 percent of respondents believed that Asian Americans were seriously discriminated against in the United States, and suffered more from racism than African Americans. Thomas Sowell, a U.S. scholar, writes in his Ethnic America: A History, "Color has obviously played a major role in determining the fate of many Americans." This irrefutable truth of American society has been confirmed again. The cold reality reflects that the United States still takes pride in recognizing itself as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant country and that Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans are subject to discrimination and violations in various forms, and cannot fully enjoy their human rights.

1. Asian Americans Facing Rise in Racist Attacks Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic, a serious public health crisis in the United States, has exposed various racial discrimination problems existing in the society. Black and Hispanic Americans are the direct victims of the pandemic, as their infection and mortality rates are much higher than those of the white population. Asian Americans, however, became the indirect victims, because of veiled or explicit racist words and deeds toward them amid the pandemic. The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) released a survey, showing that compared with 2019, hate crime cases in the United States decreased by 7 percent in 2020, but those against Asian Americans increased by 149 percent. In the first quarter of 2021, violent crimes against Asian Americans in the 15 large cities in the United States increased by 169 percent compared with the same period in 2020.

In the past two years, shocking racist attacks against Asian Americans have occurred frequently in the United States.

-- On March 14, 2020, inside a Texas supermarket, a man stabbed an Asian family in an attempt to kill them, including their children aged two and six.

-- On July 14, 2020, in New York City, an 89-year-old Chinese American woman was slapped in the face by two male strangers on the street, and when she tried to escape, the two strangers set her clothes on fire from behind.

-- On January 28, 2021, an 84-year-old Thai man died from injuries after being viciously slammed onto the ground by a man in San Francisco.

-- On March 16, 2021, Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, opened fire in three Asian Massage shops and spas in Atlanta with a gun, killing a total of 8 people, including 6 Asian women.

-- On August 30, 2021, an elderly Filipino woman was pushed down the stairs by a white man in Rego Park Subway Station in Queens, New York, resulting in her sustaining serious facial and physical injuries.

-- On November 17, 2021, three Chinese American high school students in Philadelphia were attacked when they took the subway home from school. The local police said, "The victims were picked because they were Asian, obviously."

...

The New York Times published an article on April 3, 2021, which was entitled "Swelling Anti-Asian Violence: Who Is Being Attacked Where." The article started by pointing out the following facts: "Over the last year, in an unrelenting series of episodes with clear racial animus, people of Asian descent have been pushed, beaten, kicked, spat on, and verbally abused. Homes and businesses have been vandalized." According to the different forms of racist attacks on Asian Americans, the article uses three categories to sort and group the cases it collects, namely: "Beaten, pepper-sprayed, spat on," "Called names and racial slurs," and "Homes and businesses vandalized." The cases under the first category involve the acts of spitting on Asian Americans or using pepper spray and physical violence against them, and those under the second category are mainly subject to racial slurs and derogatory language. The third category groups are cases of malicious damage to the homes, shops, and other properties of Asian Americans, such as vandalizing and writing graffiti. This article that aims to reveal the Asian Americans' sufferings in the past year can hardly be called all-inclusive, but these exposed racist acts do arouse attention and protests from the U.S. society. Unfortunately, attacks against Asian Americans continue to occur, with vulnerable groups such as women and the elderly as the key targets.

2. Racism Against Asian Americans: Not Unique to the Coronavirus Pandemic

For a long time, racial discrimination against Asian Americans has not attracted enough attention in the United States. One reason is that the racial conflict between blacks and whites has been society's principal focus of attention, and the other reason is that the mainstream society always tends to cover up the suffering of Asian Americans in U.S. history. The Associated Press once observed that "Racism against Asian Americans has long been an ugly thread in the U.S. history."

The suffering of Chinese Americans is just the epitome of the discrimination and persecution against Asian Americans. In the mid-19th century, as the then U.S. economy was in badly need of cheap laborers, Asian people started immigrating to the United States, but in the late 19th century, some politicians and media deliberately stigmatized Asian Americans as "Yellow Peril," and deluded the mainstream society into believing that they constituted "racial threat," "economic threat" and "health threat" to American whites, sparking off a surge of hatred toward Asian Americans in the United States and making them suffer from long-time prejudice, exclusion, and racial violence. In 1854, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Asian Americans were not and could not be citizens in a case, and such restrictions on Asian Americans' access to citizenship were not finally abolished until around the 1940s. The earliest record of organized violence against Asian Americans was in 1871, when a group of whites rushed into an Asian community near Los Angeles' Chinatown, shooting and hanging 21 Chinese Americans to death, burning down the community, and driving the residents out of the city. The severe prejudice against Asian Americans eventually led to the prohibition of Asian immigrants in the United States: Chinese immigrants were restricted by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; Japanese immigrants began to be restricted from 1907 to 1908; and in 1924, all Asians were forbidden to immigrate to the United States. The scapegoating of Asian Americans in a public health incident is not something new in U.S. history. For example, during the smallpox outbreak in San Francisco in the 1870s, Chinese Americans were falsely called the "culprits."

The United States has never compensated for or reflected on the sufferings it has caused to Asian Americans, and even tries its best to cover up or blur relevant facts. As such, the deep-rooted malice toward Asian Americans in U.S. society can never be eliminated. In the United States, Asian Americans are portrayed as outsiders in racial conflicts; the mainstream society denies the history of racial discrimination against Asian Americans and refuses to admit that there are racist attacks against Asian Americans at present. Erika Lee, a Chinese American historian, published her speech at the Congressional hearing on violence and discrimination against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. She said, "As shocking as these incidents are, it is so vital to understand that they are not random acts perpetrated by deranged individuals. They are an expression of our country's long history of systemic racism targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders." The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also expressed his profound concern over the rise in violence against people of Asian descent across the United States. He said, "Thousands of incidents across the past year have perpetuated a centuries-long history of intolerance, stereotyping, scapegoating, exploitation and abuse."

The racial discrimination against Asian Americans that has continued to the present time is probably a built-in and natural product of American colonialism, and it also reflects a mindset of the United States: bullying the weak. Asian Americans are in a weak position in U.S. society, which makes them vulnerable to racial attacks. Such weakness is mainly caused by the following reasons. The first one is the small population of Asian Americans in the United States. The total population of Asian Americans is about 24 million, accounting for about 6 percent of the total U.S. population, and being significantly outnumbered by whites, African Americans and Hispanics. The second reason is the huge internal differences among Asian Americans. Asian Americans include immigrants and their descendants from dozens of countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. These countries differed from one another in cultural traditions, economic status, political systems, religious customs, and languages, resulting in stark differences and disparities among Asian Americans. The third reason is that Asian Americans are never a cohesive group. Although they are perceived as Asian Americans by mainstream society, most of them think of the term as an imposed label. They simply do not agree that they belong to the same Asian ethnic group. Numerical inferiority, internal differences, and lack of coherence and political involvement make it impossible for Asian Americans to unite in resisting racial discrimination against them. Such weakness makes them more vulnerable to racist attacks.

The identification of Asian Americans in the United States makes them the target of racist exclusion. The growing racial discrimination against Asian Americans may also be related to the upsurge of xenophobia in the United States, as its mainstream society has long defined Asian Americans as "outsiders," or sometimes, as "colonial others." This definition is based on two reasons. Firstly, the growth of the Asian American population is largely due to immigration rather than natural growth, which means a large number of Asian Americans are born outside the United States. Secondly, most Asian Americans keep a certain distance from the mainstream society and culture of the United States. Therefore, xenophobic expressions such as "get out of our country," "return to your own country," "get out of here," and "you don't belong here," are frequently heard during the racist attacks against Asian Americans. Racists in the United States even regard this false identification as a reasonable support for launching racist attacks against Asian Americans, and their actions are widely recognized by U.S. society. Just as an Asian American actor named John Cho observed, "The rise in anti-Asian attacks (during the coronavirus pandemic) only reminds Asian Americans like me that our belonging is conditional. One moment we are Americans, the next we are all foreigners, who 'brought' the virus here."

3. Reasons Behind the Rising Anti-Asian Sentiment Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

(1) Some U.S. politicians' racist coronavirus attacks on China

Some U.S. politicians' manipulation of public opinion during the coronavirus pandemic is the direct cause of the increasingly rampant racial discrimination against Asian Americans. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is good at utilizing racial issues to achieve his political goals. During his four-year term of office, he repeatedly made explicitly racist remarks, resulting in mounting racial tensions in the United States. When the United States became the country hit most badly by the coronavirus due to the lack of adequate prevention and control measures, Trump, Pompeo and other U.S. politicians who were eager to shirk their responsibilities and ensure the success of the upcoming election, even attempted to make China the scapegoat by referring to the virus as "China virus" or other names that falsely accused China of being the pathogen's geographic origin, instead of using its internationally-recognized name. What they did led to a rise in racist sentiments toward Asian Americans of Chinese or other East Asian origins, making them suffer from various kinds of racist attacks featuring malicious defamation, denial of service, or brutal violence. Ms. E. Tendayi Achiume, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance once sharply pointed out that "politicians of relevant countries proactively refused to use the internationally-recognized name of the virus and deliberately replaced it with other names that linked this particular disease to a particular country or nation, which was an irresponsible and disturbing expression that came from and would give rise to racism, xenophobia, stigmatization, and exclusion of certain groups, and violence against certain groups." Faced with the rising Anti-Asian sentiments, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, also admitted that there was "no question" that the Trump administration's "damaging rhetoric" led to "elevated threats against Asian Americans." Frustratingly, when Trump left office, the U.S. government continued the manipulation of the public opinion and the act of politicizing COVID-19 origins tracing, further stoking the Anti-Asian sentiments within the United States.

(2) The effects of white supremacy

The hatred and exclusion suffered by Asian Americans during the pandemic are not very different from the long-term racial discrimination suffered by other U.S. ethnic minorities such as African Americans and Hispanics. All these problems are ultimately rooted in white supremacy that is embodied in the racial structure and social atmosphere of the United States. As Asian Americans have long been marginalized in the society, many Americans do not even realize or have the courage to admit the long-standing racial discrimination against them. The label "the model minority" has never helped Asian Americans to suffer less from the United States' systemic racism than other U.S. ethnic minorities do, and white supremacists have never shown more mercy toward "the model minority." Seventy-five percent of the attackers that have committed racial hate crimes against Asian Americans are white; hate crimes against Asians also occur most frequently in areas dominated by whites, and white politicians such as Trump and Pompeo are the ones who have first made Asian Americans the scapegoats for the pandemic. The mainstream society of the United States has long turned a deaf ear to Asian Americans' complaints of racism and discrimination. In September 2020, 164 Republican congressmen voted against the bill condemning discrimination against Asian Americans. Many vicious violent attacks against Asian Americans, such as setting a 90-year-old woman on fire, and stabbing a Chinese American man on the streets of Manhattan, were not filed as hate crimes. After the three shootings that occurred in Atlanta on March 16, 2021, Jay Baker, the spokesman of the local police office openly denied that it was a hate crime and even defended the shooter by claiming that he was having a "bad day."

(3) "The model minority" label shackling Asian Americans

In the mid and late 1960s, when African-Americans struggled to achieve civil rights equal to those of whites, a number of stories describing the success of some Asian Americans such as Japanese and Chinese Americans were published in mainstream U.S. newspapers and magazines, as the U.S. political, academic and media circles planned to label Asian Americans as "the model minority." Objectively speaking, this label was effective in reducing the long-existing stigma toward Asian Americans and praising some Asian Americans' hard work and success. Nevertheless, many in-depth analyses also reveal that this label was just a ridiculous idea invented to strengthen the U.S. racial hierarchy and rationalize its racist discrimination. For the following reasons, this seemingly glorious label actually shackled Asian Americans. To begin with, this label made the racial discrimination against Asian Americans sound far-fetched, and people started neglecting and even denying the discrimination against them. Along with the labeling, Asian Americans were stereotyped as well-educated with high incomes which deprived them of the right of enjoying favorable policies for U.S. ethnic minorities. Being labeled as a "successful minority," their economic difficulties are often overlooked. In fact, 13.5 percent of elderly Asian Americans currently live in poverty, and the proportion is much higher than the average poverty rate of the United States. Asian Americans also experience the longest average unemployment spell than other U.S. ethnic groups do, and they are obviously underrepresented in the leadership of politics, business, academia and law. Furthermore, "the model minority" label subdues the Asian Americans' resistance against racial discrimination. The U.S. mainstream media frequently describe Asian Americans as "independent, intelligent, diligent, obedient, and silent," and advocate that their cultural values are consistent with the country's Protestant ethics. Such seemingly commendatory remarks have successfully won the recognition of a considerable number of Asian Americans, making them willing to act low-key according to the expected image and behavior mode. As such, they become more tolerant toward discriminative speeches and deeds and even feel ashamed of mentioning them. Last but not least, "the model minority" label deteriorates the relationships among U.S. ethnic minorities and shifts their attention from opposing white supremacy. The act of labeling Asian Americans as "the model minority" during the African-American Civil Rights Movement, which implied criticism toward African Americans, was a policy of "divide and rule" used to contain the Civil Rights Movement. It caused acute conflicts among the U.S. ethnic minorities, making Asian Americans a common target for scorn, ridicule, etc.

(4) The antagonism between Asian Americans and other U.S. ethnic minorities

Relevant research shows that although all U.S. ethnic minorities suffer racist attacks mainly from whites, Asian Americans are more vulnerable to attacks from other ethnic minorities than African Americans and Hispanics. Seventy-five percent of attackers who committed hate crimes against Asian Americans were whites, and the remaining 25 percent were people of other ethnic minorities. This fact, to some extent, reflects the complex racial relations and conflicts within the United States. For instance, deceived by some U.S. politicians' and media's lies about the coronavirus pandemic, some African Americans mistook Asian Americans as their enemy and attacked Asian Americans to vent their anger. Such anger is also a result of the long-lasting antagonism and misunderstanding between Asian Americans and African Americans, which were created by the U.S. mainstream society's labeling of Asian Americans as "the model minority," and the two groups' differences in cultural traditions and values, their competition for jobs and other social resources, and their previous conflicts. Although both of them are victims of racial injustice in the United States, distrust between them makes Asian Americans more powerless to extricate themselves from the difficult position. In the end, it is worth noting that other U.S. ethnic groups clearly offered more support for the Black Lives Matter movement than they did for the Stop Asian Hate movement.

(5) Some U.S. politicians' actions that seriously undermine Sino-U.S. relations

In the U.S. history, the country's diplomatic relations with different countries could often determine its ways of treating its immigrants of different origins: the tension between the United States and a foreign country frequently led to discrimination and racist attacks against the immigrants from that foreign country. Such kinds of discrimination happened to German immigrants during World War I, Japanese immigrants during World War II, and immigrants from Muslim countries after the September 11 incident. The Sino-U.S. relations began to deteriorate even before the coronavirus outbreak, when the Trump administration adopted various policies to suppress China, made extreme remarks to criticize China's political system and harm China's sovereignty, launched the so-called trade war or tech war against China and attempted to decouple China and the United States. Affected by that, Chinese Americans began to encounter an increasing amount of discriminatory treatment in the United States, and the most typical example was the censorship and persecution of Chinese American intellectuals. When the coronavirus pandemic went out of control in the United States, the Trump administration continued using racist remarks to attack China as a way of covering up its ineffective epidemic response. This further worsened the Sino-U.S. relations and left the entire Asian American group, especially Chinese Americans, vulnerable to rampant racial discrimination. At present, the Biden administration still views China as a major strategic competitor, which continues stoking the anti-Asian sentiment in the United States. It can be inferred that in the post-pandemic era, even if the racial discrimination against Asian Americans may subside, the racial attacks against Chinese Americans will continue to rise. This increases our worry and requires our vigilance and the sustained attention of the international community.
Putins follower reacts to Finland and Swedens likely joining of the NATO alliance.

On Thursday the 14th of April, the deputy head of Russias safety council and a close acquaintance of the president of Russia Volodymyr Putin, Dmytro Medvedev, stated that Moscow will station nuclear and supersonic missiles in Kaliningrad  Russias enclave in the middle of Europe  if Sweden and Finland join NATO. He stated this in his Telegram-channel.

Reacting to Finland and Swedens joining of the NATO alliance  which may become the most significant strategic consequences of the war in Ukraine  Medvedev announced that this means that Russia will have gained more officially registered enemies.

If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the alliances land borders with Russia will increase more than twice. Naturally, these borders will have to be fortified, greatly increasing the strength of anti-aircraft systems, ground forces and the strength of the naval forces in the gulf of Finland. In such a case, no talks of a non-nuclear Baltic can be had  the balance must be rightened, - stated the politician, who was the president of Russia between 2008 and 2012.

From Medvedevs threats it is clear that Russia is considering the possibility of placing strategic weapon systems in the Kaliningrad oblast  Russias enclave which borders Lithuania and Poland.

No sane person wants to increase the stakes, to increase the tension on the ground along the borders, Iskanders, supersonics and warships with nuclear weapons an arms reach from their own homes. We hope that the sanity of our northern allies triumphs, but if not, then, as they say he came himself, - threatened Medvedev.

According to Reuters, the spokesman for the United States Department of State Ned Price, in his answers to the question of how Washington sees the potential joining of Sweden and Finland to NATO in light of Russias threats replied that Washingtons stance remains unchanged, and reaffirmed the NATO open door policy.

The expansion of the defence alliance will not create anything other than an increase in stability on the European continent, - he stated.

The agency reminds that Russia possesses the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world, and  with China and the US  is one of the world leaders in the sphere of supersonic missile technology.

We remind that the movement of heavy weapons towards the border with Finland has been noticed in Russian territory. This happened a couple of hours after the Kremlin threatened Helsinki with consequences if they chose to join NATO.

Read also:
My first visit to a public library took place in the spring of 2002 as an eighth-grader in my hometown of Los Angeles.

Initially intended to be a one-time visit to the Los Angeles Central Library to pick up books, the trip ended up becoming biweekly Sunday visits over the next four years. I discovered a world of knowledge in the Central Librarys thousands of books, which transported me to different worlds with every history, geography or travel guide I read.

As teenagers growing up in South Central Los Angeles, my sister and I would eagerly look forward to spending four to five hours every other Sunday at the Central Library looking through the comic books, magazines and Lonely Planet guidebooks while planning imaginary itineraries that would later become a reality. Little did we know that these library visits would eventually prepare us for bigger and better things in life!

As a current MLIS graduate student at the University of Arizona and Knowledge River Scholar, I am a graduate assistant with Pima County Public Library where I have had the opportunity to work at several branches serving different populations.

In the same way that the librarians at L.A.s Central Library TeenScape section made a difference in my sisters life and my own, I know I want to make a difference in the lives of the people who visit our libraries.

The Knowledge River Program mission strongly correlates with my long-term goals of working with communities where access to libraries and their resources are limited. Focusing on educating professionals who are aware of and committed to the information needs of BIPOC communities, Knowledge River fosters an understanding of library and information issues from the perspective of BIPOC and advocates for cultural awareness and respect in information services to these communities.

As a graduate assistant at both Santa Rosa and Quincie Douglas libraries, I have come in contact with some challenges that our patrons may face when visiting. As a bilingual, first-generation Mexican-American aspirant to become a public librarian, I would like to advocate for more easily accessible information and resources within our public libraries to make them more welcoming for everyone. I strongly believe that librarians are intermediaries to the information, knowledge and resources our libraries hold.

Helping patrons visit the library and creating awareness of the many resources and programs our libraries have to offer brings me a lot of joy. Librarians play a vital role as connectors who link people to knowledge by organizing materials and assisting those who come to search for knowledge.

Educating, serving my community, making library resources more readily accessible and performing outreach work have been the main forces behind my interest in pursuing a career as a librarian in a public setting. While Los Angeles might be my hometown, Tucson is the place I now call home and where I would like to continue working toward making libraries more equitable, diverse and inclusive spaces.

As I approach the end of my graduate school journey, I would like to continue to put into practice the training and skills I have gained as a Knowledge River Scholar. By performing outreach within the communities I aim to serve, I am working to increase awareness about the resources libraries offer and how they can also be a source of empowerment. As libraries continue to evolve, I believe it is important for librarians to become aware of our roles within diverse communities and to understand their needs and aspirations.

Jesus A. Castaneda is a graduate assistant in the librarys community engagement office, a position he has held since August 2020. He has contributed posts to the librarys blog, including one about diversity in the Latinx community and another about the origin of las posadas.

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Chancellor, Richard Stuart Richard Stuart Chancellor, born on February 4, 1938 passed away peacefully on May 3, 2022 at 84 years of age. Stuart as the youngest of a large family with four brothers and a sister grew up in Midland, Texas. He spent his high school years at Culver .... Read more
At last weeks SAHBA Home Show, I presented The Top 10 Things Homeowners Do Wrong. If you missed the show or want to refresh your memory, heres a summary of the presentation. Hopefully, there will be something here that you can use to save you some time and money.

1. Homeowners dont always use licensed, bonded and insured contractors to get the job done. Looking for what they think is the best buy, they throw caution to the wind. This is not the time to be cutting corners for cost.

You wouldnt go to a doctor or dentist who wasnt licensed just to save a few bucks. Why would you not protect a huge investment like a home? By law, if a home improvement project is going to cost more than $1,000 including labor and materials, or a permit is required, a contractor is required to be licensed. Hiring someone who is licensed, bonded, and insured can protect you from potential disasters.

2. Homeowners dont replace their air filters. I know youve heard this over and over, but its true. Most air filters should be replaced once a month. Clogged, overused filters leave the air dirtier and make your air conditioner work harder, even wearing out the overall lifespan. I recommend investing in pleated paper filters mounted in a cardboard frame (not spun fiberglass). Change them out every time you pay your mortgage.

3. Homeowners flush items down the commode that they shouldnt. Really, nothing should be flushed down the toilet that it wasnt specifically designed for. Even Q-tips and cotton balls have been known to clog a few drains. Face tissues should always go in the trash can, not down the toilet. These, and many other items, are not easily biodegradable and can clog drain pipes. These problems can be especially troubling for those with a septic system.

4. Homeowners use too much soap. Despite what your grandmother used to tell you, youre not that dirty. Using excessive amounts of soap in your clothes washer dulls your threads and shortens the life of your clothing. The solution is to run a washing machine cleaner through your washer once a month and cut back the amount of detergent you use. HASSAR, a Rosie-Certified-Partner suggests:

Half of the recommended amount for a large dirty load.

A quarter of the recommended amount for a large load thats not as dirty.

An eighth of the recommended amount for a medium to small load thats not really dirty.

For the dishwasher, detergent matters. Do not use gel or liquid dishwasher soaps. Powder is better than liquid. One reason is that its easier to tell when youre using too much. If the powder doesnt completely dissolve, you used too much. Excess liquid detergent only creates a film residue that you probably wont see.

HASSAR recommends Finish 3-in-1 Tabs. The cleanest dishes come when powdered detergent is used along with hot water and the sanitization settings on the dishwasher. Make sure your detergent door is in good working order to guarantee that the detergent is released at the proper time.

Use a small amount of LemiShine in the detergent holder, with Finish, to keep dishes sparkling. As little as a  to a  tsp will do the trick.

5. Homeowners dont keep their carpets properly cleaned. Did you know you should be vacuuming several times a week? This will keep dust, dirt and oils from settling into your carpet. An indoor air quality issue that may surprise you is that your vacuum cleaner is probably the single most polluting piece of equipment in your home.

Its ironic that the more you vacuum, the dirtier your indoor air probably is, especially when you know many carpet manufacturers recommend daily vacuuming. The best solution for this source of indoor air pollution is to invest in a well-sealed HEPA filter vacuum.

6. Homeowners waste money getting their air ducts cleaned improperly. Duct cleaning is only one component of a proper system cleaning. It is extremely important that the return air ducts and/or plenum are thoroughly cleaned and checked for air leaks.

I have never inspected an air conditioning system that didnt have some leaking. After sealing and cleaning the return air components, the evaporative coils in your air handler must be thoroughly cleaned. Some disassembly of your air conditioning unit is usually required and should only be completed by an air conditioning specialist.

This thorough cleaning and sealing of your return air, evaporative coils, air handler cabinet and supply registers should take two technicians at least half a day on an average-size home with one air conditioning system. Hence, the cost is generally twice what you see advertised by the discount duct cleaning specialists. However, when done correctly, this service only needs to be done every five to seven years.

7. Homeowners dont do everything they can to make their homes energy efficient. Go through your home. Check every penetration on each exterior wall, door, sweep and weather stripping, windows, glides, rollers and electrical J-boxes. Doing these simple maintenance jobs can help you save money each month on your energy bills. Also, try super cooling. To stay cool and save money during the summer, make sure you are on the proper energy consumption plan with your utility company.

8. Homeowners use the wrong tools for projects. Using the wrong tool, or using the right tool improperly, can cause serious injuries. And, just because the tool is right for this job doesnt mean it will be the right size or type for the next.

Sometimes, especially for experts, buying the right tool for the job is not cost-effective. For some projects, rental equipment is a better investment. Do a cost comparison between a particular piece of equipment against how much it would cost to rent it for six months.

9. Homeowners keep too much junk in their closets and garages. Get rid of anything you dont need. Donate gently used items to charities to be used by others rather than stored in your closet. Also, consider installing features such as shoe racks, drawer systems, tie and belt racks, and jewelry trays to maximize space. Above all, do not rely on floor space or you will end up with another cluttered mess in no time.

10. Homeowners dont keep safety first. Is your home ready for a disaster? Fire extinguishers should be in every home. There are four classes of extinguishers, one for different types of fires. The fire department has an easy way to remember these distinctions:

Class A  Ashes (wood, paper, cloth  anything leaving ash when burnt)

Class B  Barrels (gasoline, grease, oil, paint)

Class C  Current (electrical fires with wires, fuse boxes)

Class D  Dont Get Involved (metal fires  leave it to the professionals)

If disaster strikes, accurate documentation is needed to guarantee the replacement of your belongings. The five steps listed below are just part of a researched and tested system for documenting and protecting the value of your home and possessions in case of loss:

Photographs and videos

Identification of photos for cross-referencing

Inventory sheets and cards

Receipts and other documentation

Safe storage of records in a fire-proof location

Mark your calendars for the weekend of Sept. 30Oct. 2 for the next SAHBA Home Show and catch the next presentation.

An Arizona home building and remodeling industry expert since 1988, Rosie Romero is the host of the syndicated Saturday morning Rosie on the House radio broadcast, heard locally from 10 to 11 a.m. on KNST (790-AM) in Tucson and from 8 to 11 a.m. on KGVY (1080-AM) and (100.7-FM) in Green Valley.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  For years, Tennessee Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbros call to require the states voting infrastructure to include a paper record of each ballot cast has been batted down in the Republican-dominated Legislature.

But as false claims still swirl around the 2020 presidential election  and some GOP voters remain distrustful of voting machines  Tennessee Republican lawmakers who have held off are coming around on a paper-backed mandate. A similar scenario is playing out in some of the five other states -- most of which are Republican-led -- that do not currently have a voting system with a paper record.

The Tennessee GOP bill that is gaining traction would set a 2024 deadline for Tennessee to join the vast majority of states that already have voting systems that include a paper record of every ballot cast, so any disputed results can be verified.

Yarbro said hell take the change, even if he doesnt love the impetus for it.

Im disappointed that its taken this long, and somewhat concerned over the rationale, the Nashville lawmaker said. But at the end of the day, this is good public policy.

Mississippi and Indiana plan to have a paper trail by the 2024 presidential election. Last year, lawmakers in Texas  where slightly more than 1 in 10 registered voters cast ballots on paperless machines  passed a law requiring paper records by 2026. Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick touted the move as helping to rebuild trust in elections.

Efforts in two states  Democratic-led New Jersey, and Louisiana, which has a Democratic governor and a Republican-led Legislature  have been slowed by either process issues or funding.

"Across the partisan spectrum, there is some sense that the controversy around 2020 underscores how important it is to have paper records of voter intent that we can go back to, said Mark Lindeman, director of Verified Voting, a group that tracks voting equipment across states.

In Tennessee, GOP Gov. Bill Lee has proposed $15 million for a switch to voter-verifiable, paper-backed equipment. The changeout could cost up to $37 million, with leftover federal election funds covering the rest, state officials said. Nearly two-thirds of the states 95 counties currently do not produce a paper record.

Republican lawmakers say Tennessee's elections are just fine. They direct scrutiny at other states, despite a lack of any evidence of widespread fraud or other major problems anywhere in the 2020 election.

When they had the vote, there were a lot of questions about it, especially in several of the states, Georgia and different ones  Is this done right?" said Tennessee Sen. Ed Jackson, the Republican bill sponsor. So, thats what we are trying to accomplish. But we dont have that issue here in Tennessee.

Nationwide, election officials continue to grapple with false claims spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies about the 2020 election. This has led to new mail voting restrictions, threats directed at election officials, costly and time-consuming partisan ballot reviews and calls to abandon voting machines altogether and rely solely on paper ballots counted by hand.

About 68% of U.S. registered voters will mark ballots by hand for the 2022 midterm elections, while the rest will use touchscreen voting machines, according to Verified Voting. About 5% of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election did not have a paper record, down from about 18% in 2016, according to federal officials.

That will shrink further by 2024.

In Indiana this year, Republicans decided not to replace existing equipment. Instead, they added a small printer to some 5,000 voting machines to create a paper trail by 2024.

That plan advanced through the GOP-dominated Legislature in March despite criticism from voter advocacy groups. They argue the printer technology is outdated and relies on lightweight thermal paper, similar to cash register receipts, that is easily damaged and lets voters see only part of their ballot at a time through a small window.

Democratic state Rep. Ed DeLaney of Indianapolis argued not having voter-completed paper ballots available for recounts threatens election integrity far more than claims such as mail ballot fraud.

If we want to have voter confidence, then we need to do those things which are simple and effective in preventing a miscount, said DeLaney. Thats what we need to do and then we can worry about our fantasies and fears.

This month, Mississippi lawmakers sent the governor legislation to require paper backups by 2024. On a radio show last year, Republican Sen. Jeff Tate said his bill addresses the perception of rigged voting equipment.

In New Jersey, GOP Sen. Joe Pennacchio has sponsored a bill to require paper ballots for all in-person voting, saying that even without the complaints over the 2020 election, its still the right thing to do. Some majority-party Democrats have introduced paper-trail proposals, as well. New Jersey has a long-standing requirement to upgrade to paper-backed voting systems, but a 2009 deadline still hasn't kicked in due to funding issues.

New Jersey has a hodgepodge of counties with voting machines that produce paper trails, and some that dont. The states law permitting early in person voting, which took effect in 2021, called for machines with paper records. Though the state financed them for all 21 counties, only some bought enough to run their entire election on paper-backed machines.

About one-third of Mississippi voters and nearly half of New Jersey voters use paperless machines, according to Verified Voting.

Louisianas Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin has favored ballot-marking machines that print a paper receipt that is electronically scanned so results could be available on election night, but efforts to replace the state's paperless machines have been mired in process delays.

A 2021 law tasked a new commission with recommending a replacement with a paper trail. As it mulls its options, the commission has heard calls for hand-marked paper ballots along with unsubstantiated claims of cheating in the 2020 election.

There is no evidence of any widespread fraud or coordinated efforts to steal the 2020 election. Last year, The Associated Press reviewed every instance of potential voter fraud reported in the six states disputed by Trump and found fewer than 475 cases  a number that would have made no difference in the contest.

Over the years, Tennessee election officials have said counties can choose their voting equipment. More recently, they encouraged a move toward paper-backed systems. Now, they support requiring the change, reasoning that increasingly fewer paperless machines are produced.

Last year, a Republican-led legislative subcommittee halted a Democratic push for a paper-trail mandate.

If theres not a problem, why are we trying to fix it? And why are we mandating that our local governments have to foot the bill for it? GOP Rep. Ryan Williams said in 2021.

Williams has since come around. He voted for the new bill last month, telling fellow lawmakers that Tennesseans were disturbed" about "elections in other states that they felt like disenfranchised them.

I think one of the things our citizens wanted to know after the last elections, that we did have a way to verify them in paper," Williams said.

Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Tom Davies in Indianapolis; Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi; and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  More than 900 bodies of civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces. That's according to the regional police chief, who spoke Friday. The jarring numbers emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to ramp up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to alleged aggression on Russian territory. That warning followed the stunning loss of Moscows flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. official confirmed was hit by a Ukrainian missile. Amid its threats, Moscow continues preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also continues in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol.

It's not over: COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in US

The U.S. may be heading into another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline. Experts don't know how high the mountain will grow, but they don't expect a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population. Still, experts warn the coming wave will wash across the nation and push up hospitalizations in a growing number of states, especially those with low vaccination rates, in the coming weeks. Most cases are now being caused by a subvariant known as BA.2 that is thought to be 30% more contagious.

Ukrainian mom's pain at watching daughter's burial on phone

LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Viktoria Kovalenko bore witness to the death of her husband and elder daughter when their car was hit by a shell in northern Ukraine. By the time her loved ones got a proper funeral weeks later, she was 500 kilometers away, able to watch the burial only on a cellphone video sent to her by relatives. Even in the relative peace of Lviv, a city little touched by violence in the war with Russia, it was an ordeal she couldnt endure. Tears do not let me watch until the end, she said as she played the video in a wooded area where she was pushing her one year-old daughter Varvara in a stroller.

Twitter adopts 'poison pill' defense in Musk takeover bid

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a poison pill defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musks proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private. The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders  except for Musk  to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musks stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition. Twitters plan would take effect if Musks roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

Texas halts truck inspections that caused border gridlock

AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repealed his traffic-clogging immigration order that backed up commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border this week. The Republican on Friday ended a new policy that required all commercial trucks from Mexico to undergo extra inspections to stop the flow of migrants and drugs. The inspections led to delays, prompting wide backlash and fears of deep economic losses. Some truckers reported having to wait more than 30 hours to cross, and others blocked one of the worlds busiest trade bridges in protest. Abbott lifted the inspections after signing new border security agreements with neighboring Mexican states.

Officer's camera misses key moment of Patrick Lyoya's death

Body camera footage of Patrick Lyoyas fatal encounter with a Michigan police officer shows a close-up view of an intense struggle -- but the video goes dark 42 seconds before the officer shoots the Black man in the head. Its the latest in a handful of high-profile cases in which body cameras have somehow failed, leaving prosecutors and the public to rely on bystander video for a clearer picture of what happened. One expert says that if it was an accident, its likely that vendors, who have been responsive to the technologys limitations, will make changes to avoid such deactivations in the future. Attorneys for Lyoyas family are thankful his passenger, as well as doorbell video from a nearby home, recorded what happened.

After bullets flew, NYC subway workers kept their cool

NEW YORK (AP)  When smoke bombs and bullets were unleashed on a New York City subway train full of morning commuters, train driver David Artis said his first indication something was wrong was when passengers crowded near his cab door to report the chaos. Artis said his initial reaction was one of shock. But, his thoughts quickly shifted to concern for his passengers and he leaned on his emergency training. Artis and his fellow transit workers were honored by the mayor for their response to Tuesdays shooting. Train conductor Raven Haynes was among those honored. She says she had a stoic attitude after the attack to help keep the passengers calm.

'Detest me with moderation,' Paris attacks defendant pleads

PARIS (AP)  The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 has asked for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims. In emotional court testimony Friday, he pleaded with survivors to detest me with moderation. For years, Salah Abdeslam stayed silent about the attacks on the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. Then this week, his words started flowing, in lengthy and sometimes confused testimony. Survivors and victims families, who hope the extensive trial helps them find justice and clarity, had mixed reactions.

Trump backs GOPs JD Vance in US Senate primary in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  "Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance has received Donald Trumps coveted endorsement in the race for Ohios open U.S. Senate seat. The decision ends months of jockeying in a Republican Senate primary where his backing could be pivotal. And it marks a major blow for former state treasurer Josh Mandel, investment banker Mike Gibbons and former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken, who had aggressively courted Trumps endorsement. The winner of the May 3 primary is likely to face Democratic frontrunner, U.S. Rep Tim Ryan, in November for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.

States scale back food stamp benefits even as prices soar

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Month by month, more of the roughly 40 million Americans who get help buying groceries through the federal food stamp program are seeing their benefits plunge. The reductions come even as the nation struggles with the biggest increase in food costs in decades. The payments to low-income individuals and families are dropping as governors end COVID-19 disaster declarations and opt out of a still-ongoing federal program that made their states eligible for dramatic increases in SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. The increased benefit were in response to surging unemployment after the COVID-19 pandemic swept over the country. The result is that depending on the politics of a state, people find themselves eligible for significantly different levels of help buying food.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Russia's damaged Black Sea flagship sinks in latest setback

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The flagship of Russias Black Sea fleet sank after it was heavily damaged in the latest setback for Moscows invasion. Ukrainian officials said their forces hit the vessel with missiles. Russia acknowledged a fire aboard the Moskva but no attack. It said the flames forced the entire crew to evacuate. U.S. and other Western officials could not confirm what caused the blaze. The loss of the warship named for the Russian capital is a devastating symbolic defeat. The Russian Defense Ministry said the vessel sank in a storm while being towed to a port. The ship would typically have 500 sailors on board.

The AP Interview: UN food chief says Mariupol is starving

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The head of the U.N.s World Food Program says people are being starved to death in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and he predicted the countrys humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as Russia intensifies its assault in the coming weeks. In an interview with The Associated Press, David Beasley also warned that Russias invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere. He said the war that began Feb. 24 was devastating the people in Ukraine, lamenting the lack of access faced by the WFP and other aid organizations in trying to reach those in need amid the conflict.

Family seeks charges, officer's ID in Patrick Lyoya's death

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP)  Peter Lyoya brought his family from Congo to the U.S. in 2014 to escape violence. Now he fears they came here to die. A Michigan police officer fatally shot his eldest son, 26-year-old Patrick, in the head this month following a traffic stop in Grand Rapids. Video shows a brief foot chase and struggle over the officers Taser before the white officer shoots Patrick Lyoya as the Black man is face down on the ground. Peter Lyoya talked with The Associated Press in his Lansing apartment on Thursday, a day after police released videos of the traffic stop. Peter brought his six children to the U.S. to get away from prolonged civil unrest.

Subway shooting heightens NYC mayor's focus on rising crime

NEW YORK (AP)  Mayor Eric Adams, a former New York City police captain, took office this year with a central focus on making the city feel safe and trying to return it to some sense of normalcy post-pandemic. But the first 3 1/2 months of his administration have been beset by a string of high-profile violent incidents, with Tuesdays shooting on a subway train the most terrifying and public of all. The attack complicates Adams push to address crime and persuade people that the city of nearly 9 million is safe. It also occurred amid a broader, multi-year debate about policing and crime, and how the city should respond.

EXPLAINER: What is Musk really doing as he guns for Twitter?

Mercurial billionaire Elon Musk now says he wants to buy Twitter outright, taking it private to restore its commitment to what he terms free speech. But is he even serious? Can he get the money together? Will shareholders be happy? And what would the social platform look like if he succeeds?

LA political donor gets 30 years in prison for fetish deaths

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A wealthy Democratic donor has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for injecting two men with lethal doses of methamphetamine as part of a fetish that turned fatal. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Ed Buck. The judge issued the sentence Thursday in federal court in Los Angeles. Buck is 67 and prosecutors have said he preyed mostly on vulnerable young gay Black men he paid for sex and injected with massive doses of drugs. Buck's lawyers have said he deserved a shorter term because he was sexually abused as a child and that health problems led to his drug addiction.

Pressure on US to give Ukraine more intelligence on Russia

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden has called Russias war on Ukraine a genocide and he's accused Vladimir Putin of committing war crimes. But Biden's administration has struggled with how much intelligence its willing to give Ukrainian forces that are trying to stop the Russian leader. Since the war began in late February, the Biden administration has made multiple changes to a classified directive that governs what U.S. agencies are supposed to share with Ukraine. Several people familiar with the directive say the latest changes occurred last week when U.S. intelligence officials lifted some geographic limits on the transfer of the kind of information used in minute-by-minute decisions on the battlefield.

Homeschooling surge continues despite schools reopening

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP)  The coronavirus pandemic ushered in what may be the most rapid rise in homeschooling the U.S. has ever seen. Now, even with schools back open and vaccines available, many homeschooling families are sticking with it. Data obtained by The Associated Press found homeschooling numbers this year dipped from last years all-time high, but are still significantly above pre-pandemic levels. Families may have turned to homeschooling as an alternative to hastily assembled remote learning plans. But they say they're staying with it for many reasons, including continuing COVID health concerns, disagreements with school policies and a desire to keep what has worked for their children.

Fuel leak thwarts NASA's dress rehearsal for moon rocket

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)  NASA's latest attempt to fuel its huge moon rocket for a countdown test has been thwarted by a hazardous hydrogen leak. NASA had just begun loading fuel into the core stage of the rocket Thursday when the leak cropped up at the Florida launch pad. This was NASA's third attempt at a dress rehearsal, a required step ahead of a test flight to the moon. The first two tries were also marred by vexing equipment trouble. Before all these problems, NASA had been targeting June for the launch debut of the Space Launch System rocket. Officials say they're assessing their next steps.

Therapist: Depp and Heard had relationship of 'mutual abuse'

A former personal assistant to Amber Heard says she never saw the actress suffer any physical abuse at the hands of then-husband Johnny Depp. But Kate James testified Thursday that she does recall Heard spitting in her face when she asked for a higher salary. The former assistant said Heard descended into fits of blind rage and was often drunk. James said Depp was different. She said the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was very calm, almost shy  a total Southern gentleman. James spoke during a video deposition that was played Thursday at the trial in a Virginia court for Depps libel suit against Heard.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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CONCORD, N.H. (AP)  A lawyer for Pamela Smart, a former high school employee convicted of recruiting her teenage lover to kill her husband, is asking New Hampshire's highest court to order a state council to hold a hearing on her request to reduce her life-without-parole sentence.

Smart, 54, has been in prison more than 30 years and and now has to go through New Hampshire's Executive Council for any change on her sentence. The council rejected her request for a hearing on March 23, the third time it has done so.

A petition filed Thursday by Mark Sisti, one of Smart's lawyers during her trial in 1990, contends that her rights under the New Hampshire Constitution were violated when the council refused to even consider her request for a hearing" on her petition.

Sisti said that refusal is tantamount to a sentence of extermination as it prevents her from being deemed fit to return to society and thus forecloses any chance at having her sentence altered."

Sisti notes that Smart has completed multiple academic degree programs and has served as a peer counselor, mentor and teacher to other inmates. Those charged with supervising her have indicated that her conduct and actions in prison warrant an opportunity to rejoin society," it said.

Sisti has asked the state Supreme Court's permission to argue the matter. The court has several options. It can deny Sisti's petition. It can accept it and decide whether lawyers should submit briefs and prepare for oral arguments. It also can order that an answer to the petition be filed.

The attorney general's office declined to comment on the pending litigation. Messages seeking comment were left with the five council members, two of whom had made brief comments before the council rejected Smart's request in March.

I have always been willing to review the case if new evidence came up to exonerate Pam Smart, or if there was a legal misgiving," Councilor Joseph Kenney said in an email Friday to The Associated Press. As much material that I have read over the years on this subject, I see no new evidence. Therefore, my position has not been changed for a pardon or commutation hearing.

There was some discussion about Smart's request back in March.

I am absolutely convinced that theres no evidence or argument to grant a commutation request, councilor Janet Stevens said at the time. She cited the response from the attorney general's office, saying Gregory Smart's loss of life and the impact on his family and friends far outweighs whatever adversity the petitioner has faced in prison."

Councilor Cinde Warmington said a commutations request is an extraordinary remedy" given under extraordinary circumstances," which see didn't see in Smart's petition.

Smart was 22 and working as a high school media coordinator when she began an affair with the 15-year-old student who shot and killed Gregory Smart in 1990. Although she denied knowledge of the plot, she was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and other crimes and sentenced to life without parole. The student, William Flynn, and three other teens cooperated with prosecutors, served shorter sentences and have been released.

One thing that was different in her last petition is that Smart apologized to her husbands family for the first time.

I offer no excuses for my actions and behavior, she said in a recorded statement that was sent as a DVD to the attorney generals office in December. Im to blame.

In the states response, Jeffery Strelzin, associate attorney general, wrote that Smart has told a false narrative for over 30 years and just because shes decided to change that now does not mean that she has truly changed and fully acknowledged all the crimes she committed." He said her acceptance of responsibility was vague" and a family member of Gregory Smart said she wasn't sure what Pamela Smart was apologizing for.

The trial was a media circus and one of the first high-profile cases about a sexual affair between a school staff member and a student. Joyce Maynard wrote To Die For in 1992, drawing from the Smart case. That inspired a 1995 film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Joaquin Phoenix.

Flynn testified that Smart told him she needed her husband killed because she feared she would lose everything if they divorced. He said she threatened to break up with him if he didnt kill Gregory Smart.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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The cornerstone for the University Methodist Episcopal Church at 745 E. University Blvd. was placed in 1923. It was designed by Henry O. Jaastad, notable Tucson architect who was the citys mayor in the 1930s-40s. The stately, three-story building with four Greek columns towered over the mostly one-story homes in the West University Neighborhood.

The buildings life as a church would span 50 years and three congregations. It began as University Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1952, it became University Baptist Church. It was sold again in 1962 and became the Metropolitan Baptist Church founded by Rev. Bill Bowler, who was known for his popular Tucson radio ministry, "Bill Bowler Live," for 47 years.

In 1975, the building was purchased by Tempe investors Donald M. Reno and Cyrus W. Vaughn III, who converted the church into a bar and restaurant called Dooleys. They had similar businesses near university campuses in Michigan and Illinois. They also planned on another Dooleys near ASU in Tempe.

Delays pushed back completion and the opening. The vacant building was becoming a blot on the neighborhood. At a liquor license hearing more than 400 residents protested the application, but 1,200 people supported it. Management said Dooleys would open on Aug. 1.

The bar finally opened on Dec. 30, 1977, more than two years after the church was sold. It was an interesting, multi-level interior  a great place to hang out. Nearly all of the new structures inside were made of wood.

In late 1982, Dooleys was sold to new investors who owned the rock club Hammerheads in Tempe. One investor, Chris Martino, said, Tucson needs a party bar. Ive been to all the bars around here, and I think I can do a better job. He added they would install big-screen TVs so bar patrons could watch MTV music videos (that was a thing then).

Just after 10pm on July 3, 1983, neighbors reported a fire in the huge building. Fueled by wood and varnish, it quickly grew to a four-alarm blaze. It took 64 Tucson firefighters to bring the fire under control. The building was gutted.

Arson investigators quickly determined the fire was deliberate. Flammable liquid has been poured on the main floor and several other points and ignited, according to Tucson Fire Department investigator Kirk Simmons. The sprinkler system was disabled and emptied of water.

While arson investigators were convinced there was intent, they did not have enough evidence to go to a grand jury. The owners had solid alibis.

The building was sold at auction to an investor in April, 1987. Most of the proceeds went to the insurance company. But there was little hope that the building could be saved.

Finally, the Tucson City Council okayd the permit to raze the building after city engineers warned it was an imminent hazard. On May 14, demolition crews started their work.

If there was a bright spot, the stately columns that greeted parishioners were salvaged and now stand inside the University of Arizona College of Architecture.

The site of the church is now home to the University of Arizona Visitor's Center.

All photos  Arizona Daily Star/Tucson Citizen
PHOENIX  Attorney General Mark Brnovich claims Maricopa County admitted to using artificial intelligence to verify signatures on early ballots. But the document he says supports that assertion does not say that.

And county officials say no ballot gets counted without being reviewed by a human.

Brnovich cites a letter to his office from a private attorney representing the county, Edward Novak. Novak explained how software is used to sort ballot envelopes into batches, one batch for those for which theres high confidence the voter signatures match whats on file, and one for those where there is low confidence.

The Attorney Generals Office, which furnished the letter to Capitol Media Services in response to a public records request, said that is the basis for the claim Brnovich made during a recent podcast with Steve Bannon.

But the letter itself appears to undermine the claim that computers are deciding which signatures are valid and which early ballots to count.

The staff members are trained to ignore the high and low confidence labeling and work with these queues equally, with the same protocols established for all signature review, Novak wrote in the March 31 letter to Assistant Attorney General Jennifer Wright.

That is backed up by other documents separately obtained from Maricopa County by Capitol Media Services.

And Megan Gilbertson, spokeswoman for the Maricopa County recorder and Elections Department, put a finer point on it.

Its 100% verified by humans, Gilbertston said.

Brnovichs assertion came April 7 when he appeared on the Bannon podcast. A former adviser to ex-President Donald Trump, Bannon has become one of the chief proponents of the discredited allegations that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Brnovich initially was one of the first Arizona Republicans to dismiss claims the 2020 election was stolen from GOP candidates.

If, indeed, there was some great conspiracy, it apparently didnt work, he told Fox News a week after the election. Instead, Brnovich said it was a simple question of Arizona voters splitting their tickets, choosing Democrats for president and U.S. Senate and opting to keep Republicans in lower-profile congressional, legislative and local races.

There is no evidence, there are no facts that would lead anyone to believe that the election results would change, he said.

But Brnovich now is running for U.S. Senate and attempting to separate himself from the pack of other Republican contenders. He also has been pressured by some pro-Trump factions in the GOP to conclude there were irregularities and even to bring criminal charges against county and state election officials.

In the podcast with Bannon, the attorney general discussed the interim report he released April 6 on his offices review of the 2020 election, with Maricopa County specifically in mind.

That report produced no evidence of fraud other than a handful of individuals who have been charged with improper voting. But Brnovich told Bannon the report did identify issues.

There are reasons why people should be concerned about how this 2020 election was handled, Brnovich said.

He repeated his claim, made in the interim report, that the county at times was taking less than five seconds verifying each signature on each ballot envelope. To date, however, Brnovich has not provided Capitol Media Services with the numbers he used to come up with that conclusion, which county officials dispute.

Brnovich also told Bannon about the artificial intelligence claim. Just this week we got another letter from their lawyer that confirms for the first time  and this is not in the report  that admitted they are using AI to verify signatures, he said.

The whole signature verification process is something that, regardless of where you fall in the spectrum, it should be troubling and concerning that they are trying to verify hundreds of thousands of signatures so quickly,  Brnovich continued. And, of course, that raises the question of how is that even humanly possible.

What is clear is that computers are part of the process.

Gilbertson said all signatures on ballot envelopes are scanned in, with humans reviewing them on computer screens and comparing them with signatures on file, as opposed to handling individual envelopes.

But the county also is using computer software to analyze the signature box on all early ballots. Its gathering data in the background, Gilbertson said.

The purpose is to determine if the computer can identify and sort out unsigned envelopes, she said. Gilbertson said that would allow those envelopes to be given to managers quickly, who then can call the voters and give them an opportunity to come to county offices and provide the missing signature by 7 p.m. on Election Day, something allowed under state law.

The same process also is doing an initial sort.

The signature on the current (ballot) affidavit is compared against a historical reference signature that was previously verified and determined to be a good signature, according to documents obtained by Capitol Media Services.

If they are comparable, the record  in this case, the signature  is placed in the high confidence queue. If they are not comparable, or if there is no reference record, it is placed in the low confidence queue.

The countys response to Brnovich does not stop there.

Staff are required to assess each record the same, by comparing broad and local characteristics of each signature, it reads.

This technology is not used to verify signatures, added Gilbertson.

Its not just the current Republican administration at the county Recorders Office making that statement. It is also the assessment of Democrat Adrian Fontes, who was the county recorder at the time but lost his 2020 race to Republican Stephen Richer.

Every envelope had to have human eyes on it, Fontes said.

Brnovich press aide Katie Conner declined to comment further on the assertion made by her boss or on the content of Novaks letter. Instead she issued a prepared statement that the office will continue to do everything we can to fight for election integrity.

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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I demand a recount might be an almost comically cliched part of our lexicon, but in fact, at least in Oklahoma, actual election recounts are pretty rare.

But thats just what took place Thursday morning at the Tulsa County Courthouse  a hand recount of the 206 Tulsa County votes cast this month in the Sand Springs City Council Ward 1 runoff election.

Cody Worrells margin of victory over Michael Phillips on election night, April 5, was two votes  among the narrowest of narrow margins.

Even Worrell has said he doesnt blame Phillips for seeking a recount under the circumstances, adding that had the tables been turned, he probably would have done the same.

Thursdays recount in the courtroom of Tulsa County District Judge Doug Drummond didnt change a thing, however.

Of the 206 total votes cast in Tulsa County  116 in Precinct 851, 76 in Precinct 857 and 14 voted absentee by mail  the final tally remained 110 votes for Worrell and 96 for Phillips.

The overall vote total is complicated a bit because Sand Springs Ward 1 encompasses a small piece of Osage County, where an additional 28 votes were cast  eight for Worrell and 20 for Phillips, state election data indicate.

But Osage Countys votes werent contested, so that means the election night vote totals of 118 for Worrell and 116 for Phillips will stand.

For his part, Phillips is content that the process played out fully and appropriately, even if he still lost the election.

I am perfectly satisfied, he said. Theres always the very slimmest of chances (of a changed outcome)  but it was worth pursuing.

The endeavor required Phillips to put down a deposit of $600 to cover the cost of the recount, money that would have been refunded to him had the election outcome changed.

He is likely to get a portion of that back, paying only for the actual cost of the recount.

Worrell, who now is looking ahead to being seated on Sand Springs City Council, said he, too, had confidence in the system.

Ive always felt pretty good about our Oklahoma election system, especially compared to some of the other states that have a lot of trouble, he said. Every time Ive voted, the volunteers have always been professional and seemed like they were doing what they were supposed to be doing.

Tulsa County Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman sees the outcome as a victory no matter which candidate walked away with the most votes.

When our numbers match up, for the system, its always a victory, she said. Were very, very confident in the system that we have in place, and then of course our voting devices, so when the numbers match up to what we know that they should be, thats always a wonderful thing.

Freeman said recounts are pretty rare.

This is my first recount as secretary, and Ive been secretary now for five years, she said. So, no, theyre not that common.

This was an extremely close race, with two votes, so its no wonder that they would want to just make sure, she said. I dont blame the candidates at all for wanting to make sure.

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After nearly two weeks of methodical selection, a jury has been seated in the capital trial of David Ware, the man accused of shooting two Tulsa police officers in 2020.

The final panel of 14, pared down from more than 100 random Tulsa County residents through a questioning process called voir dire, is comprised of four women and 10 men. One woman and one man are slated as alternates.

District Judge Bill LaFortune scheduled their swearing-in for 10 a.m. Monday.

Ware, 34, faces charges of first-degree murder in the death of Tulsa Police Sgt. Craig Johnson and shooting with intent to kill in the critical wounding of Officer Aurash Zarkeshan. Ware allegedly shot both during an early-morning traffic stop on June 29, 2020.

Tulsa County Assistant District Attorney Kevin Gray said he was pleased with the final members of the jury, who he said presented themselves as terribly attentive throughout the week, listening closely to the judge and attorneys and responding to questions.

Voir dire, a French term pronounced vwah-deer, means to speak the truth. During the week-plus process, expedited somewhat by a pen-and-paper survey, the judge and attorneys attempted to guide panelists to share their beliefs about capital punishment, the extent of their knowledge of the case and any subsequent opinions formed regarding the defendants guilt or innocence, and their ability to serve for several weeks.

During a second round of questioning this week, prosecutors zeroed in on other aspects pertinent to the case, including their experience with substance abuse, gun use and interactions with police.

Ware also faces charges of possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony, unlawful possession of a controlled drug with the intent to distribute and obstructing an officer.

Wares attorney, Kevin Adams, asked for one fill-in-the-blank response from each potential juror: As it relates to a jury trial, the truth is (blank).

The courtroom was the quietest it had been in a little over a week when the jury was excused and the judge began accepting each sides strikes to jurors.

All parties kept track of the jurors still in the process by boxes on landscape papers. LaFortunes was marked up with Xs and circles in green highlighter and Ware conferred with his attorneys while pointing to boxes on his page, whispering about the selections.

Each side appeared pleased with the final outcome.

In separate statements, Adams and Gray thanked administrators of the court for their diligence in ensuring a smooth process.

Both attorneys were also adamant that the truth of what happened the day of the shooting would soon be brought to light via evidence presented to the jurors.

The courthouse will be closed for the Good Friday holiday, resulting in a three-day Easter weekend before returning for opening statements.

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Former Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is running for U.S. Senate.

Also the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, appointed by Donald Trump, Pruitt has filed to campaign for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Jim Inhofe.

Pruitt represented Tulsa and Wagoner counties in the Oklahoma Senate from 1998 until 2006. He served two terms in the Attorney General's Office after being elected first in 2010.

Also among those making a run at the Senate seat being surrendered by Inhofe at the end of the current Congress are 2nd District Congressman Markwayne Mullin; former Oklahoma Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon; Inhofes former Chief of Staff Luke Holland; state Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow; and former 5th District Congresswoman Kendra Horn, the first Democrat to enter the race.

This story is developing. Check tulsaworld.com for updates from the final day of candidate filing in Oklahoma City.

Tulsa World Newsroom: The story behind Sen. Jim Inhofe with politics reporter Randy Krehbiel

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On April 8, The Ocean Cleanup in collaboration with the Coca-Cola Company officially inaugurated and transferred the Interceptor 003  an automatic river cleanup solution  to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Can Tho City, setting a milestone on the Fighting Plastic Pollution journey in Vietnam.

The Can Tho River Cleanup inauguration event, which was held thanks to a global partnership between The Ocean Cleanup and The Coca-Cola Company, gathered more than 100 representatives from the NGO community and the local and central governments.

At the inauguration event, a representative from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), Tran Phong, director of the Southern Environment Protection Agency, celebrated the deployment and operation of the solar-powered river cleanup solution the Interceptor 003 in the Can Tho River and highlighted the key role of technology and collaboration in addressing plastic pollution in rivers and oceans.

Duong Tan Hien, vice-chairman of the Can Tho City Peoples Committee appreciates the Can Tho River Cleanup project, April 8, 2022.

Extending the MoNREs recognition toward the Can Tho River cleanup project, Duong Tan Hien, vice-chairman of the Can Tho Peoples Committee, expressed appreciation to The Ocean Cleanup, The Coca-Cola Company, and the Can Tho Department of Natural Resources and Environment for making this project possible, which will benefit local communities and help clean the river at the heart of Can Tho City via the Interceptor 003.

Boyan Slat, CEO and founder of The Ocean Cleanup, also attended the event and shared his aspirational vision and mission to rid the worlds oceans of plastic, including through the interception of trash in rivers before it can reach the ocean.

As a symbolic gesture to celebrate the deployment of the Interceptor 003, Slat handed over the interceptors remote control to the Can Tho Department of Natural Resources and Environment, who will now be responsible for its ongoing operation.

Delegates stand at a ceremony to hand over the Interceptor 003s remote control to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Can Tho City, Vietnam, April 8, 2022.

The Ocean Cleanups mission is to rid the worlds oceans of plastic, and I am happy to see the first impact of our work in an area as iconic as the Mekong Delta, Slat said.

Launching in the Can Tho River has taken years of commitment and hard work from our local partners and our organization.

Today we celebrate this important milestone with the fourth project on our 15-river global implementation agenda with The Coca-Cola Company.

Together we will continue the roll-out to the remaining locations at full speed.

The Interceptor Original is the first scalable solution to prevent plastic from entering the worlds oceans from rivers.

The Can Tho cleanup system has removed an average of close to 10,000kg of debris each month since trial operations began in December last year.

We are very proud to stand today as the first global implementation partner of The Ocean Cleanup as we help to mobilize collective action and practical solutions to improve the health of the Mekong Delta, said Leonardo Garcia, general manager, Coca-Cola Vietnam and Cambodia.

A panel discussion between partners to identify solutions for cleaning up the Can Tho River in particular and in Vietnam in general, April 8, 2022.

Alongside the river cleanup, the partnership is also working with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Can Tho City and local operators to conduct river waste research to better understand plastic pollution in the Can Tho River and scale up the project where appropriate.

As part of its World Without Waste vision, The Coca-Cola Company will support the development of waste management solutions for collected debris and provide local support to The Ocean Cleanup such as engagement with local stakeholders.

Moreover, The Coca-Cola Company is also working to ensure that all of the material it uses in its packaging is collected and recycled, so that none of it ends up as waste.

The company has a global goal to help collect and recycle every bottle and can they sell by 2030.
Discouraged by the potential health hazards coming from wooden chopping boards, a woman from Da Nang in central Vietnam came up with the idea of setting up a business for tempered glass chopping boards.

It may seem like an unlikely effort, but this business came from a mothers desire for her childs best interest.

A concern for her own child

When she was pregnant with the first child seven years ago, Dang Thi Hang, a 32-year-old resident in Hai Chau District, Da Nang dropped her job at a design company to work freelance from home and focused on childcare.

This mother was deeply distressed by the easily contaminated wooden chopping boards, which grew moss after short-term use.

Also, they get a lot of chopping marks over time.

Concerned about her childs physical health, she came up with a replacement.

As her family was a seller of glass products, she ran a pilot test to see whether toughened glass could be used as a chopping board, and she immediately fell in love with it.

The mother had a business idea in mind.

At first she merely advertised her products on Facebook for individual buyers.

The income helped a lot with her family expenditure and those sharing the same mindset could get a hold of a hygienic chopping board.

Based on her own market research, similar products were already available in the domestic market but both dealers and buyers were few and far between.

Together with her spouse, she spent five months researching and developing the technology for the product.

They ran lots of pilot tests themselves in order to figure out the most suitable model and the most efficient production process.

The biggest challenge was to approach the market. The number-one thing to pop up in peoples minds when they hear of glass chopping boards is fragility, she said.

But I have tried to modify it because I am so excited about this kind of chopping board!

Marketing tactic for the special product

Hangs first clients were friends and family, most of whom did not believe in her success.

Negative feedback on her product could have stopped her attempts, but the entrepreneur never considered giving up.

The comments from clients helped her perfect her brainchild.

As a marketing effort, Hang had 300 glass chopping boards produced and promoted on a social network.

They were sold out after a few hours.

Part of her motivation is that there are a lot of parents interested in their childrens well-being.

According to Hang, the glass itself has to be tested properly for safety reasons.

It must not contain lead or cadmium, two types of heavy metals known to be harmful to babies.

The process includes crude cutting, surface and edge smoothing, drilling and enhancing the durability of the glass.

Durability was the first priority in the manufacturing process, then the design of the surface, including a variety of patterns for clients to choose from.

A few models have a silicone contour to keep it light and reduce noise in use.

The entrepreneur was under stress for a long time when her sales were low due to Vietnamese consumers doubt about glass chopping boards.

She was not put off, though. She based her marketing strategies on peoples curiosity and concern.

Hang tried hard to provide the best explanations for her consumers.

Sala, her company, made a name for itself thanks to the word of mouth by those consumers who are mostly mothers of little children.

These clients found out that the glass chopping boards were durable, hygienic, safe, easy to clean, free from toxic fungi, and did not leave any marks on the surface.

Sala currently has six primary workers and 20 part-time laborers.

The number of monthly sales then went from 300 to tens of thousands.

Distributors around Vietnam have been working with Hang to expand this brand name for the sake of peoples health.

The glass chopping board by Sala was nominated as an excellent product according to the municipal standards of Da Nang City in 2021.

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Thai masters student Dhidhaj Sumedhsvast didn't believe in fortune-telling or supernatural powers until the coronavirus pandemic started two years ago.

Now, he regularly seeks the advice of fortune-tellers, wears lucky amulets, and has pictures of tarot cards as wallpaper on his phone.

"The pandemic has brought so many uncertainties that make us feel anxious," said Dhidhaj, 30, who started by praying to Kubera, the God of Wealth in Hindu mythology and a Buddhist deity, for protection against the economic fallout from the pandemic.

"When I started doing this, I felt safe. While others were affected by COVID and lost their jobs or income, I wasn't. So I believe in it more and more."

Like Dhidhaj, many in Thailand's anxiety-gripped young demographic have started to embrace fortune-telling and other forms of divination.

The pandemic has moved Thailand's distinct brand of divination from streets and storefronts to youth-oriented social media, helping fortune-tellers to reach a bigger audience.

"With the world like this, people need spiritual anchors," said Pimchat Viboonthaninkul, a 26-year-old fortune-teller who works exclusively online and who co-founded Mootae World that started the tarot card phone wallpaper trend last year.

Fortune-tellers livestream a card reading session on an online platform, as many young Thais increasingly seek divination for quick answers, at their office in Bangkok, Thailand March 30, 2022. Photo: Reuters

COVID stress

Thai culture has long been steeped in astrology and forms of divination such as palm reading, tarot cards or numerology.

An estimated 78% of the Thai population believes in the supernatural according to a 2021 study by Mahidol University's College of Management (CMMU).

From consulting with Feng Shui masters to wearing monk-blessed amulets, Thai traditions all sit comfortably within the dominant Buddhist religion.

Thailand's largely informal fortune-telling industry is estimated to attract around 5 billion baht of spending ($150 million) per year since the pandemic started, up from around 4 billion, according to A Duang, a startup whose fortune-telling application has grown to nearly half a million users, mostly aged 18-30.

The app offers daily livestreams by some of its 7,000 fortune-tellers, during which users can spend 10 to 100 baht ($0.3-$3) for quick insights. It also offers private one-on-one card reading sessions at higher rates.

A Duang managing director Kittikhun Yodrak said average per-user spending has surged fivefold to 500 baht monthly from its 2019 pre-pandemic launch.

The trend reflects a "breaking point" in stress levels that pushes many to seek quick answers from someone else rather than from within themselves, said Jomkhwan Luenglue, a board member of the Thai Psychological Association.

"It's mental first-aid," said Jomkhwan. "But it could jeopardise your ability to make decisions for yourself in the long term."

Picha Kulwaraekdumrong (Pimfah), 30, co-founder of Mootae World, prepares to read cards during a live show on an online platform, as many young Thais increasingly seek divination for quick answers, at their office in Bangkok, Thailand February 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters

New twists

New digital products have also boomed.

Mobile phone wallpaper maker Mootae World has made tens of thousands of images  each with different tarot cards and symbols  for clients' phone screens.

Priced at 249 baht ($7.44), each is custom-made according to the clients' unique star positions at birth, plus their deepest wishes, whether financial or romantic.

Traditional-looking Buddhist amulets - often images of guru monks or the Buddha made from bronze, brass or gold - are also available as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Thai project Crypto Amulets has sold about 3,000 such NFTs since launching in 2021, each for about 2,000 baht ($60) on the Ethereum and Solana blockchains.

Each digital amulet is printed on paper first to be blessed by monks in Surin province, a huge market of Thailand's Buddhist amulet trade 435 km east of Bangkok.

"We used to wear physical amulets around our neck, but now we can carry NFT ones on our phones too," said Ekkaphong Khemthong, who owns Crypto Amulets and also collects traditional amulets.

A fortune-teller livestreams a card reading session on an online platform, as many young Thais increasingly seek divination for quick answers, at their office in Bangkok, Thailand March 30, 2022. Photo: Reuters

Big market

Mainstream business brands are recognising the new Thai psychic entrepreneurs as the keys to the growing market of young believers with disposable income.

Last month, Mootae World promoted Cigna Corp insurance packages to their followers, tapping into Chinese astrology's "unlucky year" belief that in each zodiac animal year, those born with the same animal sign incur the curse of Tai Sui, the God of Age.

"A new marketing trend has emerged. Trends are always changing, but supernatural belief is a constant in Thai society," said Muratha Junyaworalug, head researcher of the CMMU study.

"All the brands want to tap into this market."
Vietnam and the U.S. are seeking ways to further strengthen their effective agricultural cooperation, with the Vietnamese agriculture chief inviting the U.S. ambassador to the Southeast Asian country to visit local honey producers.

Vietnams Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan offered the invitation on Wednesday to U.S. Ambassador Marc E. Knapper at a working session where Hoan welcomed the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC)'s recent decision to slash the anti-dumping duty on Vietnamese honey.

The DOC cut the tax rate to approximately 60 percent, much lower than the previously expected rate of 400 percent.

The move will facilitate Vietnamese beekeepers in developing and expanding their honey market in the U.S., Hoan said.

The ministry also invited the ambassador to visit honey production facilities to learn more about Vietnamese honey products.

Ambassador Knapper told Hoan that the two countries have cooperated well in the area of agriculture, including the protection of river resources in the Mekong Delta.

He affirmed that the U.S. wishes to become one of Vietnams top partners in agricultural trade.

Minister Hoan told the diplomat that Vietnam is ready to promote cooperation programs and work to remove barriers to farm produce trade between the two countries.

Regarding sustainable agricultural and rural development, Hoan said Vietnam has actively participated in U.S. initiatives to protect the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The ambassador expressed the U.S. appreciation for Vietnams strong commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

The diplomat also said the U.S. is ready to provide technical, financial, and professional support as well as personnel to become a partner to Vietnam in response to climate change.

U.S. agricultural products can contribute to ensuring Vietnams food security and create an abundant supply to the Vietnamese market, while the Southeast Asian country has provided diverse farm produce to American consumers, the ambassador stated.

Minister Hoan suggested the two sides continue working together to maintain the smooth development of bilateral agricultural trade.

He also expressed his hope that the U.S. will soon open the market for Vietnams pomelos.

In addition, the minister called on the U.S. to assist Vietnam in preservation technologies to improve farm produce quality, thereby helping Vietnamese exporters in the U.S. market.

Agreeing with this approach, Ambassador Knapper said it will benefit not only Vietnamese businesses but also the U.S. market.

Regarding the Vietnamese pomelo issue, the ambassador said the two sides are closer to an agreement, adding that American consumers will be very happy to buy the Vietnamese fruit product.

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What you need to know today in Vietnam:

Society

-- A sixth grader died in a fire that hit an elementary school in southern Dong Nai Province on Thursday, early reports said.

-- Hanoi has unveiled a plan to install vending machines in such public places as parks, places of interest, hospitals, schools, cinemas, railway stations, bus stations, shopping centers, and more by 2025.

-- Ho Chi Minh City health authorities plan to start vaccinating children aged five to under 12 on Friday.

-- Facebooker Dang Nhu Quynh, a popular figure, has been arrested for abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state, To An Xo, spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, said on Thursday.

Lifestyle

-- Authorities in Ninh Thuan Province received on Thursday a certificate recognizing Nui Chua as a world biosphere reserve from the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Nui Chua Biosphere Reserve is part of the Nui Chua National Park and covers over 106,646 hectares in area.

Business

-- The Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade has demanded a recall of Kinder Surprise products over salmonella concerns.

-- The Vietnam Motor Show will be held at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City from October 26 to 30, organizers have said.

World News

-- Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk took aim at Twitter Inc with a US$43 billion cash takeover offer on Thursday, Reuters reported.

-- Lawrence Wong, Minister for Finance, has been tipped to become Singapore's next prime minister, the Straits Times said on Thursday.

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Hanoi has unveiled a plan to install vending machines in such public places as parks, places of interest, hospitals, schools, cinemas, railway stations, bus stations, shopping centers, and more by 2025 to meet more shopping demands of residents and tourists.

The scheme is meant to encourage the use of vending machines, promoting the modernization of the retail sector and gradually replacing street hawkers.

City authorities will announce a list of the locations where the vending machines are to be placed to the public and on a website dedicated to the shopping and tourism activities of residents and tourists once the plan is ratified.

The vending machines will provide not only beverages and snacks but also craft products and souvenirs, especially those set up at tourism sites.

The automated machines will not sell cigarettes and alcohol.

Cash, bank cards, online transactions, and quick response (QR) codes will be acceptable forms of payment.

Many populous cities in Vietnam have installed vending machines in recent years.

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Health authorities in Ho Chi Minh City are expected to begin providing COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to under 12 on the weekend.

A representative from the municipal Department of Health told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday that the city will initiate the vaccination drive on Saturday, making it the second locality in Vietnam to administer the shots to children aged five to below 12.

Northern Quang Ninh Province started the inoculation drive on Thursday morning.

Health authorities in Ho Chi Minh City will first inoculate sixth graders in all districts and Thu Duc City.

Regarding the remaining children in this age range, health workers will carry out a pilot phase in District 1, District 5, District 10, Phu Nhuan District, and Tan Phu District before organizing mass vaccination next week, depending on the number of available doses.

The Ministry of Health is anticipated to allocate about 87,500 vaccine jabs to Ho Chi Minh City for the inoculation of children in this age range.

Meanwhile, about 700,000 to 900,000 children have been registered for the inoculation, according to reports from the Department of Education and Training, the Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs, and district-level authorities.

The health department was scheduled to convene a teleconference with district-level administrations and medical centers on Friday to discuss details of the immunization campaign.

Previous statistics showed that as of April 7, 77.58 percent of parents of children aged five to under 12 in the city had agreed to vaccinate their kids against COVID-19.

Vietnam has about 11.8 million children aged five to below 12, according to Phan Trong Lan, head of the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Ministry of Health.

Those who have contracted COVID-19 are advised to wait for three months to receive the vaccine, Lan continued.

About 8.2 million children in this age range have not been infected with the disease, the official said, adding that the health sector will try to fully vaccinate these children within the second quarter of this year.

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A sixth grader died in a fire that hit an elementary school in Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam on Thursday, early reports said.

The victim is D.T.T., the 12-year-old daughter of Dang Dinh Dieu and Nguyen Thi Mai, who are a security guard and a janitor working for Phu Dong Elementary School in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai, respectively.

Mai managed to take her youngest child out and called for help while T. was asleep and stuck inside when the fire broke out at around 7:20 am on Thursday at Dieu and Mais house set up inside the school.

It is common for a security guards family to live on the premises of a school in Vietnam.

The scene of a fire inside the premises of an elementary school in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam, April 14, 2022. Photo: A Loc / Tuoi Tre

Dieu and many staff members in the school immediately ran to the aid of T. and broke the wall to rescue her, but a large amount of insulation foam in the house hampered their efforts.

The school management board also evacuated all students to the schoolyard.

Firefighters arrived shortly after and put out the blaze at around 8:00 am on the same day, but T. was already dead.

The scene of a fire inside the premises of an elementary school in Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai Province, Vietnam, April 14, 2022. Photo: A Loc / Tuoi Tre

Dieu and Mais eldest child, a ninth grader, was at his school at the time of the incident.

Functional forces initially determined that an electrical short was the cause of the conflagration.

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Cam Thanh Commune, Hoi An City, home to UNESCO-recognized Hoi An Ancient Town, in Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam was a tourist hub offering unique basket boat trips before the COVID-19 pandemic suspended everything. Now, local service providers are reopening and returning to almost pre-pandemic levels this year.

Its only about 100 meters between the two river banks, but it sometimes seems unreachable, Do Van Tien, a resident of Cam Thanh Commune, shared about the basket boat trips his village offers.

Tourists, he added, have to wait up to one hour before they can get onto a basket boat.

Hemispherical and woven from bamboo, the thung chai (basket boat) resembles a coracle  a small, circular boat traditionally used in parts of the British Isles as well as India, Iraq, and Tibet.

One of the cant miss during a visit to Hoi An Ancient Town is a ride through lush coconut forests typical of southern provinces on these boats, which may not be readily recognized as vessels when lying unused on the shore.

As the ancient town is trying to get back on its track and lure back tourists after the pandemic, the hub of basket boats at Bay Mau Coconut Forest is also teeming with commotion.

Paddling fun

With the first seedlings fetched from the Mekong Delta some hundred years ago, the water coconut forest has long been considered a miniature replica of the southern region.

Idyllic and sparkling with ripples, the marshland proves a paradise for holidaymakers yearning for the great outdoors.

Tourists show their delight exploring Bay Mau Coconut Forest in Hoi An, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam. Photo: Truong Trung / Tuoi Tre

Just like other villagers, Tien dusted and gave new touches to his two coracles, which have been shelved during the pandemic to welcome back tourists as the Hoi An administration has recently kick-started the National Tourism Year.

Well tended to as if they were the residents homes, the boats are a treat for visitors eyes, their taste buds, and their fun buds.

One of the first-generation basket boat service providers in Van Lang fishing village, Tien noticed a remarkable change in his neighborhood since tourism services were introduced.

In this coastal fishing area, Van Lang villagers have spent most of their lives carrying out fishing activities on seaworthy vessels armed with basket boats.

Now that many locals have made the switch from fishing or farming to offering basket boat tours or adopting the service as a side job since Bay Mau Coconut Forest was open to the public, they also have a better means of living.

The coracles now turn handy ferrying tourists and making their way through the luxuriant, fish-laden marshland.

Though the circular floating object has no prow, steering wheel or parts to hamper water pressure, most riders find it much easier to maneuver the vessels through the creeks.

The surreal feeling as if they were floating on cloud nine with nothing beneath their feet is perhaps what captivates most tourists.

Seasoned riders such as Pham Ly catapult the job to an art by displaying dexterity in steering the unique boats.

New means of livelihood

The number of basket boats in Cam Lang Village has jumped from a mere 30 to nearly 1,200 over the past several years, according to the Cam Thanh Commune Peoples Committee.

Once we received a group of international tourists, but we could only mobilize around 30 basket boats from villagers to ferry them, Tien recalled.

To the villagers surprise, the foreign vacationers were held spellbound while tour companies began to visualize new opportunities to tap the resources.

Villagers give their basket boats a facelift to welcome back tourists after the COVID-19 pandemic in Hoi An, Quang Nam Province, central Vietnam. Photo: Truong Trung / Tuoi Tre

On the day Tuoi Tre (Youth) correspondents visited, Tien and Ly were getting 10 basket boats ready for a group of excursionists.

The rider, 63-year-old Le Thi Thoi, paddled rhythmically to a river section where some fishermen were casting their nets.

Sea gusts grow powerful at this time of the year. It can wear on the rider, Thoi explained to her passengers, adding it takes experience to navigate based on wind directions.

Thoi, with 50 years of experience in steering the coracles under her belt, and all of her children have switched from fishing to basket boat riding.

When basket boat tours became in vogue following a reality show featuring a Korean beauty queen, more tourists from South Asia have made their way here.

As tour operators and community-based villages began recruiting local riders, Thoi changed from steering basket boats to fetching fish from fishing boats and selling the catch at the local marketplace to ferrying tourists.

More villagers got onboard to supplement their incomes.

Before they knew it, after only a few years, the entire village had switched to steering basket boats for tourism services.

Thois children are also known for their unique basket boat collections which come in different sizes and building styles from across Vietnam.

The number of basket boats is counted on household members, according to Thoi.

My family of six own six boats. We change or upgrade them every few years for greater safety, she said.

The upgrade costs us a few million dong [VND1 million = US$44]. But its more labor-consuming."

The entire village has put on a facelift since their shift to tourism services, with new multi-floor houses mushrooming over recent years.

According to Nguyen Thi Gai, a Van Lang villager, each household now owns a few basket boats.

During the peak season from April to October in pre-pandemic years, all the households boats were overbooked, though the fleet had grown to more than 1,000 by then.

Gai and her peers have even celebrated several Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays, a special occasion for family gatherings, on their boats to be of service to tourists.

She earned around VND4-5 million ($175-218) each month as she does not own a boat while young men can make up to VND1 million ($44) a day.

1,200-coracle fleet According to Ngo Hien Tran, vice-chairperson of the Cam Thanh Commune Peoples Committee, the water coconut forests have long cushioned villagers from high sea waves from Cua Dai and nourished them with bountiful catches. As soon as the forests were leveraged for tourism purposes, most residents have completely switched to steering basket boats and opening eateries. As tourism has recently picked up, villagers can get at least a few rides on bad days, Tran said, adding those without boats can now earn stable incomes. The commune is currently home to a fleet of nearly 1,200 basket boats for tourism. She added Hoi An City plans to turn the hub of basket boats into river-based tourism villages and attract more tourists with diverse products including building houses from water coconut trees and making homegrown fish sauce.

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Cultural activities held in Bulgaria to celebrate upcoming UN Chinese Language Day

Xinhua) 08:39, April 15, 2022

Bulgarian students learn to use chopsticks during a celebration event with the theme of "Experience the Charm of Chinese Together" in Chelopech, Bulgaria, April 13, 2022.

A series of cultural activities were held in Bulgaria to celebrate the upcoming United Nations Chinese Language Day. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

Bulgarian students learn about the Chinese opera face painting art during a celebration event with the theme of "Experience the Charm of Chinese Together" in Chelopech, Bulgaria, April 13, 2022.

A series of cultural activities were held in Bulgaria to celebrate the upcoming United Nations Chinese Language Day. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

Bulgarian students learn to write with brushes during a celebration event with the theme of "Experience the Charm of Chinese Together" in Chelopech, Bulgaria, April 13, 2022.

A series of cultural activities were held in Bulgaria to celebrate the upcoming United Nations Chinese Language Day. (Xinhua/Lin Hao)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Cologne, Germany--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2022) - AET REMOULD has released a new product line - the Spartan Collection. Presently launched is the first watch of the series, the 'Lochagos', which modifies the Royal Oak Offshore model themed on Spartan spirit with exquisite aesthetic and sapphire craftsmanship.





Figure 1

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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In ancient Greece, the Spartans were famous for their powerful strength. The modern interpretation of the Spartan spirit mainly focuses on rigidity, bravery and domineering. In other words, the Spartan spirit is the embodiment of masculinity.





Figure 2

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The large size of 'Locagos' is in line with the design concept. At the same time, the use of color is also bold and avant-garde. The dial is dominated by red and yellow for a very bright look. The red dial ring is dotted with yellow splashes, making the sapphire dial more vibrant.





Figure 3

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The chronograph rings at 6 o'clock and 12 o'clock are printed with the iconic geometric pattern of the Spartan shield, which is also a symbol of the Spartan spiritual elements.

The edge and the hands of all three sub-counters are covered in red. The hands are also similar to the daggers of the Spartans. AET REMOULD logo has been added to the end of the central seconds hand.





Figure 4

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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The back of the 'Locagos' is mainly in golden yellow with red splashes, integrated with the overall design of the dial. There are eight external screws, and the AET REMOULD logo can be seen from the bottom. The crown is a combination of metal and sapphire with the logo of AET REMOULD on the crown button.

Story continues

The case, bezel, dial and caseback are all made of sapphire, a specialty of AET REMOULD. The transparent body combined with the eye-catching dial design better reflects the core of the watch - the Spartan spirit.





Figure 5

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

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Limited to 10 pieces, 'Locagos' is equipped with fluororubber straps, available in multiple colors. With its exceptional aesthetic, 'Locagos' evokes Spartan spirit and connotation, reinterpreting the contemporary Spartan spirit.

Media contact

Name: Julia Schmitz

Company: AET Remould

Website: http://www.aetremould.com

Email: official@aetremould.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/120564
Peter H. Maltbie

Flooding is common in informal settlements in Bwaise, a neighbourhood in the Ugandan capital Kampala. Bwaises residents are largely excluded from planning and local decision-making processes, and have poor housing and limited access to sanitation and other essential services.

Flooding makes matters much worse. During a visit in November 2019, residents showed us that they dig trenches around their houses and build small retaining walls to prevent water from flooding in. Public toilets are raised about a metre above the ground.

Bwaise lies in a swampy valley between several of Kampalas many hills and was already prone to flooding. But floods are now happening more and more often because of climate change.

This neighbourhood is not exceptional, and such conditions are common in cities around the world. The UN estimates that around one in four city dwellers  more than 1 billion people  live in precarious conditions, without access to basic services or adequate housing and are excluded from health, education, and livelihood opportunities.

If this sounds bad, things are about to get worse: the IPCCs latest report on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability (we helped write the chapter on cities) made it explicit that people living in informal settlements in areas such as Bwaise are the most vulnerable urban populations to climate change.

Where climate change hits hardest

These settlements tend to be found in marginal lands, often prone to flooding. Lack of drainage means the floods last longer and stagnant water becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes that spread diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.

Informal settlement dwellers also lack access to many of the resources that provide protection against climate hazards. Precarious and poor-quality housing, for instance, offers no protection against flooding or extreme temperatures, and so the effect on peoples health and wellbeing is greater than if they were living in households with air conditioning or at least adequate insulation and ventilation. Sanitation and waste management systems protect against disease transmission and other problems caused by flooding, yet are typically not adequate in informal settlements.

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Residents of informal settlements often lack access to social security and healthcare systems that provide protection for other city dwellers during climate disasters. With livelihoods compromised and a lack of social protection or insurance, the impacts of a flood may keep families in poverty for generations.

Climate change does not happen in a vacuum, and the rapid growth of urban populations can further exacerbate environmental challenges. For example, cities already experience much warmer temperatures than surrounding areas, in what is called the urban heat island effect.

This combines with and magnifies climate change-induced heatwaves. These effects are already noticeable with warming of 1.1, but scientists argue that they will be unbearable if temperatures rise beyond 1.5.

Dont only focus on infrastructure

The recent IPCC report finds evidence that climate change adaptation is being integrated into urban policy, but progress is slow. Investments are concentrated in large infrastructure projects, such as widening drainage channels and roads. However, there is a need to tackle the root causes of vulnerability with a portfolio of responses such as new wetlands or parks that absorb storm water, and social protections such as welfare payments or insurance for those that are flooded or otherwise impacted by climate change.

The IPCC report explains that effective adaptation depends on local governments, businesses, NGOs, and communities working together. It cites examples from Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and Sierra Leone which show that informal settlements generate crucial data on climate and health risks that support adaptation and development plans. Local residents also develop innovations to create more sustainable futures, such as buildings that take into account flooding and heat risks.

Communities such as those in Bwaise have worked hard to provide options for their members even in the face of desperate conditions. For example, people there have worked with NGOs to build themselves a new sanitation unit designed to endure more frequent floods.

Improving sanitation conditions was a small step towards a more resilient neighbourhood, but an important one for the people who benefited from it. However, the scale of the climate change challenge is such that communities can no longer deliver adaptation alone. Maintaining liveability in future cities will depend on institutions that are able to recognise the needs and capacities of informal settlement dwellers.

Imagine weekly climate newsletter

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Vanesa Castan Broto receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC), the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), the Economic and Social Research Fund (ESRC), the Leverhulme Trust, the British Academy and the AXA Research Fund.

Emmanuel Osuteye receives funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund, the Economic and Social Research Fund (ESRC), AXA Research Fund and UCL's Grand Challenges Fund.

Linda Westman receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC).
Phillip Ly made sure setbacks would not define him. The winner of Gilman, Freeman Asia, Fund for Education Abroad, and Boren scholarships  some of them twice  kept striking out on getting to use those funds for a study abroad in Japan due to COVID-19. Yet the University of North Georgia (UNG) senior kept applying for major awards.

This spring, his determination was rewarded. Ly, a resident of Forest Park, Georgia, has been selected as a scholar for the Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Summer Enrichment Program in Washington, D.C.

The program fully funds students to spend six weeks in the nation's capital learning from diplomats, Foreign Service officers, and others on Capitol Hill. Scholars also take two courses for credit from Howard University and attend a seminar on professional writing. Typically, only 15 students are selected each year from a nationwide pool of more than 800 applications.
Vietnamese Professor Vo Tong Xuan, honorary rector of Southern Can Tho University (right) receives the Order of the Rising Sun awarded by Japan's Government.  Photo tuoitre.vn

CAN THO  The Japanese Government on Wednesday bestowed the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon upon Vietnamese Professor Vo Tong Xuan, honorary rector of Southern Can Tho University.

Professor Xuan, 82, was born in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang.

The Order of the Rising Sun is Japans national medal awarded to those who have made outstanding achievements in the fields of international relations, the development of Japanese culture or advancements in the fields of Japanese interest such as agriculture, social welfare and environmental preservation.

Attending the award ceremony, Watanabe Nobuhiro, Consul General of Japan in HCM City, said that Professor Xuan was the bridge for the special cooperation relationship in agriculture between Viet Nam and Japan.

He is nicknamed 'Dr Rice' by his friends because of his contributions to the development of the rice industry, Watanabe said, adding that the Order of the Rising Sun, Golden Ray and Ancient Ribbon of Japan was awarded to Xuan for his great contributions over the years in many fields.

Xuan is an agricultural scientist with much of his research conducted in the Mekong Delta  Viet Nams rice granary. He conducted research focusing on rice cultivation techniques in the tropics in 1974 while he was studying at Kyushu University in Japan.

After completing his doctoral degree in agronomy, he returned home and worked at Can Tho University. In collaboration with Japanese researchers, Xuan continued to carry out studies on rice cultivation techniques.

In 1997, as a research fellow and visiting lecturer at Kyoto Universitys Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, he came to Japan for a year, during which he studied the host nations agricultural co-operative models and helped arrange learning tours in Japan for Vietnamese farmers and policy-makers.

After returning to Viet Nam, based on his research at Kyoto University, Xuan introduced agricultural policy, particularly Japanese agricultural co-operatives and techniques, at many workshops.

In addition, as an agronomist, he has made great contributions to strengthening cooperation in the agricultural sector between Japan and Viet Nam via Japan's ODA cooperation programmes.  VNS
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A wildfire that has burned more than 200 homes on the edge of a mountain community in the southern part of New Mexico and killed two people was caused when a power line was toppled by strong winds, according to state authorities.

Crews worked Thursday to restore power to parts of the village. The lack of electricity also has affected the school districts servers, email system and website. Firefighters used a break in what had been a steady stream of relentless gusts to make headway against the deadly blaze.

The remains of the couple were found Wednesday afternoon near their home after family members notified Ruidoso police that the two had tried to evacuate but were unaccounted for. Authorities were working to confirm the identities of the two people.

The fire had moved into a more densely populated area of Ruidoso, prompting more evacuations, about 5,000 people. Laura Rabon, a spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest, interrupted a fire briefing Wednesday to tell people to get in their cars and leave after the flames jumped a road where crews were trying to hold the line.

Weve had students whove lost their homes. We have to support them on Tuesday when school resumes, said high school English teacher Sara Ames Brown, who was with students when they evacuated by bus, with flames visible in the forest outside as they drove away.

Overnight, crews kept the flames from pushing further into the village, and Rabon said that progress continued Thursday as helicopters dropped water and ground crews secured lines on the east and south sides. They also put out hot spots in the neighborhoods where the flames raced through earlier this week.

The fire has torched an estimated 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) of forest and grass, and the strong winds that battered the area have left behind toppled trees and down power lines.

Fire officials and forecasters warned that persistent dry and windy conditions had prompted another day of red flag warnings for the eastern third of New Mexico and other parts of the Midwest.

Incident Commander Dave Bales said the strategy was attack while we can," noting that winds were expected to pick up again Friday.

We're trying to keep this fire as small as possible, especially because it's right in the community, he said. We've had a loss of a lot of structures so our crews are right there on the fire front going as direct as possible.

Six new large fires were reported Wednesday: three in Texas, two in Colorado and one in Oklahoma. In all, wildland firefighters and support personnel were trying to contain 11 large fires that have charred more than 40 square miles (103 square kilometers) in five states.

The National Interagency Fire Center reported Thursday that since the start of the year, 18,550 wildfires have burned about 1,250 square miles (3,237 square kilometers). That's well above the 10-year average of 12,290 wildfires and 835 square miles (2162.64 square kilometers) burned.

Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. The problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.

Elsewhere in New Mexico, wildfires were burning northwest of Ruidoso, along the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque, in mountains northwest of the community of Las Vegas and in grasslands along the Pecos River near the town of Roswell.

Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Davenport from Phoenix.

Cedar Attanasio contributed reporting from Santa Fe. Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Officials are working on a gradual import restriction on Russian oil. Stopping all Russian fossil fuel imports would create a major upheaval.

European leaders are considering an oil embargo on Russia, the most disputed step yet to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and a move long rejected because of Germany's expenditures and its impact on regional politics and energy markets.

Having banned Russian coal for the first time earlier this month, with a four-month transition period to wind down existing orders, the European Union is now expected to implement a similar phased ban on Russian oil, according to officials and diplomats from the European Union and other countries. To allow Germany, in particular, time to find other suppliers, the approach will be gradual.

The conversations occurred when Russian President Vladimir V. Putin recognized on Thursday that the Western sanctions already in place had harmed his country's critical energy industry, prompting the discussions.

Officials have stated that the proposed European Union embargo will not be put up for negotiation until after the final round of the French elections on April 24 to avoid the impact on gas prices fueling the populist candidate Marine Le Pen hurting President Emmanuel Macron's re-election prospects.

The timeframe is just as essential as the specifics of the ban, and it serves as an example of the brinkmanship that will be necessary to persuade all 27 member states of the European Union to agree to an unprecedented action at a time when Russia is preparing a fresh onslaught in eastern Ukraine.

According to officials and diplomats who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the growing sense is that the measure will be implemented even if there is no so-called trigger, such as another major news event like the atrocities in Bucharest. However, an occurrence of this kind may prompt the choice to be made.

Since the invasion started on February 24, the European Union has imposed five rounds of more harsh financial sanctions on Russia. It is under intense pressure from allies to cease filling the Kremlin's coffers with oil imports. For the time being, they have refrained from pursuing Russian gas supplies since they are still considered too crucial to significant European economies, particularly Germany's.

However, a small number of its members are ill-prepared to cope with the economic ramifications of shutting off the flow of Russian oil into the United States. According to the European Commission, Russia is the biggest oil supplier to the European Union, accounting for about a quarter of the bloc's total oil and petroleum product imports in 2020.

Germany, the EU's de facto leader and a nation that is heavily reliant on Russian oil and gas, has been a significant opponent of a swift, universal, and simultaneous E.U.-wide oil embargo, and much of the work around the terms of the policy has been centered on ensuring that Berlin gets on board.

Russia provides Germany with 34 percent of its oil needs. Not only will it be necessary to find alternative suppliers to compensate for this, but it will also be necessary to ensure that there is sufficient land transport for oil heading to its two refineries, which are fed by pipelines from Russia, in particular a refinery in the eastern city of Schwedt, near the Polish border, to meet demand.

Recently, the German ambassador to the United States published a lengthy thread on Twitter in which she clarified her country's position on energy restrictions.

"Switching off fossil fuel imports from Russia would result in a large and immediate disruption," says the author. Modern industrial facilities are not operated in the same way a light switch operates. The knock-on consequences would be seen well beyond Germany, the EU's economic engine and the world's fourth-biggest economy," said Emily Haber, the ambassador to the United States.

Hungary, another member state of the European Union heavily reliant on Russian oil, has urged that any future penalties be determined by EU leaders rather than senior diplomats or ministers, increasing the likelihood of an emergency summit meeting to discuss the issue.

EU split on the embargo of Russian oil and gas | DW News
The Ukrainian daily Defense Express reported that Moskva might have had nuclear weapons aboard before the ship's sinking. Claims of a "Broken arrow event has occurred. "Broken Arrow" refers to a nuclear-related mishap that does not threaten nuclear war.

Moskva, a 40-year-old icon of former strength of the Russian military establishment, was left a smoldering ruin after receiving two direct missile strikes in the assault and subsequently went down while being towed to the Crimean naval port of Sevastopol. Russia emphatically denies Ukraine's claim that the Moskva was assaulted and heavily damaged by two Ukrainian cruise missiles.

The Moskva is not just the heaviest loss since the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano on May 2, 1982, but it is also the largest naval asset lost since World War II.

However, insiders claim there is no serious danger that the vessel has many nuclear weapons in a disturbing disclosure.

Andriy Klymenko, editor-in-chief of BlackSeaNews, has asked for an immediate international investigation into whether the Moskva was transporting nuclear weapons.

"According to friends and analysts, there are two nuclear cruise missile warheads onboard the Moskva," he said.

"Perhaps this is new knowledge for many, but it is accurate" - the battleship is "a nuclear weapons carrier," according to the Navy.

"Can you tell me where these warheads are?" he inquired. What were they doing when the ammo went off in the air? What is the location of the point on the map, and what are the coordinates?"

The sinking Moskva, according to the Ukrainian online journal Defence Express, poses a nuclear-weapons danger to the country.

Their statement said that "there is a genuine chance that nuclear bombs were on board the afflicted flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet."

In addition to the P-1000, there are additional options "The nuclear missile cruiser Moskva, armed with Vulkan" missiles, might also be armed with other nuclear weapons."

Amid terrifying allegations of probable nuclear weapons in the Black Sea, a town in Russia's border area with Belarus, home to a military facility, was bombed on Thursday.

The assault came as a result of explosions at an ammunition dump and an oil plant in Belgorod and along a nearby railroad track.

Images from Belgorod taken in the early hours of Friday morning showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, indicating that new attacks were taking place.

The ministry said that its troops had also entirely retaken control of the Ilyich Steel Plant in the beleaguered port city of Mariupol, which had previously been under siege.

According to Russian officials on Wednesday, approximately 1,026 troops from Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, surrendered near the steel mill.

According to Ukrainian officials, the city of Mariupol, which Russian soldiers have surrounded for many weeks, has seen the bloodiest combat and the most extensive devastation since Russia started a military incursion in Ukraine on February 24.

On Thursday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated his fellow citizens for enduring a savage 50-day Russian offensive.

According to the most recent information from Ukraine on Friday, the skipper of the Moskva perished as a result of the humiliating missile assault.

According to Kyiv-based sources, First Rank Captain Anton Kuprin, 44, was killed when Neptune missiles slammed the ship.

"He perished due to an explosion and fire on board the former flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet," according to Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry in Kyiv.

"We are not in mourning," the spokesman continued.

Other sources lend credence to the assertion that Capt. Kuprin was slain.

Moscow did not immediately confirm the death of Kuprin, but the country has neglected to report the deaths of numerous key military figures throughout the 51-day battle.

Russia claims that the crew has been evacuated, but there is growing concern about the possibility of lives being lost aboard the warship.

It has been reported that just around 50 of the crew members have been located, having been picked up by a Turkish ship, according to reports.

While another 14 people were airlifted to the port of Sevastopol, the fate of the other 450 people remains a complete mystery.

According to a video taken from inside Sevastopol overnight, several dozens of automobiles ostensibly belonging to sailors are still parked at the port, indicating that their owners have not yet arrived to collect them.

On the 300th anniversary of the Russian navy, a "farewell ceremony" for the Moskva is scheduled to take place in Sevastopol today at a memorial dedicated to the ship.

The incident left Russian despot Vladimir Putin yearning for murderous vengeance, and he struck with a ruthless new bombing campaign almost soon after that.

And he threatened additional attacks on the Ukrainian capital as they sought vengeance for the loss of the giant ship, which weighed 12,490-tonnes.

"The frequency and size of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will rise in reaction to any terrorist actions or acts of sabotage on Russian territory conducted by the Kyiv nationalist government," the Russian defense ministry warned.

According to Ukrainian MP Lesia Vasylenko, protests shook the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv later on Thursday evening.

In a late-night tweet on Thursday, she stated: "Right now, there are three explosions in #Kyiv. They came one after the other.

According to footage posted on social media, the sky above Kyiv seems to have been lighted up by a slew of explosions. These look like the most devastating strikes on the Ukrainian capital since Russia withdrew from the city earlier this month.

While explosions were heard in the southern city of Kherson, the eastern city of Kharkiv, and the western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, outbreaks were also reported in the southern city of Kherson. Social media videos have shown the sky above Kyiv lit up by countless explosions - they appear to be the most severe attacks since Russia retreated from the capital earlier this month.

While blasts were also heard in the southern city of Kherson, the eastern city of Kharkiv and Ukraine's western city of Ivano-Frankivsk.

Flash claim about the Russian ship Moskva... 'broken arrow' alarm in the Black Sea!
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a poison pill defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musks proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private.

The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders  except for Musk  to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musk's stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition.

Twitters plan would take effect if Musks roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

The poison pill injects another twist into a melodrama surrounding the possibility of the worlds richest person taking over a social media platform he described Thursday as the world's de facto town square.

Twitter said its plan would reduce the likelihood that any one person can gain control of the company without either paying shareholders a premium or giving the board more time to evaluate an offer. Such defenses, formally called shareholder rights plans, are used to prevent the hostile takeover of a corporation by making any acquisition prohibitively expensive for the bidder.

Even if it discourages his takeover attempt, Musk could still take over the company by waging a "proxy fight" in which shareholders vote to retain or dismiss the company's current directors. Twitter said its plan doesnt prevent the board from negotiating or accepting an acquisition proposal if its in the companys best interests.

Theyre gearing up for a battle here with Musk," said Daniel Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities. They also have to give themselves time to try to find another potential buyer."

Musk has offered to buy the company outright for more than $43 billion, saying it needs to be transformed as a private company in order to build trust with its users and do better at serving what he calls the societal imperative of free speech.

Having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization," he said during an onstage interview at a TED event Thursday, just hours after his bid was announced.

With about 82 million Twitter followers, Musk is both a prolific user of the platform and a vocal critic of the measures it has taken to restrict accounts that spread misinformation or amplify violent rhetoric and hate speech. He said Thursday he's opposed to permanent user bans  the most famous of which is Twitter's suspension of former President Donald Trump's account after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Musk revealed in recent regulatory filings that hed been buying Twitter shares in almost daily batches starting Jan. 31, ending up with a stake of about 9%. Only Vanguard Group controls more Twitter shares. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York federal court alleged that Musk illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.

After Musk announced his stake, Twitter quickly offered him a seat on its board on the condition that he would limit his purchases to no more than 14.9% of the companys outstanding stock. But the company said five days later that Musk had declined.

Ives said Twitter's poison pill path is a predictable defensive maneuver but could be seen as a sign of weakness for the company on Wall Street.

Musk could try to fight the measure in court, but no court has overturned a poison pill in the last 30 years," said Columbia University law professor John Coffee. Rallying shareholders to kick out the board might be more doable but also presents challenges to Musk, Coffee said.

Musks offer already faced resistance before Twitter threw its Friday counterpunch.

A Saudi prince who is among Twitters major shareholders scoffed at Musks offer in a Thursday tweet. Al Waleed bin Talal said he would reject Musks overtures because he didnt believe $43 billion comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter, given its growth prospects. The prince punctuated the tweet with another one from 2015 disclosing his Kingdom Company had raised its stake in Twitter to 5.2% -- about half of what Musk now holds.

While Musks $54.20-per-share offer is nearly 40% greater than Twitters stock price before he disclosed his huge investment, its still far below the peak closing price of $77.63 reached less than 14 months ago. At that time, Twitter was valued at about $62 billion.

Musk responded to the prince with a tweet asking how many Twitter shares he holds and then made what may have been a veiled reference to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi that was tied to Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. What are the Kingdoms views on journalistic freedom of speech? Musk asked in a Thursday tweet.

In a sign that investors are skeptical about Musks offer, Twitters stock fell in the first day of trading after the takeover bid was announced Thursday -- exactly the opposite of what an approving market reaction looks like. The stock markets were closed Friday for the Good Friday holiday. Twitter said it plans to disclose more details of its shareholder plan in an upcoming regulatory filing.

Another outspoken billionaire, Dallas Mavericks owner and tech investor Mark Cuban, weighed in on Twitter to share his theory that Musk is making his bid to goose the companys stock price so he can sell his stake at a profit. Using a profane term, Cuban also postulated Musk is using the bid to torment the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock market regulatory agency that fined Musk $20 million in 2018 after he tweeted about a potential buyout of Tesla that never materialized.

In Thursday's TED event, Musk made it clear he is still incensed with the SEC and cursed the regulators with a profanity.



AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Ramon, California contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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NEW HAMPTON  A former Charles City man has pleaded not guilty to allegations he killed a retired grocer as he slept at his rural Nashua home in 2012.

Randy Lee Patrie, 49, entered a written plea of not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder Monday. He also waived his right to trial within 90 days of indictment.

A trial date hasnt been set.

Last week, the court appointed the Dubuque Public Defenders Office to represent Patrie after the Waterloo office notified the court of a conflict.

Authorities allege Patrie broke into the home of Kenneth Carl Gallmeyer, 70, and killed him with a shotgun in September 2012. Investigators found Gallmeyers home had been ransacked.

A year later, authorities found Gallmeyers TV in Patries bedroom and located three of Gallmeyers guns in Patries home when they searched it in connection with another investigation.

Patrie was convicted of federal firearm charges and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.

Chickasaw County Sheriffs deputies charged Patrie with murder in January.

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ADEN, Yemen, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The UN Special Envoy for Yemen warned that armed confrontation in the country's oil-rich central province of Marib between the Houthi group and Yemeni government threaten the two-month ceasefire brokered by the United Nations.

Hans Grundberg made the remarks in a statement on Thursday when he briefed the UN Security Council after his first visit to Sanaa, the Houthi-held capital of Yemen.

He said that the two-month ceasefire that began on April 2 provided "light at the end of the tunnel" for the Arab country ravaged by protracted internal conflict.

The agreement remains intact and "offers a moment of respite for Yemenis and a moment of possibility for pursuing peace. But it requires continued commitment from the parties and broad support from the region and the international community to make sure it holds and becomes a turning point toward peace," said Grundberg.

Since the start of Ramadan, the country's warring sides agreed to implement a UN-brokered cease-fire that was meant to last two months.

The truce includes the end to all ground, aerial and naval military offensive operations across Yemen and its borders. However, the Yemeni government and Houthi rebel militia have repeatedly exchanged accusations of breaching the ceasefire since it started.

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 government out of Sanaa.

According to the UN, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 4 million and pushed the country to the brink of starvation. 
JERUSALEM, April 15 (Xinhua) -- More than 300 Palestinians were arrested on Friday by the Israeli police as clashes erupted at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, Jerusalem's police spokesman and Chief Superintendent Idan Iluz told Xinhua.

According to Iluz, the arrests were made in the morning hours as violent clashes broke out near the holy site.

"There was persistent rock throwing at police officers for several hours. Officers responded with crowd dispersal means to push the rioters back," the police said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that it had treated nearly 60 people injured during the clashes. Israeli police said three officers were lightly wounded.

Thousands of worshippers started to gather at the holy compound in the early morning for the prayers on the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is a site holy to both Muslims and Jews, the latter of whom call it the Temple Mount.

Videos circulating online showed masked men throwing rocks at police officers who fired tear gas and stun grenades at the crowds.

Tensions have been high in recent weeks during another wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. This weekend is especially tense as Muslims continue to mark Ramadan and Jews prepare to celebrate the holiday of Passover on Friday evening.

Since March, 14 Israelis have been killed in several attacks in Israeli cities, leading to subsequent Israeli military operations throughout the West Bank that have killed more than 20 Palestinians.

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with soldiers at a military base to examine the situation.

"We are working to calm things down on the Temple Mount and throughout Israel. At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario," Bennett said.

"The riots this morning ... are unacceptable," Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement.

Last year, clashes at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, the focal point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, led to an 11-day war between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. 
Bosque Brewing Company plans to make some changes to its Santa Fe business operations.

Chief executive officer and co-owner Gabe Jensen said in an interview Thursday morning that the company plans to convert its Market Station Public House at the Santa Fe Railyard location from a taproom to a Restoration Pizza. Jensen said they were already on the fence about whether to open a taproom or the pizza joint in Santa Fe and had finally landed on a taproom. They opened in October of 2020.

For one thing, we think opening during the pandemic hurt our momentum, he said. There is also a lot of competition there (The Railyard). We wanted to rethink how we are going about it.

Jensen said they also see a lot of potential in the growth of their pizza brand. It will we be the second Restoration Pizza location for the company, which opened its first pizzeria in April of 2019 at the Journal Center.

Bosque established the restaurant with the goal of providing employment for people living with mental and physical disabilities, and plan to use the same model at the Santa Fe location. Jensen said about 36% of the staff at the Albuquerque location have a mental or physical disability.

The Railyard taproom will be open until at least the end of this month and hopefully reopen in early June.

We need time to convert the kitchen, he said. We have a very specific layout we need.

In addition to pizza, they will serve nachos, salads and Bosque beer. The reopening will come with a small rebranding for Restoration Pizza. It will get a new logo and color scheme.

Its not the end of Santa Fe taprooms for Bosque though. Jensen said they are planning to open a new location on Cerrillos Road next to Dions Pizza in the near future.

Bosque has not been a company afraid to shift gears. It opened its first taproom and brewery in 2012 inside a tiny office space off Alameda Boulevard. It slowly expanded the space, which was near Balloon Fiesta Park, and quickly became a popular stop for craft beer lovers. Seven years later, owners decided to close that location, which was still attracting large crowds, and go in a different direction. It opened Restoration Pizza, shifted its headquarters to Rio Rancho and opened a location in Bernalillo, where it moved brewing operations.

They also have a location in Nob Hill and two locations in Las Cruces and are poised to open a another taproom this June in the Northeast Heights on Eubank, south of Spain. The Heights location has been planned for a few years but was delayed because of the pandemic. In addition to a patio, it will have a large grassy area for outdoor games and lounging.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board adopted rules this week aimed at reducing air pollution in the oil and gas industry.

New regulations will target pollutants that form ozone, which can cause smog and respiratory issues.

Tannis Fox, a Western Environmental Law Center attorney, applauded requirements for more leak inspections at wells that are located within 1,000 feet of where people live, work and play.

Thats a really significant proposal that has tremendous public health benefits, as the evidence is there that the closer you live to oil and gas wells, the more at risk you are for a whole series of health impacts, Fox said.

Industry equipment in the high-ozone counties of Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Lea, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, San Juan and Valencia are included in the new rule. Ozone pollutants can also be found in vehicle emissions and wildfire smoke.

The state Environment Departments original proposal included exemptions for low-producing wells. But the final rule removes those exceptions.

This rule is an enormous win for communities impacted by unhealthy air quality caused by oil and gas operations, said state Environment Secretary James Kenney. Over the next few months, we will begin robust and innovative compliance assurance activities to ensure oil and gas operations are adhering to these new requirements.

Operators must have emissions data certified by an engineer and quickly find and fix leaks once the rules go into effect this summer.

Companies will retrofit control devices and other equipment that can leak pollutants during drilling and processing.

The department, which is grappling with an inspector shortage, encourages operators to use technology to detect leaks.

New Mexico Oil and Gas Association President and CEO Doug Ackerman said the group expects the new rule will reduce emissions. But he said the industry is responsible for only a small amount of the states ozone pollution.

The oil and gas industry is already one of the most heavily regulated industries in New Mexico today, and NMOGA is supportive of the new NMED regulations that are effective without being needlessly burdensome on the industry, Ackerman said.

The NMED rules complement regulations adopted by the Oil Conservation Commission last year.

Those regulations  aimed at methane emissions  banned routine flaring and venting of natural gas and mandated operators reach a 98% gas capture rate by the end of 2026.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

About 38,000 New Mexicans will have to find a new health insurer next year.

Bright Health Group, the owner of True Health New Mexico, announced Thursday that it will no longer offer individual and family plans for the 2023 plan year to members in New Mexico and five other states.

Nothing will change this year for New Mexicans with True Health plans, but those members will need to find new plans during the next open enrollment period beginning Nov. 1, 2022, said Joanie Griffin, speaking for True Health.

Group plans will stay in place through the end of the specific contract year, she said.

The company will work to make sure current members have transitioned to new plans. Current members can reach out to customer service for additional help, Griffin said. Customer service for True Health New Mexico can be reached at 1-844-508-4677.

Members will soon receive discontinuation notices, according to a news release.

The announcement of the discontinuation of plans in New Mexico comes just over one year after Minneapolis-based Bright Health Group announced the purchase of True Health from Evolent Health for $22 million.

According to the company, the move to no longer offer coverage is a strategic decision to increase its focus on growing markets.

New Mexico, Illinois, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah and Virginia  the states where Bright Health is discontinuing coverage  represent 5% of Bright Health Groups total revenue, the company said in a news release announcing the change.

About 30 jobs will be lost in New Mexico from this decision, Griffin said, though most employees will stay on until all plans have been phased out or until the end of 2023.

True Health was founded in 2017, after another now-defunct organization, New Mexico Health Connections, received regulatory approval to sell off its commercial business to one of its vendors. That sale, to Virginia-based Evolent Health, established True Health New Mexico as a for-profit company.

True Health touts itself as a physician-led insurer; it was originally led by Dr. Martin Hickey, who was succeeded by Dr. Mark Epstein in early 2020. Epstein departed the company last month, Griffin confirmed Thursday.

Journal business editor Gabrielle Porter contributed to this report.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Authorities have extradited a California man nearly five years after he allegedly shot three teens, killing a 14-year-old, during a drug deal outside a restaurant in Southeast Albuquerque.

Derreck Flocco, 32, was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Wednesday.

He was brought to New Mexico to face charges of shooting at or from a motor vehicle resulting in death and conspiracy to commit distribution of marijuana in the July 21, 2017, death of Martin Recio.

The Albuquerque Police Department announced in June that Los Angeles police had arrested Flocco on unrelated charges and he would be extradited to New Mexico.

Flocco had been a fugitive since 2019, when he was indicted by a grand jury in Recios death.

Authorities say Flocco shot Recio and two of his friends in the parking lot of the Dions pizza restaurant near Gibson and University SE. The three were taken to a hospital, where Recio later died.

According to court records, Flocco shot all three boys during a drug deal.

Prosecutors say Flocco had very limited ties to New Mexico and had traveled to the state to oversee a drug deal when the shooting occurred.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Authorities say a Los Padillas gang member and two women plotted to rob a man during a drug deal in January, but ended up killing him at an apartment complex in Northeast Albuquerque.

Anjel Varela, 30, was robbed of $80 and a cannabis smoking device before being shot to death with a gun he had borrowed for protection, according to court records.

Bobby Littles Lopez, 27, Brianna Shorty Garcia, 23, and Danielle Foolish Cordova, 31, are each charged with an open count of murder, robbery and conspiracy in the Jan. 28 death of Varela.

Authorities say Lopez is a documented member of Los Padillas, a South Valley gang with a generational history tying them to homicides, drug trafficking and other crimes.

Lopez is behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center; Garcia is in jail in Oklahoma; and a warrant has been issued for Cordovas arrest.

It is unclear if any of the three has an attorney.

Lopez is currently serving a five-year probation sentence after pleading guilty to trafficking methamphetamine following a 2021 arrest. Garcia is facing multiple charges related to shoplifting incidents around the time of Varelas death, in which she brandished or fired a gun in confrontations with employees.

An obituary for Varela said the father of two loved working on cars, had recently gotten into air brushing and had a pastime of creating art using Legos.

My Dear Friend. Rest Easy Angel  Imma Miss You  Love You. Amor, a friend posted to Facebook beside a video of a smiling Varela flashing deuces with two fingers.

Police found Varela slumped over in the drivers seat of his Monte Carlo outside the Skyline Apartments at Louisiana and Mountain, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. Varela had been shot once and a bullet casing was found inside his shirt.

Varelas friend told police the pair had been selling drugs around the city with Garcia, and she had noticed a dark sedan following them. The friend said she gave Varela her 9mm for protection when he dropped her off and Garcia was acting suspicious.

Detectives went to Oklahoma to speak with Garcia after her arrest and she told them she, her girlfriend Cordova, and Lopez had planned to rob Varela. Garcia said she told Varela that Lopez was a relative who needed heroin and he was allowed into Varelas car.

She told police Lopez grabbed the 9mm off Varelas lap, and stole his cash, car keys and a cannabis smoking device, and got into Lopezs car. Garcia said she then heard a single gunshot and Lopez got into the vehicle, where Cordova was waiting, and the pair fled.

She told police Lopez later joked that he was the golden trigger due to it being one shot, one kill. Police traced the trios phones to the scene of the shooting and Garcia picked Lopez out of a photo lineup as the shooter.

She told police she had known Lopez on and off for years and was in fear for her life due to talking with detectives. When detectives spoke with Lopez at MDC, he declined to speak without a lawyer present.
Central New Mexico Community College is considering parking its truck driving trade program because it loses money. And while that may seem a simple decision based on the ledger, serious questions remain over whether the many benefits the program delivers have gotten fair consideration. CNMs governing board should lay those out and inject some creative thinking before ending a popular program that delivers an affordable path to well-paid jobs.

We get that CNM has to work within its budget, and all of its 181 associate degree and certificate programs are evaluated annually. A committee of representatives from each division of the college considers the college mission, market demand, program economics, and alignment to academic and industry standards. This go-round, 14 were recommended for sunset. But the proposal for two of them  truck driving and bench jewelry  possibly to be offered on a non-certificate basis out of one of CNMs Ingenuity workforce and training sites received serious pushback from faculty and the community.

Tuesdays CNM governing board meeting drew about 200 students, graduates and instructors in the two programs. The speakers made it clear they oppose any changes.

We also get that change is hard. But, speaking in support of the two programs, Marissa Juarez, a full-time faculty member, said the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects employment in the trucking industry will grow 6% in the next 10 years and it makes no sense to scale back a program that provides a crucial service in the nations supply chain at a time when there is a nationwide shortage of truck drivers. The bench jewelry program, she said, enriches the local art community and the jewelry-making industry, while creating jobs.

Comments will be considered during a review by CNMs planning and finance committees before the full governing board takes action. Thats important. The boards next meeting is May 10. Kudos to Juarez and others who weighed in to provide ample food for thought.

Established more than 30 years ago, the consistently full truck driving program leads the way to a Class A Commercial Drivers License and a chance to generate more income than in almost any other field in New Mexico, said instructor John Morningstar. It takes about 15 weeks and costs participants about $1,600. But Samantha Sengel, CNMs vice president of workforce and community success, said it runs a yearly deficit of between $450,000 and $600,000.

Thats telling. The program has been mission critical enough to operate at a loss for years. Whats changed? With autonomous driving years away, certainly not the demand for these skills. As it is, we have too few programs that can lead to such well-paid jobs. In a state that ranks near the bottom in poverty, these programs are crucial.

Meanwhile, Mathew James Shepardson, owner of Tskies Jewelry in Albuquerque, has hired seven graduates of the bench jewelry program and grown his business. Sengel says the program does not have enough enrollment/graduates.

Two ideas: The new Opportunity Scholarship Act covers tuition for certificate programs. If CNM raises the costs to participants, would the scholarship program cover that? And before state officials complain thats inappropriate, UNM has already increased its tuition. It seems having the scholarship program pay $5,000 or so is worth giving students the means to start a well-paid career. And are companies willing to underwrite some costs to get a great employee? Innovation may keep these programs alive.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China firmly opposes any form of official exchange between the United States and Taiwan, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday, adding that China will continue to take effective measures to resolutely protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks in response to a question regarding the visit to Taiwan by certain U.S. lawmakers including Senator Lindsey Graham.

U.S. lawmakers should abide by the one-China policy pursued by the U.S. government. They should stop official exchanges with Taiwan and not make irresponsible remarks, he said.

Zhao mentioned a statement issued by the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army, which, according to the Ministry of National Defense, had conducted a combined combat-readiness patrol and carried out targeted training exercises in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island.

Zhao said that the relevant actions of the Chinese military are countermeasures to the recent negative actions of the United States, including the visit of the U.S. congressional delegation to Taiwan.

According to reports, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe published an article in a U.S. newspaper recently, comparing Taiwan with Ukraine and saying that the United States should make a clear commitment to "help defend Taiwan".

In response, Zhao said the Japanese politician has been making outrageous and irresponsible remarks on the Taiwan question and provoking confrontation between major countries with ulterior motives. "China is firmly opposed to this."

"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the Taiwan question is entirely China's internal affair. It is fundamentally different from the Ukraine issue and they are completely not comparable with," he said.

The Japanese side should be especially cautious about its words and deeds on the Taiwan question and avoid sending the wrong signal to the "Taiwan independence" forces, he said.

"In response to those absurd remarks, I want to stress that no one should underestimate the strong resolve, firm will and powerful capabilities of the Chinese people to safeguard the national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Zhao said. 
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Barring an exceptional monsoon season, the Middle Rio Grande could suffer from above-average temperatures this summer, federal water managers said Thursday.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation hydrologist Ed Kandl said the agency is concerned about what Albuquerque river flows could look like in late August and early September.

Well be working with the (irrigation district) and the water authority and everybody else to try to maintain some kind of flow through Central Avenue, Kandl said.

The agency predicts reservoir and streamflow conditions using snowpack, summer forecast and the policies of state and federal river compacts.

About half of New Mexico is experiencing extreme or exceptional drought.

But much of the Rio Grande Basin recorded above-average snowpack this winter.

We are starting off in a better place than we were last year, Kandl said.

River drying near San Acacia could begin in early July and last through the entire irrigation into early October, Kandl said.

This is highly variable and dependent upon monsoons  well just have to wait and see, he said.

Reclamation predicts that Elephant Butte Reservoir could drop about 60 feet by mid-September.

In northern New Mexico, El Vado Dam reconstruction is expected to begin in mid-May and last through 2023.

Reclamation will keep about 650 million gallons in the reservoir during the repairs to prevent large amounts of sediment from moving into the river below the dam.

The agency will release water from Heron Reservoir instead of El Vado this summer to boost river rafting flows during the weekends.

This has never been done before, and we will definitely make adjustments to see what works and what doesnt, Kandl said.

The federal agency is using El Vado to store up to 6.5 billion gallons that is set aside for pueblo use.

They will move that water to Abiquiu before construction starts.

Theresa Davis is a Report for America corps member covering water and the environment for the Albuquerque Journal.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

A state district judge on Thursday sentenced William Baca to 12 years in prison in the 2019 stabbing and beating death of his girlfriend, 59-year-old Annette Armijo.

Baca, 62, pleaded guilty in 2020 to second-degree murder in Armijos death in Bacas Southeast Albuquerque trailer.

Baca initially told Bernalillo County Sheriffs deputies that he killed Armijo in self-defense while the two were arguing, according to a criminal complaint.

The self-defense claim does not match the crime and fatal wounds that Ms. Armijo experienced that night, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raul Torrez said in a written statement. Prosecutors said Baca stabbed and struck Armijo more than 40 times the night of her killing.

Thank you to the victims family and friends who spoke on behalf of Ms. Armijo today, we hope they find closure and peace with todays sentencing, Torrez said.

According to the Metropolitan Court criminal complaint, Bacas sister asked sheriffs deputies to check on her brother in his mobile home in the 4700 block of Broadway SE, north of Bobby Foster Road.

Deputies spoke with Baca and left the mobile home after he appeared to be all right and showed no signs of being a danger to himself, the complaint said. Deputies returned later after he admitted to his sister that he had killed Armijo during a fight.

Deputies found Armijos bloodied body covered with sheets in the living room. They also found a massive amount of blood in the bedroom and drag marks indicating Armijos body had been moved into the living room, the complaint said.

Baca also showered and changed clothes after the killing, deputies said.
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga.  Reps. Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux flipped two longtime Republican congressional districts in Atlantas northern suburbs by running against then-President Donald Trump and his divisive brand of politics.

But as they fight to keep their House seats this year, theyre competing against each other.

After new congressional maps approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature made McBaths district more conservative, she decided to compete for Bourdeauxs seat. Thats pitting two colleagues from the same party against one another ahead of Georgias May 24 primary.

The race is an uncomfortable development for Democrats who would prefer to celebrate the inroads theyve made in Georgia, culminating with Joe Biden becoming his partys first presidential candidate to take the state in 28 years. Rather than building on that success, which was driven in part by support in Atlantas suburbs, the primary is pitting two of the partys rising stars against each other.

Bourdeaux, who has referred to McBath as a sister and previously campaigned alongside her, said in a recent interview that she was pretty shocked by the primary challenge.

If the shoe were on the other foot, it would not have crossed my mind in a million years to go over to the sixth (district) and run against her, Bourdeaux said, lamenting that McBath was devoting resources to defeating her in the primary that could instead be directed at Republicans.

McBath said her push to remain in Congress is about my work to honor my son, not her primary opponent. Her 17-year old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a white man who was angry over the loud music the Black teenager and his friends had been playing in their car, spurring McBath into becoming a gun safety activist.

To keep that promise to my son and my family and my community, I have just refused to let Brian Kemp and the NRA gun lobby and the Republican Party decide who represents our communities in Georgia, McBath said in an interview, referring to the states Republican governor and new maps state lawmakers drew based on the 2020 census.

She added: Ive had many people say to me, I think youre making the right decision. Its a difficult decision, of course, but I think its the right decision.'

The contest is one of five major incumbent-on-incumbent House primary races that will unfold around the country this summer. They include Democratic Reps. Andy Levin and Haley Stevens in suburban Detroit; Republican Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney in the northern half of West Virginia; and Illinois congressional colleagues from both parties  Republicans Mary Miller and Rodney Davis and Democrats Marie Newman and Sean Casten.

For some of these contenders, trying to unseat a colleague is just a political reality that comes along with the once-a-decade redistricting process. In Michigan, Levin and Stevens each said they still considered the other a friend despite now competing for a new seat drawn by an independent commission.

When something unfortunate like this happens, to me, its nothing personal, said Levin, who opted to forgo competing in a newly drawn battleground district to instead challenge Stevens in a safely Democratic one.

Stevens said that, during a recent vote on the House floor, she pulled Levin aside to discuss a bill theyd been working on. Later, she said, it hit her that, Holy smokes. Im in this primary with him and, no matter what happens, were not gonna be colleagues.'

The race in Georgia is especially stinging because it will stunt one of two nascent, promising political careers.

McBath won a House seat in 2018 from a suburban district that was held by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich for two decades. The former Delta flight attendant is known nationally as a fierce gun safety advocate.

The same year, Bourdeaux came within a few hundred votes of unseating a Republican in the adjacent district, before ultimately winning the seat in 2020. A former public policy professor and Georgia Senate budget director, Bourdeaux has worked on transportation and infrastructure issues. She was among a small group of House Democrats who urged passage last year of a bipartisan infrastructure law before agreement was reached on a larger Democratic social policy package.

Bourdeauxs redrawn district includes wealthy suburbs in Gwinnett County that have grown increasingly diverse in recent years. It has large Black, Hispanic and Asian populations. A stretch of Buford Highway that runs through the area has become a major draw for its breadth of ethnic restaurants.

The district is heavily Democratic, so the winner of the primary is expected to prevail in the general election.

The two have stayed fairly even in the money race. As of the end of last year, McBath had raised slightly more than $3 million, compared with Bourdeauxs nearly $2.4 million.

Bourdeaux has been endorsed by some top Gwinnett County Democratic leaders, while Everytown for Gun Safety, where McBath once worked, has runs ads on her behalf. Protect Our Future, a new Democratic super PAC backed by a cryptocurrency billionaire, has also vowed to spend big to boost McBath, prompting calls from Bourdeauxs campaign that her opponent should disavow funding from the group.

Jovanny Emery Sierra, a 27-year-old technologist at a medical company from Duluth, voted for Bourdeaux in the 2020 general election but is now volunteering for McBath. He said he was alienated by Bourdeaux seeming to prioritize the infrastructure legislation rather than a larger, White House-backed social spending and public works bill known as Build Back Better that eventually collapsed.

It just felt like a slap in the face, he said.

Others who live in the district say they feel anguished that McBath or Bourdeaux will be left without a congressional seat.

We have two great, caring people that are Democrats, but through this gerrymandering at the state Legislature, they just cut them up and dilute the democratic process, said Jim Shealey, 72. Shealey said he hadnt decided whom to vote for in May.

Still, Julie Pierce, 65, said McBaths decision to challenge Bourdeaux leaves me squeamish.

Pierce said shes always thought highly of McBath, but she sees Bourdeaux out campaigning much harder.

If youre going to parachute in, for crying out loud, parachute in and date me, Pierce said of McBath. Dont take me for granted.

___

Weissert reported from Washington.
LONDON  The British government said Friday that it plans to start putting asylum-seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda within weeks, as it defended a deal that has outraged refugee groups and humanitarian organizations.

Britain and Rwanda announced Thursday that they had struck an agreement that will see some people arriving in the U.K. as stowaways on trucks or in small boats sent 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) to the East African country, where their asylum claims will be processed and, if successful, they will stay.

The British government says the plan will discourage people from making dangerous attempts to cross the English Channel, and put people-smuggling gangs out of business.

But critics of the Conservative government said legal and political hurdles mean the flights may never happen. They accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of using the headline-grabbing policy to distract attention from his political troubles. Johnson is resisting calls to resign after being fined by police this week for attending a party in his office in 2020 that broke coronavirus lockdown rules.

Conservative lawmaker Andrew Griffith, a senior Johnson adviser, said the flights to Rwanda could start in weeks or a small number of months.

Migration Minister Tom Pursglove said the drastic plan was needed to deter people trying to reach Britain in dinghies and other boats from northern France. More than 28,000 migrants entered the U.K. across the Channel last year, up from 8,500 in 2020. Dozens have died, including 27 people in November when a single boat capsized.

Nobody should be coming in a small boat to come to the United Kingdom, Pursglove told Sky News. We quite rightly have a rich and proud history in this country of providing sanctuary for thousands of people over the years. . But what we cant have, and we cant accept, is people putting their lives in the hands of these evil criminal gangs, and thats why we think it is important that we take these steps.

The deal  for which the U.K. has paid Rwanda 120 million pounds ($158 million) upfront  leaves many questions unanswered, including its final cost and how participants will be chosen. The U.K. says children, and families with children, will not be sent to Rwanda.

Refugee and human rights groups called the plan inhumane, unworkable and a waste of taxpayers money. The United Nations Refugee Agency urged Britain and Rwanda to reconsider.

Such arrangements simply shift asylum responsibilities, evade international obligations, and are contrary to the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention, said the agencys Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs. People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.

Previous schemes to offshore asylum-seekers have been highly controversial.

In 2013, Australia began sending asylum-seekers attempting to reach the country by boat to Papua New Guinea and the tiny atoll of Nauru, vowing that none would be allowed to settle in Australia. The policy all but ended the people-smuggling ocean route from Southeast Asia, but was widely criticized as a cruel abrogation of Australias international obligations.

Critics of the U.K.-Rwanda plan say it is certain to face legal challenges. The prime minister acknowledged Thursday it would likely be challenged in court by what he called politically motivated lawyers out to frustrate the government.

The Law Society of England and Wales, which represents solicitors, chastised the government for offering misleading suggestions that legal challenges are politically motivated.

Legal challenges establish if the government is abiding by its own laws, said society President I. Stephanie Boyce. If the government wishes to avoid losing court cases, it should act within the law of the land.

___

Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
NASHVILLE, Tenn.  For years, Tennessee Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbros call to require the states voting infrastructure to include a paper record of each ballot cast has been batted down in the Republican-dominated Legislature.

But as false claims still swirl around the 2020 presidential election  and some GOP voters remain distrustful of voting machines  Tennessee Republican lawmakers who have held off are coming around on a paper-backed mandate. A similar scenario is playing out in some of the five other states  most of which are Republican-led  that do not currently have a voting system with a paper record.

The Tennessee GOP bill that is gaining traction would set a 2024 deadline for Tennessee to join the vast majority of states that already have voting systems that include a paper record of every ballot cast, so any disputed results can be verified.

Yarbro said hell take the change, even if he doesnt love the impetus for it.

Im disappointed that its taken this long, and somewhat concerned over the rationale, the Nashville lawmaker said. But at the end of the day, this is good public policy.

Mississippi and Indiana plan to have a paper trail by the 2024 presidential election. Last year, lawmakers in Texas  where slightly more than 1 in 10 registered voters cast ballots on paperless machines  passed a law requiring paper records by 2026. Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick touted the move as helping to rebuild trust in elections.

Efforts in two states  Democratic-led New Jersey, and Louisiana, which has a Democratic governor and a Republican-led Legislature  have been slowed by either process issues or funding.

Across the partisan spectrum, there is some sense that the controversy around 2020 underscores how important it is to have paper records of voter intent that we can go back to, said Mark Lindeman, director of Verified Voting, a group that tracks voting equipment across states.

In Tennessee, GOP Gov. Bill Lee has proposed $15 million for a switch to voter-verifiable, paper-backed equipment. The changeout could cost up to $37 million, with leftover federal election funds covering the rest, state officials said. Nearly two-thirds of the states 95 counties currently do not produce a paper record.

Republican lawmakers say Tennessees elections are just fine. They direct scrutiny at other states, despite a lack of any evidence of widespread fraud or other major problems anywhere in the 2020 election.

When they had the vote, there were a lot of questions about it, especially in several of the states, Georgia and different ones  Is this done right?' said Tennessee Sen. Ed Jackson, the Republican bill sponsor. So, thats what we are trying to accomplish. But we dont have that issue here in Tennessee.

Nationwide, election officials continue to grapple with false claims spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies about the 2020 election. This has led to new mail voting restrictions, threats directed at election officials, costly and time-consuming partisan ballot reviews and calls to abandon voting machines altogether and rely solely on paper ballots counted by hand.

About 68% of U.S. registered voters will mark ballots by hand for the 2022 midterm elections, while the rest will use touchscreen voting machines, according to Verified Voting. About 5% of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election did not have a paper record, down from about 18% in 2016, according to federal officials.

That will shrink further by 2024.

In Indiana this year, Republicans decided not to replace existing equipment. Instead, they added a small printer to some 5,000 voting machines to create a paper trail by 2024.

That plan advanced through the GOP-dominated Legislature in March despite criticism from voter advocacy groups. They argue the printer technology is outdated and relies on lightweight thermal paper, similar to cash register receipts, that is easily damaged and lets voters see only part of their ballot at a time through a small window.

Democratic state Rep. Ed DeLaney of Indianapolis argued not having voter-completed paper ballots available for recounts threatens election integrity far more than claims such as mail ballot fraud.

If we want to have voter confidence, then we need to do those things which are simple and effective in preventing a miscount, said DeLaney. Thats what we need to do and then we can worry about our fantasies and fears.

This month, Mississippi lawmakers sent the governor legislation to require paper backups by 2024. On a radio show last year, Republican Sen. Jeff Tate said his bill addresses the perception of rigged voting equipment.

In New Jersey, GOP Sen. Joe Pennacchio has sponsored a bill to require paper ballots for all in-person voting, saying that even without the complaints over the 2020 election, its still the right thing to do. Some majority-party Democrats have introduced paper-trail proposals, as well. New Jersey has a long-standing requirement to upgrade to paper-backed voting systems, but a 2009 deadline still hasnt kicked in due to funding issues.

New Jersey has a hodgepodge of counties with voting machines that produce paper trails, and some that dont. The states law permitting early in person voting, which took effect in 2021, called for machines with paper records. Though the state financed them for all 21 counties, only some bought enough to run their entire election on paper-backed machines.

About one-third of Mississippi voters and nearly half of New Jersey voters use paperless machines, according to Verified Voting.

Louisianas Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin has favored ballot-marking machines that print a paper receipt that is electronically scanned so results could be available on election night, but efforts to replace the states paperless machines have been mired in process delays.

A 2021 law tasked a new commission with recommending a replacement with a paper trail. As it mulls its options, the commission has heard calls for hand-marked paper ballots along with unsubstantiated claims of cheating in the 2020 election.

There is no evidence of any widespread fraud or coordinated efforts to steal the 2020 election. Last year, The Associated Press reviewed every instance of potential voter fraud reported in the six states disputed by Trump and found fewer than 475 cases  a number that would have made no difference in the contest.

Over the years, Tennessee election officials have said counties can choose their voting equipment. More recently, they encouraged a move toward paper-backed systems. Now, they support requiring the change, reasoning that increasingly fewer paperless machines are produced.

Last year, a Republican-led legislative subcommittee halted a Democratic push for a paper-trail mandate.

If theres not a problem, why are we trying to fix it? And why are we mandating that our local governments have to foot the bill for it? GOP Rep. Ryan Williams said in 2021.

Williams has since come around. He voted for the new bill last month, telling fellow lawmakers that Tennesseans were disturbed about elections in other states that they felt like disenfranchised them.

I think one of the things our citizens wanted to know after the last elections, that we did have a way to verify them in paper, Williams said.

___

Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Tom Davies in Indianapolis; Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi; and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  The Homeland Security Department said Friday it will temporarily shield people from deportation back to Cameroon, saying extreme violence between government forces and armed separatists in the African nation made it unsafe for them to return.

The department also cited increasing attacks by the Boko Haram extremist group as grounds for giving Cameroonians an 18-month reprieve from deportation if they were in the United States on Thursday. They may apply for work permits.

Homeland Security estimates 11,700 Cameroonians may be eligible.

Extreme violence and the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure have led to economic instability, food insecurity, and several hundred thousand displaced Cameroonians without access to schools, hospitals, and other critical services, the department said.

Cameroon becomes the 14th country eligible for Temporary Protected Status, a program created in 1990 for people from countries stricken by civil strife or natural disasters. Short-term reprieves are often extended in increments of up to 18 months, leading many to describe it as anything but temporary.

About 200,000 El Salvadorans have had temporary status since 2001, after an earthquake hit the Central American country.

The Biden administration previously created temporary status for people from Myanmar, Haiti, Venezuela and Ukraine. The designation of Ukraine, which followed Russias invasion, fueled calls for Cameroon to get the same treatment, with some advocates for the African country claiming racial bias.

Large numbers of Cameroonians appeared at the U.S. border with Mexico in 2019 until Ecuador imposed travel restrictions, limiting their ability to reach the border by traveling over land.

Immigration advocates said the decision was welcome, if overdue.

Its a huge, huge, huge sense of relief, said Haddy Gassama, policy and advocacy director for UndocuBlack.
A portion of the McBride Fire burns in the hills above State Road 70 in Ruidoso on Friday. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks during a a briefing on the McBride Fire at the Ruidoso Convention Center on Friday. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is briefed on the McBride Fire at the Ruidoso Convention Center on Friday. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford speaks with the media on Friday, April 15. The McBride Fire has burned more than 6,000 acres and destroyed more than 200 homes. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal) The ruins of Manuel Blackmon's home smolder after it was destroyed by the McBride Fire in Riudoso. (Courtesy Manuel Blackmon) The charred remains of a home burned by the McBride Fire in Ruidoso on Thursday, April 14, 2022.(Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) A helicopter fills up its reservoir with water from a pond at the Outlaw Golf Course at Alto Lakes while fighting the McBride Fire in Ruidoso on Thursday.(Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) The remains of a home left after a wildfire spread through the Village of Ruidoso, New Mexico, on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Officials say a wildfire has burned about 150 structures, including homes, in the New Mexico town of Ruidoso. (Alexander Meditz via AP) Ruidoso resident Karen Taylor uses her cell phone to photograph a hillside burned by the McBride Fire near the Lincoln County Medical Center on Wednesday. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Michele and Kenny Ryen, along with their 7-month-old Yorkie Poodle Mix Stevie Nikki, lost their home in the Ruidoso McBride Fire. They were evacuated to the Ruidoso Convention Center on Wednesday. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Fire burns along a hillside in the Village of Ruidoso, N.M., on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Officials say a wildfire has burned about 150 structures, including homes, in the New Mexico town of Ruidoso. (Alexander Meditz via AP) Donna Seidow, of Las Cruces, loads her late sister's belongings into her SUV after residents of the Gavilan Canyon Road area were forced to evacuate due to the McBride Fire in Ruidoso on Wednesday. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Flames erupt on a hillside as the McBride Fire rages in Ruidoso on Wednesday. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) A plane drops retardant over a hillside as the McBride Fire rages in Ruidoso on Wednesday. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Law enforcement agents on Wednesday block the access to Gavilan Canyon Road, an area burned by the McBride Fire in Ruidoso.Photographed on Wednesday April 13, 2022. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Journal) Smoke billows from a nearby hillside Wednesday as Ruidoso officials brief the media on the McBride Fire (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal) Prev 1 of 16 Next

Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

RUIDOSO  Surrounded by stacks of water bottles and Red Cross blankets at an evacuation shelter Friday afternoon, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham promised to work on expediting relief and resources to a community reeling from the McBride Fire.

These scars last a long time, Lujan Grisham said of the fire that has destroyed more than 200 homes and killed two people.

The governor flew over affected areas in a helicopter before meeting in town with local officials and fire crews.

She said she learned of the community's urgent needs, but also the long road ahead to recovery.

Given all the different government jurisdictions, there's always an exception where someone, a community or a particular area, doesn't get what it needs, Lujan Grisham said. So what we're talking about is, let's figure out ways not to let that happen.

Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford said the village is focused on housing and feeding displaced residents, as well as on shoring up the region's economy.

This (fire) is coming right into our economic season, Crawford said. Out at the racetrack there's about $50 million worth of horses that are supposed to be coming in next week getting ready for the Memorial Day start.

The McBride Fire has burned more than 6,000 acres and continues to move northeast. As of Friday morning, there was no containment.

At least 207 homes have been destroyed and two people died in the blaze, which started on Tuesday.

The Ruidoso area has about 2,000 short-term rentals, Crawford said. Village officials are meeting with the real estate board this weekend to determine if some of those properties could become long-term rentals for displaced residents.

I know we'll get through this, he said. Ruidoso has worked through these things before, but it is going to be a long haul.

Longtime Ruidoso resident Kody Sparks watched from a church parking lot in town as wind-buffeted flames and smoke flared up on a hillside Friday afternoon.

In California you run the risk of your earthquakes, in Oklahoma you risk tornadoes, Sparks said. Well, in Ruidoso, you risk fire.

Friday progress

High winds made firefighting difficult on Friday, said Southwest Incident Management Team 2 Commander Dave Bales.

It's rough country out there, Bales said.

Even while crews battle with weather, the fires are moving into burn scars from previous fires. That could help ground crews gain access and tackle the perimeter.

The McBride Fire's cause is still under investigation.

A separate Nogal Canyon Fire has burned more than 400 acres and is 4% contained.

That fire, caused by a downed power line on Tuesday, destroyed six homes and eight other structures.

'All hell started breaking loose'

Ruidoso Village Councilor Tim Coughlin evacuated his home earlier this week. His neighborhood has been spared.

But scorched fireplaces and mobile home frames are all that remain in some areas.

High winds kicked off a perfect storm for a chaotic fire situation earlier this week.

The village lost power and phone lines went down Tuesday afternoon, which prevented the fire sirens from blaring out warnings.

That's when all hell started breaking loose, Coughlin said.

Emergency crews tried using a reverse 911 system to alert residents. But the communications didn't reach everyone.

The councilor also works at the local Boys & Girls Club. He choked back tears when speaking of one child's father who suffered severe burns.

We had police, we had other village employees going up and down the streets, honking their horns, going on the loudspeakers telling people to get out, or getting out and pounding on doors if they needed to, Coughlin said.

Lujan Grisham noted that a communications system breakdown is not uncommon in New Mexico's rural areas.

We've come a long way, she said. I'm hoping that New Mexico will lead the country in figuring out new and better innovative ways to make sure that every single resident has constant communication about those risks and where we are and what we're doing.

The governor also stressed the need for long-term management solutions as the region adapts to a drier climate.

Helping hands

Donations have poured into the mountain community from across the state.

Gavin Bigger, a Ruidoso real estate agent and Gateway Church member, helped organize a donation center at the church gym.

Several volunteers at the center are evacuees. Some lost everything, while others are still blocked off from their homes.

They all know that they got out with what was important, Bigger said. We've had displaced people come in and refuse help because they thought that someone might need it more. It's incredibly humbling.

The group has clothes, food and water for displaced residents.

We're going to be here as a resource for months to come, Bigger said.

Fire season outlook

The spring blazes don't bode well for the rest of New Mexico's fire season, said new State Forestry Capitan District Ranger Nick Smokovich.

Historically, this would not have been considered fire season, he said.

But early snowmelt has helped large high-elevation fires in the spring become the new normal.

The National Weather Service three-month forecast shows a likelihood of above-average temperatures and below-normal precipitation.

Everyone agrees that the region is in for a long recovery.

Ruidoso truly is a family, Coughlin said. We fight and argue. We complain about stupid little things all the time. But when this kind of event takes place, everybody comes together.

Hermits Peak Fire

Other parts of New Mexico are also dealing with wildfires.

The Hermits Peak Fire, sparked after a prescribed burn last week northwest of Las Vegas, has charred just over 7,000 acres and is now 33% contained despite persistently gusty winds through much of Friday.

Six outbuildings and two recreational vehicles have been damaged or lost to the blaze, but San Miguel County officials said they haven't found any homes that have burned. They added that after around 300 homes lost power, service had been restored in Las Dispensas, Gallinas, El Porvenir and Trout Springs.

People in the areas of San Ignacio, Canoncito, Pendaries Village and County Road A3A were still ordered to evacuate, and red flag warnings were in place until 8 p.m. Friday and expected from noon Saturday to 8 p.m.

The incident management team, now a Type 1 team, handling the fire made steady progress in containing its spread, with officials noting the ultimate goal was to lift the evacuation orders.

Big Hole Fire

The fire in the Belen bosque in Valencia County, which ignited from a downed power line on Monday, remained at 60% containment and around 900 acres Friday. One home has been lost, along with 18 outbuildings, but no one has been reported injured or killed.

No one was told to evacuate their home in response to the Big Hole Fire, and no new closures were announced. Fire officials asked pilgrims walking to Tome Hill for Good Friday to be cautious of heavy equipment.

Please be mindful of firetrucks and crews coming and going and be aware of  surroundings and avoid the fire area, said Wendy Mason, Wildfire Prevention and Communications Coordinator.

Journal staff writer Esteban Candelaria contributed to this report.
ROME  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday Colosseum procession in Rome, after the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman to share bearing the cross with a Ukrainian woman had angered Ukrainians.

In an apparent attempt to defuse the objections, when the moment arrived for the two women, who work together at a Rome hospital, to walk with the cross together, the ceremonys participants were invited to pause in prayerful silence and pray in their heart for peace in the world.

The original script, written with the womens input, had spoken of prospects for reconciliation. That wording had sparked protests by both the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See and a Kyiv archbishop.

They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.

For the first time since before the pandemic, the solemn torchlit procession returned to the ancient arena in Rome Friday night. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists held small, lit candles as Pope Francis, looking pensive and wearing a white coat against the damp night air, sat under a canopy placed on an elevated viewing point.

At each Station of the Cross, reflecting details of Jesus suffering and death by crucifixion, a different family walked with the cross, and meditations, written by them, were read aloud.

The women were identified only by their first names in interviews on Italian Rai state TV: Irina, a nurse from Ukraine and Albina, a Russian nursing student.

Ahead of the procession, Albina told Rai that it was important to pray for the children who are no more, for the soldiers who lost their lives and cant even be buried. Irina described the sharing of the cross-carrying as a great responsibility.

The Vatican didnt respond to the protests. But apparently in reaction to the flap, the original meditation to be read while they shared bearing the cross, was shortened considerably for the procession.

The meditation said that in the face of death, silence is the most eloquent of words. Participants were then invited to pause iand pray for peace in the world. The two women looked somberly into each others eyes for a long moment as they carried the cross.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the text was shortened to allow people to stay in silence and in prayer.

Francis made no reference to the flap. Instead, at the processions conclusion, he prayed that God bring adversaries to shake hands, so that they taste reciprocal forgiveness. He also prayed that God disarm the hand raised by brother against brother, so that where there is hatred, harmony will bloom.

While Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a sacrilege, he has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor, although his references to Russian President Vladimir Putin have been clear.

SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops conference, said that several Ukrainian religious media refused this year to broadcast or report on the Colosseum procession in protest.

But other faithful in the world applauded the decision to pair the two women.

In Paris, hundreds of Catholics gathered for Good Friday prayers on the forecourt of Notre Dame cathedral.

Jennifer Kilgore-Caradec, who is from the United States, told The AP at Notre Dame that having the two women hold the cross together was a very moving and meaningful symbol. She added: I think that real people in the real world are concerned about peace. We want peace, we dont want war.

The faithful were not allowed inside the Paris cathedral, since it is still under reconstruction after a 2019 blaze collapsed its spire and destroyed its roof.

In St. Peters Basilica, hours ahead of the Colosseum event, Francis, wearing red vestments to symbolize the blood of Jesus, limped up the central aisle for an early evening prayer service. Francis, 85, has been suffering from a knee ligament problem.

Usually at the Good Friday basilica service at the Vatican, the pontiff would prostrate himself in prayer. But this time Francis, hobbled by pain for weeks, didnt do so.

Francis dispatched his official almsgiver, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, to Kyiv to lead a Good Friday procession in the capital city of war-ravaged Ukraine. Italian Rai state TV showed the cardinal visiting Borodyanka, where he prayed over some of the bodies and leaned over to touch one, partially covered, body.

Good Friday is one of the main days for Christians during Holy Week, which culminates in Easter, on Sunday.

In Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of faithful traditionally converge on the Old City to visit sacred sites during Holy Week, Palestinians and Israeli police clashed Friday at the Al-Aqsa mosque. The site is sacred to Jews and Muslims. This year, Ramadan coincides with Passover as well as Holy Week.

Medics in Jerusalem said more than 150 Palestinians were injured in the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

___

John Leicester and Oleg Cetinic contributed from Paris.
PROVIDENCE, R.I.  Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a poison pill defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musks proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private.

The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders  except for Musk  to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musks stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition.

Twitters plan would take effect if Musks roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

The poison pill injects another twist into a melodrama surrounding the possibility of the worlds richest person taking over a social media platform he described Thursday as the worlds de facto town square.

Twitter said its plan would reduce the likelihood that any one person can gain control of the company without either paying shareholders a premium or giving the board more time to evaluate an offer. Such defenses, formally called shareholder rights plans, are used to prevent the hostile takeover of a corporation by making any acquisition prohibitively expensive for the bidder.

Even if it discourages his takeover attempt, Musk could still take over the company by waging a proxy fight in which shareholders vote to retain or dismiss the companys current directors. Twitter said its plan doesnt prevent the board from negotiating or accepting an acquisition proposal if its in the companys best interests.

Theyre gearing up for a battle here with Musk, said Daniel Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities. They also have to give themselves time to try to find another potential buyer.

Musk has offered to buy the company outright for more than $43 billion, saying it needs to be transformed as a private company in order to build trust with its users and do better at serving what he calls the societal imperative of free speech.

Having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization, he said during an onstage interview at a TED event Thursday, just hours after his bid was announced.

With about 82 million Twitter followers, Musk is both a prolific user of the platform and a vocal critic of the measures it has taken to restrict accounts that spread misinformation or amplify violent rhetoric and hate speech. He said Thursday hes opposed to permanent user bans  the most famous of which is Twitters suspension of former President Donald Trumps account after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Musk revealed in recent regulatory filings that hed been buying Twitter shares in almost daily batches starting Jan. 31, ending up with a stake of about 9%. Only Vanguard Group controls more Twitter shares. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York federal court alleged that Musk illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.

After Musk announced his stake, Twitter quickly offered him a seat on its board on the condition that he would limit his purchases to no more than 14.9% of the companys outstanding stock. But the company said five days later that Musk had declined.

Ives said Twitters poison pill path is a predictable defensive maneuver but could be seen as a sign of weakness for the company on Wall Street.

Musk could try to fight the measure in court, but no court has overturned a poison pill in the last 30 years, said Columbia University law professor John Coffee. Rallying shareholders to kick out the board might be more doable but also presents challenges to Musk, Coffee said.

Musks offer already faced resistance before Twitter threw its Friday counterpunch.

A Saudi prince who is among Twitters major shareholders scoffed at Musks offer in a Thursday tweet. Al Waleed bin Talal said he would reject Musks overtures because he didnt believe $43 billion comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter, given its growth prospects. The prince punctuated the tweet with another one from 2015 disclosing his Kingdom Company had raised its stake in Twitter to 5.2%  about half of what Musk now holds.

While Musks $54.20-per-share offer is nearly 40% greater than Twitters stock price before he disclosed his huge investment, its still far below the peak closing price of $77.63 reached less than 14 months ago. At that time, Twitter was valued at about $62 billion.

Musk responded to the prince with a tweet asking how many Twitter shares he holds and then made what may have been a veiled reference to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi that was tied to Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. What are the Kingdoms views on journalistic freedom of speech? Musk asked in a Thursday tweet.

In a sign that investors are skeptical about Musks offer, Twitters stock fell in the first day of trading after the takeover bid was announced Thursday  exactly the opposite of what an approving market reaction looks like. The stock markets were closed Friday for the Good Friday holiday. Twitter said it plans to disclose more details of its shareholder plan in an upcoming regulatory filing.

Another outspoken billionaire, Dallas Mavericks owner and tech investor Mark Cuban, weighed in on Twitter to share his theory that Musk is making his bid to goose the companys stock price so he can sell his stake at a profit. Using a profane term, Cuban also postulated Musk is using the bid to torment the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock market regulatory agency that fined Musk $20 million in 2018 after he tweeted about a potential buyout of Tesla that never materialized.

In Thursdays TED event, Musk made it clear he is still incensed with the SEC and cursed the regulators with a profanity.

-

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Ramon, California contributed to this report.
NEW YORK  When smoke bombs and bullets were unleashed on a subway full of morning commuters as it crawled toward a stop in Brooklyn, the trains driver, David Artis, couldnt hear the shots.

His first indication something was wrong was when passengers crowded near the door to his operators compartment to report chaos, one car back.

Artis said after a moment of shock, his thoughts quickly shifted from, Oh my God! to concern for his passengers. He leaned on his emergency training.

Then it kicked in. Get them out, he said Friday after he and fellow transit workers were honored by the mayor for their response to Tuesdays shooting.

In a few minutes of lightning-quick decisions, Artis and train conductor Raven Haynes radioed in the attack, threw open the train doors and evacuated all of the passengers to another train on the same platform, then began getting aid to the wounded.

Photos and video taken by passengers captured the pair calmly but authoritatively herding stunned commuters onto the other train, which sped away.

This week New York City showed the entire globe what our city has always been about, courage, heroism, quick thinking and decisive action, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Adams, who appeared at the City Hall ceremony virtually because he is isolating after having tested positive for COVID-19, had the workers presented Friday with proclamations to honor them for their heroism.

The ceremony came a day after the man authorities say was responsible for the carnage, Frank James, made an initial court appearance in a federal courthouse a few stops up the line from where the attack took place.

Prosecutors say he dressed as a construction worker and set off smoke grenades then pulled a handgun and fired 33 times, reloading once before his gun jammed.

The subway workers said that amidst the chaos, they didnt see the gunman in the crowd and were just focused on getting people out.

I was shouting to the people, Get on the train! Get on the train! Get on the train!' Artis said.

Haynes, the conductor, said she didnt feel any fear, having worked at an airport before joining the Metropolitan Transportation Authority several years ago and was already used to reacting to unpredictable situations.

I cant stress enough the importance of having a stoic attitude in a moment of chaos. You having a calm demeanor helps your passengers become calm, which helps them get out as safely and quickly as possible, she said.

The shooting victims ranged in age from 16 to 60. Most of the wounds were to the legs, back and buttocks. A 16-year-old boy was shot in the hand. They are all expected to survive.

As the wounded passengers limped on to the platform, several knelt to assist the injured. One took off a shirt to create a tourniquet for someone shot in the leg.

Artis said that when he checked the subway car to ensure it was empty, he found blood on the floor, luggage the gunman left behind and bullet casings, which he said he immediately reported to the transit operators so police could be called.

Haynes described the moment she took in the scene, just after directing the passengers to escape.

I finally looked down toward the front of the train and I saw the whole entire second car engulfed in smoke, along with the whole north side of the platform, she said.

Investigators said that in the confusion, James slipped away on the rescue train with the other passengers, exiting one station down having ditched his construction worker outfit and helmet.

He was arrested a day later in Manhattan after a citywide manhunt that ended shortly after he called a police tip line and gave his location.

The NYPD said Friday that a $50,000 reward for information leading to James capture would be split evenly among five people whose tips it said contributed directly to the arrest. Because the tip process is anonymous, the department did not release the names of the people receiving the reward money, which was contributed by the New York City Police Foundation, a nonprofit supporting the NYPDs work, the MTA, and the transit workers union.

So much is yet unknown about the motives behind Tuesdays shooting, as the suspects previous brushes with the law come under scrutiny.

Among his first contacts with law enforcement was when he was fired from his maintenance job at Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he had been a client more than 15 years ago, the organizations chief executive officer said in a statement.

At the time of his termination, we referred Mr. James for additional mental health services, and contacted the Elizabeth, New Jersey police department who conducted their own investigation. Since that time he has not been engaged with our organization, said Cory Storch, Bridgeways chief executive officer.

This devastating incident highlights the urgent need to increase access to mental health treatment and follow-up services for those in crisis so that future acts of violence may be avoided, Storch said.

At a brief court appearance Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara K. Winik said James premeditated, carefully planned attack caused terror among the victims and our entire city.

James was ordered jailed without bail. At the request of James lawyers, Magistrate Roanne Mann said she would ask for James to get psychiatric attention.

Hourari Benkada, a passenger who was shot in the leg, told The Associated Press in an interview that he was just feet away from the gunman.

Benkada said he was listening to music on his headphones when smoke began filling the car and he thought it was a small fire.

But the smoke kept escalating to black, black smoke like 9/11, he said, and the whole train was pitch-black.

Benkada said he heard gunshots and screams and he tried to shield a pregnant woman from getting hit during the mayhem, and as people pushed forward, a gunshot tore into his knee.

Investigators were scouring dozens of videos that James posted on social media as they work to determine a motive for the shooting. The videos include profanity-filled diatribes about racism, societys treatment of Black people, homelessness and violence.

James, a New York City native, also discussed his history of psychiatric treatment and complained about how New Yorks mayor is dealing with homeless people on subways and with gun violence. He also talked about shooting people, prosecutors noted in court papers.

Investigators say James, who recently left Milwaukee and was living at a short-term rental in Philadelphia, rented a U-Haul van in Philadelphia and drove it to New York City hours before the shooting.

___

Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Karen Matthews and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York and Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
MACAO, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Ho Iat Seng, chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), said here on Friday that the SAR government would continue preventing and deterring activities jeopardizing national security.

April 15 of each year is designated as the day for raising public awareness of national security after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed a new national security law in 2015.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of an exhibition on national security education held in Macao, Ho stressed that the government would continue strengthening the SAR's system and capacity building on safeguarding national security, and resolutely safeguarding the constitutional order stipulated in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the Macao SAR, as well as national sovereignty, security and development interests.

Ho also pledged to step up publicity and education on national security for local residents, particularly the young people.

Fu Ziying, who was appointed in March by the central government as an adviser to the Committee for Safeguarding National Security of the Macao SAR, said in his speech that Macao had made obvious achievements in safeguarding national security in the past year with the implementation of the principle of "patriots administering Macao" and the successful election of the seventh Legislative Assembly.

Fu, also director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR, said the SAR government had worked actively to facilitate the legislation on safeguarding national security as well as the appointments of advisers.

The exhibition, the fourth one on national security education held in Macao since 2018, was co-organized by the Macao SAR government and the liaison office. The event will last until May 15. 
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  New Mexicos Democratic Party is considering applying for early-state status for the 2024 presidential nominating process after national Democrats opened the door for a new lineup of states to pick the partys nominee.

A state party spokeswoman said this week no final decision has been made yet, but party leaders would continue to explore the option in advance of a May 6 deadline set by the Democratic National Committee for interested states to apply.

Regardless of our decision, we remain committed to ensuring that every election is an opportunity for all New Mexicans voices to be heard, Democratic Party of New Mexico spokeswoman Miranda van Dijk told the Journal.

New Mexico currently holds its primary election  including for presidential candidates  on the second Tuesday in June, typically making it one of the last states to do so.

Moving it up earlier in the year could lead to an influx of candidate visits, campaign ads and political spending in New Mexico, as typically happens in such bellwether states as Iowa and New Hampshire.

However, past proposals to change the date of New Mexicos presidential nominating contest have largely failed to gain traction.

Most recently, a 2020 bill would have moved the states presidential primary to the second Tuesday in January, while leaving other races to be decided in June. But that bill failed to advance out of its first assigned committee.

Its sponsor, House Majority Leader Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque, said at the time that New Mexicos status as a border state and its diverse population  Hispanics and Latinos currently make up nearly 48% of the states population  would make it a better pacesetter and could give minority candidates a better chance at winning their partys nomination.

A 2015 Republican-backed bill to move up New Mexicos entire primary election to March stalled in a House panel due to concerns that it could complicate state elections.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson also pushed for an earlier primary, and legislation was passed in 2003 allowing Democrats and Republicans to hold nominating contests before the June primary.

However, the Democrats presidential caucus in February 2008 was widely criticized, due to long waits at polling places and vote-counting that took more than a week.

Iowa is currently the first state to hold its presidential nominating contest, followed by New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

But a DNC rules committee voted this week to open an application process to pick up to five states to lead off the presidential primaries, according to a Politico report. A decision could be made by July after interested states submit applications.

New Mexico will hold its primary election this year on June 7.
Nippon Paint (India), Asias leading paint manufacturer, today released a TVC to celebrate another year of association with the Royal Challengers Bangalore. This is the second year of Nippons association with the celebrated team. This partnership will see Nippon Paints logo appear on the back of the players helmets and caps. Nippon Paint and RCB have an exclusive Blobby in the shade of red with a golden hat resembling the colours of RCB. In addition, Nippon Paint has an exclusive RCB red shade of paint which retail at Nippon Paints dealer stores.

The new TVC pays homage to the beautiful and colourful state of Karnataka and shows how it has inspired the colours of Nippon Paint. Karnataka is truly an amalgamation of many cultures, traditions, and colours. The TVC explores and celebrates the many facets of this state  from its rich heritage to the cultural melting pot that it is at present. The TVC features landmarks, symbols and personalities from Karnataka like Mysore Palace, Chennapatna Dolls, Hubli Light House, Vidhan Soudha, Dolukunitha musicians, Karnataka Flag and Kittur Rani Chennamma. With the tagline Namma Karnataka, Namma Nippon Paint, the TVC also features the Nippon Paint RCB blobby. Raghu Dixit further adds his magic to the TVC by composing the music, lending his voice, and featuring in the TVC. RCB and its players further add to the richness and unity of this wonderful state. RCB players including Captain Faf du Plessis, Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel feature in this TVC. The TVC will be presented on print, TV as well as digital platforms.

Speaking about the event, Mr. S Mahesh Anand, President  Nippon Paint (India) Private Limited (Decorative Division), commented, We are thrilled to associate with the cherished RCB for the second year in a row. Karnataka is an important market for us and RCB celebrates the state like no other brand can. We look forward to many years of partnership.

Mr Mark Titus- Assistant Vice-President- Marketing, At Nippon PaintIndia Private Limited (Decorative Division) said "Our association with RCB has been very fulfilling for Nippon Paint and all of our stakeholders through our shared love for the team. We are pleased with how the TVC celebrates the essence of Karnataka and showcases what it means for us. Apart from the TVC, we have a series of digital ads and contests on our social media pages for RCB fans to look forward to. For customers who want to bring home the RCB red shade, it is available at all our dealer stores.
ANKARA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu said on Friday that his country is trying to bring back its 22 cargo ships stranded on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

"We must get those ships from there. Initially, there were over 200 crew members. We have evacuated some of them. Now there are 90 left ... (who) do not want to leave the ship," Karaismailoglu was quoted by Anadolu Agency as saying.

These cargo ships are loaded with grain, sunflower oil, and iron, the minister told reporters, noting Turkey has been negotiating with both Ukraine and Russia for the safe return of the vessels.

The cargo ships stranded in the Russia-controlled Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait returned to Turkey weeks ago, said Karaismailoglu.

However, a ship prepared for the evacuation of civilians from Ukraine to Turkey has been waiting for 10 days as the negotiations with Russia and Ukraine have not yielded a result yet, the Turkish minister noted.

"An agreement could not be reached between the two countries (Russia and Ukraine) regarding the first aid supplies and the arrival of the injured to Turkey," he said.

Earlier, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey could provide evacuation of civilians by sea from Mariupol, a key port on the Sea of Azov in eastern Ukraine.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that nearly 30 Turkish citizens are being stranded in Mariupol, which has witnessed the worst violence in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 
PetPuraan  the Gastronomist, an NCR based cloud kitchen, launched a unique national film on Kolkata style Biryani, as part of a broader multi-series campaign - BanglarBaireo Bangaliana (maintaining the Bengali legacy outside of Bengal), on the auspicious day of Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year Day). This film, centred around the classic Kolkata style biryani that comes with the quintessential alu, is the first in the series. The film aims to trigger the emotional quotient amongstBengalis who stay away from Bengal and miss some of their favourite food from the state or the city of joy.

The film shows a young girl, Megh, from Kolkata who has relocated to Delhi for her new job just before the Durga Pujofestivities, undergoing a melancholic moment as she misses her family, friends for the first time during the festival. Attending officeand compromising holidays was a first in her life, as she grapples with her routine in the new city. So much so that she is unable to enjoy the new dresses her mother has lovingly sent her. A friend turns out to be a good Samaritan and invites Megh to one of the few community Pujas and also insists her to attend the traditional bijoyasammilani celebrations (a get together of friends & family after Goddess Durga is immersed) that follow the Bijoya Dasami. Meghattends the get together with hesitation as she walks into mostly unfamiliar faces. But soon, she is made to feel at home by the hosts and the Kolkata style biryani served during dinner was the ultimate ice breaker. Shes served with her favourite Kolkata biryani that brings back her Kolkata memories of joy, fun and festivities. The film has been shot at the backdrop of Sharodotsav and coincidentally the launch aligns with the time of Basanti Durga Pujoand poila boisakh.

Meghlayana Banerjee, who plays the protagonist by the character Megh, said, home can be many different things, a place, a sound, a smell, a person, or a group of people. It is a feeling, an emotion! And so, when you combine Durga Pujo, Kolkata biryani WITH deem and aalu, and the warmth of a passionate team, "home away from home" comes right to you.

Through this campaign, the idea was to reach out to the population with Kolkata or Bengal lineage who miss their comfort food out of their hometown. While the focus has been on those from Bengal, the aim is also to popularize Kolkata style biryani, a hidden gem, inother parts of the country. The campaign comes at a moment when PetPuraan is planning a national expansion to other metros like, Bengaluru & Mumbai.

Mrs. Keya Guha Roy, who plays the character of Meghs mother, said, Working with this dedicated band of kids in this project was a delight. It was unique and portrayed simple emotions of to life. The way of portraying some of these emotions that are typical of a Bengali household particularly during Durga Puja or occasions like poila boisakh made me nostalgic. It was fun being a part of the project. 
The new year is always welcomed with great fervour  be it the English New Year or the Hindu New Year. Celebrated under different names across the country on April 14 and 15, the festival celebrates the rejuvenation of nature. In the East markets, Bengal is celebrating Pohela Boishakh, while Assam is celebrating Bihu. And it is indeed a rejuvenation, especially after two years of Covid lockdown and restrictions.

Adgully is bringing the flavour of this festival in a two-part series. While the first part yesterday (April 14, 2022) focused on the content strategies of media platforms, Part 2 of the report highlights some of the brand activities in the East markets.

Also read:

TV and Radio add to the Pohela Boishank and Bihu festive fervour in the East markets



West Bengal is witnessing the return of customers to the market places in droves. The massive vaccination drive across the country as well as fall in Covid cases has contributed to the positive consumer sentiments. Though not as big a buying season as Durga Puja, Pohela Boishakh 2022 in Bengal is seeing traction for jewellery brands, apparel brands, food and beverage brands, restaurants and household goods, among others.

Tanishq from the house of Tata, has launched its Pohela Boishakh collection  Uttama. To mark the launch in an unique manner, Tanishq invited the women of Bengal to pour their soul into the collection. More than 50 regional jewellery designs were opened up for voting, where over 7,000 people gathered to give Tanishqs Pohela Boishakh collection a new shape. The collection includes uniquely curated beautiful handcrafted designs by the kaarigars of Bengal and is a meeting point of the evergreen culture of Bengal and the indomitable spirit of the Bengal women. Popular Bengali actress Mimi Chakraborty launched the collection and will be seen wearing the choice of Bengal.

Speaking on the festive occasion, Mimi Chakraborty, said, Pohela Boishakh marks the onset of an auspicious new year. What better way to bring in the auspiciousness than to revel in the festivities with Tanishqs Uttama collection that has been curated by all of us! Each piece has been crafted with love by our very own Bengali kaarigars and is a reflection of your choice. The collection will perfectly complement your ethnic and ethno-contemporary attire. I am more than honoured to launch the Uttama collection on this very significant day.

Speaking about the launch of the Uttama collection, Amit Dharap, Regional Business Head - East, Titan Company, said, Pohela Boishakh is all about a new year with renewed positivity and hope. This time, we wanted to bring something new and unique to the women of Bengal. To make this Shubho Noboborsho truly special, the Uttama collection is chosen by the women of Bengal, for women of Bengal to infuse their spirit into the collection. Our Bengali Kaarigars have handcrafted fine gold jewellery in intricate filigree, chillai and stamp work across choor, baala, Sita haar, kaan, shaka, Pola and many more. Each piece of jewellery is a celebration of the multi-dimensional and distinct personality of the woman of Bengal that makes the land so vibrant, truly Bengali.

Meanwhile, Mother Diary has rolled out its campaign  Rishton Ka Swaad Badhaye  in the city of joy. The TVC features actor Abir Chatterjee relishing the goodness and taste of Mishti Doi while engaging in a playful banter with his little daughter on screen. On his association, Abir Chatterjee said, It gives me immense joy to be associated with an iconic brand like Mother Dairy and a product that really symbolises Bengals traditional taste. The new Mother Dairy Mishti Doi ad truly represents a very sweet message in a manner that is most relatable to any Bengali household, signifying the sweetness in relationships.

Speaking about refreshed marketing strategies post the pandemic, Indrajeet Mookherjee, Managing Partner, dentsuMB, said, With the pandemic receding, the country, including Bengal, is witnessing its first relatively normal summer after 2 years. Brands have now started coming back and are luring consumers across categories. Air conditioners, refrigerators, soft drinks and ice-cream brands have launched high decibel campaigns to make the most of the unusually hot summer. This is a win win for brands and consumers!

During the time of the Bengali New Year, Bengalis usually make small or big investments. Over the past two years, they have held back on purchases due to lockdown restrictions, but the energy this time is returning with the pandemic subsiding. Mookerjee noted, Overall, there is a positive sentiment  one of change and optimism, yet caution. Over the last 18 months, consumers have held back on their spends on large ticket items. During Noboborsho, Bengalis are usually inclined to invest in real estate, jewellery, fashion, and lifestyle as these are markers of auspicious beginnings.

Online purchases, which saw a massive leap in the last two years, have been continuing in the post pandemic times as well. Brands have increasingly taken advantage of this opportunity by enhancing their online offers. Mookerjee remarked, There has been a significant change in the consumer journey in the post-pandemic scenario. Many of them have found delight in the online world. Traditional local brands like Khadims, Bancharam Sweets, Bazaar Kolkata, Senco, have all stepped up their online game. They have been aggressively wooing consumers who are enjoying the best of both worlds.
Portea, Indias largest out-of-hospital healthcare brand, Portea, has unveiled its brand mascot Chiron, an angel who assures keeping all the health woes at bay for the users. Alongside the launch of Chiron, the first mascot of its kind in the country, Portea has also revamped its logo. It will now have the mascot in it.

Chiron brilliantly juxtaposes the visual aesthetics of a doctor, an angel, and a superhero. It is apt for the times considering how healthcare providers in India have consistently gone beyond the conventional limits to save lives during the pandemic times. Chiron depicts a female doctor in a confident and ready-to-act posture with her white coat fluttering in the air like a superheros cape.

Speaking about this, Mr. Vaibhav Tewari, Co-Founder & CEO, Portea Medical, said, One of the biggest concerns for people in the last two years has been the lack of easy, convenient, and effective healthcare support. There is a need to allay the fears and reassure people that quality healthcare is available at their fingertips, at all times. Thats exactly what Chiron aims to convey. Portea has been at the forefront of innovating and introducing new services and facilities for users. Whether it is the need for disease management, COVID-19 related support, physiotherapy support, or any other such diagnostic and therapeutic needs, Portea is now enabling people in 40 cities across India to avail those at home.

Chiron perfectly symbolizes the brands mission of being available wherever the patients need it to be. Portea is also strategically revamping its brand logo and other relevant creatives in sync with the introduction of Chiron. With the universally acknowledged red cross emblem on her orange dress and a stethoscope around the neck, Chiron appears capable of taking on any health challenge, a clear visual depiction of the message, keep your health woes at bay.

Portea has focused on leveraging technology to innovate and provide patient-centric solutions at all times, particularly during the pandemic including complex hospital-based procedures such as chemotherapy and dialysis at home. Through its technology-driven services, the company is able to effectively cater to the out-of-hospital healthcare needs of people. The turnaround ushered in by home healthcare companies such as Portea can now help the Indian healthcare industry in overcoming several challenges that it faces at present.
RAMALLAH/GAZA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian factions, including the Fatah Party led by President Mahmoud Abbas and Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), on Thursday condemned Israel for killing Palestinians and escalating tensions in the West Bank.

Over the past three weeks, tensions have flared up between the two sides, particularly since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan at the beginning of April.

According to Palestine's Ministry of Health, two Palestinians were killed on Thursday in clashes with Israeli forces in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. Another civilian succumbed to wounds after being shot in Nablus.

Israeli authorities said that the soldiers "responded with live ammunition" after dozens of Palestinians violently attacked and shot at them, endangering their safety.

In a statement, the Central Committee of the Fatah Party denounced "the Israeli government's disregard for the lives of Palestinians by unleashing the Israeli army and settler groups to carry out field assassinations and military incursions."

Israel "is waging war against the Palestinian people and drags the entire region to catastrophic results," the committee said.

Member of the Palestine Liberation Organization Executive Committee Hussein al-Sheikh tweeted on Thursday that "Palestinian blood is being shed daily by the occupation forces."

On the same day, Abbas held a telephone conversation with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, saying "what is happening in the Palestinian territories due to the aggressive Israeli practices is serious and dangerous," the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

Furthermore, three Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers in three separate incidents near Nablus, Bethlehem and Ramallah in the West Bank, the health ministry reported on Wednesday.

By the ministry's count, 41 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank since January.

In Gaza, Hamas said it mourns the six Palestinians who lost their lives on Wednesday and Thursday.

"Hamas affirms that escalating Israeli measures against the defenseless Palestinian civilians will not stop the heroic resistance operations throughout occupied Palestine," it said. 
Patrisse Cullors is among the first to claim racism in response to the damaging headlines swirling around the finances of the non-profit she helped launch: Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation.

Controversy over profligate spending has crippled the richest network of social justice warriors in the country. The group enjoyed a banner year in 2020 -- in the midst of the George Floyd protests -- raking in $90 million in donations.

Supporters and detractors of the organization are starting to ask questions about the self-enrichment of its top-tier executives -- now mostly former BLM members. Chief among them is Cullors, who has yet to explain the source of income that enabled her to purchase four homes in posh neighborhoods amounting to $3.2 million.

That looming question had barely disappeared from headlines before Cullors became a lightning rod, and her colleagues, who were featured in a photograph sipping champagne on the balcony of an unreported BLM luxurious $6 million home purchase, resigned from the organization.

Powerful friends of the group on social media have made it possible to censor the initial damning information about Cullors spending spree, which was published in the New York Post. If you attempted to access the investigative stories, Facebook (now known as Meta Platforms, Inc.) blocked the expose under the guise of it being abusive content. It appears that facts have feelings.

Writing off conservative media is one thing, but now a liberal magazine in the heart of leftistville, New York Magazine, has published an investigative piece on the recent unreported $6 million BLM property in Southern California: The mini-mansion was initially categorized as a safe house and later creative meeting facility. Either way, the view is wonderful from the balcony of the 6,785 square foot home featuring numerous opulent attractions: a spacious pool, seven bedrooms, two guest houses, and even a butler's pantry (every safe house could use one). The home is located in a predominantly white 5.8 square-mile suburb, Studio City, known as a high-income earning area. Many BLM supporters are upset over real estate purchased in nearly all-white areas.

Questions about the organizations finances have become serious enough for even the authorities to come knocking on their door. Rob Bonta, California attorney general, issued a letter demanding the organization correct its delinquent status of failing to report $90 million in donations collected in 2020. The letter was dated Jan. 31, 2022, with a sixty-day deadline -- which has come and gone.

But the order contained in the letter remains in place, prohibiting the group from accepting further donations or tapping into the current stockpile of funds for BLMs questionable expenditures. Attorney Bonta must decide the next step to enforce the letters warning of assessment of penalties and possible suspension of the organizations registered non-profit status.

This has put a crimp in the organizations spending sprees. In the past, the groups VIPs enjoyed a posh resort stay in Malibu -- racking up a $26,000 tab -- to discuss the venture, Reform LA Jails. The irony of BLM executives sipping drinks poolside to discuss jail conditions did not escape supporters.

That isnt much of a red flag compared to more questionable spending sprees. Lucrative consulting fees had rained down on several BLM executives and their favorite associates, in the six-digit range amounting to a total of $12.7 million, according to the professional fee" list submitted by the group for 2021 (but not yet filed with the IRS): Chief among the highest-paid consultants and questionable expenditures include Cullors and her wife, Janaya Khan, who received $191,000 (through their consulting firm) for their work on Reform LA Jails," Damon Turner, father of Cullors only child, who was paid $150,000 through his company Trap Heals, and another $6.3 million for a mansion in Canada purchased by Khan through the non-profit, Wildseed Centre for Art and Activism.

This appears to be an epic abuse of public trust in which an entire movements resources are being squandered on the whims and financial mismanagement of one person and their inner circle of friends and family," said Tom Anderson, director of the Government Integrity Project of the National and Legal Policy Center, a public watchdog group.

Such damning comments are adding to the deluge of disastrous media coverage. Cullors assertion of racism" and sexism as the motivating force behind the media coverage leaves her appearing deluded as to the reality of the situation.

BLM management has had enough presence of mind to apologize for the groups lack of transparency. The formal statement issued by the non-profit may strike more than one attorney general as a gross understatement regarding the lack of transparency regarding the $90 million in donations in 2020. (We) recognize there is more work to do to increase transparency and ensure transitions are clear.

The most recent fallout from the unreported $6 million home in Studio City compelled the new leadership to assure the public: We know narratives like this (seven-digit spending) cause harm, according to a BLM statement on Twitter. and these reports do not reflect the totality of the movement.

Striking a more sentimental note, the group announced it is now embracing this moment as an opportunity for accountability, healing, truth-telling, and transparency. While the social justice warriors work on their healing, the public may have to wait on the issue of financial transparency.

BLM has requested a six-month extension from the IRS. If the last filing is any indication, BLM leaders may wish to start with reporting a correct address to the IRS, as opposed to listing an erroneous location, as in 2019. One does have to wonder if the richest social justice non-profit cannot figure out where the stockpiles of cash are processed, and how can they be trusted to account for the lucrative amounts allocated to themselves and close associates.

Image: BLM
This is what the people of Los Angeles wanted. They put their police force on a short leash, blaming the overworked officers for the least amount of violence against criminals while at the same time absolving the criminals of responsibility. It has led to increasing numbers of officers leaving the force or retiring early. With fewer officers on the street and the remainder being hesitant to act, the criminals are taking advantage of the situation.

The Los Angeles Police Department recently started warning people not to wear expensive jewelry in public, or they might become the target of thieves. Thieves have become so brazen that they smashed in the front window of Luxury Jewels, a Beverly Hills jewelry store, in broad daylight and fled with merchandise estimated to be worth $3 to $5 million dollars.

Were in the heart of Beverly Hills. Who thought this would happen in broad daylight? Owner Peter Sedghi said.

Over the last year, there has been a marked increase of armed robberies involving victims wearing expensive jewelry while in public. If it is visible, it can be a target, an LAPD statement said.

The Associated Press also reported about other high-end robberies. In one case, the armed thieves allegedly stole more than $3,600 worth of jewelry from a man at a mall parking garage. In the other incident, one victim was pistol-whipped and the other had their Rolex and phone stolen at gunpoint during a follow-home robbery, according to the AP.

In the city of Los Angeles alone, robberies are up 18 percent this year compared to the same time in 2021. Robberies with a firearm are up 44 percent in the same time period across the city.

This means that not only is there a greater chance that a victim may be shot, but police responding to the incident are also endangered. Because of the growing exodus of police officers, police departments are working to put new officers on the street faster. This could be a mistake for a couple of reasons. One, officers need to be trained on how to respond properly to a situation. Lack of training is one of the reasons often cited as to why police reputations have taken a hit. Two, those new officers need to have it drilled into them to always wear personal protective gear when dealing with the public. Nowadays, they often arent because they are being taught to understand the criminal and not trigger them to violence.

In November 2021, detectives from the LAPDs Robbery-Homicide Division formed a Follow-Home Task Force to investigate crimes where people are targeted by criminals and tailed home or to an isolated area. It focused on areas of the city that were wealthier and had high-end businesses.

The victims were being targeted based on the high-end jewelry they were wearing or the high-end car they were driving, police said in a statement when the task force was announced.

Dont expect it to be enough -- and not because the police arent doing their jobs. They are risking their lives to capture criminals, only to have liberal district attorneys and judges release them or give them a soft sentence.

When theres no fear of punishment, you cant expect the bad behavior to stop.

You cant blame the cops. Between the defunding movements, the race hoaxes, and the revolving doors in prosecutors offices, what are the police supposed to do? Theyre understaffed, under-funded, under fire, and at constant risk of becoming the corporate medias hate object of the week. A police department cant function at 100 percent under those circumstances, states a Breitbart article by John Nolte.

You also have a problem when people ignore simple rules that will help keep them safe, such as heeding the advice of the police and not wearing expensive jewelry. While some people have paid attention, there are others like Brenda Nolan, a 70-year-old woman who believed she could defend herself against armed robbers because she knows karate. It sounds like she may believe too many of the movies they make in Los Angeles.

Sadly, she and other residents may wind up becoming victims of the criminals believed to be misunderstood and who dont deserve to be punished.

It is reminiscent of something parents sometimes say about destructive children. It applies to the Democrats in Los Angeles and their soft stance on crime. Theyre the reason we cant have nice things.

Michael A. Letts is the CEO and Founder of In-VestUSA, a national grassroots non-profit organization helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bulletproof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.

Image: Pixabay
ANKARA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The number of housing units sold in Turkey surged 20.6 percent year-on-year in March, thanks to more purchases by foreign buyers, according to official data released on Friday.

A total of 134,170 housing units were sold in March, up from 111,241 in the same month of last year, and by 37.5 percent compared to February, the Turkish Statistical Institute reported.

The number of mortgaged sales increased by 38.8 percent year-on-year to 30,271, accounting for 22.6 percent of all sales in March.

Sales to foreigners rose by 31 percent to 5,567 units in March, with Iranians topping the list with 784 purchases, followed by Iraqis with 741 and Russians with 547.

In March, Istanbul, Turkey's most populous city, sold the most property units to foreigners, totalling 2,245. The southern province of Antalya and the capital Ankara came next.

The number of housing units sold to foreigners rose by 45.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022.

Since 2017, the Turkish government has allowed foreigners who invest a particular amount of money in Turkey's real estate sector to obtain Turkish citizenship. The investment threshold has lowered in value from 1 million dollars in 2017 to 250,000 dollars.

Russians and Ukrainians who flee the recent conflict between their countries have boosted housing sales in Turkey, particularly in Antalya Province.

The depreciation in the Turkish currency lira in 2021 has also made Turkey's real estate markets more attractive for foreign investors. 
Matthew Continetti, writing in Commentary, credits leading neoconservatives, such as Irving Kristol and his son Bill Kristol, with "modernizing" conservatism so that the Republican Party  which neoconservatives reluctantly joined after they lost influence with the Democrat party  could suitably govern a modern democracy. And he laments the fact that since the rise of the Tea Party movement, neoconservatives have gradually lost influence with a populist-nationalist Republican Party. Leading neoconservatives like Bill Kristol and Jonah Goldberg (then at National Review) publicly opposed Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020. As a result, neoconservatism is now a movement without a political party.

The immediate causes of neoconservatism's decline in influence within the GOP were the twin wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, begun during the George W. Bush administration. Initially, most conservatives supported the war in Afghanistan, even while some questioned the need to invade Iraq. But Bush transformed those wars into a crusade for democracy, which is when many conservatives  including William F. Buckley, Jr.  got off the bandwagon. Neoconservatives like Norman Podhoretz called the terrorist attacks of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, culminating in 9/11 and the Iraq and Afghan wars, "World War IV" in articles in Commentary that were later collected into a book with that title.

Podhoretz is a compelling writer, and his comparison of Bush's Global War on Terror to America's hot war against Nazi Germany and Japan and its Cold War against the Soviet Union convinced many that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were part of a larger existential conflict with radical Islam. And that is how Bush portrayed them in speech after speech and in formal national security documents. The result was twenty years of "endless wars," in which American blood was shed and American treasure was expended in a futile effort to democratize those two nations. Bush's greatest cheerleaders were David Frum, Max Boot, Bill Kristol, and other neoconservatives. When the futility of those wars became obvious to anyone not blinded by ideology, these neoconservatives continued to urge greater American military efforts.

In the end, the neoconservative crusade failed, but rather than learning the harsh lessons of their failures, they doubled down and found a new crusade: Ukraine. Neoconservatives are the most vociferous supporters of doing more to preserve Ukraine's independence, often invoking the "lessons of Munich" to justify risking war with Russia.

Neoconservatives first gained influence in the GOP during the Reagan administration when most of them were still Democrats. Many of the neoconservatives were "Jackson Democrats"  that's Henry "Scoop" Jackson, perhaps the country's leading Cold Warrior and one of the few leading Democrats who did not sit out the end of the Cold War in the 1970s and '80s. In 1980, fed up with the weakness of the Carter administration, many neoconservatives supported Ronald Reagan for president, and some of them joined the administration and, to their great credit, helped win the Cold War. (Scoop Jackson served on Reagan's transition team.)

After the Cold War ended, as Continetti notes in his article, fissures began developing within the conservative movement and the Republican Party. The issues that caused these fissures included immigration and foreign policy. And neoconservatives increasingly felt uncomfortable with the rise of populism and cultural nationalism, especially, Continetti writes, among "non-college-educated blue collar workers disaffected from the electoral process and contemptuous of political, business, social and cultural elites," including, one may add, neoconservative elites.

And in foreign policy, the fall of the Soviet Union deprived neoconservatives and their former political allies of a common enemy. And populist-nationalist conservatives never accepted the neoconservative claim that the Global War on Terror and the crusade for democracy that attached to it was a vital American interest worth twenty years of war.

Continetti, however, assigns all of the blame to the populist-nationalist conservatives, and he names names: Patrick Buchanan, Samuel Francis, Angelo Codevilla, and other writers associated with the American Conservative and the Claremont Review of Books. Those two journals and their writers provided the intellectual meat on the bones of the populist-nationalist takeover of the Republican Party. They provided intellectual gravitas to "America First." Continetti laments that the Obama administration and the criticism of it by Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham "pushed Rush Limbaugh ever rightward." Rush, too, became a champion of the populist-nationalists. And all of those conservatives eventually supported Donald Trump, which, in the eyes of Continetti and his neoconservative brethren, was their greatest sin. (Continetti fails to mention that Norman Podhoretz also became a Trump supporter.)

Continetti also laments the closing of Bill Kristol's magazine, The Weekly Standard, which was a reliable voice of neoconservatism that, however, could not make it in the marketplace of ideas. Meanwhile, National Review effectively became another mouthpiece of neoconservatism, while still occasionally publishing writers sympathetic to populist nationalism, such as Victor Davis Hanson. Buckley's old magazine, which played a huge role in founding the modern American conservative movement, is becoming increasingly irrelevant to the populist-nationalist GOP.

Neoconservatism has lost its home in the Republican Party. But the neoconservatives do not have a home in the Democrat party, either, which has moved so far to the left politically and culturally.

Continetti concludes his Commentary article by claiming that it is the neoconservatives who remain "committed to the principles and institutions of the American Founding and to the ordered liberty at its heart," whereas the Trump-led populist-nationalists and their intellectual supporters have abandoned those principles. But Continetti should read George Washington's Farewell Address, which contains a lucid and enduring summation of the nation's founding principles and aligns quite comfortably with "America First."

Washington told his countrymen that America "has a right to concentrate your affections." He warned against "overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty." He warned against "faction," which could result in "a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community" replacing the "delegated will of the nation." He praised our system of checks and balances while noting that "religion and morality" are two necessary pillars of "political prosperity."

In foreign policy, Washington urged his countrymen to "observe good faith towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all." He counseled to avoid "inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others" because such approaches could impel the nation to "war ... contrary to the best calculations of policy." We should not "sacrifice the interests" of our own country to foreign quarrels that have nothing to do with America's interests. "Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another," he wrote, "cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other." "Real patriots," he continued, "who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests." The United States, he concluded, should "choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel."

Those "founding principles," not neoconservatism, should guide the modern conservative movement.

Image via Pxhere.
In December, entirely without fanfare, Britain's National Police Chief's Council issued new guidelines for strip-searching female suspects: men can do it. The only requirement for the men is that they have "transitioned" to "be" women. We know about this new rule only because Cathy Larkman, a retired police superintendent, ferreted out the information. It is another step in the complete breakdown of civilization in the English-speaking world (because we're heading that way as well, here, in America).

The Daily Mail broke the story:

Female suspects can be strip-searched by police officers who were born male but identify as women  and could be accused of a hate crime if they object, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. New guidelines issued to forces around the country state: 'Chief Officers are advised to recognise the status of Transgender colleagues from the moment they transition, considered to be, the point at which they present in the gender with which they identify. 'Thus, once a Transgender colleague has transitioned, they will search persons of the same gender as their own lived gender.' The controversial advice, issued by the National Police Chief's Council (NPCC)  the body representing British police chiefs  says it may be 'advisable' to replace the person carrying out the search if the detainee objects, but adds: 'If the refusal is based on discriminatory views, consideration should be given for the incident [to] be recorded as a non-crime hate incident unless the circumstances amount to a recordable crime.'

To make matters worse, this travesty comes on the heels of widespread reports about serious sexism among Britain's male police officers, not the least of which is the fact that one of them raped and murdered a young woman.



Image: Skye Morden, a so-called "transgender" police officer in England. YouTube screen grab.

But back to the point about those police officers who have "transitioned" getting to strip-search female prisoners  something they can do because the threat to prosecute women for a hate crime will silence them in the face of this gross and dangerous indignity. The first thing to consider is what constitutes "transitioning." It turns out that it has nothing to do with taking estrogen and getting gelded, which at least lowers men's sex drive while limiting their capacity to force sex on the women (although they can certainly assault women in other ways).

Understanding how low that "transition" bar is requires looking to England's Gender Recognition Act of 2004 (as amended). The act allows so-called "transgender" people to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate, which then "proves" they are the claimed sex.

The requirements for qualifying are simple. The person must convincingly prove that he, she, or it

(a) has or has had gender dysphoria, (b) has lived in the acquired gender throughout the period of two years ending with the date on which the application is made, (c) intends to continue to live in the acquired gender until death, and (d) complies with the requirements imposed by and under section 3.

To comply with section 3, the application must provide a detailed report from a physician or psychologist practicing in the gender dysphoria field affirming that the person has gender dysphoria. As we've all seen with children in America, that's an easy call for many of these "health" practitioners. Just as to a hammer everything is a nail, to gender specialists, everyone claiming gender dysphoria has it. Under the act, it's irrelevant if the applicant has had surgery modifying sexual characteristics, although practitioners can include the details in the report.

And that's it: in Britain, to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate, men are not required to take estrogen or get gelded, while women are not required to take testosterone and get mastectomies. All they have to do is tell a convincing tale.

What this means is that fully intact male police officers who identify as "lesbians" can be in charge of strip-searching female suspects.

It's no joke about them identifying as "lesbians." After all, just yesterday, news broke about two women in an all-women's prison getting impregnated by a fellow inmate. This was not a miracle. These pregnancies reflected the fact that this inmate was a fully intact man who finagled his way into a women's prison (a place I've heard is cleaner and safer than a men's prison) by announcing that he is a woman.

There are few things more misogynistic than the pretense that men who claim to be women actually are women, rather than being merely mentally ill or opportunistic men. If you want a comprehensive list of women who have been abused by these sick, often psychopathic men, check out the site Women Are Human.

What's happening in England is disgraceful, but England is scarcely unique. Gender madness has infected America, too. This must stop. Men are men, and women are women, and that's true regardless of how they feel. I'm not a religious person, truly, but I can't help but feel the presence of a great evil behind this press to destroy the biological binary genders that have helped define the entire mammalian world since time immemorial.
As a supporter of the Convention of States (COS), I was drawn to a recent AT article titled "Against the Convention of States." The article challenged my perspective, but ultimately, I remained a supporter of the COS. As such, I thought it would only be fair to provide a rebuttal to arguments against a COS.

First, I would like to address concerns that COS would "run away." This fear is based on the notion that a convention is not limited in scope and therefore could propose anything imaginable. This fear ought to be calmed by the fact that three quarters of the states must ratify any amendments made. This means that 13 states are all it would take to stop any proposal. However, this is not the only backstop to a runaway convention. The method by which states send and recall their representatives is another tool to prevent runaways . If the state's chosen representative fails to argue on its behalf, all the state must do is recall him, and the runaway is stopped. Finally, if this fails, and the convention proposes amendments that are not for the express purpose of calling the convention, then the amendments will be ultra vires, and therefore Congress, the courts, and any federal agency have the option to ignore and or strike it down.

This brings up the fear that the goals of COS are undefined, and therefore the scope is unlimited. This is true, but only because a convention has not been called. Contrary to popular belief, a convention ought to be limited in its scope. This is based on the example set by our Founders and the example of the previous interstate conventions. Following these examples, the scope of a convention would be set by the 34 or more successful applications.

Of the 19 states that have called for a convention, each state has expressed the goal of reducing the power and jurisdiction of the federal government. Some are specific, such as South Carolina's call for fiscal restraint and term limits. Others such as Wisconsin specifically add that they do not recognize the legitimacy of a convention with the purpose of expanding the federal government. Ultimately, there have been no states that have filed an application for a convention with the expressed purpose of expanding the federal government or completely rewriting the current Constitution.

Regarding concerns about the inability of COS to prove effective, I wish to address the argument surrounding our current Constitution. The Constitution in its original form is clear and concise, and it works. But government officials have taken what originally could fit in your pocket and turned it into something that is 3,000 pages long. This 3,000-page document is not our Constitution as written, but 3,000 pages of interpretations. These interpretations arise from clauses such as the General Welfare Clause, which has been used to justify any spending that "provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States." The clause is vague and is lacking a definition of general welfare and or a limit on Congress's ability to spend more than it brings in. A COS could propose amendments to clear up these ambiguities and restore our Constitution.

As I close, I would like to make it abundantly clear I am not proposing a silver bullet. A COS is not a quick or guaranteed solution. While it has made tremendous strides, COS still requires 15 states to pass legislation and if one is called, we are not guaranteed anything. It is perfectly reasonable that we get no amendments or amendments that have little to no change on how things are. I am not afraid of these facts, nor do I deny their existence. But I do not think the possibility of failure entails a reason not to try.

Image: Pixabay.
In 2012, Obama told Medvedev in Russia to tell Putin he would be more flexible after the election.

In a debate with Romney, he laughed at Romney for remarking how dangerous Putin and Russia were, saying the '80s called and wanted their foreign policy back:

Now Obama says Putin was always dangerous, though he did nothing in his eight years to rein Putin in.

Putin Has Always Been a Threat and Ruthless: Obama Former President Barack Obama said Russian President Vladimir Putin has always been a threat on the world stage. He described him as ruthless against his own people and others. "He has always been somebody who's wrapped up in this twisted, distorted sense of grievance and ethnic nationalism. That part of Putin, I think has always been there," Obama told Al Roker on NBC's "Today."

Last week, Obama lied through his teeth when he said he was tough on Russia after it invaded Crimea. He said he had to drag Europe in to be tough.

Barack Obama Rewrites His Russia History His claim that he was tough on Putin is contradicted by his eight-year record.

Last week, Obama also claimed that the reason it was tough to pass Obamacare was that there was so much misinformation flying around.

There was a lot of misinformation, to say the least, flying around. And it's fair to say that most Republicans showed little interest in working with us to get anything done. (Laughter.) That's fair to say.

The problem was that it was Obama and his administration who continually lied to get it passed. They intentionally misled the public by saying you could keep your plan, you could keep your doctor, and your cost would go down significantly if it passed.

One of the architects of Obamacare admitted that Obama and his administration intentionally lied to hide the true costs to the public.

"[T]he stupidity of the American voter" made it important for him and Democrats to hide Obamacare's true costs from the public. "That was really, really critical for the thing to pass," said Gruber. "But I'd rather have this law than not." In other words, the ends  imposing Obamacare upon the public  justified the means.

Essentially, they were frauds, and Americans suffered for years because of the fraud when prices soared.

Lie of the Year: 'If you like your health care plan, you can keep it'

Another lie we have repeatedly been told by Obama and Biden over the years is that there were no embarrassing scandals during their eight years. That shows they were incapable of being embarrassed.

Obama says his White House 'didn't have a scandal that embarrassed us'

The despicable scandals and corruption were endless:

They used the IRS to target and shut up political opponents.

Obama and Hillary left Americans to die in Libya while concocting a lie about a video because an election was coming up and their power was more important than Americans under attack. The people were disposable.

Hillary continually violated the law with her private server.

The Clinton Foundation took massive kickbacks and Russia got uranium.

The Justice Department, EPA, and CFPB had slush funds where they shook down corporations and gave kickbacks to their political supporters.

Obama Justice Department's $1 Billion 'Slush Fund' Boosted Liberal Groups

And the biggest scandal of all dwarfed Watergate and occurred in 2016.

It is where several agencies with the Obama administration, including the Justice Department and intelligence agencies, the DNC, the Hillary campaign, and the media, all colluded to take out Trump with lies about Russian collusion and protected the corrupt, career criminal Hillary from prosecution. They used a fake dossier by a foreign national paid for by the Hillary campaign to justify the illegal spying. The lies were endless.

The FEC recently fined the DNC and Hillary campaigns for fraudulently describing what the money to the foreign national was for. Of course, most of the media didn't cover the fines, because they have been complicit in pushing the lies for years.

The media have also known for years about the Biden family corruption and that Joe was deeply involved since Hunter flew around with him on Air Force 2.

The Obama-Biden administration was the most corrupt I have ever seen, but the compliant media never cared, so most of the corruption was completely buried.

Will journalists ever get a conscience and do their job, or will they continue to allow Obama to rewrite history and the corrupt, incompetent Joe to remain in office? The answer is, they will continue to hide the truth from the public, because all they care about is power for leftists.

Photo credit: YouTube screen grab.
Sure enough, Elon Musk pulled the trigger, handed Twitter a fat offer of a buyout, and it's been nothing but bonkersville ever since.

According to CBS News:

Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter for $43 billion, saying the social media company "needs to be transformed as a private company." The billionaire and founder of electric car maker Tesla, who earlier this month disclosed he owns a 9.2% stake in Twitter, proposed in a regulatory filing on Thursday to buy all of the company's outstanding common stock for $54.20 per share. "I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," he said in the filing. "However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form."

The market acted as one might expect of a company that has seen stagnant growth over recent months:

Twitter shares rose 3.6% to $47.49 in early trading. Shares in the social media platform, which was valued at $37 billion prior to Musk's offer, had declined by roughly a third over the prior year.

It prompted huffing and puffing from the likes of the Washington Post, owned by mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos, about Musk being a threat to democracy or something.

The blue checks, meanwhile, completely beclowned themselves:

Best Blue Check meltdowns of the Elon Musk Twitter buyout



A /1 pic.twitter.com/ll6OUFjgRQ  Auron MacIntyre (@AuronMacintyre) April 14, 2022

David Leavitt, the third blue check on that list, recall, is the one who tried to shake down a Target employee for an $89.99 toothbrush for a penny, called the police, and then used Twitter to doxx her when he didn't get what he wanted.

Here's the obvious problem on the surface:

The fear seems to be that Musk would change the current content moderation system. Mainly replacing the whim system (inherently political) with a system of transparent rules--the one thing Twitter, FB et al need but don't have. The fear is interesting.  Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) April 14, 2022

Yesterday was a flagship day in corporate media. It was the day they were forced to explicitly state what has long been clear: they not only favor censorship but desperately crave and depend on it.



Even if Musk doesn't buy Twitter, never forget what yesterday revealed.  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 15, 2022

Here's the weird stuff:

Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns roughly 5% of Twitter, tweeted that the bid significantly undervalues the company and that he will reject it. Musk shot back in a tweet: "How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly? What are the Kingdom's views on journalistic freedom of speech?"

Saudi Arabia's richest man has a stake in Twitter? Bin Talal, recall, is the one that then-mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani declined to take the check from in the rubble of 9/11, citing his insulting linkage of 9/11 to Palestinian grievances.

Why would he oppose more money on a stagnant asset? And why would there be so much pushback from the news cartels, which would probably benefit from more free speech and passing their articles around by users?

Nickarama at RedState notes the irony of it all:

If the left has such a problem with Elon, where was their objection to the Saudi prince's buying up such a percentage of Twitter shares? Where's their concern about his influence? Aren't they always yelling about Saudi Arabia? So, where's the objection to him? Notice, not so much, because he rows with the elite.

Supposedly, he wants more money. Perhaps he can sell his shares without Elon, then, and see what he gets.

Musk has threatened to sell his stake if his offer is rejected, which could be quite a fire sale for all of them. Leaks from the press say Twitter's elites are trying to insert a "poison pill" into the Musk offer to protect their fiefdom.

What Musk seems to have stumbled upon is the argument that Twitter's servers may well be owned by various governments  maybe the Saudis, but almost certainly the U.S. government.

This analysis by Sundance at Conservative Treehouse, who knows tech, points to the oddities:

What Elon Musk appears to be doing is perhaps the biggest story that few understand. I share this perspective having spent thousands of hours in the past several years deep in the weeds of tech operating systems, communication platforms, and the issue of simultaneous users. What Twitter represents, and what Musk is attempting, is not what most would think. In the big picture of tech platforms, Twitter, as an operating model, is a massive high-user commenting system. Twitter is not a platform built around a website; Twitter is a platform for comments and discussion that operates in the sphere of social media. As a consequence, the technology and data processing required to operate the platform does not have an economy of scale. There is no business model where Twitter is financially viable to operate. UNLESS the tech architecture under the platform was subsidized. In my opinion, there is only one technological system and entity that could possibly underwrite the cost of Twitter to operate. That entity is the United States Government, and here's why.

Sundance cites the monster data usage the system requires, with no economy of scale  each new user adds costs, which Twitter seems impervious to. As its user base stagnates, it still makes money, because it avoids those costs. Musk noted the oddity of huge accounts with millions of followers who rarely tweet, asking if the website was "dead," which was a reasonable question, given the previous understanding of Twitter as an entity that makes money based on users to advertise to. This dynamic involving the federal government certainly would explain the absence of rivals to the company  and perhaps the difficulties that Truth Social has had in scaling its operations. (I just got onto Truth Social this week after a long stretch on the "waiting list.")

The other potential problem was brought up by Judicial Watch's Tom Fitton:

.@Twitter has been lying to shareholders, regulators, users, and Congress about its censorship abuses. One can expect the company has a keen interest in keeping @ElonMusk from further exposing this fraud. https://t.co/7ORxJjPmbh  Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) April 14, 2022

They've testified again and again and again before Congress that they never censor conservative users  with this kind of tripe:

Twitter isn't swayed by political biases when making critical decisions, according to prepared remarks from CEO Jack Dorsey on Tuesday, one day before he's set to testify in front of Congress. "Let me be clear about one important and foundational fact: Twitter does not use political ideology to make any decisions, whether related to ranking content on our service or how we enforce our rules," Dorsey said. His remarks were posted by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on Tuesday. Dorsey will address the committee, as well as the Senate alongside Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, on Wednesday. He's expected to weigh in on recent claims Twitter that shadow-bans prominent conservative voices and is driven by left-leaning ideals. "We believe strongly in being impartial, and we strive to enforce our rules impartially. We do not shadowban anyone based on political ideology," Dorsey continued. "In fact, from a simple business perspective and to serve the public conversation, Twitter is incentivized to keep all voices on the platform."

...and...

He argued it wouldn't make business sense for Twitter to jettison large swaths of Republicans, viewing the platform as a new-age "public square" where almost anything should be allowed to be said. "Impartiality is our guiding principle," Dorsey added.

Nevertheless, there are "mistakes," lots of "mistakes":

When asked why Twitter suspended conservative commentator Candace Owens for mimicking New York Times reporter Sarah Jeong's contentious tweets, including "cancel white people," Dorsey said it was a "mistake."

Plus the odd "total mistake":

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said Thursday it was a 'total mistake' for The New York Post to be locked out of its Twitter account for tweets sharing the newspaper's report on Hunter Biden's emails. 'We made a total mistake with the New York Post, we corrected that within 24 hours,' Dorsey told House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, who had asked about that example. 'It was not to do with the content, it had to do with a hacked materials policy, we had an incorrect interpretation,' Dorsey added.

In this sense, they top the tobacco barons of yesteryear, who declared under oath before Congress around 1994 to some Democrat show hearing that nicotine is not addictive.

Musk may well find out the truth of Twitter's claims to probity, too  which would end the nonsense right there and could, of course, expose Twitter to shareholder lawsuits, as any corporate lie to the public would.

The other thing he may expose is scarier:

Twitter shut down the president of the United States, which, if it's controlled by the government, while the elites take the profits, it means the government itself shut Trump down. What would be the implications of that, and how the heck could this scandal be corrected? It would show the extent of the rot of the Deep State that an entity so closely connected to the federal government could carry out that kind of coup. And that presents a constitutional crisis. This kind of third-world behavior would have to be exposed by Musk  and Congress would need to stop it.

Image: The Royal Society via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Fox News has parted company with Lara Logan, the journalist contends, for relaying viewers' comments that Dr. Anthony Fauci does not represent science, as the Biden adviser has claimed, and instead represents Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. Logan, formerly with CBS News, had in mind the fallout from COVID, but a different context might be more appropriate.

Josef Mengele earned a medical degree in 1938, the same year he joined the Nazi's Waffen SS, where he volunteered for medical service. At Nazi concentration camps, Mengele would decide which arrivals would live or die.

At Auschwitz, Mengele conducted agonizing and lethal experiments on Jewish and Gypsy twins, most of them children. In his review of The Real Anthony Fauci, by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., economist Thomas DiLorenzo calls out Fauci's "Dr. Mengelestyle 'experiments,'" which also took place on unwilling subjects.

Fauci's National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) provided funding for the Incarnation Children's Center (ICC) in New York as an outpatient clinic for HIV-positive children. The city's Administration for Children's Services (ACS) offered up children under its care, nearly all of them African-American or Hispanic, for secretive drug experimentation. The BBC told the story in the 2004 documentary Guinea Pig Kids.

As biochemist Dr. David Rasnick explained, children as young as three months were given "cocktails" of drugs with dangerous side-effects. Rasnick described Didanosene as "very dangerous" and Nevirapene as "dangerous and debilitating ... horrible and painful and also lethal." The children were also given Zidovudine, another name for AZT (azidothymidine), a DNA chain terminator that cures and prevents nothing.

ICC nurse Jacklyn Hoerger was ordered to give kids regular and sometimes large doses of AZT. According to Hoerger, some 80 children died in the experiments. For further reading, see Poison by Prescription: The AZT Story by John Lauritsen.

Fauci's NIAID funded agonizing and deadly experiments on unwilling subjects, so DiLorenzo was not out of line in his comparison with Josef Mengele. As Kennedy shows, Fauci's NIAID also conducts drug trials in Africa, where subjects can be unwitting as to adverse consequences and less likely to draw attention from American journalists.

In the 1992 "In the Matter of Josef Mengele," the Department of Justice Office of Special Investigations showed how Mengele escaped the Allies and made his way to South America.

Mengele died in Brazil in 1979 and was never held to account for his crimes. In a similar style, Fauci has never been held to account for forcing AZT and other dangerous drugs on children.

As Kennedy shows in considerable detail, Fauci is also Big Pharma's permanent ambassador to the federal government. The jury is still out on the long-term effects of the vaccines Fauci wants to be administered to everyone, including children. In the long run, the comparison with Josef Mengele could become more appropriate. In the meantime, another issue has been settled.

Anthony Fauci earned a medical degree in 1966, and in 1968, he went to work for the National Institutes of Health. If Fauci ever practiced medicine, it was only for a short time. Fauci's bio shows no advanced degrees in molecular biology or biochemistry, yet in 1984, he became head of NIAID.

Kary Mullis, who earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at U.C. Berkeley and won a Nobel Prize for inventing the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), is on record that Fauci "doesn't understand electron microscopy and he doesn't understand medicine. He should not be in a position like he's in."

Fauci has reversed himself many times, and his lockdown policies caused untold suffering. Those who accept Fauci's claim to represent science are abusing the truth. The failure to hold him accountable is a miscarriage of justice.

Lloyd Billingsley is a policy fellow at the Independent Institute in Oakland, California.

Image: David Hill, Public Domain.
Though couched in admirable language, suggesting that its whole purpose is to ensure that schoolchildren born afterward are taught honest, "age-appropriate" lessons about 9/11, the real purpose of a recent New Jersey education bill is to deny the genuine meaning and impact of the attacks. It would be better if would reinstall the ideas and values that collapsed with the towers that day.

The closing section of the bill requires that schools provide, "strategies for teaching tolerance and accepting and embracing people of different religions and cultures," and "each public school shall annually organize a school commemorative event that will enhance student awareness of the events of September 11, 2001. In addition to providing students with information concerning the events of September 11, 2001, the commemorative event shall provide students with age-appropriate opportunities for discussion on conflict resolution, diversity, and tolerance for people of different religions and cultures."

The act explicitly mandates lessons in "accepting and embracing people of different religions and cultures" and "conflict resolution, diversity and tolerance." These sound exactly like what the terrorists who attacked us needed, but the words are not directed at them. They are directed at the victims of their attack; they're directed at us.

"It is imperative that we educate our students on topics related to this day, such as tolerance and diversity," the bill's sponsor, Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex/Morris), said, "so that they can grow up without the prejudices that arose in many Americans 20 years ago."

There you have it: twenty years on, and the final lesson of 9/11, the one we must share during school-wide anniversary commemorations, is to beware of American intolerance and hate.

Notably, there is nothing in the bill that refers to the terrorists' fanaticism, "prejudice," and intolerance. In fact, they are pretty much absent from the bill. The great danger, evidently, comes not from ideologically driven terrorists, but from us.

Despite what our self-appointed betters like Codey want us to believe, post-9/11 Americans did not direct systematic bigotry at Muslims. And the few genuine incidents, including actual physical attacks, were so rare and isolated and without any connection to America at large that the "prejudices" can only be attributed, by objective and fair-minded people, to the individual perpetrators responsible  and personal responsibility was exactly what mayors, presidents, and media pundits urged us to consider when thinking about Islam and Muslims in connection with September 11.



Image: September 11, 2001. National Park Service.

That's also what we were told after each and every bloody attack upon Americans after 9/11: Ft. Hood, Boston, Chattanooga, San Bernardino, Orlando, the West Side bicycle path car attack, each attack by Muslim terrorists who, inspired by global jihad networks, slaughtered scores more of Americans and injured additional hundreds.

These attacks were, by any measure, far worse than any prejudice Americans exhibited against Muslims. Yet suggest there is a strain of "Westernphobia" in Islam, and you'll be slammed as Islamophobic.

This is how it works: every single act of violence and hate any American commits against anyone is a reflection upon the conscience of America. No act targeting Americans by foreign, non-Western, non-Judeo-Christian, undemocratic (that's a big factor) people is the responsibility of any person or culture beyond the perpetrators involved.

The new bill, for young minds, allows us to diminish the true meaning and magnitude of the attacks and indoctrinate children with the same nonsense that generations prior were force-fed and that a single day, September 11, rendered obsolete with the cost of thousands of lives. Americans (and the West in general), they're taught, are inherently intolerant and founders of all evil and conflict in this world. The only real threat to our freedoms and safety comes from within.

How, in fact, did "prejudiced" Americans respond to Islamist attacks?

The day after a May 2010 Times Square car bomb attempt by a Muslim terrorist, New Yorkers, as they had for years, lined up at lunchtime at the Halal Guys food vendor carts, all of which sported Arabic script and played Arabic music  carts where the Muslim vendors might be found several times a day on their knees, facing east on their mats, praying, undisturbed by the passing and utterly indifferent crowds.

This tolerance existed even though, if that bomb had detonated, some of those in that line might have been killed or maimed  even though, less than a decade earlier, they had experienced their city under attack. Some of the people in line, undoubtedly, were at the World Trade Center and escaped with their lives or lost co-workers, friends, or family. And even though the firehouse around the corner featured the names of the 15 men lost on September 11.

Here is what we need to teach our children and young people about 9/11: a foreign enemy wantonly attacked an unprepared and unsuspecting America. They were motivated greatly by a fanatical and historical intolerance of "different religions and cultures." Thousands of innocents were brutally, unjustifiably, and irrationally murdered. There were great heroism and sacrifice in response, followed by a great outpouring from across America of concern, compassion, and generosity  including, under the circumstances, a remarkable and admirable spirit of tolerance and acceptance of people of different religions and cultures that today can be held up as a lesson to the rest of the world.

On 9/11, my brother, Capt. Billy Burke, FDNY, gave his life at the WTC.
Earlier this month, an LGBTQ+++ buzz started circulating regarding Disney's latest movie, Better Nate Than Ever. American Thinker covered that groundswell of excitement here. Given the collapse of Disney's reputation as it put its corporate weight behind fighting a Florida bill keeping sexual identity talk out of kindergarten through third-grade classrooms, one might think Disney and other leftists might have tried to downplay the overtly LGBTQ+++ theme in a "family" movie. The opposite, however, is true.

Since Disney went to war against Florida parents, and videos emerged showing Disney executives boasting about using the company's platform and reputation to push LGBT content, Disney's standing with families has plummeted. Earlier this week, almost 70% of Americans stated that they were less likely to do business with Disney. That is a catastrophic number for a corporation.

While there are no data about the number of canceled subscriptions to Disney+, the streaming TV channel, there is evidence that people are boycotting the Disney resorts. Of course, Disney's stand against the innocence of small children in Florida's classrooms is just the last in a series of escalating attacks on family values. For example, many parents haven't forgotten that Disney fired Gina Carano because she dared to poke fun at the woke left's crazed pronoun madness and noted that America was becoming as divided as Germany was in the lead-up to WWII.



Image: Disney's Bob Chapek, who has bowed to the LGBTQIA+++ left. YouTube screen grab.

Given that Disney's open advocacy for homosexuality and so-called transgenderism looks as if it will affect the company's bottom line, one would think Disney would try to be more low-key about its pro-LGBTQ+++ advocacy. And one would also think its allies in the media (i.e., every media outlet except for explicitly conservative ones) would also want to downplay this advocacy.

Except that the opposite is happening. In place of the low-key buzz about Better Nate Than Never, the film's director is loudly celebrating the movie's pro-LGBTQ+++ agenda:

The film's director, Tim Federle, also noted that the film was specifically intended to further the LGBTQ agenda, and recently celebrated Disney's high rating from the radical LGBTQ organization, GLAAD. "In my several years with the company now, I was heartened to see we won the GLAAD award, we had the first-ever same gender kiss. And what I wanted to bring to this was a slightly younger POV of a middle-schooler discovering. For me, who didn't grow up with a movie like this, I know this movie would have made me feel seen and a lot less alone," Federle told Variety. Federle went on to blast Florida's law to protect children as making kids "unsafe."

Additionally, the Daily Beast's movie review is over-the-top thrilled about the movie's overt homosexual agenda: "Disney Releases Its Gayest Kids' Movie Yet  at the Craziest Time." After confessing to his love for musicals as a child, the reviewer had this to say about the movie:

All these feelings and memories were dug up this week because I had a chance to watch the new Disney+ film Better Nate Than Ever, which just may be the most gay-positive and encouraging youth programming that Disney has ever released.

Well, that ought to entice parents who, while personally holding no negative feelings towards lesbians and gays, don't want their children to be part of a lifestyle that means their children will have a statistically greater chance of a life that includes substance abuse, partner abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, depression, and suicide.

But if you really want to get a sense of what's going on behind this movie, just look at the Instagram feed of its 15-year-old star, Rueby Wood:

I can't even imagine what will be in his tell-all autobiography a few years from now. I just suspect that most parents, looking at Wood and then looking at their own sons, aren't thinking, "I want my boy to grow up just like him."
There were two great betrayals of NASA that resulted in the tragic loss of scientific discovery and exploration.

Only one president, Donald Trump, righted the betrayals by getting NASA back on track.

Richard Nixon was the first great betrayal when he killed the Apollo program. He never saw the advantage of space exploration the way John F. Kennedy did, but he could not completely kill the popular program altogether, the way Obama did later. He settled for shuttles, which was important for research, but should have kept Apollo going.

It was not just the moon NASA had plans for. They were going to use the data gained from Apollo to reach Mars sometime in the 1980s.

From Planetary:

Not only did Nixon propose a premature end to exploratory flights to the Moon; he was not willing to take the next step, setting out on a path leading to Mars. NASA had proposed to the White House in September 1969 that post-Apollo space activities be focused on preparing for human missions to Mars at some point in the 1980s. Nixon and his associates decisively rejected that proposal as they cut the NASA budget in the months following the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 successes.

All that treasure put into Apollo was wasted and future discovery lost because Nixon lacked the foresight.

Obama was the second great betrayal when he killed the shuttle. We were left paying the Russian government, including Putin, a hefty price by hitching rides onto Russian rockets. The people calling Putin every name in the book today had not one negative word about him then.

From Space:

Previously, the agency planned to replace the shuttle program with a new one aimed at returning astronauts to the moon. But Obama canceled that plan and gave NASA a new directive for deep space exploration, including a crewed asteroid mission by 2025.

Without a means to leave Earth, how did Obama expect NASA to send American astronauts anywhere? It was not as though the Russians were developing that kind of advanced rocketry. Obama helped to enrich Putin even more at great cost to American advancement in space.

You cannot take away the means of travel and expect travel. It was an even greater betrayal than Nixon. At least Nixon continued NASA flying American astronauts into space, something Obama did not seem to care about.

Had we continued the trajectory of space NASA had laid out to Nixon, we would have colonized the moon, and Mars, and would most likely have cloud cities on Venus, which is an actual plan from NASA that is feasible. Our knowledge of the universe would have been far greater than it is now.

There were several things about Trump's presidency I did not care for, but I give credit where it is due.

Without Trump, we would not be getting ready to send Artemis I to the moon in the near future.

It was Trump's vision that put NASA back on track. He is owed a great debt of gratitude for having the foresight far too many do not possess, especially when it comes to space.

The original plan was for NASA to take its time. Since they were used to dealing with space stations, they wanted to build a station around the moon, before having anyone set foot on the surface. Neither Trump nor Pence had any interest in slowing down putting boots on the surface.

From Space News:

Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA to return humans to the surface of the moon by 2024, a dramatic acceleration of the agency's human space exploration plans but a directive accompanied by few technical or fiscal details.

Had it not been for the acceleration orders by Pence, whose job as vice president was running NASA, there would still be talk of a space station on the moon without getting to the moon. NASA had become complacent with the existing stations.

Due to expected delays in a program like Artemis, NASA is not looking two years down the road to put Americans back on the moon, but three.

From Inverse:

As NASA makes its first step toward the Artemis I launch, the agency is already thinking ahead. NASA announced on Wednesday that it would launch a round of proposals for a new lunar lander  one for use past the Artemis III mission, currently targeted for 2025.

Considering the bureaucrats running NASA, I was expecting them to drag their feet for years. For whatever reason, NASA had lost the explorers' spirit that got America to the moon. I am pleasantly surprised that we are so close to going back.

In a few short months, not decades, a rocket will fly to the moon unmanned. Artemis II will be crewed without landing. Artemis III will finally have Americans setting foot on the moon.

Apollo 17 was the last trip to the moon. That was December of 1972. We are finally heading back, and we have Trump to thank for it.

Image: Pixabay, Pixabay License.
For some reason, people who voluntarily label themselves with a term closely associated with liberty can't deal with freedom, free speech, and Elon Musk taking over Twitter. Why?

This is one of those times when the quote of questionable origins "may you live in interesting times" seems to fit right in. Even better, this may turn out to be a perfect time to grab a bowl of popcorn and watch the unhinged reaction of the folks who supposedly champion free speech lose what is left of their collective minds over this. After all, these are people who constantly remind us that they are "democratic," progressive, and of course "liberal"  when they are none of those qualities.

Remember, these are people who steep in an echo chamber. When one of them thinks something is "progressive," it spreads through their hive mind like an incongruous mathematical solution as it did with the Borg in Star Trek. They think they are liberal, progressive, and democratic because everyone around them thinks they are the same thing. So, when they encounter something that runs contrary to their collective cult programming, it's excluded as heresy.

The liberty-grabber leftist hive tells them they are these qualities, and it makes perfectly logical sense to them. If they think of their feelings as facts, then they can justify any opinion they have.

So, in sharp contrast to what they are currently doing, they should be popping cruelty-free champagne and dancing in the streets to non-binary gender beats, celebrating the fact that Elon Musk is pledging to bring back free speech to Twitter. It should be a throwback to the heady "Free Speech Movement" in Berkeley more than 50 years ago.

Does anyone find it ironic that those people would quibble over the issue? Not if you know their true intentions and tactics. Truth be told, the authoritarian far left never really cared about democracy, liberty, and progress. That is the only explanation for its actions.

We're focusing on these terms because their M.O. is to play games with new definitions. Except that in this case, these are words with origins that reach back centuries. For example, "liberal" and "liberty" both have almost the same spelling and sound because they both have the same origin in the word Libertas  in Roman religion, the female personification of liberty and personal freedom. If you look back at the definition of the word from 2019, this is the relevant part:

1.1 Favourable to or respectful of individual rights and freedoms. 1.2 (in a political context) favouring individual liberty, free trade, and moderate political and social reform.

This was changed in later years. However, the meaning of the word and what it conveys to the general public have not changed. Anti-liberty leftists have deliberately adopted a positive-sounding word, closely associated with liberty, freedom, and civil rights. Meanwhile, they are actively working against these concepts daily, as we are seeing with social media censorship.

Other words like "progressive" are virtually meaningless, given the definition:

2 (of a person or idea) favouring social reform. ... 2.1 Favouring change or innovation. ...

noun

1 An advocate of social reform.

It's difficult to see how democracy can work with the voice of some of the people being suppressed such that they cannot "rule."

Origin: Late 16th century from French democratie, via late Latin from Greek demokratia, from demos 'the people' + -kratia 'power, rule'.

That is hardly the case with Twitter as it stands now, so what explains the change?

Why are people who claim they are liberal acting against liberty?

Why are people who claim they are for progress acting against it?

Why are people who claim they are for democracy sabotaging it?

Why did the anti-liberty left feign interest in liberty, progress, and democracy in the past, while they are no longer championing these causes?

The answer is quite simple: they have attained power.

They exploited these attributes of freedom to gain control of the government; now they want to stop everyone else from competing with them. This highlights a fundamental difference between the pro-freedom right and the anti-liberty left. We see these as bedrock principles; they see them as expedients to power.

Anti-liberty leftists are perfectly happy calling themselves "liberals" or "progressives" before they take power. They don't care how much they deceive the public, just as long as the public is deceived. Then, once they've attained their ultimate goal, they don't care if the mask slips and falls off.
Who is making a fortune out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict?

(People's Daily App) 08:39, April 15, 2022

A former official of the U.S. Department of Defense recently disclosed that many in the lobbying firms, the defense industry, and the Capitol are opening champagne bottles for celebration.What are they celebrating for?

The U.S is protracting the Russia-Ukraine conflict in order to make a great fortune,by fair means or foul.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)




ACCRA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese-built vocational institutions upgrade project in Ghana was completed on Tuesday, injecting a new impetus to the development of vocational education in the West African country.

According to the Chinese contractor, the AVIC International Holding Corporation, the project that commenced construction in November 2019 mainly included the building of a new examination center for Ghana's Ministry of Education, as well as training centers for 15 vocational institutions.

The contractor said it has implemented the cooperative project with funding support in the form of a concessional loan from China.

In the meantime, the company has provided 69 sets of modern training equipment for 23 vocational institutions that will be used to train local teachers and students in relevant majors, ranging from machinery processing, electrical works, welding, and auto repair, to civil engineering.

During the commissioning ceremony in Kumasi, the second-largest city in Ghana, Education Minister Yaw Osei Adutwum, who relayed a message from Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said that technical and vocational education and training is a key catalyst for the country's industrialization and will create decent job opportunities for the citizens.

The minister commended the Chinese government for its support of the Ghanaian government's technical and vocational education transformation agenda.

In his speech, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana Lu Kun said the project marked huge progress for Ghana's vocational education.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
As you may know, I came to the U.S. with my parents from Cuba in 1964. In other words, I sympathize with Cubans who want to leave the failed communist state, but it should be done in an orderly fashion. What we are seeing today is not orderly. In fact, it's reminiscent of the Mariel episode 42 years ago, when Fidel Castro openly encouraged 100,000 to leave.

Cuba is an economic mess today. So the government is once again sending people north, but using the Mexico corridor to do so.

This is from Julio M. Shilling via Babalu in Miami. In his post, Julio details how the Castro regime has used immigration to get rid of people:

The psychology behind the Castro-Communist scheme is rudimentary. If Cubans find it plausible to leave the country in the hope of reaching the land of liberty, settling in the exile communities across numerous American states (FL, NJ, NY, IL, CA, NV, TX, and KY), the communist dictatorship is betting that challenges to its authority will subside. As portions of Cuban society plot their exit, the Castro regime safely concludes that people will be preoccupied with leaving and living free and prosperous abroad, as opposed to miserable, rebellious, and oppressed on the island.

As my father used to say: A Cuban in the U.S. is one less person that the Castro regime has to feed or keep in a political prison.

Over time, the Cuban government has reacted to domestic turmoil by letting people leave. Back to Julio:

Before the previously mentioned exoduses, there was the Mariel Boatlift (1980), the Liberty Flights (1965-1973), and the Camarioca Boatlift (1965). In all these cases as well, the Castro regime opened the escape hatch, intending to blow potential popular rebellion inside Cuba. While it is true that throughout the 1960s and 1970s many of those that left, returned to the island to combat communist rule, Castroism has always felt safer and still does, having the enemy at a distance.

Today, my guess is that the cash-deprived communist state is in business with criminal elements who are literally bringing Cubans to the border. I can't prove it, but it's what corrupt governments do.

Another consequence of the Biden border policy? It is encouraging failed states to export their people so they can send money back to their families. It's as simple and cynical as that.

PS: Click for my videos and podcasts at Canto Talk.

Image: dicklyon.
Posted on: April 15, 2022 9:28 AM

In Matthews gospel, the resurrection of Jesus is introduced this way: After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord had descended from heaven, came and rolled back the stone before the tomb until it was open.

A number of years ago, when I was serving as the bishop of North Carolina, one of our clergy, the Rev. James Melnyk, offered a workshop on the Saturday before Palm Sunday on how to design, and color, and make Easter eggs.

I attended the workshop with a number of other people from around the Raleigh area and did my best to make an Easter egg. But Jim was a master at doing so. You see, Jims family hailed from Ukraine, and he had been making those Easter eggs from childhood, and spoke of his grandmother and the family tradition that hailed from Ukraine, the making of those Easter eggs. I knew the significance of the Easter egg and Easter. I knew the stories and the truth and the teachings about the coming of new life into the world, and the connection of life emerging from an egg, and Jesus rising from the dead, bringing new life and hope into our world.

But it became clear to me, in the last month or so, in this time when the people of the Ukraine are struggling for their freedom, struggling to be what God intends for all people to be, free people, that, that egg, which is deeply embedded in the life and the consciousness of the people of Ukraine, that those Easter eggs are not just mere symbols, but reminders of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. Think back. On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem, as we know, riding on a donkey. That was a deliberate act on his part.

He entered Jerusalem at about same time that Pontius Pilate, the governor of Rome, wouldve been entering the city from the other side, from the other gate. Pilate wouldve been riding a war horse, accompanied by a cavalry and infantry. He wouldve been riding in the streets of Jerusalem at this, the dawn of the Passover, which was a celebration of Jewish freedom. Harking back to the days of Moses and the Exodus, Pilate knew that the people would remember that God decreed freedom for all people, and that the Roman empire, which held Judea as a colony, would need to put down, by brute force, any attempt to strike a blow for their freedom.

So, Pilate entered Jerusalem on a war horse, and Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. The way of humility, the way of the love that we know from the God who is love, the way of truth, the way of compassion, the way of justice, the way of God, the way of love. That way faced the way of the world, brute force, totalitarian power, injustice, bigotry, violence, embodied in Pontius Pilate, governor of Rome. And the rest of the week was a conflict between the way of the empire and the way of the kingdom or the reign of Gods love.

On Friday, the empire struck. Jesus was executed on the orders of the governor of Rome. He was killed, and hope seemed to die with him. His followers fled, save those few women who stood by the cross, and save old Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who provided a tomb for the body of Jesus. The Scripture says they placed his body in the tomb and rolled the stone in front of the tomb. And there he lay dead, lifeless. There their hopes dashed on the altars of reality, their truth was crushed to earth. Their love itself seemed to die.

Then early Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, and at least one other, and maybe a few other women, went to the tomb to anoint his body, to do the rites of burial that were customary. But when they got there, they realized that there had been an earthquake, that the earth, if you will, had been cracked open, and that the tomb was empty. The tomb was open and empty. The earth had been cracked open, and they would soon discover that Jesus had been raised from the dead. The earth cracking open, the tomb opening like an egg cracked open, and new life emerging from it.

That is the victory of life. That is the victory of love. That is the victory of God. The resurrection of Jesus is the victory that we can believe in and live by.

Many years before South Africa ever saw its new day of freedom, I heard Desmond Tutu in Columbus, Ohio. This was in the mid-1980s. This was while Nelson Mandela was still in prison, while there was no hope of deliverance. I heard him say in his speech that I believe that one day my beloved South Africa will be free for all of her children, Black, white, colored, Asian, Indian, all of her children.

I believe it, because I believe that God has a dream for South Africa, and nothing can stop Gods dream. And I believe that because I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead, and nothing can stop God. Easter is the celebration of the victory of God. The earth, like an egg, has been cracked open, and Jesus has been raised alive and new, and love is victorious.

In the year 2020, in that first Easter during the pandemic, when our church buildings were closed, we broadcast an Easter service from the National Cathedral, and members of our communication team organized for, what may have been the first time in our churchs history, organized an online choir.

And they sang an ancient Easter hymn. And they will sing it for you now. It sings of this victory, this victory of love of God. The strife is oer, the battle done. The victory of life is won. The sound of triumph has begun. Alleluia, alleluia. The victory is won. Our task is to live in that victory, to live out that love until the prayer that Jesus taught us, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And so this Easter, behold, the Ukrainian Easter egg, for the victory of love and life is one.

Click to view a video of Archbishop Michael Curry delivering this message.
(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - Some 18 militants of the neo-fascist CasaPound group were indicted Friday for an alleged attack on a march by anti-fascists in Bari on September 21, 2018.

The anti-fascists were protesting a visit to the southern city by nationalist League party leader Matteo Salvini.

The CasaPound members have been charged with grievous bodily harm and reforming the dissolved Fascist Party that ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943.

The trial will start on October 13.

Prosecutors have said the attack was "reminiscent of the actions of Fascist thugs". (ANSA).


HARARE, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The death toll in the bus accident which happened in southeastern Zimbabwe Thursday night has risen to 35, police confirmed Friday.

The police said in a statement that the accident happened at around 10 p.m. in Manicaland Province when a bus with 106 Zion Christian Church members on board left the road and fell into a gorge.

"As a result of the accident, 35 people died while 71 others were injured. The bodies of the victims were taken to Chipinge Hospital for post-mortem while the injured were referred to the same institution for treatment, with 13 being critically injured," the police said.

The police added that it would provide more details on the accident in due course.

The accident marked a bad beginning to the Easter weekend. 
(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - An Italian motorist who ran over and killed a five-year-old Ukrainian refugee girl in southern Italy on March 20 was remanded in custody in jail Friday.

Giuseppe Pio De Fazio, 18, was at the wheel of his father's car and without a license when he ran over three pedestrians in the Calabrian city of Crotone, killing the girl.

He has been charged with vehicular homicide and attempted homicide.

A judge on Friday rejected a request for house arrest. (ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - An Italian worker of about 60 was crushed to death by a load he was unloading from a truck near Cesena on Friday becoming the third workplace accident fatality in one day as a shocking spate continues in Italy.

The man, an employee of a transport company based at Avellino south of Naples, was unloading large refuse-collection bins when one of them fell on him, local sources said.

The accident happened in the Hera plant at Pievesestina.

Earlier on Friday a39-year-old Albanian worker died in hospital after being taken there in critical condition following an accident in a building site in the northern city of Trento.

The man was fatally struck on the head after a ceiling collapsed in the building he was helping restructure, local sources said.

He was rushed to Trento's Santa Chiara Hospital but died soon afterwards.

Earlier still, after a 23-year-old worker died as scaffolding collapsed on a building site near Sassari in Sardinia on Friday.

Italy is in the middle of a spate of workplace fatalities. Three more fatal workplace accidents occurred in Italy on February 4 as a worker fell to his death from scaffolding near Venice, a farmer was crushed to death by a tractor that overturned near Mantua, and a 57-year-old worker was struck on the head by a wind-blown roof panel at Sora near Frosinone between Rome and Naples.

The fatalities were the latest in a shocking wave of workplace accident deaths in Italy that saw 1,221 perish last year and which has spurred government action.

Such deaths are a national tragedy, Justice Minister Marta Cartabia said on October 22. She said the government had intervened by increasing the number of inspectors and checks, but a new law on administrative responsibility would be even more useful in stopping the rash of fatalities.

Premier Mario Draghi said on October 17 that workplace safety norms recently approved by the government sent the "unequivocal signal that you cannot save (money) at the expense of workers' lives" after the spate continued with four more deaths in one day. "As the government, we committed ourselves to doing everything possible to prevent these episodes happening again," Draghi said. "The norms are the realisation of this promise. We are increasing the numbers of workplace inspectors, we are stiffening sanctions, we are boosting computerization to improve checks." Despite this, as the deaths continued, Italy's big three trade-union confederations, CGIL, CISL and UIL, held a major demonstration in Rome in mid-December to demand urgent action on health and safety to stem the tide of fatalities.

The issue has been top of public debate in Italy since the death of the 22-year-old mother of a five-year-old boy, Luana D'Orazio, in a textile mill accident near Prato on May 3 last year.

Turin held a day of mourning on December 21 for three workers who died when a large crane collapsed in the northern city the previous weekend.

Re-elected President Sergio Mattarella said in his inaugural address in February that such deaths must stop, while Pope Francis has also joined the chorus against the phenomenon.

(ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - A 39-year-old Albanian worker died in hospital Friday after being taken there in critical condition following an accident in a building site in the northern city of Trento.

The man was fatally struck on the head after a ceiling collapsed in the building he was helping restructure, local sources said.

He was rushed to Trento's Santa Chiara Hospital but died soon afterwards.

Workplace safety inspectors went to the site of the accident along with police and medical teams.

An autopsy has been ordered.

He is the second workplace accident death in Trento in a few days after a lumberjack aged 61 died at Predazzo, and the second in Italy on Friday after a 23-year-old worker died as scaffolding collapsed on a building site near Sassari in Sardinia on Friday.

Italy is in the middle of a spate of workplace fatalities. Three more fatal workplace accidents occurred in Italy on February 4 as a worker fell to his death from scaffolding near Venice, a farmer was crushed to death by a tractor that overturned near Mantua, and a 57-year-old worker was struck on the head by a wind-blown roof panel at Sora near Frosinone between Rome and Naples.

The fatalities were the latest in a shocking wave of workplace accident deaths in Italy that saw 1,221 perish last year and which has spurred government action.

Such deaths are a national tragedy, Justice Minister Marta Cartabia said on October 22. She said the government had intervened by increasing the number of inspectors and checks, but a new law on administrative responsibility would be even more useful in stopping the rash of fatalities.

Premier Mario Draghi said on October 17 that workplace safety norms recently approved by the government sent the "unequivocal signal that you cannot save (money) at the expense of workers' lives" after the spate continued with four more deaths in one day.

"As the government, we committed ourselves to doing everything possible to prevent these episodes happening again," Draghi said.

"The norms are the realisation of this promise. We are increasing the numbers of workplace inspectors, we are stiffening sanctions, we are boosting computerization to improve checks." Despite this, as the deaths continued, Italy's big three trade-union confederations, CGIL, CISL and UIL, held a major demonstration in Rome in mid-December to demand urgent action on health and safety to stem the tide of deaths.

The issue has been top of public debate in Italy since the death of the 22-year-old mother of a five-year-old boy, Luana D'Orazio, in a textile mill accident near Prato on May 3 last year.

Turin held a day of mourning on December 21 for three workers who died when a large crane collapsed in the northern city the previous weekend.

Re-elected President Sergio Mattarella said in his inaugural address in February that such deaths must stop, while Pope Francis has also joined the chorus against the phenomenon.

(ANSA).


(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - The family of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Friuli-born Cambridge University doctoral researcher who was abducted and tortured to death in Cairo in early 2016, on Friday appealed for help in finding the addresses of four Egyptian security officers indicted in his killing so their trial can go ahead in absentia in Italy.

"Help us find them," said the lawyer for Claudio Regeni and Paola Defendi, Alessandra Bellerini in a Facebook post in Italian, English and Arabic.

The photos of the four defendants - National Security General Tariq Sabir and his subordinates, Colonels Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim and Uhsam Helmi, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif - were also posted.

A Rome judge on Monday suspended their trial due to lack of cooperation from Egyptian authorities in locating the four to serve notice they have been indicted.

The preliminary hearings judge (GUP) ordered ROS special branch Carabinieri to carry out fresh efforts to track down the four, while Regeni's parents urged Premier Mario Draghi to intervene.

The next hearing in the case was set for October 10.

In Friday's Facebook post, lawyer Ballerini said: These images portray: ATHAR KAMEL MOHAMED, Born in Egypt in 1968, holder of military identification document nr. 5/89; UHSAM HELMI, Colonel, born in Egypt in 1968, holder of military identification document nr. 270/1990; MAGDI IBRAHIM ABDELAL SHARIF, born in Egypt on 09.07.1984; These three are accused of the kidnapping, torture and murder of Giulio Regeni.

There is a fourth accused: TARIQ SABIR, born in Egypt in 1963, holder of military identification document nr. 791/1984/19, General of Police at the Department of Homeland Security, of whom we have no photo at the moment.

We know who they are, we know their faces and we know how much harm they are capable of doing. Can you kindly help us find them? We need their residential addresses to be able to process them in Italy. Help us find them. Let's not give them the chance to hide behind their arrogant cowardice once again and continue doing "all the evil in the world" with impunity.

Anyone with news about them and their residential addresses should kindly contact the undersigned and I will protect the anonymity of any witness. Let's make justice win! The GUP on Monday described the Cairo prosecutor-general's arguments as to why the defendants cannot be found as "wholly specious", adding that "the Egyptian authorities' refusal to cooperate is now a proven fact".

On October 10 the GUP will hear from the justice ministry's judicial affairs office chief Nicola Russo on possible developments after the statement sent by the Egyptians following a meeting on March 15.

Meanwhile Regeni's parents and many politicians, especially on the left, have protest a new gas deal with Egypt to help Italy cut its reliance on Russian gas amid the Ukraine war.

A justice ministry note issued for Monday's hearing said there has been "no cooperation whatsoever" from Egyptian authorities on the case.

The note described the stance of Egyptian authorities as one of "total closure" on the researcher into Egyptian street-seller unions, who was tortured so badly his mother said she only recognised him by the tip of his nose.

Ballerini asked "Premier Draghi, sharing our indignation, to demand, without any ifs or buts, the defendants to divulge their domiciles" so they can be served.

"We take note of the justice ministry's failed attempts to obtain concrete collaboration from the Egyptian authorities and we are saddened and indignant at the response from the el-Sisi regime's prosecutor who is continuing to thumb his nose at our institutions and our legal system.

"Today was the umpteenth mockery." Ballerini said the Regeni's were now hoping Draghi's intervention could help achieve progress in the case.

Italy has been trying to notify the four officers of their indictments in order for the case to proceed with their trial in absentia, which ran into a brick wall last year after Cairo refused to help locate them.

Regeni, whose research topic was a politically sensitive issue, was tortured for days, resulting in "acute physical suffering" by being subjected to kicks, punches, beaten with sticks and bats and cut with sharp objects, and also being burned with red-hot objects and slammed into walls, Rome prosecutors say.

His neck was then snapped in a fatal blow.

At various times Egypt has advanced differing explanations for Regeni's death including a car accident, a gay lovers' tiff and abduction and murder by an alleged kidnapping gang that was wiped out after Regeni's documents were planted in their lair.

Lack of cooperation on the case by Egypt led to Rome's temporarily withdrawing its ambassador from Cairo for a spell.

The Regenis have appealed to the EU for help in finding the truth about their son's slaying and have condemned continued Italian arms sales to Egypt including two frigates, as well as this week's new gas deal. (ANSA).


Five million people have fled war in Ukraine: UN Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since WWII

(ANSA-AFP) - GENEVA, APR 15 - More than five million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24, UN figures showed on Friday. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 4,796,245 million Ukrainians had fled across the borders, while the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) says nearly 215,000 third-country nationals have also escaped to neighbouring countries. The exodus is Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II. Friday's figures from the UNHCR were up 59,774 on those issued Thursday. More than 2.7 million Ukrainian refugees -- nearly six in 10 who have left since the war began -- have fled to Poland. More than 725,000 reached Romania. UNHCR figures show nearly 645,000 Ukrainians fled in February, with nearly 3.4 million doing so in March and more than 760,000 leaving so far this month. Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have left Ukraine, with men aged 18 to 60 eligible for military call-up and unable to leave.



Nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have been forced from their homes, including those still inside the country. The nearly 215,000 third-country nationals who have fled across the borders -- people who are citizens of neither Ukraine nor the country they entered -- are largely students and migrant workers. Beyond the refugees, the IOM estimates 7.1 million people have fled their homes but are still in Ukraine. Before the invasion, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in the regions under government control, excluding Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist-controlled regions in the east. (ANSA-AFP).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
Ukraine: Don't have elements to verify genocide - Di Maio But the atrocities are evident

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 15 - Italy does not have "elements" to verify whether a genocide is taking place in Ukraine as stated by United States President Joe Biden, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said Friday. "Italy does not have the elements to assess whether a genocide is taking place in Ukraine but the atrocities are evident, like the children killed and the civilians killed," he told Radio24. "We have called on the International (Criminal) Court (to assess atrocity evidence against Russia)". Di Maio added that Italy expects the conflict to intensify in eastern Ukraine where Russian President Valdimir Putin has said Moscow troops are bidding to take over the Donbass region. Di Maio stressed the importance of reviving the stalled peace process.



"We must stop the escalation, stop the war in Ukraine. We must revive the process of dialogue between Ukraine and Russia.



(ANSA).





 Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved
TEL AVIV - About 150 Palestinian protestors were injured Friday morning in clashes with the Israeli police in the al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem on the second Friday of Ramadan.



Reports were from Palestinian media, which reported that the Red Crescent had prepared a field hospital inside the complex.



The spokesman for Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, decried the "attack" by the Israeli police on the mosque, saying that it was a "dangerous development and a declaration of war on the Palestinian population".



The Israeli police later left the complex and allowed the entrance of worshipers to attend the Friday communal prayers.



Palestinian media reported that Israeli police had carried out about 80 arrests.



"The police entered the al-Aqsa mosque," the Israeli foreign ministry stated, "to clear violent thugs that had desecrated the location and endangered the public. The mosque has now been reopened to worshipers. Israel will continue to ensure freedom of religion in Jerusalem." Condemnation of the behaviour of Israeli police at the mosque complex has meanwhile arrived from the Jordanian foreign ministry, which warned of "dangerous consequences" this act may have.



From Gaza, Hamas spoke of a "barbarian attack" on Muslim worshipers and urged the Palestinian population to support the "defenders of the al-Aqsa mosque".
'Help us find Egypt spies' addresses' say Regeni family

(ANSAmed) - ROME, APR 15 - The family of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian Friuli-born Cambridge University doctoral researcher who was abducted and tortured to death in Cairo in early 2016, on Friday appealed for help in finding the addresses of four Egyptian security officers indicted in his killing so their trial can go ahead in absentia in Italy.



"Help us find them," said the lawyer for Claudio Regeni and Paola Defendi, Alessandra Bellerini in a Facebook post in Italian, English and Arabic.



The photos of the four defendants - National Security General Tariq Sabir and his subordinates, Colonels Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim and Uhsam Helmi, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif - were also posted.



A Rome judge on Monday suspended their trial due to lack of cooperation from Egyptian authorities in locating the four to serve notice they have been indicted.



The preliminary hearings judge (GUP) ordered ROS special branch Carabinieri to carry out fresh efforts to track down the four, while Regeni's parents urged Premier Mario Draghi to intervene.



The next hearing in the case was set for October 10.



In Friday's Facebook post, lawyer Ballerini said: These images portray: ATHAR KAMEL MOHAMED, Born in Egypt in 1968, holder of military identification document nr. 5/89; UHSAM HELMI, Colonel, born in Egypt in 1968, holder of military identification document nr. 270/1990; MAGDI IBRAHIM ABDELAL SHARIF, born in Egypt on 09.07.1984; These three are accused of the kidnapping, torture and murder of Giulio Regeni.



There is a fourth accused: TARIQ SABIR, born in Egypt in 1963, holder of military identification document nr. 791/1984/19, General of Police at the Department of Homeland Security, of whom we have no photo at the moment.



We know who they are, we know their faces and we know how much harm they are capable of doing. Can you kindly help us find them? We need their residential addresses to be able to process them in Italy. Help us find them. Let's not give them the chance to hide behind their arrogant cowardice once again and continue doing "all the evil in the world" with impunity.



Anyone with news about them and their residential addresses should kindly contact the undersigned and I will protect the anonymity of any witness. Let's make justice win! The GUP on Monday described the Cairo prosecutor-general's arguments as to why the defendants cannot be found as "wholly specious", adding that "the Egyptian authorities' refusal to cooperate is now a proven fact".



On October 10 the GUP will hear from the justice ministry's judicial affairs office chief Nicola Russo on possible developments after the statement sent by the Egyptians following a meeting on March 15.



Meanwhile Regeni's parents and many politicians, especially on the left, have protest a new gas deal with Egypt to help Italy cut its reliance on Russian gas amid the Ukraine war.



A justice ministry note issued for Monday's hearing said there has been "no cooperation whatsoever" from Egyptian authorities on the case.



The note described the stance of Egyptian authorities as one of "total closure" on the researcher into Egyptian street-seller unions, who was tortured so badly his mother said she only recognised him by the tip of his nose.



Ballerini asked "Premier Draghi, sharing our indignation, to demand, without any ifs or buts, the defendants to divulge their domiciles" so they can be served.



"We take note of the justice ministry's failed attempts to obtain concrete collaboration from the Egyptian authorities and we are saddened and indignant at the response from the el-Sisi regime's prosecutor who is continuing to thumb his nose at our institutions and our legal system.



"Today was the umpteenth mockery." Ballerini said the Regeni's were now hoping Draghi's intervention could help achieve progress in the case.



Italy has been trying to notify the four officers of their indictments in order for the case to proceed with their trial in absentia, which ran into a brick wall last year after Cairo refused to help locate them.



Regeni, whose research topic was a politically sensitive issue, was tortured for days, resulting in "acute physical suffering" by being subjected to kicks, punches, beaten with sticks and bats and cut with sharp objects, and also being burned with red-hot objects and slammed into walls, Rome prosecutors say.



His neck was then snapped in a fatal blow. (ANSAmed).




PARIS - The students who had been occupying Paris's Sorbonne university since Wednesday afternoon to protest against the "false choice" for the upcoming French presidential election between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen left the premises late Thursday night.



On Friday morning, no student protestors could be seen near the Sorbonne, though some gendarme and riot police remained to guard the entrances.



Lessons continue to be held remotely and no students are in the classrooms.



According to the France Info radio station, the last protestors left the university shortly before midnight without any clashes with the police.



The occupation began on Wednesday afternoon with about a hundred students from the well-known university of the Latin Quarter yelling "neither Macron nor Le Pen".



The protest then spread to other universities including Paris's Sciences Po.



A few scuffles were reported on Thursday between students and the police, with the use of tear gas and some damage to the university premises.




Matisse in 1930s between Philadelphia, Paris and Nice 100 works focus on how he overcame creative crisis at age 60

(ANSAmed) - NEW YORK, 15 APR - Three museums are joining forces across the Atlantic to shed light on a crucial decade in the career of the French artist Henri Matisse.



It opens this October at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and will move to Paris's Orangerie and Nice's Musee Matisse in 2023.



Over 100 works will be featured, including paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints that will shed light on how he overcame a creative crisis that struck him at age 60.



Among the exhibition's highlights, on which the three museums have worked for five years, are "Large Reclining Nude" (1935), an ink drawing almost three metres wide, "Woman in Blue" (1937), a portrait of the artist's favourite model, Lydia Delectorskaya, next to which the original skirt worn by the model can be admired. And "Le Chant" (1938), an ornamental painting three metres tall that used to stand above the fireplace in Nelson Rockefeller's attic in Manhattan. (ANSAmed).




ADDIS ABABA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A total of 247 suspected rebels have surrendered in recent days in Ethiopia's western Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, local authorities said on Friday.

In a press statement, the state's communications affairs office said the group included 57 suspected rebels who had firearms with them during their surrender.

The individuals are members of a banned rebel group, the Benishangul-Peoples Democratic Movement, the statement said.

"Security forces have also in recent days managed to rehabilitate 9,000 civilians who had fled to nearby forests escaping insecurity," it added.

In recent years, inter-communal violence and rebel attacks have led to the death of thousands of civilians and the displacement of more than 100,000 others in western Ethiopia.

Benishangul-Gumuz region, located along the border with Sudan, hosts Ethiopia's largest development project, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. 
People across the country have been donating Easter eggs to children spending Easter in hospitals.

Staff at Greater Anglia provided more than 450 eggs to hospitals across Essex and Cambridgeshire after the company put out an appeal to passengers in railway stations to donate Easter treats.

Michael King, a relief ticket office clerk, masterminded the appeal and said: I first did this in 2020 and we only had 120 eggs donated then.

Simon Pope, relief ticket office supervisor (left) and Michael King, relief ticket office clerk (right) with a pile of donated Easter eggs for children in hospital (Greater Anglia/PA)

I didnt think wed get anywhere as many as we have.

Im blown away by it.

In Leeds, the Childrens Heart Surgery Fund, a local charity, delivered more than 1,000 Easter eggs and gifts to Leeds Childrens Hospital.

The hospital said in a post on Facebook: This morning our friends from Childrens Heart Surgery Fund arrived with a van full of Easter eggs and treats for children and young people at Leeds Childrens Hospital.

Crates of Easter eggs were delivered to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield (Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust/PA)

We couldnt believe it when they said they had to go back to and fill the van again!

In Bolton, a local fitness academy delivered a trolly full of Easter eggs to the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust childrens ward, while Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, received 300 eggs donated by the local community and businesses.

Boxes of Easter eggs being delivered to the childrens ward at Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley (West Midlands Ambulance Service/PA)

Staff at the West Midlands Ambulance Service also collected Easter eggs and toys, delivering them to Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, West Midlands.
The family of a British soldier allegedly captured by Russian forces while fighting in the Ukrainian resistance have begged Vladimir Putin to treat him with humanity.

Images on Russian television appeared to show prisoner of war Aiden Aslin, 28, originally from Nottinghamshire, being led around in handcuffs with a cut on his forehead.

Days earlier, comments posted on his Twitter account, which is being run by a friend while he is fighting with the Ukrainian marines, said he had no choice but to surrender to Russian forces.

Footage shared on social media apparently showing Mr Aslin in captivity was allegedly broadcast on Russian state-controlled television channel RT, which was recently taken off air in the UK by broadcasting regulator Ofcom amid concerns it was peddling Kremlin propaganda.

Speaking dispassionately and slowly, in broken sentences, he says: I fought in beginning, Ukraine was good side.

But then eventually I see they dont make right decisions that would end war.

His mother, Ang Wood, called on the Kremlin to treat her son as a prisoner of war in accordance with international rules, and for the British Government to take Putin down.

Ms Wood told the Telegraph: He called me and said they have no weapons left to fight.

I love my son, he is my hero. They put up one hell of a fight. Boris (Johnson) needs to take Putin down.

She said she recognised her son from images released in Russia due to his distinctive tattoos.

(PA Graphic)

Its Aiden, I cant deny it. Its him, she said.

Im in bits. My son will be scared just as we are.

I now hold Vladimir Putin to the terms of the Geneva Convention. Aiden is a serving member of the Ukrainian armed forces and as such is a prisoner of war and must be treated with humanity.

It already looks like he has been beaten up. It is time now for the British Government to get involved and help secure Aidens release.

His grandmother, Pamela Hall, said she had expected that her grandson would die fighting if the worst came to the worst.

She told the BBC: Obviously I didnt want that, I wanted the war to end and for him to go home to his fiancee.

I think all the guys should be treated as prisoners of war according to the Geneva Convention; I appreciate its opposing forces, but theyre all human beings.

We are all just hoping and praying for his safety.

Mr Aslin had been defending the beseiged city of Mariupol with his unit during heavy fighting in recent weeks.

But after 48 days, he said he had to surrender.

We have no food and no ammunition, a post on his Twitter account read.

Its been a pleasure everyone  I hope this war ends soon.

It is understood the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is still working to verify the reports of Mr Aslins capture and that its ability to provide consular services in Ukraine is severely limited due to the conflict.

But officials expect any detainees to be treated in accordance with international law.

The Telegraph reported Mr Aslin enlisted in the Ukrainian army in 2018 and that he had previously fought against the so-called Islamic State in Syria.
The first 44 bought as part of a fundraising effort for Ukraine backed by Jeremy Clarkson has been delivered ahead of its journey to the war-torn country next week.

Viktor Zaichenko, 48, originally from Ukraine, and his wife Lucy, 55, are the beekeepers at Jeremy Clarksons Diddly Squat farm in Oxfordshire.

The pair are raising money to send 4x4s to Ukraine, with the help of Clarkson and his partner Lisa Hogan.

They plan to send the off-road vehicles to help areas of Ukraine cut off from aid.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Mrs Zaichenko said: We just want to get trucks out there which help people.

It will rescue people, it will get them into hospitals, it will get them to safety.

The couple hopes to send the first 44 to Ukraine next week (Lucy Zaichenko/PA)

Mr and Mrs Zaichenko were planning to visit Ukraine in February, shortly before Russias invasion, but decided not to make the trip.

The pair were instead in Scotland when news of Russias invasion broke.

We cut it (the trip) short, we just came home.

It was like a death over and over and over again, Mrs Zaichenko told the PA news agency.

It was just absolutely horrendous.

We didnt know what to do.

We were just sitting there, feeling helpless, watching the country being destroyed.

Mr Zaichenko realised that he can help Ukraine more from here than he can from there, Mrs Zaichenko said, and so began their fundraising effort.

While they originally planned to fundraise to send armoured vehicles to Ukraine, Mrs Zaichenko said it quickly became clear that 44 vehicles were needed to access smaller villages cut off from aid and support.

The first 44 has now been bought, and they hope it will begin its journey to Ukraine next week.

Their JustGiving has raised more than 45,000, and they plan to buy and deliver more 4x4s in the weeks ahead, with the help of Clarkson and his team.

We had the support from Diddly Squat immediatelythey have been absolutely amazing, theyve been so supportive, Mrs Zaichenko said.

Right from the start, they wanted to help we are honestly eternally grateful.

Jeremy Clarkson and his partner Lisa Hogan have been so supportive in the fundraising effort, Mrs Zaichenko said (Ian West/PA)

Clarkson recently shared their fundraiser to his Instagram page, saying: Viktor the bee man at Diddly Squat farm is Ukrainian.

Hes got a lot of family and friends who are stuck there and need our help.

You can donate money which will help them buy vehicles that they need to evacuate people who are stuck behind Russian lines.

I can hardly believe Im saying this in Europe today, but anyway, they are stuck, they need to get them out.

So pick-up trucks, anything they can get their hands on.

Thats what they need the money for.

Please please help, if you can.

Mrs Zaichenko said the war in Ukraine has brought people together, adding its brought out the best people.

You see the darkness in humanity in a war, but you also see the light.

The JustGiving is a very good example.

To donate to the couples JustGiving, visit: www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/viktor-zaichenko
Elon Musks huge Twitter investment took a new twist this week with the filing of a lawsuit alleging that the billionaire illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.

The complaint in New York federal court accuses Mr Musk of violating a regulatory deadline to reveal he had accumulated a stake of at least 5%.

Instead, according to the complaint, Mr Musk did not disclose his position in Twitter until he had almost doubled his stake to more than 9%.

That strategy, the lawsuit alleges, hurt less wealthy investors who sold shares in the San Francisco company in the nearly two weeks before Mr Musk acknowledged holding a major stake.

Elon Musk is best known as CEO of electric car maker Tesla (AP)

Mr Musks regulatory filings show that he bought a little more than 620,000 shares at 36.83 dollars apiece on January 31 and then continued to accumulate more shares on nearly every single trading day through to April 1.

Mr Musk, best known as CEO of electric car maker Tesla, held 73.1 million Twitter shares as of the most recent count on Monday. That represents a 9.1% stake in Twitter.

The lawsuit alleges that by March 14, Mr Musks stake in Twitter had reached a 5% threshold that required him to publicly disclose his holdings under US securities law by March 24. Mr Musk did not make the required disclosure until April 4.

That revelation caused Twitters stock to soar 27% from its April 1 close to nearly 50 dollars by the end of April 4s trading, depriving investors who sold shares before Mr Musks improperly delayed disclosure the chance to realise significant gains, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of an investor named Marc Bain Rasella.

Elon Musk has bought a stake in Twitter (AP)

Mr Musk, meanwhile, was able to continue to buy shares that traded in prices ranging from 37.69 dollars to 40.96 dollars.

The lawsuit is seeking to be certified as a class action representing Twitter shareholders who sold shares between March 24 and April 4, a process that could take a year or more.

Jacob Walker, one of the lawyers that filed the lawsuit against Mr Musk, told the Associated Press that he had not reached out to the Securities and Exchange Commission about Mr Musks alleged violations about the disclosure of his Twitter stake.

I assume the SEC is well aware of what he did, Mr Walker said.

An SEC spokesperson declined to comment.

Mr Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment posted on Twitter, where he often shares his opinion and thoughts.

Mr Musk has since said he wants to buy Twitter outright.
Boseman was the Howard University student assigned to escort Bassett around campus the day she was commencement speaker.

During a recent appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, actress Angela Bassett recalled first meeting Chadwick Boseman on the campus of Howard University in 2000.

Boseman  who graduated from the acclaimed HBCU that same year  was the student assigned to escort Bassett that day around the university, where she was the commencement speaker and received an honorary doctorate, according to Yahoo News. The Black Panther star was my guide, he was my student guide, Bassett told Clarkson.

Black Panther stars Angela Bassett and Chadwick Boseman attend the 25th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles in January 2019. (Photo: John Sciulli/Getty Images)

He told me that at the opening party, at the premiere party, Bassett revealed. And I was like, Ahhhhh, you cold water! I cant hold water, you know. And we sat next to each other every morning in the makeup chair. You know, as were getting our lines and our accents and our work together for the day  Hes just amazing, and he reminded me of that.

In 2018, during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Ryan, Boseman also retold the story. During my graduation actually, Angela Bassett received the honorary doctorate  she plays my mother in Black Panther  so its sort of a full circle, Boseman said, according to a previous Yahoo report.

In 2020, when Boseman died after a four-year battle with colon cancer, Bassett penned a touching tribute to the actor on Instagram, writing, It was meant to be for Chadwick and me to be connected, for us to be family. But what many dont know is our story began long before his historic turn as Black Panther. During the premiere party for Black Panther, Chadwick reminded me of something. He whispered that when I received my honorary degree from Howard University, his alma mater, he was the student assigned to escort me that day. And here we were, years later as friends and colleagues, enjoying the most glorious night ever!

Wed spent weeks prepping, working, sitting next to each other every morning in makeup chairs, preparing for the day together as mother and son, she continued. I am honored that we enjoyed that full-circle experience. This young mans dedication was awe-inspiring, his smile contagious, his talent unreal. So I pay tribute to a beautiful spirit, a consummate artist, a soulful brotherthou arent not dead but flown afar. All you possessed, Chadwick, you freely gave. Rest now, sweet prince.

Bassett recently wrapped shooting her scenes for Black Panther 2: Wakanda Forever. Details of the sequels plot have not been released, and it was shot largely in Atlanta. Last month, director Ryan Coogler revealed that he was detained by police there after a bank teller called police as he tried to withdraw $12,000 from his personal bank account.

As previously reported, the incident occurred in January, its video footage released months later. Coogler confirmed it occurred in a statement to Variety, saying, This situation should never have happened. However, Bank of America worked with me and addressed it to my satisfaction, and we have moved on.

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The post Angela Bassett recalls meeting Chadwick Boseman years before Black Panther appeared first on TheGrio.
Gilbert Gottfried's loved ones are celebrating his life.

The beloved comedian and actor, who died on Tuesday at age 67, was laid to rest on Thursday morning in Westchester, New York, with celebrities from all parts of the industry paying tribute to their sweet friend.

Jeff Ross, Colin Quinn, Susie Essman, Mario Cantone, Dave Attell, and Paul Shaffer, as well as Bob Saget's wife, Kelly Rizzo, and his three daughters, Aubrey, Jennifer, and Lara, were in attendance at the memorial.

Whoopi Goldberg, although not in attendance, sent a gift in honor of Gottfried, and comedian Sarah Silverman is planning on sitting shiva with a slew of the Aladdin voice actor's friends and family.

"The shiva tonight will be a star-studded event and the funeral was just absolutely perfect," Ross, who gave Gilbert's eulogy, tells PEOPLE. "Gilbert would have loved it. I saw so many great comics there paying their respects."

RELATED: A Look Back at Gilbert Gottfried's Greatest Throwback Photos

Gilbert Gottfried

Gilbert Gottfried

"It was cathartic but there was also a sense of relief," Ross adds. "As I said at the funeral, Gilbert had been sick, he was tired, and he had perfect timing. He knew it was his time to get off the stage."

Ross' emotional eulogy touched on all aspects of the comedian's life, including some of Gottfried's unique quirks  like taking "12,000 little bottles of shampoo" from hotels  as well as his incredible accomplishments throughout his lengthy career.

Gilbert Gottfried

Noam Galai/WireImage Gilbert Gottfried

"50 years in show business, 50 years! He went on stage as a teenager and he never stopped. He was supposed to do a show last week. This man has been making people laugh for half a century. What a mitzvah. What a mission in life. What a purpose to have in this world," Ross said of Gottfried.

jeff ross, Gilbert Gottfried

Jeff Ross/Instagram Jeff Ross, Gilbert Gottfried

RELATED: Jeff Ross Remembers 'Wonderful Pal' Gilbert Gottfried: 'Nobody Made Me Laugh So Hard'

"Think about how many laughs he must have gotten from every person at every show, live and on TV and in the movies," he added. "How many laughs is that? A million? A billion?"

Ross also tells PEOPLE that seeing the family of Gottfried's late longtime friend and fellow comedian, Bob Saget, who died in January, was special.

"What was very heartwarming was seeing Bob Saget's daughters at the service," Ross says. "And some of the guys that helped Gilbert write those Comedy Central roasts  Aaron Lee and Jordan Rubin  they wanted to pay their respects. They were part of that team that helped him rip the roof off those roasts."

RELATED VIDEO: Gilbert Gottfried, Aladdin Voice Actor and Comedian, Dead at 67 'After a Long Illness'

Gottfried's death was announced in a statement his family posted to his official Twitter account on Tuesday.

"We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness. In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children," the family said. "Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert's honor. Love, the Gottfried family," they added.

Never miss a story  sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Gottfried's longtime friend and publicist Glenn Schwartz told PEOPLE in an official statement, "Beloved and iconic comedian Gilbert Gottfried passed away at 2:35 p.m. ET on April 12, 2022, from Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia due to Myotonic Dystrophy type II."

He is survived by his wife Dara, 14-year-old daughter Lily and 12-year-old son Max.
Mending fences? Prince Charles has big plans in store for his reign on the British throne  and he might even find a place for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in the royal mix.

Read article

Weve already heard Charles say he wants to streamline the royal family, [to] modernize it, royal author Tom Quinn recently told Us Weekly exclusively while discussing his book Scandals of the Royal Palaces: An Intimate Memoir of Royals Behaving Badly. I think Meghan and Harry are hoping  Charles will be open to [them being] part-time royals, which is what they wanted from the start.

The Duke of Sussex, 37, and the Bench author, 40, wed in May 2018 and announced nearly two years later that they intended to step down from their senior royal duties. The couple relocated to California in March 2020, with Buckingham Palace confirming the following February that Harry and Meghans exit would be made permanent. However, Quinn predicted that things will change once Charles, 73, takes over for Queen Elizabeth II.

Shutterstock(2)

Of course, the queen  who grew up with this sense that youre either in fully or out fully  she wouldnt allow [it], the writer claimed. But  Charles may well allow this.

Read article

The Prince of Wales may be likely to extend the olive branch toward his son for better optics. It would be better to say to Harry, OK, well do it the way you want to do it. You can be here for six months,' Quinn continued. Its not as if being a working member of the royal family involves anything politically sensitive or controversial, because really, when theyre full-time royals, they open hospitals. They, you know, give their names to charities. So that is possible that, that they could do that for half the year and, you know, do their other stuff in America.

Harrys relationship with his father has been tense since his departure from the palace, particularly as the BetterUp CIO began to publicly speak out about the step down. During his bombshell CBS sit-down with Meghan in March 2021, Harry claimed that Charles stopped taking his calls and cut him off financially in the wake of the pairs exit. He later put the future kings parenting skills on blast.

Just because you suffered, it doesnt mean that your kids have to suffer, the former military pilot said on his Apple TV+ series, The Me You Cant See. In fact, quite the opposite. If you suffered, do everything you can to make sure that whatever experiences, negative experiences that you had, you can make it right for your kids.

As the dust settles amid the royal tension, a source exclusively told Us in December 2021 that Harry and Charles have been in communication but still have a lot of issues to work through. Royal expert Stewart Pearce claimed that same month that things between the princes have absolutely improved over time.

Read article

Its just their style of managing that level of emotional intensity is completely different, you know? the Diana: The Voice of Change author told Us. Prince Charles is, by nature, a very shy man and like to [be by] himself. That doesnt mean hes uncaring it, he just finds demonstration or emotional display  [to be] really difficult.

Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan, who share 2-year-old son Archie and 10-month-old daughter Lili, are still on good terms with his 95-year-old grandmother. A spokesperson confirmed to Us that the couple paid a visit to the monarch at Windsor Castle on their way to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands.

Scandals of the Royal Palaces: An Intimate Memoir of Royals Behaving Badly is available now.

With reporting by Christina Garibaldi
Students of Confucius Institute participate in the Chinese Language Day celebrations at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on April 15, 2022. Addis Ababa University (AAU) on Friday marked the upcoming UN Chinese Language Day with various cultural activities aimed at promoting the Chinese language and culture. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia's Addis Ababa University (AAU) on Friday marked the upcoming UN Chinese Language Day with various cultural activities aimed to promote the Chinese language and culture.

The Chinese Language Day celebrations, which were jointly organized by the AAU and the Confucius Institute at the AAU, are said to serve as an important platform for creating awareness of the Chinese language in particular and Chinese culture in general to Ethiopians.

In welcoming participants, Academic Vice President of AAU Emebet Mulugeta said the celebrations would inject much-needed momentum into promoting the Chinese language in Ethiopia and boost the people-to-people ties between the two countries.

"Beyond the celebrations, it has a lot of implications. Learning the Chinese language means learning the Chinese culture, expanding cultural exchanges, expanding business and expanding academic exchanges. It has a very important implication," she said. "While celebrating this day, we also try to see the broader perspective of learning the Chinese language."

A series of cultural activities were held, in which Chinese language students at the Confucius Institute at the AAU demonstrated various elements of the Chinese culture and language, including the calligraphy, paper-cutting, Chinese traditional costumes, and Peking Opera facial masks.

In addition, members of the 23rd Chinese medical team to Ethiopia demonstrated traditional Chinese medicine including acupuncture and cupping to a crowd of the AAU community who gathered together inside the premises of the AAU main campus in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.

Amenuael Alemayehu, dean of the College of Humanities, Language Studies, Journalism and Communications at the AAU, stressed the celebrations would serve to further promote the Chinese language and culture across the East African country.

"The Confucius Institute at Addis Ababa University is one of the vibrant institutes we have today. It is the only foreign language institute in our college to attract students every year," he said.

He emphasized that amid the growing demand for Chinese language studies among young Ethiopian students, the Confucius Institute at the AAU in partnership with the AAU will welcome new students for the Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL) as the first MA program in the Chinese language for the next academic year.

He said celebrating Chinese Language Day will further promote the Chinese language in Ethiopia.

"I believe this international Chinese Language Day (celebrations) will also help the institute to be more visible; it will increase the awareness of students within and outside the institute. People can learn about the Chinese language and culture from such events," said Alemayehu.

Melaku Mekonene, a third-year Chinese language student of the Confucius Institute at the AAU, said the celebrations showcased the growing popularity of the Chinese language in Ethiopia, Africa's second populous nation.

"Today we have seen the huge significance given to the Chinese language here in Ethiopia. As a Chinese language student, this gives me great pleasure due to the growing future prospects," Mekonene said. "I am certain that with the growing significance given to the Chinese language here, more and more students and the general public will learn the language in the years to come."

Yohanis Elias, another Chinese language student, said such celebrations would serve to further deepen students' awareness of Chinese culture.

"We all are happy to attend this Chinese Language Day celebration events. It also helped us to know more about Chinese culture, such as the Chinese dressing style, costume and traditional Chinese medicine," he said.

Che Zhaoguang, the cultural counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Ethiopia, said the celebrations will have huge significance as language plays a very important role in deepening and enhancing Ethiopia-China ties.

"Chinese is one of the official languages of the United Nations and in recent years more and more people around the world are learning the Chinese language to better understand contemporary China," Che said. "We believe the future cooperation between our two countries in the fields of education, culture, tourism, and economy, among others, will be surely promoted."

The Confucius Institute at the AAU, in collaboration with its partners, commemorated the Chinese Language Day in line with the decision by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2010 to mark the Chinese Language Day on April 20. The decision envisaged celebrating multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as promoting equal use of all six of the UN's official working languages throughout the organization's structure and activities.

April 20 was chosen as the Chinese Language Day to pay tribute to Cangjie, an imaginary figure in traditional Chinese lore regarded as the inventor of Chinese characters. 

Students wearing Peking Opera masks attend the Chinese Language Day celebrations at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on April 15, 2022. Addis Ababa University (AAU) on Friday marked the upcoming UN Chinese Language Day with various cultural activities aimed at promoting the Chinese language and culture. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Academic Vice President of Addis Ababa University Emebet Mulugeta speaks during the Chinese Language Day celebrations at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on April 15, 2022. Addis Ababa University (AAU) on Friday marked the upcoming UN Chinese Language Day with various cultural activities aimed at promoting the Chinese language and culture. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Students of Confucius Institute participate in the Chinese Language Day celebrations at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on April 15, 2022. Addis Ababa University (AAU) on Friday marked the upcoming UN Chinese Language Day with various cultural activities aimed at promoting the Chinese language and culture. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Members of the 23rd Chinese medical team to Ethiopia demonstrate traditional Chinese medicine during the Chinese Language Day celebrations at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on April 15, 2022. Addis Ababa University (AAU) on Friday marked the upcoming UN Chinese Language Day with various cultural activities aimed at promoting the Chinese language and culture. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Students of Confucius Institute participate in the Chinese Language Day celebrations at Addis Ababa University in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on April 15, 2022. Addis Ababa University (AAU) on Friday marked the upcoming UN Chinese Language Day with various cultural activities aimed at promoting the Chinese language and culture. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)
New York AG launches oil industry probe over gas price gouging FILE PHOTO: Gasoline prices are displayed at gas stations in Jersey City, New Jersey

(Reuters) -New York Attorney General Letitia James is investigating whether the oil industry has engaged in gas price gouging, a representative from her office said on Thursday.

The New York state probe will focus on major companies that supply oil to the state, and refineries that turn crude into gasoline and independent operators of pipelines and terminals, the representative said, confirming a report on CNN https://cnn.it/3xsQixl.

The investigation will examine the state's entire supply chain, the representative said.

Crude prices have hit 14-year highs in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and subsequent U.S. sanctions on Moscow, including a U.S. ban on Russian energy imports.

U.S. President Joe Biden last month accused U.S. oil companies of enjoying record profits while Americans pay high gasoline prices. He called for increased output and service to benefit consumers instead of investors, and announced a record release of crude oil from strategic reserves.

Oil executives defended themselves https://reut.rs/37SerTz in the U.S. Congress last week from charges by lawmakers that they were gouging Americans with high fuel prices, saying they were boosting energy output and no one company sets the price of gasoline.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Additional reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Richard Chang)
Typically, the federal tax-filing deadline falls on April 15. This year, though, you get an extra three days until April 18.

Thats because a local holiday in Washington, D.C., closes all federal offices located in the district, including the Internal Revenue Service, on April 15 this year.

D.C. observes Emancipation Day, which celebrates when President Abraham Lincoln signed an act on April 16, 1862, that freed 3,000 slaves in the district, eight months before The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in all states. Usually, Emancipation Day is observed on April 16, but when it falls on a Saturday  like this year  its observed on Friday, April 15. (When it falls on a Sunday, its observed the following Monday).

Thats not all.

Residents in Maine and Massachusetts have until April 19 to file their federal tax returns because April 18 is a state holiday in both states. They observe Patriots Day to commemorate the battle of Lexington and Concord of the Revolutionary War. The actual anniversary of those battles falls on April 19, but both states observe the holiday on the third Monday in April.

Those who were victims of weather disasters or wildfires in Colorado, Tennessee, Washington, and Puerto Rico also may get an extension on the filing of their federal taxes, according to the IRS. Finally, if you requested an extension, you have until October 17 to file your federal returns.

Typically, the federal tax-filing deadline falls on April 15. This year is different. (Photo: Getty Creative)

State deadlines also can vary

Most states follow the federal filing deadline for their state tax-filing date. This year is no different, and most states have an April 18 deadline, except for a few outliers.

Maine and Massachusetts residents have until April 19 to file their state taxes  again because of Patriots Day. Residents of Iowa, Delaware and Virginia all have until May 2 for their state taxes because their typical deadlines (April 30 for Iowa and Delaware and May 1 for Virginia) fall on the weekend. And Louisiana residents have until May 16.

There are also no state tax returns required for residents in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming because these states have no state income tax.

Changing tax deadlines

The IRS (Internal Revenue Service) headquarters building in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Getty Creative)

April 15 wasnt always designated as tax day, according to the Library of Congress.

In 1913, Congress set March 1 as the deadline after passing the 16th Amendment. Congress then moved the deadline to March 15 in 1918. In 1954, during a major tax overall, the deadline was again moved from March 15 to the current April 15 deadline.

The last year that tax day fell on April 15 was in 2019. Because of the pandemic, the 2020 federal tax deadline was extended to July 15 and last year, it was extended to May 17.

Next year, tax day will likely fall on April 17, 2023, because April 15 is a Saturday. In 2024, tax day should return to its usual deadline of April 15, which is a Monday that year.

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Ronda is a personal finance senior reporter for Yahoo Money and attorney with experience in law, insurance, education, and government. Follow her on Twitter @writesronda

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Johnny Depp will need to pull a rabbit out of a hat to win his US defamation case against his former wife Amber Heard, and the result of another legal loss could be career-ending, a media lawyer has said.

Alex Wade, legal partner at Wiggin LLP, said the trial in Virginia was the actors last throw of the dice, but that jury trials came with an inherent unpredictability.

Mr Depp is suing Ms Heard for libel over a 2018 article she wrote in The Washington Post, which his lawyers say falsely implies he physically and sexually abused the Aquaman star.

Johnny Depp lost a similar defamation case in the UK (Shawn Thew/AP)

It comes after the actor lost a similar defamation case in the UK, which he brought against the publishers of The Sun, News Group Newspapers (NGN) for publishing an article that referred to him as a wife-beater in the headline.

Following a 16-day trial in July 2020, a judge found the content of the article to be substantially true and Mr Depp was later refused permission to appeal against the decision at the Court of Appeal.

This is absolutely his last throw of the dice, Mr Wade told the PA news agency, as the first week of the US trial concluded.

If he loses this its impossible to see him making a comeback, I think, as an actor.

Hollywood likes a bad boy, absolutely, but in the wake of hashtag MeToo, the way in which we view these things in todays world is that you cant just be a bit of a bad boy any more.

Johnny Depp is suing his former partner Amber Heard for libel (Shawn Thew/AP)

This is abuse. This is active misogyny.

I personally find it very difficult to see how a Hollywood studio would employ Depp again if he loses this case.

Mr Wade said the actor needs a rabbit out of a hat but it was possible that his large legal team, several of whom have flanked him at court, had one to produce.

Mr Wade and his colleague Matthew Dando, also a partner at Wiggin LLP, said there were several differences in the US trial that may play more favourably with Mr Depp and his legal team.

As well as being held in front of a jury of 11 members of the public, proceedings are being broadcast live from the court, which is permitted in the US.

Proceedings are being broadcast live from the court (Shawn Thew/AP)

Mr Dando said that although televised hearings would not affect the outcome of the trial, it would have an effect on the media coverage and public opinion.

It will inevitably mean that the advocates are not just playing to the people in the courtroom, but directly through television theyre playing directly to the public, he told PA.

So it affects the dynamic of the trial.

Mr Wade added: I think Depps team have got to come up with some remarkable evidence.

Theres got to be something that radically changes this, that could really persuade people that Heard was lying, or at least a liar on a given important occasion.

Johnny Depp brought a similar defamation case against the publishers of The Sun newspaper in the UK (Shawn Thew/AP)

Juries come with an inherent unpredictability, and thats why if this were being heard again by purely a judge alone youd probably expect it to go the same way as the UK case.

But as Matt says, the various counsel in the US will play to the jury.

During the trial in London Ms Heard was brought as a witness to testify on allegations of physical abuse against Mr Depp, though her US legal team say she also suffered sexual violence at the hands of Depp.

A specific incident was referenced by the actress lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, during her opening statement on Tuesday, which Mr Wade says was calculated.

I dont think that (Bredehoft) would have inadvertently mentioned that, he said.

The trial is set to last seven weeks (Shawn Thew/AP)

Shes setting the scene very much for a new avenue of allegation against Depp its a whole new kettle of fish.

To me its very, very clever and well judged, shes just dropped in a little time bomb Im sure that was quite calculated.

Mr Dando added: Not least because you know you need to win at the end, not the beginning.

If you use your best cards and you get your quick impact, by the end of the trial it may have waned, and the impact may be less and therefore its less to your benefit.

I think Alex is probably right that it was clever it was dropped thereTheres an intrigue about it.

The trial, which is set to last a total of seven weeks, continues on Monday April 18 at the Fairfax County District Courthouse.
DURBAN (Reuters) -South Africans were searching for survivors on Friday of floods that killed almost 400 people, according to the latest tally, washing away homes and roads and leaving thousands without shelter, water and power.

The floods in Kwazulu-Natal Province have knocked out power lines, shut down water services and disrupted operations at one of Africa's busiest ports. The death toll rose to 395 on Friday from an earlier estimate of 341.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told TV station Newsroom Afrika that an initial 1 billion rand ($68.3 million) for emergency relief was available for immediate use, after the province was declared a disaster area.

Local authorities have estimated the damage at several billion rand and reported sporadic looting - in a city still recovering from a catastrophic outbreak of rioting and looting last July. Many of the worst-affected are in poor, unplanned, informal settlements vulnerable to flooding.

Authorities said about 13,600 people had been made homeless by the floods.

"I feel empty, lost and alone. I think I'm losing my mind," said Winnie Hlakanyana, 51, after her five-room shack in Kwazulu-Natal's Gandhi settlement was totally destroyed, leaving her and six of her children homeless.

"I wish I'd just died because I cannot handle starting from scratch. Seeing all my hard-earned furniture washed away and my home covered in mud. I can never get (it) out of my mind."

Local TV stations showed volunteers clearing plastic containers, piles of bamboo and driftwood from Durban beachfront. On other beaches, a Reuters witness said holidaymakers were taking advantage of a lull before the rains were due to resume later on Friday.

More than 40,000 people have been affected by the disaster, authorities say.

Scientists believe the southeastern coast of Africa is becoming more vulnerable to violent storms and floods as human emissions of heat-trapping gases cause the Indian Ocean to warm. They expect the trend to worsen dramatically in coming decades.

Local climate campaigners are calling for greater investment to help communities better prepare for weather shocks.

At a silent procession in Durban to mark the start of the Easter weekend, Christian worshippers laid flowers on a cross.

"There are so many reasons to lose hope at this time," Raymond Perry, a director of Christian charity The Dennis Hurley Centre. "(But) ... even in the face of despair there is hope."

($1 = 14.6416 rand)

(Editing by Gareth Jones and Hugh Lawson)
In the weeks after the 2020 election, Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, had some stark advice for then-President Donald Trump: Invoke a 19th century law known as the Insurrection Act and call out the National Guard to crack down on domestic traitors and reverse the fraudulent victory of Joe Biden.

The very survival of our nation as a free Constitutional Republic hangs in the balance, Rhodes and his domestic partner Kellye SoRelle wrote in an open letter to Trump.

Rhodess activities in the run-up to Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol  including his purchase of more than $20,000 worth of firearms that he brought to a motel in the Washington area  have now landed him in a D.C. jail, where he awaits trial on the most far-reaching and significant of the Justice Department cases brought in the wake of the effort to block the certification of the Electoral College vote in the presidential election.

Justice Department prosecutors have charged Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper who graduated from Yale Law School in 2009, and 10 of his fellow Oath Keepers with participating in a seditious conspiracy in their efforts to overturn the election results. Rhodes and nine other defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges; one defendant has pleaded guilty.

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington in 2017. (Susan Walsh/AP)

The use of the seditious conspiracy law, which also dates back to the 19th century, was an audacious move by the department; the statute has rarely been invoked, in part because of civil liberties concerns. One of the few modern occasions where such charges were used to prosecute alleged domestic terrorists was when four militants, demanding independence for Puerto Rico from the U.S., shot up the House of Representatives in 1954, wounding several members of Congress. The shooters and more than a dozen co-conspirators were subsequently convicted of seditious conspiracy, and the leader of the militant group that staged the attack spent 35 years in prison. Prosecutors also obtained seditious conspiracy convictions against Omar Abdel-Rahman, the radical Egyptian imam known as the Blind sheikh, and nine others for allegedly plotting to blow up the United Nations headquarters in New York City, as well as bridges and tunnels there.

The last time the DOJ sought to use the law was against members of the Hutaree, a far-right Michigan militia whose members allegedly plotted in 2010 to kill a police officer and then to bomb his funeral. The seditious conspiracy charges in the case were thrown out by a federal judge who viewed them as an overreach. Three members of the Hutaree ultimately pleaded guilty to possession of a machine gun and were sentenced to time served.

But some legal experts say the evidence that Rhodes and his confederates were conspiring to commit violence on Jan. 6 is so damning that it could justify charges of sedition in this case.

Members of the Oath Keepers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)

To obtain a conviction, prosecutors do not need to prove that the defendants actually committed an overt act of sedition  such as attacking the Capitol in an organized fashion with an intent to overthrow the government or to delay the execution of any law of the United States. But they do need to prove that two or more individuals did plot together to engage in such an act.

The government has to prove that each individual participated with conspiratorial intent, Jimmy Gurule, a Notre Dame University law professor who served as the U.S. Treasury Departments top law enforcement official during the administration of former President George W. Bush, told Yahoo News. Gurule said that when such cases are brought they are based mainly on indirect and circumstantial evidence. Video footage shows members of the Oath Keepers, including many but not all of the individuals facing seditious conspiracy charges, joining the stack formation that drove itself up the steps on the east side of the Capitol building on Jan. 6. Federal investigators say the accused Oath Keepers also communicated with one other via Signal, a strongly encrypted web app, allegedly to avoid detection from law enforcement authorities. This is the kind of circumstantial evidence which prosecutors are likely to present in court, Gurule said.

Rioters clash with police while trying to enter Capitol building through the front doors, Jan. 6, 2021. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

A conviction on seditious conspiracy charges carries a maximum 20-year prison term. Rhodes and nine other alleged Oath Keepers are the only riot defendants to be prosecuted so far on such charges, which Harvard Law professor Lawrence Tribe and former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut have described as "treason's sibling."

Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, and others in that militia group who participated in the riot also face conspiracy charges carrying potential 20-year prison sentences, but in their cases sedition is not explicitly alleged. In early April, Charles Donohoe, an alleged Proud Boys leader from North Carolina, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges and agreed to cooperate with investigators. According to prosecutors, in December 2020, Tarrio named Donohoe as the head of a new Proud Boys chapter called the Ministry of Self Defense. The mission of the new chapter, prosecutors allege, was to plan Proud Boys rallies, including the groups activities in Washington on Jan. 6.

The fact that no sedition charges have so far been filed against members of the Proud Boys, or against members of other far-right groups such as the Three Percenters, leaves open the question of how aggressively Attorney General Merrick Garland is prepared to use the statute.

Organizer Joe Biggs, in green hat, and Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, holding megaphone, march with members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing demonstrators during a rally in Portland, Ore., in August 2019. (Noah Berger/AP)

The case against Rhodes has taken on added importance because, in the view of some legal experts, it also holds the potential for even broader charges that could ultimately be used against aides to Trump and even against Trump himself.

In their initial evaluation of how to proceed with cases related to the Jan. 6 riot, federal prosecutors and the FBI took a cautious approach to filing criminal charges. From the outset, however, they looked at what role Trump and key supporters or rally organizers, such as Roger Stone and Ali Alexander, might have played in plotting the violent protest at the Capitol. At least as far as Oath Keepers are concerned, prosecutors initially found that there was no top-led, grand conspiracy.

Ninety to 95% of these are one-off cases, a former senior law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation told Reuters last summer. Then you have 5%, maybe, of these militia groups that were more closely organized. But there was no grand scheme with Roger Stone and Alex Jones and all of these people to storm the Capitol and take hostages."

Multiple federal officials involved in the investigation told Yahoo News that the FBI believed that cells of protesters, including followers of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, had aimed to break into the Capitol, but found little evidence that the groups had serious plans about what to do if they made it inside, the sources said.

Protesters clash with Capitol Police on Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Rhodess lawyers have denied that their client and other members of the Oath Keepers had advance plans to attack the Capitol. They were not there to storm the Capitol, to stop the certification, to take over the government, the lawyers argued in a brief.They were waiting for President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. He did not, so Rhodes and the others did nothing.

But more recent revelations from the investigations into the Jan. 6 riot appear to suggest there was coordination among members of the Oath Keepers and other groups leading up to the riot. In February, Reuters reported that two witnesses had told the FBI about a Jan. 5 meeting in a garage in downtown D.C. between Rhodes, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and other far-right leaders, though the substance of the meeting is currently unclear.

Two days after the riot occurred, the Oath Keepers appeared to suspect that federal agents were after Rhodes and his associates. On Jan. 8, one of their lawyers warned a Signal group that included Rhodes, "YOU ALL NEED TO DELETE ANY OF YOUR COMMENTS REGARDING WHO DID WHAT," according to federal investigators.

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The rioters got within 2 doors of Vice President Mike Pence's office. See how in this 3D explainer from Yahoo Immersive.
Iran accused Israel of "Zionist" aggression after clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israelis at Jerusalems Al-Aqsa mosque Friday.

Over 150 Palestinians were injured after thousands gathered to pray at the holy site during the month of Ramadan. It was one of the most violent clashes since the Israel-Palestinian crisis last summer.

46 RETIRED GENERALS, ADMIRALS URGE WHITE HOUSE AGAINST IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

Clashes broke out after some Palestinians finished their prayers and began marching in the area near the mosque, chanting "with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Al-Aqsa."

The marchers also reportedly expressed support for Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza but is defined as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

It is unclear what sparked the clashes, but Israeli police said they responded to the violence and arrested "hundreds" of suspects. The mosque was then reopened for midday prayers with some 60,000 in attendance.

BIDEN WARNED BY IRANIAN AMERICAN SCIENTISTS, SCHOLARS OVER PERILS OF REMOVING TERROR STATUS

Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) called the clash a "desecration of the holy values of Muslims" and alleged it was "carried out by the Zionist regime's military and security forces by deploying military equipment and brutally attacking defenseless Palestinian worshipers," according to a translated statement by the Tasnim News Agency, a private Iranian news outlet.

The IRGC also promised a "new wave" of support for Palestinians rising up against Israel. It accused the Israeli state of "aggressive actions and new crimes."

Recent clashes in Israel have raised concerns that the region could see another security escalation similar to the 11-day conflict in May 2021 that resulted in the death of over 200 Israelis and Palestinians, the majority of whom died in the Gaza Strip.

Iran has long backed Hamas and has helped train and provide military support for the Islamic militants in their fight against Israel.

But current negotiations with the U.S. and other western nations regarding a nuclear deal in exchange for sanction relief may require Tehran to cut its known ties to terrorist organizations in the Middle East.

Talks appear to have stalled, but reporting surfaced last month that said the U.S. may consider removing Irans Revolutionary Guard from its list of designated terrorist groups in exchange for regional peace.

It remains unclear how Tehran will respond to these negotiation demands, but security officials and scientists alike have warned the administration to be wary of false assurances.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The wine bar, above, restaurant, welcome center and restrooms at the Music Center's renovated plaza were all offered as naming rights opportunities for donors. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

It took me a few moments standing there outside the bathrooms at the Music Center in downtown Los Angeles before I fully grasped that some fundraising genius had actually sold the lavatory naming rights.

It seemed inconceivable, but there it was in big letters over the entrance: Lefton Family Restrooms.

On the one hand, good for the Lefton family for stepping forward to help the Music Center pay to renovate its plaza. Cities need people who support the arts, including the less glamorous, more functional parts of the underlying infrastructure.

But branded bathrooms? Really?

Naming rights had already been on my mind that day because I had, for the first time, passed the Crypto.com Arena, the structure formerly known as Staples Center. In November, Crypto.com purchased the arenas naming rights for 20 years for $700 million.

That, in turn, had reminded me of the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, named (in return for $30 million a year) for SoFi Technologies Inc., as well as the deal struck last year to name the still-under-construction Intuit Dome. Earlier this month, it was announced that the Forum, the 55-year-old former home of the Lakers, would become the KIA Forum, after the South Korean car manufacturer.

Of course, putting a philanthropic donors name on the Music Centers bathrooms is not the same as selling off two decades of stadium naming rights to the highest corporate bidder in a profit-generating business transaction.

But the concept is loosely the same. Give some money and get your name slapped up for all to see. In addition to the bathrooms, the Music Center in its 2019 renovation offered donors naming rights to the plazas bar, its restaurant and a new welcome center.

Sometimes it feels like there wont be anything left that doesnt have the name of a big-bucks donor or corporate conglomerate on it. Sometimes it seems that the buildings, streets and institutions of L.A. and other American cities are just giant marketing opportunities and potential revenue generators.

People are becoming inured to the unintentional comedy of such cringeworthy names as Minute Maid Park or Guaranteed Rate Field. Names like FedEx Field roll off the tongue. How long before we sell the name of the teams themselves? Houston Astroburgers, anyone?

And the naming craze goes beyond just stadiums (and bathrooms). In 2010, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority changed the name of Philadelphias Pattinson Avenue subway station to AT&T Station. Its now been renamed again for NRG Energy, for another $5 million.

Think it cant happen here? In 2016, Los Angeles Metro agreed to allow the sale of naming rights for light-rail lines, bus stops, subway stations and parking garages. Two months later, thankfully, it repealed the controversial plan, citing legal concerns.

According to Wired, Christies auctioned off the right to name a new species of shark in 2007. The proceeds went to environmental causes. Does that make it OK?

What will be next? Can I sell the naming rights of my child?

Oops. Someones already thought of that.

In 2015, Lavonne Drummond, an unemployed Arkansas woman, solicited bids on eBay for the right to name her unborn son, hoping to raise funds to repair her Dodge Caravan and to buy school supplies for her other children. The winning bid came in at $6,800, but the bidder eventually declined to pay, and presumably she named the child herself.

Its reminiscent of David Foster Wallaces 1996 novel, Infinite Jest, set in a future when years are no longer denoted by sequential numbers but are sold off in return for subsidies. Much of the action takes place in the Year of the Depend Adult Undergarment. When he wrote it, it seemed clever  not prophetic.

Companies are willing to pay millions for naming rights because, as one consulting firm puts it, they drive brand value and generate maximum ROI [return on investment] through repeated free mentions of the business or product, familiarization with the companys logo and the introduction of the brands name into ordinary everyday conversation. Nonprofit museums, universities and performing arts centers offer them to sweeten the ask for big ticket projects.

What became of naming places and institutions after societys heroes and historical figures, such as university presidents, accomplished scientists, civil rights leaders, politicians and sports stars? (And naming transit stations after the street where theyre located?)

Its true that were now in the process of un-naming streets and institutions for heroes we no longer consider heroic. But that happens with naming rights as well. Remember when the Houston Astros had to pay $2 million to buy back their ball-field naming rights from the scandal-tainted Enron Corp.? And when Walmart heiress Paige Lauries name was scratched from the stadium her parents had donated at the University of Missouri after she was accused of cheating her way through USC?

And dont get me started on the now-disgraced Sackler family, makers of Oxycontin. In December, the Metropolitan Museum of Art took the Sackler name off the Sackler Wing of the museum and six other exhibition spaces. The Louvre did the same in 2019.

Of course it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge that weve always named some libraries, museums and universities  and even some new biological species  after donors and patrons. The Music Center has long carried the names of wealthy families that built it, including the Ahmansons, Tapers and Chandlers. Boston's hallowed Fenway Park, for that matter, was named for a local realty company.

So this naming business is not exactly new. Its just out of control.

Im glad there are bathrooms at the Music Center plaza  permanent ones not housed in trailers, finally. I dont mean to compare a philanthropic family to a profit-driven behemoth like Enron or Crypto.com.

But the naming trend is tiresome.

In a bizarre twist on it, 13 alumni donors from the University of Wisconsin business school agreed in 2008 to donate a total of $85 million in exchange for a promise that the school would not sell its name for at least 20 years.

Theres an idea I could get behind. No-naming rights.

Because not everything needs to be branded.

@Nick_Goldberg

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
LONDON  As the Russia-Ukraine war entered its eighth week, Russia confirmed that its flagship vessel in the Black Sea sank  with Ukrainians crediting their anti-ship missile for the action  while CIA Director William Burns warned that the U.S. cant take lightly the possibility that Russia would use nuclear weapons.

Russian warship Moskva sinks in Black Sea

The guided missile cruiser Moskva of the Russian Black Sea fleet passes through the Bosporus in 2014. (Can Merey/EPA/Shutterstock)

Moscows Defense Ministry confirmed on Thursday that the Moskva, Russias leading battleship in the countrys naval assault against Ukraine, sank while being towed to port during a storm. While being towed ... towards the destination port, the vessel lost its balance due to damage sustained in the hull as fire broke out after ammunition exploded. Given the choppy seas, the vessel sank, Russian state news agency Tass reported, quoting the ministrys statement.

Moscow initially said a fire set off some of its weapons and that ammunition exploded on board as a result. Officials said the crew, believed to include around 500 sailors, was safely evacuated from the burning ship. The ministry said the fire is now under investigation. However, the governor of Odesa claimed the damage was a result of a Ukrainian missile strike on Wednesday  which Moscow has denied.

CIA head warns about nuclear weapons

CIA Director William Burns at Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Thursday. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

Russias military setbacks in the war against Ukraine could lead to Russian President Vladimir Putin using low-yield, or tactical, nuclear weapons, William Burns, the director of the CIA, warned on Thursday. Speaking at Georgia Tech, in Atlanta, Burns said: Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that theyve faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons.

Burns added that the CIA has been watching the Kremlin very intently but said the U.S. had yet to see any signs that Putin was preparing to use those weapons. Russia has had nuclear forces on high alert since its invasion began on Feb. 24.

Kremlin promises more strikes against Kyiv

A factory outside Kyiv that produced missiles allegedly used to hit Russia's Moskva warship was partly destroyed overnight on Thursday by Russian strikes. (Fadel Senna/AFP via Getty Images)

Russias Defense Ministry pledged on Friday to launch more strikes against Ukraines capital, Kyiv, following the loss of the Moskva battleship. The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime, the ministry said in a statement. A military factory in Kyiv that allegedly produced the Neptune missiles that Ukraine claimed it used to strike the Moskva was targeted overnight on Thursday.

Russia warns U.S. to stop arming Ukrainian military

Ukrainian servicemen unpack a shipment of military aid delivered as part of the U.S.'s security assistance to Ukraine, at an airport outside Kyiv on Feb. 11. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

In a diplomatic note to the Biden administration, Russia warned the U.S. that there would be unpredictable consequences if Washington keeps sending military assistance to Ukraine. We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security, the note said, according to the Washington Post. On Wednesday, President Biden authorized $800 million in military assistance for Ukraine. The shipment will include a wide range of weapons, including helicopters and Switchblade armed drones, as well as medical equipment.

Zelensky urges European countries to give up Russian oil

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking from Kyiv on Thursday. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged European countries to stop buying Russian oil that provides blood money to the Putin regime. Speaking to the BBC in an interview published on Thursday, Zelensky criticized Hungary and Germany for preventing an oil embargo. We dont understand how you can make money out of blood, he said. Unfortunately, this is what some countries have been doing, European countries. The Ukrainian leader added: Some of our friends and partners understand that it is a different time now, that it is no longer an issue of business and money. That it is an issue of survival.

Kharkiv casualties

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at a house after a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Monday. (Felipe Dana/AP)

At least 503 people in Ukraines Kharkiv region have been killed since the invasion began on Feb. 24, the local governor, Oleg Synegubov, said this week. Writing on the social media app Telegram, he said the dead included 24 children.

_____

What happened last week in Ukraine? Check out this explainer from Yahoo Immersive to find out.
From the run-up to Russias invasion of Ukraine and throughout the conflict, Moscow has pursued a strategy of aggressive public dissembling, prevarication and disinformation aimed at creating an alternative reality to explain how events have unfolded on the ground.

In Russia itself, the rules for even talking about Ukraine have become Orwellian, with citizens now facing lengthy potential prison sentences for simply stating that their country is at war, let alone expressing opposition to it. (The Kremlin-approved term for the conflict is special military operation, not war.)

While Ukraine has also focused on using social media to showcase its military victories in the conflict and to spread the hortatory powers of its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, the information war fought by Kyiv has been largely reflective of that which can actually be documented.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

In contrast, Russian state media and top Russian officials have repeatedly propagated an entirely false reality in which Moscow, not Kyiv, is faced with an existential military threat; where Ukrainians, not Russians, are committing horrific war crimes against Ukrainian civilians; where Ukraine is run by neo-Nazis; and where Russias war aims are proceeding entirely according to plan.

Here are some of the most flagrant falsehoods advanced by Moscow about Russias attack on Ukraine:

The massive buildup of troops on Ukraines border preceding the invasion was for 'training exercises'

Beginning last summer, a spike in Russian military personnel and equipment amassing on Ukraines border set off alarm bells in Western capitals. Russia repeatedly and strenuously denied that the buildup was for anything other than routine military exercises. Moscow even continued denying its aim to invade Ukraine after troops it had sent to Belarus for joint military drills did not return to Russia after the drills' conclusion.

As roughly 200,000 Russian troops swelled on Ukraines northern, eastern and southern borders, and an invasion appeared imminent, Russian officials called U.S. warnings about an attack absurd and hysterical just a few short weeks before Moscows aggression sparked the biggest land war in Europe since World War II.

Russias invasion is operating on schedule and according to plan

A destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of the village of Buzova, west of Kyiv, on April 10. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

Moscow has repeatedly claimed that its special military operation in Ukraine is proceeding as planned. But this is demonstrably false. Russias original plan was to make a lightning strike on the capital, Kyiv, capture or kill Ukrainian leadership and force Ukrainian legislators to vote in a pro-Russia puppet government.

But that plan disintegrated amid fierce Ukrainian resistance, including a critical victory at an airport near Kyiv that foiled Russian troops from establishing a beachhead near the capital. Buoyed by these early victories, Ukrainians have managed to beat back Russias assault on Kyiv and other major cities such as Kharkiv, preventing Moscows forces, so far, from taking those major population centers.

Further undercutting the claim that the war is proceeding to plan, up to 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed so far, according to NATO estimates, including over half a dozen generals. Ukraine has also claimed responsibility, via rocket attack, for sinking Russias Moskva cruiser, the flagship vessel of Russias Black Sea fleet and the largest military ship sunk since World War II. (Russia has said the vessel sank because of a storm after catching fire.)

Russia, having pulled its troops back entirely from Kyiv and its environs, has refocused its assault on Ukraines eastern Donbas region. Moscow now claims that carving that region out of Ukraine to create an independent statelet  in reality a Russia puppet regime  was always its primary war aim. But this is a wholesale rewriting of very recent history in which Russian President Vladimir Putin asserted that the central goal was the de-Nazification of the whole of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government is run by neo-Nazis

Members of the Ukrainian Azov Battalion in Kharkiv. (Sergey Bobok/AFP via Getty Images)

Putins attempts to link Ukraine with Nazism have also proved a stretch. Russia has claimed that the Ukrainian government is an outlaw state run by neo-Nazi extremists. In fact, Zelensky is Jewish and won election in 2019 as a moderate. And though Ukraine has struggled with corruption, its government is squarely mainstream in nature  and, in fact, far less right-wing than some European states like Hungary.

Russias reference to neo-Nazis seems to spring from the activities of the Azov Battalian, a Ukrainian militant group with neo-fascist leanings that was integrated into Ukraines national guard in 2014. But Azov affiliates make up a tiny percentage of Ukraines total military forces, and Azovs own leadership has sought to distance the organization from its more overtly neo-fascist past.

Moreover, Russias purported de-Nazification objectives ring particularly hollow since Russia has employed its own neo-fascist paramilitary operatives to fight in Ukraine, including the Wagner Group, which is closely connected to the Russian government, and the Russian Imperial Movement, which the U.S. designated a terrorist group in 2020.

The massacre in Bucha was staged (and if it's not, Ukraine is to blame)

French forensic investigators oversee workers carrying a body bag exhumed from a mass grave in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

After Russian troops retreated from the Kyiv region, Ukrainian forces fanned out across the citys suburbs, which had seen some of the heaviest fighting of the war. What the Ukrainians discovered shocked them as well as much of the world: widespread evidence of war crimes and atrocities committed by Russian forces. Russian forces in Bucha appeared to have wantonly executed people it knew to be civilians, including women and children, and forced women into sex slavery.

Russia immediately offered a series of contradictory explanations for the scenes in Bucha: that Russian troops had left the town before the killings began (which was false); that the killings were staged (false); and that if the killings were real, the massacre was a false flag by the Ukrainians (also false).

In fact, the transference of blame to Ukraine for Russias own heinous actions has been a hallmark of the war. Russia also claimed that its attack on the Kramatorsk train station, which killed over 50 civilians trying to flee violence in Ukraines east, was committed by the Ukrainians themselves.

And Russia has a long history of attempting to commit false flag operations to misattribute blame for the war. In the run-up to the invasion, these included plans for a staged, or even real, chemical attack perpetrated by Russia in eastern Ukraine that U.S. officials warned was going to be made to look like the work of Kyivs forces, in order to provide Moscow with a casus belli.

Moscow has also claimed, without any evidence, that the U.S. is planning on using an army of infected birds to send bioweapons into Russia.

U.S. officials have continued to worry that Russia will employ chemical weapons and blame their use on Ukraine.

_____

What happened last week in Ukraine? Check out this explainer from Yahoo Immersive to find out.
Outside Ukraine, there is a raging war of information as Russian propaganda inspires pro-Russian protests in European countries.

Counteracting Russian disinformation is a priority for governments, and it's something the U.K. has been praised for arranging.

Its Ministry of Defense, or M. O. D., has been releasing regular intelligence updates used by independent military experts, journalists and analysts to decipher the truth about what's happening on the ground.

"Prior to the invasion, I had no idea whether the information is being released by the West is true or not, but it's turned out that it is true and that's given me a lot more confidence in the information that's now being released," said Sadakat Kadri, a London resident.

This is a war being fought on two fronts, both on the ground in Ukraine, and outside of Ukraine in information.

When it comes to counteracting Russian propaganda, the British government has been praised even by those who were once critical of the Ministry of Defense.

"I've been hugely critical of the M.O.D. in the past about being useless at this sort of thing and hopeless at PR, but I think that that they're beginning to crack it," Stuart Crawford said.

Crawford is a military expert and former Lieutenant Colonel in the British army.

"Russia has tried to interfere in... various other elections around the world, so, I think it's very important that in many ways that the U. K. and... anybody in government try to keep the moral high ground," Crawford said.

In Russia, the BBC is broadcasting on shortwave radio after the government donated 5 million pounds towards a special BBC World Service, as the Russian Federation pumps out falsehoods to its population.

"They've become experts in disinformation across the internet," said Andrew Bridgen, a U.K. Parliament member. "They're well known for it. It's got a huge reach. That's how a lot of people receive their news and updates now, and it has to be countered. It's important that we play our part in doing that, getting the truth out to people. At the end of the day, the truth is the truth if no one believes it, and a lie is still a lie if everyone believes it."

Social media companies have scrambled to respond to Russian disinformation. On Thursday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reacted to Twitter restrictions on Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying all it was doing was telling the truth as countries and corporations rushed to respond to false claims and conspiracies.
HANOI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Police of northern Vietnam's Lai Chau province have arrested a drug smuggler, seizing 19 cakes of heroin, Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.

The 29-year-old suspect from the northern province of Dien Bien, was caught red-handed transporting the drug in Nam Nhun district of Lai Chau on Thursday.

An investigation into the cases is underway.

The Investigation Police Department on Drug-related Crimes of Lai Chau has arrested eight smugglers and seized 73 cakes of heroin so far this year, the news agency reported.

According to the Vietnamese law, those convicted of smuggling over 600 grams of heroin or more than 2.5 kg of methamphetamine are punishable by death. Making or trading 100 grams of heroin or 300 grams of other illegal drugs also faces the death penalty. 
The UKs proposal to send migrants who arrive in Britain unlawfully to Rwanda is unacceptable and a breach of international law, the UNs refugee agency said.

The Government announced this week it plans to provide failed asylum seekers, including those crossing the Channel in small boats, with a one-way ticket to Rwanda, where they will have the right to apply to live in the African country.

Gillian Triggs, an assistant secretary-general at the UNHCR, said the agency strongly condemns outsourcing the primary responsibility to consider the refugee status, as laid out in the scheme put forward by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4s World At One programme, the former president of the Australian Human Rights Commission said the policy was a troubling development, particularly in the light of countries taking in millions of Ukrainian refugees displaced by the conflict in eastern Europe.

Put to her that Australia had effectively deployed a similar tactic to cut migration numbers, Ms Triggs said: My point is, just as the Australian policy is an egregious breach of international law and refugee law and human rights law, so too is this proposal by the United Kingdom Government.

It is very unusual, very few states have tried this, and the purpose is primarily deterrent  and it can be effective, I dont think were denying that.

But what were saying at the UN refugee agency is that there are much more legally effective ways of achieving the same outcome.

She said attempting to shift responsibility for asylum seekers arriving in Britain was really unacceptable.

 Minister @VBiruta makes it clear   "There is a global responsibility to prioritise the safety and well-being of migrants, and Rwanda welcomes this Partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal pathways to residence." pic.twitter.com/1nWNhHHERm  Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) April 15, 2022

Ms Triggs pointed out that Israel had attempted to send Eritrean and Sudanese refugees to Rwanda, but that they simply left the country and started the process all over again.

In other words, it is not actually a long-term deterrent, she added.

A Home Office spokesperson said: Rwanda is a fundamentally safe and secure country with a track record of supporting asylum seekers, including working with the UN Refugee Agency which said the country has a safe and protective environment for refugees.

This world-leading Migration Partnership will overhaul the UKs broken asylum system. It means those arriving dangerously, illegally or unnecessarily into the UK can be relocated to have their claims for asylum considered and, if recognised as refugees, to build their lives there.

Under this agreement, Rwanda will process claims in accordance with the UN Refugee Convention, national and international human rights laws, and will ensure their protection from inhuman and degrading treatment or being returned to the place they originally fled. There is nothing in the UN Refugee Convention which prevents removal to a safe country.

Tom Pursglove, minister for justice and tackling illegal migration, said on Friday that the policy was in line with the UKs legal obligations.

However, he accepted that it would be difficult to implement the plan to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda, with the Government braced for legal challenges.

He told Times Radio: I think what is also really important to make (clear) in dealing with that issue is that, at all times, we act in accordance with our international obligations, the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and the refugee convention.

We are absolutely confident that our policies are in line with that and entirely compliant, which by extension would mean that those legal challenges would be without merit.

But it will be difficult, there will be challenges.

The UK has an obligation to ensure access to asylum for those seeking protection. UNHCR strongly opposes the plan to export its asylum obligations. We urge the UK to refrain from transferring asylum seekers and refugees to Rwanda for asylum processing. https://t.co/01ygqrmuu4 pic.twitter.com/TMkq1z6KiD  UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) April 14, 2022

Mr Pursglove also suggested during broadcast interviews that other countries in Europe were considering emulating the UKs Rwandan policy, which he described as a world first.

He said there was a moral imperative to crush the business model of human traffickers and avoid a tragedy like that seen in November, when a dinghy sank in the English Channel, drowning dozens of migrants heading to Britain.

The point I would make is that what is cruel and inhumane is allowing evil criminal gangs to take advantage of people, to take their money, to put them in small boats, often with force, including women and children, to put them in the Channel with all the risks that that presents to human life, he told ITVs Good Morning Britain.

We simply cannot allow that to happen, which is why weve introduced the new plan for immigration to stop these illegal journeys.

The minister also argued that in the longer term the scheme would save Britain money, with almost 5 million per day currently spent on accommodating those arriving in the country.

Former Tory international development secretary Andrew Mitchell questioned that, saying calculations had been made that suggested it would be cheaper to put those arriving in Britain up at The Ritz hotel in Londons Mayfair for a year.

Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan minister for foreign affairs and international co-operation, Vincent Biruta, sign the partnership agreement (Flora Thompson/PA)

Ms Patel agreed a 120 million economic deal while in Kigali on Thursday, and money for each removal is expected to follow, with reports suggesting each migrant sent to Rwanda is expected to set British taxpayers back between 20,000 and 30,000.

The Times said this would cover accommodation both before and after the journey, as well as the cost of a seat on the flight itself.

The Royal Navy has been put in charge of policing the Channel as part of the reform package announced this week, in a bid to curb the number of small boat crossings.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that, in the 24-hour period up to 11.59pm on Thursday April 14, the navy detected 562 migrants in 14 small boats in the strait.

The department said it did not believe any migrants arrived on their own terms in a small boat on Thursday, but on Good Friday women, children and single men were among hundreds of people brought ashore.

Naval ships were spotted towing empty dinghies used by people smugglers back to the UK after those on board were offloaded on to boats operated by Border Force, which is part of the Home Office.
Sending migrants to Rwanda will save Britain money in the longer term, a minister has argued, despite critics describing the costs involved as eye-watering.

Under a scheme designed to crack down on migrants landing on British shores after crossing the Channel in small boats, the UK intends to provide those deemed to have arrived unlawfully with a one-way ticket to Rwanda.

Tom Pursglove, a minister at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, said the aim was to allow transferred migrants to embark on fully prosperous lives in the central African country while simultaneously crushing the cruel business model of human traffickers.

The Conservative MP argued that, while the short-term costs would be pretty equivalent to what the UK is paying currently to accommodate those claiming asylum, the Rwandan scheme would eventually save taxpayers money.

However, former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said it would be cheaper to put those arriving in Britain up at The Ritz hotel in Londons Mayfair for a year.

In its criticisms, Labour has cited Australian Refugee Council offshoring figures, demonstrating that it had cost Australia more than 5 billion since 2013 to send 3,127 people to Papua New Guinea and Nauru as part of a similar policy.

Mr Pursglove, asked on ITVs Good Morning Britain about the way the bill for Canberras scheme had run into the billions, argued that costs were spiralling in relation to this illegal immigration domestically and that there was a need to get that under control.

Our new partnership with Rwanda shows we can no longer accept the status quo. People are dying and the global migration crisis requires us to find new ways to work in partnership. It will deal a major blow to the evil people smugglers. This is what it means  pic.twitter.com/J5RAynuGu7  Priti Patel (@pritipatel) April 14, 2022

Home Secretary Priti Patel was in Kigali on Thursday to finalise a 120 million economic deal with Rwanda, and cash for each removal is expected to follow.

Mr Pursglove said: There is this 120 million payment upfront to establish this partnership and, as we move forward, we will continue to make contributions to Rwanda as they process the cases, in a manner that is similar to the amount of money we are spending on this currently here in the United Kingdom.

But longer term, by getting this under control, it should help us to save money.

We are spending 5 million per day accommodating individuals who are crossing in hotels.

That is not sustainable and is not acceptable and we have to get that under control.

Mr Mitchell, a former Tory international development secretary, said the policy would prove incredibly expensive.

He told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: The problem with the scheme that they have announced is that I dont think it will work.

It is impractical, it is being condemned by churches and civil society, it is immoral and, above all for conservative advocates, it is incredibly expensive.

The costs are eye-watering.

Tory former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said the costs involved with sending migrants to Rwanda were eye-watering (UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA)

Youre going to send people 6,000 miles into central Africa, it looked when it was discussed in Parliament before that it would actually be cheaper to put each asylum seeker in the Ritz hotel in London.

The veteran MP said ministers should declare what the bill would be when Parliament comes to debate the Nationality and Borders Bill again next week.

Mr Pursglove, pressed again on the cost involved during his appearance on Today, said it was impossible to quantify those figures at the moment.

He said it would very much depend on the volumes of individuals who are being relocated and the length of time they spend in the Rwandan asylum system.

The Times reported that each migrant sent to Rwanda is expected to set British taxpayers back between 20,000 and 30,000.

The newspaper said this would cover accommodation both before and after the journey, as well as the cost of a seat on the flight itself.

A sign for The Ritz in London (Chris Jackson/PA)

It comes amid reports that the Prime Minister wants to see the first migrants flown out in roughly six weeks as the Government battles to curb migrant Channel crossings.

Mr Pursglove would not give an exact timeframe but told Sky News the policy would be implemented quickly.

The minister responsible for tackling illegal migration said those who had arrived in the UK since January 1 2022 via illegal means could be eligible to be transferred as part of this arrangement with Rwanda.

Separately, he argued it was right that the Royal Navy had been drafted in to police the Channel in a bid to ramp up patrols and help us to stop beach landings.

The Ministry of Defence said that, in the 24-hour period up to 11.59pm on Thursday April 14, the navy detected 562 migrants in 14 small boats in the strait.

The department said it did not believe that any migrants arrived on their own terms in a small boat from the English Channel on Thursday.

The published figures do not include the number of vessels intercepted by French border patrols.




UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday urged Japan to face up to history on the issue of "comfort women" in World War II.

Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, made the appeal at a Security Council open debate on conflict-related sexual violence.

Nadia Murad, an Iraqi female winner of the Noble Prize from the Iraqi Yazidi minority in Baghdad, briefed the council on Wednesday. As a survivor of sexual violence by the Islamic State terrorist group, she has been seeking accountability and justice for over seven years for Yazidi survivors of Iraq like her.

"In East Asia, there is also a group of victims of sexual violence in conflict, who have been living with nightmare memories, but have not been able to get justice even till their deaths," he said. "This group is the 'comfort women' forcibly drafted by the Japanese army during World War II."

During that period, hundreds of thousands of women and girls from China, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia and other countries and regions were forcibly conscripted by Japanese militarists as sex slaves and experienced horrific sexual violence, both mentally and physically, he noted.

However, for decades, some forces in Japan have stubbornly adhered to misconceptions and attempted to deny and whitewash its history of aggression. As recent as last month, some of the textbooks approved by the Japanese government once again blurred historical facts through the play of words, attempting to downplay and evade the historical guilt of forced recruitment of "comfort women," he said.

"We solemnly urge Japan to face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, handle issues left over from history, such as the forced drafting of 'comfort women,' in a responsible manner, bring justice to the victims and survivors, and be accountable to the people of the invaded countries, so as not to further lose trust from its Asian neighbors and the international community," said Dai.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The next meeting of the special representatives of Armenia and Turkey for normalization could take place in Vienna, the Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan said in response to a query from ARMENPRESS.

Hunanyan also commented on the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglus remarks that the meetings ought to take place either in Armenia or Turkey, and the need for courageous steps.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that Armenia offered Turkey to open the land border for diplomatic passport holders; however Turkey is delaying to do so.

ARMENPRESS: Where and when is the next meeting of the Special Representatives of Armenia and Turkey planned?

Hunanyan: There is a preliminary understanding between the sides that the next meeting could take place in Vienna. The public will be properly informed as soon as the timeframes and venue of the meeting get final confirmation.

ARMENPRESS: The Turkish Foreign Minister said in an interview that they would want the meeting to take place either in Armenia or Turkey. What is Armenias position in this regard?

Hunanyan: During the previous attempts of normalization meetings took place in Armenia and Turkey on the levels of both negotiators and even presidents, but, as you know, they didnt lead to results. I mean, what matters is the political will to reach normalization and readiness to take clear, substantive steps. We are displaying both and we expect the same from Turkey. If there is the will, the location of the meetings will become simply a technical matter.

Moreover, the proposal to hold the meetings of the special representatives in Armenia and Turkey shows that in Turkeys understanding the process has an entirely bilateral nature. In this case, it would have been reasonable not to hear the virtually weekly statements from Turkeys representatives that they are advancing the process in coordination with Azerbaijan.

ARMENPRESS: Speaking about the normalization of the Armenia-Turkey relations Minister Cavusoglu mentioned the need for "courageous" steps. How would you comment this?

Hunanyan: The Armenian side fully concurs with the need for making courageous steps. We have numerously showed readiness to move forward, including with the participation of our Foreign Minister in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and the lifting of the economic embargo. The restoration of flights between Armenia and Turkey was also an important bilateral step.

We are convinced that the only path for moving forward implies continuous, clear steps. For example, we offered the Turkish side, for the first phase, to open the land border for persons holding diplomatic passports, however the Turkish side is delaying. We believe that this would be a small but substantive, most importantly logical step. We are hopeful that it will be possible to achieve results in this issue.
YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The United States continues to encourage further peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and stands ready to engage bilaterally and with likeminded partners, including through the role as an OSCE Minsk group co-chair to help the countries find a long-term comprehensive peace, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said at a press briefing.

We remain committed to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region. And we welcome, as youve heard from us before in the readouts from Secretary Blinken, the April 6 meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Aliyev in Brussels, including the positive momentum on preparations for peace talks and the formation of a bilateral commission on border delimitation.

As the Secretary emphasized in the calls he had with those two leaders the day before on April 5th, we continue to encourage further peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and we reiterated  and the Secretary reiterated  that the United States stands ready to engage bilaterally and with likeminded partners, including through the role as an OSCE Minsk group co-chair to help the countries find a long-term comprehensive peace, Ned Price said.

On April 12 the US Embassy in Armenia gave a similar comment to ARMENPRESS over the recent statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov relating to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship format.
According to information released on April 14, 2022, Israeli company RAFAEL, alongside the Ministry of Defense's Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D) have successfully completed a series of ground-breaking tests with a high-power laser interception system against steep-track threats. The demonstrator successfully intercepted UAVs, mortars, rockets, and anti-tank missiles in various scenarios.

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Israeli company RAFAEL has completed this initial series of tests with the worlds most innovative high-power laser. (Picture source Rafael)

RAFAEL's Iron Beam provides Israel with a capability unlike one seen elsewhere in the world by successfully developing a high-power laser technology at an operational standard with operational interception capabilities. The tests are the first phase of a multi-year program led by the DDR&D and defense industries. The program aims to develop a high-power ground and aerial laser system equipped to deal with long-range, high-intensity threats. The laser will complement the Iron Dome system and will be an effective and economically efficient addition to Israels multi-tiered air defense array. The systems development plan is led by the Research and Development Division in the Ministry of Defenses DDR&D.

CEO and President, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yoav Har Even: RAFAEL is proud to have completed this initial series of tests with the worlds most innovative high-power laser. The successful tests included the interception of a wide range of threats and have proven the systems remarkable capabilities. Our cooperation with the DDR&D and the Ministry of Defense has led to this extraordinary development, constituting a significant milestone in the process to achieve operational capability. I am confident that this technological breakthrough will lead to future capabilities in directed energy, including the high-power laser system. This achievement is the result of RAFAEL employees tireless work contributing to Israels security while preserving and developing technological capabilities to ensure Israels qualitative advantage."

Head of DDR&D, Brig. Gen. (Res.) Daniel Gold: The DDR&D leads significant research and development programs in various technological fields that support the IDF and the State of Israel. The high-power laser system will form an integral part of Israel's multi-tiered air defense array. This technological breakthrough has come at a time when the operational demand for the system is at an all-time high. These tests have been a great success thanks to the creativity, innovation, and knowledge inherent in the research and development processes. In recent years, the DDR&D has led the laser program in partnership with the IDF and the defense industry, under the command of the DDR&Ds Head of R&D, Brig. Gen. YanivRotem. They are the people who turned vision into reality. The DDR&D will continue to lead the research, knowledge, and technological developments that form the base of the ground-breaking systems used to protect the State of Israel.



Head of R&D at the DDR&D in the Ministry of Defense, Brig. Gen. YanivRotem: The completion of these innovative tests using a high-power laser is just the beginning of our vision. This is the first time weve succeeded in intercepting mortars, rockets, and UAVs from such challenging ranges and time intervals. The laser is a game-changer thanks to its easily operated system and significant economic advantages. The next step is to continue the development and initial system deployment within Israel. Our plan is to station multiple laser transmitters along Israels borders throughout the next decade. We will continue to simultaneously develop advanced capabilities, including the aerial laser.
Fans urge him to distance himself from campaigns that promote harmful substances

Akshay Kumar has disappointed fans and provided fodder to trolls by appearing to participate in a surrogate ad for tobacco. From a teaser for an elaichi (cardamom) ad, it looks as if the actor, who has been an ambassador for the Swasth Bharat campaign and also the anti-tobacco drive, will be part of the advertisement.

The teaser of the Vimal Elaichi ad shows Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn speculating about a new khiladi in their midst. Shah Rukh, who is seated in a car being driven by Ajay, says, Dekhein, kaun naya khiladi aaya hai (Lets see who the new player is) as a silhouette resembling Akshay appears.

Fans are sure that the mystery figure is Akshay, as he is associated with the term khiladi, thanks to his 1991 breakthrough film of that name, followed by Sabse Bada Khiladi, Mr & Mrs Khiladi, International Khiladi, Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Khiladi 786 among others. The ad, a surrogate campaign for tobacco, is scheduled to be released this weekend.

Akshay has done a commercial as part of the anti-tobacco campaign, in which he takes a smoker to task and tells him about the ill effects of tobacco. It plays before every movie. He also speaks out against smoking as an ambassador of the Swasth Bharat drive  and a tobacco ad is not something his fans wanted him to do. His clean image was the only tool they had when they fought online with other stars, says film historian Imtiaz Baghdadi.

Troll time for Akshay

While the makers have not clarified whether the unidentified silhouette is indeed Akshay, fans are pleading with the actor to pull out of the commercial. You can make money by your wonderful acting, points out one fan.

Others made memes about Akshay who, as part of the Swasth Bharat campaign, had said, I get a lot of offers from Gutkha companies. They are offering me a lot of money. Swasth Bharat is a campaign I am working for, so I wont do anything wrong like that. Big stars from Ajay Devgn, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Ranveer Singh to Tiger Shroff have been part of such surrogate ads. While none of them have taken any corrective steps, it seems Akshay Kumar has changed his earlier decision not to promote harmful substances.

Meanwhile, Amitabh Bachchan decided to pull out of a commercial of this type, but the advertiser continued to air the ad both on television and in print, prompting Bachchan to take recourse to legal action.

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Today's news: In China, online searches for ways to emigrate and escape the governments zero-COVID policy hit a record; in Myanmar, the Church is negotiating with the military for the release of a priest and 13 worshippers; in Hong Kong, a law forces pet owners to hand over their animals if they are suspected of having COVID-19; the UN allocates funds for Yemen where there is some light at the end of the tunnel; more than 700,000 Ukrainians have been deported to Russia.

ISRAEL - PALESTINE

Violent clashes broke out this morning between Israeli police and Palestinians on Temple Mount, where score of worshippers were gathering for Friday prayers in the month of Ramadan. According to early reports, at least 90 were wounded amid growing tensions and killings that had hitherto spared Jerusalem. Protesters waved Palestinian and Hamas flags.

CHINA

In Shanghai and a hundred other cities, life is getting harder for people stuck at home due to lockdowns and restrictions imposed under Xi Jinping's zero-COVID policy, with food shortages and riots and clashes breaking out as police detain people who tested positives to the coronavirus. As a result, online searches have increased at least 100 folds as more and more people look for ways to emigrate. Among the most popular destinations are Canada, the United States and Australia.

MYANMAR

Church leaders in Myanmar are negotiating with the authorities the release of a young priest, arrested by a military patrol in Sharge, a village in the Irrawaddy region. On 10 April, soldiers broke into St Joseph Catholic Church and seized the priest and 13 worshippers, including two seminarians, who were preparing the Palm Mass.

HONG KONG

The authorities have introduced a law that forces pets owners to hand over animals suspected of being positive for COVID-19, this according to a written response by the Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan to a lawmaker's question. The law has been in force since 31 March 2022 and anyone caught breaking it faces six months in jail and a fine.

YEMEN

The United Nations has allocated US$ 100 million to fight hunger in Yemen and six African countries. The war in Ukraine has exacerbated the food emergency, which threatens to push millions of people to the brink of famine. Meanwhile, UN special envoy Hans Grundberg said he sees some light at the end of the tunnel in the suffering of a country that has been at war for more than seven years.

PAKISTAN

Russian orientalist Irina Serenko believes that events in Pakistan that led to Prime Minister Imran Khans resignation and his replacement by Muslim League leader Shehbaz Sharif are linked to Khan's visit to Moscow on 24 February, the first day of the war in Ukraine, during which Khan did not convince the Kremlin, which preferred Sharif.

RUSSIA

More than 700,000 Ukrainians have been deported to Russia. Moscow calls this exodus an "evacuation", while sources in Kyiv claim that they were forced to go to Russia against their will and are facing major hardships. The exiles are being locked up in deportation camps like those run by the NKVD, the predecessor of the KGB, during the early years of Soviet rule.

KAZAKHSTAN

This year Kazakh authorities have decided not to hold military parades on 7 May, Defender of the Fatherland Day, and 9 May, Victory over Nazism Day. Parades had been cancelled in the previous two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic; this year, celebrations will be limited to about 50 regional patriotic events.
New government measures will come into force on 1 June, placing the economy of religious sites into the hands of the United Front Work Department and the Ministry of Finance. The new rules, which also regulate donations and offerings, are meant to promote the sinicisation of religion.

Rome (AsiaNews)  The Communist Party of China (CPC) is cracking down on the funding of religious groups.

Chinas Ministry of Finance and the State Administration for Religious Affairs[*] (SARA) jointly formulated measures for the financial management of religious activity sites, which will come into force on 1 June.

The new regulations are designed to streamline the financial affairs (revenues, local and foreign donations, and expenses) of religious entities.

Catholic sources told AsiaNews that the authorities might be trying to curb abuses. The content of donation boxes must for example be counted and recorded by three people, a curious procedure.

The new rules impose greater government (i.e., party) control over religious activities. With the United Front Work Department and the Ministry of Finance now in charge of the economy of religious sites, religious personnel, believers, and donors need only be consulted.

Places of worship and their finances can be used only in accordance with Communist Partys instructions, not on the basis of the mission of the local community or the bishop.

Many official Catholic churches allow underground groups (recognised by the Vatican but not by the authorities) to use their premises, including chapels. Now this will be impossible because it is against the law and the new measures. The same goes for the use of money.

Economic issues might be behind problems in certain places, like the Diocese of Xuanhua (Hebei), where Bishop Augustine Cui Tai continues to be persecuted.

In the underground community, certain assets are held by individuals (like the bishop) and could be inherited by others. The new regulations make this illegal.

Under the new measures, religious groups are essentially treated as NGOs, their finances and operations monitored by the government. Thus, they are not truly non-governmental.

The new rules also make false claims. Article 6 states that, The legal property and income of religious activity sites are protected by law and thus cannot be violated by any organisation or private individual.

In fact, the authorities seized assets that belong to the Catholic Church, both official and underground, during the Cultural Revolution, which the government never returned even if it is required under the law.

In an interview in 2005, scholar Anthony Lam explained that Church assets are worth billions of dollars. Now, financial control of religious groups strengthens the regime's policy of sinicisation of religion, a process officially launched in 2015.

New administrative measures for religious information services on the internet came into effect on 1 March this year; now it is no longer possible to carry out online religious activities in China without government authorisation.

In February, SARA released a set of administrative measures for religious personnel to manage clergy, monks, priests, bishops, etc.

In February 2018, the CPC introduced new regulations on religious activities, whereby religious personnel can perform their duties only if they join official bodies and submit to the Party.

As for the Catholic Church, despite the signing in 2018 of the Sino-Vatican Agreement on episcopal appointments, which was renewed in October 2020, the persecution of Church officials, especially in the underground Church, continues.

[*] SARA is government agency under the control of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Photo taken on April 12, 2022 shows an exhibition displaying women-made handicrafts in Kabul, Afghanistan.(Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

KABUL, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Putting on display numerous hand-made purses, bags, shoes and embroidered women's clothing, Ferishta Hashimi, 40, wants to find more customers and boost her business.

"Organizing handicrafts exhibition and showcasing our products would be a great help," she said.

"Our products mostly are made of leather," Hashimi said. Her business has declined over the past months, and sometimes she just stayed at home, idling.

This is the first exhibition displaying women-made handicrafts held in Afghanistan's capital city of Kabul after the Taliban takeover of the Central Asian country last August.

Like many economic activities in Afghanistan, Hashimi's business has felt the impact of the U.S. sanctions against Afghanistan by Washington freezing the assets belonging to the Afghan central bank. Now the handicrafts show raises hope that she could find new overseas markets.

"It is hopeful that I can sell my products to foreign countries in the future," said Hashimi.

With the support from the Ministry of Information and Culture of the Taliban-led caretaker government, the exhibition recently opened at the National Gallery. Of the 81 stalls set up in total, 40 are owned by women.

"I appreciate holding such exhibitions to support women and their economic activities," said another woman at the show who prefered to be anonymous.

"Women are part of the Afghan society, and they deserve support and should be encouraged to get education, to work and to contribute in rebuilding our war-torn country and stabilizing its fragile economy," she told Xinhua.

Although in today's Afghanistan women are still active in such sectors as health, business and education, girl students from seventh to 12th grades cannot attend school.

Chief spokesperson for the Taliban administration, Zabihullah Mujahid, has visited the exhibition and praised the women stall owners.

"Our sisters deserve appreciation and support, they should be encouraged and I am calling on our countrymen to buy the handicrafts and products made by our sisters," he said.

Ali Kohistani, a bookseller said he is very happy to see the handicrafts show held and will welcome more events of this kind. "Organizing such exhibitions raise hopes among people for the future and drive you to work," he said. 

Photo taken on April 12, 2022 shows an exhibition displaying women-made handicrafts in Kabul, Afghanistan.(Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)

Photo taken on April 12, 2022 shows an exhibition displaying women-made handicrafts in Kabul, Afghanistan.(Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
by Alessandra De Poli

Born 131 years ago, the Indian jurist fought for social equity for Dalits, Adivasi and women. Indian politicians like to cite him, but in practice nothing is being done to improve the situation of the poorest, who, according to the latest studies, are still discriminated with respect to the economy, healthcare and law. An award to honour him has not been given for years.

New Delhi (AsiaNews)  Yesterday India marked the 131st anniversary of the birth of Bhimrao Ramji Babasaheb Ambedkar, father of the Indian Constitution, an activist for Dalit, Adivasi and womens rights who lived in the first half of the 20th century.

Political leaders and prominent individuals paid tribute to Babasaheb, the Respected Father. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that yesterday was a day to reiterate our commitment to fulfilling his dreams of social justice. President Ram Nath Kovind described Ambedkar as the architect of the Constitution who laid the foundation for modern India.

Yet, after the Modi administration came to power in 2014, the Ambedkar awards have not been handed out, and Ambedkars dreams have not been turned into reality; Dalits (scheduled castes, formerly known as untouchables) and Adivasi (scheduled tribes) still lag behind in terms of economic opportunity, legal protection as well as access to water and sanitation.

Ambedkar, a convert to Buddhism, was born Bhimrao Ramji Ambavadekar (later changed to Ambedkar) into a Mahar family, a Dalit caste. Between 1913 and 1917 he studied economics at Columbia University in New York and at the London School of Economics and also trained in the law at Gray's Inn, London.

After Indias independence in August 1947, he became Law Minister and set out to draft Indias republican constitution, to ensure a broad spectrum of civil and individual rights and freedom and abolish untouchability.

The constituent assembly included in the final text the principle of positive discrimination thereby reserving certain public service positions for members of disadvantaged castes and tribes. However, since the constitution was adopted (1950), little has changed for such groups.

According to a recent government report, the upper castes own over 60 per cent of small and medium-sized enterprises; by comparison, scheduled castes (Dalits) own 6.8 per cent and scheduled tribes (Adivasi) only 2.1 per cent. Scheduled castes and tribes are Indias historically disadvantaged ethnic and social groups.

Discrimination against these groups is clear even in Indian law, a situation acknowledged by Orissa High Court Chief Justice S Muralidhar who says that Indian laws are drafted in such a way that they penalise the poor.

More than half of the people awaiting trial are from disadvantaged groups, he told a conference yesterday. About 21 per cent of the prison population belongs to a scheduled caste, while 37.1 per cent belongs to "Other Backward Classes, a collective term used by the Government of India for the disadvantaged. More than 17 per cent of the people on trial and 19.5 per cent of the detainees are Muslims.

In late March, Indians commemorated the anniversary of Ambedkars satyagraha (non-violent resistance) of 1927. At the time, lower caste Indians were not allowed to use water in public places used by upper caste Indians.

Ambedkar drank water from a tank in front of everyone in the city of Mahad, near Mumbai (then Bombay), and invited Dalit women to wear sari like women from upper castes.

Despite the struggles, official government data show that members of scheduled castes and tribes as well as Muslims have a shorter life span, with discrimination as the main cause.

About 26 per cent of upper caste children suffer from malnourishment, a percentage that rises to 40 per cent for scheduled castes and tribes, worse than in sub-Saharan Africa (30 per cent).

For women, access to hospital care varies according to social status and religion. Yet it is precisely the poorest sections of the population who need public services the most, argues Preshit Ambade, a public health policy researcher.

Developing an efficient welfare system based on Ambedkars concept of social equity would benefit a country with below than average socio-economic indicators.

But poverty and marginalisation are not aspects of Indian life that Prime Minister Narendra Modis government wants to show.

The Dr. Ambedkar National Award was created in 1993, followed three years later by the Dr. Ambedkar International Award, assigned each 14 April to individuals and organisations fighting inequalities in accordance with Babasaheb Ambedkars ideas.

Yet for the past eight years, the award has not been assigned, officially for administrative reasons, The Wire reported.

According to the Ambedkar Foundations guidelines, the call for submission of names takes place months before the award is given.

Everyone in India has used Ambedkars name for electoral purposes, but so far no one has said anything about the award not being handed out.
I just want to get kids excited about going into the trades before they graduate, she said. I walked into SRTC---and everything is light and bright, shiny and new---and said, 'This is awesome!'

The Arundel, ME, car dealer and auto body shop recently donated $25,000 to the Sanford Regional Technical Center through the Sanford Schools Legacy Foundation. Its course is now named the Weirs Buick GMC Automotive Collision Repair Program.

And, of course, Weirs also helped get the department off the ground before the new school opened in 2017 with a large donation to the automotive technology program.

The future starts locally at Sanford Regional Technical Center.

The whole idea behind wanting to support SRTC started because we have to figure out how we get kids involved in the trades, said Zuke, Weirs dealer principal and owner. Staffing is a serious, serious problem here and across the country. Ive got to do something. I need technicians! We need to feed the tech schools with kids from high school, which then feeds our shops.

She and Weirs Collision Center Manager Bob Bernard were also inspired by their recent hire, Sanford High School Class of 2021 graduate Amer Oglah. He was a student in the trades at the Regional Technical Center, and Weirs hired him immediately out of high school as an apprentice.

His work ethic came from home, but his passion for the job came from school, said Zuke. They come out of there and they have an interest and a base with a little bit of technical sense, but then they need to be fully trained. We need more kids coming out of the school like him.

We thank Seacoast Online for reprint permission.
Rumors swirl in Poland about the Polish authorities discovering that 100 modernized T-72 M1R have disappeared from a storage facility near Lublin.



Somebody also took this picture a few days ago of T-72s being transported east on a Polish highway.



May they find the thieves! pic.twitter.com/IkGDqo8ldj  Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) April 11, 2022

Photo from a few days ago.



Looks like the thieves who stole 100 Polish T-72s from a storage site near Lublin transported the tanks eastward after the theft.



The Polish police has received some evidence and has promised to investigate the matter after the summer holidays. pic.twitter.com/jsMKQ2ep6q  Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) April 13, 2022

Ukraine has published a list of the weapons it needs the most:



- T-72 Tanks



- S-300 SAMs / Buk air defenses or Western equivalents



-Multiple Launch Rocket Systems or the American rocket artillery HIMARS



- Military aircraft



- 155mm artillery & 152mm shells

- APCs, IFVs  Visegrad 24 (@visegrad24) April 14, 2022

Breaking: US is expected to help facilitate transfer of tanks from NATO allies to Ukraine, according to senior US officials. The tanks will be Soviet-era T-72 tanks, which Ukrainian military has experience operating and will be delivered within days, not weeks, Im told.  Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) April 2, 2022

This happened in Poland, Lublin, where the tanks were held in warehouses, according to local news portal Visegard24. Polish authorities have reportedly confirmed the theft and said that an investigation would be carried out after the summer holidays.This sounds like a bad joke or hilarious trolling at its best, but the media outlet has photos of the tanks on the move. Apparently, 100 T-72 tanks were simply loaded up and hauled eastward, in what is meant to look like the worlds biggest military blunder of recent years. If not ever.If the tanks did go missing  and thats a big if as of the time of press, since theres no official confirmation for it , Visegard24 implies it was not by theft. The sudden appearance in the Donbas of a large number of T-72 of the Ukrainian army cannot be associated with the disappearance of 100 Polish tanks from Lublin. You can buy T-72 in any army store, it says.The alleged theft of the tanks comes against the backdrop of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine , and President Zelenskys recent plea to NATO and the U.S. to supply his army with weapons and vehicles. The T-72 tank, a staple in the former Soviet Union and famous for its lightweight, easy maneuverability and maintenance, was at the top of that list.Earlier this month, NATO countries discussed the possibility of sending T-72 tanks into Ukraine, to help fight off the Russian invasion. Headlines at the time pointed out the irony of having Russian war machines turned against Russia, with many voices noting that Poland was the closest and ideal candidate for a fresh supply  particularly for the fact that it had over 400 T-72M1s, all of them undergoing modernization as of 2020. That said, if the tanks did go missing, it would mean thieves were somehow able to drive off with a quarter of the Polish militarys supply of T-72s. The T-72 family went into production in 1969, both in Russia and the Soviet Union. Poland produced licensed versions of it, like many other countries. With each new model, improvements were brought to the original T-72, particularly to the armor, the V-84 engine, and the design, with modern versions being able to fire guided anti-tank missiles.It is lightweight and compact, has nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) protection system, can travel in formation even on narrower roads, and can cross rivers as deep as 5 meters (16.4 feet) submerged. The T-72 is also easy to maneuver and maintain, and if the above report is true, very easily made to disappear.Indeed, one of the photos of the supposedly stolen T-72s being whisked away to some unknown destination on a Polish highway is not of a T-72 at all. It shows a BMP (Boyevaya Mashina Pyekhoty), a Soviet amphibious tracked infantry fighting vehicle.
COPENHAGEN, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Britain has reported an "unexpected significant increase" in cases of severe acute hepatitis in young children with an occasional link to COVID-19, according to a risk assessment sheet released by the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region on Friday.

WHO was notified of 10 cases of severe acute hepatitis of unknown etiology in children under the age of 10 years across central Scotland on April 5. "By April 8, 74 cases had been identified in the United Kingdom," the press release said.

Laboratory testing conducted in the aftermath of the outbreak ruled out hepatitis A, B, C and E viruses (as well as D in some cases), but "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and/or adenovirus have been detected in several cases," according to the WHO.

"While some cases tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and/or adenovirus," the United Nations (UN) health body stated that genetic analyses of viruses should be performed to determine any possible associations between cases.

"Some cases have required transfer to specialist children's liver units and six children have undergone liver transplantation. As of April 11, no death has been reported among these cases."

Furthermore, a spate of cases across Europe has heightened concerns in the wake of the UK notification. In Ireland, five cases (confirmed or suspected) have been reported.

In addition, three confirmed cases of acute hepatitis of unknown etiology in children aged 22 months to 13 years old have been reported in Spain.

"These cases are currently being investigated by national authorities," according to the WHO.

The WHO "strongly encouraged" member states to identify, investigate and report potential cases that meet the case definition. 
DOHC

The funky Yamaha FZR1000 well be looking at today is a 1994 model with just over 15k miles (24,000 km) on the clock, sporting a modern battery, fresh fork seals, and an SS2R slip-on exhaust muffler from Vance & Hines. As youre reading this, the old-school Japanese legend is going under the hammer on Iconic Motorbike Auctions , where it will be listed until Wednesday, April 20.If you want to see Yamaha s two-wheeled pearl in your garage, then youll have to get a hold of at least five grand in order to best the top bidder, who is currently offering $4,500. To better understand what were dealing with here, lets proceed with a quick examination of the FZRs powertrain and chassis specifications.Its construction features an aluminum Deltabox skeleton, which embraces a carbureted 1,002cc inline-four mill and a five-speed transmission. The four-strokepowerplant comes with five valves per cylinder, four Mikuni inhalers, and a compression ratio of 12.0:1. At about 10,000 rpm, this bad boy can deliver as much as 145 hp, while a peak torque output of 79 pound-feet (107 Nm) will be spawned at 8,500 revs.Upon reaching the rear chain-driven hoop, the engines unforgiving oomph can propel its bearer from zero to 60 mph (96 kph) in 2.9 blistering seconds. With a curb weight of 520 pounds (236 kg), Yamahas beast will plateau once it hits a top speed of 172 mph (277 kph). The FZR1000 has a fuel capacity of five gallons (19 liters), and its three-spoke wheels measure 17 inches in diameter at both ends.Suspension duties are managed by 43 mm (1.7 inches) upside-down forks at the front, along with a single preload- and rebound-adjustable shock absorber at the rear. For stopping power, the old-school predator relies on dual 320 mm (12.6 inches) brake rotors up north, while the rear wheel is brought to a halt thanks to a 267 mm (10.5 inches) disc.
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As the headline implies, the highlight comes in the guise of an on-board AC charger that now charges at 6rather than 3 kW. What does that mean in terms of charging times? Well, think 2.45 hours instead of 5.30 hours when plugged into a 32-amp rapid charger. On 16 amps, the Across promises to reduce the charging time by 36 minutes to less than 5 hours.The Japanese automaker further boasts LED-type fog lamps, rear cabin lighting, and luggage compartment lighting. Illumination has been added to the overhead console switches and mirror control as well. Last, but certainly not least, Suzuki claims that it has changed the USB-A ports to USB-C.Suzuki offers no fewer than six exterior finishes. The list starts with the pictured White Pearl Crystal Shine, followed by Sensual Red Mica, Attitude Black Mica, Dark Blue Mica, and Silver Metallic. The automaker says that there is no additional charge for metallic or pearlescent exterior colors.There is, however, a problem with this fuel-sipping crossover. Im not referring to its badge-engineered problem, but that its more expensive than the Toyota RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid on which its based. Over in Germany, for example, the Across starts at 55,190 ($59,650 at current exchange rates) while the Toyota RAV4 Plug-In Hybrid is 47,490 ($51,330). British customers are charged 46,629 and 42,575, which is $60,915 and $55,620.Why did Suzuki enter this apparently nonsensical partnership with Toyota? Well, you can point the finger at Euro 6 regulations. With CO2 emissions of 22 grams per kilometer, the Across is a vital product for Suzuki in the Old Continent. Come January 2025, the European Commission intends to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions for new cars and vans by 100 percent.
Chrome Yellows founder, Charles Kern, started the company out of his passion for sustainable living and in addition to converting buses into tiny homes, he also designs mobile business buses like coffee shops, consulting spaces, therapy clinics, grocery stores, and more.The tiny home on wheels you see in the video below this article is based on a 2001 front-engine, full-size Thomas school bus that is 37 ft (11 m) long and equipped with a 5.9L Cummins turbo diesel engine and an Allison MD3060 automatic transmission. The skoolie is designed to serve as a full-time, off-grid home on wheels in Puerto Rico and it is built to be a multi-purpose house for any season.One of the modifications easy to spot from the outside is the roof of the vehicle, which has been raised all the way from front to back by 16 (40 cm). You can also notice at first glance that the bus no longer has front stairs and a front door. They have been replaced with a small front door that gives access to a spacious storage area. Access to the bus is now made via a custom-made door in the middle, with fold-out RV stairs.Both sides of the bus as well as the front of it come with bright LED lights and there are also powerful upper and lower light bars.A custom-made ladder in the rear gives access to the roof, which has solar panels (2600W) installed on it, making this a reliable off-grid vehicle. Theres also a set of stairs at the back of the bus, offering access to a small office with a desk, drawers, and lighting.The inside of the school bus comes with a clean, modern design, neat lighting (including a red LED strip and hidden lights behind the shelves), and plenty of storage space. Theres a fully equipped kitchen with a built-in drying rack above the sink, two pop-out pantries, a full-size fridge, a peninsula countertop, a four-burner stove with an oven, and even a dog kennel.Theres also a bathroom with a toilet, sink, shower, some large drawers, and even a washer-dryer.The tiny house on wheels also has a so-called bunk room with two twin-size bunks and plenty of storage space. The master bedroom in the back features a spacious bed, bookshelves, reading lamps, and windows on each side.You can take an in-depth tour of the Chrome Yellow off-grid skoolie in the video below.
EMSA is collaborating with the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency in Germany on a campaign for monitoring Sulphur emissions. During the next three months, a remotely-piloted aircraft will be flying over the Baltic Sea, using special equipment to do two things. On one hand, it will measure the Sulphur content in the exhaust plumes of ships. On the other hand, it will capture high-quality images for hydrographic surveys.This campaign is not for pure research, but it will have real and immediate effects. There are regulations that establish the maximum amount of Sulphur emissions that a ships fuel can produce. During this campaign, the drone will detect any violations of the legal limits, in which case the vessels operators risk serious penalties.The drone used by EMSA is Schiebels Camcopter S-100. With a 200-km (124-mile) range, this UAS is designed for ruggedness and reliability. It doesnt require special areas for take-off and landing, it can operate day and night, and it can withstand challenging weather conditions, whether its flying over the sea or land. It can be piloted remotely, but according to Schiebel, its complex avionics allow it to complete missions completely automatically, even in complex electromagnetic environments.For this EMSA project, the drones will be operated by Nordic Unmanned, a Norwegian company. The advanced sensors and technology for emission measurements are provided by Explicit ApS, a Danish company.Besides measuring the exhaust gas emissions for selected vessels transiting the Baltic Sea, the drone will also provide three-dimensional mappings of certain areas. Thats because the German hydrographic surveying service could benefit from such missions in the near future.The remotely-piloted aircraft is set to kick off its mission later this month.
Thats about to change in 2022, and weve already seen signs, these past few months, of how important the R 18 will likely become for the industry. Now selling in no less than four variants, it is at the center of an all-out effort to make it stand out in the crowd, an effort that includes a three-country tour , and a flood of custom ones made by the most respectable garages.The most recent custom stunt comes in the form of not one, not two, but three R 18s, beefed up over in Canada by some of the country's most respected crews and backed by the bike makers local branch itself, the first time it does this.The builds before our eyes were put together by Jay Donovan , Konquer Motorcycles, and Augment Motorworks. They were all shown this week, as the result of projects that had only one requirement: to remain operational and road legal.The first one is Donovans R 18 Future Cafe, sporting a rerouted exhaust, redesigned tank, and chopped fenders. The second, Augments R 18 Tattooed Chopper, goes for the classic American chopper style, and tops it off with a heavy paintwork, a sissy bar, ape hangers, and shaker exhaust.Last on the list is the Konquer R 18 Diamond Custom went down the dragster route, with modified fenders, custom seat, and electronically adjustable exhaust.None of the bikes seem to be for sale, but all three will tour BMWs retailers across Canada for the remainder of the year.
Several of the major players in the shipping sector have started testing various types of alternative fuel for their massive carrier ships, from LNG (liquefied natural gas) to green ammonia. ANL, a subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group, which is one of the worlds biggest shipping and logistics companies, has recently completed the first biofuel trial in Oceania.For the trial, which was a premiere in the area, a carrier vessel completed a 42-rotation  its journey began in Brisbane, it traveled to Southeast Asia, and then went on to several Australian ports. The B20 biofuel blend that was used for the trial was provided by BP Marine and the Port of Brisbane.The biofuel is also sustainable because its produced locally from feedstock in Queensland. In fact, Queensland is determined to use its local resources to eventually become a major biofuel refueling station in the Western Pacific area.Woolworths Group was one of the partners that supported this pioneering trial. As ANL says, not just maritime operators but also their clients are becoming increasingly interested in eco-friendly alternatives. Woolworths itself wants to become carbon neutral by 2050, and a green supply chain is an important part of that.The project was also supported by the Queensland Government through the Biofutures 10-Year Roadmap and Action Plan.ANLs parent company, the CMA CGM Group, is not betting only on biofuel. It plans to operate 44 ships that are compatible with e-methane by 2024, and LNG is also part of its energy mix. Also, the company was already using biofuel for its vessels, but only on intra-European routes. This pioneering Oceania marks another step for the expansion of clean energy shipping
EV

Tesla's CEO's offer to buy Twitter sparked some concerns among Tesla investors who feel it's a distraction that might affect stock sales at the company, Reuters reported. According to industry analysts, his involvement with the social media platform could be detrimental to Tesla's future.Musk has been buying Twitter stock since January, helping him accumulate a majority of 9.2% stakes over the platform. Last week, he accepted an offer of a seat on the board but later retracted it.On Thursday, the Tesla and Space X CEO took to Twitter to announce his intention to buy the platform for $43 billion. Tesla observers worry that Musk might become distracted or, worse, compromise his Tesla stake to close the Twitter deal.Gene Munster, a managing partner at venture capital firm Loup Ventures, which owns shares in Tesla, said Musk is getting distracted and has many things going. She added that the CEO has gotten involved in a lot of different endeavors.While Twitter shares took a bump after his announcement last Monday, Tesla's shares fell more than 9%, and by Thursday, the world's leadingautomaker's stock fell 3.7%.According to an offer letter sent to the social media company on Wednesday night, Musk believes the platform has extraordinary potential he can unlock . He's pumped up about making changes at Twitter, even though Tesla currently faces its share of challenges.Analysts feel the CEO needs to focus more on boosting production at the newly set up plants in Berlin and Texas since its largest plant in Shanghai is down due to a resurge of the pandemic in China.
Elvis Presley, forever The King of rocknroll, loved cars and motorcycles  both to own and to hand out as presents to family members, friends or even one-time acquaintances. As luck would have it (for him), he was rich enough to indulge in this without worrying about money.

8 photos
SUV

Not long ago, the rapper worked with car customizer Will Castro for a Rolls-Royce Cullinan with a black wrap and a mandarin interior.But it looks like the entertainer owns two of the same models. Besides the black one, he also has a two-tone blue and white Cullinan.Fat Joe posed next to the luxuryin a similar outfit, with a blue shirt and white pants. Later on, he took it to his Instagram Stories and gave us a look at the interior, as well.He was driving with his daughter, Azariah, and he was enjoying himself as he traveled on the highway. The interior of this Cullinan is very relaxing and boasts plenty of white, including the dashboard, leather seats, and door panels. His SUV is also equipped with the optional Starlight Headliner.Rolls-Royce is a top choice for every celebrity who wants to flaunt their wealth and travel in luxury. And this rings true for Fat Joe, who decided he didnt want to resort to just one color on his Cullinan, so he seemingly owns two of them.The British carmaker placed its powerful 6.75-liter V12 twin-turbocharged engine under the hood of its first SUV. Mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission, the power unit sends 563 horsepower (570 ps) at 5,000 revs and a maximum torque of 627 lb-ft (850) to both axles.Thanks to these figures, the SUV can sprint to 62 mph (100 kph) from a standstill in 5.2 seconds and has a top speed limited to 155 mph (250 kph).Just a few days ago, Fat Joe flew to Hollywood with DJ Khaled in a Global 7500 to support Khaled when received his Hollywood Walk of Fame star.
A lot of supporting measures have been put into place for Ukraine in neighboring states and even in the U.S. Countries, especially those from Eastern Europe, are helping by taking in refugees and providing food, shelter, and free transport, while others are doing their best at integrating those who flee the terror of war.With BMW championing the closure of its businesses in the belligerent country, now FIA is showing that its members from virtually any country found in the proximity of Ukraine or those that have a tradition of being involved in humanitarian aid are trying to contribute with what they can in favor of those that need a helping hand.Surprisingly, the first FIA club mentioned is the Hungarian MAK. The country led by the recently elected Viktor Orban doesnt have a very friendly stance on Ukraines situation. People and companies, however, think differently from politicians and are donating hygienic products, baby care products, and non-perishable foods in over 65 locations. These are gathered and transported periodically to the border, where locals distribute them further to those in need.Clubs from Austria, Netherlands, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, Croatia, Bosnia, Portugal, Slovenia, and Kosovo are keeping in touch with Ukraine s Automobile Federation representatives and are involved with providing cheap or even free of charge transport on international routes.While others work directly with refugees, some organize bank accounts and donation centers and even provide temporary accommodation.FIA already established a task force in March, when it donated 1 million ($1.08 million) to further support humanitarian actions to alleviate the suffering of persons caused by the crisis in Ukraine. The financial support was split equally between the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a charitable contribution.Further details can be found in the press release attached down below.
Protecting Unborn Children in Florida

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Liberty Counsel

April 14, 2022



KISSIMMEE, Fla., April 14, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 5, known as the "Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality" bill into law, a measure which protects unborn children from abortion after 15 weeks of gestation. This legislation is slated to go into effect July 1.



The legislation allows for abortions past 15 weeks only in situations involving a "fatal fetal abnormality" and makes no exceptions for rape or incest. The law limits the time an abortion is legal by nine weeks, as abortions were previously banned in Florida past 24 weeks.



The event took place at Nacion De Fe, a church in Kissimmee, Florida. Before Governor DeSantis signed the bill he said, "This bill will provide protection for unborn children from abortion when the child reaches 15 weeks of gestational age. Of course, these are babies that have heartbeats and can feel pain and can move. The bill also expands fetal and infant mortality review committees across the state which engage medical professionals and communities to review infant mortality cases and recommend reduction efforts tailored to their communities."

The governor also added, "We believe that everybody counts. We want everybody to have an opportunity to realize their dreams, make the most of their God-given potential. And sometimes you need to have some folks to step up and help with that. So now we are increasing incentive for family members and close friends to adopt, and we are providing financial incentives...It's a statement of our values that every life is important."

Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls spoke and said that every child has a right to life.

"Like many of you, I believe that life is a gift from God," said Sprowls. "We are blessed to be Floridians because behind me stands the most pro-life governor in America."

There were several women who gave testimonies regarding the value of protecting life. One adoptive mother's daughter survived an abortion attempt at 10  weeks. The daughter was born with cerebral palsy and is now in a wheelchair. However, the adoptive mother said, "This life was worth saving."

Another woman who now serves in DeSantis' administration, Secretary of the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) Simone Marstiller, got pregnant at 19 years of age. When she went to see her doctor to confirm her pregnancy, he handed her a referral for an abortion facility. Today, she expressed gratitude that she did not kill her child.

Another testimony came from a woman who became pregnant when she was 38 years old. The biological father and her parents did not want the child. So this woman drove herself to the hospital to have her baby and then drove herself home with her newborn. Today she stated that she "made the right choice."

HB 5 was signed as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to make a ruling before the end of June 2022 in Dobbs, MS Health Officer, et al. v Jackson Women's Health, et al. This case concerns a Mississippi law, known as the "Gestational Age Act," enacted in 2018 that prohibits abortions after 15 weeks gestation, except in a medical emergency and in cases of severe fetal abnormality. The High Court could also decide either partially or totally to overrule the 1973 Roe v. Wade and 1992 Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey abortion decisions. Liberty Counsel submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court urging that it overturn Roe v. Wade.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, "We applaud Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida legislators for protecting the lives of precious unborn babies. We must continue the fight to make the womb a safe place once again in America. Every child has a God-given inalienable right to life."

Liberty Counsel provides broadcast quality TV interviews via Hi-Def Skype and LTN at no cost.



SOURCE Liberty Counsel



CONTACT: Mat Staver, 407-875-1776, Liberty@LC.org



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EV

Orrick also lowered the $6.9 million compensatory damages to $1.5 million. He said it was excessive, while he classified the punitive damages as unconstitutionally large. In some countries, the law would indeed block such a large amount with the fundament that it would be unjust enrichment.Tesla could see that as a massive victory, but it will not for two reasons. The first is that it wanted to pay Diaz only $300,000 for each of the damages, in a maximum total of $600,000. The second is that the federal judge reinforced the company did very little to curb racism in Fremont.The former contract worker is also not happy. According to Reuters , Bernard Alexander said his client intends to appeal the decision. Although the attorney was satisfied that the judge upheld the previous decision, he thinks that $15 million does not compensate Diaz for what he went through and does not punish Tesla enough for allowing racism of that magnitude to happen on its premises.With this legal dispute being far from over, Tesla has many more lawsuits to worry about related to the same reason that may make Diaz a rich man. The California DFEH (Department of Fair Employment and Housing) is suing Tesla for systematic racial discrimination and harassment. The agency mentioned hundreds of racism complaints in Teslas factories and said the company moved its headquarters to Texas to avoid accountability.Apart from racism, Tesla also faces accusations of sexual harassment, with at least one female employee building shelters with cardboard boxes in her workstations to keep perpetrators away. She did that after asking the HR department to take measures and being ignored in her concerns. Owen Diazs lawsuit may be the tip of an iceberg of bad news from courts for the Americanmaker.
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With the famed pony car becoming extremely popular with U.S. buyers in the second half of the 1960s, Fords Special Promotions Division began offering a range of limited editions, including territorial specials such as the High Country and Ski Country for the Colorado market, the Cardinal Edition for North Carolina, or the Shelby Little Red-inspired California Special for West Coast dealers.In the second part of 1969, the division was approached by a Detroit-based real estate developer named Lawrence Larry LoPatin who wanted to buy a series of individually equipped, highly optioned versions of the Mach 1 and Mustang convertible . The idea was to use them as pace cars and promotional vehicles for the Michigan International Speedway, as well as four other tracks in Texas, Georgia, New Jersey, and California, all managed by LoPatins American Raceways Incorporated (ARI).Soon after a deal was reached, 100 additional Mach 1s were added to the initial order, but Ford officials got wind of ARIs financial struggles and impending bankruptcy, so the contract was swiftly terminated.The Special Promotions Division was quick to react, and the ARI project was redirected to the Kansas City District Sales Office (DSO 53) which had previously requested a series of territorial specials.Thus, 96 Mustang Mach 1s, 90 Torino Cobras, and a couple of Rancheros were branded Twister Special and distributed to Ford's Kansas City district, which in 1970 comprised Kansas, Missouri, and the Northwest corner of Arkansas.Undoubtedly, the star of this promotional production run was the Stang. Like the high-performance 1970 Mach 1 it was based on, the Twister Special came with several exterior changes. These included headlights that were relocated inside the grill opening, a set of faux air intakes integrated into the outboard part of the fenders (where the 1969s headlights were placed), a new front grille with different driving lights, slightly redesigned taillights (flat and recessed), twist style locking pins on the hood, and a Shaker hood scoop on select engine options.Speaking of which, the Kansas City districts initial plan was to have all 96 Mach 1s equipped with the 428ci (7.0-liter) Super Cobra Jet , a fearsome, drag-oriented V8 with a beefed-up crankshaft and connecting rods, that was conservatively rated at 335 hp (250) and 440 lb-ft (600 Nm) of torque. However, the Dearborn engine plant was unable to produce that many units in such a short amount of time, so a compromise had to be made. Ford ended up fitting the 428 SCJ into just 48 Twister Specials , while the other 48 received the new four-barrel Cleveland, a 351-ci (5.8-liter) that made 300 hp (224 kW) and 385 lb-ft (522 Nm) of torque.Out of the 48 units with either powerplant, half were delivered with the C6 three-speed automatic and the other half with four-speed manual gearboxes.All 96 specials received Shaker-scooped hoods and were finished in Grabber Orange with contrasting black stripes and a unique tornado decal on each quarter panel. These cars also came with the Mach 1 deluxe black interior which consisted of bucket seats, molded door panels, woodgrain trims, a center console, and a three-spoke Rim Blow steering wheel.Other performance features included, power steering, power brakes, Drag Pack suspension, and a Traction-Lok differential.After they were assembled at Fords Dearborn in October 1969, the Twister Special Mustangs were transported to Kansas City where a local detailer applied the unique decals mentioned above.Along with the Torinos and Rancheros, the cars made their first public appearance on 7 November, at the Kansas City International Raceway where local dealers converged for a special event dubbed Total Performance Day.Several Ford high-performance cars and parts were promoted throughout the first part of the day, but the main event came later that afternoon when the Twisters were unveiled. The crowds were in awe of the limited editions, and some rushed to order one.A cool and rare Stang, the Mach 1 Twister Special is now extremely popular among enthusiasts and collectors. When a well-kept 351 pops up at an auction, it demands anywhere from $70.000 to $100,000. However, one of the 39 examples of the 428 is much more expensive. Earlier this year, the fully restored SCJ-powered beast with a six-speed auto that is featured in this article, was sold at a Mecum auction for no less than $214,500.Ford and its Kansas City Sales District revied the limited edition in 1985 when 90 far-less spectacular Fox bodies with different paint finishes were given a special decal package. They were at it again in 2008, but this time, the cars were true high-performance specials painted Grabber Orange with black accents, like their 1970 predecessors.In the following Nobody's Show episode originally posted on YouTube, Ford expert Jim Wicks introduces you to a beautiful 428 Twister.
While the carmaker wont actually let you get behind the wheel, product specialists will be on-hand to drive attendees over the new course in either a Wrangler Rubicon 4xe, Rubicon 392, the all-new Grand Cherokee 4xe , Gladiator Mojave, Gladiator Rubicon or the Grand Cherokee L.New York is the biggest SUV market in the world, as well as the Jeep brand's biggest market, so the New York International Auto Show is the perfect place to go even bigger with Camp Jeep. The mountain is 10 feet higher this year, said Jim Morrison, senior VP and head of Jeep brand North America.This year, our Jeep customers can see what it's like to travel 28 feet up a mountain, at 45 degrees, in complete silence, thanks to our new Wrangler 4xe and Grand Cherokee 4xe electrified Jeep SUVs.Aside from Jeep Mountain, visitors can also enjoy a ground clearance stair climb, meant to showcase a Jeep vehicles ground clearance and traction as it climbs over a 5-foot staircase. Then theres the Trail Rated Pass, which will see the Jeeps do some three-wheeling navigation over a 50-foot long, 8-foot-tall obstacle.Meanwhile, the Extreme Breakover obstacle will see those Jeeps navigate a 25-degree uneven plane until one of the wheels loses contact with the surface  the vehicle will still climb until hitting the apex, which should provide visitors with a thrilling ride.You should also know that all Camp Jeep attendees will be automatically entered into a National Giveaway for a chance to win $100,000 going toward any eligible Stellantis U.S. vehicle.
The 82nd Airborne Division prides itself in being the only airborne division in the U.S. Army that can be deployed in any corner of the world in 18 hours at mostif trees dont get in the way. During a training held near Gettysburg National Military Park, Pennsylvania, earlier this week, six of the paratroopers got stuck in trees.A public affairs officer told Penn Live that this does happen sometimes and that all jumpers are trained on what to do in case they end up in trees instead of on the ground. However, only four of the six that were stuck managed to eventually get on the ground by themselves. A rescue operation had to recover the other two soldiers.The hero of the day was a helicopter from Haverfield Aviation, which is sleeker and lighter than the Chinooks that were used for the paratrooper jumps, so it was able to make its way to the stuck soldiers without getting tangled itself. But, according to Penn Live, that only happened after the local fire departments apparatus got stuck in the mud, while the firefighters couldnt reach them by foot either because the trees were too tall and the woods too heavy.Gettysburg firefighters were already present during the training because these jumps are always potentially dangerous. But the rescue operation required additional help from the local police and park rangers. The soldiers were eventually lifted from the trees and then dropped safely.The 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, rarely conducts military training exercises in Gettysburg. According to officials, this might not happen again for one of two years. So this will certainly be a memorable one for everyone involved.
On Thursday morning, Kyiv said that a double-missile attack off the coast of Ukraine had targeted and hit Moskva, the largest warship in Russias Black Sea Fleet. A fire had broken out, and while Ukrainian officials claimed the ship was lost, Russian counterparts shrugged it off.In a statement released to the media, Russia confirmed a fire had broken out on Moskva , and that it had caused considerable damage to the ship. No mention of the Ukrainian land attack was made, with the statement only saying that the fire had caused the explosion of the ammunition onboard. Moskva was still buoyant and en route to the nearest friendly port for repairs.It never made it there.Russias defense ministry has confirmed that Moskva sunk while towed to port. While being towed... towards the destined port, the vessel lost its balance due to damage sustained in the hull as fire broke out after ammunition exploded. Given the choppy seas, the vessel sank, state news agency Tass quoted the Russian defense ministry as saying, as per CNN Russia maintains that the 500-strong crew on board the warship had been evacuated as the fire broke out, but Kyiv insists that no such evacuation took place since this was a surprise attack. If the latter version is accurate, hundreds may have died.The Russian carrier was developed in the Soviet era and entered service in the early 1980s. It came out of retirement last year for a string of military exercises in the Black Sea that proved that it was as capable  and powerful  as ever. Measuring 558 feet (186.4 meters) in length, it could travel at maximum speeds of 32 knots (37 mph / 59 kph) and had a range of 10,000 nm (12,000 miles / 19,000 km). It carried more than a dozen Vulkan anti-ship missiles and an array of anti-submarine and mine-torpedo weapons, as well as a helicopter. Kyiv says it was hit by two of its own Neptune missiles.At the start of the war, Moskva made headlines after the bombing of Snake Island. During the last communication between Russian and Ukrainian troops, the latter refused to surrender and, right before the attack, said on the radio, Russian warship, go f**k yourself. Moskva is the largest ship to sink in enemy action since WWII.
EV

With new EVs joining the market each week, automakers are enticing consumers by offering better tech features, range and more horsepower. The 2023 Subaru Solterra provides none of that.The Solterra feels like a humble beast coming from a lineage of aggressive cars. If anything, it could easily pass off as a Toyota. Its not particularly fast, doesnt offer as much storage space, and has a significantly lower range than its competition. It can travel up to 220 miles (354 kilometers) before it needs to be plugged in.However, it still comes with a few commendable features, including Subarus symmetrical all-wheel-drive system, off-roading capability, and driver-assist features. As subtle as those offerings may seem, they give the Solterra an upper hand against the competition.Fords Mach-E might offer a better range and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 fancy tech features, but things dramatically change when these cars go to the road less traveled. None of these EVs have off-roading acumen as the Solterra  for this, it's at par with the manufacturers ethos.The all-electric 2023 Subaru Solterra has a dual motor setup that produces 215 hp (218 ps) and 248 lb-ft (336 Nm) of torque. It runs on Subarus iconic symmetrical all-wheel-drive system, has a 21 cm ground clearance, and X-Mode for slippery or uneven terrain.Behind the wheel, the 2023 Subaru Solterra has a noticeable high drive height thanks to the ground clearance. Apart from its meager power output, this crossoverdoesnt excite either when it comes to steering and handling. But as Doug DeMuro notes, its biggest drawback is low range.You might argue that itll go further off-road compared to its competition, but youll need some range and charge to get there. Additionally, the 2023 Solterra doesnt charge as fast as its rivals limiting your off-road travels to owner's geographical area.
So, how about the second-generation Buick Regal for a solution? The counterpart of icons like Chevy Monte Carlo, Oldsmobile Cutlass, or Pontiac Grand Am/Prix was smallish and boxy from 1978 to 1987, plus ample room to stand out in any crowd thanks to its cool derivations like the Grand National, Turbo-T, or T-Type.Naturally, the Grand National is best remembered due to its GNX connection to the classic car collector world but that does not mean the regular series cannot shine its star, even if only virtually on this occasion. And it arrives at the CGI party courtesy of London, UK-based virtual artist Al Yasid, better known as al.yasid on social media, who has just recalled from the digital memory bank a custom Regal  done a while back. Well, it bodes well for his series of outrageous creations  mere hours ago, he also expanded on the quirky, protruding twin-turbo Ferrari 365 Daytona GTB4 that was initially conceived for his nature series . Of course, we also embedded the yellow Prancing Horse second down below for the sake of upsetting the diehard Tifosi (please forgive us, but it was too cool not to share!).Now, back to the Grand National that is dressed in an awkward style of two-tone black-and-white. This project also has a protruding thing rising from the dark hood and the V8 sure matches the silvery-white remainder of the car. As for the body of this brawny Buick, it sure looks primed for feisty shenanigans, complete with a fleshed-out widebody aerodynamic kit, classic yet beefy-looking aftermarket wheels, and a bagged stance to wrap up the dual-outlet, mid-bumper exhaust goodies.
EV

SUV

VinFast will have to bring their A-game to have a hope of competing with giants from Ford, Toyota , Volkswagen, and Volvo, among a slew of others. But after getting a nice closeup look at what's on offer, we can safely say VinFast is at least worth considering if you're in the market for an. On looks alone, they've already passed with flying colors.Indeed, VinFast clearly made an effort to produce vehicles that North Americans likely want to buy. After four or so years of touring motor shows outside of the Western Hemisphere, VinFast is at the Jacob K Javits Center in mid-town Manhattan with three bold and capable-looking electric vehicles. A range that encompasses vehicle types known to sell strongly in U.S. and Canadian markets.The VF-8 crossoverand the VF-9 full-sized SUVs' gave the impression of how comfortable and at home these EVs feel amongst an American crowd. It's as if the spitting image of a contemporary Chevy Suburban and Blazer were laid overtop an instantly recognizable SUV template. From there, the electric drivetrain comes straight out of VinFast's HQ in Hanoi.If you thought this as well for your first time looking at a VinFast product, you're not wrong. GM and VinFast have been working in a mutually beneficial business partnership since the late 2010s. It's one of the reasons why the Hanoi-based startup company was able to bring a finished product to market in such an expedient timeframe.If the looks of any vehicle passively convey its performance figures, the looks of both the VF-8 and VF-9 certainly fit the bill. As for the third vehicle on display, the VF-7, there's a bit less conventionalism at hand. This coupe-style SUV, a-la BMW X6. Even so, it has a very different silhouette than low-slung SUVs of years gone by. Eat your heart out, Acura ZDX.Throughout the makeups of all three cars, there are design cues from all over the globe in every curve, every angled surface, and just about every aspect of the exterior of the VinFast North American lineup. Late-model GMC Yukons, Acura MDXs, and Mazda CX-9s come to mind when the pantomime of being at the show live paints the VinFast lineup in an effervescent and LED light lit convention center.An estimated range of 260 miles (418.4 km) with the base VF-8 and up to 292 miles with the upgraded battery pack (470 km) make for figures relatively in line with what other EVs in its segment can muster. 272 miles (437.7 km) and 369 (593.8) miles of range with the larger VF-9 SUV make for much more impressive figures, assuming they can be replicated in everyday conditions.With price figures like $55,500 for the battery version 1 and $56,000 for the battery version 2 with the VF 9, and $40,700 and $41,000, for the respective eco I and II packages in the VF-9, it's neither the biggest bargain nor the biggest ripoff at the 2022 NYIAS. But it's safe to say you at least get a lot for your money.VinFast has made a habit of making gorgeous interiors to show off at European and Asian motor shows. It's nice to see that much of the same quality is on display for us all to see with the VF-9 especially.The 15.6-inch (390.6mm) infotainment may not dazzle like the double-decker tablet computer on offer in the Ford Lightning pickup on display a few hundred yards away, but it's safe to say the EV-9 is comfortably approaching half the price of one of those, especially with dealer markups.There are only so many comments one can make about a vehicle before you're allowed to get behind the wheel and learn its mannerisms on a daily basis. But a first impression must be worth nearly as many words as the average picture. Expect to see VinFast models on roads somewhere near you sometime between the late winter of 2022 to early spring of 2023.But what are your thoughts about a Vietnamese tech startup ready to sell SUVs to American buyers? Do you think they have a fighting chance? Or do you think they'll be bankrupt in five years' time? Let us know in the comments down below.Check back some of our other pieces on the ins and outs of VinFast if you want to learn more. Be sure to check back soon for more from our live coverage of the 2022 New York International Auto Show right here on autoevolution.
As it turns out, however, Waze has become the more reliable choice for some Android Auto users out there, as theyre now struggling with a new glitch that makes Google Maps much harder to use.The problem showed up in late March, and since then, running Google Maps on Android Auto doesnt seem to be possible unless users turn to some basic tricks.According to several posts , the app freezes when satellite navigation is enabled. While the audio continues to run in the background, the visual maps are stuck, and going back to the home screen of the head unit (outside of Android Auto) and then returning to Google Maps sometimes fixes the whole thing temporarily.Using Google Maps without the satellite view seems to work properly, but on the other hand, this isnt necessarily the most convenient solution for people whove gotten used to this navigation mode.Oddly enough, the problem seems to be caused not by an Android Auto or Google Maps update but by a new version of Android that debuted earlier this year. Users who claim that Google Maps freezes on Android Auto say the whole thing showed up after installing a recent Android operating system update.Unfortunately, this means that going back to the previous version isnt necessarily a thing for the Average Joe, so Google is the one that needs to come up with a solution this time.In the meantime, if you still want to use Google Maps on Android Auto, the best option is to just disable the satellite navigation at least until a fix goes live.At first glance, only Samsung phones are affected by the problem, so weve reached out to the South Korean phone maker to see if the company is aware of the glitch and whether a fix is currently in development or not.
The 2023 version of the car would be fitted with wireless Android Auto and CarPlay as standard, so the two apps would be available regardless of the ordered configuration.The new Outback will sport an 11.6-inch display, and given the large screen estate, running Google Maps or Waze on Android Auto and CarPlay should be a pretty cool thing.However, theres one big problem when it comes to Android Auto.While CarPlay already takes advantage of the full screen estate of the display in the new Outbacks, Android Auto is still struggling with the portrait orientation in the latest-generation Subarus.Android Auto is only displayed on the center of the screen, as it fails to expand to the entire display, as full support for the Subaru 11.6-inch system is not available.The support for portrait modes in Subaru cars has long been one of the most requested features in the Android Auto world, with a discussion thread on Googles forums calling for both companies to make it happen.But while a Google community expert says it all comes down to Subaru to offer such capabilities, the carmaker itself is said to blame the search giant for its limited Android Auto support.I have reached out to Subaru, they blame Google. Google blames Subaru, a Subaru customer says. I asked the local Subaru dealer about it and he said it was Google's problem, someone else said, while another Android Auto user added that I have also contacted Subaru about this they placed the blame on Google.At this point, its not yet clear if the 2023 Outback comes with any improvements on this front, but in the official press release, Subaru promises standard wireless CarPlay and Android Auto with full screen display. Fingers crossed for this tidbit to mean a portrait mode is coming.
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Moscow announced late on Thursday that Igor Khovaev, the Russian co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, will now work as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovs special envoy on fostering the normalization of relations between the two South Caucasus states.

The issue of preparing for the peace treaty will be at the center of his attention, said Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. We count on the support of Khovaevs efforts by our allies and partners in Baku and Yerevan.

Lavrov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan again spoke by phone on Friday. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, they discussed, among other things, prospects for agreeing a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku with Russian assistance.

The U.S., France and Russia have for decades co-headed the OSCE Minsk Group tasked with brokering a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Lavrov said last week that Washington and Paris have stopped cooperating with Moscow on the conflict because of the war in Ukraine. U.S. and French officials have not denied that.

The U.S. State Department spokesman, Ned Price, said on Thursday that Washington stands ready to engage bilaterally and with likeminded partners, including through the role as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chair, to help the countries find a long-term comprehensive peace.

I cant speak to the role that Russia might play in this, he told reporters when asked whether the U.S. is indeed avoiding joint mediation efforts with Russia.

Price also welcomed the results of the April 6 talks between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan that were hosted by European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels. Nikol Pashinian and Ilham Aliyev agreed to start drafting the comprehensive peace accord and to set up a commission tasked with demarcating the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

On April 8, Lavrov accused the EU of trying to sideline Moscow and use the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for its Russophobic line. He said the EU wants to claim credit for Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements on border demarcation and transport links that were brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin after the 2020 war in Karabakh.

Pashinian and Aliyev phoned Putin the following day to brief him on their Brussels talks. The Armenian prime minister is due to visit Moscow on April 19.

Russia is determined to facilitate the conclusion of a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku, Zakharova said on Thursday. She stressed at the same time that Moscow is open to constructive interaction with other interested players.
Experts emphasize developing green hydrogen in China for industrialization

Xinhua) 08:40, April 15, 2022

Photo taken on Oct. 29, 2021 shows the first China-developed hydrogen fuel cell hybrid locomotive in a trial run in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China's top economic planner has issued a 15-year plan to develop the hydrogen energy industry, and experts are offering their feedback on the country's green future.

China produced about 33 million tonnes of hydrogen in 2021, making it the world's largest hydrogen producer.

By 2035, the proportion of hydrogen produced from renewable energy will increase significantly, according to the plan jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration in March.

"China's hydrogen energy industry will be key to the country's carbon peaking and neutrality goals," said Chai Maorong, chief technology officer of the Hydrogen Energy Co., Ltd. under the State Power Investment Corporation.

Due to the flammable and explosive characteristics of hydrogen, China has long paid attention to its hazardous chemical properties, but lacked awareness of its energy properties, said Lyu Jianzhong, deputy director with the research center of China National Petroleum Corporation.

Lyu noted that it is a milestone to define hydrogen as a green and low-carbon secondary energy for the first time.

Hydrogen energy can only be generated by consuming primary energy such as coal, natural gas and renewable energy.

Rao Jianye, vice president of China Electric Power Planning &Engineering Institute, explained that the production process of hydrogen determines the amount of carbon emissions. The production processes are categorized by different colors; gray, blue and green. Among them, the first two types will emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide in the production process, while green hydrogen can achieve true zero carbon emissions.

"Now, fossil fuels account for nearly 80 percent of hydrogen produced in China. The scale of hydrogen production from renewable energy is still small," said Rao, adding that China's hydrogen energy industry is still in the early stage of development.

The China Hydrogen Alliance earlier estimated that the scale of China's hydrogen energy market will reach 43 million tonnes by 2030. Green hydrogen will increase from 1 percent of energy in 2019 to 10 percent, and the market scale will increase nearly 30 times.

Industry insiders believe the industrial development is closely connected to the change from gray hydrogen to green hydrogen.

"A key factor in the low proportion of green hydrogen applications is that the cost of hydrogen production is too high," said Chai, adding that 70 percent of the cost of hydrogen production by electrolysis of water comes from high electricity costs.

The cost of producing green hydrogen is three to four times that of production from fossil fuels. This means the conversion efficiency of renewable resources such as wind, light and water need to be greatly improved throughout the transition process, said Chai.

The main storage and transportation mode of hydrogen energy in China is high-pressure gaseous hydrogen storage, which is suitable for small-scale and short-distance transportation. But it is difficult to realize low-cost and large-scale storage and transportation, said Lin Boqiang, dean of China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy, Xiamen University.

"It is necessary to increase infrastructure construction and investment and promote the layout of long-distance hydrogen transmission pipelines," said Lin.

"Therefore, continued technological innovation is the key to promoting industrial progress," said Chai, stressing the importance of solving technical and cost problems.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
What You Can See of Nye Beach's Past - Oregon Coast History Walk

Published 04/14/22 at 5:02 AM PST

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Newport, Oregon)  A long time ago, on a beach not far away, a little place came into being called Nye Beach. Back in the 1880s, this was a separate community from the burgeoning port town of Newport, almost as crusty and primitive, but right away it contained its share of tourism charms (historical photos courtesy Lincoln County Historical Society Newport).

This was still an untamed Oregon coast, however: very rough around the edges and more like the Old West. But then what's new and cutting-edge becomes common, and then it slowly becomes a part of history, sometimes getting lost in time. Yet Nye Beach has managed to hold onto its historic roots in unique ways, building upon what becomes historical later on.

However, a curious little secret about Nye Beach: some of its historical looks are manufactured. Back around 2000, the little neighborhood went through a big rebuild, where the arches were created and the tile-like squares in the streets that deftly evoke something much older were placed. It may be faux historical but it's effective  and it's no less charming.

Still, look beneath the layers and you'll find some surprising remnants of its past.

Nye Beach was created back in the 1880s, named after John Nye, the man who had first acquired the property in the 1860s. By the early 1890s, it was fast becoming a tourism destination on the rather newfangled Oregon coast scene, and kept growing in popularity year after year. The building of Highway 101 in the '30s and roads from the valley greatly upped the place's appeal. Then World War II hit and all that came to a halt for awhile, slowly sputtering back to life by the early '50s.





Even in its earliest days, the city began organizing the summer tradition of outdoor clambakes in the 1880s, running until 1918. There, tourists dressed in garb most respectable (swimsuits were so very Victorian then), gathered at long tables piled with food, including clams cooked in a fire pit in the sands. In the early 2000s, Newport revived the clambakes as a celebration with a kind of food court, but unfortunately that only lasted a few years.

Among the earliest groundbreakers in tourism in Newport and Nye Beach was the Gilmore Hotel. For a time, it featured a border collie that was a kind of canine concierge, his popularity causing guests to write postcards home about the furry new friend.

The Gilmore lingered on well into the latter century, but slowly turned into a den of inequity for at least a decade or two. While true that it was the residence to junkies and other unsavory types, its gritty Bohemian atmosphere also attracted a lot of artists and creatives, enabling them to live cheaply by the ocean. In the 1980s, some of its residents started hosting nudie parties, where people simply drank and partied au naturelle in the hallways.

Then by the 1990s, the Gilmore had become the Sylvia Beach Hotel (photo above), hanging onto its creative past by spotlighting various authors with its room themes, and creating one of the city's more storied hotels.

Its stately and historical vibe still gazes out at the sea.



Nye Beach cliffs how they looked almost a century ago



Nye Beach in the '80s itself was a wild and untamed spot, rather rundown by some standards. But it was an exceptionally inexpensive place where the common man could still acquire a little near-oceanfront property. Gentrification took away that affordability.

By the 1920s, this little town had become known as the Honeymoon Capitol of the world, turning into a favorite for newlyweds hitting the Oregon coast.

One of its chief attractions in its earliest days was a rock structure called Jump-Off Joe  but not the one you know today. This one was part of a larger headland that jutted out, and by about 1900 it was a nobby blob at the tideline that was a favorite with photographers and the equivalent of selfies then.



Jump-Off Joe in the early 2000s

It crumbled by the '30s, and soon after the current headland acquired the name Jump-Off Joe. It crumbled in early 2021.

The entire cliff area of Nye Beach is soft and unstable, and geology reports show it had lost some 500 feet in cliff since 1880.

The Nye Beach Turnaround was constructed by at least 1910, and it had a promenade as well, which was made of wood (like the original Promenade in Seaside). There are some rather dramatic photos of it getting clobbered by the tides.



Nye Beach Natatorium and the Turnaround in a different configuration

Like many early Oregon coast towns, Nye Beach had a natatorium  an indoor swimming pool where heated salt water was pumped into it. These also featured dances on some nights, with this building becoming one of the hottest clubs on the coast. It faded by the '50s and by the '70s was torn down. Nothing remains of it, unfortunately.

Some of the historic buildings do remain in Nye Beach, however, including those that house the shops by the Turnaround. This shot from the '70s shows a business called the Nye Beach Village Market. In the '90s it was a hip coffee shop. In the 2000s it changed faces periodically.

Sometimes history repeats itself in Nye Beach  and then becomes history again. In this case, a wondrous little eatery went up at the cliff edges of Nye Beach called Village Market and Deli, hearkening back to the older one. It was a gourmet tour de force but sadly closed in the 2010s. Hotels in Newport - Where to eat - Newport Maps and Virtual Tours





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Puffins Event, 12 Days of Earth Day Back at N. Oregon Coast's Cannon Beach

Published 04/13/22 at 5:32 PM PST

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Cannon Beach, Oregon)  It's partially about puffins, but it's also about honoring the Earth that the Oregon coast sits on. (Photo courtesy Ram Pampish)

Cannon Beach once again holds its famed 12 Days of Earth Day, a celebration that stretches for almost two weeks and which includes a parade and a street fair  and there will be the Welcome Home Puffins event returns as well.

Welcome Home Puffins will be held April 30 and May 1 in the north Oregon coast town, celebrating Cannon Beach's most colorful part time residents. Every April, tufted puffins begin their return to Haystack Rock to nest, breed and raise their young for the summer.

In fact, the first pair was already seen in late March and now experts are keeping an eye on the north Oregon coast landmark for more. Tufted Puffin Season Begins on N. Oregon Coast: First Pair Seen Already

The Haystack Rock Awareness Program (HRAP) is welcoming the tufted puffins back to their summer nesting home, putting on two action-packed days of fun and learning. The event is free, fun and engaging for learners of all ages. You'll find spotting scopes, tidepool tours, and a wide variety of interpretive stations, educational games, a labyrinth, art projects, and more.

As beautiful and adored as the iconic tufted puffins are here on the Oregon coast and elsewhere, they are a species in peril. In recent decades, the population on the rock has shrunken from 600 all the way down to just under 70. Welcome Home Puffins will take a close look at that, with opportunities to learn more about the ongoing efforts for conservation of the adorable little creature.

The schedule:

Saturday, April 30. 8 am  11 am. Open House: puffin labyrinth walk-through (weather dependent), bird table, bird scopes, childrens art table, research table

9:30 am: How to Spot a Puffin (also available on Facebook/Instagram live. )

10 am: Puffin Predator Game (also viewable on FB/IG live)

10:30am: Puffin Trivia Game (also viewable on FB/IG live)

Sunday, May 1st

8 am  12 pm: Open House: puffin labyrinth walkthrough (weather dependent), bird table, bird scopes, childrens art table, research table

10 am: Puffin Love and All About Pufflings (also on FB/IG live)

11am: Puffin Predator Game (also viewable on FB/IG live)

11:30am: Puffin Trivia Game (also viewable on FB/IG live)

The event takes place rain or shine. Dress accordingly. (503) 436-8060.

From April 18 through 29, Cannon Beach once again hosts its 12 Days of Earth Day, a unique and interactive event that is very personal in some ways: parts of it you celebrate on your own. Out of those 12 days, the north Oregon coast town only features a handful of public events held over a few days  the rest of these days are up to you to contribute to conserving the Earth in whatever manner you can.

We hope you'll join us, starting April 18 and continuing for 12 days, by doing something in honor of our beloved earth, said the City of Cannon Beach, which organizes the event. You can celebrate 12 Days of Earth from near or far.

Thursday, April 21 features the Cannon Beach Tree Planting at 2 p.m. Students from the Cannon Beach Academy will be planting trees at the Kenai Street beach access.

On April 22, it's Cannon Beach Shreds, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., located in the City parking lot on Gower Street. Bring your old documents to shred. Businesses and residents welcome. This event is more for locals.

On Saturday, April 23, there is the Earth Day Parade at 11 a.m. You can celebrate the Earth by watching this fun parade down N Hemlock.

On the same day, as all this goes on, there will also be the Earth Day Street Fair from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. It's located on E 2nd Street between Hemlock & Spruce. Learn more about the local organizations that are committed to preserving local natural resources.

The SOLVE Beach Cleanup happens across most of the Oregon coast, and in Cannon Beach it runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. See the full story Beach Cleanups on Washington Coast and Oregon Coast, April 23.

Also that day is Puffin Watch & Beach Clean Up, happen noon to 2 p.m. at Haystack Rock. See http://www.friendsofhaystackrock.org.

On Thursday, April 28, you'll find the Tree City USA Celebration, where two road accesses will have signs updated with the Tree City USA designation. It happens at 10 a.m. at the north entrance and 10:20 at the south entrance. (503) 436-1581.

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Tufted Puffin Season Begins on N. Oregon Coast: First Pair Seen Already

Published 04/09/22 at 12:12 AM PST

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Cannon Beach, Oregon)  The first of the tufted puffins have been spotted along the north Oregon coast at Cannon Beach's iconic Haystack Rock. This place is more than a visual icon to these adorable creatures, however: it's where they settle down every spring. (Photos courtesy Friends of Haystack Rock / Seaside Aquarium).

Look for an event celebrating their return on April 30 and May 1.

Tiffany Boothe of Seaside Aquarium and the Friends of Haystack Rock said they were already seen in March, and now they are spending more and more time on the rock itself.

The best time to view puffins is first thing in the morning, Boothe said. This is when they are most active.

On the south coast, South Coast Tours, LLC reported seeing two puffins on a boat trip as well.

Boothe said that every April a colony of them settles into the grassy areas of the top of the rock, and by this time they've already found a partner for life.

This is not only fascinating scientifically but absolutely heartwarming and adorable, Boothe said. The two then return to the same burrow where they raised their young last year. Tufted puffins spend about 16 weeks at the rock. For the first couple weeks the puffins stake out their territory and clean up their burrow. Once their burrow is ready, the female puffin will lay a single, chicken-sized egg, which both the male and female incubate. Incubation usually lasts 41-54 days.

Every year, there's actually a variety of species that set up their homes atop the famous Oregon coast rock structure. They, too, nest and raise their young here.



Courtesy Seaside Aquarium

Not only will you see the infamous tufted puffin, but other species such as black oystercatchers, pigeon guillemots, harlequin ducks, and more, Boothe said. Have you ever seen a western gull chick? While most people are not too excited to see a western gull, their chicks are absolutely adorable.

There are parts of the southern Oregon coast that have tufted puffin colonies as well, although none are usually this accessible or famous. It's one reason, however, that drones are prohibited near here and fireworks are not allowed in Cannon Beach at all. The rock is a nationally-recognized protected area.

Haystack Rock is also the largest breeding colony of puffins on the Oregon coast. Yet it's not a steady one: their numbers in Oregon and along the Washington coast have plummeted more than 95 percent since the 1990s. Since 1980, the number of tufted puffins at Haystack Rock has dropped from 600 to just 96.





Mankind is no help. Boothe said they struggle with inadvertently ingesting ocean plastic, getting caught and drowning in gill-nets, as well as protecting their burrows from introduced mammalian predators such as foxes and rats.

Your season for watching these mesmerizing creatures is just getting started, lasting throughout the summer.

Though usually tucked back inside the burrow, newly hatched puffins appear at the Rock' beginning in late June through mid to late August, Boothe said. Despite the fact that you may not be able to see the pufflings, activity around the rock is hectic and plentiful: it is fun to observe the parent puffins making multiple trips to their burrow with bills full of fish for their young.

Then, around 40 to 50 days after hatching the pufflins leave their burrows, but they'll do this under cover of night. That way, they escape the ever-watchful, hungry eyes of bald eagles, Boothe said. At this time, every single puffling leaves the safety of the rock and returns to the open ocean where they will spend the winter.

Cannon Beach Puffin Event

The Haystack Rock Awareness Program in welcoming the tufted puffins back to their summer nesting home during the weekend of April 30th. The event is free, fun and engaging for learners of all ages. It features spotting scopes, tidepool tours, and a wide variety of interpretive stations, educational games, a labyrinth, art projects, and more.

The event also spotlights Cannon Beachs iconic tufted puffin as a species in peril. Over the weekend there will be opportunities to learn more about ongoing efforts towards Tufted Puffin conservation. The schedule is as follows:

Saturday, April 30. 8 am  11 am. Open House: puffin labyrinth walkthrough (weather dependent), bird table, bird scopes, childrens art table, research table

9:30 am: How to Spot a Puffin (also available on Facebook/Instagram live)

10 am: Puffin Predator Game (also viewable on FB/IG live)

10:30am: Puffin Trivia Game (also viewable on FB/IG live)

Sunday, May 1st

8 am  12 pm: Open House: puffin labyrinth walkthrough (weather dependent), bird table, bird scopes, childrens art table, research table

10 am: Puffin Love and All About Pufflings (also on FB/IG live)

11am: Puffin Predator Game (also viewable on FB/IG live)

11:30am: Puffin Trivia Game (also viewable on FB/IG live)

The event takes place rain or shine. Dress accordingly

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The First City Buildings history and architecture has made it a de facto welcome mat for Beaumonts downtown, something its new, local owner hopes to continue in a big way with future renovations.

The 125,000-square-foot building at 505 Orleans St. was sold at auction at the end of March after its local owners decided to pass it along to someone that could extend its legacy.

The auction was hosted in person and online, which would have made it easy for a number of real estate firms or investment companies to scoop up the property , but James Payne -- a local attorney with Provost Umphrey -- came out on top.

Related: First City Building heads to auction block

Payne, a Port Arthur native that now is one of the states notable lawyers, said he created his real estate business with intentions of building something to take care of his family. But its now turned into a chance to preserve one of the citys most valuable assets.

I believe in downtown development, and I see potential for growth here with the right opportunities, Payne said. I knew this building would be a good asset, but I think it can also help encourage growth.

Opened in 1962 as the First Security National Bank, the six-story building was one of the last major projects by renowned Beaumont architect Llewellyn William Pitts, who died in 1967.

Pitts and his legacy now are honored as the namesake of the lifetime achievement award for the Texas Society of Architects.

Related: 'Mission Walker' finds fountain of youth on the trail

Its modernist style is highlighted by a unique facade sculpted by Matchett Herring Coe, a sculptor from what is now part of Lumberton whose work is featured in museums across the country, as well as the Jefferson County Courthouse, Houston City Hall and the Houston Zoo.

Tom Bell, director of Beaumont Main Street, said the building was empty for a while after First National Bank left the space for what is now the CapitalOne Building on South Bowie Street.

The building eventually was bought and renovated for office rentals by Beaumont Preservation Partners, a group led by Ted Moor, Jr.

When Moors family decided to sell the building, about 85% of the 77,500 square feet of rentable space in the building was occupied. Current tenants include the civil engineering firm Chica and Associates, Dexter ATC Field Services and Beaumont Main Street, the nonprofit organization tasked with promoting downtown Beaumont.

The disclosed lowest accepted bid for the auction was set at $800,000, but real estate experts from Williams and Williams assumed that it would attract plenty of competing bids.

Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox

The building was appraised at $1.5 million in 2020 by the Jefferson County Appraisal District.

After the auction, it is now valued at $5.4 million.

Payne said the plan now is to continue to invest in the building and take care of existing tenants, while securing new ones for the available space.

He said most of the rentable space likely will continue to be used for offices, but he also is interested in creating a mixed-use building that could host businesses and attract visitors to downtown Beaumont.

jacob.dick@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/jd_journalism
Beaumont school district trustees on Thursday approved a general budget of $173.4 million for the 2021-22 year beginning July 1  an increase of 1.6% compared with this years ending budget.

The new plan brings $800 raises for teachers and instruction coaches as well as a 1% mid-point raise for other staff; a $500 increase to new teacher salaries and use of a federal COVID-19 grant over the next three years to make building improvements.

The vote was 6-1. Trustee Kevin Reece voted against it, but he did not elaborate.

A tax rate needed to support the budget wont be set until certified property values are reported to the Texas Education Agency. The agency will then calculate the tax rate that would raise revenue coming into the district.

That won't happen until at least July 25, said Cheryl Hernadez, the district's chief financial officer.

Trustees will set the tax rate in an August board meeting.

Related: BISD faces budget shortfall from low attendance

The district's property tax rate currently is $1.22 per $100 of value, which covers maintenance, operations and debt service.

Over the past budget year, local property taxes raised $132.1 million. State aid contributed $36.7 million, and an additional $4.5 million came from assorted grants.

This coming year will see a new $57 million grant from federal coronavirus relief.

Of that money, $24 million will go to improvements across the district's 58 buildings and more than 3 million square feet of actively-used space.

That means new windows and doors to make the buildings more energy efficient. Plumbing also will be improved and other repairs made.

Local contractors will be able to bid for the projects once the district makes formal application for the grant, which is part of the federal government's American Rescue Plan.

Top hits: Get Beaumont Enterprise stories sent directly to your inbox

Christian Barlow, co-owner of Centrix-Energy and a consultant hired by BISD to assess upgrade needs across the district, said he expects at least half the work can be done by local contractors. Some jobs have tighter deadlines and specialized contractors will have to come in to satisfy federal rules.

The rest of the grant will be used for items such as teacher support, learning strategies and other efforts to help students become college-, career- or military-ready upon graduation.

Also during the meeting, Teresa Simpson, executive director of Lamar's community relations and economic development and student access, discussed the universitys "Cardinal NEST" partnership with Beaumont ISD elementary schools.

As part of the program, which stands for Navigating Excellence, Success and Triumph, Lamar will open pods in each of the district's elementary schools by the end of the 2022 school year, she said.

Lamar education majors will then staff the learning pods spread across eight elementary schools to help students with science, technology, engineering, arts and math.

Related: Districts plan as state hashes out federal funding

The effort also intends give early-grade students access to financial literacy and career exploration as well as cultivate readiness for post-secondary schooling.

Then pods are supported by donations and volunteers. For example, the Rotary Club of Beaumont donated $15,000 to operate a NEST at Martin Elementary School.

District Superintendent Shannon Allen told trustees that she expects 18,000 students will start the year with Beaumont ISD. She encouraged parents to register on the school district's web site, www.bmtisd.com.

Allen said attendance is crucial, not just for district revenue from the state, but for students who must attend at least 90% of instruction in-person to receive education credit and to be eligible for promotion.

To help eliminate boundaries to attending school, the district will make COVID-19 vaccinations available June 29 at the administration building from 3 to 5 p.m. and again on July 4 from 1 to 5 p.m. at Amelia Elementary School.

Allen said 76 percent of all staff had self-reported vaccinations thus far.

Dan Wallach is a freelance writer.
Jordan Strauss/Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

NEW YORK (AP)  Before he was working with Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse and many others, Mark Ronson was a teen DJ in 1990s downtown New York, a place and time he will look back on in an upcoming book.

The Oscar and Grammy-winning producer and songwriter has a deal with Grand Central Publishing for 93 Til Infinity," scheduled for 2023. Ronson says he will write a combination memoir-DJ study-New York celebration, centering the narrative on favorite venues and events.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  Backers of a petition drive to term-limit North Dakota legislators are pushing back against its rejection by the secretary of states office, saying more than 29,000 signatures were unlawfully and unconstitutionally disqualified.

Secretary of State Al Jaeger last month said a review by his office and the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation found the petitions were riddled with violations, including signatures that were likely forged in the presence of a notary public. The review also found petition workers who were paid bonuses based on their production, and a significant number of signatures from residents of other states. Some people who circulated petitions were not citizens of the United States, Jaeger noted.

As a result, I cannot certify it for placement as a measure on the November ballot, Jaeger said in a letter to Jared Hendrix, chairman of the sponsoring committee.

Attorney General Drew Wrigley said Wednesday that his office is still deciding whether to pursue legal action against the group.

A letter submitted by attorneys hired by the term limits committee argues that there is no factual or legal basis to disqualify nearly 63% of the signatures submitted.

The secretary of state is charged with protecting the rights of North Dakota voters yet has purposefully and unlawfully denied residents the ability to place term limits on the November 2022 ballot, Hendrix wrote in a statement.

Hendrix would not say if the group would sue the state.

We're going to keep all options on the table, Hendrix told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Theyve got a real problem on their hands trying to revalidate what they've done."

The measures 42-member sponsoring committee includes several state lawmakers linked to the ultraconservative Bastiat Caucus, as well as multiple new GOP district chairmen.

The initiative sought to add a new article to the state constitution imposing term limits of eight cumulative years each in the House and Senate. The governor could not be elected more than twice. Term limits would not be retroactive, which means the service of current officeholders would not count against them.

Citizen initiatives allow residents to bypass lawmakers and get proposed state laws and constitutional amendments on ballots if they gather enough signatures from voters.

Jaeger has said backers submitted about 46,000 signatures, or more than the 31,164 signatures needed to put the measure to voters in November. The petitions contained 46,315 signatures, which Jaeger whittled down to 17,265 after throwing out the invalid names. The errors with the notary negated 15,777 signatures. Mistakes like leaving out a first or last name, obtaining signatures before the petition was approved, failing to print their names, and the bonus payment offerings eliminated 10,614 signatures.
DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (AP)  A swimmer who was caught in rip currents off the Alabama coast was hospitalized in critical condition, authorities said.

U.S. Coast Guard officials responded to 911 calls reporting three swimmers struggling in rip currents near Dauphin Island on Wednesday.
Titos Vodka is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2022 with a series of campaigns commemorating the milestone, a press release from the company said. The celebration includes a commemorative bottle with an augmented reality experience and a fan contest for a trip to Austin.

The 25th-anniversary bottle features a new design that includes an emblem commemorating the anniversary and the story of the company on the back. The bottle also features a QR code linking to an augmented reality experience where people can view an interactive version of the companys history.

The 25th [anniversary] design keeps the spirit of our beloved label so our fans know its the same great juice on the inside, but weve included special elements to celebrate our anniversary, Taylor Berry, vice president of brand marketing at Titos, said in the release. Our Titos fans are essential to our brand, and we figure some may want to hang onto the bottle. To them, we maintain that even if its commemorative, it doesnt make you a bad person if you want to drink it.

The celebration serves as a way for the company to remember Tito's early days when there wasn't a distillery or vodka brand in the Lone Star State and also fans of the brand, Berry said in a statement.

"While this campaign may be a celebration of our history, it is, more importantly, a thank you to our loyal fans who made us who we are today, Berry said.

Fan contest

The company will also be hosting a 25th-anniversary celebration in Austin from Oct. 13-16. The company is running a contest for 25 fans and their guests to join the celebration. The party will feature a pitmaster-led barbecue event and VIP amenities at Titos Stillhouse Lounge during the Austin City Limits Music Festival, the release said.

To enter the contest, people will need to visit https://titos25th.com/. Contestants can nominate either themselves or a friend by submitting the form along with an essay, photo or video about what makes them a fan.

Were excited to hear more stories and cant wait to meet and clink glasses with some of our biggest fans in October to celebrate 25 years of Titos, and toast to the next 25, Frank Polley, vice president of trade marketing at Titos, said in the release.

Cocktail recipes

In addition to the commemorative bottle and festivities, Titos released a list of cocktails featuring its vodka for the anniversary. Berry said the cocktails pay homage to the history of the company, including Tito's "shack" that was the first operating, legal distillery in the state of Texas.

The cocktails and infusions weve developed each represent a piece of Titos lore, inviting fans old and new to taste the stories we hold dear," Berry said in a statement. "The habanero infusion takes influence from Titos first infused vodka, while the Titos Shack Cherry Sour was created as an ode to a decades-old dried cherry infusion that still sits marinating on the window sill of the 998 square-foot shack Tito built over 25 years ago."

Here are the recipes for the drinks.

Tito's Shack Cherry Sour Ingredients 1 1/2 oz Tito's

1/4 oz orange liqueur

1 oz cherry juice

1/4 oz lemon juice

1 egg white Directions Add ingredients to a shaker and dry shake Add ice and shake again Strain into a glass

Tito's Watermelon Mule Ingredients 1 1/2 oz Tito's

2 oz ginger beer

1 oz watermelon juice

1/2 oz lime Directions Add ingredients to a copper mug with ice Stir and garnish with slice of lime

Tito's Berry Sparkler Ingredients 1 1/2 oz Tito's

3 oz soda water

2 oz cranberry juice

5 blueberries for garnish Directions Add Tito's and cranberry juice to glass with ice Slowly pour soda water Drop in blueberries
Capt. Nay Myo Thet served in Myanmars military for nearly six years in Rakhine state but defected in December and relocated to an area under the control of anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) forces.

In 2016, a military crackdown forced about 90,000 Rohingya to flee Rakhine state and cross into neighboring Bangladesh, while a larger one in 2017 in response to insurgent attacks, killed thousands of members of the ethnic minority and led to an exodus of about 740,000 across the border.

The former transportation officer told Radio Free Asia (RFA), a sister entity of BenarNews, that the militarys clearance operations amounted to a genocide and said he is willing testify as a prosecution witness in a case that was brought against the military to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague.

RFA: Can you first tell us about your background?

Nay Myo Thet: I first attended the Pyin-Oo-Lwin Defense Services Academy in 2006. I finished training in 2008 and served with units in the Division 5 and Division 6 areas in Kayin and Kachin states, as well as northern Shan state. I was sent to Rakhine state in 2015 to serve with the No. 233 Infantry Battalion in Buthidaung and was stationed there until I joined the CDM in November 2021.

RFA: Can you tell us more about the operations that drove the Rohingya people out of Rakhine State?

Nay Myo Thet: I was a captain in the Supply and Transport Battalion in 2015, serving with the No. 1 Border Police Force Strategic Command. A clearance operation was launched for the first time in 2016 following a terror attack in Kyi-Gan-Byin and another one in 2017 after the [Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgent] raid on three Border Police posts in the same area.

When we went there the second time, we noticed there was nothing much left behind. The locals had taken away almost everything.

RFA: Did the troops really commit the atrocities against the Rohingya people as accused by international rights groups? Whats your take?

Nay Myo Thet: I can tell you only some things Id learned about the units I served with. There was one officer who wanted to make a search for deadly weapons, like knives, and he asked the girls in the village to go into one room, lined them up and stripped them naked.

And then, I heard from one soldier who was talking about his colleague who had raped a Rohingya woman. I cannot remember his name.

Another incident I remember was about a young boy being thrown into a well. These incidents happened while I was serving with the No. 233 Infantry. And then, there were incidents that were spread by word of mouth about some soldiers committing brutal acts. Villagers were driven out of their houses and those who ran away were shot to death. Most of the bodies were buried in the fields beside the villages.

As you may have seen in the photos, people left their villages in hordes  some carrying elderly people who could not walk in makeshift stretchers. Many who couldnt cross the border were forced to live in the jungle and mountains.

This amounted to a genocide

All these things should not have happened. Everything that happened was unacceptable. I tried to sound out my colleagues. Most of them had the idea that these people must be driven out  that they could not stay  because the [insurgents] who raided and attacked the police posts were of their same ethnicity.

These villagers were giving support to the [insurgents] and they believed there would be no peace unless they were got rid of. These were their views. So, this wasnt even like an ordinary military operation which would never be so brutal.

They just wanted to get rid of the entire community without bothering to find out who [the insurgents that attacked the police posts] were. I agree with the international charges that all of this amounted to a genocide.

RFA: What do you think of [deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) leader] Aung San Suu Kyi going to The Hague [in 2019] to defend the military against the charges made in the case brought by The Gambia?

Nay Myo Thet: It seems like the military was waiting for a scapegoat, waiting for the NLD to come into power, to defend them because they could have done this [themselves] a long time ago and they didnt  I think she went there with two goals  to defend the countrys integrity with a nationalist spirit as well as to defend the military. She seemed to feel responsible for the military.

But I think it was wrong for her to do that. She shouldnt have gone there. She wasnt responsible at all for what happened and she didnt commit the crimes. The military was responsible [for the crimes]  for creating the division between the [ethnic] Rakhines and the Rohingyas.

Even for sowing hatred between the Rakhines and the [majority ethnic] Bamar. If I were to be summoned [to the ICJ], Id surely go and disclose all I know.
Iman Sitepu shows a picture of his sister, Ruth Sitepu, and her husband, Joshua Hilmy, during an inquiry at the Malaysian Human Rights Commission office in Kuala Lumpur about their 2016 disappearance, March 4, 2020.

There is no evidence that the state was involved in the enforced disappearance of pastors Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu in 2016, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) said in a report released Friday, but it blamed police for shortcomings in their investigation and withholding related information.

Suhakam released its 90-page report three years after it issued a finding that police agents likely were behind the abductions of Pastor Raymond Koh and social activist Amri Che Mat in 2017 and 2016.

After having held lengthy discussions and deliberations in this case, the panel is of the unanimous view that Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu are victims of enforced disappearance, the report said.

It concluded that the couple were abducted by person or persons unknown.

Suhakam commissioner Mohd Hishamudin Yunus, who read an excerpt from the report during a news conference on Friday, discussed the governments role.

On a balance of probabilities and based on the evidence presented before the panel, there was no direct or circumstantial evidence to support the contention that Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu were abducted by an agent of the state, Hishamudin said.

However, it was the panels finding that the highly unsatisfactory conduct and shortcomings of the Royal Malaysia Police in investigating the disappearances of Joshua Hilmy and Ruth Sitepu had contributed to the acquiescence of the state in the abduction of the couple, he said.

Suhakam noted that police refused to divulge relevant documents and information about the case, citing the Official Secrets Act.

Because of the police shortcomings, the couple were not protected under the law, the report said.

Hilmy, a Malaysian Muslim who converted to Christianity in Singapore in 2003, and his wife, Sitepu, an Indonesian national, were last seen in November 2016.

During that same period, Pastor Koh and activist Amri went missing in February 2017 and in November 2016, respectively.

Previously, Suhakam had found that Koh and Amri were victims of enforced disappearances likely involving government agents.



The direct and circumstantial evidence in Pastor Raymond Kohs case proves, on a balance of probabilities, that he was abducted by state agents, Suhakam said on April 3, 2019.

That report used similar language to speculate that Amri could have been abducted by state agents, particularly those under the police Special Branch headquartered in Kuala Lumpur.

Suhakam has reported that Hilmy, Sitepu and Koh were involved in proselytizing Muslims to Christianity, which is not allowed in Malaysia. It also said Amri was a leader of an Islamic sect Shia  that is not accepted in Malaysia.

Indonesia: Ruth Sitepu victim of enforced disappearance

Responding to the report, the Indonesian government said that Malaysia needed to step up efforts to investigate the disappearance of its national, Ruth Sitepu, and it should heed Suhakams recommendations.

Ruth Sitepu has fallen victim to enforced disappearance that should be considered as a serious crime by any standards, the statement said.

Indonesia is of the view that the Malaysian government must take necessary actions according to the recommendation, particularly in conducting a more thorough investigation and bringing the perpetrator to justice, the statement said.

Suhakams recommendations include police earnestly and seriously stepping up investigations into the case, taking into account the criticisms and the recommendations that the committee make in the report; and sharing relevant documents in investigation papers with Suhakam or any other competent bodies with investigative powers unless it is clearly and strongly proven that such disclosure would be prejudicial to the on-going probe.

The panel also urged authorities to respect freedom of religion as a basic human right and reminded that the federal constitution prohibits the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam.

Family: We just want closure

Sitepus family, meanwhile, issued a statement noting that Suhakams inquiry gave a small measure of relief, but did not shed light on what happened to the couple.

People do not just disappear without a trace. We strongly believe there are people who know what happened to our sister and Joshua, the statement said. We depend on the authorities and various government agencies to undertake their sworn duty and assignments diligently to help us.

We just want closure. Surely this is not too much to ask? If they are indeed dead, please return her body or her bones, even, to us. It is only the right, decent thing to do.

The Royal Malaysia Police did not immediately respond to a BenarNews request for comment.
Teatro Mandaleno, a troupe of amateur actors in Metro Manila, reenact Jesus Christs sufferings on Good Friday during a performance, April 15, 2022.

Updated at 10:07 p.m. ET on 2022-04-15

After two years of their theater lights being darkened by the COVID-19 pandemic, amateur actors returned to the stage in Metro Manila on Good Friday to perform Senakulo, a traditional Filipino dramatization of Christs suffering and death on the cross.

In Mandaluyong, a city in Metro Manila, the Senakulo tradition dates to the 1960s and is the longest-running version in the Philippine capital region. Locals and actors who have had no formal training consider their performances as vows of their religious faith.

At last, after two years we were given a chance again to play on stage and we are very happy. Were hoping this will continue so that our vows will not be cut again, said April Grace Mersa, president of Teatro Mandaleno.

Mersas family members have played roles in the performance over the years.

Actors prepare to stage the traditional Philippine dramatization Senakulo on Good Friday, April 15, 2022. [Jojo Rinoza/BenarNews]

Ferdinand Simeon, 59, is one of the oldest in the troupe of 70 actors and has played the lead role of Jesus Christ for three decades.

I feel excited now that we can act on stage again, this is my lifes devotion, he told BenarNews.

CORRECTION: The name of the president of the theatrical troupe was misspelled in an earlier version.
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Kaleb Sherman, right, of Guilford, and his attorney Brian Marsicovetere of White River Junction, made a video appearance in court Friday from the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield. Sherman pleaded guilty to the beating death of Robert "Zach" Phelps, 43, of Guilford. Phelps died in August 2020. Sherman was originally charged with murder. He was sentenced to five to 12 years in prison.
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.
On Friday, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming COVID-19 vaccines cause male infertility.
The logo for The Walt Disney Company appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 2019. On Friday, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly claiming Disney shareholders are in a panic after losing $2.4 billion in one day.
Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

More than 900 bodies of civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces
Jim Shulman, a Pittsfield native living in Ohio, is the author of Berkshire Memories: A Baby Boomer Looks Back at Growing Up in Pittsfield. If you have a memory of a Berkshire baby-boom landmark, business or event youd like to share or read about, please write Jim at jesjmskali@aol.com .
Pittsfield has announced earmarks for more than $7 million in projects since getting American Rescue Plan Act money in May. Its first report to the Treasury Department shows that spending of that money has been conservative.
Community News Editor / Librarian

Jeannie Maschino is community news editor and librarian for The Berkshire Eagle. She has worked for the newspaper in various capacities since 1982 and joined the newsroom in 1989.
Curriculum

The geology major emphasizes both laboratory and field experience. Geology provides an understanding and knowledge of the history and processes that have shaped our planet through its 4.5 billion years.

The BGSU Bachelor of Science degree in geology with a paleobiology specialization will add courses in evolution and genetics to core courses in the structure and processes of the Earth.

With a technology revolution unfolding in geology, all students will become familiar with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques and quantitative methods in geology. These skills open up careers in many Earth science disciplines.

There is a required five-week summer field course held in New Mexico and Colorado. Field courses expose students to various geological settings and applications, integrating the latest technology in field mapping.

Field Camp

The BGSU field course exposes students to a variety of geological settings and applications, integrating the latest technology in field mapping. Geology students learn how digital mapping and data analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can facilitate fieldwork and improve the understanding of the geology of an area.

Working with sedimentary, metamorphic and igneous rocks, students learn how to make systematic observations, accurate recordings and sound interpretations of the geology seen in outcrops.

Field exercises include measuring and analyzing sedimentary sections, construction of geologic maps, structural analysis of folds and faults, slope stability analysis and environmental assessments. Paleobiology specialization students will examine the fossil record of all locations visited.

Students will learn to use Brunton compasses, laptop and ruggedized tablet computers, GPS receivers, aerial photographs, topography maps, satellite images and GIS databases in their projects.

Field areas are in the Basin and Range, Colorado Plateau and Rocky Mountain provinces.

Laboratory Facilities

GeoInformatics Laboratory (GIL)

The aim of the GeoInformatics Laboratory (GIL) is to support applications of emerging geospatial technologies in interdisciplinary research and education at the School of Earth Environment and Society as well as Bowling Green State University. With state-of-the-art equipment, including laser scanners, marine radar and canopy analyzers, the lab helps students and our communities understand their environment.

G-ECO Remote Sensing Lab

Graduate and undergraduate students use field, satellite and drone data to address environmental, geographical, biological and geological issues.

Students gain knowledge and experience in both field data collection and computer lab research. Graduate and undergraduate students in G-ECO lab monitor the status of forest, crops, rocks, water (e.g., Lake Eries Ohio coastline) sediments and algal blooms, carbon budget, land-use changes, and many other natural and human-induced phenomena.

Paleontology laboratory

The paleontology laboratory houses well over 120,000 fossil specimens for teaching and research, with particular strength in Paleozoic marine invertebrates. Students have access to several stereomicroscopes (including one with a dedicated digital camera and camera lucida), mechanical (hand tools, Dremel), and chemical preparation facilities and field collection equipment.

Careers

Geologists are employed in areas such as environmental consulting, oil and gas exploration, mineral resource exploration and mining, and federal and state agencies. Their skills are in demand and the critical nature of the work means reward and responsibility levels are high.

Geologists also explore and help develop natural resources and clean up and reclaim land.

Many paleobiologists work in museums or as research scientists. Science and education careers can follow many research areas; climate investigations rely on an in-depth understanding of the Earths past that paleobiologists are well placed to help explore.

Splitting their time between the lab, the office, and the field, geoscientists need to be as comfortable and knowledgeable on a computer as they are in the field, able to understand and critically analyze the samples in their hands and data flowing in from sophisticated sensing equipment like satellites or seismometers.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts a rise in the number of geologist jobs needed in the next ten years as the impact of climate change and the competition for resources increase.

The BLS also reports that the median annual wage for geoscientists was $93,580 in May 2020.
 



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This website follows the DNPA Code of Ethics.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is part of a series looking at enrollment numbers of schools in the Mecosta-Osceola Intermediate School District.

MORLEY  With districts looking at plans for the new school year, Morley Stanwood Community Schools' administration is looking at student count and how that may affect the upcoming academic year.

For the fall of 2021, the district student enrollment number was 1,079. This spring the district was expecting 1,069 students to return to campus.

Superintendent Roger Cole said new building improvements may bring new families to the district.

In our mind, we think that the $21 million bond project over the next five years to update our facilities and maintain the one-to-one device program that we have for students should be a draw for parents looking at a school, Cole said. Last year, we had over 1,100 students, but about 200 of them were virtual. We got them back in the building, but overall, we still have come down some.

When we lose a lot of students over the course of a summer or through the school year, it's it becomes a difficult thing to budget, he added. We will have to adjust for having more students back and having more students enrolled would certainly be a plus. The more students you have, the more opportunities you can offer.

With some parents concerned about education gaps created by the pandemic, Morley Stanwoods online program has helped some but many students will face some catching up.

Cole said housing has become a factor in some families moving schools.

When we look at when students leave or we look at where they went because we have to send their file, at least half leave the area and just decided to go to Big Rapids," Cole said. "Half of them have left the area and the other half, probably half of that 25% of the whole have attended a school outside the ISD. So I know some of them leave because of housing situations because of employment. Housing is a big thing.

What we do have up here is less expensive housing, if you're going to commute south or north, he added. That really is a plus for us in the sense that we don't have some of the problems with big cities. We are a good community if you want to raise your kids in a smaller area and commute to work.

According to the State Board of Education, statewide enrollment declines overall in the state mirror the demographic decline of children ages 5-12 over the past decade.

The state has reported that after a 4.1% decline in public school enrollment for the 2020-21 school year, the number of students enrolled in Michigans public schools was less severe this school year.

The number of students leaving public school to be homeschooled last fall was 4,583, which is down from 13,233 in 2020 but still up from the average of around 1,500 per year prior to the start COVID-19 pandemic.

Cole said the administration is looking at implementing new courses and new student opportunities to encourage enrollment and improve educational benefits.

We have plans to look at some new course options and extracurriculars at Morley, Cole said. I just had a conversation with our high school principal about some new ideas he had about additions. We want to make sure we can give students additional opportunities we have always tried to.

For more information on Morley Stanwood Community Schools, visit the districts website at www.morleystanwood.org.
Through this partnership, SCRI now offers investigators access to aggregated hospital-approved insights based on anonymised, well-annotated, and up-to-date patient data from across Oncoshot's network of cancer institutes

Oncoshot has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI), the national coordinating body for clinical trials under the newly launched Consortium for Clinical Research and Innovation Singapore (CRIS).

This collaboration comes under Project EISE (Enhanced Clinical Trial Initiation, Screening and Enrolment; pronounced 'easy') to address two key challenges. Firstly, public healthcare institution (PHI) clinical trial investigators wishing to conduct trials on promising cancer treatments are often limited to the patient pool of their affiliated cancer institutes which may be insufficient. These investigators may not know which other cancer centres to approach for more patients.

Through SCRI, PHI investigators can now request access to anonymised, aggregated information regarding regarding the oncology patient populations in Oncoshot's network of public and private healthcare institutes.

Secondly, the process of conducting feasibilities and subsequently screening and enrolling patients for cancer clinical trials is presently lengthy, cumbersome, and manual. This collaboration provides clinical trial investigators with a platform to identify patients in a semi-automated manner when leveraging Oncoshot's trial matching artificial intelligence (AI) platform. The platform provides investigators with a new capability to perform detailed reviews of individual de-identified patient records to determine if they match highly specific trial criteria. The local institutes' patient databases may also be further enriched with biomarker data to allow trial investigators to improve their chances of identifying suitable patients for these studies.
Please sign a petition in support of an arrested artist from St Petersburgh

15. 4. 2022

cas cteni < 1 minuta

Please sign this petition in support of St. Petersburgh artist Sasha Skochilenko.





She replaced price tags in a supermarket with pictures and information about Russian atrocities in Ukraine. She has been preliminarily detained for 8 weeks and may be sentenced to 10 years in prison for "disseminating fake news about the Russian army".



As the authors of the petition are saying, "there is a danger that she could be killed in prison".



Please sign the petition here:

https://twitter.com/CulikOf/status/1514959646225801219?s=20&t=jjz9WWJgphCFVDCQprzXsw



More info (also in the Guardian and on numerous Russian websites):



https://blisty.cz/art/107777-st-petersburg-artist-sasha-skochilenko-arrested-in-a-grocery-store-she-replaced-price-tags-with-information-about-the-killings-in-mariupol.html

-1
While Brandon has avoided major power outages during this aggressive spring blizzard, Manitoba Hydro crews have been deployed to some rural couple communities in the surrounding region.

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Manitoba Hydro crews respond to a downed power line near the community of MacGregor on Wednesday afternoon. (Photo courtesy of Manitoba Hydro)

While Brandon has avoided major power outages during this aggressive spring blizzard, Manitoba Hydro crews have been deployed to some rural couple communities in the surrounding region.

A couple of these power outages fell within Westman, with Manitoba Hydro officials revealing on Wednesday afternoon that they were called to deal with an outage in Hartney that impacted around 280 customers.

Meanwhile, around that same time, Manitoba Hydro crews responded to a downed power line near MacGregor, although this area of the province was restored a short time later.

According to Manitoba Hydros outage tracker as of Thursday afternoon, crews are currently dealing with minor outages in areas like Westbourne (Interlake), northern Winnipeg and Whiteshell Provincial Park.

However, Manitoba Hydro is aiming to resolve all of these interruptions by the end of the day.

Manitoba Hydro is encouraging anyone who is experiencing a power outage to report it by visiting hydro.mb.ca/outages.

As of 3:01 p.m. today, Environment Canada ended its winter storm warning for much of the Westman region, including: the City of Brandon, the Municipality of Glenboro-South Cypress, the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa, the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis and the Rural Municipality of Elton.

 The Brandon Sun
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russia's withdrawal  most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were "simply executed.

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A woman looks as Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russia's withdrawal  most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were "simply executed.

The jarring number emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines alleged assaults on Russian territory. That ominous warning followed the stunning loss of Moscow's flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. defense official said Friday was indeed hit by at least one Ukrainian missile.

Amid its threats, Moscow continued preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also went on in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional Gov. Oleh Sinehubov.

Around Kyiv, Andriy Nebytov, the head of the capital's regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95% died from gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said.

A woman looks for goods dropped from the apartment building partly damaged by shelling, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

More bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves, he added, with the largest number found in Bucha, where there were more than 350.

According to Nebytov, utility workers gathered and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops occupying parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south of terrorizing civilians and hunting for anyone who served in Ukraines military or government.

Volunteers carry the body of a man killed during the war to a refrigerated container in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves, Zelenskyy said. Russias problem is that it is not accepted  and never will be accepted  by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.

In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelenskyy also said he discussed the fate of Mariupol with top military and intelligence officials. He said he couldnt offer details, but we are doing everything we can to save our people.

Zelenskyy said peace and how many more Ukrainians the occupiers have time to kill depend on Ukraine receiving more outside support, and echoed calls for more and faster military aid, as well as an oil embargo on Russia.

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

More violence could be in store for Kyiv after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.

The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Russia used missiles to destroy a facility for the repair and production of missile systems in Kyiv, Konashenkov said.

A sticker with the image known as "Saint Javelin" depicting a saint holding a Javelin, an American-made portable anti-tank missile system, is displayed in an artists co-living studio space that is used as a bomb shelter and a place to help the Territorial Defense Units, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports could not be independently verified.

However, Ukrainian officials said forces did strike a key Russian warship with missiles. A senior U.S. defense official backed up the claim, saying the U.S. now believes the Moskva was hit by at least one Neptune anti-ship missile, and probably two. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment.

The Moskva, named for the Russian capital, sank while being towed to port Thursday after taking heavy damage. Though Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only that a fire had caused ammunition on board to detonate, the loss of the ship represents an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.

FILE - In this photo provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Russian navy missile cruiser Moskva is on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea near the Syrian coast on Dec. 17, 2015. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

The sinking reduces Russias firepower in the Black Sea, although military analysts disagreed on the event's significance to the course of the war. Either way, the loss was viewed as emblematic of Moscow's fortunes in an eight-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following the retreat from the Kyiv region and much of northern Ukraine.

A flagship russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted Friday.

Russia's warning of renewed airstrikes did not stop Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly warmer spring Friday as the weekend approached. More people than usual were out on the streets, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and strolling hand in hand.

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

In one central park, a small group of people including a woman draped in a Ukrainian flag danced to the music of a portable speaker.

Such tentative signs of prewar life have resurfaced in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes. But a renewed bombardment could mean a return to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of the invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations.

In Mariupol, the city council said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials of people killed by them.

A cemetery worker carries a cross for the tomb of Tetyana Gramushnyak, 75, who was killed by shelling on March 19 while cooking food outside her home in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, the council said on the Telegram messaging app.

Fighting continued in industrial areas and the port, and Russia for the first time used the Tu-223 long-range bomber to attack the city, said Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Mariupol has been blockaded by Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, and dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders have held out against a siege that has come at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians.

A man takes photos and walks past an apartment building with windows covered by plywood due to shelling in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

The mayor said this week that the city's death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv.

Mariupols capture would allow Russian forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraines eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.

It's not certain when Russia will launch a full-scale campaign.

Firefighters try to extinguish the fire at a damaged factory following a Russian bombing in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine. Russia has recognized the independence of two rebel-held areas of the region.

Also Friday a Russian rocket hit an airport at night in the central city of Oleksandriia, Mayor Serhiy Kuzmenko said via Facebook. He made no mention of casualties.

And a regional Ukrainian official said seven people were killed and 27 wounded when Russian forces fired on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near Kharkiv. The claim could not be independently verified.

A cemetery worker takes a rest from working on the graves of civilians killed in Bucha during the war with Russia, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office, told the Suspilne news website that authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

Russia's Defense Ministry said strikes in the Kharkiv region had liquidated a squad of mercenaries from a Polish private military company of up to 30 people and liberated an iron and steel factory in Mariupol. The claims could not be independently verified.

___

Fisch reported from Kramatorsk. Burns reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
China to further enhance BeiDou's global services

Xinhua) 08:50, April 15, 2022

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China plans to further enhance the global services of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) by continuously improving its service system and highlighting its technological advantages.

China is actively sharing BDS achievements with the world. BDS-related products, technologies and services have been applied in more than half of all countries around the world, said the China Satellite Navigation Office.

China-developed BDS has been contributing to the construction of a community with a shared future for humanity, noted the satellite navigation office.

On July 31, 2020, China officially commissioned BDS, opening the new BDS-3 system to global users.

Since then, the BDS has been committed to providing global users with quality services. It has been continuously optimizing the performance and expanding application modes while ensuring round-the-clock stable operation.

Measured by the global continuous monitoring and evaluation system, the BDS-3 system shows an advanced performance index in providing global positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services, with more outstanding performance in the Asia-Pacific region.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), China will endeavor to build the global services system of BDS, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

China will enhance the tech-competitiveness of BDS, deeply integrate it with other national space infrastructures and ensure that its navigation services and support capabilities peer with the advanced level globally, the NDRC added.

It will strengthen BDS' global services support system by building diverse public service platforms for its application research, testing, certification and license issuance, among others.

The country will also give full play to the short messaging communication and other unique advantages of BDS by establishing a public emergency service platform with global coverage, aiming to provide high-quality services for global users and help with emergency rescue and distress alerts.

China is currently facilitating the development of a national comprehensive PNT system based on the BDS by 2035, according to the China Satellite Navigation Office.

Before 2035, China will complete the construction of a more widely used, integrated and intelligent national comprehensive PNT system. By then, the BDS will serve global users with full-coverage and highly reliable PNT services.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
There should be a law against holding election campaigns while people are trying to enjoy their Easter break. So lets forget politics and think about the strange ways the economy is changing as the old industrial era gives way to the post-industrial, digital era.

The revolution in information and communications technology is working its way through the economy, changing the way it works. The markets for digital products now work very differently from the markets for conventional products.

So, a growing part of the economy consists of markets that dont fit the assumptions economists make in their basic model of markets, as Diane Coyle, an economics professor at Cambridge University, explains in her book, Cogs and Monsters.

The new economy of digital production has put scale economies on steroids. Credit:Joe Benke

And the way we measure the industrial economy  using the national accounts and gross domestic product  isnt designed to capture the new range of benefits that flow from digital markets.
A Very British Scandal

Amazon Prime Video from April 22



The opening scene of A Very British Scandal is sure to spark cognitive dissonance in some viewers. Theres Claire Foy in the back of a sturdy British motor vehicle, wearing furs, pearls and pillbox hat, just as we saw her so often in The Crown.

But the commoners outside are expressing their fury, not their fealty. Slut. Hussy. Disgusting, they yell. One woman even gobs on the window.

Captain Ian Campbell, the Duke of Argyll (Paul Bettany) and his wife Margaret (Claire Foy) in A Very British Scandal. Credit:Amazon Prime Video

Of course, this Foy is not the Queen. Shes Margaret, Duchess of Argyll, whose divorce on grounds of adultery, after 16 years of intense marital disharmony, sparked a tabloid sensation in 1963. The key evidence included a coded diary that appeared to record multiple sexual liaisons, and a photograph of the Duchess performing fellatio on a man whose head was out of frame (the famous headless man of so much speculation, rumour and gossip, whose true identity was never revealed).
I put forward a detailed plan, a detailed proposal which the Labor Party rejects, he said. I have honoured my proposal. The Labor Party dont support it. That is where the issue rests. Scott Morrison, Thursday, April 14

This week Prime Minister Scott Morrison suggested he had kept his side of the bargain to set up a federal anti-corruption agency and blamed Labor for scotching the plan.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged ahead of the 2019 election to create a Commonwealth Integrity Commission. Credit:James Brickwood

What did Morrison promise?

The Prime Minister announced plans for a federal anti-corruption agency on December 13, 2018. In a media release, he promised a serious new commission with teeth, and the clout necessary to protect the integrity of Australias Commonwealth public administration.
Banana. Barbecue. Bird. Its a sunny Thursday afternoon in the centre of Mt Druitt, and 19-year-old Lxgcy  pronounced legacy  is soliciting words for his freestyle from a crowd of local teens.

He tells his audience his real name is Andre Jovanic, but he chose Lgxcy for the stage because its the only thing we leave behind.

Rappers Lgxcy and Esky performing at Street Universitys first block party since the pandemic began. Credit:Rhett Wyman

Its the Street University community centres first block party since the start of the pandemic, an event usually held at the end of each school term to celebrate clients artistic achievements, connect local youths with the organisation, and have some fun. Kids and youth workers are shooting hoops, munching on a sausage sizzle and watching performances from their peers.

Despite his youth, Jovanic is already building a legacy for himself at Street University, the Noffs Foundation-backed community centre he started attending a few years ago when he was looking for a safe space to hang out and explore his creativity. Hes now employed there to run the studio and help other kids to get involved with making music  at the same time as getting noticed for his own.
A motorcycle rider has died in a crash involving another vehicle south of Brisbane on Easter Friday.

Emergency services were called about 12.30pm to Pepper Tree Drive and Teys Road at Holmview, where paramedics assessed four people.

Paramedics attended the crash site in Holmview. Credit:Jocelyn Garcia

A QAS spokeswoman said three patients in the vehicle were stable and did not need transportation to hospital. But a Queensland Police Service spokesman said the fourth person, a 30-year-old male motorcycle rider, died after suffering critical injuries.

Just before 5pm, the spokesman said the forensic crash unit had been sent to the scene and a section of the road, which had been closed for hours, would reopen shortly.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Sirisha Kagithala keeps a close eye on Prime Minister Scott Morrisons social media posts, and she likes what she sees. Last Saturday  the night before he called the federal election  Morrison posted an Instagram selfie showing him cooking a curry to celebrate Australias recently signed free trade deal with India. Half of all residents in Harris Park, in western Sydney, were born in India. Credit:Kate Geraghty Morrison informed his followers that all the dishes hailed from Gujarat, the home province of his dear friend Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It was just the latest example of Morrisons energetic efforts to curry favour, pardon the pun, with Australias Indian diaspora  a rapidly growing demographic group that will play a critical role in several marginal seats in western Sydney. Last year the prime minister posted on Facebook that he likes to listen to a Spotify Bollywood playlist titled Desi hits while cooking his curries. In 2020, before a virtual meeting with Modi, Morrison posted a photo on Twitter of his homemade ScoMosas and mango chutney.

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Kagithala, who became an Australian citizen in 2020, says Morrisons unmissable affection for her birth country and his closeness with Modi are top of mind as she prepares to vote in her first federal election. He respects the culture  I can feel that from his posts, Kagithala, 34, says while walking to work in Harris Park, just a short walk from Paramatta railway station. When we have a festival he acknowledges it and that means a lot. His ties with India are very good. First-time voter Sirisha Kagithala, 34, plans to vote Liberal in her first federal election. Credit:Kate Geraghty The IT worker doesnt think Morrison is perfect; she was particularly disappointed by his response to allegations of sexual assault in Parliament House. But she plans to vote for the Liberal Party on May 21. While Morrison hopes strong support from Indian Australians like Kagithala can help him eke out another come-from-behind election victory, Labor leader Anthony Albanese is also trying to woo the Indian diaspora. Australia without you is simply unimaginable, Albanese told worshippers during a November visit to a Hindu temple in Blacktown.

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Bringing your culture, your faith, your celebrations and activities here enriches all of us. Anthony Albanese visits an Indian food store and temple in Blacktown as part of the Diwali festival. Credit:Nick Moir Andrew Jakubowicz, an expert on ethnic communities at the University of Technology, Sydney, says: Politicians are putting enormous energy into massaging the Indian community. They are going to play an important role in the election. The number of Indian-born residents in Australia soared from 330,000 in 2010 to 721,000 in 2020. As diasporas go, it has overtaken the number of Chinese-born residents and is second only to those born in England. Wigram Street in Harris Park is a hub for the large Indian-Australian community. Credit:Kate Geraghty As well as its sheer size, Jakubowicz says the Indian-Australian community stands out for its high levels of political engagement and the savvy way its leaders work the political system. Strong English language skills and experience with Westminster democracy help Indian migrants quickly adapt to Australias political system. Indian Australians make up a significant share of voters in the key western Sydney seats of Reid and Greenway. In the latter, the Liberals have selected Indian-born financial services professional Pradeep Pathi to compete against sitting member and Labor frontbencher Michelle Rowland.

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But nowhere will voters of Indian heritage be more important than the ultra-competitive seat of Parramatta, where 15 per cent of residents were born in India according to the most recent census. Loading Sitting inside the electorate is Harris Park, nicknamed Little India for its abundance of curry restaurants, Indian grocery stores and sweet shops selling traditional treats like jalebi and gulab jamun. Half of the suburbs residents are Indian-born, a dramatic influx that has transformed the demographics of the suburb, previously a hub for the Lebanese-Australian community. Weve got the numbers if you look at it, Sanjay Deshwal, president of the Little India Harris Park Business Association, says with a beaming smile. Sanjay Deshwal, a migration agent and head of the Harris Park Little India Association. Credit:Steven Siewert The Indian vote will go a long way in deciding who rules in Parramatta.

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After being announced as the Liberal candidate for the electorate earlier this month, Maria Kovacic rushed to meet with local Indian community leaders and hear their policy priorities. Labor candidate Andrew Charlton on Sunday attended a worship celebration at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a thriving Hindu temple in Rosehill. Charlton, who is trying to quickly establish his local credentials after moving from the eastern suburbs, made sure to upload a series of photos from the visit to Facebook the next day. Labors candidate for Parramatta during a visit to a Hindu temple in Rosehill. Credit:Facebook Deshwal, a migration agent who also sells traditional Indian clothes, expects the result in Paramatta to be a close call. But when it comes to the Indian diaspora he says: I think the Liberals definitely have an advantage. Cardiologist Yadu Singh, president of the Federation of Indian Associations of NSW, agrees. Indians are not too much towards the left, he says. They are in the centre, gently leaning towards the right. He continues: We have a lot of lawyers, accountants, doctors. They earn decent money and the perception is the Liberal Party is better for them.

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Kigali: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to take on an army of politically motivated lawyers in the courts as he defended plans to send tens of thousands of migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda.

Johnson threatened further legal reforms to stop opponents foiling his plans to relocate what the government calls illegal migrants crossing the English Channel to the landlocked East African nation where they would be considered for asylum and resettlement.

His doubling down came after 160 charities and campaign groups called on ministers to scrap the shamefully cruel plans.

Migrants arrive at Dover, England, after being picked up in the Channel by the British border force on Thursday. Credit:Getty Images

Labour leader Keir Starmer branded them unworkable, extortionate and an attempt to distract from Johnsons partygate fine for breaching COVID rules.
London: A senior United Nations official says the extent of war crimes committed in Ukraine  in particular horrific acts of sexual violence by Russian troops  could take years to document amid an escalating civilian death toll from the bloody conflict.

Matilda Bogner, the Australian-born head of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said investigators have verified some allegations of rape, torture and summary executions since Russia invaded on February 24, but warned the full scale of death and destruction was a long way off being realised.

Matilda Bogner, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, in Donetsk last year. Credit:TASS

The UN monitoring team has already confirmed more than 2000 civilian deaths, including more than 100 children, and more than 4500 casualties through a painstaking process. But it concedes that number is likely to be well short of the actual total until investigators can access besieged areas such as Mariupol, a port city in south-eastern Ukraine.

Bogner said UN staff were appalled, day after day by the rising death toll and human suffering in cities, towns and villages across the country. She said the past two weeks have also seen the number of forced disappearances of local government officials, journalists and activists in Russian controlled territories skyrocket.
State-owned on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the district administration of Chamba, for development of green hydrogen technologies to produce hydrogen.

The MoU was signed by CMD A K Singh and Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate of Chamba, D C Rana in the presence of state's Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur; Chief Secretary, Ram Subhag Singh and other senior officials of the state government and the company.

"The MoU is for development of green hydrogen technologies... As per the MoU, shall develop a pilot green hydrogen mobility project including hydrogen production. NHPC shall upscale hydrogen production on a commercial scale to supply the hydrogen needs...for sectors like mobility, transportation, heating, micro grid," NHPC said in a statement.

This project will be executed by NHPC Renewable Energy Limited (NREL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NHPC.

Besides, the research and development department of NHPC and Chamera-II Power Station of NHPC will be part of the project.

"Under the project, a 300 kilowatt solar plant will be set up and its energy will be utilised for electrolysis of water to generate green hydrogen. Further hydrogen will be stored in cylinders in compressed form which will be used to run vehicles," A K Pathak, CEO of NREL told PTI over phone.

Pathak, who was also present during the signing of the MoU, further said it is the pilot project of the government, and based on the success of the project, a separate MoU will be signed with the state government for the entire state.

(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.)
It takes only two hours roughly the time it takes for a plane to fly from Delhi to Mumbai  for a pair of pilots to complete their training on the 737 MAX simulator at Boeings centre in Noida, the only one of its kind in India. Going by this estimate, all the 90 Spicejet pilots who the civil aviation regulator barred from flying the 737 MAX can be retrained in 90 hours. Retraining a couple of pilots will take two hours, a Spicejet spokesperson told Business Standard.

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Amid threat of a new variant, nearly 300 samples taken from people who had tested positive for COVID-19 in recently have been sent for genome sequencing, official sources said on Friday.

The sequencing is to be done essentially to find if any new variant, like XE, has circulated in the city or not, amid a spike in daily cases in the last few days.

on Friday recorded 366 new COVID-19 cases and zero death, while the positivity rate rose to 3.95 per cent, according to data shared by the state health department.

About 300 samples taken from people who had tested positive for COVID-19 in a couple of days ago, have been sent for genome sequencing, the sources said.

The sequencing will take about 7-10 days to process, they said.

As flights are operational and people are intermingling, there is always a "chance" that a variant could end up circulating in a city, even from a far off place, where they might have been detected earlier, the sources said.

The WHO has issued a warning against XE, a new variant of Omicron first detected in the UK, and suggested that it could be more transmissible than any COVID-19 strain so far.

The XE variant is a combination or recombinant of both sub-variants BA.1 and BA.2 of Omicron.

Gujarat had reported its first XE variant case after a man from Mumbai tested positive for COVID-19 during his visit to Vadodara, a state official had recently said.

Before this, Mumbai civic body officials had said that a woman who had arrived from South Africa in the end of February and tested positive in March was infected by the XE variant, but the health ministry had not agreed.

The ministry had said that present evidence does not yet indicate that it is a case of the XE variant.

Meanwhile, cases and the positivity rate in the national capital have seen an upward trend in the last few days.

Delhi on Wednesday had logged 299 COVID-19 cases, while the positivity rate had stood at 2.49 per cent, while no death was reported due to the viral infection.

With 366 new cases on Friday, the national capital's overall Covid tally has increased to 18,67,572 while the death toll stood at 26,158.

Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on April 11 had said that the Delhi government is keeping a watchful eye over the COVID-19 situation and there is no reason to worry until a new variant of concern is detected.

Everyday a new variant is getting generated as the virus is mutating," he had told reporters.

(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 Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), a right wing organisation, has demanded compliance of the Bombay High Court's ruling given in 2016, in which it had directed removal of illegal loudspeakers installed at religious places, including mosques, in Maharashtra.

It also demanded strict action against the police who failed to act on the high court's order in this regard.

"The Maharashtra police did not comply with the high court's clear order given in 2016 to remove unauthorised loudspeakers from all religious places in the state on the public interest litigation filed by us. Therefore, in 2018, we again filed a contempt petition in the high court against that. The plea could not be heard during the coronavirus pandemic," petitioner Santosh Pachalag from Navi Mumbai was quoted as saying in a release.

"However, in order to give justice to people, the contempt petition should be heard as soon as possible and strict action should be taken against the police for violating the rules and for not following the court order," he said.

He was speaking in an online interaction organised by the HJS on 'Why doesn't the court order apply to the loudspeakers on '.

Speaking during the interaction, Supreme Court lawyer Gaurav Goyal said, "Action should have been taken after the court order against the unauthorised loudspeakers on . This has caused the contempt of the court. The use of loudspeakers by is causing a lot of noise pollution and affecting the citizens."



HJS spokesperson Narendra Surve said, "Among Muslims, there are many sects like Wahhabi, Sunni, Shia, Salafi and they do not go to each others' mosque. Therefore, when one azaan (call for prayer) ends, that of other's starts...Political leaders do not tackle this problem of illegal bells to appease Muslims.

(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.)
Chief Minister M K Stalin on Friday urged the Centre to allow the State to ship essential commodities from the Thoothukudi port to as humanitarian aid to the people, especially Tamils, severely affected by the food crisis there.

Recalling his discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue on March 31, the Chief Minister reiterated government's commitment to ship foodgrains, vegetables and medicines from the port for the Tamils in northern and eastern parts of Lanka and its capital Colombo as well as those working in the plantations.

"It has now been reported that the Union government has enabled the shipping of food and other essential commodities to ...(hence) I request that this may be facilitated at the earliest in view of the worsening situation in Lanka," Stalin said in a letter addressed to Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

During his meeting in March, he had apprised the Prime Minister about Tamil Nadu's willingness to provide essential commodities and life-saving medicines to the Lankan Tamils.

"During our recent telephonic conversation on April 7, I had also brought to your notice that the State has been receiving Lankan Tamils forced to leave their country amid the escalating economic crisis that is turning into a humanitarian crisis," Stalin said in the letter a copy of which was made available to the media here.

He had said such measures could be considered after due consultation with the Indian Mission in Lanka.

Drawing Jaishankar's attention to the plight of the 12 Indian fishermen apprehended on March 23, the Chief Minister said the Killinochchi court adjourned the case to May 12 with instructions that the fishermen could be released on bail on a personal bond of Lankan rupees 2 crore per person.

"As this is a prohibitive amount, the fishermen can never furnish it. They are presently lodged in the Jaffna prison," Stalin said and requested Jaishankar's immediate intervention in this regard and also sought all legal support and assistance to the poor fishermen to ensure their early release.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Home Minister will be on a three-day trip to Madhya Pradesh, and between April 22 and April 24, top government sources said.

During the visit, Shah will be in on April 22 followed by on April 23 and on April 24.

On April 22, the Home Minister will be participating in the 48th All India Police Science Congress (AIPSC) meeting in Bhopal as the chief guest at 11 am.

Police in association with the Home Ministry and the Bureau of Police Research and Development is organising the event at the police headquarters in Bhopal. Police officers, academicians, researchers, judicial and scientific experts will present their papers at the meet

The Union Home Minister will visit to pay tributes to freedom fighter Veer Kunwar Singh on April 23. Shah will also attend a program in Jagdishpur in Bihar's Arrah district on the same day in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers will be present with 75 thousand flags.

"The programme will be a non-political event. The coming generation will be informed about the sacrifice of Veer Kunwar Singh. The programme will be organized under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th year of India's independence," said sources.

On April 23, the Home Minister will reach to attend an event.

(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.)
Bihar Chief Minister on Thursday expressed grief over the death of two young migrants from the state in a fire that broke out at a garment factory in Uttar Pradesh's .

Kumar announced an ex-gratia of Rs two lakh for the next of the kin of each deceased and directed the state's resident commissioner to get in touch with authorities concerned in and make arrangements for bringing back their bodies.

The deceased have been identified as Muntashir and Ejaz, both of them residents of Araria district.

(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 Friday announced setting up a committee for considering a revision of auto and taxi fare in a time-bound manner, even as their unions asserted they will go on a strike on April 18 over their demand to raise the rates in view of the increasing fuel prices.

Through a tweet, Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot announced the formation of the fare-fixation committee, saying the Kejriwal government understands the concerns of auto and taxi unions in the city.

"Due to the rising fuel prices, auto/taxi unions have been demanding revision of fares. @ArvindKejriwal govt. understands their concerns. A committee shall soon be constituted by transport Dept for this purpose, which shall furnish its recommendations in a time-bound manner," he said.

The committee is expected to be notified by Transport Department on Monday. It will have representatives of auto-taxi unions, commuters and officials as members, a senior transport department officer said.

However, office-bearers of various auto taxi unions in a press conference expressed their resolve to go on strike on April 18.

"We do not know when the committee will be formed and what will it recommend. Our demand is not just fare hike but also efforts by as well as the Centre to ensure that CNG prices to bring down to previous levels," said Ravi Rathor, president of Sarvodaya Drivers Welfare Association.

He said that all the unions of drivers of autos and taxis plying in the city agree to go on the strike.

The auto fares were last revised in 2019 while were revised in 2013. The in June 2019 had notified new auto-rickshaw fares, effecting more than 18 per cent increase over prevailing rates and raising per Km charge from Rs 8 to Rs 9.5.

With a fresh hike of Rs 2.5 in CNG prices, the members of auto, taxi and cab drivers' associations on Thursday warned authorities that they will go on a strike from April 18 to press for their demand of subsidy on gas prices.

On April 11, hundreds of auto, taxi and cab drivers staged a protest at the Delhi secretariat, demanding a subsidy on CNG prices. The protest was held under the aegis of the Delhi Sangh.

Bus operators too have announced to join the strike by auto and taxi unions in the city.

"We are also hit by the impact of Covid in the past two years and now the shooting CNG prices. Our members will also join the strike on April 18 and the private buses will not ply on that day," said Shyamlal Gola, general secretary of STA Operators Ekta Manch.

General Secretary of Delhi Sangh, Rajendra Soni said, Price of CNG is soaring every single day and we are demanding the government to provide us a subsidy of Rs 35 per kg.

The auto and taxi association of Delhi had written a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on April 6 demanding that they be provided with a subsidy of Rs 35 per kg on CNG.

CNG price was hiked once again by Rs 2.5 per kg in the national capital on Thursday. The price of CNG is currently Rs 71.61 per kg in Delhi.

(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.)
Justice N.V. Ramana on Friday said that the judiciary is overburdened and that he is giving priority to filling up vacancies of judges and improving infrastructure to deal with the backlog of cases.

He said after taking over as the CJI, he took up both these issues.

"The reason is access to justice is possible only when we provide sufficient number of courts as well as infrastructure so that litigant public can approach the institution for justice," he said at the inaugural session of two-day conference of judicial officers of Telangana here.

"Our judiciary is overburdened. It is an admitted fact and there is no dispute that pendency has increased in courts and the reasons are hundreds. In these circumstances, the feeling is that once you go to court. how many years will it take for the result. It's a big question mark. With the hierarchy of the appeal system in the country, it takes more time," he observed.

"That's why I felt it necessary to appoint as many judges as possible. I don't want to keep even one vacancy in high courts or or district judiciary and also strengthen the system," he added.

Chief Justice Ramana said a detailed survey by the registry in different parts of the country found that infrastructure in courts is very inadequate and he requested the Centre to strengthen it.

He urged the judges to come out of fear of pandemic. "Please make sincere efforts to spend extra time in courts, beyond regular court hours," he said and exuded confidence that the judges would do their bit to deal with the backlog.

He told them without improving the internal efficacy of the system, the goal can't be achieved.

"Targeted action and effective case management can make a big difference," he said and advised judges to use alternate dispute resolution methods whenever possible.

The CJI exhorted judicial officers to perform their judicial duties without any fear.

"I am aware of the increasing physical attacks on judges. I am doing my utmost to prevent such occurrences. Directions were issued to improve security of judicial officers both inside and outside courts," he said.

He requested judicial officers to create a congenial environment for litigants who would be under a lot of stress.

"Always remember the human aspect of the dispute. Law cannot be far from equity. It is important to project the human face of the judiciary whenever you have scope for invoking your discretion. You must sensitise yourself to different vulnerabilities of the parties like minors, women, persons belonging to weaker sections of the society, persons with disabilities etc. They might all have different requirements. Treat everyone with respect."

He told the judges that the role they play is highly significant in the Constitutional scheme.

"Apply your mind independently on the materials presented before you. For instance, the requirements of criminal procedure code are not mere formalities. They are all important checks on executive excesses and represent substantive rights of the accused."

He pointed out that the law is constantly changing. High courts and give numerous pronouncements on diverse subjects daily, legislations are passed, guidelines and circulars are published frequently.

"You must keep yourself updated. Learning in this field never stops. Only when you are aware about changing law and precedents, you will be able to use the same to cases before you and ensure justice."

Chief Justice Ramana said after he took over as CJI, he cleared the file pending for two years to increase the number of judges of the Telangana High Court from 24 to 42.

All praise for Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for sanctioning 4,320 posts in the judiciary, he said at a time when governments were doing away with government jobs and making appointments only on contract basis, this was not a mean achievement.

The CJI also hailed the Chief Minister for translating his dream of setting up International Arbitration and Mediation Centre (IAMC) in Hyderabad a reality. He noted that with several global companies located in Hyderabad, the centre will ensure early resolution of disputes and thus contribute to strengthening of the economy.

Noting that demands are also coming from Maharashtra and other states to set up arbitration and mediation centres, he suggested that once IAMC at Hyderabad strengthens itself, franchise centres can come up in other states.

The Chief Minister thanked CJI for increasing the number of judges in Telangana High Court. He announced that the government will build residential quarters for all 42 judges of the High Court on 30-42 acres of land near Durgam Cheruvu in the Financial District and requested the CJI to lay foundation stone for the same.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Meghalaya chief minister on Thursday condemned the Centre's decision to make a compulsory subject till Class 10 in the north-east region, "without taking sentiments of people into consideration".

Sangma, the leader of the opposition (LoP) in the state assembly, said he was perturbed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah's comment that "all northeast states have agreed" to the Centre's decision.

Shah had said at a meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee in New Delhi on April 7 that all northeast states have agreed to make compulsory in schools till Class 10.

"The sentiment of people of the region was not taken into consideration when the Centre took the decision. The state governments should have articulated what would be the feeling of the northeast residents, he said.

Referring to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma's comment that one should learn Hindi, the leader of the opposition said, Who is stopping people from learning Nobody is doing that whether it is German or French language."



It is very "important to understand and respect the sentiment of people belonging to different communities from the linguistic perspective", the LoP said.

The former chief minister also admitted that he had studied Hindi in his school.

We used to have Hindi classes in school but it was never meant to be a compulsory subject," he said.

"People will find a way to equip themselves with knowledge of multiple languages. It is always going to be advantageous for someone to know multiple languages but it doesn't mean you should force everyone to learn a particular language," he said.

Meanwhile, the Students' Organisation (NESO), a conglomeration of eight student bodies, has taken umbrage over the Centre's decision to make Hindi a compulsory subject till Class 10 in the region, contending that the move will be detrimental to indigenous languages and will create disharmony.

(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.)
In a strong message to China, has said that if harmed, India will not spare anyone, as he asserted that India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as a powerful country and is headed to be among the top three economies of the world.

Singh, in his address to the Indian-American community in San Francisco, also sent a subtle message to the US that New Delhi does not believe in a diplomacy of zero-sum game and its relationship with one country cannot be at the expense of the other.

The was here to attend the India US 2+2 ministerial in Washington DC. Thereafter, he travelled to Hawaii for meetings at IndoPACOM headquarters and then to San Francisco.

At a reception hosted in his honour by the Indian Consulate in San Francisco, the told the select gathering about the valour shown by Indian soldiers on the border with .

I cannot say openly what they (Indian soldiers) did and what decisions we (the government) took. But I can definitely say that a message has gone (to China) that India will not spare anyone, if India is harmed. (Bharat ko agar koi chherega to Bharat chhorega nahi, he said.

The Ladakh border standoff between the Indian and Chinese militaries erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong lake areas. The face-off escalated after the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15, 2020. As many as 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese troops were killed in the clashes.

India and have held 15 rounds of military talks so far to resolve the eastern Ladakh standoff. As a result of the talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process last year in the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.

Without making any direct reference to the American pressure with respect to Russia because of the Ukraine war, Singh said India does not believe in a zero-sum game diplomacy.

If India has a good relationship with one country, it does not mean that its relationship with any other country will deteriorate, he said. India has never adopted this kind of diplomacy. India will never opt for this (kind of diplomacy). We don't believe in the zero-sum game in international relationships, he said.

India, he said, believes in having a bilateral relationship which is based on win-win for both the countries.

His remarks came amidst some disquiet in Washington over India's position on the Ukraine crisis as well as its decision to procure discounted Russian oil.

The image of India has changed. The prestige of India has improved. In the next few years, no power in the world can stop India from becoming the world's top three economies, Singh said.

In his address to the Indian community, Singh said that in the past, if any country in the world wanted to develop and prosper, they always thought about establishing a vibrant trade with India.

We should aim at establishing a similar ecosystem in India by the time we celebrate our 100th independence Day in 2047, he said.

The defence minister said that during his last trip to the US in 2013, at a reception in New Jersey he had told a group of Indian Americans that "the success story of India is not over, it is waiting for the BJP to come into power. At that time, people were disappointed with the performance of the then Congress government."



In eight years, he said, the Modi government has "turned around" the country and the image of India has changed for the better.

(Globally) people have now realised that India is no longer a weak country. It is a powerful country of the world. Today India has the potential to lead the world. This potential of India is something that the world has now realised, he said.

Nothing else could be a grand achievement for a country like India in such a short span, he said.

"There have been several prime ministers in India who became the leader of the country after they occupied this post. But like Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Narendra Modi were the country's leaders even before they became the prime minister," he said.

Today we have a new and confident Bharat, he said, adding that India is now headed towards becoming a self-reliant country and the Modi government is taking several important steps in this regard, including in the defence sector, he said.

India has taken several key steps towards indigenisation of its defence sector, he said as he briefly described some of such decisions being taken by the government.

Observing that India has a lot of faith and confidence in the country's IT sector, the defence minister said that Indian talents are playing a major role in the world's IT sector and the Modi government has taken steps towards massive digitisation.

India today, he said, is marching ahead to become an economic power and the government is not only working towards the welfare and prosperity of its people, but also helping people in other parts of the world as well.

India is now among the world's fastest growing economies. Our economy did suffer a setback due to the pandemic. But now we are having a fast recovery, he 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.)
Prime Minister on Friday said that the country is going to get a record number of new in the coming 10 years.

His remarks came after he inaugurated the KK Patel Super Speciality Hospital in the Bhuj district of Gujarat via video conferencing.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, PM Modi said, "Hospital in Bhuj will make good quality healthcare accessible to people at affordable price. Two decades ago, there were only nine medical colleges in Gujarat with only 1,100 seats. Today we have more than 36 medical colleges with 6,000 seats."

The Prime Minister also assured that India will get a record number of in the coming ten years for better health facilities. "Whether it is the goal of building medical colleges in every district of the country or efforts to make medical education accessible to all, the country is going to get a record number of new in the coming 10 years," PM Modi said.

Further, he described the meaning of 'better health facilities' and said that they are not restricted only to the treatment of diseases.

"Better health facilities are not just limited to the treatment of diseases, they also promote social justice. When a poor get access to the cheap and best treatment, his faith in the system gets stronger," PM Modi stated.

The hospital has been built by Shree Kutchi Leva Patel Samaj, Bhuj. This is the first charitable super speciality hospital in Kutch and is a 200 bedded hospital, according to PMO.

"It provides super speciality services such as Interventional Cardiology (Cathlab), Cardiothoracic Surgery, Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology, Surgical Oncology, Nephrology, Urology, Nuclear Medicine, Neuro Surgery, Joint Replacement and other supportive services like laboratory, radiology etc," PMO said.

Further, the PMO said that the hospital makes medical super speciality services easily accessible for the people of the region, at an affordable price.

(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.)
Indian citizens, without transit or regular Schengen visas, are unable to fly to the UK through European Union airlines like Lufthansa, KLM and Air France as they are stopped at the origin airports in India itself.

As the UK is no longer part of the European Union, it has, post Brexit, made mandatory of for non-EU citizens to get a transit in order to fly to the UK on transit flights operated by its airlines.

is a short-term visa that allows its holder to travel freely throughout the Schengen area, which covers 26 EU countries or "Schengen States" without border controls between them.

The move took place on January 1 last year.

Non-EU citizens can fly to the UK without transit or regular only through non-stop flights or by one stop flights only through Gulf countries or Switzerland. The EU rule does not apply for Switzerland as it is not a member of the Union.

However, there are several services which fly directly to the United Kingdom.

After India resumed scheduled international flights, foreign airlines have started offering one-stop connections between India and the rest of the world.

Following the Russia-Ukraine conflict, this one-stop business has also increased significantly.

Last year, Air India had announced non-stop flights between India and the 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.)
Delhi president Anil Kumar has urged Chief Minister to speed up the RT-PCR test in view of the increasing cases of Covid-19 in the national capital.

He said that the lockdown and closure of schools will not be the solution to deal with the pandemic.

Kumar said that the Delhi had demanded that booster doses should be given free of cost to all eligible people in tie-up with private hospitals.

The Delhi government should take immediate action on this so that the spread of Covid-19 can be stopped. The XE version of the virus is a serious concern, he said.

He said the Kejriwal government should ensure that people follow the Covid-19 protocol in public, instead of taking an easier route by imposing another total shutdown.

The leader also said that hospitals should be kept ready to deal with any situation.

Kumar also took a jibe at Kejriwal, saying the Delhi Chief Minister should spend more time in Delhi and "stop teaching Punjab bureaucrats".

--IANS

ptk/pgh

(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 government on Friday clarified that no have been imposed for any sector in the state.

State Transmission Corporation (TS Transco) said the power supply to the agriculture sector in some parts of the state was disrupted due to some unavoidable reasons.

Prabhakar Rao, CMD, TS Transco and General Corporation (Genco), stated that the supply to agriculture sector was affected on Thursday due to some communication gap in Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (NPDCL).

"From today, 24-hour free power supply to farmers in the state will continue as usual," he said.

The CMD assured that there will be no disruption in supply anywhere in the state. He said the farmers need not have any worries as they will continue to get round-the-clock free supply.

His clarification came amid reports that following substantial rise in the demand for power, the agriculture sector is witnessing ranging from six to 10 hours. Farmers in some areas had complained that the three-phase power supply was being stopped from 6 p.m. to 12 p.m. daily.

This has created concern among farmers as the would adversely affect standing crops. The harvesting of Rabi crop has begun in some districts and farmers need water for another 10 days at least.

Officials said there were no power cuts for domestic, agriculture and industrial sectors in the state despite higher-than-expected demand this year. The power demand has gone up by 15 per cent over last year.

Power consumption on April 12 touched 12,842 MW, against 11,458 MW last year on the same day. The consumption has gone up due to rise in temperatures across the state.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP Chief J.P. Nadda on Thursday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's special attachment to the is not political but of soul and feeling of patriotism.

He was speaking at the launch of a book "Heartfelt -- The Legacy of Faith" at Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.

"Prime Minister Modi's attachment to the is not political but of soul and a feeling of patriotism. It is the dedication of our Prime Minister to the contribution of Sikhism in making India strong," Nadda said.

Mentioning that Prime Minister Modi has fulfilled many long-pending demands of the Sikh community, the BJP Chief said he (Modi) has deep understanding of Sikhs and Sikhism.

Talking about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by the Modi government, he said, "Some political leaders do not understand the issues of national importance and created a lot of noise and tried to disturb the atmosphere."

Nadda added that leaders opposing CAA knew that in the past more than 50,000 Sikh families used to live in Afghanistan but as of now there are only a few families left.

"Prime Minister Modi gave the right to live with dignity to people who came from Afghanistan along with those who came to India from Pakistan and Bangladesh," he said.

He also noted that Sikhs who came from Pakistan after independence and settled in Jammu and Kashmir got their due legal status after the abrogation of Article 370.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Minister on Thursday shared an anecdote and said he had once told industrialist that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) did not discriminate on the basis of religion.

Gadkari, who inaugurated a hospital in Pune, said when he was a minister in the Maharashtra government, one of the functionaries had requested him to help in getting for the inauguration of a hospital.

"During the inauguration, asked me if this hospital is only for the Hindu community, to which I asked him why he feels that? He (Ratan Tata) replied as it is an hospital. I told him that it is for every community and there is nothing like this in RSS," he added.

The Union Minister said more needs to be done to improve health and education infrastructure in the country.

"In the education and health sector, the facilities are not available as required in the country. If the urban area has the facilities, the situation in the rural areas is not good, especially the situation of education. But the facilities are improving," he said.

Gadkari also said that he "does only 10 per cent politics and 90 per cent social work".

(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.)
Notwithstanding its continuing military strikes against Ukraine, has started supplying some components of the second regiment of the S-400 Triumf missile defence system to India, people familiar with the development said on Friday.

However, they added that not all key parts of the regiment have been supplied yet.

The supplies came amid increasing concerns in New Delhi over possible delays in the supply of major military hardware to by in view of the crisis in Ukraine.

" has started delivering some components of the second regiment of the S-400 missile system. Not all key parts of the regiment have been supplied yet," said one of the people cited above.

It is understood that the components supplied included simulators.

Russia had started delivery of the first regiment of the missile in December.

The missile system has already been deployed in such a way that it can cover parts of the border with China in the northern sector as well as the frontier with Pakistan.

It is learnt that the issue of India-Russia defence ties figured during Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to two weeks ago.

Last month, Russia said that there will be no impact of the Western sanctions against it on the supply of S-400 missile systems to .

"As regards the S-400 deal, be rest assured that it will not be impacted in any way. It is a 100 surety," Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov had said.

The Western countries have imposed severe sanctions on Russia in the last few days following its military invasion of Ukraine.

In October 2018, India had signed a USD 5 billion deal with Russia to buy five units of the S-400 air defence missile systems, despite a warning from the Trump administration that going ahead with the contract may invite US sanctions.

Russia has been a major supplier of military hardware to India. The two countries have been holding discussions on what kind of payment mechanisms can work between them in view of the Western sanctions on Moscow.

Unlike many other leading powers, India has not yet directly criticised Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and it abstained from the votes at the UN platforms in condemning the Russian aggression.

India has been pressing for the resolution of the crisis through diplomacy and dialogue.

Prime Minister has held phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, March 2 and March 7.

Modi had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy twice.

Earlier this month, External Affairs Minister S 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.

(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.)
and his wife Usha Naidu visited the temple cities of and in Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

The offered prayers at the Ram Janmabhoomi site amid the chanting of hymns by priests.

Naidu and his wife reached from Lucknow on a special train. They were received at the railway station by Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Faizabad MP Lallu Singh and other public representatives.

In a tweet, the Vice President's Secretariat said, "The Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu and his spouse Smt Usha Naidu at the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple site in Ayodhya today. They were accompanied by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh Smt Anandiben Patel and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Shri Keshav Prasad Maurya."



Naidu and his wife went straight to the Ram Janmabhoomi site from the railway station and were welcomed by priests amid the chanting of Vedic hymns. The vice president was also given a detailed presentation on the construction of the Ram temple.

After offering prayers to Lord Ram, Naidu also worshipped the flag installed in the sanctum sanctorum of the proposed Ram temple.

In a note in the visitor's book of the Ram temple, Naidu said he felt "blessed" after the visit to the shrine.

Lord Shri Ram and this temple, once built, will enhance India's pride, he said, adding that he considers himself lucky to be able to bow his head before in the sanctum sanctorum.

The vice president also met some seers. He posed for pictures with the team of engineers and construction workers of the Ram temple.

He also visited the famous Hanumangarhi temple and offered prayers there.

Later in the evening, Naidu reached by the special train. He was welcomed by Patel and Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak.

Naidu participated in the 'Ganga aarti' with his wife at the Dashashwamedh Ghat. He is scheduled to visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple on Saturday morning.

The vice president is also expected to visit the Kamal Bhairav temple and the Pt Deendayal Upadhyay memorial.

(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.)
In a big breakthrough, Egypt, the worlds largest importer of Russian and Ukrainian wheat, has approved India as one of its suppliers, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said. is likely to lift about one million tonnes of from India, of which 240,000 tonnes will be shipped in April itself.

However, this is a very small proportion of the total annual purchases by the African country, which buys 11-12 million tonnes of from Russia, and other countries in a year.

Sources said that export was approved after a rigorous process of field visits and checks in quarantine facilities in India by Egyptian authorities following complaints of Indian wheat containing 'karnal bunt' disease.

The teams visited wheat fields in Madhya Pradesh, UP and Punjab to check for themselves the quality of wheat produced in India. India aims to export 10-11 million tonnes of wheat in FY23 due to the surge in global demand following the Russia- crisis.

imported wheat worth about USD 1.8 billion from and USD 610.8 million from in 2020.

Indian farmers are feeding the world. approves India as a wheat supplier. Modi Govt. steps in as the world looks for reliable alternate sources for steady food supply. Our farmers have ensured our granaries overflow and we are ready to serve the world, Goyal said in a tweet.

Later in the evening in a press conference, in Mumbai, Goyal said that Egypt has allowed the imports following personal intervention of top officials and India wants to become a regular supplier of good quality wheat to the African nation.

"We are hoping to achieve a wheat export target of at least 10 million tonnes in Fy-23 which can even go up to 15 million tonnes if conditions remain favourable," the minister said.

He said in the first week of April 2022, total merchandise exports have crossed $9 billion which is very encouraging because April is usually considered a slow month for exports and in March 2022 we crossed $42 billion of exports.



India's wheat exports rose to $1.74 billion in April-January 2021-22 as against $340.17 million in the same period last year.

In 2019-20, wheat exports were worth USD 61.84 million, which rose to USD 549.67 million in 2020-21.

India's wheat exports are mainly to neighbouring countries with Bangladesh having the largest share of more than 54 per cent in both volume and value terms in 2020-21.

It has entered new wheat markets such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar and Indonesia. In all, the country is targeting to replace and Ukraine in 30-odd wheat importing countries across the globe, senior government officials said.

Of these 30 countries, 10-15 are existing customers of Indian wheat along with that of and Ukraine, but Indias share is less in the total volume of imports.





That apart, there is another lot of 10-15 countries that have been exclusive buyers of Russian and Ukrainian wheat since the last several decades, which includes Egypt.

The top ten countries importing Indian wheat in 2020-21 were Bangladesh, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar, Indonesia, Oman and Malaysia. India accounts for less than 1 per cent in the world's wheat export. However, its share has increased from 0.14 per cent in 2016 to 0.54 per cent in 2020.

India is the second largest producer of wheat with a share of around 14.14 per cent in the world's total production in 2020. India produces around 107.59 million tonnes of wheat annually while a major chunk of it goes towards domestic consumption, which is estimated to be around 98 million tonnes.

This leaves around 10-12 million tonnes in surplus for exports. Major wheat growing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat.

Prices of Indian Indian wheat prices in the world markets had shot up to around $360 per tonne (FOB) a few days back in the aftermath of the crisis cooling down a bit to around $330-$340 per tonne (FOB) in the last few days.

The current price of Indian wheat is still the cheapest among all global competitors and the absence of Ukraine and Russia from the world markets for the next few months will give Indian traders a golden chance to ship record quantities.

Because of the jump in exports, wheat procurement in Fy-23 is expected to be much less than the targeted 44.4 million tonnes as farmers are preferring to sell wheat to private traders at rates higher than the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 2015 per quintal.

Till April 11, 2022, wheat procurement in Central pool was almost 30 per cent less than last year. But, it is expected to pick up pace in the next few days. However, traders said that total procurement this year is expected to be around 30-32 million tonnes, much less than the targeted 44.4 million tonnes.
On a day that saw Moscow suffer a stinging symbolic defeat with the loss of its Black Sea fleet flagship, Ukraine's president hailed his people for their resolve since invaded in February and for making the most important decision of their life to fight.

In his nightly address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians late Thursday that they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the invaders gave us a maximum of five.

Back then even friendly world leaders urged him to leave, unsure whether could survive, he said: But they didn't know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want.

Listing the ways has defended against the onslaught, Zelenskyy noted those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it's to the bottom of the sea.

It was his only reference to the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, named for the Russian capital, which became a potent target of Ukrainian defiance in the opening days of the war. It sank Thursday while being towed to port after suffering heavy damage under circumstances that remained under dispute.

Ukrainian officials said their forces struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack. U.S. and other Western officials could not confirm what caused the blaze. In any case, the loss was a symbolic defeat for as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern after retreating from much of the north, including the capital, Kyiv.

The Moskva had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal reduces Russia's firepower in the Black Sea. It's also a blow to Moscow's prestige in a war already widely seen as a historic blunder. Now entering its eighth week, the invasion has stalled amid resistance from Ukrainian fighters bolstered by weapons and other aid sent by Western nations.

During the first days of the war, the Moskva was reportedly the ship that called on Ukrainian soldiers stationed on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender in a standoff. In a widely circulated recording, a soldier responded: Russian warship, go (expletive) yourself.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the incident, but Ukraine and its supporters consider it an iconic moment of defiance. The country recently unveiled a postage stamp commemorating it.

The news about the flagship overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Moscow's forces have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war at a horrific cost to civilians.

Dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol are holding out against a siege that has trapped well over 100,000 civilians in desperate need of food, water and heating. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told AP in an interview Thursday that people are being starved to death in the besieged city.

Mariupol's mayor said this week that more than 10,000 civilians had died and the death toll could surpass 20,000, after weeks of attacks and privation carpeted the streets with corpses.

Mariupol's capture is critical for because it would allow its forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland and the target of the coming offensive.

The Russian military continues to move helicopters and other equipment together for such an effort, according to a senior U.S. defense official, and it is likely to add more ground combat units soon. But it's still unclear when Russia could launch a bigger offensive in the Donbas.

Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukraine in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea. Russia has recognized the independence of the rebel regions in the Donbas.

The loss of the Moskva could delay any new, wide-ranging offensive.

Maksym Marchenko, governor of the Odesa region, said Ukrainian forces struck the ship with two Neptune missiles and caused serious damage.

Russia's Defense Ministry said ammunition on board detonated as a result of a fire, without saying what caused the blaze. It said the main missile weapons were not damaged and that the crew, usually numbering about 500, abandoned the vessel. It wasn't clear if there were any casualties. In addition to the cruise missiles, the warship also had air-defense missiles and other guns.

The Neptune is an anti-ship missile that was recently developed by Ukraine based on an earlier Soviet design. The launchers are mounted on trucks stationed near the coast, and, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Studies, can hit targets up to 280 kilometers (175 miles) away. That would have put the Moskva within range, based on where it was when the fire began.

Launched as the Slava in 1979, the cruiser saw service in the Cold War and during conflicts in Georgia and Syria, and helped conduct peacetime scientific research with the United States. During the Cold War, it carried nuclear weapons.

On Thursday, other Russian ships in the northern Black Sea moved farther south after the Moskva incident, said a senior U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military assessments.

While the U.S. was not able to confirm Ukraine's claims of striking the warship, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan called it a big blow to Russia."



They've had to kind of choose between two stories: One story is that it was just incompetence, and the other was that they came under attack, and neither is a particularly good outcome for them, Sullivan told the Economic Club of Washington.

Russia invaded Feb. 24 and has lost potentially thousands of fighters. The conflict has killed untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions more to flee.

It has also further inflated prices at grocery stores and gasoline pumps, while dragging on the global economy. The head of the Monetary Fund said Thursday that the war helped push the organisation to downgrade economic forecasts for 143 countries.

Also Thursday, Russian authorities accused Ukraine of sending two low-flying military helicopters some 11 kilometers (7 miles) across the border and firing on residential buildings in the village of Klimovo, in Russia's Bryansk region. Russia's Investigative Committee said seven people, including a toddler, were wounded.

Russia's state security service had earlier said Ukrainian forces fired mortar rounds at a border post in Bryansk as refugees were crossing, forcing them to flee.

The reports could not be independently verified.
Banks of "unfriendly countries" are delaying payments for Russian energy, Russian President has said.

"There are failures in payment for export deliveries of Russian energy resources. Banks from these most unfriendly countries are delaying the transfer of payments," he said at a meeting on the situation in the oil and gas sector.

The president recalled that the task had already been set to switch settlements to the national currency, to gradually move away from the US dollar and the euro.

The Russian foreign exchange market must be prepared for a radical increase in the share of settlements in national currencies in Russia's foreign trade so that any of these currencies can be free and in the right amount exchanged for Russian rubles, this is a strategic task, Putin said.

"In general, we intend to radically increase the share of settlements in national currencies in the foreign trade system. Important steps are already being taken in these areas, and the key task here is to prepare our foreign exchange market for such a transition so that any foreign currency can be free and in the required amount exchanged into Russian rubles," Putin said.

"I repeat, the rejection of unreliable, compromised currency jurisdictions is a strategic task in terms of the financial and economic security of our country, important for maintaining and increasing foreign trade, establishing stable ties with predictable partners who are true to their word and value their business reputation, understand the consequences of their decisions," the president added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Canadian Minister of National Defence, Anita Anand has announced that up to 150 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel could deploy to on a humanitarian mission to support Ukrainian refugees.

Anand said on Thursday that with the immediate deployment of nearly 100 CAF personnel in the coming days they will provide assistance in reception centres operated by the Polish Territorial Defence Force located across the country. These centres are coordinating the onward movement of Ukrainian refugees in and across Europe.

The CAF will provide support, limited medical care, mental health support and spiritual services, enabled by Ukrainian-speaking CAF personnel to assist with the immediate care and processing of refugees, she added.

"In many ways, the world is a much less safe place than it was two years ago, and certainly two months ago, and we must take stock and take action in order to remain a valuable reliable ally and partner for decades to come," she said.

According to the Defence Ministry, has committed 145 million Canadian dollars ($116 million) in humanitarian assistance, and 35 million Canadian dollars ($28 million) in development assistance to provide direct support to Ukrainians, Xinhua news agency reported.

has also announced more than 110 million Canadian dollars ($88 million) in military aid, and is providing military aid, both lethal and non-lethal, to support Ukraine.

Canada's Budget 2022 proposed to provide an additional 500 million Canadian dollars ($400 million) in 2022-23 to provide further military aid to Ukraine.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinas central bank cut the amount of cash banks must hold in reserve, stepping up its monetary policy action to cushion the economy from its worst Covid outbreak since early 2020.

The Peoples Bank of lowered the reserve requirement ratio for most banks by 25 basis points and for smaller banks by 50 basis points, according to a statement published Friday.

The move was signalled by the State Council, Chinas cabinet, at a meeting on Wednesday, and followed repeated warnings from top officials about risks to growth and the need for more monetary and fiscal stimulus.

Stringent measures to contain the Covid outbreak have disrupted production, strained supply chains and curbed consumer spending, prompting several economists to downgrade their growth forecasts for the year to well below the governments target of around 5.5 per cent.
on Friday reported more than 3,400 positive and 20,700 asymptomatic cases, majority of them in as the city of 26 million continued to reel under over fortnight-long lockdown to contain the virus amid growing discontent among locals over lack of food and medical supplies.

The positive cases continued to be the highest in .

The Chinese mainland on Thursday reported 3,472 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, besides 20,782 asymptomatic cases, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).

China's economic hub reported 3,200 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 19,872 local asymptomatic carriers on Thursday, the municipal health commission said on Friday.

The city has already conducted many rounds of testing and built temporary hospitals, including in stadiums and swimming pools to treat both positive and asymptomatic cases.

On Wednesday reported 3,020 new confirmed and 26,391 asymptomatic COVID infections as the cases continue the spiral upward challenging the country's zero-virus case policy.

Over the past 24 hours, 28,778 close contacts of patients were released from medical observation on the mainland, the NHC said.

Significantly, the cases of coronavirus, which emerged first in Wuhan 2019 and turned into a global pandemic, are spiralling in when the rest of the world began relaxing all the controls after bringing the virus under control.

The situation in Shanghai is so disquieting that even the official Chinese media started highlighting the public discontent.

As the city of Shanghai is going through the most difficult time in its fight against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, doubt, anxiety and fatigue are noticeable among local residents and some heart-wrenching stories could easily arouse the public mood, the state-run Global Times reported on Friday.

It is indeed the most difficult time for Shanghai as intensive public anger flooded the internet, the report said.

Millions of people in Shanghai faced various difficulties in the past weeks such as food shortage, delayed transfer of their infected neighbours to collective quarantine places, and the chaotic handling of residents' daily requests in some neighbourhoods, the Post report said.

The worst affected are the elderly population. Shanghai is one of China's first cities to develop a large ageing population.

According to the 2019 Shanghai Elderly Population and ageing Business Monitoring Statistics, Shanghai's elderly population of 60 and over is approximately 5.815 million, suggesting that one in every three people is an elder. The number of elderly people living alone among them reached 317,400, the South China Morning Post reported.

This group of people became one the most vulnerable ones during Shanghai's indefinite lockdown because the majority of them suffer from chronic diseases, it said.

China's zero-case policy runs contrary to global trends. People's livelihoods, and their spirits, have been put to the test; both will affect public trust in the government, the Post report said.

But Chinese President Xi Jinping continued to insist on the country following the zero-case policy. "Given that the global COVID pandemic situation is still grave, we must never relax our response. Victory comes from perseverance," Xi said during a tour of Hainan province on Thursday.

We must always put the people and their lives first, adhere to the principle of guarding against imported cases and domestic resurgences, and follow a science-based, targeted approach and zero-COVID policy, he said.

People must not drop their guard, lose drive, take chances or slacken efforts, he 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.)
on Friday reported more than 3,400 positive and 20,700 asymptomatic cases, majority of them in city which is reeling under prolonged lockdown, and where hospitals have been ordered not to delay treatment of non-COVID patients after an elderly woman died waiting for emergency care, sparking a public outcry.

The positive cases continued to be the highest in .

The Chinese mainland on Thursday reported 3,472 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases, besides 20,782 asymptomatic cases, according to the National Health Commission (NHC).

China's economic hub reported 3,200 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 19,872 local asymptomatic carriers on Thursday, the municipal health commission said on Friday.

The city has already conducted many rounds of testing and built temporary hospitals, including in stadiums and swimming pools to treat both positive and asymptomatic cases.

Amid growing public anger over the hospitals refusing treatment for non-COVID patients, health officials in Shanghai on Friday ordered hospitals not to delay treatment of patients over COVID-19 restrictions after an elderly woman died.

The order came after Larry Hsien Ping Lang, a prominent economist, said on his social media Weibo account that his 98-year-old mother, who had kidney failure, was asked to wait for the test result before admission to the emergency room at a hospital in the eastern Chinese city.

"She waited for four hours, and the result had not yet come back," Lang said, adding that: "She then left us."



In principle, public hospitals are required to keep medical services operational during the fight against COVID-19, a Shanghai official said, adding that this is especially the case for emergency and fever outpatient services, official media reported.

China, where the first emerged in Wuhan in December 2019 before turning into a global pandemic, is significantly experiencing late surge of Omicron cases just as when the rest of the world began relaxing all the controls after bringing the virus under control.

The situation in Shanghai is so disquieting that even the official Chinese media started highlighting the public discontent.

As the city of Shanghai is going through the most difficult time in its fight against the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, doubt, anxiety and fatigue are noticeable among local residents and some heart-wrenching stories could easily arouse the public mood, the state-run Global Times reported on Friday.

It is indeed the most difficult time for Shanghai as intensive public anger flooded the internet, the report said.

Millions of people in Shanghai faced various difficulties in the past weeks such as food shortage, delayed transfer of their infected neighbours to collective quarantine places, and the chaotic handling of residents' daily requests in some neighbourhoods, the Post report said.

The worst affected are the elderly population. Shanghai is one of China's first cities to develop a large ageing population.

According to the 2019 Shanghai Elderly Population and ageing Business Monitoring Statistics, Shanghai's elderly population of 60 and over is approximately 5.815 million, suggesting that one in every three people is an elder. The number of elderly people living alone among them reached 317,400, the South Morning Post reported.

This group of people became one the most vulnerable ones during Shanghai's indefinite lockdown because the majority of them suffer from chronic diseases, it said.

China's zero-case policy runs contrary to global trends. People's livelihoods, and their spirits, have been put to the test; both will affect public trust in the government, the Post report said.

But Chinese President continued to insist on the country following the zero-case policy. "Given that the global COVID pandemic situation is still grave, we must never relax our response. Victory comes from perseverance," Xi said during a tour of Hainan province on Thursday.

We must always put the people and their lives first, adhere to the principle of guarding against imported cases and domestic resurgences, and follow a science-based, targeted approach and zero-COVID policy, he said.

People must not drop their guard, lose drive, take chances or slacken efforts, he 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.)
has started a process to import through a credit line arrangement with India, the chair of the country's state-run gas company Litro Gas said on Friday as he resigned from his post alleging that a gas mafia was engaged in corruption amidst the country's worst economic crisis.

is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts, the public has been suffering for months.

Theshara Jayasinghe, the Chairman and CEO of Litro Gas, the country's largest importer and supplier of cooking gas, said in his resignation letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa: I had initiated a process through the Indian High Commission to obtain an Indian credit line to import gas. This could be easily implemented.

Jayasinghe said he was resigning as he did not receive the fullest cooperation from the government and had come under pressure from what he called a gas mafia operating against him.

There is massive corruption in the gas business, Jayasinghe said.

shortage is just one of the scarcities that the public had to face in the island nation's worst economic crisis since independence.

People are forced to spend time in long queues for fuel while most essentials, including medicine, are in short supply.

Massive anti-government protests are being held throughout the country with a major demonstration happening outside the Rajapaksa secretariat in central Colombo.

The protest, which entered its seventh day on Friday, was bolstered by the appearance of celebrities.

We tell the President, please resign, you have proved a failure, film director Udayakantha Warnasuriya said.

A policeman who joined protesters while still in uniform on Thursday was released on bail on Friday.

The sergeant blessed the protesters while on duty and said the corrupt system and those responsible for it must quit.

The protesters expressed anger over the latest decision to ration fuel at retail stations.

They must be sent home immediately, we cannot run hires with just 1,500 rupees worth of petrol, an auto rickshaw driver Samantha told reporters.

With the economic crisis and the shortage of forex, an Indian credit line of USD 500 million for fuel imports provided a lifeline to the island nation.

India recently announced to extend a USD 1 billion line of credit to as part of its financial assistance to the country to deal with the economic crisis following a previous USD 500 billion line of credit in February to help it purchase petroleum products.

President Rajapaksa has defended his government's actions, saying the foreign exchange crisis was not his making and the economic downturn was largely pandemic driven with the island nation's tourism revenue and inward remittances waning.

(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.)
Commerce and Industry Minister on Friday said Egypt, which is one of the largest importers of wheat from Ukraine and Russia, has approved India as a wheat supplier.

There is a sharp decline in availability of wheat in the global markets due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Both the nations are major producers and exporters of wheat.

imported wheat worth about USD 1.8 billion from Russia and USD 610.8 million from Ukraine in 2020.

The African nation is looking to import 1 million tonne of wheat from India and would need 2,40,000 tonne in April.

Indian farmers are feeding the world. approves India as a wheat supplier. Modi Govt. steps in as the world looks for reliable alternate sources for steady food supply. Our farmers have ensured our granaries overflow and we are ready to serve the world, Goyal said in a tweet.

India's wheat exports increased to USD 1.74 billion in April-January 2021-22 as against USD 340.17 million in the same period last year.

In 2019-20, wheat exports were worth USD 61.84 million, which rose to USD 549.67 million in 2020-21.

India's wheat exports are mainly to neighbouring countries with Bangladesh having the largest share of more than 54 per cent in both volume and value terms in 2020-21. It has entered new wheat markets such as Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar and Indonesia.

The top ten countries importing Indian wheat in 2020-21 were Bangladesh, Nepal, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Afghanistan, Qatar, Indonesia, Oman and Malaysia.

India accounts for less than 1 per cent in the world's wheat export. However, its share has increased from 0.14 per cent in 2016 to 0.54 per cent in 2020. India is the second largest producer of wheat with a share of around 14.14 per cent in the world's total production in 2020.

India produces around 107.59 million tonne of wheat annually while a major chunk of it goes towards domestic consumption.

Major wheat growing states in India are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat.

(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.)
Elon Musk, Twitter's newest big shareholder, could alter the course of the social media company as management battles a set of proxy proposals focused on topics from civil rights to politics at its upcoming annual meeting, shareholder activists and corporate governance experts said.



Whatever the outcome of Musk's bid to buy outright announced Thursday, investors with opposing political views described the billionaire entrepreneur as likely to work to undo some of the restrictions on content that has imposed as it attempts to promote free speech while combating hate speech and false information.



Even if he fails to buy Twitter, the Tesla CEO, who recently disclosed a 9.6% stake, is seen as likely to vote in ways that could shake up the company at its virtual May 25 meeting, said people who follow corporate governance issues.



"Given where Musk has positioned himself relative to the strategy of and given he wants to be something of a disrupter, I don't see him voting with management very often," said Brian Bueno of Farient Advisors, a corporate governance and executive pay consulting firm.



Musk said his offer price of $54.20 per share was meant to promote open discourse. At the virtual meeting, he will control the second-largest stake after Vanguard Group, enough to give either investor a kingmaker role in close contests.



Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment on how he might vote at Twitter.



Musk's star power will likely draw much attention to event, said Charles Elson, founding director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. "He's a well-known individual in the middle of all this, so it will increase the interest in voting and could have a big impact," Elson said.



Although Twitter on Friday adopted a shareholder rights plan to defend itself against Musk, Elson said its impact on the voting might only be to make proxy advisers, which tend to frown on such so-called "poison pills," more skeptical of management.



FIVE HOT-TICKET ITEMS

Twitter faces five shareholder proposals, all opposed by management, dealing with topics drawing much investor attention.

Two are from conservative groups, one asking Twitter to report on its impact on civil rights and the other on its lobbying activities.



Scott Shepard, a fellow at the right-leaning National Center for Public Policy Research think tank, one of the sponsors, called Musk's offer "terrific" for shareholders.



Shepard said he hoped Musk would turn Twitter away from censorship, and his group has criticized the company for steps like banning the account of former U.S. President Donald Trump after the storming of the U.S. Capitol due to the risk of further incitement of violence.



Twitter under Musk will be what it should been -- both from a civic and a value standpoint -- all along" Shepard said via email.

Taking a dimmer view is Meredith Benton, founder of Whistle Stop Capital, which focuses on social and environmental matters and filed a resolution critical of non-disclosure agreements for employees.



"Missteps, in pushing for his (Musk's) own unfettered speech, risk destroying the appeal of the platform for millions who need to feel safe before they can speak up, Benton said.



A fourth proposal filed by overseers of New York State's pension fund, who declined to comment, calls on Twitter to report on its electoral spending.



A fifth proposal was filed by Arjuna Capital, calling on Twitter to nominate at least one board member with a background in human or civil rights. Arjuna Managing Partner Natasha Lamb said he would expect Musk to back the proposal as in line with his free speech concerns.



But she called Musk's buyout bid "troubling" as a further consolidation of power on social media, where good governance is essential.



"We don't need Twitter run by another social media emperor. We need it run by experts," Lamb said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Even for the worlds richest person, $43 billion is a steep price.



Elon Musks proposed all-cash offer to buy Inc. represents about one-sixth of his $250.6 billion fortune. Yet the vast majority of that wealth is tied to his stake in Tesla Inc., the electric carmaker he co-founded that has surged in value over the past two years and lifted him to the top of the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The purchase isnt straightforward, but Musk has several financing paths. One option is to sell his Tesla shares outright. Another is borrowing against them to stage a leveraged buyout, possibly with outside partners. Musk, 50, currently has about $3 billion in cash or other somewhat liquid assets after spending $2.6 billion buying a 9.1% stake in in recent months, according to Bloomberg calculations.





For Musk to raise the additional $36 billion in cash needed to buy the rest of would require selling about 36.5 million Tesla shares, or more than a fifth of his stake. Such an exit could risk a slide in the companys share price -- not to mention potentially raise questions about the commitment, financial and otherwise, of its chief executive officer.

His other option is to borrow against his positions in Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX.

This becomes a hostile takeover offer which is going to cost a serious amount of cash, said Neil Campling, head of TMT research at Mirabaud Equity Research. He will have to sell a decent piece of Tesla stock to fund it, or a massive loan against it.

Borrowing Limits



But even for the wealthiest person in the world, there are limits: The Bloomberg index estimates that hes already borrowed about $20 billion against his shares, leaving about $35 billion remaining that he could theoretically take out against the two holdings.

Musks best and final $43 billion non-binding offer has numerous conditions, including completion of financing, which we believe give it a low probability of success, Robert Schiffman, a Bloomberg Intelligence senior credit analyst, wrote Thursday in a report.

Twitter shares fell 1.7% Thursday in New York, closing at $45.08. Musk offered $54.20 per share in cash. Tesla shares declined 3.7%.





Musk had 52% of his Tesla shares pledged as of June 30, according to the companys most recent proxy filing. The maximum that can be borrowed against pledged shares is 25% of their value, according to a Tesla policy.

Since then, Musk has increased his share count by exercising options. His 172.6 million shares are worth $170 billion, meaning he could theoretically borrow $42.5 billion by pledging all of them.

Musk said in December 2019 that he had also pledged some of his SpaceX shares. His 47% stake in the company is worth about $47.5 billion, based on its October 2021 funding round. If theres a similar maximum loan-to-value ratio, he could raise another $12 billion by fully pledging his SpaceX position -- although banks tend to be much more cautious funding a privately held position, given the lack of liquidity.

Also, Musk has Tesla options worth $54.1 billion that he might be able to borrow against.

Technically Afford



Musk said at a TED event in Vancouver on Thursday that he may seek to keep as many as 2,000 existing Twitter investors, reducing the cash hed need to take it private.

The intent is to retain as many shareholders as is allowed by the law, he said, adding that he could technically afford the full purchase price.

After Saudi Arabias Prince Alwaleed bin Talal tweeted that the offer wasnt close to the intrinsic value of Twitter, Musk asked how many shares the billionaire held in Twitter and for the Kingdoms view on freedom of speech for journalists.

Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley were three of the banks that provided Musk personal loans, according to a 2020 Tesla filing. He has hired Morgan Stanley to advise on the Twitter bid, and his family office, Excession, is run by longtime adviser Jared Birchall, a former Morgan Stanley banker.

No matter how he goes about it, buying all of Twitter would be a stark shakeup of Musks empire. His purchase of a 9.1% stake, first disclosed last week, marked his first significant diversification outside of Tesla and SpaceX.

I am not playing the back-and-forth game, Musk said in Thursdays filing. I have moved straight to the end. Its a high price and your shareholders will love it. If the deal doesnt work, given that I dont have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.

Musk has played up his devotion to both Tesla and SpaceX, frequently tweeting about their achievements and claiming to sleep on the floor of a Tesla factory to set an example to his employees. Meanwhile, since disclosing his stake in Twitter, he has appealed to fellow users about potential moves and in one case suggested the website might be dying, given the lack of tweets from some celebrities.

In recent years, Musk has indicated hes streamlining at least some aspects of his financial affairs. Hes sold multiple mansions in California after vowing to own no home, in 2020. He currently lives in Texas, where he relocated the headquarters of Tesla last year.
Elon Musks vision of taking the guardrails off Inc.s content moderation is lauded by free speech absolutists, but it risks creating a free-for-all that alienates advertisers and leaves regular users subject to abuse.



Musk lobbed his $43 billion takeover offer for with the intent of unlocking its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe. He added that free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.



But a website with little content moderation would be a concern for advertisers who are brand conscious and wouldnt want their adds to show up next to controversial posts. Regular people also could be turned off from the site if it was overrun with harassers or conspiracy theorists.



The underlying concern would be that could become a toxic place and a toxic community, said Joshua Lowcock, global chief marketing officer at media agency UM Worldwide.



Twitter, like other social media platforms, is highly reliant on advertising, which accounted for close to 90% of its $5.1 billion in revenue in 2021. Also like its peers, especially Meta Platforms Inc., Twitter has struggled to balance how it regulates content on the site.



Conservatives rail against what they claim is a liberal bias, while others say the platform doesnt go far enough in curbing calls for violence or hate speech. In 2020, dozens of -- from Coca-Cola Co. to Microsoft Corp. -- paused advertising on Metas Facebook in protest over harmful content on the site and concern their ads would appear in association.



Musk, with more than 80 million followers on Twitter, has long been one of the sites most prominent users and also one of its most outspoken critics. Much of Musks ire against Twitter has been directed against what he perceives as censorship by the platform, and he has sympathized with users who have been booted off, such as the conservative satirical publication the Babylon Bee.



The publications Twitter account was banned after a post about a transgender U.S. government official was deemed to violate the platforms rules. Shortly thereafter, Musk reached out to the company and mused that he might need to buy Twitter.



But many of Musks own rants and jabs havent been barred. That includes memes that mock transgender people and one, since deleted, comparing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to Hitler. Hes also slagged a British cave explorer as a pedo guy.



Even with Twitters ever-evolving rules and policies around content, many users still face harassment and doxxing, or the revealing of personal details. Opening the platform up even more could make that problem worse.



In terms of everyday users, people hate the harassment, said Matt Navarra, a social media consultant and industry analyst. Can you imagine if that was opened up to even more freedom of speech and there would be less policies, rules and repercussions? That would not be a place people would want to hang around in.



For advertisers, the problem isnt free speech, but rather the lack of any content moderation on Twitter, said UM Worldwides Lowcock. Under Twitters former CEO, Jack Dorsey, Twitter prioritized the health of the platform and that was appreciated by the advertising community, he said. Trust in the platform increased. Its unknown whether Musk will continue that approach or diverge completely.



For all the businesses hes been in -- from manufacturing electric vehicles to launching rockets and satellites-- Musk hasnt run one thats primarily supported by advertising revenue. Before announcing that he planned to acquire Twitter, Musk proposed getting rid of ads and rewarding verification checkmarks to users who paid for a subscription service.



Musk has never shown any interest in an ad-supported business and one hopes that he will put lieutenants in charge who understand the advertising energy, Lowcock said.



Musk has framed his proposed bid as a fight for free speech, rather than for his own financial benefit. Creating a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely supportive to the future of civilization, he said. To be sure, Musk himself is unsure if he will succeed in his bid, but he said he has a backup plan if the company rejects his offer.



The billionaire entrepreneur isnt alone in calling for more open discourse on social media platform; the American Civil Liberties Union has long been a critic of social medias content moderation. But fixing those problems shouldnt fall to one person, said Nadine Strossen, former president of the ACLU. No matter how positive Musks intentions may be today, his intentions could change tomorrow and even if they remain good, the execution may be flawed, she said.
Pakistan's Prime Minister has accused ousted premier of selling valuable Toshakhana gifts, including diamond jewellery, worth Rs 140 million in Dubai, inflicting a loss to the national exchequer.

As per the country's law, any gift received from dignitaries of a foreign state must be put in the state depository or the Toshakhana.

Shehbaz made the claim during a meeting with senior journalists at the Prime Minister's House here, The News reported on Friday.

I can confirm that took gifts from Toshakhana and sold them in for Rs 140 million (USD 7.6 lakh). Valuable gifts include diamond jewellery, bracelets, watches and sets, he said.

Shehbaz said that he also got a watch once which he had deposited in the Toshakhana.

I don't need to hide anything, the newly-elected premier said.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government led by Khan had been reluctant to share details about gifts retained from Toshakhana.

An inquiry has been initiated against Khan by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for selling a precious necklace from Toshakhana, inflicting a loss to the national exchequer.

The necklace was sold to a jeweller in Lahore through Zulfi Bukhari, former Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development for Rs 180 million, while only a fraction of that amount was paid to Toshakhana, the report said.

In response to the allegations, Bukhari said that there was no truth in reports about the selling of a necklace.

Talking to Geo News, he said that there never had been any talk about the necklace and the allegations were ill-founded and baseless.

Meanwhile, former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that Khan purchased the watch from the government which was received as a gift from a foreign country.

I don't understand what is the actual issue of Shehbaz, he said, alleging that Shehbaz is confused as he is unable to comprehend how to level allegations against Khan.

Fawad said that no matter what the price of the watch is "if it is mine I can sell that watch nobody should have a problem with it."



The former minister and close aide of Khan advised Shehbaz to refrain from superficial gossip and focus on national issues.

Whenever the head of a state receives a gift from another state, he/she has to submit it to the Toshakhana, according to laws.

(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 seen a surge in its production and exportation of oil and gas since 2021 as the country works to revive the nuclear deal.

The speedy recovery of the country's energy sector, despite the fact that anti- sanctions are still in place, is mainly driven by the promising prospect of the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna, Xinhua news agency reported.

Iran's oil exports, which had fallen sharply under Western sanctions from 2012 to 2015, resumed their upward trend in 2016 after the signing of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2015. Iran's oil averaged 2.5 million barrels per day in 2017, up 200,000 barrels as compared to 2016..

According to Iran's Tejarat News website, by the end of 2017 before the reimposition of US energy sanctions, Iran produced 4.7 million barrels of oil and gas condensate per day, of which 3.8 million were crude oil.

Iran's oil reserves were estimated at 157 billion barrels, equivalent to 10 per cent of world crude oil reserves and 13 per cent of oil reserves of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

However, in May 2018, former US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the JCPOA and reimposed sanctions on Iran's energy sector, prompting a significant slump in Iran's crude output market.

The downward trend stopped only when Iran and world powers began in 2021 talks that aim to revive the JCPOA. Since then, the country's oil production started to see a rebound as more optimistic lights were shed upon the country's energy sector.

In its Monthly Oil Market report in February, the OPEC put Iran's average production in 2021 at slightly over 2.4 million bpd, an increase from an average of 2 million bpd in 2020.

Javad Owji, Iran's Petroleum Minister, said in an interview with the state TV earlier in April that the US goals of reducing Iran's oil sales to zero, pursuant to its maximum pressure campaign, had not been realised.

Iran's oil production capacity has reached pre-sanction levels, Owji said, adding the current capacity of Iran's oil production is more than 3.8 million bpd.

With effective measures in onshore and offshore oil fields, by drilling new wells and repairing the old ones, and through the renovation and modernisation of facilities and oil reserve centres, Iran has been able to restore oil production levels to those prior to US sanctions, he said.

Besides, new "stable" customers have been explored for Iranian oil, the Minister said.

"In this regard, we used all the capacities inside and outside and gave variety to our contracts," he told the state TV.

Iran hopes to resume oil sales in markets by reviving the JCPOA and removing sanctions. Energy analysts predict that with the lifting of restrictions, Iran may be able to ship 1.3 million barrels of oil per day to markets by the end of the current year.

Ali Shams Ardakani, a senior expert in energy economics, said the upward trend in Iran's crude is likely to continue in the coming months.

"The market is still attracted to Iranian oil," the expert added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
External Affairs Minister on Thursday held a wide ranging discussion with UN Secretary-General and exchanged views on the global impact of the Ukraine conflict as well as the situation in Afghanistan and Myanmar.

Jaishankar arrived here on Wednesday evening following his visit to Washington.

A wide ranging discussion with UNSG @antonioguterres. Exchanged views on the global impact of the Ukraine conflict, especially on food and energy security. Implications for developing countries are serious, Jaishankar said on Twitter.

Spoke about latest developments in respect of Afghanistan and Myanmar. Appreciate his interest in working with India to effectively address important contemporary challenges, he said.

The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan on August 15, two weeks before the US' complete troop withdrawal on August 31 after a costly two-decade war. This forced Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who was backed by the US-led West, to flee the country to the UAE.

The Taliban insurgents stormed across Afghanistan and captured all major cities in a matter of days, as Afghan security forces trained and equipped by the US and its allies melted away.

Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were in Washington for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue with their US counterparts Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III.

On Monday, India and the US called on the Taliban leadership to abide by the UNSC resolution which demands that Afghanistan's territory must never again be used to threaten or attack any country or to plan or finance terrorist attacks.

In a joint statement issued after the fourth India-US 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue on Monday, the two countries' ministers urged the Taliban to respect the human rights of all Afghans, including women, children and members of minority groups; and to uphold freedom of travel.

Calling for the cessation of violence in Myanmar, the release of all those arbitrarily detained, and a swift return to the path of democracy and inclusive governance, the joint statement also called for urgent implementation of the ASEAN Five Point Consensus.

(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.)
Latest live news: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is likely to announce 300 units of free electricity for the people of the state on Saturday, as per sources. Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in Punjab will complete one month of governance tomorrow. During a press conference in Jalandhar on Thursday, Mann said, "On the 16th we will give a great good news to the people of Punjab."

Mann met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday to discuss the scheme of providing free electricity in Punjab for up to 300 units, informed Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sources.



Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said he had discussed new military aid for Ukraine with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone conversation. "In our new call, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and I discussed the next military aid package for Ukraine," Kuleba tweeted on Thursday.



In view of an uptick in Covid-19 cases in the capital, the Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will hold a meeting on April 20 in which it may consider reimposing the mandatory use of face masks, officials said on Thursday. reported 325 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a marked rise from 137 cases reported on Monday. The positivity rate stood at 2.39 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.




The Police have arrested two men in connection with two separate attacks on in the city amid rising fears in the community in an area with a prominent gurdwara.

A 19-year-old man, Vernon Douglas was arrested on Thursday for allegedly attacking a 70-year-old man "wearing traditional Sikh articles of faith" on April 3, the police department said.

The 'Sikh Coalition' identified the victim as Nirmal Singh, a visitor from India.

The attack was investigated by the Hate Crimes Task Force of Police and Douglas was charged with allegedly committing hate crimes.

On Tuesday, police had arrested Hezekiah Coleman, 20, soon after an attack on two Sikh men, in the same Richmond Hill area.

Coleman and another man removed the turbans of the two men, attacked and robbed them.

The second attack came two days after a protest at which high-powered US leader Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic Party majority in the Senate, and several leaders condemned the alleged attacks on .

"When a man is beaten and hurt because of his background, who he is, what his religion, his nationality and ethnicity (are), it is a dark day for America," Schumer said.

"The lesson of our history is that we must fight it and speak out against it," he added.

Sikh Coalition official Nikki Singh said after the second attack, " are no strangers to hate violence, but the recent string of repeated attacks in the same location is especially disheartening and reprehensible."

On Wednesday, Governor Kathy Hochul participated in an anti-hate crime rally along with the Sikh Coalition.

(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 Election Commission of (ECP) on Thursday announced holding the first phase of local government in province on June 9 this year, local media reported.

The first phase of will be held in a total of 17 districts.

According to the schedule, the public notice inviting nomination papers will be issued by the returning officers (ROs) from April 18 although the last date for withdrawal of candidature and publication of candidate list would be issued on May 19, The Nation reported.

The ROs will publish the names of candidates on April 26 and the nomination papers will be scrutinised between April 27 to May 9.

The ROs will publish the revised list of candidates on May 16 and the date for withdrawal of nomination papers by the candidates and publication of the revised lists of candidates is May 19, The Nation reported.

The notification issued by ECP warned that if any person in government service misused his or her official position to influence the result of the elections, he/she should be liable to proceed under the law.

The ECP barred holders of public offices from visiting any constituency for local government polls, unveiling any development scheme and canvassing for any candidate or political party.

The ECP also issued a code of conduct to ensure that are conducted honestly, justly and fairly in accordance with law and corrupt practices are guarded, The Nation reported.

Meanwhile, ECP also announced local government polls in Balochistan which will be held on June 29.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A senior leader of Pakistan's ousted prime minister Imran Khan's party on Friday disputed a claim by the military that the former premier approached the Army high command to end the political deadlock.

Shireen Mazari, who was the human rights minister in the previous Cabinet, took to twitter to make a counter claim that it was actually the military that sought a meeting with Khan through defence minister Pervez Khattak.

She also said that the military put forward three proposals to Khan, including either facing the no-trust vote, resigning from his post or holding fresh elections in return for the Opposition withdrawing the no-trust move.

"Let me be clear I am stating on record [that the] PM did not call military for help on 'breaking political deadlock'," she tweeted.

"The military sought the meeting through then Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and they put forward the 3 proposals of either PM resigning or taking part in VNC (vote of no-confidence) or fresh elections!" Mazari of Tehreek-e-Insaf party said.

Her statement came a day after military spokesman Maj. Gen. Babar Iftikhar declared that the Army's high command remained away from the political wrangling and the Army chief met just once with Khan at his request.

When asked whether the military had approached the former premier and given him three options as had been revealed in an interview by Khan, Iftikhar denied this, adding that it was in fact the Prime Minister's Office that had approached the Army chief to find a solution to the political deadlock.

"It is unfortunate that our political leadership was not ready to talk to each other. So the Army chief and the Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence went to the Prime Minister's Office and three scenarios were discussed," he said at a press conference on Thursday.

Iftikhar also said that Khan had agreed to the option that the no-confidence motion should be retracted and then assemblies be dissolved, but the combined Opposition rejected the idea.

The Army spokesman also said that no option from the establishment was given.

Mazari, in another tweet, rejected the impression that Khan was ready to resign and hold fresh elections.

Why would give option of resigning when he had already stated categorically and repeatedly he would never resign. Makes no sense! Also had categorically rejected VNC as foreign regime change conspiracy. So why would he suggest these options. Absurd! she said.

The three options came to surface for the first time in an interview by Khan with ARY News before his ouster. He said that the "establishment" had given him three options.

"We said elections is the best option, I cannot even think about resigning and as far as the no-confidence vote is concerned, I believe in fighting till the end," he said.

political crisis started on March 8 when the no-confidence was filed and ended on April 9 when Khan became the first prime minister in history of to be ousted through such a move.

(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.)
Russia's Defence Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up the scale of missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraine's diversions on the Russian territory.

The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the country's regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.

According to Russian officials, some 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursday's attack on the Klimovo village in the Bryansk region. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraine's Chernihiv region shut down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.

Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.

(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.)
Sri Lanka's state-owned petroleum corporation announced fuel rationing for vehicles with effect from Friday, as a historic roils the country.

According to the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) statement, now motorcycles and other two-wheelers can purchase fuel upto worth Rs 1,000 per visit to a fuel station.

Similarly, three-wheelers can purchase fuel worth Rs 1,500, cars, jeeps and vans upto Rs 5,000. Buses, lorries and commercial vehicles have been exempted from the rationing.

Long queues at fuel stations have resulted in massive public anger. Further, households are experiencing nearly 12-hour-long powercuts and there is a massive shortage of essentials, due to falling value of the Sri Lankan rupee.

The island nation is in the midst of one of the worst economic crises it's ever seen. It has just defaulted on its foreign debts for the first time since its independence.

The Galle Face protests in Colombo entered their seventh day on Friday with more and more youth joining it every passing day. They urge the resignation of President Gotabaya for his incompetence in handling the island's worst-ever .

The protest campaign has been running on social media, urging youths to gather at Galle Face. Besides, there have been continuing protests across the island, blaming the government for its mishandling of the forex.

CPC chairperson Sumith Wijesinghe last week told reporters the corporation was losing between Rs 800 million to Rs 1 billion every day on fuel subsidies due to high global market prices and the depreciation of the Sri Lankan Rupee.

Wijesinghe said the CPC was losing 110 rupees per litre on diesel and Rs 52 per litre on petrol.

Wijesinghe said, "We are in discussions with India for another oil credit line for 500 million dollars". India last month extended USD 500 million to Sri Lanka, to help the country buy oil.

(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.)
Afghanistan's Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on Thursday said that efforts are underway to decrease the rate of unemployment in the troubled country by creating opportunities through projects including Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI).

Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Mawlavi Makhdoom Abdul Salam Sadat in a meeting with directors of the ministry said that " opportunities will be created through projects including TAPI and Qush Tepae Canal projects", Ariana News reported.

"Efforts are underway to decrease the rate of unemployment and create opportunities. [I order] directors of the ministry to try honestly to create employment opportunities," said the ministry's statement, according to Ariana News.

This comes after the unemployed rate in the country spiked considerably after the fall of the previous government and the withdrawal of foreign troops in August last year.

"I was a street vendor, but we face a lack of work; we call on the government to provide employment opportunities," Ariana News quoted Muharram, a resident of Kabul as saying.

"I am not optimistic, but the government should pay attention to the poor people," said Gullam Mohammad, another Kabul resident.

The takeover of by the caused not only a political crisis in the country but also uncertainty in business and unemployment.

The private sectors were "hit hard" as the businesses were halted and put to uncertainty, according to the latest survey conducted by the World Bank, reported Khaama Press.

Due to a shortage in sales, private companies have laid off more than half of their employees on average, rising concern about the unemployment rate in the country.

(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 flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet has sunk after what Kyiv said was a Ukrainian missile strike, dealing one of the heaviest blows yet to Moscows war effort and providing a powerful symbol of Kyivs resistance against a better-armed foe.

Kyiv says it hit the cruiser Moskva with missiles fired from the coast. Russia said the ship sank while being towed in stormy seas after a fire caused by an explosion of ammunition. Moscow said more than 500 sailors had been evacuated. There was no independent confirmation of the fate of the crew.

Although Russia did not confirm that Ukrainian missiles had hit the ship, early on Friday it struck what it described as a factory in Kyiv that made and repaired anti-ship missiles.

The Moskva was by far Russias largest vessel in the Black Sea fleet, equipped with guided missiles to shoot down planes and attack the shore, and radar to provide air defence cover for the fleet.

Hours before Kyiv said it had struck the ship, it released a postage stamp with a picture of a soldier making an obscene gesture towards it, commemorating the wars first day when the ship ordered Ukrainian defenders to surrender an island outpost, and they radioed back "Russian warship, go fuck yourself".

President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy paid homage to those who showed that Russian ships can go  only down to the bottom.

Russia has used its naval power to blockade Ukrainian ports and threaten a potential amphibious landing along the coast. Without its flagship, its ability to menace Ukraine from the sea could be crippled.

If reports of Moskvas sinking prove true it will be emblematic of Russias overall military effort thus far, tweeted Michael Kofman, an expert on Russias military. No warship of such size has been sunk during conflict since Argentinas General Belgrano, torpedoed by the British in the 1982 Falklands war.

Blasts in Kyiv

Kyiv was hit on Friday by some of the most powerful explosions heard since Russian forces withdrew from the area two weeks ago. Moscow said it had struck a plant that made and repaired Ukrainian missiles, including anti-ship missiles. The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime, the Russian defence ministry said.

Russias defence ministry also claimed it had captured the Ilyich steel works in Mariupol, the besieged eastern port that has seen the wars heaviest fighting and worst humanitarian catastrophe. Ukrainian defenders are mainly believed to be holding out in Azovstal, another huge steel works.

Both plants are owned by Metinvest  the empire of Ukraines richest businessman and backbone of Ukraines industrial east  which told Reuters it would never let its enterprises operate under Russian occupation.
Inc.s board is considering adopting a measure that would protect the company from hostile acquisition bids, according to people with knowledge of the matter, following billionaire Elon Musks unwelcome offer to take the company private.



One of the options under consideration is adopting a poison pill, known as a shareholder rights plan, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. could announce the poison pill as soon as tomorrow. Another scenario under consideration is saying that the offer is too low, according to one person.

The Tesla Inc. chief executive officer on Thursday offered $54.20 a share in cash for Twitter, valuing the company at $43 billion. Musk, who said it was his best and final offer, had already accrued a stake of more than 9% in since earlier this year. Twitters board met Thursday to review Musks proposal to determine if it was in the best interest of the company and all of its shareholders. The company declined to comment on the offer or the boards strategy.





A poison pill defense strategy allows existing shareholders the right to purchase additional shares at a discount, effectively diluting the ownership interest of the hostile party. Poison pills are common among under fire from activist investors or in hostile takeover situations.

Included in Musks securities filing disclosing the bid was a script of text he sent to the company. In it he said, its a high price and your shareholders will love it.

At least one prominent investor, though, said the offer was too low and the market reaction appeared to agree. Saudi Arabias Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said the deal doesnt come close to the intrinsic value of the popular platform.





Speaking later Thursday at a TED conference, Musk said he wasnt sure he will actually be able to acquire it. He added that his intent was to also retain as many shareholders as is allowed by the law, rather than keeping sole ownership of the company himself.

Twitter shares dropped 1.7% in New York on Thursday, reflecting the markets view that the deal is likely to be rejected or to fall through. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the San Francisco-based company was considering a poison pill defense.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians gave us a maximum of five.

In his late-night video address, Zelenskyy called it an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on Feb. 24 made the most important decision of their life to fight.

Zelenskyy gave an extensive and almost poetic listing of the many ways in which Ukrainians have helped to fend off the Russian troops, including those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it's to the bottom of the sea.

It was his only reference to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being towed to port.

Zelenskyy said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether could survive, advised him to leave the country.

But they didn't know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want, Zelenskyy 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 loss of the flagship vessel of Russias Black Sea Fleet goes beyond wounded pride, robbing the military of important protection and capabilities as the war in enters a crucial phase for Moscow.

said the ship was struck by two Neptune missiles, a new domestically developed anti-ship system of which just one battery exists. Russias Defense Ministry said a blaze caused the warships ammunition store to explode, without saying what started the fire.

The ship sank in rough water while being towed back to port, Russian news agencies reported late Thursday, citing the Defense Ministry.

The outcome is an embarrassment for and a win for . The ship gained notoriety at the start of the war for a confrontation with a small contingent of Ukrainian guards on Snake Island in the Black Sea who, in colorful terms, reportedly told the Moskva to get lost.

It will also cost militarily. While old - it was commissioned in 1982 -- the Slava (Glory) class Moskva was refitted in 2010. It provided a mobile bubble of long-range air defense for the rest of the fleet, as well as command and control systems. Those abilities cannot be easily substituted.

It is the only class of ship the Russian navy currently has that fields a long-range air defense system, said Sidharth Kaushal, research fellow for sea power at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. That matters because for the sort of operation the Black Sea Fleet is designed to do, the Moskva has the capability to sit back and create an air defense for the rest of the fleet, and at the same time provide command and control.

A western official described the Ukrainian claim of a missile strike on the Moskva as credible, and its loss as a significant blow.

Although the Moskva had two sister ships, neither is in the Black Sea. They cannot enter it, because under the rules of the 1936 Montreux convention, Turkey is limiting access through the Bosporus strait for Russian naval vessels.

This incident means has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russias Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update Friday.

Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.

Russias navy has played a relatively minor role in the war so far, used primarily as an additional source of cruise missile launchers to attack targets across Ukraine. The Moskva didnt have those, but it did carry anti-ship missiles that made it a spearhead for use against U.S. carrier fleets during the Cold War.

These ships would completely neutralize the American carrier fleet, Russian historian and opposition politician Andrei Zubov wrote on Thursday, in a Facebook post headed The Inglorious End of the Glory. He was recalling the words of his late father, who oversaw construction of the Moskva among other major naval and civilian vessels.

Zubov said his father, who was an admiral, saw the heavy cruiser as a deterrent that should never be used in anger. Thank God, he did not see how the current Russian strategists used his pride, he said. It is a big military mistake in itself to use an anti-aircraft deterrent as a ship to provide fire support for an amphibious landing.

Thats especially the case given the ships defense systems and analog radar were outdated. The Moskva had a crew of about 500, and Moscow says they were evacuated from the ship.

Although the Black Sea Fleet has set out as if to attack Odesa multiple times since the war began on Feb. 24, it has not followed through. Thats in large part, according to Kaushal, because with a capacity to land 3,000 troops, the amphibious force the fleet can deploy is too small to act without a larger land assault.

That land assault hasnt yet come, because Russian forces have consistently been blocked at Mykolayiv, the gateway to Odesa and Ukraines largest Black Sea ports. Had they broken through, the Moskva could have thrown a protective bubble around an amphibious attack, much as it did during the Russia-Georgia war of 2008.

A person close to Russias defense ministry said it would be very difficult with or without the Moskva to attack Odesa from the sea, and cast it as more of a symbolic loss. Still, Russia only had a small number of that class of vessel and lacked the shipbuilding capabilities of the Soviet era, the person said.

Mykolayiv helps explain why the Moskva is unlikely to be replaced for the medium term. Not only does the city have the only shipyard in the former Soviet Union with the capacity to build an aircraft carrier, it also hosts Zorya-Mashproekt, a producer of gas turbine engines for large ships such as the Moskva.

The loss of access to both the shipyard and engine maker after Russian President Vladimir Putins annexation in 2014 of nearby Crimea has complicated his efforts to modernize the navy and would make it harder to produce another Moskva today. A project to build destroyers of a similar size to the Slava class cruisers has been postponed.

Designs for a next generation aircraft carrier called Storm also remain on paper, in part because without access to the Mykolayiv shipyard, Russia would have to retool one of its own.

Gas turbine engines matter because they have a better power-to-weight ratio, generating not only the extra power thrust thats needed to propel an 11,490 ton ship such as the Moskva forward, but the electricity thats increasingly important for complex systems on modern warships, according to Kaushal.

New generation directed-energy weapons and rail guns, in particular, would rely on large amounts of electrical power that only a gas turbine or nuclear powered engine can provide. Russia says it has programs to develop both.

The sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine are another complicating factor. Its naval vessels rely on significant quantities of imported parts and technologies from nations that have enacted bans on technology exports.

Russian glory burns off the coast of Ukraine, Zubov wrote in his post. I do not know how many sailors were killed and maimed.
The US has said that it was looking forward to working with Pakistan's new government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as it again refuted ousted premier Imran Khan's allegations of America's role in toppling his government.

Pakistan's relations with the US have been lukewarm, especially under the Biden administration. The ties touched a new low after 69-year-old Khan, who was ousted last week through a Parliament vote, accused the US of conspiring to topple his government. The US government has bluntly denied the allegations.

We've congratulated Prime Minister on his election by the Pakistani parliament, and we look forward to working with him and his government, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference on Thursday.

Price said for almost 75 years, the relationship between the and has been "a vital one".

We look forward to continuing that work with Pakistan's government to promote peace and prosperity in and the broader region, he said.

A day earlier, Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Sharif and said the US values the bilateral relationship and is looking forward to continuing the long-standing cooperation, signalling Washington's intent to improve ties with Islamabad under the new regime.

Responding to a question on Imran Khan's claims of the US role in overthrowing his government with the help of the Opposition parties, Price said there is "no truth" in it.

Our message has been clear and consistent on this. There is no truth whatsoever to the allegations that have been put forward. We support the peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles, including respect for human rights. We do not support, whether it's in or anywhere else around the world, one political party over another, he said.

The US has rebutted Khan's allegations several times earlier also.

We support broader principles, including the rule of law and equal justice under the law, Price said.

A day earlier, supporters of Khan organised anti-US protests in Washington DC. They attacked a Pakistani-American journalist and few community members as they continue to accuse the US of playing a role in the regime change.

Khan had alleged that Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the Department of State, was involved in the "foreign conspiracy" to topple his government.

Price said the US agrees with the assessment of the Pakistan military which said that it has no evidence to suggest that the Biden administration had threatened or was involved in any conspiracy, seeking the ouster of the Imran Khan's government.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) - the media waing of Pakistan's army - Director-General Major General Babar Iftikhar on Thursday said that the word conspiracy was not used in the statement issued after a meeting of the National Security Committee convened last month to discuss a controversial letter, which according to then prime minister Khan threatened to topple his government.

The powerful Pakistan Army, which has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its 73 plus years of existence, has hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign policy.

Khan had brandished a threat letter' on March 27 at a public gathering before his ouster claiming that his government had been threatened by the US government and opposition were involved in a conspiracy to topple him.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President will not visit Ukraine, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

On Wednesday, US media reported that the Biden administration was considering sending a high-level official to Kyiv to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The options included the US President, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, or Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, according to reports.

"No, we are not sending the president to Ukraine," Psaki said, as quoted by Politico Correspondent Eugene Daniels.

A number of foreign leaders and senior officials have recently visited Ukraine to express support for the country amid the Russian military operation.

(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.)
Rajasthan Chief Minister on Friday asked RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to clarify what he meant by Akhand Bharat and questioned if India was not already united.

He was referring to Bhagwat's Wednesday statement in Haridwar that India has to grow big and its rise is incumbent upon the rise of dharma, remarks that were interpreted by some BJP rivals as a pitch for 'Akhand Bharat'.

Addressing a public meeting at Ratanpur in Dungarpur on the arrival of the Congress party's 'Azadi Gaurav Yatra' participants there, Gehlot also asked Bhagwat to clarify the role of the RSS after the BJP assumed power.

"You must have read the statement of Mohan Bhagwat ji (that) Akhand Bharat will be made in 15 years. Isn't it a united India now? Gehlot asked.

They should clarify what do they mean by Akhand Bharat? I was reading in newspapers that Pakistan, Afghanistan, PoK, Bhutan, Nepal... don't know what Mohan Bhagwat ji wants to say," he added.

The chief minister also said after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had banned the RSS.

The RSS had apologised then and written that they will never enter and it will only hold cultural programmes, he said and asked, I want to ask now how much is your contribution as the BJP has come to power?

Gehlot said if the RSS has to do socio-cultural work, it should talk about the eradication of untouchability, the rich and poor divide, social insecurity or come openly into .

He also asked why were the RSS people acting covertly.

They say the people in RSS are socio-cultural workers but they are doing politics, he alleged.

Gehlot also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah over the political crisis that his government faced in 2020 following the rebellion by some Congress MLAs, led by the then Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot.

Those who talk of democracy are bringing down the elected governments by horse-trading, he said.

"You toppled the government in Madhya Pradesh by horse-trading of 22 MLAs for Rs 35 crore each. Where is this democracy?" he asked

He also asserted that the Congress is not a weak party in the country.

If anyone is challenging Prime Minister Modi in the country, it's only Rahul Gandhi, he asserted.

(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 on Friday said the in the state has been caused due to lack of supply by the Central government.

Talking to reporters here, Patole claimed that though the Union minister has advised states to import coal, the imports will only benefit some of the BJP's industrialist friends and will make electricity expensive.

"The Union minister has advised states to import coal. However, when coal is imported, it will only benefit some of the BJP's industrialist friends and it will make electricity more expensive and ordinary consumers will have to bear the brunt of it," he alleged.

The leader further said that the allegations of corruption in the allocation of coal mines, which were made during the UPA regime, were later found to be false.

The then PM Manmohan Singh had a vision, he was ready to empower the energy department. But under the Modi government, no new coal mine has been created, this is a ploy of privatisation, he claimed.

When asked about the use of loudspeakers on mosques, Patole charged that some parties were trying to further their political interests by raising the issue of loudspeakers on mosques.

"Why is one particular religion being targeted, when loudspeakers are being used in places of worship across all faiths? The Constitution does not teach you to hate any religion," the former speaker said.

Communal forces should not try to instigate one religion against another, he said, adding that efforts are being made to create a religious rift in and action should be taken against such people.

Speaking about leader Rahul Gandhi's visit to Mumbai, Patole said the date for the same has not been fixed yet.

During his visit to Mumbai, Gandhi will meet Congress MLAs, ministers and party office bearers. The visit will be important for coordination among the MVA constituents and implementation of the common minimum programme drafted by the parties, Patole 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.)
Minister KS Eshwarappa, along with a group of his supporters, will be reaching Bengaluru on Friday evening for a meeting scheduled with Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to submit his resignation following the row over his alleged role in the suicide of the contractor.

The Minister will meet Bommai at the latter's residence.

Before leaving for Bengaluru, Eshwarappa said the reason for his resignation is to set a benchmark for the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who "should feel that they will not get power until they come out clean and innocent".

He was also surprised by the number of calls he has received from political leaders and seers saying they are confident of his innocence.

"All the workers, MLAs, and leaders across the state are calling and supporting me. They expressed confidence that no worker can commit such a mistake," Eshwarappa said while adding that he is sure of coming out clean in the "Agni Pariksha".

Earlier today, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Dushyant Gautam said the minister needs to step down only if he is guilty in the contractor death case.

Bommai, on Friday, confirmed that Eshwarappa will tender his resignation from his ministerial post today.

Deceased contractor Santosh Patil had accused the Minister Eshwarappa of corruption. He was found dead in a lodge in Udupi on Tuesday.

(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.)
Gujarat Working President on Thursday denied the rumours of leaving the party.

"There is a rumour that I am leaving Congress, I do not know who is spreading so," Patel said while attending an event in Surat on Thursday.

He further added, "I have given my 100 per cent to till now, and will give the same in the coming days. We will do better development in Gujarat. There will be small fights and blame games within the party, but we have to work together to make Gujarat a better place."

Patel added, "If speaking truth is a crime, consider me guilty. The people of Gujarat have expectations from us, we have to stand up to them."

emerged as the leader of the Patidar agitation demanding reservation for the community in Gujarat in 2015 and later joined .

(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.)
Campaign Committee chairperson Madhu Goud Yaskhi on Thursday alleged that the attack on Dalits and women has increased under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre and Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government in the state.

Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, leader slammed Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao saying that he was doing "drama" on purchasing paddy from . He also blamed the state government for suicides by in the state.

The TRS chief on Monday sat on a protest in Delhi against the BJP-led Union government over the paddy procurement policy.

On Tuesday, Rao said the state government decided to purchase paddy from within three to four days. He requested all the farmers in the state to not sell their crops at a rate lesser than the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

(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.)
All India Congress Committee (AICC) spokesperson Dasoju Srravan on Thursday slammed the BJP-led for cheating people of the country in the name of 'Make in India' and termed it as 'Fake in India'.

Exposing the irregularities in the electric vehicles (EV) manufacturing subsidy scheme (EV Subsidy Scheme), Dr Dasoju Sravan said that the Department of Heavy Industries has fraudulently syphoned Rs 400 crores to Hero Electric Company.

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for encouraging corruption in EV vehicles manufacturing, Sravan demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) inquiry on the irregularities in EV vehicle manufacturing in India through the FAME II scheme.

Citing the example of Hero Electric company which has received about Rs 400 crore as subsidy under the FAME II scheme, in spite of importing 100 per cent of its EV batteries and parts from China, Dr Dasoju Sravan said, "subsidies are fraudulently routed to EV manufacturers who do not comply with 'Make in India' rules."

"Whenever PM Modi wants to mislead the people of India, he comes up with fancy slogans. is one such slogan. PM Modi claims that the government wants to encourage manufacturers in India in all sectors and therefore brought in Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) to give a push to the manufacturing of EVs in India. As part of the FAME II scheme, Government offers subsidies to Electric Vehicles manufacturers who manufacture their vehicles in India or make their EVs using components and parts supplied from Indian manufacturers. But like all PM Modi slogans and schemes, even 'Make in India' has turned into 'Fake in India'," said Sravan speaking in Hyderabad.

"Instead of encouraging manufacturers to make vehicles and parts in India, PM Modi Government is offering subsidies to companies which are sourcing all the components including the key component of batteries from China, thus mocking the very purpose of the scheme," he added.

He said that Hero Electric imports most of its parts from China, including the key component of lithium-ion battery then why should Government pay them a subsidy meant for encouraging indigenous production through the scheme.

"For instance, Hero Electric has sold about 1.40 lakh vehicles in 2020-2021 and 2021-22 Financial years and pocketed about Rs 400 Cr subsidy under FAME II scheme, as the government offers approximately about Rs 29,000 as subsidy for each electric vehicle. But the irony is the Hero Electric company imports most of its parts from China, including the key component of lithium-ion batteries. If Hero Electric company is neither manufacturing vehicles and their components in India nor sourcing them for Indian suppliers, then why should Government pay them subsidies meant for encouraging indigenous production through the Make in India scheme. Is it not robbery in the broad daylight?" questioned Sravan highlighting the massive fraud in EV manufacturing through the FAME II scheme and the Make in India scheme.

He further said that PM Modi is looting the hard-earned money of Indians and putting them in the pockets of corporates through fraudulent schemes.

"Government has allocated about Rs 10,000 crore for subsidies through FAME II. It spent about Rs 1234.69 crore last year. This year it has allocated another Rs 3000 crore. PM Modi is looting the hard-earned money of Indians and putting them in the pockets of corporates through fraudulent schemes. Not just Hero Electric company there are about 51 companies which have received subsidies under FAME II scheme," he said.

The Congress leader said that the government should immediately launch a comprehensive inquiry through CBI and ED to assess whether all these EV manufacturers are really manufacturing in India or importing from foreign nations and selling EVs in India.

"Only then the purpose of the Make in India scheme will be met," added senior Congress demanding Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to act on the issue immediately.

(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 was on Friday up in arms against former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, its ally in the state, for asserting that was a mythical character and "not a god".

Manjhi had made the remark in Jamui district on Thursday while addressing a function held on BR Ambedkar's birth anniversary.

The ex-CM, who heads Hindustani Awam Morcha, had questioned the practice of untouchability and pointed out that as per the epic Ramayana, partook of fruits offered by a forest-dwelling devotee, Shabari.

Legend has it that Shabari, whom Dalits consider a cultural icon, bit every piece of the fruit to ascertain that it tasted well and Lord Rama accepted that without feeling repulsed.

"Why do the upper caste people not follow the example to shun the practice of untouchability? I don't think was a god. But he was a character of Valmiki's Ramayana and Ramacharitmanas penned by Goswami Tulsidas. Both works contain valuable teachings," said Manjhi who belongs to the Musahar community.

The BJP, which owes its rise to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, came out with angry rebuttals, questioning Manjhi's own faith and warning him of the damnation that shall befall him for denigrating a divine entity.

Former Deputy CM and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi said, "It is laughable to call oneself a 'vanshaj' (descendant) of Shabari but cast doubts on the existence of the one she worshipped."



State spokesperson and OBC Morcha general secretary Nikhil Anand wanted to know whether Manjhi was an atheist, and, if not, "which god does he believe in".

Manjhi has been in for about four decades but he owes his rise to prominence, to an extent, to the .

A party-hopper who has been with the Congress, the RJD as well as the JD(U), Manjhi floated his own outfit in 2015 after revolting against Nitish Kumar who made him step down less than a year after having handpicked him for the top job.

The BJP, which was then hostile towards Kumar, put its weight behind the aging deposed CM. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's infamous "DNA" jibe against Kumar was in the context of Manjhi's unceremonious removal as CM.

Not known for measuring his words, Manjhi who has clinched a cabinet berth for his son, remains in news for utterances that the BJP finds too hot to handle.

A few months ago, he had used a cuss word against Brahmins, blown hot and cold following a backlash, and tried to bury the controversy by holding a feast in the honor of the community.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister on Friday spoke with general secretary of the Communist party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong and exchanged views on regional and global issues, including the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the situation in the .

In their telephonic conversation, the two leaders expressed satisfaction over the rapid pace of wide-ranging cooperation under the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which was established during Modi's visit to Vietnam in 2016, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

They complimented each other on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Modi reiterated Vietnam's importance as an important pillar of India's Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific Vision, and sought to enhance the scope of the bilateral relationship, besides working for expeditious progress on existing initiatives.

The prime minister also requested for greater facilitation of market access for India's pharma and agri-products in Vietnam, the statement said.

Prime Minister Modi highlighted the historical and civilisation links between the two countries and expressed his happiness on India's involvement in restoration of Cham monuments in Vietnam.

The leaders agreed to enhance defence partnership between the two countries, the PMO said.

They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of shared interest, including the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the situation in South China Sea, the statement said.

China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea, a huge source of hydrocarbons. However, several ASEAN member countries, including Vietnam, Philippines and Brunei, have counter claims.

(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.)
Shipments of some products, as well as Dell and Lenovo laptops are likely to face delays if China's COVID-19 lockdowns persist, analysts said, as curbs force assemblers to shut down and closed-loop arrangements get harder to maintain.

China's race to stop the spread of COVID-19 has jammed highways and ports, stranded workers and left countless factories awaiting government approval to reopen - disruptions that are rippling through global supply chains.

Inc supplier Pegatron Corp said this week it would suspend its plants in Shanghai and Kunshan, where according to supply chain experts it produces the iPhone 13, the iPhone SE series, and other legacy models.

Quanta Computer Inc, which produces some three-quarters of Apple's Macbooks globally, also shut operations, which could impact delivers more severely, analysts said.

The final impact on Apple's supply chain is uncertain and depends on factors including how long lockdowns persist.

The company may also consider re-routing production out of Shanghai and Kunshan to factories elsewhere, such as Shenzhen, which currently is not under lockdown, analysts said.

" may consider transferring the orders from Pegatron to Foxconn, but we expect the volume may be limited due to the logistics issue and the difficulty of equipment adjustment," said Taipei-based Eddie Han, a senior analyst at Isaiah Research. Foxconn is the trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd .

As a worst-case scenario, Pegatron may fall behind on 6 million to 10 million iPhone units if the lockdowns last two months and Apple cannot reroute orders, Han said.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

The chief executives of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Xpeng Inc have flagged huge economic costs if factories in Shanghai cannot resume production soon.

Shanghai is approaching its third week of lockdown and has shown no sign of a wide re-opening.

Forrest Chen, research manager at Trendforce told Reuters that if lockdowns lift in a few weeks, there is still a chance to recover.

However, "if the lockdown lasts longer than two months, there is already no way to recover. At that point, after lockdown lifts, there would be a shortage for end-users," he said.

Some suppliers may be able to re-route production.

Unimicron Technology Corp, which makes printed circuit boards for companies including Apple, told Reuters the impact of the Kunshan lockdown so far has been minor and that it can rely on other plants in the Hubei province and Taiwan to support production.

But logistics and transport remain a nationwide issue, as cities across enact measures.

One factory owner in Kunshan told Reuters that the district government had announced protocol for re-opening but provided no date for implementation.

Laptop makers may also suffer, including Compal Electronics Inc, a Taiwan-based company that makes PCs for Dell Technologies Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd from its plants in Kunshan. Chen estimates that roughly 50% of Compal's laptop production is located in Kunshan.

Compal told Reuters on Friday that it had not halted production in Kunshan. Dell and Lenovo did not respond to emails seeking comment.

(Reporting by Josh Horwitz in Shanghai and Sarah Wu in Taipei; Editing by Sayantani Ghosh and Christopher Cushing)

(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 Grandest SCO development of Gurugram, Grand Central 114 by Spaze, spread over 12.3 acres was launched yesterday in a grand style at GNH Convention, Gurugram.

Spaze Group, a leading NCR-based real estate company, will be leading the marketing and branding of the Grand Central 114.

Grand Central 114 by Spaze has been developed in the Shop-cum-Office format enriched by brilliant and modern infrastructure, set amidst a commercial hotspot region attracting the bulk of customers from near and distant areas.

The project has a strategic location that offers many advantages like almost 0 kms from Delhi, 10 mins drive from IGI Airport, being in close proximity to India International Convention Center. The vicinity to healthcare centres, luxury residential apartments, and the presence of elite crowd will definitely hype the investment prospects and crowd footfalls in the Grand Central 114.

On taking the reins of marketing of Grand Central 114, Dr Renu Singh, President, Sales & Marketing, Spaze Group, said, "We are delighted to be spearheading the marketing and branding for the project and since the SCOs developments are emerging as the next profitable real estate investment class in the markets, we are certain that it will allure many people. The Grand Central 114 by Spaze is poised to become the Grandest Retail Marvel on the likes of Khan Market, Connaught Place in New Delhi. There are more projects in the pipeline which will be announced soon."

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.

DISCLAIMER

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shanghai entered a citywide lockdown for nearly two weeks to fight its worst outbreak since the pandemic began more than two years ago.

Supply chain /

Shanghais Covid lockdown forces scramble by tech supply chain

Semiconductor and electronics producers in Shanghai and neighboring areas are scrambling to keep plants running as Covid-related restrictions disrupt businesses, putting more pressure on the already fragile global tech supply chain.

Shanghai hosts many of Chinas leading semiconductor manufacturers including the countrys largest chip foundry, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC). In 2021, integrated circuit sales in Shanghai rose 24.5% from the previous year to 257.9 billion yuan ($40.4 billion), a quarter of the national total. The city is also home to more than 200,000 semiconductor industry workers, nearly 40% of the countrys total.

But weeks-long lockdown measures that confine most of Shanghais 25 million residents at home are taking a toll on the semiconductor hub as factories have been forced to halt or cut production.

FINANCE & ECONOMY

A man stands at a crypto art exhibition in Beijing in March 2021. Photo: VCG

NFTs /

Four things to know about Chinas warning on NFT financial risks

Three state-backed financial industry associations in China called on their members to prevent financial risks associated with nonfungible tokens (NFTs), such as masking trades of financial products as NFT transactions.

The joint proposal, released Wednesday by the National Internet Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association and the Securities Association of China, emphasizes balancing innovation and preventing illegal financial activities in the NFT market.

NFTs  immutable pieces of data tracked on blockchain distributed digital ledgers  have grown increasingly popular since last year in the global market as well as in China.

Economy /

China promises to cut banks reserve requirements

Chinas cabinet said the central bank would cut the amount of money that banks have to keep in reserve  the required reserve ratio, or RRR  at the proper time, a further sign that there is likely to be additional monetary stimulus to support the economy.

China will use monetary policy tools including a RRR cut at an appropriate time and will step up financial support to the real economy, especially industries and small businesses that have been hit hard by the pandemic, the State Council said Wednesday after a meeting, according to state-run television.

Singapore /

Singapores Finance Minister Lawrence Wong tipped to be nations next leader

Finance Minister Lawrence Wong was selected to be the leader of the PAPs fourth-generation (4G) team, paving the way for him to be Singapores next prime minister.

Cabinet ministers affirmed their choice of Wong as the leader of the 4G team Thursday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a statement.

Quick hits /

Hong Kong rolls back some virus measures as deadly wave ebbs

BUSINESS & TECH

Liu Zhongtian/File photo

Fines /

Chinese metal tycoons companies fined $1.83 billion by U.S.

Six Southern California-based companies linked to Chinese metal tycoon Liu Zhongtian were fined $1.83 billion by a U.S. federal judge for a conspiracy to evade customs duties and inflate revenues of Hong Kong-traded China Zhongwang Holdings.

The companies, including two aluminum businesses and four warehousing companies, defrauded the United States by disguising huge amounts of aluminum exports to the country between 2011 and 2014 to avoid $1.8 billion in custom duties, the Justice Department said Monday in a statement.

Lithium /

Soaring lithium prices yield bumper profits

Chinese companies along the lithium carbonate supply chain had a bumper first quarter as the price of the chemical element more than doubled, extending a rally from last year driven by growing demand for electric vehicles.

Jiangxi Special Electric Motor Co. Ltd., which produces lithium carbonate and battery cells, estimated that its first-quarter net profit grew by as much as 829% year-on-year to 680 million yuan ($107 million), due to booming demand and surging prices.

Talents /

Another Chinese province to blacklist scientists for job hopping

Chinas eastern province of Jiangxi will blacklist some scientists who change jobs, including those working at universities, becoming the latest region to introduce punitive measures to curb job hopping amid fierce competition for university talent.

Those who are part of a talent program or heads of major scientific research projects can be blacklisted if they change jobs without government permission during their tenure or in the middle of a project, according to a statement (link in Chinese) published Monday by the provincial government.

Quick hits /

Covid concerns leave more Shenzhen office space empty

GALLERY

Gallery: Hainans Rainforest Biodiversity

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New Pakistani PM, Chinese officials voice confidence to further cement iron-clad ties

By Cui Fandi and Xu Keyue (Global Times) 08:54, April 15, 2022

Ever since Shahbaz Sharif was elected as Pakistan's new prime minister, he has highlighted the friendship between Pakistan and China, which was also echoed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. China-Pakistan relations are expected to remain the key focus for the two countries, which will be "worry-free," experts said.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian described Pakistan as China's "iron-clad brothers true to the name" at a routine news conference.

"China will give priority to Pakistan in its neighborhood diplomacy as always," said Zhao. "We are ready to work with the new Pakistani government to have close exchanges at all levels, substantiate and expand practical cooperation, build the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) toward the sustainable, livelihood-oriented and high-standard objectives, and accelerate the building of an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era for the well-being of the two countries and the two peoples."

The Chinese FM spokesperson's remarks came after Sharif's meeting with the charge d'affaires ad interim of the Chinese embassy in Pakistan on Tuesday, the second day after he was sworn into office.

"The new government of Pakistan attaches great importance to developing relations with China, and is ready to further strengthen bilateral cooperation and promote the building of the CPEC with stronger initiative and higher efficiency," said Sharif during the meeting.

Ever since Sharif was elected prime minister on Monday, he has been speaking highly of China-Pakistan relations in his speeches.

In Sharif's inauguration speech, he promised to vigorously promote the construction of the CPEC, noting that China is a faithful, reliable and trustworthy partner of Pakistan, and the friendship between the two countries will last forever.

Sharif's statements are also frequently echoed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. The China-Pakistan friendship has been the top topic in the ministry's past few news conferences, repeatedly stressed by the spokesperson.

Following Sharif's election, Zhao congratulated him on Tuesday and described the China-Pakistan relations as "rock-solid and unbreakable," and said China looks forward to carrying on the traditional friendly cooperation.

On Wednesday, Zhao expressed appreciation to Sharif's remarks and noted that China is ready to work with Pakistan to continue to further advance the high-quality development of CPEC and build it into a demonstration program of high-quality development under the Belt and Road Initiative.

"We believe the political change in Pakistan will not affect overall China-Pakistan relations," he said.

Given positive remarks from both China and Pakistan in recent days, China-Pakistan relations are expected to further improve, said Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University.

Qian told the Global Times on Thursday that there is nothing to worry about in the bilateral relations in the future, because the China-Pakistan relationship was not built in a day or could be shaken by one or two people. Instead, it is based on the long friendship between the two countries at all levels.

The CPEC, which has been benefiting the Chinese and Pakistani people along the route, has entered the second phase of construction of high quality, and Sharif is expected to pay more attention to the positive social and economic benefits brought by the project, and continue to work with China to advance the project in the direction of high quality, Qian said.

China, Afghanistan and Pakistan can jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative, extend the CPEC to Afghanistan, and help Afghanistan participate in regional connectivity, said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the foreign ministers' meeting between the three countries in Tunxi, East China's Anhui Province on March 30.

This made the international community pay more attention to the potential efforts China and Pakistan would jointly make to the economic recovery in Afghanistan, Qian said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Ravula Ramalingam, a farmer of Narsampet division in Warangal district, said that he left his two and half acres of field vacant without taking up cultivation fearing lack of marketing facility. (Representational Image/ AFP)

Karimnagar/Warangal: Following the orders issued by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, many farmers in the erstwhile Karimnagar and Warangal districts who did not cultivate paddy and not even opted for alternative crops feel they have been betrayed by the state government.

In absence of any agricultural activities for past six months, several lakh acres of land are barren both in erstwhile Karimnagar and Warangal districts.

Facing huge losses, some of farmers have even migrated to other places in search of livelihood leaving their native villages.

Jinkala Veeraiah, resident of Ganneruvaram mandal in Karimnagar district said that he had four acres of land, but following the orders of the Chief Minister, he stopped cultivating paddy, left his fields and migrated to Hyderabad with his family in search of livelihood.

He said had he taken up cultivation in his four acres of land, he would have earned more than Rs 80,000.

Unable to cultivate other crops I not only suffered loss without taking up paddy cultivation but was also forced to leave the village, he said and demanded the state government to pay compensation for the loss.

Ravula Ramalingam, a farmer of Narsampet division in Warangal district, said that he left his two and half acres of field vacant without taking up cultivation fearing lack of marketing facility. The state government has no clarity on the paddy issue and created confusion among the farmers. The farmers followed the orders and faced loss. Now the government should bail us out from this crisis, he urged.

The farmers said that the state government had earlier announced that it will not procure paddy. Later it said it will exert pressure on the Central government to procure paddy. Now the state government says it will open purchasing centres and will buy all paddy produced in state, they added.
Photo: The Canadian Press NYPD officers patrol platforms and train cars at the 36th Street subway station where a shooting attack occurred the previous day during the morning commute, Wednesday, April 13, 2022, in New York. Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday that officials were now seeking 62-year-old Frank R. James as a suspect. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

The man charged with opening fire on subway riders on a train in Brooklyn was ordered held without bail Thursday at his first court appearance, where prosecutors told a judge he terrified all of New York City.

Brought into a Brooklyn federal court without handcuffs, a subdued Frank James, 62, softly answered standard questions about whether he understood the charges and the purpose of the brief hearing. His lawyer later asked the public not to prejudge him.

James was arrested in Manhattan after calling a police tip line to say where he was Wednesday, a day after the nightmarish rush-hour attack left 10 people with gunshot wounds and countless others fearing for their safety on the nations busiest subway system.

Authorities say he unleashed smoke bombs and dozens of bullets, in a train full of morning commuters. He's charged with a federal terrorism offense that applies to attacks on mass transit systems  authorities say there's currently no evidence linking him to terror organizations and are still trying to derive a motive.

The defendant terrifyingly opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way the city hasnt seen in more than 20 years," Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara K. Winik said. "The defendants attack was premeditated, was carefully planned and it caused terror among the victims and our entire city.

While James was in court, Hourari Benkada was in a hospital bed with a bullet wound in his leg.

Benkada said he was just feet away from the gunman on the train and has struggled to sleep since. Tuesday's horrific scene keeps replaying in his mind.

"Im still shocked about it, Benkada said in a video interview Thursday, grimacing in pain as he recalled the attack.

He had headphones on, music blaring, as smoke began filling the subway car. He initially thought it was a small fire. But the smoke "kept escalating to black, black smoke like 9/11," he said, and the whole train was pitch-black.

Then there were gunshots, screams and a scramble for safety. Benkada said he tried to shield a pregnant woman from getting hit during the mayhem, and as people pushed forward, a gunshot tore into his knee.

The shooting victims, who range in age from 16 to 60, are all expected to survive.

Prosecutors described James in court papers as a calculating shooter who wore a disguise  a construction worker-style hard hat and jacket that were shed right after the attack  and fired in cold blood at terrified passengers who had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

But defense attorney Mia Eisner-Grynberg cautioned against a rush to judgment.

"Initial reports in a case like this are often inaccurate, she said outside court. She noted that James alerted police to his whereabouts, 30 hours into a manhunt that included cellphone alerts to the general public.

Once he knew he was wanted, he called Crime Stoppers to help," Eisner-Grynberg said.

She had agreed to his being held without bail, at least for now. His attorneys could seek bail later on.

At the request of James lawyers, Magistrate Roanne Mann said she would ask for James to get psychiatric attention, as well as magnesium tablets for leg cramps, at the federal lockup in Brooklyn where he's being held.

Authorities say a trove of evidence connects James to the attack. His bank card, his cellphone and a key to a van he had rented were found at the shooting scene. Officers also found the handgun they said was used in the shooting; tracing records show James purchased the gun from a licensed gun dealer in Ohio in 2011.

In court papers, prosecutors suggested James had the means to carry out more more attacks, noting that he had ammunition and other gun-related items in a Philadelphia storage unit.

The New York City native had been living in Milwaukee and Philadelphia recently.

Investigators were examining many hours of videos that James posted on social media, as recently as Monday, in which he delivered profanity-laced diatribes about racism, society's treatment of Black people, homelessness and violence. He also discussed his history of psychiatric treatment and complained about how New York's mayor is dealing with homeless people on subways and with gun violence.

He also talked about shooting people, prosecutors noted in court papers.
Photo: The Canadian Press Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis

Former Alberta justice minister Jonathan Denis has told a newspaper columnist that he had a contract with a political fixer but denies he asked for a reporter's phone logs to trace the sources of a story.

The self-described fixer, David Wallace, earlier told The Canadian Press that Denis hired him to get the phone records of Alanna Smith, a former Calgary Herald reporter now of The Canadian Press.

Wallace said Denis told him he wanted to trace sources Smith had drawn on for a story about whether the size of Denis's 2021 wedding reception broke COVID-19 protocols.

Denis, an Alberta cabinet minister from 2010 to 2015, told Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid this week that he had a contract with the investigator but never asked for Smith's phone records.

"I am sorry if the reporter felt her privacy was being violated, just as I felt she was violating my privacy by trying to find a negative story about the happiest day of my life. Let's not forget that," he said in the Herald.

"For the record, I never asked for nor received private phone information.

Denis did not immediately respond Thursday to another request for comment from The Canadian Press.

He had previously denied to The Canadian Press, through his lawyer, that he or his clients communicated with Wallace.

Earlier this week, The Canadian Press reported on a long string of emails, receipts and other documents that seemed to show Denis hired Wallace to discover who had tipped the reporter to the story about his wedding reception. The Canadian Press was unable to confirm the authenticity of the emails and other documents using data accompanying them.

The emails suggest Denis was trying to protect his friend and political ally Mike Ellis, a sitting United Conservative Party junior cabinet minister then thought to be considering running for mayor of Calgary. Ellis's press secretary, Eric Engler, has said Ellis had not hired Denis for over a decade and was not aware of or in any way involved in efforts to obtain the reporter's phone logs.

Observers said Tuesday the purported emails seem to show how the province's politics has deteriorated in Alberta.

Denis is closely linked to Pierre Poilievre, the front-runner for the leadership of the federal Conservative party.

Until recently, Denis was volunteering for Poilievre's campaign. In 2004, the two founded a political communications company together called 3D Contact and continue to co-own and manage a real estate investment firm in Calgary called Liberty West Properties.

On Wednesday, an Edmonton judge found Denis in contempt of court for threatening to sue a plaintiff in the middle of her testimony in a civil trial.

The judge ruled that a letter sent last week on behalf of Denis was an attempt to intimidate Dr. Anny Sauvageau, a former chief medical examiner, who is suing the Alberta government. She is alleging wrongful dismissal in 2014, when Denis was justice minister.
Hyderabad: The governments decision to repeal GO 111 would delay the finalisation of the master plan for the Hyderabad Metropol-itan Region by another year.

Though Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had asked the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) to prepare a master plan for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region three years ago, the work has not taken off yet.

Officials say that they could prepare the master plan within three months as per the direction of the Chief Minister, but no meeting was convened by ASCI with stakeholders like health, education, po-wer and industries departments to understand their expectations from the comprehensive master plan.

Municipal administration and urban development authorities, however, say that the comprehensive master plan was put on hold as the government intended to revoke GO 111.

Now that the government has taken a decision on the revocation of GO 111, the officials claim the draft master plan will be ready within 18 months.

The master plan will divide the city into three parts  areas within ORR, beyond ORR and outside a five km radius of the proposed regional ring road. Assessment will also be made for drinking water, drainage, sewage, traffic, transport and power lines in the metropolitan area.

According to sources, as per the draft master plan, all polluting industries from the city would be shifted out and industrial estates which are not in use due to closure will be converted into green areas.

While handing over the job to draft the master plan from Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to ASCI, the Chief Minister had said that instead of depending on a small body like HMDA for the implementation of the master plan, for the comprehensive development of the city, there shall be a larger body consisting of experts drawn from various fields like sewerage, drinking water, power lines, traffic and environment. Funds need to be mobilised not just from GHMC coffers but from various other sources.

An official said that the state government has also asked ASCI to prepare two draft master plans  one taking into consideration the curbs imposed by GO 111 around areas surrounding Osmansagar Lake and Himayatsagar Lake, and another envisaging the successful of revocation of GO 111 curbs.

The MA&UD officials, however, said that ASCI is yet to hold a meeting with the stakeholders.

They said ASCI has prepared a draft plan for areas lying outside the 5 km radius of RRR. But now that the state government has decided to revoke GO 111, ASCI has to prepare multiple plans, which is a time-consuming task.
Photo: The Canadian Press People receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at a mass vaccination clinic at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Sunday, June 27, 2021. Easier access to COVID-19 vaccine boosters could be a way of addressing the plateauing rates of Canadians getting the shot, public health and immunology experts say. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

Easier access to COVID-19 vaccine boosters could be a way of addressing the plateauing rates of Canadians getting the shot, public health and immunology experts say.

Matthew Miller, professor at McMaster Universitys Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, said some may see the roll back of public health measures throughout the country as a signal that they no longer need to be as cautious about COVID-19 infection.

"The idea that we're past the worst of things I think leads to a certain amount of apathy," Miller said.

"I think that's also compounded by the fact that there are a significant proportion of people in the population that aren't vaccine hesitant, but also aren't super enthusiastic about getting vaccinated."

He said there was a sharp increase in immunization rates in Canada when governments brought in COVID-19 vaccination mandates.

"Now that those restrictions are also being dialed back and haven't been applied to third doses, I think the incentive has just diminished," Miller said.

"There is a certain segment of the population for whom I simply think it's inertia and, without that sort of pressure point applied, they just aren't that interested in going out of their way to get vaccinated, even though in principle they are willing."

He said governments don't have always have to resort to mandates to increase the uptake in vaccination rates. The answer can be eliminating barriers for some people.

"You have to make it ultraconvenient for people, because the people who are super vaccine enthusiastic, they've got their third shot," Miller said.

"The people who don't have boosters yet don't have them for a complex milieu of reasons, but the easiest people to catch  are those for whom that the only thing that is preventing them getting it is a little of apathy."

Figures from the federal government show that about 57 per cent of Canadians 18 and older are fully vaccinated with an additional dose, while 47 per cent of the total population have received the COVID-19 booster.

Newfoundland and Labrador, the province with the highest vaccinate rate in the country with 91 per cent of its population with two shots, has 55 per cent of its people with a third dose.

Dr. Theresa Tam, the national chief public health officer, has urged Canadians 18 and older to get boosted because of a recent surge of COVID-19 cases due to the more transmissible BA. 2 variant.

"Whether you call it the sixth wave or not  there's an increase which is being seen in most areas across Canada," Tam said earlier this week.

She said the booster is also recommended for those who have recently been infected with COVID-19.

Miller said the most vaccine apathy is among younger Canadians and governments should do more to make booster shots easily accessible to that demographic.

With the summer season approaching, he said mobile clinics can be set up again at outdoor events to help increase booster shot rates.

Roman Pabayo, a professor at the University of Alberta's School of Public Health, said there are still many barriers that prevent people from getting vaccinated.

He said a report from Statistics Canada released last month showed that about 86 per cent of people 12 and older were willing to get a booster shot  a big difference from the percentage of Canadians who have received their third dose so far.

"So, if they are willing, we have to look at the barriers that are put in place," Pabayo said.

Hours of operation for vaccine clinics or pharmacies, lack of transportation to those sites and even having inadequate child care can play a role in the plateauing booster rates, he said.

"If accessibility is an issue, it's important for us in public health to go to them," Pabayo said.

"For most people, with the exception of hardcore anti-vaxxers because their minds are set, it may just take a health professional to talk to them."

But, he added, health professionals are burnt out.

"I like to think that we are reaching the end of the pandemic, but at the same time, people are exhausted," Pabayo said.

"It's not just the general population, but it's the health-care professionals and public health as well."

This week, Tam said initial efforts in booster campaigns were thwarted because many vaccinators were getting infected.

"We had an absenteeism from the health, public health and health system, so it's not easy to increase access and making sure vaccines are accessible to all populations," she said.
Ukrainians are relocating to numerous countries throughout the world.

While some are evacuating to safer areas within Ukraine to escape the Russian aggression, schools, halls, community centres and gyms are being used for shelter.

Funding from a benefit concert, to be held April 24 in Penticton, will be used to provide basic essentials, such as food, medical supplies, diapers, clothing and sanitary items, for these families.

The concert will be held Sunday, April 24 at the Penticton United Church, 696 Main Street. From 4 p.m to 5:30 p.m. It will be preceded by an outdoor reception and with refreshments at 3:30 p.m.

Admission will be by Donation and performers will include youth violinists Yanti, Allan Crossley, Justin Glibbery, Packing House Social Club and Linnea Good.

Ukrainian food, paintings, ribbons and plaques will also be available and funds raised will go to the Ukrainian Canadian Volunteers Association

Let's help these people as much as we can.

Randall Northwood
Photo: Vancouver is Awesome The first cruise ship to arrive in Vancouver in two years, the Koningsdam on April 10, 2022.

Environmental groups are hoisting red flags as the cruise ship season relaunches after the easing of COVID restrictions on the West Coast despite Ottawas recent announcement it will roll out stricter wastewater dumping rules.

The federal governments proposed environmental regulations are ambiguous, but signal Transport Canada is starting to acknowledge cruise ships have been taking advantage of Canadas lax standards to dump billions of litres of dirty water waste along the B.C. coast, said Anna Barford, Stand.earths shipping campaigner.

Its really vague on details, Barford said of the federal announcement, noting there is no timeline and compliance by the sector will be voluntary until any new rules are in place.

Its a great signal and a wonderful show for the environment, she said.

But until we actually have the regulations and the proposed language, we're in the same situation where the B.C. coast is still a toilet bowl open for business to cruise ships.

Transport Canada said it plans to implement stricter measures for the treating and discharging of grey water and black water.

Grey water typically involves laundry detergent, cleaners, food waste, cooking oils and grease as well as hazardous carcinogens and other pollutants.

Black water, or sewage waste, contains fecal coliforms, ammonia, chlorine, and may contain a variety of toxic pollutants, such as pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and hydrocarbons.

While it appears Canada may be aligning some of its sewage and grey water treatment levels with more stringent standards set out in Alaskan waters, it continues to ignore the largest wastewater stream of all, Barford noted.

More than 90 per cent of the volume of wastewater dumping from cruise ships involves scrubber discharge, she said.

Rather than use cleaner fuels to meet international emission standards, many ships continue to use dirty heavy fuel oil (HFO)  but employ exhaust gas cleaning systems, or scrubbers, that use seawater to remove sulphur dioxide, other contaminants, carcinogens and heavy metals before dumping them overboard.

As a result, the discharge messes with ocean acidification, and heavy metals can accumulate in the food web and harm marine life and cause reproductive disorders in endangered marine mammals, such as southern resident killer whales and belugas, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation.

Scrubber wastewater is acidic and laden with heavy metals and carcinogens, Barford said.

Those don't metabolize there. They're essentially forever chemicals in the marine environment.

The Port of Vancouver recently moved to ban ships from dumping the bulk of their scrubber wastewater because of concern about the environmental impacts, Barford said.

Ideally, Transport Canada should also be banning the use of scrubbers all along the B.C. coast because its simply a workaround for companies looking to keep using cheaper, dirtier fuels, she added.

Instead of just putting marine gas oil in their tanks  which they're required to do in California  they operate a scrubber and take air pollution and simply put it into the water.

Cruise industry worth billions

The cruise ship industry is an important part of Canadas domestic tourism sector, injecting $4 billion into the national economy and 30,000 direct and indirect jobs, according to the federal government.

The regulations will outline new requirements concerning the minimum distance wastewater can be discharged from shore  now three nautical miles or greater from the coast  along with strengthened treatment levels, said Donna Spalding, spokesperson for the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).

Although the new measures are voluntary until regulations are established, CLIA members will adhere to them immediately, Spalding said, adding specifics will likely be outlined to the sector by Transport Canada next week.

However, CLIA members were already exceeding international and national regulations and not discharging untreated sewage into the ocean, even if permitted in some circumstances, she said.

For grey water, it is already the policy of CLIA member lines to discharge at greater than four nautical miles, a policy they will continue to follow, Spalding said.

More than 80 per cent of the vessels plying B.C. waters have advanced waste treatment systems and that number will increase to more than 91 per cent by the end of 2022, she said.

Such systems treat wastewater to a tertiary level, a higher standard than some wastewater facilities in many coastal communities in Canada, she added.

There are continuing discussions around plans to install pier-side reception facilities to accommodate cruise ship wastewater.

Regardless of the assurances by industry associations and willingness to report compliance with the new rules, Canada needs to implement stringent monitoring and enforcement measures as well, Barford said.

How frequently can we expect that reporting, and what kind of public access can we expect around that data? she asked.

There have been numerous and repeated environmental violations by the sector in the past, she added, citing the recent and repeated probation violation by Princess Cruises, owned by parent company Carnival Cruise Line, in failing to set up an internal investigation office.

The court-ordered condition followed the conviction of Princess Cruises and a $40-million fine for the deliberate dumping of oil-contaminated waste from one of its ships and a subsequent coverup.

Voluntary reporting of compliance is certainly something I support, Barford said.

But recognizing the actors at play and their storied history, we need onboard observers to enforce the rules.

Additionally, certain sensitive and valuable ecosystems and marine protected areas need to be safeguarded from wastewater dumping altogether, Barford added.

The waters adjacent to the Great Bear Rainforest on B.C.s central coast, already under consideration as a marine protected area, is one such example, she said.

And no dumping certainly shouldnt be allowed in existing protected marine areas such as the Scott Islands marine national wildlife area located north of Vancouver Island and along the heavily trafficked cruise ship route to Alaska.

The situation is urgent, she added, noting 300 cruise ships are expected in the Port of Vancouver over the summer months, representing an eight per cent increase from ship visits in 2019.

We need consistent regulations that protect the places that are important to us  for endangered species and for our shared food web, Barford said.

Canadas very trusting of the industry and currently  we are not doing anything to protect ourselves from being exploited.

Requests for comment were not returned by Transport Canada or the office of Transport Minister Omar Alghabra before Canada National Observers publishing deadline.
Photo: The Canadian Press Brenda Murphy, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, addresses a memorial gathering in Edmundston, N.B., Saturday, June 13, 2020. A New Brunswick judge says the appointment of a unilingual anglophone to the post of lieutenant-governor was unconstitutional, but that striking down the appointment would cause too much harm.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated constitutional language protections when he appointed a unilingual anglophone lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, but striking down the nomination would cause a constitutional crisis, a court ruled Thursday.

While the 2019 appointment of Brenda Murphy as lieutenant-governor of the officially bilingual province violated the rights of the province's minority francophones, New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Tracey K. DeWare wrote that it will be up to the federal government to decide what to do next.

The court cannot issue a declaration which could undermine countless lawfully enacted pieces of legislation, appointments and decrees. Such a situation would create a legislative and constitutional crisis within the province of New Brunswick, DeWare wrote, adding that she believes her ruling "is sufficient to ensure appropriate and prompt action on behalf of the government to rectify the situation."

The Acadian Society of New Brunswick had challenged Murphys appointment, arguing that naming a unilingual anglophone to the role violated several constitutional language protections aimed at ensuring equality between the province's two linguistic communities, including the right to communicate with the government in either official language.

DeWare found that the lieutenant-governor must speak both English and French in order to carry out her duties as the province's head of state, as well as to interact with citizens.

"It will be understandably difficult, if not impossible, for a unilingual anglophone lieutenant-governor to converse and interact with francophone citizens," she wrote. "A unilingual lieutenant-governor will experience significant difficulties in delivering a speech from the throne with equal attention given to both official languages. Can such a situation really be deemed to represent equality of the linguistic communities pursuant to the charter? In my view, it cannot.

Lawyers for Trudeau and the Governor General  who names the lieutenant-governor based on the prime minister's recommendation  argued that the appointment was not reviewable by the courts. They said the Constitution requires the lieutenant-governor's office to be bilingual, not the person who holds it.

However, DeWare found that the "extremely unique character and constitutional quality of the role" requires the individual who holds it to be bilingual.

Compliance with the charter does not require any government employee, minister, judge, premier or prime minister to be bilingual," she wrote. "However, these individuals can all be replaced by someone else in the execution of their functions, (and) a lieutenant-governor cannot. There is only one head of state."

New Brunswick is the only province where official bilingualism is enshrined in the federal Constitution, DeWare noted.

Alexandre Cedric Doucet, president of the Acadian Society, described the ruling as "wonderful news for the French language."

Doucet said the court challenge wasn't aimed at Murphy personally, but was about ensuring that the nomination process respects the Constitution. He said he hopes Ottawa responds to the ruling by amending a bill currently before Parliament that would update the Official Language Act. Doucet said the bill should amended to include language requiring New Brunswick's lieutenant-governor to speak French.

Parliament could also adopt a Senate bill that would modify the Language Skills Act  which establishes bilingualism requirements for certain senior public servants  to include the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick and the Governor General, he said.

Asked whether Murphy should be replaced, Doucet said, "that's a question that the federal government will have to answer, because for us the important thing here is the process."

The Prime Minister's Office directed questions about the ruling to Justice Minister David Lametti.

While we will be taking time to review this decision and consider next steps, we remain committed to protecting and promoting French everywhere in the country and advancing our linguistic duality," Chantalle Aubertin, a spokeswoman for Lametti, wrote in an email.

Murphy's office declined to comment on the decision, as did the office of New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.
Photo: Crime Stoppers / Zoom Nerissa, left, and Odelia Quewezance were convicted of second-degree murder in 1994.

Sisters who have maintained their innocence after being convicted of a 1993 murder are to meet in Winnipeg to start their path of healing after decades of injustice, Vancouver provincial court heard April 14.

She hasn't seen her sister in 20 years, Lawyer Leeanne Footman said. This case is as big a miscarriage of justice as there ever has been in this country.

Nerissa Quewezance pleaded guilty to fleeing a Vancouver halfway house in 2019, remaining at large for 18 months.

Footman told Judge Elizabeth Burgess Thursday that halfway houses have long triggered the residential school survivors trauma. So, she fled.

Footman called the justice system racist.

This is an exceptional case if ever there was one, Footman said. The system let her down. She was not protected as an Indigenous young woman.

Burgess noted she had been told, "How questionable the murder conviction is.

Then she sentenced Quewezance to one day in jail with three months time served.

The Quewezance sisters journey

Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance have spent almost 30 years in prison after they were sentenced to life on second-degree murder charges in 1994 for Anthony Joseph Dolff's death in Kamsack, Sask. in 1993.

The sisters cousin  a youth at the time of Dolffs death  previously confessed on APTN that he is the one who killed Dolff. The youth was sentenced to four years in prison.

According to Parole Board of Canada documents obtained by Glacier Media, Nerissa hit Dolff with a porcelain ornament, and the young offender stabbed him and dropped a heavy object on him. The sisters and the young offender then fled in the victim's car.

The parole board documents reveal that the two sisters, aged 18 and 21 at the time, were drinking alcohol with 70-year-old Dolff at his residence.

Neither of the sisters pleaded guilty to the murder, instead maintaining their innocence.

Nerissa lived at a halfway house in B.C. after she was granted day parole. She was back in custody on B.C.s Lower Mainland in December 2021 for violating her parole conditions.

Burgess heard Nerissa was absent from that halfway house March 30, 2019 to Sept. 22, 2020.

Crown prosecutor Jeffrey La Pointe said Nerissa has spent 206 days in custody. He asked for one day in jail to reflect six months in custody.

Footman said Nerissas goal is to end with her sister at a Winnipeg healing centre.

Odelia was granted day parole leave by the Parole Board of Canada on Thursday, according to APTN.

David Milgaard letter

Footman read a letter of support for Nerissa from David Milgaard, who was wrongfully convicted for the 1969 rape and murder of nursing assistant Gail Miller and spent 23 years in jail. He received $10 million compensation.

The two sisters should be exonerated, Millard wrote. Allow Nerissa to go home.

The sisters have experienced inter-generational trauma from colonialism and have spent almost their entire lives institutionalized in residential school and then prison. Parole board documents show that the sisters experienced significant physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

According to Nerissas parole report, one of their parents struggled with substance abuse and died by suicide.

Parole board documents reveal that halfway houses trigger her trauma.

The structure of halfway houses is difficult for you as it triggers trauma from your experiences of residential school, the February 2022 parole board report states.

During a Zoom call in 2021, Odelia pleaded for her freedom while she held an eagle feather, which is a symbol for honesty in the Indigenous culture.

We were treated unfairly from the beginning as young Indigenous women living in Saskatchewan," she said. "Someone else has confessed to this horrific murder and still the justice system fails us.

According to Canadas prison watchdog, Indigenous women are over-incarcerated and represent the fastest-growing prison population in Canada.
Farmers, who opted out of paddy cultivation following Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Raos statements against sowing paddy in the rabi season, feel betrayed by the state governments decision to purchase paddy at a MSP. (DC representational Photo)

Hyderabad: Farmers, who opted out of paddy cultivation following Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Raos statements against sowing paddy in the rabi season, feel betrayed by the state governments decision to purchase paddy at a minimum support price (MSP). They demanded the compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre from the government for losses that they incurred by not sowing paddy during the rabi season.

After the Chief Ministers appeal, the paddy cultivation in the rabi dropped to 35 lakh acres from 52 lakh acres in 2021 in the state  a decline of 17 lakh areas. As the Chief Minister cautioned the farmers that the state will not procure paddy cultivated in the rabi, a majority of the farmers opted for a crop holiday as their lands were not suitable for crops other than paddy.

The farmers say that the governments decision to procure paddy at an MSP would benefit those, who went ahead with paddy cultivation in spite of the state governments no paddy policy, and those who followed the state governments instructions would suffer huge losses.

In the undivided Khamm-am district alone, around 5,500 farmers did not cultivate any crop in the 24,500 acres during the rabi season as their lands were not suitable for any other crop.

Kongara Muralikrishna, a farmer of Mallavaram village under Madhira mandal, said, I did not raise the paddy or other crops in my six acres after the officials asked me to go for alternative crops. My soil is suitable only for paddy, not other crops. So I kept my land vacant. I produced 140 quintals of paddy in the previous Yasangi season and earned Rs 1 lakh after deducting all costs including wages. I lost this money because of the governments decision. Now the government has started lifting the Yasangi paddy from the farmers. So who will make good my losses?

Many of the farmers, particularly small and marginal farmers, did not raise paddy or other crops in Yasangi. Such situations were witnessed more in Kusumanchi, Nelakonda-palli, Konigerla, Kallur, Vemsoor, Sattupalli, Mad-hira, Bonakal, Chintakani and Errupalem mandals.

Mandadapu Sudhakar, a farmer leader, said that changing crops is not possible in some soils, particularly paddy fields. He said that the government should consider the pain of such farmers and give relief to them by paying some amount as compensation.

B. Karunakara Reddy of Adasarlapadu in Vemsoor mandal concurs. He did not raise any crop in his eight acres. Enugu Venkateswarlu, a farmer from Rapalle in Bonakal mandal, said that he kept his three acres. My field is suitable only for paddy, not other crops. I have to do soil treatment to go for other crops and it is an expensive affair, he said.

Several lakh acres of land turned barren in both of the erstwhile undivided Karimnagar and Warangal districts. Facing huge losses, some farmers even migrated to other places in search of livelihood leaving their native villages.

Jinkala Veeraiah, a resident of Ganneruvaram mandal of Karimnagar district, said he had four acres of land, but following the orders of Chandrashekar Rao, he stopped cultivating paddy and left his fields and migrated to Hyderabad with his family in search of livelihood.

He said if he had cultivated paddy on his four acres of land, he would have earned more than Rs 80,000 and would have lived with his relatives in his own village.

Unable to cultivate other crops, I, not only faced loss but also was forced to leave the village, he said and demanded the state government pay compensation for his loss.
Officials with the City of Red Bank invite the public to a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday, April 19, for the opening of the citys new playground. The celebration will begin at 2 p.m. at the Joe Glasscock Red Bank Community Center at 3653 Tom Weathers Drive.

The newly constructed playground was a project championed by the Red Bank City Commission and Public Works Director Greg Tate. The desire was to build the playground at the Community Center, but the location had its challenges. Space was limited due to underground utilities, slope and size of open space in relation to playground fall zones and natural terrain.

In August 2021, after assessing the sites challenges, Mr. Tate began the initial procurement of the playground equipment. Several sealed bids were turned in to the city with the best priced, best sized structure for the area being presented from Firefly Recreation, a Knoxville area recreational equipment supplier. The play features themselves were constructed by Columbia Cascade, a nationwide recreational equipment builder from Washington State.

The entire playground, the sidewalk and the picnic tables are all ADA compliant, making access available to everyone. The new playground was funded in part by the Red Bank/Soddy Daisy Fund (approximately 30%) and was sourced and partially built by the City of Red Bank Public Works employees. The actual playground structures were constructed in place by Hammer Down Recreation, a licensed, certified playground builder.

As the process evolved, it was turned over to Public Works Operations Foreman Justin Headrick for management of the grade work, pavilion construction, sidewalk construction, features build, electrical work, sign replacement, mulch and landscape work, said Mr. Tate. I would also like to offer my appreciation to Johnny Ledford, John Nash, Clay Boydston, Joshua Loveless, Scott Johnson, Ryan Coleman and Ron Clark of the Public Works Department for their contributions to the project.

For more information about the playground and the ribbon cutting ceremony, contact Red Bank City Hall at 423 877-1103.
A woman on Olive Street called police about a disorder she was having with her ex-boyfriend. The woman said that after approximately 25 years of being together, she has moved on and has a new boyfriend. Her ex is jealous that she has a new boyfriend. Both the ex-boyfriend and the woman are on the lease together at the residence. The woman agreed to stay in the bedroom and the ex-boyfriend agreed to stay in the front living room.

* * *

A man on Starview Lane told police he was coming out to his GMC Yukon to go get groceries when he noticed his drivers-side window shattered. He walked around his vehicle, noticed extensive damage done and called for police. He said he had not noticed the damage earlier when he came out to walk his dog and believes it might have occurred when he was inside his residence. When asked if he knew anyone who would try to damage his vehicle or a suspect he said it could possibly be his ex-girlfriend, but did not have any evidence since there is a current TPO in place. The officer observed the Yukon had the driver-side window and rear window broken, key marks on the driver's side and an unknown brown substance, similar to melted ice cream, on his driver seat. No other vehicle in the parking lot had any damage. The officer told the man to try and get in contact with his property manager and see if they could review camera footage, if any, in the morning and identify a vehicle or time when this occurred.

* * *

Security of Blue Light at 43 Station St. told police there was a man sitting in a Sierra in the parking lot. Officers at that time observed a black Sierra begin to leave the property and the officer initiated a stop. During further investigation however, it was determined no occupants of the vehicle matched the description given and the people were released. Officers again responded to the scene and were re-informed the party was sitting inside an Xterra. Contact was made with the man and he was asked to step out of the vehicle due to the possibility he had a firearm, which was reported to officers. Once outside the vehicle, the man did not display any level of intoxication. Furthermore, Blue Light staff said the man was not seen with alcohol and did not appear to them to be intoxicated when he left. Staff said the man had been kicked out for arguing with others. On scene and after gauging for intoxication, it was determined the man was not impaired. At the conclusion of this investigation, the man was allowed to leave on his own.

* * *

Police responded to vandalism on Arlington Avenue where police observed a Buick with a broken drivers window and a broken rear, drivers side window. Police also observed a broken window on the front of the residence with a hammer stuck in the screen of the window. There were egg shells near the front door of the residence as well. A woman said everyone inside the residence was asleep and did not have any suspect description. The woman said it would cost approximately $350 to repair the house window and approximately $800 to replace the windows on the vehicle. Police patrolled the area and did not locate anyone.

* * *

Police responded to the Circle K at 3729 Tennessee Ave. where the manager said a woman was causing a disorder for unknown reasons. She was trespassed by the manager and the officer witnessed and notified her of the trespass. The woman is aware that she is subject to arrest if she returns to the property.

* * *

A man on Fairview Avenue told police he woke up around 4 p.m. and noticed that his vehicle had heavy damage done to the rear driver's side. He is unsure what had happened to his vehicle, but it had happened during the night time. The officer observed yellow paint on his vehicle and the car was moved about two feet from the spot parked. The damage is estimated at $2,000. The driver's side tail light was heavily damaged and the vehicle suffered a big dent as well.

* * *

A woman at Party Foul at 2100 Hamilton Place Blvd. said she went to use the restroom and her wallet was inside her jacket. After she was done using the restroom, she went to her vehicle and she could not find her wallet. She was not sure if she lost the wallet or if it was stolen.

* * *

A woman told police she exited Target at 1816 Gunbarrel Road and loaded her purchases into her car. She thinks she left her wallet in the buggy. She didnt realize she had done so until she went back to Georgia and was going to Walmart. She canceled the credit and debit cards and notified Regions Bank that she has lost them. The officer recommended that she read the website "identitytheft.gov" and also place a watch on her credit record to avoid any identity theft.

* * *

Police received a noise complaint from Homeaway at 1421 Cloverdale Circle coming from apartment 511. While on scene, the officer received another phone call from a separate resident, saying there were loud noises coming from apartment 511. The officer spoke with the resident in 511 and she immediately said she wanted to film this interaction and the officer told her that was fine. The officer told her they have received two complaints in the last hour about noises and police had to follow up. She said the officer was prejudiced and police only follow up on complaints about her. The officer told her that when she calls, she calls about noises in the ceiling and in the walls, and popping noises in every room, which are not a courtesy issue, but deal with the structure of the building. She also said the officer responded during the Superbowl, which the officer told her, police again received multiple complaints about the noise. In regards to this incident, she told police she had the music on at this level for quite some time and the officer told her it didnt seem to be terribly loud. The officer told her if she is pounding on the wall to please stop and be respectful of neighbors.

* * *

A man on Montview Drive told police someone stole his pistol out of his vehicle. He said there were no signs of forced entry. The firearm was entered into NCIC.

* * *

A woman on Spring Valley Lane told police she got a text message that her Amazon account had been charged $2,600. She called the number and the person who answered asked her all kind of questions. She gave him her personal information, such as credit card info, where she banks, etc. After the call she realized that she had been scammed. She immediately canceled her credit card and put an alert on her credit record. The officer gave her the info to get on identitytheft.gov and suggested that she also alert her bank.

* * *

A woman on East 23rd Street told police while doing her laundry she had her purse hung on one of the drying racks. While waiting for her laundry, a black male wearing a green jacket and a black toboggan came into the store. He proceeded to take her purse off of the rack and then run for the front door of the coin laundry. The woman chased the man and yelled at him to give her the purse back. The man then gave the purse back and ran out the front door. He was last seen leaving the scene in a gold vehicle. The woman said nothing was taken out of her purse and that he did not leave with any of her items.
It is the most powerful meditation for this day, Good Friday, that I believe was ever written. It came from a renowned black pastor, Rev. S.M. Lockridge, during the years he guided the huge Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego. I first heard it delivered by the evangelist Tony Campolo and was mesmerized.

Dr. Lockridge went to be with his Jesus in 2000 but a tape of him reciting his reflections can be found on YouTube as well as several versions of Tony Campolo, now age 87, describing Its Friday  but Sundays a Comin

AUDIO: It's Friday But Sunday's Coming by S. M. Lockridge CLICK HERE.

* * *

ITS FRIDAY BUT SUNDAYS A COMIN

Its Friday

Jesus is praying

Peters a sleeping

Judas is betraying

But Sundays comin!

Its Friday

Pilates struggling

The council is conspiring

The crowd is vilifying

They dont even know

That Sundays comin!

Its Friday

The disciples are running

Like sheep without a shepherd

Marys crying

Peter is denying

But they dont know

That Sundays a comin!

Its Friday

The Romans beat my Jesus

They robe him in scarlet

They crown him with thorns

But they dont know

That Sundays comin!

Its Friday

See Jesus walking to Calvary

His blood dripping

His body stumbling

And his spirits burdened

But you see, its only Friday

Sundays comin!

Its Friday

The worlds winning

People are sinning

And evils grinning.

Its Friday

The soldiers nail my Saviors hands

To the cross

They nail my Saviors feet

To the cross

And then they raise him up

Next to criminals.

Its Friday

But let me tell you something

Sundays comin!

Its Friday

The disciples are questioning

What has happened to their King

And the Pharisees are celebrating

That their scheming

Has been achieved

But they dont know

Its only Friday

Sundays comin!

Its Friday

Hes hanging on the cross

Feeling forsaken by his Father

Left alone and dying

Can nobody save him?

Ooooh

Its Friday

But Sundays comin!

Its Friday

The earth trembles

The sky grows dark

My King yields his spirit.

Its Friday

Hope is lost

Death has won

Sin has conquered

and Satans just a laughin.

Its Friday

Jesus is buried

A soldier stands guard

And a rock is rolled into place.

But its Friday

It is only Friday

Sunday is a comin!



* * *

HOW JESUS FACED HIS FRIDAY

A Devotion from Max Lucado

Everyone struggled on crucifixion Friday: The disciples struggled to keep faith. Pilate struggled to save face. Faithful women struggled to help Jesus. Pharisees struggled to discredit Jesus. Soldiers struggled to hurt Jesus.

But no one struggled more than Jesus. People called him a liar, beat him with sticks, and plastered his face with spit. They yanked chunks of flesh from his back with a hook-tipped whip, crucified him naked in front of family and friends.

What few friends there were.when falsely accused, no one defended him. When he stumbled beneath the weight of the cross, no one came to help him. When hung up to die, no one rescued him.

How did Jesus endure such an ordeal?

Here is how Jesus turned a day of suffering into Good Friday. for the joy set before him, [Jesus] endured the cross. (Hebrews 12:2 NKJV).

Jesus faced his Friday by looking into eternity. By making Heaven bigger, his pain became smaller. Follow him through Friday and listen in on his thoughts.

Daybreak: He tells his accusers, The Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the Mighty God (Luke 22:69 NIV). Matthews Gospel adds these words: In the future you will see the Son of Mancoming on the clouds of Heaven (Matthew 26:64 NIV).

When interrogated by Pilate later in the day, Jesus mind still lingers in Heaven. My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36 NIV). Jesus kept lifting his eyes upward. You would have no power if it were not given to you from above (John. 19:11 NIV).

Jesus faced His Friday by facing eternity.

Lets do likewise. As Heaven grows, our struggles lessen.

-- Max Lucado

* * *

royexum@aol.com
Hamilton County Voters,

Both candidates for Circuit Court, Division II, judge are fine lawyers and reputable men. However, there is one significant difference  experience.

Jim Exum has spent his entire professional life in Hamilton County Circuit Court. He routinely handles

the matters that come before a Circuit Court judge, from domestic relations to contractual disputes.



Proof of his experience is the endorsement of law enforcement organizations. These organizations have seen Jim in action and know him to be intelligent, skilled, fair and a person of integrity ... as do I.

What else would you expect from a person who was recently recognized by Legal Aid of East Tennessee as the Pro Bono Volunteer Lawyer of the Year.

Experience matters. Vote for Jim Exum  Judge, Circuit Court, Division II

Mike St. Charles
VIJAYAWADA: The new ministers in Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddys Cabinet have a Herculean task ahead of them. They are expected to achieve a landslide win for the YSRC in the 2024 elections. However, they have just one-and-a-half years to do it.

The election fever will start after the middle or third quarter of 2023. In addition to the time constraint, the shortage of funds to complete development works, especially the Polavaram project, completion of the Nadu Nedu Phase-II and Navaratnalu welfare schemes and other challenges await the new ministers.

Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, who served as finance minister is continuing in the same portfolio. He worked hard to secure funds and loans for the welfare schemes over the past three years and will continue to work and finance the deficit budget.

A poll win will depend a lot how Rajendranath provides funds for Navaratnalu welfare schemes and development works. The YSRC government has started imposing new taxes in a smoother way and Rajendranth must intensify efforts for funds by lobbying at the national level.

Similarly, funds for Polavaram project will be a major challenge for new water resources minister Ambati Rambabu. It requires lobbying in Delhi for funds.

The BJP-led Centre has raised objections over release of funds and is providing funds on a component basis only. Recently, Jagan Mohan Reddy, during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sought release of all funds for Polavaram but did not get a response. Ambati Rambabu, who is a senior in politics, is a first time minister. He has to resolve objections over funding, technicalities and oversee the construction of the project. The completion of the project will be a big advantage for the YSRC in the 2024 elections and is a litmus test to Rambabu. Apart from this, he will have to deal with other water resource projects and disputes with Telangana as the water resources minister.

Senior minister, Botsa Satyanarayana who has held various portfolios under various chief ministers in the past, has got the education portfolio this time.

Jagan Mohan Reddy is giving priority to education and implementing several key schemes like flagship Ammavodi, Vidya Deevena, Nadu-Nedu and other welfare schemes. The government is facing trouble arranging funds to regulate these schemes. Implementing flagship welfare schemes and modernising government schools under Nadu Nedu over the next two years is a strenuous target to attract voters towards YSRC in 2024 elections. Minister Satyanarayana with his experience has to toil a lot without rest for the next two years

Minister for municipal administration and urban development Adimulapu Suresh who successfully changed the meaning of government schools through modernisation under the Nadu Nedu programme is facing tough challenges in the form of three capitals and Amaravati. The municipal department is completely different from the education department and more challenging. There is always a need to create a positive vibe among masses and among authorities in support of Three Capitals and further boost confidence about development of Amaravati among agitating solo capital supporters.

Besides them, the remaining ministers also have to work tirelessly to reduce the negative impact on the Jagan government in two years to help YSRC in the 2024 elections.
Earlier this month in Sacramento, it was clear a gun did not transform itself into an automatic weapon. It didnt seek out six other guns for a deadly shootout. The Sacramento Bee reported it was a gang related feud among people with lengthy criminal histories that led to that violence.

In Brooklyn, a man in a gas mask fired a pistol 33 times causing injuries to 29 people either through wounds or the chaos that ensued. Police found a rented U-haul van full of weapons of terror: a hatchet, smoke bombs, gas canisters and fireworks. Is anyone surprised the man charged with the crime had a lengthy criminal history?

How much did zero bail and defund the police contribute to this crime as felony assaults in NYC on the subway were up 25 percent from 2019 to 2021? (Time, Josiah Bates, Apr 14, 2022). The new mayor promised more transit officers, so where were they? The new governor gave the were not going to tolerate this violence speech-the usual tough talk and empty promises from progressives.

As NYC gears up for Earth Day with stop fracking rallies, car-free days, marches against this and marches in favor of that, they should consider who they might call if things get violent. It wont be the Climate Change Czar or social services.

In the meanwhile, stop blaming guns and convict guilty people with laws on the books. Stop George Soros-style early releases of violent criminals or giving them zero bail. Increase police presence in the subways and maintain CCTV cameras with some of the Biden bucks he showered on big cities.

Finally, vote against progressives at every level of government.

Ralph Miller






Chattanooga-based First Volunteer Bank will rebrand to Builtwell Bank in 2022, and will unify the look and feel of the banks 24 branches spanning 11 counties in Tennessee and Georgia. This new brand identity underscores the soundness that forms the foundation of its strong community bank, said officials.

In November of 2021, First Volunteer Corporation, the parent company for First Volunteer Bank, acquired Daltons FBD Holdings, Inc. and its subsidiary, First Bank. With this expansion further into Georgia, we realized the need to develop a new name for the bank that reflects our commitment to the communities we serve in both states, said Patti Steele, chairman and CEO of First Volunteer Corporation. This is the ninth acquisition for First Volunteer Corporation, and is the largest in the history of the company.

Community banks exist to be the local economic engines for the communities we serve, said Mrs. Steele. Weve been helping our customers save money, buy homes, build businesses, and create jobs since 1904. With Builtwell Bank, we have a brand that signals our commitment to ensuring our communities have a strong financial partner that will be around for another 118 years.

Because of the strongly aligned philosophy on community banking shared between First Volunteer Bank and First Bank, Mrs. Steele expects a smooth transition to the new name and identity, and staff at local branches are ready to answer questions that existing customers may have.

As the number of banks in the country continues to decline, we are built to last," said Mrs. Steele. "Were excited about transitioning to our new brand, but in the end were still a local community bank thats here to reinvest in our communities, and make banking better and easier for our customers."

The Builtwell Bank brand will begin to appear across the region later this year.
Frances Elizabeth Dodd, 98, passed from this life into the arms of her loving Savior on April 15, 2022 in her home at Morning Pointe Chattanooga.



Frances was born on October 24, 1923, in Helix, Oregon, to the late William Ralph and Addie Richey Smith. When she was four years old, the family returned to Chattanooga which would be her home for the remainder of her life. She was a proud graduate of Central High School and remained close to her classmates throughout the years.



Frances was a devoted wife, mother, employee, and volunteer. She was married to James Rhea Dodd for 70 years and together they raised two children. During their school years, she worked for the Chattanooga City Schools as a substitute teacher and afterward as a bookkeeper and deputy clerk for more than 25 years at the Hamilton County Juvenile Court. Frances was an active supporter and volunteer for many causes throughout her life, serving as an officer in school PTAs, leading GAs in church, knocking on doors for the March of Dimes, donating blood, serving as an officer in East Lake neighborhood associations, and working as a poll worker during elections. She instructed her children by example to be faithful followers of Christ, caring neighbors and involved citizens. Over the years, she was active in East Chattanooga, Woodland Park, East Lake, East Ridge and Highland Park Baptist Churches.



Frances was preceded in death by her parents and her beloved husband. She is survived by her children, Roy R. Dodd (Judy) of Chattanooga, and Sylvia G. Eaves (Arnold) of Woodstock, Georgia; her brother-in-law, Ed Hoback (Cheryl) of Marietta, Georgia; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.



The family is deeply grateful to Vivian Sorrell for being not only Frances caregiver for many years but her dear friend as well. They also are thankful for the late Doris Jean Lewis, Sylvia Evans, Wanda Harris, Martha Flammia, Glinda Compton, Delores Ferguson, Marilyn Ford, Angela Smith and Gwen Washington who at various times have lovingly cared for her during her last days. Special thanks also to the Britton Circle and the Woodland Park Baptist Church Seniors for their cards, flowers, gifts and numerous visits.



Frances enjoyed her home at Morning Pointe Chattanooga and the many friends she made there. She loved the activities and especially the resident assistants, nurses and staff who brought her great joy. The family thanks each one for making the last seven years of her life happy.



The funeral service will be held on Thursday April 21 at 1:00 pm in the chapel of the Chattanooga Funeral Home East, 404 S. Moore Road, with internment to follow at Chattanooga National Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm on Wednesday April 20, 2022 at the funeral home.



If you wish to remember Frances with a donation, please consider giving to the Chambliss Center for Children, 315 Gillespie Road, Chattanooga, TN 37411.



Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ChattanoogaEastChapel.com for the Dodd family.



Arrangements are under the care of Chattanooga Funeral Home Crematory and Florist East Chapel, 404 South Moore Road, East Ridge, Tn. 37412.


Many fans love seeing photos and videos of the royal familys tours all around the globe for a number of reasons like the fashion, the beautiful landscapes, as well as the hilarious moments and reactions from Britains most famous family.

So kick back, relax, and get ready for a good laugh with these funny royal family tour moments.

The royal family standing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Trooping The Colour ceremony | Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Prince George throwing a stuffed toy given to him on the ground

Back in 2014, Prince William and Kate Middleton brought their oldest child, Prince George, who wasnt yet a year old at the time on tour with them to Australia.

During that trip, the Cambridges visited the Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The Duke and Duchesss little one was introduced to a real Bilby but wasnt thrilled when he was given a stuffed one. George, who was being held in his fathers arms, threw the toy onto the ground as soon as his mother gave it to him.

This garnered laughter from those gathered around them as William joked that his son does love it, honestly.

Camilla holding a knife to a horrified looking Prince Charles

Australia is a place the British royals have visited many times and during a visit in 2015, Prince Charles wife, Camilla Parker Bowles, gave everyone a chuckle at Seppeltsfield Winery.

The Duchess of Cornwall jokily wielded a knife at the Prince of Wales and told him to behave himself. Charles then gave her a look of mock horror which had royal watchers laughing.

Camilla Parker Bowles holding a knife up in front of Prince Charles during a visit to a winery in Australia | Daniel Kalisz  Pool/Getty Images

Prince Harry used trickery to beat Usain Bolt in a race

Prince Harry met legendary sprinter Usain Bolt in 2012 when the Duke of Sussex visited Jamaica to mark Queen Elizabeths Diamond Jubilee. The duo chatted for a while and competed in a race. However, Bolt said that Harry cheated using trickery so they needed a rematch.

A few years later, the prince said he was ready to run against the Olympian again.

Bolt told Hello! that he was prepared after Harry threw down the gauntlet. The athlete said: Im ready! Im ready because he got away last time. There was a lot written saying I got beaten, so I cant live that down. He cheated  he just ran off.

Meghan Markle laughing so hard she cried

A few months after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry tied the knot in 2018, the pair embarked on a tour of the South Pacific. While in Tonga, a group of schoolchildren had Meghan laughing so much that she was crying.

But what made the Duchess of Sussex laugh so hard that she actually has tears flowing out of her eyes at one point?

Meghan Markle laughing during a visit to Tupou College in Tonga | Karwai Tang/WireImage

The adorable kids were singing a funny song to her and her husband about mosquitos.

RELATED: Photos of Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis Misbehaving, Throwing Tantrums, and Making Us Laugh
When Reba McEntire met Johnny Carson for her first interview on The Tonight Show, the host was intrigued by how she spoke with an Oklahoma accent. It was her third time on the show but her first time joining Carson at his desk for a chat. And he was so fascinated by how she pronounced one word that he had to return to it before moving on. Keep reading to learn what word McEntire used that transfixed the television legend.

(L) Reba McEntire | CBS/Getty Images (R) Johnny Carson | NBCU Photo Bank

Reba McEntire appeared on The Tonight Show twice before her first interview with Johnny Carson

In Reba: My Story, McEntires autobiography, she wrote about meeting Carson for the first time in the early 80s. She appeared as a musical guest twice before she was ever interviewed. And she had high praises for Carson, whom she called the late-night king himself and the host of the granddaddy of all the network television shows.

For her first appearance, she wore a dress given to her by Johnny Cash for a previous television special. That decision had two reasons. First, she thought it would be good luck to wear the dress again. She also couldnt afford to buy anything as nice so early in her career.

Naturally, I was a bundle of nerves, she recalled, but when I met Carson backstage before the show, he was very nice and gracious.

Johnny Carson was fascinated by the way Reba McEntire said barrel

When McEntire did finally get the chance to sit down for her first interview with Carson, he questioned her about her background in rodeo as a barrel racer. But his curiosity about that subject didnt distract him from his interest in McEntires strong accent.

He seemed fascinated by the way I said barrel and kept asking me to repeat it, impersonating me and making fun of how I said barrel, she shared in her autobiography. But she didnt hold the making fun against him when she looked back. She pointed out he was from Nebraska and thats about as rural as Oklahoma.

I guess he lost his Nebraskan accent a long time ago, she said. She added that in hindsight, she recognized he meant no harm [and] he was just trying to break the ice.

Reba McEntire has been on The Tonight Show with 4 hosts

Since McEntires career has spanned more than four decades, shes been interviewed by every host of The Tonight Show since Carson, including Conan OBrien.

She shared with fans on Facebook in 2015, 1981 was the first time I was on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Last Wednesday night I got to be on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Jimmy, thanks for the super hospitality!

And the late-night hour is an excellent time for McEntire to show how funny she is, like when she joined Fallon in a close-up serenade for one lucky fan. She said it was her first time giving such a performance, but she handled it like the professional entertainer she is.

RELATED: Reba McEntire Had Other Talents Besides Singing and Acting  Including Barrel Racing
The Young and the Restless couple Mariah Copeland (Camryn Grimes) and Tessa Porter (Cait Fairbanks) are hearing wedding bells. After five years together, the two are engaged and ready to start the next chapter of their lives. Fans are excited about the upcoming wedding, and Grimes has an idea of how the ceremony should be.

Camryn Grimes I Leon Bennett/Getty Images

The Young and the Restless star Camryn Grimes wants a fun wedding for Teriah

Mariah and Tessa are planning their wedding on The Young and the Restless. Theyve already set May 13th as their wedding date, which is a few weeks away. With Mariahs mom Sharon Newman (Sharon Case), helping with preparations, the ceremony will surely be beautiful.

Teriah fans have their ideas for what the ceremony should look like. Grimes even has a few suggestions. In a March 2022 interview with Daytime Confidential, the star revealed how she envisions Mariah and Tessas wedding.

When you get to celebrate Valentine's Day and #TeriahTuesday in the same week #YR pic.twitter.com/h7xBApxmDP  Young and Restless (@YandR_CBS) February 15, 2022

RELATED: The Young and the Restless: Fans Disagree With Mariah and Tessas Baby Plans

No matter what, I just want it to be fun for the audience. I want the audience to have fun! These are two characters who are creative and eccentric and have a rhythm of their own. I want the wedding to reflect that. I really would love it to be a true celebration.

Mariah Copeland and Tessa Porter are one of the shows most popular couples

The Young and the Restless broke the internet when they paired Mariah and Tessa. The women became the soap operas first same-sex couple and immediately garnered a huge fan base. Nicknamed Teriah, the two became a fan favorite when they kissed.

Like many Genoa City couples, Mariah and Tessa have had many problems. From lying to infidelity to Mariahs surrogacy, theyve experienced plenty of drama. Yet, Mariah and Tessas love and commitment remain strong.

The two are ready for their future which includes marriage and children. Fans are counting down the days until the big ceremony, which is sure to be memorable.

Drama erupts at the Teriah wedding

The Young and the Restless fans know weddings and drama go hand in hand. Theres bound to be chaos at Mariah and Tessas ceremony. One person who may make a scene is Mariahs brother and Tessas ex-boyfriend Noah Newman (Rory Gibson).

Since Noahs return in October 2021, hes been obsessed with Tessa. Noah was dating Tessa when she and Mariah became a couple. When Noah learned of their kiss, he was hurt and left for London. Although its been years since the fallout, everyone moved on.

Who's ready for a #Teriah wedding?  Show us how excited you are using emojis to celebrate #TeriahTuesday!  pic.twitter.com/sTvyM9BsK4  Young and Restless (@YandR_CBS) April 5, 2022

However, Noah admitted he loves Tessa, but she doesnt feel the same. While Noahs dating other women, it appears he may not be over Tessa and will disrupt the couples big day.

Also, Tessas family could make a surprise appearance. The only relative fans know is Tessas sister Crystal Porter (Morgan Obenreder), who lives in Canada. Since their close, one would think Crystal would be welcomed at the wedding. However, Tessas parents may be a different story.

Tessa doesnt talk about her parents much, and fans feel its time they come to town. What better way to introduce them than have them show up at Tessas wedding. But the bride-to-be may not be happy with their arrival.

RELATED: The Young and the Restless Speculation: Tessa and Mariahs Disagreement Over Children Leads to Breakup
HYDERABAD: BJP state president Bandi Sanjay on Friday urged people to vote for the BJP to see the double-engine growth in the state and assured them that his party would give democratic and corruption-free governance in the state.

Accusing Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao of looting the state, Sanjay said the Chief Minister is putting his ill-gotten wealth to use in other states to defeat the BJP.

As the Praja Sangrama Padayatra entered the second day on Friday in Jogulamba Gadwal district, Union minister G. Kishan Reddy and BJP national vice president D.K. Aruna joined the padayatra on Friday.

Speaking during the padayatra, Sanjay said Chandrashekar Rao diverted peoples attention from power tariffs by creating a controversy over paddy procurement. He said Chandrashekar Rao has imposed Rs 6,000 crore burden on people in the form of power charges and said his party would agitate against the hike.

He alleged that the TRS government is minting money by extracting a commission from the central government funds allotted to projects in Telangana state.

He said that the RDS scheme would become a reality in the undivided Mahabubnagar district only when Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao was ousted from power.

Union minister G. Kishan Reddy said the people of Telangana are vexed with Chandrashekar Rao. He predicted that the BJP would come to power in Telangana by ending the corrupt, dictatorial and family rule of Chandrashekar Rao.

He also accused the Chief Minister of not implementing the Central government schemes like Ayushman Bharat and crops insurance schemes in the state.

He said that the TRS government had become a hurdle for constructing houses for the poor with the Central government funds. He also the TRS government for tenant farmers failing to get central funds. The ouster of the TRS government, the minister said, is the only solution for all pending issues in the state.
Your best friend, Annie, finally works up the courage to make a coffee date with you and get real. I just cant do it anymore, she says, eyes downcast as she traces the outline of her cup. I constantly catch him watching pornography; he puts me down all the time; he is forceful in the bedroom. A couple times lately, he really lost his temper and scared the kids badly. I dont know what to do. God wants us to honor marriage no matter what, right? What do you say?

Another friend, Monica, calls you often with complaints about her husband. It seems he can never do anything right, and youre concerned that Monica has started to obsess about what a man of God your churchs new, single pastor is. You suspect Monica might be getting a bit infatuated. Youre concerned about her. Could she be considering divorce?

Meanwhile, a third friend, Mary Ann, is consumed with guilt about the past. After studying the Bible, she has come to the conclusion that she divorced for selfish reasons, not biblical ones. Because her ex-husband is remarried, Mary Ann cant remedy this wrong. She is having a terrible time hearing anything you tell her about Gods forgiveness.

When we face challenging marital circumstances (whether they are our own or those of our loved ones), we may struggle with deep, hard questions: What are the biblical grounds for divorce? Are my marriage struggles just the product of two sinners marrying? Or are these struggles legitimate grounds for divorce? How can Gods Word help me discern what is right?

Many Americans (and Christians) Are Divorcing Today

The National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University reports that out of every 1,000 married women in 2014, 17.6 experienced a divorce that year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention base their numbers off of total population rather than only married people. They found that, in 2014, there were 6.9 marriages per 1,000 members of the total population, while there were 3.2 divorces or annulments per 1,000 members of the general population that same year. (Its important to note that, by and large, the number of those marrying in any given year is not the same group which is divorcing.)

But what about Christians? Are we doing any better? It depends. In Christians Are Hate-Filled Hypocrites . . . and Other Lies Youve Been Told, sociologist Bradley R.E. Wright reports findings from The General Social Survey (from 2000 to 2006): Contrary to popular belief, Christians and members of other religions have lower divorce rates, about 42%, than do the religiously unaffiliated, about 50%. He goes on to explain that, for evangelicals, regular attendance at religious services makes a big impact on the divorce rate: 60% of the never-attendees had been divorced or were separated compared to only 38% of the weekly attendees. While regular church attendance does seem to make a difference in the health and preservation of marriage, nonetheless divorce rates are still pretty high in the church. In his book, Wright says, The percentage of divorced or separated Evangelicals almost doubled from the 1970s to the 2000s (25 to 46%).

Marriage: A Lifelong Commitment

Scripture consistently communicates that marriage is a lifelong commitment. Jesus described the relationship between husband and wife this way in Matthew 19:6: They are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate (NIV). Dr. Craig Keener, Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary, explains how crucial this understanding is, saying, Jesus reminds us that in the beginning God joined man and woman together. One flesh often refers to one's relatives or kin, so the husband and wife becoming one flesh should be a family unit no less permanent than our families of origin should be.

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The biblical ideal is marriage as a lifelong union between a man and a woman, both of whom are Spirit-filled disciples of Christ (Ephesians 5:18), affirms Dr. Andreas Kostenberger, Senior Research Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He emphasizes that marriage illustrates the principle of two becoming one, [a principle] which is also present in the spiritual union between Christ and the church (head and body; Ephesians 5:32).

Dr. Beth Felker Jones, Associate Professor of Theology at Wheaton College, adds,

Marriage, created by God as a one flesh union, is meant to be a sign of God's unbreakable covenant with us. This is an important symbol throughout the Scriptures: God is compared to a husband and God's people to a wife. When, by the grace of God, we're able to keep a marriage together, we get to be symbolsimperfect symbols, but still symbolsof God's faithfulness to his people. Marriages are supposed to last because they are symbols of God's lasting love for us.

Explicit Divorce Allowances

The Bible only explicitly allows divorce for two reasons. Kostenberger, who is also the President of Biblical Foundations, summarizes: Jesus proceeded to state one exception in which case divorce is permissible: sexual immorality on [the] part of ones spouse, that is, in context, adultery (Matthew 19:9). Kostenberger clarifies, In such a case, however, divorce is not mandated or even encouragedforgiveness and reconciliation should be extended and pursued if at all possible. But divorce is allowed, especially in cases where the sinning spouse persists in an adulterous relationship.

Kostenberger goes on to note, Paul adds a second exception, in instances where an unbelieving spouse abandons the marriage. This would typically be the case when one of the two partners is converted to Christ at some point after marrying and the other person refuses to continue in the marriage (see 1 Corinthians 7).

What About Domestic Abuse?

Keener sees these explicit statements as applicable more broadly to other situations that may not be directly mentioned by Scripture. He says, If a husband is beating his wife, that would certainly seem to be to violate the one flesh union. If he were beating himself, we'd recommend psychiatric help; if he is beating his wife, who is supposed to be one flesh with him, he is certainly not treating her as one flesh.

Keener goes on to add, Now, I don't want to let that be an excuse for people to opt out of their marriagessomeone saying, she abuses me (because she doesn't laugh at my jokes) or he abuses me (because we had an argument). Even the patriarchs in Genesis had disagreements (for example, Jacob and Rachel in Genesis 30:12), Keener points out. But there does come a point where discretion is the better part of valor. Some people are too ready to grasp for that point; others wait much longer than they should. Jesus told those persecuted for his name to flee from one city to another to escape persecution (Matthew 10:23), and sometimes the apostles did so (Acts 14:56). It is heartless to make someone remain in an abusive situation.

Kostenberger is more cautious, arguing that while the Bible displays a pervasive concern for justice and is concerned with protecting the vulnerable, it also teaches that believers can glorify God by bearing up under unjust suffering. This calls for wisdom and balance: Certainly we should do everything we can to protect victims of abuse while at the same time respecting the marriage bond and not dissolving it lightly.

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Jones, who is the author of Faithful: A Theology of Sex, brings a broad conceptual view to biblical teachings on divorce. She says, In Matthew 19:9, Jesus forbids divorce except for unchastity. She explains, When a spouse breaks the marriage covenant through sexual sinporneiathere are biblical grounds for divorce. Divorce is not, of course, required in such cases, but it is permissible. I see this as a way that Jesus protects us in a world torn apart by sin. Because we are precious to God, we are not required to stay in a marriage when we have been betrayed through porneia.

It is worth mentioning that many Bible interpreters see porneia here as referring only to sexual sin against ones spouse, but Jones believes it can be understood more generally: If we put porneia into the larger biblical context, we see that it is any violation of God's intentions for lasting, faithful one flesh union. Porneia certainly includes adultery, because adultery violates the one flesh union. But porneia can also include violence or abuse against one's spouse because to abuse one's spouse is also to violate that one flesh union. Jones emphasizes, If committing violence against the one who is supposed to be one flesh with you isn't a violation of God's intentions for marriage as a faithful, one flesh union, I don't know what is.

Chronic Hardness of Heart

Christian counselor and author of The Emotionally Destructive Marriage, Leslie Vernick believes there is a strong biblical warrant for allowing people to experience consequences for their sin (see 1 Corinthians 5:912; James 5:1920; Galatians 6:7). While she affirms the sanctity of marriage, Vernick explains her view that safety may be more important to God than absolute loyalty to ones spouse under all circumstances (see 1 Samuel 1831; Matthew 2:1315; Luke 14:5). Vernick believes that chronic hardness of heart is grounds for divorce when there is a serious sin issue, a serious breach of the marital bond, a serious trust breakdown . . . and there is no repentance or willingness to look at that and how thats affected the marital bond and the bond of trust. While some biblical interpreters may not agree with her conclusions, Vernick draws upon Moses allowance for divorce cited by Jesus in Matthew 19:8 to support this viewpoint.

In her work with women who are experiencing such situations, Vernick first counsels a wake-up call conversation with their husbands, followed by separation if the husband fails to turn from his sin. A separation of this sort, undertaken with the support of wise counsel, clarifies the destructive consequences of sinful habits and could have the potential to lead to eventual healing and restoration.

Vernick emphasizes that there is a difference between a difficult or disappointing marriage and a destructive marriage. She points out that we must not seek divorce simply because we are not getting everything we want out of our marriages: We have such high expectationsno one can live up to that. When youre disappointed in your spouse because theyre not as romantic or ambitious or as spiritual or as handy or whatever it is that you wanted out of that marriage, and youre disappointed and you see somebody else whos got those qualities, you begin to become contemptuous or critical or disappointed . . . instead of being grateful and appreciative of what you do have. Vernick believes a disappointing or difficult marriage is not grounds for divorce but rather is grounds for faithfulness.

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What About a Past Divorce?

If you are reading this article and youve been divorced, you may be wrestling with your own questions or feelings of guiltparticularly if youve concluded that your divorce was not biblically grounded. It is easy to become weighed down by the shame of past mistakes. Sometimes there are abiding consequences in relationships with others, but before God, If we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness (1 John 1:9).

Repentance usually doesn't mean we get to do things over again; often it is too late to get a second chance with the same person, especially if one party has remarried, Keener observes. But it does mean that we make restitution as best as possible, confessing and doing whatever is possible to make things right with the people involved, including spouse, children, or anyone else affected by it.

Vernick says, Really messing up badly and understanding grace is the most beautiful thing that can happen. She adds that we can show God our gratitude for his grace by learning from our mistakes. As we experience Gods grace for our failures or sins, it transforms us into more gracious people who readily extend Gods mercy and compassion to others.

Navigating the Tension

Within the church we see various responses to tough marital struggles. Some may counsel for divorce too hastily, advising couples to forgo the difficult peaks and valleys that are part of any marriage and, in essence, ignoring the high value the Bible places on the marriage commitment. Meanwhile others may respond with legalism, pressuring fellow Christians to stay in marriages that are clearly destructive and unsafe.

There are no cookie-cutter answers to some of these difficult questions. The tension remains: Marriage is a lifelong commitment that is only broken for the most severe reasons. When a Christian is wrestling with a marriage that may be irreparable, sometimes the best we can do is seek Gods guidance in Scripture, talk with trusted friends who know the situation well, and pray together for the Spirits guidance.

Lets strive to be a Christian community that treats marriage with respect and honors it as a lifelong commitment, but lets also reach out to protect the vulnerable and mistreated. Only as we stay engaged with the whole Word of God can we navigate this tension.

Rebecca Florence Miller is a freelance writer and editor, and a blogger at Patheos. You can also find her at RebeccaFlorenceMiller.wordpress.com and on Twitter at @flatheadmama.

Copyright  2016 by the author and Todays Christian Woman
In gospel presentations today, Christ is often reduced to a mere name, personal identifier, or alternative way of referring to Jesus. In Christ alone, and the like, is the language we find in our songs and theology textbooks. To most Christians, Christ is equivalent to Jesus.

Christ is a title. But to treat Jesus and Christ as equivalent terms is a huge mistake.

On the one hand, it is true to say, Jesus saves and Christ saves. Likewise, one could truly say, Matt teaches and the professor teaches because that accurately reflects my job title. But Matt does not mean the same thing as professor. Christ is comparable to His Majesty if were describing an English king. It is a special title designed to bring renown. Christ is the title for the universally significant Davidic king.

Failure to treat the Christ as a title is one of the reasons why kingship has been missing from the gospel.

Forgiveness without kingship? Our haste to get what we so badly need causes us to misunderstand how forgiveness is available. What is foremost in our minds when we consider the gospel is a transaction at the cross: Jesus is Savior, Redeemer, atoning sacrifice, and Lamb of God. Perhaps he has some vague authority too as Lord.

We fail to see that forgiveness flows not just through a person, but through a person in his official capacity as kingcrucified, raised, and reigning. While serving as king at Gods right hand, he is also the high priest and the sacrificial offering that covers our sins. As will become clear, Jesus forgiving power cannot be separated from his royal authority as head of a new creation.

Although the foundational summary of the gospel in Scripture is Jesus is the Christ, the most famous is 1 Corinthians 15:35. The gospel (vv. 12) Paul received and passed along faithfully to the Corinthians is:

That the Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he has been raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], then to the Twelve. (vv. 35, authors translation)

Notice that forgiveness flows through kingship. Paul says nothing here about Jesus. Instead, he speaks about the Christs death for our sins. By mentioning the Christ rather than Jesus, Paul stresses that kingship is the vessel through which forgiveness flows.

Second, the King helps a whole bunch of people. Just as we short-circuit kingship in our haste to find personal forgiveness, we can easily miss how the Kings actions are group-oriented.

Paul says nothing about how you, I, or any other individual becomes right with God in this gospel summary. Rather, the king died for our sins. Its about what the Messiah has done for his entire people. Dont misunderstand. Benefits, like forgiveness of sins, that attend Jesus kingship can be yours personally. But they are group-first benefits. Forgiveness belongs to individualsyou and meonly when we become part of the Kings people.

Third, resurrection is gospel too. The Christ was raised on the third day. The validity of the Kings death and resurrection was made doubly certain by God. For his death and resurrection were attested not only by Scripture (anticipated in the Old Testament) but also by historical occurrences.

As part of the gospel, the Christs death was confirmed by his burial and his resurrection by post-resurrection appearances to witnesses. The gospel includes the kings death for our sins, burial, resurrection on the third day, and appearances as historical events.

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In the two following passages, Paul offers gospel summaries. What are some emphases?

The gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures. This gospel concerns his Son, who came into being by means of the seed of David as it pertains to the flesh, who was appointed Son-of-God-in-Power as it pertains to the Spirit of Holiness by means of the resurrection from among the dead ones, Jesus the Christ our Lord. (Rom. 1:24, AT)

Remember Jesus the Christ, raised from among the dead ones, of the seed of David, according to my gospel. (2 Tim. 2:8, AT)

Both gospel summaries focus on Jesus as the royal Christ (or Messiah), his Davidic lineage, and his resurrection.

Concerning resurrection, there is something curious in both passages. They emphasize the kings resurrection not from his personal state of death (although he was personally dead), but from among those who were also dead. In the original Greek, the phrase ek nekron (from among the dead ones) indicates that the dead King was with other dead people.

Heres the point: If God raised him, he will raise others who are like him, too. The Kings resurrection from the dead is the first fruit, but a full harvest of additional resurrections will happen for all the Kings people (1 Cor. 15:2022). King Jesus resurrection is good news because it anticipates the resurrection of all those united to him through his death.

Let me offer a few more words about Romans 1:24 as a gospel summary. Paul takes a cosmic perspective. The Son took on human flesh, fulfilling Gods promises to David. But God had a grander scheme.

After the Sons death, his resurrection triggered his elevation to a new ruling office. The Son became the Son-of-God-in-Power. He has always been the divine King. But the Son has not always been a human king. Now he is the divine and human King, ruling creation powerfully.

Since Jesus reign in power pertains to the Spirit of holiness, his kingship is especially operative wherever the Holy Spirit is present. The Sons incarnation and enthronement are gospel.

Matthew Bates is associate professor of theology at Quincy University. This essay was excerpted from his latest book, The Gospel Precisely. Published with permission from Renew.
142 killed, 3,000 displaced in attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria

A group of armed men suspected to be radical Fulani herdsmen attacked several villages in Nigerias Plateau State, killing at least 142 people, abducting dozens, mostly women, and displacing more than 3,000 people, according to reports.

Men in large numbers riding motorcycles arrived in Kanam Local Government Area (LGA) of Plateau State in the early morning hours last Sunday when people were preparing their farmlands for the rainy season, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide said in a statement.

The assailants burned down at least 100 homes, destroyed farmlands, looted barns and stole livestock, and murdered villagers, it said, adding that at least 70 people, mostly women, were abducted.

The communities attacked were Dadda, Dadin Kowa, Dungur, Gyambawu, Gwammadaji, Kukawa, Kyaram, Shuwaka, Wanka and Yelwa.

CSW explained that rumors of an imminent terror attack on the states capital city of Jos led authorities to deploy security personnel in the city, leaving rural areas more vulnerable.

There were also reports of militia men having set up camps in forests in Wase and Kanam LGAs, but no proactive measures were initiated by security agencies to avert these ugly terror attacks, Yusuf Gagdi, a member of the House of Representatives, told The Cable, adding that at least 3,414 people had been displaced.

Kanam (LGA) is a mixed community where Christians and Muslims have been living together for hundreds of years, CSW quoted Benjamin Kwashi, Anglican Archbishop of Jos, as saying.

The two ruling houses, one Christian, one Muslim, have always interchanged. So this is not an issue between either of the communities because they are so mixed that separating them is difficult. This is definitely an unwarranted attack on a very peaceful community. My heart goes out to the families that are bereaved right now, to the wounded, he added.

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.

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.

In a report released last year, the Anambra-based International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) estimated that about 10 million people had been uprooted in northern Nigeria, where extremist violence was most severe, from July 2009 to July 2021.

During that time, the report stated, about 2,000 Christian schools were attacked.

The atrocities included massacres, killings, mutilations, torture, maiming, abductions, hostage-taking, rape, girl-child defilements, forced marriages, disappearances, extortions, forceful conversions and destruction or burning of homes and sacred worship and learning centers, Intersociety reported.

Intersociety said the mass violence had resulted from the propagation of radical Islamism.

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.
University wont force Christian professor to use trans pronouns, pays $400K in settlement

A Christian professor who claims he was threatened with punishment by university officials in Ohio for refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a trans-identified student has secured the right to avoid using pronouns that conflict with his beliefs after years of litigation.

Shawnee State University philosophy professor Nick Meriwether reached a settlement with school officials Thursday in which the university agreed to pay $400,000 in damages and attorneys fees, according to his legal team at the Alliance Defending Freedom.

The settlement lifts any requirements for Meriwether to use preferred pronouns for students that may contradict their biological sex, according to ADF.

Additionally, the university has reportedly agreed to rescind a written warning issued to Meriwether in June 2018.

On Thursday, ADF attorneys filed a voluntary dismissal of the case.

Meriwether went out of his way to accommodate his students and treat them all with dignity and respect, yet his university punished him because he wouldnt endorse an ideology that he believes is false, ADF Senior Counsel Travis Barham said in a statement.

Were pleased to see the university recognize that the First Amendment guarantees Dr. Meriwether  and every other American  the right to speak and act in a manner consistent with ones faith and convictions.

The university denies that Meriwether was mistreated, describing the settlement as an economic decision.

We continue to stand behind a students right to a discrimination-free learning environment as well as the rights of faculty, visitors, students and employees to freely express their ideas and beliefs, the university said in a statement.

Over the course of this lawsuit, it became clear that the case was being used to advance divisive social and political agendas at a cost to the university and its students. That cost is better spent on fulfilling Shawnee States mission of service to our students, families and community.

In 2018, a biologically male trans-identified student filed a complaint against Meriwether when the professor referred to the student with masculine pronouns, even though the student identified as female.

The university concluded that Meriwether created a hostile class environment by refusing to use the student's preferred pronouns. School officials threatened the professor with punishment if he persisted.

Meriwether filed a lawsuit against the school in November 2018, arguing that his constitutionally-protected freedoms of speech and religion were being violated.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Dlott, a Clinton appointee, dismissed the professor's case in February 2020 following the recommendation of Magistrate Judge Karen Litkovitz. Dlott concluded that his rights were not violated.

Plaintiff has not alleged that defendants forced him to espouse or express a view that plaintiff disagreed with or found objectionable. Plaintiff does not claim that defendants mandated that he use any particular terms of speech to refer to Doe, wrote Dlott.

To the contrary, plaintiff acknowledges that defendants gave him the option to stop using gender-based titles during class, but plaintiff rejected that option.

The judge wrote that the school's policies were interpreted as giving Shawnee State professors two choices on referring to students: "eliminate all sex-based titles and all pronouns when speaking to all students" or "use pronouns that refer to each student's gender identity."

Meriwether argued that the option to stop using all pronouns was "impossible, impractical, and unreasonable given the way professors speak, particularly in classes that feature significant and frequent class discussion."

In March 2021, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit ruled in favor of Meriwether, reversing the earlier dismissal and remanding the case to the lower court.

Judge Amul Thapar, a Trump appointee, stated in the panel opinion that universities have prided themselves on being forums where controversial ideas are discussed and debated. And they have tried not to stifle debate by picking sides.

But Shawnee State chose a different route: It punished a professor for his speech on a hotly contested issue. And it did so despite the constitutional protections afforded by the First Amendment, wrote Thapar.

The district court dismissed the professors free-speech and free-exercise claims. We see things differently and reverse.
Queen Elizabeth II expected to miss Easter Sunday service at St. George's Chapel

Queen Elizabeth II will not be attending the Easter Sunday worship service in Windsor this year after missing the Maundy Thursday service for only the fifth time in her 70-year reign.

The 95-year-old British monarch, who also serves as head of the Church of England, will be unable to attend services, The Guardian reported, speculating that it was due to health-related issues.

While Buckingham Palace did not disclose an official reason for not attending the services at St. Georges Chapel in Windsor Castle, Elizabeth has had to pull out of other events in recent months due to mobility problems, The Guardian added.

Since the queen was not able to attend the Maundy Thursday service, Prince Charles oversaw the service tradition of giving what is known as Maundy money to people who had provided Christian service" over the last year by caring for the elderly or assisting those in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In recent years and since the death of her late husband, Prince Philip, the Queen has been delegating some of her annual duties to other members of the royal family. For the first time, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall stood in for the queen at Thursday's church service. Last month, Charles also stood in for the queen at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.

The four other times the queen missed a Maundy Thursday service include 1954 when the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt. Rev. Michael Gresford Jones, stood in for her, and after giving birth to two of her children (1960 and 1964), and in 1970 when she was on tour in New Zealand in her official capacity as reigning monarch.

In February, Elizabeth tested positive for COVID-19, with Buckingham Palace reporting that she was experiencing "mild cold-like symptoms, yet still performed light duties in her role as queen.

She will continue to receive medical attention and will follow all the appropriate guidelines, stated the palace, as reported by the BBC reported.

In 2020, at a time when much of the world had initiated lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Elizabeth gave her first official Easter address in which she championed the hope found in Jesus Christ.

The discovery of the risen Christ on the first Easter Day gave His followers new hope and fresh purpose, and we can all take heart from this. We know that coronavirus will not overcome us, she said.

As dark as death can be  particularly for those suffering with grief  light and life are greater. May the living flame of the Easter hope be a steady guide as we face the future.

Born April 21, 1926, in Mayfair, London, Elizabeth became queen in 1953, with her setting the record for longest-reigning monarch in British history in September 2015.
Push to make abortion a 'human right' in Ecuador defeated after veto

The Ecuadoran National Assembly failed to override a presidential veto of an abortion bill that critics feared would make abortion a human right and require healthcare workers in the country to participate in the practice against their will.

After President Guillermo Lasso partially vetoed an abortion bill passed by the majority-Catholic South American country's unicameral legislature, the National Assembly had until Friday to override the veto.

The motion to lift the presidential veto Thursday received just 17 votes, far short of the majority required for a veto override. National Assembly President Guadalupe Llori has adjourned the legislative session, so the presidents veto of the measure stands.

Valerie Huber, the CEO of the Institute for Womens Health who served as the U.S. special representative for Global Womens Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the Trump administration, told The Christian Post in an email that the pro-life movement won the battle in Ecuador.

It was created supposedly to just create a very narrow exception for abortion in matters of rape but in reviewing the law, it was pages and pages and pages of things that had absolutely nothing to do with that narrow exception," Huber argued.



"More than 20 times, it asserted abortion as a human right. It removed all conscience protections for any kind of healthcare providers that would be called upon in that country to provide abortion against their consciences."

Ecuador's abortion laws are opposed by international abortion-rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, which contends that the country's criminalization of abortion "undermines the ability of women and girls to access essential reproductive health services."

Ecuador should remove all criminal penalties for consensual abortion," Ximena Casas, womens rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "At a minimum, it should guarantee effective access to abortion on all legal grounds and stop prosecuting women and girls seeking essential medical care.

Huber had voiced her concerns about Ecuador's abortion bill in an April 5 op-ed for National Review. She argued that the bill sets the stage for a whole upending of the countrys laws" and asserts "that abortion is a fundamental right."

#PlenoLegislativo| La mocion de allanamiento al veto presidencial presentada por @pierinaescorrea obtiene el respaldo de 17 votos afirmativos por lo que no es aprobada.



La presidenta @GuadalupeLlori suspende la sesion No. 771 pic.twitter.com/jlk4vt4zdr  Asamblea Nacional (@AsambleaEcuador) April 15, 2022

"There is definitely an ulterior motive here that has nothing to do with how it was being sold both to Congress and to the general public in Ecuador," Huber told CP.

She said that in Ecuador, the president is permitted to provide recommendations for different texts in [a] bill before it becomes law."

Huber praised Lasso for removing any assertion that there is an international right or that abortion is a human right, adding that he addressed virtually all of the concerns that we had in terms of how it would not only harm women, but it was unconstitutional because Ecuador has a very pro-life provision in their constitution.

Article 45 of the Ecuadoran Constitution proclaims that the government shall recognize and guarantee life, including care and protection from the time of conception.

Huber insisted that the Institute for Womens Health "is not a pro-life organization" but should be seen as "a pro-womens health organization.

We would like it if we never had to talk abortion," she stated. "Its really those who are elevating abortion over authentic womens health that are conflating the two.

But I will tell you that those who would insist that a woman cant have health without abortion are organized," she continued. "They have overtaken the narrative surrounding womens health. But its a disingenuous narrative that most Americans and most citizens around the world dont realize how harmful this really is to women."

Huber expressed concern about womens health being subjugated to an ideological agenda with little concern for women themselves. She also lamented the external interference of members of the U.S. Congress in the internal abortion decisions of other countries.

A letter written by Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., and 19 other congressional Democrats urging Lasso to support the legislation drew the ire of Huber. Human Rights Watch also expressed support for the legislation and the congressional Democrats letter.

Research by Ecuadorean and international human rights organizations shows that abortion restrictions do not stop abortions from happening, the lawmakers wrote in the letter. Instead, they force women and girls to seek abortions in clandestine settings where abortions are carried out unsafely and lead to health complications and even death. The World Health Organization has reported that the rate of unsafe abortions is four times higher in countries with restrictive abortion laws than in countries where abortion is legal.

The pressure campaigns from U.S. lawmakers and nongovernmental organizations constituted colonialism by another name," Huber contends.

She cited the efforts in support of the law as an example of how American abortion activists want to impose their extremism on other countries. The effort, she says, extends far beyond Ecuador and touches virtually any country that currently has laws protecting life during every stage of life.

The sad reality is that few Americans know what the United States is doing to devalue life abroad and to pressure countries to change their laws on areas that are fully within the sovereign right of those countries to decide and that the United States should not be interfering," she said.

Huber argues that some provisions in U.S. law prevent officials from "exporting an abortion agenda." She cited the Helms Amendment, which prohibits any tax dollars being used abroad for abortion or for its promotion. The 1981 Siljander Amendment states that the U.S. tax dollars may not be used to fund or lobby for abortion.

[The] United States is a major funder for foreign assistance, particularly foreign health assistance. So the threat of withholding foreign assistance unless governments change their policies or laws regarding certain issues is always of concern," Huber said. "And we have heard from a variety of countries how this continues to be a lever used by the U.S. government."

Were not talking about using these sorts of levers over what most Americans would believe to be legitimate reasons regarding authentic human rights violations or things such as this," she continued. "Were talking about foreign assistance being used as a lever for the promotion of ideological colonialism around these very sensitive topics, those topics where the U.S. had absolutely no business interfering in the internal affairs of that country.

She also said that if a country refuses to make amendments to specific laws, the U.S. may use the visa-granting process or trade incentives.

"Democracy is being  redefined to include these issues of ideological colonialism, she asserted.
Eastern European body votes to leave United Methodist Church

A regional body of The United Methodist Church based in Eastern Europe has voted to leave the mainline Protestant denomination and join a newer, more theologically conservative church.

The Bulgaria-Romania Provisional Annual Conference voted unanimously earlier this month to leave the UMC and join The Global Methodist Church, which is set to officially launch in May.

Bishop Patrick Streiff, head of the Central Conference of Central and Southern Europe, which oversees the conference, said in a statement last week that he resisted the effort, arguing that it went against church law.

As presiding bishop, I explained to the Annual Conference that there is no other legal basis in church law for a separation. Therefore, a vote would not be possible. The members of the Annual Conference did not agree, stated Streiff.

[T]he members then continued the meeting without my presiding, elected Superintendent Daniel Topalski as their presider, discussed the resolution, and finally voted unanimously in open vote in favor of it.

Streiff added that with the UMC in Romania, I will continue to work for a mutually respectful way of leaving The United Methodist Church.

I deeply regret that the church in Bulgaria was not willing to follow the church order for leaving The United Methodist Church and decided to cut all ties towards the Central Conference of Central and Southern Europe, he said.

For their part, the Bulgaria-Romania Annual Conference released a statement arguing that an annual conference has a basic right to vote to withdraw from the United Methodist Church.

It is true that the General Conference has not defined the procedures and conditions of how such a vote can be exercised but this cannot be an obstacle for the annual conference to not take advantage of this possibility, it added.

According to the conference, congregations within its territory have the option to remain with the UMC, but they must announce those intentions before May 1, 2023.

Although the Bulgaria-Romania Conference has less than 1,500 members, according to UM News, its move to disaffiliate may be seen as a harbinger, given the uncertainty and tumult facing the 13-million-member United Methodist Church.

For the past several years, the UMC has been dealing with increasingly divisive debate over whether to change its official stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

According to the UMC Book of Discipline, homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching, with the denomination's rule book prohibiting clergy from blessing same-sex unions, as well as barring the ordination of people in same-sex romantic relationships.

The UMC had originally planned to consider a measure aimed at allowing theologically conservative churches to amicably leave the denomination in order to end the debate at its 2020 General Conference; however, the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the gathering to the fall of 2022.

In March, the UMC announced that it would once again postpone the General Conference to 2024, citing ongoing travel issues related to pandemic lockdown as a reason.

Organizers of the Global Methodist Church denounced the decision, with the latest postponement leading them to decide to launch their conservative denomination in May rather than their previous plan to launch after General Conference.

Many United Methodists have grown impatient with a denomination clearly struggling to function effectively at the general church level, said the Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the GMC Transitional Leadership Council, in the March announcement.

Theologically conservative local churches and annual conferences want to be free of divisive and destructive debates, and to have the freedom to move forward together.
Mark Wahlberg says he feels the transforming power of Christ every day,' led to preach in new film

MIAMI  Actor Mark Wahlberg described his encounter with the transforming power of Jesus Christ as he answered the call from God to tell the true-life story of Father Stuart Long.

Wahlberg both starred in and produced the new movie Father Stu. Based on actual events, the film tells the story of Long, a boxer-turned-priest, and his incredible journey from self-destruction to redemption.

While the Sony Pictures film is rated R and contains heavy vulgarity, it's inspiring at its core because it shares the power of transformation through Christ, which is something Wahlberg said he's also experiencing.

"I feel it every day. I'm feeling it now more than ever, He told The Christian Post.

When asked about the last time his faith was questioned, Wahlberg said it was during the pandemic.

I couldn't go to church anymore. I lost communication and touch with people that really helped me every day [to] remind me of the importance of my faith, and just going to church every day and praying and going to Mass every weekend, he said.

Wahlberg also suffered the loss of his mother, who died during the pandemic. But despite the challenges, he felt called to make this faith-filled movie and used his own money to partially fund the film because Hollywood refused to finance the project.

Wahlberg portrays Father Stu on-screen and is joined by Academy Award-winner Mel Gibson, who plays his father, Bill Long.

He spent six slow years trying to get to where the movie would finally be made. And when the time came, the project was filmed in 30 days during the ongoing lockdowns last year.

Wahlberg said it was "always a mission" of his to get the film made.

"All this talent, and especially the gifts that have been bestowed upon me and the blessings have been for a reason, he declared. It's not to go off and do another five Transformers, this was part of the calling. This movie came to me at a time when I was prepared enough to be able to do it justice, to be able to go out there and articulate the message and the meaning behind it.

It was created at the height of all of the division and negativity that was amplified in the media.

"This is a movie about redemption, and no person is beyond redemption, as long as they're willing to repent, and they have good intentions in their heart, and they want to make a change, he told CP. I'm just glad that I was able to get it made, I'm glad that it's resonating with everybody, because everybody can identify with his story in some sort of way.

"We're all dealing with loss, uncertainty, lack of faith, hope, just questions of why things happen," he added. "To be able to see somebody handle it with such grace in some of the most difficult and trying times after being through so much, it gives people a lot of hope."

In the film, Father Stu was faced with much resistance from his family as well as those from the Catholic Church, but he never gave up fighting for what he felt called by God to do, which was to become a priest. Wahlberg said he identified with the fight that was in his character.

"It's those kinds of losses and that kind of adversity that makes you stronger, the Boston native explained. Challenges will only make you better if you're willing to get up again, and dust yourself off, and go out there and continue to compete. I certainly was not supposed to be in the position that I am. I just never took 'no' for an answer.

I never listened to what people thought or what they said. So I always felt like it was up to me to prove myself by doing the work. And day by day, job by job, moment by moment on my knees, just trying to better myself as a person, then as a father, and as a husband. Doing the work is the thing that has allowed me to achieve success, or to be able to handle a loss and disappointment and failure, and all those things, and allow me to keep going and keep pushing, he added.

"My destiny is different from everybody else's destiny. How it's written was not by me. It's time for me to go out there and go through the motions, but this is God's doing!

On multiple occasions in the film, Wahlberg preaches and says his mini-sermons were divinely inspired.

"Especially in the jail, I felt like these were people that could relate to Stu. These were people that could [have] easily have been Stu. This was Stu's life, and that was my life. So most of that  there's a bit of dialogue in the beginning, but the message that I'm giving them was all improvised, Wahlberg revealed.

That's just me talking to them from the heart and just telling them that God's not going to give up on them, don't give up on themselves. That's a very important thing because when you have nobody to root for you or to support you, that's the most difficult thing, he stressed. People need to know that people care. That people love them and support them and they're rooting for them and they want them to see them do good. That is very important.

Wahlberg agreed that God's spirit was in him as he preached on set.

Father Stu hits theaters nationwide on April 13.
Roma Downey shares unexpected blessings that arise from making faith content in Hollywood

Actress, filmmaker, and the CCO of Lightworkers Media, Roma Downey released her new book this week and said the way God has used her to share her faith in Hollywood has been an unanticipated blessing.

"I felt a call in my life for many years, and I just continue to try to create and generate content that is hopeful, that is uplifting, that's inspiring in some way, The New York Times bestselling author said in a recorded interview with The Christian Post that can be watched below.

Unexpected Blessings: 90 inspirations to nourish your soul, and open your heartwas birthed from Downey's earlier book, Box of Butterflies, which was a spiritual memoir. In that book, Downey takes readers along a journey through her life.

The idea for her new book, which she describes as a devotional, came as a result of the pandemic.

"It's been a very challenging few years, I think, for everybody with COVID and one thing and another, she said. I decided that if Box of Butterflies was the tree, then this new book was like a branch of really doing that deeper dive. Understanding that while life may not be unfolding the way we imagined, there are still blessings everywhere.

People, she added, must create space that allows them to see the unexpected blessings in their life. "There's a discipline involved to train your mind and train your heart to see them.

Referencing a poem by American poet Mary Oliver, Downey added, "In that poem, she says, 'Someone once gave me a box of darkness. But it's taken me til now to realize that this, too, was a gift.'

"I found my experience, particularly in the first year of COVID, where there was so much anxiety and so much uncertainty and so much we didn't know about it, the time that we had to slow down, it forced a re-looking at our lives, and finding new priorities and real value in spending time with family, Downey revealed.

It really set me on this journey to explore the unexpected blessings and to see that like the Mary Oliver poem, even things that come in that are challenging or that seem like obstacles, that if you really have an open heart and are willing to spend a little bit of time each day with God, you'll start to see that the blessings are everywhere.

Downey told CP that the presence of God has always been with her, tangibly so, and shared how others can identify Gods presence.

"The presence of God usually brings with it a sense of peace in your life, she said. I know that for me, one of my favorite scriptures is just to be still and know that He is God. The emphasis here is on the stillness, and just taking that time.

Much like the discipline and the habits people get into when they go to the gym and eat healthily, it's just as important for people to get into the routine of taking care of our spirits and souls, Downey advised. "For me, that usually looks like just taking time for reflection in the morning. It strengthens me for the day.

Unexpected Blessings is focused on six different topics: strength, courage, love, stillness, gratitude and home, and each devotional ends with a prayer.

Downey and her husband, Mark Burnett, have had great success in the past with the Emmy-nominated miniseries "The Bible," which was watched by more than 100 million people in the U.S., and the feature film "Son of God," which was the second-highest grossing faith-based movie opening of all time.

"It's all been an unexpected blessing, honestly, Downey told CP. Right back from the beginning, when I got my big breakthrough role-playing the angel Monica on TV, in 'Touch by an Angel.'

I guess we have stepped out boldly, Downey added. Someone a few years ago called us the noisiest Christians in Hollywood. And certainly, we have been noisy, it's true. But it's such an opportunity to be able to share our love of God, and to evangelize a little bit through our work. At the same time to make sure the work is still quality work and entertaining work.

At the end of last year, Downey produced the film On a Wing and a Prayer. Based on a true story, she described the movie starring actors Dennis Quaid and Heather Graham as "an extraordinary story of faith." It's scheduled to hit theaters this summer.

"These are the themes that continue to show up in my work, she added.

"We have fun. We love doing what we do. Mark and I love working together when the opportunity arises. We say we're in the business of hope and there's no greater hope than in the promise of Heaven and the comforts and joy that come from being a believer. So yeah, noisy Christians.

Downey agreed that Hollywood is far more accepting of Christians now than it was when she first started in the industry over 30 years ago.

"I think when we first started, there was and there is still opposition. Not everybody's going to love what you do, and not everybody's going to respond to that positively. But have courage and keep moving forward with strength, she maintained.

"In my experience, we're a big community of people, she said, speaking of the Christian audience. The content may not be for everybody. We're not trying to force it down anybody's throat; we're just creating it lovingly inviting people to participate.

She added: I have found over the years, the longer I've been in this space, in this faith space, is that for the most part, people are very respectful and kind. In my experience, there are good people everywhere, doing good things. If anything, we just need to make more noise for the good guys out there.

Unexpected Blessingsis now available in both hard boy and audio book.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill banning abortions after 15 weeks

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning abortions after 15 weeks of gestation as the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule this year on the constitutionality of a similar law in Mississippi.

The Republican governor signed House Bill 5, also known as the Reducing Fetal and Infant Mortality Act, into law Thursday.

The measure, which goes into effect July 1, will ban abortions after 15 weeks gestation unless two physicians certify in writing that, in reasonable medical judgment, the termination of the pregnancy is necessary to save the pregnant womans life or determine that the fetus has a fatal fetal abnormality.

At a signing ceremony in Kissimmee, DeSantis said the bill seeks to "protect life" and "defend those who cant defend themselves."

In a statement, DeSantis said the bill protects babies in the womb who have beating hearts, who can move, who can taste, who can see, and who can feel pain. He described life as a "sacred gift worthy of our protection."

Our bill protects unborn babies from abortion after 15 weeks  these are babies with beating hearts, who can move, taste, see and feel pain.



Proud to defend life! pic.twitter.com/Xz6v4K4KGC  Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) April 14, 2022

I am proud to sign this great piece of legislation which represents the most significant protections for life in the states modern history," DeSantis said.

Kara Gross, the legislative director and senior policy counsel for the ACLU of Florida, criticized the legislation as shameful," stating that "[n]obody should be forced to carry a pregnancy against their will." The progressive legal organization vowed to take swift legal action to protect Floridians rights and defend against this cruel attack on our bodily autonomy.

"HB 5 ignores real-world situations  it is not always possible for people to obtain an abortion within the arbitrary timeframe provided in this bill, even if theyve been trying to get one for weeks," Gross said in a statement. "There are already so many barriers to abortion care, especially for young people, those with fewer resources, and those who live in rural areas."

President Lynda Bell of Florida Right to Life, a chapter of the pro-life lobbying group National Right to Life, was present with DeSantis at the signing ceremony. Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life, praised Florida Right to Life's work to get the bill passed.

We praise Governor Ron DeSantis, the pro-life members of the Florida state legislature and Florida Right to Life for all of the hard work that went into seeing this legislation become law, Tobias said in a statement. No unborn child should suffer and die from an abortion. Floridas law will protect unborn children and their mothers from the horrors of abortion.

The Republican-controlled Florida Senate passed the bill in a 23-15 vote on March 3, and the Florida House of Representatives approved the legislation in a 78-39 vote on Feb. 17.

Other pro-life leaders cited Florida's enactment of House Bill 5 as the latest example of the momentum at the state level ahead of a highly anticipated U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson's Women's Health.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national pro-life lobbying organization Susan B. Anthony List, believes the Florida bill "may save more than 3,300 lives a year by protecting unborn children, as well as their mothers, from cruel and dangerous late abortions.

Science tells us unborn children are human beings with a vibrant life in the womb, and by 15 weeks they can feel pain  yet under current Supreme Court precedents the United States allows abortion on demand right up to birth, Dannenfelser said in a statement. On abortion policy, we have more in common with China and North Korea than virtually the entire world.

As we await a decision in the Dobbs case, momentum is growing across America to modernize our extreme abortion laws," she added.

The Supreme Courts expected ruling in the Mississippi case could have significant implications for abortion law in the U.S.

A ruling in favor of the state of Mississippi, which is seeking to uphold its 15-week abortion ban, would pave the way for other states, such as Florida, to enact similar legislation. A decision in favor of Mississippi would depart from previous rulings upholding the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationwide.

Some pro-lifers have expressed optimism about the possible outcome of the Dobbs case as the nation's high court consists of six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three justices appointed by Democratic presidents.

Other states have passed similar laws, and some have even placed even stricter restrictions on abortion. Most notably, Texas passed a law last year that bans most abortions after six weeks of gestation  or once a baby can feel pain. Neighboring Oklahoma implemented a near-total ban on abortion just this week and the Kentucky legislature overrode the governor's veto this week to pass a 15-week abortion ban into law.

In other states, pro-abortion state lawmakers have codified the right to abortion into state law amid concerns about the Supreme Court potentially weakening the precedent set by Roe v. Wade or overturning the decision entirely.

Colorado passed a law declaring that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of this state. The law emphasizes that a pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue a pregnancy or give birth or to have an abortion and to make decisions about how to exercise that right.
Sanjay should step into Palamuru only after explaining to the Telangana people as to why the Upper Bhadra project in neighbouring Karnataka was accorded national status and why Telangana is discriminated against, he said.  Twitter

Hyderabad: TRS working president and IT minister K.T. Rama Rao on Friday lashed out at BJP Telangana president Bandi Sanjay for commencing his Praja Sangrama Yatra from the Palamuru region despite the injustice that the BJP-led Central government has done to the region and Telangana State a whole.

In an open letter to Sanjay on Friday, Rama Rao said that the agriculture fields in Palamuru, which were once known for acute drought, have now turned into fertile lands.

Krishna river is the lifeline of Palamuru. The BJP-led government had set up the River Krishna Management Board but there is no development in addressing the river water sharing disputes pushing the Palamuru region into crisis. Telangana has been demanding national status for Palamuru RangaReddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and Bandi Sanjay should explain the Centres response to the Palamuru people, Rao demanded.

Sanjay should step into Palamuru only after explaining to the Telangana people as to why the Upper Bhadra project in neighbouring Karnataka was accorded national status and why Telangana is discriminated against, he said.
Gov. Stitt signs law banning most abortions, seeks to make Oklahoma 'most pro-life state'

The governor of Oklahoma has signed a bill into law banning nearly all abortions in the state except when a mother's life is at risk in a medical emergency. Those who violate the law could face up to $100,000 in fines and 10 years in prison.

Oklahomas Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 612 into law Tuesday, saying he aims to make the Sooner State the most pro-life state in the country.

Women who seek or obtain an illegal abortion wouldn't need to fear prosecution, as the law doesn't authorize the charging or conviction of a woman with any criminal offense in the death of her unborn child. It does not ban the use or sale of prescription contraceptives so long as the products are sold before a woman becomes pregnant.

The bill passed the states House of Representatives in a 70-14 vote last week, more than a year after it passed the state Senate in a 38-49 vote. In both chambers, one Republican joined Democrats in opposing the measure.

Stitt signed Senate Bill 612 into law Tuesday, as he was surrounded by pro-life activists, religious leaders and the bills sponsors in the state Legislature. The governor and those gathered around him were wearing red roses in honor of the Pro-Life Rose Day at the Capitol, an occasion sponsored by the pro-life group Oklahomans for Life, the Baptist General Convention, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, and other churches and pregnancy resource centers.

As governor, I represent all 4 million Oklahomans, Stitt said at the signing ceremony. They overwhelmingly support protecting life in the state of Oklahoma. We want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country. We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.

The most important thing is to take a stand for the unborn and protect life.



Every life is precious.



As a father of six, thats what I believe and I know thats what Oklahomans believe. pic.twitter.com/VjmUz5QdOD  Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) April 12, 2022

While he predicted that this bill will be challenged immediately by liberal activists from the coasts who always seem to want to come in and dictate and mandate and challenge our way of life, Stitt signed the bill nonetheless. Sharing his belief that every life is precious, Stitt declared that the most important thing is to take a stand for the unborn and protect life.

In a statement released Tuesday, Marjorie Dannenfelser of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List, praised Oklahoma for enacting some of the nations strongest protections for unborn children and their mothers, which could save as many as 3,800 lives a year.

The ACLU of Oklahoma had a different take on the bill, with Executive Director Tanya Cox-Toure declaring that the only person who should have the power to decide whether you need an abortion is you  no matter where you live, or how much money you make. She cited the enactment of the law as a reminder of the immediate threat to our communitys health and reproductive freedom that serves as a placeholder to a rapidly approaching future without access to safe and legal abortion.

What politicians have done today is create a state where anybody who can become pregnant is forced to carry out a pregnancy against their will. We must continue to fight in the courts, in our state legislatures, in the streets, and at the ballot box to guarantee all people have access to the health care they need.

The Oklahoma law represents a drastic contrast to a law recently approved by the governor in the neighboring state of Colorado.

Last week, the states Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed into law a measure declaring that a fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent or derivative rights under the laws of this state.

A pregnant individual has a fundamental right to continue a pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion and to make decisions about how to exercise that right, the legislation added. A public entity shall not  deprive, through prosecution, punishment, or other means, an individual of the individuals right to act or refrain from acting during the individuals own pregnancy based on the potential, actual, or perceived impact on the pregnancy, the pregnancys outcomes, or on the pregnant individuals health.

Pro-life laws passed by states like Oklahoma and the abortion laws passed by states like Colorado come as the United States Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of Mississippis 15-week abortion ban. A ruling in favor of the state of Mississippi, which is asking the justices to uphold the ban, would weaken the precedent set by Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
16 missing children recovered in US Marshals operation that uncovers sex trafficking allegations

Some 16 missing children have been recovered in an operation led by the U.S. Marshals Service Eastern District of Louisiana New Orleans Task Force which also uncovered allegations of sex trafficking in some of the cases, the agency announced.

In a news release published Thursday, the agency revealed that through "Operation Fresh Start, conducted from Jan. 1 to March 31, they made five arrests and are currently pursuing the arrest of four other adults.

Based on the operation at least four (4) felony warrants exist for adults suspected of involvement with MCU minors and the USMS New Orleans Task Force is actively pursuing these fugitives, the agency said.

In one of the cases, marshals recovered a 14-year-old female on March 25 from an address in Fayetteville, Georgia, living with several adults. She had run away from her family in New Orleans in January, authorities said.

The teen had run away from New Orleans in January of 2022 and her family were concerned about her possible involvement in sex trafficking and believed that she was with an older male in Florida. USMS investigation shows the teen may have also traveled to the Jacksonville, Florida area as well before being located in Georgia, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

A day later, on March 26, marshals also rescued another 14-year-old habitual runaway from a location in Addis, Louisiana. The teenager was described as a previous victim of sexual assault. She was returned to St. Tammany Parish after the rescue.

According to the release, New Orleans was one of the original U.S. cities to begin a USMS pilot program for the Missing Child Unit in 2016, and U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Scott Illing, said he was proud of the work they have done so far.

I am very proud of the cooperative work done by all the agencies involved in safeguarding at risk children. Our Office is proud to be a part of a robust MCU program that took root in New Orleans starting in 2016, Illing said in a statement. This work is being done with our partners while our office still performs its critical USMS missions (judicial and witness security, managing federal prisoners, violent fugitives apprehension, sex offender investigations, and service of federal process).

Several of the cases also involved custodial disputes between parents, which can sometimes turn deadly.

Marshals successfully recovered a 5-year-old female and 7-year-old male who were taken by their mother, who was the non-custodial parent.

The Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office issued a felony warrant for the mother of the children for kidnapping, and she made active attempts to avoid arrest along the way, the release said. The non-custodial parent/mother took the children to the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida area and the USMS Florida/Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force was able to recover the children and arrest the mother on her Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office warrant.

On Jan. 31, marshals also recovered a 1-year-old male child abducted by his father after the father shot and killed the infants grandfather in New Orleans, Louisiana, the agency said.

News reports show that the grandfather, the late beloved trumpeter Brian Murray, was babysitting the child at the time he was killed by Edmond Ramee Sr.

Ramee is currently in custody on a second degree murder charge.

New Orleans Police Department Violent Offenders Warrant Squad (VOWS) and USMS New Orleans Task Force immediately began to search for Edmond RAMEE Sr., and he surrendered to NOPD VOWS on the evening of 01/31/2022, with the child being safely located and recovered, the U.S. Marshals Service said.

Not all custody disagreements end with children being recovered safely.

In January, Tennessee Pastor Kenneth Cook died along with his 16-year-old step-daughter, Teagan Welch, and Teagans biological father, Christopher Ray Welch, 48, after a domestic-related shooting in White Pine at a Pilot gas station.

The Jefferson County Sheriffs Office told WVLT News that the Jan. 3 event stemmed from a custody drop-off between the pastors wife and Teagans father, who were meeting to change custody of their child.

Last month, three sisters were fatally shot by their father in another domestic dispute concerning custody. The father also killed himself and their chaperone inside the sanctuary of The Church in Sacramento during a supervised visit in California. All the individuals involved were members of the church.

The Sacramento coroners office identified the father as David Mora Rojas, 39. His daughters were identified as Samarah Mora Gutierrez, 9; Samantha Mora Gutierrez, 10, and Samia Mora Gutierrez, 13. The late chaperone was identified as Nathaniel Kong, 59. Business records show that he was an executive of the church.
Most Americans say moral lessons of Easter, Passover important to country's future: poll

More than two-thirds of likely voters in the United States believe that the moral lessons of Easter and Passover are important to ensuring a strong America for future generations.

The Convention of States Action and The Trafalgar Group released the results of a new survey on Monday, which centered on how likely U.S. voters felt about the influence of Easter and Passover.

Easter Sunday is the annual Christian celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus, while Passover is an annual Jewish observance celebrating the Exodus out of Egypt in ancient history.

Data for the report came from a survey conducted April 5-8, with a sample space of 1,079 likely general election voters, with a margin of error of 2.99% at the 95% confidence level.

According to the survey, 72.6% of respondents said they believe the moral lessons found in the holidays of Easter and Passover are either somewhat important or very important to guaranteeing a strong U.S. in the future.

In total, 52.6% of respondents said the moral lessons were very important, while 20% said they were somewhat important." Another 11% said they were not very important and 16.4% said they were not important at all.

Trafalgar found a considerable political divide among respondents, as 66.6% of Republicans said they were very important, compared to 35.9% of Democrats.

Additionally, while only 8.7% of Republican respondents said that the moral lessons were not important at all, 27.8% of Democrat respondents said the same.

Mark Meckler, president of the Convention of States Action, said in an emailed press release that he believed the findings showed that, contrary to popular belief, Americans do not place less and less value on faith.

Parents want our children to be taught to know and respect God, value freedom, observe the golden rule, and to achieve a good and great society through hard work and sacrifice, stated Meckler.

These are some of the fundamental values taught to us through our Judeo-Christian heritage. This is the foundation of all that is exceptional about the United States of America.

A conservative group based in Houston, Texas, and founded in 2013, the Convention of States Action seeks to have the U.S. hold a national states convention in order to push reforms aimed at combatting the influence of federal government bureaucracy.

Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. shouldnt be allowed to make sweeping decisions that impact millions of Americans. But right now, they do, stated the group.

So it all boils down to one question: Who do you think should decide whats best for you and your family? You, or the feds? Wed vote for the American people every single time.
NYC subway shooter still on the run as Mayor Eric Adams blames nations gun laws for cult of death

UPDATED 2:25 p.m. ET April 13: Frank R. James, the man suspected of carrying out a mass shooting on a subway train in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning was captured by police Wednesday while hiding in the East Village.

Original report:

A gunman who opened fire causing multiple injuries and mayhem on a packed Manhattan-bound train in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning was still on the run Wednesday as New York City Mayor Eric Adams vowed to capture him while describing the attack as part of a national cult of death that he blamed on the nation's gun laws.

You know I have been realistic and outspoken in my commitment to public safety. I stand by that and will continue to do everything in my power to dam the rivers that feed the sea of violence, Adams said at a press conference Tuesday night. This is not only a New York City problem, this rage, this violence, these guns, these relentless shooters are an American problem. It is going to take all levels of government to solve it. It is going to take the entire nation to speak out and push back against the cult of death that has taken over in this nation.

Authorities announced that they were seeking the publics help in locating 62-year-old Philadelphia resident, Frank R. James, as a person of interest in the subway attack that left at least 23 people injured.

A federal law enforcement source told Newsweek that the FBI was previously alerted about James, but following interviews in 2019 the agency determined he wasn't a threat.

New York Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the shooting, which occurred at approximately 8:24 a.m. on a Manhattan-bound N train in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, said 10 of the injured suffered gunshot wounds while others got injured while trying to exit the subway in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Some victims suffered smoke inhalation from two smoke bombs that were detonated on the train.

We are truly fortunate that this is not significantly worse than it is, Sewell said. As we reported this afternoon, a man who was traveling on a Manhattan bound N train opened two canisters that dispensed smoke throughout the subway car. He then shot multiple passengers as the train pulled into the 36th Street Station in Sunset Park.

Sewell also noted that none of the injuries appear to be life threatening, which she called good news.

The New York Police Departments Chief of Detectives James Essig said seven men and three women were injured by gunfire and were all treated at area hospitals. He further noted that the suspected shooter, who was wearing a surgical mask, a grey hoodie, and a neon green construction helmet, was seated in the rear corner of the second car of the N train when he went on the shooting rampage by opening fire on unsuspecting passengers at least 33 times.

Among the evidence collected from the scene was a 9mm semi-automatic handgun, extended magazines and a hatchet. Investigators also found what appears to be gasoline, a bag containing consumer-grade fireworks and keys to a U-Haul which led investigators to a U-Haul that was rented by James.

We are endeavoring to locate him to determine his connection to the subway shooting if any, said Essig, who noted that evidence from both the subway and the van were still being processed.

A $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the apprehension of the suspected shooter and mobile alerts were sent out on Wednesday morning urging New Yorkers to be on the lookout for James.

Were asking anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS. We know this incident is of grave concern to New Yorkers. We cannot lose sight of victims in this city. We will use every resource we can to bring those to justice who continue to prey on the citizens of New York, Sewell said.

Mayor Adams, who spent a significant portion of his speech lamenting Americas culture of gun violence, said it has become a cult that allows innocence to be sacrificed on a daily basis.

There are over 400 million guns in this country alone. The U.S. gun homicide rate is 26 times that of other high-income countries where over 100 people die of gun violence every day, he said.

He added that guns are the leading cause of death for American children and teenagers and highlighted past mass shootings such as events in Columbine, Colorado, and Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut.

These killers have used weapons of mass destruction to massacre innocent people. They control no armies or military forces yet these individual killers terrorize our nation. Ive often said that this city is not going to adapt to dysfunction. Ending gun violence means changing gun laws. We cannot clean up a flood when the water is still pouring into the basement. And we can never stop the killing if we cannot stop the guns, Adams said.

To be clear, we will not surrender our city to the violent few and will not surrender all of America to this cult of death. The sea of violence comes from many rivers. We must dam every river that feeds the greater crisis. That is the work of my life, this administration, and this police department. And we are not stopping until the peace we deserve becomes the reality we experience, he added.

You have my word as a former police officer, fellow New Yorker and your mayor, well end this epidemic and will capture this individual responsible for todays attack. We will capture him and prosecute him to the full extent of the law.
Texas pastor and father of 6 murdered, police searching for suspect: Awesome man of God'

Police in Texas are searching for a suspect who shot and killed a 38-year-old pastor and father of six, an "awesome man of God" who held street services and oversaw a prison ministry.

Karl Arthur Hollins Jr., an ordained pastor, was shot and killed by an unidentified man on Harmon Street in Dallas last Wednesday, Fox 4 reported. Police have not identified a motive for the shooting.

Police and Dallas Fire-Rescue responded and took Hollins to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Hollins leaves behind six children, his mother and his siblings.

Dallas Morning News added that anyone who has more information on the murder should contact Detective Christopher Walton at 214-671-3632 and refer to case No. 060922-2022.

My brother did not live to 40. That is devastating and it hasnt settled with me just yet, said the pastors sister, Crystal Hollins, according to Fox 4. I havent had time because I need to be strong for my momma.

His mother, Tammy Jones, described her son as an "awesome man of God. He taught me what a man is supposed to do for a woman, as a man.

In addition to serving as a pastor, Hollins was a security guard who ran a street and prison ministry in the community he grew up in, according to NBC 5.

On his Facebook page, a post was made on Saturday asking people to give his family privacy and telling them to contact an individual identified as "Reanee" for more information.

Several people commented on the post, while others posted on the late pastor's Facebook account giving their condolences over his tragic death.

"Sending love just know he [touched] people he didn't even know he [touched] and if [you all] need help with anything it will be my pleasure," posted one person.

"[I'm] speechless. In prayer silently for the Mom & entire family; church fam & all. I claimed Apostle Hollins as a spiritual Son. Time was so short with him though. Unbelievable," stated another.

While police have not yet released any description of the suspect, they have declared a reward of $5,000 for any information that may lead to the arrest and prosecution of the killer.

In a separate incident in Dallas, a 36-year-old man was shot and killed and three others were injured on Jerome Street on Sunday morning, 5 NBCDFW reported.

One of the three who were injured, a female, is in critical condition, police said.
Ask Chuck: Donating cryptocurrency?

Dear Chuck,

We invested in some cryptocurrency a few years back. It has appreciated nicely. We want to give some to help the people of Ukraine. Do you have any tips for us?

Crypto Donors

Dear Crypto Donors,

First, may I wish you and our readers a very Happy Easter! Eight in ten Americans plan to celebrate Easter this year. According to the National Retail Federation, U.S. consumers are expected to spend an average of $170  or $20.8 billion total  related to the holiday: 90% on candy, 88% on food, 63% on gifts, 49% on clothing, and 48% on decorations. It is good to think more about being generous during this season that marks the greatest event in human history. He is risen!

Giving crypto

The war in the Ukraine has brought this topic into focus with many people around the world. On April 5th, CoinDesk reported that crypto donations are skyrocketing. The ease of transferring crypto across the globe has become very beneficial for charities.

Crypto donors are, on average, much younger than traditional givers. 60% of crypto users are under 40. Younger people respond to needs publicized on social media. They like supporting a particular cause.

Benefits of crypto giving

Cheaper transaction costs.

Attractive tax deductions.

Donors anonymity protected.

Fidelity Charitable reported last year that a third of cryptocurrency investors have donated some of their cryptocurrency to charity. They were driven by the tax benefits and a desire to do good. 46% said it was difficult to find charities that accepted cryptocurrency, and 44% said it was a cumbersome process. Fidelity sees digital assets becoming a strong source of funding for the future. However, there are challenges: navigating volatility, simplifying the process, making the exchange of donations to traditional currency easier, and ensuring security for donors and charities.

The Drum reports that charities that accept cryptocurrencies in the U.S. experience far greater generosity among average crypto donors compared to cash donors. The Giving Block found that the average crypto donation was 82 times larger than the average cash gift, but this will likely decrease as more volume is generated. Emergency appeals for the Ukraine crisis raised millions.

The value of crypto gifts can fluctuate wildly, so churches are advised to put those donations to use quickly or liquidate them into traditional dollars, rather than speculate on their growth.

Last month, President Biden signed an executive order for government oversight of cryptocurrency. Due to the growing popularity of cryptocurrency, there is a possibility that the central bank will create its own digital currency. Surveys show that roughly 16% of Americans (40 million) have invested in crypto. 43% of men 18-29 years old have put money into some form of cryptocurrency. 90 central banks are experimenting with or piloting central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

Tax ramifications

Crypto donations can be treated as itemized deductions and can possibly reduce your income tax liability. Donating crypto is tax-free and deductible as long as the donation is to a registered charity. Organizations with 501(c)(3) status qualify. The amount that is tax deductible depends on how long the asset was held. Crypto held for more than one year can be deducted at fair market value. Crypto held for less than a year can be deducted at the lower of either the fair market value or your cost basis (the difference in the sale and purchase price).

Avoid scams

Millions of dollars generously given to help Ukraine were lost to thieves in crypto scams.

To verify that crypto donations are going into the right hands, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advises that donors do the following:

Search online for the name of the group plus words like review, scam, or complaint.

See what Charity Navigator, Charity Watch, or BBB Wise Giving Alliance have to say about the charity.

Do an online search of the wallet address to verify the real address.

Remember that once money is given, it cannot be taken back unless someone sends it back to you.

Gods call to seek wisdom and give generously

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him (James 1:5 ESV).

As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life (1 Timothy 6:17-19 ESV).

I am on the Board of Directors of TrustBridge Global, which provides expert assistance to donors transferring funds across international borders. I recommend that you consider seeking their advice and services when giving to the people of Ukraine, whether making a traditional or crypto gift. Thank you for your question and generosity!

My new book, Economic Evidence for God: Uncovering the Invisible Hand that Guides the Economy, is now available. As you press into the evidence, it will become more and more exciting as you begin to see the world and even your own economic activity from an entirely new perspective. Money  and our personal and collective use of it  can be examined to reveal our faith or lack thereof, and Gods ever-present reality in our affairs. I hope you enjoy it!
Flying the flag of our faith

Sadly, the secularization of America shows no signs of slowing. As we approach the holiest time of the year for Christians with Easter approaching, the alarming statistics reveal that three-in-ten U.S. adults (29%) are now nones  not affiliated with any religious group and describe themselves as atheists, agnostics, or nothing in particular.

According to the most recent Pew Research Center survey of the religious composition of the United States, this statistic is an alarmingly six percentage points higher than it was five years ago and 10 points higher than a decade ago.

Today, Christians make up 63% of the adult population and outnumber religious nones by a ratio of two-to-one. But in 2007, when Pew began asking questions about religious identity, Christians outnumbered nones by almost five-to-one (78% vs. 16%).

Even more troubling is the trend among young people. The latest statistics indicate that only 40% of Americans 18-29 years of age believe religion is essential to ones life. Even less, 17%, participate in regular Scripture reading, religious education, or prayer.

What is happening to our society?

Parents, what are we teaching our children to believe? Nothing? The Bible tasks us with training up a child in the way they should go.

In what way should they go? Many parents have recently been awakened to some of the concepts their children are being taught in public schools  that you can choose your gender, that the country was founded on racism, that its preferred to kill your baby in the womb rather than subject your child to the fatalism of climate change, that there is no absolute truth; its all just shades of gray.

No wonder we have record numbers of nones.

While we thought our children were being taught to read and write, they were being taught values that are contrary to the Word of God. Make no mistake; there are people who have an agenda for our children, and they are not ashamed of their Gospel.

And their agenda is relentless; it has captured the media, big tech, and the culture who all are reinforcing the same messages children learn in school. Our children may go to church one hour a week but are subject to other influences the other 167.

The Left makes no apologies for their beliefs; they wear it as a badge of honor. How many Coexist bumper stickers have you seen? Go organic, save the bay, save the planet? Where are the bumper stickers showing our faith?

Over the last two years, weve seen many Black Lives Matter signs in yards all over the country, support for the first responders during COVID; theres even a sign in my neighborhood saying We Love Dr. Fauci.

Every June, Americans see rainbow flags everywhere to honor Gay Pride Month. Companies change their logo on their websites, government buildings and our U.S. embassies fly the flag, people wear rainbow t-shirts, and the flag is flown over houses all over the country.

Where is our Christian pride? Pride in our faith?

Why arent Christians as adamant about letting the world know about the most important thing in their lives?

Concerned Women for America is declaring April as Faith Month and calling on all people of faith to display their faith on their homes, at their desks, on their cars. April is the time we observe Holy Week, Passover, and Easter and the perfect opportunity to fly the Christian flag over your home. There is a Christian flag, a Jewish flag, and other symbols that can make our faith known to others.

We are also calling on legislators to recognize April as Faith Month. If 70% of the American people claim a religious affiliation, surely our elected bodies could recognize a month to honor their history and heritage.

Presidents have done it. All U.S. presidents, from George Washington to Joe Biden, have acknowledged Americas faith and our many blessings from God. The countrys founding documents and laws are based on moral principles that come from the Bible.

In Matthew 5:16, Jesus encouraged His followers to [L]et your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. By making our faith known to others, and flying the flag of our faith, we are committed to following those words.
Woman adds rat poison to husbands food in plot to kill him for converting to Christianity

A Muslim woman in eastern Uganda added poison to the food of her husband, a former Islamic teacher who converted to Christianity about a week earlier, after noticing him praying in the name of Christ, according to a report.

Hiire Sadiki, 56, who put his faith in Christ on March 27, is recovering in a hospital in Butaleja District, Morning Star News reported.

Sadiki, who is from Masjidi Uthuman in Nawanjofu village, was poisoned on April 2, as he had declined to observe the Islamic rituals of Ramadan and his wife noticed him praying in the name of Christ.

She questioned me because of the mode of my praying. I told her that I had believed in Issa [Jesus], the victim was quoted as saying from his hospital bed.

He said he put his faith in Christ after several months of discussions with a Christian pastor.

His pastor, who took him to a hospital, said Sadiki suffered convulsions and vomiting after eating. As we arrived at the hospital, his condition worsened. He started having diarrhea with blood, nausea, vomiting and severe abdominal pain.

The pastor added that he rang his wife. As I began asking about the sheikh and introducing myself, she was so annoyed and started abusing me for converting her husband. She said she did not want to be identified with him because he had become an infidel, and that she was leaving him and going back to her people, that her husband deserved death for forsaking Islam, and that she didnt want to relate with an infidel.

Sadikis wife has left the town with their three children, ages 16, 10 and 6, the pastor said.

While most people in Uganda are Christian, some regions in the country have higher concentrations of Muslims.

The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project estimates that about 11.5% of Ugandas population is Muslim, mostly Sunni. Armed attacks and murders of converts are not uncommon in the region.

Radical Islams influence has grown steadily, and many Christians within the majority-Muslim border regions are facing severe persecution, especially those who convert from Islam, a Voice of the Martyrs factsheet notes.

Despite the risks, Evangelical churches in Uganda have responded by reaching out to their neighbors; many churches are training leaders how to share the Gospel with Muslims and care for those who are persecuted after they become Christians.
Degas and the dance: why the artists behind-the-curtain approach was revelatory

In the canon of art history, no name conjures associations of ballet more than Edgar Degas. The ballet offered the artist a subject that set him apart from the rest of the avant-garde and facilitated a complete immersion in his primary love: the depiction of the human form. Degas found infinite artistic potential in the shadowy corners of the much revered and frequented Paris Opera, its stage wings, dressing rooms, and above all, its rehearsal studios.



Degas long held the ballet world at the centre of his artistic practice. But unlike other artists, he often preferred the occurrences behind the curtains rather than on centre stage, says Adrien Meyer, Co-Chairman of Impressionist and Modern Art at Christies.



Degass depictions of ballerinas, both on and offstage, have touched generations of dancers and dance enthusiasts such as the late collector and philanthropist Anne Hendricks Bass. This May, 12 works from Mrs. Basss collection will lead the 20th Century Evening Sale at Christies New York. Of the three Degas masterpieces in her collection, two embody Mrs. Bass and the artists shared appreciation of dance: a pastel, Danseuse attachant son chausson, and a bronze, Petite danseuse de quatorze ans. Ballet was a lifelong passion for Mrs. Bass, who studied the art form from her youth through adulthood. She made instrumental contributions to the New York City Ballet and directed the 2010 documentary Dancing Across Borders.



Caught in moments of repose, the two figures in the works from the Anne H. Bass collection are rendered with an intimate accuracy, Adrien Meyer says. The ballerina in Danseuse attachant son chausson ties her shoes in the quiet moments before the dance itself, and the Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, stands almost life-size and defiantly enters our own space.

Open a larger version of this image Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, cast in 1927. Bronze with brown patina with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon on wooden base. Height (excluding base): 40 in (102.9 cm). Estimate: $20,000,000-30,000,000. Offered in The Collection of Anne H. Bass in May 2022 at Christie's in New York

Degass largest, best-known sculpture  and the only one the artist exhibited in his lifetime  Petite danseuse de quatorze ans occupies an inimitable place within modern art. This two-thirds life-size depiction of a young ballet dancer caused a sensation when the wax version was first shown in 1881 at the Sixth Impressionist Exhibition in Paris. Evoking a combination of compassion and intrigue, this sculpture encapsulates the tension between artifice and reality that defines so much of his work. Petite danseuse de quatorze ans was originally made in wax, which the artist carefully coloured to simulate real flesh. Degas finally dressed this figure with real-life accoutrements: a dancers cotton faille bodice, linen ballet slippers, a tarlatan tutu, as well as a wig of real hair, scooped into a braid and tied with a silk ribbon. The original wax version was not cast in bronze until after the artists death, when 29 casts were made, the majority of which now reside in museums across the world.

Open a larger version of this image Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Petite danseuse de quatorze ans, cast in 1927. Bronze with brown patina with muslin skirt and satin hair ribbon on wooden base. Height (excluding base): 40 in (102.9 cm). Estimate: $20,000,000-30,000,000. Offered in The Collection of Anne H. Bass in May 2022 at Christie's in New York

Unlike many of the dancers featured in Degass myriad works on this theme, the identity of the model for the Petite danseuse is known. Marie van Goethem was a ballet student at the Paris Opera, one of the many young girls, known as petits rats de lopera, who sought to perform on the stage of this revered institution. Marie is thought to have also served as the model for several other pastels and paintings made around the same time. Degass remarkable first foray into the medium of sculpture was accompanied by a fascinating series of drawings in charcoal, chalk, and pastel. Over the course of his research, Degas must have hit upon the pose, known as casual fourth position, that the Petite danseuse holds. Degas revelled in capturing these unselfconscious movements. He spurned the perfection of the performance, instead providing glimpses of his models caught off guard. After years studying dancers, Degas developed this pose to purposefully defy expectation or easy identification.

Degas long held the ballet world at the centre of his artistic practice. But unlike other artists, he often preferred the occurrences behind the curtains rather than on centre stage Adrien Meyer

Although the lifelike quality of the sculptures tinted wax surface provoked some comment, the most innovative and audacious feature of the work was its incorporation of actual articles of clothing. These sartorial elements  which anticipate the use of found materials in Cubism and Dada  constituted an overt challenge to the accepted criteria of sculpture in the late nineteenth century. Many compared the dressed wax figure to a doll, puppet, or a shop mannequin. With its distinctive facial features, the Petite danseuse also represented a striking contrast to the idealised figural sculpture of Degass day.



Following the 1881 Impressionist Exhibition, the wax version of the Petite danseuse remained in Degass studio until his death in 1917. The casting was not begun until 1918, when Degass heirs contracted the founder Adrien Hebrard, renowned for his high technical and artistic standards, to produce limited bronze editions of all 74 wax sculptures found during the posthumous inventory of the artists studio. The first complete set of bronzes, including the Petite danseuse, was finished in 1921 and purchased by Louisine Havemeyer, who donated 71 of the sculptures, including Petite danseuse to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.



Open a larger version of this image Edgar Degas (1834-1917), Danseuse attachant son chausson, 1887. Pastel on buff paper. 18 x 16 in (47.5 x 42.9 cm). Estimate: $4,000,000-6,000,000. Offered in The Collection of Anne H. Bass in May 2022 at Christie's in New York
Courtesy of DeLorean Motor Company

Banking on hopeful returns, San Antonio City Council has approved a $562,500 incentive package for DeLorean Motor Co. and its planned headquarters. The incentive package was approved Thursday, April 14, with a unanimous vote, despite concerns from council members that the projected returns on the city's investment not proving to be beneficial.

Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, City of San Antonio's Director of Economic Development, says the incentive package is dependent on job creation milestones, which will be in corporate, engineering, and research and development. DeLorean's new electric vehicles will not be manufactured in San Antonio.
Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Russian millionaires are having a hard time due to sanctions imposed by Europe and the United States on ultra-rich Russians who have close ties to President Vladimir Putin. This time Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov was stripped of a luxury superyacht in Germany.



Hamburg authorities seized the Dilbar superyacht after determining that it was, in fact, the legal property of his sister, Gulbakhor Ismailova . Another billionaire who is also subject to Western sanctions for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.



The yacht is named after their mother of these wealthy brothers. Usmanov owns a major stake in USM , a Russian investment group with stakes in Metalloinvest, one of the world's largest iron ore producers, and the telecommunications company MegaFon .



Furthermore, he is the sixth richest Russian with a fortune of $19 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.



It should be noted that superyachts and other displays of wealth among Russia's elite have drawn especially intense scrutiny after Russia declared war on Ukraine.



Germany's federal crime office said on Wednesday that despite efforts at what it called "concealment on the high seas," it had managed to identify the yacht's owner, Usmanov's sister.



In a tweet the German authority stated: "The luxury yacht Dilbar is therefore subject to the sanctions law and could be legally seized in Hamburg." And once this luxury yacht has been seized it cannot be "sold, leased or pledged as collateral".

But what does the most luxurious yacht in the world look like?
The University of North Texas has more than 42,000 students, but few are as infamous as senior Kelly Neidert.

Since she arrived at the Denton campus in 2019, the 22-year-old marketing major has revived its Young Conservatives of Texas chapter  which had been dormant for years  and developed a reputation among students and administrators as the campus biggest provocateur.

Shes easily recognizable in her red Make America Great Again hat and a megaphone sometimes slung over her shoulder  she uses it to troll her liberal classmates. On Twitter, she branded herself the most hated conservative college student in the state of Texas.

When students held a protest in January to push for more online classes during the peak of the omicron variant, Neidert went to the top of a nearby parking garage and shouted through her megaphone for more in-person classes. On social media, she tweets statements like, trans women are men, actually, and One of my greatest accomplishments is giving Covid to someone who was vaxxed.

On TikTok, she posted a video in which she approached a group of students holding an event for Coming Out Day and said she was coming out as conservative.

Republican Texas House candidate Jeff Younger left the UNT campus under police protection last month after speaking at a Young Conservatives of Texas meeting. Credit: Matt Iaia for The Texas Tribune

Last month, her reputation grew even more after she invited anti-trans political candidate Jeff Younger to campus to speak at a YCT meeting, a move that sparked a massive protest of students who drowned out Younger with expletive-laden screams  Younger responded by calling them communists and telling them to shout louder  until university police ended the event because of safety concerns.

Police hid Neidert in a janitors closet to avoid protesters who were roaming the halls, allegedly searching for her.

Neidert repeated the story as a guest on various right-wing media outlets throughout March. She and other YCT members routinely record students reactions to her groups events on campus  which have included protests, students cursing at her and death threats on social media  then share the videos during her media appearances on Fox News, NewsMax and other outlets.

Thank you libs for the endless amount of content you are giving me, she posted on Twitter last fall after students protested an anti-abortion candlelight vigil that her group hosted.

In just a few years, Neidert has single-handedly elevated the happenings at UNT into the national political debate about free speech on college campuses.

To her allies on the right, shes a crusader against the woke left that is censoring conservatives in American higher education. In December, she was named one of the rising stars in Texas conservative politics by the far-right, Texas-based Current Revolt site.

To her opponents on the left, shes using YCT and social media to spew hate speech about transgender students and to harass them, all to further her own image within the conservative movement.

Shes a grade A troll, UNT political science major Maya Isola said. In a way, I have to commend her, because she knows what shes doing.

UNT President Neal Smatresk told a group of students protesting the universitys handling of the Younger event last month that Neidert and YCT members have taken over the dialogue [on campus], according to a video of the conversation provided to The Texas Tribune by a student.

I dont know if we can ever stop the one individual who is in that group because shes become a media sweetheart, Smatresk added. And I think that shes going to keep going.

Getting the attention of conservative media

Neidert told the Tribune that her motivation to post her experiences at UNT online is to show what its like to be a conservative on campus today.

Kelly Neidert prepares for a presentation before a Young Conservatives of Texas meeting on the UNT campus. Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune

I think that conservatives, especially older ones who havent been on a campus in a while, theyre shocked by it, Neidert said. And so the goal of my TikTok has been to show people this is happening at college, and its also happening in Texas. (Her TikTok account, which at one point had 64,000 followers, has been suspended for weeks. She says the platform considered a video from the Younger protest to be violent.)

Since late 2020, events organized by Neidert and her group have sparked at least one confrontation per semester between UNT students and YCT members. Each time, Neidert or another member has documented the incident with photos or video, and then Neidert shares the images with conservative TV outlets  which often put them on screen as Neidert tells the host about the experience.

When YCT members planted hundreds of flags on campus for an anti-abortion memorial in the fall of 2020, students began removing them  and Neidert grabbed her phone and started recording. The video later played on an online broadcast of Real Americas Voice, a self-described alternative to mainstream networks where traditional values continue to get trampled on.

In that segment, Neidert said the backlash she received on social media over the event included suggestions that she should kill herself.

Kelly, youre a brave young lady. Continue your fight because you can be stronger than all those folks, the host said as she wrapped up the segment. It has to be hard to be on that campus, though.

The following semester, Neidert appeared on Fox News after her group hid 250 Easter eggs around campus with Bible verses inside. Neidert told the host that they received backlash on social media from students who said they were going to stomp on the eggs and replace the Bible verses with condoms.

As the Fox News host introduced Neidert, a chyron that said, The rise of cancel culture, flashed across the screen. She asked Neidert why the students were so angry.

This has been a pretty common theme when my group does any type of activity on campus, Neidert said. Its very liberal here, and these students dont know how to interact with those who have a different opinion.

A few weeks before the Younger event thrust UNT into the spotlight, Neidert used her TikTok account to draw attention to the event. She posted a video online of an interaction she had with a student in the library who she said confronted her as she was printing fliers for the event that said, Criminalize child transitions.

In the video, the student asks Neidert, How do you all live, honestly?  Yall pretend to be Christian, youre not.

When Neidert responds, How do we live? he interrupts: Fuck you. Stop this Im kind shit. Dont do that. Fuck off.

Youre going on TikTok, and I have 64,000 followers, she told him as he walked away.

The video has 1.2 million views on Twitter.

In March, the videos of students screaming, standing on desks and cursing during the Younger event flooded social media. Neidert joined Younger on the conservative network NewsMax a few days after the event to discuss the incident with host Rob Schmitt.

As the two of them spoke, the hashtag #CrisisofMiseducation flashed across the screen over Neiderts video of herself exiting the building, escorted by police. Students are heard screaming, Fuck you, Kelly!

Most of the students know who I am by now, so I was expecting some backlash, she told Schmitt, adding that she was terrified when police pulled her into a closet as antifa ran up and down the hallways.

When I see kids like that, I honestly just feel bad, Schmitt said. Theyve been completely indoctrinated by some really sick people in our society.

Students push to get Neidert and her group expelled

Left-leaning students on campus said theyre aware Neidert is using their reactions against them on conservative media and social media.

They acknowledge that some protesters behavior during the Younger event  particularly those who searched for Neidert inside the building  wasnt productive. But they said they cannot just ignore her rhetoric.

Protesters demonstrated on UNT's campus during a Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) meeting attended by Texas state House candidate Jeff Younger, on March 2, 2022. Credit: Matt Iaia for The Texas Tribune

Protest signs line the stairs of Curry Hall on the campus of University of North Texas during the March 2 protest. Credit: Lillian Vest/North Texas Daily

Theres two options: Let her grow passively and slowly, pretty much unfettered, or get attention for a countering voice, said Emily, a transgender student who said she started to organize in opposition to YCTs actions because she felt targeted on campus. She asked to be identified only by her first name because her family doesnt know shes transgender.

For transgender students in particular, Emily said, Neiderts rhetoric about their existence made the fight more personal.

Meanwhile, thousands of UNT students want Neidert gone from campus. A petition calling for Neiderts expulsion from UNT had more than 20,200 signatures online as of Thursday, and students also have demanded in another petition and during protests that the university remove YCT from campus.

In the video of Smatresk talking to student protesters, multiple students claimed Neidert had harassed them and used hate speech against transgender students. Smatresk repeatedly told those students to file gender discrimination or civil rights complaints with the university  without a formal complaint, he said, the school could not act.

When asked whether students had submitted formal complaints, the university said in a written statement that it received informal complaints about Neidert and the campus YCT chapter via email, and a review of those complaints did not yield any policy violations. The university also said the YCT chapter has not violated any university policies.

UNT student Tara Olson, who helped organize protests calling on the university to hold YCT members accountable for their actions, said she was disappointed the school wouldnt punish YCT or remove Neidert from campus.

Its almost like theyre afraid of getting backlash from the conservative media that Kelly has become a part of, she said.

Neidert and the YCT chapter have also drawn fire from other UNT conservatives. Immediately after the Younger event, three leaders for the UNT chapter of Young Americans for Freedom issued a scathing statement on Twitter calling YCT a radioactive force to conservatism and accusing Neidert of stoking conflict on campus to fuel her own media career.

If she can manufacture more outrage by provoking the campus left, she can create the narrative that the left is evil, said the statement, which was later deleted without explanation. In her mind, such narratives are attractive to media outlets.

Group leaders declined to be interviewed by the Tribune.

Neidert said shes not pursuing a media career. And in hindsight, she said, Youngers decision to engage with the protesters, calling them communists and snowflakes, did make it seem as if her group was just trying to provoke liberal students on campus and get attention.

I definitely think that that kind of painted the situation in a different light for people on the left, she said. [Younger] calling them communists and screaming at them, I didnt really like that, honestly.

The path to campus activism

Neidert is calm and matter-of-fact when she reflects on the controversies that have swirled around her for the past few months. She doesnt see herself as a political radical; she considers herself part of the broader conservative movement and repeatedly refers to her beliefs as mainstream, particularly regarding health care for transgender children.

Yet she understands how she is perceived, quipping that her online presence and the attention from the Younger event might make it difficult for her to find a job after graduation.

She was raised Baptist in Denison, 75 miles north of Dallas, and credits her family for her political leanings. She remembers watching Fox News with her grandfather before school, but she really started paying more attention to politics during her junior year of high school when Donald Trump was elected president.

She said she appreciated Trumps willingness to state his opinions without trying to appease everyone in a way that waters down the message.

I definitely think theres a lot of positives with just saying exactly how you feel, she said.

Protesters gathered outside of the G. Brint Ryan College of Business at UNT, where Young Conservatives of Texas were holding a meeting in a classroom on the ground floor. Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune

When she enrolled at UNT after a year at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, a small Baptist college in Belton, between Waco and Austin, Neidert said was encouraged by her twin brother, Jake  who was involved in the YCT chapter at Baylor University  to resurrect UNTs dormant YCT chapter. Neidert attended a weekend leadership training held by YCTs statewide organization, which she said further fueled her interest in campus activism.

She said students from colleges across Texas learned about political campaigning, how to make attractive flyers for events and how to use social media effectively. There was an entire session about using internet memes, Neidert said.

Thats what our generation likes. So they were kind of talking about how to make good ones, trendy ones that people might like, she said. A lot of it was not even political at that point. It was just marketing.

Under her leadership, YCT has aligned itself with far-right Texas political candidates. The group had an Instagram Live event with Allen West, the former chair of the Texas Republican Party who ran to the right of Gov. Greg Abbott in the recent Republican gubernatorial primary. It also hosted a rally with Shelley Luther, who became famous for refusing to close her hair salon during the pandemic and later ran unsuccessful campaigns for both the Texas Senate and the Texas House. (Neiderts brother served as Luthers campaign manager in her House race.)

We dont have to align ourselves with every Republican, said Neidert, who has not ruled out running for office in the future. We can kind of pick and choose who we think is the most conservative.

Her group also sued the university over its tuition rates. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a right-leaning advocacy group, recently won a lawsuit on behalf of the campus and statewide Young Conservatives of Texas groups that blocks UNT from charging out-of-state students higher tuition than undocumented students who qualify for in-state tuition. UNT has appealed the ruling.

A few weeks after the Younger incident, Neidert was back on campus, wearing her MAGA hat. This time, she was waiting to meet a team for conservative commentator Steven Crowder. His team had reached out to Neidert to be its campus liaison as they recorded a debate segment called Change My Mind for his YouTube channel, which has 5.6 million followers.

Steven Crowder asks a student about a message on a piece of paper that hes holding up while asking students about their thoughts on transgender issues at the Library Mall at the University of North Texas in Denton, on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. The piece of paper read, Radical Trans Liberation Now!. Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune

The theme of Steven Crowders YouTube episode hangs on the edge of a table at the Library Mall at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Crowder asked students about their thoughts on the topic throughout the morning and early afternoon. Credit: Emil Lippe for The Texas Tribune

The topic that day was whether transgender women should participate in womens sports.

As the film crew started setting up and students realized YCT was involved, they started to alert each other on social media that the group  and Neidert specifically  were doing something on campus.

As Neidert waited, students stared. Some took her photo. Neidert smirked, then turned and waved at them.

They really hate when you do that, she said.

Disclosure: The Texas Public Policy Foundation, the University of North Texas and Baylor University 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.

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This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/14/university-north-texas-student-culture-war/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
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LONDON (AP)  Prince Harry and his wife Meghan on Friday made their first public appearance in Europe since they gave up formal royal roles and moved to the U.S. more than two years ago, greeting competitors at the Invictus Games.

The event came a day after the couple visited Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, on their first joint visit to the U.K. since they moved to the U.S.

The couples office says they visited the 95-year-old queen, Harrys grandmother, Thursday on their way to the Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games. Harry is a founder and patron of the international sports competition for wounded military personnel and veterans.

Harry and Meghan got an enthusiastic welcome from cheering competitors at the games site in a park in The Hague. The event opens Saturday and runs through April 22.

Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals and moved to North America in 2020, citing the unbearable pressure of their roles and racist attitudes of the British media.

Since then Harry has made solo trips to the U.K. to attend the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Philip, in April 2021 and to unveil a statue of his late mother Princess Diana last July.

The couple, also known as the duke and duchess of Sussex, lost their taxpayer-funded police guard when they walked away, and Harry is suing the British government for refusing to let him pay for his own police security on his visits to the U.K. His lawyers say Harry wants to bring his children  Archie, who is almost 3, and 10-month-old Lilibet  to visit his home country but that it is too risky without police protection.

Harry and Meghan are expected to attend a reception in The Hague on Friday for the Invictus Games, which run from Saturday to April 22.

The visit to the queen came on Maundy Thursday, a day in the week before Easter that the queen for decades marked by distributing silver coins known as Maundy money to pensioners at a church service. This year the queen, who has been experiencing mobility issues in recent months and came down with COVID-19 in February, did not attend. She was represented by her eldest son, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla.

The monarch also is expected to miss the royal familys Easter Sunday church service. She has continued to perform royal duties, including virtual audiences with politicians and diplomats.
FRESNO, Calif. (AP)  California authorities Friday announced the arrest of 47 suspected gang members accused of drive-by shootings, murder, assaults and funding their illicit activities in the Central Valley through prostitution rings and the sale of guns and narcotics.

A five-month investigation into violent criminal street gangs in Fresno County culminated Thursday with a "massive takedown by 200 law enforcement personnel, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and 25 SWAT teams, said Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama.

The arrests include 17 related to human trafficking and pimping, the California Department of Justice said in a statement. Dozens of firearms were seized.

The gang members targeted in the operation were linked to a half dozen murders, dozen of shootings and criminal acts and showed no regard for human life, Balderrama said at a news conference alongside California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

He said several shootings were prevented because of the investigation, including two planned mass shootings on April 2 and April 11 at a Fresno bar, when police flooded the area.

We know they called it off because we were there," Balderrama said. He did not provide other details.

Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp told reporters that the gang members, who were both male and female, bought guns, expensive cars and jewelry with money made by forcing women into sex trafficking, then used the money to post bond for other gang members to get out of jail.

Fresno is going to keep fighting this madness and today is a shining example of our resolve. Today is a day for the good guys to celebrate, she said.
MUTARE, Zimbabwe (AP)  A bus carrying worshippers traveling to an Easter pilgrimage in mountainous eastern Zimbabwe plunged into a gorge, killing 35 people in the early hours of Friday.

The bus was overloaded with 106 passengers and veered off the winding road near Chimanimani and hurtled into a deep ravine, police said. The crash happened near the Chipinge district of Zimbabwe's eastern Manicaland province, state broadcaster ZBC reported.
MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed 28 Republican bills on Friday, including measures to dissolve the Milwaukee school district, make private voucher schools available to everyone regardless of income and prevent certain COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

Other measures Evers vetoed would have made it more difficult to obtain unemployment benefits, limited liability for gun and ammunition manufacturers and sellers, and prohibited the teaching of the concept known as critical race theory at the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Technical College System.

He also vetoed a parental bill of rights that would have allowed parents to determine what names and pronouns their children are referred to at school and allow their children to sit out certain lessons the parents find objectionable.

Evers called the measure divisive.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have to stop using our kids as political pawns, Evers wrote. I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to sowing division in our schools, which only hurts our kids and learning in our classrooms.

Nearly all of the bills Evers vetoed passed without any Democratic support. Republicans do not have the votes to override his vetoes. The vetoes come a week after he vetoed 43 other Republican bills, including a package that would have overhauled how elections are run and made it harder to vote absentee.

Republicans pushed many of the bills knowing they would be vetoed and that they could campaign on the issues this fall.

One of the Republicans running to challenge Evers, former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, was quick to seize on the latest vetoes.

Tony Evers vetoes make it clear that he thinks education bureaucrats should have more of a say in a childs education than their own parents, she tweeted. As long as hes governor, he will never stop putting the education establishment ahead of kids and their parents.

Evers, a former teacher, school administrator, superintendent and state superintendent of schools, defended the various education-related vetoes, saying the measures were not in the best interest of students or parents. Evers has long advocated for public schools over the voucher program, which diverts taxpayer money to pay for a private school education for students who qualify.

One bill Evers vetoed would have broken the Milwaukee district  Wisconsin's largest  into eight smaller districts. Republicans touted it as a way to increase accountability and improve results for students.

This bill represents yet another attempt by this Legislature to politicize our schools and an unprecedented intrusion on local control in our public school districts, Evers said in his veto message to lawmakers.

Evers also vetoed a package of bills affecting Medicaid and unemployment benefits, including one that would have tied the number of weekly unemployment benefits available to the states overall unemployment rate. Another bill would have required the state health department to enforce a federal work requirement, including drug screenings, for people to receive benefits under the state's FoodShare program.

Evers vetoed bills that would have prevented discrimination against someone who refuses to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and that would have prohibited the tying of government services to vaccination or requiring proof of vaccination, sometimes referred to as a vaccine passport.

Evers said in his veto messages that he objected to the Legislatures attempts to inject partisan politics and rhetoric into public health practices.

Evers has now vetoed 126 bills over the two legislative sessions, the most in modern history and the highest since 90 were vetoed in 1927, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau.
DETROIT (AP)  A former University of Michigan violin professor has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to transporting a girl across states lines for sex.

A federal judge who sentenced Stephen Shipps, 69, on Thursday also ordered the Ann Arbor man to pay $120,000 in restitution to his victim, federal prosecutors said. Shipps offered an apology and his lawyer had asked for no prison time.

Shipps pleaded guilty in November to one count of transporting a girl across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual conduct. The charges allege that he took the girl across state lines several times between February and July of 2002 with the intention of having sex with her.

The girl was born in 1985, according to court documents.

Shipps indictment in October 2020 and arrest in Ann Arbor came two years after the university placed the longtime professor on paid leave after former students accused him of sexual misconduct while he taught them in the 1970s and 1980s in Nebraska and North Carolina.

James C. Harris, III, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Detroit, said he hopes Shipps sentence sends a powerful message to others in positions of trust that if you prey on the vulnerable you will be held accountable for your actions.

The University of Michigan has faced intense scrutiny over how it protects people on the campus from sexual misconduct. The school was rocked by allegations that began to publicly surface in 2020 from hundreds of men who said they were sexually assaulted by the late Robert Anderson, who was a campus doctor for nearly 40 years. He died in 2008. In January, the school announced a $490 million settlement with Andersons accusers.

Shipps taught at the University of Michigans School of Music, Theatre and Dance from 1989 until his retirement in 2019. He also directed a preparatory program that offered musical instruction to children.

Shipps also served on the faculties of Indiana University, the North Carolina School of the Arts, the University of NebraskaOmaha, and the Banff Centre in Canada, federal authorities said.
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Twitter is trying to thwart billionaire Elon Musk's takeover attempt with a poison pill"  a financial device that companies have been wielding against unwelcome suitors for decades.

WHAT ARE POISON PILLS SUPPOSED TO DO?

The ingredients of each poison pill vary, but they're all designed to give corporate boards an option to flood the market with so much newly created stock that a takeover becomes prohibitively expensive. The strategy was popularized back in the 1980s when publicly held companies were being stalked by corporate raiders such as Carl Icahn  now more frequently described as activist investors."

Twitter didn't disclose the details of its poison pill Friday, but said it would provide more information in a forthcoming filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which the company delayed because public markets were closed Friday.

The San Francisco company's plan will be triggered if a shareholder accumulates a stake of 15% or more. Musk, best known as CEO of electric car maker Tesla, currently holds a roughly 9% stake.

CAN A POISON PILL BE A NEGOTIATING PLOY?

Although they are supposed to help prevent an unsolicited takeover, poison pills also often open the door to further negotiations that can force a bidder to sweeten the deal. If a higher price makes sense to the board, a poison pill can simply be cast aside along with the acrimony it provoked, clearing the way for a sale to completed.

True to form, Twitter left its door open by emphasizing that its poison pill won't prevent its board from engaging with parties or accepting an acquisition proposal" at a higher price.

Adopting a poison pill also frequently results in lawsuits alleging that a corporate board and management team is using the tactic to keep their jobs against the best interests of shareholders. These complaints are sometimes filed by shareholders who think a takeover offer is fair and want to cash out at that price or by the bidder vying to make the purchase.

HOW DID ELON MUSK REACT TO TWITTER'S ANNOUNCEMENT?

Musk, a prolific tweeter with 82 million followers on Twitter, had no immediate reaction to the company's poison pill. But on Thursday he indicated he was ready to wage a legal battle.

If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty," Musk tweeted. The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale."

Musk has publicly said that its $43 billion bid is his best and final offer for Twitter, but other corporate suitors have made similar statements before ultimately upping the ante. With an estimated fortune of $265 billion, Musk would seem to have deep enough pockets to raise his offer, although he is still working out how to finance the proposed purchase.

HOW HAS THIS DEFENSE WORKED IN THE PAST?

Takeover tussles often dissolve into gamesmanship that include poison pills and other maneuvers designed to make a buyout more difficult. That's what happened in one of the biggest and most drawn out takeover dances in Silicon Valley history..

After business software maker Oracle made an unsolicited $5.1 billion offer for its smaller rival PeopleSoft in June 2003, the two companies spent the next 18 months fighting with each other.

As part of its defense, PeopleSoft not only adopted a poison pill that authorized the board to flood the market with more shares, it also created what it called a customer assurance program." That plan promised to pay customers five times the cost of their software licenses if PeopleSoft was sold within the next two years, creating an estimated liability of up to $800 million for an acquiring company.

PeopleSoft also got another helping hand when the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit seek to block a takeover, although a judge ruled in Oracle's favor.

Even though the company ended up selling to Oracle, PeopleSoft's defense strategy paid off for its shareholders. Oracle's final purchase price was $11.1 billion  more than twice its original bid.
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PHOENIX (AP)  Gerda Weissmann Klein, a Holocaust survivor who wrote about her ordeal and went on to receive a presidential medal of freedom, will be remembered at a memorial May 1 after her death this month.

Klein died April 3 in Phoenix, where she had lived since 1985. She was 97. Her granddaughter Alysa Cooper confirmed the death but did not give a cause.

Klein was born May 8, 1924, to Helene and Julius Weissmann in Bielsko, Poland.

She was a teenager when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and the family was forced to live in the basement of their home for three years. Klein's parents were later deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and she never saw them or her brother again.

Klein spent the next three years in Nazi camps. She met her future husband, Army Lt. Kurt Klein, when American soldiers liberated her and others from an abandoned bicycle factory in Volary, Czechoslovakia, on May 7, 1945, the eve of her 21st birthday.

At the time, she weighed just 68 pounds (30.8 kg) and her hair was prematurely gray.

Married in Paris on June 18, 1946, the couple started a new life in Buffalo, New York, and raised three children: Vivian, Leslie and James.

Klein described her wartime experiences in her memoir All But My Life, which has been widely used in high school and college curricula.

President Bill Clinton appointed Klein to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council in 1997, and President Barack Obama awarded her with the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nations highest civilian honor.

Last year she was inducted into the Arizona Womens Hall of Fame.

In addition to her children, she is survived by eight grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

A private burial was held.

Her family plans a virtual celebration of her life May 1 at noon PT. Details will be announced through Citizenship Counts, a nonprofit organization she founded with Cooper, her granddaughter.
KERRVILLE -- Leah Henry, an 11-year-old girl kidnapped in Houston four days ago, was hailed for her quick thinking and bravery when she escaped from her captor Friday into the arms of a sheriff's deputy moments before the suspect took his own life.

The suspected serial kidnapper, tentatively identified as Gary Dale Cox, 48, killed himself with a single revolver shot to the head after he was approached in his vehicle at a secluded hunting cabin by a deputy who had a premonition he would save the missing girl.

"I told my wife when I was leaving (for work) 'I'm going to get that guy today.' It was divine intervention," said Kerr County sheriff's Sgt. David Billeiter.

Though authorities would not state whether the girl was harmed physically, they said she was in good spirits, especially after being reunited with her family and being served her special request of pineapple pizza.

"The girl is doing fine," said Kerr County Sheriff Randy Hierholzer.

San Antonio FBI officials insisted the dead man was not positively identified, but other agents who provided his name said he was a registered sex offender from Montgomery County. FBI officials in Houston had already planned to release Cox's name and background on Friday when Leah was rescued, said FBI spokesman Bob Doguim.

Cox, who once lived in northern suburbs of Houston, has been in and out of the judicial system for years. He repeatedly molested and exposed his genitals to pre-teen and teen-age girls close to the age of his own children. He was convicted on indecency charges in 1988, 1993 and 1995.

Cox was paroled in 1998, imprisoned in 1999 for a few weeks for keeping pornography on his home computer, and released in February 2000 to a Houston halfway house, which he fled a month later.

More for you Girl flees into arms of safety

Cox is also suspected in the recent abductions of young girls in San Antonio and Slidell, La., whose cases on Friday were still technically open.

In Leah's case, Hierholzer credited her safe recovery to public awareness about the frantic multistate search for her. About 9:30 a.m. Friday, an unidentified citizen called the sheriff to report a suspicious vehicle parked at a secluded hunting lease off Texas Highway 16, about 4 miles west of town.

When Billeiter arrived at the scene, the man and girl were in a car similar to one linked by the earlier kidnapping victims. The formerly white car recently had been painted red, causing Billeiter initially to think it was a false alarm.

Hierholzer said the deputy blocked the suspect's vehicle and got out of his patrol car to approach the man. Suddenly, the driver exited his car with a revolver in his hand and, without pointing it at the officer, walked around the back of his car toward the passenger side, where the girl was seated.

"At that time, he left the driver's side door open. When he did the little girl, thinking extremely sharp ... she bailed out ... and ran straight for Sgt. Billeiter," the sheriff recounted.

The deputy grabbed the girl, put her in the patrol car and quickly left the scene. But before they were 100 yards away Billeiter said he heard a single gunshot behind them. The suspect was later found dead near his car, which had Missouri license plates rather than the Texas plates it was issued. The car also had been stripped of most of its Mazda markings.

Hailing the 8-year deputy, Hierholzer said "what he did was think first to get the girl out of there."

Leah's parents, Linda and Tim Henry, were then notified about her recovery and she was taken to a Kerrville hospital.

Houston FBI officials picked up Leah's parents from their homes early Friday and took them to the bureau office on T.C. Jester.

"We were praying with them....we were holding our breath with them," said Rick Mosquere, the FBI agent in charge of the Houston investigation.

At a press conference Friday morning, Linda Henry said she spoke with her daughter shortly after she arrived as headquarters.

"She doesn't sound like her confident self, but she is fine," Linda Henry said. "My heart is soaring."

The parents then took a private plane to Kerrville.

At a press conference Friday afternoon, Tim Henry praised the numerous law enforcement agencies involved in the search, including the FBI, Texas Rangers and various sheriff's and police departments along I-10, a common thread among the known abductions. But Henry saved his biggest "thank you" for the heroic deputy.

"David, you're my friend for life. You did great. You got my little girl out of there and I am just so thrilled to see her again, to see her laugh. She's in there eating some pineapple pizza which no one else will eat," Henry said.

Describing the family's private reunion with the girl, Henry said "she walked into the room. She kind of had her head down and she saw her older sister, her mother and myself. She kind of smiled and then we just had a big hug.

"We hugged for a good five or 10 minutes," he said.

"We've talked about how much she has been loved and how many people have been looking for her and how much we care about her. It's just been a wonderful feeling and I'm thrilled to be here," Henry said.

"We're going to go back to Houston and then get our life going again," he added.

Watching that emotional encounter was all the reward he could ever wish for, Billeiter said.

He said the girl told him she had been with the man at the cabin since Tuesday, the day she disappeared in Houston, about 260 miles east of here.

"She's very brave, very composed. She's a precious little girl. I can't say enough about her," said Billeiter, an ordained Baptist minister.

FBI officials at the Houston field office said they still have a long way to go before the case is wrapped up.

The first step is to confirm through fingerprints that the man who killed himself Cox. They expect to have a match today.

"This is probably when the hard work really starts," Doguim said.

FBI agent Rod Beverly of San Antonio said the suspect is likely to be linked by physical evidence to several more abductions.

"When we have an identity, when we're able to look at his travel patterns, we'll have a much better idea, but I'd say that it's certain that we're looking at at least twice what we're doing so far -- possibly at least six," Beverly said. Authorities believe he operated in Colorado as well as Texas and Louisiana.

Agents spent much of Friday concentrating on the vehicle, which contained several key clues.

"There was some type of badge on the floor in a wallet and a stun gun," he said.

In Slidell, La., where 11-year-old Lisa Bruno was lured from outside her home in April, police officials were elated at Friday's news.

"The main thing is this child is safe and the individual is dead," Slidell police Chief Ben Morris said. "The perpetrator is in hands of God and hopefully He has washed his hands of him and put him where he belongs."

The FBI and state crime scene specialists still had the shooting site sealed off to the public late Friday. The cabin is "in the boonies," the sheriff said, off a long dirt road in very thick brush and very secluded, with no neighbors within a half mile.

Officials wouldn't disclose who owns the cabin but said they believe it's the same site described by the kidnapped girls from San Antonio and Slidell.

More than six hours after the man's suicide, crime scene technicians still hadn't entered the cabin, Beverly said, but "it's going to be a very detailed, methodic search that takes place out there, with an eye towards not only gathering the evidence but to identify if he had co-conspirators ... or if there were other victims in other parts of the country."
EDITORS NOTE: The Intelligencer requests briefs be submitted at least 10 days prior to the desired publication date. Due to the volume of community-submitted briefs, the content may be published within 10 days of submission. Holidays and weather forecasts may impact some events. The Intelligencer cannot guarantee that submission will be published.

NAMI Meeting

7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net.

Medication Assisted Treatment: Who is it For?

12-1 p.m. virtual webinar hosted by Centerstone. Free. CEUs available. Medication Assisted Treatment or MAT is a whole-person treatment option designed to help people aged 18 and up who have a severe addiction to alcohol or opioids. This webinar will help explain MAT and who it best serves. Presented by Jennifer Miller, LCPC, CRC. To register, visit bit.ly/041422. For more information, contact Taylor Marksat taylor.marks@centerstone.org or call 1-877-HOPE123 (877-467-3123), ext. 1813

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

Chicken Dinner Every Thursday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774

Adult Zumba with Aimee

6-7 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library. 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.

Friday, April 15

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.

Saturday, April 16

Goshen Winter Market

10-noon in the expansion parking lot on St. Louis Street. Outdoors.

Coloring for Grownups

1-3 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Join the library for an afternoon session of coloring. The library will provide all supplies and refreshments.

Bremer Community Workday

9-11 a.m. at Bremer Sanctuary, 194 Bremer Lane Hillsboro. The focus will be weed pulling, spreading mulch around the viewing platforms, amphitheater area, memorial area, and approaches to the covered bridge. Participants will need to bring their own rakes, shovels and gloves. Stick removal from Timber Trail for the upcoming mowing season and Housecleaning in our Education Barn are also needed duties. Public attendees will not be allowed to use power tools or our UTV'S, so Bremer stewards will be present if this is needed.

Bremer Sanctuary Woodland Wildflower Walk

1-3 p.m. at Bremer Sanctuary, 194 Bremer Lane Hillsboro. For more information visit their Facebook at Hickory Hills Chapter of the Illinois Audubon Society or their website bremersanctuary.org.

Sunday, April 17

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.

Virtual Evening Flow Yoga with Anne

5:30-6:15 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library via Zoom. A Slow Flow mixed levels practice that will lead you through a series of yoga poses that focus on strengthening, lengthening and stretching. Requires Registration. To register call 288-1212, register at the Help Desk or go online to www.glencarbonlibrary.org.

Monday, April 18

Medicare Q&A with Jon Bergmann

6-7 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library. Bring your questions on how to register and what is covered when you sign up for Medicare. Requires Registration. To register call 288-1212, register at the Help Desk or go online to www.glencarbonlibrary.org.

Woodlawn Cemetery Board

7 p.m. in the Woodlawn Chapel. All are invited to attend, whether you are a lot owner or have considered purchasing a lot.

Daughters of Isabella OReilly Circle 218 Meeting

6:30 p.m. at The Hall, 7132 Marine Road. Those that are interested in more information to join may contact daughtersofisabella218@gmail.com.

Tech Club

6:30-7:30 p.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Grades 3-7. Explore technology and coding in this new club for kids looking to get hands-on experience using different tech. Registrants must attend both sessions in order to get the best experience. By signing your child up for this class you are agreeing for them to use the website Tinkercad to practice making 3D prints. Facemasks required. Registration required. Please give us at least 48-hours notice if you need accommodations.

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.

Pom Pom Cactus Teen Take-Home Kit

All day April 18-23 at the Edwardsville Public Library. Grades 6-12. Make your own cactus out of yarn to give as a gift or decorate your space. Teens who register can pick up their kits at the Youth Desk. Registration required.

Storytime at Glen Carbon Library

10 a.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Sing songs, take-home crafts and interact with the library during storytimes. Space is limited so tokens will be handed out 30 minutes before each session.

Tuesday, April 19

Storytime at Glen Carbon Library

10 a.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Sing songs, take-home crafts and interact with the library during storytimes. Space is limited so tokens will be handed out 30 minutes before each session.

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.

Wednesday, April 20

The War in Ukraine: Causes and Consequences

6:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Presented by Mykhaylo Blekhman, a writer, translator and recipient of several Ukrainian literary awards including the Ivan Mazepa Medal from the Ukrainian Academy of Literature and Arts for his contribution to Ukrainian culture.

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.

Lego Club

4 p.m.  5 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Ages 5-11. Theyll supply the Legos  just bring your imagination. Located in the Librarys Meeting Room.

Teen Hangout at the Library

4-6 p.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Join in every Wednesday for a relaxing couple of hours of free time with your friends. Please give the library at least 48-hours notice if you need accommodations.

Thursday, April 21

Movie Matinee

12 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. 18+. Bring a brown bag lunch and the library will provide drinks and popcorn. For movie titles please call the library at 618-692-7556 x 4, or visit their website www.edwardsvillelibrary.org.

EPL Book Club

6:30 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. 18+. Newcomers always welcome. Tjey will be reading Where the Deer and the Antelope Play by Nick Offerman. Books are available for checkout at the library.

Blood Drive

1-7 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose Lodge, 7371 Marine Road (Rt. 143). For more information visit www.redcross.org.

Twitch for Teens

5-6 p.m. through the Glen Carbon Library. The Youth Department is excited to be on Twitch. They will be streaming video games, book talks and more at least once a week. Join them to help them through new video games, or laugh at their lack of skills. Twitch is a platform that requires users to be 13 years old and older. The library will not be able to monitor ages but expect participants to follow Twitch's Terms of Service.

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.

NAMI Meeting

7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net.

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

Chicken Dinner Every Thursday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774

Adult Zumba with Aimee

6-7 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library. 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.

Friday, April 22

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.

Fish Fry Every Friday

11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two pieces of cod or one catfish filet and sides. 618-656-9774

Fish Fry

4:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose, 7371 Marine Road, Edwardsville. Dine-in and carryout options. 618-656-5051

Saturday, April 23

Chair Yoga

10-11 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. 18+. Registered yoga teacher Julie Hamilton will lead these classes using modifications of many common yoga poses that can be done from a seated position. These exercises are perfect for seniors and for others with disabilities or challenges such as chronic illness, pain or stiffness.

Virtual Saturday Morning Yoga

9:30 a.m. at Glen Carbon Library via Zoom. Get fit and healthy when you join in for an energizing session of yoga. Space is limited. Requires registration. To register call 288-1212, register at the Help Desk or go online to www.glencarbonlibrary.org.

Storytime at Glen Carbon Library

10 a.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Sing songs, take-home crafts and interact with the library during storytimes. Space is limited so tokens will be handed out 30 minutes before each session.

Beginner Knitting Group with Greta

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library. Experience how easy it can be learning to knit through a structured, interactive and social knitting group. Perfect for true beginners or those looking for an easy refresh project. Different intermediate skills will be introduced on a project by project basis. Set up as a 2- day class, with homework in between. Registration required. To register call 288-1212, register at the Help Desk or go online to www.glencarbonlibrary.org.

Edwardsville #99 Biscuits and Gravy Breakfast

8-11 a.m. at the Edwardsville Masonic Lodge #99, 90 Kriege Farm Road, Glen Carbon. The meal will be provided free of charge but they will be accepting donations. All donations accepted during this breakfast will go directly to the Glen-Ed Pantry and the important services they provide for the community.

Maryvilles 21st Fishing Derby

10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at Drost Park, Pavilion #1, Maryville. Hosted by Maryville Parks & Rec and Steel City Bassmasters. Free Fishing Derby for ages 15 and younger. Registration is from 10-11 a.m. and Maryville Fire & Rescue teams & IDNR will be there. Derby runs from 11 a.m. -12:30 p.m. Refreshments will then be served as results are tallied. Five bicycles, ribbons and attendance prizes will be awarded. Bring a fishing pole, bait and an adult.

Sunday, April 24

Earth Day Observance



12-2 p.m. at the Fuller Dome on the SIUE campus, next to Parking Lot B. The Confluence Climate Collaborative group will hold an Earth Day event, Spring Into Healing. A program of poetry and music will celebrate the planet and its provisions. Bring a cherished item found in nature to share as part of the celebration. The event is free; donations will support the Center for Spirituality & Sustainability. RSVP by going to studiogaiaedwardsville.com. Click on Events at the top and scroll down to the RSVP button.

Monday, April 25

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. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Tuesday, April 26

True Crime Book Club

6:30 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. 18+. Join other armchair detectives to discuss Bone Deep: Untangling the Twisted True Story of the Tragic Betsy Faria Murder Case by Charles Bosworth Jr. and Joel J. Schwartz.

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.

Teen Art Unlimited

6-7:30 p.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Open to youth in grades 6-12. Join Miss Sam to craft and create. Each month will feature a different art medium and project, lasting two weeks. Get your creativity flowing with your friends in this program. Contact the library at least 48 hours before the program if you need accommodations.

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.

Wednesday, April 27

Roxana HCE Meeting

12 p.m. at Rox-Arena in Roxana Park. HCE (formally Home Bureau) meeting. Light lunch is served. Open to the public. For more info contact Vi at 618-803-2795.

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.

An Evening with Nick Offerman & Jeff Tweedy

7:00 pm at Glen Carbon Library via Zoom. Join in for actor/humorist/woodworker Nick Offerman in conversation with musician/hiking buddy Jeff Tweedy. This event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, a statewide collaboration of public libraries offering high-quality events.

Teen Hangout at the library

4-6 p.m. at the Glen Carbon Library. Join in every Wednesday for a relaxing couple of hours of free time with your friends. Please give the library at least 48-hours notice if you need accommodations.

Thursday, April 28

Adult Zumba with Aimee

6-7 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library. 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.

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.

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.
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MIAMI (AP)  A U.S. ban on seafood imports from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine was supposed to sap billions of dollars from Vladimir Putins war machine.

But shortcomings in import regulations mean that Russian-caught pollock, salmon and crab are likely to enter the U.S. anyway, by way of the country vital to seafood supply chains across the world: China.

Like the U.S. seafood industry, Russian companies rely heavily on China to process their catch. Once there, the seafood can be re-exported to the U.S. as a product of China because country of origin labelling isnt required.

The result is that nearly a third of the wild-caught fish imported from China is estimated to have been caught in Russian waters, according to an International Trade Commission study of 2019 data. For pollock and sockeye salmon, the rate is even higher  50% to 75%.

China doesnt catch cod. They dont catch pollock. But yet, theyre one of the largest exporters of these whitefish in the world, said Sally Yozell, a former policy director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who now is a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington. Having it labeled as a Chinese product is really not fair to the consumers and to restaurants.

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This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Fishing is big business in Russia, one closely linked to the Kremlin and Putins projection of power at sea. The country is the one of the world's top seafood producers and was the eighth-largest exporter to the U.S. last year, with more than $1.2 billion worth of sales, the bulk of it king crab.

But its unknown exactly how much manages to land in the U.S. by way of China, which sent another $1.7 billion in fish to the U.S. last year. Nor does the Biden administrations ban require companies importing from China to find out.

Among Russias biggest seafood exports is Alaska pollock. A cousin of cod, Alaska pollock is the most harvested fish in the U.S., showing up in everything from imitation crabmeat to McDonalds Filet-O-Fish. Every year, giant, floating factories in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska catch 1.5 million metric tons of the fish, the equivalent of more than four times the weight of the Empire State Building.

But the same species is also harvested in Russia in similar amounts, and once processed and imported from China, fills an important gap in the U.S. market. In lieu of tracing the country of origin, U.S. producers rely on the name recognition of Alaska pollock to signal where the fish was caught.

Consumers can have confidence that if the name Alaska is on the box it unequivocally comes from Alaskan waters, insisted Craig Morris, chief executive of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers.

Even before the invasion of Ukraine, pressure had been building to prevent what Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican of Alaska, called authoritarian pollock from entering the U.S. Putin banned U.S. seafood in 2014 following American sanctions to punish him for the invasion of Crimea that year. Since then Russian exports entering the U.S. duty free have nearly quadrupled in value.

U.S. trade data analyzed by The Associated Press show that the biggest importer of Russian-caught pollock from China last year was High Liner Foods. The company did not respond to the AP's request for comment.

While overshadowed by Russias role as an energy powerhouse, Russias seafood industry has increasingly been flexing its own muscle with strong support from the Kremlin.

Two of the countrys largest seafood exporters  Vladivostok-based Russian Fishery Co. and Russian Crab  are owned by Gleb Frank, the son of Putins former transportation minister and head of state-owned shipbuilder Sovcomflot. Frank, dubbed Russia's Crab King," is also the son-in law of one of Russias richest men, Gennady Timchenko, who was among the first oligarchs sanctioned following the 2014 invasion of Crimea.

With generous state loans, Frank's companies have been at the forefront of an effort to renew Russias aging fleet. Last year, during a Navy Day ceremony at a St. Petersburg shipyard with Putin and 50 warships looking on, he launched an advanced supertrawler capable of hauling 60,000 tons of pollock per year.

After Frank himself was hit with U.S. sanctions last month, he sold part of his ownership stakes in both seafood companies and resigned as chairman. Russian Fishery Co. did not respond to a detailed list of questions about the U.S. embargo but Russian Crab said Frank has never played a role in management of the company.

Its not just the industrys ties to the Kremlin that are driving concern.

For years, activists have complained about Russias poor record caring for the oceans. The country was ranked No. 2 out of 152 nations in a recent study of global efforts to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. Only China scored worse.

Allegations of illegal fishing have even followed Russia to the south pole, where a Russian ship in 2020 was accused of faking its location data to fish illegally off season. A Russian observer was also found to be behind anomalous catch data from several Antarctic fishing vessels. In both cases, Russia denied any wrongdoing.

At a congressional hearing this month on the Russian seafood ban, Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, led calls for the expansion of NOAAs Seafood Import Monitoring Program, which aims to prevent illegal seafood from entering U.S. supply chains by tracking shipments from the point of catch. Currently the program covers just 13 species, only two of which  red king crab and Atlantic cod  are fished by Russia.

Until that happens, Russian seafood will continue to line grocery store shelves and American consumers will continue to unwittingly support Putins war machine, Huffman said.

Peter Quinter, a former U.S. Customs Service attorney, said that the Biden administration can easily close the China loophole by requiring importers to inspect their supply chains to make sure none of their fish comes from Russia.

They can and should fix this, said Quinter, who now advises seafood companies on compliance with American trade law. The old days of being sure your fish is caught in a single place or country is no longer the case.

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Wieffering reported from Washington.

Follow Goodman at @APJoshGoodman and Wieffering at @HelenWieffering

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Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/
A majority of Black Americans say being Black is central to how they think about themselves and shape their identities, even as many have diverse experiences and come from various backgrounds, according to a new report by Pew Research Center. About three-quarters of Black people said so despite where they come from, their economic status or educational backgrounds.

Overall, 14% say being Black is only somewhat important to their identity and 9% say it has little to no impact, highlighting the diversity of thought among Black Americans, which include U.S.-born Black people and Black immigrants, and different ethnicities, political party affiliations and ages.

Pew Research Center released its report on Black identity on Thursday, and the results pinpoint the critical role race plays in shaping identity in the U.S.

What our data suggests to me is that being Black is important to all Black people, according to our findings, regardless of the intersections of their identity, said Kiana Cox, research associate and co-author of the report. A majority of Black people, 76%, said that being Black was really important to them.

Cox, who has worked with Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., for about four years, said they wanted to make sure they had a large enough sample to get this kind of nuance within racial and ethnic groups, but also to understand sort of life and society as Black people understand it.

Shelly Eversley, a professor at The City University of New York, said the 76% of survey respondents who consider their Blackness important to their identity was still less than she would expect it to be because race informs every asset of Black life.

Understanding the way race informs daily life is protection for a lot of Black people, said Eversley, who has taught about race for 20 years and is interim chair for the Department of Black and Latinx Studies. She was not a participant in the report.

She said being Black is something you are aware of at a young age. Black children are often disciplined harder at school and other places, and their parents tend to have conversations with them about the dangers of racism when they are still young, she added.

The report also points to how the importance that people place on being Black fosters a sense of connectedness among communities, Cox said.

People who say that being Black is an important part of their personal identity were more likely to express a sense of connection with Black people in their local communities, in the U.S. and around the world than those who said Blackness is relatively less important.

There are 47 million Black people in the U.S., about 14% of the population, according to the 2020 census. Most Black adults in the U.S. where born in the country, but an increasing portion of the population is comprised of immigrants, about 12%. Of the Black immigrant population, 90% were born in the Caribbean or Africa.

Cox also said she was shocked to learn that place  or where people grew up and were living  played a large role in identity and how people shaped their values and what they viewed as important issues.

Black Americans cited violence and crime, along with economic issues such as poverty and homelessness as the most important issues to address in their communities, according to the report. The most important local issues named across subgroups of Black Americans does vary but often violence and crime, economic issues and housing issues rank among the top three.

Overall, 17% of Black Americans said the most important issue is violence or crime  a category that includes drug activity, theft and vandalism, among other offenses. Eleven percent cited economic issues as the most important, 7% cited housing and 6% cited COVID-19 and public health. Nearly half of Black adults said local leaders are most responsible for addressing these important issues.

A separate poll conducted in March by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research revealed an overwhelming majority of adults say more progress is needed in achieving equal treatment for Black people in dealings with police and the criminal justice system. That's two years after protests against the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked a racial reckoning across the country.

When asking about community issues, the survey used an open-ended question, so the answer of what Black Americans think is important is a little more multilayered than just violence or crime, Cox said, noting that there is so much more that goes into that category than police violence.

The report also showed that about half of Black people who say being Black is crucial to personal identity feel very or extremely informed about the history of Black people in the U.S. Of that group, about half say they learned that history from family and friends. A large majority, regardless of how Blackness shapes their personal identities, say they have spoken to their families about their own history.

The clarity in which family as a source of history for both U.S. Black history, like the kind of history we expect to learn in school, and ancestral history, what we learn about our family histories, was very interesting. It came through so strongly, Cox said. "What that is telling us, is it confirms what scholars and historians have told us about the strength of family for Black Americans, especially in terms of greater knowledge.

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The survey of 6,513 U.S. adults, including 3,912 Black Americans, was conducted Oct. 4-17, 2021. It uses a sample drawn from Pew Research Centers American Trends Panel and Ipsos KnowledgePanel, which are designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for Black respondents is plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

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Mumphrey, who reported from Phoenix, is a member of the APs Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at: https://www.twitter.com/cheymumph.
Living only one block away on McKinley Avenue in Edwardsville, Kenny Krumeich sees the propane tanks on the property at 210 First Ave. nearly every day.

Most of the tanks have been there for nearly 55 years, with no major incidents.

But every time he sees the tanks, he cant help but wonder what would happen if something did go wrong.

These tanks are a ticking time bomb and they need to be removed, said Krumeich, who is a lifelong Edwardsville resident.

Ask city officials if they would like to look out their window and see a patch of giant bombs laying across the street. That brownfield in the midst of the city is a shame upon those who claim the power to zone and regulate land use for the good of the city.

Removing the propane tanks, which have been at the property since 1967, has been an ongoing crusade in recent years for the 64-year-old Krumeich, who spent 18 years and five terms as an Edwardsville Township trustee.

Krumeich provides updates on the issue through his Facebook group page, Edwardsville Illinois Concerns (https://www.facebook.com/groups/2065494697008176), which had 53 members as of Tuesday. He also has a petition on change.org to have the tanks removed and it had 51 signatures as of Monday.

This is a long story, and it has a lot of tentacles, Krumeich said.

The story began in 1967, when the Edwardsville City Planning Commission heard a request from Skelly Oil Company (Skelgas) for a variance to store 60,000 gallons of flammable material on the lot at the intersection of First Avenue and Longfellow Avenue.

On Aug. 24, 1967, the Edwardsville City Council approved a motion to have the flammable material stored at the site. At the time, Skelgas had someone in the office there six days a week.

Since then, Skelgas was purchased by Ferrellgas in 1996, and the office at the Edwardsville site has long been closed. There are still numerous tanks at the site.

Several years after the Praxair explosion on June 24, 2005, when fire swept through thousands of flammable gas cylinders at the Praxair gas repackaging plant in St. Louis, Krumeich started a petition to have the tanks removed. He appeared before the Edwardsville City Council and then-Mayor Hal Patton, but he said no action was taken.

According to the Madison County Recorders Office, the property is listed as vacant industrial land, with the tax bill going to New Skelgas in Liberty, Missouri. A Google search for that address now lists it as being for Ferrellgas.

In addition to the recorder's office, Krumeich checked with the Madison County Treasurers Office about the property, which has 672 square feet, and found that Ferrellgas paid $471.64 in taxes in 2020.

Calls to the Madison County Recorder's, Assessor's and Treasurer's offices confirmed the information.

More recently, Krumeich has talked to the Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal (OSFM), which conducted an inspection of the property on March 24.

Information from the OSFM report included:

Large tank too close to residential areas

Unable to verify date on tank due to locked fencing

Multiple smaller tanks laying on their side

Large tank not fully protected with crash protection

No name on property. No other than emergency signage.

Has proper extinguishers in place and tagged

The report added that no other action has been taken at this time.

Krumeich claims he spoke with the offices of Gov. JB Pritzker, state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville and state Sen. Rachelle Aud-Crowe last week.

I also contacted the Illinois EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) offices in Collinsville and Springfield, but their Springfield office told me twice that they couldnt do an environmental impact study on the property," he said. "They told me I could do it with the permission of the property owner or have someone else do it, but I didnt want to do that.

Mayor Art Risavy, meanwhile, has been aware of Krumeichs concerns for many years, going back to when he was the 7th Ward Alderman.

Ive researched it pretty extensively and back in 1967, the Edwardsville Planning Commission approved a variance that allowed (Skelgas, now Ferrellgas) to do what they are doing there, and that variance is still in place today, Risavy said.

The city monitors the site to make sure that 60,000-gallon threshold is not being exceeded. From everything I can see there, they are in compliance.

On April 9-10, Krumeich got a surprise when he found out that some of the propane tanks at the First Avenue had been removed, while other tanks had been added.

Risavy, reached on Monday, said he was unaware of the changes at the site over the past few days, but said he would notify the citys Public Works Department.

In the meantime, Risavy said he and other city officials would continue to keep an eye on any new developments at the propane tank site.

I understand Kennys concerns and hes a great community member and hes concerned for the wellbeing of his neighborhood, Risavy said. He feels those tanks are a danger and I know some other people feel the same way.

Im going to continue to follow up on the issue. We will not stop monitoring what is going on there.

Monitoring the property at 210 First Ave. is a regular duty for Eric Williams, who is public works director for Edwardsville.

I went by the property a couple of times (on Monday) and I didnt see any activity there, Williams said. Kenny (Krumeich) calls us periodically and we reached out to Skelgas (Ferrellgas) to make sure there were still utilizing the site.

We also checked it over the winter and there was a lot of activity with trucks coming and going. During the coldest time of the winter, we expected them to be getting propane for home heating in the outlying areas.

Williams added that Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford is among the city officials who make sure that the property is being used in compliance with the ordinance.

Chief Whiteford works regularly with the Illinois State Fire Marshals office to do inspections on the site. (Ferrellgas) has permission to use the site for what they are using it as, Williams said.

Krumeich, who was a member of the Edwardsville Planning Commission for 14 years, is also concerned about the signage  or the lack thereof  at the propane tank site.

Krumeich emphasized that he believes he is not alone in his concern about what could happen if there ever would be an emergency at the site.

There are a lot of stores and restaurants within a few blocks of those tanks, and then youve got (residential neighborhoods) on Fifth Avenue, Fourth Third, Third Avenue, Second Avenue, First Avenue  all in the Miller Heights area, Krumeich said.

After that, its all Leclaire, from McKinley on up to the water tower. People on the opposite side of Troy Road would feel the aftershocks if these tanks ever blow. It could have happened last year (in December) when we had that tornado.

If the tanks are eventually removed, Krumeich is hopeful that the city will be able to obtain grant funding from the state of Illinois to help pay for removal and cleanup.

It was in the distant past when these tanks were first put here, and its time to redevelop this dangerous eyesore into something beneficial to the community, Krumeich said. It would also remove the threat of blowing up a nice neighborhood. The taxpayers are entitled to have this parcel used and taxed at its potential.
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LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Under relentless bombardment and a Russian blockade, the key port of Mariupol is holding out, but weapons and supplies shortages could weaken the resistance that has thwarted the Kremlin's invasion plans.

More than six weeks after the Russian siege began, Ukrainian troops are continuing to fight the vastly superior Russian forces in ferocious battles amid the ruins of what once was a bustling city on the Sea of Azov.

The mayor says an estimated 120,000 people remain in the city, out of Mariupols prewar population of about 450,000.

The Ukrainians' fight has scuttled Moscow's designs, tying up significant Russian forces and delaying a planned offensive in eastern Ukraine's industrial heartland, Donbas. The Kremlin hopes an attack in the east could reverse the battlefield fortunes for Russia after a humiliating failure to quickly storm the capital, Kyiv.

Mariupol has been a key objective for Russia since the start of the Feb. 24 invasion. Capturing the city would allow Moscow to establish a land corridor to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014 and deprive Ukraine of a major port and prized industrial assets.

Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for Ukraine's Ministry of Defense, described the situation in Mariupol as complicated, saying fighting is continuing in industrial areas and the port, and that Russia for the first time used a Tu-223 long-range bomber to attack the city.

The giant Azovstal steel mill and other plants have been heavily damaged by the Russian bombardment that has flattened much of Mariupol, indiscriminately hitting homes, hospitals and other public buildings and killing thousands.

The victims include about 300 people killed in last month's Russian airstrike on the Mariupol Drama Theater that was being used as a shelter and had the word CHILDREN printed in Russian in huge white letters on the pavement outside to ward off aerial attack.

Mayor Vadym Boychenko told The Associated Press that at least 21,000 people were killed in Mariupol with bodies carpeted through the streets. He said the Russians deployed mobile cremation equipment to methodically dispose of the bodies in order to hide evidence of the massacre and prevent international organizations from documenting "the horror the Russian army is responsible for.

The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been found in the region surrounding Kyiv following the withdrawal of Russian forces, said Andriy Nebytov, head of the regional police force, adding that many were simply executed. The number of dead is double what was announced nearly two weeks ago, a discovery that has fueled global outrage and accusations from Ukrainians and the West that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Moscow deployed fighters from Chechnya, known for their ferocity, to wage street battles in Mariupol. Chechnyas Moscow-backed leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has repeatedly boasted on his messaging app channel about defeating Ukrainians in Mariupol, but the fight has continued.

Boychenko said several Ukrainian units are still fighting in Mariupol, including the 36th Marine Brigade, Interior Ministry troops, border guards and the national guard's Azov Regiment, which Russia singles out as a particular villain because of its far-right ideology.

The Azov Regiment, a seasoned volunteer force that is widely considered one of the countrys most capable units, is defending the Azovstal plant that covers an area of nearly 11 square kilometers (over 4.2 square miles). It has taken advantage of the plant's sprawling network of concrete buildings and underground facilities to repel continuous Russian attacks.

The 36th Marine Brigade was maintaining defensive positions at the Azovmash and Zavod Ilyicha factories until it ran out of supplies and ammunition and made a desperate attempt to break through the Russian blockade earlier this week.

In a post on the brigade's Facebook page, one of its officers described how for more than a month, the marines have been fighting without replenishing ammunition, food and water supplies.

The wounded accounted for nearly a half of the brigade's strength, but those who still had their limbs and were capable of walking reported back to duty," it said.

Boychenko said that some of the marines managed to join the Azov regiment, while others were captured by the Russians. He didn't give any numbers.

The Russian military said Thursday that a total of 1,160 Ukrainian marines surrendered this week, a claim that couldn't be independently verified.

As the Ukrainian troops continue to offer fierce resistance in Mariupol, fears have grown that the exasperated Russians could resort to chemical weapons to deal with the remaining pockets of resistance at the Azovstal plant and other areas of the city.

Eduard Basurin, a Russia-allied separatist official in eastern Ukraine, appeared to call for that Monday, telling Russian state TV that the Russia-backed forces should block all the exits out of the factory and then "use chemical troops to smoke them out of there. He later said that no chemical weapons were used.

The Azov Regiment claimed Monday, without providing evidence, that a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on its positions but inflicted no serious injuries. A Ukrainian defense official said the attack possibly involved phosphorus munitions.

Ukrainian authorities have said that the Russians have blocked humanitarian convoys from reaching Mariupol, keeping it without food, water and power since the siege started. The Russian troops have turned back buses sent to evacuate residents, but about 150,000 have been able to flee the city in their own vehicles.

Boychenko said at least 33,500, and, possibly, up to 50,000 Mariupol residents have been taken to filtration camps in the separatist-controlled east before being forcibly sent to distant, economically depressed areas in Russia.

Mariupol has seen communications cut since the start of the siege, and as the Russians moved to capture sections of the city they launched radio broadcasts to brainwash the population.

They unleashed propaganda, telling people that Kyiv and other cities have been captured and they have been abandoned, Boychenko said.

The continuing fighting has forced the Russian military to keep a significant number of troops in the city, delaying the eastern offensive.

As long as the street fighting is going on, Russia can't remove troops from Mariupol and deploy them to other areas, including Donbas, Oleh Zhdanov, an independent military expert, told the AP.

The Ukrainian troops in Mariupol are still fulfilling their main task by diverting the Russian forces from other areas. Mariupol remains a major symbol of the Ukrainian resistance."

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Patrick Semansky/AP

WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. military says explosions earlier this month on a base in eastern Syria that injured several U.S. service members were not, as it originally reported, caused by artillery or another form of indirect fire.

Instead, it is now believed the April 7 attack was carried out by the deliberate placement of explosive charges by one or more individuals at an ammunition holding area and shower facility on the base, according to a statement issued Thursday by the Operation Inherent Resolve command that oversees U.S. military operations against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP)  A judge has sentenced a woman accusing to trying to hire a hit man to kill her ex-boyfriend to seven-and-a-half years in prison.

WLUK-TV reported Winnebago County Circuit Judge John Jorgensen sentenced 39-year-old Melissa Smith on Thursday. She pleaded no contest in January to solicitation of first-degree homicide.
Evan Agostini/Associated Press

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, facing reports of diminished mental facilities that have grown so pronounced that a member of Congress said they needed to reintroduce themselves to her multiple times during a conversation, may have found a defender in MSNBC prime time host Lawrence O'Donnell, who later insisted that he was not, in fact, defending her.

On Thursday, the San Francisco Chronicle published an explosive report citing an unnamed member of the House of Representatives and four unnamed senators who allege that the 88-year-old Feinstein's mental capabilities are "bad" and "getting worse" (SFGATE and the San Francisco Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of one another). Feinstein subsequently faced new calls for her resignation.
When California voters receive their ballots for the June 7 statewide primary election, they will see seven candidates listed for the office of California secretary of state, which is primarily responsible for administering the state's elections.

Two are openly running on "Stop the Steal" platforms and spreading debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. A third retweeted a Twitter thread giving credence to one of disgraced Trump lawyer Sidney Powell's failed "Kraken" lawsuits, but now disavows 2020 election denialism. Two other candidates have minimal experience in politics and have bare-bones campaign infrastructure. A sixth candidate is a Green Party member who wants to triple the size of the Assembly and abolish primary elections. The seventh is incumbent Shirley Weber.

Under California's primary system, the top two finishers in the June 7 primary  regardless of political party  will advance to the general election in November. Weber, the only Democrat on the ballot, is all but guaranteed to finish first and advance to November. Which candidate finishes second is anyone's guess (there has been no public polling on the race, and the California Republican Party has yet to make an endorsement), but there is a very real chance one of the "Stop the Steal" candidates advances.

Below is a guide to the six candidates who will appear alongside Weber on the ballot.

The 2020 election truthers

Rachel Hamm (Republican) and Matthew Cinquanta (No Party Preference) are still casting doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. (After several lawsuits, ballot audits and exhaustive fact checks by media outlets, there is no evidence that there was enough voter fraud to change the outcome of the election. One Associated Press investigation found fewer than 475 instances of potential voter fraud. Joe Biden won the presidency by a margin of more than 7 million votes.)

Hamm's campaign website touts endorsements from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn  two prominent election conspiracy theorists  and she has called for an audit of California's presidential election results in 2020 as well as in the Gavin Newsom recall election. Both races were decided by more than 20 percentage points in the Democrats' favor.

She stated that she decided to enter the race because her son saw Jesus in a closet, with Jesus handing over a scroll instructing her to run for office.

On a separate occasion, Hamm said she dreamt that someone was going to kill her, prayed that would not happen, then learned that a "witch" was murdered instead.

Hamm said her mother informed her, "You know the witches, the self-proclaimed witches who live two doors down? Well, someone broke into their house, murdered her and lit the house on fire." Hamm remarked, "The very thing that I had just dreamed that someone was trying to do to me had happened to them."

According to the Daily Beast, she has also promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory and said of the COVID-19 vaccine, "I saw all the fruits of evil when I saw the mandates, the vaccine, the forcing of the vaccine.

Cinquanta is a private investigator with a much less visible public profile than Hamm  of all of Weber's challengers, Hamm has the largest social media following and the most high-profile endorsements  but still repeats many of the same talking points regarding 2020.

On his campaign website, Cinquanta writes that he "will find and follow the evidence with an unyielding and unwavering course of action to bring the 2020 Presidential Election into full transparency" and provides links to videos containing conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines; members of the Trump campaign themselves knew such conspiracy theories were baseless, a leaked memo revealed.

Cinquanta calls for "AN IMMEDIATE END to Voting Machines by removing ALL voting machines from the State of California to eliminate any concern for election fraud" on his campaign site.

The CAGOP's best chance?

Another Republican candidate appearing on the ballot is Rob Bernosky, the chairman of San Benito County Republican Party.

In November 2020, he retweeted a Twitter thread from conservative attorney Harmeet Dhillon that stated Sidney Powell's lawsuit contained "serious allegations" with "evidence" that could "maybe" persuade judges (most legal experts quickly dismissed Powell's lawsuits, none of which went anywhere in the courts. She herself eventually withdrew the Georgia suit).

When SFGATE reached out this week, Bernosky distanced himself from election conspiracy theories.

"I do not believe that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election and do believe that President Biden was legitimately elected," he wrote in an email. "However, it is important that every election is conducted with the thought that it will be 'audited' if there is ever any doubt as to it being legitimate. Simply dismissing any claims of impropriety, as if they could not occur, is bad for the Republic."

Given Bernosky's background as a local Republican Party official  and his recent dismissal of debunked voter fraud claims  he may have the best chance of receiving the California Republican Party's endorsement, if the party makes one at all, at the party convention at the end of April.

"I believe that I have a good change of winning that endorsement and will be working hard to achieve it," he wrote in an email.

The rest

The final three candidates on the primary ballot are Republicans J.W. Paine and Raul Rodriguez Jr., as well as Green Party candidate Gary Blenner.

Paine is a pro-Trump community organizer and truck driver from Hollister. He has no specifics on his campaign website for what goals he might have as secretary of state. He did not respond to an SFGATE request for comment.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, has a very limited digital footprint, but was on the ballot for the same office in 2018 and came in fourth place with 330,460 votes, good for 5% of the vote in the primary. His finish can likely be attributed to the fact that he was one of just two Republicans on the ballot that year, with the other one, Mark Meuser, coming in second place with 2,047,903 votes, good for 31% of the primary electorate. Meuser advanced to the general election where he was soundly defeated by Alex Padilla by nearly 30 percentage points.

The final candidate this year is Blenner, a teacher and Green Party member. On his Facebook page, Blenner has called for doubling the size of the state Senate from 40 senators to 80 senators, and tripling the size of the Assembly from 80 members to 240 members. He did not state why he believes such an expansion is necessary. The candidate has also called to "Abolish the primary!" to "give voters more choices on a general election ballot."

Mail ballots for the June 7 primary will be sent to voters beginning in early May.
Texans will start seeing empty shelves at grocery stores this weekend due to delays caused by Gov. Greg Abbott's increased border inspections of commercial trucks entering from Mexico. Roughly $150 million worth of fruit and vegetables were stalled south of the U.S.-Mexico border, the Texas International Produce Association reported Thursday.

Delivery of fresh produce such as avocados, limes, tomatoes, cucumbers and mangoes were halted by the congestion of commercial trucks. TIPA chief executive Dante Galeazzi told the Washington Post consumers will start seeing empty store shelves this weekend in the fresh fruits and vegetable departments.

Further, it will take at least a week if not longer after a resolution is in place before the supply chain can correct itself, Galeazzi said. That means outages will persist even beyond the time a solution is implemented. The impacts will also be felt nationwide, with the Midwest and East Coast being hit first, according to Galeazzi.

Locally, Houstonians will also start to see higher prices, according to Brent Erenwert, CEO of Brothers Produce, Houston's largest produce company. "Its a rat race, at the end of the day," Erenwert told KHOU 11. "And when it affects the biggest people, its going to trickle down all the way."

Erenwert's company receives truckloads of fresh fruit and vegetables from Mexico daily, which he says is usually convenient and fast. However, the company has had to re-route its business to Arizona to circumvent the disruptions. Erenwert described the current situation to KHOU 11 as a "a train wreck."

This supply chains been broke, Erenwert told KHOU. These products are going to cost the farmers a lot of money. Truckers a lot of labor. And ultimately, a lot of food waste is going to come out of this.

Last week, Abbott ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to increase inspections of commercial vehicles crossing the state's southern border in order to combat an "anticipated rise in cartel-facilitated smuggling via unsafe vehicles upon the end of Title 42 expulsions."

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller warned that delays would trigger food shortages and increase the price of produce. Harris County Democratic Chair Odus Evbagharu Thursday called price hikes from supply chain issues caused by Abbott's border inspections the "Abbott Supply-Chain Surcharge," or "A.S.S. tax."

"Because of the governor's political games, consumers will be forced to pay an 'Abbott Supply Chain Surcharge' on goods, and the A.S.S. tax is going to take a chunk out of all our wallets," Evbagharu said. "Abbott's latest political stunt comes at a high cost and demonstrates  once again  that the governor has utter disregard for the lives and livelihoods of Texans."

However, there might be some signs of relief soon. Abbott is scheduled to meet with the governor of Tamaulipas Friday afternoon to discuss an agreement to halt the new commercial vehicle checks at the border.

On Tuesday, Abbott signed an agreement with the governor of Nuevo Leon to lift additional inspections in Laredo, according to the Texas Tribune. Thursday evening, Abbott made a similar agreement with the governors of Chihuahua and Coahuila.
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
OPINION: The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is one of the strongest methods that Canada has to address the immediate shortage of labourbut there is room for improvement.

How Canada can improve the Temporary Foreign Worker Program OPINION: The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is one of the strongest methods that Canada has to address the immediate shortage of labourbut there is room for improvement.

How Canada can improve the Temporary Foreign Worker Program OPINION: The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is one of the strongest methods that Canada has to address the immediate shortage of labourbut there is room for improvement.

How Canada can improve the Temporary Foreign Worker Program OPINION: The Temporary Foreign Worker Program is one of the strongest methods that Canada has to address the immediate shortage of labourbut there is room for improvement. Isaac Kinsella Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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A recent study from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business titled Labour shortages are back with a vengeance found that 54% of businesses could not find all the staff they need, with only 42% reporting being able to fully staff their operations.

Some small businesses have made changes to increase their competitiveness in the job market, such as increasing wages, but only 22% of those who increased wages found it effective. Almost two-thirds (63%) of businesses reported that a lack of candidates with the necessary skills/experience was the main bottleneck to their labour problems. While jobs may be available, employers still need to have employees with the skills to meet their business needs.

Lack of candidates, qualification mismatches and labour market disruptions continue to drive labour shortages.

Small businesses were already experiencing a significant labour shortage at the beginning of 2020, and the pandemic has only exacerbated the situation. Industries that were locked down for prolonged periods, like hospitality, have seen a mass exodus as workers upskilled or switched to other jobs or sectors.

Schedule a Free Work Permit Consultation with the Cohen Immigration Law Firm

Social services and hospitality saw a respective, 37% and 48% of their employees switching fields. While virtually all sectors have been facing major demographic upheavalsnearly 24% of small businesses reported that employees switched industries due to the pandemicthe major concern now is that there are currently not enough new workers coming in to replace those who are retiring or switching fields.

COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions hit small businesses hard. Now that most of the country is opening back up, we need governments to address labour shortages quickly to ensure a strong recovery.

Wage increases have not been the expected silver bullet for retention or enticing new employees

More than four out of five businesses (82%) experiencing staffing shortages have already raised wages in their business. While this worked for some, half reported that they did not find it helpful in attracting workers. These businesses said that they received no qualified applicants, or no applicants at all for positions available at their business, even after raising their wages.

Business owners are in a tough position and have to balance the expectations of job seekers with their ability to remain competitive

One reason for the lack of applicants is that the distribution of job seekers to jobs in different education categories is imbalanced. In Q1 2021, 22% of the unemployed had a level of education equal to or higher than a bachelors degree, while only 15% of the market requires this level of education. Currently, the majority of job vacancies in Canada are concentrated at lower education levels. However, job-seekers that wish to come to Canada are at higher education levelsleaving a mismatch in skills and expectations. This overqualification can leave job-seekers to expect different working conditionssalary or role then what an employer may be prepared to offer.

The Temporary Foreign Worker Program has the potential to be one of the best solutions to the labour shortage

The most successful solutions in dealing with the shortage of labour reported were increasing the level of automation used in the businesses (81% success rate) and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to bring in additional workers (52% success rate). However, while the success rate of the TFWP is comparatively high to some of the other methods, the utilization of the program is comparatively low. Only 16% of small businesses reported having used the TFWP. The low utilization to high success rate ratio suggests that temporary foreign workers could be a promising solution for Canadas labour shortages, especially if the program were expanded to other sectors. Opening the TFWP to a larger subset of the business community would allow for a tempered influx of labourwhile retaining the necessary skills to match what the employers and what the employees are looking for.

The TFWP also allows for those businesses in the most direct need to apply for additional workers themselves, without having to worry about competing for the labour pool directly. Throughout the pandemic, the shifting of workers has added a great deal of competitiveness to the labour pool. For many positions in Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Professional Services (e.g., information technology, copy writing, mechanics), it is much harder to compete for the same labour. By having a direct application pool these sectors and others will be better able to find the employees that they need.

For the TFWP to become a key solution, certain fixes to the TFWP should be considered. Currently, the TFWP is very time-consumingand expensive for most small businesses to use, costing up to $1,100 per application and potentially taking months for processing if not longer. This price point can marginalize some businesses from participating in the program before they have even applied, as they are not guaranteed to be matched with a temporary foreign worker even after paying for the Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA). For businesses in the hardest-hit sectors, any additional barriers or delays mean they cannot look to hire temporary foreign workers easily, especially at a time when they need a solution to their staffing problems now.

The government should make the following changes to the TFWP to help address the immediate shortage of labour within Canada:

Improve and simplify the process for the Temporary Foreign Worker Program and permanent immigration system to bring foreign workers to Canada faster, including developing a pathway for permanent residency for these workers.

Ensure that job-seekers match the demands in the job market found within Canada to create a good fit between immigrants and the positions they are coming in to fill.

Open the TFWP to all types of jobs and all sectors, regardless of the prevailing regional unemployment rate as a temporary measure to address the immediate labour shortages caused by the pandemic.

Establish a Trusted Employer system to streamline the application process for Canadian companies hiring temporary foreign workers to fill labour shortages and make sure that smaller firms with lower-wage positions are also able to qualify.

Temporarily waive employer fees for small business owners seeking to use the TFWP.

Small businesses have a long and steep climb to recovery and having the right workers in place or other tools to address labour shortages is a big part of that. Small businesses have been doing all they can to attract workers, but they need the government to do their part by adopting policies that increase productivity, connect job seekers with employers and do not put the cost of hiring out of reach for businesses.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canadas largest association of small and medium-sized businesses with 95,000 members across every industry and region.

Schedule a Free Work Permit Consultation with the Cohen Immigration Law Firm

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Hong Kong: Prosecutorial independence assured

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng

Introduction

Our criminal justice system plays a pivotal role by ensuring that crimes are effectively detected and investigated, and criminal cases are handled impartially and efficiently, whilst protecting the rights of all parties involved in the process. Recently there have been groundless criticisms against our criminal justice system and I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight.

Charges of offences endangering national security not vague

Baseless allegations of vague charges of offences under the National Security Law (NSL) or other offences endangering national security under local laws have been made. As pointed out on various occasions, the NSL clearly specifies the elements of each offence, including the requisite acts (actus reus) and intent (mens rea). Under the common law system, the courts may further clarify the elements of an offence in adjudicating cases. For instance, in the Tong Ying-kit case1, the Court of Final Appeal has explained the elements of the offences of incitement to secession and terrorist activities. The courts reasons for the verdict are freely accessible online.

Besides, in our criminal justice system, there are avenues for defendants to request further and better particulars of a charge and to complain about defects of a charge2. All procedural challenges will be duly considered and adjudicated fairly by the court.

Reporting restrictions in respect of pre-trial proceedings such as bail proceedings and committal proceedings are in place under existing laws (such as the Criminal Procedure Ordinance and the Magistrates Ordinance) to safeguard the fairness and integrity of the eventual trial. Notwithstanding the reporting restrictions, the relevant proceedings are nevertheless conducted in open court which members of the public and the media may attend and observe. Defendants may apply to the court for lifting of the reporting restrictions, which will be considered and adjudicated by the court, striking a balance between the defendants rights and other aspects of the public interest including that of a fair trial.

Bail application in cases concerning offences endangering national security handled fairly

In respect of bail, the Court of Final Appeal in the Lai Chee-ying case stressed the cardinal importance of the primary purpose of the NSL, which explains why there are more stringent conditions to the grant of bail in relation to offences endangering national security. The court also took the view that decisions as to whether or not to grant bail, involving a predictive and evaluative exercise, are a juridical exercise carried out by the court as an exercise in judgment or evaluation, not the application of a burden of proof3.

There are other common law jurisdictions (such as Canada, South Africa and Australia) where, in respect of certain classes of offences, not only is there no burden of proof on the prosecution to establish grounds for refusing bail, but a burden is placed on the accused to establish why continued detention, rather than release on bail, is not justified4. Furthermore, in some jurisdictions, the executive authorities are vested with powers to impose detention for long periods without charge in order to prevent acts endangering national security. For instance, the Internal Security Act of Singapore creates substantial executive powers for the president to authorise detention without charge for a period of up to two years (which is renewable) on grounds of national security. This rules out bail completely, too. Judicial review of such decisions taken under the act is precluded except only to ensure compliance with procedural requirements.

Contrary to the general misinformation that defendants charged with offences endangering national security are all denied bail because of the NSL, it is a matter of fact that a number of defendants have been released on bail after the courts duly considered the requirements stipulated in the NSL and relevant local laws. For example, as reported by the media, some defendants, including former legislators, who were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion, are currently released on court bail5.

Law enforcement powers exercised in accordance with law

In discharging duties, law enforcement authorities are authorised to exercise certain powers in order to facilitate their investigations. For example, they may apply to the court to obtain production orders or restraint orders under the Organised & Serious Crimes Ordinance for the purposes of investigating into an organised crime or preventing dissipation of property by criminal suspects. Such orders may be made on an ex parte application to a judge in chambers. The ex parte procedure for the authorisation of investigatory powers is necessary so as to prevent suspects from destroying evidence, dissipating proceeds of crime or committing other acts to obstruct investigation or pervert the course of justice, and is a common practice in many jurisdictions. There are provisions in the Implementation Rules for Article 43 of the NSL to enable the law enforcement authorities to take similar measures when handling cases concerning offences endangering national security. Nonetheless, our criminal justice system allows a party who is affected by the court order to apply to have it set aside or varied. The court, having reviewed all evidence, will adjudicate strictly in accordance with the applicable law in an impartial manner.

Trials held in timely manner

Generally speaking, a criminal case will first be brought up in a Magistrates Court after a charge has been laid. In the majority of cases, at the first appearance, the prosecution will ask for no plea to be taken because further investigation by the law enforcement authorities or other preparations for the case is required. When no plea is taken, the case will be adjourned for further hearing(s) until the parties inform the court that they are ready to proceed to trial.

The Department of Justice maintains close contact with the law enforcement authorities to ensure that cases are handled expeditiously and effectively. We will proactively explore and follow up on ways to expedite case management, such as seeking consolidation of cases where facts and evidence permit, agreeing on facts and evidence with the defence before trial as far as possible to reduce the number of witnesses to be called and hence, the length of trial.

However, it should be noted that the time taken between the institution of prosecution and the trial of each case depends on a multitude of factors, such as whether further investigation is required, whether the defendant needs time to obtain legal advice for consideration of his or her plea and to engage in plea negotiation with the prosecution, whether the defence requires certification of translated documents or makes any pre-trial application such as applications for further and better particulars, disclosure, lifting of reporting restrictions, severance of case with multiple defendants, preliminary inquiry, discharge, etc. It must be stressed that all applications are handled in accordance with established procedures and due process is fully observed. If a defendant, upon legal advice or otherwise, decides to make every possible procedural application irrespective of merits, he or she cannot at the same time conjure any complaint about delay which is only the natural consequence of exercising his or her entitlements to the fullest possible extent in a fair criminal justice system.

Duty of counsel

As guaranteed by the law, Hong Kong residents shall have the right to confidential legal advice, access to the courts, choice of lawyers for timely protection of their lawful rights and interests or for representation in the courts, and to judicial remedies. Meanwhile, our legal fraternity (including overseas admitted to full practice in Hong Kong) shoulders the primary responsibility for upholding the rule of law by performing their duty professionally whilst observing the rules of professional conduct.

In carrying out their duty, the personal safety of legal practitioners, like all other individuals, is well protected by law. This fundamental safeguard ensures that they should act professionally without fear or favour. Party in a litigation or their legal representatives, in the event of being intimidated, should report to Police with all the available evidence. Needless to say, one must refrain from knowingly deceiving or misleading the court or the police or indeed the public by false accusations, as such conduct not only harms the reputation of the legal profession the individual belongs, but may risk breaching the law.

Conclusion

Hong Kong is renowned for having a fair and mature criminal justice system. Our legislation is drafted with clarity and certainty, complemented by reasoned judgments to develop a respected jurisprudence. Legal principles and procedures in respect of granting bail and other court orders are clearly set out in our laws and duly followed in court. Defendants are entitled to exercise their rights in making procedural applications which, although possibly prolonging legal proceedings, is a price that will have to be paid so that the defendants choice of exercising their legitimate rights are respected and protected. Having said that, the department has taken every possible measure with a view to expediting the prosecution process and ensuring justice is served. Hence, suggestions that there are vague charges, that no defendants are granted bail, or that the delays in trial were caused by the prosecution, are plainly unsustainable once the actual facts are reviewed.

The principle of prosecutorial independence by the department is constitutionally guaranteed. Article 63 of the Basic Law stipulates that the department shall control criminal prosecutions, free from any interference. Not only our prosecutors act independently, I trust all members of the legal fraternity would discharge their duties professionally and honestly without fear or favour, and to uphold the fair and independent criminal justice system.

Notes:

HKSAR v Tong Ying-kit [2021] HKCFI 2200 See rule 3 of the Indictment Rules (Cap. 221C) which provides that every indictment shall contain such particulars as may be necessary for giving reasonable information as to the nature of the charge, and a judge may order further particulars of an offence stated in an indictment to be delivered in any case in which he deems it expedient to do so. HKSAR v Lai Chee-ying (2021) 24 HKCFAR 33, [2021] HKCFA 3, at paras. 62 and 68. See the examples mentioned in HKSAR v Lai Chee Ying (2021) 24 HKCFAR 33, [2021] HKCFA 3, at para. 69. For example, see HCCP 113/2021 and HCCP 473/2021.

Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng wrote this article and posted it on her blog on April 15.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Pakistan ready to elevate bilateral relations with China to higher level: PM

Xinhua) 09:05, April 15, 2022

ISLAMABAD, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan is ready to join hands with China to deepen bilateral cooperation and elevate relations between the two countries to a higher level, which is the voice of over 200 million Pakistani people, the country's newly-elected Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has said.

In a meeting with Pang Chunxue, charge d'affaires of the Chinese embassy in Pakistan, at the Prime Minister House in Islamabad earlier this week, Shahbaz noted that the Pakistan-China friendship is unique, unshakable and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people of the two countries.

Whenever Pakistan was faced with internal, external difficulties or major challenges, China has always stood firmly with Pakistan, he said, adding that Pakistan regards China as its steadiest friend and closest partner.

Every Pakistani government has been committed to promoting friendship with China and no one in the world can undermine this friendship, the Pakistani prime minister said.

Major development has been witnessed in Pakistan-China relations in recent years, and bilateral cooperation in political, economic, diplomatic and other fields has been deepened in an all-round way, opening a new chapter in the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said.

The CPEC is not only a major project of mutual benefit, but also a precious gift from the Chinese government to Pakistan, Shahbaz said, adding that Chinese enterprises have overcome numerous difficulties and challenges to facilitate Pakistan's development.

After the completion of a number of CPEC energy projects, Pakistan's energy shortage situation has rapidly improved, he said, adding that Pakistan would have still been short of electricity without those projects.

China seeks peaceful development and win-win cooperation, and the CPEC is a very illustration of that, Shahbaz noted.

Pakistan will continue to increase input into the CPEC, work with China to expand cooperation fields, and overcome all bottlenecks and obstacles to speed up the CPEC construction, he said, adding that Pakistan will make every effort to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan.

Pakistan looks forward to learning from China's successful experience in poverty alleviation and vocational training, and pushing forward bilateral cooperation at a "new Pakistan speed", he added.

Pakistan welcomes more Chinese investment in its agricultural modernization, industrialization and digitalization and hopes that more Chinese enterprises will set up joint ventures in Pakistan and export products produced in this country to China and the rest of the world for mutual benefit and win-win results, Shahbaz said.

In his maiden address to the National Assembly of Pakistan or the lower house of the parliament after being elected as the country's prime minister on Monday, Shahbaz said that developing Pakistan-China relations is the most important thing and a priority in Pakistan's diplomatic policy, noting that China is a time-tested friend of Pakistan and the great and eternal Pakistan-China friendship can never be shaken by anyone.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
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In 2020, Sarah Wade moved to Bristol, Tennessee, to work at the Bristol Herald Courier, a small newspaper whose recent accolades included a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and a Scripps Howard Award for Community Journalism. I was kinda blown away by how much they did, Wade said. Plus: Theres a lot happening environmentally in the state. The Herald Couriers coverage zone included Bristol, Virginia, which meets its sister citys border at a sign that proclaims each Bristol a good place to live. Soon, however, Wade began hearing complaints about a landfill just a few miles from the sign. The landfill had a stench that reached residents in both citiesslipping through fences, she wrote, wandering across yards and fields, finding its way into houses through chinks in windows and doors.

Officials have attributed the air pollution to an ongoing chemical reaction beneath the landfills surface. In a Facebook group, Bristol residents logged their reactionsheadaches, throat and eye irritation, nausea. Though local, state, and federal authorities investigated the landfill and tested the local air quality, the problems continued. Wade published several stories about the landfill for the Herald Courier; last August, she went freelance, and stayed on the case. Late last year, she published her most comprehensive piece: a three-thousand-word reported feature on the landfill and delays to remedial efforts, including recordkeeping failures and poor communication between city staff and consultants. The story appeared in Southerly, a nonprofit digital news outlet. The piece was well-received online. But Wade wanted to make sure her reporting made an impact locally.

After publication, Southerly held a community listening session, where attendees told Wade that many of their neighborsparticularly Black residents, elderly, and low-income residents living close to the landfilldont have internet access or arent on social media. As she wrote in a post for Southerly, Some of the grassroots leaders said they spend a lot of time just trying to explain whats happening at the landfill to people who havent heard much about it yet, but are feeling the effects of the air pollution.

So Wade and Southerly went about boiling down her reporting to a few core sectionsa history of the landfill, a list of chemicals found in air samples, a guide for directing complaints to local and state officialsproducing a trifold pamphlet for local distribution. Bristol residents dont necessarily have time to read huge stories that can explain every nook and cranny of whats happening, Lyndsey Gilpin, Southerlys publisher and executive editor, said. The aim was to reach those people offline.

In February, Wade received a box containing a hundred and fifty pamphlets. She made a list of distribution sites, including a public library, a doctors office near the landfill site, churches, and thrift stores. Then she passed the pamphlets outdefinitely new territory for me, she said. Some business owners turned her away, saying the pamphlets were too political. But a number of their employeespeople who lived near the landfillasked for copies.

Boxes of pamphlets also went out to other community members, including volunteers with hope for Bristol, an organization dedicated to closing the landfill, and to the Reverend Steven Davis, the president and founder of Brothers for Christ Community Response, who participated in Southerlys community listening session. Ive been passing pamphlets out to my family members, reading them, helping them to understand whats going on, Davis said. His mother lives just south of the landfill; her vision is limited, so Davis read the pamphlet to her. Shell be able to speak because we were able to get the pamphlets out to individuals such as herself. On Facebook, locals have discussed additional distribution sites for the pamphlets, including at a local university.

Local concern over the landfill persists; at the end of this month, a panel convened by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will publish a final technical report detailing recommendations for the site. Wade wont be there to cover itat least, not in person; she recently left Bristol for Raleigh, North Carolina. But residents will continue to use her pamphlet to pressure officials. hope for Bristol plans to print more copies. Southerly definitely filled a gap for us, to help us communicate to our residents and leaders during a time when we were scrambling to do so much at once, and with very little experience on our side, a hope for Bristol member wrote recently to Wade and Gilpin.

For Wade, the project was revelatory. You know, reporting can look like a big long investigative feature, she said. And it can also look like the kind of pamphlet you normally associate with, like, the YMCA.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Karen Maniraho is a CJR fellow.
In late March, after starting her year with meals at more than a hundred restaurants and bars, Tammie Teclemariam tested positive for covid. Teclemariam is the diner at large for New York magazine, where she writes a weekly newsletter on eating out, but before that she may have been best known as one of mainstream food medias most effective critics; for more than a year, her name on Twitter was Unionize Conde, Fast. So instead of going out to celebrate the news that workers at Conde Nast had formed a union, she placed a takeout order from Peter Luger: an eighty-dollar, dry-aged, bone-in ribeye steak, medium rare, plus a Caesar salad, potatoes, and a twenty-five-dollar bottle of cabernet. She put it on her New York expense card, this being work from home.

In June 2020, shed gained attention on Twitter for publicizing a photo of Bon Appetits editor in chief, Adam Rapoport, who is white, dressed as a Puerto Rican for Halloween. BA staff denounced Rapoport and called the image symptomatic of discrimination at the magazine and its parent company, Conde Nast. Rapoport promptly resigned, as did a BA video producer (and a Los Angeles Times food editor whose transgressions Teclemariam also publicized on Twitter).

Emma Specter, a Vogue staffer, called Teclemariam our champion. She told me, Seeing Tammie act as a whistleblower and then really support the idea of me and my colleagues having a union and having protection and being able to fightI so admire that.

I was incredibly happy to see that all the other Conde publications were finally able to get to this point, which I have always believed was inevitable, Teclemariam texted me from quarantine at her apartment in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, where she lives with five roommates and her border collie mix, Buffer. The news kind of jostled me into my past life, because the newsletter has been so intense.

As diner at largea one-year, full-time roleTeclemariams position is distinct from that of a traditional restaurant reviewer. David Haskell, New Yorks editor in chief, said he conceived of a writer inhaling an enormous amount of food and restaurant culture, and writing back their dispatches with a kind of manic energy, as if they were a global correspondent.

The application required an essay about a recent dining adventure. Teclemariams contribution about a day in Brighton Beach stood out, Alan Sytsma, the editor of Grub Street (New Yorks food-focused vertical), said. She had this lovely paragraph that described the raw cured salmon that she was eating with some vodka on the beach before she went to dinner.

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You just want to sit shotgun next to this person, Haskell said.

For the first installment of the newsletter, called The Year I Ate New York, Teclemariam visited twenty-six establishments in five days. Since then, shes continued to assemble a sort of restaurant mosaic of the citytelling readers about the best places to get broth, the diverse array of dining establishments along the Q line in Brooklyn, and the Sri Lankan restaurants of Staten Islandwhile an illustrated pushpin map traces her picaresque journey.

Recently, I met Teclemariam for lunch at an Indian fried chicken spot called Rowdy Rooster in the East Village. Thirty-two, she was dressed all in black, with a T-shirt from a Ditmas Park wine shop and sunglasses. She ordered almost every item on the menu, picking the hottest option across the board. The spice will bring us together, she assured me.

A cashier congratulated us on our order: Trust me, guys, youre not going to want to go out tonight. Teclemariam took down the quote.

I love it when people are characters, she told me. We settled into a small table by a window. Lunch, she said over the blare of Indian pop music, is her favorite meal of the day. Its so hopefulits like, were going to eat this awesome meal and then She trailed off, gesturing at the possibilities.

To maintain her appetite, Teclemariam walks long distances between stops on her itinerary. Recently, she trekked from a dinner at Bernies, in Greenpoint (which she likened to the fantasy of an Applebees commercial), across the Williamsburg Bridge to a second dinner in the West Village. By the time she arrived, she was hungry again. Theres nothing worse than being too full in a restaurant when everyones having a good time, she said. Its like being too drunk at a bar.

Teclemariam arrived in New York in 2013, working first as a sales representative for a wine importer. The company represented a winery in the South of France, where she had just spent six months studying viticulture. Her French pronunciation is precise but nonchalant (she says bon appetit correctly, without the hard t).

She was raised in Maryland, where her parents settled after emigrating from Eritrea. At sixteen, she enrolled in St. Johns College in Annapolis, but bristled against the overwhelming whiteness of the schools great books curriculum. At eighteen, she left to attend pastry school in France, interning at a two-Michelin-star kitchen in Lyon, before returning to finish her degree. I loved food, I wanted to work with it, blah blah blah, she said. But I just could not see a career coming out of it, with all the toll and guaranteed suffering that I would endure, and not just suffering that would teach me something, but the general cruelty you would endure as youre sort of leveling up the industry.

Unsuccessful in wine salesI didnt know anybody in New York at all, she saidTeclemariam spent the next six years working at retail wine shops. In 2015, she interned at Eater, and in 2017, she began to freelance for Saveur, Food & Wine, and other outlets. In the spring of 2021, she took her first regular writing job, contributing food and wine stories to the new incarnation of Gawker.

Before her viral Twitter advocacy, she said, I just didnt see the way that I was going to be able to participate or succeed or exist in this thing, at which I was actually very qualified and adept, and saw myself as more fit than the people who did have the opportunities and the people who were running things.

Between bites of blazing-hot chicken and cooling sips of mango lassi, I asked if Teclemariam had worried about alienating powerful editors with her tweets, becoming persona non grata in food media.

Never. No. Why? she said. Persona non grata to who? Nobody I would care about. The people who had to quit their jobs are the PNGs.

On the contrary, she believes the exposure gave her more opportunities. Obviously, it made it possible for me to have this job now. Without it, she said, I wouldnt have been noticed. (Sytsma said she was hired on the merits of her credentials and writing.)

Part of what makes Teclemariam stand out, Jazmine Hughes, a friend and New York Times reporter, told me, is her humoracerbic and lightning fast. It reminds Hughes, she said, of Judge Judy, whom she profiled for the Times magazine. One of her producers was like, She couldnt be this mean if she werent so funny.

I think that part of the reason why Tammies work two years ago caught so much fire is because of the voice of her writing, Hughes said. Case in point: her most-shared tweet, about Rapoport. When a Puerto Rican food writer shared a rejection from the editor on Twitter, Teclemariam responded with the damning photo, captioned: I do not know why Adam Rapoport simply doesnt write about Puerto Rican food for @bonappetit himself!!!

Teclemariam has always considered herself a loner. That has also helped her chart her course in the world of food media, where there are almost no Black food critics, and few Black writers. Speaking up, said Teclemariam, was very easy for me, because I was doing it for myself, as much as anyone else. I was just trying to make this really messed-up industry have a place for me, in making it have a place for other people.

Alone is how she prefers to dine, too. (Leave single diners alone already! she wrote in a recent newsletter.)

After lunch, we headed to a nearby Van Leeuwen for pistachio ice cream affogatos. The perfect thing after all that oily spice, Teclemariamnot usually a dessert personsaid. We parted ways. Several hours (and some Tums) later, I checked in with her to see if our cashier had been right about not going out that night. At first, Teclemariam agreed: shed had enough. Then, at 10pm, she texted back with a photo from a Japanese izakaya in Brooklyn, where shed ordered croquettes, pickles, and a cocktail. Shed gone alone.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Caleb Pershan is a CJR fellow.
The Colorado legislature is pursuing a bill to protect educators from doxxing, two months after the identities of hundreds of Douglas County teachers faced potential exposure after participating in a protest.

If enacted, Senate Bill 171 would add educators to the list of people who can request to have their personal information removed from government websites after they or their family receive threats to their safety. Personal information includes home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

We want to make sure we pass this bill before something truly horrific happens here in this state, said bill sponsor Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village. The threats our teachers face came into sharp focus a few weeks ago in Douglas County.

The Senate Education Committee advanced the bill in a 6-1 vote Thursday, sending it to the full Senate for consideration. The vote came after over an hour of public testimony, mostly from educators from the Douglas County School District.

Kathy Dorman, who recently retired after 37 years teaching at Ponderosa High School, helped organize a sick out in support of former Superintendent Corey Wise, after he was fired in a controversial move by the new school board. Afterwards, some teachers who participated in the protest found fliers on their cars telling them to get out and leave. An unknown person also made a records request for the names of the 1,500 teachers absent on the day of the protest, which would have exposed their identities.

It shocks me that I and my fellow educators are subject to intimidation and threats for standing up to the policies and principles that are at the core of our hearts, Dorman said. Worried that someone is going to follow me home when they see me get into my car and find out where we live. Thats terrifying.

Doman said her daughters feared for her safety and worried about her speaking at Thursdays meeting. During the Douglas County Equity Advisory Council meeting the night before, three speakers called on Dorman to step down as a member-at-large of the advisory group. Dorman had to be escorted to her car by security at the end of the night.

Dorman said the future of public education in Colorado is at stake, adding that many teachers are leaving due to the kind of harassment she encountered. She said threats result not only from political protests, but also from enforcing face mask mandates or teaching about evolution and equity.

A survey of the 39,000 members of the Colorado Education Association found that nearly 67% of the educators are considering retiring or resigning at the end of this school year. This comes as Colorado and the nation have been experiencing a teacher shortage exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

If that isnt a red flag that our educators need help and protection, I dont know what is, said Amie Baca-Oehlert, president of the Colorado Education Association. I often get emails, sometimes on a daily basis, from educators across the state (about being doxxed).

In addition to providing privacy protections for educators, the bill would update Colorados open records law to prohibit the public from accessing the specific dates an educator is absent from work. Under the bill, the total number of days absent would still be open to the public, but not the dates.

This part of the bill was added in direct response to the records request that asked for the names of the Douglas County teachers absent on the day of the sick out, Bridges said. The district initially agreed to release the names of the teachers who took off work, though it later decided against doing so and said the request had been withdrawn.

Monument Republican Sen. Paul Lundeen  the only committee member to vote against the bill  said he opposed the bill because of this provision.

When individuals choose to, as a political statement, sick out ... why should that be hidden? Why should that be protected? Lundeen asked. Hiding what is clearly a political act is inappropriate. ... Political speech needs to be open.

The majority of the school district's board questioned the superintendent's role in creating masking policies and in the district's decision in October to sue other county authorities to keep those mask rules in place. The board's minority members countered that the decision to fire Wise is disastrous, warning it would lead to educators leaving the district and to "the Dark Ages."

During Thursdays meeting, Lundeen described the fliers placed on the Douglas County teachers cars as political communication, not specific threats. He also questioned where do we draw the line in expanding privacy protections, saying teachers would be the prime candidates to stand their ground and turn around the coarsening interactions of society.

The other committee members said they cannot allow a culture of intimidation to continue in Colorado.

This rhetoric has to stop, said Sen. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora. Even today, all of us who are speaking here will probably get death threats because of our stand. ... This should not be a political issue. This should be a human rights issue.

Other professions, including peace officers and public defenders, already enjoy privacy protections in Colorado. Last month, House Bill 1041 was signed into law to also add health care workers, code enforcement officers, child representatives and animal control officers to the list.

The Denver Gazette reporter Carol McKinley (carol.mckinley@gazette.com) contributed to this report.
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Thousands of Afrin residents gathered on the main road heading towards the city of Aleppo, in the Al-Shahba district, to demonstrate against the policy of the Damascus government, and its arbitrary measures to tighten the noose around the people in Al-Shahba canton, Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhoods and Al-Ashrafiyah in the city of Aleppo.

Fourth Division's checkpoints has imposed a stifling siege on al-Shahba canton, which has been sheltering thousands of Afrin's displaced, for more than four years.

The member of the Afrin District Council, Laila Haftaru read the statement in Kurdish and Arabic which stated:

Despite the passage of 11 years since the Syrian crisis, the Syrian regime is still insisting on a security solution and continuing to follow the policy of siege, with the intent of starving civilians of all components, which it has pursued since the beginning of the crisis in various fields.

The statement also demanded from the Damascus government the following:

1- Lifting the siege on Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh neighborhoods in Aleppo and Al-Shahba areas.

2- Allowing people, food and medicine to enter the besieged neighborhoods.

3- Removing Fourth Division's checkpoints from all roads leading to Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafieh and al-Shahba.

A.K

ANHA
Boomtown 2022: How to live your best life in Columbia over 50

Columbia makes repeated appearances on lists ranking cities as good places to live. It is perhaps an even better place to mature and retire. A strong health care network, reasonable housing prices, a vibrant, engaged community and an appealing downtown help create an attractive location for all generations, but especially for those over 50. Read more stories.

Read the e-Edition
Microsoft is planning to release a new tool that will automate the patch management process, all but eliminating Patch Tuesdays for many organizations.

The companys new Windows Autopatch service will keep business computers continuously updated as part of a new feature included with the Windows Enterprise E3 subscription service.

Organizations running systems with a Windows 10 or Windows 11 Enterprise E3 license will be eligible for the new patch service, which is expected to be generally available in July.

This service will keep Windows and Office software on enrolled endpoints up-to-date automatically, at no additional cost, Lior Bela, senior product marketing manager at Microsoft, wrote in a blog post. IT admins can gain time and resources to drive value. The second Tuesday of every month will be 'just another Tuesday.'"

Microsoft The Microsoft Autopatch feature requires one-click approval to begin working. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Patch Tuesday (more recently called Update Tuesday) is a colloquial term used in the IT industry to refer to when Microsoft and others typically release spot repairs to their operating system and other software. Patch Tuesday is always the second Tuesday of each month.

Microsoft said its automating software updates in response to the evolving nature of technology. For example, the pandemic increased demand for more remote or hybrid work, making performance and security updates even more crucial, as systems are more often outside an organizations firewall.

The value should be felt immediately by IT admins who won't have to plan update rollout and sequencing, and over the long term as increased bandwidth allows them more time to focus on driving value, Bela said. Quality updates should enhance device performance and reduce help-desk tickets  feature updates should give users an optimal experience, with increased uptime and new tools to create and collaborate.

Dan Wilson, a senior research director at Gartner, said there is unmet demand for endpoint patching services as traditional outsourcers tend to favor more full-service offerings.

"Autopatch can address the common challenge of keeping pace with Windows and Office updates. The $0 price tag should make it attractive to at least test. Third-party application patching is the other challenge, but that is not currently in scope for Autopatch," Wilson said in an email reply to Computerworld.

Windows Autopatch will be able to detect differences among endpoints, and place them into four test rings or groups, and then dynamically check them for necessary updates.

First there will be a test ring containing a minimum number of devices that are representative of all the types of devices and configurations under management. The next ring is slightly larger, containing about 1% of all devices under management. A third "fast" ring contains about 9% of endpoints, and the remaining 90% of devices will be assigned to a "broad" ring. The percentages dont change as devices are added or removed from the service network.

The point of the four rings is to ensure there are no software issues associated with firmware or software updates. As each group passes the tests, the updates are installed until all of an organizations devices are patched.

Wilson noted that Autopatch follows ring-based deployment best practices with the ability to halt and roll-back should issues arise, and minimum license requirements (Windows E3 or up) shouldn't be an issue "as most have or are upgrading to Microsoft 365 bundles that include this."

"And the requirement to be enrolled in or co-managed by Intune and in Azure shouldnt be a major concern at this point," Wilson said. "Whether or not Autopatch is better than leveraging automated update capabilities already within Microsoft Endpoint Manager, Windows Update for Business and the Office 365 admin console is unclear, Wilson said. "They try to address that on their Windows Autopatch FAQ page, he said.

Windows Autopatch will manage all aspects of device group deployments for Windows 10 and Windows 11 quality and feature updates, drivers, firmware, and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise updates, Bela said.

From an endpoint management standpoint, the main prerequisite for Autopatch is Intune or co-management. The service has a built-in readiness assessment tool that will check relevant settings in Intune, Azure Active Directory, and Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise to see that they are configured to work with Autopatch.

The online tool checks all of an organizations settings in Microsoft Endpoint Manager  specifically, Microsoft Intune, Azure Active Director and Microsoft 365  to ensure theyll work with the Autopatch service. If any settings turn up as "not ready" the service has click-through instructions on how to resolve issues, Microsoft said.

After providing consent, Microsoft completes all the other steps for you automatically, and will manage creating the right policies and groups so that updates are ready to be deployed, Mark Florida, principal engineering product manager at Microsoft said in a video presentation. Talk about saving time. Imagine doing all the policy configuration and group definitions yourself.
Disclosure: Most of the companies mentioned as merger examples are clients of the author.

There are generally three reasons to acquire another company: synergy between the companies that leads to a competitive advantage; the elimination of a competitor; and the acquisition of critical intellectual property. Ive been thinking about this in the wake of Elon Musks attempt to buy Twitter this week. (It looks more like its an effort to buy the CEO job at Twitter, more than the company.)

Not only is this kind of move exceedingly rare, the odds are against it being successful. However, Musk has often been successful when the odds are against him, making this worth watching  and the outcome uncertain.

The impact on Twitter would undoubtedly be adverse and long lasting; hostile takeovers tend to motivate high-value employees to leave and stop high-value employees from taking a job for a company mid-takeover. And they can be a major distraction, causing the firm that being forcibly acquired to generally underperform.

Lets talk about mergers and acquisitions and why hostile takeovers are generally a bad idea because they can damage company morale, productivity and viability.

Mergers and acquisitions: Why most fail

I used to run what was essentially a merger clean-up team at IBM, so I spent a great deal of time studying mergers while in IBM Competitive Analysis. What I found was that the reasons mergers fail often have to do with a lack of detailed knowledge and skills and poor due diligence by the acquiring company. On top of that, the rules surrounding pre-approval of a merger limit the acquiring companys ability to hit the ground running when the process is over.

Mergers are risky for both the acquiring and acquired company, especially when theres unexpected friction between the firms operations, culture, practices, and leadership. Examples of successful mergers include the Lenovo acquisition of IBM's PC business and Dells acquisition of EMC. (Most of Dells mergers are successful due largely to their unique enhancement of IBMs merger and acquisition process.)

Lenovos acquisition of IBMs PC operation was successful because the transition period was long, the unit was self-contained and left alone until it was fully understood, and employee retention remained high during the process. Dells EMC acquisition was successful because Dell had no plan B and so moved aggressively and early to fully understand EMC before the merger was approved; that allowed it to move quickly once the deal was approved.

The key in both cases: eliminate issues that hurt the acquired asset, and identify and protect the company assets  human and IP  that add value.

Hostile mergers

In a hostile merger, the acquired company doesnt want to be acquired. This means there is a distinct lack of knowledge about its operations by then buyer and, even after approval, there may be ongoing resistance and open defiance to new management. You cant retain and protect assets you are unaware of, and until you have the authority to do so. For Twitter, this means the company is likely to bleed key people at alarming rates and be unable to replace them until the merger is done and leadership changed. Buying the top job, as Musk seems to want to do, also can create animosity with the executive staff, particularly those that thought they were in line for the position. Efforts to sabotage the process, or the new leader, are not unheard of.

The political and competitive aspects of this also suggest there will be domestic and foreign hurdles unique to this process and difficult to overcome. Musk is already considered a bad actor by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and he hasnt been complying with their prior rulings. (The agency could block his effort based solely on that.) Owning Twitter could also give a lot of power to both SpaceX and Tesla, influence that could be seen as corrupting for the former and unfair competition for the latter. This might prompt governments, both domestic and foreign, to block the merger to protect their automotive industries and assure their SpaceX efforts arent compromised. In the extreme, it could even lead to Tesla and SpaceX facing sanctions post-merger.

Finally, buying a job to re-create the kind of extreme control Mark Zuckerberg enjoys at Facebook is ill advised, particularly when its someone who refuses to adhere to federal disclosure laws. In short, with most hostile takeovers, the odds of success arent good (except when the goal is to eliminate a competitor). Musks attempt to acquire Twitter is likely to be a slow motion train wreck that cripples Twitter in the process.

In short, Musk might successfully buy the CEO job at Twitter, but it would be a Pyrrhic victory at best  and a total disaster once complete.

The difference between success and failure

Most acquisitions fail. Those that succeed are either very well managed (like the Lenovo/IBM PC merger), extremely well planned and executed (like the Dell/EMC merger), or designed to eliminate a competitor (like the Oracle/Peoplesoft merger). In contrast, hostile acquisitions mostly fail, except when eliminating a competitor (Oracle/Peoplesoft again) because they damage the acquired company. And as we saw with the Broadcom/Qualcomm effort, they can also be blocked to prevent a company from being attacked. A hostile takeover is definitely an attack.

Management in a company under attack needs to meet with and talk with subordinates regularly, address rumors and fears, reiterate that the effort is being fought at the highest levels and with the full resources of the company, and ask the employees to stay and help fight by focusing on their jobs and ignoring any uncertainty.

Twitter will most certainly be hurt by Musk is doing, but if it can keep its employees focused and productive  and ease any concerns about the attempt  management should be able to mitigate most of the productivity drag during the siege.
Soil is not just a resource; it is our source: Sadhguru

Indian yogi, mystic and visionary Sadhguru is a man on a mission. The Padma Vibhushan awardee is currently on a 100-day 30,000km motorcycle journey spanning 27 nations in Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East to raise citizen awareness across countries and urge administrations about soil conservation.

Conscious Planet: Save Soil is a global movement geared towards saving our soil and planet. The aim is to demonstrate the support of over 3.5 billion people (more than 60% of the worlds voting population) around the world and empower governments to initiate policy-driven action to revitalise soil and halt further degradation.

World leaders, influencers, artists, experts, farmers, spiritual leaders, NGOs and citizens are vocally supporting the movement to re-establish humanitys relationship with soil.

The 54-member Commonwealth has already pledged support for the campaign, which was kicked off in India by the Chief Minister of Sadhgurus home state Karnataka.

Sadhguru's bike journey for #SaveSoil, which began on March 21 in London, UK, passed through the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Italy and Switzerland before entering France and Belgium.

Our most critical responsibility as a generation is to address soil extinction as a single-point agenda. Only with such committed and concerted effort can change manifest in the world, he said.

Patrizia Heidegger, Director for Global Policies and Sustainability at European Environmental Bureau, joined Sadhguru in Brussels at an event to discuss the #SaveSoil movement. Catch Connected to Indias coverage of the event below:

Read more Global News and Breaking News here
The case of Ukraine v. Russia (Ukraine-Russia), pending decision in the Supreme Court of England for more than three years, lies at the intersection of traditional public international law and private international law. It presents the question of court enforcement of a debt that is intertwined with sovereign political relationships. More broadly, it reflects the great power that private enforcement of a commercial instrument may nowadays give to a creditor that has goals beyond repayment. In the special context of a sovereign creditor of a sovereign debtor, the case reveals the potential role of privately enforceable debt in achieving the creditors political ends.

Bailiffs for Gunboats is the title I have given to a short paper to be published in a Festschrift for the famous German scholar, Christoph Paulus, lately head of the law faculty at Humboldt, Berlin. It discusses a case remarkably overlooked despite its unusual facts, its major legal and political implications, and its role as a prelude to the horrors of the current war in Ukraine.

Ukraine issued a note for repayment of a multi-billion dollar loan that Ukraine accepted at Russias insistence in lieu of one being discussed with the EU. The note was in standard commercial form suitable for trading and was listed on the Irish Exchange. The note was governed by English law and provided that the English courts would resolve any dispute. This arrangement was unusual for a sovereign to sovereign loan. One thinks of sovereign loans as being in one of two forms: bonds sold to various private parties or loans made by one sovereign to another. The first sort is governed by the private law of some country and the parties often select a method of dispute resolution in the courts of some trusted jurisdiction. A sovereign to sovereign loan usually looks quite different. It may be that Russia envisioned being able to use private enforcement in London and other financial centers as a non-military source of pressure on Ukraine by seizing assets and blocking commercial transactions through enforcement of a money judgmentbailiffs instead of gunboats (or tanks). (It is notable that Russia did not take up the suggestion of the English Court of Appeals to take its case to the World Court.)

When Ukraine stopped paying on the note, Russia sued for enforcement in the High Court in London. Ukraine claimed that creation of the obligation represented by the note, and perhaps its enforcement as well, should be subject to the defense of duress available in commercial transactions. That is, Ukraine asserted that a sovereign lender that chooses a commercial form of obligation in order to use private law mechanisms for enforcement should be subject to a defense of duress as would be any commercial lender. That claim was sustained in the Court of Appeal and then was appealed to the English Supreme Court. The appeal was argued almost three years ago and then reargued on November 11, 2021 about a month before the Russian invasion. [https://www.supremecourt.uk/watch/uksc-2018-0192/111121-am.html]

The international trend in recent years has been to judicialize commercial cases brought against sovereigns, but I argue that a sovereign to sovereign loan presents a special case. When the courts of a state are asked by a sovereign creditor to enforce a debt owed by another sovereign, there is always the likelihood of a motive and a result beyond mere repayment. The courts of that state may wish to seek the advice of its political departments in determining whether the enforcement presents a nonjusticiable political question. It seems to me subsequent events have vindicated that position.
Melania Trump, the wife of former United States Donald Trump, is one of the most famous female personalities in the country as a former first lady with an estimated net worth of $55 million.

She is known to spend most of her days with her husband at the couple's Mar-a-Lago resort located in Palm Beach, Florida. While Melania is now one of the wealthiest women in America, she had her humble beginnings as the daughter of a man who worked for a state-owned vehicle manufacturer and a woman who worked as a pattern-maker for a children's clothing brand.

Melania Trump's Net Worth

Melania developed her passion for the fashion runway when she was young and competed in fashion shows with other children. Later in her life, she started to work as a professional runway model at the young age of 16, posing for Stane Jerko, a fashion photographer.

In 1998, the former first lady won "The Look of the Year" with her looks attracting the attention of the top names in the fashion industry. At the age of 18, Melania signed up with a modeling agency in Milan, Italy, further solidifying her career, as per Finty.

During her early fashion career, Melania, born Melania Knavs, changed her name to Melania Knauss. She was featured on various cover pages of popular magazines, including Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Front, Vanity Fair, and GQ.

According to Wealthy Gorilla, in 2003, Melania was seen as an actress in "Miss USA," in 2004 in her husband's reality show "Celebrity Apprentice," in 2016 in "One Nation Under Trump." Moving away from modeling, She started her own label of designer watches, jewelry, and skincare products.

Read Also: Elon Musk Net Worth 2022: Tesla CEO's Value Grew from $2 Billion to $279 Billion in 10 Years!

Melania's acting career includes the 2011 film "Zoolander" and she was a recurring personality on Trump's NBC reality series "The Apprentice" from 2004 to 2015. Despite having her own line of jewelry and skincare products, the Melania Skin Care Collection cut ties with her in 2017.

In 2016, a financial filing revealed that Melania's business ventures made $15,000 to $50,000 in royalties that year. While she became the first lady of the United States on Jan. 20, 2017, she did not move into the White House until June 11 because of her son's schooling at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School.

The Former First Lady

Focusing on her role as the former president's wife, her first White House event was a March 2017 International Women's Day luncheon. At the event, she spoke about gender equality and her experiences as a female immigrant. She also focused her time as the first lady on the prevention of online bullying with her "Be Best" campaign.

The move earned criticism from many because of Trump's consistently hostile behavior on Twitter. Melania's husband helped plan an April 2018 state dinner that honored French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited the National Gallery of Art with his wife, Brigitte, the day before the event.

In terms of real estate, Melania paid $1.5 million in January 2016 for a 1-bedroom apartment located on the 33rd floor of Trump Tower. When she purchased the unit, the Trump family was already the owner of a huge penthouse that took up the 66th, 67th, and 68th floors of the building. Furthermore, there were rumors that Melania bought the 1,052 square-foot apartment to use as a library, as per Celebrity Net Worth.

Related Article: Warren Buffet Net Worth 2022: Where Does He Rank Among Top US Billionaires?

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
India is caught up in the wake of Western sanctions directed at Russia that should have considered how other countries feel about them. It seems that Delhi is left out and other nations who have a stake in Russian energy that the west ignores.

This is why the shortening of patience with the US and her allies who think everything they do is correct, despite the effects felt by nations concerned.

Western Powers Dominates

Last Wednesday, the purchase of 3 million barrels of oil from Russia's Rosneft Oil Co by the Indian Oil corporation got a 20 percent discount from the global price. But it is not enough for the Indian requirement of 4.5 barrels a day,

Through an arrangement to use rupees as payment to bypass economic penalties will have purchase more, reported Business Standard.

But the US is quick to call out Indian leaders for looking out for energy security; it wants New Delhi to follow unconditionally.

It becomes a question of Washington and allies not agreeing on how the Indian government acts on it, sanctioning Russia, or you're with us or against us.

Global Effects of Economic Penalties

This attitude has caused Delhi to rethink its relationship with the west because the US-led western alliance is busy high-fiving the penalties taking a bite on Putin.

Even if the rest of the world reels from inadvertent actions like high oil prices. Inequality in doing out funds by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund

It and a host of nations see inequality in how the west and institutions in their pockets consider the Ukraine conflict more important. War-infested nations are ignored by the World Bank but have a $700 million package for Kyiv ready in record time; while doling out western sanctions that are more damaging, cites NDTV.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

The fast-tracking of the International Monetary Fund for Ukraine is not normal and is not fair to others.

America and its western allies have failed in the eyes of Delhi; they weaponized the SWIFT financial messaging system to isolate Russian banks. Inter-banking is for global use, not just for dominant nations to unfairly add it to their means to control Vladimir Putin, noted the Japan Times.

SWIFT is controlled by the US, Japan, and Europe, whose actions to unanimously sanction Russia; caused problems for the Indian government using it for fertilizer and oil payments, causing fallout.

India now is the bad guy because it wants a way to pay for goods without the swift.

India on Western Hypocrisy

The west denounces the government to buy Russian energy; when the US and EU are still getting from Putin's Russia. Delhi cannot get more than $70 a barrel, which will cause an energy crisis that should be avoided.

How the west could forget the disruption in 1991 and 2012 is unthinkable. China and Russia cozying up together

Indian leaders fret the west has made Moscow and Beijing closer to global consequences and are more concerned if New Delhi will join the gang.

Indian leaders cannot do without western help since China is aggressive and needs capital and technological support for its military. But the west should be more careful about its decision; it affects other nations.

India needs to steer carefully in the face of western sanctions against Russia and be neutral as it always has, but always put its interests first.

Related Article: 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.
As an infosec professional, youve likely heard about using a cyber kill chain to help identify and prevent intrusions. Attackers are evolving their methods, which might require that you look at the cyber kill chain differently. What follows is an explanation of the cyber kill chain and how you might employ it in your environment.

Cyber kill chain definition

The cyber kill chain, also known as the cyberattack lifecycle, is a model developed by Lockheed Martin that describes the phases of a targeted cyberattack. It breaks down each stage of a malware attack where defenders can identify and stop it.

In military parlance, a "kill chain" is a phase-based model to describe the stages of an attack, which also helps inform ways to prevent such attacks. The closer to the beginning of the kill chain an attack can be stopped, the better. The less information an attacker has, for instance, the less likely someone else can use that information to complete the attack later.

The cyber kill chain applies the military model to cyberattacks, with the phases of a targeted attack described such that they can be used for protection of an organization's network. The stages are shown in the graphic below.

One thing to keep in mind: the closer to the beginning of the chain you can stop an attack, the less costly and time-consuming the cleanup will be. If you don't stop the attack until it's already in your network, you'll have to fix those machines and do a whole lot of forensics work to find out what information they've made off with.

Cyber kill chain steps

The steps described in the cyber kill chain are a lot like a stereotypical burglary. The thief will perform reconnaissance on a building before trying to infiltrate it, and then go through several more steps before making off with the loot. Using the cyber kill chain to keep attackers from stealthily entering your network requires quite a bit of intelligence and visibility into what's happening in your network. You need to know when something is there that shouldn't be, so you can set the alarms to thwart the attack

Let's take a closer look at the 7 steps of the cyber kill chain to determine what questions you should be asking yourself to decide whether it's feasible for your organization.

Reconnaissance Weaponization Delivery Exploit Installation Command and control Actions

Reconnaissance

At this stage, criminals are trying to decide what are (and are not) good targets. From the outside, they learn what they can about your resources and your network to determine whether it is worth the effort. Ideally, they want a target that is relatively unguarded and with valuable data. What information the criminals can find about your company, and how it might be used, could surprise you.

Companies often have more information available than they realize. Are names and contact details of your employees online? (Are you sure? Think social networks too, not just your own corporate website.) These could be used for social engineering purposes, say, for getting people to divulge usernames or passwords. Are there details about your web servers or physical locations online? These could be used for social engineering too, or to narrow down a list of possible exploits that would be useful to break into your environment.

This is a tricky layer to control, particularly with the popularity of social networking. Hiding sensitive information tends to be a fairly inexpensive change, though being thorough about finding the information can be time intensive.

Weaponization, delivery, exploit, installation

These four stages are where the criminals use the information they have gathered to craft a tool to attack their chosen target and put it to malicious use. The more information they can use, the more compelling a social engineering attack can be.

They could use spear phishing to gain access to internal corporate resources with the information they found on an employee's LinkedIn page. Or they could put a remote access Trojan into a file that appears to have crucial information on an upcoming event in order to entice its recipient into running it.

If they know what software your users or servers run, including OS version and type, they can increase the likelihood of being able to exploit and install something within your network.

These layers of defense are where your standard security wonk advice comes in. Is your software up to date? All of it, on every machine? Most companies have that one box in some back room that is still running Windows 98. If it's ever connected to the internet, it's like putting out a welcome mat for attackers.

Do you use email and web filtering? Email filtering can be a good way to stop common document types that are used in attacks. If you require that files be sent in a standard way, such as in a password-protected ZIP archive, this can help your users know when files are being sent intentionally. Web filtering can help keep users from going to known bad sites or domains.

Have you disabled autoplay for USB devices? Giving files the chance to run without approval is seldom a good idea from a security perspective. It's better to give the user a chance to stop and think about what they're seeing before it launches.

Do you use endpoint protection software with up-to-date functionality? While endpoint protection software is not intended to deal with brand-new targeted attacks, sometimes they can catch threats based on known suspicious behavior or known software exploits.

Command and control

Once a threat is in your network, its next task will be to phone home and await instructions. This may be to download additional components, but more likely it will be contacting a botmaster in a command and control (C&C) channel. Either way, this requires network traffic, which means there is only one question to ask yourself here: Do you have an intrusion detection system that is set to alert on all new programs contacting the network?

If the threat has gotten this far, it has made changes to the machine and is going to require a lot more work from IT staff. Some companies or industries require that forensics be done on the affected machines to determine what data has been stolen or tampered with. Those affected machines will either need to be cleaned or reimaged. It can be less costly and time-consuming if the data has been backed up and there is a standard corporate image that can be quickly replaced onto the machine.

Actions

The natural last step in the kill chain would seem to be the attack itself, such as disrupting services or installing malware, but remember, the actions step is about carrying out the intended goaland once they've successfully disrupted, corrupted or exfiltrated, attackers can go back in and do it all over again.

Often the intended goal of an attack is monetization and that can take any number of forms, says Ajit Sancheti, CEO at Preempt Security. For example, attackers can use compromised infrastructure to commit ad fraud or send out spam, extort the company for ransom, sell the data they've acquired on the black market, or even rent out hijacked infrastructure to other criminals. "The monetization of attacks has increased dramatically," he says.

The use of cryptocurrency makes it easier and safer for the attackers to receive money, he adds, which contributes to the change in the motivation behind attacks. The number of different groups involved in the consumption of stolen data has also become more complicated. That could, potentially, create opportunities for enterprise to work with law enforcement authorities and other groups to disrupt the process.

Take, for example, stolen payment card information. "Once credit card data is stolen, the numbers have to be tested, sold, used to procure goods or services, those good or services in turn have to be sold to convert them to cash," says Monzy Merza, head of security research at Splunk, Inc. All of this is outside the traditional kill chain of a cyberattack, he says. Another area where the black market ecosystem impacts the cyberattack life cycle is before the attack begins. Attackers share lists of compromised credentials, of vulnerable ports, of unpatched applications.

Issues with the cyber kill chain

As recent history has amply demonstrated, attackers aren't following the playbook. They skip steps. They add steps. They backtrack. Some of the most devastating recent attacks bypass the defenses that security teams have carefully built up over the years because they're following a different game plan. According to a 2018 report from Alert Logic, 88 percent of attacks combine the first five steps of the kill chain into a single action.

In recent years, we have also seen the rise of cryptocurrency mining malware. "And the techniques they used ignored the traditional steps, says Matt Downing, principal threat researcher at Alert Logic, Inc. All the early-stage mitigation and detection techniques wouldn't work." Plus, the attackers don't have to exfiltrate valuable data and then try to sell it on the black market, he adds. "They can directly monetize a compromised asset."

Attacks featuring compromised credentials, where attackers log in using seemingly legitimate data and use those accounts to steal data, would also not fit the traditional attack framework. "That's a case where very obviously the Lockheed Martin kill chain doesn't apply," Downing says.

Another type of attack that doesn't fit the traditional model: web application attacks. "When you have an application that's exposed to the Net, anyone can come and visit," says Satya Gupta, founder and CTO at Virsec Systems, Inc. "It's like having a door open in your home."

The Equifax breach, for example, was traced back to a vulnerability in the Apache Struts web server software. If the company had installed the security patch for this vulnerability it could have avoided the problem, but sometimes the software update itself is compromised, as was the case in Avast's CCleaner software update in 2017.

Other transformative technologiesinternet of things, DevOps, and robotic process automationare also increasing the attack surface in ways that don't fit with the traditional cyber kill chain model, says Lavi Lazarovitz, cyber research team leader, at CyberArk Labs.

The traditional cyberattack life cycle also misses attacks that never touch enterprise systems at all. For example, companies are increasingly using third-party software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers to manage their valuable data.

"The problem has grown exponentially in size given the amount of logins people have, the amount of SaaS service there are, the amount of third party connections that exist," says Ross Rustici, senior director at Cybereason, Inc. "You could have a business-ending hack without your core network, the one you have control over, ever being touched."

Cyber kill chain vs. Mitre ATT&CK

The evolving nature of cyber threats has some organizations looking for a more flexible, and comprehensive, way of thinking about cyberattacks.

A leading contender is the Mitre ATT&CK framework. "There's a huge movement to show actual attack techniques tied to each step in the kill chain, and this is what ATT&CK from Mitre has done," says Ben Johnson, CTO at Obsidian Security, Inc. "It's received incredible reception and buy-in from vendors and the community."

Rod Soto, director of security research at Jask warns against over-reliance on frameworks. "Adversarial drift is dynamic by nature. Attackers tools, techniques and procedures will continue to change as new defense measures make them obsolete. Frameworks like the cyber kill chain can be a part of our tool kit, but its up to us as security pros to continue to think creatively so were keeping up with attackers and their innovations."

Editor's note: This article has been updated to more accurately reflect recent trends.
Among the over 100 vulnerabilities fixed by Microsoft this week during its monthly patch cycle is one that has the security community very worried. It's a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability located in the Windows Remote Procedure Call (RPC) runtime.

The flaw, tracked as CVE-2022-26809, can be exploited over the network with no user interaction, possibly using multiple protocols as a trigger. It's the kind of vulnerability that gave life to major botnets in the past as some Windows processes use RPC to communicate with each other over networks.

"Patching is your only real fix for this vulnerability," Johannes Ullrich, founder of the SANS Internet Storm Center, said in an advisory. "Don't delay it. Patch now and apply the entire April update. It fixes several other critical flaws that may have a similar impact inside your network (e.g., the NFS [Network File System] flaw). You can't 'turn off' RPC on Windows if you are wondering. It will break stuff. RPC does more than SMB [Server Message Block]."

Why is dealing with CVE-2022-26809 tricky?

The CVE-2022-26809 flaw is one of three RPC remote code execution flaws Microsoft patched this month. The other two are tracked as CVE-2022-24492 and CVE-2022-24528. However, the attack vector for the latter two flaws is client-side, with an attacker needing to trick users into executing a specially crafted script that would then make a call to a RPC host and execute code with the same permissions as the RPC service.

By comparison, exploiting CVE-2022-26809 is completely server-side and requires no user interaction. An attacker only needs to identify a system that has an RPC service listening for connections and then send the exploit.

There has been a debate in the security community since the flaw was announced regarding which protocols can be used to reach the vulnerability. To understand why that is, it's important to understand how RPC works.

How RPC works

RPC is a standardized method for creating client-server applications where a client application can call a procedure exposed by a server application without caring about the underlying network. The two applications can even be on the same machine and many Windows services and features rely on RPC locally. Microsoft even has a support article that warns against disabling RPC.

The standard communications port used by MSRPC is TCP 135. However, RPC traffic can be tunneled over other protocols such as SMB/CIFS, HTTP or TCP on different ports. That's why in its advisory Microsoft notes that TCP port 445, which is normally used by the SMB protocol, can be used to initiate a connection with the affected component and recommends that organizations block port 445 at their network perimeters.

Meanwhile other organizations, such as Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative (ZDI), mention TCP port 135 in its advisory , causing some confusion. Others wondered if TCP port 139, also associated with SMB and NetBIOS, might also be an avenue of attack, as well as other technologies such as SMB over QUIC, which tunnels SMB traffic over TLS-encrypted UDP port 443. Blocking that port at the network perimeter wouldn't be feasible since it would essentially block all HTTPS traffic.

There is currently no publicly available proof-of-concept exploit, but it's likely only a matter of time until someone develops one. Researchers are already reverse-engineering the patch to understand the vulnerability better and identify all the attack paths that could be used to reach the vulnerable code.

Even if only ports 135 and 445 can be used for such an exploit, the exposure would still be large. According to an analysis of the vulnerability by researchers from Akamai, almost 800,000 systems currently accept connections over port 445 from the internet. This is based on data from the Shodan search engine, which has limited visibility, so the real number is actually larger. Adding all systems that advertise a "Microsoft RPC Endpoint Mapper" service publicly, the number jumps to over 2.1 million.

That's only systems that are reachable directly from the internet, but this exploit poses a major risk to local networks, too, because it can be used for lateral movement. Gaining a foothold inside local networks is not hard for attackers and can be achieved in a variety of ways, from compromised credentials to employees clicking on malicious attachment or unpatched flaws in publicly exposed services or devices. We're in an age when security policies shouldn't be built on the premise that attackers can't get access to a local network as this is a common occurrence.

Why blocking ports might not work

Even Microsoft warns in its advisory for this vulnerability that "systems could still be vulnerable to attacks from within their enterprise perimeter" even if traffic over port 445 is blocked at the network perimeter. The problem is that filtering such traffic inside local networks is much more complex because SMB is widely used across enterprise environments. The Akamai researchers recommend "limiting lateral movement by allowing incoming TCP port 445 only on machines where it is needed -- domain controllers, print servers, file servers, etc." Microsoft has a guide for securing SMB traffic on Windows servers.

However, it's worth keeping in mind that SMB is only one of the known attack vectors for this vulnerability and that additional ones might also be found as researchers keep digging into the flaw. Because of this, the best course of action is to deploy Microsoft's April patches as soon as possible, especially since they also fix many other serious vulnerabilities, including a privilege escalation one that's already actively exploited in the wild.
Cybersecurity software maker Bitdefender threw its hat into the extended detection and response (XDR) ring Thursday with a native offering it's calling GravityZone XDR. The product is designed to get security teams up and running out of the box, with features that include:

Rapid, cross-correlation threat detection, which uses leading-edge mathematics and threat behavior models to detect advanced threats, initial attack stages, and anomalous application and identity behaviors

Automated threat identification and prioritization, which uses a built-in incident advisor for root cause and threat context analysis, allowing security teams of any size and skillset to view threat detections, understand a threat's impact on operations, and take recommended actions to contain or eliminate threatsall from a single view

Recommended threat response actions that can be resolved across endpoints, identities, email, cloud, and applications, with a single click

Bitdefender also worked on making these features easy to use. "Security technology can seem overwhelming to a security analyst, let alone a layperson, so we built the user interface hand-in-hand with our customers through an early access program," explains Bitdefender vice president for product and technical marketing Amy Blackshaw. "Customers partnered with us day in, day out, not just on capabilities and problems they were trying to solve, but on how they wanted to consume information from a UI and UX perspective. What that has led to is a very intuitive design."

XDR built on existing cybersecurity investments

"In the journey to XDR, businesses want to build upon their existing cybersecurity investments," Michael Suby, a vice president of research at IDC, said in a statement. "They also want XDR to produce tangible results, such as reducing attacker dwell time and improving SOC efficiency. By adding features like pre-built detections into sensors (minimizing custom detection writing), root cause analysis, and alert prioritization, Bitdefender is hitting both objectives."

Mahmood Haq, CISO at MyVest, a wealth management company, also praised Bitdefender's product. "GravityZone XDR excels at connecting and correlating incidents over time throughout our entire operations, and we experienced immediate value," he said in a statement. "The benefit of having a single-vendor solution with out-of-the-box detection capabilities for identifying and investigating known and unknown threats and providing our analysts with the knowledge of what and how an incident happened with the best ways to respond cannot be overstated."

Native XDR controls what's coming into the system

A lot of the implementations today are native XDR, which use the vendor's toolset, observes Forrester Analyst Allie Mellen. "That makes a lot of sense because the challenge of integrating other tools from another third-party ecosystem are the same as those we've seen with SIEM," she says. "Once you start trying to optimize for flexibility and modularity, it becomes difficult to control the quality of protection and to continuously provide detection."

"Native XDR has taken hold with a lot vendors because it allows them to control what's coming into the system and what's going out of the system so they can optimize detection," Mellen adds.

The alternative to native XDR is open or hybrid XDR. "An open XDR vendor is focusing on the security analytics layer, but doesn't own the downwind security stack," Blackshaw explains. "They work through integration of other vendors' technology, usually through alliances or an ecosystem of security vendors.

A positive aspect of hybrid XDR is it has the potential to mix best-of-breed applications with its offering. "But," Mellen notes, "clients aren't as concerned about going for best of breed as they used to be and many of the vendors providing the platform approach already have the best tools on the market."
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday repealed his traffic-clogging immigration order that backed up commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border, after a week of intensifying backlash and fears of deepening economic losses.

The Republican governor dropped his new rules that had required all commercial trucks from Mexico to undergo extra inspections to curb the flow of migrants and drugs and ratcheted up a fight with the Biden administration over immigration policy.

Some truckers reported waiting more than 30 hours to cross. Others blocked one of the world's busiest trade bridges in protest.

Abbott, who is up for reelection in November and has made the border his top issue, fully lifted the inspections after reaching agreements with neighboring Mexican states that he says outline new commitments to border security. The last one was signed with the governor of Tamaulipas, who earlier this week said the inspections were overzealous and created havoc. On Friday, he joined Abbott and said they were ready to work together.

When Abbott first ordered the inspections, he did not say lifting them was conditional on such arrangements with Mexico.

Pressure was building on Abbott to retreat as gridlock on the border worsened. The American Trucking Association called the inspections wholly flawed, redundant and adding considerable weight on an already strained supply chain." One customs agency in Mexico estimated the losses at millions of dollars a day, and produce distributors warned of empty shelves and higher prices if the order was not rescinded soon.

Abbot acknowledged the trade slowdowns but showed no sign of regret. He said he was prepared to reimpose the inspections if Mexican states don't hold up their end of the deal.

I'm not hesitant to do so whatsoever," Abbott said.

The U.S.-Mexico border is crucial to the U.S. economy and more of it is in Texas  roughly 1,200 miles (1,931 kilometers)  than any other state. The United States last year imported $390.7 billion worth of goods from Mexico, second only to China.

Trucks are inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents upon entering the country. Texas began its own inspections after the Biden administration said pandemic-related restrictions on claiming asylum at the border would be lifted May 23.

Abbott called the inspections a zero tolerance policy for unsafe vehicles" smuggling migrants. He said Texas would take several steps in response to the end of the asylum restrictions, which is expected to lead to an increase in migrants coming to the border.

State troopers inspected more than 6,000 commercial vehicles over the past week, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Nearly 1 in 4 trucks were pulled off the road for what the agency described as serious violations that included defective tires and brakes.

Troopers did not turn up any human or drug trafficking during the inspections, said Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw. He described it as unsurprising, saying cartels knew the inspections were taking place.

But migrants are stopped at ports of entry in only about 5% of CBP encounters. The vast majority cross in mountains, deserts and cities between official crossings.

The dynamic with drug seizures is different, with fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and other hard narcotics being seized overwhelmingly at official crossings instead of between them. Their compact size and lack of odor make them extremely difficult to detect.

Abbott has also chartered buses to Washington, D.C., for migrants who wanted to go. The first drop-offs happened Wednesday, drawing criticism from the Biden administration. On Thursday, CBP Commissioner Chris Magnus said Texas was moving migrants without adequately coordinating with the federal government.
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Honey Bunch, the wallaby who went missing at the Memphis Zoo after storms passed through Tennessee this week, has been found hiding  nearly in plain sight.

It was an area right behind the exhibit ... that had been searched multiple times in the past 36 hours, but he was camouflaged really well and hidden very well under a bush, said Jessica Faulk, the zoo's spokesperson.
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP)  Confusion reigned as jury selection in the death penalty trial of Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz concluded its second week with no immediate end in sight.

Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer, presiding over her first death penalty case, united prosecutors and defense attorneys in protest over her plans for concluding the lengthy process of picking the panel that will decide if Cruz is executed for killing 17 people at Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day 2018.

That confusion and other issues mean opening statements in Cruz's penalty trial, already delayed two years by the COVID-19 pandemic and legal battles, likely will move from May 31 to mid- or late June.

Scherer took the blame for the confusion late Wednesday afternoon but also expressed frustration with the attorneys. Jury selection is being conducted Mondays through Wednesdays only  with next week off  to give both sides time to depose expert witnesses expected to testify.

I apologize if I didn't do it the way you all wanted, said Scherer, a judge for 10 years. Still, she said, In what universe does it take three months for jury selection?"

But that process might get even longer. Earlier this month, Scherer summarily dismissed 11 potential jurors who answered no when she asked their group of 60 if they could follow the law  a question she hadn't asked any previous panel. The defense protested that she hadn't questioned each individually to assure they meant what they said. Those jurors have received summonses ordering their return April 25, but if any don't, the defense might seek a mistrial. If granted, jury selection would start anew, delaying the trial further.

I won't make that mistake again, Scherer told the attorneys.

Cruz, 23, pleaded guilty in October to murdering 14 students and three staff members during a five-minute rampage through a three-story classroom building.

Scherer and the attorneys are picking a panel of 12 jurors and eight alternates for a four-month trial that will determine if he is sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. They will weigh whether the prosecution's aggravating factors such as the multiple deaths, Cruz's planning and his cruelty outweigh mitigating factors such as his lifelong mental health problems, possible fetal alcohol syndrome and the early deaths of his adoptive parents.

Robert Jarvis, a professor at Nova Southeastern University's law school near Fort Lauderdale, said he understands Scherer feels pressure to complete the trial, but speed cannot be a priority.

Because Cruz admitted hes the killer, much of the public doesnt understand what there is to talk about and why the case is still going, Jarvis said. A more experienced judge would have realized that this was always going to be a very long process.

Any mistakes Scherer makes throughout the trial could be a basis for a Cruz death sentence being overturned, meaning a second penalty trial would be needed years from now.

Melisa McNeill, Cruz's lead public defender, told Scherer: If we do it right, we do it once. Prosecutors made similar statements.

David Weinstein, a Miami defense attorney and former prosecutor, said Cruz's attorneys are banking Scherer's mistakes for a potential appeal. Individually, they might not be enough to overturn a death sentence, but they add up.

If it is one or two small things, that is not going to do it. But 15 or 20 small things that pile on top of another and that creates a bigger thing, that could do it, he said. Each error creates more opportunity.

The scale of Cruz's killings, the extensive local media coverage and the trial's length are requiring an extra large pool of prospective jurors. The case is the deadliest U.S. mass shooting to make it to trial  seven other shooters who killed at least 17 died during or shortly after their attacks either by suicide or police gunfire. The man accused of killing 23 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart in 2019 is awaiting trial.

More than 1,200 potential jurors have been screened since April 4, with about 250 passing the first hurdle: Can they serve from June through September? Another 700 or more are likely to be screened starting April 25.

Potential jurors who can serve fill out a lengthy questionnaire about their backgrounds, knowledge of the case and views on the death penalty. Scherer told them they could be brought back twice for further questioning in May.

Both prosecutors and the defense thought that meant that at the next session, the potential jurors would be asked about the questionnaire. Those who passed that hurdle would be brought back for deeper questioning to determine if they can be fair and havent made up their minds whether Cruz should be executed.

But Scherer told the attorneys she envisioned bringing potential jurors back just once, in groups of about 30  one group each morning, another each afternoon.

The attorneys said that wasn't enough time for each group. In death penalty cases, they told her, it is not unusual for individual questioning of a potential juror to take 10 or 15 minutes instead of the two or three in many trials.

It cannot be done quickly if it is done correctly, prosecutor Carolyn McCann told Scherer.

Appearing exhausted and resigned to another delay, Scherer ended the session. She said she would issue a new schedule soon.

There comes a time when it is going to have to be what it is, she said. It can't go on like this.

___

Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida.
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LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP)  Reps. Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux flipped two longtime Republican congressional districts in Atlanta's northern suburbs by running against then-President Donald Trump and his divisive brand of politics.

But as they fight to keep their House seats this year, they're competing against each other.

After new congressional maps approved by the Republican-controlled state Legislature made McBath's district more conservative, she decided to compete for Bourdeaux's seat. That's pitting two colleagues from the same party against one another ahead of Georgia's May 24 primary.

The race is an uncomfortable development for Democrats who would prefer to celebrate the inroads they've made in Georgia, culminating with Joe Biden becoming his party's first presidential candidate to take the state in 28 years. Rather than building on that success, which was driven in part by support in Atlanta's suburbs, the primary is pitting two of the party's rising stars against each other.

Bourdeaux, who has referred to McBath as a sister" and previously campaigned alongside her, said in a recent interview that she was pretty shocked by the primary challenge.

If the shoe were on the other foot, it would not have crossed my mind in a million years to go over to the sixth (district) and run against her, Bourdeaux said, lamenting that McBath was devoting resources to defeating her in the primary that could instead be directed at Republicans.

McBath said her push to remain in Congress is about my work to honor my son, not her primary opponent. Her 17-year old son, Jordan Davis, was shot and killed at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a white man who was angry over the loud music the Black teenager and his friends had been playing in their car, spurring McBath into becoming a gun safety activist.

To keep that promise to my son and my family and my community, I have just refused to let Brian Kemp and the NRA gun lobby and the Republican Party decide who represents our communities in Georgia, McBath said in an interview, referring to the state's Republican governor and new maps state lawmakers drew based on the 2020 census.

She added: Ive had many people say to me, I think youre making the right decision. Its a difficult decision, of course, but I think its the right decision.'

The contest is one of five major incumbent-on-incumbent House primary races that will unfold around the country this summer. They include Democratic Reps. Andy Levin and Haley Stevens in suburban Detroit; Republican Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney in the northern half of West Virginia; and Illinois congressional colleagues from both parties  Republicans Mary Miller and Rodney Davis and Democrats Marie Newman and Sean Casten.

For some of these contenders, trying to unseat a colleague is just a political reality that comes along with the once-a-decade redistricting process. In Michigan, Levin and Stevens each said they still considered the other a friend despite now competing for a new seat drawn by an independent commission.

When something unfortunate like this happens, to me, its nothing personal, said Levin, who opted to forgo competing in a newly drawn battleground district to instead challenge Stevens in a safely Democratic one.

Stevens said that, during a recent vote on the House floor, she pulled Levin aside to discuss a bill they'd been working on. Later, she said, it hit her that, Holy smokes. Im in this primary with him and, no matter what happens, were not gonna be colleagues.

The race in Georgia is especially stinging because it will stunt one of two nascent, promising political careers.

McBath won a House seat in 2018 from a suburban district that was held by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich for two decades. The former Delta flight attendant is known nationally as a fierce gun safety advocate.

The same year, Bourdeaux came within a few hundred votes of unseating a Republican in the adjacent district, before ultimately winning the seat in 2020. A former public policy professor and Georgia Senate budget director, Bourdeaux has worked on transportation and infrastructure issues. She was among a small group of House Democrats who urged passage last year of a bipartisan infrastructure law before agreement was reached on a larger Democratic social policy package.

Bourdeauxs redrawn district includes wealthy suburbs in Gwinnett County that have grown increasingly diverse in recent years. It has large Black, Hispanic and Asian populations. A stretch of Buford Highway that runs through the area has become a major draw for its breadth of ethnic restaurants.

The district is heavily Democratic, so the winner of the primary is expected to prevail in the general election.

The two have stayed fairly even in the money race. As of the end of last year, McBath had raised slightly more than $3 million, compared with Bourdeauxs nearly $2.4 million.

Bourdeaux has been endorsed by some top Gwinnett County Democratic leaders, while Everytown for Gun Safety, where McBath once worked, has runs ads on her behalf. Protect Our Future, a new Democratic super PAC backed by a cryptocurrency billionaire, has also vowed to spend big to boost McBath, prompting calls from Bourdeauxs campaign that her opponent should disavow funding from the group.

Jovanny Emery Sierra, a 27-year-old technologist at a medical company from Duluth, voted for Bourdeaux in the 2020 general election but is now volunteering for McBath. He said he was alienated by Bourdeaux seeming to prioritize the infrastructure legislation rather than a larger, White House-backed social spending and public works bill known as Build Back Better that eventually collapsed.

It just felt like a slap in the face, he said.

Others who live in the district say they feel anguished that McBath or Bourdeaux will be left without a congressional seat.

We have two great, caring people that are Democrats, but through this gerrymandering at the state Legislature, they just cut them up and dilute the democratic process, said Jim Shealey, 72. Shealey said he hadnt decided whom to vote for in May.

Still, Julie Pierce, 65, said McBaths decision to challenge Bourdeaux leaves me squeamish.

Pierce said shes always thought highly of McBath, but she sees Bourdeaux out campaigning much harder.

If youre going to parachute in, for crying out loud, parachute in and date me, Pierce said of McBath. Dont take me for granted.

___

Weissert reported from Washington.
GUILFORD  One person was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound and an individual being held was rescued after an armed standoff that lasted nearly 18 hours, according to officials on Thursday.

Guilford police said the standoff at a Fitch Hill Road home began Wednesday afternoon. Deputy Police Chief Christopher Massey said law enforcement personnel will remain at the scene Thursday morning for the ongoing investigation.

The incident brought out members of the South Central Regional SWAT team, officers from Madison, Branford, North Branford and East Haven police departments. A Connecticut State Police SWAT team was later called in after the standoff continued into the morning hours Thursday.

Police Chief Warren Butch Hyatt said the fire department responded to a 911 call for a structure fire on Durham Road around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. He said responding firefighters saw smoke coming from the structure and were confronted by a man with two long guns.

The fire department kind of backed out of the scene and that male left the area in a vehicle, Hyatt said during a Thursday morning press conference about the incident.

He said information went out to police officers, and the department got a phone call soon after from an individual reporting that the man was at an address on Fitch Hill Road. Hyatt said one of the mans family members lives at the address.

Officers responded and tried to set up a dialogue with the man, but were unsuccessful. Soon after, the family member who lives at the address called police and reported the man was armed inside the home and that they were being held within the house.

The South Central Regional SWAT Team and a crisis negotiation team were brought in, and negotiations lasted nearly 18 hours, Hyatt said. During that time, he said, the negotiators tried to get the man to come out or to release the family member with him. Again, the chief said, that was unsuccessful.

The Connecticut State Police SWAT team replaced the South Central Regional team after they spent over 14 hours straight through the day and night negotiating.

Lt. Alex Giannone, the commanding officer of the Connecticut State Police Central District, said state police got there around 4:30 a.m. He said contact was never made with anyone inside the residence after state police took over. At one point while on scene, Giannone said members of the SWAT team heard a woman yelling in distress from inside the house.

Giannone said thats when members of the SWAT team switched over to a hostage rescue operation, and were able to safely rescue the woman.

Hyatt said police used a diversionary munitions, which make loud popping noises, to get inside the home after the yelling was heard. He said some nearby residents might have heard it and thought it was gunshots. He said no officers fired their weapons.

A man was found dead on the second floor of the home from an apparent gunshot wound, Giannone said. Hyatt said the states chief medical examiner will determine a cause and manner of death, but said that initial investigation indicates the gunshot wound was self-inflicted. The individuals identity has not yet been released.

Due to our relationship with the Guilford police department, the chief of police and the regional SWAT team, we believe this led to the best possible outcome, Giannone said.

The victim rescued from the home was sent to the hospital for further medical evaluation, but authorities said she did not appear to have any injuries. Hyatt said the relationship between the victim rescued and the dead individual is unclear. He said it was a close relationship.

I dont know what precipitated the fire on Wednesday, those are all things we are going to look into in the investigation Some investigation has been done to date, but a much more thorough investigation will be continuing now, Hyatt said.

Roads in the area remained closed Thursday morning, with Hemlock and Fitch Hill road closed and a stretch of Great Hill Road also shut down to traffic. Shortly before 8 a.m. Thursday, the roadways reopened and a shelter in place for nearby residents was lifted.
Gov. Ned Lamont ratcheted up his campaign against GOP rival Bob Stefanowski this week by releasing his second television ad, titled Projecting Strength.

In the ad, Lamont touts the states path to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, along with a record of recent budget surpluses and a proposed property tax cut.

ConnectiFact, an occasional Hearst Connecticut Media Group series examining the truth behind statements made by candidates, has reviewed one of Lamonts claims in the ad relating to his administrations efforts to distribute millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines over the last year.

ConnectiFact evaluates each statement and rates it on the following scale: True, Mostly True, Its Complicated and False. There is a fifth category reserved for the most outlandish claims that fall outside the bounds of everyday truth-stretching.

Claim: We developed the most effective vaccination rollout in the country, Lamont said in the campaign ad.

Connectifact Rating: Mostly True

Connecticut certainly saw one of the strongest responses to the nationwide vaccination effort that began in early 2021  as evidenced by the states 78.7 percent vaccination rate  but whether it was the leader in that effort depends on several factors, and who you ask.

For one, several states and territories, including Vermont, Maine and Rhode Island, currently have overall vaccination rates that are slightly higher than Connecticut, according to the Mayo Clinic.

At the same time, the 95 percent of Connecticut residents who have received at least one dose of the vaccine is tops in the nation, albeit tied with two other states and Washington, D.C.

Its worth noting, however, that Lamont boasted about the effectiveness of his administrations efforts, something that is difficult to quantify. Even the most well-oiled campaign to make vaccines easily available will produce limited results if people simply refuse to get the shot.

Dan Morrocco, Lamonts campaign manager, said Wednesday the effectiveness of Connecticuts vaccine rollout could be measured by its early successes such as being the first state in the country to vaccinate half of adults, and later the first to reach a 70 percent vaccination rate for adults.

By bringing together public health officials, business and community leaders, educators, parents and essential workers  Connecticut was able to get more of its population vaccinated faster in that critical period than any other state in the country, Morrocco said in a statement.

The source for Lamonts claim that appeared in the ad was an article published by WABC in New York last November under a headline stating that Connecticut had the most vaccinated adults in the country, with a vaccination rate of 84 percent.

That article also noted, however, that Connecticut lagged around the middle of the pack in terms of booster delivery.

Those numbers have since improved slightly, with Connecticut ranking 12th for percentage of eligible residents who have received an additional dose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Like the nation as a whole, Connecticut has also struggled to keep vaccination rates high across all segments of the population, particularly among Black and Latino residents who are at heightened risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19.

While Lamont spent $13 million in federal relief money to promote vaccine equity, Black and Latino populations still have lower overall rates of vaccination, according to state data.

Dr. Ulysses Wu, chief epidemiologist at Hartford Healthcare, said Connecticut and other states atop the vaccination rate charts shared largely similar strategies and were effective at communicating information about their rollouts to the public.

Still, he said, those states faced headwinds from many Americans' reluctance to get vaccinated.

I would say based on our vaccination rate, (Lamont) could lay claim to it if he wanted to, because weve done a good job, Wu said. But remember, its all relative because we could do better, as everybody could do better. Just because we are the best of I will say a mediocre nationwide vaccination rate, it doesnt mean that we cant do better.

Staff writers Jordan Nathaniel Fenster and Mary Katherine Wildeman contributed to this report.
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BRIDGEPORT  They didnt exactly change the world, but a group of students from Park City Magnet School changed the calendar Monday night.

The students, from teacher Erik Johnsons social studies class, successfully lobbied the Board of Education to add Eid al-Fitr as a school holiday beginning with the 2023-24 school year. The group had been working to get Eid added to the Bridgeport school calendar since January.

The Muslim holiday marks the end of Ramadan, a period of daily dawn-to-sunset fasting and reflection. Muslims traditionally celebrate Eid with charitable acts, prayer and celebratory feasting.

Although the day is a fixture on the Muslim calendar, a cross section of religious and secular leaders of various faiths joined the students in urging the board to adopt Eid.

As a lifelong Catholic, there has never been anything more important to me than raising my children in the faith, said Therese LeFever, who represents St. James of Stratford in the group Congregations Organized for a New Connecticut. As a Christian, I am privileged to have my holiest days recognized, and I can fully celebrate them with my family. But this should not be a privilege. This should be a right for all families.

LeFever also presented the board a letter from Bishop Frank Caggiano supporting the addition of Eid to the calendar.

The CONECT group also had organized an online campaign that had generated about 2,850 letters in support of adding Eid.

Michelle Rubel, a cantor at BNai Israel, said she grew up on Long Island, where the schools were closed on the Jewish high holy days. But others were not so lucky, she said.

Forcing (families) to choose makes students feel like an other, she said. That is a feeling that lasts long after the school year ends.

Johnson used his allotted speaking time to address his students, both in the room and watching the meeting remotely.

I told you if we come ready and prepared the community would back us. And here they are, he said.

Addressing the board, he thanked the members for helping teach the students a lesson.

Youve given them the lesson of faith in government, and I can tell you that they are the change we are always hoping for, he said.

Reheen Bangi, one of Johnsons students, described the process the students took to decide on a change topic, craft their argument and present their case to the board. Following a rejection in committee, the students did more research, revised their presentation and tried again, this time getting their proposal advanced to the full board.

We have come a long way in our journey as a class, and we will not give up until Eid is a recognized holiday, he said.

Although most of the two dozen public comments focused on religious equity and diversity, board Chairman John Weldon cautioned the members that state laws were specific when it comes to closing schools on holidays. According to board attorney Floyd Dugas, of Milford-based Berchem Moses, school boards cannot endorse any particular religion, or even religion in general.

In his written opinion, Dugas told the members that they could vote to close schools on a religious holiday for a secular reason, but not for a religious reason.

The most common (reason) would be due to a large number of students who would be out because they are celebrating the holiday, he wrote.

Superintendent Michael Testani said he had researched the absentee rate around Eid in 2019 and 2021 and had noted about a 500-student bump in absenteeism, from 1,399 on June 4, 2019 to 2,070 the following day. Last year there were 2,021 absentees on May 12, compared to 1,512 the following day.

Due to its ties to a lunar calendar, Eid does not fall on the same day each year. Instead it tends to move backward about 10 days each year. The holiday falls on May 3 this year, and by 2027 is expected to be commemorated on March 10.

But, Testani cautioned, in a district the size of Bridgeport, there is a wide variance in absenteeism from day to day, making it hard to determine how many students were absent due to the holiday.

I dont think these numbers really reflect any data, because parents send their children to school, he said. Kids want to go to school.

Last year, Weldon said the board had explicitly stated that students absent due to Eid would not be penalized for missing school.

There would be no tests, no homework on that day, he said. By these numbers, I dont see a mass change in absences from one day to another.

He also wondered about the learning disruption for the 20,000 non-Muslim students who would miss a day of school on a holiday they dont celebrate.

In reply, board member Joseph Sokolovic said Weldons argument actually supported closing the schools.

Theres no tests, no homework, he said. So 20,000 kids pause their education because we cant figure out the calendar in the sense of fairness?

Sokolovic argued that having 95 percent of students in school, but not doing schoolwork constituted a significant disruption that met the definition of a secular reason to close schools.

The rest of the board agreed, ultimately voting 8-0 with Weldon abstaining to add Eid as a school holiday for the 2023-24 school year.

State Sen. Dennis Bradley, who represents the neighborhood that includes Bridgeports Islamic Community Center, welcomed the Muslim community as neighbors and friends and called the group an integral part of Bridgeport.

We have a welcoming tradition as Americans, and the Muslim immigrants coming here now represent the wonderful fabric of this great mosaic, he said.

Speaking before the vote, Bradley said members had a chance to show this wonderful community that the promise of America  to be inclusive and respect everyones individual religious choices  is alive and well in the City of Bridgeport.
The Xian H-20 Stealth Bomber is China's answer to the US Air Force's B-21, whose specifications are top secret. The technical advantage of the US is being addressed now to shorten the gap it has over Chinese forces. News of the bomber came in early 2021 but was not fully revealed in the promotional video, but the west is still intrigued.

China's H-20 Strategic Bomber

The video, entitled "Dream of Youth," premiered on YouTube in January and accompanied two teenage recruits as they applied to join the Chinese People's Liberation Army, Air Force, as pilots (PLAAF), reported View60s.

The video clip showing the aircraft, which was only visible as a reflection of one of the pilot's helmet visors, does not provide a comprehensive view of the airplane, but it was extensively posted to social media.

Chinese reports say the plane is the Xian H-20, and it immediately attracted comparisons to the B-2 Spirit bomber of the United States Air Forces and the impending B-21 Raider.

Several months later, four computer-generated pictures were released showing the design of the Xian H-20 in an edition of Modern Weaponry, a monthly magazine published by state military corporation China North Industries Group. The bomber's computer-generated images, which have been in production for years, haven't been officially released.

South China Morning Post's defense journalist Kristin Huang published this about the H-20. After photos of the aircraft's design leaked, she remarked that China's next-generation strategic bomber might have used a stealthy flying wing design that could help it strike targets in the second island chain and farther.

These Xian H-20 Stealth Bomber images showed the weapons bay, dual tail wings that can be adjusted, two radars in the two stealth air intakes on both sides, and a front air intake, covering the surfaces are radar-absorbent material.

Read Also: Donald Trump Children: What You Need to Know About the 5 Trump Kids

The plane's shape matches the shape of the aircraft seen in the promo video last January.

Xian H-20 Stealth Bomber Capabilities

According to previous estimates, the H-20 would be armed with nuclear and conventional missiles, have a maximum take-off weight of at least 200 tons and a capacity of up to 45 tons, fly at subsonic speeds, and potentially fire four powerful hypersonic stealth cruise missiles.

What the H-20 can do was detailed and stacked by War Zone and its defense authors.

The stealth bomber will have a combat radius of 4,000 to 5,000 miles, the capacity to carry heavy weaponry loads internally, and an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar to effectively see targets, threats, and other risks, according to the Defense Intelligence Agency, cited the Drive.

The addition of CJ-10K or CJ-20 land-attack cruise missiles, which may carry conventional or nuclear warheads, gives the H-20 more weapons. It provides China with a long-term strategic capacity and a new means of putting targets in the Pacific and Asia in danger.

According to Janes' Jon Grevatt, a warplane specialist and Asia-Pacific defense expert, thinks the revealed images show that the H-20 emphasizes stealth and distance over speed. He added the new bomber could attack targets far away and the second island chain. If the H-20 is in service, the US will not be so comfy.

Xian H-20 Stealth Bomber is the next level of the PLAAF, leveraging modern technology for the next combat level to equal the US in this respect.

Related Article: New B-21 Stealth Bomber Can Defend Itself with Air to Air Missiles

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP)  The first of four men accused in a failed plan to build a biotechnology plant in Vermont using tens of millions of dollars in foreign investors money raised through a special visa program was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison.

William Stenger, 73, the former president of the Jay Peak ski resort, also was sentenced to three years of supervisory release and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution. He pleaded guilty last August to providing false documents. In exchange, nine fraud charges were dropped.

Stenger told the court he wished to apologize to his family, the employees of Jay Peak and Burke ski resorts, the state, the investors, and his community of Newport.

I let you down, he said, adding that he started out with the best intentions and got lost along the way.

Stenger and Miami businessman Ariel Quiros, the former owner of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain ski resorts, and two other men were indicted in 2019 over the failed plan to build the AnC Bio plant in Newport, Vermont, using millions raised through the EB-5 visa program that encourages foreigners to invest in U.S. projects that create jobs in exchange for a chance to earn permanent U.S. residency.

Rasha Mesharafa, who was from Egypt and invested $2 million, testified virtually Thursday that she had extensive communication with Stenger through email and became concerned about a lack of financial reports and delays with the AnC project. She said she went to Jay to meet with him and Stenger lied straight to my face.

All of a sudden there is no money, no jobs, no project, absolutely nothing, she said.

Mesharafa, who recently got her U.S. citizenship, said she lived this nightmare for four years and holds Stenger responsible.

Government lawyers say Stenger came up with the AnC Vermont EB-5 project idea, championed it, and lied to investors, the Vermont Regional Center, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Securities and Exchange Commission about its revenue and job prospects. They say Stenger was responsible for raising over $80 million from investors based on lies and deceit," according to a court filing.

The project was a fraud from the beginning, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul van de Graaf, who said Stenger was an excellent salesman."

The federal receiver appointed to oversee the ski resorts and the EB-5 projects provided partial restitution to the investors but the investor group is still out millions of dollars, prosecutors said in their court filing.

Stenger's lawyers said his primary motivation has been to develop and improve the economy of Vermont's rural Northeast Kingdom and he saw the EB-5 program as a chance to create good high-paying jobs, according to court documents. They said he was not motivated by money like Quiros and Kelly were, and has cooperated with and helped the receiver who was appointed by the court to oversee the resorts and projects.

Federal prosecutors requested a five-year sentence for Stenger, the maximum under the plea deal, while Stengers lawyers asked for home confinement.

U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford said he considered Stengers age, health, family circumstances and financial responsibilities in taking care of his wife, who also has health issues, but said the impacts on the victims is clear.

"Mr. Stenger made this fraud possible because of business reputation and his contacts, and gave it a credibility that in hindsight it never should have had, Crawford said.

Three years before the criminal indictment, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the state of Vermont alleged that Quiros and Stenger took part in a massive eight-year fraudulent scheme. The civil allegations involved misusing more than $200 million of about $400 million raised from foreign investors for various ski area developments through the EB-5 visa program in Ponzi-like fashion.

Quiros and Stenger settled civil charges with the SEC, with Quiros surrendering more than $80 million in assets, including the two resorts. Quiros has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and the concealment of material information in the failed plant plan and awaits sentencing. William Kelly, an advisor to Quiros, has pleaded guilty to two charges. A fourth man, Jong Weon (Alex) Choi, a businessman in South Korea, remains at large, according to the federal court.
DUNDALK, Md. (AP)  Detectives in Maryland shot and wounded a driver after the person rammed a police vehicle, officials said.

The incident happened Thursday afternoon in Baltimore County as detectives were attempting to arrest a suspect in connection with a 2021 homicide, Baltimore County police said in a statement.

During his apprehension, a vehicle on scene began ramming a police vehicle at which time detectives discharged their firearms striking the driver inside the vehicle, the statement said.

Officers gave aid to the victim, who was taken to a local hospital, police said. News outlets reported Thursday that the person's condition was unknown.

A police spokeswoman said the person shot was not a suspect police were looking to arrest, The Baltimore Sun reported.

The spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to an inquiry Friday on the suspect's condition and whether the suspect had been identified.

The officers involved are on routine administrative leave. They were not injured, news outlets reported.
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Body camera footage of Patrick Lyoyas fatal encounter with a Michigan police officer shows a close-up view of an intense struggle, but the video goes dark 42 seconds before the officer shoots the Black man in the head.

Its the latest high-profile case in which body cameras  touted as tools to hold police accountable  have failed, leaving prosecutors and the public to rely on bystander video for a clearer picture of what happened.

One expert said vendors could make changes to avoid accidental camera deactivations, though it's not clear that is what happened in Lyoya's case, and some activists said an accident seems unlikely. Regardless, Lyoyas family and their attorneys say it shows the importance of citizen video. The shooting was captured by Lyoyas passenger, with a cellphone, and a doorbell camera across the street.

Keep videoing the police because transparency is important for them and its sure important for us, said Ben Crump, an attorney for Lyoyas family.

The officer was on top of Lyoya, who was facedown on the ground, when he shot the 26-year-old Congolese refugee in the head April 4.

Body camera video released by police this week shows the initial stop, and the officer saying the cars license plate wasnt registered to the vehicle. It shows Lyoyas attempt to run away and a struggle as the officer repeatedly tells him to stop. At one point, Lyoya has his hand on the officers stun gun, and the officer yells at him to let go.

The video then goes black. Police dashcam captured some audio but no images of the shooting.

Official sources can have limitations for a variety of reasons, such as the limited view of the dashcam in the Grand Rapids incident, or the fixed viewpoint of a surveillance camera. In the recent Brooklyn subway attack, computer system problems kept authorities from either recording or viewing footage on security cameras in the station where the subway train stopped after Frank James allegedly opened fire.

Other cameras in the system worked, however, and provided critical evidence.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom said officers have to hold a button on the camera for three seconds to turn it off. He said the button was hit many times during the struggle in this case, but at the point the screen went dark that was the first moment that it was held down for more than three seconds. Thats what deactivated it.

One body camera expert said it appeared to have been unintentional.

That officer, he is in a full-on struggle with that citizen. And Im sure turning the camera off wouldve been the least of his concerns, said Michael White, a professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University and co-director of training and technical assistance for the U.S. Department of Justice Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program.

White couldn't think of another case in which an officer's camera was unintentionally turned off during a struggle.

But cameras are sometimes knocked off officers uniforms.

The Axon Body 3 camera used by Grand Rapids police has a large circular button on the front surrounded by a ridge, so the button is slightly recessed. Officers tap the button twice to record and hold it down for three seconds to turn it off.

Axon said it remains committed to developing technology and training for public safety but declined to comment further, citing the investigation.

Michelle Gross, a Minnesota activist for police accountability and president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, was among those who doubted that the officers camera was accidentally turned off, citing the recessed button.

An expert in police accountability issues agreed. Sam Walker, a retired professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha, called the cameras deactivation suspicious and said it must be investigated.

In the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, bystander video was crucial in bringing attention to and documenting what happened. In that case, Derek Chauvin's body camera fell off as he and other Minneapolis police officers struggled with Floyd, who was Black. Video recorded by a teenage bystander, as well as the other officers body cameras, was key in convicting Chauvin of murder.

During the 2019 arrest of Elijah McClain, a Black man who died after officers confronted him in suburban Denver, the body cameras of all three officers came off during a struggle. The cameras continued to record audio but there was no video footage to verify a police claim that McClain reached for one of the officers guns. He was placed in a chokehold and paramedics injected him with the powerful sedative ketamine. He later died at a hospital.

Sometimes officers intentionally turn off the cameras. In the 2019 beating and death of Ronald Greene, another Black man, Louisiana Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth turned his body camera off during a car chase. It was one of several policy violations for which he was ultimately fired.

White said some body camera models have means to prevent accidental deactivation, such as needing to press a button three times. He said if it is deemed that the camera worn by the officer in Lyoya's death was accidentally deactivated, he wouldnt be surprised if major vendors begin working on modifications, such as additional manual mechanisms or voice activation. He said companies have developed solutions to prevent body-worn cameras from being knocked off, such as stronger magnets.

Ayesha Bell Hardaway, an associate professor of law at Case Western Reserve University and co-director of the schools Social Justice Institute, said the lack of video in use-of-force cases can affect whether officers are charged. Without direct evidence such as video, prosecutors must rely on the reasonable-officer standard in bringing charges, examining whether a reasonable officer would have believed his or her life or the lives of others to be in danger.

The absence of the video at the critical moment gives us no window to put us in that moment, she said. It now puts us right back where we were  relying on the word of an officer.

Bell Hardaway said bystander video has become increasingly important in these cases.

I shudder to think of the lack of accountability that exists in a world without this technology, she said.

___

Forliti reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Washington, D.C.; David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; Colleen Slevin in Denver; and Jake Bleiberg in Dallas contributed.
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LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  The messages, reports from across Ukraine, scroll in real time:

One civilian dead.

Thirteen military casualties.

Five civilians injured.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova glances at her cell phone. The stark numbers and bare-bones accounts that unreel in her hand are just the start; her staff will catalog them, investigate them -- and try to bring the Russian perpetrators of war crimes to justice.

This is her purpose: To make Vladimir Putin and his forces pay for what they have done. While courts around the world are working to hold Russia accountable, the bulk of the investigation  and the largest number of prosecutions  will likely be done by Ukraine itself.

For Venediktova, this is personal.

I protect the public interest of Ukrainian citizens. And now I see that I cant protect these dead kids, she says. And for me its pain.

___

This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and FRONTLINE that includes the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience and an upcoming documentary.

___

The first woman to serve as Ukraines prosecutor general, Venediktova speaks with steely resolve and occasional humor, and approaches her task with a relentless work ethic.

Venediktova, a 43-year-old former law professor, is on the move every few days, the jackets and dresses of her old life increasingly replaced by olive fatigues and a bulletproof vest. She takes meals hurriedly in the car or skips them entirely.

There are no office hours anymore. There are only war hours, which start early and end late, as Associated Press reporters who spent a day with her would learn.

Her office has already opened over 8,000 criminal investigations related to the war and identified over 500 suspects, including Russian ministers, military commanders and propagandists -- even as an array of international war crimes investigations pick up steam.

The main functions of the law are to protect and to compensate. I hope that we can do it, because now its just beautiful words, no more rule of law, Venediktova says. Its very beautiful words. I want them to work.

___

On a Tuesday morning, Venediktova marches up to a thick line of refugees waiting in the chill sun to register at a district administration building in Lviv. Her security detail, armed and dressed in black, hovers as she stepped into the crowd of women and children.

Venediktova has stationed prosecutors at refugee centers across the country and at border crossings, trying to collect the shards of suffering of millions of Ukrainians and transform them into fact and evidence before they vanish.

Venediktova sweeps upstairs, down a narrow hallway to a bare room with two large black desks that she calls the heart of the war crimes office in Lviv. Her war crimes unit has around 50 dedicated prosecutors, but shes repurposed all her staff to focus on that mission.

Many dont want to show their faces publicly. There are grave questions of security, both for her people and the information they collect. Prosecutors here tend to speak of the future with grim pragmatism. Its not just the unpredictability of war; its a tacit acknowledgement that they themselves might not be around tomorrow to finish what theyve started.

Prosecutors ply the line of refugees at Lvivs center each day, looking for witnesses and victims willing to submit a statement. Some stories are not told. People have come too far, theyre too tired. Or scared. Their infants are fussing. They have places to go.

Interviews can take hours. Bent over laptops, prosecutors wait out peoples tears to ask what the shelling sounded like, what kind of spray munitions made on impact. They ask what uniforms, what insignia soldiers wore. This is the raw material of accountability, the first link in a chain of responsibility Venediktova hopes to connect all the way to Russias leadership.

Ala, 34, sits with prosecutors and explains how shed lost her home. She doesnt want her last name published because her 8-year-old daughter remains trapped in Russian-held territory.

Ala promises to return with a fragment from a mortar that destroyed her apartment in Vorzel, a town a few kilometers west of Bucha. Shed collected the metal, dense and grey in her hands, as a memento of what shed survived. And as evidence.

We need proof for them to be punished, she says. I am lucky. I am still here to talk about what happened to me.

___

Shortly before noon, Venediktova leaves the refugee center and climbs into a black SUV headed to the Polish border, an hour or so north. A police escort speeds her through a landscape of rough houses and the wintery bones of trees, past old cemeteries, rusted childrens swings, the shining domes of churches. The only signs of war are defiant billboards proclaiming victory for Ukraine and death to the enemy, and checkpoints with sandbags and hedgehog barricades to stop tanks that have not yet come.

Venediktova knows these roads well. She rides them endlessly back and forth to meet foreign officials who dont dare venture into a country at war.

I live in a car actually, she says. I need help, support, advisers. I need people who understand what will be next.

Her office cooperates closely with prosecutors from the International Criminal Court and nearly a dozen countries, including Poland, Germany, France and Lithuania, all of which have opened criminal investigations into atrocities in Ukraine.

She has taken on high-level legal advisers from the U.K. and is working with the United States and the European Union to build mobile investigative teams with international expertise. Clint Williamson, a former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, helps oversee that effort, which is funded by the U.S. State Department.

We have to confront this, Williamson says. Theres a need to show that countries are determined to stand up for international humanitarian law and hold people so flagrantly violating it accountable.

Part of their task now is to make sure that the evidence being collected is up to international standards, so the testimony of people like Liudmila Verstiouk, a 58-year-old woman who survived the siege of Mariupol, wont be thrown out of court.

Venediktova meets Verstiouk in a makeshift office at the Krakivets crossing on the border with Poland. She arrived from Mariupol with her papers, her phone and the clothes on her back  a velour dress, black stockings, white winter boots. Her apartment was bombed on March 8, and she told prosecutors that when she fled, she left her 86-year-old father behind in the burning building. He has Alzheimers and cannot walk.

Verstiouk says she spent a week sheltering at Mariupols drama theater. She left the day before bombs killed an estimated 300 people there.

She has not been able to reach anyone who was inside by phone. Or her father.

Why did Russia attack me? she says. It destroyed my city - for what? For what? Who will give me an answer to that, and how do I go on living?

In the course of a five-hour interview, prosecutor Stanislav Bronevytskyy takes Verstiouks statement. She can remember every detail, each minute and second, he says.

He types out Verstiouks story and uploads it to a central database.

___

Vast swaths of Ukraine have been transformed into potential crime scenes. Each day, the tragedies multiply, creating an insurmountable pile of facts that must be established and saved.

There is far too much work even for the more than 8,000 staffers who work for Venediktova. Back from the border by mid-afternoon, Venediktova continues her campaign for support, on Zoom calls with Amal Clooney and a group of international donors.

When President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Venediktova, in March 2020, she inherited an office plagued by allegations of corruption and inefficiency and a legal code outside experts have said is badly in need of reform.

She has pitched herself as a reformer. Thousands of prosecutors have been fired for failing to meet standards of integrity and professionalism, and so shes got an office that is not fully staffed preparing war crimes cases against what she predicts will be 1,000 defendants.

Venediktova has been building alliances with human rights groups  some of which have a history of antagonism with Ukrainian authorities -- and an often-distrustful public.

In March, a group of 16 Ukrainian civil society groups formed the 5AM Coalition to document potential war crimes. In addition to analyzing open-source material, they manage networks of trained monitors who gather evidence across the country to share with prosecutors.

Theyre joined by researchers around the world, at places like the Centre for Information Resilience, Bellingcat and the International Partnership for Human Rights, who have been scouring the flood of social media postings to verify what happened and who is responsible.

Venediktova also has encouraged ordinary citizens to help by collecting information with their smartphones and submitting it online to warcrimes.gov.ua. Five weeks into the war there were over 6,000 submissions.

Artem Donets, a criminal lawyer who joined the territorial defense forces in Kharkiv, says he is part of a Telegram group of 78 lawyers who are all pitching in on evidence-gathering, picking up incidents that prosecutors and police may not have time to get to.

We are a law battalion, he says.

On the day he spoke with the AP, Donets had gone out to document the latest attack on civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv. He found himself in front of his own home.

As usual, he pulled out his mobile phone. He took GPS coordinates and trained his camera on a crater in the asphalt, tracing its shape with his finger. Damage to the facade of the building, he said in a flat, professional voice. Destruction of glass, windows, doors.

Donets reported finding a rocket from a cluster munition sticking out of the ground 100 meters (328 feet) away. Cluster munitions split open and drop bomblets over a wide area and have been banned by over 100 countries. Using such indiscriminate weapons in what was a residential area with no Ukrainian military presence could count as a war crime.

He sends his incident report to the International Criminal Court and uploads it to Venediktovas database.

It was quite a strike for me, Donets says. I hope when this war ends to build a better house for me and my family. I hope. We have no options. Either we win this war, or we will be occupied and swept from history.

___

The horrors Venediktova and her networks of allies are documenting  mass graves, apparent assassinations of civilians, indiscriminate shelling, repeated attacks on hospitals, forced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, cities under siege, denied food, water and humanitarian aid  are not new.

Putins military and his proxies have used similar tactics in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, Crimea and the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Despite years of copious documentation, Western powers never really pushed back.

That changed at 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, when Russia started dropping bombs on its neighbor. Those years of unanswered atrocities now weigh on Venediktova.

I was a university professor, and for me rule of law wasnt just a song. When I spoke with my students about rule of law, about human rights, I actually trust in this. And now I feel that what I trust, it does not work, Venediktova says. Maybe we should take the best minds in the legal system, in jurisprudence of the world and create something new.

In the meantime, she has a more concrete objective: money.

As evening falls, she sits with her deputies in a darkening room and asks for another espresso. The jarring notes of an inexperienced clarinetist waft in from a music school next door.

Venediktovas team reports on progress in their ongoing search for the overseas assets of war crimes suspects. One of her priorities is to seize the money of war criminals and give it to victims. She will need cooperation from countries around the world where Russian suspects have stashed their wealth. Many countries cant legally seize assets for a foreign court.

Ukraine is also crowdsourcing this global treasure hunt, with a portal in English, Russian and Ukrainian, where anyone can upload tips about assets .

There is, of course, an even bigger prize that lies just out of reach: Hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets frozen by the U.S., E.U., U.K., Switzerland and others. Maybe one day that too could be used to fund reconstruction and reparations in Ukraine.

Shortly before 9 p.m., Venediktova appears on national television, as she does most evenings. She reassures her people that guilt will be punished and suffering compensated.

My first joy will be victory when we sell someones villa, yacht, and our ordinary Ukrainians, who were forced to flee their homes, will physically receive this compensation, she says. Thank you, good evening, see you soon.

___

Follow Kinetz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ekinetz
WFO NEW YORK CITY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 14, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Upton NY has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Southern Fairfield County in southern Connecticut...

Southern Westchester County in southeastern New York...

* Until 615 PM EDT.

* At 524 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Bronxville,

or over Yonkers, moving east at 35 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and penny size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to trees and power lines.

* This severe thunderstorm will be near...

Scarsdale around 530 PM EDT.

White Plains and Rye around 535 PM EDT.

Port Chester around 540 PM EDT.

Darien around 600 PM EDT.

Norwalk around 605 PM EDT.

Westport around 615 PM EDT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

To report severe weather, contact your nearest law enforcement

agency. They will send your report to the National Weather Service

office in Upton NY.

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather
Photo: George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images

To hear it from bosses, the office is sacred. Its a space where the walls practically vibrate with possibility. Apples Tim Cook told People last March that he couldnt wait to go back and experience a little of that magic again. Innovation isnt always a planned activity, he said. Its bumping into each other over the course of the day and advancing an idea that you just had. Leadership at Hearst told Insider a similar story: Pushing people to come back to the office despite protests from their union reaffirms our connectivity, builds our community, and helps foster an environment of creativity and overall collaboration. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, who has called remote work an aberration and inspired the tiniest of uprisings among his firms junior bankers, told Fortune in February that the secret sauce for the company is when younger hires come together and collaborate with more senior employees.

Theres truth to all of this. People like seeing colleagues face to face, like collaborating, and  significantly  like separating their work life from their home life. In-person work is often fine, its just that cultivating the kind of environment described by bosses in their odes to the office  natural collaboration, mentorship, spontaneous creativity  is a different project than simply dragging people back to midtown as we cycle through COVID waves. The reality of the office is often a miserable one: people stuck on long commutes only to arrive at mostly quiet offices and sit in pointless meetings; junior staffers quitting because they dont see a career path and dont have mentors. The fantasy many employers have of what the office was  the story of why we must come back  is currently running up against reality. The office isnt the problem  its work.

When you look beyond employees protesting return-to-office policies, there are almost always other signs of greater discontent. At the root of Hearst Unions NLRB complaint was that management was making a unilateral change without bargaining with employees and listening to their needs. In other words, it was a symptom of the culture that inspired workers to organize there in the first place. Its not that we dont ever want to step foot in any of our locations ever again, one Hearst staffer told me. Its more that the requirement being unilateral and being handed down from the top without our input and frankly treating us like children  thats the problem. People often cite commuting as their main complaint of returning to work, which makes sense when you consider how much time a person spends just getting to and from work. In New York City, the average commute time is nearly 40 minutes one way. Add that on top of an eight (or nine, or ten) hour work day and youre losing virtually all of your awake time to work. Last year, a group of analysts at Goldman sent their bosses a list of grievances that included having to work 105 hours in the previous week. (It may be hard to shed a tear for a banker, but the problem of overwork is rampant.)

And as much as employers talk about interaction, the modern office is often a place where one goes to be alone among others. A study by Harvard Business Schools Ethan Bernstein in 2019 found that contemporary open offices have actually led to 70 percent fewer face-to-face interactions. That was a bit of a thorn in the side of many people who had claimed that they could open up offices, get greater density, and lower costs, and at the same time they were boosting revenues by getting more creativity and collaboration, Bernstein said. For many white-collar workers based in open-concept offices, the studys findings can feel more or less intuitive: Often, the office is just a different place to silently use your laptop, with headphones in. It is very quiet, a Hearst employee told me after returning to the office part-time. And it was pretty quiet before because we mostly sit around computers anyways. In the open offices Ive worked at, in nonprofits and media, Ive had all-day conversations with colleagues over Slack or email without ever speaking out loud.

When the open office does foster conversation, it can make it hard for others to actually focus. Jennifer Tsang, a chief of staff who has worked for Cisco for over 20 years, told me that when the company moved from cubicles to an open floor plan, things got considerably louder. The crosstalk became distracting. But Tsang enjoys her job and one of the reasons shes stayed so long, she says, is because of the companys flexible work-from-home policy. Basically, she can focus at home when she needs to. The paradigm should shift away from, Should we be in office, should we not be in office, Tsang said. We should acknowledge and accept that people have lives outside of work and that its about finding more balance.

So on some level, the push to return is about the preservation of certain things we have come to associate with work but are not themselves work: the grip of commercial real estate and developers on our cities, the economies that grow around office districts (small businesses from midtown to the Financial District saw a major falloff in foot traffic), and  maybe most crucially  the legitimacy of certain jobs and job functions (a tier of non-work the late anarchist author David Graeber referred to as bullshit jobs). I suspect that some managers were alarmed by the manifest ability of many workers to get their jobs done better when they dont have to interact in person with their supervisors, Elizabeth Anderson, professor of public philosophy at University of Michigan and author of the book Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives, wrote in an email. Managers feel a need to justify their jobs, which is hard when workers dont need them around to do a good job. Bringing them back in the office helps obscure that fact.

Anderson, who argues in Private Government that workplaces function as little autocracies and sites of extreme surveillance, was also quick to point out that remote work does not free the worker from the bosses watchful eye. In many ways, the tyranny of at-home facial-recognition apps that track workers when theyre looking at the computer and alert their bosses when theyve turned away, can be worse than being physically surveilled by a human boss who cant keep his eyes on every subordinate all the time. Bosses can also monitor simple things like when employees log on, send messages, and make phone calls. At the real-estate data firm CoStar, for example, Insider reported that remote employees were so closely tracked by their managers that one was berated for stepping away two minutes longer than their allotted 15-minute break. (Around 37 percent of the companys employees left last year.) Companies overall have ramped up their at-home surveillance efforts, in order to track their employees movements and productivity. Tech has already been devised to surveil workers at home, and in some cases it is even more intrusive that way, as the employer gets to see whats happening at home, with family life, Anderson wrote.

The questions of control, and who has it, are ultimately at the root of these issues. In recent months, amid a tight labor market thats given workers more power to leave jobs they dislike, many employers have softened on their return-to-office agenda. (As my colleague Kim Velsey put it: The junior bankers are winning.) Those who havent are running the risk of seeing their employees leave for another, more accommodating workplace. Meanwhile, many companies, in the tech industry in particular, are trying to draw people back into the office, rather than force them to, by offering bespoke amenities  free food, a private Lizzo concert, basket-making classes.

But the solution isnt perks, or even perfecting the hybrid workspace. If work and the conditions around it continues to suck, the office will too.

Because workers have said a lot, especially in the last two years, about the conditions they find most conducive to being productive (and being happy). Instead of bosses and politicians shaming people to get back into the office, they could hear their employees and constituents frustration with how things work now. Cities and states could invest in mass transit to help people get to their jobs, quickly and on time, build actually affordable housing that allowed people to live close to where they needed to be, and create a universal child-care system that relieved working parents. The four-day (or three-day!) workweek could become a more typical schedule, since we already know it bodes well for productivity and worker satisfaction. Every workplace could have a union so employees didnt feel like they were at the mercy of their bosses whims when it came to how they managed their time and structured their lives outside of the job.

The modern office once felt unchangeable. The pandemic exposed that for the lie its always been. As Miya Tokumitsu wrote in The New Republic in 2017, Employment contracts create the illusion that workers and companies have arrived at a mutually satisfying agreement. The illusion, now shattered, asks us to consider other possibilities. The negotiation isnt exactly where the worker is being called back, but to what. If its the same long hours, the same broken commute, and a fridge full of free seltzer, is there any surprise more people are saying no?
A walk through China's auto-industry spirit with vintage car collector

Xinhua) 09:09, April 15, 2022

Luo Wenyou, owner of the Beijing Classic Car Museum, poses for a photo with a vintage car in the museum in Beijing, capital of China, April 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Beijing Classic Car Museum, located in the Chinese capital's Huairou District, houses over 100 Chinese and foreign vintage limousines treasured by the museum owner Luo Wenyou.

"I've been fascinated with machines and automobiles since young. When I was a kid, I used to chase behind tractors to see how they plowed the field," said the 67-year-old Luo, adding that he considers himself fortunate to pursue his interest as a lifelong endeavor.

Luo's collection began with a Polish Warszawa sedan that he acquired in 1977. However, in the following decades, Luo was more focused on China's first generation of automobiles.

Photo taken on April 11, 2022 shows a vintage car in the Beijing Classic Car Museum in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

In the mid-1980s, Luo bought his first Hongqi car. Established in 1958, Hongqi, meaning "red flag," is China's iconic home-grown car brand and it has been used as the vehicle for parades at national celebrations.

Chinese people have regarded the brand as the nation's pride due to its historical significance. There are more than 70 Hongqi vehicles in Luo's museum, some of which were once used by Chinese leaders, according to Luo.

In 1998, the classic car collector took part in the Louis Vuitton Classic China Run, driving three-row seating Hongqi from northeast China's Dalian to Beijing as the sole Chinese participant in the rally.

"During the rally, the Chinese fans cheered for me, while many foreign drivers wanted to give Hongqi a try. I was really touched and made my mind to collect more Chinese vintage cars of this brand since it represents a national achievement," he said.

Luo said he spent over a decade planning and eventually established the classic car museum in 2008, adding that most of the vintage limos there are over 30 years old with all original parts and still operable.

Luo Wenyou, owner of the Beijing Classic Car Museum, cleans the windshield of a vintage car in the museum in Beijing, capital of China, April 11, 2022. (Xinhua/Ren Chao)

Luo has organized many vintage car rallies in collaboration with fellow enthusiasts across the country in recent years, and in 2019, he set up another museum in Shiyan City, central Hubei Province. All these efforts stem from his passion for classic cars, especially Chinese-made automobiles.

"The auto industry demonstrates a country's strength in manufacturing and science and technology, and thus, the collections in my museum portray the development of China's auto industry from scratch and show the Chinese workers' spirit of hard work and perseverance," Luo said.

Today, China's auto sector has accelerated its growth and achieved international prominence, and Luo is proud of it.

"I will continue to share the stories behind the classic automobiles in the museum with as many people as possible, so that our international friends may have a better understanding of China's auto industry and the country's progress through the decades," Luo said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed on Thursday that the Moskva, the flagship warship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, sank while being towed to a port after losing her stability. According to Russia, the ship was damaged by a fire caused by the detonation of munitions.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian government authorities claimed that their armed forces launched missiles against the vessel, causing damage. There was an explosion, and the cruiser was on fire, according to Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych and Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Russia's Moskva Warship Sinks, a Major Setback in Ukraine War

Two anti-ship cruise missiles targeted the cruiser in the Black Sea, causing "quite significant damage," Odessa Governor Maksym Marchenko said on Telegram.

Russia had previously said that the ship had been severely damaged but did not confirm that this was due to Ukrainian strikes. A fire on board the ship, according to Russia, prompted all 510 crew members to flee, ABC News reported.

Russia subsequently said that the ship's fire had been extinguished and that the Moskva would be towed to a port. The primary missile weaponry on board was not damaged, which made no mention of missile attacks in its statement.

A senior US defense official said the crew of the Moskva is still battling a fire aboard the ship. About a half-dozen more ships that had been near the Moskva have now moved further away from the shore towards the Black Sea.

The war for Ukraine's east is anticipated to heat up in the coming days, with forces redeployed from regions surrounding Kyiv in recent weeks, as well as more units from Russian land.

Izyum is predicted to be one of the most volatile areas of the conflict since it is located between Kharkiv and the Donbas provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, close to Russia's western border.

According to a US defense think tank, Russia's army would likely try to take Izyum and Slovyansk first, then move south to surround a chunk of Ukraine's south-east. Despite Putin's best efforts, military sources in Kyiv claim that the troops anticipated to swarm the east in the coming days will still fall short of the level required for Russia to win.

Read Also: Germany Facing Massive $240 Billion Problem Amid Russia-Ukraine War, "Sharp Recession" a Real Threat

Ukraine Faces Toughest Test Against Russia

Per Daily Mail, it comes as photographs illustrate how trench warfare is still a hallmark of European combat, with Ukrainian forces pictured preparing themselves for a Russian attack. Since Russia invaded Donbas in 2014, Ukraine's strongest forces have been dug in around the territory, but the next weeks will be their toughest test.

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) of the United Kingdom warned Tuesday that combat would escalate in the 'next two to three weeks,' signifying the start of a new phase of the conflict. Meanwhile, British military intelligence said today that the Ukrainian towns of Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka, the first of which was recently targeted by a Russian rocket attack that hit a civilian evacuation center, are likely to be singled out by Putin's troops for the same levels of violence seen in Bucha.

The Ministry of Defense claimed in a report on the battle that widespread missile and artillery attacks, as well as efforts to consolidate forces for an assault, demonstrated a return to conventional Russian military tactics.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin Admits Peace Talks To End Russia-Ukraine War, Fires Back at US Involvement

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Russian authorities have warned that they could use nuclear force to strengthen its defenses in the Baltic Sea as Finland and Sweden make separate talks to apply for a NATO membership over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The two Nordic countries have made unrelated moves to advance their plans of joining the treaty, with Finland suggesting it preferred a solution both of them will become members of NATO. On the other hand, Sweden decided to examine a range of security-related options, including deepening Nordic defense cooperation.

Finland, Sweden Pursue NATO Memberships

Furthermore, Swedish authorities urged the European Union to develop enhanced defense policies that would provide greater military protection to EU member states that border the highly sensitive Baltic Sea and High North regions. But unlike Sweden, Finland's government already has wheels in motion that aim to fast-track its application to join NATO.

The decision was made primarily due to the backdrop of heightened security tensions in the region that have been elevated by Russia's war on Ukraine. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said to opposition party leaders that she was expecting a decision on NATO membership soon, as per Yahoo News.

Moscow's statements on Thursday said that there would no longer be any more talks of a nuclear-free status for the Baltic, arguing that the "balance must be restored." The deputy chairman of Russia's security council and former president, Dmitry Medvedev, was the one who made the remarks.

Read Also: Russia To Sell Oil at Almost Any Price as World's Top Trader Set To Stop Buying Country's Crude Supply

Medvedev said that until today, his country did not take such measures and was not planning to do so but said that, if it is forced to do so, Russia was willing to choose the idea. However, the former president said that it was not Moscow who proposed the idea.

According to Fox News, Finland and Sweden's prime ministers on Wednesday held a joint news conference in Stockholm to discuss the issue. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said that her country was making similar choices to Finland's government.

Russia's Nuclear Threat

Medvedev said that he was hoping for Finland and Sweden to soon see sense and retract their desire to join the NATO alliance. He warned that, if the two Nordic regions chose to pursue their applications, they would have to live with nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles close to home.

The threat comes as Russia is the holder of the largest arsenal of nuclear warheads in the world and joins China and the United States as the global leaders in hypersonic missile technology. In an interview, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Medvedev's remarks have been talked about many times before.

Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin has already issued an order on "reinforcing our western flank" due to NATO's growing military potential in the region. But when asked whether or not the reinforcement would include nuclear armaments in the surrounding region, the spokesman said that he was unable to confirm the reports. "There will be a whole list of measures, necessary steps. This will be covered at a separate meeting by the president," he said, Aljazeera reported.



Related Article: Vladimir Putin Admits Peace Talks To End Russia-Ukraine War, Fires Back at US Involvement

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Employees of Old Nicks Pub bustled about the restaurant, making preparations for an influx of customers on Saint Patricks Day as they usually do every March. But March of 2020 was anything but usual.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown ordered restaurants and bars to shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 16, 2020, according to a press conference. The owners of Old Nicks Pub were left with $2,000 worth of food ordered and an empty restaurant on one of their busiest days of the year.

I was sitting there, and I just said, Well, I'm not going to let this food go to waste. Why don't we just cook it and give it out to people in the [Washington Jefferson] park? co-owner Emily Chappell said.

Chappell reached out to the Whiteaker neighbors community Facebook page and posted on a homeless support Facebook page she runs to spread the word about the free food.

I just told everybody, Hey, if you need to be fed, come see us. No questions asked. Were not going to make you feel bad, Chappell said.

Employees cooked the food meant for Saint Patricks Day and handed it to people through a walk-up window.

I thought to myself, seeing how appreciative all these people were, I was like, Man, this is something that we could just do any time, Chappell said. If somebody walks up to our window and they're hungry, they could always be fed.

The owners approached the staff about a pay-it-forward program where customers could donate money for anyone in need to receive free food.

I thought it was really great because, for me personally, in the past, Ive experienced food insecurity, bartender Jean Woest said. Being in a place where I could see those people and actually help them, it was just really satisfying.

It was decided. The pub would continue handing out free food to anyone who needed it. During the first six months of the pandemic, four or five people a day would come for free food, Chappell said.

During that time, many people lost their jobs. Chappell said many people seeking food were not homeless but living paycheck to paycheck. She recalled a man who said he spent his last paycheck and seemed very depressed coming to her for a meal.

I could kind of see it change as like his body was able to process nutrition and his basic needs were met, Chappell said. It was like, Okay, I'm going to make it through this. And to see that just a simple act of feeding, somebody can give them hope in the world to maybe keep going, that was why this had to keep going to me. It had to be an anytime thing.

Woest said he remembers when a family living in Washington Jefferson Park came to the restaurant for food but seemed hesitant about ordering food, only asking for one or two meals.

I was like, Oh, no, well get food for all of you. What do you want? Woest said. He served them and even gave them extra food to take home. The mom had the kid with her. She started to tear up and cry, and she was just like, We haven't had a hot meal in months, so this is making such a huge difference.

Thanksgiving was a huge day for the pay-it-forward program, Chappell said. Whole families came out to receive food from Old Nicks Pub. One man, who told Chappell he couldnt feed his family that year because he was out of work, broke down crying, she said.

It was heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time, Chappell said. Heartbreaking because why is he having to weep over being fed? How broken is our system?

However, Woest said it is harder for people to come to the restaurant and use them as a resource for food ever since Washington Jefferson Park, the previous location of a sanctioned camping site, shut down on March 16. Old Nicks Pub is just across the street from the park.

It's sort of sad to have this way of supporting the community and kind of see, due to policies and stuff, it's harder for folks to make it here, Woest said.

Chappell said donations have been low lately as well. However, she believes pay-it-forward programs should expand to other businesses.

I think that this is an accessible thing for many businesses to be able to do. It seems like giving away free food is a bad idea, but I think you'd be surprised to see how much community support you get, Chappell said.

Woest said the program has helped build trust between the employees of the restaurant. I've seen the employees stepping up and being like, We want to really help each other now, and we really want to be there for each other in the same way that we've seen the business being there for the community, Woest said.

People can donate to Old Nicks Pubs pay-it-forward program through its website or at the restaurant.
President Joe Biden spent just short of an hour on the phone from the Oval Office with Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday to tell him about Americas new $800 million package of military aid for his beleaguered but defiant country.

It included some of the more sophisticated, heavy-duty weaponry Ukraine has been demanding from the West but until now has been largely denied, such as 18 howitzer cannons  armoured, mobile and with a 20-mile range.

So the U.S. president knew Zelensky would be pleased.

But the Ukrainian leaders reaction was to complain it didnt include the helicopters on his officials wish-list in previous talks with Bidens hawkish National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, and his top military man, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The U.S. President immediately added 11 Mi-17s, Soviet-era helicopters still widely used as troop carriers and gunships by militaries across the globe, which Ukrainian pilots know how to fly.

President Joe Biden spent just short of an hour on the phone from the Oval Office with Ukraines president Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday to tell him about Americas new $800 million package of military aid for his beleaguered but defiant country

It all amounts to a significant step-change in U.S. military aid to Ukraine.

On a trip to America this week I spoke to several sources privy to Bidens latest thinking. They all agreed that, in the wake of Russian atrocities in Bucha and many other places in Ukraine, Biden had decided that he could never make peace with president Putin  that he really did see him as a war criminal engaged in genocide  and that Russia had to be treated as an international pariah until he was gone from power.

Thus has the man who once mused that a minor incursion by Russia into Ukraine might be acceptable, who has dithered at times over how to respond to Putins unprovoked invasion and made several embarrassing gaffes along the way, become the U.S. President prepared to arm Ukraine to the hilt.

The Ukraine crisis has been tough for a man of Joe Bidens years, a source tells me.

Hes struggled to cope at times, hes often expressed himself badly. But he is fundamentally a decent man who knows evil when he sees it.

He regards Putin as beyond the pale. He will not deal with Russia as long as Putin is in the Kremlin.

Even before this latest package, the scale of U.S. military aid to Ukraine has been substantial  and decisive in helping the country slow down, stop and sometimes even repel the invaders.

The $800 million (612 million) comes on top of $2.4 billion (1.8 billion) already sanctioned and largely delivered. Every day, U.S. cargo carriers land close to the Ukraine border packed with weapons and other military hardware, which then travels by ground convoy into Ukraine.

They all agreed that, in the wake of Russian atrocities in Bucha and many other places in Ukraine, Biden had decided that he could never make peace with president Putin  that he really did see him as a war criminal engaged in genocide  and that Russia had to be treated as an international pariah until he was gone from power

The new weaponry is not coming a moment too soon. Putin has given up on taking the capital, Kyiv. Indeed, it looks like he accepts that a wholesale occupation is now impossible.

But he is reconstituting and redeploying his forces to the Russian-speaking Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, part of which Russia has effectively occupied for eight years.

He is attempting to establish a land corridor along Ukraines south-east coast from Crimea, which he seized in 2014, and Donbas. It is from the east that he now aims to mount a war of attrition against the rest of Ukraine.

U.S. intelligence sources accept Putin is digging in for the long haul. He calculates that even if the Ukrainian military can hold him to a stalemate, in a prolonged standoff, the West will lose interest.

Ukraine will slide down the agenda, divisions among the allies will emerge and can be exploited.

And there is cause for concern. Bidens leadership over Ukraine is winning him no domestic dividend. His latest approval rating has slumped to 33 per cent.

His Democratic Party faces big losses in the House of Representatives in the mid-term elections this November and I think it could even lose the Senate.

Democrats are increasingly divided between a gerontocratic leadership (think Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton) and a new generation of Corbynistas more interested in grandstanding on social media than serious foreign policy.

If the Democrats lose Congress, recriminations will be bitter.

Nor does Biden have an obvious successor, should he decide not to run again. Vice President Kamala Harris, picked to be a shoo-in, is even more unpopular than Biden, her grip on global affairs not even tenuous.

In the wake of Boris Johnsons surprise visit to Kyiv, greeted with global acclaim, the Biden administration wants its own day in the Ukrainian spring sun. Biden, so far, is ruled out for being too frail. Nobody, so far, is suggesting that Harris should take his place.

As for Republicans, Russias barbarity in Ukraine has silenced most of the eccentric Putin-lovers on its nut job fringe. But its most famous Putin fanboy of all, Donald Trump, still looms over the party, stymieing all attempts to move on from the Trump years.

It is still widely accepted that the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election is his for the asking. It is a sign of the sparse Democratic gene pool that increasingly its being said that only Biden could stop him returning to the White House.

In almost half a century of covering American politics, I cant remember both Democrats and Republicans being in worse shape. But Americas allies have their problems, too.

Britain is solid for the Biden approach, but the Johnson government is once again mired in Partygate scandals which continue to obsess the political and media chattering classes and which Putin will conclude is just another example of Western decadence and democratic politics lack of serious purpose.

Germany is still a depressing drag on a proper embargo of Russian oil and gas and its leader, Olaf Scholz, has even resisted sending Ukraine the heavy armour it promised.

France is consumed with a presidential election in which the incumbent, Emmanuel Macron, recently described Nato as brain-dead and tried to cosy up to Putin even after the invasion, while the challenger, Marine Le Pen, wants to take France out of Nato, regards Russia as an ally and still refuses to condemn its atrocities in Ukraine.

Putin hopes that a confluence of events weakens Western resolve over time. You couldnt rule it out. The allies have more than their fair share of flaky, fair-weather politicians. But I think there are good grounds for hope that Putins new strategy in the east will fail just as badly as it did around Kyiv.

For a start, redeploying his forces eastwards is not without its problems. Some Russian troops have lost their stomach for the fight. There is a shortage of fresh manpower. Increasing reliance on soldiers from Chechnya and Russias far east is turning Putins forces into something of a colonial army.

Replacing equipment is an even bigger struggle than finding more troops. Ukraine has destroyed more Russian armour than some European countries possess.

Western intelligence reckons Putin will be able to field no more than 65,000 operational and well-equipped men, which is nothing near enough to break out from the east and take more of Ukraine. Indeed, it might not even be enough to hold on to what theyve got.

In addition to howitzers and helicopters, the new weaponry flooding into Ukraine includes, from America, 300 deadly Switchblade drones (on top of the 100 already sent) and radar systems that track incoming missiles and pinpoint their origin; S-300 anti-aircraft missiles from Slovakia; T-72 tanks from the Czech Republic; and 120 armoured vehicles from the UK.

Crucially, the Russians dont have control of the skies and the loss of the Russian navys Black Sea flagship, Moskva, makes that even less likely in the crucial south-eastern theatre.

The symbolic sinking of a battleship called Moscow by Ukrainian cruise missiles is obviously massive  not just the biggest Russian naval loss since World War II but the biggest warship of any navy to go down since 1945 (yes, bigger than the Belgrano).

But the military significance is even greater. Moskva carried 64 S-300 missiles, every one a threat to Ukrainian aircraft in the south-east.

Not only has that threat now gone, the Ukrainian air force is now free to swarm all over the south coast battlefields. Even the western flank of Crimea is wide open to attack.

So Putins eastern prospects are far from rosy. In a war of attrition in which the Russian side is increasingly short of men and material while the Ukraine side is increasingly armed with the latest and most sophisticated weapons, I know which side Id bet on.

It doesnt mean Ukraine can take back all the land its lost in the east, but its possible it could retake some  and Russian prospects of using the east as a redoubt from which to make further gains look fanciful.

But the West will need to hold its nerve, to tighten sanctions further and to keep the weapons coming for as long as it takes if Putin is to be thwarted in the east as he was in the west. Given the courage and fighting spirit of the Ukrainians, it is surely not too much to ask of us.
The children of the Indiana fertility doctor who used his own sperm to artificially inseminate his patients without their consent are sharing their horrifying story in an upcoming Netflix documentary.

Premiering on May 11, 'Our Father' chronicles how a woman's DNA test led to the sickening discovery that the once lauded Dr. Donald Cline secretly fathered dozens of his patients' children at his clinic in Indianapolis in the '70s and '80s.

The documentary directed by Lucie Jourdan features Jacoba Ballard  one of the first people to learn that Cline was her biological father  and many of her half-siblings.

'Growing up, I felt different,' she explained in the film's shocking new trailer.

The new Netflix documentary 'Our Father' details how Dr. Donald Cline, a fertility specialist in Indianapolis, Indiana, used his own sperm to inseminate patients without their consent

Cline secretly fathered dozens of children through his fertility clinic in the '70s and '80s

Ballard, who grew up an only child, had known she was conceived via sperm donor since she was 10 years old. In 2014, the then 33-year-old signed up for an online forum for adoptees and donor-conceived children in an attempt to find her half-siblings.

In Sarah Zhang's 2019 article for The Atlantic, 'The Fertility Doctor's Secret,' she explained how she quickly connected with another woman whose mother had also been treated by Cline. As soon as she saw her Facebook photos, she knew they had to be related.

That woman knew another woman whose mother had also gone to Cline, and she had a sister. The four of them took 23andMe tests to confirm they were half-sisters, but the results revealed they also had four more half-siblings.

They continued to search for their biological father by cross-matching their DNA with public databases to find relatives, and the name 'Cline' kept popping up. They eventually tracked down a distant relative who shared that she had a cousin named Donald Cline who was a fertility specialist in Indianapolis.

Cline had told his patients that the donors were medical residents, claiming he only used each donor's sperm for three successful pregnancies. But their unusually large number of half-siblings told a different story.

Jacoba Ballard (pictured) knew she was conceived via sperm donor and was one of the first people to discover Cline was her father

An initial DNA test led Ballard (pictured with some of her half siblings) to find out she seven half-siblings. She continued to discover more and more

While searching for answers, four of the eight siblings filed complaints with Indianas attorney general and asked for their suspicions that Cline had used his own sperm in patients to be investigated.

In 2015, Ballard sent a Facebook message to Fox59 news anchor Angela Ganote asking for her help. The local station aired a segment about a suspiciously high number of children from one donor at the time, but Cline wasn't named.

'He's known in our community as a philanthropist. He's an elder of the church,' Ganote said of Cline's reputation in the trailer.

It was Cline's son who helped organize a meeting between the doctor and six of the newly-discovered half-siblings, including Ballard. During the reunion, Cline allegedly admitted to using his own sperm but said their medical records had been destroyed.

Around the time The Atlantic article was published, the number of children Cline fathered with his patients was known to be more than 50.

Cline was a highly-respected fertility doctor a the time. He told his patients the donors were medical residents, claiming he only used each donor's sperm for three successful pregnancies

Jason Hyatt (pictured) recalled his shock when he discovered how many relatives he had due to Cline's horrific deception

'When I opened up Ancestry, I had over 3,000 hits,' he explained

'When I opened up Ancestry, I had over 3,000 hits,' Jason Hyatt recalled in the trailer, while someone else added: 'I dread every new match that comes, but they just keep coming.'

Another person explained that the majority of Cline's secret children 'live in a 25-mile radius of each other,' meaning they aren't sure who they are and aren't related to in the area.

'You're praying, "Please don't let it be somebody I know. Please don't let it be somebody I dated,"' one woman shared.

For years, Ballard and her half-siblings have wondered what led Cline to lie to his patients and use his own sperm to impregnate them.

'Most of us have blonde hair, blue eyes. It was almost like this perfect Aryan clan,' Ballard said in the documentary. 'It's disgusting.'

Meanwhile, Matt White couldn't help but ask: 'How the f**l did no one know for decades?'

Julie Harmon's mother, Dianna Kiesler, recalled how she had to tell her husband their daughter wasn't biologically hers

'Most of us have blonde hair, blue eyes. It was almost like this perfect Aryan clan,' Ballard said in the documentary. 'It's disgusting'

'I think it was some sick experiment for him,' another suggested.

Meanwhile, Matt White couldn't help but ask: 'How the f**l did no one know for decades?'

His mother, Liz White, had been trying to conceive with her husband for two and a half years when their fertility doctor referred them to Cline, who used fresh donor sperm instead of frozen, which had a higher success rate at the time.

Cline allegedly told them that he'd find a medical resident whose appearance and blood type matched her husband's. He also urged them not to tell anyone about the donor sperm, including their future child.

The mother, who was inseminated by Cline 15 times over five months, didn't discover he had been using his own sperm until he was in the news.

Another person explained that the majority of Cline's secret children 'live in a 25-mile radius of each other,' meaning they aren't sure who they are and aren't related to in the area

'You're praying, "Please don't let it be somebody I know. Please don't let it be somebody I dated,"' one woman shared

Cline, who was retired and in his early 80s, was charged with two counts of felony obstruction of justice for denying the allegations

'I feel like I was raped 15 times,' she told The Atlantic.

Julie Harmon also saw a TV news story about Cline, years after she discovered that her blood type indicated she was not biologically related to one of her parents.

In the documentary, her mother, Dianna Kiesler, recalled how Cline led her to believe that he had inseminated her with her husband's sperm.

Cline lost his medical license and was fined just $500 for his actions

'I had to tell my husband, "We're just finding out now that Julie is not yours,"' she said as her daughter cried next to her.

Ballard and her half-siblings were determined to seek justice, but his actions weren't technically considered a crime. At the time, there weren't any Indiana laws that prohibited the secret use of a doctor's own sperm.

'I don't deny that it was a sexual violation. But legally, there's just no crime that touches this particular act,' Tim DeLaney, the prosecutor in the case, explained in the documentary.

Cline, who was retired and in his early 80s, was charged with two counts of felony obstruction of justice for denying the allegations. He lost his medical license and was fined just $500.

In 2019, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a new law making fertility fraud and deception illegal in the state. However, Cline's case was far from over in the eyes of his victims.

'He's hiding something more sinister,' one person insisted at the end of the trailer.
Lesbian nun thriller Benedetta, which features a Virgin Mary sex toy, has been hit by backlash from Catholic groups who have labelled it 'appalling' and 'blasphemous' as it opens in the UK and Ireland on Easter weekend.

The film is based on the real-life story of 17th century nun Benedetta Carlini, who was imprisoned for having a sexual relationship with a fellow sister in a Tuscan nunnery.

It garnered headlines when it premiered at film festivals and in the US last year and is now opening in the UK to mixed reviews from critics who say it will have 'viewers blushing into their popcorn'.

The Daily Mail's Brian Viner wrote that it 'veers between soft porn and Carry On Up The Nunnery'.

Lesbian nun thriller Benedetta, which features a Virgin Mary sex toy (pictured), has been hit by backlash from Catholic groups who have labelled it 'appalling' and 'blasphemous' as it opens in the UK and Ireland on Easter weekend

Religious groups have condemned the film's release.

In Ireland, Catholics have been left enraged by one particular scene, which features a statue of the Virgin Mary being used as a sex toy.

Speaking to RTE's Liveline, objector John O'Donovan said: 'There is an attack on Christians and Catholicism right around the world. '

And earlier in the week, Damien Murphy, who is a spokesman for the Irish Society for Christian Civilisation, said: 'This movie is a fraud and nothing more than a blatant attack on the Catholic faith.

'There is no way that a director would depict Mohammed acting in a sexual manner. There is not one director in Hollywood or Europe who would dare mock Mohammed or the Jewish faith  it just wouldn't happen.'

Labelling the film provocative and sexy, it has been met with mostly rave reviews by critics, who have called director Verhoeven 'religion-obsessed' and referred to the taboo nature of his releases

The group has also launched a petition against the film's release, labelling it an 'insult' to release the film on Good Friday.

It has drawn more than 13,000 signatures. The petition states: 'I strongly oppose and condemn your distribution and promotion of Paul Verhoeven's film Benedetta. It offends God, and countless Catholics all over the world.'

And the petition claims the movie is 'blasphemous', featuring 'several Jesus-on-nun intense 'make outs', 'a statuette of Mary Most Holy used as a sex-toy' and 'voyeuristic lesbian nuns 'pornography.'

But in 2021, Verhoeven hit back at critics: 'I don't really understand how you can really blaspheme about something that happened, even in 1625.

'You cannot change history, you cannot change things that happened, and I based it on the things that happened. So I think the word blasphemy in this case is stupid.'

The Irish Society for Christian Civilisation has launched a petition against the film's release, labelling it an 'insult' to release the film on Good Friday

True story behind lesbian nun thriller Benedetta: Raunchy film showing two Sisters using the Virgin Mary as a sex toy is based on real-life 17th century abbess who seduced a woman while claiming to have erotic visions of Jesus

Verhoeven based his film on Immodest Acts: The Life Of A Lesbian Nun In Renaissance Italy, published by American historian and professor Professor Judith C. Brown in 1986.

The story of Benedetta had attained mythical status in Italy and was passed down through generations but Prof Brown gave the story academic credibility by unearthing new documents in the state archives in Florence, which confirmed the authenticity of the story.

Born in 1591, Benedetta Carlini grew up in a respectable middle-class Italian family who educated her - a rarity for the time - and paid particular attention to her religious upbringing.

By the age of five, she knew the litany of the saints and other prayers by heart. At the age of six, Benedetta learned to read and even knew a little from Latin.

The film also documents the power struggles Benedetta faces, both with the nuncio (Lambert Wilson) and the Abbess (Charlotte Rampling)

What is perhaps most extraordinary is that Benedetta actually existed, and these events - or at least a version of them - actually took place. Above, painting of a 17th century nun

One day, when Benedetta was still a young girl, a black dog tried to drag her away but was frightened off by her screams. But when her mother appeared, the dog had vanished. The family decided that it had in fact been the devil disguised as an animal.

She also claimed to be able to communicate with a nightingale, a symbol of carnal love.

Benedetta entered The Convent of the Mother of God in Pescia, Tuscany, at the age of nine.

At the time in Renaissance Italy, middle-class families often 'bought' their daughters a place at a convent because it was a quarter of the cost of a marriage dowry and conferred respectability.

Shortly after arriving at the convent, Benedetta was almost crushed by a statue of the Madonna while praying. She thought this was a miracle and showed that the statue wanted to kiss her. The young novice took this as a sign of the power of God.

However her early years in the convent were otherwise unremarkable. It was only at the age of 23 that she first reported the supernatural visions.

And one said that the film is so explicit, it might leave watchers 'blushing into their popcorn'

She reported 'visions' which came to her, including one in which Jesus asked to take her as his wife.

Other visions were more graphic and sexual. She would 'speak' in the voices of angels and underwent a mock marriage ceremony at the convent where only she could 'see' Jesus, her new husband.

Some of her visions occurred in front of witnesses who noted she had gone into a trance-like state in which she appeared to be in an altered state of consciousness. However others were less convinced by Benedetta and feared she could be a fraud.

She became a sensation with people flocking to see her and once showed stigmata on her hands bleeding wounds similar to the ones the Bible says Christ suffered during the Crucifixion. At the age of 30, she was made abbess of the convent.

The other nuns were so concerned by her increasingly disturbing claims that they reported her actions to the papal council in Rome and were ordered to confine Sister Benedetta to her room.

A young novice nun, Sister Bartolomea Crivelli, was assigned to watch over her. However, the pair embarked on a lesbian affair, with Benedetta claiming she was possessed by a male demon and so it was not a sin.

Benedetta was subject to two inquiries. The first found she was truly blessed, but the second discovered many inconsistencies in her stories, and was backed by testimony from other nuns.

Nuns told how they saw Benedetta inflicting the apparent stigmata on herself, and testified that they had seen her eating meat and cheese, despite these foods apparently being banned by Christ in her visions.

Another nun had seen her put her blood on a statue of Christ, which Benedetta then claimed began to bleed in honour of her sanctity.

The most startling testimony came from Bartolomea, who detailed their sexual relationship.

As the investigators noted: 'This sister Benedetta, then, for two continuous years, at least three times a week, in the evening after disrobing and going to bed would wait for her companion to disrobe, and pretending to need her, would call.

'When Bartolomea would come over, Benedetta would grab her by the arm and throw her by force on the bed. Embracing her, she would put her under herself and kissing her as if she was a man, she would speak words of love to her.

'And she would stir on top of her so much that both of them corrupted themselves. And thus by force she held her sometimes one, sometimes two, and sometimes thee hours.

'And Benedetta would tell her that neither she nor Benedetta were sinning because it was the Angel Splenditello and not she that did these things. And she spoke always with the voice which Splenditello always spoke through Benedetta.'

In Verhoeven's movie, the title role is played by Belgian actress and former television presenter Virginie Efira.

Her lover is portrayed by Daphne Patakia, another unknown Belgian starlet. Both women are set to become stars thanks to their erotic on-screen lovemaking.

The film paints a more ambiguous portrait of Benedetta and what transpired in the convent.

The film shows an 18-year-old Benedetta experiencing erotic visions of a naked Jesus, who instructs her to remove her clothes.

This apparent closeness to God, as well as her stigmata, elevates her above her fellow nuns and leads to the ousting of the convent's Abbess (Charlotte Rampling).

From the moment Benedetta and Bartolomea meet in the convent, the sexual attraction is clear. Unlike in real life, it is Bartolomea who seeks out the relationship.

'She is, of course, very happy when Benedetta gains more and more power, even if she doesnt really believe her [visions],' Patakia told the New York Times.

'But she doesnt care, because what she wants she can get through Benedettas power, because they can have a room of their own and they can explore and experience whatever they want.

'They both want the power to do whatever they want, and I think thats also what they share in common, but maybe its more clear for Bartolomea.'

While some believe Benedetta's visions, others, including Rampling's character and the nuncio (Lambert Wilson), question her motives. Their suspicions lead to a trial that concludes with Benedetta losing her position.

A similar fate befell the real Benedetta.

Papal authorities determined her revelations were the work of the Devil, not God; 'a diabolical obsession'. They stripped her of her rank and she was in the convent's 'prison' for the remaining 35 years of her life until she died in 1661.

A snapshot of what the critics have to say...

The Daily Mail

Rating:

Brian Viner wrote: I first saw Paul Verhoeven's Benedetta at last year's Cannes Film Festival. The Dutch writer-director is greatly admired there, but his French-language movie got a mixed reception  rightly so.

It veers between soft porn and Carry On Up The Nunnery in its telling of the supposedly true story of Sister Benedetta (Virginie Efira), who is revered for her apparent hotline to the Almighty, but is punished for a love affair with another nun.

With Charlotte Rampling as a mother extremely superior and cinematography that makes every other frame look like a Rembrandt, Benedetta would be a wimple-tastic new entry in the peculiar new genre of period lesbian drama (Ammonite etc) if it weren't so melodramatic.

i

Rating:

Christina Newland writes: Provocative, sexy, and riven with tongue-in-cheek humour (see: a Virgin Mary statue moulded into a dildo), Benedetta feels like vintage Paul Verhoeven in all the best ways...

Filmed with an eye for religious iconography and Renaissance-era symbolism that is stately in aesthetic and darkly amusing in tone, the style is well-suited to the subject in Benedetta.

And when the nuns lose themselves to sensual abandon, so too the camera begins to careen toward them, their (pointed?) cries of my God all the more gorgeously blasphemous as a result.

Empire

Rating:

John Nugent writes: 'Its an entirely European production  a Dutch director, working in the French language on a film set in Italy  but to its marrow, this is B-movie exploitation Hollywood.

Inevitably, that means not every viewer will be singing from the same hymn sheet. Some are bound to be offended; others will just find it juvenile or absurd.

But true disciples will appreciate the outlandish craft and courage of Verhoevens best film in years: a feminist allegory about a woman establishing power in a patriarchal system  through faith, love and dildos.

The Independent

Rating:

Clarisse Loughrey writes: In Benedetta, master provocateur Paul Verhoeven demolishes the line between the sacred and the profane. The breast becomes holy, a source of nourishment from which religious fervour can stem.

'Benedetta struts around in the cloth of something far trashier than it really is  the sex scenes feel more like giddy exploration than something truly lurid, and Jeanne Lapoiries cinematography remains tastefully muted in its tones.

'Thats despite the film featuring a cutaway of a performing fool being chased around by skeletons while lighting his own farts. As Benedetta says: Shame does not exist under Gods love".'
Royal tours are typically synonymous with glamorous gowns and wardrobes worth thousands, but Princess Anne's recent jaunt proves that doesn't have to be the case.

For the Princess Royal, 71, favours 'practicality' over any sort of trend, doesn't give 'two hoots' about what she wears and is even happy to repeat an outfit in a week - something which it is difficult to imagine any of the younger royals doing.

Anne, who travelled with her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, 67, impressed royal aides with her sense of duty as she toured Australia and Papua New Guinea, carrying out 20 engagements in just four days.

The Princess Royal, who returned to Gatcombe Park on Wednesday, completed the trip without assistants, makeup artist or hairdressers, and even was seen carrying her bags herself out of her private jet.

Princess Anne is pictured arriving in Australia ahead of her tour of Sydney and Papua New Guinea - where Her Majesty us still head of state - celebrate the Queens historic 70 years on throne

Stepping out with husband Timothy Laurence the royal opted for an asymmetrical suit dress paired with matching gloves and flat leather pumps on day two of her trip to Papua New Guinea

While addressing the opening ceremony of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales Bicentennial Sydney Royal Easter Show, Anne opted for a cream coat dress paired with a hat by milliner Amy Morris-Adams

Bethan Holt noted in the Daily Telegraph: 'My bet is that Anne couldn't actually give two hoots about what she wears, mostly preferring practicality over studied glamour.

'She seems to approach her wardrobe with the same attitude that she does her public role; unshowy but determined to do everything just right.'

Despite being five years over the official age of retirement no-nonsense Anne is annually one of the hardest working members of the royal family.

Representing the Queen both at home and abroad, Anne frequently attends state and ceremonial occasions, conducting investitures and supporting more than 300 charities, organisations and military regiments.

To celebrate the Queens historic 70 years on throne, the Princess Royal made an official visit to Sydney and Papua New Guinea, where the Her Majesty is still head of state.

Upon her arrival at Jackson International Airport in Papua New Guinea on Monday, Anne donned a sturdy pinstriped pantsuit paired with block heels and a pale blue blouse

The Princess Royal opted for a green satin midi-dress with long peplum sleeves as she spoke at a reception for business leaders and politicians in Port Moresby

Anne donned a mint green coat dress with matching cartwheel-style hat and glitzy brooch as she opened the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales Bicentennial Sydney Royal Easter Show

Accompanied by her equally down-to-earth husband and her private secretary Charles Davies, Anne flew to Sydney from Heathrow on Thursday last week and embarked on her first engagement hours after landing.

Anne stepped out in a low-key ensemble as she greeted Australian dignitaries, donning a simple white shirt and navy blue blazer - adding a pop of colour with a vibrant scarf.

The royal recycled variations of the outfit three times during her tour, making the decision to remain in the same ensemble for different royal engagements throughout the days.

The royal frequently accessorised with her trust wrap-around sunglasses, something the Telegraph's Tamara Abraham says reminds the public 'Anne packed with function rather than fashion moments in mind'.

She spent the rest of the day at an Easter Show held by the Royal Agricultural Society to which she changed into a mint green coat dress with matching cartwheel-style hat and glitzy brooch.

On various occasions throughout the tour Anne stepped a simple white shirt and navy blue blazer - occasionally donning her famous wrap-around sunglasses

Anne donned her pinstriped suit once again, this time with a white t-shirt, while touring the National Cardiac Diagnostic Centre, at the Port Moresby General Hospital in Papua New Guinea

Other standout outfits include an ornamental white lace blouse during a dinner at APEC Haus whilst attending a dinner with James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea

Later in the day, Anne wore a strikingly similar cream coat dress paired with the same hat in cream, both designed by milliner Amy Morris-Adams.

Upon her arrival at Jackson International Airport in Papua New Guinea on Monday, Anne donned a sturdy pinstriped pantsuit - which she wore twice during the tour - paired with block heels and a pale blue blouse.

Donning the same light tan colour, the royal opted for an asymmetrical suit dress paired with matching gloves and flat leather pumps on day two of her trip to Papua New Guinea.

Other standout outfits include a green satin midi-dress with long peplum sleeves as she spoke at a reception for business leaders and politicians in Port Moresby and an ornamental white lace blouse during a dinner at APEC Haus.
A former marriage counselor for Johnny Depp and Amber Heard testified in court that the pair engaged in "mutual abuse."

Dr. Laurel Anderson was summoned as a witness in the defamation trial against Depp and Heard in Fairfax, Virginia, on Thursday, April 14. She was questioned about some of her previous encounters with the couple.

Former Marriage Counselor Recalls "Mutual Abuse"

Dr. Anderson responded yes when asked if Heard had ever reported Depp for physical violence. When asked if she had seen illustrations, she responded she had, but she couldn't recall when. "Yes, you're right," she answered when asked if there was aggression from Johnny Depp toward Amber Heard, The Independent reported.

The marriage counselor testified in court that Amber Heard told her that "if she felt disrespected to initiate a fight it was a point of pride to Heard to initiate a fight," and that "if he was going to leave her to deescalate the fight she would strike him to keep him there - she would rather be in a fight than have him leave."

Johnny Depp has filed a lawsuit in Virginia against Amber Heard, his ex-wife, over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in 2018, in which she refers to herself as a public figure symbolizing domestic abuse. Heard has filed a countersuit, accusing him of conducting a "smear campaign" against her and portraying his own action as abuse and harassment.

Read Also: [Report] Prince Harry Avoids Returning to UK Not Because of Security Safety; Duke of Sussex Lost 'Sense of Service, Duty' After Skipping Reunion

Amber Heard Assistant Testifies

Meanwhile, in a recorded deposition shown Thursday during actor Johnny Depp's defamation trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard's former personal assistant accused the 'Aquaman' actress of fostering an unpleasant work environment.

Kate James accused Heard, her former boss, of being "verbally abusive" and underpaying her staff in a deposition taped in February, as per Fox News.

Heard allegedly "screamed" at James over the phone and in person several times. Heard went berserk over a dispute about James' wages, according to the actress's former assistant.

James said she was severely underpaid and was sacked when Heard said she couldn't afford her services any longer. The abrasive ex-staffer also called Heard "dramatic" and denied that Johnny Depp harmed his ex-wife, as Heard's attorneys claimed throughout the trial.

Johnny Depp's Fans Booted in His Defamation Trial

After police learned they reportedly made violent threats against Amber Heard online, two Johnny Depp superfans were kicked out of his defamation trial, the New York Post reported.

The two women seemed flustered to a New York Post reporter when they were approached by court police in Fairfax, Virginia, who subsequently escorted them out of the courtroom. Brooke Walsh and Isabelle Orsini were among the hundreds of fans who sat in the gallery this week in support of Depp, according to a source.

At least four guards led Orsini out of the courthouse on Thursday, telling her she was not allowed to return. In court last week, Heard's attorneys accused Depp of sexually assaulting their client by piercing her with a liquor bottle, something Depp's side strenuously disputes.

Presiding Judge Penney Azcarate has been annoyed with a large number of Depp followers who are allegedly behaving badly and chewing gum under the courtroom benches. According to the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office, "extensive security measures were planned and implemented in collaboration with the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court who is presiding over the trial."

Related Article: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard Libel Trial: Every Revelation, Testimony You Need To Know

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Buckingham Palace chefs have revealed how to make a traditional Good Friday treat fit for the Queen.

Her Majesty's pastry chefs took to the Royal Family's Instagram account to share their recipe for delicious Hot Cross Buns.

The recipe features golden sultanas, raisins, ground mixed spice, which are mixed with free-range eggs, flour, fresh yeast and caster sugar before being kneaded and popped in the oven.

HOW TO MAKE THE ROYAL FAMILY'S HOT CROSS BUNS

Ingredients: 1.5 free-range eggs 130ml ( cup) tepid water 25g (1/8 cup) fresh yeast 2 tablespoons candied mixed peel 375g (3 cups) strong flour 2 tablespoons golden sultanas 2 tablespoons unrefined caster sugar 2 tablespoons raisins 60g ( cup) unsalted butter, chilled and diced A generous pinch of salt 2 teaspoons ground mixed spice Her Majesty's pastry chefs took to the Royal Family's Instagram account to share their recipe for delicious Hot Cross Buns For the piping paste: 4 tablespoons plain white flour 1 tablespoon unrefined caster sugar 1 tablespoon cold water For the sugar syrup: 100ml ( cup) water 200g (1 cup) unrefined caster sugar Equipment: piping bag Place the eggs and dispersed yeast into a small bowl and mix together before pouring into the well in the centre of the dry ingredients Method: Preheat the oven to 220C (425F, gas mark 7) Disperse the yeast in the tepid water. Sieve the flour, salt, sugar and mixed spice into a large mixing bowl

Make a well in the centre of the mixture. Place the eggs and dispersed yeast into a small bowl and mix together before pouring into the well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Mix together to form a soft pliable dough and work in the butter

Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured work surface and carefully incorporate the dried fruit into the dough. Knead the dough for a further 5 minutes, or until it feels smooth and elastic.

Divide the dough into evenly sized buns - this recipe will make about 15. You can weigh them on a set of scales to ensure consistent sizes; you will need about 50 grams of dough per bun.

Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place on to a lined baking tray and cover with cling film and leave to prove for 30-45 minutes - they should double in size

While you are waiting, mix together the ingredients for the piping paste to form a paste with a consistency that will allow you to pipe a cross on to each bun

Once the buns have finished their prove, pipe the crosses, then place the buns on the middle shelf of the preheated oven and bake for 812 minutes, or until they turn a pale golden brown

Whilst they bake, boil together the sugar and water to make the sugar syrup. As soon as you remove the buns from the oven, brush them with the warm sugar syrup and set aside to cool on a wire rack Once the buns have finished their prove, pipe the crosses, then place the buns on the middle shelf of the preheated oven and bake for 812 minutes Advertisement

The easy step by step video caption read: 'Are you enjoying a Hot Cross Bun this Good Friday? The Royal Pastry Chefs have shared their method of making this traditional #Easter Treat.'

Hot Cross Buns are first supposed to have been made by a monk in St Albans Abbey in the fourteenth century, to distribute to the poor.

They are named after the flour paste cross on top representing Jesuss crucifixion.

In 1592, Queen Elizabeth I decreed that the buns could no longer be sold on any day except for Good Friday, Christmas or for burials.

The myth is that they simply were too special to be eaten any other day.

Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place on to a lined baking tray and cover with cling film and leave to prove for 30-45 minutes - they should double in size

Once the buns have finished their prove, pipe the crosses, then place the buns on the middle shelf of the preheated oven and bake for 812 minutes, or until they turn a pale golden brown

The Royal Family celebrate Easter at Windsor Castle where The Queen usually attends a church service on Easter Sunday at St George's Chapel.

However Her Majesty is not expected to attend the Easter Sunday service this weekend, according to a royal source.

Traditionally the Queen distributes Maundy Money each year on the Thursday before Easter Sunday.

She travels to a different cathedral across the country to hand out special coins to men and women in recognition for their contribution to their community and church.

This year Prince Charles and Camilla represented her at the Royal Maundy service at Windsor.
Zara Tindall looked delighted with her performance today as she took to the saddle at the Burnham Market International Horse Trials.

The Queen's eldest granddaughter, 40, joined fellow equestrians at the prestigious three-day horse trails for another day of show jumping, cross country riding and dressage.

An accomplished equestrian with decades of experience on the British circuit, Zara appeared in high spirits as she showed off her impressive showjumping skills in north Norfolk.

Zara Tindall looked delighted with her performance today as she took to the saddle at the Burnham Market International Horse Trials

The Queen's eldest granddaughter, 40, joined fellow equestrians at the prestigious three-day horse trails for another day of show jumping, cross country riding and dressage

An accomplished equestrian with decades of experience on the British circuit, Zara appeared in high spirits as she showed off her impressive showjumping skills in north Norfolk

Smiles for dad! Baby Lucas Tindall, who turned one last month, looked thrilled to be in his father Mike's arms as they watched Zara at the event yesterday

The royal, who won a Silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, was beaming as she rode her horse Showtime, a nine-year old mare she co-owns with three fellow equestrians.

Zara, who is married to former rugby player Mike Tindall, 43, was joined yesterday by her husband and three children, who proudly cheered her on at the event.

Zara, who gave birth to youngest son Lucas in March last year, sported a navy jacket with white riding slacks and black boots which she paired with a blue helmet as she sat horseback.

Sticking to a regal look, the daughter of Princess Anne wore minimal make-up, and tied her long blonde hair up under her helmet.

This is the royal's second day at the event. Yesterday she was cheered on by husband Mike and their three children Mia, eight, Lena, three, and Lucas, one.

Eight-year-old daughter Mia was on typically boisterous form tore across the grass, followed by her little sister Lena, three.

Who needs a climbing frame? Father-of-three Mike Tindall had his hands full as he took his children to the Burnham Market International Horse Trials yesterday. Eight-year-old Mia clambered on his shoulders while Lena lay back on his lap

... And for mum! Lucas was on hand to give mother Zara a cuddle once she finished with her event at the Horse Trials

The girls were in fits of giggles as they piled on top of their dad on the grass and went head-to-head on inflatable bumper cars.

But it was their baby brother Lucas who stole the show, smiling broadly as he was scooped up in his father's arm for a cuddle.

Ex-England rugby ace Mike looked every inch the proud father as he gazed lovingly at Lucas, who celebrated his first birthday last month.

In 2020, Zara described how riding for her country is what 'dreams are made of' and how she is lucky to have her horses with her in lockdown.

Zara (left) sported a navy jacket with white riding slacks and black boots which she paired with a blue helmet as she sat horseback

The silver Olympic medal-winning equestrian lives on her mother Princess Anne's Gatcombe Park estate in Gloucestershire.

She told a royal special edition of Horse & Hound magazine that she enjoys the pressure of competing.

She said: 'I love riding for my country; those have been the best experiences of my career, to get your horse to that level is what it's all about, and what we all strive for,' she said at the time.

'I love the big occasion because I love the pressure - sitting on a horse that you know is good enough, you are fully prepared, riding for your country, it's what your dreams are made of.
The royal family have released a new photo of the Queen and members of the Royal Family in 1974 as part of the ongoing 70-day picture countdown to the Queen's Platinum Jubilee weekend.

Today's photo shows the Queen standing at the Cenotaph with the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles, then 26, laying wreaths on Remembrance Sunday.

The Queen's cousin, the Duke of Kent can also be seen at the Cenotaph in the black and white image.

Today's photo shows the Queen standing at the Cenotaph in 1974 with the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles, far right after laying wreaths on Remembrance Sunday

Explaining the countdown, the Royal family's Instagram page reads: 'Over the next 70 days, as we countdown to the #PlatinumJubilee Celebration Weekend, we'll be sharing an image a day of The Queen  each representing a year of Her Majesty's 70-year long reign.'

Each of the 70 photos represent a year of the monarch's seven-decade reign, and each post also highlights a notable moment in history from the same year.

Today, the post mentioned the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held in Brighton that year.

Sweden won, with ABBA's song 'Waterloo' taking the top spot in the competition.

The Queen marked 70 years on the throne on February 6, 2022, making her the longest reigning monarch in British history, and weekend of celebrations will be held from 2nd to 5th June to commemorate the milestone.

The 70-day photo countdown began with a picture of the Queen's coronation at Westminster Abbey, in 1953

Yesterday, the royal family shared an image of the Queen saluting troops as they marched towards Horse Guards Parade for Trooping the Colour in 1973.

The caption for the image, which has garnered more than 50,000 likes, says: 'The Queen salutes Troops as they march towards Horse Guards Parade for Trooping the Colour.

And speaking about the year the photograph was taken, it says: 'In 1973, the first phone call on a handheld cellular phone was made.'

Royal fans were quick to post positive comments on the image. Many shared love heart emojis, while others commented on the Queen's outfit.

Yesterday, the royal family shared an image of the Queen saluting troops as they marched towards Horse Guards Parade for Trooping the Colour in 1973

Other photos in the countdown include a 1961 snap of the royal and her husband Prince Philip meeting President John F Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy

Fijian children taking English lessons in the cooler ocean waters before the Queen arrives in Fiji

The 70-day photo countdown began with a picture of the Queen's coronation at Westminster Abbey, in 1953.

Queen Elizabeth can be seen on the Coronation Chair in the black and white image, wearing the St. Edward Crown and carrying the Sovereign's Sceptre and Rod.

Other photos in the countdown include a 1961 snap of the royal and her husband Prince Philip meeting President John F Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.

An earlier snap, dating back to 1959, shows the Queen pictured with one of her red boxes, which contains the official documents and papers she receives daily from her private secretaries.
Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club held their Presidents Dinner on April 11, 2022 at New York's iconic Cipriani 42nd street.

Hundreds of design industry notables - including Martha Stewart - gathered to honor Benjamin Moore and design legend Bunny Williams.

This years event attendees helped to raise just over $1.2 million to fund essential afterschool programs to more than 10,000 young people at ten locations throughout the Bronx.

Hundreds of design industry notables - including Martha Stewart - gathered to honor Benjamin Moore and design legend Bunny Williams at Cipriani 42nd Street

This years event attendees helped to raise just over $1.2 million to fund essential afterschool programs to more than 10,000 young people at ten locations throughout the Bronx

In the heart of Midtown, Manhattan Cipriani 42nd Street exudes a grandeur that's hard to emulate.

Under the very high ceilings, attendees sat at beautifully decorated round tables with floral centerpieces while they enjoyed song and dance performances by members of the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club's Performing Arts Programs.

The plated dinner consisted of a mozzarella appetizers and a choice of veal, salmon or a vegetarian dish for the the main.

Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club held their Presidents Dinner on April 11, 2022

Bunny Williams was presented with her Lifetime Achievement Award by Schumacher Creative Director Dara Caponigro while Dinner Chair Jamie Drake presented Kelly Sinatra, Benjamin Moores Director of Public Relations, with the companys Award

The black-tie event was chaired by celebrated designers Jamie Drake and Corey Damen Jenkins and vice-chaired by acclaimed designers Sasha Bikoff, Alessandra Branca, Jesse Carrier, Mara Miller, Alexa Hampton, Young Huh and Andrew Torrey.

Bunny Williams was presented with her Lifetime Achievement Award by Schumacher Creative Director Dara Caponigro while Dinner Chair Jamie Drake presented Kelly Sinatra, Benjamin Moores Director of Public Relations, with the companys Award.

Wearing a beautiful green dress, Williams recalled her first Kipps Bay Showhouse in the early 70s, and expressed her amazement of the funds raised from the Presidents dinners and Showhouses, adding, 'Im so proud to be part of this design community, its so generous to not only Kips Bay but many other organizations.'

To honor her, the audience donned decorative bunny ears while she spoke.

To honor Bunny Williams, the audience donned decorative bunny ears while she accepted her Lifetime Achievement Award

Today, the club is proudly one of the most prominent and responsive youth development agencies in New York City and a flagship of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

The Presidents Dinner raises money to provide more than 10,000 young people between the ages of 6 and 18 at ten locations throughout the Bronx with essential after-school and enrichment programs aimed to help them recognize their potential for growth and success.

Today, the club is proudly one of the most prominent and responsive youth development agencies in New York City and a flagship of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

Since the organization was established over 100 years ago, they have grown into a recognized leader among the 4,500 Boys & Girls Clubs nationally.
A Vietnamese-born woman living in the US has tearfully revealed that she was expected to support her younger sister by paying her college tuition and all of her bills  and when she refused, her parents disowned her.

TikToker Thea (@rewrite_mytrauma), a biotech venture capitalist with a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA, explained in a viral video that her parents sent her younger sister to the US for school, despite knowing that they couldn't pay for it.

Thea had been charged with supporting her sister financially, and did so until her sister's spending got out of control.

That's when she put her foot down  but she said her parents were displeased with her decision and have called her 'stingy' and 'ungrateful.'

A Vietnamese-born woman living in the US has tearfully revealed that she was expected to support her younger sister by paying her college tuition and all of her bills

'I got disowned by my parents just now because I refused to fund my sisters lavish lifestyle when shes here in the U.S. as an international student,' Thea, her eyes red from crying, began her video.

'They sent her here three years ago knowing that they dont have the means to pay for it themselves. So the responsibility for her tuition, her room and board, her living expenses, has been on me as the eldest sister in the family.

'She has been completely ungrateful and completely irresponsible with the money. I had to pay for her debt that she owed to her friends because she spent it on shopping, on Uber Eats, on just bars and clubs, and I'm just so done with it

'I put my foot down today because she uses my card to spend $500 on some shopping expenses,' she continued, wiping away tears.

'I told [my family] that Im done, and if they want her to remain in the US. they had to figure it out themselves.

When her sister's spending got out of control, she put her foot down and refused to pay her bills anymore. Her parents have disowned her, and called her stingy and ungrateful

'And I was called stingy. I was called ungrateful and that I got to where I am because of my family and it is my time to pay it back. It is my responsibility to care for my parents and my siblings. So I am their retirement fund, the college fund for my younger siblings.

'And I feel trapped. I really am. I feel trapped and betrayed by my own culture and my own family because there is that expectations that you have to care for them.

'And I would love to. I love my parents, but there is no boundaries because I am just a wallet now. I am just solely a wallet now,' she said.

Her video, which has nearly 20 million views since it was posted on March 26, has received thousands of supportive comments.

'There is a difference between taking care of family and being taken advantage of!' wrote one.

'I'm glad you stood up for yourself. You're not just a wallet. Be strong, never let anyone take advantage of you, not even family,' wrote another.

'A child should never have to pay back their parents for raising you. It's their job as parents to do so,' said a third.

'I'm so proud of you,' wrote a fourth. 'Setting boundaries is so important.'

In follow-up videos, Thea said it is overwhelming to have received so much support, and it has been 'comforting and heartbreaking at the same time' to know that her story resonated with so many people.

So if me ugly crying on the internet at my most vulnerable moment is of any shape or form be of comfort in any possible way to you, I am honored,' she said.

She also stressed the importance in setting boundaries in relationships.

'I know that, moving forward, I need to speak up better for myself, preserving my own mental health and prioritizing my needs and wants above anything else,' she said.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Thea for comment.
Meghan Markle opted for jewellery steeped in sentimental meaning as she joined Prince Harry on her first engagement in The Hague today.

The Duchess of Sussex showcased a mixture of new buys and old favourites as she stepped out for the Invictus Games event, including the 17,800 ($23,000) Cartier watch once owned by Princess Diana.

Meghan also sported the 12,000 ($15,000) Cartier diamond earrings she wore on her wedding day and to Archie's christening, as well as her dazzling 271,000 ($350,000) diamond engagement ring custom made by Prince Harry and her Welsh gold wedding band.

Demonstrating her love for quirky pieces, Meghan wore a 400 ($374) necklace by British designer Sophie Lis which celebrates 'enduring love'.

The Duchess also wore an ultra trendy thin 234 ($238) gold chain twisted around her left hand from New York-based brand Catbird, as well as two subtle gold bands on her right hand which have yet to be identified.

Here, a dive into Meghan's jewellery box...

Feeling sentimental? 1. Meghan also sported the 12,000 ($15,000) Cartier diamond earrings she wore on her wedding day and to Archie's christening; 2. A 400 ($374) necklace celebrating enduring love

Old and new: 3. Custom made Welsh gold wedding band; 4. 271,000 ($350,000) diamond engagement ring designed by Prince Harry; 5. Catbird's 234 ($238) 'Kitten Mitten' hand chain; 6. Princess Diana's 17,800 ($23,000) Cartier Tank Francaise watch

1. THE 12,000 CARTIER EARRINGS SHE WORE FOR HER WEDDING AND ARCHIE'S CHRISTENING

Dazzling in diamonds: Meghan opted for her 12,000 ($15,000) earrings steeped in meaning for the outing

Treasured: Meghan recycled the same pair of 12,000 ($15,000) Cartier earrings worn when she married Prince Harry in May 2018 (pictured). She also wore the earrings to Archie's christening in 2019

For the occasion, Meghan recycled the same pair of 12,000 ($15,000) Cartier earrings previously worn as she married Prince Harry at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2018, when she walked down the aisle in a stunning custom-made 200,000 ($265,000) Givenchy gown.

The Duchess wore the same set of jewels for her son Archie's secret christening in 2019.

Speaking to Femail at the time, stylist Rochelle White highlighted the similarities between Meghan's christening and wedding look, revealing how the looks 'linked the two meaningful events together'.

She explained: 'Meghan played homage to her wedding day with her earrings.'

2. GOLD DISC PENDANT

Meghan's necklace is the 400 ($374) 'Love pendant' by designer Sophie Lis, which she first wore on a visit to the National Theatre in 2020

The 'Love pendant', made by designer Sophie Lis, bears a reference to a French poem which translates to 'Every day I love you more, more than yesterday less than tomorrow.'

Meghan's necklace is the 400 ($374) 'Love pendant' by designer Sophie Lis, which she first wore on a visit to the National Theatre in 2020.

The name of the piece refers to a French poem about enduring and growing love.

The medallion carries the engraving 'Qu'hier' after a diamond encrusted plus sign, and 'Que Demain' followed by a ruby minus sign.

Online, Sophie revealed the message is borrowed from the poem 'The Eternal Song'.

The reference is an an ode from the 19th century French poet Rosemonde Gerard which translates to: 'Every day I love you more, more than yesterday less than tomorrow.'

Ten per cent of the sales of each necklace, which comes with a pricetag of 400 ($374), go to the animal welfare charity Wild at Heart Foundation.

3. HER WELSH GOLD WEDDING BAND

Royal tradition: The Duchess of Sussex's gold wedding band, worn with her diamond engagement ring, was custom made from Welsh gold gifted by the Queen

The Duchess of Sussex's gold wedding band, worn with her diamond engagement ring, was custom made from Welsh gold gifted by the Queen.

Royal brides are traditionally given wedding rings made from gold nuggets from Clogau St David's mine at Bontddu in North Wales.

The piece was made by Cleave and Company, the official Royal jewellers based at Buckingham Palace.

Cleave count the Palace offices, governments, civil and military institutions of around 40 countries among their clients. They work in gold silver and precious stones.

They designed the Order of the Garter and the St. Michael and St. George's Cross.

AND 4. THE 271,000 ENGAGEMENT RING

Prince Harry proposed to Meghan in November 2017 with a glittering ring comprising a solid yellow gold band set with three diamonds, pictured

Next to her wedding ring, Meghan sported her 271,000 ($350,000) engagement ring, which was designed by Prince Harry using one stone from Botswana, where the pair had been on holiday, and two smaller stones from Diana's collection.

Harry proposed to Meghan in November 2017 with the glittering ring comprising a solid yellow gold band. However in 2019, images revealed that the design had been changed in order to incorporate a thinner band that was set with several pave diamonds all around it.

Shortly after their engagement, Prince Harry spoke out about the design process behind the ring, explaining that he had chosen each element in order to ensure that it fit his future bride's tastes perfectly.

'The ring is obviously yellow gold because that's [Meghan's] favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection, to make sure that she's with us on this crazy journey together,' he said.

Meghan called it 'incredible', explaining: 'Everything about Harry's thoughtfulness and the inclusion of [Princess Diana's stones] and obviously not being able to meet his mum, it's so important to me to know that she's a part of this with us.

'It's incredibly special to be able to have this [ring], which sort of links where you come from and Botswana, which is important to us. It's perfect.'

5. GOLD 'KITTEN MITTEN' HAND CHAIN

The Duchess of Sussex opted for a trendy gold hand chain on her left hand from New York-based brand Catbird - one that the mother-of-two has shopped from in the past

Meghan's dainty gold hand chain is actually called the 'Kitten Mitten' by the brand, which sells the design for 234 ($238)

Believed to be a new addition to Meghan's jewellery box, the Duchess of Sussex opted for a trendy gold hand chain on her left hand from New York-based brand Catbird - one that the mother-of-two has shopped from in the past.

Meghan's dainty gold hand chain is actually called the 'Kitten Mitten' by the brand, which sells the design for 234 ($238).

Catbird's 'Kitten Mitten' design is described by the brand as 'easy-breezy cool and super foxy', and is also intended to 'gracefully accentuate the wrist'.

The brand confirmed the identity of the chain on its Instagram account, sharing an image of Meghan, while writing: 'A little bird told us MM wore a Kitten Mitten today.'

The chain is wrapped in a loop around the Duchess of Sussex's ring finger, suggesting it might have ties to Prince Harry.

It then forms a second loop around her wrist, next to the Cartier watch once owned by Princess Diana.

6. DIANA'S CARTIER WATCH

Priceless possession: The Duchess of Sussex wore Princess Diana's Cartier watch in The Hague

Meghan also wore a Cartier Tank Francaise watch, as pictured, gifted by Harry that once belonged to Princess Diana. The watch was worth $23,000 (17,800) but this one has a special history

Meghan's elegant timepiece was originally owned by Diana, who is seen wearing it on her left wrist at an engagement at the British Lung Foundation in 1997

The Cartier watch, a present from Harry, was worth 17,800 ($23,000) at the time but is now likely worth a lot more given its history.

The elegant timepiece was worn by Diana at a number of occasions, including a 1997 visit to London's Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Hindu Temple and an engagement at the British Lung Foundation that same year.

Meghan is known to be a fan of the Tank watch and splurged on her own two-tone version back in 2015 when 'Suits' was picked up for a third season.

At the time, she told Hello Magazine, 'I've always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch. When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third seasonwhich, at the time, felt like such a milestoneI totally splurged and bought the two-tone version

'I had it engraved on the back, "To M.M. From M.M." and I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That's what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them.'
Princess Mako's 'commoner' husband Kei Komuro has failed the bar exam for a second time - just as it was revealed that his wife has taken a job as an unpaid volunteer at the Met, months after quitting her royal life to move to the U.S. with him.

Komuro, 30, sat the New York State Bar exam for the second time in February, however when the results of that round were published online on Thursday, his name was not included among the successful candidates.

The news of his failure comes just days after it was reported that Mako, 30, who is the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and niece of reigning Emperor Naruhito, had begun volunteering at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Japan Times reported that the former princess 'has specifically been involved in preparing an exhibition of paintings inspired by the life of a 13th-century monk who traveled throughout Japan as he introduced Buddhism.'

Mako, who is the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and niece of reigning Emperor Naruhito, gave up her royal title to marry 'commoner' Komuro last October in a small civil ceremony.

Princess Mako's 'commoner' husband Kei Komuro has failed his New York State Bar Exam for the second time, it was revealed on Thursday - just as he was pictured heading to work

News of 30-year-old Komuro's failure to pass the bar exam came just after it was revealed that his wife (pictured in New York today), 30, is working as an unpaid volunteer at the Met Museum

Mako, who is the eldest daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito, sensationally gave up her royal title to marry 'commoner' Komuro last October in a small civil ceremony (pictured)

The couple, who were together for eight years before tying the knot, have since moved to a one-bedroom apartment in New York, where Komuro works at New Jersey-based firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP.

Komuro was seen making his way to work on Thursday morning, looking somber but smart in a suit and shirt; it is unclear whether he had already received the news about his bar exam failure.

He was pictured carrying a briefcase and he had his long hair pulled back into a ponytail, a style that he has favored since growing out his locks following his wedding to Mako last year.

Mako's 'commoner' husband appears to have been embracing a more low-key look since marrying the former Princess; when he sat his bar exam in February, he was pictured outside of the testing center wearing a very casual ensemble of jeans, a denim shirt, and a pair of Star Wars-themed Vans sneakers.

However on Thursday, the only sign of his more trendy New York aesthetic was his ponytail.

Meanwhile, Komuro's wife was pictured in New York's Midtown neighborhood on Friday, one day after the results were published; she wore baggy blue jeans and a simple black sweater, which she paired with black ballet flats and a black handbag.

The former Princess was then seen getting out of a car with a CVS bag in tow, before walking past a photographer who was waiting to get her picture.

Mako was seen not far from the Met Museum, where she is currently working as an unpaid volunteer.

Komuro (seen on Thursday) sat his bar exam for the second time in February, four months after he wed Mako, who gave up royal life in Japan in order to move to New York with her husband

The budding lawyer was pictured in a suit and shirt, while his long hair - which he has been growing since his wedding - was pulled back in a ponytail

It is unclear whether Komuro was already aware of his failure when he made his way to work on Thursday morning; the list of successful candidates was published that same day

Komuro currently works at New Jersey-based firm Lowenstein Sandler LLP

The Upper East Side museum is a 10-minute drive from the luxury one-bedroom apartment in Hell's Kitchen that she shares with husband and aspiring lawyer Komuro.

Mako studied art and cultural heritage while at university in Japan, before going on to work as a special researcher at Tokyo's University Museum.

She also studied art history at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and got a master's in art museum and gallery studies at the University of Leicester in England in 2016, People reports.

'She's qualified and probably handling pieces in the collection. In general, it's work which requires a great deal of preparation and often means spending a lot of time in the library,' a former Met curator said of her new gig.

Komuro first sat the New York State Bar Exam last July, three months before his wedding to Mako, however it was revealed in November that he had failed.

According to Japanese broadcaster NHK, Komuro phoned lawyer Okuno Yoshihiko, the head of a firm in Japan where he previously worked, to tell him he failed the exam.

He is able to take the test as many times as he likes until he passes - since New York State does not impose a restriction on the number of attempts a candidate can make.

Should he choose to re-sit the exam, he will have to wait until July of this year to re-take the exam, which is only offered twice a year.

One day after news of Komuro's exam failure was made public, Mako was pictured in New York's Midtown area, looking casual in baggy jeans and a black sweater

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Mako has taken on a job as an unpaid volunteer at the Met Museum on New York's Upper East Side

The Upper East Side museum is a 10-minute drive from the luxury one-bedroom apartment in Hell's Kitchen that she shares with husband and aspiring lawyer Komuro

Komuro was raised by his widowed mother, Kayo. His father died when he was still in elementary school. His jobs in Japan included working in a bank and a French restaurant.

He met Mako in 2013 when they were both studying at the International Christian University outside Tokyo.

The couple got 'unofficially engaged' in 2017, and planned to tie the knot in November 2018.

Initially, the news was greeted with delight in Japan, but then a scandal grew up when it was discovered that Kayo had not repaid a 4million yen ($35,000) loan from a former fiance, partly to pay her son's tuition.

That led critics to suggest Komuro was only marrying the princess for money or fame.

Komuro issued a 24-page explanation about the money - claiming it was a gift not a loan. Eventually, he said he would repay it, although it is not known whether the money has been returned.

But despite the turmoil Kei and Mako's love endured, in 2020, the former Princess begged the Japanese public to support her decision.

'We are irreplaceable to each other - someone to rely on during both happy and unhappy times,' she said, announcing the wedding would go ahead.

'So a marriage is a necessary choice for us to live while cherishing and protecting our feelings.'

Komuro met Mako (seen at their wedding) in 2013 when they were studying at the International Christian University outside Tokyo and they announced their engagement in 2017

Mako, pictured at Emperor Naruhito's enthronement ceremony, had to give up her titles because only male members of the Japanese imperial family are allowed to marry non-royals

The former Princess left her home in Akasaka Estate in Tokyo on October 26, above, and landed in New York City's JFK on November 14

She has been spotted shopping for essentials for her luxury one-bedroom apartment she shares with her new husband in Hell's Kitchen

Komuro has not lived in Japan for more than three years - moving to New York shortly after their marriage was postponed for the first time.

He studied law at Fordham University in the Bronx and then landed a job clerking at Lowenstein Sandler in Manhattan, counseling companies and investors on venture capital financings, mergers, and acquisitions.

Only male members of the Japanese imperial family are allowed to marry 'commoners,' so Mako's decision to marry for love means a whole slew of new things for her.

For a start, she is no longer considered a princess - and even if the marriage ends in divorce, she can never return to the family.

For the first time in her life, she has a surname and will be known just as Mako Komuro.

She will also have to apply for a passport - royals don't need them - so she can move Stateside.

She can no longer live in the Imperial Palace, and any sons that the couple have will not be in the line of succession for the male-only emperorship.

That poses a potential problem for Japan - where there are now only three people allowed by the Imperial Household Law to succeed 61-year-old Emperor Naruhito - and one of those, his uncle Masohito, is 85.

The other two are Nauruhito's 55-year-old brother Akishino - Mako's father - and Mako's brother Hisahito, 15.
A McDonald's customer has been left disgusted and baffled after finding a live cockroach is his daughter's Happy Meal.

Detailing the 'revolting' incident on Reddit, the dad shared stomach-churning images of the bug crawling all over the hot chips and claims to have ordered from the Hurstville McDonald's in Sydney.

'Straya - where you get a free live toy with every Happy Meal, delivered by Uber Eats to the wrong address,' he wrote online.

Alongside the trio of images shared online, he added the caption: 'This little guy enjoyed his Happy Meal. My daughter, not so much.'

Detailing the 'revolting' incident on Reddit, the dad shared stomach-churning images of the bug crawling all over the hot chips and claims to have ordered from the Hurstville McDonald's in Sydney

'Straya - where you get a free live toy with every Happy Meal, delivered by Uber Eats to the wrong address,' the McDonald's customer wrote online

'I'm Australian and should be used to them I guess, but give me snakes, spiders and rats over cockroaches any day. Those things are unspeakably revolting,' the man wrote in the comments.

'Weirdly, if there had been a spider in it I reckon Id be way less grossed out.

He claims to have received the order 30 minutes late after it was delivered to the incorrect address.

'My guess is he crawled in while our food was sitting on the front porch of the wrong address for half an hour,' he added.

The outrageous situation caused a stir among others online and left many shocked.

'Christ, driver's car must of been a dumpster fire, I reckon that's the only way it got in there,' one person wrote.

'I would've died, the sight of those especially if one's inside my house just instils absolute disgust and anxiety in me,' another added.

A third wrote: 'Brit here, I saw one crossing the road at Kings Cross when I was last in 'Straya. It managed to make it without getting squished. That was enough for me!'

He claims to have received the order 30 minutes late after it was delivered to the incorrect address. 'My guess is he crawled in while our food was sitting on the front porch of the wrong address for half an hour,' the man wrote

A McDonald's spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the company has reached out to the customer on social media and is working with their delivery partners to look into the situation further.

'McDonald's takes food and drink safety extremely seriously and we are disappointed to hear of the customer's experience,' the spokesperson said.

'Our employees follow strict cleaning, sanitisation, quality control and hygiene procedures to ensure our food and our restaurants remain safe for our staff and customers.

'We will look into this incident with our delivery partners, as part of our commitment to ongoing service improvements.'
But the medicines watchdog says incidents may be caused by 'unrelated' factors

At least 555 claim to have suffered 'minor' or 'serious' harm from using the swabs

EXCLUSIVE: More than 3,000 Britons have complained about Covid tests

Hundreds of Britons claim to have hurt themselves getting tested for Covid, official data shows.

Dozens say they've fainted or choked while swabbing, while others have complained about nose bleeds and hot flashes.

Drug regulators tasked with policing the safety of virus tests have logged over 3,000 reports of harm throughout the pandemic.

The figures, obtained by MailOnline through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, are only a 'snapshot', however.

Thousands more people will have hurt themselves while using lateral flows or taking swabs because not everyone reports their experiences, experts say.

And the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the body in charge of safety monitoring, also insist the swabs won't have definitely been to blame in the few cases that have been logged.

More than 500million tests have been conducted in the UK since the start of the pandemic, with the scheme costing up to 2billion per month at the height of the Omicron wave. But free testing for all was scrapped on April 1 as part of the Government's 'living with Covid' strategy. Only the most vulnerable and elderly Britons can still access the tests for free, along with NHS workers. The rest of the public faces paying 2 per test in pharmacies such as Boots. An average of 415,000 Covid test results were reported per day over the last week, compared to more than 2million at the height of the Omicron wave in January

In a similar fashion to how side effects from the Covid vaccines are tracked, officials ask everyone to record any incidents that occur from getting tested.

The MHRA encourages people to report any safety concerns with the tests and give feedback, such as if it is damaged or components are missing.

It then investigates any serious problems and logs them, to prevent similar incidents in the future.

WHAT HARMS WERE REPORTED FROM COVID TESTS? LATERAL FLOW TESTS Headaches: less than five Allergic reaction: 7 Choking: 5 Nose bleeds: less than 5 Respiratory tract infection: less than 5 Sore throat: less than 5 Hot flashes: less than 5 Skin inflammation: less than 5 Swelling: less than 5 PCT TESTS Allergic reactions: 7 Choking: 8 Nose bleeds: less than 5 Sort throats: less than 5 Swelling: less than 5 Loss of consciousness: less than 5 Emotional changes: 25 Asthma: less than 5 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder: less than 5 Cough: less than 5 Nasal obstruction: less than 5 Sneezing: less than 5 Vomiting: less than 5 Joint dislocation: less than 5 Foreign body in patient: less than 5 Fluid discharge: less than 5 Advertisement

More than 500million tests have been conducted in the UK since the start of the Covid pandemic, with the now-axed scheme costing up to 2bn per month at the height of the Omicron wave.

At least 3,443 complaints were logged about Covid tests by April 7, according to the MHRA data.

Of these, 1,013 complaints were logged about lateral flow swabs.

At least 177 said they suffered 'minor' harm when using the tests, while between 39 and 69 reported 'serious' harm.

Uncertainty around the figures  collected monthly  are due to the watchdog not providing exact numbers when fewer than five people report a specific type of incident.

The vast majority of complaints did not give sufficient information about the harms caused by tests.

But allergic reactions to components of the test and choking were the most common incidents reported.

Britons also complained of headaches, a bleeding nose, respiratory tract infections, sore throats, hot flushes, skin inflammation and swelling.

Between one and four deaths were logged.

The MHRA said the reporting of an adverse testing incident in its database 'does not necessarily mean the events described were caused by that medical device'.

The agency added that it 'could be due to unrelated patient/user factors'.

A spokesperson said: 'The information we hold on our database is not a full picture of all the device-related incidents that happened during this period, it is just a snapshot.

'It's not compulsory for healthcare professionals and members of the public to report incidents directly to MHRA, but we strongly encourage this.'

Meanwhile, 2,430 people made a complaint to the watchdog after taking a PCR test.

Of these reports, at least 261 logged minor harms, while 78 reported serious harm.

The harms reported included allergic reactions, choking and nose bleeding.

Britons also said they suffered sore throats, loss of consciousness and 'emotional changes' after taking PCR tests.

A handful of cases of asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease  a lung condition that causes breathing difficulties  and joint dislocation were also logged with the MHRA, along with sneezing and vomiting.

And between three and 12 deaths were reported to the MHRA that members of the public linked with PCR tests.

Exclusive figures, seen by MailOnline, show the UK's medicines regulator has logged 3,443 complaints about PCR or lateral flow in the first two years of the pandemic

Dr Angela Raffle, an honorary senior lecturer in population health at the University of Bristol Medical School, told MailOnline 'decades of experience' has shown mass testing programmes have 'unintended consequences' including harm from the swabs themselves.

She said: 'For a self-administered test used by millions of people, if something can go wrong  like a swab breaking off, or the procedure causing trauma to the nose or throat  then sooner or later it will go wrong.'

But Dr Raffle also noted other indirect harms were triggered by the testing regime, including 'misplaced confidence in a negative result leading people to ignore symptoms'.

Others also suffered missed work and 'beneficial activities' if they tested positive and isolated, even if they 'would never have transmitted the infection', she said.

And psychologists are now reporting psychological trauma among young children 'subjected to physical restraint on repeated occasions in order that they "comply" with intrusive swab tests', Dr Raffle said.

She added: 'Always in screening there is a trade-off between benefit and harm, and sadly in the pandemic much of the testing has been poorly directed and has probably had little or no beneficial impact on transmission.'

The figures come after free testing for all was scrapped on April 1 as part of the Government's 'living with Covid' strategy.

Only the most vulnerable and elderly Britons can still access the tests for free, along with NHS workers. The rest of the public faces paying 2 per test in pharmacies such as Boots.

Britons are advised to 'try to' stay home and avoid contact with others for five days if they have a high temperature or 'feel unwell'.

An average of 415,000 Covid test results were reported per day over the last week, compared to more than 2million at the height of the Omicron wave in January.
Johnson & Johnson (J&J), the largest pharmaceutical company in the world, will not be able to avoid a lawsuit that alleges it exposed employees to cancer-causing asbestos while manufacturing its baby powder.

On Tuesday, Federal Judge Michael Kaplan ruled that the company's recent bankruptcy filing in Texas will not allow it to evade the class-action suit, Endpoints News reports.

The company faced thousands of lawsuits over allegations that its iconic baby powder product - which has since been pulled from shelves in the U.S. and Canada - was contaminated with asbestos, and caused cancer in dozens of people.

A loophole in Texas allowed the company to create a new company which would hold all of its liabilities, and then the shell company filed for bankruptcy - with the same court ruling that the move settled around 38,000 lawsuits filed against the company related to the baby powder.

This class-action suit will not be included within the bankruptcy settlement.

A New Jersey court struck down a bid from Johnson & Johnson to have liability for a class-action lawsuit related to its baby powder be transferred to a shell company in Texas, that would then be settled in bankruptcy (file photo)

New Brunswick-based J&J has received thousands of suits in recent years, almost all related to potential asbestos exposure due to using its products.

The baby powder that falls at the center of these allegations uses a talc-based formula. While the mineral in itself is safe, it is often pulled from the same mines as asbestos, a carcinogen that used to be used in some building materials.

Inhaling asbestos can cause a variety of issues for a person. Mesothelioma, a cancerous tumor that can form on the outside of a person's lungs, heart and other organs, is most commonly associated with the mineral.

Michael Kaplan (pictured), a New Jersey federal judge, granted J&J the ability to settles the suits in bankruptcy earlier this year, but chose not to include a class-action suit

In October 2019, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled the J&J powder after finding traces of asbestos in a bottle.

The FDA then performed a review of J&J talc products, and detected asbestos in nine of 43 samples tested.

In the time since, it has been revealed that some executives at the company were aware of the potential asbestos risk decades prior to the FDA revelation, and the company has even been accused of performing horrendous human experiments.

While the powder has since been pulled from the U.S. and Canada, it is still available elsewhere in the developing world.

To avoid facing penalty, J&J formed LTL Management, a company that held all of the liabilities related to the thousands of lawsuits the company faced.

That company then filed for bankruptcy in Texas, taking advantage of the state's business-friendly laws to include the settled suits in the filings.

In February, Kaplan ruled in favor of J&J in a shock decision.

'The Court is aware that its decision today will be met with much angst and concern,' Kaplan wrote, as reported by Endpoints.

'Nonetheless, the matter before the Court is so much more than an academic exercise or public policy debate. These issues impact real lives.'

J&J was hoping that the complaint from former workers would be included as well, but Kaplan ruled this week that it would be excluded.

J&J faces allegations that its talc-based baby powder was contaminated with asbestos, leading to dozens of cases of cancer. The product has been pulled from shelves in the U.S. and Canada but is still sold in some parts of the world (file photo)

Now with the ruling in place, the family of Louis Edley will file a complain in the New Jersey Superior Court, alleging that he was exposed to the carcinogen while working with talc at a J&J subsidiary.

Edley developed a chronic lung disease in the 1980s, and filed a suit against the company that was eventually tossed. Company officials said that there was no tests that proved the company's products had talc.

Years later, many others began to fall ill, before the FDA made the fateful discovery in 2019.

'In each case, J&J misleadingly asserted the false defense through its attorneys and representatives that no evidence whatsoever existed indicating that J&J/Windsor's Industrial Talc ever contained asbestos,' court documents read, per Endpoints.

The company is facing charges of fraud and evidence concealment.

'We look forward to the opportunity to pursue justice for the Edley family and the members of our class,' Chris Placitella, who is serving as the Edley's lawyers, told Endpoints.

Mounting suits have not hurt the company much financially, though. According to an analysis by Fierce Pharma, J&J is still the largest pharma company in the world, with revenue even growing by 14 percent last year.

The worldwide distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines, along with many other consumer products, have proved to be a boon for the company.
White House Officials think President Joe Biden could meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv or some other official to show solidarity.

Several world leaders have seen the Ukrainian president, which has gotten praise, especially UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Washington is supposed to send someone favorable, especially the president.

US President or High-Ranking Official To Meet Zelensky

Previously, President Biden and his VP Kamala Harris went to Poland but missed Ukraine along the way since the shooting war with Russia started in February after Ukrainian ultra-nationalists were planning to attack Donetsk and Lugansk, reported the Express UK.

An indication that another Biden administration official might replace the 46th president on the planned trip could be Secretary of State Antony Blinken or Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. Usually, these trips are undertaken by the President of the US in instances like this, but that's not the case.

In the case of showing that a country stands with Ukraine in the face of its just cause against Vladimir Putin, many western leaders make time to go to Kyiv.

World Leaders Went To See Zelensky

Many European Union officials have made the round in Kyiv to see Zelensky, like EU President Ursula von der Leyen (European Commission) and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson; other leaders of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland were there last Wednesday, cited the Times of Israel.

Politico wrote that the White House would send an envoy to see Volodymyr Zelensky, but it won't be announced due to travel safety in the contested region.

Read Also: Volodymyr Zelensky Children: Does the Ukraine President Have Kids?

The meeting scheduled is not sure, and Washington officials are more concerned about safety arrangements in the war zone. Still, western media has touted the Ukrainian forces are allegedly winning the war. Whoever undertakes the trip will be in a show of unity and solidarity for the besieged capital of Ukraine and the US.

The Need for Leaders To Meet

The Ukrainians want a US official to shake hands with and do the rounds like PM Boris Johnson, then announce with the Ukraine President support for the country. After the Russians retreated and assessed military goals, it would be a political show.

Recently Biden sent another round of military aid amounting to $800 million, which totals $3 billion of assistance from the US to the Ukrainian people since Biden assumed office last year.

Only when Trump left the Oval Office that compounded mistakes led to Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine, ignoring the 46th president many times on the world stage.

Last Tuesday, the US leader accused Russia of genocide in Ukraine, which was unacceptable to the French President Emmanuel Macron, one of the few EU leaders, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz still trying diplomacy. Washington has been reminded of its harmful warring rhetoric.

Zelensky was all in with the Biden administration amping up a tense conflict calling Moscow's action genocide, determined by a legal process. He praised the US president as a true leader. The last time Biden visited Ukraine was when he was VP of Barrack Obama in 2017.

Until further notice, the White House is putting a trip to meet President Zelensky due to security concerns until further information, but Biden has not been confirmed to go there.

Related Article: Vladimir Putin Calls Bucha Massacre Accusations False, Belarus Claims Evidence Was Staged To Discredit Russia

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WFH may be to blame for a rise in Britons being left botched from cheap cosmetic surgery abroad, experts say.

Eighty-two patients needed follow-up NHS treatment last year after going overseas for boob jobs, tummy tucks and other procedures.

This was up 44 per cent on the year before, when the pandemic first kicked off and foreign holidays were effectively scrapped for staycations.

The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), which uncovered the figures, is calling for No10 to crackdown on foreign surgery.

It wants ministers to make travel insurance compulsory for anyone who chooses to undergo trips for cosmetic procedures.

The BAAPS claimed the surge in demand for cosmetic surgery is down to the lack of local surgery available and 'enticement' of cheap foreign deals.

It also blamed the uptick on the so-called 'Zoom Boom'  the demand for aesthetic procedures driven by increased awareness of ones appearance on screen.

Reality TV star Katie Price last summer travelled to Turkey for liposuction, when the Government had the country on the 'red list'. It meant that people should not visit 'except in the most extreme of circumstances'. Geordie Shore's Chloe Ferry underwent breast reduction surgery in Turkey in 2020

Throughout the pandemic, surgeons noted more patients citing their appearance on video calls as reasons for their dissatisfaction with their bodies.

Noses and wrinkles seemed to be the most common complaints generated by the phenomenon, dubbed 'Zoom Dysmorphia'.

Experts say video calls can distort people's appearance from how they really look  creating the illusion of a wider face and a broader nose.

Mary O'Brien, who is president of the BAAPS, said: 'Patients travel abroad mainly for cost saving.

'As such they gloss over expertise and the higher complication rates associated with lesser expertise puts the patients and NHS at a burden on their return.

'This could be addressed with compulsory travel insurance.'

She added that increasing the cost would 'make them think twice about a decision that could have serious, if not lethal, consequences'.

Government advisers estimate approximately 63,000 Brits travel abroad for medical treatment every year.

And the practice is only 'becoming more common', according to the National Travel Health Network and Centre.

Turkish clinics even brag about boob jobs being half the price as ones performed in the UK, with price tags of as little as 2,500.

Reality TV star Katie Price last summer travelled to Turkey for liposuction, when the Government had the country on the 'red list'.

It meant that people should not visit 'except in the most extreme of circumstances'.

Geordie Shore's Chloe Ferry underwent breast reduction surgery in Turkey in 2020.

The 82 patients who required follow-up NHS corrective care in 2021 included seven men.

The BAAPS said complications included life-threatening problems such as the need for emergency surgical removal of dead skin tissue and admission to intensive care because of infection.

Angela Perkins, who travelled to Turkey in 2021, paid 8,000 for a face lift that went disastrously wrong.

The procedure left her with a disfigured face, meaning she will now have to pay over 30,000 for multiple surgeries to correct her eyes, ears, cheek and neck.

She said: 'If someone had told me how much the decision to go to Turkey could have cost me financially, physically and emotionally I would never have got on that plane.

'The last 16 months of my life have been a living hell.'
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Covid cases are starting to increase across America, especially in highly vaccinated pockets of the Northeast, but the increasing numbers have not yet translated into more deaths, as the relatively mild BA.2 'stealth' variant continues to snuff out other strains of the virus.

Rhode Island is the most vaccinated state in America, with 82 percent of the population fully vaccinated. The state has also experienced the largest case growth over the past two weeks, up 102 percent over the last 14 days. It has the second highest infection rate among U.S. states as well, with 34 of every 100,000 residents testing positive daily.

The only state with a higher infection rate is Vermont, which is recording 37 daily cases per every 100,000 residents, a 66 percent jump over two weeks. Vermont is the second most vaccinated state in America, with 81 percent of residents having been inoculated.

Both states are recording less than one death per day from the virus, though, a sign of both the effectiveness of the vaccine - and how much the threat of Covid during this period of Omicron-dominance has receded.

Many other nearby states, like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, are in similar situations, where increasing case rates have not translated into a spike in deaths.

Nationwide, cases have jumped 24 percent over the past week, to 42,105 per day. It is the first time daily figures eclipsed 40,000 per day since March 7. Deaths are still plummeting, though, down 11 percent to 511 per day.

Covid cases are rising in 32 U.S. states as of Friday morning. The rises come after a months-long period of declines, though, so no state is in a crisis situation yet - as almost all were when the Omicron variant took over the world around the new year.

In New York, often the first place that experiences large Covid surges, cases are up 73 percent over the past two weeks. New York City in particular has recorded a 54 percent jump in cases over the past 14 days as well.

Officials in the state also announced the detection of two new sub-variants of the BA.2 stealth variant, BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1.

The two strains are believed to have a 23 and 27 percent growth advantage over the original version of BA.2, though there is no evidence that suggests they are more severe.

The 'stealth' variant, is the most infectious version of the virus discovered yet, but is just as mild as its predecessor, the BA.1 Omicron strain.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that it makes up 86 percent of sequenced cases in the U.S., with BA.1 making up the remainder.

Non-Omicron forms of the virus, like the Delta variant, have been almost entirely wiped out by the more infectious, yet more more, version of Covid.

The strain that has rapidly circulated across the Northeast region, the CDC reports, being more prevalent there than anywhere else in America.

Pennsylvania (82 percent jump in cases; 68 percent vaccination rate), New Hampshire (93 percent; 70 percent), New Jersey (81 percent; 75 percent).

Many experts predicted this exact situation, where cases begin to slightly rise as a result of the stealth variant, but fail to ever cause a surge of deaths or do enough damage to cause a crisis in the U.S.

'I don't think this is going to be another major wave of infection, but we're probably going to go up from here before we see a decline,' Dr Scott Gottlieb, former director of the Food and Drug Administration and current board member at Pfizer, told CNBC's Squawk Box last month.

'The bottom line is we'll likely see an uptick in cases, as we've seen in the European countries, particularly the U.K.,' Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said last month.

Despite the generally positive outlook about the pandemic in these states, some officials are starting to bring back pandemic-related orders.

Officials in Philadelphia have brought back the city's mask mandate for all indoor public places, including schools, after a recent increase in Covid cases.

'Philadelphia's COVID-19 response levels allow us to be clear, transparent and predictable in our response to local conditions,' Jim Kenney, mayor of Philadelphia, said in a tweet.

'Given the rise in cases, we're moving to Level 2 on April 18 to prevent higher case rates.'

Officials point to benchmarks set being the reason for masks coming back, as the recent uptick in cases has caused the city to once again reach thresholds that require indoor masking.

The city is currently averaging 201 cases per day - or 13 for every 100,000 residents - a 116 percent jump over the past two weeks.

Some universities like Columbia University, in New York City, American University, Georgetown, George Washington and Johns Hopkins, in the D.C. area, have brought back masks on campus as well amid rising cases.
A virus which causes the common cold may be behind a string of hepatitis cases in Alabama, health officials say.

Nine children  all under six years old  have come down with severe cases of the inflammatory liver condition since October. At least one suffered acute liver failure.

In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched an investigation into the potential cause.

The condition is normally triggered by hepatitis viruses A to E, but officials are thought to have already ruled this out.

They are instead focusing on adenoviruses  one of the causes of the common cold  which five of the patients have so far tested positive for.

At least one other case has been detected in another un-named U.S. state, the Alabama Department of Health says.

The U.S. is now the third country in the world to report the mysterious hepatitis, after the UK and Spain recorded 74 and three cases in under-10s over this week.

None of the children in the UK have tested positive for any of the hepatitis viruses.

Nine children  all under six years old  have come down with severe cases of the inflammatory liver condition since October. Adenovirus is thought to be behind the mysterious hepatitis cases (Pictured: A stock image of a virus)

The above shows countries reporting cases of hepatitis that may be caused by a virus that triggers the common cold. In the U.S. cases are in Alabama (shown by the yellow dot). In the UK, they have been reported in England and areas of Scotland. In Spain they have been detected in Madrid, the capital, and the Aragon region

Alabama health officials have not revealed where the cases were detected, but are now searching for other victims in the area and in neighboring states.

There are no links between the nine children, and none had underlying health conditions putting them at risk from hepatitis.

A CDC spokeswoman said the agency 'is aware of and working with the Alabama Department of Public Health to investigate nine cases of hepatitis in children  ranging from one to six years old  who also tested positive for adenovirus since October 2021.

WHAT IS HEPATITIS? Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver that is usually caused by a viral infection or liver damage from drinking alcohol. Short-term hepatitis often has no noticeable symptoms. But if some develop they can include dark urine, pale grey-coloured poo, itchy skin and yellowing of the eyes and skin. They can also include muscle and joint pain, a high temperature, feeling and being sick and being unusually tired all of the time. When hepatitis is spread by a virus, it's usually caused by consuming food and drink contaminated with the faeces of an infected person or blood-to-blood or sexual contact. Source: NHS Advertisement

'CDC is working with state health departments to see if there are additional U.S. cases, and what may be causing these cases.

'At this time adenovirus may be the cause for these, but investigators are still learning more  including ruling out the more common causes.'

Karen Landers, a district medical officer at the Alabama Department of Public Health, said five of the children had tested positive for adenoviruses.

She warned it was 'not common' to diagnose cases of severe hepatitis among children, telling Stat News that 'seeing children with severe [hepatitis] in the absence of severe underlying health problems is very rare.

'That's what really stood out to us in the state of Alabama.'

Helena Gutierrez, medical director of the pediatric liver transplant program at Alabama University, told the website the children had the 'full spectrum'.

'We have seen a full spectrum of cases from severe hepatitis to acute liver failure,' she said.

Adenoviruses are a family of common viruses that usually cause a range of mild illnesses  including colds, vomiting and diarrhea  and most people recover without complications.

While they do not typically cause hepatitis, it is a known rare complication of the virus.

The U.S. detected 12 cases of hepatitis involving adenovirus in 2017, with patients including eight children.

Britain has detected 74 mystery hepatitis cases so far among under-10s, officials revealed on Tuesday, all picked up in hospitals across the country.

Health chiefs in the country say adenovirus may be 'one of the possible causes', although they are still investigating other potential factors.

Spain announced it had detected three cases among under-7s the following day, with one leading to a child needing a liver transplant, reports El Pais.

Dr Meera Chand, director of emerging infections in the UK, said normal hygiene measures such as handwashing and respiratory hygiene can reduce the spread of the infections.

She added that parents and guardians should be 'alert' to signs of hepatitis and contact a health professional if they are concerned.

Hepatitis often has no noticeable symptoms  but they can include dark urine, pale grey-colored feces, itchy skin and the yellowing of the eyes and skin.

Infected people can also suffer muscle and joint pain, a high temperature, feeling and being sick and being unusually tired all of the time.

When hepatitis is spread by a virus, it's usually caused by consuming food and drink contaminated with the feces of an infected person or blood-to-blood or sexual contact.
Americans are often advised to eat healthier, more nutritious foods in an effort to stifle the diabetes and the obesity epidemic striking the nation. Researchers find that many can not identify healthy foods in the grocery store aisle, though.

A research team at Attest, a consumer research platform, found that when presented with multiple food options - all of varying levels of health and nutrition - only nine percent of people are able to correctly identify which was the healthiest.

Even more worrying, 13 percent identified the least nutritious food option as the healthiest - more than the amount who properly identified the healthiest.

Experts say that many are misled by labels on packaging like 'whole grain' and 'low calorie', and either do not bother to or cannot properly read the nutrition label on the back of the box.

A study found that only around 9% of Americans could accurately identify what product was the healthiest based on its packaging

The American population fails very clearly to identify healthy products... it tells us a lot about this gap between perception and reality,' Jeremy King, CEO of Attest who helped put together the research, told DailyMail.com.

Researchers gathered data from 2,000 participants for the study. Each were shown a collection of cereal bars and asked to rank them from healthiest to least healthiest.

Correct rankings were based off of the A through E Nutri-score used to grade some food products in the UK.

King said that many were misidentifying advertising slogans - which usually do not mean anything - as markers that a food was healthy.

Jeremy King (pictured), CEO of Attest, said that claims like 'whole grain' or 'naturally flavored' on the front of food packaging can mislead people on what products are actually healthy for them

These include phrases like 'whole grain', 'naturally flavored' and '100 calories'. Other common culprits include 'organic' or 'fat free'.

While many figure foods that brand themselves this way are healthier, the bar to legally use them is extremely low, and it is more branding than anything.

Americans failure to identify healthy products is likely playing a role in the nation's budding obesity and diabetes epidemics.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 42 percent of Americans are obese, with more than 70 percent of Americans being considered obese.

The problem has reached a crisis mode, and has also led to an increase of diabetes, heart disease, and other related conditions in America.

The CDC reports that around ten percent of Americans suffer from diabetes, a potentially devastating, debilitating, condition.

King blames outdated food labeling regulations in the U.S. for the issue.

America adopted its current food labeling practice, where nutritional facts can be found on a clear, black and white, label usually on the back or the side of the packaging.

King says the American style of nutrition labeling is outdated, and should be replaced with a system similar to the 'Nutri-score' system used in the UK

While the label is informative, giving near-exact amounts of what substances, vitamins and minerals are in the product, and comparing it to the daily expected intake for the average American, it can be hard to read and many may not even bother to look at it.

Instead, most Americans, even those who are looking for health food, will just scan the front of the package before putting it in their cart.

This is where terms like 'whole grain' and 'organic' can play a huge role.

Most consumers are not nutritionists,' King said, adding that they make a 'snap decision when deciding what is healthy in the grocery store.

He compares the U.S. system to that of the UK, where many products are labeled with a Nutri-score from A to E - with A being the healthiest.

While the system is not perfect, and does leave out a lot of the nuance that goes into nutrition, it is a great indicator for a person who wants to make a quick, health conscious, choice in the grocery store.

Researchers say that a bill filed last August by U.S. Rep Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, would institute this type of system in America, and help add clarity to grocery store shopping in the country.

King notes that this would be popular among Americans as well, with 51 percent of survey participants being in support of the labeling.

'There is demand for this change from consumers already,' he said.
Half of nurses in the U.S. are now battling against violence on wards, one of the largest nursing unions in the country said today.

In its bi-annual survey, National Nurses United found more than 48 per cent of nurses said they were facing a small or significant spike in violence at work.

This was more than double the 21 per cent that said there were more assaults in their hospitals in March last year.

Cases included patients spitting on nurses after being told they had tested positive for COVID-19, and scratching, hitting or even threatening healthcare workers with firearms.

Hospitals have been facing surging rates of patients attacking staff in recent months, fueled by Covid misinformation and staffing shortages.

Unions are calling for stronger protections for healthcare staff, warning the surge of attacks is leaving many 'distracted' and unable to do their jobs.

Half of nurses in the US now say they are experiencing violence on wards, double the number from a year ago, according to a survey from National Nurses United

The NNU survey involved more than 2,500 nurses from every state in America, and was carried out through February and March.

The union performs the survey once every six months, with a new report published each April and October.

It defined violence against healthcare workers as physical assaults such as hitting, kicking, scratching and spitting.

It also included verbal threats of physical violence that 'cause an employee to fear for their physical safety'.

Cases where patients threaten nurses with guns or other objects  such as hospital chairs  that can be used as weapons were also included.

Violence against nurses has 'markedly increased' with no sign it is 'receding', association says Violence on hospital wards has 'markedly increased' since the start of the pandemic with 'no sign' of it receding, a hospitals association has warned. The American Hospitals Association  which represents more than 2million healthcare workers nationwide  said last month more than 44 per cent of nurses were now experiencing physical violence. It added that more than six in ten were now reporting verbal abuse in the workplace. Cases included a nurse being thrown against a wall and bitten by a patient in South Dakota, and a Thai medical student being kicked and dragged to the ground in New York. President Richard Pollack warned: 'Nurses and doctors cannot provide attentive care when they are afraid for their personal safety, distracted by disruptive patients and family members, or traumatized from prior violent interactions. 'In addition, violent interactions at health care facilities tie up valuable resources and can delay urgently needed care for other patients. 'Studies show that workplace violence reduces patient satisfaction and employee productivity, and increases the potential for adverse medical events.' The association is calling on the Department of Justice to bring in more legislation to protect healthcare workers. Advertisement

'While workplace violence can come from any person present in the workplace, the vast majority that nurses and healthcare workers experience comes from patients,' the report's authors wrote.

'It is most frequently related to their disease/illness or a treatment or medication they are receiving.

'Regardless of intent, the impact on nurses and healthcare workers is the same, and employers have a duty to identify and remedy occupational hazards.'

Doctors and nurses have been warning of rising violence in hospitals for months.

It is a far cry from the early days of the pandemic, when healthcare workers were heralded as heroes.

Cases reported on hospital systems include a nurse being grabbed by her wrist and repeatedly kicked in the ribs at a hospital in Georgia.

In another incident, a nurse was left screaming in fear after a patient pinned her against a door and pressed her head into it.

Several hospitals  including one in Missouri  have now brought in panic buttons for staff to enable them to call security immediately if they are threatened by patients.

Dr Shoshana Ungerleider, a physician at Crossover Hospital in San Francisco, wrote in USA today that Covid misinformation was triggering the rise in violence.

'Part of the reason is that Covid-related misinformation has created an environment of fear and distrust within our healthcare systems,' she said.

'But Covid has only exacerbated an existing problem. Even before the pandemic, healthcare workers were already much more likely to experience assault than workers in any other industry.

'There are a number of factors that can put healthcare workers at higher risk  including insufficient staffing levels to patients in distress.'

The NNU survey also found more than seven in ten nurses said their job was now slightly or much worse than before the pandemic.

For comparison, just under half said their job was worse than before Covid six-months ago.

More than 80 percent of respondents also said their job was more stressful than before the pandemic, compared to just 30 percent in September.

And six in ten nurses warned their hospital was now relying on excessive over time to keep wards fully staffed. Seven in ten reported a rise in the number of travel nurses being used.

'We are now more than three years into the pandemic and not only is staffing worse, but workplace violence is increasing,' Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, president of the NNU, said.

'Nurses are experiencing alarming levels of moral distress and moral injury due to the unsafe working conditions.

'Since our last survey in September 2021, even more nurses have reported feeling more stress and anxiety as well as feeling traumatized by their experiences caring for patients.'
SHADOW GIRLS by Carol Birch (Head of Zeus 16.99, 352pp)

SHADOW GIRLS

by Carol Birch (Head of Zeus 16.99, 352pp)

The setting for Booker-shortlisted Birchs psychological suspense novel is a girls school in 1960s Manchester, where 15-year-old narrator Sally is a pupil.

Yearning for freedom and chafing against the run of the mill, she is contemptuous, judgmental and caustic  or a nasty bully, in her own words.

The chief object of her scorn is posh Sylvia, whom both Sally and her friend Pamela torment. But then something terrible and inexplicable happens and everything changes.

Not quite a decade on, Sally finds herself living in the school  now flats  with her boyfriend. But the building brings back memories, and as uncanny occurrences mount, we know things cant end well.

Probing the effects of buried trauma and the Freudian return of the repressed, Birchs achievement here is to give an authentic, arresting voice to a character who has little insight into the depths of her psyche.

But the all-pervading and unrelieved atmosphere of grim, miasmic dread makes what feels like an over-extended Halloween short story hard-going.

NONE OF THIS IS SERIOUS by Catherine Prasifka (Canongate 12.99, 288pp)

NONE OF THIS IS SERIOUS

by Catherine Prasifka (Canongate 12.99, 288pp)

Prasifka calls this a weird little book but, aside from the giant crack in the sky that appears early on, theres very little odd about it. Thats part of the point: as narrator Sophie knows well, anything nowadays can be reduced to the size of a meme, after which life carries on as before.

Surprising celestial events aside, this is a by-now-familiar millennial will-they-wont-they tale, whose drama takes place as much in the online world as the physical one.

Nice-guy Rory seems like an ideal match for Sophie, but shes drawn to emotionally illiterate Finn; shes also rapidly despairing of finding a job, let alone owning a home.

That the author is Sally Rooneys sister-in-law is no secret. But in her funny, endearingly heartfelt debut, Prasifka is quietly doing her own thing  its only late on that you realise Sophies spoken voice has been entirely absent as she struggles both to express herself, and to be heard.

THE ODYSSEY by Lara Williams (Hamish Hamilton 14.99, 208pp)

THE ODYSSEY

by Lara Williams (Hamish Hamilton 14.99, 208pp)

Theres more millennial messiness  psychological and literal  in Lara Williamss follow-up to her feminist Fight Club debut Supper Club.

Instead of dinner parties, the backdrop this time is a luxurious cruise ship-cum-floating cult, helmed by a sadistic captain named Keith. Among the ships employees is Ingrid, who is delighted to be selected for Keiths prestigious but vague mentorship scheme.

The bigger mystery, however, concerns the life on land shes evidently fled, her marriage included.

There are many things in the mix here  alcoholism, childlessness, the sinking ship of late capitalism  not all of them entirely in focus or cohering in terms of plot. But Williamss greatest fascination seems to be entropy itself, so its to her credit that her defiantly grungy novel, full as it is of razor-sharp lines and repellent but striking little details, feels quite so compellingly charged.
INTO THE DARK by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan 14.99, 336pp)

INTO THE DARK

by Fiona Cummins (Macmillan 14.99, 336pp)

Nothing and no one is entirely what they seem in the gifted Cummins fifth crime story. In a beautiful house overlooking the sea in Essex live the golden Holden family  father Gray, mother Piper and teenagers Riva and Artie.

Then one morning all four disappear into thin air, with the only clue left behind a message written on a mirror in Rivas bedroom which says, Make Them Stop.

Has there been a massacre? If so, where are the bodies? Or have the family been kidnapped? No one can tell.

Enter DS Saul Anguish, a new member of the murder squad in Midtown-on-Sea, an officer with an heroic record of protecting two children from a serial killer.

So begins one of the most strikingly original police procedurals this year, whose serpentine twists and turns leave the reader gasping. It is breathtakingly good.

THE FIELDS by Erin Young (Hodder 16.99, 352pp)

THE FIELDS

by Erin Young (Hodder 16.99, 352pp)

This first venture into crime from award-winning, Brighton-based historical novelist Robyn Young  writing under a pseudonym  is set among the cornfields of Iowa. A young woman is found murdered on one of the few family farms that has not been swallowed up by the titans of Big Agriculture.

Newly promoted Sergeant Riley Fisher, the first female head of investigations in the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office, is sent to investigate. Her search becomes personal when she realises the victim is an old school friend.

Another body is found, and rapidly it emerges that something very frightening indeed is happening in the vast flatlands of the Midwest.

Add to the mix an election for governor and the suspicion that a woman can never be a homicide detective, and you have a story as gripping and sinuous as Jane Harpers The Dry. There could be no higher praise.

BREAKNECK POINT by T. Orr Munro (HQ 14.99, 400pp)

BREAKNECK POINT

by T. Orr Munro (HQ 14.99, 400pp)

An interesting debut from a former crime scene investig a torturned-journalist, this focuses on single mother-of-one Ally Dymond.

Shes a CSI whos been coldshouldered by her colleagues after blowing the whistle on a corrupt detective inspector.

Dymond finds herself exiled to the depths of North Devon, where no serious crime ever appears to take place. But then the body of 19-year-old Janie Warren turns up in the seaside town of Bidecombe.

The lead detective is convinced it is simply a drug overdose, but Dymond is far from sure. Still, no one wants to listen to a female investigator who put one of their own behind bars.

Meanwhile, the killer is watching her every move and charting it in counterpoint to Allys story.

Packed with authenticity and a neat line in menace, it could have moved a little faster, but is compelling nonetheless.
THE CHOSEN by Elizabeth Lowry (Riverrun 18.99, 304pp)

THE CHOSEN

by Elizabeth Lowry (Riverrun 18.99, 304pp)

Thomas Hardys marriage to his first wife, Emma Gifford, was notoriously long and difficult, its early romantic promise entirely vanishing as diffident Hardy became a world-famous author and the ill and disillusioned Emma took to living in the attic of their home  a visible emblem of their estrangement.

In this exquisite imagining of the days after Emmas unexpected death, The Chosen excavates Hardys emotions  a muddle of guilt and regret  as he recalls how, when she was alive he wished her dead, but now shes irretrievably gone he repeats her name like an incantation.

Felled by the bitterness in her diaries, unable to write and involved in a burgeoning relationship with the much younger Florence Dugdale, Hardy experiences a savage sense of liberty and overwhelming feelings of loss, beautifully described in Lowrys bellclear, silvery prose.

DARK HUNTER by F.J.Watson (Polygon 8.99, 336pp)

DARK HUNTER

by F.J.Watson (Polygon 8.99, 336pp)

Its 1317 and the pious  verging on priggish  Benedict Russell, a young English squire, is holed up in the garrison town of Berwick-on-Tweed, the last English stronghold in Scotland. Routed at the Battle of Bannockburn three years ago, the English contingent is awaiting the next attack of the fearsome Black Douglas as rations dwindle and tempers fray.

Bens fledgling detective skills are tested to the limit when a beautiful young girl is murdered outside the towns walls and he is enlisted to find the culprit.

Watson, a medieval historian, brings to vivid life the sights, sounds and smells of this 14th-century world, especially the claustrophobic, volatile atmosphere of Berwick, with encroaching danger outside the walls and treachery nestling in the nooks and crannies of its winding streets.

THE ATTIC CHILD by Lola Jaye (Macmillan 14.99, 480pp)

THE ATTIC CHILD

by Lola Jaye (Macmillan 14.99, 480pp)

Lola Jayes bruising yet hopeful epic novel tells the stories of two haunted children and their connection to the same dark attic at the top of a grand English seaside house.

Its 1905, and 12-year-old Celestine is grief-stricken. He has lost everything he loves, including his given name  Dikembe  as he attempts to adjust to life as an unpaid servant in the house of the rich, white explorer who has taken him from his African homeland and his beloved family.

Some 90 years later, Lowra has inherited the house after the death of her abusive stepmother. Its packed to the rafters with bad memories and Lowra is determined to banish its menacing hold on her as she begins to uncover the fate of the young boy who lived there long ago.

Emotional and evocative, The Attic Child is a powerful (if overlong) tale of trauma, identity and survival.
BABY BUNNYS EASTER SURPRISE by Helen Baugh, illustrated by Nick East (HarperCollins 6.99, 32pp)

BABY BUNNYS EASTER SURPRISE

by Helen Baugh, illustrated by Nick East (HarperCollins 6.99, 32pp)

This witty romp about a baby rabbit overwhelmed by the temptation to scoff down everyone elses Easter eggs will entertain all young children  and parents.

Letty follows her mummy, the real Easter bunny, as she leaves eggs around the forest for the woodland creatures. But Letty loves chocolate  Its hard not to eat Easter eggs when you are very small.

This has bright, bold, detailed illustrations and a rhyming text that hops along. Age 2+

PHYLLIS & GRACE by Nigel Gray, illustrated by Bethan Welby (Scallywag 12.99, 32pp)

WISHED by Lissa Evans (David Fickling 12.99, 272pp)

PHYLLIS & GRACE

by Nigel Gray, illustrated by Bethan Welby (Scallywag 12.99, 32pp)

Young children visiting a relative with Alzheimers or memory loss this Easter will appreciate this sensitive and surprisingly uplifting story.

Grace lives next door to Phyllis, who has Alzheimers, so she often confuses the past with the present. But Grace loves visiting her and bringing her presents that spark memories.

The friendship enhances both their lives and Grace accepts her deterioration without fear or rejection. 4+

WISHED

by Lissa Evans (David Fickling 12.99, 272pp)

Wheelchair - bound Ed and his sister Roo are forced to spend half-term with an elderly neighbour, Rosanna, and her smelly cat  a situation not helped by the arrival of Willard, a boy with endless imagination.

But when they find some old birthday candles, they discover that a lit flame can make wishes come true  so what fantasies will they choose?

A joyful celebration of living life to the full, this bubbles over with humour, adventure and positive messages. 9+

THE DROWNING DAY

by Anne Cassidy (Uclan 7.99, 172pp)

Its 2052 and Britains east coast has suffered devastating floods. The population is divided between those banished to the Wetlands and those in safe, dry towns.

Jade is a Wetlander so, when a new flood threatens, she must escape with Bates, a mysterious boy who has befriended her. But what is the secret of the key her grandfather entrusted to her before he died? A gripping dystopian thriller. 12+
Ethical funds have lagged traditional investments in performance of late but money is set to keep flowing into products tagged 'ESG', says an financial expert.

UK and global funds with 'environment, social and governance' goals have underperformed recently because growth stocks have floundered and rising energy prices have boosted oil and gas stocks, he explains.

But 'genuine' consumer demand, the fund industry's embrace of responsible investing and pending regulatory changes will drive the popularity of this sector in future, says AJ Bell's head of investment analysis Laith Khalaf.

>>>Most popular stocks held in ethical UK and global funds revealed below

Climate change: The City watchdog is to launch a consultation on green labelling shortly, to guard against 'greenwashing' for investors wanting to achieve environmental or other goals

Over the past year, non-ESG global funds have returned 8.7 per cent and ESG ones 6.6 per cent, while non-ESG UK funds have put on 5.9 per cent and ESG ones 2.2 per cent.

But global ESG funds outperformed over three and five years, and the outcome was much closer among UK funds over a longer time frame too - see the table below.

AJ Bell compared ESG and non-ESG funds in the IA global sector and in the IA UK All Companies sector over one, three and five years.

'Longer term performance of ESG funds compares favourably to more traditional offerings, especially in the global fund sector,' says Khalaf.

He believes money will keep flowing into responsible funds due to the following factors.

- Investor demand is there, and the investment industry has 'sunk a lot of marketing dollars' into launching new funds and rebranding existing ones to ESG.

- The Financial Conduct Authority is due to launch a consultation on green labelling shortly, which should 'add much needed clarity' to what ESG vocabulary means in practice.

Khalaf notes that greater disclosure requirements under an EU classification scheme introduced in spring 2021 mean that 42 per cent of European fund assets now sit in ESG funds.

'The widescale adoption of regulated ESG classifications in Europe suggests that the endgame is likely to see the majority of funds incorporating some kind of ethical framework into their investment process, especially those offered by large investment houses.'

- Rules on how financial advisers should support clients' ESG preferences are on the way, which will also encourage fund managers to incorporate responsible investing in even more of their funds, he adds.

What are the most widely held shares in UK ethical funds?

'Investors looking to put money into ethical funds, or indeed those looking for individual stock ideas, might well be interested in the most popular holdings within ESG funds,' says Khalaf.

'Whats most notable about the most popular holdings in UK ESG funds is the number of financial services firms in the top ten.

'This sector tends to score well on ESG metrics, as it isnt a heavy industry that needs to consume lots of carbon to conduct its daily activities.'

Khalaf says the inclusion of Lloyds might raise an eyebrow or two 'seeing as the bank is still mopping up after past misdemeanours, and had to set aside 1.3billion in the last financial year for customer remediation'.

But he notes that pharma stocks are a bit of a shoo-in for UK ESG funds because their core business results in better health outcomes for society at large.

What are the most widely held shares in global ethical funds?

'Within global funds, the top ten most popular holdings have a distinctly technological flavour,' says Khalaf.

'That is perhaps unsurprising given the extent to which technology stocks feature in the world index at large, but also underlines these companies do tend to score well on ESG factors too.

'Thats despite the fact that some of them face questions around anti-competitive behaviour and the levels of tax paid in certain jurisdictions.'

What are the best performing UK ethical funds over the past five years?

Top UK ESG funds between April 2017-2022, out of a universe of 22 funds with a track record going back that far

What are the best performing global ethical funds over the past five years?

Top global ESG funds between April 2017-2022, out of a universe of around 60 funds with a track record going back that far

What does ethical investing jargon mean?

Investors face a bit of a maze because there are lots of words and phrases flying around which can have different interpretations, says Khalaf.

He expects this to improve, especially when the FCA introduces proposals for a green labelling regime which are due soon.

'If you do wish to invest ethically, you do need to roll your sleeves up and look under the bonnet of prospective funds if you want your fund to be ticking a lot of the right ESG boxes,' he says.

Mystified by green investing jargon? As more go 'ethical' with their money, find a full A-Z of what you need to know here.

Below, Khalaf explains six approaches to investing ethically, although he cautions that some funds combine them and within each there will be a spectrum of activity, from weak to strong.

1. Stewardship

This basically means looking after the investments you manage from the point of view of the environment, society, or the economy at large, he says.

'At its weakest level this would mean simply voting on proposals made by portfolio companies, at its strongest it would mean lobbying investee companies for change, either in private or in public, or both.

'Its probably hard to find an active fund that couldnt claim to engage in some form of stewardship, so its a pretty broad church. Stewardship is an important component of responsible investing, but in ESG funds it would normally be supplemented by further measures.'

2. ESG integration

ESG factors are considered when making investment decisions, but the impact on a portfolio can be minimal or quite substantive, explains Khalaf.

'A fund manager could simply receive an ESG rating for each stock, alongside other financial information which informs their investment decision.

'Its therefore easy to see why accusations of greenwashing might arise around ESG integration. At the other end of the spectrum, ESG integration can mean a more robust approach.

'For instance, a fund may decline investment in companies which dont carry a minimum ESG rating, no matter how appealing their other characteristics.'

Laith Khalaf: 'Longer term performance of ESG funds compares favourably to more traditional offerings, especially in the global fund sector'

3. Tilting

'Some funds use ESG scores to tilt their portfolio away from companies with poor ratings, and towards companies with good ratings,' says Khalaf.

'This approach clearly means that some of your money may still be invested in some companies and industries which you might take issue with, but youll have a significantly lower exposure than the market, so it strikes a balance between ethics and pragmatism.'

4. Best in class

'This approach permits investment across a range of industries, even carbon intensive ones, but picks a portfolio of companies which are leading their sector in terms of their ESG credentials,' says Khalaf.

'The benefit of this approach is that its easier to produce a balanced portfolio, and probably suits those people who believe the likes of BP and Shell are critical to the transition to cleaner energy, and so might still merit investment.'

5. Exclusions

Some funds simply avoid investing in certain industries, such as tobacco, oil and gas, gambling and defence, explains Khalaf.

'This might suit investors who dont mind too much where they invest, as long as their money isnt held in companies which they believe are doing harm. This is a traditional way of investing ethically, and its also straightforward to understand and implement.'

6. Positive impact

Other funds go a step further and actively seek out companies working on solving some of the problems facing the world, like climate change, financial inclusion, or poverty.

'These funds can be more risky, often because they can invest in fairly specialist areas,' says Khalaf.

'Indeed, included in this category are funds which target investment in specific themes, such as renewable energy, or clean water, and which may therefore have a very focused portfolio.'
The government pandemic SNAP payments are about to expire in a few weeks so food banks are prepared for a further surge in demand.

Families receiving food stamps have been able to obtain the full benefit permitted for their family size from the beginning of the pandemic. According to the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, May will be the final month for families on SNAP to receive the higher benefit due to a new state legislation.

Richard Gordon, senior resource manager at Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, who assists individuals with SNAP applications, said he has observed an increase in the number of people looking for information on food stamps in recent months, including many who have never gotten them before.

In recent months, food banks have noticed an uptick in demand. According to officials, gleaners delivered 10 million pounds of food to the pandemic's food banks last month, more than at any previous time throughout the outbreak.

The Midwest Food Bank, whose food pantries have witnessed a 10% rise in demand in the last two months, has a similar narrative. Based on household size, income, and permissible deductions, the amount each family's monthly SNAP benefits will decrease in June will vary.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the increased demand, the Midwest Food Bank is preparing extra pop-up deliveries, according to Whitaker. More than 619,000 Hoosiers get SNAP benefits as of February, according to Fox59.

How To Apply for SNAP Benefits?

SNAP applications must be filed to the state agency in which you presently reside. To apply for SNAP, a member of your family must contact the state agency directly. Review the interactive map provided by the SNAP State Directory of Resources to find your nearest local SNAP office. Please note that SNAP applications are not processed by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), as per Yahoo.

If you don't have convenient access to the internet, local offices can be found in the state or local government sections of phone books. You may discover the address of your local state agency and visit the office or contact your state's toll-free SNAP Information hotline by searching for "Food Stamps," "Social Services," "Human Services," and "Public Assistance."

Individuals must fulfill a few standards in order to be eligible for SNAP. Applicants must be residents of the state in which they apply for SNAP and have a specified amount of income.

A listing of SNAP income eligibility restrictions by household size may be found on the SNAP eligibility resources page. The household's gross and net income must fall between the ranges shown in this table. Otherwise, the household will be ineligible for SNAP and will not be eligible to receive benefits. Only the net income restriction applies to households with an elderly or handicapped member. Due to established eligibility for other means-tested programs, households with all members receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) may be categorically eligible for SNAP.

Read Also: Tax Return: 2 Key Possibilities of Late Filing

What Is an EBT Card?

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program also offers an EBT card (known as EBT Cash) that may be used for a larger variety of living expenditures, such as gasoline, housing, home maintenance supplies, personal hygiene, and other living expenses. Your ETC Cash card can also be used to withdraw cash from an ATM, as per Go Banking Rates.

You may use an EBT Cash card to fuel your car and buy almost anything in the shop, including personal hygiene goods and food, if you use it at a site that takes EBT. You won't be able to buy cigarettes, alcohol, vaping goods, lottery tickets, scratch-offs, or anything else that youngsters under the age of 18 can't lawfully buy.

If your EBT card just allows you to purchase SNAP benefits, your options will be even more limited. You can't buy fuel, prepared convenience meals like pre-cooked hot dogs at a 7-Eleven petrol station, or take-out foods like an ice cream cone from Cumberland Farms, in addition to the preceding "adult-only" products. Milk, bread, butter, and other routinely purchased goods are available at gas stations and convenience stores.

Related Article: SNAP Benefits 2022: Up to $1504 Payments Available in Virginia, Program Might End in North Carolina in May

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Elon Musk yesterday pounced on Twitter with a 31.4billion bid to take the social media giant off the stock market.

The Tesla tycoon's offer of $54.20 a share comes just days after he rejected an invitation to join the company's board.

The bid represents a 38 per cent premium to Twitter's closing price on April 1, the last trading day before it was revealed that the billionaire had become the social media site's biggest shareholder with a stake of more than 9 per cent.

Tesla tycoon Elon Musk has made an offer of $54.20 a share for Twitter just days after he rejected an invitation to join the social media giant's board

The world's richest man disclosed the offer in a regulatory filing, saying he is the right person to 'unlock' the social media platform's 'extraordinary potential'.

The move would transform the tech entrepreneur into a social media baron, able to set the future direction of a platform where he has 80m followers and which he has used to pursue personal vendettas and promote his agenda.

In a letter to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor, Musk set out his reason for the offer. He wrote: 'I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.

'However, since making my investment I now realise the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.'

But he hinted that he could walk away if the deal fell through. He added: 'My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder.'

In a statement, Twitter confirmed that it had received an 'unsolicited, non-binding proposal' from 50-year-old Musk to acquire the company.

'The Twitter board of directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company and all Twitter stockholders.'

Shares in New York initially shot higher by more than 5 per cent when news of the offer was made public, but fell back later in the session to finish down 1.7 per cent at $45.08. Shares fell after analysts said the move was hostile and questioned whether he would be able to push the deal through.

Late last night Musk was engaged in a Twitter spat with Saudi business tycoon Prince Al Waleed bin Talal who said that as one of Twitter's biggest long-term shareholders, he rejected Musk's takeover bid.

The prince added that he did not believe the offer 'comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospects'.

Musk is engaged in a Twitter spat with Saudi business tycoon Prince Al Waleed bin Talal who said that as one of Twitter's biggest long-term shareholders, he rejected Musk's takeover bid

The electric car company boss hit back at Al Waleed bin Talal, who owns Kingdom Holding Company, saying: 'Interesting. Just two questions, if I may.

How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly and indirectly? What are the Kingdom's views on journalistic freedom of speech?'

This tweet was followed by a separate post from Musk who said it would be 'utterly indefensible' for Twitter not to put his offer to a shareholder vote.

He said: 'They own the company, not the board of directors.'

If the deal was pushed through there are also question marks over whether Twitter's chief executive Parag Agrawal would stay on.

Agrawal, 37, who took over in November, has history with Musk. In December Musk compared Agrawal to Joseph Stalin, superimposing his face on a famous photo of the Soviet dictator over his approach to free speech.

Agrawal hit back over Musk's decision to decline a seat on the firm's board earlier this week. He referred to Musk as a 'distraction', telling Twitter's supporters to 'tune out the noise' and focus on the social media giant's work.

Musk also caused doubt about the deal after speaking at a TED conference in Vancouver following the announcement.

Musk said he had 'sufficient assets' to fund the deal, before quipping that: 'I'm not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it.'

He added at the conference that he had a 'plan B' if the bid was not successful although he did not elaborate further.

He also said that Twitter should avoid deleting posts, and advocated for 'time outs' over 'permanent bans'  a position that could ultimately pave the way for a return of banned figures, such as former US President Donald Trump, to the platform.

Twitter, based in San Francisco, owns one of the world's largest social networks. It was set up in 2006 and makes most of its money through advertising. The group went public in November 2013.

Musk is the world's richest man with a personal fortune of 209billion, according to Forbes, following the extraordinary rally of shares in Tesla, which is now worth nearly 1 trillion pounds.

Musk noted that his $54.20 per share offer amounted to a 54 per cent premium on where Twitter was trading in January, when he started buying shares.

Shares in Twitter are up almost a fifth on where they were before Musk's stake was first disclosed, but they are down 40 per cent from the record high of $77.63 they scaled last March.
One of the world's leading economists has warned the war in Ukraine is a 'massive setback for the global recovery' as it pushes up prices.

Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said 'we are facing a crisis on top of a crisis', with Russia's invasion of its neighbour intensifying problems caused by Covid.

Ahead of the IMF's spring meeting next week, Georgieva, 68, said the Washington DC-based organisation would be slashing its economic growth forecasts.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva (pictured) said 'we are facing a crisis on top of a crisis', with the war in Ukraine intensifying problems caused by Covid

'Fortunately, for most countries, growth will still remain in positive territory.

'That said, the impact of the war will contribute to forecast downgrades for 143 economies this year.'

Georgieva  who grew up in Bulgaria, behind the Iron Curtain  invoked memories of the aftermath of the Second World War when she said: 'The actions we take now, together, will determine our future in fundamental ways.

'It reminds me of [the conference at] Bretton Woods in 1944 when, in the dark shadow of war, leaders came together to envision a brighter world.

'It was a moment of unprecedented courage and cooperation. We need that spirit today, as we face bigger challenges and more difficult choices.'
Dominic Perrottet has admitted there was no science behind bringing back mandatory QR check-in codes at the beginning of the Omicron outbreak.

In footage of the NSW Premier at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) event in February, that resurfaced this week, Mr Perrottet said the decision to mandate residents checking into pubs and stores was made to 'instil confidence' into the public.

'The most ironic (decision) I thought was we ended up bringing QR codes back when we weren't even tracking and tracing. There was no science behind it at all. It had zero utility,' he said.

'But there was a massive campaign and when those campaigns get run what it does is it depletes confidence.'

Dominic Perrottet has admitted there was no science behind bringing back mandatory QR check-ins amid the outbreak of Omicron, but the decision was made to instil confidence into the public

He claimed media reports criticising approaches to Covid made by both the NSW and Victorian governments had instilled fear into the community.

'And that kind of reporting, as we have seen over this period of time has been depleting confidence in our people,' Mr Perrottet continued.

'So we actually brought it back for one reason only  to instil confidence so that people would go out using QR codes.'

NSW residents once again had to check into venues during the Omicron outbreak in December before the restrictions were scrapped altogether in mid-February.

Trade Minister Stuart Ayres in January said even though the QR codes weren't triggering a contact tracing response, they were used to alert residents to monitor symptoms.

'QR codes remain a requirement for higher risk settings and many businesses are continuing to make them available voluntarily in other settings,' he said.

'QR codes are there to inform people about the presence of Covid cases and to advise people to monitor for symptoms.'

In footage of the NSW Premier at a Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) event, he said the decision to mandate residents checking into pubs and stores was only to 'instil confidence'

Mr Perrottet in his CEDA appearance also said that free surveillance rapid antigen testing used in schools in NSW and Victoria was not an idea supported by the health department.

'We (Mr Perrottet and Mr Andrews) procured millions of these tests and had the plan together and distributed them before schools started to three thousand schools across our state and five thousand childcare and early child education centres,' he said.

'And by doing that together and having that plan  and this is another interesting thing about the pandemic  Health completely disagreed with this approach, by the way.

'They didn't see the point of having surveillance testing, but (the Department of) Education wanted it because we need to once again instil confidence in our teachers and instil confidence in our parents that children would be safe at school.'

Under that decision schools were provided with enough RATs for all students and staff to test themselves twice a week for the first four weeks of Term One.

The premier said that the collaboration between NSW and Victoria in having similar approaches to Covid allowed for residents to have more confidence heading back into society amid the Omicron outbreak.
Border Patrol is in talks to roll out hi-tech 'smart walls' that can detect intruders approaching on foot or in underground tunnels, and launch autonomous drones with facial recognition to catch coyotes and drug-runners.

Technology company DarkPulse claims it has pitched its sophisticated fiber-optic cables to Department of Homeland Security officials as a solution to policing miles of remote and unprotected US borders in states like Arizona.

CEO Dennis O'Leary told DailyMail.com exclusively that the technology can create an x-ray-style picture of an area just by burying a small and near-undetectable cable in the ground.

The technology would allow Border Patrol officers to scan miles of the US southern border in real time using VR-headsets which O'Leary likened to Batman's 'Batvision'.

'You need a barrier, because you can't have boots on the ground everywhere,' he said. 'But any schmuck with a shovel can dig underneath a wall.

'And because there's parts of that wall that are so remote, you can't get eyes on it. So you need some sort of technology that's going to alert you to somebody tampering with the wall.

'I can run a piece of cable thousands of kilometers. And either somebody crossed or they didn't, there's no false alarm.'

Technology company DarkPulse claims it has pitched its sophisticated fiber-optic 'smart wall' cables to Department of Homeland Security officials as a solution to policing miles of remote and unprotected US borders in states like Arizona

DarkPulse's technology works by sending pulses of light down glass tubes, and gleaning information from the way the light is reflected back to build up an x-ray picture of the area around the tube

Its first commercial use is in a bridge currently being built near Sacramento, California, in a partnership with CalTrans. Workers at the Sacramento Bridge are seen building the technology

DarkPulse's technology works by sending pulses of light down glass tubes, and gleaning information from the way the light is reflected back to build up an x-ray picture of the area around the tube.

'In Arizona there's a lot of tunnels coming from Mexico, from the drug cartels. In those areas, you would add the tunnel detection,' O'Leary said.

CEO Dennis O'Leary told DailyMail.com that the technology can create an x-ray-style picture of an area just by burying a small and near-undetectable cable in the ground

'We would actually see the footfall of somebody crossing,' he added. 'We could take that bearing and track that person, and then communicate with the security group on the ground and let them know exactly where that intruder is headed.

'Drones can be placed along a perimeter of the border in a garage. As soon as there's an alert we can launch a drone with facial recognition and follow.

'We have drones that are pilot-driven. The capability of the drone could be a set pattern. Or it could be an autonomous type of deployment  without giving too much away.

'We are in talks with several agencies. One is Homeland Security. But there's other agencies that are interested in the tech for monitoring different areas as well.'

DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

O'Leary said DarkPulse's technology can also be used in buildings to monitor their structural integrity.

Its first commercial use is in a bridge currently being built near Sacramento, California, in a partnership with CalTrans.

As cement is poured into pillars that will hold up the Honcut Bridge in Loma Rica, DarkPulse cables are being inserted and are detecting any air pockets or fault lines forming in the cement.

When finished, the bridge will be wired up with cables mapping 'almost every square inch' of the structure, allowing engineers to monitor it for safety  and even detect the weight and speed of vehicles driving over it.

'You can put on a VR headset, and virtually walk the structure,' O'Leary said. 'You're able to look down into the bridge and see what's going on inside, almost like an x-ray.

'The interface, it is like a Batman movie,' he added. 'You can zoom in, zoom out, you can flip this thing 360 degrees.'

As cement is poured into pillars that will hold up the Honcut Bridge in Loma Rica, DarkPulse cables are being inserted and are detecting any air pockets or fault lines forming in the cement

'In Arizona there's a lot of tunnels coming from Mexico, from the drug cartels. In those areas, you would add the tunnel detection,' O'Leary said. The U.S-Mexico border is pictured in Douglas, Arizona

The company has projects in Egypt where entire buildings will be wired up with the fiber-optic cables, allowing engineers to 'virtually walk in and see through walls and floors'.

The CEO, who has been working on the technology for 12 years, said the sensors constantly collect data, building up a database of how buildings react to different forces, allowing future engineering to be based not on rough predictions but on real-world information.

'We understand what the stress and strain and temperature does to each little piece and part,' he said.

He added that the system will allow safety workers to determine which buildings are unsafe after an earthquake or other natural disasters, and could spot early warning signs to prevent catastrophes like the Surfside condo building collapse in Miami last June.

'Had the system been installed at the time, we could have alerted to a change in the structure,' he said. 'That would easily save lives. Maybe not prevent the building from collapsing, but at least give out an alert to get people out to safety.'
Pope Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a prison near Rome in a Holy Thursday ritual that symbolizes humility and service and highlights his papacy's attention to those on society's margins.

He arrived in a motorcade that included Italian police cars at the prison in Civitavecchia, a port city, 50 miles northwest of Rome. The ritual was closed to the public for security reasons and to protect the privacy of the inmates.

But afterwards, the Vatican said the pope performed the foot-washing, following Jesus' example, 'in a sign of love inspired by love' aimed at service and humility.

Pope Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a prison near Rome in a Holy Thursday ritual. Pictured: Pope Francis performing the 'Washing of the Feet' of inmates during a private visit to the Civitavecchia prison, northwest of Rome

The 12 inmates included men and women of various ages and of different nationalities, it said. Symbolizing the number of Jesus' apostles, the twelve sat on chairs on a raised platform.

The pontiff washed, dried, then kissed the feet of each of the inmates, all who were wearing masks against the spread of COVID-19. Some inmates leaned over to kiss the pope's hands in gratitude.

In the prison chapel, the pope celebrated a Mass attended by inmates, some prison staff and Italy's justice minister, the Vatican said in a statement.

The Vatican did not say what accommodations might have been made to enable the pope, who has been hobbled of late by a knee-ligament problem, to perform the foot-washing ceremony.

For years, Francis has also suffered from sciatica, a nerve inflammation that can cause back and leg pain.

Earlier, during a Holy Thursday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Francis advised the 1,800 priests in attendance not to focus on worldly concerns such as power or status but exhorted them to 'serve, with a clear conscience, the holy and faithful people of God.'

Pope Francis washes the feet of inmates at the Civitavecchia prison in Civitavecchia, April 14

Francis made no reference to decades of scandals involving Catholic priests who sexually abused children and were often transferred from parish to parish by bishops who tried to avoid embarrassment rather than protect minors.

During the Holy Thursday Mass, large urns of oil are blessed for use in ceremonies in churches in the Rome area.

When Francis went to bless the oil by breathing into it, an aide helped him rise from his chair and walk toward the silver urn.

At the end of the ceremony, Francis descended the steps down from the altar clinging to an aide's arm, and even while assisted limped his way out of the basilica.

Holy Week, which draws hundreds of thousands of faithful to the Vatican, began with Palm Sunday Mass on April 10 in St. Peter's Square and culminates this Sunday at Easter, when the faithful mark the resurrection of Jesus.

This year, the Good Friday torch-lit Way of the Cross procession in Rome returns to its traditional venue at the ancient Colosseum after a two-year absence due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 12 inmates involved in the ceremony included men and women of various ages and of different nationalities. Pictured: The Pope greets people in the Rome prison on Thursday

Holy Week, which draws hundreds of thousands of faithful to the Vatican, began with Palm Sunday Mass on April 10 in St. Peter's Square and culminates this Sunday at Easter, when the faithful mark the resurrection of Jesus. Pictured: Some of the 1,800 priests attending Pope Francis' Holy Chrism mass at St. Peter's Basilica in The Vatican, April 14

The Vatican has invited a Russian woman and a Ukrainian woman, who work together at a Rome hospital, to carry a cross together during the procession.

That has angered some Ukrainians, including the country's ambassador to the Holy See and the archbishop of Kyiv.

Their objections center on whether such a gesture, implying reconciliation, is suitable, given Russia's invasion of its neighbor and its ongoing war against the country's people.

The Vatican is still going ahead with the procession's lineup of participants, who take turns carrying a lightweight cross during the procession, which is presided over by the pontiff and recalls Jesus' death by crucifixion.
A mother who drunkenly drove into her daughter and dragged her 150 metres down their street has admitted she is 'devastated' and living in a 'personal hell'.

Dale Palmer, 58, trapped her 27-year-old daughter Keely beneath a Toyota Starlet in Caringbah South, south of Sydney, on May 2, 2021.

Keely was then heard screaming 'help, help, stop,' as she was pulled along by her mother who was more than three times over the legal drink-driving limit.

Palmer pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving occasioning actual bodily harm and faced Downing Centre Local Court for her sentence hearing on Thursday.

A mother who drunkenly drove into her daughter and dragged her 150 metres down their street has admitted she is 'devastated' and living in a 'personal hell'

Dale Palmer, 58, trapped her 27-year-old daughter Keely (pictured) beneath a Toyota Starlet in Caringbah South, south of Sydney, on May 2, 2021

Keely was then heard screaming 'help, help stop,' as she was pulled along by her mother who was more than three times over the legal drink-driving limit

Her defence lawyer Arjun Chhabra said Palmer was apologetic for the incident and that she has been living in her own 'personal hell' for the past 11 months.

'She says, 'I'm deeply sorry to my daughter, my family, my neighbours, the police officers and the ambulance paramedics',' the barrister told the court.

'(She continues) 'I committed a great wrong and I feel real shame for that criminal wrongdoing  I feel absolutely devastated, sickened beyond anything I've experienced'.'

'She was in that hell by her own wrongdoing, and she did not seek to minimise that wrongdoing.'

He said the crime was at odds with her good character and 41-year driving history, and there was a low risk of reoffending due to her palpable and potent remorse.

'She does not think or act in a way that reflects a belief that her pain and suffering is greater than that which was sheeted home to Keely Palmer  there is a conscious comprehension that she wronged her daughter and several others in the community.'

Palmer had been drinking wine from the afternoon at a party when her 'girls' came home and became mad at her, according to court documents.

'They don't like me drinking wine and they get narky at me,' she told police.

She wanted to drive to the end of the street to 'gather her thoughts,' and hit her daughter who was standing in front of the car.

Keely became caught in the passenger side front axle, and neighbours could hear her scream 'Dad help, stop the car,' whilst Palmer continued to drive.

Keely (right) became caught in the passenger side front axle, and neighbours could hear her scream 'Dad help, stop the car,' whilst Palmer continued to drive

Palmer (right) standing on the side of the road was heard by three men screaming: 'Why'd you do this to me?'

Her father Warren Palmer chased after the car, yelling: 'Put the f***ing handbrake on. Put the handbrake on. Stop the car.'

After the car finally stopped he called for assistance to try lifting the vehicle off his daughter.

One witness says there was blood everywhere, and the victim's right arm looked like it had been dragged along the road, with skin missing.

Palmer standing on the side of the road was heard by three men screaming: 'Why'd you do this to me?'

Her daughter replied: 'Get this woman away from me.'

In hospital she was treated for complex fractures, large skin defects, abrasions to her thigh and hip area, lacerations to her right forearm, and underwent an operation before treatment from the burns unit due to loss of skin.

The court was told Keely had written a victim impact statement expressing her forgiveness.

Palmer had been drinking wine from the afternoon at a party when her 'girls' came home and became mad at her, according to court documents (pictured, Palmer leaves court in 2021)

Mr Chhabra submitted his client should be sentenced to an intensive corrections order and had already suffered significant extra-curial punishment due to extensive media coverage.

'Much ink has been spilled on the reporting of this matter.'

In a letter to the court Palmer said she was 'deeply sorry to my daughter Keely', her family, community and first responders that evening.

'I committed a great wrong and I feel real shame for that criminal wrongdoing.'

Prosecutor Alexander Poulos said the magistrate should send a strong message to the community

'In these circumstances where a person is quite horribly injured from trying to stop a person they know from driving a motor vehicle while heavily intoxicated.'

The court was told Ms Palmer had abstained from alcohol, attended alcoholics anonymous meetings and sought treatment from a trauma psychologist

The magistrate said he would hand down his judgment on May 26.
A Bronx man who stabbed his pregnant Army vet girlfriend more than a half-dozen times and left her bleeding for 30 minutes, causing her to lose their baby, was sentenced to 14 year in prison on Thursday.

Liv Abreu, 34, was consoled by her attorney outside a Bronx courtroom after the sentencing of ex-boyfriend Oscar Alvarez, 34.

Her brother Juan Carlos told a reporter that the Alvarez he saw on Thursday was 'the guy that we knew,' suggesting something may have been amiss with Alvarez's mental state on the day of the stabbing.

'The guy that attacked her was a different guy,' Juan Carlos said.

Alvarez stabbed Abreu - who was 26 weeks pregnant - multiple times in the chest and once on the side during a violent domestic dispute in their apartment on Walton Avenue in The Bronx on May 21, 2018.

Police said they got into a heated argument at around 12.30am concerning the boyfriend's suspicions that his girlfriend was cheating on him.

Liv Abreu (center), 34, was consoled by her attorney outside a Bronx courtroom on Thursday after the sentencing of ex-boyfriend Oscar Alvarez, 34

Abreu kept a low profile in a black face mask, a black sweater and jeans as she wiped tears from her eyes outside a courtroom, surrounded by her attorney, family and friends

Abreu was a former paratrooper in the US Army. In 2018, Alvarez, her live-in boyfriend, stabbed her repeatedly in the chest and in the side and denied her help for 30 minutes

Police said Alvarez (above in November 2019) and Abreu got into a heated argument at around 12.30am concerning the boyfriend's suspicions that his girlfriend was cheating on him

According to investigators, Alvarez grabbed a knife and repeatedly stabbed his live-in girlfriend Abreu in the torso.

He denied her care for 30 minutes and put on a clean Polo shirt and jeans, grabbed the victim's cellphone and keys, and walked out of the apartment, leaving the woman bleeding.

'The defendant viciously attacked a woman who was 26 weeks pregnant, while she pleaded for her life and that of her unborn baby,' said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark, according to WPIX. 'He kept her from medical attention for a half hour. This mother courageously tricked the defendant by pretending to be dead and then seeking help.'

Alvarez fled the scene in Abreu's 2004 Jeep Cherokee SUV after the stabbing, but turned himself in to police at 4am.

Despite her injuries, Abreu, who served in Afghanistan as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division, managed to crawl downstairs to a neighbor's unit and call for help.

First responders transported Abreu to Lincoln Hospital, where her baby was pronounced dead upon arrival. She was initially listed in critical but went on to make a full recovery.

The boyfriend allegedly claimed that the attack that killed Abreu's baby was an accident. It was later determined he was the father of the baby.

On Thursday, Abreu kept a low profile in a black face mask, a black sweater and jeans as she wiped tears from her eyes outside a courtroom, surrounded by her attorney, family and friends.

On Thursday, Abreu's brother (far left), told a reporter that the Alvarez he saw on Thursday was 'the guy that we knew,' suggesting something may have been amiss with Alvarez's mental state on the day of the stabbing

Alvarez denied Abreu care for 30 minutes after the stabbing. He put on clean clothes, grabbed her cellphone and keys and left, leaving the woman bleeding, according to police

The young couple had lived in a building near Yankee Stadium for about a year, and a few neighbors told ABC 7 NY they saw no signs of domestic violence

Excited mom: In February 2018, an overjoyed Abreu shared this sonogram image showing her baby girl at 17 weeks of gestation. She was due in August

Abreu's older brother, Juan Carlos, told a reporter that 'perhaps the sentence wasn't as long as I think it should have been,' but suggested that he was satisfied with his apology.

Juan Carlos spoke to the New York Daily News about his sister just days after the stabbing.

'The physical wounds will heal,' Juan Carlos said. 'The mental wounds will also heal at some point, but it will probably take longer. She's positive. My sister, she's a warrior.'

During his first court appearance, Alvarez's Legal Aid lawyer Joshua Hadas told a judge his client is a hardworking man who has no criminal history. The judge ordered Alvarez held without bail.

'I could tell she was excited about the baby and stuff like that,' one neighbor told WABC. 'She was way far along, like six, seven months.'

Abreu served as a paratrooper and human resources specialist based at Fort Brag, North Carolina. She earned a degree in political science in 2012 from the City University of New York and served as a spokesperson for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Both she and her boyfriend worked at a T-Mobile store in Manhattan, where she works as a retail manager.

During a November 2019 court appearance, Oscar Alvarez looked remarkably different from his initial appearance in May 2018 (right)

A neighbor said Abreu was excited about her pregnancy, and a super in her building told NBC4 the mom-to-be had only recently said how she wished her mother, who died last year, had lived to meet her baby.

The young couple had lived in the building near Yankee Stadium for more than a year before the stabbing, and a few neighbors told ABC 7 NY they saw no signs of domestic violence.

'I see her every day, they are walking the dog and stuff like that,' one neighbor said. 'I've never seen them fighting or anything, no problems.'

They're all trying to figure out what went wrong when it all seemed so right.

The porter added: 'I recently saw her in the lobby. She told me, "I'm so happy I'm pregnant. My mother is not alive and would've been so excited that I'm having a baby.'"
The director of the CIA said that China is 'a silent partner' when it comes to Russian President Vladimir Putin's 'aggression' in Ukraine.

William Burns spoke bluntly Thursday and warned China posed the 'greatest challenge' and 'most profound test' the agency has ever had to deal with, as he marked his first year in charge of the agency with a speech at the Georgia Institute of Technology on Thursday.

Burns highlighted the 'immediate threat posed by renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine,' and the 'longer term problem posed by China's ambitious leadership,' declaring it to be 'the single most important geopolitical challenge' of the 21st century.'

'A silent partner in Putin's aggression, Xi Jinping's China is our greatest challenge, in many ways the most profound test the CIA has ever faced,' Burns said as he called China a 'formidable competitor lacking in neither ambition nor capability.'

'It seeks to overtake us in literally every domain, from economic strength to military power, and from space to cyberspace,' adding China is 'intent' on replacing the U.S. as 'the preeminent power in the Indo-Pacific.'

'As an intelligence service, we have never had to deal with an adversary with more reach in more domain,' Burns said.

CIA Director William Burns called China, led by President Xi Jinping, 'a silent partner in Putin's aggression'

Burns also outlined his vision for the future of the agency, noting that it was nothing like the one that was envisaged at its founding during the Second World War.

'It's a more complicated and contested world, featuring the rise of an increasingly adversarial China and a pugnacious and revisionist Russia,' Burns said in a transcript seen by Fox News.

Burns said said that the agency will 'have to reimagine itself to compete successfully in this new age.'

Burns highlighted the 'immediate threat posed by renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine,' and the 'longer term problem posed by China's ambitious leadership.' Above,Russia's President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in 2014

Last month, the Biden administration said that it had 'deep concerns' when it came to Russia's 'alignment' with China.

Following its invasion of Ukraine, intelligence officials revealed how the Russian Kremlin approached Beijing for both economic and military aid.

In March, President Biden spoke with President Xi for two hours in which he warned China that there would be 'consequences' if China 'provided material support' to Russia.

Burns is experienced when it comes to Russia and dealt with Putin in his former role as a U.S. ambassador based in Moscow.

Burns revealed how the agency had changed tactics with a new policy of publicly releasing declassified intelligence about Russia's plans to help the Ukrainian's. Pictured, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, is seen earlier this week

'His risk appetite has grown, as his grip on Russia has tightened. His circle of advisers has narrowed. And in that small circle, it has never been career enhancing to question his judgement or his stubborn, almost mystical belief that his destiny is to restore Russia's sphere of influence,' Burns said.

Burns also revealed that how the CIA was able to find out plans for Ukraine's invasion as early as last fall.

'In November, President Biden asked me to travel to Russia to convey directly to Putin and several of his closest advisors the depth of our concern about his planning for war and the consequences for Russia of attempting to execute that plan.

'While it did not yet seem that he had made an irreversible decision to invade Ukraine, Putin was defiantly leaning in that direction, apparently convinced that his window was closing for shaping Ukraine's orientation,' Burns said noting that he 'seemed convinced winter offered a favorable landscape.'

Burns revealed that at the start of the invasion he did not have high hopes for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or the Ukrainian resistance but both he and Putin had been 'proven wrong'.

Volunteers load bodies of civilians killed in Bucha onto a truck to be taken to a morgue for investigation, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. President Biden has said 'war crimes' took place

He noted how the CIA has continued to share intelligence with Ukraine.

'As allied leaders and counterparts have emphasized directly in my travels to Europe, the credibility of U.S. intelligence helped cement the solidarity of the alliance at President Biden's direction,' Burns said the U.S. had also been 'taking unprecedented steps to declassify intelligence and use it publicly to preempt false narratives and false flag operations, which Putin has used so often in the past.'

'By being open with some of our secrets, we made it harder for Putin to obscure the truth of his unprovoked and vicious aggression. Those decisions can never be taken lightly given the importance of protecting sources and methods, but, in this case, they have made a crucial contribution to a successful whole of government strategy.'

Burns said that the change of approach was different to how the agency had operated in the past and was indicative of 'the need for new thinking and new tactics in this new and demanding era for intelligence.'

A Ukrainian serviceman walks amid destroyed Russian tanks in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine. Russia is bracing up for a massive new offensive in eastern Ukraine, hoping to reverse its fortunes on the battlefield after a catastrophic start of the invasion

'The last chapter in Putin's war has yet to be written as he grinds away in Ukraine [but I have] no doubt about the cruel pain and damage that Putin can continue to inflict on Ukraine or the raw brutality with which Russian force is being applied.'

President Biden has described the actions of Russia in Bucha as 'genocide' adding that it has become 'clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian.'

Referring to some of the 'horrific war crimes' that have been committed in Bucha, Burns said the will of Ukrainians remains unbroken.

'Putin's Russia has inflicted massive material and reputational damage on itself. American intelligence has been vital throughout and offers valuable lessons for the future of our profession  how to develop good intelligence, use it as the basis for good policy, share it systematically as the basis for good alliances and partnerships, and deploy it openly and creatively to discredit the false narratives on which adversaries so often thrive.'

President Biden has described the actions of Russia in Bucha as 'genocide' adding that it has become 'clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian'. Biden is pictured during a speech on Thursday

The partnership displayed by the U.S. appears to be appreciated by Zelenskyy, who has described Biden's comments as the 'true words of a true leader.'

'Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil,' Zelenskyy tweeted. 'We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities.'

Russia responded saying such comments by the American president were 'unacceptable.'

'We consider this kind of effort to distort the situation unacceptable,' Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

'This is hardly acceptable from a president of the United States, a country that has committed well-known crimes in recent times,' he added.
The mayor of a remote Queensland border town gripped by youth crime has made a desperate plea for the 'cycle of crime' in his community to be broken.

Both Mayor Lawrence Springborg and Deputy Mayor Rob McKenzie of the embattled Queensland community of Goondiwindi, more than 350km west of Brisbane on the border with New South Wales, have made appeals to the community to kerb rampant youth crime.

The township has been subject to a string of break-ins and thefts, reportedly perpetrated by a gang of young criminals.

Queensland crime statistics show the growing number of vehicle thefts and property damage (Pictured) in the township

The deputy mayor has made a desperate call to arms, joining the mayor in calling for action against 'opportunistic' young criminals. Pictured: Thieves who used a stolen vehicle to smash their way into a Goondiwindi supermarket captured on CCTV

Goondiwindi Mayor Lawrence Springborg (pictured) said police believe a single, small group of youths aged 10 to 15-years-old are behind the 'overwhelmingly opportunistic' thefts in the community

Queensland Police statistics show more than 600 offences were recorded in the council area of just over 6,000 people in the past six months.

Goondiwindi Mayor Lawrence Springborg said police believe a single, small group of youths aged 10 to 15-years-old are behind the 'overwhelmingly opportunistic' thefts in the community.

'I understand that the relentlessness of their actions might make it seem like there are a large number of offenders responsible, but the advice is that we are dealing with a small, core group of re-offenders.' Cr Springborg said.

The mayor said special treatment given to young offenders in the state's courts was being 'used as a shield against personal responsibility and accountability.'

Deputy Mayor Rob MacKenzie backed up the mayor's comments, writing in a Facebook post: 'This is a call to ARMSwithout the weapons.'

The small border town of Goondiwindi (pictured) has a population just over 6,000 but has seen more than 600 offences committed in the last six months

'Our weapons will be our community spirit, one that can't be broken by the actions of a few,' he wrote, calling on members of the community to 'rally together' and take shifts patrolling the streets of the rural town at night.

'We will not be held to ransom by these scumbag lowlifes and to the families of these people.'

'If youre harbouring these little grubs or not reporting them to the police, youre just as bad!'

'Let's help the police catch these (sic) marauding band of socially unacceptable degenerates and take back our town.'

Crime in the town has ballooned from just 55 offences recorded in October last year to 120 recorded in March this year alone.

Offences of property damage, trespassing, unlawful use of cars, break-ins and thefts account for half of all crimes reported during that six-month period.

'Let's help the police catch these marauding band of socially unacceptable degenerates,' the deputy mayor wrote in an impassioned social media post (Pictured: a battered stolen car)

Kununurra is located in far north WA with a population about 5,300 people (pictured)

Goondiwindi's plight comes just days after reports a group of wild teenage delinquents causing havoc in another regional town, Kununurra in Western Australia's far north, led to it being described as 'unlivable'.

The township was hit by a round of vandalism and violence on Tuesday night with three businesses broken into and a police car rammed by a group of the local teenagers.

One victim of the town's crime wave, pub owner Darren Spackman, said there was a group of people who were out-of-control and the town was effectively 'under siege'.

His business, Gulliver's Tavern, has been 'targeted' and broken into on seven separate occasions in the last month.

A group of about 15 teenagers have been on a crime spree in a remote WA town, ramming a police car on Tuesday night (pictured)

Gulliver's Tavern owner Darren Spackman (pictured) said the town was 'under siege' by the group of trouble-makers

'We're getting really tired of making apologies for being unable to open our bar but unfortunately once again here we are... no bar or kitchen due to another break-in,' the business posted on Facebook.

A local woman in the same community Facebook page said some businesses 'deal with this every night'.

'This has been continuously happening for years and years now. The police lock them up and the courts let them out,' she wrote.

Gulliver's Tavern was forced to close on Thursday because vandals had damaged a screen and broken a window at an entrance (pictured, Gulliver's Tavern)

'How can a town in Australia become unlivable all because of 14 or 15 bad eggs?' Mr Spackman told GWN 7 News.

'It's got to stop. Somebody is going to get killed sooner or later, there's just no need for it.'

Acting WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch said the group of teenagers weren't out to destroy the town but suggested they were bored.

'They see it as a game... cops and robbers... the good and the bad, it's a game for them. They are very young. I'm talking kids from 11 up to 15,' he told ABC Radio.

Mr Blanch said many of the teens had done stints in detention centres only to be released and cause trouble again.
A physical therapist from Connecticut who sought 'control over the lives and deaths' of his wife, three young children and the family's dog was found guilty of murdering his entire family two years ago in central Florida after six hours of deliberation.

A 12-member jury convicted Anthony Todt, 46, on Thursday on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty.

He was accused of killing his 42-year-old wife Megan, and his three children, Zoe, four; Tyler, 11; and Alek, 13. The family's dog, Breezy, was also found dead in the home in Celebration, a community that is located close to Walt Disney World.

Prosecutors weren't seeking the death penalty, which means Todt will receive a mandatory life sentence. Judge Keith A. Carsten called Todt 'a destroyer of worlds', while the father-of-three was seen constantly shaking his head as he was in dismay from learning his verdict.

Despite being found guilty, Todt insisted he was innocent and that he was not at the family's home on the night his children, wife and pet passed away.

'I loved my wife. I loved my kids,' he told the judge. 'They were first and foremost in my life. I did not do this. I provided for my wife. I provided for kids. I did everything I could.'

Anthony Todt, 46, a physical therapist from Connecticut living in Florida, was found guilty of murdering his wife, their three children and their dog two years ago on Thursday

Todt allegedly killed his wife Megan, 42, as well as Alek, 13 Tyler, 11, their daughter Zoe, four, (pictured together), and dog Breezy because he thought the world was ending in apocalyptic fashion

Earlier Thursday during closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinnell told the jury that Todt, 46, nonchalantly detailed the killings to investigators after his arrest at the family's home.

He later claimed that he took the blame for his wife, who he said had killed the children by feeding them poisonous 'pudding pie' before stabbing herself in the stomach.

'I was covering for my wife,' Todt told the jury when he took the stand in his defense on Wednesday. 'Obviously, unsuccessfully. I had no clue how my kids died.'

But Pinnell told jurors Todt wanted to control the lives of his wife and children.

After his arrest, Todt told detectives that he and his wife had an agreement to kill their family so they could 'pass over' together when the apocalypse  which they thought was imminent  Pinnell said Thursday, reiterating an assertion she also made in her opening statements.

'We don't want you to die,' Todt claimed his kids told him. 'We want to die with you.'

Pinnell added that Todt used cellphones belonging to the victim to tell relatives they were all sick. Todt's sister recalled receiving a text message from Megan's phone about the apocalypse shortly after she asked police to check on the family's well-being.

The victims were killed sometime after they were last seen in mid-December 2019, prosecutors said. Their decomposing bodies were found wrapped in blankets in a room on January 13, 2020 after police showed up at the family's home with a warrant for Todt to arrest him on federal health care fraud charges related to his Connecticut physical therapy business.

All of the victims had stab wounds and toxic amounts of Benadryl in their systems, according to autopsy reports, which is also ruled that Megan and her three children had no longer been alive for 'at least a couple weeks' before their discovery.

The victims were allegedly drugged with Benadryl, suffocated, stabbed and left to rot for two weeks inside their Celebration, Florida home (pictured) near Disney World

Cops found the victims' decomposing bodies on January 13, 2020, when they went to arrest Todt on insurance fraud charges related to his physical therapy business. Pictured: The family

When Todt was arrested in 2020 he reportedly told investigators he and Megan had made a murder-suicide pact ahead of what they believed was an impending apocalypse. The couple is pictured together

The defense team maintained the state had not proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The medical examiner, they said, could not determine whether the children were suffocated or strangled, and said the stab wounds were likely inflicted after death.

'He came home to his kids being dead, his wife was alive but essentially dying, and stabbed herself in front of him,' Assistant Public Defender Alesha Smith told jurors.

She said the state 'is essentially picking and choosing when they want you to believe Mr. Todt and when they don't.'

Smith added that police did little to verify the accuracy of Todt's initial confession, including retrieving samples of blood evidence in the rooms where the murders took place.

'We don't see any phone searches,' Smith said. 'We don't see any Google searches. ... [The detective] took Mr. Todt at his word and decided, 'Hey, my job is done.''

In an interrogation video with cops showing his confession to the murders, Todt said Megan had become obsessed with reincarnation as her health deteriorated from a long personal history with Lyme disease - a bacterial infection stemmed from the bite of an infected tick that can spread rapidly to the heart or nervous system if not treated.

Todt added that Megan came to the conclusion that if they 'burned the family karma' that they were living in, then they would be rewarded and reincarnated to a better life with improved circumstances.

'Mr. Todt, what could have prevented Megan from killing her children?' Orange-Osceola Public Defender Bob Wesley at one point asked the defendant.

'I have no idea,' Todt replied while giving testimony. 'We woke up that morning she was pain-free. Everything was good. ... That's the biggest thing that affects me. I didn't see this coming.'

'I was covering for my wife,' Todt told the jury on Wednesday when he took the stand. He said: 'Obviously, unsuccessfully. I had no clue how my kids died,' before claiming that his wife had fed their children poisonous 'pudding pie'

Todt is pictured with his three children in an undated photo

In the weeks before the discovery was made, Todt told jurors he attempted to commit suicide in different ways, including overdosing on Benadryl, though he 'chickened out' of using a knife, according to the Orlando Sentinel. He added that he has no recollection of the confession he made to police officers shortly after being arrested, and that he only remembers his time in jail since being locked up.

'My testimony today is the fact that Megan killed her kids and killed herself,' he said in conclusion.

Todt was seen crying on numerous occasions when questioned by his defense, but Pinnell said she noticed he became angry when she asked him to walk her through his account of the murders while standing as a witness.

'He described himself as this loyal "Ill do anything, Ill take the blame for Megan" man,' Pinnell told jurors. 'But something interesting that he said is, "Megan killed her kids." Not our kids. Not my kids. Her kids.'

In her final words to the jury, Pinnell insisted that 'there is no reasonable doubt in this case.'
Despite warnings from the Chinese government, a bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers traveled to Taiwan for an official visit on Thursday.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen greeted lawmakers from both the House and Senate when they arrived in the nation on Wednesday morning. Soon after, the Chinese government issued a statement denouncing the visit.

US Lawmakers Defy China Threats With Taiwan Visit

Republican Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Richard Burr of North Carolina, and Rob Portman of Ohio, Republican Texas Representative Ronny Jackson, and Democratic New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez were among those who paid a visit.

Per Fox News, the lawmakers are among the highest-ranking Americans to visit Taiwan. According to mainland China, Taiwan is a renegade province of China, not an independent country. For decades, the United States has only grudgingly accepted that designation, while delivering military supplies and dispatching US officials to Taiwan on occasion.

Fears of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan have grown in recent years as a result of China's rising assertiveness in the region, which includes regular air force missions near Taiwan's airspace. The issue has been brought to light as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. According to some, Russia's incursion may inspire China to act alone.

Xavier Chang, a spokesperson for the Presidential Office, hailed the visit as proof of the US-Taiwan relationship being "rock strong." In an interview, Graham described China as a "bad neighbor" to Australia, arguing for additional soldiers to be stationed there, Daily Mail reported.

Read Also: Ukraine Fires Anti-Ship Missile To Sink Russian Vessel; More Vladimir Putin Troops Get Ambushed

US Officials' Trip to Taiwan Is a "Red Line," Says Foreign Minister

Menendez disclosed that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will soon visit the Soloman Islands to pursue a security pact with China. Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was considering a trip to Taiwan, which Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi described as a "red line" for US-China ties. Taiwan perceives itself as an independent nation, whereas China sees Taiwan as an extension of its land. For decades, the United States has sought strategic ambiguity, refusing to publicly recognize Taiwan's autonomy while urging China not to invade the island state.

Even as it provides armaments and rare visits from US officials to demonstrate support for Taiwan, the US remains purposefully unclear about whether it would come to Taiwan's help if China attempted to take over.

In recent months, Chinese aggressiveness has increased in Taiwan, with the People's Liberation Army dispatching fighter planes to the island on a near-daily basis. Taiwan's military recently released an official manual instructing residents on how to prepare for a possible Chinese invasion, including where to find bomb shelters and how to store emergency supplies.

It teaches people where to find bomb shelters via mobile phone applications and what to do in an emergency, including how to differentiate air raid sirens, based on comparable manuals from Sweden and Japan. Taiwan is still outgunned by China, but conquering the hilly island would be a difficult task for any military.

In 1979, Washington broke diplomatic ties with Taipei. It developed diplomatic relations with Beijing in part to counter the Soviet Union, which was previously a mutual Cold War rival. While China continues to claim Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to use force to reclaim it, America's relations with Taiwan have remained strong albeit technically unofficial, as per Newsweek via MSN.

Related Article: North Korea's Threat Sparks Show of US, Japan Strength asPyongyang Celebrates Kim Jong Un's 10-Year Leadership

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The mother of a British fighter captured in Ukraine has demanded Vladimir Putin treat her son with humanity, amid fears he may face execution.

Aiden Aslin, 28, appeared exhausted as he was marched out on Kremlin state TV with a big red mark on his forehead and a swollen eye - days after his unit surrendered to Russian forces in Mariupol.

In the Kremlins latest heinous breach of laws protecting captured combatants, the captors of the former care worker handcuffed him and accused him of dropping bombs on children.

He had been worried he would be used for bull**** propaganda when he was captured and last night saw his prediction come true.

The former Coldstream Guardsman retained his dignity as, in a televised ordeal, interrogators blamed him for the crimes Russia has carried out in the port city.

Last night, his terrified family told the Daily Mail they fear he could be executed or taken to Russia and never seen again.

At the family home in Newark, Nottinghamshire, his anguished mother Angela Wood, 50, said: Im in bits. My son will be just as scared as we are.

'It's Aiden I can't deny it. It's him. They are his tattoos. There is a faint hope it is a doctored image but I can't see it. I now hold Vladimir Putin to the terms of the Geneva Convention.

An image of the British national, shared by his official social media account, showed him shackled in handcuffs with facial bruising and a laceration across his forehead

'Aiden is a serving member of the Ukrainian armed forces and as such is a prisoner of war and must be treated with humanity.

'It already looks like he has been beaten up. It is time now for the British Government to get involved, and help secure Aiden's release because he is still a British citizen.

'Possibly there is hope for a prisoner swap arranged by the Ukrainians.'

His grandmother Pam Hall added: All we can do is pray for him. It is very hard for his mum and his family to see pictures like this and hear the lies being said about him.

'He is a brave lad with a big heart. We are all very proud of him.

British officials were last night understood to be trying to determine exactly where Mr Aslin, 28, is being held.

Reports on Russian TV yesterday claimed Mr Aslin  seen with a swollen eye and large red mark on his forehead  was shelling kids in Donbas for years and will face justice as a foreign mercenary, rather than treating him as a prisoner of war.

In what is expected to be the first of several clips Moscow will put out over the coming days, the groggy looking captive was asked: Tell me, did you kill people? He replied: I did not do any fighting.

Mr Aslin, who uses the nom de guerre Cossack Gundi, joined the Ukrainian military four years ago after moving to the country with his fiancee, whom he planned to marry soon. He holds Ukrainian and British citizenship.

Moments after seeing the disturbing pictures yesterday, Aiden's brother Nathan Wood, 25, told MailOnline: 'It is so shocking for our family to see Aiden in that state. What have the Russians done to him? He looks awful, absolutely exhausted. His face is drained of colour.

A second image, posted by a pro-Russian Telegram account from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, showed a close up of the cut as Aiden sat in custody

'How has he got such a big red mark on his forehead? That looks like he's been hit with a rifle butt.

'But however horrible it is to see him in such a state, it does show that he is still alive and that is giving us as a family some slight relief.

'I would appeal again to the Russians to treat him well and humanely.

'I would also appeal to the Foreign Office to do all they can to ensure that my brother is kept safe. Each day that he's in Russian hands is a worry for us. The longer it goes on, the worse it'll be for him.

'There is no doubt now that he has been captured. I had hoped talk of his unit surrendering was just a smokescreen but the images now clearly show he's in Russian captivity.

'He looks to be in an office somewhere. I don't know when and where exactly he surrendered but he could be being held at a marine base in Crimea.

'I've not spoken to him since a few days ago when he called early in the morning to say he was laying down arms due to a lack of food and ammunition.

'We've had no more contact and now it's a race against time really to get him back in Ukraine or Britain.'

Aslin moved to Ukraine in 2018 after falling in love with a woman from Mykolaiv and joined the nation's armed forces. For weeks he had been fighting Russian forces in Mariupol as a fully paid member of Ukraine's army.

However, his unit surrendered to the invaders two days ago after they ran out of supplies and ammunition following 48 days of conflict in and around the besieged port city.

A plug for the Russian state TV broadcast in which the Briton was forcibly interviewed called Aiden 'an English mercenary who fought on the side of the ''Nazis'' in Mariupol'. It went on: 'Many lost him, but we found him. An interesting interview is coming soon.'

Aiden (circled) was serving with Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, but his communication with the outside world via social media became increasingly sporadic as his team was surrounded by Russian forces bombarding the city of Mariupol

Aiden Aslin is pictured in Ukraine

Aiden Aslin, 28, was among the last fighters left in the besieged southern city of Mariupol but said he would have to give himself up after supplies ran out and the situation became hopeless. 'It's been 48 days, we tried our best to defend Mariupol but we have no choice but to surrender to Russian forces,' his account tweeted earlier this week

The interview was promoted by prominent Russian state television correspondent Andrey Rudenko, who posted the first image of the British national after his capture.

The image, shared by Aiden's official social media account to raise awareness, showed his tattooed arms shackled in handcuffs with facial bruising and a laceration across his forehead.

A second image, posted by a pro-Russian Telegram account from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, showed a close up of the cut as Aiden sat in custody.

Russia's Channel 1 said Aiden 'previously fought on the side of radical Islamists in Syria' and another state TV outlet Rossiya 1 said he was 'suspected of fighting for terrorists'.

Rossiya 1 continued: 'In London, after the odious Briton Aiden Aslin surrendered, they suddenly remembered the Geneva Convention and asked for him to be treated gently.'

Meanwhile, NTV - owned by Gazprom Media - said the British media 'suddenly changed its tone after six weeks of enjoying, gloating, embellishing, and exaggerating reports of our army's soldiers being wounded and killed.'

The NTV report said Aiden had been 'befriended by a neo-Nazi', in reference to his 2018 relocation to Ukraine to be with his Ukrainian fiancee.

Members of Aiden's family told the MailOnline on Tuesday after receiving news of his capture that they were hoping for a prisoner transfer.

Meanwhile, Robert Jenrick, the MP for Aiden's hometown of Newark in Nottinghamshire, tweeted yesterday: 'I am working with [the foreign office] to track the whereabouts and secure the release of my constituent.

'Aiden chose to risk his life because he believes passionately in the Ukrainian people's right to live in freedom and democracy.'

Aiden's social media account, which is being operated by his contacts while he has been fighting on the frontlines, tweeted the picture of the British national and promised to keep his plight 'in the public eye'.

Aiden had been fighting Russian forces in Mariupol as a fully paid member of Ukraine's army, but surrendered to the invaders two days ago after his team ran out of supplies and ammunition following 48 days of conflict in and around the besieged port city

'Just got this, it looks as if they have gotten ahold of Aiden,' the tweet read.

'F***ing pukes have worked him over too by the looks of it. We're going to keep in the public eye every day until he's exchanged.'

The same account posted a message earlier this week notifying Aiden's followers of his surrender.

'It's been 48 days, we tried our best to defend Mariupol but we have no choice but to surrender to Russian forces.

'We have no food and no ammunition. It's been a pleasure everyone, I hope this war ends soon.'

The post added: 'We're putting this out after direct consultation with his family. Until we're told otherwise we'll continue working on sharing the facts of the war. Hope for a prisoner exchange.'

Moving to Ukraine in 2018, Aslin had been due to get married last week to his Ukrainian fiancee.

But as his unit, the 36th Marine Brigade, became surrounded by Russian forces bombarding the city of Mariupol, his communication with the outside world became increasingly sporadic.

Aslin is pictured left in this image taken from social media

Aiden's younger brother told MailOnline on Tuesday the fighter's family had received little information about his whereabouts or his condition, and expressed concern he would be treated poorly by his Russian captors.

'Aiden called me at 3am today and mentioned they were having to lay down arms because of a lack of food and ammunition,' Wood said on Tuesday.

'It was a very brief call as we got cut off but I could tell by the tone of his voice that he wasn't happy.

'As a family we don't want to say too much because Aiden's well-being and safety is our prime concern but President Putin has made dire warnings to those Westerners caught fighting for the Ukrainian Army.

'Aiden has been called a mercenary but that isn't true, he enrolled with the Ukrainian Army four years ago and has dual citizenship.

Nathan Wood, (right) begged the Kremlin to look after his brother Aiden Aslin (left) who phoned his family in the middle of the night from the front line to say that he was surrendering to the Russian forces because he had run out of food and ammunition

'If the Russians do have Aiden captive, we would want to remind them of the Geneva Convention and to treat him and other soldiers in a humane and dignified way,' Wood continued.

'This is a worrying time for our family. Russia has a reputation with how it deals with its prisoners.

'Those soldiers from Snake Island, who told the Russians to 'go f*** yourself', talked about being tortured before they were released.

'Aiden may well become used as a propaganda tool by the Russians and be paraded about. We just hope they don't do anything drastic. We want him to be safe.'

Aslin previously spent ten months in Iraq fighting Islamic State alongside the Kurdish People's Defence Forces (YPG).

Upon his return to Britain in 2016, he was arrested on suspicion of terror charges but was acquitted and returned to Iraq for a second tour of duty with the YPG.
ITV has made no apology to No 10 after its political editor said Boris Johnson remaining Prime Minister after Partygate could look like an elected dictatorship.

Senior government sources raised concerns that Robert Pestons comments on Twitter would not have been allowed to be broadcast for impartiality reasons, and said he should be held to account by ITV.

It is not clear if bosses have spoken to Mr Peston about the tweets but it emerged last night that no apology has been made by the broadcaster.

ITV News' Robert Peston is being accused of breaching the network's impartiality rules requiring its reporters to refrain from biased comments

Yesterday the ITV political editor appeared to once again be taking aim at the Government with social media posts about its plans to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.

ITV declined to comment on whether it had apologised to No 10.

Mr Peston writing on Twitter on Tuesday had said: If Tory MPs unthinkingly keep him in office without a proper and public assessment of how Parliament was misled, because that is what suits them, and if they blithely ignore the Ministerial Code, then the charge will stick that this or any party with a big majority is simply an elected dictatorship, and the constitution means little or nothing.

He added: This is not just a slippery slope. It is the bottom of the slope.

Former Tory minister Rob Wilson had said the tweet implicitly suggested that a democratically elected PM should be removed by their political party. He had added thats not his job and there is nothing independent or impartial about it.

A government source had added: Im sure ITV bosses will be picking up directly with him his editorialisation and broader issues over accuracy. Not for the first time.
Hundreds of Russians are facing charges for speaking out against the war in Ukraine.

A repressive law passed last month banned the spread of negative comments about the military and false information about the invasion.

One of those charged under the law is a former police officer who discussed Russias invasion on the phone. He faces ten years in jail.

Another is an Orthodox priest who was fined 320 after posting an anti-war statement on his churchs website and speaking about the suffering of Ukrainians at a service.

Human rights groups say at least 23 people have been targeted on the false information charge, while 500 others have been heavily fined or face fines for disparaging the military.

A repressive law passed last month banned the spread of negative comments about the military and false information about the invasion. A man is pictured above being detained during a protest in Manezhnaya Square, Moscow last month

This is a large amount, an unprecedentedly large amount of cases, said Damir Gainutdinov, head of the Net Freedoms legal aid group focusing on free speech cases, in an interview with The Associated Press.

The Kremlin has sought to control the narrative of the war from the moment its troops rolled into Ukraine.

It called the attack a special military operation and increased the pressure on independent Russian media that called it a war or an invasion, blocking access to many news sites whose coverage deviated from the official line.

Sweeping arrests have also stifled anti-war protests, turning them from a daily event in large cities like Moscow and St Petersburg into rare occurrences barely attracting any attention.

But reports of police detaining single picketers in different Russian cities come in almost daily and even seemingly benign actions have led to arrests.

The Kremlin has sought to control the narrative of the war from the moment its troops rolled into Ukraine. A Ukrainian soldier is pictured above holding an anti-tank weapon in front of a destroyed tank in Irpin, north of Kyiv last month

A man was detained in Moscow after standing next to a Second World War monument that says Kyiv, for the citys heroic stand against Nazi Germany, and holding a copy of Tolstoys War and Peace.

Another was held for holding up a package of sliced ham from the meat producer Miratorg, with the second half of the name crossed off so it read Mir - peace in Russian.

Former police officer Sergei Klokov was detained after discussing the war with his friends on the phone. His wife told the Meduza news site that in casual conversation at home, Mr Klokov, who was born in Irpin near Kyiv and whose father still lived in Ukraine when Russian troops rolled in, condemned the invasion.

He was charged with spreading false information about the Russian armed forces and faces up to 10 years in prison.

The Rev Ioann Burdin, a Russian Orthodox priest in a village about 185 miles north-east of Moscow, was fined 35,000 roubles (320) for discrediting the Russian armed forces after posting an anti-war statement on his churchs website and talking to a dozen congregants during a service about the pain he felt over people in Ukraine dying.

And another court ruled against Moscow student Dmitry Reznikov for displaying a blank piece of paper with eight asterisks, which could have been interpreted as standing for No To War in Russian - a popular chant by protesters.

Its the theatre of the absurd, his lawyer Oleg Filatchev said.
A digital copy of the first tweet that sold for over 2.2million has attracted opening bids of just 5,000 after going under the hammer again.

Twitters co-founder Jack Dorsey auctioned off his March 2006 post, which said just setting up my twttr, for charity in March last year.

The winning bidder was fellow tech boss Sina Estavi, who has described the NFT  non-fungible token  as the Mona Lisa of the digital world.

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey's first tweet sold as an NFT for just over $2.9million in March last year

Dorsey listed his famous first post (pictured) from March 21, 2006, on a platform called Valuables, which auctions off tweets as NFTs

NFTs are unique computer files that act as a digital certificate of ownership for anything from a song to a work of art.

Last week Malaysia-based Mr Estavi put the digital asset up for sale again to raise money for charity but he has so far been offered just 0.2 per cent of the price he paid.

Admitting that he may never sell it, Mr Estavi told the BBC: I think the value of this NFT is far greater than you can imagine and whoever wants to buy it must be worthy.

Owner Sina Estavi (pictured) described the NFT  non-fungible token  as the Mona Lisa of the digital world

NFTs have been touted as the digital answer to collectables - but experts have warned about their inherent risk as they have no tangible form.

This month the Chancellor Rishi Sunak asked the Royal Mint to create an NFT to be issued by the summer.

Mr Estavi, who is based in Malaysia, is still searching or a buyer but said he would not accept anyones offer.

Last year, when I paid for this NFT, very few people even heard the name NFT. Now I say this NFT is the Mona Lisa of the digital world.

There is only one of that and it will never be the same.

'Years later, people will realise the value of this NFT - keep that in mind.
Boris Johnson's new immigration plan involves sending 'tens of thousands' of asylum seekers to Rwanda. But how will it work?

Q. Does the new proposal apply only to migrants who arrive on small boats?

A. No. It will be enforced on all asylum seekers who arrive by 'irregular routes', including stowaways in the back of lorries, for example.

Q. What happens to a migrant boat in the Channel under the plan?

A. The Armed Forces took command of the Channel operation yesterday and will be responsible for overseeing the rescue of migrant boats. A wide range of military and civilian assets will be used on the sea and in the air, with up to 300 personnel involved on busy days. Migrants will be brought to Dover, where they will be received by UK Border Force staff backed up by military personnel.

Q. Will the military push back any boats to France?

A. No. Mr Johnson indicated yesterday that tactic is all but dead. He said 'relying solely on this course of action is simply not practical', although it could be used in 'extremely limited circumstances'. Ministers have been unable to secure agreement with the French to accept migrants back.

Home Secretary Priti Patel, the architect of the Rwanda deal, signs the partnership

Q. What will happen once asylum seekers are ashore in Britain?

A. They will undergo initial processing at a new centre at a former RAF base in Manston, Kent. They will be screened for 'vulnerability and safeguarding measures' that could prevent them being suitable for removal to Rwanda, and then transferred to temporary accommodation.

Q. How will asylum seekers be assessed for removal to Rwanda?

A. Officials are reluctant to specify assessment criteria, in case it helps people trafficking gangs find loopholes.

Q. Are any types of migrant not eligible for the Rwanda scheme?

A. Lone children are exempt, and family groups will not be split up.

Q. What happens if someone is deemed eligible for removal to Rwanda?

A. The Government will provide Rwanda with biographical details of each person they want to transfer, as well as any special needs, health issues, security issues and biometric data, if available. Rwanda can refuse individuals for several reasons, such as if they have a criminal record.

Q. What happens to the migrants Rwanda agrees to accept?

A. They will be given five days' notice that they will be removed to Rwanda. As soon as they are told, they will be taken into immigration detention, over concerns they would abscond. They will then have access to legal advice. The outcome of each case is then likely to be in the hands of the courts.

Q. Won't asylum seekers just abscond before a decision has been made?

A. Possibly. But Home Office officials refused to speculate on the possibility of more people absconding.

Migrants from the UK will be housed in purpose-built accommodation facilities

Q. How will the asylum seekers get to Rwanda?

A. The Government will charter planes. The process is costly and controversial. A similar policy to return foreign criminals to Jamaica costs about 14,000 per person.

Q. What happens once they arrive in Africa?

A. Rwanda has arranged accommodation  including a former tourist hostel on the outskirts of the capital Kigali. The migrants will then be able to apply for asylum, under the local system. The UK will cover Rwanda's costs and fund an extensive support package. Once a decision is made, successful applicants will be given refugee status and be able to 'build a prosperous new life' in the country. If they are refused asylum, they could be offered another immigration status. As a last resort, they could be returned to their country of origin or another safe country.

Q. Is the Government's new plan legal?

A. Officials say they have taken extensive legal advice, which said the five-year deal with Rwanda complies with international law. However, they are poised for a surge of legal challenges.

Q. What could the legal challenges involve?

A. Human rights and refugee groups could bring a case for judicial review of the entire policy, or another type of litigation, designed to block it being implemented. Once a decision has been made in court there would most likely be further appeals.

Q. How much will the Rwanda plan cost?

A. Home Secretary Priti Patel and her officials have been extremely coy. They admit a full financial analysis has been conducted  but refuse to reveal its contents. The asylum system currently costs 1.5 billion a year, and will rise as levels of asylum claims increase.

Q. Is the Government looking at sending asylum seekers to other countries?

A. Yes. Officials have indicated negotiations are under way.
Social media users expressed their shock last night after Meghan Markle met the Queen and Prince Charles for the first time since Megxit and the 'royal racist' row.

The Duchess of Sussex, along with husband Harry, finally returned to Britain this week after acrimoniously quitting as working royals.

The couple then left the royal family reeling with their score-settling Oprah interview in which they accused an unnamed senior royal of racism.

Meghan last saw the Queen at an awkward Commonwealth Day service on March 8 2020 but has claimed since to regularly speak to her on the phone and over video calls.

But royal watchers on Twitter were critical of the visit against the backdrop of so much controversy.

One wrote: 'How has she got the front to face them after all she's said?'

Another added: 'Think they would have been booed if it had been announced.'

Social media users expressed their shock last night after Meghan Markle met the Queen and Prince Charles for the first time since Megxit and the 'royal racist' row

The couple then left the royal family reeling with their score-settling Oprah interview in which they accused an unnamed senior royal of racism

Harry, 37, has not seen his grandmother in person since Prince Philip's funeral last April when he flew over briefly from their new home in the US. But their contact would have been limited because of Covid restrictions.

He has since launched a High Court legal action against the Home Office claiming it is too dangerous to bring his family to the UK after being stripped of his official Metropolitan Police protection.

It is not known how the couple arrived - whether they took a private jet or flew in commercially - but their presence is the talk of locals on the Windsor estate, the Mail understands.

They arrived incognito on Wednesday and are believed to have stayed at Frogmore Cottage, the home they have kept on despite quitting the UK where Princess Eugenie and her family currently stay, overnight.

They are not believed to have their children, Archie and Lilibet with them.

The couple have since flown to Europe to attend the prince's Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style event he set up for wounded service personnel, at The Hague which opens on Saturday.
Australia's biggest export iron ore could be under threat if China escalates its support for Russia's Ukraine invasion.

Western Australia last year supplied 38 per cent of the world's iron ore, the commodity used to make steel, putting it well ahead of Brazil's 17 per cent share.

The Russian war on Ukraine, now in its eighth week, threatens that trade, with China by far the biggest buyer of Australian iron ore.

In February, before Russian President Vladimir Putin sent in troops to invade a sovereign neighbour, he declared a 'no limits' partnership with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.

The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre has issued a warning about heavily relying on China to sell iron ore - an export market conservatively worth more than $100billion a year - during a time of geopolitical turmoil.

Australia's biggest export iron ore could be under threat if China escalates its support for Russia's Ukraine invasion (pictured is destruction in the city of Hostomel near the capital Kyiv)

'The involvement and support of China in the conflict, if any, would quite likely set the prices of iron ore in the weeks to come,' it said.

'As iron ore exports remain both WA's economic backbone and China WA's majority trade partner for iron ore, there always remains the chance that a shift in the relationship dynamic could cause major economic impacts.'

Australia's biggest trading partner China is a close ally of Russia, which Australia has imposed sanctions on.

In February, Australia posted its 50th monthly trade surplus, thanks to China's strong demand again for iron ore.

Australia's annual exports to China were worth $176.9billion, down slightly from a record $179.4billion, a CommSec analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed.

In February, 39.4million tonnes of iron ore was shipped from Port Hedland in WA, marking an annual increase of 5.2 per cent, Pilbara Ports Authority data showed.

Iron ore prices have recovered since the end of last year, after falling below $US100 a tonne for the first time since mid-2020, with the spot price now at $US147 a tonne.

But the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre said the key commodity price could collapse again, with China buying half of Western Australia's exports.

In February, before Russian President Vladimir Putin sent in troops to invade a sovereign neighbour, he declared a 'no limits' partnership with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping

The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre has issued a warning about heavily relying on China to sell iron ore - an export market conservatively worth more than $100billion a year - during a time of geopolitical turmoil (pictured is a Rio Tinto loader at the Yandicoogina in Western Australia's Pilbara region)

'It is uncertain how the price of iron ore would react to the Ukraine-Russian conflict and although since the start of the conflict prices have picked up to the highest level of the past six months, it is unclear if this trend would continue,' it said.

'Nevertheless, China remains the state's most important export partner, being the destination for more than a half (51 per cent) of WA's total exports over the latest three months.'

China is the world's third biggest supplier of iron ore, with 11 per cent of production, followed by India's 10 per cent and Russia's 4 per cent, an analysis by the Western Australian government showed.

Last year, an article in the state-backed Economic Daily outlined a plan for China to boost iron ore production and buy more mines overseas in a bid to be less reliant on Australian and Brazilian iron ore shipments.

China buys 60 per cent of the world's supply of iron ore.

Chinese state-owned aluminum giant Chinalco partly owns the Simandou iron ore mine at Guinea in west Africa.
Almost one million Ukrainian refugees who fled their homes since Vladimir Putin invaded their country in February have now returned to the country.

According to Ukraine's State Border Guard Service, 870,000 people have travelled back, with between 25,000 and 30,000 arriving home every day.

When the invasion was launched on February 24, huge queues of refugees formed at Ukraine's western borders of people fleeing the conflict.

And while there had been a steady stream of men returning to their homeland to join the fight against Putin's invading armies, there have now been reports of queues of people waiting to get back in.

Pictured: Civilians gather at the train station to be evacuated from combat zones in Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine on April 6, 2022

ITV's Good Morning Britain on Wednesday showed footage of long lines of people at the Polish Medyka crossing waiting to enter Ukraine, as opposed to leave it.

'They say they see that the situation is safer, especially in the western regions and they can no longer stay abroad,' border force spokesperson Andriy Demchenko told reporters. 'They are ready to return to the country and stay here.'

Earlier this month, Moscow pulled its forces completely from the Kyiv area after fierce resistance from the Ukrainian forces pushed halted their advance, and in a bid to refocus its brutal military campaign on the eastern regions of the country.

Since then, there have been reports of people returning to the regions around the capital, where evidence of alleged Russian war crimes has been uncovered.

However, some Ukrainian officials - including deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar - have warned residents that it is too soon for people to return to some regions.

The threat of Russian strikes remains, with Moscow yesterday threatening to attack the heart of Kyiv should Ukraine continue to launch its own attack on Russian soil - something President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration has denied doing.

Russian forces were also found to have left mines and booby traps in civilian areas as they withdraw, making many towns and cities unsafe.

In addition, many regions have been rendered almost uninhabitable by Russian attacks which have razed several civilian centres to the ground.

But despite the devastation wrought by Putin's forces, Ukraine has continued to resit in many regions, and has struck significant blows against the invaders.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians 'gave us a maximum of five.'

In his customary late-night video address, Zelensky called it 'an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on Feb. 24 made the most important decision of their life - to fight.'

People fleeing Russia's invasion of Ukraine gather at the train station in Lviv, Ukraine, March 9

Zelensky gave an extensive and almost poetic listing of the many ways in which Ukrainians have helped to fend off the Russian troops, including 'those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it's to the bottom' of the sea.

It was his only reference to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being towed to port.

Zelensky said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.

'But they didn't know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want,' Zelensky said.

Meanwhile, Investigators descended on areas around Kyiv previously occupied by Russian forces, searching for evidence of potential war crimes.

The Hague-based International Criminal Court called Ukraine a 'crime scene' during a visit to Bucha where officials say more than 400 people were found dead.

And a report published Wednesday by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said evidence pointed to 'a major war crime and a crime against humanity' by Russia.

Refugees wait in a line after fleeing the war from neighbouring Ukraine at the border crossing in Medyka, south-eastern Poland, Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Ukrainian refugees: Where have they fled to from Russia's invasion? Here is a breakdown of how many Ukrainian refugees have fled to neighbouring countries, according to UNHCR: Poland - Nearly six out of 10 Ukrainian refugees - 2,694,090 so far - have crossed into Poland, according to the UN. Many people who go to Ukraine's immediate western neighbours travel on to other states in Europe's Schengen open-borders zone.

- Nearly six out of 10 Ukrainian refugees - 2,694,090 so far - have crossed into Poland, according to the UN. Many people who go to Ukraine's immediate western neighbours travel on to other states in Europe's Schengen open-borders zone. Romania - A total of 716,797 Ukrainians entered the EU member state, including a large number who crossed over from Moldova, wedged between Romania and Ukraine. The vast majority are thought to have gone on to other countries.

- A total of 716,797 Ukrainians entered the EU member state, including a large number who crossed over from Moldova, wedged between Romania and Ukraine. The vast majority are thought to have gone on to other countries. Russia - Another 471,014 refugees have sought shelter in Russia. In addition, 113,000 people crossed into Russia from the separatist-held pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine between February 21 and 23.

- Another 471,014 refugees have sought shelter in Russia. In addition, 113,000 people crossed into Russia from the separatist-held pro-Russian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine between February 21 and 23. Hungary - A total of 440,387 Ukrainians have entered Hungary.

- A total of 440,387 Ukrainians have entered Hungary. Moldova - The Moldovan border is the closest to the major port city of Odessa. A total of 417,650 Ukrainians have crossed into the non-EU state, one of the poorest in Europe. Most of those who have entered the former Soviet republic of 2.6 million people have moved on.

- The Moldovan border is the closest to the major port city of Odessa. A total of 417,650 Ukrainians have crossed into the non-EU state, one of the poorest in Europe. Most of those who have entered the former Soviet republic of 2.6 million people have moved on. Slovakia - A total of 326,244 people crossed Ukraine's shortest border into Slovakia.

- A total of 326,244 people crossed Ukraine's shortest border into Slovakia. Belarus - Another 22,428 refugees have made it north to Russia's close ally Belarus. Advertisement

Bucha has become synonymous with scores of atrocities alleged to have been committed by Russian troops, including civilians with bound hands shot in the head.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed reports of crimes against civilians as 'fakes'.

The atrocities have led US President Joe Biden to accuse Putin of genocide a term other Western leaders have hesitated to use.

French President Emmanuel Macron urged caution Thursday, saying states who consider Russia's actions genocide 'have an obligation under international law to intervene'. 'Is that what people want? I don't think so.'

While some are showing signs of returning, more than 4.7 million Ukrainians have fled their country in the 50 days since Russia invaded, the United Nations said Thursday, in Europe's fastest-growing refugee crisis since World War II.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said 4,736,471 Ukrainians had fled since Russia's assault began on February 24 - a figure up 79,962 on Wednesday's update.

Women and children account for 90 percent of those who have left Ukraine, with men aged 18 to 60 eligible for military call-up and unable to leave.

Nearly two-thirds of all Ukrainian children have been forced from their homes, including those still inside the country.

Beyond the refugees, the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates 7.1 million people have fled their homes but are still in Ukraine.

'The humanitarian needs of people internally displaced in Ukraine continue to grow,' the IOM said.

The agency says in addition to Ukrainian refugees, nearly 215,000 non-Ukrainians living, studying or working in the country have also left.

In total, more than a quarter of the population have been forced to flee their homes.

Before the invasion, Ukraine had a population of 37 million in the regions under government control, excluding Russia-annexed Crimea and the pro-Russian separatist regions in the east.
The growing perception that Britain has lost control of its borders is not just politically toxic for the Government. It actively fuels the problem.

Pictures of migrants successfully crossing the Channel, crowded into unseaworthy small boats or refrigerated lorries, are a magnet for others to attempt the treacherous journey.

Nearly 37,000 entered the UK illegally last year (the ones caught), a figure certain to be surpassed in 2022 without action. With spring arriving and calm seas, they are turning up at a rate of hundreds a day.

Lets be unambiguously clear. Those arriving clandestinely on our shores did not flee war and terror in France. Many are economic migrants seeking a better life, not the genuinely oppressed.

Boris Johnson admits the scheme to transfer migrants to Rwanda is no instant magic bullet

And the truth is, the public are fed up with this state of affairs. It is a security risk, a huge financial burden for taxpayers, a strain on public services, and a kick in the teeth for migrants trying to come here legally.

So the Daily Mail welcomes the Governments bold and imaginative proposal to finally tackle the crisis after years of hand-wringing and dithering.

Migrants without a bona fide asylum claim will get a one-way ticket to Rwanda. There, they can seek sanctuary  or return home. This is the best way to save lives and beat the evil smuggling gangs. Who will pay extortionate sums to criminals if they may end up 4,000 miles away in Africa?

Of course, 1,001 what-abouts, what-ifs and other questions need answering. Perhaps the scheme, which Boris Johnson admits is no instant magic bullet, will flop. But it offers at least a sliver of deterrence to illegal migrants.

Predictably, the Left have had a fit of the vapours, branding the Tories cruel and evil. But how compassionate is it to let refugees hand over their worldly belongings to traffickers so they risk their lives  or die  in a leaky dinghy or suffocating truck?

Mr Johnson deserves plaudits for taking on the army of activist lawyers who thwart deportations with a merry-go-round of bogus human rights appeals.

And he has ruthlessly exposed Labours policy vacuum on asylum.

Sir Keir Starmer bleats the plan is unworkable. But what is his alternative? Answer: He doesnt have one.

With thinly veiled contempt for the public, his party invariably wants open borders. Opposing any kind of immigration control is almost a Pavlovian response.

Offshoring illegal migrants may send a shudder through the fashionable salons of north London, but among ordinary people it is a winner. They are aghast at the illicit armadas arriving daily at Dover  especially after the Brexit promise to take back control of our borders.

If the Prime Minister pursues this policy energetically, and refuses to cave in to manipulative claims by campaigners that it is racist to turn away migrants, he will be handsomely rewarded by voters.

With ITH A&E waiting times hitting record levels and stroke victims typically waiting an hour for an ambulance, NHS bosses are taking to the airwaves demanding more cash to tackle the crisis. Their whining insults millions of workers hit by the national insurance hike to help clear the patient backlog. Having already received unprecedented funding, giving the wasteful service an even bigger budget would surely throw good money after bad.
The CEO of Twitter said on Thursday that no decision had been made about Elon Musk's $43 billion bid to buy the company, raising speculation about a possible battle for control of the social media giant, as billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban said he thought Musk was simply 'f****** with the SEC'.

Parag Agrawal, the CEO of Twitter, told staff on Thursday afternoon that no decision had been made by the board about Musk's offer

Parag Agrawal, the 37-year-old CEO of Twitter, spoke to staff on Thursday after a board meeting, where Musk's proposal was discussed.

The board would follow a 'rigorous process' and make a decision 'in the best interest of our shareholders,' Agrawal said, according to The Verge.

Ahead of Agrawal's speech, employees were played songs including 'I Say A Little Prayer' and 'I Want It That Way' by the Backstreet Boys, the site reported.

Agrawal then held a 25-minute Q&A session.

He did not say when the board would have an answer for Musk, or which way the board was leaning - responses which The Verge said frustrated some staff.

The board would follow a 'rigorous process' and make a decision 'in the best interest of our shareholders,' he said.

Amid the board's internal discussions, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban claimed that Musk is 'f****** with the SEC,' engaging in an elaborate scheme to drive up the value of his Twitter shares before selling them at huge profit.

Elon Musk is pictured on Thursday, hours after making his bid for control of Twitter. The 50-year-old spoke in Vancouver on stage with TED curator Chris Anderson. Mark Cuban (right) said he thinks Musk is toying with the SEC

'My strong intuitive sense is having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is important to the future of civilization,' Musk said

Cuban, 63, has been closely following Musk's moves in relation to the social media company, which Musk on Wednesday announced he wanted to take private for $43 billion.

Musk's interest in Twitter has been fast and furious.

On March 14, he purchased 73,486,938 Twitter shares, or 9.2 percent of Twitter, for about $3 billion. The news was made public in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing on April 4, and Musk became the largest shareholder.

Musk began speculating about changes to the site - renaming it 'Titter', adding edit buttons - and musing about converting the company's headquarters into a homeless shelter. He even wondered whether Twitter had a future.

Cuban on Thursday said he has been watching with amusement, and concluded it was all part of an elaborate plan of Musk's to toy with the SEC.

'My conclusion, @elonmusk is f****** with the SEC,' Cuban tweeted.

He said that Musk's filing of documentation with the SEC, officially stating his intentions, gave him legal cover to carry out his plan.

Musk was fined $40 million in September 2018 - half from him, half from his company Tesla - for tweeting about taking Tesla private, and sending the stock market into a frenzy.

Cuban said this time, he had the legal side sewn up.

'His filing w/the SEC allows him to say he wants to take a company private for $54.20 Vs his 'Am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured',' said Cuban.

'Price go up. His shares get sold. Profit up.

'SEC like WTF just happened.'

Musk himself on Thursday denied that he wanted to buy Twitter for financial reasons, insisting he was motivated by protecting freedom of speech.

'This is not about the economics,' Musk said, speaking at a TED conference in Vancouver.

'My strong intuitive sense is having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is important to the future of civilization.

'Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it's really important that people have both the reality and perception that they are able to speak freely, in the bounds of the law.'

Elon Musk appeared at the TED2022 Conference on Thursday, saying that he is pursuing a hostile takeover of Twitter not for financial gain, but for the 'future of civilization,' saying that he has a 'Plan B' if his initial $43 billion offer fails

Musk seemingly took aim at the company's remote working policies, saying he came up with the plan 'since no one shows up anyway'

The second tweet about deleting 'w' saw Musk give two options without 'no' as an answer

Cuban - who has previously spoken of his admiration for the 50-year-old maverick - was unconvinced, and thought it was all part of an amusing, lucrative game for Musk.

He added: 'Elon may have started this, but his threat to sell his shares, if twitter says no, opened the door for those tech giants to walk in for relatively 'little' money and grab huge influence at Twitter or possibly a direct path to acquisition.

'Elon will smile all the way to the bank.'

Cuban said he thought Twitter's board would try everything in their power to stop Musk taking over the company.

'I think Twitter will do everything possible not to sell the company,' he said.

'They will try to get a friendly to come in and buy Elon's shares and get him out.'

He added: 'Want to see the whole world lose their s***? Get Peter Thiel to partner with Elon and raise the bid for Twitter.'

Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, is worth an estimated $4.7 billion

On Thursday afternoon the CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal, told staff that the board had not yet made a decision about Musk's offer, and gave no timelines.

Musk launches bid in text message to Twitter chair According to a regulatory filing, Musk launched his takeover bid in a text message to Twitter board chairman Bret Taylor on Wednesday. The text message read: As I indicated this weekend, I believe that the company should be private to go through the changes that need to be made. After the past several days of thinking this over, I have decided I want to acquire the company and take it private. I am going to send you an offer letter tonight, it will be public in the morning. Are you available to chat? Advertisement

Cuban, who is worth an estimated $4.7 billion, has spoken warmly of Musk, whose $219 billion fortune dwarfs even Jeff Bezos's $171 billion.

'I like Elon Musk,' Cuban told The New York Post in June 2020.

'He can be full of himself sometimes, but he is the only entrepreneur in my lifetime that truly takes on projects that most people would be afraid to even try, and [he] makes them work.'

'The guy is a machine who gets things done and seems to have some fun along the way. I admire that.'

He previously compared Musk to Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos, and following a strange 2018 Tesla earnings call, in which Musk called analysts' questions 'boring' and 'boneheaded,' Cuban defended him.

'It's okay for [a CEO] to have an attitude,' Cuban told CNBC in May 2018.

'You don't have to be vanilla all the time - that's just life.'

Cuban added that he respects Musk as a founder who 'puts his heart out there.'

The Texan businessman did take issue with Musk in April 2020, when Musk called COVID lockdowns 'fascist'.

Musk was angered by the restrictions placed on his Tesla factory workers.

'Anything that negatively impacts Tesla, Elon hates, period, end of story,' he said.

'You know, I don't think he has other people's interests at heart.'
According to a new biography about the First Lady, Joe Biden was so unwell after suffering an aneurysm three decades ago that a priest read him his last rites. In 1988, Joe Biden was brought to the hospital with a bulging artery supplying blood to the right side of his brain, which may have resulted in a stroke.

Joe Biden, then 45, had been neglecting warning signals for weeks and was taking 10 Tylenol each day to deal with the headaches. His physicians were so concerned about his condition that they requested a priest to deliver the sacrament to Biden, a devout Catholic, and a nurse warned his wife, Jill Biden, not to enter the room when it was being administered.

Per Daily Mail, the first lady reacted angrily when physicians thought Joe Biden's condition so critical that a priest was sent to administer the sacrament to the devout Catholic.

Jill Biden Kicked Out Priest Ready to Read Rites For Joe Biden

The narrative adds to the story of Biden's near-death experience, which makes him the oldest president in history at 79 years old. Since announcing his candidacy for president in 2020, he has been hounded by questions about his health and cognitive ability.

Donald Trump branded Joe Biden "Sleepy Joe" because of his lethargic delivery. Since he was in charge, Joe Biden has made a series of gaffes, the most recent of which was referring to Iranians instead of Ukrainians in his State of the Union speech. Joe Biden's brush with death in 1988 was more serious than people may have imagined, according to Julie Pace and Darlene Superville, executive editor and White House writer for the Associated Press, in their book "Jill: A Biography of the First Lady."

Jill Biden mistook Joe Biden's difficulties on the campaign trail for the strain of the election, which ended in shambles when Joe Biden was accused of plagiarizing his campaign speeches. To manage his headaches, the now-president was said to be taking up to ten Tylenol each day. Joe Biden was working out when he allegedly felt a searing ache in his neck, which left his right side paralyzed and his legs feeling "heavy," as per The Sun.

He thought he'd had a heart attack but pushed through the agony, telling Jill Biden he'd strained a muscle so she wouldn't be scared. Joe Biden, though, passed out at the foot of his bed after making a speech at the University of Rochester and didn't wake up for another five hours.

When his brother Jimmy insisted on seeing a doctor, Joe Biden was admitted to the hospital. When Jill Biden arrived at the hospital and learned that Joe Biden was being given last rites, she stormed into the room and insisted that the priest leave, which he did, according to reports.

After that, Joe Biden was transported to surgery, where physicians discovered the aneurysm, which might have killed him if left untreated any longer. The president has previously recalled the event, claiming that he was on the verge of death at the time but was given a "second chance at life."

Read Also: Jen Psaki Defends Kamala Harris for Ignoring Mask Rules, Claims VP Is Maskless in Senate Because of Her "Important Role"

Book Reveals Other Details About First Lady Jill Biden

The following is an extract from Associated Press journalists Julie Pace and Darlene Superville's introduction to 'Jill: A Biography of the First Lady.' Jill Biden's life is chronicled in this book. According to ABC News, Pace, a former White House correspondent, and Washington bureau chief, is now the AP's executive editor, while Superville covers the White House for the AP.

Jill Biden presents childhood values developed in the 1950s and 1960s, coming-of-age in the 1970s, a political life in the 1980s and 1990s amidst the culture wars, and a Blue Star mother's post-9/11 experience.

Her history shapes her view of the present and her position as one of the world's most powerful women. Her future, on the other hand, is tangled up with America's heightened divisiveness and political instability, as well as her husband's presidency's legacy. She now has one of the most renowned platforms worldwide.

Related Article: Hunter Biden Scandal: Associates Call Joe Biden 'The Big Guy' in Evidence, Claim POTUS Is Involved in His Son's Business Dealings

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An NFT of former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey's first tweet that was being auctioned off $48 million has received an underwhelming top bid of just $277.

The NFT, or non-fungible token, reads 'just setting up my twttr,' which Dorsey tweeted in March 2006 - making it the first message in the social network's history.

Dorsey put the NFT up for auction last year and it was purchased for $2.9 million by Iranian-born crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi.

Estavi announced last week that he intended on selling the NFT for $48 million and splitting the proceeds with a charity organization.

However, the charities won't have much to split after the auction received just seven bids, ranging from 0.09 Ethereum ($277 at current pricing) to 0.0019 Ethereum (nearly $6), according to CoinDesk.

Twitter boss Jack Dorsey's first tweet sold as an NFT for just over $2.9million in March last year

Dorsey listed his famous first post (pictured) from March 21, 2006, on a platform called Valuables, which auctions off tweets as NFTs

'I decided to sell this NFT (the world's first ever tweet) and donate 50% of the proceeds ($25 million or more ) to the charity @GiveDirectly,'' Estavi wrote.

'The deadline I set was over, but if I get a good offer, I might accept it. I might never sell it,' Estavi told CoinDesk Wednesday.

Estavi now has two days to accept the bid or it will expire.

An NFT is an authentic, one-of-a-kind digital certificate of authenticity for a work of art or collectible, while details of the NFT are recorded on a blockchain digital ledger.

Last month, the digital copy of the first tweet that sold for nearly $3 million had attracted opening bids of just around $6,500 after going under the hammer again.

Dorsey auctioned off his tweet for charity in March last year.

Owner Sina Estavi (pictured) described the NFT  non-fungible token  as the Mona Lisa of the digital world

The winning bidder was fellow tech boss Estavi, who has described the NFT as the Mona Lisa of the digital world.'

NFTs have been touted as the digital answer to collectables - but experts have warned about their inherent risk as they have no tangible form.

Last year, when I paid for this NFT, very few people even heard the name NFT. Now I say this NFT is the Mona Lisa of the digital world.

There is only one of that and it will never be the same.

'Years later, people will realize the value of this NFT - keep that in mind.
More than 100 people from the same high school have been diagnosed with brain cancer and it is feared soil contaminated with uranium used in the first atomic bomb made them ill.

The victims, who all went to Colonia High School in Woodbridge, New Jersey, developed the 'rare' glioblastoma years after studying or working there.

The link was only spotted when one former student - now an environmental scientist - noticed people he knew from the institution were getting sick.

Al Lupiano revealed he had a brain tumor 20 years ago, before his wife had one and so did his sister - who died in February aged just 44.

The 50-year-old claims the diseases could be traced back to a nearby sampling plant that dealt with uranium for the first atomic bomb under the Manhattan Project.

He vowed on his sister's deathbed he would uncover the cause of the illness, adding: 'I will not rest until I have answers'.

His findings have sparked panic at the school with many of its 1,300 current students said to be 'anxious'.

Woodbridge officials said they are looking into his claims to try to determine an underlying cause.

Al Lupiano revealed he had a brain tumor 20 years ago, before his wife (pictured together) had one and so did his sister - who died in February aged just 44

Lupiano vowed to his sister (pictured) that he would uncover the cause of the tumors

The victims, who all went to Colonia High School (pictured) in Woodbridge, New Jersey, developed the 'rare' glioblastoma years after studying or working there

The 50-year-old claims the diseases could be traced back to a nearby sampling plant (pictured) that dealt with uranium for the first atomic bomb under the Manhattan Project

Lupiano was diagnosed with a tumor in 2002 and did not make any connection to the school until his wife and sister were taken ill.

The latter, Angela DeCillis, passed away in March and it encouraged him into researching the cause.

He started with a small pool of patients but as the numbers grew he noticed people had either worked or studied at the same high school.

Lupiano posted about his research on Facebook and soon realized the number of people affected skyrocketed.

He told CBS News: 'I started doing some research and the three became five, the five became seven, the seven became 15.

'Fast forward to August of last year. My sister received the news she had a primary brain tumor, herself. Unfortunately, it turned out to be stage 4 glioblastoma.

'Two hours later, we received information that my wife also had a primary brain tumor.'

Stacey Ramos (pictured) was one of those to contact him, telling him how she was just 41 when she got sick

Janice Wisinski (pictured) was yet another to have cancer. She died from her brain tumor in 2012 when she was just 38

Pictured: Workers walk across the sports pitches at the school as they test for radiation levels

Glioblastoma, the rare and aggressive brain cancer that has just a 40 percent one-year survive rate Glioblastoma, or glioblastoma multiforme, is an aggressive type of brain cancer. It develops when cells supporting nerves in the brain begin to divide uncontrollably. These fast-growing cells invade nearby brain tissue, making them hard to remove, but generally do not spread to other areas of the body. Survival rates are poor, with less than half of patients surviving more than a year after diagnosis. About one in 30,000 people have the condition, estimates suggest. What are the symptoms? Warning signs vary depending on where the cancer is in the brain. They include: Persistent headaches;

Double or blurred vision;

Vomiting;

Loss of appetite;

Changes in mood and personality;

Seizures;

Gradual onset of speech problems; How is it diagnosed? Brain scans are used to detect the cancer. Glioblastoma is a stage IV type of brain cancer, meaning it is fast-growing. Can it be treated? Surgery is the main treatment for this brain cancer. Specialist doctors remove as much of the cancer as possible during the operation. They may suggest patients stay awake during the procedure. Radiotherapy using high energy X-rays to destroy the cancerous cells may also be used. After surgery, some patients are offered chemotherapy for several months. What are the survival rates? About 40 percent of patients survive beyond a year after being diagnosed, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons says. Just 17 percent of patients survive more than two years after diagnosis. Experts warn it can lead to death within six months if left untreated. Am I at risk? This cancer is most commonly diagnosed in men around 64 years old, although it can occur in people of all genders and age groups. Prior therapeutic radiation and an impaired immune response are also risk factors for the condition. Source: Cancer Research UK, and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Advertisement

Earlier this year his inbox became flooded with former classmates and teachers from the school saying they were also dealing with rare brain tumors.

The vast majority 'graduated between 1975 and 2000 - but there is one case as recently as 2014.

Lupiano continued: 'What I find alarming is there's truly only one environmental link to primary brain tumors and that's ionizing radiation.

'It's not contaminated water. It's not air. It's not something in soil. It's not something done to us due to bad habits.'

Stacey Ramos was one of those to contact him, telling him how she was just 41 when she got sick.

She said: 'At the age of 41 I found out I had a very rare soft tissue malignant tumor SPINDLE CELL CARCINOMA which engulfed my tear duct where they believe it began, orbit, sinus (I lost half of sinus canal) nasal cavity, and it began growing in or towards my ear canal/tubes, & was getting close to my brain.

'I had symptoms for three + years prior but was undetected until it got worse.

'I'm currently have issues with the right ear and tube on the cancer side I'm worried about.'

More than 100 people who have made contact with Lupiano include 'several types of primary brain tumors such as cancerous forms like glioblastoma.

But they also include noncancerous yet debilitating masses such as acoustic neuromas, haemangioblastomas and meningiomas.

Glioblastoma, or glioblastoma multiforme, is an aggressive type of brain cancer.

It develops when cells supporting nerves in the brain begin to divide uncontrollably.

These fast-growing cells invade nearby brain tissue, making them hard to remove, but generally do not spread to other areas of the body.

Survival rates are poor, with less than half of patients surviving more than a year after diagnosis.

About one in 30,000 people have the condition, estimates suggest.

Lupiano launched an investigation to uncover what was happening, with him delving into the school's history including what was on the site before.

But he said: 'It was virgin land. It was woods. The high school was the first thing to be there, so there was probably nothing in the ground at that time.'

One possibility he is probing is the idea contaminated soil from a nearby sampling plant may have brought uranium ore to the site.

He told NJ Spotlight News the school was 12 miles from Middlesex Sampling Plant, which was used to crush, dry and store uranium ore for atomic bombs.

Lupiano claims some of the contaminated soil was removed from the site after it shut down in 1967 - the same year Colonia High School was built.

He suggested some of it may have somehow ended up on the school grounds.

He added to NJ.com: 'I will not rest until I have answers. I will uncover the truth.'

In one bizarre instance, a science lesson was pulled to a halt when a teacher practicing with a Geiger counter started picking up huge readings for radiation on a rock.

The class watched on in awe as the slate-colored pebble lit up the monitor and baffled the tutor in the May 1997 class.

The school was evacuated minutes later and a team in hazmat suits arrived to test the object.

The rock was said to have been taken away by a chemist for testing and was allegedly later found not to be dangerous.

'What I find alarming is there's truly only one environmental link to primary brain tumors and that's ionizing radiation. It's not contaminated water. It's not air. It's not something in soil. It's not something done to us due to bad habits,' Lupiano, pictured, said

Lupiano believes that some contaminated soil that was removed from a nearby site used to build an atomic bomb may have been dumped in grounds where the school was built

Despite this, local officials have voiced their concerns at Lupiano's findings, with the mayor pledging to look at possible links between the diseases and the school.

John McCormick said: 'The only thing that could have happened, potentially, was fill that was brought in during construction. We have no records 55 years ago.'

He continued: 'There could be a real problem here, and our residents deserve to know if there are any dangers.

'We're all concerned, and we all want to get to the bottom of this. This is definitely not normal.

'We are looking at possible things that we can do between the town and school, and they said they will look at anything we come up with.'

Dr Sumul Raval said: 'To find something like this  is a significant discovery. Normally speaking, you don't get radiation in a high school . . . unless something is going on in that area that we don't know.'

District Superintendent Dr Joseph Massimo said: 'I'm a lifelong resident here. I raised my family here. So the health and safety of our students is of paramount importance to me.'

Tiktok star Dr Joe Whittington posted a video about the cases on his social media pages, which went viral.

He said: 'Nobody knows why these tumors are occurring at such a high rate in this population, and researchers are just now trying to figure it out.

'Logically you would think some sort of radiation exposure. The trouble is the school is built on some woodland, it's surrounded by residential areas, and the mayor says that they really don't have records going back further than 55 years to see what the land was used for previously.'

The state's Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry are also investigating.

Glioblastoma: Most deadly form of brain cancer that kills more than half of patients within a year detected in former students at New Jersey high school near ex-nuclear site that caused uranium contamination

America today woke up to the news that brain cancer has been detected in more than 100 former students at a New Jersey high school.

Brain cancer is rare, being detected in about one in 15,000 Americans every year official figures show.

But ex-student Al Lupiano became suspicious after he, his wife and his sister  who all went to the 1,000-strong school  were diagnosed with these.

After posting about the diagnosis online, Mr Lupiano said his inbox was 'flooded' with fellow students who went to the Colonia High School up to four decades ago saying they had also been diagnosed with the cancers.

Brain cancer types detected include glioblastoma  detected in Mr Lupiano's sister , the most deadly form of brain cancer where fewer than half of patients survive beyond a year of being diagnosed. President Joe Biden's son Beau died from this cancer in 1998.

Cases of acoustic neuromas were also found, a benign and slow-growing tumor which the vast majority of patients survive.

Being exposed to high levels of radiation and having a weakened immune system are key risk factors for brain cancers, experts say.

The school is located about 11 miles from a former nuclear bomb development site, with fears mounting uranium from the ex-facility may have contaminated water or soil at the school.

A radioactive rock was also on school grounds for three decades, before being removed in the 1990s after a teacher warned it could be dangerous to kids.

Mr Lupiano said: 'Doctors said they had never seen my cancer before it was super rare, or only people that were exposed to nuclear radiation as a child living next to a nuclear power plant that was contaminating their water have this.'

Below is an explanation of the brain cancers detected at the school:

Al Lupiano revealed he had a brain tumor 20 years ago, before his wife (pictured together) had one and so did his sister - who died in February aged just 44

The victims, who all went to Colonia High School (pictured) in Woodbridge, New Jersey, developed the 'rare' glioblastoma years after studying or working there

Was radioactive contamination to blame for the brain cancer cases at the school? Officials are currently investigating radiation levels at the New Jersey school. Former students there have been diagnosed with cancers including glioblastoma, the most deadly form of brain cancer. Main risk factors for this include radiation, and having a poor immune system. It typically occurs in about one in 30,000 Americans every year. Ex-student Al Lupiano said he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2002, alongside his wife who also went to the school. 'Doctors said they had never seen my cancer before it was super rare, or only people that were exposed to nuclear radiation as a child living next to a nuclear power plant that was contaminating their water have this,' he told NJ Spotlight News. The school is located about 11 miles from a former facility used in developing nuclear bombs. It is feared some uranium from the site may have contaminated local water and soil. Advertisement

Glioblastoma, or glioblastoma multiforme:

This is the deadliest type of brain cancer.

It develops when cells supporting nerves in the brain begin to divide uncontrollably.

The fast-growing cells also invade nearby brain tissue, making them hard to remove, but generally do not spread to other areas of the body.

Survival rates are poor, with less than half of patients surviving more than a year after diagnosis.

About one in 30,000 people have the condition, estimates suggest.

Mr Lupiano's sister was diagnosed with this cancer at the age of 44, passing away shortly afterwards.

The National Foundation for Cancer Research  which funds research into cancers  says glioblastomas are the 'most lethal form of brain cancer'.

What are the symptoms?

Warning signs vary depending on where the cancer is in the brain. They include:

Persistent headaches;

Double or blurred vision;

Vomiting;

Loss of appetite;

Changes in mood and personality;

Seizures;

Gradual onset of speech problems.

How is it diagnosed?

Brain scans are used to detect the cancer.

Glioblastoma is a stage IV type of brain cancer, meaning it is fast-growing.

Can it be treated?

Surgery is the main treatment for this brain cancer.

Specialist doctors remove as much of the cancer as possible during the operation. They may suggest patients stay awake during the procedure.

The above shows a glioblastoma (black area to the right of the brain)

Radiotherapy using high energy X-rays to destroy the cancerous cells may also be used.

After surgery, some patients are offered chemotherapy for several months.

What are the survival rates?

About 40 percent of patients survive beyond a year after being diagnosed, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons says.

Just 17 percent of patients survive more than two years after diagnosis.

Experts warn it can lead to death within six months if left untreated.

Am I at risk?

This cancer is most commonly diagnosed in men around 64 years old, although it can occur in people of all genders and age groups.

Prior therapeutic radiation and an impaired immune response are also risk factors for the condition.

Mayor pledges to look into brain cancer cases at New Jersey school A mayor has pledged to look into brain cancer cases at a New Jersey high school. John McCormick said: 'The only thing that could have happened, potentially, was fill that was brought in during construction. We have no records 55 years ago.' He continued: 'There could be a real problem here, and our residents deserve to know if there are any dangers. 'We're all concerned, and we all want to get to the bottom of this. This is definitely not normal. 'We are looking at possible things that we can do between the town and school, and they said they will look at anything we come up with.' Dr Sumul Raval said: 'To find something like this  is a significant discovery. Normally speaking, you don't get radiation in a high school . . . unless something is going on in that area that we don't know.' District Superintendent Dr Joseph Massimo added: 'I'm a lifelong resident here. I raised my family here. So the health and safety of our students is of paramount importance to me.' The state's Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry are also investigating. Advertisement

Acoustic neuromas:

This is a slow growing tumor in the brain that does not spread to other areas of the body.

It starts on the nerve responsible for hearing and balance.

They are rare, accounting for about eight per cent of all brain tumor diagnoses.

Most patients initially have their tumor monitored to ensure it does not grow.

But if this happens they will then be offered surgery to remove all or part of it.

The vast majority of patients survive the condition, with only one in 200 cases that went to surgery being fatal.

Mr Lupiano was diagnosed with this cancer in 2002, at the age of 27, while his wife Michele was also found to have the condition.

What are the symptoms?

The tumor may initially trigger no obvious symptoms, but as it develops it can lead to the following warning signs:

Hearing loss, usually only in one ear;

Hearing sounds that come from inside the body;

Sensation of moving or spinning.

When the tumor gets larger it can spark these additional symptoms:

Persistent headaches;

Temporary blurred or double vision;

Numbness, pain or weakness on one side of the face;

Problems with limb co-ordination on one side of the body;

A hoarse voice or difficulty swallowing.

How is it diagnosed?

Acoustic neuromas are diagnosed using brain scans.

But doctors may also deploy hearing tests to help estimate the size of the tumor and what treatment may be needed.

What are the treatment options?

Whether someone is offered surgery depends on the size of their acoustic neuroma, doctors say.

Patients with very small growths  up to two millimeters (0.07inches) in diameter are normally only offered a brain scan every 12 months to keep an eye on the tumor.

But if these progress to medium and large tumors  beyond 30mm (1.1inch)  to grow they will be offered surgery to remove it, and avoid it damaging the brain.

Radiotherapy may also be offered to kill off the tumor.

What are the survival rates?

Most people who are diagnosed with acoustic neuromas survive the condition.

Cancer Research UK  which funds research into treatments for these conditions  says patients generally have a 'good outcome'.

Am I at risk?

This cancer is most commonly recorded in adults around 50 years old, with some estimates suggesting it is twice as common among women.

Exposure to radiation and having a weakened immune system are both considered to be risk factors for the condition.
Anthony Albanese briefly took off his political punching gloves to attend the same Easter service as the prime minister's wife, Jenny, and ex-Liberal leader Tony Abbott.

The Opposition leader did a reading during the service at St Charbel Maronite Church in Punchbowl, south-west of Sydney, on Good Friday.

He then sat in the front row of the congregation and across the aisle from Scott Morrison's wife Jenny and their daughters Abbey and Lily.

Former Liberal leader Tony Abbott was seated not far from the two groups.

Mr Albanese was all smiles as he mingled with Mr Abbott and shook his political opponent's hand before approaching Mrs Morrison to say hello.

The brief truce comes at the end of the first week of a brutal election campaign for both Mr Albanese and Mr Morrison.

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese gatecrashed the same Easter Service attended by Jenny Morrison and ex-prime minister Tony Abbott

Mr Albanese did a reading during the service at St Charbel Maronite Church in Punchbowl, south-west Sydney, on Good Friday

Mr Albanese mingled happily with Mr Abbott and shook his political opponent's hand before approaching Mrs Morrison to say hello

Prime minister Scott Morrison's wife Jenny and their daughters Abbey and Lily were seated in the front row and not far from former Liberal leader Tony Abbott

Mr Morrison came under fire for breaking his promise to establish an integrity commission from the 2019 election and he cancelled some events after one of his security cars crashed and injured four officers in northern Tasmania on Thursday.

Mr Albanese was mocked for misquoting the unemployment rate in Australia during a press conference and was later forced to clarify the opposition's border policy after backflipping on plans to close offshore detention centres.

The Labor leader sat at the front of the congregation for the remainder of the Easter service and was flanked by frontbench colleagues Tony Burke and Jason Clare.

NSW Governor Margaret Beazley and Liberal MP for Reid Fiona Martin were among the parishioners.

Mrs Morrison also did a reading while her husband was attending a different Easter service with a local Liberal MP in Melbourne.

Mr Albanese took to social media in the lead-up to the service to share his well-wishes during the religious holiday.

'On behalf of the Australian Labor Party I wish the many Christians across Australia a happy and a holy Easter,' he said.

Mrs Morrison also did a reading during the Easter service at St Charbel Maronite Church on Good Friday

Former prime minister Tony Abbott sat among the congregation during the Easter service

The Labor leader sat at the front of the congregation for the remainder of the service and was flanked by frontbench colleagues Tony Burke and Jason Clare

'As we mark the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we can take comfort in the feeling of hope inspired by the words of the Gospel. He is risen!'

Mr Albanese turned his attention to the victims of the recent Queensland and NSW floods.

'This Easter we will keep in our prayers the Australians who have been so devastated by the recent floods,' he said.

'I send my very best wishes to the many people celebrating this weekend and hope that you can finally gather safely with your family and in your churches.

'A Happy Easter to you and your family.'

Mr Morrison was nowhere to be seen as the prime minister decided to observe the religious holiday at Syndal Baptist Church in Glen Waverley, Melbourne.

Mr Morrison attended the service with Gladys Liu - the Liberal MP for Chisholm.

Ms Liu currently holds the district by a 0.5 per cent margin.

NSW Governor Margaret Beazley and Liberal MP for Reid Fiona Martin (pictured) were also among the parishioners

Mr Morrison was nowhere to be seen as the prime minister decided to observe the religious holiday at Syndal Baptist Church in Glen Waverley, Melbourne

Mr Morrison stopped to chat with a mother and her newborn Muxi before he said to the baby, 'God bless you'

She has managed to maintain the narrow lead despite previous allegations of her connection to several Communist Party linked community organisations.

The pair mingled with the 150 parishioners following the Good Friday service.

Mr Morrison stopped to chat with a mother and her newborn baby Muxi.

'God bless you,' he said to the baby.

Mr Albanese has finished his first week of his election campaign with plenty of mishaps now in his rear view mirror.

On Monday, Mr Albanese admitted he 'f***** up' after getting the unemployment rate wrong in a cringeworthy blunder on national TV.

In a train-wreck press conference in Launceston, the Labor leader could not state the cash rate and then wrongly guessed the jobless rate was 5.4 per cent when it's actually 4 per cent.

Mr Morrison and Ms Liu mingled with the 150 parishioners following the Good Friday service

Mr Morrison shakes hands with parishioners at the Syndal Baptist Church in Glen Waverley in Melbourne on Friday

When questioned by a reporter in a later campaign stop in Devonport, Mr Albanese admitted: 'Earlier today I made a mistake, I'm human, but when I make a mistake, I will fess up to it and I will set about correcting that mistake.

Mr Morrison has endured his fair share of blunders including a backflip on banning trans women from competing in female sports.

The prime minister was asked on Monday whether he intended to push through legislation that would outlaw trans athletes, if he's re-elected on May 21.

He remained tight-lipped but said he fully-endorsed two Liberal Party women that have been vocal on the hot-button issue - Katherine Deves and Claire Chandler.

Deves, who co-founded a Save Women's Sport group, recently came under fire for now-deleted tweets where she described transgender children as 'surgically mutilated and sterilised'.

Mr Morrison changed his tune on the issue on Wednesday after Deves publicly apologised for her controversial tweets about trans people.

Mr Morrison has endured his fair share of blunders during his first week on the election campaign trail
California Senator Dianne Feinstein said she won't step down from her position before it ends in 2024, despite democratic colleagues saying they're concerned she's 'mentally unfit to serve.'

Feinstein, 88, said she 'regularly' meets with leaders and isn't 'isolated,' after four senators - three of them Democrats - a California Congress member, and three former staffers said that her short-term memory is deteriorating.

'I see people. My attendance is good. I put in the hours. We represent a huge state. And so Im rather puzzled by all of this,' she told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Feinstein, one of the longest-serving senators, had long been renowned in Washington for an issue-focused passion and quick wit, but now people who have worked with the California lawmaker for years now say she has difficulty recognizing them and repeats the same few talking points.

The senator said no one had brought up these concerns to her directly.

'No, that conversation has not happened,' she told the Chronicle. 'The real conversation is whether Im an effective representative for 40 million people.'

Talk has been floated of persuading her to resign before her current term ends in 2024.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, 88, said she won't step down from her position before it ends in 2024, despite democratic colleagues said they're concerned she's 'mentally unfit to serve'

She said she 'regularly' meets with leaders and isn't 'isolated,' after four senators - three of them Democrats - a California Congress member, and three former staffers said that her short term memory is deteriorating

A staffer from another senator's office has also been quoted saying they've seen their boss go out of their way to re-introduce themselves to Feinstein before speaking to her.

'We've got an 'Emperor's New Clothes' problem here,' an unnamed California lawmaker said, referencing a fable about fearing to speak truth to power.

'I have worked with her for a long time and long enough to know what she was like just a few years ago: always in command, always in charge, on top of the details, basically couldn't resist a conversation where she was driving some bill or some idea. All of that is gone,' they said.

The member of Congress described an hours-long conversation in which they had to reintroduce themselves to the veteran senator multiple times and circling back to the same questions without any indication she knew they'd already covered it.

The lawmaker said: 'She was an intellectual and political force not that long ago, and that's why my encounter with her was so jarring. Because there was just no trace of that.'

That and the other interactions described in the report occurred before the death of Feinstein's husband in February of this year.

These so-called 'memory lapses' are punctuated by days where Feinstein is 'nearly as sharp as she used to be,' the Chronicle reports. 'But some close to her said that on her most difficult days, she does not seem to fully recognize even longtime colleagues.'

One Democrat senator said: 'It's bad, and it's getting worse.'

The 88-year-old senator (pictured in 1977) is widely seen as a trailblazer in California politics

Feinstein was reportedly 'composed' during future Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearings in March, though the Chronicle also notes she 'repeated comments' about Jackson's composure during the grilling.

A Capitol Hill staffer said a 'joke' has emerged about the 40million-strong state's representation in the Senate: 'We've got a great junior senator in Alex Padilla and an experienced staff in Feinstein's office.'

But it's also got people in Congress worried the octogenarian can 'no longer fulfill her job duties without her staff doing much of the work' to represent her constituents.

'It's really hard to have a micromanager who is not fully remembering everything that we've talked about,' said one ex-staffer, who described a situation in which Feinstein allegedly delayed the progress of an important investigation because, the aide believed, she could not fully comprehend it.

'My biggest concern is that it's a real disservice to the people of California.'

The report notes that Feinstein is seen with at least one staffer at all times in the Capitol, and that she's dramatically decreased the pace of her public appearances.

California's senior senator has not held a town hall in more than four years, the Chronicle stated, and she often declines lengthy interviews with journalists.

Freshman Senator Alex Padilla, who was appointed to replace Vice President Kamala Harris and is running for re-election this November, has reportedly done 18 public town halls last year and 250 media interviews.

Feinstein's office told the Chronicle that she's attended numerous public events in the years-long gap but that they ceased in 2022 because of her husband's death and the COVID-19 pandemic.

She was serving as the San Francisco Board of Supervisor's first female president when she gained national attention for leading the city through the infamous 1978 assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected in California politics (pictured in 1992)

Feinstein in 1971, when she was running for Mayor

'The last year has been extremely painful and distracting for me, flying back and forth to visit my dying husband who passed just a few weeks ago,' Feinstein told the Chronicle in a statement though rejected a live interview.

'But there's no question I'm still serving and delivering for the people of California, and I'll put my record up against anyone's.'

Campaign filings that cover 2021 show Feinstein only raised $5,566.33 across that entire year, a low number for someone with her years-long ties in top political circles in Washington and California.

Padilla raised $7.8million across the same period.

Feinstein's fellow octogenarian senator, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, raised $1,001,415.87 last year. Leahy is retiring at the end of his term in 2022, though it's common for veteran lawmakers to keep raising money for their party and colleagues in active campaign accounts until they leave office.

The 88-year-old senator is widely seen as a trailblazer in California politics. She was serving as the San Francisco Board of Supervisor's first female president when she gained national attention for leading the city through the infamous 1978 assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected in California politics.

After winning a 1992 special election, Feinstein became the first woman to represent the Golden State in the Senate.

Former Senator Barbara Boxer, 81, was sworn in as the second shortly after. Boxer retired in 2017 and was succeeded by Harris.

Her seniority has also given Feinstein some of the most powerful committee assignments in the chamber, including on the Judiciary and Select Committee on Intelligence, giving her access to sensitive information and some of the most influential decisions in Congress -- which also gives staffers pause given her advanced age, the report claims.

Still, other Democrats defended Feinstein as sharp and as focused as ever.

California's junior senator Padilla said he'd 'heard some of the same concerns' but brushed them off when asked by the Chronicle.

'But as someone who sees her multiple times a week, including on the Senate Judiciary Committee, I can tell you shes still doing the job and doing it well,' Padilla said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was elected to California's Congressional delegation just five years before Feinstein in 1987, blasted the discussions surrounding her peer's mental acuity as 'unconscionable.'

'Senator Feinstein is a workhorse for the people of California and a respected leader among her colleagues in the Senate,' Pelosi said, adding that Feinstein was 'constantly traveling' across the country to fulfill her duties.

It's 'unconscionable that, just weeks after losing her beloved husband of more than four decades and after decades of outstanding leadership to our City and State, she is being subjected to these ridiculous attacks that are beneath the dignity in which she has led and the esteem in which she is held,' Pelosi concluded.

But the Democrat lawmaker who described their awkward hours-long conversation with Feinstein summarized the delicate discussion about the senator's future compared with her long history of serving the country.

'It shouldnt end this way for her. She deserves better,' they said.

However, they added that 'Those who think that they are serving her or honoring her by sweeping all of this under the rug are doing her an enormous disservice.
Before cops got there, James left the McDonald's, and was eventually tracked down a few blocks away after a citizen recognized and reported him to cops

At, around 1:30, the suspect went to a nearby McDonald's where he called cops on himself, and had a beer at a local bar while waiting for them to arrive

Then, upon waking up, he had breakfast at Chinatown restaurant Dimes and lunch at the iconic Katz's Deli, according to witnesses and police

After firing 33 shots at commuters in Sunset Park, James traveled to Manhattan sometime on Tuesday spent the night at a Chelsea hostel

In the 30 hours between the attack and his arrest, Frank James was seen strolling around Manhattan, seemingly without a care in the world, as cops looked for him

Suspected Brooklyn subway shooter Frank James brazenly traipsed around Manhattan as the full might of the New York Police Department scoured the city looking for him, photos and witness testimony has revealed.

James, 62, spent the night after allegedly shooting ten people on a packed northbound N train at a Manhattan hostel opposite a police precinct, before waking up to take a tour of some of the borough's most trendy eateries, including the iconic Katz's deli, then drinking a beer after he called the cops to turn himself.

James, who is currently in police custody, is accused of popping a smoke canister on the crowded train as it approached 36th Street station in Sunset Park, Brooklyn at 8:26 am Tuesday morning, before opening fire on those inside.

Police and witness accounts have pieced together how he spent part of the nearly 30 hours between the attack and his arrest.

In the 30 hours between the attack and his arrest, suspect Frank James (pictured Wednesday waltzing down Canal Street) was seen strolling around Manhattan, seemingly without a care in the world, as thousands of cops scoured the city in a frantic effort to track him down

at roughly 10:30 am, the suspect was spotted - and photographed - dining outdoors at trendy Chinatown eatery Dimes on Canal St., by a passerby who shared the two photos of the suspect to social media

Immediately after fleeing the scene at the 36th Street subway station, James - who donned a orange construction worker-style vest, hardhat, and gasmask during the attack - ditched his gear, and reportedly boarded a southbound R train for one stop, exiting at 25th Street.

Video footage from a bodega by the station shows James, in all black, emerging from the subway system at 8:30 am, before walking away.

'He was the first one out,' Sulaimen Yehia, 33, a staffer at the nearby Lotto Deli & Grill, told The Daily News. 'He already changed his whole gear. They were looking for gray and construction and he came out all black. Nobody thought he changed his clothes that quick.'

About five minutes later, at roughly 8:35 am James was seen on video, in black, walking past Greenwood Cemetery blocks away to board a bus, which he took to a subway stop at Seventh Ave. and Ninth St. in the neighboring nabe of Park Slope.

James then bought a mask at the 9th Street Quick Stop, less than two miles from the scene of that attack that occurred just a half hour before. Worker Ismail Hossein, 24, told the News Thursday that a fellow staffer at the store had spoken to the FBI and NYPD about the sighting.

James, 62, spent the night after allegedly shooting ten people on a packed northbound N train at a Manhattan hostel, before waking up to take a tour of some of the borough's most trendy eateries, including the iconic Katz's deli, before calling the cops on himself

James stayed at the Chelsea International Hostel on West 20th St overnight. It is just a few doors down from the NYPD's 10th Precinct

James, a career criminal who lives in Philadelphia, managed to lay low for the rest of the day, somehow evading thousands of cops mobilized after the attack, which saw the suspect fire off 33 shots at the trapped straphangers, injuring 10.

That night, however, law enforcement sources revealed, James crossed the bridge into Manhattan, where he stayed at the Chelsea International Hostel on West 20th St overnight. It is just a few doors down from the NYPD's 10th Precinct.

The next morning, at roughly 10:30 am, the suspect was spotted - and photographed - dining outdoors at trendy Chinatown eatery Dimes on Canal St., by Twitter user Jack Griffin, who shared two photos of the suspect to social media, with the caption, 'possible frank james sighting.'

One of the photos posted by Griffin, at 10:29 am, showed a heavyset man matching James' description walking down Canal Street still dressed in black, while another showed him sitting at Dimes' outdoor dining area 'just staring into space,' Griffin told The News.

The post from Griffin prompted a response from the NYPD's Crime Stoppers unit, who asked the Twitter to provide more details on the then-suspected sighting.

Following multiple sightings across the borough, cops were able to finally put James in cuffs after a New Jersey security camera company worker recognized the suspect and flagged down a passing police vehicle

Police have since confirmed that the man pictured in the photos was indeed James.

A few hours later, at around half past noon, James ate again, grabbing lunch at Lower East Side stalwart Katzs Deli, just a few blocks away, a separate source told The News.

James - who became a person of interest in the case after cops identified him and came across a slew of YouTube videos he had posted that aired grievances on homelessness, the conditions of the subways, and new mayor Eric Adams - then moved on to a nearby McDonalds, at East 6th St. and First Ave, where he inexplicably called Crime Stoppers on himself around 1pm - roughly 29 hours after the shooting.

During the call, James told the unit he was at the McDonald's, and said he was 'seeing his face all over the news,' the law-enforcement source told the News.

An operator asked James for a number they could call him back on - to which he replied he didnt know it, because the phone was new. He then said that his battery was about to die, and told the operator he would be charging the phone at the fast food eaters or somewhere close by, the source said.

James was then spotted again, according to 18-year-old Salim Brisbane, who said a friend saw the suspect leave the McDonald's to get a beer at a nearby bar.

'We heard he came to McDonalds and then went and got a beer afterwards. Our friend saw him,' Brisbane told the paper. 'What the actual f--k?'

Cops, now on high alert, quickly mobilized to the area, but were still, somehow, unable to track James down.

James is shown 15 minutes after the attack, leaving the subway after committing the attack

At 1:42 pm, however, cops were able to finally put James in bracelets while the suspect walked casually along St. Marks place, just a couple of blocks from the McDonald's, only after a New Jersey security camera company worker recognized the suspect and flagged down a passing police vehicle.

James was then walked from the local police precinct, where he was pictured by a flood of photographers and press.

Following the arrest, Mayor Adams - who promised to crack down on rampant crime in the city's subway system after being sworn into office in January - touted the efforts of the city's police department while James was on the run, while omitting the fact that the suspect had turned himself in.

'He fired 33 shots,' the mayor wrote. 'But less than 30 hours later, thanks to the NYPD, federal and state partners, first responders and every day New Yorkers, we got him.

Frank James is shown entering the subway in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning before the attack. He was held without bond

'We brought the Sunset Park subway shooter to justice. Keeping our city safe is at the heart of our administration. Always.'

Some 24 hours after his arrest, James was arraigned in federal court in the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn Thursday afternoon, where he was represented by public defenders and said nothing as the judge addressed him, other than answering 'yes'.

When asked if he'd seen the complaint against him, James responded: 'Yes I have.'

Public defenders asked for a psychiatric evaluation to be carried out in custody. They also asked for magnesium tablets for James, who suffers 'leg cramps'.

He said he understood the charges against him. James waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He was held without bond.

Prosecutor Sara Winik told the court: 'The defendant terrifyingly opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their commute in a way that has not been seen for 20 years.

'This was premeditated, carefully planned and it caused terror among our entire city.'

In court documents filed on Thursday, prosecutors detailed how more ammunition was found in James' rented Philadelphia apartment, including an extended round magazine that was fit for a semi-automatic rifle. No such firearm has been found yet in connection with the suspect.

The morning of the attack, James was filmed by traffic cameras entering Brooklyn via the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in a rented U-Haul van at 4:11 a.m.

TUESDAY, 4 AM: James is shown driving into New York from Philadelphia at 4.11am on Tuesday, the morning of the attack, in the U-Haul. A key to the U-Haul was found along with the gun registered to his name inside the subway station after the attack. Police found a tank of propane gas in the vehicle on Tuesday afternoon

Further video showed the suspect ditching the U-Haul at Kings Highway, near where the shooting took place, at 6:12 am, clad in the orange vest and yellow hardhat he wore during the attack.

The footage shows James carrying two bags, which authorities say contained commercial grade fireworks, a gasoline-filled container, a torch, and a Glock 17 pistol.

Subway surveillance footage then shows James boarding a Manhattan-bound N train, where he traveled eight stops before engaging in the attack.

His 9mm handgun was found at the 36th Street subway station on Tuesday, after the attack, along with spent shell casings, fireworks, and a key to his U-Haul.

Police have also searched a storage unit in Philadelphia, where he was keeping more ammunition, a torch and a gun silencer.

James' motive in the attack remains unknown. He is currently being held without bail pending a police investigation.
A Queensland mother has embarked on a terrifying mission to rescue her adopted son from war-torn Ukraine.

Yuliia Kuzma, from Proserpine in the Whitsundays, arrived in the eastern European country this week hoping to wrap her arms around her biological nephew Maxim.

Ms Kuzma, who has seven-year-old twins of her own and migrated from Ukraine to Australia in 2015, made the decision to adopt the 12-year-old after her sister was unable to take care of him.

The adoption process was finalised in 2020 but due to Covid and border closures Maxim was unable to come to Australia - and in another blow just as the borders reopened, the conflict in Ukraine escalated.

Queensland mother, Yuliia Kuzma, (pictured) has embarked on a terrifying mission to rescue her adopted son from war-torn Ukraine

Ms Kuzma, (left) from Proserpine in the Whitsundays, arrived in the eastern European country this week hoping to wrap her arms around her biological nephew Maxim (far right)

Sharing updates to her Instagram page, Ms Kuzma filmed herself sitting in a train station in Lviv on Thursday. Her latest post was her travelling on a train to Kremenchuk, nearly 12 hours away.

She shared a photo of the curtains drawn on her carriage with the caption: 'all curtains closed for blackout'.

Maxim has been looked after by his guardian, who is a close friend of Ms Kuzma, but who didn't want to flee Ukraine.

She has been planning with Maxim's guardian on when the best time to come was, and is hoping to escort the 12-year-old across the border and fly home to Australia next week.

'[The twins] ask me every day, ''Mum, Mum ... when will my big brother be here?'' Ms Kuzma told the ABC.

Ms Kuzma said she felt it was up to her to save Maxim, having had the heartbreaking task of saying goodbye to her two young children earlier this week

Sharing updates to her Instagram page, Ms Kuzma filmed herself sitting in a cafe near a train station in Lviv on Thursday

'I don't have any different choice  I need to be there,' she said.

Maxim and his guardian have already had to flee their home in Kharkiv for a safer city after it was left in ruins by Russian forces a month ago.

A passport and visa for Maxim had been organised but he still needs to secure a vaccine certificate.

Ms Kuzma, a single mother who works at a bakery, said she will 'squash' Maxim in a big hug when she's finally reunited with her son.

'I'm all he has left - that's what is pushing me,' she said.
An architect of a policy that stopped unauthorised asylum seeker boats has warned Labor leader Anthony Albanese is a threat to Australia's border security.

Mr Albanese on Thursday declared offshore detention is unnecessary, even though that is Labor Party policy.

'We'll turn boats back. Turning boats back means that you don't need offshore detention,' he told reporters at Cessnock in the Labor-held seat of Hunter.

The Opposition Leader's media conference position against offshore processing contradicted Labor's 2021 national platform.

'To support Australia's strong border security regime, Labor will maintain an architecture of excised offshore places,' it said.

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An architect of a policy that stopped unauthorised asylum seeker boats has warned Labor leader Anthony Albanese (pictured in Cessnock) is a threat to Australia's border security

Labor also committed at its last national conference to maintain Christmas Island to detain 'persons who arrive unauthorised at an excised place, except where other arrangements are entered into under bilateral and regional arrangements'.

Former major general Jim Molan, a co-author of Operation Sovereign Borders that stopped the boats under former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott in 2013, said Mr Albanese's comments demonstrated he was a threat to border security.

Senator Molan, who is now with the Liberal Party, told Sydney radio 2GB's Chris Smith: 'Mr Albanese does not understand how these policies work therefore he is setting himself up for failure.

'At this stage where Australia is ... we can't afford a prime minister to come in with training wheels on to figure out these problems on the spot.'

Mr Albanese later retracted his Cessnock media conference comments, and answered 'yes' when asked if he would maintain offshore processing.

But in 2019, the Labor leader from the party's Left faction told the ABC's Insiders program he didn't personally support the idea of turning back asylum seek boats.

'Different people took different positions and that was the issue of turn backs,' he said.

'For me, that was something that I couldn't support but in the context of the policy, I said earlier on in the week that you could be tough on people smugglers without being weak on humanity.'

Former major general Jim Molan (pictured left with media personality daughter Erin Molan), a co-author of Operation Sovereign Borders that stopped the boats under former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott in 2013, said Mr Albanese's comments demonstrated he was a threat to border security

In December 2010, at least 50 people died when an asylum seeker boat sunk off the coast of Christmas Island.

They were among the 1,200 asylum seekers who drowned between December 2007 and September 2013, when Labor was last in power.

Senator Molan said Mr Albanese did not have grounds to argue it was compassionate to be opposed to tougher border protection policies.

'In an interview some time ago, he said he couldn't do it because "I'm a compassionate person" - how dare anyone say that we were not compassionate in relation to this policy: 1,200 people died because Labor and the Greens were unable to manage our borders,' he said.

Mr Albanese was deputy prime minister under Kevin Rudd when Australia's last Labor PM in 2013 established an offshore detention centre at Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Under Labor's watch when it was last in government, 50,000 asylum seekers arrived on 800 boats between late 2007 and 2013 (pictured is an asylum seeker boat at Flying Fish Cove at Christmas Island in August 2012)

Ahead of an election, Mr Rudd also declared: 'Asylum seekers who come here by boat without a visa will never be settled in Australia.'

During his first stint as prime minister, Mr Rudd in 2008 dismantled his Liberal predecessor John Howard's Pacific Solution where the Navy intercepted unauthorised asylum seeker boats and took them to offshore centres in Nauru and Manus Island.

Under Labor's watch when it was last in government, 50,000 asylum seekers arrived on 800 boats between late 2007 and 2013.

Labor had relied on the Greens to form minority government between 2010 and 2013.

This slowed to a trickle when the Coalition came to power.

As the Abbott Government's immigration minister Scott Morrison, who is now Prime Minister, stopped the former department of immigration and border protection from publishing media alerts every time an illegal boat arrived in Australian waters.
Footage circulating online of a sheep being shorn with a chainsaw has been slammed as 'cruel and ignorant' by an animal rights group.

Video of the horrific act was spread on a Midlands Facebook page and appeared to show a sheep shearer holding down the animal on a farm in Tasmania.

Another man is seen cutting the wool off the back of the sheep with a live chainsaw while the person recording the video can be heard cackling off-camera.

Emma Haswell, the operator of Brightside Farm Sanctuary in Cygnet, described the act as 'idiotic'.

Footage circulating online of a sheep being shorn with a chainsaw has been slammed as 'cruel and ignorant' by an animal rights group

Video of the horrific act was spread on a Midlands Facebook page and appeared to show a sheep shearer holding down the animal on a farm in Tasmania

'It's of a shearer holding down a lamb on a shearing shed floor, and another man  an older man  comes in with a chainsaw and thinks it's funny to start shearing the back end of the lamb with a chainsaw,' Ms Haswell told the ABC.

'It's fraught with danger, and just plain cruel and ignorant and idiotic behaviour.'

The footage has sparked outrage on Facebook with social media users condemning the dangerous stunt.

'Where was this at? That's terrible,' one wrote.

Another added: 'I don't even want to watch.'

The RSPCA said it was investigating the footage and pursuing leads on social media.

Ms Haswell said she reported the video to local police before she was informed it was out of their hands.

The treatment of farm animals is investigated by a different department under animal welfare laws.

The operator of Brightside Farm Sanctuary in Cygnet, Emma Haswell, described the act as 'idiotic'

The footage has sparked outrage on Facebook with social media users condemning the dangerous stunt

The Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) normally handle the complaints.

Biosecurity Tasmania said it was aware of the video and that it was carrying out an investigation.

'As is standard practice, Biosecurity Tasmania will assist the RSPCA if the investigation warrants,' a spokesperson said.

'Prompt reporting of animal welfare concerns to authorities is critical.

'The government continues to identify ways to further improve animal welfare measures, including strengthening the Animal Welfare Act to better protect animals in Tasmania.

'As this matter is under active investigation, the Department will not be providing any further comments.'
Anthony Robert Chic Henry, the 75-year-founder of the Summernats car festival, has died after a battle with cancer.

A self-confessed 'rev head' and modified car enthusiast, Henry founded Summernats - named for 'summer' and 'national' in 1988 and built it up into a legendary event held annually over four days in Canberra.

It earned a reputation for being the largest, loudest and most colourful car show in the Southern Hemisphere, attracting more than 100,000 car fans and revellers.

It is known for its legendary burnout displays, parades of restored vehicles and 'street machines', night concerts with lots of drinking and hundreds of women - many of them scantily clad to cater for the event's 30C January temperatures.

More than 1,800 cars take part, including a street machine judging competition and 'the world's biggest burnout battle' in a burnout pad grandstand named after Chic Henry.

Summernats began as a modest car show in the nation's capital and became a blockbuster which inspired 'Nats' car festivals around the country.

Chic Henry (centre) the founder of the legendary Summernats car festival has died from cancer aged 75

The festival started off as a small Canberra car show but eventually attracted 100,000 revellers to its four days of rev-head events, concerts and wild partying

The annual event holds a a street machine judging competition and (above) 'the world's biggest burnout battle' in a burnout pad grandstand named after Chic Henry

Summernats is famous for hundreds of attractive women attending the event in the 30C heat of summer every January

The festival held various driving events, crowned a grand champion, a Miss Summernats and was the scene of several crashes.

One such crash at Summernats 2006 injured a number of people and there were crowd control issues over street cruise events involving up to 400 participants.

After one incident, Mr Henry was quoted as saying it was the result of a situation where 'people may have been having a bit too much fun, maybe having a bit too much alcohol'.

In 2017, Luke Newsome, 30, from Queensland, died after falling from the back of a ute at the festival.

It was the first death in the event's 30-year history and was investigated by police.

Revellers were temporarily banned from riding in the back of utes following the incident.

In 2008 and 2011, mobs of men reportedly harassed female patrons, holding up placards saying 't*ts out for the boys' and yelling at them to 'take your top off'.

Chic Henry (above with his family) built the festival up into a powerhouse which spawned other 'Nats' events round the country. He also made two attempts at election in the ACT parliament

The festival held various driving events, crowned a grand champion, a Miss Summernats and was the scene of several crashes

In 2017, the festival announced a zero tolerance policy to harassment and sexual harassment and cancelled the Miss Summernats competition

In 2008 and 2011 mobs of men reportedly harassed female patrons, holding up placards saying 't*ts out for the boys' and yelling at them to 'take your top off'

In 2017, the festival announced a zero tolerance policy to harassment and sexual harassment and cancelled the Miss Summernats competition.

Mr Henry also ran two campaigns to become a member of the ACT parliament, but did not succeed, one with the now-defunct Australian Motorist Party.

Following his death, Summernats co-owner Andy Lopez told The Canberra Times, 'Chic was a great mate, a genuine one of a kind; the Australian street machine fraternity, every rev head in the country, owes him a huge debt of thanks'.

Entrants in the Miss Summernauts competition which was halted in 2017 after festival organisers responded to allegations of sexual harassment at the festival

Street machine and modified car enthusiasts flock to Summernats where each year around 1,800 vehicles compete and more than 100,000 gather to party and watch the events

A modified car enthusiast, Chic Henry (above) started Summernats at Exhibition Park, ACT in 1988 and it has been held there ever since, apart from one year during the Covid pandemic
A top border patrol official slammed Texas Governor Greg Abbott for busing migrants to Washington DC.

Commissioner Chris Magnus, 61, criticized Abbott for bypassing the government when deciding to bus migrants to the nation's capital - which Abbott has started doing in response to the expected flood of migrants to come across the border when the Biden administration ends the Title 42 health measures next month.

'Governor Abbott is taking actions to move migrants without adequately coordinating with the federal government and local border communities,' he said in a statement.

He accused Abbott, 64, of disrupting Border Patrol's processing procedures, which require immigrants who are not expedited to attend an immigration proceeding before freely moving around the country.

'Individuals encountered at the border who are not subject to expulsion under Title 42 are placed into immigration enforcement proceedings, according to law. As part of this process, some noncitizens are placed into expedited removal processes, while others may be issued a notice to appear at immigration proceedings and placed in Alternatives to Detention.

'As individuals await the outcome of their immigration proceedings, they are legally obligated to report in for the next steps in their immigration process and permitted to travel elsewhere,' he said.

Border Patrol Commissioner Chris Magnus, 61, criticized Abbott for bypassing the government when deciding to bus migrants to DC. 'Governor Abbott is taking actions to move migrants without adequately coordinating with the federal government and local border communities,' he said in a statement .

He accused Abbott, 64, (pictured) of disrupting border patrol's processing procedures, which requires immigrants who are not expedited to attend an immigrating proceeding before freely moving around the country. The Texan, however, said he isn't doing anything that isn't already happening in Texas, only changing the drop off location

Abbott has bused migrants from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua to the Capitol on Wednesday, dumping them on President Joe Biden's doorstep.

The Texas governor was responding to Biden ending to Title 42, which allowed the US to deport migrants based on health concerns and has stopped 1.7million people from crossing into the US, according to NBC News.

Title 42 is set to end on May 22 and Homeland Security has warned it could cause a surge in migrants at the borders.

'As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps & keep Texans safe,' the Republican governor wrote on Twitter.

'We should not have to bear the burden of Bidens failure to secure our border. A second bus is en route.

The group crossed into the United States from Mexico illegally, and were the first to accept Abbott's offer of a free one-way ticket to DC.

The first of the buses set off from Texas last weekend, and arrived in the nation's capital on Wednesday morning.

Several of the migrants - who came from Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela - told Fox News they intended to travel on to Florida, where there is a large Hispanic community.

Florida's governor Ron DeSantis has warned the nearly two dozen migrants who were transported from Texas to Washington, DC not to travel to his state, telling them they should not expect a warm welcome.

He told the migrants: 'Do not come' - an echo of what Vice President Kamala Harris said when she visited Guatemala last year.

His office told Fox News Digital in a statement: 'To those who have entered the country illegally, fair warning: Do not come to Florida.

'Life will not be easy for you, because we are obligated to uphold the immigration laws of this country, even if our federal government and other states won't.

'Florida is not a sanctuary state, and our social programs are designed to serve the citizens of our state. The governor will protect the sovereignty of the state of Florida.'

A total of 23 migrants have arrived in DC since Wednesday

Migrants from Texas gathered in Union Station in Washington DC for processing after the long bus journey

A second bus carrying 14 migrants arrived in Washington DC just before 4.30am on Thursday

Republican DeSantis, considered a likely presidential contender in 2024, blamed the Biden administration for encouraging migrants to 'make dangerous treks' and put their lives in the hands of human smugglers.

'If you have come here illegally, you have been done a great disservice by the Biden Administration,' the statement continued.

'They have encouraged you to make dangerous treks, oftentimes at great physical distress to you and your family. Sometimes, this has even meant putting your fate into the hands of dangerous coyotes and human traffickers.

'There is a legal process to obtain full American citizenship, which is an essential part of the promise of America.

'In Florida, we will uphold the law.'

The 23 migrants in DC - 19 men and four women, including three small children - were all free to leave once getting off the bus.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said they had been processed in Texas and were awaiting the results of their immigration procedures.

'Its nice the state of Texas is helping them get to their final destination, as they await their outcome of their immigration proceedings,' Psaki said at her daily news briefing.

On Friday, Abbott said that his team had received multiple calls from communities in the Rio Grande Valley requesting buses to transport the migrants.

'Overnight there were multiple communities in the Rio Grande Valley asking us to provide buses for them, maybe even planes,' said Abbott.

He told Fox News hosts Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer: 'When they come across the border, it's not like they want to stay in the Rio Grande Valley.

'They are moving across the entire country.

'What better place to go to than the steps of the United States Capitol - they get to see the beautiful Capitol, and get closer to the people making the decisions.'

The scheme has been condemned by Democrats, with Sheila Jackson Lee, whose constituency encompasses parts of Houston, calling it an 'act of hysteria and grandstanding'.

She added: 'Those are not problem solving. They are adding to the grand march of hysteria.'

But Abbott insisted that it was legitimate.

'Joe Biden has refused to come to the border to see the chaos that he has created by his open border policies,' he said.

'So we are going to take the border to him by transporting the people that he is dropping off in these local communities in the state of Texas, and sending them to Washington by plane or by bus.

'What is happening is there is an increased number of people coming across the border. They, the federal government, are processing them and letting them loose.

'What has been happening so far is that these people are getting on buses and going to San Antonio, or Houston, or other places like that.

'So I think they just need longer bus rides.'

And on April 6, Abbott warned that dumping Title 42 would lead to 18,000 illegal migrants crossing the border every day - equivalent to 500,000 a month.

Migrants heading toward the US-Mexico border in hopes of crossing into the US. Fears are growing that the border could see a huge influx of migrants after Title 42 ends in May

Migrants at the border in March being detained near the Rio Bravo river

He cited Obama-era Homeland Security Chief Jeh Johnson's 2019 claim that 100,000 migrants crossing the border in a month could be considered a crisis in any circumstances.

And Abbott warned that the flow expected after Title 42 is axed would effectively add the number of people living in LA - four million - to the United States' population by Christmas.

He explained: 'We have more people potentially crossing our border by the end of this year than live in Los Angeles, America's second-largest city.'

Abbott noted that Texas had become 'the first state to ever build a wall to secure our border.'

Abbott also said he is implementing a 'zero-tolerance policy' for smuggling in migrants in vehicles at the border.

He said that agents would conduct 'safety inspections' on every vehicle trying to cross the border.

Abbott said the vehicle checks and migrant bussing would be in addition to blockades the state is implementing along the border.

He said that boats blockades, shipping container blockades and razor wire would be erected at high-traffic areas and low water crossings.

The Texan has since open two bridges and stopped inspections on the US side of the border at the Laredo-Colombia bridge and in Ciudad Juarez. The deal comes after he spoke with Mexican governors to establish more security on their side in order to less the up 30 hour lines on the US side.
A group of researchers has discovered an ancient object from archival data stored by the Hubble Space Telescope, showing a glimpse of how quasars, which are supermassive black holes, formed at the dawn of the universe.

Quasars are surrounded by jet-spewing discs of matter and are believed to have emerged from dusty "starburst" galaxies. Scientists call the newly-discovered object GNz7q. The researchers found that the cosmic body existed when the universe was only 750 million years old, which is quite young as it was a time that occurred 13 billion years ago.

Supermassive Black Holes

It was found to be shrouded in dust, which causes the experts to remain unsure of what it actually is. However, they made speculations based on the theories of black hole formation and the sheer size of the object. They said that it is a precursor to a supermassive black hole and their study was published this week in the journal, Nature, as per Gizmodo.

Scientists said that given time, the object would grow larger and emerge from its dusty cocoon as a brilliant quasar, giving off an intense beacon of light and found within the heart of an early galaxy. Hubble's latest discovery provides yet another unique target for NASA's James Webb Telescope to study in unprecedented detail.

Read Also: Solar Storm Set To Hit Earth Soon: When and How Big Is Its Impact?

An astronomer at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen, Seiji Fujimoto, who is the lead author of the Nature paper that detailed the discovery, explained the team's analysis of the object. He added that the properties of GNz7q across the electromagnetic spectrum were in excellent agreement with predictions from theoretical simulations.

According to SciTechDaily, scientists have struggled with the question of how supermassive black holes, which weigh millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun, get extremely large in such a short time. Fujimoto's team believes that the newly-discovered object has the potential to be a missing link between black holes and quasars.

Formation of Quasars

Fujimoto added that GNz7q connects the two rare populations and provides a new avenue for scientists to understand the rapid growth process of supermassive black holes in the early universe. The light from quasars is known to come from gas spiraling into the black hole heating up due to friction.

The study's author noted that there has been prior research that shows quasars existed within the first 700 million years after the Big Bang. However, these studies did not explain how these supermassive black holes formed so quickly after the beginning of the universe. This is where simulations were used to try and recreate the possibilities of the time.

In a statement, study co-author Gabriel Brammer, who is an associate professor at the Niels Bohr Institute, said that theorists have long predicted that quasars underwent an early phase of rapid growth. The researchers found that GNz7q churned out stars 1,600 times faster than the Milky Way does today.

The newborn stars all produce an immense amount of heat, which helps in warming the galaxy's ambient gas. This has also caused it to glow brightly in infrared wavelengths, Live Science reported.



Related Article: NASA Hubble Image Captures Biggest Comet Ever Spotted; When Will It Get Close to Sun, Earth?

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Three Kansas deputies have been injured after a female suspect opened fire on the officers before being shot and killed.

The three officers were responding to reports of a suspicious-looking black Jeep Liberty in remote Cowley County, 50 miles southeast of Wichita, on Friday afternoon.

They received first reports about the car just before midday. They found the car was parked up at the side of the road five miles outside the town of Winfield.

The deputies approached the SUV and made contact with the female driver, but she didn't comply with their demands to get out of the vehicle, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) said Friday night.

As the officers tried to remove the unnamed female suspect, she pulled out a handgun and started firing, authorities said.

All three of the officers were hit, according to Sheriff Dave Falletti, but the woman was also struck and died at the scene.

One deputy has sustained serious injuries but is expected to recover, and the other two have been updated to being in good condition, the KBI said.

Three sheriff's deputies were wounded and a female suspect was killed on Friday afternoon. Pictured, authorities are seen close to where the shooting occurred

The shooting occurred Friday afternoon in Cowley County, 50 miles south of Wichita

As the deputies approached the car, the woman opened fire, hitting all three of the officers, according to Sheriff Dave Falletti, pictured above

The woman was shot and killed after gunfire was exchanged when she started shooting.

One deputy was airlifted to Wichita while the other two were taken to Wesley Medical Center in stable condition and expected to be released later on Friday.

The third deputy's injuries are more serious, but he is expected to recover.

'We just don't know at this point the events that led up to it (the shooting) other than the vehicle was called in as suspicious,' Falletti said.

'Deputies were following that lead and that's when this occurred.'

Several other agencies were also in present including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Arkansas City Police, and Winfield Police.

The shooting occurred just outside the town of Winfield, about 50 miles southeast of Wichita

The injured deputies were whisked to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas

Cowley County gave at update as to what had occurred earlier on Friday afternoon

The sheriff has requested assistance from the KBI, which had taken over the case and was on the scene starting at 3 p.m.

Several other agencies were also present including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Arkansas City Police and Winfield Police.

The Butler County Sheriff's Office posted a message on its Facebook page sending prayers for the injured deputies.

'We are sending prayers for our neighbors at the Cowley County Sheriff's Office. Please keep the Deputies and everyone involved in your thoughts or prayers.'

One local man said that although it was shocking someone had shot at police, he was not stunned by the news.

'It didn't really surprise me at the same time because lately a lot of things have been happening in this area and Ark City,' Hector Perez said to KSN.

'And I grew up around here. So it's like, you know, just another one. You know what I'm saying?'
An attorney for the OnlyFans model who stabbed her ex-boyfriend to death in Miami is denying that she's been 'afforded special treatment' but admits that the pair had a 'tumultuous relationship.'

Courtney Clenney, 25, called 911 after stabbing Christian Obumseli in the shoulder at their apartment in One Paraiso Building - a luxury skyscraper in Edgewater - on April 3.

She told police she acted out of self defense and was not arrested. Her lawyer Frank Prieto said she has been treated like any other civilian by the justice system.

'Courtney is mourning the loss of Mr. Obumseli, in private, out of respect for his family,' Prieto said.

'Justice in this matter calls for no arrest or charges. It is absolutely irresponsible for the familys attorney (who was not present and has not seen the evidence in this case) to allege that the events of that evening were "unprovoked" or to insinuate that she is being afforded special treatment,' he told DailyMail.com on Thursday night.

He also said she was the victim 'of domestic violence and possibly human trafficking.'

Prieto added that it was 'irresponsible' of the family to make comments when they have not 'seen the evidence'.

'There is nothing we can say to alleviate the pain his family is going through; however, their calls for justice and an arrest in this matter are misplaced.

Courtney Clenney's lawyer says there's 'substantial evidence' that proves she was a victim of domestic abuse and human trafficking before she stabbed her boyfriend to death

Clenney, 25, called 911 after stabbing Christian Obumseli, 27, in the shoulder at the One Paraiso Building - a luxury skyscraper in Edgewater, Miami - on April 3. She was taken in for mental health reasons but released after claiming self defense

Courtney is shown on April 3rd, after stabbing Obumseli on the balcony of their home. The pair had reportedly broken up last month, with Obumseli sleeping in common areas of the building

'Justice in this matter calls for no arrest or charges. It is absolutely irresponsible for the familys attorney (who was not present and has not seen the evidence in this case) to allege that the events of that evening were unprovoked or to insinuate that she is being afforded special treatment.

'There is competent and substantial evidence that Courtney is the victim of domestic violence and possibly human trafficking.

'There is no doubt the two of them had a tumultuous relationship; moreover, there is evidence that Courtney was a victim of physical, emotional, and mental abuse at the hands of Obumseli.

'That night was no different and Courtney had the right to defend herself out of fear for her life. Courtney cooperated with the investigators and her actions were clearly self-defense.'

Obumseli, 27, was reportedly seen sleeping Clenney in common areas of the building after they broke up last month.

Meanwhile, a friend of the couple said she only ever saw 'her hit him' - not the other way around, as Obumseli's family demand that Clenney be charged with his murder.

The couple had recently moved from Austin to Miami.

Clenney's lawyer said there's enough proof that she acted in self-defense as a victim of 'domestic violence and trafficking,' when she fatally stabbed Obumseli.

'There is nothing we can say to alleviate the pain his family is going through; however, their calls for justice and an arrest in this matter are misplaced,' he told the paper.

'Justice in this matter calls for no arrest or charges. It is absolutely irresponsible for the family's attorney (who was not present and has not seen the evidence in this case) to allege that the events of that evening were "unprovoked" or to insinuate that she is being afforded special treatment.

He conceded that their relationship was troublesome, but suggested there is 'competent and substantial evidence' that clears her of any criminal wrongdoing.

The couple's friends have given conflicting reports on who was abusive. Some said that they never saw Obumseli becoming violent with Courtney, but that they had seen her 'hit' him before

'There is no doubt the two of them had a tumultuous relationship; moreover, there is evidence that Courtney was a victim of physical, emotional, and mental abuse at the hands of Obumseli.'

His family say they don't believe her claim that she was acting in self-defense when she stabbed him in the shoulder and are demanding that she be charged with his murder.

Clenney, who also goes by Courtney Tailor, told police she was acting in self-defense and that she thought Obumseli was going to hurt her.

She was taken into custody under Florida's Baker Act, which protects people at risk of suicide or mental health crisis, but is now free again and over the weekend, she was seen attempting to have a drink in a bar with her father before being confronted by a stranger.

Clenney and Obumseli broke up last month and Obumseli had been sleeping in common areas of their apartment complex, according to the Miami Herald.

A neighbor claiming to have a direct view of the couple's apartment said he witnessed Obumseli strike Clenney about a week before the fatal stabbing.

'I could not tell if it was open-handed or closed-handed, but he was swinging at her,' the unnamed resident told WPLG.

However, a trio who identified themselves as close friends of the couple alleged the social media influencer was the violent one in the 'rocky relationship'.

'We've seen her hit him. I've never seen him hit her,' Ashley Vaughn said. 'From what we've personally experienced between the both of them, we believe that Christian wouldn't put her in a position where she would need to stab him to protect herself.'

'We didn't think this is how far it would have gone,' Tahki Banks said. 'Even that we really lost Christian only, it feels like we lost Courtney at the same time.'

On April 1, Miami police were dispatched to Clenney's apartment for a domestic call, the publication learned from local law enforcement. No one was arrested, although officers noted bruises on Clenney's arms and legs.

An investigation is ongoing, and authorities said they interviewed another woman who was involved in a 'physical altercation' with Obumseli.

Obumseli's family from Austin, Texas, is demanding answers. They do not believe she was acting in self-defense, and are at a loss over why she has not been arrested.

At a press conference over the weekend, Obumseli's cousin Karen Egbuna said the family are not buying Clenney's story. 'We have no cause to believe that this was a case of self defense.'

OnlyFans star Courtney Clenney, who also goes by Courtney Tailor, has not been charged

At a press conference over the weekend, his cousin Karen Egbuna said the family are not buying Clenney's story.

'We have no cause to believe that this was a case of self defense.

'He is one of the youngest in the family, he is loved, he is kind, he is caring, he is soft spoken the idea that this was somehow warranted, is unthinkable,' she said.

We have no cause to believe that this was a case of self defense. He is one of the youngest in the family, he is loved, he is kind, he is caring, he is soft spoken the idea that this was somehow warranted, is unthinkable Karen Egbuna, Obumseli's cousin

She added that he comes from a 'good, strong' family and has never been prone to violence.

The Miami Police Department is refusing to comment on why Clenney has not been charged.

A spokesman on Monday would only say that the investigation is ongoing.

Obumseli's family is also raising money for him via GoFundMe, which has raised nearly $80,000 as of Friday morning.

On their page, they say he was the victim of a 'heinous act of violence.'

'Christian Toby Obumseli was murdered in Florida a week before his 28th birthday. It is unconscionable to make sense of our new reality.

'That someones selfish act ripped Christian away from this world. It is not enough to say we are shocked and hurting--We are utterly devastated.

On Friday, Clenney was spotted at a Miami hotel bar trying to have a drink with her father. She has not been charged

Clenney and her father were chased out of the bar by the woman who said she had 'just killed her boyfriend'. Her attorney says they were trying to pick up a drink and go to the beach

The young couple had recently moved together from Austin, where they met, to Miami

'His murder leaves many unanswered questions and creates a void that can never be fixed or filled. Not even with time.

'Christian was extremely compassionate with a desire always to uplift those around him. He did not deserve for his life to be cut short by a heinous act of violence,' it reads.

The family is asking for donations to help them pay for transporting his body back to Texas and for funeral arrangements.

Clenney was spotted at the lobby bar of the Grand Beach Hotel on Friday, trying to have a drink with her father.

An unidentified woman recognized her and chased her out, filming their altercation on her phone.

Her attorney, Frank Preito, has insisted that she was the victim of domestic abuse and that she might have been trafficked.

Obumseli's family has raised nearly $80,000 on a GoFundMe page to help pay for his funeral and to bring his body home to Texas

He has not clarified if he meant she was trafficked by Obumseli, or someone else.

He defended her outing with her father, telling FOX: 'Courtney was seated at a table in the hotel lobby area where there is also a bar. Courtneys father was standing there trying to order a drink to take outside so they could be in private on the beach.'

'Courtney is a victim of physical, emotional and mental abuse at the hands of Mr. Obumseli,' and said that the firm is 'also investigating whether Courtney was the victim of human trafficking.'

'Mr. Obumseli was in the act of committing a forcible felony that tragic evening last Sunday. He had previously gained access to Courtney's apartment without permission on several occasions in the days leading up to that night,' he said.

'Courtney acted in self-defense; the investigation by both the City of Miami Police Department and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office will conclude such.'

The couple's friends have given conflicting reports on who was abusive.

Some said that they never saw Obumseli becoming violent with Courtney, but that they had seen her 'hit' him before.

After his death, fresh, X-rated content appeared on her OnlyFans page.

It's unclear if she had pre-planned it to go live before stabbing him.
Three British nationals have been arrested and charged after crystal meth with a street value of $28million was seized on arrival as air cargo to Australia last year.

Australian Border Force discovered the consignment of 24 plastic bags totalling 24kg of crystal methamphetamine in July last year.

The trio, a 52-year-old woman, a 52-year-old man and a 51-year-old man, were arrested in the UK as part of an organised crime partnership between UK police and Border Force.

It's alleged the woman, from Croydon, works in the cargo sector and accepted a shipment which she failed to properly inspect before it was marked as security cleared. She is also accused of having tracked the shipment through the cargo system.

A trio of Brits allegedly tried to smuggle a huge quantity of meth into Australia, with one woman using her position as a cargo security sector to send the consignment out of England (Pictured AFP and NCA arrest one of the three)

Police seized 24 bags of crystal meth (pictured), worth up to $28million on Australia's streets, after they intercepted an air cargo consignment from England

The 52-year-old man, from Sevenoaks, is accused of travelling to the Croydon shipping centre and paying for the shipment to be sent to Australia. The 51-year-old man from Orpington is alleged to have arranged the contact between the two.

Australian Border Force officers selected the shipment for examination upon its arrival in Australia. Their inspection revealed the 24 plastic bags of the crystalline substance, which they found likely to be crystal meth before referring it to the Australian Federal police.

Police estimate the drugs have a local street value of $28 million in Australia, four times their street value in the UK.

The three suspected smugglers are charged with being concerned in the exportation of Class A drugs. The 51-year-old Orpington man was also charged with possession with intent to supply a Class B drug and production of a Class B drug after a number of cannabis plants were found at his address.

Detective Inspector Guy Carmichael said: 'These drugs would be worth a significant amount in the UK, some 4 million, but their value in Australia would have been remarkably higher at 16 million, or just shy of $28 million Australian dollars.

'Working closely with partners in Australia, including the Australian Federal Police, has seen a large quantity of these dangerous drugs taken off the streets and a suspected key supply chain taken out of action.

The drugs were seized by police on the Australian end of their flight after a 52-year-old UK cargo worker allegedly tried to pass them border controls through with a security approval

AFP Detective Acting Inspector Brendon Basford said the information that identified the two suspects was the result of an investigation into an Australian-based organised crime syndicate alleged to be responsible for multiple importations of illicit drugs, and the shipment that is the subject of these allegations has an estimated street value of just under AUD$28 million.

'AFP investigators identified a person of interest in the UK tracking a shipment in a manner that we believed was suspicious, and passed on the information we had to the National Crime Authority via the AFP's international liaison network,' he said.

The British arrests are linked to Operation Ironside. A 34-year-old man from Rose Bay in Sydney was arrested in October last year and charged over multiple illicit drug importations in cargo consignments.

The accused will appear in Croydon Magistrates Court today April 14, 2022.
Republican lawmaker Steve Daines of Montana became the first senator to visit war-torn Ukraine since Russia's invasion in February, witnessing mass graves in Bucha and 'indisputable evidence of Putin's war crimes.'

Daines, 59, traveled to the eastern European country Thursday along with US Representative Victoria Spartz (R-Indiana), who herself was born in Nosivka, a town that is 112 miles away from their current location.

'While meeting with leaders in NATO countries bordering Ukraine, I was invited to meet Ukrainian officials in Kyiv and Bucha and see firsthand the butchery and war crimes committed by Putin,' Daines said in a statement. 'There is indisputable evidence of Putin's war crimes everywherethe images of shallow mass graves filled with civilians, women and children are heart wrenching.'

'America and the world need to know about Putin's atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up,' the senator added. 'The sooner we can provide Ukraine with the lethal aid they need to win this war, the sooner we will end the war crimes.'

'President Zelenskyy has been urging leaders from around the world to come to Ukraine  I'm proud to help show that America stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom,' the statement concluded.

Daines' office shared pictures and video footage of the senator's trip to battle-scared Bucha, which was part of the of the Kyiv offensive started by Russia in February, and Makariv. The senator, walking through the rubbles of both cities, even managed to find a child's wooden toy in Makariv.

Montana Senator Steve Daines witnesses atrocities in Bucha during visit

'America and the world need to know about Putin's atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up,' the senator on the purpose of his visit to the European country

Daines went to visit Bucha - northwest of Kyiv - where sights of mass graves have been reported as well as the city of Makariv

Just hours after the Biden Administration was informed of Daines' visit on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the President is not considering to visit Ukraine himself.

'No, we are not sending the president to Ukraine,' she told Pod Save America.

Earlier in April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that alleged Russian atrocities committed in Bucha and other surrounding areas of Kyiv, the country's capital, would be investigated by government officials. In recent weeks, Russian forces have steered away from the area.

'We have just begun an investigation into all that the occupiers have done,' Zelensky said. 'At present, there is information about more than three hundred people killed and tortured in Bucha alone.'

'It is likely that the list of victims will be much larger when the whole city is checked. And this is only one city. One of the many Ukrainian communities that the Russian military managed to seize,' the Ukrainian president added.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday accused Putin of war crimes and called for a trial, adding to the global outcry over civilian killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha as more graphic images of their deaths emerged. read more

The Kremlin categorically denied any accusations related to the murder of civilians, including in Bucha, where it said the graves and corpses had been staged by Ukraine to tarnish Russia.

The office of the Montana senator released pictures online of Daines visiting refugee camps, interacting with Ukrainian soldiers and touring the two cities he has been visiting

Members of the exhumation team work on a mass grave on April 14, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine. The Russian retreat from Ukrainian towns and cities has revealed scores of civilian deaths and the full extent of devastation from Russia's attempt to dominate the country

Asked at a news conference about Biden's comments, Lavrov said the West should first consider its own actions in Iraq and Libya.

'Not all is well with the conscience... of American politicians,' he said. He added that Kyiv is setting up a 'stage-managed anti-Russian provocation.'

Lavrov further said Russia's mission to the United Nations would later on Monday hold a press conference in New York with 'the most detailed material to show the true nature of incidents in Bucha.'

Reporters who have been in the Ukrainian town of approximately 36,971 people since the start of the conflict have recalled seeing the bodies of at least 21 people spread across Bucha.

The bodies of a group of nine women, all dressed in civilian clothes, were spread across a site that was occupied by Russian troops, according to local residents.

Moscow's incursion into Ukraine, the biggest attack on a European state since 1945, has seen more than 4.6 million people flee abroad, killed or wounded thousands and left Russia increasingly isolated on the world stage.

The Kremlin says it launched a 'special military operation' to demilitarize and 'denazify' Ukraine.

Kyiv and its Western allies reject that as a false pretext for an unprovoked attack.
Anthony Albanese's partner has spoken of the 'bubble' they were in when their relationship first began amid Covid lockdowns, and how life has changed by dating the man vying for the country's top job.

The Labor leader and his girlfriend Jodie Haydon, 43, met in late 2019 and immediately had a bond over their shared love for the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Mr Albanese, 59, had been speaking at an event in Melbourne and upon asking if there were any Souths fans in the audience, Ms Haydon shouted out 'Up the Rabbitohs!'

He introduced himself and when the pair later met at another work function he asked her for a drink, sparking the beginning of their romance.

Anthony Albanese's partner Jodie Haydon (pictured together) has spoken of the 'bubble' they were in when their relationship first began amid Covid lockdowns, and how life has changed by dating the man vying for the country's top job

Mr Albanese had split from his wife in January, 2019 after 19 years of marriage and 30 years together (pictured together in 2018)

Ms Haydon said the first few months of their relationship were spent at home during lockdown, with the pair getting to know each other through binging TV, cooking and listening to music together.

She told News Corp they were in 'a bit of a bubble' in those first few months locked down together.

Mr Albanese had split from his wife Carmel Tebbutt in January 2019 after 19 years of marriage and 30 years together.

'I probably in some respects went into it with a false sense of security that I was in a really normal relationship and it wasn't until we were photographed that I realised, yeah, this is going to be very different,' Ms Haydon said.

She described herself as a 'private person' by nature, and the sudden publicity of her relationship was unlike anything she'd experienced.

Ms Haydon said it was a challenge dealing with life in the public eye, saying she was a 'private person by nature'

Ms Haydon said while she wasn't sure how to prepare for her new life, Mr Albanese was 'really protective and reassuring'.

The 43-year-old grew up on NSW's Central Coast and spent 20 years working in the superannuation industry. She now works as the women's officer for the NSW Public Service Association.

Fortunately for her new relationship, her family votes Labor and has always done so.

Politics was also a common dinner table discussion and Ms Haydon always had an interest in the matter, although admitting she was more of a 'couch critic', than an active member of the ALP.

She once handed out how-to-vote cards which - as fate would have it - were voting instructions for her now partner.

When asked if she'd move into Kirribilli House or The Lodge in Canberra should Mr Albanese be elected as Prime Minister, Ms Haydon said 'I'm not getting ahead of myself'.

Ms Haydon said the first few months of their relationship were spent at home during lockdown, with the pair getting to know each other through binging TV, cooking and listening to music together. Pictured with the ALP leader and his son, Nathan (left)

She said she had been single for a long time before meeting the Labor leader and thought she may never find someone.

'I certainly thought  and I don't mean this to sound pathetic  but I honestly thought love wasn't going to happen for me,' she said.

But Mr Albanese, someone she'd always seen as 'approachable and authentic', was everything she'd hoped she would find.

She said while at times it was a 'rollercoaster of emotions' dating someone in the public eye, she was ready for the challenge.

'I reflected on my life without Anthony in it and I reflected on my life with Anthony in it and it comes back to the fact that I am happier with him,' she said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Labor Leader Anthony Albanese have both been contradicted by fellow party members on policy issues, in a shaky start to both of their election campaigns.

Mr Albanese was asked on Friday at a testy press conference why he did not know that Labor's 50 urgent care clinics pledge was not fully costed, when he had claimed on Wednesday that it was.

He first said that the $135million plans 'will be' formally costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, before asserting 'they are' fully costed after a barrage of more questions.

Scott Morrison (pictured with member for Chisholm Gladys Liu) was criticised for backflipping on a key pledge to establish a federal corruption watchdog

Costed or not costed? Mr Albanese's (pictured at a Good Friday church service) 50 urgent care clinics pledge has hit a snag as contradictions came to light from Labor's finance spokeswoman this week

'They were informed by the PBO and all of our policies will be fully costed and fully released,' Albanese said on Friday.

But when he was asked again, he said: 'the policy is fully costed, and it's informed by work that was done by the PBO.'

Albanese at the announcement of the scheme on Wednesday was adamant the numbers had been crunched, yet Labor's finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher the next day admitted the pledge was not formally costed.

She put out a tweet to try and clear up any 'confusion'.

'The costing of Labor's Urgent Care Centre policy is based on work done by the PBO, but for the avoidance of any confusion, has not been formally costed by the PBO,'

'All of Labor's policies and costings will be released before the election.'

The clinics are designed to relieve pressure on hospitals and would be open 14 hours a day.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison is pictured in the Teddy Bear Hospital at the Royal Childrens Hospital in Melbourne

Australian Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese takes a selfie with aged care workers during a visit to Fairways Retirement Living and Residential Aged Care in Bundaberg, Queensland

Labor's finance spokeswoman Katy Gallagher (pictured) corrected Mr Albanese's assertions about the clinics costings, saying they have not been formally costed

Meanwhile, Liberal MPs spent Friday morning trying to walk back Mr Morrison's lack of enthusiasm to establish a federal corruption watchdog despite it being an election promise in 2019.

Frontbenchers Stuart Robert and Simon Birmingham said the coalition would try again to establish an anti-corruption body despite the prime minister's apparent backflip.

'We will come back again and we will seek, through a bipartisan level, to get that going,' Mr Robert told Nine Network.

Mr Morrison on Thursday blamed Labor for the pledge not going ahead as they wouldn't support the bill.

'I put forward a detailed plan, a detailed proposal which the Labor party rejects. I have honoured my proposal. The Labor party don't support it. That is where the issue rests.'

Prime Minister Scott Morrison talks to worshippers after a Good Friday service at the Syndal Baptist Church in Melbourne

Australian Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese delivers a reading as he attends the Good Friday Liturgy at St Charbel's Monastery in Sydney

Frontbenchers Stuart Robert and Simon Birmingham (pictured) said the coalition would try again to establish an anti-corruption body despite the prime minister's apparent backflip

Despite the war of words, Mr Morrison and Mr Albanese attended Good Friday church services after they both promised to suspend the political fight on the sacred public holiday.

Mr Morrison attended Syndal Baptist Church in Melbourne's west while Mr Albanese attended a Maronite mass at St Charbel's in Sydney's southwest.

'Easter is not about politics. My faith isn't about politics,' Mr Morrison said.

'One of the great things about Australia is that people are allowed to practise their faith with respect,' Mr Albanese said.

The opposition leader was later joined by the prime minister's wife and former Liberal prime minister Tony Abbott at the Good Friday mass in Sydney.

Mr Morrison's wife, Jenny, and their daughters, Abbey and Lily, were greeted by Mr Albanese, as was Mr Abbott. Mr Albanese and Mrs Morrison both gave readings.

The two will go head-to-head in their first debate of the election campaign on Wednesday in Brisbane ahead of the poll on May 21.
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Russia's Black Sea flagship which sank yesterday after an explosion on board may have been carrying nuclear warheads, analysts and experts have warned today, as a Russian politician said more than 400 sailors could have gone down with the ship.

The Moskva, a Soviet-era guided missile cruiser, sank near the port of Sevastopol on Thursday after Ukraine said it hit the ship with two cruise missiles. Today, Mykhailo Samus, director of a Lviv-based military think-tank; Andriy Klymenko, editor of Black Sea News; and Ukrainian newspaper Defence Express all warned that the Moskva could have been carrying two nuclear warheads designed to be fitted to its P-1000 'carrier killer' missiles.

If true, the loss of the warheads into the Black Sea could spark a 'Broken Arrow' incident - American military slang for potentially lethal accidents involving nuclear weapons.

'On board the Moskva could be nuclear warheads - two units,' Samus said, while Klymenko called on other Black Sea nations - Turkey, Romania, Georgia, and Bulgaria - to insist on an explanation. 'Where are these warheads? Where were they when the ammunition exploded,' he asked.

Meanwhile Ilya Ponomarev, a politician exiled from Russia for opposing Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, said just 58 of the 510-strong crew have since been accounted for - raising the prospect that 452 men went down with the ship in what would be a bitter loss for Vladimir Putin's already beleaguered army.

The figure, while unconfirmed, is consistent with losses suffered on exploding warships. During the Russian Navy's infamous defeat at the Battle of Tsushima against Japan, an explosion on board the Borodino - slightly smaller than the Moskva - saw all-but one of her 855 crew killed.

Russia claims all the Moskva's sailors were 'successfully evacuated' but video taken in Sevastopol overnight shows dozens of cars purportedly belonging to the sailors still parked in the port - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them.

Elsewhere today, Russian strikes pounded a military factory near Kyiv that makes the missiles Ukraine claims it used to sink the Moskva, with Moscow on Friday vowing renewed attacks on the capital, in apparent retaliation to the Ukrainian attack.

Rumours have also began circulating in Ukrainian media that Admiral Igor Osipov - the commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet which the Moskva led - has been arrested in what would be the latest in a string of detentions linked to the bungled invasion.

Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian-Israeli businessman who fled the country in 2003 after being targeted by Putin, said yesterday that 20 Russian generals have been arrested over the military's failings along with 150 FSB officers for providing false information about Ukraine's defences.

The Moskva - pictured leaving port at Sevastopol for the last time on April 10 - may have been carrying two nuclear warheads when it sank yesterday after a fire and explosion on board, experts and analysts have warned

Moskva could have been carrying warheads to fit into the tip of its Moskva's P-1000 supersonic cruise missiles, which are designed to take out American aircraft carriers

Russia says the Moskva sank after a fire and explosion on board, which Ukraine claims was caused when it was struck by two of its Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery

Putin's revenge: Russia strikes anti-ship missile factory near Kyiv Russia bombed a factory in Kyiv overnight which it claims made the missiles that sunk the Moskva, as the Kremlin vowed to step up attacks on the Ukrainian capital. Heavy explosions were seen overnight in Kyiv before Russia's Ministry of Defence said early Friday that it had destroyed the 'Vizar' plant which manufactures anti-ship missiles and other Ukrainian rockets. The attack came just a day after the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - was sunk after a fire an explosion on board that Ukraine says was caused when it was shot by two cruise missiles. Moscow says only that the cause is being 'investigated'. The defence ministry also warned that it will step up its attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, which it said comes in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory. A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line. Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway. Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv. Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them. Advertisement

He also claimed that Sergey Shoigu, Russia's defence minister and a long-term Putin ally, has suffered a massive heart attack and is in intensive care after an apparent assassination attempt.

Shoigu, 66, is thought to have fallen out with Putin in mid-March over the bungled invasion and largely stopped making public appearances. He has featured in video calls with Putin since but has not spoken, amid suspicion the Kremlin could be re-using old footage to give the impression he is alive and well.

The Moskva got into trouble overnight Wednesday as it sailed around 60 miles off the coast of Odesa, Ukraine's largest port and main naval base. The Ukrainian military said it was struck with two Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery, which struck the port side of the vessel.

Russian military sources said the ship had rolled on to its side and caught fire after the blast, while US intelligence sources said the vessel suffered a 'large' explosion that left it heavily damaged before it sank.

Moscow has said only that the vessel suffered a fire and blast before its navy attempted to tow the ship back to Sevastopol, but during the operation it sank in rough seas. The exact location of the wreck is unknown.

The loss of the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet that was told to 'go f*** yourself' by Ukrainian troops as it demanded their surrender on Snake Island - is a huge propaganda win for Kyiv as well as another embarrassing loss for Putin's beleaguered army.

As revenge for the sinking, the Russian military launched a series of cruise missile strikes on Ukraine overnight Thursday - including several rockets which it said struck and destroyed a factory near Kyiv that made the weapons used against Moskva.

Russia's defence ministry warned early Friday that it will step up attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line.

Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway.

Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv.

Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them.

Elsewhere, President Zelensky, praised the herosim of Ukrainians in holding out against Russia's invasion for 50 days - in spite of warnings they would last just five.

Zelensky said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.

He added: 'But they didn't know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want.'

Separately, Russia told the US to stop sending weapons to Ukraine, warning of 'unpredictable consequences' if it continues to do do.

The warning was delivered in the form of an official diplomatic note, which was seen by the Washington Post.

It said that American and NATO shipments of the 'most sensitive' weapons were 'adding fuel' to the conflict, which is now nearing its second month.

The two-page note was delivered after Biden had agreed to a new $800million delivery of military aid to Ukraine, including heavy artillery and shells, helicopters and armoured personnel carriers.

'What the Russians are telling us privately is precisely what weve been telling the world publicly  that the massive amount of assistance that weve been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective,' a senior US official said about the note.

Aside from providing Ukraine with a propaganda victory, Moskva's sinking also has practical implications for Russia. As flagship, the vessel was likely tasked with coordinating the movements of other ships in the Black Sea which may cause further confusion among Russia's already-strained command structure.

Its role was also to provide cover for Russia's other ships using its anti-air missiles while they launched cruise missiles attacks against cities and military sites. Its loss will make them more-vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes, including by fast jets or drones.

The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - the Soviet-era guided missile destroyer Moskva - has suffered heavy damage and may have sunk after Ukraine claimed to have shot it with two anti-ship cruise missiles

Russian Telegram accounts with links to the Wagner Group claim Bayraktar drones were used to distract the Moskva's radar systems before a coastal battery opened fire somewhere near Odesa, hitting the ship with two Neptune missiles

Dozens of cars, purportedly belonging to the crew of the Moskva, were still parked in Sevastopol yesterday - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them

Aside from the sinking of the Moskva, Russia is also having to contend with strikes against Belgorod and heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine as it prepares for a fresh assault there. However, it has struck a missile factory in Kyiv it claims was used to build the missile that sank Moskva, and also appears poised to capture Mariupol in the south

The sinking of the Moskva: Ukraine's ingenious ruse that blew apart Russia's flagship By Mark Nicol, Defence Editor for the Daily Mail The pride of Russias fearsome Black Sea fleet was taken out yesterday in one of the most cunning operations of the war. Ukrainian commanders destroyed the huge Moskva warship by using drones to distract its defence systems, allowing surface-skimming missiles to strike. The 12,500-ton cruisers protective sensors seemingly did not see the Neptune rockets heading its way because they were tracking Turkish TB2 drones. Two missiles slammed into the port side of the 611ft Moskva, rocking her violently and causing a catastrophic explosion and huge fires. As flames lit up the stormy Black Sea, the ships 510 crewmen frantically climbed into lifeboats and fled. The surprise attack took place at 2am yesterday as the Moskva, Russias main command and control warship, was around 60 miles south of Odessa. The ships captain and air defence officers were said to be tracking the decoy TB2s, unaware a pair of Ukrainian-made Neptune R360 anti-ship missiles were heading their way after being launched from an artillery battery on the coastline. The missiles, each weighing a ton and with a range of 186 miles, approached the Moskva at sea level. Travelling at such a low trajectory in rough seas meant they were difficult to track. They hit their mark. After the attack, the ageing cruiser  which first launched in 1979  was initially towed towards Crimea. US intelligence said it was still on fire. It had been expected to be written off as Russian shipyards are unable to operate because of international sanctions. But last night the Russian defence ministry said the Moskva had in fact sunk while being towed in a storm, the state news agency Tass reported. In terms of military hardware, the Moskva represents the largest single loss to Russias armed forces since the war began. Yesterdays highly sophisticated sortie came just hours after the US acknowledged it was providing direct intelligence support to enable precision targeting of Russian assets. It was also the culmination of a lengthy intelligence gathering operation which, the Daily Mail has learned, revealed the ship was operating in what sources described as predictable patterns in the north-west Black Sea and often without escorts. It is customary for large cruisers, in particular flagships, to be accompanied by frigates which provide a protective screen. But perhaps because they assumed they could operate with impunity, Russian commanders neglected to guard the Moskva. The incident is expected to make Russian naval commanders more wary when operating near Ukraines coastline. Advertisement

Earlier, a United States defence official said that Russia had moved its other vessels 80 miles away from the Ukrainian shore - a suspected attempt to get out of missile range - after the ship was damaged.

Questions will also inevitably be asked inside the Kremlin over how one of its capital ships was destroyed by a country with no operational navy. Since the war broke out, Russia's naval forces have been positioned off the coast of Ukraine to provide support to its ground troops, and to block off Kyiv's access to the coast.

H I Sutton, a respected naval analyst, points out that the vessel has spent the last two months sailing in a 'predictable' pattern around the Black Sea - generally sitting in waters close to Snake Island.

Sutton also points out that the ship's defences were 'dated'. It was initially built in 1983 by the Soviet Union, and underwent a major refit and recommissioning in 2000. But updates since then have been piecemeal with a major refit in 2015 cancelled - potentially leaving it vulnerable to modern weaponry.

On Thursday night, Western officials said Ukrainian reports of the operation were credible and the attack demonstrated their ability to strike the Russians in areas where they assumed they were invulnerable.

One said: The incident represents another enormous loss in terms of Russian credibility. Theyve been shown again to be vulnerable to attack. This is a question of competence. This is supposed to be a military which has modernised itself over the last decade.

The Ukrainians have used their imagination and proved so resourceful. They are able to act on the fly to have an effect on Russian forces.

Western officials also dismissed Russias excuses for the incident, after Moscow officials suggested there had merely been a fire aboard the Moskva, which led to the explosion of a large amount of ammunition.

An official added: I cant definitively tell you exactly what happened. But I am not aware previously of a fire on board a capital warship, which would lead to the ammunition exploding.

The loss of the warship, named after the Russian capital, is a devastating symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital.

The ship can carry 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal from combat reduces Russia's firepower in the Black Sea. It is also a blow to Russian prestige in a war already widely seen as a historic blunder.

Now entering its eighth week, Russia's invasion has stalled because of resistance from Ukrainian fighters bolstered by weapons and other aid sent by Western nations. The news of the flagship's damage overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where they have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war - at a horrific cost to civilians.

The Moskva is supposed to be equipped with powerful radar arrays to guide its anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine missiles which are also used to operate six 'close-in weapons systems' that are designed to take out incoming missiles.

It is not clear exactly how the Ukrainians were able to penetrate these defences. Sources linked to Russia's Wagner group suggest Bayraktar drones may have been used to distract or overwhelm radar before the attack, though it is also possible the drones were being used as spotters to direct the incoming missiles on to target.

The same Russian military sources claim the Moskva was hit twice on its port side by the missiles, rolled over and caught fire. Ukrainian media has been awash with claims that the ship has sunk, though Russia's defence ministry has denied this - saying it remains 'buoyant' and will be towed to port.

Russia first admitted, via state media, that the vessel has sustained serious damage after a fire caused ammunition on board to explode but made no mention of a Ukrainian attack - saying only that the cause is under investigation.

The defence ministry also said the crew has been evacuated, but made no mention of casualties.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian ministry of defence, believes that 'hundreds' of sailors may have died in the blast - a view shared by Ilya Ponomarev, an anti-Putin Russian politician, who said that only 50 of the 510-strong crew have so-far been confirmed as rescued.

That account tallies with information put out by the Lithuanian Minister of National Defense, Arvydas Anusauskas. Posting on social media today, he wrote: 'An SOS signal was given from the Russian cruiser Moscow at 1.05am.

'[At] 1.14am The cruiser lay on its side and after half an hour all the electricity went out. From 2am, the Turkish ship evacuated 54 sailors from the cruiser, and at about 3am, Turkey and Romania reported that the ship was completely sunk. The related losses of Russian personnel are not yet known, although there were 485 people on board (66 of them officers).'

The loss of the Moskva marks the single-largest casualty inflicted by Ukraine on the Russian military during the war so-far and one of the largest ships lost in combat since the end of the Second World War.

It also marks another humiliating loss for Putin's armed forces, with the Russian leader said to be 'furious' after being given the news.

Moskva missile cruiser Commissioned: January 30, 1983 Displacement: 12,450 tons Length: 611.5ft Complement: Up to 510 crew Role: Slava-class guided missile cruiser, designed to combat aircraft carriers Armaments: 16 anti-ship cruise missiles, 64 anti-air missiles, 2 anti-submarine mortars, 10 torpedo tubes, 6 close-in weapon systems, 1 multi-purpose 130mm gun Advertisement

Neptune anti-ship missile Entered service: March 2021 Weight: 1,920lbs Range: 170 miles Speed: subsonic Role: Anti-ship cruise missile Active use: Ukraine claims first use in combat was to target the Moskva cruiser - scoring two hits which badly damaged the vessel Advertisement

April 10: The Moskva (pictured last week near the port of Sevastopol) has been helping coordinate Russian naval operation in the Black Sea, which has seen ships set up a distant blockade of Ukrainian ports and open fire on cities with cruise missiles

April 7: The Moskva is pictured in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, which is the home port of Russia's Black Sea fleet. The Soviet-era ship leads the fleet, and is equipped with anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine missiles

The soviet-era 600-foot missile cruiser: Moskva The Moskva is a 12,500 tonne Project 1164 Slava class guided missile cruiser that was first launched in 1979. She replaced the Kynda-class cruiser Admiral Golovko as the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Although it is not a new ship, the impressive cruiser was named after Moscow and is armed with 16 fixed launchers for P-1000 anti-ship missiles and rail launchers for 40 Osa missiles. The missile cruiser usually has a crew of over 500 and contains intricate vertical tubes for 64 S-300 air-defence missiles and an array of guns, making her fire power one of a kind. Despite Moskva's impressive features, the ship was sunk when ammunition on board blew up, TASS news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying on Thursday. A Ukrainian official earlier said the Moskva had been hit by two anti-ship missiles but did not give any evidence. Russian news agencies said the Moskva was armed with 16 anti-ship 'Vulkan' cruise missiles with a range of at least 440 miles. Interfax did not give more details of the incident. In April 2021, the agency quoted a retired Russian admiral as saying 'this is the most serious ship in the Black Sea'. Advertisement

According to Russian media, Putin was informed overnight about the loss of the ship and was erroneously told that the attack was carried out with British weapons.

Putin was 'furious' in a way 'never seen before', the General SVR Telegram channel said.

The channel claims inside knowledge from a former secret serviceman with links inside the Kremlin.

Neither Ukraine or Russia has given an official account of what happened to the Moskva - though sources speaking to Telegram channel Reverse Side of the Medal, which has links to the Russian Wager military group, have given a detailed account.

According to those sources, the Moskva was sailing in the Black Sea between the Ukrainian port cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv when it was targeted on Wednesday evening.

Ukraine reportedly used Turkish-made Bayraktar drones to distract the ship's missile defences, allowing two Neptune missiles fired from a coastal battery to sneak through.

They struck the ship on the port side, the sources claimed, causing it to partially roll over. Choppy conditions at sea combined with the roll meant the ship began taking on water.

Due to fears that the ship's ammunition could detonate, the Moskva was evacuated and has now sunk, the sources added.

Ponomarev, writing on his own Telegram account today, gave credence to that account. He wrote: 'The flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva, was launched to the bottom by two Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles.

'The ammunition detonated on it, and at about 2:00am local time, it fell on its left side and sank.

'At the moment, it is reliably known about the rescue of 50 people out of 510 crew members.

'For comparison, 107 people died during the Kursk submarine disaster [in the year 2000].

'Now Putin has on him Tsushima [a devastating naval battle between Japan and Russia in 1905] in the as well as Srebrenica - all during one month. How skillful indeed.'

Ukraine has not confirmed this account, though has claimed to have carried out a successful strike on the Moskva.

It is thought the Neptune battery opened fire from somewhere around Odesa, which is Ukraine's main naval base and port city where anti-ship batteries have previously been recorded firing.

Neptune missiles have a maximum range of 170 miles, putting the area of ocean around Snake Island - where the Moskva has been spending much of its time - well within striking distance.

Ukraine's home-made Neptune anti-ship missile The Neptune is an anti-ship cruise missile developed and produced by Ukraine based on the Soviet-designed Kh-35, but with improved range and electronics. Ukraine began work on the rocket in 2015 after the last Russian invasion of its territory in which Putin annexed Crimea, which houses a large Russian naval presence. Though the Soviet Kh-35 model can be launched from air, land or sea, it is thought the Ukrainian version can only be launched from land - though versions that could be used on ships were in development before the latest war broke out. With a range of 170 miles, the Neptune is launched from the back of a vehicle that is accompanied by a radar truck that helps guide it to its target. The system is designed to work within 16 miles of the coastline. Weighing almost 1 ton, the missile carries a warhead that is designed to destroy warships and transport vessels weighing up to 5,000 tons - much smaller than the Moskva, which has a displacement of 12,500 tons. The missile first entered service in 2021, and the attack on the Moskva marks its first known use in combat. Advertisement

Odesa governor Maksym Marchenko wrote on Telegram yesterday: 'Neptune missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage to the Russian ship. Glory to Ukraine!'

Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said that 'a surprise happened with the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet', the Moskva - a 600-foot, 12,500 tonne Project 1164 Slava class guided missile cruiser that was first launched in 1979.

'It burns strongly. Right now. And with this stormy sea it is unknown whether they will be able to receive help. There are 510 crew members,' he said in a YouTube broadcast. 'We don't understand what happened.'

As news came in of the explosion, weather conditions in the Black Sea were reported to be poor, raising questions over whether the warship could stay afloat if it was severely damaged in the explosion and evacuated.

It also came days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Ukraine's Presidnet Voldymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, and vowed to send Ukraine 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems to help with the battle against Russia.

Russian news agencies said the Moskva was armed with 16 anti-ship 'Vulkan' cruise missiles with a range of at least 440 miles. Interfax did not give more details of the incident.

In April 2021, the agency quoted a retired Russian admiral as saying 'this is the most serious ship in the Black Sea'.

The Moskva was also deployed during Russia's war in Syria as a deterrent against aircraft from rival nations intervening in the conflict. It was deployed after a Turkish jet shot down a Russian fighter accused of violating its airspace close to the Syrian border in November 2015.

Ukraine claims the Moskva was struck by two Neptune cruise missiles fired from a secret location somewhere near Odesa (pictured, a test-fire of the Neptune missile takes place in 2019)

Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island filmed a Russian warship before it attacked in February

Biggest sea combat losses since WW2: The sinking of the Belgrano The sinking of the Moskva by Ukraine marks one of the largest ships lost in naval combat since the end of the Second World War. For decades prior, that ignominious title had been held by the ARA General Belgrano which was sunk by British forces during the Falklands War. The 608ft vessel - originally built by and serving in the US Navy before being sold to Argentina - sank on May 2 after being struck by two torpedoes fired by nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror. The first torpedo struck near the bow of the ship, blowing it off, while the second struck towards the rear -outside an area protected by armour plating. Punching through the side of the ship, the torpedo exploded in the rear machine room - tearing through nearby crew areas and blasting a 65ft hole in the deck. The blast also took out much of the ship's electronics and radio systems, meaning it was unable to pump out water that rushed into the breach or put out a distress call to its escort. Just 20 minutes after the strike, captain Hector Bonzo gave the order to abandon ship. Lifeboats were launched with 772 men rescued from the water over the subsequent three days. The attack killed 321 members of the Belgrano's crew and two civilians who happened to be on board - accounting for around half of Argentina's casualties during the entire conflict. Sinking the Belgrano provoked controversy because it was attacked outside a 200-nautical mile exclusion zone declared by British commanders, who said any ships inside the zone risked being attacked without warning. But, separately, the British had also reserved the right to attack any vessel - including ones outside the zone - which it believed posed a threat to its troops. Permission to attack the vessel was given by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after a request by the Navy. Speaking decades after the war ended, Captain Bonzo said he did not consider the sinking of the Belgrano to be illegal. 'It was an act of war,' he said. Advertisement

The Mosvka (Moscow) gained notoriety early in Moscow's war when Ukrainian border troops defending the strategic 'Snake Island' were heard in a viral audio recording telling the warship to 'go f**k yourself' after its crew called on them to surrender.

The 13 defenders of the island were taken into custody by Russian forces, and later released. Roman Gribov, who made the now-famous comment, received a medal.

Last month Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast of the Black Sea.

Moscow has not commented on what had happened to the ship, but satellite imagery showed a large vessel destroyed and partially sunk in Berdyansk.

The Moskva missile cruiser left Sevastopol, Crimea in February for the Black Sea as part of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24.

Roman and his colleagues had been stationed on the 40-acre Snake Island near the Ukrainian and Romanian coasts on the Black Sea, and were on the small speck of land when the Moskva arrived.

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 aboard the Moskva giving an ultimatum to Ukrainian forces on the island to surrender, or face being annihilated by the warship's missiles.

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 f**k himself?' Another voice said, 'Just in case'

The volume was turned up as Roman responded: 'Russian warship, go f**k 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.

Although Ukrainian officials initially said all 13 guards had died in the subsequent Russian attack, President Zelensky later said some of them survived.

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.

They held for a month in a secret jail in Russia where Roman lost 22 pounds and was 'degraded', but he later insisted he is 'not a hero'.

Ukraine warned late on Wednesday that Russia was ramping up efforts in the South and East as it seeks full control of Mariupol, in what would be the first major city to fall. Western governments are sending more military aid to bolster Kyiv.

Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday said 1,026 soldiers from Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered in Mariupol, which has been besieged for weeks, and that the port was fully under its control.

Border guard Roman Gribov right, who served on Snake Island and on the first day of Russia's invasion, became famous for his response to an ultimatum from the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, shouting to the invaders: 'Russian warship, go f**k yourself'. He later returned home from captivity and was awarded a medal (pictured)

Capturing its Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, would give the Russians full control of Ukraine's main Sea of Azov port, reinforce a southern land corridor and expand its occupation of the country's East.

Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces were attacking Azovstal and the port, but a defence ministry spokesman said he had no information about any surrender.

'Russian forces are increasing their activities on the southern and eastern fronts, attempting to avenge their defeats,' President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Wednesday night video address.

Reuters journalists accompanying Russian-backed separatists saw flames billowing from the Azovstal area on Tuesday, a day after Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade said its troops had run out of ammunition.

The United States announced on Wednesday an extra $800 million in military assistance including artillery systems, armoured personnel carriers and helicopters. This took total U.S. military aid to more than $2.5 billion. France and Germany also pledged more.

Senior U.S. officials are weighing whether to send a top cabinet member such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd to Kyiv in a show of solidarity, a source familiar with the situation said.

Russia will view U.S. and NATO vehicles transporting weapons on Ukrainian territory as legitimate military targets, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the TASS news agency.

It will impose tit-for-tat sanctions on 398 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 87 Canadian senators, Interfax cited the foreign ministry as saying, after Washington targeted 328 members of Russia's lower house of parliament.

Britain announced new financial measures on separatists.

Ukraine says tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Mariupol and accuses Russia of blocking aid convoys to civilians marooned there.

Its mayor, Vadym Boichenko, said Russia had brought in mobile crematoria 'to get rid of evidence of war crimes' - a statement that was not possible to verify.

LAST MONTH: A satellite image made available by Maxar Technologies shows a burned and partially submerged Russian landing ship - the Orsk - near one of the port's loading/unloading quays, in the southern port city of Berdyansk, Ukraine, 25 March 2022

Putin's revenge: Russian air strike hits Ukrainian missile factory in Kyiv 'that makes weapon used to sink flagship naval vessel Moskva'

Russia bombed a factory in Kyiv overnight which it claims made the missiles that sunk the Moskva, as the Kremlin vowed to step up attacks on the Ukrainian capital.

Heavy explosions were seen overnight in Kyiv before Russia's Ministry of Defence said early Friday that it had destroyed the 'Vizar' plant which manufactures anti-ship missiles and other Ukrainian rockets.

The attack came just a day after the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - was sunk after a fire an explosion on board that Ukraine says was caused when it was shot by two cruise missiles. Moscow says only that the cause is being 'investigated'.

The defence ministry also warned that it will step up its attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, which it said comes in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line.

Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway.

Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv.

Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them.

Russia says it blew up a Ukrainian munitions factory near Kyiv overnight using cruise missiles fired from ships in the Black Sea (pictured being launched)

Heavy explosions were reported to the south of Kyiv overnight, after Russia bombed what it claimed was a missile factory

'The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime,' Russia's defence ministry said in a statement.

The explosions came hours after the Russian defence ministry announced that the Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed after being badly damaged - reportedly leaving Putin 'livid'.

Amid a ream of bad news for the Russian despot's war, his forces on Friday did appear on the verge of capturing Mariupol - a southern port city that has now been under siege for almost two months.

The defence ministry claimed its troops had seized control of the Ilyum Steel Works, a huge industrial complex in the centre of Mariupol where marines and troops of the Azov Battalion were making their last stand.

If confirmed, it would mean Mariupol is on the verge of falling into Russian hands. It would be the largest city yet captured by Putin's men, albeit at the cost of near-totally destroying it.

While some forces in the area are likely to continue fighting guerilla operations against Russian forces, the defeat of the city's defences would also free up troops to join an expected assault on Ukraine's east.

British Intelligence on Thursday assessed that the fight for Mariupol is currently tying up 'significant numbers of Russian troops and equipment'.

Separately, the Russian defence ministry said Friday its strategic rocket forces 'eliminated up to 30 Polish mercenaries' in a strike on the village of Izyumskoe, not far from the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.

It said the mercenaries belonged to 'a private Polish military company', but did not say whether any Ukrainian troops were also killed.

The reported rocket strike was one of the biggest against foreign targets in Ukraine since another missile killed what the Russian military claimed was up to 180 foreign mercenaries in Western Ukraine last month.
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The parents of a 26-year-old black man who was shot dead in the head by a Michigan police officer in a 90-second Taser struggle have begged for the white cop's name to be released.

The family, speaking in an emotional news conference on Thursday, said Patrick Lyoya was 'killed like an animal' and revealed his mother is too afraid to watch the 'horrific' footage of her son being shot in the back of the head while face down on the ground.

Video released on Wednesday by Michigan police shows the moments leading up to the shooting in Grand Rapids on April 4, including the traffic stop over suspicions involving Lyoya's license plate, which led to a brief foot chase and struggle over the cop's Taser.

It is not clear from any of the videos if or when Lyoya tried to grab the cop's Taser, but the cop is heard yelling at him to let go of the device, which was deployed twice, but did not strike anyone, officials said. The footage has prompted calls for justice and the family's high-profile attorney has claimed 'unnecessary, excessive used of force was used.'

Lyoya's family have retained prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has been dubbed 'Black America's Attorney General'. He also represented the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown, Ahmaud Aubrey and Trayvon Martin. He is calling for the officer to be fired and prosecuted.

'The video shows us that this is as his mother and father have said - an execution. And there is no way to try to spin it or justify,' prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump said as Patrick's parents cried. 'It is an unjustifiable use of deadly force because the police escalated a traffic stop into an execution.'

The Lyoyas, who came to the US in 2014 to get away from prolonged civil unrest in which several rebel groups have vied for control of territories in mineral-rich eastern Congo, also asked for police to release the officer's name.

Patrick's brothers and sisters want to know who killed him and would like to see his picture so they can know 'this is the person that took our beloved one,' father Peter said, adding that 'Patrick never had a problem with anybody'

Patrick, who had two young children of his own, lived in Grand Rapids and visited Lansing on weekends and would spend money on his siblings, his father said in an interview at his Lansing apartment with AP through an interpreter.

Prosecutor Chris Becker, who will decide whether any charges are warranted, said the public should not expect a quick decision.

Patrick Lyoya, 26, was lying face down when he was fatally shot in the back of the head by a white police officer outside a house in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 4

Patrick Lyoya's mother Dorcas Lyoya sheds tears during a news conference at the Renaissance Church of God in Christ Family Life Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Thursday

Lyoya's family have retained prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who has been dubbed 'Black America's Attorney General'. Crump, speaking at the family's news conference on Thursday, (pictured) is calling for the officer to be fired and prosecuted

Patrick's family revealed at the press conference that his mother (second left) is too afraid to watch the 'horrific' footage of her son being shot in the back of the head while face down on the ground

Michigan police released footage of the shooting, and the events leading up to it, including the traffic stop that led to a brief foot chase and then struggle over the cop's Taser

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom cited a need for transparency when releasing video collected from a passenger in the car Lyoya was driving, the officer's body camera, the officer's patrol car and a doorbell camera.

Winstrom did not identify the officer, a seven-year veteran who is on paid leave while Michigan State Police investigate the shooting.

Kent County's chief medical examiner, Dr Stephen Cohle, said he completed the autopsy but toxicology tests have not been finished.

Lyoya's mother, Dorcas, told reporters that she thought the family was in a safe place after leaving Congo and was 'astonished to see that my son has been killed with [a] bullet.'

'That was my beloved son. You know how you love your firstborn son,' she said through an interpreter.

Citing a need for transparency, the city's new police chief, Eric Winstrom, released four videos on Wednesday, including critical footage of the shooting recorded by a passenger in Lyoya's car on that rainy morning.

'I view it as a tragedy. ... It was a progression of sadness for me,' said Winstrom, a former high-ranking Chicago police commander who became Grand Rapids chief in March. The city of about 200,000 is about 150 miles northwest of Detroit.

The videos released on Wednesday by police were taken from the dashboard of the officer's squad car, from his body-worn camera and from a neighbor's surveillance camera.

The traffic stop was tense from the start.

Lyoya, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is seen stepping out of the car on a rainy street of Griggs and Nelson SE, seemingly confused and asking 'What did I do?' as the officer repeatedly asks for a driver's license and orders him to get back inside the vehicle.

'I'm stopping ya, do you have a license? Do you have a driver's license, do you speak English?' he asks.

Lyoya confirms he speaks English and opens the driver's side door and speaks to his passenger.

He then shuts his door, turns his back to the officer and appears to walk away.

'No, no, no, stop, stop,' the officer is heard saying, and puts his hands on Lyoya's shoulder.

Lyoya is seen resisting the officer and then starts running until the officer tackles him to the ground.

Lyoya and the cop grapple in front of several homes while Lyoya's passenger got out and watched.

The officer repeatedly orders Lyoya to 'let go' of his Taser, at one point demanding: 'Drop the Taser!'

Crump said the officer could have waited for backup once Lyoya ran but instead got 'violent.'

He accused him of not following proper training by using the Taser while close to Lyoya, saying it was Lyoya's 'natural instinct' to try to stop from being stunned.

Lyoya appears to be complying, but then closes the driver-side door and attempts to walk away, resisting the officers attempts to handcuff him

Video shows Lyoya, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the officer struggle over the cop's Taser shortly before Lyoya was shot dead

The white officer repeatedly orders Lyoya to 'let go' of his Taser, at one point demanding: 'Drop the Taser!'

Video was collected from Lyoya's passenger, the officer's body-worn camera, the officer's patrol car and a doorbell camera

Lyoya is seen on video on the ground during the scuffle with the Michigan cop just before he's shot Lyoya is seen on video on the ground during a scuffle with a Michigan cop just before he's shot

Patrick's brothers and sisters want to know who killed him and would like to see his picture so they can know 'this is the person that took our beloved one,' father Peter said, adding that 'Patrick never had a problem with anybody'

From left, Dorothy Sewe consoles Patrick Lyoya's mother, Dorcas Lyoya, near Lyoya's father, Peter Lyoya, during a news conference at the Renaissance Church of God in Christ Family Life Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Thursday

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump raises his fist while speaking during a press conference at the Renaissance Church of God in Christ Family Life Center in Grand Rapids on Thursday

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, right, and interpreter Israel Siku point to video evidence during in a press conference at the Renaissance Church of God in Christ Family Life Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Thursday

Minute-by-minute recap of fatal confrontation 12.10pm: A Grand Rapids Police officer initiated a traffic stop on a car near the intersection of Griggs and Nelson SE. He tells Patrick Lyoya, who gets out of the car, to stay inside. He approaches Lyoya. 12.11pm: The officer repeatedly asks a seemingly confused Patrick Lyoya for his driver's license and orders him to get back inside the vehicle. Lyoya does not comply. He seems confused but confirms he speaks English. The officer asks him for his driving license. Lyoya asks what he did wrong and the officer tells him the license plate does not belong to the car. Lyoya says his license is in his car and opens the driver's side door to speaks to his passenger. He then shuts his door, turns his back to the officer and appears to walk away. 12.12pm: The officer is heard saying, 'No, no, nope, stop, stop,' and puts his hands on Lyoya's shoulder, who then resists. They grapple in the streets and Lyoya gets free and runs off. The officer chases him. 'Stop! Stop!' the cop yells. They run around the car and the officer tackles Lyoya to the ground on a grass verge. 12.13pm: Lyoya and the cop grapple in front of several homes while Lyoya's passenger got out and watched, and asked if he was good. 'Stop resisting,' the officer yells at Lyoya. The cop has Lyoya on the ground, and he could be yelling, 'I'm a black man.' At this point, the officer's body camera suddenly turns off. But additional video footage  from the neighbor's doorbell security system, the dash cam in the officers vehicle, and a bystanders cellphone  capture different angles of the incident. The officer repeatedly orders Lyoya to 'let go' of his Taser, at one point demanding: 'Drop the Taser!' 'Let go of the Taser,' he repeats until shots ring out. In the final moments, the officer was on top of Lyoya, kneeling on his back at times to subdue him. Audio from the neighbor's doorbell camera captured the sound of the officer shooting Lyoya in the back of the head. Backup officers arrived three minutes later Advertisement

It is not clear from any of the videos if or when Lyoya tried to grab the cop's Taser, but the cop is heard yelling at him to let go of the device, which was deployed twice, but didn't strike anyone, officials said.

At this point, the officer's body camera suddenly turns off.

Chief Winstrom explained that it takes pushing a button for three seconds to turn off the body camera and he thought the pressure from Lyoya's body caused the deactivation.

But additional video footage  from the neighbor's doorbell security system, the dashcam in the officers vehicle, and a bystanders cellphone  capture different angles of the incident.

Winstrom said the fight over the Taser lasted about 90 seconds. In the final moments, the officer was on top of Lyoya, kneeling on his back at times to subdue him.

'From my view of the video, Taser was deployed twice. Taser did not make contact,' Winstrom told reporters. 'And Mr. Lyoya was shot in the head. However, that's the only information that I have.'

Because the Taser was fired twice, it was ineffective without being reloaded, Crump said. 'It should be noted that Patrick never used violence against this officer even though the officer used violence against him in several instances for what was a misdemeanor traffic stop,'

'There was no reason for him to have any intimate fear of the Taser being used against him,' he said of the officer.

However, a Taser can still deliver a shock after the two cartridges are spent if a person holds it against someone and fires.

What is known as a 'drive stun' does not incapacitate the person but does hurt, according to Andrew J. Scott III, an expert in police practices and procedures and a former police chief in Boca Raton, Florida.

A Taser can also be used that when the cartridges are still in the weapon. Officers sometimes do that in the hope that they will not have to deploy the Taser's probes.

Lyoya and the cop grapple in front of several homes while Lyoya's passenger got out and watched.

The officer repeatedly orders Lyoya to 'let go' of his Taser, at one point demanding: 'Drop the Taser!'

It is not clear from any of the videos if or when Lyoya tried to grab the cop's Taser, but the cop is heard yelling at him to let go of the device, which was deployed twice, but didn't strike anyone, officials said.

At this point, the officer's body camera suddenly turns off.

Chief Winstrom explained that it takes pushing a button for three seconds to turn off the body camera and he thought the pressure from Lyoya's body caused the deactivation.

But additional video footage  from the neighbor's doorbell security system, the dashcam in the officers vehicle, and a bystanders cellphone  capture different angles of the incident.

Winstrom said the fight over the Taser lasted about 90 seconds. In the final moments, the officer was on top of Lyoya, kneeling on his back at times to subdue him.

'From my view of the video, Taser was deployed twice. Taser did not make contact,' Winstrom told reporters. 'And Mr. Lyoya was shot in the head. However, that's the only information that I have.'

Patrick Lyoya, who arrived in the United States in 2014 as a refugee with his family fleeing violence, had two young daughters and five siblings. 'He had his whole life ahead of him,' Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said

Protesters march along Monroe Center NW after Grand Rapids police released video of the shooting death of Patrick Lyoya in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Wednesday

The group demanded that officials make public the name of the officer in the shooting

Audio from the neighborhood home surveillance camera captured the sound of the officer shooting Lyoya in the back of the head.

Chief Winstrom has not yet identified the officer, but confirmed he is on paid leave during the investigation.

'Me being from Chicago for the last 20 years, I've handled many police shootings myself, so I do have a lot of experience in this,' the chief said. 'I was hoping to never have to utilize that experience here.'

Prosecutor Chris Becker, who will decide whether any charges are warranted, objected to the release but said Winstrom could act on his own.

But Becker said the public shouldn't expect a quick decision.

Michigan State Police launch probe of fatal shooting by cop 'The Michigan State Police independent investigation into the incident is not complete. 'This is an extremely critical incident, and one that everyone involved in the investigation is taking very seriously' '...while the videos released today are an important piece of evidence, they are not all of the evidence... 'By law, we are required to review all available evidence before we consider whether charges should be filed, and if so, what appropriate charges should be' The full autopsy report will not be publicly available until state police conclude their investigation. The medical examiner said the family has also been offered the opportunity to seek an independent autopsy. Advertisement

'While the videos released today are an important piece of evidence, they are not all of the evidence,' he said.

City Manager Mark Washington warned that the videos would lead to 'expressions of shock, of anger and of pain.'

Some downtown businesses boarded up storefronts, and concrete barricades surrounded police headquarters.

Lyoya had two young daughters and five siblings, said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who spoke to his family.

'He arrived in the United States as a refugee with his family fleeing violence. He had his whole life ahead of him,' Whitmer, a Democrat, said.

The April 4 death of Lyoya has outraged members of his family and touched off protests in Grand Rapids by activists who say it represents the latest example of police violence against young Black men.

'Another Black man has died at the hands of police, and the officer in this video has got to be held accountable,' the NAACP said in a written statement responding to the video.

'President Biden, sign the police reform executive order now. While we fully understand an executive order is not a substitute for meaningful legislation, we must do everything in our power to protect our community,' the NAACP said.

More than 100 people marched to Grand Rapids City Hall before a City Commission meeting Tuesday night, chanting 'Black lives matter' and 'No justice, no peace.'

On Wednesday, several hundred protesters gathered outside the Grand Rapids Police Department following the release of the videos with some cursing and shouting from behind barricades.

The group demanded that officials make public the name of the officer in the shooting.

Some businesses cut their hours short Wednesday, closing early. Some boarded up windows. But the demonstration remained non-violent with protesters demanding justice for Lyoya and other Black lives lost in shootings involving police.

Protesters carrying a Black Lives Matter flag march inside a fountain at Veterans Memorial Park following a march from the Grand Rapids Police Department. The protest was held in response to videos of the shooting of Patrick Lyoya, by a Grand Rapids police officer from April 4, being released to the public on Wednesday

Protesters march through downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, near the police department during a demonstration held after videos of the shooting of Patrick Lyoya, by a Grand Rapids police officer from April 4, were released to the public on Wednesday, April 13

Protesters demanded that officials make public the name of the officer in the shooting

Activists rally for Patrick Lyoya in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Tuesday, April 12, after he was shot by a police officer

Protesters hold signs that read 'Blue Lives Murder' following the fatal shooting of Lyoya

Some businesses cut their hours short Wednesday, closing early. But the demonstration remained non-violent with protesters demanding justice for Lyoya and other Black lives lost in shootings involving police

In a statement, Gov. Whitmer called for any protests to be peaceful.

'The Michigan State Police will conduct a transparent, independent investigation of the shooting,' Whitmer said.

'Then, prosecutors must consider all the evidence, follow the law and take appropriate action on charges. Justice is foundational to safety, and without justice, we are all less safe.'

As in many US cities, Grand Rapids police have been occasionally criticized over the use of force, particularly against Black people, who make up 18 percent of the population.

In 2017, officers searching for a middle-aged woman wanted for a stabbing handcuffed an 11-year-old girl instead at gunpoint while she was leaving a house. Those officers were not disciplined.

Months earlier, other Grand Rapids officers held five innocent teenagers at gunpoint, the New York Times reported. And in 2020, local outlets reported, an officer was suspended for two days after shooting a protester in the face with a gas canister.

In November, the Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit over the practice of photographing and fingerprinting people who were never charged with a crime. Grand Rapids said the policy changed in 2015.

A downtown street has been designated Breonna Taylor Way, named for the Black woman and Grand Rapids native who was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, during a botched drug raid in 2020.

Her mother, Tamika Palmer, attended the news conference with the Lyoya family, their legal team and community leaders.

'We can't keep letting these people kill our children,' she said.
Israeli security forces clashed with hundreds of stone-hurling Palestinians early this Easter Friday morning after they entered a Palestinian holy site during Ramadan prayers, leaving dozens injured.

According to Israeli authorities, 'dozens of masked men' marched into the Al-Aqsa mosque compound before dawn carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags, chanting and setting off fireworks.

In response, Israeli forces entered the mosque compound where thousands of Muslims were gathered to perform prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.

Palestinian protesters then threw stones and fireworks at Israeli security forces, who returned fire with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque, leaving 67 Palestinians and three Israeli police injured.

The violence took place at Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, which is also home to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.

It also comes at a time of heightened tensions when the Islamic holy month of Ramadan overlaps with the Jewish holiday of Passover.

Palestinian demonstrators clash with Israeli police at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Israeli police reported that before dawn 'dozens of masked men' marched into the Al-Aqsa mosque compound chanting and setting off fireworks

An Israeli security forces member moves in position during clashes with Palestinian protestors at the compound that houses Al-Aqsa Mosque. Crowds reportedly hurled stones towards the Western Wall - considered the holiest site where Jews can pray.

Israeli forces entered the mosque compound - something Palestinians always view as a provocation - to remove rocks and stones that had been gathered in anticipation of violence

A man is carried on a stretcher after Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli police clashed at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque. Sixty seven people rushed to hospital, according to Palestinian Red Crescent

Palestinians are kept at bay by Israeli police during clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Palestinian protesters then threw stones and fireworks at Israeli security forces, who returned fire with rubber-coated bullets and tear gas on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque

Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque itself amid what appeared to be clouds of tear gas.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it evacuated 67 people to hospitals who had been wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades, or beaten with batons.

The Israeli police said three officers were wounded from 'massive stone-throwing,' with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.

An announcement made by the Israeli Foreign ministry said dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags marched to the compound early Friday and gathered stones.

'Police were forced to enter the grounds to disperse the crowd and remove the stones and rocks, in order to prevent further violence,' it tweeted.

The police said they waited until prayers were over and the crowds started to disperse. In a statement, it said crowds started hurling rocks in the direction of the Western Wall, a nearby Jewish holy site, forcing them to act.

Israel's national security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had 'no interest' in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront 'violent elements' that confronted them with stones and metal bars.

The violence took place at Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, which is also home to the Al-Aqsa mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. It also comes at a time of heightened tensions when Ramadan overlaps with the Jewish holiday of Passover

Israeli security forces immobilise a Palestinian man at an entrance to the al-Aqsa mosque

Witnesses said that Palestinian protestors threw stones at Israeli security forces, who fired rubber bullets at some of the demonstrators

Rescuers evacuate a wounded protester from inside the al-Aqsa mosque compound during clashes with Israeli security forces

Israeli security forces immobilise Palestinian men as they try to leave the al-Aqsa mosque compound

A member of the Israeli security forces lifts his batton in front of the Dome of the Rock mosque during clashes at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound

He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike. Police said Friday's noon prayers at the mosque - when tens of thousands of people were expected - would take place as usual.

Hamas condemned what it said were 'brutal attacks' on worshippers at Al-Aqsa by Israeli forces, saying Israel would bear 'all the consequences.' It called on all Palestinians to 'stand by our people in Jerusalem.'

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem's Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity.

It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old died early Friday from wounds suffered during clashes with Israeli forces in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the day before.

Two weeks ago a pair of 18-year-old police officers were shot dead by gunmen in the northern city of Hadera.

Police said the two gunmen - Israeli Arab cousins identified by Israeli intelligence as local ISIS operatives - were killed by counterterrorism officers who happened to be dining in a restaurant nearby.

The slain officers were identified as Border Police officers Yezen Falah and Shirel Abukarat, both 19, who came from regional villages in the north of Israel and were in their first year of service.

The two Israeli police officers, Shirel Abukarat and Yezen Falah, killed in an ISIS terror attack were both 19 and in their first year of service

CCTV caught some of the attack. The two terrorists can be seen firing across the street at civilians. We have chosen not to show the body of one of the victims.

CCTV captured part of the attack on camera. One of the terrorists is seen removing his jacket to reveal a skull emblazoned on his back

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the recent wave of violence, according to an Associated Press count, many of whom had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but also an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been killed by mistake.

Weeks of protests and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan last year eventually ignited an 11-day war with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip.

Israel had lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions ahead of Ramadan, but the attacks and the military raids have brought about another cycle of unrest.

Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.

Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years nationalist and religious Jews have visited the site in large numbers with police escorts.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to Al-Aqsa and other major holy sites, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future independent state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.
The brother of a British aid worker killed by a so-called Islamic State terror cell known as 'the Beatles' has said the conviction of one of their members provided 'some closure' after an 'eight year chapter of pain'.

Mike Haines, whose brother David Haines was murdered by the barbaric group, said the conviction of 33-year-old Londoner El Shafee Elsheikh in a US court yesterday ensured he 'faced justice'.

David was captured by militants in Syria in March 2013 while delivering aid to the war-torn country.

His murder the following year was used for propaganda by 'the Beatles', who were given the moniker because of their distinctive British accents.

Elsheikh and fellow Beatle Alexanda Kotey will be sentenced for their part in the gruesome plot later this month.

In a statement, Mike Haines said: 'While nothing can truly compensate for the hole David's murder left in our hearts, the verdict provides us with some closure and ensures that all three surviving members of the gang involved in my brother's murder have now faced justice.'

David's daughter, 24, has also said she hopes she will finally be able to a get a 'full night's sleep', which she hasn't been able to do since her father's death.

Mike Haines (right) with his brother David in the late 1990s. David was captured by militants in Syria in March 2013 while delivering aid to the war-torn country

Elsheikh could spend the rest of his life in a prison known as the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies,' joining notorious criminals like drug lord El Chapo, Boston bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev, and Bonanno mob boss Vincent Basciano.

The cell, also said to be made up of ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, and Aine Davis, was thought to be responsible for the brutal killings of several Western and Japanese captives, including Britons Alan Henning and Mr Haines.

The latter two did not form part of the indictment against Elsheikh and Kotey, the latter having already admitted his role in the atrocities, because the court was focusing only on US victims.

Mr Haines, who runs education charity Global Acts Of Unity in honour of his 44-year-old brother (pictured in 2012), said he is due to fly to the US for the sentencing hearing

It is believed the pair may yet face court in the UK for the deaths of British nationals.

Mr Haines, who runs education charity Global Acts Of Unity in honour of his 44-year-old brother, said he is due to fly to the US for the sentencing hearing.

He said: 'My brother and the many other innocent lives taken by this terrorist organisation were never afforded justice.

'This unanimous judgment is a triumph for society over ills like terrorism and helps differentiate us from the hateful, divisive ideologies that fuel these individuals.

'It must also act as a warning to anyone else seduced by the false glamour of extremism.'

Elsheikh (left) and fellow Beatle Alexanda Kotey (right) will be sentenced for their part in the gruesome plot later this month

Elsheikh , in a courtroom sketch earlier this month, could spend the rest of his life in a prison known as the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies'

David Haines' daughter Bethany, 24, said the conclusion of the trial was 'a lot more emotional' than she expected.

Speaking after his conviction, Ms Haines told BBC One: 'It was a lot more emotional than I expected.

'I expected to be happy, excited, but it's the realisation that he's guilty, what he's done to all the families, all the hostages.

'I've not slept a full night's sleep probably since my dad was killed in 2014 so hopefully tonight I'll get a full night's sleep.'

Yesterday Elsheikh was convicted of eight counts relating to four US hostages, James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller, after a trial at the US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

Following the verdict, Commander Richard Smith, head of the Met's counter terrorism command, said the force had provided evidence to the US court.

He added: 'This evidence has contributed to the overall prosecution case, and enabled our colleagues in the US to ensure this man has been brought to justice for some of the most evil and terrible crimes imaginable.

'It shows how we, along with our international partners, are absolutely determined to identify and bring those responsible for extremely serious terrorist offences to justice, even if those offences have been committed on foreign soil.'

Kotey, left, and Elsheikh. Speaking after Elsheikh's conviction, Ms Haines told BBC One: 'It was a lot more emotional than I expected'

Like other terrorists - such as Al-Qaeda's co-founder Mamdouh Mahmud Salim and British 'Underwear' bomber Richard C. Reid - Elsheikh will more than likely rub elbows with the worst-of-the-worst at Colorado's Florence ADX, which is most commonly known as just ADX.

The notorious prison is known as the worst facility in the US, with its roughened conditions and inmates spending up to 23 hours a day in their cells.

Elsheikh, Kotey and Emwazi all knew each other in England before joining IS, the court was told.

Elsheikh was captured alongside Kotey in Syria in 2018 by the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces while trying to escape to Turkey.

Last year, Kotey pleaded guilty to eight counts relating to his involvement, while Davis was jailed in Turkey and Emwazi was killed in a drone strike.

Life in the prison that's a fate worse than death: After being found guilty, ISIS Beatle El Shafee Elsheikh is set to rot away in Colorado's Supermax jail with El Chapo, Boston bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev and Mafia boss Vincent Basciano

By Alyssa Guzman for Dailymail.com

ISIS Beatle El Shafee Elsheikh could spend the rest of his life in a prison known as the 'Alcatraz of the Rockies,' joining notorious criminals like drug lord El Chapo, Boston bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev, and Bonanno mob boss Vincent Basciano.

Elsheikh, 33, was convicted in Virginia on Thursday for kidnapping and killing four Americans. He was convicted on four counts of conspiracy and four counts of hostage-taking resulting in death and faces a life sentence.

He was a part of a terror group known as the Beatles, which consisted of three British ISIS members, who went by John, George and Ringo. Elsheikh was reportedly using the code name Ringo.

During the trial, three former hostages testified against Elsheikh, Mohamed Emwazi, and Alexanda Kotey. The group reportedly took hostages to demand the release of imprisoned ISIS militants or large ransoms. Some hostages were lucky enough to survive and be released after their ransom was paid, while four were not. The group filmed their killings for propaganda videos.

Elsheikh was an alleged 'important' and high-ranking member of ISIS. However, his defense attorney argued he was a 'simple ISIS fighter,' according to CNN.

Like other terrorists - such as Al-Qaeda's co-founder Mamdouh Mahmud Salim and British 'Underwear' bomber Richard C. Reid - Elsheikh will more than likely rub elbows with the worst-of-the-worst at Colorado's Florence ADX, which is most commonly known as just ADX.

Each cell contains a bunk, desk, stool, shelf, a steel sink, and toilet. In addition to the bare minimum, each inmate gets a three-foot window that's only four inches wide, and a TV

The prison is designed to keep prisoners in the dark as to where they all, which very limited outside views and natural sunlight

The notorious prison is known as the worst facility in the US, with its roughened conditions and inmates spending up to 23 hours a day in their cells.

The 'escape proof' supermax sits on 37 acres of land, deep in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It's comprised of 490 7-by-12 foot cells with all inmates living in soundproof isolation. Each cell contains a bunk, desk, stool, shelf, a steel sink, and toilet. In addition to the bare minimum, each inmate gets a three-foot window that's only four inches wide, according to The New York Times. Most cells are also equipped with a television.

ADX is the only prison 'specifically designed to keep every occupant in near-total solitary confinement,' according to a 1998 SF Gate article. The design of the prison to keep inmates in the dark of where they are, even when during their limited recreation time, where they are let inside a small room known as the 'empty swimming pool' that only has a four-by-four skylight inside.

Inmates are also not allowed to have contact with each other. Although communication does happen between inmates, it's very hard due to the soundproof walls.

The 'escape proof' supermax prison sits on 37 acres of land, deep in the foothills of Rocky Mountains. It compromises of 490 seven-by-twelve foot cells with all inmates living in soundproof isolation

The 'worst than death' facility was created after two correctional officers were killed inside the Marion Federal Prison in Illinois in 1983. Marion was considered the worst prison in the US at the time. After the two officers' death, the facility turned into an 'all-lockdown' facility, which became the model for ADX, according to The New York Times.

In various points through ADX history, H-wing inmates - which houses criminals with special administrative measures (SAMs) in even more isolated conditions than the rest of the prison - protested conditions through a hunger strike in 2019. It was reported that officers responded by force-feeding the inmates by inserting a tube through their noses that led to their stomachs.

Mohammed Salameh, who was convicted for the attack on the World Trade Center, participated in several hunger strikes over the course of a decade and was reportedly force-fed around 200 times.

He stopped eating to demand more phone calls per month, for non-contact family visits to be without shackles, and to be able to write more letters.

'He went on hunger strike five or six times and was force-fed about 200 times over the course of a decade. He was protesting his conditions of confinement, pretty much the SAMs that he was living under,' Journalist Aviva Stahl, who wrote about her findings, told KRCC in 2019.

Inmates are housed behind soundproof doors that only have small windows to look out of

Unlike ADX's maximum-security facility (pictured), the Supermax does not have a cafeteria and inmates are hand-delivered their food to eat in their cells

Salameh who would taken to the medical facility to be force-fed and strapped to a black chair with his hands behind his back, straps against his legs; waist, chest, and arms; and two guards would his head back, according to Stahl.

The supermax has been the debate of humanity since its opening in 1994. A former warden told The New York Times in 2015 ADX was ' not designed for humanity.'

An investigation into human rights violations was conducted in 2019, the same year El Chapo was transferred to the prison. A journalist discovered inmates' communication was limited - especially in H-Unit, where it is forbidden.

These conditions are saved for those the US government have deemed too dangerous for regular maximum-security prisons and some of the world's most hardened criminals have ended up behind these walls.

Some hardened criminals that are still housed in ADX today include Terry Nichols, known as the Oklahoma City Bomber. He was sentenced to 161 consecutive life sentences after he and his friend Timothy J. McVeigh killed 168 people with their bombs at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. The attack was the largest killing in the US before September 11, 2001.

Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (left) and drug lord El Chapo (right) are both serving life sentences at the prison

Former-FBI-agent-turned-Soviet-spy Robert Hanssen was sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences after making roughly $1.4million by selling US information to Russia. He served 25 years in the FBI from 1976 to 2001 and sold thousands of documents.

The facility is also home to Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, one of the World Trade Center bombers, who was sentenced to a life sentence, plus 240 years.

The underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is also at the facility after he was sentenced to life for attempting to bomb Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on Christmas Day in 2009.

Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, alongside his brother, killed three people and injured more than 250 after bombing the marathon in 2013. He is currently serving life in prison at the facility.

Mob boss Vincent Basciano also enjoyed the facility from 2011 to 2015 in H-Unit, until he was transferred out of the facility. It is unclear where he was transferred, but he was taken to a less restrictive prison.

It is unclear where Elsheikh will be held until his sentencing.
Senior United States senators visited Taiwan on Friday to deliver a message of support for the island nation, which triggered China to showcase its military power.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was among the delegation members that warned Beijing that the US would begin to sanction China for bullying Taiwan and backing Russian President Vladimir Putin in his move to attack Ukraine.

In a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei, Graham promised that the US would make China "pay a greater price for what they are doing worldwide," according to a BBC report.

"The support for Putin must come with a price. The never-ending cyberattack on your economy and people by the Communist Chinese needs to come with a price," the lawmaker said.

Senator Graham also informed the Taiwanese leader that the war in Ukraine and China's provocative conduct had unified US opinion in a way that had never been seen before. He noted that there is a growing "backlash" in the world against "the bad guys."

"To abandon Taiwan would be to abandon democracy and freedom," he said.

Honored to be in #Taiwan where freedom reigns.



The courageous people of Taiwan  are great allies of the United States  and a beacon of freedom in a troubled region. https://t.co/MjzLmJ2jJW  Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) April 14, 2022

Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the digital powerhouse a nation of "global significance."

The Russia-Ukraine war has fueled fears that China may carry out its long-standing threat to annex Taiwan by force. The events in Ukraine have also shattered faith in the ability of world powers to prevent a similar crisis from occurring on the island.

In a previously undisclosed trip, the bipartisan group of six senators arrived for their two-day visit on Thursday.

China Responds With Military Drills

On Friday, China said it conducted military drills surrounding Taiwan in response to the US Congressional delegation on the island, Reuters reported.

Beijing blamed the group of lawmakers for escalating tensions with their "provocative" trip.

The People's Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command stated in a statement released-- while senators held a press conference in Taipei-- China's military has deployed frigates, bombers, and fighter jets to the East China Sea and the area around Taiwan.

The statement said that China's military operation was " in response to the recent frequent release of wrong signals by the United States on the Taiwan issue." But it doesn't mention the visiting US delegation.

"The US bad actions and tricks are completely futile and very dangerous. Those who play with fire will burn themselves," it added.

Read Also: Ukraine Fires Anti-Ship Missile To Sink Russian Vessel; More Vladimir Putin Troops Get Ambushed

Beijing: US Visit Could Lead to Further Escalation

China's Defence Ministry, in a separate statement, said the US visit was "deliberately provocative" and had "led to further escalation of tension in the Taiwan Strait."

The Taiwan issue is a point of contention between Beijing and Washington oftentimes.

Beijing objects to the term "Taiwan" being used on the international stage and opposes any country having diplomatic ties with the democratic island, as per Al Jazeera.

The US has no diplomatic connections with Taiwan, which China claims, but it is its major international backer and weaponry supplier.

During a visit to Taiwan last month, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo angered Beijing by saying that the US should diplomatically acknowledge Taiwan as "a free and sovereign country."

Related Article: North Korean Leader Calls Out Washington's Illegal Sanctions on Russia, Says President Joe Biden Intellectual Faculty Is Questionable

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A sister has lost her share of her late father's 1million estate after telling a series of lies to the dying pensioner about her brother in a bid to get him cut from the will.

Sonia Whittle turned her father Gerald Whittle against his son David with a string of false accusations shortly before his death, a court heard.

Sonia falsely told her elderly father that her brother and his wife 'psychopaths' and 'criminals' in a 'disgraceful' attempt to cut them out of the will.

She also failed to tell David of their father's death and hid the 1m inheritance of antiques and classic cars from him.

And in a landmark ruling delivered this week, a High Court judge has ruled the will 'invalid' on the grounds that it was obtained fraudulently and through undue influence.

Known as 'fraudulent calumny', it is only the third court ruling of its kind since 2007.

Delivering the verdict on Tuesday at Bristol High Court, District Judge Tony Woodburn described it as a 'disgraceful' and 'appalling' attempt to cut rightful beneficiary out of will.

The court heard father-of-two Gerald died aged 92 in December 2016, just three weeks after executing his will and appointing daughter Sonia and her partner, Ray Spicer, as executors.

Family collect photograph of David Whittle with his parents Lorna and Gerald Whittle

A judge heard Sonia falsely called her brother and wife 'criminals' to Gerald Whittle, pictured

Fraudulent calumny: the rare offence unique to wills Fraudulent calumny is a form of fraud whereby a false representation about the character of someone is made to get them excluded from a will. The case of Re Edwards [2007] states: 'The basic idea is that if A poisons the testator's mind against B, who would otherwise be a natural beneficiary of the testator's bounty, by casting dishonest aspersions on his character, then the will is liable to be set aside.' The difference between undue influence and fraudulent calumny is subtle. Undue Influence is where the testator is unduly pressured or coerced into making his or her will in a particular way whereas Fraudulent Calumny is where false perceptions are made about an individual which encourages the testator to exclude that individual from their will. The case referred to above also stipulates the criteria required to prove fraudulent calumny. Source: Taylor & Emmet Solicitors Advertisement

Apart from a bequest to David of Gerald's old cars, the entire estate, valued at approximately 1m was left to Sonia and Ray.

The court heard to take instructions for the will, Gerald's solicitors sent a trainee legal executive to his house.

During the meeting, Sonia told the legal executive that David and his wife Julie were 'psychopaths and criminals' who had stolen large sums of money from Julie`s mother.

The judge said: 'It is clear Sonia immediately launched into an assassination of the characters of both the claimant and of his wife.

'Having rubbished her brother's character, Sonia then left to take Gerald's dog for a walk. It was against this immediate background that Gerald apparently proceeded to give instructions to Ms Spanner for his will.'

Sonia also made claims that David had been looking for Gerald's bank details whilst he had been in hospital, that he had stolen his antiques and classic cars.

Delivering his verdict, District Judge Woodburn said none of the claims were true and described the behaviour of Sonia as 'disgraceful' and 'appalling'.

She also wrongly told them the couple had forced their way into Gerald's house and that police had issued a harassment order against them.

The defendants denied fraudulent calumny. Sonia admitted to making 'negative comments' about David on 11 November 2016, but claimed 'truthfulness in (and a genuine belief in the truthfulness of) the comments made' according to the verdict.

Neither defendant's attended the hearing.

But David told the court he had 'a good relationship with his father'; and argued that he visited his father regularly and since the death of his mother in 2005, visited him 'at least weekly'.

He also claimed he and his wife provided support for Gerald since the death of his wife in 2005.

David Whittle was written out of his father's will after lies were told about him to the parent

The judge added: 'I have noted David's evidence of his telephone call with (Sonia) on 14 October 2016. Within this call he is accused of being a 'thieving little b******', of being a 'pimp, living off immoral earnings of a prostitute'.

'He visited his father at The Close, the following day on 15 October 2016, but prior to entering his father's room overheard a conversation between (his sister and his father) telling him her brother had stolen money from his mother-in-law and that he was 'a violent man who assaulted women'.

David interrupted and walked into the room, where, in the presence and hearing of Gerald, she proceeded to tell him '..you're a c*** and thieving f****** b******'.

The ruling stated David described his father as appearing upset by the claims that were being made.

Gerald remained at The Close Care Home until 10 November 2016 when he was discharged back to his home.

The following day, the trainee legal advisor attended at Gerald's home to take his instructions for the preparation of a will.

His daughter then took it on herself to remain with the advisor and Gerald in order to 'explain the background' to making a will.

In giving his verdict, Judge Woodburn added: 'On all of the evidence presented to me, it is abundantly clear that the aspersions cast on the characters of both David and his wife, are not merely unproven by (Sonia), but, I find, are completely false.

'The issue then arises as to whether Sonia's falsehoods so tainted Gerald's mind and thoughts that he was compelled to exclude David from a more substantial share in Gerald's estate? Was Gerald so pressured by the weight of (Sonia's) allegations as to be persuaded to marginalise David in the way described in the will?'

'From August to early November 2016, Gerald moved from 91 to 92 years of age, he was attempting to live with the debilitating diagnosis and condition caused by leukaemia; his health was deteriorating; he was prone to confusion and was physically frail.'

The judge ruled Sonia 'attempted and succeeded in falsely and unduly influencing' Gerald to marginalise or exclude David from a substantial share in the estate.

'The claimant has clearly succeeded in proving fraud and undue influence,' he added.

Speaking after the case, Amanda Noyce, partner and Head of the Inheritance Disputes Team at Royds Withy King, who advised David Whittle said: 'The team at Royds Withy King systematically disproved all the allegations that Sonia had made about her brother.

'We found evidence the antiques she alleged had been stolen by David, in fact had been sold by local auctioneers at Sonia`s instruction.

'David had worked, until retirement, in a highly vetted position and Disclosure and Barring Service certificates proved that neither he nor his wife had ever been involved in any illegality.

'This has been a terrible ordeal for David and Julie, who have endured intense emotional trauma on every level.

'They were very close to Gerald, saw him very regularly and were central to his care in his later years. Sonia sought to poison her brother's relationship with their father and, furthermore, to cut contact between Gerald and David right at the very end, when Gerald was most vulnerable and most in need of his son's love and care.

'She even refused to allow the medical authorities and social services to let David know when their father had died. It was not until two months after Gerald`s death that David eventually found out - after much increasingly frantic searching and investigation.'
Russia bombed a factory in Kyiv overnight which it claims made the missiles that sunk the Moskva, as the Kremlin vowed to step up attacks on the Ukrainian capital.

Heavy explosions were seen overnight in Kyiv before Russia's Ministry of Defence said early Friday that it had destroyed the 'Vizar' plant which manufactures anti-ship missiles and other Ukrainian rockets.

The attack came just a day after the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - was sunk after a fire an explosion on board that Ukraine says was caused when it was shot by two cruise missiles. Moscow says only that the cause is being 'investigated'.

Meanwhile President Zelensky, speaking in a Thursday night address to the nation, praised the herosim of Ukrainians in holding out against Russia's invasion for 50 days - in spite of warnings they would last just five.

Russia says it blew up a Ukrainian munitions factory near Kyiv overnight using cruise missiles fired from ships in the Black Sea (pictured being launched)

Moscow says the factory was used to manufacture the same kinds of missiles that were used to sink the Moskva, its Black Sea flagship, on Thursday

President Zelensky addressed Ukrainians overnight, praising their heorism in resisting Russia for 50 days when the world expected them to last just five

Russia warns the US to stop arming Ukraine Russia told the US to stop sending weapons to Ukraine, warning of 'unpredictable consequences' if it continues to do do. The warning was delivered in the form of an official diplomatic note, which was seen by the Washington Post. It said that American and NATO shipments of the 'most sensitive' weapons were 'adding fuel' to the conflict, which is now nearing its second month. The two-page note was delivered after Biden had agreed to a new $800million delivery of military aid to Ukraine, including heavy artillery and shells, helicopters and armoured personnel carriers. 'What the Russians are telling us privately is precisely what weve been telling the world publicly  that the massive amount of assistance that weve been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective,' a senior US official said about the note. Advertisement

Zelensky said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.

He added: 'But they didn't know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want.'

Zelensky told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians 'gave us a maximum of five'.

He called it 'an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on February 24 made the most important decision of their life - to fight'.

Russia's defence ministry warned early Friday that it will step up attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line.

Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway.

Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv.

Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them.

'The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime,' Russia's defence ministry said in a statement.

The explosions came hours after the Russian defence ministry announced that the Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed after being badly damaged - reportedly leaving Putin 'livid'.

Amid a ream of bad news for the Russian despot's war, his forces on Friday did appear on the verge of capturing Mariupol - a southern port city that has now been under siege for almost two months.

Heavy explosions were reported to the south of Kyiv overnight, after Russia bombed what it claimed was a missile factory

The defence ministry claimed its troops had seized control of the Ilyum Steel Works, a huge industrial complex in the centre of Mariupol where marines and troops of the Azov Battalion were making their last stand.

If confirmed, it would mean Mariupol is on the verge of falling into Russian hands. It would be the largest city yet captured by Putin's men, albeit at the cost of near-totally destroying it.

While some forces in the area are likely to continue fighting guerilla operations against Russian forces, the defeat of the city's defences would also free up troops to join an expected assault on Ukraine's east.

British Intelligence on Thursday assessed that the fight for Mariupol is currently tying up 'significant numbers of Russian troops and equipment'.

Separately, the Russian defence ministry said Friday its strategic rocket forces 'eliminated up to 30 Polish mercenaries' in a strike on the village of Izyumskoe, not far from the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.

It said the mercenaries belonged to 'a private Polish military company', but did not say whether any Ukrainian troops were also killed.

The reported rocket strike was one of the biggest against foreign targets in Ukraine since another missile killed what the Russian military claimed was up to 180 foreign mercenaries in Western Ukraine last month.

Russia invaded on February 24 and has lost potentially thousands of fighters in the weeks since. The conflict has killed untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions more to flee.

It came as the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said people are being 'starved to death' in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol and he predicted the country's humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as Russia intensifies its assault.

Ukraine is continuing to take the attack to Russia as its invasion falters - sinking the Moskva, striking Belgorod, and battling in eastern Ukraine. But Moscow claims its troops are on the verge of taking Mariupol, which has now been under siege for almost two months

Anti-air missiles are seen in the skies over Belgorod, Russia, on Friday - suggesting the city has once again come under attack by Ukraine

WFP executive director David Beasley also warned in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kyiv that Russia's invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilising nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.

His fears were shared by the US ambassador to the United Nations, who accused Russia of making the precarious food situation in Yemen and elsewhere worse by invading Ukraine, calling it 'just another grim example of the ripple effect Russia's unprovoked, unjust, unconscionable war is having on the world's most vulnerable'.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a UN Security Council meeting on war-torn Yemen on Thursday the WFP had identified the Arab world's poorest nation as one of the countries most affected by wheat price increases and lack of imports from Ukraine.

Russia's deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky replied: 'The main factor for instability and the source of the problem today is not the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, but sanctions measures imposed on our country seeking to cut off any supplies from Russia and the supply chain, apart from those supplies that those countries in the West need, in other words energy.'

The sharp exchange took place a day after a UN taskforce warned the war threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries that are now facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions.
The director of the CIA has warned that Vladimir Putin could use a 'low-yield' nuclear weapon in a desperate face-saving exercise to snatch a semblance of a 'victory' from Russia's disastrous campaign in Ukraine.

William J. Burns said yesterday that Putin could resort to using nuclear weapons out of 'desperation... given the setbacks they've faced so far' but admitted he has seen no 'practical evidence' the Kremlin is considering such a move imminently.

Burns, who has served as US Ambassador to Russia, said the Biden administration has been 'very concerned' about the possibility throughout the seven week war and cautioned that 'none of us can take lightly the threat'.

Low-yield tactical nuclear weapons are smaller warheads that can be launched from the frontline from a mortar or exploded like a mine while friendly forces are nearby.

The tactical weapons, which Russia holds a sizeable cache of, are designed to produce a much smaller explosion than conventional nuclear warheads usually attached to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

It comes amid fears Moskva, Russia's Black Sea flagship which sank yesterday, may have taken two nuclear warheads into the depths in what could turn into a 'broken arrow' incident - American military slang for an accident involving nuclear weapons.

CIA director William J. Burns has warned that Putin could use a 'low-yield' nuclear weapon in a desperate face-saving exercise to snatch a semblance of a 'victory' from Russia's disastrous campaign in Ukraine

Burns said yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin could resort to using nuclear weapons out of 'desperation... given the setbacks they've faced so far' but admitted he has seen no 'practical evidence' the Kremlin is considering such a move imminently

Russian forces have suffered several setbacks in Ukraine and lost thousands of soldiers in a staunch resistance by Kyiv's forces (pictured, Ukrainian special forces blow up a bridge being used by a Russian tank convoy)

Tactical nuclear weapons are designed to produce a much smaller explosion than conventional nuclear warheads usually attached to intercontinental ballistic missiles (pictured, a RS-24 Yars strategic nuclear missile in Moscow on parade in June 2020)

Burns, responding to questions after giving a speech at the Georgia Institute of Technology on Thursday, also warned Putin has 'stewed in a combustible combination of grievance and ambition and insecurity' for decades.

He said the Russian president believes that the US 'took advantage' of Russian weakness following the collapse of the Soviet Union and has held on to grievances with the West, the New York Times reported.

But he argued US intelligence work that exposed the Russian strongman's intentions before the start of the war had hindered Putin's ability to cover up the 'raw brutality' of Moscow's men in Ukraine similar to 1990s scenes from Chechnya.

Burns and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have in recent days confirmed the war has moved to a 'different phase' after Russian forces withdrew from northern regions around Kyiv and Chernihiv.

Intelligence reports suggest Putin's forces are now massing on Ukraine's eastern flank and are planning to launch a fresh offensive on the Donbas region, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014.

The new offensive has been painted as another opportunity for Putin to save face over the botched invasion by claiming victory in the breakaway eastern regions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas, in the east, prepare for a fresh offensive by Russian forces on Thursday

Burns and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have in recent days confirmed the war has moved to a 'different phase' after Russian forces withdrew from northern regions around Kyiv and Chernihiv (pictured, Ukrainian soldiers on the frontline in the region)

Intelligence reports suggest Putin's forces are now massing on Ukraine's eastern flank and are planning to launch a fresh offensive on the Donbas region

The Moskva, a Soviet-era guided missile cruiser, sank near the port of Sevastopol on Thursday after Ukraine said it hit the ship with two cruise missiles, causing it to roll over. Russia has admitted the vessel sank after a fire and explosion on board, but has not said what caused the blaze.

Mykhailo Samus, director of a Lviv-based military think-tank; Andriy Klymenko, editor of Black Sea News; and Ukrainian newspaper Defence Express all warned today that the Moskva was designed to carry warheads which could be fitting into the nose of its supersonic P-1000 missiles - designed to take out American aircraft carriers.

'On board the Moskva could be nuclear warheads - two units,' Samus said, while Klymenko called on other Black Sea nations - Turkey, Romania, Georgia, and Bulgaria - to insist on an explanation. Where are these warheads? Where were they when the ammunition exploded,' he asked.

Meanwhile Defence Express said that it had 'interviewed experts, including designers and naval officers, who unanimously and independently gave the following answer - there is a real possibility that the affected flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet could have had nuclear munitions on board.

The paper added: 'Are nuclear munitions always on board, or are they loaded only by special order?'

Speculation about a nuclear disaster swirled as questions also remained over the Moskva's 510-strong crew, who have been largely unaccounted for since the ship was struck amid the expectation that hundreds will have died in the on-board explosion.

So-far, only around 50 of the crew are accounted for - having been picked up by a Turkish vessel - with another 14 reportedly flown to the port of Sevastopol, leaving around 450 whose fates are unknown.

Russia claims to have evacuated the entire crew, but video taken in Sevastopol overnight shows dozens of cars purportedly belonging to the sailors still parked in the port - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them.

Moskva could have been carrying warheads to fit into the tip of its Moskva's P-1000 supersonic cruise missiles, which are designed to take out American aircraft carriers
Separate videos seem to show police pinning protestors to the ground

Dozens of buildings in the city have been converted to makeshift isolation hubs

Shanghai residents scuffled with police after being ordered to give up homes

Shanghai's residents are rebelling against draconian curbs brought in as part of the Communist regime's failing zero-Covid policy.

Chilling videos show outraged citizens in China's biggest city scuffling with hazmat-suited police who have ordered them to surrender their homes to Covid patients.

Dozens of buildings in the city have been converted to make-shift isolation hubs as local officials struggle to contain record daily infection rates, which have breached 25,000 in recent days.

Separate clips posted online seems to show police pinning angry protestors to the ground and forcibly restraining them in both Shanghai and Haining, located 125km southwest.

Residents stuck in Shanghai, which has been locked down since April, have flooded social media with complaints of food shortages and over-zealous officialdom which has forced them into an ineffective state quarantine.

Footage has even shown desperate citizens bursting through barricades demanding food.

Chilling clips show people being dragged to the ground by PPE-clad police after being ordered to leave their homes, according to social media posts

Authorities ordered 39 households in one development to leave their homes so their flats could be used to house infected patients, according to Zhangjiang Group, the developer of the housing complex

An elderly man in Haining, Zhejiang, around 125km from Shanghai, is pinned to the ground by PPE-clad police for going outside, in breach of Covid restrictions

Cases began rising in Shanghai in late March and have surpassed 25,000 in recent days.

The city first implemented a phased lockdown from March 28, with just parts of the city being shutdown.

A full city-wide lockdown was implemented on April 3 as cases continued to rise.

Despite the drastic action, the vast majority of virus cases detected each day are in people with no symptoms.

Shanghai, often described as China's economic engine room, has officially reported no deaths in this outbreak.

Social media has been flooded with complaints of food shortages, while protests have kicked off against the strict measures.

Videos circulating online show residents outside a compound shouting at ranks of officials holding shields labelled 'police', as the officers tried to break through their line.

In one clip, police appear to make several arrests as the residents accuse them of 'hitting people'.

The incident was triggered after authorities ordered 39 households to move from the compound 'in order to meet the needs of epidemic prevention and control' and house virus patients in their apartments, according to Zhangjiang Group, the developer of the housing complex.

In one live-streamed video, a woman reportedly asks 'why are they taking an old person away?' as officials appeared to put someone into a car.

Zhangjiang Group said it had compensated the tenants and moved them into other units in the same compound.

The developer recognised that videos of the compound that had 'appeared on the internet' on Thursday and said 'the situation had now settled down' after 'some tenants obstructed the construction' of a quarantine fence.

Search results for the name of the apartment complex disappeared from China's Twitter-like Weibo by Friday morning.

Separate clips shared to Twitter appear to show police in hazmat-suits arresting protestors in Shanghai.

Twitter-user Jennifer Zeng, a human rights activist who tweeted the clip and said the footage was from the Nashi International Community Pudong New Area in Shanghai, said one woman shouts 'the police are hitting us'.

Her subtitles on the clip suggest one local shouts: 'The police beat people up. I am begging you. What do you want to do?'

Some Shanghai residents have poured their anger at the handling of the virus onto the internet.

They have ripped into authorities for allowing food shortages as well as heavy-handed controls, including the killing of a pet corgi by a health worker and a now-softened policy of separating infected children from their virus-free parents.

Other videos and audio clips have indicated increasing desperation among city inhabitants, including some showing residents bursting through barricades demanding food.

In one unverified viral video, a drone flying through a residential area broadcast a message urging residents to 'control your soul's desire for freedom'.

Shanghai health official Wu Qianyu said on Thursday that there were only nine severe Omicron cases, mostly among older patients with underlying health conditions.

Yet authorities have vowed the city 'would not relax in the slightest', preparing over a hundred new quarantine facilities to receive every person who tests positive.

Pressure on the city to bring its outbreak under control is mounting from above, with President Xi Jinping warning on Wednesday that strict virus measures 'cannot be relaxed' and proclaiming that 'persistence is victory,' in a speech published by state media.
Paedophile former Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan has been accused of preying on a 16-year-old boy and offering him sex and drugs after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a Catholic teenager.

The man, who was given the fake name Andrew by The Guardian, claimed that Khan, then in his 40s, offered to give him oral sex, take him to a hotel room to snort cocaine, and hire a sex worker after meeting the future Conservative at a birthday party in Suffolk in August 2015.

Andrew's mother, who was also at the party with her partner, told the newspaper that she told Khan to stay away from her son after he told her about the oral sex proposition.

The mother's partner claimed that he also told the disgraced former Conservative Member of Parliament for Wakefield to back off and that it was 'inappropriate' to talk to Andrew in that way.

Andrew called Khan 'probably the furthest thing away from the sort of person anyone wants to represent them, a paedophile who offers a 16-year-old drugs and tries to get them to s**g a prostitute'.

He made his allegations after Khan, 48, was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court this week for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old at a house in Staffordshire in January 2008.

MailOnline has contacted lawyers for Khan for comment. However, they told The Guardian yesterday that they had advised him not to comment on Andrew's allegations, 'bearing in mind the ongoing criminal proceedings against our client'. Half an hour later, Khan quit as an MP, saying he would focus solely on clearing his name.

Imran Ahmad Khan arriving at Southwark Crown Court in London, Monday April 11, 2022

Khan speaking after he is announced as the winner for the constituency of Wakefield at a counting centre in Wakefield, December 13, 2019

Khan accused of drugging and assaulting man in his mid-20s in Pakistan while working on Foreign Office-funded project Khan has also been accused of sexually assaulting another young man at a guesthouse in Pakistan in 2010 when he was working on a Foreign Office-funded project. The alleged victim, who was in his mid-20s, reported the attack to the British High Commission and the Foreign Office but did not want to go to police in Pakistan because of Khan's powerful connections in the military and government. He claimed Khan performed a sex act on him in his sleep after offering him a sleeping pill as they shared a room following an evening of drinking whiskey and smoking marijuana. The man came forward as a witness after hearing Khan had been charged with sexual assault following the MP's failed bid to gag the press from reporting his name. It is understood a charge could not be brought because the alleged assault took place outside the jurisdiction before a change in the UK law. Khan claimed the sexual activity was consensual. Advertisement

Andrew has alleged that Khan, who is gay and a Muslim, asked him about his sexuality at the party. Andrew said that he was straight, only for Khan to allegedly reply that he thought sexuality was 'on a spectrum'.

He claimed that Khan later offered to perform a sex act on him. When the teenager then told his mother what happened, she and her partner then reprimanded the future MP.

Khan allegedly later complained to Andrew about being 'told off'. When Andrew said that his advances had made him feel 'uncomfortable' and 'weird', and that he was 'only 16', Khan allegedly replied: 'That's OK, you're legal'.

Andrew told The Guardian that Khan allegedly then asked him if he had ever done 'DP' (double penetration), to which he said no.

He alleged that Khan suggested 'why don't we hang out and have some fun?', before offering to book them a hotel in Henley, 'buy lots of cocaine and a prostitute and "f**k all weekend"'.

Andrew claims that at the time, he felt 'really uncomfortable. I didn't know how to take it. I was only 16'.

Talking about Khan's trial, Andrew added: 'I just thought: that's the same pattern of behaviour he instigated with me. It could quite easily have been me. It would have been very easily me if I wasn't surrounded by adults.'

Khan last night quit the Commons, after previously resisting calls to stand down despite the Conservatives expelling him when he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a child.

Khan said it was 'intolerable' for voters in the West Yorkshire constituency to have muted representation while he appeals the conviction. He said the move would allow him to 'focus entirely on clearing my name'.

The move has also triggered a by-election in the marginal Red Wall seat of Wakefield, which Labour had held the seat since the 1930s until Khan's victory in the 2019 general election, when the Prime Minister led the Conservatives to seize a tranche of former Labour strongholds. A date for the by-election has not yet been set.

But the resignation sets up a tricky battle for the Tories to retain the seat, as Boris Johnson fights to remain leader after being fined by police for breaching his own coronavirus laws.

Khan won Wakefield by 3,358 over Labour former frontbencher Mary Creagh but the Conservatives will be nervous about maintaining that lead.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will also feel the pressure of having to recapture the seat amid high expectations.

Khan arriving at Southwark Crown Court in London, Monday April 11, 2022

Khan's conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage boy has almost certainly handed Labour back one of the Red wall seats it surrendered at the 2019 election

Tory press office did not take 'very seriously' the allegation that Khan had abused 15-year-old made days before 2019 election, court hears A court was told that the Conservative Party press office did not take 'very seriously' allegations that a 15-year-old boy was sexually assaulted by Khan before he stood as an election candidate. 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, the 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. 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 that his complaint was 'not motivated by political reasons'. Advertisement

Khan was found guilty of sexually assaulting the 15-year-old at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. Jurors heard he forced the teenager to drink gin and tonic before dragging him upstairs and carrying out the attack at a house in Staffordshire in January 2008.

Khan said that even the shortest timetable for his appeal would mean 'legal proceedings could last many more months'.

'I have therefore regrettably come to the conclusion that it is intolerable for constituents to go years without an MP who can amplify their voices in Parliament,' he said.

'Representing them has been the honour of my life, and they deserve better than this. Consequently I am resigning as MP for Wakefield and withdrawing from political life.' He said he would write to the parliamentary authorities to confirm his intentions 'shortly'.

'I am now able to focus entirely on clearing my name. As I intend for this to be my only statement, I would like to apologise to my family and community for the humiliation this has caused them,' he said.

Khan added: 'Questions surrounding sexuality in my community are not trivial, and learning from the press about my orientation, drinking and past behaviour before I became an MP has not been easy.'

Tory former justice minister Crispin Blunt claimed Khan had been the victim of a 'dreadful miscarriage of justice'. But he was forced to apologise the next day following a barrage of criticism.

Blunt said the sexual assault conviction would have 'dreadful wider implications for millions of LGBT+ Muslims around the world' and claimed the prosecution's argument relied on 'lazy tropes about LGBT+ people'. He also called for the convicted sex offender to be reinstated to public service.

Blunt's comments triggered fury with Labour condemning his defence of Khan and Anneliese Dodds, Labour Party chairwoman and shadow equalities secretary, labelling them 'disgraceful'.

She called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Tory chairman Oliver Dowden to 'take action' against the former prisons minister and 'distance their party from his comments'.

Meanwhile, four members of a cross-party LGBT+ group that Blunt chairs quit in protest, with one urging him to resign from his role.

Labour's Chris Bryant and Kate Osborne and the SNP's Stewart McDonald and Joanna Cherry all stood down from the group over Blunt's comments.

Blunt, who came out as gay in 2010, deleted the comment from his website and the tweet promoting it this morning.

And he later apologised fully for his remarks, saying: 'I am sorry that my defence of him has been a cause of significant upset and concern not least to victims of sexual offences. It was not my intention to do this.

'To be clear I do not condone any form of abuse and I strongly believe in the independence and integrity of the justice system.'

He also announced he was resigned as chairman of a parliamentary group on LGBT+ rights, while the LGBT Conservatives suspended him as a patron.
A rare new Covid-19 variant has been detected in Australia amid warnings that multiple mutant strains are already circulating.

The strain identified in Melbourne's wastewater will be confirmed as either BA.4 or BA.5, which are both recently discovered subvariants of Omicron.

The variant, which has not been found previously in Australia, was detected in the Tullamarine catchment, in the city's northwest.

The news comes as Covid case numbers remain high leading into the busy Easter long weekend as thousands of people socialise and mix on flights without social distancing.

The news of a new Covid strain being detected comes as case numbers remain high and thousands of people socialise and mix on flights without social distancing measures over Easter. Pictured: Family members at Perth Airport

The strain identified in Melbourne's (pictured) wastewater will be confirmed as either BA.4 or BA.5, which are both recently discovered subvariants of Omicron

Australia recorded 54,048 new cases on Covid on Friday, continuing a trend of daily case numbers above 50,000 since late March.

Thirty-four deaths were recorded across the country.

Brett Sutton, Victoria's chief health minister said he was 'not surprised but not worried' by the arrival of the new strain.

'The point with all the newly emergent lineages is that when they out-compete existing variants, we get upward pressure on cases and more risk of getting infected,' he said on Twitter.

Experts have warned our open borders and relaxations on Covid restrictions mean we will see more cases of XE and also other potentially deadlier strains. Pictured: Covid testing in Sydney

The first Australian case of XE Covid, a hybrid of the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains, has been detected in New South Wales

Everything we know about the XE variant: The XE recombinant Covid variant is a hybrid of the Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 strains

XE is a combination mostly of the spike protein of BA.2, but also has genes from BA.1

Early data shows XE is 10% more transmissible than the BA.2 strain, which remains dominant in Australia

Over 1,100 cases have been reported in the UK since January

It has also been detected in Canada, Japan, Thailand, Israel and India

Current vaccines are expected to be effective against XE in preventing severe illness Advertisement

The World Health Organisation's director general confirmed the virus is becoming more infectious.

'This virus has over time become more transmissible and it remains deadly especially for the unprotected and unvaccinated that dont have access to health care and antivirals,' said Tedros Adhanom.

'At present there are a number of Omicron sub-lineages were following closely, including BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5 and another recombinant detected, made up of BA.1 and BA.2.'

He said the best way to stay safe was get vaccinated and boosted if recommended.

BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron have only been confirmed in a handful of cases mainly in southern Africa, Britain and Europe.

The early signs are that BA.4 and BA.5 are similar to other Omicron strains.

But they are both considered 'currently circulating variants of concern' by the WHO, along with the XE recombinant strain, which was confirmed in a positive case in NSW.

A traveller who returned to Australia from overseas tested positive to the XE strain according to NSW Health.

NSW Health's weekly Covid overview confirmed a single positive case in the last week of case data analysed.

The new highly transmissible XE strain of Covid-19 was found in a recently returned traveller

The XE strain is a combination of the two Omicron variant subtypes BA.1 and BA.2 and is said to be 10 per cent more transmissible than BA.2.

'One recombinant XE (BA.1/BA.2) has been identified in a specimen collected in the week ending 9 April 2022,' NSW Health said.

'This is the first XE sequence to be identified in NSW and was identified in a recently returned traveller.'

Experts have warned the relaxation of restrictions and re-opened borders mean more cases are inevitable, with the arrival of other deadlier variants also highly likely.

XE is understood to have characteristics of both previous strains and was first detected in January this year.

In Britain 1,125 XE cases have been reported and it has also been detected in Japan, India, Canada, Israel and Thailand.

XE is included in the World Health Organisation's list of 'currently circulating variants of concern' under the Omicron label.

Delta is also still a current variant of concern.

Australia recorded 54,048 new cases on Covid on Friday, continuing a trend of daily case numbers above 50,000 since late March

So far experts believe existing vaccinations are effective against XE producing severe illness in most people because they work against BA.1 and BA.2.

But vaccines have proved less effective against symptomatic Omicron infection, including mild infections.

There is also no early evidence it is any more severe than previous versions of Omicron.

The British government's UK Health Security Agency is also monitoring a further two notable variants.

They have been dubbed XF and XD, which are both recombinants of Delta and Omicron BA.1.

The NSW Health Covid weekly report confirmed BA.2 'continues to be the dominant strain circulating' in NSW.
More than a dozen Tory MPs are opposing Boris Johnson's plan to continue as Prime Minister despite being fined by police for breaking Covid lockdown laws.

Former minister Karen Bradley joined a handful of MPs who say Mr Johnson's position is untenable in the wake of his Scotland Yard Partygate sanction, amid fears he could still face more.

Her demand yesterday came after others by Penrith and the Border MP Neil Hudson, Amber Valley MP Nigel Mills and Calder Valley's Craig Whittaker said he should resign.

Former minister Tobias Ellwood, a long-term critic of the PM, has also suggested he himself should trigger a leadership election.

A further 10 MPs who called for the PM to quit over Parygate in January have not retracted their demand.

Around 80 Tory MPs broke cover to publicly support Mr Johnson this week after he pledged to continue despite becoming the first PM to be punished for lawbreaking while in office.

However, another group notable in their silence so far are Mr Johnson's Tory predecessors in No10.

Theresa May, David Cameron and Sir John Major, the three former Conservative Prime Ministers who are still alive, have not given him their backing.

Given their previous criticism of his leadership it will lead to speculation that they also feel he should quit, but are biding their time.

Around 80 Tory MPs broke cover to publicly support Mr Johnson this week after he pledged to continue despite becoming the first PM to be punished for lawbreaking while in office.

Theresa May, David Cameron and Sir John Major, the three former Conservative Prime Ministers who are still alive, have not given him their backing.

Theresa May (pictured today) has clashed with Boris over his cuts to international aid previously

Former minister Karen Bradley joined a handful of MPs who say Mr Johnson's position is untenable in the wake of his Scotland Yard Partygate sanction, amid fears he could still face more.

Mr Johnson has pledged to face MPs to 'set the record straight' when the Commons returns from its Easter break next week.

That would give Mrs May, the only former PM still sitting in the chamber, an opportunity to back him or attack him.

After initial shows of support from Tory MPs and ministers, dissenting voices are now emerging.

Lord Wolfson quit as a justice minister on Wednesday, saying that he had come to the 'inevitable conclusion that there was repeated rule-breaking, and breaches of the criminal law, in Downing Street'.

The peer concluded he had no option but to resign considering 'my ministerial and professional obligations to support and uphold the rule of law'.

Mr Bradley suggested Mr Johnson should quit, with the Staffordshire Moorlands MP saying: 'My constituents know that I have been clear that those that make the rules must not break them, whether intentionally or otherwise. The public are right to expect the highest standards of behaviour from their leaders.'

She said 'law breaking in Downing Street is unforgivable' but the war in Ukraine meant there was a need to 'act responsibly so as to not make the situation worse'.

'But I do wish to make it clear that if I had been a minister found to have broken the laws that I passed, I would be tendering my resignation now.'

Both Mr Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were issued with fixed penalty notices (FPNs) over the Cabinet Room birthday party, along with the Prime Minister's wife Carrie.

Downing Street is braced for the Prime Minister to receive further FPNs for other events he attended - police are investigating 12 alleged lockdown-busting parties and Mr Johnson is thought to have been present at half of them.

Penrith and the Border MP Neil Hudson said Mr Johnson should quit, but said the war in Ukraine meant it would not be 'prudent or responsible' to do so now.

He said he would not 'defend the indefensible', adding: 'The fact that the Prime Minister and Chancellor have been found in breach of the Covid rules and issued with fixed penalty notices is extremely disappointing. The fact that the law makers went on to break those very laws they brought in to keep us all safe is deeply damaging for our democracy.

'That situation is untenable moving forward.'

He said Mr Johnson should 'show the statesmanship he has been showing with Ukraine, and outline a timetable and process for an orderly transition to a leadership election as soon as the international situation permits'.

It came as a new poll suggested most Britons believe that there are 'more important things' to worry about than Partygate.

The Daily Mail survey found almost 80 per cent of those questioned said the war in Ukraine matters more to them than lockdown-busting gatherings in Downing Street.

More than half said the UK needs to move on from the scandal. The poll, carried out by Redfield & Wilton Strategies on behalf of the Mail, asked 1,500 voters about Partygate.

The majority of the British public are focused on things other than partygate, such as the war in Ukraine, according to a poll where more than half said the country needs to move on

It suggests that the public are more focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine than breaches of Covid rules in Downing Street  despite opposition pressure for Boris Johnson to quit after he was fined.

A total of 66 per cent said they strongly agreed or agreed with the statement: 'I am tired of hearing about the parties held in 10 Downing Street during the pandemic.'

Just 17 per cent said they disagreed or strongly disagreed. Sixty-six per cent also agreed there are more important things to focus on than Partygate.

Seventy-eight per cent said the war between Ukraine and Russia matters more to them than Partygate.

Eleven per cent disagreed while another 11 per cent said neither matters to them much.

A total of 54 per cent said the UK needs to move on from the scandal while 36 per cent said the lockdown parties matter to them significantly  down from 39 per cent in February.

The findings will be welcome news in Downing Street amid fears that the issuing of fines by police to the Prime Minister and Chancellor Rishi Sunak could damage the Conservatives in the local elections on May 5.

The police probe has been branded a farce amid claims that the lunchtime birthday party for Mr Johnson lasted under ten minutes and the Prime Minister had only salad. It was also said that the cake was left uneaten in a container.

Tory MPs have privately criticised the Metropolitan Police for its timing in issuing the 50 fixed penalty notices.

A Conservative former minister told the Mail that the force should have waited until next month's local elections were over because it might look like it is 'attempting to influence the outcome'.

Johnson received a fine from the police along with his Chancellor Rishi Sunak. Backbenchers Nigel Mills and Craig Whittaker have called for the Prime Minister to resign

Tory MPs have argued the timing is suspicious given the announcement came ahead of local elections deemed pivotal for the party, whereas Labour MPs argues the timing was beneficial for the prime minister given to the fact that the parliament is currently in recess

However, some backbenchers argued that the timing was in fact positive for the Government because MPs are currently in recess and not due back in Westminster for another week.

Labour and other opposition parties have called on the Prime Minister to quit, but many of Mr Johnson's toughest Tory critics on the backbenches have said ousting him amid the Ukraine crisis would be a mistake.

Among dissenting voices are Lord Wolfson, who quit as a justice minister over the scandal, former Cabinet minister Karen Bradley and senior Tory Tobias Ellwood.

Backbenchers Nigel Mills and Craig Whittaker have called for the Prime Minister to resign  suggesting Mr Johnson could face a tricky period when politicians return to Westminster.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer urged more Conservative MPs to speak out instead of acting like 'lemmings' in support of the PM.

He said: 'Every Tory MP that cares about honesty and integrity should call for the Prime Minister to resign. They know he's a liar. They know he's a law-breaker.'

Sir Keir dismissed Mr Johnson's announcement of a tougher immigration policy which involves sending some Channel migrants to Rwanda, branding it a 'desperate' attempt to distract from the Partygate row.
A Romanian man who was flown back to the UK from Bucharest after stalking and violently assaulting a random teenage girl has been jailed for six years.

Convicted criminal Gabriel Calin, 29, followed his 19-year-old victim, who he did not know, for several minutes as she walked home from work through Maidstone in Kent in 2019.

She screamed when he grabbed her from behind, before holding her by her hands and wrists, smiling and telling her 'It's alright'.

Then, without warning, he punched her on the nose, knocking her onto the ground. As she lay on her back, Calin held her by her jacket with one hand and struck her at least twice more to her face with his other fist.

The repeated blows split her lip, knocked out a tooth, and damaged two more, causing blood to gush from her injuries.

The victim fought back by kicking Calin in his stomach and he eventually ran off, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

Calin later sought hospital treatment for his own injured hand, 'no doubt caused by the blows to his victim, said prosecutor Gordon Ross, He fled the UK five days later, returning to Romania where his wife and two children lived.

Footage released by Kent Police shows the moment he was eventually extradited in July 2020.

Calin, of no fixed address, denied attempting to cause grievous bodily harm at his trial last year but was found guilty by a jury after less than two hours' deliberations.

The prosecutor had told the court the victim's ordeal was 'the stuff of nightmares - a completely unprovoked stranger attack on a vulnerable young woman walking home alone'.

'They didn't know each other, they had never met and weren't even acquaintances,' said Mr Ross.

'The injuries were a swollen nose, a cut to her lip, at least one broken tooth which had to be removed and required extensive treatment and bruising to her torso. That she didn't sustain more serious injuries, she is fortunate.

'But given the nature of the assault on a lone woman in the early hours in a quiet part of Maidstone where she was punched and, having fallen to the ground, the defendant continued to attack her, the prosecution say his intention could only have been to cause serious harm.'

Calin has no previous convictions in the UK but has a driving offence and one of illegal entry into premises recorded against him in Romania, with a sentence of two-and-a-half years' imprisonment imposed in April 2015.

Sentencing on the stranger attack had been adjourned until Wednesday for a psychiatric report and to assess any risk Calin posed to the public.

But although Judge Philip St.John-Stevens said it was 'a very worrying case of an unexplained attack on a young female', he ruled Calin was not a dangerous offender and would therefore be automatically released after he has served half his six-year and one month jail term.

The judge told Calin: 'The victim was obviously vulnerable due to her circumstances - being alone, moving from the town centre where there was CCTV and walking alone at one in the morning,' the judge said.

'The serious feature of this case is the psychological harm to that female, aged 19....whose view now is that the impact will remain with her.

'What is clear is that it has profoundly changed her life - a young woman who was confident to be able to walk home from work has had that robbed from her and is constantly looking over her shoulder.

'She now chooses to use a car rather than walk. Her freedom and choice of doing that have effectively been taken from her.'

On the subject of dangerousness, Judge St.John-Stevens said the court had to consider whether the offence was 'sexually motivated gratuitous violence'.

But he added a psychiatrist had stated the attack could have been 'a drunken violent episode'.

CCTV footage played in court captured Calin leaving a gambling venue and then following the woman in the early hours of April 16, 2019 for about a kilometre on her 20-minute walk home from her shift at the Wetherspoon-owned Muggleton Inn in the town centre.

At one point she glanced over her shoulder and, realising she was being followed, slowed down to let him pass.

But Calin then turned off down a side street in order to double back on himself and then sneak up on her from behind.

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport on his return from Bucharest on July 29 2020

Calin did not give evidence at his trial and was said in his sentencing reports to be unable to 'understand or explain' his actions

Calin has no previous convictions in the UK but has a driving offence and one of illegal entry into premises recorded against him in Romania, with a sentence of two-and-a-half years' imprisonment imposed in April 2015

The victim, aged 21 by the time of the trial, cried as she described to the jury how Calin pounced on her.

'I suddenly heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and noticed someone pretty close behind me. It scared me and I screamed,' she said.

'He grabbed my wrists and said 'It's alright' and he smiled. Then his face dropped and he hit me in the face with a clenched fist and I fell to the floor.

'I landed on my back. He still had hold of me by my jacket and he continued to hit me with a clenched fist two or three times in the face.

'I could feel my mouth fill with blood and I was spitting out a tooth. My nose was also gushing with blood.'

The victim said she was screaming and kicking at Calin until he ran off. She had dropped her bag when she was knocked to the ground but he made no attempt to grab it.

Despite being battered, covered in blood and visibly distressed, her desperate attempts to flag down two passing van drivers were ignored.

She fled home on foot where her family found her in a state of shock, shaking, and struggling to speak and swallow as a result of her injuries, the court heard.

Victim impact statements read out in court detailed how she was left unable to sleep, suffering from nightmares, needing counselling and 'reliving the assault as if it was yesterday'.

Almost three years on, she still has tooth pain and no longer feels safe out walking.

'I am still freaked out when people approach me from behind and this feeling shows no signs of abating,' she wrote.

'This attack will stay with me for the rest of my life and I feel I lost a little part of me on that day that I will never get back.'

Calin himself went to Maidstone Hospital the next day for treatment to his hand, telling staff he had fallen.

He then fled the UK on April 21 2019, travelling by bus and arriving in Romania two days later. He was arrested at Heathrow Airport on his return from Bucharest on July 29 2020.

The court was told by his legal team on conviction that he had 'drunk to excess' that night and the attack was 'very much' out of character.

Calin did not give evidence at his trial and was said in his sentencing reports to be unable to 'understand or explain' his actions.

He is expected to be deported on his release from prison.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Andy Julier, of Kent Police said: 'This was a despicable and cowardly attack on a young woman by a man who injured his hand, such was the force of the punches to the victim's face.

'The investigation to track him down was thorough and complex, and I am pleased we were able to bring him before the court to answer for his appalling crime.

'The victim has received ongoing dental treatment due to the assault and Calin's callous actions continue to have a significant impact on her quality of life.

'I would like to commend her courage in supporting our investigation throughout and also thank the witnesses who assisted us to bring Calin to justice.'
A chocoholic has made a remarkable about face after she reached out for help to break her secret, confectionary-guzzling addiction.

Melbourne mum Luana Tyne on a given day tucked into one packet of Tim Tams and three family blocks of chocolate.

A bucket of M&Ms, a bowl of Maltesers and Ferrero Rochers are not spared either, but when Easter time rolls around her habit goes into overdrive.

The 48-year-old mother said chocolate fetish was like other having a cigarette or coffee

'I hate it, it's out of control. It's an addiction. I don't know how I got this bad,' Luana Tyne told A Current Affair.

The 48 year old likened her chocolate habit to stopping for a 'cigarette or a coffee'.

'It is socially acceptable. You can do it at work, you can do it in the car and no one looks at you twice,' Ms Tyne said.

She has even resorted to hiding her sweets around the house from her family, in draws, bookshelves and pantry crevices.

Her daughter would often catch her mum eating chocolate in the wee hours of the night, and has been called upon to fetch her some from the shops.

Ms Tyne said her problem is that she keeps eating it even though she knows it doesn't feel happier.

Ms Tyne is pictured in her youth before her chocolate addiction took hold

Adding to her woes is that her she suffers from joint pain, which is exasperated by her chocolate indulgence.

Her enslavement to the sweets has also hit the hip pocket hard and has made her feel 'depressed and ashamed'.

Ms Tyne admits that she was strong in a lot of areas, but 'not this'.

Hypnotherapist and habit-breaking specialist Mark Stephens said he had a 15-20 minute method to assist the helpless mum.

Mr Stephens, who has treated hundreds of addicted eaters, sat Ms Tyne down to do some subconscious therapy on her.

The change was immediate, as the self-confessed chocoholic came out of the session feeling sick at the thought of eating the milky snack.

'I just see damage now,' Ms Tyne said as she surveyed mounds of chocolate around her. 'I see what it was doing to me clearly now.'

Her daughter would often catch Ms Tyne eating chocolate in the wee hours of the night, and has been called upon to fetch her some from the shops.

The mum said she felt horrible at the thought of chocolate, didn't want to even look at the packets and claimed her life had changed.

The hypnotherapist rejected the idea that Ms Tyne would return to her sweet-devouring ways after a while.

'This is a permanent fix, Luana will never want to touch chocolate again,' Mr Stephens said.

Ms Tyne was able to drop off her large chocolate stash at a nursing home, and as of Good Friday revealed she was still giving the confectionary a wide birth.
An RAF officer father drowned on a family holiday after being swept out to sea on notorious Hell's Mouth beach.

An inquest was told Sgt Stephen Hulsmeier, 47, was 'screaming for help' when he was dragged into the waves along with a friend's daughter on August 6.

They had been paddling in the shallow water when disaster struck at Hell's Mouth in Porth Neigwl, North Wales. The stretch is beloved by watersports fanatics due to the huge waves that can be found there.

Best friend Christopher Brown looked out to see Steve and the 12-year-old girl 130ft away from the shore.

Mr Brown said the pair looked 'terrified' as he swam towards them while they were 'visibly struggling in the deep water.'

He said: 'I could not touch the bottom and it was extremely hard swimming in the breaking waves.'

Mr Brown was able to throw the girl to another swimmer before he went back to save Steve.

He said: 'There was very little mercy from the sea, I could see he was going under the water. He was crying out and screaming for help.

Sgt Stephen Hulsmeier, 47, was on a family holiday in North Wales when the disaster struck

He was in the shallow water when it happened at Hell's Mouth in Porth Neigwl, North Wales

'I managed to get him to hold on to my ankle for about 20 seconds but we were both driven underneath some relentless waves and when I surfaced he was again some meters away.'

The inquest in Caernarfon heard exhausted Mr Brown returned to the sand while rescuers managed to pull Steve from the water.

Police, coastguard teams and paramedics joined in the rescue before beginning CPR on Steve - who had served in the RAF for 23 years.

They tried for two hours to revive the dad-of-one but he was sadly pronounced dead on August 6 last year.

Aircraft engineer Steve - also known as Hulzi - had been on holiday with wife Becky, their teenage son and two other families.

In a statement, wife Becky said: 'This is a beach we have been to a number of times in previous years and lifeguards have never been in attendance.

Hell's Mouth is loved by surfers and kayakers because of the large waves that can be found

'It is my belief that had there been lifeguards or clearer signs, this may have prevented my husbands death.'

The inquest heard the beach is managed by Gwynedd Council who said 'rigorous periodic risk assessments' are carried out.

But a warden was not allocated to the beach on the day because it was considered a naturally occurring beach and not one of the area's blue flag tourist beaches.

A postmortem by Dr Muhammad Aslam found a cause of death of drowning.

Assistant coroner Sarah Riley recorded a conclusion of misadventure.

After his death, a Gwynedd council spokesman said: 'As a council we extend our deepest condolences to the family of the individual who passed away at this extremely sad time.

'Warning signs are in place which refer to specific hazards at this location including strong currents and large breaking waves. The signage also informs the public that the beach is not supervised.

'We urge all members of the public to be mindful of such hazards, to be very careful and take notice of specific information, guidance and warning signs.'
A North Korean hacker group is the one behind the hacking and stealing of cryptocurrency that shook the Axie Infinity NFT game.

The U.S. Treasury Department recently named the Lazarus North Korean hacking group the perpetrator of the theft of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from the blockchain responsible for the NFT game Axie Infinity, per Vice.

Sky Mavis, Axie Infinity's operator, mentioned that it is still in the process of adding more security measures before redeploying the Ronin Bridge to mitigate future risk.

Ronin Blockchain Hack Details

The hack, which happened on March 23, was discovered after Sky Mavis received a report that a user was unable to withdraw 5,000 Ethereum from the Ronin Bridge. The company then discovered that its validator nodes and Axie DAO validator nodes were compromised, resulting in 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC drained from the blockchain.

The total valued amount of cryptocurrency stolen from the blockchain is approximately $625 million. The hackers were able to steal the cryptos after it took over five out of nine validators to transfer the funds.

The attack forced Sky Mavis to temporarily pause the Ronin Bridge, while Binance, whose bridge allows for cryptocurrency exchanges and transactions, was closed to err on the side of caution, per Binance's announcement.

Read More: Elon Musk Offers To Buy Twitter  Will Jack Dorsey Approve? How Much Is Twitter Worth?

The hack raised questions regarding the Ronin Network's security model, which relied on a closed set of nine trusted validators. Sky Mavis increased the validator set to 21 after the attack.

Investigators were able to find the crypto wallet the hackers used to receive the cryptos from the Ronin blockchain. According to The Verge's report, the wallet contained over $445 million worth of Ethereum (148,000 Ethereum). It also sent almost $10 million worth of Ethereum (3,302.6 Ethereum) to another wallet less than a day ago. Crypto transaction tracker Etherscan labeled the wallet address as "reported to be involved in a hack targeting the Ronin bridge."

The U.S. Treasury Department also placed sanctions on the crypto wallet to prohibit transactions to and from the address.

The theft was one of the largest in crypto history, which prompted other crypto firms and venture capitalists to fill the financial void in Sky Mavis' attempt to reimburse affected users.

What Is Sky Mavis Doing Now?

Sky Mavis is currently in the process of adding additional security measures before it redeploys the Ronin Bridge to reduce future risk to the blockchain.

The company said that users should expect the bridge to be deployed by the end of April.

Sky Mavis assured users that security remains its top priority and that it would deliver a full post-mortem that details the security measures it placed and the company's next steps along with the Ronin Bridge's redeployment.

"We would like to extend a thank you to all law enforcement agencies who have supported us in this ongoing investigation," Sky Mavis said. "Security remains our top priority, and we look forward to sharing our learning with our community and the broader ecosystem. We thank you for your patience."

Related Article: Axie Infinity's Ronin Blockchain Hacked: $625 Million Worth of Crypto Stolen
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Tourists mobbed Benidorm as the famed Spanish resort celebrated its first Easter weekend without any Covid restrictions since 2019.

Hotels, bars and restaurants at the Costa Blanca hotspot were teeming with beachgoers eager to put the past two years behind them.

An 'avalanche of tourists' descended on the Mediterranean coastal haunt in the run-up to the four-day weekend, the local press reported.

'After two years in which the restrictions on mobility due to Covid-19 made Holy Week pass without pain or glory, Benidorm has undoubtedly returned in 2022 to be the Benidorm of always.

'The avalanche of tourists arriving from all parts of Spain and other European countries to spend these holidays has filled hotels, tourist apartments and second homes, reaching the records of years prior to the pandemic', they wrote.

Benidorm returned to its glorious best as tourists from across Europe began to flood beaches

Hotels, bars and restaurants are teeming with tourists more than at any point since 2019

Mayor Perez said the council had worked constantly throughout the year to make sure the beaches were in 'an optimal state' for users for Easter, which marks the beginning of the high season.

The only restriction tourists must face is a limit on sunbeds - a maximum of 3,500 on the beach

Picturesque Benidorm has become the sight of welcome holiday festivities by tourists across Europe this Easter weekend

Rain on Wednesday and gusts of wind Thursday could not stop the flood of visitors, with 'no vacancies' signs spotted at some hotels and many reporting occupancy levels of 90 per cent or more.

Hotel association Hosbec had already voiced optimism about last-minute bookings. This has since materialised.

And apartment group Aptur reported tourist flats are 90 per cent full, too. Across the rest of the Costa Blanca, hotels are around 90 per cent occupied, Hosbec added.

In just two days, more than 100,000 cars full of tourists from Spain and across Europe have arrived to spend the Easter weekend on the Mediterranean.

Numbers at the resort's airport, train station and on buses have also soared.

Councilor for Mobility Jose Ramon Gonzalez de Zarate said: 'When there were no restrictions in 2020 and 2021, the people who travelled to Benidorm mostly came by car for fear of going by bus or collective transport and being able to get infected, but the data tells us that this fear already seems to be overcome.'

The Association of Bars, Restaurants and Cafeterias (Abreca) said the bumper Easter will help to wipe away some of the losses run up during the Covid crisis.

Benidorm's famous beaches are also 'back to normal' for Easter for the first time in two years, the town's mayor said.

Mayor Toni Perez said: 'After two years of the pandemic, this will be the first Holy Week in which there will be no restrictions on the use of the sand.'

At one stage during the Covid crisis, beaches in Spain had to close and when allowed to reopen, they were subject to strict social distancing measures.

There were plots of sand for each group of sunbathers, tight controls over access points, time restrictions and even a pre-booking system which often saw long queues on seafronts.

Benidorm was one of the Spanish resorts highly praised for the way it dealt with the controls.

Mayor Perez said the council had worked constantly throughout the year to make sure the beaches were in 'an optimal state' for users for Easter, which marks the beginning of the high season.

To this end, repair work has been carried out on different elements, as well as adjusting the lifeguard and cleaning device.

Sunbeds are also making a welcome return, with the mayor specifying the maximum on the beach will be 3,500 per day.

Brits are spotted enjoying the Benidorm sun once again as the popular tourist resort enjoys its first open Easter since 2019

Mayor Toni Perez said: 'After two years of the pandemic, this will be the first Holy Week in which there will be no restrictions on the use of the sand.'

The local press reported this will be the first holiday weekend in two years with 'pain and glory'

Benidorm's gorgeous beaches are thankfully sheltered from storms, its mayor said (file image)

The number of rescue lifeguards are also being increased, with five on Levante beach, six on Poniente beach and one on Mal Pas beach.

There will also be two ambulances with personnel. The cleaning service has also been reinforced.

One regulation which will remain is the 'six metres' from the shore requirement. This means that sunbathers can't sit within this line, leaving the shoreline space for people who want to walk along the beaches.

Spain has already lifted the requirement for beach users to wear masks as they are no longer required outdoors. The indoor rule will be lifted on April 20.

Benidorm's mayor also confirmed the beaches were not badly affected by the recent storms as they are more protected than others.
The Conservatives are set to lose 800 council seats at next month's local elections as the Tories were warned Labour's Sir Keir Starmer is on course to enter Downing Street at the next general election.

According to new polling, the council and local authority contests on May 5th will see a 5% swing to Labour away from the Tories.

This means Labour are on course to gain about 800 councillors and control of around 20 councils.

These could include Bolton, Bridgend, Harlow, Merthyr Tydfil, Milton Keynes, Plymouth, Sheffield, Southampton, and Wirral.

Both Barnet and Wandsworth in London are also set to be seized by Labour, the polling by Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now suggested.

A Tory loss of Wandsworth to Labour would prove a seismic result, as the London borough was famously Margaret Thatcher's favourite and has been a flagship Conservative council for more than 40 years.

It was the first council to introduce Thatcher's right to buy scheme for council house tenants.

Tory control of the council has seen Wandsworth viewed as a pioneer of outsourcing local services and famous for its ultra-low council tax.

The polling predicted Boris Johnson's Tories are set to lose 800 councillors next month, although they may only lose control of a few councils.

They could even gain councils such as Elmbridge, Havering, Pendle, Vale of Glamorgan and Worcester, the study found.

It was suggested that such a result would be disappointing for the Tories but not catastrophic and not indicative of a meltdown in Conservative support.

New polling predicts Boris Johnson's Tories are set to lose 800 councillors next month, although they may only lose control of a few councils

Separate analysis shows that Sir Keir Starmer is on course to be the next PM as the head of a minority Labour government

The Tories have been forecast to lose six councils at the local elections on May 5th; Barnet, Harlow, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Southampton, Thurrock, and Wandsworth

Elsewhere, the polling found the Liberal Democrats are set to gain the new single unitary authority in Somerset, while Plaid Cymru would gain Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and the Isle of Anglesey.

The Prime Minister has been warned that a Tory humiliation at the local elections would further imperil his position in Number 10, following the Partygate scandal.

However, should a huge backlash from voters at Covid rule-breaking in Downing Street not arise, it would help Mr Johnson shore up his position as Conservative leader ahead of the next general election.

Yet, the pollsters warned that their survey was conducted before the PM and Chancellor Rishi Sunak were revealed to have receieved police fines as part of Scotland Yard's Partygate investigation.

The new polling forecast the Tories would lose 810 council seats, while Labour would gain 835. But this would not be a 'catastrophic defeat' for the Conservatives

A separate forecast from Electoral Calculus found that Labour is on course to be the largest party in Parliament after the next election

Tory hopes of winning the next general election will be dampened by a separate forecast from Electoral Calculus - based on different polling - that found Sir Keir could replace Mr Johnson as PM when seats in the House of Commons are next decided.

Their analysis found that Labour is on course to be the largest party in Parliament after the next election with 311 seats, although this would leave them short of a majority.

This would likely lead to Sir Keir being PM as the head of a minority Labour government, which would probably be supported by the Lib Dems or the SNP.

If Labour needed SNP support, the price could be another independence referendum in Scotland.

Bookies' Coral have put the Tories as odds on not to win a majority at the next general election, priced at 2-5.

Former Conservative minister Nick Boles, who was briefly Mr Johnson's chief of staff during the PM's time as London mayor, today claimed Sir Keir would 'deserve' to be in Downing Street after the next election.

Despite admitting the Labour leader was 'not exactly charismatic or exciting', Mr Boles wrote on Twitter that Sir Keir had been 'dealt the worst hand imaginable' in succeeding Jeremy Corbyn and had 'played it remarkably well'.

'Hes not a political wizard. Not an Obama, a Clinton or a Blair,' he added.

'But I reckon hell be Prime Minister after the next election and deserve to be.'

The Tories could lose Wandsworth under Boris Johnson's watch. The council was famously a favourite of Margaret Thatcher (pictured with Mr Johnson in 2008)

Wandsworth was the first council to introduce the right to buy scheme for council house tenants introduced by Thatcher (pictured on a visit in 1978)

For their local elections polling, Electoral Calculus and Find Out Now asked more than 12,000 residents of district and unitary councils in Britain for their voting intention on 5 May.

The polling was conducted between 4th and 8th April.

Martin Baxter, CEO of Electoral Calculus said: 'If the actual results are similar to our predictions, then Boris Johnson will be spared new backbench pressure to unseat him.

'Although the Conservatives will lose some ground in these local elections, it doesn't look like a catastrophic defeat, and that is a good result for them after their poor poll ratings post-Partygate.'

Nick Fox of Find Out Now said: 'We're expecting the results to confirm the headway that Starmer has been making in the polls, but the council gains we have predicted for Labour haven't translated to Conservative losses, so it's not a result that will give Johnson any real unrest.

'Whether this is the end of the Partygate scandal or we are seeing its effects temporarily diffused by the conflict in Ukraine remains to be seen.'
A militant vegan activist has been criticised for leaving 'offensive' messages painted on rocks at the summit of Scotland's highest mountains, including Ben Nevis.

The walker - known only by the initials RM - has been placing a brightly coloured painted stone on each Munro - mountains over 3000 feet - with messages like 'MEAT: Murder, Evil, Agony, Torture' and 'I'll kill them all unless they're vegan.'

The local posts on Instagram under the sweary handle f******-hostile-vegan-sausage, referring to himself as a 'metal head munro bagger' as he shares pictures of his controversial work.

A vegan activist - known only by the initials RM - has been irritating ramblers by placing brightly coloured painted stones on the top of mountains

The bloodthirsty vegan's activities have now attracted the attention of Ramblers Scotland and Mountaineering Scotland, which urged him to heed the 'leave no trace' policy.

Stuart Younie, chief executive of Mountaineering Scotland, said: 'We have seen an increased pressure on the outdoors and particularly the Munros over the last couple of years and many new people out enjoying the benefits of hillwalking, but our message is that it's not OK to leave painted rocks or anything else behind.'

One horrified hillwalker, Anne Butler, was shocked to find a stone with 'Be kind to animals or I'll kill you' scrawled on it.

She said: 'Whatever your beliefs, leaving them painted on a cairn on a remote munro top is nothing more than an act of vandalism.

'Please respect the environment and leave it unspoilt for all who use it. I buried the offending rock under a lot of others, hopefully never to be seen again.'

One fuming user said: 'It seems to be a new trend to graffiti on the hills. No better than taking a s*** on a summit in my opinion.'

The local posts on Instagram under the sweary handle f******-hostile-vegan-sausage, referring to himself as a 'metal head munro bagger' as he shares pictures of his controversial work

Another said: 'No place for this nonsense in the hills, whatever the message. Graffiti, litter, dog poo bags, anyone leaving this stuff behind is an a*******.'

RM has said: 'It's obvious that it's the message that offends them, not the paint on the small rock.

'So, what I'm saying is, let's maybe not make a big deal out of little rocks in the mountains.

'On my hikes I'm finding other painted rocks. With flags, usually Scottish, with expressions of love, mental health support, advertising things, some were painted to resemble a ladybug or a frog.

'I have never removed any of these. If anything, I'm putting them back on top of the cairn. Shame on these people who remove them although I suspect they only remove mine.'

But RM has his supporters too.

The bloodthirsty vegan's activities have now attracted the attention of Ramblers Scotland and Mountaineering Scotland, which urged him to heed the 'leave no trace' policy

And he added on his Instagram on Thursday: 'Hello friends! I'd like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for yesterday's support. The amount of comments left me in awe and deeply moved. It was completely unexpected and I could barely keep up with replying. I hope I haven't omitted anyone, I'm very sorry if I have. You're absolutely fantastic, I love you all and I am extremely honored to be part of this wonderful community.'

The bearded hiker is apparently set on leaving slogans on all 282 Munros and, as his blog makes clear, he is ticking them off at speed.

He's conquered about 100, with the first 'go vegan' stone pictured on Glas Maol, near Glenshee, last September.

RM's output can be poetic and profane. It includes the sayings of great thinkers, such as the ancient philosopher Pythagoras, whose words are daubed in blue on a rock at the summit of Sgiath Chuil in Glen Dochart: 'For as long as men massacre animals they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap the joy of love.'

His message at the summit of Beinn Achaladair, above Glen Orchy, was an acrostic, and spelt out 'Meat': 'Murder Evil Agony Torture', with a second rock daubed, 'Keep my animal friends out of your f***ing mouth.'

The bearded hiker is apparently set on leaving slogans on all 282 Munros and, as his blog makes clear, he is ticking them off at speed

At the summit of Meall Garbh, by Ben Lawers in Perthshire, 'all rocks around were quite rough and writing took some time and effort', he writes. The slogan here is short, taken from the Keanu Reeves film John Wick: 'Be kind to animals or I'll kill you.'

RM and his wife have, he admits, been challenged by other hikers. He posted that they had been condemned as 'criminals destroying nature [who] should be reported to the police'.

He invited Police Scotland to contact him, adding: 'I'll happily discuss my vandalism and hurting some animal abusers' feelings.

'You don't like messages on these rocks? Messages that basically say ''be kind'', ''do not harm'', ''do not kill?' That offends you? You know why? Because you're hypocritical.'
A mother conned her best friend out of more than 100,000 by claiming the man she was interested in needed money for life-saving cancer treatment - before keeping the cash, gifts and letters for herself.

Anna Bonner, 40, from Liscard, Merseyside, was labelled 'greedy, devious and manipulative' by a judge at Liverpool Crown Court today for her campaign of fraud against best friend Susan Hughes.

Ms Hughes sent just over 117,000 to Bonner's accounts over a five-year period, money she thought was going towards a sick love interest's cancer treatment. Instead, the cash was used to fund Bonner's lifestyle.

Bonner encouraged a crush Ms Hughes had on the man, who she only met a few times, getting her to write letters and send gifts.

Mother-of-three Bonner was jailed for 28 months after she pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.

Anna Bonner, 40, from Liscard, Merseyside, was labelled 'greedy, devious and manipulative' by a judge at Liverpool Crown Court

Bonner and Ms Hughes became friends in 1999 after meeting through their jobs at a care home, forming a close bond that saw them live together.

Ms Hughes was chief bridesmaid at Bonner's wedding and the two would frequently go on nights out together.

It was during these nights that Ms Hughes struck up a friendship with a bouncer at a nightclub, who Bonner claimed was her uncle.

In 2015, she told her friend that the man, who she called Ste Lucas, had gone to jail and needed money for clothes because he was being bullied inside.

Her lies snowballed as she later told her best friend the man had been diagnosed with testicular cancer and needed experimental treatment that could only be provided in the USA.

Ms Hughes began handing over money, sometimes up to 3,000 in a single month, to Bonner in the belief it was supporting the man's medical treatment.

Bonner kept this money for herself, while also encouraging Ms Hughes to send letters, cards and gifts to the man. The court heard Bonner kept some of these herself.

When police started to investigate Bonner's fraud, in 2020 they tried to contact 'Ste Lucas' but he was never found. Ms Hughes sent just over 117,000 to Bonner's accounts during the five year period her best friend duped her.

Charlotte Atherton, prosecuting, said: 'The defendant deliberately misled Ms Hughes into thinking that she was communicating with Ste and providing money for his medical rehabilitation when in fact the defendant was the one taking money for herself.

'The defendant used pressure techniques, applying deadlines to the payments of funds and used emotional pressure to suggest Ms Hughes may have a future with Ste if she paid over the money.'

She said Ms Hughes had to leave her job as a mental health nurse as a result of what Bonner had done to her and was now in crippling debt. Her credit rating is in tatters and she has had to move back in with her parents.

Ms Hughes sent just over 117,000 to Bonner's accounts over a five-year period, money she thought was going towards a sick love interest's cancer treatment. Instead, the cash was used to fund Bonner's lifestyle

Trevor Parry-Jones, defending, said Bonner was remorseful and ashamed of what she had done but said probation officers had struggled even now to figure out what exactly motivated her.

He said: 'It is in one way bizarre that she became involved in this, particularly in relation to somebody who she considered, and who considered her, to be a friend.'

Mr Parry-Jones appealed to the judge, Louise Brandon, to hand Bonner a suspended sentence if possible, saying she had caring responsibilities for her family. Bonner has a one-year-old child and a 15-year-old who is disabled and requires care.

Judge Brandon told Bonner the seriousness of her offences meant only a jail term was suitable for her. She said: 'This was a mean and nasty offence committed by a greedy, devious and manipulative woman. You have not repaid a penny and you have destroyed a friendship.'

Referring to the effect on Bonner's family, Judge Brandon said: 'It is regrettable that you did not consider the impact on them before you committed these offences.'
China has responded aggressively to a US Congressional visit to Taiwan by conducting military drills in nearby waters.

A task force of frigates, bombers and fighters manoeuvred near Taiwanese waters in a move the People's Liberation Army said was intended to target the 'wrong signals' sent by the United States in its show of support for Taiwan.

Meanwhile, the Chinese J-20 stealth fighter - widely considered to be an attempted clone of the US's F-35 jet - will start patrols of the South China Sea in a renewed effort to dominate the contested waters, with parts claimed by Indonesia, Malayisa, the Phillipines and Vietnam respectively.

'This operation is in response to the recent frequent release of wrong signals by the United States on the Taiwan issue,' People's Liberation Army Eastern Theater Command spokesman Shi Yilu said, without mentioning the visiting U.S. lawmakers.

'The U.S. bad actions and tricks are completely futile and very dangerous. Those who play with fire will burn themselves,' he said.

The Chinese J-20 stealth fighter, above - widely considered to be an attempted clone of the US's F-35 jet - will start patrols of the South China Sea

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen poses for a group photograph with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, Bob Menendez, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and other U.S. delegation members, at the presidential office in Taipei, Taiwan

Xi Jinping has sent his new advanced J-20 stealth fighter to patrols contested waters in the South China Sea while ordering military exercises near Taiwan in order to intimidate the island nation which he is intent on conquering

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (right), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led a Congressional delegation to visit the island. He is greeted by Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (left)

A task force of frigates, bombers and fighters manoeuvred near Taiwanese waters. Above: A Poeple's Liberation Army-Navy Yuzhao-class amphibious transport dock vessel

The People's Liberation Army said the military drills were intended to target the 'wrong signals' sent by the United States in its show of support for Taiwan. Above: a Chinese military H-6K bomber

The J-20, which is China's most powerful stealth figher jet, has started patrols of the East China Sea and the South China Sea in move will enable the warplane to better safeguard China's airspace security and maritime interests, said the Global Times, a mouthpiece for the communist regime.

During a Friday meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the technology hub a 'country of global significance' and its security has implications for the world.

Taiwan produces 90% of the world's high-end semiconductor products, making it 'a country of global significance, consequence and impact,' Menendez added.

'It should be understood the security of Taiwan has a global impact.'

Semiconductors are a vital component for electrical appliances, found in almost every form of technology used for communications, computing, healthcare, military systems, transportation, clean energy, and countless others.

China is always sure to bristle at reference to Taiwan as a 'country', and regards US support for the democratic island off its coast to be a form of interference in its internal affairs.

The US has no formal relations with Taiwan but has long been their most important backer and guarantor of its security.

Taiwan operates in the shadow of explicit Chinese ambitions to 'reunite' the island with the mainland under the governance of the Chinese Communist Party.

China's Communist Party has never controlled self-ruled Taiwan but it nonetheless views the island as part of its territory. Threats of annexing the island have turned more hostile under Xi Jinping (pictured in Beijing, Friday, April 8, 2022)

Beijing claims the self-governing island of Taiwan as its own territory, and has promised to take it by force if necessary. It has stepped up aggressive flights by warplanes in recent months

Taiwan's military today published an official handbook advising civilians on how to prepare for a potential Chinese invasion, including where to find bomb shelters and how to stockpile emergency supplies (Taiwanese army soldiers during a Readiness Enhancement Drill, amid escalating Taiwan-China tensions, in Taiwan, January 2022)

Menendez was among a bipartisan group of six U.S. lawmakers visiting in a show of support to the democratic island in the face of continued Chinese pressure.

He acknowledged that China was 'very unhappy' about the visit but this would not stop the US from supporting Taiwan, with a population of 24 million, in its dispute with Beijing, which rules over 1.4 billion people in a virtual police state.

Taiwan has been heartened by the U.S. support offered by the Biden administration, which has repeatedly talked of its 'rock-solid' commitment to the democratically governed island.

That has added to strains in Sino-U.S. relations, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian called the visit 'condescending' and 'irresponsible.'

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned that the U.S. is 'going down the wrong and dangerous path'

Zhao warned yesterday that the U.S. is 'going down the wrong and dangerous path' by not adhering to the One China principle.

China's Communist Party has never controlled self-ruled Taiwan but it nonetheless views the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

Taiwan's military on Tuesday published an official handbook advising civilians on how to prepare for a potential Chinese invasion, including where to find bomb shelters and how to stockpile emergency supplies.

Threats against the island have turned more hostile under Xi Jinping, China's most authoritarian leader in a generation, while Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine has also heightened fears that China will soon follow through on threats to annex its smaller neighbour.

The 28-page guide contains information which 'the general public can use as an emergency response guideline in a military crisis or natural disaster,' defence ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang said during an introduction at an online press conference.

It is the first time Taiwan's military has published such a handbook.
Dr Christopher Woollard, 64, took off from Rochester airport in Kent one morning last September without permission or clearance from the air traffic control operator.

The keen flier had been given three months to live just two months earlier and stole the plane on September 10, 2021, so that he could end his life.

The Cessna Skyhawk plane was later seen to enter a steep descent before it struck the ground in a field near Tar Pot Lane in Ruckinge, Kent.

Woollard, who had 74 hours logged in his flying book failed to alert authorities about his fatal diagnosis who would have probably revoked his flying licence, leaving him grounded.

Dr Christopher Wollard crashed a Cessna 172S into the ground in Ruckinge, Kent, pictured, on September 10, 2021 after deciding to end his own life following a terminal cancer diagnosis

The 67-year-old academic arrived at Rochester airport for a flying lesson when he stole the plane while his instructor was with Air Traffic Control before smashing into a field, pictured

An Air Accident Investigation Branch report said: 'Immediately prior to taking off, the pilot had reported over the aircraft radio that he has been diagnosed with a terminal illness and indicated that he intended to deliberately crash the aircraft.

'The pilot had not declared his diagnosis to the doctor who issued the aviation medical certificate.'

The computer science professor, from Sidcup, had supposed to be flying a dual training exercise with an instructor.

But as the instructor went to the Air Traffic Control centre to get flight approval, the pilot got into the Cessna for pre-flight checks but then taxied and took off.

Around 45 minutes later after carrying out a sustained series of turns the plane was seen to enter a 'sharp' turn down to the left and was killed in the impact with the ground.

The AAIB said the pilot's GP confirmed he had been diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer two months earlier but had renewed his aviation medical before that and not disclosed it to the Aero medical examiner who would have probably revoked his flying licence.

The report stated the Aero medical examiner would only have access to an applicant's complete medical file if they were also the pilot's GP. Otherwise they rely on fliers to admit any medical conditions which could impact their abilities in the cockpit.

An inquest later concluded that the pilot had taken his own life.
The crazed attacker who brutally stabbed a young sex worker to death in 2019 has continued his reign of terror by bashing a prison guard as he serves a 44-year sentence.

Mert Ney, now 23, pleaded guilty to assaulting a corrections officer who was in the process of doing his daily job at the Goulburn Correctional Centre.

Ney did not attend court but his lawyer offered a guilty plea on his behalf.

Killer Mert Ney, now 23, pleaded guilty to assaulting a corrections officer who was in the execution of his duty at Goulburn Correctional Centre. He is pictured posing to the camera as he is escorted from the NSW Supreme Court

Ney is serving 44 years with a minimum non-parole sentence of 33 years for the murder of Michaela Dunn (pictured) in a Clarence Street apartment on August 13, 2019

During the hearing, his defence was warned by the judge over a wish to dispute the facts given to Goulburn Local Court, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Magistrate Geraldine Beattie told the lawyer that his client could lose a possible 25 per cent sentencing discount for an early guilty plea if the matter had to return to a disputed facts hearing.

Ney is serving 44 years with a minimum non-parole sentence of 33 years for the murder of Michaela Dunn in a Clarence Street apartment on August 13, 2019.

While doing her job as a sex worker, Ms Dunn she accepted a booking from Ney, who brutally attacked and stabbed her several times, killing the 24-year-old

While doing her job as a sex worker, Ms Dunn she accepted a booking from Ney, who brutally attacked and stabbed her several times, killing the 24-year-old.

In May 2021, in the NSW Supreme Court, Justice Peter Johnson called Ney 'a dangerous man' with poor prospects for rehabilitation.

'The position appears bleak in the extreme with respect to the offender's prospects of returning to the community and living a lawful life in the future.'

In 2021 Ney appeared to smirk for the camera and displayed a rock and roll hand gesture as he was led into a vehicle and taken away from the court.

Ney's defence plans to try and request that the prosecution reduce the assault charge against him - a process which must be completed by May 25.

He will be sentenced over the assault on June 7 at Goulburn Local Court.
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Russian troops in Mariupol are allegedly digging up thousands of dead civilians and burning their bodies in mobile crematoriums in a possible bid to destroy evidence of atrocities like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv when the Russians withdrew.

Mariupol's city council in a post on Telegram today said Moscow's men were exhuming bodies buried in residential courtyards within the city and were assigning watchmen to each square to stop locals from reburying their dead friends and relatives.

'Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown,' the council said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app.

It comes days after Mayor Vadym Boychenko warned corpses 'carpeted the streets' of Mariupol as he accused Moscow of incinerating tens of thousands of civilians killed during a siege that has trapped well over 100,000 civilians in desperate need of food, water and heating.

Chechen fighters in the city were today taking on the last of the Ukrainian defenders and were filmed firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers blindly from behind walls and barricades as Russian forces try to take full control of the port city after laying siege to it for nearly seven weeks.

Members of Vladimir Putin's Rosgvardia force - or National Guard - were seen holding weapons above their heads as they fired into the ether while taking cover by blown out cars and behind fences in what appeared to be a series of backyards in a residential district of Mariupol.

Russian forces have in recent days made advances in Mariupol with Moscow claiming on Wednesday that its troops had taken control of the final Ukrainian strongholds in the city including the Azovstal industrial complex, where Kyiv's forces have been holed up in a hellish last stand for several days.

But Ukrainian marines who have teamed up with the Azov regiment to defend Mariupol yesterday appeared in a video to rebuff the claims as they denounced more than 1,000 fellow soldiers who surrendered to Russian forces on Wednesday and vowed to do 'whatever it takes' to protect the city.

Mariupol's capture is critical for Russia because it would allow its forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.

Boychenko said this week that more than 10,000 civilians had died and warned that the death toll could surpass 20,000. David Beasley, executive director of the UN World Food Program, said in an interview yesterday that people were being 'starved to death' in the besieged city.

Russian troops in Mariupol are allegedly digging up thousands of dead civilians and burning their bodies in mobile crematoriums in a possible bid to destroy evidence of atrocities like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv when the Russians withdrew (pictured, a grave in Mariupol)

Members of Vladimir Putin's Rosgvardia force - or National Guard - were seen holding weapons above their heads as they fired into the ether while taking cover by blown out cars and behind fences in what appeared to be a series of backyards in a residential district of Mariupol

Chechen fighters in the city were today taking on the last of the Ukrainian defenders and were filmed firing machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers blindly from behind walls and barricades as Russian forces try to take full control of the port city after laying siege to it for nearly seven weeks

Russian forces have in recent days made advances in Mariupol with Moscow claiming on Wednesday that its troops had taken control of the final Ukrainian strongholds in the city which has been under siege for nearly seven weeks

Mariupol's capture is critical for Russia because it would allow its forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive (pictured, a destroy building in the port city)

A torn Ukrainian flags hangs on a wire in front an apartment building destroyed in a Russian missile strike on the besieged port city of Mariupol

People stand outside a shopping centre destroyed in a sustained Russian bombardment of Mariupol ongoing for nearly seven weeks

'The situation in Mariupol is difficult and hard. Fighting is happening right now. The Russian army is constantly calling on additional units to storm the city,' defence ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said.

'But as of now the Russians haven't managed to completely capture it,' he told a televised briefing.

Motuzyanyk said Russia had used long-range bombers to attack Mariupol for the first time since its February 24 invasion, and that elsewhere Russian forces were concentrating efforts on seizing the cities of Rubizhne and Popasna in Ukraine's east.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said that 2,864 people had been evacuated from conflict areas on Friday, including 363 people from Mariupol who used their own transport.

WFP executive director David Beasley also warned in an interview on Thursday with AP in Kyiv that Russia's invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.

The war that began February 24 was 'devastating the people in Ukraine,' Beasley said, lamenting the lack of access faced by the WFP and other aid organizations in trying to reach those in need amid the conflict.

The fluid nature of the conflict, which has seen fighting shift away from areas around the capital and toward eastern Ukraine, has made it especially difficult to reach hungry Ukrainians.

The WFP is trying to put food supplies now in areas that could be caught up in the fighting, but Beasley acknowledged that there are 'a lot of complexities' as the situation rapidly evolves.

The warning comes a day after Moscow suffered a stinging symbolic defeat with the loss of the Moskva, the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, after it sank while being towed to port on Thursday after suffering heavy damage under circumstances that remained in dispute.

Kyiv said it was struck with two Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery, which struck the port side of the vessel. Russian military sources said the ship had rolled on to its side and caught fire after the blast, while US intelligence sources said the vessel suffered a 'large' explosion that left it heavily damaged before it sank.

The Russian warship's loss in an invasion already widely seen as a historic blunder also was a symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for an offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from the Kyiv region and much of the north.

In his nightly address on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the people of his country should be proud of having survived 50 days under attack when the Russian invaders 'gave us a maximum of five.'

Zelensky did not mention the Moskva by name, but while listing the ways Ukraine has defended against the onslaught, mentioned 'those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it's to the bottom' of the sea.

Firefighters carry a body bag in front of the damaged building during a rescue mission among the debris in Borodyanka region of Kyiv

Body bags are seen in front of the damaged building during debris removal works in progress in the Borodyanka region of Kyiv

People stand beside damaged buildings at the Vizar company military-industrial complex, after the site was hit by overnight Russian strikes in the town of Vyshneve

A Ukrainian military factory outside Kyiv that produced missiles allegedly used to hit Russia's Moskva warship was partly destroyed by overnight Russian strikes

Debris removal works are seen in progress in the Borodyanka region of Kyiv following renewed Russian airstrikes after Ukraine sank the Moskva

A Ukrainian tank drives next to a destroyed Russian vehicle, marked with the 'Z' symbol in the village of Husarivka, in Kharkiv

A residential buildings destroyed in Russia shelling of Mariupol, where more than 100,000 civilians remained trapped without food, water or electricity

Aside from the sinking of the Moskva, Russia is also having to contend with strikes against Belgorod and heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine as it prepares for a fresh assault there. However, it has struck a missile factory in Kyiv it claims was used to build the missile that sank Moskva, and also appears poised to capture Mariupol in the south

Other Russian ships in the northern Black Sea moved farther south after the Moskva incident, a senior US defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal military assessments.

Russia's Defense Ministry promised today to ramp up missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukraine's alleged aggression on Russian territory in an ominous warning that followed Moscow's stinging symbolic loss of its navy's flagship in the Black Sea.

The threat of intensified attacks on Kyiv came after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes on Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling yesterday.

'The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory,' Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

A renewed bombardment could return Kyiv's residents to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of Russia's invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations. The capital has displayed tentative signs of pre-war life after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine.

Although it is not certain when Russia will launch the full-scale campaign, a regional Ukrainian official said on Friday that seven people died and 27 were injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are working to establish the circumstances of the attack, Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutor's office, told Ukraine's Suspilne news website.

The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - the Soviet-era guided missile destroyer Moskva - has suffered heavy damage and may have sunk after Ukraine claimed to have shot it with two anti-ship cruise missiles

Russian Telegram accounts with links to the Wagner Group claim Bayraktar drones were used to distract the Moskva's radar systems before a coastal battery opened fire somewhere near Odesa, hitting the ship with two Neptune missiles
Marine Le Pen was confronted by two women in hijabs during a fiery visit to a food market in the south of France today.

If elected president in the second round run-off on Sunday, April 24, Le Pen would ban all Muslim head coverings in public - and fine those caught wearing them.

Earlier at the Petruis, Provence food market, an elderly Muslim woman in a white veil called Le Pen over and asked her: 'What is the headscarf doing in politics?'

The National Rally candidate for president hit back: 'You know full well that women who don't wear the headscarf are left aside, they are isolated, they are judged because the don't wear the headscarf.

'In France, I don't want any women to be judged...'

A 70-year-old woman of Algerian origin (right) urged Le Pen (left) to take the veil out of politics

Le Pen did not appear to expect multiple confrontations with Muslim women on the same day

Not satisfied with Le Pen's answer, the woman said: 'No. For me it is a sign of being a grandmother.'

The pair continually interrupted each other before Le Pen smiled and walked away.

Soon later a 70-year-old woman of Algerian origin challenged Le Pen. She asked the presidential candidate why she supports banning the veil.

Le Pen replied: 'The headscarf is a uniform imposed over time by people who have a radical vision of Islam.'

The runner-up in the first round of the French presidential election explained she would fine any woman seen wearing a headscarf in public.

She told RTL radio last week: 'People will be given a fine in the same way that it is illegal to not wear your seat belt. It seems to me that the police are very much able to enforce this measure.'

Le Pen (foreground) bickered with the hijab-wearing woman (to her right) before walking away

The elderly woman accosted Le Pen, asking: 'What is the headscarf doing in politics?'

Marine Le Pen interpellee par une femme voilee lors de sa deambulation au marche de Pertuis pic.twitter.com/hQXcwvDFY3  BFMTV (@BFMTV) April 15, 2022 nE nE

Le Pen has tried to tone down her anti-immigration rhetoric during this year's campaign in an attempt to move toward the centre.

Meanwhile President Macron has sought to avoid the issue of veils, stating: 'For me personally, the question of the headscarf is not an obsession.'

He previously courted controversy by supporting legislation in 2020 which argued the hijab is a symbol of 'Islamic counter-society' and 'divides men and women'.

Crowds gathered to see the National Rally candidate's surprise appearance in Pertuis, Provence, with some shouting anti-fascist slogans and others singing the Marseillaise.

Le Pen has been steadily closing the gap on Macron in French presidential election polls

Emmanuel Macron Cost of living: Remove all tax on inheritance valued less than 150,000, abolish TV licence fee Immigration: Reform the asylum system to make it more efficient, long-stay permit is only given to people who pass a French language exam and are professionally successful Europe: Strengthen the EU and its armies, increase the continent's energy autonomy, fill the gap left by Angela Merkel as de facto EU leader Pensions: Raise the pension age from 62 to 65 to keep the pension system afloat. Minimum pensions would be raised to 1,100 a month Foreign policy: Took a leading role in negotiations with Vladimir Putin Advertisement

Marine Le Pen Cost of living: Lower VAT on fuel and energy from 20% to 5.5%. Income tax for under-30s scrapped as well as TV licence fee. Highways renationalised Immigration: Ban Muslim veil from public spaces, hold referendum on immigration to prioritise natives for jobs, housing and healthcare Europe: Dropped previous vow to leave EU and euro, but wants to cut EU budget contributions. Wants French law to take primacy over EU law Pensions: Drop pension age to 60 for those who started work before 20 Foreign policy: Condemned Russia but wants to maintain an alliance on 'certain substantive issues'. Pull out of NATO's integrated command structure Advertisement

Scuffles got ugly when a young anti-fascist woman tussled with two male Le Pen supporters, prompting one to ward her off with a small step ladder.

The far-right candidate is closing the gap with Macron ahead of the second round of the country's presidential election, according to a poll published earlier this week.

The OpinionWay-Kea Partners poll released by Les Echos and Radio Classique on Tuesday showed Le Pen narrowing the gap by one point as voter turnout continued to fall, although Macron would still win the run-off with 54 per cent of the vote.

The poll's turnout estimate further declined by 1 per cent to 70 per cent, down from 74.56 per cent in 2017. This was already the lowest since 1969.

Le Pen secured a run-off against the president in the French elections after she received 23.15 per cent of the vote in the first round on Sunday, just four points behind Macron and the best-ever showing by a far-right party.

Le Pen has also vowed to hold a referendum on reintroducing the death penalty in France and ban wind farms.

Macron slammed the idea as the latest sign of Le Pen's 'authoritarian drift'.

He told France 2 television on Wednesday: 'Despite all the efforts, the true face of the far-right is coming back. It is a face that doesn't respect freedoms, the constitutional framework, press independence and fundamental freedoms, rights.

Macron categorised Le Pen's manifesto as full of lies and false promises that conceal a far-right agenda ultimately leading to France leaving the European Union.

Le Pen said the show whose journalists were refused accreditation was entertainment rather than journalism and that she reserved the right - now as a candidate, and later as president if elected - to choose who may attend her news conferences.

She retorted that Macron was showing his 'weakness' and was in no position to give lessons on how to handle the press.

Macron has had a bumpy relationship with the media during his presidency and last week was criticised for refusing to take part in several prime time shows ahead of the first round.

'He'd be better off going into the substance of my project. It is known, transparent. We can discuss it and argue over our disagreements,' Le Pen said at a campaign stop outside of Paris.
The scooter rider who knocked down a 59-year-old Brooklyn woman before returning to sexually assault her has been captured on surveillance video fleeing into an elevator after the attack.

The man, who is still on the run from the NYPD, is seen riding speeding on his scooter into the elevator after the March 31 attack in East Flatbush.

He takes the vehicle down a hallway inside a building before parking it in the elevator and making his getaway.

Once in the elevator, the man dismounts from his scooter before pushing a button and then taking time to take off his gloves, adjust his headgear and then stare into his phone.

As of Friday morning, the suspect has not been apprehended, according to authorities.

No arrests have been made and the investigation remains active, a spokesperson for the NYPD told DailyMail.com

In newly-released footage from the NYPD, the suspect in an assault and sexual abuse case can be seen driving his scooter indoors to get away

The man clearly drives the scooter to an elevator, pushing the button to open it before getting in

The suspect, still on the run from the NYPD as of Friday morning, is last seen in the elevator

The shocking original footage released Thursday shows the man knocking down the victim, who was walking along a Brooklyn street with a bag in hand.

As the battered woman struggles to stand up, the man on the scooter returns.

Within seconds, the suspect viciously grabs the woman, dragging her and slapping her repeatedly in the face and torso.

As she tries to fight back, the man rips the victim's pants and underwear off and sexually abuses her, according to the NYPD.

While the ferocious attack was unfolding, a few vehicles drove by, but it appeared that no one intervened.

Here is the chilling moments before the brutal attack when the man approached the woman, who was walking alone along Church Avenue

The disturbing image shows the man sexually assaulting the 59-year-old woman in Brooklyn's East Flatbush neighborhood. The victims clothes and some of her personal belongings are seen scattered on the street as the suspects scooter stands idle

After the random attack, the woman is seen standing alone on the street holding her shopping bag.

She reportedly refused medical attention at the scene, ABC7 News reported.

The incident took place at 9511 Church Avenue at 12:30 p.m. on March 31st.

NYPD Crime Stoppers are offering a $3,500 reward.

Anyone with information to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888057-PISTA (74782).

NYC Mayor Eric Adams has made fighting crime a priority since taking office on January 1, but NYC crime is up almost 50 percent compared to last year and shootings have risen 9.3 percent.

Surveillance video released from the NYPD shows the woman lying helplessly in the street as the suspect fled the scene. After the unprovoked attack the woman refused medical care. Police are searching for the suspect who remains at large

The night of violence came just hours after Frank James fired 33 shots on a subway train in Brooklyn from his 9mm handgun on Tuesday during rush hour.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Adams - who is in quarantine with COVID - said in a video message: 'We got him!'

The attack on Tuesday in the Big Apple's underground transit system is just the latest in a wave of crime that has plagued the city and hobbled its economic comeback after two years of pandemic restrictions.

Transit crime has spiked 46 percent - with 224 more incidents - since last year as the city reopened.

In March alone, the number of crimes in subways jumped 55 percent, from the same period last year, according to the latest New York City Police Department statistics. There were 180 crimes reported in March of this year compared to 118 crimes for 2021.

NYC crime is up almost 50 percent compared to last year and shooting victims have risen 9.3 percent

January saw the biggest increase, nearly doubling the year before, with 198 crimes reported compared to 113 in the first month last year.

That same month, Deloitte analyst Michelle Go was pushed to her death under a Times Square train by a homeless man with a history of mental illness.

The suspect Martial Simon, 61, had a violent criminal history, including serving two years for robbing taxi drivers at gunpoint.

After the killing, the newly inaugurated mayor made safety in the subway system a top priority, holding a press conference in the Times Square station in February.

He promised that he would beckon riders back and clear out homeless people who used the commuter system for shelter.
Feature: Pet-care service comforts quarantined owners

Xinhua) 09:43, April 15, 2022

A staff member cleans the lawn at a pet-care center which helps look after pets belonging to quarantined people in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, April 7, 2022. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)

CHANGSHA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A woman stood at the window, watching a gray car drive away. There were tears in her eyes, but her sadness was mixed with relief.

The lady surnamed Yi, 41, was gazing after her three pet dogs as they headed for a pet-care center.

Yi and her relatives live in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province. Starting on March 30, they had to be isolated at home because the community went into lockdown for COVID-19 prevention and control.

On the first night of isolation, Yi couldn't sleep. She was afraid of being separated from her loyal friends.

"If we were sent somewhere else for quarantine, who was going to take care of my dogs?" she said.

The dogs were part of the family since before her daughter was born. "It's my duty to keep them safe and sound," she said.

As Yi pondered the problem, she suddenly recalled a WeChat group she had previously joined. She had read about the group through an announcement released online by a local animal-protection organization named Changsha Adoption Day, saying that a pet-care center would help look after pets belonging to quarantined people.

She quickly got in touch, and volunteers from the Juzijia pet-care center told her that they collected pets from their owners' doors, taking care of them until the owner is released from the quarantine. The service was free of charge.

Pet owners were constantly joining the WeChat group, and volunteers took pains to reassure them. After reading the chat records, Yi began to feel much better.

When Yi received a call on March 31 informing her that she must move to a designated isolation site, she immediately sent a message in the group seeking help.

Volunteers soon arrived at her community. With the help of community workers, Yi's three dogs and their belongings were disinfected, and they were then transferred to the care center.

Hu Yiming, manager of Changsha Adoption Day, explained how the service began. "We started offering free pet-care services as soon as we learned about the launch of the construction of a makeshift hospital in Changsha on March 27," said Hu.

The organization published the information on the internet on the same day, so that more pet owners could find the information, just like Yi did. "We contacted two pet-care centers that could provide temporary shelter, and we began to recruit volunteers," Hu said.

They received more than 1,017 applications, and 205 volunteers were selected to participate in the pet-rescue activity.

Yang Lingchen was among those lending a hand. As the deputy director of the College of Veterinary Medicine, Hunan Agricultural University, he contacted Hu at the earliest opportunity, offering to help the project with his professional experience.

He has provided guidance and suggestions to volunteers on disinfection operations and the centralized management of the pets.

As of April 9, they have received consultations from 460 families and helped bring hundreds of pets from 32 families into the care center.

"Pet-care services are not only conducive to caring for the pets in a proper way, but also help avoid the risk of epidemic transmission," Yang said.

Changsha is not alone in providing such services. The southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen has also put its first centralized pet-care center into trial operation, offering kenneling services to pet owners under centralized quarantine.

Covering an area of 8,500 square meters, the pet-care center has a total floor area of nearly 1,500 square meters. Once it is fully operational, it will be able to house a maximum of 300 dogs and cats.

Juzijia pet-care center also offers an all-day live broadcast service to the animals' owners. As Yi settled into her isolation hotel, she was always watching her dogs through her mobile phone.

She noticed that the young man who was responsible for taking care of the dogs worked so hard. "He played with the dogs and cleaned the rooms every day. The dogs have a nice living environment, and are free to run around," Yi said.

"I watch them live every day, from beginning to end," added Yi. She has even taken naps to the sound of barking dogs, confident that her loyal friends are safe and well.

A staff member plays with dogs at a pet-care center which helps look after pets belonging to quarantined people in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, April 7, 2022.(Xinhua/Xue Yuge)

A staff member plays with dogs at a pet-care center which helps look after pets belonging to quarantined people in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, April 7, 2022.(Xinhua/Xue Yuge)

A staff member feeds dogs at a pet-care center which helps look after pets belonging to quarantined people in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, April 7, 2022.(Xinhua/Xue Yuge)

A staff member plays with dogs at a pet-care center which helps look after pets belonging to quarantined people in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, April 7, 2022.(Xinhua/Xue Yuge)

A staff member feeds dogs at a pet-care center which helps look after pets belonging to quarantined people in Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, April 7, 2022.(Xinhua/Xue Yuge)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Google's navigation apps, both Waze and Google Maps, are now bringing the search engine giant into a legal battle for alleged anti-competitive practices.

Google's Navigation Apps Waze, Google Maps

Google currently owns two navigation apps, namely Waze and Google Maps. These two are at the top among popular navigation tools not just in the United States, but also across the globe.

Folks behind the wheel rely on navigation apps to go to unfamiliar places.

Not to mention that some drivers also use apps like Waze to check the best route for their daily commute to avoid any traffic congestion along the way.

Navigation apps have also been a go-to for bikers and even those walking around the city.

In fact, according to a news story by the Daily Mail, Apple Maps is currently surveying the streets of London, Manchester, and Birmingham to improve pedestrian navigation on its apps.

On top of that, Google Maps has also rolled out pedestrian features for select cities globally.

Read Also: Google Search On Desktop Appears To Include Widgets Similar To Discover-like Cards

Waze, Google Maps Lawsuit

Meanwhile, Google's navigation apps are now facing a legal battle in the U.S., bringing the tech giant to court, as per a news story by Auto Evolution.

To be more precise, a recent lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California alleged that Google performed anti-competitive practices for its navigation platforms.

What's more, the lawsuit also alleges that the tech giant is also using its dominance in the navigation app market to lock developers into the Google ecosystem, wherein they were asked to pay for higher prices.

According to a recent report by Bloomberg Law, the antitrust lawsuit also claims that Google currently holds roughly 81% of the navigation app market through its Google Maps app.

It was also mentioned in the lawsuit that Google purchased another navigation app, Waze, way back in 2013.

It further claims that it was the only close rival of Google Maps which offered the same type of service during that time. As such, the tech giant essentially bought what appears to be the top alternative app for its own navigation platform.

In turn, the firm ended up owning what are now the top two navigation apps out there, which the lawsuit says locked up developers to use what Google was offering.

Here comes the problem.

Although the Google Maps app is free to use for its users, app developers using its API are charged a fee, which the suit claims to have dramatically skyrocketed.

That said, the lawsuit went on to reveal that Google had raised its prices in the last four years for a whopping 1,400%.

Google has yet to release any statements regarding the recent lawsuit alleging anti-competitive practices on its navigation apps.

Related Article: Google's Switch to Android App for iOS Quietly Releases on Apple App Store - How To Use It
Fox News Channel came to the defense of White House correspondent Peter Doocy after White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during a Pod Save America taping that the questions Fox made him ask 'might make anyone sound like a stupid son of a b***h.'

'In his role as White House correspondent, Peter Doocy's job is to elicit truth from power for the American public. His questions are his own, he is a terrific reporter and we are extremely proud of his work,' a spokesperson for Fox News Channel told DailyMail.com.

Psaki was asked Thursday night during the podcast's D.C. taping at the Anthem concert venue if Doocy was a 'stupid son of a b***h' or just played one on TV.

'He works for a network that provides people with questions that, nothing personal to any individual including Peter Doocy, but might make anyone sound like a stupid son of a b***h,' Psaki replied during the Pod's D.C. taping Thursday night.

The episode was released online Friday.

Earlier this month the news broke that Psaki was in talks with MSNBC to join the left-leaning network once she left her White House post.

Psaki also said President Joe Biden would not be traveling to Ukraine, despite him telling reporters Thursday morning that, 'yeah,' he was up for the trip.

'No, no,' she assured the podcast hosts. 'He is ready, he's ready for anything, the man likes a fast car, some aviators, he's ready to go to Ukraine.'

'We are not sending the president to Ukraine,' Psaki said.

Press secretary Jen Psaki was a guest at a Pod Save America live taping Thursday night at the Anthem in Washington, D.C. and was asked if Fox News Channel's White House correspondent Peter Doocy was a 'stupid son of a b***h' or just played one on TV

In January, President Joe Biden was caught on hot mic calling Peter Doocy (pictured) a 'stupid son of a b***h,' which was the genesis of the Pod Save America question

The press secretary pointed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's recent trek to the wartorn country.

'What I will tell you is that, what Boris Johnson did is he took, I believe, an eight-hour train through a war zone to get to the middle of Ukraine,' she said. 'So, no that is not in the plans for the president of the United States.'

'We should all maybe be relieved about that,' she added. 'He's got a few other things to do.'

Regarding her own future, Psaki wouldn't give the podcast hosts a timeline for when she planned to step down.

'I will not be there forever. That is what I can confer,' she said.

'I am not trying to be talking point-y in saying this is the best job I've ever had. It's amazing in so many ways,' she continued.

She said one of the greatest lessons she's learned from giving briefings for the past 15 months is that 'you're not at a dinner party and you're not at a bar,' and so even if the questions get 'repetitive' she needed to answer them with respect, so a reporter couldn't go online and 'make you see like you're Satan reincarnated.'

Fox News Channel's John Roberts, a former White House correspondent, clapped back at Psaki on Twitter

Psaki tangled with reporters, including NBC News' Kristen Welker, over whether it was ethical for her to be discussing future job opportunities with employers like MSNBC while holding the position of press secretary.

Psaki argued that she's handling it ethically.

'Well, there are a range of stringent ethical and legal requirements that are imposed on everybody in this administration and many administrations past about any conversations you're having with future employers,' Psaki said from the podium earlier this month. 'That is true of any industry you're working in. And I have abided by those, and tried to take steps to go beyond that as well.'

But Michael Chamberlain, the director of the group Protect the Public's Trust and an alum of the Trump administration, told DailyMail.com he believed Psaki could be in violation of the STOCK Act - which usually applies to insider trading.

'If Jen Psaki is indeed in discussions about outside employment at a network with a presence in the White House briefing room, her criticism of Fox News, a competitor of her prospective employer, appears to be precisely the type of behavior the STOCK Act was designed to prevent,' Chamberlain said in a statement Friday.

It also has a provision that federal employers who are negotiating or have an agreement for future employment must notify their respective government agency.

Some of the most viral exchanges Psaki's had in the briefing room are ones she's had with Doocy.

In January, Biden was caught on hot mic calling the Fox News correspondent a 'stupid son of a b***h' - which was the inspiration for the question.

Fox News Channel's John Roberts, a former White House correspondent, clapped back at Psaki on Twitter saying: 'Note to Press Sec: Peter Doocy makes the decisions on what topics he wants to quiz you on, and develops the questions himself. His philosophy is a basic tenet of journalism. Comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.'

'If that makes all of us "stupid s.o.b.s", so be it,' Roberts added.

'Can I tell a nice Peter Doocy story?' Psaki asked after giving her assessment.

She recalled how after Biden knocked Doocy, the president called the reporter to apologize.

Psaki also told the Washington, D.C. audience Thursday night that President Joe Biden (pictured) would not be making a trip to Ukraine, after he expressed a willingness to go to the wartorn country earlier in the day

Doocy was then asked about the phone call on Sean Hannity's show that night.

'So he went on TV that night and I actually watched Sean Hannity to see what he said. My mind was like really bending and hurting,' Psaki recalled. 'If you can imagine, it was like flames and it was like "Crime! Crime! Crime!" and Kamala - the vice president is like walking through the flames and crime. I don't even know what was happening.'

'But Sean Hannity asked him about, you know, what the president had said and what he said back. And he could have been like, "He's a son of a b***h" or "I'm standing up for ..." whatever, he would have said anything. And instead he said, you know he called me, we had a really nice conversation, I'm just asking my questions, he's doing his job,' Psaki continued.

'So I will say, that was a moment of grace, you don't have to like everything Peter Doocy says or does, but that was certainly a moment of grace by Peter Doocy,' the press secretary said.

On Hannity, Doocy said he didn't hear Biden's insult at first.

'My reaction was delayed because as you can see the Biden staff were ushering us out. They were telling us thank you, time to go. It wasn't until we went to the basement and then outside and then back to the press room that somebody said "Hey, did you hear with the president said about you?" I said, "No, what did he say?" "He called you a stupid SOB,"' Doocy recalled. 'And I said "I did not hear that," and I opened up my phone and... he did!'

Doocy said his cell phone rang with the president on the other line an hour later.

'After years of clips of the president and I kind of mixing it up on the campaign trail and during the transition here at The White House, within about an hour of that exchange, he called my cell phone and he just said "It is nothing personal, pal."

'And we went back and forth and we were talking about moving forward and I made sure to tell him that I'm always going to try to ask something different than what everybody else is asking.

'And he said, "You've got to."

'And that is the quote from the president, so I will keep doing it,' he told Hannity.

Hannity asked Doocy if the president apologized.

'He cleared the air. And I appreciate it. We had a nice call,' Doocy replied.

Hannity expressed that he wasn't satisfied.

'To me that is not an answer. Did he apologize? That doesn't sound like an apology,' Hannity said, laughing.

'He said, "It is nothing personal, pal," and I told him I appreciated him reaching out,' Doocy said.

'Hey, Sean, the world is on the brink of like World War III right now. With all the stuff going on. I appreciate that the president took a couple minutes out as evening he was still the desk to give me a call and clear the air. But I don't need anybody to apologize to me. He can call me whatever he wants as long as it gets him talking,' Doocy continued.

'The president said "Nothing personal pal." It's enough - we can move forward,' the Fox News White House correspondent said.
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Russian state TV propagandists last night claimed that World War Three had already started in a furious chat show exchange after Ukrainian forces managed to sink Vladimir Putin's Black Sea flagship, the Moskva.

Rossiya 1 presenter Olga Skabeyeva, who stuck to the Kremlin's official line that the warship suffered a 'fire' despite heading a segment which blamed the vessel's demise on Ukraine, said the 'escalation' could 'safely be called World War Three' and warned Russians 'we are we're definitely fighting against... NATO itself'.

Skabeyeva was joined by pundits who branded the sinking of the Moskva an 'an absolute cause for war, 100 per cent' and said there's 'nothing to think about, there has to be a response' as they appeared to suggest Putin should use nuclear weapons on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv so Russia could 'bomb them once and that's it'.

A separate Russian state TV show Vremya Pokazhet last night claimed that the West was supplying 'zillions of weapons' to Ukraine and that, at the suppliers bidding, Kyiv was carrying 'yet more provocations, bloody, horrible, completely unthinkable'.

Host Olesya Loseva told viewers that the West believes that 'Russia is a country which is unworthy of even being on the world map and that all Russians should simply be wiped off the face of the earth' hours after it was confirmed that the Moskva had sunk.

She also said Ukrainians were delighted to see Moscow's troops in their country, waving the Russian tricolour and treating them 'like real liberators' in Kharkiv and claimed that Kyiv 'not the Russians' were carrying out a 'genocide'.

Separate state-run Channel 1 ran comments by military commentator Dmitry Drozdenko who claimed 'the West has long been preparing for the war' and that Russia faces 'a full-scale multi-level war' against the 'collective West'.

The flagship sank while being towed to port yesterday after suffering heavy damage under circumstances that today remained in dispute. Kyiv said it was struck with two Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery, which struck the port side of the vessel, causing it to roll over.

Russian military sources admitted the ship had rolled on to its side and caught fire after the blast, while US intelligence sources said the vessel suffered a 'large' explosion that left it heavily damaged before it sank.

Aside from providing Ukraine with a propaganda victory, Moskva's sinking also has practical implications for Russia. As flagship, the vessel was likely tasked with coordinating the movements of other ships in the Black Sea which may cause further confusion among Russia's already-strained command structure.

Its role was also to provide cover for Russia's other ships using its anti-air missiles while they launched cruise missiles attacks against cities and military sites. Its loss will make them more-vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes, including by fast jets or drones.

Russian state TV presenter Olga Skabeyeva (pictured) last night claimed that World War Three had already started in a furious chat show exchange after Ukrainian forces managed to sink Vladimir Putin's Black Sea flagship, the Moskva

Rossiya 1 presenter Olga Skabeyeva told viewers: 'What it's escalated into can safely be called World War Three. That's entirely for sure. Now we're definitely fighting against NATO infrastructure, if not NATO itself. We need to recognise that'

Vremya Pokazhet host Olesya Loseva said in a segment that the West was supplying 'zillions of weapons' to Ukraine and that, at the suppliers bidding, Kyiv was carrying 'yet more provocations, bloody, horrible, completely unthinkable'

Rossiya 1's Skabeyeva lamented that 'ordinary Ukrainians' are not 'noticing any genocide... for some reason' - but also claimed Kharkiv residents 'are accusing not the Russian army of genocide, but the Ukrainian armed forces'.

Russia's Defense Ministry promised today to ramp up missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukraine's alleged aggression on Russian territory in an ominous warning that followed Moscow's stinging symbolic loss of its navy's flagship in the Black Sea.

The threat of intensified attacks on Kyiv came after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes on Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling yesterday.

'The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory,' Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

A renewed bombardment could return Kyiv's residents to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of Russia's invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations. The capital has displayed tentative signs of pre-war life after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes.

Separately, Russia told the US to stop sending weapons to Ukraine, warning of 'unpredictable consequences' if it continues to do do. The warning was delivered in the form of an official diplomatic note, which was seen by the Washington Post.

It said that American and NATO shipments of the 'most sensitive' weapons were 'adding fuel' to the conflict, which is now nearing its second month. The two-page note was delivered after Biden had agreed to a new $800million delivery of military aid to Ukraine, including heavy artillery and shells, helicopters and armoured personnel carriers.

'What the Russians are telling us privately is precisely what we've been telling the world publicly  that the massive amount of assistance that we've been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective,' a senior US official said about the note.

Moskva could have been carrying warheads to fit into the tip of its Moskva's P-1000 supersonic cruise missiles, which are designed to take out American aircraft carriers

Russian Telegram accounts with links to the Wagner Group claim Bayraktar drones were used to distract the Moskva's radar systems before a coastal battery opened fire somewhere near Odesa, hitting the ship with two Neptune missiles

The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - the Soviet-era guided missile destroyer Moskva - has suffered heavy damage and may have sunk after Ukraine claimed to have shot it with two anti-ship cruise missiles

More than 450 Russian naval personnel who were onboard the Moskva were today feared dead after Ilya Ponomarev, a politician exiled from Russia for opposing Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, said just 58 of the 510-strong crew have since been accounted for.

The figure, while unconfirmed, is consistent with losses suffered on exploding warships. During the Russian Navy's infamous defeat at the Battle of Tsushima against Japan, an explosion on board the Borodino - slightly smaller than the Moskva - saw all-but one of her 855 crew killed.

Russia claims all the Moskva's sailors were 'successfully evacuated' but video taken in Sevastopol overnight shows dozens of cars purportedly belonging to the sailors still parked in the port - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them.

Elsewhere today, rumours began circulating in Ukrainian media that Admiral Igor Osipov - the commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet which the Moskva led - has been arrested in what would be the latest in a string of detentions linked to the bungled invasion.

Meanwhile it emerged this morning that Moscow has lost another high-flying GRU military intelligence agent in Ukraine in the latest blow to the Kremlin's 'elite' spy service. Captain Alexey Bogomolov, of the 25th separate regiment of GRU special forces was reportedly killed in action. His funeral will be held tomorrow in Tambov region.

It follows the deaths of 31-year-old GRU agent Captain Alexey Glushchak in mid-March as well as Senior Lieutenant Anton Volkov, Captain Konstantin Druzhkov and GRU operatives Islam Abduragimov and Shamil Aselderov.

Separately, a video that emerged last week appeared to show multiple graves of recently killed GRU military intelligence special forces officers. They were from the 10th Separate Order of Zhukov Special Purpose Brigade. The GRU is seen as Russia's most secretive and - until recently - most effective service.

Britain says a GRU hit squad was behind the poisoning with Novichok of Sergei Skripal - who had defected to Britain - and his daughter Yulia in 2018.

In the Cold War, a GRU agent under diplomatic cover in London, Captain Yevgeny Ivanov triggered the fall of a Tory government after he seduced Christine Keeler, the lover of British war minister John Profumo.

The funeral of 31-year-old GRU agent Captain Alexey Glushchak, who was killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

It follows the deaths of Senior Lieutenant Anton Volkov, (right) Captain Konstantin Druzhkov and GRU operatives Islam Abduragimov (left) and Shamil Aselderov
The father of a British woman murdered by her husband in Greece has demanded the highest possible sentence as he spoke for the first time following the opening of the helicopter pilots trial.

Mum-of-one Caroline Crouch, 19, was suffocated by her husband Babis Anagnostopoulos, 34, as she slept in their Athens home last year, as their then 11-month-old baby daughter Lydia lay nearby.

He initially told police she had been killed by burglars in an elaborate charade which also saw him killing their pet dog Roxy to cover his tracks, but he was eventually caught and is currently on trial.

Speaking exclusively to Mail Online, Carolines heartbroken father David said: 'I want the highest possible sentence for him. His only regret is that the police didnt fall for his absurd story.

Charalambos (Babis) Anagnostopoulos (3rd L) escorted by armed police officers, being led to court in Athens

A family photo of Babis Anagnostopoulos, who stands accused of murdering wife, Caroline Crouch, 20, with their baby daughter Lydia between them

Earlier this week Anagnostopoulos went on trial in Athens accused of Carolines murder and Roxy  the first time in Greek legal history a person has been formally accused of killing a dog.

Former engineer David, who is originally from Liverpool, retired to the island of Alonissos more than 20 years ago where he lives with Carolines mother Susan Dela Cuesta.

Neither has attended the harrowing trial which started earlier this week  David for health issues and Susan as she was warned it would be too harrowing.

During the hearing, police told how Babis had called out to his lifeless wife as she lay on the floor Honey, are you ok? as officers arrived at the scene.

Speaking of Caroline, Anagnostopoulos added: My love hasnt changed and never will change. I never intended to harm her.

David said: Nothing that he might say during the trial will surprise me and my feelings are unchanged.

The telling part of the trial will be the testimony of the forensic experts and the electronics experts. It will be their evidence that will send him to prison.

Detectives cracked the case after examining devices Caroline and Anagnostopoulos were wearing, and which showed movements which didnt tally with what he had told police.

Anagnostopoulos does not deny the killings but insists they were not pre-meditated, describing them as 'crimes of passion'

The couple began dating when Caroline was still a teenager. They married in Portugal in 2019

David, who said he was following the trial avidly added: I have no intention of going to Athens. My presence was only required by the prosecution to attest to Carolines sweet nature and what else would I say?

Besides there will be testimony from her therapist, her next-door neighbour and some of her friends whos opinions will carry much more weight than anything I can say.

I am following the trial avidly, as are the rest of the people on the island (Alonissos), all of whom knew and loved Caroline.

He added: I understand that Babis parents will appear for the defence to swear that their son is the finest human being that ever walked the earth.

They still believe in his complete innocence and that Caroline was killed by a gang.

Carolines therapist Eleni Mylonopoulou has told the hearing how Anagnostopoulos was a controlling narcissist and that Caroline had confided in her she wanted to leave him.

A key part of Anagnostopoulos's defence is that Caroline 'triggered' him into a 'fit of rage' after she violently pushed a crib in which their then 11-month-old daughter Lydia was sleeping

Anagnostopoulos does not deny killing Caroline and the dog but insists they were not premeditated and were crimes of passion prompted by her behaviour.

Earlier this month David had told Mail Online: I understand Babis will use as his defence that he was provoked by Caroline, and he was acting in self-defence.

He will also cite her martial arts skills. This is not likely to fly as she had been asleep for several hours when he killed her.

I just wish I could get my hands on the little weasel.

The trial continues next month.
A sexual predator who was caught thanks to his quick-thinking victims and a woman who punched the attacker in the face has been jailed for three years.

Syrian national Ahmed Al-Razawe, who is in the UK illegally, carried out three sex attacks in Liverpool city centre in the space of just four days last year.

The 24-year-old first targeted two teenage friends sitting at a bus stop - asking them for sex before groping them.

He then smacked another woman's bottom, before biting her breast after she wrestled him to the ground.

A judge said Al-Razawe tried to treat the victims as his 'sexual commodities' with 'no regard for their rights'.

But the quick-thinking women took on the predator - using their mobile phones to take photos and videos before he could flee. Another woman even chased him down the street before landing a punch that helped to identify him.

Al-Razawe has now been jailed for three years after admitting to sexual assault and assault causing actual bodily harm.

Syrian national Ahmed Al-Razawe, who is in the UK illegally, has been jailed for three years for sexual assault after his victims collected evidence that helped lead to his conviction

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Al-Razawe attacked two teenagers, aged 17 and 18, who were waiting for a taxi at Liverpool One bus station, at around 11.30pm on October 23.

He groped their legs and slid his hand up one victim's shorts. But the other used her phone to take a photo and record a video of him, which she later posted on social media to warn others and to get him identified.

At the time the Syrian national - who had entered the UK illegally and applied for asylum - was living in a hostel in the Toxteth area of the city.

Several days later, the man running the hostel was sent a screenshot of the post, when he immediately recognised Al-Razawe and contacted the police.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Al-Razawe attacked two teenagers, aged 17 and 18, who were waiting for a taxi at Liverpool One bus station. He groped their legs and slid his hand up one victim's shorts. But the other used her phone to take a photo and record a video of him, which she later posted on social media to warn others and to get him identified

In the meantime Al-Razawe had struck again, approaching two women walking down the street, asking them to open a wine bottle, and when they walked on, slapping and squeezing the bottom of one of the women on October 27.

When her friend protested, he started swinging his arm at her, so the woman he had just molested grabbed him around the neck, and they both fell over. He then sunk his teeth into her left breast and hit her in the head with the bottle.

Liverpool Crown Court heard a passerby shouted 'get off' and Al-Razawe ran away. But by now the two women had been joined by another female friend, who chased after him and caught him up.

Faced with the overwhelming evidence against him, the coward admitted three counts of sexual assault and one count of assault causing actual bodily harm

Henry Riding, prosecuting, said: 'There was something of a struggle before he then ran off again. During that struggle however the friend punched the defendant in the face.

'The defendant suffered an injury causing him to bleed and some of his blood got on the friend's clothing. As a result of which, it was matched to the defendant as a result of DNA analysis.'

The third victim and her two friends also managed to take photos of Al-Razawe, before he was picked out in an identity parade.

Faced with the overwhelming evidence against him, the coward admitted three counts of sexual assault and one count of assault causing actual bodily harm.

The 17-year-old victim told the court she was left struggling to sleep. In a victim statement, she said: 'Every time I close my eyes I could see his face.'

She added that she is now much more wary of people when she is out and that she was relieved neither her nor her friend had been on their own.

The 18-year-old victim said she was left jumpy at the slightest noise, struggled to sleep, and woke up with a heavy feeling on her chest.

Mr Riding said: 'She describes how she doesn't want to get up or go out and relives what happened in her head over and over again.'

Al-Razawe has now been jailed for three years after admitting to sexual assault and assault causing actual bodily harm. Pictured: Liverpool Crown Court

The third victim, in her 20s, had moved to Liverpool from a different area and described how she was left feeling uncomfortable in the city.

She suffered nightmares, struggled to cope with social situations, and reacted negatively to men touching her in a friendly way.

Mr Riding said: 'She describes that the bite to her breast left a lasting scar, which is a permanent reminder of what happened and affects the clothing she can wear.'

Passing sentence, the judge Recorder Harris praised the woman who 'bravely' chased after Al-Razawe and helped bring him to justice. He said the pervert would have to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade.

Al-Razawe, who claimed drink and drugs played a part in both attacks and that he didn't remember the first incident, was found by a probation officer to 'pose a high risk of causing serious harm to women'.

Recorder Harris said he had shown 'no insight or empathy' and had 'a predatory sexual approach to women'.

The judge jailed him for three years. Al-Razawe will serve half of that sentence in prison, at which stage depending on the outcome of a Home Office hearing he will either be released on licence or deported.
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At least 50 migrants arrived in the UK by boat today on the first official day of Navy patrols in the Channel - after a Tory MP warned the government's Rwanda plan would see an increase in asylum seekers trying to get to Britain before it's implemented.

Between 25 and 30 migrants reached the Dover harbour, Kent around 2.30am this morning before a second group, of around 30 people, was escorted to shore on board Border Force cutter Valiant shortly before 10am.

The Home Office and the MoD are yet to confirm the official number of migrants to arrive in the UK today, or on Wednesday or Thursday - but it is thought more than 1,000 people made the perilous crossing.

According to official Home Office figures, at least 4,617 people have reached the UK by small boat so far this year but recent arrivals could bring the total number of migrant crossings for 2022 to more than 5,500.

It comes after Boris Johnson confirmed plans on Wednesday to send future asylum seekers to Rwanda - insisting those attempting to reach the UK by small boat are mostly young men 'not directly fleeing imminent peril'.

The plans could see tens of thousands of migrants flown to the central African state. The first flight is expected to leave before the end of next month  and a minister today confirmed anyone who has arrived in Britain this year could be sent.

But critics of the plan continue to attack it over the sheer cost - estimated at up to 30,000 per person - and Rwanda's human rights record.

And Conservative MP Simon Hoare warned last night that the new policy could lead to a short-term surge in crossings. He said: 'All this will do is mean we'll see a vast amount of people trying [to cross] now before this comes in'.

Mr Johnson also previously announced navy vessels will patrol the waters in a bid to tackle illegal migrant crossings, with a heavy Navy presence near Dover today.

According to real-time ship tracker website, MarineTraffic, several Naval vessels are currently active in the waters - including HMS Tyne, HMS Puncher, HMS Express and HMS Example.

As well as the four Archer-class Patrol vessels, a further two MoD safety and training boats are also present in the Channel.

Border Force vessels are also present in the Channel but it is not known if any of the Navy and MoD vessels have been involved in migrant assistance yet. Live flight-tracker site, Flightradar24, also shows a drone flying from Lydd, Kent and over the Dover Strait.

Migrants wait to disembark at the Port of Dover after being rescued while crossing the English Channel near Dover

A migrant being helped ashore in a wheelchair. Between 25 and 30 migrants reached the Dover harbour, Kent around 2.30am this morning, before a second group

According to official Home Office figures, at least 4,617 people have reached the UK by small boat so far this year but recent arrivals could bring the total number of migrant crossings for 2022 to more than 5,500

The increased round 50 million will be spent on bolstering surveillance in the Channel - including new ships, military drones, and a Wildcat helicopter.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesperson said: 'As part of the Government's efforts to tackle migration, the Ministry of Defence is taking primacy for the UK's operational response to small boat crossings in the English Channel.

'The Armed Forces will bolster Border Force assets, expertise and experience and provide operational oversight and coordination of maritime operations.

'Together, they will deliver the Government's objectives of protecting safety of life sea whilst ensuring control of the UK's borders.'

Despite the government's new plans to tackle the influx of migrant crossings, between 450 and 500 migrants are thought to have arrived in the UK by small boat on Thursday.

Soldiers wearing camouflage fatigues, high-vis vests, and life-jackets, were seen leading them along the gangway at Dover to be processed.

The MoD later confirmed that the army have been deployed to the harbour to relieve pressure from Border Force officials.

Shortly before 3pm on Thursday, 20 migrants landed at Greatstone Beach in Kent - just a mile-and-a-half from Lydd, where the Prime Minister gave his press conference saying migrants using illegal routes to 'jump the queue' will be 'swiftly and humanely removed to a third country or their country of origin'.

Over 3,000 migrants made the treacherous journey last month alone - the highest monthly figure since November 2021 when 6,869 people crossed the Channel.

3,075 people arrived on British soil in March - more than the total number of people who made the journey in January, February, March and April combined last year, and over triple the 831 who arrived in the entirety of March in 2021.

This level of small boat crossings was not seen on a monthly basis until the height of summer in 2021.

Wednesday is believed to have been the busiest day for migrant crossings so far this year - after heavy winds in the Channel temporarily put a stop to small boat crossings for two weeks.

A member of the British military assists a migrant woman arriving at the Port of Dover after being rescued while crossing the English Channel

Migrants wait on a boat, as it arrives at the Port of Dover, after being rescued while crossing the English Channel, in Dove

Over 3,000 migrants made the treacherous journey last month alone - the highest monthly figure since November 2021 when 6,869 people crossed the Channel

Migrants are escorted by Border Force officers and members of the military after crossing the English Channel in Dover

Under a scheme designed to crack down on migrants landing on British shores after crossing the Channel in small boats, the UK intends to provide those deemed to have arrived unlawfully with a one-way ticket to Rwanda

Migrants, who have arrived at the Port of Dover after being rescued while crossing the English Channel, are transported in a bus to a processing facility

Monday saw UK officials intercept 28 people from one boat, while 24 people were prevented from reaching Britain by French authorities. And on Tuesday UK authorities escorted 39 migrants to the UK.

The last crossing before that was on March 28 when 386 people made the perilous journey across the 21-mile Dover Strait in 12 boats.

A total of 28,526 migrants crossed the Dover Strait last year - significantly higher than the 8,410 who arrived in 2020 - but the number of crossings is expected to increase over the coming weeks as Spring brings warmer weather and calmer conditions at sea.

Border Force union bosses have warned that this year could see at least 60,000 people arrive in the UK by small boat.

Minister for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration, Tom Pursglove MP, said: 'The rise in dangerous Channel crossings is unacceptable.

How will the new Rwanda migrant scheme work? Cross-channel arrivals assessed and anyone deemed an economic migrant rather than a refugee is sent to Rwanda Initial agreement worth 120million over five years

Failed immigrants urged to start new life in Africa

Initially based at hostel in Kigali

Hope House is currently being used as budget accommodation for tourists

Privately owned, the East African nation's government is understood to be in negotiations to lease the property

Memorandum of understanding (MOU) says Government will screen asylum seekers 'without delay' after arrival in the UK

All requests will require approval from Rwanda before relocation

Nation can refuse to take people with criminal records

People who cross the Channel in small boats will undergo initial checks at the Western Jet Foil facility in Dover

Further checks at a processing site in Manston, Kent. Where their claim is deemed inadmissible, they may be removed to a 'third safe country'.

Royal Navy to lead Channel policing role, helping Border Force from today

PM attacked 'a formidable army of politically motivated lawyers' who have thwarted previous action

PM: 'Our compassion may be infinite but our capacity to help people is not. We can't ask the British taxpayer to write a blank cheque to cover the costs of anyone who might want to come and live here.' Advertisement

'Not only are they an overt abuse of our immigration laws but they also impact on the UK taxpayer, risk lives and our ability to help refugees come to the UK via safe and legal routes. Rightly, the British public has had enough.

'Through our Nationality and Borders Bill, we're cracking down on people smugglers and fixing the broken system by making it a criminal offence to knowingly arrive in the UK illegally and introducing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for those who facilitate illegal entry into our country.'

Meanwhile, Priti Patel has warned that up to 65,000 people could cross the Channel in small boats this year - almost double last year's record - as she seeks to see off external and internal criticism of plans to send thousands of migrants to Rwanda.

She revealed the estimate as Boris Johnson pledged that the first flights taking those illegally arriving in Britain 4,000 miles to east Africa would take off within weeks.

The Prime Minister pledged to do 'whatever it takes' to push through his landmark scheme to tackle the small-boats crisis in the Channel and smash people trafficking gangs. Some 28,000 people made the perilous journey in 2021.

Revealing details of the dramatic strategy, Mr Johnson said 'tens of thousands' of Channel migrants would be sent with a one-way ticket.

The Daily Mail understands the first flight is expected to leave before the end of next month  and a minister today confirmed anyone who has arrived in Britain this year could be sent.

But critics of the plan continue to attack it over the sheer cost - estimated at up to 30,000 per person - and Rwanda's human rights record.

ITV reported that Home Office civil servants have asked for a ministerial direction from Ms Patel over the scheme - meaning they have concerns over the plan.

Immigration Minister Tom Pursglove told Sky News that it was important to stop people 'putting their lives in the hands of these evil criminal gangs' who run the cross-channel boats, often charging thousands of pounds per person.

'The point I would make is that we are determined to get on and deliver this policy as quickly as possible without needless delay,' he said.

'We are now getting into the stage where we implement this policy quickly and anyone who has arrived in the United Kingdom from January 1 is in scope to be relocated to Rwanda if they've arrived through illegal means.

'That is an important point to get across.

'If you've arrived since then, it could well be that you are transferred as part of this arrangement.'

But Conservative former cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said the plan to send migrants to Rwanda was 'immoral' and involved 'eye-watering' costs.

She revealed the estimate as Boris Johnson pledged that the first flights taking those illegally arriving in Britain 4,000 miles to east Africa would take off within weeks.

Migrants travelling to the UK on small boats will be put on jets and sent to Rwanda while their applications are processed

A view of facilities at Hope House, a hostel in Nyabugogo, the Gasabo district of the capital city Kigali, in Rwanda

The former international development secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he recognised that ministers were attempting to tackle 'what is a terrible problem' after 28,000 people came to the UK 'illicitly' in 2021.

Mr Mitchell said: 'The Government is quite rightly trying to break the smugglers' sordid and deathly model, and so I am absolutely behind them in doing that.

'The problem with the scheme that they have announced is that I don't think it will work.

'It is impractical, it is being condemned by churches and civil society, it is immoral and, above all for conservative advocates, it is incredible expensive.

'The costs are eye-watering. You're going to send people 6,000 miles into central Africa - it looked when it was discussed in Parliament before that it would actually be cheaper to put each asylum seeker in the Ritz hotel in London.'

Ministers are braced for a fierce legal fight to stop opponents from scuppering the scheme before it starts. Mr Johnson accepted that the plan would be 'challenged in the courts', but insisted he was confident about its legality.
An air ambulance, firefighters and a heavy police presence are on the scene of a crash in Oldham, Greater Manchester after a motorbike smashed into a car this morning.

Officers have cordoned off a section of the road following the accident on High Barn Street in Royton at around 11am and it has not yet been confirmed how seriously injured anyone involved is.

Reports from the scene on social media suggest the road is likely to be closed off for 'hours'.

A heavy emergency services response has been sparked after serious crash between a motorbike and car in Oldham

Reports from the scene on social media suggest the road is likely to be closed off for 'hours'

One resident said she had heard of the crash moments after it took place on social media.

She told Manchester Evening News: 'I saw it on Facebook seconds after it'd happened.

'A woman said there'd been a crash and the helicopter was coming so there were lots of people looking out for it.'

Another bystander told the outlet: 'I just walked past about an hour ago and saw the crash. It looks quite bad, I feel so sorry for everyone involved.'

The 'serious collision' happened at around 11am this morning on High Barn Street in Royton, Oldham

Officers have cordoned off a section of the road following the accident on High Barn Street in Royton at around 11am

A highway response unit van is also said to have arrived at the scene.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: 'This is a serious collision involving a car and a motorbike. Our response to this is ongoing.

'Any information should be passed to us online via LiveChat or by calling 101 quoting incident 1045 of 15/04/2022.'

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said: 'At 11:00am this morning (Friday 15 April) we received a report of a road traffic collision involving a motorcycle and a car on High Barn Street, Royton.

'One fire engine from Chadderton attended the scene, where firefighters have been working alongside colleagues from Greater Manchester Police and North West Ambulance Service.'

Oldham Council Deputy Leader Amanda Chadderton has tweeted about the accident.

She said: 'There has been a very serious accident near the centre of Royton, emergency services all on site and asking people to avoid the area. Thinking of the people caught affected by this and their families.'

MailOnline has reached out to Greater Manchester Police for more information.
Boris Johnson's father has lauded Brexit as 'probably a good idea' as he ditched his Remainer stance and revealed the Ukraine war had 'shaken' his faith in the European Union.

Stanley Johnson called on the Brussels-based bloc to 'pull its socks up' as he despaired at European nations' reliance on Russian oil and gas.

He also hailed how his eldest son, the Prime Minister, had been 'able to lead from the front' in Western support for Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The 81-year-old environmentalist notably supported Remain prior to the 2016 EU referendum - putting him at odds with his son's position as the figurehead for the Vote Leave campaign.

Both the PM's sister, Rachel Johnson, and younger brother, Jo Johnson, also backed Remain.

Their father explained his U-turn on Brexit in an article for the Telegraph.

He highlighted the 'naivety of our European neighbours' in their handling of the Ukraine crisis and their 'weak policies' towards Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Stanley Johnson, 81, backed Remain prior to the 2016 EU referendum - but now he says Brexit was 'probably a good idea'

Boris Johnson was the figurehead for the Vote Leave campaign and his support for the UK's exit from the EU put him at odds with most of his family

'I write all this as a once impassioned Remainer, but I have to admit that my faith in the European project has been shaken,' he wrote.

'I said as much in a recent radio interview, which caused quite a stir, but I stand by my view that Ukraine has shown that Brexit was probably a good idea.

'At this moment, you have to say that Europe needs to pull its socks up.

'Take the example of the Continents reliance on oil and gas. Germany is saying that it cant cut back on its imports of Russian energy, a vital economic lifeline for Mr Putin.

'Well, why isnt the rest of Europe coming to help Germany do this?'

The PM's father revealed he had no idea his son would be travelling to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

Mr Johnson questioned why, if EU nations worked together, Germany couldn't find alternative energy supplies 'within a space of days'.

As he accused the EU of 'fiddling while Mariupol burns', Mr Johnson claimed the bloc 'looks like it is flunking the biggest test of all and Remainers  even ardent ones  simply cannot afford to look the other way'.

Praising the PM's efforts to support Ukraine in the face of Russia's brutal assault, Mr Johnson revealed he did not know his son would be making a trip to Kyiv prior to him meeting with Mr Zelensky in Ukraine's capital last weekend.

'I think he has played a blinder,' he added.

'One of the reasons his actions as a standard bearer have been so welcome is because the EU, and in particular Germany, is incapable of providing the moral leadership we need.'
Attorneys for a software mogul facing trial for a record-breaking $2 billion tax evasion case claimed the billionaire cannot stand trial because he has dementia, which was worsened by COVID-19, according to court filings.

Robert Brockman, 80, was indicted in 2020 on 39 counts, including wire fraud, tax evasion and money laundering that the U.S. Department of Justice said totaled a $2 billion scheme to conceal his income and defraud investors of his Reynolds and Reynolds company.

Brockman's lawyers, however, have argued that the billionaire is not competent to stand trial, claiming in filings submitted on Wednesday that his Parkinson's disease caused dementia, which only grew worse after he contracted COVID in December.

In the filings, the lawyers said Brockman was hospitalized in January with toxic metabolic encephalopathy (TME), an acute cerebral dysfunction that can be caused by COVID, claiming that, 'For patients already suffering from dementia, COVID-19 and TME can exacerbate the existing dementia and accelerate cognitive decline.'

Attorneys for Robert Brockman, 80, (pictured in November) former CEO of the Reynolds and Reynold software company, have claimed the billionaire is not fit to stand trial over an alleged record-breaking $2 billion tax evasion scheme because he has dementia worsened by COVID

Brockman( left, pictured with wife Dorothy) was charged with 39 counts over the alleged scheme in 2020, and had begun seeking mental evaluations when authorities were investigating him back in 2018. His lawyers claimed he had dementia last year

In filings submitted to court on Wednesday, Brockman's defense said he contracted COVID in December, which caused him to be hospitalized over toxic metabolic encephalopathy (TME), an acute cerebral dysfunction. They claimed COVID and TME has worsened his dementia

The lawyers added: 'During a February 15, 2022 examination by Dr. James Pool, Mr. Brockmans primary care physician, neuropsychological testing was performed to assess Mr. Brockmans current cognitive status. Dr. Pool concluded that Mr. Brockmans condition had progressed to severe dementia.'

The attorneys also noted that follow-up testing backed-up the conclusion that Brockman was less mentally competent than when the software tycoon had his last evaluation in October.

George Hanks, the judge presiding over the case, had previously heard arguments about Brockman's dementia claims in November but has yet to rule on the issue.

The Department of Justice declined to comment on the defense's claims.

The case involving Brockman accuses him of hiding $2 billion in income from the IRS over two decades using a web of off-shore companies in Bermuda, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

The indictment alleges Brockman appointed nominees to manage the off-shore entities for him as a means of hiding his involvement, saying he even went so far as to establish a proprietary encrypted email system and use code words such as 'Permit,' 'Red fish' and 'Snapper' to communicate.

The prosecution claims Brockman's sprawling network of offshore trusts grew to The Cayman Islands, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands and the Isle of Man.

Authorities had been investigating Brockman over the tax fraud allegations for several years and prosecutors claim he found out about the probe as early as 2016.

Prosecutors allege that Brockman started seeking medical evaluations for his mental health shortly after a 2018 raid on his attorney's home in Bermuda, according to court documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal.

A doctor found in March 2019 that Brockman had poor short-term recall. Prosecutors claim, however, that Brockman's doctors have a conflict of interest because they work with the Baylor College of Medicine, of which the billionaire has donated millions of dollars to over the years.

They also argue that Brockman continued to head his software company during this time despite his alleged mental decline. Court documents reveal he took a cognitive test late last year and had difficulties drawing a clock, with a doctor ruling he had 'moderate dementia'.

The case involving Brockman (left) accuses him of hiding $2 billion in income from the IRS over two decades using a web of off-shore companies in Bermuda and St. Kitts and Nevis

The Department of Justice outlined the sprawling web of offshore accounts Brockman controlled that allegedly allowed him to withhold $2 billion in taxes

The software tycoon lives in his $8 million mansion (pictured) in Houston, Texas. He also owns a 143-acre Colorado property and fishing lodge on the Frying Pan River

Along with his properties, Brockman owns a 209-foot yacht named 'Turmoil' (pictured)

Prosecutors said he also owns a Bombardier Inc. Global 6000 private jet

The $62 million jet typically features a spacious and luxurious cabin room for its wealthy fliers

Fellow billionaire Robert Smith, who is the CEO of a private equity firm that aided in the alleged schemes, is cooperating with the investigation after turning against Brockman to avoid prosecution himself.

Smith, the richest black person in America with a net worth about $7 billion, has also been ordered to pay $139 million in back taxes and penalties.

Brockman and Smith have a business relationship dating back to the late 1990s, according to documents filed in connection with Smith's non-prosecution agreement.

Fellow billionaire Robert Smith, who is the CEO of a private equity firm that aided in the alleged schemes, is cooperating with the investigation after turning against Brockman to avoid prosecution himself

Brockman, who has an estimated net worth of $7 billion, was largely unknown outside of Houston before news of his indictment broke in 2020.

The majority of his fortune is believed to be held in a trust in Bermuda that owns most of his software company. Court documents show the trust has assets worth at least $7 billion.

Even though that wealth would likely see him ranked about 50th on the Forbes 400 list of billionaires, Brockman hasn't ever appeared on the list as without the inclusion of the alleged hidden funds, Forbes ranks him at 601 with $4.7 billion.

Prosecutors, however, believe Brockman (above) - may potentially be faking his mental decline to avoid standing trial

Prosecutors said he owns a Houston mansion worth an estimated $8 million, an Aspen, Colorado ski cabin, a Bombardier private jet and a a 209-foot yacht.

According to court filings obtained by Bloomberg last year, the government has been trying to seize the 143-acre Colorado property and fishing lodge on the Frying Pan River and a trove of cash in Switzerland's Mirabaud Bank tied to the fraud case.

The outlet reported that prosecutors in the United States first sought forfeiture of the Mirabaud account in October 2020 and that Swiss prosecutors have frozen more than $1 billion held in bank accounts belonging to Brockman.

The 42-page indictment against Brockman names two Colorado properties of interest in the case.

According to the indictment, Brockman paid $15 million to purchase the 'Mountain Queen' property located in Pitkin County on May 17, 2005.

He later spent another $15 million of funds allegedly obtained through debt fraud on the 'Frying Pan Canyon Ranch' in Pitkin County on December 16, 2010, according to the indictment.

Brockman allegedly spent another $8.2 million on renovations and improvements to the Frying Pan Canyon property in 2014.

It was not immediately clear if the asset forfeiture reported by Bloomberg also includes the Mountain Queen property or his Houston mansion.

As the case against Brockman continues, his former associates and employees have painted a picture of him as a penny-pinching billionaire who believed the IRS unfairly went after taxpayers.

Brockman, who has a reputation for being litigious, would stay at budget hotels and ate frozen dinners on business trips.

He would buy used furniture for his offices and banned his employees from smoking so the company could save on health insurance.

At the time of the indictment, Reynolds & Reynolds issued a statement saying the allegations were outside Brockman's work with the company and that the company is not alleged to have participated in any wrongdoing.

The software helps set up websites, including live chats with potential customers, find loans and calculate customer payments, manage payroll and pay bills.
Russian government propagandists are exploiting beaten and captured British fighter Aiden Aslin by parading him on state TV and forcing him to denounce his Ukrainian comrades.

Aiden, 28, was captured by Putin's forces after fighting alongside the Ukrainian army in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine.

The Newark-on-Trent volunteer - who appeared to have been heavily beaten - was paraded on Russian state TV and asked a series of leading questions about why he went to fight.

Rossiya 1 TV news presenter Andrey Rudenko described him as a 'mercenary' and said: 'He fought on the side of the Nazis in Ukraine.'

Aiden is also forced to describe his Ukrainian army comrades as 'criminals'.

Rudenko added: 'I am sure that he will be able to shed light on the actions of Western intelligence agencies in Ukraine.'

Tearful younger brother Nathan, 25, told MailOnline yesterday: 'It is so shocking for our family to see Aiden in that state.

An image uploaded to his social media shows Aiden, 28, bruised, beaten and in handcuffs

A second image, posted by a pro-Russia Telegram account, was closer to captured Aiden's cut

'What have the Russians done to him? He looks awful, absolutely exhausted. His face is drained of colour.'

Nathan and care worker mum Angela Wood begged Moscow to treat Aiden humanely.

Angela said: 'I'm in bits. I now hold Vladimir Putin to the terms of the Geneva Convention.

'Aiden is a serving member of the Ukrainian armed forces and as such is a prisoner of war and must be treated with humanity.'

Nathan added: 'However horrible it is to see him in such a state, it does show that he is still alive and that is giving us as a family some slight relief.'

Aiden already said he was worried he would be used for bull***t propaganda if he was captured.

It seems that Aiden spoke under duress, a desperate wish to go home or that his words were carefully edited.

He had tweeted on April 12: 'It's been 48 days, we tried our best to defend Mariupol but we have no choice but to surrender to Russian forces

'It's been a pleasure everyone - I hope this war ends soon.'

Aiden, pictured in Ukraine before the war, was due to marry his Ukrainian fiancee last week

Robert Jenrick, the MP for Aiden's hometown of Newark in Nottinghamshire, tweeted yesterday: 'I am working with [the foreign office] to track the whereabouts and secure the release of my constituent.

'Aiden chose to risk his life because he believes passionately in the Ukrainian people's right to live in freedom and democracy.'

Aiden's social media account, which is being operated by his contacts while he has been fighting on the frontlines, tweeted the picture of the British national and promised to keep his plight 'in the public eye'.

'Just got this, it looks as if they have gotten ahold of Aiden,' the tweet read.

'F***ing pukes have worked him over too by the looks of it. We're going to keep in the public eye every day until he's exchanged.'

Having moved to Ukraine in 2018, Aslin was due to get married last week to his Ukrainian fiancee.

Aslin previously spent ten months in Iraq fighting Islamic State alongside the Kurdish People's Defence Forces (YPG).

Upon his return to Britain in 2016, he was arrested on suspicion of terror charges but was acquitted and returned to Iraq for a second tour of duty with the YPG.
A jury took just over an hour Friday to convict Miami-Dade officer Alejandro Giraldo of felony battery and official misconduct in the rough arrest of Dyma Loving, a black woman, who called police for help.

Giraldo was suspended after cellphone video circulated on social media showing him tackling Dyma Loving, who had called police in Miami March 2019 to report that a neighbor had pointed a shotgun at her. Police body cameras also recorded the encounter.

'Police officers can put their hands on people to effectuate a lawful arrest. If the arrest is unlawful, they have no more rights than the rest of us. And he sure as heck cant tackle her to the ground,' said prosecutor Tim VanderGiesen.

Giraldo insisted he acted lawfully in subduing an unruly woman who was interfering with an investigation.

Miami-Dade police officer Alejandro Giraldo was convicted of felony battery and official misconduct after his vicious 2019 arrest of Dyma Loving after she called police for help

'What you see there isn't a crime. What you see there is a police officer working the streets, dealing with a situation and maybe his bedside manner was off,' his attorney, Andre Rouviere, told jurors. 'When he arrested Dyma Loving, it was after warning, after warning that she was being disruptive.'

Giraldo, who is Hispanic, faces up to five years in prison at sentencing.

On March 5, 2019, Loving and a friend, Adrianna Green, called Miami police to report that a neighbor had verbally harassed them and threatened to shoot them while pointing a shotgun at Loving.

Giraldo maintained throughout the trial that Loving was being disorderly, but viral cell phone footage and his own bodycam footage show that Giraldo acted with aggression

All charges against Loving after her arrest were dropped. 'Things have to change, and you can't change it if you just let things go,' Loving said alongside her attorneys in 2019

Officers responded to the scene and spoke to Loving and Green, then asked them to stay where they were and left to question the neighbor.

Giraldo arrived at the scene with another officer, and Loving was tackled, cuffed, and arrested shortly afterwards.

According to his police report, Giraldo arrested Loving because she 'would not obey commands,' was 'uncooperative,' and was 'screaming at us, causing a scene in a residential neighborhood.'

Giraldo's bodycam footage, released after his arrest, showed a much different story.

In it, a stressed Loving attempts to explain to an increasingly irate Giraldo how the neighbor pulled a gun on her.

Loving and Green tell officers that there are cameras in the neighborhood that they can look at for evidence.

'Okay, where are they?' Girlado asks.

'There's a camera right there, ya'll need to do something,' Loving responds.

Loving and a friend had called the police after a neighbor who was verbally harassing them pointed a shotgun at Loving and threatened to shoot the pair

As police questioned the neighbor, Giraldo and another officer were left with Loving, who grew increasingly frustrated as Giraldo questioned her story

At this comment, Giraldo boils into a rage. 'Oh yeah?' You need to chill out,' he yells at Loving while he shakes his handcuffs and threatens to arrest her.

As the other officer on the scene attempts to diffuse the situation, Loving begins to grow frantic and explains that she wants to call her sick daughter.

'I just got a gun pointed in my face, my daughter is sick,' she says, as Giraldo shouts her down and accuses her of being disorderly.

'We're here to investigate, just calm down,' the other officer gently tells Loving.

'You know what she needs? She needs to be corrected if anything! Yeah?' Giraldo shouts.

'Why do I have to be corrected when my life was just threatened?' Loving, frustrated, replies.

Giraldo then jumps on Loving, tackles her to the ground and arrests her.

Cell phone video of the arrest circulated on social media sparked outrage and led directly to Giraldo's suspension and conviction.

After the conviction, Giraldo's defense attorney maintained that it was Loving and Green who were out of control.

'We thought that we had established that they couldnt prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges, but I guess the jury saw it a different way, and we have to accept the jurys verdict,' Rouviere said after Giraldo was convicted on Thursday.

All charges brought against Loving after her arrest were dropped.

Loving told officers that they needed to do something, then Giraldo burst into a rage and told her that she needed to be 'corrected,' then throws her to the ground and arrests her

Cell phone footage of the incident caused outrage on social media and led Giraldo's suspension and conviction

The incident took place in a county where at least nine police officers from four different agencies are awaiting trial on allegations they battered suspects while on duty, the Miami Herald reported.

Three other officers have been acquitted since 2019 in excessive force cases.

The conviction of North Miami police officer Jonathon Aledda was overturned by an appeals court in February.

He had fired his weapon at an autistic man holding a silver toy truck, and hit the man's caregiver. Prosecutors declined to try the case again.
"Better Call Saul" is fast approaching its last few episodes, with its sixth season being the last of the series before its plotline connects with "Breaking Bad."

However, not all of us have cable to watch the series' final season with. Luckily, there are some workarounds to that problem.

Here are some ways you can watch the "Better Call Saul's" final season without cable.

Stream It on AMC+

One way to watch "Better Call Saul" without a cable subscription is watching on a streaming service.

Let's start with AMC's streaming service.

As the network that first debuted both the "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" series, it has first dibs on streaming privileges. It also has on-demand AMC content, including "The Walking Dead," "Breaking Bad," and "Better Call Saul." It also has the best of BBC America, IFC, and Sundance TV with its streaming bundle that includes Shudder, Sundance Now, and IFC Films Unlimited, according to Tom's Guide.

To subscribe to AMC+, go to the AMC+'s website and follow the instructions until you've successfully signed up for the service.

AMC+ subscription fee is $8.99 per month, which is the cheapest way to watch the final season of "Better Call Saul" online without cable.

Although directly signing up for AMC+ can be done, Rolling Stone suggests that you get the AMC+ channel for Amazon Prime Video. This subscription will attach your AMC+ subscription to your Prime Video membership, resulting in the subscription putting everything in one place.

Stream It on Sling

Sling is also another streaming service that you can subscribe to watch "Better Call Saul". Its streaming service, SlingTV, offers two subscription tiers that include live access to AMC, allowing you to watch "Better Call Saul's" sixth season online anytime and anywhere. This ability to watch the series' episodes whenever and wherever is due to Sling including 50 hours of DVR storage, which allows you to record episodes to watch offline.

Read More: Apple's NEW MAcs with M2 Chips Start Testing THird-Party Apps  9 Upcoming Apps?

A SlingTV subscription normally costs $35 per month, but new customers can get the first month of their subscription for only $25.

To subscribe to Sling's streaming service, head over to Sling's website to sign up.

Stream It on fuboTV

Although it specializes in international sports, fuboTV also has live access to AMC, which gives you another way to watch "Better Call Saul." The subscription fee for the streaming service costs 69.99 per month, but it includes a seven-day free trial before you pay.

To subscribe to fuboTV's streaming service, visit fuboTV's sign-up page and follow the instructions provided.

Stream It on Netflix

"Better Call Saul" is also available on Netflix thanks to an agreement between the streaming platform and AMC.

Netflix also allows its users to download episodes to watch whenever and wherever while also offering a lot more than AMC content.

To sign up, visit Netflix's official website and click "Join Now." After which, follow the website's instructions and select the plan of your choice to finish the signup process.

Netflix offers the ability to download episodes while watching at the standard definition for $9.99. However, if you want to watch "Better Call Saul" in HD and download episodes, that will cost you $15.49.

'Better Call Saul' Details

"Better Call Saul," which is the prequel to "Breaking Bad," follows the story of criminal lawyer and small-time attorney Jimmy McGill before he established his law office in Albuquerque, New Mexico as Saul Goodman, Walter White's consigliere.

The show has had five seasons where various "Breaking Bad" stars have reprised their roles during the series. Its sixth and final season is planned to be split into two, with the first have (seven episodes) airing on April 18, while the second half (six episodes) will be available on July 11.

Related Article: Look Out for Walt and Jesse in Last Season of 'Better Call Saul'  When Will the Show Be Available on Netflix?
A Labour-run council has sparked fury in London's Camden Town after making a women's public toilets 'gender-neutral'.

Cash-strapped Camden Council last hit the headlines after splurging thousands of pounds on an 'inclusive' trans flag road crossing despite concerns it could cause confusion to visually impaired pedestrians.

It has now told women who want to use the public toilet at the end of Parkway, located by the Tube station, to share with men due to a budget shortfall  meaning the 'ladies' is now gender-neutral.

And this has happened with a certain irony, given that the women's toilets were installed after Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw campaign for a separate convenience space for females.

Officials insist that the men's had to shut due to 'social distancing reasons' during the coronavirus crisis.

But the loos have remain closed since because 'urgent repairs are needed' and the council is 'looking for money in the budget to pay for them', according to the Camden New Journal.

Cllr Richard Cotton told the paper: 'I think it's very worrying that this is subject to budgeting. If there is money for other things, there should be money for this. It's crucial that women have their own toilets.

Cash-strapped Camden Council has now told women who want to use the public toilet at the end of Parkway, located by the Tube station, to share with men due to a budget shortfall

Officials insist that the men's had to shut due to 'social distancing reasons' during the coronavirus crisis. But the loos have remain closed since because 'urgent repairs are needed' and the council is 'looking for money in the budget to pay for them'

Camden Council installed the four-way blue, pink and white crossing at the junction of Tavistock Place and Marchmont Street (pictured) in November to 'help celebrate transgender awareness and act as a reminder of the rich LGBT+ history' in Camden'

Parents' anger as school introduces gender neutral toilets saying the pupils' student council and LGBTQ+ group had asked for them An academy school has been criticised by parents after introducing gender neutral toilets for its children. Cedars Academy says the facilities were introduced after requests from students themselves. But after some concerns from a child at the Leicester school, one parent took to Facebook to complain about the decision. While a few parents agreed, many pointed out that the academy in Birstall still has gender separated toilets around the campus. James Rolfe, associate principal said the toilets were introduced at the request of the student council and the student LGBTQ+ group. The school says the facilities have floor to ceiling cubicles to ensure privacy and are also in an open plan area covered by CCTV, for easy supervision. The parent posted to Facebook, writing: 'Have I heard right that Cedars has made all toilets 'gender neutral'? My child now refuses to go toilet at break times as doesn't want to be in mixed toilets. 'Thus will be asking to go during class time, however this is generally frowned upon and often not allowed! What is my child supposed to do?' Other parents flocked to the comments to weigh in on the discussion. One mum agreed, posting: 'Don't think my son could handle going in with girls, they are just all starting out puberty, it won't be nice for girls either!' Advertisement

'Those loos were campaigned for and opened by none other than George Bernard Shaw. We were the first borough to have women-only loos, it would be pretty crazy if we were then the first borough to do away with them.

'I'm going to keep the pressure on about this. It's a matter of safety and privacy. I'm not sure how I would feel about one of my nieces having to have her first period in a toilet with men or boys.'

Susan Williams, who lives in Hampstead, called the toilets 'smell, horrible and intimidating'.

She added: 'I didn't feel safe in there, I would never have gone in if I wasn't bursting. If one does feel threatened, it's difficult to get out from underground.'

Another complainant to Camden said: 'The council have been promoting they're putting money towards VAWG, doing all these token things but they won't open ladies' loos, we need them for safety and privacy.'

She added: 'They're not hearing us. I know a few people have written to the council, and it's just not good enough. The council as a priority, need to find the funds  they need to be single-sex, it's putting women at risk.'

A Camden Council spokesperson said: 'For now a single block of toilets are open to all. Public men's only and women's only toilets are available nearby at the Crowndale Centre and Camden Market.

'Camden Council's public toilets are there for the convenience of our community and for visitors to the borough. We are constantly looking at our facilities to make sure that they are of a high standard and to ensure that anyone who uses them feels safe.'

It comes after Camden Council came under fire for installing a trans four-way blue, pink and white crossing at the junction of Tavistock Place and Marchmont Street in November to 'help celebrate transgender awareness and act as a reminder of the rich LGBT+ history' in Camden'.

A Freedom of Information request revealed how the Labour-run council, which is facing a 20million budget shortfall due to Covid, spent a total 10,464 on the project.

Of that, more than 6,500 was splashed on the blue, pink and white paint and the labour cost to install the crossing, while 1,850 was spent on 'road safety audits'.

The total cost only covers the project to paint the flags on the pre-existing crossing and does not include the previously paid for lights, pedestrian crossing system and road markings.

The crossing, which is in Camden's upmarket Bloomsbury District, is in the same London Borough as the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the UK's only gender identity development service for children.

A press officer for the Labour-run Camden Council told MailOnline that the location of trans crossing on Tavistock Place had no relation to the gender clinic, after previously saying the two were linked.

The reveal of the cost of the project comes after planning documents previously showed that the council went ahead with the crossing despite groups raising concerns that it would impact the safety of vulnerable people.

Charities for the visually impaired and legally blind  who in some cases do have minimal vision  warned the colours could cause confusion, while groups representing people with learning difficulties also said it could have an impact.

It also comes after the council's finance chief, Cllr Richard Olszewski warned the authority faced a 20million budget shortfall due to Covid and a 'lack' of Government support. Council bosses earlier this year predicted a black hole of 31.7million by 2023/4.

Of the 10,000 spend, more than 6,500 was splashed on the blue, pink and white paint (pictured: The crossing) and the labour cost to install the crossing, while 1,850 was spent on 'road safety audits'

Camden councillor Danny Beales (centre) pictured with Mayor of Camden, Cllr Sabrina Francis at the new trans crossing on Marchmont Street, in the north London borough.

A Freedom of Information request revealed how the Labour-run council, which is facing a 20million budget shortfall due to Covid, spent a total 10,464 on the project

It has led residents to question the 10,000 spend on the new crossing, which some have branded a 'disgraceful waste of money', while pressure group the TaxPayers' Alliance said residents 'must be sick of seeing their council waste thousands on virtue signalling'.

The Freedom of Information requests, submitted by local residents and shared on Twitter, has revealed how the total cost of the four-way crossing, believed to be the second of its kind built in the UK, came to more than 10,464.

Of that, a total of 6,500 was spent on the paint and the labour to create the four crossings points. A further 3,614 was spent on project management and road safety audits. There was also 800 spent on traffic management during the creation of the crossing.

The project had already proved controversial, due to concerns flagged by charity groups who warned the colourful crossing could impact on vulnerable pedestrians.

Camden Council finance chief warns of 20million budget shortfall Camden Council's finance chief Cllr Olszewski last month warned fellow councillors that the authority faced a 20million funding shortfall due to the Covid pandemic. He told councillors that the local fiscal toll of the pandemic was 96million - due to lost income and extra spending due to Covid - and that the Government support was 'just over 76million'. According to local news site Hamden High Express, he said: '(This has left us) with a shortfall of 20m and no sign of any further Covid funding beyond this year. 'If we do not receive adequate funding from government then we won't be able to do what we need to do. It is time for the government to act and honour its promises, which it hasn't done so far.' In August Cllr Olszewski warned the authority needed to make 'tough choices' in future, warning of a 31.7million budget black hole by 2032/4. He blamed the Government, saying Westminster's support 'hasn't been sufficient' and that impact of Covid had come against a backdrop of 'central government grant funding reductions'. Advertisement

The Royal National Institute for the Blind, which has its headquarters in Camden, told the council that colourful designs at crossings could cause confusion to the blind and pose safety risks to those with bad vision trying to cross the busy street.

Transport for London's Independent Disability Advisory Group also commented that people with learning disabilities or dementia may struggle to identify the crossing.

The group also warned that the crossing is likely to confuse older and disabled people, as well as drivers.

It further highlighted that people with sensory sensitivity could struggle with colorful crossings, which could cause anxiety, especially for people on the Autistic spectrum. Finally, the group noted that visually impaired pedestrians may find it difficult identifying the kerb edge.

These concerns were prompted by similar worries over colourful crossings across London. Those warning forced Mayor Sadiq Khan to pause the installation of any more colourful displays across the London transport network.

However, despite this, and despite its own Equality Impact Assessment, Camden Council decided to go ahead with the installation of the trans flag crossing.

Speaking at the time, Councillor Abdul Hai said: 'Camden is renowned for being ''no place for hate'' and a borough that has a strong and continuing history of respect and support for everyone.

'These amazing crossings are not only an impressive visual statement to help celebrate transgender awareness, but also act as a reminder of the rich LGBT+ history and daily life currently in the Bloomsbury area and across Camden and should prove to be a popular draw to this vibrant area.'

Responding to concerns, it argued that there wasn't enough information on the damaging effects of the crossing.

A spokesman for the council added: 'We do not believe that the proposed activity will discriminate unlawfully against any protected group. The artwork is an opportunity to provide a more inclusive artistic experience for residents and visitors.

'There are also opportunities to provide awareness of issues being faced by transgender people to residents and visitors, and to help local business to recover from the impact of the pandemic and to build on local community pride and social cohesion. This is a unique activity and there is a lack of information on potential equality impacts and mitigations.'

The spokesman added: 'These markings are on Camden-managed roads, they enjoy widespread public support and have undergone all manner of safety assessment and audit prior to installation.

'We work closely with Transport for London and will take on board their views when planning future colourful crossings. Camden will continue to work with disability groups to get feedback on the crossings now they are in full use.'

The installation was completed in November to coincide with Transgender Awareness Week 2021, which was held from November 13 to 19.

The week is described as a seven-day celebration of the trans community, leading up to the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which memorializes victims of transphobic violence.

Two weeks later the council's finance chief Cllr Olszewski warned fellow councillors that the authority faced a 20million funding shortfall due to the Covid pandemic.

He told councillors that the local fiscal toll of the pandemic was 96million  due to lost income and extra spending due to Covid  and that the Government support was 'just over 76million'.

According to local news site Hamden High Express, he said: '(This has left us) with a shortfall of 20m and no sign of any further Covid funding beyond this year.

'If we do not receive adequate funding from government then we won't be able to do what we need to do. It is time for the government to act and honour its promises, which it hasn't done so far.'

In August Cllr Olszewski warned the authority needed to make 'tough choices' in future, warning of a 31.7million budget black hole by 2032/4.

He blamed the Government, saying Westminster's support 'hasn't been sufficient' and that impact of Covid had come against a backdrop of 'central government grant funding reductions'.

The decision to spend 10,000 on a new crossing amid warnings of a budget shortfall has drawn criticism from social media users. One Twitter user, responding to the FOI about the crossing, wrote: 'I'm sure the council sit in their meetings bemoaning their cuts in funding too.'

Another wrote: 'Could have used that to feed the homeless, children in poverty etc.'

A third wrote: 'These crossings are great but that is a disproportionate cost to do it.'

Meanwhile, Danielle Boxall, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers' Alliance said: 'Camden residents must be sick of seeing their council waste thousands on virtue signalling like this right-on road decor.'
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The grief-stricken widow of a Microsoft executive who was gunned down in the middle of the road in February in an unexplained murder has revealed to DailyMail.com that he was shot multiple times in a targeted, assassination-style killing.

Jared Bridegan, 33, was killed on February 16 in Jacksonville, Florida. At 7.30pm, he dropped his nine-year-old twins at his ex-wife's Shanna's house after taking them out for dinner, and was around 2miles away when he encountered a tire in the middle of the road.

As soon as he got out of the car, he was shot multiple times at close range while his toddler daughter sat nearby in her car seat. His body was found at 9.50pm.

It has been two months since his killing but police are yet to make any arrests.

Their only lead is surveillance footage of a blue, 2004-2008 Ford F150 truck that was filmed by surveillance cameras near the crime scene at around the time of the shooting.

In an interview with DailyMail.com, Jared's widow Kirsten revealed that he was loved by 'the majority' of people in his life. She said that whoever murdered her husband had planned it meticulously, picking the only blind spot in an affluent neighborhood filled with Ring doorbell cameras.

'For it to be in that area, someone knew what they were doing. There are no cameras, there are no houses there. There's no Ring doorbell. It's trees and a one-way street,' Kirsten said from the couple's St. Augustine home with her youngest daughter, seven-month-old London, nearby.

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Jared Bridegan, 33, was murdered on February 16 in a targeted attack in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. The father-of-four had just dropped off his two oldest kids at his ex-wife's house (shown above with one of his younger daughters). His widow Kirsten Bridegan told DailyMail.com that whoever killed her husband 'knew what they were doing'

Jared had just dropped off his nine-year-old twins Abby and Liam with their mother, Shanna, when he was killed. He shared custody of the kids with his ex-wife and took them out for dinner every Wednesday near their home on the weeks that they were staying with their mother

The Microsoft executive was found 2.2miles from Shanna's home after dropping off the kids on February 16. It was on a quiet patch of road, where there were no security cameras

Jared was gunned down on a quiet stretch of road, surrounded by trees, in Jacksonville Beach on February 16. No cameras are thought to have caught the killing

She declined to comment on Jared's relationship with his ex-wife or whether or not she has been helpful in the investigation into his death.

The twins did not attend their father's funeral with the rest of his family. Instead, they had a memorial for him with their mother in Jacksonville Beach, which she posted about on Instagram.

My husband was a very well-loved man by the majority of the people in his life. Whoever did this, whoever is behind this, is just evil and nasty and I hope we can find them and put them behind bars, if they don't hurt us or anybody else moving forward Kirsten Bridegan

Kirsten would not be drawn on whether there were any issues between Jared and his ex-wife, who is remarried and and runs a local baking business.

'I definitely don't feel like it's the time or place for me to discuss someone else's relationship. I know how my relationship was with him and I miss that.

'My husband was a very well-loved man by the majority of the people in his life. He went above and beyond for friends, neighbors, kids.

'Whoever did this, whoever is behind this, is just evil and nasty and I hope we can find them and put them behind bars, if they don't hurt us or anybody else moving forward,' she said.

She added that 'for the most part', he had no enemies. They had been married for four years and met on a dating app.

At the time of his death, Bridegan was working as a UX design lead for Microsoft when he was killed. His wife said he 'loved' his job and colleagues, and had been 'thriving' ever since joining the tech company in September.

She added that the tragedy had taken a 'physical toll' on Jared's 66-year-old father Gaylord, and that she hopes the ongoing police investigation will eventually bring the family some closure.

Bexley, her two-year-old daughter who witnessed the murder, is confused by what happened and why anyone would want to hurt her father.

Jared's two-year-old daughter Brexley was in the car when he was murdered. She still asks her mother about 'the boom' - which is how she refers to the gunshots she heard

Police are looking for this 2004-2008 Ford F150 truck which they believe may have been involved in the murder

Jared and Kirsten met on a dating app when she was living in North Carolina and he was in Florida. They got married in 2017 and are shown on their wedding day with his kids from his first marriage

Shanna, Jared's ex-wife, is remarried and runs a baking business. She and her new husband are pictured with the twins

Jared, Kirsten, the twins and their two daughters Brexley, two, and London, seven-months. Kirsten says she wants to find out who killed her husband to be able to explain his death to his children

'She has some good days and some hard days. With children that young it's often hard for them to verbalize why they're upset. She'll act out in ways that she's never acted out in ways before. Later on she'll say "I wanna talk about the boom" which is what she says when she refers to Jared's murder.

'We try to focus on that "Dad's OK. He's not here with us but he's OK. We'll see him again someday" and just make it into a positive conversation. She asks me questions all the time like "why isn't daddy home?"

'We say somebody hurt him, and she asks "why?" did somebody hurt him.

'That's the hard part. I don't have an answer,' Kirsten added.

Jacsksonville Police spokesperson Tonya Tator told DailyMail.com that 'many' people had been interviewed as part of the investigation, but she would not go into further detail.

She said that crime labs were still processing forensic evidence, but urged anyone with information about the case to come forward.

'I have a lot of confidence in the officers that are on this case. Evidence processing takes a lot of time... it takes weeks, months. They are in contact with me daily but I can't sit by and wait.

'I created an Instagram, TikTok - make things easily shareable so people can call in. Anything that someone may know could be what we need to nail the people responsible,' Kirsten added.
Eighteen more states have signed onto a lawsuit against President Joe Biden's administration to stop it from lifting the Title 42 health order for the southern border amid concerns it will bring in a huge flux of migrants.

Originally filed by Arizona, Louisiana and Missouri, the case, in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Louisiana, was amended on Thursday to add the other states, bringing the total to 21.

Florida is one of the new states joining the suit, which is asking the federal court to block the order terminating Title 42.

'Ending Title 42 would be a disaster and further the chaos at the southwest border that is making it easier for drug cartels and human smugglers to advance their illicit practices in our country.' said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody in a statement.

She said it was 'reckless' of Biden administration to lift the order.

18 more states have signed onto a lawsuit to stop Biden's administration from lifting Title 42 public health order at border - above asylum-seeking migrants walk out of the Rio Bravo river to turn themselves into border partrol

There are concerns of a surge of migrants crossing the border after Title 42 is lifted in May - above a caravan of migrants headed to the U.S. from Mexico

President Joe Biden's administration announced in early April they would rescind the publich health order known as Title 42 on May 23

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced in early April they would rescind the publich health order known as Title 42 on May 23.

Since March 2020, the Department of Homeland Security has used it to quickly expel migrants at the border due to health concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The 21 states suing Biden over lifting of Title 42 on border Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas Florida Georgia Idaho Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Ohio Oklahoma South Carolina Tennessee Utah West Virginia Wyoming Advertisement

In February, 55% of the more than 164,000 migrants encountered at the border were expelled under the order.

The lawsuit names several federal agencies and officials as defendants, including CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky; the Department of Justice and Attorney General Merrick Garland; the Department of Homeland Security and Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas; and the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Xavier Becerra.

Even some Democrats have objected to the Biden administration lifting Title 42.

Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema has led a bipartisan group of senators in proposing legislation to prevent it from being lifted without a plan in place to stop an expected surge of migrants at the border.

Her home state of Arizona sits on the border.

She has called on the administration to extend the order.

'The administration's extension of public health emergency authorities proves the need to delay lifting Title 42 to protect the health and safety of Arizona communities and migrants. I'll keep pushing for transparency and accountability from the administration to help secure the border, keep Arizona communities safe and ensure migrants are treated fairly and humanely,' she said in a statement on Thursday.

Her fellow Democratic Senator from Arizona, Mark Kelly, also voiced concern about lifting the order - particularly without a plan to combat the expectant increase in migrants.

The issue is rapidly become an election year one as Democrats fret about keeping control of Congress.

Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who is facing one of the toughest re-election campaigns, visited the border to see the situation for herself and promptly called on the administration to extend the order.

'My trip to the southern border reinforced my concerns about the administration preemptively ending Title 42,' Hassan said. 'Border agents were very clear with me that the end of Title 42 will lead to a steep increase of attempted crossings that they will not be able to effectively handle because they don't have enough resources.'

Migrants in Mexico await their caravan heading to U.S. border

Democrats have also fretted about lifting Title 42: Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema (left) of Arizona proposed legislation to prevent Title 42 from being lifted without a plan in place to stop an expected surge of migrants; Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire (right) visited the border to see the situation for herself and promptly called on the administration to extend the order

The issue also has caused a delay in additional covid funding when Republican senators demanded to hold a vote on an amendment that would keep the Title 42 restrictions in place as part of $10 billion covid funding bill that President Biden wants passed.

Republicans prevented the measure from moving forward in the legislative process with every GOP senator voting against it in an early April vote.

'There'll have to be an amendment on Title 42 in order to move the bill,' Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said at the time. 'We'll need to enter into some kind of agreement to process these amendments in order to go forward with the bill.'

The White House slammed Republicans for stopping the legislation.

'It is disappointing that Senate Republicans voted down consideration of a much-needed bill to purchase vaccines, boosters, and life-saving treatments for the American people,' White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement hours after the vote.

'As we have repeatedly said, there are consequences for Congress failing to fund our COVID Response. The program that reimbursed doctors, pharmacists and other providers for vaccinating the uninsured had to end today due to a lack of funds.'

The issue has been punted until early May after Congress returns from its two-week Easter recess.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee, who stood against former President Donald Trump's election fraud claims on Jan. 6th, is revealed in text messages to the White House to have vouched for 'Kraken' lawyer Sidney Powell just weeks earlier.

The texts  which the Republican senator sent to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows as Trump's effort to overturn the election was underway  provide a much broader view of Lee, a conservative who split with his friend Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who rallied the effort to refuse to accept votes for Joe Biden certified by states where Trump claimed fraud.

They reveal that Lee, whose conservative legal chops include clerking for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, touted Powell to Meadows just days after the election when she was just starting to forward her ultimately doomed legal theories.

'Sydney [sic] Powell is saying that she needs to get in to see the president, but she's being kept away from him," Lee wrote to Meadows November 7,' according to texts obtained by CNN.

'Apparently she has a strategy to keep things alive and put several states back in play. Can you help get her in?'

'I have grave concerns with the way my friend Ted is going about this effort,' Utah GOP Sen. Mike Lee texted Mark Meadows on Jan. 3rd. Weeks earlier, he was pushing Trump to meet with 'Kraken' lawyer Sidney Powell and providing her contact information

He passed along her cell phone and email contact information.

Days later he vouched for Powell as a 'straight shooter,' according to the texts, which were obtained by the House Jan. 6th committee. Meadows provided texts to the committee before later fighting a subpoena.

Lee had also on Nov. 7th offered up his 'unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional remedy at your disposal to restore Americans faith in our elections.

He told Meadows, in a message directed to Trump: 'This fight is about the fundamental fairness and integrity of our election system. The nation is depending upon your continued resolve. Stay strong and keep fighting Mr. President.'

That text was in the form of a note signed by several prominent conservatives. They said it was for Trump and was not being issued as a 'press release'  but said he could 'feel free to leak it.'

Nov. 7th is the day the Associated Press and networks called the election for Biden after he won Pennsylvania. It is also the day Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani held his infamous press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping.

'Apparently she has a strategy to keep things alive and put several states back in play. Can you help get her in?' Lee wrote of lawyer Sidney Powell

An infamous press conference at the RNC featuring Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani appeared to be a turning point. 'Worried about the Powell press conference,' Lee wrote Meadows

Rep. Chip Roy recommended lawyer John Eastman to Meadows. Eastman spoke at the 'Stop the Steal' rally Jan. 6th

'This is a sh*tshow' and 'Fix this now,' conservative Rep. Chip Roy (R-Tex.) wrote Meadows on Jan. 6

'I have grave concerns with the way my friend Ted is going about this effort,' Lee texted Jan. 3 about Sen. Ted Cruz, the first GOP senator to announce publicly that he would object to votes certified by states

The advice came amid Trump's election overturn effort

On Nov. 9th, after a group of GOP senators met with Powell, Lee wrote: 'You have in us a group of ready and loyal advocates who will go to bat for him, but I fear this could prove short-lived unless you hire the right legal team and set them loose immediately.'

Lee's assessment would change over time, following Powell's infamous press conference at Republican National Committee headquarters where Powell through out a series of wild claims along with former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who was seen sweating with hair dye running down his face. Powell sketched out a series of interweaving fraud claims involving Dominion voting systems and 'communist' money from Venezuela.

'Worried about the Powell press conference,' Lee wrote Meadows. The lawyer who worked for top DC firms and whose father served as solicitor general, also weighed in with a legal assessment.

Both Lee and Roy voted to count votes certified by states on Jan. 6

'The potential defamation liability for the president is significant here. For the campaign and for the president personally,' he said, anticipating the lawsuits filed by Dominion Voting Systems and other entities wrapped up in Powell's claims.

'Unless Powell can back up everything she said, which I kind of doubt she can,' he observed, prompting Meadows to reply: 'I agree. Very concerned.'

'Unless Powell can immediately substantiate what she said today, the president should probably disassociate himself and refute any claims that can't be substantiated, Lee advised.

But Lee was tossing out aggressive legal strategies into December.

'If a very small handful of states were to have their legislatures appoint alternative slates of delegates, there could be a path,' he advised Dec. 8th. 'I am working on that as of yesterday,' responded Meadows.

Fellow conservative GOP Rep. Chip Roy can be seen going through a similar revolution in his own texts to Meadows.

'We need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend,' Roy wrote Meadows on Nov. 7.

Roy, too, vouched for a lawyer  in his case putting in a word for attorney John Eastman, who would later sketch out a desperate legal theory for Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count certified states in a move that could have thrown the election to the full House.

'Have you talked to John Eastman?' Roy wrote Meadows Nov. 22, shortly after the Nov. 19 Giuliani presser.

'Get Eastman to file in front of [Pennsylvania] board of elections... Get data in front of public domain.'

'Frigging rudy needs to hush,' he advised, in reference to Giuliani.

As the days wore on, and a series of courts rejected the fraud claims put forward by Trump allies, Roy soured on the effort.

He wrote Meadows Dec. 31: 'The president should call everyone off. It's the only path. If we substitute the will of states through electors with a vote by congress every 4 years... we have destroyed the electoral college... Respectfully.'

Lee's messages grew increasingly concerned.

'I only know that this will end badly for the President unless we have the Constitution on our side," Lee texted, 'And unless these states submit new slates of Trump electors pursuant to state law, we do not.'

On Dec. 16th, Lee had been pushing the White House to provide more guidance to on which of the myriad legal theories its allies were floating should be pursued.

'If you want senators to object, we need to hear from you on that ideally getting some guidance on what arguments to raise,' he wrote. 'I think we're now passed the point where we can expect anyone will do it without some direction and a strong evidentiary argument.'

Ultimately, it was Lee's Senate friend and colleague Ted Cruz who would come out first to say he would make an objection on the Senate floor when the chamber met Jan. 6th to count the electoral votes.

Lee wasn't buying it. 'I have grave concerns with the way my friend Ted is going about this effort,' Lee texted Jan. 3. 'This will not inure to the benefit of the president,' he predicted.

Roy grew increasingly disillusioned, texting Meadows: 'This is a sh*tshow' and 'Fix this now.'

Both Lee and Roy voted to accept votes certified by the states. Just over a handful of Republican senators voted not to accept votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania, with more than 100 House Republicans voting not to accept them in each case.
More than 100 former students at New Jersey's Colonia High School have developed a type of brain cancer in recent decades, with contamination from a nearby uranium plant likely to blame.

Al Lupiano, 50, a former student, became suspicious after he, his wife and his sister  who all went to the 1,000-student public school in Woodbridge, New Jersey, just southwest of New York City  were diagnosed with types of brain cancer.

Brain cancer is rare, detected in about one in 15,000 Americans every year official figures show, causing this trend within one family to raise alarms.

After posting about the diagnosis online, Lupiano said his inbox was flooded with fellow students who went to the Colonia High School up to four decades ago saying they had also been diagnosed with cancer.

Brain cancer types detected include glioblastoma  detected in Lupiano's sister , the most deadly form of brain cancer where fewer than half of patients survive beyond a year of being diagnosed.

President Joe Biden's son Beau died from this cancer in 2015.

Cases of acoustic neuromas were also found, a benign and slow-growing tumor which the vast majority of patients survive, were detected as well.

Being exposed to high levels of radiation and having a weakened immune system are key risk factors for brain cancers, experts say.

The school is about 11 miles from a former nuclear bomb development site, and fears are now mounting that uranium from the facility may have contaminated water or soil at the school.

A radioactive rock was also on school grounds for three decades, before being removed in the 1990s after a teacher warned it could be dangerous to kids.

'Doctors said they had never seen my cancer before it was super rare, or only people that were exposed to nuclear radiation as a child living next to a nuclear power plant that was contaminating their water have this,' Lupiano said.

Below is an explanation of the brain cancers detected at the school:

Al Lupiano revealed he had a brain tumor 20 years ago, before his wife (pictured together) had one and so did his sister - who died in February aged just 44

The victims, who all went to Colonia High School (pictured) in Woodbridge, New Jersey, developed the 'rare' glioblastoma years after studying or working there

Was radioactive contamination to blame for the brain cancer cases at the school? Officials are currently investigating radiation levels at the New Jersey school. Former students there have been diagnosed with cancers including glioblastoma, the most deadly form of brain cancer. Main risk factors for this include radiation, and having a poor immune system. It typically occurs in about one in 30,000 Americans every year. Ex-student Al Lupiano said he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2002, alongside his wife who also went to the school. 'Doctors said they had never seen my cancer before it was super rare, or only people that were exposed to nuclear radiation as a child living next to a nuclear power plant that was contaminating their water have this,' he told NJ Spotlight News. The school is located about 11 miles from a former facility used in developing nuclear bombs. It is feared some uranium from the site may have contaminated local water and soil. Advertisement

Glioblastoma, or glioblastoma multiforme:

This is the deadliest type of brain cancer.

It develops when cells supporting nerves in the brain begin to divide uncontrollably.

The fast-growing cells also invade nearby brain tissue, making them hard to remove, but generally do not spread to other areas of the body.

Survival rates are poor, with less than half of patients surviving more than a year after diagnosis.

About one in 30,000 people have the condition, estimates suggest.

Mr Lupiano's sister was diagnosed with this cancer at the age of 44.

The National Foundation for Cancer Research  which funds research into cancers  says glioblastomas are the 'most lethal form of brain cancer'.

What are the symptoms?

Warning signs vary depending on where the cancer is in the brain. They include:

Persistent headaches;

Double or blurred vision;

Vomiting;

Loss of appetite;

Changes in mood and personality;

Seizures;

Gradual onset of speech problems.

How is it diagnosed?

Brain scans are used to detect the cancer.

Glioblastoma is a stage IV type of brain cancer, meaning it is fast-growing.

Can it be treated?

Surgery is the main treatment for this brain cancer.

Specialist doctors remove as much of the cancer as possible during the operation. They may suggest patients stay awake during the procedure.

The above shows a glioblastoma (black area to the right of the brain)

Radiotherapy using high energy X-rays to destroy the cancerous cells may also be used.

After surgery, some patients are offered chemotherapy for several months.

What are the survival rates?

About 40 percent of patients survive beyond a year after being diagnosed, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons says.

Just 17 percent of patients survive more than two years after diagnosis.

Experts warn it can lead to death within six months if left untreated.

Am I at risk?

This cancer is most commonly diagnosed in men around 64 years old, although it can occur in people of all genders and age groups.

Prior therapeutic radiation and an impaired immune response are also risk factors for the condition.

Pictured above is a small form of acoustic neuromas (left) up to two millimeters across (0.07inches) and a large form of glioblastoma  beyond 30mm (1.1inch)

Mayor pledges to look into brain cancer cases at New Jersey school A mayor has pledged to look into brain cancer cases at a New Jersey high school. John McCormick said: 'The only thing that could have happened, potentially, was fill that was brought in during construction. We have no records 55 years ago.' He continued: 'There could be a real problem here, and our residents deserve to know if there are any dangers. 'We're all concerned, and we all want to get to the bottom of this. This is definitely not normal. 'We are looking at possible things that we can do between the town and school, and they said they will look at anything we come up with.' Dr Sumul Raval said: 'To find something like this  is a significant discovery. Normally speaking, you don't get radiation in a high school . . . unless something is going on in that area that we don't know.' District Superintendent Dr Joseph Massimo added: 'I'm a lifelong resident here. I raised my family here. So the health and safety of our students is of paramount importance to me.' The state's Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection and the Federal Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry are also investigating. Advertisement

Acoustic neuromas:

This is a slow growing tumor in the brain that does not spread to other areas of the body.

It starts on the nerve responsible for hearing and balance.

They are rare, accounting for about eight per cent of all brain tumor diagnoses.

Most patients initially have their tumor monitored to ensure it does not grow.

But if this happens they will then be offered surgery to remove all or part of it.

The vast majority of patients survive the condition, with only one in 200 cases that went to surgery being fatal.

Mr Lupiano was diagnosed with this cancer in 2002, at the age of 27, while his wife Michele was also found to have the condition.

What are the symptoms?

The tumor may initially trigger no obvious symptoms, but as it develops it can lead to the following warning signs:

Hearing loss, usually only in one ear;

Hearing sounds that come from inside the body;

Sensation of moving or spinning.

When the tumor gets larger it can spark these additional symptoms:

Persistent headaches;

Temporary blurred or double vision;

Numbness, pain or weakness on one side of the face;

Problems with limb co-ordination on one side of the body;

A hoarse voice or difficulty swallowing.

How is it diagnosed?

Acoustic neuromas are diagnosed using brain scans.

But doctors may also deploy hearing tests to help estimate the size of the tumor and what treatment may be needed.

What are the treatment options?

Whether someone is offered surgery depends on the size of their acoustic neuroma, doctors say.

Patients with very small growths  up to two millimeters (0.07inches) in diameter are normally only offered a brain scan every 12 months to keep an eye on the tumor.

But if these progress to medium and large tumors  beyond 30mm (1.1inch)  to grow they will be offered surgery to remove it, and avoid it damaging the brain.

Radiotherapy may also be offered to kill off the tumor.

What are the survival rates?

Most people who are diagnosed with acoustic neuromas survive the condition.

Cancer Research UK  which funds research into treatments for these conditions  says patients generally have a 'good outcome'.

Am I at risk?

This cancer is most commonly recorded in adults around 50 years old, with some estimates suggesting it is twice as common among women.

Exposure to radiation and having a weakened immune system are both considered to be risk factors for the condition.
Russia accused the Biden administration of 'adding fuel' to the conflict in Ukraine and warned there could be 'unpredictable consequences' if it continued to supply the most sensitive weapons to the war-torn nation, according to details of a diplomatic message published on Friday.

It came after Washington stepped up its support to Ukrainian armed forces with an $800 million package that for the first time included 155 mm howitzer long-range artillery, as well as armored vehicles, and coastal defense drones.

The supply of weapons - particularly anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems - has been credited with thwarting Russian efforts to seize the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

A two-page diplomatic note or demarche, dated Tuesday, was sent to the State Department by the Russian Embassy in Washington.

It was titled, 'On Russia's concerns in the context of massive supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kyiv regime,' according to the Washington Post which obtained a copy of the note in Russian.

It accused the U.S. and N.A.T.O. allies of trying to force Ukraine to 'abandon' negotiations with Russia 'in order to continue the bloodshed,' while pressuring other countries to end military and technical cooperation with Moscow.

'We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security,' the note said.

President Joe Biden this week announced another $800 million in security assistance for Ukraine, but Russia has formally warned the U.S. of 'adding fuel' to the conflict

This week the U.S. announced it was sending 155 mm howitzer long-range artillery to Ukraine, like those seen being used here by British forces in Iraq in 1991

The U.S. has trained Ukrainian troops in how to use the Switchblade drone, which crashes into targets with its explosive payload. Some versions can target tanks

And among the weapons Russia described as 'most sensitive' were 'multiple launch rocket systems' - although the U.S. and N.A.T.O. have not said they are sending such items to Ukraine.

That amounted to violation of 'rigorous principles' governing transfer of weapons to conflict zones and of ignoring 'the threat of high-precision weapons falling into the hands of radical nationalists, extremists and bandit forces in Ukraine.'

Russia has repeatedly tried to claim that is fighting to 'denazify' Ukraine, claims that do not stand up to scrutiny.

Instead a senior administration official said the note was an admission that the U.S. strategy was working.

'What the Russians are telling us privately is precisely what we've been telling the world publicly  that the massive amount of assistance that we've been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective,' said the official.

The latest tranche of security support was announced this week. The $800 million package takes the total to $3.2 billion since the invasion began at the end of February, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden said: 'This new package of assistance will contain many of the highly effective weapons systems we have already provided and new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine.

'These new capabilities include artillery systems, artillery rounds, and armored personnel carriers.'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week warned that Moscow is trying to push deeper into the country's east, and demanded more weapons be sent to help him

This week, the Czech Republic became the first NATO member to supply tanks to Ukraine and now Britain is considering following suit. Pictured is a Mastiff 2 armoured vehicle

The U.S. has already sent deadly kamikaze Switchblade drones, single-use aircraft that crash into their target.

Some can be equipped with armor-piercing warheads to target tanks.

Russia watchers said the diplomatic note may herald a new phase, in which Moscow targets arms convoys entering Ukraine.

'They have targeted supply depots in Ukraine itself, where some of these supplies have been stored,' George Beebe, former director of Russia analysis at the CIA, told the Washington Post.

'The real question is do they go beyond attempting to target on Ukrainian territory, try to hit the supply convoys themselves and perhaps the NATO countries on the Ukrainian periphery.'

Russia's 'broken arrow': Fears that NUCLEAR MISSILES sank with Putin's flagship Moskva amid claims that 452 of the 510 crew have drowned and top admiral has been arrested after cruiser was 'hit by Ukrainian missile'

ByWill Stewartand Chris Pleasanceand Chris Jewers For Mailonline

Russia's Black Sea flagship which sank on Thursday after an explosion on board may have been carrying nuclear warheads, according to analysts, as a Russian politician said more than 400 sailors could have gone down with the ship.

The Moskva, a Soviet-era guided missile cruiser, sank near the port of Sevastopol on Thursday after Ukraine said it hit the ship with two cruise missiles.

On Friday, Mykhailo Samus, director of a Lviv-based military think-tank; Andriy Klymenko, editor of Black Sea News; and Ukrainian newspaper Defence Express all warned that the Moskva could have been carrying two nuclear warheads designed to be fitted to its P-1000 'carrier killer' missiles.

If true, the loss of the warheads into the Black Sea could spark a 'Broken Arrow' incident - American military slang for potentially lethal accidents involving nuclear weapons.

'On board the Moskva could be nuclear warheads - two units,' Samus said, while Klymenko called on other Black Sea nations - Turkey, Romania, Georgia, and Bulgaria - to insist on an explanation. 'Where are these warheads? Where were they when the ammunition exploded,' he asked.

Meanwhile Ilya Ponomarev, a politician exiled from Russia for opposing Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, said just 58 of the 510-strong crew have since been accounted for - raising the prospect that 452 men went down with the ship in what would be a bitter loss for Vladimir Putin's already beleaguered army.

The figure, while unconfirmed, is consistent with losses suffered on exploding warships. During the Russian Navy's infamous defeat at the Battle of Tsushima against Japan, an explosion on board the Borodino - slightly smaller than the Moskva - saw all-but one of her 855 crew killed.

The Moskva - pictured leaving port at Sevastopol for the last time on April 10 - may have been carrying two nuclear warheads when it sank yesterday after a fire and explosion on board, experts and analysts have warned

Moskva could have been carrying warheads to fit into the tip of its Moskva's P-1000 supersonic cruise missiles, which are designed to take out American aircraft carriers

Russia says the Moskva sank after a fire and explosion on board, which Ukraine claims was caused when it was struck by two of its Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery

Putin's revenge: Russia strikes anti-ship missile factory near Kyiv Russia bombed a factory in Kyiv overnight which it claims made the missiles that sunk the Moskva, as the Kremlin vowed to step up attacks on the Ukrainian capital. Heavy explosions were seen overnight in Kyiv before Russia's Ministry of Defence said early Friday that it had destroyed the 'Vizar' plant which manufactures anti-ship missiles and other Ukrainian rockets. The attack came just a day after the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - was sunk after a fire an explosion on board that Ukraine says was caused when it was shot by two cruise missiles. Moscow says only that the cause is being 'investigated'. The defence ministry also warned that it will step up its attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, which it said comes in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory. A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line. Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway. Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv. Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them. Advertisement

Russia claims all the Moskva's sailors were 'successfully evacuated' but video taken in Sevastopol overnight shows dozens of cars purportedly belonging to the sailors still parked in the port - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them.

Elsewhere today, rumours began circulating in Ukrainian media that Admiral Igor Osipov - the commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet which the Moskva led - has been arrested in what would be the latest in a string of detentions linked to the bungled invasion.

Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian-Israeli businessman who fled the country in 2003 after being targeted by Putin, said that 20 Russian generals had been arrested over the military's failings along with 150 FSB officers for providing false information about Ukraine's defences.

He also claimed that Sergey Shoigu, Russia's defence minister and a long-term Putin ally, suffered a massive heart attack and is in intensive care after an apparent assassination attempt.

Shoigu, 66, is thought to have fallen out with Putin in mid-March over the bungled invasion and largely stopped making public appearances. He has featured in video calls with Putin since but has not spoken, amid suspicion the Kremlin could be re-using old footage to give the impression he is alive and well.

The Moskva got into trouble overnight Wednesday as it sailed about 60 miles off the coast of Odessa, Ukraine's largest port and main naval base. The Ukrainian military said it was struck with two Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery, which struck the port side of the vessel.

Russian military sources said the ship had rolled on its side and caught fire after the blast, while US intelligence sources said the vessel suffered a 'large' explosion that left it heavily damaged before it sank.

Moscow has said only that the vessel suffered a fire and blast before its navy attempted to tow the ship back to Sevastopol, but during the operation it sank in rough seas. The exact location of the wreck is unknown.

The loss of the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet that was told to 'go f*** yourself' by Ukrainian troops as it demanded their surrender on Snake Island - is a huge propaganda win for Kyiv as well as another embarrassing loss for Putin's beleaguered army.

As revenge for the sinking, the Russian military launched a series of cruise missile strikes on Ukraine overnight Thursday - including several rockets which it said struck and destroyed a factory near Kyiv that made the weapons used against Moskva.

Russia's defense ministry warned early Friday that it will step up attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line.

Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway.

Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv.

Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them.

Elsewhere, President Zelensky, praised the herosim of Ukrainians in holding out against Russia's invasion for 50 days - in spite of warnings they would last just five.
Elon Musk has warned that Twitter's board of directors will face 'titanic' legal liability if they go against the interests of shareholders in rejecting his $43 billion hostile takeover.

Twitter's board met for several hours on Thursday afternoon to discuss Musk's offer, and are reportedly considering several options to block the bid. A formal response is could take several days.

Responding to reports that the board is mulling a 'poison pill' plan that would prevent him from increasing his stake in Twitter, Musk tweeted: 'If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty.'

'The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale,' he added, apparently referring to potential shareholder lawsuits.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who also holds a board seat, insisted that the company was not being 'held hostage' by Musk as he sought to reassure panicked employees at an all-hands meeting on Thursday.

Elon Musk has warned that Twitter's board of directors will face 'titanic' legal liability if they go against the interests of shareholders in rejecting his $43 billion hostile takeover

Saudi prince claims to be major Twitter shareholder, but his true stake is unclear On Thursday, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal tweeted that he 'rejected' Musk's bid and claimed to be one of Twitter's 'largest' shareholders. Bin Talal attached a screenshot of a 2015 announcement that his investment firm owned 5.2 percent of Twitter. But in 2016, bin Talal cut his stake below 5 percent, and has not had to report any further trades. It means that the Saudi's true Twitter stake is unclear -- while it is certainly less than 5 percent, it could be as low as zero. Advertisement

Board members of a public company are bound to act in the best financial interests of their shareholders -- however, that does not mean that Twitter's board must accept Musk's deal.

While it would be a clear breach of fiduciary duty to reject one buyout offer and accept a lower bid, Twitter's board could likely find legal cover to reject Musk's offer by saying they feel it undervalues the company.

That is just the argument that one purported shareholder, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal made on Thursday, drawing a sharp reply from Musk, who questioned Saudi Arabia's 'views on journalistic freedom of speech.'

It's unclear just what stake bin Talal has in Twitter, if any, but regulatory filings show that it is something less than 5 percent.

If they reject Musk's bid, Twitter's board could also say that they aren't confident he will be able to secure financing for the deal -- meaning that questions over where the cash will come from could be central in the coming days.

Although Musk is the richest man in the world, with a $273.6 billion fortune according to a Forbes tally, most of his wealth is tied up in Tesla and SpaceX stock, and it's unclear just how much cash he has.

Musk has not said where he would get the cash for the deal, and his regulatory filing vaguely specifies that the buyout offer is subject to 'completion of anticipated financing'.

At a conference on Thursday, Musk claimed he had 'sufficient assets' to purchase Twitter out of his own pocket, but also suggested the deal might fall through.

'I do think this will be somewhat painful and I'm not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it,' he said.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, who also holds a board seat, insisted that the company was not being 'held hostage' by Musk as he sought to reassure panicked employees

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, estimates that Musk will need to line up some $15 billion to $20 billion in additional financing.

Musk does own about 17 percent of Tesla, a company valued at $17 trillion, and could raise cash by either selling shares or using the stock as collateral for loans.

However, Musk has said previously that he wants to avoid reducing his stake in Tesla if at all possible.

Though he sold off huge blocks of Tesla shares last year, it was to pay taxes, and he actually ended up with a slightly bigger stake in the company, due to the vesting of options.

Musk would have to sell about 43 million shares of Tesla to finance the Twitter deal, which would likely tank Tesla's share price, and would reduce his Tesla stake to about 13 percent.

Another option would be to use Tesla shares as collateral for loans. However, Tesla limits executives to using no more than 25 percent of their company stock as collateral for loans, and Musk has already pledged a portion of his shares for other loans, filings show.

Traditional debt financing would be another possible option for Musk. In this route, a bank would provide a loan for the purchase and the debt would be added to Twitter's balance sheet, and paid off with the company's cash flow.

However, Musk revealed in a filing that Morgan Stanley is his 'financial advisor' on the deal, and the investment bank is not known for pulling together the large-scale debt financing that the Twitter deal would require.

On Thursday, Tesla's stock fell 3.7 percent amid fears Musk would sell off shares to buy Twitter

Twitter's share price remains below Musk's offer level of $54.20, suggesting that the market is uncertain whether his bid will be accepted by the board

Morgan Stanley could team up with other big banks better known for such deals, but Musk has already burned some bridges in that arena.

JPMorgan Chase, for example, is currently involved in suits and countersuits with Tesla over Musk's tweets and disputed bond contracts.

Yet another option for Musk would be to team up with a private equity firm.

That is the path he considered in 2018, when he famously tweeted that he had 'funding secured' to take Tesla private at $420 per share.

In that case he consulted with Silver Lake, a technology-focused private equity firm led by Egon Durban -- who as chance would have it now sits on Twitter's board.

Durban joined Twitter's board in 2020 as part of a deal the company struck with another activist investor, Elliot Management, which wanted to shake up the company's management.

But any chance of Durban joining forces with Musk to finance the takeover would seem precluded by the deal he struck to gain a board seat, which limits Silver Lake from acquiring more than 5 percent of the company.

As for other private equity firms, its seems unlikely that they would consider Twitter an attractive target.

Private equity firms typically target companies that throw off lots of cash, using cash flow and cost-cutting to pay off debts incurred to buy the firm.

Twitter, however, had negative cash flow of $370 million last year, and does not seem like a candidate to turn cash-flow positive in the near term.

Musk appeared at the TED2022 Conference on Thursday, saying that he is pursuing a hostile takeover of Twitter not for financial gain, but for the 'future of civilization'

Taken together, all of the caveats mean that Twitter's board could well use concerns about financing as a reason to reject Musk's proposal.

Nevertheless, Musk claimed on Thursday that he had a 'Plan B' in place if Twitter's board votes against his deal.

The board on Thursday was reportedly considering seeking a 'white knight' to make a competing offer, as well as a 'poison pill' to prevent Musk from increasing his stake.

Also known as shareholder rights plans, poison pills typically trigger an automatic stock dilution through a flood of new shares if a corporate raider's ownership stake grows too large.

In Twitter's case, the idea would be to prevent Musk from increasing his 9.2 percent stake in order to pressure the board to accept his deal.

If the board did enact a poison pill, Musk might still be able to pursue a takeover through what is known as a tender offer.

A tender offer involves a direct appeal to shareholders to purchase their stock at a prescribed price, typically above current market value, at a specific time.

Typically the offer is only triggered if a certain percentage of shareholders accept the tender.

If Musk gained more than 50 percent of Twitter's voting shares through such a tender offer, he would effectively control the company.

In separate tweets on Thursday, Musk argued that it 'would be utterly indefensible' not to allow shareholders to vote directly on his plan. 'They own the company, not the board of directors,' he wrote.
An NHS nurse who was jailed for using a dying patient's bank card to go on a 1,707 spending spree has been struck off the nursing register.

Leanne Wallace, 40, was jailed at Teesside Crown Court in November after she targeted grandfather-of-four Leslie Rushworth as he lay on his death bed at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton.

During a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing last month, the panel heard the patient and particularly his family, were caused extreme emotional harm as a result of Wallace's fraudulent actions which occurred as a result of abuse of her position of trust.

In November, Teesside Crown Court heard Wallace used her patient's bank card to spend: 73.99 on wallpaper, on July 12, 2020, 10.57 and 23.97 purchases from Amazon, July 12, 2020, 699 on a bed from Home Living, on July 13, 2020, 900 on a loan repayment to Provident, on July 13, 2020.

Leanne Wallace, 40, was jailed at Teesside Crown Court in November after she targeted grandfather-of-four Leslie Rushworth (pictured) as he lay on his death bed at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton

During a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing last month, the panel heard the patient and particularly his family, were caused extreme emotional harm as a result of Wallace's fraudulent actions which occurred as a result of abuse of her position of trust. Pictured: Leanne Wallace

The court heard that the vulnerable and weak grandfather-of-four, from Seaton Carew, who was being cared for by Wallace, was transferred to Alice House Hospice, in Hartlepool, and died on July 16, 2020.

He'd been in hospital since July 3 suffering pneumonia, anorexia and general deterioration.

During the NMC hearing, it was claimed the nurse - formerly of Challoner Road in the Dyke House area of Hartlepool - tried to hide her guilt claiming Mr Rushworth was a generous man who had offered to pay off her loan, the bed was for him and the purchases from Amazon, one was for his benefit.

The report reads: 'In stealing from Patient A, who was a vulnerable and terminal patient, Ms Wallace caused distress to his family who were already distressed and grieving in his final hours and after he passed away.

'The panel found Ms Wallace's actions were egregious and breached the fundamental tenets of the nursing profession and therefore brought its reputation into disrepute.

'It was satisfied that confidence in the nursing profession would be undermined if its regulator did not find charges relating to dishonesty and fraud extremely serious.'

The court heard that the vulnerable and weak grandfather-of-four, from Seaton Carew, who was being cared for by Wallace (pictured), was transferred to Alice House Hospice, in Hartlepool, and died on July 16, 2020

Mr Rushworth been in hospital since July 3 suffering pneumonia, anorexia and general deterioration

In November, Judge Howard Crowson told Wallace that she must serve an immediate custodial sentence: 'This was an appalling abuse of trust. You were entirely selfish.

'You ruined the family's final hours with their father. Instead of being able to concentrate on him, they had to think about this fraud.

'I find it very hard to understand that desperation led you to this. Desperate people seldom consider purchasing a 700 bed.

'That looks more like greed. You have damaged the reputation of care workers in this country.'

She was handed a 14-month prison sentence and she has now been struck off from the nursing register.

The NMC report adds: 'Balancing all of these factors and after taking into account all the evidence before it during this case, the panel determined that the appropriate and proportionate sanction is that of a striking-off order.

'Having regard to the effect of Ms Wallace's actions in bringing the profession into disrepute by adversely affecting the public's view of how a registered nurse should conduct themselves, the panel has concluded that nothing short of this would be sufficient in this case.'
Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell's brother says the family is 'shocked' and 'perturbed' by a judge's decision to reject a retrial request - saying it was 'loaded' against her.

The former socialite and close pal of Prince Andrew was found guilty last year but it later emerged jury member Scotty David had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused as a child.

Her family and legal team say this swayed the jury to find her guilty of being a recruiter of teenage girls for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and she now could face 65 years in jail.

Defence lawyers had hoped they could secure a retrial for Maxwell, 60, after the juror revelations emerged but last week district judge Alison Nathan dismissed the request.

Ghislaine Maxwell is pictured with her ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein. Maxwell, 60, has been denied a retrial after her December conviction on sex trafficking charges

Maxwell (pictured in a court sketch during her trial) was convicted in December of recruiting and trafficking underage girls for the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and faces 65 years in jail

Speaking for the first time about it, Maxwell's brother Ian said: 'To say we were shocked is understated, clearly Ghislaine was also very perturbed by it, if I had to summarise it, the dice were loaded by the court.

'The verdict was unsafe by virtue of this juror and the decision is deeply tainted.

'This is going to go to appeal. It's just one of many points of appeal pretrial, in trial, post-trial and we are confident that Ghislaine will be successful on appeal.'

He also slammed the US judicial system saying that it was always going to be against his sister and said: 'The prosecution held an infamous press conference the day of her arrest, they pointed to a picture of Epstein and my sister, and the implication was that she was guilty which meant it was open season on Ghislaine and it's never let up.

Her brother Ian Maxwell (above) has blasted the judge's decision to deny her a retrial

'There is no possibility in English system prosecutor hold a press conference and say this woman is guilty before any trial has taken place. Ghislaine was depicted as some evil moll, its grotesque.'

'Numerous accusers who were not called in this trial, lawyers have been vociferous and none of it has been put to the test. It's just drip, drip, drip.'

Speaking to journalist Jay Beecher of his sister's case, Ian, 66, said: 'It's got sex, it's got death, these guys dying in prison, it's got royalty, it's got money, it's got famous people, young girls, everything you could dream of, all the elements are there.'

He also suggested the Me Too social movement against sexual abuse and harassment had also played it's part in Maxwell's guilty verdict last December in a New York court.

Ian explained: 'This has also had an enormous impact, all women must be believed, all victims must be believed

'But we know in this county, that so called victims turn out not to be victims, Carl Beech (invented claims of widespread establishment sex abuse) would be the finest example of that.

'These kinds of things go on and jury verdicts have been overturned time and time again and obviously we hope this is going to happen on this occasion as well.

'All this forms a powerful package of appeal points that for me show this trial was not fair, with on top of that the lying juror.'

Ian added: 'My sister has been banged up now, it will be two years in July, she is in horrendous incarceration, she is in isolation, she is on suicide watch, she continues to have torches shone in her eyes every 15 minutes to make sure she is still breathing.

Maxwell was convicted of procuring underage girls for sex with paedophile Epstein. Court Evidence pics show her giving his a foot massage against the breasts on a private plane

In this courtroom sketch, Maxwell enters the courtroom escorted by U.S. Marshalls at the start of her trial, Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, in New York

Maxwell was found guilty last year but it later emerged that jury member Scotty David (pictured) had failed to disclose he had been sexually abused as a child

'She is denied all kinds of rights and opportunities. It's a shocker, she was already frail mentally and physically at the start of the trial and I think this impacted for sure on whether she would give evidence in her own defence knowing what an aggressive affair that would have been.

'These kind of conditions in a first world country should not be acceptable, they are not acceptable in our country and they should not be acceptable in America but they appear to be.'

He also questioned why given the amount of accusations she has made, Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Maxwell and Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew was not called to testify.

Ian said: 'I think they realised she would have had a very difficult time under cross examination and that she could have done more damage than helped the prosecution's cause.

'If you have a powerful witness, whom you believe is telling the truth and whose combination of the truth and the way they can tell that truth sincerely, hand on heart, look the jury in the eye and say this happened, you are going to use that person because it's going to be very effective.

'The fact they didn't use her tells us all we already know; they couldn't not stand her up under cross examination because of the tremendous multiple inconsistences in her prior accounts on almost every subject for years. That is why I believe they did not run with this particular witness.'

When asked how his sister was coping in jail Ian admitted they family was concerned for her welfare.

He said: 'We all have to be worried about that because she has now been banged up for two years.

Ghislaine Maxwell in June 2019 (pictured front) with her six living siblings. Ian Maxwell, her older brother, top right, shared the photo in March 2021. A month after it was taken, Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and Ghislaine went into hiding with her husband, Scott Borgerson. The siblings, L-R, are: Anne, Kevin, twins Isabel and Christine, Philip, and Ian

Her siblings left to right: Kevin Maxwell, Christine Maxwell, Isabel Maxwell, and Ian Maxwell were all seen walking to the New York court for her trial on December 20 last year

'She's had this terrible rollercoaster of arrest, then lost three, four, five bail applications consistently turned down for reasons that are wrong because the court doesn't want to find itself on the wrong side of public opinion.

'So, she has really had a dose of it, the way treatment has been dished out in jail has been really shocking but I know that she remains resolute, she is determined to see this through, she believes in her innocence completely of the charges that she faces.

'She is getting on with preparing her appeal, the next thing coming is her sentencing and obviously we are not holding our breath that there is not going to be some incredibly savage sentence and I suspect nor is she, but we are absolutely determined that justice will prevail for Ghislaine.

'However unpopular it is and however counter to the prevailing narrative this is about the justice system doing what it should do and that the basis of why we have appeal courts and it may have to go the Supreme Court.

'Regardless of what this court has decided, on the basis of what it has decided we are confident that on that central point of the appeal, not to mention the other points that Ghislaine will be successful.

'She has hope, she has a strong and supportive family. We have hope we are going to fight.'

Maxwell is due to be sentenced in June.
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As Prime Minister, she always struggled to marshal her rebellious MPs in favour of her Brexit deal  and ultimately left office in tears in 2018 because of it.

But Theresa May is more than capable of marshalling joggers at a 10K Easter fun run in her Maidenhead constituency  and today she certainly didn't disappoint.

The former Tory leader put on a yellow hi-vis jacket and a smile, and chaperoned fancy dress runners raising money for charities on the hottest day of the year in Britain so far.

And the Prime Minister-turned-Run Marshal was even a good sport posing for photo selfies with sweaty passersby in Berkshire on Good Friday.

Of course, it's not unknown for her to cut loose where she can  after going viral when she introduced the world to the Maybot.

Former prime minister Theresa May acts as a marshal during the Maidenhead Easter 10K race, Friday April 15, 2022

Theresa May pictured chaperoning runners competing in the Maidenhead Easter 10K race, Friday April 15, 2022

The former prime minister is pictured posing for a photo selfie with sweaty passersby, Friday April 15, 2022

An amused Mrs May is pictured marshalling a male runner wearing fancy dress in Maidenhead, Friday April 15, 2022

Former prime minister Theresa May acts as a marshal during the Maidenhead Easter 10K race, Friday April 15, 2022

The former Prime Minister is pictured waving at a passerby at the Easter race in Maidenhead, Friday April 15, 2022

The former prime minister is pictured posing for a photo selfie with sweaty passersby, Friday April 15, 2022

Mrs May pictured at the Maidenhead Easter 10K race in Maidenhead, Berkshire, Friday April 15, 2022

Mrs May was all smiles as she chaperoned marshals in her yellow hi-vis jacket in Maidenhead, Friday April 15, 2022

Theresa May pictured chaperoning runners competing in the Maidenhead Easter 10K race, Friday April 15, 2022

Former prime minister Theresa May acts as a marshal during the Maidenhead Easter 10K race, Friday April 15, 2022

Mrs May was widely ridiculed when she initially cut some rug in front of astonished schoolchildren on a trip to South Africa, before a second performance days later in Kenya. She was subsequently dubbed The Maybot due to the lack of fluidity with her dance moves.

But she has since claimed it as a signature move to cut through her sometimes stuffy image  including at a Conservative Party Conference.

At the Spectator Magazine Awards in November last year, she unleashing her famously awkward robotic dance routine to Abba's disco classic Dancing Queen after picking up the Backbencher of the Year award.

Since leaving power, she has been a vocal critic of Boris Johnson while speaking out on a number of issues including his Government's repressive Covid shutdowns.

Mrs May pictured dancing to Abba as she receives the Backbencher of the Year award in November 2021

Mrs May danced as she walked out on stage at the 2018 Conservative party Conference in Birmingham

As she accepted the award she joked: 'Thank you to all of my parliamentary colleagues who ensured that I was on the backbenches  some of you are here tonight.'

Mrs May has shown to be independent minded since returning to being the MP for Maidenhead.

She has accused the Prime Minister of a lack of 'moral leadership' after he cut the foreign aid budget and threatened to break international law in Brexit talks.

The former Tory leader was also critical of the pullout from Afghanistan in August and condemned Mr Johnson's maneuvering over Owen Paterson's sleaze suspension as ill-judged and just plain wrong'.
NASA is holding a media conference on Friday, April 15. This conference comes as the wet dress rehearsals have encountered numerous bumps to completion, and now have failed their third attempt to fuel up the Artemis 1 Space Launch System rocket.

NASA's conference will address concerns about the series of tests conducted with its wet dress rehearsal for the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft at Launch Complex 39B, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The Artemis I mission will be delayed as NASA continues to encounter numerous problems with the wet dress rehearsal. Due to a hydrogen leak, NASA reports that today's wet dress rehearsal will be canceled.

NASA Artemis: SLS Rocket Leaks

NASA recently reported that after discovering a liquid hydrogen leak on the tail service mast umbilical, the engineers were unable to complete the test as planned.

Todays wet dress rehearsal activities for #Artemis I have been scrubbed due to the hydrogen leak mentioned in the previous post.



This is why we test. Media: stay tuned for a media teleconference with @NASA leaders tomorrow: https://t.co/AmzNV0shZp  NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) April 14, 2022

Several teams were able to collect additional data before the test was called off by cooling down the lines that were used to load propellant into the upper stage. The rocket is still in a safe configuration while the teams decide what to do next. NASA's third test attempt began on April 12 with a modified test procedure and ended on April 14 with a successful outcome.

The test was focused on loading propellant into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's core stage tanks using ground systems at the Kennedy spaceport, with only a small amount of propellant being loaded into the upper stage.

NASA Exploration Ground System took to Twitter to update the public and briefly stated, "The launch director has given approval for the team to proceed with operations to chilldown the ICPS LH2 lines to collect additional data. Engineers do not plan to load LH2 or LOX into the ICPS tanks."

(1/2) The launch director has given approval for the team to proceed with operations to chilldown the ICPS LH2 lines to collect additional data. Engineers do not plan to load LH2 or LOX into the ICPS tanks.  NASA's Exploration Ground Systems (@NASAGroundSys) April 14, 2022

In addition, they confirmed that the NASA Artemis team will not conduct terminal countdown activities today. The speakers at the conference will be Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, who is the Artemis launch director, and Mike Sarafin, who is the Artemis mission manager at NASA Headquarters.

Read Also: NASA Delays 'Wet Dress Rehearsal' for Artemis 1 Moon Rocket Over Safety Concerns

NASA Artemis: Wet Dress Rehearsal

NASA's SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft were just officially positioned last month at Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC). This means that NASA Artemis is getting closer to starting the lunar mission.

NASA Artemis is divided into three sets of missions: Artemis I, Artemis II, and Artemis III. NASA is currently in the early stages of Artemis I. Before the agency reveals the date of the Artemis I launch, the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft will first be tested for launch preparations. This series of tests is called "wet dress rehearsal."

As previously reported, "The wet dress rehearsal will allow the Artemis team to go through its operations and test the load propellant into the tank of SLS, test a full launch countdown, test the capability to recycle the countdown clock, and drain the tanks to practice the timelines and procedures the team will utilize for launch."

It was first announced that the series of tests for the wet dress rehearsal conducted at the Launch Pad 39B would last two days. However, NASA KSC in Florida needs to accommodate different space flights, which contributed to its delay.

According to CNN, deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development at NASA Headquarters, Tom Whitmeyer, stated that any new rocket that is introduced into a new program of this nature goes through these updates and evaluations to determine how well the rocket is performing overall. Whitmeyer added that's exactly the type of experience the NASA Artemis team is having right now.

Read Also: 10 Things To Know About the Artemis Program and the Next Moon Landing
The former Louisville detective who was fired following the botched raid that killed Breonna Taylor in March 2020 has found support from one of his former colleagues who was there that night.

Retired Sgt. John Mattingly told the Daily Mail that he is in full support of Myles Cosgrove's efforts to be reinstated with the Louisville Metro Police Department. Mattingly was wounded on the night of the raid.

Cosgrove was fired in January 2021 after the Louisville Metro Police Merit Board found that he was guilty of 'failing to identify a target' as well as not using a body camera during the raid.

Mattingly told the Daily Mail, 'Inside sources told me that the merit board hearing was just for show - necessary procedure - and that certain members had met with one of the main witnesses beforehand to verify what their vote would be.'

Mattingly said that Cosgrove was 'hung out to dry' for doing his job. Mattingly credited Cosgrove with saving his life during the raid. The LMPD said that they do not comment on pending litigation.

Myles Cosgrove joined the Louisville Metro Police Department's narcotics team in 2016. He's seeking reinstatement and back pay, according to his lawsuit

The retired officer also said that he believes, 'City leadership and LMPD mishandled and withheld crucial information from the public that they swore an oath to protect. Many of the events that took place after March 13th could have been avoided had the powers that be allowed the truth to be disseminated.'

Mattingly added, 'I believe Myles should be allowed to return to the profession that he gave so much to. I don't however, believe he will get a fair shot in Louisville unless the judge assigned the case has courage and ethics.

It is my hope and prayer that politics will no longer be the driving force in this case, that Myles and others involved get the justice they deserve, and that their lives can return to somewhat normal. Railroading someone's life and career for political gain and pandering has become the norm in many high profile cases.'

In 2022, Mattingly released a book about the events of the night of March 2020 titled, 12 Seconds in the Dark: A Police Officer's Firsthand Account of the Breonna Taylor Raid.

The death of Breonna Taylor, an EMT, sparked outrage worldwide. Now the officers involved in the raid say that they are the victims of a politically motivated witch hunt

In the botched raid, Taylor, 26, an EMT, was killed after being shot by Cosgrove, who fired his gun 16 times. As officers initiated the no-knock search warrant on Taylor's home, her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, opened fire. Walker told investigators that he thought intruders were breaking into the home.

Attempted murder charges were eventually dropped against Walker.

Cosgrove, who was found by an FBI investigation to have fired his gun 16 times that night, filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Jefferson County seeking reinstatement and back pay in his lawsuit, reports WLKY.

Cosgrove's attorney, Scott Miller, is alleging that there were numerous errors in the investigation that led to his client losing his job.

Cosgrove's lawyer goes on to argue that his client was held to a different standard than Mattingly. During the raid, Mattingly, who was wounded by shots fired by Walker, also fired his weapon. In May 2021, Mattingly retired after 21 years on the force at age 48.

Retired Sgt. John Mattingly believes the only reason he was not fired in a similar manner to Cosgrove was because he was shot and nearly died during the raid

Retired Sgt. John Mattingly is calling for Cosgrove to be 'allowed to return to the profession he gave so much to.' Mattingly has echoed his former colleague's claims that the department's reaction to Breonna Taylor's shooting was politically motivated

Officer Joshua Jaynes and Cosgrove were fired over the raid in January 2021, days after an internal investigation determined they had violated department procedures.

Jaynes was found to have lied on a search warrant that led to the raid, and is also filing a lawsuit in an attempt to get his job back.

In December 2021, Cosgrove's appeal to overrule his firing failed, following a 5-2 vote against the former detective's reinstatement by the merit board. The merit board is made up of two Louisville Metro officers and five mayoral appointees who handle issues such as discipline within the department and evaluate new recruits.

Miller called that decision 'arbitrary and unlawful due to actions in excess of its authority or in violation of due process', according to the Louisville Courier Journal citing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also accuses Louisville Metro Police Department officer and board member Sgt. Justin Witt of failing to 'disclose a conflict of interest' in the case.

Mattingly told the Daily Mail that he believes the 'conflict of interest' is that Witt worked in the chief's office. Mattingly said, 'Hard to work for someone, see them daily, and go against what they want.'

In December 2021, the same month as the merit board's decision, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced that his investigation found that Cosgrove was 'justified' in his use of force.

The lawsuit says the merit board did not take Cameron's finding into consideration.

Cosgrove fired his weapon 16 times during the raid on Breonna Taylor's home. His attorney says one of those who voted to fire Cosgrove has a 'conflict of interest' in the case

In September 2020, prior to his firing, Cosgrove's supporters launched a crowdfunding effort to allow him to 'purchase the remainder of his service time.' That would allow Cosgrove to retire with full benefits.

Following his termination, the 'intent' of the page was switched to focus on raising money for Cosgrove and his family.

At the time of writing, the effort has raised over $60,000.
A Colombian fugitive who has been on the run for three decades after killing his wife and shooting his daughter was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday.

William Hernando Usma Acosta, 61, was captured in Belmont, Massachusetts where he was living under an alias, the federal authorities said in a statement.

He fatally shot his wife, Laura Rose Agudelo, in Medellin, Colombia, in June 1994, and tried to kill his daughter when she intervened.

William Hernando Usma Acosta (pictured), 61, was captured in Belmont, Massachusetts where he was living under an alias, the FBI said in a statement

He fled Colombia shortly after the killing and was convicted in 1996, according to the FBI. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison, but this was later reduced to 28 years and six months.

Acosta crossed into the US from Mexico illegally in 1995 and married an American citizen in 1998 to obtain lawful, permanent resident status. His wife and son in Belmont told CBS Boston that none of the allegations were true.

He has most recently been living in Boston under the name Carlos Alberto Rendon and was arrested on his way to work. In June 2020, special agents received information that Usma Acosta may be residing in the greater Boston area.

When he applied for US citizenship, the FBI compared Rendon's fingerprints against those of Usma Acosta which were provided by Colombian police and determined they were an exact match.

Investigators also determined that his Colombian birth certificate was fraudulent.

He is in the custody of US immigration authorities. It could not be determined if he had an attorney.

He fatally shot his wife, Laura Rose Agudelo, in Medellin, Colombia, in June 1994, and tried to kill his daughter when she intervened

Acosta crossed into the US from Mexico illegally in 1995 and married an American citizen in 1998 to obtain lawful, permanent resident status

One neighbor told CBS News: 'I didn't even know he lived there. It's a very safe neighborhood.'

Another said: 'It's a little bit scary. It's just a dose of reality, but it's also just crazy.'

FBI Boston Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta said: 'William Hernando Usma Acosta is a convicted cold-blooded killer who thought he could evade justice by entering the United States and creating a new identity for himself so he could live under the radar.

'He needs to face justice for what he did, and todays arrest ensures that he will.

'The Commonwealth of Massachusetts will not be a safe haven for those wanted in their native countries, and the FBI will continue to leverage our international partnerships to remove dangerous fugitives like him from our communities.'

Proceedings to remove Acosta from the United States for violating the conditions of his legal permanent residency status will be commenced by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement which will transfer him to Colombian law enforcement authorities who issued the warrant for his arrest.
A fake knight who has lived a life of luxury funded from the proceeds of a 14 million property scam for which he was previously jailed has been given weeks to hand over nearly 1.5m or be sent back to prison.

Convicted fraudster Eric Fitzpatrick Danison was jailed for 11 years in 2010 for duping rich investors - including claims he could secure flats in a prestigious Birmingham development.

But after his release, he ignored a demand to repay the seven-figure sum, the outstanding amount on a near-2m order which covered the cash he raked in.

He re-styled himself, going by the moniker Sir Patrick Tristram Bijou, moved into a 1.2million house in Wales and still had more than 500,000 in the bank.

It is unclear whether he bought the title or gave it to himself baselessly, but he was never knighted by the Queen.

Eric Fitzpatrick Danison, who was jailed for in 2010 for a 14million property scam, has been caught living lavishly following his release off the proceeds from his crime. Now, police are demanding that he pay it back or return to prison.

Danison also had several expensive cars, including a Daimler and an Alfa Romeo, on his driveway, West Midlands Police said.

But now the Crown Prosecution Service has ordered Bijou pay back the cash by this summer or be jailed for another eight-and-a-half years after an application from the force at Birmingham Crown Court.

Bijou, originally from London, was also jailed for two years in 2019 for breaching a financial reporting order.

Det Chief Insp Alex Pritchard, head of the economic crime unit, said: 'It may be over a decade since we secured the initial confiscation order, but we never forget in our hunt to stop criminals benefitting from ill-gotten gains.

'Any unpaid sum hangs over a convicted criminal for the rest of their lives, in case further assets are identified.

'Once it was established Bijou had these, we set about working with the CPS on what is known as 'uplift' proceedings, to ensure he paid back the money owed.

'This is one of the largest, if not the largest amount, we've ever secured this way.

'It shows criminals we'll never let up, even years on.'

Police presented evidence of Bijou's available assets at Birmingham Crown Court.

A judge approved the order on Wednesday, April 13.
Ukranian border guards made an unusual discovery at a Moldova crossing when they uncovered a man in woman's clothing trying to escape the country.

The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine claims to have stopped a taxi near Odessa in the south of the country carrying a strangely tall, deep-voiced person in women's clothes earlier today.

According to the Border Guard Service's Twitter page, the 26-year-old traveller was carrying a temporary conscript's certificate while attempting to enter Moldova, raising the guards' suspicions that they had a deserter on their hands.

Under the current martial law in place in Ukraine, men aged between 18 and 60 are forbidden from leaving the country and instead are expected to enlist in the Ukrainian army to fight the Russians.

Ukrainian border guards quiz a tall person with a leopard skin hat and long hair who was trying to leave the country via Moldova

Among the documents found on the suspicious traveller was reportedly a temporary conscript's certificate

According to the Border Guard Service's Twitter page, the 26-year-old traveller was carrying a temporary conscript's certificate while attempting to enter Moldova, raising the guards' suspicions that they had a deserter on their hands

A video of the incident shows the tall person wearing a leopard skin hat getting out of the car and being quizzed by border guards by the side of the road

The conversation goes on for some time, with the disguised man seeming to do some explaining

The nearby port city Mariupol has been under siege by the Russians for weeks, reducing the city to a husk and decimating the civilians population through shelling and starvation.

Reports indicate that the city may soon fall to the Russians after a fierce battle resulted in a Ukrainian marine brigade surrendering, bringing Odessa into the crosshairs of the invaders next.

A video of the incident shows the tall person wearing a leopard skin hat getting out of the car and being quizzed by border guards by the side of the road.

They have a poke around in the boot of the car, seeing suitcases and luggage for what could well be an extended journey.

Under the current martial law in place in Ukraine, men aged between 18 and 60 are forbidden from leaving the country and instead are expected to enlist in the Ukrainian army to fight the Russians

The scene cuts to indoors, where the suspected deserter is seen signing some documents

The conversation goes on for some time, with the disguised man seeming to do some explaining.

The scene cuts to indoors, and the suspect is seen signing some documents.

It is not known exactly what happened to the hopeful deserter but it is presumed that he did not make it to Moldova.

There are exceptions to conscription if a person is ineligible on medical grounds, if the person is looking after three children or more, raising a child alone, or raising a child with a disability.
British Airways has apologised after family of Ukrainian refugees were barred from boarding their flight despite all three passengers having the correct documentation.

The family, which included an eight-year-old girl, had fled their home in Kharkiv, northeast Ukraine, which has faced some of the most devastating attacks from Russian troops since the invasion began on February 24.

Despite Vira Rybalchenko, 68, losing her passport during the evacuation, she was told by the British embassy she could still travel because she had retained paper copies and a UK visa.

The group had travelled more than 800 miles to Warsaw in Poland, where they had been due to fly to the London with BA under the government's maligned Homes for Ukraine scheme.

They passed through security without issue, but shortly before they were due to depart British Airways' staff wrongly informed Ms Rybalchenko she would not be allowed to fly without the original passport.

Her daughter, Hanna Zakhovaieva, described the experience as 'horrible' and said they were left without 'explanation or apology' by BA at the time of the incident.

The airline has since offered a public apology and a full refund as compensation for the confusion, reports the Guardian.

British Airways has apologised after a Ukrainian family fleeing war were barred from boarding their flight bound for London Heathrow despite all three passengers having the correct documentation. [File image]

The family had arrived at Warsaw airport for 6am for their 8.25am flight bound for London Heathrow.

But to their dismay, and the shock of visa officials at the airport, they were turned away after Ms Rybalchenko could not produce a physical copy of her lost passport.

Ms Zakhovaieva, 37, said: 'This was a horrible experience and my mum was absolutely shocked. I couldn't leave my mum in Poland because she doesn't understand the language and doesn't know anyone or have anywhere to stay.'

Eight-year-old Sofiaa had been left 'very traumatised' by the Russian invasion, and still speaks to her father, Konstantin, each day in Kharkiv to ensure he is 'still alive'.

Ms Zakhovaieva claims she saw another family being turned away by BA staff. The airline has yet to confirm how many Ukrainian families have been turned away in similar circumstances.

The visa centre at the airport 'were shocked that BA didn't allow us to board', she added. 'They said this is a massive issue that a lot of families will face.'

The family, which included an eight-year-old girl, had fled their home in Kharkiv, (pictured) which has faced some of the most devastating attacks from Russian troops since the invasion began on February 24

BA said in a statement: 'We're very sorry for the genuine error made by our team when trying to follow Home Office guidance and we've put measures in place to ensure this doesn't happen again.

'We're making contact with the family to apologise and will be providing a full refund of their tickets.'

Eventually, they were allowed to board an 8pm flight to the capital via LOT Airlines, after an employee with Hungarian budget airline Wizz Air created a temporary travel document for them.

Ms Zakhovaieva, her daughter and mother are now living with their host family in Surrey.

In recent weeks, BA has been at the centre of travel chaos for thousands of travellers due to staff shortages and an IT failure.
Heartwarming footage captured the moment two bear cubs were rescued from a tree after they were separated from their mother in North Carolina.

On Wednesday, the non-profit Help Asheville Bears received a call about a bear cub stuck 40 feet up a tree in the Asheville-area woods.

It appeared that a cub's back paw was stuck between the trunk and a branch, and the cubs siblings stayed behind to help.

The two were both were gnawing on the branch to try to free the other for hours before help from the North Carolina Wildlife arrived, HAB said.

Thirty minutes after receiving the call about the cubs, HAB arrived and found the two then called Wildlife Conservation Technician Ryan Luckadoo who quickly arrived to assist.

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On Wednesday, the non-profit Help Asheville Bears received a call about a bear cub stuck in a tree somewhere in the Asheville area woods

Wildlife Conservation Technician Ryan was captured getting to work and climbed a ladder to the top of the tree to reach the distressed cubs

Luckadoo climbed a ladder to reach the distressed cubs. He was able to quickly free the stuck cub's rear paw. It was not bleeding and there was no damage, so it was set free.

The cub then hurriedly made its way down the tree, followed by its sibling. Luckadoo climbed down and packed up his equipment as the cubs set off to roam free.

HAB said that the two were sure to be reunited with the mother bear who could not be too far away.

HAB praised the concerned citizens who called in and Luckadoo for taking the time to help.

'The cubs were very high in the tree and Mr. Luckadoo is incredibly brave for what he did to rescue the precious bear cub,' they posted on Facebook. 'There were many wonderful, concerned citizens watching while keeping a safe and proper distance. HAB thanks these people for doing the right thing and not further scaring the cubs.'

Luckadoo was able to quickly free its rear paw and saw that the cub was not bleeding and there was no damage and set it free

The cub then hurriedly made its way down the tree and Luckadoo climbed down his ladder and packed up his equipment so the cubs could roam free

The rescue comes weeks after a Wisconsin wildlife rehab took in three eight-week-old bear cubs after their mother was killed in a research accident when one of her tranquilized cubs suffocated her.

Wild Instincts, an animal rehab center in Rhinelander, took in the tottering baby bears after their mother died.

An older, two-year-old, 125-pound cub rolled onto her head while the bears were tranquilized for a routine replacement of the mother's radio collar. The name of the research facility involved in the fatal incident has not been released.

In March, Mark Naniot, the director of Wild Instincts, said on Wisconsin Public Radio's 'The Morning Show' that he wasn't sure what the researchers were studying - regardless, he said, 'humans broke it, so we should fix it.'

'This was an accident, and sometimes things happen,' he said. 'There's a lot of good information that we found over these research projects. We try to participate whenever we can.'

Typically, he said, older cubs don't go into their mothers' dens - 'it was a bit of an unusual situation.' Over the past 25 years, he said, this is the third time that something has happened to a mother bear during a research project that led to cubs going into the facility's care.

Researchers rushed to get the orphaned bears to the wildlife rehab within two and a half hours, Naniot said.

Shortly afterwards, they were taking their first wobbly steps. In March, they were being bottle fed and eating well, and had doubled in size since they were taken in in early February, he said.

Baby bears are one of the most expensive animals to care for in the clinic, costing roughly $3,000 to $4,000 each for the eight or so months they typically are kept. When they are around 100 pounds, they can be released into the wild.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is warning that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons during its invasion of Ukraine  and cautioned that it was a matter grave concern for the entire world.

'Not only me  I think all of the world, all of the countries have to be worried because it can be not real information, but it can be truth,' Zelensky said, speaking in English.

'We should think not be afraid, not be afraid but be ready. But that is not a question for Ukraine, not only for Ukraine but for all the world, I think,' he said.

Zelensky was responding to a question by CNN's Jake Tapper about CIA Director William Burns warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin might use a tactical nuclear tactical weapon as a desperate act amid military setbacks in its invasion, which has continued for 50 days.

He mentioned nuclear weapons as well as chemical weapons as a potential threat.

'Chemical weapons, they should do it, they could do it, for them the life of the people [means] nothing. That's why,' Zelensky said, speaking in sometimes imprecise English.

His dire comments in the interview come as it was reported Zelensky personally asked President Joe Biden to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism  a move with substantial implications for trade and sanctions.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Friday Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons

Biden did not commit on the subject, sources told the Washington Post.

Such a designation would lead to economic sanctions on nations that continue to do business with Russia, as well as freezing Russian assets in the U.s.

He spoke a day after Burns issued his won warning in a speech April 14.

'Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they've faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,' said the spy chief.

US officials have long warned that Putin could resort to increasingly reckless actions, particularly after major setbacks in its invasion, including the failure to take Kyiv or decapitate the regime, substantial troop losses, destruction of heavy armor, and pivot refocusing on Ukraine's south and east.

The US this week said it was not able to confirm Ukrainian claims that a Russian drone had dropped a chemical weapon on the besieged city of Mariupol due to distance from the alleged event.

The Azov regiment said a 'poisonous substance of unknown origin' was released on Monday.

Leaders have repeatedly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin not to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine

The fears of a Russian use of tactical nuclear weapons comes after relentless conventional strikes on Ukraine

There are fears that Russia's sunken Moskva cruiser could have been carrying nuclear warheads

Ukrainian rescuers put out a fire on a storehouse after shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 13 April 2022. The city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, has witnessed repeated airstrikes from Russian forces including satellite cities

'Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they've faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons,' said Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns

Russia warned of 'unpredictable consequences' after the U.S. announced the latest in a series of aid packages for Ukraine  this time including helicopters, 155 mm howitzer long-range artillery, and Switchblade drones as part of the $800 million effort.

The Russian embassy in Washington fired off a two-page diplomatic note or demarche, dated Tuesday, to the State Department in protest.

It was titled, 'On Russia's concerns in the context of massive supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kyiv regime,' according to the Washington Post which obtained a copy of the note in Russian.

It accused the U.S. and N.A.T.O. allies of trying to force Ukraine to 'abandon' negotiations with Russia 'in order to continue the bloodshed,' while pressuring other countries to end military and technical cooperation with Moscow.

'We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security,' the note said.

Russia's invasion, which began in late February, has already brought fears of a nuclear accident, after Russian troops seized and then later abandoned the Chernobyl nuclear plant after holding Ukrainian plant workers hostage for weeks.

Early in the conflict Russian forces fired on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

And there are concerns that the sinking of Russia's Black Sea flagship, the Moskva, could have been carrying nuclear warheads.

The Soviet-era guided missile cruiser, sank near the port of Sevastopol on Thursday after Ukraine said it hit the ship with two cruise missiles. Moscow claims it was due to a fire on board, and says it sank in part due to 'stormy sea conditions.'

Pentagon officials said Friday the US assessment is that Ukrainian forces struck the ship with two Neptune missiles.

Russia then launched a series of cruise missile strikes on Ukraine overnight in revenge for the sinking  saying it struck a factory near Kyiv that made the weapons used against Moskva.

The strikes illustrated how Moscow can still launch rocket attacks on Ukraine even after withdrawing its forces that had sought to circle Kyiv.

Mykhailo Samus, director of a Lviv-based military think-tank; Andriy Klymenko, editor of Black Sea News; and Ukrainian newspaper Defense Express all warned that the Moskva could have been carrying two nuclear warheads designed to be fitted to its P-1000 'carrier killer' missiles.

If true, the loss of the warheads into the Black Sea could spark a 'Broken Arrow' incident - American military slang for potentially lethal accidents involving nuclear weapons.

'On board the Moskva could be nuclear warheads - two units,' Samus said, while Klymenko called on other Black Sea nations - Turkey, Romania, Georgia, and Bulgaria - to insist on an explanation. 'Where are these warheads? Where were they when the ammunition exploded,' he asked.

At the Pentagon Thursday, spokesman John Kirby said the Moskva's main role was in providing air defenses for Russian forces.

The Slava-class guided missile cruiser is believed to have been armed with 16 anti-ship cruise missiles, 64 anti-air missiles, 2 anti-submarine mortars, 10 torpedo tubes, 6 close-in weapon systems, and 1 multi-purpose 130mm gun.
There's an old adage in Washington D.C. - if you want a friend, buy a dog.

Im sure she knew it already, but California Senator Dianne Feinstein was just reminded of that fact in a terribly brutal fashion and from members of her own party no less.

On Thursday, The San Francisco Chronicle published an article with the blunt headline Colleagues worry Dianne Feinstein is now mentally unfit to serve, citing recent interactions.

Feinstein is the oldest sitting member of the Senate.

The long piece cited multiple anonymous sources, including an unnamed California Democrat in Congress who alleged that they had to repeatedly reintroduce themselves to the senator over the course of a several hours-long conversation.

The vultures are circling.

To the majority of people working in and around Capitol Hill, you are only as interesting or useful to them as your connections and your access to political power.

Once you start to show signs of weakness and as your influence starts to fade, the knives come out.

On Thursday, The San Francisco Chronicle published an article with the blunt headline Colleagues worry Dianne Feinstein is now mentally unfit to serve, citing recent interactions.

It is a deeply unforgiving and cutthroat culture. Many industries and professions are, including television news and Hollywood, but the world of politics is as ruthless as they come.

To a large degree, this is understandable. Senator Feinstein represents 40 million Californians. Her state of mind is an issue of public concern.

I don't blame the journalist for writing it, and if I were a citizen of the state of California, I would be petrified right now.

This article is absolutely damning but also, quite frankly, cruel and manipulative.

The report also leans on Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers, who out of fear of being judged or being seen as unkind, refused to be named.

They claim to have respect for the senator and her groundbreaking career, but that seems unlikely as one California Democrats staffer quipped that, Theres a joke on the Hill, weve got a great junior senator in Alex Padilla and an experienced staff in Feinsteins office.

The main takeaway from these sources is that Senator Feinstein has good days and bad, but that she is often barely cogent and cannot get through a phone call without forgetting to whom she is speaking.

It is hard to read and sad to process what this means for Senator Feinstein's legacy and life as well as the citizens of California.

Feinstein is a legend. She was mayor of San Francisco in 1978 and was elected to the Senate in 1992.

She has been chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and she has served her constituents honorably in the Senate for 30 years.

Feinstein is a legend. She was mayor of San Francisco in 1978 and was elected to the Senate in 1992. (Above) Dianne Feinstein announces she is running for the Senate seat held by John Seymour, March 4, 1992

It is hard to read and sad to process what this means for Senator Feinstein's legacy and life as well as the citizens of California. (Above) Senator Diane Feinstein (left) and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (right) hold up newly struck commemorative coins in, San Francisco in 2006

She is not a modern toe-the-line progressive Democrat and she will be remembered as a trail-blazing liberal hero with a long roster of accomplishments for the Democratic party.

She broke glass ceilings for women in politics and deserves to be respected  she has earned it.

Senator Feinstein is also 88 years old. She is older than the Golden Gate Bridge and still has two years left on her term.

She will be 90 when her current tenure as the senior senator from California ends.

The powers that be in the Democratic Party want her to resign so that California Governor Gavin Newsom can appoint her replacement.

They dont want to leave that decision up to the voters in 2024.

But the reality is that the voters elected her in 2018, and the ethical issues surrounding this are murky.

Reports of Feinsteins decline have been circling in Washington D.C. and in the media for years  Democrats saw this as a time to strike and they took it.

The truth is that people aging poorly in the Senate are nothing new.

I can remember when I was in middle school and having lunch with my dad in the Senate dining room.

I watched Senator Strom Thurmond being wheeled to his table and a caregiver proceeded to put his napkin on him and help feed him.

My Dad told me to be respectful and not to stare. But I recall being confused as to how he could govern as a senator if he had trouble feeding himself.

Senator Thurmond served in the Senate for 48 years and died five months after leaving office in July of 2003, when he was 100 years old.

I watched Senator Strom Thurmond (above in 2003) being wheeled to his table and a caregiver proceeded to put his napkin on him and help feed him.

Senator Chuck Grassley is 88 years old. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (above left), Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Congressman James Clyburn are 82 years old. President Biden is 79 years old (above right).

Senator Chuck Grassley is 88 years old. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, and Congressman James Clyburn are 82 years old. President Biden is 79 years old.

The list goes on, many of the octogenarians of Washington D.C. have an iron grip on power that they refuse to let go of.

If we are having this conversation about Senator Feinstein, why don't we have this conversation about every octogenarian in politics?

I think one of the central questions is: why is it that this generation, in particular, has such abject fear of passing the torch on to the next generation?

No wonder nothing is being done in Washington.

I believe and I think many people agree that it is time to start having serious discussions about term and age limits in our government.

People are living longer and our ruling class is less inclined to accept their limitations and the normal things that go along with aging.

This is a conversation for the American people to have, and unfortunately, Senator Dianne Feinstein is the sacrificial lamb.

If she is in fact starting to mentally decline, the Democratic leadership should help her leave gracefully and speak to her in private, not take her out like a sniper from the left with anonymous articles being leaked to the press.

The Senate is supposed to be the gentleman's institution.

Colleagues are supposed to be respectful of each other and articles like this undermine the institution.

Politics is a savage place and lions of the Senate like Dianne Feinstein deserve better than this.

No one deserves this treatment in their old age, particularly not her.
The Homeland Security Department said Friday it will temporarily shield people from deportation back to Cameroon, saying extreme violence between government forces and armed separatists in the African nation made it unsafe for them to return.

The department also cited increasing attacks by the Boko Haram extremist group as grounds for giving Cameroonians an 18-month reprieve from deportation if they were in the United States on Thursday.

They may apply for work permits.

The status could aid about 39,000 Cameroonians, according to an estimate by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

The fighting has killed around 4,000 civilians, Human Rights Watch said.

The Homeland Security Department said Friday it will temporarily shield people from deportation back to Cameroon, saying extreme violence between government forces and armed separatists in the African nation made it unsafe for them to return

Wilfred Tebah, who fled Cameroon during its ongoing conflict, poses for a photo in late March at his Ohio home. African refugees say the recent decision to grant Ukrainians fleeing war refugee status underscores the racial bias inherent in American immigration policy

'Extreme violence and the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure have led to economic instability, food insecurity, and several hundred thousand displaced Cameroonians without access to schools, hospitals, and other critical services,' the department said.

Cameroon becomes the 14th country eligible for Temporary Protected Status, a program created in 1990 for people from countries stricken by civil strife or natural disasters.

Short-term reprieves are often extended in increments of up to 18 months, leading many to describe it as anything but temporary.

About 200,000 El Salvadorans have had temporary status since 2001, after an earthquake hit the Central American country.

The Biden administration previously created temporary status for people from Myanmar, Haiti, Venezuela and Ukraine.

The designation of Ukraine, which followed Russia's invasion, fueled calls for Cameroon to get the same treatment, with some advocates for the African country claiming racial bias.

Large numbers of Cameroonians appeared at the U.S. border with Mexico in 2019 until Ecuador imposed travel restrictions, limiting their ability to reach the border by traveling over land.

In late 2020 and early 2021, Reuters spoke to more than a half dozen Cameroonian asylum seekers when they had been deported back to their country after losing U.S. immigration court cases.

While all declined to be named, they told similar stories of having their identity documents confiscated by the government after returning to Cameroon and several were in hiding, fearing retaliation from local authorities.

A February Human Rights Watch report documented dozens of cases of Cameroonian authorities subjecting asylum seekers deported by the United States to human rights violations such as arbitrary arrest and torture between 2019 and 2021.
Parents of middle school kids have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that a Massachusetts school district violated their rights by keeping children's gender-nonconforming status a secret from them.

The suit was filed on Tuesday in US District Court, accusing the the Ludlow School Committee and school administrators of violating due process and religious freedom with their gender identity policies.

The plaintiffs in the case are two sets of parents: Stephen Foote and Marissa Silvestri, and Jonathan Feliciano and Sandra Salmeron.

The suit says that Foote and Silvestri have two children, a biological girl who identifies as genderqueer, and a biological boy who identifies as transgender.

The parents allege in the suit that staff and administrators at Paul L. Baird Middle School actively concealed their children's gender-nonconforming status and new pronouns, violating their parental rights.

Parents allege in a suit that staff at Paul L. Baird Middle School actively concealed their children's gender-nonconforming status and new pronouns, violating their parental rights

Feliciano and Salmeron's children are not specifically mentioned in the suit, but they allege that the district's policy on gender identity violates their right to free exercise of religion.

They say that their sincerely held religious beliefs require truthfulness, obedience to parents, and that they believe children are created as either male or female.

Ludlow Interim Superintendent Lisa Nemeth, who is named as a defendant, declined to comment when reached by DailyMail.com, saying the district does not comment on pending litigation.

Ludlow School Committee chairman James 'Chip' Harrington also declined to comment specifically on the suit, but referred to comments he made to MassLive saying he believes parents should always have 'a seat at the table' when it comes to important decisions for their child's physical or mental health.

'It's a slippery slope. We want to support our students the best we can. But we should bring parents to the table, and hope they respond in a loving and supportive way as well,' Harrington told the outlet.

The narrative of the 58-page lawsuit focuses mostly Foote and Silvestri's biological female child, identified only as B.F.

The suit says that B.F., then an 11-year-old sixth grader, was given an assignment with others in her class in September 2019 to make a video describing their gender identity and preferred pronouns.

'The videos of their children were created without the parents' knowledge or consent and it remains unknown how these videos were used or who was allowed to view them,' the suit states.

Ludlow Interim Superintendent Lisa Nemeth, who is named as a defendant, declined to comment, saying the district does not comment on pending litigation

Months later, B.F. met virtually with a teacher in December 2020 to discuss mental health struggles, including insecurity, low self-esteem, poor self-image, and a perceived lack of popularity.

B.F. also told the teacher that she believed she was attracted to other girls, and had been watching YouTube videos saying that she was born that way. The child added that she was not sure how to talk to her parents about getting help, the suit says.

With the student's agreement, the teacher contacted her mother Silvestri to share concerns about her mental health, and B.F.'s parents retained a therapist to help the child, the suit says.

According to the complaint, on December 20, 2020, Silvestri sent an email to several of B.F.'s teachers and members of the school committee, thanking them for their concern but requesting: 'do not have any private conversations with B. in regards to this matter.'

'Please allow us to address this as a family and with the proper professionals,' the mother wrote.

Silvestri sent an email to several of B.F.'s teachers and members of the school committee asking them to let her family and therapists address her mental health issues

Two months later, in February 2021, the complaint states that B.F. sent the following email to teachers, administrators, and the school counselor:

'Hello everyone, If you are reading this you are either my teacher or guidance counselor. I have an announcement to make and I trust you guys with this information.

'I am genderqueer. Basically, it means I use any pronouns (other than it/its). This also means I have a name change. My new name will be R****. Please call me by that name. If you deadname me or use any pronouns I am not comfortable with I will politely tell you. I am telling you this because I feel like I can trust you.

'A list of pronouns you can use are: she/her he/him they/them fae/faerae/aer ve/ver xe/xem ze/zir. I have added a link so you can look at how to say them. Please only use the ones I have listed and not the other ones. I do not like them. Thank you. R*** Foote.'

The lawsuit alleges that the guidance counselor 'replied all' to the email instructing teachers not inform the student's parents of her new pronoun preferences or gender identity.

The suit alleges that school staff complied, but that when the parents finally learned of the matter, they became upset and demanded that the issue be handled as a private family matter.

The 11-year-old student sent this email to teachers revealing a new name and pronouns

The complaint also states that the parents additionally learned that their other child, a biological boy, had 'identified as transgender and requested to be called by a female name', but that the school also did not inform them.

The suit accuses the former district superintendent, Todd Gazda, of insulting the parents during a public School Committee public meeting by claiming their concerns amounted to 'intolerance of LGBTQ people thinly veiled' behind a 'camouflage of parental rights.'

Gazda went on to say that schools, not homes, are the true 'safe space' for children because schools supply 'caring adults' where students can discuss problems and find support for their 'true identities,' according to the suit.

'For many students school is their only safe place, and that safety evaporates when they leave the confines of our buildings,' Gazda said, according to the suit.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants 'have acted and are acting with reckless disregard for Plaintiffs' fundamental parental rights by purposefully and intentionally concealing critical information regarding the upbringing and care of their children.'

'Defendants have violated and are violating Plaintiffs' fundamental right to make decisions regarding the upbringing, education, custody, care, and control of their children,' the complaint adds.

Named as defendants are the School Committee, interim superintendent Lisa Nemeth, former superintendent Todd Gazda, Baird Middle School principal Stacy Monette, school counselor Marie-Claire Foley and former librarian Jordan Funke.

The case is 3:22-cv-30041 in US District Court for Massachusetts.
WhatsApp is introducing a new feature called "Communities" designed to let institutions such as schools and neighborhoods communicate and share media.

WhatsApp Launches 'Communities' Feature Which Creates a Way for Admins To Message Thousands

WhatsApp, which has been predominantly used for messaging people since before Facebook bought it in 2014, can only accommodate 256 participants in a group chat, as per the report of The Verge.

However, the app recently announced a new feature that will let thousands participate in a Community that hosts multiple sub-group chats.

The idea is that different organizations, ranging from a school to a company whose employees interact using WhatsApp, will be able to more quickly organize discussions and have their administrators message everyone across multiple groups.

According to an official WhatsApp post on Thursday, April 14, Communities will be inherently private and end-to-end encrypted.

More Details Regarding WhatsApp's 'Communities' Feature

CNET mentioned that the Communities feature is WhatsApp's answer to Telegram's massive Groups and Channels.

However, while Communities may at first blush draw the comparison to Telegram channels or even Discord, The Verge wanted to note that there are some key differences between them.

Read More: How WhatsApp Reaction on iOS and Android Look Like

In WhatsApp, only admins can broadcast to an entire Community, whereas users are limited to the sub-groups they are a part of. Your phone number is required to join a Community, and WhatsApp does not allow Communities to be found through search engines or recommended by an algorithm.

Head of WhatsApp, Will Cathcart, said that WhatsApp is currently working out the specifics of how Communities will work, partly based on comments from early testers who have been asked to participate. He would only say that a Community can have "thousands" of members and that the number of admins a single Community can have with one-to-all communications access is "limited," according to a report by The Verge.

Meanwhile, The Independent mentioned that WhatsApp's Communities feature will have limitations. People will only be able to forward messages to one group at a time, for example, in order to make it more difficult to distribute undesirable content, such as false news or spam as quickly.

The feature is now being tested and will be rolled out over the next few months on WhatsApp and Facebook. It was said that similar features would be coming to Messenger, Facebook, and Instagram.

WhatsApp Will Add More Features Aside From The 'Communities' Feature

As per the report of CNET, WhatsApp is also introducing new features that have been available in competing messaging apps for some time, such as emoji reactions and the ability to make audio calls with up to 32 people, up from the previous limit of eight.

Users can now exchange larger files and media, with a 2 GB file size limit, up from 100 MB previously. Additionally, group administrators will now have the ability to erase messages from everyone's chats if, for example, someone says something offensive.

Related Article: WhatsApp Information Stealing Malware Baits Users Into Phishing By Voice Message
Meghan and Harry were keen to show confidence on their return to the spotlight in the Netherlands, a body language expert has claimed.

Meghan, 40, and Harry, 37, arrived to cheers and applause at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands on Friday - with their Netflix film crew in tow to capture every moment.

Their visit marks their return to Europe after fleeing for California during 'Megxit' and the pair reportedly visited the Queen during a trip on the way through to the Hague.

Speaking to MailOnline, body language expert Judi James explained: 'Harrys facial expression says it all here.

Speaking to MailOnline, body language expert Judi James explained: 'Harrys facial expression says it all here

'His emphatic eye-crinkling and his head tilt as he smiles suggests a return to the cause and the people that he loves, while his hand-cupped self clasp hints at a small amount of trepidation and humility during this first public appearance for a while.

'Harry also fiddles with his wedding ring here, which seems to signal how important the support of his wife and family still are to him.

'This is a partial-barrier and partial self-comfort gesture that shows the ongoing bonds between himself and his wife Meghan.

'His hand is on top of her in the clasp, hinting at a similar desire to lead and protect as we saw during their first public appearance many years before.

'Meghans hand is cupped upward in a gesture of submission and the way Harry has his other hand stuffed into his trouser pocket suggests a desire to look casual and confident.

'Meghans white pants suit might be more sophisticated than the ripped jeans and boyfriend shirt she wore back then but her hand on her heart gesture signals a desire to show and ongoing love of the public.'

'Meghans white pants suit might be more sophisticated than the ripped jeans and boyfriend shirt she [on her first official engagement with Harry]'

'Harry also fiddles with his wedding ring here, which seems to signal how important the support of his wife and family still are to him.

James previously claimed that Harry has adopted elements of an American accent, with a rising inflection and 'blending of words'.

Judi James said being in lockdown with Meghan Markle would have sped up his adoption of Californian English, as she also noted his 'overkill gesticulation' with his hands while speaking during their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey last year.

James, a leading communication and body language expert, told MailOnline: 'Harry has been in lockdown with Meghan and he clearly adores her so it would be natural for him to pick up on some of her way of speaking, too.

'Once lockdown ends and he is socialising with other US people I'd expect it to be even more dramatic. 'You can see that through a couple of things, ''I'' comes out as ''Ay'' and when he says ''herself'' he stresses the ''self''.'
Carl Lentz's wife punched a babysitter in the face when she caught him with her under a blanket on the couch, a bombshell leaked report has allegedly claimed.

Laura smacked Leona Kimes 'two or three times with a closed fist' at ex-NBA player Tyson Chandler's house in 2016, the document is said to have suggested.

She reportedly alleged she was then grabbed by her husband and 'gaslit into thinking she had not seen what she saw'.

The blistering report, titled, Internal Investigation Report Regarding Carl Lentz and Other Matters, is said to lift a lid on Lentz's shady dealings.

New York City law firm Zukerman Gore Brandeis & Crossman, acting on behalf of Hillsong, claimed he had ruled the church with a degree of manipulation.

Their document reportedly says his phone showed he was being quoted for massages and sex acts with masseuses - but it was not clear if he had sex with them.

It is said to show he admitted to having a five-month affair with a New York City-based designer in which they had sex.

But while he was seeing her he also engaged in another 'inappropriate relationship' with a woman he called Germany who he met in Brooklyn, the report allegedly says.

And other parts of the document accuse him of causing workers to suffer mental health problems including depression and anxiety.

The claims come nearly two years after Lentz was fired for cheating on his wife with the New York City designer.

He had shot to fame by baptizing Justin Bieber into the church and presiding over his wedding to model Hailey Baldwin, the daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin.

Carl Lentz's wife (pictured together) punched a babysitter in the face when she caught him with her under a blanket on the couch, a bombshell leaked report has revealed

Lentz is pictured with his friend the popstar Justin Bieber, who he baptized and married

Laura smacked Leona Kimes (pictured) 'two or three times with a closed fist' at ex-NBA player Tyson Chandler's house in 2016, the document claimed

HILLSONG SCANDALS FROM CHILD SEX ABUSE TO MISAPPROPRIATING FUNDS NOVEMBER 2020: Carl Lentz admits cheating on his wife of 17 years with Brooklyn designer he met during the pandemic DECEMBER 2020: Former member Yolandi Bosch claims publicly the church is a cult that controls members 2021: Creative director Darrell Barnett fired for sending shirtless selfie JAN 2021: Reed Bogard and wife fired for misappropriating funds AUGUST 2021: Head of church Brian Houston charged with covering up his father's alleged sex crimes against minors MARCH 24, 2022: Houston steps down as it's claimed he was inappropriate to two women MARCH 25: Woman's rape claim against Bogard becomes public Advertisement

But the new report reportedly further highlights the disgraced pastor's fall from grace, with it including scandalous details about his private and professional life.

The document, seen by the Christian Post, outlines how Laura spotted her husband on the couch with Kimes in 2016 at Chandler's home.

It is believed to say she watched as he was on the floor next to the chair and there was 'hand touching and leg rubbing'.

Laura then allegedly punched Kimes two or three times in the face before the pair tried to convince her she had not seen anything.

Investigators said: 'One night all of the adults were drinking and Leona was introduced to marijuana for the first time.

'Later that night, Leona stated that she was practically passed out on the couch while Carl massaged her legs. Laura then walked into the room and caught them.'

Lenz was also reportedly accused in the document of being a 'lying, massage-loving, adulterer' in an eviscerating put down.

It allegedly said he received 'frequent massages' but said he would not provide details on them or say whether they were sexual in nature.

But the report is understood to have said his wife suspected they could have been and texts to his phone quoted him for the cost of massages and also other sexual acts.

Meanwhile there were also more allegations about his five-month affair with New York City-based designer Ranin Karim.

The report reportedly said he would work in a 'cycle' where he would go to her house to try to call things off before they 'engaged in sexual relations'.

Investigators said the constant attempts would 'only make her fall in love with him more'.

Another woman he had a fling with was allegedly referred to in his phone as Germany, with him meeting her in a Brooklyn deli in 2020.

He met her twice and admitted their relationship was sexual but did not involve full intercourse, it claims.

Jewelry designer Ranin Karim, 35, claims she had a five-month affair with married former Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz before he was fired in 2020

She appears in season five of MTV series 'Ex on the Beach,' where she said she doesn't want to be called a 'mistress' but a 'mystery woman'

Aside from sexual allegations, Lentz was also reportedly accused of messing with workers' mental health.

One ministry leader is believed to have said he had left him feeling depressed and suffering from anxiety due to his time at work.

He claimed his boss would 'belittle him, bully him and complain about the driving or the route he was taking' as well as be expected to be free 24 hours a day.

But Lentz hit back, claiming he only shouted at him once when they nearly crashed in Manhattan.

He also disputed the claim drivers had to be available 24/7, saying he was not driven out to club late at night.

The pastor, who co-founded the New York City branch of the Australian church back in 2010, claimed he had resigned from Hillsong in 2020.

Lentz was and is still married to his wife, Laura, with whom he shares three kids

But a few days later, the church announced he had been fired by the organization's leader Brian Houston, who accused the pastor of 'moral failures'.

Lentz, who rose to notoriety after baptizing his close friend Justin Bieber in 2014, later publicly admitted he had cheated on his wife.

Earlier this month Hillsong was back in the headlines when Dallas pastor Reed Bogard was accused of raping a female staffer who he had an affair with in 2013.

He was ousted from the church along with his wife last year amid claims they had been misappropriating church donations to fund their lavish lifestyle.

But it emerged this year he had an affair between October 2013 and 2014 with a junior female staffer.

The woman is not named publicly because she claimed in October 2020 - six years after the affair ended - that Bogard raped her the first time they had sex on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in 2013.

She made the allegation for the first time in conversations with Hillsong leaders and an investigation was commissioned as a result. The details have never been made public until now.

The Christian Post obtained a copy of the investigation report in which lawyers said it was still a possibility Bogard could face criminal charges.

It remains unclear if the allegation has ever been reported to the police. New York's statute of limitations for reporting rape cases can be as long as 20 years.

There is no statute of limitations for first degree rape cases. Church leaders did know about the affair and had for years, but they thought it had always been consensual.

The affair happened in 2013 and lasted until the following year. Hillsong Church Australia found out about it in 2014.

It is unclear what prompted the woman to claim six years later that Bogard had raped her.

He was forced out of his role in the celebrity-favorite church in January 2021 amid claims he and his wife had misappropriated funds to satisfy their own lavish taste.

Bogard's departure from the church is the latest in a string of scandals to have plagued the organization.

Hillsong Dallas pastor Reed Bogard was secretly accused of raping a younger, female staffer who he had an affair with in 2013, it has been revealed

Bogard with his wife Jess. The pair stepped down last year amid claims they were misappropriating funds from the church

Hillsong started in Australia in 1983 but has since ballooned to become an international mega church with a cult-like celebrity following.

Justin and Hailey Bieber are the church's most famous followers but the Kardashians have been tied to it as has Selena Gomez and others.

Its selling point are its army of young, glamorous and trendy pastors who give concert-like sermons and appeal to Instagram-savvy, younger worshippers.

But over the last few years, the so-called disciples of the church have revealed themselves to have somewhat compromised morals.

In 2020, star pastor Lentz was exposed for cheating on his wife with a Brooklyn-based jewelry designer.

He was fired by Houston and retreated from the limelight, which he had enjoyed with his celebrity following. Bogard was fired in January 2021.

'It was very disappointing to learn that, while some of you experienced the Bogards as dedicated pastors, many others have experienced leadership that failed to meet the commitments and standards of Hillsong Church,' Brian and his wife said at the time.

Other former church members have compared it to a cult and detailed incidents of sexual assault.

Houston is now facing claims that his father, who founded the church, covered up sexual abuse during his tenure in charge.

He resigned on March 24 after it was also claimed he had been inappropriate with staff, notably two women.

He has been criminally charged in Australia over the allegation that he turned a blind eye to his father's abuse - which he vehemently denies.

Darnell Barrett, another member of the church, was fired in 2021 for sending a shirtless picture to someone else in the congregation.
The arrest and suspension of a black 15-year-old high school student for fighting his white classmate who allegedly racially bullied him has caused controversy in a Massachusetts town.

In February, Ras Russell, 15, who attends the high school and STEM academy in the town of Sandwich, Massachusetts, allegedly began to fight another student after he'd been taunted for months with insults like 'go back to Africa' and go 'pick cotton,' according to The Enterprise.

The fight was reportedly filmed by a student, and showed Russell kicking and punching the other student, who was left with a broken collarbone, among other injuries.

Russell was charged criminally with one count of assault with a dangerous weapon (his shoe), one count of assault and battery, and one count of larceny, according to a family attorney. The white student was also charged for assault and battery, but not with a felony.

Both students initially were suspended for five days, after which the white student was allowed to return, according to the Cape Cod Times.

Russell's suspension continued through April, but after his court date was delayed until May 4, Sandwich School Superintendent Paula Gould told WXTK they're reinstating him.

Paulene Jones speaks at an April 6 Sandwich Community Schools meeting about the racial bullying her son, 15-year-old Ras Russell, faced before beating up one of the bullies, resulting in criminal charges and a long suspension from Sandwich High School & STEM Academy

Sandwich High School and STEM Academy is in the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts

Sandwich Public School District serves about 2,500 students

Sandwich School Superintendent Paula Gould

Gould wrote a letter to the community in March, explaining that a 'horrible comment' was made the night before the fight while the students were playing video games online.

'The next day, the student in question made a decision to find the student who made the comment in order to physically take matters into his own hands,' Gould wrote.

'Only after the fight did the administration learn why he made the decision to fight the student, sending him to get medical care, without one punch returned,' she added. 'His choice, plus the severity of the injuries to the other student, made the incident a police matter.'

'But as adults, we must reiterate to our youth that violence is not the way to handle it.'

Gould said that the student had faced racial bullying. She said the student who made the bullying comment had been disciplined.

However, Russell's family and others both protested at the April 6 meeting of the Sandwich School Committee that the white student had been allowed to return to school before Russell did.

Marguerite Ormon, Russell's aunt, wanted it made clear that her nephew was the original victim here. 'You cannot blame him and let the bully have no consequences,' she said, according to WBZ News Radio.

'My nephew was called on several occasions, and they have that in texts, 'Nr.' This child endured that, he's a child,' she continued. 'He's not mature enough to know all the full consequences of that explosion that happened after months of this type of language and this type of bullying happening.'

Margot Critchfield, a protester, also spoke on Russell's behalf.

'I'm not making excuses for condoning in any way the harm he did,' Critchfield said. 'But I am calling us to acknowledge that Ras was the first victim here.'

Russell's mother, Paulene Jones, argued that the racism her son faced was riding the crest of a wave of racism perpetuating throughout the school district.

Jones said her family has faced racism in Sandwich, dating back to September 2021 when she found her garage door covered in red paint. No camera evidence was available so police were unable to locate a suspect.

'It's been a rising problem and it's not going away. Nobody has addressed the students of Sandwich on how this is not going to be tolerated,' she said.

On Facebook, several alumni of the school district echoed her thoughts, saying the problem had been brewing for a long time.

'I grew up and lived in Sandwich almost my whole life, I also went to school in the town for years,' wrote Amanda Hutchinson. 'The town absolutely has a problem with racism. This story is heartbreaking. There is no doubt in my mind that the victim was harassed with racial verbal abuse. The town and schools need to do much better.'

Matthew Martinez added: 'I don't know how many times I heard jokes about swimming to the US from Cuba or being told to go back to Mexico. I am of neither Mexican or Cuban descent.'

'The sandwich school system sucks and does absolutely nothing when it comes to racism in this town!' added Amanda Van Buren, who said she's the mother of two biracial children in the school system.

Sandwich High School & STEM Academy Principal James Mulcahy

Gould wrote that Russell will be supported with a school counselor when he returns and with academic. School counselors also are scheduled to follow up with students who witnessed the fight in the classroom, she added in the letter.

'Ras is a nice kid who is very supported,' Sandwich High School & STEM Academy Principal James Mulcahy said, according to the Enterprise. 'The goal is to get him back in school and always has been.'

Mulcahy also acknowledged the school district's problems and that it is taking steps to implement programs from the Anti-Defamation League to help teach students how to deal with these issues.

'I would never deny that they feel these things,' Mulcahy said of the experiences shared by people of color in Sandwich. 'They've experienced it here and I hurt for them.'

Neither Sandwich High School & STEM Academy nor Sandwich Public Schools responded to a DailyMail.com request for comment.
The relatives of the doomed crew of Russia's Black Sea flagship Moskva defied Russian censors to hold an unofficial memorial today, as Ukraine claimed that all 510 servicemen onboard died - including the ship's captain.

Kyiv's claim came after the United States confirmed its belief that Ukraine did in fact launch a missile strike against the Soviet-era missile cruiser, which Russia's defence ministry confirmed had sank on Thursday night because of a fire on board.

Ukraine said it launched a missile strike on the Moskva from the coast, which ripped open the Soviet-era ship. Russian news agencies cited the defence ministry on Thursday as admitted that the vessel sank in stormy seas after what it said was a fire and explosions involving ammunition stowed onboard.

Russia had earlier tried to downplay the damage, and claimed that the Moskva was still afloat and was returning to port under its own steam. Moscow also announced that the crew had been evacuated onto other Black Sea Fleet vessels.

A senior U.S. official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two missiles were Neptune anti-ship missiles. The U.S. believes there were Russian casualties, though numbers are unclear, the official added.

With the conflicting reports continuing, a moving 'mourning ceremony' was held for the Moskva and its sailors in Sevastopol, its home port.

It was unofficial but there was no mention of the number who had died, yet it seemed clear from this sombre ceremony presided over by a priest that there had been a significant loss of life.

A wreath was placed by a Black Fleet statue which read: 'To the ship and the sailors'.

The relatives of the doomed crew of Russia's Black Sea flagship Moskva defied Russian censors to hold an unofficial memorial today. Pictured: A man lays flowers at an unofficial memorial for the sailors of the Russian Black Sea flagship in Sevastopol on April 15

Ukraine claimed that all 510 servicemen onboard died when Kyiv's forces struck it with two cruise missiles in the early hours of Thursday morning

Ukraine said it launched a missile strike on the Moskva from the coast, which ripped open the Soviet-era ship (pictured, file photo)

Anton Kuprin, captain of the Moskva, is believed to be amongst those killed in the attack

Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to the Kyiv Interior Ministry, claimed today that 'the explosion was so strong that the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet sank in a matter of minutes'.

He claimed to have heard this from sources in Sevastopol, the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

'Apparently, as a result of the fire, the warheads of the large P-1000 cruise missile - Vulkan - detonated. And there were 16 of them on board the cruiser.'

As a result 'all the crew of the cruiser Moskva died'. This included the ship's captain, Anton Kuprin, Gerashchenko said.

The battleship had a usual crew number of 510 sailors.

He claimed: 'The leadership of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation have deliberately hidden the truth from relatives and friends of the crew members.'

His account contradicts other earlier versions, including that a Turkish vessel rescued more than 50.

If Kyiv's claim is correct, then the deaths of the sailor would add to the already huge death toll suffered by Moscow's forces during Putin's invasion of Ukraine. It is believed over 20,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the conflict.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Samus, director of a Lviv-based military think-tank; Andriy Klymenko, editor of Black Sea News; and Ukrainian newspaper Defence Express all warned that the Moskva could have been carrying two nuclear warheads designed to be fitted to its P-1000 'carrier killer' missiles.

A magnet depicting the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank in the Black Sea following a fire, is pictured at an embankment in Sevastopol, Crimea April 15, 2022

If true, the loss of the warheads into the Black Sea could spark a 'Broken Arrow' incident - American military slang for potentially lethal accidents involving nuclear weapons.

'On board the Moskva could be nuclear warheads - two units,' Samus said, while Klymenko called on other Black Sea nations - Turkey, Romania, Georgia, and Bulgaria - to insist on an explanation. 'Where are these warheads? Where were they when the ammunition exploded,' he asked.

Meanwhile Ilya Ponomarev, a politician exiled from Russia for opposing Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, said just 58 of the 510-strong crew have since been accounted for - raising the prospect that 452 men went down with the ship in what would be a bitter loss for Vladimir Putin's already beleaguered army.

The figure, while unconfirmed, is consistent with losses suffered on exploding warships. During the Russian Navy's infamous defeat at the Battle of Tsushima against Japan, an explosion on board the Borodino - slightly smaller than the Moskva - saw all-but one of her 855 crew killed.

Russia claims all the Moskva's sailors were 'successfully evacuated' but video taken in Sevastopol overnight shows dozens of cars purportedly belonging to the sailors still parked in the port - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them.

Rumours have also began circulating in Ukrainian media that Admiral Igor Osipov - the commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet which the Moskva led - has been arrested in what would be the latest in a string of detentions linked to the bungled invasion.

Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian-Israeli businessman who fled the country in 2003 after being targeted by Putin, said yesterday that 20 Russian generals have been arrested over the military's failings along with 150 FSB officers for providing false information about Ukraine's defences.

The Moskva - pictured leaving port at Sevastopol for the last time on April 10 - may have been carrying two nuclear warheads when it sank yesterday after a fire and explosion on board, experts and analysts have warned

Moskva could have been carrying warheads to fit into the tip of its Moskva's P-1000 supersonic cruise missiles, which are designed to take out American aircraft carriers

Russia says the Moskva sank after a fire and explosion on board, which Ukraine claims was caused when it was struck by two of its Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery

Putin's revenge: Russia strikes anti-ship missile factory near Kyiv Russia bombed a factory in Kyiv overnight which it claims made the missiles that sunk the Moskva, as the Kremlin vowed to step up attacks on the Ukrainian capital. Heavy explosions were seen overnight in Kyiv before Russia's Ministry of Defence said early Friday that it had destroyed the 'Vizar' plant which manufactures anti-ship missiles and other Ukrainian rockets. The attack came just a day after the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - was sunk after a fire an explosion on board that Ukraine says was caused when it was shot by two cruise missiles. Moscow says only that the cause is being 'investigated'. The defence ministry also warned that it will step up its attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, which it said comes in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory. A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line. Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway. Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv. Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them. Advertisement

He also claimed that Sergey Shoigu, Russia's defence minister and a long-term Putin ally, has suffered a massive heart attack and is in intensive care after an apparent assassination attempt.

Shoigu, 66, is thought to have fallen out with Putin in mid-March over the bungled invasion and largely stopped making public appearances. He has featured in video calls with Putin since but has not spoken, amid suspicion the Kremlin could be re-using old footage to give the impression he is alive and well.

The Moskva got into trouble overnight Wednesday as it sailed around 60 miles off the coast of Odesa, Ukraine's largest port and main naval base. The Ukrainian military said it was struck with two Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery, which struck the port side of the vessel.

Russian military sources said the ship had rolled on to its side and caught fire after the blast, while US intelligence sources said the vessel suffered a 'large' explosion that left it heavily damaged before it sank.

Moscow has said only that the vessel suffered a fire and blast before its navy attempted to tow the ship back to Sevastopol, but during the operation it sank in rough seas. The exact location of the wreck is unknown.

The loss of the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet that was told to 'go f*** yourself' by Ukrainian troops as it demanded their surrender on Snake Island - is a huge propaganda win for Kyiv as well as another embarrassing loss for Putin's beleaguered army.

As revenge for the sinking, the Russian military launched a series of cruise missile strikes on Ukraine overnight Thursday - including several rockets which it said struck and destroyed a factory near Kyiv that made the weapons used against Moskva.

Russia's defence ministry warned early Friday that it will step up attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line.

The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - the Soviet-era guided missile destroyer Moskva - has suffered heavy damage and may have sunk after Ukraine claimed to have shot it with two anti-ship cruise missiles

Russian Telegram accounts with links to the Wagner Group claim Bayraktar drones were used to distract the Moskva's radar systems before a coastal battery opened fire somewhere near Odesa, hitting the ship with two Neptune missiles

Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway.

Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv.

Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them.

Elsewhere, President Zelensky, praised the herosim of Ukrainians in holding out against Russia's invasion for 50 days - in spite of warnings they would last just five.

Zelensky said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.

He added: 'But they didn't know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want.'

Separately, Russia told the US to stop sending weapons to Ukraine, warning of 'unpredictable consequences' if it continues to do do.

The warning was delivered in the form of an official diplomatic note, which was seen by the Washington Post.

It said that American and NATO shipments of the 'most sensitive' weapons were 'adding fuel' to the conflict, which is now nearing its second month.

The two-page note was delivered after Biden had agreed to a new $800million delivery of military aid to Ukraine, including heavy artillery and shells, helicopters and armoured personnel carriers.

'What the Russians are telling us privately is precisely what weve been telling the world publicly  that the massive amount of assistance that weve been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective,' a senior US official said about the note.

Aside from providing Ukraine with a propaganda victory, Moskva's sinking also has practical implications for Russia. As flagship, the vessel was likely tasked with coordinating the movements of other ships in the Black Sea which may cause further confusion among Russia's already-strained command structure.

Its role was also to provide cover for Russia's other ships using its anti-air missiles while they launched cruise missiles attacks against cities and military sites. Its loss will make them more-vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes, including by fast jets or drones.

Dozens of cars, purportedly belonging to the crew of the Moskva, were still parked in Sevastopol yesterday - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them

Aside from the sinking of the Moskva, Russia is also having to contend with strikes against Belgorod and heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine as it prepares for a fresh assault there. However, it has struck a missile factory in Kyiv it claims was used to build the missile that sank Moskva, and also appears poised to capture Mariupol in the south

The sinking of the Moskva: Ukraine's ingenious ruse that blew apart Russia's flagship By Mark Nicol, Defence Editor for the Daily Mail The pride of Russias fearsome Black Sea fleet was taken out yesterday in one of the most cunning operations of the war. Ukrainian commanders destroyed the huge Moskva warship by using drones to distract its defence systems, allowing surface-skimming missiles to strike. The 12,500-ton cruisers protective sensors seemingly did not see the Neptune rockets heading its way because they were tracking Turkish TB2 drones. Two missiles slammed into the port side of the 611ft Moskva, rocking her violently and causing a catastrophic explosion and huge fires. As flames lit up the stormy Black Sea, the ships 510 crewmen frantically climbed into lifeboats and fled. The surprise attack took place at 2am yesterday as the Moskva, Russias main command and control warship, was around 60 miles south of Odessa. The ships captain and air defence officers were said to be tracking the decoy TB2s, unaware a pair of Ukrainian-made Neptune R360 anti-ship missiles were heading their way after being launched from an artillery battery on the coastline. The missiles, each weighing a ton and with a range of 186 miles, approached the Moskva at sea level. Travelling at such a low trajectory in rough seas meant they were difficult to track. They hit their mark. After the attack, the ageing cruiser  which first launched in 1979  was initially towed towards Crimea. US intelligence said it was still on fire. It had been expected to be written off as Russian shipyards are unable to operate because of international sanctions. But last night the Russian defence ministry said the Moskva had in fact sunk while being towed in a storm, the state news agency Tass reported. In terms of military hardware, the Moskva represents the largest single loss to Russias armed forces since the war began. Yesterdays highly sophisticated sortie came just hours after the US acknowledged it was providing direct intelligence support to enable precision targeting of Russian assets. It was also the culmination of a lengthy intelligence gathering operation which, the Daily Mail has learned, revealed the ship was operating in what sources described as predictable patterns in the north-west Black Sea and often without escorts. It is customary for large cruisers, in particular flagships, to be accompanied by frigates which provide a protective screen. But perhaps because they assumed they could operate with impunity, Russian commanders neglected to guard the Moskva. The incident is expected to make Russian naval commanders more wary when operating near Ukraines coastline. Advertisement

Earlier, a United States defence official said that Russia had moved its other vessels 80 miles away from the Ukrainian shore - a suspected attempt to get out of missile range - after the ship was damaged.

Questions will also inevitably be asked inside the Kremlin over how one of its capital ships was destroyed by a country with no operational navy. Since the war broke out, Russia's naval forces have been positioned off the coast of Ukraine to provide support to its ground troops, and to block off Kyiv's access to the coast.

H I Sutton, a respected naval analyst, points out that the vessel has spent the last two months sailing in a 'predictable' pattern around the Black Sea - generally sitting in waters close to Snake Island.

Sutton also points out that the ship's defences were 'dated'. It was initially built in 1983 by the Soviet Union, and underwent a major refit and recommissioning in 2000. But updates since then have been piecemeal with a major refit in 2015 cancelled - potentially leaving it vulnerable to modern weaponry.

On Thursday night, Western officials said Ukrainian reports of the operation were credible and the attack demonstrated their ability to strike the Russians in areas where they assumed they were invulnerable.

One said: The incident represents another enormous loss in terms of Russian credibility. Theyve been shown again to be vulnerable to attack. This is a question of competence. This is supposed to be a military which has modernised itself over the last decade.

The Ukrainians have used their imagination and proved so resourceful. They are able to act on the fly to have an effect on Russian forces.

Western officials also dismissed Russias excuses for the incident, after Moscow officials suggested there had merely been a fire aboard the Moskva, which led to the explosion of a large amount of ammunition.

An official added: I cant definitively tell you exactly what happened. But I am not aware previously of a fire on board a capital warship, which would lead to the ammunition exploding.

The loss of the warship, named after the Russian capital, is a devastating symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital.

The ship can carry 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal from combat reduces Russia's firepower in the Black Sea. It is also a blow to Russian prestige in a war already widely seen as a historic blunder.

Now entering its eighth week, Russia's invasion has stalled because of resistance from Ukrainian fighters bolstered by weapons and other aid sent by Western nations. The news of the flagship's damage overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where they have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war - at a horrific cost to civilians.

The Moskva is supposed to be equipped with powerful radar arrays to guide its anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine missiles which are also used to operate six 'close-in weapons systems' that are designed to take out incoming missiles.

It is not clear exactly how the Ukrainians were able to penetrate these defences. Sources linked to Russia's Wagner group suggest Bayraktar drones may have been used to distract or overwhelm radar before the attack, though it is also possible the drones were being used as spotters to direct the incoming missiles on to target.

April 10: The Moskva (pictured last week near the port of Sevastopol) has been helping coordinate Russian naval operation in the Black Sea, which has seen ships set up a distant blockade of Ukrainian ports and open fire on cities with cruise missiles

April 7: The Moskva is pictured in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, which is the home port of Russia's Black Sea fleet. The Soviet-era ship leads the fleet, and is equipped with anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine missiles

The same Russian military sources claim the Moskva was hit twice on its port side by the missiles, rolled over and caught fire. Ukrainian media has been awash with claims that the ship has sunk, though Russia's defence ministry has denied this - saying it remains 'buoyant' and will be towed to port.

Russia first admitted, via state media, that the vessel has sustained serious damage after a fire caused ammunition on board to explode but made no mention of a Ukrainian attack - saying only that the cause is under investigation.

The defence ministry also said the crew has been evacuated, but made no mention of casualties.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian ministry of defence, believes that 'hundreds' of sailors may have died in the blast - a view shared by Ilya Ponomarev, an anti-Putin Russian politician, who said that only 50 of the 510-strong crew have so-far been confirmed as rescued.

That account tallies with information put out by the Lithuanian Minister of National Defense, Arvydas Anusauskas. Posting on social media today, he wrote: 'An SOS signal was given from the Russian cruiser Moscow at 1.05am.

'[At] 1.14am The cruiser lay on its side and after half an hour all the electricity went out. From 2am, the Turkish ship evacuated 54 sailors from the cruiser, and at about 3am, Turkey and Romania reported that the ship was completely sunk. The related losses of Russian personnel are not yet known, although there were 485 people on board (66 of them officers).'

The loss of the Moskva marks the single-largest casualty inflicted by Ukraine on the Russian military during the war so-far and one of the largest ships lost in combat since the end of the Second World War.

It also marks another humiliating loss for Putin's armed forces, with the Russian leader said to be 'furious' after being given the news.
Former Long Island political powerhouse Ed Mangano will spend the next 12 years in prison after he was finally sentenced on bribery charges.

Mangano, 60, was found guilty in 2019 on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

He had served as the Nassau County executive between 2010 and 2017,.

Mangano's wife, Linda, 58, will serve 15 months for her role in the corruption. She was found guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and two counts of lying to FBI agents.

Neither Mangano appeared at the other's sentencing in Central Islip, New York, on Thursday. Ed Mangano will report to prison June 13, Linda Mangano will follow on June 27. He will also face a $20,000 fine in the case.

Ed and Linda Mangano arrived to learned their fate in two separate hearings on April 15 in Central Islip, New York. He stayed away from her hearing while she did the same for him. Both will report for their respective jail sentences in June 2022

The charges against the Manganos were in part related to his dealings with New York-based restaurant magnate-turned-prosecution-witness Harendra Singh, 63.

Singh has been under investigation since 2015, when he was accused of bribing government officials in the Town of Oyster Bay, located in Nassau, to guarantee two loans that amounted to close to $20 million. In theory, if Singh defaulted on those loans, the taxpayer would be on the hook to his banks.

He was owner of the Singh Hospitality Group which operated multiple restaurants in Queens and on Long Island. He also accused of underreporting his business earnings to the IRS to the tune of more than $17 million between the years 2009 and 2014.

Linda Mangano was accused of taking a lucrative $100,000-per-year job as a food taster at one of Singh's restaurants. That gig was a so-called 'no-show' job, and prosecutors said that Linda Mangano's payments amounted to nearly $500,000.

The gifts the Manganos received from Singh included paid vacations, hardwood flooring in their home, an expensive watch and a vibrating chair.

According to prosecutors, the watch in question was a $7,300 Panerai Luminor that was gifted to the Manganos' son, Sal, Singh said in court. Sal Mangano was also the manager of one of Singh's restaurants in Tobay Beach, Long Island, the disgraced businessman told a jury.

The $7,300 Panerai Luminor watch that was a gift to the Mangano's now police officer son, Salvatore. Sal Mangano was also a manager at one of Singh's restaurants, the jury heard during the trial

Prior to his sentencing, Ed Mangano described his deep friendship with Harendra Singh. Mangano said that when it came to things like vacations, he and his wife always paid their fair share

In court, Mangano maintained that his family and Singh's were friends and that he did not keep a 'record of receipts' for that friendship. Mangano said that he paid his fair share when it came to things such as vacations. An image shared by the district attorney's office showed Mangano and Singh together on a trip to the Caribbean island Turks and Caicos.

Prosecutors alleged that the relationship between Singh and Mangano's lasted from 2010 until 2015. During the trial, Mangano's friend Singh told the jury, 'I bribed Ed Mangano and he did favors for me,' reported Newsday.

In a first trial, in 2018, the couple faced the same charges, but it ended in a mistrial as the jury remained deadlocked. The couple's co-defendant in that case, John Venditto, former Oyster Bay Town Supervisor, died in 2020. He was accused of supporting a private company's loan with public funds. The couple was found guilty in another trial in 2019, but delays due to the COVID pandemic delayed the trial and sentencing.

Ed Mangano was found guilty of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, federal program bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, honest services wire fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Linda Mangano was guilty of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and two counts of lying to the FBI.

Mangano was cleared of a extortion allegations involving Singh and government contracts following Hurricane Sandy.

But to the end, the Manganos maintained their innocence. Prior to receiving his 12 years, Mangano stood before U.S. District Judge Joan Azrack and spoke for close to 20 minutes about his virtuous nature.

Mangano said, 'I do not have a criminal intent in my body. I would not allow my office to be infiltrated like that,' according to ABC7NY. 'My life has been destroyed.'

Mangano then cited the loss of his job, reputation and license to practice law.

Ed Mangano leaving court following his sentencing. The couple's lawyers have both said that appeals are in the works

The disgraced former Republican spoke of his friendship with Singh but said that their relationship went no further than that. Mangano also said that he did not have any influence over officials in Oyster Bay.

He was quoted by Newsday as telling the judge, 'I haven't been able to say anything in the last seven years and I just want you to know the type of people we are. Mangano described himself and his wife as 'caring people.'

But the judge rejected Mangano's yarn, saying that she was sending him to prison where he would be in his 'rightful place with fellow disgraced politicians.'

She accused Mangano of turning to corruption to make up for the financial shortfall he encountered after leaving his legal career for public service. Azrack said, 'Your crimes were motivated by greed. The law be damned.'

'Democracy is precious thing and crimes like yours strike at its heart. You were the Nassau County Executive and had tremendous political clout. You were the Nassau County Executive and you led by your corrupt example,' reported Newsday.

Mangano told the media when he left the courtroom, 'I always take responsibility for my actions, believe I'm innocent.'

Linda Mangano sobbed in court as she begged the judge in the case for extensive community service in lieu of prison time. Speaking to the judge, she spoke of giving investigators coffee and pastries when first showed up to search the family's home in Bethpage, New York

When it was Linda Mangano's turn for sentencing, she cried and begged to avoid prison. She suggested that extensive community service would be more suitable. As part of her sentence, Linda Mangano will be forced into 1,000 hours of community service.

When the FBI first appeared at the Manganos' home in 2016 as charges were first filed, Linda Mangano told the judge that she gave investigators coffee and pastries, and co-operated fully. 'In my heart I just can't agree with it. I have been portrayed to be lazy, uncooperative and a liar... that is not who I am.'

Azrack rebutted that statement saying, 'Her lies obstructed a major investigation. Linda Mangano knew full well what the criminal relationship was between her husband and Harendra Singh.'

The hardwood floor in the Mangano's home was paid for by Harendra Singh, as was a pricey massage chair, the jury was told.

In a statement following the sentencing, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York said, 'I want to assure the public that their faith in government and in our criminal justice system is not misplaced.'

'From the moment he was elected, Edward Mangano sold himself and his office. He cashed in the power, the resources, and the influence of his office to enrich himself and his wife. For Ed Mangano, public service was self-service.'

Singh testified during the trial that he was a major contributor to Mangano's political campaigns.

His lawyer told Newsday that in the wake of the Mangano's imminent prison time, his client is expecting a 'reasonable sentence' for his 'monumental help' in helping to put a corrupt Long Island political figure behind bars.
A six-year-old Texas girl was found unconscious and dangling upside down from a tree after a tornado threw her hundreds of yards from her home.

Miriam Rios, 6, is currently in critical condition after a tornado with winds of up to 165 mph hit the town of Salado on Tuesday evening, totally destroying her family's mobile home.

The Rios family, which also includes mom Vanessa, father Joel, and one-year-old baby Ezra, were all sent flying in different directions when the storm tore through their home.

The family initially tried to drive to safety, but when hail began to fall they returned to their home, Miriam's uncle Stephen Perez told KWTX.com

Miriam Rios, 6, (pictured) is currently in critical condition after a tornado with winds of up to 165 mph hit the town of Salado on Tuesday, totally destroying her family's mobile home

'Their mom remembers waking up, rolling over on her side, and seeing her daughter in a tree and she can't get up or do anything. She just rolled over and cried,' her brother said

The Rios family- mom Vanessa, father Joel, baby Ezra, 1, and Miriam - were all sent flying in different directions when the storm tore through their home

After the storm passed, the first-grader's mother, who was pregnant, and father were thrown to opposite sides of the field outside the home, while Ezra also landed in the field. Miriam was found hanging upside down from a cedar tree, hundreds of feet from the home.

'Their mom remembers waking up, rolling over on her side, and seeing her daughter in a tree and she can't get up or do anything. She just rolled over and cried,' Perez said.

She was badly injured. The entire family was rushed to the hospital and Vanessa Rios learned that she had miscarried the baby.

The rest of the family had to undergo multiple surgeries, among them repairing broken pelvic bones and fixing spinal cord injuries, Perez told KWTX.

Baby Ezra was spared more serious injuries and is set to be first to leave the hospital, Perez said.

But once the family recovers, they will have nothing to come home to: Their possessions were destroyed and their home turned to rubble in the storm.

'It's just the foundation that's left. There's absolutely nothing,' Perez said. 'And (my sister) was really proud about that home.'

'It's just the foundation that's left. There's absolutely nothing,' Perez said. And (my sister) was really proud about that home.'

Tuesday's storm left 23 people injured in the central Texas town of Salado

Perez has reached out to the community to help the struggling family and set up a GoFundMe that already has raised $40,000.

'With the family being in the home, while the tornado taking away everything they've worked so desperately hard for; they manage to hang on to each other,' Perez wrote.

'Our goal is to raise 80,000 dollars to help rebuild their home and put them back on there feet. And to give them the hope and motivation to keep on fighting,' he added.

Tuesday's storm left 23 people injured in the central Texas town of Salado.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth said Wednesday that the twister was rated an EF3 with peak wind speeds of 165 mph.

Tornadoes also were reported Tuesday in parts of Iowa and Minnesota. Residents in the small southeastern Minnesota farming community of Taopi were cleaning up after a devastating tornado destroyed half the town's homes, toppled tall trees and left piles of debris.

In Montana and North Dakota, much of the region reported at least one foot of snow. At least one mountain community already had nearly four feet of snow Wednesday morning.

Interstate 94 in the area was closed for nearly a day, however the North Dakota Department of Transportation has reopened the highway between Bismarck to Jamestown. The remainder of the interstate is expected to remain closed for the foreseeable future.

Michelle Light salvages belongings from her home near Salado Wednesday a day after a tornado destroyed the house

Chuck Rans salvages belongings from the home of his brother, Josh Light, on Wednesday a day after a tornado destroyed the house on near Salado

A No-Travel Advisory remains in effect for the state as meteorologists predict the spring snowstorm could become one of the biggest in a quarter century.

A separate weather system brought thunderstorms, high winds, heavy rain and hail across the Midwest and into the South.

A tornado rated EF2 with peak wind speeds of 130 mph struck Taopi near the Iowa border late Tuesday night, tearing the roofs off houses, overturning vehicles and bringing down power lines. There were no reports of serious injuries.

Volunteers arrived Wednesday to help residents clean up the debris in the community of about 80 people. Family members sifted through rubble looking for keepsakes.

'Half the town is gone,' City Clerk Jim Kiefer said.

Of Taopi's 22 homes, at least 10 are beyond repair, with roofs and walls missing, he said. Kiefer said his house is OK, but his mother's home is a total loss.

'She won't be going home,' he said.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said Americans should be 'relieved' to know that the White House will not be sending President Biden to Ukraine, even though he wants to go.

'We're making that decision now,' Biden said Thursday when asked if a top member of his administration would make the trip.

But when asked if he'd like to go, the president said: 'Yeah.'

'He's ready for anything  the man likes fast cars and aviators,' Psaki said during a live taping of Pod Save America on Thursday. 'He's ready to go to Ukraine. We are not sending the president to Ukraine.'

The press secretary said of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's surprise visit to Kyiv last weekend, he 'took an eight-hour train through a war zone to get to the middle of Ukraine.'

'So no, that is not in the plans for the president of the United States,' Psaki said. 'We should all be maybe relieved about that.'

'You're welcome, America. We need him to do a lot of things,' she added.

Press secretary Jen Psaki said Americans should be 'relieved' to know that the White House will not be sending President Biden to Ukraine, even though he wants to go

Press secretary Jen Psaki was a guest at a Pod Save America live taping Thursday night at the Anthem in Washington, D.C. and was asked if Fox News Channel's White House correspondent Peter Doocy was a 'stupid son of a b***h' or just played one on TV

President Joe Biden said on Thursday he would like to visit the Ukraine

Kyiv's Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said Johnson's visit showed the world who the war-ravaged country's 'real friends are.'

Thursday was not the first time Biden has expressed his interest in making such a trip.

While visiting U.S. troops in Poland last month, Biden lamented he couldn't cross the border into the Ukraine, saying 'they' wouldn't let him.

'They will not let me, understandably, I guess, cross the border and take a look at whats going on in Ukraine,' he said.

European leaders Johnson, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have all visited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Ukraine in the past week.

The leaders of Slovenia, Poland and the Czech Republic also visited Kyiv in recent days.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., traveled with Ukrainian-born Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., to Ukraine this week, touring the mass graves in Bucha and the rubble of war-ravaged Makariv.

World leaders have trickled into Ukraine in a show of support as Russia has retreated from Kyiv and its outskirts, worn down and instead refocusing on the eastern Donbas region. Their drawback, however, has put on display the full scale of cold-blooded killing and torture of civilians that has led Biden to accuse Putin of 'genocide.'

Last Friday, Ukrainian officials say a Russian rocket attack killed at least 50 people and injured potentially hundreds more at a civilian railway station.

The train station in Kramatorsk, a large transit hub in eastern Ukraine, was packed with 4,000 people -- mostly women, children and the elderly -- trying to save themselves by fleeing the war, the town's mayor said.

The UK's Johnson took the train from Poland to Ukraine the following day.

'This visit was very important signal for our partners that Kyiv, much more safety right now, and also very important signal that Great Britain stay together with Ukraine, support Ukraine -- support our country in the fight for our freedom, for our independency,' Klitschko told ABC News' This Week.

Biden confirmed a report White House was considering a high-level trip to the Ukraine match those by European leaders - Secretary of State Anthony Blinken or Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are most likely to go

A damaged Russian tank lies in a ditch next to a bridge in Chernihiv region, Ukraine, 15 April

'That's why we appreciate for humanitarian support, for political support and weapon support. It's very, very important for us in this critical time and we see who real friends of Ukraine.'

Late last month, one of Zelensky's deputies called on Biden to visit Ukraine while he was in Europe for a NATO summit if he was 'brave.'

But on Sunday Klitschko said he understood it was a 'safety decision' -- though he did leave the door open by stating that Ukraine would always be 'happy to see' friends.

Biden last visited Kyiv as vice president, in January 2017 - three days before leaving office. It was his sixth official visit to Ukraine, where he was hoping to prevent Russia from consuming more of the country after its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, during the prime minister's visit to Kyiv on Saturday

Karl Nehammer, the Austrian chancellor, traveled to Kyiv on Saturday

Meanwhile, Biden spoke with Zelensky for nearly an hour on Wednesday to tell him the United States was sending another $800 million in weapons to help him fight off Vladimir Putin's forces.

The new package of defensive measures includes 'highly effective weapons systems' that are 'tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine,' Biden said.

It will include artillery systems, artillery rounds, armored personnel carriers, and additional helicopters.
The family of one of the victims killed in Michigan's Oxford High School mass shooting filed a lawsuit against the district and administrators claiming they knew accused shooter Ethan Crumbley was 'homicidal and suicidal.'

Steven St. Juliana filed the suit against the district on Thursday over the death of his daughter, Hana, 14, who was one of the four victims gunned down on November 30 when Crumbley, 15, opened fire inside the school, injuring an additional seven people.

St. Juliana and his older daughter, Reina, 16, argued that student counselor Shawn Hopkins and Dean of Student Nicholas Ejak knew Crumbley had homicidal ideas. He was removed from class after teachers caught him drawing and writing disturbing messages hours before the shooting.

The family condemned the administrators, along with principal Steven Wolf, former Superintendent Timothy Throne and acting Superintendent Kenneth Weaver, for allowing Crumbley to go back to class without checking his bag, where he is accused of hiding the firearm.

'The truth is that school officials escalated the danger by releasing [Crumbley] from a safe zone with knowledge of [Crumbley]'s propensity to inflict harm upon himself or others,' the lawsuit states.

'Instead, Ejak and Hopkins used their authority to write a hall pass, give [Crumbley] his backpack (without searching it), and return him to his third hour class, alone.'

Steven St. Juliana filed the suit against the Oxford Community School, student counselor Shawn Hopkins (pictured) and Dean of Student Nicholas Ejak for gross negligence for failing to prevent the mass shooting on November 30

(L-R): The former district Superintendent Timothy Throne, acting Superintendent Kenneth Weaver, and high school principal Steven Wolf were also named in the suit. The St. Juliana family demands Weaver retract statements that the district was free of wrongdoing

Ethan Crumbley, 15 (above), stands accused of killing four and injuring 7 at Oxford High School. The St. Julianas claim administrators knew the teen demonstrated 'homicidal and suicidial' tendencies but still let him go back to class despite the warning signs

Hana St. Juliana (pictured) was allegedly gunned down by Crumbley after administrators sent him back to class despite teachers sending him for guidance over disturbing drawings and messages he wrote just hours before the shooting

Reina St. Juliana (above), 16, Hana's older sister, filed the lawsuit with her father. The family seek unspecified damages under Michigan's wrongful death statue

The Oxford Community School District did not immediately return DailyMail.com's request for comment.

The suit seeks unspecified damages under Michigan's wrongful death statute as it accuses the administrators of gross negligence and demands Weaver or the district retract all statements made that the district was innocent of wrongdoing.

According to the suit, the district has cited an 'adherence to policy' defense for why Crumbley was sent back to class as he could only be held for a 'disciplinary matter.'

The St. Juliana family claim the stance is a 'cover-up' for the district hide its actions on the day of the shooting.

'The 'adherence to policy' construct is a false narrative manufactured by school officials to avoid accountability for the death and destruction they caused by their deliberate indifference to [Crumbley's] status as a troubled youth who was suicidal and who had expressed homicidal ideation.'

Reina, a Oxford High student who was in a nearby hallway when her sister died, said in a statement on Friday: 'I am standing up for my sister.

'I will be Hana's voice for change. Until the District acknowledges what happened and what they did wrong, violence like this will happen again.

'These senseless killings were preventable and I will do anything I can to make sure this doesn't ever happen again.'

Crumbley was sent to the main offices when a teacher alerted administrators to disturbing drawings and messages he had written on a worksheet

According to the lawsuit, the family claims the district compounded the danger by releasing Crumbley form the offices and sending him back to class

Along with Hana, (L-R): Justin Shilling, 17, Tate Myre, 16, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17, were killed in the shooting inside Oxford High School on November 30

Crumbley is currently awaiting trial for four counts of first-degree premeditated murder, seven counts of assault terrorism and 12 weapons offenses for the November 30 attack that left Hana, Tate Myre, 16, Madisyn Baldwin, 17 and Justin Shilling, 17, dead.

Crumbley's parents James, 45, and Jennifer Crumbley, 43, lost custody, and are jailed in the same facility as their son on involuntary manslaughter charges for gifting him the deadly weapon he used to kill as a Christmas present.

They also are accused of failing to intervene when he showed signs of mental distress at home and at school.

The three have little to no contact with one another. The parents were ordered to stop communicating with one another in court.

James and Jennifer had been blowing kisses and mouthing 'I love you' to each other during hearings, much to the annoyance of prosecutors, who asked the judge to separate them. They cited 'a mockery' of the serious nature of the trial.

'These communications ... not only disparage the integrity of the judicial proceedings as a serious distraction, but are also traumatic for the families of the deceased victims,' Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor Markeisha Washington wrote in the filing on February.

'Their communication is far more distracting and offensive than a cell phone going off, which the court would not condone.'

Jennifer (left) and James Crumbley (right) are accused of making the gun Crumbley used to kill four accessible to him, and are being tried for involuntary manslaughter

The lawsuit against the Oxford School district is the second of its kind as the family of shooting survivors Riley, 17, and Bella Franz, 14, had sued the school for $100 million, also alleging that administrators were negligent in preventing the tragedy.

Their attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, says that Riley was shot in the neck while she and Bella exited a restroom during the rampage.

School officials had asked Judge Mark Goldsmith to halt the lawsuit pending the outcome of criminal proceedings against Crumbley and his parents - however, Goldsmith said he was not aware of any risk that the civil suit would interfere with the criminal cases.

Previously, prosecutors successfully argued that, due to the severity of his accused crimes, Ethan Crumbley does not belong in a juvenile facility, where he would be able to intermingle with other youths in an education-like setting - similar to that of Oxford High School.

Prosecutors argued Crumbley would be a 'menace' to the other juveniles at the Children's Village, pointing to a text between Crumbley and one of his friends in which he 'outlined a plan to stalk, rape, torture and ultimately kill a female classmate.

'He expressed delight in torturing a family of baby birds, and he wrote about the joy he received in listening to them squeal as he killed them,' assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said.

Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame L. Rowe felt that Crumbley's current living situation - in solitary confinement at the adult prison, where he gets mail and has access to television - was appropriate for at least another month.
A 34-year-old man has been stabbed to death while Facetiming his brother in a 'random and unprovoked attack'.

Sergio Santay was knifed in the neck by the stranger in broad daylight on Bonnie Brae Street in downtown Los Angeles last Friday.

He had been chatting on the phone about his weekend plans when the vicious assault occurred.

The suspect also attacked two other people and cops launched a manhunt for the 'armed and dangerous' thug.

Sergio Santay (pictured) was knifed in the neck by the stranger in broad daylight on Bonnie Brae Street in downtown Los Angeles last Friday

He had been chatting on the phone about his weekend plans when the vicious assault occurred. Pictured: The suspect

Security footage showed the attacker strolling down the sidewalk before he launched his assault.

He walked up to unarmed Santay and plunged the knife into his neck before stabbing two other people.

The victim was rushed to a local hospital but medics could not save him, while the two other victims are believed to be recovering.

Santay had been on Facetime to his brother discussing what he would be doing over last weekend.

His mother told Fox 11 she was struggling to understand why the killer would randomly attack her son.

The suspect (pictured) also attacked two other people and cops launched a manhunt for the 'armed and dangerous' thug

Cops launched a huge manhunt for the vile thug and warned he was 'armed and dangerous', but no arrests have been made.

The Los Angeles Police Department warned the three attacks on April 8 were random and unprovoked.

The suspect was last seen in a black fisherman's hat - covered in marijuana leaves - a blue shirt and light shorts.

Santay's brother Douglas set up a GoFundMe for him that has now raised more than $5,000.

Santay's brother Douglas set up a GoFundMe for him that has now raised more than $5,000

It said: 'Hello, my name is Douglas Santay; born in Guatemala and I live in Los Angeles California USA

'I join this platform in order to raise funds for funeral expenses for my brother Sergio Santay who was murdered on 08/04/22 in Los Angeles, California.

'I do not have the necessary financial resources and my wish together with my family is to send his remains to our country Guatemala.

'Hoping to count on your help in advance thank you very much and may God bless and multiply you.'
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One of Venice's most iconic landmarks has opened its doors to the public for the first time in 500 years after a restoration project by a British architect, revealing its Renaisaance-era architecture and stunning gilt ceilings.

The imposing Procuratie Vecchie in St Mark's Square is one of the Italian city's most recognised facades, forming the colonnaded perimeter of the piazza and boasting an incredible 52 arches.

But despite being photographed by millions of tourists who descend on the Floating City every year, its interiors had been closed off to the public for centuries.

Now, following Sir David Chipperfield's five-year renovation project, the 150-yard-long building has finally begun welcoming tourists - who can also enjoy spectacular views from its roof terraces.

The partly abandoned site has been transformed into a high-tech exhibition centre with new staircases and its Renaissance-era wooden beams restored.

The top-floor exhibition area will welcome tourists and visitors every day except Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the entire third floor has been taken up by the Human Safety Net Foundation, a non-profit which helps disadvantaged families, refugees and children in 23 countries.

Emma Ursich, the foundation's director, said that the stunning palace was an appropriate location because the procurators of St Mark who once occupied the building had responsibility for the city's widows, orphans and destitute.

She told the Times: 'It's a nice homage to the history and to the identity of this building that we have the home of the Human Safety Net here, which works around social inclusion.'

The new site also features a cafe and an auditorium.

The project is the brainchild of the Italian insurer Generali, which had its national headquarters in the palace from 1832.

The restoration involved 11,000 square meters over four floors but the facade remained untouched.

Chipperfield, who also led the rebuilding of the Neues Museum in Berlin, previously told The Times: 'This was a private world and it is a pleasure to turn it into a public place.'

The Procuratie Vecchie in St Mark's Square (pictured) is one of the Italian city's most recognised facades, forming the colonnaded perimeter of the piazza

The partly abandoned site has been transformed into a high-tech exhibition centre with new staircases and its Renaissance-era wooden beams restored. (Pictured: A view shows a room with original frescoes in the Procuratie Vecchie)

Stunning frescoes adorn the ceilings and walls of the newly-opened Procuratie Vecchie

An exterior view of the Procuratie Vecchie in St Mark's square, reopened to the public after 500 years, in Venice, Italy, on April 8 2022

Following Sir David Chipperfield's five-year renovation project, the 150-yard-long building has finally begun welcoming tourists - who can also enjoy spectacular views from its roof terraces. (Pictured: Mr Chipperfield inside the Vecchie)

An artistic installation of 'The Human Safety Net' in one of the exhibition rooms of the Procuratie Vecchie in St Mark's square

The Procuratie Vecchie building (pictured left), is one of the most relevant works of 16th century Italian Renaissance architecture

The stunning and incredibly tall entrance hall of the Procuratie Vecchie building after its restoration

An art installation in the exhibition space inside the newly-reopened Vecchie landmark

Rows of red seats fill the auditorium of David Chipperfield's renovated Procuratie Vecchie that has reopened after restoration in Venice

The main facade of the Vecchie (pictured) has 52 arches on the ground level and 300 windows above and was a common meeting place for Venetians

A visitor walks in the Procuratie Vecchie building after its restoration

The building was previously occupied by Venice's nine procurators, drawn from the city's richest families.

They lived and worked in the Procuratie and took care of the basilica while also providing charitable assistance to the poor and managing residents' wills.

They represented the elite of Venetian society and their office was second only to the doge.

Alberto Torsello, the building's site manager, said in February: 'They were part of that rigid control over Venetians that made Venice so successful, and the fact they lived overlooking the most important square in the city symbolised that control.'

The first building was completed in 1532 before a second twin facade on the other side of the square was added in the same century.

The second building would later house the renowned Caffe Florian which served Enlightenment intelligentsia and famous writers and artists such as Marcel Proust, Charles Dickens, Lord Byron and Goethe.

In Venice, the famed Piazza San Marco (pictured) has welcomed the restoration of the Procuratie Vecchie (seen left), one of the most relevant works of 16th century

Views from the terrace of the Vecchie - opened for the first time to the public in 500 years

One of the public rooms of the Procuratie Vecchie in St Mark's square, boasting a modern and sleek design

Visitors view an interactive exhibition during a press preview in the Procuratie Vecchie building after its restoration, on March 30

People stand on a terrace atop the Procuratie Vecchie building, taking in stunning views of the Piazza below

Visitors don face masks as they walk up the stairway in the Procuratie Vecchie building after its restoration

A visitor views an interactive permanent exhibition in the Procuratie Vecchie building

An interior view of David Chipperfield's renovated Procuratie Vecchie that has reopened after restoration in Venice

A visitor reads a book in peace in a public reading room inside the Procuratie Vecchie building after its five-year restoration

Chandeliers and frescoes adorn one of the rooms inside the Vecchie landmark

A view of a terrace of David Chipperfield's renovated Procuratie Vecchie - which has never been open to the public

One of the conference rooms inside the Vecchie following a five-year restoration project

Visitors climb the stairs of the newly-reopened Vecchie building, which has not welcomed the public in more than 500 years

The main facade has 52 arches on the ground level and 300 windows above and was a common meeting place for Venetians.

During the period of French occupation under Napoleon, the Procuratie was turned into an official royal residence and a church and a section of the building were demolished.

It was later occupied by Generali before they departed in 1989 and since then the building has been mostly deserted.

But the insurance company returned to revamp St Mark's Square, creating a roof terrace, 200-seat auditorium and big screens for exhibitions.

On the first floor, chandeliers and frescoes from the 19th century have been restored where the company's former management offices were located.

While tourists may take the collective Procuratie for granted, Chipperfield says the three interconnected buildings that form it are admired by architects for 'the sort of ruthlessness of a building that is that long, that makes a square.'

Marble skirting on the ground floor will protect the rooms from flood waters in the lowest area of Venice which goes underwater when tides rise by 90cm.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey created his first-ever tweet as an NFT in December 2020. Three months later, in March 2021, Dorsey auctioned his first NFT tweet to the public, with all proceeds going to a non-profit organization.

The NFT tweet went on to sell for a whopping $2.9 million, which was bought by crypto entrepreneur Sina Estiva.

What happens next was nothing short of baffling.

Sina Estavi Selling the Jack Dorsey NFT

Sina Estavi, the crypto entrepreneur who purchased the first tweet of Jack Dorsey as an NFT for $2.9 million a year ago, is now attempting to sell the NFT art. On April 6, Estavi listed the token on the NFT marketplace OpenSea for $48 million, making it one of the most expensive tokens ever listed.

Estavi announced on Twitter that he would donate half of the proceeds to GiveDirectly, a charity that allows donors to send money directly to people who are experiencing poverty in African communities.

why not 99% of it?  jack (@jack) April 7, 2022

Dorsey questioned the auction, "Why not 99% of it?"

However, due to the bad rap that Estavi got, investors' interest was low. According to Fortune, only seven bids had been placed for the token by the time the auction "closed" on Wednesday, with the highest bid coming in at $280.

Although more bids had been submitted, the highest offer is now only above $11,000. The offered prices are clearly a signal of a significant drop in value under Estavi's ownership.

The price given is a discounted price tag compared to how much Estavi paid for the NFT, let alone the amount he hoped to earn through the auction. Estavi stated that he is under no obligation to sell the NFT. He stated, "The deadline I set was over, but if I get a good offer, I might accept it. I might never sell it."

Who Is Sina Estavi?

Sina is also known as Hakan Estavi. In a statement on the company's website, Hakan Estavi has been identified as the CEO since November 2019, which describes him as "one of the early investors in the crypto space since 2016."

The company is based in Kuala Lumpur, at the Puncak Prima Condominium in Sri Hartamas, and has its registered office there. The Tron network is said to be the home of Bridge Oracle, which is a public oracle system that connects blockchain to external data and operates on the Tron network.

Sina Estavi has had a reputation in the cryptocurrency world. Coin Desk said that Estavi was arrested in Iran, based on a now-deleted tweet from his verified Twitter account.

Iranian officials confirmed arresting members of Estavi's company, and multiple local media outlets confirmed that Estavi has also been detained. Authorities in Iran appear to have taken control of Estavi's Twitter account, posting, "The owner of this media outlet was arrested on charges of disrupting the economic system, by order of the Special Court for Economic Crimes."

However, the tweet was later deleted. As ordered by the Special Economic Crimes Court of Iran, he was taken into custody on charges of interfering with the country's economic system.

Estavi is also a controversial person, with growing allegations that he had sent thugs to intimidate him outside an Iranian courthouse in April, prompting an investigation.

Read Also: Elon Musk Offers To Buy Twitter - Will Jack Dorsey Approve? How Much Is Twitter Worth?

Jack Dorsey NFT

Jack Dorsey sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT last year. His first tweet about NFT was auctioned at OpenSea, which started on March 6, 2021, and ended on March 21, 2021. Jack Dorsey's first tweet simply read, "just setting up my twttr," which was posted in March 2006.

just setting up my twttr  jack (@jack) March 21, 2006

Jack Dorsey is known to be the co-founder and longtime CEO of Twitter. The co-founder himself decided to sell his NFT and donate all the proceeds to charity, Give Directly. The non-profit organization focuses on helping households in Africa that are living in poverty.

Give Directly works in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, the United States, and Yemen.

For those interested in the impact of the first sale NFT sale, the money was converted... https://t.co/9kIQpxv93u  GiveDirectly (@GiveDirectly) April 14, 2022

Related Article: NFT Tweet Worth $48 Million: Twitter Co-Founder Jack Dorsey's First Post
The founder of the eco mob behind guerrilla protests on roads and oil depots is a jet-setting sailor who has racked up tens of thousands of air miles.

Just Stop Oil activists have caused chaos across the country, chaining themselves to pipes, climbing on tankers and glueing themselves to roads.

Hundreds of protesters have been arrested in operations costing police forces millions of pounds.

This week the group posted a video of Hannah Hunt, 23, from the rafters of a major oil depot in Grays, Essex, with the caption oil is destroying everything we love.

Co-founder of Just Stop Oil, Hannah Hunt, 23, was seen in a video from the rafters of a major oil depot in Grays, Essex

Ms Hunt co-founded Just Stop Oil in February, marching on No 10 to tell Boris Johnson to prevent the ultimate crime against our country, humanity and life on Earth. Above, a driver drags a Just Stop Oil activist from his oil tanker

But the students social media shows her enjoying holidays and sailing trips in exotic locations including Bali, Australia and the Canary Islands.

She admitted she impulse flew to the Canaries to escape chilly British weather, while her Instagram shows her pictured at Perth airport, in Australia.

If she flew to every destination, she would have clocked up 49,404 air miles over five years and been responsible for the emissions of 13 tons of carbon dioxide.

The European average  per person  is 8.4 tons in a whole year, according to the My Climate website.

The former Extinction Rebellion supporter even used the trips to bolster her environmental credentials, telling social media followers from Bali: Can we look back in another 50 years and say we did everything to protect our pretty cool planet?

Her social media shows pictures enjoying holidays and sailing trips in exotic locations including Bali, Australia and the Canary Islands

If she flew to every destination, she would have clocked up 49,404 air miles over five years and been responsible for the emissions of 13 tons of carbon dioxide

It is not known if the activist chose to offset the carbon from her flights, which would cost a total of 379, according to Atmosfair, a non-profit organisation.

She could not be reached for comment, but Just Stop Oil said: Its not hypocrisy to change your mind and realise the full horror of what the climate crisis is going to bring.

The student co-founded Just Stop Oil in February, marching on No 10 to tell Boris Johnson to intervene to prevent the ultimate crime against our country, humanity and life on Earth.

She has become a hero among eco-zealot supporters of the group, which formed as a breakaway of Extinction Rebellion.

Last month she glued herself to the red carpet at the Bafta awards, and she has broken into an ExxonMobil oil refinery in Hampshire.

It is not known if the activist chose to offset the carbon from her flights, which would cost a total of 379, according to non-profit Atmosfair

The Brighton-based activist, from Cumbria, who studies at Sussex University, said after protests she enjoys a weird, dreamy, calm mindset she finds empowering.

Her father runs an environmental consultancy firm and her family own a property on the west coast of Scotland, alongside their five-bedroom home near Kendal, Cumbria.

She is one of several middle-class campaigners holding Britains motorists to ransom.

The protests continued yesterday as activists climbed on to lorries at the Grays depot. Dozens were arrested at three oil sites.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Extinction Rebellion supporters blocked four bridges and a major roundabout in central London.

Environmental activists have bemoaned the impact of air travel, saying individual flights can release more CO2 into the atmosphere than some people generate in a year.

A return economy journey to Bali releases 4.2 tons of carbon dioxide, while a return ticket to Australia would generate 6.1 tons.

Just Stop Oil began daily protests this month, demanding the Government commits to end all new oil and gas projects in the UK.
An Algerian man who scooped 250,000 (206,000) on a scratchcard he purchased Belgium is struggling to claim his winnings because of his undocumented status.

The 28-year-old has no valid identity papers or a permanent address in the country, and is unable to open a bank account for the prize to be transferred into, according to Belgian broadcaster VRT.

The prize is too large to be handed over in cash, and a friend who tried to claim the funds on his behalf was briefly detained on suspicion of theft, meaning he has no way to access his winnings.

The 28-year-old has no valid identity papers or a permanent address in the country

The friend, who has the correct papers, headed to lottery headquarters in Brussels to try to collect the money won on a 5 scratchcard, which is required for any prize over 100,000.

But he and two others were detained by police as they suspected they had stolen the scratchcard.

They were released when the winner got in touch to explain the situation.

The winning card is now being held by a court in Bruges, close to the port of Zeebrugge where it was purchased.

The unnamed winner left Algeria four months ago, travelling to Spain via boat, according to Belgian media.

He then travelled through Spain and France on foot before reaching Belgium.

He told Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws that he initially planned to travel to the United Kingdom, but has now settled in Belgium where he hopes to start a family with the help of his winnings.

'When I get the money, I am going to buy a place to live in Brussels,' he told the newspaper. 'And maybe a car.

He won the prize on a 5 scratchcard purchased in Bruges, close to the port of Zeebrugge

'I will also look for a wife. Still, I am not going to find one with my money, but with my heart.'

His lawyer, Alexander Verstraete, has said the lottery company will not make the payment as the unnamed winner does not have a bank account.

He added that authorities have said they will not deport the man until he has received his prize money.

'We are looking for those documents that can prove his identity', Mr Verstraete told the AFP news agency. 'He will have to contact his family in Algeria.'

A lottery spokesperson did not specify to AFP which documents the man would need to claim the winnings.
A Former Cabinet minister has become the first MP to welcome a Ukrainian family into his home under the Governments refugee visa scheme.

Robert Jenrick collected 40-year-old Mariia and her two children Khystyna, 11, and Bohdan, 15, from Stansted airport this week.

They are now living with his family in his constituency home in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

The former housing secretary, 40, said that he found it emotional and humbling when he finally met the refugees on Monday after applying to host them three weeks ago.

The former housing secretary, 40, said that he found it emotional and humbling when he finally met the refugees on Monday

They are children of not dissimilar ages to ours, and a mother whos left her husband back home and made this extraordinary decision... to leave home and come to another country in order to protect her children.

It was quite emotional. I have to say theyve been absolutely lovely to us and weve enjoyed it so far, he said.

The Conservative MP has three daughters, ten-year-old Marina, Sophia, eight, and Lila, six, with his wife Michal Berkner.

He admitted that Home Office red tape, which has seen the visa scheme blighted by shambolic delays, had tested the patience of both sponsors and the refugees fleeing the war.

Mr Jenrick told Choppers Politics, The Daily Telegraphs podcast: Truth be told... It has been a bumpy start, it has taken too long to get visas. For us it took about three weeks to get all three visas approved.

However, he insisted he had not pulled any strings to speed up the processing of his own application.

But Mr Jenrick did call on officials to stop forcing children to fill out separate applications to come to the UK.

He also said the lengthy forms, which take refugees hours or even days to fill, should be completed in Ukrainian to speed up the operation.

I do think the process has been overly bureaucratic and I think the Home Office often falls into this trap, he added.

There were simple things that we could and should have done from the outset, like having the form in Ukrainian, for example.

And Im not sure whether you need to be doing checks on minors who are extremely unlikely to be a threat to this country.

But Mr Jenrick said it was right that British hosts were tasked with matching with their own refugee families.

There are limits to the role of the state and as a country we have so much to offer when individuals and civil society come together, he said.

He added that he was confident the country would eventually look back on the scheme with pride as the Home Office was getting over the bumps and the applications were being processed faster.

The Ukrainian family, who connected with the Jenricks through a friend, had spent seven hours queueing at the border to enter Poland before they could fly to the UK.

Mr Jenrick said: Its been very rewarding to see them feeling safe at last after a very traumatic experience and beginning to stabilise them and rebuild their lives.

He said the family would be living in their home in the town of Southwell admitting: It will be a bit busy, because we have three children and two dogs but it seems to be working so far.

The MP said he is not sure how long his family would be staying as their father has remained in Ukraine to support the war effort, adding: We want to support them for as long as they need it.

Mr Jenrick is thought to be the first MP to welcome a Ukrainian family under the new scheme.

Victoria Prentis, the environment minister, has taken in Vika, a 25-year-old refugee, under an existing visitor visa programme.
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The United States now believes that the Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of President Vladimir Putin's Black Sea fleet, was hit by two Ukrainian missiles before sinking, according to a senior U.S. official.

The official told a small number of reporters on Friday that the vessel had been hit by Neptune anti-ship missiles.

Russia claimed that she sank when being towed in stormy seas after a fire triggered explosions in an ammunition store.

But the official's account, reported by CNN, the Washington Post and other news organizations, backs Ukraine's Operational Command South which claimed a day earlier that the Moskva began to sink after being hit by Neptune missiles.

Ukraine said it launched a missile strike on the Moskva from the coast, ripping open the Soviet-era ship.

Its Neptune cruise missiles are based on a Soviet design, with updated electronic systems and extended range.

The Moskva sank near the port of Sevastopol, the loss of the biggest warship since the end of the Second World War.

And on Friday Kyiv police said they had recovered the bodies of more than 900 people from the surrounding area, following Russia's withdrawal, and that most had been shot.

The Russian guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flagship of President Vladimir Putin's Black Sea fleet, sank near the port of Sevastopol. On Friday, a senior U.S. official said it was hit by two Ukrainian Neptune cruise missiles

Ukraine's Neptune anti-ship missiles are based on a Soviet design, with updated electronics and extended range

Russia says the Moskva sank after a fire and explosion on board, which Ukraine claims was caused when it was struck by two of its Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyiv's regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95 percent died from gunshot wounds.

'Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets,' Nebytov said.

Meanwhile the sinking of the Moskva triggered fears that she could have sunk with 400 sailors and nuclear warheads on board.

Mykhailo Samus, director of a Lviv-based military think-tank; Andriy Klymenko, editor of Black Sea News; and Ukrainian newspaper Defence Express all warned that the Moskva could have been carrying two nuclear warheads designed to be fitted to its P-1000 'carrier killer' missiles.

If true, the loss of the warheads into the Black Sea could spark a 'Broken Arrow' incident - American military slang for potentially lethal accidents involving nuclear weapons.

'On board the Moskva could be nuclear warheads - two units,' Samus said, while Klymenko called on other Black Sea nations - Turkey, Romania, Georgia, and Bulgaria - to insist on an explanation. 'Where are these warheads? Where were they when the ammunition exploded,' he asked.

Meanwhile Ilya Ponomarev, a politician exiled from Russia for opposing Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, said just 58 of the 510-strong crew have since been accounted for - raising the prospect that 452 men went down with the ship in what would be a bitter loss for Vladimir Putin's already beleaguered army.

The figure, while unconfirmed, is consistent with losses suffered on exploding warships. During the Russian Navy's infamous defeat at the Battle of Tsushima against Japan, an explosion on board the Borodino - slightly smaller than the Moskva - saw all-but one of her 855 crew killed.

Russia claims all the Moskva's sailors were 'successfully evacuated' but video taken in Sevastopol overnight shows dozens of cars purportedly belonging to the sailors still parked in the port - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them.

Elsewhere, Russian strikes pounded a military factory near Kyiv that makes the missiles Ukraine claims it used to sink the Moskva, with Moscow on Friday promising renewed attacks on the capital, in apparent retaliation to the Ukrainian attack.

Rumours have also began circulating in Ukrainian media that Admiral Igor Osipov - the commander of Russia's Black Sea fleet which the Moskva led - has been arrested in what would be the latest in a string of detentions linked to the bungled invasion.

Leonid Nevzlin, a Russian-Israeli businessman who fled the country in 2003 after being targeted by Putin, said yesterday that 20 Russian generals have been arrested over the military's failings along with 150 FSB officers for providing false information about Ukraine's defences.

The Moskva - pictured leaving port at Sevastopol for the last time on April 10 - may have been carrying two nuclear warheads when it sank yesterday after a fire and explosion on board, experts and analysts have warned

Moskva could have been carrying warheads to fit into the tip of its Moskva's P-1000 supersonic cruise missiles, which are designed to take out American aircraft carriers

Putin's revenge: Russia strikes anti-ship missile factory near Kyiv Russia bombed a factory in Kyiv overnight which it claims made the missiles that sunk the Moskva, as the Kremlin vowed to step up attacks on the Ukrainian capital. Heavy explosions were seen overnight in Kyiv before Russia's Ministry of Defence said early Friday that it had destroyed the 'Vizar' plant which manufactures anti-ship missiles and other Ukrainian rockets. The attack came just a day after the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - was sunk after a fire an explosion on board that Ukraine says was caused when it was shot by two cruise missiles. Moscow says only that the cause is being 'investigated'. The defence ministry also warned that it will step up its attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, which it said comes in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory. A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line. Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway. Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv. Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them. Advertisement

He also claimed that Sergey Shoigu, Russia's defence minister and a long-term Putin ally, has suffered a massive heart attack and is in intensive care after an apparent assassination attempt.

Shoigu, 66, is thought to have fallen out with Putin in mid-March over the bungled invasion and largely stopped making public appearances. He has featured in video calls with Putin since but has not spoken, amid suspicion the Kremlin could be re-using old footage to give the impression he is alive and well.

The Moskva got into trouble overnight Wednesday as it sailed around 60 miles off the coast of Odesa, Ukraine's largest port and main naval base. The Ukrainian military said it was struck with two Neptune cruise missiles fired by a coastal battery, which struck the port side of the vessel.

Russian military sources said the ship had rolled on to its side and caught fire after the blast, while US intelligence sources said the vessel suffered a 'large' explosion that left it heavily damaged before it sank.

Moscow has said only that the vessel suffered a fire and blast before its navy attempted to tow the ship back to Sevastopol, but during the operation it sank in rough seas. The exact location of the wreck is unknown.

The loss of the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet that was told to 'go f*** yourself' by Ukrainian troops as it demanded their surrender on Snake Island - is a huge propaganda win for Kyiv as well as another embarrassing loss for Putin's beleaguered army.

As revenge for the sinking, the Russian military launched a series of cruise missile strikes on Ukraine overnight Thursday - including several rockets which it said struck and destroyed a factory near Kyiv that made the weapons used against Moskva.

Russia's defence ministry warned early Friday that it will step up attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line.

Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway.

Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv.

Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them.

Elsewhere, President Zelensky, praised the herosim of Ukrainians in holding out against Russia's invasion for 50 days - in spite of warnings they would last just five.

Zelensky said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.

He added: 'But they didn't know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want.'

Separately, Russia told the US to stop sending weapons to Ukraine, warning of 'unpredictable consequences' if it continues to do do.

The warning was delivered in the form of an official diplomatic note, which was seen by the Washington Post.

It said that American and NATO shipments of the 'most sensitive' weapons were 'adding fuel' to the conflict, which is now nearing its second month.

The two-page note was delivered after Biden had agreed to a new $800million delivery of military aid to Ukraine, including heavy artillery and shells, helicopters and armoured personnel carriers.

'What the Russians are telling us privately is precisely what weve been telling the world publicly  that the massive amount of assistance that weve been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective,' a senior US official said about the note.

Aside from providing Ukraine with a propaganda victory, Moskva's sinking also has practical implications for Russia. As flagship, the vessel was likely tasked with coordinating the movements of other ships in the Black Sea which may cause further confusion among Russia's already-strained command structure.

Its role was also to provide cover for Russia's other ships using its anti-air missiles while they launched cruise missiles attacks against cities and military sites. Its loss will make them more-vulnerable to Ukrainian strikes, including by fast jets or drones.

The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - the Soviet-era guided missile destroyer Moskva - has suffered heavy damage and may have sunk after Ukraine claimed to have shot it with two anti-ship cruise missiles

Russian Telegram accounts with links to the Wagner Group claim Bayraktar drones were used to distract the Moskva's radar systems before a coastal battery opened fire somewhere near Odesa, hitting the ship with two Neptune missiles

Dozens of cars, purportedly belonging to the crew of the Moskva, were still parked in Sevastopol yesterday - suggesting their owners had not returned to collect them

Aside from the sinking of the Moskva, Russia is also having to contend with strikes against Belgorod and heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine as it prepares for a fresh assault there. However, it has struck a missile factory in Kyiv it claims was used to build the missile that sank Moskva, and also appears poised to capture Mariupol in the south

The sinking of the Moskva: Ukraine's ingenious ruse that blew apart Russia's flagship By Mark Nicol, Defence Editor for the Daily Mail The pride of Russias fearsome Black Sea fleet was taken out yesterday in one of the most cunning operations of the war. Ukrainian commanders destroyed the huge Moskva warship by using drones to distract its defence systems, allowing surface-skimming missiles to strike. The 12,500-ton cruisers protective sensors seemingly did not see the Neptune rockets heading its way because they were tracking Turkish TB2 drones. Two missiles slammed into the port side of the 611ft Moskva, rocking her violently and causing a catastrophic explosion and huge fires. As flames lit up the stormy Black Sea, the ships 510 crewmen frantically climbed into lifeboats and fled. The surprise attack took place at 2am yesterday as the Moskva, Russias main command and control warship, was around 60 miles south of Odessa. The ships captain and air defence officers were said to be tracking the decoy TB2s, unaware a pair of Ukrainian-made Neptune R360 anti-ship missiles were heading their way after being launched from an artillery battery on the coastline. The missiles, each weighing a ton and with a range of 186 miles, approached the Moskva at sea level. Travelling at such a low trajectory in rough seas meant they were difficult to track. They hit their mark. After the attack, the ageing cruiser  which first launched in 1979  was initially towed towards Crimea. US intelligence said it was still on fire. It had been expected to be written off as Russian shipyards are unable to operate because of international sanctions. But last night the Russian defence ministry said the Moskva had in fact sunk while being towed in a storm, the state news agency Tass reported. In terms of military hardware, the Moskva represents the largest single loss to Russias armed forces since the war began. Yesterdays highly sophisticated sortie came just hours after the US acknowledged it was providing direct intelligence support to enable precision targeting of Russian assets. It was also the culmination of a lengthy intelligence gathering operation which, the Daily Mail has learned, revealed the ship was operating in what sources described as predictable patterns in the north-west Black Sea and often without escorts. It is customary for large cruisers, in particular flagships, to be accompanied by frigates which provide a protective screen. But perhaps because they assumed they could operate with impunity, Russian commanders neglected to guard the Moskva. The incident is expected to make Russian naval commanders more wary when operating near Ukraines coastline. Advertisement

Earlier, a United States defence official said that Russia had moved its other vessels 80 miles away from the Ukrainian shore - a suspected attempt to get out of missile range - after the ship was damaged.

Questions will also inevitably be asked inside the Kremlin over how one of its capital ships was destroyed by a country with no operational navy. Since the war broke out, Russia's naval forces have been positioned off the coast of Ukraine to provide support to its ground troops, and to block off Kyiv's access to the coast.

H I Sutton, a respected naval analyst, points out that the vessel has spent the last two months sailing in a 'predictable' pattern around the Black Sea - generally sitting in waters close to Snake Island.

Sutton also points out that the ship's defences were 'dated'. It was initially built in 1983 by the Soviet Union, and underwent a major refit and recommissioning in 2000. But updates since then have been piecemeal with a major refit in 2015 cancelled - potentially leaving it vulnerable to modern weaponry.

On Thursday night, Western officials said Ukrainian reports of the operation were credible and the attack demonstrated their ability to strike the Russians in areas where they assumed they were invulnerable.

One said: The incident represents another enormous loss in terms of Russian credibility. Theyve been shown again to be vulnerable to attack. This is a question of competence. This is supposed to be a military which has modernised itself over the last decade.

The Ukrainians have used their imagination and proved so resourceful. They are able to act on the fly to have an effect on Russian forces.

Western officials also dismissed Russias excuses for the incident, after Moscow officials suggested there had merely been a fire aboard the Moskva, which led to the explosion of a large amount of ammunition.

An official added: I cant definitively tell you exactly what happened. But I am not aware previously of a fire on board a capital warship, which would lead to the ammunition exploding.

The loss of the warship, named after the Russian capital, is a devastating symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital.

The ship can carry 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal from combat reduces Russia's firepower in the Black Sea. It is also a blow to Russian prestige in a war already widely seen as a historic blunder.

Now entering its eighth week, Russia's invasion has stalled because of resistance from Ukrainian fighters bolstered by weapons and other aid sent by Western nations. The news of the flagship's damage overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where they have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war - at a horrific cost to civilians.

The Moskva is supposed to be equipped with powerful radar arrays to guide its anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine missiles which are also used to operate six 'close-in weapons systems' that are designed to take out incoming missiles.

It is not clear exactly how the Ukrainians were able to penetrate these defences. Sources linked to Russia's Wagner group suggest Bayraktar drones may have been used to distract or overwhelm radar before the attack, though it is also possible the drones were being used as spotters to direct the incoming missiles on to target.

The same Russian military sources claim the Moskva was hit twice on its port side by the missiles, rolled over and caught fire. Ukrainian media has been awash with claims that the ship has sunk, though Russia's defence ministry has denied this - saying it remains 'buoyant' and will be towed to port.

Russia first admitted, via state media, that the vessel has sustained serious damage after a fire caused ammunition on board to explode but made no mention of a Ukrainian attack - saying only that the cause is under investigation.

The defence ministry also said the crew has been evacuated, but made no mention of casualties.

Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian ministry of defence, believes that 'hundreds' of sailors may have died in the blast - a view shared by Ilya Ponomarev, an anti-Putin Russian politician, who said that only 50 of the 510-strong crew have so-far been confirmed as rescued.

That account tallies with information put out by the Lithuanian Minister of National Defense, Arvydas Anusauskas. Posting on social media today, he wrote: 'An SOS signal was given from the Russian cruiser Moscow at 1.05am.

'[At] 1.14am The cruiser lay on its side and after half an hour all the electricity went out. From 2am, the Turkish ship evacuated 54 sailors from the cruiser, and at about 3am, Turkey and Romania reported that the ship was completely sunk. The related losses of Russian personnel are not yet known, although there were 485 people on board (66 of them officers).'

The loss of the Moskva marks the single-largest casualty inflicted by Ukraine on the Russian military during the war so-far and one of the largest ships lost in combat since the end of the Second World War.

It also marks another humiliating loss for Putin's armed forces, with the Russian leader said to be 'furious' after being given the news.

Moskva missile cruiser Commissioned: January 30, 1983 Displacement: 12,450 tons Length: 611.5ft Complement: Up to 510 crew Role: Slava-class guided missile cruiser, designed to combat aircraft carriers Armaments: 16 anti-ship cruise missiles, 64 anti-air missiles, 2 anti-submarine mortars, 10 torpedo tubes, 6 close-in weapon systems, 1 multi-purpose 130mm gun Advertisement

Neptune anti-ship missile Entered service: March 2021 Weight: 1,920lbs Range: 170 miles Speed: subsonic Role: Anti-ship cruise missile Active use: Ukraine claims first use in combat was to target the Moskva cruiser - scoring two hits which badly damaged the vessel Advertisement

April 10: The Moskva (pictured last week near the port of Sevastopol) has been helping coordinate Russian naval operation in the Black Sea, which has seen ships set up a distant blockade of Ukrainian ports and open fire on cities with cruise missiles

April 7: The Moskva is pictured in Sevastopol, occupied Crimea, which is the home port of Russia's Black Sea fleet. The Soviet-era ship leads the fleet, and is equipped with anti-ship, anti-air and anti-submarine missiles

The soviet-era 600-foot missile cruiser: Moskva The Moskva is a 12,500 tonne Project 1164 Slava class guided missile cruiser that was first launched in 1979. She replaced the Kynda-class cruiser Admiral Golovko as the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Although it is not a new ship, the impressive cruiser was named after Moscow and is armed with 16 fixed launchers for P-1000 anti-ship missiles and rail launchers for 40 Osa missiles. The missile cruiser usually has a crew of over 500 and contains intricate vertical tubes for 64 S-300 air-defence missiles and an array of guns, making her fire power one of a kind. Despite Moskva's impressive features, the ship was sunk when ammunition on board blew up, TASS news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying on Thursday. A Ukrainian official earlier said the Moskva had been hit by two anti-ship missiles but did not give any evidence. Russian news agencies said the Moskva was armed with 16 anti-ship 'Vulkan' cruise missiles with a range of at least 440 miles. Interfax did not give more details of the incident. In April 2021, the agency quoted a retired Russian admiral as saying 'this is the most serious ship in the Black Sea'. Advertisement

According to Russian media, Putin was informed overnight about the loss of the ship and was erroneously told that the attack was carried out with British weapons.

Putin was 'furious' in a way 'never seen before', the General SVR Telegram channel said.

The channel claims inside knowledge from a former secret serviceman with links inside the Kremlin.

Neither Ukraine or Russia has given an official account of what happened to the Moskva - though sources speaking to Telegram channel Reverse Side of the Medal, which has links to the Russian Wager military group, have given a detailed account.

According to those sources, the Moskva was sailing in the Black Sea between the Ukrainian port cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv when it was targeted on Wednesday evening.

Ukraine reportedly used Turkish-made Bayraktar drones to distract the ship's missile defences, allowing two Neptune missiles fired from a coastal battery to sneak through.

They struck the ship on the port side, the sources claimed, causing it to partially roll over. Choppy conditions at sea combined with the roll meant the ship began taking on water.

Due to fears that the ship's ammunition could detonate, the Moskva was evacuated and has now sunk, the sources added.

Ponomarev, writing on his own Telegram account today, gave credence to that account. He wrote: 'The flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, the missile cruiser Moskva, was launched to the bottom by two Ukrainian-made Neptune missiles.

'The ammunition detonated on it, and at about 2:00am local time, it fell on its left side and sank.

'At the moment, it is reliably known about the rescue of 50 people out of 510 crew members.

'For comparison, 107 people died during the Kursk submarine disaster [in the year 2000].

'Now Putin has on him Tsushima [a devastating naval battle between Japan and Russia in 1905] in the as well as Srebrenica - all during one month. How skillful indeed.'

Ukraine has not confirmed this account, though has claimed to have carried out a successful strike on the Moskva.

It is thought the Neptune battery opened fire from somewhere around Odesa, which is Ukraine's main naval base and port city where anti-ship batteries have previously been recorded firing.

Neptune missiles have a maximum range of 170 miles, putting the area of ocean around Snake Island - where the Moskva has been spending much of its time - well within striking distance.

Ukraine's home-made Neptune anti-ship missile The Neptune is an anti-ship cruise missile developed and produced by Ukraine based on the Soviet-designed Kh-35, but with improved range and electronics. Ukraine began work on the rocket in 2015 after the last Russian invasion of its territory in which Putin annexed Crimea, which houses a large Russian naval presence. Though the Soviet Kh-35 model can be launched from air, land or sea, it is thought the Ukrainian version can only be launched from land - though versions that could be used on ships were in development before the latest war broke out. With a range of 170 miles, the Neptune is launched from the back of a vehicle that is accompanied by a radar truck that helps guide it to its target. The system is designed to work within 16 miles of the coastline. Weighing almost 1 ton, the missile carries a warhead that is designed to destroy warships and transport vessels weighing up to 5,000 tons - much smaller than the Moskva, which has a displacement of 12,500 tons. The missile first entered service in 2021, and the attack on the Moskva marks its first known use in combat. Advertisement

Odesa governor Maksym Marchenko wrote on Telegram yesterday: 'Neptune missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage to the Russian ship. Glory to Ukraine!'

Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych said that 'a surprise happened with the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet', the Moskva - a 600-foot, 12,500 tonne Project 1164 Slava class guided missile cruiser that was first launched in 1979.

'It burns strongly. Right now. And with this stormy sea it is unknown whether they will be able to receive help. There are 510 crew members,' he said in a YouTube broadcast. 'We don't understand what happened.'

As news came in of the explosion, weather conditions in the Black Sea were reported to be poor, raising questions over whether the warship could stay afloat if it was severely damaged in the explosion and evacuated.

It also came days after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Ukraine's Presidnet Voldymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, and vowed to send Ukraine 120 armoured vehicles and new anti-ship missile systems to help with the battle against Russia.

Russian news agencies said the Moskva was armed with 16 anti-ship 'Vulkan' cruise missiles with a range of at least 440 miles. Interfax did not give more details of the incident.

In April 2021, the agency quoted a retired Russian admiral as saying 'this is the most serious ship in the Black Sea'.

The Moskva was also deployed during Russia's war in Syria as a deterrent against aircraft from rival nations intervening in the conflict. It was deployed after a Turkish jet shot down a Russian fighter accused of violating its airspace close to the Syrian border in November 2015.

Ukraine claims the Moskva was struck by two Neptune cruise missiles fired from a secret location somewhere near Odesa (pictured, a test-fire of the Neptune missile takes place in 2019)

Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island filmed a Russian warship before it attacked in February

Biggest sea combat losses since WW2: The sinking of the Belgrano The sinking of the Moskva by Ukraine marks one of the largest ships lost in naval combat since the end of the Second World War. For decades prior, that ignominious title had been held by the ARA General Belgrano which was sunk by British forces during the Falklands War. The 608ft vessel - originally built by and serving in the US Navy before being sold to Argentina - sank on May 2 after being struck by two torpedoes fired by nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror. The first torpedo struck near the bow of the ship, blowing it off, while the second struck towards the rear -outside an area protected by armour plating. Punching through the side of the ship, the torpedo exploded in the rear machine room - tearing through nearby crew areas and blasting a 65ft hole in the deck. The blast also took out much of the ship's electronics and radio systems, meaning it was unable to pump out water that rushed into the breach or put out a distress call to its escort. Just 20 minutes after the strike, captain Hector Bonzo gave the order to abandon ship. Lifeboats were launched with 772 men rescued from the water over the subsequent three days. The attack killed 321 members of the Belgrano's crew and two civilians who happened to be on board - accounting for around half of Argentina's casualties during the entire conflict. Sinking the Belgrano provoked controversy because it was attacked outside a 200-nautical mile exclusion zone declared by British commanders, who said any ships inside the zone risked being attacked without warning. But, separately, the British had also reserved the right to attack any vessel - including ones outside the zone - which it believed posed a threat to its troops. Permission to attack the vessel was given by then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after a request by the Navy. Speaking decades after the war ended, Captain Bonzo said he did not consider the sinking of the Belgrano to be illegal. 'It was an act of war,' he said. Advertisement

The Mosvka (Moscow) gained notoriety early in Moscow's war when Ukrainian border troops defending the strategic 'Snake Island' were heard in a viral audio recording telling the warship to 'go f**k yourself' after its crew called on them to surrender.

The 13 defenders of the island were taken into custody by Russian forces, and later released. Roman Gribov, who made the now-famous comment, received a medal.

Last month Ukraine said it had destroyed a large Russian landing support ship, the Orsk, on the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast of the Black Sea.

Moscow has not commented on what had happened to the ship, but satellite imagery showed a large vessel destroyed and partially sunk in Berdyansk.

The Moskva missile cruiser left Sevastopol, Crimea in February for the Black Sea as part of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, launched by Vladimir Putin on February 24.

Roman and his colleagues had been stationed on the 40-acre Snake Island near the Ukrainian and Romanian coasts on the Black Sea, and were on the small speck of land when the Moskva arrived.

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 aboard the Moskva giving an ultimatum to Ukrainian forces on the island to surrender, or face being annihilated by the warship's missiles.

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 f**k himself?' Another voice said, 'Just in case'

The volume was turned up as Roman responded: 'Russian warship, go f**k 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.

Although Ukrainian officials initially said all 13 guards had died in the subsequent Russian attack, President Zelensky later said some of them survived.

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.

They held for a month in a secret jail in Russia where Roman lost 22 pounds and was 'degraded', but he later insisted he is 'not a hero'.

Ukraine warned late on Wednesday that Russia was ramping up efforts in the South and East as it seeks full control of Mariupol, in what would be the first major city to fall. Western governments are sending more military aid to bolster Kyiv.

Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday said 1,026 soldiers from Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade, including 162 officers, had surrendered in Mariupol, which has been besieged for weeks, and that the port was fully under its control.

Border guard Roman Gribov right, who served on Snake Island and on the first day of Russia's invasion, became famous for his response to an ultimatum from the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, shouting to the invaders: 'Russian warship, go f**k yourself'. He later returned home from captivity and was awarded a medal (pictured)

Capturing its Azovstal industrial district, where the marines have been holed up, would give the Russians full control of Ukraine's main Sea of Azov port, reinforce a southern land corridor and expand its occupation of the country's East.

Ukraine's general staff said Russian forces were attacking Azovstal and the port, but a defence ministry spokesman said he had no information about any surrender.

'Russian forces are increasing their activities on the southern and eastern fronts, attempting to avenge their defeats,' President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Wednesday night video address.

Reuters journalists accompanying Russian-backed separatists saw flames billowing from the Azovstal area on Tuesday, a day after Ukraine's 36th Marine Brigade said its troops had run out of ammunition.

The United States announced on Wednesday an extra $800 million in military assistance including artillery systems, armoured personnel carriers and helicopters. This took total U.S. military aid to more than $2.5 billion. France and Germany also pledged more.

Senior U.S. officials are weighing whether to send a top cabinet member such as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin Lloyd to Kyiv in a show of solidarity, a source familiar with the situation said.

Russia will view U.S. and NATO vehicles transporting weapons on Ukrainian territory as legitimate military targets, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the TASS news agency.

It will impose tit-for-tat sanctions on 398 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 87 Canadian senators, Interfax cited the foreign ministry as saying, after Washington targeted 328 members of Russia's lower house of parliament.

Britain announced new financial measures on separatists.

Ukraine says tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed in Mariupol and accuses Russia of blocking aid convoys to civilians marooned there.

Its mayor, Vadym Boichenko, said Russia had brought in mobile crematoria 'to get rid of evidence of war crimes' - a statement that was not possible to verify.

LAST MONTH: A satellite image made available by Maxar Technologies shows a burned and partially submerged Russian landing ship - the Orsk - near one of the port's loading/unloading quays, in the southern port city of Berdyansk, Ukraine, 25 March 2022

Putin's revenge: Russian air strike hits Ukrainian missile factory in Kyiv 'that makes weapon used to sink flagship naval vessel Moskva'

Russia bombed a factory in Kyiv overnight which it claims made the missiles that sunk the Moskva, as the Kremlin vowed to step up attacks on the Ukrainian capital.

Heavy explosions were seen overnight in Kyiv before Russia's Ministry of Defence said early Friday that it had destroyed the 'Vizar' plant which manufactures anti-ship missiles and other Ukrainian rockets.

The attack came just a day after the Moskva - the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet - was sunk after a fire an explosion on board that Ukraine says was caused when it was shot by two cruise missiles. Moscow says only that the cause is being 'investigated'.

The defence ministry also warned that it will step up its attacks on Kyiv in the coming days, which it said comes in response to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

A village in Russia's border region with Belarus, which houses a military base, was struck Thursday - coming after explosions at an ammo dump and oil facility in Belgorod, an along a nearby train line.

Images from Belgorod in the early hours of Friday showed anti-aircraft missiles in the sky, suggesting fresh strikes were underway.

Meanwhile, the military claimed to have shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter involved in the attack on the Bryansk region near Chernihiv.

Ukraine has not acknowledged carrying out any such strikes, but has also not denied being behind them.

Russia says it blew up a Ukrainian munitions factory near Kyiv overnight using cruise missiles fired from ships in the Black Sea (pictured being launched)

Heavy explosions were reported to the south of Kyiv overnight, after Russia bombed what it claimed was a missile factory

'The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime,' Russia's defence ministry said in a statement.

The explosions came hours after the Russian defence ministry announced that the Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed after being badly damaged - reportedly leaving Putin 'livid'.

Amid a ream of bad news for the Russian despot's war, his forces on Friday did appear on the verge of capturing Mariupol - a southern port city that has now been under siege for almost two months.

The defence ministry claimed its troops had seized control of the Ilyum Steel Works, a huge industrial complex in the centre of Mariupol where marines and troops of the Azov Battalion were making their last stand.

If confirmed, it would mean Mariupol is on the verge of falling into Russian hands. It would be the largest city yet captured by Putin's men, albeit at the cost of near-totally destroying it.

While some forces in the area are likely to continue fighting guerilla operations against Russian forces, the defeat of the city's defences would also free up troops to join an expected assault on Ukraine's east.

British Intelligence on Thursday assessed that the fight for Mariupol is currently tying up 'significant numbers of Russian troops and equipment'.

Separately, the Russian defence ministry said Friday its strategic rocket forces 'eliminated up to 30 Polish mercenaries' in a strike on the village of Izyumskoe, not far from the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.

It said the mercenaries belonged to 'a private Polish military company', but did not say whether any Ukrainian troops were also killed.

The reported rocket strike was one of the biggest against foreign targets in Ukraine since another missile killed what the Russian military claimed was up to 180 foreign mercenaries in Western Ukraine last month.
Lord Frost is being urged to stand in the forthcoming Wakefield by-election, the Daily Mail can reveal today.

At a critical time for the Government, the Tory party is under pressure to field a high-profile candidate who can cling on to the marginal Red Wall seat.

MPs and friends have asked the former Brexit chief to step in. He would have to quit the House of Lords to run, which he can following a 2014 change to the rules.

A number of Tory MPs went public with their support for the idea yesterday and described the prospect of Lord Frost in the House of Commons as a tantalising possibility.

Lord Frost is being urged to stand in the forthcoming Wakefield by-election as the Tory party is under pressure to field a high-profile candidate who can cling on to the marginal Red Wall seat

Boriss brain who succeeds where others have failed David Frosts reputation for succeeding where others fail could make him the Torys ideal candidate to stand in a crunch Red Wall by-election. A fierce negotiator, he painstakingly secured the deal that enabled Britain to leave the EU after years of wrangling. So revered is he in Whitehall, that Boris Johnson declared him The Greatest Frost since the Great Frost of 1709. He was known as Boriss Brexit brain during the height of the negotiations and the pair have long been seen as allies. Lord Frost, as he became in 2020, was an adviser to Mr Johnson when he was foreign secretary, and the Prime Minister made him chief Brexit negotiator when he entered No 10. A career diplomat, Lord Frost gained his first taste of working with the EU when he was sent to Brussels in the early 1990s. He was also posted to the United Nations and served as ambassador to Denmark but left the civil service in 2013 to head the Scotch Whisky Association. Lord Frost also joined the Open Europe think-tanks advisory council and in 2015  ahead of David Camerons bid to negotiate with the EU  wrote a paper suggesting how the UK should approach the talks. Make what you want seem normal, he said. And a few years later he would tell his negotiating team: People get used to ideas. Britain left the bloc in January 2020 but Lord Frost continued to lead the post-Brexit trade negotiations. He then took up a seat in the House of Lords  enabling the PM to appoint him as minister of state at the Cabinet Office and as a member of his Cabinet. But he quit government at the end of last year  with the introduction of Plan B Covid measures, including vaccine passports, the final straw after months of discontent over tax rises and the cost of green policies. Advertisement

Some friends have suggested he would be a great candidate for a senior Cabinet role, or even a future prime minister, describing him as statesmanlike.

Last night, Lord Frost did not comment on the entreaties to him to stand. But a friend said: Many people would like to see Lord Frost back in full-time politics.

Colleagues have highlighted to him that it is possible for a peer to resign from the Lords and stand for the Commons.

The unexpected Wakefield by-election is certainly an opportunity and it needs a high-profile and serious candidate.

'If the party and colleagues pressed him to stand I am sure he would look at this very seriously.

Lord Frost is highly popular among Conservative backbenchers for securing the deal that enabled Britain to leave the European Union.

And his criticism of recent tax rises, costly green policies and stringent Covid rules has chimed with many on the Right wing of the party.

The Wakefield by-election was triggered this week when Imran Ahmad Khan announced he would resign as a Tory MP after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Labour had held the seat since the 1930s until Khans victory in the 2019 general election, when the Tories demolished the Red Wall of hitherto impregnable northern constituencies.

But the Conservatives will face a tricky battle to retain the seat, amid anger from voters over the cost of living crisis, Partygate and the challenges of a mid-parliamentary term poll.

Last night several Tory MPs publicly urged Lord Frost to consider running.

Former minister Steve Baker said: The idea of Lord Frost in the House of Commons is a tantalising possibility.

Too few people know that it is possible to swap from the Lords to the Commons, and it is certainly worth bearing in mind.

'But I wouldnt blame Lord Frost if he chose not to do it this time round.

Mr Baker said that he would like the career diplomat to be a member of the Commons for many years and a secretary of state  at least.

The law was changed in 2014 to allow peers to resign as sitting members, meaning that  while life peerages cannot be relinquished  membership of the Upper House now can.

Life peers who are no longer a member of the House of Lords regain the right to vote in elections to the Commons  and can stand for election as an MP.

Khan won Wakefield by 3,358 votes over Labour former frontbencher Mary Creagh but the Conservatives will be nervous about maintaining that lead.

Miss Creagh yesterday confirmed that she would not seek to run again  adding to pressure on party leader Sir Keir Starmer to find a candidate who can recapture the seat.

A date for the by-election has not yet been set.

The Wakefield by-election was triggered this week when Imran Ahmad Khan announced he would resign as a Tory MP after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. Above, Khan at Southwark Crown Court

Disgraced MP pestered me for sex when I was a boy

Disgraced MP Imran Ahmad Khan is facing new allegations after a man said that he propositioned him when he was 16.

The man said he met Khan, the Tory MP for Wakefield who was found guilty on Monday of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, at a birthday party in Suffolk in 2015.

He said that Khan had offered to perform a sex act on him and take him to a hotel room to take drugs and hire a prostitute, The Guardian reported.

The man, who came forward after Khans conviction, said that he felt really uncomfortable after the incident. I didnt know how to take it. I was only 16, he said.

His mother and her partner then told Khan to stay away from her son after he told her about the proposition.

The man, who wants to remain anonymous, did not think much about it until he saw a story about Khans conviction.

The story popped up on the BBC app and I saw a picture of him and thought, Its him. And... this guy is an MP, he said.

Hes the probably the furthest thing away from the sort of person anyone wants to represent them.

Lawyers for Khan, 48, advised him not to comment on the latest allegations. But shortly after they were put to him, Khan, said he would resign as an MP, triggering a by-election in his Red Wall seat.

He had been resisting calls to stand down even though he was expelled from the Conservatives after he was found guilty.

He plans to appeal against his conviction and said resigning would allow him to focus entirely on clearing my name.
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will get the $75,000 he paid in fines to a Connecticut court back following a judge's ruling Thursday.

Jones, 48, was sanctioned in March 2022 for failing to appear for a deposition regarding his campaign of misinformation over the Sandy Hook massacre.

On December 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people in Newtown, Connecticut, at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Twenty of those killed were between the ages of six and seven years old.

Alex Jones maintains that he is a victim of 'cancel culture' in the Sandy Hook families' lawsuit. The InfoWars host pointed out that he has recanted previous statements about the massacre being fake

In the aftermath of the massacre, Jones said on his InfoWars platform that the shooting was 'completely fake' and a 'giant hoax.' Families of the victims launched a defamation lawsuit against Jones in 2018.

Jones was ordered to pay damages to the families in October 2021. The Texas-based host has since said that he believes the shooting took place. A trial will be held in August to decide how much Jones will need to pay to the families.

Jones was due to sit for a deposition March 23 and 24 in Austin, Texas, where his InfoWars empire is based. He didn't show.

Judge Barbara Bellis in Westbury, Connecticut, did not accept Jones' excuses for missing the deposition. Jones said that he was suffering from medical issues including vertigo.

Jones speaking to a Connecticut News12 reporter outside of the deposition in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Prior to this, Jones paid two separate fines of $25,000 and $50,000 for missing appearances in March

Doctors were concerned that his health issues could be a heart condition. Jones said he was merely suffering from a sinus infection. Bellis' opinion was that Jones was not to sick to sit for the deposition.

Records show that Jones recorded episodes of his InfoWars show on March 23 and March 24. Both episodes were close to four hours in length.

Jones paid a $25,000 fine for missing a deposition on April 1. On April 4, he paid a further $50,000. Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families asked Bellis to issue an arrest warrant due to Jones' no show.

Eventually, Jones sat for the deposition in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on April 5 and 6. Following those appearances, Bellis decreed that the $75,000 should be repaid to Jones.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Jones' lawyer Norm Pattis for comment on the ruling.

Earlier in April 2022, some of the families involved in the lawsuit launched a new legal claim against Jones, reported NBC Connecticut.

In this suit, the families are accusing Jones of attempting to hide assets in shell companies that are operated by family members. The purpose of this move is to make Jones appear broke, the suit alleges.

During a break in his deposition for the lawsuit, Jones spoke to News12 Connecticut about "cancel culture" and alleged that he was a victim of the "corporate media." He accused the "media" of not publicizing his apologies to the families of the Sandy Hook victims.

Jones said that 'powerful Democrat law firms' were attempting to shut down InfoWars. One of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the Sandy Hook story is the son of Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Matt Blumenthal.

Jones' InfoWars empire pulled in $165 million between 2015 and 2018. The Sandy Hook families allege that Jones is now shifting his assets to shell companies in order to disguise his wealth

Matt Blumenthal, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan, is also an elected member of the Connecticut House.

In a 2019 deposition in the case, Jones alleged that he was suffering from a form of 'psychosis' when he made claims that Sandy Hook was staged. He said that he was in a place where he felt every news event was staged because of the 'trauma of the media and the corporations lying so much.'

According to a January 2022 Huffington Post investigation, in 2018 alone, InfoWars pulled in $56 million in sales. Between 2015 and 2018, the company raked in $165 million.
Tens of thousands of civil servants are being allowed to carry on working from home indefinitely.

Despite being urged by ministers to get back to the office for the sake of the economy, mandarins have quietly instituted permanent hybrid working.

A Daily Mail investigation found that staff are required to spend as little as 40 per cent of their working week in the office.

Public sector offices around the country are still virtually empty, with only a handful of employees clocking in  months after lockdown restrictions were axed.

The Mails audit found that on a typical Monday in the middle of March, many publicly-funded bodies had less than 10 per cent of their staff in work. Some had under 5 per cent  and one had none at all.

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said home working had to end: These civil servants need to stop being selfish and to get back to the office'

At some Whitehall departments  where ministers have been told to get their staff back  fewer than half were at their office desks and at one it was less than a quarter.

At least 20 government agencies and Whitehall departments now have policies that mean staff are expected to be at their desks for only two days a week.

Some are even giving home-based officials 18 a month toward heating bills and up to 350 to buy desks and chairs.

Critics of the culture of home working claim it makes staff less productive and less creative and damages career prospects.

They also cite damage to the economies of many town centres. Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said home working had to end: These civil servants need to stop being selfish and to get back to the office.

'Ministers need to start insisting because there is now no need for them to not be back. Everyone else is back.

Businesses in central London in particular rely on people coming back into the office.

On top of this, if you work from home you are not as productive  most firms recognise this. Its also important for mental health to meet people and not be stuck at home.

'Look at the Health Department  doctors and nurses are working flat out in hospitals, so why should civil servants be staying at home?

Tory MP Steve Baker said that people are more productive when they are in the office

Fellow Tory MP Steve Baker said: People are more productive when they are in the office, and plenty of sections of our economy are at risk if there arent office workers going to have lunch or a drink after work.

When civil servants were sent home in the first lockdown two years ago, it led to backlog Britain as motorists, travellers and new parents were left waiting months for vital documents that could not be processed remotely.

Concerns were then raised last summer that the evacuation of Afghanistan was hampered by home-based officials being unable to read top-secret documents.

One mandarin, Sarah Healey, admitted she enjoyed being out of Whitehall so she could ride her exercise bike.

That led Conservative Party co-chairman Oliver Dowden to tell staff to get off their Pelotons and get back to their desks.

A third of 1,000 office employees surveyed recently said they have not been in the workplace since March 2020. Pictured: Commuters at London Bridge station last month

Boris Johnson claimed that young workers needed to learn from older colleagues and could not develop their careers in Zoom meetings.

And Cabinet Office minister Steve Barclay wrote to government departments in January to say it was important that we now see the maximum use of our office space being made from next week.

The Government said the move would also bring economic benefits for businesses across the country, with sandwich shops and the hospitality sector due to see a dramatic increase in footfall.

Yet freedom of information requests sent by this newspaper to 55 major quangos based across the UK and to 19 Whitehall departments revealed the demands were being ignored.

By last night 41 of the organisations had replied, saying they had some sort of hybrid or blended working policy that no longer required staff to be in the office five days a week.

Although some of these policies were in place pre-pandemic, they are far more common and extensive now.

The Mail asked the public sector bodies how many staff were based in their main offices and how many of them had been present on Monday, March 14, long after the work from home order was lifted and before the latest wave of Covid cases took effect.

The Department of Work and Pensions said it had 2,066 full-time employees linked to its Caxton House headquarters near Westminster Abbey, but just 421 logged on to the network on March 14.

Its hybrid working policy, implemented in February, allows staff to spend 40 per cent of their time in the office over a four-week period.

They can choose which days to come into the office and whether to complete the 40 per cent all together at the beginning or end of a four-week period or spread more evenly across four weeks.

The Attorney Generals Office said nine of its 54 staff were in the London HQ on March 14. Its guidance in January declared hybrid working is the future as it captures the benefits of both working from home and office presence.

Among the most generous employers is the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates IVF clinics.

Just three of its 52 staff attended its London office on March 14. A Government spokesman said: Ministers have been clear that departments should make maximum use of office space and progress is being monitored.
Voters back Boris Johnsons plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda by two to one, a poll revealed last night.

The survey for the Daily Mail found that even Labour voters are more likely to support it than oppose it  potentially causing problems for party leader Sir Keir Starmer.

It comes after the Prime Minister vowed to face down Left-wing lawyers who try to thwart the move.

Organisations such as Amnesty International have been highly critical of the plan, saying that Rwanda has a dismal human rights record.

And yesterday Gillian Triggs, assistant high commissioner at the UN refugee agency, said the scheme was unacceptable and a breach of international law.

But Mr Johnson insisted on Thursday that the African nation was one of the safest countries on the planet as Home Secretary Priti Patel signed a historic deal with Rwandan officials.

Yesterday around 160 migrants arrived in the UK by small boat, with one group of about 50 people brought to Dover by Border Force officials.

The poll of more than 1,000 adults, carried out by Savanta for the Mail, found that while 47 per cent of all voters say they support the idea, just 26 per cent are against. The rest say they do not know or have no opinion.

Among those who voted Labour at the last election, 39 per cent say they support the move compared with 36 per cent who do not.

The survey also revealed that most believe the plan will be effective at deterring economic migrants. However, many have concerns over the initial 120million cost, with only 39 per cent saying they think it represents value for money.

It emerged yesterday that the Home Offices top civil servant had raised an objection to the policy over value for money grounds.

A Home Office source said that while permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft supported the scheme, he had raised concerns that the cost of it was difficult to model.

This is because it was the first time such a scheme had been implemented, and because the number of migrants was affected by international factors.

This forced Miss Patel to issue a ministerial direction to push the policy through  as were used for many Covid schemes.

A Home Office source said: The asylum system is costing the taxpayer more than 1.5billion per year  the highest amount in over two decades. Officials are clear that deterring illegal entry would create significant savings.

'It would be wrong to let a lack of precise modelling delay a policy aimed at reducing illegal migration, saving lives, and breaking the business model of smuggling gangs.

Yesterday Conservative former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell warned that the scheme would incur eye-watering costs for taxpayers and said it would be cheaper to house asylum seekers in the Ritz.

But Home Office minister Tom Pursglove said sending asylum seekers to Rwanda will save Britain money in the longer term.

Under the scheme, some people who have entered Britain and applied for asylum will be flown to Rwanda to have their applications processed. If successful, they will be given long-term accommodation there.

In the past 18 months Priti Patel seemed at times to be inactive when it came to dealing with the influx of boats from northern France. All along, a policy was being developed behind the scenes  one praised as bold and innovative by her supporters, and as inhumane and cruel by detractors

Priti Patel reveals her secret 18-month battle to find a humane answer to the crisis - as she predicts EU nations will follow the new UK scheme

By David Barrett

Priti Patel has described the tough, tough battle that went on behind the scenes to secure her Rwanda deal.

The Home Secretary has faced criticism  and anonymous sniping from rivals  for failing to solve the Channel crisis.

In the past 18 months she seemed at times to be inactive when it came to dealing with the influx of boats from northern France.

Now, with this weeks bombshell publication of the Rwanda strategy, we know why.

All along, a policy was being developed behind the scenes  one praised as bold and innovative by her supporters, and as inhumane and cruel by detractors.

Migrants travelling to the UK on small boats will be put on jets and sent to Rwanda while their applications are processed. Pictured: A map detailing the plan proposed by the Prime Minister

The deal is now likely to be copied by other European countries, Miss Patel said.

She added: Im convinced its world-class and it will be used as a blueprint.

I would not be surprised if other countries start coming to us directly for assistance.

She revealed Denmark had suggested working together to secure its own deal. Its parliament has passed a law so migrants can be processed overseas, and has been in negotiations with Rwanda for two years.

Miss Patel said other European countries agreed that maintaining the status quo was not an option in the face of the people-trafficking gangs exploiting migrants.

She added: Ive spoken to a lot of counterparts  Italy, Greece, Poland, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium. The Council of Europe are interested in working with us.

I cant say theyll follow the Rwanda plan, but they are expressing an understanding that we cant carry on as we are.

Yesterday, she described two years of struggle at the Home Office as she and her team devised the strategy. Its been a tough, tough battle to get where we are today, she said at the end of a two-day trip to Kigali.

It is hard stuff, and you have to be pretty tenacious and keep on slogging on. It was in February 2020, just as Covid began to hit, that we started working all this out. I commandeered a room and we were writing on the walls, drafting the framework that would become the Nationality and Borders Bill.

We were thinking of how to close the lacunas that our friends the lawyers go for.

Pictured: Migrants wait to disembark at the Port of Dover after being rescued while crossing the English Channel near Dover, April 15, 2022

Her highlighting of the start date for the policy  February 2020  may be significant. At the end of that month her permanent secretary, Sir Philip Rutnam, quit, speaking publicly of tension with her. He then began an action for constructive dismissal.

Could the ideas emerging in those brainstorming sessions have been an unknown factor in the spat between the Home Offices top civil servant and his elected boss?

We will probably never know. But the Rwanda policy will have surely faced harsh criticism from within the Home Office. Another former Home Office permanent secretary, Sir David Normington, said it was inhumane, morally reprehensible, probably unlawful and may well be unworkable.

Negotiations between Miss Patel and the Rwandan government began last summer, it can now be disclosed. They were the subject of intense, line-by-line scrutiny for a month before this weeks announcement. In an apparent dig at Cabinet colleagues who have briefed against her anonymously, she said: My way of working is probably a little bit different to others in government.

Bearing in mind I do a lot of policy and legislation, you cannot develop policy or legislation without thinking about implementation. Ive spent the last four weeks ironing out a lot of the technicalities.

The team have been in Kigali for the last four weeks, seven days a week.

After a series of nameless Westminster briefings speculating that Miss Patel was about to get the sack over the Channel crisis, the Home Secretary stressed she had enjoyed Boris Johnsons support all along.

Knitting her fingers together, Miss Patel said: The PM and I have been like this for the whole thing. It is clearly meant as a rebuke to her detractors  and her way of indicating how ill-informed they were when they suggested she was destined for a reshuffle or even the back benches.

A view of facilities at Hope House, a hostel in Nyabugogo, the Gasabo district of the capital city Kigali, in Rwanda - where migrants shipped from Britain will initially be taken

The Cabinet was not briefed about the Rwanda deal until Wednesday afternoon  by which time the Home Secretary and a dozen officials had already arrived in Kigali for the agreements official signing.

Such was the secrecy surrounding the policy that some senior figures in the Government are said to have been unaware of it.

When the details emerged, it was far bolder than anyone could have predicted.

There had been briefings over the past 18 months that the Government was looking at offshoring the processing of asylum applications, with Greece, Albania and Ghana mentioned, along with disused North Sea oil rigs and former passenger ferries.

This deal goes far further, with migrants who arrive through irregular routes  such as Channel boats  denied all access to Britains asylum system. Instead, they will be shifted across the world on a one-way ticket to claim refugee status in Rwanda.

Asked why she did not launch the Rwanda agreement earlier  or even hint at its existence  she said: You can only say you are going to go when you are absolutely certain.

This is too serious. I wouldnt sign it off until everything was ready. It takes time  because I have very high standards.
Former President Donald Trump on Friday announced he was endorsing J.D. Vance in the Republican primary in the Ohio Senate race.

It could prove the decisive push for the Hillbilly Elegy author in a bitterly fought race to claim the party nomination.

Allies of rival GOP candidates Josh Mandel, the state's former treasurer, and Jane Timken, a former Ohio Republican Party chair, had tried to hold up the announcement and claimed Vance once referred to Trump supporters as racist.

But it did not stop the former president eventually putting his weight behind Vance as the candidate best placed to claim a Republican victory.

'Like some others, J.D. Vance may have said some not so great things about me in the past, but he gets it now, and I have seen that in spades,' he said in a statement.

'He is our best chance for victory in what could be a very tough race.'

A source familiar with Trump's decision said Vance had powerful backers. Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, Sen. Josh Hawley and Donald Trump Jr. all lobbied the president to plump for Vance.

And Trump was turned off Mandel and businessman Mike Gibbons when they nearly came to blows in a heated debate exchange about Chinese petroleum last month.

He thought they 'looked like clowns,' ending any chance that they would win his endorsement.

Instead Trump insisted Vance, a 37-year-old Marine veteran, had the best chance of winning and will serve as a 'devastating rebuke of the 'failures of Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats'.

Former President Donald Trump has officially endorsed J.D. Vance in the Republican primary in the Ohio Senate race. The Hillbilly Elegy authored earned the prized endorsement in a crowded field in what is expected to be a hotly contested race

In a statement on Friday, Trump said: 'MAGA patriots from across the nation are set to deliver an election landslide for Republicans that will serve as a devastating rebuke of the failures of Joe Biden and the Radical Left Democrats'

It is the second big endorsement Trump has made in the last seven days after backing Dr. Oz in the Pennsylvania Senate race.

Vance celebrated Trump's backing in a tweet: 'I'm incredibly honored to have President Trump's support.

'He was an incredible fighter for hard working Americans in the White House, he will be again, and I'll fight for the America First Agenda in the Senate.'

The winner of the nomination will likely face face a stiff test in the form of Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in the November election.

With his endorsement, Trump signaled that he believes Vance is not only closely aligned with his own thinking, but is best place to win.

'The Democrats will be spending many millions of dollars, but the good news is that they have a defective candidate who ran for president and garnered exactly zero percent in the polls,' said Trump.

'The bottom line is, we must have a Republican victory in Ohio.'

Senate hopefuls Mike Gibbons, 69, (left, standing) and Josh Mandel, 44, (right) came toe-to-toe at a primary debate last month after Mandel attacked the father-of-five's financial assets in China, claiming he 'made millions' there. The clash lost them the chance of Trump's endorsement according to a source familiar with the former president's thinking

Gibbons went on to say that former Marine 'didn't know squat' because he's never worked in private sector, to which Mandel replied that he had served two tours in Iraq and told the businessman: 'Don't tell me I haven't worked.' At one point someone had to tried to break the two men up as they argued about money and life experiences

'This is not an easy endorsement for me to make because I like and respect some of the other candidates in the racethey've said great things about "Trump" and, like me, they love Ohio and love our Country.

'I've studied this race closely and I think J.D. is the most likely to take out the weak, but dangerous, Democrat opponentdangerous because they will have so much money to spend.

'However, J.D. will destroy him in the debates and will fight for the MAGA Movement in the Senate.

'He's strong on the border, tough on crime, understands how to use taxes and tariffs to hold China accountable, will fight to break up Big Tech, and has been a warrior on the rigged and stolen presidential election. J.D. is a Marine who served in the Iraq War, a graduate of The Ohio State University, and earned a law degree from Yalea great student.

'With J.D. Vance, Ohio gets both brains and brawn. Ohio has been good to me, I won it twice, really bIG, and I have likewise been GREAT for Ohio. Lets keep it going!

'It is time for the entire MAGA movement, the greatest in the history of our Country, to unite behind J.D.s campaign because, unlike so many other pretenders and wannabes, he will put America First. In other words, J.D. Vance has my Complete and Total Endorsement. He will not let you down.'

It came a day after Politico reported that more than three dozen GOP chairs and state party central committee members signed a letter asking Trump not to endorse Vance, pointing out to the ex-president that the author 'referred to your supporters as "racists" and proudly voted for Evan McMullin in 2016.'

One of the Republican officials whose name appeared on the letter, Putnam County GOP's Chairman Tony Schroeder later came out and said he didn't agree to put his name on the document, which was leaked to Politico.

Additionally, Politico reported that a pro-Mandel polling firm, Remington Research, circulated a memo pegging Vance as a loser - even with Trump's nudge.

'J.D. Vance will still lose even with President Trump's endorsement,' the memo, authored by Remington's President Titus Bond, said. 'J.D. Vance is widely known by Republican Primary voters for his Never-Trumper comments and his calling Trump supporters "racists."'

'Since he is already known to Ohioans as a self-proclaimed "Never Trumper" and voters will forcefully be reminded of that, Vance will still lose even with President Trump's endorsement,' Bond said.

The memo said that even with the Trump bump, Vance would come in fourth in the primary, at around 15 per cent.

Vance thanked Trump for his in endorsement. He tweeted: 'I'm incredibly honored to have President Trump's support. He was an incredible fighter for hard working Americans in the White House, he will be again, and I'll fight for the America First Agenda in the Senate'

Mandel had shared a clip of Vance in August, in which the author said that some of Trump's supporters are racist.

The clip cuts off before Vance then says that most of them are not.

'I always resist the idea that the real thing driving most Trump voters was racial anxiety or racial animus, partially because I didnt see it. I mean, the thing that really motivated people to vote for Trump first in the primary and then in the general election was three words: jobs, jobs, jobs,' Vance said at a University of Chicago Institute of Politics event in 2017.

Vance, Mandel and Timken haven't even historically been the leaders of the race, with the polling edge until recently going to Republican businessman Mike Gibbons.

However Gibbons 'is not on his radar,' one source close to Trump told Politico.

A Trafalgar Group poll released Friday morning showed Mandel and Vance had leapfrogged Gibbons in the latest survey, coming in first and second, respectively.
Priti Patel has described the tough, tough battle that went on behind the scenes to secure her Rwanda deal.

The Home Secretary has faced criticism  and anonymous sniping from rivals  for failing to solve the Channel crisis.

In the past 18 months she seemed at times to be inactive when it came to dealing with the influx of boats from northern France.

Now, with this weeks bombshell publication of the Rwanda strategy, we know why.

All along, a policy was being developed behind the scenes  one praised as bold and innovative by her supporters, and as inhumane and cruel by detractors.

In the past 18 months Priti Patel seemed at times to be inactive when it came to dealing with the influx of boats from northern France. All along, a policy was being developed behind the scenes  one praised as bold and innovative by her supporters, and as inhumane and cruel by detractors

Migrants travelling to the UK on small boats will be put on jets and sent to Rwanda while their applications are processed. Pictured: A map detailing the plan proposed by the Prime Minister

Priti Patel issued a 'ministerial direction' to push through Rwanda asylum proposals Multiple reports have surfaced that Ms Patel took the rare step of issuing a 'ministerial direction' to overrule concerns of civil servants about whether the UK's Rwanda asylum proposals will deliver value for money. As part of the plan designed to curb migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats, those who are deemed to have entered Britain by unlawful means since January 1 may be sent to Rwanda where they will be permitted to apply for asylum in the African country. According to the Daily Telegraph, the claimed use of the ministerial direction by the Home Secretary was only the second deployment of the power within the Home Office in the past 30 years. The Home Office declined to comment on the matter when approached by the PA news agency. The Telegraph said unions representing staff in Whitehall have warned of mass walk-outs and transfer requests over ethical and legal concerns about the policy, claiming Ms Patel faces a 'mutiny' over her recently unveiled concept. The ministerial direction is deployed by a minister when the top civil servant in their department objects to the feasibility or costs of a spending plan. It is seen as a way of pushing through what is seen as a critical policy when there is resistance to it. While it hasn't been used in the home office for the past three decades, it has been used in other departments 46 times since 2011 - with several being issued throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly for loan schemes that civil servants felt could be open to fraud. Advertisement

The deal is now likely to be copied by other European countries, Miss Patel said.

She added: Im convinced its world-class and it will be used as a blueprint.

I would not be surprised if other countries start coming to us directly for assistance.

She revealed Denmark had suggested working together to secure its own deal. Its parliament has passed a law so migrants can be processed overseas, and has been in negotiations with Rwanda for two years.

Miss Patel said other European countries agreed that maintaining the status quo was not an option in the face of the people-trafficking gangs exploiting migrants.

She added: Ive spoken to a lot of counterparts  Italy, Greece, Poland, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium. The Council of Europe are interested in working with us.

I cant say theyll follow the Rwanda plan, but they are expressing an understanding that we cant carry on as we are.

Yesterday, she described two years of struggle at the Home Office as she and her team devised the strategy. Its been a tough, tough battle to get where we are today, she said at the end of a two-day trip to Kigali.

It is hard stuff, and you have to be pretty tenacious and keep on slogging on. It was in February 2020, just as Covid began to hit, that we started working all this out. I commandeered a room and we were writing on the walls, drafting the framework that would become the Nationality and Borders Bill.

We were thinking of how to close the lacunas that our friends the lawyers go for.

Her highlighting of the start date for the policy  February 2020  may be significant. At the end of that month her permanent secretary, Sir Philip Rutnam, quit, speaking publicly of tension with her. He then began an action for constructive dismissal.

Could the ideas emerging in those brainstorming sessions have been an unknown factor in the spat between the Home Offices top civil servant and his elected boss?

We will probably never know. But the Rwanda policy will have surely faced harsh criticism from within the Home Office. Another former Home Office permanent secretary, Sir David Normington, said it was inhumane, morally reprehensible, probably unlawful and may well be unworkable.

Pictured: Migrants wait to disembark at the Port of Dover after being rescued while crossing the English Channel near Dover, April 15, 2022

Negotiations between Miss Patel and the Rwandan government began last summer, it can now be disclosed. They were the subject of intense, line-by-line scrutiny for a month before this weeks announcement. In an apparent dig at Cabinet colleagues who have briefed against her anonymously, she said: My way of working is probably a little bit different to others in government.

Bearing in mind I do a lot of policy and legislation, you cannot develop policy or legislation without thinking about implementation. Ive spent the last four weeks ironing out a lot of the technicalities.

The team have been in Kigali for the last four weeks, seven days a week.

After a series of nameless Westminster briefings speculating that Miss Patel was about to get the sack over the Channel crisis, the Home Secretary stressed she had enjoyed Boris Johnsons support all along.

Knitting her fingers together, Miss Patel said: The PM and I have been like this for the whole thing. It is clearly meant as a rebuke to her detractors  and her way of indicating how ill-informed they were when they suggested she was destined for a reshuffle or even the back benches.

A view of facilities at Hope House, a hostel in Nyabugogo, the Gasabo district of the capital city Kigali, in Rwanda - where migrants shipped from Britain will initially be taken

The Cabinet was not briefed about the Rwanda deal until Wednesday afternoon  by which time the Home Secretary and a dozen officials had already arrived in Kigali for the agreements official signing.

Such was the secrecy surrounding the policy that some senior figures in the Government are said to have been unaware of it.

When the details emerged, it was far bolder than anyone could have predicted.

There had been briefings over the past 18 months that the Government was looking at offshoring the processing of asylum applications, with Greece, Albania and Ghana mentioned, along with disused North Sea oil rigs and former passenger ferries.

This deal goes far further, with migrants who arrive through irregular routes  such as Channel boats  denied all access to Britains asylum system. Instead, they will be shifted across the world on a one-way ticket to claim refugee status in Rwanda.

Asked why she did not launch the Rwanda agreement earlier  or even hint at its existence  she said: You can only say you are going to go when you are absolutely certain.

This is too serious. I wouldnt sign it off until everything was ready. It takes time  because I have very high standards.
Actors perform a scene from the original musical "Shanghai 1932-34" at Dongguk University Lee Haerang Art Theater, Thursday. / Yonhap





By Kwak Yeon-soo







The new musical "Shanghai 1932-34," based on the life of the ethnically Korean Chinese actor Jin Yan during China's golden age of cinema, is being staged to mark the 30th anniversary of Korea-China diplomatic relations.







Also intended to commemorate the 90th anniversary of independence activist Yun Bong-gil's death, the original musical tells the story of Jin, a Korean who fled to China with his family to escape Japan's brutal repression, and Chinese musician Nie Er, who composed the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.







The aspiring actor and composer both struggle with the reality of pursuing their artistic dreams in Shanghai. After witnessing Korean independence hero Yun's patriotic bombing attack on Japanese colonial officials in Shanghai in 1932, Jin and Nie join the movement to fight imperial Japan. It is coproduced by Seoul Arts Center and Human B troupe.







The musical showcases the fighting spirit of Korean and Chinese revolutionaries who dedicated their youth and lives to defending their countries, and their friendship.







Yoo In-taek, president of the Seoul Arts Center, said the musical was originally intended for performance in China, but the plan was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.







"We began this project nearly two years ago. We hope to visit Shanghai, the musical setting, and Kunming, Nie's hometown, to perform 'Shanghai 1932-34' on stage and promote cultural exchanges between the two countries. I hope the audiences remember how Korean and Chinese youth fought shoulder to shoulder in the 1930s," he said.







Artistic director Kook Min-sung explained she wanted to depict the death-defying memoir of friendship.







"It shows how friendship based on shared beliefs and values can have an impact on society. I wrote the musical to depict heroic struggles and exemplary revolutionary traits which everyone should learn from," she said.







Actors perform a scene from the original musical "Shanghai 1932-34" at Dongguk University Lee Haerang Art Theater, Thursday. / Yonhap





Director Lee Sung-gu shared that he tried to add cinematic elements to the theatrical narrative by projecting actors on screens.







"In our musical, about 10 actors play 80 different characters. That gives everyone, even actors with small roles, a big stage presence. We brought cinematic techniques to live performance, combining them with strong visual elements and music," he said.







Actor Baek Seung-ryul, who plays the role of Jin, said he tried to show Jin's rise to success and his love for cinema and patriotic feats. "I focused on expressing Jin's spirit of defending the country to put an end to Japanese repression and his fondness for his friend Nie, he said.







Ahn Tae-joon, who portrays Nie, said he paid a lot of attention to the musical talent of a gifted composer. "I studied the personalities and habits of genius musicians and tried to express Nie's sensitive side," he said.







"Shanghai 1932-34" will run through April 30 at Dongguk University Lee Haerang Art Theater.


The killer of Sir David Amess should receive the death penalty, his aunt said yesterday.

Just days after Ali Harbi Ali was given a whole life sentence, Anab Abdulle, his mother Jamilas sister, said: I am sorry for the late MPs family, for the painful death of a father, husband and MP.

But for Ali Harbi Ali he should be given a death sentence since he is a confirmed terrorist. He brought this upon himself and should face the consequences.

On Tuesday Ali was given a whole life sentence, so will never be eligible for parole

Sir David, 69, was stabbed more than 20 times at a constituency surgery in an Essex church in October.

On Tuesday Ali was given a whole life sentence, so will never be eligible for parole.

In an interview with the Mail, Miss Abdulle, who lives in Nairobi, said that what turned a star pupil heading for a medical career into a terrorist may have been his parents separation.

His father Harbi Ali Kullane, had been an adviser to the Somali prime minister. The parents have long been upset by the changes in him. It is unfortunate that they did not report him in time, she said.

She believes that her sister was afraid to contact the police. She suspected her son had joined the Islamic State group through one of his friends early last year but she was scared to report it to police, she said.

Instead she informed Alis father who never took the issue seriously until his son committed murder.

In 2014, Ali was dreaming of joining Islamic State in Syria and although he enrolled on a radiotherapy course at City University, he dropped out.

Sir David, 69, was stabbed more than 20 times at a constituency surgery in Essex in October

In the same year, he was referred to the Governments de-radicalisation scheme, Prevent, but was assessed as posing no risk of terrorism and was discharged in mid-2015.

Months later, Ali bought the knife he would use to stab Sir David at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea.

Yesterday Alis aunt said that he still wanted to travel to Syria in 2019. And she urged the police to track down his former friends from London who she believes have travelled there. She said: He is likely to have joined extremists in 2019, which explains why he wanted to travel then. At least one friend of his has travelled to join extremists.

During his trial, Ali claimed his parents had no knowledge of his radical views and they thought he wanted to travel to Turkey, not Syria.
Rwanda's image is still tainted by its recent past  the bloody 100-day genocide in 1994.

During the countrys civil war an estimated 800,000 people  mainly from the Tutsi minority ethnic group  were slaughtered by militias from the Hutu majority.

The horror of that episode is perhaps the only thing most outsiders will know about this country of 12million people, largely due to Hollywoods treatment of the genocide in the 2004 drama Hotel Rwanda.

But visiting the nation this week, I was struck by how different it feels to other parts of this mighty continent.

New life: Burhan Almerdas fled Yemen with his wife Sanaa and now runs a coffee shop in Kigali

Its prosperity and apparent stability are a far cry from what I have witnessed during extensive travels in countries such as South Africa, Gambia and Swaziland.

The economic heart of Rwanda, the capital Kigali, is thriving  leading it to be dubbed Africas Switzerland or Africas Singapore. The city of one million people is astonishingly clean, helped by a ban on plastic bags and a compulsory monthly litter-pick.

Irrigated beds of colourful lilies and agapanthus line the roads.

But its successes go beyond these superficial details. Since the late 90s, its government has pursued reconciliation programmes in a bid to help victims and perpetrators of the war live side by side.

The country is world-leading in terms of female representation in parliament  more than 60 per cent of its members are women. And its burgeoning economy is boosted massively by one of the highest global rates of female participation in the workforce.

On the other hand, its leader, president Paul Kagame, is a despot who is highly intolerant of dissent, forbids a free Press and has used death squads to eliminate his opponents.

Civil rights groups condemn its lack of political freedom of expression, and use of arbitrary detention and even torture.

Human Rights Watch described Britains plan as cruelty itself and condemned Rwandas appalling record.

Kagame has shrewdly courted Western leaders and presented himself as a friend of their economic and geopolitical goals.

The economic heart of Rwanda, the capital Kigali, is thriving  leading it to be dubbed Africas Switzerland or Africas Singapore

We cannot ignore the fact that his sanctioning of Priti Patels plan to export asylum seekers en masse from Britain to Rwanda may be yet another element of those overtures.

The British Government must be sure its legal agreement with Rwanda is watertight and that anyone removed under the new scheme does not face brutality or injustice when they arrive.

Ministers insist they have taken legal counsel that the policy complies with all international treaties. So why did Britains Left blast the proposals before full details had emerged? Last December an official from the United Nations refugee agency said Rwanda had done an excellent job integrating refugees.

But when Miss Patel announced her plans this week the same body said it would undermine the practice of asylum globally. Surely they cant have it both ways?

But the best testimony on the prospects for migrants in Rwanda must surely come from someone who has been through a similar process. In Kigali I met Burhan and Sanaa Almerdas, who fled impending war in Yemen eight years ago.

After living in Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia and Chad, they settled in Rwanda three years ago. The couple decided to set up a coffee shop, and found the process swift, easy and  unlike many other African nations  free from corruption.

They described the kindness and respect they were shown even at the airport when they first arrived.

I find Rwanda is very safe and clean, said Mr Almerdas, 37, who previously worked as a strategic planning officer.

I feel like if people are willing to work hard and do something, they respect that.

Asked what kind of reception he thought would be extended to asylum seekers brought to Rwanda under the UK scheme, he was forthright. If they want to work hard, if they want to really get a chance, they will get it here. I think its a good idea.
Ukraine faces a food crisis without urgent supplies amid claims that Russia is weaponising hunger, officials warned tonight.

The United Nations, aid agencies and the EU said deliveries of food have been severely disrupted to towns and cities that have come under Russian bombardment in the seven-week war.

The situation is so bad in some besieged areas that people have collected water from puddles, drunk water from radiators and killed stray dogs to eat.

Others have been so hungry, or their children so desperate to eat, they have ventured out of underground shelters  against official advice  to search for food, only to be killed by enemy attacks.

Last night the European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis told the Daily Mail: Russia may be targeting and destroying Ukraines food stocks and storage locations on purpose, effectively using hunger as a weapon of war.

He warned it would lead to worsening food shortages for innocent Ukrainians.

A Ukrainian woman taste the food cooked on fire in front of the building in the Borodyanka region of Kyiv earlier today

David Beasley, head of the UN World Food Programme, said people living in the south-eastern city of Mariupol were being starved to death by Russia.

His staff have not been allowed access to conflict zones, including Mariupol and Mykolaiv, east of Odessa, which is under fierce attack. Its one thing when people are suffering from the devastation of war. Its another thing when theyre being starved to death, he said.

It echoes the horrors of Ukraines great famine in 1932 when at least four million people died in Joseph Stalins ruthless enforcement of collective farming.

The Soviet dictator Stalin seized food supplies in what Ukraine calls the Holodomor, or hunger extermination.

Mr Beasley said that the war was devastating the people in Ukraine and predicted that the humanitarian crisis would take a turn for the worse soon.

I dont see any of that easing up. I just dont see it happening right now, he added, criticising Russia for refusing to grant proper access to organisations trying to help those in need.

The next few weeks and few months could even get more complicated than it is now. In fact, its getting worse and worse, he said.

Olena Stokoz, Deputy Director General of the National Committee of the Red Cross Society of Ukraine

Preventing humanitarian access and aid deliveries is a war crime under the Geneva Convention, the international treaty governing armed conflict.

Olena Stokoz, deputy director general of the Ukrainian Red Cross, said that its aid convoys continue to be blocked and fired upon outside cities in the east and south.

People have run out of supplies of drinking water, food, medicine, and hygiene products, she warned.

Vladyslav Shelokov, a director of Caritas Ukraine, a Roman Catholic aid charity, said Russian attacks had also forced supermarkets to close because nothing was being delivered to them.

In some regions, large food warehouses have also been totally destroyed, he said.

It means there is a narrowing range in the choice of goods. We see half-empty shelves and stores closing down.

George Ivanov, 37, an office support manager who fled Mariupol on March 14 as Russian troops

Boris Lomako, 34, who owns a restaurant in Kharkiv, is now delivering food parcels to people in need. He said Russia had destroyed farms and infrastructure facilities in the north east.

Andriy Fedoriv, 20, a university student who managed to reach Lviv from Mariupol, said: The Russian military broke into apartments and confiscated all the food supplies.

George Ivanov, 37, an office support manager who fled Mariupol on March 14 as Russian troops shot at people trying to leave, said: Everyone survived on what they could find.

People would collect rain or snow, so they had something to drink. The Russians claimed they were distributing humanitarian aid there.

But these were goods stolen from Ukrainian warehouses.
The phone call came out of the blue. It was from David Briggs, a former colleague from Capital Radio, and he had an idea for a new TV programme.

It was based on a game we used to play on the radio, Double Or Quits. Would I do a pilot as a favour for an old mate?

I had my doubts. I was really busy doing my breakfast slot on Capital every morning, and recording a new series which Id just taken over from the brilliant Clive James.

Ill do the pilot, I told Briggsy. But Im really too busy to do the actual show, if it takes off.

Can you believe it? I actually did nearly turn down Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Anyway, as I did the TV pilot, I quietly thought to myself, This is actually quite good. Its a really good format and I might even think about doing a series. It could last even for two or three years.

I clearly knew nothing, because the show went on to run for 15 years, becoming the No 1 TV programme in 120 countries and changing countless lives, my own included.

Patricia, the director, said to me, No. Something is wrong. Something is definitely bloody wrong. Something was going on. I didnt believe it. Or maybe I didnt want to believe it

Ill never forget the morning after the pilot episode went out in September 1998. I was walking up from the studio to the Hilton Hotel in Wembley, North London, to do a few press interviews, when a bloke in a lorry pulled down his window and shouted at me: Phone a friend.

Now, I was already very used to people shouting catchphrases at me in the street. Id worked on the childrens TV series Tiswas for seven years, as well as Capital Radio for 14, and theyd both had their fair share of popular sayings.

And now, it seemed, there were to be a whole lot more. Is that your final answer?, phone a friend, we dont want to give you that, go 50:50 and ask the audience were about to become a part of global parlance.

But bear in mind, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? had only gone out once anywhere in the world the night before, yet within a matter of hours, do you want to phone a friend? was already on the nations lips. It did seem to me we were clearly on to something enormous. Which, of course, we were.

Its now  and Im working this out as I write  just over 20 years, four months, three weeks and about 20 hours since I could last walk down the street anywhere in Britain without somebody shouting at me: Hello, CT. Do you want to phone a friend?

I havent done the show for years, but it still happens every single day. Its already happened once this morning when I went down to the petrol station just off the M4.

I honestly never mind it at all. Usually, they get thoroughly embarrassed, go bright red, and think, Oh Christ, hes probably heard that one or two times before. Yes, but make that one or two million times, and youre probably closer to the mark.

Well, when I say I never mind catchphrases, I usually dont. But there was one exception.

A few years back on one of those rare, very hot days we do occasionally get in the summer, I was driving through Leicester, and I really desperately needed a beer.

I stopped at a busy pub, where the landlord stared at me in a gormless sort of way as he poured my pint, without saying anything.

And you know that thing when you get the froth coming right up to the top and you are desperate for it? Well, we got to that point, with my tongue hanging out almost to my knees.

The landlord got right to the top, then turned the beer glass over and said, But we dont want to give you that.

And he poured it into the slop bucket. There were howls of laughter right across the pub as I somehow resisted the temptation to shake him firmly by the windpipe. I wanted that beer so much!

But I was then given a fresh pint and a very nice lunch, all on the house. So I couldnt really complain.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was enormous. We did nearly 700 shows, gave away more than 60 million in prize money, just in the UK, and we had six honest, million-pound winners.

After the show, I went back towards the Ingrams dressing room to congratulate them. But I was stopped in my tracks by Eve, a lovely girl in our research team. 'I went to see them with a big bottle of champagne, but they were having this massive row,' she said

Well, five and a dodgy one. But more of him a little later. The list of people who came on the celebrity version of the show in the UK was extraordinary.

Just about every TV personality in Britain: Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross, Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan, Ann Widdecombe, Tim Rice, Bear Grylls, Vic Reeves, Bob Mortimer and his son, Eamonn Holmes and his wife, Dermot OLeary and his dad, Frank Skinner, David Baddiel, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. The list goes on and on.

Terry Wogan came on the first time with Chris Evans. They were extraordinary. Mainly because of Terrys intelligence, they coasted to 1 million in rehearsal, so we thought, Theyre gonna be great. Come the show, and I dont know what happened, but it was a complete disaster, and they went away with 500 quid each.

Four months later James Martin, the chef, came on, and for some incomprehensible reason he brought Chris Evans along with him. I said, Why on earth have you brought him? and James said, Well, last time he went home with 500 quid, and Evans piped up, So I couldnt possibly go home with less, could I?

But do you know what happened? He actually did. James and Christopher left with just 250 quid apiece.

But one thing that really gratified me was the number of people that came on who would never normally go on a game show: Sir Alex Ferguson, Frederick Forsyth, Alastair Campbell, Greg Rusedski, Hugh Bonneville, Amir Khan, David Haye, Ronan Keating, George Michael, and Paul McCartney with his then wife Heather.

The McCartneys were great, and after the show I remember saying, They seemed a lovely couple. They are obviously really happy. Which is one of the many reasons why I have never worked for Relate, as they got divorced four years later.

On the whole, though, I liked ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Our first millionaire, Judith Keppel, was lovely, but decidedly odd. During rehearsals she came up to me, and said, Do you stop the show at all?

Not really. We do stop for the amount of time it would take for commercial breaks, but otherwise it pretty well runs to time.

Well, she said, what happens if I faint?

Puzzled, I asked, Are you likely to faint? Do you have a fainting problem?

No, not at all. Im just curious.

Well, I suppose if you were lying on the floor at my feet, and I was asking questions that you couldnt answer because you were unconscious, yes we would probably stop, because it wouldnt be much of a show.

When you realise that the next day she went on to win 1 million, it was one weird conversation.

The contestant who is probably the best known all around the world, from all those who have appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, is Major Charles Ingram. Sadly, he is remembered for all the very worst reasons.

Charles was the third member of his family to appear on the programme. The Ingrams seemed totally obsessed with it. His wife, Diana, had already been on the show a year before his appearance, where she won 32,000. I remembered her as being quite fed up.

In the bar afterwards, I said to her: 32,000 is a pretty good nights work.

Yes, she said, but Im annoyed with myself that I didnt beat my brother.

Her brother, Adrian Pollock, had also appeared on the show earlier, having made an incredible number of phone calls to get on, and he, too, went away with 32,000.

Charles was the third member of his family to appear on the programme. The Ingrams seemed totally obsessed with it. His wife, Diana, had already been on the show a year before his appearance, where she won 32,000. Above, the couple at Southwark Crown Court

So when the Major appeared, I do remember myself and the production team feeling sorry for him. He seemed to be under a lot of family pressure, and we didnt fancy his chances at all. We could never have believed that he would go on to become our third millionaire.

From the word go Charles seemed hesitant and struggling, but eventually he got to the question that would guarantee him leaving with at least 1,000. It was: The Normans, who invaded and conquered England in 1066, spoke which language?

Surely this is one of those questions that every schoolchild in England has known since they were about four years old. 1066 and all that. Charles finally answered it, but after a lot of hesitation. Pretty sure its French, he said.

The whole country must have been screaming, Of course its bloody French! He paused a lot on that question, but as the show went on, I realised that big, long pauses were very much his style.

At the end of the first day hed used up two of the three lifelines that the show allows, and only won 4,000. It was clear his performance was not at all the stuff of millionaires.

Most of the big winners on the show in the UK havent even paused for breath before theyve got to about 125,000. So the idea of him plodding on from here with just the one lifeline left seemed pretty hopeless.

On day two the Major now began what became his routine. With each question, he admitted to being unsure and then went through each option verbally, out loud, with pauses between. This very significantly became a feature of the manner in which he answered every question that night.

Now, over the 15 years I fronted Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? there were probably no more than a dozen or so contestants who got to the 500,000 mark.

Very few of them went on to win the million, and several of them pulled out at this point, but there was a thing I said that always got a reaction.

You have 500,000. If you go for the next question and get it right, you win a million pounds. But if you get it wrong, you lose 468,000. You do not have to play it.

Everybody I ever said that to suddenly had a look of real shock and panic. In their minds they had already banked 500,000, but the reality that they could still lose such an enormous amount of money suddenly hit home.

The Major was the only one who never paused for a second. Yes, come on, he said. Lets play.

His final question was: A number one, followed by 100 zeros, is known by what name?

The suggested answers, from which he had to choose one, were:

A. Googol

B. Megatron

C. Gigabit

D. Nanomole

Charles said, Im not sure. Inwardly, I gave a big sigh of relief, thinking, Thats it, great. Hes out of here. Nobody in their right mind would go for this unless they were absolutely certain. I joked with him, Charles, youve not been sure since question No 2.

I know, he said, but I think the doubt has now multiplied. I think its a nanomole, but it could be a gigabit. I dont think its a Megatron, and then uttered the famous words, Ive never heard of a googol.

After his usual round-the-houses way of calling out each answer, he suddenly said, out of the blue, I think its a googol. I think its googol.

By process of elimination, I have to think its googol. I dont know what a googol is. I dont think its a gigabit or a nanomole, and Im pretty sure its not a megatron. I think its a googol.

There was a huge gasp from the audience, and in amazement I said to him, But you thought it was a nanomole, and youd never heard of a googol.

Googol, he shouted. Final answer. I genuinely didnt know if it was the right answer, until the screen went to orange and as I looked down, googol was confirmed as the correct answer.

I couldnt believe it. The mad Major was somehow a millionaire. When I told him he was right the studio erupted.

Diana came down from the audience and gave him a hug of delight, but clearly also surprise, and as they left the studio to hysterical applause, she said quite clearly, No one is ever going to believe it. You are mad.

These were meant to be private words between the couple, but of course both the Major and his wife were still wearing radio microphones.

It was an amazing night. It was probably one of the most extraordinary television programmes I have ever been a part of. Somehow, we had another million- pound winner.

I went to see the team to say what an amazing show it was, but instead of the usual euphoric atmosphere, I found some very sombre faces and shaking of heads.

Patricia, the director, said to me, No. Something is wrong. Something is definitely bloody wrong. Something was going on. I didnt believe it. Or maybe I didnt want to believe it.

I went back towards the Ingrams dressing room to congratulate them. But I was stopped in my tracks by Eve, a lovely girl in our research team who was sobbing. Whats wrong, Eve? I asked. Its been the most amazing night.

No, she said, the Major has just told me very forcibly to get out of his dressing room and eff off. I went to see them with a big bottle of champagne, but they were having this massive row.

How Eric Clapton saved my mate Phils fishing tackle I once got invited to a big charity celebrity trout-fishing match in Surrey. Lots of famous faces were promised to be there, and I could take a guest. So I brought Fat Phil, my local tackle dealer, so called because his names Philip and he lives in the pie shop next door. We had the draw and Phil unfortunately got a bad spot right down the end of the lake in amongst lots of trees. Dont worry, I told him. We all change round at lunchtime. So off he trudged. Hes not the best of casters and every time I looked up he seemed to be apologising to the poor guy next to him who seemed to spend his whole morning getting Phils flies out of the trees all around him. I caught two or three trout in the morning, but when Phil came in at lunchtime, hed caught nothing. Yes, he said, I kept getting caught up in the trees, but there was a smashing bloke next to me, really kind and patient. He spent most of the morning getting my tackle out of that big oak tree. What a nice bloke, I said. Which one is he? That one over there eating a sandwich. A diamond geezer. I know his face. I think he comes into my shop to buy maggots. Yes, Phil, I said. He is a diamond geezer, and you do know his face, but not because he comes into your shop to buy maggots. You know his face cos hes called Eric Clapton. Advertisement

Now, it doesnt matter who you are, and how unhappy you may be as a couple, if you have just won 1 million, surely you would be in a celebratory mood?

However, the screaming row was heard by Eve, the security guards, and Paul Vaughan, my manager. He still berates himself for not putting one of those glasses to the wall to hear what was actually being said.

I went home on a high, but several of the production team sat through the tapes later that night trying to find out what had happened. But they could spot nothing.

It was only when they were viewing it all for a second time, at about a quarter to two in the morning, that a young editor said, Hang on, there. Hang on, theres a cough.

The exhausted team said, What are you talking about? and he said, Theres a cough. They spooled back and there it was, from early in the second show, quite clearly: a distinctive cough.

A clear pattern emerged. Ingram would call out each possible answer in his round-the-houses way, and to one of them there would be a cough, and he would then say, Final answer.

And thats what happened all the way up to and including Googol.

At 4am the fraud squad were called in, and they agreed there was a case to answer, and the police brought a prosecution.

Two years later we all went to court and Charles, his wife and an accomplice called Tecwen Whittock were found guilty.

We were certainly very naive in those days. We didnt ever imagine anybody would come and try to cheat 1 million in such great big close-ups on a game show  especially a serving British Army Major.

All we used to ask was, Can you please all turn off your mobile phones.

Following the Majors appearance, all show security was completely updated and tightened up.

No mobile phones were allowed in the studio at all, and nobody was allowed to leave during the programme.

We have never got to the bottom of exactly what happened, but clearly if you do have a phone on and open in the studio the questions and answers can be heard from anywhere. You then only need a very basic search engine to find the right answer.

Although I saw nothing at the time, I have now sat with the programmes makers and the fraud squad for so many hours viewing tapes, that I am convinced in my own mind that the Major is guilty as sin.

Apropos of nothing, a footnote.

I was filming one wet winters morning down in the Savernake Forest in Wiltshire, when a woman appeared out of nowhere wanting an autograph, which I happily signed. But then she added: Your mates up the road today.

Which mates that? I asked.

You know . . . that cheating Major.

Well, hes not exactly my bestest mate, I said. Not exactly top of my Christmas list. But anyway, whats he doing?

Oh, youd have loved it. Hes at a car boot sale with a sign up saying, Forced to sell all my worldly goods by ITV. 

Thats rubbish, I said. It should say, Forced to sell all my worldly goods for being a cheat. 

Anyway, she continued, me and my best mate found one of those Millionaire board games at another stall and took it over to the Major and asked him to sign it.

Oh my god, I said. How did he take it?

Not well, the woman told me. He had not only refused their request, but used some pretty ripe language in the process.

Poor old Charlie Ingram. Youd almost feel sorry for him  if he wasnt as guilty as hell.
Watchdogs have warned energy firms against using the bills crisis to push up customers direct debit payments by more than justified.

The price cap on gas and electricity increased by 54 per cent on April 1  but there is evidence that some companies have doubled monthly direct debit bills.

Some firms also appear to be putting pressure on worried customers to sign up to long-term rip-off tariffs which will lock them into paying extortionate bills for longer than necessary.

At the same time, there are concerns energy firms are sitting on millions of pounds in over-payments from struggling families to prop up their businesses.

The industry regulator Ofgem has warned energy retailers that it plans to tackle the scandal and is threatening multimillion pound fines.

The price cap on gas and electricity increased by 54 per cent on April 1  but there is evidence that some companies have doubled monthly direct debit bills

The typical annual energy bill is rising by the equivalent of around 700 to almost 2,000 a year, however some firms are pressuring customers to pay even more.

Ofgems chief executive Jonathan Brearley said: Concerns have been raised that some suppliers may have been increasing direct debit payments by more than is necessary, or directing customers to tariffs that may not be in their best interest.

'We have also seen troubling stories about the way some vulnerable customers are being treated when they fall into difficulties. Ofgem has launched a series of investigations and reviews into apparent bad practice, backed up with warnings of penalties.

Mr Brearley added: This will include stricter supervision of how direct debits are handled, how much they are holding in customer credit balances and ensuring companies are held to higher standards for overall performance on customer service and protecting vulnerable customers.

This work will allow Ofgem to determine if companies are fulfilling their licence conditions and to work with them to rectify deficiencies.

Where they fail to do so, we will not hesitate to take swift action to enforce compliance, including issuing substantial fines.

Energy firms have been sitting on millions of pounds in customer balances and money collected from levies on customer bills to fund support for green energy, such as wind farms.

Ofgem is concerned the companies are raiding this cash to fund their operations, rather than keeping it safe.

Campaigner Martin Lewis, founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, recently told MPs there are worrying signs energy firms are trying to force through much higher increases in monthly direct debit payments than is justified.

There is no reason to double someones direct debit when theyre in credit and the price cap is going up 54 per cent. Thats not mathematically sound and its a breach of licence conditions, he said.

Citizens Advice surveys have found customer service levels are crashing. For example, people are finding it difficult to contact their suppliers, creating a risk they will not get the help they need and are entitled to.

Its chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said: The drop in customer service standards comes at the worst time possible.
When it comes to pets, they are not always recognised as the friendliest or even the most sociable.

But it seems cats are less selfish than they may appear  for not only do they know the names of their owners but also those of their feline friends.

Japanese researchers looked at 48 cats which lived with at least two other pets, either in a family home or a cat cafe.

Each animal heard a recording of their owner calling the name of a cat they lived with.

Then either a picture of that cat flashed up on a computer screen, or a picture of a different cat in their household.

The 19 cats from family homes spent longer staring at the picture when it did not show the cat whose name had been called  a common reaction if animals are surprised.

A study by Japanese researchers has suggested cats know each other's names and 'possible' those of their owners (stock image)

A separate experiment showed cats either a picture of their owner or themselves when their name was called.

Although the 26 cats surveyed did less well overall, those living in a bigger family stared for longer when the picture and name did not match.

Authors, from Kyoto University, said the results suggest cats know each others names and possibly those of their owners.

They said: One possible explanation has to do with competition.

'A cat might receive food when the owner calls her name but not when she calls another cats name.

However, cats are never in competition with humans at mealtimes so have less reason to know their names.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
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A mysterious sarcophagus discovered in the bowels of Paris' Notre-Dame cathedral after it was devastated by a fire in 2019 will soon be opened to reveal its secrets.

French archaeologists made the announcement on Thursday  just a day before the third anniversary of the inferno that engulfed the 12th century Gothic landmark, which shocked the world and led to a massive reconstruction project.

During preparatory work to rebuild the church's ancient spire last month, workers found the well-preserved leaden sarcophagus buried 65 feet underground, lying among the brick pipes of a 19th century heating system.

But it is believed to be much older  possibly from the 14th century.

The well-preserved leaden sarcophagus was uncovered during work to rebuild the cathedral's ancient spire, buried 65 feet underground and lying among the brick pipes of a 19th century heating system

Scientists have already peered inside the sarcophagus using an endoscopic camera, revealing the upper part of a skeleton, a pillow of leaves, perhaps hair, textiles, and dry organic matter.

Race to reopen Notre-Dame to the public ahead of 2024 Olympics The inferno that engulfed the 12th century Gothic landmark on April 15, 2019 caused its central frame to collapse and ravaged the famous spire, clock and part of the vault - shocking millions around the world. The cathedral typically welcomed nearly 12 million visitors a year, as well as hosting 2,400 services and 150 concerts. As an icon of the globally beloved city, the fire triggered an outpouring of generosity with nearly 844 million euros in donations collected from 340,000 donors in 150 countries to date, according to the public body overseeing the restoration. An army of craftsmen is now racing to restore the cathedral, so it can reopen in time for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Advertisement

Scientists have already peered inside the sarcophagus using an endoscopic camera, revealing the upper part of a skeleton, a pillow of leaves, perhaps hair, textiles, and dry organic matter.

The sarcophagus, which is 1.95 metres (6 foot 4 inches) long and 48cm (1 foot 6 inches) wide, was extracted from the cathedral on Tuesday, France's INRAP national archaeological research institute said during a press conference.

It is currently being held in a secure location and will be sent 'very soon' to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the southwestern city of Toulouse.

Forensic experts and scientists will then open the sarcophagus and study its contents, to identify the skeleton's gender and former state of health, lead archaeologist Christophe Besnier said, adding that carbon dating technology could be used.

Noting that it was found under a mound of earth that had furniture from the 14th century, Besnier said 'if it turns out that it is in fact a sarcophagus from the Middle Ages, we are dealing with an extremely rare burial practice'.

They also hope to determine the social rank of the deceased.

Given the place and style of burial, they were likely to be among the elite of their time, with their name perhaps appearing in the register of the burials of the diocese.

However, INRAP head Dominique Garcia emphasised that the body will be examined 'in compliance' with French laws regarding human remains.

The sarcophagus has now been extracted from the cathedral and is currently being held in a secure location. It will be sent 'very soon' to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the southwestern city of Toulouse. Pictured: excavators lifting of the lead sarcophagus and placing it in a protective box.

Archaeologists have also unearthed a treasure trove of statues, sculptures, tombs and pieces of an original rood screen dating back to the 13th century.

How Notre-Dame is slowly reviving 3 years after fire Three years after the devastating fire, the mammoth job of clearing a thick layer of soot off the walls, vaults and floor is almost completed, restoring the cathedral to its original whiteness. The first stage of the titanic project involved clearing the rubble and burnt beams, reinforcing the flying buttresses, and removing the deadly dust unleashed from 450 tonnes of lead in the structure. A temporary metal scaffolding had to be built for the task, which was completed last summer at a cost of 151 million euros, largely on schedule despite a three-month pause in 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The huge 18th century organ, which was spared by the fire but coated in lead dust, has been dismantled and cleaned, and the stained glass windows, several statues and the 22 large-format paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries have also been sent for restoration. The next major phase is to reinstall the medieval wooden framework of the nave and choir, and the 19th century spire - which the team hopes will be completed in the first half of 2023. Advertisement

'A human body is not an archaeological object,' he said. 'As human remains, the civil code applies and archaeologists will study it as such.'

Once they have finished studying the sarcophagus, it will be returned 'not as an archaeological object but as an anthropological asset,' Garcia added.

However, it has not yes been decided whether Notre-Dame will serve as its final resting place.

INRAP said the possibility of 're-internment' in the cathedral was being studied.

The sarcophagus is not the only notable discovery at Notre-Dame. Archaeologists have also unearthed a treasure trove of statues, sculptures, tombs and pieces of an original rood screen dating back to the 13th century.

Until now, only a few pieces remained of the rood  an ornate partition between the chancel and nave that separated the clergy and choir from the congregation. Some of these are in the cathedral store rooms, while others are on show in the Louvre.

In Catholic churches, most were removed during the Counter-Reformation in the 16th and 17th centuries.

However, large pieces of the Notre-Dame rood appear to have been carefully interred under the cathedral floor during the buildings restoration by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc  who added the spire  in the mid-19th century.

These include sculpted and polychrome fragments, figures and religious architectural elements. One of the most extraordinary pieces is an intact sculpture of the head of a man, believed to be a representation of Jesus.

The style of the sculpture and decorations suggest they date back to the 13th century. Unlike those preserved in the Louvre, however, these fragments are more brightly painted.

Large pieces of the Notre-Dame rood appear to have been carefully interred under the cathedral floor during the buildings restoration in the mid-19th century

One of the most extraordinary pieces is an intact sculpture of the head of a man, believed to be a representation of Jesus

The style of the sculpture and decorations suggest they date back to the 13th century. Unlike those preserved in the Louvre, however, these fragments are more brightly painted

Sculpted and polychrome fragments, figures and religious architectural elements we also found interred under the floor of the cathedral

The find includes around ten plaster sarcophagi from the middle ages, most of which have been badly damaged by flues .

In one of them, however, remains of fabric embroidered with gold thread and some bones were found. At least four graves in the ground have also been identified.

'We uncovered all these riches just 10-15cm under the floor slabs,' said Christophe Besnier, who headed the scientific team for the dig, The Guardian reports.

'It was completely unexpected. There were exceptional pieces documenting the history of the monument.

'It was an emotional moment. Suddenly we had several hundred pieces from small fragments to large blocks including sculpted hands, feet, faces, architectural decorations and plants. Some of the pieces were still coloured.'

Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke filled the air above Notre-Dame Cathedral as ash fell on tourists and others around the island that marks the centre of Paris. Firefighters can be seen on the left, fighting the fire

Today marks the three years to the day since the fire ripped through Notre-Dame, quickly spreading along the roof structure and causing burning timbers to collapse onto the ceiling of the vault below.

By the time the fire was extinguished, the building's spire had collapsed, most of its roof had been destroyed and its upper walls were severely damaged.

Extensive damage to the interior was prevented by its stone vaulted ceiling, which largely contained the burning roof as it collapsed.

The excavation, which has just been completed, will now give way to a long period of analysis and study, to better identify and date the furniture, organic remains, DNA and other materials that have been unearthed.
Jesus died from fatal bleeding, after dislocating his shoulder carrying the cross to his own crucifixion, a retired neurologist has claimed.

The Bible details how Jesus fell while carrying the cross, before his side was later pierced by a Roman soldier's spear, causing 'blood and water' to shoot out.

According to pious legend, St Bernard of Clairvaux asked Jesus which was the greatest unrecorded suffering of his Passion.

Jesus replied: 'I had on my shoulder, while I bore my cross on the way of sorrows, a grievous wound that was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men.'

Scholars agree that Jesus most likely dislocated his right shoulder when he fell, carrying the cross.

However, doctor-turned-priest Patrick Pullicino believes that he may have ultimately been killed by complexities linked to this wound.

Pullicino also believes he can explain why, as told in the Gospel of John, 'blood and water' poured from Christ's crucified body.

The Rev. Prof Pullicino, based in London, has written a scientific paper about his theory and published it in the Catholic Medical Quarterly.

Jesus died of fatal bleeding caused by a dislocated shoulder from carrying the cross, a retired neurologist has claimed

WHAT IS THE TURIN SHROUD? The Vatican owns the Turin shroud, and hails the relic as an exploration of the 'darkest mystery of faith'. But the church has shied away from any definitive statement over whether the shroud  which is supposed to have formed Christ's burial robe  is real. The shroud is thought to have travelled widely before it was brought to France in the 14th century by a Crusader. It was kept in a French convent for years  by nuns who patched it, and where it was damaged by fire. The shroud was given to the Turin Archbishop in 1578 by the Duke of Savoy and has been kept in the Cathedral ever since. Carbon dating tests in 1988 dated it from between 1260 and 1390  implying it was a fake. Scientists have since claimed that contamination over the ages from patches, water damage and fire, was not taken sufficiently into account In 1999, two Israeli scientists said plant pollen found on the shroud supported the view that it comes from the Holy Land. There have been numerous calls for further testing but the Vatican has always refused. Advertisement

He analysed work carried out by forensic and medical experts on the Shroud of Turin, also known as the Holy Shroud, within which Jesus was wrapped after the crucifixion.

For centuries, people have argued about the authenticity of the shroud, which has been preserved since 1578 in the royal chapel of the cathedral of San Giovanni Battista in Turin, Italy.

One of the most controversial relics in the Christian world, it bears the faint image of a man whose body appears to have nail wounds to the wrists and feet.

Some believe it to be a physical link to Jesus of Nazareth. For others, however, it is nothing more than an elaborate forgery.

In 1988, radiocarbon tests on samples of the shroud dated the cloth to the Middle Ages, between 1260 and 1390, but more recent studies in the 2010s dispute this claim, and instead argue that the linen sheet dates from the time of Jesus.

Looking at the faint imprint on the shroud, which appears to show a figure bearing the wounds of crucifixion, Rev Prof Pullicino said the position of the man's dislocated shoulder was significant.

He said it was pulled so far out of its socket that the right hand stretches 4 inches (10cm) lower than the left.

When stretched out for crucifixion like this, Rev Prof Pullicino believes it would cause the subclavian artery  a pair of large arteries in the thorax that supply blood to the head, neck, shoulder and arms  to rupture.

This would in turn cause huge internal bleeding, he said, and ultimately result in a person's death.

Not only that, but around three pints of blood would fill the cavity between the ribcage and the lung, which he argues explains why blood spurted out of Jesus when he was stabbed with the spear.

The water, Rev Prof Pullicino claimed, was likely cerebrospinal fluid, which has a translucent appearance.

Doctor-turned-priest Patrick Pullicino analysed work carried out by forensic and medical experts on the Shroud of Turin, also known as the Holy Shroud (pictured), within which Jesus was wrapped after the crucifixion

'Because of this right arm stretching, the right subclavian/axillary artery was also subjected to stretch, as it was one of the only remaining intact structures connecting the body and the right arm,' he said, according to the Telegraph.

'Transferring of body weight to the arms in inspiration is likely to have caused further stretching of the right subclavian artery. Transferring weight to the legs in exhalation would reverse this stretch.

'This would cause the stretched subclavian artery to move across the rib surface with each breath and its underside would be subject to friction.

'This paper postulates that over the course of three hours, the subclavian artery became abraded, injured and its wall attenuated until finally the artery ruptured and profuse bleeding ensued.'
A South American wildflower that was thought to be extinct has been rediscovered in the foothills of the Andes mountains.

It was first found nearly 40 years ago in an Ecuadorian forest but was only described by scientists in 2000.

They gave the orange wildflower the scientific name 'extinctus' because the forest it was found in had been largely destroyed, leading them to suspect the tropical plant had already died out.

However, researchers at Chicago's Field Museum have now confirmed the first sighting of Gasteranthus extinctus in four decades.

Discovery: A South American wildflower that was thought to be extinct has been rediscovered in the foothills of the Andes mountains. Gasteranthus extinctus is pictured

The tropical plant was first found nearly 40 years ago in an Ecuadorian forest but was only described by scientists in 2000

'Extinctus was given its striking name in light of the extensive deforestation in western Ecuador,' said Dawson White, a postdoctoral researcher at Chicago's Field Museum and co-lead author of the paper.

'But if you claim something's gone, then no one is really going to go out and look for it anymore.

'There are still a lot of important species that are still out there, even though overall, we're in this age of extinction.'

The rediscovered plant is a small forest floor-dweller with flamboyant neon-orange flowers.

Its genus name, Gasteranthus, is Greek for 'belly flower', because the plants have a big pouch on their underside with a little opening top where pollinators can enter and exit.

G. extinctus is found in the foothills of the Andes mountains, where the land flattens to a plane that was once covered in cloud forest.

The region, called the Centinela Ridge, is notorious among biologists for being home to a unique set of plants that vanished when its forests were almost completely destroyed in the 1980s.

Scientists gave the orange wildflower the scientific name 'extinctus' because the forest it was found in had been largely destroyed, leading them to suspect that the plant had died out

The late biologist E. O. Wilson even named the phenomenon of organisms instantly going extinct when their small habitat is destroyed 'Centinelan extinction'.

The story of Centinela was also an alarm to draw attention to the fact that over 97 per cent of the forests in the western half of Ecuador have been felled and converted to farmland.

What remains is a fine mosaic of tiny islands of forest within a sea of bananas and a handful of other crops.

Lead author Nigel Pitman, of the Chicago Field Museum, said: 'Centinela is a mythical place for tropical botanists.

'But because it was described by the top people in the field, no one really double-checked the science.

'No one went back to confirm that the forest was gone and those things were extinct.'

But around the time that Gasteranthus extinctus was first described in 2000, scientists were already showing that some victims of Centinelan extinction weren't really extinct.

Since 2009, a number of scientists have mounted expeditions to look for G. extinctus, but they were all unsuccessful.

When White and Pitman received funding from the Field Museum's Women's Board to visit the Centinela Ridge, however, they and their team had a chance to check for themselves.

Starting in the summer of 2021, they began combing through satellite images trying to identify primary rainforest that was still intact.

They found a few contenders and assembled a team of ten botanists from six different institutions in Ecuador, the US, and France, before arriving at Centinela in November last year.

However, researchers at Chicago's Field Museum have now confirmed the first sighting of Gasteranthus extinctus in four decades

Researchers from Chicago's Field Museum made the trip to Centinela in November last year

'It was my first time planning an expedition where we weren't sure we'd even enter a forest,' said Pitman.

'But as soon as we got on the ground we found remnants of intact cloud forest, and we spotted G. extinctus on the first day, within the first couple hours of searching.

'We didn't have a photo to compare it to, we only had images of dried herbarium specimens, a line drawing, and a written description, but we were pretty sure that we'd found it based on its poky little hairs and showy "pot-bellied" flowers.'

The researchers took photos and collected some fallen flowers, not wanting to harm the plants if they were the only ones remaining on Earth.

They sent the photos to taxonomic expert John Clark, who confirmed that the flowers were the not-so-extinct G. extinctus.

While the flower remains highly endangered, the expedition found plenty of reasons for hope, the researchers say.

'We walked into Centinela thinking it was going to break our heart, and instead we ended up falling in love,' said Pitman.

'Finding G. extinctus was great, but what we're even more excited about is finding some spectacular forest in a place where scientists had feared everything was gone.'

The team is now working with Ecuadorian conservationists to protect some of the remaining areas of forest where G. extinctus and other spectacular Centinelan flora lives on.

'Rediscovering this flower shows that it's not too late to turn around even the worst-case biodiversity scenarios, and it shows that theres value in conserving even the smallest, most degraded areas,' said White.

'It's an important piece of evidence that it's not too late to be exploring and inventorying plants and animals in the heavily degraded forests of western Ecuador.

'New species are still being found, and we can still save many things that are on the brink of extinction.'

The discovery has been described in the journal PhytoKeys.
Chelsea fans have expressed their delight following the news the Ricketts-led consortium has withdrawn its bid to buy the club.

The Chicago Cubs owners along with their partners opted not to submit a final bid for the Stamford Bridge side, with the consortium members understood to be unable to agree the final composition of their offer.

Cubs owners Tom and Laura Ricketts had partnered with US billionaires Ken Griffin and Dan Gilbert on a cash-only bid to buy the Blues.

The Ricketts family have ruled themselves out of taking over Chelsea from Roman Abramovich

Chelsea fans have continually protested against the Chicago Cub owners taking over the club

Final bids were due to be submitted to New York merchant bank the Raine Group on Thursday, but the Ricketts-led group has now withdrawn its candidacy.

Fans were quick to respond to the news, and took to Twitter to express their delight.

One fan simply wrote 'good riddance' once the news broke regarding the family on Friday

Another believed the protests and fan backlash played a pivotal role in their withdrawal

Further Chelsea supporters expressed their delight on Twitter once the news was announced

One fan said it was 'the nest news ever' that the family would not be taking over Chelsea

Whilst further supporters believed 'fan favourite' played a role in their pull out on Friday

Another supporter expressed his delight the family will not be replacing Roman Abramovich

Another mocked up an image of boss Thomas Tuchel holding up a banner with 'no to Ricketts'

The Ricketts' bid for Chelsea had come under fire from Blues supporters, over family patriarch Joe Ricketts' historic emails from 2009.

Supporters had staged a small demonstration at Stamford Bridge, with the Ricketts family working hard to prove an inclusive and diverse bid to buy the club.

'The Ricketts-Griffin-Gilbert group has decided, after careful consideration, not to submit a final bid for Chelsea FC,' read a Ricketts family statement.

'In the process of finalising the proposal, it became increasingly clear that certain issues could not be addressed given the unusual dynamics around the sales process.

'We have great admiration for Chelsea and its fans and we wish the new owners well.'
The headquarters of MG Non-life Insurance in southern Seoul / Yonhap









By Anna J. Park







As MG Non-Life Insurance was declared insolvent this week, its ripple effects could now adversely influence the pre-arranged sale of KDB Life to JC Partners, a major shareholder of MG Non-Life.







During its regular meeting on Wednesday, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) decided to designate MG Non-Life as an insolvent financial institution, given that its debt exceeded its capital by 113.9 billion won ($92.9 million). This severe level of the debt-to-capital ratio meets the criteria for designation as an insolvent financial institution, as stated in the Act on the Structural Improvement of the Financial Industry.







It is the first time in eight years that the financial authority has labeled a financial company as insolvent. The last such case was the 2014 insolvency of Golden Bridge Savings Bank.







With this designation, the insurance company now must find a new owner. Green Non-Life Insurance  the previous name of the company  was also declared insolvent by the FSC and was acquired by MG Community Credit Cooperative in 2013.







Woori Financial Group is said to have shown interest in purchasing the company, according to sources in the investment banking industry, Thursday.







So far, the financial regulator has been asking the firm to execute various measures to normalize its management. Yet, considering the firm's failure to follow through with the measures, the financial regulator viewed the insolvency designation as unavoidable.







While the financial regulator and the company are seeking a new owner via the selling process, MG Non-Life said its customers can continue their normal operations with the company regarding their insurance plans, as a move to minimize customer anxiety.







With MG Non-Life's insolvency status, JC Partners' acquisition plan for KDB Life is likely to be gravely hurt, market watchers say. The local private equity firm signed a deal with Korea Development Bank (KDB) in late 2020 to purchase the state-owned lender's life insurance subsidiary as the only preferred bidder for the deal.







However, the private equity firm hasn't still passed the FSC's assessment process that aims to evaluate whether it is qualified to take over KDB Life. The failure on the part of JC Partners to follow through on its announced plans to secure the necessary capital to take over KDB Life was one of the main reasons behind the prolonged evaluation regarding its qualification for the takeover.







Given that being the major shareholder of an insolvent financial company is one of the major disqualifying grounds for such assessments, JC Partners might not be viewed as qualified to take over the insurance firm.







JC Partners, meanwhile, is strongly defiant of the FSC's designation, vowing to seek an injunction on the FSC decision. Market watchers view that the completion of the deal is now impossible, although KDB officials say it's still too early to reach any conclusions.


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Bologna is not as imperious and debauched by power and history as Rome, not as aristocratically elegant as Florence, nor as ludicrously picturesque as Venice.

However, it has a unique character, kept lively by students attending the oldest university in Europe. And to distinguish itself from Pisa, Bologna has two crazily leaning medieval towers.

Italians call it La dotta or The Learned and La grassa or The Fat because of Bolognas preoccupation with food  intense, even by Italian standards. It is also called La rossa or The Red: brick dominates the beautiful, arcaded old townscape as grey marble does in Florence. Then, there is the taste for communist politics which, in the Italian way, does nothing to discourage the production of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Ducati and many luxury foods.

Buon appetito: Bologna is known as La grassa or The Fat because of the citys preoccupation with food

A hearty serving of traditional tagliatelle al ragu (file photo)

Spag bol is, however, as rare as Swiss roll in Switzerland. The bolognese sauce is always known as ragu, enriched with chicken livers. And spaghetti is rarely the first choice of pasta to serve with it.

You will more likely be offered tagliatelle. But the typical Bolognese pasta is tortellini, made by hand in myriad little shops whose regular customers display tribal loyalties to their favoured source.

Wine is not a regional speciality: the flat Emilian plain with its hot and humid summers, and cold, damp winters is not good for grapes. But the better sorts of picnic Lambrusco, if served sufficiently cold, make fine companions to a marbled chunk of pink, fatty mortadella sausage and crusty pane di semola, or semolina bread.

Bologna is so synonymous with sausages, baloney has entered English via America, although why precious salsiccie should be identified as rubbish is not clear.

While no great Italian city is without its treasures, Bolognas art is nicely limited because its historical legacy is more from medicine and industry.

Although 75 miles from the coast at Rimini, its mascot is Giambolognas god of the seas statue (whose trident was adapted for the Maserati badge). The giant, swaggering Neptune stands in his fountain not far from Piazza Maggiore, surrounded by lascivious sea nymphs.

To distinguish itself from Pisa, Bologna has two crazily leaning medieval towers - the 'Due Torri' (pictured)

The great modern artist of Bologna is Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) whose contemplative tablescapes of jugs and pots reflect the citys preoccupation with good food. In dramatic emotional contrast is the infamous Compianto of Niccolo dellArca in the church of Santa Maria della Vita. An absolute must-see, this dramatic assemblage of life-size figures attending the dead Christ is uniquely expressive and shockingly so. And, being terracotta, it is red.

Bolognas historic centre is small and, since tourism is happily still at modest levels, the choice of central hotels is restricted.

The choice of suburban hotels, however, is large and they are  at all costs  to be avoided. The citys glories are soon eclipsed by the tedium of lifeless 1950s housing, which poses a severe test to anyone feeling Italy is a foretaste of paradise.

Bologna's mascot is Giambolognas god of the seas statue, pictured, whose trident was adapted for the Maserati badge

The city's god of the seas statue stands in a fountain not far from the Piazza Maggiore (pictured)

An absolute must-see is the infamous Compianto of Niccolo dellArca sculpture (pictured) in the church of Santa Maria della Vita

The swankiest hotel is the Baglioni whose marble halls and grand piano can seem out of character with so robust a city.

More intimate is the Commercianti, an ancient pile down an alley by the side of the Duomo. It is quiet, comfortable and idiosyncratic.

The best rooms have small terraces which put you nearly in touching distance of the cathedrals Gothic windows.

You could graze all day in the shops and bars crammed into the Via Pescherie Vecchie and Via Drapperie: hereabouts you will find Tamburini and Simoni, food temples where ham and cheese do for the lugubrious customers what religion does for the devout elsewhere.

A small chain of reliable wine bars is called 051, or Zerocinquantuno (the area code), serves plates of salumi (cured meat) and cheese in nice chaos at all hours.

Stay at the 'intimate' Art Hotel Commercianti, an ancient pile down an alley by the side of the city's Duomo (cathedral)

The best rooms at the Art Hotel Commercianti have small terraces which put you nearly in touching distance of the cathedrals Gothic windows

Doubles at Art Hotel Commercianti, a hotel that's described as 'quiet, comfortable and idiosyncratic', are priced from 111

TRAVEL FACTS EasyJet (easyjet.com) London to Bologna from 65 return. Doubles at Art Hotel Commercianti (bolognarthotels.it) from 111. Also, see bolognawelcome.com. Advertisement

Perhaps, though, it is best to eat formally to experience Bolognas seriousness and solemnity. Ristoranti Grassilli, a theatrical favourite with portraits to prove it, was founded in 1944 and does not appear to have changed since.

Here you will eat tortellini in brodo, small pasta in broth, and cotoletta alla Bolognese . . . which, comprising veal, ham, cheese, eggs and breadcrumbs, may be compared to driving a Lamborghini in the dark without lights as a source of reckless danger to your wellbeing.

And an opposite to formalism? Recently, Massimo Bottura, the Damien Hirst of Italian cooking, opened a country house hotel, Casa Maria Luigia, between Bologna and its rival, Modena.

After some days in The Fat Red City, the air here is lighter and greener, although not without its complexities. Botturas signature starter, Parmesan cheese of five different vintages, prepared in five different ways, took him 15 years to perfect. An Ai Weiwei triptych dominates the lobby.

In three days you can do Bologna and leave feeling fatter and satisfied. And how encouraging, in iffy weather, to find the airport named after Marconi, the Bolognese nobleman whose radio waves help keep us aloft, even if dangerously heavier than when we arrived.
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Not everyone agrees with Dylan Thomas, but he had a point when calling Mousehole, the small Cornish fishing village between Newlyn and Lamorna on the South-Westerly coast of Cornwall, quite the loveliest village in England.

It is ridiculously pretty, with Lamorna granite fishing cottages as the backdrop to the harbour, filled with colourful boats. The harbour entrance is miniscule and is thought to be one of the origins for the villages name, pronounced Mowzal, the other being that its named after a nearby cave shaped like a large mouse.

Things have happened in Mousehole. The Spaniards ransacked it in 1595 and left only The Keigwin Arms standing.

Coastal charm: Granite fishing cottages overlook boats bobbing in Mouseholes tiny harbour

Better times were had in the 18th century when it was a thriving port for pilchard fishing.

Sadly, Mousehole is also known for the Penlee Lifeboat disaster in December 1981 when the crew of the Solomon Browne went to aid the Union Star. Tragically both crews were lost.

Local boy Essex Tylers gallery is the place to go for leading Cornish artists, while Newlyn is home to the famous art school that has attracted artists since the late 19th century.

Surfers will enjoy the strong swells coming off the Atlantic at Whitesand Bay in Sennen, pictured above

The circular trek from Mousehole to Lamorna Cove, pictured above, is a satisfying 4.7 miles with enough ups and downs to get a proper workout

Mouseholes secluded beach is ideal for young beachcombers, while surf junkies should head to Whitesand Bay in Sennen to enjoy the strong swells coming off the Atlantic.

This part of Cornwall is a walkers delight. The circular trek from Mousehole to Lamorna Cove is a satisfying 4.7 miles with enough ups and downs to get a proper workout.

Those wanting a more sedate trundle can walk two miles along the mainly paved path to Newlyn, taking in views of St Michaels Mount.

Stroll along the path to Newlyn, taking in views of St Michaels Mount, pictured above, as you amble

Stay at the 14-room Old Coastguard Hotel on the edge of the village, which offers a view of St Clement's Isle (above). Picture courtesy of Creative Commons

The 14-room Old Coastguard Hotel is the perfect place to hunker down. Situated on the edge of the village with a view of St Clements Isle, youre encouraged to sink into the deep sofas on the sun deck with a post-beach snifter.

This is a favourite with locals  and the Mousehole Male Voice Choir has been known to hold singalongs in the bar.

Mousehole can get busy in summer, but there is no denying that it has an invisible thread that pulls you back again and again and always leaves you wanting more.
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Its best to arrive in good time for your table at Frevo, in New Yorks Greenwich Village, to allow for walking straight past it a couple of times, as I do on a dark and drizzly Saturday evening.

For this one-of-a-kind restaurant has a cunning disguise  it lies hidden behind a discreet art gallery.

And to gain access, you step behind one of the genuine works of art, Hogwarts-common-room-style (you dont need a password, though).

Restaurant Frevo, in New Yorks Greenwich Village, lies hidden behind a discreet art gallery on 48 W 8th St

MailOnline's Ted Thornhill is shown to the secret door in the (real) art gallery, which leads to the speakeasy-style eatery (above). Ted reveals that he missed the gallery altogether the first time around. There are currently works by French painter Toma-L on display

Ted writes of Frevo: 'Behind the art is a moodily lit 14-seat counter wrapped around a spotless stainless-steel kitchen, where a tightly choreographed brigade of highly talented chefs produce an avant-garde tasting menu of the highest calibre'

The art gallery features rotating solo exhibitions from established and up-and-coming artists such as Brooklyn-based Khari Turner and French abstract painter Toma-L.

Behind the art is a moodily lit 14-seat counter wrapped around a spotless stainless-steel kitchen, where a tightly choreographed brigade of highly talented chefs, led by Brazilian Franco Sampogna, produce an avant-garde tasting menu of the highest calibre.

I perch at the end and notice that every person who enters is giddy with excitement.

And so they should be, because Frevo is surely one of Manhattans choicest places to dine.

Ted perches at the end of the counter (above) and notices that everyone who enters 'is giddy with excitement'

Pictured left is Ted's wild strawberry dessert, and on the right one of Frevo's crab dishes

Harry Potter characters step through paintings at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to access their common rooms (above in movie still)

Ingredients from Ossetra caviar to Colorado lamb and from turbot to wild strawberries, are pushed to the limits of their versatility in a series of delightfully delectable dishes  a flight of fancy for the tastebuds.

And, if you have the wine flight, courtesy of award-winning French sommelier Quentin Vauleon, theres a bonus odyssey for the palette thanks to seven interesting offerings by the glass, from a white Santorini Familia 2020 by Hatzidakis to an Uivo rose from Portugal.

The restaurant says: 'The hidden door comes as a tribute to the rich speakeasy cocktail bar scene of New York City. The idea is to play with guests expectations, making the experience start before the first bite and setting up the mood for the fine dining experience.'

It's art on the outside, culinary artistry on the inside.

Frevo, 48 W 8th St, New York, NY 10011. Visit www.exploretock.com/frevo to book. Visit the restaurant's Instagram page here.

Rating:
The Holiday Guru is always on hand to answer your questions.

Here, he helps one reader who is concerned that their flight might be cancelled last minute, and advises another on the lesser-visited counties to explore on a staycation.

Q. Our BA flight from Marseille was cancelled and my wife and I had to stay on for two days for a later BA service. Should we be compensated for the inconvenience?

Richard Goodman, via email.

A reader whose British Airways flight was cancelled - leading to a prolonged stay in Marseille, France - turns to the Holiday Guru for advice about compensation

A. Yes. For a flight cancellation of this distance, announced less than two weeks in advance, you are due 220 each by law. You should also receive reasonable expenses. This means you will be able to claim for a three-star hotel (luxury accommodation is unreasonable) plus similar-standard meal. You will need to have kept receipts. See the Complaints and claims page at ba.com and complete the form.

Q. British Airways and Easyjet seem to be having the most trouble with cancellations. Why is that?

Gemma Hope, via email.

A. Both made large staff cuts during the height of Covid lockdowns. This seems to be coming back to haunt them.

Q. How long is this mess with long queues at airports and cancelled flights going to continue? We are due to go to Tenerife in mid-May.

Sue Parker, Manchester.

A. Things ought to calm down after Easter. BA had 126 cancellations on April 3, but as few as 29 on Tuesday. Easyjet had no cancellations on Tuesday and only 29 on Wednesday, which bodes well, although figures for both airlines could spike this weekend. In the longer term  with Covid cases likely to drop and staff recruitment drives  airlines should improve. For airports, its the same but with the added complication of screening tests that can take 15 weeks when hiring security staff.

Q. Is all this going to happen again in the summer? I dont think I could bear that. Should we book another staycation?

John Yates, via email.

The Holiday Guru recommends heading on a staycation in 'lesser visited counties' such as Lincolnshire. Pictured is a cobbled street in Stamford, Lincolnshire

A. The hope is that airlines and airports will have woken up to the seriousness of the situation by then and be prepared for the start of the summer holiday rush in June  although some aviation experts think it could take up to a year for troubles to settle. Nothing wrong with another staycation, of course, but maybe avoid tourist honeypots such as Cornwall and the Lake District. Perhaps its time to savour Staffordshire (enjoystaffordshire.com) or learn to love Lincolnshire (visitlincolnshire.com) and other lesser visited counties.

Q. Do you have any advice for avoiding travel delays in the summer?

Jess Smith, Newcastle.

A. It might be an idea to arrange mid-week flights to avoid weekend peaks. Do also consider paying extra for fast-track security passes, if you are especially worried.

Q. Do you know when ferry crossings will return to normal? We have a house in France and dont want to be stuck in queues at Dover.

Mrs Wainwright, Salisbury.

A. It's not good right now. P&O Ferries has suspended most of its services and had another ship, the Spirit of Britain, detained by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. With P&Os Pride of Kent also detained since March 28, capacity on the Dover-Calais route is way down. However, two P&O ferries have been approved by the MCA, the European Causeway and the Pride of Hull, so progress is being made. Eurotunnel is running as usual (eurotunnel.com).

A reader with a trip booked to Milan asks the Guru what they should do if their flight is cancelled last minute

Q. We're due to fly with BA to Milan to visit friends next week, but I see that Italian, as well as German, routes are quite often being cancelled at the last minute. Any advice?

Caroline Doyle, Liverpool.

A. Hang in there. If your flight is cancelled BA is obliged to take you to your destination on an alternative flight as soon as possible. If not, you are due a refund or a change of departure date, plus compensation.

WERE HERE TO HELP

If you need travel advice, the Holiday Guru is here for you. Email us at holidayplanner@dailymail.co.uk.
She has become well known for showing off her gorgeous skin on runways and in promotional photos.

And on Thursday, Cindy Crawford gave her 6.2 million Instagram followers a look into her spa day at home with a glammed-up shot that was shared to her account.

The 56-year-old fashion industry mainstay appeared to be making the most of her personal pampering session as she basked in the California sunlight.

Soaking up the sun: Cindy Crawford gave her 6.2 million Instagram followers a look into her spa day at home with a glammed-up shot that was shared to her account on Thursday

Crawford wore a white bathrobe that draped over much of her sculpted frame during the impromptu photoshoot.

The supermodel's toned legs shot out from the bottom portion of her clothing while she made the most of her at-home spa treatment.

The fashion industry figure added a bit of glam to her look for the day with a set of gold rings.

Her beautiful brunette hair was tied up into a loose bun as she enjoyed the warm sunlight.

Extra information: Crawford made a point of tagging the Instagram account of her skin and hair care line, Meaningful Beauty, in her post

Crawford made a point of tagging the Instagram account of her skin and hair care line, Meaningful Beauty, in her post.

The supermodel launched her brand in 2014 in collaboration with cosmetic surgeon Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh.

The line has since expanded to include various anti-aging products in addition to its original offerings.

The fashion industry personality has made a point of appearing in numerous promotional photographs for her brand.

Speaking her mind: Crawford spoke about the importance of utilizing makeup during an interview with Vanity Fair, where she expressed that cosmetics could be seen as a method of raising self-esteem

Crawford spoke about the importance of utilizing makeup during an interview with Vanity Fair, where she expressed that cosmetics could be seen as a method of raising self-esteem.

'The only reason it matters is: How does it make you feel? If you feel more confident, that confidence infuses everything you do,' she said.

The model then spoke about why she and her collaborator gave their brand its name.

Picking a moniker: The model then spoke about why she and her collaborator gave their brand its name

'Meaningful Beauty is called "Meaningful Beauty" for a reason. Dr. Sebagh and I really thought about how we want each and every product to be meaningful, to have real, efficacious results,' she said.

Crawford went on to remark that, after using her beauty and anti-aging products, the confidence levels of her many users were likely raised as a result.

'You look in the mirror like, "You know what? I look pretty good today." And then you go out and whatever else you do, you're going to do it better,' she said.
Glee star Darren Criss is officially a father.

The actor, 35, and his wife Mia welcomed their first child to the world on Monday, April 11.

Criss shared a picture to his Instagram on Thursday afternoon to announce the big news.

Proud papa: Glee star Darren Criss is officially a father with his wife Mia giving birth to their first child on Monday (pictured March 2022)

The photo showed the Hollywood star in a black t-shirt with a skeleton playing a piano on the front and a pair of sweatpants.

He leaned his head, and curly brown hair, towards his better half as the two looked down at the little one in their arms.

Mia, a film producer, wore a black and white low-cut dress that provided her with just enough coverage.

Announcement post: Criss shared a picture to his Instagram on Thursday afternoon to announce the big news

Sneak peek: The couple first announced they were expecting a child back in October when Criss shared a video of the pair listening to the child's heartbeat during an ultrasound

Criss likened his son to a new song in the caption complete with music note emojis.

He wrote, 'M & D made some sweet music. [music emoji]Bluesy Belle Criss[music emoji] 4/11/22. [blue heart emoji] Out now. [blue heart emoji].'

The couple first announced they were expecting a child back in October when Criss shared a video of the pair listening to the child's heartbeat during an ultrasound.

He captioned that clip, 'We've been making music for years. But this time we made a BEAT.'

Happy together: The pair have been together for a long time. They first started dating in the early 2010s and married in 2019 (pictured 2019)

Recognition: Criss has gained more critical-acclaim in recent years for portraying spree killer Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story

The pair have been together for a long time. They first started dating in the early 2010s and married in 2019.

While many people know Criss from his role as Blaine Anderson and Noah 'Puck' Puckerman from Glee, he's gained more critical-acclaim in recent years for portraying spree killer Andrew Cunanan in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.

His performance garnered him an Emmy and a Golden Globe award.

He's currently playing a lead role in a Broadway of the David Mamet play American Buffalo alongside legendary actor Laurence Fishburne and Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell.
Trouble is brewing on one of Chelsea's most star-studded and expensive streets  Cheyne Walk.

For I can reveal that socialite Amanda Eliasch, 61, has gone to war with French multi-millionaire financier Hugues Lepic, 57, whom she is accusing of destroying the foundations of her Grade II-listed property with his planned basement works at his 7 million seven-bedroom terrace house.

A furious Amanda tells me: 'He's been permitted to do certain work on the house, which at the moment involves putting in a washing machine and dryer, and we've had to put up with disruption for a year and a half.

'My house has already got cracks in it from the work. Lorries are being driven through every day, leaving less than an inch of space on either side and putting these beautiful old buildings at risk.'

Mr Lepic, a former Goldman Sachs employee, has twice been denied by Kensington and Chelsea council over his application for an excavation of a single-storey basement under the property.

Amanda Eliasch (pictured at An Evening With Natalie Rushdie at The Other Palace in September 2018) as gone to war with French multi-millionaire financier Hugues Lepic

Hugues Lepic (pictured outside Central London County Court) has twice been denied by Kensington and Chelsea council over his application

However, the determined moneyman is pressing ahead with an appeal, which he made on March 30, and residents have until May 5 to comment before a final decision is made by the council.

Amanda, who resides in a property previously owned by Earl Cadogan in 2010  which also sits on the site of a manor Henry VIII gave his sixth wife Catherine Parr in 1543  says: 'I worry about these houses.

'They're historical, they're Grade II-listed and they can't take the disruption  it's as simple as that.'

Mr Lepic owns the third most expensive property on the street, where the likes of the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood once all owned houses. It has been reported that Jagger moved back in recent years.

This is not the first neighbourly dispute Lepic, who declines to comment, has been involved with in recent times.

In 2015, he was accused of a money-driven bid to evict his elderly neighbours from their Chelsea mews house but was backed by a judge and won the case.

Ex-Dragon told: give skimpy shots a rest!

Tycoon and ex-Dragons' Den star Duncan Bannatyne appears to be enjoying a new lease of life as a silver influencer for the older-male market.

The 73-year-old, no doubt inspired by his wife Nigora's love of taking swimwear pictures, has followed suit by modelling his own beach wear during their holiday on the Caribbean island of St Barts.

Duncan Bannatyne and his wife Nigora Whitehorn relax on a beach in their swimwear

Bannatyne posing in a pair of blue and white swim shorts during a holiday on the Caribbean island of St Barts

But now it seems Nigora, 31 years his junior, has tired of taking snaps of Bannatyne posing in his swimmers and left an online comment saying: 'Stop bothering me for photos.'

No doubt all's well in paradise.

Claire goes walkabout in NY  in her pyjamas

One might think The Crown star Claire Foy was off to a pyjama party with her latest ensemble in New York, where she's been promoting her BBC drama A Very British Scandal.

The 37-year-old actress wore a snazzy pair of feather trim dragon-printed PJs as she headed out in the Big Apple.

The mother-of-one says she's learnt to be bold with her choices.

Claire Foy pictured as she arrives for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in New York City

'I think confidence on its own is utterly pointless,' she says.

'To be confident in yourself is a completely different thing, and I think that's basically about knowing what you will and won't stand for.'

Model way of life for Becker girl

While former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker is facing a stint in prison over a 2.5 million bankruptcy scam, his daughter Anna Ermakova has been on model behaviour in his native country of Germany.

The 22-year-old was pretty in pink in a dress designed by Christophe Guillarme as she attended the launch of a new coffee machine in Munich.

Anna Ermakova attends the world premiere of the new coffee machine WMF Perfection in Munich, Germany, on Tuesday

The auburn-haired, blue-eyed fashion star was raised by her mother, the Russian model Angela Ermakova, after being conceived at the Mayfair branch of Japanese restaurant chain Nobu, allegedly in the broom cupboard.

Otto hits a raw nerve over steak

Veteran restaurateur Otto Tepasse caused a stir in the restaurant world when he told me the Ritz had copied his famed pressed duck dish.

Tepasse, who worked at the famed La Tour D'Argent in Paris and Mirabelle in Mayfair before opening his restaurant, Otto's, in Clerkenwell, now has another bone to pick with the industry.

He is accusing other restaurants of potentially poisoning customers by not preparing steak tartare properly.

(It's a dish of raw ground beef usually served with onions, capers, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and other seasonings).

'No one in London makes the dish tableside any more,' he informs me. 'They often prepare it and leave it in the fridge all day.

'Not only does this make it dry rather than succulent, but it risks the growth of bacteria if it's mixed in a bowl and then left all day.'

Following my disclosure that the Duchess of Sussex has applied to trademark the ancient English word 'archetypes', the name of her new podcast series, I can reveal she faces a challenge from a company trying to create a dating and luxury goods brand.

U.S. based Project Miracle IP Holdings has also filed papers looking to trademark the word 'archetypes'.

Meghan faces a challenge from a company trying to create a dating and luxury goods brandover trademarking 'archetypes'

The most worrying aspect for Meghan, 40, will be the company's possible encroachment into her media space.

Project Miracle would also like its trademark to cover 'interactive media'.

A ruling on the trademark applications will be made in the coming weeks.

The Earl of Cardigan is celebrating victory over Forestry England's attempt to block access and charge visitors for parking at Savernake Forest in Wiltshire, an ancient woodland owned by his family.

'I am delighted the elected representatives of Marlborough and all those that packed out the Town Hall all felt so passionately about their access to this great forest,' he tells me.

Andrew Lloyd Webber is undoubtedly one of the great impresarios of Theatreland, but has the time come for him to take his final bow?

At 74, Lord Lloyd-Webber says relinquishing control of his musicals has had a positive effect.

He confesses: 'At my old age, I actually think that productions I don't have anything to do with seem to be rather better than the ones I do.'
Shahs of Sunset personality Paulina Ben-Cohen has made her first remarks on the domestic violence arrest of her fiance Mike Shouhed.

'We are working with the authorities to seek a just and fair outcome to this sad situation,' Ben-Cohen's attorney Joshua Ritter told E! News in a statement Thursday. 'The family appreciates your space and respect for their privacy during this time.'

Shouhed, 43, was arrested in connection with domestic violence March 27 and charged March 28, E! News reported after reviewing Los Angeles Sheriff's Department records; Shouhed was subsequently released on $50,000 bond.

The latest: Shahs of Sunset personality Paulina Ben-Cohen has made her first remarks on the domestic violence arrest of her fiance Mike Shouhed earlier this month. The couple was seen on the show's reunion episode last summer

A public information officer with the LAPD told Page Six that Shouhed was taken into custody in connection with 'intimate partner violence with injury' - and charged with corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant - but did not name the victim in the incident.

Alex Kessel, a lawyer for Shouhed, told E! News April 4, 'At this time, the only comment I can make with confidence is my client in no way committed any act of domestic violence and the truth will prevail.'

Shouhed is slated to appear in a Los Angeles court in connection with the incident July 25.

Shouhed and Ben-Cohen revealed they were engaged last summer during the show's ninth season reunion after years of dating and living together in Los Angeles after purchasing a home there last May.

Ben-Cohen's attorney Joshua Ritter told E! News in a statement, 'We are working with the authorities to seek a just and fair outcome to this sad situation'

On the show's most recent season, Ben-Cohen uncovered an inappropriate text exchange with another woman which Shouhed initially denied, but later admitted to sending

The engaged couple was seen in a social media shot posted earlier this month

On the show's most recent season, Ben-Cohen uncovered an inappropriate text exchange with another woman which Shouhed initially denied, but later admitted to sending.

The couple appeared to be on more stable ground for the reunion episode, as Ben-Cohen said of their relationship, 'The love and the connection that we have with each other, like, I would not be able to live a day without him in my life.'

The show's Mercedes 'MJ' Javid addressed the arrest chatting with Jeff Lewis on Sirius XM earlier this week, saying she has 'never, ever, ever seen' Shouhed behave in a violent or angry manner.

'I was shocked because I think that unless I was literally in the room, a witness to it ... [you're] innocent until proven guilty.'

Cast shot: (L-R) Nema Vand, Mike Shouhed, Golnesa 'GG' Gharachedaghi, Mercedes 'MJ' Javid, Destiney Rose and Reza Farahan appeared on the reunion show last summer

The show's Mercedes 'MJ' Javid addressed the arrest chatting with Jeff Lewis on Sirius XM earlier this week, saying she has 'never, ever, ever seen' Shouhed behave in a violent or angry manner

Javid said on the satellite radio program that she heard that the victim 'wasnt Paulina' but rather someone who might have been taking part in a 'threesome' with the couple.

An insider told Page Six that Ben-Cohen was the person who was attacked in the incident, while a separate source told the outlet that Ben-Cohen and Shouhed 'are still together.'

The series was put on 'indefinite pause' in the wake of the incident, an insider told E! News April 7.

'Mikes situation has nothing to do with what is currently being reported about the show,' a source told Page Six, while another said that 'there was little chance that Mike would return if there was a new season anyway.'
Michael Davies is now the new showrunner of legendary game show Jeopardy!

The 56-year-old Embassy Row president announced in a blog post on Thursday that he is taking over the position, in the wake of two scandals that resulted in the ousted of Mike Richards.

'Today, I am delighted to announce that I have accepted Sony's offer to become the shows full-time executive producer. I am both honored and humbled by the faith the studio and the staff have put in me,' Davies, 56, announced on the Jeopardy! blog, as reported by the New York Post.

New man in charge: Michael Davies, now 56, has been tapped as the permanent showrunner/executive producer of Jeopardy! following the scandals involving Mike Richards; he is pictured in April 2009

He continued, 'Over the next few months, the scope of our plans will become clear. But for now I just want to thank everyone in the Jeopardy! community for your phenomenal support.'

Davies, whose executive producing credits include Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Wife Swap and Talking Dead, initially took over as interim showrunner/executive producer on August 31 after Richards was fired from the position following a series of sexist comments he made on an old podcast resurfaced.

Richards, 46, went public and offered an apology, writing in a statement how humbling it was 'to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago.'

He added, 'Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry.'

Controversy: Mike Richards, 46, was fired from Jeopardy! in August 2021 after old sexist comments he made resurfaced, as well as wrongful termination and sexual harassment lawsuits filed by models, in connection to his time as an exec producer on The Price Is Right

Richards was tapped to executive produce Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune in 2019.

Along with his exec producing duties, he was also in 'advanced negotiations' to replace the late Alex Trebek, as permanent Jeopardy! host, although other candidates for the position were still in contention.

Richards would be named the successor of Trebek as host of Jeopardy! on August 11, 2021, with Mayim Bialik hosting future prime-time specials and spinoffs.

But just nine days later, Richards stepped down after those offensive comments he had made in the past emerged, as well as wrongful termination and sexual harassment lawsuits filed by models, in connection to his time as an executive producer on The Price Is Right.

Ousted: Along with his exec producing duties, Richards was also in 'advanced negotiations' to replace the late Alex Trebek, as permanent Jeopardy! host, before being ousted

Bialik and Ken Jennings are expected to continue their hosting duties for the rest of the ongoing Season 38. Once that ends in July, Sony will make a decision on who will be the permanent full-time host.

Longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek died in November 2020 after being on the job for a record-setting 37 years.

Davies, a London, England native, has served as president and CEO of Embassy Row, a New York City-based television production company that is a unit of Sony Pictures Television.
Former Love Island Australia winner Anna McEvoy has said she is too old to attend music festivals even though she's just 29.

Speaking on her Where's Your Head At? podcast on Tuesday, the reality star said she came to this realisation after attending a festival recently.

'It's funny. I'm 29, obviously. I've been going to festivals for a long time... As much as I hate to say it, I think my festival days are kind of almost over,' she admitted.

Past it? Former Love Island Australia winner Anna McEvoy (pictured) has said she is too old to attend music festivals even though she's just 29

But Anna said she was still open to seeing bands at concerts, adding that she was excited for Kings of Leon's upcoming Australian tour.

'Bands [are] different, but actual festivals? It was just so young, like so many young people, and that's fine, but I did find it a little bit hectic,' she said of her recent experience at a music festival.

'Like, there were lots of little hectic events that happened throughout the day, and I was just like, "Well, what? I'm too old for this s**t! Like, what is happening?"

Not a fan: Speaking on her Where's Your Head At? podcast on Tuesday, the reality star said she came to this realisation after attending a festival recently

'There were punch-ons, there were people OD'ing [overdosing]. I was just like, "Whoa! This is too much."'

Anna then detailed the drama of witnessing one young couple break up at the start of the day before reuniting at the end.

'They looked pretty aggressive with one another, which was a bit scary, because I was like, "Oh, I don't like the look of that. That seems like way too much,"' she said.

Throwing in the towel: 'It's funny. I'm 29, obviously. I've been going to festivals for a long time... As much as I hate to say it, I think my festival days are kind of almost over,' she admitted

'And then, by the end of the night, they were making out, loving life, and I was like, "Wow." I had some serious whiplash, and, like, the amount of aggression that I saw before... It was just a lot.'

Anna attended the Wine Machine festival in Victoria's Yarra Valley earlier this month, sharing photos from the event on Instagram.

'Wow Yarra Valley, what a vibe you are. **Also [boyfriend] @michael__staples and I's first festival together - couldn't have share [sic] the experience with two bigger legends,' she wrote.
The headquarters of Shinhan Card located in central Seoul / Yonhap

By Anna J. Park







About 20 Shinhan Card customers are confirmed to have incurred 30 million won ($24,400) in combined losses from recent card fraud incidents resulting from identity theft.







According to Shinhan Card, Friday, dozens of cardholders became aware of fraudulent transactions of millions of won made with their cards upon receiving payment notification messages on their smartphones.







Although the company has said that there are about 20 confirmed cases at this stage, there could be several more.







"The company is currently investigating the recent fraud cases. Upon completion of the investigation, the victims will be compensated," an official from Shinhan Card told The Korea Times.







Identity theft has been a particularly common problem for Shinhan Card holders during the past decade. From 2010 to 2014, similar card fraud incidents led to the theft of a total of 104 million won from the company's customers, leading market watchers to cast doubts on the company's internal systems to protect its customers.







The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) announced Friday afternoon that it will launch an investigation into the incidents.







"Once the inspection is complete, the FSS will conduct inspections of every credit card company, if necessary, aiming to overhaul the card industry's fraud prevention systems," the FSS press release stated.







In particular, the FSS pointed out that the company's card issuance numbering system makes card holders vulnerable to criminal acts. Thus, the financial authority urged Shinhan Card and other card companies to enhance their card issuance systems.


Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb were beaming as they were slated to be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame at the organization's 30th anniversary gala on Thursday at New York City's Ziegfeld Ballroom.

Kotb, 57, dazzled in a sleeveless silver top with black flare pants as she posed with her colleagues at the luxe event in the Big Apple.

The Norman, Oklahoma-born beauty, who is the co-anchor of the TODAY show and co-host of TODAY with Hoda & Jenna, had her brown locks down and parted and wore earrings, sandals and a watch to the event.

The latest: Savannah Guthrie, 50, and Hoda Kotb, 57, were beaming as they were slated to be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame at the organization's 30th anniversary gala on Thursday at New York City's Ziegfeld Ballroom

Guthrie, 50, wore a sleeveless gown with red rose prints and black pointed heels.

The Melbourne, Australia-born journalist, who is the co-anchor of the TODAY show and the chief legal correspondent for NBC News, wore her dark blonde locks down and parted with gold hoop earrings.

Their TODAY show colleague Al Roker, 67, was also scheduled to be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame at the event.

The Queens, New York native donned a shiny burgundy coat with black lapels over a white button-up shirt with a black tie.

Kotb dazzled in a sleeveless silver top with black flare pants as she posed with her colleagues at the luxe event in the Big Apple

Guthrie wore a sleeveless gown with red rose prints and black pointed heels

The Norman, Oklahoma-born beauty had her brown locks down and parted and wore earrings, sandals and a watch to the event

The Melbourne, Australia-born journalist wore her dark blonde locks down and parted with gold hoop earrings

Roker, who is the program's weather and feature anchor, rounded out his ensemble with black pants and black shoes.

'The 30th annual B+C Hall Of Fame is the premier industry event of the year, paying tribute to the pioneers, innovators and stars of broadcast, cable and broadband television,' the organization said in a statement on its website.

It continued: 'Receiving the coveted Hall of Fame honor is more than the acknowledgement of a successful career  its entry into an exclusive community of honorees that have truly changed the paradigm of the industry.'

The TV journalists posed with one another on the big night in the Big Apple

Their TODAY show colleague Al Roker, 67, was also scheduled to be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame at the event

The Queens, New York native donned a shiny burgundy coat with black lapels over a white button-up shirt with a black tie

Also slated to be inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame on Thursday included Graham Media Group president & CEO Emily Barr; Advance/Newhouse Investment Partnership president Nomi Bergman; Susanne Daniels, the former global head of YouTube Originals; Pearlena Igbokwe, Universal Studio Group's chairman; Katz Television Group president Leo MacCourtney; and Dan Mason, the former president & CEO of CBS Radio.

In addition, other inductees included Advance/Newhouse Partnership CEO Steve Miron; Hearst president & CEO Steven R. Swartz; HBCU GO TV president Curtis Symonds; and ESPN's Hannah Storm, who was hosting the show with Roker.

Among the luminaries who have past been honorees include Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Dr. Phil McGraw, Lorne Michaels, Dick Wolf and Norman Lear; as well as late legends such as Edward R. Murrow, Regis Philbin, Larry King, Ed Sullivan, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason and Lucille Ball.

ESPN's Hannah Storm, who was hosting the show with Roker, donned a luxe black dress

Pearlena Igbokwe, chairman of Universal Studio Group, donned a red pantsuit over a black and silver top as she was slated to be inducted

Curtis Symonds, president of HBCU GO TV, wore a navy blue shit with a white collared shirt as he was set to be inducted

Emily Barr, the president & CEO of Graham Media Group, wore a blue floral top over a black ensemble

Advance/Newhouse Investment Partnership president Nomi Bergman donned a black dress to the event
P.E Nation co-founder Pip Edwards is known for her impeccably toned figure.

And the 41-year-old showed off her gym-honed body on Thursday as she stripped down to a black-and-white striped bikini in Hawaii.

The mother of one jetted to the island paradise this week for an Easter vacation.

Aloha! P.E Nation co-founder Pip Edwards showed off her washboard abs in a striped bikini on Thursday, after jetting to Hawaii for a relaxing Easter vacation

The activewear mogul shared a photo on Instagram of herself posing on the balcony of her beachside hotel room in Waikiki.

In the image, she showed off her washboard abs and toned physique.

Pip teamed the two-piece with a black-and-white floral shirt and a beige sun hat.

Sizzling! She also shared a shot of herself sunbathing in her two-piece

'We're outta here': The mother of one jetted to the island paradise this week for a holiday

'Officially out of office,' Pip wrote in the caption.

She also shared a shot of herself sunbathing in her two-piece.

She also shared photos of palm trees and the beach, writing: 'Aloha, paradise found.'

The Bondi-based businesswoman credits her incredible figure to Pilates.

Holiday mode: She shared photos of palm trees and the beach, writing: 'Aloha, paradise found'

'Officially out of office,' Pip wrote in the caption

Pip is a regular at Fluidform Pilates, a movement method by Kirsten King that is popular in Sydney thanks to its celebrity clientele.

'I spent a lot of time in my early thirties doing weight training and HIIT workouts. I had a bad injury and kept training with it and then I hit a wall and realised that I needed to look after my body,' she once said of her Pilates practice.

'A friend then recommended a really good Pilates instructor who specialises in rehab Pilates. Now I make sure that I fit Pilates classes into my schedule three times a week and it's changed my life.'
As production winds down on Neighbours, actors Richie Morris and Phoebe Roberts made the most of their time on set last week.

Both stars appeared to be in a playful mood as they filmed scenes for the long-running soap in Melbourne.

At one stage, Richie, 22, fell back into his co-star's arms, with Phoebe arching her back as she caught him and supported his weight.

Nearing the end: As production winds down on Neighbours, actors Richie Morris (left) and Phoebe Roberts (right) made the most of their time on set last week

They were also seen chatting in between takes, with Phoebe, 26, smiling at her co-star as they spoke.

She was dressed in a pair of high-waisted black denim shorts, which she paired with a light blue button-up shirt and black ankle boots.

Meanwhile, Richie wore a pair of cuffed black jeans, a black T-shirt and hiking boots.

Making the most of it: Both stars appeared to be in a playful mood as they filmed scenes for the long-running soap in Melbourne

Neighbours announced in March that production would be ceasing on the long-running soap.

'We are so sorry to say that after nearly 37 years and almost 9,000 episodes broadcast we have to confirm that Neighbours will cease production in June,' they wrote on Twitter.

'Following the loss of our key broadcast partner in the UK and despite an extensive search for alternative funding, we simply have no option but to rest the show.

On trend: Phoebe was dressed in a pair of high-waisted black denim shorts, which she paired with a light blue button-up shirt and black ankle boots

'To our amazing, loyal fans, we know this is a huge disappointment, as it is to all of us on the team. We thank you for all your messages and support and promise to end the show on an incredible high. From here on, we are celebrating Neighbours.'

Network 10 addressed the end of the series in a statement to the Australian media in March, admitting it had been a 'difficult decision'.

'Today, Fremantle confirmed that Neighbours will cease production in June, after nearly 37 years and almost 9,000 episodes,' a network spokesperson announced.

'This difficult decision came after the search for an alternative UK broadcast partner proved unsuccessful.'

End of an era: Neighbours announced in March that production would be ceasing on the long-running soap

They added that the series would 'not air on 10 Peach beyond September 2022', marking the end of its decades-long run.

'A much-loved stalwart of our program schedule for over 35 years it has been a staple of Australian television drama, and Australian cultural exports,' they added.

'Ramsay Street, Erinsborough, is a cul-de-sac recognised all over the world and has been home to Scott and Charlene, Des and Daphne, Dr Karl and Susan, Dee and Toadie, Aaron and David and many, many more neighbours.

'Network 10 thanks the cast, crew, all the production team and Fremantle for bringing the perfect blend of soap and sunshine to audiences in Australia and around the world.'

They also praised 'the Australian fans and audiences for their continued support of the series'.

'We are so sorry to say that after nearly 37 years and almost 9,000 episodes broadcast we have to confirm that Neighbours will cease production in June,' the show wrote on Twitter

'Their encouragement particularly in the past few weeks has been incredible. It shows that our audience still want Australian scripted drama,' continued the statement.

'We have listened to them and there are exciting new local projects in the pipeline, which is great for our audience and for the local industry.

'We are confident that the cast, crew and writers will bring their distinctive warmth, style and humour to the Neighbours set as they embark on filming the final episodes over the coming months.'

'Following the loss of our key broadcast partner in the UK and despite an extensive search for alternative funding, we simply have no option but to rest the show,' the show announced

Meanwhile, Fremantle - the production company behind the soap - said they had been unable to come up with 'alternative funding' for the series.

'It is with sadness that after nearly 37 years and almost 9,000 episodes broadcast, we are confirming that Neighbours will cease production in June,' they said.

'Following the loss of a key broadcast partner in the UK, and despite a search for alternative funding, we currently have no option but to rest the show.

'Everyone at Neighbours has been overwhelmed by the love and support from the audience since the news came out.

'The show has brought a sunny slice of Australia into the homes of millions of viewers around the world launching the careers of dozens of household names along way.

'But as this chapter of Ramsay Street comes to a close, we promise to do everything we can to give the show the send-off it deserves.'
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Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Gillian Anderson and Dakota Fanning were dressed to impress at the premiere of their highly-anticipated series The First Lady in Los Angeles, California on Thursday evening.

For the star-studded occasion, held at the at the DGA Theater, Davis, 56, who portrays Michelle Obama in the drama, rocked a bright orange, floor-length gown, sparkly gold earrings and glamorous smoky grey eyeshadow.

Ahead of the release of Aaron Cooley's political anthology, which also stars Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt, this Sunday on Showtime, the Scarface actress, 63, oozed sophistication in a black satin suit with a plunging blouse and semi-sheer pumps.

The fierce ladies: Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Gillian Anderson and Dakota Fanning were dressed to impress at the premiere of their highly-anticipated series The First Lady in Los Angeles, California on Thursday evening

The Batman Returns star wore her shoulder-length blonde hair in loose waves and opted for glowing makeup look, consisting of a pink lipstick and sweeping of blush for a gorgeous healthy-looking glow on her flawless skin.

Meanwhile, Anderson stood out from the crowd in a hot pink strapless blouse, matching trousers and a pair of heels in the same shade.

Fanning, who plays Pfeiffer onscreen daughter Susan Elizabeth Ford, showcased her incredible figure in a black slip derss with a lace bodice and daring thigh-high slit.

Beaming: She completed her looked with a pair of sparkly gold earrings, glamorous smokey grey eyeshadow, and jeweled clutch

Looking good! The Batman Returns star wore her shoulder-length blonde hair in loose waves and opted for glowing makeup look, consisting of a pink lipstick and sweeping of blush for a gorgeous healthy-looking glow on her flawless skin

Leggy display: Fanning showcased her incredible figure in a black slip derss with a lace bodice and daring thigh-high slit

The 28-year-old Uptown Girls completed her chic ensemble with a pair of open-toed strappy heels, a diamond choker and black clips in her straight platinum blonde tresses.

Davis, Pfeiffer, and Anderson appeared in high spirits in high spirits as they mingled and posed for group photos together with their arms wrapped each other.

Tia Mowry, Judy Greer, Amber Riley, Amber Childers, Gloria Reuben were all also in attendance at the event.

Star-studded cast: Davis, Pfeiffer, and Anderson appeared in high spirits in high spirits as they mingled and posed for group photos together with their arms wrapped each other

Coming soon: The First Lady debuts this Sunday on Showtime

Happy couple: Pfeiffer's husband David E. Kelley, who she wed back in 1993, came to support

Ooh la la! Jayme Lawson rocked a dark green dress that featured an eye-catching ruffled portion. Lexi Underwood opted for an entirely white-and-gold outfit during the star-studded event

Lady in red: Shannon Purser stood out in a red floral-printed dress and a crimson pair of high-heeled shoes while she posed for a photo at the premiere

Earlier this week, Davis talked about the stress of playing former first lady Michelle Obama in the ten-part series  because of the high expectations that come with portraying a person that is beloved by so many.

'I'm glad it's over!' she said on Monday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live. 'I mean, the stress. Because everybody likes  loves  Michelle Obama. They know what she sounds like, they know what she looks like.

'And I'm like, "I don't want Michelle Obama calling me, cussing me out."'

On the red carpet: Tia Mowry, Judy Greer, Amber Riley, Amber Childers, Gloria Reuben were all also in attendance at the event

Flower power: Greer looked ethereal in a floral gown and her blonde hair in a sleek bun

Glowing: Glee star Amber Riley sported a sexy green minidress, coordinating heels, and a Gucci crossbody

Gorgeous: Canadian-American actress Gloria Reuben wore a cobalt blue and black dress with a tiny slit

While on the late night show, Kimmel pointed out that Davis had the biggest challenge because she's playing someone who is still alive.

'It may seem like you're giving me a compliment, but you're just rising my anxiety level. That's all you're doing right now,' she said.

In fact, she was incredulous at the suggestion that she had reached out to the former first lady about the role or sent her screeners.

Bold: Insatiable's Arden Myrin styled a yellow blouse with a pari of zebra-striped shorts

Fun night out: Aaron Sorkin looked dapper in a beige blazer over a light blue button-down

Kiefer Sutherland, Thuso Mbedu, Tory Trowbridge were also among the attendees

Tiny Pretty Things's Tory Trowbridge flaunted her toned physique in a low-cut grey midi dress

Handsome: OT Fagbenle cut a dapper figure in a black tuxedo and matching trousers

Fashionable: Regina Taylor opted for a patterned pink-and-black dress while posing for a photo. Camille Hyde donned a sparkling jacket and a matching set of pants

'I am hiding from Michelle. I'm hiding. I'm hiding in my house,' she said. 'I'm not sending her nothing.'

Davis  who has won as won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards  seems anxious that the former first lady might not like something about her performance.

'That's the kind of thing where you have to prostate yourself on the floor and just go, "OK, Michelle, I messed up,"' she said.

Fashionable: Amber Childers rocked a black houndstooth pattern blazer dress

Beaming: House of Cards' Derek Cecil attended with his wife Melissa Bruning

Mixing patterns: Loni Love wore a zebra-patterned strapless gown over a black lace long sleeve

Inventing Anna star Kathleen Garrett stuck to a classic black jacket and white lace tank

While Davis didn't speak to Obama during or after the making of the series, she has spoken her before  but she told Deadline she's keeping most of the contents of their conversation private.

'Whats dramatic about Michelle Obama? Ill tell you whats dramatic. She is a black woman and the first Black woman in the White House built by slaves, someone who literally was perceived to be overly masculine, not feminine, angry, hostile, and I will share one thing that she said to me,' she said.

'She said, "Im not even an angry person." Isnt that something? Listen, I am sort of an angry person, but shes not. And so what I wanted to do was honor her and not the perception of what Black women are supposed to be.'

Open book: Davis recently said that it was stressful playing former first lady Michelle Obama in Showtime's new series The First Lady

The series also stars Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford

Gillian Anderson plays Eleanor Roosevelt (pictured)

Davis' Obama does have some emotional moments in the series, and Davis said they employed artistic license  like when Michelle uses the n-word in a conversation with her husband about racist attacks.

'We use creative license because we all know that Michelle Obama is someone who does not like politics, the viciousness of it,' she said.

'And so it was an imagined conversation. And I did push for those words to be used because I know that those are the words that Black people use in private. We do. We use those words in private, especially to drive something home, and Michelle Obama is from the South Side of Chicago.

'So I felt it was imagined but I felt good about it being something that could have happened.'
Newly engaged Danniella Westbrook has said there will be 'many sleepless nights' once her secret jailbird fiance David is released from prison.

The former Albert Square resident, 48, detailed her relationship with her convict boyfriend and their future X-rated plans together.

She kept on her romance until recently, when she denied dating the father of former The Only Way Is Essex star Grace Andrews and instead revealed her mystery man is behind bars - and on Thursday she admitted he had proposed from prison.

X-rated: Newly engaged Danniella Westbrook has said there will be 'many sleepless nights' once her secret jailbird fiance David is released from prison as she gets saucy about her man

With less than a year until David is a free man, the actress is already planning some risque business for the pair of them.

And while she has never released a picture of him or talked about his crimes, she has said she won't marry him until he it a free man.

After revealing they had already slept together in Spain, Danniella confessed to the Daily Star: 'There's nothing like that going on now though, they listen in to all your phone calls and screen the emails and photocopy all of the letters so we can't risk anything rude on there as all the screws will see it first.

'But there will be many sleepless nights on my gorgeous new bed once he's out.'

Future plans: The former Albert Square resident, 48, detailed her relationship with her convict boyfriend and their future X-rated plans together

A smitten Danniella has insisted she will wait until David has been released to tie the knot but they have discussed the prospect of a Maldives wedding as early as next year.

She said: 'I've got a big ring that was made for me, and I wore it into the jail and David said, "it was lovely but it's not big enough", so there is a bigger one coming.

'He has asked me to marry him but I told him to wait until he gets home. He asks me all the time, he even asked me at the jail. He didn't get down on one knee or anything but he's like, "we are getting married you know."'

Liverpudlian David, at 28, is 20 years her junior and the pair were previously in a 'tumultuous' relationship after meeting each other other in Spain five years ago.

Smitten: Danniella has insisted she will wait until David has been released to tie the knot but they have discussed the prospect of a Maldives wedding as early as next year

Yet despite their 'up-and-down' romance, Danniella explained: 'We just stayed in touch and he went to jail early 2019 and he got 9 years 9 months. He's home next year though, he's got 11 months to go.'

It could be third time lucky for the former Celebrity Big Brother housemate, who has been married twice before.

Her first marriage was to van driver Ben Morgan in 1998, but they divorced nine months later.

In 2001, the star married businessman Kevin Jenkins, almost four months after the birth of their daughter Jodie. They divorced in 2020.
Matt Damon cut a smart figure as he was seen on the set of Christopher Nolan's upcoming drama Oppenheimer in New Jersey for the first time on Thursday.

The actor, 51, sported a bold mustache and 1950s brown military attire as he embodied his character of Lieutenant General Leslie Groves for the much-anticipated biopic about scientist Julius Robert Oppenheimer.

His military costume consisted of a beige shirt and tie, grey trousers, a smart dark green jacket adorned with military badges and a brown army peak cap.

In character: Matt Damon cut a smart figure as he was seen on the set of Christopher Nolan's upcoming drama Oppenheimer in New Jersey for the first time on Thursday

Matt shot scenes at Princeton University's campus on Thursday, where titular character Oppenheimer lived and served as the third director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Lieutenant General Groves, who Matt plays in the film, was an engineer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the top secret Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb during World War Two. Oppenheimer was the director of the laboratory that designed the bombs.

Oppenheimer will feature an incredible all-star cast including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Kenneth Branagh, Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Gary Oldman, Rami Malek and Josh Hartnett.

It is being adapted from the 2006 book American Prometheus: The Triumph And Tragedy Of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

Smart: The actor, 51, sported a bold mustache and 1950s brown military attire as he embodied his character of Lieutenant General Leslie Groves for the much-anticipated biopic

The book, which won the Pulitzer Prize, details Oppenheimer's personal life and his time leading the Manhattan Project in the early and mid-1940s.

Peaky Blinders star Cillian is set to portray the titular character - legendary scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is known as the father of the atomic bomb.

Cillian has cultivated a long relationship with Christopher Nolan, who tends to work with many of his supporting actors repeatedly.

The two first worked together on 2005's Batman Begins, and Murphy appeared in its sequels The Dark Knight and The Dark Night Rises, along with Inception and Dunkirk.

He was spotted on set in Princeton on Wednesday alongside his co-star Emily Blunt, who was seen in costume as Kitty Oppenheimer.

Biopic: Matt shot scenes at Princeton University's campus on Thursday, as real-life scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, whose life the film is based off, lived in the town

A Quiet Place star was previously seen on set back in March, but she doesn't appear to have been spotted working on the film since then.

She is playing J. Robert Oppenheimer's wife Kitty, whom he married in 1940.

Kitty was born in Germany in 1910 and immigrated to the United States in 1913.

She initially studied music and biology and was married to two other men before marrying Oppenheimer in 1940.

The couple moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico, shortly after the start of World War II to work on the Manhattan Project, which Robert was the director of.

Significant: Cillian (pictured March 2020) is stepping into the titular role of Julius Robert Oppenheimer (pictured right in 1967) who was an American theoretical physicist

The research group was responsible for creating the first atomic bombs, and the devastating explosives would later be dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki later in the war.

On Tuesday, Robert Downey Jr. had been seen on set playing former United States Secretary of Commerce Lewis Strauss.

Nolan, who is a celluloid devotee and has stuck to using film rather than switching to digital photography, appeared to be filming his scenes on 65mm film.

The format which is considerably larger than 35mm film and offers a much sharper picture and better color representation than the more traditional format.

Oppenheimer is set to be released on July 21, 2023, by Universal Pictures.
Kanye West enjoyed a date night with girlfriend Chaney Jones at Nobu in Malibu on Thursday after estranged wife Kim Kardashian commented on his new romance.

The rapper, 44, sported an all-black ensemble, with an oversized hoodie, T-shirt, joggers and black sliders - placing his hood over his head with a hat underneath.

Chaney, 24, put her hourglass curves on display as she slipped into a skintight khaki bodysuit that she paired with knee high boots.

Date night: Kanye West enjoyed a date night with girlfriend Chaney Jones at Nobu in Malibu on Thursday after estranged wife Kim Kardashian commented on his new romance

All-black: Kanye sported an all-black ensemble, with an oversized hoodie, joggers and black sliders - placing his hood over his head with a hat underneath

After dinner, the couple were seen making their way home in a black SUV, keeping their heads down as they left around the back of the restaurant.

Chaney has long been compared to Kanye's estranged husband Kim due to their similar looks and fashion sense.

During an appearance on Amanda Hirsch's Not Skinny Not Fat podcast, the host mentioned that 'some women' Kanye has been dating looks like they are 'huge fans of yours' or 'even kinda dress like you,' and when asked if 'the lookalike vibe' makes her feel weird, she said it didn't.

Low-profile: Kanye tried to keep a low profile while leaving dinner, while Chaney, 24, put her hourglass curves on display as she slipped into a skintight khaki bodysuit

'No. I just want him to be happy and she seems like the sweetest,' Kim said.

She added: 'Whatever makes you happy, I don't care what it is.'

'I think that it'll reflect in your life and your work, everything, and how you are a parent, so I just... as long as he's happy, I genuinely just want that, truly,' she added.

Covering up: In some snaps, he shielded his face so that only his nose could be seen, with a grey and black flame hat pulled down his face and his hoodie zipped over his mouth

SUV: Kanye made his way into a black SUV, bowing his head down as he left around the back of the restaurant

Help: A team of vested security helped the musician into his SUV

Kanye took his love interest Chaney for a romantic getaway to Utah at a $5K-a-night luxury Amangiri resort earlier this week, which happened to be the very same one he brought Kim to on her 37th birthday.

It's not the only thing Kim and Chaney have in common, as many have spotted the uncanny resemblance between the two women.

But Kim didn't seem fazed by the re-gifted trip, as she posted a loved-up snap with boyfriend Pete Davidson as they enjoyed a pizza date.

He has a type: Chaney has long been compared to Kanye's estranged husband Kim Kardashian (right) due to their similar looks and fashion sense

The pair posed for cosy pictures at LA restaurant Jon & Vinny's after attending a premiere for The Kardashians on Hulu.

Kim and Pete went Instagram official last month - to the dismay of Kanye, who launched a slew of online attacks on the SNL comedian.

Kanye is reportedly seeking treatment for his harassment of Kim and Pete, with sources claiming he will be staying offline.

Lovely: It comes days after he took Chaney for a romantic getaway to Utah at a $5K-a-night luxury Amangiri resort, which happened to be the very same one he brought Kim to on her 37th birthday

A source recently told Page Six: 'For the sake of the kids, Kanye has told Kim he's not making any public appearances or inflammatory social media statements, and he will go away somewhere to get better.

However Jason Lee, who hosts Hollywood Unlocked and was recently named Kanye's new head of media and partnerships, has told Yahoo that the claim the rapper had such a talk with Kim is 'simply untrue.'

Kim and Kanye are co-parenting their four children, North, eight, Saint, six, Chicago, four and Psalm, two.

New man: Kim is heating up her relationship with SNL's Pete Davidson, despite a slew of online attacks from Kanye
She was woken up by a fire alarm in the early hours of Thursday morning while staying in Cardiff for her Big Night Out tour.

But it didn't dim Gemma Collins' sparkle, as she seemed in high spirits while taking a stroll around Newcastle later on Thursday, after a quick trip back North for the final show.

The 41-year-old looked glamorous as she sported a satin navy pyjama co-ord, paired with turquoise flip-flops.

Smiles: Gemma Collins, 41, was in high spirits as she strut her stuff in a navy satin pyjama set in Cardiff on Thursday

Adding some chic in typical style, Gemma had a blue padded flap Chanel bag resting over her torso, while she carried a pink cosmetic bag with The GC embroidered in sequin.

The former TOWIE star shielded her eyes with a pair of black sunglasses as she appeared bare-faced for the outing.

Her signature blonde locks fell at her shoulders in a bouncy blow-dry, as she beamed and waved to onlookers.

Work it: She looked glamorous as she sported a satin navy pyjama co-ord, paired with turquoise flip-flops

Extra: Adding some chic in typical style, Gemma had a blue padded flap Chanel bag resting over her torso, while she carried a pink cosmetic bag with The GC embroidered in sequin

But it wasn't a smooth day for the performer, who had been woken up in the early hours of the morning due to the hotel fire alarm in Cardiff, before heading back to Newcastle afterwards.

Gemma was city-hopping for her final show of her GC's Big Night Out one-woman tour, which saw her hit major cities in England, Scotland and Wales.

The show features a VIP meet and greet opportunity for fans of Gemma's, alongside a roughly three-hour stage performance.

Natural: The former TOWIE star shielded her eyes with a pair of black sunglasses as she appeared bare-faced for the outing

Busy: It had been a long day for the star, who was woken up by a fire alarm on Thursday morning in Cardiff, before travelling to Newcastle

The tour ended in Newcastle on Thursday evening, with a couple even getting engaged in the crowd during the show.

Gemma took to Instagram to share a clip of the happy moment, before posting a 'Huge Congratulations' to the couple.

The video saw a fan get down on his knee and present his stunned boyfriend with a gold ring as the crowd around them cheered.

Congratulations: Gemma's tour ended in Newcastle on Thursday evening, with a couple even getting engaged in the crowd during the show

Special moment: The video saw a fan get down on his knee and present his stunned boyfriend with a gold ring as the crowd around them cheered
Karl Stefanovic was on dad duty on Friday.

The Today show host shared an image of his one-year-old daughter Harper to Instagram, as the pair enjoyed Easter celebrations.

In the photo, the toddler, who sat in a pram, shot her 44-year-old father a mean look and appeared very unimpressed indeed.

Dad time: Karl Stefanovic was on dad duty on Friday. The Today show host shared an image of his daughter, Harper, one, to Instagram, as the pair enjoyed Easter celebrations. Both pictured

'Argh Easter. A truly spiritual time' the television personality joked in his caption alongside the photo.

Karl shares his daughter with wife Jasmine Stefanovic, who he married in Mexico in 2018.

Last month, Jasmine revealed just how messy things can get in her household.

Aww! In the photo, the toddler, who sat in a pram, shot her 44-year-old father a mean look and appeared very unimpressed indeed. 'Argh Easter. A truly spiritual time' he joked

The 38-year-old shared a series of photos to Instagram stories, showing the immense mess her daughter made in her Sydney home.

In one image, Harper destroyed a fabric chair after rubbing foundation all over it.

She then opened a tub of cream and rubbed it all over her face, clothes, toys and arms.

Oh dear! Karl shares his daughter with wife Jasmine Stefanovic (left), who he married in Mexico in 2018. Last month, Jasmine revealed just how messy things can get in her household

Destroyed: The 38-year-old shared a series of photos to Instagram, showing the immense mess her daughter made in her Sydney home

'Okay it's just not our day!!! One toddler for sale,' Jasmine wrote.

At the end of the day, Jasmine shared a photo of herself enjoying a glass of wine and relaxing on the lounge.

It comes after Jasmine and her husband Karl 'regretfully' listed their holiday home in Noosa, Queensland for sale last in February.

Karl confirmed the listing of the $3.6million property, revealing he and Jasmine weren't using it enough to justify ownership.
Sophie Monk married Joshua Gross last month at a private ceremony at their Central Coast, NSW home.

According to a new report, a rift in the Monk family may be the reason behind the pair's decision not to have guests at their nuptials.

The television host's parents, mother Sandi and father Andrew, along with her sister Lucy, didn't attend her wedding due to tensions between them, The Daily Telegraph claimed on Friday.

Rift? Sophie Monk (left) married Joshua Gross (right) last month at a private ceremony at their Central Coast, NSW home. According to a new report, a rift in the Monk family may be the reason behind the pair's decision not to have guests at their nuptials

The paper claims Sophie's parents moved out of the Coomera River home she shared with them due to the rift, although they're still said to be on speaking terms.

Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Sophie Monk for comment.

Speaking to Stellar Magazine, Sophie called the small wedding, 'so beautiful and relaxed.'

Claims: The television host's parents, mother Sandi and father Andrew, and her sister Lucy, didn't attend the wedding due to tensions between them, The Daily Telegraph claimed on Friday. All pictured

Sophie says she chose to have a wedding at home to keep things 'stress-free' while Joshua calls their private home 'our sanctuary' and was glad to make wedding memories that will last a lifetime there.

Another reason they chose to have a wedding on their own - Sophie was happy to keep the guest list to a bare minimum.

'We figured, if you don't invite one person, then no-one could get upset,' she told Stellar.

Quiet: Sophie says she chose to have a wedding at home to keep things 'stress-free. 'We figured, if you don't invite one person, then no-one could get upset,' she told Stellar

Love: The couple announced their engagement on January 15 last year, with Joshua presenting Sophie with a stunning diamond ring

She designed her own dress, and gave J'Aton Couture just two weeks to create it based off her own sketches.

Joshua proposed on Christmas Day last year, a spokesperson for Sophie later confirmed, but they waited until January to announce their happy news.

The couple first met on a flight from Europe to Australia in August 2018, and shared a kiss after enjoying 'three champagnes' in business class.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price speaks at the daily briefing at the State Department in Washington, DC, in this Feb. 25 file photo. AFP-Yonhap





The United States is closely monitoring North Korea for possible provocations, a U.S. state department spokesperson said Thursday.







Ned Price made the remarks as Pyongyang celebrates the 110th anniversary of the birth of its late founding leader Kim Il-sung, Friday (KST).







"What I can say and what we know is that the DPRK in the past has used the occasion of holidays and other notable occasions within the DPRK to engage in provocations," the spokesperson said in a press briefing.







"So of course, we're closely watching for the possibility," he added. DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.






She announced she is expecting her first child with her boyfriend Jake Ankers.

And Charlotte Crosby has revealed she would pose with her friends' glasses of wine during nights out in a bid to keep her pregnancy a secret.

The Geordie Shore star, 31, opened up about the lengths she went to in a bid to keep her pregnancy concealed from her pals as she admitted she found it hard not to reveal her baby news.

Secrets: Charlotte Crosby has revealed she would pose with her friends' glasses of wine during nights out in a bid to keep her pregnancy a secret in the early days

Charlotte said she would pose for videos holding her friends' alcoholic drinks to try and throw her friends - particularly best pal Sophie Kasaei - off the scent.

In an extended YouTube video about her pregnancy, she said: 'Sometimes when I've been out with friends I have to hold their glass of wine in a boomerang so that Sophie thinks that I am drinking, just to try and throw her off the scent.'

Charlotte went on to say she found it difficult keeping her exciting news a secret from her close pals Sophie and Holly Hagan, saying she felt like she was 'lying' to them.

The reality TV star, who spoke as she lounged in the pool while on holiday in Abu Dhabi, admitted Sophie, 32, had asked her if she was pregnant when she wasn't going out drinking.

Expecting: The Geordie Shore star, 31, opened up about the lengths she went to in a bid to keep her pregnancy concealed from her pals (she is pictured with boyfriend Jake Ankers)

She said: 'I can't tell you how hard it has been keeping this from like two people [Sophie and Holly] who know us better than anyone.

'Especially Sophie because I'm with her all the time, I don't know how I've done it. There's been a couple of times where she's actually been like guessing and she's asked us a couple of times 'you haven't been out in a while are you pregnant?' and I've been like 'no, just haven't fancied it'.'

Her comments were filmed last week - just four days before she told her pals and five days before she made her pregnancy news public.

Speaking about the difficulties of keeping it a secret, she added: 'It's going to feel like a weight lifted off my shoulders.

'So four days until I tell Sophie and Holly, and five days until I put it on my Instagram and just tell everyone else, which I also can't wait for.

Hushed: Filming in Abu Dhabi, Charlotte said she would pose for videos holding her friends' alcoholic drinks to try and throw her friends - particularly best pal Sophie Kasaei - off the scent

'You do feel a sense of huge secrecy and you feel like you're almost lying and I'm such an honest person I don't like all these secrets.'

The YouTube video was an extended version of the sweet footage she released announcing her pregnancy, which documented her early milestones including telling her family and attending her 12-week scan.

Elsewhere in the video, Charlotte gave her fans an insight into attending her 'green light' scan with her boyfriend Jake.

Before going in for the scan, an excited Charlotte shrieked as she said: 'We are about to go in for our final scan - well not final ever but like the green light scan!'

And during the scan, the reality TV star gushed that her baby was looking at her as she appeared to be over the moon.

Pals: Charlotte went on to say that she found it difficult keeping her exciting news a secret from her close friends Sophie Kasaei and Holly Hagan (all pictured in March 2018)

She said: 'It looked right at us there didn't it! Did you see that Jake?'

To which he responded: 'I did.'

In another sweet moment, Charlotte's mother Letita revealed that she is going to be called 'nanna or nanny' while Jake's mother will be referred to as 'grandma'.

As she prepared to meet Jake's mother for the first time, she said: 'It's my first time meeting Jake's mam and obviously we're both grannies together. She's grandma and I'm nanna or nanny!'

The two families met as Charlotte had a lavish Mother's Day celebration at her house, featuring a love heart floral arrangement saying 'Happy Mother's Day' surrounded by candles.

Baby news! Elsewhere in the video, Charlotte also gave her fans an insight into attending her 'green light' scan with her boyfriend Jake

It comes after Charlotte confirmed her pregnancy in a heartwarming post she shared with her fans on Instagram on Tuesday.

Charlotte's announcement came just weeks after she hinted that she and Jake could get engaged in the future, after he admitted he may propose soon.

In her social media post, she shared the news in a video showing her pregnancy test and also filmed herself telling the happy news to her family.

She penned the caption: 'A moment I wasn't sure would ever be mine is here, it's mine (and Jake's) and i couldn't be happier to be sharing it with you allI'm having a baby.'

In the video, Charlotte is seen going for a pregnancy scan where she hears the baby's heartbeat.

Scan: The Geordie Shore star, 31, confirmed her pregnancy in a heartwarming post she shared with her fans on Instagram on Tuesday

Family: In a sweet clip, Charlotte is seen telling her parents, with her mother Letitia bursting into tears as they hugged

She is then seen telling her parents, with her mother Letitia bursting into tears as they hugged.

Letita then tells Charlotte that she and her father Gary were just discussing how happy there daughter has seemed lately as they sat around the table with Jake.

Letita says: 'You just know when you know, don't you Gary?'

'When you know what?' Charlotte asks.

'That it's the right person and you're happy. When we were away this weekend we were talking about, 'it's so nice that she's happy and she's settled and we know this is probably gonna be the right one.''

Announcement: The video begins with Charlotte sharing her positive pregnancy test

Love: Charlotte's mother Letitia tells her that she and her father Gary were just discussing how happy there daughter has seemed lately as they sat around the table with Jake

Gary then added: 'I've never known her so happy Jake.'

The rest of the video sees Charlotte and Jake sharing a kiss before she meets members of her extended family on Mother's Day to tell them the good news.

On Tuesday, the star gushed she'd finally found 'the One' with Jake after being 'cheated on' and 'used' by a string of exes.

Speaking in a YouTube Q&A, the star said she's avoided sharing photos of Jake on social media because she doesn't want to be abused by trolls.

She said: 'I've enjoyed getting to know someone and falling in love with someone behind closed doors, without people having their opinions.

Mother-to-be: In another clip from the video, Charlotte is seen looking throughn her sonogram images

Romance: Charlotte filmed herself sharing a kiss with Jake on Mother's Day

Exciting: Charlotte documented her scans in the heartwarming announcement video

Congrats: Charlotte told her family the happy news on Mother's Day

'Without ''Sandra Brown'' saying ''oh not another one, not another one!'' which by the way can I just say right, something I don't like about this comment, if someone has had a few boyfriends, don't make that out to be a negative.

'Because at the end of the day it shows that that person would not stand for s**t, and if that person was being disrespected, they respected themselves enough to say 'I'm getting up and I'm off mate, this is not the life I expected.''

Charlotte continued: 'Not all of them, but a lot of men in my life have turned out to be that said person, in it for the wrong reasons, uses you, cheats on you, not the person you want to spend the rest of your life with.

Candid: On Tuesday the star also gushed she'd finally found 'the One' with Jake after being 'cheated on' and 'used' by a string of exes

Open: Speaking in a YouTube Q&A, the star said she's avoided sharing photos of Jake on social media because she doesn't want to be abused by trolls

'So those comments, do you want us to be with Stephen f*****g Bear? Just be with one person who was an absolute s******d. I'm not going to settle until I know that this is perfect.

'Until I meet the man of my dreams who treats me nothing less than amazing. Who will treat me who I've treated everyone else who has been in my life.'

On meeting Jake, she added: 'I can honestly say this, I have never met anyone who has been so amazing. He is everything I've just said there.

'I feel myself getting emotional. Because I've been through all of those s***heads, and all them k*******s and it was all for a reason. It has led me to that happy ever after.'

Expectant: Charlotte (pictured in an Instagram post shared on April 9) had been keeping her relationship with Jake under wraps

Charlotte's pregnancy comes after the star was left with compromised fertility when she suffered an ectopic pregnancy in 2016.

The star previously described the extreme pain she was dealing with in the days leading up to being admitted to hospital - all the while posing for photoshoots and recording her fitness DVD believing the pain and bleeding was just a heavy period.

As a result of the ectopic pregnancy, Charlotte's fallopian tube had ruptured and was releasing toxins into her body.

Emotional: In 2016 Charlotte suffered an ectopic pregnancy, forcing doctors to remove part of her fallopian tube and ovary

The reality star had been keeping her boyfriend under wraps on Instagram, but finally made their romance social media official with a clip where she penned: 'Do you no how hard I had to force him to do this. Late to the trend I knoooowwwwwwwww but being late is kinda my thing.'

She then took to Stories to answer some questions from fans, with one saying they thought she was getting proposed to on the holiday.

While Charlotte confirmed she was not yet engaged, her beau said a proposal was coming in 'due course' as she giggled behind the camera.

She also shared an insight into the details of their relationship, revealing that the pair have been together for around seven months.

Over: Charlotte split from videographer Liam Beaumont in August 2021

She then revealed it 'feels like a year the amount of stuff we've already experienced together'.

The pair went public with their romance last year, and have been keeping the relationship under wraps - after her former relationship with Liam Beaumont ended in August 2021.

It was reported she broke up with the hunk, who she started dating in February last year, following a slew of furious arguments. It was also claimed she booted him out of her Newcastle home.

However, Charlotte later insisted their relationship ended on good terms, with the television personality telling MailOnline: 'Me and Liam shared some amazing memories together and the split is amicable.

'We have just realised we are both two very different people. I have learnt so much in this relationship and am thankful that it happened.

Over: Charlotte previously had a turbulent romance with Stephen Bear in 2017 (pictured) and later Joshua Ritchie in 2019

'Were there furious rows? No. Did I kick him out of the house? No. It's sad to see this negativity put on what was a good relationship. So I'd like to take back some control of the narrative, get some truth out there and draw a line under this.'

Suspicions about their split were first sparked among fans when Charlotte removed all images of Liam from her Instagram account.

It was then that reports surfaced regarding the row, with insiders telling publications that a row had descended into chaos and she had ejected him from her home.

Charlotte and Liam started dating in early 2020 after meeting in Dubai during their respective vacations.

The star's colourful love life also included a romance with Geordie Shore co-star Gary Beadle, but the pair split in 2016.

She went onto date Stephen Bear in 2017, and later Joshua Ritchie in 2019.
Rachel Weisz put on a stylish display as she stepped out for a spot of lunch alongside her son Henry in London on Thursday.

The actress, 52, looked effortlessly chic in her Seventies style flared jeans and cropped suede jacket as she sauntered through the capital.

She added a patterned skinny scarf to complete her rocker inspired look and carried an oversized hobo bag.

Stroll: Rachel Weisz, 52, looked effortless chic in Seventies style flared jeans and a quirky skinny scarf as she stepped out for lunch with her son Henry, 15, in London on Thursday

Rachel wore her long brunette locks with a centre parting and a hint of a wave as she kept her makeup to a minimum.

The Mummy star sported a pair of chunky white trainers for her outing that peaked out from beneath her wide legged trousers.

Henry, 15, who Rachel shares with her ex Darren Aronofsky, coordinated with his mother as he too opted for relaxed mid-wash jeans and a black jacket.

Family time: Henry, who Rachel shares with her ex Darren Aronofsky, coordinated with his mother as he too opted for relaxed mid-wash jeans and a black jacket

Rachel married actor Daniel Craig, 54, in 2011, just six months after rumors of their romance first began to circulate.

They each have children from previous relationships, and welcomed a daughter together in late 2018.

Craig shares his daughter Ella, 30, with his first wife Fiona Loudon and previously revealed his children won't inherit his vast fortune because he plans to 'get rid of it' before he dies.

Exes: Rachel was engaged to filmmaker Darren from 2005 until 2010 (Pictured at Venice Film festival in 2006)

The actor, who has a net worth of around $160 million, said he believes inheriting money is 'distasteful' and he is hoping to 'give away' most of his millions.

Speaking to Candis Magazine, Craig said: 'Isn't there an old adage that if you die a rich person, you've failed?

'I think Andrew Carnegie [an American industrialist] gave away what in today's money would be about 11billion dollars, which shows how rich he was because I'll bet he kept some of it, too.

'But I don't want to leave great sums to the next generation. I think inheritance is quite distasteful. My philosophy is get rid of it or give it away before you go.'
Charlotte Dawson's fiance Matt Sarsfield has assured fans that they are 'fine' after she took a break from social media following some 'awful news'.

On Tuesday, the reality star, 29, admitted she is 'not ok' after receiving the shock news, with the revelation coming just days after baby son Noah, 14 months, was rushed to hospital.

Taking to his own Instagram on Thursday, Matt broke his silence and insisted that all was OK with the couple, before noting Charlotte would be back 'in her own time.'

All OK: Charlotte Dawson's fiance Matt Sarsfield has assured fans that they are 'fine' after she took a break from social media following some 'awful news' (pictured in March)

He penned: 'We are all fine. Just received some bad news as a family this week.

'@CharlotteDawsy will be back in her own time.'

The former Ex On The Beach star, who's been engaged to Matt since September 2020, appeared to support her partner's statement as she re-shared his message on her own Instagram.

It comes after Charlotte assured fans that her son Noah is 'absolutely fine' after the 14-month-old was rushed to A&E on Sunday night after he banged his head on a table at a wedding reception.

Worry: On Tuesday, the reality star, 29, admitted she is 'not ok' after receiving the shock news, with the revelation coming just days after baby son Noah, 14 months, was rushed to hospital

Update: Taking to his own Instagram on Thursday, Matt broke his silence and insisted that all was OK with the couple, before noting Charlotte would be back 'in her own time'

But it seems the toddler has recovered, with the news affecting Charlotte herself, as she wrote to her 1.3million followers: 'Receiving so many messages why i've been quiet and is Noah ok.. Noah is absolutely fine, he's amazing. It's me that's not ok

'We have just had some awful news and just trying to come to terms with it. Will be back soon. Love you all X'

While the reason behind her 'awful news' is unknown, she has already had a tumultuous week after the hospital trip on Sunday.

Scare: It comes after Charlotte assured fans that her son Noah is 'absolutely fine' after the 14-month-old was rushed to A&E on Sunday night after he banged his head on a table at a wedding reception

Not ok: But it seems the toddler has recovered, with the news affecting Charlotte herself, as she wrote to her 1.3million followers: 'Receiving so many messages why I've been quiet and is Noah ok.. Noah is absolutely fine, he's amazing. It's me that's not ok

Scary: On Sunday, Noah was rushed to hospital after banging his head on a table at a wedding reception

The mum shared the experience to Instagram, saying he 'kept projectile vomiting until he passed out'

Posting to Stories, she explained: 'Well didn't think we'd end up in bloody A&E ffs'

'He banged his cheek and head on the leg off a table today and kept projectile vomiting until he passed out and was dizzy.'

Illness: The mum shared the experience to Instagram, saying he: 'kept projectile vomiting until he passed out'

Charlotte welcomed Noah with fiance Matt Sarsfield in January 2021, recently enjoying a family holiday to Dubai.

The parents posted a host of sun-soaked snaps from the getaway, as they stayed at the luxurious Atlantis, The Palm.

Charlotte flaunted her incredible figure on the holiday in a host of swimwear, after recently losing over three stone.

New parents: Charlotte welcomed Noah with fiance Matt Sarsfield in January 2021
Abbie Chatfield has made a strong political statement.

In a series of Instagram Stories shared on Friday, the radio star urged her fans to vote Scott Morrison out of office at the next federal election in May.

'Please vote for the right people (aka Not Liberals) in the upcoming election and please enrol to vote,' she wrote in one post.

Outspoken: Abbie Chatfield (pictured) has made a strong political statement. In a series of Instagram Stories shared on Friday, the radio star urged her fans to vote Scott Morrison out of office at the next federal election in May

'Your vote does count, and our planet will die, minorities will continue to be harshly discriminated against (unfortunately this happens regardless, but more so with right wing leadership) and huge companies will continue to be taxed s**t all.

'This election is important. Please don't use the excuse that "all politicians are bad" because right now the country is run by a completely incompetent dips**t, we need to get rid of him however we can,' she added.

The Love Island Afterparty host said in her next post: 'If you vote Liberal because your parents do, you're a f***ing loser and I would never be your friend. FYI'.

'Please vote for the right people (aka Not Liberals) in the upcoming election and please enroll to vote,' she wrote in one post. Scott Morrison is pictured

The Love Island Afterparty star said in her post: 'If you vote Liberal because your parents do, you're a f***ing loser and I would never be your friend. FYI'

Abbie went on to share links to information on the Vote Compass website for those who needed helping deciding how to vote.

The podcaster has just returned from travelling around Europe and the UK with boyfriend Konrad Bien-Stephens, 31.

The couple started in Scotland, where they attended a friend's wedding.

All over the world: Abbie and Konrad (right) started their holiday in Scotland, where they attended a friend's wedding. They then headed to Venice, Italy, and Lake Como, Italy

They headed to Venice, Italy, and Lake Como, Italy, staying at five-star hotels all the way, before returning to Scotland.

Abbie revealed last week that her lucrative career is funding her luxury holiday after a troll asked her she had a 'rich mummy and daddy'.

She replied again on her Stories: 'Me, publicly having four solid income streams, including a NATIONAL RADIO GIG???? regularly talking about having a single mum. Random people: must be her RICH DADDY'.
Britain's Got Talent star Francine Lewis has revealed how she lost her 90,000 earnings after being scammed by a fake stock broker company.

The comedian, 47, shot to fame on the ITV talent show with her hilarious impressions of celebrities in 2013 and made it all the way to the semi-finals.

She made a life-changing 90,000 during her time on the show and from subsequent tours and events.

Shocked: Britain's Got Talent star Francine Lewis (pictured in 2019) has revealed how she lost her 90,000 earnings after being scammed by a fake stocks company

But the mother-of-two told The Sun she was swindled out of her earnings as well as money she had saved for her children by devious 'brokers'.

Francine explained that her husband Joel, 43, had been looking into investment opportunities in 2018 when he heard about Fomax Capital.

After speaking with them, he was persuaded to put down a 500 low-stake investment before Francine and her father-in-law invested in what they thought was a respected stock brokers.

But Francine said they later realised that they had been scammed, and she vowed to never invest in a similar venture again after the fraud left her family devastated.

Impressions: The comedian, 47, shot to fame on the talent show (pictured) with her hilarious impressions of celebrities in 2013 and made it all the way to the semi-finals

She told The Sun: 'I handed them all my kids' money that I had been saving from when they were born, that for me was the worst part of it.'

The impressionist admitted that she had a 'gut feeling' that it was a scam but said they were so convincing that she ended up getting 'suckered in' herself.

Francine said her husband turned 'white as a ghost' when he realised that they had been swindled after he wasn't able to get any of their money back and 'collapsed' from the stress.

She said she was stunned that the swindlers managed to trick her entire family as she recounted the 'horrific' ordeal.

'You ask yourself 'why, why, why did I do it?'. If only I could go back in time, if only I went with my gut,' she added.

Fraud: But the mother-of-two (pictured in 2013) said she was swindled out of her 90,000 earnings as well as money she had saved for her children's futures by devious 'brokers'

The con artists even invited the married couple to visit their offices, as they had a registered address in London's Canary Wharf - but were not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Francine said she was left unable to go on family holidays and had to cancel her son's Bat Mitzvah, saying she now never buys anything online if she doesn't know the company.

Speaking about how the scam affected her father-in-law, she said he had to continue to work despite his plans to retire because of the money he lost.

Francine rose to fame with her hilarious impressions of celebrities including Katie Price, Cheryl Cole and Stacey Solomon on Britain's Got Talent in 2013.

Scam: Francine (pictured in October) said her husband Joel, 43, was looking into investment opportunities when he heard about Fomax Capital and they handed over their money

She won over BGT judges Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon, David Walliams and Amanda Holden and made it all the way to the semi-final.

But she has previously admitted that she initially had reservations about auditioning for the ITV1 talent show.

Francine explained: 'A researcher contacted me after seeing my stuff on YouTube and asked me to audition for the show.

'I did have reservations because it's the biggest show on TV and you don't know how it's going to go. But I am ready to come back into the business after having a long time off to raise my kids.

'I wanted to be a stay at home mum but then I had the opportunity to do Very Important People [Channel 4 show] and had a very small part but it made me realise I was ready to come back. It could have gone either way for me.'
Former Married at First Sight star Mishel Karen has caused plenty of controversy since embarking on a porn career through OnlyFans.

And now the 51-year-old grandmother will defend herself from the judgement of her critics on Spencer Pratt's new online reality series, Judge Me.

She will be joined by her 21-year-old daughter Eva on the series, which is available to watch and purchase on the streaming app Looped.

Hitting back! Married At First Sight's 'porn gran' Mishel Karen is firing back at her critics in Spencer Pratt's new online courtroom reality show Judge Me

'Eva and I join @spencerpratt on #JudgeMeLIVE in a bid to free myself from judgement about my OnlyFans,' Mishel announced on Instagram.

It's unclear if Eva is on to support her famous mum, or if she's there to speak out against her controversial career.

Daily Mail Australia understands that Mishel's raunchy career has ruffled some feathers among her nearest and dearest.

Family affair: Mishel will be joined by her 21-year-old daughter Eva (pictured) on the series, which is available to watch and purchase on the streaming app Looped

If Eva is on the show to support Mishel, it's believed that someone else in the reality star's circle will be there to confront her about doing porn.

Pratt, best known for his time on MTV's The Hills, will serve as mediator in a bid to solve the dispute.

Judge Me with Spencer Pratt is currently available to watch on Looped, and sees Spencer mediating disputes in real-time in front of a live online audience, who are able to weigh in by voting on who they think is right or wrong.

'This will be a feel-good judgement show and if youve been wrongly judged, we will give you a chance to free yourself from that,' Pratt previously told Daily Mail.

Star power: Pratt, best known for his time on MTV's The Hills, will serve as mediator in a bid to solve the saucy dispute

Mishel is believed to be making around $20,000 per month performing raunchy sex acts on OnlyFans.

The struggling single mum was forced to turn to the platform to provide for herself and her family after being suspended without pay from her job for refusing to comply with Covid vaccine mandates.

Mishel, a mother of two and grandmother of one, is older than most of her contemporaries at 51, and is also known for performing hardcore acts that other reality stars and celebrities on the platform don't tend to do.

She recently pushed the envelope by releasing her very first girl-on-girl porn scene.

Dare to bare! Mishel is believed to be making around $20,000 per month performing raunchy sex acts on OnlyFans

Double trouble: She recently pushed the envelope by releasing her very first girl-on-girl porn scene

The provocative star also sells her used socks and panties on the website, and performs bizarre custom requests for fans.

Mishel defended herself against critics and sex shamers in an impassioned post last year.

'I'm proud of my body,' she said. 'I'm really happy with my body. I'm happy with my own sexuality.

'If someone thinks that it is a disgrace or embarrassing to show your body, then that's their own problem.'

No limits! The grandmother performs much racier content than many of her fellow reality stars who are on the app

Mishel recently became a grandmother after her son Sam welcomed a baby boy with his girlfriend.

And her daughter Eva featured on a few episodes of Married At First Sight and now works as a curve model in Brisbane.

The stunning Mishel shot to fame in 2020 when she 'married' barber Steve Burley on Married At First Sight.
Joe Manganiello seems to be the favorite dog parent in the family.

In an appearance on Ellen on Thursday, the 45-year-old actor talked to guest host Tiffany Haddish and the show's cohost Stephen 'tWitch' Boss about his relationship with his dog Bubbles.

Bubbles made an appearance on the show sitting on Manganiello's lap while he chatted with the pair of hosts.

Dog dad: Joe Manganiello seems to be the favorite dog parent in the family, he said on Ellen this week

While Bubbles loves him, the How I Met Your Mother actor revealed that his canine friend isn't as enamored with his better half, Sofia Vergara, and has even growled at her.

'Its gotten a little bit better, I think,' he said referring to the relationship between Bubbles and the Modern Family actress.

Though Sofia has had to work on her relationship with Bubbles, the Magic Mike star explained that he and the pup had an instant connection.

Opening up: In an appearance on Ellen on Thursday, the 45-year-old actor opened up to guest host Tiffany Haddish and the show's cohost Stephen 'tWitch' Boss about his relationship with his dog Bubbles

A very famous pup: Bubbles made an appearance on the show sitting on Manganiello's lap while he chatted with the pair of hosts

Not a fan of Sofia: While Bubbles loves him, the How I Met Your Mother actor revealed that his canine friend isn't as enamored with his better half, Sofia Vergara

'[Sofia] wanted a dog,' he explained. 'She had all of her cousins, her girlfriends over. And as soon as I walked out  I didnt want a dog, I forgot that we were even doing it. And she yelled out "Come meet the dog."'

The Spider-Man actor said he thought Bubbles was going to be some 'yappy little thing' and he wasn't excited to get a pet because he had never really had one.

'I went downstairs, went outside, this little head pops up out of her lap and squirms, runs over to me,' he said. 'I pick her up and she starts growling at everybody else, like, "Get away from us. This is my man now."'

Haddish then jokingly asked if Manganiello thought that he and Bubbles got along so well because he played a werewolf while making suggestive eyes at the Pennsylvania native.

Instant connection: Though Sofia has had to work on her relationship with Bubbles, the Magic Mike star explained that he and the pup had an instant connection

Lots of jokes: Haddish jokingly asked if Manganiello thought that he and Bubbles got along because he played a werewolf in True Blood

New movie: The trio went on to talk about Manganiello's new movie Metal Lords which came out on Netflix last week

'I think we have a mutual understanding of each other,' he responded.

Manganiello played a werewolf on the his supernatural drama True Blood which ran from 2008 to 2014.

The trio went on to talk about Manganiello's new movie Metal Lords which came out on Netflix last week.

Metal Lords follows two teenage misfits who plan to dedicate themselves to heavy metal music and win Battle of the Bands to rocket up the social hierarchy.
Khloe Kardashian was reeling in the good vibes just one day after her famous family returned to the television screens which made them a household name with their highly anticipated Hulu series, The Kardashians.

And the 37-year-old Good American founder praised soon-to-be brother-in-law Travis Barker on Instagram as she shared a snap of his 'thoughtful' flower delivery on launch day with her 234 million followers.

Her gorgeous bouquet of white roses included a short-and-sweet note which read, 'Congratulations! Much love, Travis.' Khloe added a few black heart emojis and wrote across the photo: 'The most thoughtful. Thank you @travisbarker.'

Sweet gesture: Khloe Kardashian praised soon-to-be brother-in-law Travis Barker on Instagram as she shared a snap of his 'thoughtful' flower delivery on launch day with her 234 million followers

She also shared another delivery from executive producer Ryan Seacrest, who first helped catapult the family to super stardom on the E! network in 2007 with Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

The show ran for 14 years and 20 seasons, and was one of the longest-running reality television series in the US before ending in the summer of 2021.

'Good luck with the launch,' Ryan wrote, to which Khloe noted while tagging the media mogul: 'Class act.'

It's unclear if Khloe will soon be practicing carrying her own bouquet as a bridesmaid for sister Kourtney's nuptials to the Blink 182 drummer, despite the eldest Kardashian daughter already having a 'practice' wedding in Las Vegas nearly two weeks ago.

So kind: She also shared another delivery from executive producer Ryan Seacrest, who first helped catapult the family to super stardom on the E! network in 2007 with Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Khloe Kardashian was reeling in the good vibes just one day after her famous family returned to the television screens which made them a household name with their highly anticipated Hulu series, The Kardashians; seen on Instagram

Kourtney is reportedly expecting something just slightly bigger for her real wedding to her fiance, although the couple is committed to keeping their day as intimate as possible with only a select few people in attendance.

'They don't want a big wedding,' an insider told PEOPLE magazine. 'They want an intimate ceremony and party for family and close friends. Kourtney's family wants to be a part of it.'

Since this will be Kourtney's first marriage, sources told the publication that the Kardashian-Jenner brood 'wants to throw her a bridal shower, a bachelorette party and celebrate as much as possible.'

'No one wants her to do a quickie Las Vegas wedding,' the source added, despite her practice nuptials in the beginning of April.

Just one week ago, Kourtney and Travis walked into the One Love Wedding Chapel, as Dean Diamond, their Elvis officiant for the evening described them as 'kids in a candy shop walking in' to get married in Las Vegas, Nevada after a whirlwind night at the Grammy Awards.

Love: Nearly two weeks ago Kourtney and Travis walked into the One Love Wedding Chapel, as Dean Diamond, their Elvis officiant for the evening described them as 'kids in a candy shop walking in' to get married in Las Vegas, Nevada after a whirlwind night at the Grammy Awards

Kisses: Kourney shared a carousel of images to her Instagram account shortly after the late-night nuptials following the awards show at the MGM Grand

Dean shared that Travis was 'speaking with his eyes', saying: 'He wasn't saying as much as her, but he was speaking with his eyes, the way he was looking at her like, 'Wow, I get to marry you."'

Despite a drunken night, Dean revealed that the pair were very clear when saying their vows, with a lot of meaning to the ceremony.

He explained: 'What I'm looking at is how they say their vows. How clear is their speech? Their speech was extremely clear and Travis is looking at her, you know like the way I look at my wife.'

True romance: The couple began dating more than a year ago and have been friends for a while as neighbors living next to each other in Calabasas, Calif

Just the two of us: Despite a drunken night, Dean revealed that the pair were very clear when saying their vows, with a lot of meaning to the ceremony

Sweethearts: Dean shared that Travis was 'speaking with his eyes', saying: 'He wasn't saying as much as her, but he was speaking with his eyes, the way he was looking at her like, 'Wow, I get to marry you"'

The pair already had rings on, so Dean followed up the vows with the ring ceremony, and sang the King's classic Can't Help Falling in Love alongside A Mess Of Blues, while the happy couple shared a kiss.

Kourtney and Travis are thought to have paid around $600 extra for Dean to marry them, with the ceremony itself only costing $199 - as the were insistent on an Elvis impersonator for the special moment.

The couple began dating more than a year ago and have been friends for a while as neighbors living next to each other in Calabasas, Calif. He dropped to one knee and proposed in October on the beach during sunset with her family watching on from the distance.

She has three children with her ex, Scott Disick, while he also has three kids with his ex-wife, Shanna Moakler.
Danniella Westbrook has revealed her plans to adopt a Ukrainian baby with her toyboy fiance David, who is currently serving time in prison.

The former EastEnders star, 48, who was forced to live in a bedsit in 2014 due to financial struggles, has now announced she's submitted the application with her partner, 29, because she 'knows what it's like to be homeless'.

Having booked herself five surgeries to correct her 'collapsing' face due to a previous cocaine addiction and osteoporosis, she admitted she's plagued by fears of dying on the operating table in the coming months.

'I know what it's like to be homeless': Danniella Westbrook, 48, has revealed plans to ADOPT a Ukrainian baby with her jailbird fiance David, 29, before admitting she's plagued by fears of 'dying' from FIVE scheduled plastic surgeries

It comes after she insisted she will wait until David has been released from behind bars to tie the knot in a Maldives wedding as early as next year.

Now, the ex Albert Square resident is claiming the pair are hopeful they'll be able to welcome an infant amid the country's ongoing war with Russia - in return for 350 per month.

Daniella made the proposal to the convict during a recent prison visit since the menopause has stopped her from bearing more children biologically.

She told the Daily Star: 'Yeah, I'm still going ahead with that. I don't understand why people wouldn't want to do that. Though I can't work out how they give you 350 a month for a family when your local council gets 10k per person a year.

Oh dear: Having booked herself five surgeries to correct her 'collapsing' face due to a previous cocaine addiction and osteoporosis, she admitted she's plagued by fears of dying on the operating table in the coming months (pictured in April 2022)

'But I'll take anyone who needs it. I don't need all the space, it's only me at home at the moment and I'm waiting for the process to go further through.'

The actress then let slip that she's going to have to amend her submission since she's set to leave her Yorkshire home and head back down South to chase after TV work while caring for her dementia-stricken father, Andrew.

She continued: 'It's only me at home as my children have moved out and I remember what it was like to be homeless myself and have nobody there to take me in.'

Danniella also confessed she prays, 'Please let me wake up,' every time she's knocked out with anaesthetia due to her 'love' of plastic surgery which saw her splash out on no less than six boob jobs.

Happy: It comes after she insisted she will wait until David has been released from behind bars to tie the knot in a Maldives wedding as early as next year

She's gearing up to go under the knife yet again in a bid to correct the 'rotting' bones in her face, but can't help buy worry about the risks that come with her age.

While on the operating table, the soap star will have her rip removed and placed under her visage, to salvage her collapsing cheekbone.

She told The Sun: 'I've spent the last seven years trying to get someone to fix my face. They kept refusing or wanting to charge me 500,000.

'Before Christmas I couldn't breathe because I had a cold. There was a build up of fluid and after I fell asleep I couldn't wake up properly and ended up in ICU.

Fingers crossed: Now, the ex Albert Square resident is claiming the pair are hopeful they'll be able to welcome an infant amid the country's ongoing war with Russia - in return for 350 per month

'That's why I'm doing this. I need this surgery to survive. It's not for vanity, this is about my health. It harbours my lifestyle on a day to day basis.'

When she stepped out last week with a bandage over her nose, her fans were convinced she had already had the surgery.

However the dressings came after she had skin removed for biopsies to determine whether she is fit for the upcoming procedures.

Newly engaged Danniella recently said there will be 'many sleepless nights' once her secret jailbird fiance David is released from prison.

He is currently serving time in prison for counterfeit goods and engaging in a 'fight with someone', by her own admission

Romantic: Daniella made the proposal to the convict during a recent prison visit since the menopause has stopped her from bearing more children biologically

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She detailed her relationship with her convict boyfriend and their future X-rated plans together.

She kept quiet on her romance until recently, when she denied dating the father of former The Only Way Is Essex star Grace Andrews and instead revealed her mystery man is behind bars - and on Thursday she admitted he had proposed from prison.

With less than a year until David is a free man, the actress is already planning some risque business for the pair of them.

And while she has never released a picture of him or talked about his crimes, she has said she won't marry him until he it a free man.

After revealing they had already slept together in Spain, Danniella confessed to the Daily Star: 'There's nothing like that going on now though, they listen in to all your phone calls and screen the emails and photocopy all of the letters so we can't risk anything rude on there as all the screws will see it first.

'But there will be many sleepless nights on my gorgeous new bed once he's out.'

A smitten Danniella has insisted she will wait until David has been released to tie the knot but they have discussed the prospect of a Maldives wedding as early as next year.

She said: 'I've got a big ring that was made for me, and I wore it into the jail and David said, "it was lovely but it's not big enough", so there is a bigger one coming.

'He has asked me to marry him but I told him to wait until he gets home. He asks me all the time, he even asked me at the jail. He didn't get down on one knee or anything but he's like, "we are getting married you know."'

Liverpudlian David is 20 years her junior and the pair were previously in a 'tumultuous' relationship after meeting each other other in Spain five years ago.

Before: Danniella also confessed she prays, 'Please let me wake up,' every time she's knocked out with anaesthetia due to her 'love' of plastic surgery which saw her splash out on no less than six boob jobs (pictured on EastEnders in the 1990s)

Yet despite their 'up-and-down' romance, Danniella explained: 'We just stayed in touch and he went to jail early 2019 and he got 9 years 9 months. He's home next year though, he's got 11 months to go.'

It could be third time lucky for the former Celebrity Big Brother housemate, who has been married twice before.

Her first marriage was to van driver Ben Morgan in 1998, but they divorced nine months later.

In 2001, the star married businessman Kevin Jenkins, almost four months after the birth of their daughter Jodie. They divorced in 2020.
Kim Kardashian has discussed her sister Kourtney Kardashian's recent Las Vegas wedding to Travis Barker.

During a virtual visit on Friday's episode of Live With Kelly And Ryan, the SKIMS founder, 41, noted, 'I don't think it's legal. They said they couldn't get a license in time.'

Then the thrice married Kim added, 'I did it once in Vegas and I was able to get a license at a random middle of the night time.' The Vegas wedding she was referring to was her short-lived union to Damon Thomas back in 2000.

Her take: Kim Kardashian was a guest on Friday's episode of Live with Kelly and Ryan, and she discussed her sister Kourtney Kardashian's recent Las Vegas wedding to Travis Barker

Kim was only 19-years-old when they eloped and they were married for four years before divorcing in the early aughts.

Kourtney and Travis, who got engaged in Montecito, California in October last year, shocked fans when they married at a chapel following the 2022 Grammy Awards.

Shortly after, the Poosh creator admitted that they had not been able to secure a marriage license for the spontaneous nuptials.

Unofficial: Speaking to the show's hosts virtually, the SKIMS founder, 41, noted, 'I don't think it's legal. They said they couldn't get a license in time'

Taking to Instagram the next day, the mother-of-three shared a series of photos from the night with her 170million followers.

'Found these in my camera roll,' she started off in her caption. 'Once upon a time in a land far, far away (Las Vegas) at 2am, after an epic night and a little tequila, a queen and her handsome king ventured out to the only open chapel with an Elvis and got married (with no license).

'Practice makes perfect,' she finished. The post has over 4million likes from the couple's admirers.

While on the show Kim explained how she first heard the news of the surprise wedding.

Her first husband: She wed Damon Thomas in Las Vegas when she was only 19-years-old

Her second husband: Kim with Kris Humphries at their wedding in 2011

Her third husband: Kim was wed to Kanye West from 2014 until 2022. Together they have four children: North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm

'I found out when I woke up at like six in the morning to work out and there were so many messages on our group chat,' said the star.

'I think there was a lot of alcohol involved, a lot of love, and they just had a fun night in Vegas!' Kim explained on the talk show.

Kourtney's photos showed the couple in matching his and hers black leather motorcycle jackets.

They also both wore jet black pairs of sunglasses as they exchanged vows in the chapel with an Elvis impersonator.

Reminiscing: Kim added, 'I did it once in Vegas and I was able to get a license at a random middle of the night time'; here are Kourtney and Travis

Coordinated: Kourtney's photos showed the couple in matching his and hers black leather motorcycle jackets

Inside scoop: 'They want an intimate ceremony and party for family and close friends. Kourtney's family wants to be a part of it,' a source said

A source close to the lovebirds told People, 'They don't want a big wedding.

'They want an intimate ceremony and party for family and close friends. Kourtney's family wants to be a part of it.'

Because this will be Kourtney's first marriage, sources told the publication that the Kardashian-Jenner brood 'wants to throw her a bridal shower, a bachelorette party and celebrate as much as possible.

'No one wants her to do a quickie Las Vegas wedding,' the insider added, despite their 'practice' nuptials.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks to the media about the war in Ukraine and other topics at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 22. Reuters-Yonhap





North Korea is currently in a provocation cycle that may last for weeks or even months, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Thursday.







Sullivan also said the North will continue efforts to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs, but that the capability to hit the U.S. mainland has yet to be proven.







"A few weeks ago, they tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, which they had not done previously, they had not done since 2017. So yes, they are in a pattern of provocation, pattern of testing," Sullivan said in a seminar hosted by the Economic Club of Washington D.C., a non-profit organization based in Washington.







"I think you will hear more out of North Korea in terms of its efforts to advance its nuclear program and its missile program in the weeks and months ahead," he added.







The remarks come as North Korea celebrates the anniversary of the birth of late founding leader Kim Il-sung, Friday (KST), an occasion that has often been marked by a show of military strength.






Thanos and Batman are two very different comic book characters, but Josh Brolin almost played them both.

The actor, 54, revealed in an interview with MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast that he almost played Batman in Zack Snyder's DC films.

Snyder ultimately decided to pass over the No Country For Old Men star and instead gave the role to Ben Affleck.

What could have been: Thanos and Batman are two very different comic book characters, but Josh Brolin almost played them both (pictured April 2022)

'That was interesting to me,' Brolin said. 'That was his decision, that wasnt my decision.'

He continued, 'It would have been the older, the more raspy, for lack of a better word. Honestly, that would have been a fun deal. And maybe Ill do it when Im 80.'

In hindsight, Brolin may have dodged a bullet by losing out on the role because Affleck's tenure as Bruce Wayne has been filled with strife.

In talks: The actor, 54, revealed in an interview with MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast that he almost played Batman in Zack Snyder's DC films

Turned him down: Snyder ultimately decided to pass over the No Country for Old Men star and instead gave the role to Ben Affleck (Snyder pictured 2021)

As with many people who worked on the Justice League movie, the Argo star admitted that it was a difficult experience for him in an EW interview earlier this year.

'I had a really nadir experience around Justice League for a lot of different reasons,' he told his close friend Matt Damon in January. 'Not blaming anybody, there's a lot of things that happened. But really what it was is that I wasn't happy. I didn't like being there. I didn't think it was interesting. And then some really sh**ty things, awful things happened. But, that's when I was like, I'm not going to do that anymore.'

Among the many issues faced by the cast and crew included the loss of Snyder's daughter who committed suicide while the film was in post-production.

Snyder left the film to be with his family and grieve, and Warner Bros. called in Joss Whedon to do extensive reshoots on the movie.

Difficult time: Affleck admitted he didn't enjoy filming Justice League. Other stars concurred with his co-star Gal Gadot alleging that Joss Whedon threatened her carer on set

Very different kind of comic book character: Instead of appearing as Batman, Brolin got his comic book fix in the Marvel Universe. He played big bad Thanos in a number of Marvel movies

Ray Fisher, who played Victor Stone, also known as Cyborg, in the movie, has since accused Whedon of 'gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable' behavior on the movie, and Gal Gadot alleges that he threatened her career.

Whedon has never commented on the pair's allegations.

Instead of appearing as Batman, Brolin got his comic book fix in the Marvel Universe. He played big bad Thanos in a number of Marvel movies including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.

He also played a major role as the character Cable in Deadpool 2 alongside Ryan Reynolds.

Amazon Prime released the first episode for the California native's new series Outer Range today, April 15. It follows a rancher protecting his land who stumbles across a dangerous mystery in Wyoming's wilderness.
She is currently soaking up the sun in America.

And Ashley Roberts flaunted her toned midriff in the sun on Thursday as she posed for a slew of sizzling Instagram snaps in Phoenix, Arizona.

The radio presenter, 40, wowed her 702,000 followers in a tiny pink string bikini which she wore underneath a turquoise fringed cowboy-style jacket while striking a pose in the desert.

Stunning: Ashley Roberts flaunted her toned midriff in the sun on Thursday as she posed for a slew of sizzling Instagram snaps in Phoenix, Arizona

Ashley flashed her bronzed physique in the revealing outfit which she teamed with a pair of matching cowboy boots.

The former Pussycat Doll wore her blonde tresses up in a top knot bun, while sporting a dewy makeup look and a nude lip.

She posed from all angles, flaunting her peachy bottom, and captioned the post: 'Yeehaw, hunni'

Fans gushed over Ashley in the comments, with co-host Amanda Holden commenting 'I mean' with three fire emojis'.

Work it: The radio presenter wowed her 702,000 followers in a tiny pink string bikini which she wore underneath a turquoise fringed cowboy-style jacket while striking a pose in the desert

Bronzed beauty: The former Pussycat Doll wore her blonde tresses up in a top knot bun, while sporting a dewy makeup look and a nude lip

Cheeky! Ashley flashed her bronzed physique in the revealing outfit which she teamed with a pair of matching cowboy boots

Pals: Co-host Amanda Holden commented 'I mean' with three fire emojis' while TV personality Keith Lemon joked she would 'catch a cold'

Ashley Roberts sends temperatures soaring in a TINY pink bikini

Ashley recently showed off her chic sense of style as she stepped out to see dance group Diversity on their Connected tour at the London Palladium.

The street dance group, who were triumphant on Britain's Got Talent in 2009, are currently on their nationwide tour.

She wore a 1,130 See Thru Dress in black by Off-White which featured cut-out detail at the side.

In style: Ashley Roberts looked chic in the 1,130 See Thru Dress in black by Off-White while out to see dance group Diversity at the London Palladium

Heart FM showbiz reporter Ashley's garment featured long sleeves and a turtle neck, with the piece flaring out to the ground.

She added a few inches to her stature by wearing a pair of black high-heeled shoes and carried a black handbag with her.

The pop star wore lashings of make-up to highlight her pretty facial features and happily greeted fans outside the venue before heading inside.
Shahs of Sunset's Mike Shouhed appears to be putting his domestic violence arrest behind him as he was spotted enjoying a beach vacation in Mexico with his fiancee.

Shouhed and Paulina Ben-Cohen spent the day in the sun and at the Garza Blanca Resort & Spa in Los Cabos and were pictured on Monday with Ben-Cohen's kids.

Last month Mike, 43, was arrested in Los Angeles on charges of domestic violence, specifically alleged 'intimate partner violence with injury'; the victim has not been named.

No drama here: Shahs of Sunset's Mike Shouhed appears to be putting his domestic violence arrest behind him as he was spotted enjoying a beach vacation in Mexico with his fiancee this week

While spending time on the beach with Paulina's kids, she and Mike kept things pretty low key.

Shouhed's muscled physique was on display in a pair of red swim trunks. He was seen enjoying a beverage in the sand and later carrying one of his fiancee's children as the headed back to the hotel.

Paulina sported a busty look in a skimpy printed bikini with a triangle top. She was responsible for lugging the family's beach and sun gear in various tote bags.

Ben-Cohen recently spoke out about her fiance's arrest in a statement via her attorney Joshua Ritter.

Shouhed and Paulina Ben-Cohen spent the day in the sun and at the Garza Blanca Resort & Spa in Los Cabos and were pictured on Monday with Ben-Cohen's kids

Trouble at home: Last month Mike, 43, was arrested in Los Angeles on charges of domestic violence, specifically alleged 'intimate partner violence with injury'; the victim has not been named

'We are working with the authorities to seek a just and fair outcome to this sad situation,' the lawyer told E! News. 'The family appreciates your space and respect for their privacy during this time.'

Mike Shouhed's domestic violence arrest happened on March 27, according to PageSix. The term 'intimate partner violence with injury' is said to be used to describe when there is a 'visible injury' on the victim.

However, the identity of Shouhed's alleged victim has not yet been revealed.

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that West Valley police officers had responded to a call of 'unknown' trouble at around 10pm local time.

'We are working with the authorities to seek a just and fair outcome to this sad situation,' Paulina's lawyer told E! News. 'The family appreciates your space and respect for their privacy during this time.' (Pictured above in August last year)

Per the report, Shouhed was charged with corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, a felony, and was released on $50,000 bail. He is now due back in court on July 25.

Shouhed denies the charges and has since deleted his social media account.

Shortly before removing his Instagram account, Shouhed had shared a cryptic post to his Stories that read: 'Your life is your responsibility. Your success is your responsibility. Your failure is your responsibility. Your reaction is your responsibility. Your behavior is your responsibility.'

According to PageSix, Shouhed had also posted a video of himself on Monday dancing in his car to a Spanish song by Joe Arroyo called Rebelion.'

The lyrics in the song includes the line 'No le pegue a la negra,' which when translated into English reads: 'don't hit the black woman.'

Busted: Shouhed, 43, denies the charges and has since deleted his social media account

In an episode of the reality show that aired last year, Mike got busted by his then-girlfriend Paulina after she found salacious texts on his phone and was accused of cheating.

The Bravo series that kicked off in 2012 will come to a close after season nine finishes, TMZ claimed in a recent reports.

But the show's network, Bravo, may work down the road with some of the top stars of the series, including MJ Javid, Golnesa 'GG' Gharachedaghi and Reza Farahan, it was also claimed by the site.

The series followed Persian-Americans living in the Los Angeles area. It put a spotlight on their personal lives and careers while sharing their struggles with living an LA life with parents that want them to stick to their roots.
First Dates' barman Merlin Griffiths has thanked the NHS for 'literally saving his life' after undergoing 'robotic' surgery to have a tumour removed following his bowel cancer diagnosis last year.

The TV personality, 46, looked frail in a candid selfie from his hospital bed, which he shared to Twitter on Friday while admitting he's suffering 'aches and pains'.

Only the previous day, he wore a black face mask with unicorn prints while declaring he's 'ready as he'll ever be' in an Instagram post before having the tumour removed.

'Thank you NHS for literally saving my life': First Dates' barman Merlin Griffiths, 46, looked frail in a hospital bed selfie following 'robotic' surgery to remove his bowel cancer tumour on Friday

He wrote: 'Thank you #NHS for literally saving my life. #BowelCancerAwarenessMonth.'

Posting the same shot to the photosharing platform, he added: '2am. Tubes outta everywhere. Aches and pains. But no tumour! #bowelcancerawarenessmonth.'

Plugging April's Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, he concluded: Ready as I'll ever be. Tumour removal time. [champagne emoji] #bowelcancerawarenessmonth.'

He also shared a photo of the four-armed 'robot' holding the surgical instruments and a camera, to give his followers an insight into the procedure.

Gearing up: Only the previous day, he wore a black face mask with unicorn prints while declaring he's 'ready as he'll ever be' in an Instagram post before having the tumour removed

Fascinating: He also shared a photo of the four-armed 'robot' holding the surgical instruments and a camera, to give his followers an insight into the procedure

Candid: Plugging April's Bowel Cancer Awareness Month, he concluded: Ready as I'll ever be. Tumour removal time. [champagne emoji] #bowelcancerawarenessmonth'

Merlin announced in March that he was due to have the operation, joking that he had three weeks to 'get my s**t together'.

Last year, Merlin was told he has a 75 per cent chance of living for more than five years after medical tests unearthed a stage three tumour that measured 4.5cm in length.

And updating his followers on his progress, he tweeted: 'Operation scheduled. Three weeks to get my s**t together. Robotic surgery, welcome to the future!'

He later thanked his fans for their well wishes, adding: 'Thank you to everyone wishing me well. X May your lives be prosperous and filled with empathy and happiness.'

Unwell: Merlin announced in March that he was due to have the operation, joking that he had three weeks to 'get my s**t together'

Robotic surgery sees surgeons view the operation through a magnified screen while a robotic machine with four arms holds the surgical instruments and a camera. The surgeon controls the arms of the machine and removes the cancer through keyhole surgery.

Merlin received his bleak diagnosis from doctors at Northampton General Hospital, saying at the time that he was trying to keep a 'positive outlook'.

Speaking to the Sunday Mirror last year, Merlin said: 'I'm keeping that positive outlook, but I've a morbid sense of humour. I tell people, 'I have colorectal cancer it's a real pain in the ar*e!'

Merlin has a seven-year-old daughter called Alix with his partner Lucille, 40, who he has been with for more than a decade and will be by his side as he faces a year of life-saving treatment.

Diagnosis: Last year, Merlin was told he has a 75 per cent chance of living for more than five years after medical tests unearthed a stage three tumour that measured 4.5cm in length

When the barman told his young daughter of the troubling diagnosis he reassured her of the powers of modern medicine and gushed about the public healthcare system.

At the time, he said: 'I have so much faith in medicine and the NHS in this country, which is just so incredible.'

Keeping his emotions behind closed doors, Merlin admitted: 'I've shed a tear in private. But you can choose 'to do' or 'not to do'. I chose to lead my life as normal, to stick to the facts about it, and to keep putting one step in front of the other.'

'I have so much faith in medicine and the NHS in this country': Last year, Merlin said he was remaining optimistic as he gushed about the public health service

The TV personality, who became a household name alongside Fred Sirieix in the First Dates restaurant, started to feel pain in June but thought it was caused by an old stomach injury from a car accident in his 20s.

Merlin was diagnosed with bowel cancer last year and said his tumour looked like an alien and felt like a walnut stuck inside of him.

Doctors discovered the tumour when they gave the barman an emergency sigmoidoscopy to probe his lower intestine after the star spent three months telling people he felt something wrong in his body.

Merlin admitted he was terrified by the ordeal but immediately focused on his chances of survival following his diagnosis.

Close: Merlin told his co-workers in the First Dates restaurant about his diagnosis just a week after he told his family (pictured: Fiona Beck, Grant Urquhart, Daniella Kalita, Fred Sirieix, David, Cici Coleman and Merlin on the show)

The star revealed that his tumour wanted to move into the tissue surrounding it but wasn't 'lymph' - meaning the cancer thankfully hadn't spread.

Merlin told his co-workers in the First Dates restaurant, including maitre d'hotel Fred Sirieix, and waiters Grant Urquhart and CiCi Coleman, about his diagnosis just a week after he told his family.

The barman admitted his peers were shocked and couldn't help but question why bad things happen to good people.

The star is maintaining an optimistic outlook on the diagnosis and said his morbid sense of humour is helping him through the troubling time.
They are about to embark on a money-spinning tour of the UK and Europe to mark 60 years of rocking the world  but the Rolling Stones are unlikely to be handing over much of their takings to the taxman.

For documents published in the Netherlands suggest that although they received millions from their last tour, No Filter, just peanuts was paid in tax.

Indeed, the annual balance sheet recently filed by Promogroup, a holding company for the band based in Amsterdam, suggests that tax paid amounted to little more than 300,000 on income of 36million.

For documents published in the Netherlands suggest that although they received millions from their last tour, No Filter, just peanuts was paid in tax

Promogroup, whose three shareholders are Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the late Charlie Watts, is swimming in cash.

It was set up by the band in 1972 and has been used by them ever since. According to its latest annual report, assets were 53million with another 36million in owed income. But the profit was just 1.3million, resulting in a tax bill of 325,000.

There is no suggestion that the Stones are paying anything other than the required tax due by law.

The band has long been known for seeking ways to minimise their tax liability, first going into tax exile in 1971 when they discovered that they owed HMRC 250,000.

Sir Mick, 78, splits his time between homes in Chelsea, the Caribbean, France and America, and is understood to be a non-dom in the UK.

The Sunday Times Rich List suggests that he is worth 310million. Richards lives in Connecticut and has property in the Turks and Caicos Islands. He is said to be worth 295million.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Richards, 78, said: The whole business thing is predicated a lot on the tax laws.

In his 2010 book, Life, he said: Mick would come and visit me in Switzerland and talk about economic restructuring.

'Were sitting around half the time talking about tax lawyers! The intricacies of Dutch tax law vis-a-vis the English tax law and the French tax law. All of these tax thieves were snapping at our heels.

Sir Mick, 78, splits his time between homes in Chelsea, the Caribbean, France and America, and is understood to be a non-dom in the UK.

Sir Mick enrolled in the London School of Economics but quit his dull, boring course when the Stones took off. The bands late financial adviser, Prince Rupert Loewenstein, set up a series of Dutch corporations and trusts that helped them pay minimal tax.

In 2006 it was reported by the German paper Die Welt that the Stones had paid just 3.9million in tax over the previous 20-odd years on earnings of 242million.

The accounts cover 2018 and offer insights into the financial affairs of the group. Management fees were recorded at 1.8million and it was noted that promotion, PR and marketing costs totalled 840,000.

Another 650,000 went on wages and 33,000 on travel.

The Stones will be playing 14 dates across Europe in their latest tour, Sixty, which begins in June in Madrid. They will be playing Hyde Park twice and visiting Liverpool.

These will be their first dates in the UK since the death of drummer Charlie Watts last year.
He played the murderous Roman Emperor Commodus in Gladiator.

Now, two decades later, Joaquin Phoenix has reunited with Sir Ridley Scott to take on another ruthless emperor  Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Oscar-winning actor was pictured in full navy military regalia with gold embroidery and a matching bicorne hat as he joined hundreds of cast members to recreate the French invasion of Russia in 1812 for new historical epic Napoleon.

Joaquin Phoenix has reunited with Sir Ridley Scott to take on another ruthless emperor  Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon is believed to have lost around 380,000 men during the French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian Campaign, from June to December 1812

Pictures show Phoenix, 47, standing on a mound among the trees on location in Bourne Woods in Farnham, Surrey, surrounded by soldiers and mounted horses as they shot over a two day period last month.

It is the same location Sir Ridley used to shoot blockbuster Gladiator in 1999.

The popular woodland was granted planning permission to be a permanent filming location last year.

Pictures show Phoenix watching over his bayonet-carrying troops waving the French flag as they prepare to fight.

Napoleon is believed to have lost around 380,000 men during the French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian Campaign, from June to December 1812.

The film will document Napoleons ascension to Emperor through the perspective of his volatile relationship with his wife, Empress Josephine Bonaparte.

The films previous title was Kitbag, derived from the saying: There is a generals staff hidden in every soldiers kitbag.

It also stars The Serpents Tahar Rahim, 40, as Paul Barras and Vanessa Kirby, 33, as the Empress. The Crown actress was roped in to replace Jodie Comer.

The popular woodland was granted planning permission to be a permanent filming location last year

The film will document Napoleons ascension to Emperor through the perspective of his volatile relationship with his wife, Empress Josephine Bonaparte

It is the same location Sir Ridley used to shoot blockbuster Gladiator in 1999.

Miss Kirbys involvement was announced in January, with the actress claiming she was honoured to be joining Sir Ridley on the epic production.

Sir Ridley previously examined Napoleonic territory with his 1977 feature film, The Duellists  which is about two French officers who fought during the reign of Napoleon.

Napoleon is a man Ive always been fascinated by, he told Deadline last year.

He came out of nowhere to rule everything  but all the while he was waging a romantic war with his adulterous wife Josephine.

He conquered the world to try to win her love, and when he couldnt, he conquered it to destroy her, and destroyed himself in the process.

He added: No actor could ever embody Napoleon like Joaquin.

He created one of movie historys most complex Emperors in Gladiator, and well create another with his Napoleon.

Napoleon is scheduled to be released on Apple TV+ in 2023.
Sarah Jessica Parker traversed the New York City streets on Friday just days after a positive COVID-19 test.

The actress, 57, walked through the concrete jungle in a black jacket over a gray t-shirt.

She bundled up with a pair of gray-white sweatpants and kept her balance on high heel clogs.

Back in the streets: Sarah Jessica Parker traversed the New York City streets on Friday just days after a positive COVID-19 test

The Sex and the City star's blonde hair was tied back in a tight bun, and she covered her mouth with a black face covering.

Parker wore huge headphones and carried a bulky backpack with her as she walked through Manhattan.

It didn't appear that she was wearing much makeup, and her skin seemed a bit pale though that may be because of her recent bout with COVID-19.

Keeping casual: The actress, 57, walked through the concrete jungle in a black jacket over a gray t-shirt

Stylish: The Sex and the City star's blonde hair was tied back in a tight bun, and she covered her mouth with a black face covering

Parker tested positive for the virus last week just days after her husband Matthew Broderick announced his own positive test.

Their illnesses halted performances of Plaza Suite, the couple's three-act show during which they play three couples in a hotel suite.

'With both Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker positive for COVID, tonights performance of Plaza Suite is canceled,' the shows producers said in a statement to Variety.

'The producers apologize for the inconvenience this has caused audience members. Ticket holders should contact their point of sale to reschedule for a future performance or obtain a refund.'

Double whammy: Parker tested positive for COVID-19 last week just days after her husband Matthew Broderick announced his own positive test

Taking a break: Their illnesses halted performances of Plaza Suite, the couple's three-act show during which they play three couples in a hotel suite

Before receiving her own positive test, Parker performed several times with Broderick's understudy, Tony winner Michael McGrath.

Plaza Suite was originally supposed to begin its run of previews back on March 13, 2020 but all Broadway theaters were shut down the day before because of the coronavirus pandemic.

While it may seem that Parker is out relatively soon after testing positive just last week, the Hocus Pocus star is actually just following new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

The government agency recommends that those who test positive should isolate at home for just five days. If someone does have to leave home for some reason, they should wear a mask that fits well.

Isolation can end after five days if the person exhibiting symptoms is free of fever for 24 hours and symptoms are improving.
County in Chinas Yunnan establishes rural talent pool of skilled farmers in push for common prosperity

People's Daily Online) 10:52, April 15, 2022

Before 2008, Liu Qing, a farmer in Zhenyuan county, Puer city of southwest Chinas Yunnan Province, made a living by working as a migrant worker. However, he was unable to accumulate much savings despite all the various jobs he undertook.

In 2015, before he was about to establish his own tea business, Liu received special training on the management of ancient tea trees. With the techniques he learned, Liu could grow high-quality tea trees, becoming a talent in the area of tea cultivation in the locality.

Photos shows a tea plantation in Zhenyuan county. (Photo/Media Convergence Center of Zhenyuan county)

The man also took the initiative to establish a farmers cooperative, which helps local tea growers to sell their tea leaves and provides job opportunities for some farmers while teaching them tea-growing techniques.

Liu also learned livestreaming at a farmers vocational school. Nowadays, tea leaves from the cooperative are sold to places outside Yunnan Province, including those in south Chinas Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guangdong Province.

In recognition of Lius capabilities and to encourage him to make greater contributions to promoting common prosperity in the locality, Lius village recommended him for a spot in the countys rural talent pool.

Initiated at the end of 2019, the rural talent pool gathers together skilled farmers who have gotten rich earlier than others, and with it the local government hopes to encourage these excellent farmers to help their fellow villagers, introduced Ai Chongshui, head of the human resources and social security bureau of Zhenyuan county.

People who we recommend must have expertise in certain fields, be enterprising, and be widely recognized by their fellow villagers, explained Ai, who added that about 15,000 farmers in the county have been included in the rural talent pool.

After the talent pool was established, we divided the rural talents into two typesthose who have become rich earlier than others and those who need trainings in order to further improve their skills, said Ai, who also noted that the county has granted low-interest loans to the rural talents in supporting them to expand their businesses. With this support, the rural talents are now active in helping others around them.

Since 2020, Zhenyuan county has offered training for nearly 100,000 people, who nowadays play a vital role in rural rejuvenation in the locality.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
The departure area of Terminal 1 at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, is seen in this April 12 photo. Yonhap





Daily COVID-19 cases continued to fall for a third consecutive day Thursday to around 125,000, as the government deciding to remove all social distancing rules except mask mandates amid the slowing Omicron variant wave.







The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) reported 125,846 new infections, including 14 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 16,104,869.







Thursday's total marks a decline since Tuesday's 210,743, as the Omicron wave has passed its peak after a record high infection tally of more than 620,000, March 17.






Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Korea Bakyt Dyussenbayev poses at the country's embassy in Seoul's Yongsan District, April 8. Korea Times photo by Kwon Mee-yoo



By Kwon Mee-yoo



On March 16, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev announced major constitutional reforms, including limiting the powers of the president.



"The main idea of the reform is to create a new platform for the development of the country, to create new, fresh air to be a modern and developed country, because we have all that is necessary to be a country that is comfortable for our citizens to live and to work in," said Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Korea Bakyt Dyussenbayev, who sat down with The Korea Times at the country's embassy in Seoul's Yongsan District, April 8, to share the vision of "New Kazakhstan."



The ambassador explained that the reforms lay the foundation for constitutional and political transformations that have already been initiated by President Tokayev since assuming office in 2019, promoting democratization and ensuring the sustainability and manageability of Kazakhstan.



"The head of state stressed that an important lesson of this January (when there was significant unrest) is that the concentration of power in the hands of the highest official in the state increases the influence of financial oligarchy groups and persons. That's why one of the aims of this political reform package is to transform the country from a super-presidential country to a presidential republic with a strong parliament," he said.



Ambassador Dyussenbayev pointed out that these reforms are a continuation of President Tokayev's efforts to modernize the country.



"Since the beginning of his time in office in 2019, President Tokayev expressed his will to conduct important modernization of the country, because we are facing many political, economic and security challenges around the world and we cannot lose this train of modernization and development," he said.



The reforms impact almost all political institutions of Kazakhstan, from the president, parliament and local self-governments to the party system, electoral system, judicial system and law enforcement systems, with a significant weakening of the powers of the president.



"First of all, the president of the country is legally obligated to terminate his membership in a political party for the duration of his term of office. Also, the president proposed a special ban at the legislative level of close relatives of the president being appointed to positions as top-level civil servants and managers in state-owned companies," the ambassador explained.



For instance, the electoral system will be switched from one based fully on proportional representation to a mixed proportional and majoritarian system. The threshold for registering a new political party will be reduced to 5,000 members from the current 20,000, opening up opportunities for more diverse groups of people to establish parties to represent themselves.



"The president of Kazakhstan stressed that it is necessary to urgently start developing a new package of structural reforms in the economy and public administration, taking into account the strategy of political modernization," the ambassador said.





Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev speaks during his state of the nation speech, announcing reforms limiting the powers of the president, in the country's parliament, March 16. Courtesy of the Embassy of Kazakhstan to Korea



The reforms will spur the democratization and increased opening of Kazakhstan, which will be beneficial not only for domestic policy, but also for the development of foreign policy, which could strengthen the Kazakhstan-Korea relationship.



"Our foreign policy is open and pragmatic. With the Republic of Korea, we have important economic projects and bilateral trade is growing; in the last year, bilateral trade was $3.2 billion. We are the main partner for the Republic of Korea in Central Asia and for us, the Republic of Korea is one of the main trade partners and one of the biggest investors in our economy," he said.



"We are working to deepen our cooperation in ICT, as we have special programs of digitalization in the country. Because Kazakhstan is very rich in natural resources, the development of machinery is also very important for us and we are working with Korean companies to develop this special industry. Many companies also striving to guarantee the supply of rare metals that can be used for electronic equipment."



The ambassador said he expects continuity with the incoming Korean administration because of the importance of cooperation between Kazakhstan and Korea, emphasizing the strategic importance of the Central Asian region.



"All recent Korean governments have had good and excellent relations with Kazakhstan and all recent presidents of the Republic of Korea officially visited Kazakhstan. President Moon Jae-in visited in 2019 and our president visited last year," he said.



Dyussenbayev noted that Tokayev was the first foreign head of state to visit Korea officially after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, highlighting the importance of Korea to Kazakhstan and vice versa.



"We are glad to have this level of relations between our countries, continuing the work to deepen our relations more in different spheres We hope that this tradition will be continued by the new Korean president. We congratulate him on his victory in the presidential election and we're open and excited to his new step in the new moment of our relations."





Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev delivers a speech during his state visit to Korea, Aug. 17, 2021. Korea Times file




South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong had a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Friday to discuss Seoul's plan to provide additional humanitarian and other support for Ukraine, his office said.







During the talks with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Chung expressed serious concerns over civilian casualties in Ukraine amid Russia's invasion and briefed him on plans to provide $30 million in new aid, the foreign ministry said.







Seoul already delivered $1 million worth of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine last month and vowed to consider more support.







Kuleba thanked South Korea for showing solidarity and lending support, and the two ministers agreed to expand bilateral cooperation after the war ends, the ministry said. (Yonhap)


Hyderabad: Only up to 40 cent of Intermediate students in Sangareddy district are attending classes since colleges reopened after the lockdown was lifted. However, over 60 per cent of students have registered for the annual examinations.

These students who are not attending classes are hoping to get promoted without writing any exam, said R. Govindaram, district education officer for Intermediate. Over 1,000 students, in the first and second year have not registered for the final exams. There are nearly 9,000 inter students in government colleges in Sangareddy district. No particular attendance percentage was set as a cut-off for appearing in the annual exams, which is leading to students not attending classes.

There are about 60-70 government junior colleges in the district and over 50 private colleges with 32,000 students. Given the dearth of government Inter colleges in the district, it is reporting a 10 to 20 per cent drop in admissions this year, added Govin-daram.

There is only one junior college per mandal. Even basic facilities are not provided and there is shortage of teachers. Because of this, more admissions are registered in private colleges, he said. Govindaram urged the government to increase the number of government junior colleges in order to attract more admissions. On its part, the government has no budget to pay the bills for colleges and the collector's office, which has resulted in poor facilities and frequent power cuts, said officials. Meanwhile, few people present at the collectorate complex, Sangareddy district were seen washing their feet and clothes by using drinking water cans set up at the complex. There are no complaint boxes in colleges or at the collectorate complex.
Drug peddlers are adopting unique strategies to avoid being detected while transporting and selling narcotic substances. (Photo: Pixabay)

VISAKHAPATNAM: Drug peddlers are adopting unique strategies to avoid being detected while transporting and selling narcotic substances. An interesting example is selling drugs in the form of homoeopathic pills.

A senior police officer, who chose anonymity while speaking to Deccan Chronicle, said youth, especially software engineers and students; have taken to selling banned drugs.

During our investigation, we found that a young drug abuser had bought a gram of crystal meth in Bengaluru for  2,000 from a drug peddler. He was selling the same for  4,5005,000 per gram, the official pointed out.

Some of these youth are turning the drugs they carry into homoeopathic pills, which do not attract suspicion. In case there is a search, the carrier can swallow the homoeopathic pills and escape detection.

Home delivery of drug-spiked homoeopathic pills is popular among high-dose consumers. These pills have replaced syringes, which can spread communicable diseases like HIV.

Students of corporate colleges, which attract students from different parts of the country, are among those found to be consuming drugs. There are some school students too. Schoolchildren in Krishna district had recently been found consuming cannabis.

Dr. N.N. Raju, National president of Indian Psychiatric Society, told DC that nearly 10,000 people in the port city have approached health centres for de-addiction from habits such as illicit drugs, alcohol, ganja, gutka and smoking.

While middle-aged people are seeking de-addiction from alcohol, smoking and gutka, young people, including college students, are consuming drugs and marijuana. There are about 200300 women among them, Dr Raju disclosed.
They were collected in the form of safety cess, amenity cess, reservation charges and revised charges for bus passes.  Representational image/DC

Hyderabad: Commuters have been dealt yet another blow by Telangana State Road Transport corporation (TSRTC), which silently increased reservation charges from Rs 20 to Rs 30. Although it came into effect on March 27, the corporation made no announcements to the effect.

Passengers were baffled when they went to book tickets in advance to enjoy a four-day weekend vacation.

Corporation officials maintain that advance reservation charges were last increased in 2016. Incidentally, this is the fourth fare hike by RTC since March 23.

They were collected in the form of safety cess, amenity cess, reservation charges and revised charges for bus passes.

According to M. Nagaeshwara Rao, former director of RTC board and a trade union leader, this is nothing but unduly burdening travellers, who wish to book tickets in advance and avoid last-minute rush. It is sad that people who are planning a trip in advance are subject to such a burden. I hope the corporation will do away with reservation charges.
Students from different parts of the cities and states come for studies, jobs and tours. Some are found to be peddling drugs by selling the same to local youth and elite sections of the society. Recently, three youths were held for peddling drugs from Bengaluru and selling the same for Rs 4,500-Rs 5,000 per gram  Representational image/AFP

Visakhapatnam: A specialised Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC), a first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh, will be opened in Vizag to tackle drug peddling. The ANC is expected to have Surveillance, Technical and Investigation wings. The city police is considering all requirements to launch the cell.

Vizag police commissioner Ch. Srikanth, who recently took charge, told Deccan Chronicle that a team is being sent to Mumbai and Bengaluru, where ANCs are effective and have vast experience in dealing with all kinds of cases.

I have my batch mates in Mumbai and Bengaluru. I feel comfortable to send my team there to study the functioning of the ANCs to tap their skills for better services in Vizag. However, the project is still at an infant stage and will shortly be operational in full swing, Srikanth said.

The ANC will initially have a team of one circle inspector and 10 constables.

There will be support staff like experts in cyber technology.

Cyber technology experts are important in ANCs as drug peddlers are dependent on the digital world for everything. The cyber technicians support will help prepare strong digital evidence, Srikanth added.

ANC will collect inputs on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS), act on tip-offs, have a round-the-clock dedicated watch on drug mafia and liaising with all police stations, monitoring and supervising cases registered under NDPS Act. The ANC conducts secret raids based on information from the modus operandi of the investigated cases.

A senior police officer, who investigates drug cases, said an ANC is needed for cosmopolitan cities like Vizag where the youth, particularly students, software and the children of some high-end families are addicted to drugs.

Students from different parts of the cities and states come for studies, jobs and tours. Some are found to be peddling drugs by selling the same to local youth and elite sections of the society.

Recently, three youths were held for peddling drugs from Bengaluru and selling the same for Rs 4,500-Rs 5,000 per gram. The case is under investigation now.
Dalit leaders took the stand that criticising it amounts to questioning Ambedkar himself. (Representational image/DC)

ADILABAD: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Raos observation that Indian Constitution requires change came in for stringent criticism from leaders of Dalit communities on Thursday during 131st Birthday Celebrations of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

So much so, TRS ministers and MLAs were squirming in their seats, as there was nothing they could say on the sensitive issue at various meetings organised on the occasion in Adilabad district.

TRS leaders were very happy when addressing meetings, prominent Dalits praised TRS government for launching the Dalit Bandhu scheme. But their faces fell when soon after, Dalit leaders objected to Chief Ministers comments made quite some time ago that the constitution needs a relook in view of the changed circumstances since the time it had been adopted.

Dalit leaders took the stand that the constitution drafted by Ambedkar, Father of Constitution, is comprehensive. Criticising it amounts to questioning Ambedkar himself. TRS ministers and MLAs did not want to contest this opinion of Dalits, as it was a special occasion and they did not know how the community leaders will react.

Some leaders went on to declare that they will not keep quiet if any leader or political party dares to bring changes in the Indian Constitution.

TRS government also faced criticism over lapses in implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme. Many Dalit leaders complained that associates of local MLAs are being selected for Dalit Bandhu instead of genuine eligible persons.

In fact, people in villages are getting divided over selection of beneficiaries for Dalit Bandhu as some have got selected and others did not. Those who have not got the benefit have been approaching officials and lodging complaints over not being selected.

However, officials and local MLAs are trying to convince them by promising that all members of scheduled caste communities will get Dalit Bandhu benefits until a saturation level is reached.
KATUSA Veterans Association Chairman Kim Hae-sung, second from right, and Korea Defense Veterans Association Chairman Vincent Brook, second from left, pose at the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., Friday (local time) after donating $50,000 to Chairman John Tilelli, third from left, of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation, in charge of the establishment of the Wall of Remembrance. Kim Jong-wook, right, the KVA chairman emeritus, and Yoon Yoon-soo, third from right, the chairman of Fila Holdings and a standing adviser to the KVA, also attended the donation ceremony. Courtesy of KATUSA Veterans Association





By Kang Seung-woo







The KATUSA Veterans Association (KVA) and the Korea Defense Veterans Association (KDVA) have donated $50,000 (61 million won) to the establishment of a remembrance wall in Washington, D.C. that will feature the names of tens of thousands of American and KATUSA soldiers who lost their lives during the 1950-53 Korean War.







KATUSA stands for Korean Augmentation to the United States Army. Under the program, Korean soldiers are given posts on U.S. military bases in the country. The KDVA is a Virginia-based nonprofit organization that advocates for the Korea-U.S. alliance by supporting former and current military service members.







The Wall of Remembrance, which will be a permanent addition to the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will contain the names of 36,595 U.S. soldiers and 7,174 KATUSA soldiers, according to the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation (KWVMF), in charge of the construction.







The donation ceremony was held in the U.S. capital, Friday (local time), with a number of guests from Korea and the United States, including KDVA Chairman and former U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks, former U.S. Ambassador to Korea Kathleen Stephens and senior KVA officials.







"I hope that the Wall of Remembrance can serve as a small token of our deep gratitude to repay the sacrifices of those who gave their lives to protect the freedom and democracy of Korea. We all know that Korea is a prosperous country today, and this proves that their sacrifice has not been in vain," KVA Chairman Kim Hae-sung said during the donation ceremony at the Korean War Veterans Memorial.







A rendering of the Wall of Remembrance at the Korean War Veterans Memorial / Courtesy of Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs





"Dispatched in 1950, each of these soldiers opened the way for the freedom and peace in Korea, which was an unknown and distant land far from their own home, with patriotism and love for mankind. I strongly believe that the heroism of these soldiers taken place in a distant foreign country of South Korea long time ago will be remembered forever as one of the greatest stories of history through this Wall of Remembrance," Kim said.







Yoon Yoon-soo, the chairman of Fila Holdings and a standing adviser to the KVA, also said, "The establishment of this wall is not just about the construction of sculptures. It should be a symbol of solidarity and alliance between the Republic of Korea and the U.S.A., and confirm the close cooperation between our two countries going forward."







The construction of the wall was initially proposed by a handful of U.S. Congress members in 2011 and then, the U.S. Congress passed the "Korean War Veterans Memorial Wall of Remembrance Act" in 2016.







The groundbreaking ceremony for the monument, which President Moon Jae-in attended, was held on May 21, 2021, and the dedication ceremony is scheduled for July 22.







According to the KVA, the Korean government has paid 97 percent of the total budget of 24.2 million, and many Korean companies have offered their full support to the monument project.







It also launched a six-month fundraising campaign from September 2021 to March 2022.










Our times are so divided along the lines of loyalty to political parties and ideologies that any word or action cutting across the divide and is graceful and befitting a statesman brings both relief and hope.

The perpetually hyper-competitive and combative mode of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while leading to huge electoral and power dividends to the ruling saffron party, has left a continual trail of political bitterness hitherto characteristic of and limited to election periods.

It has to its rather ignominious credit the coining of the slogan  Congress-mukt Bharat, as a goal worthy of actually chasing, in a democracy, where there must always be a premium on the presence of a strong opposition.

It would not be fair to blame the BJP for wanting to work hard to win elections or actually winning most of them. The divide was exploited by the BJP under PM Modi, even exacerbated by his party, but was not created by them. Many things from the rise of round-the-clock private TV news channels to social media are part of the problem ecosystem.

Hate speech, divisive political agendas, weaponing of identity politics in direct contradiction to social justice motivations that led to their rise have all become a norm of our socio-political construct and daily affairs. In a harsh realpolitik driven world, there was little space left for reconciliation, dialogue, appreciation of dissent and differences, or healing words and respect for rivals.

Naturally, in a hate and divide dominated era, where abuse is the central thread of our zeitgeist, any words from a political leader in praise and respect for those from another party, or even another time, brings out hope, and applause.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has always led his partys virulent attack against the Opposition, in particular against the Congress Party, and even more pointedly against the Gandhi-Nehru family, has set a wonderful example of paying tributes and acknowledging the role of all the past Prime Ministers of India.

The Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya (museum of all PMs of India since independence), which Mr Modi dedicated to the nation by buying the first ticket, is a good tribute to the great leaders who have led our country. The Modi government has been successfully pushing for creating several good museums across the country and to make history available to people of all strata and diverse slices of India, which is another welcome positive.

The museum of PMs will indeed also symbolise our democratic strength, where despite being divided by parties, regions, languages, religions, castes and social status, we still respect the great national builders, beyond our current choice of party.

Jawaharlal Nehru helped build and consolidate parliamentary democracy in India in its most excruciatingly dark founding days of Independence, Lal Bahadur Shastri showed the world our sovereignty cannot be challenged, Indira Gandhi stood for our strength against a discriminatory racist western order and set us on course for self-reliance, Rajiv Gandhi brought hope and modernity, V.P. Singh pushed the imperative of social justice, P.V. Narasimha Rao ushered in India 2.0 with liberalisation, Atal Behari Vajpayee made us a nuclear force, powering in an era of coalition government, and Dr Manmohan Singh catalysed the growth of new India in a global order  and the museum will teach all of us all that and more.
Sri Lanka has started a process to import cooking gas through a credit line arrangement with India, the chair of the countrys state-run gas company Litro Gas said on Friday as he resigned from his post alleging that a gas mafia was engaged in corruption amidst the countrys worst economic crisis.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts, the public has been suffering for months.

Theshara Jayasinghe, the Chairman and CEO of Litro Gas, the countrys largest importer and supplier of cooking gas, said in his resignation letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa: I had initiated a process through the Indian High Commission to obtain an Indian credit line to import gas. This could be easily implemented.

Jayasinghe said he was resigning as he did not receive the fullest cooperation from the government and had come under pressure from what he called a gas mafia operating against him.

Read | Bankrupt Sri Lanka rations fuel as crisis worsens

There is massive corruption in the gas business, Jayasinghe said.

Cooking gas shortage is just one of the scarcities that the public had to face in the island nations worst economic crisis since independence.

People are forced to spend time in long queues for fuel while most essentials, including medicine, are in short supply.

Massive anti-government protests are being held throughout the country with a major demonstration happening outside the Rajapaksa secretariat in central Colombo.

The protest, which entered its seventh day on Friday, was bolstered by the appearance of celebrities.

We tell the President, please resign, you have proved a failure, film director Udayakantha Warnasuriya said.

A policeman who joined protesters while still in uniform on Thursday was released on bail on Friday.

The sergeant blessed the protesters while on duty and said the corrupt system and those responsible for it must quit.

The protesters expressed anger over the latest decision to ration fuel at retail stations.

They must be sent home immediately, we cannot run hires with just 1,500 rupees worth of petrol, an auto rickshaw driver Samantha told reporters.

With the economic crisis and the shortage of forex, an Indian credit line of $500 million for fuel imports provided a lifeline to the island nation.

India recently announced to extend a $1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka as part of its financial assistance to the country to deal with the economic crisis following a previous USD 500 billion line of credit in February to help it purchase petroleum products.

President Rajapaksa has defended his government's actions, saying the foreign exchange crisis was not his making and the economic downturn was largely pandemic driven with the island nations tourism revenue and inward remittances waning.

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Russia's Black Sea flagship sank Thursday after it was engulfed in an inferno that Ukraine said broke out in a missile strike -- as the Kremlin complained that Kyiv was targeting its citizens in sorties across the border.

The guided missile cruiser Moskva has been leading Russia's naval effort against its neighbor in the seven-week conflict, in which civilian killings have sparked accusations of genocide.

"While being towed... towards the destined port, the vessel lost its balance due to damage sustained in the hull as fire broke out after ammunition exploded," the Russian state news agency TASS quoted the ministry as saying.

"Given the choppy seas, the vessel sank."

Russian state media had not mentioned a rocket attack when quoting the ministry earlier as saying the Moskva was "seriously damaged" by the explosion and ensuing fire, forcing an evacuation.

But Odessa military spokesman Sergey Bratchuk said the ship was damaged by "Neptune domestic cruise missiles", in an account largely echoed by the regional governor.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine's east and south, civilian evacuations had been set to resume Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said, after a day-long pause that Kyiv blamed on Russian shelling.

More than 4.7 million Ukrainians have fled their country in the 50 days since Russia invaded, the United Nations said.

The flagship fire came after the United States unveiled an $800-million military aid package that includes heavy equipment specifically tailored to help Ukraine repel the Russians in the east, from howitzers to armoured personnel carriers and helicopters.

Following its pullout from northern Ukraine earlier this month after failing to take the capital, Russia is refocusing on the east, with Kyiv warning of bloody new clashes to come in the Donbas region.

Seizing Donbas, where Russian-backed separatists control the Donetsk and Lugansk areas, would allow Moscow to create a southern corridor to the occupied Crimean peninsula.

But rain that has been battering the region for days could favor Ukraine in its fight against invading Russian forces, a senior Pentagon official said Thursday.

"The fact that the ground is softer will make it harder for them to do anything off of paved highways," said the official, who spoke under condition of anonymity.

Moscow's Black Sea fleet has been blockading the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, where Russian officials say they are in full control.

In what appeared to be its first official accusation of abuses targeting Russians, the Kremlin said at least six air strikes had hit residential buildings in the border region of Bryansk, wounding seven people including a toddler.

"Using two military helicopters carrying heavy weaponry, Ukrainian armed forces illegally entered Russian air space," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement that could not be immediately verified.

Russia sparked fears of a return to conflict around Kyiv on Wednesday when it threatened to attack the capital's strike command centres in retaliation for any strikes on Russian soil.

But in eastern Ukraine, civilians say they have "no rest" from bombardment, including in Severodonetsk, the last easterly city still held by Ukrainian forces.

Now little more than a ghost town, the settlement just kilometres from the front line has already buried 400 civilians, according to Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday.

"There's no electricity, no water," Maria, who lives with her husband and mother-in-law, told AFP amid a din of shelling that she said never stops.

"But I prefer to stay here, at home. If we leave, where will we go?"

Tamara Yakovenko, 61, and her 83-year-old mother had decided to run the risk of fleeing Severodonetsk, where "every 10 or 15 minutes there are bombings".

"We used to receive humanitarian aid, but now nobody remembers us. Some people try to cook outside on a fire... And boom, boom... everyone has to run back to the basement," Yakovenko said.

"All night until morning, there is no rest."

Beyond the humanitarian crisis, the war's economic consequences -- primarily surging food and fuel prices -- were "hitting hardest the world's most vulnerable people," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned in Washington.

The United Nations announced the release of $100 million to fight hunger in Yemen and six African countries at risk of famine due to the war disrupting food supply chains.

"Hundreds of thousands of children are going to sleep hungry every night while their parents are worried sick about how to feed them," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths.

"A war halfway around the world makes their prospects even worse. This allocation will save lives."

Investigators have descended on areas around Kyiv previously occupied by Russian forces, looking into reports of war crimes that Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed as "fakes".

The atrocities -- some of which were witnessed by AFP -- have led Biden to accuse Putin of genocide, a term key European partners including France and Germany have hesitated to use.

The French government, which has allocated 100 million euros for humanitarian support to victims of the conflict, said its embassy would return "very soon" to Kyiv from the western city of Lviv, where it had been relocated after the invasion.

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Senior BJP minister KS Eshwarappa decided Thursday to resign from Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's Cabinet as pressure mounted on him to quit in connection with the suicide of contractor Santosh Patil.

"I'll submit my resignation letter to the CM in Bengaluru on Friday evening," Eshwarappa told a news conference in Shivamogga, the place of his political birth. "My resignation has the sole intention of preventing embarassment to my party."

Eshwarappa's announcement came a day after he defiantly ruled out resignation even as the Opposition Congress was breathing down Bommai's neck to sack him.

It is said that Eshwarappa quit based on a directive from the BJP central leadership.

Also read: KS Eshwarappa's Days of Yore

Earlier in the day, Bommai told reporters that he won't press for Eshwarappa's resignation until a preliminary inquiry into Patil's death is done. Later, BJP national president JP Nadda is said to have called up Bommai. Then, Bommai spoke to Eshwarappa, ostensibly to convey the high command's decision.

"I wanted to quit a few days ago. But, I was asked not to hurry. So, I didn't resign. But, finally, I decided to step down to avoid causing embarassment to the central and state leaders," Eshwarappa said.

Maintaining his innocence, Eshwarappa expressed confidence of coming out clean. "I'm a great believer in Goddess Chowdeshwari. I'm confident I'll be free of all corruption charges. If I've done any mistake, let God punish me. And, I've asked the CM to probe the case thoroughly so that the truth is uncovered," he said.

Eshwarappa, the BJP's Kuruba face, will be the second BJP minister to step down in a year's time. Last March, Ramesh Jarkiholi had to resign following a sex scandal.

Bommai claimed that there was no pressure from the BJP top brass on Eshwarappa to quit. "Eshwarappa has thought this through. He told me he's confident he'll be exonerated."

Apparently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had called up Eshwarappa on April 13, a day after Patil killed himself, and asked him not to resign. It is said that Eshwarappa was to quit on that day and headed towards Bengaluru. Shah, with whom Eshwarappa is known to be close, told him that his resignation would make him and the BJP government look bad. But, as days progressed, Eshwarappa's continuation became unweildy.

Eshwarappa's resignation is also reminiscent of a similar episode when the Congress was in power and KJ George had to resign following the suicide of police officer MK Ganapathy. George returned as minister after he got a clean chit.

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Sinn Feins Ciara Ferguson has said the party will prioritise health and invest an extra 1billion into the health service if it is returned to the Executive next May.

Ms Ferguson, who is standing in the Foyle seat in the forthcoming Assembly Election said that health must be Stormont's top spending priority over the next term of office.

As to how the injection of funds would be directed, she stated that the money would help tackle waiting lists, fund cancer and mental health services as well as employ more doctors and nurses.

Ms Ferguson said: Sinn Fein will make health the Executives number one spending priority over the next three years.

We will invest an extra 1 billion pounds to tackle waiting lists, recruit doctors and nurses, and fund cancer and mental health services.

On day one after the election, Sinn Fein is ready to get back into the Executive to ensure this is delivered.

Conor Murphy proposed a Budget that would invest an extra 1 billion pounds in the health service over the next three years.

This money would help to tackle waiting lists, recruit more doctors and nurses and fund cancer and mental health services.

From day one after this election, Sinn Fein will be ready to go back to the Executive and to work together to get on with the job of transforming our health service.

Sinn Fein leader in the North, Michelle O'Neill, reiterated Ms Ferguson's pledges following a meeting with representatives from the Royal Colleges of Nurses.

She added: Sinn Fein are listening to the voices of nursing. Strengthening our health service and supporting our health and social care workers is a priority for Sinn Fein.

I have met with the Royal Colleges of Nurses and I met with domiciliary care workers who are working on the frontline in our hospitals and in the community.

We recognise the huge pressure that they and the health service are under.

That is why Sinn Fein will invest an extra 1 billion in the health service over the next three years to recruit more nurses and doctors and tackle waiting lists.

Health and social care deserve safe staffing legislation, a workforce plan, and measures to stem the increasing numbers of nurses who are leaving the service.

From day one after this election, we will be ready to go back to the Executive and work with others so that we are able to meet the health and social care needs of our citizens and our communities.
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The 2Africa subsea cable consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, has announced the first landing of the 2Africa cable  in Genoa, Italy.

More landings are planned in the coming months. The cable will eventually be extended to a total of 46 locations by the completion of the project in 2024.

Vodafone, the 2Africa landing party in Genoa, has partnered with Equinix to land the cable directly into the Equinix Carrier Neutral Data Centre (CNDC), with Retelit, described as the Italian leader in constructing tailor-made digital transformation projects, delivering the fronthaul.

As with all 2Africa cable landings, capacity will be available to service providers in Genoa on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet ecosystem.

Working with a local Italian operator, 2Africa has also developed a new terrestrial route connecting the Genoa cable landing station (CLS) directly to major CNDCs in Milan.

The 2Africa subsea cable system was announced in May 2020. Together with its Pearls extension, announced in September 2021, it is designed to deliver seamless international connectivity to approximately 3 billion people. Pearls adds 1.8 billion people to the original 1.2 billion enjoying increased connectivity. This expanded figure represents 36% of the global population and means the system will connect three continents: Africa, Europe and Asia.

At 45,000 kilometres, it will be the longest subsea cable ever deployed. The partners say that good progress on the survey work and manufacturing continues, with the 2Africa project remaining on track for completion in 2024.
Google is the most used search engine out of all the existing ones. It is used by millions of people every day for multiple queries and questions. Since so many people use it regularly Google Inc. is always testing out new features for the ease of their users. Recently Google was reported to be testing out a new feature in the search bar.The search bar is seen by many as the most important part of the search engine because it is where users type in their query that needs to be searched. So Google is now working on an update in the search bar. A Twitter user Shameem Adhikarathshared (via rustybrick ) shared a screenshot of the new update in which it could be seen that when the search bar is clicked it will drop down to show trending searches and some search topics related to a previous search.In that screenshot it could be seen that the search engine will now give the related information about a specific search rather than the users specifically asking for it. While this feature could already be seen in the mobile version of the app in the form of auto complete but it is now coming to desktop as well with some extra additions.This feature is a very helpful one because now people wont have to search for related things specifically but will have them appear in the search box after the initial search has been carried out. This feature will prove useful for people who are in a hurry and have to search about a certain topic and its relative stuff. This feature is a very useful one but it is still in its testing stages.Google has come out with many good features in the past and we hope that it will continue with them in the future as well.Read next: Google is experimenting with a new feature that will show likes on the Discover feed
A lawsuit has been filed against Google recently that accuses the company of locking users within its own designated ecosystem, reports Bloomberg The tech giant appears to be struck with the antitrust allegations by a number of organizations that claim Googles latest mapping service restrictions confine so many users.To be more specific, the companys digital mapping products were put into question that has recently been acquired via quick acquisitions in a competitive manner. The end result is a bundle of mapping services that many feel Google has started taking advantage of, once a user becomes locked in because the firm can then increase the costs of map products.The lawsuit was put forward by one California-based firm that specializes in online marketing called Dream Big, alongwith two other companies that alleged the same.Reports claim the allegations seem to focus more on Google Maps terms of service, but Directions and Places were also reportedly mentioned in the complaint.To help avoid brand confusion, Google prevents its users from using other mapping services, as stated in the terms and conditions section.The firms alleging the complaints continue to argue how these terms of conditions are a complete violation of antitrust policies and should be removed with immediate effect.Google has been the center of speculation in the past too where many feel it tries its best to get away with market dominance in an incorrect manner. Similarly, the fact that Google prevents the display of any other maps near its web page is another striking point worth mentioning.Meanwhile, a statement was recently issued by the tech giants spokesperson who blatantly disagreed with all the allegations. He mentioned how Google will strongly defend itself when the time comes.Additionally, he revealed how Google does not restrict developers from sticking to its platform, confirming that theyre free to use any other mapping service as per preference.Experts have pointed out that the lawsuit heavily draws from the report released in 2020 on how Google commands a mighty 80% share of the overall market when it comes to online mapping.Interestingly, this particular case comes just a few weeks after the countrys Justice Department increased investigations over Google and its limitations surrounding mapping data.But this is not the first time that the company is being accused of antitrust measures as so many other government officials, along with advertisers and developers accused them of doing the same. However, this particular lawsuit filed seems to be the first one filed that targets mapping services.Read next: Google has launched an app that allows Apple users to switch from iOS to Android
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Image courtesy of the Seattle Mariners [enlarge] The Mariners say the new Press Club will offer the most spectacular view of the field at T-Mobile Park.





Hot on the heels of opening day, the Seattle Mariners announced plans to build a new members-only premium Press Club, and expand the existing Diamond Club, at T-Mobile Park. The current press box, which is directly behind home plate, will be converted into a premium club with capacity for over 200 guests.





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Justice Minister nominee Han Dong-hoon speaks to reporters at the Seoul High Prosecutors Office, April 15. Yonhap





Justice Minister nominee Han Dong-hoon reiterated his opposition Friday to the ruling party's push for a bill that would deprive the prosecution of its investigative power, claiming it would only end up hurting ordinary people who lack power.







The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has been pushing for what it calls a "complete deprivation of the prosecutorial investigative right" as part of efforts to reform the powerful law enforcement agency that has long been accused of abusing its power for political and other purposes.







The DPK plans to officially propose a bill to the National Assembly within the day.







"In the end, if this bill passes, only the people without power will end up being hurt," Han told reporters as he appeared at his provisional office at the Seoul High Prosecutors Office.







Han, a close confidant of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, also warned that powerful criminals will be able to systematically avoid punishment if the prosecution loses its investigative power.







"It is only criminals that should be afraid of prosecutors doing their jobs," Han said.







Han was included in the second round of Yoon's Cabinet nominations announced Wednesday. He entered the prosecution in 2001 and is recognized for his expertise in special criminal investigations. (Yonhap)


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HONOLULU (AP)  Officials in Hawaii are expected to vote Wednesday on a new law that would require short-term rental owners on Oahu to limit tenant stays to a minimum of three months.

The Honolulu City Council is weighing the measure which was introduced at the request of Mayor Rick Blangiardi, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.





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SEATTLE  An apartment building at 1412 Summit Ave. sold this week for a bit over $8.2 million, according to King County records.

The seller was Manchester LLC, associated with investor Ron Danz, which acquired the property in 1993 for $850,000.





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Questions over Government policy on turf cutting continued on Thursday, as coalition leaders were quizzed on claims that a ban on the sale of turf has been paused.

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan had earlier rejected claims that a ban has been paused.

It came hours after Tanaiste Leo Varadkar told the Fine Gael parliamentary party that the ban has been put on hold because of rising energy prices.

The proposed ban on the commercial sale of turf is due to come into force in September, however question marks now hang over the timeline.

Speaking in Galway, Taoiseach Micheal Martin said that a resolution could be found on the issue.

He also suggested that the Government did not intend to interfere with the right of people using turf from their own bog for domestic purposes.

He said: There was an issue in terms of air quality in many towns across the country. In the early 90s, we brought in bans on smoky coals in the large cities and it had a huge impact in terms of air quality and improving peoples health.

Unfortunately, smoky coals continue to be used in many towns across the country.

The problem is legally, you cant ban smoky coals, the sale of it, without doing something in relation to other fuels.

That said, it is not our intention in terms of the basic rights that families have and people who own their own bogs, in terms of utilising turf, or indeed timber, in their domestic fires.

So I think we can find a resolution to this and there is plenty of time to do that.

Mr Ryan had said that part of the Governments climate plan is to tackle air quality issues.

He accused previous governments of fudging the issues.

Its hard and carries political risk but air pollution leaves 1,300 people a year dying prematurely and I think there is broad agreement we need to address that, Mr Ryan added.

I think there is agreement that there is legal certainty that we can only do that with the sort of mechanisms that we went to with public consultation.

Myself and Taoiseach (Micheal Martin) and the Tanaiste were talking on Monday night about this and we agreed to come back and get the details right on how we regulate (the turf ban).

Its not we are not going to put your granny in prison for burning turf, but it is getting it right and air quality improved, which is fundamental to our quality of life.

I talked to the Tanaiste again last night and we will work collectively. I am happy we can overcome that difference.

We will introduce the regulations and get it right. September is the timeline and it makes sense. It is not paused.

Mr Ryan said there will not be a blanket ban on the use of turf, but it is a measure targeting the point of sale.

The Green Party leader also said tackling climate change cannot be a party political issue.

The climate issues belongs to every party and community, he added.

Secondly, we have learned that a narrative of I am blaming you, you are the problem or what are you going to do about it and shaking your finger at someone, that doesnt work, people freeze and rightly feel who are you telling people what to do.

We have to create the better alternative option and this Government has the plans in place to do that.
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks at the Alumni-Foundation Event Center of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, April 14. AFP-Yonhap



Korea and the United States have been in talks to hold a summit between President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden around May 21 in Seoul, a source said Friday.



Korea has been pushing to have Biden visit before he travels to Japan to attend a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue meeting set to take place around May 24, the source added.



If realized, the summit would come just days after Yoon takes office, May 10, making it the earliest-ever South Korea-U.S. summit after a Korean president's inauguration.



"Nothing has been confirmed, but I understand the two sides are coordinating schedules," an official on Yoon's transition team told Yonhap News Agency.





President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol /Yonhap
Ireland's newest University, the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) has launched a special Islands Project initiative this week. The project aims to address educational, societal, economic and environmental needs of the islands within its parameters, including those off the Donegal coast. They will in collaboration with islanders and regional agencies.

Through this project, Atlantic TU aims to build a network for sustainable rural living to ensure people from the region can learn, work and live in their communities.

Representatives from county councils, tourism, renewable energy and community & enterprise development agencies across the west and north-west attended the event to discuss the needs of the nine inhabited islands off the west coast from Galway to Donegal.

President of ATU Dr Orla Flynn with attendees of the launch of the ATU Islands Project

Speaking at the launch, President of Atlantic TU, Dr Orla Flynn, said: Atlantic Technological University is uniquely located along the western and northwestern coast of Ireland, a region that includes nine inhabited islands.

Sustainability, inclusion and access to higher education are key themes for ATU and we have a strong interest in ensuring that small rural communities on the periphery of the region can be supported. This proposal is a first step for ATU to develop a greater understanding of the needs of the island communities and how ATU can support their sustainable economic, social and cultural growth and development through education and research.

Head of College ATU Sligo, Dr Brendan McCormack, added:

ATU is located in a region with a geographically dispersed population and with many small, rural, communities. To make a real difference to this region, ATU should build a research base of knowledge in order to develop a deep level of understanding of rural communities and to work on effective models to support them to grow economically, socially, culturally, educationally, through research and enterprise engagement.

The inaugural initiative of the ATU islands project is a research project on Sustainable Destination Management for Island Tourism.

The data for which will be gathered this summer utilising the European Tourism Indicator System. The ETIS model allows researchers from Atlantic TU to collaborate with island communities, tourism stakeholders, Udaras na Gaeltachta, Failte Ireland, destination managers, and local authorities, to better inform the sustainable management of island tourism destination.

Gathering baseline data on the 43 sustainable tourism indicators contained within the European Tourism Indication System (ETIS), ranging from tourist spending patterns, gender equality, inclusion and accessibility, transport impact, climate change, energy consumption, waste generation and sewage treatment, the report will provide beneficial data for planning and management considerations.

Co-supervisor of the research project and Head of Department of Heritage and Tourism, Languages and Humanities at ATU Galway City Diarmuid O Conghaile added:

Sustainable tourism in Ireland has now evolved to a stage where the measuring and monitoring of sustainable tourism indicators to facilitate evidence informed planning is essential. This evidence-informed approach to tourism planning is essential, given the impact the industry can have on the local communities, economy and environment.
Dundalk Grammar School student Isabelle Janssen was one of just 14 teenagers from across the country to be conferred with a Rotary Youth Leadership award at the European Parliaments offices in Dublin recently.

The competition, which is one of Rotary Irelands longest running youth projects, rewards young people with clear leadership potential based on their extra-curricular activities. It is run in conjunction with the EU offices in Dublin and Euroscola in Strasbourg.

Isabelle received the award from Rotary Ireland District Governor David Murray and Patrick ORiordan, PR Officer with the European Parliament. Isabelle was sponsored by Dundalk Rotary Club.

Before the competition, Isabelle whos from the Netherlands was involved in creating an exhibition to appeal to youth at the Van Abbe Museum.

She is currently Chairperson of her school's Student Council, contributes to and edits a newspaper with former classmates and is represented her school at this year's Young Economist of the Year competition.

She said she picked up valuable research and presentation skills from participating in the competition.

This competition has helped me develop useful presentation and interpersonal skills, while also enabling me to make many new friends from all over, Isabelle said.

Additionally, the competition allowed me to explore two great cities together with the other participants.

Usually, the award winners enjoy an exciting, six day, all expenses paid, team building trip to Belfast, Dublin and Strasbourg. This includes visits to The Titanic Centre, a tour of Stormont, a visit to the European Parliament offices in Dublin and a tour of Dail Eireann.

Participants then fly out to Strasbourg for the highlight of the trip, a full day of debating a variety of motions at Euroscola at the European Parliament with about five hundred other students from all over Europe. On the final day the winners enjoy a sightseeing trip around Strasbourg.

Unfortunately, this year due to Covid the Strasbourg element and some of the tours did not proceed.

However, the group did visit The Titanic Centre and City Hall in Belfast and went on tours of Dublin Castle and Trinity College in Dublin. The final part of the trip was a visit to the EUs Dublin office, Europe House and a showcase event in The Freemasons Hall in Dublin city centre where the students presented on a range of issues to a panel including Green MEP Ciaran Cuffe.

Some of the topics the students presented on included European Security, Climate Change and the Environment, and Migration.

David Murray, District Governor of Rotary Ireland said the standard of the presentations was hugely impressive.

I have to compliment Isabelle and all of this years winners for the extremely high standard of their presentations.

This year the programme was unfortunately curtailed due to covid but the response of this group to that and everything else covid has thrown at them has been really impressive. The resilience and enthusiasm they have shown in their local communities and during this programme reflects so well on all our young people.

Hopefully the full programme will be back up and running next year and I would urge as many young people as possible from every part of the island to take part Mr Murray said.

The Rotary Youth Leadership Development Competition is open to 16- and 17-year-olds who are living on the island of Ireland.
A man who told gardai who came upon him with a bloodied face that he had fallen and hit a kerb, later presented himself at the Garda station to say he had been assaulted at a house party, Dundalk district court heard last week.

Dean Reid (27) with an address at Beau Park, The Loakers, Blackrock was charged with assault causing harm arising out of the incident at Clontygora Court, Dundalk on December 12th 2020.

The court heard last Wednesday that two days after his encounter with the gardai, the injured party had called to Dundalk Garda Station to report that he had been assaulted and named the defendant as his assailant.

Sgt. Jimmy McGovern said the victim had a bruised lip and lacerations to his left eye brow and the bridge of his nose.

In evidence, the man said it was the first time he had met Dean Reid.

He told how he has been left with a scar on his forehead and he's been left with anxiety.

He added he was scared to go to the shop near Oriel Park in case I'm jumped or assaulted.

The Defence solicitor said there had been a perception of the injured party causing an 'irritation' and something inappropriate had happened and his client had struck the victim, but stressed that it was accepted that there wasn't anything untoward involving the complainant.

Judge Eirinn McKiernan in putting the case back to May 18th for compensation to be paid.

She added it was a totally unprovoked attack which had a serious effect on the victim.
Health and Welfare Minister nominee Chung Ho-young answers reporters' questions from the office of the preparation team for his National Assembly hearing, set up in Seoul's Seodaemun District, Friday. Joint Press Corps









By Jung Da-min







Nominees for the cabinet of the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration are facing mounting allegations of corruption and questions over their qualifications, portending bumpy rides at their National Assembly confirmation hearings.







As of Thursday, the president-elect wrapped up the nominations for his Cabinet, including of the prime minister and 18 ministers.







Chung Ho-young, the nominee to lead the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is facing snowballing allegations that he used his influence when he was the head of the Kyungpook National University Hospital to help his daughter and son transfer to Kyungpook National University School of Medicine in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Chung took office as the hospital chief in August 2017 after being deputy chief from 2015 to 2016.







According to the medical school's transfer data acquired by the office of Rep. Kim Won-i of the liberal ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Friday, Chung's son transferred through a "preferential transfer" process along with 16 other applicants in 2018. Chung's son was the only applicant from within Kyungpook National University, while the others were all from universities in other regions. The preferential transfer process was newly introduced that year for students who graduated from high schools or studied at universities in Daegu or North Gyeongsang Province.







To prove that he was qualified, he presented two academic articles in electrical engineering that listed him as a co-author. But critics cast doubt as to the authenticity of his authorship because he was the only undergraduate among the other co-authors who were professors, masters or doctoral students.







Earlier in 2017, Chung's daughter also transferred to the medical school through the college transfer system. She was the only applicant to receive a perfect score in one section of the oral portion of the exam.







Her volunteer activity records, which were screened in the application process, also raised questions. She claimed to have taken part in volunteer activities such as transporting patients at Kyungpook National University Hospital in January and July 2016, just a few months before submitting her application for transfer. Chung's son also claimed to have taken part in similar volunteer activities at the same university hospital in January 2015, January 2016 and July 2016.







The allegations surrounding Chung's children's transfers to the medical school are similar to those surrounding former Justice Minister Cho Kuk's daughter having received offers of admissions to Korea University and Pusan National University School of Medicine based on falsified documents. The admissions offers were retroactively revoked recently.







Meanwhile, other minister nominees named by the president-elect are facing other corruption allegations and criticism.







Prime Minister nominee Han Duck-soo answers reporters at the office of the preparation team for his National Assembly hearing, set up in Seoul's Jongno District, Friday. Joint Press Corps





As for prime minister nominee Han Duck-soo, he is being denounced for his wife's asset increase of about 1.2 billion won ($980,000) over the past decade, during which time, she was a full-time housewife.







According to media reports, one painting she made was sold to Hyosung Group for 16 million won, while three were sold to Booyoung Group for 23 million won. Yet, how her wealth increased to 1.2 billion won between 2012 and 2022 while stating her profession as a "housewife," is unclear.







The National Assembly hearing for Han's nomination will be held on April 25 and 26, based on Friday's agreement between the DPK and the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), and will be followed by hearings for the other nominees.







Justice Minister nominee Han Dong-hoon speaks to reporters at the office of the preparation team for his National Assembly hearing, set up in Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho District, Friday. Yonhap





Yoon's nomination of one of his closest aides, senior prosecutor Han Dong-hoon, as the justice minister is similarly embroiled in a heated controversy.







Critics have said Han only has experience carrying out investigations and planning as a prosecutor, while lacking expertise in judicial affairs administration. Moreover, they raised concerns that Yoon naming one of his closest aides to a major judiciary position would hurt the separation of powers between the presidential office and the prosecution.







There are concerns over some other minister nominees as well, related to their past inappropriate comments as high-ranking official candidates.







Lee Chang-yang, the nominee to lead the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said in a 2010 media column that introducing a "fine" to punish couples who do not have children despite their financial stability could be a policy measure to counter Korea's low birthrate. While critics accused him of viewing humans as procreation machines, Lee argued that he was just introducing a policy alternative from an economist's approach.







Gender Equality and Family Minister nominee Kim Hyun-sook said in a 2021 media column that the Moon Jae-in administration had increased the gender budget so much that it was at a similar level as the national defense budget. But critics said the point of the gender budget category is to ensure that public funds are being used properly in terms of gender equality, meaning that many different budgets directly or indirectly related to gender equality are included within the overall category of the gender budget.







Health minister nominee Chung Ho-young also wrote in a 2012 column that giving birth is an "act of patriotism," which critics see as a distorted way of blaming women for social problems stemming from Korea's chronically low birthrate.






EBRD new green financing facility in Turkey to strengthen green investments

53.5 million loan to TSKB co-financed by the Clean Technology Fund

Investment to promote Turkeys transition to sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient economy

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is supporting Turkeys transition to an environmentally sustainable, low-carbon and climate-resilient economy through a new Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) in the country.

Co-financed by EBRD and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi (TSKB) will receive up to 53.5 million loan, the first green credit line under the newly established GEFF Turkey.

The new facility consists of 500 million finance from EBRD, concessional financing from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and grants from the CTF and TurkeyEBRD Cooperation Fund. It builds on the success of the Turkey Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (TurSEFF) that has been running in Turkey since 2010.

Through this loan, TSKB will extend green credit lines to companies to enhance their energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate resilience measures.

In addition, TSKB will receive a technical assistance package to support its corporate climate governance (CCG) and on-lending practices. Technical assistance with regards to CCG will focus on practices and recommendations developed by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). TSKB is a long-standing EBRD partner bank and a listed private sector development and investment bank in Turkey.

EBRD has been active in Turkey through its Sustainable Energy Financing Facilities (SEFFs) since 2010 with the launch of the Turkey Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (TurSEFF). This was followed by Mid-size Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (MidSEFF) later that year and Turkish Residential Energy Efficiency Financing Facility (TuREEFF) in 2014, with each product targeting a different sector and with different eligibility criteria to kick-start and develop the delivery of green finance.

By integrating the various products into one comprehensive framework, GEFF Turkey will further facilitate serving local financial institutions and meeting their shifting priorities. It will also enable EBRD to expand into new fields of cooperation, namely corporate climate governance and equal access to finance.

To date, a total of 2.8 billion in financing has been made available by the EBRD and other international finance institutions through the green financing facilities in Turkey, to lend onto their customers and clients for investment in high-performing green technologies and an additional 1 billion has been obtained in private sector investments.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Turkey since 2009 and to date it has invested more than 15 billion in the country through 372 projects, with the overwhelming majority of those investments in the private sector.
At least 306 people have died after the heaviest rainfall in 60 years caused devastating flooding around the South African city of Durban.

That number makes the storm the deadliest in South African history, according to calculations by AFP.

This is a catastrophe of enormous proportions, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said when speaking to a community impacted by the flooding, as AFP reported.

The flooding began early in the week in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, Reuters reported. The extreme rainfall lasted three days, with some places seeing more than a foot of precipitation and others receiving six-months of rain in one day, CBS News reported.

[T]he Province of KwaZulu-Natal experienced what is one of the worst weather storms in the history of our country, the provincial government wrote on Facebook. The heavy rainfall that has descended on our land over the past few days, has wreaked untold havoc and unleashed massive damage to lives and infrastructure.

The rainfall led to mudslides that destroyed homes and bridges and blocked roadways, CBS News reported. The storm also downed 900 cell towers belonging to two major networks. Emergency workers were still unable to access some remote areas by Thursday to perform rescues. All told, the regional government estimated that the storm had caused more than $100 million worth of damage. The province will receive funding, as it will be declared a disaster zone.

But some of the loss can never be calculated. One man named Nonkululeko Mdlalose told the president that he had lost 10 family members when the waters rose Monday night. Another man named Meli Sokela said he lost his child when his house collapsed in the flood.

My neighbours, they tried to assist me, it took two hours. After two hours I survived but unfortunately my child did not survive, he said, as Reuters reported.

The storm comes as a study found that the climate crisis made a series of southern African storms in the first part of 2022 wetter than they would have been otherwise, as BBC News reported. Within a six-week period, the region was inundated with three cyclones and two tropical storms.

The rainfall associated with such storms has become more likely and more intense, Dr. Friederike Otto from Imperial College London said, as BBC News reported. What we can say for sure is, the damages of such storms have become worse.

In general, the climate crisis makes rainfall more extreme because warmer air can hold more moisture.

This disaster is part of climate change, Ramaphosa said, as The Guardian reported. We no longer can postpone what we need to do to deal with climate change. It is here, and our disaster management capability needs to be at a higher level.
With the Delhi High Court refusing to interfere in the matter of Delhi University's proposed offline exams for the even semester to be held in May and June, students of the varsity have now approached the Ministry of Education with a memorandum of demands to conduct the exams online in the Open Book Exam (OBE).

Some universities across the country such as Allahabad University, which is conducting exams for final-year students online in the OBE format, and Banaras Hindu University, which is conducting exams in the hybrid mode, were forced to rollback their earlier resolution of offline exams for this semester after large-scale protests from the students. At Allahabad University, students had reportedly doused themselves with kerosene during the agitation. Jamia Millia Islamia had also announced that online exams will be conducted for students who attended their classes online. The Chhattisgarh government has also announced that exams in universities will be conducted online or in the hybrid mode only. This decision was taken as per the feedback from institutions and students.

Given these instances, the protesting students at DU believe that offline exams put them at a disadvantage since their scores are likely to be lower than those writing open book exams online. Therefore, on April 12, when students gathered at the Jantar Mantar to register their protest against the Delhi University administration, a delegation of them was taken to meet some officials at the Ministry of Education. There, the students demanded that either online and hybrid exams be held by all universities or by none, in the interest of equality. "They have heard us and they did agree that it was unfair. We have been called for a follow-up meeting with the Ministry on Monday, April 18," says Ankur Dhama, who was a part of the delegation.

Apart from the method being unfair, the students also claim that they do not have the means to stay in Delhi for a month to write the exam. "We brought up the matter of accommodation with the university officials. They did not put in the effort to build more hostels and that's why students have to rely on PGs, which are now charging anywhere around Rs 21,000 as rent, instead of the Rs 7,000 they were charging before the lockdown," says Dham.

"This is particularly impacting foreign students from countries such as Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Ghana and others, where students are facing a financial crunch after the pandemic and cannot afford to stay in Delhi for a month to write the exams," he adds.

Accommodation issues aside, students complain that they have been given just one month of offline classes to really understand concepts over the six months of the semester. "In fact, online classes are still going on for a few courses, and study material hasn't been shared for all courses," says Dhama, who is the State President, Delhi, of the Indian National Students' Organisation (INSO).
DC Attorney General Karl Racine has filed a motion (PDF) asking the court to reconsider its decision to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit he filed against Amazon in 2021. In the original lawsuit, Racine accused the e-commerce giant of "illegally abusing and maintaining its monopoly power by controlling prices across the online retail market." Third-party sellers that use Amazon's Marketplace have to abide by the company's agreement, which includes a fair pricing policy. If they sell their goods for lower prices elsewhere, Amazon could remove their items' buy box, suspend their shipment option and even terminate their selling privileges for "serious or repeated cases."

The company stopped telling sellers back in 2019 in the midst of antitrust scrutiny that they couldn't sell their products for cheaper prices elsewhere. However, the company later added back a clause under its fair pricing policy that's nearly identical. Racine argued that since sellers price their goods with Amazon's cut in mind, the policy artificially raises prices even on sellers' own websites and on competing e-commerce platforms.

Amazon told us when Racine first filed the lawsuit that the Attorney General had it "exactly backwards." The spokesperson said: "Amazon takes pride in the fact that we offer low prices across the broadest selection, and like any store we reserve the right not to highlight offers to customers that are not priced competitively. The relief the AG seeks would force Amazon to feature higher prices to customers, oddly going against core objectives of antitrust law." The Superior Court of the District of Columbia sided with Amazon and threw out Racine's complaint back in March.

Now, the DC AG wants another chance at proving that Amazon violated antitrust laws. His office's amended complaint includes additional details about how the company's policy violates DC code, mostly focusing on how it "causes prices to District residents to be higher than they otherwise would be" and how it inhibits sellers from competing with Amazon's own products.

Racine said in a statement about the motion he filed:




The National Assembly approved a bill Friday calling for an independent investigation into a sexual violence case in the Air Force that led to the suicide of the victim.







Master Sgt. Lee Ye-ram, killed herself in late May 2021 after reporting that she had been sexually abused by a male colleague. The perpetrator was sentenced to nine years in prison in December.







The proposal was passed unanimously by 234 lawmakers attending the plenary session, while the victim's father watched from the public gallery.







The bill calls for a special counsel probe into the sexual abuse case as well as alleged secondary offenses, and suspected cover-up attempts by the Air Force and the defense ministry.







Her death caused public fury and forced the then Air Force chief of staff to resign. A total of 15 suspects were indicted in the case, and 38 people, including the suspects, faced disciplinary measures.







The ministry and the Air Force were criticized for failing to take measures to protect the victim, and for some officials who allegedly attempted to cover up the incident.







The ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the main opposition People Power Party sought to pass the bill earlier this month, but they failed due to differences over the process of appointing a special prosecutor. (Yonhap)


Elon Musk, who until the last week or so, was known on Twitter mainly for trolling and incurring the wrath of the SEC, has now set his sights on taking over the platform. Speaking at a TED conference on Thursday, the Tesla CEO positioned his $43 billion hostile takeover bid not as something he wants to do, but as something he feels is important to the function of democracy.

It's important to the function of the United States as a free country and many other countries, he said. Civilizational risk is decreased, the more we can increase the trust of Twitter as a public platform.

That may sound like a lofty goal  and its not that different from how Jack Dorsey and other Twitter leaders have talked about the platform  but Musks actual ideas for making Twitter more trustworthy are bizarre and sometimes contradictory. It suggests he has little understanding of how Twitter works, much less how to run the company.

During the interview, Musk repeatedly stated he believed speech on Twitter should only be constrained by whats legal. Twitter, he said, should err on the side of, if in doubt, let the speech exist. He said that permanent bans should be used sparingly. A good sign as to whether there's free speech is, [if] someone you don't like is allowed to say something you don't like, and if that is the case, then we have free speech.

Besides being a somewhat narrow view of free speech, Musks own track record would appear to be at odds with this statement. While he has zero experience running a social media company, his actions as Teslas CEO suggest there are many scenarios in which he is notably less committed to absolute free speech.

As Quartz points out , Musk has reportedly fired numerous Tesla workers who disagree with him. Recently, one employee was shown the door for posting videos to his personal YouTube channel that depicted flaws in Teslas self-driving software running on his own vehicle. Musk also reportedly tried to force a law firm, hired by Tesla and SpaceX, to fire an associate who had previously worked for his arch-nemesis the SEC, in an apparent retaliation for the lawyers involvement with the agencys investigation of Musk. Incidentally, Tesla has faced allegations of discrimination and is currently contending with a lawsuit from the state of California over its treatment of Black employees.

Trust and safety experts were also quick to point out that a lack of content moderation actually has a chilling effect on free speech. Effective moderation is not inherently in conflict with free speech, Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebooks former head of civic integrity tweeted. It is required for people to feel free to speak.

This is more than just theoretical. Just ask former CEO Dick Costolo who famously presided over one of the most toxic eras in Twitter history thanks to a hands-off approach to content moderation. It was under his tenure as CEO that Gamergate and other targeted harassment campaigns were able to drive scores of users off the platform. Costolo later admitted that his failure to deal with trolls was a huge mistake.

Others pointed out that less moderation would quickly result in Twitter being overrun with spam and other shady  yet entirely legal  content. Even Musk seemed to contradict himself on this point, saying that a top priority would be to rid Twitter of the spam and scam bots and bot armies that frequently impersonate him.

Away from the culture war battles over "free speech," Twitter is facing significant challenges of its own. The company is still in the middle of a big shift , changing many of its core features in an effort to find new sources of revenue. It still has aggressive growth targets for users and revenue that would prove challenging even for seasoned Twitter insiders  which Musk is not.

And Musk doesnt even seem to know what he actually wants. He acknowledged that he was unsure of if he would be able to pull off actually buying Twitter (other shareholders seem to agree on that point) and claimed to be unconcerned with making money from his investment. He claimed to have a plan B, but didnt share details. He also admitted that his tweets are little more than a stream of consciousness he sometimes composes while on the toilet .

As with so much else he does, its impossible to tell if he really wants to fully control Twitter or if all this is yet another elaborate troll. It could be both.

I do think this will be somewhat painful, he mused. On that, at least, hes spot on.
Samsung's Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 has arrived in the US market today as a 2-in-1 version of the Chromebook 2, with a price and features tailored for students. The key feature is a flip-around 2,560 x 1,600 WQXGA 12.4-inch touch display that can output 340 nits of brightness, making it decently viewable in bright sunlight. Depending on the position, that lets you use it in laptop, tent or flat tablet modes.

It's designed to be durable and shock resistant and is relatively lightweight at 1.28 kg (about 2.8 pounds), with a relatively slim 16.9mm profile and smallish bezels. Connection-wise, you get a pair of USB Type-C, one USB 3.2 type A, a microSD slot and a headphone/mic port. For any remote learning activities, it offers a decent 720P front-facing webcam.

Samsung

The WiFi 6 feature should deliver fast connection speeds at school or in the dorm. If you want even better connectivity and have a mobile plan that allows for extra devices, you can add LTE connectivity. Samsung also offers some Galaxy-related features like Nearby Share and Phone Hub that lets you control your smartphone, even if it's buried in a backpack.

Aside from that, the Chromebook 2 360 isn't exactly a spec monster. It comes with 4GB of LPDDR4x RAM (8GB optional), up to 128GB of storage, an Intel Celeron N4500 CPU (with Intel UHD graphics) and a 45.5 Wh battery. Those specs are absolutely fine for Chrome OS and its ecosystem of Chrome and Android apps, however. The Samsung Galaxy Chromebook 2 360 goes on sale today starting at $430 for the 4GB/64GB WiFi 6 model. We don't have pricing on the LTE model yet, but it's an 80 (about $100) upgrade in the UK.
You might not be thrilled with in-game advertising, but you might soon see more of it. Insider sources (sub. required) claim Microsoft is developing a program to help marketers place ads in free-to-play Xbox games. Companies could buy from an ad inventory to secure space on virtual billboards. It's not clear if this would extend to character skins or video rolls, but Microsoft is apparently crafting a "private marketplace" to limit ads to brands that won't disrupt gameplay.

Microsoft is reportedly still pinpointing ad technology firms that would build the catalog and cooperate on placement. The debut might not take long, though, as the program could launch by the third quarter (that is, summer).

The company declined to confirm or deny the plans. In a statement to Insider, a spokesperson said Microsoft was constantly striving to "improve the experience" for developers and players but didn't have "anything further to share."

The program could rankle gamers worried about ads for real-world products finding their way into fictional universes. However, the focus on free-to-play titles might prove crucial. This could help developers make money from free games without leaning too heavily on paid content like skins and season passes. That, in turn, might persuade creators to make Xbox-centric games rather than building for the PlayStation or Switch.
Furrows in a Field: The Unexplored Life of H D Deve Gowda by Sugata Srinivasaraju, New Delhi: Penguin Random House, 2021; pp 600, `799.

I really cannot remember when was the last time I read such a lively biography of an Indian politician. I have seen and heard former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda at events organised in Parliament or in Delhi and other cities. I can say without hesitation that, like most North Indians, I also saw him as a stoic kind of politician. However, as a journalist, I was well aware of some of the best aspects of Deve Gowda as well as some of his mistakes. But his entire life and long political journey with several turning pointshis rise as a politician, then chief minister, and finally Prime Ministerhad not been as well-informed as was reconstructed in the volume under reviewFurrows in a Field: The Unexplored Life of H D Deve Gowda.

To countless people like us, this book provides a wide-ranging and truthful account about the personality, capabilities, and mindset of a former Prime Minister of our country. This book is not just a biography of Deve Gowda or an evaluation of his political personality and his governments policies, but it is also a factual and objective history of contemporary politics and society of India.
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Needless to mention, violence operates through the contradictory disposition. Arguably, it registers its destructive impact on the individual and their moral and social sensibility following either the patient and rational or the impatient and irrational mode. In its patient articulation, violence produced by the socially dominant forces (caste and patriarchy) for lower caste persons and women assumes the naturalised form of habit. It is naturalised, normalised, and routined over several decades and even centuries.

Violence, in another sense, also follows the patient mode inasmuch as it benumbs social sensibility when members of the caste-, race-, and gender-driven society passively or indirectly participate in watching the act of physical violence that is occasionally but outrageously tossed around by dominant social forces. Violence that moves with creeping patience is enacted by the tormentor with vicarious coolness, thus effectively causing the victims everyday forms of humiliation. Thus, humiliation that morally incarcerates the victim ultimately leads to social death where they are morally dead on account of them being consumed in utter servility. Thus, violence gets subsumed in the structure of superiority and inferiority. The resistance against such structural violence creates new forms of humiliation that are the results of Dalit and womens assertion for dignity and self-respect. Such assertions do create moral and social discomfort for the dominant forces, who thereupon seek to use social boycott to quell the assertion.
Is there an ethical litmus test that qualifies researchers to do ethnographic research in conflict zones?

In ethnographic research, there is an ongoing conflict between how the researchers comprehend the social world of the communities they study and how they acknowledge, understand, and make sense of their own social world. This conflict and the challenges it poses get magnified when conducting ethnographic research in politically volatile environments.

There have been many academic controversies in the past regarding ethical incompetence. Recently, the University of California San Diego dissociated itself from anthropologist Saiba Verma, the author of The Occupied Clinic: Militarism and Care in Kashmir (2020), after she was accused of unethical conduct during her research in Kashmirconcealing crucial information about her family. Her father had been a part the Indian states coercive apparatus serving in the same conflict zone. Concealing such personal information in ethnographic research complicates the idea of informed consent and demands a problematisation of the personal. Had Verma revealed the crucial personal information, would she have been able to collect data? All the possibilities of this question must be contextualised before labelling her research as ethical malpractice or otherwise. Personal information that may impact the data collection process in any form must be disclosed to the respondents, and concealing such information is an ethical tragedy. However, I am not suggesting that any researcher with a less-than-ideal background be disqualified, putting an end to all possibilities of scholarship in conflict zones; rather, I want to raise a more critical question: How does the field determine the suitability of a researcher by destructing the notion of personal and placing ethical limits?
In the Donetsk direction, the enemy, supported by aircraft and artillery, continues its offensive in certain directions. The main efforts are focused on controlling the settlements of Popasna, Rubizhne, Severodonetsk, and Slovyansk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky noted that 95 percent of all buildings in Mariupol have already been destroyed. Russian occupiers launched 34 missile and artillery strikes on Kharkiv districts during the day. For the first time in the last 10 days, Sumy Region was also shelled. Some of the border settlements were hit with artillery and mortars.
A Russian sailor salutes on the bow of Missile Cruiser Moskva, left, as crew of Russian patrol ship Pitliviy, right, prepare to moor the vessel, in Sevastopol, Crimea, March 30, 2014. The Moskva was built in Ukraine during the Soviet era and was the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet in its war with Ukraine. AP-Yonhap





The flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, the guided-missile cruiser Moskva that became a potent target of Ukrainian defiance in the opening days of the war, sank Thursday after it was heavily damaged in the latest setback to Moscow's invasion.







Ukrainian officials said their forces hit the vessel with missiles, while Russia acknowledged a fire aboard the Moskva but no attack. U.S. and other Western officials could not confirm what caused the blaze.







The loss of the warship named for the Russian capital is a devastating symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital, Kyiv.







In his nightly video address to the nation, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy alluded to the sinking as he told Ukrainians they should be proud of having survived 50 days under attack when the Russians "gave us a maximum of five."







Listing the many ways Ukraine has defended against the invasion, he noted "those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it's to the bottom" of the sea. It was his only reference to the missile cruiser.







The Russian Defense Ministry said the ship sank in a storm while being towed to a port. Russia earlier said the flames on the ship, which would typically have 500 sailors aboard, forced the entire crew to evacuate. Later it said the blaze had been contained.







The Moskva had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal reduces Russia's firepower in the Black Sea. It's also a blow to Moscow's prestige in a war already widely seen as a historic blunder. Now entering its eighth week, the invasion has stalled amid resistance from Ukrainian fighters bolstered by weapons and other aid sent by Western nations.







During the first days of the war, the Moskva was reportedly the ship that called on Ukrainian soldiers stationed on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender in a standoff. In a widely circulated recording, a soldier responded: "Russian warship, go (expletive) yourself."







The Associated Press could not independently verify the incident, but Ukraine and its supporters consider it an iconic moment of defiance. The country recently unveiled a postage stamp commemorating it.







The news of the flagship overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Moscow's forces have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war _ at a horrific cost to civilians.







Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that 1,026 Ukrainian troops surrendered at a metals factory in the city. But Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, rejected the claim, telling Current Time TV that "the battle over the seaport is still ongoing today."







It was unclear how many forces were still defending Mariupol.







Russian state television broadcast footage that it said was from Mariupol showing dozens of men in camouflage walking with their hands up and carrying others on stretchers. One man held a white flag.







Mariupol has been the scene of the some the war's worst suffering. Dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders are holding out against a siege that has trapped well over 100,000 civilians in desperate need of food, water and heating. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told AP in an interview Thursday that people are being "starved to death" in the besieged city.






Tomorrow at sundown, the holiday of Passover begins.

This is the time when the Jewish people celebrate our freedom from slavery in Egypt--when we escaped the Pharaohs who killed our first born male children and treated us poorly for over 400 years.

For the last two years, we've had to downgrade the celebration--COVID would not allow to gather together to retell the story of leaving Egypt, trekking through the desert, and finally winding up in the Holy Land. This year, though COVID still lurks in the shadows, but we can finally meet together for this occasion.

But our celebration this year is subdued because of what is going on in Ukraine. The parallels between what happened in ancient times and what is going on in Eastern Europe are striking. We see innocent women and children slaughtered for no reason. We see cities lying in ruin.

But we also see a people who will not give in. They are fighting back and pushing back the enemy. They have tasted freedom and they aren't going back to slavery of any sort.

Poet Emma Lazarus said, " Until all of us are free, we are none of us free."

On the eve of Passover 5782, we hold the people of Ukraine in our thoughts are we celebrate our freedom. And this year we say, " Next year in a free Ukraine. "

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Contact me to find out how you can get heard above the noise--even in a crisis situation.
Jacob Bryant / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

In honor of National Park Week, admission will be free on Saturday at all 400 national parks, including in Texas.

National Park Week runs from Saturday to April 24. Some parks normally charge an entry fee for each vehicle or individual, but that cost will be waived on Saturday.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  A Rhode Island man who according to authorities helped burn a Providence police cruiser during a night of vandalism in the summer of 2020 has pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit arson.

In exchange for his guilty plea on Thursday, Nicholas Scaglione, 32, of Cranston, faces from 30 months to 46 months in prison at sentencing scheduled for July 14.
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico  The governors of Mexican border states are lining up to pledge that theyll increase security measures at commercial crossings as they seek a resumption of normal trade between Texas and Mexico.

Governors and senior officials in the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas said Thursday that they are seeking agreements with Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot that will allow him to rescind his April 6 order for state troopers to perform safety inspections on all commercial traffic in an effort to root out migrant and drug smuggling operations.

The stepped up inspections have led to delays of hours and even days for some commercial truckers trying to cross the border, many with perishable goods that end up on the tables of Americans.

Gov. Miguel Angel Riquelme Solis of Coahuila state said in an interview Thursday that the snarled bridge traffic in his state is dire, with daily economic losses estimated at $8 million. He said hes anxious to meet with Abbott, saying there has been communication with his office.

Were just waiting for confirmation for a meeting in person, or over the phone, Zoom, whatever works best, said Riquelme, adding that his state has stepped up operations along its border with Eagle Pass and Del Rio to better coordinate with U.S. officials on the problem of immigration. In reality we dont have the problem of security that he [Abbott] is talking about, but I look forward to speaking to the governor. Im ready to go to Austin, Eagle Pass, or Del Rio. We need to resume normal trade.

Thursday morning, Chihuahua Gov. Maria Eugenia Campos Galvan was meeting by phone with Abbott in an effort to reach an agreement, said spokesman Carlos Omar Barranco.

Omar Ornelas, MBR / Associated Press

The conversation comes as days of snarled commercial traffic appear to have largely eased up. Commercial traffic was largely flowing normal Thursday along the Texas-Mexico border, with waits up to three hours in the Juarez area to no wait times in Laredo and less than an hour in Pharr.

In the state of Tamaulipas, state spokesman Aldo Hernandez said the governors office has also been in touch with Abbotts office about a possible meeting Thursday or Friday.

Wednesday, Abbott and Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Alejandro Garcia Sepulveda signed what both men called a historic agreement that would lift Abbotts extra level of inspection if Nuevo Leon expanded its own inspections efforts on the Mexican side, something Garcia said the state began doing on Monday with the help of Mexicos National Guard.

____
The night before I spoke with Pati Jinich, the celebrated chef, cookbook author and TV personality, shed had chipotle turkey meatballs for dinner.

Its a staple in her Chevy Chase, Maryland, home, where she tapes one of her PBS shows.

It was a busy day, judging from the number of people who rang her doorbell throughout our conversation.

It ranged from her new book, Treasures of the Mexican Table: Classic Recipes, Local Secrets; her PBS borderlands show, green-lit for a second season; the 10th season of Patis Mexican Table; to her familys Jewish Mexican heritage.

Whats clear as Jinich speaks, irrepressibly, is that she has found a way to weave parts of her former life as an academic and Latin American policy analyst into her work as a cultural ambassador.

Food can make that happen. At the right place and the right time, good food, especially, can serve democracy and diplomacy.

Jinich  pronounced HEEN-ich  has turned to the borderlands of late, becoming its newest champion, seeing it as more than an in-between space mythologized as one solely of danger, drugs, trafficking and corruption.

Thats not a place the people of the borderlands recognize, nor the one Jinich has embraced.

Distinct regions hug both sides of the border, creating regional dishes that have traveled far beyond  from Washington state to Washington, D.C.

Yet even Mexicans dont know enough about the differences along the almost 2,000-mile stretch, she said, pointing to the recipes and stories in Treasures, whose soups, salsas and seafood dishes attest to regional differences on the micro level, differing from rancho to rancho and casera to casera.

The borderlands have given us iconic dishes and trends  from the nacho, born at the Victory Club in Piedras Negras, to what Jinich says will be the next big thing: chilorio.

It hails from Sinaloa, best known as the home of drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman Loera. But its Mexicos breadbasket, Jinich said.

And its chilorio is about to become extremely popular.

People are going to love it, she said of the adobo-seasoned pulled pork, akin to a sloppy Joe mixture that can star in tacos, tortas, nachos and quesadillas.

Then she pulls the camera lens back for a wider view.

The interesting thing about the United States and Mexico is that were so close, she said. We depend on each other so much. Its obvious.

While the climate between the two might have been worse one president ago, she says that even those who profess dislike for Mexico enjoy taco night and taco trucks.

Mexican restaurants are full, she said, and the reality is, If you want tacos, you need Mexicans.

Earlier this year, Jinich told the Houston Chronicles Greg Morago that Mexican food is becoming completely borderless with authentic dishes being created north of the border.

It has made Mexican food bigger.

Jinich also sees the borderlands as diversity magnets, noting the influences of Lebanese, Japanese, Chinese and Syrians.

The Mexico City native first lived in Dallas, where she began cooking by befriending Mexican cooks shopping in Dallas supermarkets. She asked them what they were planning to cook with the chiles in their carts.

Jinich is now author of three cookbooks, host of two PBS food shows and has been named one of the 100 Greatest Cooks of All Time by Epicurious and Bon Appetite.

Because of her unscripted prime-time docuseries La Frontera with Pati Jinich, the Webb County Heritage Foundation named her culinary ambassador of the Republic of the Rio Grande.

The republic was created in 1840 and lasted 283 days.

We keep evolving.

This weekend. Jinich will celebrate Passover and make her grandmothers gefilte fish, a dish with a Veracruz-style sauce.

Meanwhile, Muslim families will break their fast at their Ramadan feasts.

This Saturday, Ill host about 15 people for an early Easter celebration around Texas rib-eye steaks, Kiolbassa sausage and lots of fresh salads.

The staple of every celebration at my house  salsa and guacamole  will be served.

In this old city thats part of the borderlands, too, well play Frisbee and Loteria and watch kids crack cascarones and hunt for Easter eggs.

On this weekend of sacred holidays, Jinich leaves us with a message from the borderlands that bears repeating the world over  that were far more alike than different.

eayala@express-news.net
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When Alexandra Kovalska, 15, and her brother Bazhen Kovalskyi, 12, woke to the sound of sirens on the morning of Feb. 24, they just assumed it was the TV in the next room.

They thought their grandfather, who lived in their apartment in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv with their mother, had the volume too high.

Then they realized their grandfather was still asleep and the sirens were all too real, alerting the city that the Russians had launched their long-threatened invasion. Even before the enemy was at Kyivs doorstep, nightly bombardments forced the siblings to sleep in a subway station, then leave their home and country.

With their stepmother and two stepbrothers, they traveled to western Ukraine, then into Poland. The siblings arrived this week in San Antonio, where they are now living with their aunt and uncle, Dmytro Kovalskyy and Yelizaveta Kovalska, and their cousins, Ivana and Radomyr.

(The family surnames follow the Slavic tradition of having male and female variants.)

Their stepbrothers and stepmother are still in Poland but are expected to follow them here in a few weeks. Their mother and grandfather stayed in Kyiv, which is now under a reprieve from shelling after the besiegers retreated.

The sunny kitchen of their temporary home in Stone Oak must seem a long way from the bloody war in their homeland that has gripped the worlds attention for the past two months.

With their uncle acting as interpreter, the siblings recounted harrowing days and nights in a capital city being pummeled by advancing Russian forces, and how the family group was hurriedly put on a train west to escape the fighting.

Before the invasion, they said, their parents had tried to shield them from news about the buildup of Russian troops on Ukraines eastern and northern borders  but theyd heard about it online, on TV and from other sources.

On ExpressNews.com: The drive out of besieged Mariupol was lined with bodies

Once the attacks on Kyiv began, the family sheltered in a nearby subway station, where they spent two horrifying nights huddled together as missiles exploded overhead.

The Russians waited until nightfall to attack, Kovalskyy, the uncle, explained, in an effort to demoralize the citizenry.

Jessica Phelps

They did the same thing in Syria, he said, referring to Russian airstrikes against rebel forces during the Syrian civil war of 2015.

The situation was especially bad for their mother, because their grandfather is disabled and could not leave the apartment  so each evening shed give him something to make him sleep and then return the next morning to see if he was OK, Yelizaveta Kovalska said.

As conditions worsened, it was decided Alexandra (also known as Sasha), Bazhen, their stepbrothers and stepmother would leave. Their mother opted to stay in Kyiv with their grandfather.

Their father, who serves in the Ukrainian militia, took them to the train station and was able to hurry them through chaotic crowds  shouting, Woman with four kids!  and get them on board without tickets.

The train car was so crowded on the 14-hour trip to Lviv, the largest Ukrainian city close to the Polish border, Bazhen had to stand most of the way. Complete strangers, or people they were barely acquainted with, gave them food, lodging and other help throughout the journey.

When they arrived at the train station in Lviv, for example, a woman they didnt know offered them a ride to the house of a friend of a friend, who let them stay with her for several days.

Then, another friend with a car drove them part way to the Polish border. They took a bus the rest of the way, and then had to walk across the border itself.

On ExpressNews.com: Ukrainians despair over the invasion by Russian forces

After being taken to a Polish refugee center for processing, they stayed with still another friend for several days, later moving into a small apartment in Tarczyn, about 30 minutes from Warsaw, for about a month. During that time, their stepmother in Poland and Kovalskyy in San Antonio both worked the phones to get them visas so they could fly to the United States.

On Tuesday, the siblings finally arrived in San Antonio, exhausted but happy, and were met at the airport by their U.S. cousins with big hugs and a homemade welcome sign.

In the United States for only a couple of days, the siblings havent had long to process what theyve gone through. Even at their young ages, their emotions remain raw.

Their uncle refused to completely translate Bazhens response when he was asked what he thought about the situation in Ukraine, other than to say it involved the F-word.

For her part, Alexandra said her anger is beginning to subside, especially as the two begin to settle into their new home, however temporary it might be.

Jessica Phelps

Weve meet with the local schools and are working to enroll them in classes, Kovalskyy said. We dont want them wasting their time watching cartoons.

Alexandra said shed consider staying in the U.S. permanently. Bazhen said he misses his mother, his grandfather, his cat and his friends too much and that hed eventually like to return.

rmarini@express-news.net | Twitter: @RichardMarini
To have the power to save a life, and to right a wrong, is a gift. Not exercising that power, failing to use that gift, is a dereliction of official responsibility and a washing of hands of moral responsibility.

Should Melissa Lucios execution by the state of Texas be carried out April 27, as scheduled, it will be because of the abdication of both responsibilities.

A mother of 14, Lucio was sentenced to die in 2008 after being found guilty of physical abuse leading to the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah, in Harlingen. The states evidence against Lucio rested on seven words, I guess I did it. Im responsible, wringed out of her after five hours of interrogation and despite more than 100 of her repeated assertions of innocence.

RELATED: Commentary: Biases unjustly put Lucio on death row

Not entered in the trial was evidence that the childs death may have resulted from a fall due to a disability. Child Protective Services records show no allegations or evidence that Lucio had been abusive to any of her children, but this was also ignored. The jury also wasnt allowed to hear about the lifetime of abuse Lucio suffered, beginning with a sexual assault at the age of 6 and continuing through her first marriage and then with her next partner, who reportedly repeatedly beat, raped and threatened to kill her.

At a Criminal Justice Reform Committee hearing in Austin on Tuesday, one of the jurors who convicted Lucio, Johnny Galvan, in a statement his daughter read, said that had he known these things, he would not have voted for her death. Four other jurors also have said they were wrong.

Its the uncertainty of Lucios guilt, the uncertainty of whether a crime was even committed, that has alarmed so many people, including death penalty proponents asking that her death sentence be commuted.

The Cameron County district attorney who prosecuted Lucio is now serving a 13-year federal prison sentence for bribery and extortion. The current district attorney, Luis Saenz, has the power to withdraw the execution warrant, but during the hearing he was initially adamant in his refusal to intervene, saying it would be unfair to other death row inmates, who, he sarcastically said, were also innocent.

The moral counterweight to Saenzs callousness was the committees chair, Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Dallas, who is one of a bipartisan group of 83 Texas House members to petition the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to cancel the execution. Intentionally, or coincidentally during this Holy Week hearing, Leach invoked Pontius Pilate in telling Saenz: I would just beg you, urge you on behalf of Melissa and her attorneys, but also the Legislature and a sense of justice  to push the pause button. Make no mistake: Washing your hands of the ability to make this decision yourself is very, very shocking and disappointing.

Saenz later said he believes the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals will stop the execution, but that if Lucio doesnt get a stay by a certain day, he will do what I have to do and stop it.

What?

Jay Janner, MBR / Associated Press

Saenz can stop the execution  now. He could have done it last week or last month.

The parole board will vote on Lucios clemency petition two days before her scheduled execution. If a board majority votes for clemency, Gov. Greg Abbott can grant clemency. He can also grant a one-time, 30-day reprieve.

Lucio doesnt need a reprieve, which will only extend the uncertainty and anguish. She, her family, her supporters and the cause of justice must have the threat of execution removed.

No one possesses greater and immediate power to do that than Saenz, who can withdraw the execution warrant.

Lucio deserves to live, and she deserves a new trial. If she is innocent, shes been robbed of 15 years of freedom. If shes innocent, shes been arrested, charged and given a death sentence for losing a daughter she wasnt given time to grieve.

RELATED: Preyor-Johnson: Today, and all days, faith guiding Lucio

Melissa Lucio has been a serial victim of domestic violence and sexual assault. But the greatest injustice she will suffer is if shes an innocent woman executed by the state.

To avoid this tragedy, and its unforgivable moral stain, this execution must be stopped. A womans life and the collective conscience of Texas is at stake.

Cary.Clack@express-news.net
As the faithful celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Melissa Lucio is waiting on a miracle.

Her execution is scheduled for April 27, 10 days after Easter.

On death row, Resurrection Day will be like the other 4,995 days that have passed for her, but if Texas doesnt stop her execution, Lucio wants more control over her last moments. Attorneys are fighting for Lucios life and religious liberty.

Lucios faith in God has never been as strong, nor has the number of people praying and working for her clemency and religious freedom been so large.

Earlier this month, I wrote about Lucio, the 53-year-old Harlingen mother of 14 whose Innocence Project attorneys have raised compelling questions about her prosecution and conviction for the 2007 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Mariah. Concerns include a coerced confession, a false autopsy report, regretful jury members, an ineffective defense and a district attorney who was sentenced to prison. Five of Lucios 12 jurors have asked the parole board and the governor to stop this execution.

On ExpressNews.com: Editorial: As questions mount, stop execution of Melissa Lucio

On April 6, she received a rare visit from bipartisan lawmakers working to stop her execution. They were permitted to sit and pray with her  even hug her. State Reps. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, and Joe Moody, D-El Paso, who lead the interim Criminal Justice Reform Committee, also heard testimony Tuesday from Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz, who tepidly indicated he may step in to stop the execution.

Leach tweeted a photo of himself and a beaming Lucio, writing, Justice matters. Mercy matters. She matters, adding the committee planned on doing everything it could to prevent this irreversible stain on the Lone Star State.

Leach attached a typed letter from Lucio in which she called lawmakers support an answer to her prayers. Only God can speak to the hearts of men and women and I know that He has done this. I see it all around me, she wrote.

Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 20 Texas senators wrote to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles in support of clemency for Lucio. On March 25, a bipartisan group of more than 80 Texas House members submitted their letter in support of clemency.

Lucio is more hopeful than ever that it will work, but if her execution day arrives, she wants her designated spiritual adviser, Deacon Ronald Lastovica, to bless her in her final moments, even if she is unconscious, to give her family comfort.

The TDCJ outlines procedures for every detail of an execution. When and if the day of her execution comes, Lucios restraints will be removed, her fingerprints will be taken, a strip search completed. She can be accompanied in the execution chamber by her religious adviser, who may minister to her during the execution.

But there is a no speaking and no contact policy that bans spiritual advisers from praying aloud or touching inmates in the execution chamber.

RELATED: Preyor-Johnson: Neglectful mom looked guilty, so state ran with it

Lucios Innocence Project attorneys have been working to get her requests approved, and a recent Supreme Court ruling could help.

On March 24, the Supreme Court held that TDCJ likely violated the religious rights of death row inmate John Henry Ramirez of Corpus Christi, who requested that his spiritual adviser be allowed to audibly pray and physically touch him during his execution.

Lucio attends Mass regularly and meets weekly with Lastovica. She reads the Bible alone and in study discussions with other inmates. She ministers to her children, other inmates, pen pals and Lastovica, according to court documents.

She walks with God daily and finds strength in the knowledge that her fate is in His hands, attorneys have said.

Shannon FitzPatrick, a former prosecutor from San Marcos who visited and corresponded with Lucio for more than two years, wrote that she witnessed Lucio try to persuade other death row inmates of a better path: Her savior Jesus Christ was also wrongfully executed and she has told me that she feels he is by her side through this terrible journey.

May faith and our Constitution guide Lucio and those charged with making life, death and religious freedom decisions for her. My prayers are with them.

Nancy.Preyor-Johnson@express-news.net
From the vantage point of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the United States was the worlds only indispensable nation. Albright, who died last month, argued America had repeatedly earned the title because, We stand tall and we see further into the future.

That quote tickles my patriotism. And once it may even have been true. But is it still the case today? In 2022, does America really stand tall? Can the land of the free and the home of the brave still see into the future? Or is America too distracted, too afraid, to confront the world in all its ugliness?

I have my doubts.

Consider the ongoing tragedy in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden this week described as genocide the inhumanity that Russian forces are visiting on the Ukrainian people. More than once, he has blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a war criminal. Tough talk is a Biden trademark.

Yet beyond combative rhetoric, the administration has been inept and timid in combating evil. Its reluctant to use the only weapon that evil understands: brute force.

There is reportedly in Ukraine a quip floating about that sounds like gallows humor. America, it is said, is ready to fight Russian aggression down to the last Ukrainian.

Biden probably wont write history, although he does have a knack for writing checks. This week, he announced another $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine. This brings the total military aid since Russia invaded its neighbor in late February to more than $2.5 billion.

One way to write history is to welcome the stranger.

And thats why, in 2022, the worlds actual indispensable nation is not far from Albrights birthplace of Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic  the country of Poland.

The United Nations reports that, as of April 13, more than 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine. Of that number, about 2.7 million people have settled in Poland.

Thanks to the generosity and empathy of the Polish people, many Ukrainian refugees have found a warm welcome. They are not met with hostility but with hot soup  and open arms.

Every day, Poles drive to the Polish-Ukrainian border, scoop up refugees and take them to their homes.

In Americas immigration debate, the extremes wont give up an inch. In Poland, people are giving up their beds.

In fact, the Poles could teach the Americans a thing or two about how to treat refugees. Like not assuming the worst.

Refugees are often different, desperate and downtrodden. But that doesnt make them dangerous or defective. They show up at a border looking for safe haven and second chances, not the opportunity to make trouble or wreak havoc.

For instance, it is not an unwritten rule that refugees drag down the economy of any country that takes them in.

Tell that to Paul Webster Hare, senior lecturer in international relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. During an appearance on Michael Smerconishs show on Sirius/XM, Hare told the host that Poland had been burdened by this major influx of refugees, which is not going to help the Polish economy.

On the ground in Poland, the facts say otherwise. According to John Lynch, a founder and board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland, who lives east of Krakow  about two hours from the Ukrainian border  many of those refugees are actually having a positive influence on the economy.

There was a labor shortage here a month ago, Lynch told Smerconish on a subsequent episode of the show. We (had) advertisements looking for 25 new people for my factory, and we got about five applications. So it was actually a challenge, and now with all the Ukrainians here, weve solved the labor shortage.

Lets finally put an end to the slander that refugees destroy economies. There may be short-term strain from having thousands, even millions, of people who speak a different language show up at the front door. But history is filled with examples of people who went somewhere with nothing and became something because they are hyper-motivated to rise from the rubble and make new lives for themselves and their families.
U.S. President Joe Biden steps off Air Force One upon arrival at Hagerstown Regional Airport in Hagerstown, Maryland, April 14. AFP-Yonhap





President Joe Biden said Thursday he was considering sending senior US officials to Ukraine, in what would be a major show of support to Kyiv.







"We're making that decision now," Biden replied when asked if he would send officials to the war-torn European nation. He did not specify which officials might be under consideration.







In a brief back-and-forth with a reporter, Biden appeared to suggest he might also be willing to travel to Kyiv.







When asked if he were ready to go, Biden said, "Yeah," although White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki ruled out that possibility as recently as Monday.







Potential US officials on any visit to Kyiv could include Secretary of State Antony Blinken or Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. State Department spokesman Ned Price declined to comment.







Biden announced a new $800 million military aid package for Ukraine, Wednesday.







The Pentagon said it has been looking to provide Ukraine with weapons that would "give them a little more range and distance," with Kyiv girding for an escalation of Russia's offensive in the eastern Donbas region. (AFP)


There are reports that Russia may be planning to use  or, according to unverified reports from local officials in Mariupol, might have already used  chemical weapons as part of its offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Biden administration has already set up a Tiger Team of national security officials to consider options in the event this happens; now is the time for these discussions to become more public.

Weve traveled this road before, badly. In August 2012, Barack Obama publicly warned the Bashar Assad regime in Syria against employing chemical weapons. A red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized, he said. That would change my calculus.

It didnt. The following year, reports emerged that Assad had begun using chemical weapons, culminating in a sarin gas attack in a suburb of Damascus. Obama hesitated, fearing a wider war. The British Parliament voted against taking military action in Syria. Congressional Republicans switched overnight from hawkish interventionists to skeptical isolationists. Vladimir Putin intervened with a face-saving offer to get Assad to voluntarily divest himself of his chemical arsenal.

The Obama administration crowed that it had achieved the best possible result. But it later came to light that Assad had not given up his full arsenal, and he continued to use chlorine gas against his adversaries without consequence. Putin consolidated his alliance with Assad, eventually leading to the introduction of Russian forces in Syria in 2015.

And it served as a predicate for Russias seizure of Crimea a few months later. Obamas hesitance in Syria was decisive, former President Francois Hollande of France recently told my colleague Roger Cohen. Decisive for American credibility, and that had consequences. After that, I believe, Mr. Putin considered Mr. Obama weak.

This is not a scenario the Biden team can afford to repeat. What should the administration do?

Make only promises it intends to keep. Syrias use of chemical weapons was a military, humanitarian and international-norms crisis. Obamas red line turned it into a crisis of American credibility.

The U.S. response should be asymmetric. President Joe Biden issued a veiled threat to Putin when they met last June in Geneva, by mentioning the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline: I looked at him. I said, Well, how would you feel if ransomware took on the pipelines from your oil fields?  That was fair warning.

Bring maximum diplomatic pressure to bear on Germany and other European states to end oil and gas imports from Russia. According to one estimate, those sales provide the Kremlin with $1 billion a day. Berlin remains the weakest link in the effort to create an effective sanctions regime against Russia. This position, craven now, will become morally untenable for Germany if Russia starts gassing Ukrainians. It should lead to the immediate removal of all Russian financial institutions from the SWIFT transaction system to make payments for oil and gas almost impossible.

Tear apart Russias supply chains. This is the project of Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, who has been looking at ways to disrupt the Kremlins military supply chains. It should move beyond this to every sector of the Russian economy, by automatically forbidding any company doing business in Russia to also do business in the United States and, hopefully, Europe.

Arm Ukraine with offensive weapons. If Putin turns out to have used chemical weapons  a favorite M.O. of his, from poisoning political opponents to supporting their use in the Syrian battlefield  the West needs to respond aggressively, the former NATO commander Adm. James Stavridis wrote me Tuesday. Assuming these weapons would be delivered by air, it raises the ante in giving the Ukrainians even more tools to run an effective no-fly zone, including MIG-29 fighters and possibly other platforms and drones with anti-air capability.

Target Belarus. The Biden administration is leery of direct confrontation with Russia. It should be much less restrained in going after the Kremlins puppet regime. Turning off the lights in Minsk for a day would be a useful shot across the bow as the dictator Alexander Lukashenko ponders joining the Kremlins military effort.

Expect the worst. He has no compunction against really horrific activity, another former top American military commander told me about Aleksandr Dvornikov, Russias new theater commander. Thats what he did in Aleppo. One of the hallmarks of Assads use of chemical weapons is that he began to use them in discreet ways but grew bolder over time. The effect, the former officer warned, could be a cumulative Srebrenica, referring to the 1995 Serb massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia.

Plan for a long war. Make sure we can provision Ukraine with the weapons it needs for at least a year.

We may not be able to stop Putin from using chemical weapons, but we can still avoid the fatal mistake we made a decade ago with Assad.
Were surprised officials havent buried the Boring Co.s proposed tunnel from the San Antonio International Airport to downtown as the project seems likely to wind up at a dead end.

Given the myriad concerns  cost, utility, viability, environmental, point  were left wondering just why Bexar County and Alamo Regional Mobility Authority officials are spinning their wheels over a project that appears to be as unpopular as it is unnecessary.

In moderate traffic, it takes all of 15 minutes to travel the 10 miles from the San Antonio airport to the Convention Center downtown. In heavy traffic, such a trip might take 20 to 40 minutes.

That is just one concern about the tunnel concept  it is a transit solution for a nonexistent problem. But the more salient concern is this is a transit project that, at best, will only tangentially serve the community. Take the sparkle of Elon Musk and Tesla out of the equation, and this is an underground toll road mostly for tourists and conventioneers.

Yes, we hear Alamo RMA Chairman Michael Lynd Jr., who has said the project could serve up to 4,400 passengers an hour, taking vehicles off U.S. 281, which connects the airport to downtown. And we hear how revenue from this project could then be used to fund surface roads for residents to use or an expanded tunnel network that would have more local utility. We appreciate his sense of urgency to address long-term mobility issues here.

But the community benefits of the tunnel are all secondary. The primary purpose of the tunnel  estimated to cost between $247 million and $289 million  is to serve visitors. And in a community with so many pressing infrastructure and transit needs that is a bitter pill for the public to swallow.

Or as Mayor Ron Nirenberg told us: We have transportation issues to address in San Antonio, and an underground tunnel that essentially just creates tolled capacity does not address any of them.

If Lynd and company are serious about taking out their shovels, they best start digging up direct benefits to residents, not ancillary ones. Specifically, this would mean highlighting road projects that revenues from the tunnel would fund.

Of course, this assumes the estimated project cost and revenues are accurate  we await outside studies to drill down on the financials. And it also assumes the Boring Co. can deliver. As Express-News reporter Eric Killelea has outlined, similar plans have hit caliche in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

But the Boring Co. has completed a $52 million, 1.7-mile tunnel under the Las Vegas Convention Center, and projects are under consideration in Florida.

We also have concerns about any potential impact on the Edwards Aquifer. While we dont know the exact tunnel location, Lynd has suggested most of the digging could occur under U.S. 281.

Its a lot easier to generate right-of-way access for us, Lynd said. We would need the ability to secure a right of way even if were underneath somebodys property. We want to eliminate as many moving pieces as possible between the airport and downtown.

In an email, Annalisa Peace, executive director for the Greater Edwards Aquifer Alliance, wrote that the entire project would be in the aquifers artesian zone, the source of the University of the Incarnate Words Blue Hole.

I would think that a study should be conducted to determine whether there would be impacts to the Edwards and, if so, what measures, if any, would be needed to protect the Edwards, Peace wrote. I dont know why a tunnel on the artesian zone would have less impact on the aquifer than a surface highway. In fact, that is downright counter-intuitive.

And, finally, there is VIA Metropolitan Transits planned $320 million north-south advanced rapid transit line  picture buses that operate much like light rail  that would run along San Pedro Avenue and would connect San Antonio International Airport with downtown and then the South Side. The Department of Transportation recently announced it would recommend $158 million to fund this first line in the system.

Lynd and Renee D. Green, Bexar Countys director of public works and the RMAs director of engineering and operations, told us the tunnel would serve a different set of riders. Were inclined to agree and remain open to all transit options. But this also underscores our primary concern. How does this tunnel improve the lives of Bexar County residents?
Venice Beach: A jogger runs past a homeless encampment. California appears to be descending into something resembling modern-day feudalism, the author writes.

By Joel Kotkin, RealClearInvestigations

April 13, 2022

Even today amid a mounting exodus among those who can afford it, and with its appeal diminished to businesses and newcomers, California, legendary state of American dreams, continues to inspire optimism among progressive boosters.

Laura Tyson, the longtime Democratic economist now at the University of California at Berkeley, praises the state for creating the way forward to a more enlightened market capitalism. Like-minded analysts tout Silicon Valleys massive wealth generation as evidence of progressivisms promise. The Los Angeles Times suggested approvingly that the Biden administrations goal is to make America California again. And, despite dark prospects in Novembers midterm elections, the President and his party still seem intent on proving it.

But most Californians, according to recent surveys, see things differently. They point to rising poverty and inequality, believe the state is in recession and that it is headed in the wrong direction. Parting with the states cheerleaders, the New York Times Ezra Klein, a reliable progressive and native Californian, says the Golden States failures are making liberals squirm.

Reality may well be worse than even Klein admits. In a new report for Chapman University, my colleagues and I find California in a state of existential crisis, losing both its middle-aged and middle class, while its poor population faces dimming prospects. Despite the states myriad advantages, research shows it plagued by economic immobility and inequality, crushing housing and energy costs, and a failing education system. Worse than just a case of progressive policies creating regressive outcomes, it appears California is descending into something resembling modern-day feudalism, with the poor and weak trapped by policies subsidized by taxes paid by the rich and powerful.

California may conjure images of Rodeo Drive and Malibu mansions in the public imagination, but today the state suffers the highest cost-adjusted poverty rate in the U.S. The poor and near-poor constitute over one third  well over 10 million  of the states residents according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Los Angeles, by far the states largest metropolitan area, and once a magnet for middle class aspirations, has one of the highest poverty rates among major U.S. cities. A United Way of California analysis shows that over 30 percent of residents lack sufficient income to cover basic living costs even after accounting for public-assistance programs; this includes half of Latino and 40 percent of black residents. Some two-thirds of noncitizen Latinos live at or below the poverty line.

In California, there is this idea of Oh, we care about the poor, but on this metric, we are literally the worst, Stanfords Universitys Mark Duggan, principal author of an economic comparison of California with Texas, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

The states poverty and associated dysfunction are on full display in leading cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where a large underclass now inhabits the streets  the once-iconic locales having become poster children for urban dysfunction. Beyond massive homeless camps, crime has become so bad that the LAPD has warned tourists it can no longer protect them. San Francisco, meanwhile, suffers the highest property crime rate in the country. Businesses like Walgreens have shut down numerous Bay Area locations due to rampant burglaries. Homelessness and crime increasingly dominate the states political discourse, particularly in these two deep blue bastions.

California also faces growing inequality. By the Gini index, a measure of the distribution of income across a population, California has the third-highest inequality behind New York and Louisiana, and has experienced the fifth largest expansion of inequality since 2010, according to American Community Survey data. California also suffers the widest gap between middle- and upper-middle-income earners of any state.

Once among the most egalitarian regions in the country, Silicon Valley has become among the most segregated places in the country. CityLab has described the technology hub as a region of segregated innovation, a trend becoming more pronounced, according to recent research. Silicon Valley now boasts its own underclass of those who clean its buildings and provide food service. Nearly 30 percent of its residents rely on public or private financial assistance.

Similarly, according to the Brookings Institution, San Francisco, the technology industrys most important urban center, has experienced the most rapid growth in inequality among the nations large cities in the last decade. The California Budget and Policy Center has named the city first in California for economic inequality; the average income of the top one percent of households in the city averages $3.6 million, forty-four times the average income of the bottom 99 percent, which stands at $81,094 in a city and state with a high cost of living.

The situation is worse elsewhere in the state. Over the past decade more than 80 percent of California jobs paid under the median income, and most under $40,000 annually, a poverty wage in California. Worse yet, as demonstrated in our analysis, California lags all peer competitors  Texas, Arizona, Tennessee, Nevada, Washington and Colorado  in creating high wage jobs in fields like business and professional services, as even tech growth begins to shift elsewhere.

The biggest losers in California have been those industries that historically provided the best opportunities for working-class people  manufacturing, construction, energy  as well as agriculture, the states historic economic powerhouse. On a per capita basis, California builds only a fraction of the housing compared to its main rivals, while corporate new investment, suggests a new Hoover Institution study, has shriveled to a rate one-tenth Texas and one-sixteenth that of Ohio.

The states climate change policies, however well-intentioned, have had a particularly devastating impact on manufacturing. Californias renewable energy push has generated high energy prices and the nations least-reliable power grid, crippling an industry reliant on fossil fuels and a stable electric supply. The state fell to 44th in the country in manufacturing sector employment growth last year; its industrial new job creation has lagged competitors such as Nevada, Kentucky, Michigan and Florida. Even without adjusting for costs, no California metro ranks in the U.S. top ten in terms of offering well-paying blue-collar jobs, notes The New York Times. But four  Ventura, Los Angeles, San Jose, and San Diego  sit among the bottom ten.

As the environmentalist Breakthrough Institute summarizes it, the states climate agenda has created a new Green Jim Crow era keeping more people, particularly minorities, in poverty.

Housing policy has also hurt most those who can least afford it. Californias state planning policies aim to reduce urban sprawl  the shift to locales where costs are lower and the state is gaining migrants. The heavily minority Inland Empire, which has little political influence, now has more people than the San Francisco metropolitan area, which dominates state politics, but the former is unable to reverse any of these policies.

Despite expectations by planners that limiting suburban growth would reduce prices for the masses and greenhouse emissions by encouraging density, studies in Vancouver, Canada and several other locations have shown the opposite; they associate densification with higher land and housing prices. California has the highest urban density of any state, yet suffers the second highest housing costs and rents of any state except Hawaii. On this issue, some media coverage appears to have been influenced by the pro-density preferences of tech titans like Mark Zuckerberg.

Striving, largely minority middle- and working-class families bear the brunt of such policies. According to a recent American Enterprise Institute survey, California is home to six of the nations worst markets for first-time homebuyers. It would take more than 100 years for the median-income household to save for a mortgage on a median-priced home in San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Jose. The state now ranks 49th in homeownership rate, producing far less new housing than competitive regions like Arizona, Texas or Florida. A recent study by economist John Husing found not one unionized construction worker can afford a median-priced home in any coastal California county.

Unable to buy their own home, many working class families find themselves paying extraordinarily high rents, with more than half of all renters shelling out in excess of 30% of household income, the traditional definition of an outsized housing burden. Nearly four in ten California households meet or exceed this level. Not surprisingly, one quarter are contemplating a move elsewhere. High rents and house prices, along with low wages, also have produced the nations highest level of overcrowding.

Nor has densification brought the purported environmental benefits cited by Californias champions at Brookings and in the Biden Administration; the pro-density Terner Center projects that if Californias cities followed the density guidelines, at best the state would see a 1% reduction in emissions.

Manifest Education Failures

Historically education was seen  particularly among traditional liberals  as critical to upward mobility for poor and working-class people. Yet for decades the states schools have underperformed national norms, particularly for poor students. Since 1998, California has ranked, on average, 46th in 8th-grade reading and mathematics subject-area performance on the National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP), the only comparable assessment between states nationwide. This includes comparisons with demographically similar states like Texas, which spends less money per student.

Today, almost three of five California high schoolers are not prepared for either college or a career; the percentages are far higher for Latinos, African Americans, and the economically disadvantaged. Among the 50 states, California ranked 49th in the performance of poor, largely minority, students. San Francisco, the epicenter of Californias woke culture, and site of the recent recall of several far-left school board members, suffers the worst scores for African Americans of any county in the state.

These students are often unprepared for college. At California State University  where ethnic studies programs are now mandated  the need for remedial courses or 40 percent of freshmen demonstrates a low level of preparedness in such basic skills as reading comprehension, writing and mathematics. Some educators have decided to eliminate this problem by eliminating remedial classes.

Californias model curriculum, which focuses on how to build new possibilities for post-imperial life that promotes collective narratives of transformative resistance, may only exacerbate these problems by inculcating attitudes antithetical to those necessary to succeed in a highly competitive capitalist economy.

Many California educators from the highest reaches of academia down to the grade school level champion equity in education over developing hard math skills and fostering excellence. Even basic life skills such as being on time are eschewed: The San Diego Unified School District will no longer count such scruples as turning in work on time in grading and evaluation. It may reduce the penalties for cheating. This is justified as a way of redressing racial issues, as many of the malefactors (like most California students) are from disadvantaged minority groups.

Most Californians support charter schools, including nearly half of all Democrats, and three chapters of the Southern California NAACP  San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside. The states powerful teachers unions, and the Democrats they back, oppose such education alternatives.

Tech titans, once focused on improving schools, now seem less engaged. This may make sense given the extent to which tech relies on global talent rather than recruiting locally. In 2018, three-quarters of the tech workforce in the Bay Area was foreign-born, a majority on short-term non-immigrant visas.

The answer to many of the problems plaguing Californias struggling lower classes has been to throw more of the upper classs money at them. Michael Bernick, a former director of the states Employment Development Department, says The culture for much of California, driven by state politics, is one of benefits (and now guaranteed income), not a jobs strategy or expectation. California is unlikely to be devoting the states surplus driven largely by stock and property gains among the wealth  as Texas and other states do, to attracting businesses. Instead, as Bernick suggests, the preference has been to boost the welfare state, as it did in initiating record-setting stimulus payments during the pandemic. It is now contemplating handing out debit cards to cope with high energy prices created by the states environmental policies.

Californias technology industry consists of staunch funders of the states progressive Democrats. They may themselves be obsessed workaholics and living testaments to entrepreneurial capitalism, but Greg Ferenstein, who interviewed 147 digital company founders, says most believe that an increasingly greater share of economic wealth will be generated by a smaller slice of very talented or original people. Everyone else will increasingly subsist on some combination of part-time entrepreneurial gig work and government aid.

Many prominent business people, including those who made their fortunes in California such as Zuckerberg, Pierre Omidyar, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman, founder of the Y Combinator, have embraced the notion of a "guaranteed wage," that would cover most critical bills. Democratic Presidential candidate Andrew Yangs campaign was built around this concept.

In the interim, people are fleeing the state. Demographer Wendell Cox notes that since 2000, California has lost 2.6 million net domestic migrants, more than the current populations of San Diego, San Francisco and Anaheim combined. In 2020, California accounted for 28 percent of all net domestic outmigration in the nation, about 50 percent more than its share of the US population.

Californias population growth has fallen below the national average for the first time, and the state appears to have even possibly lost population the last two years. The pandemic seems to have accelerated this movement. Last year California was home to three of the five large regions over one million with the highest percentage population loss  San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles. Both San Francisco and Los Angeles school districts face large decreases in enrollment; the LA district, the states largest, projects a 20% cut in this decade.

This outmigration trend cannot be dismissed as white flight. An analysis of minority population flows shows that Latinos and African Americans are settling increasingly west of the Sierra, particularly in the south, Texas, and parts of the Midwest. Similarly, the foreign-born population  so critical to the states economy  has declined in Los Angeles over the past decade, and stagnated in the Bay Area while swelling in places like Dallas-Ft. Worth, Austin, Houston, Nashville and even midwestern cities like Columbus, Des Moines and Indianapolis.

Simply put, California is in danger of losing its youthful mojo. Many of those leaving, according to IRS data, come from young, middle and working class families. When these people leave, birthrates plummet. Los Angeles and San Francisco rank last and second-to-last in birthrates among the 53 U.S. major metropolitan areas. Among California's big metros, only Riverside/San Bernardino exceeds the national average in women aged between 15 and 50 with births. Californias total fertility rate, long above the national average, is now the nations 10th lowest. Los Angeles County alone has lost three quarters of a million people under 25 over the past twenty years.

California today is as old as the rest of the country and aging 50 percent faster than the national norm.

It is rapidly replacing the surfboard with a walker.
Japan severely breaches obligations under international law by persisting in discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into ocean

11:08, April 15, 2022 By Zhong Sheng ( People's Daily

Japan is being extremely selfish and irresponsible by willfully clinging to its decision to release nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean in disregard of the strong opposition of the international community.

Its despicable act constitutes gross infringement of the legitimate rights and interests of its neighboring countries, severe breach of international justice and its obligations under international law, and major threat to the marine environment and the right to health of people around the world.

On April 13, 2021, the Japanese government unilaterally decided to dump a massive amount of nuclear-contaminated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) into the ocean despite doubts and opposition from home and abroad.

One year has passed since Japan announced the erroneous decision and the country still hasnt realized how terrible a mistake it is. According to a plan recently released by TEPCO for the disposal of nuclear-contaminated water generated by Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, the country will soon begin official preparations for the release of the contaminated water and plans to begin long-term discharge of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean in the spring of 2023.

While Japan opted for the discharge of the contaminated water into the ocean, an option with the least economic cost to itself, it posed the biggest environmental health and safety risk to the world. What an act of selfish calculation!

Data from TEPCO showed that the contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear accident still contains many kinds of radionuclides with a long half-life even after secondary treatment.

Japan plans to release more than one million tons of nuclear-contaminated water over a period of 30 years. The amount it intends to discharge, the duration of the release, the sea area covered, and potential risks that can be generated by the activity are all unprecedented.

The decision has aroused deep concerns and strong opposition from all sectors of society even at home. About 180,000 people in Japan recently signed a petition against the decision to dump nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. Several organizations in Japan, including the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations, have reiterated their opposition to the decision.

According to an article published on Fukushima Minpo, a newspaper based in Fukushima prefecture of Japan, the Japanese government should respect the opinions of its citizens, listen to the voices of local residents, and terminate the plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean.

As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, the Convention on Nuclear Safety, and the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, Japan has knowingly breached its obligations under international law.

It didnt conduct full consultation with its neighboring countries and other stakeholders before announcing its decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean. After its announcement of the decision, many countries, including China, South Korea, Russia, and the Philippines, as well as relevant international institutions, have expressed concerns over the issue and raised doubts and concerns with the Japanese side over the legitimacy of the discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, the rationality of the discharge plan, the credibility of data about the nuclear contaminated water and the reliability of the equipment to purify the nuclear-contaminated water.

However, to this day, Japan has yet to give a full and credible explanation for its decision and serious responses to relevant doubts and concerns.

People in Japan's neighboring countries and countries on the Pacific Rim have rights to health and life as well as the environment. Japan, on the other hand, wants to make short-term money at the expense of these rights.

The United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council released a report urging that the Japanese government should face up to its responsibility for the disposal of nuclear-contaminated water.

In a joint statement, U.N. human rights experts said that Japans decision to release contaminated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the ocean is particularly disappointing and very concerning.

The release of one million tons of contaminated water into the marine environment imposes considerable risks to the full enjoyment of human rights of concerned populations in and beyond the borders of Japan, they said in the joint statement.

The international community has frequently expressed voices of justice, such as The Pacific is not a dumping ground for radioactive waste water and keep our Pacific nuclear-free. However, Japan has turned a deaf ear to all of them.

In this February, a technical working group of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited Japan for the first time and raised many questions to the Japanese side about its controversial plan to release radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. Evaluation of the disposal of the nuclear-contaminated water at the Fukushima nuclear power plant is still in progress.

Surprisingly, Japan has not only ignored the concerns of various parties over the discharge of its nuclear-contaminated wastewater, but preset results for the evaluation conducted by the IAEA technical working group. The country repeatedly concealed information and covered up the truth.

When doubts about its decision to dump radioactive water into the ocean poured in, the country made no attempt to reflect on the legitimacy of the decision and correct its mistake, but blamed those who doubted its decision for damaging its reputation.

The Japanese side should know that no matter what it does to whitewash the plan to release the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, it would only increase the international communitys concerns.

The disposal of the nuclear-contaminated water is never Japans private matter. Instead, it bears on the marine environment and public health of the whole world.

Japan should pay careful attention to and respond to the concerns of its neighboring countries and other members of the international community, stop pushing forward with preparations for the discharge of the nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, and withdraw its erroneous decision, so as to avoid further damage to its credibility.

(Zhong Sheng is a pen name often used by Peoples Daily to express its views on foreign policy and international affairs.)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
The Russian missile cruiser Moskva anchored near Mumbai, India May 21, 2003. Reuters-Yonhap





On a day that saw Moscow suffer a stinging symbolic defeat with the loss of its Black Sea fleet flagship, Moskva, Ukraine's president hailed his people for their resolve since Russia invaded in February and for making "the most important decision of their life  to fight."







In his nightly address, Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians late Thursday that they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the invaders "gave us a maximum of five."







Back then even friendly world leaders urged him to leave, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, he said: "But they didn't know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want."







Listing the ways Ukraine has defended against the onslaught, Zelenskyy noted "those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if it's to the bottom" of the sea.







It was his only reference to the guided-missile cruiser Moskva, named for the Russian capital, which became a potent target of Ukrainian defiance in the opening days of the war. It sank Thursday while being towed to port after suffering heavy damage under circumstances that remained under dispute.







Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, April 14, in this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office. AP-Yonhap





Ukrainian officials said their forces struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack. U.S. and other Western officials could not confirm what caused the blaze. In any case, the loss was a symbolic defeat for Russia as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital, Kyiv.







The Moskva had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles, and its removal reduces Russia's firepower in the Black Sea. It's also a blow to Moscow's prestige in a war already widely seen as a historic blunder. Now entering its eighth week, the invasion has stalled amid resistance from Ukrainian fighters bolstered by weapons and other aid sent by Western nations.







During the first days of the war, the Moskva was reportedly the ship that called on Ukrainian soldiers stationed on Snake Island in the Black Sea to surrender in a standoff. In a widely circulated recording, a soldier responded: "Russian warship, go (expletive) yourself."







The Associated Press could not independently verify the incident, but Ukraine and its supporters consider it an iconic moment of defiance. The country recently unveiled a postage stamp commemorating it.







The news about the flagship overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Moscow's forces have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war  at a horrific cost to civilians.







Dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders in Mariupol are holding out against a siege that has trapped well over 100,000 civilians in desperate need of food, water and heating. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told AP in an interview Thursday that people are being "starved to death" in the besieged city.






A summer ball is being organised by young farmers to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (NFYFC).

The anniversary ball, which is being organised by YFC members, is set to celebrate the organisations rich history and its future plans to support rural young people.

The black-tie event event is also a chance for YFC members to unite again at a national event after two years of pandemic restrictions.

It will be held in Northumberland on 11 June 2022 from 2pm until 2am and all members of YFCs, aged over 18, are invited.

Hosted on land close to NFYFC Chair Edward Dungaits farm, near Newcastle, there promises to be a big top, live music, DJs and food stalls.

YFC members are also encouraged to fundraise for charity on their journey to the Ball and activities at the event will raise money for the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

NFYFC Chair of Council Edward Dungait said: "This Ball aims to celebrate NFYFCs past achievements and its future role in empowering and connecting young people in rural communities.

NFYFC was first formed in June 1932, with its head office in London. By the outbreak of the Second World War, the federation included 412 clubs and 22 county federations with a membership of 15,000 people.

Over the last 90 years, YFCs have retained their popularity in rural areas with 580 clubs and 46 County Federations across England and Wales.

The Federation has also reached membership numbers of nearly 20,000 already this year after seeing a surge of new interest from young people wanting to join YFCs following the pandemic.

Tickets are on sale now via ticketing site Ticketebo, with an early bird ticket price of 35 until the 1 May 2022, thereafter they will rise to 40.

Tickets are limited and will be sold on a first come, first served basis.
Scottish rural organisations and Police Scotland have combined forces to highlight new legislation to protect livestock from dog attacks.

The Ayrshire Partnership Against Rural Crime promoted the new legislation which protects animals from dog attacks through a range of measures.

These include updating the livestock definition to include all other farmed animals alongside cattle and sheep; fines up to 40,000 and prison sentences for owners who let their pets worry, kill or injure farmed animals.

It comes as farmers experience an increasing numbers of farm animal attacks as pandemic restrictions ease.

In January, SPARC, the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, launched the Livestock Attack and Distress campaign with the slogan: Your Dog  Your Responsibility.

This sought to educate dog owners about the new legislation and, where applicable, use the new powers to report owners of dogs which attack livestock.

The Dogs (Protection of Livestock) (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2021 came into force in November, following a successful Members Bill brought by Emma Harper, MSP, supported by farming groups after continued attacks on farm animals by out-of-control dogs.

Under the new legislation, camelids such as llamas and alpacas, together with ostriches, game birds and farmed deer are now protected plus the inclusion of the word attack is welcomed as this clearly reflects the more serious aspect of such an incident.

The new law also includes provision to fine the owners of dogs that attack livestock up to 40,000 or even send them to prison.

The campaign will run through the lambing season, when sheep and lambs are most vulnerable to attacks and will be then run again in the autumn.

NFU Scotland Ayrshire Regional Manager, Christine Cuthbertson said: "We ask that those taking access respect their own safety and that of expectant and new mums by avoiding fields with livestock and always having your dog on a lead or under very close control.

"We want people to enjoy their walks as it is so important for peoples wellbeing, but it is vital that dog owners act responsibly to keep everyone safe and well.

Julie McLeish Inspector, Cumnock Doon Valley and Irvine Valley added: "Police Scotland welcomes this new legislation which can hopefully assist in preventing, reducing and tackling such instances.

Its introduction is timely given the increase in dog ownership experienced during Covid and the aim of the campaign is designed to educate and raise awareness amongst dog owners, whether new or experienced, that their dog is very much their responsibility.
After slipping back in February at Scottish auctions, finished hogg prices recovered through March and opened April at their highest level since the festive period.

According to the latest market commentary from Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), in the week to 6 April, the market cleared at 268p per kg.

Iain Macdonald, QMS senior economics analyst, says that this recent upturn is likely to have been driven by increased consumer demand for the start of Ramadan, which began at the turn of the month, and then Easter, which is in mid-April this year.

A general tightness of the sheepmeat market is also reflected in the cull sheep price, with ewes and rams averaging 107 per head in late March and early April, up from an average of 92 in the first 12 weeks of the year.

However, hogg prices at Scottish marts have been running 5-10% below the highs of early 2021 since the beginning of February and the recent upturn has not led to a change in this position.

Mr Macdonald observes that this is likely to reflect a recovery in supply from the low levels seen in the first third of 2021.

"On the production side, this seasons lamb crop has arrived later onto the market, compared to the early delivery profile in 2020/21.

"As a result, there has been an increased carryover of hoggs this season, with Sheep and Goat Inventory results showing a 4% increase in Scotland, and a 9% uplift in England.

Sheepmeat production statistics from Defra up to February show a 9% rebound in production compared to early 2021 and, after adjusting for imports and exports, the overall balance of supply in the market is estimated to have shown a similar year-on-year increase.

Despite failing to match last years highs, hogg prices have held up historically, exceeding their five-year average by 10-20% in recent weeks.

This shows that the market has remained tight in an historical context, with supply on the UK market in the opening two months of the year well below the levels seen between 2016 and 2019, says Mr Macdonald.

With lambing over in some parts of the country and just getting going in others, thoughts will soon be turning to the outlook for the new season lamb market.

The Met Office has reported a relatively mild winter in 2021/22 with below average levels of rainfall and this pattern continued through March.

"Therefore, it seems likely that the strong lambing performance of recent years will have continued in Scotland. However, the December Sheep and Goat Inventory did indicate a 3% reduction in Scotlands breeding flock, so it seems likely that we will end up with a smaller lamb crop this year.

Meanwhile, in England, the breeding flock was reported to have been slightly smaller in December 2021 than a year earlier, down by 1.2%.

Mr Macdonald said: Combining the results from north and south of the border, for the lamb crop to match last years levels across Britain, it seems that we would need to see an increase in the lambing percentage.

"However, given the slower marketing profile in 2021, production volumes may hold up this year through summer and into autumn even if there are slightly fewer lambs born this spring."

He added: For a complete picture of the supply-side outlook, we need to consider imports and exports. In recent years, imports have dipped towards 20% of market supply while around 30% of production has been exported.

With sheepmeat prices remaining at attractive levels in China and New Zealand having a similar number of lambs this season, it seems unlikely that import volumes will rebound significantly from the low levels of recent years."

For exports, 2021 was a difficult year with the introduction of EU border controls constraining volumes along with reduced domestic production.

However, by autumn, the share of production exported had returned to year earlier levels, Mr Macdonald explained.

"In 2022, a general tightness in EU meat markets and a 3% reduction in the breeding flock may lead to increased demand for sheepmeat from the UK, and any increase in UK exports removes supply from the domestic market.

Combining the outlook for new season production and trade suggests that the UK sheepmeat market will remain tightly supplied in summer and autumn 2022, pointing to a continuation of positive returns for producers."
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Russia on Friday blocked access to the Russian-language website of The Moscow Times due to a story about the conflict in Ukraine, the newspaper said.







The English-language website was unaffected though Russian internet providers started to block its Russian-language site following a notice from Russia's communications watchdog, the newspaper said.







Russia's communications watchdog did not immediately respond to a request for comment.







The newspaper, which has been covering Russia for three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, said on its English-language website that its Russian service was blocked after it published what "authorities call a false report on riot police officers refusing to fight in Ukraine."







The April 4 article was still on the newspaper's Russian-language website on Friday.







Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it calls a special military operation to degrade its southern neighbor's military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.







Russia has placed restrictions on reporting on the conflict. Moscow says Western media outlets have provided an excessively partial narrative of the war in Ukraine.







Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to pressure it to withdraw its forces. (Reuters)






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SINGAPORE, Apr 15, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Moonstake announced today it will implement support for the popular Polygon Network. With this update, Moonstake Wallet users can now send, receive, and own MATIC coin as well as MATIC tokens on both the web and mobile versions. This update also enables support for sending, receiving, and holding ORBS on Polygon. Furthermore, Moonstake is considering supporting the staking of ORBS on Polygon Network, since the staking platform currently already supports ORBS staking on Ethereum. This will enable users to earn via multi-chain staking of ORBS on both blockchains through a single safe and user-friendly staking platform.Moonstake launched its staking business in 2020 with the aim to create the largest staking network in Asia. Since then, it has developed the most user-friendly Web Wallet and Mobile Wallet (iOS/Android) with support for over 2,000 cryptocurrencies. Currently, Moonstake supports 16 high-demand staking coins: Cosmos, IRIS, Ontology, Harmony, Tezos, Cardano, Qtum, Polkadot, Quras, Centrality, Orbs, IOST, TRON, Shiden, FIO, and EVER, as well as ERC-721 and Cardano NFTs. After a full-scale operation launched in August 2020, Moonstake's total staking assets have grown rapidly to reach $1.8 Billion and by June 2021, Moonstake was the third best staking provider in the world out of 15,000 staking providers worldwide. In March 2021, the company entered DeFi with Muse.Finance, a DeFi platform, and will continue to expand into the DeFi business.Meanwhile, Polygon is a decentralized Ethereum scaling platform that enables developers to build scalable user-friendly dApps with low transaction fees without ever sacrificing on security. Polygon effectively transforms Ethereum into a full-fledged multi-chain system (aka Internet of Blockchains) akin to other ones such as Polkadot, Cosmos, Avalanche etc with the advantages of Ethereum's security, vibrant ecosystem and openness. The ecosystem's token, MATIC, provides robust security as well as enables governance. Polygon is one of the market's biggest blockchains for Web3 builders, boasting over 7,000 DApps in its developer ecosystem which features numerous big names - from DeFi projects such as lending platform Aave to luxury brands company Dolce & Gabbana and NFT marketplaces including OpenSea and Mark Cuban's Lazy.com.As a world-leading staking provider, Moonstake is looking forward to offer new, excellent user experiences and exciting opportunities to the Polygon ecosystem users through this integration.About MoonstakeMoonstake is the world's leading staking service provider that develops and operates decentralized wallet services for businesses and individuals.Since its launch in April 2020, Moonstake has partnered with 28 leading platform providers, including Cardano's constituent Emurgo, developer of the Polkadot-connected blockchain Astar Network Stake Technologies, and the TRON Network with over 50 million users. In May 2021, Moonstake further enhanced its corporate credibility by becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of OIO Holdings Limited, a company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange.Using blockchain technology, Moonstake aims to progress toward a world where anyone can easily make use of highly secure and reliable digital asset management tools.About Moonstake's staking businessFor the staking industry, which has grown into a 630-billion dollar market as of September 2021, Moonstake provides a decentralized staking service that does not require user deposits, and supports nodes around the world in addition to its own validator nodes. Moonstake currently supports the staking of 16 blockchains. With a total staking assets of 1.8 billion USD and a global user base, the company ranked third out of more than 10,000 providers worldwide in June of the same year. https://www.moonstake.io/About PolygonPolygon is the leading platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its growing suite of products offers developers easy access to all major scaling and infrastructure solutions: L2 solutions (ZK Rollups and Optimistic Rollups), sidechains, hybrid solutions, stand-alone and enterprise chains, data availability solutions, and more. Polygon's scaling solutions have seen widespread adoption with 7000+ applications hosted, 1B+ total transactions processed, ~100M+ unique user addresses, and $5B+ in assets secured.If you're an Ethereum Developer, you're already a Polygon developer! Leverage Polygon's fast and secure txns for your dApp, get started here. https://polygon.technology/Source: MoonstakeCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Strong financial situation and visibility: Net cash position of 5.9 million Company's operations funded until Q2-2023



Regulatory News:

GeNeuro (Paris:GNRO) (Euronext Paris: CH0308403085 GNRO), a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the severe neuropsychiatric consequences of COVID-19 (post-COVID), today reported on its 2022 first quarter cash position.

2022 First-quarter financial information

At March 31, 2022, GeNeuro had 5.9 million in cash. This includes the first instalment of 3.0 million from the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health (FOPH) grant for its post-COVID program, which was received in January 2022. The available cash resources provide GeNeuro with good visibility until Q2-2023 in terms of financing its current activities.

The cash consumption related to GeNeuro's operating and investing activities in Q1 2022 was 2.5 million, compared to 2.1 million for the same period of 2021. The increase is due to expenses related to the preparation of the Phase 2 clinical trial in post-COVID, primarily for the manufacturing of a new batch of the company's leading drug candidate, temelimab, which will be used in the clinical trial. Accordingly, Q1 2022 cash consumption was in line with the Company's expectations and also included the payment of outstanding invoices from suppliers and accruals at end December 2021. With the Company's ProTEct-MS clinical trial at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm having been completed during Q1 2022, with the topline results announced on March 21, 2022, the Company expects its cash consumption to continue decreasing during 2022, excluding the effect of the post-COVID clinical trial.

Other product development highlights since January 1, 2022

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

On March 21, 2022, GeNeuro presented the top-line results from its ProTEct-MS temelimab Phase 2 MS trial performed at the Karolinska Institutet's Academic Specialist Center in Stockholm under the leadership of Prof. Fredrik Piehl. The primary endpoint of the ProTEct-MS study was met, with results confirming the excellent safety profile and tolerability of higher doses of temelimab administered concomitantly with a high-efficacy anti-inflammatory drug; in addition, efficacy data, obtained in this patient group already effectively treated against inflammation, showed that temelimab has a favorable impact on key MRI parameters measuring neurodegeneration; the observed effect sizes in this new patient population were consistent with the ones shown in the previous CHANGE-MS and ANGEL-MS studies.

In the earlier trials, temelimab was used as a monotherapy in an active relapsing remitting MS population. However, today the majority of patients in developed countries receive an effective therapy against inflammation. As existing therapies against inflammation and relapses only have a modest impact on long-term disability progression, the therapeutic opportunity for temelimab is to be used in combination as a treatment against neurodegeneration, in order to tackle both inflammation and neurodegeneration. The ProTEct-MS results have now confirmed that temelimab's effect remain visible and coherent with previous results, when administered in combination with a potent anti-inflammatory drug and in a population whose disability progresses despite an effective treatment against relapses.

In September 2021, GeNeuro had announced it had opened an extension to ProTEct-MS in order to provide patients having completed their one-year treatment duration the possibility of continued treatment with temelimab. However, the current lot of temelimab used for this extension will expire at the end of April 2022. Due to the worldwide shortage in the supply of culture media for antibody manufacturing during the COVID-19 pandemic, delivery of the new batch of temelimab has been delayed until the summer. As a result, GeNeuro has decided to close at the end of April 2022 this extension study, which was not designed to generate additional MRI data.

Post-COVID

In January 2022, GeNeuro received the first instalment of 3.0 million from the Swiss Federal Office for Public Health (FOPH) grant for its post-COVID program.

On April 13, 2022, GeNeuro announced the first results of its collaboration with FondaMental Foundation for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic options for patients with post-COVID neuropsychiatric syndromes. The study showed a strong correlation between SARS-CoV-2 infection, W-ENV protein and markers of innate immunity, in patients with psychiatric disorders, confirming the interest of treating post-COVID neuropsychiatric syndromes by neutralizing the W-ENV protein with the temelimab antibody. GeNeuro is preparing to launch a phase 2 clinical trial in 200 patients with post-COVID syndromes and positive for W-ENV.

Next financial report:

Second-quarter 2022 cash position: July 15, 2022.

Forthcoming investor and industry events:

May 31, 2022 Annual general meeting of shareholders

June 28, 2022 Gilbert Dupont Midcaps Forum

About GeNeuro

GeNeuro's mission is to leverage HERV biology to develop safe and effective treatments for the benefit of patients, by neutralizing causal factors encoded by HERVs that represent 8% of human DNA.

GeNeuro is based in Geneva, Switzerland and has R&D facilities in Lyon, France. It has rights to 17 patent families protecting its technology.

For more information, visit: www.geneuro.com

https://twitter.com/GeneuroO

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCODwH_v0z6wwnlVhGzmw0pA

https://www.linkedin.com/company/geneuro-sa/

Disclaimer:

This press release contains certain forward looking statements and estimates concerning GeNeuro's financial condition, operating results, strategy, projects and future performance and the markets in which it operates. Such forward-looking statements and estimates may be identified by words, such as "anticipate," "believe," "can," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "is designed to," "may," "might," "plan," "potential," "predict," "objective," "should," or the negative of these and similar expressions. They incorporate all topics that are not historical facts. Forward looking statements, forecasts and estimates are based on management's current assumptions and assessment of risks, uncertainties and other factors, known and unknown, which were deemed to be reasonable at the time they were made but which may turn out to be incorrect. Events and outcomes are difficult to predict and depend on factors beyond the company's control. Consequently, the actual results, financial condition, performances and/or achievements of GeNeuro or of the industry may turn out to differ materially from the future results, performances or achievements expressed or implied by these statements, forecasts and estimates. Owing to these uncertainties, no representation is made as to the correctness or fairness of these forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates. Furthermore, forward-looking statements, forecasts and estimates speak only as of the date on which they are made, and GeNeuro undertakes no obligation to update or revise any of them, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220414005590/en/

Contacts:

GeNeuro

Jesus Martin-Garcia

Chairman and CEO

+41 22 552 4800

investors@geneuro.com

NewCap (France)

Louis-Victor Delouvrier Mathilde Bohin (investors)

+33 1 44 71 98 52

Arthur Rouille (media)

+33 1 44 71 94 98

geneuro@newcap.eu
Leadership changes announced at GrandVision

Charenton-le-Pont, France, and Schiphol, The Netherlands (April 15, 2022 - 8 am CEST) - EssilorLuxottica and GrandVision today announce some changes to GrandVision's management team.

Stephan Borchert and Willem Eelman have decided to step down from their roles as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of GrandVision respectively, effective April 22. They will be replaced by Massimiliano Mutinelli as the new President Optical Retail EMEA at EssilorLuxottica and Head of Amsterdam Corporate Offices at GrandVision, and Niccolo Bencivenni as the Chief Financial Officer of GrandVision, supported by Frederic Dauche in his confirmed role as Chief Operating Officer of GrandVision.

"I would like to express our most sincere thanks to Stephan and Willem for their strong leadership and significant contributions over the years. Today, we have a solid foundation to build on," said Francesco Milleri, CEO of EssilorLuxottica.

Stephan Borchert has served as CEO of GrandVision since 2018. Building on the strong heritage of the company, Stephan and his team helped pave the way for the future of GrandVision as a leading optical omnichannel group with a footprint in more than 40 countries. He has transformed the company over the past four years into a global leading optical omnichannel group with significantly increased shareholder value. The group achieved its strongest business results in history in 2021.

Willem Eelman has served on the GrandVision Supervisory Board and as Chairman of the Audit Committee from 2011 until 2019 playing a key role in the transition of GrandVision into a publicly listed company with the successful IPO in 2015. In 2019, he became the CFO of the company, driving together with Stephan, the strong business performance over the past years.

"WiththecompletionoftheacquisitionofGrandVisionbyEssilorLuxottica,WillemandItogetherwithEssilorLuxottica feel that this is the right moment for us to step down from our role as CEO and CFO of GrandVision. I am extremely proud of the time I served at GrandVision and of all that our team has achieved together. I sincerely thank all our employees for their belief in our strategy, their loyalty and continuous support towards myself and the company. Looking ahead, I am confident that GrandVision is set up for success with a winning strategy and a bright future", said Stephan Borchert.

"GrandVision, now as part of the EssilorLuxottica family, is poised to write a new chapter in its rich and successful history, and I know that with Massimiliano, Frederic and Niccolo, the business will continue to be in good hands," said Francesco Milleri

As part of the integration process, the Supervisory Board of GrandVision will end its mandate, effective April 22.

Attachment
Gujarat, India--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2022) - CryptoNewsZ, a pioneer news media network covering various events and news across the indispensable crypto-blockchain space, is excited to launch reviews for 100+ cryptocurrency exchanges.





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The "European Cannabis Report with Market Sizing Data Adult-Use Cannabis Supplement" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

2021 was another huge year for the liberalisation and mainstreaming of cannabis in Europe.

Legislation, regulations and market developments continued to evolve for the better. Many countries continued to improve their medical cannabis access schemes, and the publisher estimates that 354 million worth of unlicensed medical cannabis will be sold in Europe in 2022, and this could reach to 2.3 billion in 2026.

CBD products are continuing their path towards recognition as fully-legal consumer packaged goods (CPGs). As of 2022, several novel foods applications for CBD have been validated by the European Commission.

But, the story which is drawing most international attention is the upcoming liberalisation of adult-use cannabis in Europe, with the ruling coalition of Germany promising full legalisation and commercialisation of adult-use cannabis in this legislative term. Legal sales are set to start in Switzerland by the end of 2022 followed shortly by those in the Netherlands.

Key Topics Covered:

Market Sizing

Unlicensed Medical Cannabis Sales in Europe

Projected Sales of Adult Use Cannabis in Europe

CBD Sales in Europe

Country Focus

Expert Interviews

Benedikt Sons, Cansativa Group

Jakob Sons, Cansativa Group

Timo Bongartz, Fluence EMEA

Dr Anne Schlag, Project Twenty21

Bek Muslimov Nikolay Tretiyakov, Leafy Tunnel

Denise Fatischek, Tilray

CBD

Fragmented European Markets

CBD Legislation in Europe

CBD as a Cosmetic

CBD as a Medicine

Ingestible CBD

CBD Flowers

Trends

Medical Cannabis Pilot Trials

Supply Chain

Product Shortages in Europe

Countries Allowing Cultivation in Europe

Patients and Products

Expert Interviews

Country Focus

Germany

Italy

The Netherlands

Poland

United Kingdom

Switzerland

Czechoslovakia

Companies Mentioned

4C Labs

Brains Bio

Canna-X

Cannabis Europa

Cannavigia

Cansativa Group

Cantourage

CBDepot.eu

Fluence

Linnea

MGC Pharma

Perfect Plants

SOMAI Pharmaceuticals

Storz Bickel

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/b7xxkh

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220415005116/en/

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Draft decisions of the ordinary general meeting of shareholders of the NEO Finance, AB (code 303225546, address A. Vivulskio street 7, Vilnius, Company) on 29 April 2022: 1. Approval of consolidated set of annual financial statements of the Company for the period between 01/01/2021 and 31/12/2021. Draft resolution: Taken for the information annual report of the Company for the year 2021, prepared by the Company. Taken for the information Auditor's report on the Company's financial statements. To approve consolidated set of annual financial statements of the Company for the period between 01/01/2021 and 31/12/2021, audited by UAB Grand Thorton Baltic (certified auditor Genadij Mikusev). To mandate the Head of Administration the Company or a person authorized by him/her to sign all necessary documents and to perform all necessary actions in order to submit consolidated set of annual financial statements of the Company to the Register of Legal Entities and the Bank of Lithuania. 2. Approval of the Company's profit (loss) distribution for 2021. Draft resolution: To approve the distribution of net audited profit (loss) according to IFRS for 2021 in the following order: Rodikliai Indicators Data/Date Suma/Sum -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nepaskirstytasis rezultatas - Retained result - 2020.12.31 (1 503 748) pelnas (nuostoliai) profit/loss -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grynasis finansiniu metu Net result for the 117 739 rezultatas - pelnas financial year - (nuostoliai) profit/loss -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paskirstytinas rezultatas - Retained result - 2021.12.31 (1 386 009) pelnas (nuostoliai) profit/loss -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Akcininku inasai nuostoliams Shareholders padengti 'contributions to cover losses -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pervedimai is rezervu Transfers from reserves -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paskirstytinas pelnas Distributed profit (1 386 009) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pelno paskirstymas Profit distribution: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - i istatymo numatytus - to legal reserves rezervus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - i kitus rezervus - to other reserves -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - dividendai - dividends -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - kiti - other -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nepaskirstytasis rezultatas - Undistributed result - (1 386 009) pelnas (nuostoliai) profit/loss -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Regarding the appointment of the auditor to audit consolidated financial statements of the Company for the financial year which will end in 31/12/2022. Draft resolution: To elect the audit company UAB Grand Thorton Baltic, code 30056169, to perform the Company's audit for the financial year which will end in 31 December 2021. Set the amount of the fee payable for audit services for the year 2022 - not more than EUR 7 600 (seven thousand and six hundreds euros) plus VAT. To mandate the Head of Administration the Company or a person authorized by him/her to sign all necessary documents and to perform all necessary actions in order to conclude an agreement with the selected audit company and to submit the related data to the Bank of Lithuania. 4. Approval of the 2021 internal audit report of the Company. Draft resolution: To approve 2021 internal audit report of the Company. 5. Approval of of internal audit regulations. Draft resolution: To approve internal audit regulations. 6. Approval of the 2022 internal audit plan of the Company. Draft resolution: To approve 2022 internal audit plan of the Company. 7. Approval of internal management, risk and control management policy and strategy. Draft resolution: To approve internal management, risk and control management policy and strategy. 8. Approval of risk appetite framework and tolerance limits. Draft resolution: To approve risk appetite framework and tolerance limits. 9. Election of a member of the Board. Draft resolution: To elect Darius Samuolis to the members of the Board of the Company for the remaining term of the Board of the Company. Head of Adminstration Paulius Tarbunas Email: paulius.tarbunas@neofinance.com Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=1060478
Lawton, Oklahoma--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2022) - Mango Cannabis is proud to bring Lawton and the people of SW Oklahoma a premium medical marijuana dispensary. The Lawton location is the 4th installment from the locally owned and operated cannabis collective, celebrating their Grand Opening on 4/20.

Entering the world of cannabis can be overwhelming, but with Mango's patient-centric approach to customer service, unrivaled pricing, and massive product selection, it doesn't have to be.

Community Advocacy from Mango Cannabis

Today, Mango Cannabis is a prominent name in Oklahoma's cannabis culture, but the company started from humble beginnings in the non-profit sector. Mango Cannabis works with several local non-profit organizations doing incredible work for the local community. Mango Cannabis also works with the community to support troops, such as sending military care packages overseas.

As the business expands, Mango Cannabis remains true to its roots fundraising for local organizations such as Skyline Urban Ministry, Toys for Families, and Fostering Connections of Tulsa. They also feature local art in their dispensaries and work directly with OK-based brands supporting the growth and diversification of the local economies.

Featured Local Brand - Sunday Extracts

The new Lawton location embodies Mango's mission to help patients and support local cannabis companies. Sunday Extracts is one of the brands working directly with the chain of dispensaries. Mango Cannabis Lawton features over 50 products from the manufacturer, including a diverse selection of 510 vape cartridges, edibles, and premium cured resin.

Nominated "Best Dispensary" by 405 Magazine 2020 and 2021; and has also been featured in the Spring 2022 edition of Sesh's Oklahoma magazine for Top Picks

Over the years, the cannabis community has taken notice of Mango's extensive selection of medical marijuana products, dedication to superior patient care, and community outreach. Below is a real testimonial from one of the thousands of happy local customers.

"Mango cannabis dispensary and the budtenders are amazing. They have something for everyone. The quality of the product and customer service is AMAZING. If you haven't been, go check it out deals deals deals." - Crystal Stevenson

The Lawton location is currently serving medical patients; the grand opening will take place 4/20/22. Stop by for great deals and giveaways every hour.

If you would like more information on the grand opening of Mango Cannabis Lawton, please reach out via email info@mangocannabis.com.

About: Mango Cannabis strives to provide a knowledgeable and caring experience for all patients statewide. Operating in full compliance with Oklahoma State Question 788, Mango Cannabis takes the lead in a rapidly changing industry by offering the largest range of medicinal marijuana options. Mango Cannabis's mission is to put all patients first. We're determined to maintain a safe and warm experience for our patients from beginning to end.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/120575
Regulatory News:

Spartoo (ISIN: FR00140043Y1 ticker: ALSPT) (Paris:ALSPT), one of the leading online retailers for fashion items in Europe, today announced the availability to the public and the filing with the "Autorite des marches financiers" (AMF) of its annual financial report as of December 31, 2021, as well as its financial calendar for 2022.

The Company's annual financial report includes, in particular:

The management report;

The report on corporate governance;

The consolidated financial statements;

The Company's annual financial statements;

The statutory auditors' reports;

The annual financial report can be consulted on the Company's website at spartoo-finance.com, in the Documentation/Financial Reports section.

Indicative financial calendar1

Events Dates GMV2

and 2022 Half-year Results Monday October 3, 2022 GMV

and 2022 Full-year Results Monday March 20, 2023

About Spartoo

With 10,000 brands and more than 1.2 million items, Spartoo offers one of the widest selections of fashion items (footwear, ready-to-wear, bags) in more than 30 countries in Europe, thanks to its team of more than 400 employees of nearly 30 different nationalities. In 2021, the Group generated a GMV (Gross Merchandise Value) of 214 million, 41% of which was generated internationally. With an integrated logistics platform and after-sales service, Spartoo stands out for its customer-centric approach, as evidenced by a very high customer satisfaction rate. The strategy is based on the strong synergies between the online sales model and the advantages of physical stores, which support loyalty and brand awareness. Capitalizing on its e-commerce know-how, Spartoo has also developed a complete range of services for professionals.

Visit the Group's websites:

www.spartoo.com

www.spartoo-finance.com

1 Press releases will be disseminated after market close. Information subject to change.

2 Gross Merchandise Value (GMV): total sales of products (including VAT) and services, net of returns.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220415005152/en/

Contacts:

Spartoo

+33 4 58 00 16 84

investors@spartoo.com

NewCap

Louis-Victor Delouvrier

Nicolas Fossiez

Investor Relations

newcap@spartoo.com

+33 1 44 71 94 94

NewCap

Nicolas Merigeau

Ambre Delval

Media Relations

newcap@spartoo.com

+331 44 71 98 52


















Sascha Bibert is appointed as new Chief Financial Officer of Vallourec and joins the Executive Committee

Meudon (France), April 15, 2022 - Vallourec announces the appointment of Sascha Bibert as Group Chief Financial Officer. He takes office on April 19, 2022 and joins the Executive Committee.

Sascha Bibert was previously Chief Financial Officer of the Uniper Group, one of Europe's largest publicly traded electricity producers and energy traders, with growing positions in renewables and hydrogen.

He succeeds Olivier Mallet, who will leave the Company after more than 10 years as Chief Financial Officer, member of the Management Board and more recently Deputy Chief Executive Officer. During that period he carried out a number of significant reforms, often in difficult circumstances, as well as Vallourec's successful financial restructuring in 2021.

Philippe Guillemot, Chairman and CEO of Vallourec, declared: "Along with the entire Executive Committee, I would like to thank Olivier Mallet for his commitment over the past decade and his contribution to the rich history of Vallourec. I am delighted to welcome Sascha to the Company and the Executive Committee.His experience of more than 20 years in the energy sector and with major international groups will be decisive in helping to accelerate Vallourec's transformation. In particular, he will play a key role in generating significant short-term improvements in profitability and cash flow."

Sascha Bibert biography

Between 2019 and 2021, Sascha Bibert served as CFO of the Uniper Group where, together with the rest of the management team, he developed and implemented a new strategy focusing on accelerating the energy transition, while capitalizing on the opportunities of the current cycle. Sascha also placed great emphasis on internal and external reporting, ensuring that strategy execution including capital allocation remained well aligned with the information provided to key stakeholders.

He previously worked as CFO of EnerjiSA in Turkey for 5 years, supporting the company's strong growth in a highly volatile environment and then listing the company on the stock exchange, following its split into distinct upstream and downstream entities.

From 2009 to 2014, Sascha held various management positions within the E.ON Group, including SVP for Group Accounting and Controlling and Head of Investor Relations. In parallel, he also served on the board of Energy from Waste, a company led by the private equity group EQT.

Sascha began his career as an equity portfolio manager and buy-side analyst, including a five-year stint with Allianz Global Investors and three years with Munich Re as Head of Investor and Rating Agency Relations.

Now aged 46, Sascha is a graduate of the International School of Management, as well as a CFA charterholder and a Certified Credit Analyst (CCrA).

About Vallourec

Vallourec is a world leader in premium tubular solutions for the energy markets and for demanding industrial applications such as oil & gas wells in harsh environments, new generation power plants, challenging architectural projects, and high-performance mechanical equipment. Vallourec's pioneering spirit and cutting edge R&D open new technological frontiers. With close to 17,000 dedicated and passionate employees in more than 20 countries, Vallourec works hand-in-hand with its customers to offer more than just tubes: Vallourec delivers innovative, safe, competitive and smart tubular solutions, to make every project possible.

Listed on Euronext in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013506730, Ticker VK), Vallourec is part of the CAC Mid 60, SBF 120 and Next 150 indices and is eligible for Deferred Settlement Service.

In the United States, Vallourec has established a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program (ISIN code: US92023R4074, Ticker: VLOWY). Parity between ADR and a Vallourec ordinary share has been set at 5:1.

For further information, please contact:

Investor relations

Jerome Friboulet

Tel : +33 (0)1 49 09 39 77

Investor.relations@vallourec.com (mailto:Investor.relations@vallourec.com)



Press relations

Heloise Rothenbuhler

Tel: +33 (0)1 41 03 77 50

h eloise .rothenbuhler@vallourec.com Individual shareholders

Toll Free Number (from France): 0 800 505 110

actionnaires@vallourec.com (mailto:actionnaires@vallourec.com)





Attachment
Boise, Idaho--(Newsfile Corp. - April 15, 2022) - Thunder Mountain Gold, Inc. (OTCQB: THMG) (TSXV: THM) (the "Company" or "THMG") is announcing that Joseph H. Baird is retiring from the Board of Directors.

Eric T. Jones, President and CEO of Thunder Mountain Gold Inc. commented, "I want to thank Joe for his tireless efforts in helping guide the Company with his many years of service. Joe is a valuable part of the mining industry in the United States, and here in Idaho, and we are going to miss his leadership on our Board."

Other Corporate News:

The Company also has scheduled its Annual General Meeting for Tuesday, July 12, 2022. This meeting will be facilitated by Computershare as a virtual meeting.

Regarding Thunder Mountain Gold, Inc.

Thunder Mountain Gold Inc., a junior exploration company founded in 1935, owns interests in base and precious metals projects in the western U.S. The Company's principal asset is The South Mountain Mine, an historic former producer of zinc, silver, gold, lead, and copper, located on private land in Owyhee County Idaho. In February 2019, The Company entered into an option agreement with BeMetals Corp. (www.Bemetalscorp.com) based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Thunder Mountain Gold also owns 100% of the Trout Creek Project - a gold exploration project located along the western flank of the Shoshone Mountain Range in the Reese River Valley, adjacent to and surrounded by Nevada Gold Mines, a joint operating agreement between Barrick and Newmont Gold, Inc. private mineral lands. For more information on Thunder Mountain Gold, please visit the Company's website at www.Thundermountaingold.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on the beliefs of management and reflect the Company's current expectations. The forward-looking statements in this press release include statements with respect to the completion of the transactions contemplated with BeMetals Corp., a Canadian Corporation. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation thereof. The forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions, which could change materially in the future, including the assumption that the transactions contemplated with BeMetals Corp. will be completed. By their nature, forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other 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 information. Such factors include the determination and ability of BeMetals to complete all required option payments and issuance of shares under the BeMetals Option Agreement, the receipt of all required regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of all required terms and conditions. Investors should refer to THMG's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q reports, and Definitive 14C Information Statement as filed May 20, 2019, for a more detailed discussion of risks that may impact future results. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is provided as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required in accordance with applicable laws.

Cautionary Note to Investors

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.

For further information, please contact:

Thunder Mountain Gold, Inc.

Eric T. Jones

President and Chief Executive Officer

Eric@thundermountaingold.com

Office: (208) 658-1037

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/120624
Compt, a Boston, MA-based employee perk stipend software company, raised $13M in Series A funding.

The round was led by Battery Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach across global companies.

Led by CEO Amy Spurling, Compt provides an employee stipends platform for companies who demand an inclusive approach to employee perks and benefits for their teams.

The vendor-agnostic stipend software is built with personalization in mind, allowing teams to assign set stipends in broad categories like health and wellness or family. Employees then pick services in those categories that appeal to them. To get reimbursed, they upload photos of receipts via Compts application or its direct integration into Slack.

Compt supports companies in 60 countries and integrates with the essential tools they already use like ADP, UKG, BambooHR, Sapling, Slack, Google, and more.

FinSMEs

15/04/2022
Rob Pace, HundredX Founder and CEO

HundredX, a Dallas, TX-based provider of a real-time market share strategy platform, closed a Series D funding of undisclosed amount.

The financing was backed by an array of prominent business leaders including Clark Hunt, Chairman and CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs and FC Dallas, and Charles Chuck Schwab, discount brokerage pioneer. The round brings total funding raised to date by the company to over $80M.



The company intends to use the funds to grow the ethically-sourced customer experience database and to accelerate client acquisition and product development.



Led by Rob Pace, Founder and CE, HundredX is a real-time market share strategy platform, which combines proprietary cross-wallet consumer feedback data with strategy expertise, investment experience and data science to deliver insights that inform leaders about changing competitive landscapes and key opportunities to grow market share. The HundredX Causes program provides ethically-sourced customer experience data while generating millions of dollars in funding for diverse causes.

HundredX feedback providers self-select the portfolio of businesses and brands they use from over 2,000 options using an intuitive, socially responsible listening tool. Companies from across the consumer landscape, such as leading restaurants, retailers, consumer product goods, healthcare, and technology companies, among many other sectors, are included on the platform.



FinSMEs

15/04/2022
Inca Digital, a Washington, DC-based digital asset intelligence company, raised an undisclosed amount in Series A funding.

The round was led by GTS Venture Capital and Galaxy Digital, with participation from Wedbush Capital, Menai Financial Group, Consolidated Trading, Richard Gorelick Aquamarine Holdings and Grant Gittlin.



The company intends to use the funds to hire additional software developers, security experts and analysts to further enhance its offering.



Led by Adam Zarazinski, CEO, Inca Digital is a digital asset intelligence company that provides data, analytics and expertise to many of the worlds leading exchanges, financial institutions, regulators and government agencies. Clients use its comprehensive intelligence to surveille digital asset markets, fight crime, generate alpha and more.

Clients include the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), FTX, Fidelity, and national security and law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Special Operations Command.



FinSMEs

15/04/2022
G. M. D. Atchia State College is the winner of the 2021 Omnicane Award. The results were made official during a ceremony held at Holiday Inn Mauritius Mon Tresor, Plaine Magnien, this Wednesday 13 April 2022.

The theme of the competition was: Health is a Nations most valuable wealth. How to adopt a holistic approach towards healthcare and wellbeing in Mauritius over the next decade to effectively tackle the high prevalence of diabetes and its associated chronic complications so as to reduce i ts socio-economic impacts on the country?

The Hon Mrs. Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun,GCSK, Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology and Mr. Jacques M. dUnienville, GOSK, Chief Executive Officer of Omnicane, presented the souvenir shields to the members of the winning team, from G. M. D. Atchia State College, which comprised of Mahirah Dinally, Zafeerah Tarsoo, Gia Ramsurrun, Haniifa Kumally and Shristi Nepaulsing. The Omnicane Award challenge trophy was presented to Mrs Khomal Chutoo Coopposawmy, English educator at GMD. Atchia State College. Each member of the winning also received a cash prize of Rs 20 000.

For Mr. Jacques M. dUnienville, GOSK, Chief Executive Officer of Omnicane:

The objective of the 2021 Omnicane Award was to hear from our youth, how they relate to the issues, challenges and threats, posed by diabetes. We have no doubts, by just taking cognizance of the number of entries, that they did feel motivated and critically reviewed the theme and came up with a high-quality assessment of the situation, while also bringing forward valuable recommendations and testimonies.

During her speech, the Hon Mrs. Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun, GCSK, said :

Team work implies Collaborative Learning, and when you are involved in collaborative learning, it shows your engagement vis a vis your peers. It leads to greater empathy and promotes mutual learning. Indeed, perhaps the greatest virtue of Collaborative Learning is that it makes the group responsible for one anothers learningand that is the acme, the peak of selflessness.

The runner up team of the competition is the Queen Elizabeth College team, composed of: Chitrishabye Govind, Yakshini Mattarooa, Aditi Rughoobur, Ganesha Darshinee Soomarchun, Sanaa Nabeelah Unuth. They each received a cash prize of Rs 8 000 and a souvenir shield was handed to each member of the team. And the third team is Le Bocge International School composed of Shanya Dawoo, Deepa Ramtohul, Aishani Awatarsing, Aaliyah Jahanger, Aliya Bahemia, each member of the team received a cash prize of Rs 8 000 and a souvenir shield.

The jury was composed of:

 Mr Pierre Dinan (Chairperson)

Company Director for a number of public companies in the manufacturing and financial services sectors and he is a regular contributor to the local press on economic and financial issues.

 Mr Ashok Kalleechurn, MSK

Medical consultant of Omnicane. He is the Team Leader of Posititive Attitude to Total Health, a Nongovernmental Organisation. He has been decorated by the Government of Mauritius in 2015 as M.S.K for Social Services in the Medical Field.

 Dr Aveeraj Peedoly

Research Coordinator at the Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC). He is sociologist by training. He heads the Centre for Applied Social Research and is also responsible for the Social Innovation Programme of the Council.

Shanya Dawoo, Deepa Ramtohul, Aishani Awatarsing, Aaliyah Jahanger, Aliya Bahemia of Le Bocage International School were attributed the third prize. Every member of the team received a cheque of Rs 2,000 and a souvenir shield.

This inter-college competition, which began in 1971, was known as the Lonrho Award until 1996. From 1997 to 2000 it was known as the Illovo Award, and from 2004 to 2008 as the Mon Tresor Award.The Omnicane award took over from the Mon Tresor award and is organized under the auspices of Omnicane Foundation.

The aim of the competition is to enable young people to work in teams on topical issues, to research, meet people, come to their own conclusions, and make proposals and recommendations.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 15

St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Albany, offers Morning Prayer for Good Friday, 10 a.m., www.facebook.com/stalbans.albany.oregon. Streamed only.

St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Albany, offers Stations of the Cross for Good Friday, noon, www.facebook.com/stalbans.albany.oregon. Streamed only.

Good Friday liturgy, 7 p.m., St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 1730 Hill St. SE, Albany, and www.facebook.com/stalbans.albany.oregon.

Good Friday service, 7 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Ave., Corvallis. Both in person and online at www.facebook.com/CorvallisFUMC/live.

Good Friday service, 7 p.m., Grace Lutheran Church, 435 NW 21st St., Corvallis. In person only.

Good Friday service, 7 p.m., Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 2650 NW Highland Drive, Corvallis. Live-stream worship is accessible at www.svlccorvallis.org and facebook.com/shepherdcorvallis.

2022 Memorial of Jesus' Death and Special Talk, 7:30 p.m., Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 3030 Grand Prairie Road SE, Albany. Information: www.jw.org.

2022 Memorial of Jesus' Death and Special Talk, 7:30 p.m., Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 1330 SW 35th St., Corvallis. Information: www.jw.org.

2022 Memorial of Jesus' Death and Special Talk, 7:30 p.m., Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 150 Eighth St., Lebanon. Information: www.jw.org.

SATURDAY, APRIL 16

Pre-egg hunt breakfast, 7 to 11 a.m., Brownsville Senior Center/American Legion building, 339 Main St. Filling breakfast for a suggested donation of $6.

Easter egg hunt, 10 a.m., The Gathering Church, 5050 NE Elliott Circle, Corvallis. For those 12 years old or under. Candy, snacks, prizes. Coffee and doughnuts for adults. Free. Information: 541-220-1040.

St. Alban's Episcopal Church, Albany, offers Morning Prayer for Holy Saturday, 10 a.m., www.facebook.com/stalbans.albany.oregon.

Annual Easter egg hunt, 1 p.m., Pioneer Park, Pioneer Park Road, Brownsville. Prizes for several age groups: up to age 3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12. Bring your own basket. Sponsored by American Legion Travis Moothart Post 184. Information: 541-974-0365 or 541-974-0356.

Holy Saturday prayer, 3 to 4:30 p.m., Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 2650 NW Highland Drive, Corvallis.

EASTER DAY, SUNDAY, APRIL 17

Celebrations of Jesus Resurrection, Grace Lutheran Church, 435 NW 21st St., Corvallis. Services at 8:30 and 11 a.m.; both will be in person and livestreamed. Easter breakfast at 9:30 a.m.; an Easter egg hunt will follow at 10:15. Details: 541-757-1600 or https://grace97330.org.

Easter celebration, 9 a.m., Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 2650 NW Highland Drive in Corvallis, invites all to join in celebrating the good news that Jesus Christ is risen at 9 a.m. Easter Day, Sunday, April 17, both in the sanctuary and via livestream worship, accessible at www.svlccorvallis.org and facebook.com/shepherdcorvallis. Pastor Eric Bohlmann will lead the worship service, which will include Holy Communion. A bilingual baptism and an Easter brunch will follow the service. Indoor masking is optional. For an undetermined period, a mask-required seating area also will be available.

Easter celebration, 9:30 a.m., First United Methodist Church, 1165 NW Monroe Ave., Corvallis. In-person and online worship featuring scripture from Luke 24:1-12, and music by the Bell Choir, the Chancel Choir, organ and brass. The link for online worship is www.facebook.com/CorvallisFUMC/live/.

Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist celebrating Easter, 9:30 a.m., St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 1730 Hill St. SE, Albany, and www.facebook.com/stalbans.albany.oregon.

Easter service, 10 a.m., The Gathering Church, 5050 NE Elliott Circle, Corvallis. Information: 541-220-1040.

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Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Sydney, April 05, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Just released, this edition of BuddeComm report outlines the latest developments and key trends in the telecoms markets. - https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Laos-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?utm_source=GNW





Unitel was the first of the countrys four mobile network operators to kick things off with 5G trials in late-2019. This followed similar rounds of testing being conducted by parent company Viettel Groups other subsidiaries in Vietnam, Myanmar, and Cambodia.Yet it was Lao Telecom (TLC) who stole the march on the market leader, unveiling a commercial 5G service in areas of the capital city, Vientiane. LTC has plans to extend the service into regional areas, however the extent to which it is able to do so may be limited by the amount of network infrastructure that is already in place around the country to support an upgrade to 5G (as opposed to the much higher cost involved with installing brand new sites in previously unserved areas). And with the coverage of LTE networks in Laos still some ways off from being any near universal, the speed of that rollout may be less than spectacular.





Key developments:





LTC launches the first commercial 5G service in Laos.

Unitel completes 5G trials.

5G-based IT and telecom solutions (including IoT) deployed as part of Laos smart motorway network on the China-Laos Expressway.



Companies mentioned in this report:





Lao Telecom (LTC), ETL, Unitel, Beeline, Planet Online, Huayuan Electronics.







Read the full report: https://www.budde.com.au/Research/Laos-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband-Statistics-and-Analyses/?utm_source=GNW
English French

PRESS RELEASE

Nanterre, 14 April 2022

VINCI Airports  Traffic at 31 March 2022

Passenger traffic in Q1 2022 increased threefold compared to Q1 2021, to 46.1 % below its 2019 level (40.8% below in March)

Traffic was hampered in January by the resurgence of the epidemic due to the Omicron variant, then climbed back progressively and steadily in February and March as restrictions were relaxed in several countries, notably in the United Kingdom

In the paragraphs below, unless otherwise indicated, variations refer to traffic levels in Q1 2022 compared to the same period in 2019.

More than 30 million passengers travelled through VINCI Airports network in Q1 2022, i.e. three times more than in Q1 2021 (and 46.1% less than in 2019). In January, the resurgence of the epidemic due to the Omicron variant and the resulting decision to keep travel restrictions in place slowed down the upturn seen in Q4 2021. In February and March, growth in traffic resumed as the epidemic ebbed to some extent, restrictions were eased in several countries and winter breaks came around. At the end of March, traffic in VINCI Airports network had not been disrupted by the war in Ukraine, as activity in the Russian and Ukrainian markets and flights in the countries airspace have traditionally been marginal.

The overall trend is still converging towards pre-crisis levels, but the stages in the recovery still vary substantially from one region to another.

Traffic at the airports in the Americas remains buoyant and near its 2019 levels. The shortfalls in traffic in Q1 2022 compared to 2019 in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica are due to a few unfavourable weather events. In Brazil, traffic at the airports in Amazonia, which VINCI took over this quarter, stood above its pre-pandemic levels. Traffic at Salvador Bahia airport benefited from Azuls and Gols one-off capacity increases.

The increase in traffic  particularly international traffic  at European airports results from the easing of pandemic-related restrictions in several countries. In Portugal, traffic shrank in January then rose briskly to near its 2019 level by the end of the quarter. Lisbon, Porto and Faro attracted a large number of passengers from France during the February break. This trend is expected to continue into the summer as several airlines (Air Canada, Emirates, United, LATAM, easyJet, Transavia, Eurowings, Swiss) have announced plans to increase capacity on international flights. The UKs decision to lift restrictions starting on 11 February spurred an increase in traffic at London Gatwick, which picked up following the announcement both on domestic flights (down 29% in February and March) and international flights (Portugal down 30%, France down 47%, Switzerland down 39%). A symbol of this positive momentum, the South Terminal reopened on 27 March and several airlines restarted flights or started up new ones during the quarter (Wizz Air, Emirates, Scoot, Icelandair, easyJet). British Airways began operating its subsidiary BA Euroflyer (30 new routes) in early April. This summer, Wizz Air will add four aircraft to its base to provide 18 new services, over and above the new flights planned by easyJet, Vueling, Ryanair, Air Malta and TUI. In France, the reopening of ski resorts enabled traffic to recover at Lyon Saint-Exupery, Grenoble and Chambery airports, and now at Annecy (light aircraft). In Nantes, some international services contributed significantly to growth in traffic (Portugal down 18%, Spain down 13%).

Airports in Asia are still severely affected by the border closures or remaining restrictions in this region. In Japan, domestic traffic at Kansai Airports increased over the quarter (from a 70% drop at the end of January to a 24% decline by the end of the quarter) as the epidemic waned.

The decisions to ease restrictions in several countries spurred flight bookings for the spring and summer. Airline capacity forecasts suggest that the figures this summer may be close to their 2019 levels and in some cases higher  for example in Porto, Toulon and Santo Domingo. These trends underpin the recovery momentum for the rest of the year.

About VINCI Airports

VINCI Airports, as the leading private airport operator in the world, manages the development and operation of 45 airports located in 12 countries in Europe, Asia and the American continent. Through its expertise as a comprehensive integrator, VINCI Airports develops, finances, builds and operates airports, leveraging its investment capability and know-how to optimise operational performance, modernise existing infrastructure and manage airports environmental transition. In 2016, VINCI Airports was the first airport operator to commit to an international environment strategy, to achieve its goal of net zero emissions across its network by 2050. www.vinci-airports.com

@VINCIAirports

About VINCI

VINCI is a global player in concessions, construction and energy businesses, employing more than 260,000 people in some 100 countries. We design, finance, build and operate infrastructure and facilities that help improve daily life and mobility for all. Because we believe in all-round performance, we are committed to operating in an environmentally, socially responsible and ethical manner. And because our projects are in the public interest, we consider that reaching out to all our stakeholders and engaging in dialogue with them is essential in the conduct of our business activities. Based on that approach, VINCIs ambition is to create long-term value for its customers, shareholders, employees, partners and society in general. www.vinci.com

Appendix  Passenger traffic and commercial aircraft movements at 31 March 2022

I- Change in VINCI Airports* passenger traffic1





March 2022 March YTD (3 months) % change 2022 / 2021 % change 2022 / 2019 % change 2022 / 2021 % change 2022 / 2019 VINCI Airports x3.3 -40.8% x2.9 -46.1% Portugal (ANA) x8.7 -16% x5.8 -26% United-Kingdom x27.5 -49% x18.8 -57% Japan (Kansai Airports) +43% -68% +67% -72% Chile (Nuevo Pudahuel) x2.1 -34% x2.2 -34% France x4.7 -33% x3.4 -40% Cambodia (Cambodia Airports) x2.7 -92% x2.5 -94% United States of America +93% -16% x2.4 -15% Brazil2 +87% -10% +42% -11% Serbia x3.0 -21% x2.6 -28% Dominican Republic (Aerodom) +65% -4% +76% -6% Sweden x2.0 -76% +76% -77% Costa Rica x3.1 -1% x3.4 -8%

1 Data at 100%, irrespective of percentage held, including airport passenger numbers over the full period.

2 Traffic including the seven airports in Brazils North Region that have recently joined the VINCI Airports network (start of operations in January/February 2022).

II- Change in VINCI Airports commercial movements (ATM)3



March 2022 March YTD (3 months) % change 2022 / 2021 % change 2022 / 2019 % change 2022 / 2021 % change 2022 / 2019 VINCI Airports x2.0 -27.1% +90.9% -30.4% Portugal (ANA) x4.1 -10% x3.1 -17% United-Kingdom x10.3 -42% x7.1 -51% Japan (Kansai Airports) +42% -37% +52% -39% Chile (Nuevo Pudahuel) +69% -30% +72% -30% France x2.5 -31% x2.1 -35% Cambodia (Cambodia Airports) +86% -84% +65% -86% United States of America +22% -16% +53% -6% Brazil4 +44% +21% +24% +13% Serbia +69% -15% +74% -17% Dominican Republic (Aerodom) +20% -6% +28% -8% Sweden +27% -72% +22% -75% Costa Rica +54% +14% +78% +13%

3 Data at 100%, irrespective of percentage held, including commercial movements over the full period.

4 ATM including the seven airports in Brazils North Region that have recently joined the VINCI Airports network (start of operations in January/February 2022).

III- Passenger numbers per airport





In thousands of passengers VINCI Airports share (%) Q1 2022 % change

2022 / 2021 % change

2022 / 2019 Portugal (ANA) of which Lisbon (LIS) 100 4,519 x6.1 -27.7% Porto (OPO) 100 1,951 x5.5 -25.2% Faro (FAO) 100 762 x13.9 -24.8% Madeira 100 626 x5.3 -14.5% Azores 100 337 x2.6 -17.3% TOTAL 8,195 x5.8 -25.6% United Kingdom Gatwick (LGW) 50 3,809 x24.6 -60.6% Belfast (BFS) 100 891 x9.3 -33.6% TOTAL 4,701 x18.8 -57.3% Japan (Kansai Airports) Kansai (KIX) 40 1,057 x2.1 -86.7% Itami (ITM) 40 2,001 +55.9% -48.5% Kobe (UKB) 40 425 +42.6% -45.6% TOTAL 3,483 +67.3% -72.4% Chile (Nuevo Pudahuel) Santiago (SCL) 40 4,610 x2.2 -34.0% TOTAL 4,610 x2.2 -34.0% Dominican Republic (Aerodom) of which Saint-Domingue (SDQ) 100 1,144 +63.0% +11.1% Puerto Plata (POP) 100 192 x3.0 -44.5% Samana (AZS) 100 17 x33.2 -74.6% La Isabela (JBQ) 100 20 +41.4% +8.6% TOTAL 1,373 +75.9% -6.1% Serbia Belgrade (BEG) 100 743 x2.6 -28.2% TOTAL 743 x2.6 -28.2%





In thousands of passengers VINCI Airports share (%) Q1 2022 % change

2022 / 2021 % change

2022 / 2019 France of which Lyon-Saint Exupery (LYS) & Lyon-Bron (LYN) 31 1,452 x3.2 -43.4% Nantes Atlantique (NTE) 85 855 x3.5 -31.7% Rennes Bretagne (RNS) 49 116 x2.7 -35.2% Grenoble Alpes Isere (GNB) 100 136 ns -40.6% Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc (CMF) 100 80 ns -50.4% Toulon Hyeres (TLN) 100 66 +72.2% -37.1% Clermont Ferrand Auvergne (CFE) 100 40 x3.1 -57.1% TOTAL 2,749 x3.4 -40.3% Brazil of which Salvador (SSA) 100 1,827 +32.9% -17.8% Manaus (MAO) 100 729 +65.9% -1.0% Porto Velho (PVH) 100 206 +36.5% +1.0% Boa Vista (BVB) 100 102 +48.0% +22.1% Rio Branco (RBR) 100 104 +71.2% +11.3% TOTAL 3,014 +41.8% -10.7% Sweden Stockholm Skavsta (NYO) 90 91 +75.9% -77.1% TOTAL 91 +75.9% -77.1% Costa Rica Guanacaste (LIR) 45 414 x3.4 -7.8% TOTAL 414 x3.4 -7.8% Cambodia (Cambodia Airports) Phnom Penh (PNH) 70 174 x2.6 -89.0% Siem Reap (REP) 70 18 ns -98.7% Sihanoukville (KOS) 70 3 ns -99.0% TOTAL 195 x2.5 -94.0% United States of America of which Orlando-Sanford (SFB) 100 677 +60.2% -11.5% Hollywood Burbank (BUR) MC* 1,081 x3.9 -12.1% Atlantic City (ACY) MC* 216 +69.0% -32.4% TOTAL 1,974 x2.4 -14.7%





Total VINCI Airports 31,542 x2.9 -46.1%

*MC : Management Contract



IV- Commercial movements per airport





Commercial flights (ATM) * VINCI Airports share (%) Q1 2022 % change

2022 / 2021 % change

2022 / 2019 Portugal (ANA) of which Lisbon (LIS) 100 38,306 x3.6 -19.3% Porto (OPO) 100 16,175 x3.1 -20.7% Faro (FAO) 100 6,305 x6.1 -12.6% Madeira 100 5,421 x2.6 -9.8% Azores 100 5,404 +41.7% -1.3% TOTAL 71,635 x3.1 -17.2% United Kingdom Gatwick (LGW) 50 27,327 x12.8 -55.4% Belfast (BFS) 100 8,284 x2.9 -27.0% TOTAL 35,611 x7.1 -50.9% Japan (Kansai Airports) Kansai (KIX) 40 18,451 +35.9% -63.1% Itami (ITM) 40 29,941 +70.1% -12.3% Kobe (UKB) 40 7,388 +34.0% +4.0% TOTAL 55,780 +52.0% -38.8% Chile (Nuevo Pudahuel) Santiago (SCL) 40 30,304 +71.7% -30.2% TOTAL 30,304 +71.7% -30.2% Dominican Republic (Aerodom) of which Saint-Domingue (SDQ) 100 11,097 +28.3% +8.7% Puerto Plata (POP) 100 1,445 +77.3% -38.4% Samana (AZS) 100 212 +91.0% -56.7% La Isabela (JBQ) 100 1,779 +3.2% -31.6% TOTAL 14,539 +28.1% -7.7% Serbia Belgrade (BEG) 100 11,215 +73.7% -17.3% TOTAL 11,215 +73.7% -17.3%

Commercial flights (ATM) * VINCI Airports share (%) Q1 2022 % change

2022 / 2021 % change

2022 / 2019 France of which Lyon-Saint Exupery (LYS) & Lyon-Bron (LYN) 31 17,169 +80.0% -40.8% Nantes Atlantique (NTE) 85 7,486 x2.3 -39.2% Rennes Bretagne (RNS) 49 1,578 +66.6% -48.3% Grenoble Alpes Isere (GNB) 100 2,309 x12.3 -12.7% Chambery Savoie Mont Blanc (CMF) 100 4,094 x5.2 -8.1% Toulon Hyeres (TLN) 100 1,162 +24.1% -28.7% Clermont Ferrand Auvergne (CFE) 100 1,404 +82.1% -38.0% TOTAL 36,741 x2.1 -35.4% Brazil of which Salvador (SSA) 100 20,482 +20.3% -3.4% Manaus (MAO) 100 11,049 +23.2% +26.4% Porto Velho (PVH) 100 3,148 +42.1% +24.7% Boa Vista (BVB) 100 2,207 +73.6% x2.7 Rio Branco (RBR) 100 1,773 +4.8% +14.9% TOTAL 41,546 +23.8% +13.4% Sweden Stockholm Skavsta (NYO) 90 678 +22.4% -74.9% TOTAL 678 +22.4% -74.9% Costa Rica Guanacaste (LIR) 45 5,270 +78.2% +12.8% TOTAL 5,270 +78.2% +12.8% Cambodia (Cambodia Airports) Phnom Penh (PNH) 70 3,390 +56.0% -75.5% Siem Reap (REP) 70 301 ns -97.6% Sihanoukville (KOS) 70 352 ns -90.0% TOTAL 4,043 +65.2% -86.4% United States of America of which Orlando-Sanford (SFB) 100 5,103 +6.0% -12.7% Hollywood Burbank (BUR) MC* 25,285 +67.1% -4.1% Atlantic City (ACY) MC* 1,927 +55.3% -13.4% TOTAL 32,315 +52.5% -6.2% Total VINCI Airports 339,677 +90.9% -30.4%

*MC : Management Contract

PRESS CONTACT

+33 (0)1 57 98 62 90

media.relations@vinci.com

Attachment
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FIREWEED ZINC LTD. (Fireweed or the Company) (TSXV: FWZ; OTCQB: FWEDF; FSE: 20F) is pleased to provide an update on the previously announced non-brokered private placement (the Offering). The second and final tranche will consist of 2,885,715 Common Shares at a price of CAD$0.70 per share and 100,000 flow-through common shares at a price of CAD$0.99 per share (Flow-Through Shares) for proceeds of $2,119,000.

These remaining orders will be closed once filings are approved to allow a subscriber to exceed 10% ownership of the company. This is expected to take at least another week, possibly longer, however all subscription paperwork is in and the order book is closed. The modest upsize over the last announcement was done to accommodate a few existing shareholders. The total Offering, including both tranches, will be 8,472,159 Common Shares and 7,300,000 Flow-Through Shares for total proceeds of $13,157,511.

The proceeds from the Offering will be used for exploration and development of the Companys Macmillan Pass Project in Yukon, Canada, and for general working capital purposes. The gross proceeds from the issuance of all Flow-Through Shares will be used to incur Canadian Exploration Expenses (CEE) and will qualify as flow-through mining expenditures under the Income Tax Act (Canada), which will be renounced to the purchasers of Flow-Through Shares with an effective date no later than December 31, 2022 in an aggregate amount no less than the proceeds raised from the issue of the Flow-Through Shares.

Closing of the Offering is subject to certain customary conditions, including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months plus a day following the date of closing. The Company may pay finders fees on a portion of the Offering, subject to compliance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable securities legislation.

About Fireweed Zinc Ltd. (TSXV: FWZ): Fireweed Zinc is a public mineral exploration company focused on zinc-lead-silver and managed by a veteran team of mining industry professionals. The Company is advancing its district-scale 940 km2 Macmillan Pass Project in Yukon, Canada, which is host to the 100% owned Tom and Jason zinc-lead-silver deposits with current Mineral Resources and a PEA economic study (see Fireweed news releases dated January 10, 2018, and May 23, 2018, respectively, and reports filed on www.sedar.com for details) as well as the Boundary Zone, Tom North Zone and End Zone which have significant zinc-lead-silver mineralization drilled but not yet classified as mineral resources. The project also includes large blocks of adjacent claims (MAC, MC, MP, Jerry, BR, NS, Oro, Sol, Ben, and Stump) which cover exploration targets in the district where previous and recent work identified zinc, lead and silver prospects, and geophysical and geochemical anomalies in prospective host geology.

In Canada, Fireweed (TSXV: FWZ) trades on the TSX Venture Exchange. In the USA, Fireweed (OTCQB: FWEDF) trades on the OTCQB Venture Market for early stage and developing U.S. and international companies. Companies are current in their reporting and undergo an annual verification and management certification process. Investors can find Real-Time quotes and market information for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com. In Europe, Fireweed (FSE: 20F) trades on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Additional information about Fireweed Zinc and its Macmillan Pass Zinc Project including maps and drill sections can be found on the Companys website at www.FireweedZinc.com and at www.sedar.com.

ON BEHALF OF FIREWEED ZINC LTD.

Brandon Macdonald

CEO & Director

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Statements

Offering Disclosure Statements

This news 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 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 Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information relating to the Company and the Macmillan Pass Project that are based on the beliefs of Company management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Company management. There is no assurance the Company will be able to complete the Offering on the terms as outlined above, or at all. The Company does not undertake to update forwardlooking statements or forwardlooking information, except as required by law.

Contact:

Brandon Macdonald

Phone: (604) 646-8361
Hinsdale, IL , April 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

2022 Best Places to Work in Illinois



TI-Trust, Inc. (TI-TRUST) is proud to announce that for the fourth year in a row, they have been named as one of the 2022 Best Places to Work in Illinois. The awards program began in 2006 and is promoted by The Daily Herald Suburban Business.



"It feels wonderful to be named as one of the Best Places to Work in Illinois," said TI-TRUSTs President and CEO Brian Ippensen. "The answers from this survey show us that we're doing something right, and this is motivation to always keep our employees' happiness as a top priority as we continue to strive to provide the best service to our clients."

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Illinois, benefiting the state's economy, workforce and businesses. TI-TRUST is one of only 46 businesses in Illinois in the small company category (15-99 U.S. employees) to receive this honor for 2022.

Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the Best Places to Work in Illinois. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation. The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Illinois and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings.

TI-TRUST will be recognized and honored at the Best Places to Work in Illinois awards in-person luncheon, coordinated by The Daily Herald Suburban Business on Wednesday, May 11. The final rankings will be announced at the event, posted on the Daily Herald Suburban Business website (dailyherald.com/business), and published in a special commemorative section on June 26. An unranked list of all honorees will be announced in the April 10 issue of the Daily Herald Suburban Business.

TI-TRUST is nationally recognized as a premier provider of fiduciary services that serve clients across the country. We are an independent Trust Company chartered to provide Trust Services, Farm Services and Employee Benefit Services. Our team is a devoted group of professionals dedicated to meeting the needs of the trust and beneficiaries we serve. We have extensive experience in fiduciary services and can serve as a trustee or agent based on the clients needs. TI-TRUST manages over $14 billion in assets and has offices in Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia.

TI-TRUST is an organization with a vision on fiduciary duty and shareholder services, and we have values rooted in the proven principles of long-term investing and integrity in serving our clients. We rank highly among the best in our industry in customer and employee satisfaction and total return to investors.

For more information on the Best Places to Work in Illinois program, visit www.BestPlacestoWorkinIL.com.

TI-Trust, Inc.

2900 North 23rd Street

Quincy Illinois 62305

Contact: Brian Ippensen, President/CEO

About TI-TRUST, Inc.

TI-TRUST is a leading provider of fiduciary services for Employee Benefits, Personal Trust, and Farm Services. With solid core values and decades of proven commitment to high ethical standards, our experienced team of financial, legal, and administrative professionals is dedicated to earning and maintaining the trust and confidence of our clients. Founded more than sixty years ago in Quincy, Illinois, today, we have locations in five states and hold more than $14 billion in managed assets for individuals and institutions nationwide.

Contact

President

Brian Ippensen

brian.ippensen@ti-trust.com

(217) 221-8658








ALNBANY, N.Y., April 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Analysts at TMR estimate the B2B2C insurance market to expand at a CAGR of 9.7% during the forecast period between 2021 and 2031. Factors such as increasing disposable income, shift from traditional insurance models to B2B2C insurance models, and introduction of more customized insurance products are propelling the B2B2C insurance market.



The exponential growth of retail, tourism, and digital lending platforms has opened new frontiers for the B2B2C insurance market. Limitations of traditional insurance models to handle the extensive volume of data are leading to a shift toward digital platforms. Nonetheless, reluctance of partnering companies to share necessary data with insurance providers poses analytics and data management issues. This has led to the adoption of AI and advanced analytics that helps to keep business processes transparent.

Blockchain, automation & robotics, AI, social media, cloud technology, ML, micro devices and APIs, and master data management are some next-gen technologies used in the B2B2C insurance market. The adoption of the smart technology enables insurers to monitor the insurance process of businesses with advanced security, and engage in strategic partnership with their clients for seamless service.

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B2B2C Insurance Market  Key Findings of Report

Adoption of digital insurance platforms for B2B2C provides tangible benefits in terms of deep customer understanding, which, in turn, helps to enhance customer journey and improve efficiency in insurer-insured partnerships. Excessive use of digital platforms of consumers in the age group 18 to 35 years is driving insurers to invest in digital platforms. This includes investment in mobile apps and websites that assists B2B2C insurance companies to obtain unparalleled insights via digital capabilities.





Popularity of eCommerce that involves handling of goods at multiple points necessitates pre-integration of insurance products to cover damage. Companies in the B2B2C market are offering insurance products via mobile platforms, and provide telephonic support to the extremely large number of non-insurance personnel employed in eCommerce.





Rising practice of omnichannel commerce across industries such as utilities, manufacturing, and construction is opening lucrative avenues in the B2B2C insurance market. Savvy companies in the B2B2C insurance market are collaborating with technology providers, eCommerce vendors, and local suppliers to understand the nitty-gritty of Omni channel commerce and garner increased revenue.





Integration of AI and advanced analytics with digital insurance models is receiving popularity in the B2B2C insurance market. AI is well-received to benefit the entire customer lifecycle in terms of processing huge amount of consumer data to create personal information based on personal and behavioural habits. Improvement in claim conversion cycle, cost reduction, and fraud management are some other advantages of AI that companies in the B2B2C companies are experiencing.





Rapid urbanization leading to high sales of passenger vehicles is creating opportunities in the car insurance segment of the B2B2C insurance market. Increasing spending power of the middle-class population who are willing to spend on comprehensive car insurance plans to cover damage for accidents or thefts is creating ample opportunities in this segment of the B2B2C insurance market.





Online B2B2C insurance distribution channel is anticipated to expand at a rapid pace with rise in adoption of mobile-based insurance solutions, along with innovative digital support for customer service



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B2B2C Insurance Market  Growth Drivers

Increasing shift to digital insurance platforms due to limitations of traditional models fuels the growth of the B2B2C insurance market





Growing economic prosperity in developing countries leading to the demand for insurance services to influence a better lifestyle creates ample opportunities in the B2B2C insurance market



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B2B2C Insurance Market  Key Players

Some of the key players operating in the B2B2C insurance market are;

AXA SA,

Assicurazioni Generali S.p.A.

Japan Post Holdings Co. Ltd.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

United Health Group Inc.

Munich Re Group

Legal and General

Allianz SE

Chinal Life Insurance Company

Prudential plc

BNP Paribas S.A.

Aviva Group

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The B2B2C insurance market is segmented as follows;

B2B2C Insurance Market, by Type

Life Insurance

Non-life Insurance Health Insurance Home Insurance Vehicle Insurance Personal Insurance Accident Insurance Others (Transport, Credit Insurance, etc.)



B2B2C Insurance Market, by Geographical Space

National

Multi-country

Regional

Global

B2B2C Insurance Market, by Enterprise Size

Large Enterprise

Small & Medium Enterprise

B2B2C Insurance Market, by Application

Individuals

Corporates

B2B2C Insurance Market, by End-use Industry

Banks & Financial Institutions

Automotive

Utilities

Retailers

Travel

Housing

Others (Lifestyle, Telecom etc.)



B2B2C Insurance Market, by Nature of Business

Brick & Mortar

E-commerce & Digital Platforms

Multi-channel

Non-commercial

Service Company



B2B2C Insurance Market, by Distribution Channel

Online

Offline

B2B2C Insurance Market, by Region

North America U.S. Canada Rest of North America

Europe France Germany U.K. Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific (APAC) China India Japan Australia Rest of Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa (MEA) GCC Countries South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa

South America Brazil Rest of South America



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Vancouver, British Columbia, April 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Benjamin Hill Mining Corp. (CSE: BNN; OTCBB: BNNHF) (BHM or the Company) is pleased to announce that the Company has entered in an investor relations agreement with Pacificquest Communications Corp. for a term of one year. In connection with the agreement, the Company has granted 200,000 options exercisable at $0.50 per common share having a term of 3 years and subject to vesting of 25% of the options each calendar quarter over a one-year period.



Additionally, the Company announces that it has granted 100,000 incentive stock options to other contractors exercisable at $0.50 per common share having a term of 3 years and subject to vesting of 25% of the options each calendar quarter over a one-year period.

About Benjamin Hill Mining Corp.

Benjamin Hill Mining Corp. is a Canadian-listed junior gold exploration company focused on exploring and developing projects in Mexico. The Companys Sonora Gold project covers 6,000 ha of highly prospective mineral concessions in the Caborca gold belt of Sonora, Mexico. The company has been granted full access to the concessions by a single land owner. The property is in close proximity to Magna Gold Corps San Francisco mine.
Newark, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As per the report published by The Brainy Insights, the global managed security services market is expected to grow from USD 20.58 Billion in 2020 to USD 76.29 Billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 14% during the forecast period 2021-2030.



Request for a sample of research report at: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/enquiry/sample-request/12638



Managed Security Services are a type of network security setting that is mostly provided by service providers. Managed security services (MSS) are systematic techniques to manage an organization's security requirements. The services might be performed in-house or outsourced to a company that manages the security of other companies' networks and information systems. A managed security service's responsibilities include round-the-clock monitoring and administration of intrusion detection systems and firewalls, patch management and upgrades, security assessments and audits, and emergency response. A managed security service's responsibilities include round-the-clock monitoring and administration of intrusion detection systems and firewalls, patch management and upgrades, security assessments and audits, and emergency response.



The managed security services market is primarily driven by rising demand for MSS because of stringent government policies and the necessity to protect various companies from cyber-attacks. Furthermore, the lower implementation costs of these MSS will boost market growth in the coming years.



Explore Complete Report Description and TOC of Managed Security Services Market Report at: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/report/managed-security-services-market-12638



Key players operating in the global managed security services market are Accenture, AT&T Inc., Atos SE, BT Group plc, Cipher Security, DXC Technology Company, Infosys Limited, International Business Machines Corporation, Kudelski Security, Lumen Technologies, NTT, Nuspire, SecureWorks, Inc., The Herjavec Group, Trustwave Holdings, Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and Wipro Limited among others. To enhance their market position in the global managed security services market, the key players are now focusing on adopting the strategies such as product innovations, mergers & acquisitions, recent developments, joint venture, collaborations, and partnership.



 Accenture acquired Openminded, a cybersecurity services company, in July 2021. Openminded is a French security firm that offers consultancy, cloud and infrastructure security, cyber defence, and managed security services. Accenture's MSS business in France has expanded with this acquisition.



The managed SIEM segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 15% over the forecast period.



The security type segment is divided into managed SIEM, managed IAM, managed firewall, and MDR. The managed SIEM segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 15% over the forecast period.



The fully MSS segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 17% during the forecast period.



The service type segment is divided into co-managed and fully MSS. During the forecast period, the fully MSS segment is expected to grow at the fastest CAGR of 17%.



Request for Report Customization: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/enquiry/request-customization/12638



The BFSI segment dominated the market, accounting for around 42% of global revenue in 2020.



The vertical segment is divided into BFSI, government, and healthcare. In 2020, the BFSI segment dominated the market, accounting for around 42% of global revenue. The banking, finance, and insurance industries are opting for managed security services due to stringent rules on data security and the protection of individuals' information. BFSI is using managed security services on a large scale because these industries deal with sensitive data, and any loss of this data can result in a significant financial loss. In recent years, an increase in the number of cyber-attacks has prompted changes in the BFSI sector, as well as the need to improve security measures. To protect itself against a potential danger, the BFSI industry is primarily focusing on unified threat management, identity and access management, disaster recovery, and IPS/IDS software. The demand for managed security services is being driven by the increasing usage of smartphones, as well as the expansion of BYOD and cloud, particularly in the banking sector.



Directly Purchase a Copy of the Report at: https://www.thebrainyinsights.com/buy-now/12638/single



Regional Segment Analysis of the Managed Security Services Market



 North America (U.S. Canada, Mexico)

 Europe (Germany, France, U.K., Italy, Spain, Rest of the Europe)

 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan India, Rest of APAC)

 South America (Brazil and Rest of South America)

 Middle East and Africa (UAE, South Africa, Rest of MEA)



Among all regions, North America region emerged as the largest market for the global managed security services market with a 34.5% share and a market value of around 7.10 billion in 2020. Early MSS adoption, as well as the availability of multiple MSS vendors, are projected to boost market expansion in the region. Security breaches in the region have increased because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with hospitals, medical facilities, and public institutions being the most targeted verticals. During the pandemic, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was the target of cyber-attacks on its servers, prompting a rush to safeguard the agency's networks with robust security measures. In a survey of Canadian CIOs done by Carbon Black, a cybersecurity firm based in Massachusetts, 82 percent of respondents reported that the number of assaults on Canadian businesses was rapidly increasing. Organizations have been forced to use MSS to protect their assets from intrusions because of these security issues.



About the report:



The global managed security services market is analysed based on value (USD Billion). All the segments have been analysed on global, regional and country basis. The study includes the analysis of more than 30 countries for each segment. The report offers in-depth analysis of driving factors, opportunities, restraints, and challenges for gaining the key insight of the market. The study includes porters five forces model, attractiveness analysis, raw material analysis, supply, demand analysis, competitor position grid analysis, distribution and marketing channels analysis.



About The Brainy Insights:



The Brainy Insights is a market research company, aimed at providing actionable insights through data analytics to companies to improve their business acumen. We have a robust forecasting and estimation model to meet the clients' objectives of high-quality output within a short span of time. We provide both customized (clients' specific) and syndicate reports. Our repository of syndicate reports is diverse across all the categories and sub-categories across domains. Our customized solutions are tailored to meet the clients' requirement whether they are looking to expand or planning to launch a new product in the global market.



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Dublin, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Stem Cell Global Market Report 2022, By Source, By Product Type, By Application" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global stem cell market is forecast to grow from $11.59 billion in 2021 to $12.72 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.8%. The market is expected to reach $18.51 billion in 2026 at a CAGR of 9.8%.



There is an increase in the prevalence of Chronic diseases worldwide which drives the Stem cell market. Stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition. Bone marrow transplant is the most widely used stem-cell therapy, but some therapies derived from umbilical cord blood are also in use. Currently, widely used stem cell treatment is the transplantation of blood stem cells to treat diseases and conditions of the blood and immune system, or to restore the blood system after treatments for specific cancers. According to WHO, in 2020, prevalence of chronic disease increased to 57%. As the prevalence of chronic disease increases, people opting for the stem cell-based treatment will rise, thus driving the market going forward. Currently, approximately 26,000 patients are treated with blood stem cells in Europe each year.



The low acceptance rate for stem cell therapy treatments is restraining the growth of the stem cell market. The acceptance rate is particularly low in the Embryonic stem cell therapeutics. Most of these stem cell therapies are yet to be proven in clinical trials and are highly experimental. Due to the nature of these unproven treatments, patients are reluctant to take up these therapies as they present serious health, personal and financial issues.



Companies in the stem cell therapeutics market are focusing on development of new technologies such as the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSC) to boost the efficiency of stem cell therapies. IPSC are obtained from blood or skin cells that are reprogrammed to an embryonic-like pluripotent state by incorporating genes that are essential for maintaining key properties and growth of an unlimited source of any kind of human cell required for stem cell therapeutic purposes. These IPSC's are not derived from human embryos, which removes the bioethical issues, thus allowing scientists to obtain federal funding and support easily. A Japanese company, Oksara opened a medicine center that produced cells derived from iPS Cells. Similarly, Takar Bio company launched human iPSC derived Beta Cells i.e., Cellartis for disease modeling and drug discovery.



The Food and Drug Administration's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) is the regulator in the US, for human cells, tissues, and cellular and tissue-based products (HCT/P) intended for implantation, transplantation, infusion or transfer into a human recipient, including hematopoietic stem cells. There are certain protocols that the FDA has established, for example, the current good tissue practice, donor screening and donor testing requirements which are in place to prevent the transmission of any communicable diseases. The stem cells come from different sources (bone marrow, umbilical cord blood or peripheral blood) and have different applications. Licenses are required to distribute and market these products.





Key Topics Covered:



1. Executive Summary



2. Stem Cell Market Characteristics



3. Stem Cell Market Trends And Strategies



4. Impact Of COVID-19 On Stem Cell



5. Stem Cell Market Size And Growth

5.1. Global Stem Cell Historic Market, 2016-2021, $ Billion

5.2. Global Stem Cell Forecast Market, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion



6. Stem Cell Market Segmentation

6.1. Global Stem Cell Market, Segmentation By Source, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

6.2. Global Stem Cell Market, Segmentation By Product Type, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

6.3. Global Stem Cell Market, Segmentation By Application, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion



7. Stem Cell Market Regional And Country Analysis

7.1. Global Stem Cell Market, Split By Region, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion

7.2. Global Stem Cell Market, Split By Country, Historic and Forecast, 2016-2021, 2021-2026F, 2031F, $ Billion



8-26. Country and Regional Markets



27. Stem Cell Market Competitive Landscape And Company Profiles

28. Key Mergers And Acquisitions In The Stem Cell Market



29. Stem Cell Market Future Outlook and Potential Analysis



Companies Mentioned

Anterogen Co. Ltd

Mesoblast Ltd.

Osiris Therapeutics Inc.

AlloSource

Cellular Engineering Technologies

BIOTIME Inc.

Astellas Pharma US Inc.

Vericel

RTI Surgical Inc.

Takara Bio Company

BioTime Inc.

Advanced Cell Technology

MEDIPOST Co. Ltd

JCR Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd

Holostem Terapie Avanzate S.r.l

StemCells Inc.

Regenexx

Novartis

Organogenesis

Pharmicell Co.

Caladrius Biosciences Inc.

Athersys

Geron Corporation

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc.

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.

Cryo Cell International

Cytori Therapeutics Inc.

U.S. Stem Cell Inc.

Gilead





For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pzw8sj

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Attachment
Dublin, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Cloud Workload Protection (CWP) Growth Opportunities" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global cloud workload protection market is undergoing a digital transformation, with companies worldwide gradually moving their infrastructure to the cloud.

The rise in the adoption of cloud computing and the ineffectiveness of legacy security solutions have presented growth opportunities for the global cloud workload protection market, which is expected to experience a surge in demand for modern and unified cloud-native security platforms. Solutions will be increasingly integrated with artificial intelligence/machine learning platforms, driving the automation and efficiency of the global cloud workload protection market.



This study takes a detailed look at the growth dynamics of the global cloud workload protection market, with a specific focus on four regional segments:

North America

Europe, the Middle East, and Africa

Latin America

The Asia-Pacific

The study provides insights into the global cloud workload protection landscape. It includes market sizing and revenue forecasts, competitive analyses, regional analyses, segmentation by product type and across verticals, growth driver and restraint analyses, and an assessment of future market opportunities.

The study also provides pertinent details about Aqua Security, Broadcom, Check Point Software Technologies, Cisco Systems, CrowdStrike, Kaspersky, McAfee, Palo Alto Networks, Qingteng, Sysdig, Sophos, Trend Micro, and VMware.



Key Issues Addressed:

What are the key trends in the cloud workload protection market? What are the main requirements emerging out of the market? What are the different approaches to growth being adopted by market players?

What are the innovations disrupting the industry?

What are the growth opportunities that are emerging as a result of these innovations and trends in the market?

Key Topics Covered:



1. Strategic Imperatives

2. Growth Opportunity Analysis - CWP

Global CWP Market Scope of Analysis

Global CWP Market Segmentation

CWP Architecture - Comparison of Agent-based and Agentless/API-based Solutions

CWP Architecture - Hybrid Monitoring and Protection Model

Recommendations for CWP

Customer Segmentation

Research Methodology

Market Segmentation

Key Competitors

Key Findings on Cloud Strategy among Businesses

Why Move to the Cloud?

Workloads Increasingly Move to Public Cloud

Soaring Adoption of Hybrid and Multi-cloud Models

Repatriating Workloads from Public Cloud to Premises

Workloads by Cloud Type

Future of CWP

Key Growth Metrics - Global

Growth Drivers

Growth Driver Analysis

Growth Restraints

Growth Restraint Analysis

Forecast Assumptions - Global

Revenue Forecast - Global

Revenue Forecast Analysis - Global

Revenue Forecast by Region - Global

Revenue Forecast Analysis by Region

Revenue Forecast Analysis by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - Global

Pricing Trends and Forecast Analysis - Global

Revenue Share by Verticals - Global

Revenue Share by Vendors - Global

Total Global CWP Landscape

Competitive Environment - Global

3. Vendor Analysis

Aqua Security

Broadcom

Check Point Software Technologies

Cisco Systems

Crowdstrike

Kaspersky

McAfee

Palo Alto Networks

Qingteng

Sysdig

Sophos

Trend Micro

VMware

4. Growth Opportunity Analysis - NA

Key Growth Metrics - NA

Revenue Forecast - NA

Forecast Analysis by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - NA

Revenue Forecast by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - NA

Revenue Share by Vendors - NA

5. Growth Opportunity Analysis - EMEA

Key Growth Metrics - EMEA

Revenue Forecast - EMEA

Revenue Forecast - EMEA

Revenue Forecast by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - EMEA

Revenue Share by Vendors - EMEA

6. Growth Opportunity Analysis - APAC

Key Growth Metrics - APAC

Revenue Forecast - APAC

Forecast Analysis by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - APAC

Revenue Forecast by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - APAC

Revenue Share by Vendors - APAC

7. Growth Opportunity Analysis - LATAM

Key Growth Metrics for CWP Market - LATAM

Revenue Forecast - LATAM

Forecast Analysis by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - LATAM

Revenue Forecast by Product, Agent-based and Agentless CWP - LATAM

Revenue Share by Vendors - LATAM

8. Growth Opportunity Universe

Growth Opportunity 1: Increasing Need for Cloud Security Training

Growth Opportunity 2: Increasing Need for Managed and Professional Security Services around CWP

Growth Opportunity 3: Need to Integrate CWP with xDR and Threat Intelligence Services

Key Success Factors

The Last Word

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pp6vpx

About ResearchAndMarkets.com

ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of AbbVie Inc. (AbbVie or the Company) (NYSE: ABBV). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether AbbVie 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 September 1, 2021, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that final results from the safety trial of Xeljanz, an anti-inflammatory drug manufactured Pfizer Inc., established an increased risk of serious adverse events, even with low doses of Xeljanz. As a result, the FDA determined that it would require new and updated warnings for Xeljanz and Rinvoq, an anti-inflammatory drug manufactured by AbbVie, because Rinvoq share[s] similar mechanisms of action with Xeljanz and may have similar risks as seen in the Xeljanz safety trial. The FDA also indicated that it would further limit approved indications for Rinvoq as a result of these safety concerns.

On this news, AbbVies stock price fell $8.51 per share, or 7.04%, to close at $112.27 per share on September 1, 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 .
SINGAPORE, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A recent article showcasing the best Singapore-based lending/financing companies selected High West Capital Partners for its exceptional performance and established brand. The Daily Finance article author stated, These startups and companies are taking a variety of approaches to innovating the Lending//Financing industry.



Best Lending/Financing Companies and Startups in Singapore (2021) by Daily Finance (df.media)

https://df.media/these-are-the-best-lending-financing-companies-and-startups-in-singapore-2021/

High West Capital Partners is a leading private investment firm based in Singapore and Hong Kong. Over the last 20 years, it has established itself as a significant force in South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific, focusing on global structured finance and special situations. The firms primary objective is to provide immediate funding to clients who need liquidity.

About High West Capital Partners

High West Capital Partners provides custom liquidity solutions to institutional investors, mutual funds, family offices, publicly listed companies, corporate officers, and directors. It provides innovative financing structures that its competitors cannot offer due to its pool of long-term capital.

Media Contact

High West Capital Partners

Hong Kong: +852 3002 4462

Singapore: +65 3105 1295

deals@highwestcapitalpartners.com

pr@highwestcapitalpartners.com

R91, 3rd Floor, Eton Tower, Eton Tower, 8 Hysan Ave., Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

https://highwestcapitalpartners.com/

SOURCE: High West Capital Partners
NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against C3.ai, Inc. (C3.ai or the Company) (NYSE: AI) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, and docketed under 22-cv-01413, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired: (a) C3.ai Class A common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the Offering Documents issued in connection with the Companys initial public offering conducted on or about December 9, 2020 (the IPO or Offering); and/or (b) C3.ai securities between December 9, 2020 and February 15, 2022, both dates inclusive (the Class Period). Plaintiff pursues claims against the Defendants under the Securities Act of 1933 (the Securities Act) and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the Exchange Act).



If you are a shareholder who purchased or otherwise acquired C3.ai Class A common stock pursuant and/or traceable to the IPO; and/or securities during the class period, you have until May 3, 2022 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.

[Click here for information about joining the class action]

C3.ai operates as an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company. The Company offers a variety of software-as-a-service applications for enterprises and software solutions and integrated turnkey enterprise AI applications for oil and gas, chemicals, utilities, manufacturing, financial services, defense, intelligence, aerospace, healthcare, and telecommunications market segments. The Company also purports to have strategic partnerships with Baker Hughes related to oil and gas markets; FIS related to financial services markets; Raytheon; and AWS, Intel, and Microsoft.

The complaint alleges that the Offering Documents were negligently prepared and, as a result, contained untrue statements of material fact or omitted to state other facts necessary to make the statements made not misleading and were not prepared in accordance with the rules and regulations governing their preparation. Additionally, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Companys business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, the Offering Documents and Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) C3.ais partnership with Baker Hughes was deteriorating; (ii) C3.ais was employing a flawed accounting methodology to conceal the deterioration of its Baker Hughes partnership; (iii) C3.ai faced challenges in product adoption and significant salesforce turnover; (iv) the Company overstated, inter alia, the extent of its investment in technology, description of its customers, its total addressable market, the pace of its market growth, and the scale of alliances with its major business partners; and (v) as a result, the Companys public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On February 16, 2022, during pre-market hours, Spruce Point Capital Management (Spruce Point) issued a report and strong sell research opinion regarding C3.ai (the Spruce Point Report). Specifically, Spruce Point alleged that it had uncovered, inter alia, [e]vidence of a severely challenged partnership with Baker Hughes, a related-party and C3.ais largest customer; [s]igns of problematic financial reporting and accounting regarding the Baker Hughes joint venture and a revolving door in C3.ais Chief Financial Officer position; that [c]hallenges in product adoption and significant salesforce turnover make it unlikely that C3.ai will meet aggressive analyst estimates; [e]vidence of exaggerated or irreconcilable claims made by C3.ai[,] including numerous discrepancies regarding the value of and cumulative investment made by C3.ai in its technology, description of its customers, its total addressable market, the pace of its market growth and the scale of alliances with companies such as Microsoft, Hewlett Packard Enterprises, Google Cloud, Intel and Amazon Web Services; and [w]orrisome corporate governance practices and insider enrichment. As a result, Spruce Point conservatively estimate[d] 40% - 50% downside risk to C3.ais share price.

Following publication of the Spruce Point Report, C3.ais stock price fell $1.01 per share, or 3.93%, to close at $24.70 per share on February 16, 2022.

As of the time this Complaint was filed, the price of C3.ai Class A common stock continues to trade below the $42.00 per share Offering price, damaging investors.

Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com
BOISE, Idaho, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Colorado-based charity organization provides education, basic care, housing, and a supportive environment to children from underprivileged backgrounds. The management of the non-profit organization ensures the provision of loving caregivers, nutrition, health care, clean water and sanitation, education, opportunity, and safety to children. Together with various churches worldwide, the non-profit organization has been fighting poverty and reaching out to the neediest and most vulnerable children to help them become productive adults later on in their lives.

With their increased efforts and donations, Success Financial Team is committed to helping various initiatives undertaken by the non-profit organization for the betterment of poverty-stricken children. They would love to bring attention to Compassion International as they are a nationally recognized charity organization sponsoring children in need. Giving back comes naturally for Success Financial Team, they're always looking for ways to "pay-it-forward" and they're hoping that their clients will do the same.

Compassion International is well known for blending physical, economic, social, and spiritual care together to help each child get proper nutrition and education and fully mature in every facet of life. To support their vision and activities, Success Financial Team has made a sizable donation to the organization encourages their team members and their clients to support them as well.

Some of the programs of Compassion International, include medical checkups and health care of each child, the provision of health and hygiene training, ongoing Christian training through a local church (paired with financing their education), nutritious food and supplements to protect against malnutrition, and enabling access to special services like surgeries and disaster relief. Moreover, Success Financial Team also shows support to their other recreational activities to help develop self-confidence and social skills among children.

According to Success Financial Team, "Supporting Compassion International enables us to provide children with better education, healthcare and nutrition. It is a cause that we fully stand by, and we want to encourage everybody to joins us in our efforts and to contribute within their capabilities. Every little bit helps, and together we really can make a difference. We have been fortunate enough to achieve great success as a company and now it's time it pay-it-forward."

In fact, Success Financial LLC is no stranger to charitable work. They have for a long time now supported many local charities including church organizations or food banks. Their commitment to helping businesses in distress goes hand in hand with their commitment to helping those in need.

According to a study conducted by AECF, 18% of all children in the United States, nearly 13 million kids total, are living in poverty. To reduce the adverse impact of poverty on the lives of these children, Success Financial Team and many other organizations are donating a certain amount from their profits towards charitable organizations that work for the very cause.

The team at Success Financial Team are optimistic about bringing a positive change in the lives of helpless children. They hope that their clients will do the same, given that collective efforts are deemed indispensable to help children avoid the detrimental consequences caused by poverty.

About Success Financial Team

Success Financial Team is a leading online business consulting firm. They offer various services, including video sales letter production, sales funnel creation, email marketing, social media marketing, social media management, business development, website design, website development, and numerous others. With their extensive service delivery and on-time completion rates, Success Financial Team has been the recipient of many awards, including the digital marketing excellence award.

To learn more about Compassion International, visit: https://www.compassion.com. If you would like to get in touch to help support, please reach out to givingback@successfinancialteam.com.

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Sascha Bibert is appointed as new Chief Financial Officer of Vallourec and joins the Executive Committee

Meudon (France), April 15, 2022  Vallourec announces the appointment of Sascha Bibert as Group Chief Financial Officer. He takes office on April 19, 2022 and joins the Executive Committee.

Sascha Bibert was previously Chief Financial Officer of the Uniper Group, one of Europes largest publicly traded electricity producers and energy traders, with growing positions in renewables and hydrogen.

He succeeds Olivier Mallet, who will leave the Company after more than 10 years as Chief Financial Officer, member of the Management Board and more recently Deputy Chief Executive Officer. During that period he carried out a number of significant reforms, often in difficult circumstances, as well as Vallourecs successful financial restructuring in 2021.

Philippe Guillemot, Chairman and CEO of Vallourec, declared: "Along with the entire Executive Committee, I would like to thank Olivier Mallet for his commitment over the past decade and his contribution to the rich history of Vallourec. I am delighted to welcome Sascha to the Company and the Executive Committee. His experience of more than 20 years in the energy sector and with major international groups will be decisive in helping to accelerate Vallourec's transformation. In particular, he will play a key role in generating significant short-term improvements in profitability and cash flow.

Sascha Bibert biography

Between 2019 and 2021, Sascha Bibert served as CFO of the Uniper Group where, together with the rest of the management team, he developed and implemented a new strategy focusing on accelerating the energy transition, while capitalizing on the opportunities of the current cycle. Sascha also placed great emphasis on internal and external reporting, ensuring that strategy execution including capital allocation remained well aligned with the information provided to key stakeholders.

He previously worked as CFO of EnerjiSA in Turkey for 5 years, supporting the companys strong growth in a highly volatile environment and then listing the company on the stock exchange, following its split into distinct upstream and downstream entities.

From 2009 to 2014, Sascha held various management positions within the E.ON Group, including SVP for Group Accounting and Controlling and Head of Investor Relations. In parallel, he also served on the board of Energy from Waste, a company led by the private equity group EQT.

Sascha began his career as an equity portfolio manager and buy-side analyst, including a five-year stint with Allianz Global Investors and three years with Munich Re as Head of Investor and Rating Agency Relations.

Now aged 46, Sascha is a graduate of the International School of Management, as well as a CFA charterholder and a Certified Credit Analyst (CCrA).

About Vallourec

Vallourec is a world leader in premium tubular solutions for the energy markets and for demanding industrial applications such as oil & gas wells in harsh environments, new generation power plants, challenging architectural projects, and high-performance mechanical equipment. Vallourecs pioneering spirit and cutting edge R&D open new technological frontiers. With close to 17,000 dedicated and passionate employees in more than 20 countries, Vallourec works hand-in-hand with its customers to offer more than just tubes: Vallourec delivers innovative, safe, competitive and smart tubular solutions, to make every project possible.

Listed on Euronext in Paris (ISIN code: FR0013506730, Ticker VK), Vallourec is part of the CAC Mid 60, SBF 120 and Next 150 indices and is eligible for Deferred Settlement Service.

In the United States, Vallourec has established a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) program (ISIN code: US92023R4074, Ticker: VLOWY). Parity between ADR and a Vallourec ordinary share has been set at 5:1.

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RADNOR, Pa., April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) informs investors that the firm has filed a securities class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against AbbVie, Inc. (AbbVie) (NYSE: ABBV) on behalf of all persons and entities who purchased or otherwise acquired AbbVie securities between April 30, 2021, and August 31, 2021, inclusive (the Class Period).



CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR ABBVIE LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/new-cases/abbvie-inc?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=abbvie&mktm=r

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TO VIEW OUR COMPLAINT, PLEASE CLICK HERE

LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: JUNE 6, 2022

CLASS PERIOD: APRIL 30, 2021 through AUGUST 31, 2021

CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:

James Maro, Esq. (484) 270-1453 or Email at info@ktmc.com

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.

ABBVIES ALLEGED MISCONDUCT

AbbVie is one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical companies. The companys revenues will come under significant pressure in the coming years when its best-selling drug, Humira, will lose patent protection in 2023. Accordingly, AbbVies future revenue and earnings depend in large part on its ability to develop new sources of revenue to offset Humiras lost sales. Rinvoqan anti-inflammatory drug manufactured by AbbVie and used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other diseases by inhibiting Janus kinase (JAK) enzymeswas touted as one such drug. Rinvoq was initially approved in the United States to treat only moderate to severe RA. However, AbbVie was actively pursuing additional treatment indications and, in 2020, asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve Rinvoq for the treatment of several other diseases.

As is relevant here, Rinvoq is similar to other JAK inhibitor drugs, including Xeljanz, manufactured by Pfizer Inc. When the FDA approved Xeljanz in 2012 for the treatment of RA, it required an additional safety trial to evaluate Xeljanzs risk of triggering certain serious side effects. Beginning in February 2019, the FDA repeatedly warned the public that the safety trial indicated that Xeljanzs use could lead to serious heart-related issue, cancer, and other adverse events. Notwithstanding the similarities between Rinvoq and Xeljanz, during the Class Period, Defendants assured investors that Rinvoq was far safer than Xeljanz and not subject to the same regulatory risks.

However, investors began to learn the truth about Rinvoqs significant risks on June 25, 2021, when AbbVie revealed that the FDA was delaying its review of expanded treatment applications for Rinvoq due to the safety concerns associated with Xeljanz. On this news, the price of AbbVie common stock declined $1.76 per share, or approximately 1.5%, from a close of $114.74 per share on June 24, 2021, to close at $112.98 per share on June 25, 2021.

Then, on September 1, 2021, the FDA announced that final results from the Xeljanz safety trial established an increased risk of serious adverse events, even with low doses of Xeljanz. As a result, the FDA determined that it would require new and updated warnings for Xeljanz and Rinvoq because Rinvoq share[s] similar mechanisms of action with Xeljanz and may have similar risks as seen in the Xeljanz safety trial. The FDA also indicated that it would further limit approved indications for Rinvoq as a result of these safety concerns. On this news, the price of AbbVie common stock declined $8.51 per share, or more than 7%, from a close of $120.78 per share on August 31, 2021, to close at $112.27 per share on September 1, 2021.

After the Class Period, on December 3, 2021, AbbVie announced that the FDA had updated Rinvoqs label to require additional safety warnings and limit marketing of Rinvoq to only its use after treatment with other drugs has failed. On January 11, 2022, Defendants admitted that these changes to Rinvoqs label would negatively impact sales, forcing the Company to reduce its long-term guidance for Rinvoqs sales in 2025.

The complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, the Defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, about the companys business and operations. Specifically, Defendants misrepresented and/or failed to disclose that: (1) safety concerns about Xeljanz extended to Rinvoq and other JAK inhibitors; (2) as a result, it was likely that the FDA would require additional safety warnings for Rinvoq and would delay the approval of additional treatment indications for Rinvoq; and (3) therefore, Defendants statements about the companys business, operations, and prospects lacked a reasonable basis, As a result of the Defendants wrongful acts and omissions, and the significant decline in the market value of AbbVies securities, AbbVie investors have suffered significant damages.

WHAT CAN I DO?

AbbVie investors may, no later than June 6, 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 AbbVie 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. 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/d22d86b3-44ed-4932-9ae1-49e89f5d1a2b
LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Saturday, April 9, 2022, Dr. Eugene Allen, CEO of Saint Vinson Eugene Allen of Los Angeles, gave away over $10,000 in gas cards with a value of $25 to local residents and a free car to a local citizen. The giveaway was held in the city of Paramount at Paramount Park, where hundreds of residents gathered for the charity event. Saint Vinson Eugene Allen, a community endowed corporation, decided it was time to provide immediate relief to local residents.

Soaring gas prices hit Los Angeles last month, making it hard for residents to maintain their everyday lives. Dr. Allen, patient advocate for the elderly, noticed his patients and small children using public transportation for office visits. Many explained the all-time high gas prices were causing them to make difficult medical decisions. During this time, Dr. Allen received news his hometown, Cleveland, Mississippi, tornados had crippled transportation services and stranded the surrounding communities. It was abundantly clear; it was time to create a path for the communities to have relief.

The festive event at Paramount Park brought Angelino's together. Dr. Allen amidst the long lines, greeted each participant with a handshake, as he gave away over 400 gas cards. He has pledged to do so, every three months, until gas prices become more affordable. During the charity event, he announced Ryan Oscar Cabrera as the winner of the car giveaway. Vilma Cuellar Stallings, the Mayor of Paramount, was on-hand to unveil the Nissan, as local residents cheered. Cabrera, with joy in his eyes, expressed his gratitude to the organization. Dr. Allen spoke to the crowd and stated, "Community leadership begins in our own backyard. I ask each of you to check on your neighbors and help out when you can."

Local breast cancer survivor, Silvia Lopez of Paramount, stated to the organization, "This came at the right time." The gas prices made it almost impossible to get back and forth to work. Our family is so grateful." Ms. Lopez was introduced to Dr. Allen during the 10th Annual Compton Walk for a Cure event in October of 2021.

Dr. Allen is the founder of Dusk to Dawn Urgent Care facilities, located throughout Southern California. For 20 years, Dr. Eugene Allen and his wife, Dr. Connie Yu Allen, have centered their commitment to the communities of Los Angeles. The Saint Vinson Eugene Allen organization has been a legendary pillar in the community during tough times. In February of 2022, Dr. Vinson Eugene Allen was noted by Guinness World Records as the title holder of the World's Tallest Printed 3D Statue of a Human. Dr. Allen is currently a candidate running for California Insurance Commissioner in 2022.

Web: www.stvinsoneugenallen.org

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Email: derrick@e1mgmedia.com

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Tokyo, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global hydropower generation market size was valued at US$ 219.14 billion in 2021. There are no hazardous chemicals, such as greenhouse gases, released during the hydropower generation process. Over the forecast period, this aspect will boost the worldwide hydropower generation market's growth. Hydropower generation is a viable long-term and short-term energy generation alternative. Hydro power is also considered to be a cost-effective and efficient source of energy.



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Hydropower can be used for a variety of purposes, including agricultural and recreational activities. Furthermore, the government is aggressively investing in energy projects, supporting the worldwide hydropower generation industry. The hydropower generating industry is expected to rise as a result of technological advancements and the adoption of new technologies.

Report Scope Details Market Size in 2021 USD 219.14 Billion CAGR 5.1% from 2022 to 2030 Small Hydro Power Plant (Up to 1MW)

Medium Hydro Power Plant (1MW - 10MW)

Large Hydro Power Plant (Above 10MW) Commercial

Industrial

Residential By Region North America

Europe

APAC

Latin America

MEA

Report Highlights

On the basis of capacity, large hydro power segment holds the largest market share in the global hydropower generation market. A hydro power facility with a capacity of more than 10 MW is referred to as a large hydro power plant. The large hydro power facilities create electricity that can be stored for a long time. The low-cost operation and maintenance are required for this type of plant. The segments growth is aided by an increase in the number of hydro powers producing projects.





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Regional Snapshot

Europe is the largest segment for hydropower generation market in terms of region.The UK. is dominating the hydropower generation market in the Europe region. The growth of the hydropower generation business in the region is being fueled by tough and advantageous government regulations imposed by the European Union and government. Rapid urbanization and industrialization are driving up hydropower generation needs in Europe.

Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing region in the hydropower generation market.In order to establish hydropower plants in undeveloped areas, government agencies are partnering with local stakeholders. Furthermore, the government is extensively investing in hydropower and energy generation projects in the region, which is fueling the expansion of the hydropower generation industry. As a result of all of the aforementioned causes, the hydropower generation market in the Asia-Pacific area is expanding.

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Surge indemand for electricity

The demand for electricity is rising at a rapid pace especially in developing and underdeveloped regions. As per the statistics issued by International Energy Agency (IEA), the demand for electricity has increased over a period of time. The electricity is being generated with the help of renewable energy sources. The hydro power is one among them, which is very efficient in nature. As a result, surge in demand for electricity is driving the growth of the global hydropower generation market over the forecast period.

Restraints

High capital investments for hydropower generation plants

To set up the hydro power generation plants, lots of resources are required. Some of these resources are quite expensive in nature. The plant set up requires land and this land should be mostly river side. For this, the government approval is mandatory. Sometimes this also requires good amount of money. In addition, labor cost is also added to the overhead cost of the plant. As a result, high capital investments for hydropower generation plants are hindering the growth of the global hydropower generation market.

Opportunities

Growing government initiatives

The government of various nations has understood the importance and necessity of power generation. For this, they are constantly taking efforts by collaborating and partnering with power generating companies. Moreover, the government is also investing in energy projects on a large scale. Thus, growing government initiatives is creating new opportunities for the growth of the global hydropower generation market over the forecast period.

Challenges

Lack of resources to generate hydropower

The developing and underdeveloped regions face plenty of issues. One such issue is lack of resources for the power generation. These regions take help from other developed regions in terms of resources. The government also collaborate major industry players of developed nations for this. As a result, lack of resources is a major challenge for the growth of the global hydropower generation market.

Related Reports

Recent Developments

Isagen SA, a Columbian power provider received a contract to buy two 19.9 MW small hydro power plants in the Antioquia region in February 2021. Isagen is growing its non-conventional renewables footprint with this project, which has a total expenditure of roughly $ 194.8 million.

Artistic Milliners spent roughly $ 370 million in two river hydropower projects in Pakistan in March 2021. Artistic Hydro II and Hydro I, the companys hydro power projects will generate a total of 521 GWh per year.

As per the developer of Uzbekistans state hydropower, the Zarchobsmall hydro power plant was successfully commissioned in March 2021. The initiative is a part of Uzbekistans national energy policy, which calls for the country to produce all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The project also plans to generate 5 gigawatts of solar energy, 3.8 gigawatts of hydropower, and 3 gigawatts of wind power.





Key Players

Andritz Hydro USA Inc.

GE Energy

CPFL Energia S.A.

Sinohydro Corporation

IHI Corporation

Alstom Hydro

China Hydroelectric Corporation

China Three Gorges Corporation

ABB Ltd.

Tata Power Corporation

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The UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s operational costs for 2022 will go up by US$ 136 million in West Africa alone due to the ripple effect of the conflict in Ukraine which is driving up global food and fuel prices. This, as acute hunger in the region has quadrupled in three years  reaching a 10-year high this year, with 43 million women, men and children expected to face acute food insecurity by June 2022.



This additional cost to WFP's operations could have been used to provide six million school children with a daily nutritious meal for six months. This is unfortunate as millions of families in the region are unable to meet their basic food needs as a result of an unprecedented food crisis, driven by conflict, climate, the fallout from COVID-19 and high food prices.



Soaring food and fuel prices will not only put millions at risk of hunger; they are also forcing WFP into an impossible situation of having to take from the hungry to feed the starving, said Chris Nikoi, WFP's Regional Director for Western Africa.



Before the conflict in Ukraine, we were already being forced to cut rations in Nigeria, the Central African Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali and Niger due to limited funding. With the unfolding conflict in Ukraine, ports and suppliers are no longer accessible with shipments from the wider Black Sea delayed or simply cancelled, affecting WFP's operations in Western Africa, he added.



In response to the unprecedented food and nutrition crisis in Western Africa, WFP is scaling up its response to reach 22 million people with lifesaving and resilience building assistance. This includes eight million women, men and children in dire food need across the G5 Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali Mauritania, and Niger), during the agricultural lean season starting in June, until the post-harvest period in October.



To ensure effective implementation of its regional response plan, WFP urgently needs an additional US$ 951 million over the next six months.

We need to ramp up our lifesaving assistance to limit the impact of the crisis on vulnerable families. But this vital emergency support has to be accompanied by longer-term interventions, by strengthening national systems and the resilience of communities, to reduce humanitarian needs over time and pave the way toward sustainable solutions to hunger and malnutrition. We have evidence from communities across the region that this works. Nikoi noted.

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China sincerely contributes to peace, development of Horn of Africa

11:10, April 15, 2022 By Xue Bing ( People's Daily

The Horn of Africa is located along an important maritime passage that connects the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. It boasts rich natural resources and huge development potential.

Photo shows a train station along the China-built Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway. (Photo courtesy of China's Ministry of Commerce)

However, the region has long suffered from frequent conflicts, economic underdevelopment and poverty as a result of the geopolitical games played by some major countries.

Earlier this year, China proposed the Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa, with an aim to help regional countries stay out of any geopolitical competition between major countries, independently address security, development and governance challenges, and realize long term stability, peace and prosperity.

The China-proposed outlook has been widely acclaimed and recognized by relevant parties. Regional countries said they are ready and willing to join and implement it, and are expecting early convening of a conference on the peace in the Horn of Africa where they can discuss development plans.

The Horn of Africa is not a backyard of any country, but a home for all regional countries. An official of a regional country noted that China enjoys incomparable advantages in joining regional peace and security affairs, which is conducive to balancing regional partnerships. Pursuing independence and shutting out external interference is necessary for realizing long-term security and prosperity. China's proposal of the outlook came right on time and has been welcomed by the people in the region.

All relevant parties believe China's proposal is sincere and mirrors Chinese wisdom. China is willing to help its African friends. It unequivocally supports all countries to oppose interference and treats all countries equally. The Chinese wisdom reflects China's multi-pronged approach to addressing security, development and governance challenges, as well as the country's broad mind to work with African countries for common development and building a community with a shared future between China and Africa.

The outlook, conforming to the fundamental interests of the people of all regional countries, is a historic contribution made by China to the peace and development in the Horn of Africa. It is expected that China could play a bigger role in regional peace and security affairs.

A train runs along the China-built Addis Ababa-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway. (Photo courtesy of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation)

Regional countries' trust in China is rooted in the solid foundation of China-Africa practical cooperation, and the fruitful results reached by the two sides in their cooperation over the recent years are obvious to all.

The China-built Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway and Addis Ababa-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway are the best examples. The Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway is the largest infrastructure project in Kenya since independence. Its passenger revenue surged 145 percent and cargo revenue exceeded $100 million in 2021. The Ababa-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway, as the first electrified railway in East Africa, saw constantly rising revenue amid the COVID-19 pandemic, with its annual revenue rising 37.5 percent to $86.13 million in 2021. The two railways have become main arteries of local sea-land multimodal transport.

When the outlook is implemented, the two main axes of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway and the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway will be further expanded in a timely manner to accelerate the development along the coasts of the Red Sea and of East Africa, so as to form a development framework of "two axes plus two coastal areas" and build industrial and economic belt. It will inject robust energy into the economic vitalization of the Horn of Africa. In the eyes of the Africans, China is the real good friend that is sincerely helping Africa.

The high recognition of China's development achievements is what makes the China-proposed outlook acclaimed. Countries in the Horn of Africa admire China's development progress and expect to enhance mutual exchanges with China, so as to explore their own development paths.

Animals cross a railway bridge of the China-built Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway. (Photo courtesy of China's Ministry of Commerce)

Leaders of many countries have expressed their hope to implement the outlook, enhance exchanges on the experience of national governance, and learn from China's successful experience in party construction, legal construction, poverty alleviation and ecological progress, so as to find development paths that suit their national conditions and realize national vitalization, as well as economic and social progress.

China will maintain close communication with countries in the region and provide necessary support for the first conference on the peace in the Horn of Africa. It will also seek greater strategic synergy with regional countries and promote exchanges on governance to make the outlook benefit regional people at an early date. I believe that under the joint efforts of the two sides, both the Horn of Africa and the China-Africa friendly cooperation will embrace a better future.

The author is China's special envoy for the Horn of Africa affairs.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
Sebastian Vettel would find it incomprehensible if Formula 1 no longer goes to iconic circuits such as Monza and Albert Park. According to the German, despite all the new circuits, F1 must also take into account the history of the sport.

The Formula 1 calendar has expanded in recent years and with the arrival of Miami, Las Vegas and Qatar there are quite a few new names on the schedule. However, there is a limit to the number of Grands Prix that can be held in a year, and so existing races must also be removed from the calendar. Vettel said in Australia that he hopes that a good balance can be found.

Vettel likes historic races

''I think it's always exciting to go to new places, providing they are good places, right places for us to be at. For example, Singapore is a great example. We'd never been there before and now, you know, it's great to be back this year. And, you know, the first night race, I think there's something special about that track and that place,'' the German told The press conference in Melbourne.

Read more Alpine should let Alonso or Ocon go if there is no place for Piastri

However, the four-time world champion also warns the management: ''You don't want to lose out, as you said, on the places you've gone to for so long. So it would be horrible to lose Melbourne from the calendar. It would be horrible to you lose some of the tracks, the core tracks in Europe.''

F1's choice

Vettel understands that the finances of the new circuits play a decisive role and also that there are only a limited number of weekends in a year. He therefore proposes that some circuits be alternated annually, so that they do remain part of F1. After all, according to Vettel, big names should not disappear.

''I think it's unimaginable to lose Italy, for example, off the calendar, for many reasons, even though they probably pay the least. But yeah, I think this is something we need to hold on to," concludes the German, who came into action in Australia for the first time this season after his corona infection.
Sebastian Vettel would like to see Formula 1 offer more financial support to the victims of the war in Ukraine. The Aston Martin driver points out that mere expressions of support are not enough.

Vettel was one of the first drivers to speak out against the Russian invasion of Ukraine and showed his support for the victims through a special helmet, with which the German called for peace. In addition, the drivers jointly showed their support for the victims of the war with a photo taken prior to the winter test in Bahrain.

Vettel wants to raise money for Ukraine

However, he believes that Formula 1 as a sport can do much more. In doing so, he points to the great need for basic necessities such as food, blankets and other things. "To supply all these things, you need money. F1 turns around a lot of money," Vettel told Sky Sports.

The terrible images of the war continue to make an impact on Vettel, who says he is shocked every time by what he sees. "You think it can't get any more shocking, but it is every time," he continued.

He therefore hopes that an initiative can be started from Formula 1 to raise money for the victims. "We have to do everything we can to help people in need and try to think about how we raise money," Vettel said.

Both Formula One and individual teams have said they have already made generous donations to UNICEF. Whether there will be a fundraising campaign, from the sport or from Vettel's own initiative, is not yet known.


THE speeding St Charles Lwanga High School driver, whose bus lost brakes, veered off the road and rolled several times before landing over 200 metres down the steep, killing 36 people on the spot on Thursday night, has blamed lack of adequate roadside signage for the calamity.

The accident, which occurred 5km from Jopa turn-off along Chimanimani-Chipinge Road, saw the bus landing on its side after throwing out most of the passengers aboard.

The school bus was hired by ZCC members from Chimanimani East, Tilbury Estate, travelling to Mbungo Shrine for the Easter gathering in Masvingo.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed that 36 people died while 71 others sustained various injuries.

Thirty-six people died on the spot when a St Charles Lwanga High School bus carrying Masvingo-bound ZCC church members was involved in an accident along Chipinge-Chimanimani road, 5km before Jopa turn-off. Those who were seriously injured were taken to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital (in Mutare) and others were admitted at Chipinge District Hospital. The deceased were ferried to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital mortuary, said Asst Comm Nyathi.

However, the driver, Mhlanganisi Khumalo, who is employed elsewhere and is on a part-time job at St Charles Lwanga High School, blamed lack of adequate signage along the road for the accident.

Khumalo, who was actually on his third trip with the bus, said he thought he would get to a different terrain after the steep gradient, only to helplessly watch as the bus veered off the road after losing brakes.

I lost brakes along the curves to the extent that I tried to go past the curve thinking that I would find better terrain so that I could reduce speed only to find out that we were still on a steep gradient.

There was no roadside signage at that particular point. I could not control the bus and after it lost brakes, it was travelling at an extreme speed. I failed to apply brakes. It was more of a surprise to me because we were traveling well all along. After all, this was a second trip heading for the same destination. I went to Masvingo last week, same route so I was confident because the bus was in good condition, he said.

In a separate hospital bedside interview, the drivers assistant, Innocent Chabara, who has 15 years experience in that capacity said: Yes, the bus was travelling at a high speed when the accident occurred. I suddenly saw the driver struggling with the brakes and the next thing we were flying down the mountainside.

This was his (driver)s third trip with the bus. On this route, it was his second trip. We used the same route last week while driving AFM youths who were travelling to Masvingo, said Chabara, who was battling to produce coherent speech owing to pain.

Josphar Nechiora of Sazunza Village, next to Chiutani Village where the accident occurred, one of the earliest people to arrive at the accident scene, said: We started helping children and then the elders. We finished around 4am with the rescue mission. We had assistance from Headman Chonai, MP Joshua Sacco and the Wattle Company and other well wishers. It was really sad. We carried the injured and the dead uphill so that they could be ferried to Chipinge District Hospital, he said.

Officer Commanding Manicaland Police Commissioner Priscilla Makotose, said: We are saddened by the events here in Chief Muushas area. This is a loss to Zimbabwe. The sad thing is that they were going to church for Easter at their Mbungo Shrine. As police, we were notified around 2300hrs and we swiftly reacted. We spent the whole night here and we are grateful for the assistance we got from several stakeholders. The deceased will be accommodated at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital.

We urge motorists to travel an minimal speed because speeding risks lives. We also urge them to use roadworthy vehicles. In the same breadth, we also urge transporters to avoid overloading, she said.

The injured are admitted at Chipinge District Hospital while those in critical condition have been transferred to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital.

Chipinge District Medical Officer Dr Brian Makumbe said moving the bodies to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital was done for logistical reasons.

We didnt want a situation whereby the bereaved would come to Chipinge to claim the body of their deceased relative and find out that it has been moved to Mutare. So we thought bodies should be collected from one point. In any case, Chipinge District Hospital accommodates 16 bodies, he said.

Mr Albert Mapunga, senior teacher St Charles Lwanga, said: The bus crew comprising the driver and assistant, came to collect blankets around 8:20pm and they went away. The next thing was a phone call from Chabara informing me that the bus was involved an accident, he said Herald
As the next step in Hondas electrification strategy in North America, the company will focus on increasing hybrid volume of core models: CR-V, Accord and, in the future, Civic. To make room for these moves, Honda will conclude Insight production in June.

Honda will introduce all-new models of the CR-V Hybrid this year, followed by the Accord Hybrid, which will eventually make up 50% of the sales mix of each model. Hybrids will represent the top and best performing models in the lineup.

With the conclusion of Insight production, the Indiana Auto Plant will focus on building CR-V, CR-V Hybrid and Civic Hatchback, several of Hondas most popular models.

Hybrid-electric vehicles are effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and are a critical pathway toward Hondas vision for 100% zero-emission vehicle sales in North America by 2040. Making the volume leader of our core models hybrid-electric will dramatically boost electrified sales in the Honda lineup, a strategy that will be augmented by the arrival of a Civic Hybrid in the future. Mamadou Diallo, vice president of Auto Sales at American Honda Motor

The 3rd-generation Honda Insight is one of Americas top-selling compact hybrids, with more than 70,000 sold since it was introduced in 2018.

Honda sales of electrified vehicles set a new annual record in 2021, topping 100,000 units for the first time, led by CR-V Hybrid, Accord Hybrid and Insight. It was the fifth straight year of increased sales for Honda electrified vehicles.

More information about the future Civic Hybrid, including timing, will be available closer to the models launch.

Honda Electrified Future. In April 2021, Honda global CEO Toshihiro Mibe outlined the companys vision for global sales of electrified vehicles as part of Hondas strategy to achieve carbon-neutrality for its products and corporate activities by 2050. This vision calls for 40% of North American sales to be battery-electric and fuel cell electric vehicles by 2030, increasing to 80% by 2035, and to 100% by 2040.

Honda will introduce the Prologue SUV in 2024, its first new volume battery-electric vehicle (BEV). Co-developed with GM and based on the Ultium platform, the initial annual sales target for this new SUV is 70,000 units.

Honda then will introduce a series of electrified vehicles starting in 2026 based on its own Honda e:Architecture, with production of BEVs at Honda plants in North America. Honda will deploy 30 EV models by 2030, with more than two-thirds of those launched in China and North America.
The California Energy Commission (CEC) selected Symbio, Michelin, and Faurecia along with GTI and other industry partners, to develop and demonstrate a hydrogen-fueled, regional-haul Class 8 truck, as major contributors to a state-supported hydrogen mobility project.

The Symbio H2 Central Valley Express project, supported with $2 million from the CEC, will develop and demonstrate a hydrogen fuel cell truck that matches the performance of a 15-liter diesel truck providing a zero-emission solution for demanding regional-haul trucking operations.





Key subsystems such as a fuel cell system, hydrogen storage system, and low rolling resistance tires will be assembled onto a chassis, and the assembled truck will be driven for demonstration and data collection purposes. Telematics systems will be installed on the truck and operational data on performance and energy usage will be collected; this is the primary purpose of the project. Data will then be analyzed within existing laboratory and industrial environments.

Faurecia, company of the Group FORVIA, will bring its recognized expertise in hydrogen storage systems by providing a complete hydrogen storage system with five 700 bar homologated tanks.

Michelin will provide low-rolling resistance tires that combine safety, longevity, environmental protection and increased load capacity. With these technologically advanced tires, adapted for heavy-duty transportation, Michelin is supporting the transition to cleaner, more efficient electric mobility solutions that offer greater range.

Symbio will design, develop, and integrate the heavy-duty long-haul-truck-ready fuel cell powertrain powered by Symbios fuel cell stack technology StackPack, coupled with Faurecias hydrogen storage system and Michelins low resistance tires into a Freightliner Cascadia platform.

Symbio, a jointly owned subsidiary of Faurecia and Michelin, is a global hydrogen fuel cell manufacturer with more than 30 years of combined experience in hydrogen fuel-cell system development and vehicle integration.

GTI, a leading research and training organization, will lead the grant administration, provide technical insight and program management as well as perform data collection. Other project partners include Total Transportation Services (TTSI), the fleet operator that will demonstrate the truck, Frontier Energy for community outreach, and Ricardo Strategic Consulting for demonstration data analysis.

Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and Utilization Technology Development (UTD), a global collaboration of leading natural gas utilities, will provide funding support.

Starting in the second half of 2023, the truck will run for 12 months on a challenging 400-mile route between the Inland Empire and Northern San Joaquin Valley. Located inside California natural gas investor-owned utility territory, it will utilize existing and future hydrogen infrastructure primarily provided by Air Liquide, Shell and Trillium.
Richard Dick Schuck, a longtime resident of Green River who served as its mayor and as a city council representative as part of a long career in public service, died last Tuesday at the age of 89.

Schuck was born in Milford, Nebraska Aug. 8, 1932 and was a 1950 graduate of Johnson County High School in Buffalo. He earned a bachelors degree in industrial education from the University of Wyoming and later earned a masters degree in industrial technology through the University of Wisconsin.

Shortly after receiving his degree from UW, Schuck came to Green River in 1959 to teach metal shop classes for Sweetwater County School District No. 2.

Schuck started the first high school building trades program in the state while he worked for Sweetwater County School District No. 2 and later headed the vocational program at Western Wyoming Community College. He also became the district director for the Wyoming Education Association.

He served on the Green River City Council for a four-year term in 1965 and was elected Green Rivers mayor in 1969 when he was 36 years old.

During that time, the citys first shopping center at Hutton Heights was built and the city completed a portion of the paving work for Green Rivers south side.

However, by his recollection, the thing people most remember about his time as mayor is the establishment of the citys landfill.

Speaking to the Star in 2016, Shuck said the towns residents had initially burned their garbage, including engine oil. He said the smoke and odors from the different types of waste could be smelled throughout Green River.

There was all kinds of smells, he said. Nobody paid any attention to what they burned.

Schuck said opposition to a landfill ordinance was almost immediate. He recalled speaking with a city mechanic about burning garbage, telling the mechanic other towns didnt burn their trash like Green River did. Lawyers and doctors opposed the proposal believing confidentiality would be breached by someone who could go through their garbage and find documents. Schuck was working with the Wyoming Association of Municipalities while pushing for the ordinance and knew federal regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency were coming that Green River would have to follow. It wasnt a matter of if, but when Green River would need to comply.

None of it was a lot of work, it just takes time, Schuck told the Star. Everybody thought why change?

The first landfill was established near Highway 530 using land purchased from the Bureau of Land Management at a cost Schuck believed to be $1.

We started with just one truck and three people, he said.

Green River would become an example for other Wyoming communities to follow when others began establishing municipal landfills and representatives from throughout the state visited Green River to learn about its landfill system.

Current Mayor Pete Rust said developing a landfill for the city was huge for Green River because it not only ended the practice of burning trash, it also severely cut down the amount of trash that wound up in the surrounding landscape.

Green River had an exemplary landfill for years, Rust said.

Green Rivers landfill would grow, but eventually changes in rules with a focus on protecting groundwater from chemical seepage would result in the city closing its landfill in 2017.

Outside of his service with the Green River City Council, Schuck was a member of the Jaycees, serving as its president for one year, and a member of the Green River Lions Club, serving as that organizations president for two years. He also owned membership number one at Rolling Green Country Club.Green River City Administrator Reed Clevenger, who also serves as Rolling Green Country Clubs board president, said the board intends to talk about a means of honoring him at clubs board meeting later today.

Rust said the city received permission to fly flags at half-mast, saying plans are currently to lower flags in Green River Monday.

Well find a way to honor him, Rust said.

Funeral services for Schuck will be Monday at 11 a.m. at the Mt. of Olives Lutheran Church, 2916 Foothill Blvd., in Rock Springs, followed by graveside services at Riverview Cemetery in Green River. Immediately following the services, a celebration of life will take place at Tom Whitmore Post 28 at 38 North Center Street in Green River.
Richard "Dick" Dean Schuck, 89, passed away Tuesday, April 5, 2022 at his home in Green River, Wyoming. He died following a stroke. Mr. Schuck was a resident of Green River, Wyoming 62 years and former resident of Nebraska and Missouri.

He was born August 8, 1932 in Milford, Nebraska; the son of Charles Schuck and Bessie Van Arsdale. His father passed when Dick was 7 and his mother passed when he was 4. His three sisters helped raise him.

Mr. Schuck attended schools in Lincoln, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri. He was a 1950 graduate of Johnson County High School in Buffalo, Wyoming. He attended the University of Wyoming and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial Education. Mr. Schuck earned a Masters Degree in Industrial Technology at University of Wisconsin.

He married Florence Francis in Buffalo, Wyoming in 1951 and she preceded him in death on April 29,1981. He later married Mary Knutson on January 16,1982

Mr. Schuck was a United States Army Veteran having served in the Korean Conflict. In 2017 he received a Korean Peace Medal.

Mr. Schuck began the first High School Building Trades Program in Wyoming, while working for Sweetwater County School District #2 for 13 years.. He was the Vocational Director at Western Wyoming Community College. He worked for Allied Chemical until 1981 as Employment Supervisor. After his retirement he worked as a General Contractor for many years.

He was a member of Jaycees and President for one year; Green River Lion's Club and President for 2 years. He was on the Green River City Council for four years. Mr. Schuck was District Director of the Wyoming Education Association. He owned the first membership at Rolling Green County Club. He was member of the American Legion, Thomas Whitmore Post 28.

He was the Mayor of Green River, Wyoming when the first shopping center; Hutton Heights was built. Mr. Schuck was a part of the completion of the paving for the South Side of Green River. He also started the landfill in Green River, Wyoming.

He enjoyed spending time with friends and family, sharing many a beer around the fire, hunting, fishing, boating, working, camping, helping others, traveling, woodworking, and loved gambling; it was always double or nothing.

Survivors include his wife Mary Schuck from Green River, Wyoming; one son, Bodan H. Janota and wife Maylin, of Green River, Wyoming; one daughter. Andrea Schuck of Green River, Wyoming; four grandchildren, Hailey Schuck; Dylan Schuck; Lilly Janota; Win Jeung Arunojjanakij; five nieces, one nephew as well as cousins.

He is preceded in death by his parents, spouse, Florence Francis, three sisters, Esther Buccalo; Lois Stark; Evelyn Kube; adopted sons, Richard Schuck Jr. and Stephen Schuck.

Funeral services for Schuck will be Monday at 11 a.m. at the Mt. of Olives Lutheran Church, 2916 Foothill Blvd., in Rock Springs, followed by graveside services at Riverview Cemetery in Green River. Immediately following the services, a celebration of life will take place at Tom Whitmore Post 28 at 38 North Center Street in Green River.

Condolences may be left at http://www.vasefuneralhomes.com
Green River Star Editor David Martin earned two Top of the Rockies awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Colorado Pro Chapter recently.

Martin took second-place in front page design for the Stars June 17, 2021 edition and third place in editorial writing in the small newsroom category.

The contest was open to publications and freelance writers in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. The Star joined other Wyoming publications Wyofile, the Jackson Hole News and Guide and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in receiving awards in the contest.

The contest grew from a Colorado-only...
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)  California is sticking with its coronavirus vaccine mandate for schoolchildren, but it won't happen until at least the summer of 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration announced Thursday.

Last year, California was the first state to announce it would require all schoolchildren to receive the coronavirus vaccine. But it hasn't happened yet because Newsom said he was waiting for regulators at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to give final approval to the vaccine for school-aged children.

At the time, Newsom estimated the mandate would take effect for the start of the 2022-23 school year. But while federal regulators have authorized use of the coronavirus vaccine for children as young as 5 in an emergency, it has still not given final approval to anyone younger than 16.

As the calendar inches closer to the fall, school administrators had worried they would not have enough time to implement the vaccine mandate.

So based on these two facts  we don't have full FDA approval, and we recognize the implementation challenges that schools and school leaders would face  that we are not moving to have a vaccine requirement for schools in this coming academic year and no sooner than July 2023, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in an interview.

The move comes at a time when coronavirus cases and hospitalizations remain low following the winter surge of the omicron variant, but also as authorities struggle to convince parents to vaccinate their children against the virus.

While nearly 75% of Californias population has been vaccinated, rates for children 17 and under are much lower. Just under 34% of children between the ages of 5-11 have received the vaccine, while just over 66.4% of children ages 12-17 have gotten it, according to state data.

From a perspective of keeping children in schools, this was the right move, said Christina Hildebrand, president and founder of A Voice for Choice Advocacy, a group that opposes vaccine mandates. The number of children that are unvaccinated, and if they were removed from school, would have been a much bigger disaster.

California and Louisiana are the only states that have announced a vaccine mandate for K-12 schools, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy. The District of Columbia also has a mandate.

Louisiana's mandate includes an opt-out for parents, while California's mandate would allow exemptions for medical reasons and personal beliefs. A medical reason often requires proof from a doctor. But a personal belief exemption is easier to obtain, often requiring a letter from the student or parent stating their objections.

State Sen. Richard Pan, a Democrat from Sacramento who is also a pediatrician, had authored a bill in the state Legislature this year that would have blocked students from using the personal belief exemption to avoid the coronavirus vaccine. But on Thursday, Pan announced he was holding the bill  meaning it will not become law this year  though he said there should still be a focus on boosting child vaccination rates.

Until childrens access to COVID vaccination is greatly improved, I believe that a state-wide policy to require COVID vaccination in schools is not the immediate priority, although it is an appropriate safety policy for many school districts in communities with good vaccine access," Pan said in a news release.

Pan did not say he pulled the bill because of a lack of support. A poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, found 64% of registered voters support coronavirus vaccine requirements for schools  including 55% of voters who are the parents of school-aged children. The poll was published in February based on a sampling of 8,937 California registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

This is the second vaccine-related bill to fail in the California Legislature this year before it even got to a vote. Last month, Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks withdrew a bill that would have forced all California businesses to require coronavirus vaccines for their employees  a decision she attributed to a new and welcome chapter in this pandemic, with the virus receding for the moment.

As coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have declined, state officials have removed most virus restrictions, no longer requiring masks in schools or other public places.

Definitely a lot of parents are excited that Sen. Pan is pulling this bill. It's one less thing that they have to worry about, said Jonathan Zachreson, the parent of three high-school children who founded the advocacy group Reopen California Schools. The fact is kids ages 5-11 have had access to vaccines for quite some time and their low vaccination rates, I think, is evident of how parents feel about the vaccine.

Other vaccine-related bills are still alive in the California Legislature, including one that would let schoolchildren 12 and older receive the coronavirus vaccine without their parents' permission. Currently, California requires parental permission for vaccines unless they are specifically to prevent a sexually transmitted disease.

___

Associated Press reporter Don Thompson contributed.
GREENWICH  A Greenwich Hospital survey of 200 respondents showed a high support for a planned cancer unit.

The hospital administration hired a market-research firm, MMB of Boston, that polled some 200 local residents in the seven ZIP codes encompassing Greenwich in January and February as part of a campaign to generate public support for the project. The survey was carried out online.

While the survey asked respondents to say which aspects of a new cancer center would spur their support for the project  including allowing for additional types of cancer to be treated there, bringing the latest and greatest treatment options to the community and helping to stimulate the local economy  it also asked respondents why they would be less likely to support the plan. Among those options was that it would make the surrounding neighborhood less residential, could create more traffic and congestion and the original proposed size was too large.

The survey showed a high level  about 89 percent  in favor of the proposed facility at Lake Street and Lafayette Place, according to the hospital administration.

The hospital is seeking to build a 56,000-square-foot cancer-care unit on a parcel near the main medical facility. An earlier version of the plan was denied by the Planning and Zoning Commission last year. The latest version adds more green space around the facility, to be called the Smilow Cancer Hospital Care Center at Greenwich; the development team behind the expansion plan says vehicular access has also been improved.

According to the survey results, respondents said they approved of the new treatments for different types of cancers that are not fully treatable in Greenwich, as well as enhanced technology and options. The hospital administration has also been enlisting civic leaders and stakeholders to promote the proposed cancer facility.

For Greenwich residents, the chance to have access to the best care without having to travel far distances eliminates one big patient stressor and improves overall survival outcomes, said Erin Nielsen, a manager of the American Cancer Society based in southern Connecticut, in a statement announcing the survey results.

Some neighbors have raised anxieties about traffic and over-development in the area of the planned facility.

Wynn McDaniel, who lives near the hospital and chairwoman of the Representative Town Meeting in that section of town, District 7, said she felt her neighbors are seeking more information about the project.

A lot of my neighbors are still not that familiar with the details. They feel they need to learn more. I have heard from some neighbors  they still have concerns. Everyone wants to work with the hospital  its a vital contributor to our community  but the community needs more details, she said.

McDaniel said she had spoken with a neighbor who worried about the blasting work necessary for an underground parking section and an underground portion of the building, and another neighbor who had concerns about flooding.

Im sure well hear more from neighbors as this evolves, she said. I think its good theyre reaching out to the community.

The hospital has established a neighborhood advisory board to hear questions and complaints about local matters, such as improper truck deliveries and illegal parking in the area.

A formal submission for the new plan has not been filed at Town Hall.
Deaf residents report frequent issues with sign language interpretation at Connecticut hospitals and health care facilities, hindering their ability to understand medical care fully.

And though video remote interpreting (VRI) services are widely available at Connecticut hospitals, patients have reported mixed experiences with the technology.

The issues persist more than 30 years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which requires interpretation for patients and family members under the effective communication section of the law. In the last three years, the U.S. Attorneys office has negotiated four settlements with medical facilities in Connecticut for complaints related to communication with deaf patients.

At one point, ADA and accessibility seemed to be very good, said Marissa Rivera, an advocate with Disability Rights Connecticut (DRCT). And now, in 2022, it has completely collapsed.

The reasons are multiple and complex but often attributed to an ongoing interpreter shortage, which makes it hard to consistently secure in-person interpretation, especially during unplanned emergency room visits.

About 5 percent of the states adults have a hearing disability, a rate that jumps to almost 9 percent among people older than 60, according to U.S. Census figures. There are currently 497 registered interpreters in the state, though not all have the required certifications to work in medical settings.

Connecticut hospitals and state lawmakers have been meeting with advocates through a work group of the legislatures Human Services Committee, which proposed a bill to accept additional interpreter certifications and better organize state services for the Deaf.

I would say its a universal issue, meaning across the state, that were trying to address, said Human Services Committee Chair Rep. Catherine Abercrombie, who serves Meriden and Berlin.

Deaf residents can file complaints with a hospital or through state and federal agencies, so its hard to get a complete picture of how many complaints have been filed. But DRCT gets weekly calls related to medical interpreting issues, Rivera said.

DRCT helped Mary Pat Donovan, 60, of Vernon, file a federal complaint after a mental health emergency in 2016 led to a three-day stay at Hartford Hospitals Institute of Living. Donovan wasnt provided an interpreter and therefore couldnt participate in group therapy sessions or understand her care, according to her complaint, which was recently settled.

Donovan said the lack of communication during her stay made an already difficult situation harder and resulted in her getting the wrong medication.

I felt like my self-esteem was kind of crushed, Donovan said through an interpreter. I wasnt able to say what I wanted to say. I wasnt able to express myself.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Brown, the civil rights coordinator for Connecticut whose office investigates complaints, said, We want to work collaboratively with the hospitals. I would say, most of the time, they are responsive, and they want to do the right thing.

In the end, the goal is to make sure the Deaf community can communicate with their medical providers just like anyone else can, said Brown.

Though video remote interpreting (VRI) systems are becoming more common and often touted for their quick access, they can leave patients stranded if technology issues occur.

This sometimes comes down to life or death, Rivera said. Weve had cases like that, where on someones deathbed, not having VRI working. Its terrible.

Sometimes, it may be hard to understand an interpreter through a screen in a medical situation, said Connecticut Association of the Deaf President Luisa Gasco-Soboleski.

If Im in pain or on deep medication, theres no way that the video would work for me, Gasco-Soboleski said through an interpreter. It depends on the severity.

Still, remote services might be the only option in some cases.

On the one hand, people are saying we shouldnt use VRI in the hospital because of the tech issues. But on the other hand, without VRI, we sometimes have no one, said Doreen Simons, an American Sign Language (ASL) instructor at UConn. I would rather have VRI than no interpreter.

Simons has seen the issues from both sides: as a deaf patient and as a certified deaf interpreter helping other patients understand their care.

Simons of Farmington had emergency heart surgery at UConn Health Center in 2015. Her interpreter for the emergency room visit was having trouble hearing and couldnt properly explain to her what was going on. When she woke up from quintuple bypass surgery, only her sister was available to interpret.

That was not appropriate at all, Simons said through an interpreter. They need to provide a certified interpreter. They should not be putting my family members in that situation.

Her two adult children ended up interpreting several of the follow-up conversations with doctors after her surgeryemotionally processing the information while also serving in the official role of informing their mother.

Though Connecticut has been known as a leader in supporting deaf residents, advocates say services have declined in the last 10 years, contributing to problems in medical settings.

The state launched the Commission for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired in 1974, the first of its kind in the country. But in 2011, the commission was converted to an advisory council.

Amid budget cuts in 2016, the Department of Rehabilitation Services cut its sign language interpreting service. That same year, the states Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities was eliminated, and tasks reassigned to Disability Rights Connecticut and the Department of Aging and Disability Services.

We were the first in the country, and our services were awesome, said Gasco-Soboleski. And right now, we have zero. And I see more problems popping up, more problems appearing because there is no training.

A 1998 Department of Justice consent decree, which required hospitals to provide an interpreter within an hour of notification for at least 80 percent of requests, expired. As part of the agreement, Connecticut Hospital Association contracted with sign language interpreters on behalf of all the hospitals. Without the decree in effect, advocates say compliance has lapsed.

A spokesperson for the Connecticut Hospital Association declined to be interviewed or answer specific questions through email but issued a statement noting hospitals dedication to patient care and work with advocates to address concerns.

Several hospitals, either proactively or as a result of complaints, are working on plans to improve services.

Stamford Hospital, for example, recently launched a long-term staff training on cultural considerations, working with interpreters, and basic sign language. The hospital has 30 video remote interpreting machines and a contract for translation services 24 hours a day in more than 200 languages, including ASL. It also has a contract for in-person interpretation and relies on 211 if no interpreter is available when needed.

We have always had the standard of needing to provide appropriate interpretation services for patients, said Liz Longmore, the senior vice president of ambulatory services and patient experience at Stamford Hospital. It has become more of a challenge over time.

This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team ( c-hit.org ), a nonprofit news organization dedicated to health reporting.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP)  Kentucky state Rep. Chad McCoy, a member of the House leadership team who helped navigate a charter schools bill into law, said he will retire from the legislature when his current term ends.

The Bardstown Republican announced his decision Thursday night, shortly after lawmakers ended their 60-day session. McCoy was often at the forefront of the session, pushing for the contentious bill to launch charter schools in Kentucky and supply them with funding.

Ive said all along that I have no intention to become a career politician and the time has come to move on to the next chapter, McCoy, 51, said in a news release.

McCoy, an attorney, was elected to the House in 2016 and was selected by his GOP colleagues as majority whip in 2018. His primary role as whip was to build consensus among House Republicans on priority issues.

House Speaker David Osborne credited McCoy's role in passing another signature GOP priority this year  a measure revamping the state's tax code. The measure is aimed at gradually phasing out individual income taxes while extending the state sales tax to more services.

You cant exaggerate the role Chad has played in crafting the policies that play a significant role in our ability to pass legislation like a tax modernization package that will soon allow Kentuckians to keep more of their hard-earned money by eliminating the income tax, Osborne said. While I am saddened by his decision to retire, I wish him the very best.

The charter schools and tax modernization bills were vetoed by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. Republican lawmakers overrode both vetoes this week.

The charter schools bill sets up a long-term funding method for charters. Public charters, like traditional public schools, would receive a mix of local and state tax support. It also requires at least two charter schools be created under pilot projects  one in Louisville and one in northern Kentucky.

McCoy and other supporters said charter schools would give parents more choices for their childrens schooling. Opponents said charters would divert funding from traditional public schools.

McCoy, whose district is in the heart of Kentucky bourbon country, also was a leading advocate for legislation benefiting the state's bourbon industry.

McCoy will continue his legislative duties until his term concludes at the end of this year.

His retirement leaves two Republicans competing for his seat in the May primary election. No Democrat filed for the seat.
File photo / Robert Marchant / Hearst Connecticut Media /

GREENWICH  Plans for a dialysis center for outpatients coping with kidney ailments, the first of its kind in Greenwich, have been approved.

The Greenwich Planning & Zoning Commission voted Tuesday to sign off on a proposal to convert space at a commercial building at 469 W. Putnam Ave. for a medical-health operation. The dialysis center will be constructed in space that is now occupied by a salon, a fuel-oil company and a fitness club.
According to industry sources, a big OIS and autofocus actuators supplier in South Korea has struck a deal with Apple. Last year, the US-based company visited Jahwa and some believe that the OIS modules maker is spending more than $155 million on building a new manufacturing facility.

Given the size of the investment and the fact that Apple often asks its suppliers to build production lines just for its needs that's a strong indication that the two companies are starting to work together. It's interesting to note that Jahwa is a supplying OIS modules to Samsung as well.

The new camera hardware, which is believed to be used for telephoto units, will come just in time for the iPhone 15 lineup next year, starting production in Q2 2023.

Now, while this doesn't mean that Apple has decided to include a periscope telephoto camera, it's an indication that a more advanced zoom camera is in the works.

Source
The OnePlus 10 Pro went on open sale in the US yesterday and it comes with support for Verizons C-band Ultra Wideband 5G. The phone initially did not have access to the coveted n77 band which works on the 3.3 to 4.2GHz spectrum but OnePlus managed to work things out with Verizon just in time for the US launch.

OnePlus 10 Pro does not support the faster but not so-widely available mmWave band yet. Verizon and T-Mobile are the only carried that offer 5G connectivity on the OnePlus 10 Pro. AT&T has not certified the device to work on its 5G network yet and it seems that wont change in the foreseeable future.

Via
OnePlus today confirmed additional details regarding its upcoming OnePlus 10R 5G set to launch in India later this month.

The OnePlus 10R 5G will feature the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-MAX chipset. This is a variant of the Dimensity 8100 that is exclusive to OnePlus. The company refused to comment on the differences between the MAX and non-MAX variant at the time of writing.

The standard Dimensity 8100 features an octa-core design, with 4x Cortex-A78 performance cores clocked at 2.75GHz and 4x Cortex-A55 economy cores clocked at 2.0GHz. It also features a Mali-G610 MC6 GPU and MediaTek 580 APU. OnePlus touts similar specifications in its spec sheet, which makes the difference all the more nebulous.

Apart from that, the company also confirmed that the OnePlus 10R 5G will support 150W SUPERVOOC fast charging for its 4500mAh battery, which is claimed to charge 0-100% in 17 minutes.

The OnePlus 10R 5G will be launching in India on April 28, alongside the OnePlus Nord CE 2 Lite 5G.
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The senator who introduced a resolution that would have ended the islands public health emergency said he wants legislative oversight of future extensions of the emergency.

After Resolution 291 failed this week, Sen. Chris Duenas said he will push to override Gov. Lou Leon Guerreros veto of Bill 11. The bill would require the Legislature to approve any monthly extensions of the state of emergency enacted in March 2020.

The resolution fell short by a vote of 6-7. Duenas and fellow Republicans Sens. Frank Blas Jr., Tony Ada, Joanne Brown, James Moylan and Telo Taitague voted in favor of the measure. Democrat Sens. Telena Nelson, Clynt Ridgell, Sabina Perez, Amanda Shelton, Jose Pedo Terlaje, Vice Speaker Tina Muna Barnes and Speaker Therese Terlaje voted against. Sens. Joe San Agustin and Mary Camacho Torres were absent and excused.

Lawmakers spent hours Thursday asking officials from the Department of Public Health and Social Services, the Guam Recovery Office, the Office of Homeland Security, the Department of Administration and the Office of the Attorney General about the potential impact of ending the emergency.

Duenas on Friday said lawmakers were left with more questions than answers.

Defeat

On Thursday night, he tried to recess the legislative session until Monday afternoon so more information could be provided.

Ridgell blocked an extension of the session, which he said would prolong any political theater.

Ridgell pointed to testimony from Public Health Director Art San Agustin, who said he couldnt say with confidence whether COVID-19 no longer posed a high risk of death, long-term disability or harm to the population.

Guam law states senators can terminate a public health emergency if they find those three criteria arent present.

Ridgell also blocked amendments from Blas and Taitague which would have postponed the end of the emergency. Taitague and Blas said the extensions would give Adelup more time to justify the need for the emergency. Ridgell didnt believe lawmakers had the authority to postpone.

The governor and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio issued a joint statement Thursday night, thanking the senators who voted against Resolution 291.

Through their diligence and compassion, I am pleased to announce the continuation of the National Guard response, compensation for our front liners responding to this emergency, and the delivery of food and nutrition assistance to our islands most vulnerable, they stated.

These senators recognized that the public health emergency declaration is a tool needed by our exhausted front liners to continue providing much-needed services to our community.

Push for override

Duenas, the Republic minority leader, told the PDN more of the dialogue from Thursday was needed, given the open-ended state of emergency. Thats why he plans to push for Bill 11.

The Emergency Health Powers Act, which governs the state of emergency, needs to be revisited, he said.

If we were really to do our job, ... we would have forced the administration to end this public health emergency and issue a narrow one, to cover SNAP and maybe the National Guard and maybe the waiver for licensure under the nursing program, Duenas said.

Duenas has pointed to a map from the National Academy for State and Health Policy that shows that 19 states and D.C. still have local public health emergencies in place. The federal health emergency recently was extended until July 15 by U.S. Health and Human Services.

Leon Guerrero has disputed that a limited emergency for Guam was feasible. She has said other states that ended emergencies worked with local legislatures to approve transition policies.

Duenas said he was willing to work with the administration to do that, but efforts to communicate with Adelup wouldnt have been transparent.

The governor has said she wasnt told about Resolution 291 before it was introduced.
Find out where and how you can get vaccines and testing for COVID-19 this week, based on information provided by Joint Information Center.




Haiti - FLASH : New passenger measures in Haiti





The Ministry of Public Health advises the general population, airlines and travelers in particular, that as part of the fight against the Coronavirus Covid-19 in Haiti, the following measures have been adopted.



1 - The optional wearing of mask outdoor ;



2 - The maintaining of the wearing of mask in a closed and air-conditioned room;



3 - The mandatory maintaining of hand washing to access public and private institutions and companies;



4 - The lifting of the physical distance measure of "1.5m" in public spaces;



5 - From April 18, 2022, the presentation at boarding, for any passenger aged 12 and over, bound for Haiti, of the vaccination record proving that he has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 OR a negative RDT Antigen or RT PCR test for COVID-19 dating no more than 72 hours before the trip;



6 - The presentation only for passengers aged 5 to 11 of a negative test for COVID-19, is RDT Antigen or RT PCR negative, dating no more than 72 hours before the trip;



7 - No obligation for passengers under the age of 5 to present the COVID-19 test and the vaccination record.



The Ministry of Public Health is counting on the collaboration of everyone for the application of these new measures on the national territory.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Diaspora Covid-19 : Daily Bulletin #756





GLOBAL SITUATION 2019-2022:

Epidemiological situation:

Friday April 15, 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 503,100,119 cases (+932,856 in 24 hours ), the day before (+977.524)



Number of infected countries: 225



*Healings: 453,523,845 people have been cured of Covid-19 worldwide (+1,088,922 in 24 hours), the day before (+1,057,933)

*Deaths: 6,218,339 people have died of Covid-19 worldwide since the start of the pandemic (+4.179 in 24 hours), the day before (+4.411)

*Active cases (minus deaths and recoveries) in the world is currently 43,357,935 cases (-160,245 in 24 hours), the day before (-84,820)



Average cure rate in the world: 90.14% (+)



Average mortality rate in the world: 1.23% (=)



World: Active cases trend: (minus recoveries and deaths)





(Day-1)



Vaccination: 11.47 billion doses of vaccine injected (+10 million doses injected. Updated April 11, 2022 (latest data available).



HAITI:

According to the Ministry of Public Health, +2 new cases of Covid-19 and its variants have been confirmed in Haiti as of April 9, 2022 (latest partial data available ) for a total of 30,587 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 (+10 cases as of April 6, 2022).



Healings: 29,162 (+80)



Cure rate: 95.34% (+)



Deaths: 835 deaths (+0)



Death rate: 2.72% (-)



5th Wave (Omicron Dominant):

Total of the 5th wave (starting December 27, 2021) 4,593 confirmed cases and 69 deaths



Screening since the start of the pandemic: 191,744 tests (+266 in 4 days) since March 19, 2020, latest data available. Note that the very small number of people screened every day at the national level out of a population estimated at 11.6 million citizens, does not statistically allow us to make a representative estimate of the situation in Haiti, which translates into a < B>number of daily confirmed cases largely underestimated.



TOP 5 of the most affected municipalities in the West (2022):

Delmas: 744 (+0); Petion-ville 624 (+0); Port-au-Prince 407 (+0); Tabarre 288 (+0); Croix-des-Bouquets 242 (+0)



Confirmed cases by department (2022 / 2021 / 2020):

West: 2022: 2,564 cases; (2021: 9.890); (2020: 6,945 cases)

North: 2022: 269 cases; (2021: 664); (2020: 677 cases)

Center: 2022: 230 cases; (2021: 1.001); (2020: 508 cases)

Artibonitis: 2022: 188 cases; (2021: 855); (2020: 593 cases)

Northeast: 2022: 148 cases; (2021: 404); (2020: 314 cases)

Southeast: 2022: 268 cases; (2021: 768); (2020: 274 cases)

South: 2022: 216 cases; (2021: 891); (2020: 262 cases)

North West: 2022: 264 cases; (2021: 383); (2020: 229 cases)

Grand'Anse: 2022: 176 cases; (2021: 861); (2020: 176 cases)

Nippes: 2022: 39 cases; (2021: 249) (2020: 149 cases)



Cumulative deaths by department (2022-2021):

West: 296 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: 135 deaths

60-69 years: 187 deaths

70-79 years: 184 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): 82,252,965 cases (+60,085 in 24 hours), the day before (+59,538)

*Healings: 80,095,639 healings (+43,578 in 24 hours), the day before (+36,980)

National Cure Rate: 97.37% (-)

*Deaths: 1,014,902 deaths (+788 in 24 hours), the day before (+1.070)

National death rate: 1.23% (=)

*Active cases (minus deaths and recoveries): 1,142,424 (+15,719 in 24 hours), the day before (+21,488)



USA: Trend active cases: (minus recoveries and deaths)





(Day-1)



Vaccination: 566.38 million doses of vaccine injected since December 14, 2020, date of the first injection in the United States (+920,000). Update April 11 (latest data available).



DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

Warning: The Dominican Central Directorate of Epidemiology has not updated the data for February 14. The figures below are therefore those of February 13.



Confirmed cases since March 1, 2020: 578,626 cases (+56 in 24 hours) the day before (+14 in 24 hours). First case (March 1, 2020)

Healings: 574,132 healings (-1 correction in 24 hours), the day before (+23)

National Cure Rate: 99.22% (-)

Deaths: 4,375 deaths (+0), previous (+0)

Death rate: 0.75% (=)

Positivity rate over 4 epidemiological weeks: 0.77% (-)

Active cases: (excluding deaths and recoveries) 119 cases (+57 in 24 hours) the day before (- 50)



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:

Distrito Nacional: +15 new cases in 24 hours (+)

La Altagracia: + 15 new cases in 24 hours (+)

Santo Domingo: +14 new cases in 24 hours (+)

Santiago: + 7 new cases in 24 hours (+)

San Cristobal: + 2 new cases in 24 hours ()



Vaccination: 15.55 million doses of vaccine injected since February 16, 2021, date of the first injection in the Dominican Republic (+10,000 doses injected). Updated April 10, 2022 (latest data available).



QUEBEC:

Confirmed cases since the first case (February 27, 2020): 1,010,196 (+3,190 in 24 hours), previous (+3,515)

Healings: 963,022 people (+2,285 in 24 hours) previous (+1,997)

Cure rate: 95.33% (-)

Deaths: 14,618 (+26 in 24h) previous (+13)

Death rate: 1.44% (=)

Active cases: (excluding death and recovery) 32,556 cases (+879 in 24 hours), previous (+1,505)



Quebec: Trend of daily confirmed cases





(average weekly trend)



Vaccination: 18,963,907 doses of vaccine injected since December 14, 2020, date of the first injection (+38,839 doses in 24 hours), latest data available - MSSS as of April 11, 2022)



FRANCE:

*Confirmed cases since the first case (January 24, 2020): 27,447,397 cases (+137,342 cases in 24 hours), previous (+146,426)

*Healings: 24,635,972 healings (+143,438), previous (+148,483)

National Cure Rate: 89.75% (+)

Deaths: 143,910 (+133 in 24h), previous (+152)

Death rate: 0.52% (=)

Active Cases: 2,667,515 (-6,229 in 24h), previous (-2,209)



France: Trend of active cases: (minus recoveries and deaths)





(Day-1)



Vaccination: 142.23 million doses of vaccine injected since December 27, 2020, date of the first injection in France (+60,000 doses injected). Update April 11, 2022 (latest data available)



Previous bulletin : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36425-haiti-diaspora-covid-19-daily-bulletin-755.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...





(D-1) Award ceremony for the national school short story competition

Saturday April 16, 2022 9:30 a.m. at the Marriott-Turgeau hotel, the Award Ceremony will take place for the 10 winners of the 6th edition of the national school short story competition and at the launch of the 7th edition, sponsored by Academician Dany Laferriere. Let's recall that the national school short story is an initiative of the Center for the Promotion of Excellence, Culture and Citizenship, founded and directed by the writer Gary Victor and the Association of French Teachers of Haiti and supported by the Ministry of Culture.



Taiwan : Donation of $500,000 for Civil Protection

Thursday was signed a partnership agreement between Taiwan (Republic of China) and Haiti as part of a donation of 500 thousand US dollars to support the General Directorate of Civil Protection.



The price of propane tanks is skyrocketing

Propane prices, which are not regulated by the State in Haiti, continue to rise in the country, where the 25-pound cylinder sells for up to 1,750 gourdes in Port-au-Prince. An increasingly untenable situation for consumers.



Drama workshop

At the beginning of the week at the initiative of the French Institute of Haiti, the students of the ACTE drama school followed a dramaturgy workshop (virtual) led by the Cameroonian poet, playwright and director Kouam Towa.



Les Cayes : resumption of Sunrise Airways flights

The Sunrise Airways Company resumed its flights at the beginning of the week to Antoine Simon Airport in Les Cayes. At least 3 flights of 30 passengers per day



See also : https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36320-icihaiti-domestic-flights-sunrise-airways-announces-the-soon-addition-of-an-emb-120er-aircraft.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36301-haiti-flash-violent-demonstration-in-les-cayes-several-victims-a-burned-plane.html



BRH : Baden Dubois will sit on the Economic and Social Council of the AUF

Jean Baden Dubois, the Governor of the Bank of the Republic of Haiti, (BRH) will sit on the Economic and Social Council of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) for a period of 2 years (2022-2024) as representative of the Caribbean region. He will also assume the Vice-Presidency of the Regional Commission of Economic and Scientific Experts of the Region.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Appeal filed in lawsuit seeking to remove Cawthorn from ballot

Legal efforts to challenge the eligibility of U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-North Carolina, to run for Congress continued this week in federal court even as he seeks reelection in North Carolinas westernmost district.

A group challenging the eligibility of the freshman congressman from Hendersonville filed a brief in federal court Thursday to support its appeal of judge's decision in Cawthorn's favor.

North Carolina voters, backed by the nonpartisan legal action group Free Speech for People, attempted to use a combination of state and federal laws to keep Cawthorn off the ballot back in January. The state law says any voter who suspects a candidate is not eligible for office can challenge the candidacy.

The challengers claimed Cawthorn was ineligible to seek office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. It says anyone who has taken an oath to the Constitution, then engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof, will be prevented from holding public office again.

Challengers have reasonable suspicion that Rep. Cawthorn was involved in an effort to intimidate Congress and the Vice President into rejecting valid electoral votes and subvert the essential constitutional function of an orderly and peaceful transition of power, read the challenge, filed with the State Board of Elections.

State proceedings were set to begin to determine whether Cawthorn indeed participated in or supported an insurrection due to his actions around Jan. 6, 2021, but they never came to be.

Cawthorn sued in federal court to block the state proceedings and won. Though Cawthorn denies having participated in an insurrection, the lawsuit didnt actually debate those facts. It was about whether a state could review the qualifications of a federal candidate.

The judge, Richard Myers II, said a law passed by congress in 1872 invalidated enforcement of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

The federal District Court ruling in Cawthorns favor ran out the clock for the challengers, and Cawthorn is now on the ballot in the 11th District Republican primary.

Please take this survey so we can understand what you want and expect from Carolina Public Press! Complete the survey and youll be entered to win a gift card. And, it wont take longer than 10 minutes  we promise!

But the legal fight is not over. At least, not if Cawthorn wins the May 17 primary.

Should he lose, the challenge to his eligibility becomes moot and the cases will likely dissolve.

Should Cawthorn win the primary by earning 30% percent of the votes over his eight Republican opponents, or even advance to a run-off second primary, the challengers will still seek to disqualify him from holding office.

Free Speech for People filed an appeal with the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which then fast-tracked the case. They will have to prove two points: that Judge Myers improperly blocked them from intervening to defend the federal case in district court, and that no reason exists under federal law why the candidate challenge shouldnt proceed.

The challengers first appellate brief was filed Thursday, with a response briefing coming from Cawthorn on Monday, April 25. Then, the Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on May 3.

Challengers point to yet another state law that describes how a candidate for office can be replaced should they become ineligible or disqualified for office between a primary and a general election. In this case, if the Cawthorn challenge is ultimately successful, the Republican executive committee for the 11th District would pick Cawthorns replacement, no additional election required.

For that to happen, the federal circuit Court of Appeals would have to rule in the challengers favor, Cawthorns likely appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court would need to be rejected, then the State Board of Elections would have to empanel a review board to judge the challengers claims and rule in their favor. Then, Cawthorn would have the right to appeal to the State Board of Elections itself, then the state Court of Appeals.

The legal fight appears far from over, but each step in the process is scheduled to happen quickly, at least compared to usual court timelines.

The State Board of Elections is the named defendant in Cawthorns federal case, and the Board decided against appealing Judge Myers decision on its own.

Under the ruling, the State Board maintains the authority under North Carolina law to hear all other candidate challenges, including challenges of congressional candidates on grounds other than Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, said Pat Gannon, spokesperson for the Board.

The Board will provide any information needed to the courts as needed in the ongoing federal appeals, Gannon said.

* * * * *

Republished courtesy of Carolina Public Press.
Half Moon Bay, CA (94019)

Today

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 46F. NW winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low 46F. NW winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
Full Text: Increasing Racial Discrimination Against Asians Exposes Overall Racist Nature of U.S. Society

Xinhua) 13:12, April 15, 2022

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Friday released a report titled "Increasing Racial Discrimination Against Asians Exposes Overall Racist Nature of U.S. Society."

The following is the full text of the report.

Increasing Racial Discrimination Against Asians Exposes Overall Racist Nature of U.S. Society

The China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS)

April, 2022

For years, Asian Americans have been labeled as "the model minority" by the mainstream society of the United States, but this labeling creates only an illusion that there is no racial discrimination against them. Incidents that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic, such as some U.S. politicians' unscrupulous racist remarks and the wave of harassment and attacks on Asian-Americans, further proved this point. Recently, shootings in Atlanta have set off a new wave of fear among Asian Americans. On March 16, 2021, the shootings at three spas in Atlanta, United States, resulted in the death of eight people, including six women of Asian origin. This tragedy is the consequence of the mounting anti-Asian hate in the United States.

In the United States, there was a continued rise in the anti-Asian incidents during the period when the coronavirus pandemic ran rampant in the country. According to a report published on Nov. 18, 2021 by the national coalition Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate, from March 19, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021, a total of 10,370 hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islander people were reported to the organization, and a majority of the incidents took place in spaces open to the public like public streets and businesses. Statistics released by the New York City Police Department on Dec. 8, 2021 showed that anti-Asian hate crimes in the city rose by 361 percent from that of 2020. Some media commented that the actual number of hate crimes against Asian Americans in New York was much higher than the number announced above because many victims did not make any police reports. According to the public opinion survey jointly conducted by The Economist weekly magazine and YouGov in March 2021, 70 percent of respondents believed that Asian Americans were seriously discriminated against in the United States, and suffered more from racism than African Americans. Thomas Sowell, a U.S. scholar, writes in his Ethnic America: A History, "Color has obviously played a major role in determining the fate of many Americans." This irrefutable truth of American society has been confirmed again. The cold reality reflects that the United States still takes pride in recognizing itself as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant country and that Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans are subject to discrimination and violations in various forms, and cannot fully enjoy their human rights.

1. Asian Americans Facing Rise in Racist Attacks Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic, a serious public health crisis in the United States, has exposed various racial discrimination problems existing in the society. Black and Hispanic Americans are the direct victims of the pandemic, as their infection and mortality rates are much higher than those of the white population. Asian Americans, however, became the indirect victims, because of veiled or explicit racist words and deeds toward them amid the pandemic. The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) released a survey, showing that compared with 2019, hate crime cases in the United States decreased by 7 percent in 2020, but those against Asian Americans increased by 149 percent. In the first quarter of 2021, violent crimes against Asian Americans in the 15 large cities in the United States increased by 169 percent compared with the same period in 2020.

In the past two years, shocking racist attacks against Asian Americans have occurred frequently in the United States.

-- On March 14, 2020, inside a Texas supermarket, a man stabbed an Asian family in an attempt to kill them, including their children aged two and six.

-- On July 14, 2020, in New York City, an 89-year-old Chinese American woman was slapped in the face by two male strangers on the street, and when she tried to escape, the two strangers set her clothes on fire from behind.

-- On January 28, 2021, an 84-year-old Thai man died from injuries after being viciously slammed onto the ground by a man in San Francisco.

-- On March 16, 2021, Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, opened fire in three Asian Massage shops and spas in Atlanta with a gun, killing a total of 8 people, including 6 Asian women.

-- On August 30, 2021, an elderly Filipino woman was pushed down the stairs by a white man in Rego Park Subway Station in Queens, New York, resulting in her sustaining serious facial and physical injuries.

-- On November 17, 2021, three Chinese American high school students in Philadelphia were attacked when they took the subway home from school. The local police said, "The victims were picked because they were Asian, obviously."

...

The New York Times published an article on April 3, 2021, which was entitled "Swelling Anti-Asian Violence: Who Is Being Attacked Where." The article started by pointing out the following facts: "Over the last year, in an unrelenting series of episodes with clear racial animus, people of Asian descent have been pushed, beaten, kicked, spat on, and verbally abused. Homes and businesses have been vandalized." According to the different forms of racist attacks on Asian Americans, the article uses three categories to sort and group the cases it collects, namely: "Beaten, pepper-sprayed, spat on," "Called names and racial slurs," and "Homes and businesses vandalized." The cases under the first category involve the acts of spitting on Asian Americans or using pepper spray and physical violence against them, and those under the second category are mainly subject to racial slurs and derogatory language. The third category groups are cases of malicious damage to the homes, shops, and other properties of Asian Americans, such as vandalizing and writing graffiti. This article that aims to reveal the Asian Americans' sufferings in the past year can hardly be called all-inclusive, but these exposed racist acts do arouse attention and protests from the U.S. society. Unfortunately, attacks against Asian Americans continue to occur, with vulnerable groups such as women and the elderly as the key targets.

2. Racism Against Asian Americans: Not Unique to the Coronavirus Pandemic

For a long time, racial discrimination against Asian Americans has not attracted enough attention in the United States. One reason is that the racial conflict between blacks and whites has been society's principal focus of attention, and the other reason is that the mainstream society always tends to cover up the suffering of Asian Americans in U.S. history. The Associated Press once observed that "Racism against Asian Americans has long been an ugly thread in the U.S. history."

The suffering of Chinese Americans is just the epitome of the discrimination and persecution against Asian Americans. In the mid-19th century, as the then U.S. economy was in badly need of cheap laborers, Asian people started immigrating to the United States, but in the late 19th century, some politicians and media deliberately stigmatized Asian Americans as "Yellow Peril," and deluded the mainstream society into believing that they constituted "racial threat," "economic threat" and "health threat" to American whites, sparking off a surge of hatred toward Asian Americans in the United States and making them suffer from long-time prejudice, exclusion, and racial violence. In 1854, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Asian Americans were not and could not be citizens in a case, and such restrictions on Asian Americans' access to citizenship were not finally abolished until around the 1940s. The earliest record of organized violence against Asian Americans was in 1871, when a group of whites rushed into an Asian community near Los Angeles' Chinatown, shooting and hanging 21 Chinese Americans to death, burning down the community, and driving the residents out of the city. The severe prejudice against Asian Americans eventually led to the prohibition of Asian immigrants in the United States: Chinese immigrants were restricted by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; Japanese immigrants began to be restricted from 1907 to 1908; and in 1924, all Asians were forbidden to immigrate to the United States. The scapegoating of Asian Americans in a public health incident is not something new in U.S. history. For example, during the smallpox outbreak in San Francisco in the 1870s, Chinese Americans were falsely called the "culprits."

The United States has never compensated for or reflected on the sufferings it has caused to Asian Americans, and even tries its best to cover up or blur relevant facts. As such, the deep-rooted malice toward Asian Americans in U.S. society can never be eliminated. In the United States, Asian Americans are portrayed as outsiders in racial conflicts; the mainstream society denies the history of racial discrimination against Asian Americans and refuses to admit that there are racist attacks against Asian Americans at present. Erika Lee, a Chinese American historian, published her speech at the Congressional hearing on violence and discrimination against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. She said, "As shocking as these incidents are, it is so vital to understand that they are not random acts perpetrated by deranged individuals. They are an expression of our country's long history of systemic racism targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders." The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also expressed his profound concern over the rise in violence against people of Asian descent across the United States. He said, "Thousands of incidents across the past year have perpetuated a centuries-long history of intolerance, stereotyping, scapegoating, exploitation and abuse."

The racial discrimination against Asian Americans that has continued to the present time is probably a built-in and natural product of American colonialism, and it also reflects a mindset of the United States: bullying the weak. Asian Americans are in a weak position in U.S. society, which makes them vulnerable to racial attacks. Such weakness is mainly caused by the following reasons. The first one is the small population of Asian Americans in the United States. The total population of Asian Americans is about 24 million, accounting for about 6 percent of the total U.S. population, and being significantly outnumbered by whites, African Americans and Hispanics. The second reason is the huge internal differences among Asian Americans. Asian Americans include immigrants and their descendants from dozens of countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. These countries differed from one another in cultural traditions, economic status, political systems, religious customs, and languages, resulting in stark differences and disparities among Asian Americans. The third reason is that Asian Americans are never a cohesive group. Although they are perceived as Asian Americans by mainstream society, most of them think of the term as an imposed label. They simply do not agree that they belong to the same Asian ethnic group. Numerical inferiority, internal differences, and lack of coherence and political involvement make it impossible for Asian Americans to unite in resisting racial discrimination against them. Such weakness makes them more vulnerable to racist attacks.

The identification of Asian Americans in the United States makes them the target of racist exclusion. The growing racial discrimination against Asian Americans may also be related to the upsurge of xenophobia in the United States, as its mainstream society has long defined Asian Americans as "outsiders," or sometimes, as "colonial others." This definition is based on two reasons. Firstly, the growth of the Asian American population is largely due to immigration rather than natural growth, which means a large number of Asian Americans are born outside the United States. Secondly, most Asian Americans keep a certain distance from the mainstream society and culture of the United States. Therefore, xenophobic expressions such as "get out of our country," "return to your own country," "get out of here," and "you don't belong here," are frequently heard during the racist attacks against Asian Americans. Racists in the United States even regard this false identification as a reasonable support for launching racist attacks against Asian Americans, and their actions are widely recognized by U.S. society. Just as an Asian American actor named John Cho observed, "The rise in anti-Asian attacks (during the coronavirus pandemic) only reminds Asian Americans like me that our belonging is conditional. One moment we are Americans, the next we are all foreigners, who 'brought' the virus here."

3. Reasons Behind the Rising Anti-Asian Sentiment Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

(1) Some U.S. politicians' racist coronavirus attacks on China

Some U.S. politicians' manipulation of public opinion during the coronavirus pandemic is the direct cause of the increasingly rampant racial discrimination against Asian Americans. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is good at utilizing racial issues to achieve his political goals. During his four-year term of office, he repeatedly made explicitly racist remarks, resulting in mounting racial tensions in the United States. When the United States became the country hit most badly by the coronavirus due to the lack of adequate prevention and control measures, Trump, Pompeo and other U.S. politicians who were eager to shirk their responsibilities and ensure the success of the upcoming election, even attempted to make China the scapegoat by referring to the virus as "China virus" or other names that falsely accused China of being the pathogen's geographic origin, instead of using its internationally-recognized name. What they did led to a rise in racist sentiments toward Asian Americans of Chinese or other East Asian origins, making them suffer from various kinds of racist attacks featuring malicious defamation, denial of service, or brutal violence. Ms. E. Tendayi Achiume, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance once sharply pointed out that "politicians of relevant countries proactively refused to use the internationally-recognized name of the virus and deliberately replaced it with other names that linked this particular disease to a particular country or nation, which was an irresponsible and disturbing expression that came from and would give rise to racism, xenophobia, stigmatization, and exclusion of certain groups, and violence against certain groups." Faced with the rising Anti-Asian sentiments, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, also admitted that there was "no question" that the Trump administration's "damaging rhetoric" led to "elevated threats against Asian Americans." Frustratingly, when Trump left office, the U.S. government continued the manipulation of the public opinion and the act of politicizing COVID-19 origins tracing, further stoking the Anti-Asian sentiments within the United States.

(2) The effects of white supremacy

The hatred and exclusion suffered by Asian Americans during the pandemic are not very different from the long-term racial discrimination suffered by other U.S. ethnic minorities such as African Americans and Hispanics. All these problems are ultimately rooted in white supremacy that is embodied in the racial structure and social atmosphere of the United States. As Asian Americans have long been marginalized in the society, many Americans do not even realize or have the courage to admit the long-standing racial discrimination against them. The label "the model minority" has never helped Asian Americans to suffer less from the United States' systemic racism than other U.S. ethnic minorities do, and white supremacists have never shown more mercy toward "the model minority." Seventy-five percent of the attackers that have committed racial hate crimes against Asian Americans are white; hate crimes against Asians also occur most frequently in areas dominated by whites, and white politicians such as Trump and Pompeo are the ones who have first made Asian Americans the scapegoats for the pandemic. The mainstream society of the United States has long turned a deaf ear to Asian Americans' complaints of racism and discrimination. In September 2020, 164 Republican congressmen voted against the bill condemning discrimination against Asian Americans. Many vicious violent attacks against Asian Americans, such as setting a 90-year-old woman on fire, and stabbing a Chinese American man on the streets of Manhattan, were not filed as hate crimes. After the three shootings that occurred in Atlanta on March 16, 2021, Jay Baker, the spokesman of the local police office openly denied that it was a hate crime and even defended the shooter by claiming that he was having a "bad day."

(3) "The model minority" label shackling Asian Americans

In the mid and late 1960s, when African-Americans struggled to achieve civil rights equal to those of whites, a number of stories describing the success of some Asian Americans such as Japanese and Chinese Americans were published in mainstream U.S. newspapers and magazines, as the U.S. political, academic and media circles planned to label Asian Americans as "the model minority." Objectively speaking, this label was effective in reducing the long-existing stigma toward Asian Americans and praising some Asian Americans' hard work and success. Nevertheless, many in-depth analyses also reveal that this label was just a ridiculous idea invented to strengthen the U.S. racial hierarchy and rationalize its racist discrimination. For the following reasons, this seemingly glorious label actually shackled Asian Americans. To begin with, this label made the racial discrimination against Asian Americans sound far-fetched, and people started neglecting and even denying the discrimination against them. Along with the labeling, Asian Americans were stereotyped as well-educated with high incomes which deprived them of the right of enjoying favorable policies for U.S. ethnic minorities. Being labeled as a "successful minority," their economic difficulties are often overlooked. In fact, 13.5 percent of elderly Asian Americans currently live in poverty, and the proportion is much higher than the average poverty rate of the United States. Asian Americans also experience the longest average unemployment spell than other U.S. ethnic groups do, and they are obviously underrepresented in the leadership of politics, business, academia and law. Furthermore, "the model minority" label subdues the Asian Americans' resistance against racial discrimination. The U.S. mainstream media frequently describe Asian Americans as "independent, intelligent, diligent, obedient, and silent," and advocate that their cultural values are consistent with the country's Protestant ethics. Such seemingly commendatory remarks have successfully won the recognition of a considerable number of Asian Americans, making them willing to act low-key according to the expected image and behavior mode. As such, they become more tolerant toward discriminative speeches and deeds and even feel ashamed of mentioning them. Last but not least, "the model minority" label deteriorates the relationships among U.S. ethnic minorities and shifts their attention from opposing white supremacy. The act of labeling Asian Americans as "the model minority" during the African-American Civil Rights Movement, which implied criticism toward African Americans, was a policy of "divide and rule" used to contain the Civil Rights Movement. It caused acute conflicts among the U.S. ethnic minorities, making Asian Americans a common target for scorn, ridicule, etc.

(4) The antagonism between Asian Americans and other U.S. ethnic minorities

Relevant research shows that although all U.S. ethnic minorities suffer racist attacks mainly from whites, Asian Americans are more vulnerable to attacks from other ethnic minorities than African Americans and Hispanics. Seventy-five percent of attackers who committed hate crimes against Asian Americans were whites, and the remaining 25 percent were people of other ethnic minorities. This fact, to some extent, reflects the complex racial relations and conflicts within the United States. For instance, deceived by some U.S. politicians' and media's lies about the coronavirus pandemic, some African Americans mistook Asian Americans as their enemy and attacked Asian Americans to vent their anger. Such anger is also a result of the long-lasting antagonism and misunderstanding between Asian Americans and African Americans, which were created by the U.S. mainstream society's labeling of Asian Americans as "the model minority," and the two groups' differences in cultural traditions and values, their competition for jobs and other social resources, and their previous conflicts. Although both of them are victims of racial injustice in the United States, distrust between them makes Asian Americans more powerless to extricate themselves from the difficult position. In the end, it is worth noting that other U.S. ethnic groups clearly offered more support for the Black Lives Matter movement than they did for the Stop Asian Hate movement.

(5) Some U.S. politicians' actions that seriously undermine Sino-U.S. relations

In the U.S. history, the country's diplomatic relations with different countries could often determine its ways of treating its immigrants of different origins: the tension between the United States and a foreign country frequently led to discrimination and racist attacks against the immigrants from that foreign country. Such kinds of discrimination happened to German immigrants during World War I, Japanese immigrants during World War II, and immigrants from Muslim countries after the September 11 incident. The Sino-U.S. relations began to deteriorate even before the coronavirus outbreak, when the Trump administration adopted various policies to suppress China, made extreme remarks to criticize China's political system and harm China's sovereignty, launched the so-called trade war or tech war against China and attempted to decouple China and the United States. Affected by that, Chinese Americans began to encounter an increasing amount of discriminatory treatment in the United States, and the most typical example was the censorship and persecution of Chinese American intellectuals. When the coronavirus pandemic went out of control in the United States, the Trump administration continued using racist remarks to attack China as a way of covering up its ineffective epidemic response. This further worsened the Sino-U.S. relations and left the entire Asian American group, especially Chinese Americans, vulnerable to rampant racial discrimination. At present, the Biden administration still views China as a major strategic competitor, which continues stoking the anti-Asian sentiment in the United States. It can be inferred that in the post-pandemic era, even if the racial discrimination against Asian Americans may subside, the racial attacks against Chinese Americans will continue to rise. This increases our worry and requires our vigilance and the sustained attention of the international community.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Leading independent hotel management company, Aleph Hospitality, has appointed Aniket Gupta as Cluster Hotel Manager for the two boutique properties A'lure Hotel & Suites and Masheda Palms in Uganda.

It's full steam ahead for Aleph Hospitality's entry into the Ugandan market. Just last month they signed a management contract to operate two properties in Uganda and this month they welcomed Aniket Gupta to the rapidly growing Aleph team. Based in Uganda, Aniket will be responsible for optimizing the operation of both properties with a focus on food and beverage development.

From humble career beginnings as a waiter, Aniket's love for F&B grew as his titles grew from cook to head of F&B operations, successfully managing and opening numerous outlets and banqueting facilities. Prior to joining the Aleph Hospitality team, Aniket worked at various hotels in India and Kenya such as Marriott Hotels and Ashnil Hotels. From India, Aniket holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Culinary Arts from the Culinary Academy, Hyderabad as well as a BSc in Hospitality & Hotel Administration and a BSc in Tourism.
As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, some sectors of the hotel industry have recovered, and some are still waiting.

Leisure travel recovered much sooner than most people expected, going from surprisingly solid summer travel in 2020 to the summer of pent-up demand in 2021 to the summer of all summers in 2022.

Conventional wisdom says that for true travel recovery to occur, the travel and hospitality industry needs to see business travel return to pre-pandemic levels. When will business travel recover?If You Ask Business Travelers, They Are Not Optimistic

Results from a February 2022 STR survey of just under 500 global business travelers indicates that some business travel will return, but not to its pre-pandemic levels. When respondents were asked to think about their likelihood to travel for business both now and when the pandemic is over, the results were more negative than positive. More planned to travel less for business compared with their pre-pandemic levels.

Read the full article at HotelNewsNow (part of CoStar)
HEI Hotels & Resorts, one of the nations leading privately held hotel investment and third-party management companies, recently convened in Dallas, TX for the meeting of its Women in Leadership Council. In its third year, the council, led by women, hopes to cultivate more diversity in a male-dominated industry by championing and promoting female leaders within the organization and across their over 90 properties nationwide.

The Women in Leadership Council was formed in 2017 under the leadership of Rachel Moniz, Principal and Chief Operating Officer at HEI, and Kelsey White, Director, Talent Acquisition and Compensation at HEI. The goal of launching this group was to positively impact career growth within HEI while overcoming the obstacles and challenges we face as women leaders in the hospitality industry, says Moniz.

Our long-term goal is to obtain gender parity at the General Manager level across all our properties, she continues. Since the program launched in 2017 HEI has advanced gender parity from 5%, to 25% by the end of 2021. We plan to continue on this path and reach 40% representation at the GM level by the end of 2023.

Currently, the Women in Leadership Council is comprised of 44 members, 8 of which were inducted to the group in 2022. Once a year HEI property General Managers have opportunity to nominate exceptional female leaders into the program. After a review process, members are paired with mentors and sponsors to guide them through the program and introduce them to different verticals within the hospitality industry, one of which is always Rachel Moniz. An exchange program between properties allows members to learn from various industry experts in states outside of their own.

The womens council recently met in Dallas, TX at Knife Steakhouse, located within The Highland Dallas (an HEI Hotels & Resorts property) followed by a day of volunteering at the North Texas Food Bank. Having the opportunity to meet with these exceptional women, exchange ideas and learn from each other, while supporting a mission we all passionate about is incredibly inspiring, says White.

Additionally, the group meets for workshops throughout the year, most recently led by Joann Lublin, Author, Power Moms: How Executive Mothers Navigate Work and Life and Kristy Wallace, CEO of Ellevate Network.

For more information on the Women in Leadership Council or HEI Hotels & Resorts, please visit www.heihotels.com.

About HEI Hotels & Resorts

HEI Hotels & Resorts, headquartered in Norwalk, Conn., is a leading hospitality investment and management company that owns and/or operates over 85 luxury, upper-upscale and upscale independent and branded hotels and resorts throughout the United States with annual combined revenues in excess of $2.2 billion. HEIs branding partners include Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Accor. Taking a holistic approach to creating value for its investors and employees, HEI sets the highest standards across all aspects of hotel management and operation and focuses on central principles of excellence and continuous improvement. HEI prides itself on some of the highest employee satisfaction scores in the hospitality industry, fuels local economic prosperity by investing in communities and is committed to environmental stewardship and sustainability. To learn more about HEI, please visit www.heihotels.com.
In a normal year, travel trends constantly ebb and flow. Certain destinations will become popular, experiences will pique interest and new technology will influence the desires and habits of vacationers and backpackers alike. Some destinations remain popular, while others are influenced by movies or popular culture illuminating new spots. Elizabeth Gilberts 2006 Eat, Pray, Love made the New York Times Best Seller list for 137 weeks and suddenly thousands of people were flocking to Bali, claiming to have been inspired by Gilberts novel and new tours advertised the full Eat, Pray, Love, experience.

The hospitality industry works tirelessly to welcome guests, impress them with dazzling flavors, proudly display their cultures, while simultaneously inventing new experiences, building new cruises, and curating new concepts for clients to enjoy.

However, the past year has been anything BUT normal. Yet, what has remained consistent is this industrys desire for excellence, impressive ambition, creative ingenuity, and stubbornness to not back down; not even in the face of a global pandemic, travel bans, labor shortages, or a shared uncertainty if things will ever be back to normal. Not even then, do those people who see the value of traveling to new worlds, eating great food, or experiencing life in abundance, stop working tirelessly to showcase these opportunities to the world.

The October 2021 BLLA Boutique Lifestyle Leadership Conference invited leaders in the travel trade to discuss a wide range of service topics. From inventive new projects, NFTs, sustainable practices, and wellness trends, individuals from all over the world participated in exhilarating conversations that succeeded in inspiring optimism and excitement in a realm of uncertainty. And, while the past few years have brought unprecedented challenges to a world of people who rely on in-person events and global travel, this (the) BLLA boutique community of brilliant and ambitious individuals proved that humanitys instinct for curiosity; to explore, to work together, and to travel, is enough to sustain the hope of a fruitful future.

Source: BLLA

There is a general optimism regarding travel for 2022, with bookings reemerging and social media littered with #vacationgoals popping back up, the attitude regarding the future of travel is positive. And, the hospitality world is patiently waiting, ready for the flood gates to open. There has been time for new ideas to work out, as well as long-established projects to take time to reevaluate. Teams are rethinking their designs, reestablishing their values, and redesigning their strategies because the only guarantee for travel future; it will never remain the same, is that it will be constantly renewing and reinventing.

The Boutique Lifestyle Leaders Association is often at the forefront of change, the design of the boutique lifestyle naturally nourishing refreshing concepts; then mobilizing quickly and efficiently. And this year, unlike years before, emphasized the need to rethink travel practices and awaken a community that has been patiently waiting to present their new ideas.

In 2020, as the Covid 19 virus rapidly spread, offices, schools, public spaces, and entire countries closed their doors in an effort to keep people safe and healthy. The mandated quarantine forced employees to switch to remote style working and students to learn online. Turning guest bedrooms into offices or clearing enough room at the kitchen table to foster productivity was common practice. And eventually, people got used to this new routine. The world of work is changing and its not going to be just a response to the pandemic, but probably a permanent thing, added Regina Connell, Founder at Collective Work, in regards to the new working environment for employees that are now remote.

The conference session on The Work from Home Phenomenon: How Hotels are a Part of This invited speaker Emmanuel Guisset, Founder at Outsite, a community-based hospitality brand designed for remote workers and creatives with a global portfolio of 30 nomadic locations globally. This discussion addressed how co-working spaces are emerging as a result of the pandemic, and how the travel industry is quickly adapting to this new need. The pandemic happened and suddenly everybody realized that it was possible, fun, and productive to work from a different place; from the beach, the mountain, the countryside or another city. Its booming, said Guisset.

Outsite, Santa Cruz Photo by BLLA

Although his invention, Outsite, began in 2015, well before the global pandemic swept through the world, he was certainly ahead of a massive movement to work remotely anywhere and everywhere. Co-working and Co-living spaces have become wonderful tools for those working online, and awareness of these opportunities has boomed during the past few years. As more and more individuals redefine their work environment, people are looking for temporary spaces they can live while they work from their computers. Guisset mentioned the average stay in an Outsite property is anywhere from 1 week to 3 months. Outsite offers a membership-based service that provides clients with national and global homes, and communities, where they can become a part of a nomadic community as they travel around. Currently offering homes in Boulder, Colorado, San Diego, Honolulu, Costa Rica, and more, Outsite is looking to expand its portfolio to offer guests even more options for landing spots.

Wellness travel and community-based spaces are also trending topics in the trade, likely as a result of the pandemic. As individuals were forced to stay inside, and socialization became almost obsolete, travelers are looking to emerge from their private spaces and embrace communal designs.

Cap Karoso, a new hotel build in Indonesia, was designed by Evguenia Ivara with the value of sharing in mind. All the spaces that we built, were built to create a dialogue between our guests and Sumbas community, Ivara said, its all made in a way [referring to the design of dining experience] that you talk to your neighbor to share your feelings, emotions and to share your experiences around the island. A new luxury has emerged in the past few years: that of community and coexistence. It seems that we are all craving the privilege of social life, and the hotel industry is more than happy to provide innovative space to do just that.

With all the exciting projects and concepts coming from the involuntary break from travel, it would be an inaccurate omission to not recognize the unfavorable consequences faced by hoteliers and restaurant owners as a result of the mandated quarantine. However, as a result of these unfortunate circumstances, conversations around labor shortages lead to discussing fair wages, staff wellness, and positive work environments.

Cap Karoso, Indonesia Photo by BLLA

In the struggle to find some normalcy during the pandemic, staff from all areas of expertise returned to work and found themselves overworked and facing dangerous circumstances. The hospitality and travel industry took a hard hit, During the pandemic [] occupancy rates dropped down to 44%, and thats high in some areas, commented Guy Maisnik, Partner & Vice-Chair of Global Hospitality Group at Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP in a conversation titled, An Inside Look: The Boutique Hotel Labor Crisis. Maisnik considered this time in the travel and hospitality space a great reassessment, with the industry down by 2 million, he also mentioned a Forbes study where out of 13,000 interviewed workers, 50% said they wouldnt be returning to their previous job in the industry.

Immediately addressing the labor shortages, Travis Passerotti is trying to shift away from the Skeleton staff, he refers to the low numbers of workers restaurants and hospitality teams are managing and want to see more benefits, resources, and time off for his staff and himself. As he spoke on the unfavorable conditions expected of restaurants workers; the 60-hour workweek, low pay, the constant availability, he refers to this as an old world restaurant mentality, that he hopes to make personal steps to work away from. By advocating for his team and not accepting offers that do not meet his bare-minimum expectations, Passerotti made a powerful statement on the way the industry is treating its workers. As the saying goes; part of making the change is being the change, added Passerotti.

In the same conversation, Daniel Patterson, the chef, and founder of Coi restaurant added, taking care of employees used to be the cherry on top of the cake, but now it is the whole cake, (we love a good food metaphor from the chefs and also because the cherry is the official StayBoutique icon), there is no conversation that happens without that being foundational. Amongst the fear and uncertainty faced by the hospitality, and especially the food service industry, there is a massive push to change the working conditions for employees.

During his talk with Guy Maisnik, Jim McPartlin, Chief People Officer at Highgate, stated, We have to offer competitive pay and we have to offer benefits. It has to be compelling to go and do this. In this powerful statement alone, one can see the impact the labor shortage caused by the pandemic has on the expectations workers have of management and the working conditions. Without proper staff, hotels and restaurants simply cannot survive, much less succeed, and with people hesitant to return to positions within the hospitality industry, the workers have gained an upper hand in their negotiations of employment circumstances. With higher pay, better benefits, more flexibility, and remote work motivating people to seek other opportunities, Maisnik added, what happened in 2020 and what were seeing in 2021 is an entire generation of changes that have been crammed into 1-2 years. And, this statement truly addresses the immensity of how the travel industry is drastically remodeling all areas of the familiar at an unprecedented rate, for travelers and internally, for the working environments of their staff as well.

About the Boutique Lifestyle Leaders Association (BLLA)

Founded in 2009, the Boutique Lifestyle Leaders Association (BLLA) is the official association for the world's top visionaries in the boutique lifestyle industry. Membership with the BLLA includes not just a strengthened sense of communityit offers all the resources necessary for small and independent businesses to thrive in this growing sector, including access to distribution channels, marketing tools, webinars, white papers, reports about the evolving boutique landscape, and more. The organization promotes connection, education, and advocacy. As a pioneer in forecasting the boutique movement, the BLLA's network has grown beyond its hotel foundation to welcome more passionate entrepreneurs, businesses, and purveyors that amplify the boutique lifestyle. BLLA is a catalyst for trends and the future of boutique. blla.org

Boutique & Lifestyle Leaders Association (BLLA)

BLLA

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Easter is here and with it comes the breaking of Lent and the tradition of eating chocolate eggs, bunnies,  in fact chocolate anything. Chocolate often features in our lives as "treat", "a pick-me-up", a gift on special occasions. In brief, cocoa is a unique food ingredient associated with stimulating joy, energy and delight. In an attempt to find out more about this intriguing food stuff, here we share some unusual chocolate secrets, along with an exciting new chocolate recipe from one of our top EHL dessert chefs.

Cocoa: The food of the gods

Etymologists trace the origin of the word "chocolate" to the Aztec word "xocoatl," which referred to a bitter drink brewed from cacao beans. The Latin name for the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, means "food of the gods." After centuries of being more of a divine drink than a food solid, chocolate has become the favoured sweet delight of most human beings since it started being commercially produced in the 19th century.

Chocolate is a deeply enticing food on many levels. The creamy, silky texture; the deep, dark colour; the exquisitely rich flavour; and the tantalising aroma. By far the most popular food gift to offer on romantic occasions why?  it is scientifically proven to stimulate the brainwaves and raise antioxidant levels in the blood, leading to the belief that chocolate is an aphrodisiac and makes us feel good. It's the cocoa butter in chocolate that gives it the rich and creamy texture that we love so much and its wonderful smell.

Its by far the most popular food gift to offer on romantic occasions why? Cocoa is scientifically proven to stimulate the brainwaves and raise antioxidant levels in the blood, leading to the belief that chocolate is an aphrodisiac and makes us feel good. Often cited as the worlds best mood enhancer, who are we to argue?

EHLs Julien Boutonnet shares his chocolate insights

With the help of Julien Boutonnet, MOF and confectionary chef at EHL, we have listed 20 chocolate secrets you may have previously been unaware of. From its origins to its health benefits, find out why the cocoa bean deserves its high ranking status a beloved food (and drink!).

Cocoa is originally from South America but the two thirds of production is nowadays concentrated on the Ivory Coast in West Africa.

Chocolate was first consumed as a precious beverage by the Mayas and the Aztecs. When it arrived in Europe in the 16th century, this very luxurious drink was reserved for the upper class.

The Swiss chocolate factory Cailler created milk chocolate in 1875 by adding milk powder to the preparation.

Cocoa beans must be fermented to let the flavors develop. Then the beans are dried and roasted, and the shell is finally removed to produce the cocoa mass.

The cocoa bean is pollinated by a relative of the mosquito known as the "chocolate midge" (the Forcipomyia).

A 100g chocolate bar contains approximately 80 cocoa beans.

Dark or "plain" chocolate must contain at least 35 % cocoa solids. When the cocoa percentage goes up to 70%, notable health benefits appear such as a risk reduction in heart disease.

White chocolate is not officially chocolate, as it contains cocoa butter, sugar and milk, but no actual cocoa solids.

The quality of a bar depends on the beans: How they are fermented and roasted, as well as whether they all come from a same producer.

Chocolate is scientifically proven as being a highly addictive food. The presence of serotonin in chocolate stimulates the brain, relaxes the body and brings on a form of happiness.

A cocoa bean contains around 0.2% caffeine.

To pump up the flavor of a bar, chocolate makers usually add coffee or nuts. But many other ingredients go well with chocolate, like red hot chili pepper.

The best way to store chocolate is to keep it in a dry and cool place. It shouldnt go in the fridge because a) the chocolate will absorb other smells from the fridge, and b) the cold hampers the chocolate from releasing its deep, natural flavors.

Chocolate has a very low melting temperature situated between 30C and 32C. This is why it melts slowly in the mouth.

Only a few hours are necessary to transform raw chocolate into the finished product to be sold in the stores. Then the bar can be stored for a few weeks.

Cocoa butter, derived from the seeds of the cocoa bean, is rich in anti-oxidants, vitamins A and E and fatty acids, making it the perfect moisturizer for lips, hands and body.

The best-selling chocolate period worldwide is not Easter but Valentines Day.

The worlds biggest cocoa consumers are Germany, Switzerland and Belgium, with up to 11kg of chocolate eaten per year, per capita.

Chocolate takes up a major place in global trade: 3 million of tons of cocoa are sold each year.

The best-selling chocolate at EHL is incontestably the milk and hazelnut chocolate bar. This may be related to our geographical location Switzerland !

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Data center companies that generate Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have made bold claims over the past year about bringing stability to the teetering Texas electric grid but adding more power demand may not be the surest way to keep families warm next winter.

The argument put forward by Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz and crypto-miners is simple. After getting kicked out of China, the miners who generate the blockchains that underlie all cryptocurrencies are looking for cheap energy. Texas has some of the most affordable wholesale electricity prices in the world.

The crypto-miners say they will fire up their data centers and create demand for surplus electrons when generators have more power than Texans need. Some miners even promise to use only excess renewable energy when the wind blows late at night and the sun shines bright on a chilly day.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Political cronies are playing games with Texas electricity

The miners say they are providing financial stability to electric generators that would lose money on their excess capacity if the miner didnt buy it. By paying for the extra generation when demand is low and promising they will shut down when supply is tight, the miners say electricity will be there on the few days a year when needed most.

The pitch has a certain elegance, and the Texas Legislature passed the Virtual Currency Bill last year to attract more crypto to Texas.

Blockchain is a booming industry that Texas needs to be involved in, Abbott tweeted last year.

Miners generate cryptocurrencies by solving complex math problems or maintaining blockchains on massive banks of computer servers. Electricity is the most significant expense, and the cheaper the power, the more they profit.

The Bitcoin blockchain alone consumes 91 terawatt-hours of electricity a year globally, more than Google or Finland, a nation of about 5.5 million. Environmentalists consider cryptocurrencies a shameless contributor to climate change.

If crypto values drop and electricity prices go up, miners lose money and shut down. The future of cryptocurrency is also uncertain as governments debate applying new regulations.

In Texass competitive wholesale market, electricity prices increase as demand rises and supply tightens. Crypto-miners creating more electricity demand should drive up consumer prices. But the Texas market and grid are complicated, so I spoke with the CEO of a crypto-mining company.

Soluna Computing CEO John Belizaire said cryptos impact on the price of electricity depends on each data centers business plan. We agreed to discuss Solunas approach for his podcast and this column.

Belizaire did not intend to become a data center operator; he wanted to build wind energy projects in Morocco. But when he finished that facility, the utility was late with the transmission lines.

Desperate to generate some revenue, he convinced a crypto outfit to buy his discounted power while he waited for a grid connection. He then discovered that renewable energy projects worldwide also suffer financially from insufficient transmission.

We estimate about $6.77 billion, give or take, of wasted or missed revenue opportunity for the renewable energy industry on an annual basis, he explained. Recovering that will increase the amount of capital that comes into the industry, more projects will be built, and you get a better mixture.

After surveying the Texas grid, Belizaire identified several nodes where wind frequently produces more power than transmission lines can handle. Usually, the congestion means generators must slow their turbines. But Soluna wants to put data centers at those nodes and use the power instead.

If every crypto-miner only located at nodes and only used excess electricity that would not have been generated otherwise, they would have no impact on wholesale prices. But thats not what many crypto-miners have in mind.

TOMLINSONS TAKE: Texas' old-timey electric grid is not fixed

Most need to locate where the grid can deliver enormous amounts of power. The most famous development is in Rockdale, Texas, at a defunct aluminum plant. Rather than use stranded power, miners sign renewable energy contracts or buy credits so they can claim they are green.

However, taking power off the statewide grid drives up wholesale electricity prices for everyone. While higher electricity prices theoretically hurt the miners profits, rising cryptocurrencies have more than offset them.

Crypto-miners often brag they can shut down in five seconds if the grid needs the power, but rising cryptocurrency values make voluntarily saving the grid less attractive. Miners are enrolling in ERCOT programs where they are paid to shut down, creating an additional cost.

Blockchains and cryptocurrencies are growing into essential sectors in the global economy. But they are not necessarily electricity grid saviors.

State regulators will need to look at every crypto-mining business closely to see which are adding value and which are creating costs for Texans.

Chris Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and politics.

twitter.com/cltomlinson

chris.tomlinson@chron.com
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Kroger Houston Division announced that associates at 106 Kroger stores in the Houston area have ratified new labor agreements that settle nearly two years of negotiations over wages and benefits. The agreements represent a $65 million investment in wages and an annual contribution of about $75 million to ensure access to affordable, comprehensive health care coverage, according to the Cincinnati-based grocer.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 455 has been battling with Kroger throughout the pandemic after their contract expired in April 2020 over pay, health care and staffing levels. They voted to authorize a strike in November, although union officials decided to continue negotiating terms of a contract.



RELATED: Kroger is offering extra 'fuel points' to help customers save money on gas
A group of Houstonians has created one of Texas only cooperatives for home care workers aimed at creating a self-sustaining community network and providing higher wages amid a growing national shortage of at-home care providers.

The new collaborative gives its care providers a $15 minimum hourly wage, a share in annual profits and a say in business and budgetary decisions. Many graduates of the co-ops five-week training sessions are single mothers who live in Houstons Third and Fifth wards, where they say there is a desperate need for access to higher-wage jobs and affordable, long-term elderly care.

We really see ourselves as creating a social safety net for our communities, and for our families who need wages to be able to provide for themselves, said Assata Richards, director of the Houston-based Sankofa Research Institute. Her organization partnered for the project with the local nonprofit Christian Community Service Center, which developed and administered the training program.

Co-ops have been active in marginalized communities since the end of the Civil War. Black Americans  namely women  would often pool together money, labor and other resources to create hundreds of what longtime civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois called mutual aid societies, according to City College of New York researcher Jessica Gordon Nembhard.

Richards said such organizations remain crucial to fighting inequality, particularly now because of the uneven damage wrought on elderly Americans and communities of color by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the height of the pandemic, the National Association for Home Care and Hospice said some home health groups were rejecting more than 40 percent of new referrals because of staff shortages.

ITS PERSONAL: Cypress man turns care for his mom into successful business

Experts warned for years that there werent enough workers in the field to sustain adequate care for the estimated 10,000 baby boomers who turn 65 each day. Of recent retirees, about 70 percent need long-term health service and support, according to the American Association of Retired People. And recent research from the Global Coalition on Aging found about 80 percent of Americans expect to use home care as they age, further straining a worker shortage that the coalition says will top 150,000 by the end of the decade and 355,000 by 2040.

Richards fears the projected shortage has worsened as the pandemic scared many soon-to-be retirees away from nursing homes or long-term care facilities. That trend could further threaten older residents in Third and Fifth wards, she said.

We have an aging population, and a lot of children have moved out of their neighborhoods and away to other cities, she said. And so in Third Ward as well as in Fifth Ward, you have a number of senior housing developments  which speaks to the realities of the aging population. We are looking at the demographics. And we know that this is an unmet need.

Vivian Ho, a health economist at Rice University, said care worker co-ops could improve access to health care in low-income communities shut out by larger, higher priced, home health care services. Research by the Washington, D.C.-based Homecare Cooperative Initiative has found that workers in the nations 60 or so home-care cooperatives make about $2 more per hour than those at non-cooperative providers, and have about half of their 64 percent annual turnover rate.

I think its a wonderful idea, she said. Because the fewer services controlled by large, integrated networks, the better. That leads to job growth and closer contact (from workers who have) an understanding of the community theyre serving.

Lynita Robinson, 50, said she decided to join the co-op after her grandmother detailed the loneliness and lack of care she experienced throughout the pandemic.

My grandmother told me she thought I didnt love her because Robinson couldnt visit and care for her. Robinsons own mother was for years the primary caretaker for their family of former migrant farmers until she broke her arm last year and had to scale back the care she could provide them.

Robinson said the co-ops goals align with the community service that her family has preached for generations. So she enrolled in its five-week training program with her teenage sons, spending a few hours each week learning how to check for bed sores, administer blood pressure tests or simply talk with lonely and immobile patients.

The experience has already shaped the way her sons think about family, long-term care and aging, they said.

You have to be willing to help and not think of yourself, said Walter Robinson, 19. It really taught me to be selfless and understanding of what other people are going through around you every day.

His mother hopes her sons pass on that lesson to their families.

We care for our seniors and we care for our parents, she said. It's a natural thing for us to do, so it's also a natural role to step into.

Editors note: This story has been updated to note the role the Christian Community Service Center played in the co-ops training program and correct its name.

robert.downen@chron.com
Choreographer Karole Armitage has made dances with music so loud the audience needs earplugs, dances built around conjoined wigs and dances that use bodies to trigger sounds. Until now, however, she has not made a dance that wasnt propelled by legs.

Armitage laughed as she realized this one recent afternoon.

We were sitting in the balcony of James Turrells Twilight Epiphany skyspace at Rice University, where six members of the New York-based Armitage Gone! Dance Company and 20 guest dancers from Houston will perform April 22-23. The audience will be on the bottom level, a vantage point that limits their view of bodies along the balconys concrete edge holding the banks of light that color the structures rooftop oculus at sunrise and sunset.

Readers of a certain age may recall the still-gamine Armitage as the famous punk ballerina of the 1980s, a nickname coined by Vanity Fair a few years after she founded her company. With a rare legacy as both a George Balanchine ballerina and a minimalist-modern Merce Cunningham dancer, Armitage forged a daring early signature all her own with works that were thrashing and dangerous-looking.

At 68, she is not so easy to label. On the day we met, her disposition was sunny and unpretentious. Maybe there was a whiff of Texan in it, even; her mother is from a sixth-generation East Texas farm and ranch family.

More Information 'Skyspace Performance: Karole Armitage' When: 9:15 p.m. April 22-23 Where: James Turrell's "Twilight Epiphany" skyspace, Rice University, 6100 Main Tickets: Free, very limited seating; 713-348-4115 See More Collapse

Wallpaper Magazine describes Armitages resume as kaleidoscopic. Armitage calls it kind of eccentric. She has collaborated with musicians, visual artists (Jeff Koons among them), scientists and fashion designers (most recently Marc Jacobs). She has choreographed major music videos (including Madonnas Vogue and Michael Jacksons In the Closet), operas, Broadway musicals (Passing Strange and Hair), Cirque du Soleils Amaluna and dozens of contemporary ballets for the worlds best companies, as well as her own. She has directed international festivals and an Italian ballet company. Shes been a fellow at the MIT Media Lab. She also recently stepped back onto the stage herself, for the first time since 1989, in a duet she created during the pandemic with an old pal, New York City Ballet legend Jock Soto.

She has explored climate change, ancient Japanese theater, medieval philosophy, new media capabilities and classic Italian films in recent years. But, of course, those dances all rely on legs. This makes the Rice project altogether new.

Discovery is the most exciting thing, Armitage said. It is still always (most) important to me to develop new ways of moving and thinking about what the body can do. It can lead to a metaphor, but fundamentally, it has to happen through the body being interesting and being reconceived. She likes science themes, she added, because science makes you think about time and space in different ways, and therefore, you think differently about how to move.

At Rice, she also wants to create an otherworldly visual feast. It is honoring James Turrell, absolutely, she said. It is honoring being outside in a completely unique space at night. I want it to be about those elements: being in the breeze, seeing the night sky, seeing the bodies.

When I remind her there will be uncontrollable sounds  possibly sirens and helicopters at the Texas Medical Center nearby, she nods and smiles. Thats right, all of those Cageian (as in John Cage) things. Chance operations are always a part of it. Its almost a cross between dance and performance art because the visual is going to be so dominant.

She wants to encourage the audience to look in ways it has never looked before, she said. You have never seen a dance from these angles. So its trying to make that completely new experience feel powerful, alive and interesting.

The dancers will wear white, so their costumes reflect the changing color palette. Their movement is timed to an electronic score by the late Alvin Lucier. Like a sonic relative of Turrells art, Luciers sound blends technology, nature and spiritual dimensions. Its very much about the perception of sound, Armitage said. Its experiential. It certainly isnt telling you what to think or feel. Its all about being in the moment.

The audience might feel they are looking up at a chorus of angels; but maybe theyre devils, Armitage said. She also envisioned a level of detail that echoes close-up photography; with unison movements that suggest a theme and variations. Some sections will involve what she calls dancey dance, with virtuosic movement by her company; other sections are built with isolations, focusing on different parts of the dancers bodies.

Her companys appearance also could be a bittersweet segue. Armitage still works 15 hours daily but feels like she needs a reset. Ive just done so much, and its been thrilling, she said. Its so hard for me to say, but I think its time to say goodbye having a company.

Theres no cultural support anymore for the old model of staging big New York seasons and touring, she explained. Whats interesting is to have a career that is about the freedom of thinking and creating with a group of people. You push the body and ideas and philosophy as far as you can. You create a culture together.  Im very proud of what weve been doing.

Choreographers everywhere know this problem, and visual arts organizations have stepped up to give dance a fighting chance. (The benefits are mutual; live performances bring people to museums, too.)

During the five years since the Moody Center opened across the street from Turrells Houston skyspace, its director, Alison Weaver, has become one of Houstons most reliable supporters of new dance. She often invites choreographers to create site-specific works that activate the Moodys art exhibitions. We are just constantly, with each project, thinking about movement, she said. These are invitations to artists to bring their own voice to a conversation.

Turrell collaborated with Rices Shepherd School of Music to design the skyspace as a lab for experimental sound. Weaver has only staged dance there once before, to celebrate the Moodys opening; and she regularly turns down requests by artists to perform there. The skyspace is not a venue. Its a public artwork  a freestanding, immersive sculpture that also inspires other works of art, whether that be music or dance or light, Weaver said. Its a generative space. That makes it unique in the land of public art, or at least the dynamic.

She commissioned Skyspace Performance: Karole Armitage for a series celebrating the 10th anniversary of Turrells masterpiece because she knew Armitage would find an inventive way to converse with it. It takes an artist like Karole to come at the challenge knowing its going to be a two-way street, Weaver said.

No skyspace performances can interfere with Turrells contemplative, permanently programmed (and sacrosanct) sunset show. Armitages dance happens afterward and will have its own light sequence masterminded by professor Kurt Stallmann, Rices skyspace guru.

Weaver, too, brings up the Cageian element. In the spirit of indeterminacy, of chance, you dont know what youre going to get, she said. We have choppers at the Medical Center, we have people going by with roller bags or on bikes. We have birds. It could be damp; it could be too cold. Its exciting to see how different artists respond to that, but it does take a special artist.

Armitage visited the skyspace with an open mind during a site visit last fall, coming up with the idea to put the dancers up top after Weaver leaned over the balcony to describe how the lights work.

Artists often respond well to severe limitations, and these are about as severe as you can get, Armitage said. Its a real challenge to make half an hour of dance compelling when theres 15 inches of space to move in, and you can see from the hips up at the most. But that will lead to creativity, no question.

Molly Glentzer is a Houston-area writer.
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The annual Cy-Fair ISD Superintendent Fun Run raised a record $125,000 for the Cy-Fair Educational Foundation, putting the money directly toward grants and scholarships for staff and students.

An estimated 4,500 CFISD staff, community members and students participated in the event on April 9 at the Berry Center, featuring a 5K run and 1-mile family-friendly walk and run through Towne Lake and Lone Star College-CyFair.

I love this community, and everybody that came out is supporting future scholarships for CFISD students, Mark Henry, CFISD superintendent of schools, said in a press release. I appreciate all the student and staff volunteers who made this event possible. This is not an easy event to put together, but its so worth it to see our families, our students, our employees and our whole community come together to celebrate CFISD.

Students also volunteered for the event and performed including Andre Elementary Schools Leopard Steppers and Twisting Twirlers and the Woodard Wolfpack Dance Team.

-Contributed by Cy-Fair ISD

CFISD hosting career fair

The Cy-Fair ISD human resources department is inviting interested applicants to the CFISD Career Fair, getting the chance to meet staff, administrators and department heads.

The career fair is taking place April 28 at the Berry Center from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., with doors opening at 3:45 p.m.

According to a district press release, CFISD is in critical need of bilingual teachers, special education teachers, secondary math teachers, secondary science teachers, secondary English teachers, LIFE Skills teachers, Adaptive Behavior teachers, nurses, diagnosticians, speech pathologists, librarians and CTE instructors.

Several district departments will be on hand at the event as well, such as the police department, maintenance department, and transportation department.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Cy-Fair ISD school board member elected to TASB

CFISD Human Resources hired more than 1,000 teachers in 2021-2022. CFISD offers a starting teacher salary of $58,000.

For more information visit www.cfisd.net/Page/1942.

-Contributed by Cy-Fair ISD

CFISD names new elementary

Cy-Fair ISD has officially named the soon-to-open Elementary School No. 57, deeming it Sue McGown Elementary School after an experienced educator and CFISD icon.

The elementary school, opening this fall during the 2022-2023 school year, will be named after educator and administrative professional Sue McGown, who has over 40 years of experience in education including more than 20 years of service with CFISD. The CFISD board of trustees passed the recommendation on April 11 with a unanimous vote.

McGown first came to CFISD in the 1980s as a teacher at Holmsley Elementary School, moving to secondary education before becoming an assistant principal at Bleyl Middle School. After serving in several other administrative positions, including opening Hamilton Middle School as the principal and becoming the inaugural principal of Cypress Woods High School, McGown resigned from her position in 2011 and finished her education career in St. Louis, Missouri.

Receiving a namesake for a campus is indeed a lifetime achievement award, an educators dream and the highest honor bestowed on an educational leader, McGown said in a district press release. It is a distinguished honor to be selected and I am extremely grateful to Dr. Henry, his cabinet, and the Board of Trustees for this outstanding recommendation and vote of confidence.

Leslie Francis, CFISD assistant superintendent for communication and community relations, said the honor was well-deserved for McGown.

Namesakes are selected for their outstanding contributions and dedication to CFISD. Dr. Henry made the recommendation to name Elementary School No. 57, Sue McGown Elementary School, during its regularly scheduled meeting on April 11, she said. The board of trustees approved the namesake by unanimous vote.

McGown said she was honored to receive the namesake.

This honor is possible because of the work of my teammy dedicated staff, parents, community partnerships, volunteers, district leadership/staff, and our amazing students (212 Wildcats and Quality Tigers) who were always at the forefront and center of our vision and mission. Finally, none of this would be possible without the incredible support of my family, she said.

Sue McGown Elementary will be located at 21211 Tuckerton Rd., Cypress, in Bridgelands Parkland Village.

-Contributed by Cy-Fair ISD

College students selected for semifinals for scholarship

Lone Star College-CyFair students Marcelo Carrizales, Vincenzo De Vita Sifontes, Ivey Knebel and Fatima Shamim were all selected as semifinalists for the Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship contest.

The students have the chance of winning $55,000. Students were chosen among 1,200 applicants.

-Contributed by Lone Star College-CyFair

chevall.pryce@chron.com
Using their faith and talent in action, the womens chorus of Kingwood United Methodist Church, Sola Gratia, has announced they will dedicate their spring concert, Then Sings My Soul to an area non-profit.

On Sunday afternoon, May 1, at 4 p.m., the chorus will offer their Spring program as a fundraiser for the Oaks of Righteousness, a nonprofit located in downtown Humble in hopes of financial support for the ministry.

Its not the first time for the organization to dedicate their collections and ticket revenue to the organization.

This is our fifth stand-alone concert for them, and weve done a couple of other fundraisers as well, said director and founder Meredith Koerner. Music, in my mind and the ladies who participate, see this as a gift and we know music speaks to people.

Koerner said it inspires people to work, give, and think about their faith and grow stronger.

Music accomplishes all of those things and enhances the worship service, but also outside the doors of the church, she said.

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Sola Gratia, a group of two dozen-plus, began as a small group in the home of Koerner.

We started off as a small ensemble in my living room and have grown to the size we are now, she said. Its been a great journey along the way.

The concert marks the 25th anniversary of Sola Gratia with noted performances twice at the White House, the Texas Capitol rotunda, and the 2013 Texas Annual Conference of the Methodist Church. The women are also regular participants in church worship services.

Their name came from Koerners daughter who suggested Sola Gratia which comes from the five Solas of the Reformation: Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone"), Sola fide ("by faith alone"), Sola gratia ("by grace alone"), Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("Christ alone" or "through Christ alone"), and Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone").

We had been traveling and just called ourselves a womens ensemble, she laughed, but singing at the White House we needed a fancier name.

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The chorus selected Oaks of Righteousness because it was women helping women, but more importantly, helping them have a second chance in life.

Its an expensive ministry costing more than $8,000 per month to maintain one house, she said. That includes a 24/7 staff, food, clothing, and all the basic needs of running a household.

Originally formed in 2012, Oaks of Righteousness is a nonprofit organization devoted to helping women coming out of incarceration, many of whom want to change their lives, but their options are limited.

Without a healthy alternative, ex-offenders return to the people, places, and habits that led to their imprisonment, said chorus member Cyndy Brown.

She said prison experts recognize transitional living as an essential element in helping to break the cycle of recidivism. The Oaks program has a recidivism rate of 11 percent, compared to the national recidivism rate of 66 percent.

The last time an Oaks resident was reincarcerated was 2017. Oaks of Righteousness provides a secure, faith-based transitional environment for up to six women over a nine- to twelve-month period, Brown said.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Boots and Bling celebration raises funds for Humble ISD educators, April 22

During this time the residents participate in a program that incorporates life skills, job readiness, and access to basic healthcare services, as well as programs to sustain sobriety, provide guidance in money management, and foster continued spiritual growth. Brown said these educational and spiritual activities allow the residents to acquire the necessary skills to reintegrate into society, strengthen their resilience, and become the women that God wants them to be.

To graduate a client resident must complete the program and become employed. To date, 40 women have participated in the program, she said.

Koerner said it also appealed to the chorus because they were a local ministry.

Women who are incarcerated make the decision in prison to follow a faith-based program. Many of our ladies go to the prison to minister to them, the director said.

When they are released, they have a choice to make about where theyre going to go.

Choosing Oaks of Righteousness is not an easy choice, Koerner said.

They are very strict. They cant have a car; they cant leave without being accompanied. Its all to give them support and prevent them from encountering bad influences as much as possible till theyre back on their feet, the director said.

Oaks receives financial support from individual community members, local churches, and civ organizations such as the Rotary Club of Lake Houston. They have also been awarded grants from Insperity and the Stoller Foundation.

Fundraisers such as this years concert provide essential resources to keep the program going, Brown said.

The concert will feature new arrangements of familiar tunes that stretch the gamut of hymnody from centuries ago to the present.

This is all about restoration and reforming your life and these songs speak to that as well, Koerner said.

There is no charge but a suggested donation of $20 is appreciated.

We will also have a general appeal or love offering during the concert and a lot of times, thats where we get larger donations, she said.

They are a 501(c)3 charity and happy to give tax receipts for donations.

Its a wonderful group of supportive women and thats why this opportunity to help the Oaks is so important to us, Koerner said.

The group will be accompanied by special guest artists Sergey Kuznetsov, an award-winning international concert pianist and a faculty member in the music department at Lone Star College-Montgomery, and Kingwood graduate Kimberly Snaufer DeRosa, a classically trained harpist and concert and recording artist.

They will be joined by the Kingwood United Methodist Church Orchestra and Foundation Brass ensemble. Matthew Robinson is the music director at the church.

Following the concert guests are invited to a dessert reception in the church commons, provided by board members of the Oaks. Kingwood United Methodist Church is located at 1799 Woodland Hills Drive. To join the chorus, or for more information on the concert, call the church at 281-358-2137.

dtaylor@hcnonline.com
Did you know that there are a thousand bears living in substandard conditions in residential backyards as pets, or roadside attractions, and in need of placement bought out of the exotic pet trade? Many animal facilities across the country, housing large exotic animals and wildlife, have closed due to lack of finances (due to COVID). This leads to lack of proper care, and neglect. Bears can consume 40 plus pounds of fruits and vegetables along with fish, nuts, bugs, and other animals (including feral hog piglets) per day when preparing for hibernation in the winter months, even in captivity.

Many people do not realize you can buy a bear cub from a breeder for $500 and have it as a pet in your home. Currently there are exotic animal sales north of Huntsville and through exotic pet stores in the Greater Houston area selling bears, tigers, lemurs, and other wild animals that only require a low-cost permit to have at your residence.

This is the same with tigers (as low as $1000) and many other wild exotic animals. The bears, tigers, and monkeys are bred for profit in this country including in Texas. All the animal rescue sanctuaries stay full and there continues to be a need for added neglected large animals. The alternative to a sanctuary is euthanasia. Bears Etc. is the ONLY exotic animal rescue in Southeast Texas!

The mission of Bears, Etc. is to set up a Bear and Exotic Animal Rescue Sanctuary in Montgomery County, connecting people with nature through education and awareness. The hope is to build the nations first ultramodern Bear Sanctuary, supplying a safe place for neglected, abused, and unwanted bears, who are a part of the exotic pet trade. The sanctuary would supply a permanent refuge for displaced, captive-raised exotic animals kept as "pets" or retired from performance.

Bears Etc. is a 5013 non-profit organization founded in 2017 by Kati and Ambrose Krouse to Leave the world better than they found it by giving animals, and people, a PEACE of the Wild!

Kati Krouse rescues exotic animals, specifically bears, out of the exotic pet trade and educate the public by connecting people with nature. The organization exists to supply a permanent, community-based, self-sustainable refuge for displaced exotic and wild animals and educate others about the natural world. Kati often speaks to civic organizations, clubs, Scouts, and schools educating the community about wildlife, exotic animals, and of course Bears, Etc. Ambrose and Kati also attend many local events to share information about Bears, Etc.

Kati and Ambrose are both members of the Texas Black Bear Alliance where Kati was appointed to the Board of Directors, promoting the restoration of black bears in proper habitats throughout Texas through cooperative partnerships using education, research, and habitat management.

Bears Etc. is a fulltime operation, but until it is fully functional, Kati supplements her income as a professional groomer, pet sitter, and dog trainer while Ambrose works in A/C and Heating. They also help local dog rescues by fostering (specifically bottle baby puppies), helping with vet tech work, and grooming foster dogs. Kati has rescued parakeets, found homes for dogs, tigers, parrots, wolves/wolf dogs, monkeys, and occasionally alligators.

The exotic pet trade is a $15 billion a year industry in the US, said Kati. The illegal exotic pet trade is second only to drugs, surpassing illegal guns over the last few years. There is no true bear sanctuary focused on bears in the exotic pet trade in the US. In 2010 the Houston SPCA flew a bear to a sanctuary in Romania after not being able to find placement in the United States for her. Bears Etc. is a solution for the captive bears in need of placement.

We anticipate the Bear Sanctuary will attract up to 50,000 visitors a year, continued Kati. This will be a huge benefit to the hospitality, restaurant, and hotel industries in our community. As a member of the Montgomery Area Chamber, (Chairman 2022) and the Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce (Diplomat), I know the impact the tourist attraction can help the local businesses from the unusual tourist venue.

What can you do? Be a part of the Solution!

The Annual Bear Crawl is Saturday, April 23, and Sunday April 24 from noon to 6 p.m. with wine, beer, and whiskey tasting in the County! Enjoy tasting the spirits from eight local venues, representing eight species of bears-Whitley Vineyards (Montgomery), Blue Epiphany (Conroe), The Ferm Meadery (Conroe), Fass Brewery (Conroe), Frankenboltzzzz Brewing Company (Montgomery), B-52 Brewery (Conroe), Bartlett's Distillery (Conroe), and H-Wines (Montgomery).

Purchase tickets online via the website: https://www.bearsetc.org/event/bear-crawl-2022 or visit one of the participating venues during the event to register. Tickets are $50 per person and each participant will receive a souvenir glass, passport, and wristband to start their two tastings at any location. (Sunday only for Whitley Vineyards and Sat. only for Bartletts Distillery).

Funds will help secure a property for a Bear and Exotic Animal Rescue Sanctuary to supply a permanent, community-based, self-sustainable refuge for displaced exotic and wild animals and educate others about the natural world. The sanctuary will include tigers, cougars, and bobcats and allow animals to live in a natural habitat the rest of their life and give them their own PEACE of the Wild. Bears, Etc. has fundraised $102,000 in their capital campaign for a down payment on 20 acres with a goal of $200,000.

We are in our 5th year as a nonprofit and are excited to see how far weve come, said Kati Krouse, Executive Director, Bears, Etc. We have helped over 100 exotic animals find placement (including 8 bears)! We cannot wait to get the much needed, 20 acres so we can start providing permanent placement for Bears, and other large exotics (like tigers), and bring more tourism and people into our community!

Learn more about Bears ETC by visiting their website www.bearsetc.org or at info@bearsetc.org.
A theater festival on April 22-23 that has been months in the making will offer three area high schools the opportunity to advance to the state University Interscholastic League contest for one-act play honors.

The 5A and 6A Region III competitions at San Jacinto College-Central in Pasadena will showcase thespians from Deer Park, Friendswood and Dawson high schools, as well as nine other theater departments throughout the Houston area. Two schools from each region will advance to become one of the states Top 8 in 5A and 6A state competition on May 5-7.

Producing this event takes month of pre-planning, said Jerry Ivins, the colleges artistic director for the department of theater and film.

San Jac has been hosting every year since the 1960s, he said.

Our entire department is involved. A well-organized and executed contest is what we owe every high school student who participates within the contest.

More Information Want to go? What: The University Interscholastic League 5A Region III one-act play contest begins at 2 p.m. Friday, April 22. The UIL's 6A Region III one-act play contest begins at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23. Where: San Jacinto College Central, 8060 Spencer Highway, Pasadena 77505 Admission: $10 each day. Cash only; credit cards won't be accepted. San Jacinto College-Central's theater: 281-476-1828; http://www.sanjac.edu/theatre-central See More Collapse

Each summer, Ivins begins hiring three judges, setting dates and clearing schedules for hosting two area contests and two region competitions the next spring.

On each day of the festival, about 45 people work from 5:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m.

All faculty, staff and theater students have assignments, said Ivins. Assignments include manning doors, securing the schools holding rooms, working the lights and sound boards and serving as timekeepers, school hosts, dock foreman, house manager and stage manager, among others.

The benefits of hosting the event are numerous, said Ivins, such as promoting the art of theater in the high schools by supporting (UIL one-act play competitions), potentially recruiting theater students at (San Jacinto College-Central) and giving back to the community.

On April 22, Friendswood students will compete in this years 5A Region III contest, which will begin at 2 p.m. with scenes from Anatomy of Gray by Kempner High School.

Second in line is Lake Creek High School with scenes from The Marriage of Bette and Boo, followed by Friendswood and an abridged version of William Shakespeares Macbeth.

Next comes Fortinbras (Montgomery High School), followed by Peter and the Starcatcher (Magnolia High School) and Eurydice (Lamar Consolidated High School).

Shows run back to back with up to 15 minutes between each show for striking a set and assembling the next one.

Winners will be announced following all performances.

The next day, April 23, Deer Park will kick off the 6A Region III contest with scenes from A Monster Calls, a stage adaptation of the 2011 fantasy novel for young adults that was written by Patrick Ness and illustrated by Jim Kay.

The play was devised in 2018 at The Old Vic in London, said Deer Park High School theater director Matthew Wasson.

It will be followed by George Bush High Schools production of We Are Proud to Present the Hereo of Namibia, Formerly Known as South West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915, Carnegie Vanguard High Schools I Think We Are Alone, Atascocita High Schools The Angelina Project, Dawson High Schools My Friend, the Octopus and Cypress Creek High Schools Eurydice.

My Friend, the Octopus was written, directed and designed by Dawsons head theater director, John Grimmett.

My co-director, Cody Edgar, was largely influential and integral to making the play happen as I envisioned it as well as a myriad of parent volunteers who helped make costumes, set pieces, and giant octopus puppets alongside our students, said Grimmett.

Admission each day is $10. Cash only; credit cards wont be accepted.

Don Maines is a freelance writer who can be reached at donmaines@att.net
Houston Chronicle file

Houston police had a bona fide mystery on their hands when a janitor arrived a Houston dance hall one morning only to find blood all over the place.

Freddie Pierce showed up at the Roseland Dance Hall, McKinney at Main, the morning of April 15, 1937, to find blood on some stairs, the dance floor, the men's room and an office.
OnScene.Tv

A woman was killed early Friday after her car crashed into a ditch in south Houston, according to police.

Officers responded to reports of a vehicle in a ditch around 1:26 a.m. at the 14200 block of South Wayside Drive and found the woman dead inside of a yellow Ford Mustang, Houston police said. She hit a metal culvert pipe.
A federal judge rejected another attempt by Texas oldest row inmate, Carl Wayne Buntion, to stop his execution after his lawyers argued that the punishment is cruel and unusual, court records filed on Thursday show.

Buntion, convicted in the 1990 death of Houston Police Department Officer James Irby during a traffic stop, is scheduled for execution next Thursday in Huntsville. He is 78.

The petition filed recently to stop the execution raised two claims: a jury in a 2012 retrial incorrectly predicted Buntion to be a future danger to society and that his execution would serve no legitimate purpose because so much time has passed since his conviction, court documents state.

Court records have outlined Buntions lengthy list of medical conditions as hepatitis C, cirrhosis and a chronic liver disease. He often uses a wheelchair and experiences vertigo "so severe that he cannot be housed in a cell which is not on the ground floor."

U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt recommended that if Buntion wishes to continue his attempts to stay his execution, that he seek permission from an appeals court.

The initial petition named Bryan Collier, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and Bobby Lumpkin, director of the agency's Correctional Institutions Division, as defendants. In a prior statement, the agency said it does not comment on pending litigation.

The execution comes nearly three decades after Buntion gunned down Irby during a traffic stop near Airline Drive and Lyerly Street. Buntion, then 50, was a passenger in the stopped Pontiac, which had heroin in the trunk, court records show. He shot Irby, 37, again, twice in the back, after he collapsed to the ground.

Buntion fled from the traffic stop and fired more shots at witnesses near Interstate 45. One bystander used Irby's radio to call for help. Authorities tracked Buntion to the nearby Pony Express warehouse, where he later surrendered.

Irby was an 18-year veteran of the Police Department.

The state last executed death row prisoner Rick Rhoades  also a Harris County case  last September. There are nearly 200 people on death row in the state, records show.

nicole.hensley@chron.com
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The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has revoked the alcohol license of a north Houston nightclub after a human trafficking investigation into the business revealed a brothel operating there, the agency said.

The commission received allegations of prostitution and human trafficking at Vegas Nite Club, 12629 West Hardy Road in north Houston on March 26 and began the investigation into the club, the agency said this week in a news release.

Investigators from the TABCs Special Investigation Unit contacted women who worked at the business and gathered information from them, which led to the revocation, the agency added.

The agency also filed criminal charges in the case, but details about the people charged were not immediatly available.

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The owner of the bar was at first ordered to end alcohol sales for a 90-day period, but the agency then permanently removed the permit, TABC said.

According to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code Sec. 11.61, a business can have its permit revoked based on the general welfare, health, peace, morals, and safety of the people.

Prostitution is one of the leading indicators of even more serious organized criminal activity, including human trafficking. TABC will continue to actively investigate and put a stop to any criminal activity taking place in the businesses we license, Bentley Nettles, executive director of the TABC, said in the news release.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of contacts to the National Trafficking Hotline from Texas rose and online recruiting by human traffickers increased by 22 percent, according to the Polaris Project. The Chronicle also found data which also showed an increase of human trafficking arrests by local authorities by 12 percent in 2020.

Attempts to reach the TABC for comment were not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

The TABC jointly investigated the allegations with the Texas Department of Public Safety, FBI, Harris County Constables Office - Precinct 1, U.S. Department of State and the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office, the press release stated.

joel.umanzor@chron.com
Boeing is now planning to launch its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on May 19.

The test flight, which would be the company's second uncrewed mission, was previously planned for Aug. 3, 2021. But corroded valves prevented the company from launching and forced Boeing to swap out hardware before scheduling another launch attempt to the International Space Station.

Next month, Boeing will launch its Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. They will lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

After the mission is completed, NASA and Boeing will schedule the company's first crewed launch.

Boeing is developing the spacecraft as part of NASAs Commercial Crew program, where companies (not NASA) own and operate the capsules trusted to carry astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA provided funding and expertise, and it buys seats as a customer, but the companies ultimately designed the spacecraft.

SpaceX is also part of this program and launched its crewed test flight on May 30, 2020. It is preparing to launch its fifth batch of NASA astronauts, the Crew-4 mission, on April 23.

Boeing's development has been slower, hitting snags along the way.

It first attempted an uncrewed test flight in December 2019. This mission, OFT-1, entered Earth's orbit but did not reach the space station. A software error caused Starliners mission timer, which is supposed to start at the time of launch and end when the vehicle lands, to be off by nearly 11 hours.

Boeing decided to redo its uncrewed test flight before putting people onboard. That redo, OFT-2, was scheduled for August 2021, but then oxidizer (a component in rocket propellant) permeated some of the valves seals and interacted with moisture from the atmosphere. It caused corrosion and sealed the valves shut.

NASA is eager to have another spacecraft capable of taking astronauts to the space station.

The Starliner team and successful completion of the spacecrafts development phase are critical to sustaining International Space Station operations through 2030, Steve Stich, manager of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, said in a January news release. The teams dedication to developing effective remedies and corrective action after our first OFT-2 launch attempt demonstrates their continued commitment to safely flying NASA crews for years to come.
Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

THUMBS DOWN: Plenty of Texans frustrated with the states antiquated, abstinence-heavy sex education curriculum have called for years for comprehensive, age-appropriate lessons that can curb everything from teen pregnancy to date rape. Somehow, we dont think this is what they had in mind: Austin TV stations reported Friday that an elementary school parent dressed as the Easter Bunny handed out eggs, with some containing candy and others containing, well, condoms. Did the parent think this was OK just because they werent opened? The parent was asked to leave Gullett Elementary premises but reportedly continued to pass out eggs on a public sidewalk. Bad bunny. We are working to review our safety protocols to ensure this does not happen again, an Austin ISD spokesperson said. It was an incredibly careless and inappropriate action of a parent. So inappropriate, in fact, that we have to wonder if the offending individual was really some hedonist stereotype of an Austin liberal parent or perhaps, a clever conservative who devised the perfect weapon to fight the Texas culture wars: an, ahem, Trojan Bunny.

THUMBS TWIDDLED: Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Abbott found some not-so-perfect weapons. In his zeal to deter new border-crossers, he appeared to be at cross purposes this week with his own conservative agenda. First by offering a chartered bus ride to Washington D.C. for any recently processed migrant who wanted one - all expenses paid by Texas taxpayers. Were pretty sure the governor envisioned a made-for-Fox-News photo-op intended to humiliate asylum-seekers and shame the Biden administration into heavier action along the border but that plan kind of fizzled once it became clear that forcing any unwilling migrant onto a bus would be kidnapping and Abbott had to classify participation as voluntary. Were not sure how Republicans who have criticized the Biden administration in recent days for giving migrants cell phones, in part as tracking devices, would nod approvingly at awarding a few lucky migrants a free, cross-country road trip to one of Americas most visited cities just in time to celebrate Easter with friends and family. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki went from portraying it a stunt to a not-so-random act of kindness, saying its nice the state of Texas is helping them get to their final destination as they await the outcome of their immigration proceedings. We agree. Now, any chance the governor will open up the program to ordinary Texas taxpayers  you know, the ones footing the bill?
Former Texas state senator Leticia Van de Putte was legally walking in a marked crosswalk after she activated a pedestrian light when she was struck by a large sports utility vehicle in the Orlando area earlier this month, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.

Van de Putte, 67, a well-known figure in San Antonio, was thrown 10 to 15 feet into the air, according to what her husband overheard from one officer investigating the accident, and suffered numerous fractures and a blow to her head. She remains in good condition at University Hospital in San Antonio, where shes been moved out of the intensive care unit. She was flown from a Florida hospital back to San Antonio last week by AirMed, a medical transport service.

Charges are pending against the Illinois driver who struck her, Florida Highway Patrol officials said.

Van de Putte released a statement Thursday afternoon, her first public words since the accident.

At this special time of year we are reminded of the beautiful gifts of faith, family and friends, Van de Putte wrote. As I continue to recover at University Hospital in San Antonio, I am truly grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of love and support from all of you.

Now that I am out of ICU and I continue to improve, I will be working remotely from here.

Please know that my family and the (Andrade-Van de Putte firms) team wish you and yours the most happy and safe Easter, she wrote, referring to the consulting and lobbying firm she co-founded with her friend, former Texas Secretary Of State Hope Andrade.

Byron Samford / San Antonio Express-News

The official accident report has not yet been released, but the law enforcement agency provided a synopsis of the incident, which occurred at 2:15 p.m. on April 3.

Van de Putte and her husband, Pete, had been staying at a hotel about 15 miles west of the Orlando airport after their flight home to San Antonio was canceled the day before. The area where she was hurt is in Orange County, but outside the Orlando city limits.

The couple went out that Sunday afternoon to buy essential items since their luggage had already been flown back to San Antonio. They walked to separate destinations.

At a large intersection surrounded by small shops and restaurants, Leticia Van de Putte activated the pedestrian crossing signal, then started to walk across Daryl Carter Parkway in a marked crosswalk, Florida Highway Patrol officials said. She was then struck by a driver in a 2017 Nissan Armada, who was making a right turn off of Regency Village Drive onto Daryl Carter Parkway, the law enforcement agency reported.

The driver, whose name hasnt been released, was extremely upset and immediately got out of his car, Florida Highway Patrol officials said. He stayed with Van de Putte and tried to help her until an ambulance arrived.

A witness informed a Florida state trooper that Van de Putte was in the crosswalk when the former senator was struck and that she had a walk signal allowing her to cross the intersection.

The intersection where the accident occurred has traffic lights and long, well-marked crosswalks on all four sides, according to Google Maps photos.

Van de Putte never lost consciousness and was able to give bystanders her husbands cellphone number. He ran to the accident site and got there just as an ambulance arrived, then rode with her to the hospital.

The well-known former senator was taken to HCA Florida Osceola Hospital in Kissimmee, where she stayed for five days before she was flown to University Hospital in San Antonio.

She suffered numerous severe injuries, including fractures to her pelvic area, two broken ribs, compressed vertebrae in her lower back, a subdural hematoma to her brain and lacerations to her arms and legs, according to what her husband told the San Antonio Express-News last week. The Florida Highway Patrol said her injuries are not life-threatening.

Van de Puttes husband has said she faces a long recovery.

The couple had just sailed on a cruise, then went to the Orlando airport the day before the accident to fly home to San Antonio. But their flight and hundreds of others were canceled that weekend due to bad weather and technological problems. So they diverted to a hotel.

Van de Putte eventually managed to secure a ticket to fly home to San Antonio by herself the day after the accident, followed by her husband the next day. But her injuries changed those plans.

She was initially placed in University Hospitals ICU when she arrived there a week ago, but has since been moved out of that part of the hospital and has shown improvement every day.

Van de Putte is president of Andrade-Van de Putte & Associates, the consulting and lobbying firm that she and Andrade started.

She is a high-profile Democrat who served 24 years in the Texas Legislature  as a state representative from 1991 until 1999, then as a state senator from 1999 until March 2015.

She was the Democratic nominee for the lieutenant governors seat in 2014 as the running mate of Wendy Davis, who ran for Texas governor.

Both women lost that election to Dan Patrick and Greg Abbott, respectively.

After resigning from the Texas Senate, Van de Putte ran for San Antonio mayor in 2015, but narrowly lost to Ivy Taylor.

She has been married to Pete Van de Putte for almost 45 years. They have six children and numerous grandchildren.

pohare@express-news.net | Twitter: Peggy_OHare
For more than a year, Texas CPS employees have been sounding alarm bells over the states practice of lodging dozens of foster children with acute needs in hotels and other temporary housing, overseen by caseworkers who are not trained to care for them and cannot discipline them.

The problem hit a high point last summer, with 416 foster children lacking a permanent place to stay. Since then, the number has dropped dramatically  184 kids didnt have a placement in all of March, and 69 were awaiting placements early this week.

But as the states Child Protective Services agency begins scheduling shifts for workers to watch the children through the end of 2022, employees say they are still exhausted, untrained and afraid to work in potentially dangerous environments. The overtime shifts are yet another blow to morale at CPS, an agency thats also grappling with a number of resignations over new policies targeting the families of transgender children.

IN-DEPTH: Foster care crisis is out of control in Texas, with both children and staff in danger

Now, caseworkers are pleading for a solution to the temporary placements  either from Gov. Greg Abbott, who oversees the Department of Family and Protective Services, or from the state Legislature, which will return to Austin next January but plans to host hearings on foster care this summer.

Some of these workers are (saying) that maybe this is not the job for me, not because of the regular responsibilities, but because of the responsibilities that have been added for us, an employee of the Department of Family and Protective Services said at a Texas State Employees Union town hall in San Antonio earlier this month, a concern echoed by others who spoke at the event.

No, we dont want our kids sleeping in hotels. No, we don't want our kids to feel like they're not receiving the resources necessary to why they came into care. Our hands are tied.

Marissa Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the department, said it is working closely with providers and lawmakers to expand capacity and find permanent beds for children without placement. The department is also in contact with the childrens family members, aiming to place the children  known in the agency as children without placement, or CWOP  with relatives if possible.

We are doing everything possible to end CWOP, she said in an email. Each child and youth in the custody of the state should have an appropriate placement, and not be without placement, and that has always been our policy.

Children without placement are often teenagers with the highest needs  those who have experienced trauma and have histories of behavioral or mental health issues. Though they represent a small portion of the roughly 13,000 kids in the states custody, employees say the extra shifts to watch them soak up their resources, time and energy.

Its still having a serious negative impact on morale because its sucked all the air out of the room, said Myko Gedutis, a Houston-based organizer for the union, which includes some child protective services employees and caseworkers. Folks are exhausted. Its been going for a while, and, yeah, the numbers are down, but its still very much an everyday concern.

Lasting concerns

Dozens of CPS employees attended the town hall in San Antonio, just months after workers attended similar meetings in Houston and Dallas. Their concerns were familiar, as employees described a situation that continues to endanger both children and staff.

There are the immediate threats: Caseworkers have been attacked, and they fear that children will not be held accountable for their actions because they are wards of the state. And because the employees have no power to discipline the children, they cant intervene when the children use drugs, decline prescribed medication or enter potentially dangerous situations.

And there is also the long-term stress: CWOP shifts and other external pressures  including Gov. Greg Abbotts recent directive to launch child abuse investigations into families of transgender children  have caused rampant turnover, Gedutis said. Theres been a brain drain as longer-tenured employees leave and are replaced by inexperienced ones, or are not replaced at all.

Abbott issued the order to investigate families in late February, citing Attorney General Ken Paxtons non-binding legal opinion that hormone therapies and puberty blockers should be classified as child abuse.

Plus, caseloads are far beyond recommended thresholds, overworking CPS employees who cannot give each child the attention they need, Gedutis said. And the children lack a structured environment in a home setting, hindering their own development and success, caseworkers said.

CPS supervisors are asking staff to volunteer for the extra shifts through the end of this year, including holidays, Gedutis said. If employees dont volunteer, they are given mandatory shifts.

The shifts are four hours long, and two caseworkers are assigned to each child. In the course of one day, a single child has 12 different individuals caring for them, employees said.

Its not going away, Gedutis said.

Without intervention from Abbott or the Legislature, it appears that will be the case. State Sen. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio, said he has asked Abbott to call a special session on CWOP but has not received a response.

Nan Tolson, a spokeswoman for the governor, noted that Abbott was the first governor ever to make foster care an emergency item in 2017 and again during last years special sessions. Last summer, lawmakers approved $90 million in two-year funding to help address capacity problems in the foster system.

The governor looks forward to his continued work with the lawmakers, advocates, and state leaders alike to further reform and strengthen our foster care system and ensure a bright, safe, and prosperous future for all Texas children, she said.

At the union meeting earlier this month, Menendez came with a list of questions for caseworkers, hoping their answers would help craft a bill that could ease their jobs: Do you receive any training before CWOP shifts? (No.) Is this a local issue or a statewide issue? (Statewide.) Are you working more than 40 hours a week because of CWOP shifts? (Yes.)

This is an emergency, he said at the town hall. At the end of the day, I appreciate that we're doing a community meeting, but we have to get some issues addressed quickly. And I think it's the state that has been kicking this can down the road. It is the state's fault.

cayla.harris@hearst.com | Twitter: @caylajharris
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Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition.

If you are already a print subscriber and want online access, it is free, you simply have to create an online account and then attach your print subscription account number to the online account you create.
Roots Rising Awarded $430K Toward Youth Farm

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The state awarded Roots Rising a Food Security Infrastructure Grant of $430,219 to go towards establishing a youth farm.

"It's so exciting that there will be a farm in the Berkshires whose central mission is to empower youth, connect the community to the land, and strengthen our local food system. The possibilities for what we can become and accomplish together are infinite. It's a different way altogether of thinking about community and agriculture," said Lauren Piotrowski, farmer and Roots Rising program manager.

The Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program seeks to ensure local food producers are better connected to a robust and resilient food supply system in order to mitigate future food supply and distribution disruption issues.

Roots Rising, a farm-based youth development program will use the grant, from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, to establish a teen-powered, community-centered youth farm.

According to a press release, the farm will address the needs of the community, including the vulnerabilities in our food system made evident by the pandemic.

Local farmers are experiencing a shortage of experienced workers, and the Youth Farm will serve as a training ground to cultivate the next generation of changemakers and land-stewards.

Youth Farm programming is currently being developed in conversation with the community and Roots Rising's youth. The farm will integrate Roots Rising's food justice and youth development work while supporting the goals of the organization: "connecting youth to the land and making healthy food available for all."

"We couldn't be more proud and excited for this incredible investment in our Youth Farm. From our organization's beginning, the community has had our back. It truly takes a village to launch a farm, and we feel the upwelling of excitement for this new initiative. Roots Rising's Youth Farm will give our organization a home where it truly belongs- right in the heart of our city and community," said Roots Rising Co-Directors, Jamie Samowitz and Jessica Vecchia.

The Baker-Polito Administration announced the Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program in May 2020 as part of a $56 million investment to combat urgent food insecurity for many Massachusetts families and individuals as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program implements the recommendations of the Food Security Task Force, comprised of public and private members charged with ensuring food insecurity and food supply needs are addressed during the COVID-19 public health emergency, which was convened by the Massachusetts COVID-19 Command Center in response to increased demands for food assistance.

In total, the Baker-Polito Administration announced $22.5 million in funding to food producers across the Commonwealth.




iciHaiti - Insecurity : The PM hands over 16 all-terrain vehicles to the PNH





Thursday, April 14, 2022, as part of the strengthening of the logistical capacities of the National Police of Haiti (PNH), the Prime Minister a.i., Ariel Henry, in the presence of several members of the Ministerial Cabinet and of the High Staff of the PNH, has handed over 16 all-terrain vehicles to the police force "to strengthen its operational capacities and help it more effectively fulfill its mission of serving and protecting the population".



In her remarks, Ariel Henry declared :



"My presence at this ceremony of handing over rolling stock to the PNH aims to convince those who doubt it, of the will of my Government to fight insecurity and gangs.



My government is determined to fight insecurity and gangs. It is with our meager resources that we are now obtaining the means to continue to support the paying efforts of the National Police.



I ask the Haitian people to continue to trust us. Despite what people say, we can trust our police. Some of them are determined and take risks [...]



We have won several victories by working, hand in hand, with the private sector to facilitate the delivery of fuel and secure the seaside trade. We are in discussion with those of Martissant in the same perspective.



The current situation in the country requires from all of us this union which, in the past, was our strength. I will never stop repeating it : there is no place, during this interim period, for divisions, resentments, internal and fratricidal struggles [...]"



Recalling that the restoration of a security climate in the country is the main objective targeted by the Government in order to create the essential conditions for the organization of the next elections. Ariel Henry affirms that he does not intend to skimp on the means to achieve this and this in the shortest possible time.



Read also about the recent actions of the PNH :

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36416-icihaiti-pnh-a-terrifying-bandit-and-one-of-the-trusted-men-of-gang-leader-zian-killed.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36390-here-haiti-jacmel-important-dragnet-14-arrests.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36389-haiti-pnh-10-bandits-killed-a-policewoman-injured.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36372-ici-haiti-pnh-kidnapping-defeated-a-kidnapper-killed.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36276-icihaiti-insecurity-panic-at-saint-boniface-hospital.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36264-icihaiti-pnh-kidnapping-attempt-foiled.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36256-icihaiti-pnh-arrest-of-2-members-of-the-400-mawozo-gang.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36229-haiti-usa-donation-of-materials-and-equipment-to-polifront-and-blts.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36219-haiti-flash-the-police-in-action.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36216-icihaiti-security-positive-results-for-the-pnh.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36201-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36195-icihaiti-cap-haitien-7-arrests-seizure-of-weapons-and-ammunition.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36110-icihaiti-turgeau-6-individuals-arrested-8-weapons-seized.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-36098-icihaiti-center-department-4-bandits-arrested-in-24-hours.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-35987-icihaiti-justice-2-haitians-arrested-for-drug-trafficking.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-35651-icihaiti-security-seizure-of-more-than-10kg-of-marijuana-2-haitians-and-a-jamaican-arrested.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-35637-icihaiti-security-the-border-police-increase-its-staff.html



IH/ iciHaiti


















According to local journalists, Mohiuddin Sarkar Nayem, a reporter for a local newspaper Dainik Cumillar Dak was shot by two men at 9:30 pm. The assailants fled before police reached the crime scene.

According to the police, Nayem was shot four times and his body sent to Cumilla Medical College for autopsy.

Although the police are investigating the case, local journalists and the Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) suspect that he was killed in reprisal for his recent news reports exposing illegal drug trafficking in the India-Bangladesh border area. The IFJ and BMSF are following this line of investigation to find out whether the crime is related to his role as a journalist.

Four men with alleged links to the shooting death of Mohiuddin were arrested a day after the killing.

BMSF said: We condemn the murder of a journalist in Bangaldesh- India boarder area. We urge the Bangladesh government to investigate the case and punish the culprits.

IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said: The IFJ expresses condolences to the family of the murdered journalist Mohiuddin Sarkar Nayem and urges the Bangladesh authorities investigate this crime and find the culprits. This crime cannot go unpunished.
Solidarity centers just launched by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), with the support of the International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ), and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine (IMTUU), will help journalists to continue their work during the war in Ukraine. The project was made possible by the IFJ-EFJ appeal for donations.

NUJU is launching a network of journalistic solidarity centers to help media workers during the war. These centers are open in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi, in the headquarters of the regional organisations of NUJU. The centers are open to all journalists operating in Ukraine. They can be used as newsrooms, but will also be used to provide training for journalists. In case of emergency, journalists evacuated from the fighting territories will be provided with timely material and financial assistance.

Ukrainian and foreign journalists who are in the war zone or any other region of Ukraine will be able to contact the Centers for support.Small office spaces are available for journalists, with internet connection. The three centres will also serve as distribution points for protective equipment and first aid kits.

In these difficult days, all journalists unite to help each other, said NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko. Our international partners have mobilised to provide practical assistance to media workers. The Journalistic Solidarity Centers are a concrete expression of international support for journalists in action in Ukraine.

The project is implemented with the support of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and in partnership with the Independent Media Union of Ukraine (IMTUU). Resources to assist Ukrainian media workers are provided by international partners  journalists associations and unions, media companies and institutions.

International solidarity with journalists working under the bombardment in Ukraine is crucial to continue to inform the world about the devastating consequences of the Russian invasion, said IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger. Journalists are at the forefront of exposing the real consequences for humanity of this barbaric war on Ukraine. The IFJ is proud to have the opportunity to work with NUJU to create vital centers to ensure practical solidarity with journalists.

We warmly thank the unions and associations of journalists who responded generously to the IFJ and EFJ appeal for donations for their solidarity, added Ricardo Gutierrez, EFJ General Secretary. It is thanks to this financial contribution that we are able to support a network of solidarity centers that are crucial to ensuring that the worlds public is well informed.

How to contact the Journalistic Solidarity Centers?

Fill in the form on: https://bit.ly/3JcQFhK

Email: jsolidarity2022@gmail

Hotline (text message): +380681266674

The coordinators of the centers are Bohddana Stelmakh (Lviv Center), Victoria Plakhta (Ivano-Frankivsk) and Volodymyr Bober (Chernivtsi).

Donate to the IFJ/EFJ Safety Fund for Journalists in Ukraine
There's been an explosion of hype around the metaverse since 2021, when Facebook rebranded to Meta, and Roblox went public at a valuation of $42 billion. Business owners in all types of industries are counting on the virtual environment becoming a gold rush. If you're interested in cashing in too, you need to first get a handle on what kinds of businesses will be necessary for the metaverse to take shape.

Louis Fischer, an intelligence analyst at corporate-research firm CB Insights, on Thursday shared a freshly researched definition. It's one that more directly addresses business owners, since it actually takes into account the hundreds of companies building technology that will become relevant to the metaverse. He called it "shared worlds driven by virtual products and experiences that are highly immersive and interactive."

Fischer estimates it will be more than 10 years before any online metaverse-type experience reaches Ready Player One levels of immersion and interactivity. That's not due to a lack of innovation by companies creating such experiences. It's because, he says, the metaverse depends on six layers of technology -- and each has a wide range of companies that are shaping it. Here are the layers Fischer and CB Insights propose will make up the technology's framework -- and the business opportunities ripe for the taking.

Infrastructure

The network and processing technology that powers computing -- including chips, processors, and networks (including 5G, cloud infrastructure, and edge networks). Examples: Qualcomm, Intel, AWS.

Interface

Hardware technologies that will determine how people experience the metaverse, such as haptics, headsets, smart glasses, and holographics. Examples: Magic Leap headsets, HaptX virtual reality touch gloves.

Virtualization Tools

Tools and game engines to help developers and designers build metaverse worlds and experiences, including avatar development and 3-D modeling and capture. Example: Epic Games's Unreal Engine.

Virtual Worlds

How people will experience these tools. Example: The Sandbox, a global company headquartered in Hong Kong, has raised $93 million in funding to develop its eponymous decentralized virtual world.

Economic Infrastructure

How people will pay for goods and services in the metaverse. "I want to dispel the notion that the metaverse will only be experienced through cryptocurrencies," Fischer says. He says for mainstream adoption of the metaverse, mainstream financial institutions such as Visa and PayPal will play a role -- though so will cryptocurrency exchanges already well-associated with Web3, such as Binance, and authentication ones, such as Metamask.

Experience
Thursday was a busy day for the world's wealthiest person. Not only did Elon Musk initiate a hostile takeover attempt of Twitter, but he also sat for an interview onstage at the TED conference with host Chris Anderson.

Considering the Twitter thing, there were obvious questions, like "Why buy Twitter?"

"This is not a way to sort of make money," Musk responded. "My strong, intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted, and is broadly inclusive, is extremely important to the future of civilization."

While that part of the interview was certainly the most timely--and got most of the attention--I found another question Anderson asked to be far more interesting. It also happens to be a powerful lesson for every leader.

"If you could go back in time and change one decision you made along the way, your own edit button, which one would it be and why?" Anderson asked.

The question was clearly meant to be clever considering Musk has said that an edit button for tweets is one of the things he would bring to Twitter. Still, it's a good question.

I've never met anyone who doesn't wish they could change something about their life or their career. We've all made plenty of mistakes and choices that didn't turn out the way we expected. In those cases, it's hard not to wish we had an edit button.

Musk's answer, however, was remarkably candid--something we don't usually get from CEOs. "So we basically messed up almost every aspect of the Model 3 production line," Musk answered. "From cells, to packs, to drive motors, the body line, the paint shop, final assembly, everything. Everything was messed up."

Musk has said previously that the Model 3 almost bankrupted the company--that it was within a month of going under. It's clear from his answer that the stress of keeping Tesla from failing took a deep toll on him.

"I lived in the Fremont and Nevada factories for three years fixing that production line ... running around like a maniac through every part of that factory. Living with the team. I stepped on the floor so that the team who is going through a hard time could see me on the floor that they knew that I was not in some ivory tower."

There are a few powerful lessons in his answers. The first is that having the self-awareness to realize that you messed up is one of the most important factors in success. That's pretty simple, really. If you aren't successful, but you can't acknowledge that reality or figure out why, the chances of your circumstances changing aren't very good.

At the time, Tesla was at a tipping point. Musk has said on more than one occasion that the most important thing Tesla builds isn't its electric vehicles. It's the "machine that builds the machine."

His point is that in order for Tesla to be successful at making EVs something that the mass market will buy, it has to be able to build them at scale. That, it turns out, is a massive challenge. Figuring out how to solve that problem was the key to the company's success today.

Presumably, what Musk is saying is that he'd get more things right earlier, so he could avoid what he referred to as "three years of hell." The thing is, sometimes you have to go through the wilderness before you arrive at the promised land.

I think it's also worth mentioning that Musk was personally invested, and personally involved in fixing the problem. Most of the time, a leader who gets that involved in the day-to-day operations means that the organization has a real problem. In this case, it was clear that Tesla had a real problem. The future of the company was at stake and that meant Musk had to be all in.

You can argue that sleeping on the floor of the factory is a little extreme, but I think the example he was trying to set for his team is worthwhile. Every team takes its cue from the leader. There's no question the message Musk was sending--that "this is the most important thing I can be doing with my time."
Russia said its lead warship in the Black Sea sank on Thursday after an explosion and fire that Ukraine claimed was caused by a missile strike, dealing a blow to Moscow as it readied for new attacks that were likely to determine the conflict's outcome.

Ukraine's missile attack hit the ship

Russian state news agency TASS reported Thursday evening that the guided-missile cruiser Moskva had sunk, citing a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Maxar

"During the towing of the cruiser Moskva to the port of destination, the ship lost its stability due to hull damage received during a fire from the detonation of ammunition. In the conditions of stormy seas, the ship sank," the statement said, according to TASS.

Russia said earlier that over 500 crew aboard the Soviet-era missile cruiser were evacuated after ammunition on board exploded. Ukraine said it hit the warship with a Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missile.

Conditions that led the ship to sink

"In the Black Sea operational zone, Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles hit the cruiser Moskva, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet -- it received significant damage," the statement said. "A fire broke out. Other units of the ship's group tried to help, but a storm and a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser and it began to sink."



Reuters

Russia, which has not acknowledged an attack, said the incident is under investigation. "While the cruiser 'Moskva' was being towed to the destination port, the ship lost stability due to damage to the hull from the fire," the defence ministry said.

Current situation in war-hit Ukraine

The incident came as Russia's navy continues its bombardment of Ukrainian cities on the Black Sea nearly 50 days after it launched the invasion.

Residents of Odesa and Mariupol, on the adjacent Azov Sea, have been bracing for new Russian attacks. Russian forces have pulled back from some northern parts of Ukraine after suffering heavy losses and failing to take the capital Kyiv.

Reuters

Ukraine and its Western allies say Moscow is redeploying for a new offensive in the eastern Donbas region. Russia launched its assault in part to dissuade Ukraine from joining NATO. But the invasion has pushed Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, and nearby Sweden to consider joining the U.S.-led military alliance.

Moscow warned NATO on Thursday that if Sweden and Finland join, Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea, in the heart of Europe.
After spending six months in microgravity, astronaut Raja Chari is all set to return home. The Crew-3 astronauts who docked to the International Space Station in November last year will return to planet Earth later this month.

NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, along with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer, will return after a successful scientific mission in zero gravity.

Twitter

The mission not only conducted key deep space-related studies but also engaged in risky spacewalks. The four astronauts will return on the Dragon spacecraft named Endurance, which will undock from the space station later this month and begin a return journey that will see it hit Earths atmosphere in a fiery re-entry.

The four astronauts will splashdown off the coast of Florida to conclude the mission.



During their time in space, they contributed to hundreds of experiments and technology demonstrations. They worked on a variety of plant growth experiments, testing new systems for growing crops and studying potentially drought-resistant cotton plants.

They tested a handheld bioprinter designed to print bandages made from skin cells directly onto a wound, and a miniature scanning electron microscope. Crew members also installed a new device to support studies on fire safety in microgravity, and conducted one of the first archaeological experiments in space, NASA said in a statement.



1st spacewalk didnt disappoint & worked w/ @NASA classmate Kayla Barron installing new solar panel structure on @iss. Cameras dont do it justice, but do give sense of how hard it can be to concentrate when theres so much to look at. pic.twitter.com/USQPIFOiVv  Raja Chari (@Astro_Raja) March 21, 2022

The astronauts were also involved in four spacewalks, preparing the station for upcoming solar array upgrades by assembling and installing modification kits and replacing a faulty antenna on the Port-1 truss structure.

Research benefits people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future exploration of the Moon and Mars starting with the agencys Artemis mission, which includes landing the first woman and person of color on the lunar surface, NASA said.



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The US has linked North Korea-backed hackers to a massive cryptocurrency heist worth $615m (469m) that happened last month. The hackers reportedly stole from players of the popular online game Axie Infinity in March 2022.

For the uninitiated, the popular NFT game allows players to earn crypto through game play or trading their avatars.

This over $600 million hack is likely to be one of the biggest ever to hit the crypto world.

shutterstock

Also Read: Cryptocurrency Fundraising In China Can Now Land You In Jail For Over 10 Years

What The FBI Said

As per BBC, US officials said that they linked the breach to a group called "Lazarus", believed to be controlled by North Korea's primary intelligence bureau.

The FBI statement said yesterday "Through our investigations we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with [North Korea], are responsible for the theft."

The hacker Lazarus Group had reportedly gained notoriety in 2014 after they were accused of hacking into Sony Pictures and publicly leaking confidential data, as per BBC.

Reuters

Also Read: China To Create Its Own 'NFT Industry', But Not Related to Cryptocurrency

The group had demanded that Sony withdraw its then-upcoming film The Interview, a satirical comedy about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

A United Nations panel that monitors sanctions on North Korea has accused Pyongyang of using stolen funds to support its nuclear and ballistic missile programs as a way to avoid international sanctions.

"The United States is aware that the DPRK has increasingly relied on illicit activities - including cybercrime - to generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs as it tries to evade robust US and UN sanctions," Reuters had reportedly quoted a Treasury Department spokesperson as saying.

For more of the latest financial news, keep reading Worth. Click here
An amendment to European Union sanctions last week created a potential path for some aircraft financiers to sell jets held in Russia to the airlines now operating them without permission.

The measure, published April 8, will allow EU governments to grant permission for entities in their states to keep receiving payments from Russian companies on so-called financial leases signed before Feb. 26. Ownership of the plane can be transfered once the lease is paid off.

Aircraft Lessors Seeing Horrendous Hikes in Insurance Premiums: BOC Aviation Global Insurance Losses From Russia-Ukraine War Could Range From $16B to $35B

Its not clear how many of the 500 or so foreign-owed planes stuck in Russia are potentially eligible for the exception, or which owners will be able to apply. Most of the aircraft are on operating leases, a different structure under which airlines rent planes for a set period and return them to the owner after the contract expires.

Financial leases are typically financing arrangements on new Airbus SE and Boeing Co. jets. Export credit agencies guarantee about 85% of the amount loaned to the operator by a syndicate of banks. Theyre widely used, including by the governments of the U.S., UK, Germany and France, to help support aircraft sales.

Under the amended provision, no economic resources can be made available to the Russian counterpart, except to transfer ownership of the plane after the EU company has been fully reimbursed.

The ownership transfer is a consequence of full repayment under contract terms signed before sanctions, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said in an email. The amendment doesnt allow any funds to be provided to Russian companies, she added, without elaborating further.

Russias transport ministry had no immediate comment.

This week, Russia outlined rules for continued aircraft lease payments and purchases in rubles to firms from unfriendly countries, Tass reported.

Lessor Opening?

Aircraft leasing firms, many based in Ireland, have been puzzling over the EU provision since it appeared along with other measures  including a tightening of sanctions on alternative jet fuel  on April 8.

Owners have been struggling to repossess aircraft after Russias Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine triggered sanctions that require lessors to cancel contracts. Russias government, in turn, passed a law to protect its commercial fleet, preventing foreign-owned jets from leaving the country without state permission.

With some $10 billion at stake, and facing long battles over insurance claims, lessors have explored ways to legally get reimbursed by their former customers, or at least keep aircraft maintained properly so they dont lose their value. They arent sure whether the amendment will point the way to a potential solution.

This provision provides much needed relief for EU lessors whose aircraft may have been grounded in Russia, e.g., allowing buyout clauses to be explored, Pillsbury lawyers Steven P. Farmer and Mark Booth wrote in an April 11 blog post.

Fitch Ratings has estimated insurance claims will reach some $10 billion  the most ever for an aviation event  setting up a battle between leasing firms and insurers over who pays for the loss of value.

AerCap, the worlds biggest leasing firm, has said it has some $2.5 billion at risk. It has filed $3.5 billion in insurance claims tied to the war.

With assistance from Peter Flanagan.

Photograph: Protective covers sit on the engines of a passenger plane, operated by Air France-KLM, as it stands grounded on the tarmac at Blagnac Airport in Toulouse, France, on Monday, April 27, 2020. Photo credit: Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Russia Europe Aviation
Lore Takes Helm at IAIABC

The International Association of Industrial Accident Boards and Commissions, a guiding force for workers compensation regulators and the industry, has named Heather Lore executive director.

Lore, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, has been with IAIABC since 2007 and has served as interim director since January of this year. She replaces long-time executive director Jennifer Wolf, who became executive vice president at the Minnesota Workers Compensation Insurers Association.

While at IAIABC, Lore helped launch the IAIABC NextGen Award program in 2017, recognizing early career development opportunities in workers compensation. She also contributed to papers on return to work and work disability prevention strategies. She has a bachelors degree in marketing from Marquette University and an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University.

The 108-year-old IAIABC is a not-for-profit association representing government agencies charged with the administration of workers compensation systems as well as other workers compensation professionals in the private sector. It has developed data reporting standards for first reports of injury and other reports.

McPeak Named General Counsel at USAA

Former Tennessee Insurance Commissioner Julie McPeak has been named senior vice president and general counsel for insurance at USAA, the financial services company announced this week.

McPeak also once served as director of Kentuckys department of insurance and was president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. At USAA, she will oversee property/casualty and life insurance legal teams.

Founded in 1922 by a group of military officers, USAA provides insurance, banking, and investment and retirement solutions to some 13 million members of the military and veterans. Corporate headquarters are in San Antonio.

Lockton Names Ford as SE Cyber Insurance Leader

Lockton, the global insurance brokerage firm, has appointed Sou Ford as cyber practice leader for the Southeast.

Ford has almost 25 years of experience with cyber insurance, most recently with Willis Towers Watson. She will be based in Atlanta.

Locktons Southeast team also includes Neel Desai, who joined in 2021 from Hiscox, where he was the insurers cyber claims leader; and Michelle Faylo who was AIGs North America head of cyber and professional liability, the company said in a news release.

FBB Names Business Consultant in Florida

FBB Insurance, a subsidiary of Mississippi-based Trustmark National Bank, announced that Jennifer Bone will be business insurance consultant in Pensacola, Florida.

Bone received her bachelor of science in nursing, with a minor in organic chemistry, from the University of West Florida. She currently serves on the board for the Childrens Home Society and volunteers with the Highways and Hedges Homeless Ministry.

FBB Insurance started out as Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance, one of the oldest agencies in Northwest Florida. It was acquired by Trustmark in 2004. The bank is a subsidiary of Trustmark Corp., a financial services company headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi.

Topics Cyber Lockton
A Georgia insurance company owner has been sentenced to eight months in prison after prosecutors said he lied in bankruptcy court and on his federal tax returns.

Jacques Andres Frym, 53, who owned businesses in the Savannah area, pleaded guilty last year to lying under oath about his income. Frym at one time owned Federal Employee Benefits LLC, an insurance company, along with real estate and other interests, federal court records show.

In 2016, Frym filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to manage more than $5 million in debt. But he falsely testified that he performed no work for and had no income from Federal Employee Benefits, according to the charging information sheet.

In fact, the defendant knew that he sold, and was the primary individual responsible for selling, insurance contracts on behalf of Federal Employee Benefits, prosecutors noted in the filing.

He also understated his income on his 2017 tax return, court records show.

In addition to jail time, Frym must also pay $112,000 in restitution and a $30,000 fine. Once released, he will face three years of supervised release, the federal court said.

Topics Georgia
Four months after its largest subsidiary stopped writing new homeowner business in Florida, United Insurance Holdings Corp. announced it would consolidate four of its companies into three.

Publicly traded United, also known as UPC Insurance, owns Journey Insurance Co., American Coastal Insurance, Family Security Insurance and one of the largest property underwriters in Florida, United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. Company officials announced this week that they would seek regulatory approval to merge Journey into American Coastal.

Journeys capital will be redistributed between the remaining three insurers.

Our plan will enable us to achieve more balance between commercial and personal lines by reallocating existing capital across our group and allowing American Coastal Insurance Co. to focus exclusively on continued profitable growth in commercial lines, while Family Security Insurance Co. and United Property & Casualty Insurance Co. focus exclusively on restoring underwriting profitability in our personal lines business, Dan Peed, chairman and CEO of UPC, said in a press release.

Meanwhile, AM Best, a insurance financial rating firm, announced that it had downgraded the financial strength rating for Journey from A- Excellent to B++ Good.

Company officials did not say how much of the reorganization is related to Floridas topsy-turvy property insurance market, where carriers have reported heavy losses from hurricanes, fraudulent roof claims and extreme amounts of claims litigation. The 23-year-old United sent a jolt through the Florida insurance community when it became the first major carrier in recent years to stop writing new homeowner, condominium and rental property policies, starting Jan. 1 of this year. At least five others have since taken similar actions, and at two were subsequently deemed insolvent in Florida.

The Florida Office of Insurance Regulations quarterly reports do not include UPC companies, and company officials could not be reached for comment Thursday on the number of policies that would be affected by the reorganization. At one time, United ranked as one the top 10 property insurers in Florida, with more than 180,000 policies in force.

UPC companies, based in St. Petersburg, Florida, also write in Louisiana, New York, and Texas, according to a news release. It also noted that renewal rights for its policies in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Massachusetts have have been sold and all premiums and losses have been ceded. Further details were not available.

At the end of 2021, UPC reported total assets of more than $2.6 billion; liabilities of $2.7 billion; and reserves of $1.7 billion. It also saw a net loss of almost $60 million in 2021; $95 million in 2020; and $29 million the year before, a company financial statement shows.

UPCs combined ratio topped 120 last year, down slightly from the previous year, but considerably higher than in 2017.
Xi talks with Saudi Arabian crown prince over phone

Xinhua) 13:15, April 15, 2022

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday morning held a phone conversation with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

Xi asked Mohammed to convey his greetings to Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, saying that at present, the international and regional situations are undergoing profound and complex changes, further highlighting the strategic and overarching significance of China-Saudi Arabia relations.

He said that over the past year, China and Saudi Arabia have joined their efforts and moved forward together, facilitating new development in bilateral ties.

The Chinese side gives priority to developing relations with Saudi Arabia and stands ready to work with the country to continuously deepen their comprehensive strategic partnership and to bring more benefits to the two countries and their people.

The Chinese side supports Saudi Arabia in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and stability, and in independently exploring a development path suited to its own national conditions, Xi stressed.

China will continue to synergize the Belt and Road Initiative with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and forge a high-level cooperation pattern between the two sides in such fields as energy, economy and trade as well as high technology, Xi said.

The Chinese side supports Saudi Arabia's Green Middle East initiative and welcomes Saudi Arabia's participation in the Global Development Initiative, Xi added.

China and Saudi Arabia should strengthen solidarity, practice true multilateralism, safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core, the international order based on international law, the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and uphold international fairness and justice as well as the common interests of developing countries, said Xi.

China is ready to work with Saudi Arabia to promote peace and stability in the Middle East, push for an early conclusion of the China-Gulf Cooperation Council free trade area agreement and jointly build a China-Arab community with a shared future for the new era, said Xi.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Answers

Global nickel titanium alloy market trend 2023-2028 What is Nickel-titanium alloy? by Newsintegra927

From April the French government will reduce fuel taxes slightly to ease the burden on consumers.

Warned of possible energy shortages in France by the end of the year and called on the French to conserve electricity and gas from now on, saying that if nothing was done, The energy situation will be tough this winter. Some experts say that there are two main reasons for France's energy crisis: first, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine affected the gas market and caused supply tension; The second is a safety review of France's newest nuclear power plant, which may lead to a reduction in output this year. In order to alleviate the energy crisis, the whole French society needs to be mobilized, whether it is the industrial sector, the tertiary sector or every French citizen. Now it is urgent. Rising fuel prices may also have an impact on shipments of the nickel titanium alloy.

Introduction to Nickel Titanium Alloy Powder

Nickel-titanium alloy or nitinol is a binary alloy composed of nickel and titanium, which is a shape memory alloy. The shape memory alloy is a special alloy that can automatically restore its plastic deformation to its original shape at a certain temperature. Its expansion rate is more than 20%. The fatigue life is 1*10^7. The damping characteristics are 10 times higher than ordinary spring. Its corrosion resistance is better than the best medical stainless steel, so it can meet all kinds of engineering and medical application needs, is a very good functional material.

In addition to the unique shape memory function, memory alloy also has excellent characteristics such as wear resistance, corrosion resistance, high damping, and superelasticity.

Nitinol alloy has two different crystal structure phases due to the change in temperature and mechanical pressure, namely the austenite phase and martensite phase. The phase transition sequence of Nitinol during cooling is the parent phase (austenite phase) -R phase - martensite phase. The R phase is rhomboid, the austenite is at a higher temperature (greater than the same: the temperature at which austenite starts), or when the load is removed, cube, hard. The shape is relatively stable. While the martensite phase is relatively low temperature (less than Mf: the end of martensite temperature) or loading (by external activation) state, hexagonal, ductile, repetitive, unstable, easy to deformation.



Physicochemical Properties of Nickel-Titanium Alloy Powder

1)Shape memory. Shape memory is that when the parent phase of a certain shape is cooled from above Af temperature to below Mf temperature to form martensite, the martensite is deformed at below Mf temperature and heated to below Af temperature. With the reverse phase transformation, the material will automatically restore its shape at the parent phase. In fact, the shape memory effect is a thermally induced phase transition in Nitinol.

2) Superelasticity. The so-called superelasticity refers to the phenomenon that a specimen has a strain far greater than its elastic limit under the action of external forces, and the strain can be recovered automatically during unloading. That is, in the parent state, due to the action of applied stress, the stress-induced martensitic transformation occurs, and the alloy exhibits mechanical behavior different from that of ordinary materials. Its elastic limit is far greater than that of ordinary materials, and it no longer obeys Hooke's law. In contrast to shape memory properties, superelasticity has no thermal involvement. In a word, hyperelasticity means that the stress does not increase with the increase of strain in a certain range of deformation. Hyperelasticity can be divided into linear hyperelasticity and nonlinear hyperelasticity. In the former stress-strain curve, the relationship between stress and strain is nearly linear. Nonlinear hyperelasticity refers to the results of stress-induced martensitic transformation and its inverse transformation occurring during loading and unloading processes within a certain temperature range above Af, so nonlinear hyperelasticity is also called phase transformation pseudo-elasticity. The pseudo-elasticity of Nitinol alloy is about 8%. The superelasticity of Nitinol alloy can be changed with the change in heat treatment conditions. When the bow wire is heated to 400C or above, the superelasticity begins to decrease.

3)Sensitivity to oral temperature. Stainless steel wire and CoCr alloy tooth orthotic wire orthotic force is basically not affected by oral temperature. The orthodontic force of superelastic Nitinol orthodontic wire varies with the change in oral temperature. When the amount of deformation is constant. As the temperature rises, the orthodontic force increases. On the one hand, it can accelerate the movement of teeth, because the temperature change in the oral cavity will stimulate the blood flow in the area of blood stagnation caused by the capillary stagnation caused by the appliance so that the repair cells in the process of tooth movement can be fully nourished, and maintain their vitality and normal function. Orthodontists, on the other hand, cannot accurately control or measure corrective forces in the oral environment.

4)Corrosion resistance. Research shows the corrosion resistance of nickel-titanium wire is similar to that of stainless steel wire.

5)Toxicity resistance: Nickel-titanium shape memory alloy contains about 50% nickel, which is known to have carcinogenic and cancer-promoting effects. In general, the surface layer titanium oxidation acts as a barrier, making the Ni-Ti alloy have good biocompatibility. TiXOy and TixNiOy of the surface layer can inhibit Ni release.

6)Soft orthodontic force. Commercially applied dental orthodontic wires include austenitic stainless steel wire, cobalt-chrome-nickel alloy wire, nickel-chromium alloy wire, Australian alloy wire, gold alloy wire, and  titanium alloy wire. Load-displacement curves of these orthodontic wires under tensile test and three-point bending test conditions. The unloading curve platform of Nitinol is the lowest and the flattest, indicating that Nitinol can provide the most durable and gentle correction force.

7)Good shock absorption. The greater the vibration caused by chewing and night molars on the archwire, the greater the damage to the root and periodontal tissue. Through different attenuation experiment results, the study found the archwire stainless steel wire vibration amplitude is larger than hyperelastic nickel-titanium silk, super-elastic nickel-titanium archwire the initial vibration amplitude is only half of stainless steel wire, good vibration and shock absorption characteristics of the archwire is important for the health of the teeth, and traditional archwire such as stainless steel wire, tend to increase the root absorption.



Nickel Titanium Alloy Powder Properties Other Names nickel-titanium, shape-memory nitinol, NiTi, Ni-Ti CAS No. 52013-44-2 Compound Formula Ni-Ti Molecular Weight N/A Appearance black powder Melting Point 1300C Boiling Point N/A Density 6.45g/cm3 Solubility in H2O N/A Exact Mass N/A

Nitinol Nickel Titanium Ni-Ti Alloy Powder







Applications of Nickel-Titanium Alloy Powder

Ni-Ti alloy is widely used in the fields of biological medicine, aerospace, national defense, and military industry.



Main Supplier of Nickel-Titanium Alloy Powder

Luoyang Tongrun Nano Technology Co. Ltd. (TRUNNANO) is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12-year-experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and Nanomaterials, including metal alloy, nitride powder, graphite powder, zinc sulfide, calcium nitride, 3D printing powder, etc.

If you are looking for high-quality Nickel Titanium Alloy Powder, please feel free to contact us and send an inquiry. ([email protected])



With the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the market is increasingly worried about the potential disruption of Russia's energy supply. Geopolitical premiums have pushed up the price of crude oil and natural gas, and the energy price is expected to remain high in the short term. Affected by this, the market price of the nickel titanium alloy may continue to rise.



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Read our full Opinion Policies here. Updated on 10/7/2020
Nichola Wilson-Miller, a 48-year-old business coach and mother from Dunmanway in Cork, was 46 years old when she had a heart attack in 2020. Having joined the Royal Navy after school and spent her life being fit and active, she could not believe what was happening to her.

"I worked out four or five times a week and had a fit and healthy body that could keep going all day," she says. "How could I have a heart attack? Such things didn't happen to people like me."

Wilson-Miller certainly didn't conform to the stereotypical candidate for cardiovascular disease (CVD), the general term for conditions that affect the heart, blood vessels, and circulation. She was young, slim, and, significantly, not a man.

"About one-third of all women in Ireland die from CVD," says Dr Angie Brown, medical director of the Irish Heart Foundation and a consultant cardiologist. "But many still view it as a man's problem. This isn't true. CVD  which includes heart attacks and strokes  affects so many women."

CVD is the leading cause of death in women globally and women in Ireland are at almost as much risk as men. According to the CSO, of the 8,744 deaths from heart disease and stroke in Ireland in 2020, 4,612 were men and 4,132 were women.

Most women worry more about breast cancer than they do about heart health. Yet they are six times more likely to die of the latter than the former.

Why is there such a disconnect between the risk and women's perception of the risk? Brown suggests that it may be because CVD tends to present in women at an older age. On average, symptoms present in men from their early to mid-60s. "In women, it's about seven to ten years later," she says.

By the age of 50, many women know other women who have had breast cancer. They may also know men who have been diagnosed with CVD. But they are not likely to know many women with CVD.

"This may be why they don't realise the risk," says Dr Crochan O'Sullivan, a consultant cardiologist in the Bon Secours Hospital, Cork. "Pre-menopausal women have higher levels of oestrogen which seems to give them some protection from the early onset of CVD. But they do catch up, and post-menopause, when their oestrogen levels have fallen, they are affected by CVD at the same rate as men."

The significant gender bias in research may also have skewed the public and the medical profession's understanding of CVD.

"Historically, there were far fewer women than men included in trials looking at the effects of drugs or interventions to treat heart disease," says Brown.

The Harvard Physicians' Health Study carried out in the 1980s is one such example. It recommended that aspirin be used to prevent heart attacks, yet of its 22,000 participants, not one was a woman.

Though a leading cause of death among females, cardiovascular disease is still seen mainly as a male health issue. The lack of awareness means women can delay seeking help

Women's biology too complicated to research

The reasons cited for women's exclusion from such studies include congenital disabilities that resulted from foetal exposure to certain drugs in trials that had previously involved women of childbearing age, and women's fluctuating hormone levels.

Women's bodies were treated like men's because their biology was deemed too complicated to research. This approach persisted despite women's physiology being demonstrably different and their bodies not always presenting with the same symptoms or reacting in the same way to drugs.

This male-centred approach has had serious consequences. A 2016 University of Leeds study found that women presenting with a heart attack were 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed than men. As someone who is initially misdiagnosed has a 70% higher chance of death after 30 days than someone who gets the correct diagnosis straight away, such mistakes can be lethal.

Furthermore, US data published in 2018 reported that women with heart attack symptoms were less likely than men to receive aspirin, be resuscitated, or be transported to hospital in ambulances using lights and sirens.

These factors may explain why globally, more women than men die from CVD, as proven by a 2018 University of Ottawa study that looked at data from more than 90,000 patients.

If this is to change, women need to understand the risk of CVD and know the symptoms. This is particularly true of older women, according to our cardiologists.

"After menopause, CVD risk increases, particularly if there are additional risk factors," says Brown. "Falling oestrogen levels can lead to increased levels of bad cholesterol and stiffening of the arteries, raising the risk of heart disease."

Additional risk factors include smoking, diabetes, having high levels of cholesterol in the blood (hypercholesterolemia), and a family history of premature coronary disease. "A sedentary lifestyle, obesity, and a high alcohol intake contribute too," says Brown.

Some CVD risk factors are specific to women, says O'Sullivan. "These include premature menopause, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, preterm birth, pregnancy loss, and intrauterine growth restriction. Prior pregnancy loss, such as miscarriage or stillbirth, increases a woman's risk of high blood pressure, stroke, or heart attack two-fold."

Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis are another risk factor. "They are highly prevalent in women and associated with accelerated coronary artery disease," says O'Sullivan.

Wilson-Miller didn't know it at the time, but she had some of these risk factors. "I'd gone through premature menopause," she says. "I was under a lot of stress at work. After my heart attack, I was shocked to find out I had CVD."

CVD can strike a woman at any age. "The process starts when we are teenagers, progressing as we age," says Brown. "But things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, smoking, or a family history of premature heart disease means the process occurs more rapidly. It is therefore important to diagnose and treat any of these risk factors early to hopefully prevent or delay disease."

I felt as if I'd pulled a muscle in my chest

Like risk factors, symptoms can also be different in women. "They may be more subtle," says Brown. "Women might experience breathlessness, pain in the upper abdomen immediately below the ribs, upper back pain, nausea, sweating, vomiting, or fatigue. Then there's the classic symptom of central chest pain, pain in the left arm, or pain in the neck, jaw, or throat. All of these symptoms are warning signs that a heart check-up is needed."

Wilson-Miller's first symptom was a tightness in her chest. "It was the Saturday of the October bank holiday weekend 2020 and I was cleaning carpets when I felt as if I'd pulled a muscle in my chest," she says. "That was early afternoon and by evening, I'd begun to feel lightheaded and woozy."

She never suspected a heart problem. "I thought I'd inhaled carpet cleaner, so I lay down on the sofa watching TV before going to bed," she says.

By the next morning, she had pain in her left arm. "Why I didn't call my GP then, I'll never know," she says. Brown says this is typical of many women. "They think there's no point worrying anyone," she says. "This can mean they lose valuable time for necessary treatment."

According to the Irish Heart Foundation, 80% of premature heart disease and stroke are preventable. There are steps we can take to minimise our risk. (See sidebar.) Wilson-Miller is now doing some of those things. "I walk four kilometres a day and no longer smoke or drink," she says. "I eat more fresh fruit and vegetables and less processed foods than I used to."

Efforts are being made to raise awareness and improve health outcomes for women. The Irish Heart Foundation has a campaign called Go Red for Women, and Croi, the heart and stroke charity, has one called Women at Heart. Both aim to educate and empower women to make their heart health a priority.

More attention is being paid to gender equality in research too, with some interesting results. One example is a 2021 University of Exeter study of 88,000 people, which showed that going to sleep at 10pm or shortly afterwards was associated with a lower risk of CVD than falling asleep earlier or later. This effect was more pronounced in women than men.

But more such research needs to be done. An Amsterdam University review of 740 cardiovascular clinical trials completed between 2010 and 2017 found that even though an attempt had been made to include more women, they only accounted for 38% of total participants.

Brown hopes for more progress. "It's only in the last 15 years or so that more women are being included in studies," she says. "Our knowledge base is slowly improving, and this will help us to understand and treat CVD in women much better in the future."

Wilson-Miller may not have seemed a stereotypical candidate for a heart attack but in many ways, she was typical of women who suffer from CVD. She was unaware of her risk. She didn't recognise the symptoms and she delayed seeking help in what proved to be a cardiovascular emergency.

She doesn't want other women going through what she did. "I learned the hard way that women are at risk of heart attack and hope other women won't have to," she says. "I urge them to inform themselves of the risk factors and symptoms and, most importantly, to see their GP if they feel something isn't right. Time is vitally important when it comes to your heart."
A disability activist and aspiring writer claims she is being held hostage by her German care company, who refuses to fund her emigration to Ireland.

Evelyne Cynk has recently been offered a place in UCCs MA in Creative Writing, and a sixth-month internship with the Stinging Fly literary magazine.

Her dream is to emigrate to Ireland and become a writer. However, she has been told that if she leaves Germany to live in Ireland, the state funding for the 24-hour care she currently receives will be withdrawn. She claims this is in contravention of her rights.

Ms Cynk currently receives 24-hour personal assistance through a state-funded German organisation, Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL).

Ms Cynk intends to emigrate to Ireland, complete her Masters in UCC, and remain in Ireland as a permanent resident. After five years, she wants to apply to become an Irish citizen.

She has already secured a care company in Ireland, Home Care Direct (HCD), that can provide her with 24-hour care assistance in Ireland.

Ms Cynk requested that the funding of her care be transferred from the care provider currently employed by LWL, to HCD, to allow her to move and live in Ireland until she can gain Irish citizenship, and apply for state support here. She has highlighted that this would save the German state money, as HCD rates are cheaper than those currently being paid for her care in Germany.

However, her request has been refused by LWL, on the basis of a domestic law in Germany that dates back to 2001. It states that disability benefits are only provided to German citizens who are habitually resident in Germany.

European rights

Because of my European rights, the European disability strategy, and the UNCRPD, they have no right to refuse me emigration. They have actually no right, despite the national law, said Ms Cynk.

Under the Charter of EU Fundamental Rights, and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Ms Cynk has the same rights as any other EU citizen to move and reside freely in any Member State.

The latest European Disability Strategy, adopted in March 2021, specifically states that persons with disabilities should enjoy all rights on an equal basis with others, notably when moving to another Member State.

Evelyne Cynk intends to emigrate to Ireland, complete her Masters in UCC, and remain in Ireland as a permanent resident. After five years, she wants to apply to become an Irish citizen. Picture: Yelyzaveta Hubar

Ms Cynk is the first citizen of Germany, and she believes Europe, to try and emigrate with 24-hour care requirements.

She believes that the reluctance to fund her move stems from the fact its never been done before.

I need to be loud about it because this is a problem not just for me, its a problem that applies to every European citizen with a disability, who just wants to live a free life.

Mobilise media

Ms Cynk said that she now intends to mobilise Irish and German media, as well as find an attorney to represent her.

Im going to fight with every fibre of my being to still emigrate. I won't stop until I arrive in Ireland, she said.

Senator and disability advocate Tom Clonan said that the decision to deny Ms Cynk funding is unfair and cruel.

Evelyne is being denied her fundamental human rights to travel, and to education, he said.

For people with additional needs, the odds are stacked against them from the very outset. For Evelyne to even get to this point, it's such a tribute to her strength of character. She's exactly the type of person that we need in Ireland. The whole country should get behind her, he added.

Mr Clonan suggested that an appeal could be made by UCC to the German ambassador, or by Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris to his German counterpart, to help Ms Cynks move to Ireland.

LWL was contacted for response but had not provided one at the time of writing.

In a statement, UCC said it was "aware" of the situation regarding Ms Cynk's hopes to study in Cork.

"Her application to study a Masters in Creative Writing here has been accepted, and we hope her studies will be facilitated. The Access UCC Disability Support team has been in contact with Ms Cynk and is committed to providing whatever support and assistance is available through the Fund for Students with Disabilities, in addition to exploring other funding options that may be available to assist her," a spokesperson said.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians gave us a maximum of five.

In his late-night video address to the nation, Mr Zelenskyy called it an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on February 24 made the most important decision of their life  to fight.

The president gave an extensive and almost poetic listing of the many ways in which Ukrainians have helped to fend off the Russian troops, including those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if its to the bottom of the sea.

It was his only reference to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being towed to port.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians gave us a maximum of five (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP)

Russia invaded on February 24 and has lost potentially thousands of fighters. The conflict has killed untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions more to flee.

Mr Zelensyky said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country.

He added: But they didnt know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want.

It came as the head of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said people are being starved to death in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol and he predicted the countrys humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as Russia intensifies its assault in the coming weeks.

Mariupol has seen some of the worst suffering since the invasion began (Alexei Alexandrov/AP)

WFP executive director David Beasley also warned in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kyiv that Russias invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilising nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.

His fears were shared by the US ambassador to the United Nations, who accused Russia of making the precarious food situation in Yemen and elsewhere worse by invading Ukraine, calling it just another grim example of the ripple effect Russias unprovoked, unjust, unconscionable war is having on the worlds most vulnerable.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a UN Security Council meeting on war-torn Yemen on Thursday the WFP had identified the Arab worlds poorest nation as one of the countries most affected by wheat price increases and lack of imports from Ukraine.

Russias deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky replied: The main factor for instability and the source of the problem today is not the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, but sanctions measures imposed on our country seeking to cut off any supplies from Russia and the supply chain, apart from those supplies that those countries in the West need, in other words energy.

The sharp exchange took place a day after a UN taskforce warned the war threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries that are now facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions.
Britain's proposal to send migrants who arrive in the country unlawfully to Rwanda is unacceptable and a breach of international law, the UNs refugee agency said.

The British government announced this week it plans to provide failed asylum seekers, including those crossing the Channel in small boats, with a one-way ticket to Rwanda, where they will have the right to apply to live in the African country.

Gillian Triggs, an assistant secretary-general at the UNHCR, said the agency strongly condemns outsourcing the primary responsibility to consider the refugee status, as laid out in the scheme put forward by Brtain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4s World At One programme, the former president of the Australian Human Rights Commission said the policy was a troubling development, particularly in the light of countries taking in millions of Ukrainian refugees displaced by the conflict in eastern Europe.

Put to her that Australia had effectively deployed a similar tactic to cut migration numbers, Ms Triggs said: My point is, just as the Australian policy is an egregious breach of international law and refugee law and human rights law, so too is this proposal by the United Kingdom Government.

It is very unusual, very few states have tried this, and the purpose is primarily deterrent  and it can be effective, I dont think were denying that.

But what were saying at the UN refugee agency is that there are much more legally effective ways of achieving the same outcome.

She said attempting to shift responsibility for asylum seekers arriving in Britain was really unacceptable.

 Minister @VBiruta makes it clear 



 "There is a global responsibility to prioritise the safety and well-being of migrants, and Rwanda welcomes this Partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal pathways to residence." pic.twitter.com/1nWNhHHERm  Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) April 15, 2022

Ms Triggs pointed out that Israel had attempted to send Eritrean and Sudanese refugees to Rwanda, but that they simply left the country and started the process all over again.

In other words, it is not actually a long-term deterrent, she added.

Tom Pursglove, minister for justice and tackling illegal migration, said on Friday that the policy was in line with the UKs legal obligations.

However, he accepted that it would be difficult to implement the plan to remove asylum seekers to Rwanda, with the Government braced for legal challenges.

He told Times Radio: I think what is also really important to make (clear) in dealing with that issue is that, at all times, we act in accordance with our international obligations, the ECHR (European Convention on Human Rights) and the refugee convention.

We are absolutely confident that our policies are in line with that and entirely compliant, which by extension would mean that those legal challenges would be without merit.

But it will be difficult, there will be challenges.

The UK has an obligation to ensure access to asylum for those seeking protection.



UNHCR strongly opposes the plan to export its asylum obligations. We urge the UK to refrain from transferring asylum seekers and refugees to Rwanda for asylum processing. https://t.co/01ygqrmuu4 pic.twitter.com/TMkq1z6KiD  UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency (@Refugees) April 14, 2022

Mr Pursglove also suggested during broadcast interviews that other countries in Europe were considering emulating the UKs Rwandan policy, which he described as a world first.

He said there was a moral imperative to crush the business model of human traffickers and avoid a tragedy like that seen in November, when a dinghy sank in the English Channel, drowning dozens of migrants heading to Britain.

The point I would make is that what is cruel and inhumane is allowing evil criminal gangs to take advantage of people, to take their money, to put them in small boats, often with force, including women and children, to put them in the Channel with all the risks that that presents to human life, he told ITVs Good Morning Britain.

We simply cannot allow that to happen, which is why weve introduced the new plan for immigration to stop these illegal journeys.

The minister also argued that in the longer term the scheme would save Britain money, with almost 5 million per day currently spent on accommodating those arriving in the country.

Former Tory international development secretary Andrew Mitchell questioned that, saying calculations had been made that suggested it would be cheaper to put those arriving in Britain up at The Ritz hotel in Londons Mayfair for a year.

Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan minister for foreign affairs and international co-operation, Vincent Biruta, sign the partnership agreement (Flora Thompson/PA)

Ms Patel agreed a 120m (145m) economic deal while in Kigali on Thursday, and money for each removal is expected to follow, with reports suggesting each migrant sent to Rwanda is expected to set British taxpayers back between 20,000 (24,171) and 30,000 (36,256).

The Times said this would cover accommodation both before and after the journey, as well as the cost of a seat on the flight itself.

The Royal Navy has been put in charge of policing the Channel as part of the reform package announced this week, in a bid to curb the number of small boat crossings.

The Ministry of Defence said that, in the 24-hour period up to 11.59pm on Thursday April 14, the navy detected 562 migrants in 14 small boats in the strait.

The department said it did not believe that any migrants arrived on their own terms in a small boat from the English Channel on Thursday.

The published figures do not include the number of vessels intercepted by French border patrols.
The damaged facade of the First United Methodist Church is seen on Jan. 9, 2022, in Mayfield, Ky., after the deadly tornado ravaged the city on Dec. 10, 2021. The century-old church has since been demolished.
FILE - Firefighters extinguish a building of Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) after a rocket attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, Ukraine, March 2, 2022. President Joe Biden has called Russias war on Ukraine a genocide and accused Vladimir Putin of committing war crimes. But his administration has for weeks grappled with how much intelligence it's willing to give Ukrainian forces trying to stop Putin.
04/15/2022



Representatives from JSU visited Trenholm's campus in Montgomery on April 13 to sign documents. Seated are JSU's president, Dr. Don C. Killingsworth, Jr., and Trenholm's president, Dr. Kemba Chambers. Photo by Tapeka Fennell.

by Buffy Lockette

JSU has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Montgomerys only community college, Trenholm State, formalizing a partnership aimed at better supporting students interested in transferring to the university to earn a four-year degree.

The presidents of both institutions  Trenholms Dr. Kemba Chambers and JSUs Dr. Don C. Killingsworth, Jr.  participated in a signing ceremony on Trenholms campus in Montgomery on April 13.

With the MOU in place, Trenholm State students who plan to transfer to JSU can receive ongoing academic advisement to ensure they are on track and earning credits that will transfer to the university. The agreement also enables former Trenholm students to reverse transfer credits back to the college and receive associates degrees if they transferred to JSU before earning their two-year degree. JSU will also offer generous scholarship packages to qualifying Trenholm transfers.

Todays partnership signals to our students that we clearly understand and are committed to removing barriers as they continue to pursue their educational journey, said Dr. Chambers.

Dr. Killingsworth said, As a product of Central Alabama Community College, I understand the importance of the two-year system and I think its vitally important to all Alabamians that we have this articulation agreement in place.

Located in Montgomery, Ala., H. Councill Trenholm State Community College is a comprehensive two-year community college accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to provide technical certificates and associate degree programs. As part of the Alabama Community College System, it operates two campuses that provide educational services for Montgomery and the surrounding area.

For more information on transferring to JSU, visit www.jsu.edu/transfer.
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A big trial has started at the International Criminal Court  the first trial about atrocities in Darfur, nearly 20 years that region became an infamous byword for human rights abuses. The then Sudanese authorities mobilised mostly Arab militias, known as the Janjaweed, to crush a mostly non-Arab rebellion and many called it a genocide.

The Darfur situation was referred to the court by the UN Security Council and the new prosecutor Karim Khan has said that he is prioritising cases that come to The Hague that way.

The accused is a suspected former Janjaweed militia leader, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, who faces 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including persecution, murder, rape and torture.

The International Federation for Human Rights FIDH brought Sudanese activists to attend the opening of the trial. Human rights lawyer Mossaad Mohamed Ali of the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies and Ahmed al Zubair from Sudan Human Rights Monitor provided insights into the expectations of survivors. Emma DiNapoli from the NGO Redress joined us to explain the background and what she saw in court.
Lee Jung Jae established his name as one of the most talented stars in the industry, dominating the scene not only in Korea, but also in Asia Pacific and the US.

Now, he's making history as a director as his debut film "Hunt" gets invited to the most prestigious film festival, the 75th Cannes.

Lee Jung Jae's 'Hunt' Receives Invitation To the 7th Cannes Film Festival

Lee Jung Jae flaunted his immersive acting skills in the 2021 survival series "Squid Game," which received critical acclaim from all parts of the world.

This 2022, the award-winning actor goes down in history as a director after receiving a Cannes Film invitation for his debut film "Hunt."

"Hunt" depicts the story of two top-notch National Intelligence Service (NIS) agents who discover shocking truths while hunting down the person in charge of North Korean spies.

Lee Jung Jae stars as the movie's sensuous director and also the star of the show, agent Park Pyung Ho. His best friend, equally talented actor Jung Woo Sung then plays the role of his rival, Kim Jung Do.

YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS: 58th Baeksang Arts Awards Announces Ceremony Date

With his directorial debut film being invited to the Cannes Film Festival, Lee Jung Jae is deeply honored.

"Thanks to the producers' passion and support and the actors' efforts and contribution, my debut project will happen at the Cannes," Lee Jung Jae stated.

"Hunt" will hold its screening at the Midnight Screening category, a feature that aims to appeal to the public through its action, thriller, noir, horror and fantasy elements.

After its screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Lee Jung Jae's "Hunt" will meet the audience through theaters nationwide in the summer.

The annual Cannes Film Festival returns to its regular schedule after the two years due to COVID-19, and it officially opens on May 17.

Song Kang Ho, IU's 'Broker' Nominated For Palme d'Or

Koreeda Hirokazu, who had been seen at the prestigious event five times, returns to Cannes with "Broker."

The Japanese director won the prestigious Palme d'Or in 2013 with "Life Father, Like Son" and in 2018 with "Shoplifters."

This year, aims to bag another Palme d'Or with the film "Broker." It tells the story of baby boxes set up for people to anonymously give them up after having no means to provide for their babies anymore.

"Broker" boasts its star-studded lineup with multi-talented artists IU, Song Kang Ho, Kang Dong Won, Bae Doona and Lee Joo Young.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED IN: Kim Hye Soo, Kim Tae Ri, Jung Hae In, More Nominated at the 58th Baeksang Arts Awards for Best Actor

Once it has been screened at the 75th Cannes Film, "Broker" is set to hit the screen in South Korea on May 6.

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
High winds, some topping out at more than 60 mph, kept public safety and public works crews busy tending to downed trees, power lines and vehicle damage throughout Kenosha County Thursday.

Much of Southern Wisconsin was under a wind advisory early Thursday, which was then upgraded to a high wind warning by the afternoon, according to weather forecasters. During a period between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m., Kenosha County Sheriffs deputies reported 10 road hazard calls, eight incidents in which wind felled trees that blocked roads or were on wires, according to Lt. Keith Fonk.

The wind was also responsible for a branch that struck a vehicle, he said. No injuries were reported.

Then, (we had) one engine run where wires were possibly reported on fire, he said.

On Highway 50 in Pleasant Prairie, winds wreaked havoc on road hazard cones, which made navigating an already challenging construction zone a bit more harrowing, according to Sgt. Zach Dutter. He said the high winds caused the cones to go where they wanted.

Obviously, Highway 50 was a mess. Those cones just go all over the place, he said. We probably had like 15 ... well, they slide. And, then, they slide into traffic and then it looks like a lane is closed.

No crashes were reported, he said.

Power outages

Multiple power outages throughout the county were also reported, however, it was not immediately known whether they were all related to the strong winds.

Among the areas experiencing outages were Kenosha, including a pocket west of Sheridan Road in which more than 100 customers were down; Paddock Lake directly north of the lake at 60th Street; Bristol and Silver Lake. Repair crews were dispatched and, by 11 p.m. less than 500 customers were still without power in the county, according to We Energies.

According to Aidan Kuroski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sullivan, Kenosha County has been expected to experience higher than normal wind gusts and was subject to the original Thursday wind advisory.

There were a few counties in parts of southeastern-most Wisconsin that saw pretty high winds (Thursday). That is why we ended up upgrading those to the high wind warning, Kuroski said. We anticipated some higher wind gusts across the far southeast, but as the day progressed we saw some much higher gusts there. We saw some wind gusts reach close to ... in one particular case, just over 60 mph.

That case was in Kenosha where wind gusts from the south reached 63 mph around 12:51 p.m. at the Kenosha Regional Airport, he said.

By late Thursday, winds from the west and southwest had died down to around 11-12 mph, according to the weather service.

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In the coming months, no one can predict with certainty what will happen with the war in Ukraine. But theres one thing we do know for sure. The United States will soon reach an unthinkable milestone: One million Americans will have died of COVID-19. Over the last month, while many people were celebrating the rollback of mask mandates and other pandemic restrictions, over 1,000 Americans continued to quietly succumb to the virus every day. When the death toll first reached 1,000 per day back in March 2020, there was wall-to-wall coverage of it in the media. But as the pandemic lurches forward into its third year, the death count is almost never mentioned anymore.

On the one hand, this is not surprising. In todays media landscape, the 24-hour news cycle tends to move on to the next flashy story as quickly as possible. Drama sells, and harping on the same story over and over gets old. Before the war in Ukraine began, I cant remember the last time a single story remained on the front page for weeks. Moreover, we cant all be in flight or fight mode for years. Lets put that aside for a moment and imagine that the death count was still at the top of the news docket. It sadly would be unlikely to make any difference in the war against COVID for one main reason: a substantial portion of the population doesnt believe that COVID is as big of a risk as it is because our government has been exaggerating the death count from the start.

I have always struggled to understand the lie that doctors are inflating the death count. Of course, there are the rare individual doctors who have committed fraud, but widespread death certificate fraud seems like an odd initiative to get behind. For those who dont know, individual physicians who are caring for patients when they die are responsible for filling out their death certificates. Doctors, not hospitals determine the cause of death, and doctors have no incentive to say that a person died because of something other than what actually killed them. During the first wave of the pandemic, I filled out more death certificates in a single week than I had in the previous 6 months.

One night that week, a hospital two hours away from me literally ran out of oxygen. I was the only intern in the ICU that night when an ambulance bus arrived with about 15 patients who were all on deaths doorstep. Most of that night is a blur. You know the scenes in movies when theres some kind of explosion or mass shooting, and the nearest hospital turns into a cross between a war zone and a nightmare? Imagine that but worse, because instead of bullet or shrapnel wounds, the patients are all dying of something contagious that could also kill you. One thing that stands out clearly in the haze is the sound of one man on the phone. His brother was lying in bed in front of me, dying. We had already coded him and brought him back to life once, and his organs were shutting down. We couldnt keep his oxygen saturation up, and I asked over the phone whether he had discussed his brothers wishes for end-of-life care. He said, Its in Gods hands now.

Sadly I had to correct him.

Actually, sir, its in your hands. I need you to decide. I need you to tell me whether your brother would want us to keep him alive on the machines or let him go.

He let out an indescribable sound, a simultaneously soft but piercing wail.

Let him go, he said as his wails got louder.

I had to yell into the phone over the surrounding chaos.

Im sorry for your loss, sir. I have to move on to the next patient.

I knocked on the glass door of the room in front of me, getting the attention of the nurses in the room. The nurse who was straddling the bed, sweating from chest compressions, wearing a superwoman bandanna, looked up at me as I motioned my fingertips across my neck. Time of death: 2:45 a.m. There was no time to process, no time to grieve, slather up with hand sanitizer, move to the next room, repeat. After a few days, the names on the death certificates started to blur together, but the cause of death was consistent- COVID-19.

Many people said then and still say now, that everything I just described is fake news. If you dont believe in the death toll, how are you supposed to evaluate your risk of death? If you cant evaluate your risk, how are you supposed to act accordingly? Why make the effort to get a vaccine when you think you dont need one? Thanks to vaccine hesitancy, many more Americans have and will continue to die than our peers in other countries. A recent study found that in 2020 the U.S. experienced the largest decline in life expectancy of 29 high-income nations. Moreover, unlike most of Europe, our life expectancy did not bounce back after the rollout of vaccines in 2021.

As COVID fades further from the forefront of our lives, I worry that we are losing more than just the fight against this single new virus. A recent study found a negative shift in vaccine attitudes over a 6-month period of the pandemic. Even as vaccines saved lives, participants had lower intentions to get not just a COVID vaccine, but also a flu shot and vaccines more generally. When analyzing the data, republican political affiliation explained more variance than any other demographic trait. It feels like paradoxically public health campaigns against vaccine-preventable deaths are a victim of our own success. Thanks to the invention of vaccines, Americans alive today have never seen a case of smallpox, or polio, or tetanus, and the list goes on.

In the coming weeks and months, COVID will continue its transition to an endemic respiratory virus, alongside influenza and others. But the shifts in attitudes toward vaccines will have consequences far beyond the COVID pandemic. Im not looking forward to a hypothetical future day when my colleagues and I have to fill out a death certificate with the cause of measles, mumps, or rubella. Im afraid that if we dont correct our course and find a way for it to be politically successful to believe in science on both sides of the aisle, that day may come sooner than we think.

The opinions expressed in this article are the authors and do not reflect those of any other individual or organization.

Max Blumberg is a physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
A momentous occasion in the history of secondary education in Callan is to be marked with special ceremonies next month.



St Brigids College and Colaiste Eaman Ris will both close at the end of this academic year in preparation for the opening of the new, amalgamated and coeducational Colaiste Abhainn Ri in September.



However, before the new chapter for Callan begins the two school communities that have served the area for generations will hold special events to mark their legacies.



St Brigids College

St Brigids College will be remembering the past and the nurturing influence the Mercy Order had on the town, on Sunday, May 1.

Celebrations will begin at 2pm on the day with a special mass. A specially commissioned art work will be unveiled and there will be a dance exhibition.



Photographs of the school community and events, going back over the years, will be on display, refreshments will be served and the day will finish with a camogie match.

Acting principal of St Brigids, Sally Ronayne, issued an open invitation to all past pupils and members of the community to come along on the day to mark the momentous occasion.



Colaiste Eaman Ris

Events to mark the closure of the CBS secondary school, Colaiste Eaman Ris, will take place at the end of May.

On May 21 teachers from the school will take part in a 100km charity cycle. This is a throwback to the 1980s when the school held a number of 100 mile cycles. This year they will be raising funds for Cois Nore.



The main closing ceremonies will be held on May 29.

A mass will be celebrated and a book chronicling the history of Colaiste Eaman Ris will be launched.

All past pupils, staff and people from the local community are invited to attend.
Chinese embassy in U.S. expresses strong opposition to U.S. lawmakers' visit to Taiwan

Xinhua) 13:59, April 15, 2022

WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in the United States on Thursday expressed strong opposition to the ongoing visit to China's Taiwan region by six U.S. lawmakers of both chambers of Congress.

Responding to a request from the media, the embassy's spokesperson said the visit "gravely violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques."

"We urge the U.S. side to honor its commitment of adhering to the one-China policy, earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques, immediately stop all forms of official interactions with Taiwan and avoid sending wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces, lest it should further undermine China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the spokesperson said.

"The Chinese side will continue to take strong measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity," the spokesperson added.

The U.S. congressional delegation -- led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican serving as a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee -- arrived in Taiwan on Thursday.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Windy. Cloudy skies will become sunny this afternoon. High 94F. Winds SSW at 25 to 35 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 71F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
North Korean Defense Minister Ri Yong-gil, who was elected as a member of the State Affairs Commission, the country's highest decision-making body, during the second day of a session of the Supreme People's Assembly, the North's top legislature, at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang, is seen in this photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency, Sept. 30. Yonhap



North Korea's Defense Minister Ri Yong-gil has been promoted to the country's third-highest military rank of vice marshal in a major reshuffle, the country's state media said Friday.



The latest shakeup appears intended to boost morale and unity among top-echelon officers as the North marks the 110th anniversary of the birth of its national founder Kim Il-sung.



"A relevant decision was issued by the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea on April 14," the official Korean Central News Agency said, referring to the ruling party's top military decision-making body.



Ri, who previously served as minister of social security, was confirmed by state media to have been appointed defense minister in July last year.






Google Korea's Seoul office is seen in this 2016 file photo. Newsis



Global tech giants understate earnings in Korean market



By Park Jae-hyuk



Google and Netflix have been accused of understating their earnings in Korea again last year to pay smaller amounts of corporate taxes, as Apple's local subsidiary did last year, according to their regulatory filings, Friday.



In 2021, Google Korea paid only 13.8 billion won ($11.2 million) in corporate taxes, as its 2021 operating profit stood at 29.3 billion won, while its sales were 292.3 billion won.



The U.S. tech giant was able to avoid paying higher taxes in Korea by vesting the domestic earnings of its Google Play app store in Google Asia Pacific located in Singapore, where taxes are lower.



The Korea Mobile Internet Business Association estimated Google Play's revenue in Korea to be around 5 trillion won in 2019, although a Google Korea executive told lawmakers at a National Assembly audit in 2020 that the app store's revenue here would have been around 1.4 trillion won.



"We make our profits mainly from ads on the Google website," Google Korea said in its regulatory filing, adding that it also earns money through marketing and R&D services, as well as from selling hardware such as Chromecast devices.





Netflix Vice President of Public Policy Dean Garfield speaks to journalists during a press conference at JW Marriot Hotel in Seoul in this November 2021 file photo. Yonhap
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While it is more common for K-pop groups to have one designated leader, these five K-pop groups actually have more than one! Keep on reading for all the details.

1. SEVENTEEN

SEVENTEEN has three leaders, one for each sub-unit in the group.

S.Coups is the leader of the Hip-Hop Team and the overall leader of SEVENTEEN. As the Hip-Hop Unit leader and SEVENTEEN as a whole, he shoulders the most responsibility. He often finds ways to let the members shine, even if it means letting him step back from the spotlight.

Woozi is the leader of the Vocal Team. As the said team leader, Woozi has helped co-compose most of SEVENTEEN's songs and often takes a direct role in leading the members of SEVENTEEN during recording. He helps all the members sound their best for their songs.

The third and final leader of SEVENTEEN is Hoshi, who is the leader of the Performance Unit. As the leader of the said unit, Hoshi often co-choreographs most of SEVENTEEN's dances for their title tracks. In addition, he tries to tell a story with complex dance moves.

2. Kep1er

Kep1er is one of the few fourth-generation groups with more than one leader.

During their first YouTube live stream on November 18, 2021, the members announced the two members of their groups. Yujin is their leader, while Mashiro is their co-leader!

Yujin was most likely selected due to her age and experience. Yujin was born in 1996, making her the oldest member of the group at 25 (turning 26) years old. She also debuted in CLC back in 2016, meaning she has the most experience as an idol among the members.

On the other hand, Mashiro showed off her leadership during her time on "Girls Planet 999." Moreover, due to her fluency in both Korean and Japanese, Mashiro could greatly help their activities internationally.

3. NCT

NCT has three leaders because of their three sub-units.

Taeyong is the leader of NCT 127 and the leader of NCT as a whole. As a leader of a 23-member group, Taeyong has a considerable responsibility. He tries to approach his role as a leader with a strong sense of duty, and Taeyong has a lot of pride in his team and its members.

Mark is the leader of NCT Dream. When they first debuted, he was their leader, but the team temporarily did not have a leader following his graduation. However, when Mark returned to the group in 2020, he was reinstated as the leader.

Kun is the leader of WayV, NCT's Chinese unit. As the leader, Kun likes to reassure and console his members when they are going through difficult times. He is a leader the members can rely on when they feel lost or clueless.

4. TREASURE

TREASURE is a fourth-generation boy group with two leaders. They are Hyunsuk and Jihoon!

During the live showcase for TREASURE's first single album, "The First Step: Chapter One," Jihoon explained that they were advised that having two leaders would be the better option due to the group's large number.

As they are 12 members, having two leaders makes handling the burden of responsibilities easier.

As leaders, Hyunsuk and Jihoon have good synergy and do their best to lead the group in the right direction.

5. LOONA

LOONA has three leaders based on the sub-units they first debuted in.

Haseul is the leader of LOONA 1/3 and is the overall leader of LOONA. Due to her responsibilities as a leader, Haseul was given the nickname "Jo Leader," which stems from her last name, Jo, and the world leader.

Kim Lip is the leader of LOONA ODD EYE CIRCLE. During Haseul's hiatus, she essentially took on the role of leader for LOONA. As one of the leaders, Kim Lip is highly involved in the group's performances and creative direction.

Yves is the leader of LOONA yyxy. As one of the leaders of LOONA, Yves takes on a more active role when they are on broadcasts or television shows. During Haseul's hiatus, she was often in charge of speaking for the group.

Know any other group with more than one leader? Tell us in the comments below!

For more K-Pop news and updates, always keep your tabs open here on KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns This

Written by Alexa Lewis
Source Music will have to pay a fine as ordered by South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC).

Continue reading to know what happened.

Source Music to Pay Fine for THIS Violation

In 2021, Source Music announced that GFRIEND will disband, hence, they will refund the fan club membership fees. The company used a Google questionnaire to return the fees. However, a problem occurred after some fans filled out the form.

In particular, the questionnaire's private settings were accidentally set to public, leaking the personal information of 22 fans.

On April 13, the Personal Information Protection Commission fined Source Music three million won for violating the Personal Information Protection Act.

ALSO READ: Source Music Criticized for Putting LE SERRAFIM Kim Garam in Center of Group Photos

Back in June 2021, Source Music released an apology statement for the leak, stating, "As we consign some of our personal details handling process to the platform as part of our membership management, Source Music is obligated to exercise strict management and oversight but failed to do so. We apologize for this negligence."

The label added, "In response to this incident, the error was corrected quickly after it was discovered and a report was filed with the Personal Information Protection Commission."

In addition to Source Music, five more companies are ordered to pay a fine for the same violation, such as Balkari, Hyundai Easywell, Min Byeong Cheol Education Group, LG HelloVision, and Bungbang Market.

Source Music is yet to release a response regarding this matter.

Source Music Denies School Bullying Rumors Against LE SSERAFIM's Kim Garam

In other news, Source Music is currently in the process of preparing their new girl group, LE SSERAFIM. However, most of the members are embroiled in various controversies, and one of them is Kim Garam.

On April 5, the company unveiled Kim Garam as the next member of LE SSERAFIM. On the same day, allegations that she was involved in school violence began to surface on various online communities.

One netizen, who claimed to have graduated from the same middle school as Kim Garam, stated that the LE SSERAFIM member would message her juniors on Facebook if they did not greet her properly. They continued that Kim would also drink and smoke.

Another netizen claiming to be Garam's middle school classmate said that the upcoming idol did all sorts of things back then. They added that she would curse at other students if they passed by her. More allegations about her were made on the same day.

Following the accusations, Source Music issued a statement to deny the claims. The label said they have confirmed through a third-party statement that Kim Garam was actually the victim of school bullying, such as cyberbullying and malicious rumors, and not the perpetrator.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: HYBE Faces Controversy Following LE SSERAFIM Chaewon's 'Underboob' Fashion

They added, "We believe that the allegations are maliciously intended to harm the artist who is about to debut, and we inform that Source Music has taken legal action against the spread of unilateral and distorted accusations and false information related to this case."

Source Music then asked everyone to refrain from speculative reporting based on suspicions that are currently being maliciously raised online.

Meanwhile, Source Music has announced on April 13 that LE SSERAFIM will debut on May 2 at 6 p.m. KST with their first mini-album "FEARLESS." The group will also hold a fan showcase at 8 p.m. KST on the same evening.

The new girl group will begin dropping teasers for their upcoming mini-album on April 18 with a debut trailer.

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article

Written by Maria Scott
The Lake Geneva Public Library is hosting a weeklong Grand Reopening Monday through Friday, April 2529, to celebrate its recent renovations.

Located at 918 W. Main St., Lake Geneva, the library underwent numerous enhancements, including the expansion of the childrens and collections areas, new restrooms near the front entrance and various upgrades throughout the building.

The public is welcome to enjoy food, music, daily giveaways and other festivities.

Events commence with a ribbon cutting Monday, April 25, at 10 a.m. Details are available on the library website, lglibrary.org.

The library is currently open for regular hours, 9 a.m.5 p.m. Monday, Friday, and Saturday; and 9 a.m.8 p.m. TuesdayThursday.

Sign up for a free library card with a current photo ID or photo ID plus proof of residency.

Librarys special reopening events

April 25  911 a.m. coffee and treats; 10 a.m. ribbon cutting; and 11 a.m. Friends of the Library Annual Meeting, which the public can attend.

Tuesday, April 26  46 p.m. pizza; and 45:30 p.m. handbells and folk songs by Pamela Kundert.

Wednesday, April 27  911 a.m. coffee and pastries; and 10 a.m. childrens storytime and activities with Miss Wendy.

Thursday, April 28  57 p.m. hors doeuvres; and 56:30 p.m. music by Dolce Consonant Choir.

Friday, April 29  9-11 a.m., coffee and baked goods; 35 p.m. cookies; and 34:30 p.m. music by Ding Dong Ding-a-Lings.

Sponsorship for the Librarys Grand Reopening Celebration generously provided by Friends of the Lake Geneva Public Library, Lake Geneva Public Library Foundation, Associated Bank, Avant Cycle Cafe, The Bottle Shop and Lake Life Market, The Candle Mercantile, Celebration on Wells, The Cheese Box, Cornerstone Shop & Gallery, The Dancing Horses Theatre, Delaney Street Mercantile, Geneva Lake Conservancy, Ginos East, Grand Geneva Resort & Spa, Harbor Shores on Lake Geneva, Hill Valley Dairy, Holly Leitner Productions, Hummingbird Bakery, Inspired Coffee, Just Me Imagery, Kundert Castle of Music, KwikTrip, Lake City Social, Lake Geneva Country Meats, Lake Geneva Pie Company, Lake Geneva Regional News, Lake Geneva Ziplines & Adventures, Lorelei Bittners Bakery, Master Services Inc., Magpies Den & Pen, Next Door Pub & Pizzeria, Pesches Greenhouse Floral Shop & Gift Barn, Poppy Cakes Patisserie, Simple Food Group, Stinebrinks Piggly Wiggly, Town Bank and VISIT Lake Geneva.

Founded in 1856, the Lake Geneva Public Library is located on the shores of Geneva Lake in Downtown Lake Genevas Elm Park, also known as Library Park. The current building, built in 1954, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protege James R. Dresser. The 2021-22 renovation was designed to honor and preserve Dressers original Prairie Style design.
CALEDONIA  His Army photo was saved. But not much else.

Veterans Outreach of Wisconsin is raising funds for a vet who lost his home and all his belongings in a house fire earlier this week.

The sole occupant of the house, Vietnam veteran George Shelton, exited the home safely. He was renting the single-story house.

VOW stepped in and is hosting Shelton at its veterans tiny homes village for vets who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The organization is additionally hoping to raise $10,000 via a Facebook fundraiser (facebook.com/donate/557110182344356) and in-person donations at its headquarters at 1624 Yout St., Racine, to go towards purchasing items Shelton may need when he finds a new home.

We were able to salvage a handful of clothes and his Army photo but nothing else, a release from VOW stated. Due to this very unfortunate situation, we are asking for your support to get this veteran back on his feet  thank you for being a hero to a hero.

Within a day, more than $3,000 of the fundraisers $10,000 goal was raised.

No injuries were reported. The loss of the home is estimated at $25,000, according to Lt. Matt McGuire of the Caledonia Fire Department.

According to the CFD: The 911 call came in Tuesday morning as a structure fire on the 12100 block of 7 Mile Road. Initial personnel arrived on the scene after 9 a.m. and reported smoke coming from the house.

Once firefighters made entry into the home, they discovered there was a small fire coming from the rear bedroom of the house, which was quickly extinguished.

The investigation for the cause of the fire concluded that it was an accidental blaze, McGuire said.

The Caledonia Police Department assisted with traffic control and the Red Cross was additionally contacted for assistance in finding temporary shelter for Shelton.

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Taking up the needs for utility setbacks and a fund balance policy, the Williams Bay Village Board on April 4 unanimously approved adoption of two new ordinances.

Acting on the recommendation of the Williams Bay Planning Commission, village board passage of Ordinance 2022-05 creates Section 390-0504B of the villages Code of Ordinances, requiring a minimum setback of 10 feet from any public utility line by an structure permanently attached to a foundation, footing or other support structure located wholly or partially under the surface of the ground.

Acting on the recommendation of Williams Bays Finance and Personnel Committee and Building, Zoning and Ordinance Committee, passage of Ordinance 2022-06 creates Section 46-14 of Williams Bays Code of Ordinances, which calls for the village to maintain an unassigned fund balance of 30-50% of budgeted operating expenditures, as measured annually on Dec. 31.

The operating reserve in the general fund will help the village hold adequate working capital to meet cash flow needs during the fiscal year, reduce the need for short-term borrowing, serve as a safeguard for unanticipated village expenditures and show fiscal responsibility to maintain a high credit rating, which will aid in reducing any future borrowing costs incurred by the village.

Clean Sweep report

The board reviewed a report from Walworth County Public Works director Richard Hough on the 2021 Clean Sweep hazardous waste collection program overseen by the Walworth County Public Works Department, Elkhorn. The Walworth County Clean Sweep Program was established in 1992.

A total of $95,988 in expenses were incurred by the county in 2021 to hold three events, $8,755 of which will be covered by grant from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). The three collection events drew 871 participants from Walworth, Jefferson and Dodge counties representing 920 households. The bulk of participants, 839, were from Walworth County.

Program collections in 2021 included 43,980 pounds of chemical waste, 44,749 pounds of electronic waste and 17,475 pounds of unwanted appliances.

In board discussions, it was noted that the town annually budgets a $500 donation in support of the Walworth County Clean Sweep Program

Maxwell remembered

Calling her passing a real loss to Williams Bay, village president William Duncan paid tribute to late Williams Bay resident and business owner Janette Arden Maxwell, who passed away at age 63 on March 22.

Maxwell was the 35-year owner of Daddy Maxwells Antarctic Circle Diner, 150 Elkhorn Rd., and also owned a full-service custom catering business, Bye the Seat of Our Pants Catering Co.

A lot of her life she was doing things nobody knew about, Duncan said of Maxwells selfless support of the community and its residents, often behind the scenes. She was very generous with her time and money.

Other news

In other developments at the April 4 meeting, Duncan honored those involved in the publication of the villages Bay Quarterly print and online community newsletter, which he called a good piece, and those involved in creation of the villages new, easier to use website.

The board on a 6-1 vote, with trustee Don Parker dissenting, conditionally approved a Parks and Lakefront Committee recommendation to accept the Williams Bay Lions Clubs planned donation of three illuminated flagpoles for placement at Lions Field off Hwy. 67.

Conditions include Lions Club replacement of worn flags and club installation of the solar light fixtures for the flagpoles. The village board, on a 6-1 vote with Parker again dissenting, added a contingency that the flagpole lights not have any effect on the dark skies Kishwauketoe Natural Conservancy across the highway.

Contingent on successful passage of background checks, operators licenses were approved for Megan Wydeven for Bells Liquor and Deli, 659 E. Geneva St., and for Alexander Klotz for Pier 290, 1 Liechty Dr.

During public comment, Williams Bay resident Connie Gluth offered words of appreciation to village trustees for their public service in the run-up to the April 5 election. In the three board seats on the ballot, trustee Don Parker declined to seek re-election and incumbent trustees Robert Umans and Lowell Wright faced three challengers in a five-way race.

I just want to thank you all for doing what you do, she said. Some you are running, some of you arent running. Good luck, and thanks for everything you do.

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While Wisconsins rainy day fund has reached the highest level in state history, the account, which is reserved to be used in times of financial hardship, could stand to be nearly double in size in order to properly withstand a future recession, according to a new report.

The report, titled Flush with Cash: Wisconsins Growing Financial Reserves and released by the Wisconsin Counties Associations nonpartisan research arm Forward Analytics on Thursday, indicates that the states rainy day fund, which currently sits at about 8.4% of state spending, should be increased to around 15-16% to better handle a future economic downturn.

With the state expecting to have a general fund balance of more than $3.8 billion at the end of fiscal year 2023, due in large part to higher-than-expected tax collections, Forward Analytics director Dale Knapp, the reports author, said a portion of that revenue would be best used in the budget stabilization fund  more commonly known as the states rainy day fund.

Maybe that should be kind of the first claim on whats in the general fund balance, Knapp said. Even if we do that, theres enough there to fund some other priorities that the governor or legislators might have and it sets us up in a position where were actually prepared for the next downturn and we dont have to make significant cuts to spending or raise taxes significantly like we did in the last recession.

Wisconsin closed out the 2021 fiscal year with a roughly $2.6 billion general fund balance and transferred a little over $967 million to the rainy day fund, bringing the total to about $1.73 billion  the largest amount in state history and more than five times the funds balance at the end of fiscal year 2018.

A change to state law two decades ago required lawmakers to deposit half of excess tax revenues into the rainy day fund until the fund reached 5% of spending. Currently, Wisconsin has surpassed that goal and the $1.7 billion in the fund represents 8.4% of state spending.

When Wisconsins latest projected surplus was announced back in January, state officials said none of the surplus dollars would be deposited into the emergency account since the rainy day fund had surpassed 5% of the estimated general fund expenditures.

However, most budget experts argue that a 5% target is too low, according to the report. The Government Finance Officers Association recommends holding at least 16% of spending in reserve.

Lawmakers have viewed the surplus as an opportunity to bring forward a variety of proposals. Republican legislative leaders have pledged to take up tax cuts in the next biennial budget process, while Democratic Gov. Tony Evers previously called for additional spending on schools, caregivers and $150 checks for every resident in the state.

Knapp said putting money away for a future recession can be a difficult sell to lawmakers.

Theres no credit given until the recession hits and then people may look back and say, Im glad we did that, but if youre not doing tax cuts with it or spending on education or whatever it is, youre not getting credit for it, Knapp said. So for politicians, its a difficult choice to make, but it seems to me to be the better choice to make long term because we know were going to have another recession. We just dont know when.

With the legislative session now concluded and Republicans rejecting Evers proposal for the general fund surplus, the use of those funds will likely not come up until next spring, when the 2023-25 budget process begins.
OSHKOSH  A judge has sentenced an Oshkosh woman accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill her ex-boyfriend to 7 1/2 years in prison.

WLUK-TV reported Winnebago County Circuit Judge John Jorgensen sentenced 39-year-old Melissa Smith on Thursday. She pleaded no contest in January to solicitation of first-degree homicide.

According to the criminal complaint, Smith was upset with her ex-boyfriend who told police about her drug dealing. The complaint did not identify the ex-boyfriend by name. Police recorded her offering an informant $500 or forgiving a $520 debt the informant owed her in exchange for killing the ex-boyfriend.

Smith told Jorgenson during sentencing that she isn't the "monster" society makes her out to be and she lost herself in drugs.
Patna, April 15 (PTI) The BJP was on Friday up in arms against former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, its ally in the state, for asserting that Lord Ram was a mythical character and "not a god".

Manjhi had made the remark in Jamui district on Thursday while addressing a function held on BR Ambedkar's birth anniversary.

Also Read | Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot Reacts to Mohan Bhagwats Statement; Says Akhand Bharat When Each Person From All Castes Lives With Unity.

The ex-CM, who heads Hindustani Awam Morcha, had questioned the practice of untouchability and pointed out that as per the epic Ramayana, Lord Ram partook of fruits offered by a forest-dwelling devotee, Shabari.

Legend has it that Shabari, whom Dalits consider a cultural icon, bit every piece of the fruit to ascertain that it tasted well and Lord Rama accepted that without feeling repulsed.

Also Read | Kerala: Social Democratic Party of Indias Activist Brutally Murdered by Group of Men in Palakkad.

"Why do the upper caste people not follow the example to shun the practice of untouchability? I don't think Lord Ram was a god. But he was a character of Valmiki's Ramayana and Ramacharitmanas penned by Goswami Tulsidas. Both works contain valuable teachings," said Manjhi who belongs to the Musahar community.

The BJP, which owes its rise to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, came out with angry rebuttals, questioning Manjhi's own faith and warning him of the damnation that shall befall him for denigrating a divine entity.

Former Deputy CM and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi said, "It is laughable to call oneself a 'vanshaj' (descendant) of Shabari but cast doubts on the existence of the one she worshipped."

State BJP spokesperson and OBC Morcha national general secretary Nikhil Anand wanted to know whether Manjhi was an atheist, and, if not, "which god does he believe in".

Manjhi has been in politics for about four decades but he owes his rise to prominence, to an extent, to the BJP.

A party-hopper who has been with the Congress, the RJD as well as the JD(U), Manjhi floated his own outfit in 2015 after revolting against Nitish Kumar who made him step down less than a year after having handpicked him for the top job.

The BJP, which was then hostile towards Kumar, put its weight behind the aging deposed CM. Notably, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's infamous "DNA" jibe against Kumar was in the context of Manjhi's unceremonious removal as CM.

Not known for measuring his words, Manjhi who has clinched a cabinet berth for his son, remains in news for utterances that the BJP finds too hot to handle.

A few months ago, he had used a cuss word against Brahmins, blown hot and cold following a backlash, and tried to bury the controversy by holding a feast in the honor of the community.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The Congress has added 2.6 crore new members in its digital membership drive that ended on Friday, with party chief Sonia Gandhi enrolling herself as part of the initiative.

Also Read | COVID-19 in India: 44 Children in Noida Tested Positive for COVID in Last 7 Days, Says Chief Medical Officer.

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh became a digital member of the party on Thursday while former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was one of the first leaders to be enrolled as a digital member on the first day of the drive on November 1.

Unlike previous years, the CWC this time decided to implement the digital membership drive in addition to the standard paper membership process for the period 2022-2027, the party said.

Also Read | Jammu and Kashmir: Village Sarpanch Associated With BJP Shot Dead by Militants in Baramulla.

"It is a matter of happiness that the digital membership drive has evinced great interest from people of the country, especially younger supporters of the Congress party," AICC general secretary Organisation, K C Venugopal said in a statement.

He said through the digital membership drive, the Congress party has so far added 2.6 crore members across all booths in all assembly segments.

These are all verified members, enrolled into the party by a designated enroller using a proprietary mobile phone app called Congress Membership App, he said.

Besides, the Congress is also enrolling the members through the physical/ paper membership copies and the total membership will be known in some days after verification of documents.

Every digital member after verification gets a digital ID card that is QR coded for authenticity, Venugopal said, adding that a network of over 5 lakh party approved enrollers went door to door to enrol members across the length and breadth of the country.

"Ever since we started the drive, the key focus has been on quality of membership, not just quantity. Every member is verified at three levels - voter ID, photograph and phone number. The drive is strictly access controlled and only verified enrollers can use the membership app," said Praveen Chakravarty, chairman of AICC Data Analytics department which is spearheading the digital drive.

The party has embarked on the digital membership drive for the first time in its 135 year old history and that will now form the basis for internal elections as well as organisation building, Venugopal said.

The membership drive was to end on March 31 but was extended for 15 days till April 15 following keen interest by many, the party said.

With the Congress organisational polls underway, the party would have a new party president between August 21 and September 20 this year and thereafter, elections to the CWC would be held by October at the All India Congress Committee Plenary session.

The district Congress committees will publish the list of members and the eligible candidates for various party bodies between April 1 and April 15, followed by the election of the president and executive committees at the block levels. This process would be completed between April 16 and May 31, the party has said.

The elections at the Congress district committee levels for deciding local presidents, vice presidents and treasurers will happen between June 1 and July 20. Election to PCCs would be held between July 21 and August 22.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Mumbai, Apr 15 (PTI) Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday said the power crisis in the state has been caused due to lack of coal supply by the Central government.

Also Read | Magic Mushroom Helps To Open Up Brains of People Facing Depression, Finds Study.

Talking to reporters here, Patole claimed that though the Union coal minister has advised states to import coal, the imports will only benefit some of the BJP's industrialist friends and will make electricity expensive.

Also Read | Sunken Russian Cruiser, Moskva Could Have Nuclear Warheads, Says Report.

"The Union coal minister has advised states to import coal. However, when coal is imported, it will only benefit some of the BJP's industrialist friends and it will make electricity more expensive and ordinary consumers will have to bear the brunt of it," he alleged.

The Congress leader further said that the allegations of corruption in the allocation of coal mines, which were made during the UPA regime, were later found to be false.

The then PM Manmohan Singh had a vision, he was ready to empower the energy department. But under the Modi government, no new coal mine has been created, this is a ploy of privatisation, he claimed.

When asked about the use of loudspeakers on mosques, Patole charged that some parties were trying to further their political interests by raising the issue of loudspeakers on mosques.

"Why is one particular religion being targeted, when loudspeakers are being used in places of worship across all faiths? The Constitution does not teach you to hate any religion," the former speaker said.

Communal forces should not try to instigate one religion against another, he said, adding that efforts are being made to create a religious rift in Maharashtra and action should be taken against such people.

Speaking about Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's visit to Mumbai, Patole said the date for the same has not been fixed yet.

During his visit to Mumbai, Gandhi will meet Congress MLAs, ministers and party office bearers. The visit will be important for coordination among the MVA constituents and implementation of the common minimum programme drafted by the parties, Patole said.

(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], April 15 (ANI): Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Thursday said that resignation is not a solution, a case of corruption has to be registered against state minister KS Eshwarappa and he should be arrested in connection with the death case of contractor Santosh Patil.

"Resignation is not a solution. A case of corruption has to be registered, then he has to be arrested," said Shivakumar.

Also Read | West Bengal: CBI Teams Facing Major Language Hurdles in Interacting With Local People, Eye-Witnesses or Suspects in Key Cases.

The Congress leader questioned why FIR was not registered for asking for a 40 per cent commission from the contractor.

"His mother, wife, brother, everyone has alleged that he was tortured and was asked for a 40 per cent commission; where's the FIR on that?... our agitation is not on behalf of DK Shivakumar or Congress, it is the voice of Karnataka," he added.

Also Read | Alliance Air No Longer a Subsidiary, Says Air India.

The Congress state chief had also announced that the party would protest against the government in front of the Chief Minister's residence and in all districts.

Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah demanded the arrest of the Minister.

Meanwhile, Eshwarappa announced his resignation on Thursday, following the row over his alleged role in the suicide of the contractor. He said that he will hand over his resignation to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai tomorrow.

Eshwarappa said that he does not want to embarrass anybody including the high command leaders of the party.

Earlier, the brother of the deceased contractor Santosh Patil on Wednesday demanded the arrest of Karnataka Minister KS Eshwarappa and his close aides Ramesh and Basawaraj.

A Congress delegation led by state party chief DK Shivakumar, and former chief minister Siddaramaiah also met the Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, demanding the expulsion of Eshwarappa from the state cabinet as well as his arrest over contractor Santosh Patil's death. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Baramulla (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], April 15 (ANI): A sarpanch has been killed by terrorists in Baramulla on Friday evening, said Jammu and Kashmir Police.

The incident took place in Goshbugh area of Pattan where terrorists opened fire at Manzoor Ahmad Bangroo, an Independent sarpanch on Friday. Following the incident, the victim was shifted to the hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Also Read | COVID-19 in India: 44 Children in Noida Tested Positive for COVID in Last 7 Days, Says Chief Medical Officer.

Police have cordoned off the area and a search operation is underway to nab the terrorist involved in the killing.

Further details are awaited.

Also Read | Jammu and Kashmir: Village Sarpanch Associated With BJP Shot Dead by Militants in Baramulla.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir BJP condemned the killing of sarpanch by terrorists calling it a gruesome act.

"We strongly denounce the barbaric killing of Sarpanch Manzoor Ahmed Bangroo of Goshubugh, Pattan by terrorists. It is a gruesome act. Terrorists have no religion and mercy even during the fasting month of Ramadan," said JK BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur.

Notably, last month, Sarpanch Sameer Ahmad Bhat was shot at by terrorists in the Khonmoh area in the outskirts of Srinagar. Bhat succumbed to injuries later. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Visual of women stepping into the well to fetch water in Rohile village in Maharashtra's Nashik (Photo/ANI)

Nashik (Maharashtra) [India], April 15 (ANI): With several parts of the country reeling under scorching heat, Rohile village in Maharashtra's Nashik is facing a water shortage and the women of the village have put their lives at stake to fetch drinking water.

Risking their lives, the women stepped into the well to fetch water.

Also Read | Delhi Shocker: 36-Year-Old Woman Gangraped by Three Men in the National Capital; All Accused Arrested.

Speaking to ANI, one of the women, Sonali, who fetched water from the well said, "Women come from 2 km distance to fetch water from the well. We have a shortage of water. Some women stepped inside the well to take out water."

A student, Priya, who studies in class 10 said that she has had to skip her classes to fetch water for her family.

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"I study in standard 10. We don't have water in our village. So we go to a distant village to fetch water. Sometimes I have to skip classes for the same. I even was late for my exam once due to this water shortage as I had gone to another village to fetch water from a well there.

However, an official, Alka believes that there are 'no chances of water shortage' at least till June.

"The figures that we receive from the Collector office, according to that, we keep drinking water separately. We allocate the remaining water for irrigation purposes. So, there will be no water shortage. According to me, there should be no water shortage at least till June," she added. (ANI)

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Sirohi (Rajasthan) [India], April 15 (ANI): A total of seven children have lost their lives due to a mysterious viral infection in the Sirohi district of Rajasthan.

"On the basis of a conversation with the collector, it was observed that 7 children have died after contracting a viral infection," Rajasthan Health Minister Parsadi Lal Meena told ANI on Friday.

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Following the death of three minors in the district on Thursday, Sirohi Collector Dr Bhanwar Lal said that a survey is being conducted in the area to identify the cause of sudden death amongst the children.

"The children of age group 12-15 years have been the victims of this viral infection. Thus, to curb the infection and prevent any further deaths by providing timely treatment, a survey is being conducted in the area by a team of pediatricians and health officials," he added. (ANI)

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Pune (Maharashtra) [India], April 15 (ANI): Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday shared an anecdote and said he had once told industrialist Ratan Tata that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) did not discriminate on the basis of religion.

Gadkari, who inaugurated a hospital in Pune, said when he was a minister in the Maharashtra government, one of the RSS functionaries had requested him to help in getting Ratan Tata for the inauguration of a hospital.

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"During the inauguration, Ratan Tata asked me if this hospital is only for the Hindu community, to which I asked him why he feels that? He (Ratan Tata) replied as it is an RSS hospital. I told him that it is for every community and there is nothing like this in RSS," he added.

The Union Minister said more needs to be done to improve health and education infrastructure in the country.

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"In the education and health sector, the facilities are not available as required in the country. If the urban area has the facilities, the situation in the rural areas is not good, especially the situation of education. But the facilities are improving," he said.

Gadkari also said that he "does only 10 per cent politics and 90 per cent social work". (ANI)

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Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 15 (ANI): Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Kasim Raeen on Friday resigned from all party posts citing "no action" by party chief Akhilesh Yadav and others against "rising incidents of atrocities meted out to Muslims" in Uttar Pradesh.

In the resignation letter shared by Raeen, he accused the party chief of inaction and questioned his silence over the incarceration of Azam Khan and his family.

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"Akhilesh Yadav kept silent when Azam Khan and his family were put into jail. SP President did not raise his voice after Nahid Hasan was imprisoned and Sahijal Islam's petrol pump was demolished," he said in the letter.

"I am resigning from all the posts of the party after being angered with such behaviour of the SP President towards Muslims," he added.

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Kasim Raeen was the sector in charge of the Sultanpur district. (ANI)

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Islamabad [Pakistan], April 15 (ANI): Eight Pakistani soldiers were killed in two terrorist attacks in North Waziristan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday, reported Dawn newspaper.

As per a statement issued from the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the first attack took place in Datakhel town of North Waziristan when terrorists ambushed a moving military vehicle.

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Terrorists used assault guns and a rocket-launched grenade in the attack.

Bodies of killed soldiers were moved to Miramshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan in a military helicopter.

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The second attack between armed forces and insurgents took place in the Isham region of North Waziristan district, where Mianwali Sepoy, Asmatullah Khan was killed in a fire exchange, a local media reported citing military media wing ISPR.

A total of 105 army personnel lost lives in such terrorist attacks with the first three months of this year recording 97 soldiers and army officers.

In the corresponding period of attacks, 128 terrorists were killed and 270 have been arrested, said the Directorate of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). (ANI)

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Taipei, Apr 15 (AP) A Taiwanese pro-democracy activist who served five years in China returned to Taiwan on Friday morning, the island's Central News Agency reported.

Lee Ming-che was arrested by Chinese authorities in 2017 and charged with subversion of state power. His arrest was China's first criminal prosecution of a nonprofit worker since Beijing passed a law tightening controls over foreign non-governmental organizations in 2016.

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Lee had given online lectures on Taiwan's democratization and managed a fund for families of political prisoners in China.

For the past five years, he served his sentence in a prison in central Hunan province. Lee arrived back in Taiwan Friday morning, flying from the southern Chinese city of Xiamen.

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His arrest came after relations between China and Taiwan soured, after the island elected Tsai Ing-wen as president. Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party has advocated for Taiwan's formal independence. China cut off contact with Taiwan's government after Tsai came into office and now sends military planes flying towards the island on a daily basis.

China claims Taiwan is part of its national territory and claims Taiwanese nationals are also Chinese, issuing them a special identity card. (AP)

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Washington [US], April 15 (ANI): US President Joe Biden on Friday extended wishes to the Jain community on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti and encouraged people to follow Lord Mahavir's path of non-violence, truthfulness, and compassion.

Taking to Twitter, Biden sends his regards writing "Jill and I send warm greetings on Mahavir Jayanti to people of the Jain faith. This is a day to strive for peace, happiness, and the success of all. May we each pursue the values Mahavir Swami embodied: to seek truth, turn from violence, and live in harmony with each other."

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Mahavir Jayanti is an important religious festival in Jainism that celebrates the birth of Lord Mahavir. The festival is marked with prayers and fasting.

The occasion marks the birth of the 24th and last Tirthankara, Lord Mahavir. This year, Mahavir Jayanti falls on April 14. (ANI)

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Karachi, Apr 15 (PTI) Bilquis Bano Edhi, the wife of Pakistan's renowned and revered humanitarian and philanthropist late Abdul Sattar Edhi, passed away at a private hospital here on Friday, according to a family member. She was 74.

Bilquis worked shoulder to shoulder with her husband in establishing the Abdul Sattar Edhi Foundation, a welfare organisation that gained worldwide fame for its humanitarian work in many areas.

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After the death of her husband in July 2016, Bilquis carried on the enormous work of the foundation with her son Faisal Edhi, who confirmed her passing away to the media.

He said his mother was admitted to the hospital after her blood pressure suddenly dropped earlier this week.

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Faisal said Bilquis suffered complications in hospital as she had congestive heart failure and had already undergone bypass procedure twice.

He said the funeral of his mother would be announced shortly.

According to an Edhi Foundation spokesperson, Bilquis was ill for the last one month.

Pakistan President Arif Alvi expressed his sadness over the passing of Bilquis.

"She had always been shoulder to shoulder with Abdul Sattar Edhi in his philanthropic efforts and continued his work even after his death. May Allah bless the departed soul," tweeted the President House.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif termed Bilquis' death "a huge loss for the nation.

"An incredible woman in her own right, she stood by Edhi sahab like a rock and together they set up an example of human compassion and ran one of the largest philanthropic organisations of the world. May her soul rest in peace!" the prime minister said in a tweet.

Bilquis, who spent more than six decades of her life serving humanity, was respected for starting a programme of placing jhoolas' (cradles) at Edhi homes and centres across the country where unwanted babies could be left by their mothers or families, instead of abandoning them anywhere.

Dubbed Mother of Pakistan', she was awarded various national and foreign awards, including the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, the Lenin Peace Prize, Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice (2015), and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, which she received along with her husband in 1986.

Last year, she was also named the Person of the Decade', along with UN rapporteur on human rights Prof. Yanghee Lee and US ethicist Stephen Soldz by an international organisation.

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Washington, Apr 15 (PTI) The United States is looking forward to working with the Shehbaz Sharif government, the Biden administration said Thursday as it refuted the allegations by former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his supporters of the US' role in regime change.

We've congratulated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his election by the Pakistani parliament, and we look forward to working with him and his government, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference.

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Price said for almost 75 years, the relationship between the United States and Pakistan has been a vital one.

We look forward to continuing that work with Pakistan's governments to promote peace and prosperity in Pakistan and the broader region, he said.

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A day earlier, supporters of Imran Khan organised anti-US protests here. They attacked a Pakistani-American journalist and few community members as they continue to accuse the United States of playing a role in the regime change.

Our message has been clear and consistent on this. There is no truth whatsoever to the allegations that have been put forward. We support the peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles, including respect for human rights. We do not support, whether it's in Pakistan or anywhere else around the world, one political party over another, Price said.

We support broader principles, including the rule of law and equal justice under the law, he added.

Price said the United States agrees with the assessment of Pakistan's military spokesperson, who said it has no evidence to suggest that the Biden administration had threatened or was involved in the conspiracy to seek the ouster of Imran Khan's government.

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Islamabad [Pakistan], April 15 (ANI): The newly-elected Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to add 12 National Assembly members of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and seven members of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to his federal cabinet, a local media reported citing sources.

PPP member Raja Pervez Ashraf is the candidate for National Assembly Speaker after the Speaker Asad Qaiser decided to resign from his post on late Saturday while someone from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) might become the Deputy Speaker as Qasim Suri is currently facing no-confidence motion, Geo News reported citing sources.

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PM Sharif became the Prime minister on April 11, following the ouster of Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion, with this Khan became the first PM to be removed through the democratic process.

According to sources, JUI-F will get three ministries and a state minister portfolio while, Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) will get the governorship of Sindh, PPP will get Punjab and JUI-F will get Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and BNP-M will get the governorship of Balochistan, Geo News reported.

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Meanwhile, PM Sharif has sought the support of MQM-P in the National Assembly (NA) speaker election.

According to Ary News, a meeting was held by Sharif with MQM-P leaders during his visit to Karachi. It was attended by Amir Khan, Aminul Haque, Farogh Naseem, Nasreen Jalil and others.

MQM-P was a key ally of the alliance led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and its switching sides to the opposition parties led to the fall of the Imran Khan government.

Sharif vowed that the promises made to the MQM-P leaders will be fulfilled. He urged coordinated efforts between the Centre and the province for the development of Sindh. Sharif also assured MQM-P of its inclusion in the consultative process for the development of Sindh.

Sharif thanked the MQM-P for supporting the opposition parties in the no-trust motion against the former premier. He individually thanked the lawmakers who cast their votes in the NA, said the sources.

He also expressed hope that MQM-P would continue to support the government in the upcoming elections for the NA speaker, reported Ary News.

Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, leader of MQM-P and a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan said he hopes for a resolution of issues in Karachi and urban parts of the Sindh. (ANI)

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Moscow [Russia], April 15 (ANI): Russia on Thursday warned Sweden and Finland against joining NATO and said that it would add "more than double" its troops in Russia's Western flank.

Deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, gave the warning and in a statement on Telegram on Thursday wrote that ground and air defense forces would be beefed up, reported CNN News.

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"It will no longer be possible to talk about any non-nuclear status of the Baltic -- the balance must be restored, Medevedev added referring to the possibility of Sweden and Finland joining NATO.

Medvedev, who served as president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 in a four-year interregnum for Russian President Vladimir Putin's two-decade rule, has been aggressive in recent months, though he is not a top decision-maker.

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Moreover, a 2018 Federation of American Scientists report concluded that Russia may have significantly modernized a nuclear weapons storage bunker in Kaliningrad, an exclave of Russian territory between Poland and the Baltic states, reported the news channel.

Thursday marks 50 days since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and there has been a marked shift in Moscow's approach. Ukrainian officials have warned for days they expect a major offensive by Russian forces in the eastern Donbas region. (ANI)

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New York, Apr 15 (AP) A Russian legislator and two aides pushed a covert propaganda campaign aimed at winning U.S. government support for Russia's foreign policy agenda, including moves against Ukraine, according to a Justice Department indictment unsealed on Thursday.

The effort was part of what American officials describe as a broader Russian government objective to sway public opinion in its favor, to sow discord in American institutions and to drive wedges between the U.S. and European allies.

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In this case, prosecutors say, the legislators sought to co-opt American and European political officials  including members of the U.S. Congress  and also sought to enter the U.S. under false pretenses to participate in meetings.

The legislator, Aleksandr Babakov, 59, is identified in the indictment as a high-ranking Russian government official from the same political party as Russian President Vladimir Putin who currently serves as deputy chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislature. Two of his staff members  Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vorobev, 52, and Mikhail Alekseyevich Plisyuk, 58  were also charged in Manhattan's federal court.

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All three men named are based in Russia and remain at large, authorities said. They are accused of conspiring to have a U.S. citizen act as a foreign agent for Russia and Russian officials without notifying the Justice Department; with conspiring to evade U.S. sanctions; and with visa fraud conspiracy.

Today's indictment demonstrates that Russia's illegitimate actions against Ukraine extend beyond the battlefield, as political influencers under Russia's control allegedly plotted to steer geopolitical change in Russia's favor through surreptitious and illegal means in the U.S. and elsewhere in the West, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

Such malign foreign interference will be exposed, and we will pursue justice against its perpetrators.

The case is part of a concerted Justice Department crackdown against Russia, with prosecutors in recent weeks unsealing cases against an oligarch accused of sanctions violations, a tycoon charged with illegal campaign contributions and, now, a surreptitious effort to sway public opinion in the United States through the spread of propaganda.

Amid Russia's war against Ukraine, the Justice Department also launched a task force to enforce sanctions violations and export restrictions imposed on Russian figures.

The indictment depicts an effort to reach inside the power chambers of Washington, with the defendants accused of contacting at least one member of Congress five years ago to offer free travel to a conference in Yalta that they and their associates had been working to organize and promote.

The conference was intended to support Sergey Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea who had been sanctioned by the U.S. government for his policies threatening Ukraine's sovereignty. The congressman, who is not identified by name in the indictment, declined the offer, prosecutors said.

The defendants are accused of seeking to co-opt American and European politicians and of recruiting an American citizen and other individuals to help advance pro-Kremlin interests.

The effort included requesting a meeting with a member of Congress to push Russia's agenda in the United States and submitting phony visa applications to travel to the U.S. under the false pretenses of a vacation when they were actually intending to hold meetings with U.S. political figures, the indictment said. The visa applications were ultimately denied. (AP)

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Moscow [Russia], April 15 (ANI): The speaker of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament, Valentina Matviyenko said on Friday that she is planning to visit China this fall to participate in the next session of the Russian-Chinese inter-parliamentary cooperation commission.

"We hope that the epidemiological situation will allow us to visit your wonderful country, as we planned, in autumn this year to participate in the next 8th session of the inter-parliamentary commission," Matviyenko said at the meeting with Chairman of the Chinese Congress Standing Committee Li Zhanshu.

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She also noted that even in the face of unprecedented external pressure Russia and China retain an unwavering determination to further strengthen and expand the whole array of their interstate relations, Russia's Sputnik news agency reported.

The 7th meeting of the Russian-Chinese inter-parliamentary cooperation commission was held on November 23.

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During the meeting, the Russian lawmakers underscored the intensity of the bilateral ties between Moscow and Beijing, stressing that collaboration in the field of energy, including oil and gas, as well as in the areas of innovative development and inter-regional cooperation develops steadily.

Russia launched its "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 28 which the west has termed an "unprovoked war." Subsequently, several western countries imposed crippling sanctions on Moscow.

Moreover, the West has urged China to use its leverage on Russia to end the Ukraine war. (ANI)

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Pretoria, Apr 13 (AP) The deployment of South Africa's military in northern Mozambique has been extended while its role has shifted from aggressively fighting Islamic extremist rebels to a peacekeeping effort, a top general said Wednesday.

About 600 members of the South African National Defence Force have been in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province since October last year and have captured and destroyed several of the extremists' bases, the chief of the South African mission to Mozambique, Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya said Wednesday.

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The South African troops are part of a joint regional force of about 1,000 troops sent by the 16-nation Southern African Development Community to support Mozambique in its battle against the rebels. Other countries contributing troops include Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia.

Rwanda has also deployed about 2,000 troops as part of a bilateral agreement with Mozambique.

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Addressing the media in Pretoria on Wednesday, Gen. Maphwanya said the offensive by the regional force inflicted massive losses against the insurgents. The operation destroyed several bases and recovered weapons including grenade launchers, machine guns, AK-47 rifles, vehicles and technological devices, he said.

During this operation, the SAMIM (SADC Mission in Mozambique) forces faced a strong resistance from the terrorists but were able to inflict fatal casualties and disrupt as well as continue to dominate and pursue the terrorists in the operational area, said Maphwanya.

Many of the rebels have been forced out of their bases, according to South African National Defense Forces Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Lindile Yam.

A lot has been done to dislodge them," said Yam, adding that the insurgents are trying to get local residents to join their effort to establish Islamic Shariah law in northern Mozambique. "They are even recruiting children as young as five years old, he said.

Since 2017, the insurgency in Mozambique has been blamed for more than 3,000 deaths, with more than 800,000 people displaced and more than 1 million in need of food aid, according to the U.N. World Food Program.

A summit of leaders of southern African countries on Tuesday approved the transition of the regional force to a more stabilization role, after its more combative offensive against the rebels. (AP)

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Nebraska, Apr 15 (AP) A top Republican candidate for Nebraska governor faced an onslaught of criticism Thursday after several women, including a GOP state lawmaker, alleged that he groped them at public events and forcibly kissed one woman.

The accusations drew widespread condemnation from Charles W. Herbster's primary opponents, Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts, and the 13 women from both parties who serve in the Legislature.

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This is beyond horrible, said Ricketts, who has clashed publicly with Herbster. Charles W. Herbster should beg forgiveness of the women he has preyed upon and seek treatment. Sexual assault is criminal behavior and should disqualify anyone from elected leadership.

The allegations were first reported by the Nebraska Examiner. The online news outlet interviewed six women who claimed that the 67-year-old Herbster groped their buttocks, outside of their clothes, during political events or beauty pageants. A seventh woman said Herbster once cornered her privately and kissed her forcibly.

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The Nebraska Examiner did not identify any of the women except for state Sen. Julie Slama. It reported that it corroborated six of the women's accounts with at least one witness to each incident. And it said all of the incidents happened between 2017 and this year, and each woman was in her late teens or early 20s.

Herbster fervently denied the allegations, calling them a dirty political trick orchestrated by Ricketts and his preferred GOP candidate, University of Nebraska Regent Jim Pillen. Ricketts cannot run for reelection because of term limits and has backed Pillen as his replacement while painting Herbster as unqualified for the job.

It's only after I've threatened the stranglehold the establishment has on this state (that) they stoop to lies this large, Herbster said in a statement. This story is a ridiculous, unfounded dirty political trick being carried out by Pete Ricketts and Jim Pillen.

John Gage, a spokesman for Pillen, called Herbster's statement unhinged." And a spokeswoman for Ricketts referred back to his original statement, saying the women should be commended for coming forward. In a statement, Pillen said: Sexually assaulting women should be disqualifying for anyone seeking to serve as a leader. Suzanne and I are praying for the women targeted by Charles W. Herbster.

Herbster is widely viewed as a top contender for governor and has won the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, a close ally who remains popular in Republican-dominated Nebraska. He has cast himself as a political outsider with experience as the owner of major farming and agribusiness operations.

Slama, a conservative Republican, said Herbster sexually assaulted her in 2019, when she was 22 years old. Slama said Herbster reached up her skirt and touched her inappropriately as she walked past him at the Douglas County Republican Party's annual Elephant Remembers dinner.

Slama briefly recounted the experience in a February floor speech after another Republican senator was accused of inappropriate behavior, but she didn't mention Herbster by name. She said at the time that she didn't want to relive the trauma or have the incident define her career.

I am not seeking media attention or any other gain, I simply was not going to lie and say it did not occur, Slama said in a statement Thursday, asking for privacy.

Jane Kleeb, the chairwoman of the state Democratic Party, said the allegations show there's a need to change who gets elected.

Reprehensible behavior seems to have become commonplace in the Republican Party," said Kleeb, urging voters to support Democratic state Sen. Carol Blood in the governor's race.

Slama's female counterparts in the Legislature also issued a joint statement condemning Herbster.

Sexual assault is despicable and damaging, said the statement, signed by all 13 senators. This is not a question of politics  it is an issue of character and basic human decency. (AP)

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Theres no mistaking Naomi Wu amid Shenzhens deliverymen and investors.

Her long, auburn-dyed hair falls over tight, low-cut tops; her miniskirts reveal more. Wu often wears these outfits in do-it-yourself videos that show her devising an LED-lit skirt or creating heels that hide hacking tools.

Wu calls herself a sexy cyborg. She also calls herself a maker, the term for tech hobbyists who build creative DIY projects. Her endeavors have earned Wu 157,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 43,000 Twitter followers in a country that blocks both platforms. She has more than 700 supporters on Patreon, a crowd-funding site.

But in recent weeks shes received even more attention  first from skeptical online commentators and then from Dale Dougherty, a California executive who helped launch the maker movement. They accused her of fraud.

Their remarks not only challenged her brand, they dismissed her ability. They took unsupported aim at an aspiring woman in a male-dominated industry  and, in particular, a young Chinese female who likes to dress revealingly.

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That set off a social media tirade that spread across continents, underscoring the rigidity of gender stereotypes and the Internets powerful role in determining a persons fate.

It doesnt make sense, said Wu, 23, speaking in rapid-fire English outside one of the worlds largest electronics markets. Competent women never doubted me.

Wu works as a freelance web developer in Chinas electronics manufacturing hub, a southeastern coastal city that grew from a collection of fishing villages into one of the countrys wealthiest metropolises.

The city is home to Tencent, the social media company that temporarily surpassed Facebook in market value. Apple recently established a research and development center here. Wu takes pride in her city, like she does in her creations.

Most of her projects center around wearable technology for women, such as LED eyelashes or a makeup case that holds a tiny computer. She also tests products in her videos, and films 360-degree tours around Shenzhens tech spaces.

Naomi Wu purchases components in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhens electronics mecca. (Jessica Meyers/for the Los Angeles Times )

Im determined, diligent, and I work hard, Wu said, striding through Huaqiangbei, a mecca of electronics goods shipped throughout the world. Wu, clad in a sea-green jumpsuit and white lace-up boots, ignored the male eyes peering from beyond mountains of mouse pads and microchips. Visibility is very important to me, she said.

Even before the accusations, online comments questioned Wus near fluent English (she was an English major) or her technical skills (she taught herself to code because she was an English major and needed work).

But the attacks grew more pronounced this fall, when an anonymous blog post claimed Wu was the face of a boyfriends operation. Wu insisted the projects were her own creations.

Then Dougherty got involved. Hes often referred to as the father of the movement, which promotes everyday creators from basement tinkerers to inventors of talking robots. Dougherty also runs Maker Media, a San Francisco media company that publishes Make: magazine and organizes events for the industry known as Maker Faires.

Wu had criticized Dougherty online for excluding her from such events and attacked him personally. He responded in November.

Naomi is a persona, not a real person, he tweeted. She is several or many people.

Dougherty told his nearly 26,000 followers to send him a direct message for more information. Then the small spat turned into an international battle.

Wu said employers started pulling out of potential deals or asking more questions about her work.

Other makers began demanding Doughertys resignation. Andrew bunnie Huang, an American researcher and hacker, wrote a 2,345-word defense of Wu on his blog.

Its not a big leap for me to accept Naomi as a Maker, he said in the post. I do my best engineering when sitting half-naked at my desk.  I dont have the strength to challenge these social norms that associate certain dress with intelligence. Secretly, Im glad someone is.

Naomi is just a flash point ...because she is extremely vocal and not ashamed of her femininity.  Andrew bunnie Huang, an American researcher and hacker

Two days after his tweet, Dougherty apologized. He followed it with a more comprehensive mea culpa in Make:, calling his comments completely inappropriate.

His words, he said, reflected my unconscious biases; and the negative impact of my tweets were amplified by the fact that I, a white, Western, male CEO of a key company in the Maker community publicly questioned a young, female, self-employed Chinese maker.

He offered to put Wu on the cover of the magazine and include a story about her work. He also invited her to participate in an advisory board for events in China.

Dougherty, in an email, confirmed the magazine is working on a piece about Wu for the next issue, but declined to say more.

Dale was wrong, and he knows that, said Sherry Huss, vice president of Maker Media. It was really just an unfortunate situation.

Huss, who helped start Maker Faires 12 years ago, said the movement is by nature an inclusive one. Its people that are curious and have a creative mind, thats the group were trying to appeal to, she said.

Maker Media partners with another company for the Shenzhen fair, which Huss attended in mid-November. Event organizers pulled together a meeting of 13 women to discuss their experiences.

The conversations have started and the healing has begun, and thats a good sign, Huss said.

Wu considers the situation resolved  although it refuses to die on the Internet.

Naomi is just a flash point for the issue because she is extremely vocal and not ashamed of her femininity, Huang said in an email. Its kind of disappointing that it takes someone so far from the average to make progress.

Mao Tse-tung, the founder of modern China, encouraged women to join the labor force in his quest for an industrialized society. Despite that legacy, Chinese women still struggle to achieve top positions in academia and politics. No woman has reached the highest rung of power, a seven-member leadership panel. Only one serves on the 25-member Politburo.

Chinese women find more success than those in the U.S. when it comes to tech, according to a 2016 report by Silicon Valley Bank. Nearly 80% of Chinese startups include one high-level woman, it concluded, compared with 54% of American startups.

Zhou Qunfei, founder of touch-screen maker Lens Technology, labored in factories before she ran them. Now shes the worlds richest self-made woman. Hu Weiwei, a 35-year-old former journalist, heads Chinas hugely successful bike-sharing service, Mobike.

That advancement only goes so far. The World Economic Forums global gender gap index ranks China at 100 out of 144 countries, above Turkey and Korea but below Tajikistan and India. Despite Chinas increasing affluence, its spot has fallen for nearly a decade.

Discrimination persists in more nuanced ways, analysts say, from not hiring a woman near childbearing age to assuming a foreign male has more expertise.

Theres this perception that if you are the woman, you must be the translator, said Law Yee Ping, founder of Hong Kong Innovation Services, which works with makers in Shenzhen.

Law admitted to her own bias when she first heard about Wu. On second thought, I said, We have a right to choose what we wear.

Much like her wearable designs, Wu considers her visibility a tool to defy norms of appearance and profession. That commitment, she said, has only intensified.

Every day now, Im doing everything I can to promote women in tech, she said, before resuming her shopping  for a new microcontroller.

Meyers is a special correspondent.

Twitter: @jessicameyers

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The Biden Administration reportedly compiled a 500-page report regarding the issue involving the Border Patrol agents accused of using whips against migrants last year.

Brandon Judd, the president of the union known as the National Border Patrol Council, confirmed the existence of the said report to the New York Post on Thursday, claiming that the documents were the outcome of the administrative investigation conducted by the Customs and Border Protection's Office of Personal Responsibility (ORP).

The outlet did not confirm whether the report compiled by the Biden administration marks the end of the investigation regarding the Border Patrol agents' actions.

Judd and the National Border Patrol Council have always insisted that the Border Patrol agents did nothing wrong and were merely following instructions from multiple supervisors.

"I don't know what's in it. As of yesterday afternoon, the chief of the Border Patrol didn't know what's in it," Judd emphasized.

Judd further noted that he never saw a 500-page report where "no one did anything wrong."

READ NEXT: DHS Watchdog Declines to Investigate Claims of Horse-Mounted Border Agents 'Whipping' Haitian Migrants

Border Patrol Agents Accused of Whipping Migrants May Lose Job

The news about the 500-page report came after the Border Patrol Agents accused of whipping migrants have still their jobs at stake even though were cleared with wrongdoing, according to the Post.

The outlet noted that if the OPR finds that the agents violated a CBP police during their encounter with Haitian migrants, they could face termination as a consequence.

However, the Border Patrol agents may not worry, as Texas Governor Gregg Abbot has their back.

If any adverse action is taken against these border patrol agents who were doing their job to secure the border then Texas will offer them a job to help TX do the federal government job to secure the border



These agents should be praised not persecutedhttps://t.co/5hdau5yN4G  Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 28, 2022

In a tweet, Abbot claimed that the lone start state will offer them a job in securing the border, once they were terminated from their post.

"These agents should be praised not persecuted," Abbott underscored.

Meanwhile, a statement from the Department of Homeland Security assured that the OPR has a customary process in investigating the matter.

"Once complete, the results of the investigation will be provided to CBP management to determine whether disciplinary action is appropriate and, if so, the specific discipline to be imposed," DHS pointed out, per the Post.

Border Patrol Agents Accused of Whipping Haitian Migrants

In September last year, Border Patrol Agents mounted on horses were photographed chasing Haitian migrants along the Texas border.

The photo sparked different opinions and speculations from U.S. officials.

Vice President Kamala Harris said that she was deeply troubled by the photographs and called the Border Patrol Agents depicted in the photo horrible for treating the Haitian migrants that way.

White House Press Secretary Hen Psaki also called the photos horrific, claiming that anyone who will see the photos will think that what the Border Patrol agents did were not acceptable.

Meanwhile, photographer Paul Ratje told KTSM that he saw an agent swinging the whip, but claimed that he did not actually see them use it on the migrants.

READ NEXT: Brazil: Lewis Hamilton Jokes About Getting Brazilian Passport: "Neymar Invites Me Every Year"

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Trust Index: Border Patrol Did Not Use Whips When Confronting Migrants - From News4JAX
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure banning late-term abortions into law on Thursday. The law prohibits abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The newly signed law is the latest move to restrict access to the procedure before a U.S. Supreme Court decision could limit abortion rights across the country, according to an NBC News report.

DeSantis said during the signing ceremony that the law will represent "the most significant protections for life" that have been approved in the state in a generation.

The law will take effect on July 1, which would bar a successful legal challenge. It would also widely reduce access to late-term abortions for women across the Southeastern U.S.

Many would travel to Florida due to stricter abortion laws in surrounding states.

Meanwhile, it also allows exceptions when the mother's life is at risk or in danger of "irreversible physical impairment," according to The Daily Wire report.

Another exemption in the law is if the unborn baby has a fetal abnormality. However, it does not offer exceptions for rape.

DeSantis noted during the ceremony that "we are here to defend those who can't defend themselves."

READ NEXT: Supreme Court Declines to Block Texas Abortion Law; Abortion Providers Can Challenge Ban in Lower Courts

Late-Term Abortions Ban in Florida

Women across U.S. Southeast travel hundreds of miles to end pregnancies in Florida due to stricter abortion laws in neighboring states.

Florida currently allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, according to a Reuters report.

Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Alexis McGill Johnson said in a statement that nobody should be forced to travel miles away just to have access to essential health care.

Johnson said that in signing the bill, DeSantis will be forcing Floridians seeking abortion "to do just that."

Several Republican-led states are quickly passing anti-abortion legislation in 2022, with the anticipation that the U.S. Supreme Court will reinstate a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi.

D.C. officials have implied that they will perform autopsies on the babies, which pushed Texas Rep. Chip Roy to question whether avoiding autopsies are eyed for ideological reasons.

The newly signed law has received criticisms from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, as well as other abortion supporters and groups.

Abortion Ban Across U.S.

A similar law was passed in Arizona last month, while the Idaho Legislature has approved a measure to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. It was similar to a Texas law that is considered to be the most restrictive in the country.

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood Oregon has not confirmed what it aims to do with the space it is leasing in Oregon.

Planned Parenthood said that it is preparing for a wave of out-of-state patients seeking abortions in Oregon amid multiple legal challenges to abortion rights, according to an OPB report.

Kenji Nozaki, the chief of affiliate operations at Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, said that no matter what happens, they will be there for their in-state and out-of-state patients.

Nozaki added that they will continue to cater to the needs of their patients.

Idaho has two laws criminalizing abortion at all stages of pregnancy that would take effect in the event of a successful legal challenge to Roe v. Wade.

READ MORE: Texas Lawmaker Seeks Death Penalty for Women Who Get Abortions

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: DeSantis Signs Abortion Restriction Bill in Florida - from NBC News






Mexican drug cartels have been working with the Chinese organized crime networks for illegal wildlife trade, a new report said.

The Brookings Institution report shows the full threat posed to Mexico's biodiversity because of this illicit activity. The investigation conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based think tank revealed how a lot of Mexico's marine and terrestrial animals are being poached and how this environmental crime passes into other illegal economies, according to an InsightCrime News report.

Mexico's wildlife is mainly used in China for food and traditional Chinese medicine. Lizards, turtles, jungle cats, macaws, parrots, toucans, and other birds are being trafficked from Mexico to China, sometimes via the U.S.

Aquatic life also has its use in the Chinese market, with creatures such as abalone, sea cucumbers, and shark fins being commercialized with a huge mark-up in price between the two countries.

Sea cucumber can gain 70 times the profit in Hong Kong that it does for Mexican fishers. A kilogram of totoaba bladder, a delicacy in China, can also be priced at $60,000 in China but worth $5,000 in Mexico.

Mexican drug cartels also sometimes swap illegally captured wildlife for chemicals that can be converted into fentanyl or methamphetamine.

READ NEXT: Mexico: Lopez Obrador Denies 'Falsifying' Investigation on 2014 Disappearance of 43 Students

Mexican Drug Cartels Engaging in Illegal Wildlife Trade

According to National Geographic, Mexican drug cartels such as the Sinaloa cartel and Jalisco cartel have seized control of large companies that have fishing fleets or process high-value species such as scallops and lobster.

Mexican drug cartels use legal businesses to launder poached marine species, with the Sinaloa cartel "allegedly in the process of opening its own formal legal seafood processing plant."

The Sinaloa cartel also plans to form a company and hire people for its operations. Mexican drug cartels also force restaurants to buy their fish exclusively, including restaurants serving international tourists.

The Sinaloa cartel reportedly bought up Mexico's permits for geoduck clams, a large mollusk sold to Chinese buyers. The permit gives the Mexican drug cartel control over the legal geoduck clam fishing operations.

Mexico's Illegal Wildlife Trade

Poaching and illegal wildlife trade in Mexico do not only threaten the country's biodiversity. It can also be a source of dangerous zoonotic diseases, such as the COVID-19, and facilitate their spread.

According to the Brookings Institution report, Mexican environmental activists and U.S. government officials claimed that Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was not interested in establishing zoonotic disease monitoring controls.

The report noted that Lopez Obrador's administration had withdrawn the budgetary and personnel resources of Mexican government regulatory environmental agencies.

Many environmental agencies were reportedly weak, lacking mandates, rangers, and resources to enforce an action against environmental crimes even before the withdrawal of the budget came effectively.

Meanwhile, the report further noted that the Mexico-China wildlife trade had become a mechanism to transfer value in illicit economies while bypassing anti-money-laundering controls in the United States and Mexican banks.

Mexican drug cartels use many animal and timber products to pay for drug precursor chemicals from which criminal organizations in Mexico produce fentanyl and methamphetamines.

Many other methods of money laundering are also used. Chinese informal money transfer systems even displaced established Colombian and Mexican money launderers.

Wildlife barter using different methods of money laundering and value transfer can reportedly destroy biodiversity in Mexico.

READ MORE: Mexico: 90,000 People Have Disappeared Without a Trace Amid Drug War

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: The Weird and Wonderful Wildlife of Mexico - From Animal Planet






A hitman allegedly hired by the four sons of Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera was killed near his home in Mexico's state of Baja California on Monday night.

According to the La Opinion newspaper, Andres Rubio Rondero, also known as "El Gallo" or "El Gallito," was murdered while eating his last tacos.

The 48-year-old Sinaloa cartel hitman was having dinner with his family in a "taqueria" near his home in San Felipe when the rival gunmen arrived and opened fire. He was shot seven times in the face, chest, and abdomen.

Police said Red Cross paramedics found him alive and rushed him to a hospital, where he was declared dead half an hour later or shortly after 10:30 p.m. local time.

More than 14 bullets were found at the crime scene. The gunmen also went to his house and shot its facade before they fled in a vehicle.

The white vehicle was reportedly found abandoned in flames near a garbage dump site hours later after Rubio Rondero's death. As of Thursday, no arrests had been reported.

According to Daily Mail, El Gallo is the head of a gang of assassins who work for El Chapo's four sons, known as Los Chapitos.

READ NEXT: El Chapo's Sons of Sinaloa Cartel Organized a 'Narco Fiesta' Ahead of Christmas Day in Mexico Town, Raffled off Brand New Cars

Rewards Offered For 4 Sons of Sinaloa Cartel Boss' El Chapo

Last December, the U.S. State Department offered $5 million rewards for any information that could help federal agents arrest El Chapo's four sons, who reportedly share control of the Sinaloa Cartel.

Joaquin Guzman Lopez, Ovidio Guzman Lopez, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman, and Jesus Alfredo Guzman had reportedly assumed leadership roles in the Sinaloa Cartel with their uncle Aureliano "El Guano" Guzman and co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada after El Chapo was arrested and extradited to the U.S.

The U.S. Department of Treasury said Joaquin, Ovidio, and Ivan had been previously indicted on federal drug trafficking charges. The Treasury Department has sanctioned the trio.

Joaquin was indicted with Ovidio in April 2018, and they were both charged with conspiring to distribute more than five kilograms of cocaine, 500 grams of methamphetamine, and 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

Investigators said that Joaquin and his brother manage around 11 laboratories in their home state of Sinaloa that produce up to 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine monthly.

Los Chapitos in Mexico's Drug Trafficking Trade

The State Department said the Los Chapitos are high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel and are each subject to a federal indictment for their involvement in the illegal drug trade.

But despite the million-dollar rewards, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador earlier said that U.S. federal agents could not simply step on Mexico's soil and arrest El Chapo's sons.

The president noted that it is up to the local authorities in Mexico to stop them if the brothers are in the national territory. Lopez Obrador said foreign agencies were not allowed to do any apprehensions.

InsightCrime reported that Ovidio, Ivan, and Jesus were brought into the Sinaloa Cartel's criminal operations when they were teenagers by their father and El Mayo to learn the ins and outs of the organization.

Los Chapitos was reportedly much flashier with spending drug proceeds and partying than El Chapo's former right-hand man, El Mayo, who now appears to be the internal enemy number one of Los Chapitos.

El Chapo's sons have also been at odds with their uncle, El Guano. The Los Chapitos are reportedly looking to assume supreme control of the Sinaloa Cartel.

The Sinaloa Cartel is one of Mexico's largest and most powerful drug trafficking organizations. The group was founded in the late 1980s and headed by El Chapo.

Under El Chapo's leadership, the Sinaloa Cartel earned its reputation through violence and outfought several rival groups. El Chapo was sentenced to spend the rest of his days in the ADX Florence "supermax" prison after being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019.

READ MORE: U.S. Agents Can't Just Step on Mexico's Soil to Arrest El Chapo's Sons of Sinaloa Cartel, Pres. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Says

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: New Details of Government Plan to Track Down, Arrest 4 of El Chapo's Sons - From ABC 7 Chicago






A ROSCREA man who hopes to make history and become the first ever Irish person to conquer Mount Everest without the assistance of bottled oxygen has begun his journey to Earth's highest peak.

Only 216 elite climbers from around the world have successfully summited Mount Everest without the aid of oxygen tanks - and Roscrea's James McManus hopes to be the first ever Irishman to achieve the extraordinary feat in the coming days.

James, who is son of the very well known retired Roscrea Doctor, George McManus and Libby McManus (RIP) owns Dublin-based adventure travel company, Earth's Edge and is a very well seasoned climber.

James, who is 39-years-old, prior to flying to Nepal last month said his whole life has been leading up to this moment.

"Climbing Everest in itself is a very difficult thing to do, but this is bringing it to another level. It's the ultimate test of human endurance. I've been building up to this moment my whole life, and over the past two years I've tried to bring my fitness up to a higher level to prepare for the physical and mental hardship ahead he said.

James suffered a setback last week when about 30-minutes after reaching a resting point at 4,800m he felt unwell and had a heartbeat of 90bpm instead of his usual 42bpm at sea level. But after taking paracetamol and hydrating he soon felt better.

When the pandemic grounded me and I wasnt able to go on these adventures, a big part of my life went missing. Its only when something is taken away from you that you realise how important it is. So, when we came through the pandemic, I thought: life is short.
Planning permission documents lodged with Kildare County Council (KCC) show that 569 residential units and a childcare facility have been proposed for the town of Newbridge.

According to the documents, Aston Limited is seeking consent from KCC, under the Strategic Housing Development (ABP decision) for demolition of existing site structures at the Great Connell area.

The Newbridge Community Development has said that the site is zoned new residential in the Newbridge Local Area Plan (LAP) 2013-2019, which provides a policy basis for a housing application.

Following this, the company proposes the construction of 569 residential units, a neighbourhood centre with 11 units (gross floor area 2,141 sqm) and a childcare facility (886 sqm).

Consent is also being sought from KCC by Aston Limited for circa 350 metre section of distributor road (which will include segregated cycle lanes and a bus stop) and all ancillary and associated works on a site of 27.64 hectares, surrounding and including the dwellings of Great Connell and Valencia Lodge.

The date received is listed as April 13, while the submission-by and due dates are listed as May 17 and June 7 respectively.

The planner is listed as one Ms Sarah O' Mahony.

According to the website SoloCheck.ie, Aston Limited was established in 2002 and is based in Dublin.
A YOUNG man who was caught driving at more than 200km/h has avoided a disqualification.

Eoin McCarthy, aged 20, of Corderry, Galbally pleaded guilty, at Newcastle West Court, to careless driving on the M20 motorway at Barnakyle, Patrickswell on May 8, 2021.

Judge Carol Anne Coolican was told when Garda Dermot Hallett was operating a speed checkpoint at 8.50pm he detected a BMW 520 travelling at 204km/h.

Inspector Liam Wallace said road conditions were dry at the time and that there was no other traffic.

Solicitor Rossa McMahon accepted the high speed created a difficulty for his client who has no previous convictions.

While no explanation was given to Garda Hallett on the night, he said Mr McCarthy suffers from a medical condition which explains what was happening.

While letters from a doctor were submitted to the court to support the submission, the contents were not read out publicly and Mr McMahon said a passenger who was in the BMW with his client was not aware of his condition.

He is putting himself at the mercy of the court, he said adding his client was very eager, if possible, to avoid a disqualification.

Judge Coolican was told the defendant has just finished an apprenticeship with a multi-national company in Limerick city and he is eager to start a career.

Having read the contents of the letter, she said she would not impose a driving ban.

Mr McCarthy was fined 500 and he will receive penalty points.
THE BLUE touch paper which has been smouldering between two Limerick TDs has been lit again.

Minister for State Patrick ODonovan and Deputy Richard ODonoghue have had a number of verbal sparring matches. There was a war of words over Mr ODonoghue announcing he would take the vaccine after previously expressing reservations, and when Mr ODonoghue said Mr ODonovan was actively trying to stop my speaking rights.

It erupted again last week when Mr ODonovan was answering questions in the Dail. Mr ODonoghue said the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, is a fellow Limerick man.

Are the people of Europe aware that we cannot move away from fossil fuels because we have no alternatives? The Minister was elected by the people of County Limerick, who he represents, including pig farmers, workers in small industries and truckers. Everyone who has elected the Minister of State has asked him to have a voice, not to be told by his party's whip what to say and when to say it.

We have two million vehicles in this country. Most of them are in towns and villages around the rural areas that the Minister of State represents. These people have no public transport in place. Basically, the people in our area of County Limerick and other counties are paying for the infrastructure that the Government is putting into the cities. Yet, they are failing to put infrastructure into the counties. People are going to go hungry. People are going to be cold. People are going to have debt. This is all because of the failure of this Government to act, said Mr ODonoghue, who added that the Government has been asked to cap the price of the tax on fuel but has refused to help us on that.

He asked where is all the taxation going on the fuels?

It is coming from fuel taxes. I want the Minister of State to help me make a difference to every household. I want him to stand up here for the people of County Limerick who elected him to help all industry for the area he represents, said Mr ODonoghue.

Mr ODonovan said he has been in the Dail for 12 years representing the people of County Limerick.

In response to Deputy O'Donoghue, I do not need to be reminded of my job. I am well capable of being reminded of that by the people of County Limerick. Having been returned by them three times now, I must be doing something right, said Mr ODonovan.

With regard to rural infrastructure, Mr ODonovan said he notes that in the Limerick Leader, Weekly Observer and Vale Mallow Star and Observer, the deputy (Mr ODonoghue) is very quick to welcome much of the Government's investment in rural roads.

As someone who works in construction, I note the deputy is very praiseworthy of the Government's increased investment in roads all over County Limerick. We are doing a very good job in investing in roads in County Limerick. The deputy is also very praiseworthy of the Government's rural transport infrastructure improvements, which have been done all over County Limerick. We are, therefore, doing an awful lot of very positive things as well.

The deputy gets a lot of speaking time in this Chamber. He is no stranger to taking a lot of credit for some of the stuff the Government is doing in County Limerick. During some of the times he uses that speaking time here, he might put in the odd plug for the positive stuff we are doing as well, because it is not all negative, said Mr ODonovan.

The Ceann Comhairle said: We are fortunate to have so many robust contributors from County Limerick.
A RECORD number of volunteers have signed up for this year's Team Limerick Clean-Up which takes place this Good Friday.

Over 21,000 people across the city and county have registered for the event which will officially kick-off at the soon-to be-opened International Rugby Experience in the heart of the city.

Since the launch at Kilmallock in January of this year, support and enthusiasm for the JP McManus-backed venture has been incredible with volunteer groups from all sections of the community and all areas of the city and county signing up in record numbers.

Sponsored by the JP McManus Benevolent Fund, TLC has seen over 400 tonnes of litter gathered from the streets by volunteers and event partner Mr. Binman since its inception in 2015  equating to over 14,500 household wheelie bins.

Project Leader Paul Foley expressed his gratitude to all the volunteers: A huge thank you to all who have registered from every part of Limerick.

These are extraordinary participation numbers and reflect real and genuine pride in our city and county.



The Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Daniel Butler has wished the thousands of people who have volunteered for this years clean-up the very best of luck.

I would like to wish the record number of volunteers who have signed up for Team Limerick Clean Up 7 the very best of luck. You are the heartbeat of your communities and your communities are only going to get stronger as a result. More than 21,000 volunteers across the city and county of Limerick have signed up for this years event and it is a credit to you all as you are willing to give up your Good Friday morning to clean up your areas. You are showing true Limerick spirit."

Mayor Butler has thanked the organisers of TLC7 as well as the JP McManus Benevolent Fund, Paul OConnell, the local authority and Mr Binman.

Team Limerick Clean-Up is supported by the Limerick Leader, Live 95, Limerick Post, I Love Limerick and ELive.
A BALLYSIMON Road based information technology (IT) firm has been acquired by another company in a move which will bring 50 new jobs.

FutureRange, an IT service provider in Dublin, has completed the merger of manged IT services company Garry IT.

Over the next three years, FutureRange will set up an operation in Limerick and expand its range of services.

The merger was completed following a recent management buyout of FutureRange, led by incoming managing director, Michael Rooney, and director, Mark Butler.

Mr Rooney, who comes with over 20 years of experience in the IT sector, joined FutureRange in 2017 as director of IT services.

With 30 employees under the unified brand, FutureRange has now expanded its services to include cybersecurity with Daniel Garry, founder of Garry IT, at the helm of FutureRanges new cybersecurity department.

Mr Garry said: Joining forces with FutureRange means Garry IT clients can now access additional services from our growing team of experts while continuing to benefit from the personalised and tailored services they received in the past. Our expertise and capabilities in cybersecurity have been transformational for us and now positions FutureRange to maintain its market leader status at a time when digital transformation across sectors is accelerating and putting pressure on the IT supports available to many businesses.
LIMERICKS Bishop is asking young people to say no to negativity this Easter, and to turn away from the toxicity of social media platforms.

In an open letter, Bishop Brendan Leahy said that a storm has descended on young people.

He stressed the importance of having the courage to say no to bullying, including online bullying. Its also a very courageous move to say no to online in its entirety, to social media, he said.

He referenced a friend of his, who he says doesnt walk away from anything thats negative in his life, he sprints.

So, by that token, if social media is bringing negativity to your life, leave it behind you. If people are true friends, they will have your phone number, he added.

He described social media as a double edge sword that can cut deep.

If we hear something on radio that we dislike, we switch channel or turn it off. Do the same with social media if its causing you problems.

He stated that young peoples social anxiety has increased further as they face pressures to do with the cost of living and accommodation difficulties.

Then theres the desperate spectre of the war in Ukraine with refugees arriving in great numbers in Ireland casting a gloomy shadow over us all, he added

"We imagine the plight and trauma of families, mothers and children. Young adults realise young people of their age, men and women, have been called to war.

We all feel threatened by how war can so easily escalate in a way wed have never foreseen possible in Europe.

Bishop Leahy, however, urged young people to look no further than US Masters champion Scottie Scheffler in how he overcame the weight of the pressure he felt on Sunday morning.

He spoke about being almost overwhelmed the morning of the final round, breaking down in tears, talking about not being ready for this.

Like so many of us he turned to an ally for support, his wife Meredith, who asked, who are you to say you are not ready.

They then talked about Gods will. God is in control and the Lord is leading me. And if today is my time, then its my time, he said.

Peace and calm can come in troubled waters if you put your faith in those closest to you and in God, Bishop Leahy concluded.
Catholic churchgoers on the island of Ireland have raised 3.25 million euro for the people of Ukraine since the war began.

Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh and Archbishop Dermot Farrell of Dublin paid tribute to the generosity of parishioners.

Irish bishops had asked for a special collection in parishes across the island, in the wake of the Russian invasion.

The collection took place largely over the weekend of March 26-27.

In a joint statement, the archbishops said: Since the outbreak of this war, over seven million people have been displaced and nearly five million people have been forced to emigrate from Ukraine, becoming international refugees.

As Christians, our Gospel imperative is to support the victims of this appalling humanitarian crisis, in the words of the Holy Thursday Liturgy, where charity and love are found there is God.

The large funds raised by Irish parishes will be channelled to assist those who are suffering such devastation to their lives and livelihoods.

Parishes across Ireland have responded with enormous generosity and compassion and we are most grateful for that.

It is also heartening that some parish communities have established direct links with Ukrainian parishes and local charitable projects to support refugees and those remaining in Ukraine."

The proceeds of the collection will be sent to the international Catholic Church agency Caritas Internationalis.
A bonus payment for frontline healthcare workers in recognition of their efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to come through in their next payroll, it has been confirmed.

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly welcomed developments that have been made to implement the Government decision to provide a Covid Recognition Payment to eligible public service healthcare and ambulance workers, in recognition of their efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic bonus is expected to be worth between 600 and 1,000 in recognition of the contribution made by frontline healthcare workers during the pandemic.

It had originally been expected that the money would be paid to health staff, who worked in very difficult circumstances during the Covid-19 pandemic, in February or March.

The payment of 1,000 will not be subject to income tax, USC, or PRSI.

Minister Donnelly told the Dail in January, the measure will be ring fenced to staff ordinarily onsite in COVID-19 exposed healthcare environments within the period between 1 March 2020 and 30 June 2021.

Announcing the news that the payment is due to be processed, he said: "I welcome the significant efforts made to progress the payment of this measure. This is the result of extensive work by officials in my Department and the HSE, as well as consultations between the HSE, Department of Health and health sector trade unions. The necessary circulars to activate this payment have been finalised and will be published by the HSE early next week.

"The payment will be made as soon as possible to those who are confirmed as eligible, through the next available payroll, subject to local processes," Minister Donnelly said.

"This measure was introduced as a token of the appreciation and gratitude that myself, my colleagues in Government and the Irish people have for the ongoing efforts of our frontline public sector healthcare workers to protect us all from the worst impacts of COVID-19.

"I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all involved  in particular our frontline public sector healthcare workers and the unions who represent them  for their patience and extensive engagement while this important once off measure was progressed.

A further phase of this payment will include arrangements for paying those eligible staff that are not employed by the HSE / Section 38 agencies (eg: Private Sector Nursing Homes / Hospices), further details of this phase will be announced in due course," Minister Donnelly said.
NEW DELHI : The Union Ministry of Ayush on Friday announced that it will organise the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit during April 20-22, 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The summit will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said a statement from the ministry of Ayush. The three-day event will witness participation of industry leaders, academicians, and scholars to deliberate upon ways to promote traditional medicines, and systems.

As part of the summit, 5 plenary sessions, 8 roundtables, 6 workshops, 2 symposiums, 90 eminent speakers and 100 exhibitors will be present. Speakers and diplomats will be present from across embassies, industries and top corporates. There will also be multiple initiatives to stimulate Ayush exports in international markets.

We are proud to announce the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit 2022 that will bring together the countrys leading start-ups, entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, and other national and international stakeholders for a specially curated event on innovation and entrepreneurship to help India become a Global Ayush Destination. The present market size of the Ayush sector has grown by 17% p.a. from 2014-2020 and we hope to build the success of the sector even further through these flagship events and initiatives," said Union Minister, Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal.

One of the aims of the summit is to attract lucrative investments to build India as the global Ayush destination in the world.

In recent years, India has seen enormous investments due to the absence of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) restrictions. The Ayush Ministry wants to keep building on this and utilize the platform to initiate target-oriented initiatives to enable the recognition and growth of traditional systems of medicine.

When we are healthy and balanced, we are able to fulfil our dreams and share our responsibility as part of society. The Ayush system speaks enormously on the rule of diet in maintaining health. It has advocated a number of simple practices that can help us reconnect with our authentic selves," said the Minister of State, Munjpara Mahendrabhai Kalubhai.

The ceremony for the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine will take place on 19th April, in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This centre will emerge as an international hub of global wellness taking traditional medicine systems of the world to new heights. It will also provide assistance to WHO member countries so that positive health can be spread over the world.
Infosys founder N.R. Narayana Murthys daughter Akshata Murthy has just announced that she will be paying her taxes in Britain. Akshata, wife of UKs Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak  widely tipped as the man to succeed Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister  owns a 0.91% stake in Infosys. This had earned her an estimated $1.5 million in dividend income last year but Akshata had not paid any UK taxes on the income, under a Colonial-era provision exempting non-domiciled residents. This had brought down much media heat on Sunak. Sunak was also called out for calling on British businesses to pull out from Russia, even as Infosys continued to do business in Russia and his wife benefitted tax-free from it.

Akshatas decision might now damp down some of the media criticism. Infosyss decision to pull out of Russia, announced along with the software giants quarterly results earlier this month, has also been quickly seized upon as another win for the NATO-led sanctions against Putins Russia, particularly since Sunak had earlier been accused of profiteering from Putin" by British media.

However, Akshatas tax troubles and Infosyss Russia exit are two separate things. A company in which just under half the shares are held by foreign and domestic institutional investors and mutual funds is unlikely to be swayed in its commercial decisions by the political problems of a 0.91% stakeholder.

The real reason becomes clear if we look at Infosyss revenues broken up by region. In 2021, Infosys earned a staggering 61.6% of revenues from North America, predominantly the USA. Add to that the 24.4% revenues from the EU region and Indias second-biggest software companys critical dependence on the two regions  which also constitute the main powers behind the NATO alliance  is clear.

When 85% of your paying customers make it clear that they do not wish to see you doing business with Putins Russia, you do not do business with Putins Russia. Ergo, exit Moscow. A far cry from December 2004, when Putin visited Infys Bengaluru campus and an effusive Narayana Murthy, then chairman and chief mentor, Infosys, said, "Mr. Putin's visit to India is an affirmation of the special relationship between our two countries. India and Russia share several common values and have already successfully leveraged each other's strengths across various industry sectors," adding, As our bilateral relations expand in scope and depth, surely Information Technology will be one of the areas in which both countries can collaborate for talent and knowledge."

The proxy war between the US and Russia is a true 21st-century war. Russian and Ukrainian forces slugging it out in Ukraine form only a small part of the theatre of conflict, which extends from economics to trade to cyberspace and social media. Again, governmental sanctions, which played such a key role in the conflicts with Afghanistan, Iraq, or Syria, form only part of the economic offensive mounted by the US and NATO powers against Russia. From seizing superyachts and private jets owned by his oligarch funds to freezing Russias legitimate dollar reserves in western banks to arm-twisting western companies to wear their patriotism on their sleeves by marching out of Moscow, the US has leveraged its enormous power as the home of most of the worlds biggest corporations, as well as its clout as the biggest market for most non-American global businesses, to try and economically squeeze Russia.

It is also a war being fought as much on social media as it is on the ground. And social pressure on western companies in general and American companies in particular to boycott Russia and Russian money has been intense. This is why companies as diverse as Apple and Netflix, or Coca-Cola and KPMG, have exited Russia.

This is understandable, but Infosys is not an American company. In fact, Infys Russia pull-out is in direct conflict with Indias official position, which is of studied neutrality and continued business with Russia. India is buying Russian oil and selling it everything from clothes to tea to basmati rice. So why is Infosys dancing to Bidens, rather than Modis tune?

The importance of the US market, obviously. But then, that begs the question: Is Infosys an Indian company, or an American one? The answer to that question is even simpler. As companies from countries unrelated to the conflict; like Korean phone makers, Japanese carmakers and Swedish furniture makers have discovered, he who pays the piper is the one who calls the tune.

Of course, this only works if the market is small enough to be sacrificed for brownie points. Russia is a giant country with a small population. So, while it is a significant producer and exporter of a number of things, the loss of the Russian market is not catastrophic for most companies that have exited Russia under political pressure. Even Infosys had just 100 employees and was servicing a handful of clients there.

But a big producer and consumer market like China is a different story. The USs ongoing battle for global dominance with China has in no way impacted the hunger for Chinese goods among American consumers, or the dependence of American companies on Chinese manufacturing. India too found this out the hard way. After the border intrusions and territory grab by China in Ladakh, all India could do was ban some Chinese apps. Indias imports from China have actually gone up after the conflict. Clearly, patriotism stops at the balance sheet!

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Who doesn't want a "cool, chef-driven restaurant" in Austin?

On its face, it's a pretty innocuous notion put forth by a new developer hoping to transform Fourth Street in Downtown Austin. To Coconut Club and Neon Grotto co-owner Cole Evans, it's an empty platitude, the latest in an ongoing push to change his city.

"It sounds like a pitch from someone who doesn't really know kind of what the community is they're serving," Evans tells MySA. "It sounds like development buzz-speak to me."

Earlier this week, Community Impact reported that Houston-based developer, the Hanover Company, is pursuing a new mixed-use tower in downtown Austin that would result in the demolition of multiple LGBTQ bars and clubs. Hanover partner David Ott remarked that Evans' clubs could be replaced with a "cool, chef-driven restaurant," a phrase that now lives prominently, in all-caps, in Coconut Club's Instagram bio.

At a meeting with the architectural review committee of the Austin Historic Landmark Commission on Monday, April 11, developers presented a proposal to transform the block at West Fourth and Colorado Streets. Hanover representatives hope to present their case before the entire commission on May 4, at which time, demolition could be approved, which would radically change the look and cultural fabric of the area.

The article notes that Oilcan Harry's, which has a 30-year history in Austin, would be given a second life under Hanover's plan. After getting a temporary relocation, a new space in the tower would be afforded to the club at reduced rent. No such luck for the other LGBTQ clubs on the block.

Two former Cheer Up Charlies employees, Evans and Brian Almaraz, opened Coconut Club at 310 Colorado Street in November 2019. After weathering the COVID-19 pandemic, the beachy dance club will likely have to find a new location if the demolition is approved.

"We had already, in our minds, prepared for this day," Evans told MySA.

Two months after opening Coconut Club, their landlord informed them that a 24-month exit clause in their lease was being exercised. It was heartbreaking. Then the pandemic hit, which changed the timeframe and gave the duo some hope.

"I'd heard from different sources that it could take five or six years," Evans says. "They have to get soil samples, the economy's dipping, they still want to read the room before they do anything."

Unfortunately for fans of Coconut Club, and its adjacent outpost Neon Grotto, that day looks to be about a year from now if Hanover gets its way. Mia Shannonhouse is a local lash artist for whom Fourth Street has become a second home.

"The gay community adopted Coconut Club very early on and make up much of the patrons and staff, which to me automatically makes it a more cool and welcoming place," she says. "It has blossomed because of the queer and POC community and thats what I love most about being there. This district isnt disposable."

Evans is being as pragmatic as he can about the reality of their situation, noting that they don't have much of a legal leg to stand on in regard to the clause in their lease. Regardless of what happens with Coconut Club, he's encouraged by regulars like Shannonhouse who aren't giving up the fight.

"The response from the community has been incredible. I've seen a ton of people posting about it, people are going to City Hall to fight it, to make sure that we can keep it," Evans says. "We're very appreciative of that and I really, really love it."

Evans doesn't think that LGBTQ clubs are necessarily being targeted by developers, even in light of the recent news of The Iron Bear's apparent impending demise. He chalks it up to the clubs' prime downtown geography and, at the very least, takes solace in the notion that at least Oilcan Harry's can remain on Fourth Street in some capacity.

"I don't know what the motives are, but I do know how I feel about it," Evans says. "And I do know that it's going have a lot of fallout for the community of queer culture in Austin, and the repercussions will definitely be there whether or not the motives are malicious or not."

Evans and Almaraz are already looking for a new space in Austin as they open their next spot, a club called Paradise Palace that opens later this spring in Houston. They've told staff that this isn't the end, even if they change the name and/or concept for Coconut Club.

"We're not going to stop doing what we're doing. We love it," Evans says. "And I think we love Austin. And I think Austin's worth fighting for, as far as keeping this community live and having a place for them to come and enjoy themselves and creating safe spaces. Brian and I will continue to do what we do in whatever venue we're in."
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Meera Simhan has been cast in ABCs comedy pilot The Son in Law, Variety has learned.

Simhan will play Khushi Mehta, Ashas (Reema Sampat) high-strung philanthropist mother. The show follows Ashas relationship with Jake (Chris Sullivan), a plumber who is older and significantly less wealthy than Asha and her family, of which Ashas mother disapproves. Khushis husband, Om, is the conductor of the New York Philharmonic, but back in the day, Khushis own parents disapproved of her relationship. Ever the charmer, Khushi is well connected in Manhattans wealthy social scene, and she doesnt even attempt to hide her feelings about Jake and his desire to marry Asha, much to Ashas dismay.

Simhan has amassed more than 50 TV credits over the past 25 years, including guest roles on The Resident, Evil, Anger Management, House, Fresh Off the Boat and NCIS: Los Angeles, as well as a recurring role on CWs The Flash. Previously, she worked as an actress in England after graduating from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Her film credits include Homecoming and the 2012 Sundance film Hello I Must Be Going. Simhan also toured her own one-woman show, Miss India America. Her feature screenplay, also titled Miss India America, has won several screenwriting awards, including best screenplay at the Los Angeles Asian America Film Festival and the CAAM Fest Narrative Jury Award for best feature.

She is repped by April Lim at Global Artists Agency and manager Brinda Bhatt at Artistry Collective.

The Son in Law is written by Ajay Sahgal. Melvin Mar, Jake Kasdan and Sahgal executive produce. 20th Television is the studio.

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NEW YORK (AP)  Charlie Rose, whose career as a journalist imploded in 2017 due to sexual misconduct allegations, emerged Thursday by posting online a lengthy interview he conducted with investor Warren Buffett.

Rose said in a message on his website that he was proud to have the recent conversation with Buffett. The 80-year-old journalist said it was the first interview he had conducted in more than four years.

It's great to see you, Rose told Buffett, the 91-year-old chief of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the richest men in the world.

It's great to see you, Buffett answered. Their talk lasted 75 minutes and focused solely on Buffett. Rose's experiences were not discussed.

Rose's television talk show, which had aired on PBS since 1991, ended abruptly in November 2017 after The Washington Post published a story in which several women who had worked with him alleged a pattern of sexual misconduct that included groping and walking naked in front of them.

He called one 21-year-old staffer to tell her his fantasies of seeing her swim in the nude, the Post said in its investigation, published at the height of the #MeToo movement.

Rose apologized for his actions but it didn't save his job. He was also fired from CBS This Morning," which he had co-hosted with Gayle King since 2012.

On his website, Rose called the Buffett interview a step in a journey to engage the most interesting people and explore the most compelling ideas in the world.

In the interview, the two men talked about Buffett's career, which began when he bought stocks for $114.75 in 1942, when he was 11 years old. He described his typical day, which would include calling a co-worker a half hour before the stock market opened to direct him on what business to conduct  sometimes involving billions of dollars in buying and selling.

Buffett talked about his company's annual meeting, on April 30, where he planned to talk to and answer questions from thousands of his investors.

To that end, he brushed aside some of Rose's specific questions, including when the interview broached the topic of the war in Ukraine.

It doesn't do me any good  and doesn't do the world any good  to have me talk about it, Buffett said.

Asked how time has changed him, Buffett said, I've gotten dumber but I've gotten wiser. He can't add numbers as quickly, sometimes forgets names and occasionally climbs to the top of the stairs and forgot what he came up for. But allocating capital, he said, I can do ... as well as ever.

Not everyone on social media welcomed Rose's return, with some people posting old articles on Twitter about what he was accused of. Rebecca Carroll, author of Surviving the White Gaze, posted her December 2017 Esquire article in which she wrote of the toxic and degrading atmosphere she found when she was a producer on Rose's PBS show, and the ramifications of the #MeToo movement for Black women.

Powerful white men will always reemerge, Carroll wrote on Twitter. They will always be fine.
There was no question as to whether the television adaptation of Min Jin Lee's "Pachinko" would be told in three languages, according to series creator Soo Hugh. It was vital to the story, a multigenerational tale stretching from a woman born and raised in Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 20th century to her grandson, an ethnically Korean businessman working in 1980s Japan.

When the woman, Sunja (Minha Kim as a teenager; Yuh-jung Youn in her older age), speaks Korean, English subtitles appear on-screen in a yellow font. When her grandson, Solomon (Jin Ha), speaks Japanese, the subtitles appear in blue. But when Solomon addresses his grandmother, the yellow and blue mingle, each of his words color-coded based on which language it originates from.

Viewers who speak multiple languages may be familiar with the meld; a similar cultural phenomenon exists with the concept of Spanglish, for instance. In "Pachinko," the visual representation of Solomon's words nod to the complicated colonial history his grandmother navigated firsthand and the reverberations of which he continues to grapple with as an adult. The yellow and blue capture how his Korean heritage both challenges and intertwines with his Japanese upbringing.

"It just felt so intuitive because most people outside Korea and Japan would never know when the languages handed off," said Hugh, who is Korean American. "I always knew they were going to be color-coded."

"Pachinko" picks up in Korea a handful of years after the start of Japanese occupation, which ended in 1945 with Japan's surrender in World War II. After Sunja marries a Zainichi Korean man, a term used to describe the ethnically Korean population living in Japan, she moves with him to Osaka and raises her family there. The show switches back and forth between the different eras of Sunja's life as smoothly as it does the two languages.

In a memorable award speech for his Korean-language film "Parasite," filmmaker Bong Joon-ho said that "once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films." It was a call for open minds and an appreciation of the authenticity that comes with telling a story in the languages natural to its characters.

Bong's message spread wide, and "Pachinko," already in development by that point, embraces its sentiment. In writing the series for Apple TV Plus, Hugh, who also serves as showrunner and executive producer, said she never received pushback on a U.S. show whose characters speak almost exclusively in Korean and Japanese. "It was really reassuring to know that wasn't going to have to be a battle," she added. (The scripts were written in English before portions of them were translated to different Korean and Japanese dialects, specific to each character.)

When "Pachinko" begins, Solomon, born in Japan but educated in the United States, convinces his bosses to transfer him to the company's Tokyo branch so he can broker a major deal involving land owned by a Korean woman of his grandmother's generation. Long made to feel inferior by his Japanese peers due to his Zainichi Korean family (which runs a Pachinko gambling arcade), Solomon commits to his business endeavors above all else. He capitalizes on whichever aspect of his identity best serves those interests at any given point, in this case his Korean ethnicity.

"There is a lot of language in the show about economic forces and how so many of our characters are at the whim of forces outside their control," Hugh said. "Solomon believes that those concerns don't affect him anymore. The past doesn't matter. The present for him is a clean slate."

With this storyline, the subtitles reveal power dynamics between the characters. At work, Solomon toggles between English and Japanese, for which blue subtitles appear. When he pays a visit to the landowning woman - both alone and with Sunja - the words switch to yellow. The woman is tough to convince; the land is symbolic, a rare source of power in a country that has been hostile to her people. But Solomon eventually convinces her to come to the office to sign it over.

The businessmen receive blue subtitles, as does the woman when she narrates her family's history to the room, still hesitant to part with their hard-earned property. But then she switches to Korean, shutting everyone else out as she expresses her deep misgivings directly to Solomon.

In this scene, the blue and yellow subtitles denote two simultaneous, contradictory conversations. As the Japanese men look on in confusion, the woman asks Solomon what he would advise his own grandmother to do. He pauses, considering, before his answer appears in yellow: "Don't do it."

When the woman walks away, Solomon's bosses reprimand him in blue.

"Characters like Solomon, who can traverse between different languages - that's part of his burden, but it's also his calling card," Hugh said. "It's the thing that gets him access to both places. If we as an audience aren't able to feel the fluidity of how language works in the show - and also the restrictions of it and the imprisonment of it - then I don't think the show works at all."
China urges U.S. to honor commitment to not support "Taiwan independence"

Xinhua) 15:14, April 15, 2022

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Friday urged the U.S. government to fulfill its commitment to not support "Taiwan independence" with real actions instead of saying one thing and doing another.

For some time now, the U.S. administration and Congress have been making repeated provocations on the Taiwan question and increasingly playing the "Taiwan card," attempting to "use Taiwan to contain China" and obstruct China's complete reunification and its process of national rejuvenation, said Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.

Ma made the remarks in response to a question on the visit to Taiwan by certain U.S. lawmakers including U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham on Thursday.

Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authority and separatist elements advocating "Taiwan independence" ingratiated themselves with the visiting U.S. lawmakers. "The move cannot change the fact that Taiwan is a part of China, nor can it stand in the way of the complete reunification of the motherland and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," Ma noted.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
In Episode 1 of Showtime's "The First Lady," which premieres April 17, Michelle Obama (Viola Davis), whose husband has just been elected president, is getting a tour of the White House's private quarters from outgoing first lady Laura Bush (Kathleen Garrett).

"I'm not going to lie to you, it will never seem normal," Bush says as she walks Obama past the porcelains and paintings in the Center Hall. "But you will find a way to make it comfortable."

The 10 episodes of "The First Lady" chronicle how three very different presidential spouses - Obama, Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson) - dealt with being political wives while raising families, putting forth their own agendas and trying to maintain their sense of self. They also had to decorate the upstairs White House family living spaces and work on leaving their mark on the public rooms, a living museum of America's history. The series takes you into the private quarters, where dogs sit on sofas and first ladies get their hair done. And you'll get to see one first lady dance on a conference table in the West Wing.

Many different White House sets were imagined for this series. In the Obamas' White House bedroom, you'll see Barack Obama (O-T Fagbenle) stretched out on their four-poster bed having a beer while chatting with Michelle about the day's events. Franklin D. Roosevelt (Kiefer Sutherland) rolls his wheelchair into the Oval Office to have a sticky conversation with Eleanor by a large globe and his cluttered desk. Susan Ford (Dakota Fanning) and Betty Ford debate the idea of holding Susan's high school prom at the White House in Susan's 1970s teenage White House bedroom filled with splashy floral prints and a brass bed.

Tony Fanning (along with Todd Fjelsted) was a production designer behind "The First Lady." Fanning worked with hundreds of people to replicate White House rooms dating from 1905 to 2017. We spoke to him earlier this month.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: How did you do your research?

A: I have done the White House a number of times, and I have a full-time researcher. I was involved with "The West Wing" and for a time doing the movie "Lincoln" and also "Thirteen Days." I am a White House history buff. Our researcher is in touch with the White House Historical Association quite often, and we also got information from the National Archives and all the presidential libraries. I have a number of books on the White House and the two-volume William Seale book on the history of the White House. You can access a lot of the measurements and materials. It's so well-documented. It's not like we're designing it, but we're kind of replicating what existed.

Q: How did you re-create the Fords' 1974 state dinner for King Hussein of Jordan, and why didn't you show more White House parties?

A: We had to avoid some of the larger, more glamorous events because of covid. For that Ford state dinner, the scenes in the East Room were augmented [meaning people were added to the scene later], because we could not fill it up. There are photos of that dinner at the Ford library. We did the best we could to make it look as authentic as possible. I don't think the china was an absolute replica. We couldn't really get into the minute detail of that. The flower arrangements with the carnations were trying to evoke that period.

Q: Where did you find the furnishings, and what was the hardest piece to source?

A: Our biggest challenge was how fast the schedule was and getting all of the materials needed to do all of the sets. It was filmed in Cinelease Studios' Three Ring Studio in Covington, Ga., about 40 miles from downtown Atlanta, which meant a lot of driving. We shopped at estate sales, antique stores and flea markets all over Georgia and neighboring states. For Eleanor, it was easier for us to shop out of New England and truck it into Georgia. We brought in rentals from Los Angeles prop houses in shipping containers. Among the biggest challenges were floor coverings, lighting and drapery. Getting fabrics during covid was a nerve-racking task, and a lot of choices needed to be adjusted because of delays in shipping. At first, we set up our own drapery shop, but we had to turn out so much that we needed to outsource to local vendors.

Q: How did you do the exterior shots of the White House itself?

A: The outside White House shots, driving up and going in and out of doors were filmed at Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, where he built a small-scale reproduction of the White House on his studio back lot, and it's shootable on all four sides. Anything you see of them arriving in a motorcade or walking into the White House was filmed there.

Q: Does Eleanor's secret room that is just off her own White House bedroom really exist? Did her confidante, Lorena "Hick" Hickok,really sleep there?

A: Eleanor's secret room does not exist in the way it is shown. We took dramatic license with that. There are secret passages that were used for the purposes she described. But where Hick actually stayed is a room that was about that size, it just was not connected to Eleanor's room. It was across the hall. Eleanor fixed it up for her. The Roosevelts had a very progressive marriage. Each had their own romantic attachments living there. Lucy Mercer [Eleanor's onetime social secretary with whom FDR had a long-standing relationship] had her own room up there, too.

Q: Did you get to talk to any of the first families for the show?

A: None of the first families were involved. There was initial contact with Michelle Obama that Viola made, but that was very limited. I did not talk to Michael Smith [the Obamas' White House decorator], but my set decorator did. A lot of what you see in the residence, such as the fabrics, furniture and wallcoverings, we could get reproductions of. We used photographs from Smith's book. I was excited to re-create those rooms; they were some of the most elegant interiors in the series, both beautiful and tasteful.

For all the presidents, we used furniture that would be close to what they had or that had the same feeling. Their public lives at the White House are very well-documented. A photographer is around almost all the time, and you get a lot of information from those photographs about how the rooms were set up.

Q: Was the Roosevelt White House the most difficult to document, because it dates to the 1930s and 1940s?

A: After looking at research, we had to come to terms with the fact that the Roosevelts lived with a lot of clutter. We had to streamline a lot of it and made choices to keep it to a more presidential level, like for the other first ladies. What was interesting is that the photos were all in black and white. You can read descriptions of what the colors may have been, but we took liberties to glamorize a little bit and bring more character to it. We tried not to make it too glamorous. Eleanor Roosevelt was not much of a decorator and didn't care for that aspect of the White House much. She very much liked having all of her photos and personal items around her.
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Leslie Grace is home in the U.S. after spending months overseas shooting Batgirl, the upcoming HBO Max film adaptation of the iconic crime fighter. She takes on the role of Barbara Gordon/Batgirl in the film, co-directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, with a cast that includes J.K. Simmons as her father Commissioner Jim Gordon and Brendan Fraser as villain Firefly. Michael Keaton makes his return as Batman 30 years after his first appearance as the Caped Crusader.

Talk turned to Batgirl when I caught up with Grace earlier today about her new collaboration with Haagen-Dazs. Shes helping promote City Sweets, the companys new collection of ice cream flavors that incorporate street food deserts, including churros, street vendor pretzels and black-and-white cookies. Brooklyn-based artist Jade Purple Brown designed the ice creams colorful packaging.

Ive been eating Haagen-Dazs since I was in my moms belly because it was like her main craving, the Bronx-raised Grace says. Theres this one flavor, Vanilla Swiss Almond, that she would have my dad fill the fridge with.

City Sweets is an offshoot of Haagen-Dazs #ThatsDazs campaign, which has committed $1.5 million to creatives in marginalized communities.

Grace talked brand partnerships that give back, putting on the Batgirl suit for the first time, seeing Keaton on set and more.

How important is it to you that when you do a brand partnership that there is a charitable component to it, too?

Its so important. Its main thing that I look for in all my brand partnerships. I never want to align with a brand just because theres a big dollar sign attached to it. People feel that and thats just not what Im about. Its not just, Okay, were going give away this money. Its actually putting their money where their mouth is and bringing in creatives from the community to create a relationship for years to come. Thats what really counts. Thats what really makes a difference.

Lets talk about these new flavors. Ice cream with crispy churros and caramel!

I just tasted the crispy churros one the other day and I was like I think I might just have this for breakfast, lunch and dinner because I love churros. Like thats my favorite street food.

I imagine eating ice cream wasnt part of your fitness training for Batgirl.

Once I got out to Glasgow [to shoot Batgirl], we had already been talking about this collaboration. I think internally they might have just decided like, Yeah, dont send her free ice cream, because I just might not fit in my suit for very long. That leather would have just bust.

What was it like putting on the Batgirl suit and looking at yourself in the mirror for the first time?

I think that was the first real moment where I was like, Oh, wow, were here. Im doing this. Like, I am really Batgirl. Its still hard for me to say that. But, yeah, it was a surreal experience.

When we talked in September at the MTV VMAs you hadnt started shooting yet, but you told me that your Batgirl was going to be a badass. Did the badassery live up to what you were expecting?

She definitely exceeds what I thought. I had to summon up some things in me that I didnt even know were there. It was an incredible learning experience to be on set with also action veterans like Brendan Fraser, and soak up it all up. It was so hard because hes our villain and Im not supposed to like him but hes such a huge teddy bear. He is one of the nicest people that Ive ever met. In our fight sequences the way he would just hit marks, it came from all of his experience. You cant improvise that kind of experience. Theres some crazy stuff that happens. Theres lots of fire because as everyone knows by now, he plays Firefly. Theres crazy fire. Theres crazy stunts, crazy drops. Shes a biker chick, so youre going to see her do a bunch of badassery.

Were there nights you got home and you were just in a lot of pain from all the stunts and fight work?

Oh my god, there were a lot of night shoots. There were a lot of long days, but it was so worth it. But, oh my gosh, never in my life have Ive been so sore or depleted. There were some days I would get home and I would think, Do I want to eat or am I just going to fall asleep?

What was it like seeing Michael Keaton walk on set?

It was wild for everyone. Our directors were like two little kids. Theyre legit Batman nerds openly. Hes Batman, man! I couldnt even believe that I was sharing space with Batman. I want to say more, but I cant. It was insane, surreal, incredible. It was the stuff of dreams really. And J.K. Simmons playing my dad. Thats my pop. I was so nervous because all I could hear in my head was his voice in Whiplash. Like what would he do and say if I didnt get something right? [Laughs]. Then we became the best of friends. And just he told me all his great stories of starting out and being a waiter and working in a pizza shop and trying to be an actor and doing theater.

Have you reached out to other actors who play superheroes like Gal Gadot or even Alicia Silverstone?

I havent. I probably should have. Its like almost a little overwhelming and hard for your brain to catch up to the magnitude of what it is that youre doing that it almost feels like its happening in a vacuum. I was just like, Oh, man, I hope I can do this. Am I in the club? I almost felt like the whole time I had some imposter syndrome. You want to earn your place. But now that youre mentioning it, Im going to slip in a few DMs and ask Hey, what was your experience? I did reach out to Sasha Calle, who is Supergirl in The Flash. Im hoping that we get to meet soon because were part of the new gen. I did reach out to Xolo Mariduena, our Blue Beetle. He is freaking awesome. Im so happy for him.

When do you start shooting Batgirl 2?

[Laughs] We got to see this first one first. But theres definitely some talks about what it could be. Ive seen some of what weve shot, obviously in the playback and stuff like that, and its insane. Weve already been talking about where do we take this from here because theres so much that happens in this film. There are a lot of different themes in the plot that we touch on. Its not just the action. Theres a love story. Theres this father-daughter relationship. Theres looking at the world through a lens that isnt just black and white and seeing the color and the spectrum between things.

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In the Italian town of Vejano, local hunters gather to share stories rich enough to inspire movies. Over the past decade, filmmakers Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis have been dutifully documenting these sessions  some fact-based, others blurring the lines of reality  translating them to screen via films that entertain, while also testing what audiences might believe. The first two, Belva Nera (about a black panther sighting) and Il Solengo (focused on an enigmatic recluse), were fashioned as nonfiction portraits, but the latest legend proved fanciful enough to call for a more narrative approach. And thus, The Tale of King Crab was born.

Debuting in Directors Fortnight at Cannes last summer, this surprising account of a curious cross-continental quest already feels timeless, like one of Pasolinis classic allegorical films (The Arabian Nights) or Alice Rohrwachers more recent, loosely fact-based Happy as Lazzaro. Its an old-fashioned literary fable, spiked with shots of grimacing men with sunburned faces blasting one another with shotguns that wouldnt be out of place in a Sergio Leone movie. The cast is mostly composed of nonprofessionals from the area, and though the acting style may seem stilted to American eyes, it fits squarely in the tradition of Italian art cinema, closer to recognizable human behavior than the more mannered acting technique were accustomed to.

Our protagonist is an outcast named Luciano, played by Gabriele Silli  not an actor, but a sculptor who spends most of his time crafting great big fibrous monsters with molten skin. The camera loves this lanky, unkempt figure, who looks the way a young Donald Sutherland might, if hed had all the wear and tear (and runaway beard) of a far-older Donald Sutherland forced upon him. This suits the character well: Luciano comes from aristocratic stock, but is a drunkard who flirts with Emma (Maria Alexandra Lungu), the local goat farmers daughter, and picks fights with the princes soldiers, for which he receives a blast of buckshot to the gut.

It takes a bit of time to figure out where the hunters story is headed, as directors de Righi and Zoppis call upon Silli to reenact scenes of this idle, vaguely Don Quixote-like character stirring up trouble. (Theyve chosen what appears to be a late-19th-century period in which to set the story, though if it werent for the peculiar class dynamics and the mention of a prince, it could be contemporary.) Instead of jousting at windmills, Luciano has made an adversary of a heavy wooden door that blocks his path, ramming himself against it like an aggravated bull.

Luciano is angry, but at what, its not altogether clear. At the local bar, he gives away his money, saying, Its worthless to me. I want to live as I please. Even Lucianos father no longer understands his seemingly self-destructive son. Here is a man in search first of meaning, then romance and eventually redemption at the far ends of the earth. (The movie starts in Vejano, Italy, but winds up at a remote South American lagoon.) But its not until the final scene  in which a man who swore off wealth finds a fortune  that audiences discover the point of his treasure hunt.

Halfway through, the film switches languages from Italian to Spanish, and skips continents to the asshole of the world  remote Argentina, an extremity far lovelier than such a nickname implies, despite the fact that its waters are poisoned by algae and the spongy terrain looks almost Martian beneath their boots. A chapter break would make it easy to assume that Lucianos story had ended and another had begun, with Silli now playing a different character, Father Antonio, but in time, the connection between the two will be made clear  as will the tales title.

The group of surly, bedraggled sailors have come in search of gold, said to be buried somewhere in the mountains. The trick to finding it involves using a spiny red crab as their compass: Born in the lake where the treasure is hidden, the crab will crawl back toward its home  a charming notion that demands a patience none of these double-crossing pirates possesses.

The closer the men get, the less trustworthy they become. And so we get a series of betrayals, culminating in a brutal and somewhat shocking shootout thats a far more spectacular payoff than a film of this style typically delivers. But even without that climactic thrill, the scenery alone would have been worth the price of admission, as DP Simone DArcangelo elevates the somewhat grubby cinematography with shots of indescribable beauty. None can rival that final scene, as Luciano stands in the glimmering sun, as solitary as he first appeared to us, having found his lifes purpose at last.

Reviewed online, April 13, 2022. In Cannes Film Festival. Running time: 105 MIN. (Original title: Re Granchio)

Running Time: Running time: 105 MIN.

Production

(Italy) An Oscilloscope release of a Ring Films, Volpe Films, Wanka Cine, Shellac production. Producers: Tommaso Bertani, Massimiliano Navarra, Agustina Costa Varsi, Ezequiel Borovinsky, Thomas Ordonneau.

Crew

Directors: Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis. Story: Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis, Tomasso Bertani, Carlo Lagagna. Camera: Simone DArcangelo. Editor: Andres Pepe Estrada. Music: Vittorio Giampietro.

With

Gabriele Silli, Maria Alexandra Lungu, Severino Sperandio, Bruno di Giovanni, Enzo Cucchi, Claudio Castori, Domenico Chiozzi, Dario Levy, Mariano Arce, Jorge Prado, Daniel Tur. (Italian, Spanish dialogue)

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The Webb County Commissioners Court approved the adoption of the American Rescue Plan Act premium pay policies this week.

James Flores, Economic Development director, said the action would allocate $1 million for premium pay for essential staff who worked under certain conditions amid the pandemic. The primary employee group discussed were the custodians, who worked on-site during the pandemic while other staff were relegated to work from home.

With premium pay issued to employees under heightened risk, Commissioner John Galo likened the premium pay to combat pay, which is a payment for members of the U.S. armed services serving in hazardous zones.

Human Resources Director Ernesto Guajardo said the premium pay will target employees with lower wages. A criterion is to be established, as not all workers from the custodial and maintenance departments can be considered low wage.

As per the meeting, the employees who qualify under the low-wage criteria are essential employees who worked in the offices and made below $38,000 a year, as set by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employees who qualify can sign up through a county form before they can be assessed to see if they qualify, Guajardo said. A preliminary list is already available of all the employees who may qualify, but there will be a final list presented to the commissioners regarding all the qualifying employees.

According to Webb County Civil Legal Division's Jorge Trevino, the $1 million will be derived from a previous ARPA funding approved by the commissioners. Furthermore, to answer a question by Galo, Trevino said a checklist will be presented to the applicants. He also clarified the payments would be prospective, not retroactive, meaning that employees would not get paid for working during their time but because they continue to work during the ongoing pandemic.

Employees will fill out the list, and it will then be reviewed by two county departments to review if the applicant fits the criteria as the HR department verifies the hours worked amid the pandemic. Trevino added further considerations were discussed to ensure that employees, who may have gotten COVID and missed work, remain eligible for the premium pay.

They need to be honest on that paperwork so that this way, we can do the analysis. If they have questions, they are welcome to ask because one of our goals is for them to understand how important it is to just answer the checklist, he said.

Trevino said the checklist will ask simple questions but assured further review would be done after the checklist is finished. He emphasized that honesty was important, and employees should answer truthfully regarding any time off and/or work attendance.
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NEW YORK (AP)  When smoke bombs and bullets were unleashed on a subway full of morning commuters as it crawled toward a stop in Brooklyn, the train's driver, David Artis, couldn't hear the shots.

His first indication something was wrong was when passengers crowded near the door to his operator's compartment to report chaos, one car back.

Artis said after a moment of shock, his thoughts quickly shifted from, Oh my God! to concern for his passengers. He leaned on his emergency training.

Then it kicked in. Get them out, he said Friday after he and fellow transit workers were honored by the mayor for their response to Tuesday's shooting.

In a few minutes of lightning-quick decisions, Artis and train conductor Raven Haynes radioed in the attack, threw open the train doors and evacuated all of the passengers to another train on the same platform, then began getting aid to the wounded.

Photos and video taken by passengers captured the pair calmly but authoritatively herding stunned commuters onto the other train, which sped away.

This week New York City showed the entire globe what our city has always been about, courage, heroism, quick thinking and decisive action, Mayor Eric Adams said.

Adams, who appeared at the City Hall ceremony virtually because he is isolating after having tested positive for COVID-19, had the workers presented Friday with proclamations to honor them for their heroism.

The ceremony came a day after the man authorities say was responsible for the carnage, Frank James, made an initial court appearance in a federal courthouse a few stops up the line from where the attack took place.

Prosecutors say he dressed as a construction worker and set off smoke grenades then pulled a handgun and fired 33 times, reloading once before his gun jammed.

The subway workers said that amidst the chaos, they didnt see the gunman in the crowd and were just focused on getting people out.

I was shouting to the people, Get on the train! Get on the train! Get on the train! Artis said.

Haynes, the conductor, said she didnt feel any fear, having worked at an airport before joining the Metropolitan Transportation Authority several years ago and was already used to reacting to unpredictable situations.

I cant stress enough the importance of having a stoic attitude in a moment of chaos. You having a calm demeanor helps your passengers become calm, which helps them get out as safely and quickly as possible, she said.

The shooting victims ranged in age from 16 to 60. Most of the wounds were to the legs, back and buttocks. A 16-year-old boy was shot in the hand. They are all expected to survive.

As the wounded passengers limped on to the platform, several knelt to assist the injured. One took off a shirt to create a tourniquet for someone shot in the leg.

Artis said that when he checked the subway car to ensure it was empty, he found blood on the floor, luggage the gunman left behind and bullet casings, which he said he immediately reported to the transit operators so police could be called.

Haynes described the moment she took in the scene, just after directing the passengers to escape.

I finally looked down toward the front of the train and I saw the whole entire second car engulfed in smoke, along with the whole north side of the platform, she said.

Investigators said that in the confusion, James slipped away on the rescue train with the other passengers, exiting one station down having ditched his construction worker outfit and helmet.

He was arrested a day later in Manhattan after a citywide manhunt that ended shortly after he called a police tip line and gave his location.

The NYPD said Friday that a $50,000 reward for information leading to James capture would be split evenly among five people whose tips it said contributed directly to the arrest. Because the tip process is anonymous, the department did not release the names of the people receiving the reward money, which was contributed by the New York City Police Foundation, a nonprofit supporting the NYPDs work, the MTA, and the transit workers union.

So much is yet unknown about the motives behind Tuesday's shooting, as the suspect's previous brushes with the law come under scrutiny.

Among his first contacts with law enforcement was when he was fired from his maintenance job at Bridgeway Behavioral Health Services in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he had been a client more than 15 years ago, the organization's chief executive officer said in a statement.

At the time of his termination, we referred Mr. James for additional mental health services, and contacted the Elizabeth, New Jersey police department who conducted their own investigation. Since that time he has not been engaged with our organization, said Cory Storch, Bridgeway's chief executive officer.

This devastating incident highlights the urgent need to increase access to mental health treatment and follow-up services for those in crisis so that future acts of violence may be avoided, Storch said.

At a brief court appearance Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara K. Winik said James premeditated, carefully planned attack caused terror among the victims and our entire city.

James was ordered jailed without bail. At the request of James lawyers, Magistrate Roanne Mann said she would ask for James to get psychiatric attention.

Hourari Benkada, a passenger who was shot in the leg, told The Associated Press in an interview that he was just feet away from the gunman.

Benkada said he was listening to music on his headphones when smoke began filling the car and he thought it was a small fire.

But the smoke kept escalating to black, black smoke like 9/11, he said, and the whole train was pitch-black.

Benkada said he heard gunshots and screams and he tried to shield a pregnant woman from getting hit during the mayhem, and as people pushed forward, a gunshot tore into his knee.

Investigators were scouring dozens of videos that James posted on social media as they work to determine a motive for the shooting. The videos include profanity-filled diatribes about racism, societys treatment of Black people, homelessness and violence.

James, a New York City native, also discussed his history of psychiatric treatment and complained about how New Yorks mayor is dealing with homeless people on subways and with gun violence. He also talked about shooting people, prosecutors noted in court papers.

Investigators say James, who recently left Milwaukee and was living at a short-term rental in Philadelphia, rented a U-Haul van in Philadelphia and drove it to New York City hours before the shooting.

___

Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Karen Matthews and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York and Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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JERUSALEM (AP)  Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Medics said more than 150 Palestinians were wounded  Palestinians threw rocks and Israeli police fired stun grenades in what was the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem's Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.

Hours after the clashes began, the police said they had put an end to the violence and arrested hundreds of suspects. The mosque was re-opened, and some 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers midday, according to the Waqf, the Islamic endowment that administers the site.

After prayers, thousands of Palestinians marched around the esplanade, chanting with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Al-Aqsa, in addition to slogans in support of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.

Less than a kilometer (mile) away, thousands of Christians marched in a procession retracing the traditional journey of Jesus to the cross in honor of Good Friday. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was open to visitors, who are returning to the Holy Land in large numbers for the first time since before the pandemic. The violence was confined to the mosque compound.

Israeli authorities said that before the unrest broke out they had negotiated with Muslim leaders to try to ensure calm. But the police say Palestinians stockpiled rocks and other objects inside the compound and hurled stones at the Mughrabi Gate, which leads to the Western Wall  a major Jewish holy site  triggering the violence.

Palestinian witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said a small group of Palestinians threw rocks at police, who then entered the compound in force, setting off a wider conflagration. Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a provocation.

Palestinians threw rocks and fireworks, and police fired tear gas and stun grenades on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque. Dozens of Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque as they fought Israeli security forces.

Israeli police later entered the mosque and arrested people inside. The police rarely enter the building, which is seen by Palestinians as an escalation.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it treated 152 people, many of them wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades.

Video footage showed police beating a photographer for the Waqf with batons before knocking him to ground and kicking him. The Waqf said the photographer, Rami Khatib, suffered a broken hand. There was no immediate comment from police.

The Israeli police said three officers were wounded from massive stone-throwing, with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.

Neighboring Jordan, which has custodianship over the holy site, and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement accusing Israel of a dangerous and condemnable escalation that threatens to explode the situation. Egypt also condemned the Israeli raid.

Israel's public security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had no interest in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront violent elements who attacked them with stones and metal bars. He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said authorities are working to calm things on the Temple Mount and throughout Israel. At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario."

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem's Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel. Israeli troops have carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed, according to an Associated Press count. Many had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been a bystander were also among those killed.

Weeks of protests and clashes in and around Al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year helped ignite a fourth Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. This year, Israel has lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions, but the attacks and the military raids are fueling another cycle of unrest.

Hamas condemned what it said were brutal attacks" on worshippers at Al-Aqsa, saying Israel would bear all the consequences.

Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.

Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years large groups of nationalist and religious Jews have regularly visited the site with police escorts.

A radical Jewish group recently called on people to bring animals to the site in order to sacrifice them for Passover, offering cash rewards for those who succeeded or even tried. Israeli police work to prevent such activities, but the call was widely circulated by Palestinians on social media, along with calls for Muslims to prevent any sacrifices from taking place.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, issued a statement calling on Muslim leaders to act to stop the violence. He also noted that bringing a sacrifice to the Temple Mount today is in opposition to the decision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

___

Associated Press reporter Wafaa Shurafa in Gaza City, Gaza Strip contributed to this report.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  Dozens of Republican leaders in Ohio are mounting a last-minute effort to urge former President Donald Trump not to endorse Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance in the crowded upcoming primary for an open Senate seat.

A draft letter circulating among Republicans and obtained by The Associated Press calls on Trump to remain neutral in the race. It was written following a news report that Trump was going to endorse Vance, a step the former president has not yet taken.

But the letter is a sign of anxiety among some Republicans about which candidate Trump may pick in advance of the state's May 3 primary. Vance has come under particular scrutiny from some of Trump's most loyal supporters for criticizing the former president in the past, something the Republicans highlighted in their letter.

In bullet points, they remind Trump of Vance's past comments, including references to potentially supporting Hillary Clinton and comparing the former president to another opioid.

We know there are many qualified candidates in this race who have stood up for the America First agenda over the years and have carried the Trump mantle over the years, again with the notable exception of JD Vance, they wrote. While we were working hard in Ohio to support you and Make America Great Again, JD Vance was actively working against your candidacy.

The letter, signed by GOP party leaders, including a slew of county chairs, tells the former president that an endorsement that cuts against your support and legacy in Ohio will only serve to confuse or upset voters and may even suppress Republican turnout in the fall.

Representatives for Trump and Vance, who has said he regrets his past comments, did not respond to requests for comment.

David Johnson, chairman of the Columbiana County Republican Party, who helped to draft and circulate the letter, said the effort came together in a series of phone calls between party chairs Thursday.

Johnson, who has endorsed former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken for Senate, said the letter has now been signed by between 40 and 50 people, including supporters of Timken, former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, Cleveland investment banker Mike Gibbons and state Sen. Matt Dolan. Two other candidates round out a seven-way primary to replace Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman.

All of us think its just not a smart thing to do for winning that seat. Thats the objective, he said.

Vance supporters, meanwhile, urged Trump to stick with him.

President Trump would be making a fantastic choice by endorsing JD Vance, said Marshall Pitchford, the chairman of Ohio Right to Life. JD is 100% pro-life without exceptions. He will continue President Trumps pro-life victories in the US Senate.
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WASHINGTON (AP)  Americans are deeply divided over how much children in K-12 schools should be taught about racism and sexuality, according to a new poll released as Republicans across the country aim to make parental involvement in education a central campaign theme this election year.

Overall, Americans lean slightly toward expanding  not cutting back  discussions of racism and sexuality, but roughly 4 in 10 say the current approach is about right, including similar percentages across party lines. Still, the poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows stark differences between Republicans and Democrats who want to see schools make adjustments.

About 4 in 10 Republicans say teachers in local public schools discuss issues related to sexuality too much, while only about 1 in 10 say too little. Among Democrats, those numbers are reversed.

The findings reflect a sharply politicized national debate that has consumed local school boards and, increasingly, state capitols. Republicans see the fight over school curriculum as a winning culture war issue that will motivate their voters in the midterm elections.

In the meantime, a flurry of new state laws has been introduced, meant to curtail teaching about racism and sexuality and to establish a parents bill of rights that would champion curriculum transparency and allow parents to file complaints against teachers.

The push for legislation grew out of an elevated focus on K-12 schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, when angry parents crowded school board meetings to voice opposition to school closures, mask mandates and other restrictive measures intended to prevent the spread of illness.

All that thats happening these days kind of goes against the longer history of school boards being relatively low salience government institutions and, in a lot of cases, they are nonpartisan offices, said Adam Zelizer, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School researching school board legislation.

What distinguishes this moment, Zelizer said, is the grassroots anger in response to school policies and the national, coordinated effort to recruit partisan candidates for school boards and local offices.

What started as parents' concern about virtual learning and mask wearing has morphed into something larger, said Republican pollster Robert Blizzard, describing parents as thinking: OK, now that we have the schools open, what are these kids learning in school?"

The poll shows 50% of Americans say parents have too little influence on curriculum, while 20% say they have too much and 27% say its about right. About half also say teachers have too little influence.

Kendra Schultz said she and her husband have decided their 1-year-old daughter will be homeschooled, at least initially, because of what friends have told them about their experiences with schools in Columbia, Missouri.

Most recently, she said, one 4-year-olds pre-K class talked about gender pronouns. Schultz offered that and mask requirements as examples of how the public school system doesnt align with what we believe or how we would like to see our children educated.

Im just like, youre a little kid, you should be learning your ABCs and your numbers and things like that, said Schultz, a 30-year-old conservative. That's just not something that me and my husband would be interested in having teachers share with our children.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in March signed into law a bill barring instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Opponents, including the White House, have dubbed it the Dont Say Gay law.

The poll shows Americans are slightly more likely to say the focus on sex and sexuality in local schools is too little rather than too much, 31% to 23%, but 40% say its about right. The poll didnt ask about specific grade levels.

Blizzard, who has been working with a group called N2 America to help GOP candidates in suburbs, said the schools issue resonates with the Republican base and can motivate voters.

In the Virginia governor's race last year, Republican Glenn Youngkin won after campaigning on boosting parental involvement in schools and banning critical race theory, an academic framework about systemic racism that has become a catch-all phrase for teaching about race in U.S. history. His Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, had said in a debate that parents shouldnt tell schools what to teach.

The poll also shows Americans have mixed views about schools' focus on racism in the U.S.

Charkia Lang-James, a mother of three who lives near Mobile, Alabama, said that she believes schools should be teaching the truest, fullest version of history, especially on issues that touch on race and racism.

The truth should be taught, whether it looks good or bad, she said. All of the truth.

Lang-James, who is Black and identifies as a political independent, said as an adult, she learned that many things she had been taught in school were lacking in depth and accuracy.

We learned about Christopher Columbus, and how he discovered America, she said. But how can he discover something that was already there?  I feel like its just not the whole history.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said parents and teachers alike are frustrated after pandemic disruptions and should partner to help kids recover. The efforts to predetermine curriculum and restrict teaching are getting in the way, she said.

The people who are proposing them, theyve been pretty clear ... they just want to sow doubt and distrust because they want to end public education as we know it," Weingarten said.

Parents of school-age children arent more likely than other adults to say parents have too little influence in schools. But there is a wide partisan gap, with 65% of Republicans saying that, compared with 38% of Democrats.

Michael Henry, a father of three in Dacula, Georgia, says hes wrestled over what the right level of involvement is. It didnt sit right with him, for example, that his 6-year-old was taught about Columbus in an entirely positive light. He says hes reflected on some of the lies and glorifications of history in his own public school education and thinks race needs to be talked about more.

But ultimately, school curriculum is outside my area of expertise," said Henry, 31, an actuary who is also the acting president of the Gwinnett County Young Democrats.

I have to do a lot of studying and work to be able to make informed decisions, and I dont feel like parents generally have that kind of skill set for curriculum, he said. I think professionals should mostly be determining what the curriculum should be.

Henry worries that new restrictions are adding extra hassle for teachers, who already have a lot on their plate, to solve a problem that doesnt exist.

___

AP Education Writer Collin Binkley in Boston contributed to this report.

___

Ma, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, writes about education and equity for APs Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/anniema15

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,082 adults was conducted March 17-21 using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The head of the U.N. World Food Program said people are being starved to death in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and he predicted the country's humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as Russia intensifies its assault in the coming weeks.

WFP executive director David Beasley also warned in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kyiv that Russias invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.

The war that began Feb. 24 was devastating the people in Ukraine, he said, lamenting the lack of access faced by the WFP and other aid organizations in trying to reach those in need amid the conflict.

I dont see any of that easing up. I just dont see it happening right now, he said.

The fluid nature of the conflict, which has seen fighting shift away from areas around the capital and toward eastern Ukraine, has made it especially difficult to reach hungry Ukrainians.

The WFP is trying to put food supplies now in areas that could be caught up in the fighting, but Beasley acknowledged that there are a lot of complexities as the situation rapidly evolves.

A lack of access is part of the problem, he said, but so is a shortage of manpower and fuel as resources are diverted to the war effort.

Its not just going to be the next few days  but the next few weeks and few months could even get more complicated than it is now, he said. In fact, its getting worse and worse, concentrated in certain areas, and the front lines are going to be moving.

Beasley expressed particular concern about the port city of Mariupol, where a dwindling number of Ukrainian defenders is holding out against a Russian siege that has trapped well over 100,000 civilians in desperate need of food, water and heating.

Russian forces that control access to the city have not allowed in aid, even though the WFP has demanded access.

We will not give up on the people of Mariupol and other people that we cannot reach. But its a devastating situation: the people being starved to death, he said.

Russia is determined to seize the city so its forces from the annexed Crimean Peninsula can fully link up with troops elsewhere in the eastern Donbas region, Ukraines industrial heartland and the target of the coming offensive.

The U.N. food chief warned of disastrous ripple effects due to Ukraines role as major international grain supplier.

A global food shortage caused by the war could prompt mass migration beyond anything weve seen since World War II, he said, echoing remarks he made to the U.N. Security Council last month.

Russia and Ukraine together produce 30% of the worlds wheat supply and export about three-quarters of the worlds sunflower seed oil. Half of the grain the WFP buys for distribution around the world comes from Ukraine.

Some 30 million metric tons of grain bound for export are unable to be shipped because of the war, Beasley said. Ukrainian farmers are struggling to access fertilizer and seed, and those who can plant may see their harvest rot in the fields if the war drags on and theres no way to ship it, he warned.

The shipping challenges have forced the WFP to halve rations for millions of people, many in Africa, and more cuts may be needed, he said.

People are going to be starving to death, he said.

Beasley also visited areas near Kyiv that were ravaged by the Russian invasion, including the town of Bucha, where evidence of mass killings and other atrocities against civilians have shocked the world.

He described neighborhoods completely decimated by bombings, likening what he saw to a nightmare that was impossible to believe.

But he stopped short of describing the killings a genocide, as U.S. President Joe Biden did this week.

Well, I know one thing. People are dying," he said when asked about Biden's comments. But theres no doubt in my mind this is a horror story and it is truly heartbreaking.

-

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
pchoui/Getty Images

On Thursday, the National Park Service announced it would be offering free entry for one week to all U.S. national parks to celebrate National Park Week. The waived entry period runs from April 16 through April 24 with more than 400 national parks hosting a variety of programs, activities and "digital experiences," according to the release.

Since Yellowstone National Park was established 150 years ago, over 400 extraordinary places have been added to the National Park System, said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams in the press release. Throughout the country, these sites are sources of inspiration, recreation, and educationeach one preserving and sharing a part of our national story. I hope National Park Week provides a spark to visit a nearby national park and make some memories.
Ahead of her May trial, more details about the life of aspiring Bay Area "mom influencer" Katie Sorensen have been reported in an extensive Elle magazine feature.

The Karen Who Cried Kidnapping delves into the accusations of Sorensen, who lived in Sonoma when she was charged last year with falsely claiming her children were the target of a kidnapping attempt. Sorensen went viral in December when she posted a series of videos on her now-private Instagram @motherhoodessentials.

My children were the target of attempted kidnap, says Sorensen, sitting in her car. Which is such a weird thing to even vocalize, but it happened and I want to share that story with you.

She claimed on Dec. 7, 2020, she took her two small children to the Michaels craft store in Petaluma. While in the store, she alleged a man and woman began to follow her, talking about the features of my children. Sorensen said the couple didnt buy anything, but followed her out to the parking lot. She accused them of taking two steps forward, two steps back before lunging for her stroller. Sorensen said she called for help, talked to the police and then decided to share her story on social media to warn other parents.

I saw these people. They didnt look necessarily clean-cut, she said on KTVU. I felt uncomfortable around them."

The videos had more than 4 million views before they were deleted, and almost overnight she went from 6,000 Instagram followers to over 80,000.

But in short order, Petaluma police cleared the couple, Sadie and Eddie Martinez, of any wrongdoing. The Petaluma Police Department issued a statement indicating Sorensens story had inconsistencies.

To date, the investigation has produced no evidence or witnesses corroborating the account provided by the reporting party [Sorensen]. Evidence gathered has served to support the account provided by the couple from the store," Petaluma police said in 2020.

The Martinez family spoke to Elle about how the accusation roiled their lives, making them feel uncomfortable while out in public.

Sadie and Eddie, who are of Nicaraguan heritage, both grew up in San Franciscos Noe Valley; Eddies father was a cable car conductor. Im married to a UPS man whos like Norm from Cheers  everybody knows him, Sadie Martinez told Elle. Katie should have probably done a little bit of homework and picked different characters for her story.

Sorensen, meanwhile, grew up in Virginia and attended Brigham Young University-Idaho, where she met her husband. The pair moved to California, where Sorensen began trying her hand in the mom influencer space. According to Elle, she launched a collection of baby bibs with sewn-in essential oil diffuser pads. She was also a self-described independent wellness advocate hawking essential oils from doTERRA, the multilevel marketing company beloved by small- to mid-level influencers.

She also allegedly posted a 20-slide highlight reel to Instagram, called 'SaveTheChildren,' where she shared aesthetically pleasing infographics begging social media companies to remove pedophilia accounts.

Save the children is a phrase commonly used by QAnon adherents driven by paranoid and dangerous beliefs about child sex trafficking. QAnon is a broad smorgasbord of conspiracy theories, but the majority of believers think a global organization of pedophiles are enslaving countless children in sex rings. The rallying cry of save the children has become a popular way to introduce people to QAnon, as positioning the movement as anti-pedophilia makes it appear more positive and palatable. Its also taken on a life of its own in parenting groups, divorced entirely from the stigma of QAnon.

Although QAnon adherents say theyre helping vulnerable children, experts say they do much more harm than good. Calls to hotlines for trafficked or at-risk individuals have skyrocketed, leading some organizations to beg people to stop calling in and diverting resources needed for people in actual need.

Conspiracy theorists also overinflate the risk of stranger abductions, thereby minimizing the reality of child exploitation. Children are virtually always forced into sex trafficking by someone they know, says Polaris, a nonprofit that fights human trafficking. So-called stranger danger kidnappings are exceedingly rare, and there is simply no evidence that tens of thousands of small children are disappearing off Americas streets each year. According to the FBIs crime statistics, 99.7% of the 609,000 people reported missing in 2019 were found.

Although Sorensen said in her initial video that she wasnt interested in pressing charges, police said in a follow-up interview she did want the Martinezes prosecuted for attempted kidnapping. She currently faces three misdemeanor charges of making a false report to police; if convicted, she could be sentenced to six months in jail or a fine of up to $1,000, or both, for each count.

The next court appearance in the case is scheduled for May 19. The Martinezes will attend, as will Sorenson, who Elle reported is rumored to have moved out of state.

Im excited to see this through and move on, Sadie Martinez told the Petaluma Argus-Courier. But, until theres some accountability, mentally I cant.
Amazon

The topping on a pan, much like the frosting on a cake or sprinkles on an ice cream sundae, can add an element of  how you say: "je ne sais quoi" to a dish by sealing in its gosh-given moisture and taking your dish to a whole new level.

Using an ergonomic design with an easy-hold handle, this Lodge Tempered Glass Lid fits over most 10-inch to 10.25-inch Lodge cast iron skillets and 5-quart Dutch ovens for the kind of worry-free cooking you've always dreamed about  probably while smoking a pipe, staring out your window, practicing your pretentious French idioms.
The Royal Canal Greenway has been announced as the winner of the award for the Best Tourism Initiative at the 2021 All Ireland Community and Council Awards.

The Royal Canal Greenway received recognition in its category at the rescheduled awards ceremony, which took place on Saturday 09 April 2022, at the Crowne Plaza, Dublin Airport.

Sponsored by Failte Ireland, the Best Tourism Initiative award seeks to recognise an initiative which directly increases visitor numbers to an area or to Ireland as a whole and its overall impact on visitors, communities and new and existing businesses.

John McDonagh, Chief Executive, Waterways Ireland, said: We are pleased to see the All Ireland Community and Council Awards recognise the potential of this phenomenal asset, which, thanks to the relatively level towpath is suitable for walkers, runners and cyclists.

Launched in spring 2021, the greenway is in its infancy yet continues to impress visitors from across Ireland and beyond and has already contributed immensely to the local tourism industry.

As we continue to further enhance the offering for those who visit the greenway, we are encouraged by the recognition received by these awards.

The Royal Canal Greenway, recently celebrated its first birthday announcing that over 600,000 visits had taken place since its launch in March 2021 deriving 17.2m for the local economy.

It is the longest greenway in Ireland, stretching across four counties and runs through both Irelands Ancient East and Irelands Hidden Heartlands.

It was developed by Waterways Ireland in partnership with the four Local Authorities of Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Longford.

Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon said A deserving winner, the Royal Canal Greenway has already proved itself to be greatly valued by the people and businesses of County Longford, as well as our many visitors.

It is great to see this fantastic amenity get the accolades it has truly earned. We look forward to the continued development of this impressive greenway.

We also look forward to welcoming even more people to the Royal Canal Greenway on foot of this great endorsement from the All Ireland Community and Council Awards.

The enchanting Royal Canal Greenway is 130km of level towpath, and starting from the trailhead in cosmopolitan Maynooth, which is 25km east of Irelands capital city Dublin, it follows the canal as it passes through the pretty towns and villages of Kilcock, Enfield, Longwood, Killucan, before reaching the busy market town of Mullingar.

Continuing west from Mullingar, the route passes through Coolnahay Harbour, Ballinacarrigy, Abbeyshrule, Ballymahon and Keenagh.

At Keenagh, the trail either continues along the Royal Canal to where it meets with the Shannon, Irelands longest river, at the tranquil harbour village of Cloondara, or heading north, follows the Longford Branch of the Royal Canal, to the bustling town of Longford.

For more information on the project please visit royalcanalgreenway.com.
Clonfin, a documentary film about the Clonfin ambush of 1921, premieres at the Granard Community Library on Tuesday, 26 April at 7pm. All are welcome to attend, with no prior booking necessary.

A Decade of Centenaries project, Clonfin was commissioned by Longford County Councils Longford County Library, Heritage and Archives Services. It was produced by Longford film production company, Harp Media.

The story of the documentary film is told through a combination of interviews with historians and relatives of participants of the ambush, archival footage, and dramatic reconstructions.

The historical advisor to the project was Queens University Belfast Professor Marie Coleman, an expert on County Longford in the revolutionary period. University College Dublin Professor Diarmaid Ferriter and Irish Humanities Alliance Director Dr Mel Farrell were also contributors to the project.

Set to open the screening, Longford County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Peggy Nolan said, This film will bring the story of Clonfin and this part of our shared history to a new audience. It is wonderful that this film was made by Harp Media, a company created by two up-and-coming and award-winning filmmakers who are County Longford natives. Much thanks also goes to all project contributors, most especially the relatives of those involved in the Clonfin ambush.

Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon elaborates on the need to acknowledge and share our history. Longford County Council continues to promote our rich history and heritage. It is hugely valuable to have this new perspective on a crucial time in our history committed to film. It is great to see this important project supported by the Council as a Decade of Centenaries project.

Commenting on the project, Harp Media co-founder Patrick McGivney said, We were honoured to be asked to be involved in this project by Longford County Library, Heritage and Archive Services. Longford has a rich and fascinating history. We are glad to bring the story of the North Longford Flying Column and the Clonfin ambush to as wide an audience as possible.

Fellow Harp Media co-founder Robert Higgins explained the companys hope for the film: Our hope is that this documentary will shine a light on our local history and will encourage younger generations to explore the rich history of our county. Wed like to extend a thank you to all of the local people who gave their time and helped to make this project a reality.
A record 100,089 children are now on some form of the National Treatment Purchase Fund waiting list, the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) has revealed.

Of those on the waiting list, more than 1 in 3 (34,300) are waiting longer than a year for treatment or assessment by a hospital consultant.

The IHCA has revealed details of waiting lists and unfilled consultant posts which include:

Additional 8,300 children awaiting diagnostic scans at three Dublin childrens hospitals not included in NTPF waiting lists;

Almost 1 in 5 Consultant Paediatric posts are vacant or filled on a temporary basis;

IHCA President Prof Alan Irvine said: For the first time, the monthly NTPF figures have recorded over 100,000 children on waiting lists for hospital care, with more than one in three of these children waiting longer than a year to be treated or assessed by a Consultant.

"This trend is worrying and is resulting in thousands of children not getting the care they need in a timely way, and the real possibility that they will suffer health and developmental issues that could have been reversed or mitigated against if only they were seen in time," he said.

The IHCA expressed its 'extreme concern' at the new record number of children now waiting for an appointment to be treated or assessed in public hospitals.

The IHCA said the shortage of Consultants due to the difficulty in filling permanent consultant posts and decade long capacity deficits are the root causes of the "unacceptably long child waiting lists", which totalled more than 100,000 for the first time at the end of March.

The warning from consultants comes as latest National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) figures released on Friday reveal that there are a record 86,400 children on Outpatient waiting lists, which is an increase of more than 4,200 (5%) since April 2021 when the NTPF first started to break down its outpatient lists into separate Child and Adult data.

The largest child Outpatient waiting lists are in the following key specialties:

Paediatrics - 17,241

Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) - 16,351

Dermatology - 9,392

Orthopaedics - 7,253

Ophthalmology - 5,572



In the last year alone, the Paediatric Outpatient waiting list has increased by an alarming 33%. This is 4,300 additional children now waiting for an appointment to be assessed by a Consultant Paediatrician.

These increases come as 18% (44) of all approved Consultant posts in Paediatrics were either absolutely vacant (23) or filled on a temporary or agency basis (21) at the beginning of March.2

By international standards, Ireland also has too few Consultant Paediatricians, with just half the EU average number of specialists on a population basis, the IHCA said.

Consultants say that the adverse impact of waiting excessively long for care can mean some childrens conditions may significantly deteriorate, hampering their development and quality of life and potentially their future health outcomes.

However, the IHCA says that NTPF figures fail to provide an accurate picture of the scale of children waiting for some form of care as hospital diagnostics (such as MRI scans or radiology) are not included in the published data.

When the additional 8,360 children awaiting CTs, MRIs or ultrasounds at the CHI childrens hospitals at the end of 2021 are added, the total number is well over 100,000.4

In addition, HSE data confirms almost 3,000 children were also waiting to be assessed by a Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist in January, with 238 (8%) on these waiting longer than 12 months.5

Every single number is an individual child who could be experiencing pain, suffering or the psychological distress at not knowing when they will be able to receive treatment. This is a wholly unacceptable situation," Prof Irvine said.

As Consultants, we need and want sustainable solutions to help alleviate this distress and provide the care these children so desperately need. However, we have a chronic recruitment and retention crisis that is not being addressed urgently enough. This is evident from the fact that 838 approved Consultant posts nationally are either absolutely vacant or filled on a temporary or agency basis.

It is imperative these vacant Consultant posts are filled if we are to effectively address the record hospital waiting lists. To achieve that, the Government must appoint a replacement Independent Chair immediately with the representative organisations to kick-start the stalled hospital Consultant contract talks and reengage with the profession in a genuine effort to arrive at a solution to these decade long deficits in Consultant staffing," Prof Irvine said.
Food, Wine, & Dining, Local News

By Chris Boyle Published: April 15 2022

Passed by the House, the Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022 will provide $42 billion to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF).

Standing alongside Long Island restaurant owners who continue to feel the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congressman Tom Suozzi (D - Long Island, Queens) called on the U.S. Senate to pass the Relief for Restaurants and Other Hard Hit Small Businesses Act of 2022  legislation which includes $42 billion to replenish the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

On March 22, 2020, non-essential businesses in New York shut down. The recovery for restaurants has been uneven ever since, said Suozzi. Today, we are making a united called for the United States Senate to follow suit and vote on House-passed legislation that will provide vital relief to Long Islands restaurants.

Suozzis urgent call for Senate action was held in front of Henrys Confectionery in Glen Cove, a small mom-and-pop luncheonette that has been serving the community since 1929. Suozzi was joined by the owner of Henrys, Joe Valensisi, Patricia Holman, Executive Director Glen Cove Downtown Business Improvement District, and other local restaurateurs and small business owners. These efforts led by Suozzi are also supported by Mickey King, Director of the New York State Restaurant Association.

It has been a long road and on behalf of myself and the other local establishments we would like to thank Congressman Tom Suozzi for his continuous support for small businesses, said Joe Valensisi, owner, Henrys Confectionery.

"Thank you, Congressman Tom Suozzi, for bringing together Long Island's restaurants to make the urgent call for additional restaurant relief. These restaurants represent the businesses that are the very pillars and souls of our community. But without additional relief, they will continue to struggle -- undermining our local economy and further business development," said Patricia Holman, Executive Director Glen Cove Downtown Business Improvement District

No industry was harder hit than the Catering & restaurant industry when it came to the COVID 19 pandemic. Things are NOT back on Track at all!!!!! Our industry lost 45% more than the next closest industry when it came to dollars lost due to COVID 19. This was especially true for NY restaurants who are still struggling to get back to where we were. Reservations are down over 50% from where we were pre-pandemic. Many need funds to get back on track and continue to claw their way out of the dire straits they find themselves in. Roughly 18,000 restaurants in NY who applied for RRF funding did not get it. Thank you to Congressman Suozzi for organizing todays effort to raise awareness about this issue still hurting our restaurants. said Mickey King, President of New York State Restaurant Association.

Long Islands restaurants, bars and catering halls need Congress to replenish funds for the restaurant revisitation fund (RRF). The funds initial $28.6 billion was exhausted in a couple of weeks in May 2021 with the number of grant applications far exceeding expectations. As a result, two-thirds of the applicants nationwide didnt receive help.

On Long Island, about 1,100 eating and drinking establishments were awarded RRF grants, or just 12% of the nearly 9,200 such businesses licensed by the county health departments. Approximately $270 million was distributed. Nationally, nearly 300,000 restaurants and bars applied for RRF grants in 2021, but only about one in three applicants received relief.
The Son Bonet Pulmo Verd platform in Marratxi is opposed to the creation of a photovoltaic park at the aerodrome and which would be on land that the airports authority Aena owns but has been used for decades as a recreational space by local residents.

A question has, however, arisen as to Aena's ownership claim, and the group is drawing on historical developments to challenge this. It has said that the director of Son Sant Joan Airport, Tomas Melgar, has lied about the photovoltaic project and the history of Son Bonet; it is Aena who intend establishing the park.

The group maintains that the aerodrome was expropriated in the early twentieth century by the ministry of defence, then the ministry of war, in order to build an engineers barracks. During the Civil War, the Nationalists forcibly expropriated a large part of the Son Bonet land, partly for the use of Italian bombers. After subsequent administrative changes, the land was formally expropriated, the only entity with the power to do so having ultimately been the state.

In the group's view, Melgar's words are "a great aberration". He said that Aena bought the land, but Aena "did not even exist when it was purchased by the state". "The expropriation was for airport use, not for energy commercialisation purposes."

Land was expropriated "in troubled times", while the fact that Aena is a publicly owned company (still 51% owned by the state) "does not justify a change in the use of the land nor that Aena wants to bypass regional regulations". The group is also critical of Melgar for having said that there is no room for a "photovoltaic mega-park" at Son Sant Joan.

"We are talking about the third largest airport in Spain and one which also has a real estate investment plan. No one has doubted that the project presented by Aena is an attack on the residents of Marratxi."
It is understood that the British Embassy in Madrid has asked the Spanish government for another extension for UK drivers resident Spain.

The latest in a string of extension runs out at the end of this month and if that deadline remains, then British residents who failed to swap their UK driving licence for a Spanish one before the original deadline set by the Spanish as a result of Brexit, will have to sit a Spanish driving test.

As things stand, British residents who were living in Spain before 1 January 2021 can continue to drive in Spain with their valid UK driving licence until 30 April 2022.

If they moved to Spain after 1 January 2021, their licence will be recognised for six months from the date they obtained residence, or until 30 April 2022, whichever is later.

For those of who registered their intention to exchange your licence with the DGT traffic department before 30 December 2020, but have not yet done so, have until 30 April to request an appointment.

The British Ambassador said last month that negotiations were continuing and that he is committed to reaching a long-term agreement with Spain to enable UK licence holders to exchange their licences without taking a test.

In France, for example, a deal was reached whereby British driving licences will remain valid until they expire, only then with British residents in France have to take a French driving test.

It is hoped that a similar agreement can be reached in Spain, although not much is going to happen over Easter.
This is a big weekend in the USA for Americans' finances, given that the 2022 tax deadline is coming up on April 18. As such, many Americans will be sending off their tax paperwork this coming weekend and there are several important tips to keep in mind, which we'll go through on this live blog over the course of this Friday April 15.

For those who haven't yet claimed their third stimulus check worth $1,400, there is still time to do so. Even if you already got all three of your stimulus checks, you could still save money in other ways when filing your tax return and we'll explain how.

So, stay tuned to our live blog this Friday April 15 as we go through all the updates on the latest financial news and benefits programs in the USA, as well as up-to-date tax tips ahead of the April 18 tax deadline.

Ex-Merrill Lynch trader pleads guilty to Spoofing

A former trader that used to work for Bank of America's Merrill Lynch has pleaded guilty at a federal court in Brooklyn that he was manipulating Treasury prices with a spoofing scheme.

From January to June of 2019, Tyler Forbes made large electronic orders without the intention to execute them while making other smaller orders to raise the price.

It is called spoofing when they flood derivative markets by making orders without the intention of purchase, causing the price to change.

Asking for a loan to purchase a property? be careful who you ask

About 36 million people in the United States have used alternative home financing options, mostly Hispanic and Black low-income borrowers that live in agricultural areas, which indicates the disproportionate home-ownership gap between them and the rest of the property owners.

In many cases, they have sketchy deals and after being compliant with their dues and payments the lenders do not take care of their responsibilities and the borrowers end up being evicted, even when being up to date with their loan payments, leading the new homeowners high and dry without the right to a normal foreclosure process and left out of tax and other benefits for property owners.

California residents believe taxes are too high

About 66% of California voters claimed in a poll issued by the new UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies & the Los Angeles Times state that in fact the taxes are more than they should be.

According to sources Californians are paying 10% more than they paid six years ago and they say that the situation is worse.

However, the state is projecting a large budget surplus this year and the government is debating whether it is viable or not to have a gas-tax rebate.

Real Estate in Miami has gone up 57% due to massive migration

What is being called the "blue state exodus" is the migration of citizens from blue states like New York, California, and Oregon, to red states like Florida has led to the massive increase in rent for Miami residents.

In February, the average for one or two-bedroom apartments in the Miami metro area is about $2988, according to the numbers in Realtor.com

Because of the migration many people have taken advantage of the situation and have raised the cost of living for locals, making this a delicate situation.

More grant opportunities depending on race and ethnicity, and gender diversity

The Social Security Administration just released yesterday that it will now begin what is being called the "Equity Action Plan" that its intention is to gather information regarding race and ethnicity, as well gender diversity to aid them so they can access a Social Security Card.

According to Social Security Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi " Systemic barriers may prevent people who need our programs the most from accessing them".

In the new plan, it says that there will be more support for "equitable access" to government grants for Universities and "small and disadvantaged businesses", which also includes businesses owned by women in specific areas.

Elon Musk may be looking for partners for a full takeover of Twitter

As you may recall, the billionaire stirred up Twitter's free speech policies by creating a poll within the platform, then said he was thinking about founding his own social media platform shortly before making an offer to purchase the Twitter shares.

He is now looking for others like Silver Lake Partners that could join him on the complete acquisition of the social media titan, he is offering to purchase Twitter for $54.20 a share, currently each share is $45.80. Negotiations are still brewing.

Will banks be closed on Good Friday holiday?

Most banks will be open, due to the fact that Good Friday is not a federal holiday, plus the Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange and other exchanges will not be trading as the stock market closes on this day.

However, not all banks will be open as usual, as many leave the decision to close up to individual locations, so if you have important business to conduct on Good Friday, check the hours at your preferred branch.

Open Baks:

Bank of America

BBVA

BB&T

Chase Bank

Citibank

First Citizens Bank

UBank

KeyBank

M&T Bank

Regions Bank

PNC Bank

Santander Bank

SunTrust Bank

TD Bank

Union Bank

Wells Fargo

Do you have doubts before Tax Day?

If you have specific questions, don't doubt to reach the IRS website for a question and answer session.

Students could be let off their loans

The US government has allocated five billion dollars to pay off students' outstanding loans during their studies. The Education Department said they will cancel $2 billion of student loans weeks after the announcement.

Around 22,000 student loan borrowers were initially receiving a loan relief. Nevertheless, the federal government data illustrates that more than 60,000 students got student loan forgiveness.

Read more about student loan forgiveness.

Mortgage rate drops

Today has seen a drop in the daily average rate for a fixed-rate mortgage (30-year) to lower than six percent. The previous four straight days saw the rate above that threshold, but things have begun to change.

The 30-year fixed rate mortgage is the one that most home owners select as it means that the monthly rate will be lower give that it is across such a long period of time.

Changes to 401k and how they affect you

There are some changes coming, with older workers who are between the ages of 62 and 64 now be allowed to increase their catch-up contributions to around $10,000 per year, which is an increase from $6,500.

Therefore, employers could treat student loan repayments as elective retirement account deferrals, and provide a matching contribution to their 401k.

You can read more here about 401k plans and the changes that are coming into force.

When will you get your tax refund?

Filing your taxes isn't exciting, but receiving your tax refund is. With the filing deadline coming up on April 18, this means millions of Americans will then be expecting tax refunds in the coming weeks.

However, it is important to note that there are more delays than normal this year when it comes to tax refunds. Some are taking longer than the usual 21 days, so keep that in mind. And, if possible, try to set up direct debit so you can get paid quicker than you would with a paper check in the post.

How to get a larger-than-average tax refund

Given that we are firmly in the middle of tax seasons, it is the time of year when millions of Americans receive tax refunds. Some people are enjoying a pleasant surprise by receiving a tax refund larger than they expected.

That's because you may qualify for a larger tax refund than ever if you requested a temporary tax credit expansion. With expanded benefits as a result of the American Rescue Plan, there could be larger refunds for many people.

You can read more here about who is getting a get a larger-than-average tax refund this April.

Last chance to claim your 1,400 dollar stimulus check

While there won't be a fourth stimulus check, a third stimulus check is still available for a few more days for those who didn't claim it before.

If you haven't yet received that money, you can do so when filing your 2021 tax return. Which, keep in mind, is due by April 18.

How much are unemployment benefits in your state?

One of the most widely used benefits programs in the USA is unemployment benefits, but the amounts vary from state to state.

The difference between the highest and lowest states in terms of unemployment benefits payments, which are Massachusetts and Mississippi respectively, is an incredible 588 dollars.

You can read more here to see a full list of how much unemployment benefits payments are in each state.

The tax deadline is on April 18

The deadline for filing taxes for the 2021 tax year is coming up, but not on the usual date. This year the tax deadline is on April 18, which is this Monday.

That's because the normal date is a holiday because of the Easter weekend, so the deadline has been moved back a little.

You can read more here on why this year's tax deadline is on April 18.
Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - COVID-19 cases in Africa have fallen for the past 16 weeks, and deaths have dropped during the last eight, marking the longest running decline in infections on the continent since the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday
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When Justen Watkins, the self-proclaimed leader of the white nationalist group The Base, pleaded no contest to a charge of trespassing earlier this month in Huron County, it marked the first step in untangling a slew of charges for crimes occurring over two years in three counties across the state.

Still unresolved are charges in Washtenaw and Tuscola counties as well as a drug possession charge in Huron County.

The no-contest plea stemmed from an incident in April 2021 in which Watkins allegedly broke into a garage adjacent to a home on Sullivan Road in Bad Axe. Watkins was reportedly using the Sullivan Road home as a recruiting location for The Base at the time he was arrested on his Washtenaw County charges.

However, when Watkins lived there it was owned by Eric Webb, the father of fellow Base member Tristan Webb, and had since been sold when he reportedly broke into the garage.

The Base is reportedly a white supremacy organization that openly advocates for violence, according to the attorney generals office.

The Bad Axe home is also the same location where Watkins was arrested on Oct. 29, 2020, when the FBI and Michigan State Police executed an arrest warrant for charges filed by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Watkins, along with fellow Base member Alfred Gorman of Taylor, was charged in Washtenaw County in October 2020 with gang membership, unlawful posting of a message and using computers to commit a crime, all felonies. Gorman was arrested at his home in Taylor.

The two men allegedly terrorized a family at their Dexter home after mistaking one of the residents as the host of an Antifa podcast.

On Dec. 11, 2019, around 11:30 p.m. the victims reportedly witnessed Watkins and Gorman around their home, shining a light and taking photos from the front porch of the home, according to a press release from Nessels office.

The photos were then uploaded to The Base's channel on the social media platform Telegram with the caption: "The Base sends greetings to Daniel Harper of the Antifa podcast 'I Don't Speak German.'"

According to the release, Watkins and Gorman intended to threaten and intimidate Harper but mistakenly believed he resided at the victims' home.

In January 2022, Gorman pleaded guilty to one felony count of gang membership for his role, and in February he received a suspended sentence of one year in jail and was also sentenced to four years of probation.

For one of those years, Gorman will have to work with an ethnic studies professor from the University of Michigan. If Gorman completes his probation, he will avoid serving time behind bars. The plea agreement stipulated that Gorman's other charges would be dismissed.

In August 2021, Watkins and fellow base members Thomas Denton and Tristan Webb were charged in Tuscola County for allegedly breaking into "two former Michigan Department of Corrections sites  MDOC Camp Tuscola Annex and MDOC Tuscola Residential ReEntry Program  which were, and are, vacant in the city of Caro on Oct. 3, 2020," a press release from the attorney general's office stated.

The original charges alleged Watkins, Denton and Webb broke into the MDOC properties and stole state-issued clothing from one of the locations. It is also alleged the sites were assessed as potential future training grounds for hate camps, which is what the group named its paramilitary firearms training exercises.

Those charges included one count of larceny in a building, a four-year felony; one count of gang membership, a 20-year felony; one count of conspiracy to commit teaching use of firearms for a civil disorder, a four-year felony; and one count of felony firearm, a two-year felony.

Denton, 32, was sentenced to a maximum of 48 months on two felony charges in January 2022 that were issued by Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark Reene in cooperation with Michigan Assistant Attorney General Sonita Doddamani.

Denton had pleaded no contest to the charges of conspiracy to commit teaching use of firearms for a civil disorder and the felony firearm charge for committing larceny while in possession of a weapon on Nov. 4, 2021. As a result of his plea, the prosecution dismissed his charges of larceny of a building and gang membership.

Accounting for Denton's previously clean record, sentencing guidelines suggested he be sentenced to a minimum of nine months and a maximum of 48 months for the conspiracy charge. However, the felony firearm charge has a flat penalty of two years in prison.

Back in Huron County, Watkins was charged in October 2021 with one count of possessing a controlled substance.

Watkins was reportedly found to be in possession of methandienone, an androgen and anabolic steroid medication used for performance enhancement in strength training. The charge, which was issued by the attorney generals office, appears to stem from the Oct. 29, 2020, arrest of Watkins by the Michigan State Police and FBI.

The Tuscola County cases against Webb and Watkins are ongoing, as are the cases against Watkins in Washtenaw and Huron counties.

As the cases faced delay after delay, state and local prosecutors have stated that pleas agreements were imminent, but none had been announced prior to Watkins no contest plea in Huron County on April 6.
Photo courtesy/Amy Schroeder

BIG RAPIDS  This past weekend, the Big Rapids High School Choirs hosted MSVMA (Michigan State Vocal Music Association) State Solo and Ensemble Festival.

Schools from over 20 districts came to Big Rapids High School to sing in both small groups and solos for adjudication. Three Big Rapids students, Alek Lipar, Katie McLeod and Madyson Turner, participated as soloists and earned first division ratings  the highest score possible.
Engineers without Borders returned to Sanford this week to help the village with sanitation issues and they brought some extra help: Students from Olivet Nazarene University.

Village President Dolores Porte credits Engineers Without Borders president Jennifer Robinson with bringing the students to Sanford. Robinson said the organization has two international projects going at the time and they wanted to start a local project. Olivet Nazarene University answered the call.

If we keep working with the engineers and students, we might find a way to have the capacity we need, Porte said.

The students first came to the village in December to study its sewer issues and returned Wednesday with possible solutions. Porte said the students have given the village different ideas and methodology to address the wastewater system.

It gave us a fresh perspective," Sanford Village Manager Jake Cole said. Its not your cookie-cutter ideas."

Porte said establishing sanitation for the village is important to being able to offer multi-family housing, bringing back displaced homeowners from the May 2020 dam failures and offering senior living. She said and to accommodate those wishing to move to the village.

In December the university students from Bourbonnais, Illinois, and faculty along with other engineering professionals examined a half-acre habitat for humanity property in the 2000 block of Crescent Street that has been vacant for more than a decade, according to Habitat for Humanity Construction Manager Erich Ostrander. He said the issue is the property is too low to get drainage. The cost of putting in a sanitation system years ago was $20,000 to $30,000. This was cost prohibitive.

Since the students December visit, the habitat property, which is already zoned residential, has been cleared. The students presented Ostrander with many ideas for working the area to allow for a build.

In addition, the village is examining other resolutions following a Thursday meeting with Wade Trim, that deals with infrastructure solutions. Porte said ideas such as sending wastewater to Midland or putting in a wastewater treatment plant. Porte said in 2010 Jerome and Lincoln townships reportedly told village officials there was no place to put a treatment plant. They were also told Midland they couldnt take their wastewater. Porte questions now if those things were really said. She is now out to find the facts.

In December the group examined two other properties, a 4.4-acre piece and a 16-acre parcel in the center of the village. Porte said both properties are privately owned. The 16-acre parcel was reportedly platted for a subdivision a long time ago, just never developed. Some of the same concepts for the habitat area could apply to the larger parcels.
MANISTEE  When Manistee Area Public Schools announced it was speaking with the Manistee County Land Bank Authority regarding the future of the Jefferson Elementary School property, it raised a few eyebrows.

During the district's school board meeting on Wednesday, residents who live near the property spoke during the public communication portion of the meeting to voice their concerns.

Elissa Laskey said she grew up in the neighborhood and moved back in 2020 after a decade of living in the metro Detroit area. She said in the lead-up to the bond election, the district had consistently stated it would use the property for a shared community green space, but worried the district conversing with the land bank could indicate a move in another direction.

"In presentation after presentation the same things were repeated, including, 'Yes, the proposed plan includes full demolition of Jefferson building as well as necessary site work to create open, park-like green space at Jefferson site,'" she said. "You can imagine my surprise to hear that the land bank authority has already been in closed-door discussions with the superintendent."

Jefferson Elementary is expected to be demolished in the spring of 2025.

Ron Stoneman, superintendent, said no decisions have been made regarding the future of the property. He said the district is doing its due diligence to make sure the Jefferson property can be utilized in such a way as to benefit the district, the neighborhood and Manistee as a whole.

"I think we have a responsibility to explore options and see what exists out there for us," Stoneman said. "I know it's a very important part of this city and that neighborhood. I'm confident that this board all values that perspective, too."

The district potentially utilizing at least a portion of the property for housing was known to be a possibility prior to the May 4 election. During a virtual community forum held on March 16, 2021, an attendee asked what type of housing would go on the Jefferson property after the school building came down. Stoneman stated housing was not a foregone conclusion, and that the property could be sold either as a whole or one lot at a time.

"If there is housing on that property they're looking at housing that complements that neighborhood," he said during the forum.

The school district put together the Jefferson Neighborhood Committee to work on finding a suitable use for the property. The committee has been meeting with the MAPS Board of Education since 2020.

John Helge, who serves on the committee, said during the meeting he is happy to listen to concerns and address any rumors residents may have heard regarding the future of the property.

"It does concern me that there are things going around that are not true, but again, this is part of the challenge that we're up against in this day and age, with social media and everything like that," he said. "... Feel free to contact me any time. If you see me out walking ... I'm willing to share with you what I know. I will say that the school board and Superintendent Stoneman have been very transparent and open with us. I'm very confident that the best possible outcome will happen for the Jefferson School property."

Stoneman said the district is seeking community input regarding the future of the Jefferson property. Manistee Area Public Schools will host a community forum and will announce the details when they are finalized.

"I appreciate the attendance and your interest, but I'm asking you to come to the table so we can work together and talk this through," he said. "... We will have a community forum  we have a penciled-in date. We will have a mailer that goes out in that area so that everyone's aware of it, and a press release, just so we can get stakeholders to the meeting."

Stoneman said the Manistee County Land Bank Authority chair would attend the forum.

"I had the ability to speak with our county treasurer, Rachel Nelson, about the land bank authority here in this county and what visions they have and what purposes they serve. It's definitely multifaceted," he said. "She has said she would be in attendance and provide insight and answer questions at our meeting that we're scheduling, but she really wants to listen to the neighborhood and hear the voices of that neighborhood."

Liz Laskey said she felt the land bank was not a good fit for the Jefferson property.

"The land bank authority has a reputation for blighted properties and foreclosed properties, and I'm not sure that is the goal of that neighborhood and that it would be contiguous with what we already have there. It's a beautiful neighborhood. I love it," she said. "That is probably the largest unbuilt piece of property in Manistee ... so let's do what we can to make sure we get all the information."

Theresa Anderson, vice president of the school board and member of the Jefferson Neighborhood Committee, said as a resident of that neighborhood, she has "a vested interest in seeing the integrity of the neighborhood maintained."

"We had a lot of discussions about how we can best use that space to benefit not just our little pocket of utopia in the Jefferson area, but the whole community," she said. "We're excited about that, talking about that and exploring that."

Elissa Laskey said she wants the district to make sure the neighborhood maintains its charm.

"This neighborhood is special  anyone who lives here or visited knows it. We were assured in the spirit and value of this neighborhood would be retained," she said. "... Let's please make sure we're engaging the right organizations  organizations that have a track record of doing things and making decisions that increase the value of a neighborhood as opposed to decreasing the value of the neighborhood. I'm not sure the land bank authority is the one for that."

Stoneman said the district was striving to do what was best for everyone involved.

"Finding the best opportunity that can be measured equally for the community, that neighborhood and this school district is our priority," he said. "I think we can check those boxes collectively together through communication, earning trust and valuing everyone's opinion in this process, and taking that into consideration. I value that deeply. ... I know we can achieve that together."
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ROME (AP)  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday Colosseum procession in Rome, after the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman to share bearing the cross with a Ukrainian woman had angered Ukrainians.

In an apparent attempt to defuse the objections, when the moment arrived for the two women, who work together at a Rome hospital, to walk with the cross together, the ceremony's participants were invited to pause in prayerful silence and pray in their heart for peace in the world.

The original script, written with the women's input, had spoken of prospects for reconciliation." That wording had sparked protests by both the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See and a Kyiv archbishop.

They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.

For the first time since before the pandemic, the solemn torchlit procession returned to the ancient arena in Rome Friday night. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists held small, lit candles as Pope Francis, looking pensive and wearing a white coat against the damp night air, sat under a canopy placed on an elevated viewing point.

At each Station of the Cross, reflecting details of Jesus suffering and death by crucifixion, a different family walked with the cross, and meditations, written by them, were read aloud.

The women were identified only by their first names in interviews on Italian Rai state TV: Irina, a nurse from Ukraine and Albina, a Russian nursing student.

Ahead of the procession, Albina told Rai that it was important to pray for the children who are no more, for the soldiers who lost their lives and cant even be buried. Irina described the sharing of the cross-carrying as a great responsibility.

The Vatican didnt respond to the protests. But apparently in reaction to the flap, the original meditation to be read while they shared bearing the cross, was shortened considerably for the procession.

The meditation said that in the face of death, silence is the most eloquent of words. Participants were then invited to pause iand pray for peace in the world. The two women looked somberly into each others eyes for a long moment as they carried the cross.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the text was shortened to allow people to stay in silence and in prayer.

Francis made no reference to the flap. Instead, at the processions conclusion, he prayed that God bring adversaries to shake hands, so that they taste reciprocal forgiveness. He also prayed that God disarm the hand raised by brother against brother, so that where there is hatred, harmony will bloom."

While Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a sacrilege, he has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor, although his references to Russian President Vladimir Putin have been clear.

SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops conference, said that several Ukrainian religious media refused this year to broadcast or report on the Colosseum procession in protest.

But other faithful in the world applauded the decision to pair the two women.

In Paris, hundreds of Catholics gathered for Good Friday prayers on the forecourt of Notre Dame cathedral.

Jennifer Kilgore-Caradec, who is from the United States, told The AP at Notre Dame that having the two women hold the cross together was a "very moving and meaningful symbol. She added: I think that real people in the real world are concerned about peace. We want peace, we dont want war.

The faithful were not allowed inside the Paris cathedral, since it is still under reconstruction after a 2019 blaze collapsed its spire and destroyed its roof.

In St. Peter's Basilica, hours ahead of the Colosseum event, Francis, wearing red vestments to symbolize the blood of Jesus, limped up the central aisle for an early evening prayer service. Francis, 85, has been suffering from a knee ligament problem.

Usually at the Good Friday basilica service at the Vatican, the pontiff would prostrate himself in prayer. But this time Francis, hobbled by pain for weeks, didn't do so.

Francis dispatched his official almsgiver, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, to Kyiv to lead a Good Friday procession in the capital city of war-ravaged Ukraine. Italian Rai state TV showed the cardinal visiting Borodyanka, where he prayed over some of the bodies and leaned over to touch one, partially covered, body.

Good Friday is one of the main days for Christians during Holy Week, which culminates in Easter, on Sunday.

In Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of faithful traditionally converge on the Old City to visit sacred sites during Holy Week, Palestinians and Israeli police clashed Friday at the Al-Aqsa mosque. The site is sacred to Jews and Muslims. This year, Ramadan coincides with Passover as well as Holy Week.

Medics in Jerusalem said more than 150 Palestinians were injured in the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

___

John Leicester and Oleg Cetinic contributed from Paris.
Jane's Green Hope

HP is joining Jane's Green Hope, an initiative of the Jane Goodall Institute in partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, to plant, protect, and restore Earth's forests. Global forests are disappearing, but together, we can bring them back to life. making this real requires ongoing care. We support this by:

With Forest First, we calculate your pages and use the best available forest science to guide our investments in the world's most critical forest ecosystems to balance in equal measure any paper used in printing that may not have been responsibly sourced.

FAQs

What is the "Plant a Tree with HP" promotion?

What products are eligible for the promotion?

What is Jane's Green Hope and the Jane Goodall Institute?

Where and when will the trees be planted?

Why is sustainability important to HP?

1. HP purchases include all HP products and services including printers, laptops, desktops, monitors, ink and toner cartridges, and HP Instant Ink subscriptions during the promotion period.

2. A percentage of profits during the promotion period of April through June 2022, up to $1M, will go to the Jane Goodall Institute to fund the planting of 1 million trees globally.

HP is giving a percentage of profits during the promotion period of April through June 2022, up to $1 million USD, to the Jane Goodall Institute in support of the Arbor Day Foundation to fund the planting of 1 million trees globally.HP purchases include all HP products and services in North America including printers, laptops, desktops, monitors, ink and toner cartridges, and HP Instant Ink subscription payments during the promotion period.Jane's Green Hope is an initiative of the Jane Goodall Institute, a non-profit whose mission includes a focus on planting, protecting and restoring forests. Through Jane's Green Hope, The Jane Goodall Institute is partnering with like-minded organizations like the Arbor Day Foundation to leverage their combined expertise and shared values in ensuring transparency and quality, that native tree species are planted, local communities are empowered, and ongoing care and monitoring ensures successful growth of the trees.Trees are planned to be planted in the U.S. (Washington, Oregon, Florida and West Virginia). Brazil, and Madagascar throughout this year. Locations and timing are subject to change due to local weather conditions and government permits.HP's vision is to create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere, and in order to achieve that we must be good global citizens, something that was instilled in our company by our founders and has been part of our DNA ever since.
MIDDLETOWN  The investigation into allegations of misconduct by several top school administrators concluded this month, according to a statement on the Board of Education website.

In a statement posted April 5, Jessie Lavorgna, the districts director of communications, said board members received the investigations preliminary findings, for the purpose of obtaining legal advice in connection with the ongoing investigation.

Lavorna added that the board expects the lawyers factual findings will be presented in a written summary to the board in the upcoming weeks.

The findings of the investigation have not been released.

Lavorna did not respond Thursday to questions about the findings or why the districts statement about the probes conclusion was not widely released to the public earlier this month.

Mayor Ben Florsheim said Thursday that he received the April 5 letter indirectly.

The school boards attorneys sent a version of the press release to me and city attorneys on March 30, immediately after the BOE met, stating it would go out the following day, the mayor explained.

Which I dont think it did. The version that went out April 5, I think I received second-hand, he added. Theres a lot that Ive found out in the same way the public has found out.

Board of Education attorneys, Shipman & Goodwin, entered into a contract with Thompson and Hine Oct. 29 to conduct the probe. It was prompted by more than a dozen union employees allegations of bullying, harassment and other workplace maltreatment against central office leadership.

These allegations were directed toward the highest officials, including former superintendent of schools Michael Conner, Chief of Administration Christine Bourne and Chief of School Operations Marco Gaylord.

Teachers union leaders had raised concerns about portions of the contract with Thompson and Hine. They claimed the agreement limited the scope of what the firm could investigate, and questioned whether it would result in an independent, fair and impartial investigation.

Acting Superintendent Alberto Vazquez-Matos, who has assumed Conners responsibilities, notified Bourne on Jan. 11 that she was being placed on leave, and issued a similar letter to Gaylord Jan. 14.

The Board of Education granted Conner leave under FMLA Oct. 18 and he was placed on administrative leave Jan 11.

Conner resigned March 3, after receiving what he called a hate packet, containing what he said were death threats and racist language mailed to his home.

Middletown Public Schools has paid $342,029.65 to Thompson and Hine, according to Lavorgna, who wrote in the statement that the board will meet to review the final findings and take action at that time.

Ive been asking for transparency and the council has been asking for transparency from Day 1, Florsheim said Thursday, echoing what he said in his recent 10-page budget address. While the investigation is underway, he said, I understand it needs to happen without interference.

The eventual school board report needs to be responsibly issued and available to the public, Florsheim said. I hope its being worked on right now.

The mayor said hes aware of the extra stresses the months-long probe has placed on employees. I have a great deal of sympathy for staff in acting and full-time positions. People have to do two, three, four, five jobs because of the investigation.

In the statement, the school board thanked the public for its patience throughout this process, and said its appreciative to those who took part in the probe.

We look forward to concluding this investigation in the near future so that the Middletown Public Schools community can continue to move forward in a constructive and positive manner, the statement concluded.

The school board is among departments taking part in the third council budget workshop at 6 p.m. Monday.
Hong Kong: Experts examine sewage surveillance

The Environmental Protection Department (EPD) and the Drainage Services Department (DSD) yesterday met the Mainland epidemic prevention and control expert delegation to share their experience in sewage surveillance.

During the meeting, Deputy Director of Environmental Protection Samuel Chui briefed the expert delegation, led by Director of the National Institute for Communicable Disease Control & Prevention of the Chinese Center for Disease Control & Prevention Kan Biao, on the technological development, practical experience and achievements of utilising sewage surveillance to assist in Hong Kongs anti-epidemic work since the fourth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic that broke out at the end of 2020.

Mr Chui also explained the change of strategies in the process in response to the epidemic trend and future plans.

Mr Kan pointed out that he recognised the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Governments effectiveness in providing an early alert on the emergence of the epidemic situation, tracking the spread of the virus in districts by sewage surveillance and helping to trace hidden patients via the testing of sewage.

He expressed gratitude to the EPD for sharing its data analysis which would serve as a reference for Mainland cities.

In addition, the expert delegation visited an on-site sewage monitoring station to learn about the DSDs process of collecting sewage samples.

They also called on the Environmental Microbiome Engineering & Biotechnology Laboratory of the University of Hong Kong and discussed sewage testing technology with Prof Zhang Tong of the Department of Civil Engineering.

This story has been published on: 2022-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Shanghai strengthens assistance for elderly, low-income homes amid COVID-19 resurgence

Xinhua) 16:01, April 15, 2022

SHANGHAI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai has strengthened efforts to provide assistance to its low-income population and elderly people living alone during the city's COVID-19 resurgence, local authorities said at a press conference on Friday.

Community volunteers and residential committee staff across the city have been mobilized to provide a series of services, such as meal delivery and regular phone call checkups, for elderly people who are empty-nesters or temporarily unattended as their family members are in hospital or under quarantine, said Jiang Rui, head of the Shanghai municipal bureau of civil affairs.

For low-income families, the bureau has called for the timely and full payment of minimum living allowances and the provision of food, daily necessities and COVID-19 prevention materials, Jiang said. People in temporary difficulty due to the epidemic will be provided with relief.

Shanghai reported 3,200 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 19,872 local asymptomatic cases on Thursday, the municipal health commission said on Friday.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Only a handful of power outages remain after storms caused hundreds of outages throughout Connecticut Thursday night.

Eversource reported just seven outages remained Friday in Norfolk, where 94 percent of the town  1,049 customers  lost power Thursday evening.

Outages statewide surged to about 3,400 Thursday night. Most of the outages were reported in Somers, Ellington and Norfolk.

The Norfolk outages were caused by downed tree limbs.

One of the customers without power was the Meadowbrook Apartments, which houses older adults. The local fire department, emergency medical personnel and Eversource were on the scene assisting tenants, according to Jon Barbagallo, a spokesperson for the Norfolk Fire Department.

At 9:45 p.m., Barbagallo said cleanup and power restoration efforts continued in the town.

While power has returned to some parts of town, many houses remain in the dark, he added.

The town was hit hard by thunderstorms, closing Route 272 south at Village Green and blocking parts of Mountain Road. Local roads are also closed off with trees and wires down.

Route 44 was closed Tuesday evening as well but reopened around 7 p.m.

United Illuminating reported no outages as of 9:50 p.m.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea will remove most pandemic restrictions, including indoor gathering limits, as it slowly wiggles out of an omicron outbreak officials say is stabilizing.

People will still be required to wear masks indoors, but authorities could remove an outdoor mask mandate if the coronavirus further slows over the next two weeks, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said in a government briefing Friday.

Starting next week, authorities will remove a 10-person limit on private social gatherings and lift a midnight curfew at restaurants, coffee shops and other indoor businesses. Officials will also remove a ban on large political rallies and other events involving 300 or more people.

People will be allowed to eat inside movie theaters, religious facilities, bus terminals and train stations starting on April 25.

The new measures were announced as the country reported 125,846 new cases of the coronavirus, continuing a weekslong downward trend after infections peaked in mid-March. The countrys one-day record was 621,187 on March 17.

While health workers reported 264 virus-related deaths in the latest 24 hours, more than half of the countrys 2,800 COVID-19 intensive care units remained available.

Kwon pleaded that people remain vigilant against the virus, saying officials will be forced to tighten social distancing again if the pandemic brings another huge wave of infections.

He said it has become difficult to prolong social distancing rules, considering peoples fatigue and frustration with extended restrictions and the toll on the service sector economy. Social distancing measures have become less effective as tools to slow transmissions because omicron has been so much more contagious than previous variants of the virus, said Son Youngrae, another Health Ministry official.

Omicron has forced South Korea to abandon a stringent COVID-19 response based on mass laboratory tests, aggressive contact tracing and quarantines to focus limited medical resources on high-risk groups, including people 60 and older and those with preexisting medical conditions.

Starting in late May, officials will remove a mandatory seven-day quarantine period for COVID-19 patients and allow them to receive treatment at hospitals and local clinics just like other illnesses.

The country had already eased quarantine restrictions and stopped requiring adults to show proof of vaccination or negative tests when entering potentially crowded spaces like restaurants so that more public and health workers could respond to rapidly expanding at-home treatments. More than 900,000 virus patients have been asked to isolate at home to save hospital space.
FAIRFIELD  Sacred Heart University will no longer require a COVID-19 vaccine starting this fall, according to the school.

For the current school year, students, faculty members and staff were required to be fully-vaccinated against the virus, including receiving a booster shot.

But the universitys website now states that for the fall of 2022, vaccination will be recommended, but not required, based on current numbers and trends and in accordance with CDC guidance.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommends that all students, faculty and staff at institutions of higher education should be vaccinated as soon as possible and remain up to date in their vaccinations, including receiving a booster when eligible.

Sacred Hearts website noted that sites for clinical, student teaching or internships may require members of the school community to be vaccinated.

The move comes as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have fallen off in Connecticut since the surge in cases during the winter months tied to the omicron varient. But cases have been trending slightly upwards in recent weeks, which researchers believe may be tied to the increase in cases of the omicron subvariant, BA.2.

Several prominent Connecticut officials have also recent tested positive for the virus, including Gov. Ned Lamont, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Attorney General William Tong, and State Treasurer Shawn Wooden.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A Tennessee death row inmate asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to vacate his execution date so that an appeals court could review new evidence in his case.

Oscar Smith, 71, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection April 21. He was convicted of fatally stabbing and shooting his estranged wife, Judith Smith, and her sons Jason and Chad Burnett, 13 and 16, at their Nashville home on Oct. 1, 1989. Smith has maintained that he is innocent.
Answers

Global natural flake graphite market trend 2024-2030 What is the application of natural flake graphite? by Newsmis-asia

According to statistics from China Chemical and Physical Power Supply Industry Association China's export volume and export value of lithium-ion batteries have continued to increase. In 2021, China's exports of lithium-ion batteries were 3.428 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 54.34%. The export of lithium-ion batteries was 28.428 billion DOLLARS, up 78.34% year on year.

From the battery export destination, so far. China's lithium-ion batteries are mainly exported to the Asia Pacific and the United States and other places. In terms of price, the price of natural flake graphite, led by lithium-ion batteries, is expected to expand globally.

Natural flake graphite are widely used in advanced refractories and coatings in the metallurgical industry. Such as magnesia carbon bricks, crucibles, etc. Pyrotechnic material stabilizer in military industry, desulfurization accelerator in smelting industry, pencil lead in light industry, carbon brush in electrical industry, electrode in battery industry, catalyst in fertilizer industry, etc. After in-depth processing of flake graphite, graphite milk can be produced, which is used in lubricants, mold release agents, wire drawing agents, conductive coatings, etc. It can also produce expanded graphite, which is used as raw material for flexible graphite products, such as flexible graphite seals and flexible graphite composite products.

coating

As a functional filler of coatings, flake graphite is mainly used in anti-corrosion coatings, fire-retardant coatings and conductive coatings.

As an anti-corrosion material, it is an anti-rust primer made of carbon black, talc and oil, which has good chemical and solvent corrosion resistance; if chemical pigments such as zinc yellow are added to the formula, the anti-rust effect is better.



Expandable graphite is used as a fireproof filler, which is a graphite interlayer compound obtained by chemical or electrochemical treatment with natural graphite flakes as raw materials. Under the condition of heat, the volume of expandable graphite expands rapidly (up to 300 times), which suffocates the flame, and at the same time generates expandable materials, which can isolate the flame, delay or interrupt the spread of the flame, and is non-flammable, with good flexibility and high surface energy. , the carbonized layer has good strength. However, the volume and amount of the expansion body should be selected appropriately. The test shows that 150um particles, 30% expansion ratio, and 5% dosage are the most suitable.

Graphite flakes can be directly used as carbon-based conductive fillers or made into composite conductive fillers for conductive coatings. However, due to the large amount of graphite flakes added, the performance of the coating will become brittle and its application will be limited. Therefore, measures should be taken to further improve the conductivity of graphite and effectively reduce the amount of graphite flakes added. The domestic Tianhua Chemical Machinery Research Institute has developed a high-temperature corrosion-resistant resin as the base material and large flake solid graphite flakes with strong electrostatic conductivity as the main aggregate, which has high body strength and good wear resistance.

The chopped fiber material with good resistance to deformation and cracking is a solvent-free thick-film conductive coating with functional fillers. The coating has the characteristics of anti-corrosion medium penetration, low curing residual stress, good resistance to matrix deformation and cracking, stable construction performance, and long-term static electricity conduction. It can be used for electrostatic conductive coating on the inner wall of crude oil storage tanks. According to data reports, electroless plating technology is used to coat graphite powder with metals, such as copper, nickel, silver, etc. to prepare composite conductive fillers, which are used in conductive coatings in an amount of 30%, which not only has good electrical conductivity, but also has further corrosion resistance. improve.

High-quality natural flake graphite manufacturer

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The negative electrode material is the carrier of lithium ions and electrons during the charging process of the battery and plays the role of energy storage and release. In the battery cost, the negative electrode material accounts for about 5%-15%, which is one of the important raw materials for lithium-ion batteries. The global sales of lithium battery anode materials are about 100,000 tons, mainly in China and Japan. According to the current growth trend of new energy vehicles, the demand for anode materials will also show a state of continuous growth. At present, the global lithium battery anode materials are still dominated by natural/artificial graphite, and new anode materials such as mesh carbon microspheres (MCMB), lithium titanate, silicon-based anodes, HC/SC, and metal lithium are also growing rapidly.

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Global Spherical Tungsten Powder market trend 2023-2026 3D Printing Alloy Spherical Tungsten Powder by Newsmis-asia

The purchasing pace at the demand end of the international thermal coal market continues to slow down and the international thermal coal price continues to decline. Prices for thermal coal at major international ports continued to fall last week as buyers in Europe slowed in recent days for April, coupled with weaker-than-expected import demand from End users in China. According to China Coal Market net monitoring: Australia Newcastle port thermal coal price index was 253 USD/ton, compared with 309.02 USD/ton, down 56.02 USD/ton, down 18.13%. South Africa's Port Richards thermal coal price Index was $264.5 / mt, down the US $62.72 / mt or 19.17% from US $327.22 / mt. The European ARA Tri-port thermal coal price Index was $281.8 / ton. Does the price of thermal coal in major international ports continue to decline to affect the price of the Spherical Tungsten Powder ?



About High Purity Powder Based 3D Printing W Powder Spherical Tungsten Powder 3D Metal Powder:



Features of Spherical tungsten powder:

The product has uniform particles, high activity and large specific surface area, and the oxygen content of the powder can be controlled below 1% after passivation treatment.



Spherical tungsten powder MF: W

Spherical tungsten powder Color: gray black

Spherical tungsten powder Purity: 99.9%

Spherical tungsten powder CAS: 7440-33-7

Spherical tungsten powder Polymorphs: spherical

Spherical tungsten powder particle size: 5-25m,15-45m

Key Features of spherical tungsten powder

Low oxygen content (< 250 ppm)

High sphericity and spherical degree (> 95%)

High liquidity, no satellite or agglomerates ball

Induced Plasma Process of spherical tungsten powder 3D metal powder:

Unique induction plasma process can be more than 20 kinds of metal and ceramic materials into spherical powder, including tungsten, molybdenum, tantalum, niobium.



Composition (percentage by mass) of Spherical Tungsten Powder:



Application of Spherical tungsten powder:

1 It is widely used in large products such as high specific gravity alloys, alloy steels, drill bits, and top hammers;



2. High-activity nano-tungsten powder can be used as an additive for raw material powder of high-performance high-density alloy (addition amount is from 10% to 20%) and a raw material additive for preparing W strips and W wires, and can also be used as raw material for high-performance alloy tungsten powder. Can significantly improve alloy properties, while reducing sintering temperature and sintering time, saving production costs;



3 The nano-tungsten powder can be used as the raw material of nano-WC to prepare nano-crystalline cemented carbide. Due to the special pore structure of this nano-tungsten powder, it can be used as the raw material of tungsten powder for the W-Mn method of ceramic metallization coating.



Storage Condition of spherical tungsten powder :

Damp reunion will affect W powder dispersion performance and using effects, therefore, spherical tungsten powder should be sealed in vacuum packing and stored in cool and dry room, the spherical tungsten powder can not be exposure to air. In addition, the W powder should be avoided under stress.

Packing & Shipping of spherical tungsten powder:

We have many different kinds of packing which depends on the spherical tungsten powder quantity.

Spherical tungsten powder packing:vacuum packing, 100g, 500g or 1kg/bag, 25kg/barrel, or as your request.

Spherical tungsten powder shipping:could be shipped out by sea , by air, by express?as soon as possible once payment receipt.



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3D Printing Alloy Spherical Tungsten Powder Properties Other Names Tungsten

CAS No. N/A Compound Formula W Molecular Weight N/A Appearance Gray metallic solid in various forms (ingot, tubing, pieces, powder) Melting Point N/A Solubility in water N/A Density NA Purity N/A Particle Size 0-20m, 15-45m, 15-53m, 53-105m, 53-150m, 105-250m Boling point N/A Specific Heat N/A Thermal Conductivity N/A Thermal Expansion N/A Young's Modulus N/A Exact Mass N/A Monoisotopic Mass N/A 3D Printing Alloy Spherical Tungsten Powder Health & Safety Information Safety Warning N/A Hazard Statements N/A Flashing point N/A Hazard Codes N/A Risk Codes N/A Safety Statements N/A RTECS Number N/A Transport Information N/A WGK Germany N/A

Because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there is a shortage of natural gas supply. At the same time, other renewable energy sources cannot produce enough electricity, so electricity prices have soared in many countries of the world. For this reason, I assume the supply and prices of the Spherical Tungsten Powder would keep being influenced by the high energy prices.



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Global Water Reducing Agent market trend 2025-2028 Production and Applications of Naphthalene Sulfonate Water Reducing Agent by Newsmis-asia

U.S. natural gas futures rose about 5 percent to a near nine-week high as global energy prices surged on concerns over a pricing plan for energy exports, keeping U.S. LNG export demand near record highs. U.S. natural gas prices have risen despite forecasts of mild weather and lower-than-expected demand, which will allow utilities to fill up storage facilities next week. On Wednesday, Germany launched an emergency plan to manage gas supplies in Europe's largest economy. If natural gas supplies are interrupted or stopped, the German government could take unprecedented steps to limit electricity supply.

Affected by the increase in the price of natural gas, the price of the Water Reducing Agent will also increase.



Introduction to Naphthalene Sulfonate Water Reducing Agent:

It is the product of naphthalene sulfonated by sulfuric acid and then condensed with formaldehyde, which belongs to an anionic surfactant. The appearance of this kind of water-reducing agent depending on different products is light yellow to dark brown powder. It is soluble in water and has a good dispersing effect on many powder materials such as cement. The water reduction rate is 25%.

Preparation method of Naphthalene Sulfonate Water Reducing Agent:

The synthetic route of naphthalene sulfonate superplasticizer is as follows:

naphthalene  sulfonation  hydrolysis  condensation  neutralization  filtration  drying  product

The raw material for production is naphthalene. First, the sulfonation reaction is carried out with concentrated sulfuric acid. The mole ratio of naphthalene to sulfuric acid is 1:1.3-1.4. The reaction temperature was 160 - 165 and the reaction time was 3h. Then the reactants were cooled to 120 for hydrolysis. At this time, naphthalene sulfonic acid was stable, while naphthalene sulfonic acid was easy to hydrolyze, thus reducing the amount of naphthalene sulfonic acid to facilitate the next polycondensation reaction. The hydrolysis time was about 30min. The condensation reaction is an important reaction in the production of a naphthalene sulfonate water reducer. At a certain temperature, the sulfonated naphthalene was condensed with formaldehyde to form a polymer compound. This reaction strongly affects the performance of the product. In order to find the optimal process parameters, the effects of condensation time, condensation temperature, and the ratio of formaldehyde and naphthalene on product properties were investigated by means of uniform design. The optimal temperature condition is 104. The optimal reaction time was 6h. The optimal condition of formaldehyde dosage is 0.75. The maximum expected theoretical value is 18.3.

Industrial production process of Naphthalene Sulfonate Water Reducing Agent:

(1) naphthalene: Naphthalene is solid at room temperature, and it is necessary to put naphthalene into the naphthalene kettle for heating and melting.

(2) sulfonation: The sulfonation process is to add concentrated sulfuric acid to the sulfonation kettle and react with it to produce naphthalene sulfonic acid. There are two types of naphthalene sulfonic acid:  -naphthalene sulfonic acid and  -naphthalene sulfonic acid.

(3) hydrolysis: As  -naphthalene sulfonic acid is produced in the sulfonation reaction, its presence is not conducive to the condensation reaction, so it needs to add water to hydrolyze  -naphthalene sulfonic acid.

(4) condensation: After the end of hydrolysis reaction to condensation kettle drop formaldehyde, and  -naphthalene sulfonic acid reaction to generate naphthalene sulfonated formaldehyde condensation.

(5) neutralization: After condensation, the material enters the neutralization kettle, drops liquid alkali, neutralizes the excess sulfuric acid in the sulfonation reaction, and stops dropping when the PH reaches 7-9.

The control system mainly monitors the production status of four different reaction reactors and their batching tanks. The production line can also carry out four production lines at the same time. Taking production line A as an example, there are one naphthalene reactor, two sulfonation reactors, four condensation reactors, and one neutralization reactor. Each reaction kettle has a feed valve, discharge valve, emptying valve, hot oil valve, cooling water valve, steam pressure valve, flush valve, etc., the reaction kettle with a raw material tank, two sulfonated kettles shared a sulfuric acid tank, every two condensation kettles would be equipped with a set of formaldehyde tank and dilution tank, each condensation kettle has a hydrolysis tank, liquid alkali tank to neutralize the alkali added drops in the kettle.

Applications of Naphthalene Sulfonate Water Reducing Agent:

Naphthalene water-reducing agent is a kind of concrete additive invented by Dr. Hwab Kenichi in Japan in 1962. It is a kind of chemical synthetic product of naphthalene sulfonate formaldehyde condensation, with industrial naphthalene, concentrated sulfuric acid, formaldehyde, and alkali as the main raw material. Adding a naphthalene water-reducing agent to concrete can not only improve the strength of concrete but also improve its various properties, such as wear resistance, corrosion resistance, permeability resistance, etc. Therefore, naphthalene water-reducing agent is widely used in roads, bridges, tunnels, docks, civil buildings, and other industries.

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Researchers at the Centre for Translational Atomic Materials at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia have developed a new graphene film that absorbs more than 90% of sunlight while eliminating most of the infrared thermal emission losses, a highly efficient A solar-heated metamaterial capable of rapidly heating to 83 degrees Celsius (181 degrees Fahrenheit) in an open environment with minimal heat loss. Proposed applications for the film include thermal energy harvesting and storage, solar thermal power generation, and seawater desalination.

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Frontrunner Vaccine Will Affact the Price of Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal - Market Trend

CEO of Pfizer partner BioNTech says coming winter will be hard but by April, 300 million immunization units should be ready, which will have an impact on the global pandemic.

If coronavirus vaccinations are rolled out widely, life could return to normal by next winter, one of the scientists behind the front-running coronavirus vaccine told British television on Sunday.

Ugur Sahin, the Turkish co-founder of the German firm BioNTech, told the BBCs The Andrew Marr Show that this winter will be hard, without any major impact from vaccinations.

Together with US giant Pfizer, BioNTech is developing the leading candidate in the worldwide chase for a vaccine. Israel has ordered millions of units of the vaccine, hoping that the first deliveries will arrive in the country by January.

Affected by the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, the Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal market is changing rapidly. These changes are indicators of market growth. This year-on-year upward trend in the market indicates that the next November 2020-2026 will show an oval but steady growth.

The price of Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal continues to be affected by factors such as market growth momentum, various opportunities and challenges. However, during the forecast period from 2020 to 2026, the global Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal sales market is expected to continue to be above average. The growth rate will continue to increase. It is expected that from today to next week, the price of Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal will increase to a certain extent.

Due to changes in consumer demand, import and export conditions, and various investigations on the development of Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal, the cost of Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal is constantly changing. Taking into account the current market macroeconomic parameters, value chain analysis, channel partners, demand and supply, the cost of Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal will also be affected to a certain extent. It is estimated that the cost of Molybdenum metal (Mo)-Single crystal will increase slightly from today to next week.

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Li3N is short for lithium nitride, which is a metal nitrogen compound that is a purple or red crystalline solid, showing a light green luster under reflected light and a ruby color in transmitted light. At room temperature, metallic lithium can partially generate lithium nitride when exposed to air, and lithium generates lithium nitride in a nitrogen stream 10 to 15 times faster than in air. At this time, all lithium is converted into lithium nitride. Learn more knowledge about Lithium nitride from nanotrun website.

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In countries where more than one language is spoken, education systems face the challenge of choosing the language of instruction in schools.

Learning a new language is a particularly difficult task for a child. On the other hand, learning in a language that a child already speaks can facilitate schooling and literacy.

In multilingual communities, a common approach is to opt for bilingual education, where teaching takes place in both the mother tongue and an official language. There is ample evidence that early experience of both languages with bilingual family members or at school as part of a bilingual education program can improve children's oral language skills.

These skills  vocabulary and knowledge of the sounds of a language  provide insight into children's early reading skills. This evidence has been provided in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

However, we wanted to know more about how linguistic environments at home and at school promote reading ability in multilingual communities with low literacy rates, as is the case in areas rural areas of Cote d'Ivoire. Our aim was to understand whether bilingual environments at home and at school could promote children's language and reading skills and the factors that could influence, in such contexts, their reading and writing achievement. .

We conducted research in Ivory Coast from 2016 to 2018. There are over 70 languages spoken in this country, but French remains the language of instruction in most primary grades. The results are mediocre: only 53% of young people aged 15 to 24 are literate. We assessed the children's language and reading skills in both their mother tongue and in French, and compared the results obtained by children attending a French-only school and those in a bilingual establishment, who grew up in monolingual or bilingual homes.

We found, as expected, that children from bilingual homes had better language and reading skills than their monolingual peers. But, unexpectedly, children from French-only schools performed better in language and writing tests, apparently because of the resources available to them in those schools. Thus, efforts to use multiple languages in education must also be accompanied by better quality resources such as teacher training and teaching materials in mother tongues.

The research

Most rural households in Cote d'Ivoire do not speak French, so many children only come into contact with the French language for the first time when they start school. This discrepancy between the language spoken at home and the language used at school may contribute to the fact that 10% of school children repeat a year, that only 73% of children finish primary school, and that only 53% of people aged 15 to 24 years old are literate.

In 2001, Cote d'Ivoire launched a nationwide program called the Integrated School Project which provides for the teaching of a mother tongue in addition to French.

Our research team investigated how children's speaking and reading skills differed by family and school background in multilingual rural communities with low literacy rates. We analyzed the differences between:

bilingual (mother tongue and French) and monolingual (mother tongue only) households and

bilingual schools in the Integrated School Project program and traditional French-language schools only.

We assessed the oral expression of 830 children in their mother tongue (Abidji, Attie, Baoule, Bete) and in French, and then tested their French reading skills.

As expected, based on previous research linking early bilingual experience to strengths in language and reading skills, children from bilingual homes outperformed their peers from bilingual homes in both languages. monolingual households speaking only their mother tongue, on all language and reading tests.

But, it was not so evident in the school results. Children in bilingual schools repeated a year less often than those in French-only schools. This suggests that teaching in the mother tongue may have helped them better assimilate the school curriculum. Overall, however, children in bilingual schools performed less well in language and reading tests in both languages than children in traditional French-only schools.

This result was the opposite of what one would expect from previous research on bilingual education.

This result may have reflected the qualitative differences in the education children received in these two types of schools. These quality differences were related to the use of mother tongues in bilingual classes. Teachers did not have sufficient training or didactic materials to teach in mother tongues. French-language schools have not encountered the same difficulties, as their teachers are trained in teaching French and have enough teaching materials in this language.

Teachers in bilingual schools encountered obstacles that limited their ability to provide quality bilingual education. They had to deal with the perception in their communities that the mother tongue was not an effective learning tool. As one CM1 teacher from the village of Moape told us, adequate resources to teach in mother tongues were lacking:

We have no pedagogical orientation for teaching in the local language. I have to prepare the lessons and copy each exercise by hand into the 40 student notebooks in my class I prefer to give my lessons in French Moreover, at the base, we were not trained in bilingual teaching. A class is allocated to us according to our ethnicity and not for our mastery of the techniques of the language of instruction.

Due to these constraints on the quality of bilingual education, it is possible that the early reading and writing skills of some schoolchildren may not have been able to develop. It is therefore not enough to put in place a bilingual education program to hope that learning and literacy outcomes will improve. Education systems should invest in bilingual education programs to ensure teachers have the resources to deliver quality bilingual education.

Perspectives

Bilingual education is worth investing in. It reduces repetition and dropout rates, and improves literacy outcomes. Incorporating a child's mother tongue into their education enhances their culture and can improve their academic performance and increase their self-confidence and self-esteem. Improving the quality of bilingual education can also convince communities of its value and change negative perceptions of mother tongue education.

While recognizing the need to improve the quality and results of bilingual education programs, Cote d'Ivoire has adopted the program of the International Organization of La Francophonie, School and National Languages in Africa (ELAN), which aims better bilingual education. Monitoring quality improvement will be an important key to the success of schools.

Kaja Jasinska receives funding from the Jacobs Foundation

Mary-Claire Ball does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

By Mary-Claire Ball, PhD student, Developmental Psychology and Education, University of Toronto And

Kaja Jasinska, Assistant Professor, Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto
Government Statistician and Professor of Economics at the University of Cape Coast, Professor Kobina Annim, has urged government to take a cue from how Value Added Tax (VAT) was rolled out years back to help guide the implementation of the newly approved Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy).

According to him, the E-levy will help improve the country's Tax to GDP radio but may decline over time, if it is not strategically implemented.

Delivering a lecture at the Central University in Accra, Professor Annim recommended that there should be national criteria for assessing the effectiveness of government policies.

In principle, we need to increase our tax to GDP ratio. Between 2008 and 2020, our tax to GDP ratio has reduced by 13%. So if we start with E-Levy, we will surely see a spike in our tax to GDP ratio. But if we do not address the factors that contributed to our state now, we will see a drop in the rate over time.

Irrespective of the gains from E-Levy, it is important to bring in other macroeconomic indicators. We could look at the cost-benefit analysis, sequencing, and hierarchies of these indicators. With the E-Levy in the picture, it is important for us to look at VAT and how it has been managed in terms of buoyancy, efforts, capacity, and productivity to help us better tackle issues around E-levy.

The lecture is the first in a three-part series that will include an inaugural lecture at the University of Cape Coast.

The lecture was under the theme Conceptualization of National Policies; Issues of Capacity and Practice.

He noted that, the introduction and optimism expressed in single policies as the panacea for the country's economic woes have not yielded the intended purpose over the years.

Prof. Annim proffered eight indicators for analysing the effectiveness of government policies.

He concluded that, it has become imperative to redirect our proclivity in designing less data-informed and standalone policies to rigorous policy conceptualization processes and an assessment of their outcomes and impact.

The lecture was chaired by the Vice Chancellor Professor Bill Puplampu and it was attended by other academics, researchers and students.

Government is hoping to begin the implementation of the E-levy from May 2022 after it was passed by Parliament in March.
Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) and the Somali Media Association (SOMA) condemn in the strongest terms possible the mass arrest of 16 journalists reporting on the prison shooting in Hargeisa by Somaliland police on Wednesday 13 April.

On midday on Wednesday, Somaliland police and officers from the intelligence service arrested ten journalists: Mohamed Abdi Ilig (senior journalist and director of MM TV); Mohamed Jamal Jirde (MMTV cameraman); Hassan Galaydh (BBC Somali reporter); Sagal Mustafe Hassan (Voice of America reporter); Ahmed Nur Samrawi (Bulsho TV reporter); Ahmed Mohamud Yusuf (Saab TV reporter); Naima Abdi Ahmed (Caro Edeg Media reporter); Ahmed Said Hassan Shimali (Horn Cable TV reporter); Aidarus Mohamed (Goobjoog TV reporter) and Hamzew Abdi Hayd (CBA TV reporter) as they were covering the shooting incident at the Hargeisa central prison. Some of these journalists were reporting live from outside the prison facility.

Journalists detained in Hargeisa

On midday on Wednesday, Somaliland police and officers from the intelligence service arrested a group of journalists who were reporting from the Hargeisa prison shooting incident.

Police officers accompanied by intelligence unit officers later raided Horn Cable TV studio in the city centre of Hargeisa and detained six more journalists who were reporting about the prison gunfire: Abdijabar Mohamed Hussein (Horn Cable TV reporter); Mohamed Suldan Ahmed (Horn Cable TV reporter); Khalid Mohamed Aleeli (Horn Cable TV reporter); Ayanle Abdi Buni (Horn Cable TV reporter); Mustafa Muhumed Abdi (Horn Cable TV cameraman) and Abdifatah Mohamud Ismail (Horn Cable TV cameraman).

Three more journos detained

Police officers accompanied by intelligence unit officers later raided Horn Cable TV studio in the city centre of Hargeisa and detained its journalists.

Among the 16 detained journalists, two are female. Seven of them are detained in the headquarters of the national intelligence service while the rest were held at the central police station. Police also confiscated journalists camera equipment and phones as part of the crackdown on the journalists reporting on the prison shooting, according to journalists and human rights defenders in Hargeisa.

Late on Wednesday night police released Voice of Americas Sagal Mustafe Hassan and Naima Abdi Ahmed of Caro Edeg Media, according to colleagues and family members who spoke to SJS and SOMA. The reason of their release is not yet clear.

When contacted, Somaliland police and the Ministry of Information declined to speak on the journalists' mass arrest. However, Head of the Somaliland Custodial Corps, Ahmed Awale told state television that they "would seek legal means against the journalists" who covered the prison incident.

SJS and SOMA strongly condemn the mass arrest of journalists in Hargeisa. While we welcome the freedom of Sagal Mustafe Hassan and Naima Abdi Ahmed, we also call Somaliland authorities to unconditionally free other group of journalists in jail including Abdisalan Ahmed Awad who is held incommunicado since 3 April 2022.

SJS and SOMA reiterate their call to Somaliland authorities that they must understand that journalism is not a crime and it is not a terrorism. Its an important cornerstone of freedom and democracy. The attempt by Somaliland authorities to control news and information  particularly incidents with public interest  violate the guarantees enshrined in Somaliland Constitution and the international law, in particular, Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

We condemn this mass arrest of journalists in Hargeisa. Already into the fourth month of 2022, Somaliland leads the list as the worst journalists jailer among all other regional states. This spike in arrests of journalists in Somaliland shows an escalating crackdown on media freedom in that region, Abdalle Ahmed Mumin, the Secretary-General of Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said Somaliland authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all detained journalists and stop intimidating journalists and media crew for carrying out their journalistic duties.

Arrests, repression, and intimidation of journalists have become commonplace in Somaliland. We are concerned that the situation is even became worse to an extend journalists are now telling us that they are not safe Mohamed Osman Makaran, the Secretary-General of Somali Media Association (SOMA) said. We demand that the perpetrators of these crimes be held accountable for their crimes against journalists and media outlets. We call all the journalists in detention be freed without condition.

Full Joint Statement by SJS and SOMA click here
The Centre for Development and Policy Advocacy (CEDEPA) has organised a Stakeholder Forum in Tamale on Tuesday, April 12 to mark the 12th International Day for Street Children in Ghana.

The theme for this year's commemoration is "Creating Specialised Solutions to End Child Streetism."

The stakeholder meeting was attended by representatives from civil society organisations, youth and women groups, chiefs, religious clerics, local government officials, including Assembly Members, and officers from the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) as well as the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE).

The former Northern Regional Director of NCCE, and Guest Speaker for the forum, Alhaji Abdul-Razak Sani, admonished parents to take advantage of government's free TVET policy, by encouraging their wards to attend TVET schools, since it is the surest way for them to gain practical skills, to be able to create their own jobs after school.

The Northern Regional Head of Informal Skills Certification Division of the National Vocational Training Institute(NVTI), Mrs. Abdul-Wahab Humaimah, urged apprentices in the informal sector to register for the NVTI proficiency examinations, to get themselves certified.

She added that the certification would equally enable them access opportunities available to those who learnt the skills in the formal sector.

The forum was also to launch the project, dubbed: "Promoting Child Rights and Equal Opportunities for Street Children and Children in other Vulnerable Situations".

According to the Executive Director of CEDEPA, Mr. Ziblim Alhassan, the project is being implemented in partnership with Safe Child Advocacy(SCA), a non-governmental organisation based in Kumasi, in three communities in northern Ghana, namely, Zangbalun in the Kumbungu District, Gbrimani in the Tolon District and Kotingli in the Tamale Metropolis.

He added that "the Child Rights Protection Committees (CPCs) being inaugurated at today's forum would be empowered to work with CEDEPA and SCA in the respective communities to realise the goal of this project".

Delivering an address on behalf of the Northern Regional Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr. Mohammed Awal Abdul-Malik, a Programmes Officer at the Department, commended CEDEPA and other Civil Society Organisations for the laudable initiatives they are undertaking to complement the efforts of government to deal with the problem of child streetism.

He indicated that protecting the rights of children should be seen as everyone's responsibility. He said the doors of the Department of Social Welfare is always open to all those who are working in the interest of children and other vulnerable groups.

The Executive Director of CEDEPA, Mr. Ziblim Alhassan expressed gratitude to all participants for actively taking part in the deliberations at the forum, and tasked them to carry the ideas and messages to their community members.

He finally thanked Adamfo Ghana for extending financial support to CEDEPA for the activities of the 12th International Day for Street Children 2022.
The President of the Republic, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has delivered an Easter message to the Ghanaian people to inspire hope in the midst of the hardships.

In a video on his Facebook page, the President has extended best wishes on behalf of not just his government but his family as well, to all Ghanaians celebrating Easter.

Fellow Ghanaians, Easter is upon us once again. On behalf of my wife Rebecca, my five daughters, five grandchildren, and other members of my family, and on behalf of members of government, I send best wishes to you from the Jubilee House, the seat of our nations presidency, President Akufo-Addo says in the video.

According to the President, although Ghana finds itself in a difficult situation after suffering the impact of the global Coronavirus pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, he stresses that with unity, there is hope for Ghana to turn things around.

In the face of the current difficulties confronting our nation, I admonish all of us to be inspired and guided by the promise of salvation. I ask, respectfully, all of you to continue to have hope of a great time soon for our country, H.E Akufo-Addo charged Ghanaians.

Listen to the Presidents Easter message in the attachment below:
For the second day at the Paris attacks trial, evidence from surviving terrorist Salah Abdeslam dominated proceedings. Less sure of himself on Thursday, in the face of relentless questioning, Abdeslam finally asked for forgiveness and a second chance. That provoked an angry reaction from some on the public benches in the Paris courtroom.

Abdeslam had to wait.

Before the sole surviving member of the ten-man terror squad which attacked Paris in November 2015 could continue his testimony, we first heard from two of his co-accused.

Yassine Atar is a nervous, tense individual, much given to exaggerated body language and bursts of feigned laughter. He is suspected of having helped the terrorist attackers before and after the Paris massacres. He faces life imprisonment if found guilty.

His friends and relatives are no great help to his cause.

Atar's older brother, Oussama, is the man suspected of having planned and directed the Paris attacks from Islamic State headquarters in Syria. Oussama is also accused in this trial, absent because presumed dead in a drone strike in 2017.

Yassine was frequently in contact with other suspected terrorists, notably convicted Thalys attacker Mohamed Bakkali and the Belgian suicide bombers Ibrahim and Khalid El Bakraoui.

Her has explanations for everything. His contacts with Bakkali were related to the sale of a defective vacuum cleaner; those with Khalid El Bakraoui concerned a land deal in Morocco.

He says the case against him is "ridiculous".

Unblinking

Ali El Haddad Asufi is a tougher, more stable individual. He listens with his head on one side, eyes unblinking, like a bird of prey. You would not want to face him in a fight.

He is suspected of having supplied some of the weapons used in the Paris attacks. He could go to jail for 20 years if found guilty.

The case against him is thin, given that investigators have never been able to trace the source of the kalashnikovs used by the November 2015 killers.

Unfortunately, Haddad, a driver at Brussels airport whose main business seems to have been the import and sale of narcotics, was also on close terms with Ibrahim El Bakraoui and the Paris terrace killer, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

Asked if he could be described as Ibrahim El Bakraoui's "man of confidence", Haddad became darkly angry.

"He blew himself up in the airport where I worked. He could have killed me. You call that a sign of confidence?"

The witness and his defence team also had angry words for the Belgian investigators who, they claim, made selective use of evidence relating to Ali El Haddad Asufi when preparing the file for the Paris court.

Why, the defence wondered, was there no mention of the information from a Belgian police source that an "arms dealer of Italian or Albanian origin", based in Brussels, could have supplied the weapons needed by the Bakraoui brothers?

And what of the statement by Belgian prosecuting judge, Isabelle Panou, that she "took only those parts of the evidence that interested her"?

Ali El Haddad Asufi was left to observe that "I have never understood why I was implicated in the Paris attacks trial."

Abdeslam heard

And then it was the turn of Salah Abdeslam.

The witness was asked by court president Jean-Louis Peries if he felt that the unfavourable media image of which Abdeslam complained on Wednesday might have been a direct result of the prisoner's five-year refusal to answer questions.

"It was to protect myself. You know I was shot during my arrest. I was questioned immediately after surgery. I'd been on the run for four months.

"We were told to say nothing. That's what everyone said in the hideouts.

"So the media created the character everyone wanted to see ... a monster completely devoid of humanity. I let that image of myself develop."

Speaking quietly, clearly less at ease than during his evidence on Wednesday, Abdeslam remained calm, even when questioned by the very aggressive Didier Seban, one of the lawyers representing the families of the victims.

"I don't believe you," Seban bluntly told the witness, in relation to Abdeslam's claim that he was the sole attacker sent to blow himself up in a cafe in the 18th district of Paris.

The other targets were hit by squads of three terrorists each.

"I'm telling the truth as I see it," the accused replied. "Whoever wants to believe me is welcome. If you don't want to listen to me, I couldn't care less."

"You want to keep control of your little game, is that it?"

"That's your interpretation of what I'm saying."

And then the accused spoke directly to the families and friends of those who died or were injured on the night of 13 November 2015.

"Don't allow resentment to destroy you from the inside," he told them. "You are in a position of force. I am the weak one.

"You have the possibility to forgive and to move on. You can give me the chance to, perhaps some day, rejoin my family and the people I love."

At which stage, an isolated angry shout of "Never, never," was heard from the rear of the courtroom.

The trial continues.
The Vice President of the Republic, H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has charged Ghanaians celebrating Easter to emulate the virtues of sacrifice as demonstrated by Jesus on the cross.

In a post on his social media page,the Vice President further admonishes Christians to be inspired by Christ and love one another.

Easter is not merely a commemoration of the death of Christ, but also a celebration of the significance of his sacrifice to his followers and future generations, and his resurrection.

Let us be inspired by the essence of the occasion and emulate Christs virtues of sacrifice and love toward one another.

My family and I wish all Christians a happy Easter, H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia posted on Twitter on Friday.

In a similar Easter message, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has charged Ghanaians to be inspired by the promise of salvation during this Easter period as his government works to turn around the hardships in the country.

"In the face of the current difficulties confronting our nation, I admonish all of us to be inspired and guided by the promise of salvation. I ask, respectfully, all of you to continue to have hope for a great time soon for our country.

Government is working hard to restore our nation back onto the path of progress and prosperity, a path on which our nation was charting before the onset of Covid-19 which negative consequences have been further exacerbated by the effects of the Russia invasion of Ukraine, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said in a video message.
Centre urges SC not to invest time in examining validity of sedition and wait for the outcome of its re-consideration.
Residents of Zacholi who have been left homeless after an invasion of their community by some unknown gunmen on Wednesday will receive support from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) on Friday.

This is according to the Northern Regional Minister, Saani Alhassan Sayibu.

Following a visit to the community on Thursday, the Minister expressed his regret about the incident and gave assurances that the government will ensure that the perpetrators of the heinous crime are brought to book.

He also said efforts are underway to bring relief to residents whose houses were burnt down and properties destroyed in the attack.

The National Disaster Management Organisation is there taking inventory of the support the people need. The Yendi Municipal Assembly is also doing local arrangements to get the people some support NADMO is working hard to make sure that enough support gets to all of them by midday on Friday. It will provide food, shelter, clothing and all that, he said.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the minister applauded the chief of Zacholi for his role in keeping the displaced residents safe throughout the night and providing them with food temporarily.

Wednesday's attack on the Zacholi community came after allegations that some armed robbers had attacked and killed a Konkomba man on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. There is suspicion that this was a retaliatory attack on Zacholi, resulting in the killing of nine persons.

According to the regional minister, the countrys security agencies are working to bring the perpetrators of the crime to book.

This incident cannot go unpunished, but we can only punish crime when we are able to identify the perpetrators. Much as we need the law to work, we need the cooperation of the local community here. I know that, at this development, people are terrified. We will give them some time, and after they've recovered, they should be able to talk to us. I appeal to the Fulani community to exercise restraint. The law may grind slowly, but it will catch up with all the perpetrators, he said in an earlier interview.

citinewsroom
Fire has razed to the ground a 16-bedroom house and rendered 45 occupants homeless at Baakoniaba, a suburb of Sunyani.

The fire, which started around 1035 hours Wednesday, destroyed property and personal belongings running to millions of Ghana cedis.

No casualty was reported and the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) said it was working to ascertain the cause.

Linus Dapilah, a victim, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the fire started from a locked wooden kitchen which contained liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders attached to the house.

Divisional Officer Grade III (DOIII) Ignatius N-Noekor, the Bono Regional Fire Operations Officer, who led the team, said the fire tender developed a pump failure when the team arrived.

We tried calling the Abesim and Nsoatre fire stations for assistance, but the fire had already burnt the entire house, he stated.

GNA
Member of Parliament for Salaga South Constituency of the Savannah Region, Hajia Zuwera Mohammed Ibrahimah on Thursday, April 14, 2022 donated 300 bags of sugar and assorted items to the Muslim community in her constituency to support them in their month-long fasting.

The items include cartons of cube sugar, Milo, Nido, Lipton tea and bags of granulated sugar.

The donation according to the lawmaker is her bit to support Muslims undergoing spiritual cleansing in this holy month of Ramadan.

The items are expected to be distributed to identified needy constituents, Mosques, Imams, Traditional and Opinion leaders, women and youth groups amongst others.

In her Ramadan message, Hajia Zuwera admonished Muslims to cease this holy month to pray for the country to overcome the global pandemic.

She also urged them to continue to pray for the continued peace and tranquility enjoyed in the constituency, region and the country at large.

She pledged her continued support to them and asked Allah to guide them against the challenges that will confront them in the remaining days of the fasting.
The UNHCR and human rights groups have voiced their opposition to a deal signed bewteen London and Kigali that would see thousands of illegal migrants in the UK resettled in Rwanda, or returned to their country of origin.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said to it was "strongly opposed" to the UK's plan to send illegally arrived asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Following the deal signed by British Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta in Kigali, the UNHCR's assistant high commissioner for international protection, Gillian Triggs, said "people fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy".

She added: "They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing."

144 million deal

Speaking from Dover, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda, saying that from now on anyone who entered the UK illegally  as well as those who have arrived illegally since 1 January  could now be relocated to Rwanda.

"Our compassion may be infinite, but our ability to help people is not," Johnson added.

Rwanda, a tiny, landlocked country of 13 million people with a bleak human rights record, already hosts some 133,000 refugees. This is five times the number per capita than Britain.

The agreement with Rwanda, which will be funded by the UK to the tune of 144 million, will see the migrants  whose nationalities and arrival conditions have not been specified  "integrated into communities across the country", a statement issued by Kigali said.

'Cowardly' and 'ill-conceived'

Rights groups say refugee "outsourcing projects"  such as Australia's arrangements with Papua New Guinea and Nauru  have proved expensive, leading to mass detention and exacerbating human trafficking.

Steve Valdez-Symonds, director of refugee and migrant rights at Amnesty International UK, denounced the deal as a "scandalously ill-conceived idea" that would "cause suffering while wasting huge amounts of public money".

He also highlighted Rwanda's "dismal human rights record".

Meanwhile, Refugee Action executive director Tim Naor Hilton called the deal a "cowardly, barbaric and inhumane way to treat people fleeing persecution and war".

Political opposition

For their part, Rwanda's opposition have voiced their anger at the deal, saying western powers should "own up to international obligations on migration issues".

The leader of Rwanda's DALFA-Umurinzi party, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, said Kigali should solve its own socio-political failures that force Rwandans to leave their homeland before hosting refugees from other countries.

The Democratic Green Party of Rwanda agreed, saying wealthy countries such as Britain shouldn't be using their "money and influence" to enforce their will on others.

With its high population density and internal conflicts over land and resources, taking in migrants from the UK will increase the land burden and survival challenges Rwanda already faces.

Legal challenges expected

In the UK, the political opposition has also denounced the "inhumanity" of the project.

Even within the ranks of the ruling Conservative Party, critics have called the deal a "huge attempt to divert attention" from Boris Johnson's "Partygate" setbacks.

The British Parliament is, meanwhile, set to pass a law that could allow for the creation of centres abroad to deport migrants while their applications are processed or authorise the coastguard to push migrant boats out of British waters.

The UNHCR says the law, if passed, would contravene the Geneva Refugee Convention, to which the UK is a signatory.

Meanwhile, Johnson said he was anticipating legal challenges to the deal from what "politically motivated lawyers".

Read also:
15.04.2022 LISTEN

The Member of Parliament for Ellembelle constituency who doubles as member of the Energy and Mines Committee of Ghana's Parliament, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah paid a surprised visit to the illegal mining (galamsey) site at Ankasa-Ewereko community in the Ellembelle North of his constituency.

The MP had a tip-off of ongoing illegal mining activities in that area and decided to go there by himself to ascertain the truth. The MP got to the site on Wednesday 13th April 2022 around 8:25am in the company of the Assembly Member for the Kwasikrom Electoral area Honourable Ishawu Mussah, some community members whose lands have been snatched and other media men including his personal aid.

The MP spotted ten men at the site some of whom are elders of the community and the NPP chairman Mr Kwakye for the area community who initially didn't want to welcome the MP's entourage.

The MP disclosed the purpose of his visit and asked to speak to the leader of the site. The workers on the field refused to disclose the name and whereabouts of their master but rather gave the name of the company as 'Perkinspact'. The workers claim they were prospecting with permission from the Ellembelle District Assembly, the chiefs of Aiyinasi and Basake to undertake those activities. The site leader led the MP to the main site where the mining is taking place upon request by the Honourable Member.

The Honourable Member told the members of the illegal mining company about his visit i.e to find out about the safety of the rivers and cocoa farms. The MP further asked the site leaders whether they engaged the community members and cocoa farmers before engaging in their activities.

The MP further asked the cocoa farmers and the Assembly Member for proper briefings regarding the community engagement with the mining company.

The Assembly Member, Ishawu Mussah however stated that he has engaged the Odikro and the farmers on three occasions only to later find out that the Aiyinasi and Basake chiefs send the elders to the illegal mining company to pour libations for commencement of work.

Speaking to the aggrieved farmers, the MP assured them that the information he has gathered from the site will enable him dig into the matter. He also asked the farmers to be calm as he engaged the various stakeholders mentioned in the illegal mining authorization to get to the bottom of the issues.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has said in his Easter message to Ghanaians on Friday April 15 that may this holy day rekindle in them hope, forgiveness, sacrifice, compassion and the love of God.

He said today, Good Friday, marks the day Jesus Christ sacrificed himself for the world, so that all who believe in the gospel will be saved.

As Christians, we celebrate this special day and call it GOOD because by Christs crucifixion and death, our sins have been atoned for and we are now a new creation with a mandate to live as Christ did.

 May this holy day rekindle in us hope, forgiveness, sacrifice, compassion and the love of God.

Source:3news.com|Ghana
Police, army and volunteer rescuers on Friday widened the search for dozens still missing five days after the deadliest storm to strike South Africa's coastal city of Durban in living memory as the death toll rose to nearly 400.

The floods, which affected nearly 41,000, left a trail of destruction and at least 395 people dead, regional head of the disaster managing ministry Sipho Hlomuka said.

With the government coordinating the search-and-rescue operation, the official number of people missing in KwaZulu-Natal province stood at 55.

The official number of people missing in KwaZulu-Natal province stands at 55. By MARCO LONGARI AFP

A fleet of cars and helicopters carrying police experts set out early Friday to comb through a valley in Marianhill suburb, west of Durban, to look for 12 people reported missing in the floods, AFP correspondents said.

It is an increasingly desperate search for survivors.

Travis Trower, a director for the volunteer-run organisation Rescue South Africa, said his teams had found only corpses after following up 85 calls on Thursday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa -- recalling the Covid 19 pandemic and the deadly July riots, described the floods as "a catastrophe of enormous proportions... not seen before in our country" -- urged Good Friday prayers for survivors.

"Just as we thought it was safe to get out of (the Covid) disaster, we have another disaster, a natural disaster descending on our country, particularly on our KwaZulu-Natal province.

"The floods have cause a lot of devastation a lot of havoc," he said.

The death toll from South Africa's unprecedented floods has risen to 395. By RAJESH JANTILAL AFP

"Let us pray for our people in KwaZulu-Natal so that they receive the healing that is required... so that they can get on with their lives," Ramaphosa told El-Shaddai Tabernacle church congregants in the eastern town of Ermelo.

Thousands of survivors, left homeless after their houses were destroyed, are being housed in shelters scattered across the city, sleeping on cardboard sheets and mattresses on the floors.

Housing minister Mmamoloko Kubayi, told reporters 13,593 houses have been damaged, with nearly 4,000 of them totally destroyed.

Meanwhile volunteers, with gloves and trash bags, fanned across the city's beaches to pick up debris left by the massive storms ahead of an expected surge of Easter weekend holidaymakers.

'Absolute devastation'

Software manager Morne Mustard, 35, was among the scores of volunteers, who included children, picking up debris and broken reeds from Durban's famous Umhlanga beach.

Thousands of survivors, left homeless after their houses were destroyed, are being housed in shelters scattered across Durban. By MARCO LONGARI AFP

"This is my local beach where I bring my kids, and this is where we spend our weekend, so this is for our community,".

He roped in workmates, families and friends to help clean up as beach restaurants offered free breakfast for the volunteers.

Recalling the day the rain fell, Mustard said, "It didn't feel real, absolute devastation, a horrendous sight, stuff spilling out on the beach must have come from someone's house... brooms and mops, household utensils, it was such a heart sore to see."

Some of Durban's poorest residents have been lining up to collect water from burst pipes and dug through layers of mud to retrieve their scant possessions.

Ramaphosa declared the region a state of disaster to unlock relief funds.

Speaking to Newzroom Afrika television Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said an initial tranche of a billion rand ($68 million) in emergency relief funding was immediately available.

Map of South Africa locating KwaZulu-Natal province, where hundreds have been confirmed dead as of April 14, following the heaviest rains in decades.. By AFP

Weather forecasters said apocalyptic levels of rain were dumped on the region over several days.

Some areas received more than 450 millimetres (18 inches) over 48 hours, or nearly half of Durban's annual rainfall, the national weather service said.

The South African Weather Service issued an Easter weekend warning of thunderstorms and flooding in KwaZulu-Natal.

"According to the warning that we have received, damaging winds are forecast for areas along the coast from midday (Friday) into Saturday evening," said Hlomuka, adding disaster teams were on "high alert".

Over 4,000 police officers have been deployed to help with relief efforts and maintain law and order amid reports of sporadic looting.

The Durban port, one of the southern hemisphere's largest, resumed shipping operations on Thursday afternoon, after closing during the floods, state logistics firm Transnet.
Prince Appiah Debrah Junior

15.04.2022 LISTEN

Tema, April 15, CDA Consult  About fourteen top United State of America colleges/universities has offered admission to the 2021 Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (PRESEC) National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) whizkid, Prince Appiah Debrah Junior starting in the 2022/23 academic year.

Prince A. Debrah Jr told the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) on the offers that he intends to study mathematics and computer science at the university with special interests in algorithmic reasoning, artificial intelligence, and human-computer interactions.

The institutions include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Michigan, and others from Stanford, Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, and Ann Arbor.

A brief of Prince Debrah Jr. shows that the young man started his basic school education at The Light Academy Adenta, where he was the School Prefect.

He graduated as the second-best candidate in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the entire Adenta District in 2018, and gained admission to the Presbyterian Boys' Senior High School at Legon, becoming the President of the Math & Science Club.

He was part of the team that represented PRESEC in the 2021 NSMQ in the nail-biter finale in Kumasi, where PRESEC won the silver medal.

He is the proud son of Prince Appiah Debrah, a lawyer and chartered accountant who was the parliamentary candidate for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Korle Klottey Constituency in the 2020 elections.

Source: CDA Consult
15.04.2022 LISTEN

The last three weeks have been moments of learning, busyness, and reflections for me. The weeks were punctuated with significant lessons about existential questions. The first was about why are we here? The second was how should we live in the world today? And the third was whom do I belong?

All these morphed in why the Cross, the university and the existential questions of life  what strings them together?

I was upbeat about giving a seminar paper at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology on March 30, 2022. The paper was/is about my deepest reflections on the role of religion in human civilization. After exploring the fate of religion in a pandemic world, I decided to give a seminar presentation on the topic: The political economy of heaven and earth: A review of religious theories and praxes in a pandemic world.

As part of inviting as many people as possible to share my considerate understanding of religion with, I shared the flyer which was nicely designed with my profile picture widely. On one platform, where I shared my flyer, a young man promptly responded to my flyer: We need money, you are giving a talk.

I responded tersely to the young man with the words, Please that is why you need to sit in the seminar. But the response of the young man reminded me of one of my cherished philosophies in life. If I choose what everyone considers irrelevant, I will hardly be competed or feel the need to compete.

Two weeks ago, I accepted the task to provide pro bono service as a Scribe to a group of young women on a project. As part of the project, several renowned scholars were similarly offered the chance to help. But to my surprise, these accomplished scholars wanted to be given juicy positions and remunerations before they rendered service.

Again, this incident reminded me that if we make what we get from what we do the basis of our identity, then we are deeply in crisis.

The third incident was last night. From about 10 pm to midnight, I was helping a friend to draft a proposal. And to help him understand how to frame his research question, I asked him a question about the difference between truth and fact.

The question was quite tricky because he had almost, like all of us, not paid close attention to the philosophical undercurrent of what I wanted him to do. As he kept stammering, I decided to ease his tension with a question. If I tell you, human beings are ontologically good, will you say that statement is true or fact?

My friend quickly responded that that was a fact. Unfortunately, he got the answer wrong. But his answer was a good entry point for us to begin a journey of epistemic madness on the Cross, modern university and the existential questions of life.

I explained to him that the difference between Truth and fact is a difference between what is and what ought to be. In other words, the truth is what ought to be, while the fact is what is. The truth is the ideal; the fact is the real. The Truth is our aspiration, the fact is what is dissent. But why dont we look for the truth?

I took him on a long journey of explaining the historical genealogies of the university, highlighting the reason for research as the signifier of a modern university. I told him that in the premodern world, the logic of university was to pass on conventional truth; in the medieval era, the reason was to incorporate the training of courtiers in university education, and in the modern world, to research.

After about an hour of lecture on the above, I asked him why he thought research is the focus of the modern university. This time, he got the answer right: The needs of human beings are insatiable.

Given that it is simply axiomatic that human beings are hardly satisfied with anything, I followed up with a question: Why are human needs insatiable? At this point, he realised that if he didnt say he was tired, I would take him on yet another journey of epistemic madness.

So, he simply said, the Bible said so. Unfortunately for him, that was not a satisfactory answer. So, I followed up with another question: Why did the Bible say our needs are insatiable?

Knowing that I would stretch him further, he simply said: Sir, this one, help me.

With his own admission, I asked him whether he thinks a dog cares about being anything other than being a dog? He simply said no. I asked him whether in all of creation, he finds any creature, apart from human beings, that is unhappy?

That was a tricky question at face value. How would he know? But I interrupted him by simplifying the question: have you found any of the creatures of God fundamentally improving their ontological function? Do you find ants building warehouses or storage houses so they rest from their labour and go on a holiday trip?

With strong "no" answers, I told him I decided to talk about the Cross as research for research in a modern university. Research is primarily about re-searching or searching again. The sagacious King Solomon said to us that there is nothing new under the sun. He was more than right.

Everything we do today is not fundamentally different from what our ancestors knew. More importantly, while we have more information than our ancestors, we are hardly wiser than our ancestors in answering the existential questions of life.

That we are hardly wiser than our ancestors explains our constant reading of philosophy and by extension the Humanities in our universities. Incidentally, civilizations begin to collapse when we forget about ancestral wisdom (the Humanities) to focus on science and technology alone.

I pointed out to him that research is, therefore, part of human beings re-assessing the conventional knowledge that our ancestors passed on to us. The difference in the responses we get is not that we are any better than our ancestors. The difference in our responses to the questions we are re-searching is the methodological approach we use.

This brought in the issue of methodology in research. I told my friend that the reason every university research requires a detailed methodological approach is to test the validity of what we have already known, away from the approach our ancestors used.

Our ancestors asked the existential questions by relying on observation, accumulated experiences and God to arrive at cogent and durable axioms, proverbs, and maxims  concretised in sociogenic activities of an world based on order rather than rights. But in our modern university, we have chuckled the religious aspect and relied entirely on rationality.

So, whereas our ancestors were clear that "for us to know anything, we need to add together experiences, reasoning, and the supernatural," the modern approach relies on rationality and experiences only. This approach is a relapse to the pagan Greek philosophy of epistemology, in which Protagoras stated: "Of all things, man is the measure."

The problem with the modern Protagoras approach is that "The man" who is the measure is an exceptional man. If that "man" says we must all speak as neoliberals in responding to the existential questions of life, we must do so. If that "man" says that the other voice is not worth considering, we must throw it away. In the end, the "man" as the measure of all things canonises the zero-sum game in epistemological production.

In sum, we are often left with the idiocy of relativism: One mans wisdom is another mans idiocy. Literature review becomes a reason to shoot your previous professor down to centre yourself.

With the above foundation of futile rationalism, I decided to introduce the Cross into the conversation. Historically, human beings have been aware of life's imperfections. We have always known that life is far from perfection. The imperfections affect every facet of life. It is either caused by human beings or naturally induced.

Concurrently, historically, human efforts have been directed at overcoming the imperfections of life. For this reason, in the modern university, we never get a degree or title until we demonstrate relatively new knowledge in a form of a re-search.

But after about 200 years of the modern university, it appears we are yet to beat our premodern ancestors down to the responses to the existential questions of life. Doubtlessly, we have made some progress materially. Technology has enhanced the quality of life.

But technological improvement has hardly taken away the deepest quest of human beings: A quest for a perfect life. We always appear to run in circles: We solve one problem, only for another problem, sometimes more complex than the previous ones, to stare us in the face. The cyclical nature of imperfection led me to conclude many years ago that:

We live in a world that is woefully incapable of giving us 24 hours of uninterrupted peace.

Following that we appear to dance in circles, as we find answers to the existential questions of life, we have become highly competitive beings. We are always in a rat race to undo others. By othering others as inferior, we marginalise, malign, and create pariahs for them.

Our eagerness to undo the other is enhanced by technology. Through social media, more recently, we have crystallised our self-centredness in the axiom of selfie. It is about Me, myself, and I.

This antinomy of technology means that while social media helps us to claim to be free from communal oppressions of the premodern world, we become oppressors of the "self" and others. We also become very discontent in centering ourselves. So, technology gives us a world of "alone together".

What then is the answer to all these? Charles Darwin in the 1830s thought the answer to this was very difficult to find, because of his theory of natural selection which is only possible by selfishness as opposed to altruism.

Alexis de Tocqueville, the French aristocrat, who also went to the United States of America, around the same time in the 1830s that Charles Darwin went on nature-sight-seeing, concluded that the answer to the rat race is altruism which for him rested in religion.

In other words, as the nineteenth century marked an important recession in religious role in the public sphere, the question these two outstanding thinkers wanted to know was about: the role religion would continue to play and how human beings were to live their lives without religion.

Today, in the twenty-first century world, we are still dealing with the same question: Can we do without God? The Jewish-British philosopher, Isaiah Berlin was right in arguing about the three main sources of knowledge: Rationalism, empiricism, and the third one that is not based on the first two and yet very true as well.

For me as a Christian, the answer to all the troubling issues of the world, including the systemic inequalities that the current pandemic has rendered more visible, is the Cross.

Apart from the theological significance of the Cross as a salvific symbol, the Cross reminds us of the reason for life.

Jesus Christ is the uncreated Creator. He never wronged anyone. And yet, He left His glory to live with human beings. He suspended His deity and became a servant of humanity. He never competed with the political authority of His time. He never went after money or riches. He never competed for attention. He rather lived an unassuming life, including refusing to be crowned a king.

Instead, Jesus took the path of service. He served everyone who came His way. He was/is God who could judge everyone and yet, He exercised compassion more than condemnation. He even deferred ultimate judgment to the end of time, so that everyone would get the chance to review Him and accept Him.

Eventually, Jesus accepted the way of the Cross. While He was/is ontologically good with His accusers admittedly seeing no evil in Him, He did not protest the human evil plot to have Him hanged.

He accepted the way of the Cross, instead of a material crown. He was crucified. And even when He was dying in excruciating pain, He asked His Father to forgive His creatures. For He knew that the real enemy was Satan, whom He decidedly came to conquer on behalf of His elect. Jesus solved the human question of selfie.

As I reserve the issue of the resurrection to Sunday, God willing, I want to bring out the lessons in the Cross.

First, the Cross reminds us to see the existential imperfection in the world as real

Second, the Cross reminds us to do what we could to relieve human beings of the existential imperfection

Three, the Cross reminds us to be selfless

Four, we must embrace forgiveness as the heartbeat of life

Five, let us embrace the life of contentment through renunciation of opulence

Finally, the Cross reminds us to really look at Christ as our ultimate hope and source of inspiration  "For my sake, He became poor, so I will be rich in doing good."

This Easter, I will forgive, reconcile, and give a cup of water to someone in the name of Jesus Christ. I will forsake religious rituals and live to serve humanity in faithfulness to God.

What about you?

Satyagraha

Charles Prempeh
Stop backbiting in the church and at workplaces rather let us learn from the divine mandate of Jesus Christ and the envious character of Judas Iscariot and repent Apostle Mrs. Charlotte Esi Barrigah of the Global Evangelical Church Adonai Chapel at Madina has admonished Ghanaians.

Apostle Barrigah preaching the Good Friday message said as God sent his son to die for the world in those days, today God will not come down physically but rather use human beings to fulfill his word.

She urged believers and Ghanaians to emulate Christ Jesus as we commemorate Easter to make ourselves available for God and the country to use as a form of sacrifice for mankind and the nation.

Members of the Church mostly clad in black, red, brown, and even white attire flooded the Adonai Chapel at Madinas auditorium to mark the 2022 commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ as monitored by the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult).

The congregation while rejoicing for the death of Jesus Christ that served as the foundation of the redemption of mankind and reconciliation with God, also rejoiced for victory over COVID-19 which hindered such large gatherings for the past two years.

She emphasized that there was power behind the death of Jesus Christ, therefore, they should believe and trust Gods ability to redeem them from whatever situation at the right time.

She cautioned believers of how they talk about any revelation they get to their friends but rather keep it to themselves and make Jesus Christ their friend;.

Mrs. Barrigah asked the members to open their spiritual eyes because they are free forever adding that Calvary wasnt a nice place but Jesus Christ made himself available to be killed over there just to save the world.

The congregants praised, danced, and worshiped God for his mercies and for the grace that bounds because of the death of Jesus Christ.

While Mr. Eric Agblekpe, Children Ministry Teacher, Global Evangelical Church El-Shaddai Chapel in Ashiaman Newtown urged Christians to reflect on the sufferings of Christ Jesus and relate them to the sufferings of this time with the hope that after the crucifixion there will be resurrection which offers new hope in their lives.

In an interaction after the Good Friday church service, said Easter marks a moment for remembrance and reflection of the death of Christ Jesus.

He said that the leaders of the church as part of the Easter commemoration have arranged to visit some old members of the church who are sick or bedridden on Saturday 16th to encourage and pray with them.

Mr. Agblekpe said that Easter also serves as the Passover, anyone with the covering of the blood of Jesus Christ is redeemed and will be protected at all timeswhen I see the blood I will Passover you, that is Gods assurance.

Many of the attendees were in African print clothing and some were also in their stylish kente as they celebrate the Good Friday Church Service which was on the theme; "The Internal Sacrifice".
The Ghana Tuna Association (GTA) has reiterated its call for a comprehensive approach to the management of Ghanas fish stock, as the annual close seasons implemented by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture cannot last.

The sector Ministry in a release dated April 12, 2022, and signed by the minister, Mrs. Mavis Hawa Koomson announced that from July 01 to July 31, 2022, artisanal (canoe) and semi-industrial (inshore) fleets would have their one-month close season, while the sea would be closed to industrial trawlers for two months between July 01, and August 31, 2022.

The Ministry added that during the period of the 2022 closed season which was initiated based on scientific evidence and stakeholder consensus, no premix fuel would be allocated to the coastal landing beach committees.

But reacting to the release, Mr. Richster Nii Amarh Amarfio, Secretary of the GTA told the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema on Friday said that even though stakeholders were consulted they still insisted that using the only close season to maintain the countrys fish stock was not enough.

Mr. Amarfio suggested that other management tools such as the creation of artificial reefs would help save the countrys fishing industry, as he explained that it was one of the many tools used by marine conservationists.

He added that the reefs which could be made from a variety of natural or synthetic materials were aimed at providing a stable growing area and habitat for fishes where they could migrate to lay their eggs and replenish.

He said another way was to also reduce the huge number of canoes and trawlers on Ghanas seas disclosing that it was unacceptable to have over 4,000 canoes chasing the dwindling stock as the fishes on Ghanas side of the sea were getting finished and if care was not taken the industry would collapse.

He explained that the increase in human participation in fishing activities has led to overdependence on the existing fish stock, creating unhealthy competition, where some resort to the use of illegal fishing methods to survive.

Fisheries management, he noted, must be treated as a natural resource and not agriculture, therefore urging regulating government bodies to adopt a paradigm shift that would enable them to reconcile science with the cultural knowledge of fishing for the wider fishing community to appreciate and work with.

He said it was important for policymakers to find practical ways to effectively manage the humans who engaged in fisheries, as making the fisherman the center of fish management would ensure a sustainable fishing sector.

Mr. Amarfio, added that without making the fisherman the center of fish management, no matter what you do if they are ignorant or mischievous it wont work, saying that fisheries management was about human management as the human being must be managed to know that they must not catch juvenile fish or those that were reproducing.

He indicated that if the fishermen were properly educated and sensitized to know why they should not catch small fish they would support the various authorities to sustain the fish population in Ghanas waters instead of going contrary to the laws.

The GTA secretary further said taking the fishermen out of the management of the fishing sector had led to Ghana importing 60 percent of her fish consumption.

He also called for good environmental practices as the environment had a great impact on aquatic lives.

As you drive around and you see the Korle, Chemu, Sakumo lagoons collapsing it should immediately inform you that our fisheries are in danger. This is because fish would not survive anywhere without water. When you are losing water, then you are losing your fishery.

He stressed that the inability of authorities to plan and manage the countrys natural resources was posing a lot of danger and the fisheries sector was not doing any better.

The Secretary of the Ghana Tuna Association also highlighted how the closed season should be approached among other strategic fisheries management methods.

He said, questioned why Ghana was not considering doing temporary area closures for some essential habitats which he said would be more efficient, stating for instance that people continue to fish around the estuaries which serve as an entry point for fish that might be migrating into fresh or brackish water and vice versa.

Mr. Amarfio again said people were allowed to fish around those places with very small mesh adding that Ghana was also losing its mangroves which serve as a hatchery for crustaceans such as crabs, and prawns who spawn around there.

He said the management regime for the various species must vary while calliong on authorities to put in place an ecosystem approach for the sector for suitability of the fish stock.
15.04.2022 LISTEN

The Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana (CENTSAG) has urged government to ensure that it addresses the concerns of its members within a week.

The Association suspended its four-day strike for a meeting with the National Labour Commission, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission and other relevant bodies, in a bid to resolve outstanding issues.

In an interview with Citi News, the National Secretary of the Association, Samuel Opoku, said he's hoping their concerns would be addressed.

We were asked to call off the strike so that we can engage with our employer, so we have suspended the strike pending negotiations with the government team. National Labour Commission gave us one week, and we have engaged extensively with Ghana Tertiary Education Council, and we are ready to come up with a Memorandum of Understanding. So work has started and we hope that by the end of the one week as weve been given by the National Labour Commission, the issues will be resolved, Samuel Opoku said.

Members of the Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana embarked on an indefinite strike from Monday, April 11, 2022.

This follows what the association describes as the reluctance of the appropriate authorities to act on their demand for better conditions of service.

They said their strike was grounded on various issues including wrong placement of First Degree Holders; Non-payment of migration arrears, exclusion of payment of Generic Allowances, partial payment of Office Holding Allowances, and non-payment of Interim Market Premium arrears.

They, however, suspended the strike on Thursday, April 14, 2022, to negotiate with the government for a possible permanent resolution of the issues.

citinewsroom
The Reverend Samuel Anang Ofoli, Minister in charge of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), Redemption Congregation, has admonished Ghanaians, especially Christians, to stop behaving like the biblical Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus Christ.

Just like Judas, currently, covetousness has overtaken the people, including Christians, making some to take bribes and engage in corrupt activities at the expense of the general good of society, he said.

Rev. Ofoli gave the advice in his sermon on Good Friday on the topic: "Dying with Christ," when the church at Tema Community Nine joined other Christians worldwide to mark the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

He said because of personal gains, some church leaders were turning the church into a commercial entity and called on them to repent from their deeds in line with the call from Jesus to the disciples at Gethsemane to watch and pray in order not to fall into temptation.

Rev Ofoli said the Jews connived to arrest and kill Jesus Christ, because His doctrines and teachings, were against their beliefs, adding that some Christians of today behaved like the Jews, who saw the tenets of the Religion as a hindrance to their lifestyles.

On the significance of the cock crowing in the crucifixion sequence of events, he said it was a call to repentance, an announcement of the birthing of a new dawn of salvation and the plans Jesus has for mankind.

The crucifixion remembrance service also saw congregants being served communion a representation of the blood and body of Jesus Christ.

GNA
The Ketu South Municipal Assembly has finally elected a presiding member (PM) after six consecutive attempts.

Mr Moses Xorse Kordorwu was elected after the former PM, Mr Samuel Doe Haligah (Petit), a government appointee, had his appointment revoked on October 7, 2021.

The polls, officiated by Mr Kofi Sakyi Boampong, the Municipal Electoral Officer, saw Mr Xorse Kordorwu, who went unopposed, polling 49 votes, more than the two-thirds of votes of the 58 membership of the Assembly required to affirm his nomination.

After being sworn in by Mr Joseph Ofosu Behome, the Denu Circuit Court Judge, the PM expressed gratitude for his victory and pledged to work in unity with all Assembly members to achieve the desired goals assuring; Your desires and expectations will be met during my tenure.

Mr Kordorwu said he intended to work to recover the lost period and called for the collaboration of all members reminding them that the first quarter of 2022 was already gone.

No parochial interest will be entertained. We'll work hand in hand to ensure massive development of Ketu South, he said

Some Assembly members who spoke to the Ghana News Agency were satisfied with the outcome of the exercise.

We're happy for today's election. Hon Kordorwu had on some occasions in the past served as Member Presiding. The absence of a PM since October last year has affected us a lot, Ms Faustina Elikplim Korwu, the Assembly member for Avoeme West, said.

GNA
The Bharat Express News, April 14, 2022

Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan last year, they have hunted down government officials aided by the United States. Contrary to their promise, they have been investigating these officials for months and, despite their promise of clemency, have finally punished them.

According to a report, 500 government officers have been killed or disappeared so far. The Taliban, however, call these allegations baseless. According to media reports, the Taliban used numerous tactics to track the whereabouts of Afghan soldiers and government officials who aided the United States.

New reports claim that to date around 500 of these people have been killed or are being held hostage. All are accused of helping the US military. The ANI news agency cited an investigation by the English daily New York Times that the Taliban began to punish as soon as they came to power.

What does the report say?

According to the report, in just six months, around 500 members of the military, officers and state officials were killed or suddenly disappeared. Information was given on 114 people missing in Kandahar and 86 murdered in the city of Baghlan. This was done despite the Taliban announcing that they would pardon Afghan soldiers, officers and other government officials.

In the Russian state news agency Sputnik, an Afghan military commander revealed many vital things. On condition of anonymity, this military commander said the Taliban had called military personnel, government employees and officials and others to police headquarters to apologize.

The Taliban first interrogated and beat the Afghans who reached the headquarters. Some of them died from merciless beatings, while others were sentenced to death by the Taliban in their own way. The Taliban told these people that they fought against them for many years and killed their comrades. So how could they let them live?

The Taliban had already gathered all information on government employees and military personnel. This includes forensic video examination, local media reports and direct interactions with victims, witnesses and families of victims.

Murder allegations are false, says Taliban

The Taliban said there was no truth to such allegations. Allegations like murder or punishment are baseless. The Taliban spokesperson claims that this fake news only serves to mislead the world. However, since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the situation has worsened. The human rights situation has become alarming. Fearing the Taliban, thousands of Afghans have already fled the country.
April 15, 2022

Librul Frenzy Over Musk Buying Twitter

In summer 2013 the Washington Post company and its publications were bought by the multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon:

Bezos, whose entrepreneurship has made him one of the worlds richest men, will pay $250 million in cash for The Post and affiliated publications to The Washington Post Co., which owns the newspaper and other businesses.

The Post has since consistently promoted low taxes for billionaires:

Opinion: Think twice before changing the tax rules to soak billionaires

Yesterday Elon Musk, also a multi-billionaire, launched a hostile takeover of the messenger service Twitter. He claims he wants to do that to allow for more 'free speech'.

Twitter has been criticized on the left and right for suppressing certain voices and information. It is seemingly directed by the mainstream 'liberul' view of the world that is currently promoting a war against Russia.

The reasoning it has recently given for kicking Scott Ritter and Pepe Escobar as well as other well known writers from its service make otherwise no sense.

Musk's offer threw the mainstream pro-war 'liberuls' as well as their neo-conservatives allies into a frenzy.

Without a hint of irony a Washington Post writer opined against Musk's takeover offer:

Opinion: Elon Musks Twitter takeover bid is peak billionaire

What does it mean when a billionaire can almost single-handedly swoop in and eat up this sort of communications platform? The easy answer is nothing good.

Yeah. Just ask Jeff Bezos or any Washington Post reader, or Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook and WhatsUp users, or the billionaires who own Google and Youtube. They all are system errors of capitalism. They should not exist. Tax codes should be designed to eliminate them.

Warmongers like Max Boot are especially fearful that some communication channel may become less censored and allow people who oppose his positions:

I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter. He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.

In his own Washington Post column Boot explains what kind of content he wants to have censored:

Political extremists dominate social media, [social psychologist Jonathan Haidt of New York University] says. A survey in 2017-2018 found that 70 percent of those called progressive activists had shared political content over the previous year, while the far right was the second-most prolific, at 56 percent. Most normal people dont post any political content at all, but they are shaped by what they see from the extremes. Recent academic studies suggest, Haidt writes, that social media is indeed corrosive to trust in governments, news media, and people and institutions in general.  Social media amplifies political polarization; foments populism, especially right-wing populism; and is associated with the spread of misinformation.

"Why isn't everyone as docile as 'normal people'? Why would anyone ever doubt 'governments, news media and people and institutions in general'? Why is anyone criticizing me? THIS CAN NOT BE ALLOWED!"

I myself, by the way, currently get emails from Twitter on a daily basis. These are provoked by snitches who do not like me to point out facts or to debunk war propaganda:

Hello, Twitter is required by German law to provide notice to users who are reported by people from Germany via the Network Enforcement Act reporting flow. We have received a complaint regarding your account, @MoonofA, for the following content: Tweet ID: 1510635534321860611

Tweet Text: Mar 30: Ru troops leave Bucha Mar 31: Mayor of Bucha announces town 'liberated', makes no mention of atrocities. [url] Apr 1/2: Azov Nazis enter Bucha [url] Apr 3: Ukr MinDef publishes video of 'Russian' atrocities [url] [media] We have investigated the reported content and have found that it is not subject to removal under the Twitter Rules (https://support.twitter.com/articles/18311) or German law. Sincerely, Twitter

I have yet to get banned by Twitter but expect that to happen anytime. Max Boot would certainly applaud it.

Posted by b on April 15, 2022 at 15:12 UTC | Permalink

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The total DITS addressable market (TAM) estimates have ranged between US$500bn to upwards of US$1tn in 2021, compared to more than US$4tn global IT TAM (which includes hardware, software, services, communication) and US$1tn of dedicated global IT Services.1 According to Gartner, IT spending is expected to increase by low- to mid-single digits while DX spending is estimated to grow between 15-19% on the basis of Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR). With segments such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), and virtual/remote workspaces growing more than 30% CAGR,2 we believe this will remain a structural thematic on investors radar. We have in fact added this theme to our portfolio after following DITS for some time. But why now, some may ask?

The Covid-19 outbreak accelerated the corporate demand to digitalize. The impact of this pick up has been a significant increase in the organic demand environment, to the point where we believe the longer-term demand will likely be driven substantially higher from new digital native solutions. The expected revenue growth from this theme should drive strong profitability; note that this structural theme is complimentary to the hardware/semiconductor industry.

The following is a simple real life example in the new digital world. Consider an airline that wishes to:

Create a seamless reservation system independent of outside travel agencies; Integrate Covid-19 vaccination certificates online within its app; Offer automated check-in procedures in coordination with airports via face recognition, issue and verify boarding passes baggage tagging; Offer auto-routing of misplaced baggage efficiently, optimizing costs and time.



This simple example is actually a complex issue without an easy solution. Number 1 is a must-have requirement, while number 2 starts to differentiate the company. Numbers 3 and 4 then creates a significant point of differentiation from competitors. This is where the DITS firms become an important part of the solution.

In our opinion, the pure digital native companies are better positioned to build these types of solutions as they are not encumbered by any legacy businesses. Greater complexity requires an engineering team capable of dealing with that complexity, including a need to develop strong upskilling programs, maintain best-of-breed talent attraction and retention capabilities, all complemented by an attractive corporate culture. In our view it is critical to find the right companies that can hire and nurture strong talent pools, maintain high retention rates, sustain high utilization rates of 75%- 80% (i.e. maintain spare capacity), aim for high organic growth rates, and establish high-teens to low-20s operating margins. Geographical cost arbitrage is also a factor in the equation. We believe the successful company needs to get comparable or better talent at cheaper than customer location pricing. In that scenario everyone winscustomers are happy (high-quality work at lower prices), employees are happy (intellectually challenging high-quality work at better than comparable local remunerations), and the company itself makes strong profits (cost arbitrage of talent to produce high-quality offerings) in a structurally growing revenue pie.

Two essential factors are the relative brand strength of these firms, and the geographical talent availability. With respect to branding, firms need to command good relative placement within peer sets to attract top talent. Typically, their internal work cultures, remuneration, capability, and talent fostering form this brand power. If done right, there is a significant soft moat that gets built on three foundational elements for successful companies. Assuming competitive remuneration within the peer set is a given, these firms are able to:

Generate enough brand pull for talent to join; Provide positive employee-oriented cultures to help retention; Offer enough upskilling and opportunities for each employee to grow as a professional.



In our process, these soft moats combine with some hard numbersthe bench size vis-a-vis the customer slate size, and the bench utilizationswhich are additional key parameters for us to assess brand strength. Our guiding principle is that bench strength needs to be right-sized relative to the business opportunity, optimally utilized at all points, ultimately providing differentiation of opportunities across multiple skill sets for each individual employee to grow.

It is interesting to note that firms delivering on all of these foundational elements are typically naturally strong environmental, social and governance (ESG) companies, with social and governance factors being the standouts. This is important to our team, and our firm. As for talent recruitment, the key players are centered in India, China, Brazil, Eastern Europe, ASEAN, and the U.S.with the majority based in Emerging Markets.

Finally, there is a pyramidal structure when it comes to the industry. On the base are several traditional IT outsourcers who are trying to develop digital capabilities (traditional Indian IT players), with the middle section occupied by more global companies. The top of the pyramid has fewer players, including some of our portfolio holdings. There is also a set of firms that offer IT consulting and strategy work alongside IT services. The work at the top end is more structural, premium and lower volume, while at the base it is more commoditized with high volumes. Business consulting may or may not be a part of the DITS offering, but if offered, tends to be premium in nature.

We see a sweet spot in the middle-high section of the pyramid, with a premium footprint where scaling up is much faster with good margins. On this part of the pyramid, the pure plays are smaller in numberand this is where we focus exclusively. Within this construct, we believe our holdings are the best-placed players due to their premium positioning, and their stage in the companies development cycle, positioned in the sweet spot. We have also invested into India digital IT specialists, which in our opinion has the right DNA with a smaller relative size that enables them to scale up structurally and join the sweet spot. Our view is that these firms generally have the right kind of leadership teams, operating spaces, and moat characteristics that can potentially lead to a sustainably high Return On Invested Capital (ROIC) (20%+) with strong, repeatable revenue growth, all of which the Emerging Markets Leaders Strategy finds highly attractive.
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Friday celebrated the milestone birth anniversary of its late founder with a mass dance, fireworks and calls for stronger loyalty to his grandson and current leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.

The 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung comes after North Korea conducted a spate of weapons tests in recent months, including its first full-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017. Experts say North Korea aims to expand its arsenal and ramp up pressure on the United States while nuclear diplomacy is stalled.

Lets work harder in devotion to our respected comrade Kim Jong Un and on that path ultimately realize the dreams of our great president (Kim Il Sung) to build a powerful socialist state, the Norths state-run website Uriminzokkiri said in a commentary.

Kim Il Sungs birthday is the most important national holiday in North Korea, where the Kim family has ruled under a strong personality cult since the nations founding in 1948. Kim Jong Un became a third-generation leader after his father Kim Jong Il died in late 2011.

Kim Jong Un has pushed to advance his nuclear weapons while simultaneously reviving the economy. But a mix of pandemic border closures, U.S.-led sanctions and his own mismanagement have caused a massive economic blow in whats become the toughest moment of his decade in power.

On Friday, residents of Pyongyang, the capital, bowed and laid bouquets of flowers near the bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

State TV later showed thousands of young people  men dressed in Western-style white shirts and women in colorful traditional Korean garb  dancing in a Pyongyang plaza as fireworks launched from a nearby river bank lit up the night sky. The dancers circled a group of performers who held up yellow flowers to form the symbol of the Workers Party of Korea - a hammer, brush and sickle.

North Korea often marks key state anniversaries with huge military parades featuring newly built missiles, especially during anniversaries that end in zero and five. Commercial satellites earlier indicated an apparent rehearsal for a military parade, such as people assembled in formation at the Pyongyang plaza, where such events were held in the past.

After North Koreas ICBM test last month, South Korean and U.S. officials said Pyongyang could soon launch fresh provocations like an additional ICBM test, a rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear bomb test that would be the seventh of its kind.

South Koreas military said recently it detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that it partially dismantled before it entered now-dormant nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.

I think theyll carry out a nuclear test once it finishes restoring its nuclear testing facility, said analyst Moon Seong Mook with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. There is no reason for them to bring back its testing ground if they dont plan to use them for a bomb test.

Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international communitys response to the Norths recent missile tests.

North Korea has recently resumed its trademark harsh rhetoric against its rivals. One of its international affairs commentators labeled President Joe Biden as an old man in senility, while Kims powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called South Koreas defense minister a scum-like guy and threatened to annihilate South Korea with nuclear strikes.
WINFIELD, Kan. (AP)  Three sheriff's deputies were wounded by gunfire and a suspect was killed during a shootout in central Kansas on Friday, law enforcement authorities said.

Cowley County Sheriff David Falletti said the deputies were responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle on U.S. 77 north of Winfield. When they made contact with a vehicle, three deputies were shot, Falletti said.
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Easters message of renewal will be especially poignant this year for four U.S. congregations rebounding from disasters.

Their churches were destroyed by a tornado in Kentucky, gutted by a blaze in New York City, shattered when Hurricane Ida hit the Louisiana coast, and filled with smoke and ash by the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. For the pastors, Easter's promise of hope couldn't be more timely as their resilient congregations come to terms with what happened and prepare for what's next.

KENTUCKY

Members of Mayfield First United Methodist Church will not be celebrating Easter in their 100-year-old sanctuary. They cant.

A Dec. 10 tornado ripped apart their stately building as it carved a deadly path through the western Kentucky community of about 10,000 people. A demolition crew tore down the rest.

Instead, on Easter Sunday, members will walk into their temporary home, Christ United Methodist Church, to mark the holy day.

Thats going to be tough, said the Rev. Joey Reed. He rode out the storm at Mayfield First, wondering if he would live to officiate his daughters wedding.

Reed started ministering soon after, encouraging his roughly 100 church members to pivot from suffering to servanthood. Congregants walked through the disaster zone assessing needs, passing out thousands of dollars in gift cards and helping residents rescue belongings.

The example of Jesus Christ is the suffering servant, he said. When we turn away from our own difficulties  we are able to let go of our own pain for a minute and focus on our neighbor, which is the core strength of Christianity.

As the congregation weighs how best to rebuild, they continue to process the tornados destruction through waves of grieving and helping. Only in recent weeks  after Reed performed his daughters wedding, escaped to a cabin with his wife and mourned the death of their cat, George  did Reed realize he was still carrying around trauma from the storm.

As much as we place our faith in resurrection and the life that is to come, theres still that whole idea of whats it like to leave this one, and I think were still parsing that question, he said.

But there has been hope amid the despair, like the pieces of the churchs baptismal font rescued from the landfill. We are all about finding those bright spots, Reed said.

NEW YORK CITY

The Middle Collegiate Church gospel choir swayed to the beat of a live band during a joyful rehearsal at a synagogue that has become their new home.

Its Passover and our Jewish friends are exercising the most radical hospitality, said the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, the churchs senior minister.

Her church was gutted by a fire on Dec. 5, 2020, in what seemed a tragic coda to an already-challenging pandemic year. When Middle Collegiate decided recently to resume in-person worship, East End Temple led by Rabbi Joshua Stanton invited the congregation to share its sacred space while they rebuild.

It was very clear when the tragedy fell on Middle Collegiate Church that we needed to live out our values, open our doors, said Stanton, who will offer prayer during the church's Easter celebration.

On Palm Sunday, the choir belted out hymns in preparation for Easter, and even the carols they weren't able to sing together after COVID-19 concerns canceled their in-person Christmas Eve service.

It feels like a miracle, going through the fire and the pandemic worldwide, all that weve gone through to now have a place to call home, said Joy Lau, a member of the church's Jerriese Johnson gospel choir.

The multicultural congregation lives what it calls on-your-feet worship and take-it-to-the-streets activism. Members have provided meals to people with AIDS, worked on storm recovery, fought for environmental protection and demonstrated for the Black Lives Matter movement, LGBTQ equality and womens rights.

The belfry of the historic church housed New Yorks Liberty Bell, which tolled to mark the birth of the country in 1776 and was later rung for inaugurations, deaths of presidents and in remembrance of the 9/11 terror attacks. The fire spared the bell and left behind a skeletal facade and two vinyl banners reading Black Lives Matter and Just Love, the churchs motto.

Amid the grief of losing their beloved church, Lewis has asked parishioners to worship God with joy and find the promise of hope that is a part of every Easter.

For Middle, this is a time of resurrection. We keep rising to new challenges and were the living body of Christ. More than ever, we understand that and what our mission is, our calling is, she later said at the site of her charred church.

The hospitality and the love of the strangers of Judaism that we inherit as Christians is on full display on these weeks that are holy for both communities.

LOUISIANA

The windows at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic church were blown out, and its ceiling, sacristy and vestibule crumbled after Hurricane Ida blasted ashore in August, hitting the small fishing community of Point-aux-Chenes, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of New Orleans.

Since then, its pastor, the Rev. Rajasekar Karumelnathan, has celebrated Mass in the rectory and under a tent set up in the churchs parking lot. Attendance dwindled after the storm: from about 80 people who used to attend Sunday services to about 15 worshippers now.

Celebrating Christmas under the ruins was especially emotional for the congregation, the pastor said. But he expects a different, lighter mood for their first post-Ida Easter service, which promises believers eternal life.

We have lots of hope. We hope that we can reclaim all that weve lost, he said. Easter strengthens us.

Parishioner Teddy Neal, who lives a half mile from the church, is still rebuilding his storm-damaged home. He would love to see his church and home rebuilt  restored to what they once were or better.

I see Easter as a new beginning, said Neal, a truck driver. "Im pretty much humbled, where it doesnt matter what the conditions are in or around with the destruction -- as long as Im present with Jesus during the Eucharist.

COLORADO

At the charred remains of Bill and Jackie Stephens home in Superior, where they raised four kids and made countless memories over 22 years, the daffodils are blooming again.

When he looks at the green shoots and bright yellow blossoms, Bill Stephens sees rebirth. He also feels grief anew: for the house; the incinerated family photos and videos; the yard they loved on spring days, with its newly laid patio and magnolia tree named after their third child  Maggie-nolia.

As a pastor I see this and go, this is an Easter illustration. Its life out of the death, Stephens said. In some ways its beautiful, and in other ways its the reminder of, dang, we lost a lot.

The lead pastor at Ascent Community Church in neighboring Louisville and his loved ones are one of 26 families in the congregation who lost their homes Dec. 30 in a wind-whipped wildfire that destroyed 1,084 residences in Denver-area suburbs. Hundreds more church members were displaced.

The church itself, a cavernous space inside a former Sams Club with auditorium seating for 750, was largely spared. The flames wrapped around the building, scorching trees and shrubs in the parking lot. But ash and smoke seeped in through skylights and ventilation shafts, coating everything in sooty charcoal.

Volunteers hauled out everything that wasnt nailed down to be washed before a building-wide deep clean. Carpets, curtains, walls and lighting were replaced. Ascent returned in February after two months of worshipping in a hotel ballroom.

In the early days, police used Ascents parking lot as a staging area for displaced residents to collect passes to enter their neighborhoods. Thousands showed up and were met by church members, therapy dogs and meals. A relief fund raised a couple hundred thousand dollars, and the church reached out to schools on caring for affected students.

As for the congregation, Stephens said suffering his own loss positioned him to minister to others. An adopt-a-family program pairs up households to support people through companionship and tasks like grocery shopping. Volunteer therapists provided counseling and offered group sessions.

Three months after the most destructive blaze in Colorado history, Stephens reminds his flock that people still need help as they navigate trauma and challenges like insurance, housing and debris removal. To his delight, he sees congregants stepping up.

One thing hes sure of: Christs resurrection carries special significance this year.

That Jesus conquered the grave, conquered the sin ... and breathed life on Easter Sunday, Stephens said, theres something really powerful about thinking about ours as just a minor version of that.

___

Henao reported from New York City, Meyer reported from Nashville, Tennessee, and Orsi reported from Superior, Colorado.

__

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the APs collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Dozens of employees of the Illinois Department of Corrections  including some from Jacksonville Correctional Center  are suing the state over COVID-19 vaccine or testing mandates.

A lawsuit filed in Christian Circuit Court requests a temporary restraining order. A hearing is set for today.

The 46 employees work at 18 correctional facilities run by the state of Illinois.

In one of the filings from attorney Thomas DeVore on behalf of the plaintiffs, the lawsuit contends that, under Illinois law, an individual may refuse to receive vaccines, medications or other treatments.

The corrections department was one of the last holdouts of state employees Gov. J.B. Pritzker mandated to be vaccinated as a condition of employment. After reaching an impasse, Pritzker and the union representing more than 10,000 corrections department employees negotiated through interest arbitration.

An arbitration panel in December said the employees should be mandated to get the vaccine.

Plaintiffs played no role in those negotiations, the lawsuit said.

If the state employees refuse to submit to vaccination or testing, the defendants are threatening their livelihood by threatening to place them on no-pay administrative leave into perpetuity until he or she complies, the lawsuit said. The employees have not been deemed to be a public health risk by any certified local health department and have not been subjected to any vaccination or testing request by any certified local health department.

If vaccinations are to be required, the lawsuit contends this can only be accomplished by the certified local health departments following procedural and substantive due process.

DeVore has secured temporary restraining orders in similar situations, including most recently against Chicago Public Schools, where several employees sued to block vaccine or testing mandates.

The Illinois Department of Corrections employees suing the state come from Big Muddy River Correctional Center, Centralia Correctional Center, Dixon Correctional Center, East Moline Corrections, Graham Correctional Center, Hill Correctional Center, Illinois River Correctional Center, Joliet Treatment Center, Lawrence Correctional Center, Lincoln Correctional Center, Logan Correctional Center, Pontiac Correctional Center, Robinson Correctional Center, Shawnee Correctional Center, Taylorville Correctional Center, Vienna Correctional Center, Western Illinois Correctional Center and Jacksonville Correctional Center.

A representative of the Illinois Department of Corrections couldn't be reached for comment.
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BOULDER, Colo. (AP)  A judge ruled Friday that a man charged with killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket last year is still mentally incompetent to stand trial, further delaying court proceedings in the case.

But the judge also said that assessment could change soon.

Experts at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo have said there is a substantial probability that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 22, can be restored to competency within the reasonable future and remain competent by taking medications, Judge Ingrid Bakke said during a brief hearing. It is a prognosis she first mentioned in a March 11 scheduling order.

The prosecution of Alyssa has been on hold since December, when Bakke first ruled that he was mentally incompetent  unable to understand legal proceedings and work with his lawyers to defend himself.

Alissa is being treated at the state mental hospital and was not in court for Fridays hearing. The judge set a July 21 hearing to again evaluate Alissas competency to stand trial.

Bakke's ruling came nearly a month after Boulder, the home of the University of Colorado, marked the first anniversary of the attack that killed workers, customers and a police officer who rushed inside the store.

Few details have been released about Alissas condition. Reports on his evaluations are not available to the public, but a court filing discussing one of the evaluations last year said he had been provisionally diagnosed with an unspecified mental health condition that limits his ability to meaningfully converse with others.

Competency is a different legal issue than a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, which involves whether someones mental health prevented them from understanding right from wrong at the time a crime was committed.

After the hearing, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said the average time to restore someone to competency is six months. He declined to speculate on when Alissa, who as been at the state hospital for four months, may be considered competent.

Robert Olds, the uncle of one of the 10 people killed, front-end manager Rikki Olds, said Alissa has more rights than the victims. He remains fairly hopeful Alissa will go on trial but does not want to anticipate what will happen next because the legal process has been moving slowly.

Eventually it will happen, I hope, he said of a trial. There is always that outside chance it wont happen.

Investigators have not released any information about why they believe Alissa launched the attack or why he may have targeted the supermarket. He lived in the nearby suburb of Arvada, where authorities say he passed a background check to legally buy the Ruger AR-556 pistol he allegedly used six days before the shooting.

The March 22, 2021, attack at a King Soopers grocery shocked a state that has seen its share of mass shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting.

Boulder police Officer Eric Talley, a 51-year-old father of seven, was shot and killed while rushing into the store with an initial team of police officers. In addition to Rikki Olds, Denny Stong, Neven Stanisic, Tralona Bartkowiak, Teri Leiker, Suzanne Fountain, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray and Jody Waters were killed inside and outside the supermarket.

The remodeled King Soopers reopened in February, with about half of those who worked there at the time of the shooting choosing to return.
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WASHINGTON  Ukraine is sending top officials to Washington for next weeks spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, where discussion will focus on the Russian invasion and its impact on the global economy.

Coming to the gathering are Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko, according to a World Bank official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit had not been officially announced.

 reported by Paul Wiseman.

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

 We pray for you: Ukrainian Jews mark Passover, if they can

 Ukraines port of Mariupol holds out against all odds

 War Crimes Watch: The woman who would make Putin pay

 Ukrainian moms pain at watching daughters burial on phone

 Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage

___

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that existing sanctions on Russia are painful but not yet enough to stop the Russian military.

Zelenskyy called for the democratic world to ban Russian oil. While U.S. lawmakers and U.S. President Joe Biden have enacted such a ban, Europe relies more heavily on Russian energy supplies, and the U.S. has been working to keep India from stepping up its use of Russian energy.

In general, the democratic world must accept that Russias money for energy resources is in fact money for the destruction of democracy, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to his nation.

He also said: The sooner the democratic world recognizes that the oil embargo against Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace, the sooner the war will end.

___

TIJUANA, Mexico  A Russian man and Ukrainian woman were married in the Mexican border city of Tijuana after they were unable to travel together to the U.S.

Daria Sakhniuk was allowed to enter the U.S. as a Ukrainian refugee but her partner, Semen Bobrovski, was unable to travel there following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They left Ukraine as the war began.

Bobrovski told El Sol de Tijuana that he believed the marriage Thursday would bolster his chances of entering the U.S. with his new wife. The U.S. allows only Russian nationals with family members in the U.S. to enter the country.

Without it, we wont be able to cross because, still to the official American government, we are strangers to each other," he said.

___

KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting Friday with the countrys military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.

The details cannot be made public now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.

Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, he said Russian troops who occupy areas around Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were terrorizing civilians and looking for anyone who had served in the army or the government.

The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves, Zelenskyy said.

He added: The occupiers problem is not that they are not accepted by some activists, veterans or journalists. Russias problem is that it is not accepted  and never will be accepted - by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.

___

ATLANTA  CIA Director William Burns says no one can take lightly the threat that Russia could use tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons but he has seen no practical evidence suggesting it is imminent.

Speaking to an audience Thursday at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Burns said that potential desperation from Russian leaders to portray a victory in Ukraine increases the risk to the use of nuclear weapons.

None of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons, Burns said. We dont.

___

ROME  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in Rome because the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman as one of the cross-bearers angered Ukrainians.

Participants in the solemn torchlit procession in the ancient arena Friday night took turns carrying a plain, tall and slim cross as part of the commemoration of Jesus suffering and death by crucifixion.

Ukraines ambassador to the Vatican and the archbishop of Kyiv earlier this week denounced the Vaticans plan to have a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman carry the cross together during the procession. They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.

The Vatican didnt respond to the protests. Pope Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a sacrilege, but has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor.

Other faithful applauded the decision to pair the two women. They work together in a palliative care section of a Rome hospital and are friends.

___

BELGRADE, Serbia  Hundreds of protesters have joined a right-wing gathering in support of Russia, carrying pictures of Vladimir Putin and T-shirts with the letter Z that has become a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The rally Friday in central Belgrade was organized to protest Serbias vote last week in the United Nations in support of Russias expulsion from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Serbia remains the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, but right-wing groups are angry that Belgrade voted against Moscow in the U.N.

Local media say that masked protesters lit flares and smoke bombs outside the offices of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during the protest and placed a Russian flag on the presidency building.

Several similar protests have been held in Serbia since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine. Many Serbians remain loyal to Russia, convinced that Moscow was provoked by the West to launch the invasion.

Anti-western sentiments in Serbia stem from a 1999 NATO air war that forced Belgrade to give up control of the Kosovo province. Belgrade has enjoyed Russian support in trying to retain a claim on the territory, which declared Western-backed independence in 2008.

___

The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a seven-month-old child, were killed in shelling of a residential neighborhood in the city.

Oleh Sinehubov said Friday in a Telegram post that 34 other people were wounded.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, has been heavily hit by shelling and rocket attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The citys position about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Russia and 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the separatist eastern regions of Ukraine gives it significant strategic importance.

___

A senior U.S. defense official says the U.S. believes the Russian guided-missile cruiser that sank Thursday in the northern Black Sea had been struck by at least one Ukrainian anti-ship missile, as claimed by the Kyiv government.

Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they also did not refute it. The senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, said the Moskva was hit by at least one, and probably two, Neptune missiles on Wednesday, creating the large fire aboard.

The official offered no further details beyond saying the U.S. believes the Russians suffered some number of casualties aboard the ship.

 reported by Associated Press writer Robert Burns

___

LVIV, Ukraine  The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a briefing Friday.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyivs regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% of the casualties had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said. The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900  and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.

He added that more bodies were being found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves.

The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses, he said.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha had been gathering up and burying bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

___

KYIV, Ukraine  Two civilians died of shrapnel wounds after a rocket was shot down near the southern Ukrainian city of Kakhovka, according to a Facebook post published by Kakhovkas municipal authorities that same day.

It was not a peaceful morning in Kakhovka. Five civilian residents with injuries were admitted to the Kakhovka Municipal Hospital. Two killed, three injured (one of them is in critical condition in intensive care, two have moderate injuries), the Kakhovka Municipal Territorial Community wrote.

The municipal body added that all five were hit by shrapnel after they left their homes to see the remnants of a rocket downed over the nearby town of Tavriisk.

It was not immediately clear which of the warring sides had launched the weapon, and which had shot it down.

The post went on to urge local residents to stay inside and keep away from windows if they hear gunshots or explosions.

___

The website of Frances state-owned radio broadcaster, RFI, appeared to become unavailable in Russia on Friday after the countrys media and internet watchdog added one of its pages with critical coverage of the war in Ukraine to its registry of blocked websites.

The communications agency, Roskomnadzor, has been restricting access to news websites this week in line with a ruling by Russias Prosecutor General on Tuesday, which mandates the blocking of outlets publishing information inciting mass disorder, extremist activity or participation in mass (public) events violating the established order, and unreliable information which is of public significance.

According to the Roskomnadzor registry, the authorities blocked an RFI article citing a story by French magazine Le Figaro which alleged Russian servicemen rape women in Ukraine, but the broadcaster said its entire website ended up being unavailable in Russia.

Earlier on Friday, Roskomnadzor apparently cut access to the Russian-language site of Russias top independent English-language news outlet, The Moscow Times, citing the same ruling.

On Wednesday, Russian state media also reported that the agency ordered a Russian streaming platform to remove all podcasts published by the BBC, whose Russian-language website was blocked in March alongside those of U.S. and German news organizations.

___

MOSCOW  The wife of a Ukrainian politician held by Kyiv on a treason charge has accused Ukrainian security services of torturing her husband and fabricating his escape from house arrest in a press conference held in Moscow on Friday.

Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, referred to her husband as a political prisoner, and claimed that she does not know where he is.

Medvedchuk was detained on Tuesday in a special operation carried out by Ukraines state security service, or the SBU. The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest several days before the hostilities broke out Feb. 24 in Ukraine. He is facing between 15 years and a life in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for mediating coal purchases for the separatist, Russia-backed Donetsk republic in eastern Ukraine.

I have no doubt that my husband was beaten within hours after his capture, she said at the press conference. I am appealing for help in establishing (his) real whereabouts. I call for help to stop the physical and mental torture.

She did not offer evidence to back up her claims, but referenced a televised statement made by Ukrainian officials on Wednesday, which said that Kyiv will aim to try Medvedchuk as soon as possible, give him the appropriate sentence, obtain evidence from him and then exchange him for Ukrainian captives held by Moscow.

___

Russias top independent English-language news outlet says Russian authorities have blocked its Russian-language website over critical coverage of the war in Ukraine.

The Moscow Times said Friday that its Russian-language website has become unavailable for some users and cited a ruling by the Prosecutor Generals office to restrict the access.

According to the news outlet, the authorities have separately blocked a page on the website with a story about 11 riot police officers who refused to fight in Ukraine. On Thursday, a journalist who first broke the story was jailed on the charges of spreading false information about the Russian military.

The Moscow Times said it hasnt received any formal notification from the government.

The Kremlin has sought to control the narrative of the war from the moment its troops rolled into Ukraine. It dubbed the attack a special military operation and increased the pressure on independent Russian media that called it a war or an invasion, blocking access to many news sites whose coverage deviated from the official line.

___

KYIV, Ukraine -- Mariupol City Council said Friday that local residents report Russian troops are digging up bodies previously buried in residential courtyards and not allowing any new burials of people killed by them.

A watchman has been assigned to each courtyard and is not allowing Mariupol residents to lay to rest dead relatives or friends. Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, according to a statement on the messaging app Telegram.

The claim could not be independently verified.

Earlier this month, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told the AP that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to the city to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.

Boychencko said that the Russian forces were taking many bodies to a huge shopping center where there are storage facilities and refrigerators. Mobile crematoriums have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it, and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burned, he said.

____

KYIV, Ukraine  Seven people died and 27 were injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the Ukrainian village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office told Ukraines Suspilne news website Friday.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are working to establish the circumstances of the attack, Dmytro Chubenko said. He added that investigators are also establishing the routes and destination of the vehicles transporting civilians across the Russian-controlled territory around Borovaya.

Chubenko said that Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

The claims could not be independently verified.

___

MOSCOW  Russias Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up the scale of missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines diversions on the Russian territory.

The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the countrys regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.

According to Russian officials, some 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursdays attack on the Klimovo village in the Bryansk region. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraines Chernihiv region shut down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.

Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.

___

LONDON  Britains defense ministry says the loss of Russias naval flagship will likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea.

The Moskva sank after being damaged in disputed circumstances. Ukraine says it struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack.

In an update posted Friday on social media, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the Soviet-era ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.

It said the sinking means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russias Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.
Early Closing: Jacksonville Public Library will close at noon while electrical work is completed. The library will reopen at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Produce and Bakery Giveaway: 9 a.m.-noon, Jacksonville Food Center, 316 E. State St. Free | For Morgan County residents.

Free Noon Meal: 11:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m., The Salvation Army, 331 W. Douglas Ave. | Meals in to-go containers can be picked up at side door.

Community Good Friday Service: Noon, Faith Lutheran Church, 1385 W. Walnut St. Donations accepted. | Jacksonville Area Conference of Churches welcomes speakers and participants from area churches. Donations benefit Porch Light Project. In-person service, available on Facebook or YouTube.

Produce and Bakery Giveaway: 12:30-1 p.m., The Salvation Army, 331 W. Douglas Ave. Free.

Saturday

Pancake and Sausage Breakfast: 8-10 a.m., Murrayville-Woodson Emergency Ambulance Service, 1930 Murrayville Road, Murrayville. $8 adults, $5 children under 10. | There will be a pancake decoration station for kids.

Journey to the Cross: 9 a.m.-noon, Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, 1447 Merritt Road. | An interactive experience for all ages to meditate on the meaning of Easter.

Story Time: 10 a.m., Carlinville Public Library, 510 N. Broad St. Free | Story time with Hannah Crawford, children's librarian.

The Great Mushroom Hunt: 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Raging Rivers Water Park, 100 Palisades Parkway, Grafton. $15.99 online, $24.99 at gate | Mushroom hunt with lessons from the Illinois state champion, hiking, eagle watching, kid activities and more. Tickets and more information online at ragingrivers.com or by calling 618-786-2345.

Easter Egg Hunt: 11 a.m., Jacksonville Public Library, 201 W. College Ave. | Bring your own basket; see the Easter Bunny.

"No Title for Tracey": 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., Hoogland Center for the Arts, 420 S. Sixth St., Springfield. Free | A story on racism, growing up in Springfield and how small decisions can impact lives. For more information, go to hcfta.org or call 217-523-2787.

Elvis Himselvis: 3 p.m., Hoogland Center for the Arts LRS Theatre, 420 S. Sixth St., Springfield. $18 | Rick Dunham presents the third part of his Elvis Top 40 trilogy. Tickets and information at hcfta.org or 217-523-2787

Journey to the Cross: 4-7 p.m., Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church, 1447 Merritt Road. | An interactive experience for all ages to meditate on the meaning of Easter.

Yacht Rockers: 4 p.m., The Loading Dock, 401 E. Front St., Grafton. | Live music, soft cover rock.

Wine on the Water Sunset Cruise: 5:45 p.m., Grafton Harbor, 215 W. Water St. $31 | For tickets and more information, go to graftonharbor.com or call 618-786-7678.

Erik Brooks: 8 p.m., The Bloody Bucket, 201 E. Main St. Grafton. | Live music.
China successfully halts expanding desertification thanks to decades of steadfast efforts

People's Daily Online) 16:21, April 15, 2022

China has successfully halted the expanding desertification in its northwestern region, with the total land area changing into desert and sand shrinking by an average of 2,424 square kilometers and 1,980 square kilometers per year, respectively.

Desertification control workers construct straw checkerboard barriers in the Tengger Desert, northwest Chinas Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Feng Kaihua)

The country has achieved a historic transformation, with its shift from a state of rising desertification to a growing green expanse of land, having since become a successful example of global desertification control.

Over the past 70 years, China has made continuous efforts through afforestation in order to better tame desertification, described as the cancer of the Earth, according to Lu Qi, director of the Institute of Desertification Studies under the Chinese Academy of Forestry.

The country began to curb desertification nationwide in the early 1950s and set up a leading group on desertification control to coordinate its efforts.

When the construction of the Baotou-Lanzhou Railway, a desert railway that passes through lofty sand-shifting dunes in the Tengger Desert in Zhongwei city of northwest Chinas Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, was completed in 1958, straw checkerboard barriers were adopted to prevent the railway from being buried by the sand. The straw checkerboard barrier method has proven effective in fighting desertification and has become well-known around the world.

Photo shows a scenic area in the Kubuqi Desert, north Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

In addition to exploring technological means to curb desertification, China has also carried out key ecological projects to facilitate desertification prevention and control efforts. In 1978, the State Council approved the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program (TSFP), which consisted of afforestation efforts in the northwest, north and northeast regions of China. Since 2000, the country has launched key ecological projects covering a variety of tasks, including transforming farmland back into forests and grasslands as well as controlling the source of sandstorms around the municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin.

China is the first country in the world to issue a law on the prevention and control of desertification, building a green barrier in the legal system, according to Lu.

From 2016 to 2020, China completed desertification control work on almost 11 million hectares of land. In 2021, the country planted 3.6 million hectares of trees, improved the ecology of more than 3 million hectares of grassland, and controlled 1.44 million hectares of sandy and rocky desertification land, according to a bulletin on afforestation in China during 2021 as recently released by the country.

Some exemplary individuals have made great contributions in desertification control across China.

In 1981, six local villagers took a contract and established the Babusha Forest Farm to curb desertification in Babusha located on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert in Gulang county, Wuwei city of northwest Chinas Gansu Province, where farmland and villages had long been plagued by desertification.

Photo shows a village tucked away in lush green mountains in Yulin city, northwest Chinas Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)

After years of largescale efforts, a 42,000-mu (2,800-hectare) forest was eventually able to spring up. By the time the desert had turned green, the hair of the six villagers had become white with age. Therefore, they agreed that each family would contribute one of their family members to take over the desertification control work going forward.

So far, three generations of workers at the Babusha Forest Farm have managed to dedicate themselves to turning the desert into an oasis. More than 200,000 mu of forests have been planted, and the desert areas near Babusha are now tamed.

Shi Guangyin, a farmer in Dingbian county located on the edges of the Maowusu Desert, Yulin city, northwest Chinas Shaanxi Province, is another shining example. On June 29, 2021, Shi, also a veteran Party member, received the July 1 Medal, the highest honor in the Party, for his outstanding contributions to desertification control over the past decades.

Shi began to plant trees to curb desertification in 1968. He entered into a contract with the local government for the desertification control of 3,000 mu of sandy land in 1984. Over the years, a group of local people led by Shi have braved innumerable trials and hardships, planting and keeping alive more than 53 million trees on 250,000 mu of barren sand and alkali beaches, finally achieving the goal of building a green Great Wall on the edge of the Maowusu Desert.

Chinas desertification efforts have also reaped economic benefits for the country. In the Kubuqi Desert in Ordos city, north Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, known as the sea of death, the sands once seemed impossible to control, but the local government has managed to coordinate desertification efforts with the development of photovoltaic power projects by leveraging the deserts rich solar resources.

At present, 53 percent of the desert is now covered by vegetation, with the level of precipitation having undergone a sharp rise there, while the number of sandy days dropping significantly as a result.

At an industrial base in the desert, pieces of photovoltaic panels can be seen neatly laid out one after another, with potatoes and other crops growing underneath in the shade of the panels.

In 2014, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) announced that the desert is an ecological economy demonstration zone.

With the ecological environment of Kubuqi having significantly improved, the local tourism has received a major boost in the area, bringing wealth to residents in the locality.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
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Federal law requires Supreme Court justices to recuse themselves from cases in which their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. Unlike other judges, however, Supreme Court justices decide themselves whether their impartiality is up for questioning.

This just trust me approach poses obvious ethical problems. Look no further than Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Virginia Ginni Thomas.

Ginni has a long history of far-right activism. She has not only called to overturn President Bidens election but she also claimed that the United States is under existential threat from transsexual fascists and the deep state.

It is her First Amendment right to hold these views, however cartoonish. But her deep ties in Washington could land her right in the middle of issues Justice Thomas is supposed to judge impartially  especially the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt.

According to newly revealed documents, Ginni Thomas sent at least 21 text messages to Mark Meadows, then-President Donald Trumps chief of staff, between the 2020 presidential election and the violent Capitol insurrection.

In these messages, she called Bidens win the greatest Heist of our History and urged Trump not to concede. She also claimed she was communicating with Jared, presumably Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner.

On Jan. 6, Ginni Thomas herself attended the Stop the Steal rally that preceded the insurrection, although she denies playing a role in the violent storming of the Capitol.

The congressional committee thats investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is looking into Ginni Thomas text messages and may call her to testify. Cases related to the investigation could potentially reach the Supreme Court  and Justice Thomas.

One Jan. 6 case has already come before the Supreme Court. Justice Thomas didnt recuse himself. Instead, he cast the sole vote favoring Trumps attempt to block records that could prove damning about his role in the insurrection  and damaging to Mrs. Thomas as well.

There are between 150 and 200 cases per year in which justices recuse themselves. Yet Justice Thomas own history of recusals is thin  and hes never recused himself when his wife has known political connections to the case.

Thats a huge conflict, since Mrs. Thomas holds powerful positions in many far-right organizations. Until recently, the website for her Liberty Consulting Group boasted that she could give access to any door in Washington.

According to a New Yorker investigation, Mrs. Thomas is one of the directors of the Center for National Policy, a dark-money outfit that plays matchmaker for big donors and far-right activists. Shes a co-founder of the far-right activist group Groundswell. And shes consulted with countless conservative organizations.

Members of these organizations have had several cases before the high court, the New Yorker reports. For instance, Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy  where Ginni Thomas was a paid consultant  filed an amicus brief in favor of the Trump administrations Muslim Ban.

Justice Thomas didnt recuse himself from ruling on that case. Nor did he recuse himself when other groups Ginni Thomas collected income from challenged the Affordable Care Act. Or when the court ruled on political fundraising, which his wife has done prolifically.

Legal experts say Ginni Thomas political work is, at best, damaging to the appearance of impartiality for her husband. At worst, some say it is even cause for his impeachment.

Whatever else, respected judicial ethicist Stephen Gillers states plainly, Clarence Thomas cannot sit on any matter involving the election, the invasion of the Capitol, or the work of the January 6 Committee.

It isnt just Clarence Thomas reputation thats at risk. Its the entire Supreme Courts.

Public approval of the court has fallen to its lowest point in more than 20 years. Justice Sonia Sotomayor blames the stench of partisanship, while Chief Justice John Roberts worries that the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system is at stake.

Justice Thomas, unfortunately, appears unconcerned. While his colleagues fretted about partisanship, he gave a keynote speech to the right-wing Heritage Foundation  with Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell by his side.

Our democracy is supposed to rely on the consent of the governed, so even the appearance of partisanship at the nations highest constitutional court puts its legitimacy at risk.

Democrats on Capitol Hill have proposed legislation to impose a code of ethics on the Supreme Court for years. If Justice Thomas cant be moved by personal ethics or his colleagues concerns to act appropriately, then lawmakers should settle the matter for him.
Russias war on Ukraine is one of the worst humanitarian crises facing Europe since World War II. As Russian military forces continue their violent, murderous invasion, environmental organizations worldwide are raising additional concerns of the wars far-reaching devastation to the environment.

Russias military activities threaten Ukraines environment through air, water and soil pollution. Toxic materials are released not only from munitions, but from the destruction of infrastructure, ranging from buildings and roads to pipelines and chemical storage sites. Ukraines highly industrialized landscape intensifies the countrys risk of toxic pollution from destruction in and around industrial facilities like fuel storage facilities and hazardous waste storage sites.

The Donbas region of eastern Ukraine knows this impact all too well: That area was the site of fighting after Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014, and is still suffering toxic contamination from leaking industrial facilities and munitions.



Ukraine is home to Europes largest nuclear facility, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and fighting near the plant has caused fires to break out. Russian occupancy of the Chernobyl nuclear site, also located in Ukraine, is also deeply concerning.

Few regions on Earth are as poorly equipped to handle military conflict as the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Senior White House correspondent Alexander Nazaryan says. Russian movement in the area has launched radioactive dust from soil into the air, spiking radiation levels within the zone. While experts say there is no immediate danger to surrounding vicinities, the potential of nuclear disaster makes this war even more dangerous to the environment.



The countrys already deteriorating water infrastructure is further threatened by the war. On top of Russian forces cutting off vital water resources that civilians need for drinking and sanitation, damages to wastewater infrastructure are causing untreated sewage to pollute water supplies.

On the other end of the spectrum, artillery fire compacted with dry conditions due to climate change make the region susceptible to wildfires.

There is an urgent need for ecological monitoring to assess and minimize the environmental risks arising from the armed conflict, UN Environment Program analyst Leila Urekenova said.



The war is impacting climate change talks as well. Since Russia is one of the top three fossil fuel suppliers in the world, some green groups worry the climate change agenda will be sidelined. Already, the crisis is showing that other countries, especially the U.S., need to be less dependent on foreign fuel, and fossil fuels in general.

Climate analysts hope, if anything good can come from the war, it will be the advancement of renewable energy investment to secure energy independence from nations like Russia.

In its present state, the environmental toll of the Russian war on Ukraine seems boundless. However, the full environmental impact may not be seen for generations to come.

As Benjamin Franklin warned, Wars are not paid for in wartime, the bill comes later.
Activist who was imprisoned in China returns to Taiwan

Activist who was imprisoned in China returns to Taiwan View Photo

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  A Taiwanese pro-democracy activist who served five years in China returned to Taiwan on Friday morning, a Taiwanese government ministry confirmed.

Lee Ming-che was arrested by Chinese authorities in 2017 and charged with subversion of state power. His arrest was Chinas first criminal prosecution of a nonprofit worker since Beijing passed a law tightening controls over foreign non-governmental organizations in 2016.

Lee had given online lectures on Taiwans democratization and managed a fund for families of political prisoners in China.

Spreading democratic ideals is not a crime, said Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council in a statement Friday.

For the past five years, he served his sentence in a prison in central Hunan province. Lee arrived back in Taiwan Friday morning, flying from the southern Chinese city of Xiamen.

His arrest came after relations between China and Taiwan soured, after the island elected Tsai Ing-wen as president. Tsais Democratic Progressive Party has advocated for Taiwans formal independence. China cut off contact with Taiwans government after Tsai came into office and now sends military planes flying towards the island on a daily basis.

China claims Taiwan is part of its national territory and claims Taiwanese nationals are also Chinese, issuing them a special identity card.

By HUIZHONG WU

Associated Press
War Crimes Watch: The woman who would make Putin pay View Photo

LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  The messages, reports from across Ukraine, scroll in real time:

One civilian dead.

Thirteen military casualties.

Five civilians injured.

Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova glances at her cell phone. The stark numbers and bare-bones accounts that unreel in her hand are just the start; her staff will catalog them, investigate them  and try to bring the Russian perpetrators of war crimes to justice.

This is her purpose: To make Vladimir Putin and his forces pay for what they have done. While courts around the world are working to hold Russia accountable, the bulk of the investigation  and the largest number of prosecutions  will likely be done by Ukraine itself.

For Venediktova, this is personal.

I protect the public interest of Ukrainian citizens. And now I see that I cant protect these dead kids, she says. And for me its pain.

___

This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and FRONTLINE that includes the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience and an upcoming documentary.

___

The first woman to serve as Ukraines prosecutor general, Venediktova speaks with steely resolve and occasional humor, and approaches her task with a relentless work ethic.

Venediktova, a 43-year-old former law professor, is on the move every few days, the jackets and dresses of her old life increasingly replaced by olive fatigues and a bulletproof vest. She takes meals hurriedly in the car or skips them entirely.

There are no office hours anymore. There are only war hours, which start early and end late, as Associated Press reporters who spent a day with her would learn.

Her office has already opened over 8,000 criminal investigations related to the war and identified over 500 suspects, including Russian ministers, military commanders and propagandists  even as an array of international war crimes investigations pick up steam.

The main functions of the law are to protect and to compensate. I hope that we can do it, because now its just beautiful words, no more rule of law, Venediktova says. Its very beautiful words. I want them to work.

___

On a Tuesday morning, Venediktova marches up to a thick line of refugees waiting in the chill sun to register at a district administration building in Lviv. Her security detail, armed and dressed in black, hovers as she stepped into the crowd of women and children.

Venediktova has stationed prosecutors at refugee centers across the country and at border crossings, trying to collect the shards of suffering of millions of Ukrainians and transform them into fact and evidence before they vanish.

Venediktova sweeps upstairs, down a narrow hallway to a bare room with two large black desks that she calls the heart of the war crimes office in Lviv. Her war crimes unit has around 50 dedicated prosecutors, but shes repurposed all her staff to focus on that mission.

Many dont want to show their faces publicly. There are grave questions of security, both for her people and the information they collect. Prosecutors here tend to speak of the future with grim pragmatism. Its not just the unpredictability of war; its a tacit acknowledgement that they themselves might not be around tomorrow to finish what theyve started.

Prosecutors ply the line of refugees at Lvivs center each day, looking for witnesses and victims willing to submit a statement. Some stories are not told. People have come too far, theyre too tired. Or scared. Their infants are fussing. They have places to go.

Interviews can take hours. Bent over laptops, prosecutors wait out peoples tears to ask what the shelling sounded like, what kind of spray munitions made on impact. They ask what uniforms, what insignia soldiers wore. This is the raw material of accountability, the first link in a chain of responsibility Venediktova hopes to connect all the way to Russias leadership.

Ala, 34, sits with prosecutors and explains how shed lost her home. She doesnt want her last name published because her 8-year-old daughter remains trapped in Russian-held territory.

Ala promises to return with a fragment from a mortar that destroyed her apartment in Vorzel, a town a few kilometers west of Bucha. Shed collected the metal, dense and grey in her hands, as a memento of what shed survived. And as evidence.

We need proof for them to be punished, she says. I am lucky. I am still here to talk about what happened to me.

___

Shortly before noon, Venediktova leaves the refugee center and climbs into a black SUV headed to the Polish border, an hour or so north. A police escort speeds her through a landscape of rough houses and the wintery bones of trees, past old cemeteries, rusted childrens swings, the shining domes of churches. The only signs of war are defiant billboards proclaiming victory for Ukraine and death to the enemy, and checkpoints with sandbags and hedgehog barricades to stop tanks that have not yet come.

Venediktova knows these roads well. She rides them endlessly back and forth to meet foreign officials who dont dare venture into a country at war.

I live in a car actually, she says. I need help, support, advisers. I need people who understand what will be next.

Her office cooperates closely with prosecutors from the International Criminal Court and nearly a dozen countries, including Poland, Germany, France and Lithuania, all of which have opened criminal investigations into atrocities in Ukraine.

She has taken on high-level legal advisers from the U.K. and is working with the United States and the European Union to build mobile investigative teams with international expertise. Clint Williamson, a former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, helps oversee that effort, which is funded by the U.S. State Department.

We have to confront this, Williamson says. Theres a need to show that countries are determined to stand up for international humanitarian law and hold people so flagrantly violating it accountable.

Part of their task now is to make sure that the evidence being collected is up to international standards, so the testimony of people like Liudmila Verstiouk, a 58-year-old woman who survived the siege of Mariupol, wont be thrown out of court.

Venediktova meets Verstiouk in a makeshift office at the Krakivets crossing on the border with Poland. She arrived from Mariupol with her papers, her phone and the clothes on her back  a velour dress, black stockings, white winter boots. Her apartment was bombed on March 8, and she told prosecutors that when she fled, she left her 86-year-old father behind in the burning building. He has Alzheimers and cannot walk.

Verstiouk says she spent a week sheltering at Mariupols drama theater. She left the day before bombs killed an estimated 300 people there.

She has not been able to reach anyone who was inside by phone. Or her father.

Why did Russia attack me? she says. It destroyed my city  for what? For what? Who will give me an answer to that, and how do I go on living?

In the course of a five-hour interview, prosecutor Stanislav Bronevytskyy takes Verstiouks statement. She can remember every detail, each minute and second, he says.

He types out Verstiouks story and uploads it to a central database.

___

Vast swaths of Ukraine have been transformed into potential crime scenes. Each day, the tragedies multiply, creating an insurmountable pile of facts that must be established and saved.

There is far too much work even for the more than 8,000 staffers who work for Venediktova. Back from the border by mid-afternoon, Venediktova continues her campaign for support, on Zoom calls with Amal Clooney and a group of international donors.

When President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Venediktova, in March 2020, she inherited an office plagued by allegations of corruption and inefficiency and a legal code outside experts have said is badly in need of reform.

She has pitched herself as a reformer. Thousands of prosecutors have been fired for failing to meet standards of integrity and professionalism, and so shes got an office that is not fully staffed preparing war crimes cases against what she predicts will be 1,000 defendants.

Venediktova has been building alliances with human rights groups  some of which have a history of antagonism with Ukrainian authorities  and an often-distrustful public.

In March, a group of 16 Ukrainian civil society groups formed the 5AM Coalition to document potential war crimes. In addition to analyzing open-source material, they manage networks of trained monitors who gather evidence across the country to share with prosecutors.

Theyre joined by researchers around the world, at places like the Centre for Information Resilience, Bellingcat and the International Partnership for Human Rights, who have been scouring the flood of social media postings to verify what happened and who is responsible.

Venediktova also has encouraged ordinary citizens to help by collecting information with their smartphones and submitting it online to warcrimes.gov.ua. Five weeks into the war there were over 6,000 submissions.

Artem Donets, a criminal lawyer who joined the territorial defense forces in Kharkiv, says he is part of a Telegram group of 78 lawyers who are all pitching in on evidence-gathering, picking up incidents that prosecutors and police may not have time to get to.

We are a law battalion, he says.

On the day he spoke with the AP, Donets had gone out to document the latest attack on civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv. He found himself in front of his own home.

As usual, he pulled out his mobile phone. He took GPS coordinates and trained his camera on a crater in the asphalt, tracing its shape with his finger. Damage to the facade of the building, he said in a flat, professional voice. Destruction of glass, windows, doors.

Donets reported finding a rocket from a cluster munition sticking out of the ground 100 meters (328 feet) away. Cluster munitions split open and drop bomblets over a wide area and have been banned by over 100 countries. Using such indiscriminate weapons in what was a residential area with no Ukrainian military presence could count as a war crime.

He sends his incident report to the International Criminal Court and uploads it to Venediktovas database.

It was quite a strike for me, Donets says. I hope when this war ends to build a better house for me and my family. I hope. We have no options. Either we win this war, or we will be occupied and swept from history.

___

The horrors Venediktova and her networks of allies are documenting  mass graves, apparent assassinations of civilians, indiscriminate shelling, repeated attacks on hospitals, forced disappearances, torture, sexual violence, cities under siege, denied food, water and humanitarian aid  are not new.

Putins military and his proxies have used similar tactics in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria, Crimea and the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. Despite years of copious documentation, Western powers never really pushed back.

That changed at 5 a.m. on Feb. 24, when Russia started dropping bombs on its neighbor. Those years of unanswered atrocities now weigh on Venediktova.

I was a university professor, and for me rule of law wasnt just a song. When I spoke with my students about rule of law, about human rights, I actually trust in this. And now I feel that what I trust, it does not work, Venediktova says. Maybe we should take the best minds in the legal system, in jurisprudence of the world and create something new.

In the meantime, she has a more concrete objective: money.

As evening falls, she sits with her deputies in a darkening room and asks for another espresso. The jarring notes of an inexperienced clarinetist waft in from a music school next door.

Venediktovas team reports on progress in their ongoing search for the overseas assets of war crimes suspects. One of her priorities is to seize the money of war criminals and give it to victims. She will need cooperation from countries around the world where Russian suspects have stashed their wealth. Many countries cant legally seize assets for a foreign court.

Ukraine is also crowdsourcing this global treasure hunt, with a portal in English, Russian and Ukrainian, where anyone can upload tips about assets .

There is, of course, an even bigger prize that lies just out of reach: Hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets frozen by the U.S., E.U., U.K., Switzerland and others. Maybe one day that too could be used to fund reconstruction and reparations in Ukraine.

Shortly before 9 p.m., Venediktova appears on national television, as she does most evenings. She reassures her people that guilt will be punished and suffering compensated.

My first joy will be victory when we sell someones villa, yacht, and our ordinary Ukrainians, who were forced to flee their homes, will physically receive this compensation, she says. Thank you, good evening, see you soon.

___

Follow Kinetz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ekinetz

By ERIKA KINETZ

Associated Press
Live Updates | Ukrainian leaders to go to bank, IMF meetings View Photo

WASHINGTON  Ukraine is sending top officials to Washington for next weeks spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, where discussion will focus on the Russian invasion and its impact on the global economy.

Coming to the gathering are Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko, according to a World Bank official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit had not been officially announced.

 reported by Paul Wiseman.

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

 We pray for you: Ukrainian Jews mark Passover, if they can

 Ukraines port of Mariupol holds out against all odds

 War Crimes Watch: The woman who would make Putin pay

 Ukrainian moms pain at watching daughters burial on phone

 Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage

___

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that existing sanctions on Russia are painful but not yet enough to stop the Russian military.

Zelenskyy called for the democratic world to ban Russian oil. While U.S. lawmakers and U.S. President Joe Biden have enacted such a ban, Europe relies more heavily on Russian energy supplies, and the U.S. has been working to keep India from stepping up its use of Russian energy.

In general, the democratic world must accept that Russias money for energy resources is in fact money for the destruction of democracy, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to his nation.

He also said: The sooner the democratic world recognizes that the oil embargo against Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace, the sooner the war will end.

___

TIJUANA, Mexico  A Russian man and Ukrainian woman were married in the Mexican border city of Tijuana after they were unable to travel together to the U.S.

Daria Sakhniuk was allowed to enter the U.S. as a Ukrainian refugee but her partner, Semen Bobrovski, was unable to travel there following Russias invasion of Ukraine. They left Ukraine as the war began.

Bobrovski told El Sol de Tijuana that he believed the marriage Thursday would bolster his chances of entering the U.S. with his new wife. The U.S. allows only Russian nationals with family members in the U.S. to enter the country.

Without it, we wont be able to cross because, still to the official American government, we are strangers to each other, he said.

___

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting Friday with the countrys military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.

The details cannot be made public now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.

Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, he said Russian troops who occupy areas around Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were terrorizing civilians and looking for anyone who had served in the army or the government.

The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves, Zelenskyy said.

He added: The occupiers problem is not that they are not accepted by some activists, veterans or journalists. Russias problem is that it is not accepted  and never will be accepted - by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.

___

ATLANTA  CIA Director William Burns says no one can take lightly the threat that Russia could use tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons but he has seen no practical evidence suggesting it is imminent.

Speaking to an audience Thursday at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Burns said that potential desperation from Russian leaders to portray a victory in Ukraine increases the risk to the use of nuclear weapons.

None of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons, Burns said. We dont.

___

ROME  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in Rome because the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman as one of the cross-bearers angered Ukrainians.

Participants in the solemn torchlit procession in the ancient arena Friday night took turns carrying a plain, tall and slim cross as part of the commemoration of Jesus suffering and death by crucifixion.

Ukraines ambassador to the Vatican and the archbishop of Kyiv earlier this week denounced the Vaticans plan to have a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman carry the cross together during the procession. They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.

The Vatican didnt respond to the protests. Pope Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a sacrilege, but has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor.

Other faithful applauded the decision to pair the two women. They work together in a palliative care section of a Rome hospital and are friends.

___

BELGRADE, Serbia  Hundreds of protesters have joined a right-wing gathering in support of Russia, carrying pictures of Vladimir Putin and T-shirts with the letter Z that has become a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The rally Friday in central Belgrade was organized to protest Serbias vote last week in the United Nations in support of Russias expulsion from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Serbia remains the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, but right-wing groups are angry that Belgrade voted against Moscow in the U.N.

Local media say that masked protesters lit flares and smoke bombs outside the offices of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during the protest and placed a Russian flag on the presidency building.

Several similar protests have been held in Serbia since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine. Many Serbians remain loyal to Russia, convinced that Moscow was provoked by the West to launch the invasion.

Anti-western sentiments in Serbia stem from a 1999 NATO air war that forced Belgrade to give up control of the Kosovo province. Belgrade has enjoyed Russian support in trying to retain a claim on the territory, which declared Western-backed independence in 2008.

___

The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a seven-month-old child, were killed in shelling of a residential neighborhood in the city.

Oleh Sinehubov said Friday in a Telegram post that 34 other people were wounded.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, has been heavily hit by shelling and rocket attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The citys position about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Russia and 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the separatist eastern regions of Ukraine gives it significant strategic importance.

___

A senior U.S. defense official says the U.S. believes the Russian guided-missile cruiser that sank Thursday in the northern Black Sea had been struck by at least one Ukrainian anti-ship missile, as claimed by the Kyiv government.

Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they also did not refute it. The senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, said the Moskva was hit by at least one, and probably two, Neptune missiles on Wednesday, creating the large fire aboard.

The official offered no further details beyond saying the U.S. believes the Russians suffered some number of casualties aboard the ship.

 reported by Associated Press writer Robert Burns

___

LVIV, Ukraine  The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a briefing Friday.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyivs regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% of the casualties had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said. The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900  and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.

He added that more bodies were being found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves.

The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses, he said.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha had been gathering up and burying bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

___

KYIV, Ukraine  Two civilians died of shrapnel wounds after a rocket was shot down near the southern Ukrainian city of Kakhovka, according to a Facebook post published by Kakhovkas municipal authorities that same day.

It was not a peaceful morning in Kakhovka. Five civilian residents with injuries were admitted to the Kakhovka Municipal Hospital. Two killed, three injured (one of them is in critical condition in intensive care, two have moderate injuries), the Kakhovka Municipal Territorial Community wrote.

The municipal body added that all five were hit by shrapnel after they left their homes to see the remnants of a rocket downed over the nearby town of Tavriisk.

It was not immediately clear which of the warring sides had launched the weapon, and which had shot it down.

The post went on to urge local residents to stay inside and keep away from windows if they hear gunshots or explosions.

___

The website of Frances state-owned radio broadcaster, RFI, appeared to become unavailable in Russia on Friday after the countrys media and internet watchdog added one of its pages with critical coverage of the war in Ukraine to its registry of blocked websites.

The communications agency, Roskomnadzor, has been restricting access to news websites this week in line with a ruling by Russias Prosecutor General on Tuesday, which mandates the blocking of outlets publishing information inciting mass disorder, extremist activity or participation in mass (public) events violating the established order, and unreliable information which is of public significance.

According to the Roskomnadzor registry, the authorities blocked an RFI article citing a story by French magazine Le Figaro which alleged Russian servicemen rape women in Ukraine, but the broadcaster said its entire website ended up being unavailable in Russia.

Earlier on Friday, Roskomnadzor apparently cut access to the Russian-language site of Russias top independent English-language news outlet, The Moscow Times, citing the same ruling.

On Wednesday, Russian state media also reported that the agency ordered a Russian streaming platform to remove all podcasts published by the BBC, whose Russian-language website was blocked in March alongside those of U.S. and German news organizations.

___

MOSCOW  The wife of a Ukrainian politician held by Kyiv on a treason charge has accused Ukrainian security services of torturing her husband and fabricating his escape from house arrest in a press conference held in Moscow on Friday.

Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, referred to her husband as a political prisoner, and claimed that she does not know where he is.

Medvedchuk was detained on Tuesday in a special operation carried out by Ukraines state security service, or the SBU. The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest several days before the hostilities broke out Feb. 24 in Ukraine. He is facing between 15 years and a life in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for mediating coal purchases for the separatist, Russia-backed Donetsk republic in eastern Ukraine.

I have no doubt that my husband was beaten within hours after his capture, she said at the press conference. I am appealing for help in establishing (his) real whereabouts. I call for help to stop the physical and mental torture.

She did not offer evidence to back up her claims, but referenced a televised statement made by Ukrainian officials on Wednesday, which said that Kyiv will aim to try Medvedchuk as soon as possible, give him the appropriate sentence, obtain evidence from him and then exchange him for Ukrainian captives held by Moscow.

___

Russias top independent English-language news outlet says Russian authorities have blocked its Russian-language website over critical coverage of the war in Ukraine.

The Moscow Times said Friday that its Russian-language website has become unavailable for some users and cited a ruling by the Prosecutor Generals office to restrict the access.

According to the news outlet, the authorities have separately blocked a page on the website with a story about 11 riot police officers who refused to fight in Ukraine. On Thursday, a journalist who first broke the story was jailed on the charges of spreading false information about the Russian military.

The Moscow Times said it hasnt received any formal notification from the government.

The Kremlin has sought to control the narrative of the war from the moment its troops rolled into Ukraine. It dubbed the attack a special military operation and increased the pressure on independent Russian media that called it a war or an invasion, blocking access to many news sites whose coverage deviated from the official line.

___

KYIV, Ukraine  Mariupol City Council said Friday that local residents report Russian troops are digging up bodies previously buried in residential courtyards and not allowing any new burials of people killed by them.

A watchman has been assigned to each courtyard and is not allowing Mariupol residents to lay to rest dead relatives or friends. Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, according to a statement on the messaging app Telegram.

The claim could not be independently verified.

Earlier this month, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told the AP that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to the city to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.

Boychencko said that the Russian forces were taking many bodies to a huge shopping center where there are storage facilities and refrigerators. Mobile crematoriums have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it, and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burned, he said.

____

KYIV, Ukraine  Seven people died and 27 were injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the Ukrainian village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office told Ukraines Suspilne news website Friday.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are working to establish the circumstances of the attack, Dmytro Chubenko said. He added that investigators are also establishing the routes and destination of the vehicles transporting civilians across the Russian-controlled territory around Borovaya.

Chubenko said that Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

The claims could not be independently verified.

___

MOSCOW  Russias Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up the scale of missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines diversions on the Russian territory.

The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the countrys regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.

According to Russian officials, some 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursdays attack on the Klimovo village in the Bryansk region. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraines Chernihiv region shut down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.

Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.

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LONDON  Britains defense ministry says the loss of Russias naval flagship will likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea.

The Moskva sank after being damaged in disputed circumstances. Ukraine says it struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack.

In an update posted Friday on social media, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the Soviet-era ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.

It said the sinking means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russias Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.

By The Associated Press
Sacramento, CA  Governor Gavin Newsoms administration says it is delaying the implementation of a plan to require all school children to receive the COVID vaccine.

When it was announced in October of last year, Governor Newsom initially estimated that it would take effect ahead of the 2022-23 school year. He also noted at the time that California would wait until federal regulators give final approval of the vaccine for children, which hasnt happened yet.

California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly says next fall is too early to plan for the vaccine mandate because school districts will need more time to implement it once federal approval occurs.

Newsoms administration now announces the earliest a vaccine mandate could occur is at the start of the 2023-24 school year.
MMK President M.H. Jawahirullah has urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin to ban actor Joseph Vijay's "The Beast" as it demeans the Muslim community as a whole.

Citing the ban on the movie in Kuwait and Qatar, Jawahirullah said the Muslim community braving the natural calamity and the Covid-19 pandemic had rendered yeoman service to the community, but "The Beast" demeans them and has the possibility of creating a law and order situation in the state.

According to him, movies like "Viswaroopam", and "Thupakki" had demeaned the Muslim community, and after a lull in production of such movies, now "The Beast" has given life to such a movie genre.

The Tamil movie is produced by Sun Pictures, part of Sun TV Group, and directed by Nelson.

The MMK is an ally of the ruling DMK.
Sonora, CA  An appellate court has ruled in favor of the Stanislaus National Forest, and in effect cattle ranchers with grazing permits, in a lawsuit filed by two environmental groups.

The litigation was brought forward in March of 2017 by the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center and the Sierra Forest Legacy group. They alleged violations of the Environmental Policy Act, Forest Management Act, and Clean Water Act related to cattle grazing allotments on Bell Meadow, Eagle Meadow and Herring Creek.

The lawsuit centered around a 1981 agreement between the US Forest Service and State Water Boards that doesnt require additional water permits and acknowledges that federal Forest Service practices comply with state law. The two environmental groups argued that the 40-year-old agreement was void.

A federal district court judge ruled in favor of the Stanislaus National Forest, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has now affirmed the district courts decision.

There were several organizations, and individuals, who intervened in the case in support of the Stanislaus National Forest, including the California Farm Bureau, California Cattlemens Association, and several local ranchers.

Two of the ranchers were Bob and Sherri Brennan.

Sherri Brennan, a former Tuolumne County supervisor, told Clarke Broadcasting that she is very pleased with the legal ruling.

Many of the allotments are used by local family operations that go back generations.

You can read the entire US Court of Appeal decision by clicking here.
Frank Smart and Chris Henningsen View Photo

Tuolumne, CA  This weekends Mother Lode Views will feature local leaders with the Vietnam Veterans of America Post 391 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4748.

One of the topics will be the upcoming Vets Ruck March in Tuolumne to raise money for local efforts, as well as awareness about suicides in the Veteran community.

There will also be a discussion about the VFW now taking over the operations of the annual Tuolumne Lumber Jubilee.

Other topics will be the recently developed 9/11 Memorial outside the Tuolumne Veterans Memorial Hall, plans for a new memorial in honor of women in the military near the Twain Harte Pool, a new Honor Guard organized by the local Veterans groups, and activities planned next month around Memorial Day.

They will also talk about the challenges, and importance, of keeping these local organizations running.

Guests will include Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 391 President Frank Smart and VFW Post 4748 Adjutant Chris Henningsen.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP)  A judge ruled Friday that a man charged with killing 10 people at a Colorado supermarket last year is still mentally incompetent to stand trial, further delaying court proceedings in the case.

But the judge also said that assessment could change soon.

Experts at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo have said there is a substantial probability that Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa, 22, can be restored to competency within the reasonable future and remain competent by taking medications, Judge Ingrid Bakke said during a brief hearing. It is a prognosis she first mentioned in a March 11 scheduling order.

The prosecution of Alyssa has been on hold since December, when Bakke first ruled that he was mentally incompetent  unable to understand legal proceedings and work with his lawyers to defend himself.

Alissa is being treated at the state mental hospital and was not in court for Fridays hearing. The judge set a July 21 hearing to again evaluate Alissas competency to stand trial.

Bakke's ruling came nearly a month after Boulder, the home of the University of Colorado, marked the first anniversary of the attack that killed workers, customers and a police officer who rushed inside the store.

Few details have been released about Alissas condition. Reports on his evaluations are not available to the public, but a court filing discussing one of the evaluations last year said he had been provisionally diagnosed with an unspecified mental health condition that limits his ability to meaningfully converse with others.

Competency is a different legal issue than a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, which involves whether someones mental health prevented them from understanding right from wrong at the time a crime was committed.

After the hearing, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said the average time to restore someone to competency is six months. He declined to speculate on when Alissa, who as been at the state hospital for four months, may be considered competent.

Robert Olds, the uncle of one of the 10 people killed, front-end manager Rikki Olds, said Alissa has more rights than the victims. He remains fairly hopeful Alissa will go on trial but does not want to anticipate what will happen next because the legal process has been moving slowly.

Eventually it will happen, I hope, he said of a trial. There is always that outside chance it wont happen.

Investigators have not released any information about why they believe Alissa launched the attack or why he may have targeted the supermarket. He lived in the nearby suburb of Arvada, where authorities say he passed a background check to legally buy the Ruger AR-556 pistol he allegedly used six days before the shooting.

The March 22, 2021, attack at a King Soopers grocery shocked a state that has seen its share of mass shootings, including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and the 2012 Aurora movie theater shooting.

Boulder police Officer Eric Talley, a 51-year-old father of seven, was shot and killed while rushing into the store with an initial team of police officers. In addition to Rikki Olds, Denny Stong, Neven Stanisic, Tralona Bartkowiak, Teri Leiker, Suzanne Fountain, Kevin Mahoney, Lynn Murray and Jody Waters were killed inside and outside the supermarket.

The remodeled King Soopers reopened in February, with about half of those who worked there at the time of the shooting choosing to return.
WASHINGTON  Ukraine is sending top officials to Washington for next weeks spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, where discussion will focus on the Russian invasion and its impact on the global economy.

Coming to the gathering are Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko, according to a World Bank official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit had not been officially announced.

 reported by Paul Wiseman.

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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

 We pray for you: Ukrainian Jews mark Passover, if they can

 Ukraines port of Mariupol holds out against all odds

 War Crimes Watch: The woman who would make Putin pay

 Ukrainian moms pain at watching daughters burial on phone

 Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that existing sanctions on Russia are painful but not yet enough to stop the Russian military.

Zelenskyy called for the democratic world to ban Russian oil. While U.S. lawmakers and U.S. President Joe Biden have enacted such a ban, Europe relies more heavily on Russian energy supplies, and the U.S. has been working to keep India from stepping up its use of Russian energy.

In general, the democratic world must accept that Russias money for energy resources is in fact money for the destruction of democracy, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to his nation.

He also said: The sooner the democratic world recognizes that the oil embargo against Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace, the sooner the war will end.

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TIJUANA, Mexico  A Russian man and Ukrainian woman were married in the Mexican border city of Tijuana after they were unable to travel together to the U.S.

Daria Sakhniuk was allowed to enter the U.S. as a Ukrainian refugee but her partner, Semen Bobrovski, was unable to travel there following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They left Ukraine as the war began.

Bobrovski told El Sol de Tijuana that he believed the marriage Thursday would bolster his chances of entering the U.S. with his new wife. The U.S. allows only Russian nationals with family members in the U.S. to enter the country.

Without it, we wont be able to cross because, still to the official American government, we are strangers to each other," he said.

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KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting Friday with the countrys military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.

The details cannot be made public now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.

Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, he said Russian troops who occupy areas around Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were terrorizing civilians and looking for anyone who had served in the army or the government.

The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves, Zelenskyy said.

He added: The occupiers problem is not that they are not accepted by some activists, veterans or journalists. Russias problem is that it is not accepted  and never will be accepted - by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.

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ATLANTA  CIA Director William Burns says no one can take lightly the threat that Russia could use tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons but he has seen no practical evidence suggesting it is imminent.

Speaking to an audience Thursday at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Burns said that potential desperation from Russian leaders to portray a victory in Ukraine increases the risk to the use of nuclear weapons.

None of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons, Burns said. We dont.

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ROME  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in Rome because the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman as one of the cross-bearers angered Ukrainians.

Participants in the solemn torchlit procession in the ancient arena Friday night took turns carrying a plain, tall and slim cross as part of the commemoration of Jesus suffering and death by crucifixion.

Ukraines ambassador to the Vatican and the archbishop of Kyiv earlier this week denounced the Vaticans plan to have a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman carry the cross together during the procession. They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.

The Vatican didnt respond to the protests. Pope Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a sacrilege, but has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor.

Other faithful applauded the decision to pair the two women. They work together in a palliative care section of a Rome hospital and are friends.

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BELGRADE, Serbia  Hundreds of protesters have joined a right-wing gathering in support of Russia, carrying pictures of Vladimir Putin and T-shirts with the letter Z that has become a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The rally Friday in central Belgrade was organized to protest Serbias vote last week in the United Nations in support of Russias expulsion from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Serbia remains the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, but right-wing groups are angry that Belgrade voted against Moscow in the U.N.

Local media say that masked protesters lit flares and smoke bombs outside the offices of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during the protest and placed a Russian flag on the presidency building.

Several similar protests have been held in Serbia since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine. Many Serbians remain loyal to Russia, convinced that Moscow was provoked by the West to launch the invasion.

Anti-western sentiments in Serbia stem from a 1999 NATO air war that forced Belgrade to give up control of the Kosovo province. Belgrade has enjoyed Russian support in trying to retain a claim on the territory, which declared Western-backed independence in 2008.

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The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a seven-month-old child, were killed in shelling of a residential neighborhood in the city.

Oleh Sinehubov said Friday in a Telegram post that 34 other people were wounded.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, has been heavily hit by shelling and rocket attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The citys position about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Russia and 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the separatist eastern regions of Ukraine gives it significant strategic importance.

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A senior U.S. defense official says the U.S. believes the Russian guided-missile cruiser that sank Thursday in the northern Black Sea had been struck by at least one Ukrainian anti-ship missile, as claimed by the Kyiv government.

Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they also did not refute it. The senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, said the Moskva was hit by at least one, and probably two, Neptune missiles on Wednesday, creating the large fire aboard.

The official offered no further details beyond saying the U.S. believes the Russians suffered some number of casualties aboard the ship.

 reported by Associated Press writer Robert Burns

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LVIV, Ukraine  The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a briefing Friday.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyivs regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% of the casualties had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said. The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900  and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.

He added that more bodies were being found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves.

The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses, he said.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha had been gathering up and burying bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Two civilians died of shrapnel wounds after a rocket was shot down near the southern Ukrainian city of Kakhovka, according to a Facebook post published by Kakhovkas municipal authorities that same day.

It was not a peaceful morning in Kakhovka. Five civilian residents with injuries were admitted to the Kakhovka Municipal Hospital. Two killed, three injured (one of them is in critical condition in intensive care, two have moderate injuries), the Kakhovka Municipal Territorial Community wrote.

The municipal body added that all five were hit by shrapnel after they left their homes to see the remnants of a rocket downed over the nearby town of Tavriisk.

It was not immediately clear which of the warring sides had launched the weapon, and which had shot it down.

The post went on to urge local residents to stay inside and keep away from windows if they hear gunshots or explosions.

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The website of Frances state-owned radio broadcaster, RFI, appeared to become unavailable in Russia on Friday after the countrys media and internet watchdog added one of its pages with critical coverage of the war in Ukraine to its registry of blocked websites.

The communications agency, Roskomnadzor, has been restricting access to news websites this week in line with a ruling by Russias Prosecutor General on Tuesday, which mandates the blocking of outlets publishing information inciting mass disorder, extremist activity or participation in mass (public) events violating the established order, and unreliable information which is of public significance.

According to the Roskomnadzor registry, the authorities blocked an RFI article citing a story by French magazine Le Figaro which alleged Russian servicemen rape women in Ukraine, but the broadcaster said its entire website ended up being unavailable in Russia.

Earlier on Friday, Roskomnadzor apparently cut access to the Russian-language site of Russias top independent English-language news outlet, The Moscow Times, citing the same ruling.

On Wednesday, Russian state media also reported that the agency ordered a Russian streaming platform to remove all podcasts published by the BBC, whose Russian-language website was blocked in March alongside those of U.S. and German news organizations.

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MOSCOW  The wife of a Ukrainian politician held by Kyiv on a treason charge has accused Ukrainian security services of torturing her husband and fabricating his escape from house arrest in a press conference held in Moscow on Friday.

Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, referred to her husband as a political prisoner, and claimed that she does not know where he is.

Medvedchuk was detained on Tuesday in a special operation carried out by Ukraines state security service, or the SBU. The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest several days before the hostilities broke out Feb. 24 in Ukraine. He is facing between 15 years and a life in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for mediating coal purchases for the separatist, Russia-backed Donetsk republic in eastern Ukraine.

I have no doubt that my husband was beaten within hours after his capture, she said at the press conference. I am appealing for help in establishing (his) real whereabouts. I call for help to stop the physical and mental torture.

She did not offer evidence to back up her claims, but referenced a televised statement made by Ukrainian officials on Wednesday, which said that Kyiv will aim to try Medvedchuk as soon as possible, give him the appropriate sentence, obtain evidence from him and then exchange him for Ukrainian captives held by Moscow.

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Russias top independent English-language news outlet says Russian authorities have blocked its Russian-language website over critical coverage of the war in Ukraine.

The Moscow Times said Friday that its Russian-language website has become unavailable for some users and cited a ruling by the Prosecutor Generals office to restrict the access.

According to the news outlet, the authorities have separately blocked a page on the website with a story about 11 riot police officers who refused to fight in Ukraine. On Thursday, a journalist who first broke the story was jailed on the charges of spreading false information about the Russian military.

The Moscow Times said it hasnt received any formal notification from the government.

The Kremlin has sought to control the narrative of the war from the moment its troops rolled into Ukraine. It dubbed the attack a special military operation and increased the pressure on independent Russian media that called it a war or an invasion, blocking access to many news sites whose coverage deviated from the official line.

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KYIV, Ukraine -- Mariupol City Council said Friday that local residents report Russian troops are digging up bodies previously buried in residential courtyards and not allowing any new burials of people killed by them.

A watchman has been assigned to each courtyard and is not allowing Mariupol residents to lay to rest dead relatives or friends. Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, according to a statement on the messaging app Telegram.

The claim could not be independently verified.

Earlier this month, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told the AP that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to the city to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.

Boychencko said that the Russian forces were taking many bodies to a huge shopping center where there are storage facilities and refrigerators. Mobile crematoriums have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it, and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burned, he said.

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KYIV, Ukraine  Seven people died and 27 were injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the Ukrainian village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office told Ukraines Suspilne news website Friday.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are working to establish the circumstances of the attack, Dmytro Chubenko said. He added that investigators are also establishing the routes and destination of the vehicles transporting civilians across the Russian-controlled territory around Borovaya.

Chubenko said that Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

The claims could not be independently verified.

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MOSCOW  Russias Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up the scale of missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines diversions on the Russian territory.

The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the countrys regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.

According to Russian officials, some 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursdays attack on the Klimovo village in the Bryansk region. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraines Chernihiv region shut down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.

Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.

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LONDON  Britains defense ministry says the loss of Russias naval flagship will likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea.

The Moskva sank after being damaged in disputed circumstances. Ukraine says it struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack.

In an update posted Friday on social media, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the Soviet-era ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.

It said the sinking means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russias Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Friday celebrated the milestone birth anniversary of its late founder with a mass dance, fireworks and calls for stronger loyalty to his grandson and current leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.

The 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung comes after North Korea conducted a spate of weapons tests in recent months, including its first full-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017. Experts say North Korea aims to expand its arsenal and ramp up pressure on the United States while nuclear diplomacy is stalled.

Lets work harder in devotion to our respected comrade Kim Jong Un and on that path ultimately realize the dreams of our great president (Kim Il Sung) to build a powerful socialist state, the Norths state-run website Uriminzokkiri said in a commentary.

Kim Il Sungs birthday is the most important national holiday in North Korea, where the Kim family has ruled under a strong personality cult since the nations founding in 1948. Kim Jong Un became a third-generation leader after his father Kim Jong Il died in late 2011.

Kim Jong Un has pushed to advance his nuclear weapons while simultaneously reviving the economy. But a mix of pandemic border closures, U.S.-led sanctions and his own mismanagement have caused a massive economic blow in whats become the toughest moment of his decade in power.

On Friday, residents of Pyongyang, the capital, bowed and laid bouquets of flowers near the bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

State TV later showed thousands of young people  men dressed in Western-style white shirts and women in colorful traditional Korean garb  dancing in a Pyongyang plaza as fireworks launched from a nearby river bank lit up the night sky. The dancers circled a group of performers who held up yellow flowers to form the symbol of the Workers Party of Korea - a hammer, brush and sickle.

North Korea often marks key state anniversaries with huge military parades featuring newly built missiles, especially during anniversaries that end in zero and five. Commercial satellites earlier indicated an apparent rehearsal for a military parade, such as people assembled in formation at the Pyongyang plaza, where such events were held in the past.

After North Koreas ICBM test last month, South Korean and U.S. officials said Pyongyang could soon launch fresh provocations like an additional ICBM test, a rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear bomb test that would be the seventh of its kind.

South Koreas military said recently it detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that it partially dismantled before it entered now-dormant nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.

I think theyll carry out a nuclear test once it finishes restoring its nuclear testing facility, said analyst Moon Seong Mook with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. There is no reason for them to bring back its testing ground if they dont plan to use them for a bomb test.

Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international communitys response to the Norths recent missile tests.

North Korea has recently resumed its trademark harsh rhetoric against its rivals. One of its international affairs commentators labeled President Joe Biden as an old man in senility, while Kims powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called South Koreas defense minister a scum-like guy and threatened to annihilate South Korea with nuclear strikes.
MILWAUKEE (AP)  A Wisconsin woman is accused of leading a scheme to bilk Hmong-American investors mostly from Minnesota and Wisconsin of at least $16.5 million.

A civil complaint filed Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Kay Yang, 40, of Mequon, of defrauding about 70 investors between April 2017 and April 2021. Her husband, Chao Yang, 47, is charged as a secondary defendant for improperly receiving proceeds of the fraud.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russia's withdrawal  most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were "simply executed.

The jarring number emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines alleged assaults on Russian territory. That ominous warning followed the stunning loss of Moscow's flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. defense official said Friday was indeed hit by at least one Ukrainian missile.

Amid its threats, Moscow continued preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also went on in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional Gov. Oleh Sinehubov.

Around Kyiv, Andriy Nebytov, the head of the capital's regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95% died from gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said.

More bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves, he added, with the largest number found in Bucha, where there were more than 350.

According to Nebytov, utility workers gathered and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops occupying parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south of terrorizing civilians and hunting for anyone who served in Ukraines military or government.

The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves, Zelenskyy said. Russias problem is that it is not accepted  and never will be accepted  by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.

In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelenskyy also said he discussed the fate of Mariupol with top military and intelligence officials. He said he couldnt offer details, but we are doing everything we can to save our people.

Zelenskyy said peace and how many more Ukrainians the occupiers have time to kill depend on Ukraine receiving more outside support, and echoed calls for more and faster military aid, as well as an oil embargo on Russia.

More violence could be in store for Kyiv after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.

The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Russia used missiles to destroy a facility for the repair and production of missile systems in Kyiv, Konashenkov said.

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports could not be independently verified.

However, Ukrainian officials said forces did strike a key Russian warship with missiles. A senior U.S. defense official backed up the claim, saying the U.S. now believes the Moskva was hit by at least one Neptune anti-ship missile, and probably two. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment.

The Moskva, named for the Russian capital, sank while being towed to port Thursday after taking heavy damage. Though Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only that a fire had caused ammunition on board to detonate, the loss of the ship represents an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.

The sinking reduces Russias firepower in the Black Sea, although military analysts disagreed on the event's significance to the course of the war. Either way, the loss was viewed as emblematic of Moscow's fortunes in an eight-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following the retreat from the Kyiv region and much of northern Ukraine.

A flagship russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted Friday.

Russia's warning of renewed airstrikes did not stop Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly warmer spring Friday as the weekend approached. More people than usual were out on the streets, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and strolling hand in hand.

In one central park, a small group of people including a woman draped in a Ukrainian flag danced to the music of a portable speaker.

Such tentative signs of prewar life have resurfaced in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes. But a renewed bombardment could mean a return to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of the invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations.

In Mariupol, the city council said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials of people killed by them.

Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, the council said on the Telegram messaging app.

Fighting continued in industrial areas and the port, and Russia for the first time used the Tu-223 long-range bomber to attack the city, said Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Mariupol has been blockaded by Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, and dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders have held out against a siege that has come at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians.

The mayor said this week that the city's death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv.

Mariupols capture would allow Russian forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraines eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.

It's not certain when Russia will launch a full-scale campaign.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine. Russia has recognized the independence of two rebel-held areas of the region.

Also Friday a Russian rocket hit an airport at night in the central city of Oleksandriia, Mayor Serhiy Kuzmenko said via Facebook. He made no mention of casualties.

And a regional Ukrainian official said seven people were killed and 27 wounded when Russian forces fired on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near Kharkiv. The claim could not be independently verified.

Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office, told the Suspilne news website that authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

Russia's Defense Ministry said strikes in the Kharkiv region had liquidated a squad of mercenaries from a Polish private military company of up to 30 people and liberated an iron and steel factory in Mariupol. The claims could not be independently verified.

___

Fisch reported from Kramatorsk. Burns reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
April 8

A theft from Cefco was reported on April 8 at the 3700 block of Olton Road. The suspect took a 12-pack of beer.

Police arrested a 29-year-old man at the 2100 block of W. 5th St. on April 8 during a traffic stop. The suspect was found to have two active warrants for speeding in a school zone and for failure to appear/bail.

A 46-year-old woman was arrested on April 8 during a traffic stop at the 600 block of Joliet St. The individual was charged with driving while intoxicated.

A crash causing damage to a vehicle was reported at the intersection of W. 16th and Joliet Streets on April 8. The crash involved two vehicles. Vehicles were damaged but there were no injuries reported. The vehicles were released at the scene.

A 34-year-old man was arrested on April 8 at the 100 block of W. 9th St. The individual was charged with an active warrant for assault causing bodily injury family violence.

An assault was reported at the 2100 block of Smythe St. on April 8.

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the 3600 block of Olton Road on April 8.

A 28-year-old individual was arrested on April 8 at the 400 block of Joliet St. The individual was found to have an active warrant for theft out of Swisher County.

A 70-year-old man was arrested on April 8 at the 1500 block of E. 5th St. where officers were dispatched in reference to someone sleeping by the driveway. The man was dropped off at this residence and wanted a place to lay down. He had been drinking, had slurred speech and was unable to stand on his own, even with assistance, according to the police incident report. He was arrested for public intoxication.

April 9

A crash was reported at the 4000 block of W. 15th St. on April 9. No injuries were reported.

April 10

A man was arrested for driving while intoxicated during a traffic stop at the 1300 block of W. 12th St. on April 10. The man was found to have two active warrants for speeding and for failure to appear.

A 29-year-old man was arrested at the 1700 block of Yonkers St. on April 10.

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at N. Columbia and W. 9th St.

A burglary was reported on April 10 at the 2900 block of W. 24th St.

An assault was reported at the 500 block of Joliet St. on April 10.

A 22-year-old man was arrested on April 10 at the 500 block of Amarillo St. for an outstanding warrant. The individual was arrested during a traffic stop and was charged with a warrant for public intoxication.

April 11

A theft was reported at the 1500 block of N. I-27 on April 11.

Theft of a firearm from a vehicle was reported at the 1700 block of N. Columbia on April 11.

A theft was reported at the 2500 block of Holiday St. on April 11.

Identity theft was reported at the 100 block of W. 9th St. on April 11.

April 12

A 37-year-old man was arrested on April 12 at the 900 block of Amarillo St. Officers made contact with a man at the location who was found to have an outstanding felony warrant. Michael George Green was charged with a warrant for a probation violation, dangerous drugs MTR possession of a controlled substance.

A burglary was reported at the 600 block of the west frontage road of N. I-27.

A theft was reported at the 1100 block of Independence St. on April 12.

A theft was reported at the 2800 block of Houston St. on April 12.

An assault was reported at the 4000 block of Olton Road on April 12.

Plainview Police were called to the 1900 block of Galveston on April 12. According to a preliminary investigation, a verbal altercation turned physical and resulted in minor injury to the victim. No arrests had been made at this time, though the case remains under investigation.

April 13

A burglary was reported at the 500 block of S. I-27 on April 13.

Another burglary was reported at the 1200 block of S. I-27.

A hit-and-run crash was reported at the 1500 block of N. I-27 on April 13. Vehicle damage was reported.

An assault was reported at the 700 block of N. Columbia St. on April 13. A 23-year-old man was charged with assault causing bodily injury family violence. According to police, a person assaulted another causing pain to their neck. A report of assault by contact was reported and filed. The individual arrested told officers he was assaulted by the woman and wanted to pursue criminal charges, though he said the assault did not cause him pain.

A theft was reported at the 1500 block of N. I-27 on April 13.

Officers were dispatched to the 3300 block of Quincy St. on April 13 where a person in the lobby reported identity theft. An Investigation is underway.

A 17-year-old man was arrested for assault causing bodily injury family violence on April 13 at the 3200 block of Olton Road.

A crash resulting in injury was reported on W. 16th and N. Columbia on April 13.

A 44-year-old man was arrested on April 13 at the 700 block of W. 5th St. He was found to have two active warrants for public intoxication and for failure to appear/bail jumping.

A crash resulting in vehicle damage was reported at the 600 block of Yonkers St. on April 13.

An assault was reported at the 100 block of S. Ash on April 13.

A 17-year-old was arrested on April 13 during a traffic stop at the 600 block of W. 27th St. The stop was conducted for an unsafe lane change. The driver almost struck an officers vehicle. During the stop, the driver was found to have several outstanding warrants including the following: two for speeding, one for failure to display a drivers license, and two for violating a drivers license restriction.

A 20-year-old was arrested on April 13 at the 800 block of W. 11th St. Blayke Montana Sistrunk was arrested during a traffic stop for a traffic violation. During the stop, the individual was found to be in possession of a controlled substance (amphetamine). He was charged with possession of a controlled substance, which is a felony.
The Mary McCoy Baines Chapter of the DAR met April 13, 2022, at the Plainview Country Club for a seated luncheon. Chaplain Phyllis Wall gave the invocation and acted as hostess.

Regent Cornelia McDonough presided for the business meeting and led the opening ritual. She advised that national dues will be raised next year. In other business she presented a number of awards won by the chapter at the state convention. Plans were discussed for the membership workshop in late spring or during the summer. Libby White, District 1 Director, and Judy Ditmore, state treasurer, will be on hand to prepare national applications. The District 1 workshop is set for April 23 to be hosted by Wolf Creek Chapter in Perryton.
I am no expert about the devil. But the worst of humans seem to be driven by an evil force in life. And we all are guilty of some self-destructive behavior, maybe a lot of it at times. All evil that entices us or is thrown at us can be defeated by trusting and choosing Gods way, come Hell or high water. What Satan may be suggesting can be defeated by thinking positively of yourself and trusting in Gods presence and power to help. Fighting evil is most difficult sometimes, but not fighting with Gods help always brings terrible destruction for ourselves and those we especially love.

When Jesus was defeating demons, he did it within the parameters of his cultures belief system about the devil and demons. What mattered was healing the hurting people, not arguing about what they believed. That is my viewpoint at this time of life. I buy into modern science all that I understand. Science is a good partner to faith in Christ.
Complimenting the people of the state for converting the challenges into opportunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that Himachal Pradesh has everything needed for rapid development.

In his message to people of Himachal Pradesh Day, Prime Minister Modi recalled the challenges of the hilly state at the time of its formation in 1948. He praised the state's achievements in horticulture, power surplus, literacy rate, rural road connectivity, tap water and electricity to every household. He underlined the efforts to build on these achievements in the last seven-eight years.

"Under the young leadership of Jai Ram ji, the 'double engine government' has taken the initiative of expanding rural roads, highway widening, and railway network, its results are now visible. As connectivity is getting better, Himachal's tourism is entering new areas, new regions," the Prime Minister said.

Greeting the people of Himachal Pradesh on the 75th establishment day and he noted the happy coincidence that the 75th establishment day comes in the 75th Year of the Independence. He reiterated the commitment to taking the nectar of development to every inhabitant of the state during the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'.

Striking a personal note, the Prime Minister quoted a poem by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and remembered his own long association with the beautiful state with diligent and determined people.

The Prime Minister highlighted the new strides in tourism and new avenues of opportunities and employment for the local people. He talked about the progress in the health sector by talking about the efficient and fast vaccination during the pandemic.

He emphasised the need to work hard for unlocking the full potential of Himachal Pradesh. "During the Amrit Kaal, there is a need to take forward the work in the fields of tourism, higher education, research, IT, biotechnology, food processing and natural farming. Vibrant Village scheme, announced in this year's budget will give immense benefit to Himachal Pradesh," Modi said.

PM Modi also touched upon increasing connectivity, enriching forests, swachhta and people's participation for these initiatives.

Commenting on the expansion of central welfare schemes by the Chief Minister and his team, especially in the field of social security, he said: "Honest leadership, peace loving environment, blessings of gods and goddesses and people of Himachal who work hard, all these are incomparable. Himachal has everything needed for rapid development," Modi added.
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Liz Sheridan, the actor best know for her role as Jerry Seinfelds mother Helen in the classic sitcom Seinfeld, died on Friday, a representative confirmed to Variety. She was 93.

Seinfeld reacted to the news on Twitter, writing, Liz was always the sweetest, nicest TV mom a son could wish for. Every time she came on our show it was the coziest feeling for me. So lucky to have known her.

Liz was always the sweetest, nicest TV mom a son could wish for. Every time she came on our show it was the coziest feeling for me. So lucky to have known her. pic.twitter.com/ae9TDHQILU  Jerry Seinfeld (@JerrySeinfeld) April 15, 2022

Born in 1929, Sheridan got her start as a nightclub act, earning a living by dancing and playing in both New York City and Caribbean clubs. During her time as a nightclub act, she had a romantic relationship with James Dean pre-fame and would write about their relationship in her memoir Dizzy & Jimmy, which was published in 2000. She would meet her husband, jazz musician Dale Wales, while performing at a Puerto Rican club.

In the 70s, Sheridan began appearing extensively in Broadway productions, from plays like Best Friend in 1976 and Once a Catholic in 1979 to musicals such as Frank Merriwell in 1971 and Somethings Afoot in 1976. In 1977, she co-starred with a young Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd in a production of the German crime musical Happy End.

Sheridans first screen credit is a 1977 episode of the crime drama Kojack, playing a minor character. In the 80s, she moved to Los Angeles and developed a thriving career as a character actor on TV. For the next two decades, she had numerous guest spots on popular shows such as Archie Bunkers Place, St. Elsewhere, One Day At A Time, Threes a Crowd, Newhart, Moonlighting, The A-Team, Whos the Boss, Hill Street Blues, Remington Steele, Cagney & Lacey, Family Ties, Murder, She Wrote, Melrose Place, Blossom and Sliders.

In 1986, she scored her first recurring role in the NBC family sitcom ALF, playing the nosy, gossiping Raquel Ochmonek. Raquel appeared in the shows pilot episode and was one of the most frequent recurring characters in the show, spying on the central Tanner family and nearly discovering the existence of the titular alien they were hiding.

Outside of the core four main characters, Sheridan was the only cast member of Seinfeld who appeared in all nine seasons of the shows run, making her first appearance in the second episode of the show in 1990. She would make 21 appearances in the series, acting opposite Barney Martin, who played Jerrys father, Morty. Sheridan portrayed Helen as a voice of reason compared to the more neurotic Jerry and Morty, albeit one who was deeply overprotective of her only son.

After Seinfeld ended, Sheridan would frequently perform a one-woman stage show, Mrs. Seinfeld Sings. Other notable credits include a voice role in the 1994 animated show Life With Louie and film appearances in School Spirit, Whos That Girl, Wedding Bell Blues and Play That Game. Her final film role was in the 2010 movie Trim.

The news of Sheridans death comes just weeks after the death of her Seinfeld co-star, Estelle Harris. Like Sheridan, Harris played the parent of one of the main characters, in her case George Costanza (Jason Alexander). The two appeared in four episodes of the show together, including the final episode, which aired in 1998.

Sheridan is survived by her daughter.

Sign up for Varietys Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Madalyn Mendoza, MySA.com

San Antonio is now home to two Maple Street Biscuit Company locations. The the first opened inside the Quarry Village in March, while Alamo Ranch welcomed the second restaurant at 10650 Culebra Road on Monday, April 11. Once the far West Side location gets in the groove of things, the restaurant will host a grand opening party with giveaways like free biscuits for a year.

The April 29 event lasts from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and comes with free food for all, as well as exclusive wins for the first to celebrate the Alamo Ranch opening. Everyone will get a free iced cinnamon biscuit, but the first guests in line will get gifts that keep on giving. The first five customers will receive biscuits and coffee for a year, the next five win coffee for a year, the five after that get brunch for two and the 25 who follow will go home with a T-shirt and mug, according to a sign posted at the restaurant.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  South Carolina's budget will likely face intense negotiations in the Legislature after Senate budget writers advanced a $12.6 billion plan based on $2 billion in income tax cuts and rebates.

Lawmakers in the Senate Finance Committee adopted the spending plan unanimously Wednesday, The Post and Courier reported.

The Senate's budget package is built around $1 billion in income tax rebates and another $1 billion in cuts, compared with the $600 income million tax cut proposed by the House.

Like the House's version, the Senate plan would give state employees a 3% cost-of-living raise. But the House plan contains a one-time, $1,500 bonus not included by senators.

Were putting all citizens and taxpayers first with the tax reduction, said Senate President Thomas Alexander, who noted that public employees would also benefit. Its a different approach.

Although the House plan would increase minimum pay for teachers by $4,000, to a floor of $40,000, the Senate version would raise that minimum by only $2,000. Under the Senate plan, first-year teachers would make at least $38,000.

Both the Senate and House versions would send $227 million in extra aid to school districts, though the Senate plan would give districts more flexibility in how the money is spent and allocate those dollars through a formula Gov. Henry McMaster has promoted as being a simplification of the state's current, confusing funding system.

A spokesman for McMaster's office criticized the Senate's plan for not raising teacher minimum salaries high enough.

Our system is broken. The Senates plan is a half-measure and doesnt get to the root of the problem, spokesman Brian Symmes told the newspaper. The governor and House dont think any teacher in South Carolina should be paid less than $40,000 a year, and in the Senate plan, thats not going to happen.

The Palmetto State Teachers Association, the state's largest advocacy group for teachers, said the Senate plan could provide districts with too much flexibility, leading to wider salary discrepancies between affluent and poor districts and the chance that less money gets spent inside classrooms.

I support the concept of flexibility in the abstract. Districts do need the ability to target money to the needs of their students, association spokesman Patrick Kelly said. But I think a statewide minimum of $40,000 in 2022 should be nonnegotiable.

A small group of lawmakers from both chambers will likely negotiate the differences between the budget plans and suggested tax cuts later this spring.
Steven Santana/MySA

The McCreless Library reopens Saturday, April 16, after closing in 2020 for a $2.5 million interior overhaul. The upgrades were funded by San Antonio's 2017 bond. It features new PCs and Mac computers as well as a completely revamped children's area.

MySA is giving you a peek inside at some of its new features and technology before it reopens.
A designer from South Carolina has created a T-shirt about Texas Senator Ted Cruz, featuring all the controversies he has had over the years, including the infamous Cancun trip during the Texas winter storm in 2021.

Eva Kolb told MySA she launched the Cruz masterpiece for her Barbie series on TikTok earlier this week. She first started with Marjorie Taylor Greene after she voiced her support of rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Kolb has also featured other Republicans such as Lauren Boebert and Madison Cawthorn.

"Ted Cruz was a very obvious next choice for this series," Kolb said, adding the dark humor Barbie series includes those who are ruining what the country stands for and preying on emotional manipulation. "They say they're fighting for freedom, but I don't think that they are fighting for freedom for everyone."

For the Cruz edition, Kolb included almost every controversy the Texas leader has had over the years. She featured Cruz's Cancun airport pose, a picture widely spread across news outlets and social media after he was seen fleeing the Lone Star State when millions were left without power and electricity from a devastating winter storm.

Kolb put a note in his hand that revealed Cruz's first name "Rafael." Cruz said in his 2015 autobiography, "A Time for Truth," that midway through junior high school in Houston, he decided to stop going by Rafael in part because he already was often called Felito.

The design added homage to the booger incident from 2016 when the internet thought Cruz ate his own mucus at the GOP debate. Kolb labeled a box of tissues, "Booger Wipes." She also included a book that read, "GOP Cry Baby," to represent the books Cruz singled out while questioning Ketanji Brown Jackson during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

Kolb made sure to also design a White Castle burger after Cruz's reported love for their burgers, which doesn't even have locations in Texas. Snowflake, Cruz's poodle dog that he left at home during his Cancun trip, also made an appearance.

And, of course, Kolb added in a cryptic letter with some code words that say, "Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer." A meme of Cruz being the Zodiac Killer took the internet by storm during his run for the presidency in 2016.

For those who want the T-shirt, it is for sale on Kolb's Etsy, timecapsuledesignsc, for $26. It's also available in stickers, hoodies, tote bags and puzzles.

While Kolb does live in South Carolina, she said she choose Cruz because she believes Texas makes an impact on majority of the country. She said, "You're seeing it with all these anti-abortion laws that Texas really opened the floodgates for.

"So a lot of people do say that, like 'Why do you care about a senator from Texas?' It impacts me. He impacts all of our lives," Kolb said.
Yves here. Even though the authors of this study depict Fox News as having reduced vaccination levels, I doubt that this relationship is as strongly causal as they suggest.

First, even though the authors attribute significance to cable viewing, its been in sharp decline. In May 2021, according to Statista, only 44% of American households said they subscribed to cable. But in this diminishing medium, Fox dominates. Fox News has been the most watched network, both in total and in primetime, for the last 60 weeks. In the last week, its news shows accounted for 97 of the 100 most watched news programs. So if Fox is this influential, one might expect vax levels to be even lower.1

Second, this analysis is consistent with the narrative that vaccine refusniks are white and lesser educated, and Fox viewership would overlap with that demographic. But even if true, that does not establish that causality does not go the other way. Just as stalwart Russiagaters flocked to Rachel Maddow because she affirmed their views, its not hard to see anti vaxxers, vaccine skeptics, and not having Big Government tell me what to do types prefer Fox.

Third, note that one of their controls for vaccine uptake in the early stages of supposedly healthcare capacity. That does not allow at all for disparities in access. They were pronounced in Jefferson County, Alabama. Jefferson County is over 40% black and voted 51.6% for Hillary Clinton in 2016, versus 44.3% for Trump. Even so, blacks faced overt discrimination in getting vaccines in 2021. From a March NPR story:

In Birmingham, Ala., Alabama Regional Medical Services  a health clinic that primarily serves a lower-income, Black neighborhood  has not administered a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. That is scheduled to begin Saturday. Meanwhile, the first doses in the state went to nearby Mountain Brook, an affluent white suburb of Birmingham, says Sheila Tyson, a commissioner for Jefferson County, where Birmingham is located Whats happening in Alabamas vaccine rollout is playing out across the country and is another way racial disparities have surfaced during a pandemic that has been killing people of color at disproportionately high rates.. According to the most recent data provided by the states health department, in cases where race was reported  white people have received 54.6% of vaccinations, compared to 14.6% for Black people. Tyson says state officials have told her that they are not distributing vaccines to majority-Black neighborhoods because they expect people there may be hesitant to take them. They had stuck in their head that Black and brown communities will actually turn the vaccine down without even doing a survey, without even having a plan, without having a person representing those communities at the table with the planning session, she says.

And in April 2021, from Al.com:

Data from the Alabama Department of Public Health shows a disparity between white and Black Alabamians in terms of COVID-19 vaccinations in several of the states largest counties  including Jefferson County, the most populous in the state In Jefferson County  home to Birmingham  43 percent of the population is Black, but just 29 percent of vaccinated people are Black.

Black vaccination rates now slightly exceed those of whites in Jefferson County.

Mind you, the above is not to say that Fox may not have played a role. But the problem almost assuredly has much deeper and more intractable roots. As Matt Taibbi described in Hate Inc, the rise of cable and the Internet allows for much more targeted media messaging, which was once called narrowcasting. Programmers and advertisers found that more extreme views would attract loyal viewers, and sticky audiences are also more highly valued by advertisers. Fox was one of the leaders in the shift to catering to and heightening viewer prejudices, but they were also far from alone.

By Matteo Pinnam, Doctoral candidate, Center for Law and Economics, ETH Zurich; Leo Picard, PhD student in Public Economics, University of Basel; Doctoral Research Affiliate, ETH Zurich; and Christoph Goessmann, PhD Candidate, Chair for Law, Economics, and Data Science, ETH Zurich. Originally published at VoxEU

Ever since COVID-19 vaccines were introduced in late 2020, vaccine resistance has remained a common phenomenon. Lower willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine has been associated with exposure to online misinformation. This column investigates the role of cable news on vaccine scepticism and vaccination rates in the US. It finds that exposure to Fox News reduces COVID-19 vaccination rates, while exposure to CNN or MSNBC does not. Cable media appears to shape beliefs about the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines.

Since their introduction in late 2020, COVID-19 vaccines have bolstered the fight against the pandemic, substantially reducing the likelihood of infection and especially severe cases (Amit et al. 2021, Dagan et al. 2021, Polack et al. 2020, Voysey et al. 2021). Given their proven effectiveness as well as the continued social costs of infection and public health measures like lockdowns, the persistent resistance to vaccination poses an urgent policy problem. Correspondingly, understanding the factors shaping decisions to get vaccinated or not constitutes an urgent scientific question.

Scholars have offered some initial findings. For example, exposure to online misinformation is associated with a decline in willingness to get vaccinated against COVID-19 (Loomba et al. 2021, Roozenbeek et al. 2020), and individuals who are opposed to COVID-19 vaccines are less likely to obtain information about the pandemic from traditional and authoritative sources (Murphy et al. 2021). Conservative media consumption is associated with less social distancing (Ash et al. 2020, Gollwitzer et al. 2020, Simonov et al. 2020) and worse COVID-19 health outcomes (Bursztyn et al. 2020).

At the early stages of the vaccination roll-out, news providers varied in their scepticism toward COVID-19 vaccines. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that differential exposure to their programmes might have influenced vaccine hesitancy and, consequentially, vaccine uptake. For example, Fox News primetime show Tucker Carlson, one of the most popular shows on the network, took a strong stance against vaccines, misleadingly representing deaths after vaccination as being caused by the vaccination (Barr 2021, Stelter 2021). In addition, the network has generally doubted scientific research and experts (Feldman et al. 2012, Huertas and Kriegsman 2014, Hmielowski et al. 2014).

Analysis

In order to assess the effects of media misinformation on vaccination rates, we pair data on county-level vaccination rates with data on viewership of the main cable news providers: Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNN. The results from the analysis show that, starting May 2021, counties with higher Fox News viewership report lower vaccination rates: watching one additional hour of Fox News per week for the average household reduces the number of vaccinations by 0.35 to 0.76 per 100 people.

In the early months of the vaccination campaign, we do not observe a relationship between cable channel viewership and vaccinations. However, starting in May 2021, Fox News viewership starts reducing vaccine uptake. The relationships for the other cable news networks, MSNBC and CNN, remain without any statistically significant effect.

Figure 1 Effect of network viewership on weekly vaccination rates (2SLS)

Notes: Regressional coefficient plots with 95% CIs of the effect of one standard deviation changes in viewership on weekly vaccinations per 100 people. Our viewership measure is instrumented using the channel line-up positions.

We observe that results are driven by people aged 18 to 65 years, with no significant effect on the group older than 65 years. To strengthen our analysis, we control for the main networks relative channel position and viewership, as well as for geographical confounders  including socio-demographic characteristics and political preferences of the counties.

We can show that there is a causal relationship between exposure to Fox News Channel and lower vaccination uptake. Our statistical analysis exploits the fact that networks are exogenously assigned a channel position in the television line-up, with casual viewers being more likely to watch channels with a lower channel number. We therefore use the geographical variation of the networks channel position as an instrument for the networks viewership. This empirical approach has been widely used in economics and political science to study the effects of biased media coverage (Ananyev et al. 2020, Ash et al. 2021, Galletta and Ash 2019, Martin and Yurukoglu 2017, Simonov et al. 2020). The causal estimates are also coherent with the correlational results of the Ordinary Least Squares regressions of viewership on vaccination rates.

Mechanism

Overall, our results support the interpretation that Fox News Channel promulgated a uniquely sceptical narrative about vaccines and that this narrative caught on and reduced uptake among the marginal vaccine recipient. We back this interpretation with the following observations.

First, in areas with higher exposure to Fox News Channel, respondents to a national survey reported higher COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. This agrees with a behavioural mechanism where Fox News Channels sceptical vaccine narrative affects vaccination rates by changing attitudes and intentions regarding the vaccine, discouraging in particular the population with low health-related risks.

Second, we consider whether the effects that we see might be driven by local healthcare capacity. If the difference in vaccination rates were due to healthcare capacity, we should see similar effects throughout all stages of the vaccination campaign. Yet we find there was no effect on vaccine uptake in the early months, when the vaccines were only available to older/at-risk individuals. Thus, we infer that the effect of cable news is most pronounced for relatively low-risk individuals, such as the younger population, helping to rule out an effect due to local healthcare capacity.

It could also be that the healthcare systems in areas with higher Fox News viewership systematically differ in their capability to handle a COVID-19 outbreak, for example, due to effects on local government funding (Galletta and Ash 2019). Or it could be that these counties suffered more cases and deaths in 2020 or in the period before the vaccinations. We find that Fox News Channel has no effect on measurements of local healthcare capacity, including the number of ICU beds, number of hospitals, and Centers for Disease Control and Preventionestimated risk indexes. We also rule out that the difference in uptake is due to differences in infections or deaths.

Third, as Fox News viewership has been shown to be correlated with voting Republican (Ash et al. 2021, DellaVigna and Kaplan 2007, Martin and Yurukoglu 2017), we check if partisan affiliation or political ideology are driving the Fox News effect. Republicans or conservatives could overall be more sceptical of the COVID-19 vaccine, indicating that the observed effect was driven by Fox News Channel increasing the number of Republicans or conservatives. Our results show that this is unlikely to be the case, as the effect of Fox News Channel on vaccine uptake holds in several tests that control for partisan affiliation and political ideology.

Finally, we consider whether Fox has affected general attitudes towards vaccines, for example through anti-science rhetoric. To check this, we look at the effects on seasonal flu vaccination rates (20172019) and conclude that the network does not contribute to a generic anti-vaccination sentiment and that the effect on COVID-19 vaccines is due to a COVID-specific narrative.

Conclusion

This column provides evidence that the main cable news television providers are affecting vaccination decisions, suggesting that Foxs COVID-19 coverage is at least partially responsible for reducing vaccination rates. Fox News slanted media rhetoric is linked to vaccination hesitancy, producing significant behavioural effects in the under-65 population with low health risks. Future efforts by government agencies and health organisations to encourage vaccine uptake should account for how media narratives may strengthen or weaken those efforts.

See original post for references

_____

1 While the plural of anecdote is not data, only one of the non-vaccine-takers I know is a Fox adherent, and does not fit the stereotype: very high income highly educated professional. The others are female versions of the soy boy man bun types: health fanatics who are skeptical of what they call allopathic medicine and see doctors minimally.
Yves here. I suggest reading this post in combination with the latest offering at Doomberg, Measure Twice: Sizing Europes Natural Gas Crisis. He converts the too often varied gas figures to billion cubic feet as opposed to the more common (but still far from standard) billion cubic meters measure.

Regardless, the Biden offer of an additional 15 billion cubic meters of LNG to Europe is only 10% of the annual amount it gets from Russia. Doomberg pushes some other numbers around and concludes that the amount of LNG needed to fill Europes Russia gap is 30% of global supply. Mind you, what is produced now is largely subject to long-term contract.

Consider this part of his article, which confirms doubts about implementation issues that we and readers have raised (emphasis original):

Aside from securing commercial agreements for alternative supply, there is also the issue of whether Europe has the capacity to accept more LNG imports. Regasification requires specialized import terminals and pipelines to distribute the gas, both of which seem to be in short supply. Here are two quotes from a Reuters story published prior to Russias invasion of Ukraine: This means most of Europes LNG terminals are operating at full capacity, especially in north-west Europe, where they feed large economies Britain, France and Germany, raising the question of how much more LNG can be processed. Spain has the continents biggest capacity, with six terminals, while Germany has none. The utilisation rate for the Spanish terminals was just 45% in January, data and analytics firm Kpler said. The problem with Spain is that it has limited pipeline connections with the rest of Europe with only one pipeline that could take gas from Spain to France and so capacity is restricted somewhat, Laura Page, senior LNG analyst at Kpler said. Germany recently announced its intention to build several new LNG import facilities, and three projects are progressing at an accelerated pace. A terminal in Brunsbuettel is slated to process 0.8 bcf/d, a project at Dows Stade site will handle 1.3 bcf/d, and a previously-shelved 1.0 bcf/d project in Wilhelmshaven has been resuscitated and accelerated. Although these projects will offset 20% of Europes reliance on Russian supply, they will not be operational until the 2025-2026 timeframe.

Needless to say, this situation is not pretty. And thats before you get to the issue of price impact, the focus of Irina Slavs discussion.

By Irina Slav, a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. Originally published at OilPrice

Europe is determined to wean itself off Russian natural gas following Putins decision to invade Ukraine, and U.S. LNG is one of the major alternatives.

Biden has already committed to sending an additional 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas exports to the EU this year, a move that sent prices higher.

Natural gas prices hit the highest level in thirteen years last week and, while the coal price rally was partly to blame, rising LNG exports played a part.

Meet Europe, the newest and unlikeliest star on the LNG stage. Europe recently had to reconsider its emissions-cutting ambitions in light of the danger of an unprecedented energy crunch. U.S. natural gas producers are only too happy to help. Cue worries about a domestic shortage.

European Union governments have been discussing for weeks ways to cut their reliance on Russian oil and gas.

There have been claims that the EU can make it through the summer even if gas imports from Russia are cut because there is enough gas in storage. Still, Brussels has stopped short of imposing an embargo on Russian gas, with Germany admitting it cannot afford one.

There have been plans to reduce the overwhelming dependence on Russian gas by urgently finding alternative suppliers, including pipeline gas from North Africa and Central Asia, and liquefied natural gas from Qatar and the United States. And the United States has been eager to help.

President Biden pledged an additional 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas exports to the European Union this year in the form of LNG, while the EU pledged to create the demand for 50 billion cubic meters annually of U.S. LNG until at least 2030.

Before the mutual pledges, Europe had already become the largest buyer of U.S. LNG at the start of this year, taking in a record 12.5 billion cubic meters in the form of the super-chilled fuel. But there is a problem. Demand, especially from Europe, is set to rise sharply this year: Wood Mac expects European LNG to add 25 metric tons by the end of 2022. Global supply, on the other hand, is seen adding 17 million tons.

The signs of this imbalance are already visible in the United States. Last week, natural gas prices hit the highest level in 13 years, and while some analysts blamed it on the coal price rally, record LNG exports certainly contributed to the trend.

Natural gas prices are sensitive to any near-term supply concerns created by events like a ban on Russia coal exports, abnormally cold weather, Tortoise portfolio manager Rob Thummel told MarketWatch last week. But perhaps more importantly, U.S. natural gas stocks have fallen.

For the week ending April 1, the Energy Information Administrationreported that national natural gas stocks were 17 percent below the five-year seasonal average. The agency noted that stocks of working gas were within the five-year average, and yet prices continued to rise.

Reuters John Kemp noted in a recent column that U.S. natural gas stocks ended the winter of 2021-2022 at a three-year low of 1.382 trillion cubic feet. Working stocks, he also reported, were 19 percent below the pre-pandemic five-year average for the start of April. And all that was because of higher exports.

Summer is normally a lower-demand season, so prices may stabilize at more palpable levels while U.S. exports to Europe remain high, provided Europe has freed up space for the incoming gas. But then exports are likely to remain strong as the northern hemisphere heads into the winter of 2022-2023.

Sanctions against Russia will still be in place; the EU and the U.S. have made this clear, regardless of how the war in Ukraine develops over the next six or so months. If anything, by then, there will be more sanctions, possibly ones that directly target the countrys hydrocarbons industry besides coal. And this suggests that the supply-and-demand situation with natural gas in the U.S. may become tighter.

Earlier this month, U.S. shale gas and LNG producers met with delegations from several EU member states eager to boost their purchases of U.S. liquefied gas. This eagerness could be crucial for final investment decisions on new LNG export capacity. But besides the eagerness, gas producers would need substantial long-term commitments in order for these projects to make economic sense.

Most of the eager LNG importers are quite small gas consumers, such as Latvia and Bulgaria. Others that took part in the meetings, such as Germany and France, on the other hand, are worthy future clients, despite renewable energy plans that may compromise their worth over the longer term.

Indeed, the industry itself said as much: The capacity challenges in 2022 are great, but the opportunities in a few years are really terrific, said Fred Hutchinson, the chief executive of trade body LNG Allies, on the sidelines of the meetings.

These opportunities are not in Europe only, either. Asia is eager to reduce its pollution levels, and it is investing billions in gas import infrastructure, Tortoise senior portfolio manager Matt Sallee said this week during a regular podcast.

The projects target using primarily US gas to reduce Asias dependence on coal which cuts CO2 over 50%, a critical tool to achieving global emissions goals, Sallee said, noting, As you can imagine the majority of investment is in China where over 30 LNG import terminals are under construction. The bottom line is between reducing Russian dependence for Europe and coal dependence for Asia an absolutely massive call on US gas exists over the next several years.

In all likelihood, therefore, we will be seeing more LNG export capacity coming on stream in the United States over the next few years. The problem is that during these years, prices for the commodity may remain higher than comfortable at home as demand from abroad runs high production tries to catch up with it. In other words, we may well see a repeat of the higher-for-longer scenario we are already seeing in crude oil.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has claimed that India will become 'Akhand Bharat' in 10-15 years.

As per the predictions of saints and astrologers, India will become 'Akhand Bharat' in 20-25 years but if we all collectively work towards it, the target will be achieved in 10-15 years, he claimed.

"India will talk about non-violence but will also carry a stick in our hand as the world only understands power... We will have no ill will, no enmity. But the world only understands power," he opined.

He was in Haridwar for inaugurating the statue of 1008 Swami Divyanand Giri at Shri Krishna Niwas and Poornanand Giri Ashram in Kankhal.

India is on the path of progress and those who will come in between will be wiped out, Bhagwat said on Wednesday.

Lord Krishna lifted the Goverdhan mountain on his little finger, but fellow cowherds thought it was due to the support of their sticks. Similarly, we all will make efforts but if the saints will join in, then Swami Vivekanand, Maharishi Arvind's dream of Akhand Bharat will be realised soon. Dharma and Bharat are synonymous.

"Our nationality is flowing like the flow of the Ganga. If dharma will be promoted, the country will rise," he added.

"For 1,000 years, efforts were made to end sanatan dharma, they failed, but we and the dharma are still intact," he added.

After coming to India, the evil tendencies of every type of person end, he added.

"Many people protest against sanatan dharma. If they would not have opposed, Hindus would not have awoken," the RSS chief claimed.

Mahamandaleshwar Swami Girdhar, Swami Vivekanand Bharti, Swami Vivekanand, Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad secretary Ravindrapuri and Mahamandaleshwar Harichetanand among others were present on the occasion.
(Natural News) Following the death of Stalin, the Soviet secret police pivoted from heavy-handed mass arrests to a subtler, but still sinister, system of mass spying and accumulation of kompromot, or compromising material, on its citizens. The Soviets maintained control by prioritizing spying on religious figures, political activists, journalists, and public officials. Were now finding out that the FBI in America has a similar program of mass surveillance of similar targets. And, as with the Soviets, much of the spying has nothing to do with investigating crime.

(Article by Adam Mill republished from AMGreatness.com)

According to a Justice Department internal audit report, the FBI maintained an active caseload of 24,584 cases during the 18 months between January 2018 and June of 2019. A grossly disproportionate share of those cases involved surveillance of influential Americans such as candidates for office, public officials, journalists, religious leaders, and political activists. When the FBI targets an individual wielding high social influence, it categorizes the case as sensitive.

To prevent the FBI from abusing investigations to capture the levers of government and subverting democracy, the Justice Department has established rules. Most important among these rules is that the FBI isnt supposed to start investigating a public official unless it has reason to suspect a crime. Nearly every sensitive case evidenced violations of the rules. In fact, the office of inspector general identified an average of two violations for every reviewed sensitive case.

Vladimir Putin, not unlike our current FBI Director Christopher Wray, got his start as a reformer known for mouthing reform slogans to parry public outrage over the many abuses of the national police organization. Like Putin, Wray has used the smokescreen of cosmetic reforms to amass great power at the expense of the democratic process he is supposed to protect. The FBI has proven over and over again to be totally immune to reform. It consistently fails to punish employees for violating the rules, so changing those rules has no effect.

The existence of the FBI has had no effect on the crime wave plaguing America. Contrary to the many dramatized depictions of the FBI, the Bureau solves an insignificant minority of crimes in America.

The FBI is more than a dysfunctional agency. If it merely failed to fulfill its mandate, it might be a tolerable nuisance. Instead, the FBI has proven to be the single greatest threat to the very Constitution it is supposed to serve and protect. Its domestic spying program and its network of unaccountable informants lead to few bona fide criminal cases but many wholesale violations of constitutional principles.

As we seek to create a bulwark for our nations cherished constitutional freedoms with a robust national defense, the FBI works as a totalitarian fifth column from within our nation. Below are five reasons why the FBI is beyond the reach of reform and should be abolished as a matter of civic integrity.

1. The FBI interferes with elections and undermines elected officials.

Just in time to flip a Senate seat in the 2008 election, the FBI framed Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) for accepting bribes. The FBI coerced a crooked contractor into testifying that he under-billed for home renovations. The FBI easily sold the fiction to a D.C.-based jury that clearly understood the benefit of unseating a Republican senator. The operation was a brilliant success in that it swung the Senate majority to Democrats. The Justice Department prosecutors guilty of undisputed misconduct received a light suspension which was later reversed.

Of course, we all recall the FBI collaborating with the Democratic National Committees Trump/Russia collusion hoax smear operation to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2016 election. Departing FBI Director James Comey engineered an FBI-friendly special counsel (headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller). Using a team that included a platoon of FBI agents and one Clinton-aligned attorney, the FBI used the Mueller team to undermine and sabotage Trump for two years. This included politically-timed leaks that helped swing the 2018 midterm elections towards Democrats. On the flip side, the FBI deliberately tanked its investigation into Hillary Clintons pay-for-play scheme which she concealed by redirecting official State Department communication to a private email account through a private server she could control and from which she could delete.

But the FBI didnt just spy on candidate Donald Trump. The OIGs sample study discovered 10 ongoing investigations of candidates for political office. This is on top of the hundreds of sitting public officials the FBI spies on.

In 2020, the FBI ran a Truman Show style sting in which FBI handlers, informants, and agents coaxed a small band of halfwits into a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmar. The FBI was in total control of the plot and busted it just in time to swing Michigan against Trump in the November election. Like the Ted Stevens frame-up, the FBIs scheme worked well enough to swing an election. A jury has now rebuked the FBI for the Michigan scheme and exposed it as the public relations scam it was. The jury refused to convict two of the four targets and outright exonerated the other two.

Like the Soviets of old, the FBI uses its powers to undermine a free press. As even the likes of the ACLU has noted, the FBI has spied on journalists for years in order to catch and prosecute whistleblowers who embarrass the government. Most recently, the FBI raided Project Veritas, detained its founder, and seized cell phones with sensitive source material for its journalists. Project Veritas has had spectacular success outing left-wing institutional hypocrisy.

Other examples of the FBI spying on and intimidating journalists can be found here, here, and here. The FBIs tactics are to intimidate and deter sources from contacting journalists, thus harming the free press. Free elections depend on an informed electorate. Thats pretty hard to achieve when the FBI intimidates sources by spying on reporters. Its no coincidence that the legacy press has fallen in line and almost universally pushes pro-FBI propaganda.

2. The FBI gathers dirt on powerful peoplebut not for prosecution.

Todays FBI continues to gather what the Russians might call, kompromat on American politicians and influencers. More often than not, the dirt is held without immediately being used to prosecute these officials. When a prosecution does follow, it usually results from public pressure when the dirt comes to light through outside sources.

The most glaring example has to be the FBIs handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. As reported in the Daily Beast, for 11 years the FBI failed to make an arrest as it sat on evidence of Epsteins child-rape-for-money business. An inspector general report details how, in 2007, federal prosecutors cut a secret deal with Epstein resulting in shockingly light penalties. The report also states that, the governments lack of transparency and its inconsistent messages led to victims feeling confused and ill-treated by the government; gave victims and the public the misimpression that the government had colluded with Epsteins counsel to keep the NPA secret from the victims; and undercut public confidence in the legitimacy of the resulting agreement. Did the FBI use the Epstein files as kompromat to cultivate sources and influence powerful people? The poor treatment of the victims strongly suggests ulterior motives were at play on the part of the government.

To this date, the FBI has failed to prosecute any of the high-profile clients serviced by Epsteins child-rape sex ring. The FBI is now believed to be in possession of Epsteins treasure trove of blackmail material he kept on his rich and famous clients. Whatever the FBI is doing with this material, its not being used to prosecute criminal cases.

Hunter Bidens laptop serves as another example. In December of 2019, the FBI seized Hunters laptop from the computer repair shop at which Hunter abandoned the item. The laptop contains a mountain of kompromat against the Biden family including evidence suggesting tax evasion, violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, and bribery. The FBI could have arrested Hunter while there was still a chance for the Democrats to adjust to the scandal during their primaries. Only after Biden ascended to the presidency did legacy media reports of the investigation begin to turn the screws on the Biden family. As I pointed out here, it was obvious at the time of the election that the FBI planned to leverage the dirt against Biden for influence. It can fairly be said that the FBI now has more control over the president than the president has over the FBI.

After Attorney General William Barr discovered gross misconduct by the FBI in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation (aka Trump/Russia Collusion Hoax), he ordered a review of a sample of other investigations into politicians and influential people. The FBI is supposed to observe these safeguards to prevent it from using its power to gain control over elected officials and other influential figures in American life. These rules are intended to prevent the FBI from using dirt to blackmail influential people. Its impossible to overstate the seriousness of the abuses this review revealed.

A recent Washington Examiner article shows that the OIG reviewed 353 sensitive cases subject to these special rules. These cases involved less than half the total number of such cases during the approximately 18 months that were under review. Although the report did not disclose the targets of these investigations, the article revealed that, 191, involved domestic public officials. Dozens of cases involved religious organizations or their prominent members, and dozens of cases involved domestic political organizations and individuals. Ten cases involved domestic political candidates, and 11 cases involved news media.

Of the 353 cases reviewed, the OIG noted rules broken in 747 instances or an average of more than twice per case. The violations typically involved, failure to document a necessary legal review before opening an investigation and failure to tell prosecutors what they were doing. In other words, the FBI opens these investigations without having a law enforcement purpose in mind. Its just spying.

3. Rules governing FBI conduct are meaningless because they go unenforced.

The OIG reports are replete with examples of FBI misconduct where the officials identity is kept anonymous and the employee is allowed to retire or resign without prosecution (see for example, here, here, here, here, here, here, and hereexamples selected from just the last 12 months). Even where a crime is clearly documented, such as former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe lying to investigators or former FBI attorney Kevin Clinesmith falsifying evidence for the FISA court, the stars magically align to protect these former employees.

According to a well-documented OIG report, McCabe repeatedly lied about leaking information during the 2016 presidential campaign in order to somehow deflect charges that he was in the tank for Hillary Clinton. After months of stalling and obstruction, the Justice Department (not the FBI) finally fired McCabe just in time to slightly impact his retirement benefits. But the Democratic-aligned attorneys at the Department of Justice soon restored these retirement benefits and paid him a generous $200,000 in back pay.

Clinesmith, likewise, insisted he falsified evidence for the FISA court with the full knowledge and participation of his superiors. He didnt name names and thus far, Clinesmith is the only FBI employee to take the fall for the deception. He received no jail time and had his law license reinstated after just a short suspension. One would normally expect an attorney who falsified evidence for the purpose of deceiving a court to be disbarred. The Clinesmith case is particularly disturbing because it involves defrauding the court to spy on Carter Page, who was a political campaign figure.

One reason so many FBI employees feel protected is that the FBIs internal affairs system is riddled with conflicts of interests, i.e. friends investigating friends. As noted by the recent OIG notification, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) delegates the responsibility for Internal Affairs Investigations (IAI) of FBI personnel to FBI employees who have professional relationships or friendships with the subject or witnesses of the [investigation].

As mentioned above, the two Justice Department prosecutors who helped frame Senator Ted Stevens received no penalty. To its credit, the FBI did supposedly discipline one of the agents involved.

4. The politicization of the FBI blinds it to real crime.

When the FBI participates in a high-profile case, it often obstructs the search for a real suspect in favor of shoe-horning the investigation into a political narrative.

The FBI ignored warnings about the September 11 hijackers. Shortly after the September 11 attacks, several high-profile figures received U.S. mail laced with deadly anthrax spores. The FBI immediately sought out a suspect whose ethnicity would not expose the FBI to charges of Islamophobia. It settled on Dr. Stephen Hatfill. Rather than quietly gathering evidence to test the hypothesis, the FBI embarked on a relentless smear and harassment campaign employing leaks and multiple search warrants to destroy his career and destabilize his life. Dr. Hatfill successfully sued the FBI forcing taxpayers to pay $5.8 million to compensate for the FBIs defamation and libel.

It the rush to grab a headline after the Atlanta Olympics bombing, the FBI saw an opportunity to score public relations points by preying on a hapless security guard who happened to find the bomb before it went off. Richard Jewell fit the FBIs desired profile of a lone-wolf suspect, so an FBI agent attempted to trick Jewell into recording a confession by asking him to play a fictional role in a training video. The FBI hoped to take Jewells spoken lines fed to him by the FBI and replay them as though Jewell was actually confessing.

More recently, in the wake of the BLM 2020 summer riots over the George Floyd verdict, which caused over a billion dollars in property damage, dozens of murders, and touched off a murder epidemic that has not yet abated, the politicized FBI has assessed white supremacists as the greatest law enforcement priority. Where are these white supremacist terror attacks? The FBI stands ready to pounce when and if these politically designed adversaries can ever be coaxed to commit the crimes the FBI hopes they will.

5. The FBI stages crimes to entrap halfwits into committing crimes.

In his book, The Terror Factory, Author Trevor Aaronson cataloged hundreds of FBI terror investigations. He concluded that the FBI staged the vast majority of the post-September 11 terror-related cases leading to convictions. When catching real terrorists proved too difficult, the FBI instead paid informants to scour mosques for gullible targets. The informants would then charm the targets, plying them with money, flattery, friendship, and sometimes sex, in order to slowly radicalize the subject into committing an act of terror. When the target finally fell under the informants spell, the FBI would supply all the components necessary to carry out a terror plot: money, weapons, fake bombs, and even co-conspirators.

Now that the FBI has shifted its focus to white nationalists and white domestic terrorists, it has applied the same tactics to create new terror plots to fit its message. The Gretchen Whitmer Michigan kidnapping plot mentioned above follows exactly the same recipe the FBI used in the early 2000s to manufacture cases against Muslims. Just as before, the FBI used informants to influence, plan, and fund a kidnapping conspiracy. The jury saw through the FBIs contrivance in the Michigan case. It refused to convict two of the defendants and outright exonerated the remaining defendants. Its heartening to see ordinary citizens stand up to the FBI steamroller.

Were still learning more about the FBIs role in the January 6 incident at the Capitol. Reporting confirmed the presence of FBI informants within the crowd that entered the Capitol. Another man, a suspected FBI informant, organized and encouraged the breach. Another similar claim regarding a different FBI informant was made here. According to the New York Times, one informant actually took part in the sacking of the Capitol, suggesting an FBI informant actually damaged property to escalate the situation. Either the FBI is an incompetent law enforcement agency, incapable of responding to its own sources warning it of an ongoing crime, or the FBI staged a January 6 operation not unlike the Michigan kidnapping plot.

Almost all countries, even North Korea, have elections. But when a shadowy, unelected national police force wields real power, the elections are merely ceremonial exercises. Truman wrote of the FBI, We want no Gestapo or Secret Police. F.B.I. is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex life scandles [sic] and plain blackmail when they should be catching criminals. They also have a habit of sneering at local law enforcement officers, adding, Edgar Hoover would give his right eye to take over, and all congressmen and senators are afraid of him.

Since J. Edgar Hoover founded it, the FBI has never really been a law enforcement agency. Its a clearing house for kompromot and intimidation. Indeed, it so often bungles the few bona fide law enforcement operations it runs. The FBIs chief competence is rapidly growing its size and power. Soon nothing left will be capable of restraining its abuses. Theres no reforming this monster. It needs to be scrapped before its too late.

Read more at: AMGreatness.com
(Natural News) The Bucha massacre is a false flag. That was the contention of Jeffrey Prather during the April 8 episode of his program The Prather Point on Brighteon.TV.

So I am not supporting the fake news propaganda press march to war. And I have now analyzed the intelligence and it looks very clearly like the Bucha massacre is a false flag. And I said from the beginning, it just didnt make any sense because [Russian President Vladimir] Putin was very careful to avoid civilian casualties. He did not turn off the power. He did not turn off the internet in the areas that he took back, explained Prather, who is a former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent targeted by the Deep State.

The retired United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) soldier pointed out that the fake news talking about the Bucha massacre is just like the Russia, Russia, Russia stuff with former President Donald Trump and General Mike Flynn supposedly working with Russia. He added that the truth of this issue is quite different from what the fake news and propaganda press is doing.

Prather mentioned that Putin has pushed back with third-generation kinetic war against the fifth-generation information influence operation war and that the Russian leader has upset that balance quite a bit. He took note that fifth-generation warfare does not do well against third-generation warfare.

The former intelligence officer added that the Deep State is now in panic and trying to whip up a war frenzy because its false flag narrative about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) bioweapon is failing.

Prather noted that Ukraine is a corrupt puppet government of the United States, just like America is a puppet government of China and the globalists. (Related: Ex-intel officer Jeff Prather tells Ann Vandersteel: Ukraine is a puppet of US government, a biolab for fifth generation war  Brighteon.TV.)

The former SOCOM soldier also displayed videos of the supposed massacre in Bucha. He revealed that the bodies on the side of the streets were moving and that none of them were missing limbs. Prather also pointed out that there was no decomposition in the bodies.

Ukrainian troops killing captured Russian soldiers in Kyiv

Prather also shared a video showing Ukrainian soldiers shooting Russian prisoners of war or POWs in the leg and another video showing Ukrainian troops shooting captured Russian soldiers dead in the streets of Kyiv. He said this is forbidden under the rules of warfare because soldiers who surrendered must be treated correctly and morally as POWs, especially if that country is a signatory to the Geneva Convention.

According to Prather, the Deep State, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency and 50 intelligence officials have lied about Russia and the Hunter Biden laptop. He also mentioned the fake news about Trump and the Russians always becoming the scapegoat.

Prather pointed out that Putin was only defending Russias borders, but now the Russians are being blamed for everything. He also said that mainstream media like Newsmax, Fox, CNN, MSNBC, among others are all involved in the march to war.

The former DEA special agent also presented a timeline of the events happening from March 30 to April 3. He noted that Russian troops had left Bucha on March 30 and that the mayor of Bucha had announced the following day that the town had been liberated and he made no mention of atrocities being done.

Prather mentioned that on April 1 and 2, the Azov Nazis, the Ukrainian Special Forces and National Police entered Bucha. And on April 3, Ukraines Ministry of Defense published the alleged video of Russian atrocities. The former intelligence officer said the Special Forces and the National Police conducted on April 2 a cleanup of saboteurs and collaborators with Russian troops and that the videos and audios will show and tell it all.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has vehemently denied the charges and had previously deemed the Bucha massacre staged and a false flag attempt to malign Russian troops.

Lavrov said Ukraine and the West are trying to derail the ongoing peace negotiations by making provocative allegations against Moscow.

Follow Disinfo.news to know about the misinformation and lies propagated by mainstream media.

Watch the full March 25 episode of The Prather Point below. The Prather Point with Jeffrey Prather airs every Friday at 10-11 a.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Jeffrey Prather accuses Bidens camp of employing information influence operations  Brighteon.TV.

Jeffrey Prather talks about warfare, Afghanistan and false flag attacks  Brighteon.TV.

Jeffrey Prather reveals Deep States role in Jan. 6 Capitol Hill incident  Brighteon.TV.

Jeffrey Prather talks about fifth-gen warfare and how Americans can fight for freedom  Brighteon.TV.

Russia claims latest missile attack is ANOTHER false flag.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

RepublicWorld.com
(Natural News) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has known as early as July 2021 that the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdowns are harmful to children. But even with this knowledge, the CDC continued supporting lockdowns.

Investigative journalist Jefferey Jaxen, during an appearance on The Highwire with host Del Bigtree, pointed out that Robert Redfield himself, former director of the CDC under former President Donald Trump, spoke about the toll lockdowns have on children as early as July 2021.

At the time, Redfield said: There has been another cost that weve seen, particularly in high schools. Were seeing, sadly, far greater suicides now than we are deaths from COVID. Were seeing far greater deaths from drug overdose that are above excess that we had as background than we are seeing deaths from COVID.

Jaxen also pointed out that, long before Redfield admitted the harm lockdowns caused children, many of the worlds leading infectious disease epidemiologists and other public health scientists came together in Dec. 2020 to publish the Great Barrington Declaration.

This open letter pointed out that the lockdowns enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were very harmful to peoples physical and mental health, which could lead to greater excess mortality in the years to come, with the working class and younger members of society carrying the heaviest burden, they wrote. Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice. (Related: Experts: COVID-19 policies worldwide have negatively affected children and their education.)

Thats what Redfield was talking about, said Jaxen. In that clip, he was saying, we need to open the schools, we need to find common ground because this is whats happening now, said Jaxen. And this is what the Great Barrington Declaration signatories said was going to happen.

Latest CDC report shows American teens are experiencing mental health crisis

The CDC has also recently come out with a report highlighting the worsening mental health crisis among teenagers in the United States.

In the CDCs latest report, based on a survey of high school students conducted from January to June 2021, the agency found that over 44 percent of them reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. More than 37 percent of high school students also said their mental health was in a poor state.

These data echo a cry for help, noted CDC Acting Principal Deputy Director Dr. Debra Houry. The COVID-19 pandemic has created traumatic stressors that have the potential to further erode students mental well-being. Our research shows that surrounding youth with the proper support can reverse these trends and help our youth now and in the future.

But even supporting teenagers might not be enough, as the study noted that when teens felt a sense that they were supported or cared for, more than a third  35 percent  still felt hopeless during the lockdowns.

Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDCs Division of Adolescent and School Health, noted that the forced closure of schools significantly contributed to the deteriorating mental health of children.

School connectedness is a key to addressing youth adversities at all times  especially during times of severe disruptions, said Ethier in a statement. Students need our support now more than ever.

Dr. Lisa Coyne, senior clinical consultant at the Child and Adolescent OCD Institute at Maclean Hospital in Massachusetts, noted that teenagers are at a critical stage in their development and keeping them locked in their homes can cause significant damage down the line.

Theyre in this developmental period where they are going to seek autonomy and independence, and thats also a scary thing sometimes, she said. In addition to that, their whole world  all of our worlds have been thrown into disarray, but especially for them, they have a story about what the teen years are supposed to be like. That story is getting rewritten in real-time.

Watch Jefferey Jaxen speak with The Highwire host Del Bigtree about the mental health crisis the lockdowns have caused among Americas teens.

This video is from the channel The HighWire with Del Bigtree on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

MENTAL TORTURE: Nearly half of high school students in America felt persistently sad or hopeless during COVID-19 pandemic.

UK doctors warn of new MENTAL HEALTH pandemic following Covid lockdowns.

Mental health crisis, tyrannical mandates characterize pandemic  Brighteon.TV.

COVID-19 lockdowns causing deterioration of childrens mental health.

Study finds lockdowns lower childrens IQ and cause mental health issues.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

MedicalNewsToday.com

EverydayHealth.com

GBDeclaration.org
(Natural News) Yesterday, at least 29 people were injured in a mass shooting on a New York subway. The shooter threw down smoke bombs and then began opening fire on commuters at roughly 8:30AM Tuesday morning. A manhunt began for the shooter yesterday.

(Article by Adam Wilson republished from 100PercentFedUp.com)

Last night, police identified a person of interest in the shooting who has complained about the citys poor mental health services and who has espoused far-left views on social media. His social media posts include anti-white rants that discuss the inevitably of a race war, posts glorifying violence, and anti-semitic viewpoints.

The person of interest was identified as 62-year-old Frank James. The FBI has already confirmed that it was monitoring James after his inflammatory social media posts.

In a number of recent shootings, the FBI has admitted that they were monitoring the suspect before the attack happened, leading many to question why they didnt take action to prevent the attack before it happened.

Today, Arizona Senatorial candidate Blake Masters pointed out the FBIs misdirected priorities. While the FBI was busy creating terrorist plots of out thin air, they missed an actual mass shooting that has already left dozens injured, he said.

The NY subway shooter went on YouTube rants against white people and was a black supremacist so thatll be the last we hear about it! He was known to the FBI, but FBI was too busy kidnapping the Michigan governor.pic.twitter.com/LFXCCAbQmh  Blake Masters (@bgmasters) April 13, 2022

After two suspects were acquitted in an alleged plot to kidnap Governor Whitmer, a Daily Mail report revealed that the FBI played an instrumental role in escalating what was initially just stoned crazy talk in to a full blown plan to kidnap Governor Whitmer.

The FBI agreed to purchase materials such as bombs with other conspirators writing an undercover FBI agent IOUs to purchase materials.

Read more at: 100PercentFedUp.com
(Natural News) The first busload of illegal immigrants from Texas arrived in Washington, D.C. on April 13. The arrival of the illegal immigrants followed barbs between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over unchecked illegal immigration at the southern border.

In an April 13 statement, Abbotts office confirmed the arrival of the first D.C.-bound bus to its destination. The passengers were dropped off between Union Station and the Capitol, with a second bus on the way. The busing strategy is part of Abbotts response to the Biden administrations decision to end Title 42 expulsions, said the April 13 statement.

Abbott said in the statement: As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the state of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe. By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border. He added that Texans should not have to bear the burden of the Biden administrations failure to secure our border.

The buss passengers consisted of migrants  who were mostly men  from Latin American countries like Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Footage from Fox News showed the immigrants getting off the bus at about 8 a.m. Two men wearing black collared shirts and khakis, believed to be Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel, greeted the immigrants who had manila folders.

The ICE officers issued cell phones to the migrants and looked up information from wristbands they were wearing. After processing their information, the two officers exchanged hugs and handshakes with them. (Related: Jen Psaki confirms that ILLEGALS are given FREE SMARTPHONES for tracking purposes.)

Venezuelan Luis Alberto, one of the passengers on the bus, told NTD TV that the migrant group crossed the border into the Lone Star State on April 12 after being robbed by cartels and Mexican police officers.

When we got to Texas, we had nothing because they had taken everything. We heard there was help, a bus to Washington and there would be someone to facilitate travel. In Texas, there is no help, he said.

Abbott making good on his threat to bus migrants to DC

The Texas governor first announced his plan to bus migrants to the federal capital during an April 6 press conference. He pointed to the Biden administrations open border policies as responsiFble for allowing dangerous cartels and deadly drugs to pour into the United States. Abbott also warned that ending Title 42 expulsions  which apply to individuals from certain countries that could possibly bring in infectious diseases  would make the problem worse.

A statement issued soon after the press conference said: Governor Abbott has directed [the] Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to charter buses and flights to transport migrants who have been processed and released from federal custody to Washington, D.C.. In order to avail of the free transportation, migrants must volunteer to be transported and present documentation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Mayors and county judges can notify TDEM of any DHS-facilitated drop-off of migrants in their communities so that the agency can provide appropriate transportation.

Abbott also expounded on the problem in his order to TDEM Chief W. Nim Kidd.

[Ending] Title 42 expulsions could soon result in as many as 18,000 migrant apprehensions per day. DHS has no real plan for addressing this unprecedented surge of illegal aliens, but [it] may resort to releasing groups of them in Texas communities whose resources are already overwhelmed. Texans cannot continue to shoulder the burdens imposed by open-border advocates in other parts of the country, he wrote.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki commented on the buss April 13 arrival. She told reporters that all the migrant passengers have been processed by Customs and Border Protection and are free to travel. Psaki added: Its nice the state of Texas is helping them get to their final destination as they await the outcome of their immigration proceedings.

The press secretary previously dubbed Abbotts plan to bus migrants a publicity stunt  until the governor made good on his promise.

Visit OpenBorders.news for more stories about Texas addressing the illegal immigrant problem.

Watch the Fox News report about the arrival of illegal aliens from Texas to Washington, D.C. below.

This video is from the SecureLife channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Texas AG Ken Paxton suing Biden administration for ignoring coronavirus rules and encouraging it to spread at the southern border.

Migrant invasion of U.S. worsens as 10,000 Haitians crowd under Texas bridge and lawmaker calls on governor for answers.

Border mayor sounds the alarm: Whats coming on the 23rd of May wont even be describable.

Abbott deploys Operation Lone Star at Texas-Mexico border to fight illegal immigration.

Texas braces for 60,000 migrants arriving from Haiti.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

Gov.Texas.gov 1

Gov.Texas.gov 2

Gov.Texas.gov 3 [PDF]

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Yesterday, at least 29 people were injured in a mass shooting on a New York subway. The shooter threw down smoke bombs and then began opening fire on commuters at roughly 8:30AM Tuesday morning. A manhunt began for the shooter yesterday.

(Article by Adam Wilson republished from 100PercentFedUp.com)

Last night, police identified a person of interest in the shooting who has complained about the citys poor mental health services and who has espoused far-left views on social media. His social media posts include anti-white rants that discuss the inevitably of a race war, posts glorifying violence, and anti-semitic viewpoints.

The Post Millenial Reports

Frank James, a 62-year-old man who has been identified as a person of interest in the Brooklyn Subway attack that injured at least 29 people Tuesday morning, warned last month that he was entering the danger zone.

James allegedly rented a U-Haul van linked to the shooting and is being sought for questioning. He previously railed against Mayor Adams and posted threatening rants to YouTube.

In a March 2022 video uploaded to YouTube, James expressed hope that humanity would be exterminated because of the damage people have done to the environment

James said in one video, Mr. Mayor, Im a victim of your mental health program, Im 63 now full of hate, full of anger, and full of bitterness.

James claimed to have a diagnosed mental illness and called the citys mental health services a horror show.

James also ranted against Jews, posted hatred of Donald Trump and in support of Black Lives Matter and black nationalism. In one video he expressed disappointment that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is married to a white man.

Its time for action For years, Frank James, the person of interest in the #Brooklyn mass shooting, has made references to shooting and killing people on his Facebook posts. pic.twitter.com/dCzK4JddUp  Andy Ngo ???? (@MrAndyNgo) April 13, 2022

Frank James, the person of interest in the #Brooklyn subway mass shooting, has many videos on YouTube discussing his militant black nationalist views. He recently expressed disappointment that Justice Ketanji Jackson is married to a white man. https://t.co/edHUVtTvwI pic.twitter.com/hL0ysMw5VM  Andy Ngo ???? (@MrAndyNgo) April 13, 2022

James harbored extremely hateful views towards white people, including believing that white and black people cannot peacefully coexist and that a race war was inevitable. He discusses his views on race in a video he posted to Facebook called C.I.L.L Whitey

These white mother***ers, this is what they do. Ultimately at the end of the day they kill and commit genocide against each other. What do you think they gonna do to your black ass?

James also claimed that a race war would follow the war in Europe. Its just a matter of time before these white mother***ers decide, Hey listen. Enough is enough. These n***ers got to go. James said in the video.

One of the videos posted on the Facebook belonging to Frank James, the #Brooklyn subway mass shooting person of interest, is titled, C.I.L.L. WHITEY. Frank James talked about a race war in many of his videos. He appeared to believe that blacks could not prosper among whites. pic.twitter.com/XbgZveVkip  Andy Ngo ???? (@MrAndyNgo) April 13, 2022

James also shared memes accusing Donald Trump supporters of being racist. He said in one post that if you like President Trump because he speaks his mind that is code for I like him because he is a racist and so am I.

This is a developing story.

Read more at: 100PercentFedUp.com
(Natural News) Public water systems serving 290 million people in the United States per year were found to have high concentrations of uranium, a radioactive chemical that occurs naturally in soil, rock and water.

Researchers at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health found that 63.1 percent of community water systems (CWS) compliance monitoring records showed detectable concentrations of uranium, and that 2.1 percent of CWSs with available uranium data had 2000-11 average concentrations above the maximum contaminant levels.

Despite relatively frequent detections and relatively high concentrations compared with other metals in our study, uranium has been underappreciated in the literature as a public drinking water contaminant of concern, the researchers said.

The study, which aimed to estimate metal concentrations among CWS across the country, identified sociodemographic subgroups serviced by CWS that reported high levels of metal concentration and characterized metal mixture profiles in CWSs nationwide.

For the study, the researchers looked at six-year review records of metals such as uranium, arsenic, antimony, beryllium, barium, thallium, mercury, selenium, chromium and cadmium that have been compiled by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The review also checked whether the average concentrations of these metals exceeded the standards set by the EPA, with the research team going through 13 million records from 139,000 public water systems that serve 290 million people per year.

The study pointed out that uranium is an important risk factor for the development of chronic diseases, even at low concentrations. Previous studies have already associated exposure to uranium with medical conditions, such as lung cancer, kidney damage, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

Uranium itself becomes part of water by leaching from rocks and soil. It is also released by processing plants, which push the element into the water. Prolonged exposure to uranium can lead to toxic effects, such as the inflammation of the kidneys and changes in the composition of urine.

Moreover, it is also capable of decaying into other radioactive substances like radon, which causes cancer among those who have been exposed to it for too long. When contaminated, drinking water can also result in the deformity of bones and the liver.

Geographic water systems in the southwest and central midwest regions

Geographically, the highest concentrations of uranium were found in the Southwest and Central Midwest regions, with high-uranium systems likely to be serving semi-urban and predominantly Hispanic communities. The researchers say this likely represents ongoing regulatory failures to protect the marginalized communities and ensure safe drinking water for them.

Research also found that there are high levels of other contaminants such as lead, which is more likely to affect neighborhoods with higher poverty rates.

The consistent association between high metal concentrations in CWS services among semi-urban, Hispanic communities is also an indication that disparities in concentrations are due to the failure of regulatory policies than geology. Hispanic and Latino populations tend to show increased mortality due to cardiovascular, kidney, liver disease and diabetes.

Anne Nigra, one of the authors of the study, said additional regulatory policies, compliance enforcement and improved infrastructure are necessary to reduce such disparities in CWS metal concentrations served by public water systems with elevated metal concentrations.

Uranium poisoning also tends to affect those who work in industries that use or collect uranium, such as certain kinds of mining. However, little is known about the possible threats posed by uranium in drinking water.

Previous research suggested that about four percent of private wells in the U.S. similarly contain higher-than-allowed levels of uranium, but nationwide estimates of uranium contamination in public drinking water systems, which provide water to 90 percent of the country were found first by the Columbia research.

Such interventions and policies should specifically protect the most highly exposed communities to advance environmental justice and protect public health, said Nigra.

Follow Pollution.news for more stories about toxic chemicals and elements in the U.S. water system.

Watch the video below for more information about uranium in water and how this could affect the health of people who consume it.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Fluoride used in U.S. water supplies is contaminated with lead, uranium and other heavy metals.

Running out of water: Two US water reservoirs hit record lows in June 2021.

Zombie apocalypse, famine, solar storms: Nostradamus prophecies suggest 2021 will be WORSE.

California water regulators cut off water supplies to select farmers and ranchers as WATER RATIONING accelerates.

Water sources compared: Tap, bottled, filtered, spring water, reverse osmosis and more.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

GizModo.com

Brighteon.com


Karnataka's Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa, who is embroiled in the contractor suicide case, submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday night amid high drama as hundreds of his supporters gathered in front of the CM's residence and asked him not to step down. Eshwarappa's supporters also raised slogans in his favour and demanded justice for him. They also raised slogans against Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar.



Eshwarappa had announced his resignation on Thursday evening in connection with the allegations against him in the suicide case of contractor and BJP leader Santhosh K. Patil.



"I have worked as the RDPR Minister till date under CM Bommai's leadership. I have taken a decision to tender my resignation on Friday evening. I don't want to cause embarrassment to my party and party leadership," he had said.



Eshwarappa said that he had decided to tender his resignation earlier, but was stopped by his colleagues. "If I have committed any mistake, let the god punish me. I am confident of coming out clean from the allegations in the contractor suicide case," he said.



Patil, who committed suicide by consuming poison, held Eshwarappa directly responsible for his death, alleging that the minister had asked for a 40 per cent commission in a Rs 4 crore project, through his aides.



The Congress has being pressing for the resignation and arrest of Eshwarappa.




(Natural News) Seattle Museum of Pop Culture, also known as MoPOP, will be hosting a weeklong summer camp for teens to investigate drag history and find their own drag personas.

Participants will choose their name, explore hair and makeup techniques and develop character stage presence in a five-day workshop that teaches them how to cross-dress, led by local drag performer Joshua Hancock.

According to MoPOPs website, Hancock has been working in drag, burlesque and theater for 30 years. It also said that he believes drag is for everyone, [that] it is more than one thing and can be used to heal and to bring joy, sadness and love to people.

Hancock has a Master of Arts from Texas Womans University in Theater and has worked in different countries, including Ireland, Canada, Mexico, the Czech Republic and the United States.

His drag character, Parton, is modeled after the iconic Dolly Parton, and is said to use Partons voice to spread love and open minds.

The camp will finish with a private showcase and will allow them to celebrate their new drag personas. The camp is priced at $370 and will rise to $400 after May 31 for youth of all gender expressions and identities. Discounts were also offered to museum members.

We are proud to offer an opportunity for young people to use drag to explore self-expression through creating characters and performances that express and uplift their unique identities, a spokesperson for MoPOP said.

Meanwhile, MoPOP did not respond to inquiries about whether or not the organizers of the camp were concerned about premature exposure to left-wing ideologies on gender and sexuality being confusing for adolescents. (Related: Nickelodeon celebrates pride month with new drag queen video for KIDS.)

Radicalizing childhood

The camp comes as childhood exposure to radical gender agenda takes center stage in culture wars. Recently, The Walt Disney Company has been putting in the effort to indoctrinate the minds of its young, impressionable consumers with trans and asexual characters.

Latoya Raveneau, an executive producer for Disney television admitted: Our leadership over there has been so welcoming to my, like, not-at-all-secret gay agenda.

She also said she adds queerness wherever she could. No one would stop me and no one was trying to stop me.

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law in March barring teacher discussion of sexual orientation and gender in classrooms from kindergarten through the third grade. Left-wing ideologues and their allies, on the other hand, branded the legislation to protect the children as the Dont Say Gay bill, despite the law saying no such thing.

In response, the Walt Disney condemned the law and let its theme parks  including the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida  erase gender distinctions.

According to Matt Staver of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, Disneys property is part of an autonomous zone in Orange County, Florida, and they have treated this like a quasi-governmental entity. This area is essentially its own governmental entity with its own districts and police force.

Disney also does its own zoning and planning, processes its own trash and can issue its own bonds for roads and other infrastructure.

If Disney wants to embrace a woke ideology, it seems fitting that they should be regulated by Orange County, tweeted Florida State Representative Spencer Roche, who explained that he and his fellow legislators have met twice to repeal the privileges extended to Disney. (Related: LGBTQ pride parade with drag queen & trans animals featured in kids cartoon.)

He also said Disney is trying to attract families with young children, but is lobbying against a bill that emphasizes parental rights, protects children from kindergarten through third grade and gives parents the right to have a say in their childrens education.

If Disney wants to get into the lobbying business and go against the family values of Florida, then it ought to stop getting the special treatment that Florida has given Disney, Roche said.

Follow Insanity.news for more absurd ideologies from the left wing, and what can be done to stop them.

Watch the April 8 edition of Worldview Report with Brannon Howse to know more about MoPOP Drag Camp. Worldview Report with Brannon Howse airs from Monday to Friday at 9-9:30 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Facebook again deletes moms group dedicated to ending drag queen story hours.

Creepy creator of Drag Queen Story Hour admits to grooming children to become transgender queers and drag queens.

Whole Foods sponsors Drag Queen Story Hour to indoctrinate children with perversion, pedophilia and transgenderism.

Childrens court judge and organizer of Drag Queen Story Hour charged with seven counts of child pornography possession.

Chick-fil-A donated money to Covenant House, an LGBTQ pride organization that hosts Drag Queen Story Hour for young children.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

DailyMail.co.uk

TheFederalist.com
(Natural News) In 2012, the Drug Discoveries & Therapeutics journal published a study evaluating the efficacy of herbs for treating snake bites.

With all the breaking news about snake venom and the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19), the studys findings are highly relevant at the current time.

Researchers looked at Curcuma antinaia and Curcuma contravenenum, two forms of curcumin, Andrographis paniculata (green chiretta), and Tanacetum parthenium (feverfew), which they tested and prepared as a formulation against Ophiophagus hannah (king cobra) venom intoxication.

They then tested this isolated rat phrenic nerve-hemidiaphragm preparation in vitro, revealing its ability to inhibit neuromuscular transmission of the venom. These herbal agents effectively reversed the venom-induced inhibition of muscle contraction.

A labdane trialdehyde, isolated from C. contravenenum, was identified as the best antagonising agent in the low micromolar range, the study explains. Tests on formulations of the most potent C. contravenenum extract showed, that the suppository with witepsol H15 was an effective medicine against O. Hannah venom.

This study elucidated the active compounds, accounting for the antivenin activity of traditionally used herbs and suggested the most suitable formulation, which may help to develop potent medicines for the treatment of snake bite in the future.

Natural herbal extracts found to be more stable than synthesized versions

At least three different curcuma species (C. zedoaroides, C. antinaia, and C. contravenenum), along with two other traditional medicines (A. paniculata and T. parthenium) were confirmed through the research to treat and reverse the effects of king cobra snake venom.

In addition to the labdane dialdehyde, which was discovered in C. zedoaroides in our previous study, labdane lactone and labdane trialdehyde, isolated from curcuma species C. antinaia and C. contravenenum were found effective now against the venom, the study further reveals.

Labdane trialdehyde is the best anti-neurotoxic agent known to date.

One of the problems with isolated labdane traldehyde, however, is that it is unstable. The natural version made from plant extract, on the other hand, was found to leave this substance along with labdane dialdehyde stable and efficacious.

In high doses, feverfew extract can be used as a snake venom intoxication remedy, though the only truly efficient formulation is a suppository. Freshly grinded root of rhizome is another powerful preparation.

These results provided evidences about the usefulness of some traditional medicines as antidotes and gave clues on the drug development in the future, the study concludes.

Further studies are ongoing to replace the in vitro antivenin assay, used in this study, by an in vitro method, in which chicken intestine is used and not laboratory animal tissue.

Green chiretta, by the way, was successfully used in Thailand to treat the Fauci Flu.

Instead of forcing its people to take deadly drugs like remdesivir and go on a ventilator like how the United States has been doing it, the Thai government granted approval for Andrographis paniculate to be used as a remedy for the disease.

I am reading that pharmaceutical-grade methylene blue is effective against covid as well as other bugs such as malaria, wrote a commenter at Natural News.

The uncivilized third world is saving the lives of their citizens by embracing herbal medicine, supplements, and great pharmaceuticals like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, while the civilized first world simply murders their citizens with the help of Facebook, Twitter, the CDC, and the FDA, wrote another.

Someone else said that he or she has been taking green chiretta twice daily and no longer gets sick with anything.

Andrographis has a very good safety record and it flat-out works, this person further wrote.

More related news about covid and the snake bite venom bombshell can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

ResearchGate.net

NaturalNews.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) Yesterday, True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht and Gregg Phillips spoke with Charlie Kirk on the Charlie Kirk Show to discuss the upcoming Dinesh DSouza movie 2000 Mules, which is based on the incredible work they did to find evidence of massive, widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Engelbrecht explained how the dirty voter rolls, the mass-mail-in-voting campaign, and the outside influence of Mark Zuckerbergs $400 + million that was used to fund the drop boxes used in primarily Democrat stronghold districts in the 2020 election. Phillips, who has been working with Englebrecht for years, told Kirk about how tips they received led them to look deeper into cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, Wisconsin, and Arizona. We started to put together this sort of pattern that each of the challenges that everybody seemed to be most up in arms about had some basic pieces that seemed to be the same, Phillips said. He explained, You had ballot collectors, people out knocking on doors to collect ballots. A set of collectors, a collection point or a stash house for all the ballots, the bundling of the ballots and then the casting of those ballots by what we were calling mules in the drop boxes. Phillips told Kirk, This is a conspiracy. This is organized crime.

(Article by Patty McMurray republished from 100PercentFedUp.com)

Engelbrecht and Phillips explained how easy it is for third parties to track individuals by using their unique device ID to track them. To get your devices unique device ID, pretend youre making a phone call and type in *#06# Englebrecht explained. Phillips explained that 300,000+ apps and 27,000 apps collect your location based on a signal your cell phone emits. The location data is so accurate that the cell phone user can be found within an 18-inch radius of their phone, including the elevation of the user, so are we on the first floor? Are we on the second floor? Where are we? Phillips asked as an example of how precisely a user can be tracked. We all give permission to these apps to collect these signals, Phillips explained. When you sign into the app, and you say, Yeah, I agree, you give those signals to everyone. Data brokers will sell signals for cell phones to individuals or groups who pay them for the data.

Once True the Vote paid a whopping $2 million of privately raised funds for the data, they took it to highly sophisticated data centers across America to discover what happened in the 2020 election. It has taken 12 people, 16 hours a day for 15 months to process the data, Phillips explained. True the Vote has access to several very high-powered computers. Most of the work is done in Plano, TX, and the rest is done in the high-performance computing center on the campus of Starkville, Tennessee, Phillips told Charlie Kirk.

The discussion took a chilling turn when the trio began to discuss January 6th and how the intelligence community used the same geo-fencing technology to find and arrest January 6 protesters inside and outside the Capitol building.

Trending: HYSTERICAL! Male Comedian Poses As Trans Swimmer in Hilarious Skit About Competing Against Women [VIDEO]

The January 6th event was on a Tuesday. The next day, they had allegedly already identified some of the people, convened a grand jury, and then issued arrest warrants in a matter of 72 hours, Phillips said. Engelbrecht interrupted, Its not possible.

So, did they have the fence of the pings ready to go? Is that what youre saying? Kirk asked.

They had the actual devices ready to go, Phillips said. Thats our supposition. Theres no other way to have done it, Englelbrecht added.

Phillips then dropped a bombshell, We believe they were tracking people all the way back into the latter part of the election, certainly into November and early December. Kirk asked, So, people who would be likely to go to that event? Is that correct? Phillips responded, Yes. Engelbrecht elaborated, And people meeting that profile. And they [US intelligence] were tuned up and ready.

But then, probably the night before, theyd be able to say, Hey, 200,000 of our profiles are in town. Right? So theyd be like, Theyre around. We werent wrong.

Watch the incredible video here:

The Gateway Pundit and 100 Percent Fed Up will be reporting in more detail on the theft of the 2020 election using mail-in-voting, drop boxes, and other shocking ways in the coming weeks and months.

Heres the trailer of the movie that will be released in the first week of May:

Early this morning, Dinesh DSouza clarified that the title of his movie underestimates the number of mules whom they have identified that were part of the crime syndicateBuckle up Americathe road is about to get very bumpy.

The title of my movie understates the case because there are a lot more than 2,000 mules. A lot more! Get ready for premiere week May 2-8. pic.twitter.com/ZODvYBKplD  Dinesh DSouza (@DineshDSouza) April 11, 2022

2000 Mules movie release information:

THEATER SPECIAL EVENTS: On two days, Monday, May 2 and Wednesday, May 4, we are renting 250 theaters around the country which will show the movie at the 7 pm showing. You will be able to purchase tickets for these showings from a link that will be posted on the 2000Mules website. This is a LIMITED theatrical release so there will be certain places that arent showing the movie in theaters.

VIRTUAL PREMIERE: On Friday, May 6 we are having a virtual premiere. This is a very exciting way for you to buy tickets and log into a live event out of a studio in Las Vegas. This virtual premiere will include exclusive content with President Trump, the screening of the movie, and a live Q & A with me and leading figures in the movie. Additionally, for a higher price, around 300 VIPs will be able to attend this event in person. (Your weekend in Vegas including the live premiereit might be time to make some plans!)

DIGITAL DOWNLOADS: On Saturday, May 7 you will be able to stream the film from two platforms, SalemNow.com and Rumble/Locals.

Details for all of this will be on the website 2000Mules.com which launches soon.

Were very excited about this movie. 2000Mules exposes the widespread, coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election, sufficient to change the overall outcome.

So get ready!

Dinesh DSouza Director and Producer 2000 Mules

Read more at: 100PercentFedUp.com
(Natural News) At least 75 percent of women in their first trimester who have received the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine have had a miscarriage, according to one fertility clinic.

In the April 11 episode of The Ben Armstrong Show, the host played a clip in which Sen. Malcolm Roberts of Queensland, Australia, revealed findings by a local gynecology clinic about an increasing number of women having difficulty getting pregnant.

According to Roberts, about 13 percent of women have miscarriages around the world. But the miscarriage rate increased to 50 percent with vaccinated women. With those vaccinated in the first trimester, the miscarriage rate rose to 75 percent. (Related: Healthy 39-year-old single mother dies four days after getting second dose of Moderna coronavirus vaccine.)

That is huge information that is being ignored, said Ben Armstrong.

Health authorities cant seem to make up their minds

The U.K. initially said that it was not safe for pregnant women to get the COVID-19 vaccine. However, by the end of April 2021, the Joint Committee of Vaccination and Immunization updated its guidelines to say that COVID vaccines pose no specific safety concerns in relation to pregnancy.

The BBC reported on this update with similar guides from a number of medical authorities who said that they should be careful with their dose.

Explaining the reason behind the shift in guidance, the BBC cited a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study of over 90,000 pregnant women, saying that there had been no evidence that any vaccine can cause fertility problems.

The CDC data form part of a broader study, which concluded that there are no obvious safety signals among pregnant women who received mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. (Related: VAX ATTACKS: The new mRNA coronavirus vaccines will likely cause immune cells to attack placenta cells, causing female infertility, miscarriage or birth defects.)

However, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency advised pregnant and breastfeeding women to avoid taking a COVID-19 vaccine due to the limited data regarding its effects. Additionally, the World Health Organization said in January 2021 that the use of Modernas COVID-19 vaccine in pregnant women is not recommended.

COVID-19 vaccines are neither safe nor effective

However, there had been records of vaccine adverse events being dangerous. The Pfizer document data dump, for instance, showed that Pfizer knew that its COVID-19 vaccine was not safe and effective at all. It produces vaccine injuries and can even cause death.

Pfizer and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) knew that the vaccines cause heart problems for teenagers, yet gave it emergency approval for teens despite the age group not being vulnerable to the virus.

A doctor also pointed out that in May 2021, the FDA had 35 new cases of myocarditis in teenagers, yet the hospital administered them with the vaccine with no mention of its harm to teenagers hearts.

Pfizer itself paid the media to tell people that the vaccines were safe and effective despite knowing otherwise. However, when it started to want to force jabs on younger people, it did so despite admitting that they were not especially vulnerable to the virus.

With healthy immune systems, most teenagers are likely to get mild colds and recover in two weeks thanks to their natural immunity. There has been no need for a vaccine. Yet, the company and the FDA still havent pulled back on the mandates.

Dont ever tell someone to get something that is risky to their health, to protect them from something thats not risky from their health. Thats unethical. Its evil, Armstrong said about the mandates.

Follow Vaccines.news for more updates about COVID-19 vaccines and their adverse effects.

Watch the video below for more information about how the COVID-19 vaccines affect pregnancy especially in first trimester.

This video is from The New American channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Wisconsin doctor suffered miscarriage after covid vaccine, tweeted #VaccinesWork.

UK now pushing pregnant women to take covid vaccines despite miscarriage, infertility risks.

Reprogramming Females: Sterilization of most US girls and women is the next phase for mRNA vaccine technology.

Accidentally pro-life: While grieving miscarriage, Chrissy Teigen professes love for unborn child.

STUDY: 82% of pregnant women who got vaccinated for covid during first and second trimesters suffered miscarriage.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

TheCovidBlog.com

LifeSiteNews.com
(Natural News) Residents of apartment complexes in the locked-down city of Changchun have resorted to banging pots and pans to seek help. The last-ditch measure came as the capital of the northeastern Jilin province had been put on lockdown due to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to the Epoch Times, footage circulating on Chinese social media showed residents of high-rise apartment buildings in Changchun banging pots and pans as a way to ask for help. However, the security bureau for the city confirmed that police officers prosecuted a man on April 10 for organizing a pot knocking operation with the intention to pressure the government. The perpetrator was jailed for seven days and fined 300 yuan ($47) for the violation.

One Changchun resident with the pseudonym Mr. Bai spoke to the Epoch Times about the last-ditch measure. Bai lives at the Evergrande City apartment complex, which has a total of 1,816 apartment units. One video taken on April 6 showed Evergrande City residents shouting for help and banging pots and pans.

According to the Changchun resident, those living in other apartment complexes  such as English Town with 2,586 units and Vanke New Mileage with 3,283 units  have also made noise using pots and pans to get the local governments attention. The noisemaking incidents had gone viral on social media, and Bai remarked that this subsequently had an effect.

On the night of April 7, a day after the Evergrande City residents made noise, free vegetables were delivered to the community. The volunteers who distributed the vegetables told the residents to show their gratitude to the Chinese Communist Party. However, the vegetables arrived on April 8 with a price tag of 50 yuan ($7.85). (Related: Chinese propaganda showing well-stocked citizens during lockdown BACKFIRES as people complain about LACK of food.)

Lockdowns for zero-COVID only accomplish zero food

A lockdown was imposed on the city of Changchun on March 11 following a rise in COVID-19 cases due to the B11529 omicron variant. The entire Jilin province was locked down shortly after.

Changchun authorities turned up the restrictions to static management on March 28, which included banning peoples movement. They subsequently launched a zero-COVID campaign to extinguish the virus. However, new cases are still reported despite the lockdown due to omicrons more infectious nature.

Another resident with the pseudonym Mr. Ma denounced local authorities for being reckless in implementing the [zero-COVID] policy. He also shared that residents face a serious lack of food and the city controls how the food supply is distributed.

At the beginning, a local vendor helped the neighbors to get some meat and [vegetables], but on April 3, its all banned. Millions of people rely on one distribution channel. You could imagine the quality and price. There are people surely profiting by taking advantage of the national disaster, said Ma.

A female resident with the pseudonym Ms. Yang said the gate to her community was sealed shut as there were positive COVID-19 test results in every building of her apartment complex. Despite undergoing PCR tests more than 20 times, she said their apartment still reports new infections.

She described the static management policy followed by Changchun as only effective in restricting people, not curbing COVID-19 cases. There are only ambulances and police cars on the streets. Theres no way out. There are people who committed suicide [and] jumped off the building, but no one cares, said Yang.

Just like other Changchun residents, Yang has no food and is prohibited to go downstairs. She added that she has not ever seen the free food from the government.

Visit Pandemic.news for more stories about the COVID-19 lockdowns in Changchun.

Watch political activist and businessman Miles Guo revealing that the Changchun lockdown drove many to commit suicide.

This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Forced covid lockdowns in China are starving people to death.

Chinas draconian zero-COVID policy leading people to SUICIDE.

Shanghais latest COVID lockdown has left the city in shambles: pushed to the brink of collapse.

Shanghai residents rush to stock up as Chinese officials place half the city under strict COVID-19 lockdown.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

VOANews.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) On Nov. 12, 2019, more than a month before the first case of the Wuhan coronavirus (Covid-19) appeared in communist China, a company called Labyrinth Global Health Inc. was awarded a lucrative contract by the United States Department of Defense (DoD) to conduct Covid-19 Research.

Keep in mind that at the time, nobody knew what Covid-19 was because it would not receive that official name for another three months. The DoD knew about it, however, and was spending American taxpayer dollars to conduct research on it.

Another little tidbit worth pointing out is that this Covid-19 research was instructed to take place in Ukraine, which is currently at the center of a global media hysteria campaign over the recent invasion by Russia.

It turns out that the DoD contract with Labyrinth was part of a much larger contract for a Biological threat reduction program in Ukraine, shedding new light on the situation. (Related: The Pentagon-run bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine were recently exposed for tampering with bat coronaviruses prior to the plandemic.)

Another partner in all this was none other than Peter Daszaks EcoHealth Alliance, as well as Ernest Wolfes Metabiota. Both of these companies were involved with whatever this biological weapons program entailed, which is still being uncovered on a daily basis.

The American government is full of deep state parasites that are spending your tax dollars on global bioweapons programs

According to the U.S. governments USA Spending website, which tracks federal spending information, the American deep state has already spent a mind-blowing $3.63 trillion as part of its response to Covid-19, as of April 12, 2021.

Since that time, the U.S. government has certainly spent even more than that, as this endless money pit of virus-fighting reaches epic costs that are almost unfathomable  a trillion is a lot, it turns out.

Also available on the USA Spending website is an Awards Search function that shows another contract being awarded by DoD to a company called Black & Veatch Special Projects Corp., which calls itself a global engineering, procurement, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development.

That contract came years earlier on Sept. 20, 2012, and is described on the website as being for Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services.

Obviously this is very vague and most likely of little interest to anyone who happens to stumble across it, reported the Daily Expose (U.K.). But there is something contained deep within the details that should be of interest to anyone and everyone.

The Award History for the contract contains a tab for Sub-Awards detailing the recipients, action date, amount, and very brief description for 115 Sub-Award transactions. Most of the Sub-Awards are extremely mundane for things such as laboratory equipment for Kyiv, or office furniture for Kyiv.'

But there is one Sub-Award that stands out among the rest, and it was awarded to Labyrinth Global Health INC for SME Manuscript Documentation and COVID-19 Research.'

In this section, it is fully revealed that the U.S. deep state knew about covid long before the rest of the world did, and was sending money to companies doing research on it in Ukraine.

Somewhere between $21.7 million and $116.6 million was spent to have Black & Veatch lead this Biological threat reduction program in Ukraine, even though the companys stated purpose has nothing to do with such matters.

Labyrinth is similarly unsuited for such matters based on its mission statement, which claims that it is a women-owned small business with deep expertise and a proven track record supporting initiatives for scientific and medical advancement.

A deeper dive into this subject is available at the Expose.

The latest plandemic news can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources for this article include:

DailyExpose.uk

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) An energy company was given a five-year probation and ordered to pay $8 million in fines after they were found to have killed 150 bald and golden eagles on their wind turbines.

The company, NextEra Energy, a subsidiary of ESI Energy, pleaded guilty to violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prevents anyone from killing or taking parts from protected birds without permission from the local government. Moreover, golden and bald eagles are protected by federal law.

The company pleaded guilty to three specific deaths, which prompted the fines.

As part of the case, the company also acknowledged the deaths of over 150 eagles at the companys wind farms in Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, North Dakota and Michigan.

The ruling came amidst the push from the Biden administration for more renewable energy, including a large expansion of offshore wind farms.

This appears to be a government shakedown to some critics, making it more interesting how the Obama administration in 2013 said it will allow some companies to kill or injure bald and golden eagles for up to 30 years without penalty.

Prosecutors said the eagles died over a period beginning in 2012, and 136 of them were killed after being struck by a turbine blade.

As per the Department of Justice, the ESI failed to apply for the necessary permits following the deaths of the birds, adding that they have violated wildlife laws for more than a decade by taking eagles without seeking the said permit.

NextEra spokesperson Steven Stengel said the company didnt seek permits because it believed the law didnt require them for unintentional bird deaths  which makes sense considering that the permit process for species protection measure is meant to apply to hunters and others who intentionally kill wild animals.

In its plea agreement, the ESI agreed to spend up to $27 million during its probationary period on an eagle management plan to minimize further deaths and injuries.

The company also committed to paying $29,623 per future injury or death of a bald or golden eagle.

In a statement, the ESI said the collisions with the wind turbines were unavoidable and should not be criminalized, adding that the company has been making significant efforts to avoid accidental collisions with bird populations, including eagles.

Critics also asked whether the permits are required of airline and skyscraper owners, who are also responsible for bird carnage. (Related: Wind power will worsen climate, scientists find.)

Wind farms kill over half a million birds yearly

NextEra President Rebecca Kujawa said the company disagrees with the governments underlying enforcement activity. Building any structure, driving any vehicle or flying any airplane carries with it a possibility of accidental avian collision as well.

The impact of wind turbines on bird populations has already caused controversy from former President Donald J. Trump, who was known to oppose them. In a presidential debate in 2020, Trump said wind turbines kill all the birds.

In 2021, it was calculated that wind farms kill more than half a million birds yearly. Surprisingly, they also kill more than nuclear power plants. Yale University professor Steven Novella also said nuclear power is the safest form of energy that we have if one is to consider the deaths per megawatt of energy produced. (Related: Bladeless turbines could help bring wind power to your home.)

This also shows a larger issue about why there is wind power at all. They are comically inefficient, with wind producing merely one watt of power per square meter of space used, whereas nuclear offers 2,000 watts. It will also require a region three times the size of California to meet the countrys current energy needs.

Follow NewEnergyReport.com for more updates about renewable energy and wind power.

Watch the video below for more information about wind power.

Watch this video and more on The Parabler channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

North Carolina announces ambitious wind power targets for the next two decades.

Solar power costs up to 3x as much as fossil fuels, nuclear and wind power.

Rolling blackouts in California show how reliance on solar and wind power can backfire.

The Energy Efficient Home: A Manual for Saving Fuel and Using Solar, Wood, and Wind Power.

Good vibrations: Quiet, bladeless wind turbine can generate power without harming wildlife.

Sources include:

TheNewAmerican.com

BusinessInsider.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) The Bundestag  Germanys unicameral federal parliament  voted to reject a proposal to make Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines mandatory. It followed four months of debate between competing members of parliament (MPs) and numerous revisions to the original bill.

The COVID-19 vaccine mandate originally encompassed all Germans aged 18 and up. This was subsequently revised to include only Germans aged 50 and older, similar to Italy. The vaccine mandates third and latest revision limited this to individuals 60 years old and up.

However, the latest version of the vaccine mandate did not gain ground in the Bundestag and was rejected in a 378-296 vote. The opposition alliance between the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and the Christian Socialist Union of Bavaria (CSU) also submitted a proposal for a vaccine registry, but this was also shot down. (Related: German legislators vote against bill that would have mandated COVID-19 vaccines for people over 60.)

The Bundestags rejection of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate also exposed a rift between the ruling coalition government and the opposition faction. The CDU/CSU alliance was eager to deny the ruling government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz a political victory, which it did through the vaccine mandate backed by the chancellor.

According to state broadcaster DW, Scholz opted to allow MPs to propose and vote on vaccine measures instead of letting his cabinet bring its own proposal forward. Scholzs cabinet is made up of MPs from his Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Green Party.

The German chancellors choice to grant his coalition colleagues leeway to vote allowed them to vote their conscience. Several senior FDP members joined the CDU/CSU alliance in voting against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which led to its rejection.

MPs pointed fingers at each other following the defeat of the vaccine mandate  a major blow to Scholz. SPD and Greens members blamed the FDP for not committing to the goals of the coalition. They also blamed the CDU for not allowing its members to vote their conscience, as the alliance voted along party lines.

Vaccine mandate not necessary with dwindling cases, MPs argue

The rejection of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate comes as about 76 percent of Germans have been fully vaccinated with two doses. Roughly 59 percent of Germans have been injected with booster doses.

MP Tino Sorge of the CDU argued that compulsory vaccination was not necessary, given the fact that COVID-19 cases were dwindling across Germany. He also cited the current situation that did not show an overwhelmed health care system or an emergency situation in the intensive care units of German hospitals. Sorge added that such a mandate would not be helpful if a new, vaccine-resistant variant circulates in the fall.

Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki of the FDP agreed with Sorges point regarding the possible emergence of a vaccine-resistant SARS-CoV-2 strain, adding that vaccines would not help us reach herd immunity. The senior FDP member also mentioned that forcing adults to get the COVID-19 vaccine was unconstitutional. It is not the job of this house to protect adults against their own will, said Kubicki.

Meanwhile, MP Alice Weidel denounced the vaccine mandate entirely. The leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party faction in the Bundestag remarked that the proposal was not just radically hostile to the constitution, but a totalitarian measure. She explained that requiring Germans aged 60 and older to get injected with the COVID-19 vaccine served as a measure to give Berlin more power over citizens freedom.

Health Minister Karl Lauterbach of the SPD ultimately expressed concern over the vaccine mandates rejection, but urged his fellow MPs to move on from the matter. It is a very important decision, because now the fight against [COVID-19] in autumn [has] become much more difficult. [But] laying political blame does not help. We move on, tweeted Lauterbach.

HealthFreedom.news has more stories about Germany and other countries rejecting vaccine mandates.

Watch MP Emilia Fester of the Greens party below slamming Weidels AfD faction for refusing to get vaccinated.

This video is from the WAKE UP channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Desperate Germany announces national lockdown for the unvaccinated.

A massive COVID wave in Germany and Central Europe despite high vaccination.

Germanys COVID vaccine mandate could be delayed due to bureaucratic hurdles.

Highly vaccinated Germany experiencing another post-vaccine COVID-19 outbreak.

Ever since introducing vaccine passports, covid cases in Germany have gone parabolic.

Sources include:

Eugyppius.com

DW.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Quanta, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that makes Macbooks for Apple, was forced to shut down its factory in Shanghai along with dozens of other Taiwanese companies due to Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

Economic analysts are worried that the closure of production facilities in Shanghai, including those supplying electronics to tech companies, could spell even more trouble for the already fragile global tech supply chain, which has never fully recovered to its pre-pandemic state.

On Wednesday, April 13, Quanta announced in a statement that the company had to comply with government restrictions, which is why it was suspending its plant in Shanghai. At least 30 other Taiwanese corporations that have offshored some of their manufacturing to Chinas financial hub were forced to shut down their factories.

Many of these companies are also suspending their operations in Kunshan, directly to the northwest of Shanghai.

Kunshan, a city of around 1.6 million people, also plays host to suppliers for Big Techs hardware. It began a citywide lockdown in early April as local communist officials and Beijing were concerned that the rising infections in Shanghai would affect the city. (Related: Deaths in Shanghai elderly care facility prove Chinas zero-COVID strategy is A FAILURE.)

The companies, both in Shanghai and in Kunshan, make parts for consumer electronics products like personal computers, laptops and smartphones.

Pegatron, another Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company, shut down its iPhone assembly plants in Shanghai and Kunshan. Other key manufacturers like Luxshare and Compan Electronics have also temporarily suspended major operations in both cities.

Official data showed new cases in Shanghai reaching a record-high of 26,330 new infections on Tuesday, April 12. Cases continue to surge despite the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) implementing its zero-COVID strategy, involving intense lockdowns and other economic and social restrictions.

Supply chain concerns skyrocket amid shutdown of factories

China is the worlds largest producer of electronics. Kunshan is considered to be one of the worlds largest manufacturing hubs for said electronics. The lockdowns there and in Shanghai are aggravating economic concerns and exacerbating disruptions to the already fragile global supply chains.

Some companies in Shanghai and Kunshan have managed to keep at least some of their manufacturing operations running by operating in what is known as a closed-loop system.

Closed-loop systems effectively put factories and their workers in bubbles. In exchange for getting the CCPs green light to keep factories running, employees are confined to factory campuses and are not allowed to make any kind of contact with the outside world. They must also adhere to certain COVID-19 protocols, including mandatory testing.

But these systems are not preventing manufacturing output from slowing down. Logistics jams are constricting shipments of raw materials into facilities and draining factory inventories to the point where some manufacturers, including Pegatron and Quanta, are running dangerously low on items that they can produce and send out.

Even if some companies are allowed to continue production, their utilization rates have fallen to between 40 to 60 percent, said Patrick Chen, head of research in the Taiwan branch of brokerage firm CLSA. Raw materials cant be moved in and finished products cant be moved out.

Many contract electronics makers have already reported being unable to secure enough materials to manufacture CPUs, battery modules and panels. Certain other manufacturers are facing a shortage of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC), used for servers and automotive products.

The biggest problem for MLCC suppliers at this stage is they cannot deliver materials to Shanghai and Kunshan, noted market research company TrendForce. Limited manpower and logistics and suspended transportation options mean [contract electronics makers] can only rely on onsite inventory to barely meet the needs of production lines, further exacerbating component mismatches.

For more news about the lockdowns in Shanghai and other parts of China, visit Pandemic.news.

Watch this video from The New American as journalist Ben Armstrong talks about how globalists are enjoying watching the CCP exert its power and create hell on earth.

This video is from The New American channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Shanghais latest COVID lockdown has left the city in shambles: pushed to the brink of collapse.

Communist China controls LME commodities exchange; regime changes the rules at whim to protect key traders linked to China.

Shanghai covid lockdown to exacerbate supply chain crisis, making shipping containers nearly impossible to source.

World braces for renewed supply chain crisis as COVID outbreaks shut down highly vaccinated China.

China shuts down more ports due to covid, global supply chain collapse imminent.

Sources include:

Bloomberg.com

FT.com

AssemblyMag.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Graham Phillips is a British journalist who has free-lanced for both Russian and Western channels but became a fully crowdfunded journalist in 2016. He became known for his reporting of events in Ukraine in 2014. Now, it appears, corporate media is returning to events of 2014, and twisting them, in an attempt to discredit him.

(Article by Rhoda Wilson republished from DailyExpose.uk)

On 9 May 2014, during Victory Day celebrations in Mariupol, Ukraine, dozens of armed militants barricaded themselves inside a police station and exchanged fire with government forces. During the fighting, the building burned down. Pools of blood and singed bodies appeared in the street.

But how many people were killed? Local news reported two deaths. Ukraines interior minister said 21 people died in the fighting. Human Rights Watch could only confirm seven deaths after visiting all four hospitals where the wounded were taken.

None of that seemed right to Phillips so he set out to investigate in the way that made him popular in east Ukraines crisis: by interviewing people on the street.

Some people told him that more than 100 people had died in the fighting.

On 20 May 2014, RT, which employed Phillips as a freelancer three days a week, said that Ukraines national guard detained Phillips at a checkpoint outside Mariupol on suspicion of being a spy. According to the ministrys press service, Phillips was detained for filming facilities which are forbidden from being filmed.

Read more: How A British Blogger Became An Unlikely Star Of The Ukraine Conflict  And Russia Today, BuzzFeed, 20 May 2014 and British journalist held in Ukraine is freed and says Im fine and unharmed

Phillips was deported to Poland and banned from Ukraine for three years in 2014. He was accused of being a Kremlin propagandist and supposedly supporting terrorism but has always denied this and maintains his reporting is independent, The Courier wrote on hearing of his return to Ukraine during the current conflict. An entirely different tone of reporting compared to those when he was detained in Ukraine six years before.

In March 2022, Phillips returned to Ukraine for three weeks and posted his first video report on 14 March. The next day Tanya Kozyreva  an investigative journalist who, judging by her Twitter posts, also appears to be an activist for Zelenskyys cause  tweeted the news of Phillips return to Ukraine and asked YouTube to consider banning what she described as his disinformation channel.

Let me introduce you to Graham Phillips, British journalist well known in Ukraine (holding Z bag). He was embedded with pro-Russian separatists and Russian troops in 2014. And he is back to Ukraine in 2022. Dear @YouTube consider the ban of his disinformation channel. pic.twitter.com/cQ22wyLWEl  Tanya Kozyreva (@TanyaKozyreva) March 15, 2022

The next day, Kozyreva tweeted at Melinda Simmons, British Ambassador to Ukraine, and Boris Johnson consider sanctions against British citizen Graham Phillips as a part of Russia-linked disinformation network.

On 5 April, having now left Ukraine, Phillips posted a video on YouTube giving his opinion, and clearly stated it as such, on the likelihood of Russian soldiers committing atrocities in Bucha.

Graham Phillips: Ukraine,  Bucha Massacre  The Truth versus the Propaganda, 5 April 2022 (5 mins)

On 11 April Phillips posted on his Telegram channel an image of an email he had received from Tom Ball, a journalist at The Times:

Hi Graham,

Im a journalist from The Times. We are writing a story about your return to Ukraine and the films that you have been making to promote pro-Kremlin narratives around the war. We will note in our article that one of your recent films seeks to promote the claim that the Bucha massacre was a staged provocation by the Ukrainian authorities. If you would like to respond to this please let me know. Could you please also tell me if your work is being funded or accredited by the Russian state?

Our deadline is 5 pm.

Yours, Tom

Balls email was received at 12:10 pm. Phillips responded:

That is a rather aggressive and provocative tone, Tom. My video reportage is on the scene, asking questions that the mass media dont want to ask. Your assertion on my video report on Bucha is also entirely incorrect, my video report asked viewers to look at evidence from all sides before making their own conclusion. Are you against that? Surely all sides must be considered, right?

In any case its clear that you are going to write a hit piece against myself and my work, based on false assumptions and incorrect assertions. I believe in playing fair, and freedom of speech, however I am sure you are aware of the laws regarding slander, in the United Kingdom. If not, your lawyers will be.

All my reportage is done in good faith with clear conscience and adheres to the applicable YouTube guidance.

The Russian state has zero to do with my work, no involvement, funding whatsoever. I am, as yourself, a British journalist, however on the basis of your email, I am clearly much more polite.

I am a freelance journalist, work supported by crowdfunding from individuals across the world who want to see the truth. And reporting the truth is my absolute dedication in life, nothing I do is ever motivated by finance, it is all about the truth. Can you say the same, Tom?

Regards, Graham

The next day The Times published the article titled Graham Phillips: Briton banned from Ukraine is back doing Kremlins bidding at 12:01 am.

A former British civil servant who was expelled from Ukraine on suspicion of being a Russian spy has returned to the country to promote pro-Kremlin conspiracy theories, including the claim that the Bucha massacre was staged, The Times article began.

Read more at: DailyExpose.uk
On the last day of the digital membership drive of the Congress, the party's interim President Sonia Gandhi enrolled herself on Friday and was issued a digital membership card.

Through the digital membership drive, Congress has added 2.6 crore members across all booths in all the Assembly segments of the country .

The party used the services of first-time designated enrollers who used a proprietary mobile phone app called 'Congress Membership App'. Every verified member got a digital ID card that is QR coded for authenticity.

A network of over 5 lakh party approved enrollers went door-to-door to enrol members across the length and breadth of the country.

"Ever since we started the drive, the key focus has been on the quality of membership, not just quantity. Every member is verified at three levels -- voter ID, photograph and phone number. The drive was strictly access controlled and only verified enrollers could use the membership app," said Praveen Chakravarty, Chairman, AICC data analytics department.

According to the information received from party sources, of the members who enrolled digitally, 42 per cent are women, while 47 per cent are in the age bracket of 18 to 40 year.

The Congress' digital membership drive was launched from Telangana in February.

The membership drive was significant as the party is heading towards internal polls and the members will elect the delegates for PCC and AICC, which constitute the electoral college.

Congress President, Smt Sonia being enrolled as digital member by Sh Praveen Chakravarty and handing over her digital ID card Sh KC Venugopal, G Sec, I/c, Organisation AICC.
(Natural News) Now that most of Australia has received all required doses of Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine as mandated by the government, the countrys hospital system is overflowing with patients suffering from a variety of health problems.

One expert revealed that there has been a 40 percent rise in Code 1s, as well as lots of unexplained heart attacks, chest pains, and respiratory ailments. The situation sounds truly dire, but nobody seems to want to identify the elephant in the room, which is the injection.

Sometimes you cant explain why those things happen, said the woman in the below interview, pleading ignorance on the matter.

When asked if she has any theories or ideas as to what might be causing this, the woman responded as follows:

No, we dont have that information yet, uh, but, um, you know, what I do know, uh, and Im hearing some interjections on the side, is that the vaccines actually help people stay out of hospital, and not put them in hospital.

In other words, the official story is that nobody knows why all these people are getting sick, but that it is definitely not the jabs because those are supposedly keeping people out of the hospital.

Almost every hospital in Australia is struggling to come with the number of patients that are presenting to emergency. Lots of unexplained heart attacks, chest pains, respiratory issues. You can either blame the vaccine or government mismanagement  either way, they fkd up. pic.twitter.com/O8InGsRkO9  Tony (@mrtdogg_1) April 13, 2022

Do they really expect people to believe that the vaccines are somehow not responsible for this?

This blatant denial of the obvious makes sense for Australia, which like its neighbor New Zealand has been subjected to extreme psychological abuse ever since the plandemic began.

The country was targeted by behavioral manipulation experts out of the United Kingdom who performed psychological experimentation and abuse on the Aussie population to ready residents for the wave of medical fascism that has overtaken society.

It only makes sense that those in the know are now playing dumb about these spikes in disease and death that are occurring throughout Australia, and presumably in many other parts of the world as well.

They just cant admit its the vaccine, wrote someone in the comments. I have NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER heard of Code 1 heart attacks jumping 30 percent in my lifetime for unexplained reasons. The world has gone certifiably insane.

Snake toxins will do that every time, said another.

How about the Australian politicians who pushed, and continue to push, the jabs? These people need to be held accountable for all these heart attacks, wrote someone else.

Just wait until health insurance and life insurance companies get started with their lawsuits, chimed in another, to which someone else responded that this is the first time in his life he would root for the lawyers.

It really makes you wonder how they ever linked cigarette smoking to lung cancer, said another, drawing an interesting parallel and contrast to how the establishment is so sure that covid jabs are not causing this uptick in heart disease, but also so sure that tobacco causes lung cancer despite a lack of conclusive evidence.

You know what they are not linking, though, is the vape pen respiratory disease in the summer of 2019 that killed a bunch of people, suggested another. That was a covid trial.

Someone else brought up the fact that all of this could have been avoided if only ivermectin had been distributed as opposed to the injections.

The latest news about the Chinese Virus can be found at Pandemic.news.

Sources include:

CitizenFreePress.com

Twitter.com

NaturalNews.com
Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar has urged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to speed up the RT-PCR test in view of the increasing cases of Covid-19 in the national capital.

He said that the lockdown and closure of schools will not be the solution to deal with the pandemic.

Kumar said that the Delhi Congress had demanded that booster doses should be given free of cost to all eligible people in tie-up with private hospitals.

The Delhi government should take immediate action on this so that the spread of Covid-19 can be stopped. The XE version of the virus is a serious concern, he said.

He said the Kejriwal government should ensure that people follow the Covid-19 protocol in public, instead of taking an easier route by imposing another total shutdown.

The Congress leader also said that hospitals should be kept ready to deal with any situation.

Kumar also took a jibe at Kejriwal, saying the Delhi Chief Minister should spend more time in Delhi and "stop teaching Punjab bureaucrats".
The newly-developed heat engine is a thermophotovoltaic cell that captures high-energy photons from a white-hot heat source and converts them into electricity with over 40% efficiency  a performance better than that of traditional steam turbines.

More than 90% of the worlds electricity comes from sources of heat such as coal, natural gas, nuclear energy, and concentrated solar energy.

For a century, steam turbines have been the industrial standard for converting such heat sources into electricity.

On average, steam turbines reliably convert about 35% of a heat source into electricity, with about 60% representing the highest efficiency of any heat engine to date. But the machinery depends on moving parts that are temperature-limited.

Heat sources higher than 2,000 degrees Celsius, such as the new thermal battery system, would be too hot for turbines.

In recent years, scientists have looked into solid-state alternatives  heat engines with no moving parts, that could potentially work efficiently at higher temperatures.

One of the advantages of solid-state energy converters are that they can operate at higher temperatures with lower maintenance costs because they have no moving parts. They just sit there and reliably generate electricity, said Professor Asegun Henry, a researcher in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

Thermophotovoltaic cells (TPV) offered one exploratory route toward solid-state heat engines.

Much like solar cells, TPV cells could be made from semiconducting materials with a particular bandgap  the gap between a materials valence band and its conduction band.

If a photon with a high enough energy is absorbed by the material, it can kick an electron across the bandgap, where the electron can then conduct, and thereby generate electricity  doing so without moving rotors or blades.

To date, most TPV cells have only reached efficiencies of around 20%, with the record at 32%, as they have been made of relatively low-bandgap materials that convert lower-temperature, low-energy photons, and therefore convert energy less efficiently.

In their new TPV design, Professor Henry and colleagues looked to capture higher-energy photons from a higher-temperature heat source, thereby converting energy more efficiently.

The new cell does so with higher-bandgap materials and multiple junctions, or material layers, compared with existing TPV designs.

The cell is fabricated from three main regions: a high-bandgap alloy, which sits over a slightly lower-bandgap alloy, underneath which is a mirror-like layer of gold.

The first layer captures a heat sources highest-energy photons and converts them into electricity, while lower-energy photons that pass through the first layer are captured by the second and converted to add to the generated voltage.

Any photons that pass through this second layer are then reflected by the mirror, back to the heat source, rather than being absorbed as wasted heat.

The researchers tested the cells efficiency by placing it over a heat flux sensor  a device that directly measures the heat absorbed from the cell.

They exposed the cell to a high-temperature lamp and concentrated the light onto the cell.

They then varied the bulbs intensity, or temperature, and observed how the cells power efficiency  the amount of power it produced, compared with the heat it absorbed  changed with temperature.

Over a range of 1,900 to 2,400 degrees Celsius, the new TPV cell maintained an efficiency of around 40%.

We can get a high efficiency over a broad range of temperatures relevant for thermal batteries, Professor Henry said.

The teams work was published in the journal Nature.

_____

A. LaPotin et al. 2022. Thermophotovoltaic efficiency of 40%. Nature 604, 287-291; doi: 10.1038/s41586-022-04473-y
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Windy. Cloudy skies will become partly cloudy this afternoon. High 78F. Winds SSE at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low near 65F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
A total of 711 enterprises in East Chinas Anhui province will attend the 131st China Import and Export Fair, also known as Canton Fair, from April 15 to April 24, the Department of Commerce of Anhui Province said.

On April 7th, Hefei National High-Tech Industry Development Zone in the province took part in the first promotional activity of the fair, which featured an online connection between Chinese home appliance producers and multinational enterprises from five Northern European countries.

Home appliance enterprises in the zone, such as Midea and Whirlpool, introduced their industry chains integrating R&D, production, sales, logistics and related businesses during the activity.

They also had a business talk with the representatives of Northern European enterprises and industrial and commercial organizations.

Initiated in 1957, the fair was previously hosted twice a year in Guangzhou, capital of South Chinas Guangdong province. It has been held online since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 130th session was held online and offline concurrently.

The fair is the country's largest comprehensive trade event with the largest number of overseas buyers and product categories, according to the department.




A booster dose of mRNA vaccine significantly decreases the risk of being infected with either the delta or omicron COVID-19 variants, according to scientists at the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (RMCOEH), a program partnership between the University of Utah and Weber State University.

The researchers found that a booster shot, or third dose, was more than 90% effective against the delta variant and 60% against omicron. In comparison, a two-dose regimen was only 65% effective against delta and 46% against omicron.

Their study appears in the New England Journal of Medicine.

We are thrilled to share the results of this study, which provides valuable information about how the evolution of the coronavirus is affecting one of the key tools in the fight against COVID-19. Sarang K. Yoon, DO, MOH, assistant professor at RMCOEH and studys lead author

The study evaluated COVID-19 infections between late August, 2021 and January, 2022 among 3,975 health care personnel, first responders and other frontline workers in six states who had received a booster shot of an mRNA vaccine. The workers had either received three doses from a single manufacturer  Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech  or a combination of the two vaccines.

After 17 weeks, the researchers found that among health care workers with SARS-CoV-2 infection, the mean viral RNA load was 40% lower in partially or fully vaccinated participants than in unvaccinated participants. In addition, the risk of fever was 58% lower, and the duration of illness was shorter, with 2.3 fewer days spent sick in bed.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that mRNA vaccines continue to provide robust protection against severe outcomes.

These results show that in this real-world study of workers, the vaccine continues to be effective against the omicron variant of the virus, although at a reduced rate of efficacy compared with the prior delta variant, Yoon said.

Overall, these results confirm that mRNA vaccines are not only highly effective in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection, but also may mitigate the effects of breakthrough infections. This finding is particularly important to essential and frontline workers, given their potential to transmit the virus through frequent close contact with patients, coworkers, and the public, the researchers conclude.

Researchers across the globe have stepped up over the last two years to address this crisis, Yoon said. We are pleased to have played a role in helping the world understand the disease and the vaccines ability to protect against it.

Future studies will examine effectiveness of a second booster shot, or fourth dose of mRNA vaccine.
Historical data shows minorities have long faced obstacles to getting the critical health care services they need. When COVID-19 arrived two years ago, telemedicine emerged with the promise of better access to care through virtual delivery of clinical services and consultations.

But according to a new study led by the University of Houston College of Medicine and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, the rapid implementation of telemedicine didn't bridge the gap as much as people had hoped.

We found that racial and ethnic disparities persisted. This suggests that the promise of the positive impact of telemedicine on health care use and health outcomes could elude underserved populations." Omolola Adepoju, lead study author, clinical associate professor at the UH College of Medicine and director of research at the Humana Integrated Health Sciences Institute at UH

Adepoju partnered with Lone Star Circle of Care, a federally qualified health center (FQHC) that caters to indigent, uninsured and underinsured, mostly minority populations, to examine what was driving those disparities. The research team examined electronic medical records from 55 individual clinics in 6 different counties in Texas.

"Our main finding was African Americans were 35% less likely to use telemedicine compared to whites," Adepoju said. "And Hispanics were 51% less likely to use it."

The reason, the study found, was a huge digital divide.

"The people who really need to access their primary care providers might be cut out [of telemedicine] because they don't have the technology or might not know how to use it," Adepoju said.

According to Adepoju, only one in four families earning $30,000 or less have smart devices, such as a phone, tablet, or laptop, compared to nearly three in four families earning $100,000 or more. And only 66% of African American and 61% of Hispanic households have access to broadband internet compared to 79% of white households.

The study also found that individuals younger than 18 years and older adults were less likely to have a telemedicine visit when compared to non-elderly adults, as were those covered under Medicaid coverage, or uninsured.

Another factor that played a role was how far from someone lived from a clinic.

"We observed a dose-response to geographic distance so that the further a patient lived, the higher the likelihood of telemedicine use," Adepoju said. "The type of visit, whether for an acute or non-acute condition, was also associated with telemedicine use. Non-acute visits were more likely to be conducted via telemedicine."

Despite the recent easing of COVID-19 restrictions and people returning to more in-person care, telemedicine is here to stay. The hope, according to Adepoju, is that minorities will be better educated and equipped to take advantage of it.

But they'll need someone who can walk them through it to ensure their appointments are meaningful.

"Clinics will need a technology support system," she said. "A staff that conducts pre-visit device and connectivity testing with patients can be instrumental to helping patients maximize telemedicine as an access to care option.
Patients with cancers stemming from non-reproductive organs, such as bladder and liver cancer, have striking discrepancies in incidence, progression, response to treatment and survival outcomes depending on their sex. In almost all cases, male patients have worse prognoses and outcomes. This phenomenon has puzzled the scientific community for decades.

A study published today in Science Immunology and led by researchers in the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO) at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center  Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC  James) examined the differences in intratumoral immune responses between male and female cancers of non-reproductive origin.

The focus of this research was the T cell immune response to malignancy, a key determinator of outcomes in cancer, and an important target that has contributed to the renaissance of cancer immunotherapy seen in recent years. The study reported a landmark finding that describes how male sex hormones contribute to cancer-related sex bias via the modulation of CD8+ T cells-;a population of cells often referred to as cancer "killer" cells, which mediate adaptive immunity and are critical for mounting an anti-tumor response.

Collectively, these findings highlight androgen-mediated promotion of CD8+ T cell dysfunction in cancer and suggest broader implications for therapeutic development to address sex disparities in health and disease." Dr. Zihai Li, study's senior corresponding author, cancer immunologist, medical oncologist and founding director of the PIIO at OSUCCC  James

Androgens are sex hormones more highly present in males. This study revealed that CD8+ T cells from cancers in male subjects, including human patients and mice, are more likely to have characteristics of a weakened anti-tumor immune function, also known as "exhausted" T cells. Androgen signaling promotes the progenitor exhausted CD8+ T cell phenotype via modulating expression of TCF1, a master regulator of CD8+ T cell function.

"Androgen-mediated promotion of CD8+ T cell dysfunction results in faster tumor growth and worsened outcomes, and targeting of this signaling cascade holds a crucial key to improving current cancer immunotherapies," said Li, who is also a professor in the Ohio State College of Medicine.

This work was made possible because of the unique collaborations happening in Ohio State's Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology. Founded in 2019, the PIIO is a comprehensive bench-to-bedside research initiative focused on harnessing the body's immune system to fight cancer at all levels -; from prevention to treatment and survivorship. The institute is centered on systems and translational immuno-oncology and supported by immune monitoring and discovery as well as immuno-informatics.

The PIIO was established through a $102 million pledge from OSUCCC  James and Pelotonia. Founded in 2008, Pelotonia was established with the objective to fund innovative cancer research, and has raised over $236 million for cancer research.

Additional financial support for the study came from the National Institutes of Health, Prostate Cancer Foundation, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Hollings Cancer Center.
The development and mass administration of several coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines allowed many nations to vaccinate their population. Still, with studies revealing waning immunity and new variants continuing to emerge, the original two-dose vaccination is no longer sufficient. Many governments now advise a third dose, and researchers from the Bnei-Zion Medical Center in Israel have been investigating the use of a fourth dose in healthcare workers.

A preprint version of the study is available on the medRxiv* server, while the article undergoes peer review.

The study

The study cohort included data gathered from healthcare workers (HCWs) in eleven hospitals across Israel. All had received at least three doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine before the beginning of the study, and none had contracted COVID-19 before. Breakthrough infection rates in both triple- and quadruple-vaccinated individuals for comparison. No systematic testing occurred, and all HCWs tested positive took PCR tests of their own volition. Rate ratios for the entire cohort and individual subgroups were calculated, and calculations on 4- and 3-dose recipients who received the dose on the same date were also performed  with matching for subgroups. Time-dependent Cox-regression models allowed the fourth dose administration timing to be accounted for.

There were 29,612 HCWs who were eligible for inclusion in the study, the vast majority of which had received three vaccine doses. 18% had received the fourth dose and were not infected in the first week following administration. Generally, men and older individuals, as well as those directly linked to a medical profession, were more likely to have received a vaccine. The rates of four-dose vaccination were similar across all hospitals, as were HCW characteristics.

Breakthrough infection rates in the four dose groups were 6.9% on average, compared to 19.8% in the three dose group. The rate ratio was 0.35 for basic analysis and 0.61 for matched analysis, with adjusted HR from the Cox-regression model at 0.56, with the effect of the fourth dose consistent over all analyses and over all subgroups. There was no severe disease or death in either group.

Conclusions

The data shows that the fourth dose significantly reduces breakthrough infections in healthcare workers, supporting previous research showing very similar findings in the elderly. The authors highlight that although a fourth dose is less effective than the third dose, it could be worthwhile in occupations such as healthcare workers who suffer from an increased likelihood of infection. They also highlight some weaknesses with the study  as infections may have been missed without routine testing.

While the study concludes with advice for considering a fourth booster for healthcare workers, other scientists have previously argued against this. While more boosters continue to combat the effects of waning immunity and allow developed nations to rebuild quicker, the resultant lack of doses in developing nations can cause greater harm to both groups in the future.

Some of the biggest global and national spikes in COVID-19 cases have been seen when new variants have emerged, with the most obvious cases being the Delta and Omicron variants. As long as the disease has large unvaccinated human reservoirs, new variants that show an even greater ability to evade both natural and vaccine-induced immunity can continue to emerge.

*Important notice

medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information.
There is a steadily growing arsenal of drugs for COVID-19. Researchers from Charite  Universitatsmedizin Berlin, the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) and Freie Universitat (FU) Berlin have studied the mechanisms of action of antiviral and anti-inflammatory drugs. Their findings, which have been published in Molecular Therapy, show that treatment effects were best with combination therapy involving both types of drugs. This treatment regimen also had the additional benefit of increasing the time window available for antibody therapy.

SARS-CoV-2 infections continue to result in hospitalizations. According to estimates by the Robert Koch Institute, the current COVID-19 hospitalization rate is approximately six to seven per 100,000 of the resident population. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients now have access to a range of drugs which can reduce the severity of the disease or, in the most severe cases, reduce the risk of death. Some of these drugs target the virus itself; others fight the inflammation associated with infection.

First-line treatments include monoclonal antibodies and dexamethasone, a drug with strong anti-inflammatory properties. Antibody treatments neutralize the virus by sticking to the surface of its spike protein, preventing it from entering human cells. This type of treatment is used within seven days after symptom onset. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients who require oxygen therapy usually receive dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid which, for approximately 60 years, has been used to treat inflammatory conditions caused by an overactive immune response. In COVID-19, too, the drug has been shown to reliably dampen the body's inflammatory response. However, as the drug is associated with various side effects, including an increased risk of fungal infections, it should only be used in a specific and targeted manner.

Researchers from Charite, the MDC's Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) and FU Berlin have now studied the mechanisms of action of both types of treatment. "We uncovered evidence to suggest that combination therapy of antibodies and dexamethasone is more effective than either of these treatments alone," says first author Dr. Emanuel Wyler, a researcher at the BIMSB's 'RNA Biology and Posttranscriptional Regulation' research group, which is led Prof. Dr. Markus Landthaler.

As not all lung compartments can be studied using lung tissue samples obtained from patients, the research group's first step last year was to search for a suitable model. That task fell to co-last author Dr. Jakob Trimpert, a veterinarian and research group leader at the FU Berlin's Institute of Virology, who subsequently developed COVID-19 hamster models. As animals which both contract the same virus variants as humans and develop similar disease symptoms, hamsters have proven the most important non-transgenic model for the study of COVID-19. Symptoms and progression, however, vary between different species of hamster. While symptoms usually remain moderate in Syrian hamsters, for example, Roborovski hamsters will develop severe disease reminiscent of that seen in COVID-19 patients requiring intensive care.

In the current study, we tested the effects of single and combined antiviral and anti-inflammatory therapies for COVID-19, meaning we used the existing models with monoclonal antibodies, dexamethasone, or a combination of the two." Dr. Jakob Trimpert, veterinarian and research group leader, FU Berlin's Institute of Virology

The FU Berlin's veterinary pathologists then examined infected lung tissue under a microscope to establish the extent of lung tissue damage. Dr. Trimpert and his team also determined the quantities of infectious virus and viral RNA present in the tissues at various time points. This enabled the researchers to check whether and how viral activity might change over the course of treatment. "Thanks to a detailed analysis of various COVID-19 parameters, which is only possible in an animal model, we were able to improve our understanding of the basic mechanisms of action of two important COVID-19 drugs. Moreover, we found clear evidence of the potential benefits associated with a combination therapy of monoclonal antibodies and dexamethasone", says Dr. Trimpert.

Using single-cell analyses, the researchers demonstrated the drugs' effects on the complex interplay of various cellular signaling pathways and the number of immune cells present. Individual cells obtained from a particular sample were loaded onto a chip, where they were first barcoded and then encapsulated into minute droplets of aqueous fluid. Once prepared, the single cells underwent RNA sequencing, a process used to establish the sequence of genetic building blocks which a cell has just read. Thanks to barcoding, this RNA is later identifiable as originating from a particular cell, enabling the researchers to determine cellular function at the single-cell level with a high degree of accuracy. "We were able to observe that the antibodies are effective at reducing the amount of virus present," explains Dr. Wyler. He adds: "This was not much use in our model, though." This is because it is not the virus that damages the lung tissue, but the strong inflammatory response triggered by the virus. The immune cells fighting the invading pathogens release messenger substances to call in reinforcements. When these defensive forces arrive in large numbers, the lungs can become clogged. "Obstructed blood vessels and unstable vessel walls can subsequently result in acute lung failure," explains Dr. Wyler.

A surprise came in the shape of the well-known drug dexamethasone. "This anti-inflammatory exerts a particularly strong effect on a specific kind of immune cell known as neutrophils," says the study's co-last author Dr. Geraldine Nouailles, Research Group Leader at Charite's Department of Infectious Diseases and Respiratory Medicine. Neutrophils are a type of white blood cell responsible for mounting a prompt response to viral and bacterial infections. "The corticosteroid preparation suppresses the immune system and prevents the neutrophils from producing messenger substances which would attract other immune cells," explains Dr. Nouailles. She continues: "This makes the drug extremely effective at preventing an escalation of the immune response."

The best treatment outcomes were achieved when the researchers administered a combination of antiviral and anti-inflammatory treatments. "This type of combination therapy is not included in existing clinical guidelines," emphasizes Dr. Nouailles. "What is more, current guidance stipulates that, in high-risk patients, antibody therapy can only be given in the first seven days following symptom onset. In clinical practice, dexamethasone is only used once a patient requires oxygen therapy, i.e., at an extremely advanced stage of the disease. Its use in combination, however, opens entirely new treatment time windows." This new approach must now be evaluated in clinical trials before it can be adopted in clinical practice.
The federal "test-to-treat" program, announced in March, is meant to reduce covid hospitalizations and deaths by quickly getting antiviral pills to people who test positive. But even as cases rise again, many Americans don't have access to the program.

Pfizer's Paxlovid and Merck's Lagevrio are both designed to be started within five days of someone's first symptoms. They're for people who are at high risk of developing severe illness but are not currently hospitalized because of covid-19. Millions of chronically ill, disabled, and older Americans are eligible for the treatments, and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said April 11 that more people may qualify soon.

The program allows people with covid symptoms to get tested, be prescribed antiviral pills, and fill the prescription all in one visit. The federal government and many state and local health departments direct residents to an online national map where people can find test-to-treat sites and other pharmacies where they can fill prescriptions.

But large swaths of the country had no test-to-treat pharmacies or health centers listed as of April 14. And the website of the largest participant, CVS, has significant technical issues that make booking an appointment difficult.

Even people who regularly see a doctor may be unable to get a prescription in time, and that's where the program comes in. Before the pandemic, 28% of Americans didn't have a regular source of medical care, with rates even higher for Black and Hispanic Americans.

"All of our public health response relies on lowering the barrier to getting treatments to the right people," said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California-San Francisco.

She said the fragmented federal, state, and local public health systems, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' reliance on partners that charge high prices for appointments, and the lack of clear information are stymieing the effort. "The best tools that we have are not going to reach the people who most need them," she said.

Bibbins-Domingo is also a practicing physician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, which she says is not only testing patients for covid and prescribing them antivirals, but also delivering them medications  all the elements of test-to-treat. But the hospital, which largely treats low-income and uninsured patients, doesn't appear on the federal map. It shows just three locations in San Francisco: two community health centers and one CVS.

Ninety-one percent of the sites listed on the national map are federal partners: pharmacy chains like CVS, federally qualified health centers, and military and Indian Health Service clinics. HHS has asked state and local health departments to identify other potential participants, like San Francisco General Hospital, so they can be added. Most states have none of those partners listed yet.

Nationally, CVS MinuteClinics make up more than half of all test-to-treat locations, according to the federal data. The roughly 1,200 clinics, in 35 states and Washington, D.C., are housed under the same roof as CVS pharmacies, where patients can pick up prescriptions for covid antivirals. Walgreens drugstores and Kroger grocery store affiliates run about 400 more sites.

The federal government has set aside nearly 400,000 courses of the antivirals for its federal pharmacy partners  about a quarter of the total supply since the program began in March.

Although the cost of the pills is covered by the federal government, obtaining a prescription at the pharmacies that dominate the program can be expensive. Though CVS does not charge symptomatic uninsured people for on-site covid tests, MinuteClinics charge upwards of $100 for in-person or telehealth appointments to examine patients and prescribe an antiviral, if needed. People without insurance, whose health plans don't cover visits to the clinics, or who have high-deductible plans must shoulder the full cost of the appointment.

Even if they can afford it, finding treatment might be impossible.

KHN aimed to find out how easy or hard booking a test-to-treat appointment at a CVS would be. Reporters searched online and in person for covid testing and treatment appointments in April.

It took a KHN reporter in the Washington, D.C., area three hours driving between stores to figure out whether testing was available and antivirals in stock across four MinuteClinic locations  time that few people can afford in general, let alone when they're sick.

Each store provided test-to-treat services, which could be booked through a kiosk. But three of the stores either didn't have same-day appointments available or didn't have the antiviral pills in stock that day.

A KHN reporter also tried to book appointments online at clinics in several states, listing upper respiratory symptoms. After the reporter marked a positive covid test on the screening form, a message appeared  "For the safety of our patients and staff, we can't allow you into the clinic at this time"  and the patient was then directed to book a telehealth visit.

KHN also searched CVS' website for testing appointments at all MinuteClinics shown on the federal map in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, just over 100 clinics total. Only half listed any future testing appointments available.

Amy Thibault, a CVS spokesperson, said that all MinuteClinics provide in-person test-to-treat services and that a software glitch made it appear they don't. She said CVS is working to fix that. Thibault said covid patients are "encouraged" to use telehealth.

Some Americans, especially seniors, don't have the devices, internet connection, or technology skills needed for virtual visits. The program requires participants like CVS to provide options for in-person appointments, said HHS spokesperson Suzanne Sellman.

KHN also searched online for appointments at participating Kroger and Walgreens clinics in several states and found many available in-person appointments.

Another complication: The FDA requires doctors, advanced practice registered nurses, or physician assistants to write the prescriptions. A pharmacist can't do it. Many of the nation's leading pharmacy organizations have asked the Biden administration to remove the restriction, which would expand the program to scores of rural and underserved communities.

Because of this rule, the program requires clinics and pharmacies to be under the same roof  a setup that doesn't exist in many regions, particularly in rural areas.

The federal map shows no sites in Wyoming or South Dakota other than military clinics, which don't serve the public. People in dozens of other regions would have to drive more than 100 miles to reach the nearest clinic, according to a KHN review of participating locations.

The Wyoming Department of Health is working to enroll providers in the program, spokesperson Kim Deti said.

Montana has four public-facing test-to-treat clinics, according to the federal website and Jon Ebelt, a spokesperson for Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services. He said that seven Defense Department and Indian Health Service facilities also provide test-to-treat services, but those aren't open to most people.

Billings, the state's most populous city, is more than a three-hour drive from the nearest site shown on the map. Ebelt said the agency is working with a local primary-care nonprofit to find more facilities to enroll.

We have to get this right, said Bibbins-Domingo, the San Francisco professor. She said that as the U.S. moves away from restrictions like mask mandates, the public health system must ensure that everyone can get these new treatments, which can get people back to work sooner, prevent serious illnesses, and even save lives.

For those far from clinics, people with disabilities, and people too sick to leave home, telehealth could be the easiest way to get treated. A few local governments, including Los Angeles County and New York City, have launched virtual care initiatives.

Truepill, a company that provides telehealth and pharmacy technology, offers online covid assessments through its website findcovidcare.com for a fraction of the cost of CVS' in-person or telehealth operations. The company has filled more than 10 million prescriptions in the past five years.

The service, available in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., costs $25 to $55. Though insurance isn't accepted, the cost is comparable to insurance copays for in-person doctor appointments. Prescriptions can be sent to a local pharmacy for no additional charge or shipped to a home overnight via FedEx for a $20 fee.

HHS didn't respond to requests for data on antiviral use and has repeatedly declined to allow KHN to observe weekly virtual meetings about the program held with state health officials, clinic directors, and other health care providers.

Bibbins-Domingo said that to be effective, the federal government must make it easier to get testing and treatment, especially when the program is geared toward those at highest risk of devastating complications from covid.

"If you're just an average person trying to navigate this," she said, "it's actually completely impossible."

KHN correspondents Katheryn Houghton and Rachana Pradhan contributed to this report.
insights from industry Sheetal Parmar Vice-President of Medical Affairs and Head of Clinical Services Natera

In this interview, we speak to Sheetal Parmar, vice president of medical affairs and head of clinical services at Natera, about their cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing services and the future of genetic testing with science.

Please could you introduce yourself and tell us about your current role at Natera?

Im Sheetal Parmar, a board-certified genetic counselor and vice president of medical affairs at Natera.

Natera is a global leader in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) testing. What are some of your aims and missions at Natera?

At Natera, we aim to make personalized genetic testing and diagnostics a part of standard care, and our mission is to change the management of disease worldwide. Our core cfDNA technology provides health information in the areas of reproductive health, oncology, and organ health.

Natera is revolutionizing the standard of care with next-generation, cell-free DNA testing Play

You analyze cfDNA to find insights about health and disease. What is cfDNA and what insights can you gain from analyzing it?

Cell-free DNA, or cfDNA, are small pieces of free-floating DNA found in the bloodstream. Everyone has cfDNA that originates from their own cells in their bloodstream. By analyzing the cfDNA from a blood draw, we can collect useful genetic information about a variety of conditions.

The first application of our cfDNA technology was in the reproductive health space. During pregnancy, there is cfDNA from both the pregnant individual and the placenta circulating in the bloodstream and we can analyze it to screen for chromosome conditions such as trisomy 21, trisomy 18, and trisomy 13.

We applied what we learned about analyzing cfDNA during pregnancy to oncology to detect molecular residual disease and monitor disease recurrence, and also use this technology in organ health, to assess for transplanted kidney, heart, and lung rejection.

Despite womens health seeing more interest in recent years, there is still more that needs to be done. What do you currently believe to be some of the biggest challenges faced by womens health and why should life sciences companies be placing a greater emphasis on it?

I agree that there is so much more we can do to address challenges in womens healthcare. For example, despite all our scientific advances, there exist pregnancy complications such as preterm birth and preeclampsia that are associated with morbidity and mortality. Preterm birth affects about 10% of pregnancies and is associated with significant neonatal morbidity and mortality.

Preeclampsia, a condition where a pregnant person develops high blood pressure with protein in the urine and other problems affects approximately 3-8% of pregnancies. 10-16% of maternal deaths in economically advanced societies are due to preeclampsia. Many researchers and companies are focusing on health issues like these because they are significant and methods to identify pregnancies at risk are limited.

Natera has developed a variety of tests within the field of womens health. Can you describe some of the tests that are available for women and what they test for?

Natera has a number of genetic tests that provide important health information from preconception through pregnancy. This includes Spectrum preimplantation genetic testing of embryos during the IVF process; Horizon carrier screening for individuals and couples to determine their risk for passing a genetic condition to their child; Panorama NIPT which screens for chromosome conditions in the pregnancy, Vistara NIPT which screens for single-gene conditions in the pregnancy, and Anora which is a test on miscarriage tissue to identify the cause of a pregnancy loss.

Additionally, we have a genetic test called Empower for those who want to know more about their risk for developing cancer, understand why it might be more common in their family, or want to inform treatment options following a cancer diagnosis. Empower screens for genes associated with an increased risk for common hereditary cancers and our multi-cancer panels include commonly screened-for genes associated with 12+ types of cancer.

Image Credit: 10 FACE/Shutterstock.com

You have also applied your technology to noninvasive prenatal testing (NIPT). Can you tell us more about NIPT and why it is beneficial not only to the mothers but to research also?

For a pregnant person, knowing their babys risk for certain genetic conditions allows them to prepare. NIPT is a screening test and not a diagnostic test. This means it can tell you what the chances are for certain genetic conditions in the pregnancy. While this test is not diagnostic, having a low-risk result for the conditions screened can provide some reassurance.

For a high-risk result, a confirmatory diagnostic test is recommended and this can be done during the pregnancy or after delivery. Knowing that a pregnancy has a genetic condition can inform what type of hospital a person should deliver at, what medical specialists should be available after delivery, what treatments or interventions might be recommended, and gives people time to prepare emotionally. In some cases, it can prevent a long diagnostic odyssey. For example, the average years to diagnose 22q11. 2 deletion syndrome is 4 years. We can now screen for 22q11.2 with cfDNA.

From a research perspective, Natera is committed to peer-reviewed publications for all our tests. Im proud to say there are over 100 peer-reviewed publications across all our products and 25 of those are specific to Panorama NIPT. We recently published the results of the SMART study which is the largest prospective NIPT study ever conducted in a general population.

One of the reasons we sponsored this 20,000 patient study was to confirm Panorama test performance in the general population, which we did. However, more importantly, this study provided information on the incidence and test performance of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Individuals with this condition can have heart defects, immune deficiency, low calcium levels, cleft palate, learning differences, and schizophrenia.

With this study, we confirmed that this condition is not rare, in fact, in this cohort we found that the incidence was approximately 1 in 1500 pregnancies, which is more common than other conditions routinely screened in pregnancy. This peer-reviewed published data supports offering screening for 22q11.2 deletion syndrome to all pregnant individuals.

You are currently pushing the boundaries of testing management within science. How important is innovation to the field of genetic testing?

Innovation is incredibly important to translating advanced genetic technologies into usable and informative tests for the general public. One example of innovation from Nateras R&D team is the application of AI to the Panorama algorithm.

Through analyzing millions of tests, the Panorama AI algorithm was able to reduce the number of no results while maintaining high test sensitivity and specificity. We also applied algorithm improvements to NIPT for 22q11.2 deletion where we improved our detection of various deletion sizes and increased the positive predictive value of the test from 20% to 53%.

However, innovation applies to more than the tests. Its important to the overall infrastructure of testing. How easy is it for a healthcare provider to order the test and get results? Do patients and ordering providers have access to education and information during the entire testing journey? We wanted patients to have access to our genetic education services 24/7, so our genetic counseling team worked with our user experience and engineering teams to build NEVA, Nateras educational virtual assistant. This is a chatbot that can provide pre-test education as well as post-test result information across many of our products.

Patients can even schedule an appointment with a Natera genetic counselor through NEVA. About 30% of patients use this outside of normal business hours, which means NEVA helps patients access information when its most convenient for them.

Image Credit: Natali _ Mis/Shutterstock.com

What do you believe the future of reproductive genetic testing looks like? Are there any particular trends that you foresee?

We are moving towards having the ability to screen individuals and pregnancies for a larger number of conditions. We have seen this across preimplantation genetic testing, carrier screening, and NIPT. Of course, its critical that as expansion occurs, there is a high level of test performance and that genetic education and counseling be available to anyone interested in testing. Equitable access to testing is necessary as well.

Do you believe that with continued innovation at Natera, you will continue to change the ways that diseases are managed? What would this mean globally?

As Natera continues to explore the potential applications of cfDNA, this could definitely have an impact on disease management and treatment. There are several studies currently looking at the need for chemotherapy for colorectal cancer patients based on the presence of ctDNA, or tumor fraction of cfDNA, regardless of cancer stage.

Also, the Prospera transplant assessment test is able to monitor for solid organ transplant rejection more accurately than existing biomarkers. Since rejection is the most common cause of transplant failure, early, more accurate detection will have a significant impact. Globally, these tests could impact the treatment and monitoring of both cancer and transplant patients and optimize treatment.

What is next for Natera? Are there any exciting projects that you are involved in?

The womens health division is collaborating with clinicians to engage in clinical research aimed at improving and expanding the Panorama NIPT product. We are also looking at ways to improve overall maternal/fetal health during pregnancy through early identification of potential perinatal complications. Im also really excited about partnering with our newest business unit for early cancer detection.

Where can readers find more information?

Nateras website has a wealth of information for both patients and clinicians. We run a womens health blog, as well as host videos, peer-reviewed research , and webinars.

About Sheetal Parmar

Ms. Parmar is vice president of medical affairs and head of clinical services at Natera. She is a board-certified genetic counselor specializing in prenatal diagnosis and screening. Sheetal received her BA in Molecular and Cell Biology from UC Berkeley and her MS in Genetic Counseling from the University of Cincinnati, where she was a Albert C. Yates Scholar and Fellow. She joined Natera after working for 11 years as the lead prenatal genetic counselor at a high-risk prenatal diagnosis clinic and cytogenetic laboratory.

She has served on the Board of Directors for the National Society of Genetic Counselors (NSGC) and is currently a site visitor for the Accreditation Council of Genetic Counseling (ACGC). In 2020, Sheetal received the Leading Women Entrepreneur Force for Change Illuminator award for her contribution to Nateras positive impact on the lives of others during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new University of Gothenburg study has paved the way for the first drug treatment for sleep apnea. Compared to before receiving the treatment, breathing pauses decreased with on average more than 20 per hour for patients given the drug.

The treatment that has been tested is carbonic anhydrase (CA) inhibition, CA being an enzyme that serves to maintain a balance between carbonic acid and carbon dioxide in the body. Several drugs with CA inhibitory properties are already available on the market, and used for treatment of glaucoma, epilepsy and other disorders.

Previous research has not systematically tested whether CA inhibitors also might be used to treat obstructive sleep apnea. The current study was a randomized double-blind clinical trial, and 59 patients with moderate or severe sleep apnea completed it. Patients were randomly assigned to two groups receiving either 400 or 200 mg of the CA inhibitor, and a third group (the control group) that received placebo. The study lasted for four weeks.

Fewer breathing pauses

The results show that, overall, the treatment reduced the number of breathing pauses and promoted oxygenation during the night. A few patients experienced side effects, such as headache and breathlessness, which were more common in those receiving the highest dose.

The study results together with established safety data of the drug sulthiame provide support for continued research on CA inhibition as a new potential treatment for obstructive sleep apnea.

Among the patients who received the higher dosage of the drug, the number of breathing pauses decreased by approximately 20 per hour. For just over a third of patients in the study, only half of their breathing pauses were left, and in one in five the number fell by at least 60 percent." Jan Hedner, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine

The fact that several approved drugs in the CA inhibitor category are available on the market makes fast-tracking development of an approved drug for sleep apnea practicable. The drug used in this clinical trial was sulthiame, which is sometimes used to treat epilepsy in children.

Treatment options needed

Today, treatment for a patient with sleep apnea is either an oral appliance therapy or a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) mask. Both help to maintain airway patency during sleep.

"These therapy options take time to get used to and, since they frequently are perceived as intrusive or bulky. Insufficient user time is therefore common. If we develop an effective drug, it will therefore make life easier for many patients and, in the long run, potentially also save more lives," says Ludger Grote, Senior Lecturer at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.

The German pharmaceutical company Desitin Arzneimittel GmbH funded the trial, and the results are published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
(Newser)  A decommissioned World War II-era destroyer docked near downtown Buffalo was taking on water and listing perilously on Thursday. Crews were working to keep the USS The Sullivans from sinking at its berth at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, where it had been open for tours. Part of the leaning vessel's deck had dipped below the waterline by midday, the AP reports. "Weve got a committed group down here. We're not going to give up the ship, and failure is not an option," said park President Paul Marzello. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Buffalo native, tweeted that state agencies were onsite and ready "to help revive this treasure and symbol of perseverance."

Marzello said they believe there was a breach on the right side of the hull Wednesday night. He said crews trying to stabilize the 79-year-old vessel are pumping out up to 13,000 gallons a minute. "I think we've seen the worst, but I don't know," he said. The USS The Sullivans, a National Historic Landmark, was named in honor of the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa. The brothers were killed in action in November 1942 when the USS Juneau was sunk by Japanese forces in the South Pacific during World War II. It already was the Navy's policy to separate brothers, per the Des Moines Register, but George, Frank, Joe, Matt, and Al Sullivan enlisted in January 1942 on the condition that they serve together.

George and Frank Sullivan had already served in the Navy and been discharged, but they reenlisted when their brothers joined, after the death of a friend in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Navy later said the ship's executive officer repeatedly had asked the brothers to allow themselves to be split up. Their story inspired a movie in 1944, and their parents gave speeches around the country. More than $1 million was raised last year to repair the ships breached hull; after a winter pause, repairs were to resume Monday, Marzello said. The USS The Sullivans is one of four decommissioned Naval vessels at the park. (Read more Navy stories.)
(Newser)  A former personal assistant to Amber Heard said she never saw the actress suffer any physical abuse at the hands of then-husband Johnny Deppbut she said Heard once spit in her face when she asked for a higher salary. Heard descended into screaming fits of blind rage, sent incoherent text messages at 4am, and was often drunk and high on illegal drugs, Kate James testified in a video deposition that was played in court Thursday during the trial for Depp's libel suit against Heard. Depp, on the other hand, was very calm, almost shy, "like a total Southern gentleman, James said, per the AP. Lawyers also presented a video deposition of Laurel Anderson, a couples therapist who worked with Heard and Depp in 2015, who testified they were engaged in mutual abuse" and that Heard would strike" Depp to keep him from leaving.

Depp denies abusing Heard, but Heard's lawyers say evidence will prove that he did. The actor's denials, they argue, lack credibility because he frequently drank and used drugs to the point of blacking out and failing to remember anything he did. The video testimony from James offered an inverse view: Depp was the peaceful one, she said, while Heard was frequently intoxicated and verbally abusive, including to her own mother and sister. Her poor sister was treated like a dog that you kicked, basically, James said. James, who worked for Heard from 2012 to 2015, said she was paid very poorly. She said she was hired with an initial salary of $25 an hour and that her duties ranged from picking up Heard's dry cleaning to talking with the actress's Hollywood agents.

James said she also was tasked with picking up two copies of any magazine that featured Heard and storing them in the garage to prevent Depp from seeing them. Heard went into a blind rage when James failed to place the magazines in the garage, James said. Regarding Heard and Depp's time together, James said Heard was a very dramatic person who was deeply insecure in the relationship. Heard often called James to cry and complain about Depp, she said. I remember one time she called me when she was alone in New York City, and she was crying and walking around the streets," James said. She said she told Heard to go inside: "I was worried that the paparazzi might take a photo of her." (Click for more, including an enigmatic text message from Depp to James.)
(Newser)  A 32-year-old woman attempting to climb over a border wall from Mexico into Douglas, Arizona, was killed Monday when she got stuck upside down. The unidentified woman got over the wall and was using a harness to go down the other side, but her foot and leg got tangled and she spent a significant amount of time upside down, authorities say. Mexican officials got in touch with US authorities Monday night when they discovered the situation, and Border Patrol took her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the Tucson Star reports. An investigation is underway, and an autopsy will determine her exact cause of death.

Earlier this month, a man fell to his death from the border wall in Texas, the Guardian reports. "These types of incidents are not political; they are humanitarian realities that someone has lost a loved one in a senseless tragedy, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels said in a statement. We have to do better in finding solutions to the challenges facing our border, and we have to do it for the right reasons. Regardless of opinions, it is the facts that should direct our progress, and we will keep working toward a shared goal of border safety and security. Relatives of the woman, a Mexican national, live in Agua Prieta, Sonora, and have been told of her death. (Read more border wall stories.)
(Newser)  A Russian shopper looking for the price of a grocery item might instead learn about the Russian bombing of a Ukrainian school. As NPR reports, an artist in St. Petersburg is among several people facing penalty in Russia for swapping price tags with anti-war messages. A district court ruled this week that Aleksandra "Sasha" Skochilenko will be jailed at least until June 1 after a shopper reportedly told police she had swapped a price tag with a message noting 400 people had been sheltering in the basement of a Mariupol art school during Russian bombing on March 20. She faces up to 10 years in prison on charges of spreading "knowingly false information" about Russia's armed forces.

New laws passed in March criminalize information seen as "discrediting" Russian troops or otherwise contradicting the government's account of its "special military operation." Authorities have used the law to detain and arrest even those who try to skirt itfor example, a student displaying a sign with eight asterisks in possible reference to the banned phrase meaning "no to war"; the student was fined $618, per the AP. The anti-war messages turning up on grocery itemsbacked by the newly-formed Feminist Anti-War Resistanceare a more blatant form of protest. Photos from grocery stores in cities including Kazan and St. Petersburg show "price tags for glue sticks, coffee and candy bars switched for reports about Ukraine, such as the number of humanitarian convoys unable to reach cities under fire," NPR reports.

Several artists have been fined or detained for such labels. Skochilenko is the second person to be criminally charged, according to Amnesty International, which is demanding the release of all activists detained for peaceful anti-war dissent. Human rights groups say more than 500 people are facing misdemeanor charges for violating the law, while at least 23 are facing criminal prosecution and possible prison sentences, including an ex-cop who condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine during a phone call with friends. The AP notes "even seemingly benign actions have led to arrests" and cites the case of a man who was detained in Moscow for standing beside a WWII monument to Kyiv while holding the book War and Peace. (Read more Russia stories.)
(Newser)  President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians "gave us a maximum of five." In his late-night video address, Zelensky called it "an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on Feb. 24 made the most important decision of their lifeto fight." Zelensky gave an extensive and almost poetic listing of the many ways in which Ukrainians have helped to fend off the Russian troops, including "those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if its to the bottom" of the sea, his only reference to the sinking of the Moskva, Russia's Black Sea flagship, the AP reports.

The guided-missile cruiser, named for the Russian capital, sank while being towed to port after suffering heavy damage under circumstances that remain in dispute. Ukrainian officials said their forces struck the warship with missiles on Thursday. Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack. In his address, Zelensky said he remembered the first day of the invasion when many world leaders, unsure whether Ukraine could survive, advised him to leave the country. "But they didnt know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom and the possibility to live the way we want," Zelensky said.

Russias defense ministry, meanwhile, threatened to ramp up missile attacks on the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukraine's alleged military "diversions on the Russian territory." The threat of intensified attacks on Kyiv came after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in Bryansk, a region that borders Ukraine. Russia said its missiles hit a factory in Kyiv overnight, destroying its capacity to build anti-ship missiles and air defense systems, the BBC reports. (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  An Arizona man faces animal cruelty charges after 183 dead dogs, rabbits, birds, and other animals were found in a freezer, including some that were apparently frozen while alive, officials said. Local deputies and animal control officers found the animals in a garage freezer April 3 after a woman reported that Michael Patrick Turland, 43, hadn't returned snakes she'd lent him for breeding, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office said Thursday in a statement, per the AP. The freezer was at a home that Turland previously rented in Golden Valley, a rural community in far western Arizona.

The frozen animals included dogs, turtles, lizards, birds, snakes, mice, rats, and rabbits, the statement said, adding that "several of the animals appeared to have been frozen alive due to their body positioning." The sheriff's office said they were kept in a "large-sized chest freezer." The home's owner reportedly discovered the frozen animals while cleaning after Turland and his wife vacated the property. The owner then contacted the snake owner, who notified the sheriff's office, the statement said.

Turland was arrested at the home Wednesday when deputies were told he'd returned to the property, the office said. "When interviewed, Turland eventually admitted to placing some of the animals in the freezer when they were still alive," the statement said. Court records didn't list an attorney who could comment on behalf of Turland, who was arrested on 94 counts of animal cruelty.

(Read more weird crimes stories.)
(Newser)  A young woman is lucky to be alive and a man is in custody after allegedly running her over, multiple times, in a vicious road-rage incident in New Jersey. Witnesses tell NBC New York it started during Tuesday morning's rush hour, when a man backing up on a one-way street in Elizabeth to avoid a traffic jam crashed into the victim's car in an intersection. The man, IDed by the Union County Prosecutor's Office as 56-year-old Vincent Jean, is said to have gotten upset at the accidentand at the womanwho started taking pictures of his car as he tried to leave the scene. He allegedly began chasing her in his car.

Surveillance footage from a neighbor's house shows a car driving up onto a lawn, where the woman was standing, chasing her until she falls. Jean is accused of then driving over the victim, then backing up and intentionally running over her again, then fleeing. Prosecutors say police found the woman "lying on the front lawn of a residence ... suffering from numerous severe injuries." Although she was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition, a rep from Elizabeth City Hall says she's now in stable condition, per CNN. "How could you do a thing like this?" the homeowner whose camera caught the incident tells NBC. "It was a fender bender, that's all."

As for Jean, police say they found him later that morning, sitting a few miles from the scene of the accident in his damaged SUV. Jeanwho's been charged with first-degree attempted murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and various other chargesis in custody at the Union County Jail and is next set to appear in court on Tuesday, per the UCPO. He faces up to 20 years behind bars on the attempted murder charge, with shorter sentences possible for the other charges. Anyone with any further information about the incident is asked to call 908-358-9675. (Read more road rage stories.)
(Newser)  A Republican lawmaker in Tennessee stunned his colleagues Wednesday when he shared the story of a homeless man who turned his life aroundAdolf Hitler. During a debate on a bill banning homeless encampments on public property, State Sen. Frank Niceley told lawmakers he "wanted to give a little history on homelessness," Fox17 reports. "In 1910 Hitler decided to live on the streets for a while," he said. "So for two years Hitler lived on the streets and practiced his oratory and his body language and how to connect with the masses. And then went on to lead a life that got him in the history books."

"So, a lot of these people it's not a dead end. They can come out of these homeless camps and have a productive life, or in Hitler's case a very unproductive life." In Mein Kampf, the Nazi leader said his anti-Semitic and German nationalist view developed during the years he was homeless in Vienna. Critics said Niceley was wrong about historyHitler ended up homeless through poverty, not choiceand wondered why on Earth Niceley would consider him an inspiring example, the Washington Post reports. "I'm going to have to apologize to the universe for this guy," tweeted Democratic state Rep. Gloria Johnson.

The bill, which criminalizes camping along highways and exit ramps and makes it illegal to camp on public or state property, passed 22-10, with Niceley voting in favor. Critics argued that the bill criminalized homelessness itself, perpetuating the cycle of poverty, WCYB reports. As for Niceley, he has a long history of controversial remarks, the Post notes. In October, he said the shift of companies like Ford to the South shows the Civil War "is going on, and we're winning." (Read more Tennessee stories.)
(Newser)  Earlier this year, Prince Harry, who now lives in California with Meghan Markle and their two children, noted that security concerns were keeping them from visiting the UK. Those fears appear to have been allayed, at least enough to allow him and Markle to make a pit stop outside of London to meet up with his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, on the couple's way to the Invictus Games in the Netherlands. A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed the Thursday visit at Windsor Castle to USA Today. Prince Charles was also said to have been in attendance, per Page Six.

TMZ reports that the couple's children, 2-year-old Archie and 10-month-old Lilibet, stayed behind in Los Angeles. Harry hasn't been back to England since last July, when he and his older brother, Prince William, unveiled a statue of Princess Diana at Kensington Palace. He had also returned to the UK solo in April 2021 for the funeral of his grandfather, Prince Philip. For Markle, it's been even longer: She hasn't set foot on British soil since March 2020, per People. After their visit with the queen, who turns 96 next week, Harry and Meghan were set to head to The Hague for the Invictus Games, a global sporting event founded by the prince for injured service members and veterans. (Read more Prince Harry stories.)
(Newser)  There's now an obscene gesture featured on Ukrainian postage stamps in honor of a key moment of defiance amid Russia's invasion. Some 1 million of the stamps have been introduced into circulation, according to a Tuesday announcement from Ukrainian postal service Ukrposhta, per the Jerusalem Post. On Instagram, President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen posing with a book of the stamps, which feature an illustration of a Ukrainian soldier raising his middle finger to a Russian ship. It's "a symbol of the steadfastness of Ukrainian defenders," Zelensky wrote in a Wednesday post. Ukrainians were lining up outside a Kyiv post office "in hope of snatching up the special stamp," per the Washington Post.

Marine Roman Grybov uttered some variation of the phrase "Russian warship, f--- you," in response to demands of surrender from Russians aboard the Black Sea flagship Moskva while stationed on Snake Island back in February. Despite early reports indicating 13 Ukrainian defenders were killed, all survived. Grybov was even present at Tuesday's ceremony following his release from Russian captivity on March 28, per the Jerusalem Post. "In this postal way we once again remind the invaders that they should immediately get off our land and follow their ship," said Ukrposhta General Director Igor Smelyansky. Ukraine claims one of its missiles sunk the Moskva, which went down off the coast of Odessa on Thursday. CNN calls it the "biggest wartime loss of a naval ship in 40 years." (Read more Ukraine stories.)
(Newser)  South Carolina police are looking for a suspect in a series of whipped cream assaults, who was identified from his own YouTube channel. Andre Eugene Moore-Gerald of Greenville, also identified through CCTV footage, is wanted on charges of third-degree assault and battery, according to Greenville police. Sgt. Johnathan Bragg says Moore-Gerald is implicated in several incidents Wednesday in which an assailant hit bystanders in the face with a plate of whipped cream, per WYFF. Bragg says one woman was pushing her child in a stroller on a sidewalk in the downtown area when she was targeted around 2:30pm. Police shared a photo of the 22-year-old suspect, holding a plate of whipped cream, taken from CCTV footage.

Videos posted in the last two days to Moore-Gerald's "Savage_dre" YouTube channel show him hitting people in the face with a whipped cream pie while wearing the same clothing as in the CCTV footage. "Any person's a suspect," says a man behind the camera in one of the "prank" videos, as Moore-Gerald walks around looking for his first target in what he calls a "social experiment." He eventually walks up behind a person, puts the plate in their face, then runs away. In another video, he throws a plate in the face of a woman as he passes her on a sidewalk. At one point he claims he's doing the act for his viewers; his account has 85 subscribers. Anyone with information is asked to call Greenville police or Crime Stoppers, per WSPA. (Read more weird crimes stories.)
(Newser)  Update: Despite a last-minute pitch against this very thing by dozens of GOP leaders in Ohio, former President Trump on Friday endorsed Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance in the state's crowded Republican Senate primary. He described Vance as "the candidate most qualified and ready to win in November" in a statement. The AP notes Trump is still "deeply popular" with Republicans in the state, which he won in both 2016 and 2020. As for Vance's past commentsabout Trump being an idiot, among other things; Vance has since done an about-faceTrump allowed that Vance "may have said some not so great things about me in the past." But he "gets it now, and I have seen that in spades." Our original story from Friday follows:

With no clear front-runner in the five-way race in Ohio's Senate GOP primary, Donald Trump's endorsement could help decide it, and a lot of Republicans don't want him to give the nod to JD Vance. Sources told NBC News Thursday that the president is on the verge of endorsing the Hillbilly Elegy author, but other Republicans including rival candidate Josh Mandel are fighting hard to prevent it. Dozens of county GOP chairs and members of the state GOP central committee have signed a letter urging Trump to support "a true America First" candidate instead of Vance, Politico reports.

The letter cited numerous negative comments Vance made about Trump, though the candidate has since walked back remarks he made in 2016, saying he regrets "being wrong about the guy." A polling firm linked to former state treasurer Mandel released a memo Thursday arguing that Vance would finish in fourth place even with Trump's endorsement. Sources tell Politico that businessman Mike Gibbons, slightly ahead of Mandel in recent polling, isn't on Trump's "radar" and that Trump doesn't want to endorse Jane Timken, who reportedly tried to portray Trump's endorsement of her for state GOP chair in 2017 as endorsement in the Senate race. A fifth candidate, state Sen. Matt Dolan, isn't seeking Trump's endorsement.

Trump also has concerns about Mandel's record in previous Senate races, insiders tell the Columbus Dispatch. Mandel lost to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2012 and dropped out of the Senate primary in 2018. Sources say Trump also thought Mandel's behavior in a recent debate, where Mandel stood up to confront Gibbons over a remark on his lack of private sector experience, was "embarrassing." Donald Trump Jr. is a Vance supporter, but Politico's sources say with the May 3 primary now just weeks away, Trump might decide not to make an endorsement and risk "choosing a loser, especially after he stayed out of it for over a year." (Read more Election 2022 stories.)
(Newser)  In the latest twist in Elon Musk's quest to buy Twitter, the Tesla CEO is clashing with a billionaire Saudi prince. Musk fired back Thursday after Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a major Twitter shareholder, said he rejects Musk's takeover bid, al-Jazeera reports. "I don't believe that the proposed offer by Elon Musk ($54.20 per share) comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter given its growth prospect," the prince tweeted. He said as "one of the largest & long-term shareholders" of Twitter, he was rejecting the offer, reports Reuters. The prince, nicknamed the "Arabian Warren Buffett," is the CEO and majority owner of Kingdom Holding Company, which has large stakes in many major companies.

Musk called the tweet "interesting." He said he had two questions in response: "How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly? What are the Kingdoms views on journalistic freedom of speech?" Human rights activists shared the Musk tweet, noting that the kingdom is notorious for cracking down on dissent. (And the US has linked the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi's crown prince.) "Disturbing to think that a Saudi Prince and Elon Musk are basically the two people determining the future of a global communications platform," Marc Owen Jones, a professor of Middle East studies, tweeted.

Musk also highlighted a report on two former Twitter employees who were arrested in 2019 for allegedly using their roles at the company to obtain information on Saudi dissidents. In his filing announcing a hostile takeover bid, Musk said "free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy." Later Thursday, he said he wasn't sure if he could pull off the $43 billion offer. The Wall Street Journal reports that recent filings show Musk was "momentarily" Twitter's biggest shareholder, but that title is now held by the Vanguard Group investment firm, with 10.2% of the stock. (Read more Twitter stories.)
(Newser)  The widow of a World War II and Korean War veteran who thought she was donating his body to science was aghast to learn that it was instead dissected in front of a paying audience at a Portland hotel last October. Now, as the Oregonian reports, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners has unanimously voted to ban the for-profit display of human remains in response to the exhibition, which Portland police concluded was not a crime. Pending a final vote of approval on April 21, the county ordinance would require offenders to surrender any profits and pay a $1,000 fine per violation per day, county attorney Rob Sinnott tells the outlet.

Kimberly DiLeo, the county's chief medicolegal death investigator, was a key figure behind the ordinance. She'd asked Portland police and the Oregon Medical Board to intervene in the Oct. 17 dissection, though both claimed a lack of authority. Afterward, the general manager of the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront said staff had been "grossly misled" about the cadaver lab hosted by Death Science, which DiLeo described as a media company lacking professional credentials. Guests reportedly paid up to $500 to stand over the body of 98-year-old David Saunders, who'd died of COVID-19, and touch his organs. His widow, a "deeply hurt" Elsie Saunders, only learned of the dissection from KING 5's footage, per KGW.

"The vision in my mind of his naked and defenseless body being dismembered like a butcher preparing an animal carcass for sale  I have to live with it until I die," she testified Thursday to county officials, who were left in tears, per KING 5 and the Oregonian. "I can only hope and pray that another family never goes through this nightmare." Elsie Saunders had donated the body to Med Ed Labs, a Las Vegas-based company that said it believed it would be used for research. "A company took advantage of our donors and our services to further their economic goals," a rep said, adding the company is now screening clients more carefully. Officials hope to introduce a similar ordinance in Baton Rouge, La., where Elsie Saunders lives. (Read more dissection stories.)
(Newser)  Throughout the war, Ukraine has spoken directly to the mothers of Russian soldiers. A month ago, defense officials told the women they could travel to Kyiv to collect their POW sons. Last week, per the Wall Street Journal, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the women that Russian troops killed civilians in Bucha, adding, "I want every mother of every Russian soldier to see the bodies." Ukraine now has taken another step to bring the pain of war home to the women, the Washington Post reports, by using facial recognition software to identify dead soldiers, then sending sometimes-gruesome photos of the corpses to their mothers back home.

The shock can be brutal. "Why are you doing this?" one Russian woman wrote back after being sent a photo of her son's body in the dirt, a grimace on his face and his mouth open. "Do you want me to die? I already don't live. You must be enjoying this." The Ukrainians have scanned the faces of 8,600 dead or captured soldiers so far and broken the news to 582 soldiers' families by sending a photo of the body. The US firm behind the software, Clearview AI, has built a database of billions of photos pulled from social media sites, per the BBC. "It kind of works like Google," said CEO Hoan Ton-That. "But instead of putting in a string of words or text, the user puts in a photo of a face."

A surveillance researcher in London is concerned that the practice could set a troubling wartime precedent. Contacting soldiers' parents, Stephanie Hare said, is "classic psychological warfare." The communications could harden opposition to Ukraine, she said, if Russians see them as cruel. "If it were Russian soldiers doing this with Ukrainian mothers, " she said, "we might say, 'Oh, my God, that's barbaric.'" Others have warned about human rights abuses, and an expert at IPVM, a US research group, cautioned of misuse. The software isn't 100% accurate, Conor Healy said. "It shouldn't be a life-or-death technology where you either pass or fail, where you could get imprisoned or, god forbid, even killed," he said. "That's not how this should be used at all." (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  A South Carolina prisoner has decided to die by firing squad rather than in the electric chair later this month, according to court documents filed Friday. Richard Bernard Moore, 57, is the first state prisoner to face the choice of execution methods after a law went into effect last year making electrocution the default and giving inmates the option to face three prison workers with rifles instead, per the AP. Moore has spent more than two decades on death row after being convicted of the 1999 killing of convenience store clerk James Mahoney in Spartanburg. If executed as scheduled on April 29, he would be the first person put to death in the state since 2011.

The new law was prompted by the decadelong break, which corrections officials attribute to an inability to procure the drugs needed to carry out lethal injections. In a written statement, Moore said he didnt concede that either method was legal or constitutional, but that he more strongly opposed death by electrocution and only chose the firing squad because he was required to make a choice. I believe this election is forcing me to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution, and I do not intend to waive any challenges to electrocution or firing squad by making an election, Moore said in the statement.

Moores attorneys have asked the state Supreme Court to delay his death while another court determines if either available method is cruel and unusual punishment. The attorneys argue prisons officials arent trying hard enough to get the lethal injection drugs, instead forcing prisoners to choose between two more barbaric methods. His lawyers are also asking the state Supreme Court to delay the execution so the US Supreme Court can review whether Moores death sentence was a disproportionate punishment compared with similar crimes. The state justices denied a similar appeal last week. (Read more execution stories.)
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Rain and snow this morning changing to rain showers late. High 42F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Snow accumulations less than one inch..

Tonight

A few showers this evening changing to snow showers overnight. Low 31F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 50%.
Elena Ashburn, a senior at Cooper City High School (Fla.) embraces her dad, Col. Matt Ashburn of U.S. Southern Command. Elena is the 2022 Military Child of the Year for the Army.
U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to 1-3rd Attack Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, and the Latvian Air Force toured a former top-secret Soviet bunker in Skajupes, Latvia, during exercise Saber Strike 22 March 17, 2022. During the tour, Soldiers had a seat in the Soviet meeting room.
A U.S. Army AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter assigned to 1-3rd Attack Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, flies by a tank from the Spanish Army during a media day display at Camp Adazi training area, Latvia, March 11, 2022. The Latvian Armed Forces hosted a media day to display the power and interoperability of NATO forces in Latvia participating in the exercise, Saber Strike 22. V Corps is providing command and control over Saber Strike.
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The Japanese government has asked multiple large foreign tech companies, including Google and Meta, to register their overseas global headquarters in Japan, in addition to their local units, Nikkei has learned.

Without such registrations, the government considers it difficult to understand the activities and determine appropriate taxation of tech giants, since they are able to provide services from anywhere in the world through the internet, even without actual offices.

As other countries move to tighten regulations, the Japanese government is also looking to protect customers and small businesses that deal with big tech companies by being thorough with registrations, and by keeping tabs on their activities.

Japan's corporate law already requires foreign enterprises that operate continuously within the country's borders to register their overseas headquarters, but many tech companies have been registering only their Japanese arms despite this rule.

The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications have asked Meta, which owns Facebook, and others to register their overseas headquarters by the end of March, or to provide explanations for why they cannot by mid-April, according to people familiar with the matter. ...continue reading
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  For years, Tennessee Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbros call to require the states voting infrastructure to include a paper record of each ballot cast has been batted down in the Republican-dominated Legislature.

But as false claims still swirl around the 2020 presidential election  and some GOP voters remain distrustful of voting machines  Tennessee Republican lawmakers who have held off are coming around on a paper-backed mandate. A similar scenario is playing out in some of the five other states -- most of which are Republican-led -- that do not currently have a voting system with a paper record.

The Tennessee GOP bill that is gaining traction would set a 2024 deadline for Tennessee to join the vast majority of states that already have voting systems that include a paper record of every ballot cast, so any disputed results can be verified.

Yarbro said hell take the change, even if he doesnt love the impetus for it.

Im disappointed that its taken this long, and somewhat concerned over the rationale, the Nashville lawmaker said. But at the end of the day, this is good public policy.

Mississippi and Indiana plan to have a paper trail by the 2024 presidential election. Last year, lawmakers in Texas  where slightly more than 1 in 10 registered voters cast ballots on paperless machines  passed a law requiring paper records by 2026. Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick touted the move as helping to rebuild trust in elections.

Efforts in two states  Democratic-led New Jersey, and Louisiana, which has a Democratic governor and a Republican-led Legislature  have been slowed by either process issues or funding.

"Across the partisan spectrum, there is some sense that the controversy around 2020 underscores how important it is to have paper records of voter intent that we can go back to, said Mark Lindeman, director of Verified Voting, a group that tracks voting equipment across states.

In Tennessee, GOP Gov. Bill Lee has proposed $15 million for a switch to voter-verifiable, paper-backed equipment. The changeout could cost up to $37 million, with leftover federal election funds covering the rest, state officials said. Nearly two-thirds of the states 95 counties currently do not produce a paper record.

Republican lawmakers say Tennessee's elections are just fine. They direct scrutiny at other states, despite a lack of any evidence of widespread fraud or other major problems anywhere in the 2020 election.

When they had the vote, there were a lot of questions about it, especially in several of the states, Georgia and different ones  Is this done right?" said Tennessee Sen. Ed Jackson, the Republican bill sponsor. So, thats what we are trying to accomplish. But we dont have that issue here in Tennessee.

Nationwide, election officials continue to grapple with false claims spread by former President Donald Trump and his allies about the 2020 election. This has led to new mail voting restrictions, threats directed at election officials, costly and time-consuming partisan ballot reviews and calls to abandon voting machines altogether and rely solely on paper ballots counted by hand.

About 68% of U.S. registered voters will mark ballots by hand for the 2022 midterm elections, while the rest will use touchscreen voting machines, according to Verified Voting. About 5% of ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election did not have a paper record, down from about 18% in 2016, according to federal officials.

That will shrink further by 2024.

In Indiana this year, Republicans decided not to replace existing equipment. Instead, they added a small printer to some 5,000 voting machines to create a paper trail by 2024.

That plan advanced through the GOP-dominated Legislature in March despite criticism from voter advocacy groups. They argue the printer technology is outdated and relies on lightweight thermal paper, similar to cash register receipts, that is easily damaged and lets voters see only part of their ballot at a time through a small window.

Democratic state Rep. Ed DeLaney of Indianapolis argued not having voter-completed paper ballots available for recounts threatens election integrity far more than claims such as mail ballot fraud.

If we want to have voter confidence, then we need to do those things which are simple and effective in preventing a miscount, said DeLaney. Thats what we need to do and then we can worry about our fantasies and fears.

This month, Mississippi lawmakers sent the governor legislation to require paper backups by 2024. On a radio show last year, Republican Sen. Jeff Tate said his bill addresses the perception of rigged voting equipment.

In New Jersey, GOP Sen. Joe Pennacchio has sponsored a bill to require paper ballots for all in-person voting, saying that even without the complaints over the 2020 election, its still the right thing to do. Some majority-party Democrats have introduced paper-trail proposals, as well. New Jersey has a long-standing requirement to upgrade to paper-backed voting systems, but a 2009 deadline still hasn't kicked in due to funding issues.

New Jersey has a hodgepodge of counties with voting machines that produce paper trails, and some that dont. The states law permitting early in person voting, which took effect in 2021, called for machines with paper records. Though the state financed them for all 21 counties, only some bought enough to run their entire election on paper-backed machines.

About one-third of Mississippi voters and nearly half of New Jersey voters use paperless machines, according to Verified Voting.

Louisianas Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin has favored ballot-marking machines that print a paper receipt that is electronically scanned so results could be available on election night, but efforts to replace the state's paperless machines have been mired in process delays.

A 2021 law tasked a new commission with recommending a replacement with a paper trail. As it mulls its options, the commission has heard calls for hand-marked paper ballots along with unsubstantiated claims of cheating in the 2020 election.

There is no evidence of any widespread fraud or coordinated efforts to steal the 2020 election. Last year, The Associated Press reviewed every instance of potential voter fraud reported in the six states disputed by Trump and found fewer than 475 cases  a number that would have made no difference in the contest.

Over the years, Tennessee election officials have said counties can choose their voting equipment. More recently, they encouraged a move toward paper-backed systems. Now, they support requiring the change, reasoning that increasingly fewer paperless machines are produced.

Last year, a Republican-led legislative subcommittee halted a Democratic push for a paper-trail mandate.

If theres not a problem, why are we trying to fix it? And why are we mandating that our local governments have to foot the bill for it? GOP Rep. Ryan Williams said in 2021.

Williams has since come around. He voted for the new bill last month, telling fellow lawmakers that Tennesseans were disturbed" about "elections in other states that they felt like disenfranchised them.

I think one of the things our citizens wanted to know after the last elections, that we did have a way to verify them in paper," Williams said.

___

Cassidy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Tom Davies in Indianapolis; Kevin McGill in New Orleans; Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi; and Mike Catalini in Trenton, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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Investigators learned that a man who fled from police and kidnapped a resident at gunpoint Thursday may have information related to missing Danbury man Carlos Reyes, police said.

Reyes, 20, was reported missing at the end of March. His family last saw him on the night of March 28. The food delivery drivers car, a 2008 gray four-door Infiniti sedan, was found ablaze in Brewster, N.Y. on March 29.

Danbury Police Lt. Mark Williams said Friday that Christopher Lemke, 33, of Danbury, is also directly related to the April 7th search warrant execution at a Ball Pond (Road) residence.

Investigators are hopeful he can provide them with information to help locate Reyes or his whereabouts, Williams added.

Danbury and Newtown police executed a search warrant at a home on Frontage Road in Newtown Thursday related to an ongoing investigation regarding the theft of a handgun. Police believed Lemke was responsible, Williams said.

While executing the search warrant, Lemke took off through the woods on foot, police said.

Officers saw Lemke again in a nearby neighborhood. Police said Lemke went into an unlocked home, kidnapped someone at gunpoint and fled in a stolen vehicle, according to Newtown police Thursday.

The victim escaped shortly after and was found without injuries, police said.

Lemke was spotted again on Interstate 84 near the Rochambeau Bridge by Connecticut State Police. After a brief pursuit, Lemke crashed near Exit 15 and was apprehended, state police said.

During the arrest, Williams said police recovered the stolen handgun and other assorted contraband from Lemke.

As of Friday, Lemke is in state custody with charges from state police, along with Newtown and Danbury police, Williams said.

State police said Lemke was charged with reckless endangerment, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen firearm, criminal possession of a pistol, engaging police in a pursuit and reckless driving. He was also charged with possession of narcotics with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia. State police said Lemkes bond was set at $1 million.
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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP)  An ad by one of three people seeking the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania lieutenant governor this year drew a complaint Friday and a sharply worded letter from the party's presumed nominee for governor.

The dispute pits Attorney General Josh Shapiro against state Rep. Brian Sims over Sims' ad that the Shapiro campaign says falsely implies Shapiro has endorsed Sims.

Shapiro took the unusual step earlier this year of endorsing and running with state Rep. Austin Davis of Allegheny County, even though in Pennsylvania candidates for governor and lieutenant governor are not paired on the primary ballot.

So when the Shapiro camp noticed ENDORSED JOSH SHAPIRO, along with a check-marked ribbon, appeared at the end of Sims new statewide ad, lawyers fired off a cease-and-desist order.

Not only does the ad mislead voters, it also places Attorney General Shapiro in a false light, argued Courtney Weisman, a lawyer for Shapiro, in the letter sent Friday. She said Sims' wording was designed to mislead Pennsylvanians.

The ad began running on streaming services in markets around Pennsylvania this week, Sims' spokesperson said.

The Shapiro team had asked Sims to endorse Shapiro before the campaign began, Sims campaign said in a statement to The Associated Press. Shapiro is the only candidate for governor in the Democratic primary this year.

Rep. Sims was proud to endorse Shapiro then, and has continued to promote and endorse Shapiro for Governor while on the campaign trail, the campaign statement said.

It said Shapiro's campaign has included Sims' backing in a public list of endorsements, but a Shapiro campaign spokesperson said he was unaware of any public use of Sims' endorsement.

Because they run separately in the primary but as a ticket in the fall, governors and lieutenant governors can essentially end up in a forced relationship. Some have worked together productively but others have struggled.

The current governor, Democrat Tom Wolf, was elected with former state Sen. Mike Stack of Philadelphia in 2014. By spring 2016, Wolf had responded to complaints about Stack's treatment of state employees by stripping him of state police protection and limiting cleaning, grounds keeping and maintenance by state employees at Stacks official residence.

Stacks office later said his wife had entered treatment for an undisclosed mental health issue, and Stack lost a multicandidate primary in 2018 to the current lieutenant governor, John Fetterman.

Along with Sims and Davis, the other Democrat seeking the job this year is Raymond Sosa, a financial planner who also ran for it in 2018.

Nine Republicans want their party's nomination for lieutenant governor in the May 17 primary: John Brown, a former elected executive of Northampton County; Jeff Coleman, a former state lawmaker and consultant; Teddy Daniels, a former police officer and Army combat veteran; Carrie Lewis DelRosso, a freshman state lawmaker from suburban Pittsburgh; Russ Diamond, a state lawmaker from Lebanon County; Christopher Frye, the mayor of New Castle; James Jones, who runs an oil and petroleum products trading business; Rick Saccone, a former state lawmaker from the Pittsburgh area; and Clarice Schillinger, a Bucks County political activist.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Lawmakers pressed Stephen Miller, a top aide to former President Donald Trump, during a daylong closed-door interview about Trump's speech at a rally that preceded the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, according to two people familiar with Miller's testimony.

Miller was questioned for roughly eight hours Thursday by the House committee investigating the riot, which occurred when large crowds of Trump supporters stormed the building in hopes of preventing Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Miller's appearance grew contentious at times times, particularly as he pushed back against claims that Trumps speech contained incendiary, coded language that had spurred his supporters to act, according to two people familiar with the questioning. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the back-and-forth during the closed interview.

That language included Trumps repeated use of the word we" to address his supporters. At one point during the speech, Trump said: We fight like hell. And if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore.

Miller rejected the significance of that language, the people said, arguing that personal rhetoric like that has been used in American politics going back to the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address.

Lawyers for Miller, who served as Trumps domestic policy adviser and speechwriter, also asserted executive privilege multiple times during the session.

A committee spokesperson declined to comment Friday. The New York Times earlier reported on Miller's testimony.

Miller is the latest in a series of sit-downs the committee has scored with those in Trumps inner circle as lawmakers move closer to the former president by questioning people who were with him on the day of the attack or were his confidants in the weeks leading up to it.

In demanding his testimony last November, the panels chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said Miller was aware of and had participated in efforts to spread false information about alleged voter fraud and had encouraged state legislatures to alter the outcome of the 2020 election by appointing alternate electors.

Thompson has also said that Miller helped prepare Trumps remarks at the Ellipse.

___

Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Homeland Security Department said Friday it will temporarily shield people from deportation back to Cameroon, saying extreme violence between government forces and armed separatists in the African nation made it unsafe for them to return.

The department also cited increasing attacks by the Boko Haram extremist group as grounds for giving Cameroonians an 18-month reprieve from deportation if they were in the United States on Thursday. They may apply for work permits.
PARIS, April 14, 2022 /CNW/ - The Honourable Lawrence MacAulay, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence, met this morning with Mrs. Genevieve Darrieussecq, Minister Delegate for Remembrance and Veterans, attached to the Minister for the Armed Forces.

The Ministers agreed on the importance for Canada and France to honour the sacrifice of Canadian soldiers who fell at Juno Beach in 1944 to return freedom and democracy to Europe. The Ministers resolved to work together to seek a favourable outcome to resolve the neighbouring dispute that could negatively impact the operations of the Juno Beach Centre (Courseulles-sur-Mer) and to protect this historic site for France and Canada.

As we are four months before the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, the Ministers reaffirmed their mutual commitment to the importance of commemorations and our joint duty of remembrance.

Associated Link:

SOURCE Veterans Affairs Canada

For further information: Media inquiries: Media Relations, Veterans Affairs Canada, 613-992-7468, [email protected]; John Embury, Director, Communications, Office of the Minister of Veterans Affairs, [email protected]
Though people from both Hindu and Muslim communities suffered casualties, Singh went on to portray the violence as an attack on Muslims alone. "The Modi govt must stop stoking anti-Muslim sentiment.," said Singh in a tweet.

Canadian MP Jagmeet Singh, who is well-known for his pro-Khalistan stance, has made a lopsided comment over the recent clashes that took place on the occasion of Ram Navami in several states in India. Though people from both Hindu and Muslim communities suffered casualties, Singh went on to portray the violence as an attack on Muslims alone.

Singh said in a tweet, I am deeply concerned about images, videos, and targeted threats of violence against the Muslim community in India. The Modi govt must stop stoking anti-Muslim sentiment. Human rights must be protected. Canada must play a strong role in working towards peace everywhere.

I am deeply concerned about images, videos, and targeted threats of violence against the Muslim community in India.



The Modi govt must stop stoking anti-Muslim sentiment.



Human rights must be protected.



Canada must play a strong role in working towards peace everywhere.  Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) April 13, 2022

Violence gripped several cities in the nation on the occasion of Ram Navami when allegedly Shobhayatras were attacked by communal mobs.
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U.S. Rep. Tom Rice of South Carolina brought in nearly $342,000 during the first quarter of this year, giving the Republican a war chest of $2 million as he tries to stave off a slew of primary challengers, including one with the backing of former President Donald Trump.

Overall, Rice has raised $1.6 million this campaign cycle and has $2 million total on hand, according to figures provided Thursday to The Associated Press.

Seeking his sixth term, Rice is one of two sitting South Carolina Republicans facing Trump-backed challengers in the June 14 primary. Last week, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace told AP that she had raised nearly $1 million in the weeks following Trumps endorsement of former state Rep. Katie Arrington, one of Maces GOP challengers.

In the 7th District, Trump has endorsed state Rep. Russell Fry against Rice, who drew the former president's scorn for supporting his second impeachment in the aftermath of the violent Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection ignited by the then-president. That vote, Rice told AP a day later, "hurts my heart to cast.

Long a reliable backer of Trump, who campaigned with him, Rice voted 94% of the time in favor of Trump-backed legislation, according to FiveThirtyEight  the highest percentage among South Carolinas delegation at that time. But Rice said he decided to back impeachment after seeing what he characterized as Trumps inaction during the riot.

Since then, Republicans have declared their displeasure with Rice, who has represented the 7th District since its creation in 2012. The South Carolina GOP formally censured him to show disapproval over his vote, a step also taken by party committees across the country to punish many of the 10 House Republicans who supported Trumps impeachment.

Earlier this year, Rice told AP in an interview that he stood by his vote, which he said is rarely mentioned when he meets with constituents and voters.

What hes saying is that violence in the name of politics is OK, and I don't believe in political violence, Rice said, of Trump's comments about Jan. 6. I think that when the president continues to say things like that, his influence continues to wane.

In March, Trump held a campaign rally in South Carolina on behalf of Arrington and Fry.

You currently have two atrocious RINOs, theyre bad people, in the House who went to Washington, sold you out, and partnered with the Democrats to stab the Republican Party and frankly to stab our country in the back, Trump said, of Mace and Rice, using the acronym for Republican in name only.

He is respected by no one, Trump said of Rice, whom he called a disaster who is laughed at in Washington.

Mace, Trump said, is crazy and a terrible person who has no idea what shes doing, drawing loud boos from the crowd.

Most of Rice's first-quarter haul  $315,700, or 92%  came after Trump's Feb. 1 endorsement of Fry, according to Rice's campaign.

Fry has not released his first-quarter figures. As of the end of last year, he had raised about $351,000 total, according to federal records.

___

Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
Ben Lambert / Hearst Connecticut Media

NEW HAVEN  A New Haven man was federally charged Wednesday with distributing 40 or more grams of fentanyl, according to federal prosecutors.

A grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment against 27-year-old Nelson Santini. The charge stems from the FBIs Safe Streets Task Force making a controlled purchase of about 50 grams of fentanyl from Santini in August 2021, according to Leonard Boyle, the United States attorney for the District of Connecticut.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  A judge has sentenced the Gypsy Joker Motorcycle Club Portland chapter president and another club member to life in prison for the torture-style killing of an ex-club member.

U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman issued the mandatory minimum sentences for Mark Leroy Dencklau and Chad Leroy Erickson in federal court in Portland Thursday, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

Prosecutors described Dencklau as the ringleader of a criminal enterprise who orchestrated the kidnapping, torture and killing of 56-year-old Robert Bagger Huggins Jr., on June 20, 2015.

Huggins was abduction from Oregon and taken to a shed in Washington where he was killed, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leah Bolstad said.

Huggins was a Gypsy Joker member pushed out of the club in 2014 for stealing money from the Portland clubhouse to pay for heroin. The killing was punishment for robbing Dencklaus Woodburn home, prosecutors said.

Lawyers for Dencklau, 60, of Woodburn, and Erickson, 51, of Rainier, both urged a lesser sentence, saying a life sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

A jury in November convicted Dencklau of racketeering conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping in aid of racketeering resulting in death, kidnapping resulting in death, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping resulting in death.

Erickson was convicted of murder and kidnapping in aid of racketeering, conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping resulting in death and found not guilty of engaging in a racketeering conspiracy.

Both men plan to appeal their sentences.
City of Hartford Treasurer Adam Cloud will not seek the Democratic nomination for state treasurer, and instead has put his support behind a candidate from New Haven, who has not officially entered the race.

Cloud, who was seriously considering entering the race, said Tuesday in a text message that he has proudly served Hartford residents for more than a decade and will continue to do so.

Given my decision, I will be supporting Karen Dubois-Walton as a candidate for the Office of the State Treasurer, he said.

Dubois-Walton, head of the New Haven Housing Authority, is among the names of Democrats circulating as a possible candidate following Treasurer Shawn Woodens surprise announcement last week that he will not be seeking a second-term in office.

A Democratic candidate for mayor in New Haven last year, Dubois-Walton did not directly address her potential interest in the seat, but said in a text message Wednesday to expect a big announcement coming soon.

Nancy DiNardo, chair of the state Democratic party, said earlier Wednesday she is not aware of any other declared candidates in the race besides Dita Bharagava, of Greenwich, chief operating officer of a financial technology company based in Stamford. Rep. Harry Arora, R-Greenwich, is the only GOP candidate in the race.

DiNardo said in a text message that she would not speculate on potential candidates, but there could be more coming in the next few days.

Arunan Arulampalam, who in addition to Bharagava sought the office in 2018, was another Democrat weighing a run but has decided to remain in his current job as the CEO of the Hartford Land Bank.

Democrats have talked openly about wanting a statewide ticket that balances race, ethnicity and gender. The party has nominated a Black candidate, primarily from Hartford city politics, for state treasurer for more than 50 years. Dubois-Walton is a Black candidate and Bhargava is of Indian descent.

In addition to Wooden, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill is not seeking reelection, and Comptroller Kevin Lembo resigned in December for health reasons, creating three open seats for statewide constitutional offices.

julia.bergman@hearstmediact.com
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday that Democratic Senate candidate Abby Finkenauer qualifies for the primary ballot, rejecting a lower court decision and allowing her to continue her campaign for the nomination and the chance to face longtime Republican Sen. Charles Grassley.

The courts unanimous decision leaves Finkenauer as the likely front-runner in a race with two lesser-known candidates ahead of Iowas June 7 primary. The winner will run against Grassley, who is seeking an eighth term in the Senate.

This is a moment for all advocates for democracy  Democrats, Republicans and Independents  to celebrate the enduring strength of our democratic process and a reminder to never take it for granted, Finkenauer said in a statement.

She said it's more than a victory for her campaign but about justice for Iowans and democracy prevailing over meritless partisan attacks orchestrated by Washington Republicans and allies of Senator Grassley seeking to silence Iowans and undermine the democratic process.

Her lawyer, Gary Dickey, said the court put politics aside to reach the correct legal result.

The lawyer for the Republican objectors, Alan Ostergren, said the Legislature needs to change the law, listing what must be on a nominating petition and the consequences of failing to do so.

The only reason these issues were litigated is that the Abby Finkenauer campaign failed to turn in enough signatures to have a comfortable margin  something every other political campaign was able to do this cycle, he said.

Grassley campaign spokeswoman Michaela Sundermann criticized Finkenauer for previously calling the challenge a partisan attack instead of admitting fault. Grassley obtained signatures from each of Iowas 99 counties, collecting nearly three times more than the 3,500 required by law, she said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley does not take the people of Iowa for granted. He follows the law and goes above and beyond the requirements to qualify, she said

The court rejected a lower court's ruling that found that Finkenauer failed to meet a state law that requires candidates to submit at least 100 signatures from at least 19 counties to qualify for the ballot. The justices agreed that a Polk County judge was wrong when he ruled that three signatures from two counties were invalid, leaving Finkenauer without enough signatures.

The court said the Legislature last year passed new sections of the law that identified specific circumstances when objections to petitions should be sustained.

The legislature did not include missing or incorrect dates as one of the grounds for sustaining an objection to a petition. We conclude that the recent legislation prevails," the court said.

The court acknowledged it wasn't an easy decision.

Statutory interpretation is not like proving math theorems, and it is sometimes difficult to come up with a neat answer that is intellectually satisfying. In the end, we believe we must be guided by the legislatures last word on the subject, it said.

The ruling affirmed an earlier decision by an election panel that Finkenauer had qualified for the ballot. Two Republican activists had brought the initial challenge and appealed the panels decision to the district court.

Polk County Judge Scott Beattie ruled against Finkenauer. Beattie was appointed in 2018 by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who also appointed four justices to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Finkenauer, of Cedar Rapids, was one of the first woman elected to the House from Iowa and was the second-youngest female House member in U.S. history, winning election in 2018 at the age of 29 and just 10 months older than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York.

Others seeking the Democratic nomination are Mike Franken, a retired Navy admiral, and Glenn Hurst, a doctor and Minden City Council member.

Any of the Democrats would be viewed as long shots against Grassley, who has held elected office since 1959. He was elected to the U.S. House in 1974 and to the Senate in 1980.

___

This story has been corrected to show Finkenauers hometown is Cedar Rapids, not Dubuque.
ANSONIA  Police said two local residents are in serious but stable condition after a shooting Thursday night near Ansonia Middle School.

Police said the shooting was sparked by an altercation between several people on Avon Street.

Authorities were notified of the incident around 10:30 p.m. after police said they received multiple 911 calls reporting gunfire at Avon and Day streets.

One shooting victim was also reported to have arrived at Griffin Hospital, police said.

Police said officers located the scene of the shooting and recovered evidence.

A 43-year-old Ansonia resident who had been shot multiple times drove himself to the hospital, police said. Police said the man was stabilized and transferred to another hospital. A second victim, an 18-year-old man, was also driven to a hospital after being shot one time, police said.

During the drive, the car carrying the 18-year-old victim crashed on Route 8 near Exit 15 in Derby, according to officials.

Ansonia police spokesman Lt. Patrick Lynch said it appeared the vehicle lost control as it exited the highway and then struck a barrier. Police are still trying to identify who was driving the car.

Police said both shooting victims were in serious, but stable condition as of Friday morning.

The investigation is ongoing and updates will be released as they become available, police said in a statement Friday morning.

Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the police department at 203-735-1885 or anonymous tips can be left at Tip411 online .
Skin care products aimed at pregnant people are legion, but not all of them offer what I, halfway through my first pregnancy, want, which is simple: No parabens (which can mimic estrogen and settle in breast tissue). No retinol or retinoids (teratogenic). No phthalates (hormone disruptors). No methylisothiazolinone or methylchloroisothiazolinone (potential allergens whose use is already limited in EU countries). And definitely no harsh perfumes. In fact, the shorter the ingredient list, the better. And since Im about to add another person to the Earth, arguably the least sustainable thing one can do, Im also trying to eschew plastics and packaging wherever I can.

And in addition to everything Im trying to avoid during this tender time, theres also all the good stuff I want to amply luxuriate in because its actively helpful  hydrating, soothing, and acne-deterring (somehow being at baby-ready age doesnt go hand-in-hand with outgrowing zits, which is terribly unfair). On top of that, there are the skincare issues I specifically need to address now or never  for example, thanks to putting on the freshman fifteen while simultaneously still going through puberty back in college, Im well aware Im very prone to stretch marks. Not a huge deal, and the tendency is mostly genetic, but if I can help my boobs and belly out by keeping them extra-supple as they grow yet again, why wouldnt I? Hello, special omega-3-filled skincare specifically for pregnancy.

It may seem like a lot, but these 10 products have become my go-tos over the past 20 weeks, and I expect them to keep going strong, seeing me through the next 20 in fine fettle.

Mustel Stretch Mark Oil

Mustela Maternity Stretch Marks Oil Mustela amazon.com $19.99 Shop Now

I think the very first thing I Googled after finding out I was pregnant was oil to prevent stretch marks. Im using this lovely French-made anti-stretch mark oil on my boobs, for the most part, and so far, Im extremely happy with how my skin feels. Mustelas oil checks all my boxes: its unscented, preservative-free, contains a total of four ingredients, and it sinks in super fast and feels richer than its lightweight consistency would otherwise indicate. I keep it handy to apply at bedtime, and so far, everythings feeling good.

Mama Mio Tummy Rub Butter

Mama Mio Tummy Rub Butter Mama Mio mamamio.com $33.51 Shop Now

I actually dont mind a touch of scent, but for my rapidly expanding abdomen, Mama Mios insanely, well, buttery Tummy Rub Butter is ideal: formulated with a mix of omega acids to help prevent stretch marks, its also totally unscented, which is useful if pregnancy has left you sensitive to smells (as pregnancy is wont to do). But most important, this cream leaves my skin feeling super smooth and so far completely stretch mark-free (I mean, besides the ones I brought with me into pregnancy).

Mama Mio Push Partner Perineum Oil

Mama Mio Push Partner Perineum Oil mioskincare.com $19.00 Shop Now

Will Mama Mios Push Partner Perineum Oil work, as in, prevent tearing during childbirth? Honestly, we wont know until we get there. While pregnancy requires a certain level of zen and letting go about these things, I figure it cant hurt to give every area whatever extra support I can. So, a nightly application of perineum oil it is. Not something I ever thought about before, but hey, isnt getting used to new experiences just the nature of bringing a person into the world?

Weleda Skin Food

Skin Food Body Butter Weleda weleda.com $18.99 Shop Now

Its not legally required that every product you slather on yourself over these nine months be specifically targeted for pregnancy, but it should be safe for this tender time, which Weledas products typically are. Ive long been a fan of this old school natural German brand, and am happy to report that their cult favorite, the Skin Food moisturizer that comes in an easy to recycle glass jar, is rich as hell and great for my dry pregnancy skin.

Weleda Iris Hydrating Day Cream

Hydrating Day Cream - Iris Weleda weleda.com $23.99 Shop Now

Speaking of Weleda, theyve also saved my face these past few months. Their Iris Hydrating Day Cream has kept all dryness at bay while not adding to my pregnancy facial breakout woes. By the way, Im personally not a big believer in the notion that you need separate face creams for day and night, so I happily just use this excellent, very lightly scented hydrating product twice a day. (What you actually want, come daytime, is sunscreen.)

Maison/Made Lemon Balm Hydrosol

LEMON BALM Biodynamic Hydrosol maisonmade.co $30.00 Shop Now

But before we even get to moisturizer, I have three essential steps, after cleansing (by the way, my feeling with cleanser during pregnancy is that since you rinse it right off anyway, as long as its not too harsh and doesnt contain any teratogenic vitamin A derivatives, you should just keep using whatevers been making your skin happy all along). I love the idea of toner  tightening and brightening, yes please!  but in reality, most toners leaving me feeling dried out, so I forgo them all together. But I still need something to prep my skin post-wash, and Maison/Mades Lemon Balm Hydrosol is it. This stuff is also great for a post-work pick-me-up, leaving my face feeling refreshed and somehow magically plumper, without ever drying me out. Also, very little is glamorous about pregnancy, but a spritz of this (which smells deliciously like a cool drink of iced tea at sundown on a summers day) is genuinely decadent. Plus, like my stretch mark oil, it is made in France, and I am a sucker for all things made in France.

Peach and Lilys Treatment Essence

Wild Dew Treatment Essence peachandlily.com $10.00 Shop Now

To be honest, Ive never really understood what an essence does except it is clear that my skin looks much nicer when I use one than when I dont. And given how badly pregnancy has messed with my sleep, I will take all the external help I can get, face-wise. Peach and Lilys Treatment Essence has long been my single Korean skin care holy grail item, a gentle essence without any questionable acids, retinols, or so forth  just glycerin, niacinamide, some ferments, and panthenol leaving my face looking smoother and perhaps even more youthful than I could otherwise hope for.

The Ordinarys Azelaic Acid

The Ordinary Azelaic Acid Suspension 10%Azelaic Acid Suspension 10% The Ordinary deciem.com $25.00 Shop Now

My facial care could have its own section at the UN. From Germany to France to Korea, we now end in Canada, with a trustworthy, reliable product everyone can agree on, The Ordinarys Azelaic Acid. Most acne products are either total pregnancy no-nos or fall into a disputed gray area  retinol/retinoids, salicylic acid, and benzoyl peroxide are all best avoided. Honestly, dear reader, I thought for the sake of my baby I could just deal with nine months of a forehead full of zits. In reality, I made it about a week without my usual go-to, benzoyl peroxide at a 5% concentration. But theres one acne product generally regarded as fine throughout pregnancy: azelaic acid, which in addition to helping keep most of my pregnancy acne at bay, may also assist in cutting down on the hyperpigmentation and dark spots this nine-month period leaves you weirdly prone to. Fingers crossed. And The Ordinarys version is inexpensive, easy to find, and effective at a 10% concentration  you can go higher if you want, but youll need a doctors prescription.

Odacite Soap Free Shampoo Bar

Soap Free Shampoo Bar Argan + Coconut odacite.com $18.00 Shop Now

Dont forget the rest of you! It took getting pregnant for me to finally get on the shampoo bar trend, which I truly hope is here to stay, because this format works just as well or even better than liquid shampoo in a big old plastic bottle. I am particularly fond of Odacites sulfate-free, soap-free, methylisothiazolinone-free and methylchloroisothiazolinone-free shampoo bar, which lathers surprisingly well and leaves my annoying, tangly, breakage-prone hair feeling balanced and clean without being stripped. Also, I dont know how they did it, but this bar somehow keeps my scalp feeling fresh and clean for days, seriously. I shampoo once every four days now and you really wouldnt know the difference. This will be my go-to shampoo from pregnancy into eternity.

Native Deodorant

Plastic Free Deodorant nativecos.com $13.00 Shop Now

And finally! Some pregnant people report that this time in life leaves them extra stinky. I have been very lucky that that has not been the case so far for me  sans deodorant, I just smell my usual amount. I also havent used anti-perspirant for years, so suddenly needing to forgo clogging my pits with aluminum hasnt been a pregnancy event Ive had to deal with. But like most people, I do require a high-functioning daily swipe of body odor-masking deodorant. For me, its all about Native, which finally has a plastic-free packaging option and contains no aluminum and no phthalates from synthetic fragrances, and still actually works. My go-to scent is coconut and vanilla, but you can even go totally unscented if youre trying to really keep things simple.

And thats the skin care routine thats working for me, from top to bottom. While you cant go through pregnancy avoiding every chemical out there, the category of things youre applying to your body is a good a place as any to start in terms of being mindful.
EAST HAVEN  Two business owners are already making plans to open cannabis establishments in East Haven before the towns Planning and Zoning Commission has decided whether to allow them in the area.

Justin Frytz, an East Haven resident, and Frank Kane, who is president of a company that works in cannabis in other states and plans to partner with a social equity group in Connecticut, explained their goals and answered questions about cannabis businesses at a joint meeting of the commission and Town Council on Wednesday night.

Frytz said he and his wife are trying to obtain several licenses with the state to operate different types of cannabis-related businesses in East Haven. He inquired about possible cultivation and retail within the town about six months ago and was asked to join the meeting by attorney Jennifer Coppola, who works with the town, to answer questions about business operations.

Frytz said hed like to operate as a hybrid retailer, meaning the shop would sell both recreational and medical marijuana, or obtain a packaging license.

Because we live here in East Haven, obviously, if we obtain one of those other licenses, wed like to keep close to home, Frytz said, adding they would operate out of a warehouse in whatever town agrees to work with them.

As for retail plans, Frytz has not zeroed in on a location yet but said a lot of factors, such as nearby traffic, the number of patients or consumers of age nearby and more go into that decision.

Those zoning laws really havent been established yet, so we havent signed any leases yet, Frytz said.

Kane, on the other hand, already has a place in mind for his retail shop, he said.

Kanes firm will be doing a joint venture with a social equity group, which would allow his firm to obtain a license. A set amount of licenses available in the states lottery system are reserved for social equity applicants.

The property Kane has his eyes on is on Frontage Road with plenty of parking.

Weve actually discussed it with the landlord and have it locked down. Weve got it on contingency, Kane said.

Frytz has spoken with other towns, such as North Haven, and said a main concern has been hours of operation.

A lot of dispensaries operate like a traditional retailer, such as a CVS or Walgreens, according to Frytz, but hours of operation are usually either 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The closest retail businesses for comparison to retail cannabis are liquor stores, Frytz said.

But in most cases, dispensary stores are usually much more secure, much more restrictive, Frytz said. Theres one way in and you go out a different entrance. Then you come in, they check the IDs every entrance, they scan them and verify theyre legal and then you enter one way and exit throughout another door.

Another big part of security is the town being fully on-board with the business, including the local police, Frytz said.

Frytz said he would operate his business similarly to a bank. An example he gave is a dispensary just over the Massachusetts border in Springfield.

All the product is kept through a locked window behind the counter and youre helped by individuals with a tablet, so you never touch the product until youve paid for it and are exiting the building, Frytz said.

Kane echoed Frytzs statements, calling dispensaries extraordinarily safe and that they will only become safer with the passing of the SAFE Banking Act, which prohibits a federal banking regulator from penalizing a depository institution for providing banking services to a legitimate cannabis-related business.

Very little cash is actually on-hand at cannabis businesses, Kane said.

Every square inch of the facility is under camera at all times and there is on-site security at all times during business hours, Kane said. You have a much easier time buying liquor if youre underage than you do buying cannabis. Its virtually zero is the amount of cannabis being sold to people underage.

How much money could be made from retail cannabis remains unclear, due to the amount of factors in play, such as traffic and location, but with Kanes possible Frontage Road location near I-95 and I-91, his predictions show the business raking in $15 million by year three.

The location we have is such that we think that it can generate $15-18 million gross in a short, short time period, Kane said. What the sustained rate is, we honestly dont know. You dont know until you get in the dispensary and until you see what it does.

This could potentially mean a lot of money for East Haven, as retail cannabis sales will have a 3 percent tax headed to the municipality where the business is located. One council member did quick math at the hearing, estimating the town could see around $500,000 a year in sales tax revenue alone from just one business.

That money could then be used by the town for improvements, educational programs, training programs, mental health services, community and civic engagement programs and more.

The Planning and Zoning Commission and Town Council discussed next steps and were told that when the commission makes a decision on cannabis, Coppola, one of the towns attorneys, would draft a regulation subject to a public hearing.

Coppola said she had reached out for input on retail cannabis to department heads, the fire chief, the police chief and East Havens health district, but has yet to hear back from the latter two.

She asked if officials would like to learn more on other topics and one council member asked her to reach out to those who transport cannabis to area and the certification on safety related to transport.

I think that you will find whoever is able to secure a license to bring [cannabis] to East Haven, I think youre going to find that any retail cannabis operator wants to be a productive and contributing member to the local community, Kane said.

christine.derosa@hearstmediact.com
Former Kano Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has said he controls votes and has what it takes ahead of the 2023 election. Kwankwaso made this k...





Former Kano Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso has said he controls votes and has what it takes ahead of the 2023 election.





Kwankwaso made this known while speaking with Chude Jideonwo.





According to the ex-governor, he worked for President Muhammadu Buhari after he was convinced not because of his tribe or money.





Kwankwaso urged presidential aspirants to come to him adding that the presidency is not an appointment but by who is capable.





The former Governor said, My former colleagues in government met in Lagos and said the presidency has to go to them, how? Come and talk to me, we control votes, it is not an appointment.





Convince me, other people convinced me from that side, at least from Abiolas days till this moment, people will come.





Even Buhari convinced me at that particular time and I worked for him not because he had money or anything or because he is the only Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba or anything and thats exactly what it is, and thats exactly what we are doing.





Every day we are working round the clock to convince our friends across the country that this is where we are, this is what we have done, this is what we are to do this is the capacity we have and its based on that, not because I am a Muslim or I am a Christian or I am Hausa or I am Yoruba.





No! And you see, in 2023, eyes don open.





Kwankwaso defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP.





He has a strong fan base in the North as well as a number of Southern states.





The former Minister of Defence and Kano Central Senator (2015  2019) is the leader of the Kwankwasiyya movement which has around 2 million members across Nigeria.





He mentioned that he may be considering launching a second force ahead of the 2023 election in order to be where hell be taken seriously.
The National Council of State has granted state pardon to former Governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau and Taraba States resp...

The National Council of State has granted state pardon to former Governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau and Taraba States respectively, who are serving terms in jail for corruption.

The governors were among 159 prisoners pardoned by the Council at a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday.

Among the beneficiaries are a former military general and minister under the Sani Abacha regime, Tajudeen Olanrewaju, an army lieutenant colonel, Akiyode, who was an aide of former deputy to General Abacha, Oladipo Diya; and all the junior officers jailed over the 1990 abortive Gideon Orkar coup.

The full list of those pardoned is not immediately available.

According to a presidency source, the two former governors were pardoned on health and age grounds.

Mr Nyame, 66, governor of Taraba State from 1999 to 2007, was serving a 12-year jail term at the Kuje prison for misappropriation of funds while he was in office. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction in February 2020.

Mr Dariye, 64, who governed Plateau between 1999 and 2007, was jailed for stealing N2 billion of public funds during his time as Plateau State governor between 1999 and 2007.

The former governor, elected as senator representing Plateau Central in the Senate in 2015, was sentenced in June 2018 but still completed his tenure from jail in June 2019.

In 2021, he led a partly successful appeal at the Supreme Court with a five-man panel of the court headed by Mary Odili, quashing his conviction in respect of criminal misappropriation in a unanimous decision.

The offences he was discharged of only attracted two years imprisonment and, so had no impact on his overall number of years of imprisonment. The apex upheld the ex-governors conviction in respect of criminal breach of trust, which attracted a 10-year jail term.

Adebukola Banjoko of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, had on June 12, 2018, convicted Mr Dariye and originally sentenced him to 14 years imprisonment on charges of criminal breach of trust and two years jail term for criminal misappropriation.

But following his appeal against the judgment, the Court of Appeal in Abuja on November 16, 2018, commuted the 14 years jail term to 10.

While the Court of Appeal affirmed his conviction, it held that Section 416 (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, prohibited the imposition of a maximum sentence on a first offender, such as the convict.

The former governor had appealed to the Supreme Court.

Ejembi Emo, a member of the apex courts panel noted that Mr Dariyes appeal succeeded in part after quashing his conviction in respect of charges of criminal misappropriation.

The meeting of the Council of State was attended by former presidents and military heads of state, except former President Olusegun Obasanjo who is in the United States on medical vacation.

The Nigerian Council of State is an organ of the Nigerian Government as stipulated by Third Schedule Part 1B of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

The membership of the Council includes the President, who is Chairman; the Vice-President, who is Deputy Chairman; all former Presidents of the Federation and all former Heads of the Government of the Federation; all former Chief Justices of Nigeria; the President of the Senate; the Speaker of the House of Representatives; all the Governors of the states of the Federation; and the Attorney-General of the Federation.

The Council has power to:

(a) advise the President in the exercise of his powers with respect to the:-

(i) national population census and compilation, publication and keeping of records and other information concerning the same;

(ii) prerogative of mercy;

(iii) award of national honours;

(iv) the Independent National Electoral Commission (including the appointment of members of that Commission);

(v) the National Judicial Council (including the appointment of the members, other than ex-officio members of that Council); and

(vi) the National Population Commission (including the appointment of members of that Commission); and

(b) advise the President whenever requested to do so on the maintenance of public order within the Federation or any part thereof and on such other matters as the President may direct.
President Muhammadu Buhari has come under fire over what has been described as his unnecessary, politically motivated, ill-advised and hasty...





President Muhammadu Buhari has come under fire over what has been described as his unnecessary, politically motivated, ill-advised and hasty decision to grant pardon to two former Governors jailed for corrupt practices.





Senator Joshua Dariye of Plateau State and Mr Jolly Nyame of Taraba State, who were convicted for corruption, were recently pardoned on health and age grounds when they still have several years to complete their jail terms.





HURIWA wondered how the President has reached a consideration that at their relatively young ages they are too old to be in prison confinement whereas there are thousands of awaiting trial inmates and convicted prisoners who are above 80 in Nigerian prisons whose offences are as simple as theft of chickens from their neighbours.





HURIWA said this discrimination on the basis of political connection will adversely harm the rule of law.





HURIWA recalled that the National Council of State had granted state pardon to Dariye and Nyame of Plateau and Taraba States respectively.





The rights group recalled that the two former governors were among 159 prisoners pardoned by the Council at a meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari at the presidential villa in Abuja on Thursday.





Among the beneficiaries are a former military general and minister under the Sani Abacha regime, Tajudeen Olanrewaju, an army lieutenant colonel, Akiyode, who was an aide of former deputy to General Abacha, Oladipo Diya; and all the junior officers jailed over the 1990 abortive Gideon Orkar coup.





HURIWA applauded the release of the military officers most of whom were roped into phantom charges of a coup plot by the then maximum dictator General Sani Abacha.





HURIWA recalled that Mr Nyame, who is 66, governor of Taraba State from 1999 to 2007, was serving a 12-year jail term at the Kuje prison for misappropriation of funds while he was in office. The Supreme Court upheld his conviction in February 2020.





Relatedly, Mr Dariye who later got elected as Senator, who is 64, and governed Plateau between 1999 and 2007, was jailed for stealing N2 billion of public funds during his time as Plateau State governor between 1999 and 2007. The former governor, elected as senator representing Plateau Central in the Senate in 2015, was sentenced in June 2018 but still completed his tenure in jail in June 2019.





HURIWA however condemned the early release of the duo, particularly on the ground of seeking to use their political popularity in their minority northern Christian states of Plateau and Taraba to canvass Electoral advantage for the All Progressives Congress in whose administration since 2015 the only high profile politicians jailed for corruption are the two Christian Northerners.





HURIWA, in a statement signed by the national coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said it was a scandal of monumental proportions that whilst the two Christians and former governors of the northern states of Plateau and Taraba were jailed for corruption, a bulk of other corrupt former Northern Governors who are all Moslems are roaming about freely because the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission skewed its prosecutorial activities to target mostly Christians and Southerners because of the domination of Northern Moslems in the hierarchy of the EFCC.





HURIWA said the best way to begin a thoroughly professional anti-graft war is to ensure Federal character in the appointment of directors for the anti-graft body currently dominated by Northern Moslems.





HURIWA said it views the action of early release from jail of these politicians who had barely served 30% of their total jail terms as a confirmation of the well-known notoriety of the Buhari led administration as a harbinger of the most sophisticated forms of corruption but which administration chooses to use the instrumentality of the so-called anti-corruption crusade to whip opposition politicians to the line.





There has never really being any crusade against corruption in the real sense of it. What EFCC does mostly is to harass students carrying expensive phones and laptops and to parade them as YAHOOYAHOO. Whereas the real big time CORRUPT politicians who are looting Nigeria dry and mindlessly are allowed to have a field day.





It is now survival of the fittest and the most connected in Nigeria of 2022.
The families of passengers kidnapped from the bombed Abuja-Kaduna train are pleading with their abductors to allow them negotiate the releas...





The families of passengers kidnapped from the bombed Abuja-Kaduna train are pleading with their abductors to allow them negotiate the release of their relations.





Terrorists had attacked the train on March 28, leading to the death of no fewer than eight persons; 26 persons were injured while over 160 passengers, according to the Nigerian Railway Corporation, could not be accounted for.





However, in a video last week, the terrorists said the government knew what they wanted, threatening to kill those in custody if their demands were not met.





But addressing journalists on Thursday in Abuja, one of the abducted family members, Aliyu Mohammed, begged the terrorists to give room for families to negotiate the release of their loved ones.





Mohammed, who lamented that no government agency had reached out to them since the incident, stated that the families, and not the government, would bear the brunt should anything untoward happen to the victims.





He stated, We are begging and pleading with the kidnappers to provide room for dialogue so we can negotiate the release of our loved ones.
Gunmen on Friday invaded Isuofia community, Aguata Local Government Area, where Anambra State governor, Prof Charles Soludo hails from. It w...





Gunmen on Friday invaded Isuofia community, Aguata Local Government Area, where Anambra State governor, Prof Charles Soludo hails from.





It was gathered that one policeman was killed in the process, and that the incident happened at a junction leading to the governors house.





A source said the gunmen stormed the junction, where security operatives were stationed, attacking the operatives.





The source said the gunmen were angered by the idea of stationing a security post in the area.





The hoodlums stormed the area, shooting none stop, while residents scampered for safety.





One policeman was, however. killed in the process, the source said.





The spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu could not confirm the incident, as calls to his mobile phone were neither taken nor returned.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has knocked the Northern Elders Forum for asking the President,...

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has knocked the Northern Elders Forum for asking the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to resign over his handling of insecurity challenges bedeviling the country.

This is as he also alleged that the NEF position was borne out of the members frustration after they allegedly failed to be part of Buharis regime.

Adesina revealed this in an article titled, Hiding under the umbrella of insecurity, and shared on his official Facebook page on Thursday.

NEF had on Tuesday asked Buhari to resign for failing to provide security in the country. The forum made the demand in a statement by its spokesperson, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed.

It said it was disappointing that after nearly seven years of being in office, Buhari still has no answers to security challenges across the country.

The statement read in part, The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari does not appear to have answers to the challenges of security to which we are exposed.

We cannot continue to live and die under the dictates of killers, kidnappers, rapists, and sundry criminal groups that have deprived us of our rights to live in peace and security.

Our constitution has provisions for leaders to voluntarily step down if they are challenged by personal reasons or they prove incapable of leading.

But reacting to the NEFs position in his article, Adesina alleged that NEF was peopled with self-seeking individuals who had hoped will get the better of the regime after Buharis electoral victory in 2015.

He wrote, The point of interest today is the hackneyed calls on President Buhari to resign over the countrys security challenges, the latest coming from a so-called Northern Elders Forum (NEF), a group Id once described as Generals without troops.

The Forum is largely made of angry, bitter, self-seeking individuals, who had thought they would be leading President Buhari by the nose when he emerged in 2015. In fact, key personalities in the group made strenuous efforts to be part of the administration. When they didnt succeed, they became adversaries.

It is on record that NEF had always opposed the Buhari administration since its gambit failed, and before the 2019 presidential election, it openly endorsed Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party as next President.

And that completely vitiates whatever position the Forum adopts today. It is partisan, bilious, by no means neutral. It is from a self-serving standpoint.

Furthermore, the presidential aide argued that there were issues of insecurity globally and that the President was sparing no effort in securing Nigeria and Nigerians.

Between 2009 and 2022, there were at least 271 mass shootings in United States of America, resulting in 1,518 people killed, and 980 wounded. Just this week, there has been the Brooklyn Subway Shooting, in which at least 23 people were critically injured.

vIn all these, did you hear calls for the resignation of any American President? It is on record that last year was the deadliest in a decade, in terms of mass shootings. Have you heard of calls for the resignation of President Joe Biden by a caterwauling band? No.

Every life is important. No single life should be taken wantonly. Not in America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and definitely not in Nigeria. And when challenges occur, as we currently have, it should not be turned to a leaky political umbrella, from under which you hide to express hatred and malice.

That is what is happening in Nigeria today. Individuals, groups, organizations, political parties, who had been against President Muhammadu Buhari, and who had been given bloody noses at the polls, are now using the smokescreen of insecurity to vent their spleen.

We failed to oust him through the ballot box, lets run him out of town by another means. Lets instigate the country against him. But majority of Nigerians know better.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has conceded to make some concessions over the planned resumption of tolling to the Ikoyi Link Br...

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has conceded to make some concessions over the planned resumption of tolling to the Ikoyi Link Bridge, and Lekki-Epe Expressway areas of the state.

Sanwo-Olu, while agreeing on the concessions, however, sought for cooperation and understanding from residents and stakeholders in the meantime.

The governor spoke at a meeting with the stakeholders on the resumption of tolling at Lekki-Ikoyi Bridge and Lekki-Epe Expressway at Lagos House, Marina, on Sunday evening.

Personalities at the meeting, included: leaders of the Lekki Residents Association, LERA, Lekki Residents and Stakeholders Association, LERSA.

While government representatives, besides Mr. Governor, were: Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice Moyosore Onigbanjo SAN, Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, Lekki Concession Company, LCC Managing Director, Yomi Omomuwasan and LCC Board member Obafemi George.

Also at the meeting were: President of LERSA, Olorogun James Emadoye, Vice President of LERSA, Arc. O.P.A. Ladega, Financial Secretary, LERSA, Mr. Keji Olajide, Director of Stakeholders Engagements, LERSA, Mrs. Chika Allison-Idalah, Chairman of Infrastructure Committee, LERSA, Sulyman Bello, Chairman of Lekki Phase 1 Estate Residents Association, Mr. Yomi Idowu, Mr. Sony Irabor, Mr. Demola Folarin, Mr. Seni Adio,, Mrs. Eniola, and Mr. Paul Kogoro, all of LERA.

Meanwhile, during the session which lasted for several hours, the guests explained their position on the matter and demanded for some concessions.

The governor, having listened to each speaker, agreed to make some concessions after showing evidence of LCCs financial situation and why tolling should resume at the plaza.

Omotoso, speaking on the development, added that the LCC management would soon be announcing details of the concessions, following Mr Governors directive.

Recall that the tolling was suspended in the wake of #EndSARS protest when soldiers in an attempt to disperse protesters at the Lekki-Epe Toll Gate, on October 20, 2020, shot live bullets into the crowd of protesters in which unspecified number of persons were allegedly killed and several others sustained injuries.

However, following months of engagement with key stakeholders within Eti-Osa /Lekki-Epe area, management of LCC had officially announced the formal return to tolling operations on Friday, April 1, 2022 at the Ikoyi Link Bridge Toll Plaza.

However, LCC affirmed that toll payment will not commence until April 16, 2022.

A statement by LCC Managing Director, Yomi Omomuwasan, read in part: LCC has been a worthy part of the Eti-Osa/ Lekki-Epe ecosystem and has served the community relentlessly and to the best of its ability over the years.

We are encouraged by the response and the cooperation received from the vast majority of residents and stakeholders who appreciate the value we bring to bear on their daily movement and continue to register for (or update ) their toll accounts in readiness for the commencement of cashless toll collection. All the points made at the engagements are well taken.

Whilst LCC is aware of the concerns expressed by some stakeholders regarding the return to tolling, it is common knowledge that the government cannot, on its own, meet all the infrastructural needs of the ever-growing population.

Given that the funding for the project was secured by the initial private sector sponsors and contracts were signed with various local and international financial institutions, in the spirit of respecting the sanctity of contracts, the Lagos State Government continues to meet these obligations when it bought over the shares of LCC, thereby taking over both the assets and liabilities.

To ensure a smooth return, LCC has deployed new and more efficient technology at the Ikoyi Bridge Toll Plaza. Therefore, to test run the new system and ensure a seamless interface with road users, the first two weeks will be completely toll  free.

LCC remains committed to providing a safer and better driving experience on the Ikoyi Link Bridge.

Also, Earlier, Lekki residents, under the aegis of Lekki Peninsula Phase 1 Residents Association, had written the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to suspend the planned resumption of toll at the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge and the Lekki-Epe Expressway.

In an open letter to the governor last Tuesday, signed by the Chairman of the association, Yomi Idowu, the residents raised socio-economic reasons and other critical issues that were yet to be addressed which made the decision to recommence tolling unjust, oppressive, and illegal.

The letter read in part: We view with deep concern and trepidation the less than transparent attempt at recommencing tolling activities at the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge, even as matters relating to the #EndSARS protest, which led to the termination of tolling activities in the first place, remain largely unresolved. The issue is compounded by the myriad of issues bedeviling the rationale to toll at this location.

It is against this backdrop that the Lekki Phase 1 Residents Association (LERA) implores the Lagos State Government (LASG) to apply wisdom and shelve its plans to resume toll collection on the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge.

LERA further argued that there were issues of pending court matter; ownership questions and lack of transparency; underdevelopment of the Lekki-Epe corridor; and justice for #ENDSARS victims, that were yet to be addressed by the government, making the recommencing of the toll illegal.

On the pending court matter, LERA argued that the Lekki Concession Company Limited, LCC and Lagos Goverment have continued to use the instrumentality of the law courts to foist hardship on our community.

Lekki Tollgate: Only 4.2m Lagosians are active taxpayers  Govt

We recall that the Federal High Court in Lagos had in the recent past effectively declared the tolling of the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge as illegal and unconstitutional. Lagos State Government characteristically secured an order of stay of execution on the ground that it had appealed the courts decision but has so far failed to prosecute the subject appeal.

With this Sword of Damocles hanging over our community, one expected Lagos State Government to pursue the best interest of its citizenry rather than use the machinery of the state against law-abiding citizens.

Rather than work to seek peace, the State is actively working through LCC to inflict more suffering and hardship on its citizens. It is within this context that we understand that protests are being planned under the banner #NoJusticeNoToll. If the protests happen, the residents and businesses in Lekki will be the most affected, LERA said.

Your Excellency, we feel it is expedient to bring all the above to your attention and to particularly note that the general mood of the people suggests that LCC should refrain from collecting tolls at the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge and the Lekki-Epe Expressway until these fundamental issues are addressed. To do otherwise will be to needlessly stoke the tension which pervades the nation.

We urge Your Excellency to act to exercise maximum restraints at this point and to immediately suspend this planned resumption of tolling at the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge in the overriding interest of peace and order in our community, the letter concluded.

Lagos govt, LCC appeal

Also, ahead of April 1 planned reopening of tolling, the state government and LCC urged residents and stakeholders around Lekki and Ikoyi, to show understanding.

Omotosho and Oladeinde as well as Commissoner for Home Affairs, Prince Anofi Elegushi, made the appeal, during a stakeholders meeting, held at The Lekki Coliseum in Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

They assured residents of the state governments will to look into all the requests and recommendations made by the stakeholders and respond appropriately.

Responding to the key stakeholders who expressed their views about the LCC decision to reopen the Toll Plaza, Omotoso commended the speakers and implored them to show some understanding with the state government.

He said: We are here to seek your understanding as a government about the matter at hand. We are also citizens of Nigeria. We are all Lagosians. I have listened to all of you talking about our rights, privileges and how government should be responsible for everything. I also feel that as citizens, we should have some responsibilities.

Lagos is a city of about 25million people and out of the 25million people there are about six million taxpayers and among six million taxpayers, only 4.2million are active taxpayers.

So, let us reflect on all these things. I know how people feel and I understand what has been said but I believe that the matter at hand is about seeking your understanding. It is a matter of showing some compassion for people who have one thing or another to do with this company.

On the plea to halt the tolling, Omotoso appealed to the residents to consider the number of Lagosians, whose sources of livelihood also depend on the tollgate.

Mr. Macaroni raises alarm over death threat

A popular Nigerian comedian and actor, Mr Debi Adedayo, popularly called, Mr.Macaroni, has raised the alarm over receipt of death threats for objecting to the resumption of tolling at the Lekki tollgate an shared one of such threats.

However, a number of Nigerians objected to it, with many pointing out that the shooting at the Lekki Toll Gate is still fresh in peoples memories and it would be insensitive to open the tollgate.

Mr Macaroni also objected to the resumption of tolling at the Lekki Tollgate.

He then returned to Twitter to share a death threat he got from a Twitter user, who threatened to kill him if he sees him protesting the reopening of the toll gate.

The user wrote: I pray I get hold of him tomorrow at the Toll Gate. I will kill him on sight.

Debo said: This is one of the many threats I receive regularly.
Social activist, Deji Adeyanju, has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo did more than Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu to secure victory for Pres...





Social activist, Deji Adeyanju, has said former President Olusegun Obasanjo did more than Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu to secure victory for President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015.

He said the former President rallied the international community against the then President, Goodluck Jonathan.

He also posited that the former Governor of Rivers and Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, gave more financial support than Tinubu did.

Adeyanju spoke further that a former Governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwakwanso, garnered more votes for the All Progressives Congress (APC) than the former Lagos State Governor.

He opined that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State and others within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the time, did more than the APC national leader for Buhari to unseat Jonathan.

He described as insulting to Buhari and the ruling party, claims that Tinubu made Buhari the nations president in 2015.

He also condemned calls by Tinubus supporters that he should be compensated with the APC presidential ticket because he worked for Buhari in 2015.

It is very insulting to Buhari and even the APC for Tinubus supporters to keep saying he made Buhari president in 2015. Obasanjo did more for Buhari to be president in 2015 than Tinubu by rallying the international community against GEJ. Amaechi brought more money than Tinubu. Kwankwaso brought more votes than Tinubu. Atiku, Amosun, etc.

Even people within GEJs administration who worked against him did more than Tinubu. Sahara Reporters did more than Tinubu to remove GEJ from power.

More insulting is their assertion that Tinubu should be compensated with the destiny of a nation because he worked for Buharis emergence in 2015.

This is why I describe Tinubus supporters as clowns who are only looking for a slave master to enslave Nigerians and politicians the way he is currently enslaving Lagosians and acting like a god there, Adeyanju said in a post on his verified Facebook page.
Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, a Presidential aspirant, has faulted the influence cabals have on leadership. Wike said leader...

Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, a Presidential aspirant, has faulted the influence cabals have on leadership.

Wike said leadership should not be a cabal thing.

He stressed that leadership should not be about secret alliances that make people disconnected from the government.

The PDP Presidential aspirant spoke while meeting some stakeholders of the party in Edo State, NAN reports.

Wike vowed to retrieve power from the All Progressives Congress, APC, if given PDPs presidential ticket.

According to Wike: If youre running in an election, power isnt given for free; it is taken. I have come out and Im going to take this power from APC back to PDP by the grace of God.

There is a need to change the narrative on the disconnect between government and party members.

Leadership should not be a cabal thing.
Only 5% to 6% of the 46 million tons of plastic waste generated annually in the U.S. gets recycled, a big dip from the last estimate of nearly 9% just a few years ago, according to a new study by Beyond Plastics and the Last Beach Cleanup, two environmental groups.

You voted:
The East Bank Regional and West Bank Regional libraries in Jefferson Parish are accepting applications through May 10 from teenagers who want to serve as summer volunteers.

Students ages 13 to 18 are welcome to apply. The application can be found on the librarys website. Applicants must have permission of their parent or guardian, who will sign a disclosure form stating they have approved their childs participation.

Volunteers may be asked to complete any number of tasks, including: shelving of library materials; straightening of library materials on the shelf; or assisting with children's/teen programs, crafts, summer reading program and more.

Volunteers should have knowledge of alphabetical and numerical order, basic use of keyboard and mouse, basic internet and website navigation, as well as the ability to show up on time, understand and follow oral and written directions, work well with others, communicate clearly with staff and customers of all ages and work independently.

The application process applies to teens who want to volunteer at the East Bank Regional or West Bank Regional libraries only. Teens interested in volunteering at other Jefferson Parish Library branches should contact that branch directly.

Applications are not accepted for adult volunteers. However, the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library welcomes adult volunteers. Call (504) 455-2665 or friendsjpl@yahoo.com for more information.

Jefferson Parish Library does not accept court-appointed community service volunteers of any age.

NEW WEBSITE: Check out the librarys new website at jplibrary.net, which goes live Friday. The site has been redesigned and includes many new features that make it easier for patrons to access the programs and services they need.

ROSEDALE BOOK CLUB: A new book club at the Rosedale Library, 4036 Jefferson Highway, focuses on River Lives and Rising Tides: The Ecology, History and Culture of the Mississippi River. Sessions, all at 6:30 on Mondays, and books are:

May 9: "Life on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain

June 13: "Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America" by John Barry

July 11: "Mississippi Solo: A River Quest" by Eddy Harris.

Aug. 15: "Fevre Dream" by George R.R. Martin

Sept. 12: "They Called Us River Rats: The Last Batture Settlement of New Orleans" by Macon Fry.

STARTING STITCHES: The next session of a new program for adults, Starting Stitches, takes place at 6 p.m. April 21 at Belle Terre Library, 5550 Belle Terre Road, Marrero.

It focuses on the basics of quilting, sewing, hand embroidery and more in an informal group-learning environment. Patrons may bring their projects or start a new one.

BEST BANK BOOK CLUB: The group meets from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 20, at the Gretna Library, 102 Willow Drive, Gretna. The book to be discussed is "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman.

COMPUTER CLASSES: Receive free computer training at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie, and at the West Bank Regional Library, 2751 Manhattan Blvd., Harvey.

Seating is limited, and online registration is required. Visit the "Computer Classes" page at jplibrary.net/training and click East Bank Regional Schedule or West Bank Regional Schedule.

Metairie classes include:

One-on-One: 10 a.m. to noon, April 20.

10 a.m. to noon, April 20. Microsoft Word 2: 10 a.m. to noon, April 21.

10 a.m. to noon, April 21. Microsoft Excel 3: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., April 25.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., April 25. 3D Printing: 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., April 25.

6 p.m. to 8 p.m., April 25. One-on-One: 10 a.m. to noon, April 26.

10 a.m. to noon, April 26. Microsoft PowerPoint 2: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., April 27.

2 p.m. to 4 p.m., April 27. JPL Digital Content: 10 a.m. to noon, April 28.

10 a.m. to noon, April 28. One-on-One: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., April 29.

Upcoming Harvey classes include:

Microsoft PowerPoint 2: 10 a.m. to noon, April 22.

10 a.m. to noon, April 22. Beginner Computer: 10 a.m. to noon, April 26.

10 a.m. to noon, April 26. Microsoft Excel: 10 a.m. to noon, April 29.

Chris Smith is manager of adult programming at the Jefferson Parish Public Library.
A federal magistrate judge ordered this week the unsealing of a former student's years-old civil rights lawsuit against Isidore Newman School involving allegations that a classmate sexually assaulted her, with redactions for names of minors.

In a court filing released Thursday and dated April 13, U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael North ordered the case docket partially unsealed and made available for public view, though he gave attorneys for Newman and the student a few weeks to share their proposed redactions with one another. Once everyone agrees on redactions, North wrote that he will order the "remainder of the record unsealed."

North's ruling came after The Times-Picayune | The Advocate intervened in the case late last year and asserted that the public should be able to access some, if not all, of the court record. North's order noted that the former Newman student who is the plaintiff in the case has made two attempts to have the case unsealed as well. But those attempts had remained hidden in the court file until now.

North granted the newspaper's petition for intervention on Jan. 26. North allowed the newspaper's attorneys, Scott Sternberg and Suzy Montero, to review the court record and determine which documents the newspaper sought to unseal. Though the lawyers were allowed to examine documents in the case, they were barred from discussing or sharing the case file with newspaper staff while they reviewed it.

Few details about the lawsuit have been publicly known.

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Police and criminal court records show that in 2017, a female student reported to law enforcement that a male classmate had digitally penetrated her, fondled her and kissed her without her consent off campus. Both students were 17 at the time of the incident.

Several months passed until someone summoned police to Newman's campus on Oct. 24, 2017 and reported a sexual battery. Police booked the male student with felony sexual battery, and he later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor sexual battery.

Then in 2018, the female student filed suit against her alma mater. The male student who pleaded guilty in her case and his family were also listed as defendants in the publicly available case docket. But North's order references a settlement agreement between them and says their names should be redacted in the unsealed records "in accordance with the settlement agreement to which the plaintiff agreed." North also referred to the male student and his family as "former parties."

That leaves Newman as the remaining defendant in the case, though North also ordered that an attorney for the male student and his family should review the pleadings and propose redactions, too.

North ordered that the attorneys involved must redact names and identifying information of every person referenced in the lawsuit who is not a party to the case and who was a minor "at the time of the underlying events." He also said that any allegations involving "then-minors that are unrelated to the specific allegations at the foundation of this specific case" should be redacted as well.
By Niu Xiaocheng, Su Yuya and Sun Xingwei

Chinese military doctor examines the patient.

On November 26, 2021, the 6th medical expert team sent by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to Laos to provide medical assistance arrived in the Lao capital Vientiane to start 6-month medical support, clinical teaching and academic exchanges at the Military Hospital 103 of the Lao People's Army (LPA).

Since arriving in Vientiane, the military medical experts from China have completed a number of major and difficult surgical operations, making multiple firsts in Lao history of medicine. Their excellent medical technology and sincere dedication have won recognition from the local people.

In February this year, a 36-year-old Lao pregnant woman paralyzed by high cervical intraspinal tumor, which could threaten her life at any time, asked for help from the Chinese military medical expert team at the Military Hospital 103 of the Lao People's Army. After careful consultation and full preparation, the Chinese military medical experts performed a 3-hour surgery operation on her. The operation succeeded and both the mother and child were doing well. The woman said excitedly: "The superb medical skills of the Chinese military doctors not only made me stand up again but also protected my child and fulfilled my dream of becoming a mother."

Li Liang, one of the Chinese PLA medical expert team, completed the operation of ultra-early subcutaneous preservation of a large-area autologous bone flap and cranial replantation on a man who accidentally fell from a height and got severe traumatic brain injury and was in critical condition. The patient recovered well from the deadly injury. The successful surgery was the first of its kind in the local hospitals.

The Chinese medical expert team once treated a 67-year-old Lao female patient. The scrawny old woman suffered from long-term pain, and once had thoughts of committing suicide. After detailed inquiries about symptoms and medical history, the expert team confirmed that her physical symptoms was caused by the psychic trauma stemming from a car accident she had experienced. Military doctor Si Rui of the expert team gave the old woman cardiovascular and psychological treatment at the same time. Three days later, the patient's sleep and appetite improved significantly. She gained weight and also the hope for life. The diagnosis and treatment method achieved good results and aroused the strong interest of Lao doctors. Afterward, the Chinese experts were invited to lecture on this subject and give on-site instructions in teaching ward rounds in the Military Hospital 103 of the Lao People's Army (LPA).

China and Laos are socialist friendly neighbors and an unbreakable community with a shared future. Over the years, China and Laos have always had the same heart and sincere friendship. In this regard, members of the Chinese expert team said that they will continue to help improve the medical level of Laos, and make new contributions to deepening the exchanges and cooperation in medical services between the Chinese and Lao militaries.
Louisiana United Methodist Children and Family Services has now officially moved in and opened the doors to the newly completed Methodist Children's Home of Southeast Louisiana in Loranger.

The state-of-the-art facility marks a milestone in a journey that began in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina forced the closure of the Methodist Home for Children of New Orleans. The facility bought 126 acres in Tangipahoa Parish to rebuild and, in 2018, launched a hallmark capital campaign to establish a new residential treatment facility in southeast Louisiana east of Hammond.

"The absolute joy and excitement on our boys' faces when they walked into their new home was moving. Some have never had a bedroom of their own before coming into our care. They were excited about decorating their rooms and the hallways with superheroes or computer game figures," said Sarah Head, director of development and public relations at the children's home.

"They also toured the new classrooms with smartboards and colorful teaching tools, and on every hall, they found a recreation room with TVs, video games, and board games. The children explored the large dining hall where they were greeted by kitchen staff who will create homemade meals with love," added Head.

Before moving, children stayed in leased space on the north shore with little room to play. The new facility, east of Hammond, includes a 32-bed dormitory, cafeteria, classrooms, 24-hour nursing clinic, administrative and clinical offices, a playground and recreation rooms. The new, larger home allows the program to increase its capacity from 17 to 32 children with an active care plan for each. With children completing treatment in four to nine months, the new Methodist Children's Home of Southeast Louisiana will care for up to 100 children per year in this first building on the campus.

The home has met $8 million of its $10 million fundraising goal, according to Capital Campaign Committee Chair Billy James, leaving just under $2 million to raise in this construction But with much of the 126 acres still undeveloped, the group does not plan to stop there.

"Because it's so conveniently located among a large portion of the population, we see this facility developing into a southeast Louisiana hub  a campus on which the organization's many community-based services can be found alongside the Children's Home," James said. Plans include a regional Methodist Foster Care and Life Skills Training building, equine therapy center, and chapel.

There will be a public grand opening in June.
A 19-year-old man was killed in a shooting late Thursday in the Old Aurora area of Algiers, New Orleans police said.

The shooting was reported to police at 9:45 p.m. in the 3700 block of Mansfield Avenue (map).

The injured man has been shot multiple times, police said, and was taken to a hospital, where he later died. His name has not been released.

No other details were immediately available, including a possible motive or a description of the shooter.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the man's age.
The endangered ivory-billed woodpecker, which has been seen so sparingly in the past century that the federal government dubbed it extinct, may not be wiped out after all.

A group of ornithologists from Project Principalis and the National Aviary claim the woodpecker was spotted in an undisclosed Louisiana location as recently as last October, a month after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the bird should be removed from the endangered species list and considered extinct.

Their study, which has not been peer-reviewed, is the result of a years-long search during which the authors claim to have seen the elusive bird dozens of times and to have captured it in multiple trail camera and drone photos.

"Our findings, and the inferences drawn from them, suggest an increasingly hopeful future for the ivory-billed woodpecker," the authors wrote.

With a distinct black and white plumage and ivory bill, the woodpecker has long captured the public's attention. It was in part the inspiration for Walter Lantz Woody the Woodpecker character, which he dreamed up in 1940 after the bird supposedly disrupted his California honeymoon.

But its population has dwindled since the 1930s, largely because of the destruction of its forest habitat and increased pursuit from hunters and collectors. A nationwide search in the 1930s resulted in just 22 birds spotted in Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana; in 1944, the bird was seen in Madison Parish near Tallulah.

A third 2005 sighting in Central Arkansas has been widely debated, and other claimed sightings over the years have failed to meet the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's evidence standards, which require submission of clear photographs, feathers or other specimens.

In September, the woodpecker was included in a list of 23 species that the Fish and Wildlife Service said should be considered lost. The agency held a virtual public hearing about its decision in January, but has yet to finalize it and officially remove the bird from the endangered species list. A spokesperson for the wildlife service declined to comment this week on the new study, saying the agency has yet to review it.

"A final decision has not been made on the September 2021 proposal to delist the species due to extinction. We are currently reviewing information submitted and will base our final determination on the best available science," said Vanessa Kauffman.

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Project Principalis researchers used a variety of techniques to find the elusive woodpecker, including "slowly moving reconnaissance, sitting in place, and stakeouts of key areas, points, or cavities," they said. Researchers said skilled observers spotted ivory-billed woodpeckers more than a dozen times, but failed to capture them in high-quality images.

Instead, the report features images from trail cameras and drones placed strategically near trees that scientists suspected the woodpeckers had frequented.

In an interview this week, Steven Latta, director of conservation and field research at the National Aviary, said those photos are grainy because they were taken from a long distance and in the early, sometimes foggy, morning when the woodpecker was most actively foraging.

He said he has no doubt that the creatures captured in photos are ivory-billed woodpeckers.

We felt as scientists we had a responsibility to make this information public now, Latta said. The ivory-billed woodpecker is such an iconic bird, and the question of whether or not it exists has engendered strong opinions on both sides for decades, he said, noting he hopes releasing an early version of his study would foster respectful and informed discussion.

In the last week, that much has proven true. John Dillon, the president of the Louisiana Ornithological Society, was hardly convinced by the new photos.

If nobody told me I was looking at a woodpecker, Id have thought it was a limb," he said.

Dillon said the birds in the photos were likely pileated woodpeckers, birds that look very similar to the ivory-billed woodpecker but have a smaller, darker bill and a white throat. Dillon said this is the case with many of the photos he is sent by birders who claim to have spotted the rare bird.

They kind of all look like the other supposed photos that Ive seen, he said. Id love there to be irrefutable evidence, but this is not irrefutable evidence.
Despite a dire warning from Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration that it could grind local government to a halt, New Orleans City Council members on Thursday advanced a proposal to require mayors to receive their approval to hire department chiefs.

If approved by the full council as soon as next week, the city charter amendment proposed by council President Helena Moreno and Vice President JP Morrell would appear on the ballot Nov. 8.

The amendment mirrors the U.S. Senates confirmation process for presidential appointees, and supporters say it would add accountability to municipal government. Detractors say it will insert delays and Washington, D.C.-style political games into the hiring process.

A tense moment

The proposal comes at a time of ratcheting tension between the new council and Cantrell over everything from roadwork to short-term rental regulation. While Morrell insisted it isnt directed at Cantrell, he also spoke bluntly about the public's attitude toward City Hall.

We have a crisis in government right now, a crisis in confidence, Morrell said told the council's governmental affairs committee. The people of this city feel there is a disconnect between the city government itself and the needs and the pleas of the people it serves.

The amendment would subject, to a City Council vote, any person appointed by the mayor or chief administrative officer to lead any city office, commission or board recognized in the charter. It would not apply to department heads already in place, Morrell said.

Morrell said such a rule might have prevented the bribery scandal under former Mayor Ray Nagin involving Greg Meffert, who was the Nagin administration's chief technology officer. Morrell also pointed to the more recent example of Peter Bowen, the short-term rental executive tasked by Cantrell with regulating his former industry until his drunken driving arrest.

Baltimore, Seattle, Tampa, Florida, and other cities already give their city councils similar authority, Morrell said. Jefferson Parish also gives its council confirmation authority for some administrative posts.

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A 'dysfunctional' plan?

However, Cantrells deputy chief of staff, Jabarie Walker, warned that the amendment could lead to dire consequences. Mayoral appointments would be subjected to political stunts, said Walker, who cited comments by former Mayor Marc Morial.

And potential appointees might walk away from job offers, he said.

This would send the wrong message to residents. This would sent the wrong message to the federal government, said Walker, arguing that it would put federal grants in danger. We have great opportunities to do some transformative stuff there. Theyre watching, the public is watching, investors are watching. We cannot create a dysfunctional level of local government.

Moreover, Walker raised fears that the appointment process could lead to vacancies in top posts during emergencies such as hurricanes.

Anticipating that objection, Morrell said he will amend the proposal to let mayors make 120-day interim appointments. If this council cannot meet within 120 days to confirm someone, it probably means we are in the middle of a nuclear holocaust or zombie apocalypse, he said.

Council concerns

Two committee members said they had reservations about the proposal. Eugene Green, the sole vote against it, said he worried the council would lose its leverage to criticize appointees whom it has confirmed, and Joe Giarrusso echoed that concern and Walkers fear of politicizing the process.

Yet in the end, Giarrusso voted with Morrell and Freddie King III in favor of the amendment. Ultimately where I am going to shake out is the public can decide, thumbs up or thumbs down, he said.
New Orleans has yet to dedicate federal stimulus funds towards a new substation that would power the city's drainage system, potentially jeopardizing the chance that the facility will be available for any part of the 2023 hurricane season despite City Council orders aimed at pressing the issue.

City officials told council members Thursday that they remain committed to building the Sewerage & Water Board substation, a project that would allow Entergy to power the city's system of pumps in place of the S&WB's aging turbines and backup generators. But they are still exploring how to pay for it after Entergy pulled out of a deal they made with the city.

Ordinances passed by the City Council in February ordered Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration to deposit $30 million into a special fund to kick off the project. But that hasn't been done yet, according to Norman White, the city's chief financial officer.

During the hearing Thursday, White and Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montano argued that the council ordinance was essentially an unfunded mandate and that the first tranche of federal relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, which the council wants to use for the substation, have already been dedicated to other pressing city needs.

Montano said that unless the city carves $30 million from other projects, looking toward alternative financing plans could make more sense.

The intent is not to skirt the ordinance or the intention of the ordinance, I think the intent is to find a solution in the fastest amount of time," he said.

Montano didnt provide specifics on what the other financing options might look like, or how quickly the city could secure the money. Frustrated council members said the ordinances they passed in February were clear.

I appreciate that you want to look at financing options, but financing is not an option under this ordinance, said Council Vice President JP Morrell. This ordinance contemplates a direct transfer of funds.

Morrell and District A Council member Joe Giarrusso, who authored the ordinances, said they would be willing to look for other items in the budget to slash now in order to make the first payment on the substation, with an eye toward backfilling those cuts later on whenever the second batch of federal recovery cash arrives.

We all agree that this is a priority, Morrell said. If we don't do this and we shirk our duty and the substation is delayed and the city floods, that is on us. That is on the council and that is on the mayor if this doesn't get done.

When completed, the substation would take the burden of keeping the citys pumps humming off of the S&WB's turbines. S&WB Executive Director Ghassan Korban has said that relying primarily on Entergy power, through a dedicated substation, would make the system more resilient. The S&WB's turbines would still be maintained after the substation was put in place, but would be used as a backup power source.

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Entergy New Orleans, which will build and operate the substation, originally offered to finance $34 million of the substation's $74 million cost under a plan that would have seen the S&WB paying the money back over several years. The city committed $22 million from a bond issue and $20 million in state construction financing for the project.

Yet the deal for the Entergy portion of the substation's cost fell apart after Hurricane Ida, with the utility citing threats to its financial stability.

Theres no chance the substation will go online this year, but in a best-case scenario construction could be finished by the waning days of the 2023 hurricane season.

I just dont want slippage, Giarrusso said. We passed a law. Whether anybody likes it or not, the law needs to be hewed to. I think its important to make sure this gets funded so were meeting our deadlines.

For the substation to have any shot at being up and running by October 2023, Entergy has estimated that the city will need to make a payment of $15 million by May 1.

That timeline calls for work to begin in August 2022. A second, $15 million payment would be made by February 2023 in order to pave the way for a target completion date in October of that year.

White said the city has already appropriated all of the relief money from the first tranche of funds. According to Montano, the city is set to receive a second tranche of federal funds at some point, but the exact date is unclear.

The money could come at the end of May or later in the summer. With that level of uncertainty, the city is exploring other financing options, Montano said.

White said he would be glad to work with council members on the best way to shift money around, but the city would have to exercise caution to ensure that cuts to projects now can be restored with federal money later on.

Ultimately, the city may settle on using the next batch of federal money, especially if it arrives in a timely fashion, Montano said.

"I think the mayor's goal, our collective goal, is to get it done as soon as possible," he said.
Editor's note: This editorial, with slight modifications, has appeared on previous Good Fridays in this newspaper.

Good Friday, the most solemn day in the Christian church, is an occasion to reflect on the suffering that often touches the human experience, and how that suffering connects us with each other  and with the wider currents of history.

Pain is such a universal human experience that Good Friday's observances also can resonate with those of other faiths, and with those who claim no religious faith.

The biblical story of a great religious teacher nailed to a cross is a reminder of how the Roman Empire handled political dissent. The ancient Roman authorities used crucifixion not only to punish common criminals, but also as a means to silence those who refused to conform to the empire's wishes.

The biblical account of the crucifixion is so horrible that we'd like to believe humanity no longer has a capacity for such cruelty. Sadly, though, political oppression and torture remain all too common today.

To read the headlines from Syria, a place not too far from the land Jesus walked 2,000 years ago, is to be reminded that in many ways, not much has changed in the human character since the days of Caesar. The leaders of that benighted land "won" their civil war at vast cost to their people. Russia's military contributed to that cause with vicious shelling of civilian targets.

Illness and death are not that far away this holy season, although this year there is much less suffering from the coronavirus pandemic. Just as it was last year, though, the life-threatening illnesses remain with us. If the spirit of the Easter season can motivate more people to get vaccinated here in Louisiana, where rates are far too low, then the combating of suffering  perhaps the definition of life  can be advanced this year.

Real combat, though, is on the minds of Americans. The people of Ukraine are fighting for their national aspirations against an aggressor, and the cruelty of missiles and artillery shells unleashed on homes and apartments, train stations and civilian offices, shows that Syria was one of the Russian military's training grounds in frightfulness. Perhaps the only grace in all that is the courage of the defenders, although there are persistent reports of conscript soldiers leaving the Russian ranks when the going gets tough. But things were always tougher on the victims.

In such a world, the message of burdens, and sharing, should have special meaning.

In a broader sense, Good Friday acknowledges suffering in all its forms. As Christians are fond of saying, we all have our crosses to bear, which is a wise recognition that most lives will, in some way, be touched with pain. Human history includes many stories of pain, but it also is touched by numerous examples of those who have channeled their suffering into something noble and instructive.

Today, our thoughts and prayers are with suffering souls in our community and throughout the world  lives touched by sickness of body or spirit, by crime or war, by hunger or hopelessness.

Good Friday is a day to remember the human capacity not only to endure suffering, but to transcend it.
If you see Demetric Mercadel or Michael Bagneris at Jazz Fest this year, you might want to greet them with an Oink.

They have succeeded, at least for now, in blocking a change in the rules whereby they claimed they would be irreparably harmed. The dire threat they faced is having to pay their own way just like you and me.

Mercadel and Bagneris, as former Jazz Fest Foundation presidents, have each been entitled to a lifetime of freebies worth many thousands of dollars a year.

It is now for the courts to decide whether to spit in the public's eye by making an injunction permanent that forces the Foundation board to keep handing each former president 70 free and 100 half-price admission tickets every year. The daily price of admission at the gate this year is $90. The privileged few also get free parking and watch performers from the wings of the major stages.

It is hard to imagine an American court perpetuating such a rip-off. It is also hard to see why the Foundation board felt justified in leaving these expensive privileges in place until the current board, headed by David Francis, took over.

Presidents are limited to two years each after being elevated from some other executive position, so there is no shortage of Jazz Fest freeloaders around. Foundation board members have all been aware of the delights to follow if they made their way to the top, so it is possible that elections involved an element of self interest.

There used to be some pretense that past presidents might still be of some use, because they automatically joined a senate that was billed as advisory, which generally means superfluous. Sure enough, the senate was abolished several years ago without any perceptible effect on fest operations.

Bagneris became fest foundation president in 2000, so the rule change will mean quite a wrench for him after two decades of living high on the hog gratis. Mercadel took over as president in 2014.

Bagneris' suit is identical in its demands with Mercadel's, according to the foundation board's response. Mercadel's suit argues that the case involves a private, sensitive subject matter that deserves to be protected from public scrutiny.

The public isn't likely to agree. The fest foundation may not be a governmental body, but it is, as a nonprofit, tax-exempt, and is dependent on what fans pay to attend the fest. It also solicits donations on its website, so it's high time we knew about its former prodigal ways.

Had Mercadel and Bagneris not been so greedy and shameless as to file suit, we would still be in the dark.

Judges never seem slow with a sealing order. In this case Mercadel and Bagneris got their way, and the public got the finger, from their honors Nicole Sheppard and Omar Mason respectively.

Bagneris used to be a civil court judge himself, so he must have known the truth would come out sooner or later. Perhaps he was surprised that the foundation's put all we need to know on the public record so promptly, but sealing the relevant parts of the record was always going to prove futile. In the end, it just put Mercadel and Bagneris in worse odor.

Email James Gill at gill504nola@gmail.com.
Community Healthcare System has resumed open interviews for a wide variety of positions.

The health care system, one of the largest in Northwest Indiana, is seeking to fill both full- and part-time positions at sites across the Calumet Region.

People can come in for open interviews from 1 to 3 p.m. every Thursday at Community Hospital/CHS Conference Center at 9201 Calumet Ave. in Munster; St. Catherine Hospital at 4321 Fir St. in East Chicago; St. Mary Medical Center at 1500 S. Lake Park Ave. in Hobart; and Community Stroke & Rehabilitation Center at 10215 Broadway in Crown Point.

Job seekers will be asked about their education and employment history. No appointment is needed.

For more information, visit COMHS.org/careers.

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Franciscan Health Crown Point was awarded for excellence in its efforts to improve care for infants exposed to opioids in the womb.

The hospital in Crown Point earned a Center of Excellence in Education and Training for Infants and Families Affected by Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome designation from the Vermont Oxford Network.

It recognizes that at least 85% of the hospital's multidisciplinary care teams participating in the Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Collaborative: Improving Care to Improve Outcomes program had gotten universal training for care of neonatal abstinence syndrome.

That's a drug withdrawal syndrome infants suffer if they were exposed to opioids while in utero, which has become more common during the national opioid epidemic. Babies with NAS are prone to have low birth weight, feeding difficulty, respiratory complications and extended hospital stays.

I am proud of our staff for embracing this learning opportunity to improve outcomes in our neonatal patients exposed to substances in utero, said Carrie Renschen, director of the Family Birth Center at Franciscan Health Crown Point.

Vermont Oxford Network specializes in data-driven quality improvement for newborn care, leading initiatives to help caregivers for infants. It teamed up with the Indiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative to offer 52 hospitals across the Hoosier State universal training that aims to reduce the length of hospital stays, lessen the duration of pharmacologic treatment and improve family satisfaction. It's an effort to standardize care policies based on evidence-based practices.

A total of 16 hospitals across Indiana earned the designation of excellence that Franciscan Health Crown Point received.

Congratulations to all the care teams across the state of Indiana who have shown how dedicated the state is to caring for this vulnerable population affected by the national opioid epidemic, said Jeffrey Horbar, chief executive and scientific officer of VON.

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MICHIGAN CITY  Franciscan Health Michigan City plans to offer free screenings and health information at barber shops across the city.

The Franciscan hospital will have a presence at Sharpers Image at 5150 Franklin St. in Meijer, Marvelous Cuts at 4327 Franklin St.t and Platinum Designs at 1801 Franklin St. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 30. It's part of the 10th annual Indiana Black Barbershop Health Initiative.

This marks the 10th year anniversary of the IBBHI, and I am so excited that Franciscan Health Michigan City is the host this year. I am grateful for all the partners that are a part of such a great initiative for Michigan City, said Franciscan Health Michigan City Community Health Improvement Coordinator Nila Williams.

Black-owned barbershops in 15 communities across Indiana will seek to educate the public about health, wellness and chronic diseases.

The idea behind the initiative is to reach people through black-owned barber shops, a trusted cultural institution in the African-American community.

People can get screened for blood pressure, body mass index and blood glucose at the barber shops that day.

African-American males are our focus, but women can also be screened. We want to encourage them to get screened and always remember to see their primary care doctor regularly. The goal is to enlighten African-American men to better understand cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, health wellness through screening and education and the importance of prostate health, Williams said.

For more information, email Nila.Williams@franciscanalliance.org.

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Like Cleveland-Cliffs, ArcelorMittal is betting big on hot-briquetted iron.

The Luxembourg-based steelmaker, which has its North American headquarters in Schererville, reached a deal to buy an 80% stake in Voestalpines HBI plant in Corpus Christi, Texas, with Voestalpine retaining the remaining 20%.

The deal values the plant at $1 billion.

This is a compelling strategic acquisition for our company," ArcelorMittal CEO Aditya Mittal said. "It accelerates both our progression into producing high-quality metallic feedstock for (electric arc furnaces) and our global decarbonization journey. The facility is world-class and is ideally located, with its own deep-water port. There is also unused land on the site which provides interesting options for further development."

Austrian-based Voestalpine built the plant in 2016. It can make 2 million tons a year of HBI, a reduction of iron ore that's used as a feedstock in electric arc furnaces and blast furnaces, where it reduces coke consumption and lowers the carbon footprint.

Cleveland-Cliffs has been investing heavily in HBI, building a $1 billion plant in Toledo. It now uses the feedstock in all seven of its blast furnaces, including those in Northwest Indiana.

ArcelorMittal, which maintains a global research and development center in East Chicago even after unloading most of its Northwest Indiana mills, plans to use the HBI to supply Voestalpines steel mills in Donawitz and Linz, Austria, third parties and its own steel mills. It will, for instance, supply AM/NS Calvert in Alabama when its new 1.5 million ton per year electric arc furnace comes online.

The Texas facility employs more than 270 people and sits on a shipping channel that allows the raw material to be shipped by boat to Europe and the Americas. It uses natural gas to reduce iron ore pellets into HBI, which has been touted as more environmentally friendly than coke, a form of coal that's burned in blast furnaces.

ArcelorMittal is now investing $5.6 billion in four different direct reduced iron projects that are expected to lower its carbon emissions by 19.5 million tons, or about 4.2 million cars being driven for a year.

ArcelorMittal is already one of the worlds largest producers of DRI," Mittal said. "This acquisition will further strengthen our position and guarantee the security of supply to AM/NS Calvert, while our experience will bring significant value to the asset."

The steelmaker aims to reduce carbon emissions by 25% by 2030.

"DRI is a feedstock which has a very important role to play in our decarbonization ambitions, as we have announced plans to construct DRI facilities at several sites across Europe and in Canada," Mittal said.

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For years, offices, banks, casinos and other employers have sought to be named among Indiana's top workplaces, an accolade that can be helpful with recruitment and retention.

Now the Indiana Chamber of Commerce is rolling out a similar program specifically for the Hoosier State's many manufacturing businesses.

The Indianapolis-based chamber is rolling out the Indianas Best Places to Work in Manufacturing awards program to "celebrate manufacturers who are treating their employees well."

Manufacturing companies have until July to enroll in the statewide competition.

With Indiana being the most manufacturing intensive state in the country, we want to focus on that industry and honor those employers who are going above and beyond to support their workers, which helps build strong communities, says Indiana Chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar.

The chamber first launched its Best Places to Work in Indiana awards, handed out every year in a swanky Indianapolis ballroom, in 2006. The aim is to aid employee recruitment efforts and boost morale.

"Manufacturing workplaces must adhere to various safety and other regulations," Brinegar said. "This program is tailored to the manufacturing environment and we look forward to recognizing these honorees for all they do for their workers and to advance the state's economy."

All participating companies will get feedback based on employee surveys that will help them identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities to build a better workplace.

The deadline to apply is July 29. Winners will be notified in October and the awards will be publicly announced at a ceremony in Indianapolis on Dec. 14.

For more information, visit www.indianachamber.com/bestmanufacturers.

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EAST CHICAGO  Like many steelmakers these days, Cleveland-Cliffs is working to reduce its carbon footprint to combat climate change.

The Cleveland-based steelmaker just shuttered two coke batteries and is burning more hot briquetted iron instead of coke, a purified form of coal, in its blast furnaces. Cleveland-Cliffs is working to lessen its environmental impact, CEO, President and Chairman Lourenco Goncalves said during a tour of Indiana Harbor Works in East Chicago this week.

"Everything we do has an environmental component," he said. "For instance, we put a $1 billion investment in a HBI plant in Toledo, Ohio. When you put that inside a blast furnace, it's already reduced. There's no oxygen. It's already metallic. You don't need coke to reduce it. So when you put this inside the blast furnace you don't put the coke. Coke is carbon. If I'm using a lot of HBI, I'm not using as much coke. Less coke means less CO2, less CO2 less emissions."

Cleveland-Cliffs also had to modify its North Shore plant in Minnesota to produce HBI-grade iron ore pellets.

"It was another $100 million just to produce the feedstock," he said. "It's all environmental. Putting in the equipment to monitor the emissions gets the headlines in the press but that costs $10,000. This HBI is beautiful. It's the real deal. It's what makes the air cleaner."

All seven Cleveland-Cliffs blast furnaces, including the one in East Chicago and two in Burns Harbor, now are fed with HBI.

"When you're using HBI, you're using a lot less coke," he said. "We have already shut down the coke ovens in Middletown and in West Virginia, at Mountain State Carbon. We shut down two coke plants. We have the same number of blast furnaces and two fewer coke batteries. We do not need as much coke."

The steel industry, one of the biggest carbon emitters in the globe according to multiple studies, often suffers from a negative perception about its impact on the environment, Goncalves said.

"Every time there's smoke, people complain that's Indiana Harbor. That's probably steam," he said. "This is not an Excel spreadsheet. This is a complex industrial operation. We love the environment, we know what to do not to pollute the place and we're investing a lot of money to make sure we're taking care of the environment."

The company also remains focused on its local operations in the Midwest, Goncalves said.

"I'm interested in the Midwest," Goncalves said. "In the Midwest, you can have everything. This HBI plant is in Ohio. I can use my pellets from Minnesota. They can come the same way we used to send pellets to blast furnaces, by vessel, by lakers."

Some of the company's largest operations are along the lakeshore in Northwest Indiana.

"In Indiana, you guys need to understand how important you are," he said. "You are so important and you don't realize that. It's like a horse. If a horse knew how strong it was, it would never allow someone on top. That's Indiana. You guys are so important to make America relevant."

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Merrillville-based RockaBlock was named Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year by the Indiana Small Business Development Center.

The clothing company at 81 W. 78th Place in the Liberty Square Shopping Center in Merrillville will be honored with the award at a 3 p.m. ceremony May 5. It's part of Indiana SBDCs Small Business Week celebration.

The SBDC said the award "honors a minority-owned Indiana SBDC client business that demonstrates success, community impact and positive contributions to the economic growth of the Hoosier state."

Being named Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year is truly an honor," owner Rockland Page said. "It lets me know that all my hard work isnt in vain and that what Im doing is making a difference in my community.

Page is a graphic designer who worked for the Chicago Tribune, Ebony and Jet before launching his fashion business in Merrillville. Last year, he won first place at Purdue University Northwest's Big Sell competition with an augmented reality T-shirt that will bring history to life.

He came up with an idea to use AR technology and voice actors to dramatize his shop's Freedom Fighters shirt that features Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois.

Specializing in "inspiring shirts for inspired people," Rockablock sells T-shirts like "All Of This Matters," "Summer Body Loading," "Hip Hop Tarts," "Thigh Kingdom Come" "#Beardlove" and "SPIndiana," which features a DJ's turntable over a silhouette of the Hoosier State.

Rockablock also has skateboards, patches and a line of enamel pins such as "Not Today Karen," "Viva La Viv" and a Freedom Fighters series.

For more information, visit www.rockablock.com or call 219-472-8483.

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Grandmaster Flash will play a free show at the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana.

The pioneering DJ and rapper, whose group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was the first hip hop act to be inaugurated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, will perform at 10:30 p.m. on May 14 at the Hard Rock Cafe Stage at the casino at 5400 W. 29th St. in Gary.

"Emerging from the South Bronx in the early 1970s, Grandmaster Flash is inarguably one of Hip Hops original innovators," the Hard Rock Casino said in a press release. "In the earliest days of the genre, he manipulated music by placing his fingers on the vinyl, perfected beat looping and discovered many of the most iconic beats still commonly sampled today. Its no surprise that The New York Times calls him Hip Hops first virtuoso. Today, hes the voice of an entire generation of 1970s hip hop pioneers. From his electric live shows to his production role on Netflix 'The Get Down,' Grandmaster Flash is at once a historian, a storyteller and a cultural force."

Robert Randolph & The Family Band will serve as an opening act, playing the Hard Rock Cafe Stage at 9 p.m. that night. It's also a free show.

"Robert Randolph & The Family Band first gained national attention with the release of their debut album, Live at the Wetlands in 2002," Hard Rock Casino said in a press release. "The band followed with three studio recordings over the next eight years; Unclassified, Colorblind, and We Walk This Road; which, together with tireless touring and unforgettable performances at such festivals as Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, won them a very passionate fan base.

Fletcher Rockwell also will perform at the Council Oak Bar Stage at 8 p.m. on May 14.

"With classic Americana-tinged rock & roll steeped in the blue-collar charm of their hometown, Chicagos Fletcher Rockwell has been building a loyal fanbase throughout the Midwest since 2009," Hard Rock Casino said in a press release. "While widely known for their original songs, the group is also revered for clever versions of the most popular cover music, spanning everything from vintage Tom Petty, Paul Simon and Talking Heads to contemporary roots revivalists Chris Stapleton, Dawes and Mumford & Sons."

For more information, visit hardrockcasinonorthernindiana.com.

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CROWN POINT  Over the last few months, several people and organizations in the Region have donated and spread awareness about the ongoing war in Ukraine.

However, for Lake Street Elementary teacher Tiffany Markham, that was not enough. She wanted to help Ukrainians directly.

Its really crucial to advocate to those who dont have a voice. And what better way to do it than a school, where we advocate for children every day, Markham said.

Markham, along with Lake Street staff and students, hosted a drive last week where they collected more than 50 suitcases of items. There were more than 1,000 items donated total. Markham will bring the supplies to orphanages, refugee camps and foster villages in Poland at the end of this month.

Items included educational games, vitamins, clothing, hygiene supplies and more. Markham said she asked families to donate things students at Lake Street would typically use.

The Lake Street family responded ready to help. Weve had an amazing donation turnout, Markham said.

She was especially surprised at the amount of support the Lake Street community showed, as the drive was right after spring break and there was only a few times it was promoted.

Markhams trip to Poland is through an organization known as Force For Christ, which hosts orphans from European countries with families in the United States in the summer and winter. Markhams family hosted a child from Ukraine prior to the war and she heard from their foster family when violence broke out.

The family she hosted was dealing with bombings and was struggling. After they were able to find safety, she wanted to help others.

I knew we needed to do something. I reconnected with Force For Christ and have been helping and advocating for them, she said.

Markham will go with a team to Poland and will take as much as she can, but anything additional will be brought by additional Force For Christ members in later weeks.

She also said some items will be brought to Ukraine, but their team will not go directly.

Bryce and Keith Keller, two students at Lake Street, were excited to donate to the drive. They donated chalk, vitamins, paints and several other items.

Keith, a fourth-grader, said they wanted to help out the children in Ukraine, especially since he felt that children deserve to have a good childhood.

Its not fair and I know its hard for them, Keith said.

Although the drive is over, those who are still interested in donating can provide supplies or monetary support at Groens Furniture in Dyer or at The Den in Crown Point.

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GARY  An autopsy determined 23-year-old Ariana Taylor died from injuries consistent with trauma from a car accident complicated with drowning, Lake County Coroner David Pastrick said.

The autopsy was completed Thursday by Forensic Pathologist Dr. Zhou Wang. The manner of death was classified as an accident, the report said.

The Lake County Coroner's office released a statement Thursday evening, sending their condolences to the family and thanking all involved in the woman's search and recovery.

Taylor was found and identified Wednesday following an extensive search.

She was last seen about 1 a.m. April 3 at her Calumet Township residence by her family and friends, and was first reported missing April 3 after the Chevrolet Trailblazer she was known to drive was found crashed at the bottom of a ravine off Interstate 65, near the overpass for Interstate 80.

Gary police Cmdr. Jack Hamady previously said evidence police gathered in the past week led them to believe that Taylor's body was likely still in the area where her vehicle was found.

Northwest Indiana K-9 Search and Rescue brought five teams of dogs to the area near Bellaboo's Play and Discovery Center on Wednesday and found Taylor's remains after 21 minutes of searching, he said.

The Lake County coroner's office was able to positively identify Taylor within hours. Pastrick said Taylor was identified by both of her parents, who met with his investigators at the scene.

Taylor's remains were found in a shallow drainage ditch, which would not have been accessible to the search parties that previously combed the area because of a fence, Hamady said.

One of the K-9s picked up a scent and led officers to the body. Police declined to comment on the condition of the remains, including Taylor's clothing.

Indiana State Police and Gary officers had blocked off an entrance to Bellaboo's in the 2800 block of Colorado Street as a Lake County coroner's van and Lake County Sheriff's Department Crime Scene Investigation Unit vehicles responded to the scene.

Evans and Hamady each spoke with Taylor's mother, Queena Taylor, near where the road was blocked. Gary Mayor Jerome Prince asked the public to show compassion for Taylor's family and pray for them.

Lake County sheriff's police, Gary police, Indiana State Police and Indiana Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police searched with a helicopter, drones, K-9s and officers on horseback, along with private search parties.

Indiana State Police handled the crash investigation and processed Taylor's SUV for evidence. It appeared no other vehicles were near Taylor's Trailblazer when it left the interstate, and there was no evidence anyone came to pick her up at any point before or after the crash, police said.

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Anna Ortiz Night Crime/Breaking News Reporter Anna Ortiz is the breaking news/crime reporter for The Times, covering crime, politics, courts and investigative news. She is a graduate of Ball State University with a major in journalism and minor in anthropology. 219-933-4194, anna.ortiz@nwi.com Follow Anna Ortiz 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
CROWN POINT  A judge told a Chicago man he had shown himself to be dishonest, antisocial and predatory before sentencing him Thursday to a maximum of 105 years in prison for killing a 14-year-old girl in 2019.

Deonlashawn C. Simmons, 36, was convicted of murder after a jury trial in March and subsequently admitted to firearm and habitual offender enhancements.

Evidence presented at trial showed 14-year-old Takaylah Tribitt was a runaway who met Simmons on Sept. 8, 2019, at a girl's birthday party in Chicago.

Despite Simmons' claim he was trying to help Tribitt, her last Facebook location was recorded at 1:27 a.m. Sept. 14, 2019, in the area of Simmons' relative's home on Chicago's South Side.

Tribitt, who was known to her family as "Ladybug," was found dead about 9 a.m. Sept. 16, 2019, in an alley near East 20th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street in Gary. She was facedown and had automotive cords tied around her neck and wrists, which were bound behind her back.

DNA from two males was found on the cord wrapped around her wrists, and one of the profiles matched Simmons.

Investigators also determined Tribitt had been sexually assaulted multiple times, but Lake County prosecutors did not charge him with any sex crimes as part of their case.

Lake Criminal Court Judge Natalie Bokota said Tribitt was bound with a cord and robbed of any opportunity to act in self-defense or attempt escape.

"She was dumped in an alley, among the accumulating trash," the judge said. "She was discarded like garbage."

Tribitt's mother, Laura Tribitt, said she had to forgive Simmons as part of her own healing process but God would never forgive him.

"She was 14," Laura Tribitt said. "She was a baby. I don't want to say no more. I don't really want to look at him."

Another relative, Felisha Vernado, said Simmons was a predator and a coward, because he would never have killed a grown woman the way he murdered Tribitt.

"Whatever Ladybug had going on, you took her opportunity to get it right," Vernado said. "I don't forgive you. If there was a death penalty, I think you should have it."

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Douglas Shaw, who tried the case with Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar and intern Lindsey Lanham, said he would have asked for more than a maximum sentence of 105 years if the law allowed.

Shaw said it was difficult to imagine what Tribitt might have gone through before she was killed.

She was shot once in the front of her head at point-blank range, so Simmons was the last person she saw.

"I can't imagine a murder that's more aggravated than the execution of a defenseless child," he said.

Simmons admitted during his presentence investigation he has 25 children, but only knows the names of nine of them, Shaw said.

"That is abuse," he said. "That is a complete disrespect for women and a complete disregard for children in general."

Simmons didn't even know he had some of the children until their biological mothers showed up on his mother's doorstep, Shaw said.

Simmons had three juvenile adjudications at age 15 and five felony convictions, including promoting prostitution.

He was on parole in Illinois when he killed Tribitt. Every chance he's had at probation, he failed, Shaw said.

"This is a person that cannot ever be released," he said. "I don't want a 95-year-old Deonlashawn Simmons on the street. I don't trust that."

Shaw said a maximum sentence would protect society, so "our children and our children's children don't ever have to worry about him."

Simmons' attorney, Michael A. Campbell, said Simmons respected the jury's verdict but maintained his innocence.

He conceded Simmons' criminal history was significant, but argued Simmons had not previously been convicted of shooting anyone or attempting to kill.

Bokota declined to show leniency because Simmons' imprisonment could cause an undue hardship for his children, noting he had been accused of molesting or battering two of them.

Campbell asked the judge not to consider those accusations, which he described as "pure speculation." Simmons has never been charged with causing harm to his children, he said.

The defense attorney urged the judge to show some leniency, because Simmons grew up without his father and lost his brother in a homicide several years ago in Chicago.

Campbell asked for a 56-year sentence, with five years suspended in favor of probation.

Simmons offered his condolences to Tribitt's friends and family in a brief statement. Before Bokota pronounced sentence, he said he wanted to appeal.

Bokota said it was clear from Simmons' interviews with police that he lied at least once, when confronted with evidence that he was in Northwest Indiana around the time of Tribitt's murder.

Several members of Tribitt's family began clapping when Bokota sentenced Simmons to 105 years, but the judge held up a finger and said, "No. No. No."

The dignity of the court must always be upheld, she said.

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CROWN POINT  In light of April being National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Lake County's prosecutor urged residents to be aware of red flags in their communities and how to report potential abuse.

Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said that every year, 700,000 children nationwide experience neglect or abuse. According to the Indiana Department of Child Services, a total of 50 child fatalities caused by abuse or neglect were reported in 2020.

"The key to protecting children in our community is two-fold," Carter said. "By educating parents and empowering community members to know the warning signs of child abuse, and ensuring that parents have the knowledge, skills and resources they need to care for their children, we can help prevent child abuse and neglect in the future."

Factors that help prevent child abuse include having knowledge of child and youth development, mentoring and supporting parents, creating a nurturing environment and cultivating parental resilience.

In addition, alcohol and drug use exacerbate situations, with nearly all 50 of the fatalities in 2020 involving the use of drugs or alcohol.

Child abuse has an immense adverse impact on victims with lifelong consequences well into adulthood, Carter said. It is an important issue that deserves resources geared toward prevention and treatment."

In addition to physical, emotional and sexual abuse, child abuse can also include the failure to provide food or clothing to children. Carter said common signs of child abuse can include: physical injuries; self-harm; depression; anxiety; fear of an adult or location; sudden changes in sleeping patterns, school performance or behavior; inappropriate sexual behavior or language; and frequent absences from school.

In our office, we are committed to working with law enforcement to prosecute individuals charged with child abuse in any form, Carter said. If you suspect child abuse is occurring in your respective community and/or neighborhood, please report it."

Individuals who believe a child is being abused can contact Indianas Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline at 1-800-800-5556, which is available 24/7.

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CROWN POINT  A man who has been free on bond since 2019 in a murder case was wanted Thursday on charges he beat a woman so badly she suffered a facial fracture.

Hillard Hathaway III, 50, was released pending formal charges after Hobart police were called about 3:40 a.m. April 6 to the Key West Inn, 1855 Mississippi St., for a domestic battery in progress, Lake Criminal Court records show.

Officers located a woman seated in a car who had severe injuries to her face, including two swollen eyes and bruising to both sides of her face.

Hathaway, who also was in the parking lot, told police nothing had occurred between himself and the woman and he had no idea how she'd been injured, records state.

Police took him into custody that night, but he was later released pending further investigation. Lake County prosecutors charged Hathaway on Wednesday with three felony counts of domestic battery and one count of strangulation.

Hathaway also is facing murder and attempted murder charges in connection with a shooting about 2 a.m. Jan. 25, 2018, at a junk yard in the 1400 block of East 49th Avenue in Gary.

Hathaway is accused of firing shots at Danny Leake, 44, of Gary, and another man during an argument over stolen car batteries. Leake died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Hathaway pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been free on a $7,500 cash bond since January 2019, court records show.

Anyone with information about Hathaway's whereabouts is asked to call 911.

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VALPARAISO  A 37-year-old man who was brought to court this week to face accusations of repeatedly molesting a young girl at his Portage home beginning nearly eight years ago is already in prison for the same type of offense out of Lake County, records show.

Johnny Levin pleaded guilty in Lake County on Nov. 2, 2020 to two felony counts of child molesting and was sentenced to two consecutive 10-year terms, according to court records.

Levin, who is serving his time at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, has an earliest possible release date of Dec. 20, 2033, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.

Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said this week that typically his office would have a detainer on a defendant to be transferred directly to Porter County following the outcome of a case in another jurisdiction.

But Levin was sent directly to the DOC, he said.

"Once we found out, the court brought him here to face our charges," according to Germann.

Levin was booked into the Porter County jail Tuesday and then made an initial appearance before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer and was sent back to prison the same day, officials said.

He was appointed a public defender and was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim while his case proceeds, records show. His next court hearing is scheduled for May 31.

Porter County allegations

Levin's Porter County case stems back to June 2019 when Portage police learned the girl had told her mother she had been sexually abused by Levin, whom she knows, on multiple occasions between August 2014 and June 2018, according to a charging document.

"Victim 1 said this happened a lot until she was in the seventh grade," police said.

The girl said she remembered the abuse beginning after Levin was released from jail in December 2011, charges state.

Levin showed up at the Portage Police Department in June 2019, "seeking help regarding a sexual incident allegation made against him," police said.

He reportedly told police he remembered one night from more than a year earlier when he returned home and awoke in a questionable situation with the girl in question, a charging document reads.

"Levin stated that he could not say whether or not he did anything sexual to Victim 1 that night because he could not remember due to him being likely intoxicated," according to police.

The girl's mother reportedly told police when she confronted Levin, he said he remembered the questionable incident.

"Levin broke down and made comments about being 'blackout drunk,'" police said.

Levin is charged in Porter County with a felony count of child molesting, which carries a potential prison sentence of two to 12 years, records show.

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VALPARAISO  A jury deliberated for just over three hours Thursday to find a Valparaiso man guilty of murder in a Jan. 29, 2020 attempted robbery.

In addition to the murder count, jurors found 29-year-old John Williams guilty on three counts of attempted robbery, one count of aggravated battery and one count of battery. Williams was acquitted on three counts of robbery.

After further deliberations, the jury found Williams to be a habitual offender, a status that could add as much as 30 years to his sentence.

The jury reached its verdict after reviewing more than 400 exhibits and hearing from 15 witnesses over the last couple weeks.

Prosecutors argued Williams caused the death of his friend Travis Thompson, 36, of Valparaiso, by planning and involving Thompson in a robbery attempt at a Valparaiso apartment.

Defense attorney Mark Chargualaf had challenged that scenario during closing arguments Thursday morning by arguing that it was Thompson who was beating the target of the robbery when the fatal stabbing took place, and not Williams, as was claimed by police.

Chargualaf showed photos taken in the days following the death to show Williams had no injury to his hands from the beating that left the apartment dweller with broken bones in his face.

By contrast, Chargualaf showed an autopsy photo that he said shows red marks and a cut on Thompson's right hand.

"It doesn't work, ladies and gentlemen," Chargualaf said of the accusations against his client.

The defense presented no evidence during the trial and Williams opted not to testify on his own behalf.

During his closing argument Thursday, Porter County Deputy Prosecutor John Holmen presented jurors with Facebook messages allegedly showing Williams planning the robbery of marijuana, marijuana wax and cash from the resident of the Elm Street apartment.

He said it was Williams who immediately attacked the apartment dweller during the robbery. Fearing for his life, the apartment dweller swung out with a knife toward Williams, but struck Thompson instead.

Thompson died just minutes later outside the apartment as a result of blood loss caused by a stab wound on his upper left leg that severed the femoral artery, officials said.

Forensic pathologist Dr. John Feczko testified earlier this week that Thompson tested positive for alcohol and marijuana consumption, the former of which could have caused him to bleed out quicker.

The trial was held in the court of Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 13.

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HAMMOND  A debate between three of the four candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for Lake County sheriff turned feisty at times Thursday, and ended with the audience outright booing one of the candidates.

Maria Trajkovich, of Crown Point, a 24-year officer in the sheriff's department, emphasized her integrity and other qualifications for the top job by repeatedly pointing out the incumbent, Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr., is awaiting trial on a felony charge of resisting arrest and misdemeanor reckless driving.

"Right now is not the time to reelect a criminal," Trajkovich said. "I've never been criminally investigated, nor have I ever participated in criminal activity."

That remark prompted boos from the otherwise respectful audience at the conclusion of the one-hour debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters, Rise NWI, and Lakeshore Public Media at the Ophelia Steen Center in Hammond.

In response, Trajkovich said, "Of course those are Oscar's supporters."

She was not alone, however, in needling the sheriff over his alleged criminal activity.

Richard Ligon, of Gary, a military and law enforcement veteran, likewise said Lake County voters won't have to worry about his personal behavior if he prevails in the May 3 Democratic primary and ultimately is elected sheriff at the general election in November.

"One thing I can tell you is I'm honest. I have integrity, I will continue to have integrity, I've always had it," Ligon said. "I'm not going to do anything wrong. I'm not going to violate any laws. That's the only problem I see right now."

Martinez, of Crown Point, stayed above the fray by highlighting his accomplishments since taking over the department in 2017 from former Sheriff John Buncich, following his bribery conviction, and Martinez winning election as sheriff in his own right in 2018.

"Listening to all the other candidates, they talk about what they're going to do and what they want to do. We're already doing it as a team, and we're being successful. We've taken action and we've gotten results," Martinez said.

Specifically, Martinez said he brought two full-time social workers into the department to help address citizen mental health, addiction, suicide prevention, and other needs that go beyond the duties and training of law enforcement officers.

He also emphasized his efforts to crack down on gun violence, illegal gun sales and carjacking through special investigations, the creation of an auto theft task force, and the use of new technology, such as license plate readers and virtual reality training simulations.

In addition, Martinez said during his five years as sheriff he's led efforts to improve school safety, reduce human trafficking, ensure peaceful protests during a period of civil unrest, and work to better connect the county police to local communities through block parties, bike patrols and similar activities.

"I'm so proud of the accomplishments and achievements that we've done together as a team," Martinez said. "The men and women of the Lake County sheriff's department have done an awesome job.

"That's why I'm successful. Because of them. They're doing a great job. They're doing what they're supposed to be doing. That's why I'm proud to be their sheriff, and that's why I will do whatever it takes to give them training, the resources and the equipment to do their jobs."

Trajkovich said she doesn't recognize the sheriff's department Martinez is describing. She said, in her experience, department positions and equipment are doled out based on favoritism, and many of the specialized programs have been canceled due to staff shortages.

"If you don't do what they want you to do then you lose a car, you lose a position, you lose a specialty, and therefore you lose money," Trajkovich said. "It's fear, that's what it is."

If she's elected sheriff, Trajkovich said she'll ensure all officers receive training in mental health and other issues they're likely to encounter on the streets, new skills for working with children, equal opportunity to advance, and renewed trust between the sheriff's department and the community.

"We can have all the little shiny coins, and all the little organizations and programs, but what are we doing with what we have within with our officers and our corrections officers? We're not addressing that," Trajkovich said. "We recently lost an officer to suicide. Our supervisors are not trained in that area, nor is there anything available. We have training but are they really trained for that?

"So within our department we do have those issues, and, I stress this, if we cannot deal with that within our department, within ourselves, how can we address the community with that?"

Ligon, meanwhile, took a different approach. He said his 36 years of military service in the U.S. Army and the Indiana National Guard, combined with his more than two decades of work as a federal law enforcement agent, Gary police commissioner, parole officer and probation officer have prepared him to lead the sheriff's department with integrity.

"I know what leadership means and being a strong leader will definitely prevent you from breaking that chain of command. That's very important to keep the morale," Ligon said. "Without morale, everything else fails."

He said a top priority if he's elected will be to work with young people in schools to respond to mental health needs and deter the criminal impulse in youths and adults before it has an opportunity to take hold by implementing the "Law in Your Community" program.

"Trust is the most important thing among the police department and the community," Ligon said. "We have to rebuild that trust. Once we can communicate and build that trust then a lot of things will happen."

The fourth Democratic candidate for Lake County sheriff, Anthony Williams, of Gary, did not attend the debate.

A recording of the debate is set to air at 7 p.m. Monday on Lakeshore Public Radio, 89.1 FM.

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The search for Ahlam, to find out why and where she has been taken, and how Campbell might win her release, forms the emotional heart of the book  and it is both riveting and devastating. The account also presents an unusual perspective on the grinding horror of the police state, not the all-too-familiar tale of one of its direct victims, but rather that of the outsider trying to navigate its treacherous shoals.

Without accreditation as a journalist  Campbell has passed herself off to Syrian authorities as an academic  she has no official standing to take up Ahlams case. But of course, it may well have been Ahlams work with foreign journalists that got her into trouble in the first place; as Campbell writes of her friend, She had taken many risks, and I was one of them. Instead, the journalist is virtually paralyzed by a series of questions with no obvious answers. Does she try to raise publicity about Ahlams plight, or is that the worst thing she could do? She is briefly comforted by the idea that perhaps her friend was arrested by mistake, but then realizes that with no good reason to arrest her, there would be no good reason to set her free. All the while, that pool of Syrian friends and acquaintances that Campbell might turn to for advice steadily dwindles, for in the terror and cowardice that a police state induces, no one wants to be connected to someone who has fallen. It is both ironic and a testament to Campbells skills as a storyteller that, despite her own very limited risk in the situation she describes, she has produced one of the more harrowing accounts of life inside a police state in recent memory.

If all this makes A Disappearance in Damascus sound like a depressing slog, it is not that at all. Instead, even in its darkest moments, there are bright flashes of humor, along with brief side stories that in the hands of a less accomplished writer would be annoying but are fascinating here. Campbell also has a fine eye for the telling detail, as in her description of idle and futureless Iraqi refugee boys filling up the internet cafes in Sayeda Zainab to play first-person shooter games, pretending to be American soldiers on urban combat missions in neighborhoods that must have reminded them of home.

For all her strengths, Campbell does have one conspicuous weakness, for the form of the overheated and portentous quote. Especially in the early going of the book, strangers have a way of stepping on stage to deliver pithy aphorisms before quickly exiting. None, though, are as lofty as the lines attributed to Ahlam recalling her efforts to learn to swim as a child. But the difficulty isnt to learn to swim in the water, she added, musingly. The difficulty is to learn to swim in life. People dont usually talk this way, and if they do, it is the writers duty to protect them with a convenient paraphrase.

But this is a small quibble when set against the raw power of Campbells narrative, and just as the reader is likely to be pulled up short by its piercing imagery, so too those images  haunting, odd, profoundly human  are likely to stay with them for a long time to come.
Brunch isnt truly brunch without a bevy of beverages: coffee, water, juice and, if youre drinking alcohol that day, a cocktail. Unlimited mimosas and heavily adorned Bloody Marys are longtime go-tos, but you certainly need not limit yourself to them.

Modern midday choices tend to trend away from high-alcohol options and toward drinks with lower alcohol by volume (or A.B.V.) that pair nicely with the meal. People want good-quality cocktails to go with good-quality food, said Stacey Swenson, the bar director for Mattos Hospitality in New York City, which includes Lodi, Estela and Altro Paradiso.

Meant to be sipped alongside small bites, often bitter-leaning, lighter aperitifs are a fantastic foil to whatever short stack, Benedict or scramble is on the table.

Bianco or dry vermouth with a soda or a tonic as your first cocktail of the day is very smart, Ms. Swenson said. If youre a pancake or waffle kind of person, a Bellini with fresh fruit is a really good option. She also recommends a sparkling, citrus-laced French 75 or that most effervescent, most consummate of aperitivo beverages: the spritz.
I had just gotten done with the cocktail training and the other bartender was like, Oh, Tyler, go downstairs and get some beer and Ill show you where we restock it, Mx. Glenn said.

It was while Mx. Glenn was downstairs that, according to the prosecutors narrative of events, Mr. Lhota entered the club and set it on fire. When they came back upstairs, they noticed that the air was much foggier than it had been just before.

My thought process was like, Oh, the smoke machine  they really turned it up for the party thats about to happen, Mx. Glenn said. I got up there and its hard to breathe. I turn and theres just a giant fire. They said their injuries, which included burns on their nose and lips, had begun to heal.

A witness who was across the street when the fire began described seeing a man matching Mr. Lhotas description running off after rushing out a side door of the building, the complaint says. A nearby security camera also captured him fleeing and other cameras tracked him taking a roundabout route home, the complaint says.

Several days later, the complaint says, Mr. Lhota was arrested by the New York City police after a woman called 911 and accused him of assaulting her. She subsequently identified him as the arsonist shown in the security camera footage, the complaint says.

Mr. Lhota faces charges of strangulation, a felony, and misdemeanor assault and harassment in state court in Brooklyn in connection with the episode, court records show. A Legal Aid Society lawyer representing him in that case could not immediately be reached for comment.

On his LinkedIn page, Mr. Lhota identifies himself as a software developer and a graduate of Hunter College High School in Manhattan and Brown University, academic affiliations confirmed through online sources.
I recently wrote about how international trade has made some Western nations  Germany in particular  unwilling to confront autocracy. Germany hasnt just been weak-kneed in its response to Vladimir Putin; it and other European nations have stood by and even continued to provide economic aid to Hungary while Viktor Orban dismantles democracy.

In response, I received mail from Europeans to the effect that American democracy is also under threat and that some of our right-wing politicians are every bit as bad as Orban. Agreed! But that wasnt the point of my argument. And while Im quite willing to believe, for example, that Ron DeSantis would be Floridas Orban if he could, state governors dont have as much repressive power as rulers of sovereign nations.

Still, the comparison of European and U.S. ethnonationalists raises some interesting questions. In particular, as the G.O.P. has become a full-on antidemocratic party, why has it also remained the party of plutocrats and the enemy of any policy that might help its many working-class supporters?

To understand the puzzle, consider the policy positions of Marine Le Pen, who has a serious chance of becoming Frances next president. Her party, National Rally  previously called the National Front  is often described as right-wing. And on social issues it is; in particular, the party is largely defined by its hostility to immigrants and the alleged threat they pose to Frances national identity. On economic policy, however, Le Pen is if anything to the left of President Emmanuel Macron.
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the practice of leasing pets was believed to have started around 2013, with a Nevada-based company that would transfer its debt to Monterey after the animal was purchased. Consumers dont interact with these companies during the application process, according to the A.S.P.C.A., and the word lease is not mentioned in promotional material.

Weve heard stories about pet stores simply handing the consumer a tablet to initial and sign  so consumers dont see the full contract until the first payment is due  which is often done by auto withdrawal, Kevin ONeill, vice president of state affairs for A.S.P.C.A., said in a statement on Thursday. By then, the dog is in their home.

As officials became more aware of the practice, states began outlawing it. Since 2017, eight states created laws specifically banning pet leasing  California, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Nevada, New York and Washington, according to the A.S.P.C.A. Illinois, the group said, has a broader restriction prohibiting financing in pet sales.

People lease pets for many reasons. As opposed to those that are sold at shelters, dogs from pet stores can be expensive, sometimes costing thousands of dollars. In other cases, like Ms. Ortiz-Sierras, the buyer doesnt understand the financial terms of the contract, that the dog can be repossessed with failed payments.

Under these arrangements, the individual must make monthly payments for the duration of the lease and often must make an extra payment at the end to finally own the dog, Ms. Healy said. Her office has been conducting investigations into financial companies that originated or bought dog leases, she said.

Animal-rights advocates like the A.S.P.C.A. have criticized the practice. The group said in July 2018 that pet leases are predatory arrangements often padded with large fees and heavy default penalties that could end up costing buyers many times the original price tag.

Pet stores have long used the emotional connection people feel towards puppies to lure customers in, but the cost to purchase those animals  often several thousands of dollars  may still deter purchasers, Matt Bershadker, the groups chief executive, wrote at the time, when New York was considering outlawing the leasing of dogs and cats, which it did months later.
She said that when the news outlet asked her about what had happened, I was not going to deny the truth. Ms. Slamas office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In February, she referred to the alleged assault during a speech on the floor of the Legislature, though she did not name Mr. Herbster at the time.

Mr. Herbster, who owns a large agricultural company and was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump ahead of the May 10 primary election, said in a statement that the allegations were a ridiculous, unfounded dirty political trick being carried out by his political opponents in the state, including Gov. Pete Ricketts, also a Republican.

For over 30 years, Ive employed hundreds of people, Mr. Herbster said. Ive respected and empowered women to run my company, my farm and now my campaign. Not once has my integrity EVER been challenged in this manner. Later, he told a local radio station: They did it with Brett Kavanaugh. They certainly did it with Donald J. Trump and now theyre trying to do it with Charles W. Herbster.

Mr. Herbsters campaign manager, Ellen Keast, issued a separate statement that unequivocally denied the allegations and accused Mr. Ricketts at greater length of being behind the story. Ms. Keast noted that Mr. Ricketts and Ms. Slama had political ties; she worked as press secretary on his 2018 campaign for governor before he appointed her to the Legislature the next year.

Asked to respond, Mr. Ricketts said in an interview: Well, I would read the article. I have rarely seen an article on this topic that is so extensively corroborated by witnesses. Referring to Ms. Slamas decision to speak publicly about the alleged incident, he said, Its probably one of the most courageous things Ive ever seen.
WASHINGTON  The director of the C.I.A. said on Thursday that potential desperation to extract the semblance of a victory in Ukraine could tempt President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to order the use of a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon, publicly discussing for the first time a concern that has coursed through the White House during seven weeks of conflict.

The director, William J. Burns, who served as American ambassador to Russia and is the member of the administration who has dealt most often with Mr. Putin, said the potential detonation of such a weapon  even as a warning shot  was a possibility that the United States remained very concerned about. But he quickly cautioned that so far, despite Mr. Putins frequent invocation of nuclear threats, he had seen no practical evidence of the kinds of military deployments or movement of weapons that would suggest such a move was imminent.

Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that theyve faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons, Mr. Burns said during a question-and-answer session following a speech he delivered at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

He spoke in response to a question from former Senator Sam Nunn, of Georgia, who helped create the program that brought nuclear weapons out of Ukraine and other former Soviet states 30 years ago.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol spent roughly eight hours on Thursday questioning Stephen Miller, a top White House adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, in an at times contentious exchange that included queries about Mr. Trumps speech before a crowd the morning of the riot, according to two people familiar with the session.

Investigators asked Mr. Miller repeatedly about the use of the word we throughout Mr. Trumps speech on the Ellipse, outside the White House, on Jan. 6, 2021, the people said, in an apparent effort to ascertain whether the former president had been directing supporters to join him in taking action to stop Congress from certifying his defeat. Mr. Miller argued that the language was no different from any other political speech.

Mr. Miller was Mr. Trumps top domestic policy adviser and his main speechwriter. He is the latest former White House official to appear before the committee, a day after the former White House counsel Pat A. Cipollone and his deputy, Patrick F. Philbin, appeared. Mr. Miller was subpoenaed in November 2021 but has fought the panels efforts to obtain information from him, appearing only after a lengthy negotiation with committee officials.

Mr. Miller did not respond to a message seeking comment. But the two people familiar with his appearance, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the confidential interview, described the session as heated at times. Mr. Miller invoked executive privilege when asked about his discussions with Mr. Trump, including a phone call that White House records show he had with the former president the morning of Jan. 6, one of the people said.
Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that theyve faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons, Mr. Burns said, in answering questions after a speech in Atlanta.

Prominent voices in Russian state media have made increasingly incendiary statements recently, calling for more brutality in battles that have already sparked calls for war-crimes investigations of the Russian forces.

Much remained unclear about Russias setback in the western Black Sea, where a blast on Thursday morning  Wednesday night in the United States  and subsequent fire forced many of the Moskvas roughly 500 crew members to abandon ship. There was no word on casualties. Ukraine said it had struck the vessel with two Neptune missiles and sunk it.

Russias Defense Ministry initially said its sailors had managed to put out the fire and the Moskva, commissioned in 1983, remained afloat. But hours later, it said, the ship sank while being towed to port in a storm.

Western defense officials said they could not be sure what caused the explosion aboard the 12,000-ton ship. Three American officials briefed on the incident said all indications were that it had been hit by missiles. The officials cautioned that early battlefield reports can sometimes change, but expressed deep skepticism over the Russian account of an accidental fire.

Ukraine has been stressing the need for coastal defense weapons, and the U.S. announced this week that it would send more of them. Pentagon officials said that other Russian ships had moved farther from the Ukrainian shoreline, lending credence to the claim of missile strikes.

Its going to have an impact on their naval capabilities, certainly in the near term, but the long-term picture is unclear, said the Pentagon spokesman, John F. Kirby, a former Navy rear admiral.
The companys reorganization has not been painless. The central office staff is half of what it was, Mr. Daunt estimated. Much of that reduction came through layoffs, including many book buyers as their duties shifted to local stores.

But a smaller central staff has allowed the company to give up expensive New York City office space. The remaining staff works out of two floors in Barnes & Nobles flagship building on Union Square in Manhattan, which the company was already renting.

Plenty of questions remain about Barnes & Nobles future. Costs are rising in the book business, which has low margins to begin with. And like all in-person retailers, Barnes & Noble needs to persuade more customers to stop buying everything on their phones.

There is a good wind at its back, however, because sales across the industry are up. With so many people stuck at home in 2020, a lot of people bought a lot of books. As the country has opened up, publishers have waited for sales to drop back down again to prepandemic levels. But so far, they havent.

Usually, said Ms. McLean of NPD Books, strong sales are driven by blockbuster releases from well-known authors, and while some are coming this year  Marie Kondo will have a book out this fall about how to manifest your ideal life by organizing  there havent been many recently. Right now, something else is behind all that buying.

At the moment, Mr. Daunt said, its being driven by an enthusiasm for reading.
The Montreal-based comics artist Julie Doucet began self-publishing her zine, Dirty Plotte, in 1987. Three years later, it became the foundation stone of the influential Canadian comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly.

With its lack of inhibition and disregard for pat categorization, Plotte  the title is Quebecois slang for vagina  became a source of inspiration for other comics makers. She has this sort of freedom in her work, writing about her experiences and things that seemed taboo, said the artist and cartoonist Jessica Campbell. Rave, Campbells queer coming-of-age comic, was partly made possible by the permission she found in Doucets illustrations.

But being a woman in a male-dominated industry was exhausting, and the painstaking work of making brutally revealing comics was neither easy nor lucrative. In the early 2000s, to the surprise of her fans, Doucet quit. She decided that she would no longer draw comics; perhaps she would not draw at all.
She herself said that she didnt want us to analyze her music, that it should just be felt.

Correct, and she didnt want to appear influenced by anybody. Even Shostakovich, her teacher, she rejected. She felt a regret for how much he tried to influence her, and she tried to throw it all out. I dont think there is even one inch of his music in hers. She is completely unrelated to anything before her or after her, which is quite fascinating.

So much of Shostakovichs work was shaped by his political context. Do you hear similar struggles in her later work?

Shostakovich suffered a lot from being persecuted by the authorities. He wrote a lot of Soviet music to please the authorities, and so did she. But music like the sonatas has nothing to do with politics; its totally apolitical music.

Its interesting that she was able to create that space, given the traditional Western cliches about composers working in Soviet society.

Im sure she experienced the same as other composers who wanted their voice to be heard, and were not allowed. A lot of composers at this time were much more creative writing between the notes than in the notes. The message was always hidden. A little bit like Schumann, in a different time and for different reasons.

Ustvolskaya wrote six piano sonatas over four decades. Why perform this one?

I picked it because its not so violent. Especially the last movement, it has those cluster chords but most of it is very peaceful and has a very beautiful, meditative quality that I think is needed for this program, after the intensity of Beethovens Appassionata.
Mr. Hallberg said Ms. Smirnova was very brave to leave the Bolshoi, given she wasnt just leaving a company, but an institution that was in her DNA.

Ms. Smirnova is not the only high-profile artist to leave Russia. On the day war began, Alexei Ratmansky, ballets pre-eminent choreographer and a former artistic director of the Bolshoi, was in Moscow rehearsing a new work. He immediately got a flight back home to New York, where he is artist in residence at American Ballet Theater, saying he was unlikely to return to Russia if Putin is still president.

Laurent Hilaire, the French director of the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko Ballet in Moscow, resigned days after the war began. And a host of dancers, mostly foreign, have left too, including Xander Parish, who is British; Jacopo Tissi, who is Italian; and David Motta Soares and Victor Caixeta, who are Brazilian. Mr. Caixeta, a rising soloist, is now in Amsterdam partnering Ms. Smirnova. The pair are scheduled to make their debut in Raymonda, a classic of Russian ballet, on Saturday.

Since Russias invasion began, many European governments have ordered their cultural institutions, including dance companies, not to work with Russian state bodies like the Mariinsky or the Bolshoi. The Dutch National Ballet has canceled a visit by the Mariinsky, pulled out of a ballet festival in St. Petersburg and stopped collaborating with the Moscow International Ballet Competition, scheduled to take place at the Bolshoi in June.

Works by several prominent Western choreographers may disappear from Russian stages, as those who control the rights to their ballets suspend collaboration with Russian companies. Nicole Cornell, the director of the George Balanchine Trust, which holds the rights to the choreographers work, said in an email that it had paused all future licensing conversations with Russian companies. And Jean-Christophe Maillot, a French choreographer and director of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, said in an email that he had asked the Bolshoi to suspend performances of his The Taming of the Shrew, but that its general director, Vladimir Urin, had refused. These conditions obviously make it difficult to resume a collaboration with the Bolshoi, Mr. Maillot said.
Gregersons syntax, unfolding toward its tragic ends, performs the articulated work that other poets might do with pure sounds: Few living poets make English grammar do so much so well. (If youre looking for a change in Gregersons style after her new-and-selected Prodigal, stop looking: Shes at her best right now, but her approach to language has not changed.) Two poems called Love Poem open the same way, on a tableau later changed, or marred: Once, my very best darling, the sea/and the land were all one mass/and the light was confused and hadnt found/a place to rest. The first poem addresses Emma, the second Megan, the poets two daughters. Both poems commemorate the poets sister, making individual grief seem eternal, and indulging in a human  or is it maternal?  tendency to assign ourselves responsibility for everything: What is it/you love/that has not been ruined because of you. That period, where prose would require a question mark, gives the poets own answer: We ruin everything.

If that answer seems hyperbolic, so does the news from Antarctica, and from Flint: The teething infant, chips of paint. The water that flows/through the aging pipes, and the very American science-will-fix-it, somebody-somewhere-/will figure-out-the-cleanup way of burning through our one/shared life. Other accomplished poets of midlife and late life  Louise Gluck, Jorie Graham, perhaps David Baker  have pursued grief with similar authority, but none with such care, such Midwestern concision, such reliance on the grammatical resources poetry shares with complex prose. The conclusions other poets might leave us to piece together arrive in Gregerson fully formed, keyed to our time. This isnt/some terrible rupture in the-way-the-world-is-meant-/to-work, she says of family separation at the U.S. border. Its the way it has always/been (you can see it in/their faces) and will always be. Their eyes go flat.

Such weighty lines dare future humans to prove them wrong. Though Gregerson declares Im here to praise, she knows too much to praise with ease. Aware of the news, of family separation as government policy, of melting ice and preventable deaths, her deliberate lines trace the link of well-being to blinded-by-sunlight solitude, to our wish to believe that theres someone else in charge. A scholar of Renaissance literature as well as an already eminent poet, Gregerson (who teaches at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) brings her knowledge of the European past into close conjunction with American history and with our own day: Once the Michigan woodlands hadnt been denuded by unsustainable lumbering, but that was a century ago, and even now in Basel, on a panel made of limewood,/emphatically unrisen,/the body of Christ lies in its frame as in/a coffin.
In 39 concise, impactful poems, Akwaeke Emezis debut collection, CONTENT WARNING: EVERYTHING (47 pp., Copper Canyon, paperback, $16), is a triumph of selfhood that painstakingly journeys between belief and becoming. Holding tenderness and rage in one breath, the Nigerian-born nonbinary author excavates trauma, divorce and loss without restraint: what wars have been fought on me what hauntings I carry in the blaze of/unspeakable light. Emezi has previously written a memoir and screenplays as well as fiction, but poetry feels like a natural fit for the presumably autobiographical material in this collection, which often soothes as much as it shocks.

Image

With the scene-building intimacy of a novelist, Emezi imagines their mother meeting the biblical Mary, pretends their brother is Jesus and moves between dream and reality, grappling with questions of culture and identity to cultivate solace and, more important, self-forgiveness. i will never know what its like to drown, they write. Emezis ability to speak truthfully while inventing new imagery and sounds (copper cobwebs cutting through teeth, for one instance) demonstrates their literary dexterity.

Length-wise, Content Warning: Everything is more a chapbook than a book, yet it feels wide-reaching and complete: not in the sense of grand pronouncements or conclusions, but in the sense that Emezi achieved what they set out to do through verse. This book illuminates a complicated past, expels antiquated what-ifs and allows readers to share in the possibilities underscored by a wholly original and creative mind.
THINGS YOU MAY FIND HIDDEN IN MY EAR: Poems From Gaza, by Mosab Abu Toha. (City Lights, paper, $11.17.) Written from his native Gaza, Abu Tohas accomplished debut contrasts scenes of political violence with natural beauty: In one poem, a nightingale departs the wet earth two stanzas before the sound of a drone / intrudes.

THRESH & HOLD, by Marlanda Dekine. (Hub City, paper, $16.) A member of South Carolinas Gullah Geechee community whose enslaved ancestors harvested rice, Dekine honors their legacy in this stirring debut: I tell all my dead to let loose.

PALM-LINED WITH POTIENCE, by Basie Allen. (Ugly Duckling, paper, $14.40.) Allen is a painter as well as a poet, and he brings an artists eye and rebels soul to these loose-limbed poems set largely in New York City, where police precincts need to blossom / into epicenters of art movements.

CAIN NAMED THE ANIMAL, by Shane McCrae. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $25.) McCraes eighth collection extends his interest in a history rooted in Christian myth and toxic power dynamics. In the poem that gives the book its title, Adams God-given dominion over the animals means that killing was / Like prayer for him.
VENICE

By Ange Mlinko

Ange Mlinkos poems are animated by an unusual combination of impulses. They are formal, highly polished, with hard, smooth surfaces and dense interiors, the products of intense and serious craft. But whereas formal so often suggests staid or restrained, Mlinkos poems are anything but. They are wild, energetic, alive, wantonly catholic in their allusiveness, often downright chatty. Some have the feel of postcards, especially in their opening lines. The hotel showers were splendidly profligate, begins one poem in Venice, Mlinkos sixth collection. The next one starts: After the olivine waves of Marina di Torre del Lago,/we drive between colonnades of umbrella pines.

Elsewhere, the tone is more philosophically speculative: In or around 1929 the character of dreams changed. And sometimes it is blunt, straightforward, urgent. A poem late in the book begins, We dont have much time. The situation it goes on to describe is specific and immediate, but as with so many of Mlinkos phrases it is impossible to ignore the second, shadow meaning that looms over the first: that we as a species are running out of time, that it may already be too late. That anxiety is pervasive in Venice. In poem after poem, quotidian events generate dark, sometimes nightmarish overtones. Consider, for instance, this stanza, spoken by a plant expert, from the poem In the Nursery:

And further, if the roots dont dig

under the house and re-twig

indoors via cracks in the foundation,

theres still damage being done,

and history will bear witness

with numberless lifted eyelids.

A shift takes place halfway through the stanza: Read those final three lines on their own and they seem to be about something much vaster and more ominous than a potentially invasive backyard plant. In Mlinkos universe, small, modest things frequently symbolize immensities, and our locally aimed, often casually delivered remarks  We dont have much time, theres still damage being done  often turn out to have application well beyond their intended domains.

Those cracked foundations, corrupted and undone by ceaseless strenuous efforts of botanical life, may remind us of Venice, a city built on unstable and impermanent foundations, and so give us a clue to the title of the book. Venice, increasingly subject to storms and floods, and to the damages wreaked by floods of tourists  tourists drawn by the very beauty they are helping to destroy  seems to stand as a symbol of all that is precious in, and all that stands threatened by, human life. In Sleepwalking in Venice, Mlinko seems to describe how, in the midst of her own visit to that city, she found herself slipping into unreality:

 I fought

the cold, green voice that declared

It was as though shed never been.Yes? Or its that she went alone 

and saw myself reflected nowhere,

deprived of some  vitamin 

like a vampire feeling her bones

that cant find herself in a mirror 
10. And finally, a celebration of poetry.

April is National Poetry Month, and that prompted our colleagues from the Books desk to ask a very basic question: What is poetry, anyway? Theres no simple answer, as our columnist Elisa Gabbert explains in an essay that probes and celebrates that very ambiguity. The poem is a vessel, she writes, poetry is liquid.

The Books team also explore some favorite works, like a collection by Nelly Sachs, best known as a Holocaust poet full of mystery and depth; new poems by Linda Gregerson that form a kind of grief counseling; a sonnet about love and war by the Ukrainian poet Yuri Burjak; and much more.

Have a lyrical weekend.

Eve Edelheit compiled photos for this briefing.

Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern.

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Here are todays Mini Crossword, Spelling Bee and Wordle. If youre in the mood to play more, find all our games here.
Twitter does not want to become a plaything of the worlds richest person.

So on Friday, it turned to a tried-and-tested corporate defense mechanism invented in the 1980s  the heyday of the corporate raider  to block a potential takeover attempt by Elon Musk and buy its board some time.

The mechanism, known as a poison pill, has a simple intention: to make it less palatable for a potential buyer to pursue the target company if the buyer accumulates shares above a certain threshold. In Twitters case, if Mr. Musk bought more than 15 percent of the company, Twitter would flood the market with new stock that all shareholders except Mr. Musk could buy at a discounted price.

That would immediately dilute Mr. Musks stake and make it significantly more expensive for him to buy the company. Mr. Musk currently owns a little more than 9 percent of Twitters stock.

Twitter said its plan would be in place for just shy of one year. The tool will not stop the company from holding talks with any potential buyer, and will give it more time to negotiate a deal that Twitters board believes best reflects the companys value.
The Biden administration said on Friday that it intended to nominate Michael S. Barr, a law professor and a former Obama administration official, to be the Federal Reserves vice chair for supervision.

The position  one of Americas top financial regulatory spots, because it anchors the oversight of large bank holding companies including Bank of America and Goldman Sachs  has proved to be a particularly thorny one to fill.

The administrations initial nominee, Sarah Bloom Raskin, failed to win Senate confirmation after Republicans took issue with her writing on climate-related financial oversight and seized on her limited answers about her private-sector work. Senator Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, joined Republicans in deciding not to support her, ending her chances.

Mr. Barr, the dean of the University of Michigans public policy school, could have better luck in securing widespread support because he is seen as more moderate. But his path to confirmation could still prove challenging.
Michael F. Neidorff, who built the Centene Corporation from a small Milwaukee health plan into the nations largest insurer for the governments Medicaid program and a stalwart of the Obamacare markets, died on April 7 in St. Louis. He was 79.

His family said the cause was an infection.

Mr. Neidorff indicated in December that he would retire as chief executive in 2022, and he took a medical leave of absence in February. Centene, which is headquartered in St. Louis, appointed Sarah London, who had been vice chairwoman, as its chief executive in March.

When Mr. Neidorff joined Centene as chief executive in 1996, the insurer, then known as Coordinated Care, offered a single health plan and had $40 million in sales. Over the next 25 years, he transformed it into a corporation that focused on providing health insurance under government programs like Medicaid and Medicare. Centene now provides coverage to 25 million people and had $126 billion in revenues last year.

The company he built provides health care for nearly one in 15 vulnerable Americans, Ms. London said in a statement.
Of course, financial indiscretions often have psychological roots that are best addressed by counselors and therapists. Yet professionals almost universally recommend that the financially unfaithful partner come clean about their money issues.

You probably need professional help

Financial planners can help couples get back on track by putting core spending issues on the table. Then they can suggest budgeting and savings plans to reboot emergency, medium-term and retirement funding. They often serve as facilitators, referees and financial guidance counselors.

Jay Zigmont, a certified financial planner in Water Valley, Miss., is helping a client work though her husbands financial issues. The husbands business had accumulated large tax debts he didnt initially disclose to his wife. The couples situation reflected one common element that Dr. Zigmont has seen in dealing with financial deception: One partner insists they are managing the couples financial life exclusively, although they may not disclose the reality of the familys income, spending and debts.

I see this a lot in couples, Dr. Zigmont said. One partner says they are handling financial matters. Even if one person handles bill paying, he said, both need to be intimately involved in budgeting, taxes and managing the familys overall finances.

Financial infidelity, of course, usually doesnt occur in an open and honest emotional relationship. The behavior could stem from problems such as substance abuse, chronic overspending and getting mired in credit card and other debt. Couples may have to file for personal bankruptcy, although they will still need to address the nature of their overspending issues to move forward  if they can.

Most people with this challenge, Dr. Zigmont said, will find their retirement plans take a huge hit because their ability to save is hamstrung. Every option will have to be examined, including negotiating payment plans with creditors and selling assets. But even declaring bankruptcy is not a cure.

The problem with bankruptcy is that it does not change the behaviors, and not all debt can be discharged in bankruptcy, he said. It may be more painful to pay off the debts over time, but it can help teach good financial behaviors and even bring the couple together as they work towards common goals.
On Friday, Twitter countered Elon Musks offer to buy the company for more than $43 billion with a corporate tool known as a poison pill, a defensive strategy familiar to boardrooms trying to fend off takeovers but less familiar to everyday investors.

This defense mechanism was developed in the 1980s as company leaders, facing corporate raiders and hostile acquisitions, tried to defend their businesses from being acquired by another enterprise, person or group.

What is a poison pill?

A poison pill is a maneuver that typically makes a company less palatable to a potential acquirer by making it more expensive for the acquirer to buy shares of the target company above a certain threshold.

The whole point of it is to make the offer from the board more attractive than the acquirer, said Carliss Chatman, an associate professor of law at Washington and Lee University.
But as GPT-3s fluency has dazzled many observers, the large-language-model approach has also attracted significant criticism over the last few years. Some skeptics argue that the software is capable only of blind mimicry  that its imitating the syntactic patterns of human language but is incapable of generating its own ideas or making complex decisions, a fundamental limitation that will keep the L.L.M. approach from ever maturing into anything resembling human intelligence. For these critics, GPT-3 is just the latest shiny object in a long history of A.I. hype, channeling research dollars and attention into what will ultimately prove to be a dead end, keeping other promising approaches from maturing. Other critics believe that software like GPT-3 will forever remain compromised by the biases and propaganda and misinformation in the data it has been trained on, meaning that using it for anything more than parlor tricks will always be irresponsible.

Wherever you land in this debate, the pace of recent improvement in large language models makes it hard to imagine that they wont be deployed commercially in the coming years. And that raises the question of exactly how they  and, for that matter, the other headlong advances of A.I.  should be unleashed on the world. In the rise of Facebook and Google, we have seen how dominance in a new realm of technology can quickly lead to astonishing power over society, and A.I. threatens to be even more transformative than social media in its ultimate effects. What is the right kind of organization to build and own something of such scale and ambition, with such promise and such potential for abuse?

Or should we be building it at all?

OpenAIs origins date to July 2015, when a small group of tech-world luminaries gathered for a private dinner at the Rosewood Hotel on Sand Hill Road, the symbolic heart of Silicon Valley. The dinner took place amid two recent developments in the technology world, one positive and one more troubling. On the one hand, radical advances in computational power  and some new breakthroughs in the design of neural nets  had created a palpable sense of excitement in the field of machine learning; there was a sense that the long A.I. winter, the decades in which the field failed to live up to its early hype, was finally beginning to thaw. A group at the University of Toronto had trained a program called AlexNet to identify classes of objects in photographs (dogs, castles, tractors, tables) with a level of accuracy far higher than any neural net had previously achieved. Google quickly swooped in to hire the AlexNet creators, while simultaneously acquiring DeepMind and starting an initiative of its own called Google Brain. The mainstream adoption of intelligent assistants like Siri and Alexa demonstrated that even scripted agents could be breakout consumer hits.

But during that same stretch of time, a seismic shift in public attitudes toward Big Tech was underway, with once-popular companies like Google or Facebook being criticized for their near-monopoly powers, their amplifying of conspiracy theories and their inexorable siphoning of our attention toward algorithmic feeds. Long-term fears about the dangers of artificial intelligence were appearing in op-ed pages and on the TED stage. Nick Bostrom of Oxford University published his book Superintelligence, introducing a range of scenarios whereby advanced A.I. might deviate from humanitys interests with potentially disastrous consequences. In late 2014, Stephen Hawking announced to the BBC that the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. It seemed as if the cycle of corporate consolidation that characterized the social media age was already happening with A.I., only this time around, the algorithms might not just sow polarization or sell our attention to the highest bidder  they might end up destroying humanity itself. And once again, all the evidence suggested that this power was going to be controlled by a few Silicon Valley megacorporations.

The agenda for the dinner on Sand Hill Road that July night was nothing if not ambitious: figuring out the best way to steer A.I. research toward the most positive outcome possible, avoiding both the short-term negative consequences that bedeviled the Web 2.0 era and the long-term existential threats. From that dinner, a new idea began to take shape  one that would soon become a full-time obsession for Sam Altman of Y Combinator and Greg Brockman, who recently had left Stripe. Interestingly, the idea was not so much technological as it was organizational: If A.I. was going to be unleashed on the world in a safe and beneficial way, it was going to require innovation on the level of governance and incentives and stakeholder involvement. The technical path to what the field calls artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I., was not yet clear to the group. But the troubling forecasts from Bostrom and Hawking convinced them that the achievement of humanlike intelligence by A.I.s would consolidate an astonishing amount of power, and moral burden, in whoever eventually managed to invent and control them.

In December 2015, the group announced the formation of a new entity called OpenAI. Altman had signed on to be chief executive of the enterprise, with Brockman overseeing the technology; another attendee at the dinner, the AlexNet co-creator Ilya Sutskever, had been recruited from Google to be head of research. (Elon Musk, who was also present at the dinner, joined the board of directors, but left in 2018.) In a blog post, Brockman and Sutskever laid out the scope of their ambition: OpenAI is a nonprofit artificial-intelligence research company, they wrote. Our goal is to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return. They added: We believe A.I. should be an extension of individual human wills and, in the spirit of liberty, as broadly and evenly distributed as possible.

The OpenAI founders would release a public charter three years later, spelling out the core principles behind the new organization. The document was easily interpreted as a not-so-subtle dig at Googles Dont be evil slogan from its early days, an acknowledgment that maximizing the social benefits  and minimizing the harms  of new technology was not always that simple a calculation. While Google and Facebook had reached global domination through closed-source algorithms and proprietary networks, the OpenAI founders promised to go in the other direction, sharing new research and code freely with the world.
When I was 13, I asked to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

I was racked with debilitating Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (O.C.D.), forced to write each individual letter against a straightedge, hellbent on perfection. It was messing with my seventh grade mojo.

The perfectionism, in turn, shredded my sleep schedule. I spent countless hours, belly on the floor, struggling with my math homework, pressing mechanical pencil to ruler. Parabolas? Forget about it. O.C.D. combined with sleep deprivation and overmedication led to an angsty, early teenage flavor of nihilism  arguably the worst kind.

When my mom came to visit, we sat in her car in the hospital parking lot and I told her about it. Head swirling with brain fog, I tried to explain that nothing mattered and how that was pressing me toward a mental brink. She got it.

She told me, for the first time, that when she was 25, close to the age I am now, life was too much for her, too, and she tried to leave it. She saw me, understood me and sat there with me  a golden moment between generations.
On Friday, the Police Department said it determined that five members of the public, whom it did not name, provided information that led to Mr. Jamess arrest and would split equally the $50,000 reward tied to his capture.

Throughout the investigation, law enforcement officials have commended transit workers for springing into action to limit the potential damage while guiding subway riders through the confusion.

Speaking after the City Hall ceremony, Mr. Artis and several of his colleagues insisted that they were just fulfilling their duties.

I had to do my job and make sure my job was done to the best of my physical abilities, said Raven Haynes, a conductor who was on the train with Mr. Artis. That way, that chaotic day was less chaotic that it could have been.

The train was heading toward the 36th Street stop, in the Sunset Park neighborhood, when the gunfire broke out. Ms. Haynes said she had heard Mr. Artis report a shooting over the radio, and when the train stopped, she opened the doors and immediately told passengers to switch to an R train that was waiting across the platform.

At that moment, I finally looked down toward the front of the train, and I saw the whole entire second car engulfed in smoke, along with the whole north side of the platform, she said.

Mr. Artis said that after locking the cab, he had run onto the platform, where he saw passengers fleeing and falling to the ground. Some were screaming about the gunman. There was blood on the trains first cars and the platform, he said.
After the arrest of the two men, who are not part of the Sikh community, others realized they had seen them both in the local Sikh temple, called a gurdwara, in the days before the assaults. Sikh prayers begin as early as 3 a.m. Since the attacks, younger people in the area have begun to escort their elders to and from services, said Japneet Singh, a local organizer who helped put together Thursdays rally.

The thing with this community is they come home after a long day, watch TV for a little bit and go to sleep and repeat, he said. And we just want to make sure this happens to nobody again.

Sikhism is the fifth largest religion in the world, with 25 million believers worldwide. Most Sikhs live in the Indian state of Punjab, and an estimated 500,000 live in the United States, according to the Sikh Coalition.

But Sikhism remains widely misunderstood in the United States. Few Americans know the tenets of the faith, which emphasizes spiritual oneness, or the idea that there is one God who is equally present in all people, which makes all humans equal before God.

It is common for Sikhs to have one of two last names, Singh or Kaur, as a way to rebuke the historical caste system of South Asia and promote the faiths egalitarian ideals. But pious Sikh men, for whom wearing a beard and turban is a religious requirement, are frequently mistaken for Muslims.

Many Sikh victims of hate crimes were mistaken for Muslims, a religious community that has faced widespread discrimination in the United States in recent decades. In the first month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Sikh Coalition documented more than 300 instances of violence and discrimination against Sikhs in the United States.

Just days after Sept. 11, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh man, was killed outside his gas station in Arizona during a gun rampage by Frank Roque, who said he wanted to kill Muslims. That same day, Mr. Roque went on to shoot at a man of Lebanese descent and into a home owned by an Afghan American family. He was later convicted of first degree murder.
What does Midtown have to offer, then? Unable to afford rent in the East 50s, the baker turning out hibiscus doughnuts has established her operation miles away, where people are still beaming into Zoom meetings as if it were Easter week 2020. The young advertising copywriter comfortably situated at his stand-up desk in his East Village apartment is being asked to come back uptown for the romance of an $18 salad at Sweetgreen.

Even if he and his comrades were enticed by such a proposition, a very robust return to office in Midtown will never replicate the world as it was, simply because hybrid work will endure, and density cannot revert to five-day-a-week prepandemic levels. A more balanced approach to recovery would focus equally on development in residential communities where people working at home leave their apartments for lunch or a haircut or a birthday cake or a bag of kibble.

One of the very few bright spots over the past two years has been a renewed vibrancy in neighborhoods that had been plagued by empty storefronts before the pandemic and where some landlords were now more responsive to changing economic dynamics that allowed them to look beyond a tenant pool of banks and drugstores.

According to the mayors office, the number of new businesses that opened in Brooklyn neighborhoods like Fort Greene and Crown Heights surged between the peak of the pandemic and the first quarter of last year. And according to Regina Myer, president of Downtown Brooklyns business improvement district, the emphasis on minority entrepreneurship is really visible.

Brooklyn Heights has had a couple of restaurants open to great success as well as a French market; a bakery and Korean chicken place are due shortly. In Queens  specifically in Astoria, Jackson Heights and Flushing  more than 700 new businesses got going during the first year of the pandemic, in itself remarkable. Should this sort of progress be sidelined to accommodate static views of urban configuration that cater to transient office workers and largely drain commercial areas of vitality during the weekends?
Treating disease is nothing new to humans. The practice of using roots, herbs and other natural ingredients as healing agents dates to ancient times. Some 9,000 years ago, Stone Age dentists in modern-day Pakistan drilled into their patients teeth with pieces of flint. The ancient Egyptian architect and physician Imhotep cataloged treatments for 200 diseases nearly 5,000 years ago, and the Greek physician Hippocrates prescribed a form of aspirin  extracted from the bark of the willow tree  more than 2,000 years ago. But its only in the past couple of centuries that weve been able to synthesize medicines in the lab rather than by extracting them from things we found in nature.

While some of the drugs we rely on today were invented intentionally through painstaking research, others are products of pure accident. In the 1880s, for instance, two chemistry students at the University of Strasbourg were testing whether a substance called naphthalene  a byproduct of making tar  could be used to cure intestinal worms when they stumbled upon a solution to a problem they werent even looking to solve. Naphthalene didnt get rid of worms  but to the students surprise, it did break the persons fever. After further investigation, they realized they hadnt even administered naphthalene at all, but rather a then-obscure drug called acetanilide, which the pharmacist had given them by mistake. Soon, acetanilide was on the market as a cure for fevers, but doctors found that it had an unfortunate side effect: It made some patients skin turn blue. Eventually, they derived a substance from acetanilide that had all the benefits without the blue hue. It was called paracetamol, which Americans know as acetaminophen, a.k.a. Tylenol.

Today, drug discovery still relies on a mixture of good science and good luck. Unfortunately, when an outbreak appears to be headed toward a pandemic, theres no time to count on luck. The next time were faced with a contagion, scientists will need to develop treatments as fast as possible, much faster than they did for Covid.

So lets suppose were in that situation: Theres a new virus that looks like it could go global, and we need a treatment. How will scientists go about making an antiviral?

The first step is to map the viruss genetic code and figure out which proteins are most important to it. These essential proteins are known as the targets, and the search for a treatment essentially boils down to defeating the virus by finding things that will keep the targets from working the way they should.

Until the 1980s, researchers trying to identify promising compounds had to rely on slow trial and error to identify the right ones. Today, using 3-D modeling and robotic machines that run thousands of experiments at a time, companies can test millions of compounds in a matter of weeks  a task that would otherwise take a team of humans years to complete.

Once a promising compound is identified, the scientific teams will analyze it to determine whether its worth further exploration. Once theyve found a good candidate, they will typically spend several years in the preclinical phase, studying it to determine whether it is safe and triggers the desired response. The first studies will be done in animals. (Finding the right animal is not easy. Researchers have a saying: Mice lie, monkeys exaggerate and ferrets are weasels.)
James Cones important work of theology The Cross and the Lynching Tree connects the crucifixion of Jesus with the lynching of Black bodies: both are manifestations of evil inflicted as a means of control. Since the time of the hush harbors, Black Christians have found solace in the idea that the God they worshiped knew the trouble wed seen. He experienced it himself. The hip-hop artist Swoope said, Christ died in the Blackest way possible, with his hands up and his momma there watching him.

But the story of Jesus does not end with his death. In the Gospels, Jesus claimed that he had power over death. Christians believe his resurrection vindicated that claim. The body that God raised was the same body that was on the cross. After his resurrection, Jesus disciples recognized him. They ate and talked with him. His body was transformed and healed, no longer subject to death, but it still had the wounds from his crucifixion. There was continuity and discontinuity with the person they knew.

Jesus resurrection has implications not just for his body, but for all bodies subject to death. Christians believe that what God did for Jesus, he will do for us. The resurrection of Jesus is the forerunner of the resurrection of our bodies and restoration of the earth. There are endless debates and speculations about what type of bodies we will have at the resurrection. Will we all receive the six-packs of our dreams? Will we revert to the bodies we had in our 20s? I do not find these questions that intriguing. What is compelling to me is the clear teaching that our ethnicities are not wiped away at the resurrection. Jesus was raised with his brown, Middle Eastern, Jewish body.

When my body is raised, it will be a Black body. One that is honored alongside bodies of every hue and color. The resurrection of Black bodies will be the definitive rejection of all forms of racism. At the end of the Christian story, I am not saved from my Blackness. It is rendered everlasting. Our bodies, liberated and transfigured but still Black, will be the eternal testimony to our worth.

The question, What will God do about the disinherited and ripped apart bodies of the world? can be seen as a central question of religion. Either give me a bodily resurrection or God must step aside. He is of no use to us.

The depiction of the afterlife in which we live apart from our bodies gives physical suffering the final word. If a Black body can be hanged from a tree and burned, never to be restored again, what kind of victory is the survival of a soul? The mob, then, would be able to take something that even God cannot restore. If my cousins body can be ravaged by disease and lost to her forever, does that not render illness more powerful than God?

I am often asked what gives me hope to go on, given the evil I see in the world. I find encouragement in a set of images more powerful than the photos, videos and funerals chronicling Black death: the vision of all those Black bodies who trusted in God called back to life, free to laugh, dance and sing. Not in a disembodied spiritual state in some heavenly afterlife but in this world remade by the power of God.
I have to succeed, Ms. Hochul told me. There is no choice.

The Accidental Governor

Ms. Hochuls ascension might look like an accident, a fluke of political turmoil and timing. But thats not quite right. She herself is actually more like the opposite. Not an accident of the political culture but a product of it  and all the little things that still make being a female politician different.

Kathleen Courtney Hochul grew up in Hamburg, N.Y., near Buffalo, the second-eldest of six children of working-class Irish Catholic parents. Her parents were activists who fought for civil rights and protested the war in Vietnam, who taught their children that you dont just think about yourselves, said her sister, Sheila Heinze. Ms. Hochuls father worked nights at a steel mill while attending college in the day. Her mother founded a domestic violence shelter she named for her own mother, whod left an abusive marriage, and ran a flower shop in town, where she employed displaced homemakers.

When she wasnt in school, Ms. Hochul  who is described, repeatedly, by colleagues as normal and very down to earth  could be found babysitting, volunteering at the local Democratic headquarters or working at a pizza shop. At Syracuse University, where she served in student government, she was known as a consensus-builder. Some of the guys she worked with were pretty charismatic speakers and knew how to hold a room, said Jim Naughton, her co-vice president. She didnt have that gift, but she compensated for it extremely successfully with a kind of self-effacing earnestness that won people to her side.

She met her husband of 38 years, William Hochul Jr., while interning with the New York State Assembly. Then an aspiring lawyer  he would go on to become the U.S. attorney for the Western District of New York under President Barack Obama  Mr. Hochul moved to Washington to be with her as she completed law school at Catholic University and then worked on Capitol Hill. When she got pregnant with their children  William and Caitlin, now in their 30s  she and Mr. Hochul decided to move back to Hamburg, where, for the next few years, she shuttled the kids and helped her mother in the flower shop.

Ms. Hochul said she never saw herself as an elected official; she always planned to be behind the scenes. But when she learned of an election for her town board  and a 22-year-old man, barely out of college, still living with his parents, who was campaigning for it  she changed her mind. Kathy at the time was already a lawyer from the District of Columbia, who had worked for the Congress, who had worked for the Senate, who had frankly worked in a really sophisticated law firm before she even went on the Hill, Mr. Hochul recalled, and one of the things that was going through her mind was, Gee, am I even qualified to run for town board? When she saw this young man running, that was finally, Hey, I might as well go for it.

There were two open seats, and both of them won. Ms. Hochul served for more than a decade, before being appointed Erie County clerk by Mr. Spitzer (yes, that Eliot Spitzer). It was the first, but far from the last, time Ms. Hochuls career would be shaped by men in trouble.

In 2011, she ran for Congress in a special election in a heavily Republican district previously represented by Christopher Lee, who had resigned over shirtless selfies sent to a woman he met on Craigslist. She won that race but soon lost the seat, by 1.4 percentage points, to a man who would end up in prison for securities fraud. (Im over it! she joked in a recent speech.)
To the Editor:

Perhaps Im just impatient, but I am old (75), tired and have seen too much.

The war in Ukraine needs to be stopped now. We dont need to wonder about Vladimir Putins intentions or what he might do if the United States and our allies entered the war. I refuse to balance the consequences of what if with the lives of innocent Ukrainian civilians, especially the children.

We need to give Russian forces a timeline for withdrawal out of Ukraine, including the separatist territories in the east. If they dont leave, we should enter the war with air and sea power first to protect Ukraine forces, and if necessary send ground forces and armaments to force Russians back into Russia. And we should make it clear that we expect the Russian people themselves to remove this madman from their leadership.

And I dont say this idly from my easy chair: I may be old, but if you want to put me on the front line of this effort, Ill gladly go. I just cant stand to see another child die because a madman is in power.

David M. Behrman

Houston

To the Editor:

The atrocities being committed by Russia have gone well past any moral red line. Since the U.N. Security Council has become dysfunctional, it is time for the U.N. General Assembly to act. It should hold an emergency special session and then immediately authorize a true peacekeeping force for Ukraine to protect civilian sectors, evacuate civilians who desire to leave and investigate alleged violations of international law.
During his campaign for mayor last year, Mr. Adams has promised to tap into a group of underutilized hotels and convert units in them to permanent supportive housing. The hotel conversions have been on hold since last fall, when the citys Law Department issued a technical ruling involving hotel occupancy regulations that nonprofit housing developers say effectively prevents them from converting hotels to long-term use. A spokesman for Mr. Adams said state legislation was needed to allow the city to ease regulatory issues with the hotel conversions. Fine. But this should be a priority, with the mayor securing whatever help he needs from Albany to move forward on an imperative, urgent plan.

Other units are available but sitting vacant, thanks to a tangle of dysfunctional city bureaucracy that also demands Mr. Adamss attention. Eric Rosenbaum  the president and chief executive of Project Renewal, a nonprofit that provides housing, health and jobs for homeless people  said the work of getting one person off the street and into permanent housing can involve filing paperwork with up to a half-dozen city agencies, from the Department of Homeless Services to the health department. Other times, advocates say the units sit empty for months after a previous tenant died, because of delays with officials at the city medical examiner office, who must sign off before the apartment is made available again.

With rents soaring and significant numbers of New Yorkers at risk of eviction, New Yorks enormous bureaucracy needs to be remade to serve, in every agency and at every level, as a bulwark against homelessness. In just one example, the city agency responsible for fighting discrimination against New Yorkers using vouchers to secure housing appears to have no staff members, according to a report in City Limits. Mr. Adams had better get to it.

For now, the most desperate scenes of the housing crisis are unfolding in public view. Children are sleeping in crowded subway cars. People are battling mental illness and drug addiction outside New Yorks most iconic landmarks and in its famous parks. For the rest of the city, watching their suffering has always been uncomfortable. These days it feels like a daily reminder of our own fragility.

For weeks, workers from the New York Police Department, Sanitation Department and Department of Homeless Services have aggressively broken up homeless encampments across the city, forcing people to disperse. People living on the street and the nonprofit workers who serve them say the city is largely offering help they dont want, like referrals to dormitory-style, city-run shelters that have a reputation on the street as dangerous as well as stressful.

Homelessness is a vexing public policy problem. But the basics are clear: the key is deploying trusted social workers and other professionals to coax people into transitional and then permanent housing that is safe and peaceful and, importantly, includes a private bed and bathroom  needs anyone can relate to. Just as crucial is reshaping the citys approach to services like treatment for addiction, trauma and abuse and mental health disorders so that it is truly accessible to the people who need them. That is the way forward, not sending sanitation workers who usually pick up trash to shoo human beings out of the way.

Outside Redeemer Church last Sunday, Ivan Cabrera Jr.  a 28-year-old with golden skin, a shock of black hair and a disarmingly bright smile who uses they pronouns  said they had been living on the streets and in shelters since the age of 17, when their parents kicked them out of the house because they were gay. They said they didnt trust the shelter system in part because a friend was killed inside one of the shelters several years ago.
This weekend, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of Passover, the name of which comes from the story of God passing over the homes of our distant ancestors on his way to slaughter the firstborn sons of evil Egyptians. Our forefathers, the story goes, marked their doorposts with lambs blood in order to spare their sons the awful fate of their enemies.

In this time of war and violence, of oppression and suffering, I propose we pass over something else:

God.

Two aspects of the Passover story have troubled me since I was first taught them long ago in an Orthodox yeshiva in Monsey, N.Y. I was 8 years old, and as the holiday approached, our rabbi commanded us to open our chumashim, or Old Testaments, to the Book of Exodus. To get us in the holiday spirit, he told us gruesome tales of torture and persecution.

The Egyptians, he told us, used the corpses of Jewish slaves in their buildings.

You mean they used slaves to build their buildings, I asked, and the slaves died from work?

No, said the rabbi. They put the Jewish bodies into the walls and used them as bricks.

My father was something of a handyman at the time, and this seemed to me a serious violation of basic building codes, not to mention a surefire way to lose a home sale.
The electronic health records we use now prompt doctors and nurses when patients combinations of vital signs and lab results suggest that they might be septic. This can be frustrating when we are fatigued by alarms and alerts, but it helps us recognize and react to patterns that a busy medical team might otherwise miss. When it comes to administering medications, they must generally be approved by a pharmacist before they can become available to a nurse to administer. Some hospitals create a no-talk zone where nurses withdraw these medications, because that process requires a focus that is often impossible in the frenzy of todays hospitals.

Once the medication is in hand, nurses use a system to scan the drug along with the patients wristband to help ensure that the correct medication is given to the correct patient. None of these systems are perfect. But each serves to acknowledge that no individual can hold full responsibility for every step that leads to a patient outcome. Just being vigilant is not enough.

Whats needed alongside these systems is a culture in which doctors and nurses are empowered to speak up and ask questions when they are uncertain or when they suspect that one of their colleagues is making a mistake. This could mean that a nurse questions a doctors medication order and discovers it was intended for a different patient. Or that a junior doctor admits she is out of her depth when faced with a procedure that she should know how to do.

Stories in medicine so often celebrate an individual hero. We valorize the surgeon who performs the groundbreaking surgery but rarely acknowledge the layers of teamwork and checklists that made that win possible. Similarly, when a patient is harmed, it is natural to look for a person to blame, a bad apple who can be punished so that everything will feel safe again. It is far easier and more palatable to tell a story about a flawed doctor or a nurse than a flawed system of medication delivery and vital sign management.

But when it comes to medical errors, that is rarely the reality. Health care workers and the public must acknowledge that catastrophic outcomes can happen even to well-intentioned but overworked doctors and nurses who are practicing medicine in an imperfect system. Punishing one nurse does not ensure that a similar tragedy wont occur in a different hospital on a different day. And regardless of the sentence that Ms. Vaught receives in May and whether it is fair, her case must be viewed as a story not just about individual responsibility but also about the failure of multiple systems and safeguards. That is a harder narrative to accept, but it is a necessary one, without which medicine will never change. And that, too, would be a tragic error but one that is still in our power to prevent.
As Vladimir Putin vows to continue his genocidal invasion of Ukraine, investigators at the Treasury Department and Justice Department are scrambling to seize Russian yachts, mansions and the other spoils of his despotic regime. Meanwhile, in Washington, Representatives Tom Malinowski of New Jersey and Joe Wilson of South Carolina have advanced a bipartisan measure to clarify exactly how much power the executive branch has to liquidate those assets.

These efforts are laudable and important. But they are neither bold enough nor swift enough to provide what Ukraine needs.

Even if the Justice Department were able to sell every yacht and mansion it seizes over the coming months, earmarking the profits for military and humanitarian aid, the process would be too slow, and the proceeds too insignificant, to meet Ukraines growing and urgent needs: for tanks, antiaircraft missiles, food and medicine. And as the war enters its eighth week and its costs balloon, the American people may not be willing to foot the bill much longer.

An obvious solution is staring us in the face: President Biden could liquidate the tens of billions of dollars the Russian central bank has parked in the United States as part of its foreign exchange reserves; by some estimates, those funds may total as much as $100 billion. These assets are already frozen at the Federal Reserve and other banks thanks to Treasury sanctions banning transactions with the Russian central bank. With new details of Russian atrocities making the prospect of lifting those sanctions increasingly untenable, those funds have, in effect, been seized indefinitely. Liquidating them now would not only be likely the fastest way to increase American aid to Ukraine without further burdening and fatiguing American taxpayers. It would also send a potent signal that the United States is committed to making even the worlds most powerful states pay for their war crimes.
FRONT PAGE

An article on Tuesday about how the shift to remote work has affected New York City misstated the percentage of New York workers who went into the office before the pandemic. It is more than 90 percent, not 80 percent.

INTERNATIONAL

An article on Wednesday about protests in Sri Lanka calling for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa misstated the post held by Mr. Rajapaksas brother Chamal. He is the state minister of defense  effectively an assistant cabinet minister  not the minister of defense.

NATIONAL

An article on Thursday about meetings between two Trump White House lawyers and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol described the meetings incorrectly. They met in person, not virtually.

Because of an editing error, an article on Wednesday about House Republicans withdrawal of support for a bill to name a federal courthouse after Justice Joseph W. Hatchett, the first Black man to serve on the Florida Supreme Court, attributed an erroneous distinction to him. Justice Hatchett was the first Black judge to be appointed to a federal appeals court in the Deep South, not the first Black judge to be appointed to a State Supreme Court south of the Mason-Dixon line.
Many scientists, including those at NASA, say that the military still has not released enough data to confirm the interstellar origins of the space rock, and a spokeswoman said Space Command would defer to other authorities on the question. But it wasnt the only information about meteors to be released. The military also handed NASA decades of secret military data on the brightness of hundreds of other fireballs, or bolides.

Its an unusual degree of visibility of a set of data coming from that world, said Matt Daniels, assistant director for space security at the White Houses Office of Science and Technology Policy, who worked on the data release. Were in this renewed period of excitement and activity in space programs generally, and in the midst of that, I think thoughtful leaders in multiple places said, you know, now is a good time to do this.

In recent years, a pair of objects that passed through our immediate stellar neighborhood drew considerable attention because they were confirmed to have originated outside the solar system. The first object was Oumuamua, a long, flat body that zoomed through the solar system in 2017. Dr. Loeb, one of the two who studied the 2014 meteorite, has also attracted attention and dispute by arguing that Oumuamua was technology sent by intelligent life. Other astronomers are still debating what kind of natural object it was.

In 2019, Borisov, a comet roughly the size of the Eiffel Tower, became the second confirmed interstellar visitor. A piece of it broke off in 2020 after it rounded the sun.
Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense makes comments on the visit by some members of the US Congress to Taiwan on April 15, 2022.

BEIJING, April 15 -- Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense made comments on the visit by some members of the US Congress to Taiwan on Friday.

Recently, members of the US Congress paid a visit to Taiwan despite China's strong opposition. This deliberate provocative action made by the US side seriously violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiques, severely undermines the political foundation of China-US relations, and escalates the tension across the Taiwan Strait, Wu said.

Wu pointed out that it is extremely hypocritical and untrustworthy for the US to pledge not to support "Taiwan independence" on the one hand and send a serious wrong signal to the "Taiwan independence" secessionist forces on the other. China firmly opposes to this and lodges solemn representations with the US side.

Wu stressed that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory and the Taiwan question brooks no external interference. The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) conducted combined combat-readiness patrol and carrying out targeted training exercises in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island. This is a necessary action taken in light of the current security situation in the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard China's national sovereignty. The Chinese PLA has been in full combat readiness and will take all measures necessary to resolutely defeat the interference of external forces and thwart the secessionist attempts for "Taiwan independence", and safeguard China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Sidney Altman was born on May 7, 1939, in Montreal, the second son of Victor and Ray (Arlin) Altman. His mother was a textile worker; his father ran a grocery store.

The family had little money, but Dr. Altman, in an autobiographical sketch for the Nobel Institute, credited his parents with setting a good example that stayed with him for the rest of his life. It was from them, he wrote, that I learned that hard work in stable surroundings could yield rewards, even if only in infinitesimally small increments.

Dr. Altman became fascinated by science as a boy  first by news of the detonation of the first atomic bomb, when he was 6 years old, and then by seeing the periodic table of the elements, which, he wrote, gave him a sense of the elegance of scientific theory and its predictive power.

He had intended to enroll at McGill University in his hometown, but he changed course when he was accepted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He studied physics at M.I.T., but in his final semester, out of curiosity, he took an introductory course in molecular biology and found it compelling.

After M.I.T., he spent 18 months in a graduate physics program at Columbia University, but he said he was not really happy there. He wanted to be an experimental scientist and there was no opportunity at Columbia, so he quit and went back to Canada.

The next summer, he was offered a job writing about science for an institute in Boulder, where he could also take summer courses.

One night he wound up at a party talking to George Gamow, a well-known physicist, cosmologist and writer. Dr. Altman explained that he was dissatisfied with physics but fascinated with biophysics. Dr. Gamow suggested that he go to the University of Colorado in Denver, which had a good biophysics department.
Do you want to come in? I said.

She resettled her baby while considering her options. There was a new variant; everyone was wary. Id better not, she said. She made no move to leave, though. Instead, she stood in the hallway, shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

Are you OK? I said.

She blinked before blurting out, Im a single mother and I work from home and my babysitter didnt show up and my daughter is teething and Ive been up for three nights in a row all alone. Her mouth quivered as she struggled to keep control. Im just so lonely.

Do you have anyone nearby to help?

She shook her head. My family doesnt live here and I have a rent-stabilized one-bedroom apartment so I cant afford to move.

I asked if she had met any other new mothers in the neighborhood who might offer support.

No. I work full-time. I barely have time to shower. Besides, no one is really going indoors right now. Her eyes bored into mine. People say they understand what its like, but they dont. They just dont understand.

I recognized the look. Im a single mother, too, I said. My daughter is grown now, but it was hard enough without a pandemic.

How did you do it? Im not sure I can make it through another night.

I dont know, I said. Somehow you just do. I remember a time when my daughter was 6, and I had a bad stomach bug. I lay on the bathroom floor at 4 a.m. trying to figure out how to get her to school in the morning. I had no one to call. Eventually, I managed to take her in a cab with a plastic bag in my purse in case I threw up. I went home, called in sick to work and slept. It didnt occur to me until years later that the world wouldnt have ended if my daughter missed a day of school.
With their families present, the couple wed two days later before Rabbi Chaim Shalom Deutch, the grandfather of the bride, who traveled from Jerusalem to officiate. Ahead of the ceremony, Mr. Stambler covered Ms. Deutchs head with a veil, a tradition signifying that the groom is not just interested in the brides outward beauty, and that her physical appearance is to be appreciated only by him.

But first, they savored the ability to gaze at one another following their tumultuous seven days apart. After not seeing each other for a week, after all the stress, and so many changes, this moment of seeing each other for the first time was very spiritual, Ms. Deutch said.

It is a Chabad custom to invite strangers to a wedding, and dozens came after hearing about the long, painful journeys that both families undertook to get to New York. It was a wedding for the whole community, said Ms. Deutch, who has applied to legally take her husbands surname. Everyone was happy for us, and with us.

After their ceremony in Brooklyn, a reception was held at Da Mikele Illagio, an event space in Queens, where more than 250 guests celebrated with the newlyweds.

All the stress in the run-up to the wedding heightened the celebratory feeling the day of, the groom said. Even if you didnt know the whole story, you could feel something special in the atmosphere, he said. We danced until the middle of the night. You could feel the joy.
A bill that would have required all California students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus, eliminating a personal belief exemption that has been used to circumvent similar mandates, was pulled by its legislative sponsor on Thursday.

Another mandate, by Gov. Gavin Newsom, will still take effect once a vaccine is formally approved for children. But unlike the governors mandate, the bill pulled by State Senator Richard Pan, a pediatrician, would have allowed only medical exemptions.

Dr. Pan, who spearheaded an earlier tightening of vaccine laws in California, had struggled to get support this year from fellow Democrats, who expressed concern about political backlash while coronavirus rates in the state are relatively low. They worried that anger from the states vocal anti-vaccine lobby could accelerate a concerning decline in student enrollment and complicate the partys chances in the 2022 election.

Last month, a vaccine mandate for California employers was also shelved by its sponsor when Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, a Democrat, cited falling case rates and opposition from organized labor.
The strife has displaced some two million people in Anglophone regions and has resulted in thousands of civilian deaths and widespread food insecurity. As of December, 4.4 million people in Cameroon required humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations. The State Department has cataloged serious human rights violations perpetrated by the police and the military, including torture and extrajudicial killings.

Fearing for their lives, several thousand Cameroon citizens from the English-speaking northwest have embarked on treacherous journeys to seek asylum, crossing South America, including the lawless jungle stretch called the Darien Gap, and Mexico to reach the United States. On arrival, many have been locked up in immigration detention facilities.

Hundreds have been expelled back to Cameroon. International human rights groups have documented that some of them have fallen victim to persecution and abuse after returning to their country.

In announcing the decision, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, cited the extreme violence perpetrated by government forces and armed separatists, and a rise in attacks by Boko Haram, the terrorist group. He said nationals of Cameroon would be allowed to remain and work in the United States until conditions in their home country improve.

According to the Migration Policy Institute, about 900,000 people are now eligible for the temporary protected status program, which was signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush. The protection is extended to people already in the United States from countries ravaged by natural disasters, armed conflict or other extraordinary circumstances that prevent their nationals from safely returning or living there.

The U.S. government periodically reviews each countrys status, which is granted for six to 18 months, and decides whether to renew. Each time a country is recertified, recipients must reapply and pass a background check. The Biden administration has renewed or reinstated protections for many countries after determining that conditions on the ground remained precarious.

The largest group of beneficiaries, more than 200,000, are from El Salvador. Nationals from Haiti, Sudan, Syria and Venezuela are among others under such protections  though people who entered the country unlawfully from those countries in later years do not have the protection.
That message and several others from Mr. Lee, as well as a separate set of exchanges between Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas, and Mr. Meadows, trace an about-face by the two Republican lawmakers. The pair started out as enthusiastic supporters of Mr. Trumps claims of a stolen election but gradually grew alarmed about his push to invalidate the results and ultimately opposed his bid to get Congress to overturn them on Jan. 6, 2021.

The text messages, which are in the possession of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot, were obtained by CNN and authenticated by The New York Times.

They provide a window into the eagerness of Republicans  even some who ended up voting on Jan. 6 to confirm Joseph R. Biden Jr.s victory  to believe Mr. Trumps false claims of widespread fraud and their willingness to go to great lengths, including attempts at exploiting the nations election laws, to keep him in power. They also illustrate how rapidly those efforts spiraled out of control, and they show a keen awareness on the part of at least some Republicans involved that the endeavor had become untenable to the point of being dangerous.

The text messages were sent to and from Mr. Meadows, who turned them over to the House committee while he was cooperating with the panel. Mr. Meadows later refused to sit for an interview with the committee, and the House voted to recommend that the Justice Department prosecute him for criminal contempt of Congress.

A lawyer for Mr. Meadows did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for the committee declined to comment.
According to one of the Republicans familiar with Mr. Trumps thinking, he was swayed by several factors, including video clips of a Republican primary debate in which two of the candidates, Mr. Mandel and Mr. Gibbons, nearly came to blows. The incident ended any chance that Mr. Trump, who credits the 2016 presidential debates for his victory that year, might have endorsed either of them, the Republican said. Mr. Trump was also impressed by Mr. Vances performance in the last debate.

Mr. Trump has also told allies that he believes the leading Democratic candidate, Representative Tim Ryan, will be a difficult opponent in the general election and that he thinks Mr. Vance can beat him. Mr. Trump has been increasingly looking toward a prospective 2024 presidential campaign of his own, and he is said to see Mr. Vance as a reliable ally in the Senate on issues he cares about, like trade and immigration.

And a last-minute effort to stop Mr. Trumps endorsement that included releasing an internal Mandel campaign poll appears to have backfired. The survey suggested that Mr. Trumps endorsement would give Mr. Vance only a five-percentage-point bump in support, which Mr. Trump took as an affront, the Republican familiar with the former presidents thinking said.

Mr. Trump was lobbied heavily by supporters of Mr. Vance, including the billionaire Peter Thiel, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson and his own son, Donald Trump Jr.

Still, the move carries significant risks for Mr. Trump, whose endorsements in other marquee races across the country have not yet proven decisive. In Georgia, his attempt to fuel David Perdues Republican primary challenge to Gov. Brian Kemp has largely been seen as underwhelming.

In one of his biggest gambles, Mr. Trump recently gave his backing in the Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania to the celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, despite a concerted effort by supporters of the other leading candidate, David McCormick, to persuade Mr. Trump to stay neutral. Mr. McCormick and Mr. Mandel use the same consulting firm, run by the strategist Jeff Roe.

Few races across the country have captured Mr. Trumps effect in Republican primaries in the way that Ohios Republican Senate campaign has, with candidates seeking to model themselves after the former president. Most of the contenders have railed against undocumented immigrants, and only one has recognized President Biden as the nations legitimate leader.
He suggested that age played a role in the ships breach. The problem is that we have an 80-year-old vessel that was meant to serve about 25 years, and she served us honorably, he said. Was she meant to be a museum ship? That was never in the plan. We are making it the plan because of what she symbolizes.

Mayor Byron W. Brown, also speaking at the news conference, said Buffalo was deeply concerned about the condition of the ship. This is an important part of our U.S. naval heritage, he said.

Commissioned in 1943, The Sullivans is one of four remaining examples of the Fletcher-class destroyer left in the world, according to the park. The ship measures 376 feet long and was crewed by 310 sailors.

Named after five brothers who died during the battle of Guadalcanal, the destroyer left Pearl Harbor in 1944 and served in the Pacific for the remainder of World War II. According to the U.S. Navy, The Sullivans bombarded airfields on Iwo Jima, defended against Japanese air attacks, searched for submarines, rescued American sailors and Japanese merchant seaman, and supported the invasion of Okinawa.

The ship also saw action during the Korean War, supporting carriers as they attacked North Korean supply lines. The ship received nine battle stars for its service in World War II, and two for the Korean War, according to the Navy.

The ship was the first ship in the Navy to be named for more than one person, the park said. It was decommissioned in 1965 and donated in 1977 to Buffalo, where it has been designated a landmark for decades.

In 2018, the ship started sinking because of a crack in its hull, according to a local news station, WKBW-TV. The park ran a fund-raising campaign to pay for the repairs, raising $1 million by late 2021.
But at the turn of the century, she decided to try her hand in government.

A member of the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi party  or Party of the Revolution  since the late 1980s, she was elected as a lawmaker in Zanzibar in 2000 before joining the national Parliament in 2010. Ms. Hassan, who sits in the partys central committee, quickly went up the ranks, becoming a minister in the vice presidents office and then rising to the vice presidency in 2015. Ms. Hassan is married to Hafidh Ameir Hafidh, a former agriculture lecturer, with whom she has three sons and one daughter.

Ms. Hassan, who is soft-spoken and comes across as reserved, said that as vice president, it was tough working with Mr. Magufuli at times, and that she argued with him on several issues, including his Covid denialism. She rebutted the idea that he had succumbed to Covid and said he had died of heart complications.

As president, she said, her main priority was to revive the economy, build thousands of schools and health clinics, extend clean water and electricity to rural areas and complete key infrastructure projects  including a railway line and a major hydropower plant. She said that more than 250 new businesses had already been registered in the country last year.

Yet concerns have persisted about the pace of change under her government.
When European leaders recently pressed Chinas top leader, Xi Jinping, to distance himself from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, he doggedly stuck to prepared remarks for the video summit, shutting down any opening for their demands.

Speaking from the grandiose Great Hall of the People, he declared that China, as it had for years, welcomed the European Union as a pillar of an emerging multipolar world. But Mr. Xi also made clear that cajoling China about Russia was not the kind of assertiveness that he wanted.

Their talks were open, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told reporters afterward, before adding: Open means that we exchanged very clearly opposing views.

The awkward talks epitomized how China is struggling to ride out geopolitical shock waves from the war in Ukraine, and nowhere more so than in its relations with Europe.
SEOUL  When a brand-new luxury residential district opened in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, this week, the countrys leader, Kim Jong-un, said it would be reserved for his most elite supporters, those he called true patriots.

Among them was the nations top state TV news anchor, Ri Chun-hee.

At a ceremony on Thursday, Mr. Kim not only presented one of the two-story apartments to the legendary anchorwoman. He also gave her a tour of her new home while holding her hand. Naturally, she narrated it all in a state media video.

Known both inside and outside the hermetically sealed nation for her soaring, bombastic and emotional news readings, Ms. Ri, 79, has been a staple on North Korean television on and off for more than 50 years.
LUBLIN, Poland  On a recent morning, I sat in the sun-filled dining room of a tidy house in eastern Poland, across from one of the most generous men Ive ever met.

He was a Polish apple farmer who took in eight Ukrainian refugees, all complete strangers, and gave them a place to stay, cooked them meals, brought them armloads of fresh bread every morning and has been trying to find them jobs.

But when it came to talking about World War II, this is what he said: The real disaster started when the Russians invaded. The Russians were worse than the Germans.

The Germans, he said, did not hurt ordinary people.

My first reaction fell somewhere between disappointment and silent outrage: How could this farmer be so kind and so blind? How could he say the Germans didnt hurt ordinary people when they murdered millions of Jews right here in Poland? The biggest death camps were in Poland, and the more I thought about it, the more I was shocked by what the farmer said.
LONDON  When Safiah Ngahs father began coughing up blood and was rushed to the hospital from his home in central London in January 2021, she was confident that she would see him again.

But that moment would not come until weeks later, when she and her family huddled around his hospital bed to say one final goodbye while he was unconscious on a ventilator. She knows they were among the lucky few who were actually able to be there when their family member died from Covid-19, but for weeks coronavirus restrictions prevented them from visiting him in the hospital, and his health deteriorated.

It was a terrifying experience for him, she said. I feel so guilty that I couldnt be with him.

So when the news broke on Tuesday that the police had fined Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain for attending a party in Downing Street during lockdown that broke coronavirus laws made by his own government, Ms. Ngah, 29, said she was enraged.

Its absolutely despicable when you think our leaders  the people that were setting these rules that we couldnt be with our families  were not only not adhering to them, but they were celebrating, she said. It really was not a time for celebration.
Boat arrivals have risen, but the number of asylum seekers is lower than two decades ago.

The highly visible boat arrivals across the English Channel have increased measurably over the past two years. At least 2,354 people arrived in Britain on small boats last month, according to the BBC, almost three times as many as in the same month in 2021.

But the number of overall asylum applications is still significantly lower than its peak two decades ago, with the total in 2021 just over half of what it was in 2002. And of all those applying for asylum, almost two-thirds were found to be genuine refugees in 2021.

Experts have long said that the boat arrivals signal a change in route, as those hoping to enter Britain to claim asylum have shifted from other, less visible means of entry, such as smuggling by truck or arriving by plane, especially as some means of international travel were halted by the pandemic.

Most of those who arrive by boat have valid asylum claims, research has concluded, and are coming from war-torn countries including Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

Rights groups argue that the issue of boat arrivals has been used to harness discontent and to rally support for the government. There is completely disproportionate hysteria around this, said Zoe Gardner, policy and advocacy manager at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, a British charity.
Since Russias invasion of Ukraine in February, Moscow has ramped up its propaganda and disinformation efforts, crafting a through-the-looking-glass image of the war in which Ukraine and the West  not Russia  are to blame for Russias attack.

Transnistria is technically part of the former-Soviet country of Moldova, but the regions separatist government is backed by some 1,500 Russian troops who are stationed there and its airwaves are dominated by Russian state-owned media outlets. Residents live just a few miles from the Ukrainian border, however, and have access to Ukrainian broadcasts as well.

A New York Times video team traveled to the breakaway region and spoke with people to find out what they believe about the war in Ukraine and to see how disinformation spreads beyond Russias borders.

Simon Ostrovsky is a Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellow.
American officials said the tone of the note was consistent with a series of public Russian threats, including to target deliveries of weapons as they moved across Ukrainian territory.

Officials said the note did not prompt any special concern inside the White House. But it has touched off a broader discussion inside the Pentagon and intelligence agencies about whether the unpredictable consequences could include trying to target or sabotage some of the weapons shipments while still in NATO territory, before they are transferred to Ukrainians for the final journey into the hands of Ukrainian troops. The delivery of the protest note was first reported by The Washington Post.

The weapons President Biden authorized this week for transfer to the Ukrainians include long-range artillery that is suited for what American officials believe will be a different style of battle in the open areas of the Donbas, where Russian forces appear to be massing for an attack in coming days.

Pentagon officials were insistent in the run-up to the war that the United States provide only defensive weaponry that would avoid escalation.

Jake Sullivan, the presidents national security adviser, described in an interview at the Washington Economic Club on Thursday how he and Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had reviewed weapons requests. They went over each item with their Ukrainian counterparts, talking about what the United States had in its stocks and what it could deliver quickly.

Reports by pro-Kremlin media have highlighted antitank systems and other Western weapons used by Ukrainian forces, promoting the idea that Russia is not at war with Ukraine but with an American-led alliance seeking to destroy Russia. Mr. Biden and his aides have denied that, saying that they wished to avoid direct conflict with Russia and had no interest in American-engineered regime change.
The brutalities of Russias war in Ukraine have stoked enormous demand among Ukrainians and much of the Western world for investigations, indictments, arrests and trials for the invaders and their commanders, notably President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Some leaders, including President Biden, have even accused them of genocide.

The calls for accountability have pressed for prosecutions not only at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which was established precisely for such a purpose, but in other courts and even special war crimes tribunals that could be created specifically to put suspects on trial, like the proceedings against the Nazis who were judged at Nuremberg.

And yet, despite the speedy collection of evidence in Ukraine and an outpouring of international cooperation to build criminal case files, the likelihood of any significant war crimes trials, much less convictions, could be years away  if they ever occur  especially for Mr. Putin.

The Russian authorities have denied all responsibility for civilian killings and abuse, and Mr. Putin has falsely depicted the troves of evidence as fabricated smears.
Getting his first tattoo, Steve Ferguson, an Episcopalian priest in his 70s, opted for a Christian fish symbol merging into a Star of David and a menorah, a design intended to illustrate, he said, his affinity for Israel and the Jewish people.

Jerusalem has been especially tense in recent days, before the rare convergence this weekend of Passover, Easter and Ramadan, and amid a surge in violence. Those tensions flared again on Friday when Palestinians threw stones at the police, who responded with sound grenades and rubber bullets. More than 100 Palestinians and several Israeli officers were reported injured.

Since March 22, there have been four attacks in four Israeli cities, involving five Arab assailants who have killed 14 people. About 20 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire during the same period, most while committing or trying to commit an attack, according to the Israeli authorities, or in clashes during Israeli counterterror operations in the occupied West Bank.

The Old City, in predominantly Palestinian East Jerusalem, has long been a crucible of friction. Captured from Jordan in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, the area was later annexed by Israel in a move that was never internationally recognized. Palestinian leaders covet it as the capital of a future state and much of the world considers it occupied.
A colonial house in Virginia has become the talk of the internet after going on sale for $800,000 with a serious catch  a basement dweller or two who wont be required to pay rent.

Located in Fairfax, Virginia, the 3,548-square-foot five-bedroom, four-bathroom house apparently needs some serious work. According to the Zillow listing, the original windows have some rot, one of the toilets leaks and has been shut off, the flooring needs to be replaced, as does the carpet on the lower level, and some of the appliances dont work. But thats nothing compared to the surprise waiting in the basement. While the house itself can be fixed, its unclear what the potential buyer should do about the basement dweller or dwellers that it comes with, who dont pay rent and cant be evicted

Photo: Zillow

Cash offers only no access to see lower level and home sold as is only with acknowledgment that home will convey with a person(s) living in lower level with no lease in place, the now-viral Zillow listing reads.

Asking $800,000 for a home in need of some considerable repairs and throwing in an unwanted basement buddy has confused a lot of people, many of whom have taken to social media to express themselves. While some resorted to humor, others expressed serious concerns about having to live with a stranger in their house and not being able to do anything about it.

Photo: Zillow

No way would I buy a house with a wild card or mystery box in the basement! one person commented. What if it was a meth lab that explodes overnight?! Or any other activity that endangers me? How do I buy fire or homeowners insurance for this place?!

Im trying to figure out how in the world this house is worth 800k when the windows are rotting, it needs 25k worth of flooring replacement, half the appliances dont work AND the back deck will need replacing?? someone else wrote. Also is my basement serial killer paying me rent???

Photo: Zillow

After being shared on social media, the page ended up on the popular Facebook page Zillow Gone Wild, where people really went to town on it.

I love how casually they slip back into the description of the house. Just so you know theres a man in your basement that you cant do anything about. What a great opportunity to own this colonial home with a huge kitchen! one person joked.

Photo: Zillow

Wow! What a deal! You mean I get all this  rotting door and window frames, leaky toilets and broken appliances  PLUS the added bonus of a squatter or two in the basement??? Where do I sign???

For more unusual Zillow listings, check out the famously narrow Pie House, or this Goth House thats black on the inside and out.
Pugh & Tiller signs on to work with Railfield Partners and FutureAI.guru. For Railfield Partners, a Maryland-based real investment firm that specializes in multi-family housing, the agency will provide media relations services, including awards and speaking opportunitites. Pugh & Tiller will support FutureAI.guru, an early-stage AI technology company headquartered in Washington, DC with media relations, analyst relations, and web design as well as handling awards and speaking opportunities.

Hill+Knowlton Strategies has been engaged to work with parking app AppyParking+ on the companys consumer communications and brand reputation. The account, which will be handled by H+K Londons mobility + transport practice, will focus on helping AppyParking+ grow its PR presence beyond the brands traditional B2B focus. H+K has a great depth of knowledge in the mobility sector, bringing together both corporate and communications expertise, said AppyParking+ founder Dan Hubert. We were impressed by the breadth of their offering and their insightful creative approach.

Applied is leading the rebranding effort for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health, which will now be known as Dartmouth Health. The new brand is part of Dartmouth Healths strategic plan to strengthen its relationships with the patients it serves in northern New England. Dartmouth Health will phase in its new brand identity over the next two to three years, beginning with its website, collateral materials, digital assets and other publicly visible elements such as facility signage and employee badges. The scope of work includes increasing awareness of the academic health system; affirming its position as the healthcare provider and employer of choice in the region; elevating its reputation nationally; and working to better articulate its strengths and benefits.
A man charged with a Section 3 assault and with threatening to kill came before Judge Patricia Cronin at last weeks district court.

In his evidence Sgt James OSullivan said that at 7.30pm on January 11, 2022 Gardai were called to Esker End road,Tullamore, where a domestic dispute had occurred.

It was alleged that Maxsims Selickis (42) assaulted a woman and threatened to kill her.

Sgt James OSullivan said the woman alleged she was terrified of Maxsims Selickis and what he could do. The couple's 18 year old daughter was present but refused to make a statement, said Sgt OSullivan.

Judge Cronin accepted jurisdiction in the case. Mr Selickis faces further charges as set out by Garda Stacey OBrien. She said when Mr Selickis was cautioned in the usual manner he made no reply.

Legal aid was granted in the case to Ciaran OBrien Solicitors and a Russian interpreter was ordered for the defendant.

Mr Selickis was granted court bail and the case was put back to May 4 when the defendant will either have to plead guilty or be given a date for a hearing.
Trocaire is calling on supporters in Co Offaly to return their Trocaire boxes and help the millions of people in Zimbabwe suffering from the devastating impact of Covid-19 and climate change.

The charitys biggest fundraising campaign, which finishes on Easter Sunday (April 17), highlighted how thousands of families in Zimbabwe are struggling with the triple challenges of Covid-19, climate change and a devastated economy. The Trocaire Box features a family  widow Thandekile and her two children  based in Matobo district in southern Zimbabwe who face massive daily challenges in their lives.

Trocaire CEO, Caoimhe de Barra, today thanked the people of Co Offaly for their continued support, in particular over the last two very challenging years saying: We are asking the Irish public to make your Trocaire box count.

We are so incredibly grateful for the generous donations we receive from parishes, schools and families in Co Offaly each year. I would appeal to people to return their Trocaire boxes this weekend so we can continue to provide life-saving support to the people who rely on our work overseas.

Please count or estimate what is in your box and donate the equivalent amount online, over the phone or via post. Many parishes have their own local arrangements in place for collecting Trocaire boxes, so people can also contact their local parish to see if it is possible to return their box, Ms de Barra said.

How to return your Trocaire box donation

Return your box or envelope to your local school, parish or Trocaire centre:

Maynooth, Co. Kildare or 9 Cook Street, Cork (ROI) or Trocaire, 50 King Street, Belfast, BT1 6AD (NI)

You can also go to Trocaire.org or call 1800 408 408.
Thomas Christopher John Pursglove is a British Conservative Party politician serving as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and Tackling Illegal Migration since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Corby since May 2015. At the time of his election, he was the youngest Conservative MP.
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Beijing announced the military activity shortly after a US delegation arrived in Taipei. Russia's aggression in Ukraine has renewed concerns around China-Taiwan relations.
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Berlin says it will drastically increase its budget for global military assistance, with much of it earmarked for Ukraine. Russia, meanwhile, has threatened further attacks on Kyiv. DW has the latest.
The explosions appeared to be among the most significant in Ukraine's capital region since Russian troops pulled back from the area earlier this month.
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We spoke with two White House correspondents for The New York Times, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Michael D. Shear, about a Trump-era immigration policy that the Biden administration is ending.
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Advances in DNA technology helped the authorities to identify remains found near a highway in 1992 as those of Margaret Ann Sniegowski Jr., who had disappeared from her home in Ohio.
Russia confirms that the Moskva, the flagship warship of Moscow, sank after Ukraine fires an anti-ship missile, marking a major setback in war.
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AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  The Maine House voted Thursday to give the states tribes the same rights enjoyed by Native Americans elsewhere across the country, a first step in an effort to uphold the tribes sovereignty.

The 81-55 tally marked the first legislative vote in the process of restoring rights forfeited in the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980, which made the tribes subject to state law.

The vote, which tribal leaders watched from the gallery, followed emotional testimony from supporters who said the change was long overdue.

The time to change this is now, for the Wabanaki tribes rightly deserve and should enjoy the same rights, privileges, power and immunities as other federally recognized tribes, said Rep. Rena Newell, a nonvoting Passamaquoddy representative to the Legislature.

Some critics, however, pointed out that there could be unforeseen difficulties from the change. As it stands, tribal reservations in Maine are treated like municipalities under state law.

The historic vote came hours after the Senate gave final approval to a separate bill allowing the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point to regulate its own drinking water.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has concerns about parts of the bill, including conflicts between jurisdictions.

Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, said she was concerned the tribal lands in Maine are not contiguous, and that there could be conflicts over environmental rules in towns across the state. Future lawmakers will be bound by any mistakes in the new language, she said.

There are serious unknown consequences on natural resources and wildlife management, land and water access, and liability, she said.

Most lawmakers spoke about righting a historical wrong that dates back more than four decades.

The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet traded some rights to the state authority under an $81.5 million settlement that was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The Mikmaq are subject to similar terms under their own agreement, adopted in 1991.

In the years since, the state and tribes have butted heads on environmental, fish and wildlife rules. And the states tribes have not benefited from changes in federal law, their supporters said.

Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos, an independent from Friendship, Maine, became emotional as he spoke of the need to adopt the law to ensure tribes are treated the same as others, especially all they've endured since the arrival of Europeans who took Native Americans' land and killed many of them.

When we steal something of this magnitude, we have to give a little bit of it back to make it right," he said.

Assistant House Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, said the proposal was the result of years of work.

Throughout the history of Maine and the United States, we have amended our laws over and over again to correct past wrongs, improve our democracy and protect the rights of those previously left behind. Let 2022 be the year that we correct the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, she said.

___

Associated Press writer Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vermont, contributed to this report.
SANFORD -- First, one individual donated land to OneChurch in Sanford. In turn, the church searched for a family who needed a new start. Finally, the Long-Term Disaster Recovery Group brought them a family.

Together, they are redeveloping one small piece of Sanford for a much bigger purpose.

OneChurch Pastor John Engler said contractors are expected to break ground on vacant land at 301 Cedar next week. A house located there was destroyed by the 2020 flood, and the family who lived there has since moved out of the village.

Now, a new family who is committed to staying in the village will be able to make its home there.

Sinc there is often so much red tape for flood victims to go through to try to reestablish their lives after a disaster, Engler said the church wanted to try to mitigate the stress and help with the process. The ease with which everything turned out, Engler calls a God thing.

This will help the economy and help the village come back, Engler said.

Sanford Village President Dolores Porte donated the land to the church, which is partnering with the Long-Term Disaster Recovery Group and the family to make the project happen.

The family, who isnt being publicly identified yet, sunk all its money into the home where it was living before the flood. That home is still not livable. Engler said the family was trying to buy a new house, but was not able to get a conventional loan.

This project, to help rebuild Sanford and one family's future, is what Engler credits as thinking outside the box.

The church spearheaded this, but its not about the church, Engler said of the five-month-old OneChurch. The church doesnt make a dime on this.

Members of OneChurch set their minds to helping people they felt had been lost during the larger conversation about helping the four lakes area recover from the devastating May 2020 flood. In addition, they are bringing an affordable home to the village as real estate prices around Midland County continue to soar.

The church wants to give a family a hand up, Engler said, and its about doing the right thing and being good people.

Helping out with the project are Skills for Tomorrow, Trevillian Construction, Roebuck Builders and Briggs Contracting.

Additional people are donating their time and resources to the project, and volunteers and building materials are still needed.

Anyone interested in donating to the project can email johnengler@onechurchmi.com.
NEW YORK (AP)  A divided New York federal appeals court rejected on Thursday a defamation lawsuit that former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes brought against CNN.

In a 2-to-1 ruling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a lower-court judges decision last year to toss out the lawsuit.

The California Republican who left his seat in Congress to lead former President Donald Trump's social media company had alleged CNN intentionally published a false news article in November 2019 and engaged in a conspiracy against him to damage his reputation. He sought over $435 million in damages.

Nunes claimed the cable news company published a report containing false claims that Nunes was involved in efforts to get dirt on then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

In February 2021, Judge Laura Taylor Swain dismissed the lawsuit, saying the case was governed by California law, which requires that a retraction be demanded in writing within 20 days of the publication of a story.

CNN lawyers said in court papers that Nunes in a rush to sue overlooked the need to first request a retraction.

Two 2nd Circuit judges agreed Thursday that California law governed Nunes' claims and that he undisputedly failed to comply with that statute. Circuit Judge Steven J. Menashi wrote in a dissent that California law should not be relied upon because Nunes didn't suffer the greatest reputational injury there.

In court papers, lawyers for Nunes said CNN knew the statements made by Lev Parnas, and included in their report, were false.

Parnas, an associate of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who served for a time as Trump's personal lawyer, was convicted last fall in Manhattan federal court on charges alleging he made illegal contributions to politicians he thought could aid his political and business interests.

He awaits sentencing for that conviction and for a guilty plea several weeks ago to a charge alleging he conspired to defraud investors in a purported fraud-busting company.

Parnas and another co-defendant worked with Giuliani to try to get Ukrainian officials to investigate Bidens son, prosecutors said. Giuliani has said he knew nothing about the political contributions by the men. He has not been charged.

The Nunes lawsuit said Parnas was telling lies to try to get immunity.

Lawyers for Nunes and CNN did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP)  Israel has fired several missiles toward Syrian military positions near Damascus, causing material damage, Syrias military said Friday.

State media quoted an unnamed military official as saying that the attack occurred shortly before midnight Thursday, adding that some of the Israeli missiles were shot down by Syrian air defenses.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the missiles struck positions of Iran-backed fighters southwest of the capital, near the suburb of Qatana.

There was no comment from the Israeli military.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.

It has acknowledged, however, that it targets the bases of Iran-allied militias, such as Lebanons Hezbollah group that has fighters deployed in Syria. It says it attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for the militias.

Israel justifies its strikes on facilities and weapons inside Syria by saying that an Iranian presence on its northern frontier is a red line.
DETROIT (AP)  The fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya in Michigan raises questions about why a traffic stop turned into a foot chase and vigorous tussle before the motorist was killed by a police officer while facing the ground.

Lyoya, a 26-year-old Black man, was shot in the head in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on April 4. The city's new police chief took the unusual step of releasing videos of the violent confrontation over objections of the prosecutor, who will ultimately decide whether the white officer should be charged.

It is an unjustifiable use of deadly force because the police escalated a traffic stop into an execution," said Benjamin Crump, an attorney for Lyoya's family.

State police are handling the investigation. Here's a look at key considerations:

NECESSARY FORCE?

Video showed Lyoya emerging from a car and refusing the officer's command to get back inside, then briefly running away in the residential neighborhood. The officer is heard saying he stopped the car because the license plate didn't match the vehicle.

The pair wrestled as the officer repeatedly demanded that Lyoya give up. Before shooting Lyoya on the ground, the officer loudly claimed that the man had possession of his police Taser.

Beyond the videos, I think the biggest factors will be the condition of the Taser and what, if anything, the motorist was trying to do with it, said Seth Stoughton, a professor at University of South Carolina School of Law and expert on the use of force.

He testified for prosecutors at the murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis officer who was convicted of killing George Floyd.

If the Taser only held the cartridge that had already been discharged, that means it could only be used to drive stun, which hurts but doesnt have any real risk of incapacitating an officer. ... Whether the Taser could realistically be used to disable the officer is hugely important, Stoughton said.

WHY CHASE LYOYA?

Pursuits on foot can be dangerous, and in recent years more police departments have adopted chase policies. Grand Rapids does not have one, but it's something that is addressed in training, spokeswoman Jennifer Kalczuk said.

David Carter, a criminal justice professor at Michigan State University and former police officer, said he could sense fear, frustration and exhaustion in the officer's voice on the videos, three things that could have affected his decisions.

There were times when he could have just let him go, said Carter, who noted that lowering the heat during conflicts involving police is preferred. Unless we know specifically that this person poses a threat to public safety, well get him later.

But Richard Convertino, a Detroit-area defense lawyer who has represented police officers, said pursuing people is a cop's job.

What if he turned out to be a fugitive? Then youd be questioned with, Why didnt you chase him?' Convertino said. A person not complying directly with something as routine as a traffic stop could indicate something is very wrong. Combativeness is very unusual.

WHAT DID THE OFFICER BELIEVE?

An officer's state of mind is a key factor for a prosecutor and a jury.

If the prosecutor concludes that the officer reasonably  but mistakenly  thought that (Lyoya) presented an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm when, in fact, he did not, they may be limited or precluded from bringing certain charges, Stoughton said.

In 2019, Convertino argued that a Michigan trooper feared for his safety when he fired a Taser from his patrol car at an unarmed Detroit teen who was joyriding on an all-terrain vehicle. Damon Grimes, 15, crashed and died. Mark Bessner was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

These things can go from zero to 90 in a millisecond, Convertino said Thursday, referring to sudden conflicts between police and the public. This officer may have felt, Im getting overwhelmed. I'm exhausted. He might overpower me. He has my Taser.'

Convertino said release of the videos could put remarkable community pressure on the Kent County prosecutor to charge the officer.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The prosecutor, Chris Becker, said the public shouldn't expect a quick decision.

While the videos are an important piece of evidence, they are not all of the evidence, he said. "Our office has never made, and will not make, a decision based on partial evidence."

Lyoya's family, refugees from Congo, wants the officer charged.

That was my beloved son. You know how you love your firstborn son, his mother, Dorcas, said through an interpreter.

___

AP reporter Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this story.
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WASHINGTON  Americans are deeply divided over how much children in K-12 schools should be taught about racism and sexuality, according to a new poll released as Republicans across the country aim to make parental involvement in education a central campaign theme this election year.

Overall, Americans lean slightly toward expanding  not cutting back  discussions of racism and sexuality, but roughly 4 in 10 say the current approach is about right, including similar percentages across party lines. Still, the poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows stark differences between Republicans and Democrats who want to see schools make adjustments.

About 4 in 10 Republicans say teachers in local public schools discuss issues related to sexuality too much, while only about 1 in 10 say too little. Among Democrats, those numbers are reversed.

The findings reflect a sharply politicized national debate that has consumed local school boards and, increasingly, state capitols. Republicans see the fight over school curriculum as a winning culture war issue that will motivate their voters in the midterm elections.

In the meantime, a flurry of new state laws has been introduced, meant to curtail teaching about racism and sexuality and to establish a parents bill of rights that would champion curriculum transparency and allow parents to file complaints against teachers.

The push for legislation grew out of an elevated focus on K-12 schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, when angry parents crowded school board meetings to voice opposition to school closures, mask mandates and other restrictive measures intended to prevent the spread of illness.

All that thats happening these days kind of goes against the longer history of school boards being relatively low salience government institutions and, in a lot of cases, they are nonpartisan offices, said Adam Zelizer, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School researching school board legislation.

What distinguishes this moment, Zelizer said, is the grassroots anger in response to school policies and the national, coordinated effort to recruit partisan candidates for school boards and local offices.

What started as parents' concern about virtual learning and mask wearing has morphed into something larger, said Republican pollster Robert Blizzard, describing parents as thinking: OK, now that we have the schools open, what are these kids learning in school?"

The poll shows 50% of Americans say parents have too little influence on curriculum, while 20% say they have too much and 27% say its about right. About half also say teachers have too little influence.

Kendra Schultz said she and her husband have decided their 1-year-old daughter will be homeschooled, at least initially, because of what friends have told them about their experiences with schools in Columbia, Missouri.

Most recently, she said, one 4-year-olds pre-K class talked about gender pronouns. Schultz offered that and mask requirements as examples of how the public school system doesnt align with what we believe or how we would like to see our children educated.

Im just like, youre a little kid, you should be learning your ABCs and your numbers and things like that, said Schultz, a 30-year-old conservative. That's just not something that me and my husband would be interested in having teachers share with our children.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in March signed into law a bill barring instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Opponents, including the White House, have dubbed it the Dont Say Gay law.

The poll shows Americans are slightly more likely to say the focus on sex and sexuality in local schools is too little rather than too much, 31% to 23%, but 40% say its about right. The poll didnt ask about specific grade levels.

Blizzard, who has been working with a group called N2 America to help GOP candidates in suburbs, said the schools issue resonates with the Republican base and can motivate voters.

In the Virginia governor's race last year, Republican Glenn Youngkin won after campaigning on boosting parental involvement in schools and banning critical race theory, an academic framework about systemic racism that has become a catch-all phrase for teaching about race in U.S. history. His Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, had said in a debate that parents shouldnt tell schools what to teach.

The poll also shows Americans have mixed views about schools' focus on racism in the U.S.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said parents and teachers alike are frustrated after pandemic disruptions and should partner to help kids recover. The efforts to predetermine curriculum and restrict teaching are getting in the way, she said.

The people who are proposing them, theyve been pretty clear ... they just want to sow doubt and distrust because they want to end public education as we know it," Weingarten said.

Parents of school-age children arent more likely than other adults to say parents have too little influence in schools. But there is a wide partisan gap, with 65% of Republicans saying that, compared with 38% of Democrats.

AP Education Writer Collin Binkley in Boston contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Ed Buck told his neighbors that the steady stream of young Black men leaving his West Hollywood apartment were social work clients. What really happened behind closed doors, which he referred to as the gates of hell, was far more sinister.

The men did not need Buck's help  they needed to be saved from him, said federal prosecutors in Los Angeles said. Some barely escaped with their lives. Two men didnt.

Buck, 67, a wealthy gay white donor to Democratic, LGBTQ and animal rights causes, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court to 30 years in federal prison for injecting two men with lethal doses of methamphetamine as part of a fetish that turned fatal.

Prosecutors, who sought a life term, said Buck had such disregard for life that even after the two deaths in his apartment, he did not stop paying men to come to his home and injecting them with walloping doses of methamphetamine. One man overdosed twice in the course of a week.

This defendant preyed upon vulnerable victims  men who were drug-dependent and often without homes  to feed an obsession that led to death and misery, United States Attorney Tracy L. Wilkison said. Mr. Buck continues to pose a clear danger to society.

Buck was convicted in July of distribution of methamphetamine resulting in the deaths of Gemmel Moore in 2017 and Timothy Dean in 2019. He was also convicted of four counts of meth distribution, two counts of enticing men to travel across state lines for prostitution and a count of maintaining a drug den.

Buck managed to avoid arrest for more than two years after Moore's death and family and community members led by political strategist Jasmyne Cannick complained that he escaped prosecution because of wealth, political ties and race. He donated more than $500,000 since 2000 to mainly Democratic causes.

Moores mother, LaTisha Nixon, joined Cannick and several other friends and family members of the deceased to ask the judge for the maximum sentence. Nixon, a certified nursing assistant who said she had prayed with and comforted countless dying people, broke down as she thought of the way her oldest child died.

All I can think about is how my son died naked on a mattress with no love around him, Nixon said. No one to hold his hand or tell him good things.

Defense lawyer Mark Werksman sought a 10-year term  half of the mandatory minimum of 20 years Buck faced and well below the 25 years recommended by the probation department. He said Buck's sexual abuse as a child and health problems that led to his drug addiction were mitigating factors.

He said prosecutors had cast Buck as a "sociopathic syringe-wielding sexual predator and sexual deviant who preys on homeless drug-addicted male prostitutes and kills them by recklessly overdosing them on methamphetamine."

But theres a second Ed Buck, a redeemable, a worthy, a valuable Ed Buck who deserves this courts compassion and mercy, Werksman said.

Buck made his first public remarks since his arrest in September 2019, apologizing for "my part in the tragic deaths" of Moore and Dean, whom he said were friends he loved. In a husky voice, he said he had not caused their deaths but expressed condolences to their families  something they said he never did after their deaths.

Buck, who worked as a model and then made a small fortune selling an Arizona company he rescued from bankruptcy, said he tried to live a good life devoted to political causes that would make his world a better place.

His political activism began with efforts in 1987 to recall Republican Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham, who was ultimately convicted in an impeachment trial and kicked out of office. Buck said he started an AIDS information organization in the 1980s, marched for gay and human rights and championed a ban on fur sales in West Hollywood.

Look at the good I have done and the good I may still do and not the horrible caricature that the government painted me as a meth-fueled ax killer, Buck said. "That's not who I am.

Judge Christina Snyder said the case was one of the most difficult and tragic ones she had presided over. She said Buck's "horrific crimes were reprehensible and more than just an accident.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Norell objected to the 30-year sentence, arguing that the mandatory minimum sentences for each death add up to 40 years.

He is effectively getting one kill and one kill 50% off, Norell said.

Family members of Dean and Moore said they were disappointed he didn't get a life sentence but were happy Buck was going away for a long time. They said his apology had come too late to seem sincere.

That's not love when you kill someone, said Dean's sister, Joann Campbell. That was just something he was saying ... to get some sympathy from the judge. But I don't believe and buy any of it.

Even after Dean's death, Buck remained undeterred, Norell said. Holed up in a hotel to avoid the police, he injected Dane Brown with back-to-back slams of methamphetamine.

Brown, who was homeless, later moved into Buck's apartment, where he was injected with meth most days and often several times a day.

On Sept. 4, 2019, after Buck shot him up three times with back-to-back doses, Brown was hospitalized for overdosing. He had five times the meth in his system that Moore and Dean had when they died, prosecutors said.

Brown returned less than a week later and Buck injected him three times with meth. Brown said he was overdosing again. He was exhausted and weak but Buck wouldn't call an ambulance.

I can't run, I can't move and it's like all my energy was being sapped out, Brown recalled Thursday outside court.

That's when he heard the voice of his late mother tell him to get up.

At that last moment, right when I was giving up and closed my eyes, I heard the voice, Brown said. It's like she lit a fire and told me to get out and get out now.

Brown managed to get himself to a nearby gas station and was taken to the hospital. It was that incident that finally led to Buck's arrest.

If he hadn't made it out of Buck's apartment, Brown said he would have died there like Moore and Dean.
A sweeping generalization is an overarching or overly broad statement or opinion in which a general idea or rule is applied too widely, without allowing any exceptions to it. Perhaps you have heard the following sweeping generalization: Corporate America is evil. I am here to sweep that generalization into the dustbin with a few examples of noteworthy exceptions.

I will make the disclaimer that there are corporations  Koch Industries is a good example  that truly act in bad faith.

In 2016, ahead of the general election, Rose Marcario, the chief executive of outdoor clothing retailer Patagonia, decided that Patagonia would close all its stores and distribution centers on Election Day to give employees the opportunity to vote. Patagonias public relations director J.J. Huggins shared with me that Patagonia wanted to send the message that Nothing was more important than voting on Election Day.

In 2018, Patagonia joined forces with Levi Strauss and PayPal in founding Time to Vote. In 2018, 411 companies across the United States participated in Time to Vote. In 2020, that number had increased to nearly 2,000. These companies joined the nonpartisan, business-led movement to make sure workers never have to choose between earning a paycheck and casting their ballot. The list of participating companies is available at maketimetovote.org.

Participating companies and business leaders pledge to give their employees time off to vote in an election. There is no prescribed procedure. Rather, it is up to each individual business how to do it.

The movement is a part of a larger trend toward civic engagement and protecting our democracy. The rationale is that it makes good business sense and that the business community can take a leadership role in strengthening our democratic institutions.

Companies that encourage and communicate about voting can score multiple victories with such an approach. A July 2018 Global Strategy Group survey found that 76% of people were more likely to work for a company that promoted democracy, 81% were more likely to buy that companys products or services, and 81% were more likely to recommend the company to their friends or family.

Sarah Bonk started the civic organization Business for America after realizing that business engagement would be essential to overcoming political partisanship. Bonk states that her organization is not only nonpartisan but anti-partisan, with the aim of uniting Americans on both sides of the aisle under broadly shared goals. Business for America is affiliated with Time to Vote.

Walmart, Nike, Bank of America and Warby Parker were a few of the retail brands that joined the Time to Vote coalition in 2020. Walmart offered three paid hours to vote. The Coca-Cola Co. made Nov. 3, 2020, a paid holiday for all full-time, U.S.-based employees to provide extra time and flexibility to vote, volunteer and support campaigns and elections in local communities.

Eyeglass retailer Warby Parker provided employees with two hours paid time off to vote. Warby Parker also encouraged its employees to sign up as poll workers as a part of their 16 hours of paid-leave volunteer benefit time. Chief Executive Neil Blumenthal said that civic engagement is something weve always been vocal about, and we believe the business community plays a critical role in ensuring every eligible citizen has the opportunity and resources they need to vote in safe and fair elections.

American democracy and its institutions continue to weaken. In 2018, The Economist downgraded the United States from full democracy to flawed democracy due to an erosion of public trust in political institutions. The nonprofit Freedom House conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights. It publishes an annual report assessing the condition of political rights and civil liberties in each country. It says the health of U.S. democracy has weakened significantly and warns against assuming American institutions can indefinitely withstand what it describes as attacks on the pillars of the U.S. republic.

Some in the business community understand that strengthening our democracy is imperative for a strong, thriving economy. To put it bluntly, democracy is good for business. That is why some companies are taking steps to improve our civic health by increasing civic participation and voter turnout.

The way to combat sweeping generalizations is by highlighting exceptions. The 1,960 (and growing) companies that are committed to civic engagement are exceptional exceptions to the rule.

Lynn Schmidt is a columnist and Editorial Board member of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The Michigan State Police Department is seeking people interested in becoming cadets in the region.

State police posts in northern Michigan are looking for people who are motivated and who want to work in law enforcement as cadets.

The cadet positions would be located around the state and applicants select where they would be willing to accept employment.

More than one location can be selected in the application. The application deadline is Wednesday.

Cadets are supervised by an enlisted officer and responsibilities may include:

 Answering phones and dispatching patrol units;

 Retrieving information from headquarters and district headquarters;

 Assisting with traffic surveys;

 Transporting cars;

 Maintaining vehicles;

 Receiving evidence; and

 Taking fingerprints and photos.

Cadets also participate in presentations and special projects, prepare reports and gather information from a variety of methods, including computerized information systems.

The person will also be assigned to the Michigan State Police Training Academy Cadet School during their employment for satisfactory completion of the required cadet training curriculum. After completing the cadet program, the person may be eligible for consideration in a Michigan State Police Training Academy Trooper Recruit School.

A prospective candidate must meet one of the following four conditions to be eligible for this classification:

 Current enrollment in an accredited college or university. Cadet employees must be able to provide proof of enrollment in an accredited college or university.

 Has previously received a conditional offer of employment from the Michigan State Police and is awaiting entry into a Michigan State Police Training Academy Recruit School.



 Has previously been in a Michigan State Police Training Academy Recruit School, but resigned and is taking steps to correct deficiencies that have been identified to remain eligible for appointment to a future recruit school.

 Has previously participated in and completed the Michigan Youth Leadership Academy or a Michigan State Police high school level law enforcement training program.
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russia's withdrawal  most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were "simply executed.

The jarring number emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines alleged assaults on Russian territory. That ominous warning followed the stunning loss of Moscow's flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. defense official said Friday was indeed hit by at least one Ukrainian missile.

Amid its threats, Moscow continued preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also went on in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional Gov. Oleh Sinehubov.

Around Kyiv, Andriy Nebytov, the head of the capital's regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95% died from gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said.

More bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves, he added, with the largest number found in Bucha, where there were more than 350.

According to Nebytov, utility workers gathered and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops occupying parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south of terrorizing civilians and hunting for anyone who served in Ukraines military or government.

The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves, Zelenskyy said. Russias problem is that it is not accepted  and never will be accepted  by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.

In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelenskyy also said he discussed the fate of Mariupol with top military and intelligence officials. He said he couldnt offer details, but we are doing everything we can to save our people.

Zelenskyy said peace and how many more Ukrainians the occupiers have time to kill depend on Ukraine receiving more outside support, and echoed calls for more and faster military aid, as well as an oil embargo on Russia.

More violence could be in store for Kyiv after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.

The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Russia used missiles to destroy a facility for the repair and production of missile systems in Kyiv, Konashenkov said.

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports could not be independently verified.

However, Ukrainian officials said forces did strike a key Russian warship with missiles. A senior U.S. defense official backed up the claim, saying the U.S. now believes the Moskva was hit by at least one Neptune anti-ship missile, and probably two. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment.

The Moskva, named for the Russian capital, sank while being towed to port Thursday after taking heavy damage. Though Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only that a fire had caused ammunition on board to detonate, the loss of the ship represents an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.

The sinking reduces Russias firepower in the Black Sea, although military analysts disagreed on the event's significance to the course of the war. Either way, the loss was viewed as emblematic of Moscow's fortunes in an eight-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following the retreat from the Kyiv region and much of northern Ukraine.

A flagship russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted Friday.

Russia's warning of renewed airstrikes did not stop Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly warmer spring Friday as the weekend approached. More people than usual were out on the streets, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and strolling hand in hand.

In one central park, a small group of people including a woman draped in a Ukrainian flag danced to the music of a portable speaker.

Such tentative signs of prewar life have resurfaced in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes. But a renewed bombardment could mean a return to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of the invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations.

In Mariupol, the city council said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials of people killed by them.

Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, the council said on the Telegram messaging app.

Fighting continued in industrial areas and the port, and Russia for the first time used the Tu-223 long-range bomber to attack the city, said Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Mariupol has been blockaded by Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, and dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders have held out against a siege that has come at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians.

The mayor said this week that the city's death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv.

Mariupols capture would allow Russian forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraines eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.

It's not certain when Russia will launch a full-scale campaign.

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine. Russia has recognized the independence of two rebel-held areas of the region.

Also Friday a Russian rocket hit an airport at night in the central city of Oleksandriia, Mayor Serhiy Kuzmenko said via Facebook. He made no mention of casualties.

And a regional Ukrainian official said seven people were killed and 27 wounded when Russian forces fired on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near Kharkiv. The claim could not be independently verified.

Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office, told the Suspilne news website that authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

Russia's Defense Ministry said strikes in the Kharkiv region had liquidated a squad of mercenaries from a Polish private military company of up to 30 people and liberated an iron and steel factory in Mariupol. The claims could not be independently verified.

___

Fisch reported from Kramatorsk. Burns reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Cotonou, Benin (PANA) - The headquarters of the Beninese army Friday held an inauguration ceremony for new officers following their appointment by the Council of Ministers, official sources said here
Photo: (Photo : Getty images )

A heavily pregnant Katrina had to go to Brisbane to give birth in Australia. Doctors told her to have a caesarian section. Otherwise, she would kill her baby and come out with cerebral palsy. The mom of three asserts that going to Brisbane is not necessary, as her baby is fine, and she wanted to give birth naturally. However, the doctors ordered her to go to Brisbane to give birth.

The advice came after three days of consultation at Mackay Hospital. The doctor told her she could not give birth naturally and had to be flown to Brisbane to give birth as she was 42 weeks pregnant and the baby was too big, Kidspot reports.

Wanting a natural birth

Katrina was looking forward to giving birth in a birthing center, where she had her third child with the same midwife. However, at 42 weeks, she was told she would need to give birth in a hospital.

She claimed that there was a push for "intervention and control" despite what she wanted was a normal birth.

When the doctors asked her to have CTG monitoring and fetal wellbeing ultrasound, she thought everything would be fine.

The ultrasounds said that her baby looked big, but Katrina remained unperturbed as she knew they were "notoriously inaccurate later in pregnancy."

Since she was in her 42nd week, the doctors began pressuring her to deliver the baby.

She revealed that they said that not giving birth at this time would kill her baby. They also told her husband that her baby would come out with cerebral palsy. They also told her they would have a stillborn, and if they did not induce her birth, the baby would aspirate and could swallow the meconium.

When she finally agreed to be induced, the registrar told her that they did not have a full staff, so the hospital could not do it. As she was desperate to give birth naturally, she was transferred to Royal Brisbane Hospital.

They went home that night and packed for another hospital.

Read Also: Psychic Medium Matt Fraser and Alexa Reveal their Baby Premonition Before She Got Pregnant

Hospital finds decision to send her to Royal Brisbane ridiculous

The staff and doctors at Royal Brisbane Hospital thought it was ridiculous that they had to send her to their hospital. Her water broke at 8 a.m., and then she went into labor naturally. She delivered a healthy baby girl more than six hours later, weighing 4.5 kg, on May 24, 2021.

Katrina said the experience made her feel totally down. She felt like she had lost her trust in herself. She said she was coping and doubting herself.

She quit her job at the hospital because having to go down to the labor ward scares her.

One of the doctors at the Mackay hospital involved in Katrina's case has been suspended and has already resigned following an investigation into the hospital's Obstetrics and Gynaecology Service, in which Katrina was involved.

According to a statement released, Mackay Hospital gave Katrina their 100 percent support and said that her transfer to Brisbane was unnecessary.

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Photo: (Photo : Noel Vasquez/Getty Images)

Most parents will likely never blurt out that they have a favorite child, but some experts might have unlocked the real reason moms or dads favor one child over the other.

According to Sara Novak in Discovery Magazine, parents pick favorites to "carry on the bloodline" or ensure that the family's gene pool carries over to the next generation. But since parents will never admit to this as a fact, one only needs to look at where the mother or father pours their wealth and resources among their children.

In 2015, Kristina Durante and her team from Rutgers University conducted a study to prove the assumption that the parents' favorite child is the son or daughter with the "best evolutionary chance" for success. Among wealthy families, children are regarded as the investments, and the sons who are doing well in life financially are regarded as the highest risk with the highest rewards.

Wealthy and established sons tend to attract more chances of fathering many grandkids. Poor sons without any direction in life, on the other hand, will experience more problems finding a wife to build a family.

Read Also: Ryan Gosling Does More Acting at Home Than in His Movies To Entertain Daughters While in Lockdown

What About the Girls?

In their study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, Durante and her team said that parents may favor daughters more than poor sons if their economic situation is bad. Girls can still bear children despite their financial hardships, but a poor son will still be less appealing to a potential mate.

Novak said that while the Rutgers University study may be behind the times, it makes sense from the evolutionary perspective that children need to procreate and carry on with the gene pool. Durante agreed that not many parents would like this explanation, but there are still remnants of this evolutionary mindset embedded in every human's brain.

Speaking about a favorite child could be taboo for the parents as it can provoke feelings of guilt. However, a poll involving 2,500 respondents showed that 90 percent of mothers favor their sons more than daughters.

The poll also showed that mothers tend to look at their sons positively while they criticize their daughters more. They could also disregard some of the misbehaviors of their sons, but the girls would always get a reprimand.

Psychotherapeutic counselor Crissy Duff said via The Guardian that this might explain why women are more self-critical while men tend to be carefree when they fail or make mistakes. More than half of the women polled in the survey admitted that their sons are mama's boys.

Playing Favorites: Bad Parenting?

Studies show that children whose parents blatantly demonstrate that they are not favored can develop insecurities, feel unworthy, or could be harder to love by other people. The family's black sheep are also most likely to experiment with illegal activities or substances.

However, for many families, the impact of favoritism is not significant, according to Dr. Vijayeti Sinh of the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. A majority of parents are still doing their best to bond and appreciate all of their children, regardless if they favor one or the other. Many siblings in adulthood will each claim that they are their parents' favorite child or do not know if their parents are playing favorites.

Related Article: Shakira Doesn't Let Her Sons Listen to Her Music For This Reason
Photo: (Photo : SALEH OBAIDI/AFP via Getty Images)

Harper Jacobo, a premature baby, born with an incomplete esophagus, is the smallest ever to survive with that medical condition. Harper and her sister Gabriella weighed just one pound (0.45 kilograms) when they were born at 23 weeks back in February 2021 in Alliance, Nebraska.

After birth, the Jacobo twins were rushed 250 miles to a specialist at Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver, Colorado. According to a report by the Daily Mail, doctors there found that the tube between Harper's stomach and mouth had failed to connect.

Doctors at Rocky Mountain Hospital carried out Harper's surgery, using magnets to successfully bring the two parts of her esophagus together. Dr. Steven Rothenberg, the chief of pediatric surgery at the hospital, said that Harper was the "smallest baby ever to be born with this [condition] to survive."

What is esophageal atresia?

Harper's condition, known as esophageal atresia, happens when the upper and lower part of the esophagus fail to connect. About one in 4,100 babies are born with this condition in the United States, although most babies survive it.

It is unclear what causes esophageal atresia, but scientists have suggested that the medical condition could be down to genetic abnormalities. They have found that many sufferers of esophageal atresia also have problems with their heart, kidneys, and digestive system.

"It worked extremely well!"  Parents Kayla Hatch and Victor Jacobo credit the medical workers for saving Harper, who was born with an incomplete esophagus.



HER STORY  https://t.co/Itx5SDMDf6  Queen City News (@Queen_City_News) April 11, 2022

Harper and her twin sister Gabriella were born in February 2021 at the earliest age from which premature babies have been known to survive outside the womb. After doctors transferred Harper to the specialist hospital, medics there waited four more months before they were able to carry out her delicate surgery.

Doctors at Rocky Mountain Hospital did not say how baby Harper was fed during this time. Fox4KC reported that doctors used a magnetic procedure after the initial surgery to bring Harper's esophagus together. Her road to recovery was a grueling one, with Harper spending the first year of her life in hospital receiving treatment before she was finally discharged.

Read Also: Louisiana Mom Gives Birth to Son in Restroom of Dunwoody Hotel During Business Trip

Dad Victor Jacobo emotional while thanking Harper's doctors

Fortunately for Harper's twin, Gabriella, she was not born with the birth defect that affected her sister. Gabriella was discharged earlier into her family's care. Parents Kayla Hatch and Victor Jacobo have thanked the doctors for keeping their twin babies alive.

Jacobo was emotional when talking about her twins and the doctors who helped them, saying, "To see them breathing, kicking, it's just truly awesome." He added that they couldn't thank everyone enough for being there and helping them through these trying times. Jacobo said for the rest of his life, he is going to be thanking them.

Babies have been known to survive outside the mother's womb from 23 weeks of age, although they need high levels of medical care for them to live. According to the CDC, esophageal atresia is usually detected within the first few days of a baby's life and can also be diagnosed in the womb from 23 weeks of age. Studies show that almost all babies diagnosed with the medical condition survive.

Related Article: Hospital Refuses Woman in Labor, She Gives Birth in Gas Parking Lot Instead
Photo: (Photo : YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP via Getty Images)

Disturbing news like disasters, gun violence, or war that the children can see on television may leave parents too shocked to explain what's going on. But it's important for parents to help children understand the news even when it's tragic, as this will also help shape their understanding of what's going on in the world.

There are, however, age-appropriate ways to help children understand the news, especially when it's bad. Children will also take the cue from their parents, so moms or dads should handle the topics rationally and with a sense of calm.

According to Common Sense Media, children under seven years old should be kept away from the tragic news because it will only scare them. Under this circumstance, the most important thing for the parents is to let their younger children know that they are safe.

Mothers and fathers may also explain that the horrific incident they saw or heard is miles away. But kids who live in a violent or crime-ridden environment might have some triggers.

Read Also: Ukrainian Mom Lives with Horror of Seeing Daughter, 12, Violently Killed By Russian Soldiers

Here's how to help the kids understand the scary news:

Find out what they have seen or heard.

According to KidsHealth, school-age children may have already heard the tragic news from their schoolmates, so parents must assess how much they've grasped by asking them questions. The younger kids might not be up to talking, though. If this happens, the parents need not press the issue until they are ready.

On the other hand, older kids could have some questions themselves, and parents should answer these briefly but as honestly as possible. However, it's also okay for the parents to tell their children if they don't know the answers. Instead, assure them that you'll find out more.

Parents have to give their kids the facts and context and be their most reliable source of information. Otherwise, the children might turn to other sources that will not help them understand the situation better.

Listen to the fears behind their questions.

Parents have to let their children know that they will be there, especially when they are fearful of what they have seen or heard. Let your kids learn as well that you don't want them constantly exposed to the bad news, so you might have to limit their viewing time.

Periodically have conversations about current events and ask the kids what they think. Establish with the kids that your home will always be a safe space to talk about what's bothering them. However, watch out for stress indicators such as sleeping and eating issues or a change in their behavior.

Resist the urge to label and shift focus.

Rosemarie Truglio of the Sesame Workshop said that parents must avoid placing labels on the evil or bad guys from the news as this could only raise their fear and confusion. Truglio said parents should focus on why some people make bad choices in life by open firing a gun in a school or waging a war that has killed thousands of children.

It will also help shift the focus on the people helping during times of crisis. Truglio told NPR that it's what she did with her son after the 2012 Sandy Hook school attack. They turned to the TV only to watch the memorial and look at the thousands of people gathered to memorialize the dead.

Related Article: Parents Urged Not to Let Kids Watch Disturbing Huggy Wuggy TikTok Videos
Photo: (Photo : Getty images )

A Florida teen, Christopher Leroy Broad, 15, died after he took a turn shooting with friends while wearing a vest with body armor. Two Florida teens - Joshua Vining and Colton Whitler- were arrested for aggravated manslaughter of a child with a firearm after police discovered evidence that Vining shot their friend, Broad, on the night of April 3, as per Belleview Police Department.

The police investigation

Investigators learned that Broad and 17-year-old Vining had been taking turns shooting each other while wearing a vest that contained a form of body armor. The police said that Vining hit Broad while he was wearing the vest.

According to the department, officers responded to the shooting at around 7 p.m. on Sunday on the 10400 block of SE 52nd Court, where they found the victim inside a residence. The boy was taken to the hospital, where he succumbed later.

An 18-year-old Evan Vowell, who was with the group, recorded the shooting on his cellphone and turned over the footage to police as evidence, ClickOrlando.com reported. The police also indicated in their affidavit that a third teenager told them he had recorded the shootings using Snapshot on his iPhone. The teenager saved the video of Vining being shot but deleted the video of broad's turn. However, a technician was able to recover the shooting of Broad.

Vowell said Vining preceded the shooting by showing him, Broad and Whitler, and another juvenile a 9-mm gun and a vest. He then asked if they had ever seen anyone get shot while wearing a bulletproof vest.

In the video, Broad is seen firing a single shot at Vining, who was wearing the vest, as Whitler stood nearby. Broad and Vining switched roles, with Vining shooting Broad in the vest once. Broad nodded, then Vining shot Broad four more times.

According to CNN, the probable cause affidavit revealed that Vining was doing CPR on Broad when the police arrived. The medical examiner's office said the cause of Broad's death was a single shot to the chest. The manner of death was listed as homicide.

Read also: Boy Saved from Accident after Onlookers Spotted an Unrestrained Boy on Free Fall Ride

Witness provided the police with the wrong information

Whitler, whom the police first interviewed as a witness, allegedly misled investigators with false information about the shooting and who shot Broad.

Whitler first told the investigators that their house was fired at based on affidavits, and his friend got shot in the chest. He also said that he did not know any of the suspects involved. The police, however, found no evidence of the residence being fired at. When the police later interviewed him, Whitler claimed that Vowell shot broad.

Vining and Whitler were both accused of providing false information to law enforcement. Vining and Whitler are being charged as adults. Vining posted a $30,000 bond on April 8, as per Marion County Sheriff's Office inmate search website, while Whitler posted a $1,000 surety bond on April 8, the county inmate search said.

Related Article: Mother of Sacramento Mass Shooting Victims Calls for Justice as Hunt for Gunmen Continues
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In the past two years, income-earning assets of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) have improved from 18 percent to 91 percent, Mr Edwin Provencal, the Managing Director, has said.



He said that was as a result of Managements drive towards operational excellence, which also led to a revaluation of its assets in the 2020 financial year.



The revaluation of the assets become necessary as most of the assets still in operation had been written down to near-zero levels whilst still useful in the operations of the company, he said.



Mr Provencal said this during a media engagement to refute the purported loss of GHC400 million being speculated in a session of the media that, as required by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), when assets were revalued, the increase in their values is taxed resulting in larger tax obligations.



The revaluation, a deliberate decision to enhance the company's reporting, led to a deferred tax obligation of GHC292,935,973 compared to the net loss of GHC291,017,758, a difference of GHC1,918,215.



He said the increase in the value of the revalued assets also resulted in increased depreciation charges, which further reduced the bottom line or the profit for the year.



In any financial year, any loss in the market value of shares of GOIL Company Limited was computed and that reduced the income of BOST to arrive at its net profit or loss for the year as it had 20 percent shares in GOIL, Mr Provencal said.



In the year 2019 to 2020, our investment in GOIL saw a reduction of GHC15,674,525 in market value.



Respectfully, this event is external to BOST operations, and therefore to gauge the performance of BOST, Management and Staff by this loss in investment will not be fair.



This is the reason why we should rely on the profit before tax rather than all these uncontrollable factors, which have been factored in to arrive at the net profit or loss for the year.



Mr Provencal said the recorded net losses for the years 2019 and 2020 per the income statement were GHC101,411,781 and GHC291,017,758.



BOST has seen a turnaround, any comprehensive and objective analysis of the audited statements for the past five years 2016-2020 profit before tax trend will show a company on track to higher performance through enhanced efficiency, he said.



We look forward to capitalising on these modest improvements to make BOST an example of a World-Class State-Owned Enterprise.



Mr Provencal noted that it remains uncontested that the debt to suppliers and related parties of $623 million has been paid down to $39 million, the debts owed the local banks of about GHC273 million have been fully cleared.



Our pipelines, which were procured in 2011 and left to the mercy of the weather in the United States under the AT & V contract have arrived safely on our shores and we expect to complete the installation of the additional 12-inch pipeline between the Accra Plains and Akosombo depots.



The cash flow position of the company is enhanced and the repair of the companys infrastructure continues despite the reduction in our BOST Margin, he said.



So, we believe that BOST can be run like any world-class organisation. It is possible. And so going forward the next four years, the focus is on operational excellence, holding people accountable and aggressively growing our business.







Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has authorized five Ghanaian soyabean-producing companies to export a recommended quantity of the commodity worth US$13.7million due to increasing demands from external markets.



Food and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, who spoke exclusively to the B&FT, confirmed that the decision to grant export permit to the five companies was due to the excess availability of the product in Ghana.



The five companies made a request to export 26,850 metric tonnes of soya bean worth US$13.7million, but MoFA has a threshold for such requests, though, there is excess to supply. The cap on exports is to meet the countrys domestic feed requirements for the fish and poultry industries, he said.



The five companies, according to MoFA, are expected to export the approved commodity to meet high demands in India, China, Italy, Turkey and Canada.



Dr. Afriyie Akoto, explaining the prospects of the countrys ability to supply and meet existing demands for the commodity, attributed the surplus production to the success of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ), which he said, has positively impacted all production sub-sectors in the production value chain.



The figures being churned out as opposed to the reality of the PFJ are not true. The ministry works with its own primary data and we have production excess for many of the leguminous crops, he said.



Soyabean annual production potential in Ghana is estimated at 700,000 metric tonnes, covering 250,000 hectares (ha).



Smallholder farmers with an average farm size of 1.4 ha are the main producers of the legume, with an estimated 200,000 of them, involved in production with an average of 0.5 ha of production per farmer each year.



There are, however, few large producers of soyabean who through the nucleus farm system engage many smallholder producers as out-growers, and provide some level of support such as land preparation and seed supply.



Data from MoFA indicates that production of soya has increased progressively in the past decades from 74,800 tonnes in 2008 to 176,670 tonnes in 2018, while area under cultivation has increased from 61,800 ha to 102,980 ha during the same period (MoFA, 2019).



The data said Ghanas soyabean sector is rapidly growing because of development of the poultry and freshwater fishery industries as well as exportation of soyabean to countries such as Turkey and China.

Source: B&FT









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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When was the last time you had your sugar levels and blood pressure checked? Data from the National Health Identification Authority shows that about 48% of the public, predominantly men, do not visit the hospital and even in some circumstances visit but dont go back for further checks.



Men dont like going to hospitals, they wait until the situation is critical and then we all wear black and white and say gone too soon, according to data.



Women always do the right thing, they visit the hospitals and come home to take their drugs, that is why they have a longer life expectancy.



Chief Executive, of the National Health Insurance Authority, NHIA, Dr. Lydia Dsane-Selby made these remarks when she met with Journalists in Accra



According to the Chief Executive, the UN goal to achieve Universal Health Coverage is leaving no one behind but added, "if we dont know who is there how do you know whom youve left behind, she asked.



Dr. Dsane-Selby encouraged the public to merge the Ghana Card and National Health Insurance Card to help access health care, which will allow tracking and identifying people, especially men between 30 and 60 years who are not receiving the needed care.



This will ensure they are being checked for hypertension, diabetes among others to keep them well and working, according to Dr. Lydia Dsane-Selby.

Source: gbcghanonline.com









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Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Hon. Herbert Krapa, has announced advanced plans by the ruling government under President Nana Akufo-Addo to establish a Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Hub called Pharma Park in Ghana..



He said Government itself recognizes that pharmaceutical manufacturing and pharmaceutical industry is an industry that we can develop to move the focus and the attention from the traditional growth poles that we know, cocoa and gold.



He said under this initiative, the pharmaceutical industry would partner with the Pharmaceutical Chamber to create a Pharma Park in the industrial zone which will make accessible lands for the pharmaceutical sector to set up manufacturing factories there.



He was speaking as the Special Guest of Honour during the official launch of Prime Pharmacys ultra-modern 14th retail branch located on the East Legon Acheampong Road in Accra on Thursday 14th April 2022.



Prime Pharmacy is one of the leading retailers of pharmaceuticals in Ghana and has been in existence for the past 14 years.



The ceremony was graced by the Egyptian High Commissioner to Ghana, Aldesouky Mahmoud Youssef, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Hon. Herbert Krapah among others.



This is what we call the strategic anchor industries and a most important part of those strategic anchor industries is pharmaceutical development.



Government is determined to create other industries and help to create the manufacturing and the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry to help create the jobs, to help add value to the resources that we have locally.



This infrastructure we believe will incentivize and entice up-and-coming business people to come into the manufacturing space, the minister indicated.



The minister also disclosed that steps are being taken by the government to develop a policy called the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Development Policy.



He mentioned that this is intended to attract investments both domestically and internationally into the pharmaceutical industry.



The other important point is that government recognising that the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry is a crucial one, is taking steps to develop a policy what we call the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Development Policy, and this intended to attract investments both domestically and internationally into the pharmaceutical industry.



He was particularly happy that Prime Pharmacy was taking the steps to move from retailing into large-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing.



Touching on COVID-19, he said hard lessons during the pandemic have shown that we can't continue to rely on international supplies for the consumption that we have in Ghana.



We need to be able to break the supply chain and be domestic in terms of the value chains that we create. And that is why your participation in that industry is very important and for government, once this policy is fully operational, will continue to help you with joint ventures with international partners to be able to create pharmaceutical manufacturing in Ghana. The good news is that Ghana's pharmaceutical products meet the highest standards in the West African sub-region, he said.



He continued.When you talk about West Africa Ghana ranks highest in terms of the pharmaceutical products that are coming into the region and are being exported into Africa; and that is because the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) is very stringent in the policies and the need for standards adherence to ensure that manufacturers are adhering to those standards and meeting the WHO good manufacturing practices standards.



He commended the Board Chairman of Prime Pharmacy, Mr. Charles Forson for taking a keen interest in the governments flagship policy the 1-District 1-Factory.



He used the occasion to outline and highlight some benefits companies derive from the 1-District 1-Factory programme.



There are a lot of benefits under the 1 District 1 Factory programme. You import your inputs as well as your equipment and machinery duty-free quota-free, corporate tax holidays for five years; as well as once you are an indigenous Ghanaian company if you take a loan from any of the participating financial institutions and banks under the 1-D 1-F, there is a 50% subsidy of your loan interest.



This is to enable and cushion you and to ensure that indigenous Ghanaian businesses are also climbing up the ladder and enjoying the benefits that we have within the manufacturing space, he said.



He further pledged his full support and commitment on the part of government for Prime Pharmacy.



I believe that being here today opening this brand with you, I should be part of the story of the opening of your own manufacturing factory very soon, you have my full support. As you know so far, there are over 284 factories and 106 are currently operational and we will make sure that you get all necessary support to open your own pharmaceutical manufacturing factory.



In his welcome address, the Board Chairman of Prime Pharmacy, Mr. Charles Forson expressed excitement with the singular privilege to once again introduce the flagship brand Prime Pharmacy to the people.



He revealed that this milestone is the vision towards a long-term future to reach a 3-digit number of outlets across the nation in the retail pharmacy sector.



We, are now in the two-digits and the focus is to grant quality pharmacy solutions in every community, he said.



He also bemoaned the excessive importation of drugs and pharmaceuticals into Ghana which always put the Ghana Cedi under pressure against major foreign currencies.



He was also optimistic and mentioned that this initiative will also help strengthen the Ghana Cedi as we know that the depreciation of the Cedi is mainly driven by the excessive importation of everything pharmaceutical in Ghana. It will also help reduce unemployment.



On that note, he further indicated that within Primes framework as well as within the short to medium term, there have been advanced plans to operationalize the manufacturing unit which will be under the auspices of the 1-D 1-F, a government flagship project.



He continued..To help address the over-dependence on the importation of everything pharmaceutical, the organization has refocused its overall objective by taking steps to venture into pharmaceutical manufacturing.



And to add it, the building is already in place and we will be going to the Trade Ministry for the able support of government.



We believe government through the Ministry of Trade will support Prime Pharmacy through this very line of business which will help reduce the importation of some drugs into the country, Mr. Charles Forson stated.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KgaA Germany, in partnership with Africa Reproductive Care society (ARCS) has conducted its first Joint Annual Summit.



The Summit was co-chaired by Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, CEO of Merck Foundation and President of More Than a Mother Campaign, and Prof. Oladapo Ashiru OFR, President of African Reproductive Care Society (ARCS), and President of The Nigerian Academy of Medicine Specialties.



During the summit, which was held virtually on Tuesday, 12th April 2022, the ARCS announced the free membership for all Merck Foundation Alumni and partners from healthcare providers, Media, Artists, Policy Makers, Medical Societies, Academia and Community Leaders.



The aim was to emphasize the important role members played in creating a culture shift to break Infertility Stigma and Empower Infertile and Childless Women & Couples through access to information, education, health, change of mindset, improve access to quality and equitable women's healthcare and better reproductive and fertility care across the continent.



Multi-sectorial approach to end stigma associated with infertility



Speaking about the success of their first joint summit, Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej, who is also the Chairperson of the ARCS, emphasized, Our joint summit was conducted under the umbrella of Merck Foundations More Than a Mother Campaign and has been an effort towards initiating a multi-sectorial approach towards sensitizing communities to end the stigma associated with infertility and empower infertile women & couples through access to information, education, health and change of mindset.



We are very happy to conduct our first joint annual summit 2022 with an important and inclusive Society like Africa Reproductive Care Society. Im proud that our first summit was a great success"



Ministers of Health, Child Care, Gender, Social Welfare and Population from various African Countries, attended the summit as panel members with more than 500 participants including Merck Foundation partners and Alumni who are future Fertility Specialists, Reproductive and Sexual Care Specialists, and Embryologists, Healthcare Providers, Policy Makers, Media Professionals, Artists, Fashion Designers, Community Leaders from 47 countries in Africa and beyond.



Prof. Oladapo Ashiru on his part said: "I am proud to partner with Merck Foundation, one of the most influential foundations on the continent. Africa carries a high burden of reproductive ill-health, among these, infertility has been a relatively neglected problem for many years. Our first virtual summit focused on these points, and we pledge to work with Merck Foundation to eradicate this stigma and build the needed womens healthcare capacity including reproductive, sexual care, and fertility care throughout the continent.



"I am confident about the impactful programs of Merck Foundation that have already contributed to raising awareness and building fertility and reproductive care capacity in Africa. I also thank Merck Foundation CEO, Senator, Dr. Rasha Kelej for her support and innovative ideas for Merck Foundations iconic More Than a Mother Campaign. We look forward to enriching this partnership and achieving many milestones in Africa.



Meanwhile, the objectives of the Summit were:



1. To discuss a multi-sectorial approach to sensitize our communities to end Infertility stigma and empower infertile women and couples through access to information, education, health, and change of mindset



2. To discuss the challenges and define solutions to improve access to quality and equitable Infertility care via building Fertility care capacity in Africa and developing countries



3. To highlight Preventive care in Reproductive Medicine



4. To raise Awareness about Male Infertility



5. To discuss Climate Change and Toxin Environmental Exposures (C2TE2) leading to infertility



The Summit collectively concluded that in addition to prioritizing the social and cultural dimension of Infertility, Infertility Prevention and generating Infertility Awareness, engaging and facilitating dialogue amongst communities to raise awareness to eradicate the stigma associated with infertility and make them understand that men and women can be equally affected by the medical condition of infertility needs emphasis.



It takes a man and a woman to have a child and No to Infertility Stigma were two important messages that needed to spread through all sectors of our communities, through Media, Art, Fashion, Healthcare Sector, Social Groups and more.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The West African Director of Samaritan Strategy, Dr. Christopher Ampadu, has advised Ghanaians to engage in a deep introspection of themselves during this year's Easter festivities.



Dr. Christopher Ampadu bemoaned the character of some Ghanaians which he described as bad and corrupt.



Giving a biblical account of Easter, he sermonized the citizenry to develop the right attitude towards nation-building.



He asked them to use the opportunity to contribute to the development of the country, therefore avoid anything that will jeopardize the progress of Ghana.



Speaking on Peace FM's 'kokrokoo' programme, he said; "This Easter should be a call for attitudinal change. This period is a period of corruption, hatred, badmouthing and all bad attitudes to stop and for us to develop the right attitude."





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Amnesty International, a global organisation focused on addressing human right issues, has indicated that inequality and instability grew in 2021 following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the organisation which has a branch in Ghana, the devastating effects of the pandemic were compounded by poor health systems with economic and social support crumbling under the weight of decades of neglect, especially in Africa.



A Human Rights Eduction and Youth Engagement Cordinator at Amnesty International Ghana, Hannah Osei, made this known at the launch of Amnesty International's state of the world's human rights 2021/2022 report in Accra.



The report focuses on the state of Ghana's human rights within the global environment.



"In Africa, only eight per cent of the population were fully vaccinated by the end of 202. Lockdown measures to curb COVID-19 infections led to increase of sexual and gender-based violence," she said.



She said security forces in Africa fired live ammunition at protesters resulting in the death of more than 100 people while about 1000 others got injured.



Aside from that, she said armed conflict in some African countries resulted in thousands of civilians being killed and millions displaced as they attempted to flee from the violence.



Ghana situation



In reference to Ghana, the report bothered on excessive and unnecessary use of force by the security forces, arbitrary arrests and detentions, inhumane prison conditions and women's and girls rights.



It also touched on the right to health, forced evictions, environmental degradation and the rights of LGBTI people's rights.



For example, Ms Osei noted that there were incidents of excessive and unnecessary use of force by the security forces as various media outlets reported that the National Security operatives assaulted journalists Peter Tabri and Caleb Kudah in connection with their work.



Future focus



The Board Chairman of Amnesty International Ghana, George A.B Aggrey, however, said the organisation recognise that there have been considerable improvements in the human rights situation in the country since 1992.







Source: graphiconline.com









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The Chief of Staff at the Presidency, Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, has called on Ghanaians not to downplay the importance of peace in national development.

She said most often people tend to forget how conflicts had cut back the progress of communities.



Mrs Osei-Opare said this when a delegation from the E ON 3 Group and its partners presented the Otumfuo Commemorative Coin to her at the Jubilee House on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.



Voice of reason



She hailed the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, for the role he had played in bringing peace to political transitions under the Fourth Republic.



As a politician, I am very much aware of the sensitive role that he has played to bring peace in our political transitions.



When thing got really tough, he brought factions together, brought a voice of reason into matters that could have troubled the country, she said.



Gratitude



The Chief of Staff noted that the country would always be grateful to the Asantehene for the way he led the Committee of Eminent Chiefs to bring peace to Dagbon after many years of a devastating chieftaincy dispute.



According to Mrs Osei-Opare, having previously worked in northern Ghana as the Country Director of Action Aid, she knew how important the Dagbon Kingdom was.



It was, therefore, unfortunate that years of chieftaincy dispute brought so much harm to that important kingdom.



Therefore, she said, it was important to recognise that Otumfuo, in all his tact and diplomacy, which led the three-member Committee of Eminent Chiefs in the peace journey.



So we are grateful for the life of Otumfuo and all that he continues to do, the Chief of Staff stated.



National development



Mrs Osei-Opare noted that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II transcended Ashanti in the sense that he had used his position to support national development and peace building.



She expressed gratitude to the E ON 3 Group and its partners for the honour done her with the presentation of the gold coin.



Besides, she said, she was honoured to be part of the launch of the Otumfuo Commemorative Gold Coin at the Manhyia Palace in December 2021.



The honour of the coin, she asserted, went to a befitting son of the country.



The delegation that was at the Jubilee House included the Executive Chairman of E ON 3 Group, Richard Adjei Mensah Ofori-Atta, and the General Manager, E ON 3 Group, Jesse Agyepong.









Source: graphiconline.com









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By Lian Degui

Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reported on April 12 that each member of AUKUS, the newly established trilateral security partnership among the US, UK, and Australia, had informally asked Japan about the possibility of it joining AUKUS. Actually, there have continuously been voices from the Japanese government advocating participation in AUKUS, which believed that Japan should cooperate with the Anglo-Saxon countries to contain China and meanwhile take the opportunity to strengthen Japan's military strength. Some even argued that Japan should abandon its exclusively defense-oriented policy to advance its attack capability at enemy military bases. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe even proposed the idea of nuclear-sharing with the US .

However, whether the AUKUS security partnership can absorb Japan is a complex issue, not as simple as some Japanese right-wing forces have assumed.

Aside from Australia, the UK and the US, limited by geographical factors, adopt the offshore balancing geo-strategy to contain the rising countries of Eurasia. The US appeared to pick up the pieces and reap a position of dominance at the end of the two world wars. During the Cold War, the US formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to contain the Soviet Union and planned the eastward expansion of NATO to contain Russia after the Cold War. In all, the US has been trying to avoid direct involvement in military conflicts in Eurasia.

In the eyes of the US, countries including Japan, related countries along the South China Sea, and India, etc., are potential forces to contain China. The US Indo-Pacific Strategy is but to provoke conflicts between China and its neighbors in this region, aiming to contain the rise of China by its neighboring countries.

Considering the strategic conception and accustomed practices, when conflicts arise, the US will not fulfill its commitment to its so-called allies' or partners' defense at first; instead, it tends to consume China's strength with these countries. As for the interests and even survival of these countries, it is not something that the US would consider.

For those military conflicts instigated or provoked by the US in the Asia-Pacific region, the US has always supported its allies by means of sanctions, arms exports, public opinion warfare, and information warfare, etc.

Although the Japanese right-wing forces are quite familiar with the strategic means of the US, they have always had an obsession to get rid of the post-war system, that is, to finally get rid of the shackles posed by the US and become an "ordinary country". The US geo-strategy in the Asia-Pacific region is also seen as an opportunity that can be exploited by the Japanese right-wing forces. If the US decides to "let the tiger return to mountains", Japan can "rearm" itself.

No matter what security mechanism Japan participates in to contain China, Japan can only play the role of a proxy war participant for the US with no real assistance obtained from the US, once it gets involved in a war designed by the US. If Japan aids in any military operation aiming at threatening China, it will only end up inviting trouble and becoming a victim of the US strategy.

(The author is the director and professor at the School of Japanese Studies , Shanghai International Studies University)

Editor's note: This article is originally published on huanqiu.com, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
The Secretary General of the Pan African Youth Union, Mr. Ahmed Wiisichong Bening has paid working visits to the Eastern Africa region to engage key stakeholders on the mapping out an operative comprehensive youth development plan to kick start Renaissance Agenda of the Pan African Youth Union.



Commencing his engagement, he stopped over in Nairobi-Kenya where he held a high-level discussion with the Kenya National Youth Council CEO, Mr. Roy Sasaka Telewa, to map out a strategic framework to champion youth development in Africa.



He proceeded to Rwanda to join development partners for the Youth Conneckt stakeholders meeting convened by the Youth Conneckt Hub in Kigali, the national capital.



The meeting was held as part of preliminary steps for Youth Conneckt2022 to be held in Rwanda.



Ahmed Wiisichong Bening, who mans the secretariat responsible for the coordination of National Youth Councils on the continent, was excited to be associated with the movement for change.



He stated that this year's event will witness a well-coordinated participation of all National Youth Councils and Civil Society Organizations across Africa.



Mr. Ahmed Bening was also excited about the preparatory actions leading to Youth Connekt 2022 to be hosted in Kigali-Rwanda and said we at the Pan African Youth Union are excited to associate with this movement of Change. We are particularly impressed by the leadership the Republic of Rwanda continues to provide on the continent. This year will see a well coordinated participation of National Youth Councils and Youth Civil Society Organizations across Africa.



He ended his regional tour in Uganda where he met with key presidential advisors to President Museveni.



The youthful delegation was led by Uganda National Youth Council Chairperson, Jacob Eyeru, Bening Ahmed Wiisichong Secretary General, Pan-African Youth Union, Roy Sasaka Tetewa CEO National Youth Council and Oliver Mutesi; the Vice Chairperson, Pan-African Union.



The Secretary General of Pan-African Youth Union, Bening Ahmed Wiisichong appreciated the Ugandan leaders for the support offered as well as Ugandas continued efforts towards a cooperated Africa.



As young people we identify with Uganda because of the role the country has played to always lead the integration process. The PAN-African youth Union is aimed at bringing together youth Councils across African, this we do by harmonizing the efforts across the board, Wiisichong said.



Also present at the meeting were diaspora leaders from Canada headed by Fred Kinene, the Chairman - NRM chapter in Canada.

Source: Josephine Acheampomaa/[email protected]









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The Right Reverend Professor Joseph Obiri Yeboah Mantey, Chairman of the Christian Council Ghana, has admonished leaders of the country to sacrifice their "comfortable lives" if they want to see Ghana grow and do well.



When you are running a country, a church, or an organisation, the leaders must learn that people will only follow those who can sacrifice. People dont follow people who just want to enjoy the goodies all the time. There are some people who always want to enjoy themselves even at the time that they are to be sacrificing.



For example, you are made the leader of this country, this country is in serious financial crisis and trouble, you dont start chopping the goodies at a point where we are all suffering, you are supposed to sacrifice for all of us, he said.



Reverend Mantey, also the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, made the call while delivering an Easter message to Ghanaians in an interview with the Ghana News Agency.



He said until leaders of every institution to those of the nation understood the concept of sacrifice, and that there was "no crown, without a cross," their institution and the entire nation could not transform.



The Christian Council Chairman said there had sprung up many teachings that tended to manipulate people to think that if they became Christians, everything would be smooth for them in life and said: It is never true, Jesus never said everything will be well with us. Rather, he has promised us that when we go through the valleys of the shadow of death, he will be with us, and he will give us strength to go through suffering. If anybody teaches us that if you become a Christian, everything will be rosy, the person has disturbed your faith, he added.



He asked Christians to have hope in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, bearing in mind that their problems and attacks were dead with Christ and a new beginning would resurrect with him.



Christians need to understand that although Jesus Christ died, he rose up from the dead. We should remember some Sundays of resurrection are coming in our moments of distress, attack and difficulties and that what people tell us that bring us pain and suffering, are not the last words.

It is only God Almighty who has the last word over our lives. Let not any medical doctor have the last word over your lives. I pray that no power on earth except the power of God will ever be allowed to crash you because Jesus rose from the dead. I wish Ghana a blessed Easter. May Ghana become a new place and new life because of Easter, he said.





Source: GNA









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Applicants for a learners license, drivers license, or renewal of a drivers license must undergo a mandatory eye test, the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA) has set July 1st, 2022 to start the policy.



The eye test results must be certified by a registered ophthalmologist or optometrist which shall be presented to the DVLA in accordance with Regulation 29 of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (L.I. 2180).



The DVLA which is rolling out the policy in conjunction with the Ghana Optometric Association (GOA) is to ensure that only credible eye test results are presented to the Authority.



A DVLA document available to the Ghana News Agency in Tema indicates that only persons with good vision would be licensed to drive, and that road traffic crashes caused by drivers with defective sights would be reduced.



According to the DVLA as part of measures for the full implementation, it rolled out a pilot phase for all new drivers license applicants.



The DVLA explained that the objectives are to ensure that existing licensed and prospective drivers who might be developing vision problems but were unaware were identified and treated to save their sights and improve the countrys road safety.



As part of the policy, drivers who wish to acquire a drivers license or renew existing ones will no longer have their eyes tested at the offices of the DVLA but at a designated optical centre.



According to the DVLA, it has decided to streamline its eye testing by allowing ophthalmologists to conduct a thorough eye test on clients before the issuance or renewal of drivers licenses.



Mr. Benjamin Peh, Acting Head of Research, Business Development, and Innovation disclosed this at a days Stakeholders Engagement seminar organized by the Ghana News Agency-Tema Regional Office that in compliance with the road traffic regulations from now onwards every eye test has to be done by a qualified eye specialist and the result sent to DVLA for verification and authentication.



According to him, a list of designated eye testing centres would be provided for a client to go for the test and a mechanism would be put in place for the results to reach the office for the next stage of the license renewal or acquisition.



We met with the Ophthalmologists who made us understand that they can even detect other sicknesses such as malaria through the eyes so when you go to them, such issues can easily be identified to help in reducing road crashes, he said.



Meanwhile, the Ghana Optometric Association (GOA) has indicated that the current assessment of only the visual acuity of people as a requirement for acquiring a drivers license was a contributing factor to road crashes.



Dr. Alfred Gardemor GOA Public Relations Officer said currently, visual acuity was the only visual function assessed for the acquisition of driving licensing in Ghana; For visual fields, a binocular field of at least 120 horizontal and 40 verticals is required.



Dr. Gardemor stated at Ghana News Agency-Tema Regional Office and the Ghana Optometric Association fortnightly public sensitization initiative GNA-GOA: My Eye! My Vision!



The initiative is a collaborative public education advocacy campaign to promote the need for people to access eye care and to draw attention to vision health.



The GNA-GOA: My Eyes! My Vision! The initiative also seeks to challenge the public and policymakers to focus on vision as a health issue, which forms a critical component of mankinds wellbeing but is often neglected.



Speaking on the topic: Vision and Night Driving; The Challenges, Dr. Gardemor, said even though it was important to be able to judge distances and speed involved in automobile traffic, binocular stereopsis was not the most important depth as persons who lost one eye would regain adequate distance judgments after an adaptation period.



He said the laws on driving in Ghana were deficient on the cut-off measure in the worse eye of a driver.



Dr. Gardemor who is the Optometrist at the Nsawam Government Hospital added that even though visual field (how wide an area the eyes can see when focusing on a crucial point) was also a requirement for driving in Ghana.



He unfortunately said most of the tests done for driving in Ghana do not take care of that, even though it was in the countrys laws, and that he said was a challenge and welcomed the DVLA policy directive.

Source: GNA









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Former Central Regional Chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Bernard Allotey Jacobs, has replied critics who imply he has now jumped ship and tied his apron strings to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP).



Following his resignation and subsequent suspension from the NDC and his recent utterances that appear to be in sync with the ideology of the governing NPP, Allotey Jacobs is tagged by some people as an NPP member.



However, the former NDC Regional Chairman hasn't hidden his devotion for the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia as he, on a number of times, vouched for him to be the next President of Ghana.



But never has Allotey Jacobs specifically responded to his critics who accuse him of joining the NPP.



Appearing on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo'' Wednesday morning, a texter purported that he (Allotey) should publicly declare his allegiance to the NPP.



Setting the record straight, the vociferous social communicator sought to put closure to all questions and doubts about where his political allegiance lies.



In a brief note, he asserted; "I will never join NPP but I will vote for Bawumia."





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress Johnson Asiedu Nketia has disclosed that his party will review the Supreme Court ruling which bars Assin North member of parliament from holding himself as an MP.



According to him, they will follow due processes and appeal again at the Supreme Court.



Speaking on Okay Fms Ade Akye Abia program, he explained that the leadership of the New Patriotic Party is setting a bad precedent that does not help with the countrys judicial processes.



Just like what Hon. Kan Dapaah said, the judiciary ought to thread cautiously and not act like a rubber stamp. They should work to ensure fairness and not seem to be working for any political party.



But like I said they are chatting an indelible path that cannot be erased. Audio Below-

View this post on Instagram A post shared by OKAY 101.7 FM (@okay101.7fm)







Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/[email protected]









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The National Organizer of the Liberal Party of Ghana, Asani Tanoh, has defended the National Security Minister, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah saying "vilifying" him is wrong.



Kan-Dapaah courted controversy when he said: injustice occasioned as a result of the absence of an effective justice delivery system or delayed justice or biased justice is certainly a threat to national security. Indeed, when injustice abounds, particularly in situations where the bench, which is considered the final arbiter of disputes, is deemed biased, citizens tend to take the law into their own hands most times without recourse to the established systems of justice delivery.



If the interpretation of the law is tilted in our favour all the time, people will start accusing the judiciary and will not have the confidence that they need, he added.



However, some have disagreed with the National Security Minister because they believe it confirms the impression that the Judiciary can be biased.



However, Asani Tanoh contributing to a panel discussion on UTV's 'Adekye Nsroma' programme said Kan-Dapaah "spoke the minds of a lot of people in the country".



"What he said is on the minds of a lot of people but they don't have the courage to say it. God bless him and his descendants. The way he's being vilified especially on social media is appalling. This is a serious caution to the Judiciary; because the impression is that they're now using the slogan of the LPG: Yen k) nkoaa!, unanimous decision . . . and so it's a serious caution to the Judiciary," he stated.



Listen to him in the video below





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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A primary challenger has outraised a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives by over $14,000.

Republican Betsy Lamb has raised $16,302.83, including $11,594.58 in the first quarter of 2022, according to the campaign disclosure reports filed with the South Carolina Ethics Commission.

Her primary opponent in House District 81, S.C. Rep. Bart Blackwell, R-Aiken, has raised $1,964.90 for the election. He did not report any fundraising for the quarter ending March 30.

Lamb said the fundraising showed people were responding to her message that the South Carolina General Assembly can't keep putting big business before people. She said she was very pro-business but it was unconscionable to keep putting business before people.

Lamb referenced the House's removal of a provision in an anti-vaccine mandate bill that would have prevented businesses from mandating vaccines for their employees. She said she decided to run when the provision was removed from the bill.

She added that people understand she can't be bought because she's already semi-retired from real estate and that her farm has been paid off.

All of Lamb's contributions come from individuals, including a $1,000 loan from herself to her campaign.

In the first quarter, Lamb spent $3,640.84 including over $1,600 for campaign signs. Blackwell spent $573.44 including $500 in dues to the South Carolina House Republican Caucus and $73.44 to frame a resolution honoring a constituent.

Lamb has $11,503.74 in cash on hand. Blackwell has $5,333.88 in cash on hand.

Blackwell has been a member of the House since 2017. He did not face a primary opponent in 2018. In 2020, he faced Robert Williams in the Republican primary and raised over $23,000 by the June 9 primary (Williams raised less than $2,000.) and his campaign fund balance in the first quarter of 2020 was almost exactly the same as it is in 2022.

In House District 82, S.C. Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, has raised $3,550 in his reelection bid. He raised $1,250 in the quarter ending March 31. Clyburn received a $750 contribution from the political action committee representing the South Carolina Dentists Association and $500 contribution from the Centene Management Corporation.

The Centene Management Corporation is a managed care organization headquartered in St. Louis.

Clyburn has spent $1,772.98 during the quarter and $6,371 for the campaign. He has $6,679.58 in available funds. He paid $591 in dues to the Aiken Rotary Club, $500 in dues to the Aiken Democratic Party and $300 in dues to the South Carolina Legislative Black Caucus. Clyburn also paid a $208 filing fee, $92.98 for candy for the Black History Parade and $81 for framing at Eastside Printing.

Clyburn's primary opponent, Brian "Ryan B" Doyle, did not file paperwork with the South Carolina Ethics Commission. Doyle did not file for election until the last day of filing, March 30, and may not have raised or spent enough to reach the $500 threshold to report campaign activity to the ethics commission.

In House District 83, S.C. Rep. Bill Hixon, R-North Augusta, faces Democrat Jerico McCoy in the general election.

Hixon received a $100 campaign contribution during the quarter. He has raised $7,600 for the campaign. McCoy reported no fundraising activity for the quarter. His only contribution is $208, the filing fee for the office, from himself.

In the first quarter, Hixon spent $1,489.40 including $500 for a weekly news email, $480 in dues to the South Carolina Republican Party, $208 for the filing fee for the office and $188 to rent a post office box in North Augusta. He also paid $99.90 to the South Carolina Republican Party for 50 blue certificate folders, a $9 bank fee to Security Federal Bank and $4.50 to donation a collection company.

McCoy reported spending $323.58 in the first quarter including $250 for supplies for his campaign kickoff and $73.58 to Office Depot for campaign cards.

The other two state House of Representatives members representing Aiken County, S.C. Rep. Melissa Oremus, R-Graniteville, and S.C. Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, do not face primary or general election opponents.
MOUNT PLEASANT  When visitors touring the aircraft carrier Yorktown at Patriots Point reach the part of the ship that used to be a bakery, they can read the exact recipe used to make chocolate chip cookies for the crew of the World War II-era aircraft carrier.

The ingredients are familiar, but what's unusual are the quantities. It calls for 112 pounds of chocolate chips, 165 pounds of flour, 500 eggs and 87 pounds of shortening, among other ingredients.

A single batch produced 10,000 cookies.

After years of hearing visitors read the recipe posted in the exhibit and wondering aloud what they tasted like, the museum decided to let them find out.

Starting April 15, Patriots Point will be selling chocolate chip cookies made using the warship's original recipe. It named them "Captain Jocko's Chocos," after the ship's first commanding officer  Rear Admiral Joseph J. "Jocko" Clark.

"The Yorktown always had a series of interesting captains, but (Clark) is probably the one that everybody remembers with the most fondness," said museum curator Melissa Buchanan. "Everyone has a Jocko story."

Like many artifacts on display throughout the maritime museum, the recipe card for the cookies was likely left behind after the Navy decommissioned the carrier, Buchanan said.

The cookies weren't the only sweets. All kinds of desserts were prepared for the Yorktown's crew in the ship's bakery  from pies to cakes and to breads. And it wasn't an easy task. A baker on the Yorktown once shared in an oral history that baking for the entire ship took so much planning that they'd usually do it three days in advance, Buchanan said.

Food on the ship is remembered fondly by veterans but "the desserts do tend to stand out," Buchanan said.

The museum partnered with Webb Chesire, the owner of Charleston Pops and Front Porch Coffeehouse & Creamery in Mount Pleasant, to bake the cookies using the original recipe.

Since Chesire's business would be making them for a museum gift shop rather than an aircraft carrier's crew, the process required some number crunching. Chesire said his wife, who's a math professor, did the work of scaling down the recipe to a much more manageable size.

"Quite a few equations went into that," he said.

Chesire said he did a lot of tweaking to make sure the cookies' taste was just right, baking a few hundred test cookies in the process. As a veteran of the Marines, Chesire said giving back is a priority for him, especially when he can do something that "brings back the nostalgia of veterans who served in wartime."

The cookies were passed out to Yorktown veterans at their reunion on the ship earlier this month.

"From what I understand from the veterans, it's the exact flavor and the exact size of the original cookie," Chesire said. "So, we're super proud and happy about that."

The cookies will be sold for $5 at Patriots Point's Ship Store and at Front Porch Coffeehouse and Creamery in Carolina Park in Mount Pleasant.
South Carolinians continued returning to work in March while the number of jobs added by employers declined.

The statewide jobless figure slipped to 3.4 percent last month, down from 3.5 percent in February, according to a report released April 15 by the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce. The national rate was 3.6 percent, down from 3.8 percent in February.

Monthly data, adjusted for seasonal factors, showed nearly 7,900 South Carolina residents who had been classified as unemployed returned to work in March. That brought the number of employed residents to 2.3 million, up 50,000 compared to a year earlier.

"However, we expect to see a rise in initial claims this month as problems with the supply chain affect employers like the auto industry," DEW director Dan Ellzey said.

As workers returned, employers in the Palmetto State cut 7,400 positions across all industry categories last month, excluding farms. That followed a sizable gain of 17,500 jobs in February.

"I wouldn't read too much into the job losses last month. I think seasonality is just shifting," said Laura Ullrich, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Va.

The most substantial declines were in the professional and business services sector. After gaining 7,100 jobs in February, it shed 5,200 jobs in March but still has 5,400 more positions than a year earlier.

The leisure and hospitality sector lost 1,500 jobs last month after adding 2,200 in February. Although there were 17,800 more positions in the category than last year, the industry is down about 16,300 jobs from pre-COVID levels.

"In leisure and hospitality, we do know a lot of employers want to add jobs, but they are struggling because workers are shifting over to other sectors," Ullrich said.

Other job losses were in the broad-based trade, transportation and utilities, and government sectors, each down 400 jobs. The education and health services field lost 100 jobs in March. Manufacturing showed no change.

Industries reporting minor gains were information, construction, and financial activities.

The statewide labor force, defined as the number of residents working or actively looking for jobs, grew by about 6,000 from February to 2.38 million.

Ellzey of DEW said South Carolina had made progress on the jobs front since the pandemic. About 68,000 more workers are in the labor force compared to before the health crisis upended the economy in March 2020.

But the state made no progress in increasing its lagging labor participation rate, which was unchanged at 57.2 percent last month after notching a modest gain in February. Ellzey's agency launched a task force in March to study and address what is viewed as a structural weakness in the jobs market.
COLUMBIA  Travelers continued to return to the skies in the first three months of 2022 at Columbia Metropolitan Airport, according to data released April 14.

Travel through the airport in March was up 55 percent over the same month in 2021. January and February showed even larger gains over last year, of 81 percent and 86 percent, respectively.

January and February 2021 both were much slower than usual at the airport as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cut into travel numbers.

Altogether, 220,550 passengers traveled through the airport in the first three months of 2022, compared with 130,652 in the first quarter last year, according to the airport.

We are seeing both personal and the long-awaited business travel return in great volumes  which is welcomed," airport Executive Director Mike Gula said in a statement.

While the rebound is stronger than expected, air travel at Columbia Metropolitan Airport has not returned to pre-pandemic levels yet, Gula said. Business travel in particular has been slow to resume fully.

Columbia Metropolitan Airport offers connections to 12 U.S. cities.

Air travel across North America has been returning to levels just below pandemic levels in 2022, according to a report in Business Traveler.

Overall U.S. domestic traffic in February was just 6.6 percent below the 2019 level, according to the report.

International travel continues to lag further behind domestic flight levels.

During the pandemic, the airport has continued to work on upgrades, including a new baggage handling system that is expected be in place by November.

The airport also will be busy this year for another reason: In May, F-16 fighter jets from McEntire Joint Air Base will relocate to Columbia Metropolitan Airport for an estimated six months while the base undergoes runway work.
The Gates School, a charter school for dyslexic students, will have a hearing May 18 that will determine if it loses its charter.

The North Charleston school was notified last month by its authorizer, the Charter Institute at Erskine, that its charter might be revoked. Erskine claims that Gates violated state and federal education law, as well as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

After receiving the notice, Gates Board Chair Stephanie Sams sent a letter to Steven Adamson, the board chair at Erskine, saying the school was surprised and disappointed by Erskine's decision. She criticized how Erskine issued the notice after a half-hour presentation made to Erskine's staff about Gates' history of problems and noncompliance with the charter school authorizer's standards during a March 16 board meeting.

"We welcome the opportunity to share documents and information deliberately withheld from the Institute's Board during open session at the March 16th meeting when they voted to revoke our charter," Sams wrote in an emailed statement to The Post and Courier.

Erskine declined to comment on the upcoming hearing.

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Gates was opened in August with the goal of providing "exceptional, evidence-based, multi-sensory education for students with dyslexia," according to its mission statement.

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Shortly after it opened a parent filed an appeal with Erskine on behalf of their child alleging Gates was engaging in discriminatory enrollment practices. Erskine sided with the parent and told Gates to enroll the child.

A month later when Erskine officials visited the school they discovered there was no certified special-education teacher on staff and that its special-ed coordinator was just overseeing paperwork instead of actually working with the students, according to the presentation at the board meeting.

The school received a notice of noncompliance and had its enrollment frozen Oct. 1. Later that month Gates told Erskine that it planned to transfer to a different authorizer, Limestone Charter Association.

Toward the end of February, Gates sent Erskine a letter saying that it voted to officially terminate its contract with Erskine and move to Limestone. On March 14 the school was notified over email that Erskine planned to discuss its charter revocation at the board meeting two days later.

If Gates' charter is revoked, the school will not immediately be shut down. The charter revocation would go into effect on June 30.

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GEORGETOWN  The president of United Steelworkers Local 7898 filed a complaint with the South Carolina Ethics Commission on April 14, alleging that Georgetown Board of Zoning Appeals chairwoman Ede Graves is biased in the matter of the city's Liberty Steel mill.

The issue of a potential conflict of interest by Graves and another board member was raised during public comments at the April 6 board meeting where many speakers said they supported Liberty Steel in a zoning dispute with the city. By a 4-3 vote, with Graves dissenting, the Zoning Board of Appeals delayed a vote on a zoning change that could force the downtown mill to close.

Union official James Sanderson's complaint refers to a comment on an August 17, 2020, post by Georgetown resident Tom Rubillo on the Facebook page "That Damn Steel Mill." A comment from an account for "Ede Graves" stated the following:

"Thanks, Tom. I agree with everything youve said. The only problem is that the owner is an Indian multi-billionaire who could care less if this one purchase of his doesnt make any money. He can just write it off as a loss and leave the rusting hulk for us to enjoy. UNLESS . . . the City of Georgetown holds Liberty to the agreement they signed which REQUIRES them to employ 150 workers. (Unfortunately, our Mayor weakened our position when he convinced his Council to amend the Agreement earlier this year.) But there are still requirements that are not being met by Liberty. Once and for all, it is time to accept it. The steel mill is NOT now and will NEVER again be a major employer in this town."

The post concludes with "#SHUT IT DOWN!"

Graves confirmed to Georgetown Times that the Facebook account that replied to Rubillo's post is hers but did not provide further comment.

In his complaint, Sanderson noted that the post states that the mayor at the time, Brendon Barber, had weakened "our" position, and questioned what was meant by "our." He also stated that bias was shown against the mill's owner and that it appeared Graves had her mind made up well before the April 6 hearing.

Sanderson told Georgetown Times he found it very disturbing and alarming to know that someone on the appeals board appeared to have their mind made up prior to hearing the facts of the case.

I want to make sure things are being done in an open and honest manner, and I dont see how anybody thats already had their mind made up can really make an honest decision, Sanderson said April 15.
Mike Woodel reports on Georgetown County for The Post and Courier. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2018 and previously worked for newspapers in Montana and South Dakota.
SUMMERVILLE  Berkeley County sheriff's deputies have arrested an 18-year-old man from Florida in connection with a fatal shooting.

Josue Gonzalez Campos faces five counts in the April 14 homicide: murder, attempted murder, attempted armed robbery, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and carjacking without great bodily harm.

Deputies received a 911 call around 10:30 p.m. regarding a shooting at 1147 College Park Road, Cpl. Carli Drayton said.

They found one man suffering a gunshot wound. He ultimately died at the scene, she said.

About a half-hour later, deputies received a call from officers with the Summerville Police Department, who reported finding a subject matching the homicide suspect's description, Drayton said.

Deputies located Gonzalez-Campos and took him into custody. He was booked into the Berkeley County jail early April 15 and was denied bail, records show.

The Berkeley County Coroner's Office had not identified the victim by April 15.
The American Heritage Association has once again filed a lawsuit against the city of Charleston over Confederate-related relics. This time, the group also included state Attorney General Alan Wilson as a defendant.

The conservative group filed the suit in Charleston County late April 14 alleging that the city violated South Carolina's Heritage Act, which prohibits historic memorials from being taken down without a vote from the state Legislature. The filing also accuses Wilson of failing to enforce the act.

Many South Carolinians are not aware that our monuments are under attack from trusted elected officials, and we want the citizens of Charleston and South Carolina to know exactly what is going on," AHA President Brett Barry said in a press release.

The AHA says that a decision to remove a marker of the "Robert E. Lee Highway" from the campus of a local charter school violated this act. The group is also suing over the change of Memminger Auditorium's name to Festival Hall.

The venue's namesake, Christopher Memminger, served as treasury secretary of the Confederacy. Memminger, a staunch secessionist and advocate for slavery, also helped establish Charleston's public school system.

The auditorium, which is managed by Spoleto USA, has been referred to as Festival Hall since 2020.

"For marketing purposes, we refer to this performance space as Festival Hall, but have not changed the buildings name or removed any historical markers as we do not own the building," said Jenny Ouellette, a spokeswoman of Spoleto Festival USA, in an email. "We are proud of our long history maintaining and managing this space and are excited for audiences and artists to return to Festival Hall during Spoleto Festival USA this spring."

The auditorium is owned by the Charleston County School District, leased by the city of Charleston and managed by Spoleto, according to a lease agreement dating to 2007.

The lawsuit does not list Spoleto USA or the Charleston County School District as defendants.

"We are certainly aware that there are some intricacies there, so we will see how that works itself out," Barry told The Post and Courier.

The lawsuit also names S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson as a defendant, stating that he is failing to fulfill his duties because he threatened to sue the city of Charleston in February over the removal of the marker celebrating Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee but has so far not followed through.

"We were hopeful that this was going to be taken care of through the Attorney General's Office, but it's been two months now and we havent seen anything, so we decided it was time to move," Barry said.

The lawyer representing the plaintiffs, Lauren Martel of Bluffton, is running for attorney general against Wilson in the Republican primary.

She told the newspaper that her decision to represent the American Heritage Association was not "political theater."

"They need somebody to help at this point because there is no other remedy," she said.

A representative for Wilson said the AG still intends to sue the city over the marker if it is not returned to the campus. It was removed July 20 at the request of the school's principal.

The stone monument had drawn concern from school officials, students and residents in the area for its origins and promotion of one of the Civil Wars most prominent figures. It is one of several that were erected across the state. The United Daughters of the Confederacy donated it to the Charleston School for Math and Science in 1947.

The website Historic Columbia includes a description of that citys Lee marker on Gervais Street thats nearly identical to the one removed from the Charleston school.

The UDC glorified the Confederacy, explained secession as a political act rather than a defense of slavery, and vilified the federal governments empowerment of African Americans during Reconstruction, the website states, adding the UDC in South Carolina celebrated the Confederacy by designating a series of roads that crossed the state from Charleston to Greenville to Lee.

Charleston officials declined to comment on pending litigation. Representatives with the Charleston County School District were unavailable for comment due to a districtwide vacation.

The AHA has made headlines in the last two years opposing the removal of the John C. Calhoun statue from Marion Square and for suing the city over a potential loan of the statue to an art exhibit in Los Angeles.

Wilson issued an opinion that the removal of the Calhoun monument did not violate the Heritage Act, and the city entered a tentative agreement to give the statue to the South Carolina State Museum rather than the LA art exhibit that requested to borrow it. The state museum does have the ability to lend the statue to the LA exhibit if officials there decide to do so.

In late 2021 and early 2022, the AHA also led a campaign against the formation of the city's Commission of Human Affairs and Racial Conciliation. City Council approved the commission 9-4.
COLUMBIA  Authorities on April 14 located a 43-year-old man more than a 100 miles from the North Charleston mental health facility he fled a week ago.

Qasim Muhammad was found by congregants in the morning sleeping in the bushes outside Full Gospel Word Church in Columbia, according to Summer Pearrow, a master deputy for the Richland County Sheriff's Office.

A school resource officer at the church recognized Muhammad, who North Charleston police have been searching for since he fled April 7 from Palmetto Lowcountry Behavioral Health.

Pearrow, who leads the department's crisis intervention team, said Muhammad was scared but never aggressive with deputies. He had a blue sleeping bag and a few other items, she said.

"He appeared to be in good health," Pearrow said. "But his demeanor  he was crying all over himself. God bless him, it broke my heart."

Pearrow was able to contact Muhammad's sister in New York, who was "scared to death" for her brother.

The man was taken to a mental health facility in Richland County, where he will be evaluated by a psychologist. Pearrow said the crisis intervention team will work to reunite the man with his sister.

A lightning strike April 7 caused a malfunctioning fire alarm at Palmetto Behavioral Health, according to state records. As staff moved patients to the facility's gym, Muhammad wandered away from the group and refused to go in the building.

The lightning strike had also caused the facility's front gate to malfunction, allowing Muhammad to flee the grounds barefoot toward Interstate 26.

North Charleston police reported Muhammad crossed I-26 in front of several vehicles, causing a nonfatal crash in the eastbound lanes. The patient disappeared amid the confusion and had been missing since.

On April 12, North Charleston police asked for the public's help finding the man, a New York resident who had been involuntarily committed to Palmetto. He had no family in the region and was unfamiliar with the Charleston area, police said.

Pearrow said she was uncertain how Muhammad made it to Columbia, but he had a pair of shoes when they found him.

The master deputy said Muhammad left New York in a vehicle earlier this month while suffering a mental health crisis.

"I think he was very paranoid, and he just kept driving," Pearrow said.

Palmetto reported the escape to the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control on April 12. Sharon Pudlo, CEO of Palmetto Behavioral Health, said the facility was conducting an internal investigation into the escape.

Pearrow said the sheriff's office started the crisis intervention team last year. The team is trained to be on the front lines assisting residents in the middle of a mental health crisis. Crisis intervention teams use calm talk and de-escalation to try and defuse the situation and get a person into treatment.

"My team was created, simply, because we recognize that a mental illness is not criminal," Pearrow said. "If you're going through a mental health crisis, you need help, you don't need jail."

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to correct the county where Muhammad is receiving treatment.
COLUMBIA  A circuit judge will decide whether South Carolina's two methods for putting someone to death  firing squad or the electric chair  are constitutional.

Circuit Judge Jocelyn Newman ruled April 14 after a hearing that attorneys for death row inmate Richard B. Moore can argue whether the options are forms of cruel and unusual punishment.

Moore is scheduled to die April 29. It is the state's first scheduled execution in more than a decade.

Attorneys representing Gov. Henry McMaster argued that state law covering executions and the legislative intent behind it clearly defines cruel and unusual punishment.

They added that having a judge rule on the merits of whether one form of execution is valid or not would open a "Pandora's Box" allowing convicted people to delay their sentences indefinitely based on arbitrary, emotion-based judgments via a "novel theory that no one else in this country has adopted.

"At a certain point you have to say enough is enough," Grayson Lambert, McMaster's senior counsel, argued during the hearing.

Moore's attorneys contend that state statutes are vaguely worded with no set definition for what constitutes cruel and unusual. South Carolina's two approved methods for carrying out executions might qualify, they say.

While the state has used the electric chair since the early 1900s and the General Assembly declared it as its preferred method in 2021, Moore's attorneys argued that it has gained widespread recognition as legally fraught. In 2001, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled the electric chair is an inhumane means of carrying out a death sentence, a ruling replicated by Nebraska just seven years later.

And while the use of firing squads was once widespread, just four states use them today, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

Previously, South Carolina used lethal injections as a form of capital punishment, but the state ceased the practice several years ago after pharmaceutical manufacturers announced they would no longer sell the chemicals necessary to carry out executions.

While a number of states have still been able to obtain the drugs through other means, S.C. Corrections Director Brian Stirling has written in affidavits he has been unable to acquire them, making lethal injections impossible to carry out. These efforts, according to the affidavit, included contacting manufacturers as well as various compounding pharmacists and distributors of the raw materials necessary to make the drugs themselves.

Moore's attorneys say they want additional evidence proving Stirling made an effort to obtain the drugs.

"If no effort has been made to get these drugs, thats not 'unavailable,'" said Joshua Snow Kendrick in representing Moore.

Dismissing the lawsuit before determining what actions South Carolina has taken to obtain those drugs would be unfair to inmates scheduled for execution, Newman said, adding "this is an issue that has never been decided by a South Carolina court."

Moore was sentenced to die in 2001 after being convicted of killing a Spartanburg convenience store employee, will retain his original April 29 execution date unless an order is issued by the S.C. Supreme Court prompting a delay for arguments.

The same rule applies for whether he will still be required to select his method of execution April 15 as originally scheduled by the court earlier this month.

Lindsey Sterling Vann, an attorney with Columbia-based nonprofit Justice 360 who is leading the case, told reporters after the hearing she had filed for a stay of his execution so the U.S. Supreme Court could review a recently denied appeal of his sentence, saying she believed the death penalty to be disproportionate to the crime he'd committed.

"He did not bring a weapon into the convenience store where the crime happened," Vann said. "We say that that impacts the determination of premeditation and makes it not the worst of the worst. So we're asking for time to be able to appeal that to the U.S. Supreme Court."

Newman's decision could also have implications on other pending executions in the state of Brad Keith Sigmon, Freddie Eugene Owens and Gary Dubose Terry, who are in the process of suing for the right to die by lethal injection. An execution date has not been set in any of those cases.

It is unclear when the Moore case will return to court.
The College of Charleston community is grieving the death earlier this week of a first-year student found unresponsive inside an on-campus dormitory.

Benjamin B. Wills III died April 11 inside the Glenn McConnell Residence Hall on Wentworth Street, Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O'Neal said. The 19-year-old's cause of death is still pending.

Friends and family described Wills on social media as a good-natured young man who was quick to smile or crack a joke.

One friend remembered Wills, who was from Bethesda, Md., as a "bright light." He was "always the funniest person in the room," another wrote.

Maggie Wills described her brother as a "gentle giant" and a "protector." He was someone who made sure everyone around him was happy.

"Anyone who was lucky enough to have Ben in their life knew the special way he was able to make you know he cared about you," she said.

Wills was just weeks away from completing his first year of college but had already made strong connections across campus, Executive Vice President for Student Affairs Alicia Caudill wrote in an email addressed to the college community.

He will be "deeply missed" by friends in his fraternity, Pi Kappa Phi, in his residence hall and in his classes, Caudill wrote.

Authorities responded around 10:30 a.m. Monday to a suite inside the McConnell Residence Hall, according an incident report. Charleston police officers and county paramedics were the first to arrive, followed by officers from the college's public safety department.

They found six other students in the suite, as well as a resident assistant who had attempted to give Wills CPR, the report states.

Witnesses told police someone "ran for help" and notified the resident advisor of a medical emergency. Wills had been found that morning unconscious and not breathing, the report states. He was pronounced dead just before 11 a.m.

Chip Searson, chief of police, fire and EMS for the college, notified the State Law Enforcement Division of Wills' death, as is required by South Carolina's Jessica Horton Act. The act is named for an 18-year-old student who died after falling from a sixth-story dorm window in 2002 at the University of South Carolina.

A college or university's campus police chief must immediately notify SLED if a death occurs on the institution's property under the law. SLED agents are then appointed as the lead investigators.

Agents arrived from Columbia around noon, according to the incident report. A search warrant was executed at the suite where Wills was found.

Renee Wunderlich, a SLED spokeswoman, said no additional information would be made available, citing the ongoing investigation.

Monica Ceja, a Pi Kappa Phi spokeswoman, wrote in an email April 13 that the national fraternal organization had "no information" to believe Wills' death was related to any chapter activities.

The organization, which was founded in 1904 at the College of Charleston, extended its "most sincere sympathies" to Wills' family, fraternity brothers and friends, Ceja wrote.

Maggie Wills said the family was starting a foundation in her brother's name to continue his legacy of generosity and compassion.
Yesterday Joe Biden gave a speech that ended like this. He is a frail, elderly man obviously suffering from dementia:

After Biden finished his speech, he turned around and tried to shake hands with thin air and then wandered around looking confused pic.twitter.com/ZN00TLdUUo  Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) April 14, 2022



Joe Biden had been, for decades, a corrupt and incompetent pol. Today, he is either an extreme left-winger or an empty vessel through which the extreme left is exerting control over America. Nevertheless, I feel sorry for him. It is hard to understand how those close to him, starting with his wife, can allow him to be so constantly humiliated. It is nothing less than elder abuse.

But Biden isnt the only one. Nancy Pelosi is gaga, a fact that she cant hide with multiple plastic surgeries. A member of the U.S. Senate recently saidprivatelythat one-third of senators belong in nursing homes. In the New York Post, Maureen Callahan argues for age limits on federal office holders:

[W]e have a 79-year-old in the White House who, on any given day, thinks that his VP is his wife, or that his wife is his sister and his sister is the First Lady, or that Michelle Obama is the vice president or that Barack Obama is Donald Trump and vice versa.

Dianne Feinstein is notoriously incapable of carrying out the duties of her office:

As far back as 2020, The New Yorker reported that Dianne Feinstein had been seriously struggling with her memory  for years. That piece led with Feinstein asking Twitters then-CEO Jack Dorsey, at a Senate Judiciary Hearing, a lengthy, detailed question in which she quoted from one of President Trumps tweets. Dorsey responded  and Feinstein followed up by asking him the exact same question again, verbatim, as though it were the first time. Todays piece in the San Francisco Chronicle is only more alarming in that multiple people  fellow Democratic colleagues and Feinsteins own staffers  are now going public. And theyre dispensing with customary double-speak and politesse. Its bad, one Democratic senator said of Feinsteins forgetfulness, and its getting worse.

Callahan concludes with poll data that I have not seen before:

A YouGov poll from January shows that 58% of Americans want an age limit for elected officials  forcible retirement at age 70. If something like that passed now, 71% of U.S. Senators would be out of a job.

I am not sure how we became a gerontocracy, but it needs to end. Term limits and age limits are problematic in various ways, but in any event they would require a constitutional amendment that isnt going to happen. Clearing out the dead wood, in a democracy, is a task for the voters. If a few superannuated incumbents lose, maybe the parties and activists will become more realistic about nominating candidates who are capable of fulfilling the duties of their offices.

In the meantime, this is one of the reasons why I support Ron DeSantis for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024. DeSantis will be 46 in November 2024. Wouldnt it be great to have a president who is in his prime?

It is time to put the gerontocracy out of its misery.

STEVE addsHeres what the chart version of this problem looks like:

Were starting to look like the old Soviet Politburo.
Ammo Grrrll observes A STERILE CULTURE. She writes:

The Shakers  they of the beautiful hymn Tis the Gift To Be Simple  were a religious cult that gained a small measure of popularity in the U.S. from about 1780 until the last elderly recruit passed away in 1971. It was an odd amalgam of popular utopian ideas that never go out of style  communal farming, dividing profits amongst the faithful, men and women in leadership positions in equal numbers.

One teeny tiny flaw that prevented the Shakers ideas from gaining mass appeal? They also believed in celibacy. I expect this made it harder to recruit, especially among men. Celibacy did seriously impact the growth of the cult through natural propagation as well. The rules did allow indenture, adoption, and conversion, and some foundlings that were left on their doorsteps were supposedly loved and well cared for.

In most healthy cultures throughout the world, children are very much prized. A nation without elders, it is said, has no history, but a nation without children has no future. Israel, in my experience, is one of the most child-centered countries in the world. Even secular Israelis try to have at least three children, two for replacement and one for the Holocaust. For most of our history in America, children have been valued as well. In the rural economy before World War II, children were absolutely necessary for farm labor, the more the merrier.

In the mid-1940s, when the veterans had come home from World War II and had started making new babies about 15 minutes later, big families were the norm. After the horror of a World War, making beautiful new babies was a great affirmation of life.

Our family of three children, several years apart, was an outlier. Across the street was a family with 10 kids. We once watched as the three-year-old got swatted for not being entirely on top of minding her two-year-old brother. Behind us was a family with five girls. The husband wanted his wife to try for a boy one more time. But she was fine with stopping at five. (A great comic friend of mine, also named Susan used to have a funny bit in her act about being one of three girls with a baby brother of whom she said, His name is Frankie, but because of his relative weight and importance in the family, we girls just called him The Baby Jesus.)

Many, but far from all, of the large families back then were religiously observant Catholics and nowadays most very large families we know are either LDS or Orthodox Jews. The Rabbi and Rebbetzin with whom we spent the most time in St. Paul eventually had 8 kids. Another distinguished Chabad couple we knew had 14. We had a Shabbos meal once with a visiting Yemenite Israeli who told us he had over 100 first cousins. I have 15.

In 1968, Paul Were All Gonna Die! Ehrlich came out with his silly book The Population Bomb and suddenly it became socially acceptable to fear and hate children. This also coincided with the Feminist Movement in which the entire enterprise of birthing and raising children was seen as a depressing chore preventing women from far more enriching experiences, such as leaving the house at an unseemly hour in one-size-fits-none pantyhose to type and file. We knew several young women who got sterilized in their 20s.

At first Feminism pretended to be neutral on the subject of what women should do with their lives  hey, were just all about OPTIONS! (as we all should be). But very soon the veneer of sure, you can be a CEO, a useful member of society OR, just go ahead and have kids was peeled away to reveal the real agenda: Womens health, we were assured, meant the unfettered right to kill their unborn children and raising them was definitely not as prestigious, important, or meaningful as any paid job.

Women with large families have reported encounters of bullying by the eco-freaks who have said things like Your third child is breathing my air. No lesser a personage than Bill Gates believes that children  though not his three  are the greatest danger to Mother Gaia, worse, apparently even than SUVs. Its funny how few of these people who advocate depopulating the Earth seem willing to say, Let me go first and show you how its done. Thank God for Elon Musk. He has eight kids and believes that a very serious problem for humanity going forward is not enough people are having babies. Get busy! urges Elon.

Who will pay for Social Security? Who will clean the houses of the child-free and do the Mike Rowe Dirty Jobs? Who will fight the wars the progressive class seems to adore? Who will staff the Assisted Living places where the child-free go to die alone? Who will cure cancer?

Well, fiddle-dee-dee, they will think about that another day. For now, America is sliding toward a seriously sterile culture with attacks on several fronts. Let me briefly list just a few of the elements contributing to the sterility crisis. Space prevents much expansion.

First of all, young people in the industrialized countries the world over seem to be marrying at later ages or not at all. Our generations divorce rate has imbued many young people with a Whats the point? attitude. Couple that with a precipitous drop in religious grounding. Then you add in the current economic disaster, where home-owning is a pipe dream for most middle class young adults. Alarming numbers of young men in several countries are voluntarily celibate (and not just til marriage), something that would have been unthinkable to my generation. Hooking up just seems like too much trouble and effort. Those video games dont just play themselves, you know.

The serious postponement of adulthood mitigates against forming a new family. If you can live in Moms basement until at least your mid-20s, and stay on Dads insurance until you are 26, you are very much incentivized to just spend $1,000 on that new iPhone, or new designer shoes without having to worry about how to put shoes on two or three kids.

Feminism, particularly, its #MeToo aspect, has dampened the normal ardor of college-age males. If male students or male co-workers are scared lust-less even to approach females without a Notarized permission slip for each step towards a happy ending, the normal paths for choosing a mate are blocked. The more insane workplaces have strict rules against even LOOKING at a woman for over five seconds. Do bells and whistles go off like violating three seconds in the lane?

Having avoided these shoals, a man even then is clearly not safe if 40 years later, some loon decides she was assaulted at a party that nobody remembers her being at, and she has no idea where it was, how she got there or how she got home. A man can be destroyed, fired, called a rapist, for one fumbling grope at a girl under the influence at a HIGH SCHOOL party. IF it even actually happened! Facts dont really matter. All women must be believed unless the alleged perpetrator is a Democrat. Then, of course, its either Russian disinformation or shes a trailer trash slut enticed by a dollar bill dragged through a trailer park.

A recent survey I saw said that 20 percent of the current younger generation identifies as some sort of LGBTQ variant. Of course, the variants change faster than COVIDs, so who knows? It goes without saying that the sperm count of lesbians is notoriously low and gay male sexual practices could not result in a pregnancy for all the tea in China. Without making any value judgment about same-sex attraction, it is undeniable that it does not produce children without help from the eggs or sperm of one of the opposite sexes.

When you consider the next step in permanent sterility  transitioning  actually removing or chemically altering the organs of reproduction such that they can never be used to procreate again  and making quite a fad of it, we are in deep water. An enraged Teacher/Groomer from Texas said that 20/32 of her students had come out to her as some element of Alphabet Soup. They were fourth graders. Age 9.

Now ask how many of those little kids once believed in Santa Claus. So Santa Claus is real, right, if all you have to do is believe? A child that age, nagged by a large scary adult, can be made to say ANYTHING. I had a psycho fourth grade teacher who particularly hated me. Had she said to me, I think you really want to be a boy, dont you? I very well might have said, Call me Ishmael, if that meant she would let me take my nose out of the circle she had drawn on the blackboard and return to my desk. Besides, I might want to live in Palm Springs someday where I could get a lifetime paycheck just for being a girl pretending to be a guy. What a deal!

A Happy Passover to our Jewish friends and a Happy Easter to our Christian ones.
Spotify, an online streaming platform, has rated Nigeria as the second country with the most musical streams after Pakistan.

Spotifys Head of Music for Sub-Saharan Africa, Phiona Okumu, disclosed this during a media chat in Lagos on Thursday.

Ms Okumu, who said that the study was carried out by Spotify, added that Kenya ranked the third.

She said that artistes including WizKid, Burna Boy, Tems and Mr Eazi ranked amongst the top five exported local artistes from Nigeria on Spotify.

She said Spotifys presence in Nigeria over the past years had seen Nigerians go on a journey of discovery.

Interesting facts and data gathered by Spotify reveals that the average number of artistes streamed per user locally has grown by 60 per cent.

And 20,935 songs were added to the Spotify platform by creators, since market entry. This places Nigeria as the country with the second most streams after Pakistan, with Kenya ranking third.

Data also revealed that of the top 10 exported songs from Nigeria, nine are collaborations between local and international hit makers, a proof that Nigerian music is attracting worldwide attention and popularity, she said.

According to her, 30 per cent of the Nigerian Alte genre is being streamed in the United States, with a growth of more than 200 per cent over the past years.

She noted that over 40 per cent of the Afropop from Nigeria was streamed in the United States of America, United Kingdom and France.

She said the streaming app helped make it easier to discover new music and podcasts through a truly personalised experience.

According to her, Spotify has uncovered, managed and shared over 82 million tracks for listeners for free or through upgrading to Spotify Premium.

Africa is one of the fastest growing music markets in the world and now, more than ever, African genres of music have become more popular and accepted globally.

This comes as no surprise when you consider the regions wealth of music genres and sounds.

Genres like afropop, afrobeats, gengetone, amapiano, and more, are influencing the sounds of artistes who are taking the world by storm.

Last year, Spotify announced its expansion into Nigeria among more than 80 new international markets. The West African country is a key market for Spotify as it is quickly becoming Africas biggest success story in the music space, she said.

(NAN)
An official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was killed on Thursday when gunmen attacked a polling unit where the Continuous Voter Registration was being held.

The incident happened in Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State, Nigerias South-east.

The INEC spokesperson, Festus Okoye, who confirmed this in a statement identified the victim as Anthony Nwokorie. He said two other staff of the commission involved in the registration exercise at the polling unit were still missing after the attack.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the commission had suspended the registration exercise in the local council area following the attack.

A video clip of the attack, which was shared on various WhatsApp groups and a twitter handle, has revealed how the gunmen attacked the officials and residents of the area who visited the polling unit for registration.

In the video clip, seen by PREMIUM TIMES, the gunmen ordered the officials and the residents to lie down while they shot indiscriminately. They were heard issuing warnings that the INEC registration exercise should not be held in the area.

As you can see, these are the stupid people we are fighting for to have their freedom. (But), they are here planning for election, one of the gunmen was heard shouting in the clip, apparently referring to the INEC officials and the residents, who are mainly of Igbo ethnic group of South-eastern Nigeria.

Today is 14th of April, we have sent warning to you people. We dont want any election. No more elections. No more voter cards. Do you think we are here to joke? he queried panic-stricken residents while wielding a rifle.

While he was talking, two other gunmen fired multiple gunshots at one of the people lying on the ground, believed to be the INEC official who was confirmed killed in the attack.

In the one minute and fifty-one seconds video, PREMIUM TIMES counted 13 people, including a child, lying on the ground during the attack.

They were heard begging the gunmen to spare their lives.

The video clip is believed to have been shot by the gunmen.

One of the people, on seeing that one person had been shot dead by the gunmen, summoned courage and fled the scene.

Heeh, Heeh! Come back here!! the gunmen shouted as the young man continued running without looking back.

Idiot. Bastard! one of the gunmen thundered as he saw the young man had finally escaped.

The gunmen, numbering about five, and wearing masks, picked INEC registration materials and spilled the contents. Some computer parts littered the ground and seats being used for the exercise were also scattered.

Look at them. This is their box, one of them said as he spilled the contents.

Next time, we are going to set this place ablaze, the gunmen warned.

PREMIUM TIMES could not confirm if there were other people killed during the attack.

Attacks by armed persons have increased in the South-east in recent times. The attacks often target security agencies and government facilities.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), an outlawed group, has been linked to the deadly attacks in the South-east. But the group has repeatedly denied their involvement in the attacks.

IPOB wants an independent state of Biafra to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.

The leader of the separatist group, Nnamdi Kanu, is currently detained in Abuja where he is facing trial for treason.

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The UN has allocated 15 million dollars from the 100 million dollars earmarked to Africa and Middle East to address food insecurity as the spillover effects of Ukraine war threaten to push millions even closer to famine.

The contribution from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), which was announced on Thursday, would go towards relief projects in six African countries and Yemen.

The countries are Nigeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and South Sudan.

The CERF was established in 2005 to deliver urgently needed humanitarian assistance whenever and wherever crises arise.

The fund pools contributions from a range of donors, with more than 130 UN Member States, observers, others, including private individuals, providing more than eight billion dollars through the years.

Over the past six months, CERF has allocated more than 170 million dollars to address rising food insecurity in several countries, including those that will receive the new funding.

Food insecurity in these seven countries is mainly being driven by armed conflict, drought and economic turmoil, and the Ukraine conflict is making a dire situation even worse.

The war began on Feb. 24 and disrupted food and energy markets, causing food and fuel prices to soar, Martin Griffiths, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator said.

The money will enable UN agencies and their partners to provide critical support, including food, cash, nutritional help, medical services, shelter and clean water.

Projects will also be tailored to help women and girls, who face additional risks due to the crisis.

Hundreds of thousands of children are going to sleep hungry every night while their parents are worried sick about how to feed them.

A war halfway around the world makes their prospects even worse. This allocation will save lives, Mr Griffiths said.

The CERF funding will support humanitarian operations, with 30 million dollars for the Horn of Africa, divided between Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Another 20 million dollars will go to Yemen while Sudan will also receive the same amount. South Sudan will be allocated 15 million dollars.

Earlier in April, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) reported that global food prices were at a new all-time high, reaching levels not seen since 1990.

Humanitarians measure food insecurity levels using a five-point scale called the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC).

Phase 5 is a situation in which starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident.

Famine is declared when hunger and death rates pass certain thresholds.

Some 161,000 people in Yemen are projected to face the catastrophic Phase 5 level by the middle of the year, according to the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA.

In South Sudan, 55,000 people may already be experiencing it, while another 81,000 in Somalia could face the same if rains fail, prices continue to rise and aid is not scaled up.

Meanwhile, around 4.5 million people across Sudan, Nigeria and Kenya are already, or soon will be, facing emergency levels of hunger  IPC Phase 4.

The CERF funding will also boost response in Ethiopia, amid its worst drought in recent history. (NAN)

CIA/MST

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This is the second part of a series on how banditry affects the lives of poor people in the North-west states. Read the first part here:

Saratu Lawal, 29, looks at this reporter, her smile dry like the parched earth she was standing. Her smile, a porous veil of the anguish she bore.

If youre alive, God will give you a way out of every problem. We eat but not every day and were not even sure of where it will come from. But we eat, she said, the crusty smiles that lingered on her lips as a reluctant apprentice.

It was after gunmen, who are described as bandits by the Nigerian media, sacked Kauran Rama, her village, she was forced to flee to the relative safety of nearby Talata Mafara, where she stays with a kind-hearted lady. Even here, she laments that the government, which could not protect her from the bandits, has also abandoned her to starve.

What started as farmers-herders clashes snowballed into cattle rustling before access to small arms emboldened the criminals to raid villages. Widespread endemic poverty, illiteracy and porous borders with the Niger Republic have combined to complicate the insecurity in the region.

The attacks have now become routine in the north-west. In Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto, Kaduna and Kebbi, as well as in Niger State in the north-central, attacks on rural communities, travellers and farmers occur daily.

The activities of these bandits have disrupted farming, the principal occupation of the area. These assailants burn farmlands, and they regularly sack farming communities. The bandits ask those who are lucky to pay levies before they can farm. Those who have resisted or could not raise the levies on time have either been killed or prevented from harvesting their crop.

Last November, following an application by the Nigerian government to proscribe the activities of the groups, the Federal High Court in Abuja declared the activities of bandits groups as acts of terrorism.

The International Office on Migration said the bandit crisis in the north-west between 2011 to 2021 has displaced 695,914 individuals. The number could be more.

When bandits attacked her community, Mrs Lawal was one of those who escaped with their lives with gunshot wounds, which she said has made her unable to work.

By nature, Im not a lazy person, By this time, I would have made N100 from what I do in the village. But look at me, she said turning her back to reveal a bandage around the upper part of her back and left shoulder. They mercilessly shot me here. How could I do any reasonable work now?

Mrs Lawal, who earned N100 daily de-husking millet and sorghum, now completely relies on charity to survive.

Even before her situation became worse by the bandits that attacked her village and displaced her, Mrs Lawal was already living in extreme poverty. According to the United Nations poverty line, an adult individual needs at least N790 ($1.90) to survive daily.

Attack on Kauran Rama

Bakura, Mrs Lawals local government area of Zamfara State, is swarming with bandits. Her village, Kauran Rama, was attacked three times and each time, the bandits left a trail of blood and anguish behind.

Even with the repeated attacks, Mrs Lawal did not plan to leave her village but after the third attack, when the bandits attacked her village in batches, killing many and leaving her to nurse a bullet wound, she decided she has had enough. She left with the other villagers.

Mrs Lawal said her husband has been missing since the attack but she believed he was still alive. She hinged her hope on the news that some people who escaped from her village are hiding in relative safety at Bakura, a town about 30 kilometres from Talata Mafara.

He will find me, Mrs Lawal says. He doesnt know that I was shot because. He would have certainly come here looking for me.

We were lucky, Zaliha Abubakar, her neighbour, interjected. I even brought two pieces of clothes that were on the bed when the attackers entered the town. Most of them dont even know where their children are not to talk about their property.

On the day of the attack, Mrs Abubakar says she was sitting with her co-wives and her mother-in-law when she heard the gunshots. She thought the gunshots were made by vigilante members protecting her community, but when the bandits fired again, she knew there was trouble.

As its the rule, whenever theres an attack, the men run for the bush while the women hide in their rooms because the bandits rarely kill us.

But that day was different, Mrs Lawal takes over. I was under my bed with my three children when they (bandits) came into the house and started going from one room to the other, taking all our belongings

After the bandits tried and could not open the door she and her children were hiding, they fired a couple of shots that hit her. Her daughter, Maryam, was shot. She was still receiving treatment for her injuries at a nearby general hospital.

The bullet hit her. It could have been worse, she says.

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Escape to Mafara

Jummai Shehu, who was standing nearby, joined the conversation. She explained that the journey to safety in Talata Mafara was toilsome. She said she trekked for over three hours with her children before she could reach the main road the morning after the attack.

We waited for our husbands in the morning after the attack, she says. But it seemed everyone was on his own. I asked my children to follow me and we got out of the village because the women all leaving in numbers. If they (husbands) had come back, we would have stayed.

She said usually, immediately after attacks from bandits, the men of the village would return to count their losses and bury the dead, but this time around, none of the men returned.

We met at the main road and came here. Mrs Shehu said she came come to Talata Mafara because she used to work there for her host.

Despite the relative safety of Talata Mafara, the women said they would rather return home if their safety can be guaranteed.

Who would want to stay in somebodys house as an Almajiri (beggar) Mrs Lawal says, looking at the others. We all want to go home and continue with our shattered lives like that. We all want to go back and be managing our poverty.

Surviving hunger

Mrs Lawal said they rely on providence to survive in Talata Mafara. He doesnt forget his creatures, she said.

Theirs is a story of survival of the fittest. It is a story of uncertainty. They are lucky if they can get leftovers from their host. They are entirely reliant on the goodwill of people to survive.

Like this morning, Hajia helped us with yesterdays leftovers. I had to leave my share to the children because they had been crying. On other days, some of them who are able (she looks at her bandaged wound) go out and beg for food for us. We thank God for life, others are dead, she says.

But food, she says, is not her immediate problem. What distresses her the most is the bullet wound that has effectively made it impossible for her to work.

We eat when there is food, Mrs Shehu says. But first, we give to our children. Even before this (the attack) we were living from hand to mouth, but we were at least sure that we would still eat twice a day, but now, only God knows how and when we eat.

Things were difficult for people like Mrs Lawal but the activities of bandits have worsened their condition. The women say when things become hard for their husbands to go to their farms, they (husbands) mostly started moving up to the southern part of the country to search for greener pastures.

But the attacks have disrupted everything, she said. In all the attacks, they (bandits) made sure they rustle domestic animals and take away our properties. If you go to that place, youll not see anything of value because they took even our clothes.

She says even before the last attack forced them out of the village; the community was almost deserted.

The medical workers said I was lucky that I didnt lose my life (from the bullet wound) but I dont know how lucky Im, she says, her voice clouded by sadness. Who knows whether Ill die of hunger, Mrs Lawal said.
Three police officers were injured on Thursday when gunmen attacked a police checkpoint along Ekwulobia expressway, Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The incident, which occurred hours after gunmen attacked Nteje Divisional Police Headquarters in Oyi Local Government Area of the state, was the third attack to be reported in the South-east, in one day.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that gunmen attacked a polling unit where the Continuous Voter Registration Exercise was being held in Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State killing one official, on Thursday.

Reports in the local media had claimed the latest incident happened at Isuofia, home town of the governor of Anambra State, Charles Soludo, and that one police officer was killed in the attack.

But in a statement on Friday, the police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, denied the reports insisting that the attack did not happen at the governors community and that no police officer was killed in the attack.

The mobile personnel posted at the (check) point repelled the attack, but unfortunately three of them sustained gunshot injuries during the gun battle with the hoodlums, he said.

Mr Ikenga, a deputy superintendent of police, said the command had deployed some police operatives in the area to restore normalcy.

Calm has returned in the area, Mr Ikenga said.

He said the police had launched an operation to arrest the fleeing suspects.

Attacks by armed persons have been on the increase in the South-east in recent times. The attacks often target security agencies and government facilities.

The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), an outlawed group, has been linked to the deadly attacks in the South-east. But the group has repeatedly denied their involvement in the attacks.

IPOB wants an independent state of Biafra to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of the South-south Nigeria.

The leader of the separatist group, Nnamdi Kanu, is currently detained in Abuja where he is facing trial for alleged treason.
Peters Emuze, a Nigerian candidate serving as a member of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), has been re-elected into the committee for a second term of four years.

The UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Emuze was re-elected to occupy one of the two remaining vacant positions for Africa in CESCR.

Elections were held in the UN Economic and Social Council on Wednesday to fill various vacancies in subsidiary and related bodies.

Mr Emuze, who was elected for a four-year tenure, would be representing the African continent on the panel from 2023 to 2026.

Egypt and Morrocco have been elected in 2021 and Egypt currently chairs the committee as a member of the Africa Group.

CESCR is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by its States parties.

Mr Emuze vast experience at the Human Rights Council, CESCR and knowledge of international Human Rights Covenants, places him in a better position to add value to the work of the Committee in ensuring the fulfilment of these rights to its citizens.

He hoped to continue to be committed to the defence of these rights and to ensure that State parties respect, protect and fulfil their obligations.

Earlier, the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the UN, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, had solicited the votes of Member States for Mr Emuze at a reception hosted by the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the UN at Nigeria House in New York.

According to him, Mr Emuze is an outstanding candidate for the position, urging them to vote Nigerian candidate vying for the seat.

Nominations for membership on the Committee may be made by States parties to the CESCR in accordance with Resolution 1985/17 of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of May 28, 1985.

Members are elected for a term of four years by ECOSOC Member

Members are elected for a term of four years by ECOSOC Member States and Committee Members serve in their personal capacity and may be re-elected if nominated.

The term of service of half of the current Members of the Committee will expire on December 31, 2022.

(NAN)
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has emphasised that telecommunications consumers in Nigeria have a major role to play in complementing efforts being put in place to ensure effective protection of telecommunications infrastructure.

This is important to sustain and improve on the quality of service delivery by the service providers.

The Commission made this request and assertion recently at a sensitization programme it organised at Wannune, Tarka Local Government Area of Benue State.

According to the Commission, aside from the role of the law enforcement agencies in protecting telecom infrastructure, the consumers, who are the subscribers and ultimate users of telecom services, have an obligation to do everything to protect telecoms infrastructure in their environment.

These include the base transceiver stations (BTS), the underground fibre optic cable, as well as associated infrastructure.

Addressing audience at the programme, the Director, Zonal Operations, NCC, Amina Shehu, decried the problem of vandalism caused to telecom infrastructure which often result in poor quality of service delivery to the end users.

One of the major challenges to quality of service that operator provide to you, is vandalism of telecom infrastructure, such as Base Transceiver Stations (BTS). Others are theft, hostility from some host communities, which have continued to pose a major setback to the industry. Therefore, it is imperative for the public to regard telecom facilities as collectively-owned infrastructure that are crucial and essential for the provision of efficient and acceptable telecom services. The more reason these facilities need to be adequately protected, she urged.

While imploring the indigenes of Tarka Local Government Area of Benue State to ensure that they protect telecom facilities in their community, Ms Shehu, who was represented at the event by an Assistant Director, Zonal Operations, NCC, Abubakar Usman, further enjoined the consumers to always alert law enforcement agencies close to them once they suspect any act of vandalism, theft or other suspicious activities directed at telecom infrastructure because such nefarious activities have implications for quality of service delivery in the communities.

Shehu underscored the centrality of telecommunications sector to the economy and she also informed the audience that in the last 15 years, telecom has been a major contributor to the nations economic growth and development. The Director Zonal Operations said the Commission will continue to collaborate with relevant agencies and keep sensitising the consumers on their role in ensuring the security of telecom infrastructure.

One issue Shehu discussed in her speech was the misinformation about Electromagnetic Frequency (EMF) radiation emanating from telecommunications infrastructure which she asserted was not harmful according to studies conducted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Commission for Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

Ms Shehu stated that the overall objective of the event is to sensitise members of the public on the need to protect telecommunication infrastructure, and more importantly, to correct the misconception people have on the effect of radio magnetic waves on human health. So, the Commission is saying again to you that there is no scientific evidence yet that shows that radiation from telecom masts constitute health hazards to human and we want you to help spread this information to those that are not here, she said.

During the event, participants were also enlightened on the illegality of pre-registered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, the imperatives of proper SIM registration, the importance of National Identification Number,NIN-SIM linkage exercise.

The consumers were also informed about facilities provided by the Commission which they can use to improve their telecom experience and quality of life in general.

These include the NCC Toll-free Number (622); the 112 National Emergency Number; and the Do-Not-Disturb (DND) 2442 short code for managing cases of unsolicited text messages, amongst others.

Meanwhile, the Paramount Ruler of Wannune, Gandeorun Orokaa, who attended the event, thanked the Commission on behalf of the participants for bringing the sensitization programme to the Community to educate the consumers on sensitive consumer-related issues as well as correcting wrong notions and clarifying misconceptions.

He also called on the indigenes to support NCC in protecting telecoms infrastructure so as to ensure that quality of service improves in the areas.

The event ended with an audience session, where questions and answers were asked, and observations and recommendations were also made on many aspects of telecom services. In attendance at the event were Local Government workers, Village Heads, Community leaders, Students, Women leaders, Staff of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
The police in Lagos have said that Toyosi Adesegun will be arraigned for the dissemination of false information.

Been Hundeyin, the state spokesman for the police on his Twitter handle added that her three friends will be arraigned for wrongful restraint.

The 20-year-old had in a now-deleted tweet made a distress call.

Im being kidnapped, guys. Im being raped. Number 78 Obayan street, Pako, Akoka, Lagos, she wrote.

She later admitted in another tweet that it was false. Im so sorry for this. Please stop calling and threatening the numbers.

She also did a video assuring the public of her safety, adding that Im not making this video under duress. Im very okay, Im in my house.

Following her post, the police were alerted and they traced the address she posted to Akoka, an area of Lagos.

Subsequently, she presented herself for questioning at the Bariga police division.

Following the tweets which garnered over 3,000 engagements, Twitter users had also reached out to the police.

But they were disappointed after finding out that her tweets were false information.

Why Toyosi raised false alarm

Mr Hundeyin said that following an investigation into the matter, they found out that Ms Adesegun had visited three men at their residence but they restrained her from leaving.

After a careful and extensive investigation, it is revealed that 20-year-old, Toyosi Adesegun, female, is a regular visitor to Olamilekan Faruk, Ayanfe Ayinde and Olusola Onipede, all male of 78 Obayan Street Akoka, he said.

This morning, she was restrained from leaving the apartment by the young men. Toyosi threatened to tweet what she tweeted if she was not allowed to leave. The young men called her bluff and she tweeted.

Based on the foregoing, the three men will be arraigned for wrongful restraint while Toyosi will be arraigned for giving false information.
As the buildup to the 2023 general elections in Nigeria gathers momentum, a Fintech company, Wardchat, has introduced a non-partisan social network aimed at ending voting apathy and helping Nigerians make informed electoral choices.

The developers told PREMIUM TIMES that they purposely built the network with Nigerias electoral structure covering 36 states and the FCT, 774 local governments, 8,000 wards, and over 176,000 polling units in mind.

Although released just in time for the general election, which is ten months away, Kunle Lawal, Country Lead, Wardchat, said they created the platform with a long-term vision.

We are happy this is coming at the right time for the 2023 elections for a peek into what the product can potentially become, said Mr Lawal.

We do not want to change the way people vote. Instead, we want to facilitate and create relationships among voters that will enable them to influence each other and collaborate for more informed electoral choices.

Mr Lawal said developing rapport and trust among voters at the ward level is a critical aspect of persuasion to end voter apathy and unfriendly debates in the countrys electoral space.

Therefore, we plan to connect voters from the same polling unit, ward, local government, and state using the smallest Electoral unit as a determinant during registration.

He said the significant insight that informed the apps development was the realisation that every polling unit is a community of voters that should connect and interact more as voters, no matter how dispersed they may be.

The developers also said Wardchat creates connections by matching users electoral profiles, helping to foster engagement among voters that lead to better electoral outcomes, targeted audience conversations, and ward-centric conversations.

Accountability

Because fraud, violence, and systemic failings often mar Nigerian elections, the developers said they plan to deploy a feature to allow users to report results from their polling units.

They say they will collate and report these on a dashboard available for all users of the platform to see.

They added that the plan is to encourage a sizable number of voters to use the app features for incident reporting, election monitoring, voter education, random polling, and political campaigns at no cost to them.

In her presentation on the features of the app, a team member, Faith Ariori, explained that during the app development process, the company realised the need to address some concerns already prevalent in the social media space. Some concerns bordered on data privacy and the protection of users from hate speech and any form of harm.

She added that they also deployed usernames and not full names for sign-ups, so users can remain anonymous if they wish.

Phone numbers are optional. On the spread of fake news and hate speech, built within the app is a newsfeed of respected, trusted, and reputable online media. We also have flags and blocking mechanisms so users can flag abusive posts, she added.

Mr Lawal said they hope to play in the social media space alongside the likes of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, and Opera News hub.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Ekiti State has set up ancommittee to examine the manifestos of the governorship candidates of political parties participating in the June 18 governorship election.

The Congress said the scrutiny would help it decide which candidate would best suit the interest of its members before deciding whom to support.

The Chairman of NLC, Olatunde Kolapo, told PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview on Friday that the Congress was yet to take a decision on the candidates that would best protect workers.

He said this to deny the allegation by the Segun Oni group, which had accused the NLC of tilting towards the candidate of the All Progressives Candidate, Biodun Oyebanji.

The campaign had issued a statement saying NLC had commended the government of Kayode Fayemi on performance and had promised to vote Mr Oyebanji in appreciation for what the Governor had done.

Mr Oyebanji is the anointed candidate of Mr Fayemi, and he is getting all his support ahead of the coming election.

Mr Oni had warned the NLC to be careful not to politicise the civil service, arguing that its endorsement of the APC candidate was ill advised.

But Mr Kolapo said the NLC had urged the government of Mr Fayemi to pay workers their outstanding salaries.

He said those raising the allegations were trying to force the NLC into their political controversies.

We are not supporting anybody right now, he said.

What we have done is set up a manifesto committee that will look at what the candidates are offering and find out which one serves our interest, he said.

That is when we will know where to place our support.

His said his statement to the state government was misconstrued.
President Muhammadu Buhari has described the killings of innocent residents of communities in Wase and Kananm local government areas of Plateau state as heinous, vowing that the perpetrators must be identified and punished.

This is even as the President also mourned the victims of a boat accident in Gidan Magana in Shagari local government area of Sokoto State.

Premium Times reported how gunmen killed at least 142 persons in fresh attacks on some communities in Kanam and Wase Local Government Areas of Plateau State, North-central Nigeria.

The attacks, which happened on Sunday, were carried out in Kukawa, Gyambawu, Dungur, Kyaram, Yelwa, Dadda, Wanka, Shuwaka, Gwammadaji, and Dadin Kowa communities of the state.

The two local governments share boundaries but are not in the same senatorial districts.

No fewer than 29 people died in the boat mishap in Sokoto State.

The victims, mostly children and women, were crossing the river to fetch firewood when the boat they were on capsized, the head of the village said.

Buhari reacts

In two separate statements signed by his media aide, Garba Shehu, Mr Buhari expressed sadness over the attacks and the boat accident.

Mr Buhari extended condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the devastating incident, particularly the village head of Gidan Magana, Malam Muhammadu Auwal, who lost five of his children in the mishap.

The President also directed the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to increase ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of riverine travel in the country.

On the Plateau state attacks, Mr Buhari vowed that the perpetrators of the heinous attacks would not get mercy.

They should not be spared or forgiven, he said.

Mr Shehu said, ordered law enforcement agencies to work strenuously with the government of the state, to bring the situation under control and take steps to bring the culprits to justice quickly.

President Buhari expressed condolences over the terrorist incident, saying that as a matter of priority, peace must return at all costs to the state and the entire country.

I urge all our citizens, the people of Plateau State in particular, to expose the perpetrators of such incidents, their sponsors and those who encourage such criminals who carry out these dastardly acts of murder so that the law will take its course. They must not be forgiven, he added.

Plateau State, situated in the central part of the country, has been the theatre of age-long communal and religious clashes among neighbouring ethnic groups in the area.
The gunmen who abducted four students of the Zamfara State College of Health Technology, Tsafe, two days ago, have released them, PREMIUM TIMES can authoritatively report.

PREMIUM TIMES reported how bandits attacked an off-campus house on Tuesday night and abducted five female students. One of the students escaped while the gunmen, locally called bandits, were leading them into the forest.

Tsafe is a hotbed of banditry in the state. Several communities have been sacked and thousands killed and abducted in Zamfara State by groups of gunmen.

Efforts by the Nigerian government to clear the state of these gunmen have so far yielded little results and the situation is getting worse.

Deputy provost of the college, Jamilu Lawal, confirmed the release of the remaining four students to Premium Times in a phone conversation Thursday night.

I can confirm to you that they have been released by the bandits. Ever since their abduction, we had been trying to see that we save them because its our responsibility to protect them. The security agents also tried in their own way. But they were released today (Thursday) evening, he said.

He, however, told this newspaper that no ransom was paid and refused to provide further details on the release of the victims.

A top Zamfara Government House source, who wished to remain anonymous, confirmed the release of the students adding that the state government had played a role in their release.

Yes, it shows you how serious the administration is in securing the people and rescuing those abducted. I know that the students were released and from when they were abducted, his Excellency was on it until when they were released, the anonymous source said.

Usman Abdullahi, an older brother to one of the victims, Asamau Salisu, , also confirmed that his sister has been released.

The police command spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, didnt respond to calls and SMS sent to him on the development.
The National Chairperson of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, has earned a pat on the back for swearing in Stephen Ntukekpo as state chairperson of the party in Akwa Ibom State despite flouting court order.

The commendation was accorded Mr Adamu by the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio, while on a courtesy visit to the national chairman of the party in his office in Abuja on Thursday.

This was contained in a statement posted on Facebook by the ministers spokesperson, Jackson Udom.

This newspaper earlier reported that Mr Ntukekpo was sworn in by Mr Adamu in defiance to the April 7, directives of the Court of Appeal in Abuja asking all parties in suit to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the case.

However, Mr Akpabio, during the visit commended Mr Adamu for leading adherence and obedience to court orders regarding the partys leadership tussle in Akwa Ibom State.

I am also here to thank the national leadership of our dear party, for leading a law abiding party through adherence and obedience to judicial pronouncements as it affects the chairmanship position of the party in Akwa Ibom State.

Mr Akpabio said the Appeal Court had dismissed the appeal filed by the former Secretary of the party Caretaker Committee, John Akpanudoedehe, after the withdrawal of the APC which was a party in the suit, adding that the Abuja Federal High Court which earlier ruled on the suit gave a consequential order.

It is public knowledge that the Court of Appeal had already dismissed the earlier appeal brought by the party. The APC had withdrawn from all appeals in respect of Akwa Ibom State and the [APC] NWC (National Working Committee) has enjoined us all as leaders, to go home and ensure peace and that is why I am discussing with my brother, Chief Etiebet now.

So the question of somebody was sworn- in and somebody was not does not arise here because the court had made pronouncement on it.

We must not forget the fact that you have another opportunity in a democracy to ventilate your thoughts. If you feel that you were not carried along, you go to court and the court says maintain the status quo.

Let me tell you the meaning of status quo. The court judgment delivered by Justice Taiwo Taiwo at the High Court in Abuja gave a consequential order. The Consequential Order means go and swear in the new chairman and because the APC as a party to the case, had withdrawn from that appeal, the status quo must be maintained which means, swear in and obey the court order. And the party has done that and it is not interested in any appeal.

The APC in Akwa Ibom State has been factionalized since two parallel state congresses of the party conducted in October last year produced two parallel executives.

The two executives, one loyal to Mr Akpanudoedehe and the other to Mr Akpabio, have engaged in serious legal tussles to determine who controls the party in the state ahead of the 2023 elections.

Mr Akpanudoedehes faction, led by Austin Ekanem, was sworn in as state chairman on March 7 but a Federal High Court ion March 17, nullified Mr Ekanems swearing in and ordered that Mr Ntukekpo, who led Mr Akpabios faction be sworn as the substantive chairman of the party in the state.

Mr Akpanudoedehe approached the Appeal Court in Abuja for stay of execution of the lower courts judgment and the Appeal court on April 7 ordered that the status quo be maintained in the matter pending its determination.

Three days after, Mr Adamu sworn in Mr Ntukekpo as substantive chairman of the party in the state, in defiance of the court order. Mr Akpabio said Mr Adamus action was in line with the court order.

Mr Udom, the spokesperson for Mr Akpabio, did not respond to request for comment from PREMIUM TIMES.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has turned down an application by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, to reassign a case involving Nigerias maritime security contract to a vacation judge.

The case about International Cargo Tracking Note (ICTN) was filed by a civil society organization, the Citizens Advocacy for Social & Economic Rights (CASER).

The ICTN is an electronic cargo verification system that monitors the shipments of seaborne cargoes and enables a real-time generation of vital data on ships and cargo traffic in and out of Nigeria.

President Muhammadu Buhari approved the national security-sensitive maritime contract to a medical company nominated by Mr Amaechi in a process the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) said was embarrassing and illegal.

CASER had on December 13,2021 filed a suit against Mr Amaechi, Attorney-General of the Federation, and the BPP over irregularities in the award of the sensitive contract.

Two firms  Medtech Scientific Limited and Rozi International Nigeria Limited  that got the contract are joined in the suit as defendants.

On December 17, 2021, following an ex parte application by CASER, the court restrained all the defendants from taking any further steps concerning the appointment of operators of ICTN.

The court on March 23 okayed the filing of a contempt suit against the minister after it was alleged by CASERs lawyer, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, that Mr Amaechi violated the court order.

The judge, after listening to the lawyers, directed the suspension of the main suit to give way to the hearing of the contempt suit which was slated for May 9, a date agreed by all the parties.

However, in an application filed by his lawyer, Lateef Fagbemi, Mr Amaechi, through a letter on March 31, asked the judge to reassign the case to a vacation judge so the hearing can commence on April 8.

He cited the importance of the scheme and the loss of revenue as the reason why the hearing should be made urgent.

Our client reminded us that the most important and urgent reason why Mr. President gave approval for the immediate reimplementation of the ICTN scheme was not only to put an end to the huge loss of revenue the Government of Nigeria has been suffering over time but als to address the security challenges confronting the country as a result of the abrogation of the scheme, the minister lawyer said.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the economy of the country has been facing serious financial and security challenges. It is, therefore, very important that a suit like this that is designed to put a brake to the wheel of the efforts of the Federal Government to regenerate the economy and revamp the security architecture of the country deserves to be given urgent hearing.

We are aware that Your Lordship had fixed Easter vacation for the period 8th April, 2022 to 25th April, 2022. In Your Lordships circular dated 22nd March, 2022, Your Lordship approved that Abuja Judicial Division, inter alia, shall remain open during the period for cases of extreme urgency.

He said it was extremely urgent that the weighty preliminary issues raised concerning the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the case be heard immediately.

This letter is therefore to humbly pray My Lord, the Chief Judge, to reassign this case to the vacation Judge to immediately hear and deliver ruling on the preliminary objection which it is obvious should put any end to the entire sult. We humbly pray for such hearing on 8th April, 2022, the lawyer said.

In response, the judge in an April 7 letter, through his Special Assistant, Ambrose Unaeze, declined the application because the May 9 hearing was agreed to by all parties.

I am to inform you that there have been counter posturing regarding the re-assignment or otherwise of this matter. It is discerned that arguments were heard by Hon. Justice D.U Okorowo on 23rdMarch, 2022 respecting alleged contempt and ruling scheduled for 9th May, 2022. It will hence be disruptive to contemplate a re-assignment of this Case.

Besides, the Easter Vacation is for 2 (two) weeks and there is no guarantee that the vacation Judge can gain any appreciable ground as to convey an advantage over the regular Court in terms of hearing of the suit. In the circumstance, the Hon. Chief Judge declined the application, it read.
A presidential aspirant, Nyesom Wike, says he will not accept the position of vice president in the 2023 elections.

Im not coming out to negotiate to be vice to anyone, Im coming out to contest for the number one position in the country, Mr Wike, Rivers State governor, told the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday in Benin, Edo State.

He was in Benin to seek the support of the party leaders and delegates in Edo State.

Mr Wike lamented the state of insecurity in the country. He said there was a need for Nigeria to spend big on intelligence-gathering to curb insecurity.

He said one of the factors causing persistent insecurity in the country was the inability of the Federal Government to spend enough money on intelligence gathering to stop insecurity.

The governor said the ability of a president to secure the country and protect lives and properties should be a paramount criterion to measure success.

It takes a committed leadership to ensure adequate security in the country, he said.

Mr Wike said his antecedents and achievements as a past chairman of a local council, federal minister, and as a governor were visible for everyone to see.

He said he was sure PDP would win the 2023 presidential election if he is given the party ticket.

We must have a candidate who listens to the grassroots. I have the capacity to face the All Progressives Congress in 2023.

Give me the ticket and have your confidence that we will take over power in May 2023. Dont allow anybody to disabuse your mind from voting for Wike.

We cannot continue to give excuses why we are losing elections.

Mr Wike said there was a need to remove a disconnect between government and party.

The government, he said, cannot do anything without carrying the party along.

Leadership should not be a cabal thing, he said.

Governor Wike earlier visited the palace of the Oba of Benin, Ewuare II. He told the king he would check insecurity if elected president.

The way our country has fared, Nigeria needs somebody that will see white and say it is white and see black and say it is black.

If the PDP gives me the ticket, I have enough experience to tackle Nigerias plethora of problems, having been a local government chairman, minister of state over-seeing education and now governor.

Wike is our son  Oba of Benin

The Benin king, in his response, described Mr Wike as our son. He said they would keep praying for the aspirant.

Wike is our son, we love him and if I say so, I believe I am speaking on behalf of our ancestors.

We will keep praying for him so that he does not come across anybody that will mislead him, mis-inform him and may he and his family never come across harm.

The Oba said the European colonialists tried to erase African mores after discovering that Benin Kingdom and other African kingdoms had superior administrations and civilisations.

He urged political leaders to promote and ensure sustenance of African culture and traditions.

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Dan Orbih, the PDP National Vice Chairman, South-South, urged delegates to support Mr Wike whom he described as a political elephant.

Mr Orbih said the nation needed a president who would say it as it is.

He said Nigeria was in deep slumber and that someone like Mr Wike is needed to wake the nation up.

He said the PDP in the South-south had resolved that the next president should come from the region.

(NAN)
Nigerias ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the will on Wednesday hold its first National Executive Committee meeting since the emergence of the Abdullahi Adamu-led National Working Committee on March 26.

Spokesperson of the party, Felix Morka, who disclosed this in a press statement on Friday, said the meeting will take place at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja.

He said the meeting, which is being convened by virtue of section 25.2.ii of the partys constitution, will consider the partys timetable/schedule of activities for primaries for the nomination of candidates for the 2023 General Elections and other relevant business of the party.

Pursuant to Article 25.2.ii of the Constitution of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the National Working Committee (NWC) hereby invites members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of our great Party to a meeting to consider the Partys Timetable/Schedule of Activities for Primaries for the nomination of candidates for the 2023 General Elections and other relevant business of the Party.

All members of the NEC are by this invitation to take notice of the meeting in accordance with Article 12.3 of the APC Constitution, please, the official notice/invitation for the NEC meeting stated.

According to the schedule of activities of INEC, parties should hold their primaries and produce their candidates before June 3.

Previous meeting

The last meeting of the NEC took place in December 2020 during which it extended the tenure of the defunct interim leadership, approved granting of waivers to persons who recently joined the party, approved the immediate resolution of party organs at polling units, wards, local government, state and zonal levels, among other resolutions.

Buhari, Osinbajo, others to attend meeting

In line with Article 12.3 of the APC Constitution, apart from all the members of the NWC, those expected at the NEC meeting are President Muhammadu Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and the 22 governors of the party.

Others are the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila of the House of Representatives, their deputies and other principal officers of both chambers.

NEC is the principal executive body of the APC and its decisions are binding on all the members of the party.

The Constitution also lists some of the functions of the NEC to include: Consider reports from National, State and Local Government Area/Area Councils Chapters of the Party and take such decisions as are necessary to protect, advance, and consolidate the gains and interests of the Party.

In addition, the NEC of the party also approves the budget, ratification of committees and raising of funds for the party.

The APC is yet to commence the sales of forms of the party and it is yet to decide on the prices of nomination forms despite INEC timetable setting June 3rd for the conclusion of all primaries.

Although, some days ago, a document containing the timetable and prices of forms had circulated in media. The party however distanced itself from the document.

Mr Morka had in a statement said the party had yet to decide on a timetable for the pre-election process.
There is a widespread condemnation and anger by Nigerians on Twitter over the killing of an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Anthony Nwokorie, by gunmen.

The gunmen had, on Thursday, attacked a polling unit where the Continuous Voter Registration Exercise was being held in Ihitte Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State, and destroyed materials being used for the exercise.

A video clip of the attack, which has now gone viral, showed the gunmen firing multiple gunshots at one of the people forced to lie down by the gunmen, believed to be the INEC official, Mr Nwokorie.

The commission has confirmed the death of the official and consequently suspended the exercise in the area.

During the attack as seen in the video clip, the gunmen mocked the officials and other people at the registration centre for conducting the exercise in preparation for elections while they (gunmen) were fighting to get their freedom from Nigeria.

But reacting, renowned Nigerian human civil rights activist and legal practitioner, Chidi Odinkalu, said the group cannot claim to be liberating anyone by attacking and killing INEC officials who are simply doing their jobs.

Those who attack, shoot and kill @inecnigeria ad-hoc staff merely for doing their jobs cannot claim to be liberating anyone, he posted on his Twitter handle on Friday.

They and their supporters are selling death and destruction and deserve the strongest possible condemnation, added Mr Odinkalu, an indigene of Orlu in Imo State.

On his part, Shehu Sani, a former Nigerian senator, described the attack as an act of criminality. The former lawmaker said the unfortunate incident should not spray fears on Nigerians, but rather galvanise collective outrage and defiance against the gunmen.

The attack on the INEC registration centre and the killing of the INEC staff by those terrorist gunmen in Imo State is condemnable, Mr Sani tweeted.

IPOB fingered in the attack

While some Nigerians condemned the attack, others accused the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) of carrying out the attack.

A Twitter user, Demagogue (@von_Bismack), whose profile indicated he hails from Imo State wrote, I just watched where IPOB members executed an Igbo person (in) execution style, shooting straight at him while he was lying down.

The tweet was a reaction to the video clip of the attack where an INEC official was shot by the gunmen.

This is an open declaration of war against my people and I have taken sides with my people, the user added.

Another Twitter user, Austin, insisted that IPOB carried out the attack. He said although he was part of the groups agitation, the killing of the INEC official has forced him to withdraw his involvement in the agitation.

Did you watch the video where people lying down were shot by their fellow Igbos? IPOB my foot. I was an agitator, but after seeing that video, I wont (remain an agitator) anymore,  Mr Austin tweeted.

For Aku Nesi Obi Ike, another user (@Akudinanwa117), supporting IPOB was his biggest regret.

I cant believe I was once an avid fan of the terror group, the user posted. IPOB members are the real enemies of Ndigbo. They ought to be ostracised from the entire region.

However, reacting to the allegation, the separatist group denied involvement in the attack on INEC officials, saying they have no hands in the criminal act that criminals randomly carry out against our people.

Emma Powerful, the spokesperson of the group, in a statement on Friday, regretted that some uninformed people point accusing fingers at IPOB.

Mr Powerful said IPOB would expose those behind the attacks in the region.

He said the group cannot afford to allow the gunmen to terrorise the people of the region or demonise their peaceful organisation.

IPOB is leading agitation for the creation of an independent state of Biafra which they want to be carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south regions of Nigeria.

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The separatist group has been accused of being responsible for the deadly attacks across the two regions, but it has repeatedly denied involvement in the attacks.
The Inspector General of Police, Usman Alkali, has deployed the IGP Monitoring Unit and X-Squad to monitor the activities of officers policing the highways during the Easter celebrations.

A statement by police spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, on Friday, said the measure is to ensure respect for the rights of citizens and operational conformity with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Rules of Engagement (RoE) of the Force.

The IGP also ordered all state Commissioners of Police (CPs) and their supervising Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs) to ensure adequate deployment of police personnel, and operational assets to areas of security interest within their respective areas of responsibility (AoRs).

According to the statement, the Complaint Response Unit and the Public Complaint Bureau, have equally been charged to respond swiftly to complaints received from the general public.

The measure by the Force comes on the heels of complaints by Nigerians about extortion and bullying by police officers particularly at checkpoints.

Some of the excesses of the police officers, particularly members of the defunct Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), led to the massive protest in 2020 by Nigerians, particularly the youths, demanding an end to the rogue squad and police brutality.

This action led to the scrapping of the unit by the then IGP, Mohammed Adamu.

Read full statement:

PRESS RELEASE

2022 EASTER CELEBRATIONS: IGP FELICITATES WITH THE NIGERIAN CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

 Orders Strategic Commanders to Ensure Round-the-Clock Security of the Public Space

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc(+), NPM, fdc, in his resolve to ensure crime-free Easter celebrations, has ordered intensive security patrols of all public spaces and critical national assets. Specifically, all State Commissioners of Police (CPs) and their supervising Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIGs) have been ordered to ensure adequate deployment of police personnel, and operational assets to areas of security interest within their respective areas of responsibility (AoRs).

ALSO READ: President Buhari preaches love in Easter message

The IGP equally ordered that supervising officers should ensure confidence-boosting, proactive, and high visibility patrols are carried out along the highways, motor parks, train stations, airports, worship centres, recreation centres, banks, and other financial institutions while taking adequate measures to provide a peaceful, crime-free, and enabling environment for religious, cultural and other socio-economic activities to thrive.

In addition, the Commissioners of Police and their supervising AIGs have been directed to ensure proper supervision of the men assigned for these assignments. They must be professional and courteous to law-abiding citizens but firm and ruthless to criminal elements who might want to take the advantage of the festive period to perpetrate their unholy acts.

To this effect, the IGP Monitoring Unit and X-Squad have been given marching orders to monitor and police activities of police officers policing the highways to ensure respect for the rights of citizens and operational conformity with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Rules of Engagement (RoE) of the Force; the Complaint Response Unit, vis-a-vis Public Complaint Bureau, have equally been charged to respond swiftly to complaints received from the general public.

While felicitating with Nigerians, and the Christian community in particular, on the commemoration of the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the IGP appreciates the citizenry for their support and calls on them to continue to cooperate with the Nigeria Police and other security agencies by providing timely information that would help in the prevention and detection of crime.

CSP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, mnipr, mipra

Ag. FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER,

FORCE HEADQUARTERS,

ABUJA
For the poor and even the middle class, the only possibility of exit is to neighbouring countries and on that score, our backs are against the wall; there is nowhere to run. Cameroon is facing the Boko Haram insurgency in the north and the Ambazonian civil war in the south. Niger and Chad are both suffering from insurgency by jihadist movements and warlordism, while Benin Republic has just become a target of jihadist attacks

The state of insecurity in the country is so high that it is difficult for Nigerians not to think of jumping ship and going somewhere else safer. Nigerias governing class, the source of all our problems, has made its arrangements, its members have bought houses abroad, transferred money out of the country, and are ready to leave the country within minutes. That is why we have a large fleet of private jets in our airports, ready to take those who have ruled and ruined Nigeria out of the country at short notice. For the poor and even the middle class, the only possibility of exit is to neighbouring countries and on that score, our backs are against the wall; there is nowhere to run. Cameroon is facing the Boko Haram insurgency in the north and the Ambazonian civil war in the south. Niger and Chad are both suffering from insurgency by jihadist movements and warlordism, while Benin Republic has just become a target of jihadist attacks; so for us, we just have to sing with Wole Soyinka:

I love my country I no go lie/na inside am I go live and die/when e turn me so I twist am so/e push me I push am I no go go.

We are just in mid-April and already, over three thousand Nigerians have been killed by bandits and terrorists this year. Thousands have been kidnapped for ransom, and tens of thousands have had to flee their homes and livelihoods just this year. The macabre daily count is sickening. A couple of days ago, 92 persons were killed by terrorists in Kanam Local Government of Plateau State, and the assailants were said to have come from Taraba State and were killing indiscriminately. The lawmaker representing Pankshin/Kanam/Kanke federal constituency of Plateau State in the House of Representatives, Yusuf Gagdi reported that 3,413 persons were displaced following the attack. At the same time, Benue State has a similar story to tell.

In the South-East, the most dangerous profession is to serve the nation as police personnel. Every week, there are reports of attacks on police stations, arson and the killing of officers. This past week, already five have been killed. The Nteje Divisional Police Headquarters in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State was attacked on Thursday and one officer was killed. This attack occurred barely 24 hours after four police officers were killed by gunmen at another police facility in the State  the Atani Divisional Police Divisional Headquarters. These are simply illustrations of the daily macabre count of deaths and destruction that we are all making.

In the North-East, the Islamist group, Boko Haram, has waged a bloody insurgency against the country for the past 13 years and an estimated 35,000 people have been killed, with over three million people displaced by the conflict. In the South-East, the key actors are said to be unknown gunmen carrying out orders of the separatist organisation, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its militia wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN).

According to data released by the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) this week, at least 2,968 people were killed, while 1,484 were abducted in the country from January to March. The data shows that more people were killed in the North-West region, than in other regions in the country. At least 1,103 people were killed within the period in the region. The North-Central region recorded the second highest number of murders, with 984 killed during the identified period, while in the North-East, 488 were killed. In the South-East, 181 people were killed during the period under review, while in the South-West and South-South regions, 127 and 85 people were killed respectively, according to a report on the story by Premium Times.

Bandits and terrorists have been attacking and killing thousands of people in the countrys North-West over the past seven years. They are now the new Sheriffs in Zamfara, Katsina, Niger and Kaduna States where they make and apply the law, while moving about freely in raids composed of hundreds of gunmen on motorcycles, who attack, kill, pillage, rob, rape, burn down houses and abduct citizens for ransom at will. Although it started as a rural phenomenon, they are now attacking the symbols of ruling class freedom of movement by taking over the Abuja-Kaduna highway, amongst several others, and they have recently attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train and the Kaduna airport. Now, they are closing on in the cities, where they are killing and abducting people from their homes.

In the North-East, the Islamist group, Boko Haram, has waged a bloody insurgency against the country for the past 13 years and an estimated 35,000 people have been killed, with over three million people displaced by the conflict. In the South-East, the key actors are said to be unknown gunmen carrying out orders of the separatist organisation, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its militia wing, Eastern Security Network (ESN). They have targeted government buildings and security personnel. The have also imposed a stay-at-home order that has been crippling the economy of the zone, while those who break the order are regularly attacked and killed.

The current reality is that no one is safe in Nigeria and our 200 million compatriots have nowhere to run to. The irony is that the armed forces have been deployed to almost all the states in the country, but with each passing day, the security situation in Nigeria is deteriorating further. The first lesson we have to understand, therefore, is that they have no will or intention of saving us. The explanation is straightforward.

The current reality is that no one is safe in Nigeria and our 200 million compatriots have nowhere to run to. The irony is that the armed forces have been deployed to almost all the states in the country, but with each passing day, the security situation in Nigeria is deteriorating further. The first lesson we have to understand, therefore, is that they have no will or intention of saving us. The explanation is straightforward. With rising insecurity, security budgets have expanded considerably and many officers and commanders have become rich. Fighting armed combatants always carries the risk of death to both the combatants and the armed forces. The combatants are mostly young kids who are on drugs and have no fear of death. The rich commanders of our armed forces appear to have taken the decision to avoid direct combat as much as possible, so that they can live to enjoy their wealth. It is in this context that these drug-crazed boys have made new laws based on the power of the Kalashnikov and become the new Sheriffs in our towns and villages, and they are today imposing taxes on citizens, the payment of which determines whether you live or die.

The approach of the military is to rely on bombing the armed combatants from the air, without sufficient troops to mop them up as they run. As the combatants are widely spread, bombs can only get a tiny fraction of them, so there is no real strategy to finish them off. In any case, the armed forces have not expanded considerably and those on active duty are exhausted and frustrated due to the lack of rotation. Careful trend analysis shows that insecurity has been increasing and will continue to increase in the country.

Our backs as compatriots are against the wall, we have nowhere to run to and there is no one to defend us, so we need to open a conversation on how we can defend ourselves and save our families and indeed the nation. Any ideas?

A professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, Jibrin Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, and Chair of the Editorial Board of PREMIUM TIMES.
Respected brothers and sisters! In order to eliminate poverty from the society, Islam imposes the structure of Zakat. Allah Almighty commanded us to treat the resulting problems stemming from poverty such as theft, murder, kidnapping, terrorism and attacking people and taking their property unjustly by eliminating poverty from the society. Moreover, helping poor and needy people through charity revives the mutual social welfare and support among members of the society.

In The Name of Allah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy

All praise is for Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help, we ask for His forgiveness, and we seek refuge with Allah from the evils of our own souls and the wickedness of our actions, whoever Allah guides, there is none that can lead him astray, and whoever Allah allows to go astray, there is none that can lead him to the right path.

I testify and bare witness that there is no deity worthy of worship in truth but Allah, alone, without any partners. And I testify and bare witness that our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is His Servant and Messenger. As for whats after:

Dear brothers and sisters! Know that, one of the most widespread and dangerous problems faced by humanity today is that of poverty, hunger and starvation. There is nothing more horrifying than the realisation that as we live our happy lives, millions of our fellow human beings live in hunger and face starvation. The majority of the world population today lives in poverty. It is clear that the world system we have set up today is unjust and inhumane.

One of the great reforms that the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) brought was the rights and treatment of the poor, needy, less privilege and the widow. Prior to the advent of Islam (in Jahiliyyah), the pagan Arabs used to disregard the poor, they would look down on them, and could care less about them; the poor people were basically an insignificant portion of society that did not matter. However so, with the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) all that changed, the Muslims were obliged to look after the poor, and were required to spend of their wealth to help the poor out. For instance, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) taught the following:

Narrated Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): Allahs Messenger (Peace be upon him) said, Allah said, O son of Adam! Spend, and I shall spend on you. [Al-Bukhari]

Respected servants of Allah! The basic meaning of this Prophetic Hadith was that Muslims should spend from their wealth in giving charity to the poor. This teaching of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), to spend and to give in charity, was a very common message that he would often give as we read in another Hadith:

Narrated Haritha Bin Wahab (may Allah be pleased with him): I heard the Prophet (Peace be upon him) saying, O people! Give in charity as a time will come upon you when a person will wander about with his object of charity and will not find anybody to accept it, and one (who will be requested to take it) will say, If you had brought it yesterday, I would have taken it, but today I am not in need of it. [Al-Bukhari]

As mentioned earlier, the poor people of the time were completely disregarded, especially by the elite of society, those at the top of society, the very wealthy, did not care at all for the poor people, and they would look down on them. So what did the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) say in this regard? The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) specifically commanded the wealthy people to give in charity and gave a very dire warning to them if they didnt do so:

Narrated Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): Allahs Messenger (Peace be upon him) said: Whoever is made wealthy by Allah and does not pay the Zakat of his wealth, then on the Day of Resurrection his wealth will be made like a bald-headed poisonous male snake with two black spots over the eyes. The snake will encircle his neck and bite his cheeks and say, I am your wealth, I am your treasure. [Al-Bukhari]

So the above Hadith was a warning to the wealthy people of the consequences of not looking after the poor and giving in charity. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) also taught the following about wealthy people giving in charity:

Narrated Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: The best charity is that which is practiced by a wealthy person. And start giving first to your dependents. [Al-Bukhari]

In a longer version of this Hadith we read:

Narrated Hakim Bin Hizam (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: The upper hand is better than the lower hand (i.e. he who gives in charity is better than him who takes it). One should start giving first to his dependents. And the best object of charity is that which is given by a wealthy person (from the money which is left after his expenses). And whoever abstains from asking others for some financial help, Allah will give him and save him from asking others, Allah will make him self-sufficient. [Al-Bukhari]

So the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) taught the best of charity is the one given by those who are rich, the wealthy people. The reason for this was because the Prophet wanted to give a very strong incentive for the rich to start giving in charity, something they didnt really care about before. As well as this it was also to show the great reform of society, that now, the rich of society are giving for the poor, unlike before, when they could care less about the poor precisely because they were rich.

We also read in another Hadith, what the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) would do when he encountered poor people:

Narrated Abu Burdah Bin Abu Musa (may Allah be pleased with him): That his father said, Whenever a beggar came to Allahs Messenger (Peace be upon him) or he was asked for something, he (Peace be upon him) used to say (to his companions), Help and recommend him and you will receive the reward for it; and Allah will bring about what He will through His Prophets tongue. [Al-Bukhari]

So whenever the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) would encounter with a poor person, he would tell his companions to help and give for that person, and they would be rewarded for it. The Prophet would not simply ignore them and let them be, as would have been the custom of the time, rather he gave advise and teaching to his companions to help these people.

And in another Hadith we also read the following;

Narrated Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: The one who looks after a widow or a poor person is like a Mujahid (warrior) who fights for Allahs Cause, or like him who performs prayers all the night and fasts all the day. [Al-Bukhari]

So, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) compared the one who looks after a poor person, with the one who fights in the cause of Allah Almighty. As everyone knows, the one who fights in the cause of Allah has a very high place and status in Islam, it is one of the highest honours one can have, yet the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) explicitly states that a person who looks after a poor person is like the one who fights in the cause of Allah Almighty. Thus one can see the very high value and importance Islam attaches to helping and looking after the poor. This teaching is a major incentive and motivation for the people to take care, and to look after the poor.

Indeed what a great reform the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him)) brought! Now if all of us around the world could follow these teachings in regards to the poor people, then this would be a much better place!

Dear brothers and sisters! The religion of Islam is the complete code of life. Islam teaches us to treat all mankind with love, respect, and honour as Almighty Allah commanded us to do so. As mentioned earlier, one of the most widespread problems is poverty, hunger, and starvation that most of the human beings facing in these days. Allah Almighty loves those who help poor and needy people for getting His pleasure. Allah Almighty says in the Noble Quran:

And in their wealth is a recognised right. For the (needy) who asks and the one who is deprived. [Quran, 70:24-25]

Helping poor and needy by giving charity is considered as one of the virtuous acts in Islam. Religion of Islam warns those who cloak and save their wealth and dont spend for the cause of Allah or in His way. Allah says in the Quran for these people:

It is not (only) righteousness that you turn your faces towards East or West (in Prayer). But the righteousness is to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Prophets, and to give of your wealth out of love for Him, to your kin and orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves [Quran, 2:177]

Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) brought the rights and treatment of the poor which was the greatest reform in the society. Muslims are obliged to look after the poor and needy people, and required to spend of their wealth to help the poor out for the sake of Allah Almighty.

Almighty Allah will punish those on the Judgment Day who accumulate their wealth without giving the due right to the poor and needy people. Allah Almighty says in the Noble Quran:

And those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend in the Path of Allah then warn them of the painful torment. [Quran, 9:34]

Respected brothers and sisters! In order to eliminate poverty from the society, Islam imposes the structure of Zakat. Allah Almighty commanded us to treat the resulting problems stemming from poverty such as theft, murder, kidnapping, terrorism and attacking people and taking their property unjustly by eliminating poverty from the society. Moreover, helping poor and needy people through charity revives the mutual social welfare and support among members of the society.

Imam As-Sakhawi said:

Easing other peoples grief is one of the most beneficial good acts with Allah.

Lastly, I urge all of you to remember the whole Ummah in your precious Duas, especially in this blessed month of Ramadan.

Allah surely knows best and he is the Lords of the universe and May his peace and blessing be on his Messenger, his family, his companions and those who follow them.

I ask Allah, the Most High to grant us success and enable us to be correct in what we say and write, ameen.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumuah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okenes Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumuah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Ramadan 14, 1443 A.H. (April 15, 2022).
That the PDP may not sail against the strong wind of the presidency that is blowing South, will be for the party to field a Southern candidate as its candidate in the 2023 presidential election if the PDP goes ahead to sail against the wind in 2023 by fielding a Northern candidate, the ship of the party will capsize, sink into oblivion, as the party will lose in the North and in the South to the APC and go into extinction in post Buhari Nigeria.

At a time when elements of the conservative northern political establishment in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) appear to have resolved to shift presidential power to the South of Nigeria in 2023, the liberal northern politicians in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seem determined to retain power in the northern region beyond 2023. Led by President Muhammadu Buhari, the conservative northern establishment, which has been in firm control of the politics of Nigerias largest democratic demography since 2015, when the APC came to power, may have come to the realisation that it cannot hold on to power after eight years without severe consequences for the unity and continuous existence of Nigeria. From all indications, as seen in the near absence of northern presidential aspirants on its platform, the President Buhari-led APC has clearly settled for a Nigerian president of southern origin, beginning from 2023 when Nigerians will go to the polls to vote for a new president.

On the other hand, the PDP, with its strongest political support base in the South and minority areas of the North (the Middle Belt), and which is expected to be the most willing to pick its presidential candidate from the region, is looking towards the North for its presidential redemption. Clearly unprepared for a Southern presidency, the PDP is hoping to opportunistically inherit the massive votes of Northern Nigeria by fielding a candidate from the region at a time the APC is looking South. In the thinking of many a PDP stalwart from the South, the interest of the party should be to win the next presidential election by any means possible and not be concerned by the morality of zoning for the purpose of equity, justice and unity. Having been defeated twice in the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections by the APC, which was heavily enamoured on both occasions by the massive votes of Nigerias largest voting bloc in the Muslim North, some PDP stalwarts from the South, like members of a defeated army whose officers and men are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, have surrendered to the political supremacy of Northern Nigeria.

In their consideration, an average Muslim Northerner is incapable of making rational political decisions without being influenced by ethno-geographic and religious sentiments, which makes it impossible for a Southerner to defeat a Northerner in any presidential contest in Buharis Nigeria. And for the PDP to win back the presidency of Nigeria in 2023, the candidate has to be Northern and Muslim. Even when there are clear indications that the political establishment in the region has reached a decision to cede power to the South in 2023, some PDP pundits have expressed doubt about the sincerity of this purpose, given the fact that Northern Nigeria holds the knife (power) and the yam (patronage) and can decide to keep both.

Whilst it is true that the North has the knife and yam in Buharis Nigeria, yet much as it may want to keep both, it is in the long-term interest of the region to relinquish power to the South as a last ditch effort to salvage whatever is left of Nigerias national unity and cooperate coexistence. Whereas the North wants power, still its needs the unity of the Nigerian state for its regional self-enlightened interest.

Relying on this impression of the political invincibility of the Muslim North, a legion of presidential aspirants from the region have been straddling the lengths and breadths of Nigeria and making a case for winnability over the morality of zoning, as the PDP prepares for the 2023 presidential election. However, the widespread clamour for power shift to the South by leaders of the region across ethnic, religious and partisan divides, as contained in the Asaba Declaration of the 17 Southern governors in May 2021; a position that has been adopted by the leadership of ethnic nationalities in the region and the seeming willingness of the APC to field a Southern candidate in the 2023 presidential election, has made the PDP find itself in a state of flux, amidst a raging controversy over zoning.

Whilst it is true that the North has the knife and yam in Buharis Nigeria, yet much as it may want to keep both, it is in the long-term interest of the region to relinquish power to the South as a last ditch effort to salvage whatever is left of Nigerias national unity and cooperate coexistence. Whereas the North wants power, still its needs the unity of the Nigerian state for its regional self-enlightened interest. Having failed to improve the socio-economic condition of the region and leaving it, by the end of his eight year rule, a terrorised, war thorn, poverty stricken dungeon of insecurity, President Buhari, despite his crass sectionalism, failed to wean Northern Nigeria off revenue dependency from oil minerals and tax revenues from the South.

It is the monthly allocation from crude oil revenues to the 19 states and 419 local governments of the North that is used to fund the elaborate and flamboyant Emirate system in the region. Just as the monthly allocation is also used to sustain the rich lifestyles of the political elite and their Ulama collaborators, whose duty is to put a stamp of religious authority on their divine right to rule over the people. Most importantly, for a region that is ravaged on all sides by terrorist groups, Northern Nigeria may fall to the combined armies of Boko Haram and killer herdsmen in the event of a prolonged disruption of oil production by militant agitators in the oil producing states of the South, resulting in the inability of government to fund security operations. Aware of this stark reality, in addition to a deeply polarised polity along the North/South and Muslim/Christian divides, the North may have taken a painful decision to cede power to a trusted ally and friend from the South, who has the capacity to heal a fractured Nigeria by not elevating the interest of his region over those of the others. It may have been provoked, abused and maligned but the North is not ready for a divorce from the Southern lady of means. And this is why no Northern presidential candidate of any party is likely to make much impact in the North, as most of the votes in the region will be mobilised for a preferred Southern candidate in the 2023 presidential election.

For a multi-ethnic and religious country like Nigeria, the principles of zoning and rotation of political leadership positions amongst the constituent peoples and regions, which has been in place since its independence in 1960 as a means of ensuring justice, inclusivity, peace and unity, is affirmed in section 14[3] of the 1999 Constitution

For a multi-ethnic and religious country like Nigeria, the principles of zoning and rotation of political leadership positions amongst the constituent peoples and regions, which has been in place since its independence in 1960 as a means of ensuring justice, inclusivity, peace and unity, is affirmed in section 14[3] of the 1999 Constitution, which states that; The COMPOSITION of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs SHALL be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or in any of its agencies. It is in furtherance of this constitutional provision that a political convention was evolved to rotate the office of the president between the pre-amalgamation (1914) territories of Northern and Southern Nigeria every after two terms of eight years each.

That the PDP may not sail against the strong wind of the presidency that is blowing South, will be for the party to field a Southern candidate as its candidate in the 2023 presidential election. For the PDP, the 2023 presidential election is not just about winnability but actually survival. While the APC is dominant in the North and the PDPs strongest support base is in the South, the move by the APC to field a Southern candidate in the 2023 presidential election will torpedo the PDP from the region, if the party fields a Northern candidate. And if the PDP goes ahead to sail against the wind in 2023 by fielding a Northern candidate, the ship of the party will capsize, sink into oblivion, as the party will lose in the North and in the South to the APC and go into extinction in post Buhari Nigeria.

Majeed Dahiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja and can be reached through dahirumajeed@gmail.com.
The Bayelsa State Government has denied media reports which said the relationship between Gov Douye Diri and his predecessor, Seriake Dickson, had become frosty.

The Bayelsa Commissioner for Information, Ayibaina Duba, stated this in a statement issued in Yenagoa on Thursday.

The government also dismissed claims that Governor Diri was causing division in the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Mr Duba described the reports as unscrupulous.

He said the insinuation that the governor was ungrateful to those who worked for his victory in the 2019 governorship election is based on some unverified and bogus assumptions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Mr Dickson had, in a statement on Tuesday, dissociated himself from the allegation and pledged his support to Governor Diri.

Mr Duba said there was no evidence to sustain the claim of disagreement between Mr Diri and Mr Dickson.

The report is smacked of beer parlour gossip, he said.

The governor is appreciative of Mr Dicksons support and has been a preacher of peace and unity across the state, the commissioner said.

He said Mr Diri has initiated practical efforts at strengthening and keeping the PDP united and that the governor enjoys a cordial relationship with his predecessor.

Mr Duba said the author of the report wanted to divide the party along the lines of Governor Diris loyalists and Mr Dicksons loyalists due to his lack of tact and shallow understanding of party politics and governance.

The Governor has continued to demonstrate good faith and is appreciative to the fingers of God that were used in making him governor and are eternally grateful to God for his elevation.

In the last two years, the Governor has committed to unifying the party by insisting that every party man has equal rights.

He has also invested a lot of time and energy in bringing back members who defected to other parties and assuaged the concerns of stakeholders, fortifying the party in the process.

The governor has also continued to preach peace and unity among our people and succeeded at engineering convivial relationships between the contending political groups and communities in the state, the commissioner said.

(NAN)
0.53 g/t Au over 196.50 meters intercepted in Lidia, Orovalle, Spain

Q2 FY2022 production of 10,595 gold equivalent ounces

6,642 m of infill drilling

of infill drilling 1,447 m of greenfield drilling

Juan Gavidia, CEO of Orvana: "Our exploration program continues producing excellent outcomes, reinforcing Orvana's internal growth potential to increase resources in Spain."

He added: "This has been a challenging quarter in terms of production in Spain due to the COVID-19 impact on the workforce in the first half of the quarter, supply chain strains all around Europe affecting the availability of spare parts, and the nationwide transport strike in March. Since early April supply chain channels have been reactivated, production restarted, and we are in the process of reviewing and optimizing the production plan for the second half of the year".

Q2 FY2022 Production Results





Q2 FY2022 Q1 FY2022 Q2 FY2021 FY 2022

Guidance











Ore milled (tones)

146,170 176,288 159,603

Gold Equivalent (oz)

10,595 15,921 14,197

Gold









Grade (g/t)

1.94 2.27 2.31

Recovery (%)

91.6 91.1 90.9

Production (oz)

8,341 11,731 10,785 48,000 - 53,000 Copper









Grade (%)

0.31 0.45 0.47

Recovery (%)

80.7 83.7 82.3

Production (K lbs)

797 1,451 1,355 5,800 - 6,500

Production of 10,595 gold equivalent ounces, a 33% decrease from Q1 FY2022. Production impacted by the temporary operations stoppage in March as a result of the nationwide transport strike in Spain .

. The Company is in the process of reviewing its operations and costs as a result of the temporary stoppage in March, and expects to be in a position to provide a more comprehensive update of the impacts on operations as part of the Q2 FY2022 reporting process in May.

Q2 FY2022 Exploration Drilling

Summary (all in meters) Infill Greenfield TOTAL Ortosa-Godan - 426 426 Lidia - 1,021 1,021 El Valle Boinas





Boinas South (SB) 2,802 - 2,802 Breccia East (BX) 3,242 - 3,242 Carles West (CW) 598 - 598 TOTAL 6,642 1,447 8,089

Lidia

Orovalle's gold porphyry Lidia Project is located in the Navelgas Gold Belt, 20 km from El Valle mine.

Lidia occurs within the easternmost of the Navelgas fracture systems. A granodiorite intrusive outcrops over an area of approximately 1 km2. It is dissected by a set of northeast trending mineralized quartz veins and affected by different alteration phases.

The drilling program started in fiscal 2021 with 1,017 meters drilled. The second phase started in December 2021, focused on defining the continuity of Au mineralization into the intrusive. Four drill holes, totaling 1,405 meters were drilled in the first half of FY2022, confirming the presence of gold in the granodiorite, averaging 0.53 g/t Au over 196.50 meters (DDH 22LIDIA04).

The Company expects to continue the program in Lidia in September 2022 drilling two sections, to the North and to South from current drilled area respectively, in order to prove continuity of Au mineralization in N-S strike and at depth.

Intercepts

DDH From (m) To (m) Thick* (m) Au(gpt) 21LIDIA02 234.30 236.40 2.10 0.68 21LIDIA02 316.70 318.70 2.00 0.59 21LIDIA02 332.90 334.90 2.00 0.56 21LIDIA02 392.20 395.50 3.30 3.14 21LIDIA02 505.20 508.00 2.80 0.92









21LIDIA03 2.00 6.50 4.50 0.43 21LIDIA03 8.50 10.50 2.00 0.54 21LIDIA03 38.50 40.50 2.00 0.46 21LIDIA03 76.50 94.50 18.00 0.63 21LIDIA03 224.40 226.40 2.00 0.58 21LIDIA03 275.20 279.20 4.00 0.41 21LIDIA03 299.20 398.50 99.30 0.48









22LIDIA04 36.00 39.10 3.10 0.62 22LIDIA04 63.60 67.10 3.50 0.70 22LIDIA04 73.10 74.60 1.50 0.51 22LIDIA04 96.10 292.60 196.50 0.53 22LIDIA04 370.50 371.50 1.00 0.56 22LIDIA04 375.50 377.50 2.00 0.52 22LIDIA04 399.90 405.00 5.10 0.41 22LIDIA04 412.00 413.00 1.00 0.83









22LIDIA05 Pending results

* Not true widths

Ortosa-Godan

Ortosa-Godan Project is located three kilometers northwest of the Carles mine, at the same gold belt.

Orovalle started an exploration drilling program at the end of August 2021 in order to define the skarn continuity and check the oxide mineralization related to N40E structures. The Company disclosed first quarter fiscal 2022 results in the press release dated January 18, 2022. During Q2 FY2022, 426 meters were completed in one drill hole. Results from drill hole samples are pending, the information will be provided in due course.

The drilling campaign is still in progress, targeting to confirm the continuity of the mineralization intersected in drillhole 21ORW05: 20.66 g/t over 2.9 meters.

El Valle Boinas

The drilling program continued with its focus on upgrading inferred resources, with a total of 6,642 m of infill drilling completed in Boinas South and Breccia East.

Carles

598 meters were drilled during Q2 FY2022 completing the infill drilling program. Around 200 Kt of Inferred resources were converted into Measured and Indicated resources as result of the infill drilling campaign completed in Carles West.

Quality Control

Greenfield drill hole samples were sent to an external laboratory (ALS Laboratory) for analyses. Infill drill hole samples were analyzed in Orovalle's Laboratory.

Sample preparation was carried out at the El Valle facility. All diamond core samples have been prepared using the following procedure, once split:

The core samples are dried at a temperature of 105C and then crushed through a jaw crusher to 95%<6 mm. The coarse-crushed sample is further reduced to 95%<425 microns using an LM5 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. An Essa rotary splitter is used to take a 450 g to 550 g sub-sample of each split for pulverizing. The remaining reject portion is bagged and stored. The sample is reduced to a nominal -200 mesh using an LM2 bowl-and-puck pulverizer. 140 g sub-samples are split using a special vertical-sided scoop to cut channels through the sample which has been spread into a pancake on a sampling mat. Samples are then sent to the laboratory for gold and base metal analysis. Leftover pulp is bagged and stored.

After sample preparation, 30g samples are analyzed (in Orovalle Laboratory) for Au by fire assay with an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish and two-gram samples for Ag, As, Bi, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sb, Se, and Zn by ICP-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) after an aqua regia digestion.

In case of the samples sent to an external laboratory, 30 g samples are analyzed for Au by fire assay with an atomic absorption (Au AA-25) and 35 elements by ICP (ME-ICP41) after an aqua regia digestion. When Au and Ag values are >100 ppm and Cu and As values are >10,000 ppm, specific analysis methods are used to determinate the final grade.

The reported work has been completed using industry standard procedures, including a quality assurance/quality control ("QA/QC") program consisting of the insertion of certified reference material, blanks and duplicates samples into the sample stream.

The exploration update was prepared under the supervision of Guadalupe Collar Menendez, a qualified person for the purposes of NI 43-101 and an employee of Orovalle Minerals S.L., a subsidiary of Orvana.

Financial Performance

Q2 FY2022 financials will be released mid-May, 2022.

ABOUT ORVANA - Orvana is a multi-mine gold-copper-silver company. Orvana's assets consist of the producing El Valle and Carles gold-copper-silver mines in northern Spain, the Don Mario gold-silver property in Bolivia, currently in care and maintenance, and the Taguas property located in Argentina. Additional information is available at Orvana's website (www.orvana.com).

Cautionary Statements - Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this presentation constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws ("forward-looking statements"). Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, potentials, future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as "believes", "expects", "plans", "estimates" or "intends" or stating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "will" or "are projected to" be taken or achieved) are not statements of historical fact, but are forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements herein relate to, among other things, Orvana's ability to achieve improvement in free cash flow; the ability to maintain expected mining rates and expected throughput rates at El Valle Plant; the potential to extend the mine life of El Valle and Don Mario beyond their current life-of-mine estimates including specifically, but not limited to, in the case of Don Mario, the processing of the mineral stockpiles and the reprocessing of the tailings material; Orvana's ability to optimize its assets to deliver shareholder value; the Company's ability to optimize productivity at Don Mario and El Valle; estimates of future production, operating costs and capital expenditures; mineral resource and reserve estimates; statements and information regarding future feasibility studies and their results; future transactions; future metal prices; the ability to achieve additional growth and geographic diversification; and future financial performance, including the ability to increase cash flow and profits; future financing requirements; mine development plans.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, which includes, without limitation, as particularly set out in the notes accompanying the Company's most recently filed financial statements. The estimates and assumptions of the Company contained or incorporated by reference in this information, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to the various assumptions set forth herein and in Orvana's most recently filed Management's Discussion & Analysis and Annual Information Form in respect of the Company's most recently completed fiscal year (the "Company Disclosures") or as otherwise expressly incorporated herein by reference as well as: there being no significant disruptions affecting operations, whether due to labour disruptions, supply disruptions, power disruptions, damage to equipment or otherwise; permitting, development, operations, expansion and acquisitions at El Valle and Don Mario being consistent with the Company's current expectations; political developments in any jurisdiction in which the Company operates being consistent with its current expectations; certain price assumptions for gold, copper and silver; prices for key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; production and cost of sales forecasts meeting expectations; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates; labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with Orvana's current expectations; and the availability of necessary funds to execute the Company's plan. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, this presentation also contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the results of the preliminary economic assessment, including but not limited to the mineral resource estimation, conceptual mine plan and operations, internal rate of return, sensitivities, taxes, net present value, potential recoveries, design parameters, operating costs, capital costs, production data and economic potential; the timing and costs for production decisions; permitting timelines and requirements; exploration and planned exploration programs; the potential for discovery of additional mineral resources; timing for completion of a feasibility study; timing for first gold production at Taguas; processing the stockpile at El Valle in connection with the metal production catch-up program; identifying additional resources beyond the replenishment of annual depletion rates at El Valle for the extension of mine life; issuing an expanded resource PEA for Taguas in a timely manner; completion of the infill drilling program at Taguas; making a decision on the oxides stockpile at Don Mario in a timely manner; and the Company's general objectives and strategies.

A variety of inherent risks, uncertainties and factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, affect the operations, performance and results of the Company and its business, and could cause actual events or results to differ materially from estimated or anticipated events or results expressed or implied by forward looking statements. Some of these risks, uncertainties and factors include: the potential impact of the COVID-19 on the Company's business and operations, including: our ability to continue operations; our ability to manage challenges presented by COVID-19; the accounting treatment of COVID-19 related matters; Orvana's ability to prevent and/or mitigate the impact of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases at or near our mines; our ability to support the sustainability of our business including through the development of crisis management plans, increasing stock levels for key supplies, monitoring of guidance from the medical community, and engagement with local communities and authorities; fluctuations in the price of gold, silver and copper; the need to recalculate estimates of resources based on actual production experience; the failure to achieve production estimates; variations in the grade of ore mined; variations in the cost of operations; the availability of qualified personnel; the Company's ability to obtain and maintain all necessary regulatory approvals and licenses; the Company's ability to use cyanide in its mining operations; risks generally associated with mineral exploration and development, including the Company's ability to continue to operate the El Valle and/or ability to resume long-term operations at the Carles Mine; the Company's ability to successfully implement a sulphidization circuit and ancillary facilities to process the current oxides stockpiles at Don Mario; the Company's ability to successfully carry out development plans at Taguas; sufficient funding to carry out development plans at Taguas and to process the oxides stockpiles at Don Mario; the Company's ability to acquire and develop mineral properties and to successfully integrate such acquisitions; the Company's ability to execute on its strategy; the Company's ability to obtain financing when required on terms that are acceptable to the Company; challenges to the Company's interests in its property and mineral rights; current, pending and proposed legislative or regulatory developments or changes in political, social or economic conditions in the countries in which the Company operates; general economic conditions worldwide; the challenges presented by COVID-19; fluctuating operational costs such as, but not limited to, power supply costs; current and future environmental matters; and the risks identified in the Company's disclosures. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements and reference should also be made to the Company's Disclosures for a description of additional risk factors.

Any forward-looking statements made herein with respect to the anticipated development and exploration of the Company's mineral projects are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking statements are based on management's current plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions and, except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements should assumptions related to these plans, estimates, projections, beliefs and opinions change. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made in this information are intended to provide an overview of management's expectations with respect to certain future operating activities of the Company and may not be appropriate for other purposes.

CONTACT : Nuria Menendez, Chief Financial Officer, E: nmenendez@orvana.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1797729/Orvana_Minerals_Corp__Orvana_Reports_Q2_FY2022_Production__and_a.jpg

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1797730/Orvana_Minerals_Corp__Orvana_Reports_Q2_FY2022_Production__and_a.jpg

SOURCE Orvana Minerals Corp.
New hires include CFO & Head of Compliance

Expansion fosters partnership with Abu Dhabi Global Market

Deutsche Borse among ACX's investors

SINGAPORE, LONDON and ABU DHABI, UAE, April 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) is expanding its MENA hub with three senior hires and the addition of four key tech developers in Abu Dhabi, as its growth accelerates. ACX is partnering with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to create the world's first fully-regulated carbon trading exchange and carbon clearing house.

Ingo Kleinschmidt has been appointed Chief Financial Officer; Tim Alltimes has joined as Chief Compliance Officer and Ashwin Ambudkar is the new Head of Market Supervision. They join at a key stage of growth for ACX, which is launching the world's first fully-regulated carbon exchange, based in Abu Dhabi.

"We are at a critical time in the formation of global carbon markets," said Kevin B. Iwanaga, ACX COO for the MENA Region. "ACX continues to execute on its strategic growth plans as a leading force in scaling global carbon and environmental markets."

Ingo Kleinschmidt brings over 15 years of experience in strategic business planning & governance, having held senior finance roles at a number of international corporations, including ABN Amro.

Tim Alltimes, a senior regulatory compliance expert specialised in commodity derivative and digital asset exchanges, previously held senior positions with financial regulators in both Abu Dhabi and the United Kingdom. He also has extensive experience in commodities trading with Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.

Ashwin Ambudkar, with a remit to monitor all transactions and trades, brings over 13 years of expertise in compliance and exchanges, having worked with Credit Suisse, Citi Corp, Nomura and the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The new additions will further accelerate ACX's expansion, following its recently-announced collaboration with AGDM and partnerships with CarbonX, Bolsa Verde Rio, Tembici, BlockC and Deutsche Borse.

"As the world's first fully digital carbon exchange, ACX remains an innovative market leader and continues to break new ground," said Iwanaga. "ADGM's Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) is set to become the first financial regulator in the world to develop a framework to recognize and support carbon as an investment grade commodity financial asset."

"The proposed new 'Emissions Instrument' will pave the way for corporates and investors to trade and finance carbon credits like conventional financial assets on balance sheet," Iwanaga explained.

With technology innovation key to its core strategy, ACX is also strengthening its global tech team based out of Abu Dhabi. It has recently hired 4 senior full stack and blockchain developers and a Vice President of engineering in order to accelerate its efforts as a leading innovator in environmental product development.

"ACX's market-leading technology is a direct result of our investment in technical talent as well as our internal processes, which are centred around continuous improvement, education, collaboration and learning," said ACX CTO Dominic Morris. "We are able to deliver world-class technical solutions entirely because of the calibre of our team, and their professionalism," he continued. "I am deeply proud of our people and what we have achieved to-date and look forward to continuing to innovate. We welcome the opportunities presented to us by Abu Dhabi and FSRA regulation of our platform."

Besides Abu Dhabi, ACX has a presence in Singapore, Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Indonesia, with other locations to be announced in the coming months.

About AirCarbon Pte. Ltd .

AirCarbon Exchange ("ACX") is a global exchange revolutionizing the voluntary carbon market. The Exchange's client base comprises corporate entities, financial traders, carbon project developers and other industry stakeholders. ACX provides its clients with an efficient and transparent trading platform which is easy to use, frictionless and with the lowest commission fees available on the market. Its underlying technology will allow the carbon market to scale efficiently to meet global ambitions of Net Zero.

Launched in 2019, the Exchange is a hybrid platform with a traditional central order book architecture that will be familiar to all experienced traders. The Exchange also utilizes the speed and efficiency of the blockchain to achieve atomic T-0 trade execution, clearing and settlement. The Exchange's core matching engine can currently match trades in the order ~10k per second.

As of May 2021, ACX is the world's first carbon negative exchange, having offset its carbon emissions 12 months into the future (to May 2022) through the Onil Stoves Guatemala Uspantan project. ACX is committed to continuing to offset all of its emissions 12 months forward.

For more information or to trade carbon, please reach out to [email protected] or visit https://www.aircarbon.co.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Sun Jie-Ling

AirCarbon Pte. Ltd.

Tel: +65 8168 4248

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE AirCarbon Exchange
NEW YORK, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO David Harris today reaffirmed the leading global Jewish advocacy organization's support for President Biden's "resolute leadership in standing with Ukraine in the face of the reckless and illegal Russian invasion."

"You can continue to count on our full support as you galvanize both American and global power to confront this grave challenge to Ukraine, to international humanitarian law, to democratic aspirations, and to a rules-based international order," Harris wrote in a letter today to President Biden.

Harris expressed admiration for President Biden's "moral clarity in calling out Russian war crimes" and for his "introduction of the word genocide to describe the atrocities committed as a matter of Russian policy against the Ukrainian people."

The AJC CEO welcomed the president's "commitment to send more advanced weaponry to the Ukrainian military, which has shown such extraordinary valor and courage in resisting the ongoing Russian assault."

Today's missive is the second letter Harris wrote to Biden since the beginning of the Russian assault on February 24. In his March 7 letter, Harris voiced AJC's "unreserved support for American leadership in mobilizing global solidarity and assistance for Ukraine."

AJC has stood in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and staunchly supported a free and democratic Ukraine since 1991, when AJC was the first Jewish organization outside Ukraine to call on President George H.W. Bush to recognize the country's independence from Moscow.

During the Maidan Revolution in 2104, AJC was the only group in the world to set up a temporary office in Kyiv.

AJC has been outspoken in criticizing Russia's brazen invasion of the country on February 24. The global advocacy organization's #StandWithUkraine Fund, has raised more than $2.1 million, enabling AJC to provide vital humanitarian assistance to Ukrainian, Polish and international organizations working with Ukrainian refugees.

The full text of the AJC April 14 letter to President Biden follows:

Dear President Biden,

As I affirmed in my letter to you on March 7, American Jewish Committee (AJC) applauds your resolute leadership in standing with Ukraine in the face of the reckless and illegal Russian invasion.

We welcome your commitment to send more advanced weaponry to the Ukraine military, which has shown such extraordinary valor and courage in resisting the ongoing Russian assault. We also admire your moral clarity in calling out Russian war crimes and, in your remarks on April 12, your introduction of the word genocide to describe the atrocities committed as a matter of Russian policy against the Ukrainian people.

Please know that you can continue to count on our full support as you galvanize both American and global power to confront this grave challenge to Ukraine, to international humanitarian law, to democratic aspirations, and to a rules-based international order.

Respectfully,

David Harris

Chief Executive Officer

American Jewish Committee

SOURCE American Jewish Committee
SAN DIEGO, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cameroon Advocacy Network, Haitian Bridge Alliance, CASA, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and Amnesty International USA are pleased at the Biden-Harris administrations' decision to designate Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Due to longstanding socio-political tensions and armed conflicts in Cameroon, which has left thousands dead, 4.4 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and over 1 million people internally displaced, it is impossible for those currently in the United States to make a safe return to Cameroon.

Today, the 40,000 estimated Cameroonians in the United States know that their unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness truly exist. We look forward to continuing to work with the administration to ensure Cameroonians are protected. We urge the Administration to issue the Federal Register Notice as soon as possible and to develop resources that recognize language access needs of the Cameroonian community. Further, as we celebrate this win, we cannot forget the thousands of migrants currently at the U.S.-Mexico border being turned away due to ongoing Title 42 expulsions and the Migrant Protection Protocols. Today's news is bittersweet as we acknowledge the high risk of violence facing Cameroonians who were unjustly deported . We continue to call upon the Biden-Harris administration to provide protection for all people in search of safety and ensure the elimination of all forms of oppression and marginalization, especially of Black migrants.

Daniel Tse, Founding Member of Cameroon Advocacy Network , said, "Today's decision secures protection for thousands of Cameroonians in the United States living in fear and uncertainty. Although we are elated, we do acknowledge that this decision came after several years of our advocacy, and since, many asylum seekers' lives have been lost due to unjust deportations. The request for temporary protected status (TPS) designation has been the Cameroon Advocacy Network's (CAN) top priority as I have on several occasions watched my brothers and sisters sent back to danger in Cameroon while in chains. The images I have seen resembles that of times of slavery. As history has taught us, when it comes to Black immigrants, there's always retaliation, reluctance and relegation involved. Given that this is the system that we work within, the fight is not over yet! We will continue to work with our allies and push for humanitarian parole for those unjustly deported."

Guerline Jozef, Co-founder and Executive Director of Haitian Bridge Alliance and founding member of Cameroon Advocacy Network, said "We welcome this much needed and overdue announcement from the Biden administration. We rejoice and celebrate with our Cameroonian siblings who after a long fought battle can finally breathe a sigh of relief. We stand undeterred, in solidarity as we continue to work with and follow the leadership of impacted people of the Cameroonian Community. We are grateful for all our partner organizations and allies who pushed hard to get this victory, this is another example of 'Anpil men, chay pa lou.' We acknowledge that there is much work to be done to welcome all people in need of protection with dignity and center the voices and narratives of Black migrants and immigrants."

Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and founding member of the Cameroon Advocacy Network, said, "This represents a momentous step to ensuring tens of thousands of Black immigrants in the United States will get the critical protection they deserve -- protection from forced removal, from unimaginable violence, and from further persecution. The Biden administration deserves credit for heeding the calls of the Cameroonian community and all their allies. Anti-Black racism has plagued our immigration system for far too long. Ultimately it is up to all of us, no matter our country of origin or the color of our skin, to join together to hold our government accountable to its human rights obligations in our long march toward justice."

T.O. (a pseudonym), a directly impacted individual said, "I was tortured and detained twice in my country Cameroon because I spoke against the government. I was raped by the Cameroon military force at least twice a week during my two months in their custody. The military shot and killed my father at my second arrest. I was detained in an ICE jail for over one year, where I was abused and treated badly by ICE. Death or life imprisonment awaits me if I am deported back to Cameroon because the Cameroonian military is still looking for me. This designation of temporary protected status will literally save my life and relinquishes my daily fear of being deported everytime I see a police officer."

A.R. (a pseudonym), a directly impacted individual said, "This designation takes away the fear I have by providing me with the right to stay in the United States. It will give me the opportunity to apply for work authorization so that I can sufficiently support myself, my family, and equally contribute to the growth of this great nation. Simply knowing that I'm free from being arrested, detained, or deported releases me from the traumatic stress and psychological trauma I experience daily."

Austen, a Cameroonian immigrant and CASA community organizer, said, "For so long in this country there has been a disparity concerning black immigrants. Many among them were not as lucky as I was in escaping the violence back home. TPS for Cameroon is an opportunity to protect others like me that went through similar or worse situations. We may have won TPS for Cameroon today, but the world needs to remember that our families are still back home. Remember we have Cameroonians and others who were deported into very zones without fair trials in their deportation proceedings. This TPS would have safe lives if it would have been given earlier, though it is better late than never. The fight to protect black immigrants is just beginning."

Emmanuel Tabili, founding member of CAN said, 'This decision today is a testament of what we believe the United States of America stands for.' It is often said that America was built on great values of freedom, liberty,humanity, and democracy. This narrative offers hope for those persecuted to find solace, protection and peace. I congratulate my fellow Cameroonian members for their advocacy and courage in this effort to win protection for the community, but I also urge all to remember that it is not yet a time to rest. While we look back at all we have accomplished, we need to continue fighting for immigrants, who make a very valuable part of this great society. This designation for Cameroon is a step towards the protection and preservation of immigrant values and we must keep fighting until every immigrant is treated with dignity."

L.D (a pseudonym), a directly impacted individual, said "I am from the Southern part of Cameroon where we are being treated like second-class citizens. I was arrested twice for protesting the government, and during the second arrest, I was raped twice by military officials. My family found a way to help me escape, and upon reaching the U.S.-Mexico border to petition for asylum, I was detained for 1 year and seven months. This designation means that I do not have to leave in fear of a government that is seeking to kill me. It means that I can live, breathe, work, play, and do all that all other human beings should be able to do without a constant fear of deportation looming over me. For that, I am grateful."

Kale Dante, founding member of CAN, said "TPS for Cameroon is a big step in the U.S. efforts to stand by their values, especially as it relates to humanitarian relief. As unfortunate as it is, the reality is that Cameroonians are not able to safely return home. Today is a win not just for Cameroonians, but for all those in fear of deportation, as it demonstrates that we can be successful when we are persistent and when we organize. We shall continue to seek protection and freedom for our siblings everywhere as we remain grateful for each incremental step that we take."

Fabrisk, a directly impacted individual said, "TPS for Cameroon is a sign of solidarity and willingness to pass the test of humanity. With TPS I feel respected and fairly treated. This will give me the opportunity to live in this country as a human. However, I believe that success is not just the act of completing a task but the ability to complete all other tasks associated with it. More needs to be done as far as immigration is concerned. It is so painful to imagine the agony that this country has inflicted on immigrants.There are immigrants in detention and across the borders, many deported to unsafe countries that should be paroled. We expect more from this administration."

Haitian Bridge Alliance (HBA) , also known as "the Bridge", is a grassroots community organization that advocates for fair and humane immigration policies and provides migrants and immigrants with humanitarian, legal, and social services, with a particular focus on Black migrants, the Haitian community, women and girls, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and survivors of torture and other human rights abuses. HBA also seeks to elevate the issues unique to Black migrants and builds solidarity and collective movement toward policy change. Anpil men, chay pa lou ("Many hands make the load light").

Follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook: @haitianbridge

SOURCE Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The environmental law attorneys at Manning Law, APC proudly announce a settlement on behalf of Calsafe Research Center, Inc., a California non-profit corporation dedicated to keeping Californians safe from exposure to products that are alleged to contain chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm in violation of Proposition 65.

Proposition 65, "The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986" is a "right to know" law intended to protect Californians. Through its required warnings, Proposition 65 alerts consumers in the State of California to the risk of potential exposures to substances causing cancer or reproductive harm and provides them with the ability to make an informed decision regarding whether to purchase, consume or use such products. Calsafe Research Center, Inc. acts in the public interest as a private enforcer of Proposition 65 through civil law enforcement actions initiated by its counsel, Manning Law, APC.

Material details of settlement:

Chemical Lead and Acrylamide Product Category Food; Crackers Used By Children/Adults Settlement Year 2022 Private Enforcer: Calsafe Research Center, Inc.

https://www.calsaferesearchcenter.com/ Defendant: Nairn's Oatcakes Limited, Inc. Type: Out-of-Court Settlement which can be viewed at

https://oag.ca.gov/prop65/60-Day-Notice-2021-01406 Relief: Reformulation to reduce Lead and Acrylamide in product or clear and reasonable warnings if the reformulation standard is not met.

"Since California residents overwhelmingly voted to enact Proposition 65 in 1986 the act has generated substantial reductions in the content of toxic chemicals in consumer touching products. Where products inherently include a Proposition 65 listed chemical that cannot be removed, warning labels have empowered Californians to make an informed decision about being exposed to the product," said Manning Law, APC co-founder Michael J. Manning.

Babak (Bobby) Hashemi, who also represents Calsafe Research Center, Inc. in advancing the public's interest through environmental litigation, said "I am proud to represent an organization dedicated to protecting the health and autonomy of California residents."

Manning Law, APC is known for its civil rights, consumer, and environmental protection litigation including its precedent setting litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA") and the Unruh Civil Rights Act ("UCRA"). In particular, the firm is known for its role as plaintiff's counsel in the first federal appellate case to recognize the application of the ADA and UCRA to websites and mobile applications, see Robles v. Domino's Pizza, LLC, No. 17-55504 (9th Cir. 2019). Manning Law, APC has also been recognized by the Office of the Secretary of Defense of the United States as a "Patriotic Employer" for its support of employee participation in the National Guard and Reserve Force.

SOURCE Manning Law APC
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- More than one thousand people impacted by frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), the most common dementia under 60, came together to connect, learn, and engage with a community that understands the disease at the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration's (AFTD) first-ever hybrid Education Conference, on Friday, April 8.

Persons diagnosed with FTD, care partners, caregivers, researchers, health care professionals, and industry experts attended the 2022 Education Conference, both at the BWI Airport Marriott near Baltimore, as well as virtually. Nearly 200 people attended in Baltimore for the first in-person conference experience since 2019, while more than 1,000 registrants from 29 different countries joined via livestream.

The day consisted of presentations focusing on the latest strides in FTD research, the diverse FTD care partner experience, and the language of dementia, presented by experts in the FTD/dementia field. Both in-person and virtual attendees were able to take part in interactive breakout sessions that took an in-depth look at the key aspects of the FTD journey.

AFTD's Persons with FTD Advisory Council, a group of people living with FTD who help to inform AFTD's work, shared their perspective on living with the disease. Later, AFTD Board member Rita Choula, MA, the director of caregiving at the AARP Public Policy Institute, delivered the conference's keynote address, sharing her mother's journey with FTD and how her family navigated the experience. Ms. Choula sent out a call for individuals and persons impacted by FTD to "be bold" in advocating for care, both for their loved ones and themselves.

AFTD founder Helen-Ann Comstock, AFTD CEO Susan L-J Dickinson, and AFTD Board chair David Pfeifer delivered the conference's closing remarks, in which they reflected on the organization's history as AFTD approaches its 20th anniversary.

Additional featured speakers at this year's event included AFTD Medical Advisory Council member Chiadi Onyike, MD, MHS; David Irwin, MD, principal investigator of the Penn Digital Neuropathology Lab; Tania Gendron, PhD, of the Mayo Clinic in Florida; Angela Taylor, senior director of research and advocacy at the Lewy Body Dementia Association; and Laynie Dratch, ScM, CGC, of the University of Pennsylvania's FTD Center.

About Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) and AFTD

Unlike Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal degeneration (FTD) is a dementia that primarily affects personality, behavior, language, and movement. It most commonly onsets between the ages of 45 and 64. Currently there are no approved disease-modifying treatments for FTD, which affects more than 60,000 people in the United States and today is always fatal.

The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) is the leading nonprofit devoted to helping families affected by FTD today, and driving research to foster accurate diagnosis, treatments, and a cure. Our volunteer-founded organization  driven by thousands of volunteers and donors  reflects a community's determination to #endFTD.

SOURCE Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration
Vouchers are good for Bedford, Cleveland, Columbus, East Cleveland, Garfield Heights, and Parma Municipal Courts

BEACHWOOD, Ohio, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Abandoned Homes Project (the "Project") announced today that it has issued 100 new vouchers to assist homeowners facing current or potential housing court prosecution.

Selected homeowners will receive their vouchers via Priority Mail beginning April 18, 2022.

Free or low-cost legal assistance available in multiple courts through Northeast Ohio. Homeowners are encouraged to act quickly before vouchers expire.

The vouchers are good for 30 days after issuance. They cover the cost of most or all of the legal fees faced by homeowners in Bedford, Cleveland, Columbus, East Cleveland, Garfield Heights, and Parma Municipal Courts.

"We helped a record number of homeowners in 2021. We are pleased that our program received funding for another year. We have enough volunteer attorneys and caseworkers working this year to help more homeowners avoid costly jail, fines, and driver's license suspensions that housing courts can levy," said attorney Wendy S. Rosett, who served as General Legal Counsel for the Project.

Homeowners can redeem their vouchers by calling 216.766.5705 or by calling their caseworker directly at the number listed under the "Case Information" section on the vouchers.

Vouchers can also be redeemed online at http://www.ahponline.org by clicking on the YELLOW "Start Here" button.

About the Abandoned Homes Project

Since 2015, the Project has invigorated the conversation about changing the way local governments, community development organizations, and residents of urban and rural communities impacted by the abandoned homes crisis can work together to solve this critical social issue.

Abandoned Homes Project, LLC

Media Contact: Diane Hansen - What Works Consultants

Phone: 775-400-2840

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Abandoned Homes Project
Vouchers will assist families that have inherited properties with legal, title, and/or exterior violation issues

BEACHWOOD, Ohio, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Abandoned Homes Project (the "Project") has announced the launch of their much-anticipated "Heirs that Care" program. The new program will offer free or low-cost legal assistance to families that have inherited properties but cannot afford to hire a probate attorney or deal with other common, costly issues.

Probate attorneys can easily charge up to $10,000 to correct these issues.

Families that inherit properties often face unexpected legal fees of $10,000.00 or more. A new program called Heirs That Care from the Abandoned Homes Project is looking to help families eliminate some of all of these costs. Even when families have a will to take to probate court, many families learn that hard way that probating a property does not eliminate old mortgage, liens, or delinquent taxes.

The newly-issued vouchers provide similar services to families for free through a network of volunteer attorneys and caseworkers

Selected homeowners will receive their vouchers via Priority Mail beginning April 18, 2022.

The vouchers are good for 30 days after issuance. Homeowners are encouraged to act quickly to redeem their vouchers to avoid losing their benefits.

"Our research shows that 60% of the families who inherit real estate in urban communities are unable to realize a financial gain from the inheritance. Properties are too often riddled with legal issues like old mortgage, delinquent taxes, judgment or Medicaid liens," said attorney Wendy S. Rosett, who served as General Legal Counsel for the Project.

Homeowners can redeem their vouchers by calling 216.766.5705 or by calling their caseworker directly at the number listed under the "Case Information" section on the vouchers.

Vouchers can also be redeemed online at http://www.ahponline.org by clicking on the YELLOW "Start Here" button.

About the Abandoned Homes Project

Since 2015, the Project has invigorated the conversation about changing the way local governments, community development organizations, and residents of urban and rural communities impacted by the abandoned homes crisis can work together to solve this critical social issue.

Media Contact: Diane Hansen - What Works Consultants

Phone: 775-400-2840

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Abandoned Homes Project
LONG BEACH, Calif., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ayal Willner, MD, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as an Outstanding Otolaryngologist, Partner, and Owner in the Medical field and in acknowledgment of his work at Southern California Ear Nose and Throat (SCENT).

Ayal Willner

Ayal Willner, MD, is a Pediatric Otolaryngologist specialist with his own private practice, Southern California Ear Nose and Throat (SCENT). He has been serving the Long Beach, California community, for over 25 years.



He began his college education at Cornell University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. Dr. Willner later received his Medical degree and completed an Otolaryngology residency at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He gained further training at a Pediatric Otolaryngology Fellowship at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. He is board-certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and has been in the medical profession for over 30 years.



Prior to opening SCENT, Dr. Willner worked as an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology and Pediatrics at George Washington University. Currently, Dr. Willner treats children and adults, addressing a wide range of issues and performing complex ear, sinus, and skull surgeries. He and his highly trained staff perform balloon sinuplasty, sleep apnea treatment, tonsillectomy, thyroid cancer surgery, vertigo treatment, and hearing loss treatment.



SCENT has five California locations: Long Beach, Los Alamitos, Torrance, Newport Beach, and Huntington Beach. Dr. Willner is affiliated with Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller's Children's Hospital, Reagan Street Surgery Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center, and Fountain Valley Regional Hospital.



He is a distinguished Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a member of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology, Society of Ear Nose and Throat Advances in Children, Orange County Head and Neck Society. On a personal note, the doctor speaks English and Hebrew.



In his free time, Dr. Willner is a participating surgeon and board member of Mending Kids, which organizes free healthcare for disadvantaged kids across the globe. He has provided his medical expertise and assistance through at least 14 mission trips to Tanzania and Guatemala. Dr. Willner is also involved in global ENT and Interventional Cardiology symposiums.



He has been recognized as a Top Doctor since 2014 by Castle Connolly. The doctor would like to thank his colleagues and entire staff for their professional support.



For more information, visit www.socalearnosethroat.com and www.mendingkids.org.



Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
Dr. C. Bob Basu's Houston plastic surgery practice teams up with Houston Astros to offer exclusive specials at their one-day-only event in Cypress.

CYPRESS, Texas, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The staff of Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery, located in Cypress and Houston, TX, announces an open house event, "For the H," to be held on Thursday, April 21, 2022. The event will take place at the practice's waterfront location in Cypress. Dr. C. Bob Basu will offer his Houston and Cypress patients event-only specials, in addition to the opportunity to meet the Houston Astros' mascot, Orbit.

Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery offers a full range of cosmetic procedures and premium medspa services at two locations in Cypress and Houston, TX. The staff of Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery, located in Cypress and Houston, TX, announces an open house event, "For the H,"

"We are proud to be a part of the Houston and Cypress communities, and our events allow us to get to know our neighbors and patients on a more personal level," explained Dr. Basu. "We are also celebrating our 4 year anniversary at our flagship Cypress location, making this an ideal time to open our doors to the community."

All are invited to RSVP to the special event, which will be held from 4 to 7 pm. The practice will offer attendees special discounts on many of their most popular treatments, including CoolSculpting fat reduction, HydraFacial MD, BOTOX Cosmetic, and medical-grade skincare products. Additionally, the event will feature a "grand slam" surgical deal with the practice's best discount of the year on breast augmentation. Attendees can also take selfies with the Astros' mascot, Orbit, and mingle with Dr. Basu and his team of aesthetic providers while enjoying snacks and drinks. Full event details are available on the practice's website.

Practice Director and board-certified plastic surgeon Dr. Basu is passionate about finding ways to connect with his community and fellow Texans. Dr. Basu recently launched the Basu Plastic Surgery Advancing Care Scholarship for Adult Learners to support and empower adult students in Texas who are interested in pursuing a career in the medical field. Dr. Basu announced the first winner in February of 2022.

"We have always been incredibly grateful for all of the love and support we've gotten from our patients and the community," said Dr. Basu. "Showing our appreciation by giving back is especially important to us."

An established member of the Houston community for over a decade, Dr. Basu has been named one of the Top Docs in Plastic Surgery by HTexas Magazine and was a recipient of a Best of the Best 2021 award by the Houston Chronicle for "Best Mommy Makeover." He specializes in a full range of cosmetic procedures including breast surgery, tummy tucks, and body contouring after weight loss. In addition to plastic surgery, his practice also houses a full-time expert aesthetics team who provide a range of premium med spa services to Houston and Cypress patients, including injectables and medical-grade facials. For more information about events and available services, visit the practice's website or call Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery at (713) 799-2278.

About Dr. Bob Basu: Dr. C. Bob Basu is a nationally-recognized board-certified plastic surgeon. His practice, Basu Aesthetics + Plastic Surgery, has offices in both Cypress and Houston, Texas. The Cypress office is located at 9899 Towne Lake Pkwy Suite 100, Cypress, TX 77433. The Post Oak Uptown Park office in Houston is located at 1700 Post Oak BLVD, Suite 1-280, Houston, Texas 77056. The practice can be reached by phone at (713) 799-2278.

Media Contact: Dr. Bob Basu, www.basuplasticsurgery.com or (713) 799-2278.

SOURCE Dr. Bob Basu
ST. LOUIS, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Centene Corporation's (NYSE: CNC) Board of Directors issued the following statement today:

The Centene Board has accepted the resignation of Leslie V. Norwalk, Esq. as a member of the Board. The Board appreciates Leslie's contribution to the Company and her service.

The Board remains committed to the continued strengthening of the Company's corporate governance practices. Since November 2021, the company has implemented significant governance enhancements, including the appointment of five new Board members, refreshed Chairs of the Nominating and Governance, Audit, and Compensation Committees, the separation of the roles of CEO and Chairman, the appointment of a new lead independent director, and the implementation of a mandatory Board retirement age.

The entire Board is united in its support for the Company's new CEO, Sarah London, and her highly experienced, effective leadership team, all of whom are focused on executing the Company's value creation strategy.

About Centene Corporation

Centene Corporation, a Fortune 25 company, is a leading healthcare enterprise that is committed to helping people live healthier lives. The Company takes a local approach  with local brands and local teams  to provide fully integrated, high-quality, and cost-effective services to government-sponsored and commercial healthcare programs, focusing on under-insured and uninsured individuals. Centene offers affordable and high-quality products to nearly 1 in 15 individuals across the nation, including Medicaid and Medicare members (including Medicare Prescription Drug Plans) as well as individuals and families served by the Health Insurance Marketplace, the TRICARE program, and individuals in correctional facilities. The Company also serves several international markets, and contracts with other healthcare and commercial organizations to provide a variety of specialty services focused on treating the whole person. Centene focuses on long-term growth and value creation as well as the development of its people, systems, and capabilities so that it can better serve its members, providers, local communities, and government partners.

Centene uses its investor relations website to publish important information about the Company, including information that may be deemed material to investors. Financial and other information about Centene is routinely posted and is accessible on Centene's investor relations website, https://investors.centene.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements, other than statements of current or historical fact, contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, forward-looking statements often use words such as "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "seek," "target," "goal," "may," "will," "would," "could," "should," "can," "continue" and other similar words or expressions (and the negative thereof). Centene (the Company, our, or we) intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe-harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and we are including this statement for purposes of complying with these safe-harbor provisions. In particular, these statements include, without limitation, statements about our future operating or financial performance, market opportunity, value creation strategy, competition, expected activities in completed and future acquisitions, including statements about the impact of our recently completed acquisition of Magellan Health (the Magellan Acquisition), other recent and future acquisitions and dispositions, investments and the adequacy of our available cash resources. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on numerous assumptions and assessments made by us in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions, business strategies, operating environments, future developments and other factors we believe appropriate. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are subject to change because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future, including economic, regulatory, competitive and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. All forward-looking statements included in this press release are based on information available to us on the date hereof. Except as may be otherwise required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date hereof. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, as actual results may differ materially from projections, estimates, or other forward-looking statements due to a variety of important factors, variables and events including, but not limited to: our ability to accurately predict and effectively manage health benefits and other operating expenses and reserves, including fluctuations in medical utilization rates due to the impact of COVID-19; the risk that the election of new directors, changes in senior management and inability to retain key personnel may create uncertainty or negatively impact our ability to execute quickly and effectively; uncertainty as to the expected financial performance of the combined company following the recent completion of the Magellan Acquisition; the possibility that the expected synergies and value creation from the Magellan Acquisition or the WellCare Acquisition (or other acquired businesses) will not be realized, or will not be realized within the respective expected time periods; the risk that unexpected costs will be incurred in connection with the integration of the Magellan Acquisition or that the integration of Magellan Health will be more difficult or time consuming than expected, or similar risks from other acquisitions we may announce or complete from time to time; disruption from the integration of the Magellan Acquisition or from the integration of the WellCare Acquisition, or similar risks from other acquisitions we may announce or complete from time to time, including potential adverse reactions or changes to business relationships with customers, employees, suppliers or regulators, making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships; a downgrade of the credit rating of our indebtedness; competition; membership and revenue declines or unexpected trends; changes in healthcare practices, new technologies, and advances in medicine; increased healthcare costs; changes in economic, political or market conditions; changes in federal or state laws or regulations, including changes with respect to income tax reform or government healthcare programs as well as changes with respect to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act (collectively referred to as the ACA) and any regulations enacted thereunder that may result from changing political conditions, the new administration or judicial actions; rate cuts or other payment reductions or delays by governmental payors and other risks and uncertainties affecting our government businesses; our ability to adequately price products; tax matters; disasters or major epidemics; changes in expected contract start dates; provider, state, federal, foreign and other contract changes and timing of regulatory approval of contracts; the expiration, suspension, or termination of our contracts with federal or state governments (including, but not limited to, Medicaid, Medicare, TRICARE or other customers); the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of legal or regulatory proceedings or matters, including, but not limited to, our ability to resolve claims and/or allegations made by states with regard to past practices, including at Envolve Pharmacy Solutions, Inc. (Envolve), as our pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) subsidiary, within the reserve estimate we have recorded and on other acceptable terms, or at all, or whether additional claims, reviews or investigations relating to our PBM business will be brought by states, the federal government or shareholder litigants, or government investigations; timing and extent of benefits from strategic value creation initiatives, including the possibility that these initiatives will not be successful, or will not be realized within the expected time periods; challenges to our contract awards; cyber-attacks or other privacy or data security incidents; the exertion of management's time and our resources, and other expenses incurred and business changes required in connection with complying with the undertakings in connection with any regulatory, governmental or third party consents or approvals for acquisitions; changes in expected closing dates, estimated purchase price and accretion for acquisitions; the risk that acquired businesses will not be integrated successfully; restrictions and limitations in connection with our indebtedness; our ability to maintain or achieve improvement in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Star ratings and maintain or achieve improvement in other quality scores in each case that can impact revenue and future growth; availability of debt and equity financing, on terms that are favorable to us; inflation; foreign currency fluctuations and risks and uncertainties discussed in the reports that Centene has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This list of important factors is not intended to be exhaustive. We discuss certain of these matters more fully, as well as certain other factors that may affect our business operations, financial condition and results of operations, in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. Due to these important factors and risks, we cannot give assurances with respect to our future performance, including without limitation our ability to maintain adequate premium levels or our ability to control our future medical and selling, general and administrative costs.

SOURCE Centene Corporation
In Partnership with World Business Chicago, CoinFlip will Participate in Events for University Students

CHICAGO, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CoinFlip , a leading financial services platform focused on the digital economy, announces today its presenting sponsorship of ThinkChicago, a national STEM talent attraction & retention program led by World Business Chicago. Through this sponsorship, CoinFlip will support, present, and organize various ThinkChicago events to connect with university students and educate them about the opportunities within the fintech industry. The partnership further enhances CoinFlip's commitment to giving back and serving its hometown base of operations in Chicago.

Led by the Innovation & Venture Strategy Team of World Business Chicago, ThinkChicago connects talent with local innovative companies. ThinkChicago is committed to support university students' exploration around career-building opportunities and engage with Chicago technology companies who are hiring during these challenging times. CoinFlip Founder and Chairman, Daniel Polotsky, recently spoke at ThinkChicago's TechTalk, an exclusive event to discuss Chicago's dynamic tech ecosystem.

"We're extremely proud to have grown our business in Chicago and be at the epicenter of the technology revolution that is happening in our city. From ideating in our dorm room and bootstrapping our business in a completely new industry, we fully understand the challenges of turning an idea into a thriving organization," said Polotsky. "The opportunities that Chicago presents to young new talent are endless and helping our community is one of the core values and principles of CoinFlip."

Throughout the year, CoinFlip will participate in various events for recruitment and education, hosted by World Business Chicago and ThinkChicago. "We are thrilled to welcome CoinFlip as presenting sponsor of ThinkChicago 2022," said Michael Fassnacht, President and CEO, World Business Chicago, Chief Marketing Officer, City of Chicago. "CoinFlip, a fast-growing company, is a great example how Chicago's startup, tech and innovation ecosystem is driving accelerated and disruptive growth and expansion in business. With CoinFlip's support of ThinkChicago 2022, meaningful connections among participating students and top tech leaders, entrepreneurs, startups, jobs and opportunity are certain."

Named the No. 1 fastest-growing company in Chicago by Crain's Chicago Business, CoinFlip had a five-year growth rate of 1,715,091.9% and revenue of $50 million in 2020 and nearly $100 million in 2021. The company was also ranked No. 60 on the Inc. 5000, the highest-ranking crypto company included on the list. Since inception, the company has expanded to over 3,500 ATMs across 49 states, taking its place on the frontline of a financial revolution where cryptocurrency and blockchain technology can empower investors across the country.

For more information about CoinFlip, please visit www.CoinFlip.tech and join the conversation on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and LinkedIn .

About CoinFlip:

CoinFlip is a leading financial services platform focused on the digital economy. The company operates the world's largest network of cryptocurrency kiosks by transaction volume with over 3,500 machines across 49 states supporting the buying and selling of major cryptocurrencies with cash. In 2020, CoinFlip launched Trade Desk, an over-the-counter trading service that provides investors a personal account manager and competitive coin pricing. The company does not charge hidden fees, cuts typical transaction fees by as much as half, and provides 24/7 customer support.

CoinFlip was founded in 2015 by Daniel Polotsky, Kristoffer Dayrit, Alan Gurevich, and Benjamin Weiss. Headquartered in Chicago, CoinFlip placed 60th on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list as the top-ranked cryptocurrency company, was named the 2021 #1 fastest-growing company in Chicago by Crain's and was awarded the 2021 Silver Stevie  Award for Customer Service. For more information about CoinFlip, please visit www.CoinFlip.tech .

About World Business Chicago (WBC):

World Business Chicago is a public-private, non-profit partnership that drives inclusive economic growth and job creation, supports business, and promotes Chicago as a leading global city. Supported by a council of 250+ local leaders, WBC's Innovation & Venture portfolio of programs drive inclusive growth and opportunity for the city's tech economy and innovation ecosystem. Flagship programs include ThinkChicago, the Chicago Venture Summit, Startup Chicago, and Venture Engine with the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC).

SOURCE CoinFlip
Recovery from negative impacts of pandemic set to propel demand gains in 2022

CLEVELAND, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- US plastic foam demand is forecast to see 2.1% annual growth in volume terms through 2026, according to Plastic Foams: United States, a report recently released by Freedonia Focus Reports. Suppliers are projected to benefit from expanding production of plastic packaging, building products, mattresses, and motor vehicles. Faster gains will be prevented by efforts to reduce or eliminate the use of plastic foams due to environmental considerations.

Demand is projected to increase 3.3% in 2022 as the economy continues to rebound from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, up from 2.4% growth in 2021. Construction expenditures in real terms fell 2.3% in 2021, but are projected to expand 1.2% in 2022, helping boost demand in one of the largest markets for plastic foams. In addition, production of motor vehicles  another major market  is forecast to grow 9.0% in 2022, up from 4.2% in 2021.

These and other key insights are featured in Plastic Foams: United States. This report forecasts to 2022 and 2026 US plastic foam demand in pounds. Total demand is segmented by plastic foam type in terms of:

polyurethane foam

polystyrene foam

other plastic foams such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene, and vinyl

Total demand is also segmented by market as follows:

packaging

construction

appliances and furniture

motor vehicles

other markets such as industrial; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC); transport equipment other than motor vehicles; and electrical and electronic products

To illustrate historical trends, total demand and the various segments are provided in annual series from 2011 to 2021.

More information about the report is available at:

https://www.freedoniafocusreports.com/Plastic-Foams-United-States-FF55013/?progid=91541

About Freedonia Focus Reports

Each month, The Freedonia Group  a division of MarketResearch.com  publishes over 20 new or updated Freedonia Focus Reports, providing fresh, unbiased analysis on a wide variety of markets and industries. Published in 20-30 pages, Focus Report coverage ranges from raw materials to finished manufactured goods and related services such as freight and construction. Additional Materials & Chemicals reports can be purchased at Freedonia Focus Reports or MarketResearch.com.

Analysis is intended to guide the busy reader through pertinent topics in rapid succession, including:

total historical market size and industry output

segmentation by products and markets

identification of market drivers, constraints, and key indicators

segment-by-segment outlook in five-year forecasts

a survey of the supply base

suggested resources for further study

Press Contact:

Corinne Gangloff

+1 440.842.2400

[email protected]

SOURCE The Freedonia Group
CHICAGO, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This is bad news for Illinois consumers who are coming off the most expensive winter heating season in more than decade, and it's why we're working to build a more consumer-friendly rate-setting system in Illinois. CUB will review ComEd's rate-hike request and fight every dollar that can't be justified.

The "formula rate" system, at the heart of ComEd's corruption scandal, has led to hundreds of millions of dollars in rate hikes over the years. But thanks to the Climate & Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), CUB and other consumer advocates are working to build a system that gives the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) more authority and maximizes consumer benefits. CEJA also supports a process before the ICC to investigate a ComEd refund in connection with the company's scandal. CUB calls on ComEd to do the right thing and give its customers a fair refundmuch more than the $21 million it has proposed.

BACKGROUND

On Friday, April 15 , ComEd announced it was requesting that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) increase the utility's delivery rates by $199 million . The ICC will rule on the case in December.

, ComEd announced it was requesting that the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) increase the utility's delivery rates by . The ICC will rule on the case in December. This rate hike is reportedly the largest by ComEd in eight years, and it would increase the average residential customer's monthly bill by about $2.20 beginning Jan. 1 , 2023.

beginning , 2023. The increase affects delivery chargeswhat all customers pay to have the electricity delivered to their homes. Those charges take up about a third to a half of the bill.

This is the last time delivery rates will be set according to the state's 2011 "Energy Infrastructure and Modernization Act," or the "smart-grid bill." That law uses a formula to determine ComEd rates annually to cover electric system upgrades.

CUB did not support the smart-grid legislation, citing too few consumer protections. In 2021, the group helped pass the Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA. The new Illinois law aims to replace formula rates with a system that gives the ICC more authority and puts more emphasis on customer priorities like affordability and reliability.

law aims to replace formula rates with a system that gives the ICC more authority and puts more emphasis on customer priorities like affordability and reliability. CEJA also called for a state regulatory investigation into ComEd giving consumers a refund in connection with the company's corruption scandal. CUB has fought for a refund on multiple fronts, including before the ICC, where the watchdog is pushing for ComEd to give its customers a refund that is more than double the $21 million the company has proposed.

CUB is Illinois' leading nonprofit utility watchdog. Created by the Illinois Legislature, CUB opened its doors in 1984 to represent the interests of residential and small-business utility customers. Since then, it has saved consumers more than $20 billion by helping block rate hikes, secure refunds and fight for clean, low-cost energy. For more information, call CUB's Consumer Hotline, 1-800-669-5556, or visit its website, www.CitizensUtilityBoard.org.

SOURCE Citizens Utility Board
XI'AN, China, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ENTREPRENEUR UNIVERSE BRIGHT GROUP ("EUBG" or the "Company") (OTCBB: EUBG), a digital marketing consulting company, today announced its audited financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

Mr. Guolin Tao, CEO of Entrepreneur Universe Bright Group commented, "A new Delta variant of COVID-19 had been found in certain cities in China in the second quarter of 2021, which may cause another outbreak, thus increasing risks and possible further disruption to businesses. Therefore, certain of our consulting services were suspended from April 2021 to August 2021. We have resumed these consulting businesses from August 2021 in order to maintain diversified services for our customers."

"As of December 31, 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be dynamic, and near-term challenges across the economy remain. Although vaccines are now being distributed and administered across many parts of the world, new variants of the virus have emerged and may continue to emerge that have shown to be more contagious. We continue to adhere to applicable governmental and commercial restrictions and to work to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on our employees, customers, communities, liquidity and financial position. The extent to which the COVID-19 outbreak may impact the company's business, operations and financial results from this point forward will depend on numerous evolving factors that the company cannot accurately predict. Those factors include the following: the duration and scope of the pandemic; governmental, business and individuals' actions in response to the pandemic in the future; and any other further development of the COVID-19 outbreak," Mr. Tao added.

2021 Financial Results:





2021



2020

Revenue

$ 5,637,396



$ 9,187,023

Cost of revenue



(1,827,082)





(661,462)

Gross profit



3,810,314





8,525,561

Selling expenses



(253,958)





(188,900)

General and administrative expenses



(1,668,432)





(935,302)

Total other income, net



187,392





71,556

Income before income tax



2,075,316





7,472,915

Income tax expense



(988,916)





(2,504,845)

Net income

$ 1,086,400



$ 4,968,070



Revenue and cost of revenue: During the year ended December 31, 2021, we generated revenue of $5,637,396 compared to $9,187,023 for the year ended December 31, 2020, representing a decrease of $3,549,627 or 38.6% as compared with the prior year. The decrease in revenue was due to the Delta virus in China increased the inherent risk of the business and the realignment of our resources to focus on our KOL Training Related Services business, which resulted in the suspension of certain consulting services from April, 2021 to August, 2021 to maintain diversified services for our customers.

Cost of revenue was $1,827,082 for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $661,462 for year ended December 31, 2020. The cost of revenue for the year ended December 31, 2021 increased because we started the digital training related services during the year and incurred agency fees of $579,959 and direct operation costs of $391,125 for the services. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the cost of revenue mainly represented the staff costs for our consulting services.

Selling expenses: During the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred $253,958 selling expenses compared to $188,900 for the year ended December 31, 2020, representing an increase of $65,058 or 34.4% as compared with the prior year. The increase of selling expenses was mainly due to more staff costs incurred in marketing our KOL Training Related Services for the year ended December 31, 2021.

General and administrative expenses: During the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred $1,668,432 general and administrative expenses compared to $935,302 for the year ended December 31, 2020, representing an increase of $733,130 or 78.4% as compared with the prior year. Our general and administrative expenses consisted mainly of audit fees, professional fees, payroll expenses and consultancy fees.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred audit fees, professional fees and consultancy fees of $346,664, $270,400 and $226,807, respectively, to assist us in complying with the relevant reporting requirements. For the year ended December 31, 2020, we incurred audit fees, professional fees and consultancy fees of $204,942, $100,808 and $77,176, respectively because we engaged our new company lawyer and consultants during the year.

In addition, we incurred social insurance of $124,386 for the year ended December 31, 2021. There was only $4,911 incurred for the year ended December 31, 2020 because the PRC government waived employer obligations on social security contributions for a specified period of time to ease the burden of enterprises arising from COVID-19 in 2020 and our PRC subsidiary failed to deposit adequate contributions to the housing funds for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Total other income, net: During the year ended December 31, 2021, we generated net other income of $187,392 compared to $71,556 for the year ended December 31, 2020, representing an increase of $115,836 or 161.9% as compared with the prior year. Our other income mainly consisted of bank interest income, exchange rate differences and certain sundry incomes.

Income tax expense: During the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred income tax expense of $988,916 compared to $2,504,845 for the year ended December 31, 2020, representing a decrease of $1,515,929 or 60.5% as compared with the prior year. The income tax expense consisted of income taxes charged in China and Hong Kong.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, our income tax expenses comprised of current tax and deferred tax expenses of $767,877 and $221,039, respectively, compared to $1,952,840 and $552,005 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease of the current tax and deferred tax was mainly resulted from a lower profit caused by the realignment of our resources to focus on our KOL Training Related Services business.

Net income: As a result of the above, we generated a net income of $1,086,400 and $4,968,070 for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Cash and cash equivalents: As of December 31, 2021, the company had cash and cash equivalents of $7,649,129 compared to $3,846,470 as of December 31, 2020.

About ENTREPRENEUR UNIVERSE BRIGHT GROUP

ENTREPRENEUR UNIVERSE BRIGHT GROUP is a digital marketing consultation company with its main operation in China, providing marketing consulting services to Chinese start-up companies. The company provides consulting services, sourcing and marketing services, KOL training coordination business and KOL training services in China through its PRC subsidiary with support from its HK subsidiary. Its PRC subsidiary provides services aimed at connecting businesses with e-commerce platforms. The integrated service platform focuses on strategic marketing and consulting. The company's mission is to help start-up companies and small-size companies and guide these companies' founders in utilizing the company's digital marketing consulting plan to reach their business goals. For more information about the Company, please visit: http://www.eubggroup.com/ .

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements that are other than statements of historical facts. When the Company uses words such as "may, "will, "intend," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate" or similar expressions that do not relate solely to historical matters, it is making forward-looking statements. Specifically, the Company's statements regarding trading on the OTC Pink market and closing the initial public offering are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations discussed in the forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, the following: the Company's goals and strategies; the Company's future business development; financial condition and results of operations; product and service demand and acceptance; reputation and brand; the impact of competition and pricing; changes in technology; government regulations; fluctuations in general economic and business conditions in China and assumptions underlying or related to any of the foregoing and other risks contained in reports filed by the Company with the SEC. For these reasons, among others, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional factors are discussed in the Company's filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forwardlooking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof.

For more information, please contact:

The Company:

Jianyong Li

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +86-(029) 86100263

Investor Relations:

Janice Wang

EverGreen Consulting Inc.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1-908-510-2351 (from U.S.)

+86 13811768559 (from China)

ENTREPRENEUR UNIVERSE BRIGHT GROUP

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND 2020

(In U.S. dollars except for number of shares)









2021



2020

ASSETS











CURRENT ASSETS











Cash and cash equivalents

$ 7,649,129



$ 3,846,470

Debt products



-





3,058,041

Accounts receivable



67,940





202,183

Other receivables and prepayments



55,925





50,306

Loan to a related company



-





186,796

Total current assets



7,772,994





7,343,796



















NON-CURRENT ASSETS















Plant and equipment, net



281,448





355,609

Operating lease right-of-use assets, net



146,698





25,615

Total non-current assets



428,146





381,224



















TOTAL ASSETS

$ 8,201,140



$ 7,725,020



















LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY















CURRENT LIABILITIES















Accounts payable

$ 115,833



$ -

Other payables and accrued liabilities



402,158





618,508

Contract liabilities



216,142





-

Receipt in advance



5,161





50,369

Operating lease liabilities, current



59,370





29,933

Tax payables



39,545





595,338

Amount due to a shareholder



-





53,000

Amount due to a director



171,443





51,309

Borrowings



-





128,996

Total current liabilities



1,009,652





1,527,453



















NON-CURRENT LIABILITY















Deferred tax liabilities



342,546





626,546

Operating lease liabilities, non-current



87,328





-

Total non-current liabilities



429,874





626,546



















TOTAL LIABILITIES



1,439,526





2,153,999



















COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

































STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY















Preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share, 1,100,000 shares authorized, Nil (December 31, 2020:

Nil) shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2021



-





-

Common stock, par value $0.0001 per share; 1,800,000,000 shares authorized, 1,701,181,423

(December 31, 2020: 1,701,181,423) shares issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2021



170,118





170,118

Additional paid-in capital



6,453,048





6,453,048

Statutory reserves



65,911





65,911

Accumulated deficit



(357,403)





(1,443,803)

Accumulated other comprehensive income



429,940





325,747

Total stockholders' equity



6,761,614





5,571,021

TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

$ 8,201,140



$ 7,725,020



ENTREPRENEUR UNIVERSE BRIGHT GROUP

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND 2020

(In U.S. dollars except for number of shares)









2021



2020

Revenue

$ 5,637,396



$ 9,187,023

Cost of revenue



(1,827,082)





(661,462)

Gross profit



3,810,314





8,525,561

Selling expenses



(253,958)





(188,900)

General and administrative expenses



(1,668,432)





(935,302)

Profit from operations



1,887,924





7,401,359

Other income (expenses):















Interest income



76,952





36,721

Exchange loss



(476)





(813)

Sundry income



110,916





35,648

Total other income, net



187,392





71,556

Income before income tax



2,075,316





7,472,915

Income tax expense



(988,916)





(2,504,845)

Net income

$ 1,086,400



$ 4,968,070

Other comprehensive income















Foreign currency translation adjustment



104,193





329,795

Total comprehensive income

$ 1,190,593



$ 5,297,865



















Net income per share - Basic and diluted

$ 0.00 *

$ 0.00 * Weighted average number of common shares outstanding















- Basic and Diluted



1,701,181,423





1,701,181,423





* Less than $0.01 per share

ENTREPRENEUR UNIVERSE BRIGHT GROUP

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND 2020

(In U.S. dollars)









2021



2020

Cash flows from operating activities











Net income

$ 1,086,400



$ 4,968,070

Adjustments to reconcile net income to cash used in operating activities:















Depreciation



83,212





32,059

Amortization of operating lease right-of-use assets



39,367





31,350

Deferred tax



(293,366)





552,005

Changes in operating assets and liabilities:















Other receivables and prepayments



(5,186)





(27,577)

Accounts receivable



137,165





(28,585)

Amount due from a related company



-





235,930

Amount due to a shareholder



(53,000)





53,000

Accounts payable



115,561





(57,954)

Other payables and accrued liabilities



(220,493)





395,583

Tax payables



(563,979)





415,984

Contract liabilities



215,636





(87,490)

Receipt in advance



(45,909)





29,104

Operating lease liabilities



(43,745)





(27,259)

Net cash generated from operating activities



451,663





6,484,220



















Cash flows from investing activities















Purchase of property, plant and equipment



-





(369,021)

Acquisition of debt products



(2,789,855)





(2,897,689)

Redemption of debt products



5,889,695





-

Loan to a related company



(123,994)





(147,912)

Repayment from a related company



313,343





-

Net cash generated from (used in) investing activities



3,289,189





(3,414,622)



















Cash flows from financing activities















Proceed from borrowings



-





128,927

Repayment of borrowings



(128,656)





-

Advance from a director



121,090





41,271

Net cash (used in) generated from financing activities



(7,566)





170,198



















Effect of exchange rates on cash



69,373





206,796



















Net increase in cash and cash equivalents



3,802,659





3,446,592

Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year



3,846,470





399,878

Cash and cash equivalents at end of year

$ 7,649,129



$ 3,846,470



















Supplemental cash flow information















Cash paid during the year for:















Income taxes

$ 1,326,242



$ 1,536,857

Withholding tax paid

$ 518,702



$ -

Non-cash financing activities Operating lease assets obtained in exchange for operating lease

obligations

$ 171,419



$ 55,622



SOURCE Entrepreneur Universe Bright Group
The People's Liberation Army organized interservice combat exercises near Taiwan on Friday in response to recent provocations by the United States with regards to the Taiwan question, according to a military spokesman.

Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesman for the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement that the command sent ships, fighter jets, bomber aircraft and other forces on combat patrols and assault exercises on Friday in the air and waters of the East China Sea and near the island.

"This operation was arranged in response to the frequent wrong signals from the US on the Taiwan question in recent days," he said. "Such malicious acts and attempts are useless and dangerous. Whoever plays with fire will eventually get burned."

Shi said his command is always ready to protect national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability.

The exercises came amid an ongoing visit to Taiwan by six lawmakers from both chambers of the US Congress.

The congressional delegation  led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican serving as a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee  arrived in Taiwan on Thursday on an unannounced trip with a tight schedule that includes a meeting with Taiwan leader, Tsai Ing-wen.

Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, said on Friday that US lawmakers had made their provocative visit to Taiwan despite China's strong opposition.

He stressed that the move has gravely violated the one-China policy and the three Sino-US Joint Communiques, seriously damaged the political foundations of bilateral relations, and resulted in further escalation in the Taiwan Straits.

"The US keeps sending the wrong messages to Taiwan secessionist forces while continuing to reiterate its commitment that it doesn't support Taiwan independence. This is exceptionally hypocritical and perfidious," Wu said, adding that China has lodged solemn representations with the US.

The spokesman said China will never tolerate foreign interference in the Taiwan question. The exercises carried out by the PLA Eastern Theater Command were a necessary countermeasure to protect national sovereignty in accordance with the current security situation in the Taiwan Straits, he noted.
Eviation's all-electric Alice aircraft can accommodate nine passengers and two crew. Cape Air flies more than 400 regional flights a day to nearly 40 cities in the Northeast, Midwest, Montana and the Caribbean. Deploying a fleet of all-electric Alice aircraft will significantly reduce carbon emissions, as well as maintenance and operational costs for the airline, and provide a smoother and quieter flight experience for passengers.

"Truly sustainable aviation not only reduces the impact of air travel on the environment but also makes business sense," said Jessica Pruss, Vice President of Sales at Eviation. "We are proud to support Cape Air, a recognized leader in regional air travel, to chart a new path in delivering innovative solutions that benefit airline operators, passengers, communities and society."

"Cape Air remains committed to sustainability, growth, and innovation, and our partnership with Eviation allows for these commitments to become a reality," said Cape Air President and CEO Linda Markham. "Our customers will be at the forefront of aviation history and our communities will benefit from emission-free travel."

The Eviation Alice is the world's leading fully electric aircraft, designed to fly 440 nautical miles on a single charge and has maximum cruise speed of 250 knots. Alice will operate in all environments currently serviced by piston and turbine aircraft. The advanced electric motors have fewer moving parts to increase reliability and reduce maintenance costs. Alice's operating software constantly monitors flight performance to ensure optimal efficiency.

"Cape Air has always maintained a deep commitment to social responsibility. As an early supporter of all-electric air travel, we are dedicated to leading the industry towards a sustainable future," said Cape Air Board Chairman, Dan Wolf. "Together with Eviation, we are creating the next generation of air travel, in which electric flight will be the industry standard."

About Cape Air

Now in its 33rd year, Cape Air is one of the largest commuter airlines in the United States, serving nearly 40 cities in the US and the Caribbean. The employee-owned company, based in Hyannis, Massachusetts, has grown from three flights a day between Provincetown and Boston in 1989 to a fleet of 100 aircraft, with more than 400 flights a day. Cape Air was recognized as "One of the Top Ten Small Airlines in the World" by Conde Nast Traveler.

About Eviation Aircraft

Based in Washington State, Eviation Aircraft Inc. develops and manufactures efficient electric aircraft to deliver a competitive and sustainable solution for the regional mobility of people and goods. Its electric propulsion units, high-energy-density batteries, mission-driven energy management, and innovative airframe are designed from the ground up for electric flight. Please visit us at www.eviation.co .

SOURCE Eviation
While the employment rate is only 11% for women in construction (compared to the national average of 47%) and less than 3% in leadership roles , the gender pay gap is the most attractive in the building industry at 94.3% of what men earn (significantly greater than the 81.5% national average); according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Barry Gittleman; Hamlets President & CEO said, "We're very excited that Tami has been selected to join the Ownership team. It's always been notable that in this industry, there are just not that many women in leadership. We're proud to change that."

John Peterson, who also became an owner said; "I have such respect for Tami. She changed our culture when she came into the company. We now stand for inclusion, hard work and share a strong common vision. She's the glue that brought our culture together."

Tami Ostmark said: "I'm excited about this opportunity and feel like this is my life's work. My history in business has been in positions that society has considered 'a man's role'. I feel like I've had to work harder to prove myself. The majority of people just see men when thinking of home building. Women are typically driving the home buying, design and architecture decisions for their home. It's more important than ever to empower women so they know they can do absolutely anything in this industry."

Nate Kingdon, joining John and Tami in his recent announcement to the ownership team, followed by saying; "Tami is also helping pave the path for future women in the industry to see that these things ARE possible. I'm excited to be a part of that. It's important for women in my life to have those kind of role models to look up to."

Jennie Tanner, President of the PWB (Professional Women in Building) had this to say: "I think that Tami being named to ownership is an ah-ha moment for women that work in construction and don't feel they can move up to a leadership role. I think her becoming an Owner is an amazing opportunity for her to show other women it CAN be done and kudos to Hamlet for seeing her talent."

Motivating and empowering women is important to Hamlet Homes. They have decided to select one hard working woman and support her dreams. Visit https://hamlethomes.com/women and nominate yourself or another woman on the rise to win Hamlet's Women in Construction Grant ; including $2,500 to help them accomplish their goals. The winner will also receive a membership to both the Salt Lake Homebuilders Association (SLHBA) and Professional Women in Building (PWB). These organizations support women with the tools needed to succeed in the building industry.

Tanner continued; "The PWB's goal is diversity and inclusion. Our mission is to educate young women and we are here with open arms to teach and train them, being a mentor to whatever they want to be. We look forward to welcoming and supporting a new member."

So, Hamlet is calling on all strong women with a strong dream. They are looking for the sharpest, determined hard working and frankly, bad ass women. If you know of, or are one of these exceptional women, please visit their website. Nominate yourself or a colleague to win their grant package and take your career to the next level. Promoting women in construction is good for all of us. The implications of a talented and gender balanced team has positive residual benefits that, in the end, benefit anyone purchasing a Hamlet Home. Barry Gittleman said, "Women still drive the majority of home purchasing decisions; their voice is crucial to our creation of the great homes we build."

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.

Nominations should be submitted here:

https://hamlethomes.com/women

Sources:

(BLS) US Bureau of Labor Statistics: https://www.bls.gov/cps/tables.htm

NAHB: https://eyeonhousing.org/2020/09/good-news-for-women-in-construction-employment-rising/

FIXR: https://www.fixr.com/construction-services/women-in-construction

Hamlet Team: https://hamlethomes.com/about/#great-people

PWB: https://www.utahpwb.com

Contact:

Nate Di Palma

[email protected]

435.709.3765

*Additional quotes provided upon request

SOURCE Hamlet Homes
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortis Solutions Group LLC, a leading provider of high impact printed packaging solutions and a portfolio company of funds managed by Harvest Partners, LP is pleased to announce the acquisition of Profecta Labels Inc. based in St-Hubert, Quebec.

Profecta Labels Inc. is a Canadian flexographic and digital manufacturer of labels and flexible packaging printing serving the industrial, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food and beverage end-markets in North America.

Fortis President and CEO John O. Wynne, Jr. commented, "We are excited to extend our footprint to Canada and partner with Pierre Roberge and his talented team to deliver additional solutions and capabilities to our customers. Pierre and I share similar business philosophies and we look forward to working together to build upon Profecta's success."

Profecta owner Pierre Roberge commented, "For the past 30 years we have built an amazing company with an incredible group of people. I am thrilled and look forward to teaming up with John and the Fortis group for this new chapter and continue our growth.''

Employing over 1,100 employees across seventeen manufacturing sites, Fortis intends to continue its pursuit of attractive acquisitions to further the breadth of product offerings and locations which can serve its customer base.

For more information, or to contact a sales representative to learn more about how Fortis can make a difference for you, please call 1-844-FSG-LBLS or visit www.FortisSolutionsGroup.com.

About Fortis Solutions Group

At Fortis Solutions Group, we provide a differentiated approach giving our customers a powerful advantage in the marketplace through industry leading lead times, quality control, color management and solutions-oriented approaches. We deliver a breadth of product offerings utilizing our outstanding flexographic, letterpress, offset and digital printing capabilities. These offerings include pressure sensitive and shrink sleeve labels, multi-ply coupon and flexible packaging printing, extended booklet printing, pouches, folding cartons, label applicators and variable data printing. Headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, the company also has manufacturing and sales offices in Austin, TX, Catoosa, OK, Ellington, CT, Flowery Branch, GA, High Point, NC, Kansas City, MO, Lewisville, TX, Marietta, GA, Memphis, TN, Merced, CA, Montreal, Canada, Napa, CA, Orem, UT, Somersworth, NH, West Chester, OH, Whitefish, MT and Wixom, MI.

About Harvest Partners, LP

Founded in 1981, Harvest Partners, LP is an established New York-based private equity investment firm that focuses on investments in middle-market companies in the business services & industrial services, consumer, healthcare, industrials and software industries. Harvest's control strategy leverages the firm's over 40 years of experience in financing organic and acquisition-oriented growth. For more information, please visit www.harvestpartners.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

For Fortis: Lambert | Caroline Luz (203) 656-2829 | [email protected]

For Profecta: Capital-Image | Alexandre Lainesse (514) 816-4519 | [email protected]

SOURCE Fortis Solutions Group
SAN DIEGO, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Girls Inc. of San Diego County welcomes four new members to its board of directors. These officers will serve as active advocates and ambassadors to advance the organization's mission to inspire all girls to be strong, smart and bold, through programs that address mind+body wellness, academic success and community engagement.

"We are thrilled to welcome these exceptional leaders who will bring a fresh perspective to advance the mission of our organization," said Sandra Ainslie, CEO of Girls Inc. of San Diego County. "Along with the rest of our board, our new members will have a pivotal role, bringing valuable insights to impact the lives of underserved girls throughout San Diego."

Board of Directors



Cinnamon Clark is the Practice Lead for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Services at McLean & Company, where she leads the development of DEI strategy. A fierce advocate for women and people of color, she lends her voice and expertise through service as a Commissioner (Co-Chair) on the City of San Diego Citizen's Equal Opportunity Commission (CEOC), Commissioner on the Human Rights Commission (HRC) for the County of San Diego in addition to a number of advocacy and community. Cinnamon is a 20 year, retired Chief Petty Officer in the United States Navy, where she was an electrician and traveled the world.

Melissa Marin has 25-plus years of experience in the financial services industry, of which she has spent the past 15 years specializing in employer-sponsored retirement plans. Melissa is the director of retirement plan services at MWM Retirement solutions, where she works with corporate and non-profit retirement clients to help provide fiduciary support, analyze plan design, and evaluate investment costs. A native San Diegan, her love for the community has her involved with organizations bringing resources to at risk youth.

Manaleage Tedemet is a product management professional within the technology space. As the founding product management hire, Manaleage works at local San Diego software startup Tiled Inc., a no-code online platform that transforms static content into engaging interactive microapps to drive engagement and deliver insight. She has a history of volunteerism within the San Diego community for non-profits such as Girl's Think Tank and Junior Achievement of San Diego. Currently, Manaleage is the co-chair of Women in Product San Diego, a non-profit dedicated to empowering women in product management and advocating for equal representation.

Lina Yisehak is a Clinical Scientist at Cradle Genomics, a company that is developing clinical tests to advance prenatal care and women's reproductive health. Using her 10+ years research experience, she contributes to the scientific development of studies from the preclinical stage to study completion, and product launch. She manages relationships with key opinion leaders to foster research collaboration and advance healthcare for women. In addition, she is passionate about working with Elderhelp, a San Diego organization that helps seniors remain independent and live with dignity in their own homes.

To learn more and support Girls Inc. of San Diego County, visit www.girlsincsd.org.

About Girls Inc. of San Diego County

Girls Inc. of San Diego County inspires girls to be strong, smart and bold by providing hundreds of girls each year with life-changing support and real solutions to the unique issues girls face. By providing no-cost, research-based programming the organization helps girls in the county overcome gender, economic, and social barriers so they may see college as attainable, resist peer pressure, explore professional fields in STEM. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and take their seat as tomorrow's leaders.

For more than 50 years, the nonprofit organization has supported high-need girls with no-cost programming to help them succeed in life.

Contact:

Sandra Ainslie

619-886-2090

[email protected]

SOURCE Girls Inc. of San Diego County
Materials and Passenger Management Services Procurement report explains key category management objectives that should form the base for sourcing strategy, including:

Top-line growth

Scalability of inputs

Green initiatives

Category innovations

Supply base rationalization

Demand forecasting and governance

Minimalization of ad hoc purchases

Adherence to regulatory nuances

Cost savings

Customer retention

Reduction of TCO

Supply assurance

Sign Up for a Sample Materials and Passenger Management Services Procurement Market Report: www.spendedge.com/report/materials-and-passenger-management-services-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report

This report evaluates suppliers based on provision for applicable insurance policy, real-time analysis, pipeline software solutions, and conduct pipeline surveys. In addition, suppliers are also shortlisted based on business needs, technical specifications, operational requirements, security compliance, regulatory mandates, legal requirements, quality control, change management procedures, pricing models, penalty clauses, SLA nuances, acceptance criteria, and evaluation criteria.

Best Selling Reports:

Asset Recovery Services - Forecast and Analysis: The asset recovery services will grow at a CAGR of 9.49% during 2021-2025. Asia Asset Recovery Pte Ltd., TES-Amm Singapore Pte Ltd., and Iron Mountain Inc. are among the prominent suppliers in asset recovery services market. Click the above link to download the free sample of this report. Vulnerability Management Sourcing and Procurement Report: Vulnerability Management Procurement Market, prices will increase by 4%-6% during the forecast period and suppliers will have a Moderate bargaining power in this market. Click the above link to download the free sample of this report. Celebrity Talent Management Services - Sourcing and Procurement Intelligence Report: This report offers key advisory and intelligence to help buyers identify and shortlist the most suitable suppliers for their celebrity talent management services requirements. Click the above link to download the free sample of this report.

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

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.

Contact

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us

SOURCE SpendEdge
USAA's $2.5 Million Grant Will Enable Local Goodwill Organizations to Assist with Employment Placement, Upskilling, and Developing an Online Job Seeker Platform

ROCKVILLE, Md., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- For more than 20 years, U.S. Army Veteran James Andrew Jackson had a goal of working in the healthcare field. Thanks to Goodwill and USAA, his dream is becoming a reality as he is now on the path to earning his medical assistant certification.

"I can't wait to finish training and to begin working as a medical assistant so I can help people who need help," said Jackson, who lives in Las Vegas, Nev. "I can't thank Goodwill enough for the opportunity."

Jackson is one of more than 500 people who is taking part in Operation Achieve, an initiative funded by USAA to support Black and Hispanic veterans and military spouses, as well as youth and young adult job seekers. At the time of enrollment in the program, job seekers develop an Individual Career and Financial Plan to support their journey to obtain skills, employment and financial stability. The job seeker's plan is unique to their situation and encompasses a variety of areas, including skills training, wrap-around support, and job placement. In addition, some participants will also earn a post-secondary STEM credential in their field of choice.

"Through Operation Achieve, select local Goodwill organizations will provide career-enhancing training, upskilling and reskilling programs, and employment placement services to Black and Hispanic veterans, military families and spouses as they launch their post-service lives," said Steven C. Preston, president and CEO of Goodwill Industries International. "Operation Achieve is yet another example of our commitment to ensuring everyone has the potential to succeed and thrive."

Melissa Boelter, a U.S. Air Force military spouse, is also enrolled in Operation Achieve. Armed with a degree in journalism and another in fashion merchandise, Boelter was looking to switch fields when she was referred to a Goodwill career center. She is gaining healthcare experience through a medical assistant training program with hopes of exploring additional opportunities in the sciences.

"Contributing to a new Goodwill technology framework that supports local Goodwill operations aligns with USAA's commitment to advance employment opportunities and economic mobility," said Justin Schmitt, assistant vice president for corporate responsibility at USAA. "We are grateful to contribute to Operation Achieve as the program expands its focus, targeting underrepresented veterans and military spouses in 10 locations."

Specific Goodwill nonprofit organizations that will be supported with USAA's investment include those headquartered in Austin, TX; Baltimore, MD; Bradenton, FL; Dallas, TX; Las Vegas, NV; New York, NY; Phoenix, AZ; San Antonio, TX; Tyler, TX; and Waco, TX.

ABOUT GOODWILL INDUSTRIES INTERNATIONAL

Goodwill Industries International is a network of 155 community-based, autonomous organizations in the United States and Canada with a presence in 12 other countries. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit that helps people find employment, Goodwill is recognized with GuideStar's highest rating, the Platinum Seal of Approval.

Local Goodwill organizations offer employment opportunities, job placement and training services, and other community-based programs, which are funded by selling donated clothing and household items in nearly 3,300 stores and online at ShopGoodwill.com.

For more information or to find a Goodwill location near you, visit goodwill.org. Follow us on Twitter: @GoodwillIntl and @GoodwillCapHill, and find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube: GoodwillIntl. Register for our Legislative Action Center via advocate.goodwill.org.

SOURCE Goodwill Industries International
GR0 takes the title of the Fastest-Growing SEO Agency in the nation, with a growth rate of over 300%

LOS ANGELES, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- GR0 , a leading SEO agency based in Los Angeles, announced today that it has been named #6 on Clutch's Top 100 Fastest-Growing B2B Providers . The 100 fastest-growing companies rank is based on the absolute revenue growth rate from 2020 to 2021.

GR0 earned the #6 spot on the Top 100 list, with a staggering growth rate of 301.72%. GR0 also took the top spot amongst other SEO agencies, officially cementing the title of fastest-growing SEO agency in the nation.

"We at GR0 are extremely proud of this global recognition and it is a testament of our team's hard work and dedication to our clients," said co-founder and CEO Kevin Miller . "We feel very lucky and honored to be named the fastest-growing SEO agency in the United States. Knowing our team, we are optimistic to be on this list in the years to come. "

Clutch is a B2B review and rating platform that highlights top firms from different industries worldwide. Every year, agencies that are top-rated on the platform and that have exhibited a significant rise in revenue are listed and ranked in the Clutch 100 for Fastest Growth. The service providers on this list are headquartered in the United States, Canada, Ukraine, the UK, Singapore, and other countries across the globe. Among these, the leaders are skilled in a variety of services including SEO, web development, public relations, call center services, and more.

"The Clutch 100 growth lists are meant to highlight the top service providers based on their growth during a challenging period," said Clutch Customer Success Manager Aaron Morales. "The leaders are recognized because of their ability to work through adversity, willingness to participate, and commitment to their clients."

The leading LA-based agency helps brands rank #1 on Google by leveraging search engine optimization and search engine marketing. For more information about GR0 and to read reviews related to client and employee feedback, please visit Comparably , Glassdoor , Clutch or Crunchbase .

About GR0:

GR0's co-founders, Jon Zacharias and Kevin Miller , sought to create a digital marketing agency powered by their wealth of SEO, online marketing, and strategic advisory experience with top D2C and B2B brands. At GR0, our mission is to help brands rank #1 on Google. We accomplish this by empowering clients to build powerful online brands with audiences they fully own through relentlessly innovating and igniting organic growth. While SEO remains the top service for most customers, GR0 offers additional solutions that can be tailored to the individual needs of each client. GR0's mission is to demystify online marketing for brands, allowing them to realize their full potential and deliver unmatched value to every customer.

For business or media inquiries, please reach out to [email protected]

About Clutch:

Clutch ( https://clutch.co/ ) is a global platform whose seasoned analysts verify and organize client reviews for B2B firms. Each year, Clutch announces the best and brightest service providers that meet their meticulous evaluation-based methodology. At the backbone of Clutch's research is the client perspective, which Clutch infers through intensive client interviews.

Media Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE GR0.com LLC
HOUSTON, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 13, 2022, a Harris County jury awarded nearly $200,000.00 in damages to Gray Reed's client, 3-J Ryan, Inc. (3-J Ryan), from the defendant Allied Fitting, L.P. (Allied). The jury determined Allied failed to supply 3-J Ryan with piping material sourced from an approved "country of origin" as promised. As a result, the jury concluded Allied breached several warranties under the Uniform Commercial Code, including breach of an express warranty, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability, and breach of the implied warranty of fitness for particular purpose.

3-J Ryan is a Houston-based fabrication and construction company. In 2018, 3-J Ryan was awarded a contract to perform pipe fabrication work at Formosa Plastic's facility in Point Comfort, Texas. Formosa required the pipe used on the project originate from certain approved "countries of origin." Allied agreed to supply the pipe directly to 3-J Ryan pursuant to Formosa's specifications. Towards the end of the project, Allied supplied 3-J Ryan with non-conforming pipe. Consequently, 3-J Ryan incurred damages to re-do its work and replace the non-conforming pipe with conforming pipe. Allied refused to pay 3-J Ryan any costs associated with the remediation work.

At trial, 3-J Ryan argued it relied on Allied to send pipe from approved countries of origin per the specifications Allied received. Allied argued 3-J Ryan should have discovered Allied's own mistake, and contended 3-J Ryan's damages were the result of 3-J Ryan's "stupidity." The jury disagreed, awarding 3-J Ryan damages and finding Allied breached express and implied warranties for its failure to supply conforming pipe. Several 3-J Ryan employees and representatives testified at trial. Allied's corporate representative (Troy Gorrell) was present at trial, but did not take the stand.

3-J Ryan was represented by Gray Reed attorneys Andy Landry, Tyler McGuire, and Julia Edwards. Allied was represented by Mark Levine and Megan Brannigan of Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber, P.C.

About Gray Reed

A full-service Texas law firm with offices in Dallas, Houston and Waco, Gray Reed provides legal services to companies ranging from start-up to Fortune 100 as well as high net worth individuals. Gray Reed attorneys assist clients with a myriad of legal issues including commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, private equity, oil and gas, tax planning and litigation, real estate, construction, healthcare, trusts and estates, employment law, family law, intellectual property and bankruptcy. For more information, visit www.grayreed.com

SOURCE Gray Reed
TOKYO, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hitachi LG Data Storage (HLDS) announced on April 15th that it received an iF Design Award 2022 (International Forum Design Award 2022) for 'Safe Pass Plus', its facial recognition smart signage system that ensures convenient customer management.

HLDS's Safe Pass Plus boasts a 29-inch vertical screen and a simplified layout in a pure white color that goes well with every decor. Impressively, it can be used on either the floor or table to suit each customer's needs.
Key Highlights Offered in the Report:

Information on how to identify strategic and tactical negotiation levels that will help achieve the best prices.

Gain information on relevant pricing levels, detailed explanation on pros and cons of prevalent pricing models.

Methods to help engage with the right suppliers and discover KPI's to evaluate incumbent suppliers.

Get a free sample report for more information

Insights Into Supplier Selection and Evaluation:

Profile and service capabilities of the service provider, industry specialization of the service providers, reputation of service providers, and assessment of value-added services are some of the most critical parameters that buyers use to shortlist the suppliers in L-theanine.

This report evaluates suppliers based on quality and purity test of product samples, production capacity, certifications and accreditations, and geographical presence. In addition, suppliers are also shortlisted based on business needs, technical specifications, operational requirements, security compliance, regulatory mandates, working environment, quality control, sla nuances, acceptance criteria, legal requirements, change management procedures, pricing models, and penalty clauses.

For More Insights on Buyer Strategies and Tactical Negotiation Levers: www.spendedge.com/report/l-theanine-sourcing-and-procurement-intelligence-report

Key Drivers and Trends Fueling Market Growth:

The pressure from substitutes and a moderate level of threat from new entrants has resulted in the low bargaining power of suppliers.

Price forecasts are beneficial in purchase planning, especially when supplemented by the constant monitoring of price influencing factors. During the forecast period, the market expects a change of 4%-6%.

Identify favorable opportunities in L-theanine 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.

Some of the Top L-theanine Market Suppliers Listed in This Report:

This L-theanine procurement intelligence report has enlisted the top suppliers and their cost structures, SLA terms, best selection criteria, and negotiation strategies.

Merck KGaA

Tokyo Chemical Industry

Hunan NutraMax

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.

Contact

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us

SOURCE SpendEdge
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- LEILA is a celebration of Latinas for whom hard work has led them to succeed in business.

We're honored to announce that the following Public Policy leaders will be in attendance: Eloise Gomez Reyes, Assembly member for California's 47th Assembly District, and Constituent Representative of Pete Aguilar, Congressional 31st District.

In 2022, LEILA nominees are recognized in 3 categories: Latina Executive Of The Year, Latina Owned Emerging Business Of The Year, and Latina Owned Business Of The Year. We are excited to honor 14 Latina business Women in the Inland Empire based on their outstanding successes, extraordinary accomplishments, and influence on Latina leaders in business, leadership, education, and advocacy.

Honoring NLBWA-IE Corporate Advisor, Rossina Gallegos, Director and CSRA Officer Corporate Social Responsibility for the Americas of MUFG Union Bank, N.A with the 2022 LEILA Chairman's Excellence Award.

Honorees will be announced at the annual awards gala held on May 6th, 2022, 6-11PM at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Ontario Airport.

This year's LEILA nominees:

At this event, NLBWA-IE will share with the attendees the valuable insights learned from their latest research study: Impacts of Covid-19 on Latina Businesses in Inland Southern California.

The nominees undergo a rigorous selection process, based on accomplishments as well as contributions to their communities through civic organizations, educational institutions, professional associations, and volunteer work.

NLBWA-IE has been honoring Latinas since 2015. The annual event brings together over 250 guests and our nominees are recognized for their contributions to business community at an elegant black-tie awards gala open to the public.

Join us in celebrating the 2022 Latinas who are starlights pioneering our future. This year's event promises to be enlightening, inspirational, fun, and memorable!

Contact:

NLBWA-IE

[email protected]

SOURCE National Latina Business Women Association Inland Empire Institute
With $10 Million Commitment, Direct Relief and Pelion S.A. Will Cover Costs of Medicines at Pharmacies Across Poland

WARSAW, Poland, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Direct Relief and Pelion S.A. today announced Health 4 Ukraine, a direct cash assistance initiative enabling Ukrainian refugees in Poland to obtain prescription medicine at no cost at all pharmacies across the country.

Direct Relief has delivered more than 200 tons of medical aid since the war in Ukraine broke out in February 2022. Direct Relief and Pelion S.A. are launching a direct assistance program to ensure Ukrainian refugees can access medications needed to maintain their health. (Credit: Oscar B. Castillo for Direct Relief)

Leveraging Poland's existing pharmaceutical distribution and payment systems to reach Ukrainian refugees across Poland quickly and efficiently, the program offers electronic credit to cover 100% of prescription co-payments and 85% of non-prescription drug costs. Enrollment in the program is free and begins next week. Information about the program is available at www.Health4Ukraine.com.

The program is seeded with $10 million from the humanitarian nonprofit Direct Relief.

Pelion S.A., Poland's largest healthcare sector business, will deliver payments to pharmacies through its electronic payments company epruf. Pelion is also donating $1 million in free medical consultations with Ukrainian-speaking doctors through its telemedicine service Dimedic.

Direct Relief and Pelion hope to expand the initiative to cover 400,000 refugees, including 100,000 elderly persons and 300,000 women and children. This expansion, requiring additional donor funding, would cover almost half of the over 880,000 Ukrainian citizens who have registered for a Polish state ID number (PESEL). PESEL numbers allow Polish residents to access state-provided health care and other social services.

"Direct Relief is deeply grateful for Pelion's leadership in creating this direct and highly efficient means to assist people forced to flee their homes in Ukraine, helping them obtain the essential medications they need for their health," said Direct Relief President and CEO Thomas Tighe. "The initial funding of $10 million comes from contributions by thousands of individuals deeply concerned about the welfare of Ukrainians who have had their lives upended and threatened. This approach connects that amazing generosity in a practical, important way to the Ukrainian people for whose benefit Direct Relief received the funds."

"It is a special day for us and a great privilege to launch a unique, nationwide medicine support program for patients from Ukraine in cooperation with Direct Relief," said Jacek Szwajcowski, President of the Management Board of Pelion S.A. "The $10 million donated today is extremely significant and real aid, which will go to people in need, mainly mothers with children and the elderly. The program of co-financing the purchase of medicines developed by our company is fully tested and guarantees full transparency. The assistance offered by Direct Relief is additionally supplemented with free telemedicine services in Ukrainian. We have already donated over $1 million for this purpose. I hope that the cooperation initiated today will be long-term and will encourage more donors to join the aid. The scale of the need is huge."

How It Works

The new Direct ReliefPelion program will cover 100% of prescription copays and 85% of costs for certain over-the-counter healthcare expenses for Ukrainian refugees by loading cash credit onto epruf's web application. Each participant will receive access to their account in the web application, tied to each person's PESEL number. The program works at any pharmacy in Poland. More than five million people in Poland use epruf's payment systems.

Each participant will receive a credit of 500 Polish zloty (about 117 USD)the estimated per-person subsidy required for six months of prescription and non-prescription medical expenses, based on more than ten years of data tracked by epruf. Participants will be eligible for a second top-up after four months.

Nearly all prescription drugs will be covered, including medicines for widespread chronic illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. Because all payments will flow through the epruf system directly to pharmacies, the program provides transparency and accountability.

Many refugees fled Ukraine with little cash, are unable to return to Ukraine anytime soon, and thus must establish new lives for themselves.

Direct Relief's Response to Date

Direct Relief is one of only a handful of non-governmental organizations recognized by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health as "international partners," along with United Nations agencies like the World Health Organization, multilateral organizations including the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and national government aid agencies like USAID: https://en.moz.gov.ua/international-partners?page=3.

Responding to requests from the Ministry of Health and other local healthcare providers, Direct Relief has delivered over 206 tons of medications and supplies, covering health conditions ranging from traumatic injuries to cancer to diabetes to Covid-19. Direct Relief has also fulfilled requests for medications needed to respond to chemical attacks.

About Direct Relief

A humanitarian organization committed to improving the health and lives of people affected by poverty and emergencies, Direct Relief delivers lifesaving medical resources throughout the U.S. and world to communities in needwithout regard to politics, religion, or ability to pay. For more information, visit https://www.DirectRelief.org.

About Pelion S.A.

Pelion S.A. is the largest company in Poland's healthcare sector with 32 years of experience, managing the fifth top pharmacy chain in Europe and expanding its operations in Sweden and Lithuania. Pelion provides services that cover retail, wholesale and sales to hospitals and are aimed at individual patients, pharmacies, hospitals and manufacturers.

SOURCE Direct Relief
Milton Security is announced as the only Silver Sponsor for InfraGard National

BREA, Calif., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Milton Security, a leading provider of Threat Hunting as a Service, XDR & MDR (MxDR) SOC Services, was announced this week as the only Silver Sponsor for InfraGard National, an FBI-affiliated nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening national security, community resilience, and the foundation of American life.

InfraGard National Members Alliance has been partnering with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other government agencies since 1996 and connects owners and operators within critical infrastructure with these agencies to provide education, information sharing, networking, and workshops on emerging technologies and threats.

"We're extremely proud of the work InfraGard National is doing for the cybersecurity community and the country," said James McMurry, CEO and Founder of Milton Security. "Any time we get the opportunity to support and partner with organizations like InfraGard, we jump at the chance to help strengthen the critical infrastructure sector. Our sponsorship means that InfraGard and Milton Security can work together to bring even more security to our nation and providing meaningful contributions toward preserving human life."

As a Silver level sponsor, Milton Security and InfraGard National Members Alliance are teaming up to enhance and increase the cybersecurity of the United States.

About InfraGard National

The InfraGard National Members Alliance protects United States critical infrastructure and the American people by cultivating communications, collaboration and engagement between the public and private sectors; the alliance unites the knowledge base, work and resources of these stakeholders to mitigate threats to national security, improve resilience, and strengthen the foundation of American life. For more information on InfraGard National, visit their website at www.infragardnational.org.

About Milton Security

Milton Security operates a 24*7*365 unique Extended Detection & Response/Managed Detection & Response (MxDR) service that provides Threat Hunting As A Service using customers' existing security infrastructure. For 15 years, Milton's team of Threat Hunters have stopped hundreds of thousands of threats and assisted organizations in protecting themselves around the clock. Milton focuses on the best combination of AI, ML, and Human Correlation, to scout for threats, assist with incident response activities and protect hundreds of customers around the clock.

It's Milton Security. Obviously, We Protect Your Brand.

www.miltonsecurity.com | +1.888.674.9001 | [email protected]

Milton Security, Inc., is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business started in 2007.

Media Contact

Sal Vilardo

Director of Marketing

[email protected]

843.408.7869

SOURCE Milton Security
WASHINGTON, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 3 p.m. EDT on Friday, April 15, to discuss the wet dress rehearsal test of the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft at Launch Complex 39B at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of the uncrewed Artemis I lunar mission.

The teleconference will stream live on the agency's website.

Teleconference participants include:

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson , Artemis launch director, NASA Exploration Ground Systems program, Kennedy

, Artemis launch director, NASA Exploration Ground Systems program, Kennedy Mike Sarafin , Artemis mission manager, NASA Headquarters

To participate by telephone, media must RSVP no later than two hours prior to the start of the event to: [email protected].

NASA's third test attempt began April 12 with a modified test procedure and concluded April 14. The test focused on using the ground systems at the Kennedy spaceport to load propellant into the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket's core stage tanks, with minimal propellant operations on the upper stage.

Engineers encountered a liquid hydrogen leak on the tail service mast umbilical that prevented the team from completing the test. Before ending the test, teams were able to collect additional data by chilling down the lines used to load propellant into the upper stage. The rocket remains in a safe configuration as teams asses next steps.

Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon, paving the way for a long-term lunar presence and serving as a steppingstone to send astronauts to Mars.

For updates, follow along on NASA's Artemis blog at:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis

SOURCE NASA
Beehives to be installed across the U.S. in 30 of ShopCore's shopping centers

CHICAGO, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Something new is buzzing at ShopCore Properties! The real estate company that leases and manages shopping centers across the U.S. will be installing beehives this year, in honor of Earth Day, at 30 of their properties throughout 12 states as part of their sustainability initiatives. The installation builds upon a pilot of the urban beekeeping program installed at two properties in 2021.

Beehives at ShopCore Properties Beehives at ShopCore Properties

"Sustainability is central to our mission, our mandate, and our purpose," said Corinne Rico, Director of Sustainability for ShopCore Properties. "From our properties to our communities, prioritizing the environment is part of how we do business. Installing beehives across our properties is one more layer to our sustainability and environmental goals. Bees play an exceedingly important role in a thriving ecosystem and the honey they produce is rich in antioxidants. So, bees are advantageous for not only the environment but also your health!"

ShopCore Properties will install the beehives during 2022 and will harvest the honey in the fall. The honey will then be packaged and offered to the community as a gift. Each beehive will have approximately 50,000 bees and will be cared for by local beekeepers.

"ShopCore aims to be an industry leader when it comes to our sustainability initiatives, and we look to partner with our tenants to mutually achieve our goals," continued Rico. "We have more than 50 shopping centers across the United States. We recognize each property is unique and will have its own set of solutions to advance sustainability, and we encourage creativity to do so. We are proud of our unique mix of shops and restaurants, many of which sell ecofriendly products and services."

ShopCore Properties' sustainability solutions include but are not limited to benchmarking and tracking energy consumption; green leasing practices; reducing energy, water, and waste; installing renewable energy systems; incorporating sustainability into all business decisions and installing electric vehicle charging stations across its parking areas.

The organization is recognized as a 2021 Green Lease Leader; is an Energy Star partner; piloted the WELL Health-Safety Rating; established its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) committee; established its Support, Empower, Engage, Develop (SEED) women's initiative; and donated 12.5+ million meals to CoreGiving in partnership with fellow portfolio companies. In addition, ShopCore Properties has committed to net zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030.

ShopCore is a vertically integrated real estate company with internalized leasing, development, property management, legal, accounting and asset management functions. Currently ShopCore leases and manages 50+ shopping centers covering approximately 20mm+ square-feet across 19 states. For more information on ShopCore Properties and its sustainability goals, please email [email protected] or visit shopcore.com/sustainability.

PRESS CONTACT:

Slatkow & Husak Public Relations

Heather Vidulich

[email protected] or (561) 278-0850 x2

SOURCE ShopCore Properties
The demonstrator serves as a flight-testing platform for the engineering team to collect valuable flight test data for early validation of the E20 configuration and design. Being the first passenger-carrying eVTOL company in China employed with vectored thrust configuration, the 50% subscale demonstrator is by far one of the largest eVTOL demonstrators currently flew in China.

The 50% subscale demonstrator is the second subscale demonstrator built by TCab Tech. Compared to the previous 25% subscale demonstrator, the latter has the following improvements:

Aerodynamic: larger in size and exactly the same external layout as the full-scale E20, the flight test results collected could further validate the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations.

External Layout: included flaps and variable pitch rotors to improve control laws and aerodynamics validations.

Systems: Conversion corridor of the tilt-rotor could be fine-tuned, plus, every control unit has independent control channel to facilitate failure hazard analysis (FHA) and the examination of the fail-safe design.

Flight Control: Mounted with many data-feedback sensors to collect thorough flight data which could be used to further improve aircraft control algorithms.

While serving as a flight-testing platform, the E20 eVTOL 50% subscale demonstrator is also used to develop in-house structural & durability test facilities, electric motor test-rigs, SIL and HIL flight simulation labs. The know-how gains from the flight testing and the facilities built will pave a smoother path for us to prepare ourselves toward getting airworthiness certification from the Chinese airworthiness authority.

Check flight record of E20 eVTOL 50% subscale demonstrator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XuRoX7lCGk.

SOURCE TCab Tech
NEW YORK, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --

WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of sellers of the common stock of Twitter, Inc. (NYSE: TWTR) between March 24, 2022 and April 1, 2022, inclusive (the "Class Period"). A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than June 13, 2022.

SO WHAT: If you purchased Twitter securities during the Class Period you may be entitled to compensation without payment of any out of pocket fees or costs through a contingency fee arrangement.

WHAT TO DO NEXT: To join the Twitter class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=5134 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than June 13, 2022. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation.

WHY ROSEN LAW: We encourage investors to select qualified counsel with a track record of success in leadership roles. Often, firms issuing notices do not have comparable experience, resources or any meaningful peer recognition. Be wise in selecting counsel. The Rosen Law Firm represents investors throughout the globe, concentrating its practice in securities class actions and shareholder derivative litigation. Rosen Law Firm has achieved the largest ever securities class action settlement against a Chinese Company. Rosen Law Firm was Ranked No. 1 by ISS Securities Class Action Services for number of securities class action settlements in 2017. The firm has been ranked in the top 4 each year since 2013 and has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors. In 2019 alone the firm secured over $438 million for investors. In 2020, founding partner Laurence Rosen was named by law360 as a Titan of Plaintiffs' Bar. Many of the firm's attorneys have been recognized by Lawdragon and Super Lawyers.

DETAILS OF THE CASE: Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla and Space-X, and according to Forbes, the richest person in the world, began acquiring shares of Twitter in January 2022. By March 14, 2022, Musk had acquired more than a 5% ownership stake in Twitter, requiring him to file a Schedule 13 with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") within 10 days, or March 24, 2022. However, Musk did not file a Schedule 13 with the SEC within the required time and instead continued to amass Twitter shares, eventually acquiring over a 9% stake in the Company before finally filing a Schedule 13 on April 4, 2022.

Upon Musk belatedly filing the required Schedule 13, which first revealed his ownership stake in Twitter to the public, the Company's shares rose from a closing price of $39.31 per share on April 1, 2022, to close at $49.97 per share on April 4, 2022  an increase of 27%.

Investors who sold shares of Twitter between March 24, 2022 and April 4, 2022 missed the resulting share price increase as the market reacted to Musk's purchases. By failing to timely disclose his ownership stake, Musk was able to acquire shares of Twitter less expensively during the Class Period.

To join the Twitter class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=5134 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email [email protected] or [email protected] for information on the class action.

No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.

Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm, on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/.

Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Contact Information:

Laurence Rosen, Esq.

Phillip Kim, Esq.

The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.

275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor

New York, NY 10016

Tel: (212) 686-1060

Toll Free: (866) 767-3653

Fax: (212) 202-3827

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.rosenlegal.com

SOURCE Rosen Law Firm, P.A.
Railroad highlighted as best place to work for women overall, multicultural women and millennials

OMAHA, Neb., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Union Pacific today announced its first time being named as a Best Place to Work by the Women's Choice Awards in all three categories: Best Companies for Women, Best Companies for Diversity and Best Companies for Millennials.

The Women's Choice Awards selects companies based on female and diversity representation in the workforce, work-life balance benefits, professional development and support networks, paid and family time off, health and wellness benefits, employee recognition and financial benefits.

Only companies with the highest scores earn a Women's Choice Award, and very few are recognized across all three categories.

"Union Pacific is honored to be recognized as a Best Place to Work for all women," said Beth Whited, executive vice president  Sustainability and Strategy. "Being identified by the Women's Choice Awards is exemplary of our meaningful progress toward our diversity, equity and inclusion goals."

Union Pacific was identified by the Women's Choice Awards for meeting general needs of all working women, aiming to dismantle systematic barriers and close race-based gaps, and helping millennial women grow and advance in their careers.

This year, the award included an environmental, social and governance component for candidates that have proven to be socially and environmentally responsible. Union Pacific has made significant progress toward reducing its environmental impact and is working to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

This recognition comes a year after Union Pacific announced its goal to increase the representation of women in its workforce by doubling the current population and growing its people of color in the workforce to 40%, representing a 36% improvement.

ABOUT UNION PACIFIC

Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) delivers the goods families and businesses use every day with safe, reliable and efficient service. Operating in 23 western states, the company connects its customers and communities to the global economy. Trains are the most environmentally responsible way to move freight, helping Union Pacific protect future generations. More information about Union Pacific is available at www.up.com .

www.up.com

www.facebook.com/unionpacific

www.twitter.com/unionpacific

SOURCE Union Pacific Corporation
Company's Revenue jumps by 57%, an Increase of $736,000, and Gross Profit climbs by 43% as Compared to the Same Reporting Period Last Year

COCONUT CREEK, Fla., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Upstryve Inc. ("Upstryve" or the "Company"), formerly ProBility Media Corp. ("ProBility") (OTCPK: PBYA), an international education, training and career advancement company with a focus on vocational and skilled trades, today announces its Third Quarter results for the period ended February 28th, 2022.

Highlights and Accomplishments from Recent Quarter End February 28, 2022

Upstryve Connect Conference hosted industry leading skilled trades speakers as a rollout to its new skilled trade career advancement platform: Upstryve Connect.

The Company launched Upstryve Premium, a subscription-based version of their career advancement platform that offers resume building optimization, exclusive webinars, and licensing/test prep to people pursuing a career in the trades.

Upstryve, Inc. retained RBSM, LLP as auditors to assist in Upstryve's filing of audited financial statements and a S-1 registration statement to become a SEC fully reporting company.

The Company closed on an initial round of bridge financing in order to provide additional resources towards the preparation of the required financial statements for an audit on those reporting periods.

On February 24th, 2022, the Company closed on a $250,000 note from Mast Hill Fund LP. In addition, the Company issued 131 million warrants to purchase stock to Mast Hill. Additional details about the terms are included in the OTC Disclosure Filing. The Company is in the process of looking to secure additional capital from other investors. The purpose of the capital raised is to help pay for audit related expenses, legal and bringing the Company current with the SEC. The Company intends to use excess capital to increase marketing and look at potential acquisition targets.

"We are excited to share this development with our shareholders as it announces the next step in our ongoing rebranding and absorption of ProBility," Noah Davis, President, Upstryve, Inc. "

"Several investors have shown interest in backing Upstryve during this process of announcing our intention to uplist and to become a fully reporting SEC company. These investors have expressed interest in additional capital following the completion of an audit and the filing of a S-1 registration statement."

From September through December of 2022, NFPA will be releasing its 2023 National Electrical Code, a triennial occurrence. This code book is the most important code update for electricians around the United States. The prior release in 2020, resulted in a revenue increase of over $900,000 in 2019 as compared to years without this triennial release. The Company is already starting to receive pre-orders for this code release.

The quarter concluded with President Noah Davis collaborating with NEST Integrated Facilities Management on a panel held in Q3. The panel focused on the importance of retaining great talent as a company and what it means to be a good corporate citizen.

A reconciliation of the net gain for the quarter ending February 28, 2022, to adjusted EBITDA is below:

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS AND COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)



Three Months Ended

February 28, 2022 Nine Months Ended

February 28, 2022

(in $) 2022 2021 2022 2021 GAAP - Figures







REVENUE $ 2,018,967 $ 1,282,711 $ 5,935,410 $ 4,909,804 GROSS PROFIT $ 1,270,352 $ 842,802 $ 3,749,297 $ 3,231,561 INCOME (LOSS) FROM OPERATIONS $ (125,752) $ (39,586) $ 48,640 $ 42,995 NET INCOME (LOSS) $ (27,269) $ (320,777) $ 526,912 $ (393,194) Non-GAAP Figures (*)







ADJUSTED EBITDA $ 96,634 $ (436,245) $ 879,518 $ (299,818) ADJUSTED NET INCOME (LOSS) $ 96,634 $ (436,245) $ 879,518 $ (322,478)

(*) See "Definitions of Non-GAAP Measures" and "Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures" sections herein for an explanation and reconciliations of non-GAAP measures used throughout this release

Definitions of Non-GAAP Measures

We collect and analyze operating and financial data to evaluate the health of our business and assess our performance. In addition to Revenue, Income (Loss) from Operations and Net Income (Loss) under GAAP, we use: EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, and Adjusted Net Income (Loss). We have included these non-GAAP financial measures because they are key measures used by our management to evaluate our operating performance. Accordingly, we believe that these non-GAAP financial measures provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management team and board of directors. Our calculation of these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from similarly titled non-GAAP measures, if any, reported by our peer companies. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as substitutes for, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP

Adjusted EBITDA

We define Adjusted EBITDA as Income (Loss) before Income Taxes, excluding (i) depreciation and amortization expense, (ii) interest expense, net, (iii) non-cash interest expense, (iv) stock-based compensation expense, (v) non-recurring and extraordinary items (vi) other income (expense), net, (vii) gain (loss) on equity investments, net, (viii) gain on extinguishment of debt, (ix) change in fair value of derivative liability and * foreign currency transaction, net.

We have included Adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measure used by our management team to evaluate our operating performance, generate future operating plans, and make strategic decisions. Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as our management team and board of directors. In addition, it provides a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business, as it removes the effect of certain non-cash expenses and non-recurring and extraordinary items.

Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as a financial measure, should be considered as supplemental in nature, and is not meant as a substitute for the related financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Adjusted Net Income (Loss)

We define Adjusted Net Income (Loss) as Adjusted EBITDA (see above), excluding (i) benefit from (provision for) income taxes.

Adjusted Net Income has limitations as a financial measure, should be considered as supplemental in nature, and is not meant as a substitute for the related financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP.

Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Measures

Adjusted EBITDA & Adjusted Net Income (Loss)

The following table presents reconciliations of Adjusted EBITDA & Adjusted Net Income (Loss) to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure for each of the periods indicated.



Three Months Ended

February 28, 2022 Nine Months Ended

February 28, 2022 (in $) 2022 2021 2022 2021 NET GAIN / (LOSS) $ (27,269) $ (320,777) $ 526,912 $ (393,194) Adjustments (add back):







Interest expense, net $ 37,869 $ 82,862 $ 140,818 $ 253,453 Other income (expense), net $ 86,034

(198,330) $ 211,788 $ (160,077) ADJUSTED EBITDA $ 96,634 $ (436,245) $ 879,518 $ (299,818) Benefit from (provision for) income tax $ - $ - $ - $ (22,660) ADJUSTED NET INCOME (LOSS) $ 96,634 $ (436,245) $ 879,518 $ (322,478)

Financial Highlights

As of February 28, 2022 , the Company's current assets were $711,865 , total assets were $2,620,576 total liabilities were $5,236,368 and stockholders' equity was a deficit of $2,615,793

, the Company's current assets were , total assets were total liabilities were and stockholders' equity was a deficit of Revenues for the quarter ended February 28 2022, were $2,018,967 representing an increase of $736,000 , from the same period in 2021.

2022, were representing an increase of , from the same period in 2021. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter ending February 28, 2022 , was $96,634 compared to ($436,245) from the same period in 2021.

, was compared to from the same period in 2021. The Company reduced total liabilities by $1,659,969 or 24.10% for the quarter ending February 28, 2022 , compared to its fiscal year end on May 31, 2021 .

or 24.10% for the quarter ending , compared to its fiscal year end on . Convertible notes were reduced from $2,769,407 to $1,700,032 during the nine months from May 31, 2021 to February 28, 2022 .

Test Preparation and Career Advancement Related Financial Highlights

Test Preparation and Career Advancement Related Sales were $1,193,399 for the quarter ending February 28, 2022 representing an increase of $252,828 compared to the same period in 2021.

Corporate Training and Certification Related Financial Highlights

Upstryve's corporate training, certification and related sales resulted in a gross profit of $424,291 for the quarter ending February 28, 2022 , compared to $230,895 for the same period in 2021. This represented an increase of 83% compared to the same period in 2021.

for the quarter ending , compared to for the same period in 2021. This represented an increase of 83% compared to the same period in 2021. Total Revenue increased by $170,539 or 38% for the period ending February 28, 2022 compared to the same period in 2021.

or 38% for the period ending compared to the same period in 2021. Certification and Testing Revenue, a key indicator for the restart of corporate customers increasing capacity, and new corporate accounts increased by 198% for the quarter ending February 28, 2022 , compared to the same period in 2021.

About Upstryve Inc., formerly ProBility Media Corp

Upstryve is an international education, training, and career advancement company with a focus on vocational and skilled trades headquartered in southern Florida. Upstryve operates through its four brands including Upstryve, One Exam Prep, North American Crane Bureau Group and Disco Learning Media.

Upstryve is the only tutoring platform dedicated to providing aspiring trade professionals an affordable all-encompassing learning experience. Upstryve provides 1 on 1 contractor license exam preparation for professionals to confidently pass their state or national exams and obtain their contractor license. One Exam Prep provides licensing assistance and online test preparation for contractors throughout the United States. North American Crane Bureau Group (NACB) conducts over 400 safety programs each year all over the world for safety, rigging and crane training. NACB holds a federal accreditation under 29CFR part 1919, Cal/OSHA accreditation under Title 8, and is recognized by several states entities as being qualified to conduct lift equipment inspection / certification and / or operator training. Disco Learning Media specializes in eCourse development, program management, and consulting for learning experiences. For more information, visit www.upstryve.com/investors

Forward-Looking Statements

This Press Release may contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements reflect the Company's current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to it. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or advise in the event of any change, addition or alteration to the information included in this Press Release including such forward-looking statements, except as required by federal securities laws.

SOURCE Probility Media Corp.
KATY, Texas, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SLCA) announced today that it will release its first quarter 2022 financial results before the New York Stock Exchange opens on Friday, April 29, 2022.

Conference Call

This release will be followed by a conference call for investors on Friday, April 29, 2022 at 7:30 a.m. Central Time to discuss the results. Hosting the call will be Bryan Shinn, Chief Executive Officer, and Don Merril, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Investors are invited to listen to a live webcast of the conference call by visiting the "Investors- Events & Presentations" section of the Company's website at www.ussilica.com . The webcast will be archived for one year. The call can also be accessed live over the telephone by dialing (877) 869-3847 or for international callers, (201) 689-8261. A replay will be available shortly after the call and can be accessed by dialing (877) 660-6853 or for international callers, (201) 612-7415. The conference ID for the replay is 13728925. The replay will be available through May 29, 2022.

About U.S. Silica

U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc. is a global performance materials company and is a member of the Russell 2000. The Company is a leading producer of commercial silica used in the oil and gas industry and in a wide range of industrial applications. Over its 122-year history, U.S. Silica has developed core competencies in mining, processing, logistics and materials science that enable it to produce and cost-effectively deliver over 600 diversified products to customers across our end markets. U.S. Silica's wholly-owned subsidiaries include EP Minerals and SandBox Logistics. EP Minerals is an industry leader in the production of products derived from diatomaceous earth, perlite, engineered clays, and non-activated clays. SandBox Logistics is a state-of-the-art leader in proppant storage, handling and well-site delivery, dedicated to making proppant logistics cleaner, safer and more efficient. The Company currently operates 24 mines and production facilities and is headquartered in Katy, Texas.

Investor Contact:

Patricia Gil

Vice President, Investor Relations

(281) 505-6011

[email protected]

SOURCE U.S. Silica Holdings, Inc.
WHAT & WHY: With #BlackIsBrilliant, De Beers Group provides a platform for Black designers to create one-of-a-kind pieces with natural diamonds from Botswana, with an emphasis on the Red Carpet as a powerful forum for communication and visibility in amplifying Black voices and talent.

De Beers Group teamed with RAD (Red carpet Advocacy) , taking RAD's established, purpose-driven approach of pairing talent and brands to use their platforms in advocating for causes at global events as a way to promote social progress and positive shifts in culture.

De Beers Group is deeply committed to creating a positive, lasting impact that will endure well beyond the discovery of its last diamond.

JEWELLERY DESCRIPTION:

The Kwe Earrings by Matturi Fine Jewellery feature ethically and sustainably sourced diamonds from Botswana, provided by De Beers Group.

"Said to be the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa, the San, also known as Bushmen or Kwe are a diverse group of peoples who historically lived through a hunter gatherer lifestyle. Their traditions, dance and distinct rock art depict and interpret their views and beliefs regarding landscapes, flora, fauna and living within a sustainable ecosystem, which have been passed through the generations. Contemporary San artists continue to draw on these same ancestral beliefs and traditions using bold interpretations and vibrant colors.

The Kwe earrings are a tribute to a people who continue to live selflessly with nature. The design in particular picks on the beautiful landscapes of Botswana, a country that is blessed not just with diamonds but with the natural beauty of the delta, rivers and an abundance of wildlife. Forty natural diamonds, created deep under Botswana's soil millions of years ago were selected by De Beers Group for their unique attributes which were cut and polished in Gaborone by Batswana artisans. Surrounding and connecting the natural diamonds, 18kt gold has been left unpolished to achieve a raw yet contemporary, natural look and feel.

Every aspect of these earrings and design pays homage to a country, its people, natural resource and astonishing eco system."

- Satta, Founder & Creative Lead, MATTURI FINE JEWELLERY

HOW THIS PIECE GIVES BACK:

In support of Viola's advocacy of Black creative talent, a $25,000 donation will be made to a charity of her choice.

ABOUT SATTA MATTURI OF MATTURI FINE JEWELLERY:

Being British and West African, Satta Matturi has combined deep felt traditions and heritage from Africa mixed with a global view of trends, attitudes and inspiration to create a high-end jewellery brand that would resonate with independent fashion conscious women on the African continent and far beyond. Satta has traveled the world extensively and has an innate passion for the new emerging Africa, which she brings into her designs. Her vast personal jewellery collection, amassed over the years serves as a true testament to her love for baubles. She grew up with a mother who insisted that women must build an enviable jewellery collection.

SOURCE De Beers Group
SINGAPORE, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- WuXi Biologics ("WuXi Bio") (2269.HK), a global Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CRDMO) service company, today announced that the company received the award for Bioprocessing Excellence in Viral Clearance and Safety at the Asia-Pacific Bioprocessing Excellence Awards (ABEA) 2022 event. This marks the second consecutive year that WuXi Bio has received this award from IMAPAC, a leading consulting firm in biopharmaceutical industry.

Since 2015, WuXi Biologics has offered viral clearance biosafety testing services for a variety of biotherapeutic product types, including monoclonal and bispecific antibodies, fusion proteins, peptides and other recombinant proteins. Data from these viral clearance studies successfully support WuXi Biologic's clients in their Investigational New Drug (IND) or Biologic License Application (BLA) submissions. To date, over 500 viral clearance studies submitted with its client's INDs and BLAs filings have been successfully passed by the global regulatory agencies (e.g., U.S. FDA, EMA, NMPA, PMDA, TGA). This achievement further demonstrates the company's outstanding project execution and compliance track record.

Dr. Chris Chen, CEO of WuXi Biologics, commented, "Being recognized for two consecutive years by IMAPAC with the Bioprocessing Excellence in Viral Clearance and Safety award is a great honor for our business and employees. The award reflects our commitment to delivering high-quality biosafety testing services for our partners as a global CRDMO service provider. This achievement will further inspire us to enhance our capacity and capabilities to enable global partners and benefit patients worldwide."

The Asia-Pacific Bioprocessing Excellence Awards seeks to give recognition to exceptional bioprocessing experts, organizations and technologies that facilitate biomanufacturing excellence at enhanced speed, reduced cost, and superior quality.

About WuXi Biologics

WuXi Biologics (stock code: 2269.HK) is a global Contract Research, Development and Manufacturing Organization (CRDMO) offering end-to-end solutions that enable partners to discover, develop and manufacture biologics from concept to commercialization for the benefit of patients worldwide.

With over 10,000 skilled employees in China, the United States, Germany, Ireland and Singapore, WuXi Biologics leverages its technologies and expertise to provide customers with efficient and cost-effective biologics discovery, development and manufacturing solutions. As of the end of 2021, WuXi Biologics is supporting over 480 integrated client projects, including nine in commercial manufacturing.

WuXi Biologics views Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) responsibilities as an integral component of our ethos and business strategy, and we aim to become an ESG leader in the biologics CRDMO sector. Our facilities use next-generation biomanufacturing technologies and clean energy sources. We have also established an ESG committee led by our CEO to steer the comprehensive ESG strategy and its implementation, enhancing our commitment to sustainability. For more information about WuXi Biologics, please visit: www.wuxibiologics.com.

Contacts

Media

[email protected]

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SOURCE  (WuXi Biologics)
Kiev, April 15 : Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said he had discussed new military aid for Ukraine with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone conversation.

"In our new call, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and I discussed the next military aid package for Ukraine," Kuleba tweeted on Thursday.

During the talks, the Ukrainian and the US parties also coordinated their positions on further sanctions which will be imposed on Russia over its conflict with Ukraine, he said.

He also thanked the US for its "unwavering support" for Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said his administration would provide Ukraine with an additional $800 million worth of military aid due to what Washington anticipated to be a "wider assault" by Russia in eastern Ukraine.
United Nations, April 15 : UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths has warned that a lack of humanitarian funding in Yemen may undermine the current political momentum.

The renewable two-month truce that the warring parties have agreed on is already having a positive impact on the humanitarian situation, he told the Security Council in a briefing on Thursday.

However, the humanitarian operation in Yemen remains underfunded, he said.

The UN in March raised $1.3 billion in pledges out of the nearly $4.3 billion needed, he added.

The UN official said despite newly announced pledges, including $300 million from Saudi Arabia, there is a funding gap, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Funding remains the biggest challenge of the response. There's a serious risk that core programs across sectors, including food aid, water, health care, the support for the displaced, will keep scaling down ... and eventually stop if funds don't arrive," Griffiths said.

"Allowing the aid operation to collapse would run directly counter to the very positive momentum that I think we're right to honour and celebrate today. And so we're going to do all we can to work with donors from our side to help ensure that these life-saving programs survive," he added.
Baku, April 15 : Fully vaccinated people arriving in Azerbaijan will no longer have to take PCR tests, the country's authorities announced.

The ease of travel restrictions, endorsed by the country's operational headquarters for Covid-19 prevention and control, takes effect on Friday, April 15.

However, all foreign travellers coming to Azerbaijan still need to be fully vaccinated, the authorities said on Thursday.

Travel restrictions were also eased for all domestic flights, with travellers no longer having to take pre-departure tests, Xinhua news agency reported.

Although many restrictions were eased in Azerbaijan amid falling new Covid-19 case numbers and deaths, masks are required on public transport and in indoor settings, including shops, health and social care facilities.

Azerbaijan on Thursday reported 15 new Covid-19 cases, taking its total to 792,320, according to the country's Task Force under the Cabinet of Ministers on Covid-19 prevention and control.
Algiers, April 15 : France and Algeria have been working on reviving their bilateral relations, said French Foreign Minister Jean Yves Le Drian during his visit to the North African country.

France and Algeria "were working on reviving bilateral relations," said Le Drian on Thursday after his meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, adding that "Algeria and France share historical, deep and multiple human relations that bring together the two peoples".

The French top diplomat said the two countries' cooperation on security is indispensable in the region, while stressing the urgency of relaunching the transition process in Libya and improving the situation in the Sahel region, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said France and Algeria also share major challenges amid the situation in Ukraine and its repercussions on Europe's security and international stability, noting that Europe has to diversify energy resources.

The French Foreign Minister said the two countries agreed to resume dialogue on a number of cooperation activities, including immigration and the fight against terrorism.

This is Le Drian's second visit to Algeria within four months.

France has been trying to mend its ties with Algeria, which were soured by Algeria's decision to recall its Ambassador to France in October 2021 in protest over French President Emmanuel Macron's critical remarks against Algeria.

Macron criticised the "political-military system" in Algeria, a former French colony, for rewriting Algerian history and fomenting "hatred" toward France.
New York, April 15 : The New York Police have arrested two men in connection with two separate attacks on Sikhs in the city amid rising fears in the community in an area with a prominent gurdwara.

A 19-year-old man, Vernon Douglas was arrested on Thursday for allegedly attacking a 70-year-old man "wearing traditional Sikh articles of faith" on April 3, the police department said.

The 'Sikh Coalition' identified the victim as Nirmal Singh, a visitor from India.

The attack was investigated by the Hate Crimes Task Force of New York Police and Douglas was charged with allegedly committing hate crimes.

On Tuesday, police had arrested Hezekiah Coleman, 20, soon after an attack on two Sikh men, in the same Richmond Hill area.

Coleman and another man removed the turbans of the two men, attacked and robbed them.

The second attack came two days after a protest at which high-powered US leader Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democratic Party majority in the Senate, and several New York leaders condemned the alleged attacks on Sikhs.

"When a man is beaten and hurt because of his background, who he is, what his religion, his nationality and ethnicity (are), it is a dark day for America," Schumer said.

"The lesson of our history is that we must fight it and speak out against it," he added.

Sikh Coalition official Nikki Singh said after the second attack, "Sikhs are no strangers to hate violence, but the recent string of repeated attacks in the same location is especially disheartening and reprehensible." On Wednesday, Governor Kathy Hochul participated in an anti-hate crime rally along with the Sikh Coalition.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in and followed at @arulouis)
Los Angeles, April 15 : A therapist who worked with Hollywood stars Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in 2015 testified that the couple engaged in "mutual abuse," and that Depp could be "triggered" by Heard.

Laurel Avis Anderson's testimony was played for jurors on the third day of the $50 million defamation trial underway in Fairfax, Va. Depp has sued Heard for publishing an op-ed in 2018 in which she alluded to domestic violence claims that she first made in the context of their 2016 divorce, reports 'Variety'.

Anderson testified via video deposition in February, and the video was played for the jury on Thursday morning.

Anderson said she saw the couple several times between October and December 2015, and that the sessions could be stormy with both of them threatening to walk out at times.

Anderson said Heard reported that Depp had been violent toward her.

She also said that both parties could initiate fights, as Heard feared abandonment from Depp. She also said that Depp had not been violent with other partners in the past 20-30 years.

"I thought he had been well controlled," Anderson said.

"With Ms Heard, he was triggered. They engaged in what I saw as mutual abuse." She also said that Depp denied being violent.

Anderson said Heard could also be triggered when she felt disrespected, and would sometimes hit him first.

In counseling sessions, Heard would often interrupt while Depp tended to be more reticent, she said.

"Ms. Heard had a jackhammer style of talking. She was very amped up," she said.

"He had trouble talking at a similar pace." Anderson also testified that the couple did not communicate and had "terrible skills".

She said Heard reported in a phone session on December 15, 2015, that she did not want to get a divorce, but that she "wanted to want to" get a divorce.

"She loved him. He loved her," Anderson testified.

"She believed that she wasn't stupid. She knew what they were doing wasn't healthy." In the same session, she said Heard talked about a strategy for getting out of the relationship. Her therapy notes state: "Will she have advantage if she leaves him, but files with police for abuse first?" Anderson said that on December 17, 2015, Heard came to her office and showed her bruises under her eyes, reports 'Varietya'.

Anderson recalled a conversation with Depp in June 2016, in which Depp was looking back on the relationship after it had ended. Depp said the relationship was "chaotic" and "violent," and that Heard "gave as good as she got." "I agreed," Anderson said. "She initiated fights. She started violence. She rose to the challenge if he started first. In my opinion that had been established throughout the relationship that she fought as hard as he did. And he tried to deescalate far more than I think she did." Heard has alleged that Depp would punch her, kick her, head-butt her, grab clumps of her hair and, on one occasion, sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle.

Depp has denied those allegations, and accused her of assaulting him. Heard has countersued Depp for $100 million, alleging that his attorney defamed her when he alleged that she had orchestrated a "hoax." The trial is expected to last six weeks, and both Depp and Heard are expected to testify.

The jury has heard from five witnesses thus far, including Depp's sister, Christi Dembrowski, and Heard's former assistant, Kate James, both of whom said they did not witness violence between the couple.

In that case, a judge rejected Depp's defamation claim against the publisher of The Sun newspaper, which had described Depp as a "wife beater," concluding that Heard's allegations were "substantially true."
New Delhi, April 15 : India registered 949 fresh Covid cases in the past 24 hours, a marginal decline against 1,007 infections reported on previous day, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry said on Friday.

In the same time span, six Covid-related deaths were recorded, taking the total number of fatalities to 5,21,743.

Following a continuous downward trend, the country's active caseload stands at 11,191 which is 0.03 per cent of the total positive cases.

A total of 810 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic is now at 4,25,07,038. Consequently, India's recovery rate stands at 98.76 per cent.

Also in the same period, a total of 3,67,213 tests were conducted across the country. India has so far conducted over 83.11 crore cumulative tests.

The weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 0.25 per cent, however the daily positivity rate is also reported to be 0.26 per cent.

On the vaccination front, India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 186.30 crore. This has been achieved through 2,26,50,313 sessions.

Over 2.38 crore adolescents have been administered with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine since the beginning of vaccination drive for this age bracket.

More than 20.69 crore balance and unutilised Covid vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered as of Friday morning.
North Waziristan, April 15 : Eight Pakistan soldiers were killed in two militant attacks in North Waziristan, Dawn reported.

In one incident, seven soldiers were killed when militants ambushed a vehicle of security forces in Datakhel tehsil of North Waziristan tribal district.

In the second incident which took place in Isham area of the district, a soldier was killed in a clash between security forces and militants.

As for the first attack, officials said the terrorists attacked a moving vehicle of the security forces in Datakhel near the Afghan border. Sources said the insurgents used a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and assault guns in the attack, Dawn reported.

Seven soldiers were killed in the attack, officials told the media in Miramshah, the district headquarters of North Waziristan.

Sources said that a search operation in the area was in progress. According to reports, security personnel also retaliated but casualties on the militant side could not be ascertained.

The ISPR has yet to confirm the attack or issue a formal statement, Dawn reported.

This major attack comes at the heels of a deadly attack in the southern district of Dera Ismail Khan three days ago which left five policemen dead and four wounded.

Unlike other areas of North Waziristan, Datakhel is considered a relatively safe sanctuary for terrorist groups. Security forces have yet to clear the area and hundreds of displaced families are still waiting to return to their homes.

The incidents on Thursday have raised the tally of terrorist attacks on security forces to three this week in the Waziristan region of erstwhile Fata.
New Delhi, April 15 : Young Indians face a lot of tough situations as Indian parents aren't very accepting of dating as compared to the western parents. Telling your parents that you're seeing someone is a whole task in itself. Love doesn't have to seek anyone's approval but the norms set up by Indian society forces the parents to look at dating as something bad. "More and more people belonging to the older generation are starting to warm up towards the new trends and are becoming more accepting of their children dating someone. It will take time but they will surely understand and become more welcoming. Young India is also starting to become more aware," Ravi Mittal, the founder and CEO of QuackQuack added.

The Dating platform conducted a survey on users belonging to the age group 18-25 about how they feel about dating while living with Indian parents.

It's difficult to discuss about dating lives with parents especially for girls It comes as no surprise that 81 per cent of female users find it difficult to discuss their relationships in front of their parents. Women are afraid to share anything with their parents because of societal norms and moral policing. Only 19 per cent of users from big cities find it easier and have more accepting parents. The percentage of male users who felt uncomfortable discussing their partners was relatively low.

In small cities, 65 per cent of male users struggled with introducing their significant other to their family, while the remaining 35 per cent were open about their dating lives with their parents. The survey also revealed that it is still easier for boys in India to find a partner for themselves, and that parents in metropolitan areas are more liberal.

Mothers are more accepting as compared to Fathers According to the survey, 63 per cent of users prefer to contact their mothers first to discuss their significant others because mothers understand and navigate the situation carefully. The remaining 37 per cent of users found it difficult to open up at all and would rather not date someone their family does not approve of.

Around 92 per cent of users believed that if they were 100 per cent compatible with their partner, convincing parents would be relatively easier, while the remaining 8 per cent believed that their family would look for financial background and financial security before approving their partners.

Dating is easier for men in India Around 72 per cent of male users were at ease with having a partner their family did not approve of, and they were unconcerned about their family's approval. This cannot be the case for Indian women, who are mostly married to men who are approved by their families. According to the survey, dating is more difficult for women.

One of the primary causes of the communication gap is the generation gap. It will be a long road before parents are completely accepting, but on the bright side, many of them have begun to welcome new thoughts and ideas. Without fear of being judged, the young people have begun to open up more about their potential matches.

(IANSlife can be contacted at ianslife@ians.in)
Chennai, April 15 : Senior leader of the Balochistan freedom movement Prof Naela Quadri Baloch, who is in exile in Canada, has said that a Government of Balochistan in Exile(GBE) has been established on March 21.

The Baloch leader, in a statement on Friday, said that she would be the head of the government and the Government in Exile is established somewhere in Europe.

She said that the exact geographical place of the Government in Exile cannot be revealed at present due to security reasons as well as to fulfill international requirements. The Balochistan Government in Exile has already established diplomatic relationships with three countries.

The head of the Government of Balochistan in Exile said that the names and details of the ministers and other senior office-bearers will be announced soon.

Prof Naela Quadri Baloch said that the representatives of the GBE are in the process to lobby with governments and international agencies. She said that all Baloch parties, groups, and forums will be contacted and invited to support and run the government on democratic principles.

The process of establishment of the government commenced many years back and it was openly demanded by her during her visit to India in 2016. She said that the Government of India kept quiet on the demand.

Prof Baloch said that she, along with various other Balochistan movements and groups, were working tirelessly for the establishment of the Government of Balochistan in Exile and this hard work has fructified now.

This, she said, was the only way to end the colonial occupation and unite the 40 million Baloch people living in three regions of Balochistan.

Prof Naela Quadri Baloch said that she had gained support from Baloch groups living in Afghanistan and Western Balochistan in Iran also.

Advocacy groups are in touch with powerful nations and international agencies, she said, adding that 40 million Baloch people all over the world are eligible to apply for citizenship and passport from the Government of Balochistan in Exile.

Prof Baloch called upon the UNIO and international community to immediately intervene and to end the ongoing genocide in Balochistan and safe recovery of 55,000 Baloch, including women and children who were forcefully taken into custody or enforced disappearance.

She said that the Government of Balochistan in Exile salutes and honours the blood of Baloch martyrs and sacrifices of Baloch freedom fighters who have kept the flag of Balochistan high.

Prof Baloch while speaking to IANS said: "It's been a cherished dream for the people of Balochistan and the Government of Balochistan in Exile will lobby with governments and international agencies for the support required. We cannot reveal the headquarters and secretariat of the Government in Exile presently due to security and legal reasons."
New Delhi, April 15 : It's all about the little things, the wise ones say. We embellish our homes with classy coffee tables, shiny sofas and dazzling drapes. We make sure every nook and corner of our humble abode is adorned by a stunning element. But, an object that lies under the radar when it comes to home decoration is our friendly neighbourhood chair.

Pritika Singh, Founder, Mohh, explains why chairs could sprinkle the finishing touch of finesse that every house needs, "Whether it is the morning newspaper ritual, evening tea session or a late-night get-together, most of our lives are spent on and around chairs and yet they never get the attention they deserve. A chair with a spectacular feel and sublime design can not only add a dash of suave appeal but also enhance the look and vibe of any space. Imagine a guest walks into your hall, spots an eye-catching piece of furniture to perch on, and can't stop raving about it once they are seated! That's the kind of value a great chair adds." "While they can weave a spell of magic in every room, it isn't that easy to spot the perfect chair. We need to find one that blends with our aesthetic sensibilities as well as the design language of our residence. We must also make sure they are crafted for utmost ease, with cushioning that spells pure solace. Above all, any chair we choose should be built to last for a long time. So, how does one come across a chair that provides all of the above, and much more?" Pritika Singh added.

"If it's the right chair, it doesn't take too long to get comfortable in it," this quote by Robert De Niro perfectly encapsulates why we need to kindle a newfound romance with those "good old seaters". In the modern world, humans are shrouded by lifestyles that see us spending more time in chairs than ever before. Home or office, date or meeting, chairs are everywhere! An everyday companion, an absolute essential! So, in order to make our "sitting experiences" more smooth, more memorable, and more rewarding, it is imperative that we invest in chairs that aren't just thoughtless and flimsy products, but furniture that means something.

(N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe can be contacted at lothungbeni.h@ians.in)
Islamabad, April 15 : Pakistan was an Islamic Republic but nothing was happening in the country in accordance with Islam, remarked Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Justice Isa made the remarks while heading a two-member bench for the hearing of a case pertaining to the allotment of plots in the Pak Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation, The Express Tribune reported.

He also said that the generals were given plots, but asked didn't they get a salary. He pointed out that poor people in slum areas constructed small rooms upon rooms for living. In the country, only rich people got plots and no one gave plots to the poor.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday raised the question how the prime minister allotted two plots to government employees, saying that the poor people did not get even a single plot but the rich get multiple plots, The Express Tribune reported.

Justice Isa mentioned a newspaper report that a secretary had been given two plots. He said that there were no rules for the allotment of plots in the country, while the prime minister allotted two plots on his discretion.

Responding to a court query, the lawyer for the Employees Housing Foundation said that two plots were given in the past but no one got two plots after 2006.

During the hearing, a petitioner Muhammad Siddique informed the court he built house on a plot but the plot was being taken back from him. Justice Isa asked the petitioner if he was allotted another plot before. Later the court rejected Siddique's request.

(Sanjeev Sharma can be reached at Sanjeev.s@ians.in)
New Delhi, April 15: Baloch rebels have intensified their attacks on Pakistani military agencies. Latest reports in local Pakistani media say that the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) fired rockets at the offices of Military intelligence (MI) and Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) on Tuesday evening in Kharan city, Balochistan.

BLA spokesperson, Azad Baloch, said that fighters also targeted Frontier Corps (FC) check posts.

Though the BLA claimed casualties among the Pakistani intelligence agencies, the local police told the media that despite the blasts, there was no loss of life or property. Sources told India Narrative that locals saw ambulances coming to the site of the attacks and picking up casualties but cannot confirm the number of dead and wounded.

According to experts, the attack carried out by the BLA in a highly secured area is a major setback for Pakistan's spy agencies. The Pakistani intelligence agencies are unlikely to reveal the extent of damage for fear of demoralising the army. It had resorted to the same strategy earlier during the attacks on the Noshki and Panjgur camps by the Baloch nationalists.

The BLA said these offices were selected for attacks in Kharan city as the intelligence agencies have been seizing people's buildings to spread their terror among Baloch citizens in Kharan and other cities. "They have installed security cameras in different places to track people and hired informers to harass and disappear innocent citizens," the BLA statement read.

The BLA spokesperson said that Pakistan military and intelligence agencies are turning Baloch women into spies against their own people. "In the name of nursing, Baloch women are being sent for military training in Kharan, Khuzdar and Karachi. These women will later be sent to different areas of Balochistan to support the army with its offensives against Baloch people," the statement said.

On the same day, another Baloch armed group--the Baloch Republican Guard (BRG) blew up a gas pipeline in the Dera Murad Jamali area of Naseerabad district in Balochistan.

Experts say that the BRG has been targeting infrastructure in Balochistan. Earlier, the group has blown up mobile phone towers and attacked the assets of oil and gas company Suigas which extracts gas from Balochistan and supplies it to the rest of Pakistan. By carrying out these persistent attacks, Baloch nationalists are sending a message to Islamabad, and also Beijing, that their projects in Balochistan will not remain safe.

With Pakistani army-controlled Balochistan under a total media blackout, information trickles only through local journalists.

Meanwhile, two Pakistani soldiers including one officer were killed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's South Waziristan district. Newly appointed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack that took place in Angoor Adda area of South Waziristan. This was the second such attack in the last five days that resulted in army casualties.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
New Delhi, April 15 : Hours after the Delhi Police removed the saffron flags and hoardings of 'Bhagwa JNU' from outside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in the national capital on Friday, Hindu Sena president Vishnu Gupta said the Delhi Police should not be in such a hurry to take down them as the 'saffron' is not a symbol of terror.

"The police should not be in such a hurry to take down the saffron flag. Saffron is not a symbol of terror that the police is showing haste, it is the right of the law to protect saffron and Hindutva," Gupta told IANS.

The members of Hindu Sena -- a right wing organisation -- had put up saffron flags outside JNU forcing the police to initiate legal action and remove the said flags from there.

The Hindu Sena chief said the Saffron and Hindutva are constantly being insulted in the JNU campus, which is very wrong. "Hindutva is our culture and saffron is the symbol of our culture. The people of any country should not have any objection to saffron," he said.

Gupta further said that Saffron and Hindutva can only trouble an anti-national person. "If someone has a problem with India's culture, then he can leave the country," he quipped.

Notably, the JNU has again become a hotbed of politics after the April 10 violence in the campus in which as many as 16 students were injured during a scuffle that allegedly started over consumption of non vegetarian food on the occasion of Ram Navami.
Mumbai, April 15 : Kangana Ranaut hosted 'Lock Upp' is grabbing all the attention and one of the interesting elements of this show is revelation of intriguing and emotional stories by the contestants.

In a recent episode, Poonam Pandey broke down in tears when she remembered a story related to her family from the past.

Poonam shared an emotional story with Karanvir Bohra and Shivam Sharma. She even began to cry.

She recalled an incident that took place with her family three to four years back. During that time, she was with her whole family, where they all used to live together.

Poonam's family was thrown out of the housing society because it was her family. Even none of the family members told her the reason why they were thrown out of society, because she was the only earning member.

Poonam even said that she never spoke anything evil or wrong to anyone, she was always busy with her own work.

She said: "I haven't said anything bad to anyone till today, show me an article where I have said something wrong to anyone." Karanvir tried to console her. Poonam can't control her tears because she had hear a lot of wrong things about her. She said that: "First try to know me first before saying anything wrong about me." On seeing her crying , Karanvir takes out a tissue and tried to wipe Poonam's tears.

'Lock Upp' streams on ALTBalaji and MX Player.
Bengaluru, April 15 : Popular Front of India (PFI) will take up the legal battle for the victims of Muslim community allegedly attacked by Hindu activists and police personnel in the recent past especially during Ram Navami festivities across India.

Anees Ahmad, National General Secretary of PFI told IANS on Friday that PFI legal cells in all states especially in BJP-ruled states are approaching victims in this regard.

"In Rajasthan, the process has started and in Madhya Pradesh soon our legal counsels would meet victims from the community. The cases will be filed in a week or two," he explained.

PFI legal cell, he said, has handled high profile Hadiya case in Kerala and Muzaffarnagar riots case in Uttar Pradesh.

"In all states, our legal teams will approach victims and provide them legal aid. They will identify the best lawyers for them and help them with documentation, so that there is a good chance of them getting justice and compensation," he stated.

"We are finding that Muslim victims are targetted by governments especially in BJP-ruled states. Stringent cases like the UAPA are being filed against Muslims. While RSS workers who indulge in violence are only filed with petty cases, Muslims are being thrown behind bars for years. The state is not doing its duty of providing legal justice," he said.

A.K. Ashraf, State Secretary for PFI, Karnataka, speaking to IANS said that during the festivities and processions organised during Ram Navami celebrations, Muslim community members were provoked and targeted. "There was deliberate flashing of swords, fire was put, the procession stopped and DJ music was played to provoke Muslims. We are approaching the courts," he said.

He further informed that PFI leaders and workers will visit the houses of victims. "We will lend them our support and legal assistance to fight their cases. The connivance of policemen across the country has been more visible. The police were mute spectators, did not make any attempts to prevent the crowd. There is a dearth of honest police officers," he said.

The Muslims have been targeted in nine states including Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Bihar and Karnataka. There is a big crisis in Madhya Pradesh. It is a failure on parts of respective state governments. In many places saffron flags have been hoisted on mosques. What is the punishment given to him, he questioned.

PFI had earlier charged that the police department is adopting a soft approach on Hindu activists who are targeting Muslims. National General Secretary Anees Ahmad had earlier alleged that police are encouraging the miscreants to indulge in violence against Muslims. The self-confidence of Muslims has come down because of a series of developments and it needs to be lifted up, he had said.
New Delhi, April 15 : Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India on Friday launched the next-gen Ertiga MPV.

As per the company, the next generation of the MPV is powered by an all-new 'Next-Gen' K-series 1.5L Dual Jet, Dual VVT engine with smart 'Hybrid Technology' coupled with an all-new advanced six-speed automatic transmission.

Available in both petrol and CNG option, it offers a mileage of 20.51 km per litre (petrol) and 26.11 km per kg (CNG).

Maruti Suzuki India Managing Director & CEO, Hisashi Takeuchi said: "Ertiga's launch 10 years ago was a significant moment in the Indian automobile industry, as it created a new segment that has been growing at a CAGR of 4.7%." "The 'Next-Gen Ertiga' with advanced technology features will also come with a new engine and an all-new transmission." The launch marks the tenth anniversary of Ertiga which created the compact MPV segment in the country.

Till date, 750,000 units have been sold in the country.
New Delhi, April 15 : Complimenting the people of the state for converting the challenges into opportunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that Himachal Pradesh has everything needed for rapid development.

In his message to people of Himachal Pradesh Day, Prime Minister Modi recalled the challenges of the hilly state at the time of its formation in 1948. He praised the state's achievements in horticulture, power surplus, literacy rate, rural road connectivity, tap water and electricity to every household. He underlined the efforts to build on these achievements in the last seven-eight years.

"Under the young leadership of Jai Ram ji, the 'double engine government' has taken the initiative of expanding rural roads, highway widening, and railway network, its results are now visible. As connectivity is getting better, Himachal's tourism is entering new areas, new regions," the Prime Minister said.

Greeting the people of Himachal Pradesh on the 75th establishment day and he noted the happy coincidence that the 75th establishment day comes in the 75th Year of the Independence. He reiterated the commitment to taking the nectar of development to every inhabitant of the state during the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'.

Striking a personal note, the Prime Minister quoted a poem by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and remembered his own long association with the beautiful state with diligent and determined people.

The Prime Minister highlighted the new strides in tourism and new avenues of opportunities and employment for the local people. He talked about the progress in the health sector by talking about the efficient and fast vaccination during the pandemic.

He emphasised the need to work hard for unlocking the full potential of Himachal Pradesh. "During the Amrit Kaal, there is a need to take forward the work in the fields of tourism, higher education, research, IT, biotechnology, food processing and natural farming. Vibrant Village scheme, announced in this year's budget will give immense benefit to Himachal Pradesh," Modi said.

PM Modi also touched upon increasing connectivity, enriching forests, swachhta and people's participation for these initiatives.

Commenting on the expansion of central welfare schemes by the Chief Minister and his team, especially in the field of social security, he said: "Honest leadership, peace loving environment, blessings of gods and goddesses and people of Himachal who work hard, all these are incomparable. Himachal has everything needed for rapid development," Modi added.
Seoul, April 15 : South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong had a phone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Friday to discuss Seoul's plan to provide additional humanitarian and other support for Ukraine, his office said.

During the talks, Chung expressed serious concerns over civilian casualties in Ukraine amid Russia's invasion and briefed him on plans to provide $30 million in new aid, the foreign ministry said.

Seoul already delivered $1 million worth of humanitarian assistance to Ukraine last month and vowed to consider more support, Yonhap news agency reported.

Kuleba thanked South Korea for showing solidarity and lending support, and the two ministers agreed to expand bilateral cooperation after the war ends, the ministry said.
Moscow/Kiev, April 15 : Ukraine and Russia conducted their fourth prisoner swap since the start of the conflict, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Thursday.

Thirty Ukrainian prisoners-of-war, including 8 civilians, held by the Russian military were released, Vereshchuk said on Telegram, without specifying the number of captives freed by the Ukrainian side, Xinhua news agency reported.

Out of the 22 Ukrainian troops released under the swap, there were five officers, she said.

Ukraine and Russia conducted their first prisoner exchange on March 24.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Bengaluru, April 15 : The Karnataka government has decided to adopt the boy who faced the trauma of "untouchability" at his village for entering the temple.

As per sources, the government will bear the entire expenditure of the four-year-old boy's education.

Minister for Social Welfare Kota Srinivas Poojari has confirmed it. However, talking to IANS, Chandrashekar Shivappa Dasar, a 29-year-old father of the victim boy stated that after the incident they have been forced to move out of the village. "In my village, we lived in our house and somehow managed to find livelihood. Now, we have to pay rent and also struggle for earnings," he explains.

"We don't want funds, financial assistance. I want a loan to be given by the government. Let them take my house and little land as mortgage. Lend me help to stand financially independent," he says.

"What my son had gone through, no one should ever. After the incident, he does not allow me to go near the temple fearing that people would assault me. Whenever he sees police, he gets traumatised," he said.

The government has decided to get the boy admitted in a reputed school for first to fifth standard. From sixth to tenth grade, he would be given direct admission in Morarji Desai Residential School without entrance. For II PUC also, he would be given a place in Morarji Desai Hostel. The Social Welfare department would sponsor graduation studies of his choice and if he wants to pursue a professional course like MBBS, the government would also take care of the fees, sources said.

Speaking to IANS, Suralkar Vikas Kishore, Deputy Commissioner, Koppal stated that the government has declared a scheme in the name of the boy and there is a communication that he had been adopted. "But, exact guidelines and nature of the adoption we are yet to receive," he said.

"It can be one step in the direction of sending a message to the society regarding creating awareness on untouchability we can say. Actually as we are waiting for the clear cut and exact nature of guidelines in this regard, the message has been informally communicated to his family", he explained.

Karnataka government has proudly announced a scheme in the name of Dasar's son Vinay to bridge the gap between upper caste and Dalits in rural areas. It is called the 'Vinaya Samarasya Scheme'. Dasar, the father of the boy, has got a Rs 1 lakh loan from the government and feels that at least he should have been given a loan of Rs 5 lakh to restructure his life.

The incident had taken place when the family of the boy had gone to the Marutheshwara temple in Miyapur village to get the 'abhishek (ritual)' done on the occasion of the birthday of his son Vinay. They had to stop at the main entrance of the temple as Dalits are not allowed inside and priests would perform rituals and bless them.

There is a tradition of pieces of coconut being placed on either side of the doors of the main entrance. The boy ran and took one of the pieces of the coconut from there and it was observed by the upper caste people.

Later, a fine of Rs 25,000 was imposed on the family for letting the boy pick up the coconut piece saying that the sanctity of the temple has been lost. The news came out and it made headlines. After which the police were forced to take action.

The family was allegedly forced to move out of Miyapur village following the police action against the practice of untouchability including the arrest for five persons belonging to upper caste.

Dasar claimed that he had to take care of his parents and two children, including a new born baby. After the police action, his life allegedly turned to hell in the village. When his wife was nine months pregnant and faced health issues, the local villager who runs a car on rent, denied transport despite being offered money. The whole village allegedly stopped talking to him after the police action. He could not send their son to the Anganwadi center.

Miyapur village in Koppal district, where the incident had happened has 1,000 houses. Of these, 970 belong to Ganiga Lingayat community people. Twenty-five families belong to Scheduled Caste and five belong to Valmiki community.
Moscow, April 15 : Alleging that Ukraine continues to hold 6,224 foreign nationals from 11 countries hostage as human shields, the Russian authorities have charged that it with not providing any humanitarian corridors towards the Russian side though they announced 10 corridors in the Zaporozhye and Donetsk directions for April 14.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Russian authorities said that in strict compliance with the norms of international humanitarian law, it continues to provide comprehensive assistance to the population of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, as well as to civilians and foreign nationals in the "liberated territories" of Ukraine.

They also said that they are ready to deploy humanitarian corridors in any other directions as soon as possible and to ensure the safe evacuation of civilians and the Russian forces strictly observe the ceasefire on all routes, including those declared by the Ukrainian side.

The Russian side said that despite all the difficulties and obstacles imposed by the Ukrainian side, over the past day, without the participation of Kiev, 14,606 people were evacuated from dangerous areas, 2,328 of them children, and in total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 798,237 people have already been evacuated, of which 149,419 are children.

"The state border of the Russian Federation was crossed by 104,487 personal vehicles, of which 138,014 people have already been rescued from the lawlessness of the nationalists, including 815 from Mariupol via a humanitarian corridor to the east, without any involvement of the Ukrainian side." Furthermore, 76 foreign vessels from 18 countries remain blocked in Ukrainian ports. The threat of shelling and high mine danger created by Kiev in its internal waters and territorial sea prevents vessels from safely leaving the ports and reaching the open sea, however the Russian Federation is opening daily from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Moscow time) a humanitarian corridor, which is a safe lane south-west of Ukraine's territorial sea, 80 nautical miles long and three nautical miles wide, they added.

"Once again, we call on the International Maritime Organisation and the management of ship-owning companies to influence Kiev to take measures aimed at unblocking and securing the departure of foreign vessels from Ukrainian ports," Russian military officials said.

They also said that more than 9,500 temporary accommodation centres continue to operate in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and are fully equipped with recreational facilities and hot meals. The refugees are treated individually and provided with qualified medical and psychological assistance.

A sufficient number of buses have been placed at the border crossing points to transport people to their chosen places of residence or to temporary accommodation centres.

The Russian authoritiesA also said that since March 2, 11,663.8 tons of humanitarian cargo have already been delivered to Ukraine, 820 humanitarian actions have been carried out, including six actions in Kherson region, as well as in Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, during which 226 tons of basic necessities, medicines and food were transferred to the civilian population of the liberated areas.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Chennai, April 15 : MMK President M.H. Jawahirullah has urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin to ban actor Joseph Vijay's "The Beast" as it demeans the Muslim community as a whole.

Citing the ban on the movie in Kuwait and Qatar, Jawahirullah said the Muslim community braving the natural calamity and the Covid-19 pandemic had rendered yeoman service to the community, but "The Beast" demeans them and has the possibility of creating a law and order situation in the state.

According to him, movies like "Viswaroopam", and "Thupakki" had demeaned the Muslim community, and after a lull in production of such movies, now "The Beast" has given life to such a movie genre.

The Tamil movie is produced by Sun Pictures, part of Sun TV Group, and directed by Nelson.

The MMK is an ally of the ruling DMK.
New Delhi, April 15 : Since Tibet's occupation, China has disrupted the natural flow of rivers by the pursuit of a series of ill-conceived environmental and developmental policies such as the Great Leap Forward and South-North Water Diversion project etc.

This has led to a dam-building spree on the Tibetan plateau with disastrous impacts on Asia's major rivers. China is now home to over 30,000 dams, more than the total number of dams in the rest of the world put together, Global Order reported.

Since the Asian continent is already water stressed, it is likely that south and south-east Asia could become the flash point for water wars in the future. In such a circumstance, China's hydro hegemony based on the control of the Tibetan plateau could spell economic and ecological, not to mention humanitarian, disasters in the region.

Due to these mega dams, many countries especially those in the downstream regions have now started to express serious concerns over the geo-political implications of China's unnatural appetite for dams. Although China has couched its dam building projects as clean energy initiatives, its downstream neighbours fear that China could use water as a political weapon to pressure them into submission and compliance on boundary, trade, and political disputes.

India, China's southern neighbour and regional rival, is particularly concerned about China's recent plans to build a mega dam on the Brahmaputra. This super dam that China is planning in Metok County (historically Tibet's Pema Koe region) is expected to be much larger than the Three Gorges Dam - the world's current largest power station. With the completion of this mega dam, China would wield enormous leverage over India and Bangladesh's water economy and ecology, raising fears that this mega dam could cause mega problems for everyone involved.

The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that the Brahmaputra basin which includes the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is already the site of ongoing territorial disputes between India and China, arousing not just environmental but also serious security concerns in India, the report said.

China now enjoys an asymmetric power over its neighbours. This not only hinders the development of a rules-based regional order in Asia, but also gives China a lot of geopolitical power through the hydro-hegemony that it has established by occupying Tibet.

In such an environmental, economic, and security context, what is happening on the Tibetan plateau is of critical importance to the rest of the world especially Asia. Taking cognisance of the critical matter, the exile Tibetan Parliament passed an official resolution during its third session last month on the situation of Tibet's environment.

It resolved to highlight China's damming of Asian rivers and apprise world leaders including India's diplomatic and political leadership on the significance of Tibet's environment. As the headwater source of Asia's major rivers, the Tibetan plateau is key to the economic, ecological and geopolitical security in Asia.

However, the potential impact of the Tibetan plateau's environment is still surprisingly unfamiliar to many, perhaps due to the fact that the remoteness, high altitude and harsh weather conditions make research on the Tibetan plateau challenging. China is clearly aware of this fact and is exploiting this challenge to establish its hydro-hegemony and skew the regional power balance in its favour.
New Delhi, April 15 : Amid the Ukraine war and sanctions, Russia has begun delivering the second squadron of S-400 advanced surface-to-air missile defence system to India, ahead of schedule, officials said.

By end of this month, the delivery of the critical system will be completed and thereafter it will be deployed.

The first squadron of the S-400 system arrived in India in December 2021 and has been deployed on the Punjab border to thwart any air strikes from both Pakistan and China.

India has procured five S-400 systems from Russia through a $5-billion deal signed in October 2018.

All the five units of the S-400 system, which can take down a hostile aircraft or missile at a range between 40km and 400km, are expected to be operational by 2022.

The S-400 system is capable of tracking, engaging and addressing the threat of Chinese or Pakistani fighters the moment they take off from air bases. The system can track multiple targets at multiple ranges and neutralise them simultaneously.

India decided to upgrade its military infrastructure when the country was locked in a major faceoff with China along the Line of Actual Control in July 2020. The threat of two-front war - from China and Pakistan - made India go for large scale arms deals and Russia is still one of India's largest arms suppliers.

There were apprehension on delay in delivery of critical weapon system after Russia's war with Ukraine. However, with delivery of the second squadron of S-400 system, India is hopeful of getting other military capabilities.

Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited India and had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and apprised them about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine while discussing bilateral ties.

Lavrov and Jaishankar held discussions over Russia's crude oil offer, rupee-ruble payment, ongoing arms deals, Ukraine crisis, and the situation in Afghanistan and Iran.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Kolkata, April 15 : Bolpur-Santiniketan in Birbhum district of West Bengal, which houses the iconic Visva-Bharati University founded by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, is on the boil following the gang rape of a tribal girl late on Thursday evening.

The incident happened when the victim went to a local fairground with her boyfriend. He later informed the police that suddenly five persons came to the spot, attacked and injured him and abducted the girl. They took the victim to a nearby river bed and raped her. The victim is currently under treatment at a local hospital.

Senior police officials including the Birbhum district police superintendent, Nagendra Nath Tripathi, visited the house of the victim on Friday morning. Tripathi said police artists are trying to make sketches of the accused persons based on the description given by the victim's friend.

"It is suspected that the accused are not local people and they came from outside. All police stations have been alerted and we are tracking all possible avenues to catch the culprits," Tripathi said.

The incident has come as an immense embarrassment for the Mamata Banerjee government which is already facing criticism for the recent rape of a minor girl, who died later at Hanskhali in Nadia district of West Bengal. The chief minister could not avoid the heat after she gave a love-angle twist to the case. Legal experts, opposition politicians and civil society members criticized her comments, saying that as per the law even consensual sex with a minor is considered as rape and hence a crime.
Chennai, April 15 : Tamil Nadu's DMK government has commenced a series of meetings with legal experts to check the possibilities of restoring the 10.5 per cent internal reservation for the Vanniayar community under the Most Backward Class quota.

The Supreme Court had struck down the internal reservation for the Vanniyar community, stating that it violated the fundamental rights of equality, non-discrimination and equal opportunity of 115 other MBCs and de-notified communities in the state.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin held a meeting with top officials of the Law Department along with Law Minister, S. Raghupathi and Chief Secretary V. Irai Anbu on Thursday at the Secretariat to brain storm for a solution to restore the reservation.

Stalin had, during a debate in the Assembly earlier in April, said that the government would take steps to restore Vanniyar reservation just like it had secured 7.5 per cent horizontal quota for students of state government schools for admission in professional courses.

The PMK, the political arm of the Vanniyar community, is on a relentless struggle for restoring reservation for the community under the MBC quota. Party founder leader Dr S. Ramadoss has urged the state government to furnish the data on the backward and most backward classes in the state and to restore the internal reservation for the Vanniyar community.

While the previous AIADMK government under K. Palaniswami had passed the bill for the 10.5 per cent internal reservation just days before the notification to the 2021 Assembly elections, the DMK government, that succeeded the AIADMK, passed the orders for the reservation. The DMK is trying to woo the PMK as the party can become more stronger in northern Tamil Nadu which is a fiefdom of the Vanniyar community.
Chennai, April 15 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday visited the residential area of narikuravar/gypsies at Avadi here and had food at one residence.

He also distributed government welfare measures to the community members.

Stalin's visit was after the gypsies had invited him to visit their locality over a video conference after he had interacted with three schoolgoing girls in that community.

Earlier last month, the girls had narrated the problems they initially faced in their school and how they overcame them to an online media.

Stalin met the girls at the state Secretariat.

On Friday, Stalin distributed the state healthcare inclusion cards, ration cards, loans to roadside vendors and social security financial assistance to several persons of the gypsy community.

Later, he had food at the residence of Dharshani, a school student who had met him earlier.

The gypsies expressed their happiness to Stalin on his visit and the latter said he had requested the Central government to include the narikuravar community under the scheduled tribe category.
New Delhi, April 15 : The burglary at Hindi cinema actor Sonam Kapoor's Delhi residence did not take place in just a day, rather, the thieves gradually stole precious items over a span of 10-11 months.

"The jewellery and cash were stolen in a span of 10-11 months, as and when the accused nurse got a chance," a Delhi Police official told IANS.

A complaint was lodged two months back, on February 23, regarding theft at the residence of Harish Ahuja at Amrita Shergil Marg in Delhi. Notably, Harish Ahuja is father-in-law of Sonam.

The complainant who had noticed the robbery on February 11, however, reported the incident 12 days later on February 23 after which Delhi Police registered an FIR under section 381 (Theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master) of the Indian Penal Code at the Tughlak Road police station and initiated an investigation into the case.

The case was being jointly investigated by the special staff of New Delhi district and the Crime Branch of Delhi Police.

The news about the theft at the actor's residence broke on April 9, mounting further pressure on the cops to deliver the result urgently. Four days later, on April 13, the police arrested a couple -- a nurse and her husband -- for the said Rs 2.4 crore burglary.

The accused nurse, identified as Aparna Ruth Wilson (30), was working as a home medical care assistant at Kapoor's residence at Amrita Shergil Marg in Delhi and looking after Sonam's husband Anand Ahuja's mother. The husband of the accused woman, who was also involved in selling the stolen items, was identified as Naresh Kumar Sagar.

During the interrogation of the accused duo several startling revelations came to the fore.

The first one was the robbery did not happen in a day. Since March 2021, the accused woman has been visiting the victim's house as a nurse. It was during this period, she observed that there were jewellery and cash in one almirah, the official said.

One day, as the accused took the victim to the almirah in a wheel-chair, she found that jewellery worth crores and cash in it. She told her husband about it and the duo conspired to steal it. "Naresh asked her to steal jewellery at intervals so that it could not be noticed easily. As per the plan, she used to steal jewellery at night," the police official said.

But as the saying goes from a popular TV series -- "The night is dark and full of terrors" -- it was not easy to even steal at night as the almirah containing the jewellery was not far from the victim.

The accused dealt with the problem with the help of 'sedatives'. The accused woman used to give sedatives to the victim at night so that the latter would not wake up and in the meantime she could steal the cash.

After stealing the jewellery, Aparna Ruth Wilson used to handover it to her husband, who further sold it to different jewellers of the city.

Gradually, the life of the accused husband and wife started changing. They paid off their debts, parental medical expenses and also purchased one second hand i-10 car from the stolen money.

Meanwhile, the accused jeweller was also nabbed after the prime accused were arrested. So far, the police have recovered 100 diamond pieces, six gold chains, six diamond bangles, a diamond bracelet, two tops (earrings), one brass coin and one i-10 car.

(Ujwal Jalali can be reached at ujwal.j@ians.in)
New York, April 15 : People with a history of certain psychiatric conditions, such as psychosis and anxiety, have a heightened risk of breakthrough Covid-19, a finding that may be related to impaired immune response as well as risky behaviours associated with some disorders.

The finding was consistent even with people who are vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2, said researchers at the University of California-San Francisco.

The team found that patients over 65, with substance abuse, psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, adjustment disorder, and anxiety, faced increased risks of up to 24 per cent for breakthrough Covid.

For those under 65, risks were up to 11 per cent higher than for those without psychiatric history.

"Our research suggests that increased breakthrough infections in people with psychiatric disorders cannot be entirely explained by socio-demographic factors or pre-existing conditions," said Aoife O'Donovan, from the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.

"It's possible that immunity following vaccination wanes more quickly or more strongly for people with psychiatric disorders and/or they could have less protection to newer variants." In the study, published in JAMA Network Open, the researchers tracked data from 263,697 US patients, who had completed their vaccine regimen and had at least one test for SARS-CoV-2.A Surprisingly, given the greater incidence of breakthrough infections among younger people, this study showed significantly smaller effects in the under-65s group.

Moreover, risks were 10 per cent lower in participants with psychotic disorders compared to those without a psychiatric diagnosis a" a decrease that O'Donovan attributes to possible lower socialisation among younger people with psychotic disorders compared with older people who "may be less socially isolated because of their greater burden of ill health and contacts with caregivers".

However, risks for breakthrough infections associated with substance abuse, adjustment disorder, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder were all higher in the younger cohort than their peers without a psychiatric diagnosis - 11 per cent, 9 per cent, 4 per cent and 3 per cent, respectively.

According to Kristen Nishimi, from the UCSF Weill Institute, the higher incidence of breakthrough infection among older participants may be due to "decreased immunological response to vaccines that has been associated with some psychiatric disorders, which may be more substantial in older adults".

It's also possible that older adults with psychiatric disorders "may require more frequent in-person care, which could increase their interactions with the health care system", she noted.

"Mental health is important to consider in conjunction with other risk factors, and some patients should be prioritised for boosters and other critical preventive efforts," said O'Donovan.
New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, April 15 : With death staring at Kerala nurse Nimisha Priya, jailed in Yemen after being pronounced guilty of killing a Yemeni national, a collective 'Save Nimisha Forum' working for Nimisha's release, has managed to get retired Supreme Court judge Kurian Joseph to act as interlocutor to see how her life can be saved.

The Forum operating in Delhi has been trying to see how this can be achieved and Joseph said he is happy to contribute.

Joseph will soon get a team of former diplomats and if necessary he will travel to Yemen to speak to the family of the Yemeni national.

The Forum is also getting ready to bring the little daughter of Priya and her mother to the forefront and they are also getting ready to travel to Yemen to make one last attempt.

According to Yemeni rules, the only possibility of any reprieve for Nimisha is if the family of Talal Mahdi pardons her for blood money -- compensation paid by an offender or his kin to the family of the victim -- in accordance with the Sharia law and diplomatic intervention. This is what the Forum is aiming for and hopes that Joseph will be able to swing it.

It was last month that a Yemeni court dismissed the appeal of Priya in the murder case of Talal Mahdi, in which she, along with another person, are the prime accused.

The two have been sentenced to death for the murder of Mahdi in 2017.

Hailing from Palakkad, Nimisha a nurse by profession, reached Yemen in 2012 with her husband. In 2015, with the help of Talal Mahdi, she set up a clinic. By this time her husband and their child had returned home.

Soon, differences cropped up between her and Mahdi and she accused him of torturing her and taking away her passport, making her trip back to her home state impossible.

On July 25, 2017, she injected Talal with sedatives with the aim of sedating him and take her passport back and flee.

But things went wrong and he collapsed after being administered the sedative.

Realising that Mahdi has died, with another's person help she disposed off his body, which was cut into pieces in a water tank.

Four days later, the crime surfaced and both were arrested and while Nimisha was sentenced to death, the other person was sentenced to life.

The news came out only when a Kerala gospel worker reached a jail in Yemen to preach. Nimisha handed over a letter to him describing the entire incident.
Guwahati/Agartala, April 15 : The northeastern states on Friday celebrated Rongali Bihu and Poila Boishakh with traditional fervour and enthusiasm. These festivities were affected in Assam and other northeastern states since 2019 due to agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and Covid-19 situation.

Lakhs of cheerful men, women and children in traditional and new attires took part in Bihu and Poila Boishakh celebrations, mostly in five of the eight northeastern states -- Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

A festive atmosphere prevailed in the residential areas, villages and in mela (fair) grounds in the region.

People in Assam and other northeastern states were gripped in the spirit of Rongali or Bohag Bihu, the beginning of the Assamese New Year, giving a glimpse of the pre-pandemic festive fervour.

Bihu is the main festival in Assam. 'Rongali' or 'Bohag Bihu' observed in mid-April, 'Kongali' or 'Kati Bihu' observed in mid-October and 'Bhogali' or 'Magh Bihu' in mid-January. 'Rongali Bihu' is the most important and colourful of the three.

All the three Bihu festivals could not be properly celebrated last year (2021), and also in 2020 due to the Covid situation, and the demonstrations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Assam's week-long spring festival, 'Rongali Bihu', started on Thursday with the first day being dedicated to cattle. Before the actual 'Rongali' starts on Friday, the 'Garu Bihu' is observed on Thursday when all the households in villages bathe their cows by the riverside.

People also exchange various gifts, including the traditional 'Gamocha' (a white piece of cloth with a red border having a customary pattern), with their near and dear ones as a mark of love.

Women were seen making various delicacies, besides 'pithas' (rice cakes) while the markets are flooded with hundreds of traditional food items along with clothes to celebrate the festival.

Shoppers, especially women, throng the markets to buy their favourite clothes to mark the tradition of wearing new clothes on the first day of 'Bohag'.

The people also exchange various gifts, including the traditional 'Gamocha' (a white piece of cloth with a red border having a customary pattern), with their near and dear ones as a mark of love.

Besides mouth-watering and delicious food, dance, cultural functions and songs are the main attractions of 'Rongali Bihu'.

The Assam government has also given 'Bihu financial aid' to the Bihu organisers -- a grant of Rs 1.50 lakh to each of the Bihu committees.

Besides Bihu, Poila Boishakh or Bengali New Year, is also being celebrated along with numerous events including cultural functions in Tripura, Assam, Manipur and other northeastern states.
New Delhi, April 15 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong, on Friday held discussions on the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the situation in South China Sea.

Modi made a phone call to Trong and held deliberations over a wide range of issues.

The two leaders complimented each other on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Vietnam, which is being celebrated this year.

They expressed satisfaction over the rapid pace of wide-ranging cooperation under the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was established during Modi's visit to Vietnam in 2016.

The Prime Minister reiterated Vietnam's importance as an important pillar of India's Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific Vision, and sought to enhance the scope of the bilateral ties, besides working for expeditious progress on the existing initiatives.

Modi also requested for greater facilitation of market access for India's pharma and agri-products in Vietnam.

Highlighting the historical and civilisational links between the two countries, Modi expressed happiness over India's involvement in the restoration of Cham monuments in Vietnam.

The two leaders also agreed to enhance the defence partnership between the two countries.

They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of shared interest, including the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the situation in South China Sea.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Chennai, April 15 : Four suspects, who were allegedly involved in the gang rape of a woman doctor in Tamil Nadu's Vellore, have been booked under the Goondas Act on Friday.

The accused were booked by Vellore District Collector P. Kumarapandian on recommendations of the District Superintendent of Police, Rajesh Kannan.

The Act ensures that the suspects will not be released on bail till a minimum of one year is completed in prison.

The four suspects - R. Parthiban, R. Bharat, E. Santhosh Kumar and V. Manikantan - belonged to the Sathuvachari near Vellore and are lodged in the Central Prison, Vellore.

The incident occurred on March 17 when the woman doctor, who works in a private hospital, along with her friend was walking back to the medical facility after watching a late night movie.

An autorickshaw carrying five people, including driver, approached the duo and solicited a ride. Though the duo was initially uncomfortable but later boarded the vehicle.

The duo asked the auto driver to drop them at hospital. However, when the auto veered away from the route, the duo raised an alarm after which the gang overpowered them and took them to a secluded place.

They gang raped the woman at knife point at pinned down her male companion.

The gang then stole their mobile phones, the jewellery which they were wearing and took the man to a nearby ATM at knife point and withdrew Rs 40,000.

The survivor lodged an online complaint with the Vellore police on March 22 and a case was registered at the Vellore police station under several sections of the IPC including 376 D (gang rape) and section 4 (penalty for harassment of woman) of Tamil Nadu prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, police said.

Subsequently, five persons, including a minor, were arrested. The minor boy was sent to a correctional home and the others are lodged at the Vellore central prison.
Thane : , April 15 (IANS) In a shocking incident, a senior citizen from Thane allegedly shot dead his daughter-in-law for not serving him breakfast, police said on Friday.

The incident happened on Thursday morning when Kashinath P. Patil, 76, killed his 42-year-old daughter-in-law with a revolver at their home in Rabodi and fled.

Hearing the sounds of the gunshots, neighbours rushed there and rushed the profusely bleeding woman to a hospital where she succumbed after a few hours.

Another daughter-in-law of Patil has filed a police complaint against their father-in-law, who is engaged in a sand supply business.

The probable trigger was the woman served Patil tea only and was reportedly delaying or denying him breakfast, police said.

Police are investigating if there were any other motives or provocations behind the sudden killing that shocked Thane residents and all family members are being questioned.
Kolkata, April 15 : As BJP's 'fact-finding team to probe into the alleged rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl at Hanshkhali in West Bengals Nadia district met the victim's family on Friday, a political controversy was triggered as a crucial member of the team, who is also a minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government, didn't turn up for the visit.

Although it is an all-woman five-member team as announced by the BJP central leadership on Wednesday, only four of its members were present during the visit on Friday.

A crucial member of the team, Baby Rani Maurya, who's the Minister for Women and Child Development in the Uttar Pradesh cabinet, did not turn up.

The other four members of the committee -- BJP's national Vice President Rekha Verma, Tamil Nadu MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, Bengal MLA Sreerupa Mitra Choudhuri and actress-turned BJP leader Khushbu Sundar -- visited the victim's family in Nadia district.

"Met the family of the victim in Hanskhali Nadia, WB. A 14yr old was brutally raped n murdered. Our BJP President @JPNadda had formed a fact-finding committee. Spoke to the family n paid our condolences. Report will be submitted soon," Khushbu tweeted.

However, the absence of Maurya has triggered political mud-slinging in the state.

Senior Trinamool Congress MLA, Tapas Roy, told IANS that Maurya deliberately skipped the visit to avoid 'uncomfortable' questions.

"What answer would she give if she asked about the heinous rape cases that took place in Unnao and Hathras in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh? Does she have any answer as to why the BJP did not form a fact-finding team for Unnao and Hathras. We are according least importance to the fact-finding team of the BJP, which is here just to influence the CBI probe into this matter," Roy said.

Reacting to Roy's remarks, former BJP Bengal unit chief Rahul Sinha told IANS that by raising the issue of her absence, Trinamool is trying to divert attention from the principal issue, which is the minor's rape and murder, and the subsequent attempt by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to downplay it.

"Why is Trinamool Congress bothered about our fact-finding team? Anyway, we are not bothered. Our fact- finding team will do its work diligently and submit the report to our national President," Sinha said.
Chandigarh, April 15 : Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday expressed concern over the statewide incidents of fire in wheat crop. He demanded a compensation of at least Rs 25,000 per acre for the crops destroyed by the fire.

In a statement, Hooda said hundreds of acres of crop was destroyed in Rohtak's villages alone. Likewise, crops were destroyed in Hisar, Jind, Jhajjar and Fatehabad districts.

"Fire broke out in many places due to yesterday's thunderstorm, short-circuit and other reasons. In such a situation, efforts should be made to increase awareness among farmers and the public by the government. Farmers need to be more careful about this," he said.

The Leader of Opposition said the Fire Department should increase its capacity in summer so that more and more vehicles can reach the spot, if needed, and farmers can be saved from losses.

"Today the crop is neither safe in the field, nor in the mandis. No arrangement has been made to cover the crops lying under the open sky," he added.

Hooda demanded Rs 500 per quintal bonus to the farmers on the minimum support price MSP of wheat.

The government has hiked the MSP for wheat by Rs 40 to Rs 2,015 per quintal and for mustard seed by Rs 400 to Rs 5,050 per quintal for the current crop year.

Hooda also demanded a law to guarantee MSP in the interest of farmers. "The farmers should get MSP under Swaminathan commission's C2 formula, only then will farming become profitable for farmers," he stated.
Islamabad, April 15 : The Amnesty International has urged Pakistani authorities to immediately release eight people arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for "criticising the state" on Twitter, Dawn reported.

"The Pakistani authorities must stop using the draconian Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) to punish people who are simply exercising their right to freedom of expression online," Dinushika Dissanayake, the rights body's Director for South Asia demanded.

She pointed out that for the longest period of time, successive governments in Pakistan had used the law as a tool to crush peaceful dissent and intimidate supporters of political opposition.

Dissanayake called for the government to immediately and unconditionally release the eight people arrested across Pakistan Punjab, adding that instead of quashing dissenting voices, the authorities should end their "repressive crackdown" on the right to freedom of expression.

Earlier this week, the FIA had launched a crackdown on social media activists it believed were involved in a "smear campaign" against institutions, especially the army, ever since former Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted through a no-confidence motion.

Since last Sunday, the top trending hashtags on Twitter were those targeting the army, the judiciary and the new government, and on Tuesday the tweets using those hashtags soared to 4.3 million.

An FIA official said that they had arrested some eight suspects in connection with a social media campaign against the army and the judiciary from different parts of Punjab, including Lahore, Multan and Faisalabad.
New Delhi, April 15: Will the newly inducted Shehbaz Sharif government in Pakistan be willing to expand the tax base, curtail exemptions and bring in structural reforms required to fix the economy? Though the new coalition government has little time in hand with general elections slated next year, it will have to take "some tough decisions" to ensure that the economy starts to recover and it continues to get multilateral lenders' assistance. The next few weeks will be critical to understand what the new government plans to do, analysts said.

According to Fitch Ratings, the change in the government has raised near-term policy uncertainty amid rising risks from rising commodity prices. China, too, is waiting for some political stability in the country before it rolls over a debt of $2.5 billion.

For Islamabad, the immediate task at hand is to renew negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In February, the approved disbursement of $1 billion under its $6 billion loan programme. The IMF has indicated that it will continue with the programme under the new government but Sharif's team will have to take "those tough calls" and not embark on the path of populism.

Pakistan's total external debt in 2022-23 stands at $20 billion, of which $7 billion comprises Chinese and Saudi deposits, which are likely to be rolled over.

"Even then the new government would have to expand the tax base and curtail exemptions by bringing in structural reforms, if it really wants the economy to perform," an analyst told India Narrative.

As on April 8, Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves fell further to $10.8 billion from $11.3 billion recorded the previous week. This can support imports for just two months. Analysts also said that the new government is also expected to reach out to the Gulf nations.

"The new government will definitely try to iron out differences with the Gulf countries... this will also help Pakistan get further assistance," an analyst told India Narrative.

A lack of initiative in implementation of the reform process could jeopardise Pakistan's ability to get assistance from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

"The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is leaving behind a mess that is bigger in size and murkier than the one created by the government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 2018. It took about one year to clear the landmines that the PML-N had left behind but the chaos created by the PTI may even take longer before order is restored," the Express Tribune said.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Washington, April 15 : NASA's Mars Ingenuity helicopter, originally expected to fly only five times, has aced its 25th flight on the Red Planet, setting new personal bests for speed and distance.

Weighing just 1.8 kg, Ingenuity became the first rotorcraft ever to make powered flight beyond Earth.

In a blogpost, mission officials shared that Flight 25, performed on April 8, sent Ingenuity soaring 704 metres to the northwest, almost 80 metres longer than the current record by Flight 9.

The helicopter's ground speed was about 5.5 metres per second, which is another record.

NASA expected the mini helicopter to be in the rarefied Martian air for about 161.5 seconds, and it flew for 161.3 seconds.

"#MarsHelicopter is breaking records again! Ingenuity completed its 25th and most ambitious flight," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, which manages Ingenuity's mission, said in a tweet.

"It broke its distance and ground speed records, travelling 704 metres (2,310 feet) at 5.5 metres per second while flying for 161.3 seconds." The little chopper landed with NASA's Perseverance rover on the floor of Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021. Ingenuity's $85 million mission was supposed to be done after flight number five.

But the solar-powered chopper had performed so well and remained so healthy, despite Mars's thin atmosphere, that NASA granted a mission extension.

The 25th flight was the second in five days for Ingenuity and its fifth sortie in the last month.

In the blog post, Ben Morrell, Ingenuity operations engineer at JPL, wrote that Perseverance is making great progress on its drive to the river delta, and it is important that Ingenuity keeps pace to arrive at the delta before the rover does.

"This is for two reasons: telecommunications and safety," Morrell said.

"Ingenuity only communicates with the helicopter base station on Perseverance, so it needs to stay close enough to have a good connection.

"For safety, it is ideal if Ingenuity flies ahead of Perseverance to avoid ever having to fly past or near the rover, to minimise the risk of any close contact in a worst-case scenario," he noted.
New Delhi, April 15 : Delhi Police has seized 500 grams heroin valued at Rs 1.5 crore in the international market and arrested two drug traffickers, including a woman, in this connection, an official said here on Friday.

The accused were identified as Aamna (26) and Ravi (22), both residents of Narela, Delhi.

Furnishing details, DCP (outer north district) BK Yadav said a tip-off was received regarding the presence of the accused duo in the outer north area after which the police conducted a raid and arrested both Aamna and Ravi with half Kg of heroin.

"During house search of accused Aamna, packing material (electronic weighing machine, different size polythene pouches) have also been recovered.

Aamna is the main trafficker of Narela and the co-accused, Ravi used to assist her as her carrier," DCP Yadav said.

Accordingly, the police registered a case under sections 21 and 29 of the NDPS Act.

The senior police officer informed that Ajmera alias Kabri, elder sister of Aamna, was previously arrested by the Narcotics Cell of outer north district in 2020 in an NDPS case. She is still in judicial custody.

It was officially learnt that the accused Amma used to procure heroin from Pramod Yadav alias Moola, resident of Saroop Nagar, who was also arrested by Special staff in November 2021, during an encounter.

"After the arrest of Pramod Yadav, accused Aamna started receiving heroin from one Imran. Efforts are being made to locate the hideout of the source and their other associates," the official added.
Hyderabad, April 15 : Unable to pay hospital bill, a man committed suicide by hanging in a private hospital in Telangana's Jayashankar Bhupalapally district.

Marri Bapu, 46, was undergoing treatment after consuming pesticide following denial of job to his son as promised by the authorities while acquiring his land for Kakatiya Thermal Power Project (KTPP) in Mahabubpalli village of Bhupalapally mandal.

A depressed Bapu hanged self in hospital ward on Thursday as his family members who had gone to arrange the money had not returned even after three days.

As the hospital had told Bapu's family members that they will discharge him only after payment of Rs 60,000, they had gone to arrange the money. As they couldn't arrange the same, he ended his life.

Leaders of various political parties demanded action against the hospital for pressurising the family for bill payment. They also staged protest against KTPP, demanding Rs 25 lakh compensation for the family.

Bapu is survived by wife, a son and a daughter. His son said their two acre land was acquired for KTPP in 2006. The officials had promised that they will provide job to a member of his family.

Bapu, who was working as a labourer in another village in the district, has been running around offices to get a job for his son. As the promised job was not given, Bapu had become dejected.

He went to KTPP and stayed there on March 30 and 31, begging officials to give some job to his son. With no positive response coming from officials concerned, he consumed pesticide in front of the main gate of KTPP on April 1. Security guards posted there shifted him to a private hospital in Bhupalapally.

When he recovered, the hospital approached KTPP officials for bill payment. As there was no response from them, the hospital started pressurising Bapu's family to pay the bill.

Authorities of the undivided Andhra Pradesh had acquired 900 acres from 750 farmers in 2006. While paying compensation as per market price, the government had promised a job to one member of every affected family.

Locals say jobs were provided to 550 people. Children of remaining land evacuees were then either minor or were not eligible. Since then they had been running around the offices.
New Delhi, April 15 : BJP's Himachal Pradesh in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna on Friday said before challenging anyone, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) must build a decent organisation in the state.

In an interview with IANS, Khanna said Punjab officials meeting Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal "is not only an unconstitutional act but also shows how incompetent Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is".

Khanna also said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government will be formed for the second consecutive time in the state for its pro-people policy.

"The state has witnessed all round development in the last five years under the double engine government of BJP and people will elect the BJP government for a second consecutive term to continue it," he said.

Here are some excerpts of the interview.

Q: Do you see AAP as challengers to the BJP in the year-end Himachal Pradesh assembly polls? Khanna: AAP has no presence and stake in Himachal Pradesh. They do not have any organisational structure. AAP tried to build an organisation but collapsed within a short span of time. Before challenging anyone, AAP must build a decent organisation in Himachal Pradesh. AAP does not have ground presence while the strong cadre of BJP is present in each polling booth across Himachal Pradesh. We have no challenge from anyone and AAP is not in the race. BJP will form the next government in the state for our pro-people policy.

Q: AAP is claiming many unhappy leaders of BJP will be joining them. What would you say? Khanna: None of our leaders are joining AAP. What happened recently is witnessed by everyone; the whole AAP's Himachal Pradesh leadership left the party and joined the BJP. Would they tell people about the reasons behind whole AAP's Himachal Pradesh leaders leaving the party? I tell you... they left the AAP due to wrong policies and the failed party leadership.

Q: AAP leaders in Delhi are claiming that fearing defeat, the BJP government is copying the AAP's freebies model.

Khanna: They need to tell which schemes of Delhi government we are following. Not a single scheme of the Delhi government is followed in Himachal Pradesh. We are a pro-people government. The BJP government in Centre and state is working continuously for the development of Himachal Pradesh and welfare of people.

Q: What will be the issues on which the BJP would seek votes in Himachal Pradesh assembly polls? Khanna: For the first time, Himachal Pradesh assembly polls will be contested on the issue of development, our work and public welfare policy. Our party and government are working for national, state and people interest. We are following the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay dream of Antyodaya. The state has witnessed all-round development in the last five years under the double engine government of BJP and people will elect the BJP government for a second consecutive term to continue it.

Q: What would you say about the recent meeting of Punjab officials with the Delhi chief minister? Khanna: It is an unconstitutional act on the part of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Is it allowed in the constitution for a chief minister to give direction to officials of another state? Are they trying to start new practice, and even the Punjab chief minister was not present in the meeting. They (the AAP leadership in Delhi) did not value Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Are they saying that the Punjab chief minister is not competent to handle the affairs of state? Q: Mann said that the officials went for training.

Khanna: Officials are sent for training and workshops not for meeting with the chief minister of another state to take direction. Does Punjab chief minister believe that our officers, who are running the state for last many years, are incompetent? It shows that he (Mann) believes that our officers are competent and need training from the chief minister of another state.

Q: Are you saying it shows the incompetence of Punjab chief minister? Khanna: It clearly shows that he is incompetent and needs help of another chief minister to run the state. Interestingly, he was missing from the meeting.
Hyderabad, April 15 : Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao has demanded state BJP President Bandi Sanjay to tender apology to the people of Telangana before going ahead with his padyatra.

Calling Sanjay's Praja Sangrama Yatra a deception, he said that the BJP state President does not have the right to step in Palamuru (as the undivided Mahabubnagar district is called).

Before commencing his yatra, Sanjay should tender an apology to Palamuru and the entire Telangana people for the betrayal, injustice and negligence done by the BJP to the state, he demanded.

The BJP leader on Thursday began second leg of his Praja Sangrama Yatra, which, he says, is aimed at achieving democratic Telangana.

In an open letter to Sanjay, KTR, as the leader is popularly known, said that the fields in Palamuru, which were once known for accute drought, have now turned into fertile lands.

River Krishna was the lifeline of Palamuru. The BJP-led government had set up the River Krishna Management Board but there was no development in addressing the river water sharing disputes. This was pushing the district's future in doubt, he said.

Telangana has been demanding for national status for Palamuru RangaReddy Lift Irrigation Scheme and Sanjay should explain the Centre's response to the Palamuru people, he demanded.

"Bandi Sanjay should step into Palamuru only after explaining to Telangana people as to why the Upper Bhadra project in neighboring Karnataka is accorded national status and why Telangana is discriminated against," said KTR.

People have been appealing for a new railway line to Palamuru via Nagarkurnool but all their pleas were completely ignored by the BJP and its leaders and government, he said.

KTR demanded Sanjay should let people know how much fund he has donated to temples in Telangana. KTR made this statement as Bandi Sanjay commenced padayatra after offering prayers at Jogulamba Gadwal temple. "The BJP which does politics in the name of Sri Ram should tell the people of Telangana about how much they have donated to the Sri Ram temple in Bhadradri," he said, questioning if the BJP had donated even a single rupee to the Yadadri temple.

"BJP is used to playing politics in the name of God and religion. Bandi Sanjay should start his padyatra after responding to the plight of Telangana farmers," said KTR, alleging that BJP leaders have misled the farmers of Telangana by encouraging them to cultivate paddy with the false promise of procurement of the crop by the central government. "But, they changed their words and made the farming community suffer. Name your Yatra 'Rythu Dagaa Yatra' or 'Rythu Dhokha Yatra', said KTR.

The TRS leader also asked Sanjay to apologize to the people for the BJP's "incompetent governance".

TRS Working President stated that the BJP has betrayed the people of Telangana by snatching seven mandals at the time of the state formation. He also asked Sanjay to talk about the unfulfilled promises of the BJP and why they did not deliver what was promised to Telangana under the AP Reorganisation Act.

"No padyatra can compensate for the betrayals done by BJP to Telangana. What was the point of doing padyatra when the BJP only spills venom on the people of Telangana," KTR asked.
London, April 15 : Jemima Goldsmith, the former wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, said on Friday that she felt the 'Purana Pakistan of the 1990s had returned after the PML-N announced tit-for-tat demonstrations outside her London home, Samaa TV reported.

PTI activists in London have been protesting outside Nawaz Sharifs' Avenfield apartments for the past one week. The PLM-N this week announced that it, too, will hold a protest outside Jemima's house where Khan's "grown up children" live.

Jemima tweeted, "Protests outside my house, targeting my children, antisemitic abuse on social media -- It's almost like I am back in 90s Lahore," sharing a poster of a protest against Khan scheduled to take place on April 17 outside her London house.

She added the hashtag "Purana Pakistan" to the tweet.

Many Pakistanis, especially PTI supporters, sympathised with her and some even went on to apologise, Samaa TV reported.

Journalist Hamid Mir wished common sense prevailed on both sides.

"PTI must stop protesting outside the house of Nawaz Sharif in London and PML-N should not do the same outside the house of Jemima, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others," he tweeted.

In response, Jemima said that the difference is that she has got nothing to do with Pakistan politics and neither does her children.

"They are low-key private individuals who are not even on social media," she added.

PML-N leader Abid Sher Ali, who has planned the protest, said only Imran Khan could be held responsible for the situation.

"He has ordered attacks and protests outside homes of his political opponents, he incites hate, homophobia and terrorism on daily basis. Our protest will be peaceful and non-violent. Condemn Imran Khan," he said.

In another tweet, Ali tagged Jemima and challenged her claims of children being neutral by sharing a PTI rally picture.
Gurugram, April 15 : A fake call centre has been busted while 22 people including the owner have been arrested here for allegedly duping people on the pretext of providing them jobs in MNCs, the police said on Friday.

The owner who was running the fake call centre has been identified as Sonu. The arrested individuals include 13 men and 9 women.

Sonu is a resident of Hans Enclave of Gurugram. His brother Sanjay and co-partners Anil, Deepak, Raj and Ajit are yet to be arrested.

The brothers started the call centre in Udyog Vihar Phase-5 of Gurugram in September which was registered in the name of a 'Premium Erutidion'. They had also purchased a domain '@placementmnc.com' for sending e-mails to job aspirants, the police said.

The police raided the spot on Thursday afternoon after a tip-off and recovered Rs 38,000 cash, 27 mobile phones, 1 laptop and fake appointment letters from there.

Subhash Boken, spokesperson of the Gurugram police said Sonu and Sanjay had established this fake call centre in September 2021, and earned Rs 1.25 crore while duping people on the pretext of providing them jobs.

"The accused used to collect data of job aspirants from the prominent job websites and used to develop communication with them through different e-mail IDs and charged Rs 6,500, Rs 28,000, and Rs 89,000 on a different pretext. They had even charged Rs 10 lakh as commission per person," Boken said.

"They also targeted people already by luring them lucrative packages and used to charge money from them through fake website payment gateway or different payment links in their bank accounts. The accused used to provide fake appointment letters," he added.

Police said the accused had also provided a fake Press identity card to mislead police.

"To lure job aspirants, the accused had also claimed through his website that he has provided jobs to 18,500 people after seeing such advertisements the victims used to attract and lost their money," he said.

"Four cases of similar nature were already registered against the duo brothers in Gurugram, Hyderabad, Gujarat and West Bengal, the police disclosed.
Chennai, April 15 : With the Indian government enabling shipping of food and essential items to Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K.Stalin has urged the Centre to allow his state too to send such items to areas where Tamils reside there.

Stalin, in a letter to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, said: "It has now been reported that the Union Government has enabled the shipping of food and other essential commodities to Sri Lanka.

"At this juncture, I would like to reiterate the commitment of my Government to ship the essential supplies including food grain, vegetables and medicines etc., from Thoothukudi port to the Sri Lankan Tamils living in Northern and Eastern Parts of Sri Lanka and Colombo, as well as those working in the plantations who are reeling under severe food crisis. I request that this may be facilitated at the earliest in view of the worsening situation in Sri Lanka." According to the state government, 39 Sri Lankans belonging to 13 families have reached Tamil Nadu till date due to the severe economic crisis in the island nation.

Already 58,547 persons belonging to 19,223 Sri Lankan families are housed in different camps in the state, the government said.

Meanwhile, Stalin also drew Jaishankar's attention to the arrest of 12 Indian fishermen on March 23 by the Sri Lankan Navy.

According to Stalin, the local court in Sri Lanka has tried the case and adjourned it to May 12 with the instructions that the fishermen could be released on bail on a personal bond of (Sri Lankan) Rs 2 crore per person.

"As this is a prohibitive amount, the fishermen can never furnish the same. They are presently lodged in the Jaffna prison," Stalin said.

He also requested Jaishankar to ensure all legal support and assistance to the poor fishermen for enabling their early release.
Jalgaon : , April 15 (IANS) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar on Friday said he "enjoys" the Opposition's criticism -- a day after he was bombarded on Twitter with a series of 14 stinging posts by BJP's Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis.

"I enjoyed reading those (14) tweets. I am accused of minority appeasement and caste politics. The NCP's policies are not based on such things. I don't give much importance to the criticism," said Pawar with a mischievous glint in his eyes, making it clear he cared little for the Opposition's repeated assaults.

Pawar -- who was accorded a hero's welcome here on Friday morning -- said he was more concerned about the unity of the state which is in 'danger' than the Opposition barbs at him.

"Maharashtra always enjoyed a tradition to resolve all political differences amicably. Today, there are apprehensions that social harmony and unity are under threat," Pawar pointed out.

He reiterated that no matter whatever happens, Maharashtra's unity must remain intact and there should be complete harmony among all religions, castes and languages.

The 81-year-old NCP supremo's observations came after 3 days after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray demanded a ban on loudspeakers in mosques in the state by May 3 or he would counter by blaring Hanuman Chalisa.

Referring to Fadnavis' allegations of a '13th blast' during the Mumbai serial explosions on March 12, 1993, Pawar said it was in the interest of society and to ensure that Hindus-Muslims should not get divided.

He recalled how, after visiting the blast sites, it emerged that the explosives used were from Pakistan with the involvement of outside elements, and how the panel, 'Justice B.N. Srikrishna Commission' had lauded his statement as it prevented build-up of any communal tensions in Mumbai.

"However, those who don't understand the implications of such issues resort to these kind of statements. So, there's no need to take any note of it," Pawar said dismissively on Fadnavis' serial-tweets raking up the 3-decades old matter.

In a counter-attack at BJP and Fadnavis, he said those who are frustrated at losing power in Maharashtra are now attempting to regain by using any methods, including letting loose central probe agencies against the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders here.

Fadnavis had targeted Pawar, accusing him of coining the term 'Hindu terror', statements on 'The Kashmir Files', allegedly supporting questionable groups, appeasing minorities and polarising society on communal lines.
Jaipur, April 15 : Seven children aged between 2 and 14 years have died in Rajasthan's Sirohi district of some 'mysterious illness' with symptoms varying from fever to seizures.

Al residents from Fulabai Kheda and Fulaber villages in Sirohi, these children breathed their last between April 9 and 13.

Joint Director (Health), Jageshwar Prasad, said the cause of the deaths is yet to be ascertained.

"While they seem to be cases of some acute viral disease, nothing can be said with certainty till all their reports are received," he added.

Prasad also said that the deaths were reported within a day of showing symptoms.

A mother who lost her five-year-old child said that her son woke up at 5 am and asked for water before having seizures. The boy vomited and then died at around 8 am.

"Three of the seven deceased children had consumed local flavoured ice," Prasad said, though he ruled out a case of acute food poisoning.

Teams of doctors from Jaipur and Jodhpur are set to visit the area.

"The situation is being monitored. Around 300 houses have already been surveyed and 58 samples have been sent to a lab in Jaipur for testing," Prasad said.

Meanwhile, three more children have been admitted to a hospital as a precautionary measure.

"They have mild symptoms of cold and one has pneumonia," Prasad said.

Kuldeep Singh, head of the paediatric department at Jodhpur's All India Institute of Medical Sciences, said it seems to be a case of viral infection.

"The state has sought our assistance and a team of doctors will be sent there soon," he said.
Moscow, April 15 : Sweden and Finland will lose part of their sovereignty while compromising their security if they join NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Friday, referring to the two nations expected requests for formal membership in the US-led military bloc.

Sweden and Finland have long been close to the organisation but have maintained formal non-alignment with NATO since the Cold War. Both may soon apply for membership amid the ongoing security crisis in Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned that Sweden and Finland would not gain anything by moving forward with the plan, RT reported.

NATO membership "is unlikely to help build Sweden and Finland's international prestige", ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a comment released by Russia.

She said the two nations will lose the opportunity to act as "conveyors of many constructive, unifying initiatives" as they did in the past.

"Naturally, the choice belongs to the authorities of Sweden and Finland. But they should realise the consequences of such a move to our bilateral relations and the European security architecture, which currently is in a state of crisis," she added.

The official argued that the two nations would become platforms used by NATO to threaten Russia and that neither they, nor the region of northern Europe as a whole, would benefit from it.

She added that NATO membership "implies de facto surrender of a part of sovereignty in making decisions on defence, and also on foreign policy".

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian President and Prime Minister, who is currently the Deputy Chairman of the country's Security Council, had implied earlier this week that if the two nations joined the trans-Atlantic bloc, Russia would deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic region.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Chennai, April 15 : South Indian music legend Ilayaraja has in the foreword of a book drawn parallels between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.

The book titled "Ambedkar & Modi: Reformers ideas, Performers implementation" is published by Bluekraft Digital Foundation. The book was launched on April 14 and the publisher on Twitter said, "the book is an academic attempt to bring to the forefront Ambedkar's vision and work across different domains and how the New India being built by Prime Minister Modi is furthering Ambedkar's ideals".

The music legend has in the foreword said that there are some striking resemblances between Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both went through hardships and have succeeded against the odds that people from socially disempowered sections of the society face.

Both Ambedkar and Narendra Modi saw stifling social structures from close quarters and worked to dismantle them.

Ilayaraja states "Both dreamt big for India and both are practical men who believe in action rather than mere thought exercises".

The maestro said that Ambedkar would be proud of Narendra Modi for pro women legislation like the anti triple talaq law that his government has brought.

Ilayaraja also mentioned about the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' scheme that is aimed at social transformation and empowering women.
Thiruvananthapuram, April 15 : In a suspected case of revenge killing, a 43-year-old activist of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) was brutally murdered by a group of men alleged to be RSS activists at Ellapully in Palakkad district on Friday afternoon.

Subair and his aged father Basheer were returning on a bike after attending Friday prayers at a mosque when a car hit the bike and both of them fell down.

Basheer said that four men came in two cars and hacked his son to death, after which they escaped in one car, leaving the other at the place where the crime took place.

"I think I can recognise two of them," said Basheer, who suffered minor injuries after falling down from the bike.

The local SDPI activists alleged that it was a planned attack by RSS/BJP combine.

The police have launched a probe by sending teams to Tamil Nadu, where the killers are believed to have escaped.

Following the gruesome murder, DGP Anil Kant has issued an advisory to all the 14 district police chiefs, urging them to ensure that the force is on high alert.

Doubts are being raised as to whether it was a revenge killing, as in the same area (Ellapully) where this murder took place, a 26-year-old RSS worker, Sanjith, was brutally murdered in November last year, allegedly by SDPI activists.
Chennai, April 15 : The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department is in the process of buying land between Thiruneermalai and Anagaputhur areas of Chennai for widening the Adayar river in the city's southern parts.

Officials said that this is for the first time in the history of the department that private land is acquired to widen a river in the state. Department engineers told IANS that the river will be widened between Thiruneermalai and Anagaputhur as the width of the river in this area is less than 100 feet and this leads to flood when water overflows.

Sources in the Department told IANS that the state government has allocated Rs 70.05 crore for the project. Of this 50 per cent will be used for compensating the land owners while the balance would be used for implementing flood mitigation project.

The tender process will commence after the Government Order is issued which is expected next week, sources in the Water Eesources Department said.

The total length of the river is 42 km and it flows through Manivakkam, Varadharajapuram, Mudichur, Thiruneermalai, Anagaputhur, Kattupakam and Manapakkam before it drains into the sea.

Officials said that after acquiring the land, the bunds would be strengthened and walls would be raised. Meanwhile, a total of 4,500 encroachments have been removed from Adayar river so far and notice have been issued to remove 5,000 other encroachments.
Patna, April 15 : Taking a selfie during a ritual bath in the Ganga river turned fatal as three teenagers died in two different incidents in Patna while undertaking the activity, officials said on Friday.

The teenagers went to Ganga to take holy dip on the occasion of Satuan festival on Thursday.

The first incident was reported at Goraiya Sthan at Maner town in Patna district. A SDRF official said that 6 teenagers came to the river and four of them, identified as Ankul, Aditya, Guddu and Manna, went inside the water.

"While taking selfies, they probably did not realize the strong flow of water. When they started drowning in the river, a crossing boat managed to rescue two, Guddu and Manna while Ankul and Aditya were swept away in the strong flow of water," the official said.

A similar incident occurred at the bank of Ganga river near Dostnagar locality in Patna where Tinku Kumar, a resident of Lodipur, went there to take a holi bath on the occasion of Satual. He was also taking selfies in the deep water without realising the strong flow of water and was also swept away.

The SDRF team worked till late in the evening but they failed to fish out the dead bodies.

Satuan is a traditional festival of Bihar, celebrated here for good health during the summer session. In this festival, people used to take a dip in the river followed by consuming sattu (gram flour), and chutneys made of raw mangoes, onions, and salt. Some people also use pickles to enhance the taste. These low cost foods are very helpful in protecting people from heat waves, while being very popular among villagers during summer in particular.
New Delhi, April 15 : Eight workers of BJP's youth wing BJYM arrested for vandalism at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence during a protest and later released on bail, were felicitated by Delhi BJP president Adesh Gupta at the party office.

Tweeting about the felicitation programme that took place on late Thursday evening, Gupta said: "The eight BJYM activists who went to jail for protest against anti-Hindu Kejriwal got bail from court after 14 days. Welcomed these young revolutionaries at party office today. Each of our workers will continue fighting anti-Hindu forces." When asked about felicitation of the accused, Gupta on Friday told IANS that Kejriwal's remarks in the assembly have hurt sentiments of the Kashmiri Pandits and their plight was the main reason for the BJYM's protest against him.

"Instead of apologising to Kashmiri Pandits whose sentiments he hurt, Kejriwal and his party leaders continued to humiliate them. We just exercised our democratic right to protest against this arrogance and callousness of Kejriwal and his cronies," Gupta said.

When asked about the AAP's allegation of "BJP felicitating the goons", Gupta said: "BJP is a party of nationalists and works for national interest. Kejriwal does politics of appeasement for vote. Yes, they are revolutionaries who took a stand for Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits. The AAP must look within. We will come continue to protest till Kejriwal apologies for his anti Hindu remark." The Thursday event has drawn criticism from AAP on Friday.

Senior AAP leader and MLA Atishi said that the party has sent a message to its workers all over the country that they will be felicitated if they indulge in hooliganism and vandalism.
Chamba : , April 15 (IANS) A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Friday between the district administration of Chamba and NHPC Ltd for execution of a pilot hydrogen project in the presence of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here.

NHPC Group General Manager A.K. Pathak and Deputy Commissioner D.C. Rana signed the pact.

Thakur said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that India would go carbon neutral by 2070 and by 2030, India will generate 500 GW from non-fossil fuel sources which will be 50 per cent of the total installed capacity.

"This initiative of the state government with the cooperation of NHPC will be a big milestone in this regard," Thakur said.

He said a grid connected ground mounted solar PV plant of 300 KW would be installed and the power would be used in the electrolyser to produce hydrogen.

About 20 kg hydrogen per day would be generated through the electrolysis process and would be considered as green hydrogen and would be stored in pressurising form. He said nine to 12 litres of water would be utilised to produce 1 kg of hydrogen fuel.
New Delhi, April 15 : Massive security deployment, along with other necessary arrangements, will be made for the Amarnath Yatra, resuming this year after a two year gap because of Covid, top security officials said on Friday.

According to the sources, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has been asked to make necessary arrangements for over seven lakhs pilgrims which will be an all-time high.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla and Intelligence Bureau Chief Arvind Kumar, who, along with top officials of the Home Ministry reached Srinagar on Thursday on a two-day visit, reviewed the preparedness with the J&K administration on Friday.

The Centre wants to pull up all the stops to make this pilgrimage a complete success and the J&K administration has been assured of all possible support from the centre, sources in the know of developments said.

They also said that initially the CRPF have been asked to deploy 100 companies as of now and they have also been asked to spare 50 companies to be deployed in May.

On Thursday, Bhalla held a meeting with Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbag Singh and other officials of the J&K administration, as well as the Amarnath Shrine Board, to see that all necessary arrangements for the pilgrimage are put in place before its commencement on June 30.

The J&K DGP also made a presentation on the proposed security arrangements.

The Directors General of the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security force and Army officials were also present in the meeting and they were briefed about the deployment.

The sources also said that considering the expected number of pilgrims this year, the J&K administration has asked for 300 companies of central security forces which will be made available to them in phased manner before the commencement of Yatra .

The sources also said that some special security features such as giving RFID tag to all vehicles during the pilgrimage while using drones for detailed surveillance of the route from point of origin to the cave shrine. The drones will be playing a dual role as they will helping the officials in regulating the crowd.

On Friday, the Union Home Secretary also held a meeting with the senior Army officials.

The BSF and Army have been asked to keep high surveillance on the International Border and Line of Control and make all efforts to prevent infiltrations.
New Delhi, April 15 : Border Security Force (BSF) Director General (DG) Pankaj Kumar Singh on Friday reviewed the operational preparedness of the force and visited the command locations in Srinagar, officials said.

According to BSF officials, Singh reviewed the preparedness of the troops on the International Border with Pakistan including the Line of Control and asked the high ups of the Kashmir Frontier to maintain strict vigil.

The BSF DG also inspected the deployment of the troops deployed for law and order duty in Srinagar and took reports from the officials about the deployment in other sectors on the Kashmir Frontiers.

Appreciating the efforts of the troops for maintaining the security in Kashmir division, he asked the troopers to remain on highest alert to prevent any acts of the anti-India elements.

There has been an increase in attempts of infiltration from the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) after the end of the winter season every year.

Singh also asked the BSF officers to man the international border on the highest level and to increase the regular patrol on the borders.

He also planted one Chinar tree sapling in Panthachowk campus of the Force.

Singh also participated in the high level meeting on the preparedness for the Amarnath Yatra, chaired by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla along with the Intelligence Bureau Director Arvind Kumar.

The BSF also deploys its security personnel for the Amarnath Yatra and this year, the Force has been asked to spare more troops considering the high number of devotees this year.
Srinagar, April 15 : Kashmir politicians have condemned the killing of a Sarpanch by terrorists at Pattan in Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla district on Friday.

Terrorists fired upon and critically injured Manzoor Ahmad, an independent Sarpanch, at Goshbugh area of Pattan in Baramulla. He was moved to hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Condemning the killing of Sarpanch, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) said the vicious cycle of violence seems to be unending.

"JKNC condemns the gruesome killing of BJP Sarpanch Manzoor Ahmad in North Kashmir's Goshbugh, Pattan in the strongest possible terms. The vicious cycle of violence seems to be unending. May Allah grant him a place in Jannat-ul-Firdous. Condolences to his family and loved ones," JKNC said.

"Another targeted killing, another family in mourning this evening. This unending cycle of violence is heartbreaking. My condolences to the family of Manzoor Bangroo. May he find place in Jannat," former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.

Meanwhile, the BJP while condemning the killing of the Sarpanch said he was not associated with the BJP.

"Strongly denounce the barbaric killing of Sarpanch Manzoor Ahmed Bangroo of Goshubugh, Pattan by terrorists. Gruesome act, terrorists have no religion and mercy even during the fasting month of Ramadan. It is to clarify that slain Sarpanch was not affiliated with BJP as reported by a section of press," J&K BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur said.
New Delhi, April 15 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday met District Panchayat members from Gujarat.

In a tweet, Modi said: "Had a wonderful meeting with district Panchayat Members from Gujarat. They had insightful views on ways to improve the quality of life and infrastructure in the villages." On April 12 also, Modi met District Panchayat members from Gujarat and talked at length about issues related to rural development and leveraging Jan Shakti for societal progress.
New Delhi, April 15 : Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar has urged Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to speed up the RT-PCR test in view of the increasing cases of Covid-19 in the national capital.

He said that the lockdown and closure of schools will not be the solution to deal with the pandemic.

Kumar said that the Delhi Congress had demanded that booster doses should be given free of cost to all eligible people in tie-up with private hospitals.

The Delhi government should take immediate action on this so that the spread of Covid-19 can be stopped. The XE version of the virus is a serious concern, he said.

He said the Kejriwal government should ensure that people follow the Covid-19 protocol in public, instead of taking an easier route by imposing another total shutdown.

The Congress leader also said that hospitals should be kept ready to deal with any situation.

Kumar also took a jibe at Kejriwal, saying the Delhi Chief Minister should spend more time in Delhi and "stop teaching Punjab bureaucrats".
Mumbai, April 15 : The excitement over Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt's wedding continues even as the newly-wed couple are said to be all set for their honeymoon in South Africa.

After the first wedding pictures shared by Alia on her Instagram, now new pictures from their 'gathbandhan' ceremony have taken the Internet by storm.

Gathbandhan is a ritual in Hindu weddings in which the bride's 'pallu' is tied to the groom's scarf. The ritual symbolises the union of the couple for eternity.

From the groom's side, mother Neetu Kapoor, sister Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and cousin Karisma Kapoor performed the rituals, as Ranbir's other cousin, Kareena Kapoor Khan, stood by the newly-wed couple's side.

Ranbir and Alia began dating on the sets of Ayan Mukherjee's 'Brahmastra' in 2018 and made their first public appearance as a couple at Sonam Kapoor's wedding in the same year.

Their choice of South Africa as their honeymoon destination follows their earlier visit to the country to ring in the New Year. That was when they fell in love with the place and decided to return after tying the knot.
New Delhi, April 15 : The lack of approval of genetically modified (GM) crops since the introduction of Bt cotton in 2002 signals a dormant regulatory environment that fails to consider the benefits reaped by modern technologies to enhance India's agriculture sector, said a report released on Friday.

The trajectories of GM crops such as Bt brinjal and GM mustard in the regulatory pipeline suggest that the scientific assessment of GM crops has been highly susceptible to the ebbs and flows of political discourse.

"Conflict of interest in the regulatory set-up acts as a hindrance in forming a transparent, objective and science-based mechanism for GM approval apart from lack of infrastructural support and the independence of the apex regulator form some of the major bottlenecks in the approval process," the report by advocacy think-tank that works on policy issues, Centre for Civil Society (CCS), said.

Citing double earnings by Maharashtra and Gujarat farmers who adopted Bt cotton, a report by a think-tank on Friday claimed there is a scope to see similar success in the adoption of Bt brinjal, provided regulatory hurdles for GM crops are removed.

Therefore, decoupling politics and ideologically-driven positions from the science on GM is the key if India were to adopt technologies that boost its agricultural ecosystem, which will benefit farmers, consumers and society at large, it said.

Answering skepticism -- for example, the perceived unnaturalness of GM crops due to the human intervention of introducing a new gene -- has presented the policymakers with an arduous task, one that involves navigating through the sharp GM divide while at the same time embracing innovative technologies that solve pressing obstacles facing India's agricultural ecosystem, the report added.

In several areas, farmers have continued to protest the restrictions on GM, especially Bt cotton, most recently in February 2022 at Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, "but the government refuses to budge and gives in to public opinion driven by activists," the CCS said even as it acknowledged lack of benefits for farmers in rain-fed areas and the uptick in pesticide usage due to increased pest-resistance.

"In both Maharashtra and Gujarat, farmers have been able to at least double their harvest and cut costs by planting Bt cotton. There is scope to see similar success in the adoption of Bt brinjal. But given the political turmoil and the anti-GM push in approving GM crops in India, certainty for farmers in the legality of GM seems to be a far cry away. An independent regulator that is able to take decisions without being swayed by politicians or activists is one way out of this," the report recommended.

The report, however, does not find any mention of farmers' suicide from Maharashtra, mainly from the cotton belt.
New Delhi, April 15 : Delhi Police have bound down three persons for defacing public property outside the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in the national capital on Friday, an official said.

In a case where a person is bound down, he/she is not booked under any legal provision but released subject to the condition that he/she will appear before the police for further probe.

The three members of 'Hindu Sena' -- a right wing organisation -- had put up saffron flags outside JNU, forcing the police to initiate legal action and remove the said flags from there.

"Three persons who were involved in the offence were bound down as per the legal procedure. The vehicle used in commission of offence has been seized," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest), Manoj C.

Apart from saffron flags, some banners were also put up outside the campus that read 'Bhagwa JNU'.

Hindu Sena national vice-president, Surjit Yadav, said that 'saffron' was insulted by the 'anti-saffron' people in JNU.

"We respect each and every religion and every thought process. The Hindu Sena will not tolerate the way the saffron is being insulted in JNU," Yadav said.

Expressing similar sentiments, Hindu Sena President Vishnu Gupta confirmed with IANS about putting up saffron flags and banners outside JNU by his organisation.

"It is very wrong that saffron is being constantly insulted in JNU. Saffron is in India's culture. None should oppose it," Gupta said.

On Delhi Police removing the flags and banners, Gupta said the police should not be in such a hurry to take them down as the saffron is not a symbol of terror.

Notably, the university has again become a hotbed of politics after the April 10 violence on the campus in which as many as 16 students were injured during a scuffle that allegedly started over consumption of non-vegetarian food on the occasion of Ram Navami.
Chennai, April 15 : The farmers in Coimbatore, Krishnagiri and Salem areas of Tamil Nadu are upset as most of their crops are being devoured by the wild boars that attack the fields in a group and finish off the crops within an hour.

The farmers are of the opinion that the Forest Department is turning a blind eye to their pleas and that unless the wild boars are culled, there would not be any respite to the menace.

R. Murugesan, a tapioca farmer in Anamalai near Coimbatore, told IANS: "The wild boars reach the farm in a group and within minutes, they create the maximum damage and almost the entire crop will be finished.

"Generally, the group comes late in the night and make good their escape in an hour. This has led to farmers not able to catch the boars." The Forest Department officials admitted that there is a wild boar menace in the Coimbatore forest division but they are not able to kill the wild boar as the law wont allow it.

A senior official of the Tamil Nadu forest department, speaking to IANS, said: "The forest department knows the issue and according to the law of the land, we cannot kill these wild boars. The only solution is to amend the law and for that the government has to move a bill in the legislative assembly and amend the law." Somasundaram P, a farmer from Krishnagiri district, told IANS: "I have lost heavily due to the wild boar attack and the forest officials had visited the farm and taken stock of the losses but nothing has come till now as compensation."
New Delhi, April 16 : Thanks to the sustained rainfall well into January this year, the overall water storage position of 140 large reservoirs across India on Friday is better than the corresponding period of last year in the country as a whole and it is also better than the average storage of last 10 years during the corresponding period.

The live storage available in these reservoirs is 72.902 billion cubic metres (BCM), which is 41 per cent of total live storage capacity of 175.957 BCM of these reservoirs, official data released by Central Water Commission (CWC) showed.

The last year's live storage for the corresponding period was 66.481 BCM and the average of last 10 years' live storage was 55.717 BCM; which means, the live storage is 110 per cent of the corresponding period of last year and 131 per cent of storage of average of last 10 years.

There are a total of seven reservoirs (out of total 140) that have current storage as less than 50 per cent of average of last 10 years. These include three (out of 17) from Gujarat; one (out of 16) from Karnataka; three (out of 10) in Odisha and one (out of five) in Rajasthan.

The 140 reservoirs are divided across northern, eastern, western, central and southern regions.

"Only in the western region, the storage during the current year is less than the storage of last year. However, it is better than the average storage of last 10 years during the corresponding period," CWC officials said, adding: "For northern, eastern, central and southern region, the storage position is better than the corresponding period of last year and also better than the average storage of last 10 years during the corresponding period." There are nine reservoirs in the northern region comprising Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan that are monitored by the CWC. They have a total live storage capacity of 19.37 BCM.

The eastern region includes Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Nagaland and Bihar with 21 reservoirs having total live storage capacity of 20.09 BCM.

The western region includes Gujarat and Maharashtra with maximum, 46, reservoirs under CWC monitoring having total live storage capacity of 36.41 BCM.

The central region includes Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with 25 reservoirs under CWC monitoring and total live storage capacity of 47.39 BCM.

The southern region comprises Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, two combined projects in both these states, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu with 39 reservoirs under CWC monitoring and total live storage capacity of 52.70 BCM.

The data also shows that states having better storage (in terms of percentage) than last year for corresponding period include Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, the two combined projects of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

The states having lesser storage (in percentage terms) to last year for corresponding period include Rajasthan, Tripura, Nagaland, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Mumbai, April 16 : Superb half-centuries by Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram after a clinical performance by their bowlers helped Sunrisers Hyderabad overcome Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets in Match 25 of the IPL 2022 at the Brabourne Stadium here on Friday.

Tripathi and Markram got together after Sunrisers had lost their first two wickets for 39 runs. They raised 94 runs for the third wicket after their bowlers had done a good job to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 175/8 in their allotted 20 overs. Sunrisers eventually reached 176/3 in 17.5 overs to register a comfortable victory.

Tripathi topscored with 71 runs (37 balls, 4x4, 6x6) against his former team while Markram remained undefeated with 68 off 36 deliveries, hitting six boundaries and four sixes as SRH cruised to victory with 13 balls to spare.

They launched calculated attacks, hit big sixes and kept the Kolkata Knight Riders' bowlers on the tenterhooks with their superb hitting. The dew of course did not help the Knight Riders but that was expected.

Tripathi, who had hammered spinner Varun Chakaravarthy to a four and two sixes -- a well-timed loft over covers followed by am better shot on one knee in the same region -- off consecutive deliveries in the 8th over to keep SRH well in control of the chase.

Markram, too struck Chakaravarthy for a four and six off successive deliveries, ended the match by hammering Pat Cummins to a four followed by two sixes -- a heave over mid-wicket and a hook over deep square leg, to end the match on a rousing note.

This was the third win in a row for Sunrisers Hyderabad, who moved to six points from five matches. KKR slumped to their second consecutive defeat. They too have six points but have played a match extra.

Earlier, fighting innings by Nitish Rana (54 off 36) and Andre Russell (49 not out off 25) helped Kolkata Knight Riders post a par score of 175/8 in 20 overs.

Put in to bat first, the Knight Riders got off to a poor start as they lost three wickets with just 31 runs on the board.

Australian Opener Aaron Finch struck Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six in the first over but was out in the next when he tried to give Marco Jansen the same treatment and ended up edging behind to Nicholas Pooran. Venkatesh Iyer scratched around for six off 13 deliveries before he was cleaned up by T Natarajan off his first delivery as the batter played all over the ball.

Sunil Narine seemed in some sort of hurry as he blasted the first delivery he faced for a six but was out off the next,trying to slice over point a low full toss angling into middle. It ended up straight into the hands of Shashank Singh.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer, who had started with a streaky boundary, and Nitish Rana took the score to 70 before the former got out, bowled by Umran Malik with an express delivery in the blackhole as he tried to make room to play a shot.

But Rana and Russell shouldered the responsibility of taking them to a respectable score. Rana played a well-controlled innings, hitting some well-timed boundaries and a couple of big sixes before he perished trying to bolster the scoring rate, given out by the video umpire for a faint edge behind as he tried to move away to smash Natarajan's delivery on the on-side.

Russell gave the KKR innings the boost it needed, ending it with two sixes and a four of the final three deliveries bowled by spinner Suchith.

Natarajan was the best Sunrisers bowler on the field as he claimed 3/37 while Umran Malik ended with 2/27.

SRH skipper Kane Williamson used his resources well but taking off Natarajan soon after his first over, in which he claimed two wickets, looked a bit strange.

However, in the end it did not matter as Tripathi and Markram ensured they cruised to victory with a lot to spare.

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 175/8 in 20 overs (Nitish Rana 54, Andre Russell 49 not out, Shreyas Iyer 28; T Natarajan 3/37, Umran Malik 2/27) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 176/3 in 20 overs (Rahul Tripathi 71, Aiden Markram 68 not out; Andre Russell 2/20).

Latest updates on IPL 2022
Jerusalem, April 16 : More than 300 Palestinians were arrested by the Israeli police as clashes erupted at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, Jerusalem's police spokesman and Chief Superintendent, Idan Iluz told Xinhua news agency.

According to Iluz, the arrests were made in the morning hours of Friday as violent clashes broke out near the holy site, Xinhua news agency reported.

"There was persistent rock throwing at police officers for several hours. Officers responded with crowd dispersal means to push the rioters back," the police said in a statement.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that it had treated nearly 60 people injured during the clashes. Israeli police added that three officers were lightly wounded.

Thousands of worshippers started to gather at the holy compound in the early morning for the prayers on the second Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is a site holy to both Muslims and Jews, the latter of whom call it the Temple Mount.

Videos circulating online showed masked men throwing rocks at police officers who fired tear gas and stun grenades at the crowds.

Tensions have been high in recent weeks during another wave of violence between Israelis and Palestinians. This weekend is especially tense as Muslims continue to mark Ramadan and Jews prepare to celebrate the holiday of Passover on Friday evening.

Since March, 14 Israelis have been killed in several attacks in Israeli cities, leading to subsequent Israeli military operations throughout the West Bank that have killed more than 20 Palestinians.

On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with soldiers at a military base to examine the situation.

"We are working to calm things down on the Temple Mount and throughout Israel. At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario," Bennett said.

"The riots this morning ... are unacceptable," Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said in a statement.

In 2021, clashes at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, the focal point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, led to an 11-day war between Israel and the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Ankara, April 16 : Turkish Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu said his country is trying to bring back its 22 cargo ships stranded on the Black Sea coast of Ukraine, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

"We must get those ships from there. Initially, there were over 200 crew members. We have evacuated some of them. Now there are 90 left ... (who) do not want to leave the ship," Karaismailoglu was quoted by Anadolu Agency as saying on Wednesday.

These cargo ships are loaded with grain, sunflower oil, and iron, the Minister told reporters, noting Turkey has been negotiating with both Ukraine and Russia for the safe return of the vessels, Xinhua news agency reported.

The cargo ships stranded in the Russia-controlled Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait returned to Turkey weeks ago, he said.

However, a ship prepared for the evacuation of civilians from Ukraine to Turkey has been waiting for 10 days as the negotiations with Russia and Ukraine have not yielded a result yet, the Turkish Minister added.

"An agreement could not be reached between the two countries (Russia and Ukraine) regarding the first aid supplies and the arrival of the injured to Turkey," he said.

Earlier, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey could provide evacuation of civilians by sea from Mariupol, a key port on the Sea of Azov in eastern Ukraine.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that nearly 30 Turkish citizens are being stranded in Mariupol, which has witnessed the worst violence in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Tehran, April 16 : The Iranian Foreign Ministry has strongly condemned Israeli forces' operations at Al-Aqsa mosque compound during the holy month of Ramadan, which left more than 100 Palestinians wounded.

Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the incident is a sign of "the liveliness and glory of the heroic and brave resistance by Palestinian people and Israelis' desperation," the Ministry said on its website on Friday.

Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in a phone conversation with Ismail Haniyeh, the politburo chief of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Xinhua news agency reported.

The Iranian top diplomat also highlighted the necessity of putting an end to Israel's "hostile moves against Palestinians".

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Israeli forces' actions "violated international law and human rights," according to the Ministry's website.

Earlier on Friday, Palestinian health officials said more than 100 Palestinians have been injured so far in the clashes, while the Israeli police reported that three officers were lightly wounded.

Thousands of worshippers gathered since the early hours of Friday at the entrance to the compound, which is a site holy to both Muslims and Jews, the latter of whom call it the Temple Mount.

The tension between Israel and the Palestinians has flared up in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the past three weeks as the Jewish festival of Passover overlap with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In 2021, clashes in Jerusalem led to an 11-day conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
TRV Stewardship Council will be featuring lesser known NPS properties to encourage people to seek less traveled trails.

A vision for important lands to be held for public use, resort, and recreation grew out of the period of Romanticism when artists and writers were influencing public interest in the unspoiled beauty of landscapes, wildlife, and nature. This public interest inspired local legislative bodies to establish national parks to protect these wilderness areas form poaching and illegal mining, beginning with Yellowstone National Park in 1862.

Although more properties were being designated as National Parks under the Department of the Interior, it took until 1916 for the National Park Service to be created to manage the then thirty-five properties. The Organic Act set forth a mission for the National Park Service to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."

In successive years, additional federal acts were passed that added memorials, military parks, cemeteries, monuments, recreation areas, parkways, rivers, and scenic heritage trails. In total, there are over 430 National Parks Units that are held for public use for current and future generations.

This growth of public property has not always been without controversy. In the Tennessee Valley, there are seventeen National Park service units, excluding the National Scenic Byways. The intrinsic qualities of these units explore the heritage, history, and culture of the area. Each property has been shaped by land, rivers, wars, people, and politics as most straddle multi-state lines. The story of each property is often co-opted by tourism led marketing campaigns that focus on growth of visitors without regard to impact of that growth on the visitor experience and the adjacent communities. This has led to policy changes that limit access to the parks and seek to add fees. One example in the Tennessee Valley region is the Great Smoky Mountain National Park which is gathering public input for adding a parking fee to what was previously a free experience.

A National Park should be an immersive experience for a visitor, a geotourism experience. The ethos of geotourism shares ideals similar to those of the Romantic Movement. The principles of geotourism include conservation, connecting with nature and history, and a sentiment for preserving local community identities. To foster the geotourism experience in 2022, the TRV Stewardship Council will be featuring lesser known NPS properties to encourage people to seek the less traveled trails and parks in this vast region and alleviate the overcrowding that is negatively impacting

The Tennessee River Valley Stewardship Council serves as the steering committee and editorial board for the Geotourism MapGuide website. It is comprised of volunteers from a seven state region. The Council's efforts are made possible through the generous support of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). For information on TVA's campgrounds and TVAs public trails, visit their website at http://www.tva.gov and click under the Recreation section.


We are looking for proposals geared to enrich the education of a generation of learners who have survived the multiple years of dramatic educational change.

McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation extends funding opportunity deadline to address educational enrichment for a generation impacted by the pandemic.

The Foundation website https://www.mccartheydressman.org includes information about eligibility requirements, program overviews, and previously funded projects. The extended deadline for applications is May 1, 2022.

Over $197K in funding was awarded by McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation for the 2021-2022 school year. According to Sarah J. McCarthey, Chair of the Foundation's Board of Trustees, grants and scholarships awarded by the Foundation serve as a catalyst in maximizing the skills and creativity of educators at the K-12 levels and in cultivating pioneering approaches to meeting the needs of a generation impacted by the global pandemic.

"We are looking for proposals geared to enrich the education of a generation of learners who have survived the multiple years of dramatic educational change. We know that there are many demands on educators the past several years. Grant submissions have been lower than average and we recognize this as an outcome of the many issues impacting districts, schools and classrooms" noted Professor McCarthey. Successful applicants may receive funding of up to $10,000 per year for a maximum of three years by proposing a project, completing an application including letters of recommendation to show evidence of project need and possible impact.

Individual and small teams of teachers may apply for Teacher Development Grants to fund projects that provide groundbreaking K-12 classroom instruction. A recipient may receive up to $10,000 per year for a maximum of three years. Funded projects will impact unmet needs for students and encourage professional development in innovative areas for teachers. Applicants are not required to have a signed contract for the 2022-2023 school year as the funds are disbursed in the following school year when teaching assignments are in place.

Full-time students specializing in elementary or secondary education and who are in their final year of teacher education programs at New Mexico State University, University of California at Santa Cruz, University of Texas at Austin, and Steven F. Austin State University are eligible to apply for one-year Student Teaching Scholarships of $6,000 each. "Our objective," commented Professor McCarthey, "is to help scholarship recipients acquire and strengthen exemplary teaching practices that inspire learning."

About the McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation (501c3)

The mission of McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation (mccartheydressman.org) is to serve as a catalyst in maximizing the skills and creativity of educators at the K-12 levels and in cultivating pioneering approaches to teaching that result in dynamic student learning. The Foundation sponsors proposals that enhance student learning and educational quality, paying particular attention to those that best serve under-funded schools. Only 350 applications will be accepted this year. The application deadline is May 1 for proposals with significant potential to enrich the educational experiences for youth, but the application will close before that date if 350 submissions have been received.
Current Sheriff Deputy and local resident, Chris Sutton, announces his candidacy for Sheriff of Sweetwater County.

Chris has served the Sweetwater County Sheriffs Office since 2016. He also served as an officer with the Rock Springs Police Department in 2014. During his time as a peace officer he was involved in many disciplines that served the public, such as Search and Rescue and the Flaming Gorge Enforcement Patrol. He also served as a Field Training Officer and recently as a Detective.

Chris is a combat veteran, prior to his dedication to law enforcement, he served his country in the United States Marine Corps. He was deployed to the middle east in Operation Desert Shield / Storm. Subsequently, Chris continued to enhance his leadership skills as a Senior Leader in the private sector for two decades. In this capacity he managed large diverse technical teams in the field. During that time he was an integral part in mentoring new team members and providing career guidance. Additionally he was responsible for development and oversight of large operational budgets and implementation of those resources across departments.

Chris is a dedicated husband and father to four children and one grandchild. He has always been engaged with the community personally and professionally. His commitment to the community and its safety is his top priority.

Ive spent my entire career serving the common good because of my overwhelming passion for community service, safety and development. My first priority will be to provide solutions to the toughest challenges we face in our everyday lives. The office of the Sheriff should be non-partisan, so that decisions are based on community needs and nothing else, said Mr. Sutton when asked why he was joining the Sheriffs race.

According to his campaign manager, David Kelly, Chris believes that being open and available to everyone will have the best chance of ensuring that everyone gets a voice and a chance to be heard. Chris is looking forward to meeting the many citizens of Sweetwater County and seeking their support.

To learn more about Chriss candidacy, please visit his Facebook page facebook.com/chris4sheriffnow and his website at suttonforsheriff.org. For questions please contact his support team at mailto:info@suttonforsheriff.org [info@suttonforsheriff.org __title__ null].
4756 Ocean Blvd Destin, FL 32541

Engel & Volkers Florida today announced the record-breaking sale of 4756 Ocean Boulevard in Destin, Florida. Andrea Farrell, an advisor with Engel & Volkers Destin, held the listing representing the sellers. The property, which sold for $6,650,000, now marks the most expensive Gulf-front home in Destin, Florida. This transaction exceeds any previous sale in the community by more than $130,000.

My long-time clients trusted me to pre-market their home and show it to my clients looking in the area, way before it was officially listed, said Farrell. Little did we know that it would end up breaking the sales record in the community and for our city. It was a neighborhood gem, in pristine condition and I'm so happy for the ultimate outcome for the sellers.

The 6,674-square-foot home spans three levels; each of which has an unobstructed panoramic view of the Gulf of Mexico thanks to the .26-acre beachfront property. It boasts seven spacious bedrooms and eight bathrooms. Other features and amenities include an elevator, movie theater, wine room, pool, outdoor kitchen and private beach access.

An innovative advisor knows how to find properties in a low inventory market by calling on past clients and relationships, which is exactly how this transaction happened, said Leigh Ann Fincher, License Partner of Engel & Volkers Destin. Andrea has never limited herself to whats currently posted on the MLS, which is part of what makes her such a resourceful advisor.

Destin home values have increased 15-percent over the past year, and predictions indicate they will continue to rise. Since 2020, Farrel has personally represented 19 transactions above $1-million.

This transaction is a great example of the relationships our advisors have with luxury clientele across the globe, said Peter Giese, CEO Engel & Volkers Florida. Our high end marketing attracts luxury listings and our bespoke service keeps them as clients for life.

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Press contact:

Linzee Werkmeister, Junior Vice President, Marketing & Franchise Support

Email: Linzee.Werkmeister(at)evrealestate.com

Tel: (239) 348-9000

About Engel & Volkers:

Engel & Volkers is a global luxury real estate brand. Founded in Hamburg, Germany in 1977, Engel & Volkers draws on its rich European history to deliver a fresh approach to luxury real estate in the Americas with a focus on creating a personalized client experience at every stage of the home buying or selling process for today's savvy homeowner. Engel & Volkers currently operates approximately 263 shop locations with 5,000 real estate advisors in the Americas, contributing to the brand's global network of over 15,000 real estate professionals in more than 30 countries, offering both private and institutional clients a professionally tailored range of luxury services, including real estate, yachting and aviation. Committed to exceptional service, Engel & Volkers supports its advisors with an array of premium quality business services; marketing programs and platforms; as well as access to its global network of real estate professionals, property listings and market data. Each brokerage is independently owned and operated. For more information, visit http://www.evrealestate.com.

About Engel & Volkers Florida:

Engel & Volkers Florida is the Master License Partner of the global luxury real estate brand Engel & Volkers in the state of Florida. Recognized for uniquely recruiting, training and equipping some of the top professionals in the real estate industry, Engel & Volkers Floridas exclusive business model positions its franchisees at the top of the premium market to gain market share and support their bottom line. The company represents franchise locations in 42 markets: 30A Beaches, Amelia Island, Belleair, Boca Raton, Bonita Springs-Estero, Cape Coral, Clermont, Delray Beach, Destin, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers Downtown, Gainesville, Islamorada, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Jupiter, Madeira Beach, Marco Island, Melbourne Beachside, Melbourne Central, Melbourne Downtown, Miami Coconut Grove, Neptune Beach, Ocala, Olde Naples, Orlando, Orlando Downtown, Orlando-Winter Park, Palm Beach, Palm Coast, Pompano Beach, Sarasota, South Tampa, St. Augustine, St. Pete, St. Pete Beach, Stuart, Tampa Water Street, Venice Downtown, Vero Beach, Wellington, and Windermere.

Engel & Volkers Florida is continuing to strategically strengthen and expand its presence in premium real estate markets across the state of Florida. If you would like to know more about the Engel & Volkers brand or how to join its global networkwhich is known for demonstrating competence, exclusivity and passion, feel free to call our corporate office, located at 633 Tamiami Trl N, Suite 201, Naples, FL 34102 USA. Tel: +1 239-348-9000. For more information about Engel & Volkers Florida, please visit http://www.florida.evrealestate.com
VIENNA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- While Austria is widely dubbed "the land of music" in China, its unique wine culture has remained little-known in the Asian country. But that is bound to change as more Austrian wine producers try to tap the Chinese market with an increasingly sophisticated wine-consuming base.

Wolfgang Hamm, managing director of Klosterneuburg Abbey Winery on the outskirts of Vienna, told Xinhua that his winery exported more than 10 percent of its annual production to China in the past two years, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Austrian wine is a cold climate wine known for its fruitiness and many varieties, including the famous local variety Gruner Veltliner.

However, Austria has long been a lesser-known wine-producing country in China than major wine exporters like France and Australia, mainly due to its lower production and higher product prices, said Hamm.

"So we are aiming for a niche market in China, people in big cities who like food and wine," he said. "We have got feedback from Chinese customers that our wines go very well with Chinese cuisine."

Hamm added that he attended the 2019 China International Import Expo in the Chinese metropolis of Shanghai and established good contacts with Chinese business partners.

Klosterneuburg Abbey Winery is indicative of the steadily growing Austrian wine exports to China in recent years, thanks to the closer ties between the two countries and the rise of wine culture in China.

According to the Austrian Wine Marketing Board, the revenue of Austria's wine exports to China reached 2.19 million euros (about 2.37 million U.S. dollars) in 2021, surging 77.9 percent from the previous year.

Although China accounted for only 1 percent of Austria's total wine exports last year, it was the largest export market for Austrian wines outside Europe and North America and is "a promising market for the future," the board's report said.

The "Export Potential Map Austria" of the International Trade Center, a joint agency of the World Trade Organization and the United Nations, also identifies China as the market with the greatest potential for Austrian wine exports, saying there is room to "realize additional exports worth 21 million dollars."

Johannes Schmuckenschlager, president of the Austrian Winegrowers' Association and a member of Austria's National Council, told Xinhua he is optimistic about Austrian wines further expanding their footprint in the highly competitive Chinese market.

Schmuckenschlager said many Chinese customers have discovered Austrian wines, which have been exceptionally well received by China's niche markets, such as the gastronomy industry.

He added that Austrian wine producers had attended trade fairs in China to expand their influence in the Chinese market.

"Austrian wines have a great potential in China," he said. "I hope we will have more presence in the Chinese market in the coming years and increase our exports there." 
Recently, the Oakwood Team had the opportunity to work on an incredibly unique project involving a leader in elite genetics and biotechnology serving farmers around the globe. The data they provide to livestock owners is critical in helping them breed better quality animals while finding efficiencies in the production process. This project involved working with the client in rethinking how to better deliver relevant and timely data to their customers through a high-performance computing environment.

Genetics is inherently complex and involves a massive amount of mathematical calculations. The client needed to ensure that these calculations are reliable and accurate to meet the demanding needs of their customers. Producing this data manually in a reasonable amount of time is simply not possible. As such, the client relies on computations that are performed by large computer clusters.

This genetic testing puts a lot of strain on the clients computer resources. The client had a high-performance computing (HPC) environment set up to handle their genetic testing requirements. Improving this environment would help farmers around the world breed better animals.

The client was looking for ways to improve their computing environment, as well as migrate some of their data to Azure. They needed to find an expert well-versed in cloud migrations that could handle complex data requirements.

Oakwood was able to work directly with Microsoft specialists to overcome difficulties they ran into throughout this project. The Oakwood team worked with Microsoft to modify both Lustre and Slurm templates. Microsoft even dedicated their own resources in writing custom scripts with this project in mind.

The Microsoft specialists were more than happy to assist with this project. The specialists were excited to use their tools in a live environment. Oakwood team members would break the tools, such as Slurm, and then work with the Microsoft team to fix it. Microsoft was a key supporter in this project.

Oakwoods client has seen tremendous performance improvements and is still working with Oakwood on expanding the performance and functionality of this complex environment. The newly implemented system is more sustainable and workable than their on-premises systems. The client can automatically build and run entire HPC clusters to run genetic tests. Their team can achieve a two-gigabyte throughput using Lustre as backend storage.

The client has to perform less day-to-day management of their systems as compared to before.

Azure has freed up significant computer resources for the client. The client has more redundancy and backup than ever before. Overall, this customer is better able to meet the needs of their customers by using their new HPC environment.

The improvements that Oakwood was able to deliver is clearly apparent to the client. Oakwood plans to continue to work on business intelligence, as well as data and reporting functions. The client and Oakwood plan to use the lessons learned from this project on future high-performance computing clusters and data center deployments.

Since 1981 the Oakwood Team has been helping organizations of all sizes, across all industries, solve their most complex technology-related challenges. Our longevity has allowed us to evolve and sharpen our delivery approach(es) to help guarantee better business outcomes for our clients.

Oakwood Systems Group is a Microsoft Partner holding 8 Gold Competencies and 6 Silver Competencies. With over 40 years in business combined with several Microsoft Partner of The Year awards under their belt, Oakwood delivers complex technology solutions on-time and on-budget.
Its been an incredible first year for Loop. Weve shared over 1,500 pre-assembled and pre-loved items with our community and helped them save an inordinate amount of time, space, stress and money, says Henry Vogel, Founder and CEO of Loop.

Loop.baby, a DVx Ventures portfolio company, announces today that they have joined forces with ottobie. Both companies allow members to rent top-rated toys and baby gear by the month. Loop launched in the Bay Area, CA and recently expanded to New York City. With these expansion moves, Loop will continue to accelerate its growth and transform the $150B+ global baby and toy market by making parenting easier, more affordable and gentler on the planet.

Loops mission is to create a sharing economy that helps simplify parenting, build community, and reduce the impact of consumerism on the planet. Families who join Loop have unrivaled access to top-rated pre-loved products that are safe and age-appropriate for each stage of a childs development. Loop gives parents the flexibility to try different products and find whats best for their family, all while saving time, space and money.

ottobie shares many of the same goals and offers similar products to Loop along with a selection of furniture. By combining forces, Loop will expand its membership base, product offering and services in their flagship market, the greater San Francisco Bay area. The companies will operate under the Loop brand.

Its been an incredible first year for Loop. Weve shared over 1,500 pre-assembled and pre-loved items with our community and helped them save an inordinate amount of time, space, stress and money, says Henry Vogel, Founder and CEO of Loop. By our estimation, our members have avoided over 150,000 pounds of packaging and plastic waste from landfills by renting vs. buying items. By joining forces with ottobie to help pursue our shared vision, this really is just the start.

I started ottobie as the market was clearly missing a solution for new parents. Inspired by my own fatherhood, I launched the brand to simplify the product journey and offer parents more sustainable choices, says John Pien, Founder and CEO of ottobie. By joining the Loop family, our members will gain access to a broader range of products and services and be a part of the change I think we all want to see for the next generation.

Loop was launched in 2021 in San Francisco with $3 million in seed funding from DVx Ventures. The companys unique offering of convenient, clutter-free and sustainable ways to give babies the best is clearly resonating with families. Loops membership base has been consistently growing 30% - 50% month over month while the majority of its new members have come from referrals and word of mouth recommendations. Member satisfaction is also incredibly high with NPS scores over 90 and subscriber retention rates over 95%. The acquisition of ottobie and the market expansion into New York and other markets which are planned will only help to continue and accelerate Loops growth even further.

About Loop

Loops mission is to create a sharing economy that helps simplify parenting, build community, and reduce the impact of consumerism on the planet. Membership service is currently available in the Bay Area, as well as New York City. Loop helps make sharing easier and enables parents to do what is best for their baby while removing the hassle of buying and then storing or re-selling baby gear and toys. Loop selects, inspects, cleans and monitors for recalls and warranty issues to ensure the highest in quality and safety. Products are hand delivered, fully assembled directly to members doorsteps, eliminating the packaging waste as well as the hassle of assembling new products. When parents and babies no longer need a product or want to swap and try new products, members simply schedule a pick-up and can move on to Loop the next items.
It is critical to ensure that all people, regardless of age, race, ability, or income level, can access all the benefits trees provide. Our work with TD through the Green Space Grant helps to make that a reality. - said Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation

TD Bank Group (TD) and the Arbor Day Foundation today announced the 2022 grant recipients of the TD Green Space Grants program. The program will provide a total of US $400,000 to support 20 organizations that are helping to deliver environmental equity within their communities.

The pandemic and the climate crisis have exacerbated existing inequities, including severe disparities in green space access and tree canopy between affluent and low-to-moderate income areas. As temperatures continue to rise, members of economically marginalized communities have been more restricted in their ability to safely seek refuge in green spaces.

Green spaces are the foundation of the communities where we work, live and play, says Janice Farrell Jones, Senior Vice President  Sustainability and Corporate Citizenship, TD Bank Group. Were so proud to continue this important work with the Arbor Day Foundation to help expand equal access to green spaces and increase tree canopies in underserved communities. By focusing and investing in more equitable access to green spaces, were working to create more resilient, inclusive and sustainable urban areas.

We continue to see disparities in canopy and green space access across communities that can be alleviated through trees. said Dan Lambe, CEO of the Arbor Day Foundation. It is critical to ensure that all people, regardless of age, race, ability, or income level, can access their benefits. Our work with TD through the Green Space Grant helps to make that a reality.

The following twenty cities in the United States and Canada will each receive a TD Green Space Grant of $20,000 USD:

United States:



Baltimore, Maryland

Passadumkeag, Maine

Jacksonville, Florida

Providence, Rhode Island

Brooklyn, New York

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2)

Bronx, New York

Miami, Florida

Washington D.C.

Hackensack, New Jersey

Canada:



Edmonton, Alberta

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Vancouver, British Columbia

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Petty Harbour Maddox Cove, Newfoundland & Labrador

Lachine, Quebec

Peterborough, Ontario

Vaughan, Ontario

Milton, Ontario

TD provides funding for these grants, which are awarded annually, and the Arbor Day Foundation administers the program. TD Green Space Grants are part of the TD Ready Commitment, the Banks global corporate citizenship platform. Established in 2019, the program has served 63 communities through 82 planting projects. These projects have collectively planted or distributed over 11,000 trees or shrubs and engaged nearly 4,000 community members.

This year, funding will be granted to 20 municipalities that are driving programs aligned to the theme TD Green Space: Supporting communities delivering environmentally equitable solutions. To be eligible for a grant, qualified municipalities had to be located within TD's operating footprint in the United States and Canada. Priority was given to projects occurring in underserved areas of local communities. For communities applying within the United States, preference was given to currently recognized Tree City USA communities or those who expressed interest in becoming a Tree City USA community over the next calendar year.

For more information, visit arborday.org/programs/tdgreenspacegrants.

About the Arbor Day Foundation

Founded in 1972, the Arbor Day Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with more than 1 million members, supporters, and valued partners. Since 1972, almost 500 million Arbor Day Foundation trees have been planted in neighborhoods, communities, cities and forests throughout the world. Our vision is to lead toward a world where trees are used to solve issues critical to survival.

As one of the world's largest operating conservation foundations, the Arbor Day Foundation, through its members, partners and programs, educates and engages stakeholders and communities across the globe to involve themselves in its mission of planting, nurturing and celebrating trees. More information is available at arborday.org.

About the TD Ready Commitment

TD has a long-standing commitment to enriching the lives of its customers, colleagues and communities. As part of its corporate citizenship platform, the TD Ready Commitment, TD is targeting CDN $1 billion (US $750 million*) in total by 2030 towards community giving in four areas critical to opening doors for a more inclusive and sustainable tomorrow  Financial Security, Vibrant Planet, Connected Communities and Better Health. Through the TD Ready Commitment, the bank aspires to link its business, philanthropy and human capital to help people feel more confident - not just about their finances, but also in their ability to achieve their personal goals in a changing world. For further information, visit http://www.td.com/tdreadycommitment.

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This session was never about men versus women or pigeon-holing anyone on the basis of gender, regionality, or points of view. Rather, Iconic Women in Wine at Vinitaly 2022 took a good long look at how to improve communication.

This unique event encompassed so much more than the sum of the individual women: two leading international female journalists, the female managing director of Vinitaly International, and seven renowned Italian women wine producers collaborated to create an event that set aside the natural competition between the players and focused instead on personal stories, camaraderie, and the aspiration all these women hold for the future of Italian wine.

Why has this event never happened before? An interesting question answered best by Monica Larner. When Stevie Kim presented me with this idea, I was excited on many levels; however, most compelling was the opportunity to present beautiful Italian wines with a colleague whose magazine shares market space with my own. Robert Parks Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator have never collaborated on anything. With smug certainty I suspect our male colleagues would never pull resources together in this fashion for such a ground-breaking collaboration with important benefits. Post-pandemic we are all burning with a desire for new beginnings and being together. Inclusivity, camaraderie, creating togetherness. All seven of these individualistic and talents producers instantly recognised the importance and immediately agreed to participate.

Stevie Kim pointed out that this event was the definition of iconic: Two women wine critic titans collaborating for the first time, with seven Italian women who are giants in their industry, is a true demonstration of what it means to be iconic: widely recognised and acknowledged for distinctive excellence.

Opening the event, Alison Napjus explained the real gravitas that informed the idea for the discussion. Women are better communicators, using more words and more expressive words, with a better ability to listen and to empathise. These women are all around trailblazers, winery leaders, winery founders, wine makers. We all have to find new ways to connect and communicate after the pandemic pivot we all faced. This event gives us the chance to explore, as women, three particular themes in Italian wine; heritage/family, territory, wine ambassadors.

The women winery leaders came from 5 different regions and their age gap spanned 40 years. The idea of women in wine is not new, women are everywhere in the industry, but the gathering to share stories and important vintages, to exchange experiences, ideas and ask questions with leading wine writers was ground-breaking. The honesty and open attitude of all the women involved was clearly part of the magic in the room and what will attract young and savvy wine lovers to the unique soulfulness of Italian wine.

Chiara Boschis of E. Pira & Figli in Barolo, commented What do I have of iconic in my life? I am not an iconic woman, I work like a donkey all day, but this vineyard, Cannubi, this is an iconic place, and the diversity in the area is incredible. When I first got together with my friends, the Barolo Boys, I was the only girl, but we all wanted to shine a light on all the differences of our area and understand the potential of our terroir. She shared the 2010 vintage BaroloCannubi, a year that was important because her brother joined her, with his daughters who are all studying enology and will bring a new generation of women to the winery. Wine makers usually work alone. When we start to work together, recognising everyones unique terroir, we start to learn new things and appreciate all the traditions, we find more opportunities.

Elisabetta Foradori from Trentino expressed her perspective, in a different way. I actually love making cheese, its another kind of fermentation. Im a farmer. Our country has a beauty and a richness of variety and we have a mission to transfer into a bottle this pure message of the different terroirs. We have a great responsibility to save and improve the genetic variety and express the terroir in the most healthy and connected way possible. Be creative and responsible farmers for the future. Her pomegranate logo represents 100s of tiny seeds, packed together in one beautiful container, 100s of ideas, creative thinking, and out of the box innovation.

Arianna Occhipinti, from Sicily, youngest of the group, added her experiences as an explorer with a model for young winemakers. Frappato is the original grape from Vittoria where I grew up. I needed an important grape to grow up as a wine maker. Thanks to the character of this grape, I learned to make wine. Now I vinify parcel by parcel to get better expression of the soils, the limestone, the tufa, the red sand. Now I have treasure, for me it is important to show what Vittoria really is, the fresh wines we can make even in the deep south of Sicily.

Marilisa Allegrini spoke of her learning curve after the death of her father and finding her way in the world away from the winery. Valpolicella was known for inexpensive wines in the 1980s, and Amarone was a niche wine for high end consumers, so it was a challenge for me to communicate. The first time I went to America, the importer wouldnt let me go out to promote the wine until I wrote down absolutely everything about the wine. Many people said they didnt want a Valpolicella on their wine list, so I knew I had to communicate everything to make this area known and understood.

Elena Fucci from Mt. Vulture in Basilicata felt much the same as she struggled to put her region on the map. For me it is a dream to be with these special women in wine today. My journey started in 2000, when my family considered selling the vineyard because we werent making wines, just selling the grapes to the consortium. I decided to change the course of my study so the house where I was born and lived with my family would not be sold. I went to university to study enology and winemaking. No one knew where Basilicata was. I had 6 hectares and a single grape: my wine, my life, my Titolo. I travel a lot to explain my region and my wine, modern but not modernist wine, I work to respect and understand the territory where we are. The vintage I am sharing is 2012 because ten years ago I had no idea what would happen to me and my wine in these ten years since 2012 and how much communicating it would take.

Heritage and legacy were addressed by Albiera Antinori with her familys Tignaello and Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta with her legendary Sassicaia. Antinori said, For me, looking at the history of the past 50 years since the start of Tignanello, and the diversity and uniqueness of wines that can be made in Italy  the terroir and the story are the future, terroir still to be discovered, every day you get surprised by wonderful areas with local varieties, an elegance, a minerality, theyve got the sun inside. Even traditional vineyards have been replanted so new things will be coming up, but we must be centered on quality, personality, history and the story we can explain. Regarding sustainability she added, Its a complicated word to use, it can mean different things. For me it is a puzzle made of many things, with the final objective of leaving something better for the next generation. Not only in the winery but also for our workers, our sales force, we need one certification in Italy for sustainable, for economic sustainability as well.

Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta looked at the idea of safeguarding Italian wine history from outside investors and influences. Its not easy, there are real issues for family businesses, you have to have a strong sense of pride, family values and the family project. A responsibility to the next generations, we want to pass on what we got in an even better shape than when we received it. We are guardians. We have to combine financial goals with the family goals. Having a long-term view means we focus less on making short term cash, but we have to involve the family members to keep everyone interested, our estate is not only wine, we have other ventures and interests and my cousins and I have different interests on the estate. Consultancy helps deal with family generation change issues to and now we have the Primum Familiae Vini group which is a good place to share issues, know-how and support others in similar situations.

Summing up, Allegrini said, We must put the agricultural product into the cultural context of Italy as a place of art, history, architecture, and beautiful landscape. Larner added, This is the real way to help Italian wine be more competitive, to communicate differently and better, to tell that story, down to the soil, down to the producer, down to the winery, down to the vineyard, down to the very last rock. Stevie Kim remarked, Everybody wants to be like Antinori, this is the problem I face as an agency, everyone wants that beautiful 26 generation story on their home page. Every winery has to find their own original story, not only the romance of generations and terroir, not only bio and organic and so on, but it has to be economically sustainable as well as. Each winery has to find the uniqueness of their story. Najus concluded that, You can teach people about wine, but to find the story is much harder.

Looking back on this momentous event, Stevie Kim commented, This session was never about men versus women or pigeon-holing anyone on the basis of gender, regionality, or points of view. Rather, Iconic Women in Wine at Vinitaly 2022 took a good long look at how to improve communication, highlight success and exalt the unique power of women to unite in challenging circumstances for a common good. Larner and Napjus absolutely found the story that needs to be told in order to secure the future of Italian wine in the global market..

__________________

About Alison Napjus: Alison Napjus divides her time between New York, where Wine Spectator is based, and a second home in Tampa, Fla. She regularly travels abroad, both personally and professionally. After graduating from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration, Napjus moved to New York to take a position as a manager at Tribeca Grill restaurant. She joined Wine Spectator in 2000 and was promoted to Senior Editor in 2012 and Tasting Director in 2016. She is lead taster for the wines of Spain, Frances Champagne and Alsace regions, South Africa and wines from regions throughout Italy. As Tasting Director, she oversees the scope and content of Wine Spectators annual reviews of more than 15,000 wines, working closely with the tasters and tasting coordinators in the New York and Napa offices.

About Monica Larner: Monica Larner is a Los Angeles native, her family moved to Rome when she was 11. After high school in both Italy and California, Monica earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalismfrom Boston University and New York University respectively. She worked for the Italian daily La Repubblica, followed by the Rome bureau of BusinessWeek and two years as a staff writer with Italy Daily of the International Herald Tribune where she penned her first wine column. Monica is an active member of the Ordine dei Giornalisti and a certified sommelier with the Italian Sommelier Association. In 2003, Monica was approached by Wine Enthusiast to be the magazine's first Italy-based correspondent, where her proudest achievement is the 185-page special collector's Wine Enthusiast "Wines of Italy" edition that showcases her decade-long body of work. She was awarded the "Best International Journalist" Silver Grape Leaf three by the Comitato Grandi Cru d'Italia. Gambero Rosso recognized her as a "Leader of Italian Excellence," and the Italian Trade Commission acknowledged her distinguished service to Italian wine. In 2013, she joined The Wine Advocate as the Reviewer for Italy.

About Vinitaly: the grand Vinitaly 2022 was held from April 10th to the 13th. Vinitaly 2022 counted 88,000 visitors of which 25,000 were top international buyers from 139 different countries. The premier event to Vinitaly, OperaWine Finest Italian Wines: 100 Great Producers, which was held on the 9th of April, one day prior to Vinitaly, united international wine professionals in the heart of Verona, offering them the unique opportunity to discover and taste the wines of the 130 Best Italian Producers, as selected by Wine Spectator. Since 1998 Vinitaly travels to several countries thanks to its strategic arm abroad, Vinitaly International. In February 2014 Vinitaly International launched an educational project, the Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) with the aim of divulging and broadcasting the excellence and diversity of Italian wine around the globe. VIA this year launched the 21st edition of its Certification Course. To date, there are 271 Certified Italian Wine Ambassadors of which 15 are also Italian Wine Experts.


Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhomik De Blouw LLP For more information about the lawsuit against Golden State Water Company, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The Los Angeles employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a lawsuit against Golden State Water Company alleging the company violated Labor Code  2699, et seq. seeking penalties for DEFENDANTs alleged violation of California Labor Code  201, 202, 203, 204 et seq., 210, 221, 226(a), 226.7, 510, 512, 558(a)(1)(2), 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 1198, and 2802. The lawsuit against Golden State Water Company is currently pending in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Case No. 22PSCV00242. To read a copy of the Complaint, please click here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Golden State Water Company allegedly failed to fully relieve Plaintiff and other Aggrieved Employees for their legally required thirty (30) minute meals breaks. Employees were also allegedly required, from time to time, to work in excess of four (4) hours without being provided the legally required ten (10) minute rest periods. The California Supreme Court defines off-duty rest periods as time during which an employee is relieved from all work related duties and free from employer control.

PAGA is a mechanism by which the State of California itself can enforce state labor laws through the employee suing under the PAGA who do so as the proxy or agent of the state's labor law enforcement agencies. An action to recover civil penalties under PAGA is fundamentally a law enforcement action designed to protect the public and not to benefit private parties. The purpose of PAGA is not to recover damages or restitution, but to create a means of "deputizing" citizens as private attorneys general to enforce the Labor Code.

For more information about the lawsuit against Golden State Water Company, call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is a labor law firm with law offices located in San Diego County, Riverside County, Los Angeles County, Sacramento County, Santa Clara County, Orange County and San Francisco County. The firm has a statewide practice of representing employees on a contingency basis for violations involving unpaid wages, overtime pay, discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination and other types of illegal workplace conduct.

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This is an extraordinary opportunity to lead one of Napas oldest wine companies, one with a storied past and an amazing future, Brown said. Im grateful for the trust the family has placed in me and look forward to continuing to build the familys vision for the future of the brand.

C. Mondavi & Family, one of the countrys most iconic wine names, today announced the promotion of David S. Brown to the offices of President and CEO, and he will have a seat on the Board of Directors. Brown will continue to lead the national sales team at C. Mondavi & Family in addition to his new responsibilities at the over 160-year-old, family-owned wine company, which includes Charles Krug, Napa Valleys oldest winery and Californias first tasting room.

David is a strong, proven leader who has excelled since joining C. Mondavi & Family, and were pleased that he will be assuming these key leadership roles for the company, said brothers and co-proprietors Marc Mondavi and Peter Mondavi Jr. in a joint statement. We have the utmost respect for David and confidence in his ability to continue execution of our strategic plan.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to lead one of Napas oldest wine companies, one with a storied past and an amazing future, Brown said. Im grateful for the trust the family has placed in me and look forward to continuing to build the familys vision for the future of the brand.

Browns appointment is effective immediately. He succeeds Judd Wallenbrock, who is retiring. The family thanks Judd for his leadership and the positive changes he has driven over the last five years and the role he played in setting up C. Mondavi & Family for success, the brothers said.

David S. Brown brings three decades of sales, marketing and operational leadership to his new position. Prior to joining the C. Mondavi & Family company in 2017, Brown served as chief sales officer at Pasternak Wine Imports. Before that he was vice-president of sales for Treasury Wine Estates, and held prior sales and marketing positions with Mars, Inc., Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. Brown earned his B.A. from The Ohio State University.

About C. Mondavi & Family

C. Mondavi & Family is a St. Helena based wine company founded in 1861 and purchased by Cesare and Rosa Mondavi in 1943. Owned and operated by co-proprietors, Marc Mondavi and Peter Mondavi Jr., along with their children, the C. Mondavi & Family portfolio includes Charles Krug Winery, CK Mondavi and Family, French Blue, West + Wilder, and Flat Top Hills. With the third, fourth, and fifth generations at the helm, the family holds 800 acres of Napa Valley land and additional vineyards in Yolo County. For more information visit cmondavifamily.com.
I am thrilled to become a member of this well-respected firm, says Chelsea Vander Pols.

CFJ Injury Lawyers is an established personal injury law firm based in North Charleston, SC. Attorney Catherine F. Juhas and her legal team are pleased to announce that a new associate attorney, Chelsea Vander Pols, has joined the practice. Chelseas legal knowledge will be a great addition to the firm, helping clients recoup physically, financially and emotionally from their injuries. Ms. Vander Pols grew up in Michigan and attended Central Michigan University where she earned a B.S. in Political Science and a B.A. in Journalism. She then moved to South Carolina in 2018 to attend law school. Ms. Vander Pols graduated from Charleston School of Law in May 2021 and was recently admitted to practice law in South Carolina. She joins a seasoned legal team and will be working with clients on personal injury, accidents and workers compensation cases.

For those injured at no fault of their own, CFJ Injury Lawyers in North Charleston provide the individualized attention that each client deserves. Whether the case is a motor vehicle accident, workers' compensation claim, or a wrongful death claim, the experienced injury lawyers will examine all of the facts and then proceed on the best possible path toward a favorable resolution.

I am thrilled to become a member of this well-respected firm, says Chelsea Vander Pols.

More about CFJ Injury Lawyers:

CFJ Injury Lawyers fight for those that have been injured or harmed by the negligent or wrongful conduct of others. As experienced professionals who specialize in personal injury cases, they represent victims of auto and motorcycle accidents, workers compensation, social security disability, premises liability, wrongful death and much more. CFJ Injury Lawyers is located at 2185 Ashley Phosphate Road in North Charleston, SC. For more information about the law firm, please call 843-553-0007 or visit http://www.chsinjurylawyers.com.


Law Office of Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP For more information about the class action lawsuit against Vista Hospice Care, Inc., call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

The San Diego employment law attorneys, at Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP, filed a class action complaint alleging that Vista Hospice Care, Inc. violated the California Labor Code. The Vista Hospice Care, Inc. class action lawsuit, Case No. 37-2022-00009469-CU-OE-CTL, is currently pending in the San Diego County Superior Court of the State of California. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

According to the lawsuit filed, Vista Hospice Care, Inc. allegedly (a) failed to pay minimum wages, (b) failed to pay overtime wages, (c) failed to provide legally required meal and rest periods, (d) failed to provide accurate itemized wage statements, (e) failed to reimburse employees for required expenses, and (f) failed to provide wages when due, all in violation of the applicable Labor Code sections listed in California Labor Code Sections  201, 202, 203, 226, 226.7, 510, 512, 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 2802, and the applicable Wage Order(s), and thereby gives rise to civil penalties as a result of such alleged conduct.

The complaint alleges Vista Hospice Care, Inc. failed to provide employees with complete and accurate wage statements. California Labor Code  226 provides that every employer shall furnish each of his or her employees with an accurate itemized wage statement in writing showing, among other things, gross wages earned and all applicable hourly rates in effect during the pay period and the corresponding amount of time worked at each hourly rate.

For more information about the class action lawsuit against Vista Hospice Care, Inc., call (800) 568-8020 to speak to an experienced California employment attorney today.

Blumenthal Nordrehaug Bhowmik De Blouw LLP is an employment law firm with offices located in San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Riverside and Chicago that dedicates its practice to helping employees, investors and consumers fight back against unfair business practices, including violations of the California Labor Code and Fair Labor Standards Act. If you need help in collecting unpaid overtime wages, unpaid commissions, being wrongfully terminated from work, and other employment law claims, contact one of their attorneys today.

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Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, P.A., has boosted its international tax capabilities with the addition of Scott J. Bakal as a shareholder in its Fort Lauderdale office. Bakal, who focuses his practice on advising domestic and international high-net-worth clients on tax and estate planning, joins Greenberg Traurig from Neal Gerber Eisenberg in Chicago, where he was a partner and co-chair of the firms taxation practice group.

Greenberg Traurigs nationally ranked Tax Practice has been expanding in recent months to meet client demand across the U.S. Last year, Shareholder Joseph J. Curran joined the firms Boston office, where he is focused on private equity-related tax matters; Shareholder Jeffrey K. Ekeberg, who advises clients on the tax aspects of complex business transactions, joined the Chicago office; and Shareholder Seth J. Entin, who represents multinational companies and high-net-worth individuals in international tax matters, rejoined the Miami office. Miami Shareholders Gennette E. Faust, Erika G. Litvak, and Ozzie A. Schindler also are part of the firms international tax team in South Florida.

As South Florida continues to attract new residents with significant wealth from throughout the world, we saw the need to expand our team of tax attorneys who can provide highly specialized legal services to these clients, said Global Tax Practice Co-Chair William R. Siegel, a shareholder in the firms Fort Lauderdale office. Scotts arrival makes Greenberg Traurig even more well-equipped to help our clients find tax-efficient solutions to complex financial situations, business transactions and estate planning matters.

Bakal develops tax-planning strategies for closely held family businesses, partnerships, and publicly held corporations with significant domestic and international operations. He works closely with high- net-worth individuals and entrepreneurial companies on tax issues surrounding complex business transactions, estate planning matters, and real estate investments. With many clients in Israel and throughout Latin America, he provides guidance to families and individuals who are seeking to migrate their assets and investments to the U.S., particularly in South Florida. He has considerable experience in representing closely held businesses on the tax consequences of transactions, including structuring joint ventures, asset and stock purchase agreements, and the acquisition, sale, and ownership of interests in real property. He also advises executives in tax-sensitive compensation matters and the owners of controlling stakes in publicly held companies.

I chose Greenberg Traurig because of the firms global platform, depth and breadth of experience in international tax planning and compliance, and strong culture of collaboration, Bakal said. I wanted to be part of the premier firm in South Florida, where many of my clients are relocating. A lot of capital and business is gravitating to South Florida right now, which makes it a great place to be.

Throughout his 36-year career, Bakal has received numerous accolades. He has been recommended by Chambers USA in the area of Taxation since 2017, by The Legal 500 United States in U.S. Taxes: Non-Contentious since 2017, and by The Best Lawyers in America in Trusts & Estates since 2010.

Bakal graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School and earned a B.S. from Yale University. He is a member of the Florida and Illinois bars and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court.

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.
We are very happy with the courts decision, which affirms what we knew from the start. We demonstrated to IBM from the outset that Chewy did not infringe any of its patents  and that the patents were invalid, said New York Shareholder Joshua L. Raskin, head of the team representing Chewy.

A team of Greenberg Traurig, LLP attorneys secured a complete victory for Chewy Inc. in a patent infringement battle with International Business Machines Corp., which claimed the online pet supply retailers website and mobile app violated several IBM patents.

In a summary judgment order issued Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled that Chewy didnt infringe three out of four IBM patents and that a fourth patent was invalid as it was directed to an abstract idea (a fifth patent was dismissed earlier in the case after the court ruled it invalid). The judge dismissed IBMs counterclaims with prejudice.

The case began in February 2021, when Chewy  after rejecting an IBM license offer  filed a complaint for declaratory judgment of non-infringement of four IBM patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 7,072,849, 9,569,414, 7,076,443 and 6,704,034). In response, IBM filed counterclaims alleging infringement of these four patents, and then later added another patent to the case (U.S. Patent No. 7,496,831). IBM claimed these patents covered various website and mobile app functions such as allowing a user to hover over a product to see a magnified image, caching advertisements locally and reorganizing hyperlinks on a browser display when the width size is adjusted.

We are very happy with the courts decision, which affirms what we knew from the start. We demonstrated to IBM from the outset that Chewy did not infringe any of its patents  and that the patents were invalid, said New York Shareholder Joshua L. Raskin, vice chair of Greenberg Traurigs Patent Litigation Group and chair of the New York Intellectual Property & Technology Group and head of the team representing Chewy.

Chewys first win in the case came last year after Judge Rakoff held a claim construction hearing to define the key terms of the asserted patents. In the order that followed, Judge Rakoff invalidated one patent and defined the key terms in the four remaining patents in a manner that was almost universally favorable for Chewy.

After the ruling in the claim construction hearing was issued, IBM altered its infringement theories. Following an intricate discovery process involving the examination of thousands of documents between Chewy and IBM, as well as taking and defending over a dozen depositions, Chewy moved for summary judgment on the remaining four patents on various non-infringement and invalidity grounds, which motion was granted in its entirety.

The Greenberg Traurig team also included Shareholders Allan A. Kassenoff and Julie P. Bookbinder, Of Counsel Vimal Kapadia, and Associates Cort Welch, Jade Li-Yu Chen, and Jonathan Presvelis, and Law Clerk Danielle Zapata, all based in New York, as well as Chicago Associate Maja E. Sherman.

Case number: 21-cv-1319 (JSR)

Court of record: U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

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.
A contributing factor to [LGBTQIA+ health disparities] is a lack of comprehensive education about LGBTQIA+ people during formative clinician training. Consequently, there is a dearth of clinicians with expertise in the healthcare needs of LGBTQIA+ people

A paper published in Academic Medicine documents lessons learned from a pilot sexual and gender minority (SGM) health curriculum offered to clinicians working at NYC Health + Hospitals from 2017-2020. The program is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive single-institution sexual and gender minority health education program to engage professionally diverse employees across multiple practice facilities. It contributed important new knowledge to efforts to provide professional development and training to clinicians in how to meet the healthcare needs of LGBTQIA+ people.

LGBTQIA+ people experience disparities in health outcomes, including mental health, substance use, preventive care, and HIV and sexually transmitted infections, said study co-author Hilary Goldhammer, SM. A contributing factor to these disparities is a lack of comprehensive education about LGBTQIA+ people during formative clinician training. Consequently, there is a dearth of clinicians with expertise in the healthcare needs of LGBTQIA+ people.

The Joint Commission recommends that practicing clinicians and other staff receive sexual and gender minority health education, added study senior author Dr. Alex S. Keuroghlian, who directs the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at The Fenway Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatry Gender Identity Program. Optional training of some clinicians may be helpful for reducing health disparities, but this may be insufficient to ensure adequate knowledge and skill among all clinicians. System-wide training may be what is needed to make significant progress.

NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest public health care system in the United States, employing approximately 6,000 clinicians at 11 acute care hospitals, over 70 neighborhood clinics, and other health care facilities that serve more than 1 million people in New York City. In this pilot study, NYC Health + Hospitals engaged the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at The Fenway Institute at Fenway Health to design and implement a SGM health care curriculum for clinicians. The pilot program featured a 90-minute live introductory session, a pre-test, a post-test, and six 45-minute online learning modules focusing on a range of topics in SGM health care. Modules include video of LGBTQIA+ patients sharing their experiences in clinical settings.

NYC Health + Hospitals encouraged participation by clinicians in the pilot program by promoting it in emails, posters, and screen saver messages. Clinicians who completed the curriculum earned the Certificate of Advanced Training in LGBTQ Healthcare for promotion to patients as SGM-affirming providers.

Of the 6,000 clinicians eligible to participate at NYC Health + Hospitals, 792 enrolled in the program, with a majority of participants employed at acute care hospitals. Of the 792 participants, 372 (47%) completed all of the training modules. With a mean pre-program test score of 60.9 and a mean post-program test score of 81.9, those who completed the program demonstrated significantly higher knowledge of SMG health care.

The studys authors recommend that future system-wide programs of SGM health care education invest in more rigorous program evaluations. In addition to a post-program test, evaluators could solicit feedback from participants about how likely they believe that the training will alter their practice. But the most rigorous evaluation would involve measuring changes in process and clinical outcomes.

SGM health outcomes can be measured by examining data in electronic health records, said lead author Dr. Kevin Ard, Medical Director of the National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center at The Fenway Institute and Director of the Sexual Health Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital. As an example, it would be meaningful to examine the proportion of LGBTQIA+ patients in the electronic health record and the proportion receiving appropriate preventive health screenings. Measuring these outcomes prior to launching a training program would set a baseline for evaluation while also providing information about areas of need that the training program should focus on.

Study authors also recommend that institutions investing in SGM health education training for clinicians allocate resources to encouraging clinicians to participate and assessing the reasons for non-participation.

Reasons for lack of participation could have ranged from lack of awareness that the program was available, a self-perception of pre-existing expertise, limited interest in SGM health, time constraints or other factors, added Ard. Without a good understanding of why clinicians opted not to participate, its hard to develop meaningful recruitment strategies going forward.

A Pilot Sexual and Gender Minority Health Curriculum for the Largest Public Health Care System in the United States, is available online.
NOVA Giving Day Logo Now more than ever, investing in a NOVA student is investing in our community, said Anne M. Kress, president of NOVA. This support eliminates barriers for our students so they can achieve their dreams of college degrees and financially rewarding careers."

The NOVA Educational Foundation  the philanthropic arm of Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA)  will hold its first annual Giving Day event on Thursday, April 21. This inaugural 24-hour virtual fundraiser will raise funds in support of NOVA student achievement, which will be awarded as scholarships and grants that can help students pay for books, meals and more.

NOVA, a globally renowned institution where the student body represents the diversity of the region, continues to support all students by providing wraparound services through its educational foundation. The entire NOVA community is invited to participate in the event, including supporters, companies and local organizations, community members, faculty, staff, alumni, parents and friends.

Now more than ever, investing in a NOVA student is investing in our community, said Anne M. Kress, president of NOVA. This support eliminates barriers for our students so they can achieve their dreams of college degrees and financially rewarding careers. We are so proud of how our NOVA Nighthawks have weathered unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. Their strength and resilience has been remarkable: they have succeeded in their courses and stayed on track to graduation, university transfer, and meaningful employment. Your gift on April 21 will change lives and power a brighter future for our students, their families, and our region.

Over the last month, the NOVA Foundation hosted community pop-up events on each of NOVAs six campuses to raise awareness among communities that hold NOVA dear. The events gave students, faculty, staff and returning NOVA alumni a chance to come together and celebrate NOVAs dedicated and talented students. Ahead of NOVAs first Giving Day, attendees were asked What does NOVA mean to you?. Watch the video below to see some of their inspiring, heartwarming responses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvY7GsUb9b4

Join us as we unite as #oneNOVA through Giving Day. Every gift, no matter the amount, makes a difference, said Kelly Persons, executive director of the NOVA Foundation. The more you help share the news about NOVAs Giving Day through social media, the more opportunities we have to combine individual gifts with hundreds of others to ensure student success.

The NOVA Foundation is grateful for the community champions who have continually supported NOVAs students. Over the years, this generosity has provided resources so that a quality education and skills training continue to be available to all, transforming the lives of our students, their families and the region.

To contribute to NOVAs Giving Day campaign, visit: https://support.novafoundation.org/campaign/giving-day-2022/c387535

To learn more about the NOVA Educational Foundation, please visit, https://giving.nvcc.edu/. For questions regarding Giving Day, please contact Kelly Persons, executive director the NOVA Educational Foundation at kpersons@nvcc.edu. For media inquiries, please contact Hoang Nguyen, associate director of external communications at hdnguyen@nvcc.edu.

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) is the largest public institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth of Virginia and one of America's largest community colleges. NOVA enrolls more than 80,000 students at its six campuses in Alexandria, Annandale, Loudoun, Manassas, Springfield (Medical Education Campus) and Woodbridge, through NOVA Online and high school dual enrollment. We offer more than 100 associate degree and certificate programs to help our students reach their academic and professional goals through university transfers and access to the most in-demand careers. At NOVA, we strive to ensure that every student succeeds, every program achieves and every community prospers. For more information about NOVA and its programs or services, visit our website, http://www.nvcc.edu, or call 703-323-3000.
Oakland Zoo veterinary team conducting initial exam Sunday afternoon upon receiving the cub from CDFW. We can already tell she has a feisty spirit and an obvious will to live, and were thankful for that

Already named Rose by her Oakland Zoo care givers, the four- to five-month-old female cub was found in the nick of time based on her critical medical condition upon arrival at the Zoos veterinary hospital around 3PM on Sunday, according to Oakland Zoo veterinarians. Extremely emaciated, Rose weighs only 8.8 pounds, and at her estimated age, a healthy female mountain lion should weigh around 30 pounds.

Based on her initial exam, it appears she hasnt eaten in weeks. She is excruciatingly thin. To survive, her body resorted to consuming its own muscle mass. She is also suffering from extreme dehydration, and her temperature was so low it couldnt even be read. But she survived her first night, which was critical. We can already tell she has a feisty spirit and an obvious will to live, and were thankful for that, said VP of Veterinary Services at Oakland Zoo, Dr. Alex Herman.

Initially spotted by hikers last Tuesday in the Thornewood Open Space Preserve in San Mateo, part of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, wildlife biologists from Midpen contacted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) in a joint effort to find the elusive orphaned cub to rescue her. Cameras were set up in the area, and daily patrols were made. The cub was spotted again on Friday by use of the cameras, but by the time the wildlife biologists from both agencies arrived and searched, the cub had disappeared. Finally, yesterday, a Midpen wildlife biologist and ranger, along with two wildlife biologists from CDFW, Garrett Allen and Megan Senour, located and retrieved the cub, bringing her to Oakland Zoo where the veterinary team was standing by to receive her and administer immediate medical treatment.

Now receiving round-the-clock care at Oakland Zoo, Rose, in addition to starvation and dehydration, was covered in fleas and ticks. Blood tests show a very low red blood cell count. Dr. Ryan Sadler of Oakland Zoo states that if her red blood cell count remains low, the plan is to give Rose a blood transfusion, using one of the Zoos previously rescued mountain lions, now a permanent resident and fully grown healthy adult, as a donor. Daily blood tests are being given to monitor her, along with monitoring her weight and other vitals.

For now, veterinarians are guardedly optimistic about Roses recovery. Currently, she is receiving fluids and hydration through intravenously, to avoid re-feeding syndrome. For now, her care team is bottle feeding her small amounts of formula several times a day. Dr. Sadler also reported that she ate some meat this morning and was alert  hopeful signs she will continue gaining strength and recover in the weeks to come.

Though they have searched, Midpen and CDFW have not located the mother of the cub, confirming she is indeed an orphan. The teams are also searching for possible siblings of Rose. None have been sighted thus far.

We appreciate the hiker and the team at Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District who alerted us to the mountain lion cub and its condition. The Santa Cruz Mountains provide good habitat for mountain lions, but its rare to see a mountain lion because theyre elusive creatures. If you see a mountain lion, do not approach it. Adult animals, when out hunting prey, may leave offspring somewhere safe for up to days at a time. Seeing a young animal by itself does not indicate that it is an orphan and intervention is appropriate, said CDFW Biologist Garrett Allen.

If all goes well with Roses recovery over the next few months, she unfortunately will not be releasable back into the wild. Mountain lion cubs stay with the mothers for up to two years, learning how to hunt and survive on their own. Oakland Zoo and CDFW will work together in finding Rose a good home, likely at another Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited zoo. This is the eighteenth orphaned mountain lion cub Oakland Zoo has received and rehabilitated from the CDFW since 2017. For three of the eighteen, Coloma, Toro, and Silverado, there was space available at Oakland Zoo for them to stay permanently. They can be seen daily by the public in the zoos California Trail section, often sharing a large hammock together, showing their close bond.

Donate to support Oakland Zoos wildlife rescue program: http://www.oaklandzoo.org/savewildlife

Contact:

Isabella Linares,

Marketing Manager

Oakland Zoo

ilinares@oaklandzoo.org

Office: 510-632-9525 ext. 239

Erin Harrison,

VP Marketing & Communications

Oakland Zoo

eharrison@oaklandzoo.org

Office: 510-46-7120

###

ABOUT OAKLAND ZOO AND THE CONSERVATION SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA:

Oakland Zoo, home to more than 850 native and exotic animals, is managed by the Conservation Society of California (CSC); a non-profit organization leading an informed and inspired community to take action for wildlife locally and globally. With over 25 conservation partners and projects worldwide, the CSC is committed to conservation-based education and saving species and their habitats in the wild. Oakland Zoo is dedicated to the humane treatment of animals and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), the national organization that sets the highest standards for animal welfare for zoos and aquariums.
ValvTechnologies signs a distribution agreement with Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Co. Ltd., expanding its reach in the Middle East. "We are delighted to add Kanoo as our trusted partner in Saudi Arabia, said David Birks, Regional Sales Director, ValvTechnologies. They have a successful record of working with customers in the region and will represent our market-leading products in Oil and Gas.

ValvTechnologies, the leading manufacturer of zero leakage, severe service isolation valve solutions, welcomes Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Co. Ltd. as the exclusive distributor of ValvTechnologies valves in Saudi Arabia.

"We are delighted to add Kanoo as our trusted partner in Saudi Arabia, said David Birks, Regional Sales Director, ValvTechnologies. They have a successful record of working with customers in the region and will represent our market-leading products in Oil and Gas.

Under the terms of the agreement, the partnership with Kanoo will enable ValvTechnologies to expand its footprint in Upstream and Downstream Oil and Gas operations in Saudi Arabia.

Manoj Tripathy, CEO, Kanoo Industrial & Energy added, " We have a history of providing customized value-added solutions to our customers and are excited to add ValvTechnologies products to our offering. Their zero leakage valve solutions will be beneficial to companies in our region and support growth in sustainable solutions.

About ValvTechnologies

Part of Severn, ValvTechnologies manufactures highly reliable metal seated valves for severe service applications. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Houston, Texas, it is the leading manufacturer of zero leakage, high-performance isolation valve solutions for customers in energy, chemical processing, mining and minerals, pulp and paper, and other specialized industries. ValvTechnologies, with broad experience in providing reliable custom engineered valves to meet the demands of almost any specific process condition, prides itself on exceeding industry standards by offering market-leading warranties to maintain customers safe and reliable operations. Learn more at http://www.valv.com.

Severn is a global group of specialist high-end valve engineering and manufacturing companies, including Severn Glocon, LB Bentley, and ValvTechnologies.

About Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Co. Ltd.

YBA Kanoo is one of the largest, independent family-owned multinational businesses in the Middle East with an extensive portfolio of business units and strategic partnerships across a range of industry sectors. Established in 1890 in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the group has evolved into a diversified conglomerate with a physical presence across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia.

With over 130 years of experience, ethical conduct & best-in-class partnerships, it has established itself as a first-choice partner for regional & international businesses and continues to pursue growth and expansion through the constant delivery of business excellence.

YBA Kanoos business activities include Private Equity, Real Estate, Shipping, Logistics, Travel, and Industrial Services in the Oil & Gas, Machinery and Power segments.

#
Welcome to AAPI Communities in Conversation! If you missed any of the live streams, you can check them out here including our most recent talk featuring Sheldon Simeon, author of Cook Real Hawaii in conversation with Michelle Young of the Waimea Public Library.

And while you're here, register here for our next event featuring Jai Chakrabarti, author of A Play for the End of the World, in conversation with librarian Jenay Solomon, from the University of Iowa Libraries. The Live stream is set for Tuesday, May 3, 2022, at 1:00 pm ET.

AAPI Communities in Conversation is a collaborative online speaker series celebrates AAPI books, voices, cultures, and experiences. The series is a joint effort between the University of South Carolina's Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and Penguin Random House Library Marketing, with additional media support from Publishers Weekly.

Each month, the AAPI Communities in Conversation series will highlight notable books by AAPI authors and creators, as well as increase the appreciation and understanding of the Asian and Pacific diasporic cultures, stories, and experiences.

The series highlights books written for adults, teens, and children across all genres from literary fiction, cookbooks, and graphic novels to mysteries and memoirs, according to Miriam Tuliao, senior library marketing manager at Penguin Random House, adding that the series is designed to help librarians and readers connect with a range of AAPI voices.

The Penguin Random House Library Marketing team is coordinating the series in conjunction with with Nicole A. Cooke, the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and associate professor at the University of South Carolina's School of Library and Information Science (and a PW contributor). Program moderators are public and academic librarians of Asian/Pacific descent and include adult and youth specialists, ALA emerging leaders, and active members of the Chinese American Librarians Association and Asian Pacific American Librarians Association.

The series will feature a live talk every month in 2022, and the talks will also be promoted and available for later viewing via PWs weekly Preview for Librarians newsletter. The full 2022 schedule is now out, and you can check it out (and register for future talks) here!

Past Episodes

AAPI Communities in Conversation #4: Sheldon Simeon, in conversation with Michelle Young

In the fourth discussion in the series, two-time Top Chef competitor Sheldon Simeon, author of Cook Real Hawaii, celebrates Hawaiian cuisine and customs with Michelle Young of the Waimea Public Library.

AAPI Communities in Conversation #3: Sara Desai & Jen Frederick

In the third discussion in the series, which streamed live on March 1, Sara Desai, author of The Singles Table & Jen Frederick, author of Seoulmates spoke with Las Vegas-Clark County Librarian Seungyeon (Sue) Yang-Peaceatch.

AAPI Communities in Conversation #2: Gina Apostol

In the second discussion in the series, which streamed live on February 1, Jaena Rae Cabrera of the San Francisco Public Library talks with Gina Apostol, author of the acclaimed debut novel Bibliolepsy. Watch here!

AAPI Communities in Conversation #1: Sujata Massey and Naomi Hirahara

In the inaugural discussion, which streamed live on January 4, 2022, Adrienne Cruz of the Azusa City (California) Library spoke with Naomi Hirahara, author of Clark & Division, and Sujata Massey, author of The Bombay Prince. Watch here!
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Glee actor Darren Criss is a new dad.

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The 35-year-old actor welcomed his first child, daughter Bluesy Belle, with his wife, Mia Criss, on Monday.

Criss shared the news Thursday on Instagram alongside a photo of himself and Mia Criss with their baby girl.

"M & D made some sweet music. Bluesy Belle Criss 4/11/22 Out now," he captioned the post.

Criss' former Glee co-star Heather Morris and actresses Vanessa Hudgens and January Jones were among those to congratulate the couple in the comments.

"Congrats beautiful family," Morris wrote.

"Omg congratulations," Hudgens added.

"Aw precious!! Congratulations," Jones said.

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!

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Criss and Mia Criss married in February 2019 and announced in October that they were expecting their first child.

"We've been making music for years. ... But this time we made a BEAT. The ultimate collab droppin Spring 2022," Criss said on Instagram.

Criss played Blaine Anderson on Glee, which ended in 2015 after a six-season run on Fox. He has since starred on The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story and Hollywood.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/15/2022



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

couple Michelle Young and Nayte Olukoya have teased what they're thinking for their wedding, nearly four months after their engagement aired on Season 18.Michelle and Nayte's engagement aired on ABC in December 2021, but the couple is still living apart and trying to make a long-distance relationship work.The fifth grade teacher and her fiance are therefore still in the beginning stages of wedding planning."Nayte and I, we know so many different people and we have such big families and that's a huge part of [our planning process]," Michelle, 28, told Us Weekly recently."And so coming out of a pandemic... one thing that we both can't imagine is having a small wedding," the Minnesota native added, "and so we want to make sure that we're completely clear of that so that's not even a stressor for us, and then, [we want to have] warm weather [on our big day]."For the time being, Michelle is living in Minneapolis, MN, and Nayte currently resides in Austin, TX."When we are together, we just spend time together like nonstop so it's nice," Nayte, 27, gushed to Us.And Michelle added, "If we're not hanging out, we're texting [or] FaceTiming. We do a lot of movie nights like over FaceTime or Zoom. We've been making it work. But, he's been in Minnesota for a little bit now so it's been nice."The couple shared how they've been traveling together, including destinations such as New York and Winnipeg , Canada, where Nayte was born. In fact, they just visited the same hotel in Mexico where they celebrated together after getting engaged on the show."It was amazing. It was really weird at first because we kind of jumped back into those feelings that we had when we were on the show, you know, show anxiety," Michelle explained."But once we got over that, we really just had so much fun. I feel like we're going to make it our annual vacation spot."Michelle also said she and Nayte are continuing to learn more about each other and their quirks such as Nayte's "therapeutic" love of doing laundry, and their dogs are also still getting acquainted."It took a minute for them to kind of get used to [each other]," Michelle said."[My dog] Chief wasn't a fan of [his dog] Percy. Percy has a little too much energy I would say. But now they're getting used [to each other] -- now they actually bond and they cuddle and they play with each other so it's been fun to see."Nayte previously told Us that he and Michelle would like to marry in the summer, although it appears a Summer 2022 wedding definitely won't be happening.The sales executive said in February he and Michelle had been "looking at different options" and trying to be smart."We're definitely feeling it all out," Nayte said, before Michelle revealed they'll live together "eventually."After getting engaged last year, Nayte revealed on : After the Final Rose that he had planned to move to Minnesota in the next two or three months and the lovebirds had already begun house-hunting.In fact, The Bachelor family gifted Michelle and Nayte a down payment on their first house together. (Michelle was caught whispering to Nayte on After the Final Rose that the check was for $200,000).Michelle gushed to People in December 2021 about how she and Nayte "have fun together" and can have deep conversations about controversial issues and more."We vent to each other, we check each other and make sure that we're positive," Michelle said. "We dance, sing, goof around, all of it."Nayte echoed that sentiment and noted how their relationship just "flows" effortlessly."I've never met anybody even, like, remotely close to him because he just has so many layers," Michelle shared of her fiance at the time. "And even now, like on a daily basis, I'm like, 'What did I do to deserve this? How did I get lucky?'""He tells me how he feels about me every day, multiple times," she added.Michelle also told People, "I fall more in love every day.""I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family with a healthy marriage and I thought, 'I'm not going to give up until I have that.' He's my person," she said. "And I didn't know I could love at this level ."And Nayte said he believes their relationship is going to last because they have the type of love everyone searches for."Every day, we'll just catch each other in just this, like, flow of emotion," Nayte said last year."It's just like, 'Holy crap, we are each other's. This is our life. This is actually forever.' We actually have a connection that is forever."Interested in more The Bachelor news? Join our The Bachelor Facebook Group
In a Tuesday evening work session, the Athens-Clarke County Mayor and Commission received presentations on the Athens Justice and Memory Project, including the Linnentown Walk of Recognition and the ACC Center for Racial Justice and Black Features. The commission also heard a presentation on an expansion of the Athens Neighborhood Health Center.
Tuition will remain the same at the University of Georgia for the 2022-2023 academic year, and the $450 special institutional fee, charged each semester, has been eliminated.
The eight-day Jewish holiday of Passover begins Friday. Despite being one of the most well-known Jewish holidays in the English-speaking world, many do not know the history or the traditions associated with Passover.
With music and the smell of food filling the air, people pop in and out of different booths that dot the land at the outdoor Brattleboro Area Farmers Market that opened for the season on Saturday, May 7, 2022, and will run every Saturday until Oct. 29.
This rendering shows what the Bennington Battle Monument might look like if it were lit up in the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
Editors Note: The following is a copy of a letter sent to Keith Lyman, principal of Brattle
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Jane Fitzwilliam writes from Putney. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.
Jim Freedman is a resident of Brattleboro and a consultant working with global health care organizations. He has recently published a book, Becoming a Leader: Identity, Influence, and the Power of Reflection. The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.
This new effort is important to determine if Vermont has a persistent population of Lone Star ticks, because these ticks can transmit certain diseases if they attach to humans. There is no known risk associated with eating harvested turkeys that host Lone Star ticks and no additional concern or actions are warranted.
When Henry Ford wanted to use unbreakable glass for his cars, he didnt like the responses of the experts because they thought it couldnt be done. He preferred instead an eager young employee who wouldnt conceive of the notion that unbreakable glass was impossible. He got unbreakable glass. Was he an optimist or pessimist?

Think about Walt Disney, who was rejected by at least 10 people who didnt believe that Mickey Mouse had a life. Today, long after his creation, Mickey is alive and well, and is a character we all remember from our childhood. Optimist or pessimist?

Winston Churchill personified the attitude of optimism over pessimism. He suffered numerous political defeats and yet became Great Britains prime minister and was recognized as a world leader during World War II. When asked to address a graduating class at Oxford University, he simply said, Never, never, never give up.

This week and quite regularly, optimism prevails. Youve probably heard the phrase should a door slam in your face, open a window. We are witnessing the never say die attitude especially considering the current conditions. However, with optimism and persistence, we can positively combat the challenges.

We have the privilege of working with an outstanding group of volunteers who continue to tackle the most pressing business issues of the day. An example is the Health Council meeting on Wednesday to hear Joanne Borduas, CEO of Community Health & Wellness. She will be sharing the exciting plans for a new health care facility in North Canaan. Thank you to Kevin OConnell of Geer for optimistically chairing the Council.

We are optimistic about our dedication to helping small business grow and succeed. Some of our recent activities show that optimism is alive and well. The annual meeting with Terrence Cheng, president of Connecticut State Colleges & Universities, was outstanding. His presentation to the attendees hit the mark. He understands the pressures of todays world, but said he is looking forward to promoting the advantages of a stronger relationship among students, businesses and educators.

While our thinking may differ, our favorite causes vary, we truly are in this together. For my part, I prefer the optimistic approach in our endless efforts to promote economic growth while enhancing the quality of life in NW Connecticut.

JoAnn Ryan is President & CEO of the NW CT Chamber of Commerce. You can reach her by email: joann@nwctchamberofcommerce.org or phone: 860-482-6586.
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MIDDLETOWN  In a modern-day rendition of the observation of Maundy Thursday, an event was organized on Main Street to provide free foot washing, health screenings and new shoes for community members in need.

It was held on the church lawn through a collaboration between the Church of the Holy Trinity, Community Health Center and St. Vincent de Paul Middletown.

The Rev. Mary Barnett, a priest at the church, said the afternoon was more than a way to celebrate Maundy Thursday  a day during the Holy Week leading up to Easter that commemorates when Jesus washed his disciples feet.

We wanted to do that, but also meet more relevant needs of our community, she said.

Barnett reached out to the Community Health Center, and staff were happy to collaborate, according to Project Director Anna Rogers. We thought it would be a good partnership, and theres obviously a need in Middletown.

The day also featured information on general foot care, health care screenings, such as HIV and blood pressure; a giveaway of dozens of pairs of shoes and more, all free of charge.

Multiple foot washing and health screening stations were set up in front of the church. Inside were rows of new shoes for people to take, as well as water, coffee and snacks.

Bernie Delgado is a nurse supervisor with Wherever You Are, a CHC program that strives to deliver health care for people experiencing homelessness. She spent much of her time doing blood pressure checks and talking with people about their health concerns.

She said this event is a perfect opportunity for anyone that might have reservations about going to a doctors office.

Weve eliminated some barriers, Delgado said. These people might otherwise never get their blood pressure taken or not have otherwise found out about a foot issue.

She had already made referrals for two people after finding their blood pressure was too high. You can catch high blood pressure or a foot fungus or other issues by doing things like this, Delgado said.

This was the case for Charles Knight, 72, of New Haven, who, because of the event, was able to schedule a much-needed appointment with a podiatrist. Ive known about the issue for a while, but just havent gotten around to doing anything about it, he said.

Knight said he also enjoyed the event because of how it brought the community together.

Delgado shared the same sentiment. What better way to serve the community? she said.

Barnett said that it was another of her goals.

Its a perfect time of year to think about caring for each other and our community, especially following the pandemic, Barnett said. Sometimes its hard to show that you care, and this allows me to do that.

The event was run by local volunteers, as well as student volunteers from the University of Connecticut nursing program.

So its also an opportunity to provide teaching for students, Delgado said.

While this was the first time this event was held, Barnett said she doesnt think it will be the last. We hope it will be annual and even expand it, she said.

This is another example of the mutually beneficial relationship between Delgados church and the businesses on Main Street, she explained. Many people who were enjoying the warm weather, and downtown restaurants and shops stopped by, while others visited neighboring businesses afterward.

Thats what its all about, Barnett said.
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With towering pine trees and cool mountain breezes, a pocket of southern New Mexico draws thousands of tourists and horse racing fans every summer. It's also a community that knows how devastating wildfires can be.

It was a decade ago that fire ripped through part of the village of Ruidoso, putting the vacation spot on the map with the most destructive wildfire in New Mexico's recorded history when more than 240 homes burned and nearly 70 square miles (181 square kilometers) of forest were blackened by a lightning-sparked blaze.

Now, Mayor Lynn Crawford is rallying heartbroken residents once again as firefighters on Friday tried to keep wind-whipped flames from making another run at the village and the hundreds of homes and summer cabins that dot the surrounding mountainsides.

More than 200 homes already have burned, and an elderly couple was found dead this week outside their charred residence. While power has been restored to all but a few hundred customers in the area, evacuations for close to 5,000 people remain in place.

Crawford said the village is overflowing with donations from surrounding communities.

So we have plenty of food, we have plenty of clothes, those kinds of things but we still appreciate and need your prayers and your thoughts, the mayor said during a briefing. Again, our hearts go out to the family of the deceased, to those that have lost their homes.

Authorities have yet to release the names of the couple who died. Their bodies were found after worried family members contacted police, saying the couple had planned to evacuate Tuesday when the fire exploded but were unaccounted for later that day.

Near where the bodies were recovered, in Gavilan Canyon, the fire reduced homes to ash and metal. An 18-home RV park was completely destroyed.

I had like 10 people displaced, they lost their homes and everything, including my mom, said Douglas Siddens, who managed the park.

Siddens said his mother was at work when the fire broke out with just the clothes she had on and thats all she has left.

Everyone got out of the RV park safely before the flames hit but its completely leveled. Like, all thats left are metal frame rails and steel wheels, Siddens said.

While many older residents call Ruidoso home year round, the population of about 8,000 people expands to about 25,000 during the summer months as Texans and New Mexicans from hotter climates come seeking respite. Horse races at the Ruidoso Downs also draw crowds, as it's home to one of the sport's richest quarter-horse competitions. The racing season was expected to start May 27, and horses that board there aren't in any danger as fire officials use the facility as a staging ground.

Part-time residents have taken to social media over the last few days, pleading with fire officials for updates on certain neighborhoods, hoping their family cabins weren't among those damaged or destroyed.

The hotlines lit up Friday afternoon as people in the village called in to report more smoke. Fire information officer Mike DeFries said that was because there were flare-ups within the interior of the fire as the flames found pockets of unburned fuel.

While the fire didn't make any runs at the lines crews had established, he said it was still a tough day for firefighters due to single-digit humidity, warmer temperatures and the wind.

Authorities reiterated that it was still too early to start letting people in to see the damage. They asked for patience as fire crews continued to put out hot spots and tried to build a stronger perimeter around the blaze.

It's still an active fire area in there and it's not a safe place, DeFries said. It's going to require patience. At the same time, every step that we're taking is designed to suppress this fire and to get people back home as soon as possible.

New Mexico authorities said they suspect the fire, which has torched more than 9.5 square miles (24 square kilometers) of forest and grass, was sparked by a downed power line and the investigation continued Friday.

Elsewhere in the U.S., large fires were reported this week in Texas, Colorado and Oklahoma.

Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. The problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.

The National Interagency Fire Center reported Thursday that since the start of the year, 18,550 wildfires have burned about 1,250 square miles (3,237 square kilometers). Thats well above the 10-year U.S. average of 12,290 wildfires and 835 square miles (2163 square kilometers) burned for the same period.

___

Cedar Attanasio contributed reporting from Santa Fe. Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
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Jason Oliver Evans, University of Virginia

(THE CONVERSATION) Every year, Christians from around the world gather for worship on Easter Sunday. Also known as Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, Easter is the final day of a weeklong commemoration of the story of Jesus final days in the city of Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection.

Most Christians refer to the week before Easter as Holy Week. In Western Christianity, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Easter is the third day of the larger three-day festival known as Holy Triduum, which begins on the evening of Maundy Thursday, marking the night of Jesus Last Supper with his disciples. Good Friday marks Jesus suffering, crucifixion and death. Holy Saturday marks Jesus burial in a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea. The festival reaches its climax on early Sunday morning with the Easter Vigil and ends on the evening of Easter Sunday.

As a Baptist minister and theologian myself, I believe it is important to understand how Christians more generally, and Baptists in particular, hold differing views on the meaning of the resurrection.

The resurrection

According to the Christian faith, resurrection is the pivotal event when God raised Jesus from the dead after he was crucified by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

While none of the four canonical Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John describe the actual event of the resurrection in detail, they nonetheless give varying reports about the empty tomb and Christs post-resurrection appearances among his followers both in Galilee and Jerusalem.

They also report that it was women who discovered the empty tomb and received and proclaimed the first message that Christ was risen from the dead. These narratives were passed down orally among the earliest Christian communities and then codified in the Gospel writings beginning some 30 years after Jesus death.

The Earliest Christians believed that by raising Jesus of Nazareth from the dead, God cleared Jesus from any wrongdoing for which he was tried and unjustly condemned to death by Pilate.

By affirming the resurrection, Christians do not mean that Jesus body was merely resuscitated. Rather, as New Testament scholar Luke Timothy Johnsonwrites, resurrection means that [Jesus] entered into an entirely new form of existence.

As the risen Christ, Jesus is believed to share Gods power to transform all life and also to share this same power with his followers. So the resurrection is believed to be something that happened not only to Jesus, but also an experience that happens to his followers.

Opposing views

Over the years, Christians have engaged in passionate debates over this central doctrine of Christian faith.

Two major approaches emerged: the liberal view and the conservative or traditional view. Current perspectives on the resurrection have been predominated by two questions: Was Jesus body literally raised from the dead? and What relevance does the resurrection have for those struggling for justice?

These questions emerged in the wake of theological modernism, a European and North American movement dating back to the mid-19th century that sought to reinterpret Christianity to accommodate the emergence of modern science, history and ethics.

Theological modernism led liberal Christian theologians to create an alternative path between the rigid orthodoxies of Christian churches and the rationalism of atheists and others.

This meant that liberal Christians were willing to revise or jettison cherished Christian beliefs, such as the bodily resurrection of Jesus, if such beliefs could not be explained against the bar of human reason.

Baptist views on the resurrection

Just like all other Christian denominations, Baptists are divided on the issue of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Arguably, what may be unique about the group is that Baptists believe that no external religious authority can force an individual member to adhere to the tenets of Christian faith in any prescribed way. One must be free to accept or reject any teaching of the church.

In the early 20th century, Baptists in the United States found themselves on both sides of a schism within American Christianity over doctrinal issues, known as the fundamentalist-modernist controversy.

The Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, a liberal Baptist pastor who served First Presbyterian Church and later Riverside Church in Manhattan, rejected the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Rather, Fosdick viewed the resurrection as a persistence in [Christs] personality.

In 1922, Fosdick delivered his famous sermon Shall the Fundamentalists Win? rebuking fundamentalists for their failure to tolerate difference on doctrinal matters such as the infallibility of the Bible, the virgin birth and bodily resurrection, among others, and for downplaying the weightier matter of addressing the societal needs of the day.

In his autobiography, civil rights leader and Baptist minister the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. explained that in his early adolescence he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

While attending Crozer Seminary in 1949, King wrote a paper trying to make sense of what led to the development of the Christian doctrine of Jesus bodily resurrection. For King, the experience of the early followers of Jesus was at the root of their belief in his resurrection.

They had been captivated by the magnetic power of his personality, King argued. This basic experience led to the faith that he could never die. In other words, the bodily resurrection of Jesus simply is the outward expression of early Christian experience, not an actual or, at least, a verifiable event in human history.

It is not clear from his later writings that King changed his views on the bodily resurrection. In one of his notable Easter sermons, King argued that the meaning behind the resurrection signaled a future where God will put an end to racial segregation.

Others within the Baptist movement disagreed. Like his fundamentalist forebears, conservative evangelical Baptist theologian Carl F.H. Henry argued in 1976 that all Christian doctrine can be rationally explained and can persuade any nonbeliever. Henry rigorously defended the bodily resurrection of Christ as a historical occurrence by appealing to the Gospels telling of the empty tomb and Christs appearances among his disciples after his resurrection.

In his six-volume magnum opus, God, Revelation, and Authority, Henry read these two elements of the Gospels as historical records that can be verified through modern historical methods.

Alternative views

Despite their predominance, the liberal and conservative arguments on the resurrection of Jesus are not the only approaches held among Baptists.

In his book Resurrection and Discipleship, Baptist theologian Thorwald Lorenzen also outlines what he calls the evangelical approach, which seeks to transcend the distinctions of liberal and conservative approaches. He affirms, with the conservatives, the historical reality of the resurrection, but agrees with the liberals that such an event cannot be verified in the modern historical sense.

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Other than these, there is a liberation approach, which stresses the social and political implications of the resurrection. Baptists who hold this view primarily interpret the resurrection as Gods response and commitment to liberating those who, like Jesus, experience poverty and oppression.

Given this diversity of perspectives on the resurrection, Baptists are not unique among Christians in engaging matters of faith practice. However, I argue that Baptists may be distinct in that they believe that such matters must be freely believed by ones own conscience and not enforced by any external religious authority.

This is an updated version of a piece first published on April 15, 2021.

The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts. The Conversation is wholly responsible for the content.
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TORRINGTON  The Community Kitchen of Torrington doesnt skip a beat.

As she nears her 20th year as director of the soup kitchen, Lisa Hageman said the past two years have been the toughest ones by far due to the pandemic.

I dont think anyone realized what we did, from March 2020 until just a few months ago, and were still getting back to normal, Hageman said Thursday, as she sat in the soup kitchens dining room after the morning breakfast rush. We were here, seven days a week, for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we still do that every day.

During the worst times of the pandemic, some volunteers were afraid to come in, she said, but she is lucky to have a core team that stepped up.

I couldnt have done it without them, she said Thursday.

In the kitchen, staff members Chris Fedorjaczenko and Yarmouth McLellan prepared chicken and sliced meatloaf for the next days meals, and longtime volunteer and board member Edward Wylmot scrubbed pots and pans at the sink. Volunteer Michelle Horvath sorted and wrapped silverware in napkins in the dining room, and volunteer Charlene Graskoski visited with several clients.

Lucky Hardy, who has lived in the overflow shelter at St. Marys School since November, came to Torrington from Waterbury in search of a place to sleep. He is hoping an apartment at the YMCA will become available to him May 1.

The overflow shelter, operated by the United Way of Northwest Connecticut, closes Monday for the spring and summer months. Hes not sure where hes going to go then.

Hageman said she and Gathering Place Director Nancy Cannavo are offering sleeping bags and tents to prepare some of the overflow shelter residents for the possibility of having to sleep outdoors.

Richard Jensen, who is disabled, comes to the kitchen daily for the companionship and to help out, he said. He worked at Applebees restaurant in Torrington for three years before he was hit by a bus and is now on permanent disability, he said.

I come here to see Lisa, he said, with a smile. I come here to socialize, to be around people.

John Nova, who has a prosthetic leg and this week had four of his toes removed, is also a regular.

I help out when I can here, he said. Its a place to come; its better than walking around the streets all day.

Hageman said many of her clients are the working poor.

Theyve had their hours cut, or they cant get hired full time, and theres not enough money left, after the rent, for groceries, she said. Were seeing more elderly now ... they dont have much left of their Social Security check, after they pay their rent and their bills.

The kitchen serves between 60 and 70 people for breakfast daily, between 100 and 130 for lunch and 50 to 70 for dinner. Food is still distributed at a pickup window, too, for those who are nervous about being around too many people, Hageman said.

By 11 a.m. on Thursday, a line was forming across the street outside the soup kitchen, which is located in the basement of Trinity Church at 220 Prospect St., with the entrance on Maiden Lane.

What people get here is food, companionship, and the chance to make a plan, Hageman said. We have the resources here so that you can make that happen. People are panicking because they dont know what theyre going to do, so we try to help them.

During the first year of the pandemic, Hageman and her staff made a point of checking in on people who stopped showing up.

If they werent around for a few days, wed go find them, she said. We brought meals to shut-ins, who were unable to get out or were afraid to go out; we brought food to seniors all over the city. We were bringing food to the hotels on Winsted Road, because people couldnt get out.

The support Hageman and her volunteers and staff have receive  from donations of fresh food and supplies to Hartford HealthCares presence in the dining room providing counselors to help people make a plan  has made all the difference, she said. She and Karen Thomas, executive director of Friendly Hands Food Bank on King Street, have collaborated more and more for holidays and food drives since 2020.

Karen and I are like two peas in a pod, she said. We think up ways to get peoples attention, to donate and to see what were doing, and we just go for it. Its been amazing to work with her, with the Salvation Army, the Gathering Place; the director, Nancy Cannavo, is a rock. Its people like that all working together that has gotten us through this.

To reach the Community Kitchen of Torrington, call 860-482-0130 or email torringtonsoupkitchen@gmail.com; or visit torringtonsoupkitchen.com.
TORRINGTON  A substitute teacher with Kelly Education who works in the Torrington School District was recently suspended from work for alleged posts on Facebook questioning the school building project.

He was suspended by Kelly Education, an employment company with offices in Danbury.

Jeremy Kincaid, a lifelong city resident, said he has worked as a substitute teacher for about seven years and is taking courses to obtain his masters degree to become a full-time educator.

A Democrat, he ran as a petitioning candidate in November 2021 elections for a seat on the Board of Education, after the Democratic Town Committee did not endorse him for its slate. He lost, but during his campaign raised concerns about the management of the Torrington High School building project, which was approved by voters in 2020 and is expected to begin this summer.

Kincaid posted on Facebook April 7 a story by the Connecticut Mirror, which reported investigations into a number of school building projects involved with Konstantinos Kostas Diamantis, a former deputy secretary of the states Office of Policy and Management. Diamantis resigned from his job in October 2021 after state officials received a federal grand jury subpoena for documents involving him and hundreds of millions of dollars in school projects.

Kincaid wrote that states auditors should be looking into who the main contractor chosen to build the new Torrington High School/Middle School/ Administration Building hires for a subcontractor. Will the main contractor be able to pick the subcontractor with or without a public bidding process?

Kincaid said he received an email on April 8 from Tonish Elmore, client services manager at Kelly, saying she was notified about the Facebook post and that he was immediately suspended for a week, without pay.

I received notification that there was another recent Social Media post by you, regarding Torrington BoE/Schools, Elmore wrote in her email, which was shared with The Register Citizen. As you and I previously discussed, Kelly Educations expectation is that you refrain from doing so. Since this has come up again, Ill need to involve our HR team again for guidance.

Kincaid was unapologetic after the suspension.

Ive lived here for 40 years, and Im entitled to my opinion, he said. Just because Im a substitute doesnt mean Im not a voter.

Kincaid said his questions about the school project and whether Torrington should be investigated because of Diamantis are valid. He also continues to question allowing contractors or Realtors serve on the Board of Education.

Ive been asking if theres anyone on the school board whos benefiting off of this school project, directly or indirectly, he said.

In January, Kincaid was suspended for three days by Kelly Education for a Facebook post, according to an email he received from the company, which was shared with The Register Citizen.

In the email, Elmore wrote, As discussed, please complete the attached Statement Form as it relates to the recent Social Media posting we discussed. Once I receive your completed form, we will schedule a call with our HR team, and follow up with you. In the meantime, you will be removed from the assignment for at least Monday and Tuesday, and we can revisit if necessary.

Kincaid denies seeing any such policy and doesnt remember signing one, he said.

According to the Facebook post, Kincaid was telling people to vote no to a request for $20 million in additional funding for the school building project in an upcoming referendum. The School Building Committee asked the City Council for an additional $20 million to fund the project, which was approved in a referendum in January, by about 5 percent of the towns 21,000 eligible voters, with an outcome of 1,129-301.

Where is the option or choice in the upcoming School Referendum to dump the Middle School portion of this ill-concieved Middle School/High School/Administration building plan? Kincaid wrote on Jan. 17. He also questioned the school boards role in the funding request.

When contacted about Kincaids suspensions, Kellys director of public relations, Danielle Nixon, responded with a statement:

Kelly takes seriously our responsibilities both to our customers and to treat all our employees fairly, she wrote. Because the matter is currently under review, Kelly has no further comment at this time.

Officials from the Torrington school district did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Board of Education Chairwoman Fiona Cappabianca said Kincaid is not a school district employee, thus the board was not aware of what transpired until members read about it in local media.
The wife of 1 detained activist said the prison lacks clean water or even room to sleep.

Kong Sam Ans family travel to visit him in prison for the Cambodian New Year holiday.

Three activists affiliated with Cambodias banned opposition party are spending the New Years holiday in jail, with the wife of one reporting concern over her husbands declining health.

Eap Suor, the wife of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) activist Kong Sam An, visited her husband, 70, at the Prey Sar Prison Friday, the second day of the Cambodian New Year holiday.

She told RFAs Khmer Service that he was very ill due to his detention in a crowded prison cell, where he is underfed to the point of malnutrition. He and other prisoners looked pale during the highly restricted visit, which allowed only two family members to see him.

This is the second New Year that I visited my husband in prison. He told me that he was happy to see us and nothing could compare with meeting his children and wife, she said.

Please release him, he is an innocent person. I was shocked to see my husband. He is a good person, they shouldnt imprison him, Eap Suor said, adding that they brought food and money for him during the visit.

There is no clean water or a place to sleep, and he now has skin disease, she said.

The Supreme Court is set to hear her husbands appeal on April 27, she said.

Kong Sam An, a former district councilor for the CNRP, was arrested in September 2020 and sentenced to seven years in jail for treason for an alleged plan to bring CNRPs exiled leader, Sam Rainsy, back to Cambodia.

The Supreme Court banned the CNRP in November 2017 for its supposed role in an alleged plot to overthrow the government. Key party figures were arrested as others fled into exile as part of a crackdown by Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen on the political opposition, NGOs and independent media outlets

Hun Sens Cambodian Peoples Party went on to win all 125 seats in the countrys July 2018 general election.

Since then, the government has continued to target activists associated with the CNRP, arresting them on arbitrary charges and placing them in pretrial detention in overcrowded jails with harsh conditions.

The Khmer New Year runs from April 14-16.

The family of another CNRP activist, Khan Bunpheng, was unable to visit him over the holiday, because the prison did not inform them that New Years visitation was permitted, his wife Men Kuntheary told RFA.

Khan Bunpheng had been a commune chief in Battambang province in the countrys northwest. He was arrested in January 2021 on treason charges.

Men Kuntheary said she plans to bring her husband food and money after the holiday.

Prum Chantha, wife of Kak Komphear, who is also charged with treason, told RFA that she was unable to meet her husband. She instead had a Buddhist ceremony at her home without him.

I am sad that for the past two years, I havent had a chance to see him. I wish in the new year that my husband will be in good health and that he will be freed soon, she said.

RFA was unable to reach Prison Department spokesman Nuth Savna for comment on Friday.

Am Sam Ath, of the Cambodian League for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (Licadho), said political prisoners should not be kept away from their families on the holiday.

We cannot forget that people are meeting happily during the New Year both inside and outside the country, but the families of detained activists cant meet them. This is sad, he said. As an NGO we urge politicians to negotiate to reach a compromise to release the political activists.

About 60 CNRP activists are in custody, some serving sentences as long as five years.

Cambodia has no bail, so detained political activists can remain in pretrial detention for years before their case is heard in court. Licadho has said that the lack of a bail system has unnecessarily kept the prison population larger than it needs to be.

Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Residents of Shanghai are banding together to save each other's pets from being killed as the COVID-19 lockdown in the city drags on, RFA has learned.



More than 1,000 listings have been made to an online document listing people who have tested positive for coronavirus in the past few weeks, and are looking for people to take care of their pets while they are in compulsory isolation facilities.



"I basically have tested positive ... but they haven't notified me when I will be sent to isolation," a woman surnamed Wang from Shanghai's Putuo district wrote on the page on April 12.



"I have a five-month-old kitty at home."



Wang was told by her neighborhood committee that her cat would need to be "disposed of," she told RFA.



"I wanted to see if ... I could get it sent to a friend's house, but I don't know if the neighborhood committee will accept this or not, or whether they will agree to have the cat stay in my home," she said.



"They told me that, strictly speaking, the cat should be disposed of, and that I shouldn't tell anyone about this," Wang said.



"[They told me] if I can move the cat away, or give it to a friend, before I get sent to isolation, it would be safer [for the cat]," she said.



Wang said she was at her wits' end to know what to do. The mutual assistance page for pet owners suggests she is far from alone.



"I'm worried that [will also test] positive, and my pet's life will be in danger," another Shanghai resident wrote. "The neighborhood committee won't allow the cat to leave, should I want to hand it over to a friend."



"If I go into isolation, I fear the consequences of leaving my pet at home will be unimaginable. Please help!" they said.



Another wrote: "My family members are all ... contacts [of an infected person], and they could all test positive. I'm afraid our dog will be disposed of by the neighborhood committee."



"Please take my dog to a foster home, with dog food, litter tray and toys."



Seeking foster homes



The majority of posts were labeled as being from Pudong New District, with hundreds of distraught pet owners requesting help.



A volunteer from Shanghai surnamed Lin said she helped to arrange foster homes for three cats.



"They are very anxious to send their cats and dogs [to a foster home], but some neighborhood committees won't help them with that, so they have to figure out what to do by themselves," Lin said.



"Sometimes, volunteers from their community can come to their door [and take the pet] and send it to me," she said. "It's very hard for them to send their pets away, because they're not allowed out themselves."



She said there had been a surge in requests for pet foster homes after a video surfaced on social media showing a corgi being beaten to death by neighborhood committee members with a shovel, amid loud screams from the animal and shocked comments from the person shooting the video.



Once pets have been successfully removed from the residential community, then logistics personnel must be hired to deliver them to the foster home, Lin said, which is very expensive.



Some pet owners have sent their pets to pet hospitals, but places are hard to secure.



An employee who answered the phone at the Sanlin branch of the Shanghai Hanghou Pet Clinic chain said most of the pet hospitals are now full.



"We are all full, right now; the hospital is overcrowded," the employee said. "There have been a couple of cases in Shanghai of pets being killed, this is true."



Shenzhen shelters



Meanwhile, authorities in the southern city of Shenzhen have set up two pet shelters, where pets of people sent into isolation are housed for free.



There are places available for up to 300 pets, and the facility is the first of its kind in China.



Peter Li, head of China affairs at the Humane Society International, said the humane disposal of pets isn't official policy in Shanghai.



"The few cases we have seen in Shanghai are the result of grassroots government workers not following Shanghai government policy," Li told RFA.

"This failure, in addition to incompetence and lack of empathy, may also be due to the fact that they are handling situations they have never experienced before, resulting in huge psychological pressure."



Li, whose organization is also working to save pets beleaguered by war in Ukraine, called on Chinese officials to formulate policies for pets in the event of an emergency or disaster.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Bribes to officials can be the difference between 7 years at a desk job or hard labor in the countryside.

Military officials in North Korea are taking bribes from the parents of new recruits, promising to assign their children to units in Pyongyang, where they can spend their service in relative comfort, sources in the country told RFA.

Still technically at war with wealthier South Korea, North Korea makes every male serve about seven years in the armed forces, according to South Korean intelligence.

The life of a soldier in the North Korean military is typically one of toil and sweat. The government routinely mobilizes soldiers to exploit their free labor, requiring them to work on farms, factories and construction sites, all while maintaining a modicum of battle readiness.

But certain military assignments can park a soldier behind a desk in Pyongyang, the countrys capital and home of the privileged and elite.

Parents are eager to ensure their sons can spend seven years living in what they would consider luxury, rather than doing hard labor in the rural areas.

Parents who receive bribe requests give money to the officials to ensure the safety of their children, but the amount they are asking is too large for most to afford, a resident of the northeastern province of North Hamgyong told RFAs Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

A resident in the Sunam district of Chongjin city asked an official of the military mobilization office, a longtime acquaintance, to send his son, to a comfortable and safe unit, but the official requested at least U.S. $300, he said.

The average monthly salary for North Koreans working in government-assigned jobs is around $4, the Seoul-based Korea Joongang Daily reported in 2018.

Paying the exorbitant bribe can even be a point of pride.

A resident of Chongam district paid a bribe of $500  to send his son to a military police unit in Pyongyang. The resident proudly boasts that the son has completed his training as a new recruit at the unit in Pyongyang, which is off limits to ordinary folks, and he started his military life in Pyongyang, the source said.

North Korea has a declining birth rate, so most families these days have only one child, two at most. So people try to protect their kids from danger by any means necessary. The officials in the military mobilization office can use the psychology of these parents to their advantage, he said.

But some residents complain that officials are using the new recruits as bait to get bribes, the source said.

The sons of parents who cannot pay the bribe are sent off to more difficult military postings, as happened to one family in the northwestern province of North Pyongan.

A resident of Tongrim town asked the military mobilization office to have his son sent to a safe and comfortable unit, but the family was unable to pay the $300 bribe, so the son was shipped off to the front line area unit of the 1st Corps, a resident of the provinces Tongrim county told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

Our neighborhood is a village with cooperative farms, so most of the new recruits are the children of poor farmers. This is why most of the new recruits have no power or money, and they get sent to the front line units in the rugged mountains of Kangwon province, so there is great concern for parents sending their children to the military, he said.

The parents who cannot afford the bribe can do nothing but watch as their sons are sent to do hard labor in Kangwon, in the east, along the border with South Korea, the second source said.

The authorities are aware that bribery is going on, but I dont know whether there is a way to stop it, or whether they are condoning it. I have never seen any official from the military mobilization office get punished for accepting bribes, he said.

In this country, children of powerful and wealthy families can serve in comfortable assignments in the military, but it gets taken for granted that everyone with no money or power will have a difficult military life.

Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Authorities want no disturbances or mix-ups during the celebration.

People offer flowers at the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il at the Mansu Hill Grand Monument on the 'Day of the Sun', marking the birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, in Pyongyang, North Korea in this photo released on April 15, 2019 by North Korea's Central News Agency (KCNA)

North Korea has declared a five-day military-wide special security period as the people prepare to celebrate the life of the countrys late founder, sources in the country told RFA.

Kim Il Sung (1912-1994), the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, was born on April 15, a major holiday now known as the Day of the Sun. His son and successor, Kim Jong Il (1942-2011), was born on Feb. 16, the Day of the Shining Star.

The two holidays solidify the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family, which has now ruled North Korea for three generations.

Friday marks what would have been Kim Il Sungs 110th birthday, and authorities have commanded the military to be on high alert.

The special security period starts at 17:00 on April 14 and ends at 17:00 on the 19th. Units were ordered to create a special security plan for approval by their commanders by 17:00 on April 13, a military source from the northwestern province of North Pyongan told RFAs Korean Service Wednesday on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

The General Staff Department has instructed that emergency mobilization units be in a full-combat readiness posture and on standby, he said.

Additionally, the department told soldiers stationed at the countrys borders, the coast guard, and the air force to be ready at a moments notice.

They need to be able to respond immediately without missing even minor threats that could occur during the special security period, the source said.

Soldiers in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong, meanwhile, also must guard against even the slightest problem during the five-day period, a military source there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.

They must also strengthen security in areas that glorify Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, like their statues, public portraits, public displays of their artwork, propaganda boards and related historic sites, said the source.

Officials and soldiers are resentful at having to do extra work on a holiday, when they are used to getting time off.

They are saying they wish there were no holidays at all, because they have been mobilized for difficult guard duty and will not be able to properly rest, he said.

Forced loyalty

Retired and disabled soldiers, meanwhile, were upset about having to take an oath of allegiance to Kim Jong Un ahead of the holiday as a requirement to receive their annual special holiday food allotment celebration of the day, a resident of the Sino-Korean border city of Sinuiju told RFA Tuesday.

Yesterday in Sinuiju, because of the Day of the Sun, 15 days worth of grain and basic foodstuffs, such as 500 grams [1.1lbs] of sugar and a bottle of soybean oil, were provided to war veterans and honorable soldiers, she said, on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

Honorable soldiers are soldiers disabled from injuries they sustained while on duty. RFA reported last week that the state was unable to properly care for honorable soldiers as promised due to worsening economic conditions. The Sinuiju resident estimated that the city is home to between 100 and 300 disabled and able-bodied vets.

She explained that the gift of 15-days food assistance was not provided by the state, but by local authorities. Since central government did not provide funding to the local government for this event, so the veterans realize the gift from Kim Jong Un was nothing of the sort, she said.

Even though they said it has been supplied as a special consideration from Kim Jong Un, it is actually a part of the emergency goods imported by the provincial trade bureau, using local funds she said.

They had to attend a special hour-long event at the cultural center, where authorities would present them with their gift from Kim Jong Un on the condition that they pledged their allegiance to him. The disabled veterans complained, she said.

About 200 veterans, including some who had seen action during the 1950-1953 Korean War, attended a similar ceremony in South Pyongan province, north of Pyongyang, a resident there who declined to be named told RFA.

The special holiday supplies  included rice, 500 grams [1.1 lbs] of sugar, and a bottle of soybean oil imported from China via freight train, she said.

The county party official emphasized that the food was provided on the occasion of the Day of the Sun as the noble will of the Highest Dignity to cherish and love the veterans and honorary soldiers who were loyal to the party and the leader, and forced them to repay them with loyalty, the South Pyongan resident said, using an honorific term for Kim Jong Un.

The veterans were angry at being made to swear an oath to Kim Jong Un when his so-called gift was imported from China and was not actually from himself or the central government which he leads, she said.

Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
A policeman (R) stands guard along a sidewalk during Myanmar's New Year Water Festival, also known as Thingyan, in Yangon, April 13, 2022.

Authorities in Myanmar arrested nearly 100 people in the countrys two largest cities and the Myawaddy township in Kayin state in the first 10 days of April as part of a pre-Thingyan crackdown, according to data compiled by RFAs Myanmar Service.

Of the 99 people arrested in the lead up to the April 13-16 New Year Water Festival, 47 were from the commercial capital, Yangon, 43 from Myanmars second city, Mandalay, and nine from Myawaddy on the countrys border with Thailand, an investigation found. Some of those detained had joined anti-coup protests, while others were accused of being members of Yangon-based anti-junta paramilitary groups, including the Peoples Defense Force (PDF).

A total of 15 people, including Thiri Wai  the mother of 3-year-old Thant Phone Wai Yan, who was taken by security forces from a kindergarten in Yangons Ahlone township on April 5  were arrested in possession of explosives, pro-junta dailies reported on Wednesday.

A member of the Pazundaung and Botahtaung Townships Youth Strike Committee, a Yangon-based anti-junta group, told RFA that city authorities had tightened security and stepped up arrests in response to increased activities by the armed opposition ahead of Thingyan.

In the past, if one of your comrades was arrested, you still had time to escape or go into hiding. But now its becoming very difficult, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Now, if a close contact is arrested, you must be extra careful. People who normally want to hide us are also becoming reluctant because if the military finds out, these people will get into big trouble. The security situation is becoming very difficult.

In Mandalay, Nyein Chan Aung, a member of another anti-junta group known as the Mandalay Strike Committee, told RFA that security forces had arrested several young protesters during a pre-Thingyan campaign that he likened to a military operation.

They are making arrests in a crackdown just like a military operation, locking down the towns as soon as they get information about us, he said.

If they catch a person, he is immediately interrogated. If they dont get what they want to know, they beat and torture him, before continuing their interrogation. Once they get information, they immediately move to a new location and begin making more arrests.

Nyein Chan Aung said the junta has employed a variety of new tactics to sweep Mandalay and tighten security ahead of other recent holidays, including Union Day on Feb. 12 and Armed Forces Day on March 27.

One such tactic is to increase the presence of army informants and pro-junta militia forces to monitor for any would-be protesters and in areas where urban resistance groups are believed to be operating, he said.

9 killed in Myawaddy

Meanwhile, sources reported that on April 6, a combined force of junta Border Guard Forces (BGF) and military troops in Kayin states Myawaddy township shot dead nine youths who were sending supplies to a PDF group in the area.

A spokesman for the Kayin State PDF, who declined to be named, said that since the incident, the military has placed Myawaddy under a state of near-total lockdown.

We know that they have sentries hiding in all parts of the township. Some of them are in civilian clothes  mostly BGF members, he said. The BGF and other [pro-junta] groups are also patrolling around. The military is now in control of most areas in and around the township.

Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesman, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, went unanswered on Thursday.

Nan Lin, a spokesman of the University Old Students Association veteran activist group, said no number of arrests would stop the people from working to unseat the military regime.

Taking advantage of Thingyan, the junta is making more arrests and killing people unnecessarily, he said. Our conviction has become stronger, and we will try harder in every way.

According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, junta troops have killed at least 1,751 civilians and arrested more than 10,200 others since the Feb. 1, 2021, power grab  mostly during peaceful anti-coup protests.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Captain Nay Myo Thet served in Myanmars military for nearly six years in Rakhine state but defected in December and relocated to an area under the control of anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) forces. In 2016, a military crackdown forced some 90,000 Rohingya to flee Rakhine state and cross into neighboring Bangladesh, while a larger one in 2017 in response to insurgent attacks, killed thousands of members of the ethnic minority and led to an exodus of around 700,000 across the border. The former transportation officer told RFAs Myanmar Service in an interview that the militarys clearance operations amounted to a genocide and said he is willing testify as a prosecution witness in a case that was brought against the military to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague.

RFA: Can you first tell us about your background?

Nay Myo Thet: I first attended the Pyin-Oo-Lwin Defense Services Academy in 2006. I finished training in 2008 and served with units in the Division 5 and Division 6 areas in Kayin and Kachin states, as well as northern Shan state. I was sent to Rakhine state in 2015 to serve with the No. 233 Infantry Battalion in Buthidaung and was stationed there until I joined the CDM in November 2021.

RFA: Can you tell us more about the operations that drove the Rohingya people out of Rakhine State?

Nay Myo Thet: I was a captain in the Supply and Transport Battalion in 2015, serving with the No. 1 Border Police Force Strategic Command. A clearance operation was launched for the first time in 2016 following a terror attack in Kyi-Gan-Byin and another one in 2017 after the [Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) insurgent] raid on three Border Police posts in the same area. When we went there the second time, we noticed there was nothing much left behind. The locals had taken away almost everything.

RFA: Did the troops really commit the atrocities against the Rohingya people as accused by international rights groups? Whats your take?

Nay Myo Thet: I can tell you only some things Id learned about the units I served with. There was one officer who wanted to make a search for deadly weapons, like knives, and he asked the girls in the village to go into one room, lined them up and stripped them naked. And then, I heard from one soldier who was talking about his colleague who had raped a Rohingya woman. I cannot remember his name. Another incident I remember was about a young boy being thrown into a well. These incidents happened while I was serving with the No. 233 Infantry. And then, there were incidents that were spread by word of mouth about some soldiers committing brutal acts. Villagers were driven out of their houses and those who ran away were shot to death. Most of the bodies were buried in the fields beside the villages. As you may have seen in the photos, people left their villages in hordes  some carrying elderly people who could not walk in makeshift stretchers. Many who couldn't cross the border were forced to live in the jungle and mountains.

This amounted to a genocide

All these things should not have happened. Everything that happened was unacceptable. I tried to sound out my colleagues. Most of them had the idea that these people must be driven out  that they could not stay  because the [insurgents] who raided and attacked the police posts were of their same ethnicity. These villagers were giving support to the [insurgents] and they believed there would be no peace unless they were got rid of. These were their views. So, this wasnt even like an ordinary military operation which would never be so brutal. They just wanted to get rid of the entire community without bothering to find out who [the insurgents that attacked the police posts] were. I agree with the international charges that all of this amounted to a genocide.

RFA: What do you think of [deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) leader] Aung San Suu Kyi going to The Hague [in 2019] to defend the military against the charges made in the case brought by The Gambia?

Nay Myo Thet: It seems like the military was waiting for a scapegoat, waiting for the NLD to come into power, to defend them because they could have done this [themselves] a long time ago and they didnt  I think she went there with two goals  to defend the countrys integrity with a nationalist spirit as well as to defend the military. She seemed to feel responsible for the military. But I think it was wrong for her to do that. She shouldnt have gone there. She wasnt responsible at all for what happened and she didnt commit the crimes. The military was responsible [for the crimes]  for creating the division between the [ethnic] Rakhines and the Rohingyas. Even for sowing hatred between the Rakhines and the [majority ethnic] Bamar. If I were to be summoned [to the ICJ], Id surely go and disclose all I know.

Translated by Khin Maung Nyane.
Tashi Wangchuk has been monitored by Chinese authorities since his release last year from prison.

Social media postings by Tibetan language-rights advocate Tashi Wangchuk are shown on April 9, 2022 before being deleted by Chinese authorities.

UPDATED at 1:31 P.M. ET on 2022-04-15

A Tibetan activist traveling to promote language rights in Tibetan areas of western China has been denied shelter, RFA has learned, after authorities ordered hotel operators in the region to turn him away.

Tashi Wangchuk, a former political prisoner aged around 35, had been traveling in Chinas Qinghai province since April 6, a Tibetan living in the area told RFAs Tibetan Service in an exclusive interview earlier this week.

On his way from Yulshul to Siling, he had stopped by various Tibetan schools in Golog, Rebgong and Malho to advocate for the use of Tibetan language in Tibetan schools, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

But he was denied accommodation and dismissed from hotels in Rebgong [In Chinese, Tongren] and Malho [Huangnan]. We dont have any information about his present whereabouts, and its dangerous to talk about this, he added.

Wangchuk was later confirmed by RFA to be staying at his brother's home in Siling, where officials are requiring anyone traveling to the area to enter a 15-day quarantine for COVID-19. Sources said authorities continue to monitor his movements.

A resident of Qinghais Yulshul (Yushu) municipality, Wangchuk was released on Jan. 28, 2021, after completing a prison term for inciting separatism and is now subject to near-constant monitoring by authorities.

While traveling, Wangchuk had posted photos and videos of his visits to Tibetan schools in Darlag (Dali) county in the Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and in Rebgong, where Chinese authorities have clamped down on the use of the Tibetan language in teaching, RFAs source said.

However, only 30 minutes after checking into a hotel in Rebgong on April 7, the hotel told him to leave after they were instructed by county police not to let him stay, and his attempts to find a hotel on April 8 and 9 also failed after police told the hotels not to give him accommodation.

When Wangchuk went to a police station in the Malho prefecture to complain, he was denied entry to the station and told no one there could talk to him, the source said. And later he even went to Rebgong countys Commission for Discipline Inspection to file an appeal, but it was closed.

After April 10, all the details that he posted on his Weibo social media account were deleted by the Chinese authorities, so its difficult to learn anything now about his well-being, he added.

Also speaking to RFA, Pema Gyal  a researcher at London-based Tibet Watch  said that former political prisoners in Tibet are kept on Chinese government black lists and often have trouble finding jobs or accommodation in hotels.

We are, of course, very concerned about Tashi Wangchuk at the moment, Gyal said.

While China claims to uphold the rights of all minorities to access a bilingual education, Tibetan-language schools have been forced to shut down, and school-age children in Tibet regularly receive instruction only in Mandarin Chinese.

Similar policies have been deployed against ethnic Mongolians in Chinas Inner Mongolia and Muslim Uyghurs in northwestern Chinas region of Xinjiang.

Formerly an independent nation, Tibet was invaded and incorporated into China by force more than 70 years ago.

Language rights have become a particular focus for Tibetan efforts to assert national identity in recent years, with informally organized language courses in the monasteries and towns deemed illegal associations and teachers subject to detention and arrest, sources say.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said that Tashi Wangchuk is missing, but RFA was able to confirm that he is staying at his brother's house in Siling. Sources say they remain concerned for his personal security.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFAs Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.
To Anh Dung is the latest official accused in the COVID-19 rescue flight investigation.

From left to right: Deputy Minister To Anh Dung, Pham Trung Kien, Vu Anh Tuan.

Authorities in Vietnam on Thursday arrested Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs To Anh Dung on charges of accepting bribes, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

Dungs arrest comes amid a larger investigation into the foreign ministrys organization of rescue flights for Vietnamese living abroad during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several officials are accused of taking bribes from overseas Vietnamese.

The 58-year-old Dung had worked in foreign affairs for nearly 30 years, and was appointed deputy foreign affairs minister in 2019. He was appointed Hanois ambassador to Japan in January but had not yet officially taken the post, Reuters news service reported.

Besides Dung, authorities also arrested Ministry of Health official Pham Trung Kien and former Ministry of Public Security official Vu Anh Tuan Thursday on the same charge.

Four other foreign ministry officials were arrested in January for their alleged roles in the plot.

Translated by An Nguyen. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Dang Nhu Quynh is accused of spreading unverified information that sources said may be true.

Authorities in Vietnam arrested Hanoi resident Dang Nhu Quynh for allegedly posting information on Facebook about the arrest of a business leader, which they said violated state interests, state media reported.

Quynh was arrested Tuesday for posting unverified information about several people and companies in the finance and real estate sectors, Lt. Gen. To An Xo of the Ministry of Public Security said Thursday.

Quynhs posts violated the rights and interests of those individuals and companies and may have negatively affected the countrys stock market, the agency said.

Over the past few weeks, Quynh posted on Facebook assessments of how the ministry was handling the cases of finance mogul Trinh Van Quyet, chairman of FLC Group who had been arrested for stock market manipulation, and Do Anh Dung, the chairman of property developer Tan Hoang Minh Group who was arrested for bond-issuance fraud.

In the posts, Quynh said that the Ministry of Public Security would continue prosecuting people and companies that are guilty of similar crimes in the near future.

Quynh was previously summoned to the ministry for 200 Facebook posts he penned in 2020 about COVID-19 developments in Vietnam.

Authorities commonly arrest people for spreading sensitive information on the pretext of stopping false rumors from spreading, even if what the people targeted have said or written is true, Dang Dinh Manh, a Vietnam-based lawyer, told RFAs Vietnamese Service.

After the arrest of Mr. Quyet, people started talking about other big players who could be the next, he said.

On the one hand, false information negatively affects these businessmen and their companies shareholders. But on the other hand, some information flagged as false rumors later turned out to be true, said Manh, adding that a better way to eliminate rumors would be for the government to provide information to the media in an honest and timely manner.

Tran Ngoc Tuan, a journalist based in the Czech Republic, told RFA that Vietnamese spread rumors because they do not trust state media.

Perhaps every citizen in an authoritarian regime does the job of journalists because they want to learn about the truth, which is often hidden and covered. They often reach out to many sources, including insiders who are leaders, he said.

The government believes that this type of information undermines the state, the authorities and executive agencies. However, people often say that you should go to the internet to get information that is true and turn on Vietnam Televison or read the Peoples Newspaper to hear untruths.

Translated by Anna Vu. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said on April 15 that they had seized a foreign ship in Persian Gulf waters loaded with what they described as smuggled diesel, the government news agency IRNA reported.

The ship's seven crew have been detained, IRNA said, quoting a public relations official for the guards.

It wasnt clear when the ship was seized. Its origin and the nationality of the crew was also not clear.

Iran, which has some of the worlds cheapest fuel prices due to heavy state subsidies and the fall of its currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling.

Last week, Iran announced its seizure of a foreign boat carrying over 220,000 liters of smuggled fuel and the arrest of its 11 crew members, without giving further details.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Ukrainian authorities braced for an expected intensification of Russian attacks ahead of the Victory Day holiday on May 9, while officials on both sides said the civilian evacuation of a besieged steel factory in Mariupol had been completed, although the fate of the remaining fighters there is unclear.

Ukrainian officials declared on May 7 that all women, children, and elderly people had been evacuated from the massive Azovstal steel plant that has been under attack for weeks by Russian forces amid the ruins of the port city.

"The President's order has been carried out: All women, children, and the elderly have been evacuated from Azovstal," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on social media.



This part of the Mariupol humanitarian mission has been completed," she added without elaborating.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later said that a second stage of the evacuation would now take place, with the wounded and medical personnel being take out.

He said work would continue on May 8 to secure on all humanitarian corridors to allow those in and around the city who want to leave to get a way out. He added that Kyiv was attempting to get the last fighters out of the steel plant, but that it was extremely difficult.

Fears are rising that a final, bloody showdown between the Ukrainian fighters and Russian troops could ignite if the defenders are not allowed to be evacuated from the factory.

The evacuation of the Azovstal steel mill intensified over the past two days, even as Russia has continued to batter the facility and the strategic city, which is now mainly in ruins.



Russia is seeking to complete its takeover of the region and build a land bridge between Crimea -- which it illegally annexed in 2014  and territory controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.



Mariupol has taken the worst of the fighting in Ukraine since Russian troops were forced to retreat around Kyiv and other cities in the north.

Before the weekend, an estimated 200 civilians had been hiding within the massive steel plant along with an estimated 2,000 Ukrainian defenders.



The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross have desperately been attempting to organize evacuations from the site.

Russian officials also later issued a statement saying that the civilian evacuation of the steel plant had been completed.



The fate of the fighters remains unclear.



Russia, meanwhile, claimed its Iskander missiles destroyed a Ukrainian cache of weaponry that had been supplied by the United States and Europe and that high-precision missiles had destroyed Ukrainian aircraft at airfields in the Artsyz, Odesa, and Voznesensk regions.

Oleskiy Arestovych, a top adviser to Zelenskiy, claimed on May 7 that Ukraine had made battlefield advances in the east, just two days before Russia holds ceremonies to mark Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Russian President Vladimir Putins speech on May 9 will be closely watched to see if he will announce a general mobilization or some other major strategic shift, in a bid to turn the tide of the war, now in its 73rd day.

The top human rights representative of the Council of Europe has deplored Moscows actions in its invasion, saying that every Ukrainian who has suffered human rights violations at Russian hands deserves justice.



"Each of them deserves justice and must not be forgotten," Dunja Mijatovic said in a statement following a four-day visit to Kyiv, adding that the extent of human rights violations was staggering.

In the early weeks after the February 24 invasion, Russian forces were thwarted in their attempts to seize Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, suffering heavy losses of personnel and equipment. Commanders then later withdrew units from areas near Kyiv and repositioned them to the Donbas.

Russias last official tally of its military deaths was 1,351. Western officials, however, say the toll is at least 15,000, and Ukrainian officials claim the tally exceeds 20,000. Zelenskiy said last month that between 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed, though that figure is believed to be an undercount.

Ukraines General Staff, meanwhile, said in its daily assessment that Russian activity was relatively quiet overnight, limited to military reconnaissance and artillery fire.

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.

Near Izyum, where there has been major back-and-forth fighting, drones were repeatedly detected overflying defense positions, the report said. Kharkiv was also hit by artillery.

Kherson, which is located north of Crimea, well outside of the Donbas, has been contested for weeks now, though Russian forces have claimed control of the region's main city, and a top Russian politician visited Kherson city on May 6.

Russias Defense Ministry said on May 6 that its forces were continuing to advance on positions in the Donbas, and had destroyed an ammunition depot in Kramatorsk and shot down two Ukrainian warplanes.

On May 7, the ministry said its forces hit 18 Ukrainian military facilities overnight, including three ammunition depots near the port city of Odesa. It also said Russian forces destroyed a stockpile of military equipment from the United States and European countries near a railway station in the Kharkiv region.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov was quoted by Russian media as saying that "a heavy concentration of weapons and combat hardware delivered from the U.S. and Western countries, as well as military personnel of the 58th Mechanized Infantry Brigade of Ukraines armed forces, have been eliminated with Iskander operational-tactical missile systems" near railway stations in the Kharkiv region.



It wasn't clear what the weaponry was exactly, or when it might have been delivered and the claims could not be independently confirmed.

Ukrainian military officials confirmed on May 7 that at least four Russian cruise missiles had been fired into the Odesa region and the city's main airport. Local officials said a curfew would be set in the region from 10 p.m. on May 8 until 5 a.m. on May 9.

Ukraine's successes against Russian forces have been due in large part to the major supplies of weaponry provided by the United States and Europe-- weaponry that increasingly includes offensive armaments like heavy artillery, howitzers, and tanks.

Russia has repeatedly warned NATO that its weapons supply convoys could be targeted, but has so far not taken any steps to do that.

Russian forces had been closing in on the last contingent of Ukrainian troops holding out at the sprawling Azovstal steel works factorys extensive tunnels and bunkers in the port city of Mariupol.

Ukrainian officials said on May 6 that several dozen civilians were evacuated from Azovstal, while at least another 50 reportedly left early on May 7 before Vereshchuks announcement that all women, children, and the elderly had left the site.

Separately, the Ukrainian military said on May 7 that it had destroyed a Russian landing ship near Snake Island in the Black Sea, hitting it with an armed drone. There was no immediate comment from Russia.



In mid-April, Russia's Black Sea Fleet flagship, the Moskva, sank near Snake Island after being hit by what was believed to have been a Ukrainian missile. Russia denies a missile strike, saying only that a fire onboard caused the ship to sink.

For the first time since the invasion, the UN Security Council approved a brief resolution expressing "deep concern" about the situation in Ukraine.

However, the text, which was adopted on May 6 with Russias vote, did not mention a war, conflict, or invasion -- as many council members call Russias military action -- or a special military operation as Moscow refers to it.

"The Security Council expresses deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine," it read.

With reporting by AP and dpa
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, almost 4.5 million Ukrainians have left the country. Most of them are now in Europe, but some went to Russia. The residents of the Donbas often had no choice but to go to Russia, because the road to western Ukraine was cut off. Some of them eventually made it to Europe, and they recalled the ordeal they went through to get there.
Serving as president of Estonia between 2006 and 2016, and foreign minister before that, Toomas Hendrik Ilves has always been an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin's Russia. Speaking by Zoom from Estonia, Ilves pours water on the idea of negotiating with Russia and says that Georgia's position on the war in Ukraine is "absolutely despicable."

RFE/RL: There are many people who think that the roots of what is going on now in Ukraine, and what happened in Georgia in 2008, go back to the 2008 NATO summit in Bucharest and the refusal to grant Kyiv and Tbilisi Membership Action Plans, which would be a big step in the process of joining the military alliance. What do you think? As far as I remember, you were there, back then. What are your recollections?

Toomas Hendrik Ilves: I was there and I was very angry at that decision and thought already then that the refusal by [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel to allow, even to discuss, Membership Action Plans would be interpreted as a green light to the Russians to invade. And that's exactly what happened.

RFE/RL: You claim that, since then, the West has misread Putin. Let me ask you a semantics question: Did the West misread or was it unwilling to read the writing on the wall?

Ilves: Well, I would go further and say it was greed. I mean, why would you sign [the] Nord Stream 2 [gas pipeline from Russia to Germany] in 2015, after the occupation and annexation of Crimea? I wouldn't say the West, but I would say that Germany is complicit. Many of the large EU countries are complicit.

RFE/RL: Much like your colleagues from Baltic countries, you don't really rate the value of dialogue with Russia. But the farther you go West, there is a difference in outlook. What's the reason? Greed again?

Ilves: They lie. So I mean, why bother talking to liars? I mean, what is the point of dialogue with a country that you cannot believe in the slightest? So, I mean, I guess dialogue is nice, but we're long past the time for that kind of dialogue, because they simply lie. Look at the response to Bucha (where hundreds of Ukrainian civilians were found dead after the withdrawal of Russian forces). They lie through their teeth. What do we do with a country that lies? What is a dialogue with a country that lies like that?

RFE/RL: Let's look also at the Western response to Bucha. Are you happy with it?

Ilves: I haven't seen much. I hear noises that we will have more sanctions, but I don't see much. I don't see what the West has done in response to Bucha so far. Not much. And so I think that much of this "never again/niemals wieder" rhetoric is being exposed simply as rhetoric.

RFE/RL: Regarding the sanctions, are you happy with what the West has come up with so far?

Ilves: Well, it's more than I would have [expected] from the West, which is good. I still think that the inability to provide weapons to Ukraine is a scandal. I mean, let's put it in perspective. Up to now, the U.K., with a population of 67.7 million, has given $400 million worth of military assistance. Germany, I mean, who knows, very, very little.... Estonia, with a population of 1.3 million, has given $220 million worth of military assistance to Ukraine. So I think, by that standard, if you look at what Estonia is doing, and then you look at what Germany is doing. We're stretched, but we do it. I don't see the Western countries doing much.

RFE/RL: On the issue of war crimes, when you look at the Western world now, who do you think is capable of bringing Putin to the international court?

Ilves: Well, the Western world should. It is capable of doing it as a whole, not a single country. But basically, I would say that we have two tasks right now before us, before we go into science fiction and bringing Putin to justice. The first has to do with sanctions. Already, the Russians are saying, well, we need sanctions relief if we're going to discuss peace.

The position of the West -- of the European Union, of NATO -- should be: One, no sanctions relief until we have taken the frozen assets of Russia that are in the hands of the West, which are $300 billion worth, and then get additional reparations from Russia to rebuild Ukraine and to pay for the horrible crimes that Russia has committed to people in Ukraine. So that's No. 1. No discussion of easing sanctions. No. 2, no relief from sanctions until Russia delivers the suspected war criminals to a war crimes trial, from the lowest [ranking] private who did the disgusting killings to Putin at the top. Until they do that, no sanctions relief should be the position of the West.

Unfortunately, Georgia is in no position to do anything on this, given Georgia's completely complicit position, not showing any kind of solidarity with Ukraine. And I should say here, the position of Georgia is absolutely despicable. How can Georgia, the country that I flew to in the middle of a war, not support Ukraine right now?.... Does Georgia expect any solidarity now? Do you really expect to be taken seriously for EU and NATO membership?

Georgia has shown itself for the kind of country it will be if it is in the European Union and in NATO. Who will support Georgia at this point when it doesn't even support the current weak position of the West? I mean, I find the EU flags flown in Georgia absurd. Why bother? No one is going to support Georgia to join the EU or NATO, given the current Georgian government's response to what has happened in Ukraine.

RFE/RL: What do you think their motivation is?

Ilves: I have no idea. I have no idea what the motivation of the Georgian government is. We don't decide on motivation. We decide on behavior. And if you behave like that, well, that's your decision, you have decided to, but you should understand that there is no way countries will support Georgia at this point.

Certainly, none of the countries that have supported Georgia up till now will even lift a finger. Because Georgia has shown what it's like. Who would trust Georgia to act on [NATO] Article 5 when it isn't you? What happens when you take in Georgia and then some other country is invaded and then Georgia will say, "No, we don't support Article 5, sorry. That's the way it is." How you behave determines how you will be viewed.

NOTE: Toomas Hendrik Ilves worked for Radio Free Europe between 1984 to 1993, during which he was the head of the Estonian Service. His brother, Andres Ilves, is currently RFE/RL's regional director for the Near East.
A Ukrainian woman has given RFE/RL a detailed account of how she was raped by a Russian Army soldier. To protect her privacy, we have pixelated her face and we are not disclosing her name. Ukrainian police have been informed of the case.




BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China firmly opposes any form of official exchange between the United States and Taiwan, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Friday, adding that China will continue to take effective measures to resolutely protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks in response to a question regarding the visit to Taiwan by certain U.S. lawmakers including Senator Lindsey Graham.

U.S. lawmakers should abide by the one-China policy pursued by the U.S. government. They should stop official exchanges with Taiwan and not make irresponsible remarks, he said.

Zhao mentioned a statement issued by the Eastern Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army, which, according to the Ministry of National Defense, had conducted a combined combat-readiness patrol and carried out targeted training exercises in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island.

Zhao said that the relevant actions of the Chinese military are countermeasures to the recent negative actions of the United States, including the visit of the U.S. congressional delegation to Taiwan.

According to reports, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe published an article in a U.S. newspaper recently, comparing Taiwan with Ukraine and saying that the United States should make a clear commitment to "help defend Taiwan".

In response, Zhao said the Japanese politician has been making outrageous and irresponsible remarks on the Taiwan question and provoking confrontation between major countries with ulterior motives. "China is firmly opposed to this."

"Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the Taiwan question is entirely China's internal affair. It is fundamentally different from the Ukraine issue and they are completely not comparable with," he said.

The Japanese side should be especially cautious about its words and deeds on the Taiwan question and avoid sending the wrong signal to the "Taiwan independence" forces, he said.

"In response to those absurd remarks, I want to stress that no one should underestimate the strong resolve, firm will and powerful capabilities of the Chinese people to safeguard the national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Zhao said.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
The Medical Board of California has launched an investigation into whether doctors at John Muir Health failed to properly care for a 2-year-old girl with liver cancer who died on an operating table at the organizations Walnut Creek hospital in 2019.

The inquiry comes in response to a Chronicle investigation that found John Muir leaders had dismissed warnings from staff that the community hospital was not equipped to handle such a specialized operation, known as a liver resection, on a child as young as Ailee Jong.

The Board is saddened to hear about the loss of the young girl mentioned in the story, spokesperson Carlos Villatoro said in a statement to The Chronicle. He declined to comment specifically on Ailees case, but confirmed last week that the board has begun an investigation. The Board is aware of your story and will be looking into it.

The medical board is the states oversight agency for doctors with the power to license physicians, investigate complaints made against them, and discipline those who are negligent or unprofessional or are otherwise found to have provided substandard care.

In a statement, John Muir Health said it welcomes the review by the California Medical Board, as do all of the physicians involved in this case and believes the board will find that the clinical team provided expert care to an extremely ill child.

We are saddened that the outstanding clinicians who treated Ailee Jong are being unfairly maligned and now harassed, reads the statement provided by a John Muir spokesperson. The care team worked tirelessly on Ailee Jongs behalf, including several physicians and staff who joined in the fight to save Ailee Jongs life.

In interviews with reporters and a lawsuit filed last week, Ailees parents, Truc-Co and Tom Jong, said John Muir did not tell them that their daughters pediatric liver resection would be the facilitys first or that hospital staff had warned leaders against the operation. They said John Muir doctors and executives instead highlighted the hospitals partnership with Stanford Childrens Health in Palo Alto, promising them Stanford-level care closer to their Danville home.

The Jongs said they were encouraged that the medical board would be looking into their daughters death.

We really hope the outcome will bring some meaning to these tragic events by preventing them from happening again and save childrens lives, the couple said in an email.

Villatoro, the medical board spokesperson, would not specify which John Muir physicians involved in Ailees care were under investigation.

The lawsuit filed by the Jongs names Dr. Jeffrey Poage, medical director of pediatric surgical services at John Muir Health; Dr. Jay Michael Balagtas, Ailees pediatric oncologist; Dr. Thomas Hui, the lead surgeon in her liver operation; and Drs. Wayne Lee and Romerson Dimla, the anesthesiologists who were in the room.

In 2012, John Muir, a multibillion-dollar community health system in Contra Costa County, joined Stanford Childrens Health in announcing a partnership that would bring Stanford pediatric specialists to the Walnut Creek medical center. In 2015, they opened a pediatric intensive care unit there to handle more urgent and complex cases.

The Jongs allege that the hospital took on the surgery to make money and a name for itself as a destination for pediatric care. In interviews and in their lawsuit, the Jongs said doctors misrepresented John Muirs capabilities and knowingly put their daughter in an operating room with inexperienced anesthesiologists who ultimately transfused Ailee with too much blood and killed her.

Poage, Balagtas, Hui, Lee and Dimla did not respond to requests for comment. Dr. Wendy Su, the assistant surgeon on Ailees operation, who is not named as a defendant in the Jongs lawsuit, also did not respond to requests for comment.

Medical Anesthesia Consultants, which contracts with John Muir and employs Poage, Lee and Dimla, declined to comment. Representatives with Stanford did not respond to requests for comment.

Bronte Wittpenn / The Chronicle

John Muir Health leaders have previously defended the care given to Ailee and denied allegations that they risked patient safety for profit and prestige. They said that extensive internal reviews of the case by John Muir physicians uninvolved in the surgery found no concerns with the clinical care provided.

Villatoro said a case like Ailees would be reviewed by a medical expert hired by the board who specializes in a similar field. These experts then look to see whether a patients care deviated from the level of skill, knowledge, and care in diagnosis and treatment ordinarily possessed and exercised by other reasonably careful and prudent physicians in the same or similar circumstances at the time in question.

If the expert determines that there has been a departure from the standard of care, the case is sent to a state investigator for further review, which can include interviews with the physicians. Ultimately, the state Attorney Generals Office decides whether charges should be filed against a doctor.

The entire process can take years, and rarely results in serious discipline. Last fiscal year, the state medical board received more than 10,000 complaints, almost half of which were considered quality-of-care complaints, like Ailees. In such investigations, the state board restricted or suspended doctors licenses 10 times.

The Chronicles investigation found that in the weeks leading up to Ailees surgery, a medical director at John Muir had warned Poage and a top executive that John Muir was not ready for such a difficult and risky operation, telling the executive it would be a clean kill if they moved forward.

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.

Although Stanford has a renowned pediatric liver center, current and former medical staff told The Chronicle that John Muir had never performed a liver resection on a child.

Such procedures require not just experienced surgeons, but also top-flight anesthesia teams who must decide when and how to give blood transfusions to a patient who bleeds, according to experts in pediatric liver surgery and pediatric anesthesia who spoke to The Chronicle and reviewed Ailees medical record.

The experts said that Ailees medical record spoke to the inexperience of the team as a whole with this type of operation, expressing specific concern with how many units of red blood cells the anesthesia team gave Ailee  significantly more than the estimated amount of blood she had lost.

In Ailees medical record, the anesthesia team noted that it stopped logging the amount of medications given to Ailee. The medical report indicated that syringes had already been thrown away by cleaning staff, making documentation impossible.

The Jongs lawsuit echoes these concerns, stating that although Hui had successfully performed liver resections at Stanford and at UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital in Oakland, the anesthesiologists were not affiliated with Stanford and had only recently finished fellowships in pediatric anesthesiology.

John Muir Health leaders have acknowledged that a former medical director, Dr. Alicia Kalamas, raised questions beforehand about the liver resection, but they dismissed these concerns as typical discussion among physicians. They said the decision was ultimately up to Ailees care team, which had the knowledge and expertise to move forward with the surgery. After John Muir let her contract lapse, Kalamas sued the hospital in January.

The Jongs lawsuit alleges that Kalamas was not the only staff member to sound alarms: Nurses who were asked to staff Ailees procedure had expressed a barrage of objections, stating that the operation could not and should not be done.

Shortly after their daughters death, the Jongs filed a complaint with the California Department of Public Health, and an investigator made a surprise visit to the Walnut Creek facility, interviewing staff and reviewing documents. The state agency  which focuses on state and federal law compliance, but has no oversight over any individual patients medical care  found no deficiencies.

State regulations for hospitals like John Muir, which the public health officials told the Jongs they were enforcing during their visit there, require the recording of all events taking place during the induction of, maintenance of and emergence from anesthesia, including the amount and duration of all anesthetic agents, other drugs, intravenous fluids and blood or blood fractions.

A health department spokesperson said this requirement cannot be waived even in emergency circumstances. The spokesperson declined to answer questions this week about whether the agency might reopen its investigation after The Chronicle found potential violations of state regulations.

Matthias Gafni and Cynthia Dizikes are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com, cdizikes@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni, @cdizikes
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California public health officials announced Thursday that they will delay implementation of Gov. Gavin Newsoms coronavirus vaccine requirement in schools until at least July 1, 2023, pointing to the Food and Drug Administrations lack of full approval for the vaccine for children of certain ages.

Vaccines will not be required for students for the 2022-2023 school year in order to ensure sufficient time for successful implementation of new vaccine requirements, California Department of Public Health officials said in a statement.
WASHINGTON  Sen. Dianne Feinstein defended her service representing California in the Senate in the wake of reporting by The Chronicle that colleagues are concerned about her ability to continue serving, and she said she does not plan to step down before the end of her term, which runs through 2024.

I meet regularly with leaders, Feinstein said Thursday in a call with Chronicle editorial board leaders. Im not isolated. I see people. My attendance is good. I put in the hours. We represent a huge state. And so Im rather puzzled by all of this.

Feinstein, 88, is a stalwart of California politics and a trailblazing woman. But four senators and a California Democratic member of Congress as well as three former Feinstein staffers told The Chronicle that her short-term memory is deteriorating, and they have concerns about her ability to adequately represent the nearly 40 million residents of California.

Feinstein declined to be interviewed for the story, which published Thursday, but in a call later that day with the editorial board leaders, she said no one has raised such concerns to her directly.

No, that conversation has not happened, Feinstein said. The real conversation is whether Im an effective representative for 40 million people.

The Chronicle reported that concerns about her short-term memory have sparked conversations among her colleagues and allies about whether someone could convince her to retire, discussions imbued with a deep sadness for the decline in such a revered figure. Theres also a sense of resignation, however, that if she does not willingly step aside, there is virtually nothing that can be done, as the term she won in 2018 will run through the end of 2024.

California officials were quiet on The Chronicles reporting, as well as Feinsteins performance. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who would name a replacement should Feinstein leave office before the end of her term, declined to comment.

But a number of media personalities, academics and political operatives suggested it makes the case for term limits on federal officials, not just in Feinsteins case.

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We need to have a conversation about this topic overall  not just this Senator, Matt Rexroad, a longtime California Republican political operative, tweeted with a link to the story.

Term Limits wouldnt be entirely bad, tweeted Sara Sadhwani, an assistant professor of politics at Pomona College.

Eek. This is a TOUGH topic but its too important to not have it. She represents 40M Californians! added Alyssa Farah, a former communications official for former President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, now a media commentator.

Two senators is not enough to vigorously represent the the interests of Californias gigantic and diverse population, and by forcing all that work to be done by just one senator Feinsteins team is really doing a disservice to their constituents, wrote Matthew Yglesias, a writer and commentator.

Tal Kopan (she/her) is The San Francisco Chronicles Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
San Francisco police officials on Thursday laid out what they described as critically low sworn staffing levels at the department, saying that the vacancies have driven up call response times, wiped out preventative policing and overall made the city less safe.

As of this month, the Police Department employs 1,723 sworn officers  459 fewer than the 2,182 recommended by a city-commissioned analysis. Police officials said the current figure doesnt account for the more than 100 officers temporarily sidelined for administrative or medical leave, and they predicted that staffing will continue to shrink due to retirements and other attrition trends.

The departments push for more officers comes as progressives around the country question police resources and whether alternatives, such as increased social services, might keep the public safer. The staffing analysis doesnt clearly state how an increase in officers could translate into improved public safety.

According to the FBI, San Francisco had 26 sworn police officers per 10,000 residents as of 2019, the latest year with data that is comparable across cities. While that was more than any other California city with at least 100,000 residents, San Francisco has a relatively high number of daytime commuters and tourists.

Supervisors on the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee were receptive to the effort to hire more officers, supporting incentives like bonuses, better equipment and even affordable housing to combat a shrinking force.

District Two Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who called the hearing to discuss the causes and effects of the staffing shortage, said supervisors would take the presentation into consideration during budget discussions.

We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the conditions in our city, Stefani said. (We) must begin to meet the needs of so many that are calling, and so that we can do the preventative work that so many are demanding as well.

The mood of the day was a far cry from the defund the police movement that swept the nation less than two years ago, with dozens of commentators calling to support increased staffing and share personal stories about becoming victims of crimes.

During the more than two-hour hearing, police officials said the burden of a diminished workforce was felt throughout the department, including investigations, special operations and community policing.

Response times for all levels of calls have additionally slowed over recent years, including Priority A calls  those involving the most dangerous incidents  a trend police and city officials attributed to staffing shortages.

Without meaningful investment in staffing, this trend will continue, Stefani said.

Police officials said the department is struggling to both recruit and maintain officers, and that many have been lured to other departments due to better pay, cheaper housing or what police view as a negative political atmosphere in San Francisco.

Further, police said, a wave of officers will soon be hitting retirement age, potentially doubling the average of 80-odd officers who leave the department for any reason each year.

Supervisor Matt Haney asked if the attrition is being evened out by recruits or officers from other departments making lateral moves to San Francisco.

Cmdr. Nicole Jones said the department, like many law enforcement agencies throughout the nation, is seeing a diminished interest in policing as a career, and far fewer people have been applying.

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Were not netting anything right now, Jones said. Were losing consistently.

Jones said the department is asking for a recruiting firm to help attract applicants, and said a bump in officers starting salary and better equipment, like nicer cars, could help sweeten the deal.

Weve had people say that specifically, Jones said of the patrol cars. I just think theres a morale component to driving in a car that looks nice and isnt many, many, many years old.

Supervisors on the Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee  Stefani, Haney and Gordon Mar  as well as Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who joined the meeting, seemed amenable to many of the suggestions.

Mandelman additionally floated the idea of subsidized city housing for police to help offset the cost of living in San Francisco.

I do wonder if, particularly for younger officers ... the ability to live in a reasonably priced unit in San Francisco could be an incentive, he said. I think having some nicer buildings or complexes where public employees might be able to live would be an interesting approach.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle

Oakland police are investigating the death of a woman who was apparently shot in a home on the 1500 block of 23rd Avenue, in the citys San Antonio neighborhood.

Officers arrived to the building at about 4:30 p.m. on Thursday to do a welfare check, and found a woman who had died from gunshot wounds, according to a statement from the Police Department. Police said they found multiple shell casings inside the house.
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WASHINGTON  Ukraine is sending top officials to Washington for next weeks spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, where discussion will focus on the Russian invasion and its impact on the global economy.

Coming to the gathering are Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and central bank governor Kyrylo Shevchenko, according to a World Bank official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the visit had not been officially announced.

 reported by Paul Wiseman.

___

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

 Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

 We pray for you: Ukrainian Jews mark Passover, if they can

 Ukraines port of Mariupol holds out against all odds

 War Crimes Watch: The woman who would make Putin pay

 Ukrainian moms pain at watching daughters burial on phone

 Go to https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine for more coverage

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that existing sanctions on Russia are painful but not yet enough to stop the Russian military.

Zelenskyy called for the democratic world to ban Russian oil. While U.S. lawmakers and U.S. President Joe Biden have enacted such a ban, Europe relies more heavily on Russian energy supplies, and the U.S. has been working to keep India from stepping up its use of Russian energy.

In general, the democratic world must accept that Russias money for energy resources is in fact money for the destruction of democracy, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to his nation.

He also said: The sooner the democratic world recognizes that the oil embargo against Russia and the complete blockade of its banking sector are necessary steps towards peace, the sooner the war will end.

___

TIJUANA, Mexico  A Russian man and Ukrainian woman were married in the Mexican border city of Tijuana after they were unable to travel together to the U.S.

Daria Sakhniuk was allowed to enter the U.S. as a Ukrainian refugee but her partner, Semen Bobrovski, was unable to travel there following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They left Ukraine as the war began.

Bobrovski told El Sol de Tijuana that he believed the marriage Thursday would bolster his chances of entering the U.S. with his new wife. The U.S. allows only Russian nationals with family members in the U.S. to enter the country.

Without it, we wont be able to cross because, still to the official American government, we are strangers to each other," he said.

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KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting Friday with the countrys military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.

The details cannot be made public now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.

Elsewhere in southern Ukraine, he said Russian troops who occupy areas around Kherson and Zaporizhzhia were terrorizing civilians and looking for anyone who had served in the army or the government.

The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves, Zelenskyy said.

He added: The occupiers problem is not that they are not accepted by some activists, veterans or journalists. Russias problem is that it is not accepted  and never will be accepted - by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.

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ATLANTA  CIA Director William Burns says no one can take lightly the threat that Russia could use tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons but he has seen no practical evidence suggesting it is imminent.

Speaking to an audience Thursday at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Burns said that potential desperation from Russian leaders to portray a victory in Ukraine increases the risk to the use of nuclear weapons.

None of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low yield nuclear weapons, Burns said. We dont.

___

ROME  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in Rome because the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman as one of the cross-bearers angered Ukrainians.

Participants in the solemn torchlit procession in the ancient arena Friday night took turns carrying a plain, tall and slim cross as part of the commemoration of Jesus suffering and death by crucifixion.

Ukraines ambassador to the Vatican and the archbishop of Kyiv earlier this week denounced the Vaticans plan to have a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman carry the cross together during the procession. They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.

The Vatican didnt respond to the protests. Pope Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a sacrilege, but has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor.

Other faithful applauded the decision to pair the two women. They work together in a palliative care section of a Rome hospital and are friends.

___

BELGRADE, Serbia  Hundreds of protesters have joined a right-wing gathering in support of Russia, carrying pictures of Vladimir Putin and T-shirts with the letter Z that has become a symbol of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The rally Friday in central Belgrade was organized to protest Serbias vote last week in the United Nations in support of Russias expulsion from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Serbia remains the only country in Europe that has not imposed sanctions on Russia, but right-wing groups are angry that Belgrade voted against Moscow in the U.N.

Local media say that masked protesters lit flares and smoke bombs outside the offices of the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during the protest and placed a Russian flag on the presidency building.

Several similar protests have been held in Serbia since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine. Many Serbians remain loyal to Russia, convinced that Moscow was provoked by the West to launch the invasion.

Anti-western sentiments in Serbia stem from a 1999 NATO air war that forced Belgrade to give up control of the Kosovo province. Belgrade has enjoyed Russian support in trying to retain a claim on the territory, which declared Western-backed independence in 2008.

___

The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a seven-month-old child, were killed in shelling of a residential neighborhood in the city.

Oleh Sinehubov said Friday in a Telegram post that 34 other people were wounded.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, has been heavily hit by shelling and rocket attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The citys position about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Russia and 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the separatist eastern regions of Ukraine gives it significant strategic importance.

___

A senior U.S. defense official says the U.S. believes the Russian guided-missile cruiser that sank Thursday in the northern Black Sea had been struck by at least one Ukrainian anti-ship missile, as claimed by the Kyiv government.

Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they also did not refute it. The senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment, said the Moskva was hit by at least one, and probably two, Neptune missiles on Wednesday, creating the large fire aboard.

The official offered no further details beyond saying the U.S. believes the Russians suffered some number of casualties aboard the ship.

 reported by Associated Press writer Robert Burns

___

LVIV, Ukraine  The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a briefing Friday.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyivs regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% of the casualties had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said. The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900  and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.

He added that more bodies were being found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves.

The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses, he said.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha had been gathering up and burying bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

___

KYIV, Ukraine  Two civilians died of shrapnel wounds after a rocket was shot down near the southern Ukrainian city of Kakhovka, according to a Facebook post published by Kakhovkas municipal authorities that same day.

It was not a peaceful morning in Kakhovka. Five civilian residents with injuries were admitted to the Kakhovka Municipal Hospital. Two killed, three injured (one of them is in critical condition in intensive care, two have moderate injuries), the Kakhovka Municipal Territorial Community wrote.

The municipal body added that all five were hit by shrapnel after they left their homes to see the remnants of a rocket downed over the nearby town of Tavriisk.

It was not immediately clear which of the warring sides had launched the weapon, and which had shot it down.

The post went on to urge local residents to stay inside and keep away from windows if they hear gunshots or explosions.

___

The website of Frances state-owned radio broadcaster, RFI, appeared to become unavailable in Russia on Friday after the countrys media and internet watchdog added one of its pages with critical coverage of the war in Ukraine to its registry of blocked websites.

The communications agency, Roskomnadzor, has been restricting access to news websites this week in line with a ruling by Russias Prosecutor General on Tuesday, which mandates the blocking of outlets publishing information inciting mass disorder, extremist activity or participation in mass (public) events violating the established order, and unreliable information which is of public significance.

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According to the Roskomnadzor registry, the authorities blocked an RFI article citing a story by French magazine Le Figaro which alleged Russian servicemen rape women in Ukraine, but the broadcaster said its entire website ended up being unavailable in Russia.

Earlier on Friday, Roskomnadzor apparently cut access to the Russian-language site of Russias top independent English-language news outlet, The Moscow Times, citing the same ruling.

On Wednesday, Russian state media also reported that the agency ordered a Russian streaming platform to remove all podcasts published by the BBC, whose Russian-language website was blocked in March alongside those of U.S. and German news organizations.

___

MOSCOW  The wife of a Ukrainian politician held by Kyiv on a treason charge has accused Ukrainian security services of torturing her husband and fabricating his escape from house arrest in a press conference held in Moscow on Friday.

Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, referred to her husband as a political prisoner, and claimed that she does not know where he is.

Medvedchuk was detained on Tuesday in a special operation carried out by Ukraines state security service, or the SBU. The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest several days before the hostilities broke out Feb. 24 in Ukraine. He is facing between 15 years and a life in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for mediating coal purchases for the separatist, Russia-backed Donetsk republic in eastern Ukraine.

I have no doubt that my husband was beaten within hours after his capture, she said at the press conference. I am appealing for help in establishing (his) real whereabouts. I call for help to stop the physical and mental torture.

She did not offer evidence to back up her claims, but referenced a televised statement made by Ukrainian officials on Wednesday, which said that Kyiv will aim to try Medvedchuk as soon as possible, give him the appropriate sentence, obtain evidence from him and then exchange him for Ukrainian captives held by Moscow.

___

Russias top independent English-language news outlet says Russian authorities have blocked its Russian-language website over critical coverage of the war in Ukraine.

The Moscow Times said Friday that its Russian-language website has become unavailable for some users and cited a ruling by the Prosecutor Generals office to restrict the access.

According to the news outlet, the authorities have separately blocked a page on the website with a story about 11 riot police officers who refused to fight in Ukraine. On Thursday, a journalist who first broke the story was jailed on the charges of spreading false information about the Russian military.

The Moscow Times said it hasnt received any formal notification from the government.

The Kremlin has sought to control the narrative of the war from the moment its troops rolled into Ukraine. It dubbed the attack a special military operation and increased the pressure on independent Russian media that called it a war or an invasion, blocking access to many news sites whose coverage deviated from the official line.

___

KYIV, Ukraine -- Mariupol City Council said Friday that local residents report Russian troops are digging up bodies previously buried in residential courtyards and not allowing any new burials of people killed by them.

A watchman has been assigned to each courtyard and is not allowing Mariupol residents to lay to rest dead relatives or friends. Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, according to a statement on the messaging app Telegram.

The claim could not be independently verified.

Earlier this month, Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko told the AP that Russian forces have brought mobile cremation equipment to the city to dispose of the corpses of victims of the siege.

Boychencko said that the Russian forces were taking many bodies to a huge shopping center where there are storage facilities and refrigerators. Mobile crematoriums have arrived in the form of trucks: You open it, and there is a pipe inside and these bodies are burned, he said.

____

KYIV, Ukraine  Seven people died and 27 were injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the Ukrainian village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office told Ukraines Suspilne news website Friday.

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies are working to establish the circumstances of the attack, Dmytro Chubenko said. He added that investigators are also establishing the routes and destination of the vehicles transporting civilians across the Russian-controlled territory around Borovaya.

Chubenko said that Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

The claims could not be independently verified.

___

MOSCOW  Russias Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up the scale of missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines diversions on the Russian territory.

The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the countrys regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.

According to Russian officials, some 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursdays attack on the Klimovo village in the Bryansk region. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraines Chernihiv region shut down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.

Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.

___

LONDON  Britains defense ministry says the loss of Russias naval flagship will likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea.

The Moskva sank after being damaged in disputed circumstances. Ukraine says it struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack.

In an update posted Friday on social media, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the Soviet-era ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.

It said the sinking means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russias Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.
Is Dianne Feinstein fit to continue serving as a U.S. senator?

A report Thursday from Chronicle reporters Tal Kopan and Joe Garofoli suggests not. The story counts four U.S. senators, a Democratic member of Congress and three of Sen. Feinsteins former staffers as among those who describe her memory as having deteriorated to the point of rendering her unfit for office.

Among multiple deeply concerning details from the story is an anecdote from an unnamed California Democratic member of Congress who had to reintroduce themselves repeatedly to Feinstein over the course of an hours-long conversation after the senator forgot who they were, over and over. This despite the two having known and worked with one other for well over a decade.

The Chronicles story was the latest  and most disturbing  in a series of recent reports about the mental fitness of the Senates oldest member.

In 2020, the New Yorkers Jane Mayer, citing anonymous sources, reported that Feinsteins short-term memory has grown so poor that she often forgets she has been briefed on a topic, accusing her staff of failing to do so just after they have.

Months later, Gov. Gavin Newson made waves when he openly discussed who he would name to fill Feinsteins seat should she resign.

Feinstein dismissed those stories at the time. Do I forget something sometimes? Quite possibly, Feinstein said then, before asserting that she wasnt going anywhere.

In an interview with The Chronicles editorial board on Thursday, Feinstein came off as diminished but lucid and responsive. She said she does not plan to step down before the end of her term, which runs through 2024.

I meet regularly with leaders. Im not isolated. I see people. My attendance is good. I put in the hours. We represent a huge state. And so Im rather puzzled by all of this.

If her legislative colleagues have doubts about her fitness for office, Feinstein said they have not raised those questions with her directly.

No, that conversation has not happened. The real conversation is whether Im an effective representative for 40 million people.

She maintains that she is, and cited increased pay for federal wildland firefighters  positions California is in desperately short supply of  in the recent federal infrastructure bill as an example of her bringing crucial federal investments to her home state.

Though she largely denied suffering from debilitating memory loss, she admitted that she did fail to recognize the face of a member of Congress she recently spoke with. She blamed that slipup, and others she may have made, on stress stemming from the prolonged illness and death of her husband, Richard Blum, who died from cancer in February.

Ive had a rough year. A cancer death doesnt come fast. And this is the second husband Ive lost to cancer.

It was clear from our conversation with the senator that moments of clarity still reign.

And Feinstein was just weeks ago widely praised for her participation in the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, suffering no failings that would indicate the senator is unfit to serve.

Even her anonymous critics in The Chronicles story note that on many days the senator is nearly as sharp as she used to be.

And yet it remains impossible not to be troubled.

Its one thing to lose track of the details of a complicated policy discussion, or even to forget a face. Its another to fail to mention the deceased while speaking at her memorial service, as The Chronicle reported happened to Feinstein in June 2021 while at a service for her friend and former Port of San Francisco Commissioner Anne Halsted.

Feinstein could provide no persuasive explanation for this particular lapse.

Two years is a disconcertingly long while to wait if Feinstein and her staff  and fellow Democrats  arent fully disclosing the steep decline these incidents would suggest.

Memory loss typically does not grow better with time, and the nation is facing a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, a stalled Biden agenda on climate change and the failure to pass voting protections in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

If Democrats retain control of the Senate in the November election, Feinstein will be third in line for the presidency, as she is scheduled to replace retiring Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy as the Senates president pro tempore.

Theres a joke on the Hill, a legislative staffer told The Chronicle, weve got a great junior senator in Alex Padilla, and an experienced staff in Feinsteins office.

But if Feinsteins mental fitness has indeed deteriorated to the point where its an open secret that shes incapable of doing her job, Democrats need to forgo the jokes and say so openly.

Yes, doing so might be uncomfortable and incur political consequences  and would certainly embarrass the senator.

But anonymously calling her out has the same effect, while making it difficult to gauge if the criticism is born of genuine concern or political ambition.

Feinstein deserves to end her career with dignity under her own terms. But denial is a hallmark of those suffering from memory loss and attendant illnesses. And if indeed the situation is so dire, then this is no time for ceremonial courtesy.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.

Correction: An earlier version of this editorial misstated the nature of Sen. Dianne Feinsteins hours-long conversation with a member of Congress. It was an informal discussion.
Regarding Feinsteins fitness to serve doubted (Front Page, April 14): Shame on The Chronicle for the headline and photo of Dianne Feinstein.

This is a terrible way to treat a woman who has served the Bay Area diligently for so many years. I have disagreed with her politics at times, but I still respect her service, and I find The Chronicles treatment of Sen. Feinstein reprehensible.

The editors or others who chose this sensationalist front page should be ashamed.

Rebecca Dixon, Oakland

Do a reality check

Regarding Feinsteins fitness to serve doubted (Front Page, April 14): The adage no one is above the law applies to the laws of nature as well. Cognitive decline routinely accompanies aging.

Given this long-standing feedback and concern, Sen. Dianne Feinstein needs to personally request, or submit to, neuropsychological testing and plan her course of action on the results.

As we say in psychological circles, reality rules.

Margot Beattie, El Cerrito

Courageous move

Regarding S.F. redistricting fiasco: Panel risks lawsuit after rejecting controversial map, blowing through deadline (sfchronicle.com, April 14): San Franciscos redistricting committee had a problem: It had to choose between the law and justice. There are times when the law is wrong, and we should change it. This is one of those times. Wednesday night, the committee decided to serve justice.

I once asked my father, How do you know if youre right? His answer was beautiful: If in your heart you know youre right, then you are right. I think everybody knows in their heart the redistricting map that was almost approved was not right. Sometimes its right to break the law. When people marched in Selma, they broke the law.

Sometimes it is the right thing to do. Wednesday night, the redistricting committee did the right thing, and their courage should be applauded.

Joel Gendler, San Francisco

Add supervisors

The controversy over San Francisco supervisor redistricting raises the question: Why not look at other options?

The city has had 11 supervisors since 1934, but todays population is almost 40% larger. Eleven supervisors in 1934 scales up to 15 today. But why stop there?

European cities with similar populations that I looked at had city councils ranging from 40 to 101 members. For example Liverpool, England, population 500,000, had 90 members, three in each of 30 districts.

San Francisco is a diverse city with a wide variety of interests and legitimate opinions. Can we be adequately represented by 11 (Democratic) supervisors? Just as we shouldnt be tied to obsolete forms like the Electoral College, we shouldnt be tied to decisions made in 1934.

David Fairley, San Francisco

Revert to at-large vote

My father ran for San Francisco supervisor many years ago on the at-large system. A supervisor worked representing all neighborhoods, special interest groups and minorities. This voting system was revised by small groups resulting in todays fragmented, petty and contentious board; members who now primarily represent these well-organized special-interest groups instead of this marvelous city as a whole.

Thomas McAteer, San Francisco

Represent all of S.F.

Given the controversy and rancor over San Francisco redistricting, perhaps we should go back to city-wide elections. That way, instead of thinking of themselves as from the Castro, the Sunset or Potrero Hill, voters may think of themselves first as San Franciscans.

Edward Chmelewski, San Francisco
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Google plans to spend more than $3.5 billion on California offices and data centers in 2022, despite its shift to a hybrid work model where most employees stay home for part of the week.

The tech giants investment, concentrated in Silicon Valley, is more than triple last years figure of $1 billion. Nationwide, Google will invest $9.5 billion and create 12,000 new jobs.

The company said Wednesday that expansion would benefit employees, who were required to return to the office part-time last week.

Googles offices and data centers provide vital anchors to our local communities and help us contribute to their economies. As we embrace more flexibility in how we work, we believe its more important than ever to invest in our campuses and that doing so will make for better products, a greater quality of life for our employees, and stronger communities, said Google CEO Sundar Pichai in a statement.

The company won approval last year for its massive Downtown West project near Diridon Station in San Jose, which calls for 4,000 new homes, more than 7 million square feet of offices and 15 acres of parks and outdoor space. It says it will submit plans this year for site preparation and infrastructure improvements.

Google agreed to a $200 million community benefits agreement that includes job training, homelessness assistance and small-business support.

The unprecedented private-public partnership and investment of $200 million to San Jose, is one of the largest in the state and we are thankful to Google for their ongoing commitment to our community and California, said Mayor Sam Liccardo, a strong supporter of the project, in a statement.

But some residents fear the project will exacerbate already out-of-reach housing prices and do little to benefit the community, leading to protests during the approvals process.

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Google also plans to open a Mountain View campus called Bay View, while continuing work on two projects called Charleston East and Landings. The company also has projects in Sunnyvale and Los Angeles former Westside Pavilion mall, expected to open next year.

The plans dont include San Francisco, where the company has previously leased numerous offices near the Embarcadero.

Other projects include offices in Atlanta; New York; Boulder, Colo.; and Austin, Texas.

Fellow tech giants Facebook and Apple also signed major Silicon Valley leases last year and have major expansion efforts spanning the country.

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf
Four months after Mayor London Breed pledged in an unscripted moment to be more aggressive with law enforcement and less tolerant of all the bulls that has destroyed our city while promising to fight crime and clean up the Tenderloin, the neighborhood remains in dire need of help.

Looking back, Breed says, I meant everything. But in her bid to find a commanding middle ground in a divided city  between progressives pushing for equity and social services and centrist Democrats who see the city as dangerously permissive  she has struggled to meaningfully resolve problems that confounded her predecessors.

Breeds mid-December declaration of an emergency in the centrally located Tenderloin amid an epidemic of fatal drug overdoses and spreading tent encampments was welcomed by some advocates, neighborhood residents and businesses. At the same time, her threat to arrest drug users who refused intervention prompted accusations that she was criminalizing addiction.

Yet for all of the bitter back and forth, the feared crackdown by Breed has consisted primarily of trying  through street outreach and the opening of a linkage center  to usher people suffering from crippling addiction into aid programs. Many people have not yet pursued help and some who asked for a bed or treatment were first put on a waiting list.

Supervisor Aaron Peskin said he believed Breed was sincere in pronouncing that open-air drug users would be offered a choice between services and jail, but said, She doesnt necessarily know how to push the levers to make those promises come true.

Breed said problems in the Tenderloin are not just going to all of a sudden disappear  that the emergency declaration was only the start of long-term efforts, and that helping people takes time. She said a pandemic surge that hit her workforce slowed her efforts and the Police Department is understaffed, which hindered stepping up enforcement. But she pointed to the success of quickly hiring health workers and that hundreds of homeless people were moved indoors.

Now Playing: Mayor London Breed discusses a crackdown on crime and drugs in San Francisco during an interview on April 5, 2022. Video: Bronte Wittpenn and Guy Wathen The Chronicle

Critics say Breeds hard-line statements were mere posturing in response to political pressure amid a re-election campaign. But she contends her views on public safety have been consistent. In an interview with The Chronicle, she said her moves in the Tenderloin reflected her concern about overdose deaths, frustration with crime and street conditions in a neighborhood with many families, and her belief in balancing on-the-ground deterrence policing with efforts at broader systemic change.

We can have reforms, Breed said in her City Hall office, which overlooks a city-sanctioned tent encampment. We can provide people with second chances. We can make sure that we provide alternatives so that people arent out here committing these crimes in the first place. But when the lines are crossed, there has to be consequences.

For people using drugs on the streets, she said the ultimate goal is social workers, not police, persuading people to seek help, but we need to use every tool within our disposal to get that person into treatment.

The mayor, widely lauded for the citys successful COVID-19 response, has walked a tightrope on public safety. Amid a nationwide police reform movement, she has added alternatives to police as well as more housing, mental health and drug treatment.

With the emergency, though, she set herself to the right of the citys progressives, tapping into exasperation about crime and street conditions at a time when voters are considering whether to recall the citys reform-driven district attorney, Chesa Boudin, in the June election. If Boudin is ousted, Breed will appoint his replacement.

Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle 2021

Breed, who kicked off her re-election campaign a week before declaring the Tenderloin emergency, is among Democratic leaders juggling how to respond to the demand for better and less abusive policing and more productive intervention into the crises of homelessness, mental illness and addiction.

In Breeds view, policing can make cities safer, but she also backs reforms meant to reduce racial bias and remove cops from calls that may be better handled by unarmed aid workers. While she spoke of arresting drug users, she supports the creation of a supervised drug-consumption site that could reduce fatal overdoses.

Shes also been a proponent of conservatorship  court-mandated treatment for people with severe mental illness or addiction who are too sick to care for themselves. Shes expressed frustration that the city cant compel more people into treatment and has pushed for broader conservatorship laws at the state level.

Multiple people whove known Breed for years, including former Supervisor Jane Kim, who lost to Breed in the 2018 mayoral election, said Breed has long been genuinely concerned about the Tenderloin, frustrated at conditions and consistent on the role of police.

But critics, including Hillary Ronen, a progressive supervisor who has worked with Breed to improve mental health services and drug treatment, have been disappointed to see the mayor turn to tough-on-crime rhetoric.

Its the default political position to take when we have a raging homelessness and overdose crisis in our streets, said Ronen, who believes the city should focus on policing alternatives for drug users.

Del Seymour, a Tenderloin community leader who knows and admires Breed, said her threat to increase policing aimed to appease constituents alarmed about crime, but was the wrong approach.

Shes been a much more liberal mayor than some of her critics have given her credit for, but she may be too progressive for some of her critics.

Ronen, Seymour and other critics have also pointed out that the city doesnt have enough permanent supportive housing or behavioral health beds for those who want to come inside or seek treatment. Adding more police and arresting more people wont change that reality, they argue.

Despite some pushback, Breed has become more vocal over the last two years about the police forces role in helping to solve the citys most stubborn problems.

In 2020, she oversaw the rollout of a team of mental health workers to respond to people in crisis on the streets instead of police, and in the wake of the May 2020 police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the mayor redirected some law enforcement funding to support Black community organizations.

But the next year brought more visible street homelessness, another surge in overdose deaths from fentanyl and other drugs, the financial pressure of a struggling downtown and viral videos of thefts that helped fuel the Boudin recall. Breed deployed more officers in response to attacks on Asian Americans and robberies from luxury stores around Union Square.

In responding to public safety fears and pushing for societal change, Breed is trying a delicate high wire balancing act where the potential to fall is great, said Sonoma State University political science Professor David McCuan, however the potential to become a poster child for practical progressivism is also there.

Voters could hold Breed accountable if she fails to improve street conditions  although no one has identified a strong challenger in her re-election.

Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle

Breed told The Chronicle that critiques that she has pivoted on policing are unfair. She grew up in Western Addition public housing amid pervasive poverty and violence. Her brother, who struggled with addiction, is incarcerated. Her sister died of an overdose. As a community leader and city supervisor, she said, she worked to heal police and community relations and hold perpetrators of gun violence accountable.

Breed said the city can reform the police so all communities feel protected and make sure that you address crime because no one wants to be a victim of violent crime. ... We have to strike a balance.

While Breeds critics suggest shes been swayed by conservative interests, political consultant David Ho, who worked for an independent campaign supporting Breeds 2018 run for mayor, said she doesnt listen to anybody but herself.

Shes been a much more liberal mayor than some of her critics have given her credit for, he said, but she may be too progressive for some of her critics.

Political consultant Jim Ross, who worked for an independent campaign supporting Kim in 2018, noted that the mayor has become more outspoken about crime as the political debate has intensified.

Overall violent crime has fallen for decades in San Francisco and is lower than it was in 2018, though homicides and shootings have increased since then. Reports of property crimes have generally gone down in recent years but remain at high levels compared to other big cities. Polls show, though, that voters feel the city is less safe.

Anybody in the public space has evolved on those issues simply because the issues have evolved on their own, Ross said. Mayor Breed has a really remarkable skill to express what the mainstream in San Francisco wants to hear in a very dramatic way.

Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

Breed, in her interview, acknowledged that police officers were not increased in the Tenderloin until the week the emergency ended. The mayor has said she believes the force is understaffed and that, along with a pandemic surge, is what caused the delay. As of this month, the Police Department said it employs 1,723 sworn officers  459 fewer than the 2,182 recommended by a department-commissioned consultant in 2020.

In 2019, the latest year with data that is comparable across cities, the FBI found that San Francisco had 26 sworn police officers per 10,000 residents, which is more than any other California city with at least 100,000 residents.

In December, when the mayor made the emergency declaration, extra cops were already deployed in and around Union Square.

Asked if officers had arrested any street drug users who refused treatment services, Breed said the primary focus of police has been arresting drug dealers and seizing drugs and weapons.

Now Playing: Mayor London Breed discusses drug dealing in San Francisco during an interview on April 5, 2022. Video: Guy Wathen The Chronicle

Police officers seized more fentanyl in the Tenderloin during the emergency declaration, compared with the same period a year earlier. But while drug arrests went up compared to the prior three months, they were down from the same time last year.

Police did issue more criminal citations for drug possession  12 as opposed to five  during the first half of the emergency compared with last year. Data for the second half wasnt available. A person who is cited on suspicion of a crime is not booked into jail but is told to show up in court.

Some in the Tenderloin have noticed a difference and say the streets are cleaner and safer after the emergency order. Rene Colorado, a decade-long resident who runs the neighborhood business association, said he has never seen progress like this and credited police foot patrols and community ambassadors with deterring drug dealing.

But others such as Aref Elgaali, a Tenderloin restaurant owner who supported the mayor and her push for more policing, havent seen much change. The city has mostly moved homeless people around, he said, but hasnt curbed drug activity and violence.

Politicians are always saying the same thing that everybody wants, he said.

While lack of significant enforcement against people who use drugs on the streets assuaged some of Breeds critics, it frustrated some residents. The mismatch between what Breed had said and the reality on the ground runs the risk of being seen as a failure in governance, McCuan said.

The emergency initiative has failed to get many into treatment voluntarily. Reports show outreach teams transported or placed three dozen people from the streets to the hospital, mental health or addiction treatment, or a sobering center where people can rest while inebriated. Just 34 people who came to the linkage center  out of more than 28,900 daily guests, which includes those who returned  were placed into mental health or drug treatment or received medication or counseling.

The vast majority of requests at the center were for food, showers or other basic services.

The city was able to quickly hire more than 200 health workers. Far more homeless people  more than 600  ended up in shelters or housing due to outreach efforts, out of a homeless population of at least 8,000, according to the most recent count in 2019.

Asked about the struggle to connect people to long-term services through the linkage center, which was managed by her health and emergency management departments  and how she would hold staff accountable for the results  Breed said she is really proud of the work done there.

For those people that we were able to help, its all the difference, Breed said. Just because were there to help doesnt mean that someones going to instantly accept what were offering. ... These problems in the Tenderloin have existed since before I was even born.

Now Playing: Mayor London Breed discusses the criminal justice system during an interview on April 5, 2022. Video: Guy Wathen The Chronicle

Though the emergency order expired, Breed emphasized that the initiatives it started, including the linkage center, have continued. While some people in the neighborhood want to see more results, she said, They are glad that attention is finally being paid to their community.

As for the continued presence of drug dealers on many Tenderloin blocks, Breed said police are doing the very best they can, but added it was frustrating that officers have arrested some people multiple times in recent years. She wants federal prosecutors to charge more drug dealers, the district attorney to hold repeat offenders of drug dealing and violent crime accountable and for judges and the courts to recognize when parole or pretrial diversion is unlikely to result in a successful outcome of that person.

The District Attorneys Office said that Boudin last year filed charges in 84% of narcotics cases presented when the suspect had an arrest in the previous three years  a higher share than at least the four previous years.

Breed said she does not have a position on Boudins recall, saying, My goal is to work with the district attorney.

But the June recall election will be a major test for Breed and the citys views on policing. Political consultant Eric Jaye noted that Boudins critics have sought to shift blame for crime from the mayor, who oversees police, to Boudin. If the D.A. goes, Jaye said, Breed will be 100% responsible for the problem.

Mallory Moench (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mallory.moench@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mallorymoench
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One of the most expensive homes listed in San Francisco features panoramic views of the North Bay, a seven-vehicle motor court and an elevator accessible on each of the mansions four floors.

With a listing price of $25.8 million, the 118-year-old corner mansion at 2698 Pacific Ave., that sits a block away from the citys Billionaires Row, has only been home to fewer than a half-dozen families since it was originally built in 1904. It first belonged to a wealthy oil magnate. Decades later, the property one block north of Alta Plaza Park came into the hands of the doctor who founded orthomolecular medicine.

The mansions extravagant visuals  from the second-floor green room that features gold ceiling accents and a chandelier to the third-floor bathroom with pearl ceramic sinks  make it an Instagram dream, Herman Chan, the owners agent, said. Every room is a different backdrop.

Samantha Laurey/The Chronicle

No corner of the mansion is spared from lavishness  even the dog wash in its fourth-floor laundry room is coated with navy blue marble tiles.

Yet, the nearly 11,000-square-foot mansion has been on the market since December 2019, according to Zillow. The prolonged listing shows the complexities around how the pandemic has affected the sales of high-end, luxury homes.

Throughout the nation, sales of these lavish properties increased during the pandemic, with listings site Redfin showing a 60% increase in luxury home sales from 2020 to 2021. The jump in those sales is largely attributed to people wanting more space or privacy during a pandemic, but it also illustrated how the wealthy were still spending at a time of economic uncertainty for many Americans.

Yet, in San Francisco the sale of luxury homes (defined by listings of $4.5 million or more) increased by only 31% during that same time frame. Meanwhile, the median sale price for luxury homes in San Francisco decreased by 3.2%, the only city among the nations 49 most populous with a decline in that category. (New York City was excluded in the data.)

There has been a little bit of a reticence from buyers, Chan said. A lot of that can be attributed to the pandemic. For the past year, I think people who are ultra, ultra high net worth are exploring other cities.

Samantha Laurey/The Chronicle

Through the market fluctuations, the mansion at 2698 Pacific Ave. remained unsold  though not for lack of attention.

A video tour of the mansion by a popular real estate YouTuber has more than 1 million views with thousands of comments from viewers who admired its breathtaking interior designs.

The owners agents regularly field booking requests. Influencers drawn to the mansions exorbitant backdrops want it to be the site of their next photo shoot. Couples looking to celebrate their nuptials in grand fashion want to walk down the mansions third-floor grand staircase. Startup companies hoping for a big fundraising haul want to court donors with its palatial excess.

Most requests are turned down politely, Chan said, though a movie production company of a major Hollywood star is tentatively scheduled to film a scene at the mansion this summer.

About a dozen members of that films production crew recently toured what was once called the Mack Mansion  named after Julius Mack, the oil magnate and financier whom the estate was initially built for by the famed father-son team Newsom & Newsom. The film crew became enamored with the homes top-floor views of the bay, Chan said.

Samantha Laurey/The Chronicle

Much of the mansions recent fanfare came after it hosted the prestigious Decorator Showcase in the spring of 2017. A team of 28 elite interior decorators descended on the mansion, each picking a room in the home to renovate. A second-floor bathroom now features all-black walls with turquoise tiling and a marble sink with gold faucets. The library room across from the mansions green room includes modern, orbital-like light fixtures with a wood-beam ceiling.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

The interior designs, much of which remain in place, wooed the current owners, who no longer live in the home. They purchased the mansion for $16 million in fall 2017 after attending the Decorator Showcase earlier that year.

Now, theyre asking $25.8 million for the next owner, a price Chan said is in line with another luxury mansion on the market that hosted the 2019 showcase.

Samantha Laurey/The Chronicle

The Mack Mansion and its elegant backdrops have drawn a following on social media over the years. The property, however, has been on the market since before San Franciscos first shelter-in-place orders.

Though theres no single answer as to why, Chan said the pandemic likely has played a prominent role.

But, Chan said, theres still an appetite for beautiful, beautiful properties, especially for legacy families in the Bay Area.

Ricardo Cano is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ricardo.cano@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ByRicardoCano
The alternating bouts of sunshine and light rain that swept over the Bay Area this week are going to stick around for the weekend and into next week, according to weather forecasters.

Were getting more, said Matt Mehle, a National Weather Service meteorologist for the Bay Area. And thats good.

The unsettled weather pattern delivering rain after months with almost none was expected to continue for the next 10 days, according to National Weather Service forecasts.

The welcome precipitation is likely to help slow the start of the fire season but wont do anything to alleviate the drought, Mehle said.

What this rain is doing is bringing moisture and allowing grasses and finer fuels to grow and green up, he said. It will alleviate fire concerns, at least for the short term.

While Friday was sunny, with a few scattered showers in the North Bay in the morning, precipitation Wednesday and Thursday brought about a quarter to a half of an inch of rain to most of the Bay Area, with peaks in the North Bay like Mount Tamalpais receiving more than 2 inches, according to the weather service.

Another storm early Saturday was expected to bring another quarter-inch to half-inch in most of the Bay Area, with 1 to 2 inches to the North Bay peaks and Santa Cruz Mountains. Rain was forecast to arrive early Saturday  just before sunrise in San Francisco  and to continue into the late morning before clearing out in the afternoon.

Sunshine was expected on Sunday for Easter festivities with the break from the rain expected to continue into Monday. Rain was expected to return late Monday or early Tuesday, Mehle said.

It isnt a real big soaker, he said. We wont get as wet as with the earlier storms, but well take anything we can get.

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.

April showers are not uncommon, but after an exceptionally dry winter, the sudden arrival of somewhat steady rainfall is noteworthy, Mehle said  and were getting more than usual.

The storms are also delivering snow to the Sierra, topping off snowfall at ski resorts and atop peaks. UC Berkeleys Sierra Snow Lab received 24 inches of snow Wednesday and Thursday with 15 inches at Palisades Tahoe resort, 9 inches at Northstar and 4 inches at Kirkwood. Additional snowfall is anticipated, and weather and transportation officials are warning of hazardous winter driving conditions Friday night and Saturday.

Even as light rain fell Thursday, the U.S. Drought Monitor released its latest report, rating the Central Valley and much of Northern California, including Sonoma County, in extreme drought, with most of the rest of the state in severe drought.

Wed need a lot more rain to put a dent in the drought, Mehle said.

Michael Cabanatuan (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
Economic fallout worsened Thursday even as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, R, moved incrementally to roll back new inspection rules for commercial trucks entering from Mexico, with some companies saying they aren't able to fulfill orders because trucks are stuck in multi-mile backups at a number of entry points.

Little Bear Produce is a Texas-based grower-packer-shipper, farming 6,000 acres in Texas and supplementing its inventory with Mexican-grown produce so it can be a year-round supplier to major grocery chains such as Wegmans, H-E-B, Publix, Albertsons and Kroger.

Bret Erickson, senior vice president of business affairs for Little Bear, says the added inspections have cost it "hundreds of thousands of dollars" already, not to mention the reduced paychecks for many loaders who have had no work as trucks fail to show up.

"This has directly impacted our business since late last week. We would typically be receiving 10 to 12 loads of watermelon per day from Mexico, as well as different kinds of herbs and greens. Since the middle of last week, we have received zero of those shipments of watermelon," Erickson said. That means the company did not meet its business obligations with major retailers, which have in turn had to find Mexican melons from farther away, such as from Arizona. Added distance means added fuel costs.

"We all know the cost of fuel these days is outrageous. Ultimately, it means consumers will bear the brunt of that increased cost," Erickson said, adding that reduced supply overall also drives up prices.

"As a Texas business, we were really confused and disappointed by this decision by Gov. Abbott, in a state that touts itself as business-friendly," he said. "This was a direct hit to Texas businesses, businesses that are already facing increasing costs in fuel, fertilizer, labor and packaging."

In a sign of progress, Abbott held a news conference Wednesday with the governor of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, and said they had hashed out an agreement to lift the onerous additional inspections in that one area. And early Thursday evening, he followed with a news conference with the governor of Chihuahua to cement a similar deal. His intent, he said, was to lift cumbersome border inspections as the governor of each Mexican state that exports products through Texas ports of entry agreed to heightened security terms.

Abbott said that the governor of Tamaulipas had already contacted his office and that he would soon be meeting with the governor of Coahuila.

"I look forward to having the opportunity to meet with the governor from Tamaulipas, which may occur as soon as tomorrow, where we will be working to achieve similar results," Abbott said. "Until those agreements can be achieved, however, the Texas Department of Public Safety will continue to thoroughly inspect all commercial vehicles entering into the United States and into the state of Texas from every Mexican state except Nuevo Leon and Chihuahua."

Instituted in response to the Biden administration's announcement that a pandemic-era impediment to immigration would be discontinued, Abbott's state inspections caused thousands of trucks to back up for as much as eight miles at ports of entry. Trucks containing household goods, car parts and other shelf-stable goods have been delayed, tangling up supply chains that involve hundreds of thousands of jobs on both sides of the border. Multiday backups could lead much of the fruit and vegetable cargo to spoil, rendering it worthless.

Abbott, a two-term Republican up for reelection in November, has said he wants Mexican governors to reach individual agreements with him to increase safety inspection of trucks crossing the border.

"This is sending a message to both the president and Congress: Texas is tired of being the unloading dock for illegal immigrants crossing the border. The new unloading dock is going to be Washington, D.C.," Abbott said Thursday in Chihuahua.

Many are not sanguine about what might come next.

"Yesterday's circus with Gov. Abbott was just that: all show," said Matt Mandel, vice president of finance for Sun Fed, a grower-shipper primarily of Mexican-grown fruits and vegetables. "The protests on the bridges ended and traffic started flowing again, albeit very slowly. It remains to be seen if the continued inspections create another scenario where the truckers refuse to work again."

A statement from multiple Mexican agencies, including the Business Coordinating Council and the Confederation of Industrial Chambers of Mexico, pegs the losses at $8 million per day.

Dante Galeazzi, chief executive of the Texas International Produce Association, said consumers will start seeing empty store shelves this weekend in the fresh fruits and vegetables departments.

"Further, it will take at least a week if not longer after a resolution is in place before the supply chain can correct itself," Galeazzi said. "That means outages will persist even beyond the time a solution is implemented."

Losses associated with the remaining port of entry logjams depend on whether Abbott makes agreements with the other Mexican governors, said Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas. The northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas is key, he said, because a majority of produce crosses the Rio Grande there via the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge into Texas.

Jungmeyer said that as of the opening of Thursday's business at Texas ports of entry, things still looked rough and that there were reports of "very slow traffic."

Mexico's National Chamber of Freight Transport, known as CANACAR, which represents Mexican trucking companies, said its members are losing millions of dollars per day because of delays at the border.

The chamber said the loss comes from a mix of noncompliance with contracts, perishable goods rotting in trucks, and materials that do not arrive in time for manufacture.

The most affected companies are those working with perishable goods and in automotive production, the chamber said.

"We are talking about 15 to 30 hours of waiting to cross. There are products that cannot be stopped for so long, that need a controlled temperature with an air conditioner that runs on diesel," said a spokesman for the chamber who said he was not authorized to be quoted by name.

"But the most important thing is the inhumane conditions of the drivers and the issue of insecurity," the spokesman said. "We already saw today the burned trailers. . . . The line of trucks grows and grows, and you are there, without being able to move, at 40 degrees [Celsius] without bathing, without resting, without security."

- - -

The Washington Post's Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report.
Eugene Tanner/AFP via Getty Images

A 79-year-old Hawaii man sustained first- and second-degree burns all over his back and neck after a man set his shirt on fire.

The attack took place at about 8 a.m. Tuesday in Honolulus Chinatown, KHON reported. The elderly Asian man was walking in Honolulus Chinatown Cultural Plaza, according to surveillance footage obtained by Hawaii News Now, when a suspect allegedly walked up behind the man and lit the back of his shirt on fire with what appeared to be a lighter. The suspect then immediately fled the scene.
ASHEBORO, N.C. (AP)  Two people accused of assaulting and carjacking a woman in eastern North Carolina have been apprehended, according to a sheriffs office.

Deputies with the Craven County Sheriffs Office said they responded to an assault and carjacking in New Bern. A 74-year-old woman told deputies she had been eating in her car when two people approached her and demanded that she get out. The woman refused, according to a news release, and then she was assaulted and taken from the car.
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Ben Ashlock thought he'd settled things with a customer complaining about the Ukrainian flag atop the Kentucky steakhouse he manages.

Ashlock had opened up to the man about his personal connection to the war-torn country: He and his wife had adopted a teenage son from Ukraine three years earlier and forged friendships in the process. When Russia invaded, he wanted to show his support.

The 41-year-old general manager of a Colton's Steak House & Grill franchise figured that was it.

It wasn't. About a half-hour later, hate started coming from all fronts - the restaurant's phone, Facebook page and reviews on Google. Over the past week, the firestorm has kept raging in Bardstown, a city of about 13,500 in central Kentucky. Ashlock, describing himself as an uncontroversial person, said he had planned to keep the flag up until Russia left Ukraine.

"I would love to take the flag down . . . because that would mean that they're not at war anymore," he said.

Ashlock and his wife of 19 years, Darrci, forged lifelong friendships in Ukraine while there to adopt their son. The 16-year-old is one of the couple's 13 children - eight biological and five adopted or in the process of being adopted.

When the Russian military attacked on Feb. 24, Ashlock felt helpless. The owner of the steakhouse, who'd helped Ashlock raise money for the adoption and paid for all three of the trips he took to Ukraine, sent the country's blue-and-yellow flag days later. Ashlock decided to fly it outside the restaurant. Once it was up, he took photos and sent them to his friends in Ukraine.

"You just let them know, even in little old Kentucky, we see you, and we're supporting you," he said, adding that he didn't think it would be a problem.

And for more than a month, it wasn't.

Until April 9 - what Ashlock called "that fateful Saturday."

That afternoon, Ashlock was working when someone sent the Colton's Facebook page a direct message: "My family eats at Colton's steakhouse, but will not eat there again until the Ukrainian flag is replaced with our national Flag."

Ashlock replied about 30 minutes later, explaining that Ukraine's flag hadn't replaced an American one but one of two Texas state flags the steakhouse uses to cultivate the chain's Wild West, old saloon theme. Ashlock also told the man about adopting his son "whose hometown is now in ruins and under occupation."

"I am sorry you feel this way, though," Ashlock wrote. "And I hope you'll reconsider."

He thought that, at worst, they ended in an agree-to-disagree stalemate.

About a half-hour later, his employees started noticing Facebook users swarming the restaurant's page to tar workers as disrespectful and unpatriotic. Some vowed never to eat there again.

Then the phone started ringing. Ashlock took the first call, a man asking why he "took the flag down." Again, Ashlock explained what had happened before food orders pulled him into the kitchen. He passed off the phone.

But it kept ringing. At one point, one of the restaurant's hosts came to him crying. "I felt horrible," he said.

Meanwhile, the negative comments kept coming. Many were removed, but before they disappeared, Ashlock took screenshots, some of which he shared with The Post.

One said: "Take that trash flag down! May Ukraine be leveled to the ground!"

Another read: "It seems the only thing you accomplished flying this foreign flag is to further divide your fellow americans. One can't even [sit] down to a meal these days without having politics flown in ones face."

"I hope that Ukrainian flag is gone," one user said, adding a face-with-monocle emoji. "I prefer my steak without a side of Nazi."

Over on Google, someone left a one-star review of Colton's: "food tasted woke, management is a war monger"

"I hate to say it, because I try to be thick-skinned," Ashlock told The Post, "but it was hurtful."

Ashlock said he tried a compromise. After the blowback and misunderstanding that they'd replaced an American flag, Ashlock swapped out the other Texas state flag for the Stars and Stripes. He consulted with military friends to make sure he was practicing proper flag etiquette by flying it higher than the Ukrainian one.

Doing that wasn't a "crisis of conscience" - Ashlock said that's who he is. Twenty five years working in the service industry has trained him to be the first to apologize, to defer to customers, and to admit when he or the restaurant has made a mistake.

"I've never been in a predicament before where I couldn't make someone happy and not, like, violate my conscience."

Until now. While Ashlock said he was happy to fly the American flag, he didn't think it would be right to cave in to demands to take down Ukraine's as people there - including his friends - fight for their freedom.

So he hasn't.

At a steakhouse chain in the middle of Kentucky - more than 5,000 miles away from its mother country - the Ukrainian flag still flies.
A cemetery worker took a rest from digging fresh graves in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, as Ukrainians mourned the mounting death toll of Russias assault with prayers, flowers and toys left in memory of the dead.

One 75-year-old woman, Tetyana Gramushnyak, was killed by shelling while cooking outside her home in Bucha. Her body was lowered into a grave Thursday inside a purple casket topped with a cross.
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PHOENIX (AP)  Arizona victims of long-ago child sex abuse can proceed with lawsuits against groups like the Boy Scouts of America after the state Supreme Court rejected claims that a state law extending victims' right to sue was unconstitutional.

Arizona is among many states that have reacted to child sex abuse in recent years by allowing victims of even decades-old abuse to sue groups that didn't protect them from predators. That has led to lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Church, Scouts and others.

The high court last week rejected appeals by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and its affiliates in central and southern Arizona of lower court rulings that found a 2019 law extending the statute of limitations was constitutional.

The rulings appear to be the first to directly address whether the Arizona law is legal, according to Phoenix attorney Robert Pastor, who represents victims in the two cases the high court considered.

Those lawsuits allege that the group that connects youth called "Littles" with adult mentors known as Bigs did not properly oversee the Bigs. The cases involved two men who abused boys, one in 1983 and one in the 1970s, court filings show. The men are not defendants.

Child USA, a national group that pushes for so-called revival laws that allow old cases to be pursued in court, urged the high court to uphold the trial court rulings. It noted Arizona was among more than 30 states enacting legislation since 2002 allowing such lawsuits, most in recent years.

A ruling against (the law's) revival window would have negative ramifications for all the child sexual abuse survivors throughout Arizona who are embracing the window in pursuit of long overdue justice, the group's filing said.

The Utah Supreme Court in 2020 threw out its revival law, but other states have upheld them, including the Connecticut Supreme Court in 2015 in a case involving a Roman Catholic priest.

Arizona's high court considered appeals from decisions by two Maricopa County Superior Court judges who rejected Big Brothers Big Sisters' arguments that the Legislature violated its due process rights by extending the statute of limitations.

The judges said in rulings issued last year that courts have long held that changing a statute of limitation for non-criminal claims is within the rights of legislatures.

The lawsuits were put on hold while the group appealed, but now can proceed.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America spokeswoman Dvon Williams said the group does not comment on litigation. The CEO of the Southern Arizona chapter, Marie Logan, declined to comment on the suits, and calls and emails to the affiliate in Phoenix were not immediately returned.

Arizona's 2019 law provided a one-time window for victims of long-ago child sex abuse to sue beyond the existing two-year statute of limitations that began once they turned 18. That window closed at the end of 2020. It also created a much longer time for more recent victims to sue after they turn 18, allowing lawsuits to be filed up to age 30.

The lawmaker who pushed the law said he was pleased with the court rulings.

I never had any concerns that it wasnt constitutional, said Republican state Sen. Paul Boyer, whose insistence on the law held up the state budget in 2019. I would have loved the window to have been open longer and I would have loved to have it higher than age 30, but it was a compromise.

Pastor, the attorney who represents the two unidentified men suing over abuse by their Bigs, said Thursday that he'll now be able to find out how much Big Brothers Big Sisters knew about child predators who he says used their organization to groom and victimize children.

He said groups like Big Brothers Big Sisters provide vitally needed support for children, but must be vigilant about keeping predators from using them to find victims.

What we know as litigators advocating for survivors is that perpetrators will seek out volunteer opportunities in these organizations, because perpetrators need access to children," Pastor said.

In addition to the cases Pastor is pursuing against Big Brothers Big Sisters, lawsuits have been filed in Arizona against the Boy Scouts of America, the Roman Catholic Church, the state Department of Child Safety and schools and universities, he said.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  The Maine Senate gave its approval Friday to a proposal to boost affordable housing through zoning reform amid a housing shortage that lawmakers fear could hamper economic growth.

House Speaker Ryan Fecteaus bill would let property owners build accessory dwelling units in residential areas and allow up to two units on a lot zoned for single-family housing. Up to four units would be allowed in designated growth areas.
BRASILIA, BRAZIL (AP)  Brazilian authorities said Friday they are sending reinforcements to protect an Indigenous group's territory in the Amazon that was recently invaded by illegal miners.

The Ministry of Justice said the operation to protect the Xipaya Indigenous Land, located in Para state in northern Brazil, involves bolstering teams from the Federal Police, a joint military-civilian police unit, the government's Indigenous affairs body and environmental inspection agencies.
GRAY, La. (AP)  A California man has died of injuries 11 days after a wrong-way driver on a Louisiana highway ran into an SUV in which he was a passenger, Louisiana State Police said Friday.

The Terrebonne Parish Coroner notified state police Friday that Wayne Thomas, 63, of Los Angeles, had died Thursday evening, said Trooper Ross Brennan.
MODESTO, Calif. (AP)  A California judge found a teenage boy guilty Thursday in the slaying of a taco truck owner last year, The Modesto Bee reported.

The boy, who was 13 at the time, walked up to the Modesto taco truck Feb. 16, 2021, and fatally shot Rafael Avila-Rodriguez in the face, Judge Ruben Villalobos ruled Thursday in Stanislaus County Superior Court.

The defendant showed little emotion as Villalobos announced his decision, The Bee reported.

California law states that children under 14 years old can only be prosecuted if, at the time of the crime, "they knew its wrongfulness."

The newspaper reported that the judge said the defendant knew his actions were wrong and noted that he had immediately fled after the shooting, hid the gun and evaded and deceived police.

The teen has not yet been sentenced but the juvenile court's jurisdiction ends at age 25, meaning he cannot be incarcerated in connection with Avila-Rodriguez's slaying beyond then.

"It is my hope that you do not spend a life incarcerated," the judge told the minor. "It is my hope that you spend a life honoring yourself, your parents, and the life you took, that of Mr. Avila-Rodriguez.

While prosecutors said the teen's motive was robbery, the newspaper reported, the judge said he doubted that because a video only showed seven seconds between when the teen approached the truck's order window and when the gunshot rang out.

Rather, the video strikes of a completely senseless act of violence, Villalobos said.

Modesto is about 93 miles (150 kilometers) east of San Francisco.
PARIS (AP)  The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 asked Friday for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims, wiping away tears during court testimony as he pleaded with survivors to detest me with moderation.

For years, Salah Abdeslam stayed silent about what happened Nov. 13, 2015 in the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. After his trial opened last year, he had a few outbursts of extremist bravado, but for months he refused to answer most questions.

Then this week, his words started flowing, in lengthy testimony that at times contradicted earlier statements. His words at times prompted angry outbursts from the public.

Survivors and victims families, who hope the extensive trial helps them find justice and clarity, had mixed reactions.

Abdeslam said the mastermind of the attacks convinced him two days beforehand to join the team of suicide bombers. The next day, Abdeslam said his brother Brahim showed him the cafe in northern Paris where Salah was meant to detonate himself in a crowd.

For me, it was a shock. I didnt know how to react. I showed that I wasnt ready for that, Abdeslam told the court. "He ended up convincing me.

He recounted donning an explosive belt the night of Nov. 13, as his brother and other Islamic State extremists who had fought in Syria were fanned out around Paris mounting parallel attacks.

I enter the cafe, I order a drink, Abdeslam said. I was thinking. I looked at people laughing, dancing. And thats when I knew that I couldnt do it.

I told myself, Im not going to do it, he said, citing a sense of humanity.

A police explosives expert has told the court that the suicide belt was faulty, but Abdeslam testified that he disabled it.

Last month, he expressed regret that he hadnt followed through on the attack.

But this week, he started showing signs of remorse.

There are no words for this, he said.

Questioned Friday by his lawyer about his mother, and her loss over her older sons death, Abdeslam started to cry for the first time since the trial began in September, according to French media reports.

I ask you today to detest me with moderation, he told the victims. I offer my condolences, and I ask forgiveness for all the victims.

He has also repeatedly asked forgiveness of three fellow defendants being tried for helping him escape.

Georges Salines, whose daughter Lola was killed in the Bataclan, was quoted by France-Info radio as saying: Abdeslam is trying to settle a mountain of contradictions in his head. He's trying to resolve them, but his path will be long.

After leaving the cafe, Abdeslam described desperate attempts to reach friends to ask for help, and taking a taxi across Paris to the suburb of Montrouge, where he said he removed the detonator from his explosive vest and tossed the vest in a garbage bin. He hid out at first near Paris, and then fled with friends to Brussels, where he was arrested four months later.

He faces life in prison if convicted on murder charges.

The more than 2,400 civil parties to the case present their final arguments next month, and the verdict is expected on June 24. Its among the biggest trials in modern French history.

___

Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Two of the Virginia Parole Board members whose appointments were blocked by Senate Democrats earlier this year have found new jobs in Gov. Glenn Youngkin's administration.

Carmen Williams and Cheryl Nici-O'Connell will serve as policy advisors, Williams in the Department of Juvenile Justice and Nici-O'Connell in the Department of Corrections. Their appointments were included in more than two dozen Youngkin's office rolled out Friday afternoon.

Williams and Nici-O'Connell were among Youngkin's initial picks for the Virginia Parole Board, the five-member panel that decides whether to grant parole to the limited pool of inmates who are eligible. But Democrats who control the state Senate rejected their appointment, along with two other members, in March as part of a partisan fight over appointments that went on for weeks during the General Assembly's regular session.

Williams previously worked for the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance and has provided legal advocacy services for crime victims, according to a biography provided by Youngkin's office.

Nici-O'Connell is a former Richmond police officer who was shot in the head while on duty in 1984 and has become an anti-violence advocate, Youngkin's office said. Last year, she help lead an effort to halt the parole of the man convicted of shooting her and killing three others, and she was featured in a Youngkin campaign ad that criticized the parole board, which had been under scrutiny since it engaged in an accelerated and sometimes chaotic release of inmates at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Youngkin's office also announced Friday that Dr. Colin Greene, who had been serving as acting health commissioner, would officially take over the role. Greene, a former Army physician, served as the director of a local Virginia health district before stepping into the commissioner spot.

Also among the announced appointees was Jackson Miller, a former longtime Republican member of the House of Delegates, who will serve as director of the Department of Criminal Justice Services. The agency conducts research on criminal justice issues, provides criminal justice training, sets minimum training standards for law enforcement and licenses the private security industry, among other tasks.
FRESNO, Calif. (AP)  The former general manager of a central California water district is accused of stealing more than $25 million in federally owned water by exploiting a leak in a canal, prosecutors said Thursday.

Dennis Falaschi, 75, was indicted on charges of conspiracy, theft of government property, and filing false tax returns, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California.

Falaschi worked at the Panoche Water District in the San Joaquin Valley, which serves parts of Merced and Fresno counties, according to the Los Angeles Times.

While the indictment does not name the water district, Falaschi was among five people  including his son  who face state charges relating to the alleged embezzlement of the agency's funds. Falaschi was accused by prosecutors in 2018 of using the Panoche Water District as his own personal operation and bank account. That case remains ongoing.

Falaschi's attorney did not immediately return a request for comment Friday, nor did the Panoche Water District's current general manager.

Falaschi's scheme in the federal case allegedly dates back to 1992, when he was told that cement on a gate in the Delta-Mendota Canal had cracked and it was leaking water, prosecutors said.

He is accused of directing employees to install mechanics that both diverted the leaking water into the Panoche Water District's canal and concealed the equipment. The site was not discovered until 2015 when drought levels brought the water levels low enough for the equipment to be spotted.

He allegedly used the proceeds from the stolen water to fund exorbitant salaries, fringe benefits, and personal expense reimbursements for himself and others.

Falaschi is also charged with filing false tax returns from 2015 to 2017 by failing to report more than $900,000 in income from the private water sales.
WASHINGTON - Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is pushing back on lawmakers' accounts that her memory has deteriorated and she is mentally unfit to serve, insisting that she remains a productive senator at the age of 88.

"The real question is whether I'm still an effective representative for 40 million Californians, and the record shows that I am," she said in a statement Thursday.

Feinstein, who is the oldest U.S. senator, took the step of responding to a San Francisco Chronicle report that four Senate colleagues - three of them Democrats - and three of the lawmaker's former staffers and a California Democrat in the House said her memory is rapidly deteriorating. Various individuals said the lawmaker's staff does most of the work due to what they described as her cognitive decline.

The House Democrat told the Chronicle of a recent encounter with Feinstein that was so jarring that she no longer appeared to be the intellectual and political force that has won her praise from members on both sides of the aisle for years.

The individuals quoted in the Chronicle report spoke anonymously.

In her statement, Feinstein said she spent much of her time over the past year caring for her late husband Richard C. Blum, who died in February at age 86 after battling cancer. But she said she has remained steadfast in representing her constituents despite the significant personal loss.

"I remain committed to do what I said I would when I was re-elected in 2018: fight for Californians, especially on the economy and the key issues for California of water and fire," she wrote. "While I have focused for much of the past year on my husband's health and ultimate passing, I have remained committed to achieving results and I'd put my record up against anyone's."

Feinstein pointed to her leadership role in reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act with bipartisan support, which President Joe Biden signed into law in March. And she said she had gotten more direct government funding for her state than nearly every other Democratic senator.

Feinstein, who was elected in 1992, has served as San Francisco mayor and president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Her current term ends in 2024. If she decides to retire early, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom would appoint a successor.

Feinstein, as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, faced criticism in 2020 for her handling of the Supreme Court nomination of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. There was grumbling from many on the party's left who wanted a stronger effort to block, or at least protest, President Donald Trump's nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Feinstein later relinquished the top Democratic seat on the Judiciary Committee, a post that commands significant attention and power in overseeing judicial nominations and other key issues.

At least four other senators serving with Feinstein are more than 80 years old - all of them men. But only one, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who also is 88 but a few months younger than Feinstein, is seeking reelection this year.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who has worked with Feinstein in Washington for three decades, cited the lawmaker's continued devotion to Californians amid discussions about her ability to serve.

"Senator Feinstein is a workhorse for the people of California and a respected leader among her colleagues in the Senate," she said Thursday in a statement. "She is constantly traveling between California and the Capitol, working relentlessly to ensure Californians' needs are met and voices are heard."
NEW HAMPTON, Iowa (AP)  An Iowa man has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the decade-old home invasion shotgun death of a rural Nashua man.

Randy Lee Patrie, 49, pleaded not guilty earlier this week in the October 2012 death of 70-year-old Carl Gallmeyer, television station KIMT reported.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  State funds for Kansas public schools have been held up as Republican lawmakers push for policies critics say would punish educators for court rulings that forced the GOP-controlled Legislature to boost its spending.

A legislative proposal ties $6.4 billion in spending to policies pushed by conservative Republicans, including an open enrollment proposal to allow parents to send their children to any public school with enough space. Another provision would restrict surveys of students' families, their beliefs, mental health, or drug or alcohol abuse. A third would expand a state-funded college scholarship program to students outside Kansas.

Republicans drafted the measure before lawmakers began their annual spring break earlier this month, to settle differences between the House and Senate. When legislators reconvene April 25, they must decide whether to add more money for special education programs and whether to link dollars to policy changes.

Conservatives argue they are trying to make schools more accountable for how they spend state money. They've been linking money to policy since 2014, when the Kansas Supreme Court issued the first of seven rulings in an education funding lawsuit filed against the state by four school districts.

Its our responsibility to make sure that student outcomes are improving, said state Rep. Kristey Williams, an Augusta Republican who chairs a House committee on education spending. Its important to always pair funding with an obligation on the schools' part to provide back the accountability that they need to.

But Democratic lawmakers, teachers and other educators see the bill combining funding and policy as imposing unnecessary new tasks that hinder teaching. Marcus Baltzell, spokesman for the state's largest teachers union, sees policy proposals as the heavy toll that Republicans want schools to pay for winning the funding lawsuit.

Kansas is set to spend 57% more on direct aid to its public schools during the 2021-22 school year than it did in 2011-2012, according to budget documents. With the pending measure, that figure would increase again by more than 6% for the 2022-23 school year, to $5.3 billion, including funding for educators' pensions.

If these folks are actually interested in fully funding public schools, they should just do that, Baltzell said. They shouldnt have to attach special interest policy in order for kids to have all the resources that they deserve.

Even with the additional funds, some districts expect to have budget shortfalls because state funding is tied to student numbers, and those numbers declined during the pandemic.

Also, the measure before lawmakers wouldn't hit the goal set in state law for funding special education programs. The State Department of Education is asking Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly to support another $155 million for special education  30% above the $520 million lawmakers had planned to spend for 2022-23.

Because special education services are mandated by federal and state statute, school districts must make up this shortfall by reducing funding in their operating budgets for other necessary educational programs, Deputy Education Commissioner Craig Neuenswander said in a letter to Kelly's budget director.

It's not clear yet how much policy will remain tied to funding. While Williams argues that negotiators struck a deal and should keep the package together, Senate Education Chair Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican, suggested that GOP leaders may separate some proposals from the money.

Senators would vote first on the package, and Baumgardner said she's heard from senators in both parties who who don't want to open up the college scholarship program to people outside Kansas, given that scholarships are capped at $10 million a year.

Williams said the goal is to attract people to Kansas, but Baumgardner said, That is a real sticking point for the Senate.

Meanwhile, Republicans argue that it's necessary to restrict surveys in which students are asked about their personal beliefs and lives, so the surveys don't take time away from classroom lessons and parents know beforehand what their children will be asked. Educators say such surveys provide valuable data and can help schools find at-risk children.

The open enrollment proposal split Republicans enough that one version barely passed the House last month. The proposal would require districts to take students after determining how much space they have.

Williams and other supporters argue that the proposal would increase choices for parents. However, Mark Tallman, a lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said that with decisions left to local officials, most districts take outside students and, That system has worked well."

Other critics said open enrollment could cause headaches for quickly growing school districts. And Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat, said better-off families in urban and suburban areas would benefit most, because parents would have to provide their own transportation.

It creates the opportunity for  for lack of a better term  white flight, Ousley said.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
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TOPEKA, Kan. (AP)  Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Friday vetoed conservative Republicans proposed ban on transgender athletes in girls and womens sports and a GOP proposal aimed at making it easier for parents to try to remove materials from public school classrooms and libraries.

Kelly also vetoed a measure that would tighten the state's rules for obtaining food assistance for non-disabled adults without children and another extending protections from lawsuits that health care providers received during the coronavirus pandemic.

None of the four measures cleared the Republican-controlled Legislature with the two-thirds majorities in both the House and Senate necessary to override a veto. Kansas lawmakers are on their annual spring break but are scheduled to reconvene April 25 to wrap up business for the year.

While conservatives don't appear able yet to enact the proposals over Kelly's vetoes, the measure on transgender athletes and the education bill that Republicans call a proposed "parents' bill of rights are likely to be issues in Kelly's tough race for reelection this year.

Both issues have become big ones for Republicans across the U.S. ahead of this years midterm elections. In her veto messages to lawmakers, Kelly suggested that politics drove their consideration, but Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, responded by saying that the governor's actions show she is largely controlled by the hard left.

Kelly's presumed Republican opponent, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, has said he would sign the transgender athletes measure. She called the measure divisive and said it would hurt the state's ability to attract businesses.

Its harmful to students and their families, and its bad for business, Kelly said in a statement.

Fifteen states have enacted laws on transgender athletes, including Kentucky this week. Kelly vetoed a similar measure last year.

Supporters of such bans argue that theyre trying to preserve scholarship opportunities for girls and young women. They repeatedly refer to transgender women and girls as biological men, males, or boys.

Its about protecting the woman who worked and trained all her life and should not have her hard work wiped out by being forced to compete on unlevel playing fields," Masterson said.

Besides attacking proposed bans as anti-LGBTQ discrimination, critics across the U.S. have noted there have been relatively few transgender athletes. In Kansas, the state association overseeing extracurricular activities for grades 7 through 12 says it has been notified of only six or seven transgender athletes in those grades. Some lawmakers say only one is a transgender girl, but the association could not confirm that.

The measure also would apply to colleges and club and intramural sports.

Republicans across the U.S. also have seen parental control in public schools as a potent issue since Republican Glenn Youngkin won the Virginia governor's race last year after raising it.

Some Kansas conservatives wanted to ban teaching concepts from critical race theory, the scholarly movement that focuses on the legacy of slavery, racism and discrimination in examining U.S. history and modern society. But they settled on what they call transparency as the better response.

The bill vetoed by Kelly would require local school boards to develop policies for allowing parents to review classroom and library materials and handling demands that they be removed.

"By choosing secrecy over transparency, the governor is indicating she believes parents are the enemy and that schools have a right to hide what they are teaching our children, Masterson said.

But critics said schools aren't hiding what they teach and teachers make lesson plans available to parents regularly. They suggested the measure would lead to burdensome rules that get in the way of teaching.

Kelly said having parents engaged greatly impacts children's learning but added that the measure would create more division in our schools and would be costly.

Money that should be spent in the classroom would end up being spent in the courtroom, she said.

The measure dealing with food assistance would require non-disabled adults without children to enroll in job training to receive assistance if they're not working 30 hours a week. Republicans argue that it would move people receiving assistance into the workforce and make them self-sufficient.

Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, suggested that Kelly's action shows why employers' struggles to fill jobs has become a crisis.

Critics said some poor adults who are working part time would be forced to quit to do the job training, and they suggested the result of such a policy will be to simply deny people assistance. Kelly said the bill would harm 30,000 poor, hard-working Kansans.

As for the bill shielding health care providers from COVID-19-related lawsuits into January 2023, Kelly said lawmakers made it too broad. She pledged to work with them on a new version.

But House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr., an Olathe Republican, said Kelly kowtowed to trial lawyers who generally support Democrats.

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna
RICHMOND, Ky. (AP)  A Kentucky man accused of fatally shooting the daughter of a former Kentucky lawmaker during a home invasion has been indicted on a charge of capital murder.

Shannon Gilday allegedly broke into a multi-million dollar Madison County home owned by former lawmaker C. Wesley Morgan and shot Jordan Morgan while she was asleep, according to court records and statements from Morgan. Gilday also exchanged shots with Morgan during the Feb. 22 break-in.
RENTON, Wash. (AP)  After years of protest, moratoriums and delays, King County has granted approval for a proposed asphalt plant to be built in Renton on the banks of the Cedar River.

The countys Department of Local Services ruled Thursday that the project, which has been fiercely opposed by neighbors and environmental groups, does not pose a probable significant adverse impact to the environment, as long as the company takes mitigation measures.
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP)  The La Crosse Common Council has voted to remove a Russian flag from the citys airport.

The La Crosse Tribune reported the council voted Thursday to remove the flag in a show of support for Ukraine, which is fighting to blunt a Russian invasion.

The council debated whether the move would amount to an insult to the Russian city of Dubna, a La Crosse sister city since 1990. But council member Larry Sleznikow, who proposed removing the flag, said hes not comfortable with flying a Russian flag when the country is attacking Ukrainian civilians.

The council ultimately voted to remove the Russian flag, replace it with a Ukrainian flag and hang up a message expressing solidarity with Dubna.
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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)  Lebanon is ready to work with Cyprus to exploit potential gas deposits in waters between the two east Mediterranean countries, Lebanons top diplomat said Friday, even though a deal on offshore rights hasnt been formally finalized.

Cyprus and Lebanon signed an agreement delineating their respective offshore exclusive economic zones in 2007, but the Lebanese parliament has yet to ratify it amid the countrys ongoing maritime border dispute with Israel.

Nevertheless, Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart in Nicosia that with Cyprus theres no problem, once we found gas were ready to go, put it together.

We talked about it and I can assure you that Lebanon is ready to do it, Bou Habib said.

The Lebanese top diplomats remarks come as Europe is seeking new energy sources to wean itself off Russian gas in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Cyprus has issued exploration drilling licenses to ExxonMobil and partner Qatar Petroleum, a consortium made up of French energy company Total and Italys Eni, as well as Chevron and partner Shell, to most of its 13 segments in its exclusive economic zone off its southern coast.

To the north, Cyprus faces an intense challenge from Turkey which claims much of the islands EEZ as its own and has sent warship-escorted survey ships into the area  earning condemnation from the European Union, of which Cyprus is a member.

Cyprus was split along ethnic lines in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The breakaway Turkish Cypriot north is only recognized by Turkey.

Lebanon's Bou Habib said a U.S. written mediation proposal submitted earlier this year that aimed at resolving the Lebanese-Israeli dispute, while much better than previous attempts, is not enough yet.

He said both Lebanons government and its lawmakers are all in agreement on what they seek from a deal with Israel.

Therefore the response to the Americans hopefully would be soon and it would be one response, Bou Habib said.

Any discoveries within Lebanons own economic zone would be a long-term boon for the crisis-hit countrys beleaguered economy.

Lebanons economic crisis has been described by the World Bank as one of the worlds worst since the 1850s. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs since October 2019 and the Lebanese pound lost more than 90% of its value.
PARIS (AP)  French President Emmanuel Macron and his far-right challenger in the French presidential vote, Marine Le Pen, on Friday both decried as shocking the multimillion euro payout to the CEO of carmaker Stellantis.

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares remuneration package of 19.15 million euros just a year after the company was formed became an issue as Macron and Le Pen campaigned ahead of the April 24 runoff vote. Polls show purchasing power and inflation are a top voter concern.

Stellantis, formed last year through the merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, sought Friday to defend Tavares work in turning around the fortunes of the French carmaker  and his pay package.

Macron, a centrist perceived by many left-wing voters as being too pro-business, called the pay package astronomical and pushed for a Europe-wide effort to set ceilings on abusive executive pay.

Its shocking, its excessive, he said Friday on broadcaster France-Info.

People cant have problems with purchasing power, difficulties, the anguish theyre living with, and see these sums. Otherwise, society will explode.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who enjoys support from many working-class voters, said: Of course its shocking, and its even more shocking when it is the CEOs who have pushed their society into difficulty."

One of the ways to diminish this pay, which is often out of proportion with economic life, is perhaps to allow workers in as shareholders," she said Friday on BFM television.

Stellantis continued to back the package despite a 52.1% to 47.9% vote rejecting it at an annual shareholders' meeting chaired from the Netherlands, where the company is legally based, on Wednesday. The company, citing Dutch civil code, noted that the vote is advisory and not binding.

Stellantis said in a statement that it took note of the vote, and will explain in an upcoming 2022 remuneration report how this vote has been taken into account.

In a new statement Friday, the company outlined Tavares work in pulling PSA, owner of Peugeot and Citroen, out of near bankruptcy.

It said Stellantis success made it possible to redistribute 1.9 billion euros to employees (+70% compared to 2020), i.e. as much as to shareholders. It said Tavares pay is lower for example than that of GM or Ford, and should be considered in view of the size and performance of the company he heads.

In the 2021 report, the company identified peer group companies that it used as a salary benchmark, including U.S. companies like Boeing, Exxon Mobile, General Electric as well as carmakers Ford and General Motors.

Stellantis, whose brands include Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep, Opel and Maserati, reported net profits last year had tripled to 13.4 billion euros ($15.2 billion).

The French government is the third-largest shareholder in Stellantis, with a 6.15% stake through the Bpifrance Participations S.A. French public investment bank.

___

Barry reported from Milan.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  A county official in Maine pleaded no contest to charges of sexual assault of a female inmate and was sentenced to five months in jail.

The 60-year-old man who was a maintenance supervisor for Kennebec County was also sentenced to a fine and year-long suspended sentence on Thursday. One of the charges against him stipulated that he subjected a female inmate at the Kennebec County Correctional Facility to sexual touching in winter 2020, the Kennebec Journal reported.
ST. LOUIS (AP)  A man has been charged with first-degree murder and other counts in a downtown St. Louis triple shooting this week that killed one person and wounded two others.

Brandon Howard, 31, was arrested following the late Wednesday night shooting along St. Louis riverfront, television station KMOV reported.
Members of the Philippine Coast Guard rescue residents from the flood in a town in Capiz Province, the Philippines, on April 12, 2022. (Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

The Baybay City government said in a report that 101 bodies have been retrieved so far from the landslides in several villages in the city. Police had recovered 31 bodies in Abuyog town in Leyte province, one in Samar province, and two in Cebu province.

MANILA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The death toll from tropical storm Megi that battered the Philippines last weekend rose to 138, the authorities said Thursday.

Central and southern parts of the Philippines were hit by flooding and massive landslides, with the central Leyte province being the worst affected with 132 deaths.

The Baybay City government said in a report that 101 bodies have been retrieved so far from the landslides in several villages in the city. Police said 31 bodies were recovered in Abuyog town in Leyte province, one in Samar province, and two in Cebu province.

Members of the Philippine Coast Guard rescue residents from the flood in a town in Capiz Province, the Philippines, on April 12, 2022. (Philippine Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

The Philippine military said 159 areas in the provinces of Capiz, Aklan, Antique, and Iloilo in central Philippines were inundated as of Wednesday even as Magi dissipated.

Megi, which hit land last Sunday, is the first tropical storm this year to hit the Southeast Asian country. The Philippines archipelago which lies on the Pacific typhoon belt is battered by about 20 typhoons and storms every year as one of the world's most disaster-prone countries.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP)  A man accused of shoving a woman into a train in Riverside and killing her pleaded not guilty to murder Thursday.

Kevin Lewis, 41, entered his plea after being charged in Riverside County Superior Court, the Riverside Press-Enterprise reported.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP)  Militants ambushed a Pakistani military convoy in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban near the Afghan border, triggering an intense shootout in which seven soldiers and four insurgents were killed, the military said Friday.

A statement from the military said the ambush took place on Thursday in North Waziristan, a district in the volatile northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP)  Ohio State University will pay $2 million to settle more lawsuits brought by men who said they were sexually abused decades ago by now-deceased team doctor Richard Strauss, increasing the number of survivors who've reached settlement agreements to nearly 290.

The payouts by the university have now reached just under $60 million to former athletes and other men who alleged Strauss carried out the abuse at campus athletic facilities, a student health center, his home and an off-campus clinic.

The latest settlement announced Friday ends lawsuits brought by 57 survivors whose cases had been dismissed by a federal judge who last year ruled that the legal window for such claims had passed.

Dozens of men whose cases were dismissed have appealed that decision and have yet to reach settlements.

The hundreds of survivors who have sued the university said it failed to stop Strauss despite students raising concerns during his 20 years at Ohio State as far back as the late 1970s. No one has publicly defended Strauss, who died in 2005.

Ohio State has said that an a law firm investigation for the university and lawsuits filed against the school have revealed more than 170 total instances of rape and more than 2,600 instances of fondling attributed to Strauss.

Many of the accusers said they were groped during required physicals or when they sought treatment for injuries.

The terms of the latest settlement call for the survivors to receive $35,000 on average, according to the university.

Our clients are pleased to have resolved this matter and wish to express their support for all the victims of Richard Strauss, said John Camillus, an attorney representing some of the men covered in the settlement.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  Officials at Oregon Health & Science University have apologized to employees after a fake phishing test drew complaints about raising false hopes.

The university sent the phishing test email to employees on April 12 offering up to $7,500 in financial assistance, Portland television station KGW8 reported Thursday.

The email, from a benefit@ohsu.edu address, read in part: In response to the current community hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Oregon Health & Science University has decided to assist all employees in getting through these difficult times. It included a link where respondents could register for COVID-related benefits.

But the offer was not real  it was a test intended to measure employees' cybersecurity awareness and OHSU's own technology systems. The test was sent several days after the university sent a message to employees warning them about suspicious emails.

The phishing test was met with frustration from some employees.

In a prepared statement, OHSU apologized and said the university didn't fully consider the harm the phishing test could cause.

This week, as part of OHSUs regular exercises to help members practice spotting suspicious e-mails, the language in the test e-mail was taken verbatim from an actual phishing e-mail to ensure no one else fell for the scam. That was a mistake," the OHSU statement said. "The real scam was insensitive and exploitive of OHSU members  and the attempt to educate members felt the same way, causing confusion and concern.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  The sheriff of Oregons most populous county sounded the alarm Friday over a spike in arrests for violent crimes and said the number of people in jail for murder and attempted murder is the highest it has been in nearly 30 years.

Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese said in an open letter that the county that's home to Portland is seeing a dramatic rise in arrests and bookings for so-called Measure 11 crimes, or violent felonies such as murder, attempted murder, rape, sodomy and assault that carry state-mandated prison sentences upon conviction.

There were 371 defendants charged with those offenses in jail on an average day in 2021  already a huge spike  and currently half the jails population is charged with a Measure 11 offense, Reese said.

The county is also struggling with record-high levels of traffic fatalities and overdose deaths, he said.

We need to act with a sense of urgency. Summer is approaching, a time when we typically experience increased violence in our community, Reese said. Violent crime, traffic fatalities and overdose deaths are already at historic high rates. Without action, we can expect worse to come.

In addition, homicides have been on the rise in Portland for the past few years. From 2019 to 2020, Portland had a sharper rise in killings  an 83% increase  than nearly all major cities. Nationally, homicides had increased by nearly 30% in the same time, based on FBI data.

Amid a surge in gun violence, Portland recorded 90 homicides last year  shattering the citys previous high of 66 set in 1987.

City police and officials say the increase  which disproportionally affected Portlands Black community  was fueled by gang-related arguments, drug deals gone awry and disputes among homeless people. The situation was exacerbated by the pandemic, economic hardships and mental health crises.

Gun violence hasn't slowed, with officials warning that Portland is on track to outpace last years grim homicide record.

The Oregonian/Oregon Live reports that so far this year there have been 30 homicides, including one deadly officer-involved shooting.
GUILFORD  Police have released the name of a person who was found dead Thursday after an hourslong armed standoff at a Fitch Hill Road home.

Guilford police identified the deceased person as 51-year-old Guilford resident Keith Neal in an update Friday morning.

The agency said the investigation into the incident remains active. Connecticut State Police Major Crime Squad has taken over the probe, Guilford officials said.

Firefighters were dispatched to Durham road around 12:30 p.m. that day after a 911 caller reported a structure fire, according to police. But when fire personnel arrived on scene and found smoke coming from the structure, they were confronted by Neal with two long guns, Chief Warren Butch Hyatt said.

The fire department kind of backed out of the scene and that male left the area in a vehicle, Hyatt said Thursday morning during a press conference, before Neals identity had been released to the media.

Police were notified, and soon after received a phone call from someone stating Neal had gone to an address on Fitch Hill Road, where a relative lived.

Police said officers tried to negotiate with Neal to surrender and let the relative, who was being held hostage, go. A regional SWAT team and the state police Emergency Services Unit were also called to the scene.

The incident stretched on for 18 hours, and only ended after Guilford police said the captive relative was rescued by state troopers. Neal was found dead inside the home at the time.

Guilford police said Thursday the states Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is investigating the cause and manner of Neals death.
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RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP)  A man accused of fatally pushing a woman in front of a freight train in Southern California has been arrested, authorities said.

The woman, whose name has not yet been made public, was hit by the train Monday morning in the city of Riverside, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) from downtown Los Angeles, police said Thursday.

Riverside police said in a statement that the woman and the man, Kevin Errol Lewis, were in an argument next to the railroad tracks that turned physical.

During the altercation, Lewis allegedly shoved the woman he was in a dating relationship with into the path of the train, killing her, police said.

Officers found Lewis, 41, nearby and detained him, police said. He is being held in jail without bail on suspicion of murder and domestic violence, as well as several outstanding warrants for theft and narcotics violations.

Lewis, whom police described as a transient man, is scheduled to appear in court on April 25, online jail records showed. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

The killing was similar to a death in New York City in January that shocked the city after after a woman was pushed to her death in front of a subway train beneath Times Square in an apparently unprovoked attack. Police charged Martial Simon, whom authorities said was homeless, in the slaying of Michelle Alyssa Go.

Simon is being held in a hospital prison ward and is scheduled to return to court on Tuesday, online jail and court records show.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)  Federal regulators have approved CSX's purchase of Pan Am Railways, a regional railroad in the northeastern United States that will expand CSX's network in New England.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board said Thursday that the deal that was first announced in late 2020 can now be completed. Terms of the deal have not been released.

The deal will expand CSX's 23-state network into Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, while adding to its reach in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. CSX will also acquire Pan Ams partial ownership of a 600-mile joint venture with Norfolk Southern railroad called Pan Am Southern.

Edward Jones analyst Jeff Windau said Pan-Am is relatively small compared to CSX, but it is rare for railroads to find an opportunity to expand their networks like this, and the deal will bring some additional volume.

Regulators said the deal should improve Pan-Am's rail network because CSX has more capital to invest in the tracks, and customers will benefit from being able to ship their goods across the region on a single railroad. There may also be environmental benefits from the deal because CSX uses newer, more efficient locomotives.

CSX CEO Jim Foote said he looks forward to adding Pan-Am's employees and serving the industries in the northeast that rely on railroads. Foote said he's glad regulators recognized the significant benefits this transaction will bring to shippers and other New England stakeholders.

Pan Am, which is based in North Billerica, Massachusetts, is expected to become part of Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX on June 1.

Before the deal, CSX was already one of the nation's largest railroads operating more than 21,000 miles (34,000 kilometers) of track in 23 Eastern states and two Canadian provinces.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP)  A Mandan man with a record of child sex crimes will spend the next 40 years in a federal prison after he traveled to Madagascar to solicit sex from minors.

The Bismarck Tribune reported U.S. District Judge Dan Traynor sentenced 60-year-old Maurice Thill on Tuesday. Thill pleaded guilty in August to failing as a registered sex offender to report international travel; failing to update his sex offender registration; possessing child pornography; traveling with the intent to engage in sexual conduct with a minor; and committing a felony against a minor.
STAFFORD, Va. (AP)  The owner of a home day care in Virginia is facing charges after three young children in the facility's care were exposed to THC, authorities said Friday.

A deputy responded in March to a hospital in Stafford where three 1-year-old children had been taken after their parents observed lethargic behavior and glassy, bloodshot eyes, the Stafford County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)  A South Carolina prisoner scheduled to be the first man executed in the state in more than a decade has decided to die by firing squad rather than in the electric chair later this month, according to court documents filed Friday.

Richard Bernard Moore, 57, is the also first state prisoner to face the choice of execution methods after a law went into effect last year making electrocution the default and giving inmates the option to face three prison workers with rifles instead.

Moore has spent more than two decades on death row after being convicted of the 1999 killing of convenience store clerk James Mahoney in Spartanburg. If executed as scheduled on April 29, he would be the first person put to death in the state since 2011 and the fourth in the country to die by firing squad in nearly half a century.

Only three executions in the United States have been carried out by firing squad since 1976, according to the Washington-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. Moores would mark the first since Ronnie Lee Gardner s 2010 execution by a five-person firing squad in Utah.

South Carolina is one of eight states to still use the electric chair and one of four to allow a firing squad, according to the center.

In a written statement, Moore said he didnt concede that either method was legal or constitutional but he more strongly opposed death by electrocution and only chose the firing squad because he was required to make a choice.

I believe this election is forcing me to choose between two unconstitutional methods of execution, and I do not intend to waive any challenges to electrocution or firing squad by making an election, Moore said in the statement.

The states new law was prompted by the decadelong break in executions, which corrections officials attribute to an inability to procure the drugs needed to carry out lethal injections.

Moores attorneys have asked the state Supreme Court to delay his death while another court determines if either available method is cruel and unusual punishment. The attorneys argue prisons officials arent trying hard enough to get the lethal injection drugs, instead forcing prisoners to choose between two more barbaric methods.

His lawyers are also asking the state Supreme Court to delay the execution so the U.S. Supreme Court can review whether his death sentence was a disproportionate punishment compared with similar crimes. The state justices denied a similar appeal last week.

South Carolina's corrections agency said last month that it finished developing protocols for firing squad executions and completed $53,600 in renovations on the death chamber in Columbia, installing a metal chair with restraints that faces a wall with a rectangular opening 15 feet (4.6 meters) away. In the case of a firing squad execution, three volunteer prison workers will train their rifles on the condemned prisoners heart.

Moore is one of 35 men on South Carolinas death row. The state last scheduled an execution for Moore in 2020, which was then delayed after prison officials said they couldnt obtain lethal injection drugs.

Corrections Department Director Bryan Stirling reiterated in an affidavit last week that the agency still couldnt obtain the drugs because manufacturers and compounding pharmacies contacted by the state refused to help.

During Moores 2001 trial, prosecutors said Moore entered the store looking for money to support his cocaine habit and got into a dispute with Mahoney, who drew a pistol that Moore wrestled away from him.

Mahoney pulled a second gun, and a gunfight ensued. Mahoney shot Moore in the arm, and Moore shot Mahoney in the chest. Prosecutors said Moore left a trail of blood through the store as he looked for cash, stepping twice over Mahoney.

At the time, Moore claimed that he acted in self-defense after Mahoney drew the first gun.

Moores supporters have argued that his crime doesnt rise to the level of a death penalty offense. His appeals lawyers have said that because Moore didnt bring a gun into store, he couldnt have intended to kill someone when he walked in.

The last person executed in South Carolina was Jeffrey Motts, who was on death row for strangling a cellmate while serving a life sentence for another murder.

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Liu is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)  State corrections officials are looking to a launch a prison tattoo program in hopes of curbing bloodborne diseases as inmates ink themselves with homemade tools.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Tuesday that the Corrections Department is searching for an experienced tattoo artist to oversee tattoo studios in state prisons. The aim is to slow the spread of diseases like hepatitis C that can spread when inmates try to tattoo themselves or each other with unsterilized tools like electric motors and ballpoint pens and share contaminated needles.
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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP)  China said its military staged exercises Friday to reinforce its threat to use force to bring Taiwan under its control, as U.S. lawmakers visiting Taiwan made a pointed and public declaration of their support for the self-governing island democracy while issuing a warning to China.

The six lawmakers met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday morning and were also scheduled to meet with the islands defense minister.

The military drills conducted by the Peoples Liberation Armys Eastern Theater Command in areas opposite Taiwan were a countermeasure to the recent negative actions of the U.S., including the visit of a delegation of lawmakers to Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.

China would continue to take strong measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Zhao added.

China is against any official exchanges between Taiwans government and other foreign governments because it claims Taiwan is part of its national territory and not an independent country. China and Taiwan split after a civil war in 1949.

The Eastern Theater Command described the exercises in a statement as a necessary action based on the present security situation in the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard national sovereignty.

Taiwan is a sacred and inalienable part of Chinese territory. There is no room for any foreign interference on the Taiwan issue, the statement said.

As part of the delegation of visiting U.S. lawmakers, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey gave a speech Friday praising Taiwan's democracy and its global status as a manufacturer of semi-conductor chips used in everything from cars to smartphones, and warned of consequences if that status were jeopardized.

It is a country of global significance, of global consequence, of global impact, and therefore it should be understood the security of Taiwan has a global impact for those who would wish it ill, said Menendez, the head of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, in a speech at Taiwan's Presidential Office.

He emphasized that we seek no conflict with China as I believe Taiwan seeks no conflict with China.

The delegation, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, also includes Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sen. Robert Portman of Ohio, Sen. Benjamin Sasse of Nebraska and Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas.

Tsai said she welcomed their visit and hoped it would help to further deepen US-Taiwan cooperation.

Russias invasion of Ukraine has proven that democracies must bolster their alliances and collectively we can defend ourselves from the threats posed by authoritarian nations that seek to disrupt regional peace, said Tsai.

The U.S. is the democratic island's biggest unofficial ally and has stepped up weapons sales to Taiwan in past years. By law, the U.S. is bound to help Taiwan with arms that are defensive in nature. However, the question of whether the U.S. would intervene in the case of a military invasion by China remains open.
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LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  For now, Iryna Venediktova has a single purpose: To make Vladimir Putin and his forces pay for their crimes in Ukraine.

While courts around the world are working to hold Russia accountable, the bulk of the investigation  and the largest number of prosecutions  will likely be done by Ukraine itself. And as Ukraines prosecutor general, Venediktova leads the effort.

For Venediktova, this is personal.

I protect the public interest of Ukrainian citizens. And now I see that I cant protect these dead kids, she says. And for me its pain.

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This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and Frontline that includes the War Crimes Watch Ukraine interactive experience and an upcoming documentary.

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The first woman to serve as Ukraines prosecutor general, Venediktova speaks with steely resolve and occasional humor, and approaches her task with a relentless work ethic.

Venediktova, a 43-year-old former law professor, is on the move every few days, the jackets and dresses of her old life increasingly replaced by olive fatigues and a bulletproof vest. She takes meals hurriedly in the car or skips them entirely. She starts early, ends late.

Her office has already opened over 8,000 criminal investigations related to the war and identified over 500 suspects, including Russian ministers, military commanders and propagandists.

The main functions of the law are to protect and to compensate. I hope that we can do it, because now its just beautiful words, no more rule of law, Venediktova says. Its very beautiful words. I want them to work.

Her days are spent talking with foreign officials and donors, seeking to coordinate efforts and garner support. But she also races from town to town, visiting refugee centers across the country and at border crossings where she has stationed prosecutors to collect the stories of Ukrainians and transform them into fact and evidence before they vanish.

Interviews can take hours. Bent over laptops, prosecutors wait out peoples tears to ask what the shelling sounded like, what kind of spray munitions made on impact. They ask what uniforms, what insignia soldiers wore. This is the raw material of accountability, the first link in a chain of responsibility Venediktova hopes to connect all the way to Russias leadership.

On a recent day, she visited the office in Lviv, Where Ala, 34, sits with prosecutors and explains how shed lost her home. She doesnt want her last name published because her 8-year-old daughter remains trapped in Russian-held territory.

Ala promises to return with a fragment from a mortar that destroyed her apartment in Vorzel, a town a few kilometers west of Bucha. Shed collected the metal, dense and grey in her hands, as a memento of what shed survived. And as evidence.

We need proof for them to be punished, she says. I am lucky. I am still here to talk about what happened to me.

When President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Venediktova, in March 2020, she inherited an office plagued by allegations of corruption and inefficiency and a legal code outside experts have said is badly in need of reform.

She has pitched herself as a reformer. Thousands of prosecutors have been fired for failing to meet standards of integrity and professionalism, and so shes got an office that is not fully staffed preparing war crimes cases against what she predicts will be 1,000 defendants.

Venediktova has been building alliances with human rights groups  some of which have a history of antagonism with Ukrainian authorities -- and an often-distrustful public.

In March, a group of 16 Ukrainian civil society groups formed the 5AM Coalition to document potential war crimes. In addition to analyzing open-source material, they manage networks of trained monitors who gather evidence across the country to share with prosecutors.

Theyre joined by researchers around the world, at places like the Centre for Information Resilience, Bellingcat and the International Partnership for Human Rights, who have been scouring the flood of social media postings to verify what happened and who is responsible.

Venediktova also has encouraged ordinary citizens to help by collecting information with their smartphones and submitting it online to warcrimes.gov.ua. Five weeks into the war there were over 6,000 submissions.

One of Venediktovas priorities is to seize the money of war criminals and give it to victims. She will need cooperation from countries around the world where Russian suspects have stashed their wealth. Many countries cant legally seize assets for a foreign court.

Ukraine is also crowdsourcing this global treasure hunt, with a portal in English, Russian and Ukrainian, where anyone can upload tips about assets.

There is, of course, an even bigger prize that lies just out of reach: Hundreds of billions of dollars of Russian assets frozen by the U.S., E.U., U.K., Switzerland and others. Maybe one day that too could be used to fund reconstruction and reparations in Ukraine.

Shortly before 9 p.m., Venediktova appears on national television, as she does most evenings. She reassures her people that guilt will be punished and suffering compensated.

My first joy will be victory when we sell someones villa, yacht, and our ordinary Ukrainians, who were forced to flee their homes, will physically receive this compensation, she says. Thank you, good evening, see you soon.

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Follow Kinetz on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ekinetz
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VASYLKIV, Ukraine (AP)  The final hours before Passover found the chief rabbi for Kyiv and Ukraine in a cemetery. Before he could mark the Jewish peoples escape from slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago, he was burying a man who didnt escape a Russian bullet.

Rabbi Moshe Azman doesnt know how many Jewish people have been killed in Russias invasion. But on Friday, on a rural hillside, he buried one more.

People of all nationalities, they are in this tragedy, he said.

The dead man was from Bucha, the community outside Kyiv whose name is now shadowed by horror. The man last posted on his Facebook page in the earliest days of March. His body was only recently found after the Russians withdrew.

No family attended his burial, and the rabbi didnt know where they are.

He was a quiet man, the rabbi said. A very good guy. He had been shot and his body showed signs of possible torture.

This Passover, I pray to God he will make miracles, the way he made miracles for the Jewish people in Egypt, the rabbi said. The Ukrainian people would like to be free of the Soviet Union, where he was born. I dont want to go back, he said.

When asked what he thought about the Russian governments claims of de-Nazifying Ukraine, the rabbi paused, then turned and indicated the grave.

This is the answer, he said. They killed him. And not only him. The Russians are killing Russians, Ukrainians, Jewish people, including children, even at hospitals, without asking who they are, he said. He believes these are war crimes.

The rabbi's message to Jewish people in Ukraine who cant celebrate Passover because theyre trapped or have no food is simple, direct and meaningful: We pray for you. He worries about the people in the besieged city of Mariupol, the bombarded city of Kharkiv.

The rabbi said he and colleagues had been working to get the needed Jewish food to hundreds of thousands of people throughout Ukraine. Be strong, he said. Believe in God. He wished for a new, good world, without war.

Passover also was being celebrated in the Ukrainian cities of Odesa, Dnipro and Kharkiv, the rabbi said, though he wasnt sure about Chernihiv.

At the synagogue in Kyiv shortly before the dinner, a young boy said Ooh! as wine bottles were popped open. It was not clear how many people would attend because of the curfew.

One attendee, Natan Skybalskyi, said he usually marked Passover elsewhere but saw fellow wartime volunteers like him as a new family. He had been pitching in as a driver to help with evacuations, he said.

Some people are still waiting for that deliverance.

I hope this is the last Passover we have in war, Skybalskyi said.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A Quincy-based nonprofit of trail builders is set to break ground on 10 miles of new trail just east of Truckee in North Lake Tahoe this spring. Its the southernmost leg in a much larger project that aims to hook up 15 rural Sierra Nevada communities to a 600-mile network of multi-use, singletrack trail, a project called Connected Communities.

Connected Communities is a far-reaching $40 million vision. The group leading this plan, the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship (SBTS), is not to be underestimated. They have a proven track record of getting trails put down on the ground, trails that go on to become a stimulus for rural economies. Since 2003, SBTS has built 114 miles of new trail, maintained nearly 1,500 miles of existing trails, logged more than 100,000 volunteer hours. To date, the list of completed projects throughout the Lost Sierra numbers 121.

The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship is also the group behind one of the most grueling and famous downhill mountain bike races in the country, the Downieville Classic, where hundreds of riders compete on a route that descends nearly 6,000 feet from the Sierra Crest to downtown Downieville, in 26.5 miles.

Connected Communities is one of the Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardships most ambitious projects yet. Its rooted in twin goals: creating more access to public lands and building a sustainable economy in the mountain communities that dot a forgotten, overlooked swath of Northern California.

Courtesy of Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship

Historically, towns in the Lost Sierra were built on resource extraction, first gold mining and then logging and timber. In recent decades, as the logging industry faded, tourism in the Lost Sierra grew. Over the past few years, however, the Lost Sierra has been hit by forces of nature, both the pandemic and wildfires burning through the land. Last summer, the Dixie Fire razed an entire town on the Connected Communities map, Greenville, and went on to become the largest single-source wildfire in California history. In total, the Beckwourth Complex and Dixie fires burned about 272 miles of the proposed Lost Sierra Route, the centerpiece of the Connected Communities plan.

Greenville took the heaviest loss in the Dixie Fire. Trails can help them rebuild and perhaps even come back stronger with a recreation-based economy, says Alex Terry, Connected Communities coordinator. Outdoor recreation is an $887 billion industry in the United States. Just building the trails mapped out with Connected Communities would create 150 jobs, according to SBTS.

[Local residents] want trails and they want to rebuild a town that people want to go to and want to visit, Terry said, talking of conversations hes had with local residents.

Its still epic up here, Terry said. Its still beautiful. Even though the largest single wildfire in U.S. history came through, its still an incredible place to live, an incredible place to come and recreate.

Courtesy of Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship

As SBTS has proven that trails attract people from across the globe  bringing travelers who will then support local businesses. Theyve also shown how trails can become a centerpiece of local life, giving residents a means to engage with the surrounding public land. In a survey of 1,179 local residents and visitors to the Lost Sierra, SBTS found that the vast majority of respondents, some 94%, want more trails near their town centers. And about 88% of respondents said theyd volunteer to build and maintain new trails.

In phase one of this project, we went out and did surveys and got public input, said Mark Pecotich, development and marketing lead for SBTS. Had people draw on maps, you know, where they wanted the trail to be in each town. We were very active with each of these communities to make sure the focus was about bringing people into town. And then, when theyre around town and they want to go out, the community members, they can have these recreational zones and they can go out and have different experiences, whether its motorized or not.

The Lost Sierra is home to an already established through-route, the Pacific Crest Trail. But in many ways, Connected Communities seeks to offer a completely opposite experience from the Pacific Crest Trail.

The Pacific Crest Trail is a point-to-point trail, built mostly for through-hikers. Its non-motorized, non-mechanized, meaning motorcycles and mountain biking are both prohibited on the Pacific Crest Trail. And the trail is designed to immerse hikers and equestrians in a wilderness environment, far from towns and civilization.

Instead of a single line running north to south, the Connected Communities trails will be a network sprawling across some 600 miles, from Truckee and Reno to Sierraville, Portola, Downieville, Quincy, Greenville, Chester, Susanville  with more towns between.

The entire point is to showcase what makes each one of those towns unique and bring people to main streets where gorgeous, quiet forests meet small town markets and restaurants.

Courtesy of Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship

The biggest thread, where the whole plan comes together, is the Lost Sierra Route.

Unlike the Pacific Crest Trail, the Lost Sierra Route would be a motorized, multi-use singletrack, open to mountain biking, e-biking, motorcycling, hiking, equestrian use and more. The Connected Communities map also features non-motorized multi-use trails that will branch off the Lost Sierra Route, giving hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians quieter, motorcycle-free options, too.

We want to be able to let people choose where they want to travel and then bring people into the downtowns of those locations, said Terry.

The whole idea is to build a trail for everyone, Pecotich said.

Courtesy of Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship

The East Zone project in Truckee is located near Prosser, Boca and Stampede reservoirs, close to Hirschdale and the California-Nevada state line. The northern end of the East Zone trail will link up with the Lost Sierra Route. In addition to building new trails, the Lost Sierra Route intends to use historic and existing routes, including old mining paths, railroad grades and logging flumes, according to SBTS. Some 71 miles of trail are shovel ready, and while the SBTS works on the first 10-mile segment this summer near Boca Reservoir in Truckee, the Tahoe National Forest will be building another 9-mile segment in the same zone. Theyre hoping to make substantial progress on building the trail this summer.

Connected Communities received grant funding to make the progress it has. SBTS is seeking out more philanthropy and individual donations to support the project. SBTS is also looking ahead to bringing back the first of its signature events  huge fundraisers for trail building  since the pandemic.

Its biggest event, the Downieville Classic, was canceled in 2020 and 2021. The 2022 Downieville Classic has been postponed but is on the calendar for 2023. However, the Lost and Found Gravel Festival is coming back this year, the first weekend of June in Portola. The Lost and Found is a gravel bike ride  participants can choose between 35-, 60- and 100-mile routes. But its also a festival that brings families and communities together around a shared love for bikes. The event is also a chance to bring visitors back to Portola after the Dixie Fire charred the surrounding forests.

Were optimistic were going to have a great turnout. Theres been a lot of buzz in the gravel community about the event coming back, said Pecotich. Theyre still trying to not only recover from the COVID experience, but also these massive wildfires which took out large swaths of forest.
Vice Chairwoman of the HCMC Peoples Committee Phan Thi Thang and Mr. Kyle Kelhofer, International Finance Corporation (IFC)'s Country Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lao PDR

The citys leader highly appreciated IFCs support for Vietnam in general and HCMC particularly in optimizing capital investment, developing infrastructures, and providing advice on green bond issuance in HCMC.



She hoped that IFC will continue to have more steps in making good investment decisions, especially when the corporation has a deep knowledge of the citys capacity to manage its public debts.

For his part, IFC's Country Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lao PDR Kyle Kelhoffer said the corporation acknowledged the citys changes in balancing finance, including public debt management, capacity to manage its public debts that is better than 10-15 years ago and high credit score. They are favorable conditions for IFC to continue to invest in projects in HCMC.

HCMC has developed green living. Thus, it is also an opportunity to offer green bonds, towards sustainable growth. Detailed information and instructions aiming at helping HCMC approach green bonds will be provided as soon as possible.

On the same day, Vice Chairman of the municipal Peoples Committee Vo Van Hoan received Prof. Paul Cheng, Director of the Asia Competitiveness Institute who is visiting the city to attend the HCMC Economic Forum 2022. Prof. Paul Cheng hoped to develop cooperation opportunities in fields of mutual interest, and provide support for the city in digital transformation.

By Thanh Hang  Translated by Kim Khanh
Page Content

Diego Saenz and his co-workers wanted their time to be tracked. They knew that a ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had resulted in a law in Spain that required electronic time tracking, but their small company refused to make the shift, figuring the fine was less trouble than implementing a new system.

Saenz, an engineer in Madrid, eventually moved to a new company that did track hours electronically. Now, he swipes a card every time he enters and leaves the facility and can also input his work-from-home time on a company app from his phone.



"I like it, because I feel I am doing the correct time," Saenz said. "I used to tend to overwork when the time was not tracked. So I am pretty much closer to 40 hours per week nowadays."

But other countries are going in the other directionadopting more flexible work tracking due to the rise in remote work as a result of the pandemic.

European Court of Justice Ruling Interpreted Differently

In 2019, a lawsuit was filed by the Spanish trade union Comisiones Obreras against the Spanish subsidiary of Deutsche Bank. The union wanted the bank to implement mandatory work-time recording. The ECJ ruled in favor of the trade union that year.

"The ECJ had ruled that the EU member states must provide for a specific working time documentation system to ensure that all daily working time with employees would be recorded so that there is an objective, reliable and accessible system for the individual employees," said Nils Neumann, an attorney with K&L Gates in Berlin.

Different EU companies have chosen to implement this ruling in different ways, and many are still figuring out the best way to integrate the ruling into their laws.

"There was some controversy when this ECJ ruling came out whether it would have actually a direct effect on employers in Germany. The German Working Time Act leaves some room to argue that based on this ECJ judgment, every employer would [already] directly be obliged to record all working time of their employees in Germany," Neumann said.

"Lawsuits to compensate overtime are expected to become easier for employees as a result" of the ruling, predicted Johannes Hoft, an attorney with Taylor Wessing in Hamburg, Germany. "Up to now, in case of doubt, the employee has to prove the performance of each individual hour for which he or she claims subsequent payment. As soon as electronic time recording is mandatory, the burden of proof would be reversed."

"In February of this year, the German Employment Minister has provided draft legislation, which includes such an obligation for limited groups of employees, but it's still in discussion within the government," Neumann said.

Regardless of whether that comes to pass in Germany, "a cautious employer, at least in Germany, would start thinking about putting in place such a system to record all working time," Neumann said, "even if they may not really have an obligation at this stage."

In France, implementing mandatory time recording has not been a priority, but it benefits companies to put systems in place regardless.

"For years, we have been advising our clients to control the working time in case of court actions and control from the labor inspector," said Christine Artus, an attorney with K&L Gates in Paris. "But some companies are very reluctant. So this directive is very helpful. This court decision is very helpful."

Pandemic Changed the Way Many Employees Work

The pandemic has also changed how the ruling could be adapted within the EU, with more people working from home or working a hybrid schedule. "Remote work is still a key point and key question and a request from almost all of the employees," Artus said. "So what is very interesting is to consider this court decision now that we have changed the way we work."

While Italy has had a system similar to the one required by the ECJ ruling in place since 2003, the pandemic has changed how work tracking is being implemented. "Italy is switching to a system which is more flexible due to the COVID-19 emergency and thanks to the smart working and home working regulations," said Ottavia Colnago, an attorney with K&L Gates in Milan. Employees working from home no longer are required to follow strict work time but have more flexibility and are entitled to organize their own agenda and their own workday, Colnago said.

Katie Nadworny is a freelance writer in Istanbul.
The merit-based graduate school program for immigrants and children of immigrants announced the programs 2022 Fellows chosen from a pool of more than 1,800 applicants

FREMONT, CA: The 30 winners of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans in 2022, a merit-based graduate school program for immigrants and children of immigrants, include four students of Indian ancestry. The 30 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellows were chosen from a pool of over 1,800 applications for their ability to make substantial contributions to the United States, according to the New York-based foundation. They will each earn up to $90,000 to support their graduate studies, joining a distinguished group of over 715 previous recipients that includes US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and Maine CDC Director Nirav Shah.

Syamantak Payra, pursuing a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Stanford, is one of the four Indian American winners. Sai Rajagopal, a Harvard medical student, Rishi Goel, MD student at the University of Pennsylvania, and Hari Srinivasan, a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience at Vanderbilt, are the others.

Syamantak Payra grew raised in Houston, Texas, as the son of Indian immigrants. Building a robotic leg brace for his disabled instructor and organizing free literacy seminars and STEM outreach programs that reached almost a thousand poor youngsters across the Greater Houston Area are his proudest achievements. Payra's work has been published in several scientific journals, and he was recently inducted into the National Gallery of America's Young Inventors. Payra plans to pursue a Ph.D. in engineering to develop new biomedical technologies that will enable patients worldwide to live better lives.

Sai Rajagopal is a Tamil-speaking Canadian immigrant who grew up in both Canada and Tennessee. He studied gender rights, women, and sexuality studies, as well as biomedical engineering at Harvard College. Rajagopal worked with a team to build an electric rowing machine for paraplegic patients as a biomedical device designer and now focuses on designing safe penile prosthetics for transgender persons. Rajagopal hopes to work at the nexus of gender-affirming clinical treatment and policy. He continued his work in prosthetic device design after earning a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Srinivasan was born to Indian parents in the San Francisco Bay region. Srinivasan, a bright-eyed and outgoing child, was diagnosed with autism and ADHD at three. Srinivasan entered mainstream schooling thanks to a mix of alternate communication technology and a move to a charter school. Srinivasan majored in psychology and minored in disability studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Rishi Goel was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Indian immigrants from Lucknow. Goel was motivated as a child by his grandfather, a civil engineering professor, who instilled scientific curiosity and delight in routine household activities. Goel's latest research has led to new insights into the development of immunological memory after SARS-CoV-2 infection and mRNA vaccination, thanks to his recent work on understanding immune responses to viral infections. He was also involved in the development of Penn's Immunological Health Project, which aims to bring immune profiling into the clinic to improve illness diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
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The Mighty Apollo poached eggs at the Apollo Cafe, West Melbourne. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui After the strongmans death in the 1990s, the building had several reinventions, but the old-school paintwork remains, and is now home to the Apollo Cafe, which celebrates his life. A laneway next door has been renamed Mighty Apollo Lane. There was never any question of where Faine and I would meet for lunch. Its a far cry from the days when Faine would visit the top floor of the gym to meet Apollo, who also lived in the building in shockingly modest accommodations. When he first visited, Faine had no idea of Andersons life as a showman who performed at travelling tent shows and fairs, and who had broken several weightlifting and other records  and he didnt, at first, believe him.

But hed pull out these meticulously kept scrapbooks and he had all this photographic evidence, page after page. He knew what he was doing was exceptional, Faine says. Apollo was vain but also, in his own way, he was very matter-of-fact about it. To him, it was like, well, thats me - for everyone else it was, youre kidding! The Apollo Benedict with Jamaican spiced ham hock and lime hollandaise. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui When Faine was a regular visitor, West Melbourne was all slums, panel beaters and brothels, but perusing the cafes hip menu, its a different picture (although youre still never far from a panel beater or a brothel). Apollo would fall about laughing if he knew this was a cafe, he says. Although hed like the name. Faine is pleased to see some Apollo-themed meals on the menu. I order the Apollo Benedict, which comes with Jamaican spiced ham hock and a lime hollandaise; he has the Mighty Apollo  poached eggs with Kaiserfleisch, black pudding, mushrooms and spinach. Obviously I have to get that, he says. Both are delicious, although Faine says hes not used to eating much fatty meat.

And in case you cant tell, I need to lose at least five if not 10 kilos  COVID kilos! Receipt for lunch at Apollo Cafe with Jon Faine. While Faines book is a celebration of two extraordinary lives, its also a story of hard times. Thelma and Apollo grew up in poverty in Clifton Hill (where Apollo, a man of only just over five feet, taught himself to fight after being bullied), and a different era. Thelmas story took her to the remotest part of the country where she ended up a pioneering publican in an era when few women worked, while Apollo lived an equally unusual life chasing the spotlight and claiming an almost supernatural gift as the root of his superhuman strength. He sought fame while Thelma wanted fortune. But neither seemed to achieve what they hoped for in their lifetimes. When Andersons wife left him for one of his martial arts instructors, she also left their three sons behind  permanently. After Apollo suffered what would now be regarded a nervous breakdown, his boys were put into care, where they remained until they were 18 years old. They share their stories in the book, and Faine consulted them all the way; the Anderson story is a complicated one. Their lives were often very brutal, and I want them to know that they have every reason to be proud of their father and more than anything, I want to make sure his legacy is recognised and preserved, he says. Apollo at least is now immortal, which is what he desperately wanted. But Im acutely aware that for me its a book but for his sons, its their lives.

In many senses though, Apollo & Thelma is also about Faines life. The book takes several tangential paths, among them chapters about the struggle for Indigenous land rights, the late Frank Hardy and his involvement with the Gurindji walk-off at the Wave Hill cattle station (regularly serviced by Thelmas pub), and another in which Faine reveals that his stepson (his wife Jans son) is a Bundjalung man. Loading Its a bit of a genre-bender in that sense, says Faine. Its not neat, but lifes not linear or neat, so Ive woven some of my stories in there, but its all in context. Im not trying to do a humble brag but Ive got some stories that I think need to be told  some of them are in this book and some of them arent. The book goes off in directions that will  catch people unawares, but I reveal the reasons why, and why certain things, like what happened with the Gurindji, matters so much to me, why its important to stop pretending some of these things in our colonial past didnt happen. There are also stories from his radio life, although these are probably less surprising to his long-time listeners. He pays tribute to former prime minister John Howard  such an impressive and successful politician, whether you like his politics or not  and talks about his run-ins with former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, in particular his infamous 1999 interview about Kennetts former press secretary Stephen Mayne and his Jeffed.com website. He was so crass, so blunt, so aggressive, and personally abusive to me, and I thought well, Im not going to hold back, Faine says. Someone suggested I am settling scores but Im not  Im telling a true story. It happened, and people need to know it happened, he says. Im not going to go so far as to say you have an obligation to, but if you have the opportunity, then you have to tell the story fearlessly.

He doesnt know if Kennett has read the book. Loading He wont know until someone brings it to his attention. He still plays a role in the life of this city and state  good luck to him, although I must say, it somewhat puzzles me. Does he miss his radio career? God yeah. Its addictive. But I wanted to leave at a time of my choosing, not someone elses and before people started saying, Oh, hes not as sharp as he used to be.

He doesnt miss getting up at 4.15am (although I was on that clock for such a long time that my mind knows I dont have to go to work, but my bladder doesnt!) but he misses the audience, his colleagues and the banter. I loved what I did. It was an incredible privilege  people throw that around and its become a cliche, but its true. More than a job, he says it was a lifestyle. But I was turning 65 and theres still time to do some other interesting things before I retreat into the garage and start breaking things on old cars, he says, referring to his hobby of restoring vintage Citroens. Right now I try to do that one day a week, he says. Its cheaper than a shrink! Apollo and Thelma: A True Tall Tale (Hardie Grant) is out now.
I remember being struck when I first heard the lyrics to Florence + the Machines recent single, King.

I am no mother / I am no bride / I am King.

With just those 11 words, Florence Welch speared through the conservative pop culture narrative I had grown up with, the one that made it impossible to separate a womans identity from her marital status, or whether she had children.

Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine performing during the High As Hope Tour in Chicago in 2018. Credit:AP

For much of my life what had been portrayed on screen reinforced a very particular view of what it meant to be a woman: find a long-term partner, settle down, raise a family. Anyone who challenged that norm was the outlier, the rebel, the vigilante.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Enhancing our best features while concealing flaws is make-ups primary purpose but artist Atong Atem wields lipsticks, face paints and mascara like wands, performing spellbinding transformations that go beyond the perfect pout. The results are arresting, beautiful and vastly different to the airbrushed images of blonde, blue-eyed models she was surrounded by as a kid in Gosford, on the NSW Central Coast. When I have a bright blue face with diamantes on it and hot pink lips with yellow outlines, people say thats so beautiful, says Atong, 30. Growing up as a black kid on the Central Coast, that was the furthest thing from beauty. Ive spent so much of my time in Australia with the understanding that Im inherently alien, which is deeply ironic when you stop to think about colonisation. I grew up knowing that my features and appearance are something other in white Australia. Atongs self-portrait has been acquired by the Art Gallery of NSW. Credit:Louise Kennerley Otherness was what Atong felt as a child, seeking people who shared her South Sudanese heritage in magazines and television programs that steadfastly ignored the countrys diversity. That otherness is now challenged by being the inaugural winner of the Art Gallery of NSWs La Prairie Art Award, aimed at supporting Australian women artists. Her prize, a partnership between the gallery and the Swiss skincare company, is a $50,000 acquisition and $30,000 worth of travel. As part of the award, Atong, who lives in Melbourne, will head to Switzerland in June to attend the influential Art Basel fair and take up a residency in Zurich. Ask her whether her journey from outsider status to the centre of the art world has been strategic and the response is enthusiastic laughter, verging on guffaws. Im a seven-time university dropout, she says. That was seven successful and very expensive attempts at self-sabotage.

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Initially, Atong was attracted to a career as an academic, navigating art history from a perspective that shifted the spotlight from European masters to African painters and sculptors. But when her focus shifted to traditional oil painting, she swapped conventional brushes for foundation blenders. I was living in Newcastle with hippie friends, and they taught me the skill of face painting, she says. It became a fun way to practise it  oil paint is a lot more expensive than face paint. To this day, I find make-up quite challenging. My friends are always saying, If you can do that with blue paint, surely you can do something with foundation.  For the acquisition, A Yellow Dress, a Bouquet  a self-portrait in five parts  Atongs face is violet rather than blue, punctuated by garish turquoise eyelids and coral lips. In swathes of yellow fabric, her steely gaze meets the camera. For the artist, the process of creation is just as important as the result now hanging on the art gallerys walls. Its never like, this is what Im going to do, she says. I will sit and see what will happen. When Im making my work its so freeing. It started as a reaction to the chaos of life. No matter what would happen in the day, I knew I could go home, sit in front of my mirror, put on some music, paint my face and take my time. Credit:Nic Walker She says that self-portraits and face painting tend to happen in the early morning, when she cant sleep. It started as a reaction to the chaos of life. No matter what would happen in the day, I knew I could go home, sit in front of my mirror, put on some music, paint my face and take my time.

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Atong acknowledges the influence of Malian photographers Malick Sidibe and Seydou Keita on her self-portraiture, but dive into her creations and you are immediately immersed in the chaotic terrain of todays world and an imagined tomorrow. It was through the instruments of todays world, mainly the micro-blog platform Tumblr, that a teenage Atong first connected with the work of other artists. It made me feel less alone, she says. I learnt about Afrofuturism, African and African-American philosophers, thinkers and artists in the 19th century. The imagined dimension came when she discovered the power of science fiction to explore her reality. Science fiction is the overarching lens in my life, she says. Its a beautiful lens to look at humanity and history in general. When you look at aliens in popular culture, theyre never subtle. If they are represented with a minimalist aesthetic, theyre the bad guys. Its the ones who are a vibrant amalgamation of all human creatures that we are meant to sympathise with. Science fiction is the overarching lens in my life. Its a beautiful lens to look at humanity and history in general. Atong channels this amalgamation of everything via her make-up  its helped shape her self-perception as an artist. I just love excess, she says. It represents honesty to me. In my work, I am quite literally showing the things that I like. I am open to display. Nothing is under my rug. Ive come to realise that the reason it feels so instinctive is because I have such a great catalogue of references from the last 30 years  It might seem like its from my imagination, but its so intensely referential. One image references a 70s sci-fi film, an episode of The Simpsons, an Instagram video I saw and a Vogue photo shoot from 2003 I remembered. Its all kind of there, and it just becomes Atong.

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After bushfire, pandemic and flood, the divine weather in Sydney this Easter long weekend is a blessing.

Sydney is a diverse community and different residents will spend their days off in very different ways.

The great weather certainly makes this a chance to reconnect with the natural beauty which is so important to our identity.

Many people who have escaped to country NSW will be able to experience our states infinite variety of landscapes, from rocky shores to inland pastures to mountains to deserts.

For readers who have stayed in Sydney, the harbour is glistening like a Brett Whiteley painting; the air has the fresh crispness of autumn; the grass at suburban picnic grounds is still damp and feels soft under barefeet; and the water at the beach is still warm.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese says it is a matter for the Liberal Party whether it disendorses its candidate for Warringah and said Prime Minister Scott Morrison should have never selected her in the first place.

Appearing in Cairns on Saturday, Albanese also insisted that social media activity by Labors candidate for Hunter, Dan Repacholi, was different from the Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves, because it was some years ago.

Repacholi, a former Commonwealth Games gold medallist for shooting, followed a series of sexually charged Instagram profiles and also suggested opponents of coal mining should sit in the cold and freeze in winter.

These are comments [by Repacholi] that were made a very, very long time ago. A very long time ago. This candidate in Warringah, this has been her main political approach, Albanese said.

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The Labor leader said it was the Liberal Party themselves who were calling for the resignation of Deves in Warringah.

The New South Wales branch is tearing itself apart. This has been a civil war that has been going on for over a year now and what is extraordinary is that Katherine Deves has been handpicked by the prime minister, he said.

She was the prime ministers own choice. The prime minister earlier this week said that he shared Katherine Deves values in endorsing her.

Pressed on whether he was calling on the Liberal Party to disendorse Deves, Albanese said: Its a matter for the Liberal Party, but if I was Scott Morrison I wouldnt have preselected her in the first place.
Lydia and Liliana, your story of your full lives made me laugh and cry [April 2]. Like you, my parents were born in Zara [now Zadar] in Croatia, in 1925 and 1930. Both as a child and adult, when asked, Where are your parents from? Ive always said, Its a long story. Italian, Yugoslav, Croatian, Dalmatian  Ive used them all. Our dad used to tell us stories of being an extra on Ben-Hur! Hes not here now to tell us about his memories of those years as a refugee in Rome, so thank you, ladies, for sharing yours.

Paula Wales

Research, Vic

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It was very moving to read about Liliana and Lydias beautiful sisterly bond. I had a lonely childhood as an only child and was adamant I wanted at least two children when I married. I was blessed with two girls who are now teenagers  and can only hope they grow up to be as close and loving as Liliana and Lydia are.

Name withheld

Kellyville, NSW

Kitchen Sink Drama

Live on the edge, says Paul Connolly [April 2]. So I collected up the dirty clothes from around the house and put everything into the washing machine unsorted  no laundry bags, T-shirts not turned inside out. I put the machine on a cold wash and went to have a cup of tea. Did I feel more alive? No. Did my adrenalin surge? No. However, when the washing came out like washing normally does and no one noticed, I realised I had saved half an hour in which to live on the edge.

Carolyn Worth

Brighton East, Vic
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size It was pouring with rain in Varberg in Sweden on September 11, 2018. When I stepped into the doctors office in the hospitals neurology department, I felt like a soldier heading into battle. Collected and scared at the same time. As ready as a person can be for possibly having their world turned upside down. After I started to notice my body behaving oddly, I went to the doctor. I underwent some very unpleasant tests that summer. One involved sticking a needle through my tongue; another receiving hundreds of increasingly powerful electric shocks on various parts of my body. I felt more and more convinced it was something serious. Id googled my symptoms. I knew what the worst-case scenario was, and something in the pit of my stomach told me it was time to prepare myself for it. After a matter-of-fact presentation of my test results, it was as if the doctor took a moment to steel herself, then she told me what shed hoped she wouldnt have to: Bjorn, all signs point to ALS. Three little letters. ALS. The nightmare scenario. The disease the tabloids have nicknamed the Devils disease. The disease that makes your muscles wither away until your body no longer has the strength to draw breath. Modern medicine has no cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, so it calls it incurable. I told the doctor that Id read on Wikipedia that you usually have three to five years to live from the time of diagnosis. In your case, I believe its more like one to five years, she replied. On a personal level, the news hit me full force. Despair and shock ripped through my innards. At the same time, another part of me remained calm, facing this new reality with gentle, open eyes. Without resistance. I still have that part of me to lean on  the part of me thats always awake and never fights reality. The doctor was good at her job and emotionally intelligent. She talked to me kindly and sensitively as I sat there thunderstruck. I tried to hold it together as best I could, since I wanted to record everything she was telling me on my phone, so as not to miss some important piece of information. She ran through what was going to happen next and then I left her office. My body was shaking with grief when I called my friend Navid. My beloved [wife] Elisabeth and I had agreed not to talk about the diagnosis on the phone, but, rather, to wait until I got home. So Navid kept me company through the soulless, endless hospital corridors, out into the pouring rain and into my car. Once behind the wheel, I felt I could handle the rest of the journey on my own, so we hung up.

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The grief was crashing over me like waves. When I merged on to the motorway, volcanic eruptions of sadness racked my body again. I was overcome with unbearable thoughts like, I thought I was going to grow old with Elisabeth. Id so been looking forward to having step-grandchildren and seeing them grow up. I thought I was going to grow old with Elisabeth. Id so been looking forward to having step-grandchildren. So I called another friend, Lasse Gustavson. Lasse is like a beacon of goodness in my life. Even on the stormiest seas, by the sharpest, most dangerous rocks, I can turn to him and find the light. And the light is always signalling the same thing in the most convincing way: Everything is as it should be. Always. The universe makes no mistakes. Lasse held my heart until I was seven or eight minutes from home and calm enough to get by unaided. I felt cried out for the moment. Emptied. The storm had passed and my body felt relaxed, my chest open. I wasnt thinking about anything, just resting in serenity, experiencing absolute mindfulness. Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad  pictured here in South Africa  spent 17 years as a Buddhist monk. Credit:JP Meyer Just as I was about to get off the motorway, something rose up inside me. A wise, intuitive voice spoke to me, bubbling up from the same place it had several times before in my life: Now that my last breath seems to be coming much sooner than Id hoped, I can calmly take stock and say Ive done nothing unforgivable, nothing I deeply regret or havent been able to put right. Ill be able to greet death with an open face knowing Ive lived a good life. The feeling was immensely powerful and beautiful, almost joyful. And whats more, it was a confirmation: Ive always known its important to be decent and true.

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When I stepped into the hallway, I didnt have to say anything. Elisabeth knew, just from looking at me, that our worst fears had been realised. We fell into each others arms and cried and cried. And it went on like that for a few days. Usually, we cried in shifts: it was as if our grief knew when the other had the capacity to hold and support. On the third morning, I woke up early as usual and noted that my chest felt lighter. At around 6am, a friend called, so I tiptoed into the laundry room and sat down on the tiled floor to talk, so as not to wake Elisabeth. After a while, she stuck her head in. I looked up. She smiled her soft velvety smile and mouthed a silent Good morning. We held each others gaze for a long time. I noticed the light was finally back in her eyes. Hallelujah. No storm lasts forever. This too shall pass. I eventually found a relatively open way of relating to the news of my sickness. Its hard to say if it was based on acceptance or denial. Maybe it doesnt matter. Elisabeth and I managed to adopt an attitude that felt sustainable. Neither of us was willing to completely accept the doctors bleak predictions as the only possible outcome. We wanted to leave the door open for a miracle. I might be dead before the end of the year, or we might have another 20 wonderful years together. The author on a speaking tour in 2019. Credit:Anna Nordgren Even though my psyche and my soul are still in good shape, its obviously sad to feel my body gradually give up. Having ALS is a bit like being forced to live with a thief: first, theres the deeply unsettling moment the thief moves in. The equivalent to this in the world of ALS are the lumbar punctures, electromyography and neurography. Imagine a remarkably large needle, and a lot of smaller needles, in sensationally unpleasant places  often in conjunction with electric shocks and tests that last an unreasonably long time. You start noticing that things youve always had in your home have gone missing. The thief seems to have taken them. One day its your ability to do a single abdominal crunch or push-up that vanishes. Another, your ability to run, swim, paddle, cycle, throw, hold or lift. You have to get used to asking for help to cut your nails, tie your laces, unlock doors, make a sandwich, buy petrol, open bottles, peel bananas, squeeze toothpaste out of the tube. And a thousand other things. Slowly but surely, you realise the thief wont be happy until hes taken everything from you. And that you  according to the best knowledge of the medical profession  cant do a thing about it. Thankfully, theres someone else in the house, too. My Elisabeth. And she happens to be a modern equivalent of a medieval knight in shining armour, who rides up alongside me in the heat of battle. She opens her visor, flashes her biggest smile at me and says: Dont be afraid. Im here by your side all the way. Then you just know that however things turn out, itll be okay.

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Sometimes I think of the body as a kind of spacesuit weve all been poured into. I was given this particular one. When Buddhists meditate, they mainly focus on being in their bodies, but theres a clear distinction: we are not bodies, we have bodies. The Buddha went so far as to say once, Through this fathom-long body, I have sensed what was never born and never dies. The inherent nature of the body is to become sick from time to time, to age  if youre lucky  and one day to die. At some point during my Buddhist training, I internalised a fairly realistic view of what can be asked of a human body. Sometimes I think of the body as a kind of spacesuit weve all been poured into. I was given this particular one. Mine wasnt as top-notch as some other peoples, so it seems to have worn out a bit faster. Thats not something I can control. Without knowing it, my life as a monk in many ways prepared me for death. The Buddha emphatically stressed the value of remembering that were all going to die one day, and within the forest tradition we took this very literally. We were exposed daily to the realisation that a human life is impermanent and will one day end. The author became a sought-after speaker when he rejoined secular life in 2008. Credit: Our monastery was located in a cremation grove, which meant it hosted all local funeral services. At first, the mood at these funerals surprised me. They were so relaxed, people mingled, laughed and drank a lot of fizzy drinks. The only time I saw someone openly crying was when the deceased was a child. In the afternoon, the relatives of the dead would push a wooden cart bearing the coffin from the village, singing all the way. The coffin was placed on a pyre and the body inside it rotated so that it lay on its side. That was important because, if overlooked, the upper body of the deceased sometimes rose out of the coffin when the wood caught fire. Im told it has something to do with the tendons.

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Sometimes I chose to spend all night next to the fire and the body burning in it, meditating on the impermanence of life and the inevitability of death. These meditations always calmed something restless inside me. They soothed something anxious. I softened, opened up and sort of cooled off inside, in the most pleasant sense of that phrase. It was as though my body recognised the truth when it saw it. And an uncomfortable truth does us good, so long as we stop turning away from it. When I was younger, I spent a lot of time worrying about various aspects of my physical appearance. But today we have a very different relationship, my body and I. It feels more like an old friend. Weve stuck together through thick and thin for a long time now and I feel a lot of gratitude. I want to honour my body: Thank you, body, for doing your best, all the time, every day. Youre fighting an uphill battle now. I see you. I promise never to be angry with you again when yet another movement becomes impossible for you. I promise to listen more and better to you than I ever have before. I solemnly swear that when you cant go on any longer, well do what you want. When that time comes, Im going to do everything I can just to surrender and be grateful. To rest in trust and acceptance. To take joy from the amazing life weve had, and to whisper to you with a steady and undaunted voice, Thy will be done, not mine. This is an edited extract from I May Be Wrong and Other Wisdoms from Life as a Forest Monk (Bloomsbury, $30), by Swede Bjorn Natthiko Lindeblad, who spent 17 years as a Buddhist monk. He died on January 17. To read more from Good Weekend magazine, visit our page at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Brisbane Times.
Ned ONeill did it hard after he returned to Australia from his time on the First World War battlefields of Gallipoli, Egypt and the Western Front of France and Belgium.

Ned ONeill made a name for himself.

Hed achieved a name for himself, promoted from corporal to warrant officer first class and awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous gallantry and leadership.

But back in Australia, in Melbourne and around Gippsland, like a lot of other returned men, he battled to make a go of the peace and to put bread on the table for his family.

He came back to a country struggling with the Spanish Flu pandemic, a broken economy and a severe shortage of jobs. His mother had died while he was away, and soon after his return his stepfather died, too. He at least had his health. Warrant Officer ONeill, who served with the 28th Australian Army Service Corps (5th Division Train) overseeing the transport of essential goods and equipment to the front, had managed to survive the war physically uninjured, though well never know about the psychological scars.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Every day in Victoria ambulances are ramped outside hospitals as seriously ill people are treated inside on stretchers in overcrowded emergency departments. There are not enough beds to admit all the states unwell and on any given day 2000 exhausted hospital workers across the state are furloughed due to coronavirus. At least a dozen Victorians, including children, have died waiting for ambulances and senior doctors and nurses say overcrowding in Victorias emergency departments is the worst it has been in years, leading to waiting times of more than 12 hours. This week, six health experts, from a former chief medical officer to an emergency doctor, shared their view of what governments can do to fix the struggling healthcare system. Stephen Duckett: Clear bed blockages Former secretary of the department of health Professor Stephen Duckett says Victoria is experiencing what he calls a care deficit. Problems like ambulance ramping and overcrowded EDs predate COVID-19, but people who delayed care during the pandemic has meant a flood of very sick patients in the emergency departments. Record demand has been met with an inadequate number of hospital beds. Former secretary of the department of health Professor Stephen Duckett says Victoria is experiencing what he calls a care deficit. Credit:Jeremy Piper The blockage has been at the exit of the hospital and it has been for years, Duckett says. A big part of the problem is there is not adequate residential aged care and the disability system is in disarray. People are in the hospital for way too long and they cant get discharged because there is nowhere for them to go.

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Federal government failure to provide enough residential aged and disability care places means the aged and disabled are staying for weeks or months in hospitals as they wait to be assessed for a residential care bed. If you dont need acute care you should be in residential care not in a hospital bed, he said. The state needs to be working with the Commonwealth to get this fixed and they need to be putting pressure on the Commonwealth. Asked about staffing shortages, Duckett says it is outrageous that Australia relies so heavily on overseas workers to fill gaps, particularly for areas like aged care. It seems to me there is no reason why Victoria isnt self-sufficient in terms of all aspects of the health workforce, he says. More needs to be done to entice people into the profession in Australia, including better pay, conditions and training for nurses and those working in aged care and disability sectors. There also has to be more incentives for doctors and nurses to work in rural areas over cities. Improvements are also needed to make aged care more affordable and a safe place where elderly Australians can live out their final years. Clare Skinner: Redesign the system Too often, politicians unveil new health programs before an election that compete with existing programs, while neglecting areas of need, says Australian College of Emergency Medicine federal president Clare Skinner.

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We dont actually have a health system. Weve got a series of health services which attempt to work together, but we dont have governance or funding mechanisms to integrate them. Australian College of Emergency Medicine federal president Clare Skinner wants a new commission to overhaul Australias healthcare. Skinner, an emergency physician, wants the next federal health minister to establish a national health commission to bring together federal, state and territory leaders, local governments, doctors and nurses to redesign the system from the ground up. Hospitals, aged care, disability care and multidisciplinary services, including those for people with chronic disease, would all be part of it. Data collection on the workforce and the use of diagnostic tests were also required to show the parts of the system that are working and those that are not. The trouble here is theres no easy solution to this. The solutions are long-term, and theyre complicated, Skinner says. But we should decide as a population what we want out of our health system and how were going to allocate our resources and not just leave that to chance.

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Omar Khorshid: Equalise funding Australian Medical Association federal president Omar Khorshid says decades of underinvestment in hospitals means the system has not kept up with demand  a shortfall that has to be addressed at some point. Were saying that point is now, Khorshid says. AMA president Omar Khorshid wants the federal government to tip in $20 billion over four years into hospitals. Credit:Peter de Kruijff More hospitals are needed in suburbs where the populations are booming or ageing, while many hospitals are crying out for more beds and resources. Khorshid says closed beds could be reopened if the right equipment and staff were installed. The federal government needed to raise its contribution to hospitals from 45 to 50 per cent of total funding and abolish a 6.5 per cent growth cap on hospital funding, which would feed in an extra $20 billion over four years. That might sound like a hefty price tag, but its comparable to other election commitments, and according to Khordshid its money well spent.

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This is an investment in a healthy community. If we can keep people well, they can go back to work, pay taxes, stay off welfare or disability support. Theres a lot of economic benefits of keeping the population healthy. Thats one of the lessons of the pandemic. Extra funding should be offered to health services that can prove they are performing well on patient outcomes to avoid a race to the bottom, he says. More incentives are needed to recruit nurses and GPs, particularly in primary care. The employment conditions and entitlements doctors access in hospitals should be extended to GP clinics to encourage junior doctors to work in community settings. John Mathews: Higher pay in aged care Former deputy chief medical officer for the federal government, John Mathews, says there are no easy solutions but a reflex response from governments to deny there is a problem does not help. The system needs crucial health data which he suspects would be the key. Such a lack of transparency is often justified on grounds of patient or client privacy, Mathews says. But such an attitude can prevent important research. Mathews says more needs to be done to entice people to choose a career in the aged and disability sector, such as increasing salaries to reflect the crucial work they do and providing adequate training.

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Passover carries a message of hope for a better future, reflecting on the devastating slavery Jews were subjected to for 210 years in Egypt, hoping and praying every day that a new dawn would arise  and it did. This gives us hope that a better tomorrow is possible, he said. Rabbi Yaakov Glasman of the St Kilda Hebrew Congregation. Credit:Eddie Jim For seven or eight days, Jews will eat unleavened bread, called Matzoh, to symbolise how the Israelites didnt have enough time to wait for it to rise. A descendent of Holocaust survivors, Glasman said the community must be grateful and appreciative that we live in a country which not only tolerates religious freedom but encourages it. Notwithstanding all the negative experiences we have endured, we can still practise our faith and manifest it meaningfully in our synagogues and our homes, he said.

Loading He said he was hoping for a peaceful year in which all Australians can participate peacefully in our vibrant democracy, reflecting the diverse plethora of values which form our views and make us all who we are. With the federal election campaign under way, its fitting Hare Krishna Reverend Albert Lange (Bhakta Dasa) and his community celebrated Sri Rama Navami Festival on Sunday. We are praying that those people who are searching for political power are also spiritually minded and concerned for the general public, irrespective of their faith and belief. This was exemplified by the 1000-year-old story of Lord Rama, he said. Theyve been praying for their devotees in Ukraine as well as sending Food for Life support.

We are all brothers and sisters in God, and we start looking after one another. That we have an appreciation for the things we have and give thanks for the things we have. Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, arrives at St Patricks Cathedral for last years Easter Sunday Mass. Credit:Luis Ascui Archbishop Peter Comensoli of the Catholic Archdiocese Melbourne, explained that on Good Friday Mary Magdalene, wrapped in grief and shock, went to the body of Jesus in the depths of night. What she encountered there was the dawn of the risen Jesus  a light that broke into her darkened life. As Mary reached the darkened tomb, she saw the emerging dawn, and she believed, he said. The light of dawn also emerges for us, as the dark of night gives way to a new day. In the dawning light of the risen Jesus we, too, recognise a world reborn. He has patiently and lovingly waited for our eyes to see and our hearts to reach out to him. May we emerge from our own shadows, step forward, and hasten to the dawn of his resurrection and our re-creation.

Imam Mohamed Mohideen said Muslims were in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, one of the five pillars of Islam, in which Muslims fast during the day. He said Ramadan was a time for reflection, a time for charity and to pray for peace and for those less fortunate. A family eat at the table during the iftar, the meal after sunset during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Credit:ROBINUTRECHT To look at various aspects of our lives, also self-discipline and trying to understand how best we can be better people at the end of the day, he said. He said it gave Muslims a moment to set aside to think about how best they could support the community. He said they prayed for refugees in various wars, whether in Ukraine, Middle East, Palestine, Myanmar and the Rohingya, Burmese and the Uighur community.
In 2018, Melbourne-based Turkish Cypriot Yalcn Adal, 53, and Brisbane-based Greek Cypriot Stavros Tziortzis, 37, walked 400 kilometres, from one end of Cyprus to the other, to send a message, 40 years after the war that divided the island, that its people can live in harmony again.

Stavros Tziortzis (left) and Yalcn Adal. Every day we walked for about 10 hours, each carrying an olive branch like a baton. I for him in the north, him for me in the south. Credit:Koray Adal

Yalcin: My family migrated from [the Cyprus capital of] Nicosia to Box Hill, Melbourne, in 1973, as the tensions in Cyprus were heating up. Over the years, I took part in many activities with the Greek-Cypriot community intended to help bridge the post-war divide.

At an event in 2003, I was partnered with Stavros. He was 20 and reminded me of myself at that age. Growing up, Id been told stories about the war, but they were propaganda. Like me, he wanted to know the truth. He was reserved, cautious even, happy to listen to my point of view before speaking himself. Once he realised we were on the same wavelength, he started to talk about his love of nature, swimming off Cypruss beautiful beaches and hiking in its mountains. We had a lot in common.

I empathised with his frustration that, despite the border opening between Cypruss north and south in 2003, he was still unable to visit his fathers village, Vasileia, because it was now a Turkish army base. Worse, his ancestral home was now the Turkish commanders office.
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size Chocolate maker Deniz Karaca pushes his hand into a large sack of cocoa beans, making a gentle rattling sound as the dry brown husks clink inside the jute. This 60-kilogram bag, shipped from cocoa farmers in Tanzania, is one of 100 or so stacked in his small warehouse factory in Carrum Downs, on Melbournes south-eastern industrial fringe. A few steps away, a heated barrel tumble-roasts cocoa beans, four kilograms at a time. Another machine winnows the roasted beans, making huffing and clanking sounds, and a trio of barrel-shaped stone grinders slowly mashes and squishes the husked cocoa nibs to create the smooth, molten brown liquid that will eventually become chocolate, a portion of the one tonne each month that is produced in Cuvee, Karacas artisan bean-to-bar operation. Were in the lead-up to Easter, the busiest time of year for anyone who manufactures chocolate, and a team of six is busy cranking out bar chocolates to send to restaurants for their desserts, plus chocolate eggs destined for boutique retail channels. One day, an employee calls in sick and Karacas urgent task becomes ribbon tying. Im getting better at bows, he says. Australians eat an average of 5.1 kilograms of chocolate a year, much of it in the form of chocolate eggs and bunnies at Easter, with the period accounting for about one-eighth of the nations $1.9 billion annual spend on chocolate. Its a jolly picture: even the rabbits look happy as their heads are snapped off and eaten. Australians eat an average of 5.1 kilograms of chocolate a year, much of it in the form of chocolate eggs and bunnies at Easter. Credit:Peter Tarasiuk But behind the foil-wrapped seasonal merriment and the squealing delight from egg hunts is an industry with a dark side. Cocoa farming is deeply implicated in forced and child labour. It is subject to climate-change impacts that threaten production. Farms impinge on protected forests. And the huge corporations that dominate the world chocolate market know this, have failed to eliminate it, and continue to rake in the profits. The cocoa supply chain is very, very broken, says Karaca. The more you find out about it, the more surreal it becomes. You cant believe its happening. Is it really true that children get stolen from their home country, transported to another country, and made to work for free? Yes. And why? So we can enjoy chocolate, a luxury product; something you dont need to eat at all. All the big companies know about it. Their answer is, What are we going to do? Stop buying cocoa? 

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Karaca, 38, has been working with chocolate since an apprenticeship at 16 in his native Germany. Chocolate is fascinating, he says. Its simple but also so complicated, and it gives you endless opportunities. Chocolate has taken Karaca around the world: hes worked on luxury cruise ships, taught chocolate arts in India, Singapore and Japan, and has led some of Australias busiest and most demanding pastry kitchens, including Epicure, where he was executive pastry chef. Karaca has also won a slew of industry awards, including Patissier of the Year and Australian Chocolate Master. He placed third in the World Chocolate Masters in 2013, the highest ranking ever achieved by an Australian. Chocolate maker Deniz Karaca at the Cuvee chocolate warehouse factory in Melbournes south-east. Credit:Peter Tarasiuk You might expect pastry chefs to be jolly, rotund, sugar-rushing, flour-dusted types, but in my experience they tend to be more like Karaca, lean, tight figures, as precise as the measurements they must follow to bring their creations into being. Chocolate is so versatile, he says. You can make giant sculptures, a souffle, brownie, a layered tart. You can get lost in it. Ive done it for so long, its become part of me. At the pinnacle of a career obsessed with chocolate, it dawned on Karaca that he was disconnected from its origins. In the kitchens I worked in, cooking was about local ingredients, getting in touch with farmers, talking about where food came from, he says. I took that in but never really applied it to myself. I was always highlighting chocolate; I was in love with it, but Id never seen the raw ingredient. Like the vast majority of chocolatiers, pastry chefs and chocolate-makers, Karaca didnt make chocolate from scratch: he was a melter, starting with chocolate buttons in bags. When he started Cuvee as a side hustle in 2014, he bought cocoa liquor or cocoa mass, interchangeable terms for ground cocoa nibs, the refined basis for most chocolate creations. I did that for a year or so, he says. The more you get involved with chocolate, not just eating it, not just working with it, but processing it, you start questioning: where does it come from, who is making it? He went on a farm tour to Ghana with premium brand Callebaut. I noticed there are lots of things they dont show you, he says. I realised there was a lot missing.

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Three-quarters of the worlds cocoa beans come from the West African countries of Ivory Coast and Ghana. Ivory Coast farms about 40 per cent of the worlds supply on about one million farms, most of them tiny family operations of one to three hectares. Ghana supplies a further 35 per cent from an estimated 800,000 farms, again most of them smallholdings. The price of cocoa beans is tied to the futures markets in London and New York, and farmers are usually at the mercy of middlemen, who are squeezed in turn by those further up the supply chain: the huge manufacturers such as Barry Callebaut, Cargill, Olam, Kraft, Nestle and Mars. The industry is growing at 5 per cent a year and is expected to be worth more than $US180 billion by 2025. Meanwhile, the average African cocoa farmer earns less than $US1.20 a day, not quite half the amount considered a living income. Many live without electricity or running water, without phone or internet, disconnected from the markets that impinge on them. A study found there were 1.6 million child labourers on West African cocoa farms. Poverty in Africa means many families enlist children to help. Light after-school and holiday tasks are one thing. Hacking into cacao pods with machetes, spraying fertiliser, carrying heavy loads and missing school to do it all is another. In both Ghana and Ivory Coast, governments, industry bodies and commercial players denounce such hazardous work. But that isnt the same as purging it from their supply chains. A 2020 US study found there were 1.6 million child labourers (defined as children under 12 working, or children aged between 12 to 18 engaged in hazardous work, such as chopping or fertilising) on West African cocoa farms. In agricultural households, 37 per cent of children in Ivory Coast and 51 per cent in Ghana were found to be engaged in hazardous child labour, an increase of 14 per cent in 10 years. Things are getting worse, not better. Ivory Coast is also known as a site of child slavery, typically involving children from Mali and Burkina Faso, even poorer countries to the north. Boys aged around 12 to 15 are stolen, tricked or trafficked over the southern border and forced to work on farms. They dont speak local languages, dont know where they are, sleep in shacks, are not paid and arent free to leave, even if they did know where to go.

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Danish documentarian Miki Mistrati is committed to exposing this situation. He has made three films about the cocoa industry in West Africa, including newly released documentary The Chocolate War, which tracks a US court case brought by human rights lawyer Terry Collingsworth. The plaintiffs are eight young Malian men who say they were trafficked to Ivory Coast as children and made to work on cocoa farms. They seek compensation from Nestle, Cargill, Barry Callebaut and other chocolate companies, asserting that the US entities are responsible for child slavery in their supply chains and that they facilitate and abet a system that contributes to human rights abuses. The businesses havent argued the facts of the case, but deny they are responsible. The case is pending. The big chocolate companies are signatories to a 2001 pledge called the Harkin-Engel Protocol, in which they promised to eliminate the worst forms of child labour from cocoa supply chains by 2005. The deadline has been extended four times. The most recent promise is that reliance on child labour will be reduced by 70 per cent by 2025. The biggest change between 2008 [when I made my first film, The Dark Side of Chocolate] and now is that the companies didnt admit there was a problem then, says Mistrati. Now they recognise theres a problem, but they dont do enough to eradicate it. Small-scale farmers supply Tanzanian trader Kokoa Kamili with cocoa beans directly, enabling them to be paid more for less work. Credit: He was last in Ivory Coast in November 2019 and in Ghana in January 2022. Its exactly the same, he says. If anything, the pandemic has made it worse. Modern slavery is something I know for sure is happening as we speak and I have a life mission to stop it. He adds pesticide use is routine. You see kids carrying school backpacks, but theyre not full of books, they are full of poison and they are spraying the cocoa trees. You see a lot of deforestation and trees dying. Its devastating. Every major chocolate manufacturer gestures towards their good works. Nestle, for example, has built schools and offered cash incentives to farmers for sending their children to school. Child labour is unacceptable and heartbreaking, a Nestle spokesperson tells me. Unfortunately, in many countries children still do work that affects their development and prevents them from attending school. Unfortunately, no company sourcing cocoa from these two countries [Ghana and Ivory Coast] can guarantee that it has completely removed the risk of child labour from its supply chain. The company plans to invest $1.9 billion in the child labour program between now and 2030. Nestles operating profit for 2021 was around $24 billion. Ive long been partial to a Lindt gold bunny at Easter, so I looked into the sourcing practices of parent company Lindt & Sprungli. A spokesperson from the Swiss headquarters tells me: Lindt & Sprungli strongly condemns all forms of child labour and we believe child labour issues can be resolved by addressing their root causes. With our sustainability program for cocoa beans  the Lindt & Sprungli Farming Program  we aim to improve the livelihoods of cocoa-farming households and their communities and thereby reduce the risk of child labour. The Farming Program sounds great when you read about it on its home page, but keep clicking and the warm fuzzies evaporate. Benchmarks are monitored by partner group Earthworm Foundation, whose most recent report in 2020 notes that while the program engages with 66,144 farmers in Ghana, the Earthworm team visited just three individual cocoa farms. Farming in protected forests is also a big issue; the report notes 3536 of its registered farmers were located in protected areas. A transition plan has been developed.

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Multibillion-dollar corporations are willing to close their eyes to all these issues, says Deniz Karaca. They set up something to tell their customers and put on their websites. Its an alibi. They could pay people properly for their beans but thats not as economical. They could pay people properly for their beans but thats not as economical. The Fairtrade movement pays a premium for the beans it buys and an additional grant to communities, then it on-sells the beans to manufacturers who have been certified to use the Fairtrade stamp. Brands come and go from the program. There are a lot of fine-sounding ethical labels out there  Cadburys Cocoa Life, Rainforest Alliance, for example  but not all labels are equal, says Molly Harriss Olson, CEO of Fairtrade ANZ. Cadbury used to be Fairtrade-certified in Australia, then they worked out it would be cheaper to do less and create their own standard. They are getting the advantage of an ethical label without being audited or independently certified. Cadbury is owned by Mondelez. A 2021 report from the companys Cocoa Life program states, We have made progress, but more systemic change needs to happen to improve the lives of the 4.5 million cocoa farmers globally. In 2019, 10 per cent of Ivory Coast cocoa-farming families working with Cocoa Life achieved a living income. I feel bad about my Lindt bunnies. Karaca felt bad about his chocolate, too. I didnt do the right thing, he says. It was too hard, too expensive, too much bother. I feel guilty for that. But I got to a point that if I wanted to keep making chocolate, I wanted to do the right thing. The idea that the people growing the beans were living in poverty so we can have a luxury product that they never even get to try, that just didnt sit right. I had to do things differently. A year after starting Cuvee, Karaca decided to change the way he did things: The idea that the people growing the beans were living in poverty so we can have a luxury product that they never even get to try, that just didnt sit right. Credit:Peter Tarasiuk The only way to be sure  or surer  that cocoa farmers are paid well is to source beans directly or through trusted dealers. The Australian commodity price for cocoa beans has fluctuated between $3.09 and $3.50 per kilogram over the past year. The cheapest we buy cocoa beans at is $9 a kilo, says Karaca. I can go tomorrow and buy $6 a kilo finished chocolate from Callebaut. I would say it about anything  chicken, chocolate or shoes  if it seems too cheap, it is too cheap. Theres something wrong somewhere along the way.

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Loading Following a near-fatal accident that claimed his right arm and eye in 1983, at the age of 33, Newton turned his attention to commentating, developing junior talent and designing golf courses. He was also lauded for his charitable work, raising money for diabetes and setting up the Jack Newton Junior Golf Foundation in 1986 to introduce youngsters to the game. In 2007 he was awarded an OAM for services to golf. PGA Australia chair Rodger Davis - who played alongside Newton - described the Australian golf great as a man that touched the lives of many.

When he had the accident, the thing I noticed was the amount of people he knew around the world that donated. Everyone loved him, Davis told the Herald. Im not saying its the same as Shane Warne, but he was so well liked. Not just golfers. Newton and Tom Watson hold aloft the Claret Jug at the 1975 British Open. Credit:AP He was a very good rugby player for Epping. He most likely could have played for Australia, I reckon. My brother was a pretty good rugby player as well, and he rated Newton above most of them. Davis said Newton had done more for the game of golf in Australian than any former player.

Off the course, he did more than he did on the course. As a player, he was the best. You have coaches and guys like that do more, but what he did for diabetes and junior golf, was amazing. He was great. His offsider Judy did a great job, too. And the backbone was Jackie, his wife. As a player, Davis described Newton as a tough player that never relinquished a strong start to a tournament. He was tough. Whenever he got anywhere near the lead, that was it, he said. He either ran first, second or third. He was one of the toughest if he had a good first round score.

Golf NSW chief executive Stuart Fraser lauded the work Newton did with his foundation. For the past 36 years hes shaped thousands of kids not only into the players they are, but the people they are, Fraser said. Both Jack and Jackie were just very genuine people and after Jacks accident, he just totally devoted his time to juniors. Hes just a person that genuinely cares. He wanted to see them not only play well, but be better people. He was really big on getting kids involved, getting them out of their comfort zone and building better people. A very genuine, likeable person that had absolute devotion to golf in NSW.

Loading Fellow former Australian pro Ian Baker-Finch recalled the day he heard of Newtons accident, and the impact the news had on the tour. I remember when he had the terrible accident in 1983. I was on the Sunshine Tour in North Queensland with Jeff Woodland. We heard the news on the radio, and we pulled the car over and cried for an hour and told Jack Newton stories, Baker-Finch told SEN. Everyone knew him as a great player, a great competitor and one that finished second in a couple of majors. He could have easily won those majors, too. He was a great character, great family man, and a huge supporter of the Newcastle Knights and everything that went on up there. A big part of Australian golf.
After 45 days of war, its the first day that a funky Kyiv cafe has reopened and Im there with a man whose job it is to save lives. Paul Niland, the founder of Lifeline Ukraine, sits with me; Im back in a city I often came to before the war. I want to mark the fact that most of my friends and family have survived the siege of their city. I want to hug them and hear them. Paul among them.

My coffee companion describes the rule of one. Its what his suicide-prevention hotline is founded on. Australians were there at Lifeline Ukraine in its early days and its one of the connections between this ancient and now scarred place and the country I call home.

The wreckage of an apartment building in Borodyanka, near Kyiv, where as many as 200 people had been feared dead. Credit:AP

Our focus is on the needs of each person who calls, no matter their circumstances or background or state of mind, says Niland, an Irish expat with more than 20 years in Ukraine. Its about non-judgment. For our hotline counsellors, its about being fully engaged with that one person in that one moment to save one life.

As air raid sirens went off, bombs fell, and suburbs were levelled by Russian military occupiers, calls to Lifeline Ukraine had increased by 40 per cent since the start of the war. Service, though, was never interrupted as Niland and his team switched to remote locations, such as bomb shelters, and to having some calls answered by allied services in Estonia and Poland and Israel.
Loading The move was taken in view of the unprecedented hostile action by the British government, in particular the imposition of sanctions against senior Russian officials, the ministry said in a statement, adding that it would expand the list soon. Explosions were heard in the early hours of Saturday in Ukraines capital, Kyiv, and the western city of Lviv. Air raid sirens were going off over most of Ukraine early on Saturday. Kyiv was rocked by some of the most powerful explosions in two weeks on Friday. Ukraine has claimed responsibility for striking the ship and a senior US defence official said on Saturday (AEST) it was indeed hit by at least one Ukrainian missile.

Earlier more than 900 civilian bodies were discovered in the region surrounding Kyiv  most of them fatally shot, police said, in an indication that many people were simply executed. The jarring numbers emerged shortly after Russias Defence Ministry promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to what it called Ukraines aggression on Russian territory. Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday. The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyivs regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95 per cent died from gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the [Russian] occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said. More bodies were being found every day, under rubble and in mass graves, he added. The largest number of victims were found in Bucha, where there were more than 350, he said. Olga Kosyanchuk, 63, left, stands next to the coffin of her husband Anatoliy Kosyanchuk, 56, who was captured by Russian soldiers on March 29, and found dead with heavy head injuries in Bucha. Credit:AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha gathered and buried bodies while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views. In Kyiv, a renewed bombardment could mean a return to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of the invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations. Tentative signs of pre-war life have resurfaced in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes.

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports could not be independently verified. The cruiser Moskva in port Sevastopol in Crimea on April 7, 2022. Credit:Maxar via AP However, Ukrainian officials said their forces did strike a key Russian warship with missiles. And after more than a day of the Pentagon saying it could not confirm the claim, a senior US defence official said it now believes the Moskva was hit on Wednesday by at least one, and probably two, missiles, creating the large fire aboard. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment. The guided-missile cruiser Moskva, named for the Russian capital, then sank while being towed to port on Thursday after suffering heavy damage. Though Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, the loss of the ship represents an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia. The Moskva had the capacity to carry 16 long-range cruise missiles. The last time a warship as large as the Moskva sank in combat was 1982. A British submarine torpedoed an Argentinian navy cruiser called the ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War, killing over 300 sailors.

The sinking of the Russian warship reduces Russias firepower in the Black Sea, although military analysts disagreed on the events significance to the course of the war. Either way, the loss was viewed as emblematic of Moscows fortunes in a seven-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following the retreat from the Kyiv region and much of northern Ukraine. Loading A flagship Russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war, Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov boasted on Twitter. Zelensky has made a direct appeal to President Joe Biden for the US to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, one of the most powerful and far-reaching sanctions in the US arsenal. Russia has sent a series of warnings to the Biden administration, including a formal diplomatic protest this week, demanding that it halt shipment of advanced weapons to Ukraine that could strike into Russian territory, or risk unspecified unpredictable consequences, The New York Times reported.

The final hours before Passover found the chief rabbi for Kyiv and Ukraine, Moshe Reuven Azman, in a cemetery. Before he could mark the Jewish peoples escape from slavery in Egypt thousands of years ago, he was burying a man who didnt escape a Russian bullet. Credit:AP Russias warning of renewed airstrikes did not stop Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly warmer spring day as the weekend approached. More people than usual were out on the streets on Friday, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and strolling hand in hand. In one central park, a small group of people including a woman draped in a Ukrainian flag danced to the music of a portable speaker. News about the Moskva overshadowed Russian claims of advances in Mariupol which has been blockaded by Moscows forces since the early days of the invasion. Dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders have held out against a siege that has come at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians. A building damaged during fighting in Mariupol. Credit:AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov

Mariupols mayor said this week that more than 10,000 civilians had died and the death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities against civilians like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv. The Mariupol City Council said locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies that were buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials of people killed by them. Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, the council said on the Telegram messaging app. Zelensky said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting with the countrys military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies. The details cannot be made public now, but we are doing everything we can to save our people, Zelensky said.
London: British authorities have authorised a coronavirus vaccine for adults made by French drugmaker Valneva, despite the governments decision last year to cancel an order for at least 100 million doses.

The UK is the first country to authorise the vaccine, which is also under review by the European Medicines Agency. Britains medicines regulator said on Thursday the two-dose vaccine was intended for adults aged 18 to 50, with the second dose given about a month after the first. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said the shot met safety, quality and effectiveness standards.

A technician works at the Valneva lab in Austria. Credit:Bloomberg

The Valneva vaccine is made with the decades-old technology used to manufacture shots for flu and polio. It is the sixth COVID-19 vaccine the UK has cleared and the only one that utilises a killed virus  scientists grow the coronavirus in a lab and then inactivate it so it cannot replicate or infect cells.

The British government scrapped an agreement with Valneva in September to purchase at least 100 million doses, saying at the time that regulators probably would not clear the shot. Valneva said Britain cancelled the deal because of supply concerns.
TANAKA Develops Gold Shell Nanoparticles That Can Be Prepared in High Concentrations Using High Dispersion Stability

TOKYO, Mar 24, 2022  (ACN Newswire)  TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director & CEO: Koichiro Tanaka), which operates the TANAKA Precious Metals manufacturing business, announced today that TANAKA has developed gold shell nanoparticles[1] that can be prepared in high concentrations using high dispersion stability.

This product is designed to cover the particle surface  such as that of silica  with an extremely thin gold shell that has a thickness of approximately 10 nm. It exhibits strong surface plasmon resonance[2]. Additionally, by using the high dispersion stability in water and polar solvents, it is possible to prepare dispersion liquids with high concentrations that are 100 to 1,000 times that of gold nanoparticles currently being sold on the market.

The overall size of gold shell nanoparticles can be controlled within a range of 80 nm to 250 nm, allowing them to be given a wide variety of optical characteristics. This is especially true for colloids with particle diameters several hundred nm prepared in high concentrations. They are easier to integrate or structure three-dimensionally, such as into colloid crystals, and can be expected to be applied to various optical materials.

Features of this product

 Gold nanoshell with a thickness of 10 nm

The surface plasmon resonance exhibited by gold shell nanoparticles becomes more efficient in absorbing incident light, the thinner the shell. Compared to existing products on the market, this product achieves an extremely thin shell thickness of less than 10 nm. This allows the energy of incident light to be absorbed efficiently and also contributes toward dispersion stability as the relative mass of the overall particles becomes lighter.

 Stable dispersion in water and organic solvents

Normally, gold nanoparticles with diameters of several hundred nm tend to autoagglutinate and precipitate as the particle concentration increases. This product can be dispersed stably in water and polar organic solvents, such as alcohol, as the particle surface is appropriately protected by a protective agent. Particles protected by the protective agent can be prepared with a weight ratio of 20% or higher, allowing use in processes that require highly-concentrated particle dispersion liquids. In addition, gold nanoshell dispersion liquids dispersed in organic solvents have excellent quick-drying properties and can also be coated on materials of various shapes.

 Can produce SERS substrate by simply drying highly-concentrated gold nanoshell dispersion liquid

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS)[3] exhibited by precious metal nanoparticles is particularly strong at the gaps between particles when precious metal nanoparticles are integrated. The locations where SERS is strongly manifested are called hotspots; being able to form hotspots with good reproducibility is important when producing SERS substrate. Traditionally, precious metal substrates with minute irregularities on the surface are used, but there were issues, such as low reproducibility.

This time, TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo has designed gold shell nanoparticles with surface plasmon resonance close to the wavelength of SERS excitation light, confirming that it is possible to produce SERS substrates with dense hotspots by simply drying highly-concentrated dispersion liquids.

Due to the aforementioned characteristics, this product can be expected to be used as an optical material that responds to light from visible to near-infrared regions, including colloid crystals, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, and photothermal conversion materials. Applications to optical devices are also expected, including optical displays and optical sensing that require high resolutions using liquid crystals, plasmonic nanoantennas, and biosensors, such as those used in cancer tests.

TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo plans to sequentially respond individually to requests for samples of this product.

[1] Gold shell nanoparticle: This is a particle that forms a gold shell with a thickness in the order of nanometers on the surface of a core particle, which can be a colloid of inorganic materials, metals, or polymers. Various optical responses, different from pure gold nanoparticles, are exhibited depending on the shell thickness, core size, and core material.

[2] Surface plasmon resonance: This is a phenomenon where the vibrations of free electrons in metals on the surface of metal nanoparticles resonate with incident light. The brilliant colors shown by gold shell nanoparticles are due to this phenomenon.

[3] Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS): When light is shone on a material, a wavelength different from the incident light is scattered by the material. This scattered light with a wavelength different from the incident light is called Raman scattered light, and every material exhibits its own unique Raman scattering spectrum. Therefore, it is possible to obtain information about the types of materials present by measuring the Raman scattering spectrum. However, to detect minute amounts of materials, it is necessary to enhance the Raman scattered light.

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is a phenomenon where the intensity of Raman scattered light is amplified when materials are absorbed at locations such as irregularities on surfaces of precious metals and in the gaps of precious metal colloids. As it is possible to detect even fewer molecules by designing precious metal surfaces that are suitable for enhancing Raman scattering, applications in fields such as drug detection and cancer diagnosis can be expected.

About TANAKA Precious Metals

Since its foundation in 1885, TANAKA Precious Metals has built a portfolio of products to support a diversified range of business uses focused on precious metals. TANAKA is a leader in Japan regarding the volumes of precious metals handled. Over the course of many years, TANAKA has not only manufactured and sold precious metal products for industry but also provided precious metals in such forms as jewelry and assets. As precious metals specialists, all Group companies in Japan and around the world collaborate and cooperate on manufacturing, sales, and technology development to offer a range of products and services. With 5,193 employees, the group\-s consolidated net sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, was 1,425.6 billion yen.

Global industrial business website

https://tanaka-preciousmetals.com

Product inquiries

TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K.

https://tanaka-preciousmetals.com/en/inquiries-on-industrial-products/

Press inquiries

TANAKA Holdings Co., Ltd.
TANAKA Memorial Foundation Announces Recipients of FY2021 Precious Metals Research Grants

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.
10ZiG Technology Adds New UK & Ireland Distributor for Their Thin Client and Zero Client Solutions for VDI, DaaS and SaaS

LEICESTER, UK a 10ZiG Technology are pleased to announce that they have entered into a distribution agreement with UX Distribution (UXD). With immediate effect, UXD are an active 10ZiG Accredited Distributor for their full range of Thin Client and Zero Client solutions for VDI, DaaS and SaaS in the UK & Ireland market.

UXD is a fast-growing digital workplace focused distributor with a wealth of knowledge around End User Computer (EUC), DaaS and SaaS marketplace and are perfectly positioned to onboard and support specialist reseller partners and MSPs who focus in this area. Their specialist digital workplace knowledge and years of industry experience will significantly help support and reinforce the 10ZiG message aWe offer customer driven solutions, making our devices fit your customera?s environment and not the other way round.a

Andy Gonzalez, UK & Ireland Channel Manager a aWith UX Distribution, we have an excellent partner who can help 10ZiG reach new resellers and markets. As one of the top focused cloud and digital workplace distributors in the UK, UX Distribution will bring additional benefits to our customers and partners, and I am looking forward to working with them.a

Partners in the UK & Ireland can discuss their Thin & Zero Client endpoint requirements with Paul Hathorn, UK Sales and Partner Manager of UXD and their team of sales and technical experts.

aWe are delighted to bring a leading vendor like 10ZiG into our portfolio which underpins why we are the leading cloud and digital workplace distributor. With the 10ZiG range of Thin & Zero Client hardware and software solutions, our partners can go one step further in providing their clients a total solutiona, said Hathorn.
RTO of LTKM Berhad via the Acquisition of EMS Business for RM336 Million

KLANG, Malaysia, Apr 8, 2022  (ACN Newswire)  LTKM Berhad (LTKM), a leading chicken egg producer, today announced a composite proposal, chiefly to divest the Company\-s existing business and venture into the business of providing of electronic manufacturing services (EMS) while at the same time, rectify its non-compliance with the public spread requirement of its shares under the listing requirements of Bursa Securities Malaysia Berhad.

Executive Chairman of LTKM, Datuk Tan Kok said, \At its core, the proposals seek to reward our shareholders from the proceeds of the disposal of the Company\-s existing poultry business while at the same time, allow them to continue participating in the new EMS business following the proposals.\

\The proposed disposal comes amid the challenging operating landscape for the poultry industry brought on by overcapacity, low average selling price of eggs, high raw material prices, difficulty in controlling disease outbreaks in the farms and acute labour shortage. In relation to these challenges, we have also incurred losses in the recent financial years ended 31 March 2020 to 2021 and for the nine-month period ended 31 December 2021. This has affected our ability to pay dividends too.\

\Concurrent with the proposed disposals, we believe the proposed acquisition of the EMS business is an opportunity to create value for our shareholders through a business that is viable and profitable.\

Briefly, the proposals comprise the following inter-conditional steps:

1. Proposed disposal of LTKM\-s existing business to Ladang Ternakan Kelang Sdn Bhd (LTKSB) for a total cash disposal consideration of RM158.83 million. LTKSB, which holds 71.6% of the equity interest in LTKM, is also the holding company of LTKM;

2. Proposed special dividend and capital repayment of RM1.1098 per LTKM share totalling RM158.83 million on an entitlement date to be determined;

3. Proposed consolidation of two existing LTKM shares into one LTKM share following the proposed special dividend and capital repayment;

4. Proposed acquisition by LTKM, of 100.0% equity interest in Local Assembly Sdn Bhd (Local Assembly) from Chai Voon Sun, Gurmakh Singh a/l Ajmer Singh, Wee Thian Song, Divine Inventions Sdn Bhd and Proven Venture Sdn Bhd (Vendors) for RM336.00 million to be satisfied through cash of RM100.00 million and the issuance of 393,333,333 new LTKM shares at an issue price of RM0.60 each;

5. Proposed restricted issue of 230.00 million new LTKM shares at an indicative issue price of RM0.60 each, representing 33.1% of the enlarged share capital of LTKM after the proposals to investors to be identified;

6. Proposed exemption to the vendors and persons acting in concert from the obligation to undertake a mandatory take-over offer to acquire the remaining LTKM shares not already owned by them upon completion of the proposed acquisition; and

7. Proposed change of name to \LA Technology Berhad\ from \LTKM Berhad\.

The proposed acquisition will result in a significant change in LTKM\-s business direction from a producer of chicken eggs to becoming an EMS provider. Local Assembly, an EMS provider, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of LTKM while the vendors of Local Assembly will become LTKM\-s controlling shareholders with a 56.6% equity interest in the Company following the proposed acquisition and proposed restricted issue. By virtue of his shareholding in Divine Inventions, Datuk Seri Chiau Beng Teik, the Executive Chairman of Chin Hin Group Berhad, will become a major shareholder of LTKM.

Under the proposed acquisition, the vendors have provided a profit guarantee for Local Assembly of a minimum profit after tax (PAT) of RM28.00 million for the financial year ending 31 December 2022 or not less than an aggregate of RM50.00 million PAT for both financial years ending 31 December 2022 and 2023. Based on the guaranteed PAT of RM28.00 million for the financial year ending 31 December 2022, the purchase consideration represents a price to earnings multiple of 12 times.

For Chai Voon Sun, co-founder and Managing Director of Local Assembly, the listing of Local Assembly via LTKM means a realisation of 2 decades of hardwork for him and his co-founders and a step forward in the company\-s journey of growth and expansion. \This transaction is a major milestone for Local Assembly. We look forward to the next phase of our corporate journey as a listed entity, which will further accelerate our growth as an EMS player, allow us to expand our customer base and product offerings and pursue more opportunities\ he adds.

Local Assembly, which started operations in 2000, is a manufacturer of electronic, electrical and plastic injection moulded components, and sub-contract assembler of electrical appliances and equipment. Its principal markets are Malaysia and Singapore. For the financial year ended 31 December 2022, Local Assembly achieved PAT of RM20.06 million on the back of a revenue of RM116.35 million.

The application for the proposals is expected to be submitted to the relevant authorities by the second quarter of 2022. Subject to approvals from relevant parties including Securities Commission, Bursa Securities Malaysia Berhad as well as shareholders of LTKM, the proposals are expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.

M & A Securities Sdn Bhd is Adviser to LTKM for the proposals.

LTKM Berhad: https://www.ltkm.com.my/

LTKM Berhad: 7085 / [BURSA: LTKM] [RIC: LTKM:KL] [BBG: LTKM:MK]
Fury Announces CAD$11,000,000 Private Placement

Fury Gold Mines Limited (TSX: FURY) (NYSE American: FURY) (aFurya or the aCompanya  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/fury-gold-mines-ltd/ ) announces that it has entered into subscription agreements with two placees who include a Canadian corporate investor and a US institutional investor for a private placement sale of 13.75 million common shares of the Company at a price of $0.80 for proceeds of CAD$11.0 million (the aPrivate Placementa).

Proceeds from the Private Placement will be used to fund continued exploration at the Companya?s Eau Claire project in Quebec and for general working capital.

All Common Shares issued are subject to a hold period expiring four months from the closing date of the Private Placement in accordance with applicable securities laws. Closing of the Private Placement is subject to approval from the Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE American and is anticipated to occur within approximately three business days of this announcement.

The Common Shares have not and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the aU.S. Securities Acta), and will not be offered or sold in the United States other than pursuant to available exemptions from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act. Any securities sold to investors in the United States will be arestricted securitiesa and subject to restrictions on resale under the U.S. Securities Act. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities.A

About Fury Gold Mines Limited

Fury Gold Mines Limited is a Canadian-focused exploration company positioned in two prolific mining regions across the country. Led by a management team and board of directors with proven success in financing and advancing exploration assets, Fury intends to grow its multi-million-ounce gold platform through rigorous project evaluation and exploration excellence. Fury is committed to upholding the highest industry standards for corporate governance, environmental stewardship, community engagement and sustainable mining. For more information on Fury Gold Mines, visit www.furygoldmines.com.

For further information on Fury Gold Mines Limited, please contact:

Margaux Villalpando

Tel: (778) 729-0600

Email: info@furygoldmines.com

Website: www.furygoldmines.com

Forward-Looking Statements and Additional Cautionary Language

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be \forward-looking information\ or \forward-looking statements\ within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws (\forward-looking statements\), which relate to the completion of the Placement, the future operations of the Company and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements in this release reflect management\-s current estimates, expectations or beliefs regarding future events and so have inherent uncertainty and risk. Specific forward-looking statements contained in this release includes information relating to completion of the Placement.

Readers should refer to the risks discussed in the Companya?s Base Shelf Prospectus and subsequent continuous disclosure filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators available at www.sedar.com and with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and available at www.sec.gov. Readers should not place heavy reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.
UKCloud acquisition approved by UK Government

London a 13 April 2022 a UKCloud, the multi-cloud experts dedicated to digital transformation across the UK public sector, has now received approval for its acquisition by Hadston 2 under the National Security and Investment Act. The forensic scrutiny applied to the transaction is essential for maintaining the UKa?s national security, and is especially important for UK-based leaders in strategic sectors like UKCloud. The confirmation of this approval by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy means the substantial new investment can now be finalised, solidifying UKClouda?s role as a financially robust, innovative and market-leading technology company based in the United Kingdom.

The approval clears the way for completion of the previously announced acquisition by Hadston 2 Limited, an investment vehicle led by well-known entrepreneur and UKCloud Chairman, Jeff Thomas, and backed by existing institutional investors including BGF and Digital Alpha. This significant investment will allow UKCloud to begin executing its strategic plan, while redoubling its commitment to the UKa?s technology sector.

Approval of the new investment will pave the way for the expansion of UKClouda?s product portfolio, including significant enhancements in its platform and services, and investment in its people over the coming months. In particular, the company will concentrate on deepening its key strategic relationships, which will enhance its focus on sovereign cloud services, and will secure closer, exciting partnerships with world-leading tech companies. This will also support UKClouda?s ongoing commitment to provide sustainable high skill, high wage jobs to the benefit of the UKa?s economy, society and environment.

Simon Hansford, CEO, UKCloud commented:

aUKCloud has an exciting and vibrant future, embracing a new strategic direction, engaging collaboratively with globally recognised technology companies to deliver first-class client solutions to our UK customers. UKCloud will be making significant investments in its platform, services and people over the coming months following the approval of funding under the National Security & Investment Act.\
Aztec  Kootenay JV Reports Additional Strong Drill Results from California Zone at Cervantes Project in Sonora, Mexico; Intersects 0.87 gpT Au over 152.4 m Including 2.05 gpT Au over 33.5m

br />Exceptional gold results in Hole CAL22-012

Initial gold results from 8 additional drill holes still pending

Aztec Minerals Corp. (AZT: TSX-V, OTCQB: AZZTF) announces that it continues to intersect broad well mineralized gold mineralization from the 2022 RC drill program at the California target on the Cervantes property located in Sonora, Mexico. Results for hole CAL22-012 returned 152.4 metres grading 0.87 gpT Au including 33.5 metres grading 2.05 gpT Au.

California Zone Drill Highlights

43 gpT Au over 132.2 m in mineralized quartz feldspar porphyry and hydrothermal breccias in CAL22-011, including 12.2 metres of 1.29 gpT Au located at the northern edge of the central portion of the mineralized zone

87 gpT Au over 152.4 m in mineralized porphyries and hydrothermal breccias in CAL22-012 including 33.5 metres of 2.05 gpT Au located at the northern edge of the central portion of the mineralized zone

48 gpT Au over 54.9 m in mineralized porphyries and hydrothermal breccias in CAL22-014, located at the northern edge of the eastern portion of the mineralized zone

The primary focus of the Phase 2 RC drill program at Cervantes is to expand the previously drilled California zone by completing two drill hole fences parallel to and on either side of the 2017-18 Phase 1 drill hole fence. To-date, every hole drilled at California has intersected near surface, oxidized gold mineralization with minor copper oxides.

View drill section here:

Link to section view hole CAL22-011

Link to section view hole CAL22-012

Link to section view hole CAL22-013

Link to section view hole CAL22-014

Reported lengths are apparent widths, not true widths, and the observed gold mineralization appears to be widely distributed in disseminations, fractures and veinlets within quartz-feldspar porphyry, feldspar porphyry stocks and related hydrothermal breccias.

Aztec CEO, Simon Dyakowski commented, a?These intersections continue to expand the oxide gold mineralized zone at California. This discovery further advances the California gold zone in demonstrating the open pit heap leach gold potential of the project. The Cervantes 2021-2022 RC drill program continues to return strong gold grades over broad widths in every drill hole reported to date.a

California 2022 RC Drill Program Plan Map

Holes CAL22-011, 012 and 014 intersected extensive gold mineralization, see table below, extending the known mineralized zone at depth and to the north. The RC Phase 2 drilling program has been completed. It covers an area now measuring approximately 900 metres long by 250 to 500 metres wide, with demonstrated, continuous mineralization up to 265 metres depth vertically. The porphyry gold-copper mineralization is still open in all directions.

The Aztec-Kootenay JV has now completed its Phase 2 Reverse circulation (RC) program of 26 holes, totaling 4,649 metres at the Cervantes Property. Drilling commenced in December 2021. The planned drill testing of the four main targets of the Cervantes phase 2 drilling program is now complete. The primary objectives of the 2021 a? 2022 phase 2 exploration program was to better define the open pit, heap leach gold potential of the porphyry oxide cap at California, evaluate the potential for deeper copper-gold porphyry sulfide mineralization underlying the oxide cap, test for north and west extensions of the California mineralization at California North and Jasper, and assess the breccia potential of Purisima East.

Drill samples cuttings are collected every 5 feet (1.52m) from all drill holes. The samples are analyzed by Bureau Veritas for gold with a 30-gram sample size using the method FA430 followed by MA300. Over limits, when present, are analyzed by AR404 or FA550. All holes contain certified blanks, standards, and duplicates as part of the quality control program. The QA/QC has delivered excellent results to date good data integrity. The samples are shipped to and received by Bureau Veritas Minerals laboratory for the gold and multielement geochemical analysis and additional gold results will be received and reported in the next several weeks.A? Final multielement ICP results are expected to follow the release of the preliminary gold assays and are expected to be received during the second quarter 2022.

Aztec has recently completed drill hole collar surveying, field work for Drone Photogrammetry survey to create a detailed ortho-topographic base map, and Terraspec readings on the RC drill chips. Aztec will now carry out channel sampling and geologic mapping of the new drill roads at California, California Norte and Jasper, as well as to expand surface sampling and mapping on the property in general to continue the 2021 phase 1 surface program.

Cervantes Property Highlights

Cervantes is a highly prospective porphyry gold-copper property located in southeastern Sonora state, Mexico. The project lies 160 km east of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico within the prolific Laramide porphyry copper belt approximately 265 km southeast of the Cananea porphyry copper-molybdenum mine (Grupo Mexico).A? Cervantes also lies along an east-west trending gold belt 60 km west of the Mulatos epithermal gold mine (Alamos Gold), 35 km northeast of the Osisko Development San Antonio gold mine, 45 km west of the La India mine (Agnico Eagle), and 40 km northwest of Santana gold deposit (Minera Alamos). A?A?View: Cervantes Project Location Map

Large well-located property (3,649 hectares) with good infrastructure, road access, local town, all private land, water wells on property, grid power nearby

Seven prospective mineralized zones related to high level porphyries and breccias along an 7.0km east-northeast corridor with multiple intersecting northwest structures

Distinct geophysical anomalies, California target marked by high magnetic and low resistivity anomalies, high radiometric and chargeability anomalies responding to pervasive alteration

Extensive gold mineralization at California zone, 118 soil samples average 0.44 gpt gold over 900 m by 600 m area, trench rock-channel samples up to 0.47 gpt gold over 222m

Already drilled the first discovery hole at the California zone, intersected gold oxide cap to a classic gold-copper porphyry deposit, drill results up to 0.77 gpt gold over 160 m

Excellent gold recoveries from preliminary metallurgical tests on drill core from California zone; oxide gold recoveries in bottle roll tests range from 75% to 87%

California geophysical anomaly wide open laterally and at depth, IP chargeability strengthens and broadens to >500m depth over an area 1100 m by 1200 m

Three-Dimensional IP Survey conducted in 2019 extends strong chargeability anomalies to the southwest covering Estrella, Purisima East, and Purisima West, coinciding well with alteration and Au-Cu-Mo soil geochemical anomalies, all undrilled.

Marketing Service Agreement

Aztec announces that on April 7th it had entered into a services agreement (the \Agreement\) with Lakefront Enterprises Inc. (\Lakefront\), an arm\-s-length party to the Company and a digital and mobile marketing firm, to provide marketing services focused on the North American markets. Lakefront will provide the Company with content creation, distribution, and advertising services in North America. The term of the Agreement commences on or around April 14th (\Term\), and will run for an approximate 12 month period. In consideration for the services provided, the Company has agreed to pay Lakefront a fee of CAD$80,000.

Allen David Heyl, B.Sc., CPG., VP Exploration of Aztec, is the Qualified Person supervising the Cervantes exploration program. Aztec is conducting reverse circulation drilling at Cervantes and collecting 5 feet (1.52m) samples for all drill holes. All drill hole sample batches contain certified blanks, standards, and duplicates as part of the quality control program. Mr. Heyl reviewed and approved the technical disclosures in this news release.

a?Simon Dyakowskia

Simon Dyakowski, Chief Executive Officer

Aztec Minerals Corp.

About Aztec Minerals a? Aztec is a mineral exploration company focused on the discovery of large polymetallic mineral deposits in the Americas. Our core asset is the prospective Cervantes porphyry gold-copper property in Sonora, Mexico. Aztec also has control of the historic, district-scale Tombstone properties host both bulk tonnage epithermal gold-silver as well as CRD silver-lead-zinc mineralization in Cochise County, Arizona. Aztecas shares trade on the TSX-V stock exchange (symbol AZT) and on the OTCQB (symbol AZZTF).

Contact Information  For more information, please contact:

Simon Dyakowski, CEO or Bradford Cooke, Chairman

Tel: (604) 619-7469

Fax: (604) 685-9744

Email: simon@aztecminerals.com

Website: www.aztecminerals.com

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. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements under Canadian securities legislation.A? Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as a?expectsa or a?it is expecteda, or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results a?willa occur. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from results contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.A? Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.A? When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.
GoldMining Files Early Warning Report

GoldMining Inc. (the \Company\  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/goldmining-inc/ ) (TSX: GOLD; NYSE-American: GLDG) is issuing this press release under Section 3.1 of National Instrument 62-103 a? The Early Warning System and Related Take-Over Bid and Insider Reporting Requirements (\NI 62-103\) and pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 62-104 a? Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids with respect to the acquisition by the Company of common shares (the \GROY Shares\) of Gold Royalty Corp. (\GROY\).

On April 12, 2022, the Company acquired 250,000 GROY Shares at an average price of US$4.23 (C$5.33) per share through open market purchases over the facilities of the NYSE American. A?

Prior to the acquisition, the Company beneficially owned and exercised control and direction of 20,000,000 GROY Shares, representing approximately 14.9% of the outstanding GROY Shares. Immediately following the acquisition, the Company beneficially owned and exercised control and direction of 20,250,000 GROY Shares, representing 15.1% of the outstanding GROY Shares.

The GROY Shares were acquired by the Company for investment purposes, and in the future, the Company may acquire additional securities of GROY, dispose of some or all of the existing or additional securities the Company holds or will hold, or may continue to hold its current position, depending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or other relevant factors.

An early warning report (the \Report\) will be filed by the Company pursuant to NI 62-103 on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the profile of GROY. The Company\-s head office is located at 1030 West Georgia Street, Suite 1830, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6E 2Y3. To obtain a copy of the Report, please contact the Company as follows:

GoldMining Inc.

Attn: Pat Obara, Chief Financial Officer

1030 West Georgia Street, Suite 1830

Vancouver, BC V6E 2Y3

Tel: (855) 630-1001

About GoldMining Inc.

The Company is a public mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of gold assets in the Americas. Through its disciplined acquisition strategy, the Company now controls a diversified portfolio of resource-stage gold and gold-copper projects in Canada, U.S.A., Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

For additional information, please contact:

GoldMining Inc.

Amir Adnani, Chairman

Alastair Still, CEO

Telephone: (855) 630-1001

Email: info@goldmining.com
EnWave Hosts Showcase Event with Elea to Highlight the Synergies of PEF + REVa?? Technologies

EnWave Corporation (TSX-V:ENW | FSE:E4U) (a?EnWavea, or the \Company\  https://www.commodity-tv.com/ondemand/companies/profil/enwave-corp/ ) is partnering with Elea, the global leader in Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) technology, to host a showcase event on the synergizing of PEF and Radiant Energy Vacuum Dehydration (REVa??) for faster, higher quality, low energy drying for food applications.

The two-day showcase event is taking place April 21  22 at Eleaas R&D center in Quakenbruck, Germany where leaders in food innovation from around the world will meet to learn more about the applications and benefits of these two technologies paired together to make superior shelf-stable dried foods. The event will consist of presentations from PEF and REV process experts, followed by live demonstrations and one-to-one sessions in Eleaas pilot halls.

With over 200 installed systems, Elea is the worldas leading provider of PEF systems to the food and beverage industries. PEF works by gently puncturing the cell membrane of the organic material, whatever the size of cell, leading to enhanced product and process benefits. The PEF process is targeted, gentle, and clean. Using PEF facilitates faster, easier water removal, and softens the raw material being processed. The advantages of using PEF for dried products include greater yield, less product waste, and improved economics. Taste, smell, and colour in food products are all also enhanced through the use of PEF. Eleaas PEF process accelerates drying times and can allow for the processing of higher capacities. EnWave believes that using PEF as a pre-treatment to REV will allow its licensed partners to innovate products of the highest quality and taste while improving processing economics.A?

EnWave has placed a 10kW REV machine at Eleaas state-of-the-art pilot plant facility in Quakenbruck, Germany to showcase the material benefits of marrying the two technologies for the production of dried fruit, vegetable, meat, seafood, dairy and confectionary products. EnWave is leveraging this machine placement and the strategic collaboration with Elea to drive new business development and sales opportunities for REV drying equipment. Elea and EnWave have also appointed ScanStore A/S as a key European sales representative specializing in the advanced fruit and vegetable processing sector.

Media Inquiries: Attend the Showcase Event in Quakenbruck

We are looking forward to opening our doors at Elea in Germany to discover the potential of combining Eleaas Pulsed Electric Field technology and EnWaveas Radiant Energy Vacuum dehydration capabilities. Media contacts are welcome to attend on Thursday, April 21 to participate in live demonstrations, please contact Sabrina Niemeyer at s.niemeyer@elea-technology.com for further information and to confirm your attendance.

About Elea GmbH

Elea is the worldas leading provider of Pulsed Electric Field Systems (PEF) to the food, beverage & scientific sectors. Eleaporation, developed over many years, is rapidly transforming food and beverage manufacturing around the world.

PEF changes the physical structure of fresh produce resulting in significant increases in yield, freshness, flavour, and nutritional preservation a? plus savings in time and energy.

Eleaas staff work closely with clients to provide tailor-made solutions through a process that involves initial briefing and research, developing, building, testing, installation, and on-going maintenance of their approved PEF systems.

This close collaboration yields many exciting new opportunities, inventions, and technical advances which continually progresses our collective learning and development while increasing our industry-leading knowledge of PEF.

For more information on Elea, please visit elea-technology.com.

About EnWaveA?A?

EnWave is a global leader in the innovation and application of vacuum microwave dehydration. From its headquarters in Vancouver, BC, EnWave has developed a robust intellectual property portfolio, perfected its Radiant Energy Vacuum (REVa??) technology, and transformed an innovative idea into a proven, consistent, and scalable drying solution for the food, pharmaceutical and cannabis industries that vastly outperforms traditional drying methods in efficiency, capacity, product quality, and cost.

A?

With more than forty-five royalty-generating partners spanning twenty countries and five continents, EnWaveas licensed partners are creating profitable, never-before-seen snacks and ingredients, improving the quality and consistency of their existing offerings, running leaner and getting to market faster with the companyas patented technology, licensed machinery, and expert guidance.A?

In addition, EnWave established a Limited Liability Corporation, NutraDried Food Company, LLC, to manufacture, market and sell REV-dried snack products within North America, including the popular Moon CheeseA? brand, and serve as a co-manufacturer for third parties.A?

EnWaveas strategy is to sign royalty-bearing commercial licenses with food and cannabis producers who want to dry better, faster and more economical than freeze drying, rack drying and air drying, and enjoy the following benefits:A?

Food and ingredients companies can produce exciting new products, reach optimal moisture levels up to seven times faster, and improve product taste, texture, color and nutritional value.

Cannabis producers can dry four to six times faster, retain 20% more terpenes and 25% more cannabinoids, and achieve at least a 3-log reduction in crop-destroying microbes.

Learn more at EnWave.net.A?

EnWave Corporation

Mr. Brent Charleton, CFA

President and CEO

For further information:

Brent Charleton, CFA, President and CEO at +1 (778) 378-9616

E-mail: bcharleton@enwave.net

Dan Henriques, CFO at +1 (604) 835-5212

E-mail: dhenriques@enwave.net

Safe Harbour for Forward-Looking Information Statements: This press release may contain forward-looking information based on management\-s expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the Company\-s strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures, and the expected synergies following the closing are forward-looking statements. All third-party claims referred to in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate. All third-party references to market information in this release are not guaranteed to be accurate as the Company did not conduct the original primary research. These statements are not a guarantee of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be 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 statements.A?

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.A?
Uranium is booming

It looks like the uranium market will return to its old strength in 2022. If you think back to 2006, the price of uranium rose to around US$138 per pound, from US$20 previously. Even today, triple-digit uranium prices are already being discussed. Today we are at just under 57 US dollars. Much of the uranium comes from Kazakhstan, but there was unrest there earlier this year and it is uncertain what the future holds there.

Apart from Germany, nuclear energy is in demand worldwide; it is being planned and built, especially in Asia. Because this is the only way to effectively reduce emissions. The sanctions against Russia have caused the price of uranium to explode. After all, there is a threat of supply shortfalls on the part of Russia. Russia recently announced that it is considering a ban on uranium deliveries to the USA in response to the energy sanctions. It is not only the U.S. that has realized that dependence on foreign uranium supplies is not so beneficial. About half of the nuclear power plants in the U.S. are fueled by uranium that comes from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The uranium company in the USA that owns the most projects capable of producing in the short term is Uranium Energy. With two operational production platforms and seven licensed ISR uranium projects, Uranium Energy  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg4tVigWYt4&t=207s  is well positioned. The development on the uranium market can be seen well, for example, in the company\-s share price; as with the uranium price, it is going strongly upwards. Uranium companies that will soon be ready for production and are located in excellent uranium areas, such as Consolidated Uranium  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pykE9CRrrCc&t=5s , are of interest to investors. This company owns a number of permitted and previously producing mines in Utah and Colorado, in addition to uranium projects in Australia, Argentina, Canada.

Latest corporate information and press releases from Consolidated Uranium (https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/unternehmen/consolidated-uranium-inc/) and Uranium Energy (https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/unternehmen/uranium-energy-corp/).

In accordance with A?34 of the German Securities Trading Act (WpHG), I would like to point out that partners, authors and employees may hold shares in the respective companies addressed and that there is therefore a possible conflict of interest. No guarantee for the translation into German. Only the English version of this news is valid.

Disclaimer: The information provided does not constitute any form of recommendation or advice. Express reference is made to the risks involved in securities trading. No liability can be accepted for any damages arising from the use of this blog. I would like to point out that shares and especially warrant investments are generally associated with risk. The total loss of the invested capital cannot be excluded. All information and sources are carefully researched. However, no guarantee is given for the correctness of all contents. Despite the greatest care, I expressly reserve the right to make a mistake, especially with regard to figures and prices. The information contained is taken from sources that are considered reliable, but in no way claim to be correct or complete. Due to judicial decisions the contents of linked external pages are to be answered for (so among other things regional court Hamburg, in the judgement of 12.05.1998  312 O 85/98), as long as no explicit dissociation from these takes place. Despite careful control of the contents, I do not assume any liability for the contents of linked external pages. The respective operators are exclusively responsible for their content. TheA?disclaimer of Swiss Resource Capital AGA?applies additionally: https://www.resource-capital.ch/de/disclaimer-agb/.
Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media

Frontier Communications on Thursday notified some unionized members that it plans to eliminate 79 positions, the president of Local 1298 of the Communications Workers of America said.

The telecommunications company is looking to reduce its workforce via buyout packages, with the terms of the severance deals varying based on seniority, according to David Weidlich, president of the Hamden-based union local. Weidlich said the most senior workers being offered the severance packages could receive up to a years salary in return for taking the buyout.
Dr. Nish Pandya, a pediatric resident at Yale New Haven Health, remembers the 10-year-old boy who came to the emergency room five times with breathing difficulties.

His breathing improved when he received the necessary medication and treatment, Pandya said Thursday. He started to feel better. The look of fear started to come off of his face.

Pandya asked the boys mother what type of medications he was taking at home.

She bowed her head and said, We dont have medications. We dont have insurance. We are undocumented, Pandya recalled. This patient had been cared for in the emergency room five times in the past year. His asthma was not managed properly because his family could not afford the medication he needed to be able to breathe comfortably. His family was not able to access care or to afford health insurance.

Pandya is one of hundreds of doctors and other health care providers across the state urging the legislature and Gov. Ned Lamont to expand Medicaid, known as HUSKY in Connecticut, to the undocumented community.

Legislators passed a law last year opening the Medicaid program to children 8 and younger, regardless of immigration status, beginning Jan. 1, 2023. The children must come from households earning up to 201 percent of the federal poverty level (for a family of four this year, thats $55,778). Kids ages 8 and younger from households earning between 201 percent and 325 percent of the federal poverty level also qualify but are subject to an asset test.

Earlier this year, lawmakers tried unsuccessfully to advance a bill that would have expanded the eligibility to children 18 and younger regardless of immigration status. The measure died in the Human Services Committee.

But this month, a version of the plan was revived and tied to a new state budget proposal. The Appropriations Committee recommended opening the program to children 12 and younger. Once enrolled, those children would remain eligible for Medicaid coverage until age 19.

Children older than 12 who seek enrollment would not be covered.

While the General Assembly weighs the latest proposal, more than 400 doctors, physician assistants, nurses and other health care providers signed a letter urging legislative leaders and Lamont to expand Medicaid to all low-income residents, regardless of immigration status.

We recognize expanding access to the undocumented immigrant population who have been excluded will be a long-term process, they wrote in the letter. This session we urge the Connecticut state legislature  to expand Medicaid to children 8 to 18 years of age.

As health care providers, we recognize our responsibility to care for all patients, regardless of race, income or immigration status. Unfortunately, our state laws do not reflect that same commitment. While the uninsured rate in Connecticut is roughly 5.9 percent, an estimated 52 percent of undocumented immigrants in our state are uninsured.

The letter was accepted by Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, who himself is a physician, Thursday morning in front of the state Capitol. Several doctors gathered there to share stories about treating undocumented residents and the need to expand health coverage.

Dr. Heidi Zapata knows firsthand the challenges of seeking health care as an undocumented resident in the United States. She did not gain citizenship until the age of 12.

I remember my family paying out of pocket for medicines, pediatrician visits and hospital stays, she said. I remember my mother saving up for the birth of my youngest sister and praying that she wouldnt have complications, because we couldnt afford it. That kind of stress shouldnt be happening.

In her role as an infectious diseases physician with the Yale School of Medicine, Zapata continues to see the toll that not having health insurance takes on many people. Some delay going to the hospital because theyre unable to cover medical bills. By the time they decide to go, they present with infections that are uncontrolled, she said.

Some uninsured patients have been pushing it to the limit, she added, while others were too late in seeking care.

Dr. Molly Markowitz, a pediatric hospitalist with the Yale School of Medicine and pediatrician at the Fair Haven Community Health Center in New Haven, said kids who dont have health insurance are less likely to see a doctor and less likely to have a usual course of health care. They are more likely to postpone care or go without.

I know that the way children live today will impact their life for years to come, she said. We are currently in the midst of a child mental health crisis. Yet for many undocumented children in Connecticut without insurance  who have already faced significant trauma  these serious health problems may only come to medical attention when its too late.

Dr. Jemma Benson worked in an intensive care unit during the pandemic and treated several ill uninsured patients who were more worried about how they would pay a hospital bill than the illness itself.

These delays in care are not limited to COVID. Ive cared for undocumented patients who came to the hospital with advanced presentations of illnesses because they could not obtain preventive care or earlier treatment due to a lack of health insurance, said Benson, an internal medicine physician at Yale New Haven Health.

Legislative leaders hope to send a budget package before the full House and Senate for consideration before the regular 2022 session closes on May 4.

Expanding access to health care, particularly for children, has been a priority for majority Democrats in the legislature, and COVID-19 has exacerbated the need, said Sen. Cathy Osten, a co-chair of the Appropriations Committee.

Lawmakers have recommended spending $400,000 in the next fiscal year to expand HUSKY to kids 12 and younger (beyond the current plan for kids 8 and younger). Thats roughly 1/500th of 1 percent of all general fund spending proposed for 2022-23.

Analysts project that opening enrollment to children ages 12 and younger would add 1,020 kids to the program next fiscal year and 2,750 by 2024.

Some advocates say the expansion, while a step in the right direction, should go farther.

Its a modest start, said Jay Sicklick, deputy director of the Center for Childrens Advocacy. But its not nearly as expansive and effective as it could be. I think the opportunity presents itself right now, given the states position, given the pandemic, to insure all children up to age 19.

Anwar, a pulmonologist at Manchester Memorial Hospital, called on his colleagues to do more.

If the moral argument doesnt shake you, the financial argument is very strong as well, he said. The cost of health care goes up if children do not get health care for prevention and early identification and management.

Osten said lawmakers hope to keep expanding eligibility in the coming years.

The goal is to have all children covered, she said. To me, the legal status of a child should not matter if were treating them for a broken leg or cancer, and thats what this is about.
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Easing fears after a mass shooting earlier this week on a subway car in Brooklyn, N.Y., Gov. Ned Lamont said Connecticut is as ready as we can be should something similar unfold on public transit in the state.

Speaking at a news conference in Guilford on Wednesday morning, Lamont, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and state Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti assuaged concerns over the states preparedness, pointing in particular to the network of cameras on the states train cars and station platforms.

With all the electronics there, all the monitoring, the cameras, you will be caught, and you will pay a price. Thats for sure, Lamont said of Connecticuts public transportation systems.

The comments were in response to questions regarding the safety of Connecticuts public transportation, particularly the Metro-North trains that go into New York.

On Tuesday, a shooter set off a smoke bomb and opened fire on a crowded N subway train around 8:30 a.m. near a stop in Sunset Park, according to the Associated Press. Ten people were shot, and at least another 20 were injured in the mayhem or by smoke inhalation in the rush-hour attack. Four remained hospitalized Thursday, and all the victims were expected to recover.

But residents across the region were left in fear of their safety, especially on public transportation systems.

Frank James, 62, was arrested in Manhattan on Wednesday after calling a police tip line to share his location, according to the AP. He was held without bail on a federal charge of terrorist attacks or other violence against a mass transportation system.

Giulietti assured the public, without getting into specifics, that Connecticuts public transit is closely monitored. The DOT has a direct relationship with the state police, should any criminal activity occur, he said.

When the incident happened in New York, for the first time I didnt get my first call from transportation. It came in from the state police because the governor has us tied into the state police network who are the responders within the state to help support all of our safety measures, Giulietti said.

I put in that every one of our trains had to have cameras throughout the cars so that way there, we knew who was riding on the trains, he said.

Giulietti confirmed that every train car in the states system is equipped with multiple cameras, but he declined to go into detail on the cameras locations and frequency for safety purposes.

I dont want to talk about safety measures that are in there or where cameras are or anything else because a lot of that has to tie into you trusting that we are doing the right things in terms of security, he said.

While there are multiple cameras stationed throughout train cars and station platforms, the state extracts the footage only on an as-needed basis, Giulietti said.

Technological advancements continually take place, on the governors urging, as new advancements come along and costs decrease, Giulietti said.

The good thing is that technology gets cheaper every single year, and the other good thing is Ive got a governor whos really into technology, so he challenges us all the time with this, he said.

On a national level, discussions of whether to add safety measures found in airports to the rail lines comes up occasionally, Blumenthal said.

It is a national problem. We get intelligence reports about this stuff and our intelligence agencies, the FBI and all of our commerce departments, the TSA, feel our train stations are just more vulnerable, Blumenthal said.

Weve invested a lot of effort, money, time into airports, which now have proved a lot safer, he said. But rail stations have proved more vulnerable, not in Connecticut more than any other place in the country, but from time to time there are proposals of the same kind of detectors that we have in airports, the same kind of security investments.

Alongside the discussion of increased safety and screenings at train stations, Blumenthal said the issue comes back to gun control and the number of ghost guns popping up nationwide.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  Samantha Moala recalls she was taking a shower at her home in Tonga when she heard what sounded like a gunshot so powerful it hurt her ears.

As she and her family scrambled to their car to drive inland, ash blackened the sky. The world's biggest volcanic eruption in 30 years sent a tsunami around the globe, and the first waves washed across the road as Moala drove to safety at the airport with her terrified husband and two sons.

A volunteer with the Tonga Red Cross, Moala, 39, was soon attending to the cuts other people had suffered as they escaped, and giving them psychological support. She said about 50 of them stayed for two days at the airport until they got the all-clear to go back home.

People were all shocked, she said. But I got to mingle with them, help them, get them to be confident. It's a small little island, and we got to know each other in two hours.

Three months after the eruption, Tongas rebuilding is slowly progressing, and the impact of the disaster has come into clearer focus. Last week, the prime minister handed over the keys to the first rebuilt home of the 468 the government plans to reconstruct across three islands as part of its recovery program.

Some 3,000 people whose homes were destroyed or damaged initially sought shelter in community halls or evacuation centers. Eighty percent of Tonga's population was impacted in some way.

In the first few weeks after the eruption, Moala helped out by putting up tents and tarpaulins, and then by cooking food for other volunteers.

It took five long weeks for Tonga to restore its internet connection to the rest of the world after the tsunami severed a crucial fiber-optic cable. That delayed some families from abroad from being able to send financial help to their loved ones.

Three people in Tonga died from the tsunami and a fourth from what authorities described as related trauma. The sonic boom from the eruption was so loud it could be heard in Alaska and a mushroom plume of ash rocketed a record 58 kilometers (36 miles) into the sky.

The World Bank estimates the total bill for the damage is about $90 million. In the small island nation of 105,000 people, thats equivalent to more than 18% of gross domestic product.

The bank noted that many coastal tourism businesses  which bring in vital foreign revenue for Tonga  were particularly hard hit, with tourist cabins and wharves destroyed. The agriculture industry also suffered, with crops lost and reef fisheries damaged.

The ANZ bank says Tonga's GDP will likely contract by 7.4% this year, after it had been expected to grow by 3.7% before the volcano erupted.

The international community has been helping out, with Tonga able to secure $8 million in funding from the World Bank and $10 million from the Asian Development Bank, as well as aid assistance from many places including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the European Union, the U.S. and China.

But progress has been hampered by the nation's first outbreak of COVID-19, which was likely brought in by foreign military crews who raced to drop off supplies as the ash cleared. The outbreak prompted a series of lockdowns, and the country remains in a state of emergency.

Moala is among the more than 8,500 Tongans who have caught the coronavirus since it began spreading through the islands. Eleven people so far have died. Moala said the outbreak had affected many businesses, including her husband's work as a tattoo artist.

But as the outbreak ebbs and the rebuilding progresses, the islands' familiar rhythms are returning for many people.

Among those who remain most affected are the 62 people who lived on Mango Island and about another 100 on Atata Island who may never be able to return home.

The islands are located very close to the Hunga Tonga Hunga Haapai volcano, and the villages were completed wiped out. Residents have now been offered land by Tonga's king to relocate onto one of Tonga's two main islands.

Sione Taumoefolau, the secretary-general of the Tonga Red Cross Society, said there is a lot of work to be done relocating the residents.

It's also been slow-going getting supplies to people on other far-flung islands, he said. Many of them remain without internet access after a domestic fiber-optic cable was also damaged and will likely not be repaired for months.

Three months later, people are starting to get back to normal," Taumoefolau said. But we can see they still need psychological and social support, those that were really impacted, especially those who have to relocate.
Jose Luis Magana/AP

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP)  Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will be getting back the $75,000 in fines he paid to a Connecticut court for failing to appear at a deposition last month in a lawsuit over his assertions that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax, a judge has ruled.

Relatives of some of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut, massacre sued Jones for defamation, saying they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones followers. A judge found Jones liable for damages, and a trial on how much he should pay the families is set for August.
After a small bump, COVID-19 cases declined in the last week in Connecticut schools, but remain slightly higher than the past few months, figures from the state show.

While COVID-19 infections have been increasing across the state, there has not been a dramatic rise in the schools, figures show.

The state reported on Thursday that in the past week, there were 1,182 cases among students, down from 1,215 the previous week. Of those students who tested positive in the past week, 284 were not fully vaccinated, according to the data.

Among teachers and staff, there were 373 COVID cases, down from 385 the previous week, figures show. All but 17 teachers and staff were fully vaccinated.

While there was a slight week-over-week decline in cases, the number of infections overall among students and teachers and staff are trending higher than the past few months when the figures hit lows of 647 cases among students and 141 among teachers and staff in late February and early March.

Connecticuts overall COVID metrics continue to see an uptick. On Friday, the state reported a seven-day positivity rate of 6.51 percent with 3,939 new cases among 60,505 tests in the past week. Hospitalizations have also been increasing. Compared to last week, there are 44 more patients in the hospital with COVID-19 for a total of 161  still far lower than peaks seen earlier this year.

New reported deaths continue to remain relatively low despite an uptick in cases and hospitalizations. On Thursday, the state reported 14 people had died in the past seven days, one of the lowest figures in months.

Amid the uptick in cases, several state leaders have contracted COVID-19. Gov. Ned Lamont finished a five-day quarantine after testing positive last week. Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Attorney General William Tong and Treasurer Shawn Wooden all tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week.

While it is unclear where each contracted the virus, Lamont warned there is wide community spread in Connecticut.

Look, theres community spread out there. And theres community spread especially among folks that havent been infected before. I think you see that here  I think you see that all over our region now, Lamont said this week.

Despite the recent uptick, state officials remain steadfast against reinstating a broad mask mandate, opting instead to allow people to make the decisions they feel are right.

When asked about masking requirements, Department of Public Health Commissioner Manisha Juthani said in an interview this week that they likely wouldnt return.

The reason I say that is because, unfortunately for us, the public is in a very different place than we were two years ago, she said. When you mandate something, the reality is, then you enforce, and how would we do that? Enforcing a mask mandate, at this point, is not something our society, I think, in my assessment, is in a place to fully accept.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday issued an emergency use authorization for what it said is the first device that can detect COVID-19 in breath samples.

The InspectIR COVID-19 Breathalyzer is about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, the FDA said, and can be used in doctors offices, hospitals and mobile testing sites. The test, which can provide results in less than three minutes, must be carried out under the supervision of a licensed health care provider.
DARBY TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP)  A volunteer fire company in Pennsylvania has disbanded months after it was suspended when another fire company allegedly heard members using racial slurs and disparaging Black residents in a virtual meeting.

In a letter to Darby Township commissioners Wednesday, the Briarcliffe Fire Company announced it was shutting down.

The Briarcliffe Fire Company strongly denies that anyone in the township was ever treated differently or discriminated against based upon their race, the company's lawyer Robert Ewing wrote in the letter.

The company was suspended in February after members apparently failed to disconnect from an online meeting with local officials and the two other firehouses. In a nearly two-hour conversation, Briarcliffe firefighters allegedly bemoaned how the time had come to leave the township because Black residents continue moving into the area.

One firefighter is alleged to have mocked the name of an 8-year-old Black girl, Fanta Bility, who was killed by police gunfire in Sharon Hill last summer.

An investigation by the Delaware County district attorney determined the language was hateful and deeply offensive, but not criminal.

Unfortunately in light of the frenzied public perception not based in fact, the Briarcliffe Fire Company can no longer function, the fire company attorney wrote in the letter to township commissioners. Their members are volunteers who do not want to continue risking their lives if they are not appreciated.

Members of the Delaware County Black Caucus are pressing to prevent Briarcliffe's volunteers from working with another fire company in the county, news outlets reported.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)  A 32-year-old woman has been charged with aggravated manslaughter in the death of her 5-year-old daughter during a high-speed chase, officials said.

The Fourth District State Attorneys Office on Thursday filed formal charges against the woman, who police said kidnapped the child late last month. When a police officer spotted her vehicle at a red light, she sped away and led law enforcement on a high-speed chase.
Charles Sykes/Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

TROUTMAN, N.C. (AP)  A person was shot and wounded outside the North Carolina home of rapper DaBaby, authorities said Thursday, but it was unclear if he himself was involved or hurt.

DaBaby and at least one other person were at the home when the shooting happened Wednesday evening, Troutman Police Chief Josh Watson told The Associated Press. But he wouldn't say who was shot or who did the shooting, citing an ongoing investigation. He said the injuries of the unidentified wounded person were not life-threatening.
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP)  Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has $4.1 million in the bank for his reelection campaign, while Dr. Scott Jensen and state Sen. Paul Gazelka are the money leaders among the candidates seeking Republican endorsement to unseat the governor, according to campaign finance reports released Friday.

The numbers are an early sign of which candidates are running strong and which ones can raise enough money to wage credible campaigns in the November election. That can translate into political support and more donations.

The reports show Jensen  a former state senator from Chaska running as a COVID-19 skeptic  ended the first quarter with $774,393 in cash on hand as of March 31, after having raised $256,392 and spent $305,797 during the first three months of the year. He was the first major candidate to enter the race last year and has built up a nationwide following on social media. His running mate is former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk.

Gazelka  a former Minnesota Senate majority leader from East Gull Lake running on a law-and-order platform who has been endorsed by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association  finished the reporting period with $406,190 in the bank after raising $99,358 and spending $172,857.

Minnesota Republicans hold their state convention May 13-14 in Rochester to endorse candidates for governor, attorney general and other statewide offices. The major GOP gubernatorial candidates have pledged to abide by the party's endorsement, but none appears to have enough pledges from the 2,200 delegates to win the party's backing on the first ballot.

Walz faces no significant opposition for the Democratic nomination as he seeks a second term. He raised $1 million in the first quarter but spent $510,071.

Among the other GOP gubernatorial candidates, Medina businessman and former congressional candidate Kendall Qualls  the only African American in the race, who has highlighted his rise from poverty to success  had $168,344 in cash on hand after raising $467,610, the highest take for the quarter for any candidate in the race. He spent $299,266 in an effort to make himself better known.

Former Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, of Maple Grove, who has touted his long career in law enforcement and state government, had $40,202 left after raising $149,053 and spending $108,851 since entering the race late, on Feb. 1.

Michelle Benson  a state senator from Ham Lake who has emphasized her governing experience  had $38,076 left after raising $52,768 and spending $135,008. Dr. Neil Shah  a dermatologist from North Oaks  had $22,411 on hand after raising $75,401 and spending $79,898. Lexington Mayor Mike Murphy had $2,127 after raising $17,091 and spending $21,803.

Among third-party candidates, former WCCO Radio and KARE-TV personality Cory Hepola for the Forward Party had $25,094 banked after raising $31,295 and spending $6,201 since his entry March 1. Scientist and entrepreneur Hugh McTavish, of the Independence-Alliance Party, entered the race after the filing deadline and did not report.

Another closely watched race in Minnesota this year will be for attorney general, where Democratic incumbent Keith Ellison had $339,774 on hand after raising $145,848 and spending $51,175. Ellison and his office last year convicted former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd and ex-Brooklyn Center Officer Kim Potter in the Taser mix-up shooting death of Daunte Wright.

Ellison's GOP opponent in 2018, Doug Wardlow, general counsel to MyPillow and an ally of its founder, Mike Lindell, a leading proponent of false accusations that the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald Trump, had $30,437 left after raising $121,049, and spending $115,803. Wardlow has lent his own campaign $17,500.

Former legislator Dennis Smith, who's on probation after the Supreme Court suspended his law license for one month in a professional misconduct case, had $765,530 in the bank but that was mostly from $600,000 in loans from himself. He listed $154,508 in individual contributions and expenditures of $128,350.

Plymouth lawyer Jim Schultz, who's endorsed by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, had $101,527, including $70,000 he loaned his own campaign last year, after raising $90,645 and spending $97,878.

Former Washington County judge, Hennepin county commissioner and legislator Tad Jude had $42,306 after raising $47,084, which included a $30,000 loan from himself. Jude, who entered the race Jan. 31, has spent $4,778. Minneapolis attorney Lynne Torgerson, who has called the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrectionists heroes, had $2,127 after raising $4,040 and spending $4,931.
Elon Musk has made a controversial offer to buy Twitter Inc., saying the company has extraordinary potential and he is the person to unlock it.

The worlds richest person will offer $54.20 per share in cash, representing a 54% premium over the Jan. 28 closing price and a valuation of about $43 billion. The social media companys shares soared 18% in pre-market trading.

Musk, 50, announced the offer in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, after turning down a potential board seat at the company. The billionaire, who also controls Tesla Inc., first disclosed a stake of about 9% on April 4. Tesla shares fell about 1.5% in pre-market trading on the news.

Twitter said that its board would review the proposal and any response would be in the best interests of all Twitter stockholders.

The bid is the latest saga in Musks volatile relationship with Twitter. The executive is one of the platforms most-watched firebrands, often tweeting out memes and taunts to @elonmusks more than 80 million followers. He has been outspoken about changes hed like to consider imposing at the social media platform, and the company offered him a seat on the board following the announcement of his stake, which made him the largest individual shareholder.

After his stake became public, Musk immediately began appealing to fellow users about prospective moves, from turning Twitters San Francisco headquarters into a homeless shelter and adding an edit button for tweets to granting automatic verification marks to premium users. One tweet suggested Twitter might be dying, given that several celebrities with high numbers of followers rarely tweet.

Unsatisfied with the influence that comes with being Twitters largest investor, he has now launched a full takeover, one of the few individuals who can afford it outright. Hes currently worth about $260 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, compared with Twitters market valuation of about $37 billion.

In a letter to Twitters board, Musk said he believes Twitter will neither thrive nor serve [its free speech] societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company

The takeover is unlikely to be a drawn-out process. If the deal doesnt work, given that I dont have confidence in management nor do I believe I can drive the necessary change in the public market, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder, said Musk.

Musk informed Twitters board over the previous weekend that he thought the company should be taken private, according to todays statement.

The $54.20 per share offer is too low for shareholders or the board to accept, said Vital Knowledges Adam Crisafulli in a report, adding that the companys shares hit $70 less than a year ago.

Although Musk is the worlds richest person, how he will find $43 billion in cash has yet to be revealed.

This becomes a hostile takeover offer which is going to cost a serious amount of cash, said Neil Campling, head of TMT research at Mirabaud Equity Research. He will have to sell a decent piece of Tesla stock to fund it, or a massive loan against it.

Musk has hired Morgan Stanley as his adviser for the bid. The offer price also includes the number 420, widely recognized as a coded reference to marijuana. He also picked $420 as the share price for possibly taking Tesla private in 2018, a move that brought him scrutiny from the SEC.

There will be host of questions around financing, regulatory, balancing Musks time (Tesla, SpaceX) in the coming days, said Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush. But ultimately based on this filing it is a now or never bid for Twitter to accept.
RTHK: Macron clashes with Le Pen over Islamic headscarf ban

President Emmanuel Macron has clashed with his rival Marine Le Pen over her plan to ban women from wearing the Islamic headscarf in public, with an eye on the votes of Muslims in the second round of elections.

Le Pen on April 24 will seek to cause the greatest upset in modern French political history by defeating Macron in a run-off in presidential elections.

While polls indicate Macron is ahead, they also point to a far tighter race between the centrist and the far-right leader than in their 2017 run-off.

Analysts say one reason for her advance is Le Pen's success in cultivating a more moderate image and portraying herself as the candidate best equipped to deal with problems like rising prices.

But one signature hard-line policy the anti-immigration Le Pen has not dropped is her opposition to the Islamic headscarf, saying women who wear the hijab in public in France will be fined if she wins power.

Macron meanwhile has sought to seize on her insistence to argue that Le Pen's policies are no different from those of the hard-line National Front founded by her father Jean-Marie.

He has also presented himself as a defender of religious freedom, insisting that any ban on the veil would constitutionally mean that all religious signs must be banned, including the kippa and the cross.

Visiting the eastern city of Strasbourg on Tuesday, Macron during a walkabout to meet voters asked a veiled women if she was wearing the headscarf by choice or obligation.

"It's by choice. Totally by choice!" said the woman, who proudly declared she was a feminist.

Macron replied, in clear reference to Le Pen's plan: "This is the best response to the rubbish that I have been hearing."

He went even further on Thursday during a visit to the northern port city of Le Havre: "There is not a single country in the world that bans the headscarf in public. Do you want to be the first?"

Macron is clearly aware of the importance of the votes of France's roughly five million Muslims, who are estimated to make up almost nine percent of the population. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2022-04-15. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
MOGADISHU, April 14 (Xinhua) -- More than 300 new Members of Parliament and Senate of Somalia were finally sworn in on Thursday after more than a year's delay.

The 304 new members of the 275-member House of the People (Lower House of Parliament) and the 54-member Upper House, or the Senate, took the oath of office in a ceremony in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia.

Chairperson of the Federal Electoral Implementation Team (FEIT), Muse Gelle Yusuf said elections of another 25 members are yet to be held in two Federal member states.

"We have been in the long electoral process that lasted for about 20 months, it is historic and great that it came to an end today, 304 members attended the swearing-in ceremony but there are only 25 members from Jubaland and Hirshabelle states that remain unelected so far, and we wish to complete soon," Yusuf told Parliament.

He said elections were concluded peacefully despite increased terror attacks by al-Shabab that targeted electoral delegates, insufficient funds and severe drought.

The new parliament elected the two elderly lawmakers, Ali Mohamed Yusuf as temporary speaker for the Upper House and Abdisalan Haji Ahmed for the House of the People.

Somali Prime Minister, Mohamed Roble who attended the event, congratulated the new lawmakers on taking the oath and hailed the electoral stakeholders who ensured the completion of the process.

Roble reiterated the challenges that beset the elections, saying security, domestic and foreign interventions including the current drought were among the difficulties that his government faced.

Somalia's international partners also welcomed the swearing-in of newly-elected members of Somalia's House of the People and Upper House.

"After a period of more than one year in which all Somali elected institutions exceeded their constitutional timelines, we are pleased that the new parliament is now in place," the partners including the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations among others, said in a joint statement.

The partners said they look forward to the rapid completion of the remaining stages of the electoral process, notably the election of the parliamentary leadership and then the President.

They called on Somali leaders to reduce political tensions, respect the human rights and freedom of Somali citizens, and conclude the electoral process quickly, peacefully, and credibly.

The Senate and the 275 members of parliament from the Lower House are expected to jointly elect a new president later either this month or early May.

Analysts say holding the 2022 vote is considered critical for the sake of entrenching the federal system of governance, which is required to appease communities and regions claiming systematic exclusion and marginalization for decades. 
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Inspectors of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) are conducting, at the national level, ample control activities, in collaboration with the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC) and the National Tax Administration Agency (ANAF), in the sector of retail of agrifood products specific to the period of the Easter Holidays.

"I am a supporter of authentic Romanian products and I always urge Romanians to support local producers choosing quality food and products, obtained locally. At the same time, we must discourage any kind of speculative action of those who are unjustly trying to profit in this period in which people prepare for the Celebration of the Resurrection of Christ. For that reason, I ordered the intensification of mixed controls, in order to ensure that the tables of Romanians see quality products that respect retail standards," said the Agriculture Minister, Adrian Chesnoiu, in a release sent on Friday to AGERPRES.

The control, identification, and sanctioning of infringements found, taking place at the national level, starting with April 15, target checking the conformity of agrifood products with retail and provenance standards, as well as to combat some illicit phenomena, but also checking documents attesting the provenance of food sold (invoices, certificates of conformity for products coming from imports, producer certificates, etc.)

Furthermore, inspectors will check the proper labeling of legumes and fruits exposed for sale and particularly the mentioning of the quality category and provenance (country of origin) and will follow up on combating some illicit phenomena existing in retail and wholesale, Agerpres.ro informs.

The mixed control teams are conducting checks with economic operators - distributors, retailers, importers, markets, stores and, depending on the case, producers, on the basis of attributions provided in the specific legislation.
Bucharest needs to raise its comfort and prosperity level to match that of other European capitals, and on the transport side, an integrated approach of infrastructure, mobility and logistics needs is absolutely necessary, the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean, declared on Friday.

"Infrastructure, not only transport, in general, but looking towards matters tied to transportation, an integrated approach, of both infrastructure needs, as well as for mobility and logistics in the Capital City, is absolutely necessary. That is the trend actually. Things that we should start kick off with a strategy, an integrated vision on mobility and logistics in the city, that then unfolds into projects, which together represent, as a puzzle, piece by piece, what mobility and logistics mean for the city. The needs are huge. Of course that everything that means zero-emission transportation, the metropolitan train and tram, are means that the European Union places at the center of transport policies for urban strategies so that, of course, it encourages many projects," Valean said, after meeting with the mayor of Bucharest, Nicusor Dan.

She highlighted that all member states, Romania included, are facing a financing opportunity from several possible sources, Agerpres.ro informs.

"We glossed over (with mayor Nicusor Dan, ed. n) a few of the challenges in regards to financing those investments, financing, on one hand, but also the cobwebs of an administrative nature that are tied to various legislative acts or regulations that can delay those investments. It is a first visit, a first discussion. I am prepared, along with my colleagues from the European Commission, the Transport Directorate, to support all European cities in their strategy for sustainable development strategy for mobility and logistics, and of course, even more when discussing about Bucharest," the European commissioner pointed out.

Adina Valean mentioned that there is a European platform for big cities, where there are also Romanian cities and where is a constant exchange of ideas and projects that support urban sustainable mobility.
Actor George Ivascu on Friday handed in his resignation as manager of the Metropolis Theater, accusing Bucharest General Mayor Nicusor Dan of maintaining a "chronic underfunding" of the cultural institution.

"Today, on International Art Day, the founding manager of the Metropolis Theater tendered his resignation as per yesterday's announcement. 'I don't think you can do Art by humiliating the artists' - George Ivascu," reads the message posted on the Facebook page of the Metropolis Theater.

George Ivascu sent Bucharest General Mayor Nicusor Dan a letter announcing his resignation from office starting with Friday.

"Although the result of the 2021 performance evaluation would allow me to carry on for another two years, I consider it humiliating and, along with your lack of real communication, the repeatedly inaccurate information you have provided lately about the situation of the Metropolis Theater and your publicly declared mistrust in my managerial abilities, this makes the continuation of our collaboration practically impossible," George Ivascu states in the respective letter, Agerpres.ro informs.

He blames the Bucharest Mayor for "chronic underfunding" and holds him responsible for not being able to continue projects at the Metropolis Theater.

"It was an honor for me to build the Metropolis Theater from scratch 15 years ago, a much-needed project-based theater that has grown to great success, and I thank all those who have accompanied me on this difficult but beautiful journey - team, artists of all generations, contributors, partners and the public. I leave with my head held up high and my mission accomplished. I regret that you have been stopping us in our tracks in the last two years by chronic underfunding, but I consider that this decision belongs entirely to you, as General Mayor and I am sure that it fits your vision of the cultural life of Bucharest. As an actor and professor I can only wish you success," Ivascu writes in his open letter to the Bucharest Mayor.
The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, stated, on Friday, in southern Craiova, that there is a first draft for a national strategy to combat cancer, which was launched two months ago and within which a register of patients affected by cancer could be accomplished, as none exists at this time.

"We hope to be able to perfect this national strategy to combat cancer, to approve it to allow us to have evaluations and have answers to all these questions [e.n. - regarding the causes of the high number and increasing numbers of cases of cancer in Dolj and Southwest region]. I wouldn't want to speculate that in the vicinity of Romania there is a nuclear power plant [e.n. - the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, in Bulgaria] and for this reason there are more neoplasms in this region - the causes may be multiple, and prevention policies are unequal in Romania," said Rafila in Craiova, where he attended the inauguration of the St. Nectarios Oncology Center, the largest center of this kind in southern Romania, accomplished by oncologist Michael Schenker, through a private investment of around 15 million euro, Agerpres.ro informs.

According to Michael Schenker, in Romania there are no statistics regarding the real situation on cancer, as for years there is no register of patients affected by cancer," because there was no possibility it was done for various reasons, more or less objective."

In 2020, according to the analysis on the situation of cancer done in May 2021 by the Health Ministry, Romania diagnosed 98,886 new cases of cancer and 54,486 deaths caused by it were recorded, our country having among the highest mortality rates in Europe in most types of cancer.

"In Romania, the survival rates at five years after treating some forms of cancer, such as breast cancer, prostate cancer and cervical cancer, are far below EU averages. This is valid, especially, for the types of cancer that could be prevented through the reduction to a minimum of risk factors, such as pulmonary cancer (11%), stomach cancer (3%) and hepatic cancer (13%). The weak results are influenced by late diagnoses and inefficiency in treatment. (...) Furthermore, the lack of systematic screening for the disease, records a low percentage of participation and a sub-optimal quality," the quoted document mentions.
The Crown is inextricably linked to the ideal of national unity, and the monarchy belongs to the future, deputy Daniel Gheorghe, chairman of the joint committee for European integration between the Parliament of Romania and the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, said on Friday at the Peles Castle (Sinaia).

The parliamentarian was in Sinaia in the context of the reception, at the Peles Castle, by Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, and His Royal Highness Prince Radu of the members of the joint committee for European integration of the Parliament of Romania and the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova.

"The monarchy was permanently the factor of stability and the factor that managed to unite around it the entire Romanian nation. The Crown is above disputes, it is above personal choices, it is above politics, and the respect we carry for the Crown is a sacred one and one that comes from the inheritance of those who gave their lives for Romania and those who built by their effort, by their sweat and by their abnegation this nation," said MP Daniel Gheorghe, in his speech on this occasion.

At the same time, he pointed out that "national unity is our destiny."

"We strongly believe in our common future, we believe with strength in freedom, in democracy and we know very well that the Crown has always united, and if Bessarabia has united with the country because of the Crown, thanks to the Crown we have been able to live this moment. If Transylvania has united with the country, it has also done that because of the Romanian Crown, and the Crown will always watch over our nation. We believe that the future will find us again as it is our way and how our tradition is. The monarchy belongs to the future, just as national unity is our destiny," said the president of the joint committee for European integration in the Romanian Parliament, Agerpres.ro informs.

In this context, His Royal Highness Prince Radu stressed the importance of the moment and the efforts of the Republic of Moldova for a "healthy" future and "without surprises".

"We thank you for the historical and contemporary example you are giving, putting together the two most important institutions of democracy, the legislatures of our countries. In a certain way, here you are in a fortress of Europeanism. When he built this house, the founding sovereign of the dynasty looked to Europe. He came from there and wanted the country to move towards the values of democracy and freedom of the continent, which you are doing today. Try for our nation to ensure a healthy future, without surprises and dignity. This is what Her Majesty, Custodian of the Crown, is doing today, following the example of her four predecessors, and there could be no better choice in your professional meeting these days than to come and see and meet the Romanian Crown, because today, in these last decades of the existence of our peoples, the Royal House has tried, both for Romania and for the Republic of Moldova, to make bridges to the free world," said His Royal Highness Prince Radu.

For his part, MP Petru Frunze, chairman of the joint committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, thanked Romania for the support provided during the COVID-19 pandemic, for the support in the process of accession to the European Union, but also for the help provided during this period, when the country receives a large number of refugees from Ukraine.

"On behalf of the delegation from the Republic of Moldova, we thank Romania for the support and assistance provided over time, for the support and assistance in the field of Education, for the support and assistance in the field of Justice and, of course, for the support offered in the most complicated moments. When the pandemic destroyed human destinies, Romania was the only state that, out of the shortage of the vaccine, offered to save the lives of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. At the same time, in the critical period we find ourselves today, again Romania is joining us when we have a large flow of refugees from Ukraine and again Romania gives us all the support and all the assistance so that these people who have fled the plague of war feel safe in the Republic of Moldova. I want to thank on behalf of the citizens of the Republic of Moldova for all the support Romania offered for the European integration of the Republic of Moldova (...). Even if we are in two Romanian states, history, culture have always shown that we have been together, and we, the political class, will strive to do everything possible for these two banks of the Prut river to unite. Our place is together with Romania in the European Union," Petru Frunze said in his speech.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca declared in eastern Buzau, on Friday, that the decision to suspend the flights of MiG-21 LanceR aircraft, which are equipped with the Romanian Air Force, is temporary, the measure being taken in order to carry out technical analysis for safety.

"I understood that this is about a temporary suspension, that does not mean giving up the capability. This is about an analysis that began long time ago and we want to finish all technical factors in order to be sure that we will not have any more incidents of the type that happened not long ago. In this sense we need to take into account that the MiG-21 aircraft have been standard issuef for the Romanian Air Force for over 50 years. We need to truly make an analysis and an evaluation of all technical parameters of these aircraft, so that we can be sure that they can safely fly," Nicolae Ciuca declared during a visit in the county of Buzau, Agerpres.ro informs.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca visited the Yazaki Romania Braila company on Friday, which was made through a 50 million Euro investment and produces cables for the automobile industry, occasion on which he declared that there is a need for coordination between the private sector and the Government, so that production can be assured and jobs protected.

According to PM Ciuca, the meeting with the management of this factory, that offers 3,600 jobs, was very useful for better preparing the implementation of solutions contained in the "Support for Romania" package.

On this occasion, the head of the Executive presented the measure package with a value of 17.3 billion RON, from which approximately 60% are funds directed for supporting investment, industrial retro-fitting and opening up new projects.

The representatives of the Yazaki company hailed the support package launch and announced that they are preparing important investments for the factories in Braila and Ploiesti, Agerpres.ro informs.

Another topic was tied to government policies of maintaining jobs and encouraging the creation of new ones, in the context in which the company is among the beneficiaries of state aid for compensating losses generated by the pandemic.

"The fact that nationwide over 9,000 company employees have kept their jobs despite the difficulties generated by the sanitary crisis is also due to government support. In the month of December, last year, the company benefited from 15 million dollars, in state aid, for paying salaries, a way of compensating losses generated by the COVID-19 pandemic," PM Ciuca specified.

Apart from the investment in Braila, which produces cables daily for 1,200 automobiles, the Yazaki company, present in Romania since 2003, operates in Ploiesti, Caracal, Buzau, Arad and Timisoara. Nationwide, the company has over 9,000 employees.

Yazaki's main objective is manufacturing electrical and electronic distribution systems for the automobile industry.
The chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL), Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, has met on Friday with members of the National Liberal Party branches in Braila, Galati and Buzau, occasion on which the Liberal mayors conveyed what the problems of the communities they administer are, such as delayed projects, excessive bureaucracy, lack of personnel, inadequate wages.

"Today, in Braila and Buzau, I met with members of the National Liberal Party from three important organizations: Braila, Galati and Buzau. I was glad for the openness with which the mayors spoke and the honesty with which they said what the problems of the communities they administer are: projects or even programs that are delayed, excessive bureaucracy, lack of personnel, inadequate wages or unjustified constraints in applying some regulations. I thanked people for their confidence and reminded them that the door to the headquarters of the party is always open, that we will conduct demarches to solve the issues encountered in local communities," wrote the Prime Minister on Facebook.

He showed that, as Prime Minister, he assumed responsibility to start as many projects in as short of a time frame as possible, Agerpres.ro informs.

"All of these will address, mainly, the development of local communities and improvement of living conditions for citizens. Until the end of May we will organize a meeting of the League of Local Elected Officials, in order to discuss projects, programmes, financing directions, all so necessary. I wish that we find solutions together, but I also need the support of all Liberals in order to finish what we began and to start projects that will take Romania out of crisis," said Ciuca.
President Klaus Iohannis on Friday, on the occasion of the Pesah holiday, congratulated the leadership and members of the Federation of the Jewish Communities in Romania, the Mosaic cult, along with wishes for health, peace and prosperity.

"The Pesah holiday invites us, every year, to reflect on the significance of the Jewish people's path towards freedom, through faith and overcoming difficult trials," President Iohannis says, Agerpres.ro informs.

"The COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine urge us towards solidarity, the example of concern and love towards our neighbor. In this difficult context, I send my appreciation towards the way in which the entire Jewish community came together, with generosity and civic responsibility, to the national effort of aiding our suffering neighbors. May Pesah strengthen your faith and bring us closer to the triumph of peace. Hag Pesah Sameah!" president Iohannis also said.
Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said on Friday in eastern Buzau that processors are sufficiently stocked with sunflower and that there is no danger that the population's oil consumption needs are not met.

"Last week I met with farmers and agri-food processors, and today I wanted to visit one of the processing facilities. I learned that an oil plant with 600 employees has a turnover of 500 million euros and produces about 100,000 tons of oil a year, which accounts for 40 percent of our country's oil consumption needs. (...) I discussed with the farmers last week and with the processors, right here in this factory, and sunflower stocks are enough until the end of the harvest season, that is until August, and factory management assured me that there is enough raw material until the end of the year. Therefore, I want to reassure all Romanians that there is no danger whatsoever of edible oil supplies needed for consumption to run short," Ciuca said at the end of his visit to the Bunge oil plant in Buzau, Agerpres.ro informs.
As many as 1,255 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, down 222 from the previous day, with over 23,000 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Friday.

Of the new cases, 154 were in re-infected patients, who tested positive more than 90 days after the first time they recovered from the disease, Agerpres.ro informs.

Most of the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Romania since the previous reporting were recorded in Bucharest City - 398 and in the counties of Timis - 85, Cluj - 82, Ilfov - 57, and Brasov - 54.

As of Friday, 2,880,276 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.

- Hospitalisations -

As many as 1,771 people with COVID-19, down 57 from the previous reporting, including 94 children, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities.

Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 246 patients are in intensive care, down five.

Of the 246 patients admitted to ICU, 214 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

- Deaths -

According to the ministry, another 13 Romanians infected with SARS-CoV-2 - six men and seven women - are reported dead in the last 24 hours.

Out of the total 13 patients who died, 11 were unvaccinated and two vaccinated. One of the dead vaccinated person was aged 60-69 years and the other was over 80 years old, and both had comorbidities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 65,310 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania.
MIAMI (AP)  A U.S. ban on seafood imports from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine was supposed to sap billions of dollars from Vladimir Putins war machine.

But shortcomings in import regulations mean that Russian-caught pollock, salmon and crab are likely to enter the U.S. anyway, by way of the country vital to seafood supply chains across the world: China.

Like the U.S. seafood industry, Russian companies rely heavily on China to process their catch. Once there, the seafood can be re-exported to the U.S. as a product of China because country of origin labelling isnt required.

The result is that nearly a third of the wild-caught fish imported from China is estimated to have been caught in Russian waters, according to an International Trade Commission study of 2019 data. For pollock and sockeye salmon, the rate is even higher  50% to 75%.

China doesnt catch cod. They dont catch pollock. But yet, theyre one of the largest exporters of these whitefish in the world, said Sally Yozell, a former policy director at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who now is a senior fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington. Having it labeled as a Chinese product is really not fair to the consumers and to restaurants.

This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Fishing is big business in Russia, one closely linked to the Kremlin and Putins projection of power at sea. The country is the one of the world's top seafood producers and was the eighth-largest exporter to the U.S. last year, with more than $1.2 billion worth of sales, the bulk of it king crab.

But its unknown exactly how much manages to land in the U.S. by way of China, which sent another $1.7 billion in fish to the U.S. last year. Nor does the Biden administrations ban require companies importing from China to find out.

Among Russias biggest seafood exports is Alaska pollock. A cousin of cod, Alaska pollock is the most harvested fish in the U.S., showing up in everything from imitation crabmeat to McDonalds Filet-O-Fish. Every year, giant, floating factories in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska catch 1.5 million metric tons of the fish, the equivalent of more than four times the weight of the Empire State Building.

But the same species is also harvested in Russia in similar amounts, and once processed and imported from China, fills an important gap in the U.S. market. In lieu of tracing the country of origin, U.S. producers rely on the name recognition of Alaska pollock to signal where the fish was caught.

Consumers can have confidence that if the name Alaska is on the box it unequivocally comes from Alaskan waters, insisted Craig Morris, chief executive of Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers.

Even before the invasion of Ukraine, pressure had been building to prevent what Sen. Dan Sullivan, a Republican of Alaska, called authoritarian pollock from entering the U.S. Putin banned U.S. seafood in 2014 following American sanctions to punish him for the invasion of Crimea that year. Since then Russian exports entering the U.S. duty free have nearly quadrupled in value.

U.S. trade data analyzed by The Associated Press show that the biggest importer of Russian-caught pollock from China last year was High Liner Foods. The company did not respond to the AP's request for comment.

While overshadowed by Russias role as an energy powerhouse, Russias seafood industry has increasingly been flexing its own muscle with strong support from the Kremlin.

Two of the countrys largest seafood exporters  Vladivostok-based Russian Fishery Co. and Russian Crab  are owned by Gleb Frank, the son of Putins former transportation minister and head of state-owned shipbuilder Sovcomflot. Frank, dubbed Russia's Crab King," is also the son-in law of one of Russias richest men, Gennady Timchenko, who was among the first oligarchs sanctioned following the 2014 invasion of Crimea.

With generous state loans, Frank's companies have been at the forefront of an effort to renew Russias aging fleet. Last year, during a Navy Day ceremony at a St. Petersburg shipyard with Putin and 50 warships looking on, he launched an advanced supertrawler capable of hauling 60,000 tons of pollock per year.

After Frank himself was hit with U.S. sanctions last month, he sold part of his ownership stakes in both seafood companies and resigned as chairman. Russian Fishery Co. did not respond to a detailed list of questions about the U.S. embargo but Russian Crab said Frank has never played a role in management of the company.

Its not just the industrys ties to the Kremlin that are driving concern.

For years, activists have complained about Russias poor record caring for the oceans. The country was ranked No. 2 out of 152 nations in a recent study of global efforts to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. Only China scored worse.

Allegations of illegal fishing have even followed Russia to the south pole, where a Russian ship in 2020 was accused of faking its location data to fish illegally off season. A Russian observer was also found to be behind anomalous catch data from several Antarctic fishing vessels. In both cases, Russia denied any wrongdoing.

At a congressional hearing this month on the Russian seafood ban, Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, led calls for the expansion of NOAAs Seafood Import Monitoring Program, which aims to prevent illegal seafood from entering U.S. supply chains by tracking shipments from the point of catch. Currently the program covers just 13 species, only two of which  red king crab and Atlantic cod  are fished by Russia.

Until that happens, Russian seafood will continue to line grocery store shelves and American consumers will continue to unwittingly support Putins war machine, Huffman said.

Peter Quinter, a former U.S. Customs Service attorney, said that the Biden administration can easily close the China loophole by requiring importers to inspect their supply chains to make sure none of their fish comes from Russia.

They can and should fix this, said Quinter, who now advises seafood companies on compliance with American trade law. The old days of being sure your fish is caught in a single place or country is no longer the case.

Wieffering reported from Washington.

Follow Goodman at @APJoshGoodman and Wieffering at @HelenWieffering

Contact APs global investigative team at Investigative@ap.org or https://www.ap.org/tips/

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Back in the late 60s, what was a young man to do if he wanted a sexy-looking, fast car, but couldnt afford a Corvette? He may have considered an AMC AMX. The AMX was the two-seat version of the four-seat AMC Javelin. American Motors Corporation was trying to appeal to a younger market and the Javelin and AMX were just the ticket. They fell into the pony car category started by the Ford Mustang in 1965, followed by the Chevy Corvette in the 1967 model year. There were also the Mercury Cougar and Pontiac Firebird  all out to get their share of the growing market.

The nuts and bolts of things: The AMX was an attractive contender with unique styling by famed automotive industrial designer Dick Teague, and offered a wide selection of V-8 engines of 290, 343, 360 and 390 cubic-inch displacements. Carburetion was done with 4-barrels and one of the 390 cubic-inch engines had twin, 4-barrel carbs. Horsepower ranged from 225 to 325. A four-speed manual transmission with Hurst floor shifter was standard equipment and a three-speed Shift-Command automatic with console-mounted shifter was available if so desired.

Fin Man Factoid: By 2007, the AMX was "among the most highly sought AMC cars" and "really taking off in the muscle-car market."Hemmings said that the two-seater AMX had "a strong following among old car hobbyists and collectors of historic vehicles and nearly every one of the 19,134 built remains in circulation and in demand, ensuring a good future for the first-generation AMX as a collectible muscle car." The 2007 book Classic Cars states that AMC's small and powerful AMX "had tire-burning speed" and "all have become collector's items."

AMX sales for the three-year run were 6,725; 8,293 and 4,116 for 1968, 1969 and 1970 models respectively. A lot of hype and a lot of excitement (for good reason), but lackluster sales when all was said and done. However, this is one of the things that makes the AMX a great collector car! But hurry because prices are beginning to climb! Just check the auction results.

AMC automobiles have a substantial number of devotees across the country as well as around the globe. Were lucky to have a chapter right here in the St. Louis area. Its the Gateway AMC Club and is open to anyone owning a Nash or AMC vehicle, or just anyone who is interested in the marque. The Gateway AMC folks are one of the best groups of car enthusiasts you will find anywhere. They are very active, putting on local shows, cruises and special events including regional and national shows right here in our area. Look them up on FaceBook and tell them The Fin Man told you about it right here in the Old Car Column.

Are you ready for it? Perhaps the greatest automotive swap meet in the St. Louis metro area, the Model T Ford Club of Greater St Louis Swap Meet & Garage Sale is a humongous outdoor event which will take place at a new location  the GCS Credit Union Ballpark (Grizzlies Stadium), at 2301 Grizzlie Bear Blvd, East St Louis, Illinois, on Sunday, May 1, from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Its the 54th year for this not-to-be-missed event and likely to be the biggest ever! For all the details, call the club at (314) 830-0873 and for heavens sake, please tell them you heard about it right here from The Fin Man.

I hope you enjoyed todays story and also that you go to this years Easter show, and stop by my Take a Kid to a Car Show booth to say hello to The Fin Man & Company. The show begins Sunday around 9 a.m. and will conclude near mid-afternoon.

See you right back here in the Old Car Column next Sunday with another automotive story from the good ol days!

Tri-Power Trivia will return next week.

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AWARDS

Grant Masonry Contracting was named a 2021 Safety Award Winner by the American Subcontractors Association  Midwest Council.

The following were among honorees of North County Inc.s 2022 Leadership Awards:

 Business Development Leadership Award: Beyond Housings Carter Commons Development; business owner Nyshaun Harvey;

 Community Development Leadership Award: Angies All-Inclusive Playground at Manion Park; The Bread Basket at SSM Health DePaul Hospital; Pattonville Fire Protection District COVID Response Partnership; Nancy Wolff, executive director of The Emergency Assistance Ministry; Mercy Clinic in Ferguson; Rose Jackson-Beavers, director of Faith-Based Initiative, Behavioral Health Network;

 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leadership Award: Hazelwood School District Board of Education;

 Elmer Belsha Leadership Award: Rick L. Stevens, president of Christian Hospital;

 Public Service Leadership Award: Florissant councilman Joe Eagan; James Knowles III, former mayor of Ferguson; Tony Maldonado, chairperson of the Hispanic Leaders Group; Hazelwood councilwoman Carol Stroker; Jim Carver, economic development manager for Maryland Heights; Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, general partner at Edward Jones;

 Special Recognition Award: St. Louis Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force; St. Louis County Librarys GrandPad Initiative.

EXPANDING

Urology of St. Louis is adding an office to its practice located inside the Walker Medical Building in Town and Country. The new office, located at 12855 North Outer 40 Road, will neighbor its current office in the same building.

Alcatraz LLC expanded its headquarters at 9768 Green Park Industrial Drive, with truck wash bays, a larger repair shop, office space, drivers lounge and additional parking.

Performance Eyecare expanded from four to nine locations in St. Louis and Columbia, Missouri, since March 2020.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

NetGain Technologies acquired South Carolina-based Cyber Solutions.

TricorBraun announced an agreement to acquire PB Packaging, expanding its presence in Australia.

Envision LLC acquired Solution Consultants Inc.

PROJECTS

Holland Construction Services is building The Flats at Wildhorse Village, a $65 million, 266-unit luxury apartment complex at 350 Wildhorse Lake Boulevard in Chesterfield. The project, which is being developed by Pier Property Group, is expected to be completed in October of 2023.

RECOGNITION

St. Charles County Emergency Communications employees Dwayne Kinley and Mike Fridley were honored at the 2022 Missouri Public Safety Communications Conference. Kinley, manager of the countys Radio Systems and Technology Division, received the Radio Technologist of the Year award, and Fridley, a system engineer, was recognized as Information Technologist of the Year.
NEW YORK  My offer is my best and final offer.

Elon Musks $43 billion bid for Twitter takes a page out of Warren Buffetts take-it-or-leave-it playbook. But investment bankers, investors and analysts said he needed a blowout bid and more details on his financing for this strategy to work. They added that Musks track record of reversing his positions also weighs against him.

Buffett is known for clinching large deals through his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc., such as the $11.6 billion deal to buy property and casualty reinsurer Alleghany Corp. and his $37 billion acquisition of aerospace equipment maker Precision Castparts Corp., by making only one offer and refusing to negotiate.

These offers were viewed as fair by their acquisition targets and were backed by committed financing from Berkshire Hathaway. Musks bid, on the other hand, was deemed too low by the market and too thin on financing details.

In 2018, Musk, who is the chief executive and a co-founder of luxury electric carmaker Tesla Inc., tweeted that there was funding secured for a $72 billion deal to take Tesla private but did not move ahead with an offer. He and Tesla each paid $20 million in civil fines, and Musk stepped down as Teslas chairman to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims that he defrauded investors.

Warren has demonstrated over 40 acquisitions in 60 years that when he says something, he does it. His word has enormous value. With Elon, I wouldnt trust him, ... theres no reliability there, said Lawrence Cunningham, a law professor at George Washington University who has written extensively on Buffett.

Musk and Buffett did not respond to requests for comment.

Musks cash offer of $54.20 a share, which values the company at $43 billion, represents a 38% premium to Twitters April 1 close, the last trading day before his 9.1% stake in the social media platform was made public. But it is lower than where Twitter shares were trading as recently as November. For most of 2021, the shares traded at more than $60.

Uninvolved investment bankers say the closest comparison would be PayPal Holdings Inc.s offer for Pinterest Inc., which the payments firm withdrew last October after a negative investor response to its interest. The offer valued Pinterest at 17.4 times sales. By comparison, Musks offer values Twitter at only 8.6 times sales.

Twitter shares ended trading on Thursday at $45.08, a 1.75% drop since Musk unveiled his $54.20 per share offer, reflecting wide investor skepticism that a deal will happen.

I dont think the Twitter board will have a really hard time saying no to this deal. Its not an excessive premium and its not excessively valued now, said Chris Pultz, portfolio manager for merger arbitrage at Kellner Capital.

A Twitter spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Financing details thin

Musk sold more than $15 billion worth of his Tesla shares last year, about 10% of his stake in the electric car maker, partly to settle a tax obligation.

Its not clear how much of that Musk now has available for a Twitter bid, and its possible that he could sell more Tesla shares or borrow against them. He provided no details about his financing in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

A leveraged buyout is typically 60% to 80% financed with debt, so Musk would likely have to come up with an equity check of at least $10 billion. He could get partners, such as private equity firms, to help fund his contribution.

Another question is banks willingness to provide debt for the deal given the uncertainty of how Twitter would be run if owned by Musk. He has criticized Twitters current management but he has not disclosed who the replacement would be. He has also spoken against Twitters relying on advertising, despite its comprising the majority of its revenue. Morgan Stanley is Musks lead bank working on the bid.

Musk said in the offer letter that he would reconsider his position as a shareholder if Twitter rejects his offer. Later on Thursday, however, he hinted at the possibility of a hostile bid whereby he would bypass Twitters board.

He tweeted that Twitter shareholders should get to vote on the deal and posted a poll asking for Twitter users opinion on the subject. Typically, a company will put a deal to a shareholder vote only once its board of directors has approved it.

If Musk is willing to make another offer despite calling his first bid best and final, analysts said his chances for a deal would improve significantly, given his resources as the worlds richest man.

The board could see a case to reject the first offer and explore options for a higher price, Justin Post, analyst at Bank of America, wrote on Thursday.
 FRIDAY 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

When 7 p.m. April 15, 2 and 7 p.m. April 16  Where Powell Hall, 718 North Grand Boulevard  How much $55  More info 314-535-1700; slso.org

Was it He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named who keeps conspiring to delay the screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 at Powell Hall, with its musical score performed live by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra? Nope, just COVID. Originally scheduled for March 2020 and rescheduled for January this year, this time it looks like a good bet to happen. If youve kept your tickets from January, the Friday tix are valid for the 7 p.m. April 15 performance, Saturday tix for 7 p.m. April 16 and Sunday matinee tix for 2 p.m. April 16  which, please note, is a Saturday, not Sunday. Very few tickets remain, starting at $45. By Daniel Durchholz

Springtime Village

When 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. April 15-16  Where Purina Farms, 500 William Danforth Way, Gray Summit, Missouri  How much $15 per vehicle; registration encouraged  More info purina.com/about-purina/purina-farms/events

Celebrate spring with dozens of baby animals, adoptable pets and the Incredible Dog Team. Purina Farms annual Springtime Village event will feature inflatables, magic shows, carnival games and an egg scavenger hunt wagon ride. Guests can also meet costumed characters and pose with Peter Rabbit. Babaloo will perform live music on April 15, and Rusty Pliers gives a puppet show on April 16. Bring your own dog April 16 for a Sniff N Search event ($25). By Valerie Schremp Hahn

 SATURDAY 

The Great Mushroom Hunt

When 10 a.m.-3 p.m. April 16  Where Raging Rivers Waterpark, 100 Palisades Parkway, Grafton  How much $15.99, $49.99 for four in advance; $24.99 each on April 16  More info 618-786-2345; ragingrivers.com

The pools and slides are closed for now at Raging Rivers, but the water park hosts its second annual Great Mushroom Hunt this weekend. Hunters of all ages are invited to search for morels while hiking on marked trails behind the park, looking for eagles and even watching for Bigfoot. An Easter egg hunt for kids starts at 10:30 a.m. Food trucks, kids activities, vendors and more will be on site. By Valerie Schremp Hahn

Ana Vidovic

When 8 p.m. April 16  Where The Ethical Society, 9001 Clayton Road  How much $34-$39  More info 314-567-5566; stlouisclassicalguitar.org

Award-winning classical guitarist Ana Vidovic has been playing guitar since age 5. At 7, she gave her first public performance and at 11 was performing internationally. A native of Karlovac, Croatia, she has released six albums and two DVDs and has performed all over the world. Videos of her performances have racked up millions of views on YouTube. Her live St. Louis Classical Guitar performance at the Ethical Society will also be available for online viewing April 22-25. By Daniel Durchholz

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

When 7:30 p.m. April 16  Where Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 8001 Natural Bridge Road  How much $40-$69  More info metrotix.com

Dance St. Louis presents the all-male comic dance company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. In a review of a 2016 performance at New Yorks Joyce Theater, the New York Times noted that while you laugh at their demented antics, you find yourself watching them with a special tenderness. Youre on their side. By Calvin Wilson

 TUESDAY 

Dana Levin

When 7 p.m. April 19  Where facebook.com/leftbankbooks.stl  How much Free  More info left-bank.com

Dana Levin, distinguished writer-in-residence at Maryville University, discusses her new poetry collection with two other poets, Diane Seuss and Jane Huffman. Levin said in an interview with the New England Review that Now Do You Know Where You Are, her fifth book, is the most engaged with our present moment in history, and with the people and places in my life. Its a chronicle of dis/orientation: personal and collective, psychological and political. By Jane Henderson

 WEDNESDAY 

Moonchild, Sofiya Ballin, Austin Antoine

When 8 p.m. April 20  Where Old Rock House, 1200 South Seventh Street  How much $22  More info etix.com

Alternative R&B band Moonchild, one of the coolest acts you may not be familiar with, returns to Old Rock House in support of Starfruit. The new album includes guest features by Lalah Hathaway, Alex Isley, Tank and the Bangas, Rapsody and others. By Kevin C. Johnson

Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams

When 8 p.m. April 20  Where The Factory, 17105 North Outer 40 Road, Chesterfield  How much Sold out  More info ticketmaster.com

Olivia Rodrigo is arguably, if not certainly, the past years top new music sensation on the strength of her debut album, Sour. The blockbuster album yielded a number of hits including Drivers License, Good 4 You and Deja Vu that helped make way for her Sour tour. The show at the Factory was a quick sellout. By Kevin C. Johnson

 THURSDAY 

Remembering Montez Coleman

When 7:30 p.m. April 21  Where Ferring Jazz Bistro, 3536 Washington Boulevard  How much $16-$21  More info jazzstl.org

East St. Louis jazz drummer Montez Coleman left us too soon this year after an admirable career that included recording and touring with Roy Hargrove and his membership in elite jazz circles in New York City. Coleman will be celebrated at Jazz St. Louis Ferring Jazz Bistro with a tribute featuring Adam Maness, Bob DeBoo, Eric Slaughter, Jason Swagler, Adaron Pops Jackson, Zeb Briskovich, Kendrick Smith, Danny Campbell, Bernard Terry, Demarius Hicks, Miles Vandiver, Matthew Henry and others. By Kevin C. Johnson

Variety Unbound: An Evening of Empowerment

When Reception at 6 p.m. April 21, dinner at 7 p.m.  Where The Factory, 17105 North Outer 40 Road, Chesterfield  How much $300 for two seats; dinner patron packages available  More info varietystl.org/events/unbound

Ali Stroker hosts Variety Unbound, a fundraiser for Variety St. Louis. Stroker, who uses a wheelchair, won the 2019 Tony Award for best featured actress in a musical for her performance in Oklahoma! She also appeared in Deaf West Theatres Broadway revival of Spring Awakening. There will also be a performance by the Variety Kids. By Calvin Wilson

Theresa Brown

When 7 p.m. April 21  Where St. Louis County Library, 1640 South Lindbergh Boulevard  How much Free  More info 314-994-3300; slcl.org

Theresa Brown, a nurse with experience in oncology, learns much more when she herself is diagnosed with breast cancer. In her memoir, Healing: When a Nurse Becomes a Patient, Brown says she was surprised as a patient by the lack of compassion in the medical maze, but she worries that complainers often receive worse care. She also realized what she could have done better as a nurse herself when treating others. Brown, who also wrote The Shift, will discuss her new book. By Jane Henderson
North Korea is marking a key state anniversary with calls for stronger loyalty to leader Kim Jong Un. However, there was no word on an expected military parade Friday to display new weapons amid heightened animosities with the United States. The 110th birth anniversary of Kims late grandfather and state founder Kim Il Sung comes after North Korea conducted a spate of weapons tests in recent months, including its first full-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017. Experts say North Korea aims to expand its arsenal and ramp up pressure on the United States while nuclear diplomacy is stalled. There were indications Pyongyang could soon launch fresh provocations like an additional missile test, a rocket to launch a spy satellite or even a nuclear bomb test.
As the nine girls and women at the Sew Hope community sewing room in Florissant sat at sewing machines and practiced sewing straight lines on pieces of white paper, Kacie Starr Long offered some simple words of advice.

What happens if I get way off? one girl asked.

What happens if I get way off? Long repeated. I move back on the dotted line.

Long, 41, knows the importance of community, of second chances, of helping others move along a straight path.

In early March, the former St. Louis alderman opened Sew Hope. The bright, cheery space, nestled in the Florissant Meadows shopping center next to a state license office and a Mexican restaurant, offers sewing classes, social sewing sessions, fabric and notions for sale, and alterations and repairs.

This summer, it plans to offer sewing therapy groups for men and women transitioning out of prison and jail, and eventually it wants to offer sewing job training for those who want to supplement their income or start a career.

Her own path here wasnt exactly easy. In 2014, an investigation from the Missouri Ethics Commission showed that as Ward 6 alderman, Long, then known by her maiden name of Kacie Starr Triplett, spent as much as $18,900 of campaign cash on personal expenses, including student loans, new clothes, items from a fabric store and spa services.

She avoided charges by making restitution. She apologized at the time, cooperated with investigators, and says that she had poor judgment.

I dont mind talking about it, but because that happened, it really shapes the work that I do right now, she said. I know what its like to make a mistake and need a second chance. I know what its like to have a scandal and you need a second chance. Amazing things happen when people start sewing.

She said Sew Hope is like a barber shop or beauty shop  you come to get your hair done, but you also get community. She motioned toward two women in the back of the sewing room, sitting on a couch and talking softly to each other. I guarantee you they are having a heart-to-heart. Its just what happens here.

Longs great-grandmother and grandmother sewed, and when her grandmother became ill and died about 14 years ago, Long realized that the gift of sewing in her family would die as well. She took private lessons in a womans home and sewing classes with other adults and kids at Hancock Fabrics store.

After she lost her job as alderman she found it hard to find employment. I really grew closer to my relationship with God, she said. I didnt really have anything else to fall back on. I started sewing. It seemed like that was a door that was open.

As she made outfits and items of clothing for herself, shed post the results on social media and people asked if she could teach them or make items for them.

As she looked for help and resources, she stumbled across City Sewing Room in south St. Louis. She brought her work there, met with customers there, and connected with other instructors and makers. She found a mentor in City Sewing Room owner Anne Stirnemann. Long lamented that the commute from her home in Florissant was getting tiresome, and that north St. Louis County needed a similar community space. Stirnemann offered to help. She gave Long carloads of donated fabric and notions and donates money monthly for operations.

She is very capable of doing anything, and she has a very good heart. Shell follow through, Stirnemann said of Long. The two share instructors and consider the centers sister locations.

Stirnemann also says Long shares the same philosophy as City Sewing Room  that sewing, like quilting bees of long ago, werent just a way for people to make quilts. It was for women to come together and share their lives. Shes good at that up there.

In 2015, Long married minister Alfred T. Long Sr. Together they are pastors at Influence Church in St. Louis. They run Jacob's Ladder Ministries, which conducts church services and mentoring programs in jails and prisons.

In 2020, they started sewing therapy groups that got upended by the pandemic; they got a grant to start them again this summer.

To open Sew Hope, volunteers donated their skills to build sewing tables, people donated machines, and students at the Stevens Institute of Business and Arts came up with a floor layout. I will just say God has provided, said Long. That has just been a blessing.

A sign above the door on the shopping center facade simply says Sewing. Long chose that on purpose instead of the name Sew Hope, so people would come in to ask what they do. Do they do alterations? Yes. Do they do classes? Also yes. Do they sell fabric and notions? Yes. Can you just drop in? Yes.

Reception has been enthusiastic.

Weve needed something like this in Florissant and in North County, said Susan Geerling, 64, a longtime sewer who attended the introductory sewing class with her granddaughter, Gemma, 6. Its kind of a no mans land as far as anything to do with sewing. This is just amazing.

Zuri Reddick, 9, joined the class because she and her best friend have big fashion dreams. Me and my best friend are going to make a company, and were going to do great because we both really love fashion, said Zuri, after the class moved on from stitching lines on paper to stitching with actual thread on pieces of scrap fabric.

Annie Chambers, 74, of Florissant, joined the introductory class as a beginner. I bought a sewing machine 55 years ago, she told the group upon introducing herself. And now I am going to become proficient, starting at the first stitch.

The group applauded.

Because at Sew Hope, its not too late to start again.

Sew Hope community sewing room Where  630 North Highway 67, Florissant  When  Noon to 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday; open only for classes Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday How much  Monthly membership $99, drop-in sewing $15 an hour, class prices vary More info  sewhopestl.com; 314-324-7248

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ST. LOUIS  St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Carlos F. Hurd and his wife, Katherine, left New York harbor on April 11, 1912, for a two-month holiday in Europe. Four days later, he woke up amidst one of the most stunning events of the 20th century.

The Hurds were aboard the S.S. Carpathia, bound for Italy. At 5:40 a.m. on April 15, Carlos Hurd went topside to inquire about the commotion. A crewman, motioning to shivering newcomers, told him, "From the Titanic. She's at the bottom of the ocean."

Four days out of Southampton, England, the pride of the White Star Line had struck an iceberg at 11:45 p.m. April 14 while on its inaugural run to New York. The Carpathia heard a distress call and reached the scene at 5:30 a.m., three hours after the Titanic went down with 1,503 passengers and crew. The Carpathia rescued 706 survivors.

Hurd interviewed many of them, including a ship's officer who was at the helm when it struck ice. His 5,000-word report scooped the world on April 19 in the Post-Dispatch and the New York World, the Pulitzer newspaper in that city.

The sinking of the Titanic. Here are seldom-seen photos of the rescue On April 14, 1912, the British liner RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 11:40 p.m. ship's time and began sinking. (

How he filed his dispatch is legend in the newspaper trade. The Carpathia's captain had refused to accept Morse code "wireless" transmissions from reporters, or accommodate Hurd. As the ship steamed into New York harbor, a tug sent by publisher Joseph Pulitzer drew alongside. Hurd had to evade the crew to toss his package, which he had tied to a buoy.

It got entangled on a Carpathia guy line. A sailor, urged on by passengers, grabbed the package and returned it to Hurd, who dropped it to the Post-Dispatch's New York bureau chief on the tug.

The stories filled four pages in Sunday's Post-Dispatch. An accompanying article by Katherine Hurd ran under the headline, "Stories of Women who Survived Titanic."

Hurd, then 36, had been with the Post-Dispatch for 14 years. He and Katherine lived at 5577 Cabanne Avenue with their children. In 1917, Hurd wrote a gripping account of the race riot in East St. Louis. He covered politics, Veiled Prophet balls and the world wars.

Katherine Hurd died in 1928. Carlos remarried, worked nearly 50 years at the newspaper and died in 1950 at age 73. One of his last assignments was writing a regular feature, "The Old Days."

Read more stories from Tim O'Neil's Look Back series.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a poison pill defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musks proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private.

The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders  except for Musk  to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musk's stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition.

Twitters plan would take effect if Musks roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

The poison pill injects another twist into a melodrama surrounding the possibility of the worlds richest person taking over a social media platform he described Thursday as the world's de facto town square.

Twitter said its plan would reduce the likelihood that any one person can gain control of the company without either paying shareholders a premium or giving the board more time to evaluate an offer. Such defenses, formally called shareholder rights plans, are used to prevent the hostile takeover of a corporation by making any acquisition prohibitively expensive for the bidder.

Even if it discourages his takeover attempt, Musk could still take over the company by waging a "proxy fight" in which shareholders vote to retain or dismiss the company's current directors. Twitter said its plan doesnt prevent the board from negotiating or accepting an acquisition proposal if its in the companys best interests.

Theyre gearing up for a battle here with Musk," said Daniel Ives, an analyst for Wedbush Securities. They also have to give themselves time to try to find another potential buyer."

Musk has offered to buy the company outright for more than $43 billion, saying it needs to be transformed as a private company in order to build trust with its users and do better at serving what he calls the societal imperative of free speech.

Having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization," he said during an onstage interview at a TED event Thursday, just hours after his bid was announced.

With about 82 million Twitter followers, Musk is both a prolific user of the platform and a vocal critic of the measures it has taken to restrict accounts that spread misinformation or amplify violent rhetoric and hate speech. He said Thursday he's opposed to permanent user bans  the most famous of which is Twitter's suspension of former President Donald Trump's account after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Musk revealed in recent regulatory filings that hed been buying Twitter shares in almost daily batches starting Jan. 31, ending up with a stake of about 9%. Only Vanguard Group controls more Twitter shares. A lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York federal court alleged that Musk illegally delayed disclosing his stake in the social media company so he could buy more shares at lower prices.

After Musk announced his stake, Twitter quickly offered him a seat on its board on the condition that he would limit his purchases to no more than 14.9% of the companys outstanding stock. But the company said five days later that Musk had declined.

Ives said Twitter's poison pill path is a predictable defensive maneuver but could be seen as a sign of weakness for the company on Wall Street.

Musk could try to fight the measure in court, but no court has overturned a poison pill in the last 30 years," said Columbia University law professor John Coffee. Rallying shareholders to kick out the board might be more doable but also presents challenges to Musk, Coffee said.

Musks offer already faced resistance before Twitter threw its Friday counterpunch.

A Saudi prince who is among Twitters major shareholders scoffed at Musks offer in a Thursday tweet. Al Waleed bin Talal said he would reject Musks overtures because he didnt believe $43 billion comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter, given its growth prospects. The prince punctuated the tweet with another one from 2015 disclosing his Kingdom Company had raised its stake in Twitter to 5.2% -- about half of what Musk now holds.

While Musks $54.20-per-share offer is nearly 40% greater than Twitters stock price before he disclosed his huge investment, its still far below the peak closing price of $77.63 reached less than 14 months ago. At that time, Twitter was valued at about $62 billion.

Musk responded to the prince with a tweet asking how many Twitter shares he holds and then made what may have been a veiled reference to the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi that was tied to Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. What are the Kingdoms views on journalistic freedom of speech? Musk asked in a Thursday tweet.

In a sign that investors are skeptical about Musks offer, Twitters stock fell in the first day of trading after the takeover bid was announced Thursday -- exactly the opposite of what an approving market reaction looks like. The stock markets were closed Friday for the Good Friday holiday. Twitter said it plans to disclose more details of its shareholder plan in an upcoming regulatory filing.

Another outspoken billionaire, Dallas Mavericks owner and tech investor Mark Cuban, weighed in on Twitter to share his theory that Musk is making his bid to goose the companys stock price so he can sell his stake at a profit. Using a profane term, Cuban also postulated Musk is using the bid to torment the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock market regulatory agency that fined Musk $20 million in 2018 after he tweeted about a potential buyout of Tesla that never materialized.

In Thursday's TED event, Musk made it clear he is still incensed with the SEC and cursed the regulators with a profanity.



AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Ramon, California contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
ST. LOUIS  The former downtown nightspot Reign left its Washington Avenue building with torn out or destroyed cabinets, freezers, coolers, toilets, ovens, doors and gas fireplaces, among other items, after it was evicted last year, its landlord alleges in a lawsuit.

A motion filed this week by the landlord asks a judge to order Reign and its owner, Dana Kelly, to pay at least $387,000 in interest and damages.

Kelly has refused and failed to pay her obligations due, the filing says.

Neither Kelly nor an attorney for Reigns landlord responded to multiple requests for comment.

The filings are the latest in a long dispute about the former restaurant at 1122 Washington Avenue, which drew scrutiny just weeks after it opened for flouting pandemic rules in August 2020. Masking and social distancing violations and complaints from neighbors kept Reign in the news for months.

Then, in August 2021, four people were shot near the venue in a two-week period. City officials and nearby business owners said Reign was exacerbating violence and driving away customers. The preceding year had been especially violent, officials said. Nighttime gunfire struck buildings, broke windows and injured people. Multiple large employers even said they were considering moving their offices out of the business district.

Kelly and her attorney, however, said she was being scapegoated for problems that plagued downtown for years because she is Black and attracted a primarily Black clientele.

Officials then moved to suspend Reigns liquor license, and on Oct. 1, City Hall called Reign a threat to public safety and ordered it shuttered for a year. Later that month, a St. Louis judge ordered Reign to leave the building.

In November, Reigns landlord, Copia Acquisition, filed suit accusing Reign and Kelly of violating the lease. Reign then owed more than $203,000 in rent, the suit said. Moreover, at some point after Reign was forced to shutter, the suit said, countless fixtures and appliances had been damaged, destroyed or simply torn out and taken.

The damages included a range hood torn off the wall, doors pulled off their hinges, gas fireplace inserts pulled out and removed, and plumbing and piping cut or broken, according to the lawsuit and accompanying photos.

Costs to repair or replace the items, the suit said, could exceed $240,000.

Kelly asked in January for more time to hire an attorney and respond to the allegations. But she didnt, the suit said, and, on Thursday, Copia asked a judge to rule in its favor. A hearing on that motion is set for May 16.

Its unclear if the $387,000 requested in Thursdays filing includes the unpaid rent or just covers damages and interest.

Reign is also facing a previous lawsuit from Copia from 2020 in which the landlord asked for at least $137,625 in unpaid rent. That case is set for trial April 26.

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ST. LOUIS  Police on Friday released the name of the man killed after he collided with a box truck in the Clayton-Tamm neighborhood of St. Louis while riding an electric bicycle.

Jason Kohner, 51, of the 1500 block of Tamm Avenue died at the scene of the crash Thursday morning.

Police said Kohner was riding an electric bicycle south on Tamm Avenue at the Manchester Avenue intersection when a box truck heading west on Manchester collided with the bike.

Kohner ended up about 130 feet from the intersection, police said. He was wearing a helmet, knee pads and gloves.

Officers said the driver of the truck, a 37-year-old man, is cooperating with the investigation.
ST. LOUIS  Prosecutors refused to file first-degree murder charges against an 18-year-old man arrested in connection to a mans death in November, police said Thursday.

Jerome Taylor, 50, of the 4200 block of North 20th Street, was killed around 5:45 p.m. Nov. 15 as he investigated the sound of gunshots at an apartment complex in the 1400 block of Hickory Lane, police said.

On Tuesday police arrested an 18-year-old on suspicion of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.

The police department on Thursday issued a statement that the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office had declined to file charges, citing a lack of evidence.

However, the case remains under investigation, a spokeswoman for the circuit attorney said, and charges could be filed in the future.

According to police records, the prosecutors office has refused to file charges in four homicides this year to date.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY  Three St. Louis-area men are facing charges in what authorities have described as a justified killing in January during a home invasion in Glasgow Village.

Prosecutors on Wednesday filed felony murder and other charges against Marlando M. Perry of Breckenridge Hills and Reginald K. Washington of St. Louis, both 19; and Bryan K. Zukeran Jr., 20, of Florissant, in a fatal shooting resulting from a home invasion Jan. 11 in the Glasgow Village area of St. Louis County.

Their alleged accomplice, Shabria Furlow, 23, was killed during the alleged burglary in the 300 block of Lancashire Road in unincorporated St. Louis County.

The man who killed Furlow shot her in self-defense during an attempted home invasion about 3:20 a.m., authorities said. Furlow, of Bridgeton, was among four who tried to rob an acquaintance who had been visiting the home on Lancashire.

Two of the three men with Furlow had guns, authorities said. Charges said shots were fired into the home and that surveillance video showed gunmen running away after the shooting. Court documents said police found "messages discussing burglarizing the residence" and phone records placing Washington and Zukeran at the crime scene. Police said Perry discussed the break-in in messages with Washington and Zukeran and was present "at the time the incident occurred."

After the shooting, detectives questioned the man who killed Furlow, police said. He was cooperative.

Under Missouris self-defense law, known as the Castle Doctrine, people who encounter an intruder in their homes are given more leeway in using deadly force.

Furlow, who went by the nickname Bria, lived in the 3900 block of Brittany Circle Drive in Bridgeton. A relative told the Post-Dispatch in January that she had two children.

Bail for each of the three defendants was set at $500,000 cash-only.

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ST. LOUIS  One morning at Hillvale Apartments, Tynnette Turner was up in her second-story unit, braiding her sisters hair at the dining room table when a loud pop came from below. A sofa pillow near her 6-year-old daughter puffed up right at the same time, hit by a bullet.

I dont know if my kids were too loud, if they were bouncing, said Turner, 38. The gunshot came through the floor.

Turner said police responded more quickly than the two times shes been burglarized at Hillvale, a federally subsidized complex in northwest St. Louis thats about to be refurbished with the help of millions of dollars in tax incentives. She said the tenant below was evicted and later showed up on the news for an unrelated incident.

I like my apartment, but you know, its just the people, she said.

Then, as she looked past the bullet hole in the living room floor, more reality surfaced. The kitchen ceiling was partially fallen in from an old leak on the third level. Thick mold lined the shower. A towel was tightly tied around a pipe in the water heater closet.

Though a November fire spread from a condemned unit in a different area of the 146-unit complex, spurring people to jump or be tossed from windows, there was only one working smoke alarm in Turners 3-bedroom apartment. Smoke alarms in communal hallways didnt work either. Stairs led to a dank basement littered with trash and scat. Too many vagrants down there. Laundry is no longer available at Hillvale.

Its going to get better, said Turner, who had heart surgery four years ago. I always tell myself that.

A $34 million effort to overhaul Hillvale is supposed to start taking shape later this year. Including acquisition costs, thats more than $230,000 a unit. A raft of federal, state and local assistance is being lined up for affiliates of Denver-based Steele Properties, which is in the process of buying the complex from current private ownership before redeveloping it. According to city records, incentives in the deal will include a tax-exempt bond up to $15.5 million, $15.7 million in low-income housing tax credits, or LIHTC funds, and $2.5 million from local and national housing trust funds. The citys Industrial Development Authority is expected to consider final approval of the bonds at its next meeting on May 12.

This is what we do nationwide, Justin Unger, development manager at Steele, said by telephone. If you dont have that allocation of resources, theres really no way to get funding needed to successfully turn around a project like Hillvale.

There will be $12.2 million in work done to the 11-building complex at 5830 Selber Court, including the addition of a community building, according to Unger and a proposal on file with the state from Roanoke Construction, a local firm. Thats an average of $84,000 of work per apartment. Unger said each unit would be redone on a rolling basis that should take about two weeks each. He said a guard shack would be provided, at least during construction.

Expanding affordable housing is critical for St. Louis working families, Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said in a press release in late December, announcing plans to renovate Hillvale and six other complexes. Addressing root causes of crime like housing instability will make St. Louis safer, and the resources my administration has procured will help increase the availability of affordable housing in our city.

Jones, celebrating her first year in office, campaigned on a promise to bring development dollars into north St. Louis, to share some of the wealth that has been splurged on the central corridor. But others doubted redoing Hillvale would be sustainable unless there are dramatic changes in crime, quality of life and opportunity in an area particularly slammed by disinvestment and dysfunction.

Jones held her victory party just down Goodfellow Boulevard from Hillvale, at a former United Auto Workers union hall now called the Omega Center. From 1954 to 1981, Chevrolet manufactured 700,000 Corvettes and other vehicles near Union Boulevard and Natural Bridge Avenue. Before GM moved to Kentucky for better incentives, the massive plant was a source of pride that directly and indirectly supported middle-class African American families for years, such as those at Hillvale, built in 1967.

A decade after the complex opened, a headline signaled struggles ahead: Watchman Shoots Youth In Apartment Burglary. Only today, there arent watchmen. Firearms and wild gunshots are part of the cadence of life.

What we are seeing in the Hillvales of the world is the trickle-down of these larger economic forces that are moving jobs, investing in public infrastructure in the suburban fringe, said John Hickey, who organized Hillvale tenants in the late 1980s when the complex was part of a national debate on fighting homelessness.

Look at rural Missouri, he added. Its not like north city is the only loser. As you disinvest, you get more social problems.

The latest city nuisance notice to Hillvale ticks off a host of violent offenses, disturbances and unruly behavior. Residents and others familiar with the complex say police dont seem to show up anymore unless somebody is shot or lying dead on the ground. Since 2019, there have been more than 1,400 emergency calls for service logged with police from the area.

In an interview, Paul Dribin, a consultant and former multifamily housing director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in St. Louis, described the plan to renovate Hillvale as putting good money after bad.

In an ideal world with Hillvale, you would be better off demolishing it, or building a new project in a better location, he said. Or, he said, give people vouchers or direct cash payments to spend on rent wherever they want.

LIHTC, the state and federal tax credit program, has its critics, but he said he wasnt making a judgment on the program.

If the goal is just improve housing for people, its OK. Its expensive, he said. But if the goal is to improve communities and get people out of poverty, there are better ways to do that. At a minimum, you need to address health care and education and crime. It has to be a holistic kind of thing.

The redevelopment is supposed to include social service programs.

Social service programs often dont do anything, said Dribin. Its often a lot of talk. Its rhetoric.

When an affiliate of New Jersey-based Treetop Companies purchased Hillvale in 2015, the firm vowed to upgrade building systems, modernize grounds, renovate apartments and add social service programs.

Although current ownership has made significant investments into improving the property, the upcoming extensive rehabilitation will elevate the property to a new level and preserve the affordability for the long term, so that Hillvale can continue to provide quality subsidized housing to low-income tenants, Abe Derhy, director of affordable housing for Treetop, said by email.

Treetop, which plans to turn over the property to Steele this summer, said Treetop invested about $2 million into the complex over the past seven years, including for new roofs, HVAC systems, parking lot repairs, flooring, appliances, hot water heaters, windows, main line plumbing and a new surveillance camera system. Asked about social service programs, he didnt name any. Tenants confirmed none existed.

Tenants told stories about stolen air conditioners that took months or years to replace, if they were replaced at all. With gunshots being the norm, potholes, trash, broken smoke alarms and door locks werent as concerning as inconsistent mail service, sewage backups and infestations. There have been more than 200 official complaints to the citys Citizens Service Bureau in the past decade, mainly for plumbing issues, roaches, bedbugs and mice.

Challenges go beyond the surrounding property line. The Killer Mobil is the nearest gas station, despite official name changes. Just past the site of the old Goody Goody Diner on Natural Bridge, where the Thunderbird Drive-In used to be, Budget Inn charges by the week, day, hour.

One section of the hotel, burned by fire, hasnt been refurbished. City code enforcement officials pulled into the parking lot the other day to make sure each room had a working smoke detector. The owner didnt show for the planned inspection. The owner didnt respond to requests for comment from the Post-Dispatch.

Whats more, the city is using a large lot across the street  right next to Hillvale  as a temporary dumpsite for alley refuse and logs. During Mayor Lyda Krewsons administration, the city used the same lot as a staging area to sort bricks from demolished houses.

We already had a problem with mice, and its making it worse, said Wanda Rogers, 51, a long-time Hillvale resident. They should have asked us what we felt about it instead of just doing it.

A small group of houses hunker on top of a hill behind Hillvale. Cut off by railroad tracks, there is one way in and one way out on Hamilton Avenue, which, like a country road, is flooded in a low-lying area. Don McClendon, 49, a trucker and cook, has been living up there since July.

They need security, he said of Hillvale. They are playing Grand Theft Auto in the street.

He has four children but wont let them play at nearby Barrett Brothers Park. While orange city trucks hauled rubbish from the nearby lot, others had dumped trash along the ditches. The wind blew it all around. A large tree was still laying across much of McClendons street since it fell from the yard of a vacant lot a few weeks ago.

They give me all kinds of runaround, he said of contacting the city. This neighborhood is (messed) up.

Bella the cat

Gabby Lang, 22, is never going to forget her first apartment.

Gaps between the floors and walls of the ground-floor unit. Boarded bedroom windows. An orange extension cord ran from the living room to the refrigerator because kitchen outlets didnt work. The sink had been clogged for months.

They dont come and fix nothing, she said of Hillvale.

Her skinny kitty, Bella, is a mouser, but nowhere hungry enough.

When I turn on the heat, you smell dead mice in the vents, said Alphonso Lang, Gabbys uncle, who also lives there. Thats why I dont turn on the furnace. That is why we have these little heaters.

Gabby doesnt want her two children to stay at the apartment. Apart from the unsanitary conditions, she said, she was robbed inside her home at gunpoint not long ago. She said she reported the incident to police. She said there was no follow-up, no arrests.

I dont have anywhere to go, she said. I am trying to move. I am trying to find another place so my kids and me can be together.

Hillvale management told the Post-Dispatch that a new unit had been located for the Langs but maintenance was waiting for a new countertop to come in.

Records show that owners were getting $828 a month for 2-bedroom apartments and $1,016 a month for 3-bedroom apartments in 2020. Thats because nearly all units at Hillvale have been covered by a Project Based Section 8 Housing Assistance Payments (HAP) Contract for years.

Depending on income, tenants pay a sliding scale of the rent and HUD pays the rest. Turner, who is on disability, said she pays about $130 a month. Lang, and others, dont pay rent. They are paid to live there because they qualify for monthly utility assistance checks distributed through the front office.

Over time, various Hillvale owners have received millions of dollars through HAP contracts and subsidized mortgages. HUD paid current owners $8.4 million in direct rental subsidies between 2016 and 2021, an average of $1.4 million a year.

Dribin, the former HUD official, said HAP contracts are often sought after.

Its like gold for developers because they buy the building, make a lot money on fees developing it, and they have guaranteed rents, he said. HUD can cancel the contracts, but he said doing so would risk putting people in the street.

The buck

Jesus!

Thats what 22nd Ward Alderman Jeffrey Boyd said when told by a reporter about the rents.

He said Hillvale has been struggling since he started representing the area in 2003. He and a state representative wrote letters of support for the LIHTC credits that have been approved for the redevelopment, but he was floored by what is already being paid.

Right now, you could not pay me to live in Hillvale, he said.

He said the over-concentration of poverty in one complex is part of the problem, an issue the Missouri Housing Development Commission  the state entity that awards low-income housing tax credits  weighed after the police shooting of Michael Brown in an area of Ferguson where hundreds of tenants have to be poor to live there.

When these people have social and economic challenges, they just live day to day, Boyd said.

But that doesnt always equate to poor living conditions, no social programs or working laundry. Boyd blamed HUD for letting things get out of hand at Hillvale.

Regional spokesman Brian Handshy said HUD is the final authority for the units covered by the HAP Contract, but that HUD hired MHDC to act on its behalf, including payment of rental subsidy requests from the owner and monitoring performance.

MHDC will make sure it meets all the requirements, Handshy said.

The most recent MHDC management and occupancy performance report on Hillvale was dated Oct. 3, 2018, according to documents provided through an open records request. The 14-page report rated the complex below average. Among the allegations: many health and safety issues, including litter and exposed wires throughout, 90 stolen or damaged air conditioners, lack of follow-up on previously noted deficiencies and possible HUD assistance overpayments.

The last physical inspection report of the units and buildings was done June 18, 2019. According to a copy of the report, Hillvale scored 93 out of 100 points. An unnamed inspector, certified by HUD, sampled 17% of the units. HUD confirmed that it reviews the sampled results.

While both MHDC and HUD are involved with oversight of Hillvale, Boyd pointed at HUD.

HUD is failing the tenants and the project. You have to do annual inspections because deferred maintenance could cost you more in the long run, he said. They cant pass the buck. They are responsible.

His optimism for the redevelopment seemed tempered.

If management doesnt stay on top of things  maintenance and problem tenants  then its going to circle back around and be a place of chaos in five years, he said.

Sin vs. Little Warriors

Hillvale is supposed to provide stable housing for poor folks, but at least one recent resident traded her space for a homeless shelter.

I had to take a leap of faith, said Tara Haley, 30. I had to get out of there.

She showed pictures of a clean apartment. Look closer and mice droppings lined the edge of a new mattress. Two glue traps had seven mice stuck to them. A video revealed the discovery of a nest of hairless baby mice in a box of shoes.

Watch now: Hillvale Apartments mice infestation Tara Haley said she kept a clean home but a mice infestation helped motivate her to move out of Hillvale Apartments last fall, into a homeless

While living there, Haley said, both her young son and daughter broke out with skin infections. Her daughter, 1-year-old at the time, had a severe case, according to a photo. She was treated at St. Louis Childrens Hospital.

Haley said she told doctors about the situation at home.

They said the mice could be nipping on her, the mother recalled.

Last fall, she said, she checked into Gateway 180, a shelter for homeless families. Now she rents a home in Baden and recently started a job at a gas station. She still returns to her old neighborhood to drop her children off at Little Warriors Academy, a day care across the street from Hillvale.

Theres a bullet hole in the front door.

The kids know to get down, said Tess Trice, 50, who runs Little Warriors with her grown daughters.

She said she felt called by God to open her business there.

These kids deserve an opportunity just like the kids in Ladue, she said. We are really trying to get them kindergarten-ready. They are sponges right now.

In addition to gunfire coming from Hillvale, there have been other challenges to her mission, particularly a burglar with the street name Sin. She showed photos and video surveillance of the man from a Jan. 31, 2019 incident. First you see an arm reaching through a window, toward a backdoor handle to gain entry.

He took food that day, she said. He went straight to the kitchen.

She said he kept breaking in, not only stealing food but electronics and other items. She said police came multiple times. She said officers ultimately told her to shoot him.

Instead, Trice tracked him down, through her own research. She said he frequented Hillvale but was staying with a relative at a different complex across the street.

He would stay anywhere he could lay his head, she said of the homeless man.

One day, she and her daughters knocked on the door to confront Sin, to explain the burden he was causing.

He denied it all the way until I gave him a hug, she said.

Police told her it was a risky move, even if she had a gun. But she said Sin hasnt broken in since. Little Warriors is thriving.

Originally posted at noon Friday, April 15.

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ST. LOUIS  Alderman Sarah Wood Martin, who has represented the 11th Ward in the Carondelet area since 2017, is resigning, citing concern over new conflict-of-interest rules passed recently by city voters.

Martin said in an interview that she worries that her work as a paid lobbyist for various clients before the Missouri Legislature somehow could be interpreted as running afoul of the new city regulations.

Those regulations are included in Proposition R, a city charter amendment enacted at the April 5 election.

As a working mom who cares deeply about the example I set for my kids, I will not abandon my career or be forced out of my profession, she said in a letter Friday to Aldermanic President Lewis Reed.

Martins resignation is effective Monday. Gary Stoff, a city Election Board official, said a special election would be held in July to pick someone to fill the remainder of Martins term, which ends next April.

The new conflict-of-interest rules say an alderman shall not represent anyone for a fee before St. Louis city agencies but do not include a similar ban regarding lobbying work before the Legislature.

However, Martin in an interview said, I dont want to risk making a wrong move.

Another part of the proposition prohibits an alderman from voting or taking other action that might result in a personal or financial benefit for the alderman or his or her relatives, such as a spouse, a child or a cousin.

She said she is concerned that someone could interpret that to keep her from working as an alderman on measures affecting city employees because her husband, former state Sen. Jake Hummel, is president of the state AFL-CIO. Unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO represent many city employees.

Martin, 37, said she already had announced she wouldnt seek another term as alderman next April when the number of city wards is cut to 14 from 28.

A ward redistricting and reduction plan passed by aldermen in December put Martin in the same new ward with two other aldermen, Anne Schweitzer and Bill Stephens.

Martin is the second alderman to resign this year, following Heather Navarro of the 28th Ward, who left in January. Martin and Navarro are Democrats.

Voters in the ward, which includes part of the Central West End, will choose a successor in a special election Tuesday.

The candidates are Democrat Michael Gras, a lawyer and the wards Democratic committeeman, and Republican Taunia Allen Mason, a freelance video producer and a city Port Authority board member.

Among Martins current lobbying clients in the state Capitol are Simmons Hanly Conroy, a law firm known for representing people affected by asbestos-related illnesses.

In 2017, she registered as a lobbyist in Jefferson City for Axon, which markets police body camera equipment, shortly after a city board approved a trial program with Axon.

She said at the time that she would abstain from voting on any city bill dealing with Axon. The city later backed out of the trial deal and eventually bought body cameras from another company. Martin says she has had a similar abstention policy regarding other clients.

Posted at 3:30 p.m. Friday, April 15.

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ST. LOUIS  A revised bill channeling $37 million in federal pandemic aid to revive businesses along 10 major north St. Louis streets won preliminary approval Thursday from the Board of Aldermen.

The board endorsed the bill, 25-0, after aldermen and board president Lewis Reed agreed to changes worked out in advance with Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green. The mayor vetoed an earlier version last summer.

Also Thursday, Black aldermen convinced the full board to revise a previously endorsed $87 million capital improvements bill to shift $7.6 million to several North Side street projects from three major bridge replacements planned for the citys central corridor.

The two spending bills are both now expected to gain final passage Monday at the last meeting of the boards 2021-22 session.

Regarding the $37 million business aid bill, Reed, the sponsor, said in a statement that our residents deserve the safety, stability and access to opportunities these funds will provide.

A spokesman for Jones said the mayor supports the revised bill and an aide to Green said she is glad to see it move forward.

The measure allows businesses and nonprofits to apply for grants funding expansion or community services, which Reed and other supporters say is sorely needed in an area of the city that has seen disinvestment for decades.

Grants also would be available for a portion of the costs to rehab commercial storefronts and other property along 10 North Side streets.

Alderman Sharon Tyus, 1st Ward, played a key role in crafting the amendments after Jones and Green sought changes to the bill at a meeting last month of the citys top fiscal body  the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.

Were right now at a crunch, and we want to get this money spent, Tyus told fellow aldermen Thursday about the need to advance the bill.

One change will require the city to devise applications for grants by June 1 so the process can begin then; it also will allow city libraries to assist people in submitting digital or paper applications.

Another will route the money for legal reasons through the city Community Development Administration before going to the St. Louis Development Corp., which would oversee the program.

In another change, any grant or project in a ward would have to win the approval of the wards alderman, not just those above $100,000 as in the version that was before the estimate board.

But aldermen at Greens request eliminated a separate requirement that projects also be endorsed by a majority of aldermen representing parts of the entire affected street corridor.

The bill also includes $2 million to bring city facilities citywide in compliance with Americans With Disabilities Act guidelines.

Jones in her veto last summer had argued that Reeds original $33 million plan wouldnt adhere to federal rules for spending American Rescue Plan Act funds, a point disputed by Reed.

Reed introduced his revised version last month, pointing to final ARPA regulations allowing wide discretion if using the money in low-income census tracts such as the North Side areas covered by the bill.

The modifications in the capital improvements measure were pushed by Tyus and other members of the aldermanic Black caucus, with Reeds support.

Tyus said the city in recent decades had spent more money on bridges in other parts of the city than in heavily Black north St. Louis. This just starts making it fair, Tyus said.

Among items added Thursday were $2.5 million to repair curbs on North Kingshighway, $2 million to pave Goodfellow Boulevard, $1.25 million in traffic calming efforts to reduce speeding and accidents on Riverview Boulevard and $1.5 million to repair three medians.

Among those objecting was Alderman Christine Ingrassia, whose 6th Ward includes one of the three deleted projects  replacing the bridge carrying Compton Avenue over the Mill Creek area near Highway 40 (Interstate 64).

She said the $4 million included in the bill had been lined up as the citys match for a federal grant for the $20 million project and that the bridge could fail if the work is delayed.

This is a dangerous last-minute move that just doesnt make any sense, she said.

Also deleted was $3.6 million for new bridges at Lindell and Union boulevards over Forest Park Parkway and nearby MetroLink tracks.

Tyus responded that the city could tap other money its getting in coming months for the bridge work. Over the years, she said, several people have died on Kingshighway because of the crumbling state of curbs and speeding.

At one point during the exchange Tyus called Ingrassia a little spoiled brat for questioning the change; Tyus later apologized.

The capital improvements bills sponsor, Alderman Tom Oldenburg, 16th Ward, said he agreed to the changes because he was concerned hed lose votes if he didnt do so.

The revised bill was endorsed, 18-4. The measure includes $69.5 million in federal ARPA money and the remainder from other city funds.

Aldermen on Thursday also passed Oldenburgs separate bill assigning $2.5 million in ARPA funds to install nearly 300 more police cameras and license plate readers around the city plus network and fiber upgrades.

The money would be shifted at the police departments request from ARPA funds allocated last year by aldermen to police overtime which is unlikely to be used.

Board advances NGA bill

Aldermen on Thursday also voted to give first-round approval to creating a 958-acre special district around the new National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency offices under construction.

The bill would restrict some uses as gas stations and manufacturers using certain processes and chemicals deemed potential threats to NGA operations. It also would impose a height restriction.

Aldermen also approved seven appointees to the citys new jail oversight board but rejected Jones naming of Mike Milton, executive director of the Freedom Community Center. Ten aldermen voted for Milton, 10 voted present.

Meanwhile, Joe Vaccaro, chairman of the aldermanic Public Safety Committee, said he was returning to the committee for further vetting his appointment of the Rev. Darryl Gray, a social justice activist, to the oversight board.

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The farmworkers flocked to the two emergency rooms in Urbana, Illinois, the night of Aug. 5, 2019, their kids in tow. Numbering about 20, their skin had rashes, their eyes were red and they were vomiting. Though at two different hospitals, doctors arrived at the same conclusion: chemical exposure.

The doctors had a litany of instructions, according to discharge paperwork obtained by Investigate Midwest via a public records request. If your four-month-old is having trouble breathing, return to the emergency room right away, one doctor told a young mother. Return in a week so we can check on your four-year-old, another said. Your clothing is still contaminated, yet another doctor wrote. You need to wash the clothing carefully.

Hours earlier, a yellow plane flew over the corn field the workers were in and sprayed them with pesticides, according to allegations made in legal and state records. It flew so low that some clocked its tail numbers. But at the worksite, they said later, their employer had not provided facilities so they could wash the chemicals off  a federal violation. When some picked up their kids later, they hadnt been able to decontaminate.

It was the second time in two weeks the workers said theyd been sprayed.

Federal and state authorities would investigate the incidents, but how they came to their attention highlights flaws in Illinois monitoring of human exposure to pesticides  and shortcomings once authorities are involved. If not for an enterprising local health director, the incident likely would have escaped scrutiny.

Illinois regulations governing human pesticide exposure dont do enough to protect people, said Dave Koehler, a Democratic state senator from Peoria and vice chair of the state senates agriculture committee.

It is a public health issue, he said. We dont have adequate controls in that area.

After months of reviewing Illinois system for monitoring human exposure to pesticides, Investigate Midwest found:

 Despite tens of millions of pounds of pesticides sprayed in the state each year, Illinois does not require doctors  likely the first point of contact after a spraying  to report possible exposure cases. Other states with vast quantities of pesticides applied to vast fields of farmland, such as Iowa, do.

 The Illinois Department of Agriculture has consistently levied little to no fines for human exposure to pesticides in recent years because of the states point system for assessing penalties. Pesticide applicators are assigned points for different violations; the more points, the greater the fine.

 Regardless of how many people were harmed, state law limits how many points an applicator can be assessed. Spraying a human is worth the same number of points as spraying without a permit or falsifying records.

 Farmworkers are particularly at-risk of pesticide exposure, but the agriculture department has only investigated one other incident involving exposed farmworkers since 2019. The agency proved the applicator violated a federal law, the Worker Protection Standard, but, under the point system, it could only issue a warning.

The pesticide applicators in each incident were fined $750. Thats the largest amount in any case involving human exposure since 2019, the year the agriculture department began tracking human exposure cases. Theoretically, the agency could fine applicators up to $10,000. But, over the past decade, the largest penalties tallied $2,500, for dicamba drift incidents in 2019 and 2020, the agency said.

In several statements to Investigate Midwest about the 2019 incident and general questions about its responsibilities overseeing allegations of pesticide misuse, the state agriculture department said its job is limited.

The Departments utmost concern is always the health and safety of anyone who is potentially affected by pesticide exposure, its statement reads. The Departments role in pesticide misuse incidents is limited to determining whether a violation of the Pesticide Act has occurred and taking enforcement action when such a violation is found.

The 2019 sprayings were absolutely unacceptable, said state Rep. Dagmara Avelar, who sponsored a bill in the Illinois House of Representatives to increase the minimum fine for human pesticide exposure. Human exposure would result in a $2,500 fine, plus $1,000 for each person affected.

What we want to make sure that we do is that we are increasing those penalties, she said, so that we dont have incidents like this again.

The bill, which was also before the state Senate, failed to pass this year.

The crew worked for Pioneer Hi-Bred, a subsidiary of Corteva Agriscience, a seed company that hauled in $15 billion in revenue last year. Corteva denied in legal filings the workers were sprayed. It also said workers had access to equipment to wash themselves, which is a federal requirement.

Corteva thoroughly investigated the claims of chemical exposure, the company told Investigate Midwest, and confirmed that neither Corteva nor Pioneer is responsible for any alleged pesticide misapplication and that neither company is legally responsible for the personal injuries allegedly resulting from the pesticide misapplications.

When asked about the discharge paperwork showing doctors concluded the workers were exposed to chemicals and still had chemicals on their clothing at the hospitals, Corteva reiterated its statement, saying it was not legally responsible for any injuries related to pesticides.

Two weeks after the incident, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated the workers allegations of federal violations. The agency ultimately did not fine Corteva. The inspector noted, based on interviews with the company and workers, water and cleaning agents were available in the field. But, in a letter to Corteva, OSHA said workers were potentially exposed to pesticides and asked the company to voluntarily take steps to ensure protection from exposure.

The labor contractor that Pioneer hired to recruit farmworkers to Central Illinois in 2019, Fidencio Salinas, also said the workers were not sprayed in a brief interview.

They took everyone who felt bad to the hospital, everyone who wanted to go, he said in Spanish. They didnt have anything on their bodies or their clothes. They didnt have any kind of poison or insecticides or anything.

Hed worked for Pioneer for decades, he said, but the company didnt need my services anymore after the 2019 incidents. When asked if the workers exhibited any symptoms of pesticide exposure, he hung up.

The two pesticide applicators, RAS Aviation and Curless Flying Service, contested their state fines, and administrative rulings have been delayed for more than a year because of a lawsuit filed by 32 workers involved in the two sprayings, according to documents filed in the proceedings.

RAS Aviation and Curless did not respond to requests for comment. When asked why it fined them the minimum amount, the agriculture department said it couldnt comment on ongoing administrative hearings and referenced its point system.

The 2019 case should renew focus on how local, state and federal authorities address pesticide exposure, especially of migrant farmworkers, said Lisa Palumbo, the director of Legal Aid Chicagos Immigrants and Workers Rights Practice Group. Palumbo is part of the team of lawyers from Legal Aid Chicago, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, the Environmental Law & Policy Center and Farmworker Justice who are representing the workers.

As the essential workers most impacted by exposures, their safety should be paramount, she said. Yet, they have little access to the agencies charged with keeping them safe.

State law divides responsibility for regulating pesticides to four agencies, but the primary one in charge of investigating pesticide misuse is the states agriculture department.

To Linda Forst, an occupational and environmental health professor at the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health who helped study Illinois approach to preventing pesticide poisoning for a 2018 report, its strange to have an agency with no expertise in human health be the first point of contact when humans are sprayed.

The first call should be to a health agency, she said.

The night the farmworkers visited the ERs in Urbana, the doctors apparently thought the same. Physicians contacted the Illinois Poison Center, a nongovernmental organization that runs a hotline for advice on chemical exposure, and Julie Pryde, the director of the areas local health department.

(The hospitals the doctors work for declined to comment. The poison center said all calls to its hotline are confidential. Also, it said, the center generally leaves it to the doctors administrating care to report incidents to authorities, as the center is merely facilitating care/providing expert advice.)

Pryde said shes never received state guidance on what to do after spraying incidents like the ones in 2019. Once she heard about it, she reported it to the Illinois Department of Public Health, but officials there told her she needed to contact the agriculture department, according to emails Investigate Midwest obtained via a public records request. She filled out the complaint form herself.

The public health department said it takes reports of pesticide exposure to humans very seriously. When asked about referring Pryde to the agricultural department, the public health department said, we advised the local public health authority to contact the Department of Agriculture, so the reported incident could be investigated by the appropriate Department.

In the 2018 report, Forst and her co-authors recommended Illinois require doctors report suspected exposure cases. But, she said, state agencies need to communicate better when incidents like the sprayings happen. Authorities across agencies should determine where the process failed and develop policies to prevent incidents like this one, she said.

Its like the National Transportation Safety Board, when they find a problem with a Boeing airplane, she said. They go in, they look at all the airplanes and see whether the problems happened before and in the same way. Then they figure out a solution that is broad so that it doesnt happen again.

To Pryde, the response to her report didnt seem like effective oversight.

It was a big mess that should have been a rapid response, she said.

July 23

The 2019 incident in Illinois started at the tip of South Texas.

Each year, Pioneer, which has an office just east of Urbana, hires labor contractors to recruit migrant farmworkers. The farmworkers are at the labor-intensive, low-paying end of an industry that pulls in billions annually. They detassel the tops of corn, which prevents Cortevas proprietary breeds from cross-pollinating. The process, which can only be done by hand, allows Corteva to develop seeds that can produce higher yields for farmers.

But pesticides pose such a problem that farmworkers are encouraged to wear long sleeves and pants in the heat of summer to prevent exposure. A 2011 federal study found agricultural workers suffered pesticide-related illnesses at a rate 37 times that of non-agricultural workers.

In Texas, many farmworkers live in the Rio Grande Valleys colonias, unincorporated communities with little-to-no public services, such as potable water and street lights. Salinas, the labor contractor, lives in the Valley, and, in early summer 2019, he began his recruitment.

In all, about a hundred people, including teenagers, signed up to detassel corn in the counties surrounding Champaign. Pioneer offered $9.25 an hour, but it wouldnt guarantee a full days work, according to a worker disclosure form.

The first week of July 2019, the crew traveled north. The families settled into hotels in the area, and, for the infants, Pioneer provided day care while their parents were in the fields, according to the workers lawsuit. (In a responding legal filing, Corteva denied it provided day care.) Corteva also provided a bus to the worksite.

A couple weeks into the job, on July 23, a helicopter zoomed overhead. The bus driver honked the horn repeatedly, a sign to leave the field. The crew, clad in neon orange hats and backpacks, fled. Many felt a mist on their face, and, almost immediately, some experienced irritated skin and had trouble breathing, according to the lawsuit.

Federal law requires agricultural employers to provide facilities at the worksite where pesticides can be washed off. The field had sinks for hand washing, but there was often no soap or water, according to the lawsuit. After the spraying, workers later alleged, Pioneer managers ordered workers to get back on the bus.

In a motion to dismiss filed in response to the workers lawsuit, RAS Aviation, the owner of the helicopter, denied the workers were sprayed. A manager personally saw the incident that day, and, while the helicopter flew over the workers, it never released pesticides, according to the managers affidavit filed in support of RAS Aviations motion to dismiss.

In its lawsuit response, Corteva denied the workers were sprayed. It also denied there were no facilities available to wash off chemicals.

Shortly after the incident, a Corteva manager submitted a complaint about RAS Aviation to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, according to paperwork obtained by Investigate Midwest. In late 2020, the state informed Corteva that its investigation concluded that RAS Aviation had, in fact, violated the Illinois Pesticide Act by spraying pesticides that hit workers that day.

When asked about submitting the complaint, Corteva said it was not responsible for any workers alleged injuries.

When the workers returned to their hotel rooms that day in July 2019, some had to wait to use the shower. The inability to wash themselves would have consequences for them and their family members, according to the lawsuit  some children developed rashes and diarrhea.

Some workers symptoms were so debilitating they couldnt return to work, and some pushed through the pain, according to the lawsuit. But many returned to the fields, where, two weeks later, they claimed, they were sprayed again.

August 5

The workers panicked.

A yellow plane had just flown over the field, and, as the buss horn blared, they ran from the field again. Feeling a mist on their skin again, some used drinking water to rinse their faces and necks. Others used a hose with light pressure, according to the lawsuit, to wash off. To aid their efforts, Salinass wife drove away and returned with dish soap.

About 15 minutes later, Pioneer managers ordered the workers back into the field. Workers later claimed they could still smell the pesticides, but they were told it was safe to return, according to the lawsuit.

Within minutes, the workers later alleged, the plane flew overhead again.

In the confusion, some ran to the side of the field away from the bus. But now the field stood between them and the bus, so Pioneer managers told Salinas to have them run through the field again, according to the lawsuit. One teenaged worker was so sick two others helped him off the field.

Corteva and Pioneer, in their legal response, denied that workers were sprayed, that Salinas was told to order the workers to go back through the field to board the bus and that workers couldnt wash off effectively.

The workers had been sprayed with Avaris 2XS, a fungicide intended to protect crops from pests, the states investigation would later confirm. The workers symptoms were consistent with the symptoms listed on the label. The label instructs exposed people to immediately remove any contaminated clothing and rinse off for 15-20 minutes. It also restricts entry to a sprayed area for the next 12 hours.

After agricultural workers are exposed to pesticides, federal law requires employers to provide prompt transportation to an appropriate medical facility. Neither word is defined in the law.

According to the lawsuit, in the aftermath of the spraying, Pioneer managers and Salinas did not treat the workers injuries seriously. Corteva denied this.

On the bus, the young man who needed help off the field was gagging. His eyes were red. His mother asked if the bus could head to the hospital, but the lawsuit claimed Salinas said Pioneer would have medical staff available at the hotels. (Salinas hung up before a reporter could ask about this allegation.)

By the time they arrived at the hotel, the teenager was vomiting. His mother thought he was dying, according to the lawsuit. There was no medical staff at the hotels so a family member called an ambulance.

Others drove themselves to OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center and Carle Foundation Hospital. One of these families had not been able to wash off before picking up their children from day care, exposing their four-month-old to pesticides.

That night, two Pioneer managers visited the hospitals.

They insisted to hospital staff that the workers had not been sprayed with pesticides, according to the lawsuit and a complaint 25 workers made to a state-employed worker advocate two days after the incident. On a tablet, the Pioneer managers showed hospital staff a flight plan showing that the plane had sprayed a different field  not the one the workers had been in.

One manager, Branden Gillen, in charge of field operations the day of the incident, didnt return requests for comment. The other, Dylan Haun, a safety supervisor who has since left the company, declined to comment when reached by phone. Neither are defendants in the lawsuit.

Both OSF and Carle said they would not comment on the 2019 incident due to privacy concerns.

August 6

The same night, after 8 p.m., OSFs emergency room staff called Pryde, the local health director. Known locally as a farmworker advocate, Pryde started trying to figure out who to report the incident to. Shed never seen any educational material or received any training on what to do in an event like this, she said.

The next morning, she emailed the chief medical officer for the states public health department. We know that 9 were taken to OSF, and at least 8 were taken to Carle, she wrote. At least five workers were vomiting, she said.

About an hour later, the head of the health departments toxicology division told Pryde she needed to contact the agricultural department. In his email, he linked to the form to submit a complaint. It needed to be printed out and either mailed or faxed in.

But the link to the form didnt work. (The agricultural department said it had no knowledge of the link not working.) Pryde also called and left a message at the department.

In the meantime, Pryde had contacted the Illinois Migrant Council, a nonprofit that helps migrant workers with access to health care. The agricultural departments investigation would likely drag on, Pryde said later, but her concerns were immediate: She wanted to know if the workers were being taken care of.

After her morning of trying to figure out who to contact, Pryde spoke on the phone with an agricultural department official around noon. The official asked what kind of pesticides theyd been sprayed with and if any worker had bagged up their clothes as evidence.

The official then emailed her the form to submit a complaint.

After her phone call, the public health departments toxicologist asked Pryde about the process. We havent had another report like this, he said, so was wondering how it went with Ag and what they say they will do.

After

Forst, the pesticide researcher, learned about the incident in late August 2019. In March 2020, she organized a meeting with representatives from the states agricultural department, the states public health department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and OSHA staff in Illinois to discuss the states approach to monitoring pesticide exposure. Pryde also attended.

Everyone agreed there was a need for more efficient and effective communication, Forst said.

Then COVID-19 shut down parts of society, and the meetings ceased. (Forst said the meetings to discuss the issue will start again this summer.)

In October 2020, the state agriculture department wrapped up its investigation into RAS Aviation and Curless. By then, the workers had returned to Texas and another summer had passed. Months later, they filed their lawsuit against Corteva and the pesticide applicators.

Most of the states human exposure investigations have taken four to five months to complete, according to Investigate Midwests review of state records. But these stretched on for more than a year.

Within 24 hours of Pryde reporting the incident, state agricultural officials informed the U.S. EPA of it, as required by law. However, the federal agency didnt do any follow-up, an agency spokesman said, instead relying on the state agriculture department.

In February of this year, the administrative law judge hearing the applicators cases contesting their fines ordered a continuance. The next status hearings are scheduled for Aug. 10.

In 2019, as Forst emailed colleagues at the EPA about setting up the meeting, she summed up the situation: This is a great opportunity (ugh) to point out how a fragmented system allows individuals to get poisoned over and over without any brakes.

Johnathan Hettinger contributed reporting to this story.

This story was supported by a grant from the Lumpkin Family Foundation.

Investigate Midwest is an independent, nonprofit newsroom. Our mission is to serve the public interest by exposing dangerous and costly practices of influential agricultural corporations and institutions through in-depth and data-driven investigative journalism.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korea on Friday celebrated the milestone birth anniversary of its late founder with a mass dance, fireworks and calls for stronger loyalty to his grandson and current leader Kim Jong Un, but there was no word on an expected military parade amid heightened tensions over its nuclear program.

The 110th birthday of Kim Il Sung comes after North Korea conducted a spate of weapons tests in recent months, including its first full-range intercontinental ballistic missile launch since 2017. Experts say North Korea aims to expand its arsenal and ramp up pressure on the United States while nuclear diplomacy is stalled.

Lets work harder in devotion to our respected comrade Kim Jong Un and on that path ultimately realize the dreams of our great president (Kim Il Sung) to build a powerful socialist state, the Norths state-run website Uriminzokkiri said in a commentary.

Kim Il Sungs birthday is the most important national holiday in North Korea, where the Kim family has ruled under a strong personality cult since the nations founding in 1948. Kim Jong Un became a third-generation leader after his father Kim Jong Il died in late 2011.

Kim Jong Un has pushed to advance his nuclear weapons while simultaneously reviving the economy. But a mix of pandemic border closures, U.S.-led sanctions and his own mismanagement have caused a massive economic blow in whats become the toughest moment of his decade in power.

On Friday, residents of Pyongyang, the capital, bowed and laid bouquets of flowers near the bronze statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

State TV later showed thousands of young people  men dressed in Western-style white shirts and women in colorful traditional Korean garb  dancing in a Pyongyang plaza as fireworks launched from a nearby river bank lit up the night sky. The dancers circled a group of performers who held up yellow flowers to form the symbol of the Workers Party of Korea - a hammer, brush and sickle.

North Korea often marks key state anniversaries with huge military parades featuring newly built missiles, especially during anniversaries that end in zero and five. Commercial satellites earlier indicated an apparent rehearsal for a military parade, such as people assembled in formation at the Pyongyang plaza, where such events were held in the past.

After North Koreas ICBM test last month, South Korean and U.S. officials said Pyongyang could soon launch fresh provocations like an additional ICBM test, a rocket to put a spy satellite into orbit, or even a nuclear bomb test that would be the seventh of its kind.

South Koreas military said recently it detected signs that North Korea is rebuilding tunnels at a nuclear testing ground that it partially dismantled before it entered now-dormant nuclear talks with the United States in 2018.

I think theyll carry out a nuclear test once it finishes restoring its nuclear testing facility, said analyst Moon Seong Mook with the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. There is no reason for them to bring back its testing ground if they dont plan to use them for a bomb test.

Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit South Korea next week for talks on the international communitys response to the Norths recent missile tests.

North Korea has recently resumed its trademark harsh rhetoric against its rivals. One of its international affairs commentators labeled President Joe Biden as an old man in senility, while Kims powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, called South Koreas defense minister a scum-like guy and threatened to annihilate South Korea with nuclear strikes.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)  The Maine House voted Thursday to give the states tribes the same rights enjoyed by Native Americans elsewhere across the country, a first step in an effort to uphold the tribes sovereignty.

The 81-55 tally marked the first legislative vote in the process of restoring rights forfeited in the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980, which made the tribes subject to state law.

The vote, which tribal leaders watched from the gallery, followed emotional testimony from supporters who said the change was long overdue.

The time to change this is now, for the Wabanaki tribes rightly deserve and should enjoy the same rights, privileges, power and immunities as other federally recognized tribes, said Rep. Rena Newell, a nonvoting Passamaquoddy representative to the Legislature.

Some critics, however, pointed out that there could be unforeseen difficulties from the change. As it stands, tribal reservations in Maine are treated like municipalities under state law.

The historic vote came hours after the Senate gave final approval to a separate bill allowing the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point to regulate its own drinking water.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has concerns about parts of the bill, including conflicts between jurisdictions.

Rep. Laurel Libby, R-Auburn, said she was concerned the tribal lands in Maine are not contiguous, and that there could be conflicts over environmental rules in towns across the state. Future lawmakers will be bound by any mistakes in the new language, she said.

There are serious unknown consequences on natural resources and wildlife management, land and water access, and liability, she said.

Most lawmakers spoke about righting a historical wrong that dates back more than four decades.

The Passamaquoddy, Penobscot and Maliseet traded some rights to the state authority under an $81.5 million settlement that was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980. The Mikmaq are subject to similar terms under their own agreement, adopted in 1991.

In the years since, the state and tribes have butted heads on environmental, fish and wildlife rules. And the states tribes have not benefited from changes in federal law, their supporters said.

Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos, an independent from Friendship, Maine, became emotional as he spoke of the need to adopt the law to ensure tribes are treated the same as others, especially all they've endured since the arrival of Europeans who took Native Americans' land and killed many of them.

When we steal something of this magnitude, we have to give a little bit of it back to make it right," he said.

Assistant House Majority Leader Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, said the proposal was the result of years of work.

Throughout the history of Maine and the United States, we have amended our laws over and over again to correct past wrongs, improve our democracy and protect the rights of those previously left behind. Let 2022 be the year that we correct the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act, she said.

Associated Press writer Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vermont, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
If the last two years of the pandemic have taught us anything, it has shown that many of us can do our jobs remotely and on a schedule that conforms to our responsibilities and lifestyle. Now that many companies are requiring their workers to return to their offices, they should realize that happy workers are the most productive workers and listen to the feedback. This could especially benefit single parents, who can save a lot of money on childcare and spend more time with their children if allowed flexibility with not only where they work, but when they work.

Flextime has long been a human resources buzzword but, more and more, it is becoming a reality for workers who are demanding more options where possible. The option to work remotely has been well-publicized. Thirty percent of workers around the world said in a survey last year that they would consider looking for new jobs if their current employer required them to return to the office full time. More and more, workers are taking that one step further and asking to also work on their own schedule instead of a traditional 8-to-5 schedule.

For many, especially single parents, being able to work remotely and during the hours that suit them best would allow them more time to be with their children at home, to attend their childs extracurricular activities and spend less money on childcare and fuel costs incurred driving them back and forth. All while making them happier  and more productive employees.

Many companies have discovered they also benefit. Employees who are happy actually work more and are more productive  and it allows employers to save money on rent and utilities as they can downsize their office space.

Of course, there are some jobs that by their nature do not allow for remote work or flexible hours. In my profession, solo attorneys cannot take depositions or litigate remotely with maximum effectiveness. Obviously, service jobs such as restaurant servers must be present at their place of work. The same holds true for medical workers, factory workers and several other occupations. However, more and more, our economy is made up of jobs that can be done remotely and at hours that work best for the employee.

The pandemic has shown that many jobs can be done remotely  and many workers seem to have grown accustomed to it. Among Americans with jobs that can be done remotely, 59% say they still are working from home much or all of the time, according to a new survey released in February by the Pew Research Center. Thats less than the 71% who reported working remotely in October 2020, but is well above the 23% who did frequently before the pandemic.

And for working parents with kids under 18, nearly a third cited lack of child care, while 15% said there are restrictions on their access to their workplace.

In terms of productivity, 44% say remote work has made it easier for them to get work done and meet deadlines.

The question Id pose to many businesses is what could your business do if every single team member was more productive without having to pay a penny more than they are currently receiving?

Seems like a no-brainer to me. Of course, there are some drawbacks. Sixty percent of workers conceded that remote work makes them feel less connected to colleagues. However, one way to resolve this is for employers and employees to compromise. Perhaps going in a couple days a week would suffice.

As for flexible hours, this is another way to make many employees happier  and in turn, more productive. Flexible hours allow workers to devote their most energetic hours  such as mornings for early risers and afternoons or evenings for night people  to their work tasks. Employees who are parents, especially single parents, could more easily attend their childrens sporting events or recitals, things that are priceless and would foster a sense of pride and loyalty toward their employer.

And just as Id advise certain clients to compromise on remote work companies may want to set some mandatory core hours to foster collaboration among workers who otherwise might be on different schedules.

The bottom line is that the last two years have changed the workplace for good  and that may indeed be good. These changes will not work for every employer and employee. However, employees should voice their concerns and opinions, but should not give an all-or-nothing ultimatum. In turn, companies that listen to the desires of their employees and allow for as much flexibility, both in terms of where and when employees work, will be the ones who benefit the most.

Jeffery M. Leving is founder and president of the Law Offices of Jeffery M. Leving Ltd., and is an advocate for the rights of fathers. He is the author of Fathers Rights, Divorce Wars and How to be a Good Divorced Dad.
Live by the sword ...

In the early days of Russias invasion of Ukraine, when it appeared that Russian forces would easily overwhelm Ukraines meager defenses, the powerful guided missile cruiser Moskva (Moscow) ventured close to Snake Island, a remote Black Sea naval station guarded by a handful of Ukrainian troops. When Russians radioed for the Ukrainians to surrender, the paraphrased response was for the Russians to go have sexual intercourse with themselves. After which the Russians obliterated them.

On Thursday, the Moskva  flagship of Russias Black Sea fleet  suffered what Moscow confirmed was a catastrophic onboard fire that spread into munitions compartments. All 510 crew members aboard had to abandon ship. At first, Russia denied Ukrainian claims that the vessel had sunk in the Black Sea but later admitted that it had. Ukraine claims that one of its Neptune cruise missiles scored a direct hit and caused the damage.

Either way, Russias embarrassing misfortune is a victory for Ukraine, a well-deserved comeuppance that honors the Snake Island troops who defiantly defended their positions to the death against overwhelming odds.

Honorary degrees for Zelensky

At least 23 colleges and universities will be awarding honorary degrees to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their commencement ceremonies this spring in recognition of his leadership during Russias invasion. Higher education institutions in Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are on the list in honoring him.

The degrees will be presented in absentia since Zelensky has his hands full with more important business at the moment.

The gesture was motivated by the inspiring example provided by President Zelensky to his people and the broader world in defense of freedom and democracy, Alfred Universitys President Mark Zupan said. Zupan said he had written to the Ukraine Embassy in Washington to ask if Zelensky could be available via video to receive the honor. He got a swift response: No, he is too busy fighting a war.

Misplaced GOP priorities

A bipartisan U.S. House bill, sponsored by a Florida Republican and backed unanimously by all 27 members of the Florida delegation, was on the verge of overwhelming approval to honor Floridas first Black Supreme Court judge, Joseph W. Hatchett. The bill would have named a federal courthouse in the capital, Tallahassee, in Hatchetts name. Easy passage was predicted, but suddenly the bill went down in defeat.

The Republican sponsor, Rep. Vern Buchanan, joined colleagues voting against it even though he seemed flummoxed about why the bill had all of a sudden achieved pariah status among his colleagues. The New York Times said he was asked to explain why he voted against his own bill, and he responded, I dont know.

It turns out that Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Georgia, had dug up an Associated Press article from 1999 reporting that Hatchett had struck down a public school policy allowing student-approved prayers at graduation ceremonies in Florida. With that, no one apparently wanted any association with a measure honoring Hatchett.

Clyde is the same congressman who described the 2021 Capitol insurrection as a normal tourist visit and who opposed the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. His colleagues apparently would rather be associated with the likes of Clyde than with a history-making Black judge.

Let the murderer dispense justice

A Turkish court effectively scuttled any chance of justice for the Saudis who participated in the killing and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018 to complete paperwork for his upcoming marriage. He went inside but never exited. Inside the consulate, Saudi agents directed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to U.S. intelligence, ambushed Khashoggi and killed him. Then they dismembered his body, Mafia-style, to eliminate any remnant of his existence.

Turkish intelligence attained recordings and other evidence of the killing. But when 26 Saudi nationals were due for trial this month, a Turkish court ruled that the case could be moved to Saudi Arabia since the 26 defendants were nowhere to be found. In the hands of Saudi Arabia, chances are slim to none that any will face justice.

Eight individuals were convicted of the crime in 2019 in a Saudi court, but the court wouldnt identify the individuals, and there was never any confirmation that their prison sentences were carried out. Why would the Saudi government insist on justice in a murder case in which the Saudi government was a party to the crime?

This isnt building character

The head of a Christian academy in Louisiana taped overly talkative students mouths shut with packing tape. He called it building character. Authorities who had him arrested called it child abuse. Pastor John Raymond, founder and headmaster of the Lakeside Christian Academy in Slidell, Louisiana, defended his actions on the schools website, The Washington Post reported.

According to his own account, Raymond told the five students, We can either go downstairs and call your parents and you can wait in the lobby to be suspended, or you can get tape on your mouth and learn how to be quiet during class. All five, he said, chose the tape.

State child-welfare officials lodged a complaint with police, who arrested Raymond on charges of cruelty to juveniles.

The parents of three of the kids pressed charges. Raymond, in a subsequent public letter, claimed the parents of the other two kids are completely supportive of the discipline that took place, adding: Building character in teenage boys can be difficult. Character in headmasters, too, apparently.
Regarding Putin vows to press invasion until Russias goals are met (April 11): Isnt it ironic that under the false premise of de-nazifying Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has transformed Russia into a modern version of the Nazi state? The parallels of Russia today and World War II Germany are remarkable in terms of blitzkrieg-style tank attacks, rocket attacks on schools, hospitals, and residences, and widespread killings of non-combatants. Even Russias use of propaganda recalls Josef Goebbels lies.
Likely in the next few weeks, the U.S. coronavirus toll will surpass 1 million. The virus has compiled a chronology of loss  one by one by one.
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The war in Ukraine having a major impact on Libya. The most immediate impact was the price of flour in Libya rising 31 percent the day after the Russian invasion began on February 24 th . Russia and Ukraine account for 30 percent of world wheat exports and Libya gets all of its annual 1.35 million tons of wheat and barley imports from Russia and Ukraine. Other sources, mainly in the Americas and Australia, are available but they are much farther away, meaning higher shipping costs in addition to the shortage-related price increases. Before the civil war Libya produced most of the grains it needed but economic and transportation disruptions have halted most of that.

Russia thought they would retain the support of general Haftar, the leader of the HoR (House of Representatives) government armed forces. That did not happen as in early March a new HoR prime minister denounced the invasion of Ukraine. While Haftar did not make a statement, he works closely with HoR leaders and supports peace and unity in Libya and was never a supporter of all Russian policies.

Russia has a long history with Libya and has been providing military and economic assistance to Libya for decades, mainly because of its long relationship with Libyan dictator Kaddafi. That ended when Kaddafi was killed during the 2011 uprising. There was no unified government to replace the dictatorship then and there still isnt. Russia tried to maintain its embassy in Tripoli but finally closed it in October 2013. Russia kept tabs on Libyan developments via its embassies in other Arab nations, particularly Egypt. Russia sided with the HoR faction and its military commander Haftar, providing military support and some ground forces, mainly Wagner Group Russian military contractors and a somewhat larger force of Syrian Arab mercenaries. That military support seemed decisive until Turkey made an illegal deal with the Tripoli government in 2019 and brought in a more powerful military force than Russian had in Libya. This created a stalemate that is now even less favorable for Russia because the enormous economic sanctions Russia was hit with for invading Ukraine means Russia can no longer provide as much military support to the HoR as it has in the past, plus its forces there are now needed in Russia,

The GNU (Government of National Unity) officially refused to recognize the HoR government approval of Fathi Bashagha as the new GNU prime minister. The HoR government represents more Libyans than the Tripoli-based GNA (Government of National Accord). The GNA and HoR are in the process of using the GNU to merge but that process, and the long-sought national elections, are currently blocked by a dispute within the GNU between the newly election of former interior minister Fathi Bashagha as the new GNU prime minister and the original GNU prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, whose term of office ended in December. This dispute has been going on since January and the UN has not taken sides so far.

Dbeibah turned out to be corrupt and willing to accept the Turkish presence in Libya. Dbeibah and members of his cabinet refuse to cede power to Bashagha, who is backed by the eastern HoR faction and its military forces (the LNA), which still control most of Libya. Bashagha believes he can organize national elections in 14 months, unless the UN backs Dbeibah or does nothing to block interference from Dbeibah. Bashagha backed Turkish intervention in 2019 and 2020, but turned against the Turks when the Turks indicated they were not leaving Libya.

The December 24 elections did not happen and there are disagreements in Libya and the UN over a new date for national elections. The UN also wants to replace many of the local officials in the GNU. In late 2020 the UN brokered the creation of the GNU, yet another temporary government to unite Libya. The Turks, Russians, GNA , HoR and LNA (Libyan National Army) agreed to withdraw their forces as part of a late 2020 ceasefire/national unification plan. This agreement called for national elections to be held by the end of 2021. That did not happen, mainly because of the continued presence of Turkish forces and disagreements over the new constitution and who can run for office. The Turks realize they dont have to fight to remain in Libya, just disrupt and delay any efforts, like elections or a UN condemnation, to force them to leave or fight to stay.

Libyans have not been able to agree on a new government since the overthrow of dictator Kaddafi in mid-2011. There was some unity because by 2015 there were two major factions one in the capital Tripoli and backed by the UN and the other in the east, based in Tobruk. The primary dispute between the two factions was support of Islamic political parties and some Islamic terrorist groups. In Most of Libya, especially the east, that attitude was not acceptable and the growing number of Islamic terror groups in Libya had become a major threat to most Libyans. The most effective opponent of the Islamic terrorists was a former Libyan army officer, Khalifa Haftar, who fled Libya in the 1980s after incurring the wrath of dictator Kaddafi. Now an American citizen, he returned to eastern Libya in 2013, revived some of the units of the Kaddafi-era military and began taking control of military bases from militias and Islamic terrorists. Eastern tribes rallied to Haftar, who had organized the most effective counterterrorism effort in the country. Haftar had the support of most Arab states, especially Egypt and the UAE. Egypt has a vulnerable border with Libya that was being used by Islamic terror groups to move people in and out as well as smuggle weapons into Egypt.

Egypt provided a land route to Libya for supplies and weapons for the LNA, largely paid for by the UAE and other Arab oil states. Egypt, the UAE and other Arab states support the new Bashagha government and oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Turkey backs Ukraine more than it opposes Russia and is trying to play both sides. The UN was forced by nearly all its members to strongly condemn Russia for the Ukraine invasion. The Ukrainian situation has also taken away any UN attention to the Libya crisis. Currently the UN has not proposed any solution to the GNA/HoR dispute or the illegal presence of Turkey in Libya. The UN tends to avoid offending major UN members, especially the five nations with veto power. That group includes Russia but not Turkey. The UN does not have armed forces, aside from peacekeepers who are supplied by member states and paid for by UN members, especially the U.S. and other industrial nations that provide most of the UN budget. UN leaders have found that the safest thing for them to do when major powers have disputes is to find ways to offend no one, even if that means serious disputes go on far longer than necessary.

Russia backed Haftar early on and by 2016 Haftar was making regular visits to Russia to discuss cooperation in the fight against the Islamic terrorists in Libya. In January 2017 the Russian government visited Haftar when the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov and its escorts arrived off the coast of eastern Libya. The carrier sent a helicopter to nearby Tobruk and picked up Khalifa Haftar and two of his senior officers, all in uniform, to the carrier. The visit to the Kuznetsov was captured on video and broadcast. The video showed the event treated as an official visit with sailors in dress uniforms lined up and a band playing the Libyan national anthem. What impressed the Russians was Haftars long-range plan for uniting Libya, holding elections and allowing the Libyan economy to thrive once more. Russia began providing military assistance, in the form of advisors and technicians to repair and restore a lot of Russian tanks, artillery and aircraft that were still intact but out of action because of a lack of repairs and new parts. Russia and Arab allies also helped Haftar with logistics.

Haftar forces were effective and loyal because Haftar took care of them and minimized friendly casualties. The Russian and Arab support enabled the LNA to pacify 90 percent of Libya and by early 2019 Haftar was closing in on Tripoli, where the UN-backed GNA was barely able to maintain order in Tripoli and two other eastern cities dominated by Islamic militias who openly feuded with each other and barely tolerated the GNA. By mid-2019 the LNA offensive was working its way towards taking Tripoli when Turkey showed up with an offer the GNA couldnt refuse; military intervention against the LNA. In return the GNA would sign a treaty with Turkey granting it somebody elses offshore oil rights. The GNAs UN patron did little more than protest as Turkey began moving in weapons and troops, especially 10,000 of its own Syrian Arab mercenaries, to halt the LNA advance. By February 2020 the LNA agreed to a ceasefire. This held and led to a peace deal in which the GNA and eastern HoR governments agreed to merge and carry out national elections. Part of the deal was Russia and Turkey withdrawing their troops. Russia began doing so but the Turks did not. The Russian force was much smaller (about 1,200 Wagner Group military contractors and Russian technicians for maintaining equipment as well as a larger force of Arab mercenaries) than the 12,000 Turkish troops and Arab mercenaries. Russia had another reason for pulling out most of its personnel; it could no longer afford it. That was the result of economic sanctions imposed after the 2014 Russian attack on Ukraine. In 2022 that escalated into a larger operation and Russia is now burdened with even heavier sanctions. This will probably lead to the departure of all Russian military personnel. The Turks are now the major obstacle to Libyan unity and elections. Russia also has forces in Syria, where it is an ally of Turkey.

The key issue is getting the Turks out of Libya but no one has the military capability to force the Turks out as long as the Turks refuse to leave. Bashagha, the new GNU leader, promises to use negotiation to get the Turks out. The Turkish forces are still concentrated in the west, around Tripoli and Misrata. In both these cities the militias violently feud with each other. This happens despite Turkish efforts to train militia members to be professional soldiers. The militiamen accepted the training and new weapons, but their first loyalty remained to their militia leaders, who often represented populations in the two cities.

What it comes down to is that there is currently no war in Libya. There is still violence between rival militias and some diehard Islamic terror groups. Not all the troublesome militias are in the major cities. Some are from rural areas around oil production facilities and serve as PFGs (Petroleum Facilities Guards). General Haftar and his LNA tamed these PFGs via negotiation and in a few instances by force. Despite that, and the fact that jobs as PFGs are among the best paid and secure in the country, some PFG groups have internal political problems that occasionally result in a PFG threatening to shut down the facilities they guard unless they are paid more. Its still up to the LNA to settle these disputes with a minimum of violence or lost production. Most Libyans are aware of the rising cost of grain imports and that the national bank has exhausted most of its cash reserves. That means that any serious disruption of oil production will soon mean less access to food or cash for government payrolls, including the PFGs.

The PFGs have long been seen as a permanent source of corruption. PFGs are tribal militias hired (or bribed) by previous or post-2011 governments to keep oil fields, pipelines and port facilities secure. Soon after Kaddafi was deposed in 2011 many, if not most, PFGs went rogue, shut down the facilities they guarded and, in effect, tried to blackmail whoever was paying them to pay more. This was driven by tribal feuds over how oil revenue should be allocated. Libya has always been very corrupt and Kaddafi remained in power for decades by playing the tribes off on each other with oil income. Those who cooperated got more, those who caused trouble got less. With Kaddafi gone many tribes wanted payback for past real or imagined injustices. Many of the PFGs came to support the GNA but as long as some of them continue to resist oil income is crippled and the much-feared food crisis is no longer approaching, it is here. General Haftar and the HoR government have been successful negotiating with the PFGs and offering a better deal (larger share of oil income) and less corruption. Haftar has a reputation for being much less corrupt. PFGs often shut down oil fields and ports because GNA has not paid them. In these cases, GNA often delivered the cash but some or all of it was stolen by PFG leaders who denied they were stealing. The GNA has to collect and publicize enough evidence of the theft to convince other militias and tribal leaders that the corrupt PFG men must be replaced. This is difficult to do and meanwhile PFGs are constantly demanding adequate compensation before they will allow oil to be pumped, moved via a pipeline to the export facilities or loaded on tankers. The details of how much adequate compensation any PFG is paid is usually kept secret because in Libya the feeling is that no one group is getting their fair share of the oil wealth that has kept the country functioning since the 1970s. Without the cash provided by oil exports Libya could not import enough food and other essentials to keep the population alive. PFGs are acutely aware that if they lose control of the facilities they protect they lose their jobs so they are extremely defensive and paranoid. The overall problem is that PFG compensation has little relationship to how dangerous the work is but rather is more a matter of tribal politics. It has taken several years for tribes in areas where there are oil facilities to realize that if they do not cooperate everyone will suffer, which is what has been happening and is getting worse.

The growing fear of political uncertainty, hunger and foreign intervention has paralyzed most of the organized violence. This wont last long but for the moment there are greater threats to worry about.

April 13, 2022: Egypt is hosting peace talks between the two rival Libyan factions; the eastern HoR and the western one based in Tripoli and surviving only because of the presence of Turkish troops. The HoR forces control most of the country and the oil production facilities. Most Libyans and Arab countries throughout the Middle East want the Turks out of Libya.
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / April 14, 2022 / Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd. ("Naturally Splendid" or "NSE" or the "Company" ) (FRA:50N)(TSX-V:NSP)(OTC PINK:NSPDF) announces that it has made an application to the British Columbia and Alberta Securities Commission to approve a temporary management cease trade order ("MCTO") under National Policy 12-203 Cease Trade Orders for Continuous Disclosure Defaults ("NP 12-203"), which, if granted, will prohibit trading securities by the Company by the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation until such time as the Required Filings (defined below) and all continuous disclosure requirements have been filed by the Company, and the MCTO has been lifted. During the period in which the MCTO is effective, the general public, who are not insiders of the Company, will continue to be able to trade in the Company's listed securities. The MCTO application has been made but there is not guarantee or assurance that the MCTO will be granted.

The Company expects it will be unable to file its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021, and the management's discussion and analysis and related Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer certificates for this period (collectively, the "Required Filings") before the May 2, 2022 filing deadline (the "Filing Deadline").

The Company's failure to file its Required Filings by the Filing Deadline is due to a combination of factors including the recent resignation of the Company's former auditor Smythe LLP on December 13, 2021.

The Company anticipates that it will be in a position to remedy the default by filing the Required Filings on or about June 30, 2022. The MCTO will be in effect until the Required Filings are filed.

The Company intends to satisfy the provision of the alternative information guidelines set out in sections 9 and 10 of NP-12-203 as long as the Required Filings are outstanding.

Naturally Splendid CFO Mr. George Ragogna states, "It has been a progressive first forty-five (45) days as CFO of Naturally Splendid. In my first month and a half as CFO, I have completed reviews of the financial reporting systems, ongoing operations, as well as the capital build-out required to accommodate the manufacturing of our extensive range of plant-based entrees. Having completed initial reviews, senior management will be implementing strategic plans to optimize shareholder value."

The Company continues to advance our plant-based manufacturing and distribution business by recently extending our agreement with Flexitarian Foods Pty. Ltd., a division of Australia's largest plant-based food manufacturer, from being the exclusive Canadian manufacturer and distributor, to now include exclusive rights to the Plantein trademark in Canada (News Release April 12, 2022). The Plantein trademark, initially established in Australia, is now being exported to regions of the European Union (EU), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and now across Canada.



Naturally Splendid CFO Mr. George Ragogna reports, "While our core business strategy continues to be aimed towards manufacturing plant-based entrees, including the build-out of new manufacturing and packaging lines, it is fiscally prudent to conduct a review and analysis of existing operations. I am pleased to report that with the involvement of senior management, we have identified significant savings in monthly overheads including a reduction in staffing levels, reduction in certain services as well as implementation of efficiency measures operationally. We will continue to strive to be prudent with our overheads and capital spends while building out our plant-based entre business and look forward to providing timely updates".

About Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

Naturally Splendid is a plant-based food manufacturing and technology company that produces and distributes nutritious and delicious plant-based commodity products.



Founded in 2010, the Company operates a Safe Quality Food Level 2 certified food manufacturing facility located just outside Vancouver, BC in Canada, focusing on producing an extensive range of plant-based entrees.



Naturally Splendid has an exclusive 10-year manufacturing and distribution agreement for Canada with a division of Australia's largest plant-based food manufacturer, Flexitarian Foods Pty. Ltd.

In addition to producing the Company's own branded products, Naturally Splendid provides contract manufacturing services and private labeling for a variety of nutritional plant-based food products destined for multiple distribution channels.



The Company has established healthy, functional foods under brands such as Natera Sport", Natera Hemp Foods", CHII", Elevate Me" and Woods Wild Bar". The Company launched Natera Plant Based Foods, a line of delicious plant-based meat alternatives for the rapidly growing plant-based market segment.

Naturally Splendid maintains a relationship Plasm Pharmaceutical, a company that has been approved for conducting a phase 2 clinical trial approved by Health Canada for the treatment of COVID-19.

NSE has also developed proprietary technologies for the extraction of healthy omega 3 and 6 oils, as well as a protein concentrate from hemp.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Mr. J. Craig Goodwin

President, Director

Contact Information

Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

(NSP - TSX Venture; NSPDF - OTC PINK; 50N Frankfurt)

#108-19100 Airport Way

Pitt Meadows, BC, V3Y 0E2

Office: (604) 465-0548

Fax: (604) 465-1128

E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.naturallysplendid.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on assumptions as of the date of this news release. These statements reflect management's current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations. They are not guarantees of future performance. Naturally Splendid cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond Naturally Splendid's control including, Naturally Splendid's ability to compete with large food and beverage companies; sales of any potential products developed will be profitable; sales of shelled hemp seed will continue at existing rates or increase; customers will complete on sales contracts; and the risk that any of the potential applications may not receive all required regulatory or legal approval. Accordingly, actual and future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, Naturally Splendid undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

NEITHER TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

SOURCE: Naturally Splendid Enterprises Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan  A veteran submariner has taken command of all submarine-related missions for the Indo-Pacific, as the U.S. military continues to bolster its presence in the region.

Rear Adm. Rick Seif relieved Rear Adm. Leonard Dollaga as commander of Submarine Group 7 during a ceremony at Yokosukas Fleet Theater on Wednesday.

On paper, Submarine Group 7 oversees a group of three survey vessels, five surveillance vessels and five Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines  USS Key West, USS Jefferson City, USS Asheville, USS Annapolis and USS Springfield  and two submarine tenders, the USS Frank Cable and USS Emory S. Land.

However, the groups actual organization and responsibilities are more complex. Submarine Group 7s commander also heads up Task Force 54 and Task Force 74, which oversee all submarine-related missions within the 5th Fleet and 7th Fleet areas of operations.

Together, the two areas cover the entire Indo-Pacific and span approximately 50.2 million square miles. Any submarine operating there falls under the groups command.

During Wednesdays ceremony, Dollaga acknowledged the weight of the command and noted that 7th Fleet is home to more than half the worlds population, makes up two-thirds of the worlds economy and hosts five of the worlds largest militaries.

Likewise, the 5th Fleet, headquartered in Bahrain, embraces an area of operations that includes 20 countries and three critical choke points, Dollaga said.

I knew that being the theater undersea warfare commander for both 5th and 7th Fleets would carry with it tremendous challenges, he said.

Seventh Fleet commander Vice Adm. Karl Thomas alluded to the importance of the group as he praised Dollaga, who will report to the Pentagon for his next assignment as chief of legislative affairs for the secretary of the Navy.

You improved relationships with our partners and allies, and you helped check the aggressive [Chinese] regime, operating both up close and frequently in their backyard, Thomas said. You protected those vital maritime sea lanes and created a combat-ready team to defeat our enemies.

Dollaga, who took command in August 2020, was faced with a variety of challenges during his tenure, which coincided with increased tensions between the U.S. and China, North Korea and Russia, Thomas said.

The regions submarine operations garnered attention Oct. 2 when the USS Connecticut struck an undersea mountain. The incident, which reportedly happened in the South China Sea, resulted in minor injuries to about a dozen sailors and led to the removal of the Connecticuts commander, executive officer and enlisted chief.

Seif, the new group commander, has significant experience in the Indo-Pacific. He served aboard five Los Angeles-class submarines as an officer aboard the USS Newport News and the USS Oklahoma City, as executive officer aboard the USS Houston and as commander of the USS Buffalo and USS Jacksonville.

He also served as deputy chief of staff for operations for Submarine Group 7 and Task Force 74, commodore of Submarine Squadron 1 and chief of staff to the commander of Submarine Force Pacific Fleet.

Seif acknowledged the gravity of his new role.

Make no mistake, we are a combat-focused organization, and the U.S. Navy is our nations global response force, he said. In every domain, you must be world-class warfighting experts. We are Americas forward-deployed undersea arsenal and a powerful force of apex predators. We are always on scene, but rarely seen.

Seifs arrival comes as the Navy and other services are expanding their presence in the Indo-Pacific, which the Department of Defense routinely refers to as its priority theater and China as the U.S.s pacing challenge.

Last month, the Navy met its goal of homeporting five fast-attack submarines on Guam, the westernmost U.S. territory, which the DOD considers to be a vital part of its presence in the region.
Catholic and Protestant communities throughout most of Western Europe will celebrate Easter Sunday on April 17, a date that shifts each year according to complex ecclesiastical rules put into place at the First Council of Nicaea held in 325 AD. For practical purposes, the rule of thumb that Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox is often accurate. The date of Easter, in turn, determines the dates of the feast days for Ascension, Pentecost and Corpus Christi. Across Europe, this cycle of religious holidays is met with folkloric and traditional events which are a pleasure to behold, or even better, take part in.

Easter Sunday

Florence, Italy celebrates the day with a stunning show of fireworks. In a ritual dating back over 350 years, The Scoppio del Carro, or Explosion of the Cart, sees a pair of garland-bedecked bulls pull an elaborate cart through the streets to its usual spot on the Piazza del Duomo. Drummers, flag throwers and other costumed historical figures add pageantry to the scene. Once the cart has been brought into position, an elaborate ceremony concludes with a dove-shaped rocket symbolic of the Holy Spirit crashing into it, setting off a spectacular delay of fireworks. The procession will take place on Easter Sunday April 17 from 10 a.m. and the explosion from 11 a.m.; entry is free. Online: tinyurl.com/47wp9sxx

Easter Monday

Emaischen is a traditional folk festival held on Easter Monday in Nospelt, a small Luxembourgish village just northwest of the tiny nations capital. The stars of the day here are not bunnies or chicks but rather Peckvillercher, small clay whistles fashioned into the shapes of birds. Festivalgoers can also enjoy concerts, traditional foods, watching the towns potters at work or visiting the pottery museum. Emaischen is also celebrated in the capital, where festivities will play out along the rue Marche aux herbes and on Place du Marche-aux-Poissons. Online: tinyurl.com/5n85d33z

The citizens of Herve, Belgium, a small town outside Liege, also celebrate Easter Monday in a big way. The Cavalcade of Herve is a procession of colorful floats pulled by the magnificent, locally bred Ardennais and Brabant draught horses. Some 150 horses in all, along with folk groups from different countries, take part in this spectacle dating back to 1876. Contemporary versions of the event feature dancing, live music and the Tir de Campes explosives show, set off by a local brotherhood specializing in pyrotechnics. Related festivities including a market and horse fair take place throughout Easter weekend. Entry to the parade, which begins at 2 p.m., costs 4 euros for those ages 12 and above. Online: cavalcadeherve.be

Orthodox Easter

While both Western and Orthodox Easters are calculated based on the same formula, they most often fall on different dates, due to the fact that Western churches use the Gregorian calendar, whereas Orthodox churches use the much older Julian calendar as their point of reference. In 2022, Orthodox Easter will be celebrated on April 24. European countries that officially observe Orthodox Easter include Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.

While all of Greece marks Easter with great reverence, the village of Pyrgos on Santorini, one of the Cyclades islands, is particularly well known for its celebrations. On the night of Good Friday, residents of the well-preserved town perched high on a hill stuff flammable materials into countless aluminum cans and place them on ledges of buildings, alongside paths, atop roofs and along the ramparts of the ancient Venetian castle. When set alight, the sight of so many flickering flames is a moving backdrop to the funeral procession. As a representation of the body of Jesus Christ is carried through the narrow streets, thousands of the faithful follow, holding lit candles as they go. Online: tinyurl.com/2p97wbxf

Ascension Day

Ascension Day marks the 40th day after Jesus Christ's resurrection and is celebrated as the day he led his disciples to the Mount of Olives, from where they watched as he rose up to heaven. What is heralded as the end of the Easter season is an official holiday in many countries. Although it is not an official holiday throughout Italy, Venices celebrations marking the Festa della Sensa commemorate two important dates in history. The first event took place in 1000 AD, when the Doge Pietro II Orseolo managed to defend the inhabitants of Zara and Dalmatia from incursions by the Slavs; the second hails back to 1177 AD, when the Doge Sebastiano Ziani facilitated a peace agreement between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. To celebrate both events, a ceremony titled Sposalizio del Mare, or Marriage of the Sea, includes a maritime parade of traditional rowing boats, an evocative ceremony celebrating the rites of marriage with the sea, the launching of a ring into the waters and a religious ceremony at the church of San Nicolo on the Lido. The program concludes with a Venetian-style rowing competition. Online: tinyurl.com/2p9dsuyv
The sinking Thursday of the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet has boosted Ukrainian morale - and sales of a postage stamp commemorating an earlier incident involving the cruiser - even as the Kremlin readies a fresh assault of the country's east and south.

And in another instance underscoring continued defiance as the war grinds into an eighth week, an art studio in Lviv in western Ukraine is auctioning a non-fungible token (NFT) based on a mug shot of oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin who was recaptured by Ukrainian authorities this week.

The sinking of the Russian cruiser Moskva came shortly after Ukraine's national postal service released 1 million stamps depicting a Ukrainian fighter holding up a middle finger in front of the vessel. The "First Day" stamp was an interpretation of a Feb. 24 incident on Snake Island in which Ukrainian border guards reportedly told off the encroaching Moskva with colorful language as Russia launched its invasion.

As news emerged of the sinking of the Moskva - for which Ukrainian officials claimed responsibility - Ukrainians lined up outside a Kyiv post office in hope of snatching up the special stamp. Odessa's governor and the Ukrainian military said a Ukrainian missile attack sank the Russian warship - an assertion backed by Washington - while Moscow blamed a combination of a fire and bad weather.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took to social media to promote the commemorative stamp and an envelope that bore the same image. He mocked the damaged vessel, telling people using the stamps to remember that the Moskva "always travels only in one direction" - downward.

Images of the disheveled and handcuffed mogul Medvedchuk have also circulated widely since his recapture. Medvedchuk, who has been charged with treason, escaped house arrest shortly after the invasion, according to Kyiv.

Artists from the M81 Studio retooled a post-capture photo of Medvedchuk into what they termed "Warhol-style" pop art. Proceeds from the sale of the "Kremlin agent Medvedchuk for sale" NFT, which was trading at roughly $320, will be used to support Ukraine's defense efforts, the studio said.

"We are used to Medvedchuk being corrupt, but finally, he is being sold to benefit Ukraine, and not for his own enrichment," it added. An attorney for Medvedchuk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

- - -

The Washington Post's Peter Bejger contributed to this report.
Marine Corps stealth fighters will fly south to train with their Australian counterparts in August and September, according to Marines in Japan and Australia.

F-35B Lightning IIs from Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, will participate in Australias biennial Exercise Pitch Black, Marine Aircraft Group 12 spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Vitaliy Rusavskiy said in an email Thursday.

Rusavskiy didnt provide the number of aircraft going to the drills or which unit theyre from, but he said the Marines are excited about training with the Australians.

MCAS Iwakuni is home to the first two F-35B units stationed overseas  Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242.

The F-35B is the Marine Corps variation of the joint strike fighter and comes with short-takeoff and vertical-landing capabilities that allow it to operate from aircraft carriers and flat-deck amphibious assault ships like the USS America, homeported at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan.

Pitch Black involves the Royal Australian Air Force working with regional, coalition and allied nations. It will take place from Aug. 19 to Sept. 8, the Australian Defence Department said in an email Thursday to Stars and Stripes.

Planning for Exercise Pitch Black 2022 is still underway and confirmation of specific capabilities is still being confirmed, the department said.

In 2014, the Australian government agreed to buy 72 conventional takeoff and landing F-35As to replace a fleet of F/A-18A/B Classic Hornet fighters. As of March 1, the Australian Defence Force had accepted 48 F-35As, the department said.

Marine Rotational Force  Darwin will be involved in Pitch Black alongside the F-35Bs, Capt. Joseph DiPietro, a spokesman for the force, said by phone Tuesday.

A contingent of 2,200 U.S. Marines began arriving in March for a six-month rotation to Australias Northern Territory, their 11th deployment to Darwin since 2012.

The Marines will train with Australian troops and other friendly forces to respond to a crisis in the region, the service said in a March 14 statement.

Ten MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft deployed with the rotational force from Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 268, out of Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, will participate in Pitch Black, DiPietro said.

Marines from Air Control Group 38, part of the rotational force, will also take part in Pitch Black, he said.

Pitch Black will involve about 20 armed forces from around the world honing aviation capabilities together. The last exercise took place in 2018 due to the coronavirus pandemic, DiPietro said.

The Marine rotational force has been doing small unit training and getting ready to work with Australian counterparts so an Australian servicemember can board an American platform or a U.S. servicemember can utilize and Australian weapons platform, DiPietro said.
A group of senior U.S. senators delivered a message of support for Taiwan during a visit Friday, a move that China answered with a display of military force.

Members of the delegation, including Republican Lindsey Graham, told Beijing that the U.S. will start making China account for bullying Taiwan and supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

"Here is my promise to you and the Taiwanese people: We are going to start making China pay a greater price for what they are doing all over the world," Graham said during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei. "The support for Putin must come with a price. The never-ending cyberattack on your economy and people by the Communist Chinese needs to come with a price."

The People's Liberation Army said it conducted air and naval training near Taiwan on Friday in response to the "wrong signals" recently sent by the U.S. The maneuvers included ships, bombers and fighters, said Shi Yi, spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command, adding the military would remain on high alert to safeguard national sovereignty and regional peace.

The Russian invasion has raised concern that China may follow through on its oft-repeated threat to take control of the democratic island by force. Events in Ukraine have also dented confidence that world powers would be able to prevent a similar crisis from erupting over the island.

Graham and other members of the delegation emphasized the strength of bipartisan commitment in the U.S. on defending Taiwan. Bob Menendez, a Democrat and head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the delegation ignored a warning from a "very unhappy" China not to travel to Taipei, adding: "It won't dissuade us in the future in supporting Taiwan."

The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in a statement the U.S. should end all forms of official interaction with Taiwan. Beijing views the contacts as a violation of its stance that there is just "one China."

The senators should avoid making "irresponsible remarks," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press briefing in Beijing. When asked later about scientific exchanges between Russia and his nation, Zhao said they're "advancing normally," adding the two sides "will continue to follow the concept of lasting friendship."

While Tsai's government asserts Taiwan is an already a de facto independent nation in need of wider international recognition, Beijing claims the island as part of its territory that it must reclaim by force if necessary. China has steadily increased its pressure on Taiwan, more than doubling its military forays into the island's air-defense identification zone last year.

Reports last week said U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would travel to Taiwan as part of a trip to Asia, a visit that would have been the first by the person in her position in 25 years. Pelosi's office declined to confirm that, and the Asia trip was later canceled because she tested positive for Covid-19.
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea  South Korea plans to end many of its pandemic restrictions, including social distancing measures and a seven-day quarantine, as new COVID-19 cases slowly give way.

A midnight business curfew and 10-person cap on gatherings will end Monday, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters announced Friday. Indoor dining at multiuse facilities such as movie theaters and religious buildings may resume on April 25.

The mandatory, seven-day quarantine for anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 may be lifted in late May. South Korea had shortened its quarantine to one week earlier this year.

One measure will not be lifted: Masks are still required indoors and outdoors in public settings, according to the headquarters announcement.

South Korea confirmed 125,846 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, according to a daily update Friday by the Korean Disease Control and Prevention Agency. KDCA on April 5 reported 286,294 new cases, the most recent high point.

The country's one-day record is 621,187 on March 17.

Seoul on Thursday reported 21,450 new cases; Gyeonggi province, the nations most populous and the home of Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base, reported 32,584, according to KDCA.

Gyeonggi, which has outpaced Seoul, reported 76,900 new cases on April 5; Seoul accounted for 52,430 that day.

Under the curfew, businesses that catered to an evening crowd, such as bars and clubs, opened their doors to the public earlier in the day. Club-goers stood in late-afternoon lines outside clubs in Seoul, a scene normally reserved for the evening hours in popular districts.

The upcoming changes come after two years of pandemic restrictions that provoked outrage from businesses large and small.

However, while the omicron wave of COVID-19 peaked in late March, the virus is giving way only grudgingly, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said at a public briefing Friday.

As the government made a commitment to the people  [it] is about to resolutely lift its social distancing measures that have been an important symbol of epidemic prevention and control measures, he said.

Mask-wearing will be required for a considerable period of time, despite the waning case numbers, he said.

Masks are still a very important means to protect oneself from infection, Kim said.

Nearly 88% of the population received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 64.3% were administered a booster shot as of Friday, according to the KDCA.

U.S. Forces Korea counted 524 new cases April 5-11 and 675 cases between March 29 and April 4. The command recorded its highest surge of infections with 1,599 cases Jan. 4-10.

USFK spokesman Wesley Hayes in an emailed statement to Stars and Stripes on Friday did not comment on potential changes to its current COVID-19 measures but said it will "continue to monitor and assess ... on a daily basis."

In addition to mimicking South Korea's COVID-19 measures throughout the pandemic, USFK imposed its own set of restrictions that have relaxed in recent weeks. Service members were allowed to go to Seoul for nonessential visits starting last month.

Service members are still required to "adhere to all South Korean rules, directives and laws regarding COVID," the command said in a statement March 23.

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to this report.
FORT SHAFTER, Hawaii  The U.S. Army is still on guard in the Pacific, despite America turning its attention to helping Ukraine defend itself in Europe against Russian invaders, the top Army commander in the region said recently.

When Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, met civilian and military leaders on a recent swing through Southeast Asia, some asked if the U.S. Army remains committed to its role in maintaining stability and ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific, he told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.

And my response was, Absolutely, Flynn said during an interview at his Fort Shafter headquarters.

Im not having difficulty remaining focused on the Pacific, said Flynn, who took command last summer. Theres plenty of work to do out here for all the services and certainly for the Army.

Flynn possesses a relatively long view of the ebb and flow of the Armys activity in the Pacific. He commanded the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii from 2014 to 2016, then moved just a short distance down the island for a two-year stint as deputy commander of U.S. Army Pacific.

Flynn maintains that the Pacific Army has experienced a fairly substantial net gain in its regional presence over the past decade for multiple reasons.

First, in 2013, it transitioned from a three-star to a four-star headquarters, with Gen. Vincent Brooks assuming command at that time.

The second thing that happened was that we did not send as many forces to the Middle East, Flynn said, referring to Americas lengthy military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. We kept a greater amount of capabilities here in the Pacific to do a wide range of exercises and engagements and operations in the region.

Brooks established Pacific Pathways as a means of keeping small units deployed in the region for a few months at a time by moving through a series of established multinational exercises.

That concept has evolved into Operation Pathways, a means for projecting forces into the region to solve operational and strategic problems, Flynn said.

Pathways is our operational campaign design in the region, and Pathways is posture for us, he said. It keeps the Army more steadily engaged with partners and allies and increases their ability to operate together if there were a conflict, he said.

We're also denying key terrain to our adversaries out here because we're in that terrain, with the armies on the ground, amongst the people, Flynn said.

Since January, we have had somewhere between 10 and 15 exercises that have been going on simultaneously, with a corps headquarters forward, multiple divisions forward and deployed capabilities into the region, using these exercises as our campaign design under Pathways, he said.

Flynn estimated that in the past six months between 6,000 and 7,000 soldiers from a wide range of units  including active duty, reserves and Guard  were deployed on Pathways exercises. That number does not include soldiers who are permanently stationed in South Korea or Japan, he said.

Another key to keeping more Army forces present and engaged in the region is the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, Flynn said.

The 25th Infantry Division began experimenting with this combat-readiness concept at a battalion and brigade levels back when he was its commander.

The readiness center is now a deployable package of personnel and equipment capable of providing training exercises that rival rotations soldiers would get at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., or the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif.

Regional training centers under the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center were deployed for the first time in Hawaii last fall and then to Alaska this winter.

Those training centers more closely replicate the environment and the conditions that our forces are going to have to operate in, Flynn said. They also reduces costs and lost training time associated with shipping out to one of the national training centers, he said.

Partner nations are thirsty to set up their own training centers in conjunction with the U.S. Army, Flynn said.

The Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center deployed in August to the two-week Garuda Shield exercise in Indonesia with U.S. and Indonesian soldiers.

This year, the initial indications are there may be as many as 10 or 14 countries that are going to participate in Garuda Shield in Indonesia, Flynn said.

To me, that is an illustration of exactly what we're trying to achieve, which is to increase our multilateral and multinational training opportunities to be able to take an exercise like Garuda Shield  an army-to-army bilateral exercise  and create an opportunity for other countries in the region to participate in a multilateral exercise.
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany  A ramped up operations tempo in Europe amid the war in Ukraine has meant that fewer service members are lining up to donate blood, exacerbating a preexisting shortage of U.S. stockpiles.

Temporary duty assignments and training obligations have forced more service members to miss planned donations, officials with the Armed Services Blood Program-Europe said Friday.

Weve definitely seen that current events in the world have been keeping some folks from keeping their appointments to donate blood, said Stacy Sanning, a program spokeswoman.

Slots are still available for a blood drive scheduled next week at the Armys installation in Baumholder, Germany, Sanning said Friday. Usually, appointments would be full or nearly full this close to the event, she said.

Tuesdays blood drive at the Hall of Champions Gym on Baumholder is almost full, she said, but for Wednesdays event, only 33 of 68 appointments had been taken as of Friday afternoon.

The next blood drive after Baumholder is on April 25 and April 26 at Ramstein Air Base, which has slots available.

The program aims to collect at least 400 units of blood per month from an average of one to three weekly blood drives in Europe. Every donor gives one unit.

After a drop at the beginning of the pandemic, the program mostly has been hitting that goal, with support from regular donors, units that sign up to sponsor blood drives and by scheduling additional drives when needed, Sanning said.

The program switched from walk-in to an appointment-only format during the pandemic. Volunteers may walk in and donate if there are open appointments on the day of a drive.

A civilian blood shortage in the U.S., caused by blood drive cancellations and surging hospital demand during the pandemic, underscores the need for blood in Europe, officials said.

Blood collected stateside augments the supply for the U.S. military community in Europe and service members deployed to Africa.

Right now, there is an urgent need for blood in the United States and that includes the Department of Defenses overall supply, said Lt. Col. Veronica Ortiz, director of joint blood operations at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

Blood has a shelf life of 42 days when not frozen and volunteers may donate only every 56 days.

The Armed Services Blood Program has more than 20 donor centers, including one in Europe at Landstuhl and others in the continental United States, Guam and Japan.

Donations stay within the military. Theyre provided to service members, veterans and families, as well as for humanitarian and military operations worldwide.

Next month, blood drives are scheduled at Vogelweh, Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Wiesbaden and Ramstein in Germany.

Once a month, the Landstuhl-based team collects blood at bases elsewhere in Europe. Blood drives were held at U.S. Army Garrison Benelux-Brunssum in the Netherlands last month and at Aviano Air Base in Italy in early April.

To sign up to donate, go to https://www.militarydonor.com or email usarmy.donateblood-europe@mail.mil.

The donation process usually takes 45 minutes to an hour. Sanning recommends donors eat a good meal and hydrate beforehand. Salty foods can help the body retain fluids and water can plump up the veins, she said.

Twitter: @stripesktown
Soon after Russia seized Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, a Ukrainian defense firm used an arms show in Kyiv to unveil its latest project: An anti-ship cruise missile it called "Neptune."

The new missile drew little attention at the time. But now it is center-stage after a U.S. defense official said Ukrainian forces used Neptune missiles to strike and sink Russia's flagship Moskva war vessel in the Black Sea.

The strike on Wednesday marked a major boost for Ukraine - not only for its war effort but also for the homegrown arms industry, even as it relies on weapons donated by Western allies.

"For the Ukrainians, if they were able to sink this ship or damage it with their own Neptune missiles, that's a point of pride, first, and a useful military capability in that they will be able to keep the Russian fleet at bay," said Mark Cancian, senior adviser for the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, foreign-made weapons have poured into Ukraine. Among them are anti-armor weapons produced in the United States, small arms manufactured in Europe and even Russian-designed anti-aircraft systems.

But Ukraine is a significant arms exporter itself, with a legacy of building missiles and rockets that goes back deep into the Soviet era.

Russia was once a key export market for those weapons: Between 2016 and 2020, one in five Ukrainian arms exports went to Ukraine's larger neighbor, according to tracking from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

But in recent years, Ukrainian weapons have also been developed to fight against Russian forces.

Ukraine's military said its forces had fired Neptune anti-ship missiles at the Moskva, damaging it and causing it to sink Thursday. A senior U.S. defense official said Friday that two Neptune missiles had struck the ship.

Moscow only said that a fire onboard caused ammunition stocks to detonate, prompting an evacuation of the crew. The ship later sank due to poor weather while being towed to port, Russia said.

On Friday, Russia's Defense Ministry said that it struck the Vizar factory on the edge of the Ukrainian capital. Ukraine's state weapons manufacturer, Ukroboronprom, said in a statement on its website that the Vizar factory was involved in the production of both Neptune missiles and Alder precision-guided rockets.

Some Ukrainians viewed the sinking of the Moskva as a key moment for the domestic arms industry.

"For the first time, a warship was destroyed by an anti-ship missile made entirely in Ukraine," Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Ukraine, wrote on Twitter.

Kaleniuk, a prominent activist on social media, said the reported success of the strike showed Ukraine could handle more technologically advanced weapons supplied by NATO countries.

The Neptune was in development prior to Russia's annexation of Crimea, but its capture helped spur the missile's production. The peninsula houses Ukraine's main navy base and the Soviet-era coastal defense systems that had once protected the country from attack along the Black Sea.

The R-360 Neptune is itself based on an old Soviet cruise missile called the kH-35, which had been produced in the Ukrainian town of Kharkiv. The company that developed Neptune, Luch Design Bureau, was founded in 1965 and had a long history of designing Soviet missiles.

If Neptune missiles were fired at the Moskva, it would mark the first time that the weapon was used in practice, military experts say. The incident also suggests that the cruise missile, which has a stated range of about 200 miles, can evade missile defense systems such as those onboard the Russian ship.

The ship was fitted with long-range radar and an s-300 air-defense system, designed to provide protection not only for itself but the rest of the Russian fleet. Accounts from Ukrainian officials suggest that an aerial drone was used to distract the defense systems during the attack.

Ukrainian officials said last year that four countries had expressed interest in importing Neptune missile systems for their own use, with Indonesia among those who may receive the first shipment.

But there are also worries that Ukraine doesn't have enough weapons at home.

In an interview last year, Luch Design Bureau director Oleg Korostelov said that "due to lack of funding," his company would only be able to supply up to 800 of the roughly 2,000 missiles requested by the Ukrainian military.

"Unfortunately, our level of security is low," he said when asked if Ukraine was prepared to defend itself against a full-scale invasion.
WASHINGTON  A bipartisan group of senators is urging the White House to appoint a coordinator for sending security assistance to Ukraine, arguing the U.S. needs a dedicated person to speed up deliveries of heavy weapons.

The Ukraine security assistance coordinator would lead efforts to assess Ukraines defense needs, centralize overlapping work between the Pentagon and the State Department, and serve as the chief weapons liaison between the U.S. and its international partners, the senators wrote Thursday in a letter to President Joe Biden.

The signers include Sens. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

In order to reinforce Ukraines battlefield victories and help it decisively defeat the Russian aggressors, we need to focus on improving how we synchronize our whole of government approach to arming Ukraine, they wrote. This effort requires one individual to coordinate our efforts.

This individual would also work with the defense industry to replenish U.S. and allied weapon stockpiles and develop recommendations for additional security aid based on the capability and capacity needs of Ukraines armed forces, the senators wrote.

The State Department declined to say Friday whether the agency already has someone performing those duties or if a coordinator is needed.

Deliveries of our security assistance are occurring daily and at incredible speed, a department spokesperson said. The United States is working around the clock.

The Pentagon on Friday referred all questions about a coordinator to the White House, which did not respond to a request for comment. The Pentagon hosted the leaders of the militarys eight largest prime contractors on Wednesday to discuss how to arm Ukraine faster, according to a readout of the meeting.

Lawmakers have frequently complained aid is reaching Ukraine too slowly, despite assurances from the Defense Department that it is moving weapons and supplies at breakneck speed.

We are flowing resources in Ukraine faster than most people would have believed conceivable, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. We are providing those capabilities proven to be effective in this fight.

The lawmakers said it is critical to examine how the U.S. can improve on that pace now that Russia is pivoting from a failed offensive on Ukraines capital city of Kyiv to conquering the eastern Donbas region. Russia is expected to fare better on the open terrain in the east due to its larger and better equipped military.

Even after their initial defeat, Russias ongoing military operations are an urgent call to re-assess how the United States can quickly and creatively provide Ukraine with the defense articles it needs to defend itself, the senators wrote.

They emphasized the importance of coordinating the delivery of sophisticated weaponry, such as aircraft and tanks, for the coming fight.

The White House announced Wednesday that it will send Ukraine heavy weapons for the first time since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of the country in late February. Upcoming shipments will include 11 Mi-17 helicopters that had been earmarked for Afghanistan, 18 howitzer cannons, 200 armored personnel carriers and 100 armored vehicles.

shkolnikova.svetlana@stripes.com

Twitter: @svetashko
WASHINGTON  A Ukrainian missile strike caused the explosions and fire aboard a Russian flagship that later sunk as it was being towed to port for repairs, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to multiple news outlets on Friday.

The Russian missile cruiser called the Moskva was in the Black Sea south of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa on Wednesday when Ukraine forces launched two of its Neptune missiles at the ship, Ukraine officials have said.

The Russian Defense Ministry later claimed a fire had broken out on the ship, causing extensive damage and the 500-person crew had evacuated onto other Russia vessels in the area, according to Russias state-run TASS news agency, which claimed the fires cause was under investigation.

The ministry on Thursday said the Moskva, which was also used as the command vessel of Russias Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed toward the Russia-controlled Crimean Peninsula for repairs, according to TASS.

While Russia has not said whether any sailors were injured or killed in the incident, the U.S. official told reporters that the missile strikes are believed to have caused casualties, according to Radio Free Europe.

The Moskva, which was built in 1982 and completed upgrades in 2020, was expected to remain in service for another 18 years, TASS reported.

Russian Sen. Yekaterina Altabayeva said Russia would find a way to preserve the memory of the Moskva in Sevastopol, Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine during its last invasion in 2014, the state-run news outlet said.

The Pentagon confirmation comes after Russia launched a retaliatory strike on a military factory that produced missiles near the Ukraine capital of Kyiv, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said Friday, according to TASS.

As a result of the strike on the Zhulyany-based Vizar machine-building factory, the workshops of the production and repair of long- and medium-range surface-to-air missile systems and also anti-ship missiles were destroyed," he said.

The Konashenkov also threatened Russian missile strikes on Kyiv will intensify in response to any terror-related attacks or subversive acts by the Kyiv nationalist regime on Russian territory.

The Russian strike came after Ukraines capital had seen a lull in assaults since the Kremlin announced about two weeks ago that it would focus its efforts on the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

Russian ground troops had left Kyiv and nearby Chernihiv for Belarus by April 6, according to senior U.S. defense officials. The Pentagon believes those forces are being resupplied and reinforced as Russia plots a renewed assault in the Donbas region.
An explosion last week that wounded four U.S. service members in Syria came from explosive charges placed inside the base and not from a rocket or mortar attack, military officials said.

New information suggests that someone deliberately placed the explosive material in an ammunition storage room and a shower area, a statement by Combined Joint Task ForceInherent Resolve officials said Thursday.

The U.S. previously blamed indirect fire for an early morning attack on April 7 that targeted a small base known as Green Village, which sits east of the Euphrates River and is adjacent to major oil fields.

The attack remains under investigation and the culprits have not been identified, the statement said.

The injuries to the four U.S. service members were described as minor and included possible traumatic brain injuries, U.S. officials said at the time.

The service members were cleared to return to Green Village on Wednesday, a statement Friday by the coalition said. They will ramp up their activities over the next week as part of a progressive return to duty, the statement said.

Several hundred U.S. and coalition forces are stationed at Green Village as they train local forces to fight remnants of the Islamic State.

They are part of a contingent of about 1,000 American troops still in Syria and 2,500 counterparts stationed in neighboring Iraq.

In recent years, Green Village and other bases in the two countries have experienced rocket and mortar attacks, which have been attributed to Iran-backed militia groups that oppose the presence of American forces and their partners.

Also in Syria, Israel fired several missiles shortly before midnight Thursday toward Syrian military positions about 300 miles west of Green VIllage, near Damascus, The Associated Press reported Friday.

The attack caused material damage, the report said, citing Syrian state media.

There was no comment from the Israeli military, which has staged hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations, the AP report said.
In Louisiana, it took a judge just a few clicks online to give West Baton Rouge Parish deputies the go-ahead to force their way into a motel room without knocking. Within 30 minutes, officers rushed in and fatally shot an unarmed Black man, seizing a little more than 22 grams of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine and hydrocodone.

In St. Louis, a judge authorized police to break down the doors of three homes simultaneously without knocking. Officers killed a 63-year-old Black grandfather, and police said they found just over nine grams of heroin, marijuana, fentanyl and hydrocodone in the three homes combined.

In Houston, a judge approved scores of requests for no-knock warrants for officers who relied on unnamed informants. One raid led to a gun battle that left a White man and woman dead and four officers shot, and it failed to turn up the heroin police said they would find. The officer who requested the warrant later admitted he fabricated the confidential informant.

Judges and magistrates are expected to review requests for no-knock warrants - one of the most intrusive and dangerous tactics available to law enforcement - to ensure that citizens are protected from unreasonable searches, as provided in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

But judges generally rely on the word of police officers and rarely question the merits of the requests, offering little resistance when they seek authorization for no-knocks, a Washington Post investigation has found. The searches, which were meant to be used sparingly, have become commonplace for drug squads and SWAT teams.

Criminal justice experts estimate that police carry out tens of thousands of no-knock raids every year nationwide, mostly in drug-related searches. But few agencies monitor their use, making the exact number unknown. None of the 50 state court systems or the District of Columbia reported tracking the use of no-knock warrants. And no federal or state government agencies keep tabs on the number of people killed or wounded in the raids.

"The whole system has devolved into a perfunctory bureaucracy that doesn't take any care or due diligence for how it's done," said Peter Kraska, an Eastern Kentucky University professor who has studied no-knock raids for more than three decades. "That wouldn't be as big of a deal, except that we're talking about a really extreme policing approach - breaking into people's homes with a surprise entry with the possibility of finding evidence."

The raids became a flash point two years ago when Louisville police killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor inside her apartment as part of a drug investigation involving an ex-boyfriend who didn't live there. In that case, an officer obtained no-knock warrants for Taylor's home and four other residences. Police later said they knocked and announced themselves at Taylor's home, a claim that has been disputed. In a no-knock raid in February, Minneapolis police shot and killed 22-year-old Amir Locke. Body-camera footage shows Locke, who was not the target of the investigation, wrapped in a blanket on a couch with a gun in his hand when police shot him.

Police carrying out 21 no-knock warrants have killed at least 22 people across the country since 2015, according to a review of The Post's database of fatal shootings by police and hundreds of court records. In one case, an officer was also killed.

Of the 22 people fatally shot during no-knock raids since 2015, 13 were Black or Hispanic. Experts have suggested that high-risk searches disproportionately target Black and Hispanic homes.

In the vast majority of the cases, police said they were searching for illegal drugs and expected the subjects to be armed.

In all but two of these raids, police claimed they encountered someone who had a weapon - in most cases a gun. In at least five raids, police killed someone who was not a focus of the warrant, according to court records and media reports.

The Post obtained documents listing evidence for 13 of the fatal raids: In 12, officers recovered less than three pounds of drugs combined - including marijuana, mushrooms and heroin. Only one raid recovered more: In 2018 in Fort Worth, officers found more than a pound of marijuana, three pounds of mushrooms and more than 16 pounds of a prescription allergy medicine. Officials did not respond to a request for or declined to provide a list quantifying the drugs seized in the other eight raids.

The full tally of fatalities from no-knock warrants is unknown: The Post database includes at least 24 other searches that ended in fatal shootings of civilians, but court officials and police departments were unable or declined to provide records clarifying whether the raids involved no-knock warrants. In 2017, the New York Times examined SWAT team raids and found that at least 81 civilians and 13 officers had died from 2010 through 2016 in searches that involved both no-knock warrants and knock-and-announce warrants.

In recent years, it has become quicker and easier for judges to approve no-knock warrants, bypassing the normal process that usually involves an officer meeting with a judge in person. Software, adopted by hundreds of law enforcement agencies, allows judges to remotely approve requests using computers, cellphones or tablets.

The Post reviewed more than 2,500 warrants in 30 states, examined court and police records, and interviewed dozens of judges, police officials, lawmakers, witnesses and relatives of people who died in raids.

Officers obtaining typical search warrants are required to show a judge they have probable cause, listing the location to be searched and the contraband or evidence they expect to find. They're also supposed to "knock and announce" before entering homes.

But with a no-knock warrant, police can force their way into a home without warning. The requirements for no-knock warrants may vary by jurisdiction, but are generally guided by a 1997 Supreme Court opinion involving a forced-entry search by police. The court ruled that police seeking to conduct these searches must have a "reasonable suspicion" why knocking and announcing could be dangerous or result in the destruction of evidence. Police are generally expected to make this argument to judges when seeking approval for a no-knock warrant.

"This showing is not high, but the police should be required to make it whenever the reasonableness of a no-knock entry is challenged," the justice wrote.

Training and educational requirements for judges vary state to state. In some cases, judges or magistrates without law degrees or extensive training are tasked with approving no-knocks.

"It's set up so that police departments can do whatever they want with regards to no-knocks," Kraska said.

Across the country, 29 states and 21 cities have approved legislation or ordinances restricting the use of no-knocks, according to Campaign Zero, a police reform group. At least 13 other states and nine other cities have recently considered proposals for such restrictions, the group said.

In Maryland, after Montgomery County Police killed a man in a no-knock raid, the council in 2020 imposed limits on such warrants. Police reported that 108 of 140 search warrants executed by the SWAT team in 2019 were no-knocks.

In South Carolina, Chief Justice Donald W. Beatty ordered a temporary ban on no-knocks in 2020 after a survey by the state court system revealed that magistrates routinely issued warrants without questioning police, and that most "do not understand the gravity of no-knock warrants and do not discern the heightened requirements for issuing a no-knock warrant."

But many judges say that in evaluating the requests for search warrants, they rely on the officers' claims in the affidavits because they are filed under oath.

Gordon Marcum, a former municipal judge who approved the no-knock warrant for the 2019 deadly raid in Houston, told The Post in an interview that he considered himself the last line of defense against unjustified searches and carefully scrutinized the warrants he handled. But he said it wasn't his responsibility to spot patterns, including whether officers appeared to be lying on affidavits or whether police failed to locate the guns or drugs they claimed they would find. Though officers typically must file documents with the court detailing what they seized in raids, judges who sign the warrants aren't required to examine them.

"It wasn't my job to do that," Marcum said. "It's the officer who's in charge. The police officer, the supervisor, the captain, the department director, and all of them who have access to those things."

Police defending these warrants note that the vast majority of them lead to no injuries and are likely to have prevented violence and preserved evidence that otherwise would have been destroyed.

Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said there are misconceptions about no-knocks, including that police use them frequently and haphazardly. "In reality, there's a whole lot of assessment that goes into determining whether a no-knock warrant is going to be executed," Yoes said.

The raids can be deadly not only for residents, but officers as well.

One Texas man, Marvin Guy, is facing charges, including capital murder, after an officer was killed and three others were shot during a 2014 no-knock raid at his home in Killeen. Guy was sleeping when officers smashed his window and slammed a battering ram into his front door. He said he thought he was being robbed and fired a gun through the broken window. Police had suspected that Guy, who had an extensive criminal history, was selling drugs, but no drugs were found in his home. Police said they found trace amounts of a white powder in his car, records show.

Survivors of raids have said they feared that intruders were breaking into their homes. In Louisville, Breonna Taylor's boyfriend said he fired at police because he didn't know who was storming the apartment.

Tamika Palmer, Taylor's mother, said she blames the judge who signed the warrant that led to her daughter's death as much as she blames the police.

"We know that [police] are not doing the work to get these warrants, that they're not doing what needs to be done," she said. "Why would you want to sign your name on that? Why wouldn't you want to make sure, 'Let me just take a day or two to make sure you've done what you need to.' . . . It's insane, it's lazy."

___

On Feb. 21, 2017, a boom shook Marlon O'Neal from his sleep in his basement bedroom in south St. Louis. Panicked and half-dressed, he told his girlfriend to hide in the closet. She yelled for her 4-year-old son, who was sleeping near the front door.

O'Neal, thinking intruders had broken in, said he crept up the steps and saw red lasers from gun sights aimed at the living room wall. He realized the men, clad in dark clothing, were police. Officers yelled at him to go outside, where police SUVs lined California Avenue.

A SWAT team had already raided his neighbor's home two doors down. Now, the team of 17 officers converged and headed to a third house next to O'Neal's home.

Inside was his former father-in-law: 63-year-old Don Clark, known as "Pops." He was hard of hearing, couldn't see well and walked with a cane. He slept in a bed near the front door.

Officers smashed a battering ram into Clark's front door and tossed a flash-bang device inside, according to witness statements and police records. Nicholas Manasco, the first officer in, later told an investigator that Clark shot at him - he said he felt a bullet whiz past him and in the darkness saw someone holding a gun. Manasco shot at Clark, hitting him nine times. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

O'Neal was not arrested or charged in connection with the raid.

The deadly raid was one of many in which judges gave St. Louis police the go-ahead to target multiple homes simultaneously with no-knock warrants.

In the raid on California Avenue, police initially sought to search two addresses; they added Clark's home two days later, records show. The affidavits were identical for all three homes.

Detective Thomas Strode of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department accused Clark and others of conducting drug sales and storing weapons and narcotics in homes on California Avenue. In his affidavit, Strode said he also did several weeks of surveillance. He reported a controlled drug buy, but it happened five months earlier and about a mile away from California Avenue, according to the affidavit.

Strode noted in his affidavit that some of the residents of the targeted homes had criminal histories: "Since the targets of the investigation are known to be armed narcotic traffickers, many of whom have a violent history, I am requesting no-knock search warrants" for the three homes.

O'Neal, who lived next to Clark, had felony convictions, including unlawful possession of a firearm in 2010. Ben Byas, another neighbor, was on probation for possession with intent to distribute drugs. And Strode said in the affidavit that Clark had arrests for unlawful use of a weapon, felonious restraint and assault. A Post review of local court records showed Clark, who once owned a security company, had no charges or convictions.

On the morning of the raid, Associate Circuit Court Judge Barbara Peebles signed the warrants.

A court spokesman said Peebles determined there was probable cause "based on the information presented under oath." Peebles, now a judge in the juvenile court, declined to comment further.

From 2016 through 2018, Strode received approval for at least 43 no-knock warrants, according to a Post analysis of records obtained by ArchCity Defenders, a legal advocacy group helping to represent Clark's family in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the police. Twenty-four of the warrants involved multi-house raids.

In nearly half of those 43 raids for which Strode received approval, officers said they failed to find suspected drugs, according to a review of documents filed in court by police.

___

A no-knock warrant, examined

California Avenue, St. Louis

Police need a judge's approval to raid a home or business without warning. These are high-risk searches that require additional scrutiny - but a Post investigation found that judges rarely question the merits of these requests by police. This affidavit from a 2017 raid by the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department shows how police obtained no-knock warrants to raid three homes.

1. The tip

Drug investigations often start with a tip about drug activity at a residence, usually from a confidential source, or an informant who has an agreement to share information with police, sometimes in exchange for avoiding arrest or a lighter sentence if prosecuted. In this case, the detective refers to a "CS" - a confidential source.

2. The investigation

Police try to obtain more information on the residents, which can include criminal background checks, interviews with additional informants and surveillance for potential illegal activity in the area. They may send an informant to buy drugs from suspects.

3. The warrant request

The detective summarizes the findings of the investigation in an affidavit, swearing it is true.

4. The no-knock justification

For a no-knock warrant, police must also explain why they need the element of surprise to justify the risk. They usually cite concerns that suspects may be armed and dangerous and the need to preserve drug evidence.

5. Judicial review

Judge are expected to review no-knock warrants to ensure that people are protected from unreasonable searches, as provided in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

6. The warrant return

After a raid, police are generally required to log all property - including drugs, guns and other items - seized in the raid, and file that information in a court document known as a warrant return. The judge who approved the warrant is not required to review this document.

___

Strode did not respond to messages seeking comment. Evita Caldwell, a police spokeswoman, said Strode and Manasco, the officer who fatally shot Clark, no longer work at the St. Louis police department and declined to discuss the terms of their departures. More than five years later, the department and the circuit attorney said they are still investigating the fatal shooting.

Police rely heavily on confidential informants, but experts said they can be unreliable - incentivized to trade questionable information for reduced sentences or other beneficial treatment.

David Moran, a University of Michigan law professor who argued before the Supreme Court in a case about evidence seized during no-knocks, said a raid on one home can easily become a violent confrontation. Carrying out simultaneous no-knock warrants at several homes "just multiplies the risk," he said.

That risk takes on a new dimension in states with high gun ownership or "stand your ground" laws, including Missouri. In those states, people may legally defend themselves with deadly force if they believe their life is in danger.

Clark had moved into his home a few years earlier and was concerned about crime, his family said.

Sherrie Clark-Torrence, one of Clark's daughters, said that she doesn't believe her father used a gun as police claimed, but even if he had, it would have been self-defense. In the family's lawsuit, they allege that he was unarmed, that he had no criminal convictions and police lied about surveillance of his home.

"He's already an elderly man in a bad neighborhood," she said in an interview. "So if he heard a boom and he grabbed his revolver . . . to protect himself, wouldn't that be right?"

The city of St. Louis declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit.

Police said they recovered a .45 caliber Glock handgun, a 9mm Taurus handgun and boxes of ammunition from Clark's home. A forensics report concluded that one gun had been fired.

Clark's family disputes that he had any drugs, according to their lawsuit.

At Clark's home, officers reported finding 8.39 grams of heroin and 0.50 grams of marijuana. They also said they found 20 pills; a lab test determined one to be .005 grams of hydrocodone.

At the home of Ben Byas, police said they recovered 0.1 grams of fentanyl, .08 grams of heroin and fentanyl, and a plastic bag with an unknown white substance.

After the raid, Byas told police he had heroin and cocaine in his home. When a detective asked if he sold them, Byas responded, "No I just pretty much use." He was arrested, but wasn't charged.

Police said they seized no drugs at O'Neal's home. He and his girlfriend claimed officers stole money from a safe in his basement. He questioned whether the raids were worth it.

"You did all these search warrants, and that's all you found in this house," he said, referring to Clark's home. "What about my house? What did you find there? . . . You know, not nothing."

___

On a humid afternoon in July 2019 in Port Allen, La., the River West Narcotics Task Force sent a confidential informant to buy $50 worth of methamphetamine from a suspected drug dealer at the Budget 7 Motel, sandwiched between a gas station and another motel near the Mississippi River.

The quick transaction in room No. 5 was enough evidence for West Baton Rouge sheriff's Deputy Brett Cavaliere to request a no-knock warrant.

Cavaliere filled out the request in his office, using software called CloudGavel. The affidavit was barely four pages long, mostly filled with Cavaliere's law enforcement experience and boilerplate language.

He typed in one sentence about the suspect: "Affiant states in the last 72 hours, an informant purchased a quantity of methamphetamine during a controlled operation from a Black male at the Budget 7 Motel Room #5." He didn't include the suspect's name, whether he had a gun or who else was in the room.

At 6:06 p.m., with the click of a button, the deputy sent the request to Tonya Lurry, a West Baton Rouge judge, for approval: "Affiant has requested and cause has been shown for the authorization of a 'NO KNOCK' entry or entry without announcement to search the aforesaid premises," it stated.

At 6:17 p.m., Lurry electronically signed it, records show. It's unclear whether Lurry spoke with the deputy or how much time she spent considering the request.

About 6:40 p.m., Cavaliere approached the motel room with Deputy Vance Matranga and two other West Baton Rouge sheriff's deputies.

Jessica Clouatre told The Post she was on the bed inside, watching a YouTube video. Her 38-year-old fiance, Josef Richardson, had just showered, and she said he opened the door a crack to let out cigarette smoke. The couple was staying at the motel while searching for a new apartment, and had hosted Richardson's daughters the day before.

He had a criminal record that included felony convictions for resisting arrest and battery of an officer, and he was on parole after pleading guilty in 2017 to possession with intent to sell drugs. He looked tough with tattoos and gold teeth, but his friends and family knew him as a father of three who enjoyed taking his children shopping and to water parks.

Clouatre said she looked up as deputies rushed in and yelled "sheriff's office!" She said both she and Richardson had their hands up when one deputy bent Richardson's arm and brought him to the ground. Within seconds, she said, Matranga had shot Richardson in the back of the neck.

The deputies involved in the raid told a state police investigator that there was a struggle between Cavaliere and Richardson. One deputy said he holstered his gun to help Cavaliere, and Matranga said he fired his gun after seeing Richardson pull out a dark object from the waistband of his shorts, according to interviews with investigators.

But Richardson was unarmed: He was holding a bag of drugs, according to an attorney general's report. Officers arrested Clouatre, and Richardson died at the scene.

Officers said they recovered about 9 grams of methamphetamine, 9 grams of marijuana, 4.4 grams of cocaine and a few pills containing hydrocodone.

"Anybody selling drugs out of the Budget 7 Motel is not a major player," said Ron Haley, an attorney representing Richardson's children in a wrongful-death lawsuit against the sheriff's office.

The state attorney general ruled the killing was justified. Cavaliere, who is now a lieutenant, did not return requests for comment.

In an interview with The Post, Matranga declined to discuss most details of the case. Matranga, who is now a corporal in the department, also defended Cavaliere, saying he is a "meticulous and thorough" officer. And he said he believed Richardson could have been armed because of his "extensive criminal history."

Deputies found no weapons in his motel room.

The family questions the basis for the deadly raid.

Lurry, who approved the warrant, was elected as a judge 15 months before Richardson's shooting after a career as a public defender and prosecutor. She declined repeated requests for comment.

For years, Louisiana has been a leader in "e-warrants," warrants that are processed electronically on computers, smartphones and other tablets. CloudGavel, the Baton Rouge software company used by the sheriff's office, said its technology is used in nine states by more than 200 agencies, including police in Austin and New Orleans. The number of all types of warrants processed annually increased from 13,000 to almost 90,000 over the past six years. The company declined to say how many of those were no-knock warrants.

CloudGavel markets its software by emphasizing its efficiency, using the tag line "Serves justice. Saves time." An information sheet on its website proclaimed: "The one that got away? Not this time. When officers use CloudGavel's Electronic Warrant Solution, warrant processing can happen up to 90% faster."

Around the time of Richardson's death, CloudGavel touted that it took about 27 minutes from warrant submission to approval. Cavaliere and Lurry beat that by 16 minutes.

Casey Roussel, CloudGavel's president and chief customer officer, said law enforcement likes the technology because it saves time and money. He also said that the software allows courts to gather more data about warrants.

"The technology is not giving them the ability to more easily get no-knock warrants," he said. "We're eliminating the drive to and from the judge. At the end of the day, whether it's a paper warrant or a digital warrant, one hundred percent of the responsibility relies on the judge."

But some criminal justice advocates worry that judicial scrutiny is being compromised for efficiency, said the Rev. Alexis Anderson, a member of the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition. The organization sends volunteers to monitor bail hearings in Baton Rouge.

"While the technology certainly speeds up the process, what gets lost sometimes is the due process in that speed," she said. "Because we're assuming, quite frankly, that great thought is given to these warrants . . . and sometimes that's not true."

Richardson's children, as well as Clouatre, have sued the West Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office over the raid. That case is pending.

Clouatre is facing felony charges of possession with intent to distribute drugs from that night at the motel. She has pleaded not guilty.

The warrant did not name Clouatre, who said she is haunted by the raid.

"To this day, I cry every day and I'm traumatized," she said.

___

Houston Judge Gordon Marcum was watching television at home in his gated community on Jan. 28, 2019, when he learned about a deadly no-knock raid across town. Immediately, he knew that he had signed the search warrant.

Just hours before the raid on a house on Harding Street, Houston police officer Gerald Goines had requested Marcum approve a no-knock warrant, claiming a confidential informant purchased an unspecified quantity of heroin at the house in a low-income, largely Latino neighborhood in southeast Houston. The narcotics officer didn't list the name of the suspected dealer, information that is not required.

Shortly before 5 p.m., members of Narcotics Squad 15 descended on the home of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, forcing open the front door and fatally shooting their pit bull. Officers shot and killed Tuttle and Nicholas in their living room.

Police claimed that Tuttle was armed with a .357-magnum revolver and shot first. Four officers, including Goines, were shot during the gun battle. One was permanently paralyzed.

Marcum said he could think only of the "pain and suffering" that reporters described on television. He said he was awestruck by images of the large number of officers surrounding the home.

Officers didn't find any of the heroin that Goines had accused the couple of selling. Instead, police said they recovered about 1.5 grams of cocaine and 18 grams of marijuana.

Houston police investigated the deadly raid and found that Goines, who organized the raid, had lied on the affidavit - he later admitted to investigators that there was no confidential informant, the department said.

Goines and Felipe Gallegos, the officer accused of shooting Tuttle, were charged in state court with felony murder. Goines, who retired after the raid, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Nicole DeBorde, said the charge was "unfortunate" and Goines would be "vindicated" in court. The charge against Gallegos, who also left the department, was later dismissed because of conduct by a prosecutor. An attorney for Gallegos said the former officer shot Tuttle in self-defense.

Goines is also charged in federal court with depriving the couple's civil rights and with obstructing justice by falsifying records. Officer Steven Bryant was also charged with obstructing justice by falsifying records. Goines has pleaded not guilty, while Bryant has pleaded guilty.

In an interview with The Post, Marcum, an oil executive turned municipal judge, said he did not regret signing the search warrant for Harding Street because he never thought officers would lie on affidavits.

"Of all the years that I've signed them, I've never had a police officer ever proven that they had lied," he said. "That's the first one. . . . I was sorry that they felt like they had to."

Several officers from Squad 15 obtained no-knock warrants from Marcum, records show.

Marcum, who typically handled jail arraignments, traffic cases and restaurant code violations, said that he and other judges played a vital role in approving no-knock requests.

"I'm the last guy before they break your door down," Marcum said during an interview in his home, the only time he has spoken publicly about the case. "If I'm the guy who screwed that up, you've caused someone to lose their constitutional rights. So you want to be as sure as humanly possible that they're going to the right place, and doing the right thing."

The Post examined 221 search warrant requests from 2017 through 2019 that Marcum handled. Out of 93 requests by police for a no-knock warrant, Marcum approved 76. The outcome could not be determined in the other 17.

Of the no-knock warrants he approved, officers in most cases had cited guns as the justification. In cases in which court records were available, police recovered firearms about half the time.

Asked about his review process, Marcum said he did not take notes on the testimony from officers seeking the warrants. Officers file documents outlining the evidence they found in the raids, but those documents - known as search warrant "returns" - are not required to be reviewed by the judges who approved the warrant application.

"That was someone else's job," said Marcum, who retired the month after the raid.

The families of Tuttle and Nicholas have filed lawsuits against Houston police, accusing the officers of excessive force and unlawful search and seizure. John Nicholas, whose sister was killed in the raid, said Marcum failed.

"Did he really pay attention to back this up, or did he just sign his name?" said Nicholas, who died of a heart attack months after speaking with The Post.

Marcum wasn't the only judge who signed off on no-knock warrants for Squad 15. The Post analyzed warrants that Goines and Bryant, his former partner, requested from at least eight other Harris County judges from 2006 to 2018.

Of the 184 search warrants requested by the two officers, 172 were approved as no-knock warrants, analysis shows. The officers cited concerns that the occupants might have access to guns as justification for the no-knocks in 147 of those searches. Police recovered firearms in nine of the raids - including one toy gun, according to documents filed in court.

The analysis also showed a pronounced racial pattern: In those 172 no-knock warrants, at least one of the suspects was Black in 169 cases - or 98 percent of the time, according to descriptions of the suspects in warrant applications. Marcum's warrants had a similar pattern.

Marcum, who is White, said that was likely because of the precinct that Squad 15 covered, which included the southern part of Houston and many majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, some of which have been plagued by drug trafficking.

"We had a lot of bad guys living on that side of town, and that's where they lived, and that's where they did their deal," he said.

Goines, who requested most of the 184 warrants, declined to comment through his defense attorney. An attorney for Bryant did not respond to requests for comment.

In early 2019, Houston police announced plans to eliminate no-knock warrants without explicit permission from the chief, and assigned high-risk searches to a special squad. The department declined to comment.

Marcum said after the deadly raid, he no longer thinks no-knocks are worth the risk.

"I wouldn't sign one, just because of the fact that there's a possibility of so many officers getting hurt and killed," Marcum said. "There's no reason to put them in harm's way."

___

The Washington Post's Alice Crites, Jennifer Jenkins, Nate Jones, Ted Mellnik, Julie Tate, and Hannah Thacker contributed to this report. Contributors from Northwestern University's Medill Investigative Lab are Jordan Anderson, Rachel Baldauf, Monique Beals, Molly Burke, Yilun Cheng, Rebecca Holland, Michael Korsh, Kelly Milan, Madison Muller and Dhivya Sridar. Contributors from the American University-Washington Post practicum program are McKenzie Beard, Vanessa Montalbano, Megan Ruggles and Carley Welch.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Tribune News Service)  Six high school students were hospitalized Thursday night because of what could be overdoses at an Air Force JROTC Military Ball held in Davie, Florida, according to Broward County Public Schools.

Two students are still in the hospital. School staff is also at the hospital to assist, according to a statement from the Broward County school district.

The safety of our students is always our top priority, the statement said. The District and Northeast High School administration are concerned and closely following the Davie Police investigation into what caused six students to become ill Thursday night while attending the Air Force JROTC Military Ball at the Signature Grand in Davie.

I saw everybody crying and grieving and I think I saw one having a seizure, Lorenzo Toafa told CBS-Ch. 6.

The ball included students from Coral Springs and Northeast High Schools.

Some students speculated drinking water might have been spiked.

The water at one of our tables, it had drugs in them. People started putting drugs in them, Earl Cayo, a student, told WPLG-Ch. 10. We dont know exactly who or how many people did it, but for the kids who drank it ... they got high and everything.

____

2022 South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Visit at sun-sentinel.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
New and improved views from atop Waihi Beachs Trig Trail can now be added to the Easter to-do list.

The popular trig trail is open again just in time for Easter weekend following logging operations within the trig trail summit area.

Western Bay of Plenty District Council Reserves and Facilities Projects and Assets Manager, Scott Parker says contractors have worked hard to ensure the trail is open and everyone can get outside and enjoy one of the many beautiful trails in the Western Bay.

Were excited to reopen part of the closed trail network and thank everyone for their patience while tree felling took place.

Easter weekend is the perfect time to check out the new and improved parts of the Trig Trail. The views promise to be even more spectacular with the pine trees removed, says Scott.

But please note, while the Trig Trail and Dam Loop Trails are open  the Trig Trail is only suitable for walking or running, bikes are welcome on the Dam Loop Trail.

Dogs are allowed, but please keep them on a lead near the farm boundary and keep your dog to the open trail area only.

The new Forest Loop Trail is not open yet as the forest harvesting is still active in that area. There are barriers and signs in place for your protection.

For your safety please keep to the open areas only, says Scott.

Council is looking to temporarily open the new Forest Loop Trail over winter while the forestry work is on hold. And once forestry work is completed and the trails resurfaced, the Forest Loop will fully open later in 2022 and form part of a new Trig Loop Trail experience.

The forestry harvest is helping to pay for reserve improvements such as planting native species and construction of new trails. This funding, along with the Waihi Beach Cycle Trails Trust who have raised $100,000 to date, are helping create new trails in the area.
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Rocket for China's Tianzhou-4 mission arrives at launch site

SOURCE: CASC UPDATED: 2022-04-15

China's Long March-7 Y5 rocket, which will launch the new cargo craft for the country's space station, arrived at the launch site in the southern island province of Hainan on Monday.

The rocket, alongside the Tianzhou-4 cargo craft that has already been transported to the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, will be assembled and tested at the launch site, announced the China Manned Space Agency.

Facilities at the launch site are in good condition and preparations for all systems involved in the mission are proceeding smoothly, said the agency.
niranjanprabhu BHPian

Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Bangalore Posts: 137 Thanked: 470 Times

Re: Hyundai Creta & i20 get 3-star GNCAP safety rating; Toyota Urban Cruiser gets 4



1. This is not an even field. I say this because we truly don't know the safety ratings of the German twins as well as Tata's Safari/Harrier. Lots of this is purely perspective developed over time by people based on factors such as the "thud" they hear when they close the doors etc! Till we don't see the GNCAP ratings of all of our cars, its difficult and even unfair to make hard judgments



2. Everyone should read this brilliant piece on Tea-BHP scripted by @ron178

It explains and throws light on hitherto unknown aspects of the test such as the fact that the tests are engineered to mimic a collision with another car of similar dimensions and weight. So a 3-ton truck may get 1 star and a 1-ton car may get 5 stars but that does not mean the car is safer than the truck!



3. GNCAP still does not give us an understanding of how important "active" safety features like traction control, 4 disc brakes with ABS, hill assist, brake assist etc play a role in ensuring that the ultimate event of the car getting totaled does NOT happen. Hyundai and Kia are replete with active safety features.



4. It would have been also very helpful if GNCAP could have told us what the improvement in star ratings would be when a car has 6 airbags instead of 2. That way customers can be encouraged to opt-in for certain safety features by paying that extra buck.



5. Lastly we should collectively understand that in a country where almost 45% of what they pay for the car goes in terms of taxes, the budgets available for various aspects of safety and comfort features, have to be balanced appropriately without getting the car too expensive and out of the reach of most customers. These are my two pence on a very long list of litanies against Hyundai on their 3 star performance.1. This is not an even field. I say this because we truly don't know the safety ratings of the German twins as well as Tata's Safari/Harrier. Lots of this is purely perspective developed over time by people based on factors such as the "thud" they hear when they close the doors etc! Till we don't see the GNCAP ratings of all of our cars, its difficult and even unfair to make hard judgments2. Everyone should read this brilliant piece on Tea-BHP scripted by @ron178 https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-...explained.html (Global NCAP crash tests | Broken down & explained) It explains and throws light on hitherto unknown aspects of the test such as the fact that the tests are engineered to mimic a collision with another car of similar dimensions and weight. So a 3-ton truck may get 1 star and a 1-ton car may get 5 stars but that does not mean the car is safer than the truck!3. GNCAP still does not give us an understanding of how important "active" safety features like traction control, 4 disc brakes with ABS, hill assist, brake assist etc play a role in ensuring that the ultimate event of the car getting totaled does NOT happen. Hyundai and Kia are replete with active safety features.4. It would have been also very helpful if GNCAP could have told us what the improvement in star ratings would be when a car has 6 airbags instead of 2. That way customers can be encouraged to opt-in for certain safety features by paying that extra buck.5. Lastly we should collectively understand that in a country where almost 45% of what they pay for the car goes in terms of taxes, the budgets available for various aspects of safety and comfort features, have to be balanced appropriately without getting the car too expensive and out of the reach of most customers.
Why it matters: Buying a graphics card in the past year has been a nightmare. Gamers can't seem to catch a break between supply chain issues, crypto mining, and GPU scalping. Nvidia hopes to change that today with a massive resupply and sale of RTX 30 cards.

Although finding a sanely-priced GPU hasn't been an easy task for a long time now, the situation seems to be improving. Pricing has been steadily declining for the past few months  a trend that will hopefully continue.

Nvidia has just announced their "Restocked and Reloaded" campaign with some great bargains on RTX 30 GPUs. At the time of writing, EVGA seems to have some of the best deals on its online store. There are plenty of graphics cards in stock, some coming close to MSRP.

EVGA is currently selling three RTX 3090 Ti models: the $2,000 FTW3 Black, the $2,150 FTW3, and the $2,200 RTX 3090 Ti FTW3 Ultra. Only one RTX 3090 SKU, the FTW3 Ultra Gaming, is in stock and going for $1,700.

There are also five RTX 3080 Ti models, ranging from $1,280 to $1,530, and five RTX 3080s, with the cheapest one costing $1,000. Of note is that some of these come with water blocks pre-installed.

Now for the more reasonably priced cards. The RTX 3070 Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming is currently priced at $760, while an RTX 3050 XC Gaming will set you back $300, just 20% above MSRP.

Unfortunately, there aren't that many cards under the $1,000 mark. While Nvidia wouldn't mind selling more high-margin enthusiast GPUs, most people are interested in buying mid-range cards like the RTX 3060. With a bit of luck, we're going to see more of these sales in the coming months as availability improves further.
TL;DR: With Elon Musk offering to buy Twitter, the world's richest person has revealed some of the changes he has planned for the platform, including open-sourcing its algorithm, addressing the spam problem, and being less restrictive when it comes to censoring users' tweets.

Musk made his offer to buy Twitter yesterday following a series of events, including turning down a seat on the board, that suggested he had been planning the move since becoming its largest shareholder.

Musk revealed some of his plans for Twitter at a TED event in Vancouver. "A top priority I would have is eliminating the spam and spambots and bot armies that are on Twitter," he said. "If I had a Dogecoin for every crypto scam I saw."

How would Elon Musk change Twitter if he were to buy it? First, he'd make it open source. Watch @ElonMusk's wide ranging live #TED2022 interview with @TEDChris on @YouTube here: https://t.co/dFFUxNqLZe pic.twitter.com/Okm3y5HpEy  TED Talks (@TEDTalks) April 14, 2022

The Tesla boss also talked about his wish to open-source the Twitter algorithm. "One of the things I believe Twitter should do is open-source the algorithm and make any changes to people's tweets - if they are emphasized or de-emphasized, that action should be made apparent. So anyone can see that action has been taken. So there's no sort of behind-the-scenes manipulation, either algorithmically or manually."

Musk has long criticized Twitter over claims it does not adhere to the principles of free speech. In his letter to Twitter board chairman Bret Taylor yesterday, he said his initial investment in Twitter was spurred by its "potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy."

Should Musk's takeover bid succeed, he wants Twitter to take a more relaxed approach to moderating tweets. "If in doubt, let it exist," he said. "In a case where there's perhaps a lot of controversy, you would perhaps not want to promote that tweet. I'm not saying I have all the answers here. I do think that we want to be very reluctant to delete things and be very cautious with permanent bans. Timeouts are better."

Musk has admitted that he faces obstacles in his bid to take over Twitter. The Wall Street Journal writes that Saudi royal Alwaleed bin Talal, one of Twitter's largest shareholders, wrote, "I don't believe that the proposed offer [] comes close to the intrinsic value of Twitter." Other shareholders aren't supporting Musk, either. It's speculated that they might be allowed to buy more shares at a discount, thereby making a hostile takeover more financially difficult, aka the 'poison pill' tactic.

It's been a hectic few weeks for Musk and Twitter. It was revealed on April 4 that he had acquired a 9.2% stake in the company on March 14; the delay in revealing his purchase has resulted in a class-action lawsuit. He then asked his followers if they wanted an edit button, which Twitter is now getting (though not because of Musk's poll). Company CEO Parag Agrawal last week announced that Musk would be taking a seat on the board, limiting his ownership to 14.9% and preventing any hostile takeover attempt, but he turned the position down at the last minuteand now we know why.
Telco giant T-Mobile has allegedly tried to buy back the user data stolen from them from a previous hack, but to no avail.

According to TechRadar, the company hired a "third-party" to buy back the stolen data before it was leaked online. They were said to have paid the hackers on the forum, called RaidForums, around $200K to delete their copy of the information. And the data wasn't just small-time: these were social security numbers, birthdays, and drivers licenses of some 124 million T-mobile customers which were stolen last year.

The aforementioned third-party tasked an employee to buy a "sample" of the stolen data for $50,000 worth of Bitcoin. Then, they bought the entire stolen database for $150,000 more, on the condition that RaidForums user "SubVirt" delete their copy of the data-which they actually put on sale on the forum.

By asking SubVirt to delete their copy, the third-party hired by T-Mobile hoped that the data wouldn't be sent to other cybercriminals who might use it for things like identity theft, fraud, and other cybercrimes.

But despite already being paid, SubVirt (perhaps in a not-so-unexpected manner) continued to try selling the data on the forums. In simpler terms, T-Mobile failed when they decided to just pay the cybercriminals a ransom.

The information was first reported on by VICE's Motherboard. According to the report, SubVirt tried selling the stolen customer data originally for $124 million, but then dropped the price to $30 million. And while T-Mobile didn't name the third-party they hired to do the deed, they did mention that the cybersecurity firm Mandiant helped them deal with the hack when it occurred back in August last year.

Mandiant has so far neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the attempted buy back. Perhaps they might have bigger things in mind, as the company announced in early March that they were being acquired by search engine giant Google for $5.4 billion.

Read Also: 5 Reasons Why You Need to Take Your Business's Cybersecurity Seriously

A Look At The August 2021 T-Mobile Hack

As previously mentioned, the telco was breached back in August resulting in the theft of almost 50 million customers' sensitive information, writes ZDNet. This includes current, former, and even potential customers looking to do business with the company.

But unlike most hackers who try their best to remain anonymous, the perpetrator behind the T-Mobile hack actually revealed himself. 21-year-old US citizen John Binns admitted to the crime, which he says he conducted while in his home in Turkey. The hacker admitted to the deed to the Wall Street Journal and cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock's co-founder Alon Gal.

He almost seemed like he wasn't even sorry for the attack. When asked about details, he mentioned how it only took him a week to breach the telco's defenses, calling the carrier's cybersecurity "awful." But aside from that, he didn't reveal whether he acted out of his own accord, or whether he was hired by an external party to do it.

Related Article: The Biggest CyberSecurity Threats in 2022 and How To Protect Yourself From Them

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Elon Musk talked about his purchase of Twitter upon going back to the platform after being silent for several days, and it caught the attention of the public and its shareholders. One of those that reacted against this proposal is the Kingdom Holding Company from Saudi Arabia, with Prince Alwaleed Talal expressing his rejection online.

Elon Musk Twitter Purchase: Kingdom, Saudi Prince Rejects Offer

Another poll popped up on Twitter, and it talked about the purchase of the platform by none other than the world's top billionaire, Elon Musk. The poll indicated that the executive is willing to pay $54.20 per share of the company from its current investors and shareholders and plans to make Twitter private after being a publicly-listed company for years now.

Chairman of the Board of Kingdom KHC from Saudi Arabia, Prince Alwaleed Talal, expressed his position in rejecting this offer by Musk which he took to Twitter earlier today. He said that the proposed value of $54.20 per share is not close to the intrinsic value of Twitter's growth, saying that it is not enough to buy the platform.

Read Also: Elon Musk is Not Joining the Twitter Board, CEO Parag Agrawal Confirms

Interesting. Just two questions, if I may.



How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly?



What are the Kingdoms views on journalistic freedom of speech?  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022

Musk Questions Saudi Arabia, Kingdom KHC on Twitter Take

Musk questions the Saudi Arabian Prince and Kingdom KHC, the holding company that has owned massive shares on Twitter for a long time now, for their reason to reject this offer. The tech billionaire asked two questions one talked about how many shares does Kingdom own directly and indirectly, and the other asked about their views about Journalistic freedom of speech.

Elon Musk and Twitter

After a short break from tweeting and expressing his opinions online, Musk dropped bombs earlier today as he talked about a new venture regarding Twitter and his massive stakes as a shareholder. The Tesla CEO offered to purchase Twitter and its entirety at $54.20 per share and make the social media platform private.

The deal got many adverse reactions and rejections.

Musk seemed to be planning a great deal for the company, and there were many ventures that the billionaire wanted for the platform, and he expressed all of this online and through polls. The executive and top shareholder of the social media also asked about turning Twitter's HQ into a homeless shelter, and this tweet got deleted from his profile.

The main talk now is making Twitter private, and the tech CEO took this matter to the public by asking a poll about it, when its primary audience is its current shareholders and the Twitter board. The question rattled the world and gave them a lot to think about, especially as the social media company went public several years ago.

Related Article: Elon Musk Gets Lawsuit from Twitter Investor for Hiding his 5% Stake on Twitter Last January

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Spotify experienced a bug on its Android platform, and it gave the public a hard time accessing the app and using its features for the user's streaming needs. The company acknowledged this problem in the app, talking about the 'Now Playing' bar bug that disappeared despite the device's music playing.

The company addressed the issue by rolling out a fix.

Spotify Android Bug: Now Playing Disappears from App

Users on Twitter are now asking Spotify and Spotify Stars about the bug that pesters Android users whenever using the application and its features. Several Spotify users on the Android platform asked why their Now Playing bar on the app disappears from the interface and prevents them from playing, pausing, or skipping to the next song.

The user said that he had to uninstall Spotify to stop the music, as there are no music controls on this bug.

Spotify Stars addresses the issue by asking users to reinstall the app and see if it has already fixed it. The online entity also asked about the make and model where it is malfunctioning, with the users mostly saying it is on the Android platform.

Spotify said that this is currently under investigation.

Read Also: Google 'User Billing Choice': Third Party Payments Now Available for Spotify, Soon for Others

Hi there! Thanks for reaching out. Can you let me know the make and model of your device? Can you also let me know if the reinstall made any difference with the app performance? Keep me updated /bc  Spotify Stars (@AskSpotifyStars) April 14, 2022

Spotify Now Playing: Fix Rolls Out for App

Spotify's community post acknowledged this issue on Android devices, saying that the company is now investigating the case. They ask users who experience similar problems to choose the "+VOTE" button to gain a tally of those who share the platform's issue.

The community post issued a status update that the company had already rolled out a fix for the app that Android users can now install to address it. However, the status is still under investigation by Spotify.

What is Happening on Spotify

Spotify's streaming app for music and podcasts became controversial earlier this year because of the Joe Rogan and Neil Young issue about the content that circulates on the platform.

Fast forward to several months later, Spotify only released COVID-19 labels and provided guidelines on the issue that a particular content creator brings to the platform.

The company also improves on its streaming features, focusing on offering a new Car Mode that will help users access their music while driving or connecting to the vehicle's stereo.

The new feature revamps the app's interface when it notices that a person connects to the car's head unit, offering more accessible access to songs and app controls.

The Swedish streaming giant faced a lot over the past months, and the company will continue to see roadblocks and bugs that will affect its systems as they continue its operations. There will be fixes coming for the public to enjoy, utilizing the company's feature regarding the features coming to the platform for streaming needs.

Related Article: Apple Opens On-Website Payment to Spotify, Netflix, and More: Result of Japan Fair Trade Commission Settlement

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Apple is reportedly already preparing new Macs featuring next-gen M2 SoCs, according to a new report by Bloomberg.

The M2 chips inside these new Macs, which includes a MacBook Air, a Mac Mini, an entry-level MacBook Pro, a Mac Pro, and 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro is billed as the Cupertino giant's most powerful yet after splitting with chipmaker Intel. But even if this rumor is already floating about, there's no guarantee that the Macs are actually going to be released.

Here's a closer look at the rumored Apple M2-equipped Macs:

MacBook Air M2 codenamed J413 will feature an 8-core CPU and 10-core graphics chip, which is two more than what the current-gen MacBook Air has.

Mac Mini M2 codenamed J473 will have the same hardware configuration as the aforementioned MacBook Air. Aside from this, there's also a rumored M2 Pro version of this Mac Mini, codenamed J474, undergoing testing as of the moment.

MacBook Pro M2 codenamed J493 will be entry-level and once again will have the same specs as the first-mentioned MacBook Air.

14-inch (codename J414) and 16-inch (codename J416) MacBook Pros featuring two different Apple M2 chips: an M2 Pro and an M2 Max. The M2 Max will have a 12-core CPU and 38-core graphics, and 64 GB of RAM. As for the 16-inch's M2 Max, customers will reportedly get the same specs as the 14-inch.

Mac Pro codenamed J180 will have the "successor" to the current-gen M1 Ultra SoC, which is what the newly released Mac Studio has.

Despite the rather "detailed" nature of this information, however, the Cupertino tech giant has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of these new Macs in testing. Notably, a company spokeswoman has declined to comment on it when asked by Bloomberg.

So for now, the waiting game begins.

Read Also: [RUMOR] Apple Metaverse Contact Lens To Combine iPhone, Apple Glass Tech-Possibly Arriving This 2030

Should You Be Excited For Apple's M2 Chip?

The M1 (and its bigger, more powerful sibling in the M1 Ultra) are already pretty capable chips in their own right. So, what does the M2 series have that you should be excited about?

Performance-wise, the M2 series doesn't seem to offer too much of an upgrade based on early leaked specs. According to Tom's Guide, it could offer a slight uptick from the base M1, but might fall behind than the M1 Pro and M1 Max in terms of real-world grunt.

Numerous leaks also can't seem to agree on how many cores the Apple M2 chip will have. Some say that it will have 8 CPU cores split into four high-efficiency and high-performance cores (indicative of an Arm-based design), and a 10-core GPU. This is enough for it to be stronger than the M1, but still lags behind the M1 Pro and M1 Max theoretically.

As for the release date, leakers are saying that the Apple M2 will launch during the second half of this year.

Related Article: Three Apple MacBooks to be Declared Obsolete This April 2022: 11-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro

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Robinhood CEO Vladimir Tenev believes that the crypto meme coin DOGE could be a "future currency of the internet" someday, according to his latest tweet on Thursday afternoon, Apr. 14.

Dogecoin Will Be Internet's Future Currency

As Coin Telegraph recently spotted on Twitter, Robinhood's Tenev wrote a 12-thread post about using this meme coin as a valuable crypto asset on the internet.

The 35-year-old Bulgarian entrepreneur started by citing the transaction fees for the Dogecoin, which roughly hit $0.003 for every transaction. According to him, this alone could place this crypto as a good e-cash altcoin.

Can #Doge truly be the future currency of the Internet and the people? As we added the ability to send/receive DOGE on Robinhood, Ive been thinking about what that would take.  VLAD (@vladtenev) April 14, 2022

Moreover, Tenev shared how Dogecoin could be improved over time. Specifically, he pointed out that this meme cryptocurrency's block time and size should undergo development so many users could adopt it worldwide.

As a matter of fact, the total throughput stands of Dogecoin could reach nearly 40 transactions per second (TPS). Coin Telegraph was able to make a comparison of it with VISA, which establishes about 65,000 TPS. Still, there's a lot of catching up that DOGE will do if it wants to generate more transactions.

As a solution, Tenev said that to address this concern, the block size limit of Dogecoin should increase to 1GB from 1MB. Later, it will be improved to 10GB.

For his final post on his recent thread, the Robinhood CEO urged the Dogecoin developers to be aware of these things. Most importantly, they need to look after improving its block size limit as their top priority.

As of writing, the post already has 1,330 retweets and over 7,100 likes.

Meanwhile, Robinhood officially listed four cryptocurrencies on its platform, including Shiba Inu (SHIB), Polygon (MATIC), Compound (COMP), and Solana (SOL), per Bitcoin.com.

Related Article: Elon Musk on Clubhouse Grills Robinhood CEO Over 'Shady' Dealings in App's Stock Trading!

Dogecoin Creator Takes Swipes at Elon Musk

Following this report, Dogecoin creator Jackson Palmer criticized Elon Musk for being "hostile" in taking over Twitter. The controversy stirred when the Tesla boss said that he would prioritize cutting down on crypto scam tweets.

"It takes some pretty impressive mental gymnastics to associate any type of freedom with the richest man in the world initiating a hostile takeover and forcing one of the largest public social media platforms private," Palmer tweeted out on his official social media account.

That's not the last time Palmer hit Musk with his words. Back in mid-may of 2021, the Dogecoin maker lambasted the former "Dogecoin CEO" for this viral Saturday Night Live performance.

He said that Musk was a "self-absorbed grifter" and that the latter's act was cringe-worthy.

Elsewhere, Tech Times reported that Amazon head Andy Jassy shared his sentiments about the cryptocurrency payments on the platform. Although he cast his doubts about these digital coins, the NFTs have the upper hand to improve "significantly" in the future.

Jassy also said that he does not own cryptocurrency assets, particularly Bitcoin.

Read Also: Interactive Brokers Unveils IBKR GlobalTRader App For Novice Investors | Take a Look At its Tools, Features

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A new Google lawsuit has been filed, targeting the company's Google Maps and other similar tools. As of writing, Android users can't install other map apps since there are no other options.

For the past few years, Google users have been left no choice but to rely on Google Maps, Google Places, Google Directions, and Waze as their map tools.

Because of this, many individuals criticize the search engine giant for controlling the digital mapping market. Dream Big, a California-based company, decided to sue Google for its alleged monopolization activity.

Aside from Dream Big, two unnamed companies also backed the new complaint against Google.

New Google Lawsuit Targets Google Maps, Other Mapping Tools

According to Digital Information World's latest report, Google hasn't allowed app developers to create new mapping tools.

Also Read: Google Chrome Users Beware: Emergency Update Releases to Fix Zero-Day Security Vulnerability

This means that the official Google Play Store only offers Maps and other similar tools as bundled mapping services.

The new lawsuit states that this allows Google to increase its map products' costs further.

Dream Big and other companies that filed the new lawsuit said that Google needs to remove its restrictions since these app limitations violate the antitrust policies.

For the past few years, Google faced various lawsuits for its anti-competitive behavior against other app developers. As of press time, the California-based lawsuit is still ongoing.

Are There Still Google Map Competitors?

Bloomberg Law reported that Google no longer has any competitors when it comes to the digital map market. The tech giant firm was able to acquire its one and only map app competitor, Waze, back in 2013.

Because of this, the exclusive features offered on Waze and Maps increased by 1,400%. The price hike started back in 2018.

This just shows how Google is now controlling the digital map products on its Play Store. Although this is the case, app developers still choose Google Play Store as their main application platform.

"Developers choose to use Google Maps Platform out of many options because they recognize it provides helpful, high-quality information," said a Google spokesperson.

On the other hand, the Google Snapshot feature has been removed.

Meanwhile, Google Play Store announced that it would soon limit the presence of apps with outdated APIs since they can lead to security threats.

For more news updates about the new Google lawsuit and other similar stories, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Google to File a Lawsuit Against Man From Cameroon For Operating a Pet Scam

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Do you ever really feel like you're safe on the internet? Is your presence online not too big of a deal because you're mostly behind a keyboard or your phone's touchscreen? Well, these survey participants certainly don't feel like it.

According to PCMag, VPN network provider NordVPN surveyed just over 1,000 people in the United States, all aged 18 or older, on how they feel about their presence on the web. And what the survey found was telling.

Over half of the participants said they'd like to delete themselves from it completely; a slightly smaller group said they don't trust it, and the smallest pockets of folks either wish that the web never existed in the first place or have never even used the internet at all.

Aside from that, these people were also asked about the kind of personal data they don't want others to see online. Again, the results are very interesting and perhaps indicative of how aware people are of the potential privacy risks of using the internet as a whole.

Just over half of all participants (53%) said they don't want strangers spying on their financial information, while 9% were weirdly okay with it. 35% didn't want anyone to see their medical info compared to 14% who were fine with it, and 34% of all respondents were not okay with people reading their personal emails and texts (compared to 10%).

NordVPN also asked whether anybody would be willing to pay to be anonymous online to cap things off. They found that 31% of the participants are willing to spend as much as $100 on anonymity, 12% would pay as much as $500, and only 3% are okay with spending as much as $1000 and beyond to hide their identity on the internet.

These survey results seem to point to a relatively good understanding of online privacy among ordinary folks. But maybe more is needed if the internet is to be made truly safe for anyone to use.

Read also: How to Keep Your Online Footprint Safe From Prying Eyes

The Internet Is Not As 'Anonymous' As You Think It Is

By now, you should know about online trolls, right? These are people who think that posting online is completely safe because it offers what they believe is a veil of anonymity. But that's where they're completely wrong because the internet is not as anonymous as they think it is.

Here's an example: your browser's Incognito mode. You think that by using it, you're free to browse the web as you wish because it doesn't save your browsing history. But according to researchers from the University of Chicago and the Leibniz University of Hanover in Germany (via CNBC), even using Incognito mode does not hide your activity from your employer, internet service provider (ISP), or even somebody else who might be spying on you right now.

This then begs the question of whether you can really delete yourself from the internet if you want-or need-to. If nowhere on the web is private, then that's the only way to maintain true online privacy, right?

Related: 5 Reasons Why You Should Take Your Online Privacy Seriously

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Samsung has recently faced a controversial issue regarding its Galaxy S22 series. Speaking of which, the overheating problem persists in its smartphones.

However, some users quickly addressed the issue by preserving the device's battery life to avoid throttling. It appears that the South Korean firm is not the only one to blame for this mishap since some flagship Android phones could also share the same problem.

Samsung Galaxy Overheating Issue

The overheating issue in Galaxy S22 is not just limited to this device. Last year, the electronics giant acknowledged the critics by telling them that it would fix the problem.

Previously, Samsung made use of an app on the said device. This case was not isolated since some phones could also experience overheating issues.

However, some users were able to spot that the company was cheating all the way. They knew that the performance of the Galaxy S22 would not be throttled even if the applications ran.

With that, many customers thought that the company had just deceived them. It's some sort of false advertisement, according to some users.

Aside from issuing a fix for the problem, Samsung apologized to its shareholders. As one of the solutions, the Korean titan shared its plans to alter the design of its current chipset for its next-gen smartphones.

Related Article: Samsung Reportedly Throttling Performance of 10,000 Apps on Galaxy Devices | Netflix, TikTok Included?

Overheating Issue Not Limited to Samsung

When the issue erupted, many people wanted to switch from Samsung to other brands. Despite having a cooling mechanism on its device, Samsung couldn't overcome the overheating.

Moreover, BGR reported something about the ARM chip design. According to the story, Samsung and Qualcomm used to rely on this SoC. Some Android phones also suffered from the same throttling concern.

According to an unnamed industry insider, it's not only Samsung that experienced problems in power consumption, overheating, and performance. Even the flagship Android devices nowadays were hit by these issues.

To explain further the overheating, experts said that it could be a result of many factors, including the smartphone performance, processor design, and manufacturing methods, to name a few.

For Apple fans, this is good news since the iPhone does not share the same problem as Samsung.

If you're currently using a Galaxy S22, you should expect that overheating is just normal in that device. If you are an Android user, you should also anticipate the same conclusion since some flagships will also become hot.

In other news, Tech Times reported that Intel could potentially release a flagship Raptor Lake core soon. The CPU (i9-13900K) might be more powerful than the previously released i9-12900K because of its advanced clocking capabilities.

The latest report revealed that it would allegedly feature up to 5.8GHz of clock speed in turbo mode.

Read Also: Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Press Release Leak: Three New Tablet Models Unveiled Ahead of Unpacked Event

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(Photo : Unsplash/Yender Gonzalez) Amazon

On Friday, Apr. 15, DC Attorney General Karl Racine asked the DC court to reconsider its decision to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit filed against the e-Commerce giant Amazon.

Attorney General Racine filed the antitrust lawsuit himself in 2021, and now he submitted a motion to reopen the case.

DC Attorney General Wants Amazon Lawsuit Reopened

In the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Racine, he accused Amazon of illegally abusing and maintaining its power by controlling the prices across the online retail market.

Several third-party sellers that use the e-commerce marketplace have to abide by the company's agreement, including a fair pricing policy.

If the retailers sell their goods for lower prices in other markets, Amazon could remove their products' buy box, suspend their shipment option, and even terminate their privileges.

In the midst of antitrust scrutiny, Amazon stopped telling the sellers back in 2019 that they could not sell their products for more affordable prices elsewhere.

Also Read: Amazon Combats SMS Raffle Scams Bearing its Name, Sues Several Individuals

However, the e-commerce company later added back a clause under its fair pricing policy almost identical to its previous policy.

Attorney General Racine argued that since sellers price their goods with Amazon's cut included, the policy artificially raises prices even on their own websites and other e-commerce platforms such as eBay and Etsy.

Amazon told Engadget that Attorney General Racine had misinterpreted its pricing policy when he filed the lawsuit.

The spokesperson said that e-Commerce takes pride in the fact that they offer low prices across the broadest selection, and like any store, the company reserves the right not to highlight offers to customers that are not priced competitively.

The relief that the Attorney General seeks would force Amazon to feature higher prices to customers, oddly going against the core objectives of antitrust law.

The Superior Court of the District of Columbia sided with the e-commerce giant and dismissed Attorney General Racine's complaint in March 2021, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Now, Attorney General Racine wants another shot at proving that Amazon violated antitrust laws.

His office's amended complaint includes additional details about how the e-commerce company's policy violates the DC code, mostly focusing on how it causes prices to District residents to be higher than they otherwise would be and how it inhibits sellers from competing with the company's own products.

Attorney General Racine said in a statement that they are asking the DC court to reconsider its decision to dismiss the Amazon case because the antitrust laws and facts are on their side, and they are determined to continue to stand up for the consumers.

The Attorney General added that the e-commerce giant illegally uses its market power to prevent sellers from lowering their prices on other platforms, and this results in higher prices for consumers.

Amazon's Suspended Sales Program

On Jan. 28, TechCrunch reported that Amazon was forced to pay $2.25 million and permanently shut down its sales program due to an alleged price-fixing.

The program called "Sold by Amazon, was launched in 2018 and slowly expanded worldwide. In March 2020, the authorities began investigating the program, and by June 2020, the program was suspended.

In March 2021, former Amazon employees filed a lawsuit against the company for its poor working conditions.

In July 2021, the EU filed an $888 million lawsuit against Amazon for a privacy breach.

Related Article: Amazon Prime 'Dark Pattern' of Service Cancellation Explained: Why Consumer Groups Think It's Unfair and Deceptive

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Written by Sophie Webster

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Axiom Mission's return is about to happen. The latest Ax-1 space mission successfully docked to the International Space Station.

With the arrival of the four crew members (Mark Pathy, Eytan Stibbe, Larry Connor, and Michael Lopez-Alegria), there are now 11 individuals working at the ISS.

As of writing, the Ax-1 crew is still conducting various experiments. All of these types of research are essential to enhance human spaceflight.

But, they only have until Apr. 19 since they need to return to Earth. Now, you can watch the live coverage of Axiom Mission's return spaceflight.

Where To Watch Axiom Mission's Return?

NASA, via its official blog post, confirmed that it will provide live coverage of the upcoming return of the Ax-1 space mission.

Also Read: SpaceX To Send Axiom Space Ax-1 Crew Into Orbit! Launch Date, Spaceflight Price, and More

Space fans can watch the live stream by visiting NASA Television's official website and NASA app. On the other hand, Axiom Space's official page will also record the return of its latest space mission.

"NASA and Axiom Space will begin coverage on Tuesday, April 19, with a farewell ceremony between the Ax-1 and Expedition 67 crews," said the international space union.

When it comes to scheduling, the Axiom Mission will undock from the International Space Station at exactly 10:35 a.m. EDT on Apr. 19.

After leaving the ISS, the SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft is expected to bring the Ax-1 crew safely back to Earth at 7:19 a.m. EDT on Apr. 20.

Ax-1 Return's Schedule

Before the Axiom Mission makes its Earth re-entry, the Ax-1 crew members will still complete several activities. The following activities will all be conducted on Apr. 19:

7 a.m. (Axiom Mission crewmates will have a farewell ceremony)

8:15 a.m. (They will close their spacecraft's hatch before departing the International Space Station)

10:15 a.m. (The SpaceX Dragon rocket used for the mission will start undocking itself from the ISS)

Since the new Ax-1 mission is quite different from the recent spaceflights, many experts claimed that the latest Axiom Mission is a giant leap for the rising commercial orbital flights, as reported by Quartz.

Some of them even believe that the Ax-1 mission can be the start of the so-called space real estate business. If you want to see further details about it, you can visit this link.

On Apr. 12, a space study revealed some new long-term spaceflight effects on the human body.

Meanwhile, NASA's Webb Space Telescope MIRI is now active after reaching minus 266 degrees Celsius.

For more news updates about Ax-1 and other upcoming commercial spaceflights, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Why Axiom Space's Ax-1 ISS Launch is Different From Other Commercial Spaceflights

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

Meta plans to hire 2,500 workers in Canada, and in doing so, the company is investing in one of the top tech hubs in the world behind Miami and Austin, Texas. The company plans to use the country's tech talent elsewhere from the United States with its eyes set on Toronto.

Meta Plans to Hire 2,500 Workers in Toronto

According to the story by Global News, Meta's plan is to hire 2,500 workers in Toronto to place "down roots" in the city. The decision was met with a lot of "fanfare from politicians," affirming their decision in a positive light.

During a press conference by Doug Ford, the Ontario Premier, the announcement said this would be a beneficial move for Canadian homegrown tech talent. Based on Meta's announcement, Canada's tech talent would no longer need to look somewhere else for them to pursue careers.

How Meta's Decision Could Affect Local Canadian Companies

Vic Fedeli, the economic development minister of Ford, gave a statement saying Meta's decision will help when it comes to strengthening the innovation sector of the province. The move, however, won't be beneficial for other Canadian companies that are competing for tech workers.

The Global News notes that Meta offering high-paying jobs could prevent companies from scaling their firms. Examples of companies that will be affected by this move include Willful, a Toronto-founded 15-person startup producing software to help streamline estate law.

Local Business Gets Workers Poached by Tech Giants

Erin Bury, the CEO of Willful, shared how hiring and retaining talent within Canada is already difficult due to the competitive market. Willful was able to secure early venture capital funding from the popular CBC show Dragons' Den.

Bury stated that she already experienced having staff poached by larger tech giants looking to hire talent in Canada. She told Global News that her team is constantly being approached by recruiters of the big tech firms every single day.

Read Also: Meta Tests Virtual Assets Sell Within Horizon Worlds: Mark Zuckerberg Changing the e-Commerce Equation?

Other Large Tech Companies Plan to Expand in Canada

Meta has already set up a modest shop in Toronto, Montreal, and other Canadian markets with its eye on the country's talent pool for quite a while now. To add, Meta isn't the only company with aspirations in Canada, with Microsoft, Twitter, Google, Reddit, Pinterest, and Netflix all announcing that they plan to hire Canadians mostly for engineering roles.

Canada is growing as a hotbed for hiring engineering talent and is considered one of the "top-three tech hubs in North America." With that, the country only lags behind Miami and Austin, Texas.

One story cited in the report made by the New York Times included a piece from 2021 that tracks tech talent coming from the commercial real estate firm CBRE.

Related Article: Nike to Open New 'Tech Center' in Atlanta, Georgia: AI and Machine Learning Used to Help Company 'Reimagine Consumer Experiences'

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Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The FBI has officially claimed that North Korean-affiliated hackers were behind the recent massive $620 million crypto heist. This came after Axie Infinity, the popular NFT game, saw billions of Ethereum stolen in March of this year.

FBI Confirms North Korea-linked Hackers Behind $620 Million Crypto Hack

According to the story by News.Com.Au, the FBI confirmed that both the APT38 and Lazarus Group were behind the massive $620 million USD Ethereum heist that took place on March 29 of this year. Both the Lazarus Group and APT38 were said to be officially associated with the DPRK.

Crypto wallets that were linked to the Lazarus Group were then sanctioned by the US Treasury Department with claims that the hackers took orders directly from North Korea. Ari Redbord, the head of legal affairs at TRM, said that the heist was considered a bank robbery.

Crypto Heist Likened to Bank Robbery as Funds Go to Destabilization Activity and Weapons Proliferation

As per CNN, Redbord gave a statement saying the hack of a crypto business "is essentially bank robbery," saying the stolen money funds the destabilizing activity and weapons proliferation of North Korea.

Redford said that as long as the hackers are successful and profitable, they won't stop with their cyber attacks. The hackers used stolen private keys to target certain computers that were directly connected to Axie Infinity's network to help confirm transactions.

Lazarus Group Estimated to be Behind $2.4 Billion Worth of Stolen Crypto

An article by Chainalysis showed the pipeline of how the Lazarus Group was able to steal an estimate of $2.4 billion worth of crypto. The January report stated that from 2020 to 2021, the number of North Korean-linked hacks increased from just four to seven.

As per the report, the value of the stolen crypto increased by 40% over that period. Once the funds were in possession of North Korea, they were then distributed in a process to cover up the funds and eventually cash them out potentially.

Read Also: Microsoft Patch Tuesday FIXES a Currently Exploited Security Bug! Over 100 Vulnerabilities Removed?

Meticulous and Structured Cash Out Process Points to the Hacks Being Carefully Planned

Due to how meticulous and structured the cash-out process is, the report states that the hackers carefully planned the attacks as they weren't desperate or hasty. A report from BBC included a statement from Jack Kenny, who said that people don't understand just how big the attack is, saying $600 million is a huge portion of the network's assets.

Frances Coppola, an economist, and author, said that the recent hack exposed just how fragile online games are regarding cryptocurrency security. She stated that the incident was typical for crypto companies saying numerous hacks and exploits showed the lack of concern when it came to the safety of people's funds.

Related Article: Sandworm Hackers Resurface After Half a Decade Attempting to Pull Off a Third Blackout in Ukraine

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Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Google's Fitbit watches are coming closer to completion after the FDA recently approved its AFib monitoring. AFib monitoring is the company's new algorithm that continuously monitors the heart rate rhythms of its users.

Google Gets FDA Approval for Heart Rate Monitoring Algorithms

As per a post by Google, Fitbit is gearing up to compete with the likes of the Apple Watch as the FDA approved its heart rate monitoring algorithms. Similar to the Apple Watch, the Fitbit will have advanced heart rate monitoring to help its users with certain health-related measuring metrics.

According to the story by MacRumors, Fitbit will include an ECG app with heart-rate monitoring capabilities just like the Apple Watch. This technology helps check for irregular rhythms that could indicate atrial fibrillation or AFib.

AFib Affects 33.5 Million People Around the World

As per statistics, 33.5 million people are affected by AFib around the world. Individuals with AFib are reportedly at risk of stroke five times over.

For a number of years, Apple Watch has held the advantage of having irregular rhythm notifications compared to its rivals. This technology continuously checks the users' heart rhythm and identifies irregularities that could be AFib.

Google to Passively Monitor Hearth Rhythms Through PPG

When users receive the notification, they can then go to the ECG app to do a more comprehensive test by placing their finger on the Digital Crown within the app "to generate an ECG waveform."

The new photoplethysmography algorithm (PPG) by Google works by passively monitoring heart rhythms when the user is resting. In turn, this helps make the whole process safer for users and can potentially save their lives should something happen during their sleep.

New Feature to Launch for Fitbit Users in the United States

Google announced that the latest PPG-based algorithm and Irregular Heart Rhythm Notifications feature would become available very soon to users in the United States. The features will be made available through different heart-rate enabled FitBit devices.

One of the main contenders when it comes to health-monitoring devices is Apple. The company also plans to bolster further "the health smarts" that are offered by the Apple Watch this year, introducing new features like a body temperature monitoring system that can be found in the Apple Watch Series 8.

Read Also: 2022 Smartwatch Releases: Apple, Google, Samsung Gearing Up for New Tech Wearables-Expectations?

Fitbit to Compete with Apple Watch

Apple has been working on new improvements for its watchOS 9, including certain improvisations when it comes to atrial fibrillation detection, as well as a new feature that will allow them to measure the duration of atrial fibrillation experienced by its users.

With Google finally getting a go signal from the FDA, FitBit can now compete with Apple regarding AFib monitoring. This, however, might not be the only feature wherein Google plans to compete with Apple, as approval for other features might be potentially waiting.

Related Article: Pebble Founder Eric Migicovsky Shares His Insights About the Collapse of their First Smartwatch

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Written by Urian B.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
"The U.S. is very little concerned about the rights of a people that it submits to unilateral coercive measures and a criminal economic blockade," the Boliviarian diplomats said.

The Bolivarian Foreign Affairs Ministry rejected the U.S. State Department's latest human rights report on Venezuela due to its lack of veracity and its politically motivated claims.

"The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, once again, categorically rejects the U.S. Department of State's report on human rights," the Chancellery said.

Venezuela opposes the U.S. practice of "qualifying other countries' human rights policies "without any technical rigor or credibility," the Ministry pointed out, adding that Washington seeks to overshadow the achievements of the Bolivarian Government related to the guarantee of human, political, economic, and social rights.

"The U.S. is very little concerned about the rights of a people that it submits to unilateral coercive measures and a criminal economic blockade," it added.

Major Switzerland-based bank Credit Suisse forecasts Venezuelas real GDP growth to be 20% in 2022 and 8% in 2023.



This is despite an illegal US blockade, which starved the government of 99% of its revenue, according to the top UN expert on sanctions.https://t.co/fAQ0Ntuvnv  artramp  AuntieFa Spoonie Something Else (@artramp) April 9, 2022

Caracas urged President Joe Biden's administration to solve the U.S. internal problems, among which is the violation of human rights of people incarcerated in unhealthy and overcrowded prisons.

The Venezuelan ministry also called on the United States to close the illegal detention center installed at Guantanamo and to fight police brutality, which claimed the lives of 1,141 U.S. citizens last year.

"It is not through deception, blackmail, and aggression that diplomacy can be exercised," the Bolivarian authorities said, recalling that Venezuela advocates international respect.
Progress of the situation in Russia and Ukraine: Putin says the Russian army is fighting for the security of the people of Donbas and Russia The first lady of the United States visits Ukraine
The Flag of Ukraine, far left, waves in the wind outside City Hall, Wednesday, March 16, 2022, in Baton Rouge, La. With it are, from left, the French Fleur De Lis Flag, the Flag of Castile and Len, the British Flag, the City of Baton Rouge flag, the Louisiana State flag, and the American Flag.
Ascension Parish sheriff's detectives arrested five men Thursday in the shooting of a man last week in Donaldsonville and are seeking a sixth person who remains at large.

Sheriff Bobby Webre said the man was shot around midday April 8 on St. Vincent Street and had life-threatening injuries but is expected to survive.

Detectives learned later the five Ascension Parish men were accused of being tied to the shooting and that a sixth man, Myron Forcell, 20, of Donaldsonville, is a principal to the shooting, Webre said.

Deputies did not disclose a motive for the shooting but said they were still investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.

The three of the five men, Jeremiah Preston, 20; Mickie Batiste, 24; and Jahiem Knockum, 19, all of Donaldsonville, were each booked on counts of attempted second-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon, Webre said.

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The fourth and fifth men, Water Bell, 21, of Gonzales, and Byron James, 21, of Donaldsonville, were booked as principals to attempted second-degree murder, principals to illegal use of a weapon, and disturbing the peace.

Batiste and Knockum were also booked with counts of illegal carrying of a weapon and disturbing the peace, deputies said.

Forcell faces counts of being a principal to attempted second-degree murder, principal to illegal use of a weapon and disturbing the peace, deputies said

Authorities urge anyone with information about the shooting or who may help detectives find Forcell to call the Ascension Parish Sheriffs Office anonymously at (225) 621-4636 or by texting 847411 to the sheriff's anonymous tip line.

Tipsters can also call Greater Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-STOP (7867). Callers must reach the Greater Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers immediately to receive a cash reward.
State Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge and chair of the Senate Education committee, sponsored a bill to make it easier financially for retired teachers to return to work to help ease statewide personnel shortages.
The home Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size A three-bedroom apartment with a balcony. Its in the George Hotel building in St Kilda, Melbourne, built circa 1880. Who lives here Owner Alex Halsey, when she visits Melbourne, and Gary Armstrong, a furniture restorer, visual merchandiser and co-proprietor of the Mister Ethel vintage stall at Waverley Antique Bazaar. The large artwork is by Miranda Skoczek and the French chair is Alexs  it was sold to her as she wanted to leave it in its original condition, says Gary. The rug is from Loom. Credit:Armelle Habib What we did Alex double-glazed the windows and added large wooden shutters and hydronic heating, says Gary.

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Favourite room All the rooms have their own merit and lovely, changing light. Weather permitting, the balcony is a great place to sit. I sit here as often as possible as its a fabulous viewing platform for an evening sunset, says Gary. The marble-topped table is from France. Credit:Armelle Habib The hood Port Phillip Bay is at the end of the street. Its lovely for an evening stroll, and so good for my soul. The green cupboard is European and holds Alexs sewing materials. The wire ship sculpture is by Vox Populi, from Scarlet Jones in Hawthorn East. Credit:Armelle Habib Future plans

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You also played the political figure Aung San Suu Kyi in Luc Bessons 2011 film, The Lady. Isnt taking on a role like that its own statement, in a way? It actually should have been called The Lady and the Gentleman. It was an incredible story of a very turbulent time in Burma [Myanmar]. We didnt just want to show the atrocities that happened in that country, which are unfortunately still ongoing. At the time we came upon this story, it really was about a man [Englishman Michael Aris] and a woman [Suu Kyi] who loved each other so much that theyd support each other no matter what. The amazing thing was that one day Suu Kyi was a mother of two; then, when she had to return [to Myanmar] to look after her own mother, she became the mother of a nation. I had great admiration for this very strong woman. To do something important, you need to have a goal, you need determination.

Youre one of the most recognisable faces in Asian cinema, yet Everything Everywhere All at Once  in which you play an ageing Chinese-American mum, Evelyn, struggling with her taxes whos suddenly thrust into a superhero sci-fi adventure  is one of only a couple of movies youve top-lined after two decades working in Hollywood. Why is that? Im not just a woman and Asian  Im older, right? Its not so easy to come across roles like this. It was really the Daniels [directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert] who saw a story that needed to be told and found an ingenious way of telling it. Evelyn is a very ordinary older mother trying to fix a domestic issue who just explodes into a multiverse [of alternative realities] and is given all these different abilities that, yes, I spent two decades of my career harnessing. This is the first time in a long time that I have my own story.

DEATH

For a long period in your career you did your own stunts; you almost broke your back filming The Stunt Woman in 1996. How many times have you come close to death? In my younger days, I took more risks than necessary because I thought I had something to prove. I had to convince people I was capable of being up there with actors like Jet Li and Jackie Chan. Of course, when you do crazy stunts, you risk getting injured. I dont think anybody wants to put you in a position where you could risk dying. At the end of the day, were just making movies. But you never know: some little stunt could just go so horribly wrong. And if your time is up  [sings dramatically] dun-da-dah!  it is what it is. But you must go through life understanding your capabilities and being well protected. I have learnt that stunt people are professionals, that I am a mere actor, and that I should never think I can do what they are capable of.

In the end, if you got to call the shots, how would you like to die, ideally? Oh my god, youre horrible! [Laughs] How would I like to die? With the people I love, knowing that Im going, with all my things in order. And not sick.
Western Australia has recorded 7990 new cases of COVID-19 and one death dating back to April 13, a woman in her 90s.

There are now 197 people with COVID-19 in hospital, four in intensive care and 40,731 active cases across the state.

Testing numbers have dropped off in the lead up to the long weekend. Credit:Getty Images

Of the 7990 cases, 3481 were confirmed via PCR test and the remaining 4509 were self-reported positive RATs.

A total of 11,499 PCR tests were conducted at either state-run or private pathology clinics yesterday.
A man working in IT said: Im a little concerned that he didnt know just basic economic figures [] He owned up to it pretty quickly which made me like him a little bit more but at first, I was alarmed. Wentworth is a contest between a Liberal MP and a high-profile independent, but those involved in other focus group research have a similar story. Albaneses bad head for numbers was not his only problem in these first campaign days. He foolishly exaggerated his economic credentials  which speaks to his desperation to establish them in the public mind. He described himself on Tuesday as having been an economic policy adviser to the Hawke government, when he actually was a research officer to Tom Uren, at that stage a junior minister.

Karen Middleton in her biography, Albanese: Telling it Straight, says he wrote reports and policy proposals, including notes on the economy for Urens electors, and a position paper for the Left faction on dividend imputation before the 1985 tax summit. On Thursday came a third own goal  this time leaving open a gate for the government to charge through. Asked about border policy, Albanese reaffirmed Labor would turn back boats if they appeared. He also said offshore processing wouldnt be needed if boats were turned back. Taken literally, this was a statement of the obvious. But it invited an interpretation that Labor had scrapped its commitment to offshore processing. It hasnt, but the slightest imprecision is dangerous because Labor has always been vulnerable on the issue. Albanese clarified, but it had been another example of failing to take enough care.

Through the week, Albanese did try to smarten up his presentation, and make his news conferences tighter. However, his preparation remains underdone, and within Labor theres criticism of the narrowness of the group running things and the high degree of centralisation of the campaign. A ragged week hits both a leaders confidence and that of his team. How it shakes out will depend in part on whether the next round of polls show any shine has been taken off Labors vote. Albaneses problems have made Scott Morrisons first week rather easier than he might have anticipated. But by Thursday the prime minister was starting to feel the heat, with the travelling media peppering him over his stubborn resistance to setting up a robust integrity commission (rather than the pallid model he proposed). Its clear Morrison, who demands Labor agrees to his model before introducing legislation, has little intention of trying to forge a deal if re-elected. This will play poorly for him in the teal seats where high-profile independents are challenging Liberal incumbents.

Morrison was appearing with the member for the Tasmanian seat of Bass, Bridget Archer, who crossed the floor in a bid for a debate on a crossbench bill for an integrity commission. At Thursdays news conference Archer acquitted herself as well as she could in the circumstances. But another Liberal candidate, Morrisons captains pick for the Sydney seat of Warringah, held by independent Zali Steggall, was in a heap of trouble this week and the PM found himself in the middle of it. Katherine Deves had social media posts last year (now deleted) that talked about transgender children being surgically mutilated and sterilised and criticised police for participating in Wear it Purple day, celebrating diversity. Loading Morrison on Monday praised Deves for standing up for something really important  that was, ensuring girls and women playing sport were playing against people of the same sex. Deves, he said, was standing up for things that she believes in, and I share her views on those topics.

By Wednesday, when more had come out about Daves, and she apologised for her inflammatory posts, Morrison said lamely theyre not views that I was aware of. To which the obvious question was: why not? Morrison and his factional ally, minister Alex Hawke, had delayed a batch of preselections until the last moment. Morrison had led the three-person selection committee for a suite of candidates, including the candidate for Warringah. Why hadnt the Liberal Party vetted Deves properly? If it had, and was aware of the social media posts, did it think no one would notice? It will be another mark against Morrison and Hawke when the election postmortem in NSW examines the preselection fiasco. That postmortem will be excoriating if Morrison loses, more benign if he wins.
Former prime minister and ex-Warringah MP Tony Abbott has called on the Liberal Party to stick with its embattled candidate for the northern beaches electorate, praising Katherine Deves as a tough, brave person and denouncing criticism of her as a pile on.

Deves has taken counsel from senior party figures in recent days as a furore grows over her Warringah candidacy following several reports of comments she has made about transgender children and LGBTQ issues.

Tony Abbott has strongly backed embattled Liberal candidate Katherine Deves in his former seat of Warringah. Credit:Composite

Most Liberals regard Warringah as unwinnable at this election, but some moderates are concerned Deves views will damage Liberal campaigns in seats such as Wentworth, North Sydney, Goldstein and Kooyong, where Liberal MPs are being challenged by independents.

However, one moderate party figure said on Friday the Warringah constituents he had spoken to mostly agreed with Deves that trans women should not be able to participate in womens sport.
West Australian Liberal Ben Small has resigned from the Senate after discovering he was a dual New Zealand citizen.

In circumstances similar to those that struck out Barnaby Joyce during the section 44 constitutional crisis in 2017, Smalls mother was an Australian citizen and his father a New Zealand-born Australian permanent resident.

Senator Ben Small has resigned after discovering he is a dual New Zealand citizen. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

In New Zealand law, children born to New Zealand citizens automatically obtain citizenship and there is no requirement for it to be activated to take effect.

I was born in Perth in 1988 and have always been an Australian citizen. At the time of my birth, my mother was an Australian Citizen and my father, who was born in New Zealand, was an Australian permanent resident, Small said on Friday.
These days, David Mamet is known more for being a litmus test of one's ability to separate the art from the artist than for his actual art. His recent comments about teachers being "inclined...to pedophilia" is merely the latest of a string of inflammatory public pronouncements over the past few years. Based on the bilious reviews that greeted all of his more recent plays, including the Harvey Weinstein-inspired Bitter Wheat, off-Broadway's The Penitent, and Broadway's China Doll and The Anarchist, many critics seem to be down on his art as well. So, a new Broadway revival of one of his most famous plays, American Buffalo, can't help but feel just a tad out of step with current sociopolitical trends.

That may matter to some theatergoers more than others. Most of you reading this review will probably already have an idea whether you want to see the new all-star Broadway production at Circle in the Square. Either you're willing to put aside Mamet's offstage antics for the sake of seeing Laurence Fishburne, Sam Rockwell, and Darren Criss in the flesh, or you can't fathom giving Mamet any more of your hard-earned dough. I can only testify, then, to my own feelings while watching this revival: that there are genuine pleasures to be had in witnessing these three skilled performers verbally parry and thrust with each other under the guidance of a director, Neil Pepe, whose experience with bringing Mamet's distinctive vernacular to life onstage is everywhere evident.

Actually, there is a fourth star in this production: the set. Scenic designer Scott Pask's envisioning of the junk shop of Donny (Fishburne)  the arena in which he, his employee Bobby (Criss), and his friend Teach (Rockwell) hatch their scheme to steal back a buffalo nickel Donny previously sold to a customer for less money than it was worth  is breathtaking in the sheer level of detritus that's piled up onstage. Far from being just a whimsical visual choice, the deliberately crammed set is as much of an expression of the sheer waste of these characters' low-level aspirations and self-delusions as Mamet's own dialogue is.

Speaking of that dialogue, one of the chief delights of this revival lies in the palpable relish with which the cast attacks Mamet's lines, which have not lost any of their raw poetry in the intervening decades. Pepe has encouraged Fishburne, Rockwell, and Criss to deliver the dialogue with the brio of a fast-paced screwball comedy. There's so much pedal to the metal in their interactions that you may still feel your own pulse racing with the actors' rhythms even during the show's intermission.

Which is not to say that these actors shortchange the underlying pathos of their characters. Rockwell has the showier part as Teach, whose outward displays of street smarts masks a cluelessness at his core, and the actor plays his bluster for raucous comedy until he becomes terrifying when he resorts to physical violence in Act 2 (a feeling intensified by J. David Brimmer's genuinely unnerving fight direction). Donny may not be that much smarter than Teach, for all the worldly wisdom he offers to Bobby, but Fishburne nevertheless imbues Donny with dignity and gravitas, commanding attention even when he's simply witnessing Teach in one of his blowhard arias.

Criss, by comparison, comes off as somewhat one-note in putting across Bobby's well-meaning dimness, but the contrast his characterization offers to Donny's solidity and Teach's volatility nevertheless works in the context of this production. Costume designer Dede Ayite subtly emphasizes these character contrasts by giving Rockwell the most colorful shirts and jeans while keeping the attire worn by Fishburne and Criss relatively modest and humdrum.

The most noteworthy aspect of this revival is that it reminds us of what makes American Buffalo a formidable work in the first place. This is a down-in-the-dumps working-class vision of the American dream, and Mamet invites us to observe these oblivious, hypocritical dreamers with equal parts amusement, empathy, and skepticism. Whether this play has any fresh revelations to offer the more "woke" world of 2022, however, is a question that this production never really bothers to ask. For better or worse, this new production mostly offers the not-inconsiderable spectacle of a job well done.
As Peter Dinklage showed us just a few years ago (and more recently on screen), one needs not don the long, protuberant, fake nose to convincingly portray Edmund Rostand's beloved tragic hero Cyrano de Bergerac. What matters most (for this play, anyway) is the actor's ability to rip the hearts out of our chests and show them to us through his sheer command of language. His elan is always more important than his schnoz  and I've always been sidetracked by the mechanics of the prosthetics, anyway.

James McAvoy is the latest performer to go without the false proboscis, and with good reason: Why distract the audience from the hottest Cyrano they'll ever see? It's one of many deconstructions in Jamie Lloyd's electrifying new take of the classic, now running a victory lap at Brooklyn Academy of Music after two hit engagements in London's West End. Using a new translation by Martin Crimp that faithfully transforms Rostand's romantic verses into slam poetry (complete with beatboxer), this erotically charged Cyrano de Bergerac is a titillating thrill from start to finish, and my favorite of all the Cyrano's I've seen, by much more than just a nose.

The setting is 1640s France by way of an empty wooden box; the costumes are straight out of Fort Greene circa 2022 (Soutra Gilmour, Lloyd's longtime design collaborator, did both, further enhancing the ultra-minimalist aesthetic they displayed on Broadway in Betrayal). Crimp's language is just as fresh, while still breathing like the original. At the heart is a love triangle between the title soldier (McAvoy), whose wit and dagger skills are both rapier-sharp, to cover his low self-esteem; his cousin and secret love, Roxane (Evelyn Miller); and the object of her affection, a dimwitted young cadet named Christian (Eben Figueiredo). Cyrano helps Christian woo Roxane by providing reams of letters, but is secretly wooing her himself, and you probably already know what happens next. As Crimp puts it in an inspired aside to the audience, "Trust me, this will work. I've seen it in the film with Steve Martin."

Evelyn Miller and James McAvoy as Roxane and Cyrano

( Marc Brenner)

That wooing scene usually takes place on a moonlit night with Roxane on a balcony and Christian and Cyrano hiding under the trellises. In Lloyd's muscular and magnificent hands, it becomes a game of musical chairs as Roxane and Christian dance around their affection, leaving it to Cyrano to finish the seduction. "I'm undressing you, I'm looking into your eyes, I'm kissing your eyes, I'm pressing you against a wall, you're pushing back, you're pushing back, your body wants mine, you kiss my mouth, you bite my lip, you draw blood, you're on fire, your eyes are flame, your hair is flame, the whole world shimmers and I burn and I burn with love," McAvoy says in a near whisper as his Cyrano simultaneously makes the entire audience cross their legs and shiver.

McAvoy's entire performance (done in his native Glaswegian dialect) has that quality: you want him to want you. That it's entirely in keeping with the text is a testament to both his mastery as an actor and Lloyd's as a director, and this brilliant mixture of celebrity star power, sex appeal, command of language, and just damn good acting will make you fall in love with the power of words all over again.

He's equally matched by Miller, who's every bit as good as a deeper, more conflicted Roxane than we're used to. She's no longer the meat in the Cyrano/Christian sandwich, but a woman trying to make her way in a male-dominated world, one who knows what she has to do to get by even if she doesn't like it, and even if it involves a lech like the hoity-toity De Guiche (the expertly despicable Tom Edden). Figueiredo makes for a compelling Christian and does well in a tricky part that's made even thornier by Crimp, whose one authorial fault comes in the second half as he revises a 125-year-old plot element that didn't really need adjusting. It does give the audience something else to squirm about though, and maybe that was the point.

This is the second production of Cyrano de Bergerac that I've seen Lloyd direct and Gilmour design. Their first, in 2012, was a swashbuckling period dress affair that starred Douglas Hodge, his bulbous falsie, and an earthbound translation that turned derring-do into derring don't. With Crimp and McAvoy as their collaborators, and an inherent trust that the power of words  beautifully delivered  can create as stunning a stage picture as a vast set and flashy costumes, Lloyd and Gilmour have built the ideal Cyrano de Bergerac, a small miracle in the middle of Brooklyn.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (R) and Chinese leader Xi Jinping inspect honor guards as Kim paid an unofficial visit to Beijing, China, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on March 28, 2018. (KCNA/via Reuters)

10 Years of Illegal China-North Korea Nuclear Missile Cooperation

Commentary

April 15 marks a decade of unpunished Chinese Communist Party (CCP) perfidy. That day in 2012 saw the first revelation that purpose-built Chinese large trucks were carrying North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). China was abetting North Koreas ability to vaporize U.S. cities.

Almost a decade later, on March 24, 2022, the third generation of that Chinese truck launched a new, larger North Korean ICBM which may soon be equipped with multiple nuclear warheadsan unprecedented level of nuclear terror enabled by the CCP. Their goals include deterring the United States from defending its allies Japan and South Korea, and creating a nuclear crisis to divert U.S. attention if the Chinese regime invades Taiwan.

Lets review some relevant history.

Barely a month after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died, his son and successor, Kim Jong Un, stood on the Pyongyang ledge reserved for VIPs, viewing the large military parade celebrating the 100th birthday of his grandfather, Kim Il Sung, the Norths first communist dictator.

At a certain point in the parade, Kim Jong Un gave a triumphant glance to North Korean generals to his right. This happened at the point in the parade that features the first public view of six of North Koreas then-largest ICBM, later identified as the Hwasong-13.

A military vehicle carries what is believed to be an intermediary range ballistic missile during a military parade to mark the 100th birthday of former North Korean leader Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang, North Korea, on April 15, 2012. (Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images)

Underscoring the young dictators delight was that the Hwasong-13, soon identified as a full-scale mockup, was being carried by a unique conveyancea new, never before revealed 16-wheel transporter erector launcher (TEL), one of the worlds largest missile trucks.

Perhaps by design, it was Chinese netizens who first identified this truck. Just five days earlier, a brochure from the Sanjiang Special Vehicle Company of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) had been posted on the FYJS website.

It was one of many Chinese military enthusiast web pages that the CCP shut down in 2021 to deny even this meager source of intelligence to Western countries that are now the targets of CCP aggression.

Because of the posted Sanjiang/CASIC brochure, Chinese netizens were able to correctly identify the North Korean TEL as a version of the CASIC/Sanjiang WS2600, a version of the WS51200 TEL that is based on technology purchased from the Minsk Automobile Plant (MAZ) of Belarus.

What was most important about this revelation was that the CCPwhich since 1994 had led the Six-Party Talks ostensibly aimed at ending North Koreas nuclear weapons programswas committing a new level of evil that it was flaunting before the world.

In violation of United Nations resolutions from 2006 and 2009 banning ballistic missile technology transfers to Pyongyang, China was helping one of the cruelest and most terror-prone dictatorships of the last century to deploy potentially nuclear-armed missiles.

To design the TEL for North Korea, CASIC/Sanjiang required knowledge of North Koreas new ICBM. This prompted legitimate questions as to whether CASIC or other Chinese missile companies were helping to design and produce the Hwasong-13 and other North Korean missiles.

Several press reports on the Chinese TELs followed, starting with Janes Defence Weekly. Still, on April 19, 2012, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin rejected reports of the TEL transfer to North Korea, saying, China consistently opposes the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their carriers.

But the administration of then-President Barack Obama was confused. Prompted by a letter dated April 17, 2012, from the International Assessment and Strategy Center, Congressman Michael Turner, then-chairman of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Service Committee, on April 19 queried Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta about possible Chinese missile technology assistance to North Korea.

U.S. President Barack Obama uses binoculars to look at North Korea from the Observation Post Ouellette in the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas in the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, South Korea, on March 25, 2012. (Yonhap News via Getty Images)

Panetta said, Im sure theres has been some help coming from China.

But the next day, on April 20, The New York Times quoted an unnamed White House official offering a shocking cover for China.

We think this is poor Chinese performance in sanctions implementation, and not willful proliferation, said the [White House] official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issues diplomatic delicacy. The Chinese system is so sprawling and poorly organized that they are not good at enforcing sanctions.

Perhaps this official was refusing to acknowledge Beijings blatant proliferation because barely two weeks earlier, on March 26, then-CCP leader Hu Jintao had participated in Obamas Second Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.

Then in mid-June 2012, Japans Asahi Shimbun, in a series of stories, revealed that Japanese officials had boarded one of the Chinese ships, Harmony Wish, that took four CASIC/Sanjiang TELs to the North Korean port of Nampo in August 2011. They also had seized shipping records attesting to the Chinese TEL transfer.

Asahi Shimbun then reported: Japan, the United States, and South Korea had solid evidence to prove that China  had violated a U.N. Security Council resolution banning weapons exports to North Korea.  But the three countries decided not to pursue the matter in the Security Council.  The chief concern among the three nations was to prevent a third nuclear test by North Korea and alleviate tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and they needed Beijings help on that matter.

Such naivete could now cost millions of lives.

Since April 15, 2012, the CCP has helped North Korea acquire two more versions of the CASIC/Sanjiang TEL. In November 2017, the new Hwasong-15 was carried by an 18-wheel version of the CASIC TEL. The latest test of this same missile, on March 24, was carried by a 21-wheel version of the CASIC TEL.

It is very likely that in a repeat of CASICs leading role in equipping Pakistan to become a nuclear missile statecomplete with intermediate-range, medium-range, and short-range ballistic missiles, long-range cruise missiles, and artillery rocketsCASIC and other Chinese missile companies have helped North Korea to acquire medium-range and short-range ballistic missiles, long-range cruise missiles, and artillery rockets.

Last September, North Korea tested a new hypersonic glide vehicle warhead that looks like Chinas Dongfeng-17 hypersonic glide vehicle armed ballistic missile.

In January, North Korea tested a precision-guided missile warhead that looks like the one used by the CASIC Dongfeng-21C medium-range ballistic missile.

This warhead is the basis of the anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) warhead used on the DF-21D and DF-26B ASBMs.

With appropriate satellite guidance cues that China could supply, North Korea may soon be able to conduct precision nuclear ASBM strikes against U.S. Navy nuclear aircraft carriers.

This decade of known and suspected Chinese assistance to North Koreas missile and nuclear missile development has yet to result in a single U.S. sanction on China. In fact, starting in 2012, the United States should have been economically and politically isolating the CCP for abetting the creation of yet another nuclear missile terror state.

For the CCP, the lack of American punishment provided another demonstration of weakness that has diminished the American ability to deter aggression by the CCP and North Korea.

It also validates the CCPs use of strategic deception. Over time, by such examples, China has learned that a timorous and gullible American leadership is of incalculable value as the CCP advances its goals in Asia and globally.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
2 Female Prisoners at New Jersey Corrections Facility Pregnant After Having Sex With Transgender Inmates

Two female inmates at New Jerseys only all-women prison have fallen pregnant after having consensual sex with transgender inmates, officials have said.

The unidentified pregnant women are incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton, which houses 27 prisoners who identify as transgender and more than 800 women in total.

They fell pregnant after engaging in consensual sexual relationships with another incarcerated person, Dan Sperrazza, the state Department of Corrections external affairs executive director told NJ.com.

Sperrazza said officials are investigating the matter.

While DOC cannot comment on any specific disciplinary or housing decisions that may be considered in light of these events, the Department always reserves all options to ensure the health and safety of the individuals in its custody, Sperrazza said.

Edna Mahan began to house prisoners who identify as transgender women in 2021 under a New Jersey policy enacted which allows prisoners to be housed in accordance with their preferred gender identity as opposed to their sex assigned at birth.

The policy change was part of a settlement by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and attorney Robyn Gigl of GluckWalrath LLP who sued the N.J. Department of Corrections and its officers in August 2019 on behalf of a trans woman.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, who went by pseudonyms, alleged that they had faced harassment and abuse and were denied gender-appropriate clothing among other things when they had been incarcerated in male prisons over the years despite identifying as female.

The policy also applies to trans women inmates who have yet to undergo gender-reassignment surgery.

At the time, Chris Carden, a public information officer for the department of corrections, told NBC News that while the department did have existing processes in place, the policy outlined in this settlement is an update to those processes.

Carden said that anyone incarcerated under NJDOC would be able, at any time, to provide officers with information regarding their identity and that the Department would then take careful measures to ensure they are properly housed in line with their gender identity and their housing preferences while ensuring both their safety and the security of the institution.

However, the gender identity policy has been criticized by prisoners, including two inmates incarcerated at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility who in 2021 filed a lawsuit seeking for the policy to be revoked, alleging they have been harassed by transgender prisoners, the Daily Mail reports.

They also claimed to have witnessed the transgender inmates engaging in sexual activity with female prisoners.

The union representing correctional officers at Edna Mahan has criticized the policy.

We opposed this policy change believing it would be detrimental to the general population of female inmates being housed at Edna Mahan and also bring added stress to our correctional police officers assigned to this institution, the unions president told NJ.com.
Chickens are seen in a livestock market before the market asked to stop trading in prevention of bird flu transmission, in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, on Feb. 22, 2017. (Stringer/Reuters)

200 Dead Birds in Forest Preserve Suspected to Have Carried Avian Flu

Over 200 birds at the Bakers Lake Forest preserve in Illinois are suspected to have died from an outbreak of H5 avian flu.

The flu outbreak was confirmed in laboratory tests conducted by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Further tests were conducted by the federal government, with wildlife biologists at the Forest Preserves of Cook County presenting seven cormorants for testing and necropsy to state pathologists on April 7. Staff members are monitoring Forest Preserve sites for signs of flu but have not yet noticed infections at any of the locations.

Speaking to NBC Chicago, Chris Anchor, wildlife biologist for the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, said that the avian flu affecting Bakers Lake Forest reserve is the same one causing massive die offs in the poultry industry throughout North America. The mass deaths at Bakers Lake indicate a shift in virus behavior, he warned.

This represents a very significant change in the behavior of the virus. Up until this point weve only seen groups of two, three, half a dozen birds succumbing to it. In this instance, we actually have hundreds of birds that have succumbed to it, he said.

We have millions of birds moving from the south to the north and places like this they can become infected and move the virus along.

Millions of chickens and turkeys raised on commercial farms across multiple states have been killed this year due to flu. In Illinois, two incidents of outbreaks have been reported in Carol and McLean counties.

The disease is said to be spreading from droppings of wild birds like geese and ducks. The flu was initially discovered in Indiana in February and was the first such infection in the country since 2000.

Bakers Lake preserve is home to one of the most significant heron rookeries in the Midwest. The impact of avian flu has so far been observed only among waterfowl and water birds.

Passerines, which include perching birds like sparrows, songbirds, and finches have not been infected by the flu. As a result, the Forest Preserves has not issued a recommendation to remove birdfeeders that limit any potential transmission.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), people should always avoid direct contact with wild birds as a precautionary measure against flu and must only observe them from a distance. Wild birds can carry the avian influenza virus even if they do not look sick.

Avoid unprotected contact with domestic birds (poultry) that look sick or have died  Do not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with saliva, mucous, or feces from wild or domestic birds, the agency warns.
The intersection of U.S. Highway 77 and 122nd Road, near where three deputies were shot on April 15, 2022, in Winfield, Kan. Image captured in December 2021. (Google Maps)

3 Sheriffs Deputies Shot, Suspect Killed in Central Kansas

WINFIELD, Kan.Three sheriffs deputies were wounded by gunfire, and a suspect was killed during a shootout in central Kansas on Thursday, law enforcement authorities said.

Cowley County Sheriff David Falletti said the deputies were responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle on U.S. 77 north of Winfield. When they made contact with a vehicle, three deputies were shot, Falletti said.

A female alone in the car was found dead at the scene, Falletti said.

The deputies were taken to a Wichita hospital and are in stable condition, he said.

Authorities did not release any additional information. The sheriff said investigators were trying to determine what occurred before the shooting.

Winfield is about 36 miles southeast of Wichita.
In this image from video, illegal immigrants from Texas gather in Union Station after being transported to Washington, on April 13, 2022. (NTD Television)

3rd Bus Carrying Illegal Immigrants From Texas Arrives in Washington

The third bus transporting illegal immigrants from Texas arrived in Washington on April 15.

The bus arrived around 8 a.m., according to footage captured by Fox News. It had about 30 immigrants on board.

The footage showed men, women, and children outside the bus talking in Spanish.

The group went to Ebenezers Coffeehouse after they disembarked, according to video footage from WJLA-TV. They then boarded a white van and left to an unknown location.

The arrival marked the third consecutive day with a bus reaching Washington from Texas.

The first bus arrived on Wednesday and the second one arrived on Thursday.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott earlier in April directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to accept requests from mayors and county judges who were dealing with illegal immigrants released from federal custody in their jurisdictions and coordinate the travel of the immigrants by bus, plane, or some other means to Washington and other locations outside the state of Texas.

The division referred inquiries to Abbotts office, which did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.

The move was part of a multiprong plan to respond to what both federal and Texas officials project will be an increase in illegal immigration as the Biden administration ends its use of a pandemic-era authority that enabled quick expulsion of aliens.

The administration and many leaders in Congress have no idea about the chaos they have caused by their open border policies. And they refuse to come down and see firsthand and talk to the people who are really most adversely affected, Abbott told reporters in Laredo this week.

With the arrival of the illegal immigrants, Washington is going to have to respond and deal with the same challenges that were dealing with, he added.

Catholic Charities has been providing food and transportation to the immigrants once they arrive in Washington.

Most of them do have family or friends in the place where they really want to go. Were happy to help them if they want to stay here. Most are choosing to move on, Sister Sharlet Wagner, executive director of the Newcomer Network, which the charity runs, told NTD.

One of President Joe Bidens top immigration enforcement officials weighed in on the bussing for the first time on Thursday, asserting Texas officials were moving the immigrants without adequately coordinating with the federal government and local border communities.

Any assistance from states in maintaining safe, orderly, and humane immigration processes, Chris Magnus, the commission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said, should be carefully coordinated with us.
7 Soldiers Who Last Saw Fort Bragg Paratrooper Before His Death Facing Court-Martial

Seven soldiers who were the last to see a Fort Bragg paratrooper alive before his severed head washed up on a beach are facing court-martial and a string of other charges.

Sgt. Samuel Moore, Pfc. Samad Landrum, Pvt. Annamarie Cochell, and Spcs. Juan Avila, Alex Becerra, Joshua Curry, and Benjamin Sibley, were the last to see Spc. Enrique Roman-Martinez alive, according to court records obtained by the Fayetteville Observer.

The soldiers, who are assigned to the 37th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, had gone camping with the paratrooper at Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina over Memorial Day weekend on May 22, 2020.

Friends reported Roman-Martinez missing on the evening of May 23.

His phone, wallet, and glasses were found at the campsite where he had been staying with the soldiers.

The severed head of 21-year-old Roman-Martinez was washed up on the shore six days later and officers were able to identify him using dental records and DNA. His body has not yet been found.

According to the Fayetteville Observer, an autopsy report lists Roman-Martinezs manner of death as a homicide.

All seven soldiers are each charged with one count of conspiracy and failure to obey a direct order or regulation related to traveling more than 50 miles from Fort Bragg during a travel ban in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to court documents cited by the publication.

However, no one has yet been charged with Roman-Martinezs death and the charges faced by the seven soldiers do not directly relate to the homicide, officials stressed.

Three of the soldiers: Becerra, Cochell, and Landrum are also each charged with using the hallucinogenic drug LSD, according to the publication.

Becerra is charged with three counts of disobeying a superior; Cochell is charged with two counts of disobeying a superior, and Curry is charged with one count of disobeying a superior.

Avila, Sibley, Landrum, Curry, and Becerra are also charged with various counts of making false statements.

All seven have all been arraigned and their trials are scheduled from May to September. It is unclear what penalties they will face if found guilty.

Roman-Martinezs homicide case remains open with a $50,000 reward but was moved to cold case status, a spokeswoman for the Army Criminal Investigation Division told the Fayetteville Observer in November.

A specialized Task Force was set up to investigate his death, comprised of Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Special Agents, FBI personnel, and the FBIs Behavioral Analysis Unit.

To date, the Task Force has executed more than 100 warrants and subpoenas and conducted more than 400 interviews during the investigation. Officials have also conducted several extensive air, land, and sea searches while looking for additional evidence.

Drive teams have also conducted extensive searches of the area.

I have been a criminal investigator for more than 40 years and have worked hundreds of death investigations, said CID Special Agent Steve Chancellor in a press release (pdf) in August 2021.

This tragic death is a real mystery on what exactly happened. All logical theories or suspicions that were developed to date have been investigated and either discounted or disproven. We have and are still looking at all possibilities, but need the publics help, Chancellor added.

The Army CID declined to comment on the matter, stating that it does not comment on open investigations.

The decision to charge or not charge an individual rests with the court martial convening authority and/or prosecuting office, CID said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
Members of the public take part in a womans rights demo against the Scottish governments decision to allow self-declaration of sex in the 2022 census, in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Sept. 2, 2021. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Girls Are Main Target of Transgender Movement, Advocates Say

Girls are the main target of a national transgender movement going on in public schools across the United States, advocates against the trend say.

Theories on the reason why are not in short supply, with the most prevalent belief being that the LGBT agenda sells the power of becoming a dominant male to girls.

They have been conditioned to consider themselves inferior to boys, Arthur Schaper, director of MassResistance, told The Epoch Times. MassResistance is a national organization opposed to transgendering minors.

Girls are easier targets because they spend more time on social media than boys, Schaper told The Epoch Times.

Nicole Solas, a senior fellow at the Independent Womens Forum and a national parent advocate, says she likens the focus on girls by the transgender movement to anorexia as a disorder being almost exclusively among girls.

Girls hate their bodies at puberty, Solas told The Epoch Times. Thats just known about them, so theyre an easy target for anyone who wants to manipulate them.

Selling the power to transform into the very thing they fearboys, she believes, has created an epidemic of confused teenage girls, with LGBT-driven programs in public schools pushing them toward what she characterizes as a very self-centered agenda. Solas was awarded the Goldwater Institute Freedom Award in 2021 for her work against social agendas in public schools.

I think the most kind position to take on this is that there are people who really believe they are helping people who are suffering, said Solas. But I think the wrinkle there is they are self-interested in having more people like them.

When you hyperfocus on something that truly is not common, it is going to have the opposite effect.

The Epoch Times reached out repeatedly to several LGBT organizations about the issue, including the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD); Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG); the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and The National Center for Transgender Equality; none responded.

The Center for Transgender Equality has a School Action Center on its website that includes instructions on how to start and promote transgender programs at public schools, so that transgender kids can develop respect among their peers and dont feel awkward.

Most LGBT organizations also emphasize that transgender programs in schools are lifesaving because of the high percentage of suicides among transgender youth.

According to a 2019 LGBT Youth Mental Health Survey by the Trevor Project, 57 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth subject to conversion therapytherapy that attempts to convert homosexuals to heterosexualshave attempted suicide.

Abigail Martinez told The Epoch Times her daughter committed suicide because she was being pushed by the LGBT community into identifying as a boy. Her daughter Yaeli walked in front of a train in 2019, after she tried to drop out of efforts led by her school in California to convert her to a boy.

When Martinez resisted the schools efforts to help transition Yaeli to a boy, the school reported her to child protection services and a family court judge gave temporary custody to the state, which started providing the teenager with testosterone injections. Because they had custody of her at the time of her death, the state was also in charge of her obituary and ran her name as Andrew in the obituary.

She was still very much a girl, so I dont know why they did that, Martinez said. Apparently it wasnt enough to take my daughter away from me.

Martinez, who has since become a national advocate against transgender programs in school, told The Epoch Times that she, too, has mostly seen girls as the target.

Yaeli was depressed; the school and these people saw that and exploited that to manufacture more people into their agenda, said Martinez, who is now suing her daughters high school.

A review of lawsuits filed by parents and publicized suicides and attempted suicides by school children who were subject to school-based transgender efforts overwhelmingly shows that girls are at the center of the controversies and tragedies.

Recently, The Heritage Foundation held a panel discussion of parents describing their shock at discovering their child was being secretly groomed by school officials to identify with a new gender. All of them were parents of daughters.

The parents of a 12-year-old Florida girl are suing her school after she twice tried to hang herself following what they allege to be months of secret meetings attempting to transition her identity to a boy.

In November, two Wisconsin families brought a lawsuit against the same school district for changing the names of their daughters, both 12, to boys names.

In yet another lawsuit involving a girl, California mother Jessica Konen claimed that teachers at her 11-year-old daughters school engaged in predatory brainwashing tactics in attempts to coerce the preteen to identify as a boy.

Konen filed the lawsuit after she obtained an audio recording of an LGBT-led California Teachers Association conference in which the two teachers can be heard discussing their methods of running the club without parents finding out about it.

In one of the most recent cases, a Manchester, New Hampshire, mother filed a lawsuit last month against her daughters middle school after learning they were secretly calling her a boys name and using male pronouns in reference to her under a new gender policy.

Schaper believes the schools are capitalizing on girls who are tomboys, something he said was never sexualized until what he calls the transgender cult. They are working at convincing girls that because they dont like to dress up in dresses or like girl things, they must be homosexual.

Because girls can get away with dressing up in boys clothes to begin with, corrupt and perverted adults in the public school system are able to covertly push them more subtly and thus more easily into this transgenderism madness, he said.
American Concern Over the Pandemic Hits a Record Low

Fewer than one in ten Americans say that theyre concerned about the CCP virus, after more than two years of pandemic restrictions and mandates, according to a new poll by the Axios/Ipsos survey published on April 12.

The new poll came out as many states across the United States are easing pandemic-induced regulations such as mask mandates and vaccine requirements and as millions of Americans are experiencing COVID fatigue.

Many are wishing for a return to normalcy and to resume their normal lives and routines.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans, or 73 percent, said that the pandemic was a problem, but manageable and no longer a serious crisis.

Seventeen percent of respondents said it was not a problem at all, while just 9 percent still called it a crisis.

In a clearly partisan split, Democrats are five times more likely than Republicans to describe the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus as a crisis, about 16 versus 3 percent.

Republicans are 10 times more likely than Democrats, 31 to 3 percent, to believe that the virus is not a problem at all.

More than a third of those surveyed, about 37 percent, said they are going to resume their pre-pandemic lifestyles, with two-thirds saying they have visited friends and family in the past week.

Sixty-five percent of those interviewed said they have gone out to eat at a restaurant in the previous week.

Fewer 22 percent said that their employers are still requiring them to wear masks, down from 39 percent from the same time in March.

Merely 19 percent of respondents said that they wear a mask all the time outdoors, down from 26 percent last month.

Only 36 percent surveyed said that they still support stores and restaurants to require a potential customer to show proof of vaccination, which was finally lifted in metropolitan areas like New York City.

More than half of Americans, or 51 percent supported that policy in early February.

However, 44 percent of respondents still support state or local government mask requirements in public places, down from 67 percent at the start of this year.

Philadelphia announced on April 11 that it would reinstate indoor mask mandates amid an alleged rise in cases.

The April poll surveyed 1,043 adults and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Niger's anti-riot police officers arrive in a street in Niamey, Nigeria, on Feb. 23, 2021. (Issouf Sanogo/AFP via Getty Images)

Armed Men Kill 11 Security Force Members in Niger Attacks, Government Says

NIAMEYUnidentified armed men killed seven border police and four National Guard members in separate attacks in different parts of Niger, the government said on Wednesday.

Both of the attacks were on Tuesdayone on a police post in Petelkole, on the western border with Burkina Faso, and one on a National Guard position in Djado, in the northern region of Agadez, a government statement said.

Niger, like its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, is battling groups linked to al Qaeda and ISIS which have killed thousands and displaced millions across West Africas Sahel region.

The attackers also stole vehicles from both security posts and more than 10 people were wounded, the government said.

Nigers interior minister said security had been reinforced in both zones following the attacks.

By Boureima Balima
Signage for a real estate property is seen in Carlton North, Melbourne, Australia, on July 18, 2018. (AAP Image/James Ross)

Australian Rental Crisis Worsens, National Vacancy Rate at Lowest Level Since 2006

Australia has entered into a deep rental crisis, with tenants facing increasing competition for the diminishing pool of available rental homes, driving up rents by almost 12 percent across capital cities in the last 12 months at an accelerating rate.

SQM Research revealed the national vacancy rate fell to one percent in March, the lowest level since 2006 (pdf).

The rental crisis has deepened with rental vacancy rates across the country falling to just 1 percent. As a result, market rents have exploded, SQM Research Managing Director Louis Christopher said. Some of our capital cities and regions are recording asking rental increases in excess of 15 percent over the past 12 months.

In the smaller capital cities, vacancy rates are edging towards zero percent, while in Sydney and Melbourne, it fell below two percent.

Ten suburbs in regional Australia have hit 0 percent vacancy, including Seacombe, Lawson, Keswick, and Mt Evelyn.

Plunging vacancy rates continue to drive up asking rents, with the capital city asking rents rising up a further 2.2 percent in the month to April 12.

In the past 12 months, capital city rents for houses have recorded increases of 14.7 percent and unit rents have increased by 11.2 percent.

Inner-city rents have also jumped significantly, with unit rents in Sydney CBD lifting 5.5 percent and Melbourne CBD up 7.4 percent in the 30 days to April 12 alone.

Brisbane is the capital city that has recorded the largest 12 month combined rental increase, up 15.2 percent, driven by a 21.2 percent increase for house asking rents.

Domain said in its vacancy rate report for March 2022, that the first month following the opening of international borders and all domestic borders has placed further pressure on an already strained market.

This has contributed to the drop in vacancy rates seen in recent months and the resurgence in rental demand will primarily occur in Sydney and Melbourne, the two cities that again recorded the biggest drop in vacancy rates over March, the report said.

Apartment buildings and houses at Neutral Bay in Sydney, Australia, on July 22, 2021. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

Christopher noted Australia needed an immediate solution, but neither of the major two parties had put forward any policies that focused on housing.

We definitely need to see more detailed policy come out from the major parties, he told the ABC. Whether that be a ramp-up and rental relief in various states and territories [or] more rebates on offer, we need something right now for this current rental crisis.

Nerida Conisbee, the chief economist at real estate group Ray White, previously told The Epoch Times that one key factor to addressing this issue was to make sure enough houses were being built.

However, she noted that the construction industry was currently experiencing their own problems, with blocked supply chains, labour shortages, and timber issues driving up construction costs.

So years going to be pretty challenging for renters, because not only are we going to see more people moving into our cities and regions, but were also going to see some problems [when] trying to increase the supply of housing, which is really going to be driven by rising construction costs, she said on March 30.

Conisbee said the overall housing situation was obviously a challenge, as properties for sale remain out of budget and rents continue to increase.

Tenants would be forced to look for smaller accommodation or move further away, she said.
Baby Tinslee Survives Hospitals Attempt to Push Her Off Life Support

Commentary

If it were up to the doctors, Tinslee Lewis would have been in her grave before the age of 1. Instead, in a legal and advocacy triumph affirming the proper relationship between patient/family and doctors, the intrinsic equal dignity of the seriously illas well as a testament to the power of a mothers lovethe now 3-year-old Tinslee has gone home, still ill but very much alive.

As her mother, Trinity Lewis, said happily (referencing Tinslees sister), I am now a two-car-seat mom. Wonderful!

As we celebrate with the Lewis family, we must not lose sight of the medical authoritarianism that forced Trinity into a protracted legal battle with Cook Childrens Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas. Heres the story: Tinslee was born critically ill with pulmonary hypertension and heart disease. She had several near-death events and was kept alive in the neonatal intensive care unit.

After a time, Tinslees doctors urged Trinity to remove life support, stating she had less than six months to live and was suffering needlessly. When Trinity refused, doctors asked the hospital bioethics committee for authority to remove Tinslees life support over her mothers objections.

After a closed-door meetingfrom which Trinity was barred during deliberationsthe committee ruled that life support was medically inappropriate and should be withdrawn. Trinity had only 10 days to find another hospital willing to provide her daughters care, or Tinslee would surely die.

Now add in another insidious twist. Tinslee couldnt leave the hospital safely unless she received a tracheostomy. But Cook refused to allow the surgery unless another facility guaranteed they would assume her care. But no facility would make that assurance until the surgery results were in. Talk about a lethal catch-22!

Making matters even more frustrating, the Texas Advance Directive Act (TADA) permits doctors to legally withdraw futile care (as the concept is known in bioethics) over the objections of patient or family, which over the years has resulted in protracted public controversies and the unwanted deaths of many patients. TADAs futile care provisions work like this:

In order to honor autonomy, a patients refusal of life-sustaining treatment is sacrosancteven if it means death.

But patients dont have the concomitant right to say they want such care. Even if a patient signed an advance medical directive to do everything possible to keep them alive, even if their family wants the fight for life to continueindeed, even if the patient can communicate that he or she wants to stay alive, as happened in at least one casedoctors can refer the case to the hospital ethics committee for a quasi-judicial ruling on whether care should continue.

Making matters even more unjust, the committee hearings are something of a star chamber. For example, the meeting is held behind closed doors, there is no formal recording of who said what, nor a written opinion issued providing precise reasons for the decision to withdraw life support. And there is no legally guaranteed right of appeal.

Once the committee has ruled that intensive care should cease, the patient has only 10 days to find an alternative facilityeven if another doctor is found willing to continue treating the patient at the hospital.

With her daughters life in the balance, Trinity sought help from Texas Right to Life and a nonprofit organization called Protect TX Fragile Kids that advocates for ill and disabled children. With their help, Trinity sued to stop the withdrawal of care.

A trial court refused to intervene. But the Texas Court of Appeals ordered Cook to continue Tinslees treatment pending trial. In a 150-page opinion questioning the constitutionality of TADA, the Court slammed the laws futile care provision as depriving a terminally ill patient of her life against her wishes. (pdf) The court added, While reasonable medical judgment may inform the decision, the deciding factor is ultimately the individual liberty interest of the patient in deciding that a natural death is the best treatment option.

In other words, the difficult decision to stop life support is a value judgment that belongs properly with patient/family or surrogate. It isnt purely a medical matter for doctorsmuch less a bioethics committeeto decide on their own.

Cook refused to surrender. It triedand failedto get the Texas Supreme Court to remove the injunction. The case moved forward energetically with discovery and motions. But as the date of trial approachedwith the prospect of not only losing, but having TADA invalidatedthe hospital became more cooperative. The trial was postponed. Tinslee received the care she needed to leave the hospital, and as stated above, is now at hometwo years after doctors said she would surely die.

This is all great news. But Trinity should never have been put through the hell of fighting the doctors, the hospitals lawyers, and a public relations campaign. As Emily Cook, general counsel for Texas Right to Life, told me, It took three years, multiple court battles, lots of money, media attention, and a little girl who just kept defying all odds to finally reach an outcome that did not result in her death. Once it was decided that death was not to be the result, it took only roughly five months to get her home.

The time has clearly come for TADAs stacked-deck futile care legal tyranny to be repealed. It wont be easy. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made previously over the last decade (which I supported by testifying before legislative committees). Alas, these efforts were opposed bitterly by Texas hospitalsand to its shame, the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishopswith only minor revisions to the law.

But now, the constitutional handwriting is on the wall. The time has come to repeal TADAs unjust futile care provisions and return hospital bioethics committees in Texas to their proper role as mediating bodies rather than death panels.

That will not only be good for Texas, but also will send a strong message nationally that futile care impositions have no place in a free country.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
In this handout provided by the Australian Department of Defence, Commander of Joint Task Group 637.3, Lieutenant Colonel Steve Frankel (left), and Private Thomas Rixon, watch the Armidale Class Patrol Boat, HMAS Armidale, sail into the Port of Honiara, in Guadalcanal Island, Solomon Islands, on Dec. 1, 2021. (CPL Brandon Grey/Australian Department of Defence via Getty Images)

Beijing-Solomons Security Deal a Sword in Australias Back: Opposition Leader

The opposition leader of the Solomon Islands has called the national governments security deal with Beijing unnecessary for pacifying internal and external threatssaying any civil unrest was sorely the fault of the national government.

Matthew Wale said secrecy around the deal with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was an escalation by Prime Minister (Manasseh) Sogavare in his struggle with Malaita.

How this deal will be used on the Malaita situation has direct implications on all provinces in Solomon Islands and governance broadly, he said in an April 15 statement obtained by The Epoch Times. A vibrant democracy is marked by the acceptance of a plurality of views and an inclusive embracive government.

All the drivers of instability, insecurity and even threats to national unity in Solomon Islands are entirely internal, he added.

Sogavares government has been at odds with the leader of Malaita Province, Daniel Suidani, over a 2019 decision to switch the Solomon Islands diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing.

Provincial leader Suidani has stood firm on relations with Taiwan, however, much to the chagrin of the prime minister.

The issue came to a head in November last year when riots erupted in the Islands capital Honiara, which saw the Chinatown district razed and resulted in three deaths.

Wale called Prime Minister Sogavare a mercenary of Beijing, and that he had longed for the day he could exact revenge on Australiathe prime minister has been a long-time critic of Australias involvement in the region claiming it was engaging in colonialism.

The opposition leader said that day [of vengeance] has arrived, and he has gladly thrust his sword into Australias back. China is only too happy to oblige Prime Minister Sogavare, there is a meeting of minds on this.

Wale said along with foreign relations, the people of the Solomon Islands were frustrated with corruption, state capture, economic marginalisation, high unemployment, as well as poor delivery of healthcare and education services.

Honiara continues to monopolise decision-making and consume a disproportionate share of the national income and wealth, he said. The provincial governments have long complained of merely being the agents of the central government.

The opposition leader said the current government had allowed the exploitation of locals to line their own pockets.

Natural resources are removed from our islands, and our people are poorer after that, he said. No tangible sustainable development has resulted from this exploitative economy. The countrys wealth goes overseas through unrestrained transfer pricing, aided, and abetted by the countrys leaders.

Wales statement comes after the premier of Solomons Western Province, Christian Burley Mesepitu, said he was deeply disturbed by the security agreement with Beijing.

There are too many gaps in the proposal for any right-minded Solomon Islander to be comfortable with it, he said in a statement.

In late March, details of the secret agreement between the Solomon Islands and Beijing were leaked online and would allow the CCP to dispatch forces to protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in the Solomon Islands.

Such a move could potentially extend the reach of the Peoples Liberation Army beyond the South China Sea to the South Pacifica strategically important positionand usher in the possible militarization of the region.

Diplomatic efforts to Prime Minister Sogavare have ramped up from U.S. and Australian leaders in recent weeks to dissuade him from implementing the deal.

Kurt Campbell, U.S. National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, is set to travel to the Pacific nation this month, accompanied by Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, according to the Financial Times.

While Australias Pacific Minister Zed Seselja put election campaigning on hold to visit the Solomon Islands leader to respectfully consider not signing the agreement with Beijing.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at a Customs and Border Protection processing facility in Donna, Texas, on May 7, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Biden Administration Shields Cameroonians in United States From Deportation

President Joe Bidens administration on April 15 announced protection for Cameroon nationals who are in the United States.

The move, which will shield the Cameroonians for 18 months from deportation, was made because of fighting in their home country, according to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Cameroonian nationals currently residing in the U.S. who cannot safely return due to the extreme violence perpetrated by government forces and armed separatists, and a rise in attacks led by Boko Haram, will be able to remain and work in the United States until conditions in their home country improve, Mayorkas said in a statement.

Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist group that originated in Nigeria, and an ISIS-affiliated group called ISIS-WA have killed tens of thousands of people in Nigeria, Cameroon, and nearby countries since 2009, according to the Congressional Research Service. Clashes between separatists and the government have also contributed to the mayhem.

Mayorkas has granted the protection, formally known as Temporary Protected Status, to people from a slew of countries in recent months, including Afghanistan, Sudan, and Ukraine.

Before Friday, the United States had never granted the protection to nationals of Cameroon.

The designation is for those who were residing in America as of April 14.

A law passed in 1990 enables the federal government to grant the protected status to immigrants who are nationals of foreign countries where there is an ongoing armed conflict or a natural disaster.

According to the Center for American Progress, up to 40,000 Cameroonians, mostly adults, are eligible for the protection.

The action drew praise from some, including U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

I have long advocated for this action and I applaud the Biden Administrations decision to provide a safe refuge for these families already residing in the United States. Forcing them to return to Cameroon in the midst of a civil war and humanitarian crisis would put their lives in grave and certain danger, Van Hollen said in a statement.

We commend the Biden administration for making these overdue, life-saving protections available for Cameroonians in the U.S., the National Immigration Law Center said.

Others questioned the designation.

With Secretary Mayorkas continuing to aggressively designate countries like Cameroon for TPS, it is fair to wonder what illegal alien population wont receive amnesty-lite by the end of the Biden administration, R.J. Hauman, head of government relations and communications for Federation for American Immigration Reform, said in a statement.

This is even more offensive considering what is happening down at the border. Instead of, say, fully re-implementing Remain in Mexico, hes busy figuring out how to make sure illegal alien populations can remain in America forever.
Biden Administrations Welcome Program for Illegals

Commentary

Millions of Americans are paying taxes this week. What worsens the pain is to see President Joe Biden spending our tax money on hotel stays, debit cards, and cellphones for migrants illegally crossing the southern border.

Biden is rolling out the welcome mat.

Illegal border crossers will no longer be treated like criminals, but more like customers. The presidents fiscal budget, presented on March 28, cuts funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement by 8 percent despite an expected surge in migrants and reduces detention beds. Meanwhile, Biden is increasing funding for a speedier service for migrants entering the country illegally, with more flights and ground transportationkind of like a travel agency.

As of late May, Customs and Border Protection officials will not be able to send back migrants using Title 42, a legal tool devised to limit immigration during COVID-19. Illegal immigration is predicted to surge to 18,000 people a day. Biden isnt planning to deter it, only to accommodate it.

There will be no punishment for sneaking into the country, or what the White House prefers to call irregular immigration.

Migrants wont be detained in crowded facilities, sleeping under metallic sheets. These facilities are being phased out.

After crossing and being apprehended, migrants are fingerprinted and handed an Order of Release and Recognizance, granting them a legal right to travel in the United States, so long as they report to an ICE officer when they reach their destination.

Then theyre welcomed by Catholic Charities or other nonprofits, who help with travel instructions. Some are taken directly to bus stations or airports. But many others are checked into hotels for one or two days of R&R before continuing to the destination of their choice. Call it the catch and concierge experience.

Over the past year, the Biden administration has contracted hotel space in Scottsdale, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; and other sites to house migrants while theyre provided COVID screenings, medical care, hot meals, and a chance to shower and rest. Whats next? Mints on the pillow?

Hotels were used in the past to house migrants, but only because detention facilities were full, not because they were replacing them.

Californias health department is also renting hotels in San Diego, including a Four Points Sheraton and a Ramada Inn, where Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego and Jewish Family Service of San Diego provide services to migrants.

Dont think because these charities are helping that taxpayers are off the hook. The federal government is Catholic Charities largest source of funds, and Jewish Family Service gets its money largely from Catholic Charities. Illegal immigration is funded in a tangled maze that invariably leads back to U.S. taxpayers.

Thats whos paying for the smartphones and tablets for migrantsthe latest perk. White House press secretary Jen Psaki claims the devices will make it easier to track migrants. Border officials, according to the Los Angeles Times, insist the smartphones are for safer travel, not tracking. Migrants can simply throw the device away.

Previous administrations used ankle bracelets, but immigration advocates complained they were uncomfortable and humiliating, so the Biden administration discontinued them.

Even before migrants cross the border, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), a part of the U.N., distributes plastic debit cards worth about $400 to help tide over migrants waiting to enter. Where does IOM get its money? Partly from America, of course. Twelve House Republicans introduced the No Tax Dollars for the Immigration Invasion Act to bar funding these cash giveaways.

With Biden welcoming migrants crossing illegally and helping them settle wherever in the United States they choose, every state becomes a border state. Taxpayers in all 50 states are clobbered with the cost of providing housing, emergency medical care, and public schooling. Dems in New York, who have no mercy on taxpayers, are even extending Medicaid to migrants 65 and older illegally in the United States.

Americans are generous people, but they have to provide for their own kids and neighbors first. Without warning, Biden is flying migrants into communities under the cover of night and expecting them to be cared for. Its nothing short of an ambush.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
California Delays COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate to Attend School

California has announced it would not implement any vaccine mandates for students to be able to attend public schools until at least mid-2023.

The state in October 2021 became the first in the country to announce a vaccine requirement for students to attend school. But the mandate has not come into effect because Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to fully approve the vaccines for people of ages within the 712 grade span.

Gov. Gavin Newsoms administration indicated it would only enforce the mandate if or when the FDA fully authorizes the vaccines for children. In that scenario, California would start the rulemaking process to add the COVID-19 vaccine to other vaccinations needed to attend school in personsuch as for measles, mumps, and rubella.

Previously, Newsom estimated the mandate would take effect for the start of the 2022-23 school year. On Thursday, the administration said it would not try to implement the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the 20222023 school year, and therefore any mandates wouldnt take effect until after full FDA approval, and later than July 1, 2023.

So based on these two factswe dont have full FDA approval, and we recognize the implementation challenges that schools and school leaders would facethat we are not moving to have a vaccine requirement for schools in this coming academic year and no sooner than July 2023, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in an interview, reported The Associated Press.

Christina Hildebrand, president and founder of A Voice for Choice Advocacy, a group that opposes vaccine mandates, told AP, From a perspective of keeping children in schools, this was the right move. The number of children that are unvaccinated, and if they were removed from school, would have been a much bigger disaster.

Parents gather to express their concerns over vaccine mandates for students at the Placentia Yorba Linda Unified School District building in Placentia, Calif., on Oct. 12, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Currently, the only vaccine against COVID-19 available for people aged under 18 in the United States is Pfizersit is authorized for emergency use for children aged 517. No vaccines have been given full, final approval to anyone younger than 16.

The FDA in October 2021 delayed a decision on whether to grant Moderna an EUA for its COVID-19 vaccine for those aged 12 to 17, saying it needs more time to further review the vaccines risk for myocarditis in this population.

Besides California, Louisiana has announced a vaccine mandate for K-12 schools, according to the National Academy for State Health Policy. The District of Columbia also has a mandate.

Louisianas mandate has an opt-out option for parents who can apply to exempt their children by citing religious, medical, or philosophical reasons via a written dissent. Californias mandate would permit exemptions for medical reasons and personal beliefs. Medical reasons often require confirmation from a doctor.
A sign for the Government of Canada's Communications Security Establishment (CSE) outside their headquarters in Ottawa in a file photo. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Canadian Spy Agency Warns of False Narratives Being Pushed by Russia

Canadas eavesdropping agency provided an update on April 13 on its monitoring of Russia-backed disinformation campaigns through social media and controlled media outlets, and said the Kremlin is behind claims that Canadian soldiers were in the Donbas region and committed war crimes.

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE) says media outlets controlled by Russia, but made to look legitimate, have recently published narratives designed to discredit and spread disinformation about NATO allies, including false narratives about Canadas involvement in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

CSE posted the information on its Twitter account and said it was derived from its classified reporting.

CSE says the false narratives being spread included the presence of Canadian Forces Members in the Donbas regions, which was timed with news of the arrival of the Canadian Forces Members in Ukraine to secure the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv.

The Kremlin-controlled outlets were also directed to include doctored images of Canadian Forces Members on the front line and false claims about Canadian forces committing war crimes, CSE said.

According to official accounts, Canadian Forces members have only been in Ukraine in a training capacity as part of Op UNIFIER, and the last personnel were pulled out of the country on the day the Russian invasion started, Feb. 24.

Regarding social media, CSE says the Kremlin is attempting to manipulate global audiences on communications platforms that often feature antisemitic conspiracy theories, anti-LGBTQ+ materials, anti-immigrant commentary, anti-globalist sentiment, and QAnon content.

CSE doesnt mention the names of the Russia-controlled media outlets or communications platforms being used, but many Russian state entities are active on Twitter.

The eavesdropping agencys first Twitter thread on Russian disinformation was published on April 1. CSE said it observed coordinated efforts by Russia to create and spread disinformation falsely claiming that Ukraine was harvesting the organs of fallen soldiers.

On April 6 in another thread on Russian disinformation, CSE said, In 2020, Russian intelligence operatives coordinated the creation and dissemination of disinformation claiming the United States had established biological laboratories in former USSR countries and was using Ukraine as a biological testing ground.

CSE said Russia also insinuated that these laboratories may be responsible for epidemics.

U.S.-backed biological labs exist in Ukraine, but the nature of their programs are non-offensive, according to the United States.

U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on March 8 and said her government was working with Ukraine to protect its biological facilities from falling into Russian hands.

Ukraine has biological research facilities, which in fact we are now quite concerned that Russian forces may be seeking to gain control of, so we are working with the Ukrainians on how they can prevent any of those research materials from falling into the hands of Russian forces, should they approach, Nuland said.

Deborah Rosenbaum, assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical, and biological defense programs, told the House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations on April 1 that there are unequivocally  no offensive biologic weapons in the Ukraine laboratories that the United States has been involved with.

Campaign Against Disinformation

The Epoch Times contacted CSE to learn more about its initiative to declassify intelligence and post it on Twitter, but the response provided by its media team didnt extend much beyond explaining the mandate of CSE and repeating the information already posted on Twitter.

Some of the examples weve listed represent intended activity, while others you may have seen in open source reporting, said spokesperson Ryan Foreman in an email.

We are sharing this information as part of the Government of Canadas efforts to help inform Canadians so they can protect themselves from disinformation, he said.

The Liberal government has repeatedly expressed a desire to fight misinformation and disinformation recently, and the decision to declassify CSE intelligence and share it publicly appears to be part of those efforts.

Mimi Nguyen Ly and Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.
China to Deploy Most Advanced Fighter Jet to Disputed East and South China Seas

The Chinese military is deploying its most advanced fighter jet to hotly contested regions in the East and South China Seas, according to Chinese state media.

The J-20 stealth fighter jet will begin its deployments as part of training sessions, per Chinese state-owned media outlet Global Times.

A Chinese colonel said that the deployments ensured Chinas military was ready and capable of wielding its sword.

The J-20 was originally built using Russian parts, namely engines, which have since been reverse engineered and improved upon in China. This has allowed the regime to domestically produce the jet. It appears designed to contend with the U.S. F-22 and F-35.

Relatively little is known of the aircraft, popularly referred to as the Mighty Dragon. It entered service in 2017, and is a stealth fighter like the American F-35. It is unclear, however, whether it will fulfill an all-purpose and multi-mission role, or if it will specialize in one domain, such as air superiority.

Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, said in March that an American F-35 had a close encounter with the J-20 over the South China Sea last year, but that it was still too early to tell what role the aircraft would play in a large-scale military conflict.

We recently had, I wouldnt call it an engagement, but we got relatively close to the J-20s with our F-35s in the East China Sea and were relatively impressed with the command and control that was associated with the J-20s, Wilsbach said.

Its a bit early to tell exactly what they want to do with the J-20, Wilsbach said. All weve really seen it do is air superiority.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has made innumerable territorial claims to various parts of the South and East China Seas in the past, and has even gone so far as to construct artificial islands containing military outposts to expand its footprint in the South China Sea. Thus, the deployment will likely support the regimes expansionist ambitions.

A report by the State Department published in January found that the methods used by the CCP to artificially inflate its territorial claims had no coherent legal basis in international laws or norms.

The expansion, and now the J-20s deployment, will likely continue to heighten tensions between the United States and the CCP, as experts warn that the communist regime is the most likely actor to engage American forces in a military conflict.

The deployment of the J-20s might in this regard be seen to mark a continued effort by the CCP to escalate military tensions and demonstrate its own prowess as a global military power.

Earlier in April, for example, the regime made a similar effort when it delivered new missile systems to Serbia. On that occasion, six Chinese military aircraft flew through NATO airspace. Some of them had removed the coverings of their chaff and flare countermeasuresdefensive systems to help evade missile attacksin an apparent effort to signal that they were ready to engage in conflict.

The CCPs chest thumping is not without its risks, however. The deployment of the J-20 likely means longer deployments and further-reaching patrols by the Chinese forces, which could see them come into more close encounters with the U.S. military.

On the reverse of the coin, the opportunity will also present the United States and its allies with the opportunity to collect vital diagnostic data on the J-20 in the wild, thus providing valuable insights to uncovering its weaknesses and ultimately defeating it, if necessary, in combat.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on March 10, 2022 in Washington. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Chinas Xi Is A Silent Partner in Putins Aggression in Ukraine: CIA Director

CIA Director William Burns on April 15 called out China as a silent partner in Putins aggression, warning that the war in Ukraine would proceed with continued bloodshed.

The Chinese regime poses the greatest challenge and most profound test that the agency has ever faced, Burns warned in his first public speech as CIA director at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

He highlighted that the rise of an increasingly adversarial China and a pugnacious and revisionist Russia has turned the world into a more complicated and contested one.

The CIA Director pointed to the immediate threat posed by renewed Russian aggression against Ukraine, and to the longer-term problem posed by Chinas ambitious leadership, calling it the single most important geopolitical challenge of the 21st century.

He referred to the Chinese regime as a formidable competitor lacking in neither ambition nor capability, saying it seeks to overtake us in literally every domain, from economic strength to military power, and from space to cyberspace.

China is intent  upon building the capabilities to  replace the United States as the preeminent power in the Indo-Pacific, he added.

The two rivals had forced the CIA to reimagine itself to compete successfully in this new age, according to Burns.

Burns comments echoed deep concerns that the Biden administration has raised since the war in relation to Russias alignment with China. Since the invasion, Beijing has refused to condemn Moscows actions and has reaffirmed its rock solid ties with the aggressor state.

Both President Joe Biden and the national security advisor Jake Sullivan have warned of the consequences should China provide material support to Russia amid its attack on Ukraine.

Russia

Burns, who has previously served as U.S. ambassador to Russia, characterized Putin as an apostle of payback whose appetite for risk has grown as his circle of trusted advisers has shrunk over the years.

Every day, Putin demonstrates that declining powers can be at least as disruptive as rising ones, he said.

His risk appetite has grown, as his grip on Russia has tightened, Burns added. His circle of advisers has narrowed. And in that small circle, it has never been career enhancing to question his judgment or his stubborn, almost mystical belief that his destiny is to restore Russias sphere of influence.

The head of the CIA recalled how the agency started gathering intelligence about Putins plans for an invasion of Ukraine early last fall.

Burns described he felt troubled by an engagement with Putin in November, when he was sent by Biden to Moscow to warn Moscow of the consequences of potential military action in Ukraine.

While it did not yet seem that he had made an irreversible decision to invade Ukraine, Putin was defiantly leaning in that direction, apparently concerned that his window was closing for shaping Ukraines orientation, Burns said.

Putin initially downplayed the Ukrainians response believing that he could claim victory in no time, but what unfolded later proved that he was wrong, according to the CIA chief.

Burns condemned horrific crimes committed by Russian forces in Bucha and across Ukraine, warning that subsequent phases of the war, soon to enter its eighth week, would involve continued bloodshed.

The last chapter in Putins war has yet to be written, as he grinds away in Ukraine. I have no doubt about the cruel pain and damage that Putin can continue to inflict on Ukraine, or the raw brutality with which Russian force is being applied.

He praised the agencys unseen work in publicly releasing declassified intelligence about Russias plans, which helped preempt false narratives and false flag operations that Putin pushed forward.

By being open with some of our secrets, we made it harder for Putin to obscure the truth of his unprovoked and vicious aggression, he said.
Compounds and Strategies to Grow New Brain Cells

Our brain is subject to aging, just like the rest of our body. It is also subject to disease, which is unique in the sense that it can change the very essence of who we think we are.

Alzheimers can turn a loved one into a stranger. It can claim memories, personality, and relationships, leaving family members of the afflicted with a haunting echo of someone that once knew them.

Fortunately, even as the disease grows in prevalence, researchers are also learning more about factors that put us at risk, and habits we can cultivate to keep our brain healthy.

One recent example comes out of a collaboration between researchers1 from the University of Queensland and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. They discovered that a phytochemical in apple peels can stimulate the growth of new neurons (neurogenesis).

This phytochemical is called quercetin. While the researchers found this compound did not help the brain grow neurons when used at high concentrations, it was pro-neurogenic at low concentrations, which means it led to the creation of new neurons, specifically in the hippocampus region of the brain.

The brain has a hippocampus within each of the temporal lobes (which are just above the ears). The hippocampus is part of the limbic system.2 This is a part of the brain where behavioral and emotional responses are generated. These responses are central to survival and include reproduction, caring for babies, feeding, and the fight-or-flight response. Other parts of the limbic system include the thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, and amygdala.

The hippocampus is a well-studied part of the brain, which takes its name from the shape that resembles a seahorse. This area plays a crucial role in memory consolidation, coding, and learning.3 Another of its major functions is forming a cognitive map, which is related to your ability to acquire new knowledge, store it, and recall it later.

Your behavior is affected by this constant accumulation of knowledge and damage to the thalamus can produce maladaptive behaviors because of its broad effects on emotion and cognition.

The hippocampus is also the area that takes the initial damage when the plaques and tangled fibers of Alzheimers start to destroy brain function.

According to the Alzheimers Association,5 the number of people living in the U.S. who have Alzheimers disease is growing. There were an estimated 5.8 million people diagnosed with Alzheimers in 2020. Nearly two-thirds are women. Experts estimate that as the population of people over 65 continues to grow, the number of people with Alzheimers will also rapidly increase.

By 2050, it is projected 13.8 million Americans will have Alzheimers disease.

Quercetin Stimulates Proneurogenic Activity

The new study looked at how quercetin, a plant flavonol found in the apple peel, spurred neuron growth. Flavonols are a type of flavonoid, a compound with many functions in plants, including being an essential pigment for bright colors in fruit and vegetables.

Flavonoids are also powerful antioxidants, which help the immune system work better by neutralizing free radicals.

The study was published in Stem Cell Reports 6, and was built on past studies that have demonstrated the benefits of phytochemicals found in plant foods.

The researchers noted that plant compounds were vital for maintaining cognitive function by growing new neurons (neurogenesis). Thats what makes the new findings encouraging. This ability of the brain to reshape and grow itself is critical to our cognitive agility. The fact that a compound in apple peeland another in its fleshcan help the brain do that is a testament to the benefits we receive from natural food.

The researchers said they chose apples as they are widely consumed across the globe resulting in a generalized exposure.7 The study began with an in vitro (within glass) examination of quercetin, which is the most abundant flavonoid in the apples peel.

The second half of the study was an in vivo (within the living) study using an animal model. After their data analysis, the researchers ultimately found that apples contained compounds in the peel and the flesh that helped promote neurogenesis. Quercetin from the peel and another active compound from the apple flesh, 3,5-Dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHBA), demonstrated the ability to increase precursor cell proliferation and neurogenesis.

The researchers measured the effect on neural precursor cells, which are stem cells that can generate neural cell types within the brain. They found the effect was like that reported in past studies for other plant compounds such as resveratrol and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is found in green tea.8

During the lab portion of the study, the researchers found that stem cells generated from a mouse brain were protected and exhibited more neurogenesis when quercetin and DHBA were added to the cell cultures.9 During the animal study, they found structures in the brain that were associated with learning and memory had more neurons when the mice were given doses of quercetin or DHBA.

Exercise Also Stimulates Brain Growth

Another thing we can do that promotes neurogenesis is exercise. One study10 from the University of British Columbia discovered that aerobic training could increase the volume of the hippocampus in older women who had mild cognitive impairment.

The scientists engaged 86 women ages 70 to 80 years and assigned them to a twice-weekly program over six months. The women engaged in aerobic activity, resistance training or balance and tone training. Those enrolled in the aerobic training showed significant improvement in hippocampal volume.

As reported in Science magazine,11 neurogenesis without exercise may not be enough to protect memory and learning. One animal model demonstrated that increasing levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were required before the animals could outperform the control mice on testing.

BDNF is a key molecule produced in the brain with exercise and may help to explain the neuroprotective and cognitive benefits people experience with exercise.12 Much less is known about the interaction between exercise, BDNF, and neurogenesis in the human brain as it is all but impossible to study living human brain tissue.

More is known about the benefits from animal models, while indirect measurements of neurogenesis are used in human participants. Senior author of the paper published in Science, Rudolph Tanzi, Ph.D., commented on the results of chemically induced neurogenesis with exercise:13

In our study we showed that exercise is one of the best ways to turn on neurogenesis and then, by figuring out the molecular and genetic events involved, we determined how to mimic the beneficial effects of exercise through gene therapy and pharmacological agents.

Although exercise-induced AHN [adult hippocampal neurogenesis] improved cognition in Alzheimers mice by turning on neurogenesis, trying to achieve that result by using gene therapy and drugs did not help.

That was because newly born neurons, induced by drugs and gene therapy, were not able to survive in brain regions already ravaged by Alzheimers pathology, particularly neuroinflammation. So, we asked how neurogenesis induced by exercise differs.

The lesson learned was that it is not enough just to turn on the birth of new nerve cells, you must simultaneously clean up the neighborhood in which they are being born to make sure the new cells survive and thrive. Exercise can achieve that 

More Strategies to Protect Brain Health

There are additional strategies you can use to help promote brain health. Astaxanthin is one. This powerful antioxidant is a naturally occurring carotenoid responsible for the pink or red color found in salmon, trout, lobster, and other seafood.14

Its often referred to as the king of antioxidants15 and is derived from the microscopic algae haematococcus that produce it as a protective mechanism to shield it from ultraviolet light.16 In your body, it helps protect against reactive oxygen species and oxidation that play a role in heart disease, Alzheimers disease, Parkinsons disease, and aging.

In one review of the literature,17 scientists identified several pathways astaxanthin may take to help slow brain aging. They also found it increases BDNF levels and reduces oxidative damage to DNA, lipids and proteins. Another nutrient found in fatty fish that helps protect your brain health is omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fats are long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that include EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid).

These nutrients are crucial for cell membranes and play an anti-inflammatory role in the body.18 DHA is especially crucial for brain health as it is an essential structural component that is found in high levels in the neurons.

As I have written before, and covered in my book Superfuel, co-written with James DiNicolantonio, Pharm.D., when there is an inadequate amount of omega-3, the nerve cells become stiff and are prone to inflammation. This reduces proper neurotransmission from cell to cell and the cells become compromised.

Low levels of DHA have been linked to both memory loss and Alzheimers disease, and some studies have suggested degenerative brain diseases may potentially be reversible when sufficient DHA is provided.19,20 However, it is important to choose wild-caught Alaskan salmon, krill oil or other sources of safe fish, such as sardines, to meet these nutritional requirements. There are also many benefits to nutritional ketosis, only one of which is providing adequate fuel to your brain for optimal functioning. Thats an article all on its own. Strategies to Slow Brain Aging

There are strategies you can use to improve brain function and others you should avoid as they can harm your brain.

Avoid Processed Food

To protect your brain, you should avoid processed foods and sugar.

Regular consumption of high-sugar foods is linked to a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes21 and Type 2 diabetes is associated with a 60 percent higher risk for any type of dementia.22

One study23 found that even without a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes, participants with higher blood sugar levels had lower hippocampal volume and people with higher hemoglobin A1c and glucose measurements had significantly lower scores on memory testing.

That memory finding could be significant.

In two separate studies, researchers at the Alzheimers Disease Research Center at the Mayo Clinic and the Center for Demographic and Aging Research, found poor memory performance predicted a higher risk of dementia.

Drink Less Alcohol

Chronic excessive alcohol consumption causes dysfunction of neuronal dysfunction and brain damage.24 Yet, even moderate alcohol consumption can reduce brain volume and is associated with neuronal changes.25

In a large study evaluating brain aging and alcohol,26 researchers from the University of Southern California examined 17,308 brain scans of cognitively normal participants.

They found that for every gram of alcohol consumed each day, the participants brain aged 0.02 years, which is equivalent to 7.3 days. To put this in perspective, 12 ounces of regular beer have approximately 14 grams of alcohol.27

Sleep Well

Chronic sleep deprivation is another lifestyle component that can trigger poor brain health. When you dont get enough sleep, your brain cannot do the necessary housekeeping.

One small 2018 study by the National Institutes of Health found even going one night without sleep increased the amount of beta-amyloid protein in the brain. This is the protein that creates the plaque linked to cognitive decline among Alzheimers patients.

Researchers from Marche Polytechnic University in Italy28 show that astrocytes, which are a type of glial cells in the brain that normally get rid of unnecessary nerve connections. Their study of sleep-deprived mice suggests that these astrocytes start to break down healthy nerve synapses when you are chronically sleep-deprived.

Quercetins Other Job

While the new study highlights quercetins role in neurogenesis, the medical literature has highlighted its capacity as a zinc ionophore, helping move zinc into the cells where it can halt viral replication. Research has also found it is a synergistic partner with vitamin C. On its own, quercetin acts as a natural antihistamine and anti-inflammatory that can also lower your risk for viral illnesses.

The body is an ever-unfolding chain reaction and researchers have found that quercetin can improve one of them by inhibiting the expression of casein kinase II (CK2),34 which down-regulates the ability of the cell to generate type 1 interferon when it is attacked by a virus. This means that by inhibiting the expression of CK2, quercetin may help slow the replication of RNA viruses.

In addition to apple peel, you can find quercetin in foods such as plums, red grapes, green tea, elderflower, and onions.35 Considering its wide-ranging benefits, quercetin may also be a useful supplement, either acutely, for times you feel youre coming down with something, or more long-term, for metabolic health and, potentially, brain health.

If you choose to supplement, I believe that quercetin is best taken at night (with zinc) before you go to bed, and you havent eaten for at least three to four hours. You will sleep for eight hours, and if you are metabolically flexible, this is the time that you will dive into nutritional ketosis.

Another benefit of taking quercetin at night is to take advantage of its senolytic action. This helps to remove senescent cells, which are similar to nonreplicating cancer cells that secrete powerful proinflammatory cytokines. You can optimize quercetins senolytic properties if you take it while you are fasting.

Dr. Joseph Mercola is the founder of Mercola.com. An osteopathic physician, best-selling author, and recipient of multiple awards in the field of natural health, his primary vision is to change the modern health paradigm by providing people with a valuable resource to help them take control of their health. This article was originally published on Mercola.com

Sources and References
Controversy Surrounding Westminster Vietnam War Memorial Persists

WESTMINSTER, Calif.After months of controversy, including a failed recall attempt of one of the citys councilors, the Westminster City Council will vote in May on the design and location of a memorial within Peace Park, commemorating the recapture of a key providence by the United States and the South Vietnamese during the Vietnam War.

Locals have expressed concern about the monument including whether it should be constructed on city property and the issue of possible architectural hazards, or hazards it poses to children and adults near the monument, including its flag poles that could fall and strike an individuals head. Some have also suggested the project be put on hold until public concerns are resolved.

I dont support this design, resident Dao Tran told The Epoch Times.

Tran said the monumentas currently plannedis too large and that the city has wasted too much money on it after stalling plans when voting to transfer the project over from a private group to city control, spending months on additional planning and city resources to re-do the project.

The Quang Tri committeeformed of 11 people to design the projectrecommended a statue depicting five marines of the Army of The Republic of Vietnam standing on top of ruins, with two holding the South Vietnam flag. The monument would memorialize the Second Battle of Quang Tri which resulted in the South Vietnamese recapture of the Quang Tri Province on Sept. 16, 1972.

(Courtesy of the City of Westminster)

The current designs base is 20 feet wide with a 25- to 30-foot vertical panel measuring 5 feet in thickness and 10 to 12 feet tall. This would be the same length and slightly taller than a miniature school bus.

Resident Lan Quoc Nguyen also said the memorial is too large and that it does not reflect the citys Vietnamese communitys desire for its design.

The difficulty [the council is] facing now is that they dont have support from the community, he said.

Another resident who chose to remain anonymous yes added the monument would only create polarization between the Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese community.

Its not representative of the citizens of Westminster  if theyre not Vietnamese, the resident said.

Two city committees will provide final recommendations, projected on May 11, for the monument: one regarding its location in the park, and the other on the monuments inscriptionin both Vietnamese and Englishand its seal.

Controversy surrounding the project began last July when a slim majority on the city council voted to remove the project from the hands of a private foundation sponsoring it.

During that city council meeting, councilmembers Carlos Manzo, Tai Do, and Kimberly Ho voted to move the project under the citys control which resulted in accusations from opposing council memberslead by former State Assemblyman Van Tranthat Hos desire to move the project under the auspices of the city was political gamesmanship.

Anger surrounding the project escalated when some residents initiated a recall against Ho, which ultimately failed in February by 285 signatures.

The issue will next be discussed at the citys council meeting May 11. If approved, the city has said construction will be complete by Sept. 16, which will mark the battles 50th year anniversary.
A file photo of a sign marking the city limit of Costa Mesa, Calif., on Oct. 26, 2020. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Costa Mesa Planning Commission OKs Cannabis Delivery Service

COSTA MESA, Calif.Planning commissioners approved a conditional use permit April 11 for a local attorney to open and operate a new cannabis delivery service.

The permit is only one of several hurdles Winter Greens needs to begin operations within the citys designated Green Zone, a district that allows the manufacturing and distribution of cannabis.

The company, which already operates in Truckee, Calif., near Lake Tahoe, still needs a state license and a city business license before opening.

If all are granted, Winter Greens would not be a retail store. Instead, about 10 drivers would deliver cannabis productssuch as cannabis flower, pre-rolls, edibles, concentrates, topicals, and moreto customers in the region.

Im really pleased to see this moving forward, Commissioner Dianne Russell said.

Catalyst Cannabis Company cannabis samples in Santa Ana, Calif., on Feb. 18, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

If approved, the company would not be the first delivery cannabis business in the city. Costa Mesa currently allows for retail sales by manufacturers and distributors of recreational marijuana.

Some existing cannabis manufacturing companies in the city have already received approval to sell products as non-store front, delivery only, according to Commissioner Jon Zich, vice-chair of the planning commission.

The city has received more than 60 applications for retail dispensaries, which are expected to begin coming before the commission for approval in the next month at a rate of two or three per meeting, Zich told The Epoch Times.

Winter Greens will not be open to the public and nothing will be manufactured there, according to owner Todd Winter, a Costa Mesa attorney who helps clients navigate the cannabis industry.

Drivers are allowed to carry up to $2,000 in purchased cannabis goods and an additional $3,000 worth of additional cannabis product in their delivery vehicles.

Customers will be alerted via text message that a nearby delivery driver had goods to purchase. They could then place orders online for quick delivery.

The delivery system caused some concerns about safety among planning commissioners.

Its just a general concern that I have, Commission Chair Byron de Arakal said. Until the government allows transactions to happen other than in cash theres going to be a lot of targets out there and I worry about that.

Cannabis delivery services located in Santa Ana already serve Costa Mesa residents, and apparently without incident, Zich said, and delivery drivers are not going to be selling from their cars, but only delivering product which has been ordered via phone or website by registered customers.

Only registered customers of Winter Greens will be able to receive delivered orders.

The company will allow payment using a text-to-pay option, which will cut down on the amount of cash drivers have in their cars, Winter said.

Additionally, about 20 surveillance cameras and a security system will be installed at the warehouse site, he said.

We love Costa Mesa and we want to help make it a great place, Winter said. Were good stewards of this industry.

Costa Mesa voters approved Measure X in 2016, allowing for medical cannabis, manufacturing, packaging and other uses in the industrial park and planned development industrial zones north of South Coast Drive and west Harbor Boulevard. This area is now dubbed the Green Zone.

Two years later, California legalized the sale of recreational cannabis and the city adopted a law to allow legal cannabis uses in the zone.

In 2020, the city adopted regulations to permit cannabis dispensaries and storefront retail delivery within the city.
Fire burns along a hillside in the Village of Ruidoso, N.M., on April 13, 2022. (Alexander Meditz via AP)

New Mexico Wildfire Kills 2 People, Destroys Homes

A wildfire that has burned more than 200 homes on the edge of a mountain community in the southern part of New Mexico and killed two people was caused when a power line was toppled by strong winds, according to state authorities.

Crews worked Thursday to restore power to parts of the village. The lack of electricity also has affected the school districts servers, email system and website. Firefighters used a break in what had been a steady stream of relentless gusts to make headway against the deadly blaze.

The remains of the couple were found Wednesday afternoon near their home after family members notified Ruidoso police that the two had tried to evacuate but were unaccounted for. Authorities were working to confirm the identities of the two people.

The fire had moved into a more densely populated area of Ruidoso, prompting more evacuations, about 5,000 people. Laura Rabon, a spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest, interrupted a fire briefing Wednesday to tell people to get in their cars and leave after the flames jumped a road where crews were trying to hold the line.

Weve had students whove lost their homes. We have to support them on Tuesday when school resumes, said high school English teacher Sara Ames Brown, who was with students when they evacuated by bus, with flames visible in the forest outside as they drove away.

Overnight, crews kept the flames from pushing further into the village, and Rabon said that progress continued Thursday as helicopters dropped water and ground crews secured lines on the east and south sides. They also put out hot spots in the neighborhoods where the flames raced through earlier this week.

The fire has torched an estimated 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) of forest and grass, and the strong winds that battered the area have left behind toppled trees and down power lines.

Fire officials and forecasters warned that persistent dry and windy conditions had prompted another day of red flag warnings for the eastern third of New Mexico and other parts of the Midwest.

Incident Commander Dave Bales said the strategy was attack while we can, noting that winds were expected to pick up again Friday.

Were trying to keep this fire as small as possible, especially because its right in the community, he said. Weve had a loss of a lot of structures so our crews are right there on the firefront going as direct as possible.

Six new large fires were reported Wednesday: three in Texas, two in Colorado, and one in Oklahoma. In all, wildland firefighters and support personnel were trying to contain 11 large fires that have charred more than 40 square miles (103 square kilometers) in five states.

The National Interagency Fire Center reported Thursday that since the start of the year, 18,550 wildfires have burned about 1,250 square miles (3,237 square kilometers). Thats well above the 10-year average of 12,290 wildfires and 835 square miles (2162.64 square kilometers) burned.

Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. The problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.

Elsewhere in New Mexico, wildfires were burning northwest of Ruidoso, along the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque, in mountains northwest of the community of Las Vegas, and in grasslands along the Pecos River near the town of Roswell.

Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Davenport from Phoenix.
Court Rules New Brunswick Lieutenant-Governor Must Be Bilingual

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau violated constitutional language protections when he appointed a unilingual anglophone lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, but striking down the nomination would cause a constitutional crisis, a court ruled Thursday.

While the 2019 appointment of Brenda Murphy as lieutenant-governor of the officially bilingual province violated the rights of the provinces minority francophones, New Brunswick Court of Queens Bench Chief Justice Tracey K. DeWare wrote that it will be up to the federal government to decide what to do next.

The court cannot issue a declaration which could undermine countless lawfully enacted pieces of legislation, appointments and decrees. Such a situation would create a legislative and constitutional crisis within the province of New Brunswick, DeWare wrote, adding that she believes her ruling is sufficient to ensure appropriate and prompt action on behalf of the government to rectify the situation.

The Acadian Society of New Brunswick had challenged Murphys appointment, arguing that naming a unilingual anglophone to the role violated several constitutional language protections aimed at ensuring equality between the provinces two linguistic communities, including the right to communicate with the government in either official language.

DeWare found that the lieutenant-governor must speak both English and French in order to carry out her duties as the provinces head of state, as well as to interact with citizens.

It will be understandably difficult, if not impossible, for a unilingual anglophone lieutenant-governor to converse and interact with francophone citizens, she wrote. A unilingual lieutenant-governor will experience significant difficulties in delivering a speech from the throne with equal attention given to both official languages. Can such a situation really be deemed to represent equality of the linguistic communities pursuant to the charter? In my view, it cannot.

Lawyers for Trudeau and the Governor Generalwho names the lieutenant-governor based on the prime ministers recommendationargued that the appointment was not reviewable by the courts. They said the Constitution requires the lieutenant-governors office to be bilingual, not the person who holds it.

However, DeWare found that the extremely unique character and constitutional quality of the role requires the individual who holds it to be bilingual.

Compliance with the charter does not require any government employee, minister, judge, premier or prime minister to be bilingual, she wrote. However, these individuals can all be replaced by someone else in the execution of their functions, (and) a lieutenant-governor cannot. There is only one head of state.

New Brunswick is the only province where official bilingualism is enshrined in the federal Constitution, DeWare noted.

Alexandre Cedric Doucet, president of the Acadian Society, described the ruling as wonderful news for the French language.

Doucet said the court challenge wasnt aimed at Murphy personally, but was about ensuring that the nomination process respects the Constitution. He said he hopes Ottawa responds to the ruling by amending a bill currently before Parliament that would update the Official Language Act. Doucet said the bill should amended to include language requiring New Brunswicks lieutenant-governor to speak French.

Parliament could also adopt a Senate bill that would modify the Language Skills Actwhich establishes bilingualism requirements for certain senior public servantsto include the lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick and the Governor General, he said.

Asked whether Murphy should be replaced, Doucet said, thats a question that the federal government will have to answer, because for us the important thing here is the process.

The Prime Ministers Office directed questions about the ruling to Justice Minister David Lametti.

While we will be taking time to review this decision and consider next steps, we remain committed to protecting and promoting French everywhere in the country and advancing our linguistic duality, Chantalle Aubertin, a spokeswoman for Lametti, wrote in an email.

Murphys office declined to comment on the decision, as did the office of New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs.

By Jacob Serebrin
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) speaks during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 9, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Did Beijing Stop Pelosi From Visiting Taiwan?

How Pelosi should respond to threats from Chinese state media

Commentary

Multiple news sources reported that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Gregory W. Meeks, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, were supposed to arrive in Taiwan (Republic of China) on April 10.

Their anticipated visit was great news for the democratic island nation, the size of Maryland, with 24 million free people. Many in Taiwan might not appreciate that Pelosi is third in succession to become the president of the United States if the president and the vice president were removed from officethis visit was very important.

But something went wrongshe reportedly caught COVID-19, and her trip was delayed. Is this the true reason for the delay?

Before discussing the probable valid reason, a little background is helpful to understand the context.

Pelosis trip was preceded by several other high-profile visits of former officials. On March 1, a U.S. delegation led by former U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen visited Taiwan to show additional support by the Biden administration, which had earlier approved a $750 million purchase of U.S. weapons by Taiwan in August 2021.

Former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo visited Taiwan for four days starting on March 2 and was feted by the political leadership, including President Tsai Ing-wen and Vice President William Lai. Tsai awarded Pompeo the Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon for his solid and continued support of Taiwan.

Pelosi is not a neophyte to issues related to Taiwan. She conducted a virtual meeting with Lai on Jan. 29 to discuss security, the economy, and other mutual issues. They also discussed Chinas human rights abuses and Pelosis support for Taiwans observer status in several United Nations agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO).

The last speaker of the House of Representatives to visit Taiwan was Republican Newt Gingrich in April 1997, a year after the Third Taiwan Straits Crisis (19951996) during the Clinton administration. This crisis provides important context to understand the U.S. relationships with Taiwan and China.

Third Taiwan Strait Crisis

In 1995, then-Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui was invited to deliver a speech on Taiwans democratization experience at Cornell University, his alma mater. Initially, the Department of State (DOS) refused to give Lee a visa to visit, and he was forced to spend a night on his plane at a stopover in Hawaii.

The House of Representatives and the Senate then forced the DOS to allow Lee to visit Cornell and deliver his speech on June 9-10, 1995.

Furious that the DOS had allowed Lee into the United States, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ordered the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) to launch missiles and conduct live-fire drills in the summer and amphibious assault exercises in the fall of 1995. In response, then-President Bill Clinton ordered two carrier naval battle groups and other ships to Taiwans waters as a demonstration of force in December 1995.

Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui speaks during a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, on June 1, 2007. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

Later, the CCP attempted to prevent the reelection of Lee by having the PLA conduct a missile launch exercise, firing three nuclear-capable M-9 missiles from Hainan Island within 35 miles of the Taiwanese ports of Keelung and Kaohsiung. One missile flew over Taipei and landed 19 miles off the coast.

Some Asia watchers might recall similar actions in 1998 by the CCPs puppet state, North Korea, in which it launched nuclear-capable Taepodong-1 missiles over Japan.

The DPRK tested its new ICBM on March 24 this year, the Hwasong-17, which can reach anywhere in the continental United States.

The Propaganda and Media War

During the propaganda war, the CCP argued that Ukraine is not Taiwan and no one should make such comparisons.

Why?

Because the CCP wants the world not to have sympathy for a free and democratic Taiwan.

The CCP does not want Chinese citizens to think that Taiwan is like Ukrainethis could cause morale problems during a conflict (PLA soldiers might be less enthusiastic about killing a victim of CCP aggression, as the Russian soldiers have toward Ukrainians).

The last thing the CCP wants is internal demonstrations against the regime during an invasion of Taiwan.

CCP Media and Psychological Warfare

As Pelosi planned to arrive, the CCP propaganda and military machine went into high gear. Beijing declared warnings with phrases like immediate cancellation and China will need to respond with unprecedented stern measures.

From the U.S. public perspective, such warnings are reminiscent of the childhood proverb, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

With the world community energized about Ukraine, the United States could easily turn the media and psychological warfare against the CCP by using the worlds sympathy for Ukraine toward Taiwan.

But the United States did not.

Why?

Chinese State Media Threatened an Air Blockade

Little noticed in the Western press was the Chinese language version of an April 7 article written by Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of state-run tabloid Global Times.

He wrote that Pelosis planned trip will be an extremely serious incident, and it will be the most serious provocation by Washington to China on the Taiwan issue since then-Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui visited the United States [in 1995].

Hu provided two stern options for the CCP to counter Pelosis visit.

First, establish an air blockade (a no-fly zone) over Taiwan on the day that Pelosi arrives.

Second, if Pelosis aircraft does land on Taiwan, he recommended to fly PLA military aircraft over the islands airspace. If the Taiwan military opens fire on our fighter jets, the PLA should shoot down the aircraft, or carry out destructive strikes on the Taiwan military base where the missiles were launched, Hu wrote.

Hardly anyone noticed his recommended threat to expand ramifications if Pelosis visit occurs: China could take other retaliatory measures, including arms sales to Russia and a massive increase in Russian oil and gas purchases. China must resolutely retaliate against the actions of the U.S. and let them know that China is not to be messed with.

Perhaps someone in the Department of State got the message from Hu and quickly passed it up to the White House. (This author recently discussed a PLA air and sea blockade of Taiwan.)

Recommended Initial Pelosi Reaction

In response to the CCP military threat to her visit, Pelosi should promise her support for a large U.S. military aid package to Taiwanat least the value of the aid the United States provided Ukraine thus far ($1.7 billion) or ideally the amount the United States provides Israel ($3.8 billion per year from 2019 to 2028) to maintain its qualitative military edge (QME).

In fact, the U.S. Senate has two bills pending that support the idea of providing military aid to improve Taiwans QME: the Taiwan Deterrence Act (TDA) and the Arm Taiwan Act of 2021 (ATA). TDA seeks approval for $2 billion a year from the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program for Taiwan from 2023 to 2032 or $20 billion over a 10-year period. ATA requests approval to spend $3 billion a year from 2023 to 2027 or $15 billion for five years. Congress and the president should quickly approve one of the two aid packages.

A total of 46 House and 38 Senate bills concerning Taiwan are pending. Recently, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) submitted a bill (S.4035) that, if passed, would fast-track weapons to Taiwan by expediting congressional approval and eliminating administrative roadblocks. All bills should be fast-tracked for approval.

What Weapons to Provide Taiwan to Deter the CCP?

U.S. long-range air defense systems Patriot (R) and British radar Giraffe AMB are displayed during Toburq Legacy 2017 air defense exercise in the military airfield near Siauliai, Lithuania, on July 20, 2017. (Ints Kalnins/Reuters)

Russias invasion of Ukraine suggests that defensive weapon systems for Taiwan should include the following weapon systems along with training and maintenance support: anti-air (Stinger, PATRIOT), anti-armor (Javelin), anti-ship (Harpoon), and anti-missile (THAAD, AEGIS, more PATRIOT, and, perhaps, even one of the two U.S. purchased Iron Dome batteries).

In addition to U.S. weapon systems, other members of the anti-Russian coalition could provide Taiwan with their equivalent anti-air, anti-armor, anti-ship, and anti-missile systems.

Is the US Going All In to Support Taiwan?

In summary, Pelosis trip to Taiwan could have been a great benefit to show support for this vibrant democratic nation.

As a result of Chinese state media threats to her visit and her cancellation, one hopes that Pelosi, Congress, the Biden administration, and the American people will exceed expectations by helping Taiwan deter the CCP from invading this example of a Chinese-speaking fully democratic country, and gift Taiwan at least $2.5 billion.

One also hopes Pelosis cancelled visit doesnt repeat the worlds complacency when the CCP crushed democratic Hong Kong.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Dont Fall for the Myth of Moderate Merrick Garland

Commentary

For years, we were subjected to hysteria over the idea that Donald Trump would politicize the very Justice Department that arguably led the bureaucracys war against him. Now, open criticism of the DOJ by the party genuinely in control of it has been deemed acceptable.

Leading Democrats are apparently fed up with an attorney general, in Merrick Garland, too feckless to satisfy their Jan. 6 bloodlust. But does their hypocritical bluster presage an epic internecine clash, or are we witnessing a charade, and if so, to what end?

Do your job, thunders Democrat Elaine Luria of Virginia, a member of the Houses Jan. 6 Select Committee. Luria, echoing several of her colleagues, is upset that Garlands DOJ isnt responding quickly enough to the committees criminal contempt referrals, which aim to punish Trump-world figures who refuse to participate in the political show trial.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that President Joe Biden has never communicated his frustrations directly to Mr. Garlandapparently preferring to do so in the most conspicuous way possible via a New York Times leakthe Grey Lady tells us that Biden has said privately that he wanted Mr. Garland to act less like a ponderous judge and more like a prosecutor who is willing to take decisive action over the events of Jan. 6.

And the president apparently believes that, like the Select Committee, his political opponents must pay:

Mr. Biden  is aghast that people close to Mr. Trump have defied congressional subpoenas and has told people close to him that he does not understand how they think they can do so, according to two people familiar with his thinking. 

In October, he told reporters that he thought those who defied subpoenas from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack should be prosecuted.

I hope that the committee goes after them and holds them accountable criminally, Mr. Biden said. When asked whether the Justice Department should prosecute them, he replied, I do, yes.'

On its face, such seeming ingratitude would have to pain the attorney general, given his devotion to pursuing Jan. 6 like the republic-imperiling terrorist attack fellow Democrats claim it to be.

Garland ironically finds himself under public assault just as his Justice Department is expanding its Jan. 6 probe to encompass people and events that are removed from the breach of the Capitol itselfas the Select Committee has doneand while the DOJ is seeking to add dozens of new prosecutors for its effort at the cost of tens of millions of dollars.

This builds on the DOJs unprecedented investigative and prosecutorial effort in size, scope, and intensity to match the narrative of insurrection, regardless of how unmoored from reality it may be. This was recently laid bare when a federal judge for the first time acquitted a Jan. 6 defendant on all trumped-up trespassing chargesthe kind the Justice Department has leveled at a substantial number of similarly situated defendantsthe accused testifying to having been waved into the Capitol by cops before spending roughly 10 minutes in the building.

Garlands Justice Department is also responsible for handing down sedition charges this past January, amid pressure from progressive partisans, knowing full well how grave the charges are, and how rarely such cases are successfully prosecuted.

Meanwhile, many nonviolent Jan. 6 defendants without prior criminal backgrounds languish in horrible pretrial detention conditions as federal prosecutors have advocated for on often ideological grounds, giving the accused a legitimate claim to the idea that theyre political prisoners.

Yet the NY Timespresumably on behalf of the Democratic Partytries to draw a contrast between fiery Joe Biden and milquetoast Merrick Garland.

It paints Garland as moderatehis peers describing him as a political centrist and patienthis critics describing him as slow and overly deliberative, and friends as someone who carefully consider[s] legal issues. It also lavishes on Garland descriptions such as quiet and reserved, and evenhanded and independent.

It quotes Garland as stating that the best way to undermine an investigation is to say things out of court.

Even in private, he relies on a stock phrase: Rule of law, he says, means there not be one rule for friends and another for foes, it writes.

Whats behind this purported disconnect between Democrats and Garland that the paper of record is playing up?

There are two possibilities: One is that the NY Times is presenting things as they truly are, with a president and his party out for blood, and a moderate attorney general trying to ensure that the center holds.

Under this scenario, that the White House is leaking out its criticisms, in tandem with the Jan. 6 Committee, would suggest it believes in pressuring the supposedly apolitical, independent, and unimpeachable non-Biden Justice Departmentnorms and institutional integrity be damned.

And to be fair, Garland himself has on several occasions alluded to the fact he listens to whats going on in the public, and acts.

He told NPR after reading one of its stories that his office started investigating and would be changing its policy regarding compassionate release.

And he indirectly acknowledged how attuned he was to public discoursenamely from the leftwhen he said the following on the eve of Jan. 6, 2022:

Because January 6th was an unprecedented attack on the seat of our democracy, we understand that there is broad public interest in our investigation. We understand that there are questions about how long the investigation will take, and about what exactly we are doing.

Our answer is, and will continue to be, the same answer we would give with respect to any ongoing investigation: as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be doneconsistent with the facts and the law.

A week later, his DOJ issued its first and, to date, only set of sedition charges.

But does Garland really have to feel the heat publicly to get in line with the administration and the progressive Democratic Party it represents?

AG Garland may appear meek and soft-spoken, and his record as a judge might not please Ketanji Brown Jackson, but temperament and action are two different things.

Bidens DOJ, as led by Garland, has arguably been as radical as any this side of Eric Holder. Consider that beyond the Jan. 6 effort, it has:

Opened a new domestic terror unit, despite having never justified or substantiated claims of the threat it purports to pursuewhile contemporaneously killing its imperative China Initiative, under pressure from progressive activists who called it racist;

Drafted a memo, working hand-in-glove with the White House and the National School Board Association, to pursue as terrorists parents who dared challenge the public school establishment over draconian and detrimental COVID-19 policies and critical race theory in schools;

Issued a letter threatening to target states that dare to restrict gender-affirming care for transgender youththat is, states that wish to limit the ability of kids to get sex-change operations, use hormone blockers, and subject themselves to other medical interventions, as radical progressive ideologues encourage;

Threatened statesred states, of coursethat would dare undertake election audits;

Done little if anything to restore law and order on Americas increasingly violent and chaotic city streets; and

Effectively punished Project Veritas over its effort to obtain Ashley Bidens diarysomething done by all accounts lawfullyand without ever revealing the contents.

Why would the Democrats long knives be out for such an attorney general?

Maybe theyre not. Perhaps the Biden administration and congressional Democrats would like you to believe that they believe Garland is too plodding, too even-handed, and too moderate because it serves their ends.

By attacking Garland as they are, Democrats may be shifting the Overton Window. If they demand the most radical of approaches with respect to Jan. 6, anything the Justice Department does short of them will appear moderate. That is, by attacking Garland, the Democrats legitimize efforts that would otherwise be considered well beyond the paleall while satisfying their animated progressive base.

They can spin future DOJ efforts positively, no matter the outcome. If the DOJ lands one millimeter to the right of the Democrats demanded positions, Democrats can claim that See, Joe Biden keeps his hands off his Justice Department. And still, look at how strongly even the unimpeachable and moderate Garland-led DOJ was forced to act in pursuit of the rule of law.

Color me unconvinced that criticism of Garland is rooted in genuine philosophical or tactical differences aimed at pressuring the supposed centrist into action.

What transpires in the case of Hunter Biden may well give us a clue as to whether we are witnessing reality, or a ruse.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas on Feb. 10, 2022. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Elon Musk Says He Has a Plan B If Twitter Takeover Bid Unsuccessful

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hinted at a backup plan if his bid to take over Twitter fails.

Speaking at a TED event in Vancouver on Thursday, the billionaire entrepreneur said: I am not sure that I will actually be able to acquire it.

While Musk has said his $54.20-per-share offer is his best and final one, he noted that he has a Plan B if his offer is rejected by the companys board of directors, however, he declined to provide further details regarding that plan.

Musk, who is Twitters largest shareholder, has made an offer to buy 100 percent of the company for around $43 billion, according to a regulatory filing, in which he said that the social media platform needs to be transformed as a private company.

My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder, Musk said in the filing.

His offer, which is 18 percent higher than the last closing price, is under consideration, the companys board said on Thursday.

However, the move puts the companys board in an uncomfortable position, and should they choose to accept the offer, it would effectively give Musk control of how Twitter is run.

Businessman Musk has previously questioned Twitters commitment to free speech, telling his followers that free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.

The social media platform has repeatedly been accused of censoring some minority and politically conservative viewpoints, claims that it denies.

However, in one such case, former President Donald Trump had his account permanently removed from the social networking site in January 2021, with the tech giant citing his alleged violation of the companys Glorification of Violence policy.

Since Musk acquired a 9.2 percent passive stake in the company, conservatives have been calling on the businessman to restore Trumps account.

During his appearance at Thursdays TED event, the South African native said that Twitter is the de facto town square, and stressed the importance of there being an inclusive arena for free speech.

One of the things that I believe Twitter should do is open source the algorithm and make any changes to peoples tweets, or if they emphasized or de-emphasized, that action should be made apparent so anyone can see that an action has been taken so theres no sort of behind-the-scenes manipulation, either algorithmically or manually, he explained.

Musk said that under his watch, Twitter would be cautious when it comes to issuing users with permanent bans and would prefer to adopt time outs for such users instead as they function much better.

However, he admitted that not everything would be perfect.

A good sign as to whether there is free speech: is someone you dont like allowed to say something you dont like? If that is the case, then we have free speech, he added. That is a sign of a healthy, functioning free speech situation.

Musk also said that he has sufficient assets to follow through on his bid for Twitter should it be approved.

The Twitter Board of Directors on Thursday said it will carefully review Musks proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders.

Ali Mogharabi, a senior equity analyst at Morningstar, wrote in a note: We believe the probability of Twitter accepting it is likely below 50 percent but warned that the board may also be pondering whether it should discuss leadership changes, such as replacing CEO Parag Agrawal, with Musk as that may lessen the likelihood of Musk selling his shares if the bid is rejected.

Twitter shares were down 1.68 percent on Thursday at $45.08.
Elon Musk gestures as he speaks during a press conference at SpaceX's Starbase facility near Boca Chica Village in South Texas, on Feb. 10, 2022. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Elon Musk Says Censorship on Twitter Poses Civilizational Risk

Billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk said Thursday the reason hes trying to buy Twitter is not to make money but to turn it into a bastion of free speech and reduce the civilizational risk to freedom and democracy from excessive and opaque restrictions on expression.

Speaking at a TED event in Vancouver, Canada, on April 14, Musk said that Twitter had become kind of the de facto town square, a space where important conversations should be able to take place with as few constraints as reasonably possible.

Its just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law, Musk said.

CEO of Tesla Motors Elon Musk speaks at the Tesla Giga Texas manufacturing Cyber Rodeo grand opening party in Austin, Texas, on April 7, 2022. (Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images)

Maximally Trusted and Broadly Inclusive

Getting the balance right between freedom of expression and protection from harmful speech is a matter of existential importance, Musk told the audience on Thursday, the same day he made headlines by offering to buy Twitter for over $40 billion in cash.

Twitter told The Epoch Times it was reviewing Musks offer and would take decisions that it believes are in the best interest of the company and stockholders.

Reports later emerged that the company was looking to block Musks takeover attempt, perhaps by diluting existing stock in a move known as a poison pill tactic that would make it more financially challenging for an acquirer, though the company declined to comment.

Musk told the audience in Vancouver that his aim in seeking to buy Twitter was to transform it into an inclusive arena for free speech, taking it private and making it open-source for maximum transparency.

In my view, Twitter should match the laws of the country, Musk said, acknowledging reasonable legal caps on free speech like direct incitement to violence or the equivalent of crying fire in a movie theater, for example.

But going beyond that and having it be unclear whos making what changes to where, having tweets mysteriously be promoted and demoted with no insight into whats going on, having a black box algorithm promote some things and not other things, I think this can be quite dangerous, he said.

My strong, intuitive sense is that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization, Musk added.

The Twitter logo is displayed on a banner outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, on Nov. 7, 2013. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

Decreasing Civilizational Risk

Describing his vision for Twitter as a bastion of free speech as important for democracy and for the function of the United States as a free country, Musk argued that the more that public trust in Twitter as a public platform is increased, civilizational risk is decreased.

One of the things Musk said Twitter should do is open up its algorithm to public scrutiny, akin to how open-source software is shared on platforms like GitHub.

If peoples tweets are emphasized or de-emphasized, that action should be made apparent so anyone can see that actions been taken so theres no behind-the-scenes manipulation, either algorithmically or manually, Musk said.

Asked about the limitations of algorithms to accurately tell the difference between merely obnoxious tweets and ones that break the law, and about the need for human moderators to get involved in making the difficult calls, Musk acknowledged he doesnt have all the answers.

Elon Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, on March 22, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/Pool via REUTERS)

Let the Tweet Exist

In the interest of promoting maximally unfettered discussions in a forum that serves as a town square, Musk said its better to err on the side of free speech.

If its a gray area, I would say let the tweet exist, he said, adding that in case of especially controversial tweets, then the algorithms should be set so as not to necessarily promote that tweet.

He also said Twitter should be less eager to permanently ban problematic users from the platform, suggesting temporary timeouts instead.

Musk insisted that the Twitter algorithm should be open source and that any manual adjustments should be transparent and identified so that people could monitor whether something was done to promote, demote, or otherwise affect a tweet.

It wont be perfect, but I think we want it to really have the perception and reality that speech is as free as reasonably possible, Musk said.

A good sign as to whether there is free speech is if someone you dont like is allowed to say something you dont like. And if that is the case, then we have free speech.

Musk has in the past questioned Twitters commitment to free speech. Last month, he polled his 80 million Twitter followers, asking if the platform adhered to free speech values. He received 2 million votes, with more than 70 percent of those who responded voting no.

Twitter has repeatedly denied claims of censoring some minority and politically conservative viewpoints.
This weeks selection of books includes a history of world power based on grain production and a childrens tale that speaks to the heart.

Fiction



Librarians Legacy Lives On

The Book Womans Daughter

By Kim Michele Richardson

Young and on her own, Honey Mary-Angeline Lovett is forced to earn her independence. She picks up where her mother left off, following the path of a Pack Horse Librarian. Traversing the hills and hollers, she makes friends and learns about the power of books.

Sourcebooks Landmark, 2022, 352 pages

Back to the Past

About Time: 12 Short Stories

By Jack Finney

Best known for his novel on time travel, Time and Again, Finney returned to this theme in this collection of 12 stories, About Time. In Where the Cluetts Are, for example, Ellie and Sam build a house from 19th-century plans that carry them happily into the past. In The Third Level, a hidden part of Grand Central Station whisks visitors back to 1894. In Home Alone, we learn why Charley absolutely must go up in his homemade balloon. Looking for history, charm, and amusement? Read Jack Finney.

Atria, 1998, 224 pages

History



Feathers Worth More Than Diamonds

Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce

By Sarah Abrevaya Stein

Imagine selling a luxury good more valuable by weight than diamonds and that historically held its value better than precious stones. It sounds idealuntil demand for your product suddenly evaporates and never comes back, and the job becomes a euphemism for a con man. The commodity was ostrich feathers. The rise and fall and rise and fall of this global industry is the subject of this book. Written with solid scholarship, Plumes is a fascinating book aimed at the general reader.

Yale University Press, 2010, 256 pages

Wheat in the World Economy

Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World

By Scott Reynolds Nelson

Do empires build trade routes or do trade routes build empires? Have the United States and Russia been locked in an economic rivalry since the 1860s? Was World War I triggered by international grain trade and Russias desire to control Constantinople? Nelsons fascinating book examines these questions and more. Its a study of grain, its trade routes, and grain tradings impact on world power from prehistory to the present.

Basic Books, 2022, 368 pages

Devastating Peace After World War I

Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World

By Margaret MacMillan

Are you interested in a thorough analysis of what led to the Treaty of Versailles, how the world was broken up into what we know now, and how the peace agreement ultimately led to World War II? Then Paris 1919 is a must-read. It covers all the countries involved and how the Big Three led the world on a collision course to war.

Random House, 2003, 624 pages

Classic

The Lord of La Mancha

Don Quixote

By Miguel de Cervantes

This great Spanish literary work features an aged knight errant and a satire on chivalry. In our own age, because of the 1965 musical Man of La Mancha, it became a tale to dream the impossible dream. Often deemed the first modern novel, Don Quixote gave us expressions such as quixotic, meaning to take on impracticable quests, and tilting at windmills, because at one point the knight believes windmills are giants that he must attack. We read this book today both for amusement and perhaps to discover lost chivalric ideals.

Dover Publications, 2018, 992 pages

For Kids



Imagine Awaking With Antlers

Imogenes Antlers

By David Small

Originally published in 1985, Imogenes Antlers is a comical tale of a girl who awakens with an outrageous dilemmashes grown antlers! The books dry humor makes for an enjoyable read for children and the adults reading to them.

Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2020, 32 pages

Reflections on Human Nature

The Little Prince

By Antoine de Saint-Exupery

A downed pilot meets the Little Prince, who tells of his travels in outer space and shares his wisdom with the pilot, including this gem: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2000, 96 pages
This week, we look at an inspiring dramedy about a man fighting cancer, as well as a classic about a man who regains his noble purpose in life.

New Release

The Tale of King Crab

In a rural 19th-century Italian village, a drunkard named Luciano (Gabriele Silli) falls afoul of the regions local prince. The two quarrel over who has the right to pass through an ancient gateway, which results in Luciano being exiled. However, this leads to an epic journey of redemption.

This is beautiful cinematic storytellingtruly aural and visual poetry in motion that transmutes a seemingly simple story into a work that rouses the emotions of the beholder. Its a brave, multi-genre experience that will stay with you.

Adventure | Drama

Release Date: April 15, 2022

Director: Alessio Rigo de Righi, Matteo Zoppis

Starring: Gabriele Silli, Maria Alexandra Lungu, Ercole Colnago

Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Where to Watch: Theaters

Rated: 4.5 stars out of 5

Indie Pick

50/50

Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a radio show writer who learns that he has a rare form of spinal cancer and has a 50-50 chance of living. But together with his network of friends and family, he faces the disease head-on.

I never thought that the words comedy and cancer would be a good pairinglet alone make for an enjoyable film. But the tender handling of the disease, coupled with outstanding dramatic and comedic performances, elevates this dramedy to a higher cinematic level. The film also has the message of never giving up hope.

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Release Date: Sept 30, 2011

Director: Jonathan Levine

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick

Running Time: 1 hour, 40 minutes

MPAA Rating: R

Where to Watch: Vudu, Redbox, Peacock

Rated: 3.5 stars out of 5

Thrilling Drama With Twists and Turns

After the Wedding

Jacob Pederson (Mads Mikkelsen) manages an orphanage in India and adopts a local boy one day. When the orphanage begins to run out of funding, a wealthy Danish man steps in to help. But, theres a catchJacob must travel to Denmark to meet him, and all isnt what it seems.

This drama has some very realistic acting and an intricate plotline that will keep viewers guessing. It drives home the point that if something seems too good to be true, it often is. But life can also hold some good surprises.

Drama

Release Date: March 30, 2007

Director: Susanne Bier

Starring: Mads Mikkelsen, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Rolf Lassgard

Running Time: 2 hours

MPAA Rating: R

Where to Watch: AMC, Amazon Prime, DirecTV

Rated: 3 stars out of 5

A Classic Among Classics

Casablanca

During World War II, expatriate Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart) operates a popular cafe in Vichy-controlled Morocco, but refuses to help refugees escape the countryuntil a couple enters his life.

A masterpiece of filmmaking, with incredible directing, outstanding cinematography, and bravura performances by its stellar cast. A must-see for film buffs and casual viewers alike.

Drama | Romance | War

Release Date: Jan. 23, 1943

Directors: Michael Curtiz

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Paul Henreid

Running Time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG

Where to Watch: Redbox, DirecTV, HBO Max

Rated: 5 stars out of 5
Despite the fact that most Americans are over COVID-19, have gotten back to their regular lives, and just wish to move on, it looks like government officials have some other ideas. Just one week ago, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the vaccine mandate on federal employees.

The Department of Defense is currently engaged in its first court martial of an Air Force officer who refused the shot due to his religious conviction.

Over a thousand colleges and universities across the country are mandating that their students be fully vaccinated. Some are requiring three shotsand very soon, they might be requiring four shots. The FDA recently approved the fourth shot, and told us to expect a fifth shot in the fall.

The federal mask mandate was just extended by another two weeks. Philadelphia reintroduced their indoor mask mandate.

And all the while, Dr. Anthony Fauci had an interview on the BBC, wherein he stated that we might go back to national lockdowns in the near futurealthough he made a special point of mentioning that he doesnt want to use the word lockdown.

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The Department of Justice logo is pictured on a wall after a news conference to discuss alleged fraud by Russian Diplomats in New York on Dec. 5, 2013. (Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

Florida Woman Convicted in Million Dollar Health Care Fraud for Phony Drug Treatment Centers: DOJ

The owner of a Florida addiction treatment facility has been found guilty of running an insurance scheme that charged private health insurers more than $58 million for services that were never provided and, in some cases, were not even medically necessary, the Department of Justice announced on April 13.

Carie Lyn Beetle, 44, a resident of Lake City, and a group of co-conspirators ran the illegal insurance scheme at two separate facilities that were operated by Beetle: Real Life Recovery Delray LLC (RLR), a substance abuse treatment center, and A Safe Place LLC, which did business under the name Halfway There Florida LLC (HWT) and operated as a sober home, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said that Beetle and her co-conspirators recruited patients by offering free or discounted rent and payment for travel to Florida to stay in and attend drug treatments at the sober homes she ran, including submitting to regular and random drug testing up to three times a week.

She and her co-conspirators would then submit insurance claims for the substance abuse treatment and urine testing services that the patients were supposedly receiving.

However, prosecutors said that in most cases the patients were not attending the billed treatment sessions and Beetle and those involved in the scheme would instead forge patients signatures on sign-in sheets to make it appear as though they had.

Prosecutors further alleged that Beetle and her co-conspirators billed expensive medically unnecessary urine testing that was excessive and not used in the treatment or reviewed by medical professionals.

Employees at the centers testified that they would forge patient signatures on a regular basis to make it seem as though they had attended counseling sessions that they, in fact, had not, MarketWatch reported.

Additionally, further evidence showed that Beetle knowingly laundered the proceeds of the fraudulent insurance claims when she deposited a check from RLR, officials said.

Beetlewho is herself a former drug addict and founded the substance abuse centers with her partner, Eric Snyder, according to MarketWatchwas convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

She is scheduled to be sentenced later in 2022 and is facing up to 20 years in prison on the conspiracy count and up to 10 years behind bars on the money laundering count.

Snyder pleaded guilty in 2020 and was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison but has not yet begun serving his sentence after agreeing to testify against Beetle, MarketWatch reported, citing court documents.

The Epoch Times has contacted attorneys for Beetle and Snyder for comment.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) listens during a U.S. Senate hearing of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in Washington on Sept. 23, 2020. (Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

GOP Lawmakers Praise Musk Offer to Take Over Twitter

Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill praised tech billionaire Elon Musk after he made a bid on April 14 to purchase social media giant Twitter at $43 billion, a major premium per share over the companys current trading price.

Musk, who owns electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc. and commercial space venture SpaceX, grounded his reasons for buying the company on Twitters having become kind of the de facto town square, a space where important conversations should be able to take place with as few constraints as reasonably possible.

Its just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law, Musk said at a TED event in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 14.

In my view, Twitter should match the laws of the country, Musk said, acknowledging reasonable legal caps on free speech like direct incitement to violence or the equivalent of crying fire in a movie theater, for example.

But going beyond that and having it be unclear whos making what changes to where, having tweets mysteriously be promoted and demoted with no insight into whats going on, having a black box algorithm promote some things and not other things, I think this can be quite dangerous, he said.

Still, many in the Republican Party have been quick to praise the move, capping off years of GOP discontent with the management of social media companies that have been accused of substantial bias against conservative thinkers and positions.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who has been a leader in trying to strip social media companies of the protections provided by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Actwhich protects a platform from liability for content posted to its websiteagreed with Musks contention that Twitter had effectively become the de facto town square.

This is the public square today, these socialthese big tech platforms, Jordan told Fox Business. This is where we have debate in our culture and in our country today. So, lets have someone in charge who actually respects the First Amendment and free speech.

@ElonMusk is showing us that free speech IS worth fighting for! Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said on Twitter.

I hope Twitters board sees the light. If they reject his offer, the companys stock will likely never recover, she added.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who has been an outspoken critic of Twitter and other social media giantsand who had her personal account removed from Twitter earlier in 2022praised the move in a statement on her official lawmaker account.

On April 10, before the announcement of Musks bid to buy out the company, Greene blasted Twitter in a tweet.

Twitter is stupid, Greene wrote. The biggest killer of freedom of speech. No wonder hardly anyone raises their hand at my town halls when I ask how many people have a Twitter account. People who think this platform is important need to get a life. What a waste.

Following the bid, Greene blasted a tweet by Washington Post columnist Max Boot.

Boot wrote, I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter. He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.

Kill freedom of speech to save democracy? Greene replied. Say youre a communist. Just say it. Youre actually scared of people freely discussing ideas and saying words. Youre terrified of the impact on politics when truth isnt censored. Im offended by your weakness.

Former Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who lost his House seat after he decided to leave the GOP for the Libertarian Party, also praised the move, which he said may be the best thing to happen to social media in years.

The algorithm promotes audience capture and drives people toward extremes, he explained. Its biased in favor of furthering biases. Taking the company private curtails incentives that impair free discourse.

On Friday, Twitters board of directors responded to the proposed takeover with a so-called poison pill, which is used in the financial world to prevent or discourage attempts by an outside entity to take over a company. It remains unclear how Muskand the Twitter shareholders who stood to gain from the salewill respond to the move.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
A man holds his child as families, who fled Ukraine due to the Russian invasion, wait to enter a refugee camp in the Moldovan capital Chisinau, on March 3, 2022. (Nikolay Doychinov/AFP via Getty Images)

History Repeating Itself in Ukraine

Commentary

An often-quoted statement about the enduring importance of history comes from the celebrated Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana. He said that Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In this context, it is always sad to hear that the study of history is neglected in our schools.

There is a great deal of evidence, much of it anecdotal, that Australians are ignorant of historical developments that have shaped the world in which they live. In the absence of historical curiosity, people do not know, nor do they understand, their own history and the roots of Western civilisation on which their destiny is built.

In such a case, it is no wonder that people are amenable to implementing plausible but vacuous strategies and policies to solve societys ills.

Although Santayanas dictum is one of academias most cited and paraphrased statements that explains perfectly why responsible citizens should study history, it is not the only attentive comment on the role of history.

For example, Nord Anglia Education has emphasised the importance of studying history, providing compelling reasons why the study of history is crucial to understanding world events. It states that: Through history, we can learn how past societies, systems, ideologies, governments, cultures, and technologies were built, how they operated, and how they have changed. The rich history of the world helps us to paint a detailed picture of where we stand today.

There is no doubt that the historical past is replete with warning signs, which help to explain or even predict current world events. For example, the history of Nazi Germany might inform political leaders of the dangers associated with a countrys expansionist tendencies and the accompanying horrors. Specifically, a consideration of the expansionist ambitions of Nazi Germany facilitates an understanding of the present Ukraine crisis, which is also driven, at least in part, by a desire to expand the sphere of Russian influence.

The enduring relevance of history could also be seen in the expansionist tendencies of the European Union (EU). In this context, it is instructive to refer to the ill-considered promises the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, made during her recent visit to Kyiv, where she met the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During her visit, she intimated that Russia faces decay because of the stringent sanctions, whereas Ukraine has a bright European future. Specifically, she said that Russia will descend in economic, financial and technological decay while Ukraine is marching towards a European future.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R) welcomes Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as they attend the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 15, 2021. (Stephanie Lecocq/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

During her visit, von der Leyen also pledged that the EU would offer Ukraine a speedier start to becoming a full member of the Union. She handed Zelenskyy a questionnaire, completion of which will start the process of applying for membership. She said: It will not, as usual, be a matter of years to form an opinion on EU membership, but I think a matter of weeks.

For several reasons, this pledge is an irresponsible foray into international relations. First, it is precisely Ukraines rapprochement to the West to become a member of the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), that precipitated the deadly conflict with Russia. Thus, von der Leyen, in flagging the incorporation of Ukraine into Western alliances, may well have advocated an expansionist policy, which is seen as a threat to the sphere of Russian influence.

Second, the pledge is cruelly misleading because it is unfeasible to accelerate the process of a countrys membership application. There are many hurdles to overcome, and in any event, the 27 members of the EU will need to approve Ukraines application in accordance with their own constitutional provisions.

Third, the pledge proves that EU bureaucrats have learned little from history. Historically, empires grow until they are bloated and eventually collapse, especially if their ambitions clash with rival empires. This is the lesson learnt from the empire built by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC, and the Western Roman Empirealready weakened in the third century by pandemic diseasesthat collapsed in 476 AD. This was followed by the collapse of the Byzantine Empire when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire on May 29, 1453. The Ottoman Empire itself lasted until the end of the First World War.

A statue of Alexander the Great in Skopje, North Macedonia. (Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock)

The European Union is a modern-day example of an empire that, because of its centralising tendencies, bureaucratic zeal, and expansionist tendencies, will inevitably nurture internal instability and experience external threats, thereby destabilising its existence. If so, the decay that von der Leyen talks about would not be limited to Russia but could, at least potentially, affect the EU itself.

History also tells us that conquests often provoke mass migration. In the case of Ukraine, the stream of refugees fleeing persecution, war, bombs, occupation, and deprivation, is reminiscent of the fact that, throughout history, people have left their own country to build a better life free from discrimination, persecution, and destitution.

But history is also replete with stories about refugees who were often cruelly disappointed when they arrived at their intended destinations, which sometimes failed to offer an appropriate level of comfort or protection. As such, the present stream of refugees from Ukraine is a powerful reminder that George Santayanas admonition that history repeats itself is true.

Humanity thus needs to learn from the mistakes made in the past. It needs to resist and question unhealthy developments if similar patterns, like those experienced in the past, are emerging.

Santayanas timeless dictum encourages people to study history to understand the world around them. It should also stimulate schools into taking the teaching of history seriously.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Australian researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are attempting to industrialize the fermentation of cocoa beans to make the production of chocolate more controllable and less expensive.

Chocolate has become a staple in the pantries of most households in which it is consumed quite regularly, particularly around, the upcoming holiday, Easter.

Despite chocolates high demand, the relatively inefficient cocoa bean fermentation process that gives the sweet its distinct taste has not developed much over thousands of years.

UNSW food microbiologist, Associate Professor Jian Zhao from the universitys School of Chemical Engineering said in a UNSW news release that the fermentation process has not developed because people love the taste.

Food technologists can experiment with different flavours and styles of chocolate but when it comes down to the very core of how its produced, we are still doing chocolate the good old-fashioned way because people love the way it tastesso why reinvent the wheel?

Zhao is attempting to address this lack of development without changing chocolates flavour by looking at the fermentation process from a microbiologists perspective.

Were trying to understand what microbes are important to achieve that chocolate flavour we all know and love so we can develop microbes into static cultures, Zhao said.

Cocoa pods often grow from the trunk of the cocoa tree. Cocoa beans are packed inside the elongated oval-shaped pods and are removed, dried and fermented before processing into chocolate. Photo credit: Madecasse Chocolate Co.

Zhao said that the goal of establishing the microbes that create chocolates flavour into static culturessimilar in concept to the petri dishis to make the cocoa bean fermentation process industrial and thus more controlled.

In an email to The Epoch Times, he said that there are a lot of issues with the currently used fermentation process because it is not very controlled.

The current cocoa bean fermentation process is largely a natural and spontaneous one with relatively little control of the process and the environment. The process is not very hygienic and labour intensive, Zhao said.

The safety is not well controlled where pathogenic bacteria and toxigenic fungi may contaminate the beans. The bean quality is not very consistent from batch to batch and the process is inefficient.

He said that by industrializing the cocoa bean fermentation process the safety and efficiency of the operation will improve, which will most likely produce a more consistent quality of chocolate and a decrease in its price.

It will also help the cocoa growing countries, most of which are developing countries, to develop and grow their cocoa industry, Zhao said.

Chocolate is made from cacao beans, the seeds of the cacao tree. (Narong Khueankaew/Shutterstock)

Zhao said in the news release that the fermentation process of cocoa beans is one that has been maintained since ancient times.

Cocoa trees originated from the Amazon region in Central and South America. Thousands of years ago, the native Indian and Aztec peoples used to make a drink from the beans rather than eat it like we do now. Zhao said.

Now we have plantations across Indonesia, Nigeria, Ghana, and even small ones in Northern Queensland here in Australia, but most cocoa beans are still sourced from the Ivory Coast.

A cocoa tree is capable of bearing about 1000 beans annually, which after fermentation is usually enough to make 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of chocolate.

The cocoa beans are harvested when they become ripe, this requires a high level of manual labor as the plantation workers have to cut the pods by hand, using machetes.

After harvesting, the beans are left to ferment, a process where the beans are placed in a pile on the ground by hand and covered with large banana leaves Zhao said.

They still do things the traditional way so there is little control in things like hygiene.

He said that, depending on the climate, the fermentation process takes around five to eight days.

During this process, the flesh of the cocoa beans decomposes and lots of flavouring compounds are produced. This part of the process has a huge impact on the taste of the final product.

Zhao said that once the fermentation process has concluded the beans are left out in the sun to dry for several days. After the beans have dried they are packed up and transported globally to chocolate manufacturers.

Employees of chocolate and cocoa product maker Barry Callebaut prepare chocolates after the companys annual news conference in Zurich, Switzerland, on Nov. 7, 2018. (Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters)

Chocolate manufacturers roast the dried and fermented cocoa beans to further develop the beans flavour and enhance their colour. The manufacturers then make chocolate liquor, using pieces of crushed cocoa beans that they extract from inside the roasted bean and grind to a powder.

This is where chocolate makers get creative and what really sets them apart from each other, said Zhao.

Manufacturers may then add sugar, milk or additional cocoa powder, depending on their companys recipe.

One chocolate maker might do everything manually and another might have different ratios of milk and sugar they add to it.

While most of the production process is usually done in large industrial warehouses, there are some smaller makers that still do this manually  its a culinary form of art, he said.

Zhao said that although two manufacturers might source their fermented and dried beans from the same plantation, their final blocks of chocolate will not necessarily taste the same.

Its like wine. A bottle of red wine produced by different winemakers but from the same grapes will still taste differenteven if theyre both the same type of wine.

Some people will say Swiss chocolate is the best and others will say Belgian chocolate is superior, but it comes down to your own personal preference and taste buds.
Irvine Advances Anti-Nepotism Law

IRVINE, Calif.The Irvine City Council April 12 passed the first reading of an ordinance that will ban nepotism to council-appointed committees, with one councilman claiming the dais is targeting his wife.

Councilman Larry Agrans wife, Dr. Phyllis Agran, currently sits on the Irvine Children, Youth and Families Advisory Committee, of which she was appointed by previous Mayor Sukhee Kang. She was reappointed to the seat in March 2021 by her husband.

Each councilor has one appointee to each of Irvines commissions and boards.

Councilwoman Tammy Kim brought the item forward, noting a lack of city policy, she said, regarding nepotism for boards, commissions, and committees.

The entire point of having commissions and having committees is to solicit a variety of voices from the community and providing opportunities for residents to serve, Kim said during the council meeting.

Agran said that the issue is a political attack against his wife, who, he said, is well qualified as an expert in pediatric gastroenterology for more than 30 years.

This clearly is intended to deny an opportunity for public service by Dr. Phyllis Agran, Agran said. This has nothing to do with nepotism. This has everything to do with politics  and it really hurts the children of our city.

But Vice Mayor Kim disputed the allegations of the move being a political attack.

We received a lot of calls, making it look like this was political and that this was personal, Kim said. Thats not what this is about. This is about good governance. This is about something [where] I will also be held to the same exact standard as Im putting out there.

The citys current nepotism policy only applies to relatives of a councilor being employed by the city.

A new policy, which will be discussed and voted on again in a future meeting, would prevent appointments of those who have a familial relationship to a councilorincluding spouses, siblings, cousins, parents, step relationships, and children, for example.

The council voted 41 to approve the first reading of the ordinance.

Other Orange County cities have been exploring nepotism policy as well, including Laguna Niguel, where concerns have risen about an outgoing mayors son running for his mothers old seat, and in Westminster, where some councilors have proposed removing another councilmans son from a set of city commissions.
In this courtroom sketch, El Shafee Elsheikh, a former British national, convicted of taking hostages and conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens by a U.S. jury, sits in federal court in Alexandria, Va., on April 1, 2022. (Bill Hennessy/Reuters)

ISIS Beatle Found Guilty in US Trial

An ISIS fighter who took American hostages that the terrorist group later killed was convicted on eight charges by a U.S. jury on April 14.

Jurors found El Shafee Elsheikh guilty of hostage-taking resulting in death, conspiracy to murder U.S. citizens outside of the United States, and conspiracy to commit hostage-taking and provide material support to terrorists.

Elsheikh, a former British citizen, was a high-ranking ISIS fighter and a key part of the team that planned and executed taking 26 hostages in Syria, according to witnesses who testified during the trial and the man himself, who told various media outlets after his capture that he was involved.

Elsheikh participated personally in taking four U.S. citizens hostage, including journalist James Foley, and engaging in negotiations after they were in captivity. All four later died in ISIS custody, with several being beheaded.

Elsheikh was one of the ISIS fighters who, because they spoke with British accents, were referred to by hostages and, later, reporters as the ISIS Beatles.

Elsheikh was captured in January 2018 by Syrian Democratic Forces as he and a co-conspirator, Alexanda Amon Kotey, tried leaving Syria for Turkey. Kotey previously pleaded guilty to eight charges.

Both Kotey and Elsheikh face up to life in prison because U.S. prosecutors say they wont seek the death penalty. Kotey is scheduled to be sentenced on April 29. Elsheikh is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 12.

The jury deliberated for four hours before finding Elsheikh guilty on all counts. Elsheikh stood motionless and gave no visible reaction as the verdict was read.

A combination picture shows Alexanda Kotey (L) and Shafee Elsheikh in Amuda, Syria, in undated photographs released on Feb. 9, 2018. (Syrian Democratic Forces/Handout via Reuters)

Family members of some of the victims, who had been attending the trial, reacted with relief.

Praise God! Im so thankful, said Diane Foley, the mother of James Foley. Im so proud of the American justice system. El Shafee Elsheikh was treated with a great deal of mercy. He had four attorneys.  Hopefully we were able to turn this into justice, not revenge.

Kash Patel, senior director of counterterrorism at the U.S. National Security Council during the Trump administration, said Elsheikh, Kotey, and another ISIS member, Mohammed Emwazi, who was killed in a drone strike in 2015, reported directly to the late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Prosecutors built the case very methodically by bringing in eyewitnesses, including the Syrian boyfriend of U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller, and piecing that together with video evidence, including footage ISIS recorded, Patel, an EpochTV host, said on his show.

Its very harrowing for a jury to hear this. Its very emotional, he said. Youre talking about the deaths of Americans, the beheadings of Americans, the rape of a young woman, the torture of them. And they have to absorb all this while keeping their emotion aside and saying we have to follow the law.

None of the hostages who survived their time with ISIS could identify Elsheikh as one of their captors because the men known as the Beatles took great care to hide their faces behind masks and ordered hostages to avoid eye contact or risk a beating.

But prosecutors only had to prove that Elshiekh was one of the Beatles because testimony showed that Elsheikh, Kotey, and Emwazi all were major players in the hostage scheme.

Defense attorneys acknowledged that Elsheikh was an ISIS member, but said prosecutors failed to prove he was a Beatle, citing a lack of clarity about which Beatle was which.

Elsheikh had tried, but failed to prohibit prosecutors from bringing up his admissions of guilt, claiming that he was forced to make them by captors in Syria. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III, a Reagan appointee overseeing the case, rejected the effort late last year, in part because the U.S. officials who interrogated Elsheikh in Syria hadnt observed signs of physical abuse.

Jan Jekielek and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies before the House Committee on Financial Services in Washington on April 6, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Janet Yellen Says the Right ThingsCan the Right Policy Follow?

News Analysis

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently admonished China for its refusal to condemn Russia over the Ukraine invasion.

China cannot expect the global community to respect its appeals to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity in the future if it does not respect these principles now when it counts, said Yellen at the Atlantic Council on April 13.

The worlds attitude towards China and its willingness to embrace further economic integration may well be affected by Chinas reaction [denial] to our call for resolute action on Russia.

In the language of international relations, the implication seems to be that there willor shouldbe economic ramifications for Beijings political conduct. It remains to be seen whether there is any legitimate threat of action behind these statements, or how exactly it is that integration might be negatively affected by the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) stance on Ukraine.

Secondary sanctions to an overt violation of the U.S. sanction regime appear feasible. Still, the notion that the international business community would place geopolitical considerations above its own interests in China is an entirely separate issue. This is especially true when considering the deeply entrenched relationship between Western companies and the CCP.

Either party extricating itself from the current status quo would necessitate a large-scale reimagining of the international economic environment in general.

Yellen called attention to this exact fact later in her speech. She discussed the need to bolster U.S. resilience to Chinese market distortions that result from Beijing engaging in [predatory economic] practices that I think unfairly damage our national-security interests.

She also highlighted the need for the United States and Europe to work on strengthening their supply chain resiliency.

Making the Western world less reliant on China, and countering Beijings hostile economic practices in international markets, are undoubtedly important strategic imperatives for the United States. However, Yellens optimism about maintaining the current interrelated economic system while simultaneously influencing CCP behavior is questionable.

I would like to see us preserve the benefits of deep economic integration with China, not going to a bipolar world, but clearly thats a danger [predatory economic behavior] that we need to address, she said.

The flaw in Yellens statement is that an economic environment defined by deep economic integration with China is by its nature inherently (if implicitly) on its way to becoming bipolar; Beijing embraces economic integration only as far as to consolidate CCP rule and to increase the relative geopolitical strength of China.

Consider some of the ways that this economic integration is currently wielded as a strategic tool by the CCP: dumping on international markets (pumping commodity markets with non-competitively priced products that increase Chinese market share); flooding countries with cheap credit that create debt traps and economically subservient client-states (the Belt and Road Initiativealso known as One Belt, One Roadinvestment project); and intellectual property theft (stealing technology that is then used in accordance with the former two points to undermine foreign countries economically).

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrive for the welcome banquet for leaders attending the Belt and Road Forum at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on April 26, 2019. (Nicolas Asfouri/Pool/Getty Images)

The fact is that predatory behavior is the fundamental operating principle of Chinese foreign policy.

Yellen seems to be expressing an evolution of the same mindset that welcomed China into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. The notion back then was that a democratic China would eventually emerge from the ashes of the CCP, burned away by the purifying fires of free trade and regular interaction with developed Western countries.

Having failed to materialize, the idea seems to have morphed into an acceptance that the CCP may be a predatory actor. However, a system of economic integration can still be maintained as long as we specifically counter the negative aspects of the Partys behavior. This could be a plausible realityif U.S. policy were guided solely with the U.S. national interest in mind.

And to her credit, Yellen did continuously pay lip service to this end, as well as reiterated the need for other countries in the international system to work together in countering CCP economic malpractice; however, her interviewers follow-up question demonstrates the ideology-imbued approach that, unfortunately, permeates the entire U.S. political establishment.

Immediately following Yellens call for deeper economic cooperation between friendly countries, Rana Forooharassociate editor at the Financial Times and a reliable establishment voiceinterjected about how ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) regulations will be key to enabling a more secure economic future.

ESG has received criticism due to its tendency toward heavy regulation, supporting greater government bureaucracy, centralized economic control, and market manipulationall free from accountability to any electorate, let alone shareholders (see stakeholder capitalism for a complete understanding of the ideological roots of ESG).

Even if one does view ESG as a purely good-faith movement, with proponents who are guided only by the desire to benefit the environment (along with the assumptionand its a big onethat ESG investments will lead to the type of positive change desired rather than just creating dangerous market bubbles), these are certainly not the considerations that guide the regime in China.

Suppose the Chinese national interest guides Beijings policy, and abstract notions of social justice and climate-based equity guide Washingtons policy. In that case, it is hard to imagine that the United States would actually be effective in securing a more stable economic environment.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the opening ceremony of the U.N. Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, on Nov. 1, 2021. (Yves Herman/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The problem is that it is hard to ascend to a position of consequence in any Western establishment if one does not profess the same millenarian faith in the climate is king (or queen) movement that guides ESG. And even if one does, it is likely that they will then be ostracized by (usually unelected) true believers in the bureaucratic halls of power.

Consider the current uproar over the possibility of right-wing Marine Le Pen winning the presidency in France. Le Pen came in second to incumbent Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the countrys presidential election on April 10. The two frontrunners will now face off in the second round on April 24.

This has important implications for Frances energy situation, as well. Le Pen has criticized sanctions on Russian oil and gas that are meant to punish Moscow, which has reverberated back on the French populace in the form of skyrocketing energy prices and a significantly higher cost of living in general.

Many of Le Pens views are anathema to members of Europes supranational institutions, who disdain anything with a whiff of populism (or electoral politics in general). While Le Pen has explicitly condemned Russias actions in Ukraine, she has apparently not adopted the required level of zeal in denouncing Russia and expressing detest for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Biden administration officials have privately stated their belief that Macron will win, and Luxembourgs foreign minister said that a Le Pen victory would result in an upheaval in Europe.

This type of rhetoric is not foreign to U.S. citizens who lived through the Trump presidency. The same cries were consistently heard, echoing throughout Brussels and Geneva since 2016.

Being an adherent to the proper ideology-bordering-on-religion is a sorting mechanism for whether an individual is accepted into the modern-day regal club of influential and very important persons. Outsiders who fail to espouse the proper tenets (present-day heretics) are not welcome. If Le Pen can pull through for the win, she will experience this reality firsthand, just as former President Donald Trump did.

Yellens statements expressed a desire to hold China accountable and secure the U.S. economic position. Unfortunately, as a more purposeful reading of her discussion betrays, other, less-explicit factors influence policy and decision-making.

When the primary consideration of Western leaders is maintaining their own hold on power, countering an economic predator like communist China inevitably becomes a second-tier concern. Unfortunately, the citizens of countries like the United States are the ones who are forced to live with the negative consequences of the elites preoccupation with power, filtered through the prism of concern for the abstract common good.

Unless, of course, you happen to be a member of the Atlantic Council.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Hunter Biden, son of Vice President Joe Biden, waits for the start of the his father's debate at Centre College in Danville, Ky., on Oct. 11, 2012. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo)

Hunter Biden Worked With Nephew of Boston Crime Boss on China Business Venture: Leaked Emails

The nephew of Boston crime boss James Whitey Bulger was a business associate of Hunter Biden and played an active part in furthering his business ventures in China, leaked emails show.

The Boston mobster was a high-profile figure in the citys organized crime scene from the 1970s to the 1990s and had for years been Americas most wanted fugitive. He was killed by fellow prison inmates in 2018 while serving two life sentences for 11 murders.

Massachusetts mobster James Whitey Bulger. (FBI via AP, File)

His nephew, James J. Bulger, is the son of a former Massachusetts state senator and chairman of Boston-based investment consulting Thornton Group, which he co-founded with Taiwanese American businessman Michael Lin Chun-Liang. The company was a stakeholder in the investment firm Bohai Harvest RST Shanghai Equity Investment Fund Management (BHR Partners), backed by major Chinese state financial institutions such as the Bank of China and the China Development Bank Capital.

Hunter Biden was an unpaid board member of BHR until April 2020, according to his lawyer. He held a 10 percent stake in the firm as of last May, according to company records.

Email threads dated 2014 and obtained by Fox News and the New York Post showed the two Thornton Group executives discussing with Hunter Biden and his associates issues such as securing a Chinese business license and meeting with a senior Beijing official for unspecified funds.

Bulger on Jan. 27, 2014, forwarded an email from his colleague Mike Leonard, vice president of operations at Thornton to Biden and his close business partner Devon Archer with the subject line: Meeting with Chinese Ambassador.

A US Embassy staffer met with the former CEO of the Bahai [sic] Fund in 2008 and wrote up a report on the meeting, he wrote. Pretty interesting that someone at the Embassy in Beijing would be interested in what the domestic Bohai PE Fund was up to. Thought you guys should see this.

He suggested that the group meet in Washington and noted that Leonard has reached out to someone over in Beijing to ascertain the schedule of Jonathan, likely referring to BHRs CEO Jonathan Li.

I still believe a meeting early next week with the Ambassador if possible would be the best, hope this has not to[o] much of an [expletive] ache.

Thornton Group, Biden, and Archer had worked together to establish BHR Partners months earlier. Hunters father, President Joe Biden, was the vice president at the time. In February, Archer was sentenced to one year and one day in jail for defrauding a Native American tribe.

In about four months time, Bulger wrote to Hunter Biden to emphasize the need for for a contracted Chinese anchor investor. A woman he identified as Lindsay had been in their weekly BHR call a day earlier. She was very clear to all on the phone that he [sic] signing of an investment contract with Gouxin or BOC or PICC is task number 1, he wrote. The acronyms BOC and PICC likely refer to the Bank of China and the Peoples Insurance Company of China.

He went on to reveal interests in investment totaling 10 billion yuan (roughly $1.6 billion at the time) from Gouxin. We need to keep this thing very simple in the beginning so we can get a contract executed ASAP, he said, then added that Leonard would soon share his high level research into the KAZ/Sino energy business.

Email unearthed from Hunters abandoned laptop showed that Hunter traveled to Beijing between 2014 and 2015 trying to broker a $120 million oil agreement between a Chinese state-owned oil company and then Kazakhstans prime minister.

That same month, Joe Bidens brother-in-law Jack Owens also reached out to Hunter requesting help for a business license in China for his two companies, MediGuide America and MediGuide Insurance Services International.

From L to R, US Vice President Joe Biden, his wife Jill Biden, his sister Valerie Biden Owens and her husband Jack Owens attend the funeral of the vice presidents mother Jean Finnegan Biden at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware, on Jan. 12, 2010. (Susan Walsh/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

The two firms had been talking with a China-based insurance company in a serious stage but the Chinese firm was asking for a license to seal the deal, he wrote to Hunter.

Time pressures are very tight, plus the fact that we do not yet have one has caused a slight credibility bump in the companys mind. This all translates into a need for a Business License, and one secured very quickly, wrote Owens. While this might seem to be a mundane task, I have come to understand that matters such as a Business License can end up taking an inordinate amount of time..time we just do not have.

Hunter quickly sent the email to Bulger and Lin asking them to help expedite the license. Bulger replied that he would speak with Lin to come up with a plan.

Me and Michael had a call with Jack this morning I think we have a solution for hi[s] China problem, Bulger wrote to Hunter three days later, adding that the pair were researching Chinese laws and regulations but our Thornton WOFE will likely be ok for Jacks company to use.

WOFE is a shorthand for wholly foreign-owned enterprises.

A business associate of Hunter in 2011 forwarded news of Whitey Bulgers capture to Hunter and Archer with the subject line containing the phrase Jims uncle, according to Fox News.

Bank records released by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) late last month shows multiple payments from China to Hunter in 2017 and 2018, each in the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during a press conference along with the presidents of Poland, Lithuania, and Estonia and Latvia, following their talks in Kyiv, on April 13, 2022. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

RussiaUkraine War (April 15): Between 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian Troops Have Died in War: Zelenskyy

The latest on the RussiaUkraine crisis, April 15. Click here for updates from April 14.

Between 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian Troops Have Died in War: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday told CNN that between 2,500 to 3,000 Ukrainian troops have died so far in the war with Russia and another 10,000 have been injured.

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Ukraine Says Fighting Rages in Mariupol, Blasts Rattle Kyiv

Ukraine said on Friday it was trying to break Russias siege of Mariupol as fighting raged around the citys massive steel works and port, and the capital Kyiv was rocked by some of the most powerful explosions in two weeks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the military situation in the south and east of the country was still very difficult, while praising the work of his armed forces.

The successes of our military on the battlefield are really significant, historically significant. But they are still not enough to clean our land of the occupiers. We will beat them some more, Zelenskyy said in a late-night video address, calling again for allies to send heavier weapons and for an international embargo on Russian oil.

Russia said it struck what it described as a factory on the outskirts of Kyiv that made and repaired anti-ship missiles, in apparent retaliation for the sinking on Thursday of the Moskva, the flagship of Moscows Black Sea fleet.

Ukraine said one of its missiles had caused the Moskva to sink, a powerful symbol of its resistance to a better-armed foe. Moscow said the ship sank while being towed in stormy seas after a fire caused by an explosion of ammunition.

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Russia Says Ukraine Preparing to Attack Civilians

The Russian military announced on Friday that the Ukrainian government is preparing to attack a railway station with civilian refugees and then accuse Russia of war crimes, RT reported.

Lieutenant General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the National Defense Management Center, said the flag-false attack being planned will be similar to the one carried out in Kramatorsk.

Mizintsev said that the 19th Missile Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine plans on firing a Tochka-U tactical missile at a railway station filled with refugees at Lozovaya, a city in Kharkov Oblast.

Ukraine accused Russia of the Kramatorsk railway attack that occurred on April 8. It was reported that more than 50 people died in the attack caused by a Soviet-era Tochka-U tactical missile, BBC reported.

The Russian general added that the Tochka-U missile used in the Kramatorsk station attack had a serial number associated with Ukraines stockpiles.

But according to a Twitter user, a video shows Russia transporting Tochka-U missiles from Ukraine to Belarus in April 2022. It is not known if they are actually Tochka-U missiles.

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Russian Court Says Google, Wikipedia Face Fines Over Fake Content

A Russian court has threatened U.S. Internet giant Google and Wikipedia owner Wikimedia Foundation with fines for failing to delete what it said was fake information about the Ukraine conflict, Interfax news agency reported on Friday.

Russias communications watchdog said on Thursday that Google would face fines over its failure to delete from video sharing site YouTube content that Moscow considers illegal.

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Wife of Putin Ally Held in Ukraine Accuses Kyiv Authorities of Beating Her Husband

The wife of one of Russian President Vladimir Putins top allies in Ukraine said on Friday that he has been beaten by the Ukrainian security service while being interrogated in detention.

At a news conference in Moscow, Viktor Medvedchuks wife Oksana Marchenko said that one of two photos released by Ukraine this week showed he had been beaten.

Reuters could not independently confirm this, and neither Ukraines security service, the SBU, nor the Kremlin immediately responded to requests for comment.

On Wednesday, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russias Security Council, said: Those freaks who call themselves the Ukrainian authorities say that they want to beat testimony out of Viktor Medvedchuk, quickly and fairly, convict him, and then exchange him for prisoners.

Ukraines security service, the SBU, said on Tuesday it had arrested Medvedchuk, who has long advocated closer ties to Russia and is leader of the Opposition PlatformFor Life party. The party is Ukraines largest opposition party.

One photo of him in handcuffs was released on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys official Telegram account, and another was posted by the SBU on Facebook.

Displaying the two photos, Marchenko said one had been taken before he was interrogated and showed no sign of injury. A second image, which she said had been taken during his interrogation, showed him with his hair over his forehead.

It shows a big bruise and marks which they have tried to conceal with his hair. There is no doubt that he was beaten in the first hours after his arrest, she said.

That photo shows what could be a mark on his forehead beneath a wisp of hair, although Reuters could not determine what caused it.

Oksana Marchenko, wife of pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk who was detained in Ukraine, attends a news conference, while pictures of her husband are displayed on screens, in Moscow, Russia, on April 15, 2022. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

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Police: More Than 900 Civilian Bodies Found in Kyiv Region

The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a briefing Friday.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyivs regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95 percent of the casualties had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the [Russian] occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said. The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.

He added that more bodies were being found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves.

The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses, he said.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha had been gathering up and burying bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

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Russian Crowd Mourns Black Sea Flagship After Its Sinking

Dozens of people gathered in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Friday to mourn the sinking of the flagship of Russias Black Sea Fleet, a symbol, the crowd heard, of hope, revival, and power until its demise.

Some embraced and others laid flowers in memory of the Moskva missile cruiser at a monument to the 1696 foundation of the Russian navy in the center of Sevastopol, headquarters of the Black Sea Fleet.

Moscow said the ship sank while being towed in stormy seas after a fire caused by an ammunition explosion.

Ukraine said one of its missiles had caused it to sink.

Russia, which has not acknowledged an attack, said the incident is under investigation.

Even for those who have not been on it, the Moskva was a symbol for everyone, a symbol of our power, of our hope, of the revival of the fleet in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union, said Reserve Captain Sergei Gorbachev, who spoke to the crowd in his naval uniform.

There will be victories, there will be tragedies, but the memory remains, Gorbachev said.

The crowd, which included a number of people who served on the ship, stood in respectful silence. Some wore the ribbon of St. George, a symbol of the Russian military.

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Moscow Reiterates Its Primary Goal in Ukraine

Moscow sees Ukraines hardcore nationalist units as a threat to peace in the country and is working to destroy them, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

In places where there are no nationalist battalions to take peaceful populations hostage [or] shoot up social sites, houses, peaceful life takes hold, the official said. In places where the nationalist battalions do those things, there is intensive fighting. There, they are all subject to being destroyed.

The [military operation] continues and the objectives are well known. They have to be achieved and they will be achieved, the official said.

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Russia Wants to Expand Ruble Use for Energy Exports

Russia is planning to increase the use of the ruble in energy exports, but no deadlines have been set for the payment switch, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday.

The president has set a methodical and step-by-step approach to expanding the use of national currencies, Peskov told reporters in a conference call on Friday.

The statement comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in late March that Russia would only accept payment for gas exports in rubles from countries deemed hostile by the Kremlin due to their sanctions policies.

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Sen. Daines, Rep. Spartz First US Lawmakers to Visit Ukraine Since Start of War

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday in a show of solidarity with the country and to witness the aftermath of the Russian invasion.

The two Republicans are the first elected U.S. officials known to have visited the country since the start of the war on Feb. 24. The duo traveled from Kyiv to Bucha, a city near the Ukrainian capital where numerous bodies have recently been found in mass graves.

What we saw today was shocking  to see these shallow graves and to watch these investigators  extracting these bodies of women, of small children, civilians across the board, its mind-numbing, Daines told reporters in Bucha.

Read the full article here

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Russia Comments on Outcome of Sweden and Finland Joining NATO

Sweden and Finland will lose part of their sovereignty while compromising their security if they join NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Friday, referring to the two nations expected requests for formal membership in the U.S.-led military bloc.

Sweden and Finland have long been close to the organization but have maintained formal nonalignment with NATO since the Cold War. Both may soon apply for membership amid the ongoing security crisis in Ukraine. The Russian ministry warned that Sweden and Finland would not gain anything by moving forward with the plan.

NATO membership is unlikely to help build Swedens and Finlands international prestige, spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a comment released by the Russian ministry. She said the two nations will lose the opportunity to act as conveyors of many constructive, unifying initiatives as they did in the past.

Naturally the choice belongs to the authorities of Sweden and Finland. But they should realize the consequences of such a move to our bilateral relations and the European security architecture, which currently is in a state of crisis, she added.

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Pro-Russia Politician Held on Treason Charge

The wife of a Ukrainian politician held by Kyiv on a treason charge has accused Ukrainian security services of torturing her husband and fabricating his escape from house arrest in a press conference held in Moscow on Friday.

Oksana Marchenko, the wife of Viktor Medvedchuk, the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, referred to her husband as a political prisoner, and claimed that she does not know where he is.

Medvedchuk was detained on Tuesday in a special operation carried out by Ukraines state security service, or the SBU. The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest several days before the hostilities broke out on Feb. 24 in Ukraine. He is facing between 15 years and a life in prison on charges of treason.

I have no doubt that my husband was beaten within hours after his capture, she said at the press conference. I am appealing for help in establishing (his) real whereabouts. I call for help to stop the physical and mental torture.

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Ukraine: 7 Killed Near Kharkiv; Explosion Felt in East

A large explosion has struck the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the site of a missile strike on a train station a week earlier that left more than 50 dead and dozens wounded.

Associated Press journalists in the city heard the sound of a rocket or missile and then the blast, followed by sirens wailing early Friday afternoon. It was not immediately clear what was hit or whether there were casualties.

A spokesman for the regional prosecutors office told Ukraines Suspilne news website Friday that seven people died and 27 were injured after Russian forces opened fire on buses carrying civilians in the Ukrainian village of Borovaya, near the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

The claims could not be independently verified.

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Russia Pledges More Strikes on Kyiv After Missile Attack, Says it Took Mariupol Plant

Russias defense ministry said on Friday it had struck a military target on the edge of Kyiv overnight with cruise missiles and promised more strikes against the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.

The ministry said its forces had also taken full control of the Ilyich Steel Plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian troops for weeks.

Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv on Friday which appeared to be among the most significant there since Russian troops pulled back from the area earlier this month in preparation for battles in the south and east.

The explosions were reported to have been heard after the Russian defense ministry announced that the Moskva, the flagship of Russias Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed after being badly damaged.

Ukraine claimed the Moskvas damage was the result of one of its missile strikes. Russias defense ministry spoke only of a fire breaking out and of exploding ammunition.

The defense ministry said in its statement that its overnight missile strikes on Kyiv had struck the Vizar factory on the edge of the Ukrainian capital which it said made and repaired missiles, including anti-ship missiles.

It pledged more strikes on Kyiv.

The number and scale of missile strikes on targets in Kyiv will increase in response to any terrorist attacks or acts of sabotage on Russian territory committed by the Kyiv nationalist regime, the ministry said in a statement.

It said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter which it said had attacked the village of Klimovo in Bryansk region on April 14 and had also shot down a Ukrainian Sukhoi-27 jet.

A group of up to 30 Polish mercenaries had also been eliminated, it said.

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Poland Bans Russian Coal

The office of Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Friday that he signed a bill into law that allows the assets of business entities that support Russia to be frozen. The document also provides for a ban on imports of Russian coal.

The law on special measures was adopted to protect national security, the document said.

It provides for a freezing of funds and other assets of individuals and legal entities, which will be included in a special list maintained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration. The ministry will update the list on its own or at the request of special services and other government bodies.

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NATO Warships Arrive in Baltic Sea

A group of NATO warships belonging to the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) and Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1) have started arriving in the Baltic Sea to partake in joint exercises with allied and partnered nations, with some having already docked in a port in Tallinn, Estonia, according to a NATO press release published on Thursday.

The bloc announced the move on Monday, saying NATO regularly deploys maritime forces in the Baltic Sea in order to maintain a credible and capable defensive capability in accordance with treaty obligations.

The SNMG1 consists of flagships from the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and the United Kingdom, while the SNMCMG1 is composed of Norwegian, Belgian, German, Estonian, British, and Dutch mine layers and minesweepers.

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Russia Promises to Ramp Up Missile Attacks

Russias Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up the scale of missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines diversions on the Russian territory.

The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the countrys regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.

The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraines Chernihiv region shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.

Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.

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We Should Be Proud of Surviving 50 Days of War, Zelenskyy Tells Ukrainians

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians on Thursday they should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians gave us a maximum of five.

In his late-night video address, Zelenskyy called it an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on Feb. 24 made the most important decision of their lifeto fight.

Zelenskyy gave an extensive and almost poetic listing of the many ways in which Ukrainians have helped to fend off the Russian troops, including those who showed that Russian warships can sail away, even if its to the bottom of the sea. It was his only reference to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which sank while being towed to port.

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Canada Sends Soldiers To Poland To Help Ukrainian Refugees

Canada is sending soldiers to Poland to help with the care, coordination, and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, including some who will come to Canada.

More than 2.6 million Ukrainians have fled into Poland since the first Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on Feb. 24 and over 2 million more have fled into other surrounding countries.

Defense Minister Anita Anand announced the deployment of up to 150 troops Thursday, claiming the majority of the deployed troops will head to reception centers across Poland to help care for and register Ukrainian refugees.

Another group is being sent to help coordinate international aid efforts.

Canada has deployed hundreds of additional troops to eastern Europe since Russias invasion as the NATO military alliance seeks to both support Ukraine and prevent the conflict from expanding into a broader war.

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Moscow Says S-400 Takes Down Ukrainian Border Attack Chopper

A Ukrainian military helicopter that conducted an attack on a Russian village on Thursday was hit with an S-400 long-range missile as it was returning to base, the Russian Defense Ministry has claimed.

The Soviet-designed Mil Mi-8 helicopter was taken down near the town of Gorodnya in Ukraines Chernigov Region, the ministry said at a morning press briefing on Friday. The area is located around 30km from the Russian border.

The helicopter, according to the ministry, was used in the April 14 attack on the village of Klimovo in Russias Bryansk Region on the other side of the border, leaving eight residents injured. Russia said two Ukrainian helicopters fired at least six missiles at the village after approaching at low altitude.

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US Cannot Take Lightly Threat Russia Could Use Nuclear Weapons: CIA Chief

The threat of Russia potentially using tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine cannot be taken lightly, but the CIA has not seen a lot of practical evidence reinforcing that concern, CIA Director William Burns said on Thursday.

Burns most extensive public comments since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 underscored concerns that the biggest attack against a European state since 1945 risks escalating to the use of nuclear weapons.

Earlier on Thursday, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russias Security Council and a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned NATO that Moscow would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave in the heart of Europe, if Sweden and Finland joined the Atlantic alliance.

Burns spoke at Georgia Tech of the potential desperation and setbacks dealt to Putin, whose forces have suffered heavy losses.

For those reasons, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons, Burns said.

That said, despite rhetorical posturing by the Kremlin about putting the worlds largest nuclear arsenal on high alert, We havent seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern.

Tactical and low-yield nuclear weapons refer to those designed for use on the battlefield, of which some experts estimate Russia has about 2,000 that can be delivered by air, naval, and ground forces.

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NATO Reveals New European Nuclear Plans

NATO planners are updating the U.S. nuclear sharing program to account for most European allies planning to buy F-35 joint strike fighter jets, the military blocs director of nuclear policy said this week. Lockheed Martins fifth-generation fighter has been embraced by multiple U.S. allies, including most recently Germany, despite the Pentagons own misgivings about the program.

Were moving fast and furiously towards F-35 modernization and incorporating those into our planning and into our exercising and things like that as those capabilities come online, Jessica Cox, director of the NATO nuclear policy directorate in Brussels, said on Wednesday, adding that By the end of the decade, most if not all of our allies will have transitioned to the F-35.

Cox spoke during an online discussion hosted by the Advanced Nuclear Weapons Alliance Deterrence Center (ANWA DC), a U.S. think tank, according to Defense News.

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Japan to Attend G20 Meet, No Comment on Russias Participation: Finance Minister

Japan is preparing to attend a gathering of financial leaders from the Group of 20 economic powers next week, its finance minister said on Friday, as Western nations sought the expulsion of Russia from the forum and said they would skip sessions where Moscow is represented.

Shunichi Suzuki said Japan is not in the position to respond to each countrys participation when asked about Russias plans to join the forum online, which G20 chair Indonesia announced on Thursday.

Japanese officials are keen to have their minister go to Washington next week for the G20 meeting on April 20 on the sidelines of IMF/World Bank spring gatherings. Suzuki was not able to attend the previous meeting of the group in February.

The G20 meeting is a very important conference to discuss various issues of the global economy, including rising food and energy prices due to Russias invasion of Ukraine, Suzuki told a news conference.

Last week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the United States will boycott some G20 meetings if Russian officials show up. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner has called for the rejection of any form of cooperation with Russia at the G20.

Meanwhile, Japan will take appropriate steps in close cooperation with G7 allies and Indonesia, based on a March G7 leaders statement that said international platforms should not continue relations with Russia in a business as usual manner, Suzuki added.

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Russian Legislator and 2 Aides Criminally Charged in US

A Russian legislator and two aides were charged with conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions as they pushed a covert Russian propaganda campaign in the United States to win support for moves against Ukraine and other countries, a Justice Department indictment unsealed Thursday said.

Three conspiracy charges were brought in an indictment in Manhattan federal court against the legislator, Aleksandr Babakov, 59, and two of his staff membersAleksandr Nikolayevich Vorobev, 52, and Mikhail Alekseyevich Plisyuk, 58.

All three men named are based in Russia and remain at large, authorities said. Babakov currently serves as deputy chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislature, federal authorities said in a release.

U.S. attorney Damian Williams said Babakovs actions show Russias illegitimate actions against Ukraine extend beyond the battlefield, as political influencers under Russias control allegedly plotted to steer geopolitical change in Russias favor through surreptitious and illegal means in the U.S. and elsewhere in the West.

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Damaged Russian Warship Sinks After Explosion

Russias lead warship in the Black Sea sank on Thursday, Russias defense ministry announced, after what Ukraine said was a missile strike and Russia described as an explosion of ammunition on board.

The loss of the Moskva, the flagship in Russias Black Sea fleet, occurred as it was being towed to port in stormy weather, Russian news agencies quoted the defense ministry as saying.

Russias defense ministry said earlier that over 500 crew aboard the Soviet-era missile cruiser were evacuated after ammunition exploded. It did not acknowledge an attack and said the incident was under investigation.

Ukraine said it hit the warship with a Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship missile.

The United States was not able to confirm Ukraines claims of striking the warship, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Thursday. Still, he called it a big blow to Russia.

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France to Move French Embassy in Ukraine Back to Kyiv

France will very soon move back its embassy in Ukraine to the capital Kyiv from the western city of Lviv, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in a phone call.

The French embassy was moved to Lviv in early March as conditions worsened on the ground after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the ministry statement said.

Alan Cheung, Lorenz Duchamps, The Associated Press, and Reuters contributed to this report.
Peace activists wearing masks of Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and newly elected U.S. President Joe Biden pose with mock nuclear missiles in front of the U.S. embassy in Berlin on Jan. 29, 2021, in an action to call for more progress in nuclear disarmament. (John Macdougall/AFP/Getty Images)

Loose Nuke Talk

Commentary

Americans, like the planets other 7.5 billion people, arent prone to talk or think much about nuclear weapons.

Of course, some of us are old enough to remember how mutually assured destruction, or MAD, was supposed to ensure the general peace.

Some recall the eerie Cold War-era nuclear bomb movies like Dr. Strangelove or Fail Safe or the more recent post-nuclear Armageddon films such as The Book of Eli.

Millions have grown up referring to the scary doomsday clock of atomic scientists that usually ticks closer to a midnight nuclear holocaust in times of crisis.

So the planet isnt naive about the dangers of its 13,000 to 15,000 nuclear weapons. In 1961, the Soviet Union terrified the world when it exploded historys greatest nukethe 50-megaton Tsar Bomba.

The Cuban Missile Crisis a year later brought the United States and the Soviet Union closer to a nuclear exchange than at any time since.

In 1983, former President Ronald Reagan countered the Soviet nuclear-tipped SS-20 ballistic missiles aimed at Europe by stationing U.S. Pershing II missiles in Germany.

In response, for a few months, Hollywood and the media began talking about a nuclear winter to follow the supposedly reckless war talk of the American cowboy president. But what followed was a series of superpower missile negotiations that lowered the tensions of the waning Cold War.

During the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Russian-backed Serbia was bombed by NATO air forces intent on stopping the slaughter of Kosovars. At one point in 1999, a senior British NATO commander, Lt. Gen. Michael Jackson, refused an order from his superior U.S. counterpart, Gen. Wesley Clark, to block Russian use of an airfield with the now-famous rejoinder, Im not going to start Third World War for you.

Every time a nondemocratic nation joins the nuclear clubPakistan in the mid-1980s, North Korea in 2006the chances of a nuclear exchange supposedly increase.

But we forget that a number of powerful European and Asian states could easily go nuclear at any time within months. Instead, influential, wealthy nations such as Australia, Germany, Japan, and South Korea rely on either NATO or the huge nuclear arsenal of the United States to deter their nuclear enemies. If that assurance is ever in doubt, then at any moment, they may decide to go nuclear themselves.

Nuke talk especially heats up anytime a rogue nationusually one ostracized by the United Nations, such as Saddam Husseins Iraq, the late Muammar Gaddafis regime in Libya, or theocratic Iranbegins enriching uranium.

Yet for the most part, as long as the worlds three largest nuclear powersthe United States, Russia, and Chinado not square off in a war or are not sucked into a third-party conflict, the world assumes nukes are out of sight and out of mind.

Or so we thought until recently.

The current Ukraine war has restarted loose nuke talk. Once outmanned, outnumbered Ukraine unexpectedly repelled Russian invadersthanks to massive shipments of sophisticated Western anti-tank and anti-aircraft armstalk arose from Russia about the use of nuclear weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently boasted of possibly using nukes against both Ukraine, and, more ominously, those NATO countries who aided Kyiv. In response, French President Emmanuel Macron reminded Russia that NATO itself has an ample nuclear deterrent.

In theory, should NATO and the United States supply Ukraine with tanks, artillery, and planes, the fierce Ukrainians could push the entire Russian army entirely out of their country. But would a nuclear Putin allow that?

Over the past few weeks, nuclear talk has arisen over a myriad of issues. If the war continues to go badly for Russia, at what point will a seemingly erratic Putin begin issuing nuclear redlines to Ukraine and its allies?

Would a crushing defeat push over the edge a nuclear trash-talking Putinfacing the possible end of his regime?

Ukraine nuke talk spins off into lots of other places. Nuclear North Korea is resuming its ballistic missile launches to intimidate non-nuclear South Korea and Japan. China is rapidly expanding its nuclear stockpiles and now talks openly of ending a free Taiwan, warning Taiwans friends and allies to keep outor else.

Iran promises to become nuclear soon. Nuclear Russia has assumed the role of interlocutor of all discussions to restart a new nuclear Iran deal.

Russia controls Syrian airspace. In theory, Putin could stop nuclear Israel either from replying to terrorist attacks emanating from Syria, or from staging a preemptive attack on Irans nuclear bomb facilities.

Suddenly, newspapers and blogs seemed fixated on hyping the relative stockpiles and megatonnage of various nuclear states, as if they were just GDP or energy output data.

The world has become nuclear-obsessed. Is there a danger in daily normalizing the abnormal and casually thinking the unthinkable?

Curbing loose nuke talk wont calm tensions or guarantee peace, but it wouldnt hurt either.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg delivers his National Press Club budget address at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on March 30, 2022. (Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

Low Unemployment Rate Wasnt Due to Luck: Australian Treasurer

Australias unemployment rate remained unchanged in March 2022, which failed to meet economists expectations but still gave confidence to authorities.

Earlier, economists had anticipated the unemployment rate to drop slightly to 3.9 percent in March, reaching the lowest level since the 1970s.

New workforce data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the jobless rate still stayed at a 14-year low of four percent during the month, though there was a minimal dip in the number of unemployed people.

However, when taken to two decimal places, economists said the actual rate was 3.95 percent, the lowest figure since 1974.

Our economic plan is working. An economic plan that helps steer Australia through the biggest economic shock since the great depression. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters in Melbourne.

If you think thats luck. Youre wrong. Its the success that belongs to 26 million Australians.

Meanwhile, the womens jobless rate continued to decrease faster than mens.

The unemployment rate for females dropped by 0.1 percent to 3.7 percent in March, the lowest level since May 1974.

At the same time, the figure for males stabilised at 4.2 percent, the second-lowest level since November 2008.

Australias employment recovery has remained strong, considering the jobless rate reaching a 22-year high of 7.4 percent during the economic downturn in mid-2020.

Both the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Treasury are predicting the unemployment to fall to 3.75 percent later in 2022.

A courier crosses the road to deliver food in the central business district in Sydney, Australia, on May 14, 2020. (Saeed Khan/AFP via Getty Images)

Nevertheless, deputy leader of the Labor party Richard Marles said Australians were struggling to make ends meet because of low wage growth while the government was praising itself.

This is not bad luck, Marles told Nine News.

This is a deliberate design feature by this government of the economy. This is bad policy.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese, who was campaigning in the electorate of Cessnock in New South Wales, also emphasised that half a million Australians still had to work three jobs or more.

That is an increase of 50 per cent since this government came to office, he told reporters before the latest figures were released.

Meanwhile, Andrew McKellar, the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that businesses were enduring the most serious labour shortages in 48 years, along with the highest job vacancy rates ever recorded.

Without a comprehensive strategy to address workforce shortages, businesses who are already stretched with an ultra-tight labour market will be pushed to breaking point, he told AAP.

The next federal government must pull all the levers it can to address chronic skills shortages.

On April 12, Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised to add 1.3 million jobs to the labour market in the next five years before unveiling support packages for other industries in the following days.

My priorities are jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs and jobs, Morrison told reporters on the campaign trail in Launceston.

The ABS reported that around 18,000 people got employed in March, nearly half the figure economists had expected.

At the same time, a tighter labour market pressures the central bank to lift the cash rate from the record low of 0.1 percent, which has remained unchanged since November 2020.

We expect that the RBA will want to see wages data before commencing the tightening cycle, and we continue to look for the first hike in June, said Jo Masters, the chief economist at Barrenjoey, an investment consulting firm.
Man Pleads Guilty to Murder in Death of Illinois Officer

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.A southern Illinois man pleaded guilty to first-degree murder Wednesday in connection with the fatal shooting of a police officer at a gas station last year.

Scott Hyden of Highland entered the plea in a Madison County court in the slaying of Pontoon Beach Officer Tyler Timmons at a gas station, the Belleville-News-Democrat reported.

Timmins, 36, was a 14-year law enforcement veteran investigating what he suspected was a stolen vehicle at a gas station off Interstate 270, shortly before 8 a.m. on Oct. 26.

Illinois State Police said Hyden shot Timmins in the face and neck.

Backed by dozens of local police officers and other family members at Wednesdays hearing, Timmins wife, Linsey Timmons, also a police officer, said the shooting was a senseless act of violence.

The outcome of the court hearing does not change what Hyden took from my family and me, but we are grateful that Hyden will never be able to harm another person for the rest of his life, she said.

Hyden was arrested at the scene of the shooting and charged with first-degree murder, felony motor vehicle theft, and weapons charges.

Because Hyden killed a police officer performing his official duty, his plea ensures hell serve a life sentence.

This was a brutal murder of a hero who dedicated his life to serve and protect us all, Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine said in a statement. Now at least the justice system has ensured that Officer Tyler Timminss murderer will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Today justice was served, but it does not take away the pain our department has felt from this senseless act, Pontoon Beach Police Chief Chris Modrusic said at the hearing.

Pontoon Beach is a suburb northeast of St. Louis, Missouri.
Mercedes-Benz Completes 1,000 Km Electric Drive on Energy-Efficient Design

BERLINMercedes-Benz aims to produce electric cars consuming as little as 10 kilowatt hours of energy per 100 km (62 miles), its chief technology officer (CTO) said on Thursday, a third more efficient than the current average for electric cars.

Speaking as the carmaker celebrated the successful test drive of its EQXX prototype vehicle over more than 1,000 km from Sindelfingen in Germany to the Cote dAzur on a single charge, CTO Markus Schaefer said the efficient design was key to maximizing an electric cars range.

First we optimize efficiency, and then we can see how many battery modules we put in the car, Schaefer said at a media roundtable, adding that customers should be able to decide the size of the battery they want based on their needs.

Carmakers from Mercedes-Benz to Tesla to Chinas Nio are in a neck-to-neck race to produce higher range cars that dispel consumer anxiety over the lack of widespread charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

Mercedes unveiled its Vision EQXX prototype, boasting a 1,000 km-range with a battery half the volume of its flagship EQS model, in January, promising that some of the cars components would make their way into series vehicles in 23 years time.

The car spent 8.7 kilowatt hours of energy per 100 km on its 11-and-a-half hour drive to France, Mercedes-Benz said, about twice as efficient as Mercedes models on the market and Teslas longest-range car on offer, the Model S 60.

Mercedes EQS has the highest range on the market as of yet, according to car comparison portal carwow, with 768 km, followed by Teslas Model S Long Range with up to 652 km.

Therell be a further increase for some time before a fall, which will happen once charging infrastructure is as available as petrol stations, Schaefer said, although he declined to state what range Mercedes was targeting in future models.
A Border Patrol agent pulls tires behind his vehicle to smooth out the road to make detecting footprints easier, near Naco in Cochise County, Arizona on Dec. 6, 2021. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Mexican Woman Dies After Becoming Entangled While Attempting to Climb Arizona Border Wall

A Mexican woman has died in Arizona this week after getting trapped in a harness and hanging upside down while attempting to climb the international border wall.

The Cochise County Sheriffs office said in a statement on social media that they were notified of the incident at the border fence off of International Road and Kings Highway near Douglas on Monday at approximately 11:00 p.m.

Sheriffs Deputies responded to the incident and were advised that a call came from Mexican authorities of a female who was ensnared on the border fence at the above location and U.S. Border Patrol agents responded, officials said.

The 32-year-old woman was not identified.

Officials said the woman reportedly climbed onto the top of the international border wall but became entangled in a climbing harness while attempting to maneuver down on the U.S. side of the wall.

She was trapped upside down for a significant amount of time, the Cochise County Sheriffs office said, adding that the woman was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced deceased.

The sheriffs office said it was in contact with the Mexican consulate and Mexican authorities and continues to investigate what happened. An autopsy will also be completed to determine the exact cause of death.

These types of incidents are not political, they are humanitarian realities that someone has lost a loved one in a senseless tragedy, Sheriff Mark Dannels said.

We have to do better in finding solutions to the challenges facing our border, and we have to do it for the right reasons. Regardless of opinions, it is the facts that should direct our progress and we will keep working towards a shared goal of border safety and security.

In a separate incident earlier this month, a 31-year-old man died from injuries he sustained when he attempted to climb the border barrier west of the Paso Del Norte International Bridge in El Paso, Texas.

Officials said the man sustained upper body and head injuries after falling from the international border barrier.

The latest incident comes shortly after Texas governor Greg Abbott, announced during a press conference on April 6 that his authorities would be providing voluntary transportation to take illegal immigrants released from federal custody into Texas to Washington, D.C.

That decision was in response to the Biden administrations decision to end expulsions under the Trump-era Title 42 policy, which had allowed Border Patrol agents to turn most illegal aliens back to Mexico immediately if they posed a health threat amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, a bus carrying a group of 23 illegal immigrants from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua was chartered from Texas and arrived in the nations capital.

Abbott in a statement accused the Biden administration of turning a blind eye to the border crisis, noting that by busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden Administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border. Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administrations failure to secure our border.

Last month, amid a deepening influx of illegal immigrants attempting to enter the United States, the head of Border Patrol, Raul Ortiz, warned that the country is set to reach more than 1 million illegal alien encounters so far in the fiscal year 2022.
A photo shows a Russian ruble coin and the logos of Visa, Mastercard, and Russian Mir payment systems on bank cards in Moscow on March 14, 2022. (AFP via Getty Images)

Moodys Says Russia May Have Defaulted on Obligations

Ratings agency Moodys has warned that Russia might have defaulted on its debt since it tried to service its dollar bonds in rubles due to Western sanctions.

Russia reportedly made payments on two bonds maturing in 2022 and 2042 in rubles rather than US dollars which represents a change in payment terms relative to the original bond contracts and therefore may be considered a default under Moodys definition if not cured by 4 May, which is the end of the grace period, the ratings agency said in an April 14 statement, according to Reuters.

Though some Russian eurobonds issued after 2018 do have conditions that allow for payment in rubles, those issued prior to 2018including the bonds maturing in 2022 and 2042must be paid in dollars. Investors did not obtain the foreign currency contractual promise on the due date, Moodys pointed out.

If Russia is considered to have defaulted, it would be the first time the country defaulted on foreign bonds since the years following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. In 1998, Russia defaulted on its domestic debt worth $40 billion.

Earlier on April 9, ratings agency S&P Global had cut down Russias rating to selective default on similar grounds after Moscow used rubles to make coupon and principal payments on dollar-denominated eurobonds on April 4.

We currently dont expect that investors will be able to convert those ruble payments into dollars equivalent to the originally due amounts, or that the government will convert those payments within a 30-day grace period, the agency said.

S&P Global also predicted that as sanctions against Moscow are tightened, Russias ability to meet foreign debt obligations will be impeded. Russias external state debt was at $59.5 billion as of Feb. 1. However, the countrys corporate sector has racked up much more debt.

Following Russias attack on Ukraine, the foreign currency reserves held by the Russian central bank at U.S. financial institutions were frozen. Washington continued to allow Moscow to make some payments, but in early April, the U.S. Treasury fully cut off Russias access to those funds.

Although the Russian Federation has required funds and honors [obligations] by remitting funds to accounts of holders of our Eurobonds, the Western banking structure nevertheless impedes crediting of these funds with specific beneficiaries and holders of our debt, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said to reporters on April 7.

The Kremlin has called for a new global financial system to replace the present one dominated by the West. Moscow is pushing for the BRICS nationsBrazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africato trade in national currencies and integrate payment mechanisms.

The BRICS alliance represents 40 percent of the global population and over 20 percent of the worlds gross domestic product.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Climate protesters from Just Stop Oil on top of an oil tanker on April 15, 2022. (Just Stop Oil)

More Climate Activists Charged After Targeting Oil Terminals in England

A further 12 people were charged and 40 arrests were made on Friday after climate activists from Just Stop Oil (JSO) disrupted three oil terminals in England.

It comes as Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists blocked four of Londons busiest bridges on the same day.

JSO, a campaign group that has been targeting Englands oil terminals in coalition XR since April 1, said activists started disrupting three oil terminals from around 4:40 on Friday morning.

Some are said to have climbed and locked themselves onto the loading bay pipework at the Kingsbury terminal in Tamworth, a town bordering Warwickshire in the West Midlands.

Roadblocks and tanker surfing are involved in protests at the Inter and Navigator Terminals in Essex, East England, JSO said.

The group said the disruptions were in support of its demand that the UK government end new oil and gas projects in the UK.

Essex police said the force made 28 arrests on Friday and charged 12 people aged 19 to 64 with either interfering with a motor vehicle and wilful obstruction of a highway or aggravated trespass.

Since April 1, Essex police have made 454 arrests during the protests. Eleven people, aged between 20 and 66, were charged on Wednesday and are due to appear in court on May 24.

Warwickshire said it made a further 12 arrests on Friday, bringing the total number of arrests by the force to 192.

Hundreds more arrests have been made by other forces including Hertfordshire Police, West Midlands Police, and Londons Metropolitan Police.

JSO said earlier on the day that the total number of arrests since April 1 had reached 965.

It comes after Valero Energy was granted an injunction on Monday against a number of environmental groups and persons unknown earlier this week following recent protests at the Kingsbury terminal.

It bans anyone from damaging any part of the land at each of the firms sites, from affixing themselves to any other person or object on the land or parts of access roads, and from building any structure.

Valero also owns and operates sites in Manchester, Cardiff, Plymouth, and Avonmouth.

North Warwickshire Borough Council also secured a high court injunction against 18 named defendants and persons unknown on Thursday evening, giving a power of arrest outside the terminal and at the junctions of the roads leading into the zone.

On Friday, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said a number of key operators including Navigator Thames and ExxonMobil had also gained their injunctions in the last few days.

Energy Minister Greg Hands said: While we value the right to peaceful protest, it is crucial that these do not cause disruption to peoples everyday lives.

Thats why Im pleased to see oil companies taking action to secure injunctions at their sites, working with local police forces to arrest those who break the law and ensure deliveries of fuel can continue as normal.

But similar court orders against Insulate Britain activists didnt appear to have deterred them from staging disruptive protesting, with a number of activists breaking the injunctions.

Demonstrators take part in an Extinction Rebellion protest on Westminster Bridge in London on April 15, 2022. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Media)

Also on Friday, hundreds of XR activists were on Waterloo, Blackfriars, Lambeth, and Westminster bridges, calling for an end to new fossil fuel investments.

Demonstrators playing bongos and waving banners reading end fossil fuels now and love in action have been pictured facing queues of traffic headed by double-decker buses.

In a statement on Twitter, the Met said a policing operation is in place and officers are on scene and working to manage the impact.

PA Media contributed to this report.
A rescuer stands on the rubble of a building destroyed by Russian shelling, as they start searching for bodies, in Borodyanka, Kyiv region, Ukraine, on April 10, 2022. (Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

Nearly 6,700 Crimes of Aggression, War Crimes Committed During Russian Invasion of Ukraine: Prosecutor General

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General on April 15 said it had found nearly 6,700 cases of crimes of aggression and war crimes, that have been committed during Russias invasion of the country.

On Twitter, the prosecutor generals office said that 6,673 alleged crimes of aggression and war crimes have been registered as of Thursday, of which 6,483 included alleged breaking of the law and customs of war, 43 were related to planning, preparing for, or starting and waging an aggressive war and nine were connected with war propaganda.

The governmental body labeled the remaining 138 instances as other.

According to the prosecutors office, there are 575 suspects behind the main case of Russian aggression, including representatives of Russias military and political leadership.

They include ministers, deputies, military command, officials, heads of law enforcement agencies, investigators of war, and propagandists from the Kremlin, the prosecutors office said.

Meanwhile, another 3,040 crimes against national security were also announced.

Those alleged crimes included encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine, state treason, sabotage, and other.

Additionally, the office announced that there have been alleged crimes against children. A total of 198 children have been killed and 355 have been injured during the invasion, officials said.

Children in the Donetsk, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, and Zhytomyr regions, as well as the capital Kyiv, have been the most affected, the Prosecutor Generals Office said in a separate statement on Friday.

The office noted that officials are still working to collect data in areas where hostilities are ongoing, as well as temporarily occupied and liberated territories, and thus the figures are not final.

Amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russia has been accused of targeting civilians attempting to flee through so-called safe passages, as well as destroying civilian buildings, among other alleged crimes.

A mass grave is seen behind a church in the town of Bucha, northwest of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on April 3, 2022. (Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images)

The latest figures came as the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, this week traveled to Bucha in Ukraine, where officials have accused Moscow of committing terrible war crimes in the city, including killing civilians.

President Joe Biden has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of genocide in Ukraine, echoing comments made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The ICC began its investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine on March 2, a week after Russian forces invaded.

Ukraine is a crime scene. Were here because we have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC are being committed. We have to pierce the fog of war to get to the truth, Khan said in a statement during his visit this week.

Khan also said the ICC has reasonable grounds to believe crimes within its jurisdiction are being committed.

A protester holds up a photograph showing murdered civilians of the Ukrainian town of Bucha near Kyiv during a demonstration against the Russian military invasion of Ukraine in Berlin, Germany, on April 6, 2022. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Russian officials have denied killing civilians in Bucha and Kremlin officials have claimed that the scenes recorded in Bucha which attracted global attention are staged, branding it another staged performance by the Kyiv regime for the Western media.

At least 1,932 civilians have been killed and 2,589 injured in Ukraine since Russian forces entered Ukraine on Feb. 24, according to the U.N.s Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner.

The majority of those civilians injuries were caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems, and missile and airstrikes, the U.N. said on Thursday.
A refreshing, down-to-earth conversation with Dr. Robert Malone and his wife

On the April 9 episode of Headwind, Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of the mRNA technology, and his wife and best friend, Dr. Jill Glasspool-Malone, joined journalist Jakobien Huisman in Spain to discuss the ups and downs of Malones life in science and academics and how he came to terms with the maddening paradox of being the inventor of something that got into the wrong hands.

According to adverse events systems like the Vaccine Events Reporting System, the mRNA vaccines birthed from his ideas are hurting and killing people all over the world. Malone is very aware of flaws in the technology he helped create and takes time to explain the fundamental problems of mRNA technology, which, his wife believes, still exist.

[ Watch the full film here ]

Glasspool-Malone, a specialist in preclinical, regulatory, and clinical project management, said it was too early to release the gene technology

We dont know the long-term side effects. We havent evaluated the adverse events, she said.

The short indie documentary begins with a personal chat with Malone and Huisman, petting horses and sharing coffee on a remote farm in picturesque Andalucia, Spain. Unlike many of his formal coat and tie public appearances, this interview is carefully crafted to be casual and intimatewith strolls through the countryside, a picnic under olive trees, touring ancient cities to the sound of a busking accordion player, and even a horse ride toward the end.

What sets this interview apart from many is not just the beautiful setting, but the fact that we learn more about Malones partner in life. His wife of 46 years is an equal match for his intelligencea Ph.D. scientist in biotechnology and public policy expert. She is the biggest advocate for her husband, the writer and editor of all his papers, and partner in lab work.

When Malone talks of learning their profession has been corrupted, including the time when he received a cooked study from the Japanese government that broke every single rule of ethics and data practice, she was there to help him through it. She was there to hold his hand when Malone learned, like Oppenheimer discovering his work would become the atomic bomb, that Malones inventions were not going to be used for good. She stood by him when he decided to destroy his career and go public with the information.

Malone is not the only truth teller with a powerful woman at his side. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Del Bigtree, two of the old guard leaders in the health freedom movement, speak fondly of their wives who stand beside them as their reputations are being dragged through the mud.

The idea that having the courage to speak the truth in a time of intense propaganda and medical tyranny takes a kind of devoted love is what this documentary portrays artfully; afterward, the viewer cannot possibly think of Malone as a lone wolf or outlier. He is a fellow human, who wants for balance and health like we all do. The documentary takes a look at what it means to be in his unusual position, and how he plans to make amends.

As we sit with Malone, who wears jeans, a black puffy jacket, and a vintage cap, we learn he misses being on his farm and caring for his horses. He feels his core is out of shape from not riding, and he yearns for the old days of philosophizing and talking science over coffee with his wife. We learn Malone is a father, a grandfather, and a carpenter who dabbles in masonry.

Yet we hear Malone beat himself up over his past. He said he was self-absorbed when he was young. He reveals all, saying he might be on the spectrum.

Early in life he wanted more than anything to earn the approval of his folksbut he felt like they gave up on him. His wifes father became his biggest mentor. Malone describes a childhood with a bedroom room painted a patriotic red, white, and blue, with a poster of President Nixon on the back of his door. He might have gone into computer science like his father, who built computers, but decided instead to dedicate his life more to healing and doing good works.

The reason Malone bears his heart and soul is because he cant do anything but tell the truth. This is his nature. He is known for quoting the famous words of Saint Augustine, Truth is like a lion. You dont have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.

Malone was on the track of getting his Ph.D., and maybe even one day a Nobel prize from his work with the University of San Diego and the Salk Institute for Biological studies, but we learn he stopped short when an attention-hungry epidemiologist took credit for his inventions. When he went rogue to patent several more inventionsnine related to the RNA platformhe was threatened he would never get a grant again unless he stayed compliant within the American academic system. Malones wife helps him remember the painful details of a time of backstabbing and competitiveness he wanted nothing to be a part of.

As Malone and Huisman drink fresh running water from Guaro River, viewers can feel like they have the inside view of arguably the most sought after and controversial scientists of the past few yearsright up there with fellow truth tellers: Dr. Pierre Kory and Dr. Peter McCullough. This interview, Malone makes no excuses for the corruption hes seen, and he calls out the major players involved in censorship of treatments like Ivermectin in the pharmaceutical and tech industry, media, government, and even the Klaus Schwabs of the world who have gone out of their way to create the divisive narratives under the guise of One World Government.

Ive become a little sensitized to the censorship, he said, about the politicalization of outbreak responses, And you have to laugh about it or youll cry. He said people are going to great lengths to shut people up.

And its getting worse. Theyre not backing off and theres a bunch of things that I think logically lead people to imagine theres a deeper conspiracy theory going on because its so hard to explain the behavior because its so illogical, without resorting to some other ulterior motive thats not driven by standard public health policy.

Malone said he couldnt live with himself if he didnt tell the world what he knows. He has been challenging the problem of medical ethics and censorship on a global scale, and hes been adamant that children should not receive the COVID jablet alone be mandated to take it.

Just last week Malone showed up on stage in Los Angeles for the peaceful, eight-hour Defeat the Mandates rally attended by thousands in the medical freedom movement, including truckers, firefighters, police officers, military personnel, musicians, doctors, scientists, and the vaccine-injured.

Viewers learn how Malone is vaccine-injured himself and whywith all he knows about mRNA technologyhe took the vaccine and a booster in the first place.

He caught the Wuhan strain of COVID in late February of 2020.

More than a year later he took two jabs. After the second, he experienced a multitude of adverse events, including life-threatening hypertension, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, and chronic cough.

He had what is described as long-COVID. When hes asked if he would take a third jab, he says, I dont want to kill myself. But, he said, we didnt know then what we know now about the adverse events. It was all hidden.

Were all caught up in this flow of information.

Malone said even after having COVID, then taking two jabs, he caught COVID once again.

Like everyone else, he trusted the scientists who were supposed to be taking safety measures. Malone personally knew some of those scientists. Malone describes trying to fill a prescription for Ivermectin at WalMart and being turned down. He was told the pharmacy could not fill it for anything coronavirus-related.

The interview takes some deep dives into the science. When he speaks, he hopes to make the information accessible so people can use the information as tools to draw their own conclusions. He wants to empower people to think for themselves.

Spanish locals call the coronavirus el bicho which translates to little beast or bug. Malone explained that we need to look at them as self-replicating genes. They are really alive, he said. They exist as a parasite and the way they become alive is when they get into our cells.

I like to say we are the food for the virus, he said. Think of the virus as a parasitic gene that isnt truly alive, but is at the boundary of living and non-living. Its a gradientViruses are even closer to a pure gene parasitethats what they really are.

Smoothing his white beard with his thumb and forefinger, Malone theorizes on the push for vaccine development early on in the pandemic.

What I object to is the exploitation of fear around this threatirrational exploitation of fear in order to manipulate public behavior, even if its for a noble cause.

Glasspool-Malone spoke on positive movements in the scientific and medical community and how important it is to get the word out on early treatment. She described the danger of mandating mRNA technology and how hunting physicians for speaking the truth needs to end.

We do think of our own children, and we think globally, in terms of the worlds children, she said. Its important that theres protections from emergency use of authorized drugs and vaccines, and we need to think of the long-term consequences before we just deploy a product like that upon the world.

She added, If you are not following the data, the tendency is to overreact. You make things worse. And the problem with government is, once the government takes control its hard for them to give it back. And thats the fear with this pandemicits that they have these new toolsbut how are they going to use them on us in the future?

Midway through the documentary, Glasspool-Malone joins Huisman and Malone. As they sit on the wall of a tall cliff in a historic town called Ronda, Huisman says the republicans of the time threw their opponents off the cliff. They didnt have Twitter, she said.

Malone replied calmly, with a chuckle, Things could always be worse.

[ Watch the full film here ]

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter Inc., testifies at a hearing to examine foreign influence operations' use of social media platforms before the Intelligence Committee at the Capitol in Washington on Sept. 5, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

NFT of Dorseys First Tweet Auctions for Mere $280

A non-fungible token (NFT) of the first-ever tweet drew only $280 in an online auction, vastly disappointing the expectations of the investor who hoped to turn around the costly NFT for an astronomical profit.

The NFT of Twitters former CEO and co-founder Jack Dorseys tweet was first sold last year to Sina Estavi, an Iranian-born crypto entrepreneur based in Malaysia. At the time, the mysterious Estavi purchased the NFT for $2.9 million, the proceeds from which Dorsey promised to donate to CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus relief in Africa. In his own account, Estavi hoped to sell the NFT for $49 million, making a profit many times the value of his initial purchase.

Earlier this week, Estavi rejected an offer to purchase the NFT for about $280 worth of Ether, the highest bid made during the tokens auction. While offers have subsequently arisen for as much as 3.6 Ether (a little less than $11,000), the token is still far from recouping the cost of the initial investment, as even this latter figure constitutes a 99 percent decline in value in the span of a year.

The deadline I set was over, but if I get a good offer, I might accept it, I might never sell it, said Estavi in a statement to CoinDesk.

just setting up my twttr [sic], reads Dorseys original tweet, dated March 21, 2006. While the tweet is hardly on par with the short imagist poems of Ezra Pound, its apparent deficit of literary value is compensated for by its symbolic significance as the beginning of the new social mediumat least, so the Persian investor had hoped.

This is not just a tweet! I think years later people will realize the true value of this tweet, like the Mona Lisa painting, said Estavi at the time of his purchase.

Estavi did not respond to a request for comment.

Apparently hoping to salvage his investment, Estavi has taken to Twitter to entreat one potential buyer with a big name and deep pockets: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose recent involvement in and attempted acquisition of Twitter Inc. has become the talk of the town in tech.

Its not good if the owner of the whole Twitter does not own the first tweet :), said Estavi in a quote tweet of Musks initial offer. As of writing, Musk has not responded to Estavis appeal.
A memorial remembering Lillian Hyslop is seen along the road in Wentworth, N.S., on April 24, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Liam Hennessey)

Nova Scotia to Mark Two Years Since Mass Shooting With Moments of Silence

The Nova Scotia government is asking the public to come together for moments of silence in memory of the 22 people killed in a two-day shooting rampage in the province nearly two years ago.

It is asking for the observances to take place at noon on April 18 and on April 19the dates in 2020 during which the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history occurred.

The Nova Scotia legislature rose today in tribute and held a moment of silence ahead of its Easter weekend break.

Premier Tim Houston says the flags at Province House will be lowered to half-mast from sunrise on April 18 to sunset on April 19 and so will the flags at all provincial government buildings.

He says citizens, businesses and community organizations that fly flags in the province will also be encouraged to lower them to half-mast on the two dates.

The premier says legislation will be introduced this fall to establish the dates as provincial days of remembrance, after consulting with the victims families to ensure those who died are honoured appropriately.

Houston read aloud the names of the 22 victims as he addressed the legislature, saying two years have passed and the heartbreak and sorrow remain.

We cannot imagine the pain and suffering the victims families have endured, Houston said. We stand with you today and on all days.

Opposition Liberal Leader Iain Rankin said the families should know that they are not alone and that their loved ones are remembered.

There are no words to provide comfort for the anguish of having a loved one torn away from them, Rankin said. All Nova Scotians grieve with you today and always.

NDP Leader Gary Burrill said the planned observances will enable people to say by gesture what is almost impossible to find an adequate way to say in words.

From the deepest place within us, we mark these days, Burrill said.
NYC Starts Issuing Final Notices of Termination to Police Officers Who Refuse COVID Vaccines

Amid soaring serious crime in NYC, an unspecified number of police officers that work in the city had their vaccine exemptions denied on April 12, the same day that a mass shooting occurred on a Brooklyn subway train.

These police officers were given seven days to get the jab or they will be placed on leave without pay.

Many of them are resigning so that they can keep their pensions, police officers told The Epoch Times.

Reasonable accommodation for vaccine exemption denial for NYC police officer. (via The Epoch Times)

New York City mayor Eric Adams announced in February that about 1,400 city workers were fired for failing to comply with the citys vaccine mandate.

The citys been kicking around a number of approximately 1,400 terminations of city workers. That number is inaccurate. Its a misrepresentation of the truth. The number is far greater than that. The truth is that the city is not terminating anybody because they are putting us in a position to coerce us into resignation, Nicholas Smith, a law enforcement officer in New York City told The Epoch Times.

And at that point  we arent considered terminated employees. By their standards, we voluntarily resigned. But theres nothing voluntary about what were dealing with. I only want to work for the people in New York.

Smith submitted a reasonable accommodation request on sincere religious belief grounds in October last year, which was denied a couple of weeks before Christmas.

He then filed an appeal which was denied on April 12.

That appeals determination states that I have seven days to submit proof of vaccination or I will be placed on leave without pay and ultimately terminated, he said.

I feel as though injustice is being done on myself and other members of this city. I understand the perspective that people may feel as though as a civil servant its my duty to disregard my beliefs in service of the city, but Im here to offer another perspective that its my duty to protect the civil liberties of New Yorkers as a civil servant. And thats what Im trying to do here. Im trying to protect myself, my family, and New Yorkers that I serve, Smith said.

He understands that the mayor, members of the public, and those who are reviewing the accommodation requests are in a difficult position.

The city is talking about bolstering the presence of law enforcement in public settings to protect the people of New York, yet at the very same time at least 180 received notification that they would be terminated in approximately seven days.

I didnt even get to speak to a real live person to express my sincerity on this topic, Smith said.

He is happy that the NYC athletes and performers got exempted from the vaccine but feels terrible for the employees of the same organizations that work in the same buildings as the performers and athletes, and ironically are not able to do their jobs.

Its without a doubt, a hypocritical policy and it goes beyond the fact that those individuals are not in close contact with the stadium because as we saw, Kyrie Irving was able to walk amongst the fans in the Barclay Center, despite not being allowed on the court.

N.Y.C. Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference at a Manhattan subway station where the two politicians announced a new plan to fight homelessness in N.Y., on Jan. 6, 2022. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

On March 26, Adams denied accusations of being lobbied by economic groups to nullify the mandate for athletes.

During an appearance on CBS New York, Adams said If you love law enforcement the way I love [it] youre not gonna allow a COVID shot to get in the way.

Lawsuit Filed

In a lawsuit filed by New Yorks Police Benevolent Association on behalf of its members against the city, it states that Approximately 6,500 NYPD employees filed accommodation requests, and that The City has terminated more than 1,400 employees pursuant to the Termination Requirement, which includes not less than 36 NYPD personnel, including police officers. (pdf)

Arthur Roldan told The Epoch Times that he is an NYC Police Officer who has been working with them for 16 years and is pending termination for rejecting the vaccine.

They will say they didnt fire cops and that it is our choice to quit, retire, or be fired. [But] the reality is the majority are vesting out (early retirement only partial pension) under duress to protect their pensions and benefits, Roldan told The Epoch Times via email.

Its indirectly firing us by coercing us. When it comes to keeping the smaller partial pension and benefits or getting fired and losing everything, most cops will choose to leave early on their own, he said.

There will be an impact and an extra increase in crime because of the shortage in manpower. Crime rates are drastically up and losing cops will not help lower that crime rate. Between the people vesting out under duress and you also have a huge post 9/11 class thats eligible to retire.

Protestors against vaccine mandates gather in Flushing, New York, on Mar 29, 2022. (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

Carin Rosado, a 10-year NYC paramedic who was terminated on Feb. 11 for not taking the jabs, is thinking about seeking employment as an actress, to play as a paramedic.

In the beginning, she wanted some time to see if there were going to be any adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccines.

Im not anti-vaccines. I have all the vaccines from when I was a kid, obviously. So it wasnt that, but as the mandate came down, and I saw the fear  the coercion, giving people money to get shots, telling people this is the only way they can keep their jobthat pushed me farther and farther away from wanting the shot, Rosado told The Epoch Times, almost crying.

Many nurses across the country decided not to take the vaccine, even if they had to lose the job they loved.

I want people to know that were more than just our titles. You know, we are humans, she further commented, We are part of families. A lot of people did not realize that while everybody was on leave without pay, [we] werent allowed to work. So theres no money coming in [from] any angle.

Rosado has been applying to paramedic jobs but they have been asking for vaccination proof.

At this point, I think Im gonna start applying to acting jobs if I could act as a paramedic in the show. I guess I could work that way, right? she said.

If performers and entertainers can work let me work as an entertaining paramedic. Sounds like a joke, but if thats the only way I could work, why not give it a shot, right?

In November last year, FDNY members told The Epoch Times that manpower shortages were causing alarmingly low firetruck availability due to many of them being sent home without pay for rejecting the jabs.

Mayor Adams has expressed a commitment to fairness and equality and the revitalization of our local economy. Yet, the question of when all of New York Citys essential workers can return to their respective arenas remains unanswered, Matt Connor, a spokesperson for Bravest for Choice, said in a statement.

Joe Borelli, NYC Council minority leader said in a statement, In the last two days, 375 NYPD more officers were denied medical or religious exemptions to our vaccine mandate, and there are 5,400 applications still pending. This is over 15 percent of the police department.

The NYPD, PBA, SBA, DBA, and NYC Mayors Office did not respond to a request for comment.
OC Sheriff Honors 23 Heroes at Medal of Valor Ceremony

ANAHEIM, Calif.The Orange County Sheriffs Department honored 24 individuals who went above and beyond the call of duty at the departments 34th annual medal of valor ceremony.

Each of the honorees received a medal for actions such as lifesaving, courage, and merit, as well as a distinguished deputy award, with a surprise Sheriffs award at the end of the ceremony for a civilian woman who helped save a boy after he was kidnapped.

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes speaks to audience members attending the Orange County Sheriffs Department awards ceremony celebration in Anaheim, Calif., on April 14, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Attendees of the eventheld at the Hilton in Anaheimwere comprised of deputies and their family members. They were shown videos of deputies detailing their medal-worthy acts.

Following each video presentation, the awardees went on stage where they were personally awarded their medals by Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes.

What you heard today is just a fraction of the tremendous work accomplished every day by the Orange County Sheriffs Departments 4,000 members, Barnes said at the event on April 14. Each day we have an opportunity to serve, and as your sheriff, I cant be more proud than I am to be here today working with this great team of people.

For the lifesaving medal, 15 deputies received it based on eight different events, which included rescuing a prison inmate from suicide after he attempted to jump off a second-story railing with a sheet tied around his neck, a deputy saving a fellow deputy from fentanyl exposure, a deputy saving a teenage boy following a sudden cardiac event at his home, rescuing a man trapped under a car.

For the medal of courage, five deputies received the medal based on three different events, including rescuing a man off a cliff in Dana Point using an extension cord he found nearby, rescuing a couple from a capsized boat, and rescuing a family from a fire at a condominium complex fully engulfed in flames.

Deputies John Anderson (R) and Kevin Shively receive medals for courage at the Orange County Sheriffs Department awards ceremony celebration in Anaheim, Calif., on April 14, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

For the metal of merit, two investigators received it after tracking down a suspect who had attacked an elderly couple, by robbing them of their money and vehicle after holding a knife to the mans throat and shoving the woman.

The distinguished deputy award was given to Capt. Ash Abdelmuti, who has been with the department since 1999. Abdelmuti was described by colleagues as a deputy who puts his all into every position he served with the department.

The finale of the event was when the Sheriffs Award was given to Julia Bonin, a Dana Point resident who helped deputies find 3-year-old Noah Clare after he was kidnapped from Tennessee by his father and brought to San Clemente.

Awards for deputies of the Orange County Sheriffs Department sit on a table of the Hilton Hotel in Anaheim, Calif., on April 14, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

In mid-November 2021, Bonin said she might have spotted young Noah with his father while on her way to her sons middle school at Doheny State Park, a boy resembling the description on an amber alert which was national news.

After arriving to her sons school, she told her son she had a gut feeling that she had to return to the park, which she did.

She found the boy with his father, called dispatch, and waited nearby and watched until deputies showed up and arrested the father.

The story of Julie Bonin willingness to trust her instincts is something that we dont see happening very much in our culture today, Sheriff Barnes said. She is an exemplary example of what the community should be, and the community we need it to be, and the partnership we enjoy here in Orange County.

After Barnes gave her the medal, young Noah, the boy she helped to save, suddenly came on stage with his mother, a total surprise to Bonin. Noah ran into Bonins arms and the three hugged on stage.

Recipient of the Sheriffs Award Julia Bonin is surprised to see formerly kidnapped child Noah Clare, whom she assisted in rescuing, at the Orange County Sheriffs Department awards ceremony celebration in Anaheim, Calif., on April 14, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
The flag of the State on April 14, 2022. (Patrick Butler/The Epoch Times)

Parent Empowerment Tour Providing CRT Information in Texas Before School Board Elections

A conservative group is launching a Parent Empowerment Tour in April, prior to Texas May school board elections.

In a statement released by Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), the group said the tour would provide essential information about the nature of Critical Race Theory (CRT), a flashpoint in Texas education policies.

The tour runs from April 2028 and will also feature political candidates for Texas House and Senate seats.

The Texas House has been an obstacle to passing legislation supported by the more conservative Texas Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in March.

Critical Race Theory has come under fire across the nation from conservative parent groups, state legislators, and the countrys highest elected officials.

In 2020, then-president Donald Trump restricted federal employees from using any training that includes CRT or white privilege, identifying the idea as a type of propaganda.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 3979 in June of 2021, outlining how the states public school teachers may approach current events and Americas history of racism in the classroom.

Abbotts signature made Texas one of the first states in the nation to pass legislation restricting the teaching of CRT in K-12 public school classrooms.

The Texas Bill reads, in part;

No teacher, administrator, or other employee in any state agency, school district, campus, open-enrollment charter school, or school administration shall require, or make part of a course the following concepts;

That one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.

That an individuals moral character is necessarily determined by his or her race or sex or that an individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex.

That any individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex, or that meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist or were created by members of a particular race to oppress members of another race.

The TPPF, whose motto is Freedom, Prosperity, and Opportunity, said in a news release that it will also supply information on school choice to remove Texas legislative barriers that limit where parents can choose to send their kids to school.

The free tour, running through four Texas cities, features speakers from the foundation, along with various political candidates for political offices, such as Laura Hill and Nate Schatzline who are both running to represent House districts in north Texas.

Hill and Schatzline will speak at the April 20 lunchtime event, in Trophy Club, Texas.

Hill is a former mayor of Southlake, Texas, which has a population of 32,000 and is a suburb of the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

Schatzline, a former pastor, is the founder of For Liberty and Justice an organization dedicated to mobilizing the local church to see reformation in government, according to his campaign website.

He is also the director of operations for The Justice Reform, described as an anti-trafficking organization based in Fort Worth.

On her campaign website, Hill wrote, As a former mayor, I have first-hand experience fighting back against the Critical Race Theory agenda that pits neighbor against neighbor, divides where no division exists, and poisons thought rather than teaches shared human values.

The American Dream is open and accessible to all who are willing to work hard. That starts with investing in a great education for our students, keeping politicized curriculums out of the classroom, and ensuring our schools stay open for in-person learning.

The tour has stops in Trophy Club, McKinney, Floresville, and north San Antonio, Texas.
Pennsylvania Senate Votes to End Ballot Drop-Boxes

The Pennsylvania Senate this week approved legislation preventing the future use of unsecured ballot drop-boxes. The vote was 29-20, along party lines. Republicans have the majority in the House and Senate.

The measure comes after evidence of fraudulent voting methods used in Pennsylvanias October 2021 general election, documented to Senate members in videos and in a letter written by Lehigh County, District Attorney James B. Martin.

In an April 4, 2022 letter to the Election Board of Lehigh County, Martin described an investigation county detectives conducted at the urging of the Lehigh County Republican Committee, that found hundreds of people put multiple ballots into unmanned drop-boxes. Videos show individuals in Lehigh and Lackawanna counties putting as many as five ballots in drop-boxes.

Pennsylvania law requires a voter to send an absentee ballot by mail or deliver it personally.

Pennsylvania Democrat Gov. Tom Wolfs wife Frances famously broke this law in the October 2021 election, when she deposited her own ballot along with her husbands ballot in a York County ballot drop-box. The vote was later casually disclosed by Wolf when he mentioned it on a radio talk show. He later called it an honest mistake.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf speaking in Allentown, Penn. on Nov. 4, 2021. (Commonwealth Media Service)

Having someone else deliver the ballot is considered election fraud, punishable by a $1,000 fine and a year in prison. The exception is voters with a disability, who may have someone else deliver their ballot if they get prior approval.

Drop boxes are new in the state; they are one of the measures that came out of Act 77, which became law on Oct. 31, 2019. Act 77 allowed for no-excuse absentee voting. After that, the Pennsylvania Department of state fought to have drop-boxes installed to accept ballots, in part for COVID-19 mitigation. The state Supreme Court allowed it.

The Lehigh County Election Board had five drop-boxes, one in each county commissioners district. Each ballot box was under video surveillance.

Reviewing the video was a tedious and time-consuming job, Martin wrote in his letter. An attempt was made to observe the video for the entire time period between October 18 and November 2, for the drop-box located at the Lehigh County Government Center. One detective spent eight full work days doing this.

The detective counted 2,756 people dropping ballots and was able to confirm 186 instances where more than one ballot was dropped by an individual, Martin said, describing it as an inexact science because sometimes, with ballots possibly stacked on top of one another looking like a single ballot, it was impossible to tell whether more than one ballot was being dropped.

Although 2,756 persons were counted at the ballot box, 3,695 ballots were placed in this drop-box, a difference of 939 more ballots than voters.

Because of the time-consuming nature of the task, and the results observed, the other locations were reviewed by sampling and offered similar results.

Although it cannot be determined with precision by review of the video surveillance, it can be stated with a high degree of certainty that a large number of voters deposited more than one ballot in the drop-boxes, Martin said. By count of the detectives at the four locations, there were a total of 4,026 voters observed, and 288 are confirmed as having been observed dropping more than one ballot.

Detectives observed at least 7.1 percent of voters deposited more than one ballot. Because of COVID-19 masks and poor video quality, most cannot be identified. Martin said it would not be fair to prosecute the few who could be identified, and he noted that Mrs. Wolf had not been prosecuted.

Clearly the provisions of the Election Code provide that an absentee ballot or a mail-in ballot shall be delivered either by depositing the same in the United States Mail or by delivering it in person. Further, it is clear that each voter shall mail his or her own ballot himself or herself and deliver only his or her own ballot in person, Martin said. It is also abundantly clear that those provisions of the law are being breached by large numbers of voters.

Senate Bill 1200 requires mail-in ballots that are not returned in the mail to be returned only to the County Board of Elections office, which eliminates drop-boxes. The legislation is sponsored by Republican senators Cris Dush, Ryan Aument, Kim Ward, and Jake Corman who is running for governor.

Drop-boxes are the least secure way to vote, Dush said in a statement. Because drop-boxes were written into law by the courts, the Senate is now taking steps to mitigate the negative effects of that action and restore the integrity of our elections.

The Senate also voted to ban private money funding election operations. Senate Bill 982, sponsored by Republican senators Lisa Baker and Kristin Phillips-Hill bans any state employee or county from accepting money from outside groups to pay for the administration of Pennsylvania elections. The bill was approved 37-12 with bipartisan support.

The legislation was created in response to the use of grant money from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) during the 2020 Election. This money is also known as Zuckerbucks. Communications between CTCL officials, the Wolf administration, and county officials show funding was intentionally directed predominantly to counties that favor Democrats, a statement from the sponsoring senators said.

Our legislation offers a direct, straight-forward clarification to the Pennsylvania Election Code, Baker said in the statement. Senate Bill 982 simply states what all of us understood to be factgovernment should pay for elections. Voters, taxpayers, and citizens alike deserve the most fair and equitable election system. It should be uniform from one county to the next regardless of size, demographics, or wealth.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman issued a separate statement.

We cannot claim to have free and fair elections when we know a large number of ballots are being cast illegally with the financial backing of partisan interests. Lawmakers have a responsibility to uphold the Constitution and ensure fair and equal representation for our citizens. Although we still have work to do to reach this goal, these bills bring us closer to making this mission a reality, Corman said. People who are falsely claiming these bills somehow infringe on the rights of Pennsylvanians are dead wrong. Preventing the use of unsecured drop boxes  which the Legislature never authorized in the first placedoes not diminish opportunities for Pennsylvanians to participate in our elections whatsoever.

The bills now go to the House, where similar bills are being considered.

Wolfs office has said he is opposed to the bills.

If Wolf vetoes either bill, Corman vows he will do everything in his power under the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions to provide this necessary level of security of our election process.
Philippines Duterte Vetoes Bill That Would Criminalize Anonymous Social Media Accounts

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed a proposed law on April 15 that seeks to mandate the registration of SIM cards and social media accounts with the users legal identities, citing the need for a more thorough review of the measure.

The bill, ratified by the Congress of the Philippines in February, would require anyone creating social media accounts to register with their real names and phone numbers, and anyone failing to do so would face a fine of 200,000 Philippine pesos (about $3,832) or a six-year imprisonment.

The bill also seeks to mandate public telecommunications entities to require mobile phone users to register with their valid identification and a photo before their SIM cards can be activated, the Philippine News Agency reported.

The president has decided to veto the consolidated Senate Bill No. 2395/House Bill No. 5793, which seeks to mandate the registration of all SIM cards and social media accounts, acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar said.

Andanar said that while Duterte acknowledged the need to deter electronic communication-aided crimes, he was constrained to disagree with the inclusion of social media in the measure, without providing proper guidelines and definitions.

The president similarly found that certain aspects of state intrusion, or the regulation thereof, have not been duly defined, discussed, or threshed out in the enrolled bill, with regard to social media registration, Andanar said.

The president noted that the inclusion of social media providers in the registration requirement was not part of the original version of the bill and needs a more thorough study, Andanar added.

Duterte was concerned that the lack of guidelines may give rise to a situation of dangerous state intrusion and surveillance threatening many constitutionally protected rights, according to Andanar.

It is incumbent upon the Office of the President to ensure that any statute is consistent with the demands of the Constitution, such as those which guarantee individual privacy and free speech, he said.

This notwithstanding, we ask Congress not to lose heart in passing effective and strengthened measures that offer our citizens a safe and secure online environment, provided that the same would stand judicial scrutiny, Andanar added.

Lawmakers had approved the measure earlier in 2022 as they sought to thwart what they described as online abuse and misinformation from anonymous accounts, especially in the run up to the May 9 general election. But with Dutertes veto, the bill is unlikely to be passed before voters go to the polls.

Dutertes election victory in 2016 was partly attributed to a well-organized social media campaign, but critics have blamed pro-Duterte trolls and influencers for spreading alleged misinformation to discredit and threaten opponents.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Aside from its largely unimaginative title (Megan and Rex would have been far better) and the questionable use of a single naughty word, Megan Leavey is a family friendly film which will cause everyone with a pulse to weep with both sorrow and joy. Youll witness someone overcoming personal adversity all while in the company of a domesticated animal with more dedication, honor, and moral fiber than the majority of humans.

Two of the best movies of 2017 were low-budget character studies with female leads, which slightly hindered their respective audience appeal because of the inclusion of a vulgar word. As allowed by the MPAA, every PG-13 movie can use this particular word exactly once and as with Gifted (recently reviewed here); Megan Leavey does so without warrant, reason, or serving any useful purpose.

Kate Mara (C) as Meagan Leavey in Meagan Leavey. (Bleecker Street)

Bottomed Out

Megan (Kate Mara) is a New York woman with zero direction in life, who, as the film opens, gets fired from a menial job for showing up to work too often while hung-over. Her relationships with her well-intended mother Jackie (Edie Falco) and lout of a stepfather Jim (Will Patton) also leave a lot to be desired. Shes one step away from offing herself and, in a last-ditch attempt at finding redemption, she chooses to enlist in the Marines.

In a manner not unlike that seen in Private Benjamin or An Officer and a Gentleman, Megan almost immediately regrets her decision until she lays eyes on Rex, a German shepherd being trained to sniff out bombs in war zones. Rex is highly attuned and is groomed to recognize both fear and aggressiveness (read: terroristic intent) and senses the former in Megan. After a series of events involving another handler and her commanding officer Massey (Common), Megan is afforded the opportunity to partner with Rex.

Respects American Veterans

At this point, were practically halfway through the almost two-hour film and get the feeling that director Gabriela Cowperthwaite and her four screenwriters might just be treading water. In retrospect, the filmmakers deftly lay the groundwork for an emotionally draining second half which not only brings a newfound perspective to modern warfare but also gives us insight into the current, totally avoidable red-tape roadblocks regarding veterans affairs and stateside life after military service.

Kate Mara as Meagan Leavey and Rex in Meagan Leavey. (Bleecker Street)

This was an interesting and logical follow up for Cowperthwaite, whose Blackfish was a brilliant documentary exploring the relationship between zoo personnel and Orca whales. While the tone of that film was largely unfavorableit was firmly anti-animal captivitythe exact opposite is the case in Megan Leavey, although some animal rights activists might argue otherwise. What Cowperthwaite and the writers make beyond clear is the care and respect service animals receive from armed forces personnel while also pointing out the frequent, downright idiocy of the civilian-controlled military bureaucracy.

Staunchly Apolitical

The filmmakers also get high marks for steadfastly avoiding politics, the usual ham-handed stylistic flourishes and emotional manipulation found in most war films in general and virtually all of the ones set in Afghanistan and Iraq, in particular. This is an instance where less is more is exactly that and is far more effective than the relentless assault on the senses we get from similarly themed productions.

Depending on your own interpretation, Megan Leavey might not even qualify as a war movie as less than 20 per cent of the running time involves battle scenes. In taking a page from director Kathryn Bigelows multiple Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, the filmmakers put the bulk of their focus on what happens after the dust has cleared when soldiers return home and have difficulty readjusting to life.

Again, without hammering us over the head, the movie points out the downright boneheaded shortsightedness of people in positions of power, and how, with very little effort, these same folks could exponentially improve the lives of the selfless young people who, without thanks, put their lives on the line for us every day.

Non-Spoiler Alerts

Time now for a few non-spoiler alerts in case you want to watch the movie with your teen children or anyone easily rattled. First, unless your progeny is mature beyond their years and emotionally unflappable, viewing would not be recommendable for anyone under the age of 10.

The aforementioned vulgarity drops during a nighttime dinner scene between Yankee fan Megan and fellow soldier Matt Morales (Ramon Rodriguez), a fellow New Yorker whose love of the Mets provides mostly friendly reoccurring kibitzing.

The most intense scene in the movie takes place at about the 80-minute mark while Megan and Rex are identifying and marking buried IED bombs. When the action switches over to slow motion: brace yourself. Thats about all that can be revealed without totally giving everything away.

As with Gifted, Megan Leavey is the type of movie parents say they want but, when actually right before them and they see tough things happening, they suddenly find something else for the kids to do. The film teaches, educates, enlightens, and entertains, and does so in a straightforward manner while imparting lessons on personal responsibility and sacrifice. Work hard, stay focused, believe in a noble cause and its likely you will succeed.

The real Meagan Leavey and Rex on whose life Meagan Leavey was based. (Bleecker Street)

Just when you think it will break it, Megan Leavey will instead completely melt your heart.

Megan Leavey

Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite

Stars: Kate Mara, Edie Falco, Common, Ramon Rodriguez, Bradley Whitford, Will Patton

Running Time: 1 hour, 56 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Release Date: June 9, 2017

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Prominent Democrat Donor Ed Buck Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison

A longtime donor to prominent Democrats was sentenced on April 14 to 30 years in prison.

Edward Buck, 67, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder approximately nine months after he was found guilty of nine felony counts involving the overdose deaths of two men.

This defendant preyed upon vulnerable victimsmen who were drug-dependent and often without homesto feed an obsession that led to death and misery, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Tracy Wilkison said in a statement.

Mr. Buck continues to pose a clear danger to society, as evidenced by him continuing to lure men to his apartment, even after he killed two men with lethal methamphetamine injections. The sentence imposed today will protect other potential victims and hopefully will bring some solace to the families of two men who needlessly died in Mr. Bucks apartment, Wilkison added.

According to court papers, Buck for years through 2019 engaged in what authorities called a pattern of party and play, which saw the businessman solicit men, some of whom were homeless and struggling with drug addiction, to consume drugs he provided and engage in sexual activities at his apartment in Los Angeles.

In some cases, Buck injected victims with drugs.

Prosecutors had urged Snyder to impose a life sentence, arguing in a memorandum that Buck is a proven recidivist who remained undeterred after his reckless actions resulted in a first death, a second death, and a third overdose requiring hospitalization.

Life imprisonment is the only way to ensure the communitys safety from Bucks criminal conduct, they said.

LaTisha Nixon, the mother of Gemmel Moore, a man who was found dead in Bucks home, told the court in a letter that she was devastated by her sons death and called for giving Buck the longest sentence allowed by law.

Lawyers for the defendant countered that Buck had a highly traumatic and difficult childhood and adolescence, including being sexually abused by his father and clergy members at his church, and spent the bulk of his life dedicated to political and charitable causes before becoming addicted to drugs, which they blamed for his crimes.

Thus, the court should impose a below-guidelines sentence to give Mr. Buck the opportunity to rehabilitate and obtain treatment for the underlying issues which led to his involvement in the instant case, and to eventually reintegrate into society rather than receiving a sentence that effectively amounts to him dying in prison, the lawyers said.

Buck was a longtime donor to top Democrat candidates, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign.

Snyder, the judge, was appointed by Clintons husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Buck also donated to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama and Reps. Adam Schuff (D-Calif.) and Ted Lieu (D-Calif.).

A restitution hearing in the case is scheduled for May 16.
Quebec Has Been Canadas Worst Violator of Rights During Pandemic, Says Legal Advocacy Group

Among the Canadian provinces and territories, Quebec has been the worst violator of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms during the pandemic, says a report released by a civil liberties advocacy group on April 14.

Between its curfews, border closures, cavalier treatment of religious sensitivities, and outright hostility to unvaccinated Canadians, Quebec was easily the worst offender of freedoms guaranteed by the Charter and the worst place to live in Canada, says the report, issued by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF).

Titled Who had the worst bunk in Canadas locked down barracks? the report was released as the 40th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms approaches on April 17.

Although Quebec was the worst violator, the report found that none of the provinces respected Canadians charter rights amid the pandemic.

Seeing the severe and widespread violations of Charter freedoms in the past two years, often with apparent public support, is particularly tragic as we mark the Charters 40th Anniversary this Easter weekend, said lawyer and JCCF president John Carpay in a news release.

The report says provincial governments violated Canadians Charter rights similarly at the onset of the pandemic, but as time went by, policies diverged and citizens were left experiencing different circumstances.

In measures seen nowhere else, Quebec at one point announced it would tax the unvaccinated and it prevented them from shopping in state-owned liquor and cannabis stores, as well as big-box stores. The tax idea was dropped a few weeks after being announced, with Premier Francois Legault citing the need to preserve social peace.

While the JCCF says Ontario fared better than Quebec and avoided the worst excesses of other provinces, it criticized its Soviet-style enforcement of stay-at-home orders with random police stops.

Ontario is also criticized for closing its borders with Quebec and Manitoba, keeping schools closed for the longest period, and prosecuting and fining pastors and congregations that defied restrictions. The JCCF notes however that, unlike Alberta, Ontario didnt jail anyone.

Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church, pastor Timothy Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, and Calgary Street Church minister Artur Pawlowski have all spent time behind bars in Alberta for defying public health orders and advocating freedom of religion.

Jailed pastors were deprived of their Charter right to life, liberty, and security of the person, for having exercised their Charter freedoms of conscience, religion, expression, association, and peaceful assembly, says the report.

Outside the freedom of religion issue, Alberta is still considered to have been among the better provinces, along with Saskatchewan, says the JCCF, with centre-right premiers less committed to lockdowns.

All-in-all, it appears that Saskatchewans violations of Charter rights and freedoms were the least severe in Canada. If true, this is no cause for Saskatchewan or its people to celebrate, because in every Canadian province the two weeks to flatten the curve became two years to flatten our freedoms.

Regarding the Maritime provinces, the report says residents had more freedom to move in the Atlantic bubble, but severe hardship was imposed on those needing to work in other provinces.

B.C. gets a hard knock for having violated freedom of religion by closing places of worship for 14 months, and is deemed the second-worst rights abuser after Quebec. Manitoba follows closely behind, says the JCCF, having infringed on religious freedom and mobility rights.
Return Thomas Jefferson Statues to Their Rightful Place

Commentary

On Thomas Jeffersons birthday, we should take our cue from the Tulsa Star, a now-defunct black newspaper. Its masthead from 1920 included statements of religious and political faith, including a paraphrase from the Declaration of Independence: All men are born equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It went on to state: We believe in the principles of true Democracy as promulgated by the patriot, Thomas Jefferson, and without fear or favor we will be found at all times fighting for an honest, impartial application of these principles to all men regardless of race or color.

Its notable that such a statement of allegiance to Jeffersonian principles appeared at a point in our nations history when segregation and discrimination remained entrenchedand enforced, in some places, by roving gangs wearing white sheets. But it was also the time of the New Negro, a time of assertiveness after black men had proven (once again) their fighting abilities on the field of battle, this time in World War I. A new class of businessmen and writers was making its mark on Harlem. And the NAACP was working with the nations best legal minds in an attempt to put the words of Jeffersons Declaration into action and move the country toward observing the post-Civil War amendments to the Constitution.

The Tulsa Stars statement expressed the ideals of the eras black leaders. They knew that Jefferson had been a slaveowner. Yet Jefferson was for them the Apostle of Liberty. Nonetheless, they understood that apostles are not perfect.

In the secular sense, per Merriam-Webster, an apostle is a person who initiates a great moral reform or who first advocates an important belief or system. Jeffersons words in the Declaration inspired a worldwide movement for freedom and equality, including 19th-century abolitionist movements. When blacks filed suits for freedom in the post-Revolutionary War period, they drew upon the Declarations stirring words.

It wasnt until decades after Jeffersons words were written on the Tulsa Stars masthead that federal laws ensuring racial equality were enacted. As Shelby Steele has related from his own boyhood, in some regions blacks had to rely on personal networks just to find a restaurant, hotel, or bathroom. I did not understand the reality of such disparate treatment until the late 1980s, when, on a trip to the Atlanta Zoo with my sons preschool class, I was told by one of the caregivers, a middle-aged black woman, that at one time she was not allowed to enter that zoo. Though I had known long before then that segregation was the law in the 1950s and early 1960s, her remark brought this history home to me.

The ideals associated with 1776 came under fierce attack in 2019. A special issue of the New York Times, announcing the 1619 Project, set the nation astir, getting not just academics but ordinary citizens questioning the American Founding. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the projects creator, presented a twisted biography of Jefferson in an attempt to undermine the nations aspirational principles. Unlike the editors of the Tulsa Star, Hannah-Jones viewed Jefferson as the hypocritical head of forced-labor camps who fathered the children of his slave, Sally Hemings. She maintained that the United States was a slavocracy built on the backs of slaves.

Attacks against Jefferson are nothing new. In the late 1990s, historian Annette Gordon-Reed continued a project begun by Fawn Brodie of smearing Jefferson in works that abandoned standards of historical scholarship, including altering evidence. Gordon-Reed deleted critically important words from one of Jeffersons letters, ignored other evidence, and berated readers as racists if they questioned her claims. Even after DNA testing showed only a slight possibility that Jefferson had fathered one of Hemingss children, and several prominent historians determined that the circumstances made that likelihood minuscule, Gordon-Reed, who will be honored with the opening of Annette Gordon-Reed Elementary in her hometown in east Texas, continues to perpetuate the allegation.

Even the nonprofit that maintains Jeffersons estate, Monticello, follows along. As I discovered during a recent visit, the Monticello websites claim that Jefferson fathered at least six of Sally Hemingss children is repeated in displays and by tour guides. Though the tours themes, displays, and educational materials already heavily emphasize slavery, our tour guide added verbal harangues. She lectured us about the hypocrisy of Jeffersons words about all men being created equal at a time when women, black men, Native Americans, and the poor could not vote.

The drumbeat of such vilification is bound to have an effect. In 2020, after the death of George Floyd, Jefferson became a prominent target in what some have called the 1619 Riots.

Outside a Portland, Oregon high school, a statue of Jefferson was pulled down with bungee cords, its empty base spray-painted with the words slave owner. Hofstra University moved its Jefferson statue to an out-of-the-way place on campus. In Decatur, Georgia, after a protestor held up a sign calling Jefferson a rapist, a statue of Jefferson holding a pen above a writing table near the courthouse had to be removed. Proposals to rename schools bearing Jeffersons name proliferated around the country. In November, Jeffersons statue was removed from City Hall in New York and exiled to the New York Historical Society.

The attacks on Jefferson monuments are more than attacks on Jefferson the man. They are attacks on our American principles. It is no coincidence that those calling for the removal of Jeffersons likeness are often the same people who reject longstanding American principles and embrace critical race theory, which teaches that rights emanate from the government and are determined by group membership. The principle of equal rightswhich animates laws that make it illegal to deny public accommodation based on raceare now under threat.

In the past two years, the outlook that underpins critical race theory has spread broadly in American life. Some medical professionals and political leaders have put nonwhite groups at the head of the line to receive Covid-19 vaccines. Such irrational and harmful practicesdetermining access to medical treatment by group characteristicsarise from the Marxist ideology propelling critical race theory.

Those who favor such policies believe that they will always be the beneficiaries of thembut they should think again. When rights are endowed by the state, and notas in Jeffersons Declarationby the creator, they can be removed on a whim. We have seen this happen in history. Those who have lived in Communist regimes have experienced it personally.

The images of toppled Thomas Jefferson statues may prefigure a nation succumbing to what my parents and relatives fled from and what American civil rights leaders fought to eradicate. We should heed the words of the Tulsa Starnot those of the 1619 Project. And we should return the statues of Jefferson to their pedestals, so that his image can remind us of his words and the principles for which they stand.

From RealClearWire

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Road Trip: See Californias Socialist Failures as Historical Landmarks

Commentary

Its campaign season and Im receiving plenty of political fundraising mail. One technique that I personally dont care for, and never respond to, is the request to fill out a survey and mail it back, with a generous check, in the envelope provided.

One recently had the following question: Do you agree that Socialism has never worked anywhere it has been tried?

Being a California history buff and recently enjoying a road trip where I passed nearby two state historical landmarks that acknowledged attempts at socialism in our state, I thought it would be interesting to briefly share these experiences.

The first, Landmark Number 389, is in the Sequoia National Forest area and was known as the Kaweah Colony. Its plaque states the following:

The Kaweah cooperative colony was a utopian project started in 1886. For several years it attracted international attention, many settlers came here and actually did much to further their ideals. Unable to secure title to the land, and experiencing internal difficulties, the organization ceased to exist after 1892, leaving the Kaweah Post Office as one of its tangible reminders.

A landmark closer to Orange County is just over the Cajon Pass. Its Landmark Number 933, the site of the Llano Del Rio Cooperative Colony, off of Highway 138, also known as the Pearblossom Highway, at P.M. 64.1.

The site of the Llano Del Rio Cooperative Colony. (Binksternet/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Unfortunately, the state has not erected a plaque at this site. But, if it did, this is what it would read:

This was the site of the most important non-religious Utopian experiments in western American history. Its founder, Job Harriman, was Eugene Debs running mate in the presidential election of 1900. In subsequent years, Harriman became an influential socialist leader and in 1911 was almost elected mayor of Los Angeles. At its height in 1916, the colony contained a thousand members and was a flourishing communitarian experiment dedicated to the principal of cooperation rather than competition.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary has the following definition for utopian socialism: socialism based on a belief that social ownership of the means of production can be achieved by voluntary and peaceful surrender of their holdings by propertied groups.

Because of its location, the demise of the Kaweah Colony is blamed on the establishment of the Sequoia National Park. But it was crumbling long before these squatters were escorted off property that was converted to public land for future preservation.

The main source of revenue was lumbering, in competition with the private sector. But anyone who has ever visited the Sequoias and has at least one conservationist bone would be thankful that the Colony had to leave.

Growing enough food on which to survive was also a problem. The hard truth is that the members of the cooperative were dependent on outside financial contributions.

The major observation was that with socialism, one is not compensated based on quantifiable measurements of what is produced. When housing and meals are not dependent on how much one worked, then many members wont work that much, which led to the inevitable dissension and internal difficulties.

Internal political turmoil and an unassured food supply seems to be a similar theme for Llano as well. It was also dependent on outside financial assistance.

In their book, Bread & Hyacinths: The Rise and Fall of Utopian Los Angeles, Paul Greenstein, Nigey Lennon and Lionel Rolfe note that the colony difficulties had their roots in leadership struggles.

A corporate structure, with a domineering board, did not seem to satisfy the democratic process desired by the members. The resulting strife was too much. Instead of being a showpiece for capitalists to observe the potential benefits of socialism, Llano fell apart due to internal conflicts and the toxic need for an authoritarian approach to manage the whole, and eventually unsustainable, scheme.

In California, for two actual and historical utopian socialistic experiments, they not only failed but their lifespans were very short. Wherever two or more are gathered, there will be arguments, there will be strong-willed control freaks, and there will be dissenters. But those who arent motivated to produce, which is what capitalism is based on, will also discourage and frustrate the most idealistic of those espousing socialism.

Human nature and cooperative colonies are like forcing a square peg into a round hole. Utopia it is not. And one wonders what motivates some individuals to still encourage pursuing a socialistic form of government for the state of California and the nation. Lets hope Californians can learn from their own history.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Ukraine is accusing Russia of thousands of war crimes and crimes of aggression, and an international prosecutor calls Ukraine a crime scene.

An ISIS terrorist has been convicted in connection with a brutal hostage scheme. It resulted in the death of Americans. The jury found that he was one of the so-called Beatles. Thats a nickname that was given for their accents and the way they cruelly beat prisoners.

And a never-seen-before letter from a Jan. 6 prisoner. He tells Americans, Dont do nothing. The man provided security for speakers at the Capitol rally and was arrested later that year.
Ryerson Students Take Legal Action Against University Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

A group of 15 students is taking legal action against Ryerson University for deregistering them from their programs after they chose not to comply with the schools vaccine mandate.

This action is brought to remedy the harm caused by the implementation of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate and to advocate for the permanent removal of such policies, said the group in a statement posted to FundRazr, a crowdfunding platform, on April 1.

According to the group, to date up to 3,600 students have been de-enrolled from their programs, in addition to loss of student employment, scholarships, funding, and peace of mind.

Ryersons vaccine policy came into effect on Sept. 7, 2021, upon receiving instructions from Ontarios chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore the previous month to implement it according to provincial guidelines no later than that date.

The instructions by Moore offered three options for universities to administer the mandate: accepting proof of full vaccination against COVID-19, proof of medical exemptions, and offering educational sessions about the virus. The students who filed the lawsuit argued that Ryerson did not offer the third option to them at any point in time.

Under Required Precautions and Procedures, section 1 c) grants Ontario Universities the option of allowing students to receive an educational session about COVID-19 vaccines instead of pursuing vaccination or an approved exemption. Ryerson University did not present this option to students. There is not a single instance in these instructions which recommended that students be de-enrolled for non-compliance, the group said.

Considering all aforementioned points, it appears that Ryerson University has adopted a heavy-handed approach in regards to the implementation of their COVID-19 vaccination policy.

Ryerson had initially said on Aug. 13, 2021, that all staff, students, and visitors who wished to enter the schools premises were required to provide their vaccination status effective Sept. 7, 2021, but those who have not been fully vaccinated or do not want to disclose their vaccination status will be required to be tested in order to come to campus.

The situation took a turn when the university announced on Sept. 2, 2021, that come Oct. 18, 2021, the school would no longer accept rapid antigen test results to access campus or in-person university activities off campus.

By November 2021, students who did not attest to their vaccination status were denied their winter timetables and were restricted from adding courses.

By Wednesday, December 15, all undergraduate, graduate, and law students who remain non-compliant (either through not attesting to their status, or remaining not fully vaccinated), will be removed from any in-person winter courses, and may lose access to key Ryerson systems, such as RAMSS, the university said on its website.

The Epoch Times reached out to Ryerson for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.

The 15 students fundraising page also includes a video with some of the students explaining their refusal to be vaccinated and why they decided to take the legal route.

Ryan OConnor, a Toronto-based litigator who represents the students, said the group is seeking damages and a permanent end to the mandate.

These students are women and men, undergrads and grad students, studying in fields as diverse as Economics to Engineering; from Management to Medical Physics, OConnor said in a series of tweets on April 6.

Their reasons for being unable to comply with the mandate are diverse and not to stereotype. Some have faith-based reasons. Others have medical or age-related concerns. Still others believed that their university shouldnt have access to their confidential health status.

The lawyer went on to say many of these students had sought exemptions on religious or medical grounds.

All of these students had their exemption requests denied, he said. As a result, the studentsand potentially thousands of others at Ryersonwere deregistered from winter term courses.

The university had no legal obligation to deregister these students, OConnor said.

On March 28, Ryerson announced that it would be suspending its vaccine and mask mandates come May 1.

OConnor said while the university has made the announcement, it did not say the mandates will be gone for good.

[Ryerson] has not rescinded the mandate and it reserves the right to reimpose it in future academic terms if it believes this is necessary, he said.

The lawyer said given the reluctance of Ryerson to revoke the mandates permanently, the students will seek an injunction to prevent the university from enforcing the mandate while the lawsuit proceeds through the court process over the coming weeks.

The students hope that the lawsuit and the injunction will set a precedent for not only Ryerson students but all other university and college students in Ontario, Canada, who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the group said.

On March 29, the University of Toronto announced the revoking of its vaccine mandate and other related policies after a human rights complaint was filed against the school.
Children wearing masks sit behind screened in cubicles as they learn in their classroom after getting their pictures taken at picture day at St. Barnabas Catholic School during the COVID-19 pandemic in Scarborough, Ont., on Oct. 27, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

School Board Officials Not in Position to Reinstate Mask Mandates: Ontario Education Minister

Students have the choice if they want to wear a mask in schools, minister says

Ontarios Education Minister Stephen Lecce says school board officials are not in the position to make public health decisions, and students across the province have the choice if they want to wear a mask or not.

Lecces comment comes following the decision by the citys largest school board, Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB), to reinstate a mask mandate for all staff, students, and visitors effective on April 13.

On April 12, eight trustees with the OCDSB voted in favour of a motion brought forward by trustee Mark Fisher of River/Gloucester-Southgate to bring back mask-wearing inside all schools and buildings under the boards purview. Three others abstained and one opposed.

In a statement to The Epoch Times on April 15, Lecce maintains that public health decisions fall under provincial jurisdiction.

We believe that medical doctors, not school board officials or teacher unions, should make public health decisions, said the education minister in the email.

Every student in every school board in Ontario retains the choice to wear a mask, and that policy will be universally respected, as recommended by the Chief Medical Officer of Health.

Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education for Ontario makes an announcement on preparations underway for the return to in-person learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto on Jan. 12, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette)

Earlier this week, Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontarios chief medical officer of health, said the province would not be reinstating a broad mask mandate at this time but recommended masks be worn in indoor public spaces.

Lecce said the province will provide schools with the necessary support and resources to keep their facilities clean and hygienic.

We will continue to enhance ventilation with 40,000 additional HEPA units, in addition to the 73,000 in schools, 7 million rapid tests monthly, and maintaining enhanced cleaning to keep students safe and in the classroom learning, he said.

In addition to OCDSB, the call to reinstate mask mandates is coming from other school districts as well, who have voiced their intentions to keep the requirements in place ever since Ontario lifted its provincewide mask mandate on March 31.

On April 12, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board sent a letter to Lecce requesting him to reimpose the mask mandate in indoor settings, citing staff shortages and student absences as primary reasons.

The Toronto District School Board has said although it takes its direction from the provincial government, it will ask all staff and students to wear a well-fitting mask when indoors in schools, though it will not be mandatory.

In an email on April 13, the OCDSB told parents they wanted to bring back mask-wearing due to rising COVID-19 cases in the community. The board also cited a statement from Ottawa Public Health on April 11, saying it is supportive of measures that can be taken to increase mask use.

Where a student is refusing to comply with the masking requirement, parents/guardians will be called to either assist in helping the student fulfill the masking requirement, or to apply for an exemption to the masking requirement, said Camille Williams-Taylor, director of education at OCDSB, in the email.

Williams-Taylor added that the order is legal, even though the provincial or local health authority had not requested mandatory masking.

The school district has the legal authority to require the wearing of masks for health and safety reasons, she said.

The board said that students will not be suspended or expelled for refusing to wear a mask.

Grace Lee, a spokesperson for Lecce, said the OCDSB knows they do not have the authority to make students follow the new rules set by the trustees.

The Ottawa-Carleton school board are aware that they cannot enforce masking on students, Lee said.

Every child can go to school without a mask, should they choose, and cannot be denied entry, which is in alignment with provincial guidelines.

We encourage school boards and schools to promote respectful, welcoming and inclusive practices and communications within their school communities, she added.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
Sen. Steve Daines testifies at a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, DC, on March 3, 2022. (Tom Williams-Pool/Getty Images); Ukrainian-American Rep. Victoria Spartz attends a news conference in Washington, DC, on March 02, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Sen. Daines, Rep. Spartz First US Lawmakers to Visit Ukraine Since Start of War

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday in a show of solidarity with the country and to witness the aftermath of the Russian invasion.

The two Republicans are the first elected U.S. officials known to have visited the country since the start of the war on Feb. 24. The duo traveled from Kyiv to Bucha, a city near the Ukrainian capital where numerous bodies have recently been found in mass graves.

What we saw today was shocking  to see these shallow graves and to watch these investigators  extracting these bodies of women, of small children, civilians across the board, its mind-numbing, Daines told reporters in Bucha.

Daines added that there is indisputable evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes.

America and the world need to know about Putins atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up, Daines said in a statement, The Hill reported.

Anatoliy Fedoruk, the mayor of Bucha, said earlier this week that 403 bodies of civilians believed to be killed during the Russian occupation have been recovered, noting that the number could still grow. The Epoch Times could not independently verify those figures.

Moscow has denied all allegations, saying photographs and videos published by the Ukrainian government alleging war atrocities by Russian forces in Bucha is a staged performance by Kyiv, claiming no resident of Bucha suffered violence at the hands of Russian troops.

All the photos and videos published by the Kyiv regime, allegedly testifying to the crimes of Russian servicemen in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, are another provocation, Igor Konashenkov, the Kremlins defense ministry spokesman, said in a statement, AA reported.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Slovakias Prime Minister Eduard Heger and Ukraines Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stand next to a mass grave as they visit the town of Bucha, outside of Kyiv, Ukraine, on April 8, 2022. (Valentyn Ogirenko/File Photo via Reuters)Spartz, who was born in Nosivka and became the first Ukraine-born U.S. official to serve Congress in November 2020, was invited by the Ukrainian government to tour the devastated city together with Daines.

The Indiana representative had recently sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the Biden administration to redeploy American diplomats to Lviv and help with coordination in Ukraine.

We must be engaged to stop this atrocity and bring back peace and order to the European content, Spartz wrote.

Earlier this week, President Joe Biden said his administration will provide an additional $800 million in military assistance to help bolster Ukraines defenses.

At the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Thursday, airmen loaded military supplies bound for Ukraine onto the back of trucks as the United States continues to send ammunition, weapons, and other equipment to the besieged country to aid its war effort.

The United States has committed more than $5.4 billion in total assistance to Ukraine, including security and non-security assistance.

From NTD News
Workers in a compound where residents are being tested for COVID-19 during the second stage of a pandemic lockdown in Jing'an district in Shanghai on April 4, 2022. ( Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Shanghai Resident Films Bodies Being Taken From Aged Care Facility Amid Mounting Reports of COVID-19 Deaths

Many elderly people have died in aged care facilities amid a recent outbreak of COVID-19, known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus, in Shanghai. However, the authorities have not reported a single death so far.

Video footage provided by a resident showed people in white protective gear taking bagged bodies from a building to a hearse with a phone number and an ad for funeral events on the side of the vehicle.

During the day [April 14] plus the early morning when we werent asleep, we captured in our video footage [the bodies of] 15 elderly people who had died being taken away, a resident told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times on April 14.

The resident lives in Shuxiangyuan Community Compound in Xuhui Community District in the west of Shanghai, overlooking an aged care facility named House of Orchid. She used the pseudonym Meiling and asked us to alter her voice so she wouldnt be recognized, and wouldnt be subject to retribution.

She said more dead bodies had been removed before midnight, and that a few seriously ill elderly people had been taken away by ambulance.

But we have no idea what has happened to these ill elderly people, she said in a phone interview.

She added that residents living directly across from the House of Orchid havent dared open their windows for the past two days, as it was horrible and scary to see hearses coming a dozen times a day and over a dozen dead bodies carried out in yellow bags.

Help the Elderly! Residents Call for Urgent Medical Care

The elderly people urgently need help and medical treatment, said Meiling.

She told The Epoch Times that there were still about 60 people living in the facility based on the number of takeaway lunch boxes she saw delivered to the facility on April 13.

There are no medical facilities in there, and its management has been a mess, Meiling said. She also noted that the elderly residents have underlying health conditions and that they should be transferred to hospitals for proper treatment.

The mortality rate of the elderly is really frightening, and we have more people in the community who test positive for the COVID-19 virus. No one dares to go out, but still, we get more positive cases among those who live near the aged care facility.

Meiling said that residents have called the local governments, various hotlines, and local media outlets, but no one has responded to the situation.

If the nursing home does not transfer all these elderly people to a safe place, the mortality rate will continue to rise, and the residents living nearby also live in danger and fear. Theres no hope of our community being lifted from the restrictions, Meiling said.

The Epoch Times reached out to the House of Orchid but did not receive a reply before publication.

More Mortality Cases in Donghai Aged Care Hospital

Under the recent draconian lockdown measures imposed in Shanghai, Chinas most populous city, there have also been complaints about alleged abnormal deaths of elderly people in other aged care facilities.

Sun Ying (a pseudonym) told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times that her mother-in-law tested positive for COVID-19 and died on March 29 in the Donghai Elderly Care Hospital, the largest of its kind in Shanghai.

Sun said on April 14 that she called the hospital on March 29 and was told by the staff that her mother-in-law was being taken care of.

But at 8:45 p.m. [on March 29], the hospital staff called to inform us that my mother passed away, Sun said.

However, the family later learned that the elderly woman passed away at 10.55 a.m. that day, and Sun said that the death certificate did not identify the cause of death.

A doctor from the Donghai Elderly Care Hospital confirmed that there were 10 to 20 deaths among the elderly in the new building alone. Almost all the senior people are positive for COVID-19, and many of us doctors havent had any rest for the past month, he told The Epoch Times.

He said that he also had tested positive yet was ordered back to work before his quarantine period ended.

The Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times reached out to the Donghai Elderly Care Hospital, and a female staffer admitted that cross infections took place in the hospital and that she herself was a close contact.

Both the Shanghai CDC and the Oriental Hospital have intervened in our hospital, which is now under their management,  she told our reporter.

When asked about the reasons for the deaths of the elderly people in the hospital, the staffer replied that the residents admitted to her hospital were a special group who were long-term bedridden.

When we do not have an epidemic situation, it is normal to have 20 to 30 deaths every month. So we cant say that it is abnormal for us to have deaths when an epidemic comes. Have you done any surveys? Have you found the pandemic death toll in China? Our elderly people all died of underlying diseases, she said then hung up.

At least 20 patients died in past weeks at the Donghai Elderly Care Hospital, according to a Wall Street Journal report in early April.

The top health body of Shanghai reported 3,200 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, but no deaths, as of April 14 during the recent outbreak.

The actual number of confirmed cases and the death toll due to the pandemic remain unknown as the Chinese communist regime has habitually covered up data and information about the pandemic since the outbreak began in Wuhan in early 2020.
Daniel Thibault, mayor of Saint-Magloire, Quebec, and Angele Dumont at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at the Theatre Maisonneuve in Montreal on April 14, 2022. (NTD)

MONTREALDaniel Thibault, mayor of Saint-Magloire in Quebec, said he enjoyed the various features of Shen Yun Performing Arts, which is currently playing in Montreal as part of the Canadian leg of its world tour.

[The dancers] are extremely flexible.  With all the colors, the costumes, the propsits magnificent, said Mr. Thibault after seeing Shen Yun at the Theatre Maisonneuve in Montreal on April 14.

We see that there is somewhat of a mythicism in their dance movements. It represents peace, in my opinion, joy, the quintessential.

Mr. Thibault also praised Shen Yuns music, performed by a unique orchestra that seamlessly blends traditional Chinese instruments with classical Western instruments.

The music is really calming, relaxing. There are some very strong movements in the music, and then also relaxing movements, he said.

The performance, he said, brings joy, tranquility, happiness.

Based in New York, Shen Yun is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Each year, the performing arts company travels the globe, bringing its exhilarating performances to audiences in different parts of the world. The companys mission is to revive Chinas traditional culture as it once was before decades of communist oppression in todays China.

Mr. Thibault praised the values in Chinese culture, while expressing sadness for the oppression that continues in modern-day China. He also commended Shen Yuns efforts for presenting the ancient Chinese culture.

We hope that it can continue in our communities, he said.

Angele Dumont said she also thoroughly enjoyed Shen Yun, praising the various aspects of the performance.

I really liked the show. The dancers, the colors, the fabrics and the propseverything was really very beautiful, said Ms. Dumont.

Awe-Inspiring

Cathy Louladakis and her daughter, Sophia, at the Shen Yun Performing Arts performance at the Theatre Maisonneuve, in Montreal, on April 14, 2022. (Zhen Xiuxin/The Epoch Times)

Cathy Louladakis, a chartered accountant, said Shen Yun is absolutely magnificent.

The colors, the costumes.  You can tell that theyre incredibly skilled. It was just a beautiful artistic form, Ms. Louladakis said.

Ms. Louladakis said she also enjoyed the animated backdrops in the performance, as well as the music, the vocalists, the solo performance of the erhu virtuoso, and the pianist accompanying her.

Everything was just so beautiful.  Its so hard to say what you prefer the most.  The ensemble was just marvellous, she said.

Ms. Louladakis added that she enjoyed the role of divinity in Chinese culture as presented in Shen Yun.

I did actually appreciate a great deal how [they bring] divinity into the program, showing us that I think anything is possible so long as you believe so, she said.

It was awe-inspiring.

Shen Yun will be staging performances at the Theatre Maisonneuve from April 13 to 17.

Reporting by NTD.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
A positive attitude can greatly improve your life

In The Speckled Beauty: A Dog and His People, Rick Bragg recounts a conversation he has with his brother Sam, who is battling cancer. Thinking of his possible death, Sam says with regret, The one thing I hate is that I aint got no legacy. I mean, youve got the books, when you die.

Rick assures Sam that he will indeed leave behind a fine legacy, telling him that friends and neighbors will mourn his passing and say, Sam Bragg was a good man. He says hes heard a woman or two say Sam used to be good-looking once.

Rick then says, Youre the guy they depend on when things go bad, when they need someone to pull them out of the ditch or clear the road with your chainsaw or jump them off in the middle of the night.

As we read about Sam in this memoir, we realize hes a man with a good heart who has that native intelligence so common in our rural communities. We also come to admire him for his competence, his skill at fishing and hunting, fixing machinery, and caring for dogs.

Most of us applaud competence in others, particularly in those areas where we ourselves lack certain skills. That pot-bellied, bearded guy who arrives in a battered pickup truck to fix a broken water pipe wont win any beauty contests, but what counts is whether he can repair the break. That brusque neurosurgeon who meets with family members before performing surgery on Aunt Jessica may lack bedside manner, but whats important is whether she can save a beloved relatives life.

Depending on the job, many ingredients go into that stew we identify as competence. The most basic of these are training, practice, and commitment.

Lets take as an example a waitress I once knew in Charlottesville, Virginia. When Rebecca joined the wait staff of the restaurant, she approached her training seriously. She paid attention, made mental notes, and asked questions.

For a few days, she shadowed another employee during the lunch rush, absorbing the routine of the cafe and watching how her guide handled special problems. At night, she studied a menu at home, familiarizing herself with all the various food combinations and memorizing the numbers of the more popular dishes so that she could more quickly punch them into the cash register.

Practice came next. Rebecca started with three tables as her station, and in a few months, she found herself with two more. In the beginning, when she made mistakes, she explained to her customers that she was new on the job and hurried to rectify her errors. And as time passed, she left work after each shift with an abundance of tips in her purse.

In large part, that money derived from her commitment to her job. Rebecca dressed sharp, greeted customers with a smile that was real, remembered the names of the regulars, and did her best to make everyones dining experience relaxed and pleasant. She understood that for many of these patrons, the meal was one of the highlights of the day, an escape from their homes or offices, and she intended to do all in her power to make it so. As a result, customers were soon asking to be seated in her station, confident that the young server would make the meal an event.

By this point, of course, Rebecca had moved beyond competence to excellence, which should be the goal for all of us in our work and, for that matter, in all that we do. Her skillset had become second nature to her, and her kindness to those who sat at her tables was the special gift that set her apart.

Knowledge, skill, and attitude: Mix em together, and youll soon be in the winners circle.
Marqel Cockrell appears at an extradition hearing at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, on April 14, 2022. (Rachel Aston/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Store Owner to Be Returned to California in Girls Shooting

LAS VEGASA Southern California shoe store owner accused of shooting and wounding a 9-year-old girl when he opened fire at shoplifters agreed Thursday to be returned from Nevada to face charges in the case.

Police have said that Marqel Cockrell, 20, fled from the California desert city of Victorville in his car just after the girl, identified by family members as Ava Chruniak, was mistakenly hit by bullets on Tuesday as she waited to have her picture taken with a mall Easter bunny.

Cockrell, 20, stood in court and told a Las Vegas judge that he understood that California authorities had 30 days to extradite him. He was not represented by an attorney because Nevada does not provide lawyers for extradition cases.

Cockrell co-owns the shoe store Sole Addicts at the Mall of Victor Valley and was chasing two shoplifters about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday when he fired shots that instead hit the 9-year-old female victim, Victorville police said in a statement.

The girl suffered three gunshot wounds, including two in an arm, her grandmother, Moraga-Saldarelli said. One of the bullets fractured an arm bone.

She was released from the hospital on Thursday but will require another operation to repair nerve damage, KCBS-TV reported.

I will never forgive him. What he did to me is not OK, Ava told the station from her bed at home. No one should have a gun in the mall.

Police have said that Cockrell drove from the mall before responding officers arrived after receiving reports of gunfire and that he was arrested in Nevadas Clark County, about a three-hour drive from Victorville.

Cockrell is being held at the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas. Authorities have said he faces at least one attempted murder charge. Records do not indicate if he has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
In a video released by the Yueyang Intermediate People's Court, Lee Ming-che reads a statement admitting his guilt for subverting the Chinese government. (Screenshot via Weibo)

Taiwanese Human Rights Activist Released From Chinese Prison After 5 Years

A Taiwanese human rights activist who was forcibly disappeared by Chinese authorities while visiting China in 2017, returned to Taiwan on Friday after serving a 5-year prison sentence in China.

Li Ming-che, a volunteer with the Taiwan-based human rights group Covenant Watch, arrived at Taoyuan International Airport on Friday morning, Focus Taiwan reported.

He was detained in China in 2017 and sentenced to five years in prison for subversion of state power, making him the first Taiwanese activist detained under the law.

During his trial, Li admitted to having criticized Chinas ruling communist party and to having shared articles and arguments promoting Taiwans multi-party democracy.

He stood trial alongside Chinese national Peng Yuhua, who confessed to creating instant messaging groups and founding an organization that sought to promote political change in China. Peng was sentenced to seven years in jail.

On March 18, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) of Taiwan claimed that Lis family had been barred from contacting him and had not been informed of the content of his verdict, as well as the specific date of his release.

Taiwanese society is concerned about Li Ming-ches health and safety. We call on mainland China to promptly disclose information on Lis release and allow him to safely return to Taiwan as soon as possible, it said in a statement.

MAC argued that Lis freedom was restricted despite his compliance with Chinas entry procedures, and that Chinese authorities failed to inform him of his sentence through channels established under cross-strait agreements.

Amnesty International Taiwan said that Chinese authorities improperly detained Li and have no reason to continue imprisoning him in China.

During the period of detention in China, [Li] was forced to eat bad food and did not have enough warm clothes. After the epidemic, his family members were rejected 16 times for visit applications, and even family phone calls were not allowed, it said in a statement.

Shi Yixiang, secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for the Promotion of Human Rights, said that an Asia-Pacific human rights protection mechanism should be established to prevent the recurrence of cross-border human rights cases.

He pointed out that there are currently at least 402 individuals from Taiwan, Hong Kong, the United States, Canada, and other countries who have suffered human rights violations in China and need to be rescued.

Beijing maintains that Taiwan is part of China and has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control, while self-governing Taiwan has shown no interest in being governed by the Communist Party rulers in Beijing.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A person holds a smartphone as TikTok logo is displayed behind in this picture illustration taken on Nov. 7, 2019. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

Tennessee Man Recognizes Womans Hand Signals in Gas Station to Alert Alleged Kidnapping

For Eric Streeval, a tranquil motorcycle ride in Hickman County, Tennessee, on a clear Sunday afternoon turned into a tense rescue operation after he witnessed a woman in a convenience store hand-signaling for help.

Streeval had stepped into the Twice Daily Gas Station to grab a drink on April 10 a little after 1 p.m., he told The Epoch Times, when he saw a woman at the end of the candy aisle mouthing the word, Help, while using a hand signal devised to alert others that the signaler is being kidnapped.

Streeval said the woman learned the method from TikTok.

Streeval got his drink and as he paid for it at the counter, he notified the cashiers.

I told them, Get the cops here. Theres a young woman in the back in the red and white striped shirt whos possibly being abused, Streeval said.

The woman had a red handprint on the side of her face, Streeval said.

Streeval went outside to take pictures of the license plate and the truck while the cashiers attempted to stall the suspect.

The cashiers did an outstanding job of holding him up, Streeval said.

When they emerged from the gas station, Streeval said he confronted the suspect after having called 911.

I said, Hey man, do you think hitting women is OK because we dont do that around here. If you want to fight, fight a man. Dont beat up on a woman, Streeval said.

The suspect, whom the Hickman County Sheriffs Department confirmed to The Epoch Times was 31-year-old Johnathon Smith, didnt respond to Streevals attempts to stall him from leaving before the sheriffs department could arrive, Streeval said.

Im a believer in 2nd Amendment rights, so I was prepared if he tried anything just for everyones safety, but he just stuck his head down and got in the truck, Streeval said.

By the time the Smith was pulling out, the sheriffs department arrived, leading to a car chase, Streeval said.

Eric Streeval in Hickman County, Tennessee on April 14, 2022. (Courtesy of Eric Streeval).

The Tennessean reported that Lt. Mike Doddo said that Smith was the womans ex-boyfriend and as they were in the truck, they got into a physical altercation.

When the girlfriend asked to be let out, Doddo said that Smith then allegedly threatened her with a screwdriver, telling her that if he couldnt have her, nobody could have her, the Tennessean reported.

The sheriffs department pursuit lasted up to 15 minutes and reached a speed of almost 90 mph, ending with a foot chase after the suspect crashed the truck into a creek. The woman was not injured.

Smith was apprehended and charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated domestic assault in the incident.

Empowering Victims

The hand signaling technique has been advocated for by many anti-human trafficking organizations such as North Carolinas Awake and Bold, which initiated a video and billboard campaign through its Open Your Eyes education initiative that teaches the hand signals that empower victims and alert bystanders to a trafficking or kidnapping situation.

Awake and Bold have four billboards in North Carolina and two in Georgia that illustrate the hand signal initiative Hara Taicher and co-founder Elena Huggins are promoting.

Huggins demonstrates the hand signals in a video in which she explains that the gestures say, I need help; I need to be rescued.

Multiple organizations have advocated for the hand signal campaign on TikTok, where the woman later told Streeval is how she knew about it.

Streeval was able to locate her on Facebook and meet her back at the gas station on Monday, where he gave her contact information of people who could help her if she gets in trouble again, he said.

On his initiative, Streeval said, Im a single father with a 12-year-old daughter. I still try to see the good in humanity. If my daughter, mother, and my sisters were ever in that situation, I would hope somebody would do the same for them.
Chris Magnus testifies on his nomination to be the next U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 19, 2021. (Rod Lamkey/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Texas Bussing Illegal Immigrants to DC Without Adequately Coordinating: US Agency

Texas is transporting illegal immigrants to the nations capital without properly communicating with the federal government, the head of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on April 14.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is taking actions to move migrants without adequately coordinating with the federal government and local border communities, Chris Magnus, CBPs commissioner, said in a statement.

CBP has always worked closely with and supported border communities in Texas, many of which CBP personnel call home. We all have a shared interest in maintaining safe, orderly, and humane immigration processes, and assistance from the state should be carefully coordinated with us, he added.

The Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) referred comment to Abbotts office, which did not respond to requests for comment.

Because of the Biden administrations decision to end a key authority that enabled the quick expulsion of many illegal aliens, Abbott, a Republican, recently announced a number of actions aimed at dealing with the expected influx of immigrants in his state.

Texas will immediately begin taking unprecedented action to do what no state has done in American history to secure our border, Abbott said in a briefing on April 6, shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with backing from the White House, announced the scheduled end of the Title 42 order.

In addition to stepping up inspections of vehicles as they go through ports of entry into Texas and deploying additional law enforcement officers to the borderand later striking deals with Mexican officials to implement similar measuresAbbott directed the TDEM to transport immigrants who were released from federal custody to Washington via bus or plane.

Noting that the Biden administration is projecting a jump in illegal immigration once Title 42 ends in May, Abbott in a letter to TDEM Chief W. Nim Kidd, asserted the government has no real plan for addressing this unprecedented surge of illegal aliens but may resort to releasing groups of them in Texas communities whose resources are already overwhelmed.

Texans cannot continue to shoulder the burdens imposed by open-border advocates in other parts of the country, he wrote, adding that TDEM should aim to help local officials cope with this latest escalation of the Biden border disaster.

The immigrants must choose to be transported, but some already have.

The first bus arrived blocks from the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, and a second bus unloaded immigrants less than 24 hours later.

The groups, mostly comprised of men, took the offer to get closer to their final destinations, according to Catholic Charities, which provided them with food and bus tickets. Many of the immigrants continued traveling after arriving in Washington and being given cell phones by officials wearing khakis and black shirts, similar to garb sometimes worn by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

ICE referred comment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parent agency of ICE and CBP.

A DHS spokesman told The Epoch Times via email that all immigrants who arent expelled under Title 42 are placed in immigration proceedings. Some of the immigrants are designated for removal but others are given a notice to appear in court at a future date and are allowed to go anywhere in the United States.

Through its Southwest Border Coordination Center, DHS is executing carefully designed plans to manage the processing and transport of noncitizens arriving at the border, the spokesman said.
The Nations Top Scientists Lied

This adapted excerpt is from Dr. Scott W. Atlas bestselling book, A Plague Upon Our House, published by Bombardier.

CDC Director Robert Redfields congressional testimony on Sept. 23, 2020, immediately caught my attention. I watched in disbelief as Redfield told Congress that more than 90 percent of the populationmore than three hundred million people in the United Statesremains susceptible to the illness.

The statement was based on incomplete and outdated data, as well as an apparent lack of understanding of the literature, and it struck me as one of the most erroneous and fear-inducing proclamations of any public health official to that moment. Approximately two hundred thousand Americans had already died from COVID; the last thing the public needed was an exaggeration of the future risks, implying to some that ten times that number could still die.

First of all, the numbers didnt add up. At that point, confirmed cases in the United States already totaled approximately seven million, and the CDC itself had estimated that approximately ten times the number of confirmed cases, a very conservative estimate, were likely to have had the infection. A Stanford seropositivity study back in April had shown that confirmed cases underestimated the total infections by a factor of approximately forty times. It made no sense that only 9 percent, or thirty million Americans, had been infected.

Second, the 9 percent calculation was blatantly wrong. That number came from antibody testing by the states. I looked at the CDC website myself, and sure enough, the data was based on antiquated testing from several states.

Some antibody totals were pulled from several months earlier, before many of those states had experienced a significant number of cases. It therefore grossly underestimated the number of cases that had already occurred. The data was simply not valid, but you needed to pay attention to the details.

More importantly, Redfields basic claim was fundamentally flawed. The conclusion that serum antibody testing revealed the entire population of those protected from COVID was counter to an entire body of published literature and contrary to fundamental knowledge of immunology, including other coronavirus infections.

It was well known that antibody tests showed one cross-section in timethey were transienteven though immune protection can last. From studies on SARS-2 and most other viruses, antibody levels change over a span of months. They typically appear in the first couple of weeks, peak in a few months, and then decrease over a span of several months.

The literature on COVID had already shown these patterns. A month before this press conference, a Nature Reviews Immunology study on COVID-19 explicitly stated, The absence of specific antibodies in the serum does not necessarily mean an absence of immune memory, and explained, memory B-cells and T-cells may be maintained even if there are not measurable levels of serum antibodies.

Japans study demonstrated this dramatically. In their study, antibody levels increased from 5.8 percent to 46.8 percent over the course of the summer. The most dramatic increase occurred in late June and early July, paralleling the rise in daily confirmed cases within Tokyo, which peaked on Aug. 4.

Out of the 350 individuals who completed both offered tests, 21.4 percent of those who tested negative became positive, and 12.2 percent of initially positive participants became negative for antibodies. A striking 81.1 percent of IgM-antibody-positive cases at first testing became negative in only one month. They stated that [antibody tests] may significantly underestimate previous COVID-19 infections. It had also been widely reported in several major scientific journals that antibody responses are not necessarily detectable in all COVID patients, especially those with less severe forms.

But the flaws in Redfields estimate extended deeper. Even those familiar with first-year college biology know that other components of the immune system, memory B-cell and T-cells, provide protection from virus infections. Some T-cells kill the virus, and they also help antibodies form. T-cells develop and provide protection that lasts far longer, even after antibodies disappearsometimes for years in other SARS viruses.

T-cells for this virus had already been documented, even in people unexposed to SARS-2, meaning that in these cases, cross-protection was present from T-cells originating in response to other coronaviruses. T-cells had also been found in individuals with completely asymptomatic SARS-2 infections.

NIH Director Francis Collins had highlighted that very data in his Directors Blog a few weeks earlier, writing, In fact, immune cells known as memory T cells also play an important role in the ability of our immune systems to protect us against many viral infections, includingit now appearsCOVID-19.

Scientists from some of the top research institutions in the world, like Swedens Karolinska Institute, San Diegos La Jolla Institute, Duke University, Berlin, and others had published this evidence. Karolinska demonstrated T-cell immunity in both asymptomatic and mild cases of COVIDeven if antibody-negative.

Singapore researchers had noted robust T-cell responses to this virus, SARS2, from seventeen-year-old SARS1 samples. Since T-cells are obviously not discovered by antibody tests, those individuals were not included in Redfields count. Yet he apparently had not considered this essential, indeed fundamental, point as he testified to Congress and made headlines.

After watching this debacle on TV, I knew full well what was coming later that day. The media would latch on to this and create even more public panic. I also knew that the responsibility for clarifying this grossly erroneous statement would be mine. There was no question it would come up at the presidents press conference, and even if it did not, it still needed to be explained.

I rushed over to Derek Lyonss office to update him and to make sure we would alert the president beforehand. A few others in the West Wing were there, so I summarized to them what had been said to Congress.

The mood ranged from amazement to dejection to frustration. An advisor to the president on legal matters warned me, with a smile on his face, Scott, dont just bluntly say, Redfield is wrong! Say something softer, like He misstated things.

I nodded, knowing that I needed to restrain my words, even though this was the same man who had tried to destroy me in the national press a few days earlier. But this wasnt personal at all. Clarifying the facts about the pandemic and countering the unending barrage of misinformation and pseudoscience about it, in this case coming from within the administration itself, was one of my most important roles in this national crisis.

During the pre-brief in the Oval Office a few hours later, I outlined the issue to the president. It was decided, as expected, that I would answer the question when it came up. And so it did.

A reporter from ABC News directly asked me if Redfields statement that more than 90 percent of Americans remained susceptible to the disease was true. I took the friendly advice I had received earlier in the day.

I think that Dr. Redfield misstated something there, I said, and then did my best to calmly explain the problems with outdated information and the contribution of cross-reactive T-cells and T-cell protection that would not have been included in his data. I correctly stated what was widely known and factualthat the protection from the virus is not solely determined by the percent of people who have antibodies. During my answer, as I fended off interruptions, I tried to explain in understandable language as best I could.

I also made a serious effort to be somewhat delicate, because I felt extremely uncomfortable about having to correct the director of the CDC on the national stage.

Unfortunately, my disgust with the confrontational mood in that press room prevented me from being more diplomatic when that reporter asked, Who are we to believe? My reflexive answer was Youre supposed to believe in the science, and I am telling you the science. Then I referred him to several expert scientists by name. However, I had the strong sense that he was not really interested in the facts at all. Rather, it was another attempt to amplify discord.

After exiting the press room, I walked alongside the president. He briefly stopped to check the news coverage on the set of TV monitors outside the briefing room, as he typically chose to do. After some banter between the president and the staff standing in the area, we began walking back toward the Oval Office.

President Trump turned to me on his right, smiling wryly but with a genuinely puzzled look on his face. Is Redfield political or just stupid? he asked, subtly shaking his head. I looked right back at the president and hesitated. The answer was obvious to both of us.

Needless to say, the media immediately played up the disagreement between me and Redfield. It fed into their narrative of conflict between me and the other Task Force doctors, one that Redfield personally caused with his offensive and unwarranted remark that everything I said was false.

Later, Dr. Fauci appeared on TV and criticized my straightforward attempt to clarify important information as extraordinarily inappropriate. I wondered if he was more concerned with protecting his bureaucrat colleagues reputation and undermining mine than ensuring that correct information was being told to the American public.

Martin Kulldorff, the world-renowned Harvard epidemiologist, posted his reaction on Twitter: Scott Atlas stated the simple fact that immunity is higher than those with antibodies, whereupon Dr. Fauci criticizes him without contradicting what was actually said. Stating a simple scientific fact is not extraordinarily inappropriate. What is going on?

From the Brownstone Institute

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A man is silhouetted walking past a Conservative Party logo before the opening of the Party's national convention in Halifax on Aug. 23, 2018. (The Canadian Press/Darren Calabrese)

Tories Ban Use of Prepaid Credit Cards in Leadership Race After Poilievre Camp Raises Concerns

The Conservative Party has reversed its position on allowing prepaid credit cards to buy party memberships, after the campaign for leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre insinuated potential legal action.

The partys executive director Wayne Benson made the announcement in a memo sent to campaigns on April 14, reported Global News. Benson said it would be applied to both membership purchases and donations.

Poilievres campaign asked that any memberships purchased with prepaid cards after the ousting of former leader Erin OToole on Feb. 2 be cancelled, a policy the party has now introduced.

Soon we will be issuing instructions to campaigns on a collaborative plan to resolve legitimate memberships that are cancelled as a result of this retroactive change, Bensons memo reportedly says.

A previous memo sent by Benson on April 11 had said that prepaid credit cards would be accepted, but the purchases would be watched closely. The day after, Poilievres campaign sent a letter from its lawyer to the party, alleging that unnamed rivals might be using prepaid credit cards to sign up fake members and insinuating potential legal action if this was not corrected.

[O]ur candidate is concerned that the leadership might be won by a candidate who has openly acknowledged cheating, and appears unconstrained by integrity and rules in his pursuit of political offices, says the letter.

The letter reportedly does not include any evidence of fraud, but quotes a book written by rival former Ontario PC leader and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, in which he said buying memberships for supporters was a common practice and likened it to jaywalking.

After some media outlets reported on the letter, Browns campaign said it was abiding by the rules of the race and accused Poilievre of previously skirting ethics, referring to the MP having been found in non-compliance of the Elections Act when he made a non-monetary contribution to his party in 2015.

In response to the party rule change on membership purchases, Browns campaign spokesman said they were not accepting memberships using pre-paid cards.

The Poilievre campaign will be disappointed to know they will not be able to disqualify any of our sign-ups, Jeff Silverstein wrote in a statement to Global News.

Patrick Browns campaign is focused on signing up thousands of new Conservative Party members as opposed to Team Poilievre, who are looking for ways to disqualify Canadians from participating.

The cost of a one-year party membership is $15 and prospective members have until June 2 to sign up if they want to be able to vote for the new leader.

The vote will take place late in the summer and results will be announced on Sept. 10.

The party said on April 12 that three candidates have been officially verified so far, including Poilievre, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis, and former Quebec premier Jean Charest.

Other confirmed candidates include Conservative MP Scott Aitchison, Ontario independent MPP Roman Baber, former Ontario MP Leona Alleslev, Conservative MP Marc Dalton, and Saskatchewan businessman Joseph Bourgault.
Trump Says He Probably Wont Tweet Again Even If Musk Buys Twitter and Reinstates His Account

'Twitter has become very boring'

Former president Donald Trump said Thursday he likely wouldnt return to Twitter if Elon Musk bought the platform and reinstated his account.

Trump made the remarks in an interview with Sirius XMs Americano Media hours after Musk made an offer to buy Twitter for around $43 billion in cash, with the Tesla CEO saying he intends to transform Twitter into a bastion of free speech.

Musk told the TED Conference in Vancouver, Canada on Thursday that he wants to take Twitter private and transform it in to an open-source platform and an inclusive arena for free speech.

Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so its just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law, Musk said during the event.

While he didnt provide details about how he thinks Twitter restricts free speech, he did say that Twitter should be less eager to permanently ban problematic users from the platform, suggesting temporary timeouts instead.

A good sign as to whether theres free speech is, is someone you dont like allowed to say something you dont like, Musk said. And if that is the case, then we have free speech.

Twitter banned Trump from the platform following the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, claiming his posts violated a glorification of violence policy.

Twitter Has Become Very Boring

Asked in the interview with Americano Media whether hed resume his activity on Twitter if Musk was successful with his buyout and restored his account, Trump said he probably wouldnt have any interest as Twitter has become boring and hes launching a competing social media platform, Truth Social.

Twitter has become very boring, theyve gotten rid of a lot of the good voices on Twitter, a lot of the conservative voices, the former president said.

It used to be a war on Twitter, but it was a very interesting war, Trump said. Mentally, we had some pretty good fights.

Now its boring and friends of mine tell me that Twitter is not the same place, its a very boring place right now, he added.

Ghost Town

Devin Nunes, former lawmaker and current CEO of Truth Social, the social media startup created by a company founded by Trump, was asked in a recent interview on Fox News what he thought of Musk taking a stake in Twitter and potentially getting more involved in how the company is run.

Nunes responded that Trumps intention in backing Truth Social was prompted by a desire to open the internet back up so that the American people can get their voice back.

Its clear that Twitter is kind of a ghost town, they desperately need Elon Musk to be there, Nunes continued, adding that he thinks Musk believes in free speech, like we do.

Musks Twitter takeover bid was cheered by Republican lawmakers.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), whose Twitter account was once temporarily suspended, said in a tweet that Musks fight for free speech is patriotic and necessary. He deserves the Medal of Freedom.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) wrote, Make Twitter Great Again.

Twitter is reportedly considering ways to block Musks takeover attempt, including by resorting to a so-called poison pill tactic that makes it more financially challenging for an acquirer.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Twitter for comment, but no response was received by publication time.
Elon Musk, founder and chief engineer of SpaceX, speaks at the 2020 Satellite Conference and Exhibition in Washington, on March 9, 2020. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Twitter Board Approves Poison Pill After Musks $43 Billion Offer to Buy Company

Twitters board of directors has approved a provision aimed at preventing a hostile takeover thats known in the financial world as a poison pill, the company announced on April 15.

The board unanimously chose to adopt the limited duration shareholder rights plan after an unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire Twitter, the company said.

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, offered to purchase the California-based firm for around $43 billion this week shortly after buying nearly 10 percent of the company.

Under the approved provision, if any entity, person, or group acquires 15 percent or more of Twitters outstanding stock in a transaction not approved by the board, other stock holders will be able to buy additional shares of common stock at a lower price.

The shareholder plan will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders, Twitter said.

The poison pill method has been approved by other companies in the past to dilute outstanding stock and make a hostile takeover more financially challenging for the potential acquirer.

More details of the plan will be outlined in a form that Twitter will file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The board includes Bret Taylor, co-CEO of Salesforce; Parag Agrawal, Twitters CEO; Jack Dorsey, Twitters co-founder; and Mimi Alemayehou, a senior vice president at Mastercard.

Mark Meckler, former acting CEO of Parler, a Twitter competitor, told NTD that whether or not Twitters action works depends on whether people take advantage of it.

Musk had said on Twitter, responding to a rumor that the company was considering implementing such a provision, that the move could expose the board to a titanic amount of liability because they would be breaching their fiduciary duty.

Adam Candeub, a law professor at Michigan State University, told The Epoch Times before the decision was announced that the board could face legal consequences if they turn down an offer thats financially lucrative to shareholders.

Twitters owned by shareholders, and the directors have to act in a way thats in their best interests, not in the way that allows them to keep control of the corporation, Candeub told The Epoch Times.

If they turn down a very favorable price, there will be dereliction of their legal duty, and there could be lots of legal consequences.

Emel Akan and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as he visits the construction site of Tesla's gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021. (Michele Tantussi/Reuters)

Musk Responds to Reports Twitter Mulling Poison Pill Tactic to Foil His Takeover Bid

Twitter is reportedly considering a so-called poison pill tactic to thwart Elon Musks effort to buy out the social media platform, prompting a critical response from the Tesla chief.

Cameron Winklevoss, founder of the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, said in a tweet that Twitter is considering a poison pill to thwart @elonmusks offer, while two anonymous sources told The New York Times that Twitters board is mulling the tactic, which is used to block hostile takeovers.

The poison pill method gives existing shareholders the right to buy additional shares at a discount, diluting outstanding stock and making a hostile takeover more financially challenging for the acquirer.

Responding to Winklevoss tweet, Musk said a poison pill move could expose Twitters board to titanic legal liability.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Twitter for comment but no response was received by the company.

Orwellian Control of The Narratives

Winklevoss alleged in his tweet that, by adopting the poison pill tactic, Twitter was demonstrating its commitment to preserving the status quo even if it has a negative impact on existing shareholders.

They would rather self-immolate than give up their censorship programs. This shows you how deeply committed they are to Orwellian control of the narratives and global discourse. Scary, he wrote.

Twitter has been accused of suppressing some minority and politically conservative viewpoints, allegations the company has repeatedly denied.

Musk responded to Winklevosss tweet, saying that if Twitters actions run afoul of shareholders interests, they could be exposing themselves to legal action.

If the current Twitter board takes actions contrary to shareholder interests, they would be breaching their fiduciary duty, Musk wrote. The liability they would thereby assume would be titanic in scale.

My Best and Final Offer

Musk, who has a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, made headlines on Thursday by launching a bid to buy all of Twitters outstanding shares in cash at a significant premium over market price.

He said he was offering to buy 100 percent of Twitter for $54.20 per share in cash, a 54 [percent] premium over the day before I began investing in Twitter and a 38 [percent] premium over the day before my investment was publicly announced.

My offer is my best and final offer and if it is not accepted, I would need to reconsider my position as a shareholder, he added.

Adam Candeub, a law professor at Michigan State University, told The Epoch Times that Twitters board could face legal consequences if they turn down an offer thats financially lucrative to shareholders.

Twitters owned by shareholders, and the directors have to act in a way thats in their best interests, not in the way that allows them to keep control of the corporation, Candeub told The Epoch Times.

If they turn down a very favorable price, there will be dereliction of their legal duty, and there could be lots of legal consequences.

Extraordinary Potential

Musks bid hit a roadblock when Saudi investors rejected his offer. Saudi Arabian Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, who in 2015 bought a 5.2 percent stake in Twitter, responded that the offer was unacceptable.

I dont believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects, said Al Waleed in a tweet. Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer.

Musk responded by suggesting the rejection was politically motivated.

Interesting. Just two questions, if I may, Musk wrote in response. How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly? What are the Kingdoms views on journalistic freedom of speech?

Musk, who has repeatedly questioned Twitters commitment to free speech, said in his buyout proposal that he wants to transform the company into a true platform for free speech.

Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it, Musk wrote in a letter to Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor, attached as an exhibit to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 14 (pdf).

After Musks earlier purchase of a stake that made him Twitters biggest individual shareholder, he was offered a seat on the companys board of directors, which he initially appeared to accept but later turned down.

Declining the board seat fueled speculation about whether Musk had plans to launch a hostile takeover of Twitter.

I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy, Musk wrote in the letter to Taylor.

Since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company, Musk continued, referring to the societal imperative of free speech.

Inclusive Arena for Free Speech

Musk elaborated on this theme in an interview at the TED Conference in Vancouver on Thursday, saying that he wants to take Twitter private and transform it into an open-source platform and an inclusive arena for free speech.

Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so its just really important that people have both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law, Musk said during the event.

While he didnt provide details about how he thinks Twitter restricts free speech, he did say that Twitter should be less eager to permanently ban problematic users from the platform, suggesting temporary timeouts instead.

A good sign as to whether theres free speech is, is someone you dont like allowed to say something you dont like, Musk said. And if that is the case, then we have free speech.

Emel Akan contributed to this report.
British lawmaker Imran Ahmad Khan arrives at Southwark Crown Court to stand trial over sex offence claims, in London, on April 8, 2022. (Peter Cziborra/Reuters)

UK Lawmaker Resigns as He Appeals Sexual Assault Verdict

A British member of Parliament resigned on Thursday in the wake of his conviction for sexually assaulting a boy, triggering a potentially challenging by-election.

Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, the MP for Wakefield, a city in West Yorkshire, Northern England, said hes appealing the verdict, and it would be intolerable for his constituents to go years without an MP after they had already been without visible parliamentary representation for a year.

Parliament records show Khans last vote was cast on July 20, a month after he was charged with a sexual assault in 2008.

On April 11, a jury convicted Khan of sexual assault for groping a then-15-year-old boy at a house party. Following the conviction, the MP was expelled from the Conservative Party. Khans lawyer said he maintains his innocence and will be appealing as soon as possible.

In a statement posted on Twitter on Thursday, Khan said hes appealing the verdict, resigning from his post as an MP, and withdrawing from political life.

While legal proceedings are ongoing, I do not believe that it would ordinarily be appropriate to resign, he said.

However, owing to long delays in the legal process, my constituents have already been without visible parliamentary representation for a year. Even in the best case scenario, anticipated legal proceedings could last many more months, he added.

I have therefore regrettably come to the conclusion that it is intolerable for constituents to go years without an MP who can amplify their voices in Parliament.

Khan said it was the honour of his life to represent his constituents, who deserve better than this.

Consequently I am resigning as MP for Wakefield and withdrawing from political life, he said, adding he would write to the Parliamentary authorities to confirm his resignation and focus entirely on clearing [his] name.

A British born who is both gay and Muslim, Khan apologised to his family and community for the humiliation this has caused them, saying its had not been easy for them to find out about his sexual orientation, drinking, and past behaviour from the press.

Khan was one of the 2019 intake of Conservative MPs who won in so-called Red Wall seats traditional Labour constituencies in the north of England which voted overwhelmingly for Brexit.

Labour had held the Wakefield seat since the 1930s until Khans victory in 2019.

Khan won Wakefield by 3,358 over Labour former frontbencher Mary Creagh but the Conservatives will be nervous about maintaining that lead.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will also feel the pressure of having to recapture the seat amid high expectations.

When the by-election is held is determined by the party whose MP held the vacant seat, in this case the Conservatives.

The party referred inquiries about when the vote will be triggered to the chief whips office.

During the trial before Khans conviction, the jury heard that Khan had forced the teenager to drink gin and tonic, dragged him upstairs, pushed him onto a bed, and asked him to watch pornography before groping him at a house in Staffordshire in January 2008.

Denying the allegations during the trial, Khan told the court on April 6 that he was trying to be kind and helpful by discussing sexuality with the boy, who he said appeared troubled and keen to want to talk about this.

Khan denied touching the boys feet and thigh, saying the teenager became very upset and bolted out after he suggested pornography, and that he touched the teenagers elbow or his arm to placate him.

The trial also heard that the victims older brother was at the same party wearing a kilt. He said Khan lifted up the kilt while asking if the then-18-year-old was wearing the garment like a true Scotsman.

Another witness alleged that Khan had sexually assaulted him in his sleep in Pakistan after a party where whisky and marijuana were consumed, but Khans lawyer suggested the alleged victim, despite being heterosexual, was consenting at the time under the influence of alcohol, cannabis, and a sleeping pill.

PA Media contributed to this report.
A group of people on board the Dover lifeboat following a small boat incident in the English Channel are brought in to Dover, Kent, England, on Nov. 11, 2021. (Gareth Fuller/PA)

UK Wants First Batch of Illegal Immigrants Flown to Rwanda in Weeks: Official

The UK government wants to send the first batch of illegal immigrants arriving under a scheme designed to deter human smuggling to Rwanda in a matter of weeks, a Downing Street official has said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on April 14 that people who enter the UK illegally may end up being relocated to the African country of Rwanda.

Johnson said the agreement is uncapped and Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead, including those who have arrived illegally since the start of the year.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers a speech at Lydd Airport in Dover, England, on April 14, 2022. (Matt Dunham  WPA Pool/Getty Images)

He said he hopes the threat of relocation to Rwanda will help end the most tragic of all forms of illegal migration, namely the barbaric trade in human misery conducted by the people smugglers in the English Channel.

Andrew Griffith, the director of policy at No. 10 Downing Street, told BBC Newsnight that it is hoped the scheme will be operational in weeks, or a small number of months, as it doesnt require new legislation.

But both Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel have acknowledged the plans could be challenged in the courts.

During a visit to the Rwandan capital of Kigali, Patel said the Home Office was prepared for legal challenges, as she accused lawyers of fleecing the British taxpayer.

There has also been criticisms of the potential costs of the scheme, which will include not just the 120 million ($157 million) for the initial deal with Rwanda, but also cash for each relocated illegal immigrant.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called the plans unworkable and extortionate.

Andrew Mitchell, a former Conservative minister, said the policy would prove incredibly expensive and it would be cheaper to put the illegal immigrants up at the luxury Ritz Hotel in Londons Mayfair for a year.

But Tom Pursglove, a minister at the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, said sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda will save Britain money in the longer term.

He said the aim was to allow the illegal immigrants to embark on fully prosperous lives in the central African country while simultaneously crushing the cruel business model of human traffickers.

We are spending 5 million per day accommodating individuals who are crossing in hotels. That is not sustainable and is not acceptable and we have to get that under control.

He said the Rwanda scheme will help the UK save money in the long term by getting illegal immigration in the English Channel under control.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Unvaccinated Richmond City Workers Awarded Back Pay in Rare Canadian Legal Decision

To date, the vast majority of decisions have sided with upholding employer's vaccine policies

Nearly 40 City of Richmond workers in B.C. who were put on unpaid leave for not providing proof of COVID-19 vaccination have won the right to return to work with back pay, in a rare legal decision to date in Canada.

As decisions emerge one after another relating to the legal grounds for mandatory vaccination policies, the vast majority of arbitrators in Canada have sided with the employers.

But in a mediated resolution issued at the end of March, Richmond staff members who refused to comply with the citys vaccine mandate were awarded back pay from Dec. 20when they were first put on unpaid leaveto Feb. 21.

The resolution also allowed the 39 city workers, which includes nine fire firefighters, to return to work before the city lifted its vaccine mandate on April 8.

Three unionsIAFF Local 1286, CUPE Local 718, and CUPE Local 394, which represent the citys firefighters, inside workers, and outside workersfirst filed a grievance last October over the vaccine mandate imposed by Richmond city council.

Its obviously a difficult issue for everybody, said Randy Noonan, the mutually agreed-upon arbitrator in the case. At the end of the day, I had to make a decision on it. I had to hear a lot of evidence.

Noonan on Jan. 12 had originally denied the three unions grievance application for staying, limiting or altering the City of Richmonds vaccine policy.

Acknowledging that the issue is highly contentious and complex, he told The Epoch Times that he couldnt discuss the details behind his original decision and the subsequent mediated resolution.

The B.C. labour arbitrator noted, however, that this is the first case in Canada he is aware of where unionized workers who refused to comply with employer vaccine mandates were awarded back pay after being put on unpaid leave.

In a review of 12 cases10 from Ontario and one each from Alberta and B.C.industry magazine Benefits Canada found that only two arbitrators, both in Ontario, ruled the employers vaccine policies to be unreasonable.

In both cases, the arbitrators struck down mandatory vaccination policies that involved unionized workplaces.

The first case involved the Electrical Safety Authority. The arbitrator decided the policy was unreasonable because it didnt provide a COVID-19 testing alternative.

The second case involved a group of four long-term care homes. The arbitrator ruled that termination as a consequence of non-compliance violated the unions collective agreement.

Arbitrator Gail Misra said the employer, Chartwell, failed to discuss with the union the significant changes made to its vaccination policy. She noted specifically the changes that would allow the company to terminate or place on unpaid leave employees who do not provide proof of vaccination or a medical exemption by a specified date.

However, she also said that at some point once the issue is clarified, the employer will likely have just cause to terminate the employment of such an employee.

Wrongful Dismissal Cases

Jim Wu, an employment lawyer for Forte Law in Vancouver, says he is receiving a lot of questions about workplace vaccine policies from both employers and employees.

In a blog post, he wrote that almost all of the cases that have made it through Canadas court system have ruled that it is legal to terminate an employee who defies employer vaccine policies.

Wu noted that the cases tend to hinge on the specific facts of the employees dismissal, including whether the employers maintained communication and whether they had a very clear agenda as to why they were enacting a vaccine policy.

In a recent case involving the Toronto District School Board, the teachers union argued that the boards vaccine policy infringes Section 7 of the Canadian charter, which states that everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of the person.

However, the arbitrator ruled that the policy did not violate the charter, concluding that the school boards vaccine policy was an entirely reasonable exercise of management rights, subject of course to any individual claims respecting requested medical/creed exemption requests should they proceed.

While most cases that have been decided on so far by arbitrators have involved unionized employees, Wu says more cases are still making their way through the court system, including three wrongful dismissal lawsuits in B.C.

In one case, a Vancouver pharmacist who had worked at London Drugs for 16 years is suing her former employer, alleging that the retail chain wrongfully dismissed her for not getting vaccinated for COVID-19.

The former employee claims in her lawsuit that London Drugs effectively wrongfully dismissed her because of the unilateral changes the company made to the terms of her employment as a result of the vaccination policy. That lawsuit is ongoing.

Wu says that court cases can take months or even years to go to trial, and that around 90 percent of all lawsuits settle out of court rather than proceed to trial.

Evidence Vaccination Does Not Reduce Virus Transmission

Like most arbitrators, Noonan first ruled in January that the employer vaccine policy was ultimately reasonable because it was intended to reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19 and therefore it was serving to protect employees rights.

In B.C., the issue has raised controversy this year as lawyers representing a group of psychologists and regional health officials pointed to evidence that vaccine mandates do not reduce transmission of the virus.

On Feb. 16, officials from Vancouver Coastal Health, in a letter to the University of British Columbia, highlighted evidence that COVID-19 can be spread in both the vaccinated and unvaccinated. It cited scientific data from around the world, including a study published in The Lancet in January.

The Epoch Times asked Noonan whether similar evidence was raised in the lead-up to the mediated resolution, or whether that information had a bearing on his decision, but he did not respond to the query.

The City of Richmond says that almost 99 percent of the citys approximately 2,100 employees are vaccinated and that unvaccinated employees have returned to work.

Spokesperson Clay Adams said that workers who chose to use vacation time during their unpaid leave period will have it reinstated between Feb. 21 and April 8. Neither the back pay nor the reinstated vacation pay will affect the citys budget, he added.
US Pension Funds Invest Billions in Chinese Firms, Stoking National Security Concerns

Recent actions by Republican lawmakers have called attention to the willingness of top U.S .pension funds to invest in Chinese companies that may have ties to the regime in Beijing and may play a role in enhancing the regimes military and surveillance capabilities.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and two GOP colleagues, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) sent a letter on April 6 to President Joe Bidens four nominees to serve on the board of the Federal Thrift Retirement Investment Board (FTRIB), the primary pension fund for government employees, requesting that they pledge not to invest funds in Chinese firms that may undermine U.S. national security.

Rubio also placed a hold on the confirmation of the nominees pending such assurances.

But such an effort aimed at blocking U.S. investments from potentially aiding the Chinese regime and its military is but one step out of many others that should be taken, including Congressional action and cultural shifts within pension fund investing, say longtime observers of the U.S-China trade and investment.

In their letter, Rubio and colleagues said they were deeply concerned by FTRIBs historical willingness to invest federal employees retirement savings into China-based companies, including firms involved in the Chinese governments military, espionage, human rights abuses, and aggressive industrial policy designed to undermine U.S. industry.

They explicitly called out the FTRIBs decision in 2017 to shift the index used for its international stock investment fund to the broader MSCI All Country World ex-U.S. Investable Market Index, which comprises 99 percent of the global equity market. That index is 7.5 percent weighted toward Chinese firms.

In response to pressures from lawmakers and the Trump administration, the FTRIB in 2020 backed off from making this move, but did not allay concerns about its willingness to invest in Chinese firms in the future.

In the view of some observers, the pledges that Rubio and colleagues now seek do not go far enough given the severity of the consequences of abetting Chinas military and the Beijing regimes manifold human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority of western China and other religious and ethnic groups elsewhere.

Currently, more than $152 billion of overall U.S. investments are in state-owned enterprises based in China, according to a 2021 U.S. government document obtained by The Epoch Times that analyzed information from SEC filings as of November 2020. The document found that U.S. investors have allocated over $2.3 trillion to China since 1992.

As of November 2020, over $47. 8 billion are in what the U.S. Defense Department classifies as Chinese communist military companies. That month, then-President Donald Trump banned U.S. investments in such designated companies, an executive order that has since been expanded upon by the Biden administration.

The 2022 document also found that state and pension funds invested $14.8 billion in Chinese securities. The state of California led the way in investments in China and Hong Kong, with 1,611 securities with a total investment value of nearly $8.5 billion. Right behind was the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp., with investments in excess of $2 billion, and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, with over $1.1 billion invested.

Ultimately, the decision of whether the FTRIB should invest in China is one that Congress should make, and the decision should be to ban such investment, said Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington-based think tank.

In Atkinsons view, for the federal government to invest its employees money in Chinese firms plays right into the hands of an adversarial regime and economy.

As Lenin supposedly once said, Capitalists will sell us the rope by which we hang them. It makes no sense for the FTRIB to invest in Chinese firms, Atkinson told The Epoch Times.

But apart from the actions of Rubio and colleagues, Atkinson sees little happening at the federal level to counter such investments. The current administration seems complacent, at least judging from its public stance on the matter.

I am not aware of any statements from the Biden administration calling for an end to this practice. Absent Congressional legislation on the issue, I think it is quite appropriate for senators to ask the FTRIB to explain their views, and ideally to commit to ending the practice, he said.

While Congressional action on this issue may be warranted, Atkinson favors enforcing certain standards and protocols in U.S.-China trade and investment rather than abandoning it altogether.

I am not a supporter of large-scale decoupling, in part because we do derive some benefits. But I dont support the U.S. government providing financing for Chinese companies, most of which have murky and opaque finances that would not meet Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) standards, Atkinson continued.

A Cultural Shift

In the recent past, pensions in the United States have not been shy about modifying and redirecting their investment strategies and targets in the face of public pressures or out of their own sense of fair and ethical investment practices.

Pensions are bureaucracies, and they have a culture. Twenty years ago, the question about where to invest might have had to do with what we call the sin stocks. Are you investing in gambling, alcohol, and cigarettes, and whats the effect? Are we making money at the expense of the public good? said Dory Wiley, president and CEO of Commerce Street Holdings, LLC.

When such questions arose, Wiley said, debates tended to arise between proponents of ethical considerations and those who assert the fiduciary duty to turn a profit and provide the best returns for participants in the plan. Some pension funds would exclude sin stocks from their investment strategies, and some would not, he said.

More recently, the focus of the debate has shifted somewhat, and pension boards are more concerned with the principles of environment, social, and governance, or ESG, investing. Based on these calculations, some pension funds have decided that investing in gun manufacturers is unacceptable while investments in the so-called sin products, including alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling, may be permitted.

But the concern for ethical investing notably omits any consideration of the implications of investing in companies with ties to a predatory regime.

At the same time, we see aggressive investing in markets such as China, without concern about firms contracting for [the Chinese militarys] AI or for the million-plus people in concentration camps and other human rights issues, Wiley said.

So I think that pension funds today really need to stop and look at what theyre doing. Do we have investments in China, or in Russia, that are not for the good of our participants or the greater good of society? he continued.

For pension funds to undertake such a review of their investments and make assessments about the consequences of supporting Chinese firms very much falls within the funds fiduciary duty, particularly given the potential use of AI and other technologies to spy on and subvert the security of America and her allies.

They need to evaluate those positions, and they need to have a good answer as to whether theyre going to stay in those investments, Wiley said.

Not all pension funds that support Chinese companies do so intentionally, Wiley acknowledged. Part of the problem here is a manager benchmarking issue, he said. The tendency is for managers to develop portfolios with certain levels of exposure to different countries, in alignment with certain benchmarks. This is precisely the issue raised by Rubio and colleagues in their April 6 letter.

Dont let a benchmark define what you should be investing in and not investing in. If a benchmark is wrong, a benchmark is wrong, Wiley said.
A representation of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken on June 29, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

US Says North Korean Hackers Behind Axie Infinity Multi-Million Dollar Crypto Heist

The United States said Thursday that North Korean hacking group Lazarus was responsible for the multi-million dollar cryptocurrency heist of Axie Infinity, a game in which players can earn crypto through gameplay.

Through our investigation, we were able to confirm Lazarus Group and APT38, cyber actors associated with the DPRK, are responsible for the theft of $620 million in Ethereum reported on March 29, the FBI said in a statement, using the acronym for North Koreas official name.

The U.S. Treasury Department updated its Specially Designated Nationals List to include the currency address that received the stolen funds and linked it to the Lazarus Group. The sanctions prohibit U.S. persons and entities from transacting with the listed address.

Ronin Network, the blockchain backing the popular crypto game Axie Infinity, said in a Thursday update that it will deliver a comprehensive post-mortem report by the end of the month.

We are still in the process of adding additional security measures before redeploying the Ronin Bridge to mitigate future risks. [We] expect the bridge to be deployed by the end of the month, it stated.

According to blockchain analytic group Chainalysis, Lazarus is led by North Koreas primary intelligence agencyReconnaissance General Bureau. The hacking group first gained notoriety from its alleged involvement in the Sony Pictures and WannaCry cyberattacks.

It stated that the group has stolen and laundered massive sums of virtual currencies every year, typically in excess of $200 million since 2018.

The United States is aware that the DPRK has increasingly relied on illicit activitiesincluding cybercrimeto generate revenue for its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs as it tries to evade robust U.S. and U.N. sanctions, a Treasury Department spokesperson told Reuters.

On March 29, Ronin claimed that it lost 173,600 ethers (Ethereum tokens), which are worth about $589 million, and $25.5 million of USD coin, which is considered a stablecoin and is pegged to the U.S. dollar.

It stated that the validator nodes for Sky Mavisthe operator of Ronin and Axie Infinityand for Axie DAO (a decentralized autonomous organization) were compromised on March 23. The attack was discovered on March 29 after a user reported being unable to withdraw Ethereum funds from the bridge.

In order to recognize a deposit event or a withdrawal event, five out of the nine validator signatures are needed. The attacker managed to get control over Sky Maviss four Ronin validators and a third-party validator run by Axie DAO, Ronin said.

While the nine validator nodes are set up to be decentralized to limit such attacks, Ronin said the attacker found a backdoor through our gas-free RPC node, which they abused to get the signature for the Axie DAO validator.

The Ronin bridge and Katana Dex, the Ronin decentralized exchange, have also been halted as a security measure as investigations continue.

Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.
Blank social security checks are run through a printer at the U.S. Treasury printing facility in Philadelphia, Penn., on Feb. 11, 2005. (William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

Watchdog Says Bidens Budget Pushes Taxpayer Burden to $919,000 Each

When President Joe Biden submitted his $5.8 trillion Fiscal Year 2023 budget request to Congress in late March, Truth In Accountings (TIA) 12th annual financial state of the union report was just three weeks old.

But after reading Bidens 149-page proposed budget, TIA founder and CEO Sheila Weinberg quickly realized her groups 2022 Financial State of the Union` report was already obsolete.

In analyzing the Financial Report of the United States Government for FY22 published in February, TIA accountants and fiscal analysts calculated federal government debt to be $133 trillion, with every one of the nations taxpayers each shouldering an $836,000 taxpayer burden.

After Biden released his proposed budget, TIAs revised its federal government debt calculation upward to $141 trillion, with each of the nations taxpayers now bearing a $919,000 taxpayer burden.

In essence, Bidens budget request instantly imposed an $83,000 per capita federal tax increase on the nations taxable citizens, according to TIA.

Folks in Washington, D.C., seem to have given up totally on the concept of fiscal responsibility, Weinberg told The Epoch Times. Fiscal responsibility is dead. The new normal is $1 trillion deficits.

But even that new normal is the same old smoke-and-mirrors, she said, noting the $1 trillion deficit as presented in the budgets is projected annual spending vs forecast revenues, not a transparent accounting of total public debt, including unfunded liabilities in public employee pensions and other debt obligations.

The thing that people dont realize, she said, is that the total federal government debt is $141 trillion.

Weinberg, a Certified Public Accountant with more than 40 years of experience in government finance, founded Chicago-based TIA in 2002.

The group has carved a niche for itself among government and spending watchdogs by insisting all liabilities be includedand countedwhen analyzing budgets, and then breaking down expenditures-versus-revenues to calculate taxpayer burdens at the federal and state levels, and 75 of the nations largest municipalities.

TIAs 2021 Financial State of the States analysis was published in September and it will post its annual Taxpayer Burden update in May, Weinberg said.

TIAs calculations have been frequently dismissed by government agencies and other forensics accounting experts as over-simplified.

Among criticisms, especially regarding TIAs public employee pension and retiree benefit debt calculations, is it does not account for amortization periods incorporated into budgets.

Texas, for instance, considers pension debt healthy if all it owes can be paid off through investment returns and contributions within a 31-year period. Georgia requires a 25-year amortization period.

But Weinberg maintains this is an accounting trick that allows governments to accumulate debt by drafting budgets on a cash-basis and politicians to get elected based on undeserved fiscal acumen.

The reason that the government doesnt include [all liabilities] in their debt numbers is they dont see, they dont count, anything beyond the checks that are written in that budget, she said, meaning those numbers on the other side of the balance sheet are simply excluded in annual budgets.

According to TIAs full-ledgered account of federal government finances at the end of FY22, which was Sept. 30, 2021, the United States financial condition worsened by nearly $19 trillion with its unfunded liabilitiesor, what if all bills came due?topping $141 trillion.

TIA cites two main sources of this uncounted debt: $58.1 trillion in Medicare and $45.4 trillion in Social Security promises that the government has not set any money aside to fund.

The $5 trillion in pandemic relief and recovery packages adopted by Congress in 2020 and 2021 also had a negative impact on the fiscal health of the federal government last year, TIA states.

Just like all the state and local governments, the federal government took on extra costs and had to borrow more money to deal with the pandemic.

In its analysis of federal FY22 expenditures, TIA documents that $7.4 trillion was spent on health and human services, defense and veterans affairs, Social Security, education, and other expenses, including interest on the debt.

That $7.4 trillion spent is significantly more than the $4.3 trillion in revenues collected by the federal government over the year.

The system now is unsustainable, but elected officials in Congress are allowing it to remain so because sooner or later, fiscal reality will force decisions by default, Weinberg said.

Right now, you have promised to pay $141 trillion and you dont have a plan on how you will pay those benefits, she said, which means, by default, the plan right now is to cut benefits.

They beat up people who propose fixing Social Security and Medicaid, Weinberg continued, but the plan right now is to cut benefits because the system is unsustainable and theyre not doing anything to fix it.

In fact, theyre doubling down.
Oksana Marchenko, wife of pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk who was detained in Ukraine, attends a news conference in Moscow, on April 15, 2022. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)

Wife of Putin Ally Held in Ukraine Accuses Kyiv Authorities of Beating Her Husband

The wife of one of Russian President Vladimir Putins top allies in Ukraine said on Friday that he has been beaten by the Ukrainian security service while being interrogated in detention.

At a news conference in Moscow, Viktor Medvedchuks wife Oksana Marchenko said that one of two photos released by Ukraine this week showed he had been beaten.

Reuters could not independently confirm this, and neither Ukraines security service, the SBU, nor the Kremlin immediately responded to requests for comment.

On Wednesday, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russias Security Council, said: Those freaks who call themselves the Ukrainian authorities say that they want to beat testimony out of Viktor Medvedchuk, quickly and fairly, convict him, and then exchange him for prisoners.

The SBU said on Tuesday it had arrested Medvedchuk, who has long advocated closer ties to Russia and is leader of the Opposition PlatformFor Life party. The party is Ukraines largest opposition party.

One photo of him in handcuffs was released on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys official Telegram account, and another was posted by the SBU on Facebook.

Displaying the two photos, Marchenko said one had been taken before he was interrogated and showed no sign of injury. A second image, which she said had been taken during his interrogation, showed him with his hair over his forehead.

It shows a big bruise and marks which they have tried to conceal with his hair. There is no doubt that he was beaten in the first hours after his arrest, she said.

That photo shows what could be a mark on his forehead beneath a wisp of hair, although Reuters could not determine what caused it.

Oksana Marchenko, wife of pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk who was detained in Ukraine, attends a news conference, while pictures of her husband are displayed on screens, in Moscow, Russia April 15, 2022. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

Three days after Russia moved its forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24, Ukraine said Medvedchuk had escaped from house arrest. He had been placed under house arrest in May 2021 and charged with high treason and later with aiding terrorism.

The pro-Russian figure, who says Putin is godfather to his daughter, has denied wrongdoing.

The head of the SBU said on Wednesday that Medvedchuk had planned to escape Ukraine by secretly crossing into the breakaway Transdniestria region of Moldova, but that his plan had been foiled.

Marchenko said she wanted to know where her husband was, for him to be protected from abuse and for him to be granted medical care and access to his lawyer.

Zelenskyy has proposed swapping Medvedchuk for Ukrainian prisoners being held by Russian forces. Russia on Wednesday turned down this proposal with a warning that those holding him might soon be detained themselves.
NORWALK  A former school official who accused Superintendent Alexandra Estrella of misleading her into taking a job with the citys public schools has settled her case, court documents show.

Details of the settlement were not released and both sides could not be reached for comment.

The former employee, Donalda Chumney, had been seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as fees exceeding $75,000, according to the lawsuit filed Nov. 26, 2021.

Norwalk Public Schools hired Chumney as the districts chief academic officer on Dec. 1, 2020. She was hired on a three-year contract through June 30, 2023.

However, the lawsuit claimed that shortly after she started, Estrella planned to reorganize her staff before the 2021-22 school year. Chumney was then informed she would need to reapply for a new, lower-paying position if she wished to remain employed in the district, she claimed in the lawsuit

According to the terms of her contract, Chumney would be terminated if the board eliminated the position of chief academic officer. Lawyers for the firm Saluck, Halper & Lehrman PLLC, which represented Chumney, argued in the complaint that her role was not eliminated, but merely retitled in order to create a pretext to end plaintiffs employment contract prematurely.

Chumneys attorney argued the district never intended to honor their clients contract and recruited her in bad faith.

In December, Jeffrey Spahr, the deputy corporation counsel for the city of Norwalk, said the defendants disagreed with the claim that there was a breach of contract or any other wrongdoing on the part of the district or the superintendent.

In her claim, Chumney said Estrella recruited her to join Norwalk schools in July 2020. At the time, Chumney was serving as the superintendent of Community School District 2 in Manhattan and had worked with Estrella when they were both employed by the New York City Department of Education. The two continued to communicate, the lawsuit stated, with Estrella encouraging Chumney to apply for the chief academic officer job, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claimed Estrella planned to reorganize Central Office and eliminate the chief academic officer position while Chumney was being recruited for that role, the lawsuit stated.

A letter informing Chumney of the reorganization was addressed to her on April 12, 2021, according to court documents. It stated she could apply for any vacant position for which she was qualified, but it also stated her termination was imminent because her position was being eliminated, not because of her performance as the chief academic officer during her short tenure, according to the lawsuit.

The restructuring created an assistant superintendent position that would assume the same responsibilities of the chief academic officer, according to the complaint. Under the assistant superintendent would be executive directors of leadership development who would oversee educational administrators. Chumney claimed Estrella said her role mostly closely aligned with one of the education administrator positions at a lower salary, the lawsuit stated.

The pay cut would have been between $23,000 to $30,000, the lawsuit stated.

In the lawsuit, Chumney claimed she struggled to find new employment before accepting a school principal role at a reduced salary in Virginia.

emily.morgan@hearstmediact.com
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Joyce Ares had just turned 74 and was feeling fine when she agreed to give a blood sample for research. So she was surprised when the screening test came back positive for signs of cancer.

After a repeat blood test, a PET scan and a needle biopsy, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.

I cried, the retired real estate broker said. Just a couple of tears and thought, OK, now what do we do?

The Canby, Oregon, resident had volunteered to take a blood test that is being billed as a new frontier in cancer screening for healthy people. It looks for cancer by checking for DNA fragments shed by tumor cells.

Such blood tests, called liquid biopsies, are already used in patients with cancer to tailor their treatment and check to see if tumors come back.

Now, one company is promoting its blood test to people with no signs of cancer as a way to detect tumors in the pancreas, ovaries and other sites that have no recommended screening method.

Its an open question whether such cancer blood tests  if added to routine care  could improve Americans health or help meet the White Houses goal of cutting the cancer death rate in half over the next 25 years.

With advances in DNA sequencing and data science making the blood tests possible, California-based Grail and other companies are racing to commercialize them.

And U.S. government researchers are planning a large experiment  with 200,000 participants and possibly lasting seven years  to see if the blood tests can live up to the promise of catching more cancers earlier and saving lives.

They sound wonderful, but we dont have enough information, said Dr. Lori Minasian of the National Cancer Institute, who is involved in planning the research. We dont have definitive data that shows that they will reduce the risk of dying from cancer.

Grail is far ahead of other companies with 2,000 doctors willing to prescribe the $949 test. Most insurance plans dont cover the cost. The tests are being marketed without endorsements from medical groups or a recommendation from U.S. health authorities.

FDA authorization, clearance or approval of such tests is required by law, but the agency historically has not enforced most regulatory requirements for ones  like Grails  that are designed, manufactured and used within a single laboratory. The agency is working with Congress on legislation to update the regulatory framework, which would include active oversight for such tests, said FDA spokesman Jim McKinney.

For a drug, the FDA demands that there is a substantial high likelihood that the benefits not only are proven, but they outweigh the harms. Thats not the case for devices like blood tests, said Dr. Barry Kramer of the Lisa Schwartz Foundation for Truth in Medicine.

Grail plans to seek approval from the FDA, but is marketing its test as it submits data to the agency.

The history of cancer screening has taught caution. In 2004, Japan halted mass screening of infants for a childhood cancer after studies found it didnt save lives. Last year, a 16-year study in 200,000 women in the United Kingdom found regular screening for ovarian cancer didnt make any difference in deaths.

Cases like these have uncovered some surprises: Screening finds some cancers that dont need to be cured. The flip side? Many dangerous cancers grow so fast they elude screening and prove deadly anyway.

And screening can do more harm than good. Anxiety from false positives. Unnecessary costs. And serious side effects from cancer care: PSA tests for men can lead to treatment complications such as incontinence or impotence, even when some slow-growing prostate cancers would never have caused trouble.

The evidence is strongest for screening tests for cancers of the breast, cervix and colon. For some smokers, lung cancer screening is recommended.

The recommended tests  mammography, PAP tests, colonoscopy  look for one cancer at a time. The new blood tests look for many cancers at once. Thats an advantage, according to Grail executive Dr. Joshua Ofman.

We screen for four or five cancers in this country, but (many) cancer deaths are coming from cancers that were not looking for at all, Ofman said.

Dr. Tomasz Beer of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland led the company-sponsored study that Joyce Ares joined in 2020. After a miserable winter of chemotherapy and radiation, doctors told her the treatment was a success.

Her case isn't an outlier, "but it is the sort of hoped-for ideal outcome, and not everyone is going to have that, Beer said.

While there were other early cancers detected among study participants, some had less clear-cut experiences. For some, blood tests led to scans that never located a cancer, which could mean the result was a false positive, or it could mean there's a mystery cancer that will show up later. For others, blood tests detected cancer that turned out to be advanced and aggressive, Beer said. One older participant with a bad case declined treatment.

Grail continues to update its test as it learns from these studies, and is sponsoring a trial with Britains National Health Service in 140,000 people to see if the blood test can reduce the number of cancers caught in late stages.

Although Ares feels lucky, its impossible to know whether her test added healthy years to her life or made no real difference, said Kramer, former director of the National Cancer Institutes Division of Cancer Prevention.

I sincerely hope that Joyce benefited from having this test, Kramer said when told of her experience. But unfortunately, we cant know, at the individual Joyce level, whether thats the case."

Cancer treatments can have long-term side effects, he said, "and we dont know how fast the tumor would have grown. Treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma is so effective that delaying therapy until she felt symptoms might have achieved the same happy outcome.

For now, health experts stress the Grail blood test is not a cancer diagnosis; a positive result triggers further scans and biopsies.

This is a path in diagnostic testing that has never been tried before," Kramer said. Our ultimate destination is a test that has a clear net benefit. If we dont do it carefully, well go way off the path.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

___

This story was first published on April 11, 2022. It was updated on April 14, 2022, to make clear that FDA approval of some tests is required by law but the agency historically has not enforced regulatory requirements on certain tests.
Edwardsville High School senior Caley Hitt has started The Purple Pin Project in memory of Mackenzie Allen, an 18-year-old student who died in January due to epilepsy.

The Purple Pin Project benefits the Mackenzie Allen Scholarship Fund. Hitt is selling purple Epilepsy Awareness pins for $5 to students, staff and members throughout the community.

The plan is to wear them on graduation, Hitt said. Mackenzie was going to be a teacher, so of course one of her biggest goals was to graduate. And I think that just a picture at graduation isnt enough.

I feel like she needs to walk across that stage with us. So not only will she graduate once, shes going to graduate hundreds of times. That was my vision. Because that was her biggest goal, was to just walk across the stage, and I wanted to make sure she could do that.

Hitt came up with the idea for the Purple Pin Project earlier this year.

Basically I was driving home from her funeral and it just kind of smacked me across the face, the idea just kind of hit me," she said. "And I sort of sat down and figured out how can I do this, should I do this?

She said she originally tried to see if she could get the pins donated, but to do so she would need a 501(c)(3). Hitt said she asked the school if they could use their status, but if they did, she would have to donate the pins to the seniors rather than raise funds.

"I thought that I could blow it up way bigger than that," Hitt said. Because I wanted to help raise money for the scholarship to keep her memory alive. So I ended up taking it into my own hands.

Hitt does have support from the school as well as help from a fellow student, Nicole Anderson.

The pins do not only honor Mackenzies memory, but also her advocacy.

Epilepsy awareness is not something thats really talked about as much as like diabetes, heart disease, things like that, Hitt said. Shes had it ever since she was little and whenever she came to high school she was very scared to talk about it. But she started advocating for herself and speaking up about epilepsy awareness.

Hitt said Allen set up days where students would wear purple to spread epilepsy awareness.

So far, the Purple Pin Project has sold 287 pins and raised around $4,000. The money will go toward purchasing the pins and all remaining proceeds will go into the Mackenzie Allen Scholarship fund, started by Allens family.

Hitt said the scholarship was originally meant to benefit one graduating member of the EHS Color Guard.

My thought was, if I raise enough money, then they might be able to extend it for many years or have multiple students benefit this year from it instead of it just being a one-time thing, Hitt said. "Then it can help to keep her memory alive by making it a multiple-year scholarship.

Whenever somebody's going through the burden of the loss of a child, the last thing they should have to worry about is how theyre going to keep something like that going.

In addition to selling pins, Hitt said several individuals and businesses have donated to the Purple Pin Project. Businesses have donated gift baskets and gift certificates for silent auctions and others have donated money to the project. Hitt said she plans to make posters with the logos of all the business that have donated to acknowledge them when the pins are distributed.

I think that a big part of the Edwardsville community is small businesses and I wanted to make sure that we got that involved. I believe its about bringing the community together, Hitt said.

The last day to order pins is Friday, April 22 so that they can be ordered in time for graduation. Those interested in purchasing a pin or donating to the project can contact Hitt through The Purple Pin project group on Facebook and Instagram.
President Muhammadu Buhari has deeply expressed sadness over the tragic boat mishap where no fewer than 29 people reportedly died in the Shagari River at Gidan Magana, in Shagari Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

The president who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement noted that he extended his heartfelt condolences to the families who lost loved ones in the devastating incident.

He particularly commiserated with the village head of Gidan Magana, Malam Muhammadu Auwal, who lost five of his children in the mishap.

The statement also added that the President has directed Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to increase ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of riverine travel in the country.

President Buhari also commiserated with the government and people of Sokoto state, while praying for the repose of the souls of the departed and divine comfort to the grieving families.
True and DTAC team up to combat scams

BANGKOK: True Corporation and Total Access Communication Public Company Limited (DTAC) are collaborating to tackle rampant call center scams, it was confirmed yesterday (Apr 14).

crimetechnology

By National News Bureau of Thailand

Friday 15 April 2022, 09:26AM

Photo: NNT

TRUE President Natwut Amornvivat said the firm recognises the threat of cyber crimes, which are becoming increasingly frequent with ever-evolving tactics, NNT reported on its Facebook page.

Such scams are at best a nuisance and in many cases can cause major financial damage, he said.

TRUE, together with the Police Cyber Taskforce (PCT) and the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), have established the 9777 hotline for people to report SMS and phone numbers used by scammers.

TRUE customers will not be charged for making calls to the hotline, which is available around the clock.

The center will also announce the result of its assessment within 72 hours. If a number is determined to have been used by scammers, TRUE will block it from its system and inform the NBTC and PCT in case further action is necessary.

Similarly, Stephen James Helwig, DTACs interim chief corporate affairs officer, said DTAC accepts call center scam reports to its 1678 hotline, which also accepts SMS and MMS reports.

Additionally, the company will prevent international calls that appear fraudulent and establish a team to monitor incoming international calls to determine their authenticity.

Similarly, the Bangkok Post reported it was announced yesterday that The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) will join hands with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Singapore to address the increasing cases of cybercrime and call centre scammers.
UK to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda

LONDON: Britain will send migrants and asylum-seekers who cross the Channel thousands of miles away to Rwanda under a controversial deal announced yesterday (Apr 14) as the government tries to clamp down on record numbers of people making the perilous journey.

immigrationSafety

By AFP

Friday 15 April 2022, 09:43AM

Record numbers are making the risky Channel crossing, often made in unsuitable and dangerous craft across one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes. Photo: Ben Stansall / AFP

From today... anyone entering the UK illegally as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1 may now be relocated to Rwanda, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech near Dover in southeastern England.

Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead, Johnson said.

He called the East African nation with a sketchy human rights record one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognised for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants.

Johnson was elected partly on promises to curb illegal immigration but has instead seen record numbers making the risky Channel crossing.

He also announced that Britains border agency would hand responsibility for patrolling the Channel for migrant boats to the navy.

More than 28,000 people arrived in Britain having crossed the Channel from France in small boats in 2021.

Around 90% of those were male and three-quarters were men aged between 18 and 39.

Inhumane

The Rwanda plan swiftly drew the ire of opposition politicians who accused Johnson of trying to distract from his fine for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, while rights groups slammed the project as inhumane.

The United Nations refugee agency voiced its strong opposition, with Gillian Triggs, the UNHCR assistant high commissioner for protection saying: People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.

European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari did not directly comment on the British decision but stressed that it raises fundamental questions about the access to asylum procedures and protection in line with the demands of international law.

Ghana and Rwanda had previously been mentioned as possible locations for the UK to outsource the processing of migrants, but Ghana in January denied involvement.

Instead, Kigali yesterday announced that it had signed a multi-million-dollar deal to do the job, during a visit by British Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal pathways to residence in the East African nation, Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said in a statement.

The deal with Rwanda will be funded by the UK to the tune of up to 120 million (B5.2 billion) with migrants integrated into communities across the country, it said.

In Dover, where many migrants arrive after crossing the Channel, some residents welcomed the announcement.

They should be sent back, because it is not our responsibility, said retiree Andy, 68.

Our responsibility is to look after our own people, which we arent doing, the heavily tattooed army veteran told AFP.

I understand people escaping from repression, I do. But if theyre coming over here for one thing and that is money, to me that is wrong.

Backlash

Refugee Actions Tim Naor Hilton accused the government of offshoring its responsibilities onto Europes former colonies instead of doing our fair share to help some of the most vulnerable people on the planet.

This grubby cash-for-people plan would be a cowardly, barbaric and inhumane way to treat people fleeing persecution and war, he said.

Nadia Hardman, Refugee and Migrant Rights Researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the plan would complicate the process for Syrians seeking refuge in the UK.

Syrian refugees are desperate to reach a place of safety, Hardman told AFP.

The UKs agreement with Rwanda will only complicate this pursuit.

They will arrive and expect to be treated according to the fundamental values the UK says it upholds, but will instead be transferred somewhere, miles away.

Australia has a policy of sending asylum-seekers arriving by boat to detention camps on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, with Canberra vowing no asylum seeker arriving by boat would ever be allowed to permanently settle in Australia.

Since 2015 the UK has offered a place to over 185,000 men, women and children seeking refuge... more than any other similar resettlement schemes in Europe, Johnson said.

According to the UN refugee agency, Germany received the highest number of asylum applicants (127,730) in Europe in 2021, followed by France (96,510), while the UK received the fourth largest number of applicants (44,190).
Nati Harnik/AP

OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  A major fertilizer company says the limits Union Pacific is putting on rail traffic to clear up congestion will delay shipments that farmers need during the spring planting season.

CF Industries said Thursday that the railroad ordered it to cut its shipments nearly 20%. Union Pacific has said it is limiting rail traffic and hiring aggressively as part of a plan to improve service after grain and ethanol shippers complained about shortcomings.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois farmers are applauding this week's announcement by President Joe Biden that the summer cap is being lifted on E15, a fuel blend containing 15% ethanol.

The ethanol blend is usually banned from June to September because of smog concerns. The Biden administration's announcement is intended to bring down gasoline prices somewhat. Biden said the move is not going to solve all our problems, but its going to help some people.

There are an estimated 130 gas stations that sell E15 in Illinois, and about 2,300 nationwide. Biden said the country will invest $100 million in biofuel infrastructure.

The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center in Edwardsville is the only fully integrated research facility of its kind in the world.

Illinois Farm Bureau supports the administrations effort to incentivize infrastructure that expands capacity for higher levels of renewable fuel blends, while also incentivizing oil companies to resume oil production from inactive wells located on federal lands, Illinois Farm Bureau president Richard Guebert Jr. said.

Ethanol is a fuel commonly made from corn that, under the 2005 federal Renewable Fuel Standard, is required to be blended into billions of gallons of gasoline each year.

With being a major supplier of ethanol to the market as well as being number one or two in leading the pack in corn production, we are ecstatic to see this, said DeAnne Bloomberg, director of issue management with the Illinois Farm Bureau.

Ethanol advocates and lawmakers from both parties have urged Biden and the EPA to allow year-round sales of E15, calling it cheaper and a readily available domestic alternative to traditional gasoline. The U.S. has banned imports of Russian crude oil since the countrys February invasion of Ukraine, disrupting global markets and raising prices.

The Illinois Renewable Fuels Association applauded lifting the E15 cap as well, saying it will not only provide fuel cost savings but will also increase American energy independence and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They note that, compared to gasoline, ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions by about 50%.
CHICAGO (AP)  Chicago's police review office has completed its investigation into the shooting death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo last year and delivered its report to Police Superintendent David Brown, it said Thursday.

The Civilian Office of Police Accountability said it will make its final report into the shooting public after Brown reviews it and responds to any of its recommended disciplinary actions against the officers who were involved in the chase and shooting. Brown has 60 days to do so but can request a 30-day extension.
EDWARDSVILLE  Emergency appropriations totaling almost $1.3 million  including more than $1 million for the Madison County Health Department for COVID response  have been approved by the Madison County Finance & Government Operations Committee.

Emergency appropriations covers unexpected monies received by the county after the budget is completed, often in the form of grants. The countys fiscal year runs from Dec. 1-Nov. 30, with the budget approved in mid-November.

The MCHD received three of the five separate appropriations, including two for COVID-related expenses.

The two grants  for $625,000 and $427,293 respectively  come from the Illinois Department of Public Health to pay for COVID-related expenses by the department. Much of that money has already been spent.

Recently MCHD Administrator Toni Corona has said that the departments COVID response had been reduced drastically as the pandemic lessens. She recently referred to the departments original response as an all hands on deck situation but said they are now moving back to normal operations. Corona also noted that most of the contact tracers responsible for determining who might have been exposed to the virus have left the department.

Another grant from the IDPH for $62,500 to address drug overdoses has also been received by the department.

The other emergency appropriations were $180,000 for the Capital Projects Fund for work on the courthouse elevators and $100 remaining from a $5,000 grant for the countys Self-Represented Litigant Coordinator program that will be allowed to be kept by the county.

Also approved was a resolution authorizing the payment of $700,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds for local water district projects.

The money includes $50,000 each for the Meadowbrook Public Water District and Bond Madison Water Company, as well as $100,000 each for the Mitchell, Moro, NE (NorthEast) Central, Pontoon Beach, Three County and Tri-Township water districts.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP)  A convicted felon in Florida has been sentenced to four years and three months in federal prison after appearing in a social media post holding a rifle.

Christian Agosto, 22, of Brandon, was sentenced Wednesday in Tampa federal court, according to court records. He had pleaded guilty in December to possessing a firearm as a convicted felon.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  The First Lady presents three influential women, three acclaimed actors playing them, and a century of history encompassing wars, presidential scandal and America's stubborn gender and race fault lines.

The ambitious Showtime drama series proved an irresistible challenge for Oscar-winning director Susanne Bier. While its subjects  Eleanor Roosevelt, Betty Ford and Michelle Obama  each have a compelling and gripping" story, the sum is even greater, Bier said of her first biographical project.

It was interesting to me that it wasn't one biopic by focusing on first ladies of disparate experiences and eras in a way it puts womens situation in the world very much in perspective, Bier said in an interview.

The First Lady," debuting 9 p.m. EDT Sunday, stars Gillian Anderson as Eleanor Roosevelt, Michelle Pfeiffer as Betty Ford and Viola Davis as Michelle Obama. Davis was an executive producer for the series, as were showrunner Cathy Schulman and Bier.

In their younger iterations, the future first ladies are played by Eliza Scanlen (Roosevelt), Kristine Froseth (Ford) and Jayme Lawson (Obama). The presidents  secondary to their wives in this telling  are portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland as Franklin D. Roosevelt; Aaron Eckhart as Gerald Ford; and O-T Fagbenle as Barack Obama.

The series examines both personal and political chapters, but it is historical fiction and doesn't pretend to be a documentary, Schulman said. We had to imagine what happened in between the events and the things that have been written about, she said during a panel discussion.

Bier said the first-lady role doesn't exist in her native Denmark. While she was familiar with the women portrayed in the series, she gained new respect for them.

What was striking to me was the fact was they realized how to navigate within the White House without actually having a political position, and became much more influential than one would have thought," she said. They did so while managing to serve the expected role of America's beautiful-looking, successful first hostess.

Betty Ford was open about her breast cancer at a point it time when it was so stigmatized and nobody talked about it, Bier said. She obviously saved a lot of people's lives" and changed attitudes in the U.S. and other countries as well.

The First Lady approaches the stories as a tapestry, weaving together moments that, at times, show how similar the women's experience was despite the decades that separated them.

All fought to be taken seriously as first ladies after spending part or much of their adult lives supporting their husband's ambitions. Ford and Obama are depicted as deeply reluctant to make the White House their temporary home  Ford because she had spent so long in the political trenches after giving up her own dreams, Obama because she feared for her husband's safety as the first Black president.

Despite the passages of decades, there are striking similarities in the walls that these three women banged up against, Bier said. Yes, our society has changed, history has changed. But it still is very much a man's world we are living in, which is way I find it incredibly important to do (such) a show."

The parallels involving the women is strictly thematic since their lives don't overlap in history or the series. Bier, who came on board after the approach was determined, felt that the arc of the women's individual stories wasn't fully developed in the script.

With the three first lady's scenes to be shot independently, Bier suggested creation of a cohesive script for each." Even then, changes were made along the way, as Ford, then Obama and Roosevelt were filmed one after the other.

As we were shooting Betty, the scripts for Michelle Obama were being rewritten," she said. So there was never actually a finished roadmap for how to interweave the stories.

That was accomplished during the editing in London, said Bier, who won the best foreign language Oscar in 2011 for Hvnen ("In a Better World"), received a directing Emmy for 2016's The Night Manager" and whose other credits include The Undoing and Birdbox."

Bier, a master filmmaker in various genres, was right for the Showtime series that moves in and out of comedy, tragedy and everything in between, producer Schulman said. Also, Susanne is an actors director, and the level of detail with which she approaches characterizations was crucial in bringing the first ladies to life.

The First Lady is envisioned as an ongoing anthology series, with new presidential spouses part of future editions. Among the possibilities that Schulman and Bier find intriguing: Dolley Madison, Jacqueline Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.

I'm at the moment obsessing over Martha Washington," Schulman said during the panel discussion, citing her intrigue with the origins of the first lady's role. But I also would be so interested to see if we could figure out a way to do Jackie Kennedy that didn't tell the same old story. ... Each of them is so interesting, and they become more interesting in combinations.
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KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP)  A physical therapist from Connecticut was convicted Thursday evening of killing his wife, three young children and the family's dog two years ago in central Florida.

A 12-member jury found Anthony Todt guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of animal cruelty. He was accused of killing his 42-year-old wife Megan, and his three children, Zoe, 4; Tyler, 11; and Alek, 13. The familys dog, Breezy, was also found dead in the home. Prosecutors weren't seeking the death penalty, which means Todt will receive a mandatory life sentence.

Earlier Thursday during closing arguments, Assistant State Attorney Danielle Pinnell told the jury that Todt, 46, nonchalantly detailed the killings to investigators after his arrest at the family's home in Celebration, a community that is located close to Walt Disney World. He later claimed that he took the blame for his wife, who he said had killed the children and then herself.

I was covering for my wife, Todt, 46, told the jury when he took the stand in his defense on Wednesday. Obviously, unsuccessfully. I had no clue how my kids died.

But Pinnell told jurors Todt wanted to control the lives of his wife and children.

After his arrest, Todt told detectives that he and his wife had an agreement to kill their family so they could pass over together when the apocalypse  which they thought was imminent  arrived, Pinnell said Thursday, reiterating an assertion she also made in her opening statements.

The victims were killed sometime after they were last seen in mid-December 2019, prosecutors said. Their decomposing bodies were found wrapped in blankets at the home on Jan. 13, 2020. They had stab wounds and toxic amounts of Benadryl in their systems, according to autopsy reports.

The defense team maintained the state had not proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt. The medical examiner, they said, could not determine whether the children were suffocated or strangled, and said the stab wounds were likely inflicted after death.

He came home to his kids being dead, his wife was alive but essentially dying, and stabbed herself in front of him," Assistant Public Defender Alesha Smith told jurors.

She said the state is essentially picking and choosing when they want you to believe Mr. Todt and when they dont, she said.

But in her final words to the jury, Pinnell insisted that "there is no reasonable doubt in this case.''
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JERSEYVILLE  Quietly Friday, the Germania Brew Haus opened its fourth local coffee shop at 309 N. State St., Jerseyville, in the former Jersey Hometown building.

At 6,000 square feet, the store is the largest for Germania Brew Haus which also has locations in Alton, East Alton and Godfrey. The Jerseyville location is the first with a commercial kitchen which the firm has used since December to make sauces and syrups for its other locations.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A Tennessee judge has declined to halt the state's financial takeover of a majority-Black town near the site of a planned Ford pickup truck factory.

The ruling Thursday by Nashville Chancellor Anne Martin reasons that officials' concerns in the town of Mason are slightly outweighed by the state's need to oversee balanced budgets and financial woes in local governments.

Earlier this year, Comptroller Jason Mumpower raised eyebrows when he announced the state would take over financial supervision of Mason, a town near the site of a future Ford electric pickup truck factory, because of ongoing years of mismanagement. Mumpower made the decision after initially asking Masons town leaders to surrender their charter, which they refused to do.

Days after the takeover was announced, Mumpower added that the state could scale back its financial oversight if Mason met certain goals by this summer. Town leaders sued, seeking to stop the takeover and challenge the states legal standing to require that Mason get approval to spend more than $100.

As the legal challenge proceeds, the judge also wrote that she needs more information about the claims from Mason's leadership that the state is treating the town's majority-Black leaders differently than they have prior white administrators who were struggling with finances. They allege that the pending Ford plant has sparked extra scrutiny.

Martin wrote that the allegations are significant and raise serious concerns about the Comptrollers equitable exercise of his broad authority, but said she has not yet seen enough evidence to determine whether Mason is being treated differently compared with similarly situated local governments.

Martin acknowledged the harsh realities on local government leaders who did not contribute to the financial burden of the Town, but said she also must "take into account the states interest in moving the Town towards financial stability and a balanced budget."

The states attorneys have argued that a corrective plan formulated by the comptrollers office will help Mason finally balance its budget without having to improperly dip into other funds.

The comptroller praised the judge's ruling.

We will continue to work with Mason so that it can pay back its debts, operate on a balanced budget, and deliver timely financial statements, Mumpower said in a statement. "The citizens and taxpayers of Mason deserve a financially sound government that is set up for success.

At a hearing last week, an attorney representing the town argued that while the state has previously taken over other towns finances, it did so without asking a local jurisdiction to first give up its charter. He also argued that the state overreached its authority by demanding approval of any expenditures above $100.

The states attorney defended the strict expenditure limit, saying it was based on historical data provided by Mason officials. The judge remarked that $100 is a small amount for anyone to run a business."

Located in Tipton County, Mason is not far from the planned, $5.6 billion Ford factory in neighboring Haywood County. Officials say the plant, which will produce electric pickup trucks, will boost West Tennessees economy. Ford plans to employ about 5,600 workers at the plant, and construction of the factory will create thousands more jobs.

News of Tennessees plan to take over Masons finances sparked criticism from many of the states Black and Democratic leaders. Republican Gov. Bill Lee told reporters last month that he had not spoken to Mumpower about the decision. However, his office acknowledged in mid-March that Ford is a bit spun up over this in an email provided to The Associated Press through a public records request.

The 2020 census shows Masons population as about 1,330. But that fell to less than 800 after a prison closed recently.

Mason has not submitted its annual audit on time since the 2001 fiscal year and financial statements from 2004 to 2016 were essentially un-auditable, the comptrollers office has said. Budget deficits have mounted, from $126,659 in the 2016 fiscal year to $481,620 in 2020.

Mason has already voted to use about $227,000 of the federal pandemic funds it received to pay back part of the nearly $598,000 the town owes its water and sewer funds.
File photo

GODFREY  The Lewis and Clark Community College Veterans Club will host an American Red Cross Blood Drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesday, April 20, in The Commons on the Godfrey Campus.

"We are proud to be working again with the American Red Cross on this great campus and community blood drive, said L&C Director of Career and Veteran Services Terry Lane. By taking part in this opportunity to help others, you just might save a life. Please make an effort to attend, and please share this information with your family and friends.
The apocalyptic images of bodies sprawled in the mud among twisted tanks, charred walls and splintered trees in Bucha and other Ukrainian cities speak to the brutality of the war that Vladimir Putin started. The knowledge that more such horrors, many more, will be revealed as Russian troops retreat cries out for a reckoning.

President Biden called for a war crime trial, and President Emmanuel Macron of France declared there were clear indications of war crimes. Human Rights Watch reported documented cases of rape and summary executions. Ukrainian and international investigators have already begun collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. It is imperative that this work be done promptly and scrupulously.

It may appear unduly legalistic to parse evidence or to question witnesses as countless civilians cower in their homes hoping against hope that Russian shells dont hit their apartment buildings. The very notion that warfare can have rules, suggesting that there are correct ways to inflict death and destruction on an enemy, is difficult to grasp, and prosecuting commanders carries the risk of appearing as victors justice.

For at least 75 years, the international community has undertaken a real but incomplete effort to define wars of unprovoked aggression as crimes in and of themselves. In the words of the Nuremberg tribunal, To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole.

In Ukraine, there is no question that Russia is the aggressor, that Bucha, the Ukrainian town that had been occupied by Russian forces for five weeks  and Mariupol and Kharkiv and Chernihiv and Kyiv and scores of other cities and towns  would be peacefully greeting spring had Mr. Putin not ordered an unprovoked war to satisfy his ambitions of empire and the destruction of a neighboring nation.

Ukraines resistance is unquestionably self-defense, and the nations of the world are within their rights to impose sanctions on Mr. Putin and his country. Concerned nations are also right to help arm the Ukrainian military, if only to make the price of aggression so high that he, or at least those around him, might come to their senses.

Yet the world has also identified crimes that are unacceptable even in the fog of battle. Objectively gathering and documenting evidence is a powerful way to cut through the muck and preserve the possibility that someone might someday be held accountable. It holds out the possibility, however slim, that someday a judge will declare the orders to fire on a village or hospital illegal and that that legal judgment might one day serve as a deterrent in the next war. War crime investigations are a powerful political tool that can be used to underscore the dignity of victims and the lawlessness of the invaders.

An array of international criminal laws emerged after World War II, most famously the Geneva Convention of 1949, which aims to hold combatants personally responsible for war crimes  such as intentionally slaughtering civilians, torture, wanton destruction of property, sexual violence, pillaging, conscripting children. Other measures included the Genocide Convention and laws prohibiting crimes against humanity.

The Russian Armys actions give every appearance of violating these rules, and investigations have already begun in the International Criminal Court and some other courts. The indiscriminate shelling of cities and towns, the killings evidenced by the mass graves discovered in Bucha and the bombing of a Mariupol theater are among the many actions that could be deemed war crimes. The entire invasion would appear to be a crime of aggression, which would presumably reach Mr. Putin. If these crimes are determined to be part of a widespread or systematic attack on the civilian population based on a state policy, they could also amount to crimes against humanity.

Russia, for the record, says the atrocities in Bucha are all staged. And it may well be that investigators will find evidence of atrocities committed by Ukrainian troops against Russians or collaborators. All the more reason to conduct a thorough accounting.

Delivering justice  collecting the evidence, securing an indictment, holding a fair trial  is hard, time-consuming and expensive. As such, few instances of war crimes lead to punishment. Though the I.C.C. can initiate prosecution on any act of genocide, crime against humanity or war crime on its own, a charge of the crime of aggression  the one most applicable to Mr. Putin and his lieutenants  would have to be initiated by the United Nations Security Council, where it would face a certain Russian veto. In addition, Russia does not recognize the I.C.C. and would not surrender suspects.

Ukraine also is not party to the treaty that established the court but has allowed it jurisdiction over crimes committed on Ukrainian soil. The United States, for its part, has its own history of hostility to the I.C.C., and when accusing Mr. Putin of war crimes, Mr. Biden did not make clear what forum should be responsible for prosecution.

Yet none of these hurdles should preclude a search for justice. Even if the process is difficult and stretches into months and years, it is important that history be left a forensic, credible, verified and judicially processed record of the specific crimes in Ukraine. Those responsible should be named, their actions specified, and if at all possible, the guilty should be locked away. The very fact that Russia is arguing that the atrocities were all concocted requires a detailed and incontrovertible judicial response.

The Biden administration and its allies have done an admirable job of puncturing the Kremlins propaganda with accurate intelligence. An authoritative record of war crimes would serve the same purpose for the future.

It would be good for the Biden administration to find a way to cooperate with the I.C.C. in collecting evidence, even if it is precluded by law from helping to finance the effort. There are other options: A special tribunal could be established without a U.N. endorsement, and several nations, including the United States, could claim universal jurisdiction and hold their own trials. But too many investigations would dilute the public impact of the legal process, and no tribunal carries the authority or mandate of the I.C.C.

However it is done, seeking justice against Mr. Putin and others responsible for war crimes in Ukraine is a goal for the longer term. Russia is not retreating. It is repositioning its forces for an assault in the east. And Russias participation in sputtering peace talks is looking increasingly like a ploy. The horrors of Bucha have prompted talk of offering Ukraine deadlier weapons and imposing yet more sanctions. These must be the focus of the Wests efforts to help Ukraine.

But it is also imperative to make sure that the horrific evidence of criminal atrocities on display in Bucha and so many other places is promptly collected while it is still there and that witnesses are questioned while their memories are still raw.

Posterity must know what really happened. Justice must be given a chance.
GODFREY  The RiverBend Growth Association has welcomed five more area organizations to its membership: Great Rivers Choral Society Inc.; Megyme Productions; Reiniger Jewelers; Sparks Junk Removal and Hauling; and Tonys Ranch House Restaurant & Lounge.

Great Rivers Choral Society Inc., founded in the fall of 2001, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based out of Godfrey. It is an adult chorus of mixed voices with a mission to foster and encourage music education and appreciation throughout the Riverbend area and southwestern Illinois.

The group is made up of 30-40 volunteer performing artists who come from all walks of life and ages. These volunteer artists have joined together as the Great Rivers Choral Society to express and share their vocal talents as a collective.

As for membership in the RiverBend Growth Association, the Societys Patricia Stewart said, Joining the RBGA will provide the opportunity to network with others interested in a similar mission  of improving the lives of members within our community and to be an important part of the cultural fabric of the area.

Stewart further noted that their RBGA membership will bring increased opportunities to connect with new concert venues and audiences for the Great Rivers Choral Society, as well as to new choral members. To learn more about the Great Rivers Choral Society, visit online at grcssing.org or call (618) 292-4742.

Megyme Productions owner Megan Fairless has had an interest in film and videography since recreating viral YouTube videos with a friends toy camera at age 12. By 14, Fairless began mentoring with Gebbs Total Video owner Michael Gebben, leading her to become the highly talented and sought-after videographer she is today.

With her first solo wedding film gig in April 2011, Megyme Productions was born. For the first five years, Fairless remained focused mainly on weddings. But now, Megyme Productions has developed into a full team, and together they take on a variety of videography projects such as films for businesses, tourism features, and still more. Of course, they also still do weddings.

One big lesson that Fairless always notes as helping her business grow: Adopting a motto of Community Over Competition. Looking to become further involved in the community, she added, Our membership in the RiverBend Growth Association will help us to network with amazing local businesses and give us more opportunities for filming in our community.

To learn more about Megyme Productions, visit meganfairless.com or call (618) 795-1887.

Reiniger Jewelers recently arrived in the Riverbend region, in the former Maneke Jewelers location at 1633 Washington Avenue, Alton. A third-generation family-owned and operated business, Reiniger has been serving customers since 1918.

Owner Paul Reiniger has followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather with the business. He also graduated from Gem City College and earned certifications from the Gemological Institutes of America. Reiniger opened the Swansea location in 1992 and expanded to a second location in Columbia in 1993.

In 2003, Reinigers relocated its second store to its current Waterloo location. In Fall 2021, the third location opened in Effingham just weeks before acquiring the former Maneke business in Alton at the end of the year 2021.

We have taken over the space of the former Maneke Jewelers, with some of the same friendly faces youre used to, said Reiniger. We joined the RBGA to meet other community businesses, and to get to know the Riverbend and its people. By getting to know other businesses, our business will grow. We want to be a part of growing the community. We want to continue what Charlie Maneke did in, and for, the community.

For more information about Reiniger Jewelers, call (618) 465-1410 or visit reinigerjewelers.com.

Sparks Junk Removal and Hauling of Alton is a licensed and insured professional residential and commercial junk removal eco-friendly business servicing the Riverbend, including Madison, Macoupin, Jersey, and St. Clair counties in Illinois as well as St. Louis County and St. Charles in Missouri since 1993.

The companys priority is to recycle, donate, or repurpose whatever they remove back into the community whenever possible, with items going to the landfill only as a last resort. Crews will arrive on-site to pick up from your curbside, driveway, garage, or yard.

Sparks offers complete cleanout services, as well as furniture, appliances, garbage, and debris removal, along with light demolition as needed. Full all-inclusive services are available, with crews supplying all the labor, lifting, loading, hauling away, and handling of any landfill fees for their customers.

Becoming a member of the RBGA will allow us to become more involved with fellow members and with the community, said Owner Denise Sparks. Its a great way to meet new people and create new friendships. The RBGA can enhance our network while broadening our knowledge of what other members of the community offer.

Creating professional relationships is important for any business, and by joining the RiverBend Growth Association, we can all support one another in reaching our professional goals, Sparks added. To learn more about Sparks Junk Removal and Hauling, call (618) 781-1407 or visit sparksjunkremoval.net.

Tonys Ranch House Restaurant & Lounge, at 3330 Godfrey Road in Godfrey, has been open for over 60 years as a family-owned and operated venue since 1960.

The restaurant offers lunch and dinner for dine-in or carryout, as well as a full bar menu.

Also, on the last Wednesday of each month, Tonys Ranch House hosts Greek Night, with menu specials featuring old authentic Greek family recipes that have been passed down through generations. We recommend making reservations early for this special night because we sell out every month and its a night you dont want to miss, Owner John Vambaketes noted.

I decided to join the RiverBend Growth Association because we have a lot of great customers who are members, and I thought this would be a great way to get more involved. By joining the RBGA, I hope to bring in customers that dont know about us and what all we have to offer, he said further. I also love hearing and seeing all the great things that are happening in the Riverbend area. We wouldnt be where we are today without the love and support of the community.

To learn more about Tonys Ranch House Restaurant & Lounge, call (618) 466-9734.

The RiverBend Growth Association is the Chamber of Commerce and economic development organization for the 11 communities known as the Riverbend. For more information about the Growth Association, please visit www.growthassociation.com or call (618) 467-2280.




NEW YORK (AP)  A Russian legislator and two aides are accused of pushing a covert propaganda campaign to win U.S. government support for Moscow's foreign policy agenda, including moves against Ukraine, according to a Justice Department indictment unsealed Thursday.

Prosecutors said the three Russians sought to co-opt American and European political officials, including members of the U.S. Congress, and of recruiting at least one U.S. citizen to advance their interests. They also allegedly lied on visa applications by saying they were traveling to the U.S. for vacations or visits with friends when they actually planned on being in the country for meetings with American officials and advisers, according to the prosecution.

The effort was part of what American officials describe as a broader, longstanding Russian government objective to sway public opinion in foreign countries, sow mistrust in Western institutions and prevent Ukraine from strengthening economic and political ties with U.S. and European allies.

All three men named are based in Russia and are not in custody, authorities said. No defense lawyers were listed in court records.

This particular foreign influence campaign allegedly took place between 2012 and 2017, but was not disclosed by the Justice Department until this week with the unsealing of an indictment in federal court in Manhattan, as it cracks down on Russian government abuses and corruption amid Moscow's ongoing war against Ukraine.

The legislator, Aleksandr Babakov, 59, is identified in the indictment as a high-ranking Russian government official from the same political party as Russian President Vladimir Putin. Currently, Babakov is deputy chairman of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian legislature. Two of his staff members  Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vorobev, 52, and Mikhail Alekseyevich Plisyuk, 58  were also charged.

The three are accused of conspiring to have a U.S. citizen act as a foreign agent for Russia and Russian officials without notifying the U.S. Justice Department; with conspiring to violate and evade U.S. sanctions; and with visa fraud conspiracy.

Todays indictment demonstrates that Russias illegitimate actions against Ukraine extend beyond the battlefield, as political influencers under Russias control allegedly plotted to steer geopolitical change in Russias favor through surreptitious and illegal means in the U.S. and elsewhere in the West, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

U.S. prosecutors in recent weeks seized a yacht in Spain owned by an oligarch with close ties to Putin, charged another Kremlin-linked oligarch with sanctions violations and, now, exposed an alleged effort to sway public opinion in the U.S. through propaganda.

After Russias invasion of Ukraine in late February, the department also launched a task force to enforce sanctions violations and export restrictions imposed on Russian figures.

The indictment unsealed Thursday depicts a secretive and persistent effort to reach inside the power chambers of Washington. The defendants are accused of contacting members of Congress between 2012 and 2017 to seek meetings, and offered at least one free travel to a conference in the Black Sea city of Yalta that they and their associates had been working to organize and promote.

The U.S. congressman, who is not identified by name in the indictment, declined the offer, prosecutors said.

The conference was intended to benefit Sergey Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea who had been sanctioned by the U.S. government for his policies threatening Ukraines sovereignty.

___

Tucker reported from Washington.
ALTON  Each week award-winning photographer John Badman of The Telegraph captures images of the Riverbend.

Here is a sampling of his photographs from this week. They also appear in the weekend issue of The Telegraph.
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LONDON (AP)  The British government said Friday that it plans to start putting asylum-seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda within weeks, as it defended a deal that has outraged refugee groups and humanitarian organizations.

Britain and Rwanda announced Thursday that they had struck an agreement that will see some people arriving in the U.K. as stowaways on trucks or in small boats sent 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometers) to the East African country, where their asylum claims will be processed and, if successful, they will stay.

The British government says the plan will discourage people from making dangerous attempts to cross the English Channel, and put people-smuggling gangs out of business.

But critics of the Conservative government said legal and political hurdles mean the flights may never happen. They accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of using the headline-grabbing policy to distract attention from his political troubles. Johnson is resisting calls to resign after being fined by police this week for attending a party in his office in 2020 that broke coronavirus lockdown rules.

Conservative lawmaker Andrew Griffith, a senior Johnson adviser, said the flights to Rwanda could start in weeks or a small number of months.

Migration Minister Tom Pursglove said the drastic plan was needed to deter people trying to reach Britain in dinghies and other boats from northern France. More than 28,000 migrants entered the U.K. across the Channel last year, up from 8,500 in 2020. Dozens have died, including 27 people in November when a single boat capsized.

Nobody should be coming in a small boat to come to the United Kingdom, Pursglove told Sky News. We quite rightly have a rich and proud history in this country of providing sanctuary for thousands of people over the years. . But what we cant have, and we cant accept, is people putting their lives in the hands of these evil criminal gangs, and thats why we think it is important that we take these steps.

The deal  for which the U.K. has paid Rwanda 120 million pounds ($158 million) upfront  leaves many questions unanswered, including its final cost and how participants will be chosen. The U.K. says children, and families with children, will not be sent to Rwanda.

Refugee and human rights groups called the plan inhumane, unworkable and a waste of taxpayers money. The United Nations Refugee Agency urged Britain and Rwanda to reconsider.

Such arrangements simply shift asylum responsibilities, evade international obligations, and are contrary to the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention, said the agencys Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs. People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing.

Previous schemes to offshore asylum-seekers have been highly controversial.

In 2013, Australia began sending asylum-seekers attempting to reach the country by boat to Papua New Guinea and the tiny atoll of Nauru, vowing that none would be allowed to settle in Australia. The policy all but ended the people-smuggling ocean route from Southeast Asia, but was widely criticized as a cruel abrogation of Australias international obligations.

Critics of the U.K.-Rwanda plan say it is certain to face legal challenges. The prime minister acknowledged Thursday it would likely be challenged in court by what he called politically motivated lawyers out to frustrate the government.

The Law Society of England and Wales, which represents solicitors, chastised the government for offering misleading suggestions that legal challenges are politically motivated.

Legal challenges establish if the government is abiding by its own laws, said society President I. Stephanie Boyce. If the government wishes to avoid losing court cases, it should act within the law of the land.

___

Follow APs coverage of migration issues at https://apnews.com/hub/migration
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  The case of a teenage couple killed and tossed down an abandoned mine shaft culminated in murder convictions Friday for a Utah man who prosecutors said killed the pair because he found them hanging out with his girlfriend.

Jarrod Baum, 45, faces up to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of two counts of aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping and other counts in the 2017 slayings after a monthlong trial.

Brelynne Breezy Otteson, 17, and Riley Powell, 18, disappeared days after Christmas. Their bound and stabbed bodies were found months later in Utahs west desert, 100 feet (30 meters) down an abandoned mine shaft.

Prosecutors said they died after meeting up with a friend, Morgan Lewis, on Dec. 30 at her home in Eureka, a former silver mining town. While they were there, her boyfriend, Baum, returned home. He grew angry because he had forbidden Lewis from having male friends over, and she previously dated Powell.

Lewis told police her boyfriend tied up Otteson and Powell, duct-taped their mouths and threw them in the back of Powells Jeep. Then he drove them, along with Henderson, to the site of an abandoned mine outside town.

There, he beat and stabbed Powell before cutting Ottensons throat, then tossed them down.

He retaliated against Riley and Morgan and made her watch so she would know this is what happens when you break my rules, said prosecutor Ryan McBride, Fox13 reported.

The couples family and friends searched for months before Lewis was pulled over during an unrelated traffic stop on March 25. She eventually agreed to cooperate with police.

Much of the prosecutions case was based on her testimony, which was questioned by the defense. Attorney Dallas Young said there was a lack of DNA evidence linking the slayings to Baum

You cannot believe (Lewis), and you cannot be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, he argued, according to KSL.

Prosecutors countered that Lewis and Baum had burnt and bleached important evidence, obliterating DNA.

Prosecutors originally sought the death penalty, but Utah County Attorney David Leavitt later took it off the table as he vowed to no longer pursue capital punishment.
WFO ALBANY Warnings, Watches and Advisories for Thursday, April 14, 2022

_____

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING

The National Weather Service in Albany has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Warning for...

Northwestern Litchfield County in northern Connecticut...

Southeastern Berkshire County in western Massachusetts...

* Until 515 PM EDT.

* At 416 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Canaan, or 13

miles south of Great Barrington, moving northeast at 40 mph.

HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Expect damage to roofs, siding, and trees.

* Locations impacted include...

Norfolk, Otis, Canaan, Sandisfield, Falls Village, Ashley Falls,

Salisbury, New Marlborough, Colebrook, Sodom, South Canaan,

Konkapot, Wangum Village, Gomorrah, Mill Brook, Montville,

Southfield, Taconic, East Otis and Cold Spring.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a

building.

Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground

lightning is occurring with this storm. Move indoors immediately.

Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can

hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.

Torrential rainfall is occurring with this storm, and may lead to

flash flooding. Do not drive your vehicle through flooded roadways.

Please report hail size...damaging winds and reports of trees down to

the National Weather Service by email at Alb.Stormreport@noaa.gov...

On Facebook at www.facebook.com/nwsalbany or twitter @nwsalbany

_____

Copyright 2022 AccuWeather


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IVY GOODMAN, Stonington, Girls, Lacrosse, Senior; Goodman scored 12 goals and had 13 assists in three games. Her seven assists in the Bears win over Waterford established a school record. She surpassed the 50-goal mark for the season in Stoningtons victory over Ledyard.

DEAN PONS JR., Westerly, Baseball, Senior; Pons, a senior, struck out 14 batters in the Bulldogs five-inning win against Wheeler School/Rocky Hill. Pons had an assist on the remaining out, throwing out a runner on a groundout. Pons allowed just one hit and walked only two.

KATIE PIERCE, Wheeler, Girls, Lacrosse, Sophomore; Pierce scored five goals and the Lions beat Griswold to earn their first victory of the season. Wheeler avenged an earlier loss to the Wolverines this season with the 15-4 victory.

WEEKO THOMPSON, Chariho, Girls, Track Sophomore; Thompson, a sophomore, bettered her school record in the discus at the Classical Classic meet. She finished first in the event and also won the shot put.

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP)  Newspaper publisher Lee Enterprises is facing renewed pressure from a hedge fund to speed up its transition to digital publishing and consider adding new digital-savvy leaders to its board after successfully fighting off a hostile takeover from a different hedge fund.

Lees largest shareholder, Cannell Capital, this week disclosed buying nearly 20,000 more of the companys shares, giving it a 9.1% stake. The funds head, Carlo Cannell, said he thinks Lee needs new board members and executives with experience running a digital publishing business.

I have some confidence in (Lees) management  not a lot, Cannell said in an interview. I have great or very little confidence in the board depending on which board member you are referring to.

Cannell Capital has been prodding Lee to make changes for several years. That includes running a 2019 campaign encouraging shareholders to vote against three board members, including Lee Chairman Mary Junck, and announcing last September that it planned to vote against all incumbent Lee board members.

Cannell Capital and another hedge fund that owns a large stake in Lee, Praetorian Capital, also questioned the amount Lee spent on advisors as it was fending off a $24 per share takeover offer from another hedge fund, Alden Global Capital. But the investor who leads Praetorian, Harris Kupperman, has indicated that he is more comfortable with the companys current direction.

Cannell estimated that Lee spent somewhere between $3 million and $5 million on advice from investment bankers and lawyers during the proxy fight with Alden  an amount he suggested might have been better spent on the company's journalists. Kupperman agreed.

I think the shareholders would have voted for the current guys, and they could have saved a few million dollars, Kupperman said.

Lee publishes dozens of newspapers including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Buffalo News, Omaha World-Herald and nearly every other daily newspaper in Nebraska. The chain expanded significantly in 2020 when it bought all of Berkshire Hathaways newspapers and Warren Buffett endorsed Lee as the best long-term steward for the publications.

Lee executives have defended the progress they are making in the company's digital transition. Lee representatives declined to respond to Cannells questions Thursday, but the company will update investors again next month when it releases its next earnings report.

Lee said last quarter that it had 450,000 digital-only subscribers and it expects that number to grow to 900,000 by 2026. The Davenport, Iowa-based company said its digital ad and subscription revenue grew 17%, although its profit in the three-month period that ended Dec. 26 declined nearly 20% to $13.2 million.

Kupperman said he is making a long-term investment with his 7.3% stake in the business and he thinks Lee is on the right path in terms of growing the digital subscribers.

The pressure on Lee isn't likely to let up anytime soon, said Tim Franklin, senior associate dean of Northwestern Universitys Medill journalism school and the former president of the Poynter Institute, the media think tank and nonprofit owner of the Tampa Bay Times. He noted hedge funds aren't known for their patience in waiting for companies to grow their stock prices or profit margins.

But he said Lee  like all print media companies  is in the middle of the difficult transition from relying on print publication revenue to digital. The newspaper industry has been contracting for years as more readers shift online and companies cut back on print ads.

All news organizations, including Lee, are trying to walk this balancing act of preserving as much of their print revenue as they possibly can at the same time that theyre trying to grow digital revenue, Franklin said. And that needs to be done with great delicacy because the fate of news organizations may hang in the balance of getting this right.

Lee fought strongly against Alden's takeover bid because the New York-based hedge fund has a reputation for imposing extreme cost cuts and deep layoffs at the newspapers it owns, which includes all the Tribune papers it bought last year.

Alden hasn't said what its plans are for its 6.3% Lee stake after its takeover bid failed, and an Alden spokeswoman didn't respond to questions this week. The two other hedge funds with larger stakes in Lee have said they believed the company is worth significantly more than what Alden offered.

Rick Edmonds, Poynters media analyst, said it appears that investors expected Alden to raise its bid or a bidding war to break out because Lee's share price soared to $44.43 early this year before falling back to $25.51 Thursday. That might open the door for another potential buyer.
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How do you remake a major downtown corridor a half-century after forces in urban and suburban development brought about changes that led to blight and disinvestment?

Thats the problem any number of people and entities  government, business and nonprofit  have been working to solve for decades on Albanys Pearl Street. So far, the solutions have largely benefited the section of the street at the heart of the downtown commercial district, North Pearl Street roughly between Clinton Avenue and State Street.

Meanwhile, South Pearl Street feels like the citys forgotten stepchild to some observers, where the obstacles to investment are a reflection of a city that is financially disenfranchised. Solutions, they say, must take into account the wants and needs of community members and not be decided by outside forces.

North Pearl Street gets more attention

Tom McPheeters, a member of the South End Community Collaborative, looks at Pearl Streets history and sees the north end getting plenty of attention, which is why even as stores have come and gone there, by and large, it is doing well.

To him, North Pearl's downtown commercial district isnt a residential neighborhood. What he sees is a slate of corporate office spaces, restaurants and stores.

It's a downtown, so it gets all of the resources that a downtown gets, he said. We (the South End community encompassing South Pearl) wave our hand all the time, we do not get much attention.

He described South Pearl as a true neighborhood, where residents' household incomes range from the poverty line to middle class. He called the lack of investment in South Pearl Street benign neglect.

Many of the businesses on South Pearl are small convenience stores, plus two dollar-store chains, scattered between vacant properties and nonprofits and government agencies.

McPheeters noted that much of the money residents spend at the chain stores isnt reinvested into the community.

He'd like to see change that benefits the people who live in the area now.

Community agencies can't do it all

Community-building nonprofits, including the South End Community Collaborative and AVillage Inc., are working to make South Pearl and other streets in the South End more enticing to prospective investors, which has been a challenge.

Eva Bass, AVillage Inc.s executive director, believes that whats happening on Pearl Street is representative of the kind of disinvestment that hurts all of Albany, not just South Pearl Street.

In her eyes, without a substantial infusion of cash from government bodies and investors, community organizations like AVillage are left to figure out on their own how to spur the kind of investment and restoration that puts the communitys needs first.

We can take care and talk until we're blue in the face, but if the money is not invested in the communities to be able to uplift our communities, its never going to happen, she said.

Community development cant be built on the backs of such organizations alone, according to Anthony Gaddy, CEO of the Upstate New York Black Chamber of Commerce.

Without economic development, there is no community development, he said.

Size matters to investors

Up the street on North Pearl, economic developers are working to bring community to the commercial district.

Travon Jackson, executive director of the African American Cultural Center on South Pearl, said there's a difference in the way commercial development is taking place today compared to when it first evolved along the thoroughfare in communities where people lived, worked and shopped.

He pointed to North Pearls business district, where plans are ongoing to introduce dense housing.

You're bringing people to where the commerce is instead of allowing commerce to exchange among different settlements of people where they already are, he said. That's why you end up with things like neglect, because people don't have to come to this neighborhood (South Pearl Street) for commerce.

North Pearls location and links to the rest of the city have drawn private investors such as Redburn Development, which is developing buildings along the north end of the street for residential and commercial purposes. Redburn bought several decaying buildings with thousands of square footage on North Pearl Street, including the historic Kenmore Hotel.

Redburn Development Principal Jeff Buell said revamping the Kenmore and eight buildings surrounding it cost $85 million in debt and equity, approximately $5 million of which was funded by a state grant. While Redburn didn't receive any pilots (payments in lieu of taxes), it did leverage some tax exemption provided by the state through its 485-a program that lasts about 12 years.

He said historic tax credits they obtained through financing and the state incentive freezing the property's value for tax purposes helped bring its projects to fruition.

The developer has also invested in three other properties on North Pearl along with six other downtown buildings. By the end of 2023, Redburn will have invested $175 million in downtown Albany.

Buell said its easy to say Redburn did this $85 million investment and why doesn't the other side (South Pearl) get this treatment?

According to Buell, Redburns investment in North Pearl was a logical development.

The size of North Pearl Streets buildings has made them attractive to investors, he said. Plus their proximity to the state Capitol and downtown office workers increases their desirability.

He added that theres not much other than a buildings' size and proximity to nearby jobs stopping companies like his from investing in South Pearl to create sustainable mixed-use commercial and residential properties.

Logically, it (North Pearl) should be done first because its the easiest thing to get done first when you're rebuilding a city, he said, while also noting that revitalizing Pearl Street has never been easy.

Sarah Reginelli, president of the Capitalize Albany Corp., has been working to catalyze investment on Pearl Street around multifamily housing. The corporation, an economic development agency serving the city, believes the corridor can't have a successful commercial district without the population density to support it. That's why Capitalize Albany is focused on converting blighted buildings on South Pearl and obsolete office space on North Pearl into apartments.

Whatever form future development takes along Pearl Street must be aligned with the communities there, Buell and Reginelli noted.

It should not be me coming in saying I want to do this here, he emphasized.

Redevelopment requires striking a delicate balance  leveraging public investments to attract additional private ventures, according to Reginelli.

"There's a lot of need. And what we're really attempting to do is overcome about a century's worth of, you know, bad policy, and disinvestment, by really turning the tide, and really tackling each of the issues and doing it in a way that doesn't displace anyone that's there, this brings in investment in a way that the community wants to see happen and creates opportunity moving forward," she said.

Gentrification is a real fear

If no action is taken, Bass and others fear Pearl Street could present an opportunity for outside investors to come in and develop it as they see fit, which could lead to another era of displacement along the corridor.

David Easton, a Mansion Neighborhood resident looking to open a store along the lines of Brooklyn's Superhero Supply Co.  which features a retail shop with superhero gear for sale and a children's tutoring and activity center behind a secret door  on South Pearl Street or nearby, fears what is happening along South Pearl is creating an early groundwork for gentrification.

For years, hes listened as people have spun contradictory narratives about his neighborhood and South Pearl Street, some saying theres no commercial space available, while others point to crumbling, vacant storefronts and say there is plenty.

According to the city, there are 11 vacant buildings along South Pearl stretching from Van Zandt Street to McCarty Avenue and about nine vacant buildings on North Pearl between State Street and Colonie Street. The city's definition of a vacant building doesn't encompass those that are partially occupied, only structures that are entirely empty.

Albany's neighborhood stabilization coordinate, Sam Wells, confirmed most of the vacant buildings along the street have local billing addresses, meaning their owners are within the region. However, there are several with billing addresses either downstate or outside of New York.

Hes found evidence of both as he has hunted for a storefront to rent for his venture. Easton said he has looked at plenty of spaces that could benefit from renovation but they arent affordable. Some owners of vacant buildings do not advertise them, he said. The times when he has been able to get in touch with building owners, hes been met by their reluctance to rent space to him at this time.

He gets the feeling these building owners are waiting for something better to come along down the line. Easton saw it happen in his old Brooklyn neighborhood before it was gentrified.

If people are banking on a future or sitting on something that's going to happen later, what happens now? he asked.

This area has the potential and the danger of being gentrified," he added. "There are these buildings that are beautiful, that are affordable, and people downstate love this kind of stuff.
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Last year crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi bought a digital token representing Twitter founder Jack Dorsey s first tweet for $2.9 million. And now he tried to make his investment pay off by putting it up for auction with the expectation that this NFT could bring him $48 million. But what a surprise the man got. .



As CoinDesk reports, Estavi put the NFT up for sale on April 9, hoping to get around $50 million for it, and donating around $25 million to charity. Despite their optimism, NFT collectors weren't crazy about owning this non-fungible asset and the most they offered for it was an astonishing amount of... 0.9 ETH (about $280 USD). Estavi told the publication that: "The deadline I set is over, but if I get a good offer, I might take it, I might never sell it."



Estavi's auction came at a time when sales of NFTs tracked on OpenSea , the largest marketplace in the space, fell about 50% in 2022, from nearly $5 billion in January to $2.5 billion in March.



Estavi, who has just been released from prison in Iran, where he spent nine months after being arrested on charges of "disrupting the economic system" due to his investments in cryptocurrencies, had his hopes pinned on selling the digital asset. The value of his two companies, Bridge Oracle and CryptoLand , has been publicized due to his arrest.
CASTLETON-ON-HUDSON - For three decades, this village has been trying to find a way for its residents to safely access a waterfront park lined by a railroad crossing.

And the fight goes on. Last week, a community group held a public meeting to inform residents of the benefits of a ground-level rail crossing to access the park.

The village purchased a small plot between the Amtrak/CSX rail line and the Hudson River in 1994 using matching funds from the state Department of Transportation.

During the purchase, the state DOT, village and Conrail, the freight company which then owned the tracks, agreed in court to close a vehicular crossing leading to the park over safety concerns -- but only after a pedestrian tunnel was built so residents could access the land, which the village wanted to turn into a waterfront park, according to a court order..

During the recent meeting, held by the Route to the River coalition and attended by over 50 people, coalition members laid out why there should be a ground-level pedestrian crossing. The original plan for the tunnel was rejected as not feasible, and the DOT has pushed for a pedestrian overpass, but members of the coalition said it was an awful fit for the village.

Coalition member Suzanne Cecala called the plans for a pedestrian overpass "a blight on the landscape," saying it would obscure the skyline and its footprint would "eat into the park area," which is only three-quarters of an acre.

Coalition members prefer a ground-level pedestrian crossing with warning lights and fence-like gates that close when a train is approaching. Also supporting this plan is Village Board member Lissa D'Aquanni, who said the overpass would cost state taxpayers millions of dollars to construct and still saddle the village with maintenance and upkeep costs, which could be substantial, since the DOT overpass would include elevators on each side to make it Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible.

If the bridge was erected, people would still cross the tracks at ground level by other means, she added.

There are two railroad crossings in Castleton-on-Hudson, both which are privately owned, and D'Aquanni said residents in the meeting "said that they cross at the other private crossings and walk along the tracks to the park  which of course is much more dangerous than if the village had safe at-grade crossing."

There is also the question of whether there was reason to close the crossing in the first place.

The crossing was closed "as a safety measure," according to the court order by Administrative Law Judge Bernard Heller. "The concern for safety is amplified by the plans of this Department for initiating a high-speed passenger rail between Albany and New York City," the order continued.

A high-speed passenger rail was never constructed, and was, in fact, deemed not to be feasible, according to Peter Melewski, one of the contributors to a state study on high-speed rail.

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"From a feasibility and economic standpoint, from Rensselaer south, the trains are not going to go faster by Castleton-on-Hudson than they are right now, which is a maximum speed of 110 mph," he said.

The Federal Railroad Administration currently allows ground-level pedestrian crossings at this speed, according to Melewski, who supports this kind of crossing in the village.

Melewski is also one of the authors of a white paper commissioned by local conservationist group Scenic Hudson on other options for pedestrian crossings.

The paper points to train lines in Illinois and California that have modern, ground-level pedestrian crossings.

A spokesperson for the DOT sent a statement in response to an inquiry of the feasibility of high-speed rail along the Hudson River.

"Safety is the top priority of the New York State Department of Transportation," it says. "Trains traveling through the Village of Castleton-on-Hudson reach speeds in excess of 100 mph and in the interest of safety the at-grade rail crossing that provides access to the villages waterfront park remains closed to both vehicles and pedestrians. NYSDOT remains willing to engage with our local partners to find a long-term solution that would provide safe access to the park."

CORRECTION: The coalition prefers fence-like gates that close when a train is approaching.
Many Hudson Valley residents love to rep their local 845 area code. Its so beloved its plastered on shirts, a Snapchat filter and more. But soon a new three-digit code will be introduced to our area to accommodate a growing demand for phone numbers.

The state Public Service Commission on Thursday approved and ordered a plan to overlay an additional area code for all or portions of the following 10 counties: Columbia, Delaware, Dutchess, Greene, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester.

The new area code is expected to be activated before the third quarter of 2023, six months prior to when numbers using the current 845 area code are expected to run out. Residents getting a new phone number around this time next year should be prepared for a new three-digit start.

As the economy continues to grow, and the need for more cellular service becomes apparent, there is a greater need for an additional telephone area code number, said Public Service Commission Chair Rory M. Christian in a news release.

The decision follows three public hearings on the matter in March.

This isnt the first telephone change to hit the area in recent months. In October 2021, 10-digit dialing went into effect in the area to make way for the national implementation of the 988 three-digit hotline to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, a dialing change that helped make way for this one. The implementation of a new overlay area code normally requires concurrent implementation of mandatory 10-digit dialing for all calls, whether local or long-distance.

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According to public documents, local phone carriers AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon said they strongly support the decision for the new area code, stating it will minimize inconvenience to consumers, and that it is the most practical and effective form of area code relief available.

For residents who currently have a phone number with an 845 area code, you will keep that number and nothing will change.
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JERUSALEM (AP)  Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Medics said more than 150 Palestinians were wounded  Palestinians threw rocks and Israeli police fired stun grenades in what was the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem's Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.

Hours after the clashes began, the police said they had put an end to the violence and arrested hundreds of suspects. The mosque was re-opened, and some 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers midday, according to the Waqf, the Islamic endowment that administers the site.

After prayers, thousands of Palestinians marched around the esplanade, chanting with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Al-Aqsa, in addition to slogans in support of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.

Less than a kilometer (mile) away, thousands of Christians marched in a procession retracing the traditional journey of Jesus to the cross in honor of Good Friday. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was open to visitors, who are returning to the Holy Land in large numbers for the first time since before the pandemic. The violence was confined to the mosque compound.

Israeli authorities said that before the unrest broke out they had negotiated with Muslim leaders to try to ensure calm. But the police say Palestinians stockpiled rocks and other objects inside the compound and hurled stones at the Mughrabi Gate, which leads to the Western Wall  a major Jewish holy site  triggering the violence.

Palestinian witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said a small group of Palestinians threw rocks at police, who then entered the compound in force, setting off a wider conflagration. Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a provocation.

Palestinians threw rocks and fireworks, and police fired tear gas and stun grenades on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque. Dozens of Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque as they fought Israeli security forces.

Israeli police later entered the mosque and arrested people inside. The police rarely enter the building, which is seen by Palestinians as an escalation.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it treated 152 people, many of them wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades.

Video footage showed police beating a photographer for the Waqf with batons before knocking him to ground and kicking him. The Waqf said the photographer, Rami Khatib, suffered a broken hand. There was no immediate comment from police.

The Israeli police said three officers were wounded from massive stone-throwing, with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.

Neighboring Jordan, which has custodianship over the holy site, and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement accusing Israel of a dangerous and condemnable escalation that threatens to explode the situation. Egypt also condemned the Israeli raid.

Israel's public security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had no interest in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront violent elements who attacked them with stones and metal bars. He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said authorities are working to calm things on the Temple Mount and throughout Israel. At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario."

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem's Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel. Israeli troops have carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed, according to an Associated Press count. Many had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been a bystander were also among those killed.

Weeks of protests and clashes in and around Al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year helped ignite a fourth Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. This year, Israel has lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions, but the attacks and the military raids are fueling another cycle of unrest.

Hamas condemned what it said were brutal attacks" on worshippers at Al-Aqsa, saying Israel would bear all the consequences.

Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.

Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years large groups of nationalist and religious Jews have regularly visited the site with police escorts.

A radical Jewish group recently called on people to bring animals to the site in order to sacrifice them for Passover, offering cash rewards for those who succeeded or even tried. Israeli police work to prevent such activities, but the call was widely circulated by Palestinians on social media, along with calls for Muslims to prevent any sacrifices from taking place.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, issued a statement calling on Muslim leaders to act to stop the violence. He also noted that bringing a sacrifice to the Temple Mount today is in opposition to the decision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

___

Associated Press reporter Wafaa Shurafa in Gaza City, Gaza Strip contributed to this report.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners in Portland, Oregon, has unanimously moved to ban the for-profit display of human remains.

The move came Thursday after the body of a Louisiana World War II veteran  whose wife thought she donated his body to science  was dissected in front of a paying audience at a Portland hotel, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

The ordinance is expected to be formally approved next week and institutes a $1,000 fine per violation, per day. County attorney Rob Sinnott said those who violate the ordinance must also turn over any resulting profits.

Displays of human remains for legitimate ceremonial and educational purposes are exempt.

Kimberly DiLeo, the countys chief medicolegal death investigator, led efforts to draft the ordinance after she unsuccessfully tried to prevent the Oct. 17 for-profit autopsy at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront.

DiLeo said she contacted the Portland Police Bureau and Oregon Medical Board, but both agencies said they lacked the authority to stop the event.

A Portland police spokesperson previously said detectives consulted with the Oregon Department of Justice, Oregon State Police and Multnomah County District Attorneys Office and determined no crimes were committed during the autopsy.

In a statement last year, Martin McAllister, the hotels general manager, said his staff was grossly misled about the event.

Seventy people gathered, some paying up to $500 a ticket, to watch the autopsy of 98-year-old David Saunders, who had lived with his wife, Elsie, until he died from COVID-19. The Cadaver Lab Class was hosted by Death Science, a media company with no professional credentials, DiLeo said.

Death Science did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.

Elsie Saunders didnt learn what happened to her husband until after KING-TV published footage that showed her husbands name printed on an arm band still attached to his wrist.

Elsie Saunders said by phone during the county meeting that she is still haunted by the images of the public autopsy.

The vision in my mind of his naked and defenseless body being dismembered like a butcher preparing an animal carcass for sale  I have to live with it until I die, she said.

Elsie Saunders said her efforts to donate her husbands body to Louisiana State University for medical research failed because of pandemic restrictions, so she donated it to Med Ed Labs, a Las Vegas-based company she thought would use his body for medical research.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

But, some ambiguity was in the contract she signed, according to East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore, who also spoke at the meeting by phone.

Med Ed Labs spokesperson Obteen Nassiri said the company was told the body would be used to train people involved in death sciences and was unaware tickets were being sold to attend the event.

Since the dissection, Med Ed Labs has taken very extreme precautions to protect their donors identities and screens its clients more strictly to ensure theyre legitimate, Nassiri said.

Moore said he accompanied David Saunders nephew to identify the body after it was returned to a Baton Rouge morgue. In his experience attending thousands of autopsies, Moore said the body was not treated like any body is treated in a legitimate autopsy.

This was completely different and separate in a very macabre way than any other autopsies being conducted, he said.

Moore said he was dismayed that there were few Oregon and Louisiana restrictions preventing for-profit autopsies. He hopes to introduce a similar ordinance in Baton Rouge.

Multnomah County Commissioner Lori Stegmann during the meeting asked about criminal sanctions for ordinance violators.

I would urge that we make this a criminal issue and that we talk to our state legislators, our other counties, so that a family never has to go through this again, Stegmann said. It is truly a violation of our humanity.
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SANTA TECLA, El Salvador (AP)  A day after the bloodletting -- 62 gang killings that convulsed El Salvador -- the crackdown began.

Before dawn on Sunday, March 27, just hours after congress approved a state of emergency, heavily armed police and soldiers entered the packed, gang-controlled neighborhood of San Jose El Pino.

Freed from having to explain an arrest or grant access to a lawyer, they went door to door, dragging out young men. They established a perimeter with barbed wire barricades where they controlled who entered and who left, demanding identification and searching everyone.

President Nayib Bukele has responded to the surge in gang killings with mass arrests in poor neighborhoods like San Jose El Pino, each day posting the growing arrest total and photos of tattooed men. The highly publicized roundups are not the result of police investigations into the murders in late March, but propel a tough-on-crime narrative that critics are calling punitive populism.

In just over two weeks, more than 10,000 alleged gang members have been arrested  a huge number for a small country of 6.5 million people. They can be held for 15 days without charges, one of the measures decried by international human rights groups and the U.S. government.

They came in with everything, said 36-year-old Hector Fernandez on his way to his factory job on a recent morning. Whoever didnt open the door, they knocked it down. They were looking for the guys. I think they took almost all of them, but others managed to get out.

Critics say the mass arrests are more show than substance. They note that amid all of the chest-thumping rhetoric and slickly produced videos of roughly handled prisoners, authorities are not talking about the investigations or arrests of those suspected of actual involvement in the March 26 killings. But many Salvadorans are pleased to see action against gangs that have long-terrorized their communities.

Its for everyones safety, Fernandez said, nervously looking around to see if anyone was watching. He said he minds his own business and hasnt had trouble with the Mara Salvatrucha, the gang that controls his neighborhood. I leave, (police and soldiers) search me. I go to work, come back in the evening, they search me. I pass and go home.

Bukele, a highly popular master of social media, has filled his platforms with photos of handcuffed and bloodied gang members, orders to his security cabinet and attaboys from his supporters. At the same time, he has lashed out at human rights organizations and international agencies critical of some measures.

If we dont rid our country of this cancer now, then when will we ever do it? Bukele said to a parade ground of soldiers -- and the world -- in a video he released last week. We will go and find them wherever they are. Regardless of who protests. Regardless of how angry the international community gets.

Gangs control swaths of territory through brutality and fear. Theyve driven thousands to emigrate to save their own lives or the lives of their children who are forcibly recruited. Their power is strongest in El Salvadors poorest neighborhoods where the state has long been absent. They are a drain on the economy, extorting money from even the lowest earners and forcing businesses that cant or wont pay to close.

The wave of violence at the end of March -- it stretched across the country and its victims included a municipal maintenance worker, a taxi driver, a farmer-- demanded a government response. Bukele chose a state of emergency provided for in the constitution.

But El Salvadors security forces and justice system had the legal tools to investigate and prosecute those involved in the killings without the suspension of fundamental rights, critics say. What they did not have was the carte blanche that has yielded the media spectacle of the past two weeks, starring Bukele as savior-in-chief.

There are a lot of doubts about whether the measures that Bukeles government has taken to confront the wave of murders are really aimed at investigating the crimes and responding to the victims, said Leonor Arteaga, a Salvadoran who is program director at the Due Process of Law Foundation in Washington.

Instead, she said, it seems Bukele is using the situation to advance his authoritarian plans and in his intention to control all critical voices and squash any dissident.

Bukeles office did not respond to a request for comment.

Abraham Abrego, director of the strategic litigation program at Cristosal, a non-governmental organization in El Salvador, said his group was working to document arbitrary arrests and other abuses.

Bukele has shown himself to be masterful at building and controlling narratives, he said. There is a term that we use called punitive populism, which is using the states powers of criminal persecution to show strength, to show toughness, Abrego 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.

On Tuesday, the head of a national police union said some high-ranking police officials had pressured officers to make false statements justifying some arrests to meet arrest quotas, including in a small remote town with no gang presence.

Omar Serrano, vice rector at Central American University Jose Simeon Canas, said that like previous administrations, the president has opted for a more militarized approach to dealing with the gangs.

This is not going to solve the countrys serious problems, Serrano said. The government line is that the problem of the gangs is one of national security, when deep down it is a social problem.

After the congress approved the state of emergency, Bukele returned to lawmakers multiple times for changes to the countrys criminal code. Among other things, they lengthened sentences, reduced the age of criminal responsibility to 12 and established prison sentences of 10 to 15 years for journalists who disseminate gang messages that could cause anxiety or panic among the people.

He had already ordered his head of prisons to keep all gang members confined to their cells 24 hours a day and to reduce their meals to twice daily. Message for the gangs: because of your actions, now your homeboys will not be able to see a ray of sunlight, Bukele wrote on Twitter.

Human Rights Watch, the international advocacy organization that Bukele has taken to mocking as Homeboys Rights Watch, said the government had overreached.

The Salvadoran government should adopt rights-respecting measures to protect people from heinous gang violence, dismantle these groups, and bring those responsible for crimes to justice, said Juan Pappier, senior Americas researcher at Human Rights Watch. Instead, Bukeles government has enacted overbroad, harshly punitive laws that undermine the fundamental rights of all Salvadorans.

But Salvadorans seem to be ambivalent about the crackdown. In a leafy park in front of Santa Teclas municipal market and short distance from San Jose El Pino, Adela Maravilla Ceballos walked with her groceries on a recent morning.

Its good what theyre doing, they took long enough, the 52-year-old homemaker said. These guys dont understand anything else. Who is going to be against security? Only the criminals.

Still, some of the images had bothered her. Her two sons went to the United States years ago looking for better opportunities.

I am a mother and sometimes it hurts me when they grab them and hit them and I see how they cry, she said.

___

Sherman reported from Mexico City. AP writer E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to impose additional inspections of trucks entering Texas from Mexico was his latest move in an unprecedented foray into border security, which has long been the federal government's domain.

The two-term governor, like many Republican Party leaders, calls illegal immigration and drug smuggling from Mexico a crisis and fully blames President Joe Biden. His latest actions follow the Biden administration's decision to end pandemic-related restrictions on claiming asylum at the border on May 23.

Here are some facts about conditions on the border and Abbott's response:

HOW MANY MIGRANTS ARE APPEARING AT THE BORDER?

U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped migrants 164,973 times in February, a daily average of nearly 5,900. March figures will be released soon, but CBP said it stopped migrants an average of 7,101 times a day during the week that ended March 28.

That's an unusually large number; The last week in March was on pace to establish a new monthly high in Biden's presidency and one of the busiest ever. The Border Patrol stopped migrants nearly 1.7 million times in the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30  among the highest since the agency was founded in 1924  but that number masks a critical difference.

Since March 2020, U.S. authorities have expelled migrants more than 1.7 million times under Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public health law, using the threat of COVID-19 to deny migrants a chance to seek asylum as required under U.S. law and international treaty. Expulsions carry no legal consequences, encouraging repeat attempts. In the 2021 budget year, more than one of four migrants at the border had been stopped multiple times, with repeat crossers stopped an average of more than three times in the previous year. Consequently, the number of migrants who crossed the border is much lower than the number of times authorities have stopped migrants.

WHAT HAS BIDEN DONE?

The Democratic president undid many measures introduced by his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, who belittled asylum as a scam and said the country was full. The Biden administration reversed a rule that generally prohibited domestic and gang violence as grounds for asylum and ended bilateral agreements to send some migrants to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador to seek protection there instead of in the United States.

Biden suspended the Remain in Mexico policy on his first day in office after the Trump administration forced about 70,000 asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico for hearings in U.S. immigration court. He was forced to reinstate the policy in December under court order but numbers have been modest. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments April 26 on whether and how Biden can end the policy.

With COVID-19 infection rates dropping, the administration announced April 1 that it will end Title 42 authority on May 23. Some Democratic members of Congress joined Republican leaders to argue the move was premature and the administration unprepared. The Homeland Security Department says it is preparing for as many as 18,000 daily crossings.

On Thursday, 18 states joined Louisiana, Arizona and Missouri in a federal lawsuit to keep Title 42 authority in place. The additional states are: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. Texas is conspicuously absent.

WHAT IS TEXAS DOING?

Last year, Abbott launched a multibillion-dollar border security mission, deploying thousands of state troopers and National Guard members, installing new border barriers and jailing migrants on trespassing charges. Abbott, who is running for reelection in November, made it the cornerstone of his administration.

Texas, assuming a role like California's during Trump's presidency, has been a top legal adversary to changes in immigration policy. It joined Missouri in the case before the Supreme Court on ending Remain in Mexico.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that Title 42 authority was ending, Abbott began inspecting commercial vehicles in addition to CBP's independent inspections, creating significant delays and backlash from his pro-business allies. He also chartered buses to Washington, D.C., for migrants who volunteered to take them.

On Friday, Abbott fully repealed the inspections after announcing agreements with neighboring Mexican governors about border security, but said he would not hesitate to reimpose them in the future. Migrants are stopped at ports of entry in only about 5% of CBP's encounters. The vast majority cross in mountains, deserts and cities between official crossings.

The dynamic with drug seizures is different, with fentanyl, heroin, methamphetamine and other hard narcotics being seized overwhelmingly at official crossings instead of between them. Their compact size and lack of odor make them extremely difficult to detect.

IS ANY OF THIS NEW UNDER BIDEN?

No, there have been several spikes in migration since 2014, with a broken asylum system dogging three presidents. The United States became the world's most popular destination for asylum-seekers in 2017.

Immigration experts refer to push factors that compel migrants to leave their homes and pull factors that refer to policies in destination countries that may influence decisions on where to go.

Push factors include hurricanes, violence, political repression and poverty, while pull factors include real or perceived changes in U.S. policy. One widely cited pull factor is a heavily backlogged U.S. asylum system; it takes an immigration judge four years on average to decide a claim for people who are not in custody.

Last month, the Biden administration unveiled a long-discussed and potentially significant change to expand authority of asylum officers to decide claims, not just initial screenings. It is designed to decide cases in months instead of years but officials say there are no additional funds for its launch, expected in late May, and to expect a slow start.

___

Spagat reported from San Diego.
HONOLULU (AP)  The head of training at the Hawaii Department of Public Safety pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges accusing her of lying about her educational background.

Public Training Officer J. Marte Martinez pleaded not guilty to perjury, tampering with a government record and unsworn falsification to authorities, according to her attorney Birney Bervar.
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Today is a time of uncertainty about General Electric's longtime plan for Schenectady, but 130 years ago the company was being incorporated in the city that eventually earned the nickname "Electric City" because of the corporate giant's once-dominating presence.

On April 15, 1892, Thomas Edison formed General Electric Co. by merging his Edison General Electric Co. in Schenectady with a competing firm. He created one of the most important and iconic manufacturing and technology firms in history. Over the next 130 years, the company would make everything from power plants and light bulbs to MRI machines and jet engines.

GE CEO Larry Culp Jr. announced plans last year to break it all apart  a move that will likely have serious implications for GE's Capital Region operations, including its historic Schenectady campus, which employs several thousand workers.

So far, there is no clear indication of how the breakup will unfold and what the impact will be in the region, where GE also operates a sprawling research campus in neighboring Niskayuna.

The Schenectady campus is home to GE Power, which, along with Paris-based GE Renewable Energy, will be merged into GE Digital into a new standalone public company in 2024 under Culp's current plan. GE would also spin off its health care division and an aviation company.

In honor of the 130th anniversary, GE published a "Happy Birthday" post Friday, and questioned "What does the future look like now?"

Its response to its own question read: "It could have planes powered by sustainable aviation fuel and hybrid electric engines; precision diagnosis and treatments aided by cloud-enabled software and AI-powered medical devices; and floating wind turbines, power plants using hydrogen that emits no carbon, and a digital grid that will seamlessly integrate electricity from many sources while protecting itself and healing quickly after a storm."

The company said splitting into three sections will drive long-term growth and value for stakeholders.

As strong, customer-centric businesses, each will benefit from greater accountability, team alignment and capital allocation flexibility to enable a more sustainable, healthier and connected future, Culp said in the company release.

It's not guaranteed that GE Power will become an independent entity. Culp's plan could dramatically change due to global economic and political events such as war in Ukraine, political tensions with China and a potential recession.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Former GE CEO John Flannery had also wanted to break up GE - believing like Culp that the company's various industrial units would be more valuable as independent companies than aggregated together.

But Flannery's plans fell apart, and he was let go by GE in 2018 after just 14 months on the job. Culp, who is known as a skillful turnaround executive, was his replacement.

GE Power has been headquartered in Schenectady for a decade now, but back when it was known as GE Energy, GE moved it to Atlanta, a major blow to Schenectady, which had at one time been home to tens of thousands of blue-collar employees. Today less than 800 union workers make steam turbines at the GE plant. There are more white-collar employees now it is believed, although GE will never reveal exact employment figures.

Total GE employment in Schenectady County is estimated at between 3,000 and 4,000 people, although GE no longer provides site-specific employment numbers. GE Healthcare has a digital X-ray machine assembly plant in North Greenbush where it has as many as 125 workers that will eventually become part of the health care spinoff, planned for 2023.

Schenectady has always been the historical home of GE, with the iconic GE logo sign lighting up the night sky atop the roof of Building 37 since the 1920s.

And even though GE moved its headquarters to New York City in the 1930s, the Schenectady Works, as it was known, has always remained one of the company's most important manufacturing sites, even though employment today is nowhere near World War II levels when 40,000 worked there.
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Yet again, the U.S. is trudging into what could be another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline.

One big unknown? We dont know how high that mountains gonna grow, said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University.

No one expects a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population.

But experts warn that the coming wave  caused by a mutant called BA.2 thats thought to be about 30% more contagious  will wash across the nation. They worry that hospitalizations, which are already ticking up in some parts of the Northeast, will rise in a growing number of states in the coming weeks. And the case wave will be bigger than it looks, they say, because reported numbers are vast undercounts as more people test at home without reporting their infections or skip testing altogether.

At the height of the previous omicron surge, reported daily cases reached into the hundreds of thousands. As of Thursday, the seven-day rolling average for daily new cases rose to 39,521, up from 30,724 two weeks earlier, according to data from Johns Hopkins collected by The Associated Press.

Dr. Eric Topol, head of Scripps Research Translational Institute, said the numbers will likely keep growing until the surge reaches about a quarter the height of the last monstrous one. BA.2 may well have the same effect in the U.S. as it did in Israel, where it created a bump" in the chart measuring cases, he said.

Keeping the surge somewhat in check, experts said, is a higher level of immunity in the U.S. from vaccination or past infection compared with early winter.

But Ray said the U.S. could wind up looking like Europe, where the BA.2 surge was substantial" in some places that had comparable levels of immunity. We could have a substantial surge here, he said.

Both experts said BA.2 will move through the country gradually. The Northeast has been hit hardest so far  with more than 90% of new infections caused by BA.2 last week compared with 86% nationally. As of Thursday, the highest rates of new COVID cases per capita over the past 14 days were in Vermont, Rhode Island, Alaska, New York and Massachusetts. In Washington, D.C., which also ranks in the top 10 for rates of new cases, Howard University announced it was moving most undergraduate classes online for the rest of the semester because of a significant increase in COVID-19 positivity in the district and on campus.

Some states, such as Rhode Island and New Hampshire, saw the average of daily new cases rise by more than 100% in two weeks, according to Johns Hopkins data.

In New Hampshire, the increase in cases comes two weeks after the closure of all 11 state-managed vaccination sites, and the governor is being pressured by some advocates to reverse course.

Joseph Wendelken, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Health, said the metric they are most focused on right now is hospitalizations, which remain relatively low. About 55 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized, compared with more than 600 at one point in the pandemic.

Officials credit high vaccination rates. State statistics show 99% of Rhode Island adults are at least partially vaccinated and 48% have gotten the booster dose that scientists say is key in protecting against severe illness with omicron.

Vermont also has relatively high levels of vaccination and fewer patients in the hospital than during the height of the first omicron wave. But Dr. Mark Levine, the health commissioner there, said hospitalizations and the numbers of patients in intensive care units are both up slightly, although deaths have not risen.

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that new hospital admissions of patients with confirmed COVID-19 were up slightly in New England and the New York region.

On the West Coast, modelers from Oregon Health & Science University are projecting a slight increase in hospitalizations over the next two months in that state, where cases have also risen steeply.

As the wave moves across the country, experts said states with low rates of vaccination may face substantially more infections and severe cases that wind up in the hospital.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Ray said government leaders must be careful to strike the right tone when talking to people about protecting themselves and others after COVID restrictions have largely been lifted. Philadelphia recently became the first major U.S. city to reinstate its indoor mask mandate after a sharp increase in infections. But Vermont's Levine said there are no plans to bring back any of the restrictions that were imposed earlier during the pandemic.

Its going to be hard to institute restrictive, draconian measures, Ray said. Fortunately, we have some tools that we can use to mitigate risk. And so I hope that leaders will emphasize the importance for people to watch the numbers, be aware of risks and consider taking precautions such as wearing masks and getting vaccinated and boosted if they're not already.

Lynne Richmond, a 59-year-old breast cancer survivor who lives in Silver Spring, Md., said she plans to get her second booster and keep wearing her mask in public as cases rise in her state and nearby Washington, D.C.

I never really stopped wearing my maskIve stayed ultra-vigilant, she said. I feel like Ive come this far; I dont want to get COVID.

At the 250-bed New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton, staff are still wearing masks and social distancing. Veterans are allowed limited excursions to places like an antique race car museum and restaurants where they can have a separate room and the wait staff is masked.

Vigilance is a good strategy, experts said, because the coronavirus is constantly throwing curveballs. One of the latest: even more contagious subvariants of BA.2 found in New York state, known as BA.2.12 and BA.2.12.1. And scientists warn that new and potentially dangerous variants could arise at any time.

We shouldnt be thinking the pandemic is over, Topol said. We should still keep our guard up.

___

Associated Press reporters Wilson Ring in Stowe, Vermont, and Holly Ramer and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire contributed to this report.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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LOS ANGELES (AP)  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti delivered what amounted to a farewell speech to his city Thursday at a time when its not clear when, or where, hes going.

The two-term Democrat delivered his final State of the City address as his nomination by President Joe Biden to become U.S. ambassador to India appears imperiled in the Senate. A vote has been delayed by an investigation into sexual harassment allegations against a former Garcetti top adviser.

The nomination has languished since July and its not known when a vote will take place, if at all. If Garcetti remains at City Hall, his term runs through the end of the year.

The speech  at turns optimistic, nostalgic, defensive and emotional  marked a capstone of sorts for Garcettis two decades at City Hall, nearly half as mayor.

He approaches the end of his term with the city struggling with an unchecked homeless crisis that has spread into virtually every neighborhood, rising crime and housing prices that are out of reach for many working-class families.

He appeared to choke up when thanking his family for being with him every step of the way and after expressing gratitude to colleagues for their support through the toughest of times.

At another point, he warned that without more affordable housing and shelter for the homeless the California dream will be an old chapter in a distant history book.

Last month, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said in a statement he has received numerous credible allegations that Garcetti was aware of sexual harassment of city employees committed by his former adviser and close friend Rick Jacobs, but did nothing to stop the misconduct. His office is investigating.

Garcetti has denied witnessing or being told of any inappropriate behavior by Jacobs. A lawsuit against the city charges that Jacobs frequently sexually harassed one of the mayors police bodyguards while Garcetti ignored it or laughed it off. Jacobs has called the allegations against him pure fiction.

The annual speech is directed at City Council and marks the start of budget season, when a new spending plan is proposed and reviewed. But this year it took on a strongly personal tone, as Garcetti reflected on his years of public service. He argued he wasn't thinking much about his legacy, but the speech appeared to be an attempt to define it.

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 mayor said the pandemic-wounded city was roaring back to life, but he also acknowledged that soaring home prices were choking off opportunity for the next generation. He promised to do more on crime, but did not specify how much he would spend at the police department in the coming year.

Though driving through LA is typically an obstacle course of cracked and rutted roads, Garcetti asserted more streets were in good condition compared to when he took office. He delivered the speech on a bridge being built near downtown to highlight coming transit improvements, but the citys notorious gridlock perseveres.

Homeless encampments, typically surrounded by mounds of trash, dot city streets and freeway off-ramps, but Garcetti said he would hire hundreds of new sanitation works to clear debris. He argued progress was being made, but candidates hoping to replace him as mayor describe the situation as a crisis, with more than 40,000 people living on the streets.

He challenged his successor to continue building housing to make homelessness a distant memory in LA. And he urged the next mayor to follow his lead on global warming to erase the city's carbon footprint.

Los Angeles, I cant wait to see whats next, he said.
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ALBANY - For the next 10 weeks, visitors will be able to view artifacts and a special honor associated with a real American hero at an Albany City Hall display.

The man: World War I soldier Sgt. Henry Johnson of Albany.

The artifacts: A bolo knife, helmet and insignia he would have carried.

And it wouldn't be complete without the actual Medal of Honor he was awarded posthumously and only recently.

Mayor Kathy Sheehan unveiled the exhibit Thursday morning at City Hall. Also gathered were federal, state, city and county elected officials and their representatives, military and veteran leaders, advocates and the Albany High School Henry Johnson Battalion Junior ROTC.

This is going to be an opportunity for everybody to see the symbol of one of our greatest war heroes in Albany, and somebody who has recently been recognized, said Dennis Gaffney, the mayor's communications coordinator. "But people havent been able to see the medal or touch the history. Thats why we brought it here for 10 weeks.

Johnson came to Albany with his family from North Carolina when he was a teenager, according to a history provided by the city. On June 5, 1917, he enlisted in the U.S. Army but because of racial segregation and the refusal of the Army to allow Black soldiers to participate in combat, members of 369th Infantry Regiment, the "Harlem Hellfighters," fought under French command.

In May 1918, he single-handedly fought off a German attack and saved the life of a fellow soldier using a rifle, a knife and grenades. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre, Frances highest award for valor, the first American to receive the honor.

Though former President Theodore Roosevelt called him one of the "five greatest Americans" to serve in the war -- and he sustained 21 wounds -- Johnson never received an award from his home country, the city history notes. He spoke out against the racism he and other Black men experienced in the Army, then was banned from ever publicly speaking again, and also could not wear his uniform in public. He died penniless in 1929 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

It took a major effort by local elected officials to get Johnson the Medal of Honor. Johnson was awarded a Purple Heart in 1996, the Distinguished Service Cross in 2002 and the Medal of Honor in 2015 by President Barack Obama.

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 exhibit will be open every weekday until July 1 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Ronald Wilson, president of the Albany District of the 369th Veterans Association, urged all in the city to view the display.

Just a few generations ago, Sgt. Henry Johnson walked the streets of Albany, worked in this city, and got married. He fought for his country with uncommon courage," Wilson stated. "We must remember his name and his deeds on the battlefield and his courage speaking out against racism -- and we do that by giving his medal and memory a place of honor: Albany City Hall."


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Update: Jacob L. Klein was arrested Friday evening.

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NEW SCOTLAND  A 40-year-old physician assistant with ties to the Cobleskill area was being sought for questioning Friday in connection with a grisly homicide in which a 35-year-old man was killed after apparently being bound, stabbed and mutilated in his Miller Road residence several miles south of Albany, according to law enforcement sources.

The victim, Philip L. Rabadi, who is from Albany and graduated from the state University at Albany and later Albany Medical College, was found early Wednesday in a pool of blood by his wife, father and an Albany County sheriff's deputy who all arrived at the residence around the same time. They went to the home when Rabadi, who was a surgical physician assistant at St. Peter's Hospital, failed to show up for work and could not be reached, according to the law enforcement sources.

Within hours of the killing, police had zeroed in on Jacob L. Klein, a physician assistant from Virginia who was allegedly a former boyfriend of Rabadi's wife, Elana Z. Radin. She also works as a physician assistant at St. Peters.

Klein, a military veteran, left the Albany area after the slaying. He previously worked as a physician assistant in California and upstate New York, including at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Hudson. He attended the State University of New York College of Medicine in Brooklyn and is from the Cobleskill area, according to public records.

Police say video evidence and witness accounts placed the man in the Albany area on the morning that Rabadi was killed. Radin, 29, also attended the SUNY College of Medicine in Brooklyn, graduating in 2016  a year after Klein had graduated from the same school. They had a personal relationship for several years, but it's unclear whether they met while attending medical school or became acquainted during their medical careers. Radin is from the Syracuse area.

Law enforcement sources briefed on the matter said they are examining evidence that Klein flew into Albany International Airport before renting a vehicle that he drove to the couple's Miller Road residence early Wednesday. Footage from a neighbor's security camera and statements from a passerby indicate Rabadi may have argued with a man in the doorway of his residence before they went inside, the sources said.

Rabadi, who graduated with honors from Albany Medical College in 2015, and Radin were married on Sept. 10 in West Sand Lake, according to a website created for the event. The couple purchased their residence at the end of the bucolic cul de sac two months before they were married, according to Albany County property records.

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 residence is about 8 miles southwest of the hospital where they had both worked.

Radin and Rabadi's father arrived at the residence on Wednesday morning about the same time as an Albany County sheriff's deputy. As the deputy searched the home, Radin and Rabadi's father discovered the victim's body in the garage with injuries that included a mutilated ear and multiple stab wounds.

The assault may have taken place in the residence before Rabadi was moved into the garage, according to two law enforcement sources.

Klein allegedly drove away from the residence and returned his rental vehicle, but missed his flight out of Albany on Wednesday morning.

Rabadi joined St. Peter's in 2019 as a surgical physician assistant. It's unclear when Radin began working at the hospital.

Police have not disclosed a potential motive for the homicide. New York State Police and the FBI are assisting in the investigation.
ALBANY  The first outdoor marijuana cultivators are now licensed to grow pot in New York, though planting cannabis is still off-limits for medical prescription cardholders who hope to cultivate their own supplies of the drug.

Regulators granted 52 initial cultivation licenses at a Cannabis Control Board meeting on Thursday, allowing recipients  all hemp farmers  to grow a limited amount of cannabis that will provide product for the state's first legal, non-medical sales. The two-year conditional status allows those license holders to plant one acre of flowering canopy outdoors, or 25,000 square feet in a greenhouse.

But the rules that will eventually allow every medical cannabis prescription holder to grow up to six plants at home are still pending: at Thursday's meeting, officials said recent changes to the draft regulations clarify that patients can grow plants outdoors on their property, among other updates. The latest revisions will trigger a new 45-day public comment period that will not begin until May 4, nearly four months after the first comment period ended in January.

The continued delays mean that individuals who wish to legally grow their own pot supplies outdoors, including those who use it for medicinal purposes, could be jeopardized for a second growing season. The law legalizing marijuana was passed in March 2021.

"To be clear, home cultivation of medical cannabis is not yet permitted, and will not be permitted until the comments ... are assessed and the board can adopt the revisions and then have them published in the state register," said Nicole Quackenbush, the cannabis office's director of health and safety.

But for many of New York's medical cannabis patients, there has been confusion about the ability of someone to legally grow their own supply of marijuana. Lawmakers had intended for that to begin last year for medical prescription cardholders.

"I think almost every New Yorker I've talked to thinks that it's totally legal to grow right now," said Joel Hubert, a Capital Region resident who has taught himself a lot about the medicinal plant. "I tell them you're absolutely wrong. (But) there's been an explosion just because of the fact that it's semi-legal."

Hubert, who is almost 70 years old, suffers chronic pain and has an allergy to all opioid-based medications. For him, the state's medical cannabis program has been a life-changer: when his doctor first suggested combating his pain with a cannabis tincture, he slept through the night for the first time in 10 years. Since then, he has become invested in the plant; but its cost from medical suppliers is prohibitive.

"I'm on a retirement check," Hubert said, noting that he will be cultivating his own, and is hoping the rules are finalized soon.

Patients' right to grow cannabis at home was included in the New York bill that legalized the possession and use of cannabis for adults. The law specified that regulators should issue rules for patients who want to grow at home within six months of the bill's passage, no later than the end of September. But after a regulatory board was slow to be appointed and missed that deadline, public comment periods and months of revisions have extended that target for more than a year.

Until recently, New York hemp farmers hoping to be among the first outdoor cultivators for the adult-use cannabis market were concerned their time would also slip away, causing them to miss New York's narrow growing season this year. But a bill mandating conditional cultivation licenses that passed quickly through the legislature in February gave them another shot at their hoped-for timeline.

"We understand that the growing season waits for no one," said Chris Alexander, executive director of the Office of Cannabis Management, while announcing the first 52 license recipients on Thursday. "We have to move quickly to help our farmers take full advantage of it."

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Alexander said his team would continue to process applications on a rolling basis, working to get them in front of the board for approval as soon as possible.

"We went from waiting and waiting, and now we're in this outright sprint," said John Ng, one of the applicants whose cultivation proposal was among those approved. "Most cultivators will be planting in June, they'll be harvesting in October, and hoping they'll have a place to sell it come November."

Ng added they have a lot of work to do ahead of time, including buying seeds and making infrastructure improvements. Generally, outdoor marijuana in the Northeast must be planted no later than mid-June to produce a viable crop.

According to Kaelan Castetter, vice president of the state's Cannabis Growers and Processors Association whose group works with many hemp farmers hoping to transition into adult-use cannabis, some farmers who are not yet licensed to start planting may struggle to catch up.

"What surprised me is that half of (the hemp farmers who applied) didn't get approved. So does that mean they got denied? Or does that mean they're looking for more information?" Castetter said, noting that a later approval date would be "cutting it close  you definitely want to have propagation started in early May."

Cannabis cultivation using natural light responds to the changing seasons, with outdoor plants in New York typically starting to flower in late August for harvest in September and October.
A Niskayuna man was charged with receiving child pornography on Friday.

The U.S. Attorneys office and FBI said the 39-year-old man used his laptop to download child pornography, which he later transferred to a USB storage device. The office confirmed that the man worked for the Niskayuna Central School District as a bus driver.

There is no indication the man did anything illegal in his capacity as a bus driver.

The man was ordered detained after he made an initial appearance Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Stewart.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison.

The FBIs Child Exploitation Task Force and the State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force are investigating the case.
Rabbi Matt Cutler of Congregation Gates of Heaven, in the gold robe, and Rabbi Rafi Spitzer of Congregation Agudat Achim, in green, met with preschoolers at the Schenectady Jewish Community Center earlier this week to tell the story of Passover and explain the symbolism behind the Passover seder. The eight-day holiday which began at sundown Friday night is a retelling of the Exodus story as the Israelites escaped from slavery in Egypt.

Provided by Jonathan Pierce / JCC Provided by Jonathan Pierce / JCC Provided by Jonathan Pierce / JCC Provided by Jonathan Pierce / JCC
SARATOGA SPRINGS  City Court Judge Francine Vero handed down a mixed decision on Friday, dismissing the misdemeanor charges against city Black Lives Matter leader Lexis Figuereo but allowing his disorderly conduct violations to go to trial.

In making her decision, Vero wrote that Figuereos continually talking over or yelling during a City Council meeting did not meet the statutory definition of obstructing governmental administration, which specifies intimidation by threat of imminent physical force or interference.

There is no allegation as to what the Defendant was yelling or that it put the Mayor in fear or deterred her by means of a threat, Vero wrote. However, the judge concluded that Figuereos disorderly conduct charge, which stems from a July 14 rally, is properly left for trial.

Mark Mishler, Figuereos attorney, said the dismissal of the misdemeanors was very positive.

Vero "is taking seriously the issues that have been raised, Mishler said. Short of throwing everything out, this is a very good, well-thought out, well-reasoned decision.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Saratoga County District Attorney Karen Heggen did not respond to a request for comment on the decision. Vero has previously dismissed charges against activist Jamaica Miles stemming from the same July 14 rally. Heggen has said she would appeal that decision.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Frandino said in court on Thursday that he has offered Figuereo a deal in which he could plead guilty to disorderly conduct and the misdemeanors would be dropped. Figuereo wants all the charges dropped; he contends he was peacefully protesting and the charge is a violation of his constitutional rights.

"He will not plead guilty to disorderly conduct," Mishler said. "But all sorts of things could happen. One of them could be a trial."
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JOHANNESBURG (AP)  The number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease, according to the World Health Organization.

In a statement on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said COVID-19 infections due to the omicron surge had tanked from a peak of more than 308,000 weekly cases to fewer than 20,000 last week. Cases and deaths fell by 29% and 37% respectively in the last week; deaths decreased to 239 from the previous week.

This low level of infection has not been seen since April 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic in Africa, WHO said, noting that no country in the region is currently seeing an increase of COVID-19 cases.

The agency warned, however, that with winter approaching for Southern Hemisphere countries, there is a high risk of another wave of new infections. The coronavirus spreads more easily in cooler temperatures when people are more likely to gather in larger numbers indoors.

With the virus still circulating, the risk of new and potentially more deadly variants emerging remains, and the pandemic control measures are pivotal to effective response to a surge in infections, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO's Africa director.

The decline in Africa is consistent with falling COVID-19 numbers globally, although in China officials fear the country still doesnt have its latest surge in omicron-involved cases under control despite a zero-tolerance approach that has triggered a three-week lockdown in Shanghai, where at least 15 million people are still barred from going outside.

The measures have led to frustration among Shanghai residents about running out of food and medicines. This week, government authorities also closed off access to Guangzhou, an industrial center of 19 million people near Hong Kong and other cities are cutting their outside links or closing factories and schools.

Meanwhile, scientists in the U.S. warn the country may be about to see a wave of cases fueled by the omicron subvariant BA.2, which has already peaked across Europe. The country expects to soon mark the deaths of at least 1 million Americans killed by COVID.

Earlier this week, WHO said scientists in Botswana and South Africa have detected new forms of the omicron variant, labeled as BA.4 and BA.5, but arent sure yet if they might be more transmissible or dangerous.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

To date, the new versions of omicron have been detected in four people in Botswana and 23 people in South Africa. Beyond Africa, scientists have confirmed cases in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. WHO said there was so far no evidence the new sub-variants spread any differently than the original omicron variant.

Despite repeated warnings from WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus that the coronavirus would devastate Africa, the continent has been among the least affected by the pandemic.

In an analysis released last week, WHO estimated that up to 65% of people in Africa have been infected with the coronavirus and said unlike many other regions, most people infected on the continent didn't show any symptoms.

Scientists at WHO and elsewhere have speculated that factors including Africa's young population, the lower incidence of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes and warmer weather, may have helped it avoid a bigger wave of disease. Still, some countries have seen significant increases in the numbers of unexplained deaths, suggesting authorities were missing numerous COVID-19 cases.

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Follow APs coverage of the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic
The Biden administrations plan to crack down on unregistered, untraceable ghost guns is welcome news. Its also  like so many other sensible regulations in a nation awash in gun violence  long overdue.

The public has known about these sorts of guns for nearly a decade since one was used in 2013 in a mass shooting at Santa Monica College in California that claimed six lives. The assault-style weapon was obtained by a man who had failed a background check at a gun dealer, but was able to buy an unregulated gun kit online and assemble exactly the kind of semi-automatic weapon he was, by law, not allowed to purchase or possess.

Ghost guns are partially finished firearms that typically require just a few more steps that a person can do even with scant gunsmithing skills. They are not stamped with serial numbers, and the sellers are not required to conduct instant background checks on buyers to see if they are banned from purchasing a firearm. So felons, people convicted of domestic violence, people with serious mental illness and undocumented immigrants  all banned from possessing guns  can get these by mail.

Its unknown how many of these weapons were sold while the government dithered or delayed, while Congress was unable to pass common-sense legislation, and while the gun lobby and its allies in Congress blocked presidential nominees to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, leaving it without full leadership. The National Rifle Association has sought to downplay the danger of ghost guns, calling them nothing more than a hunk of metal and suggesting that criminals are too lazy to bother with them, when in reality the U.S. Justice Department reported nearly 20,000 of them recovered from crime scenes between 2016 and 2020.

President Joe Biden this week finally unveiled regulations to cover ghost guns. They would change the definition of a firearm to include unfinished parts; require manufacturers and dealers who sell ghost gun parts to be federally licensed; require dealers to add a serial number to any unserialized guns for sale; and require dealers to run background checks on buyers of ghost gun kits. Rules usually take effect in 60 to 90 days.

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So-called gun rights groups  so-called, because their mission seems to be serving as fronts for the firearms industry  have been fighting regulation of these weapons for years and are likely to try to block this, too. Little wonder: Having lots of firearms on the streets fuels the societal fear that keeps profits flowing to gun manufacturers and donations pouring into these groups own coffers. They posture as defenders of a right that isnt really under threat; regulating ghost guns infringes on no right and doesnt prevent hobbyists from building their own guns. But it does curtail the ability of people who cannot legally buy or possess a gun to do just that.

These new rules are, of course, just a piece of the gun regulation puzzle that wont be complete until it includes such things as national, universal background checks on all gun sales and transfers as well as a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. That, sadly, will require far more time than it took to easily turn untold thousands of so-called hunks of metal into ghost guns that no doubt will haunt society for years to come.
NEW YORK  Gov. Kathy Hochul and her husband earned $912,000 in 2021, according to the couple's joint filing 2021 tax returns, which were made available by the administration Friday ahead of Monday's tax deadline.

The couple paid $238,000 in federal taxes and $57,000 in state taxes.

The Hochuls took in about $151,000 more in 2021 than in the year prior, according to the governors office. And they took in more than twice as much as they did in the couple's joint tax returns in 2014, which were made available when Hochul first entered statewide office as lieutenant governor in 2015.

The governor made $230,000 between her time as lieutenant governor and her current position, which pays slightly more.

William Hochul, a former federal prosecutor, works as the general counsel for Delaware North, a global hospitality and food service company. He made $574,000 in that post. He also took in $3,250 for teaching at the state University of Buffalo Law School.

The governor has pledged to avoid any conflicts of interest between her work and her husband's.

Delaware North, through the firm Dickinson & Avella, recently lobbied the state budget officials in regards to the Seneca Nation Compact, a 2002 agreement in which the nation agreed to pay substantial casino revenue to New York.

That compact led to the state recently receiving $564 million from the Senecas, which Hochul said primarily would go toward the payment of the construction of a new Buffalo Bills stadium. Delaware North is the food vendor at the current stadium.

The lobbying discussions had nothing to do with the payment toward the stadium, according to state officials, but rather concerned shaping a new gaming compact after the current one expires. Both Delaware North and the Seneca Nation are jockeying for their share of upstate casino revenue.

The governor and her husband contributed about $72,000 in charitable donations over the course of the year, most of which was paid out in the form of stocks  typically from the tech giant Apple.

The Hochuls were regular contributors to several Buffalo-area charities at the end of the year: Dominican Nuns of the Monaster in Buffalo received 29 shares of Apple stock and 36 shares of Eaton Corporation, an Irish power management company. The Franciscan Sisters in Hamburg received 29 shares of Apple, three shares of Eaton Corporation and 64 shares of NextEra Energy, a Florida-based energy company. Planned Parenthood of Buffalo received 29 shares of Apple and 71 shares of NextEra Energy stock.
A jury took just over an hour to convict a Miami-Dade officer of felony battery and official misconduct in the rough arrest of a Black woman who had called police for help in 2019
11:00 | Piura (Piura region), Apr. 15.









Other places preferred by tourists are the beaches of Punta Veleros, Las Pocitas, El Amor, Vichayito, and Los Organos.





All these attractions have received the Safe Travels stamp, which puts safe tourism in a special category in Piura, which in turn guarantees good and high-quality services for tourists.





Other important destinations during this long break are Catacaos and Ayabaca, which stand out for their religious celebrations during Holy Week. Visitors explore the Temple of San Juan Bautista de Catacaos and the Temple of Senor Cautivo de Ayabaca.





Another attraction that draws a large number of visitors is the Aypate Archaeological Complex, of Inca origin.





Piura authorities estimate that more than 20,000 tourists will arrive during Holy Week, the highest peak after the lockdown derived from the COVID-19 pandemic.





Piura is one of the regions with the best climate in the country and its destinations stand out for their great potential and excellent gastronomy, which were almost at a standstill after the 2017 Coastal El Nino Phenomenon and due to the COVID-19 pandemic.





However, growth and tourism's recovery in Piura can be seen with great optimism this year.





(END) MMC/MAO/RMB

The beaches of Mancora and Cabo Blanco are Piura region's most visited tourist attractions by domestic and foreign visitors during Holy Week Published: 4/15/2022
There's a lot to cover here as warmer weather spikes crime around the metro.

Check TKC news gathering . . .

KC mother traumatized after bullets tear through apartment, man killed outside KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Multiple bullet holes are the reminder of a deadly shooting that happened steps away from a Kansas City woman's apartment. It happened at Willowind Apartments near 40th Street and Willow Avenue in February. The victim, 63-year-old Samuel Zamudio died at the scene. "Extremely traumatic and my son is petrified.

Police: 17-year-old 'predator' filmed more than a dozen women in Blue Springs bathrooms, committed 'lewd acts' in stores A 17-year-old is being called a "predator" by police after reportedly committing lewd acts and filming women in bathrooms along Woods Chapel Road in Blue Springs, Missouri. Police said the suspect, identified only as a 17-year-old juvenile, was caught by an employee at the QuikTrip on Woods Chapel Road near I-70 filming women from the top of a bathroom stall while they used the facilities.

Prosecutors drop child abuse charge against day care owner SHAWNEE, Kan. - Prosecutors in Johnson County have dropped a felony child abuse charge brought against a Shawnee day care operator, citing new evidence that showed the child was unharmed when he left her care. A petition for expungement shows that the decision to dismiss the case came last month in the case of 55-year-old Katherine Konon.

U.S. agrees to return $1.1 million to company busted for hauling legal weed money in Kansas Last year, a sheriff's deputy in Dickinson County, Kansas, stopped one of Empyreal Logistics' vehicles on Interstate 70 and seized nearly $166,000 in cash it was transporting from legal medical marijuana dispensaries in Kansas City, Missouri, to a credit union in Colorado.

KC police bust scheme targeting storage units, find $100k worth of items KANSAS CITY, Mo. - If you own a storage unit somewhere in the Kansas City metro, it's time to check on it. Kansas City police recovered an enormous amount of items they think were stolen from storage units across Jackson and Johnson Counties. Some of it's expensive.

Extra security at Grandview elementary school following threat KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Parents and students at an elementary school in south Kansas City noticed extra security when they arrived Friday morning. Martin City Elementary School has a Kansas City, Missouri address, but it's in the Grandview School District. A spokesperson for the district said someone posted a threat involving the school on social media.

Woman accused of fatally shooting wife in Kansas City apartment as three children hid A 30-year-old woman is accused of fatally shooting her wife during a domestic dispute earlier this year in a Kansas City apartment as three of the victim's children hid in a bedroom and called 911, according to court records. Makayla R.

How a Missouri prison became a training ground for the next wave of computer coders Most nights, Corey Pride is awake long after the rest of the men in his cellblock have fallen asleep, the soft glow of his laptop illuminating the concrete walls. Pride, 39, has been in prison for nearly half his life - and in that time, he's tried to learn as much as he can about computers.

Experts share ways to talk to children about violence, grief after Northeast stabbing KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The violence that occurred at Northeast Middle School earlier this week is likely having a big impact on children around the Kansas City area. The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department said eighth grader and 14-year-old Manuel J. Guzman died after being stabbed by another student Tuesday morning.

'This kid never had a chance'-Team of lawyers work to prove innocence of 14-year-old convicted in mother's murder KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - Michael Politte was 14 years old when his mother died. Rita Politte was beaten, then set on fire in December of 1998. Michael and a friend were sleeping in the next room and say they woke up to smoke. That would traumatic enough for any teenage boy, but it gets worse.

Victims in 3 separate KC homicides identified KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas City, Missouri police have identified three victims killed in three separate homicides earlier this week that all happened within 24 hours of each other. On Tuesday, April 12, officers responded to a shooting in the area of E. 12th Street and Hardesty Avenue.

Developing . . .
For close readers we share a bevy of local links, news and info worth a peek and consideration for the most dedicated denizens of the discourse . . .

Most of these reports are of use to locals who want an overview of our community without slap fighting about politics . . . For now.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Royals offense stifled in 4-2 series-opening loss to Detroit It has been a common problem for past Royals' teams to start slow, both offensively and with early season losing streaks. It's still early, but Kansas City has been held under four runs in four of its first six games and are now in the midst of a four-game losing streak after a 4-2 loss to the Tigers Thursday night.

KCK firefighters battle fire at abandoned apartment building on Federal Avenue Firefighters in Kansas City, Kansas battled a large fire at an abandoned apartment building Thursday evening.A huge black column of smoke could be seen from miles away all around Kansas City. The three-story building is in the 1400 block of Federal Avenue.The assistant fire chief said the building was boarded up.

Fire crews battle structure fire in KCK, smoke seen miles away KANSAS CITY, Kan. - Crews with the Kansas City, Kansas Fire Department are on scene of a vacant three story apartment fire in the city's Rosedale neighborhood. The fire was reported just after 7 p.m. near S. Mill Street and Federal Avenue.

Kansas City Fashion Week is in full swing. Here's what you need to know about the shows Kansas City Fashion Week is underway. The two-week-long festival showcases the work of local, national and international designers on runways, with an opportunity to buy some of the designer's clothing. Taking place in Union Station, it's a celebration of all things fashion. If you missed the first week, don't worry.

Kansas City Zoo to host Asian lantern festival this fall KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Kansas City Zoo will host a unique, immersive Asian lantern festival this fall. The GloWild lantern festival will be the largest and first of its kind in the Midwest and will feature handmade lit sculptures of animals, local landmarks, flowers and cultural symbols.

After seven years in production, Lotawana finally hits screens Behind the scenes of Lotawana. // Photo by Cori Jo Hawkins "How long does it take to make a movie?" Trevor Hawkins says he was 28 years old when he asked his wife, Cori Jo, that fateful question. "When I was in my 20s, I decided I wanted to be in production on my first feature by 30," he explains....

Blue Valley Schools cuts bus options for some students OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - The Blue Valley School District will no longer provide transportation to students who live within 1.5 miles from school. The district's board of education recommended approving the change during a meeting Monday evening. It will take effect starting next school year.

Shawnee Mission School District food service program reports uptick in demand KANSAS CITY, Mo. - There's plenty on the plates of those who plan, prepare and serve meals in the Shawnee Mission School District. Representatives of the district's food service department gave an update at Tuesday's school board workshop. The department's mission statement is "School meals, we serve education everyday."

Overland Park cooking class on Ukrainian food raises funds for humanitarian relief A special cooking class was held Wednesday in Overland Park with the goal of teaching some traditional Ukrainian dishes and raising money for humanitarian relief."You get to practice as you go," said Tonda Edwards.Edwards admitted that she's not real familiar when it comes to cooking traditional Ukrainian food.That's one of the many reasons why Edwards wanted to take the cooking class, but she said she also wanted to help."We have to show support in big ways and small ways like these events," she said.It's called Tasting Ukraine.

City leaders remember Independence councilwoman who died from cancer INDEPENDENCE, Mo. - Hearts are heavy in Independence, Missouri. Independence City Councilmember At-Large Karen Deluccie, who'd just been elected to a third term, died on Tuesday afternoon. City leaders said Deluccie had been diagnosed with lung cancer in February. "Karen wasn't really an official. She only was a person.

90-year-old Kansas City man has passion for building big LEGO models The Titanic sunk 100 years ago, and to honor the ship and the anniversary, one south Kansas City man is building his own version of it."I like the larger LEGO models," said 90-year-old Bill Fields Jr.Fields is an engineer to the extreme."Most of my models are big ones," he said.They are so big that he has got his own showroom at the Villa Ventura Retirement Community."What do they say?"

Johnson County highway named for Edgerton veteran killed in Iraq A portion of U.S. 56 between Gardner and Edgerton in Johnson County has been renamed in honor of a man from the area who died during the Iraq War. The stretch will now be known as PFC Shane Austin Memorial Highway in honor of the 19-year-old county resident killed in action in 2006.

Photos: Carlos Santana melts the T-Mobile Center Santana. // Photo by Chris Ortiz Santana T-Mobile Center Tuesday, April 12 On Tuesday night, Santana played the T-Mobile Center as part of their Blessings and Miracles tour in support of the band's 26th studio album of the same name. In addition to songs from the band's massive back catalog and more recent albums, the show saw Santana cover songs...

Weather There is an elevated fire danger for some of our area Temperatures rebounded to near 60 degrees by the afternoon. Breezy west winds will increase between 15 and 20 mph. Combine that with very low relative humidity and it will lead to an elevated fire danger.

Thank for sticking with us today . . .

Hopefully, we'll have more for the morning update . . . STAY TUNED!!!
Local reality check: Local media is being far too kind of this administrator.

Thankfully, parents aren't so sympathetic to Dr. Bedell's political plight to keep a tenuous grip on "full accreditation" that was recently reattained.



Here's the sitch for now . . .

While the district continues to investigate how the knife got past security measures at the school, it is also facing other questions.



Some parents have said they didn't think school should have been in session the day after a homicide on campus.



Bedell explained that decision Thursday afternoon.



"We were very intentional in reopening school the day after because we did not want our students at home, alone, trying to process something as devastating as this on their own," Bedell said. "We felt that there are a lot of loving adults there at that school that these kids have built relationships with and all of those people cane to work the following day to be there for students."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

KC Public Schools answers questions after Northeast Middle School stabbing KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The superintendent of Kansas City Public Schools explained some of the decisions made after a student was stabbed inside Northeast Middle School and later died of his injuries. The student who died was identified as 14-year-old Manuel J. Guzman.

'Nothing lower than this:' KCPS superintendent discusses fatal stabbing at middle school KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Many in the Kansas City area are still reeling from the news that one student killed another at Northeast Middle School earlier this week. Kansas City, Missouri, Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Mark Bedell said Thursday in an interview with KSHB 41 that the incident is a low point in his career.

'It's the lowest of the lows': KCPS superintendent speaks on fatal stabbing of middle schooler An entire community is still grieving the loss of 14-year-old northeast middle schooler Manuel Guzman, who was stabbed to death inside his school's bathroom.Superintendent Dr. Mark Dedell calls his death one of the lowest points any superintendent of any school can experience. "You never wanna feel what I'm feeling right now.

KC Public Schools answers questions after Northeast Middle School stabbing KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The superintendent of Kansas City Public Schools explained some of the decisions made after a student was stabbed inside Northeast Middle School Tuesday and later died of his injuries. The student who died was identified as 14-year-old Manuel J. Guzman.

Mother of teen fatally stabbed at Kansas City middle school speaks out The mother of a 14-year-old boy who died after he was stabbed several times in the bathroom of a Kansas City middle school is speaking out.Manuel Guzman died Tuesday night, several hours after he was taken to a hospital."I couldn't sleep for two days after I left the hospital.

Developing . . .
The toy train started by way of gerrymandering and voter suppression . . . And so the public shouldn't be surprised that the finances of this operation have now been challenged.



Here's part of the story . . .



"Delta Wheel in 2015 won a $478,300 machine contract for Kansas City's starter streetcar line.



"But when the company reviewed an August 2021 request for quote (RFQ), issued by the city for a wheel truing machine for the 3.5-mile streetcar extension, it found design drawings included for reference in bidding materials were those of an NSH machine.



"Delta Wheel originally did not intend to bid, believing that the city already had decided to buy NSH's machine, but a Kansas City Streetcar Constructors (KCSC) representative insisted that was not the case, according to court documents.

Translation . . .

Lawyers might argue that dox reveal a decision before bidding was complete.

And THAT is a HUGE no no.

Moreover . . .

KCMO has already confronted several problems with questionable bids amid this social justice era in local politics.

And so . . .

Scrutiny of a project that's going to destroy Main St. is well deserved . . .



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
The public demand for answers after a youngster has been killed continues to build in Kansas City.

So far, administrative excuses and assurances haven't taken hold.



Accordingly, here's what looks like yet another attempt to devise a suitable explanation that will pacify parents and longtime critics of the district . . .



"I have invited KCPS Superintendent Dr. Mark Bedell to join us at Tuesday's Board of Police Commissioners meeting. I thank him for saying yes, and look forward to hearing his voice, and those of other school leaders, as we strive to build a safer community for our youth."

From the Mayor's legion of social media fans . . .

He seems to be earning support for continuing the conversation.



Developing . . .
Reality check . . .

The American healthcare system is crumbling. Some blame COVID and others target corporate greed as we slowly, reluctantly work our way toward "single-payer" socialized medicine like the rest of the Western world.



Whatever the case . . . It's ALWAYS A GREAT TIME NOT TO BE SICK given that very few people who aren't on corporate healthcare payrolls have argued to preserve our current system.



Here's one example why from a recent NBC report . . .



"As a former military doctor who saw combat in Iraq, Ray Brovont knew how to solve problems quickly. He took that approach to leading the emergency department at Overland Park.



The goal was to identify an issue before there was a bad outcome, he said.



"One bad outcome Brovont hoped to avoid was related to code blues, urgent calls to help Overland Park patients whose hearts had stopped beating or who were no longer breathing. After the HCA-owned hospital doubled its capacity to 343 beds and added a separate pediatric emergency room in 2014, the facilitys code blue policy became unsafe for patients, Brovont and his 18 fellow ER doctors concluded. It required an emergency department doctor to attend to code blues elsewhere in the hospital, which meant leaving the emergency room without a physician.



My physicians were being asked to be in three places at once, Brovont said."



Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
Right now old school enduring hottie Brooke inspires this quick peek at pop culture, community news and top headlines.



Check TKC news gathering . . .

Hopeful Cowtown Bus Stop Commerce Plan Debuts

Kansas City looks to enhance transit-oriented development along Prospect bus line The Kansas City Council on Thursday approved a $500,000 contract to study reinvestment and development along the Prospect MAX bus route. The council voted 10-3 in favor of the ordinance, with Councilmembers Theresa Loar, Dan Fowler and Brandon Ellington voting no. They did not explain their votes.

KCPD SNAGS SWAG!!!

Police recover 'enormous amount' of items stolen from storage units in Kansas City metro If you have a storage unit in the Kansas City metro, you might want to check it. Kansas City, Missouri police have recovered a large number of items they say were stolen in an elaborate scheme. KMBC 9 found out how officers made the discovery and how you can get your property back.

Show-Me Weed Future

Five Ways Missouri's Young Medical Marijuana Industry is Already Innovating Missouri's medical cannabis program has been almost universally praised as a stunning success. Here are five surprising innovations from local companies.

Celebrate Rock Chalk Tax Cuts

Kansas Gov. Kelly signs bill adjusting property tax rates KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed into law a bill that changes property, sales and income tax laws Thursday. "HB 2239 increases the residential property tax exemption, prorates some personal property taxes, provides homestead property tax refunds to eligible taxpayers, and broadens the property tax reduction authority of county commissioners for property destroyed by disaster," a release from the governor's office said.

Home Ownership History Stays Losing

Black-owned housing near 18th & Vine set a national example. But now it can't be saved OPINION AND COMMENTARY Editorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters. The door may be closing on Parade Park Homes, one of the oldest Black-owned housing cooperatives in the country.

We Remember 90s Hottie . . .

Brooke Burke, 50, shows off her incredible bikini body in Malibu Brooke Burke has an incredible figure thanks to daily workouts and clean eating. And the 50-year-old Dancing With The Stars vet showed off her shape again on Wednesday as she posed in a yellow bikini in Malibu for an image posted to Instagram.

Unpacking Social Media Stock Games

Tesla CEO Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter for $43 billion Tesla CEO Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter, saying the social media platform he has criticized for not living up to free speech principles needs to be transformed as a private company. Twitter Inc.

Gen Z

Cancels Prez?!?

Biden Job Approval Down Most Among Younger Generations Story Highlights Biden job approval down roughly 20 points among Gen Z, millennials Traditionalists show no change in Biden job approval since early 2021 Younger adults now less likely than older adults to approve of Biden WASHINGTON, D.C.

Court Decries MAGA

Judge slams Trump as 'charlatan' after jury finds Jan. 6 rioter guilty on all counts A federal judge in D.C. on Thursday delivered a scathing rebuke of former President Donald Trump and expressed dismay over the state of American politics just moments after a jury found a defendant charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot guilty on all charges.

Sinking Feeling For Russia

Russian flagship missile cruiser 'seriously damaged' after blast in Black Sea In his latest nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicted that the Russian leadership will either seek peace, or would leave the international arena forever. He also called again for an oil embargo from his European counterparts. "The European Union must stop sponsoring Russia's military machine," he said in the speech.

Old School Fling Evokes Anger

Justin Timberlake Had The Most Bizarre Reaction When Asked About Britney's Pregnancy & Fans Are Baffled Last month, Britney lashed out at Justin for weaponizing her name for "fame & attention" in a shady Instagram post that was quickly deleted. The 40-year-old star admitted that she and her fiance, Sam Asghari, initially thought that she'd had a "food baby." We were stunned when she took a test that confirmed she is pregnant.

Diva Celebrates Comeback

Vanessa Williams on Playing the First Lady in Her Return to Broadway After eight years away, Vanessa Williams is making her return to Broadway as the first lady and one of "the women in charge of the man in charge of the free world" in POTUS, a new comedy from playwright Selina Fillinger.

Pitch Helps Pets

Creature Feature: Meg March and Blossom will make your heart bloom Meg March is the purrfect spring kitty. // Courtesy of Scott Poore and Great Plains SPCA This week's "Creature Feature" is all thanks to the help of Scott Poore of Mission Driven. Meg March is a two-and-a-half-year-old domestic shorthair cat. She is currently staying at Melissa's Second Chances and has been waiting for a new home the longest.

Northeast Move Out

Eans family says adios to Happy Gillis, plans move to Spain The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted society in ways that may not be fully understood for years to come. It has many reconsidering what makes them happy and encouraging them to seize opportunities. For the Eans family, that means leaving the business they've poured years of hard work into behind and moving to Valencia, Spain.

Weekend Sneak Peek . . .

Rain this weekend could affect Easter plans Kansas City is sunny and windy with elevated fire risk through Thursday night. Mostly clear skies for the rest of the day and evening.Thursday night, things get cool with temperatures falling into the 40s. Partly cloudy conditions will continue overnight.There is a slight chance of light rain showers Friday morning.

Billboard #1 April 15th, 1992 Vanessa Williams - Save The Best For Last is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now.
Tonight we share a newsworthy local memory and a quick peek back at our rapidly evolving world.



To wit . . .

A recent thoughtful note sent our way remembers stuntman legend Evel Knievel and his brief stint in a former local airport.



Here's the word . . .

"Fairfax Municipal Airport Kansas City, Kansas NOW the new GM plant occupy the former site 3101 Fairfax Trafficway.



"These photos are copies of a 4 page flyer published back in the 60s all about the airport. My dad was a radio/electronics technician . . . Early 70's Evel Knievel flew his plane to Fairfax and my Dad worked on it.



"I noticed the thread saying if any of Tony's readers know about what absorbed into Fairfax airport please let TKC know. So, I scanned the flyer quickly for u . . ."



And so . . .

THANKS TO THIS AWESOME TKC READER FOR A GLIMPSE OF THE NOT SO DISTANT KANSAS CITY AVIATION PAST!!!



Take a look . . .

As always . . . Developing . . .
Real estate sales in Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton are down significantly in the first quarter of 2022 compared to Q1 of 2021. - Graeme Frisque/Metroland
" " Simbakubwa kutokaafrika, a gigantic carnivore larger than a polar bear, is known from the remains of most of its jaw, portions of its skull and parts of its skeleton. MAURICIO ANTON

Although its name means "big lion from Africa," Simbakubwa kutokaafrika was no lion. In fact, this long-extinct mammalian predator wasn't even a cat.

But it sure was big. The most conservative estimate puts the creature's weight at 617 pounds (280 kilograms), which is on par with the bulkiest modern lions. Yet the monster could've potentially weighed up to 3,425 pounds (1,554 kilograms), making it heavier than any carnivorous land mammal alive today.

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You might say Simbakubwa kutokaafrika was discovered twice. The only fossils yet attributed to this species are some foot bones, a partial snout and a massive lower jaw complete with 4-inch (10-centimeter) canines. All these remains likely came from an adolescent animal; full-grown adults might've been even larger.

Sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s, the 22 million-year-old fossils were unearthed at Menswa Bridge, a dig site in western Kenya. Afterward, they wound up in a collection drawer at the Nairobi National Museum.

Experts paid them little heed until 2010, when Ohio University paleontologist Nancy J. Stevens visited the museum.

"Most of the specimens that I study are quite small," Stevens told Reuters, "so you can imagine my surprise when I opened a drawer that I hadn't examined yet, and saw the enormous teeth glinting up at me."

Stevens describes the fossils in a new paper she co-authored with fellow paleontologist Matt Borths. The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology published their study on April 17, 2019.

Simbakubwa was an especially large hyaenodont. Unrelated to actual hyaenas, the hyaenodonts were a group of predators that first appeared about 62 million years ago and dispersed across Africa, Eurasia and North America.

Then, roughly 11 million years ago, the last hyaenodonts died out. Nobody knows why, but continental drift and the rise of new, competing predatory mammal lineages probably contributed to their decline.

Simbakubwa is the oldest known member of a hyaenodont subgroup that apparently had its origins in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. As the newfound species reveals, these beasts attained huge body sizes early in their evolutionary history. Being big may have allowed them to hunt some of the colossal forerunners of today's elephants, hippos and hyraxes that shared Simbakubwa's Kenyan habitat.

Now That's Scary Like many other hyaenodonts, Simbakubwa had three sets of "meat-slicing teeth" in the back of its mouth. Dogs, cats, bears and actual hyaenas only have one set apiece.
Trustee Rachel Chernos Lin, who has two congregated sites in her ward  Park Lane Public School and Sunny View Junior and Senior Public School  called the committees letter to the chief medical officer "incredibly powerful." - Handouts
Bruce Arthur: A COVID peak would be nice. But Ontario faces a winding, treacherous path back to health

"There will be more variants, there will be more waves, and we have to build resiliency."
" " Pink Floyd the lesser flamingo was spotted again March, this time in Texas. He's been on the run since he escaped a Kansas zoo in 2005 (not pictured). James Hager/Getty Images

When a fisherman off the gulf of Texas spied a puff of light pink feathers perched on one leg, he couldn't believe his eyes. As the bird unfurled itself it was clear: It was a flamingo. Flamingos are not native to Texas, nor is Texas anywhere on a flamingo's normal migratory path. After tweeting a video of the bird, Texas Parks and Wildlife confirmed that it was Pink Floyd, a flamingo who escaped a Kansas zoo in 2005. For 17 years, Pink Floyd has traveled through Texas, Arkansas, Wisconsin and Louisiana as, well, a free bird.

Pink Floyd might be one of the longest living animal escapees around today, but he certainly isn't the only great animal escapee we've ever seen. Dozens of animals have broken free of their zoos, research labs and even slaughterhouses, showcasing the amazing creature intelligence and opportunism. Here are five other daring  and adorable  animal escapes.

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1. The St. Louis Six

In 2017, six steers in St. Louis were sent to a slaughterhouse, but they had other plans. Led by a huge steer named Chico, six of them busted out, supposedly agitated by the rumblings of an approaching thunderstorm. Likely scared by their freedom  and the ruckus they'd caused  they ran through the streets of St. Louis for hours. They evaded everybody and captured the attention of the media, animal lovers and the local community.

Authorities eventually rounded the crew up, but by then the public also had begun a campaign for their freedom. After several attempts from rescue organizations to negotiate with the slaughterhouse failed, The Gentle Barn stepped in. Founders Ellie Laks and Jay Weiner had 24 hours to find them a new home. And that they did. The six were sent to a rescue until enough funds could be raised to build a new facility in Missouri especially for them.

Though one bull, Spirit, had to be euthanized, the other five now happily live as therapy cows at the third Gentle Barn location, just a short drive from the slaughterhouse where they escaped.

" " Chico (seen far right) led the amazing escape that took over local news and reached national attention. Since being rescued by The Gentle Barn, Chico and his brothers were given medical attention and now enjoy their freedom at The Gentle Barn in Missouri. PRNewsfoto/THE GENTLE BARN

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2. The Dania Beach Monkeys

In 1948, 50 green monkeys escaped from the Anthropoid Ape Research Foundation (ARFF). ARFF was opened in the early '40s in Dania Beach, Florida, as a zoo and to provide primates from Africa for research for the polio vaccine. Some were captured, but the others started lives in the Florida wildlife.

Now more than 70 years later, scientists from Florida Atlantic University have been able to trace a colony of 36 vervet monkeys thriving in the thick mangrove forest near the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in South Florida, to those remaining escapees.

How? Partly because of that green coloration  people call them green monkeys because of the notable greenish tint of their fur. The team at FAU photographed every monkey at Dania Beach and recorded various traits to help identify their species. The team also tested genetic markers, and confirmed that the Dania Beach monkeys are in fact green monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus) and descendants of those from West Africa. Today there's a nonprofit, the Vervet Project, whose goal is to build a sanctuary for the monkeys to keep them safe from human interactions.

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3. Ken Allen Was San Diego Zoo's Houdini

Ken Allen was San Diego Zoo's beloved orangutan who also had a penchant for busting out. He first escaped his home at the San Diego Zoo in 1985, scaling a wall and strolling down the zoo's pedestrian pathway, taking in the sights before being walked back to his enclosure (which wasn't so 'enclosed'). Zoo staff increased the height of the wall by 4 feet (1.2 meters), but that didn't stop Ken. The great ape  and even some of his ape friends  escaped an additional nine times!

Ken Allen had a history of Houdini-ing his way out of his enclosures and was known to use tools to do it. One time he and his roomy Vicki used a discarded crowbar he found in his pen to open a window. He also was known to unscrew the bolts of his nursery at night when he was young, and then he'd put the pen back together before his caretakers arrived again the following morning. After several escapes, the zoo tried electric wire and even distracted him by adding two female orangutans to his enclosure. Nothing worked. Eventually, even his female counterparts, Jane and Kumang, caught the escape bug and made their getaway using a window squeegee.

Ken Allen died from cancer in 2000 at 29 years old, according to the San Diego Zoo, but not before becoming a local hero and his own "brand."

" " Ken Allen was a beloved orangutan at the San Diego Zoo, but he had a knack for escaping, too. He broke out of his enclosure at least nine times before he died of cancer in 2000. San Diego Zoo

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4. Nala Escaped JungleLand

Three years after the Disney animated treasure "The Lion King" was released, a real-life Nala became a hot topic of conversation. However, it wasn't for her Hollywood performance. In 1997, CNN reported that a two-and-a-half-year-old, 450-pound (204-kilogram) lioness named Nala escaped from a zoo called JungleLand, near Walt Disney World. Perhaps she was trying to make her way to the theme park to be doted on by children, but whatever her intentions, she was wandering Kissimmee, Florida, for two days when she was finally spotted by helicopter and tranquilized by a veterinarian.

Apparently, Nala made a run for it when her handlers tried to move her cage above flooded ground after several consecutive days of rain. Just like her fearless namesake, it took three tranquilizer darts to finally get Nala to take a nap so she could go safely back home to JungleLand, which eventually closed its doors in 2002.

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5. Evelyn Flees the Los Angeles Zoo

The Los Angeles Zoo has had its fair share of animal escapes. Virginia the wolf escaped numerous times during the '70s and '80s, by climbing trees and fences, no less. But Evelyn, a 24-year-old western lowland gorilla, has escaped her living arrangements at least four times.

Perhaps she got a few tips from San Diego's Ken Allen. Anyway, Evelyn is creative with her getaways. So far, she's successfully jumped off the back of another gorilla to go over a wall, and she's used overgrown vines as another method to pull herself up and over the wall. That time she didn't even leave the zoo perimeter. She just roamed around for more than an hour and was "behaving like a huge child," according to the Los Angeles Times. You go, Evelyn.

Whether it's for life and death reasons, like the St. Louis Six, or an ape reminding us we're not the only ones with opposable thumbs, animals are opportunists who crave a taste of the free-range life much as we do.

" " Evelyn is a lowland gorilla at the Los Angeles Zoo who seems to be carrying on Ken Allen's ways. To date, she's escaped her enclosure four times. Mario Pineda/(CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Now That's Interesting Establish a command post, mobilize a weapons team and vet staff, and develop a recapture plan are just a few of the steps the North Carolina Zoo describes in its "Animal Escape Response Preparedness Plan." In the plan, we didn't see a step for "how to contain an ape who uses crowbars and window squeegees to climb walls" though. Ken and Evelyn prove that might be worth adding to your list!
YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Armenia started to pay for Russian gas in rubles, the Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan told RBK.

We must move towards national currencies. There is progress from the Russian side in this direction, he added.

According to Kerobyan, the last several payments were done in rubles, but with respective currency exchange rate. According to him the price formation is taking place in dollars but the payment is done in rubles.

Gazprom official representative Sergey Kupriyanov confirmed this information.

Indeed, for already several years the Gazprom contract on supplying gas to Armenia provides for paying in rubles for the gas, and this opportunity is being used, he said.
YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Any solution to the Artsakh issue that would result in the exodus of Armenians from Artsakh cannot be acceptable for Armenia, Member of Parliament from the ruling Civil Contract bloc Eduard Aghajanyan told reporters.

Speaking about the April 14 statement by the Parliament of Artsakh that harshly criticized the Government of Armenia and demanded Yerevan to renounce their current catastrophic position, Aghajanyan said that there are no secret processes taking place behind the back of the Armenians of Artsakh. There is no process behind the back of the Armenians of Artsakh, and cant be. And naturally the most important beneficiary of this process is the people of Artsakh itself, Aghajanyan said.

Regarding the Artsakh parliaments statement, Aghajanyan said that perhaps their colleagues in Artsakh misunderstood the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyans speech.

The Artsakh conflict was never a territorial dispute for Armenia, it has been an issue of exercising the right of the Armenians of Artsakh to live safely in their homeland. Therefore, for us, basically the status has always been a measure to exercise these rights. Armenias position on this issue has always been unchanged, the MP said.

Speaking about the question of lowering the bar in the issue of the NK status  something the Armenian PM said the international community is asking Armenia to do  Aghajanyan said: This is first of all about the bar as a result of which the kind of consolidation of the international community will be ensured around Armenia that would result in at least a pro-Armenian solution becoming more likely. We have 30 years of negotiating experience during which weve had a certain bar, and also because of this during these 30 years Armenia was essentially in a diplomatic isolation, the consequences of which I believe we are all seeing, and we also saw during and after the 44-day war. I think it is time to draw conclusions from our mistakes and move forward realistic reasons.

Again speaking about the Artsakh parliamentarians statements, Aghajanyan reiterated that PM Pashinyans speech did not include anything about Artsakh being or not being part of Azerbaijan.

Speaking about the question regarding a possible status of Artsakh, Aghajanyan said: I think any solution that would result in the people of Artsakh agreeing to continue living in Artsakh will be acceptable for everyone, first of all for the Artsakhi people themselves. The condition is that if it is acceptable for the people of Artsakh, then I assume that it is acceptable for Armenia and its citizens as well. It is about the kind of conditions that would result in ensuring all rights of the Armenians of Artsakh, conditions where the Artsakh people would not want to leave Artsakh. Otherwise the solution that would be proposed naturally would not be compatible with the interests of Armenia, neither the people of Artsakh. Any solution that would lead to the exodus of Armenians from Artsakh cannot be acceptable for the Republic of Armenia.

Aghajanyan noted that it is due to realistic motives and reasons that the Armenian government is attaching importance to being on the same level, same line with the international community in this issue. He said this is an extremely important condition for the issue to be solved maximally favorably.
By Janice Phelan, April 14, 2022







Stan Elliott, Missouri Innovation Campus Program director, was a featured presenter at a recent STEMconnector webinar focusing on how employers can recruit and retain qualified STEM workers. The webinar, How Industry Can Advance Equity and Attract Top STEM Talent Through Work-Based Learning, was offered on April 13.

During the national presentation, Elliott discussed how the Missouri Innovation Campus (MIC) Program connects its students to industry-leading employers through rigorous and relevant coursework and a unique three-year paid internship program. Since 2012, the program has provided students with the opportunity to earn a bachelors degree in a high-demand field just two years after high-school graduation  with little or no student debt. Designed to help meet the talent needs of the Kansas City region's workforce in the areas of IT and engineering, the MIC Program is a partnership of the University of Central Missouri, Metropolitan Community College, the Lees Summit R-7 School District and leading businesses.

The STEMconnector webinar, which featured several work-based learning experts, also focused on meaningful learning opportunities through work-based opportunities, support of classroom learning, the role of mentoring and how to measure effectiveness of this programming.

Elliott is the founding director for the Missouri Innovation Campus Program and has worked for the University of Central Missouri since 2012. As MIC director, he is responsible for curriculum and program development, business partner development, student recruitment and the intern program. Prior to joining UCM, Elliott worked for 33 years for the Lees Summit R-7 School District, serving as an assistant superintendent for secondary instruction, high-school principal and teacher. A sought-after presenter, he has been featured at conferences throughout the United States.

STEMconnector, which partners with more than 150 organizations, represents a network of industry leaders committed to increasing the number of STEM-ready workers in the global talent pool.
By Jeff Murphy, April 15, 2022



Emma Cobb, left, and Justin Cobb received the highest honor bestowed upon citizens of the senior class at the University of Central Missouri, the Charno Award, making them the first married couple to both receive this recognition in the spring award ceremony.





WARRENSBURG, MO  For the first time in history, the presentation of the most prestigious honor given to students at the University of Central Missouri has been presented to a married couple. Justin and Emma Cobb both received Charno Awards during a ceremony April 14 in the Elliott Student Union.



Announced each spring semester, Charno Awards are presented to the top male and female citizens of UCM. The honor is named after George Charno, Sr., a Kansas City attorney who established the award in 1940 to recognize the two outstanding members of the senior class. Selection is based on a combination of criteria, which include: leadership, scholarship, character, involvement in campus organizations and extracurricular activities, service to the university, and involvement in ones academic department. In addition to their selection for this award being publicly announced in a ceremony that also introduced all individuals who received Whos Who at UCM recognition, both award recipients will be honored during Spring 2022 Commencement exercises May 6-7 in the Multipurpose Building.



Seeking a career that will impact the lives of young people, Emma Cobb is graduating from UCM summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood and Elementary Education. She is a former resident of St. Thomas, Missouri.



Emmas outstanding record of leadership, service and involvement at UCM includes serving as president for two years for two different organizations simultaneously, Ladies Inspiring Versatility and Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society. She has served as treasurer for the student chapter of the Missouri State Teachers Association and as the education block representative for Early Childhood Young Professionals, in addition to membership in Gamma Phi Beta, Students for Political Action, and MO Volunteers. Her desire to help others also led to her selection as a participant for the Global Vision Scholarship Service Trip.



Emmas UCM experience also has been enhanced through her involvement in activities that include intramural sports, participation in the Hearts Around Campus positivity campaign, Homecoming service activities, fundraising for the Campus Cupboard, assisting with the Warrensburg Main Street cleanup project, letter writing and pumpkin carving with the Warrensburg Veterans Home, and helping with the Pertle Springs Trail cleanup project.



A student from Taos, Missouri, Justin Cobb will graduate this spring with A Bachelor of Arts degree and a long list of accomplishments that have helped make him an inspiration to other students. He is carrying a double major in Political Science and International Studies, and double minors in Military Science and Global Security, while achieving a cumulative 4.0 grade point average.



During his tenure at UCM, Justin has served on the Academic Review Board, as the permanent representative for Model United Nations, and spent two years serving as the student coordinator for the American Democracy Project. His leadership positions include service as president for both the Student Government Association and Students for Political Action, in addition to serving as battalion commander for the Fighting Mules (ROTC) Battalion, and captain of the ROTC Ranger Challenge Team.



Justin also served as a UCM Global Ambassador, member of the Muleskinner Publication Board, and chair of the Homecoming Pep Rally Committee for three years, in addition to membership on the Unity Week Committee.



Many other activities in which he was involved at UCM include the Global Vision Scholarship Service trip, Veterans Day marches, Together We Stand rally, SGA University Issues Committee, Pertle Springs Trail cleanup, and coordinating the Mock Speakeasy and Living Library events for the American Democracy Project.
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).
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk is convinced that only joint efforts of Ukraine, Europe and the United States can stop Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She said this in an interview with an Italian TV channel, Ukrinform reports, referring to the Telegram channel of the Ministry of Reintegration.

According to Vereshchuk, Putin can be stopped by the Ukrainian army, sanctions and negotiations.

At the same time, she stressed that Ukraine alone will not be able to cope: the participation of European countries and the United States is needed. Severe sanctions, including an oil and gas embargo, are needed.

"The stronger the international isolation and the embargo, the sooner he (Putin - ed.) will sit down at the negotiating table," she said.

The official reminded that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is ready to meet with Putin and discuss the cessation of Russian aggression and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.

At the same time, Vereshchuk noted that Putin intimidates not only Ukraine with weapons, but also other states. "He is the enemy of the whole civilized democratic world! Everyone should understand that," she said.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying key infrastructure facilities, conducting massive shelling of residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles.

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The units of Russian troops that had left northern Ukraine began to appear in Donbas ahead of Russia's attempts to launch an offensive.

They already have a significant amount of forces in the region. We would assess that inside Ukraine itself, theres 65 total operational BTGs. And they are, of the 65, theyre really in that east and south parts of UkraineThey will try to insert additional BTGs over coming days," a senior US defense official said Thursday, CNN reports.

These are some of the units that had left northern Ukraine and the areas north of Kyiv in recent weeks to go back to Russia and Belarus for resupply and reinforcement before going to Donbas, the official noted.

As reported, all civilians, especially citizens with children, are urged to leave the areas adjacent to the war zone as soon as possible.

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops shell and destroy key infrastructure facilities, massively fire on residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages using artillery, MLRS, ballistic missiles, and aviation bombs.

Photo: Getty Images

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Senator Steve Daines of Montana and Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana visited Kyiv and citys suburbs liberated from Russian invaders.

Daines and Spratz are the first American officials to make a visit to Ukraine since the start of the war, The New York Times reports.

Nothing can substitute for actually being here, seeing it first-hand, spending time with the people and leaders here in Ukraine who have been horribly affected by this war, Daines said.

It was important, he said, for American elected officials to show solidarity.

As noted, the U.S. lawmakers were invited by the Ukrainian authorities. The politicians visited Kyiv, Bucha, and Borodianka.

Daines and Spartz said they were urging the United States to return diplomats to Ukraine as some European states have done.

Read also: Heads of Czech Republic and Poland parliaments visit liberated towns in Kyiv region

I hope that our visit will encourage more American officials and leaders to come, to stand with the people of Ukraine, Mr. Daines said, while Ms. Spartz said it was important to show our support, to show we care.

On February 24, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops shell and destroy key infrastructure facilities, massively fire on residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages using artillery, MLRS, ballistic missiles, and aviation bombs.

Photo credit: Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

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Defense Minister of the Slovak Republic Jaroslav Nad said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was equal to Hitler after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

That's according to his interview with The New York Times, Ukrinform reports

"Mr. Putin, he (Jaroslav Nad - ed.) said, is equal to Hitler and must be stopped in Ukraine before he can move further West, reads the article.

In the words of Slovakias Defence Minister, Ukraine is literally fighting for the future of Europe.

Mr. Jaroslav Nad' said it would have been unthinkable before Russias invasion for his country to send large quantities of weapons across its eastern border free of charge.

But this is the worlds new reality. We are a frontline state. We have war on our border and more than 330,000 Ukrainians coming to our country. The paradigm is completely different now, said the Slovak minister in the interview.

Read also: Czech Embassy intends to return to Kyiv

Mr. Jaroslav Nad' stressed that the only thing he considers now was the lives that can be saved in Ukraine.

Russia is killing thousands of people in Ukraine and I am not going to count the votes that I would lose - or gain - based on the decisions of the government to help. The only thing that I am counting is the lives we can save in Ukraine, the minister said.

As Ukrinform reported, President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda stated that Putin and the Russian army were committing unprecedented crimes in Ukraine, as Hitler and the SS once were.
Russia has opened fire on own territory  the village of Klimovo, Bryansk Region  in order to accuse Ukraine of a military provocation.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has at its disposal an intercepted call one of the Russian soldiers made to his wife, confirming that the latest Ukrainian attack was in fact a hoax staged by the Russians.

These are our guys striking, the Russian occupier, deployed in Ukraines Donetsk region, explains his wife.

To her question Why would they do that? he answers simply: Thats what must be done. This is done to claim its a provocation by khokhly (a derogatory term for Ukrainians - ed.). And that's why they are hitting.

It is obvious that the Kremlin doesnt take into account security of civilians, affected in the attack.

Its the same bullsh*t as in the Chechen war. Apartment blocks were blown up in Moscow to blame terrorists. In fact, its the FSB operatives who did this. See, now they (Ukraine - ed.) could not reach Klimovo from such a range, the occupier adds, explaining why the Ukrainian attack version doesnt stand up to criticism.

He says that after that, he decided he would file a report to quit Russias military campaign in Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia plans to launch missile and bomb strikes on Belgorod or one of the cities in temporarily occupied Crimea to accuse the Armed Forces of Ukraine and military volunteer battalions. The Ukrainian MoDs Chief Intelligence Directorate noted that the Russian authorities are actively promoting anti-Ukrainian hysteria among the Russians.
In Donetsk region, almost all frontline cities and villages are currently under attack by the Russian aggressor.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, wrote this on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

Russians are destroying Donetsk region! Almost all populated areas of Donetsk region along the front line are under attack by the Russian armed horde, the governor wrote.

As one example, he cited the Marinka community. Since Russia launched the large-scale invasion, the community has been virtually under constant fire.

"Since February 24, Russians have killed 11 civilians (including a child) and injured 48 others (including a child) in the Mariinka community. As many as 3 schools, 1 kindergarten, 3 administrative buildings, 13 apartment buildings; 322 private houses (97 of them were completely destroyed) and 26 enterprises have been damaged in the community, Kyrylenko wrote.

He noted that despite the constant shelling, the evacuation of civilians from communities continues every day.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying key infrastructure facilities, conducting massive shelling of residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles.

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Two civilians were killed and three others were wounded in the morning shelling in Tavriyske, Kherson region, which is temporarily occupied by Russian troops.

The Kakhovka City Council reported this on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.

"This morning was restless in Kakhovka. Five civilians were admitted to Kakhovka City Hospital. Two were killed, three were wounded (one of them in a serious condition is in the intensive care unit; the state of health of two others is moderate). All are with shrapnel injuries," the report says.

According to doctors, the residents came under fire after they went out to look at the downed rocket.

As Ukrinform reported, in the Kherson region, the invaders are blocking humanitarian corridors deliver food and medical supplies, evacuate civilians. They kidnap activists, community leaders, and officials. Resources are running out in the temporarily occupied territory of the region, business operations have stopped.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying key infrastructure facilities, conducting massive shelling of residential areas of Ukrainian cities and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles.

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YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. (Press Release, ANIF) Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) is glad to inform that Fly Arna, Armenias national airline, a joint venture company between ANIF and Air Arabia Group, today announced the graduation of its first batch as cabin crew in their brand new uniform, who successfully completed their technical and customer service training.

This graduation follows the wide recruitment campaign that took place last January in Armenia to support the launch of the airline operations. The graduated cadet consisted of 20 cabin crew members who graduated after completing their extensive initial and practical course and training.

As batch 01 is ready to embark, two more cabin crew batches are currently under training. This follows the readiness of the Fly Arnas first aircraft that completed its paint job earlier this week.

Fly Arna is currently in the process of applying for its Airline Operation Certificate (AOC) and more details on the launch date and destinations will be shared in due course.
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and Minister for Foreign Affairs of South Korea Chung Eui-yong have discussed the implementation of sanctions against Russia.

Kuleba wrote this on his Twitter account, Ukrinform reports.

In our call with Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, I thanked Republic of Korea for the humanitarian aid provided to Ukraine. We also discussed the implementation of sanctions against Russia, he wrote.'

As reported, South Korea said it would provide Ukraine with additional non-lethal aid worth $1.6 million in April. In particular, Seoul is preparing to send bulletproof vests, helmets, medical equipment and food kits to Ukraine.

In March, South Korea sent non-lethal aid worth $800,000 to Ukraine.

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Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has said that atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion are evident.

That's according to ANSA, Ukrinform reports.

"Italy does not have the elements to assess whether a genocide is taking place in Ukraine but the atrocities are evident, like the children killed and the civilians killed," Di Maio said.

He added that Italy has already appealed to the International Criminal Court to assess the evidence of these Russian atrocities.

"I believe that Putin is not giving signals of peace when he says that they must complete operations [in Ukraine]. For this reason, we must continue with sanctions [against Russia]," Di Maio said.

He also expressed hope that Orthodox Easter could be an opportunity to persuade Russians to agree to a ceasefire.

"We are working on it because it is the only way to evacuate from eastern Ukraine, where the attacks are intensifying, send the civilians and children away from Russian bombs," he said.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying infrastructure and residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers and ballistic missiles.

The US, EU and other countries imposed sanctions against the aggressor country.

On March 16, the UN's International Court of Justice ordered Russia to immediately end its invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian army has damaged 324 hospitals, including 14 children's hospitals, since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.

According to Ukrinform, Ukrainian human rights commissioner Liudmyla Denisova reported this on Telegram.

"Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army has damaged 324 hospitals, including 14 children's hospitals. Twenty-four health care facilities cannot be restored," the statement said.

Some 60 ambulance crews came under fire, and six doctors were killed.

"Because of the damage done, the rights of Ukrainian citizens to life and medical care have been violated  the right to emergency, palliative care, care during childbirth and psychological assistance," Denisova said.

According to Articles 18 and 20 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of August 12, 1949, civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack, but must always be used, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the parties to the conflict.

According to Denisova, such actions by the Russian army are war crimes in accordance with Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

She called on the UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine and the International Committee of the Red Cross to take all possible measures to provide medicines and medical care to residents of the occupied territories, including the cities of Mariupol, Kherson and Izium that are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Deisova also asked the UN commission investigating human rights violations during Russia's military invasion of Ukraine to take into account these facts of war crimes and human rights violations in Ukraine.

Denisova said on April 4 that Russian authorities had already prepared 280 cases for the illegal adoption of Ukrainian children taken away from the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.
The number of identified Ukrainian citizens killed by Russian soldiers in the Kyiv region will reach 900 as of April 15, including 350 in Bucha.

Andriy Nebytov, head of the main directorate of the National Police of Ukraine in the Kyiv region, said this at a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine (Kyiv) on Friday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The limit of 900 dead civilians will be crossed today. I emphasize that these are civilians whose bodies we found and handed over for forensic examination, for a detailed examination. All these people died at the hands of the Russian army. The largest number of victims was found in Bucha - more than 350 bodies. A significantly smaller number [of victims was discovered] in the Vyshgorod and Brovary districts. The dismantling of the rubble in Makariv and Borodianka continues. We are sure that the bodies of the dead are still under the rubble," Nebytov said.

Speaking about Bucha, he clarified that two mass graves were found in the town. According to him, a man who worked in Bucha as a utility worker before the full-scale invasion of Russia stayed in the town and asked Russian invaders to allow the bodies of people to be taken from the streets.

"He buried them in two graves. The first included 40 people and the second included 57. And we have already recovered 40 bodies. I want to remind you that there was our police officer there. He was a criminal investigation officer. Unfortunately, he was also shot with small arms," he said.

According to Nebytov, most of these bodies were inspected by law enforcers, and according to police, 95% of these people were shot with sniper rifles or small arms.
RFE/RLs Skhemy project, together with the Russian service of Radio Svoboda identified the two interlocutors in an intercepted phone call between the Russian military serviceman deployed in Ukraine and his wife, in which the latter encourages her husband to "rape Ukrainian women."

The relevant journalistic investigation was published on RFE/RL's website, according to Ukrinform.

In a fragment of an intercepted call between a Russian serviceman and his wife, published by the SBU on April 12, the latter, in particular, said to her husband, laughing, the following words: "You go there and rape Ukrainian women ... But don't tell me anything. You got me?"

As Skhemy managed to find out, the Russian serviceman, whom his own wife "allowed" to rape "Ukrainian women," was on deployment in Kherson region at the time of the call. From their sources in the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, journalists learned the Russian phone numbers of the interlocutors. This allowed them to identify both.

According to RFE/RLs journalists, these two phone numbers were used when registering two accounts on the VKontakte social network: 27-year-old Roman Bykovsky and his wife Olga Bykovska both based in Oryol region, Russia," the report reads.

It is noted that the woman, who told her husband he could "rape Ukrainian women," wrote in her profile on Vkontakte that the most important thing in her life is "family and children."

Journalists found that Roman Bykovsky around 2016 served in the spec-ops forces operational division, which is considered an elite military unit with the Russian National Guard. Subsequently, from around 2018, the serviceman moved to the Russian-occupied Crimea with his wife and newborn son. At the same time, in Crimea, a woman who advised her husband to rape Ukrainian women was looking for a child nursing job. It was Bykovsky who, no later than February 2018, began serving as a contractor with the 108th Guards Assault Kuban Cossack Order of the Red Star Regiment (108th Infantry Division). According to the international OSINT community InformNapalm, this regiment participated in the capture of the Crimean peninsula by Russian troops.

"So, Roman Bykovsky joined the paratroopers who took part in the occupation of Crimea, where he moved his family four years later. And later  in 2022  he took part in hostilities in the neighboring Kherson region, where his wife, who remained at home with their child, told him he could rape Ukrainian women," the article reads.

At the same time, RFE/RLs journalists contacted Bykovsky: "Roman confirmed that this is his name and last name, and when asked if he still is in deployment in Kherson region, he said no." He said he was in Sevastopol. Upon learning that he was talking to a journalist, Bykovsky said that the voice on the SBU recording was not his, and his voice was the same as on the "law enforcement tapes."

As for Olga Bykovska's voice, it also completely coincides with that on the recording published by the Ukrainian Security Service. She confirmed to Radio Svoboda that her husband was currently in Sevastopol, adding that he was being treated in hospital after being injured. After that, Bykovska interrupted the conversation and didnt pick up the phone anymore. Neither Roman Bykovsky nor his wife responded to messages on social media. After the conversation, Bykovska deleted her Vkontakte page altogether.

As reported earlier, since the beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been plenty of evidence of sexual violence by the Russian military targeting Ukrainian citizens.

On March 4, Human Rights Watch released a report mentioning rape cases in Mariupol and Chernihiv region.

In April, the Commissioner for Human Rights, Liudmyla Denisova, appealed to the UN to investigate cases of sexual violence by Russian forces. According to the Ombudsperson, there is every reason to assume that cases of rape in the territories occupied by Russian troops were widespread. In particular, she reported horrific facts where about 25 girls and women, aged 14 to 24, were systematically raped by Russian soldiers in a household basement in the temporarily occupied Bucha.
The Russian Federation continues to actively amass its troops and prepare medical infrastructure for a new assault on Ukraine.

This was stated by Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar on national TV, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"They are actively preparing for this. Moreover, they are not only beefing up their weapons, military equipment, and personnel, but also preparing medical infrastructure to treat their wounded.

They are accumulating provisions, fully preparing the territory of Belarus for possible outgoing missile strikes. And they are moving troops, changing their strategies a bit, looking for weak spots in our defenses to hit these areas," she said.

As previously reported, Hanna Maliar noted that capturing southern and eastern regions is seen in Russia as their strategic goal before trying again to grab the whole of Ukraine.
The value of renewable energy assets located in the combat zone exceeds $5.5 billion.

"It is estimated that more than $5.5 billion in assets are now located in the combat zone and almost $4 billion in investments are currently in a precarious position in neighboring regions. We already have significant renewable energy losses," Deputy Minister of Energy for European Integration Yaroslav Demchenkov told Ukrinform in an interview.

According to him, wind power plants produced three times less energy compared to the same period in 2021. The generation of solar power plants dropped by 40%.

The deputy minister stressed that carbon-free energy had accounted for 70% of Ukraine's energy balance before the full-scale war. Currently, the power system operates through nuclear and thermal generation.

"The wartime priority is, first of all, to provide our citizens with electricity. We understand that people stay in bomb shelters without water, light, hot meals. And they will not be able to have it all without electricity," Demchenkov said.

At the same time, according to him, Ukraine has the opportunity to export surplus electricity due to the decline in consumption.

"Currently, we actively hold consultations to implement [this plan] in the near future. It is very important that we have the opportunity to sell surplus electricity to raise funds and support the energy sector companies," the official said.

He noted that the focus in the development of Ukrainian electricity would be placed further on nuclear generation and RES.

As reported, according to the Ukrainian Renewable Energy Association data, half of Ukraine's "green" energy capacity is threatened with destruction due to the war unleashed by Russia.

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Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko has welcomed Poland's decision to abandon coal supplies from the Russian Federation and Belarus, as well as to ban these nations transit via its territory.

Thats according to the press service of the Energy Ministry, Ukrinform reports.

"Poland, far ahead of the EU's decision on Russian coal embargo, has set an example of a decisive and consistent policy. This is a really bold step, given the structure of coal consumption in Poland. I thank our Polish friends for their support of Ukraine in the confrontation with the terrorist power, whose aggression threatens not only our state, but also almost the whole world," the Ukrainian minister stressed.

Poland has earlier imposed an embargo on Russian coal. Also, the act on special decisions, signed by President of Poland, provides for the possibility of freezing the assets of entities and individuals who support Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

In 2020, most of the coal imported to Poland, more than 70%, came from the Russian Federation. This accounted for about 15% of domestic consumption and almost 80% of private household consumption.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has banned the symbols used by the Russian military in the war against Ukraine, the propaganda of the Russian neo-Nazi totalitarian regime, as well as recognized Russia as a terrorist state.

Relevant bill No. 7214, On the Prohibition of the Propaganda of the Russian Neo-Nazi Totalitarian Regime, Russias Aggression against Ukraine as a Terrorist State, the Symbols Used by the Russian Armed and Other Military Units in the War against Ukraine, was endorsed by Parliament on April 14, 2022, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to the bill, Z and V letters will be recognized as the symbols of Russias invasion of Ukraine, when their use meets the requirements established by the law.

In addition, Russia is recognized as a terrorist state, whose political regime aims at the genocide of the Ukrainian people, physical destruction and mass killings of Ukrainian citizens, commitment of international crimes against civilians, use of prohibited methods of waging war, destruction of civil and critical infrastructure facilities, creating artificial humanitarian catastrophes in certain regions of Ukraine as one of its objectives.

In addition, the definition of terrorist activity in the Law of Ukraine On Fighting Terrorism will be updated with the propaganda of the Russian neo-Nazi totalitarian regime.

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, torturing and murdering civilians.

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The United Arab Emirates sent a plane carrying 50 tonnes of humanitarian cargo and ambulances to Ukraine.

"The UAE sent another plane with humanitarian aid to Ukraine. 50 tonnes of humanitarian cargo and fully equipped with medical equipment ambulances have arrived in Warsaw today," the Embassy of Ukraine in the UAE posted on Facebook on April 14, Ukrinform reports.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Senik expressed his sincere appreciation to the UAE leadership and UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for their prompt response to humanitarian challenges, noting that each plane demonstrates the Emirates' real efforts to meet the vital needs of Ukrainians affected by Russian military aggression.

In his turn, the UAE Ambassador to Ukraine Salem Ahmed Al-Kaabi said that in March the UAE launched a humanitarian air bridge ensuring the delivery and transfer to Ukraine of tons of basic food and medical aid.

"This time the Emirati humanitarian cargo was delivered by Ukrainian An-124," the Embassy noted.

On April 14, Vinnytsia received 100 tonnes of food cargo from the Swiss humanitarian mission for the affected towns and displaced persons.

Photo: Embassy of Ukraine in the UAE

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YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. The First Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Levon Hovhannisyan met with the Mayor of Tbilisi Kakha Kaladze during an official visit to the Georgian capital.

The Yerevan City Hall said that Hovhannisyans delegation includes City Councilors Armen Galjyan (Head of the City Councils My Step faction), Mikayel Manrikyan (Prosperous Armenia faction) and Davit Khajakyan (Luys faction).

Mayor Kaladze said that the visit of the Yerevan officials is another opportunity to outline future steps and discuss new projects. Attaching importance to the warm relations between the two sister cities, Mayor Kaladze proposed to organize Tbilisi Days in Yerevan, and Yerevan Days in Tbilisi.

Thanking for the invitation and warm reception, First Deputy Mayor of Yerevan Levon Hovhannisyan noted that Yerevan is attaching great importance to deepening of partnership with Tbilisi in various sectors. Hovhannisyan said that organizing the culture days in the two capitals will convey new quality to both the friendly relations as well as collegial ties.

The sides also discussed the sectors which have the potential for mutually-beneficial and effective partnership for the benefit of the residents of the two capital cities.
Almost 15,000 Ukrainians affected by the war have already received UNHCR payments in Poland.

As of April 11, 14,458 Ukrainian refugees (5,971 families) received multi-purpose financial assistance in two specially designated centers in Poland. In particular, one of these centers was opened in Warsaw on March 21. On April 7, a second center for financial assistance to Ukrainians was opened at the Tauron Arena in Krakow, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, informs.

The UNHCR notes that another center for financial assistance to Ukrainian refugees was opened in Warsaw on April 13.

There are currently three refugee support centers, the Blue Dots, in Poland: one each in Warsaw and Krakow, and the third at the Medyka checkpoint. It is planned to open a fourth such center in Przemysl.

The Blue Dots hubs include child-friendly spaces and offer integrated services: spaces dedicated to mothers and babies/ young children psychological therapy; first aid on hygiene, health and nutrition; information and counseling; basic legal advice; blankets, warm clothes, sanitary kits, toys, hygiene products and baby food; referral services for cases of violence or health conditions, etc.

As of April 14, 2.7 million Ukrainians arrived in Poland. In total, according to the UN, almost 4.8 million people have left Ukraine for 51 days since the Russian invasion began.
YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Member of Parliament Taguhi Tovmasyan, the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Public Affairs, organized a discussion with participation of journalists regarding the bill drafted by ruling Civil Contract party MPs on amending the Law on Mass Media.

The legislation drafted by Civil Contracts Artur Hovhannisyan and Lilit Minasyan would empower state bodies to withdraw the accreditation of journalists if they are deemed to have violated disciplinary rules of relevant bodies.

The President of the Union of Journalists Satik Seyranyan opposed the bill, saying : They had to clearly define the grounds for accreditation in order for the conduct of journalists to be predictable and that journalists know in which cases they could face withdrawal of their accreditation, otherwise the area is open and any government agency can arbitrarily decide and remove undesirable journalists or get rid of undesirable questions. They shouldve clearly mentioned the grounds in which case the accreditation can be withdrawn. There is a problem of the demand for the laws certainty, the grounds arent clearly defined, therefore, if there are no grounds then with what will they be guided to make the decision on withdrawing the accreditation?

Journalist Sevak Vardumyan concurred, saying he doesnt know in which case he could face withdrawal of accreditation from parliament. Suppose I laugh a bit loudly in the corridor or hit someone, or push the microphone too close to someone, will I get my accreditation revoked?

Vardumyan also argued that this bill creates the opportunity of arbitrary decision-making for the relevant bodies.

The Chairman of the Committee for Protection of Freedom of Speech Ashot Melikyan also agreed. This approach ought to be abandoned. The legislation should not provide for the suspension or withdrawal of a journalists accreditation.

MP Tovmasyan in turn complained that the ruling party MPs arent holding discussions with the media representatives regarding legislations that concern them.

She said this problem must be regulated in the media sector. Each editorial board should assume obligation, develop and publish rules of ethics for them, and the state bodies will be able to follow the maintenance of the rules which the media themselves developed, she said.

Tovmasyan proposed to organize a petition and ask the government to issue a negative conclusion to the bill and also apply to the authors of the legislation with a request to revoke it.
YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan received President of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) Perch Sedrakyan and AGBU Armenia President Vazgen Yacoubian.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Presidents Office, AGBU President Perch Sedrakyan presented the current programs, priorities and forthcoming activities of the Union.

President Khachaturyan praised the activities of the Armenian General Benevolent Union aimed at preserving the Armenian heritage through educational, cultural and humanitarian programs.

During the meeting, the sides touched upon Armenia-Diaspora relations, the need to use the potential of the Diaspora more effectively, the consolidation of Diaspora and Armenians around national goals, the preservation of the Armenian identity, as well as the joint implementation of strategic goals.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

To solve the current problems of rice production in Pakistan, new varieties can be introduced from China for trial planting. Pakistan can also introduce China's advanced agricultural machinery and planting technology suitable for small farmers to help them increase rice production, said Xu Jianlong, chief scientist of rice molecular design technology in the Institute of Crop Sciences in the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

BEIJING, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2022 ) :To solve the current problems of rice production in Pakistan, new varieties can be introduced from China for trial planting. Pakistan can also introduce China's advanced agricultural machinery and planting technology suitable for small farmers to help them increase rice production, said Xu Jianlong, chief scientist of rice molecular design technology in the Institute of Crop Sciences in the Chinese academy of Agricultural Sciences.

There is a popular saying that farming accounts for roughly 70 percent of human water consumption, and water used in rice fields account for 70 percent of the entire agricultural water consumption, he said in interview.

Drought-resistant varieties in China can save about 30 percent of water. Under drought conditions, drought-resistant varieties can also grow normally and avoid yield losses, he added.

Pakistan is also a country seriously affected by land salinization. About 30 percent of Pakistan's planting areas are affected by salinization. Just as drought-resistant varieties are required due to the water resources shortage, salt-resistant varieties are also needed to make full use of saline lands.

 Xu Jianlong noted that several salt-resistant varieties have been approved and promoted in China and got good production.

In Tianjin, China, there is rice called Xiaozhan rice, which is very delicious.Xu Jianlong told us that rice grown in saline soil tastes better than the same variety grown in ordinary soil,China Economic Net (CEN) reported.

He said, it is salt tolerant and planted in a slightly saline environment, and its irrigation water also contains a certain amount of salt. The minerals contained in the salt contribute to the slow but sufficient accumulation of starch in rice, so the taste is better.

Pakistan is a big rice-growing country, and its paddy area reached 3.3 million hectares in the year 2021. However, problems such as drought and salinization have made large arable land vacant, which has greatly affected its total rice production.

In Pakistan, only 22 to 23 percent of lands are cultivated. There are vest uncultivated lands because of water depletion, according to Shamsul islam Khan, vice president of Karachi Chamber of Commerce.
YEREVAN, APRIL 15, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hosted renowned physicist, Scientific Director of the Laboratory of Nuclear Reaction of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), Academician Yuri Hovhannisyan, and Director of JINR, Academician Grigory Trubnikov, ARMENPRESS was infomred from the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister welcomed their visit to Armenia, noting that the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, of which the Science Committee of Armenia is a member, is a good platform for developing international cooperation, including with the partners of the Russian Federation. Nikol Pashinyan stressed that the Armenian Government is ready to support the further development of bilateral cooperation and the implementation of joint programs in the field of science.

Addressing Yuri Hovhannisyan, the Prime Minister noted. "I am glad that you maintain persistent contact with Armenia and the local partners, you have new ideas, you successfully continue your scientific activity. The Prime Minister wished the prominent scientist good health.

Yuri Hovhannisyan and Grigory Trubnikov presented the details of the visit to Armenia and the steps aimed at the implementation of new programs in the field of science, in particular, establishment of new scientific centers at the YSU and other higher educational institutions in Yerevan. Yuri Hovhannisyan expressed confidence that our country has good opportunities in the field of science, adding that he will continue to contribute to the progress of the field with his experience.

Issues related to the involvement of young scientists in new programs within the framework of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research were discussed at the meeting.

Prime Minister Pashinyan noted that in the recent period the Armenian Government has increased the funding of science by 82%, and the salary of scientists by 40-160%. The Prime Minister stressed that the development of science is of strategic importance for the Armenian Government, it will continue to be in the center of the Governments attention.
(@Abdulla99267510)

Shehbaz sharif has also thanked the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman for their felicitation messages on his becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: (UrduPoint/UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News-April 15th, 2022) Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed the resolve to work closely with Saudi Arabia to realize the shared vision of strategic partnership.

Taking to Twitter, Shehbaz Sharif said that Pakistan-Saudi relations are special and marked by exceptional trust.

Shehbaz Sharif also thanked the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for their felicitation messages on his becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

On the other hand, the United States said it look forward to work with Pakistan government to promote peace and prosperity in the country.

This was stated by spokesperson of U S State Department Ned price during his regular news briefing in Washington.

He said we have congratulated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his election and we look forward to working with him and his government. To a question, he said we support the peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles.

To another question, Ned Price said he agrees with the statement of Pakistan Army's spokesperson.
BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2022) Beijing places a priority on the development of ties and comprehensive strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia, Chinese Leader Xi Jinping said on Friday during phone talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

"The Chinese side places a priority on the development of relations with Saudi Arabia and is ready to work with the Saudi side on the constant deepening of comprehensive strategic partnership," China Central Television quoted Xi as saying.

The Chinese leader noted that the world is currently undergoing profound and complex changes; however, he said, the strategic nature of China-Saudi relations is becoming increasingly apparent.

The leaders also exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine.
The mother of a British man captured by Russian troops while fighting in Ukraine called for him to be treated with "humanity" and freed, in Friday's Daily Telegraph

London, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 15th Apr, 2022 ) :The mother of a British man captured by Russian troops while fighting in Ukraine called for him to be treated with "humanity" and freed, in Friday's Daily Telegraph.

Russian television late Thursday broadcast images of a young man handcuffed and with a cut on his forehead, saying his name was Aiden Aslin.

Aslin's mother, Ang Wood, told the British newspaper she knew it was her 28-year-old son because of his distinctive tattoo.

"Aiden is a serving member of the Ukrainian armed forces, and as such is a prisoner of war and must be treated with humanity," she was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

She holds Russian President Vladimir Putin "to the terms of the Geneva Convention," she added.

"It already looks like he has been beaten up. It is time now for the British government to get involved and help secure Aiden's release because he is still a British citizen," she said.

London is aware that a British citizen is detained and is in contact with his family, said a source aware of the matter, stressing that the current situation in Ukraine seriously restricts Britain's ability to obtain information and provide consular assistance.

"I'm in bits. My son will be scared, just as we are," Wood told the Telegraph.

In videos circulating on social media and carrying the logo of Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT, the young man appears to imply that Ukraine is prolonging the conflict.

His grandmother, Pamela Hall, slammed the clips as "propaganda," Britain's domestic Press Association reported.

The newspaper reported that Aslin, known by his first name Johnny, joined the Ukrainian military in 2018 and bought a house in Ukraine to start a family with his fiancee.

He previously fought alongside the Kurds against the Islamic State group in Syria, the newspaper said.
North Macedonia declared on Friday six Russian diplomats personae non gratae, the country's foreign ministry said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2022) North Macedonia declared on Friday six Russian diplomats personae non gratae, the country's foreign ministry said.

"Today, the Russian Ambassador to North Macedonia, Sergey Bazdnikin, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was handed over a Note Verbale with which six diplomats of the Embassy of the Russian Federation were declared persona non grata in North Macedonia," the ministry said in a statement.

"Based on the information received from the relevant authorities, the six Russian diplomats in question were engaging in activities contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and are to leave the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia in the next five days," it added.

Moscow will give an appropriate response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from North Macedonia, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

"Russia will give an appropriate response," Zakharova said.
Russia has declared 18 employees of the European Union's mission in Moscow personae non gratae, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2022) Russia has declared 18 employees of the European Union's mission in Moscow personae non gratae, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The ministry mentioned that European Union Ambassador in Russia Markus Ederer was summoned over the EU's decision to expel 19 Russian diplomats earlier in April.

"As a response to the unfriendly actions of the European Union, 18 employees of the EU mission in Russia have been declared 'persona non grata' and will have to leave the territory of the Russian Federation in the near future," the ministry said.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2022) US President Joe Biden will not visit Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

On Wednesday, US media reported that the Biden administration was considering to send a high-level official to Kiev to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The options include the US president, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, or Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, according to reports.

"No, we are not sending the president to Ukraine," Psaki said, as quoted by Politico White House Correspondent Eugene Daniels.

A number of foreign leaders and senior officials have recently visited Ukraine to express support for the country amid the Russian military operation.
The Biden administration has sent its top diplomat dealing with North Korean issues to Seoul to discuss Pyongyang's recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests, the Department of State said on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2022) The Biden administration has sent its top diplomat dealing with North Korean issues to Seoul to discuss Pyongyang's recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests, the Department of State said on Thursday.

"US Special Representative for the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) Ambassador Sung Kim will travel to Seoul from April 18-22," the press release said. "Kim will meet with (South) Korean Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Noh Kyu-duk and other senior officials to discuss .

.. the international community's response to the DPRK's recent ICBM launches."

Kim will meet with other senior South Korean officials to discuss other issues on the peninsula and will be accompanied by Deputy Special Representative for the DPRK Jung Pak, the State Department said.

The United States and South Korea remain committed to ongoing close collaboration on North Korean issues as they seek to advance complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, the press release added.
The United States wants China to pay a "greater price" for Beijing's actions around the world, including its alleged support of Russia and cyberattacks on Taiwan, US Senator Lindsey Graham said on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2022) The United States wants China to pay a "greater price" for Beijing's actions around the world, including its alleged support of Russia and cyberattacks on Taiwan, US Senator Lindsey Graham said on Friday.

Graham is currently visiting Taiwan as part of a delegation of six US lawmakers, headed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez. The delegation arrived in Taiwan on an unannounced visit for talks with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and National Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng.

"We're going to start making China pay a greater price for what they're doing all over the world. The support for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has come with a price. The never-ending cyber-attacks on your economy and your people by the Communist Chinese needs to come with a price," Graham said during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen.

Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Wu Qian said on Friday that US lawmakers' visit to Taiwan is severely undercutting the foundation of relations between China and the United States.

Speculations about the US lawmakers' visit have circulated over the past couple of weeks, with the visit initially anticipated last weekend. However, the delegation's visit was postponed after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

China has repeatedly criticized the United States for maintaining official contacts with Taiwan, saying such actions infringe on China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and provoke instability in the region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has never refused in principle to hold a meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, but a document must be drafted before such meeting can be arranged, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday, Tass informs.

April 15, 2022, 10:14 Putin never refused to meet Zelensky, but a document needs to be drafted  Kremlin

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 15, ARTSAKHPRESS: "There is no detailed novation regarding this issue," Peskov said speaking at a daily news briefing. "We have already spoken about this meeting saying that in principle the [Russian] president never refused it, but certain conditions must be arranged before this meeting, namely a text of the document."

President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday he believed that only Ankara was capable of helping to reach progress in the ongoing negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

However, Russian President Putin said on Tuesday that Kiev drove negotiations with Moscow into a dead end again by deviating from the agreements reached during the Istanbul round.

The Russian-Ukrainian negotiations kicked off on February 28 with several meetings between the two delegations held in Belarus. Later, the negotiators continued contacts by way of videoconferencing. On March 29, a new face-to-face round of talks was held in Istanbul.
In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel of Addis Ababa, the head of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, discusses the humanitarian crisis enveloping the nation which has suffered from civil war and famine.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Cardinal Berhaneyesus Souraphiel of Addis Ababa, the head of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, prays "the ongoing negotiations will bring lasting peace."

In an interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Souraphiel discusses the crisis enveloping Ethiopia, as the nation has suffered from civil war and famine.

While the Cardinal acknowledges that the situation has slightly improved as negotiations are underway and since Pope Francis has made appeals for peace, the humanitarian emergency continues.

On 4 November 2020, war broke out after an attack against federal military bases by the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF). The Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, promised a victory in weeks, but the fighting escalated into a widespread conflict involving ethnic-based militias as well as Eritrean armed forces.

Over 2 million people have been displaced and thousands are dead as a result of the civil war between the TPLF and Ethiopia's national military, the Ethiopian National Defense Force, and as a result of hunger becoming famine in the region. The tensions have worsened ethnic violence and the regional states Tigray, Amhara, and Afar, have been among the most affected. Millions of Ethiopians are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.

Easter a 'feast of the family'

The leader of Ethiopian Catholic Church of the Alexandrian Tradition in the country whose faithful are currently in the Lenten season, as they celebrate Easter on 24 April, told us how the faithful are preparing for Holy Week and its devotions.

Looking ahead to Easter, he says his people are praying the Way of the Cross, fasting, and preparing to celebrate Easter together as a family, because, as he reminds, Easter is a feast of the family.

In recent appeals for peace and against war, Pope Francis has remembered Ethiopia in a special way. In the Pope's Christmas 2021 Urbi et Orbi address, he prayed that the Lord "help Ethiopia to find once again the path of reconciliation and peace through a forthright encounter that places the needs of the people above all else."

On 27 February, after the Angelus, the Pope urged the world to remember "the forgotten wars." Saying he was heartbroken by what was happening in Ukraine, he pleaded, "Let us not forget the wars in other parts of the world, such as in Yemen, in Syria, in Ethiopia...  I repeat: Silence all weapons! God is with the peacemakers, not with those who use violence."

Conflict in Ethiopia (REUTERS)

Q: Your Eminence, Pope Francis has made numerous appeals against wars and specifically prayed for your country of Ethiopia. What value has the Pope's appeals held?

Cardinal Souraphial: Great value. In fact, we have thanked the Holy Father, Pope Francis, for remembering us here in Ethiopia with conflicts and internal wars. We are very grateful for his concern and prayers for the situation in Ethiopia.

Q: How would you currently describe the situation?

Currently, at least, there is no war or fighting as it had been some months ago. Now it's a little bit better because we are told negotiations are continuing between the federal government and the regional government or political authorities, because mostly the conflict hangs around political and economic issues. We hope that this ongoing negotiation will bring lasting peace. This is the present situation. However, whenever there are wars and conflicts, it's the people who suffer a lot. The ordinary people have been suffering greatly, mostly in the Tigray region, but it has also spread out of Tigray into the other neighbouring regions like the Amhara region and the Afar region. People are still suffering in these areas of displacement, hunger and destruction.

Much infrastructure has been destroyed, including schools, healthcare facilities, and bridges.

These need to be reconstructed. I have seen in some areas where children are asked to go to school just to keep them safe from staying always at home. While they have been able to return to their school facilities, they found their schools destroyed. They therefore are sitting on the floor or on stones or wood logs, and following courses. But the togetherness for the students is very important.

The suffering of the people is ongoing. The United Nations World Food Programme, the International Red Cross and many others, including the Catholic Church, through Caritas, the Orthodox, Muslims and Protestants are trying to save transport, food and medicine, if possible. We hope this present situation will continue to avert hunger from becoming famine.

Listen to a segment from the interview with Cardinal Souraphiel:

Q: The humanitarian situation in Tigray, according to many reports, is getting worse and worse. Do you have an appeal to make?

The humanitarian situation in Tigray is getting worse and worse because the facilitation of the humanitarian corridors through which the United Nations or the government or other agencies are trying to bring in food into the country, is being blocked sometimes and we don't know by whom. Because of that, the people's suffering is getting acute. What we have done as the Catholic Bishops Conference of Ethiopia is to appeal to our own Catholic network in the world, especially through Caritas Internationalis. Just two weeks ago, we were able to put the appeal of 100 million Ethiopian Birr to be able to help these people, to reach these people, not only in Tigray, but the neighbouring regions. The drought situation has worsened as well due to climate change. We have this great humanitarian crisis where people need assistance.

Q: Cardinal Souraphiel, what importance do you see of Pope Francis' appeal for an Easter truce for the war waging on in Ukraine?

We are really saddened that war broke out between Russia and Ukraine. After nearly 75 years after the Second World War, I thought there would not be war in in Europe. It hurts us very much to see the war in Ukraine and the suffering of the people. We hear through the news that more than 4 million people are already refugees outside their country. We know what it means to be refugees because Ethiopia is one of the few African countries which takes care of refugees. We have about half a million Somalian refugees, about 300,000 Eritrean refugees, and about 430,000 more refugees from South Sudan. Just to amaze you, we have Syrian refugees who have come to Addis Ababa. I don't know how they reached here, but people are travelling everywhere.

We hope the war in Ukraine will not escalate because war destroys.

We see on television, pictures, not only of Ukraine, but also Iraq and Syria, Lebanon, and now Yemen. The Holy Father has constantly warned about the Third World War, happening in pieces, here and there. This needs to be taken seriously, and to stop as soon as possible.



The appeal of the Holy Father for Easter truce is very, very timely. This needs not only the voice of the Holy Father, Pope Francis, but also all Christians, because Russia and Ukraine are Christian. The same appeal from the Patriarch of Moscow would bring even more to the realization of the truce between Russia and Ukraine. Even in Yemen now, because of the Ramadan fast, the Muslims have stopped fighting for one month. I support the appeal of the Holy Father for the Easter truce.

Listen to a segment from the interview with Cardinal Souraphiel:

Q: Cardinal, you had said that the situation seems to be slightly improving in Ethiopia as negotiations are underway. Would you say that the Holy Father's words during his Urbi et Orbi address on Christmas and more recently on 27 February during the Angelus address, in some way contributed perhaps to this progress?



Yes. The Orthodox, Protestant leadership, as well as the Muslims in the country, have a great respect for the Holy Father.

Here in Ethiopia, the ordinary people still are all praying for peace. I would say the people are praying for peace and for unity.

We have lived together for centuries. Ethiopia should not be seen as a country of conflict or war, which is only the case for the last 40 or 50 years, and that's because of different interpretations or political interests. We do have many challenges here in Ethiopia, but I believe and I trust in the prayers of the people who have been united for centuries, who have intermarried and have been living as Ethiopians. We hope we will have some solutions so that the people will go back to being one and being united. We pray this as Christians under the gaze of our Lord Jesus Christ Who died crucified on the Cross for all of us.
A recent visit of US congressmen to Taiwan undermines the political foundation of Chinese-US relations, the Friday statement by Chinese Defense Ministry Spokesman Wu Qian said.

April 15, 2022, 12:03 Visit of US delegation to Taiwan undermines China-US relations, Chinese top brass says

STEPANAKERT, APRIL 15, ARTSAKHPRESS: "Such actions by the US grossly violate the One China principle and the provisions of three Chinese-US joint communiques, cause serious damage to the political foundation of the Chinese-American relations," he noted.

"In relation to that, the Chinese side expresses resolute protest and made a serious remonstrance to the US over this," the statement said.
A criminal record check certificate is required for foreign employees when they apply for a work permit in Vietnam.

Foreigners working in Vietnam are required to obtain a work permit to legally work in the country. Failure to do can result in hefty fines for both the employer and the employee as well as deportation of the foreign national from Vietnam.

Vietnams work permit procedures can be confusing for foreign employees. One of the aspects when applying for a work permit is the criminal record check or police clearance certificate (Phieu Ly lich tup hap).

Vietnam Briefing explains the process of how and where to apply for a criminal record check certificate.

A criminal record check is granted for Vietnamese as well as foreigners who live in Vietnam or are currently living in Vietnam. Criminal record checks are issued by the provincial Department of Justice where the applicant residents and to prove if the applicant has a criminal record or is not allowed to hold certain job posts. This criminal record check certificate can also be used for other countries if the individual has lived in Vietnam for six months or more.

As per Vietnams laws, there are two types of criminal records. For work permits, applicants will be required to obtain criminal record form no 1.

What documents are required?

Applicants are required to prepare the following documents for submission:

Application form 03/2013/TT-LTP for a self-application or form 04/2013/TT-LTP in case someone is applying on the individuals behalf;

Notarized copy of the passport (all pages which include the entry visa stamp, visa, or visa exemption certificate;

Notarized copy of the temporary resident card for the applicant that is renewing their work permit; and

Notarized copy of the temporary residence registration certificate (on xin xac nhan tam tru) in Vietnam .*

*This needs to be obtained from your landlord in Vietnam or building management authority, which is a stamp by the local police stating you reside at the address. A copy of your passport and visa is required for this certificate as well.

While individuals can submit forms physically, we recommend that applicants apply online at https://lltptructuyen.moj.gov.vn/home?locale=en as this has both Vietnamese and English language versions. Follow the on-screen instructions and upload the required documents as necessary.

Individuals can then submit to the Department of Justice physically or by post in the area where they live. The payment can be done directly to the Department of Justice or using the postal service. Individuals can also look up the status of their application on the website.

After finishing the process online, the individual will be issued an appointment paper. If this is done via post then the postal service will inform the applicant of the date when the documents will be collected; the fees will also be collected at this time.

Timeframe and costs

Typically, the criminal record check takes 15-20 days once the documents and payments are submitted, but applicants should allow ample time for processing. The fees are VND 200,000 (US$8.7)

Generally, for a work permit, labor authorities require the criminal record check to be issued within six months from the date of submission of the application.

Phuc Duong, Associate Manager for Business Advisory Services, Dezan Shira & Associates Ho Chi Minh City office notes that foreign employees particularly need to ensure they comply with work permit regulations in Vietnam and complete the criminal check record process with ample preparatory time to factor for any delays in legalizing documents and submission.
Recent media reports have pointed out deepening environmental and health concerns caused by plastic and microplastic pollution. Robert Hale, a professor in the Department of Aquatic Health at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science joins Rick Pantaleo for the Science Edition of Press Conference USA to talk about these issues.
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Hello and welcome to VOA Asia Weekly. I'm Chris Casquejo in Washington, DC.

Making headlines across Asia.

Philippine authorities are struggling to distribute aid after a typhoon killed more than 100 people and displaced thousands.

Rohingya refugees say authorities have razed their camps in Indian Kashmir.

Thousands marched in Indonesia after hearing the government might postpone the 2024 presidential election.

Sri Lankan protesters want the president to step down over his handling of the nations economic crisis.

China is urging U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to cancel a trip to Taiwan.

Demonstrators in Japan railed against government plans to dump nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

And those are your top Asia headlines.

Some residents in the Chinese financial hub Shanghai were able to leave their homes for the first time in more than two weeks.

Officials say about 4.8 million of Shanghai's 25 million residents had been classified as lower-risk after no new infections for 14 days.

With a quarter of the population under "full or partial lockdowns," China's leadership is taking steps to ease the economic toll of its "zero-COVID" strategy but remains reluctant to risk larger waves of infection.

The war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia are causing even more stress in an already strained global supply chain brought on by the pandemic. VOAs Elizabeth Lee has more on what this means for consumers and their wallets around the world.

Farming isnt easy. Like all farmers, Chuck Fry is at the mercy of the weather. But he never expected to have problems due to a pandemic and now, a war in Ukraine.

Fry is a dairy farmer. But he also grows crops including barley and alfalfa. Most of it goes to feeding his cows. This planting season, the cost of doing business has skyrocketed.

The problem started when the pandemic disrupted production and shipping. Then Russia  which produces many fertilizer ingredients - invaded Ukraine. That triggered more shipping disruptions, panic buying, hoarding and other problems.

The entire global supply chain slowed, much like highway traffic, says economist Chris Tang.

"The disruption is like someone, they step on the gas, and someone step(s) on the brake."

Even before the most recent challenges, farmers were already experiencing disruptions in the global supply chain because of the pandemic. They say they were having a hard time finding medicines for their livestock because much of it comes from China.

Container ships loaded with cargo from Asia were stacked up at U.S. ports last year. A trucker shortage further delayed deliveries of goods.

More recently, COVID-19 cases have surged in China, prompting temporary lockdowns and plant closures. Observers expect disruptions at the worlds largest container port in Shanghai, causing a ripple effect globally.

Back at the dairy farm, Fry says hes had to raise his ice cream prices by 10 percent.

Like many farmers, Fry says he may have to cut back production to offset rising prices and keep the farm that has been in his family since the 1800s.

Elizabeth Lee, VOA News, Frederick, Maryland.

Stay up to date with VOA Asia. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube at VOA Asia. Our website is voanews.com. This is VOA Asia Weekly.

One of South Koreas biggest food brands, Peacock, said that the price of its packaged Kimchi has increased by 6.5 percent this month because ingredients such as cabbage and ginger cost more.

In Japan, restaurants are raising prices because of a similar hike in ingredient food costs.

Consumer prices in Japan's capital rose at the fastest pace in more than two years in March.

Finally on VOA Asia Weekly, plunging prices for Russian crab have South Koreans heading to seafood markets and restaurants.

But others are avoiding the cheap crustaceans because they dont want to indirectly support Russia.

Prices of Russian crabs have dropped in half since late February when the U.S., European Union, and other countries banned Russian seafood imports.

Now many South Koreans are urging their government to do the same.

Thats all the time we have here on VOA Asia Weekly.

Thank you for joining us. Im Chris Casquejo. Please be sure to join us again next week.
Britain will send migrants and asylum-seekers who cross the English Channel thousands of miles away to Rwanda under a controversial deal announced Thursday as the government tries to clamp down on record numbers of people making the perilous journey.

"From today ... anyone entering the United Kingdom illegally, as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1, may now be relocated to Rwanda," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech near Dover in southeastern England.

"Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead," Johnson said.

He called the East African nation with a sketchy human rights record "one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognized for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants."

Johnson was elected partly on promises to curb illegal immigration but has instead seen record numbers making the risky channel crossing.

He also announced that Britain's border agency would hand responsibility for patrolling the channel for migrant boats to the navy.

More than 28,000 people arrived in Britain having crossed the channel from France in small boats in 2021.

Around 90% of those were male, and three-quarters were men between 18 and 39 years old.

'Inhumane'

The Rwanda plan swiftly drew the ire of opposition politicians who accused Johnson of trying to distract from his fine for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, while rights groups slammed the project as "inhumane."

The United Nations' refugee agency voiced its strong opposition, with Gillian Triggs, the UNHCR assistant high commissioner for protection saying, "People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy. They should not be traded like commodities and transferred abroad for processing."

European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari did not directly comment on the British decision but stressed that it "raises fundamental questions about the access to asylum procedures and protection in line with the demands of international law."

Ghana and Rwanda had previously been mentioned as possible locations for the U.K. to outsource the processing of migrants, but Ghana in January denied involvement.

Instead, Kigali on Thursday announced that it had signed a multimillion-dollar deal to do the job, during a visit by British Home Secretary Priti Patel.

"Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum-seekers and migrants and offer them legal pathways to residence" in the East African nation, Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said in a statement.

The deal with Rwanda will be funded by the U.K. to the tune of up to $157 million, with migrants "integrated into communities across the country," it said.

In Dover, where many migrants arrive after crossing the channel, some residents welcomed the announcement.

"They should be sent back, because it is not our responsibility," said retiree Andy, 68.

"Our responsibility is to look after our own people, which we aren't doing," the heavily tattooed army veteran told AFP.

"I understand people escaping from repression, I do. But if they're coming over here for one thing and that is money, to me, that is wrong."

Backlash

Refugee Action's Tim Naor Hilton accused the government of "offshoring its responsibilities onto Europe's former colonies instead of doing our fair share to help some of the most vulnerable people on the planet."

"This grubby cash-for-people plan would be a cowardly, barbaric and inhumane way to treat people fleeing persecution and war," he said.

Nadia Hardman, refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the plan would "complicate" the process for Syrians seeking refuge in the U.K.

"Syrian refugees are desperate to reach a place of safety," Hardman told AFP.

"The U.K.'s agreement with Rwanda will only complicate this pursuit.

"They will arrive and expect to be treated according to the fundamental values the U.K. says it upholds, but will instead be transferred somewhere, miles away."

Australia has a policy of sending asylum-seekers arriving by boat to detention camps on the Pacific island nation of Nauru, with Canberra vowing no asylum-seeker arriving by boat would ever be allowed to permanently settle in Australia.

Since 2015, the U.K. has "offered a place to over 185,000 men, women and children seeking refuge  more than any other similar resettlement schemes in Europe," Johnson said.

According to the U.N. refugee agency, Germany received the highest number of asylum applicants (127,730) in Europe in 2021, followed by France (96,510), while the U.K. received the fourth largest number of applicants (44,190).
At least 35 people were killed Thursday when a bus carrying Easter worshippers crashed into a ravine in eastern Zimbabwe about 10 p.m. local time.

The bus reportedly was carrying 106 passengers of the Zion Christian Church to an Easter pilgrimage.

Seventy-one people were reported injured in the crash.



"The bodies of the victims were taken to Chipinge Hospital for post-mortem while the injured were referred to the same institution for treatment, with 13 being critically injured," said the Zimbabwe Republic Police, CNN reported.



Between 2017 and 2019, the country averaged upward of 2,000 traffic deaths per year, but that number could be much higher, CNN said.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press.
Cameroon says it is saddened by separatist fighters' unending attacks on government workers in its English-speaking northwest and southwest regions.

Separatists have been fighting to create an independent English-speaking state in the majority French speaking nation since 2017.

The government says the latest victims of separatist brutality are four top prison officials in the northwest region, who were killed Tuesday by the fighters.

Deben Tchoffo is the governor of the northwest region. He says the fighters killed and mutilated bodies of four prison leaders while they were on duty.

Tchoffo says Cameroon President Paul Biya instructed him Thursday to visit and extend condolences to the families of the four top prison officials killed by separatists in Tahkijah village in Kumbo, an English-speaking town in the northwest region. He says Biya has ordered the military to immediately track fighters who killed and mutilated the bodies of the government officials.

Tchoffo said Biya also ordered the government to organize a befitting burial for Kiga Theodore, the highest government prison official in the northwest region, and his three close collaborators killed by fighters.

The Cameroon military says Kiga and three other prison workers were ambushed by separatists in Tahkijah, a village in Kumbo. The military says Kiga was pulled out of his service car along with three of his colleagues. One of the prison staff was shot and killed, while three others were beaten with machetes until they died, the military says.

The Cameroon government says the four officials were returning from Nkambe, a town near the border with Nigeria. The prison administrators were in Nkambe to officially install recently appointed prison staff in the border town.

Separatists have claimed responsibility for the attack and shared videos on social media, including Facebook and WhatsApp, showing how the officials were killed.

Capo Daniel is deputy defense chief of the Ambazonia Defense Forces, which the government says is one of the biggest separatist groups in Cameroon. Daniel says his forces will attack all government workers until the government withdraws all of its workers from English-speaking western regions. He says the prison officials were killed because they tried to fight back when stopped by fighters.

"The Cameroon prison guards were armed and ready for war [battle] when they were confronted by our fighters. We will fight to push Cameroon military personnel and the administrative officers [state officials] out of our territory. We will intensify our attacks against the Cameroon military and the administrative representatives until Cameroon withdraws [from the English-speaking regions]."

The military on Friday said several hundred troops have been deployed to track and arrest or kill fighters responsible for the act.

The Roman Catholic Church in Kikaikelaki said scores of people have been arrested, and an unknown number have escaped to safer localities in the English-speaking North West region, where Kumbo is located.

The church says each time government officials are killed, the military commits abuses on civilians, including torture and arrests, while troops search for fighters.

Cameroons military has always denied it abuses the rights of civilians.

Cameroon says at least 700 government workers, particularly teachers, have been abducted since the separatist crisis started. Scores have been killed by suspected fighters.

The U.N. says Cameroon's separatist crisis that degenerated into an armed conflict in 2017 has killed at least 3,300 people, with 750,000 internally displaced.
Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem before dawn on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Medics said that at least 152 Palestinians were wounded.

The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalems Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.

Hours after the clashes began, the police announced that they had put an end to the violence and arrested hundreds of suspects. They said the mosque was re-opened and that Fridays midday prayers would take place as usual. Tens of thousands of people were expected.

Israeli authorities said they had earlier held negotiations with Muslim leaders to ensure calm and allow the prayers to take place, but that Palestinian youths hurled stones at police, triggering the violence. Palestinian witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said a small group of Palestinians threw rocks at police, who then entered the compound in force, setting off a wider conflagration.

Videos circulating online showed Palestinians throwing rocks and fireworks and police firing tear gas and stun grenades on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque. Others showed worshippers barricading themselves inside the mosque.

Later in the morning, Israeli police entered the mosque and were arresting people. Israeli security forces rarely enter the building, and when they do it is seen by Palestinians as a major escalation.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it treated 152 people, many of them wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades, or beaten with batons. The endowment said one of the guards at the site was shot in the eye with a rubber bullet.

The Israeli police said three officers were wounded from massive stone-throwing, with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags had marched to the compound before dawn on Friday and gathered stones and other objects in anticipation of unrest.

Police were forced to enter the grounds to disperse the crowd and remove the stones and rocks, in order to prevent further violence, it tweeted.

The police said they waited until prayers were over and the crowds started to disperse. In a statement, it said crowds started hurling rocks in the direction of the Western Wall, a nearby Jewish holy site, forcing them to act.

Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a major provocation.

Israels national security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had no interest in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront violent elements that attacked them with stones and metal bars. He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike.

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalems Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, home to Al-Aqsa and other major holy sites, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future independent state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old died early Friday from wounds suffered during clashes with Israeli forces in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, the day before.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the recent wave of violence, according to an Associated Press count, many of whom had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but also an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been killed by mistake.

Weeks of protests and clashes in Jerusalem during Ramadan last year eventually ignited an 11-day war with Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules the Gaza Strip.

Israel had lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions ahead of Ramadan, but the attacks and the military raids have brought about another cycle of unrest.

Hamas condemned what it said were brutal attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa by Israeli forces, saying Israel would bear all the consequences. It called on all Palestinians to stand by our people in Jerusalem.

Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.

Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years nationalist and religious Jews have visited the site in large numbers with police escorts.

In recent weeks, a radical Jewish group had called on people to bring animals to the site in order to sacrifice them for Passover, offering cash rewards for those who succeeded or even tried. Israeli police work to prevent such activities, but the call was widely circulated by Palestinians on social media, along with calls for Muslims to prevent any sacrifices from taking place.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, issued a statement calling on Muslim leaders to act to stop the violence. It also noted that bringing a sacrifice to the Temple Mount today is in opposition to the decision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
As the world focuses on Russias war on Ukraine, another conflict is raging  on peoples phones.



In the information war, TikTok has become a battlefield. Popular among younger audiences, the platform known for dance videos has, for some, become an information source on the war in Ukraine.



With new, unverified content appearing on TikTok by the second, some analysts worry that the platform often serves to mislead its users, numbering 1 billion worldwide.



Those [videos] can be used to enlighten folks on what's really happening on the ground, said Jessica Brandt, policy director for the Brooking Institutions initiative on artificial intelligence and emerging technology. They can also be taken out of context and used to mislead or to disinform. We see all of that happening in this conflict.



TikTok is not the only social media app that has the power to misinform young people about the war in Ukraine. Ryan Locher, an American University student and TikTok content creator with more than 18,000 followers, told VOA that he has seen a number of false narratives on the Russia-Ukraine conflict gaining momentum on other popular social media apps.



I see it on Twitter, obviously on TikTok, he told VOA. It is very easy to pick up where these people are coming from.

Student perceptions

Locher said hes noticed pro-Russian TikTok users spreading conspiracy theories to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine, from alleged Ukrainian bioweapons labs to Nazi threats allegedly emanating from Kyiv.



While some false information aims to mislead, Locher said other content stems from peoples prior convictions as they attempt to build their understanding of the conflict.



Andriana Markiv, a Ukrainian citizen studying at American University in Washington, agreed. Not all of it [misinformation] comes from a place of hatred; sometimes the people spreading fake news genuinely dont know, she said.



However, according to Markiv, some users purposefully post false information to generate controversy  and traffic  on social media platforms. They do it to get likes and comments, she added.



Regardless of the intent, the profusion of misinformation about the war is upsetting to many Ukrainians.



I call my family and I hear them crying and then I go on social media and see people saying that this war is Ukraines fault or spreading pro-Russian propaganda. I try to go past that because it is hard, Markiv said.



Albina Tokakova, a Russian student living in the United States, believes Russians and Ukrainians alike are using social media to spread information that best fits their nations interests. She said some seek to justify the Russian invasion while others defend Ukraines sovereignty and independence.



I feel like it's really difficult right now to tell what is right and what is wrong and which ones are the correct information, Tokakova told VOA.

Tokakova added that, while there is much disinformation being spread on TikTok, the platform has also served to publicize Ukrainians struggles to survive the Russian invasion.

Chinese ownership

With TikTok owned by Chinese company ByteDance Ltd, some worry it serves as a tool for Beijing to influence the views and perceptions of people around the world.



Matthew Lee, a student at American University's School of International Service, doesnt use TikTok.



We see in Chinese social media like a lot of nationalist stuff being said, a lot of pro-Russia stuff being said, and because of how tightly they control everything, it's hard to say whether it really is real people or folks that the Chinese government pays to say things, Lee told VOA.



Some analysts believe that this is part of a larger strategy by the Chinese government to manipulate information to fit its narrative, be it the war in Ukraine or any number of geopolitical topics.



I think China has used information manipulation to shape views on issues that are of geopolitical relevance to it. For some time now, those efforts are becoming more assertive and I think they'll only continue to grow, Brandt of the Brookings Institution said.



Students at American University told VOA they do what they can to combat misinformation. As a native Russian, Tokakova seeks to correct false narratives about her home country.



Loher told VOA he uses the reporting tool on TikTok to flag videos containing false information. I have also messaged some of the creators [of fake content], he added.



As for Markiv, she advises users of social media to be wary of the content they consume, adding that while the war in Ukraine may appear distant to Americans, you [could] have students in your class or friends who are going through this with their [Ukrainian] families.
On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, broadcast journalist Viktoryia Panchenko had just 15 minutes to pack.

It was 5.30 a.m. and the TV presenter was at her Kyiv apartment.

"I heard shooting or a rocket," she said. "It was really terrible. We had 15 minutes to pack our stuff and clothes and go," she said. "I didn't get my toothbrush, but I took my perfume! I can't remember how or why I did that."

For the first day of the war, Panchenko reported for the independent Ukrainian network LIVE.

"We were talking about war, of course. I remember I heard sirens, rocket and shooting," she said. "It was really terrible."

Later that day, the 34-year-old left Kyiv and hasn't been home since.

Like other Ukrainians who suddenly found themselves in a war zone, Panchenko crossed the border into Poland.

In doing so, she and the others joined Belarusians who have been fleeing repression and mass arrests since President Alexander Lukashenko  a close ally to Vladimir Putin  claimed victory in a disputed 2020 election.

But from Warsaw and other cities in Poland, these journalists have sought to continue providing news for the millions displaced by fighting or unrest.

When Panchenko spoke with VOA at a cafe in Warsaw, she was adjusting to her new life in Poland. But her mind was still on Ukraine.

"It's a really hard situation in the media in Ukraine now. A lot of people are leaving. But a lot of people still stay in Ukraine and work in the media," Panchenko said.

"I hope to go back [soon]. I have my apartment," Panchenko said. But "it's in a hard place. A lot of people were killed by the Russian army."

Panchenko is freelancing in Poland for a Ukrainian media outlet that runs commentary and talk shows on YouTube. But she told VOA she was more excited about her work with a new venture set up by a Polish company to reach Ukrainians resettling in Poland.

The channel, UA24.tv, has not started operating, but its website says programming will be broadcast in Polish and Ukrainian. Presenters from Ukraine will focus on resettlement, assistance for refugees and others affected by conflict, and providing live news coverage.

"We focus on positive news. It's a TV (outlet) for Ukrainian immigrants who came to Warsaw or Poland after the war began. So, we will talk about the war, we want to tell our immigrants how to live their lives in Poland," Panchenko said.

The new venture is an example of how media are adapting to the war. Inside the country, Ukraine's top networks quickly created a 24-hour news service, News United, to provide uninterrupted coverage.

And organizations such as StopFake and the Eyes on Russia Project are working to combat an onslaught of Russian disinformation about the war.

Media refuge

Over 4.6 million Ukrainians have fled since Russia's invasion, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

But Poland and neighboring countries have also provided a refuge for Belarusians.

After Lukashenko claimed victory in the August 2020 election, in which the main opposition candidate was forced into exile and others were jailed, authorities took a hard line on dissent.

As of March 4, more than 1,000 people had been detained on politically motivated charges and at least 32 journalists had been arrested since 2020, according to a United Nations report.

Authorities even diverted a passenger jet enroute to Lithuania to the Belarus capital Minsk, to arrest a blogger.

Zmicier Mickiewicz, a journalist at the Poland-based Belarusian station Belsat TV, moved to Warsaw soon after the disputed vote.

Two years later, he says, press freedom in his home country no longer exists.

Mickiewicz, 32, had no choice but to leave in October 2020.

"I and the people who helped me to make livestreams during protests were accused by Lukashenko's occupant administration of 'coordination of mass riots.' That's how they call independent journalism after August 2020," he told VOA via email.

"There is no freedom left in Belarus at all, let alone the freedom of the press."

Thanks to a network of citizen journalists still in Belarus, Belsat can still report.

Mickiewicz calls it "user-generated content."

"People send us information, pictures, videos, documents, etc. Telegram and some other means of communication give a possibility to provide us with the information safely," he said.

Mickiewicz was able to escape, but some of his colleagues at Belsat were not so lucky.

Katsiaryna Andreyeva and Daria Chultsova have been in jail since November 2020. They were arrested while covering a Minsk protest sparked by the death of an anti-government activist.

Both reject the charges of "actions breaching public order," saying their detentions are politically motivated.

Authorities earlier in April added a charge of treason to Andreyeva's case just as her two-year prison term was coming to an end.

Journalists with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have also been detained. Like VOA, RFE/RL is an independent news network under the U.S. Agency for Global Media.

Pattern of repression

Suppression of the media has been a regular occurrence during Lukashenko's near 28-year presidency, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. But it ramped up in the past two years.

Mickiewicz says the government has always harassed independent journalists. He was first targeted while in school, after he took a course that enabled him to work for a local newspaper.

"Being an independent journalist in Belarus has always meant to be an enemy of the regime. That's why my career choice is the choice of values and a political position at the same time," he said.

Although he is at risk of arrest if he returns to Belarus, Mickiewicz has hopes for a democratic future.

"Returning to Belarus is one of my main goals because it's the wish for a better future for my country that made me start journalism. I call my coming to Warsaw a 'tactical retreat,' not an exile," he said.

Panchenko, too, is determined to return to her home country, saying she wants to keep Ukrainians informed of Russian military atrocities.

"I want to say to a lot of people the truth about what the Russian army did with my country, my people, Ukrainian children and women," she said.

"But sometimes at night I can't sleep after I realized what they did, watching all the videos and photos from Ukraine."
The families of American hostages kidnapped and killed in Syria by Islamic State militants welcomed a guilty verdict handed down Thursday by a U.S. court.

A jury took just over four hours to find British national El Shafee Elsheikh guilty on eight counts related to his role in holding about two dozen Western hostages in Syria, including four Americans who were killed.

American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller were among those kidnapped and later killed by the IS cell.

"This is a day that we didn't need bombs or bullets to bring justice," said Diane Foley, James Foley's mother. "I really feel that justice prevailed."

Mueller's father also welcomed the verdict.

"We all saw the American justice system do what it does best," said Carl Mueller, who attended the hearing with his wife, Marsha, at U.S. District Court.

The two-week trial included testimony from witnesses who were held captive by Elsheikh and other members of an IS cell known by their hostages as "The Beatles" because of their accents.

In total, 26 hostages were held between 2012 and 2015. Witnesses detailed the cruelty meted out to them, including beatings, being forced to fight each other, and sexual violence. Family members testified about the ransom demands made of them.

Elsheikh was captured in 2018 along with IS cell member Alexanda Kotey. The pair were brought to the United States to stand trial in 2020 after the U.S. agreed to not seek the death penalty.

Kotey pleaded guilty in 2021 in a deal that could allow him to serve part of his life sentence in Britain.

A third member of their cell, Mohammed Emwazi, also known as Jihadi John, was killed in a drone strike in 2015. He killed Foley, Sotloff and Kassig in 2014, in videos shared as terrorist propaganda.

Mueller was held before being handed over to IS leader Abu Bakr-al-Baghdadi. The court heard she was raped repeatedly before her death in February 2015.

Randall Rogan, a terrorism expert and professor of communication at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, described the trial as a "strike for justice."

"It's great news that the witnesses were able to pull themselves together and be able to testify under such difficult circumstances for themselves and having to revisit the horrors of that time for themselves and for their families," he told VOA on Thursday.

"Hopefully, this is a positive note, a strike for justice, that this individual is ultimately being held accountable for the atrocities that he committed," Rogan said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists described Thursday's ruling as "a step toward accountability."

"While the verdict and sentence won't bring Foley or Sotloff back, it establishes a precedent toward justice for their families, and for the murders of journalists and human rights abuses worldwide," said Justin Shilad, CPJ's senior researcher for the Middle East and North Africa.

Speaking at the opening of the trial, Diane Foley welcomed the decision to make her son's captors stand trial in the U.S.

"I think we must do the opposite of what was done. That to me is the huge contrast," she said. "The British and American hostages were given nothing. They were treated like animals. They were tortured. They received  no beat of justice. I think it is important that we show how civilized people should react to others."

As the trial concluded, she told reporters she hoped it would shine a light on the more than 60 Americans still held hostage or wrongfully detained globally.

VOA's Sirwan Kajjo contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
ReportLinker

Major players in the blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market are IBM, Microsoft, SAP-SE, Ambrosus, Arc-net, OriginTrail, Rip. io, Provenance, ChainVine and AgriDigital. The global blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market is expected to grow from $189.

New York, March 22, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Blockchain In Agriculture And Food Supply Chain Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06246504/?utm_source=GNW

48 million in 2021 to $278.60 million in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 47.0%. The change in growth trend is mainly due to the companies stabilizing their output after catering to the demand that grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. The market is expected to reach $1295.93 million in 2026 at a CAGR of 46.9%.



The blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market consists of sales of blockchain services in the agriculture and food supply chain by entities (organizations, sole traders and partnerships) that provide blockchain services to the agriculture and food supply chain.Blockchain technology enables the traceability of information in the food supply chain and thus helps improve food safety.



It also provides a secure way of storing and managing data, which facilitates the development and use of data-driven innovations for smart farming and smart index-based agriculture insurance.



The main types of blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain are public blockchain, private blockchain, consortium/hybrid blockchain.A public blockchain is open to the public and can be joined by anyone without special permission.



The services are used by growers, food manufacturers/processors and retailers for product traceability, tracking, and visibility, payment and settlement, smart contracts, governance, risk and compliance management.



North America was the largest region in the blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market in 2021. The regions covered in this report are Asia-Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and Africa.



The blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market was supported by the increased demand for small and medium enterprises in blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market.This is mainly due to larger businesses are investing heavily in developing their existing solutions, while new businesses are producing exclusive solutions in line with the needs of their national and regional markets.



According to NASSCOM 2019 report, there are more than 450 startups in the agritech sector at a year-on-year growth rate of 25%.For instance, Agridigital is an Australian startup that uses blockchain to support the Australian grains industry.



It helps to track and manage grains as they move throughout the value chain. Thus, the rise in small and medium enterprises is expected to drive the blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market during the forecast period.



Blockchain in food and agriculture market can be expensive and this can hinder market growth.Obtaining the data uploaded to a blockchain can be costly, and this can create a barrier to the adoption of blockchain technology in the agricultural sector.



For instance, the DNA of livestock animals could be expensive.The average cost of data collection is lower for larger farms than smaller ones, which raises the concern of increasing the income discrepancy.



Therefore, obtaining data in a blockchain is expensive and hinders market growth.



The use of blockchain with IoT is an emerging trend followed by companies in the blockchain in agriculture and food supply chain market.Companies are using blockchain to secure data in IoT devices.



IoT involves a system of devices that can collect, transfer, and store data over a wireless network.The use of blockchain with IoT devices enables smart devices to exchange data and other financial transactions in a scalable, private, and reliable manner.



Blockchain technology with IoT further supports businesses to share and access data without the need for central control and management. For instance, according to an article published in Thales in 2019, the use of blockchain in IoT devices has doubled and a majority of the organization plans to consider blockchain technology shortly.



In April 2020, Nestle, a Swiss food and drink processing company, partnered with a party certifier, The Rainforest Alliance, to independently provide data beyond what is usually disclosed by the company.Nestle has expanded the use of the IBM Food Trust blockchain technology platform in the launch of Zoegas whole beans and roast and ground coffee in Sweden.



The Rainforest Alliance provides information regarding the traceability of the coffee and the information is accessible to everyone with the IBM Food Trust blockchain platform.



The countries covered in the market report are Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, South Korea, UK and USA.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06246504/?utm_source=GNW



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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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Russia's communications regulator has blocked access to the Russian-language website of The Moscow Times, the newspaper said on Friday.

The Moscow Times said its Russian-language website was blocked after it published what authorities called a false report on riot police officers refusing to fight in Ukraine.

The publication said Russian internet providers had already started to block its Russian-language site. It published a notice from Russia's communications monitoring agency, which said its site was now blocked.

Russian authorities have blocked a number of independent media outlets and publications in their attempts to control coverage of the countrys unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

After Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, state regulator Roskomnadzor ordered all media outlets to only use data and information provided by Russia's official sources when covering the war. It also directed media outlets to describe events in Ukraine as a "special military operation" and not a war or an invasion.

Several Russian media outlets have chosen to suspend operations rather than face heavy restrictions on what they can report. The Kremlin has also blocked multiple foreign news outlets, including RFE/RL.

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
South African officials say they are releasing emergency funds Friday to help people deal with the aftermath of recent massive rains and deadly floods along the countrys eastern coast.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared the region a disaster area.

Authorities say the unprecedented rainfall killed 341 people and left tens of thousands more without shelter, water and electricity.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said in a television interview on Newsroom Afrika that $68.3 million is available for immediate use, and millions more will be made available later.

"A total number of 40,723 people have been affected, Sihle Zikalala, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, said.

There is a sense of despair amid the stench of sewage, growing stronger as the rains, which wrought so much devastation, stopped and the tropical heat returned, Agence France-Presse, the French news agency reported.

The news agency adds that some people have been without water and electricity since Monday.

Protests have emerged in some areas over what demonstrators say is the countrys slow response to the disaster.

We are working as quickly as we can, Durbans city government said in a statement.

The South African Weather Service has issued a warning about more rain and flooding this weekend in KwaZulu-Natal and neighboring Free State and Eastern Cape provinces.

Some information in this report came from Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
Backed by Russian air power and allied militiamen on the ground, Syrian troops have recaptured entire cities from rebels and Islamic State extremists in the past year, including the key cities of Aleppo, Homs and Palmyra.

Yet for the past three years, President Bashar Assads forces have been unable to free opposition-held neighborhoods of the capital Damascus, where rebel fighters have built a labyrinth of secret tunnels, beyond the reach of airstrikes and connected to opposition-held suburbs farther out.

A weeks-long push to expand the security belt around Assads seat of power, however, shows a new determination to retake the three areas north and northeast of the capital partially held by rebels, a long-festering thorn in the governments side.

70 airstrikes in a day

The offensive is the strongest in years, with warplanes reportedly conducting more than 70 airstrikes in one day and using surface-to-surface missiles in some of the deadliest attacks in weeks.

The regime is pushing with all the powers it has, said Ahmad Mahmoud, an opposition activist based in a rebel-held eastern suburb of Damascus.

The Damascus neighborhoods of Barzeh, Qaboun, and Jobar form a semi arc from the northern to eastern edge of Damascus. They are partially held by rebels and are often used to fire mortar shells into the metropolis and stage hit-and-run attacks, a constant threat and reminder that rebels can disrupt life in the city that has escaped much of the destruction and violence of other areas.

Qaboun and Barzeh had witnessed relative calm since 2014, thanks to a reconciliation deal between rebels and the government. During that period, vegetables and daily products were allowed out of the neighborhoods into Damascus and in return the government allowed food and other products into the neighborhoods.

Years of calm end

That allowed government troops to turn their attention elsewhere, and in December government forces and their allies captured rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo, marking Assads biggest victory of the six-year war. Aleppo is Syrias largest city and once commercial center.

In March, rebels began evacuating al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighborhood in Homs, the countrys third-largest city, and more recently they evicted rebels from the Wadi Barada region northwest of Damascus. In August last year, rebels evacuated the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Daraya after years of siege.

The victories have freed thousands of troops and pro-government fighters who are now marching in northern, central and southern Syria against rebels and members of the Islamic State group.

Ghouta hardest and last

Opposition activists say that some of these troops will be used in the battle to capture the Damascus neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta in what would boost the security belt around Damascus and ease pressure on the capital.

They are dealing with the eastern Ghouta enclave last, because it is much larger than all the other enclaves, said Aron Lund, a fellow at The Century Foundation. It is bigger, more populated, and better defended than Eastern Aleppo was.

Lund, a Syria analyst, said Qaboun and Barzeh have supplied the eastern Ghouta rebels with arms, fuel, and other goods through smuggling tunnels, so taking these areas would probably be the first step toward retaking the Eastern Ghouta.

It will not be an easy battle.

They have their own world underground, said Rami Abdurrahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists around the country. He was referring to the elaborate tunnels that the fighters use to move from one place to another, smuggle food, or launch attacks against government forces before disappearing underground again.

Anas al-Dimashqi, an opposition activist based in eastern Ghouta, said that many of the tunnels have been destroyed by the government recently, collapsing under the pressure of airstrikes, or come under control of troops in previous incursions that would eventually turn the balance of power in favor of the government.

Surrounded

Having surrounded the areas from all sides, coupled with the unraveling of a truce that lasted years, it will be easier for the government to eventually get these areas under its control.

Earlier this year clashes broke out in Damascus and March 1, rebels killed Brig. Gen. Bilal Ibrahim Mubarak, who was commanding the operations in Jobar and Qaboun.

In mid-March, government forces launched a wide offensive, pushing deep into the so-called al-Darb al-Tawileh road cutting Barzeh and Qaboun from eastern Ghouta. The retaliation came days later as insurgents, including fighters linked with al-Qaida, launched suicide attacks and captured some areas from the government, in their deepest incursion into Damascus since 2012, only to lose them days later.

On April 3, government forces launched an offensive in Damascus capturing the Hafez road, a strategic artery, and sieged Barzeh in what would eventually facilitate its capture.

Opposition activists say government forces have now gained experience of how to slowly take control of areas after besieging them by starving the population and targeting hospitals and clinics in order to force them to accept a deal that would lead to an evacuation, a process that has occurred across other parts of the country.

Ghouta can strike back

Marwan al-Omawi, a media activist in eastern Ghouta, said that if the neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta face an all-out attack, rebels are only few kilometers (miles) from the capital and can retaliate by shelling it to pressure the government.

He said powerful groups are present in the neighborhoods and eastern Ghouta, including the Army of Islam, Failaq al-Rahman, the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, the ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham and the Fajr al-Umma group, illustrating that the battle will not be easy for the government.

Osama Abu Zeid, a Syria-based activist said these areas will resist a government attack but eventually these pockets have no supply lines and no lines to evacuate the wounded.

Mahmoud, the Ghouta-based activist, says the government will have to carpet bomb the area to force opposition rebels to surrender.

We know that the regime can fire 10,000 shells on an area. The regime might be able to advance but only after destroying whole districts with airstrikes and surface-to-surface missiles, he said.
Taiwanese rights activist Lee Ming-che returned to Taiwan Friday after completing a five-year prison term in China for criticizing Chinas government.

After landing in Taipei Friday morning, Lee went straight into 10 days of mandatory quarantine, and will address the media after he is released.

Lees return to Taiwan brings an end to a lengthy saga that began in 2017, when he disappeared while visiting Macao, run by China, as is Hong Kong, as a special administrative region.

Lee later turned up in detention in China and was charged with subverting state power, a catchall term used in China to prosecute activists, human rights lawyers, and even ordinary citizens found guilty of criticizing the government.

Prior to his arrest, Lee was a member of Taiwans non-governmental organization community, with ties to the ruling Democratic Peoples Party.

He may have come to Beijings attention when he criticized the Communist Party and promoted democratic ideas in private chat groups and on Chinese social media, according to Taiwanese media. He also sent books on similar topics to some of his contacts and reportedly helped the families of jailed Chinese dissidents.

Lees arrest in 2017 had a chilling effect on Taiwanese human rights activists because at the time he was a relatively low-profile activist with moderate views, said Yu-jie Chen, an assistant research professor at the law institute of Taiwans renowned Academia Sinica.

It was really shocking to Taiwan. He wasnt a pro-Taiwan independence element who went into China and got arrested because of his inflammatory Taiwan independence activities, Chen told VOA by phone, describing his NGO work as very normal activities, nothing provocative.

Lee was formally sentenced to five years in prison in November 2017 in a trial that was closely watched by rights groups and international media.

His case was also noteworthy because he was the first foreign NGO worker to be convicted under a new law regulating the work of foreign nonprofits and similar organizations in China, according to Taiwanese state media.

While in detention, Lee became a cause celebre in Taiwan as local NGOs and his wife worked continuously to raise awareness about his case, said Lev Nachman, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Harvard Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

Nachman told VOA that Lee has become a symbol for what might happen to Taiwanese activists if they ever go to China.

Since taking power in 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping has led a crackdown on human rights activists as well as lawyers. They may be charged with crimes from subverting state power to picking quarrels, or even colluding with foreign forces.

Taiwanese state media said Friday that following Lees release, four jailed Taiwanese businessmen and scholars are unable to return to Taiwan because they were charged with espionage.

Cases like Lees are also complex because China regards Taiwan as its sovereign territory. Xi has vowed to unify Taiwan either by peaceful means or by force.
A blanket ban on poppy cultivation by the Taliban emir is exacerbating Afghanistan's already dire economic situation and could lead to armed uprisings against the Islamist regime, experts say.

"This is a crazy policy at the worst possible time," said William Byrd, senior Afghanistan expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace, in response to a VOA question at an event on Wednesday.

If implemented, the policy would "put hundreds of thousands of Afghan rural households out of business," Byrd warned.

The Taliban's ban follows almost two decades of international efforts to wean the landlocked country from opium production, which accounts for more than 80% of the global supply. Counternarcotics policies of the previous Afghan government, which were bankrolled by Western donors, were largely considered a failure as opium production increased year after year.

The illicit opium economy feeds organized crimes, corruption and militancy inside Afghanistan and in other parts of the world, the United Nations and other organizations say.

But with the Afghan economy collapsing following the withdrawal of most international aid and much of the population at risk of starvation, experts fear that the Taliban's move to crack down at this time will do more harm than good.

This year's harvest, which is anticipated to be higher than last year's 6,800 tons, represents one of the few remaining sources of income for Afghan farmers and of seasonal job opportunities for tens of thousands of young Afghan men.

The vast poppy fields, which covered 177,000 hectares of land in 2021, created the equivalent of 190,700 full-time jobs in 2019, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

"Small-scale poppy cultivation is an important source of income and income stability for many Afghan farmers. The ban on poppy cultivation will make their livelihoods all the more precarious," Jeffrey Clemens, associate professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, told VOA.

The Taliban's terse poppy ban does not say what alternative livelihood and means of income will be provided to poppy farmers, laborers and traders.

"If anyone cultivates poppy, his crops will be destroyed and he will be dealt with according to Sharia," the Taliban order reads.

Known for their harsh law enforcement tactics, the Taliban are expected to implement the poppy ban only through coercive means. The Taliban had enforced an effective ban on poppy cultivation in 2001, just before a U.S.-led international military intervention toppled the regime.

Suspicious ban

From 2002 to 2021, the U.S. government spent almost $9 billion on counternarcotics as it fought Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

The Taliban were widely reported to be sponsoring their insurgency with proceeds from Afghanistan's illicit drug economy. In 2018 and 2019, the Taliban earned about $400 million from the drug trade, U.N. officials reported.

Last year, the country produced some 6,800 tons of opium  which produced 320 tons of heroin  yielding between $1.8 billion and $2.7 billion to the farmers, according to UNDOC. The total value of Afghanistan's opium in the international markets has been estimated at several billion dollars.

The Taliban ban, while immediately hurting farmers and laborers, will prompt a rise in opium and heroin prices, said Javid Ahmad Qaem, a former deputy minister for counternarcotics in Afghanistan.

"(The) Taliban will capitalize on it," he told VOA.

By banning the poppy cultivation, the Taliban regime, which faces growing international condemnations for closing secondary schools for girls and censoring media, might be seeking some kind of international understanding, others suggest.

"My best guess is that the ban is intended to either be temporary or that it will be selectively enforced. It creates a mechanism through which Taliban loyalists can be rewarded, while dissenters can be punished and pushed out of the market," Clemens said, meaning that the Taliban could look the other way and allow their supporters to continue cultivating poppy as before.

A crippled economy

Standing in the middle of his poppy field in southern Kandahar province, Juma Gul, a farmer, told VOA he cultivated the high cash crop out of desperation.

"Neither wheat nor vegetables can make us this much income," he said.

In 2021, revenues from the poppy fields made up to 11% of Afghanistan's GDP, UNDOC reported.

Eliminating the poppy economy in an environment with no viable alternatives and no foreign assistance will further cripple the Afghan economy, which is already suffering under strict international financial sanctions imposed on the Taliban regime.

Foreign development assistance, which accounted for 22% of the Afghan GDP in 2021, has been cut off since the Taliban returned to power. This has led to massive economic and humanitarian problems.

Over the past eight months, Afghanistan has suffered a 34% decline in per capita income, and public spending has plummeted by about 60%, the World Bank said in a report on Wednesday.

While foreign donors have pledged about $2.4 billion of humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, the Taliban's controversial policies will likely cause further harm to the Afghan economy.

Byrd, of the U.S. Institute of Peace, said the poppy ban is "a sign of the Taliban administration's lack of savvy on some of these economic policy issues and the macroeconomy."


Commercial truck traffic from the Mexican state of Chihuahua to Texas will return to normal immediately after both sides reached an agreement on border security, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Thursday.

The state of Chihuahua provided a plan to secure the border that will allow Texas authorities to cease enhanced inspections that have led to backups of trucks from Chihuahua over the past week, Abbott said during a joint press conference with Maria Eugenia Campos Galvan, the governor of that state.

"Texas and Chihuahua now have agreed to both secure the border as well to get commercial vehicles moving through the ports," Abbott said.

Abbott, a Republican running for reelection in November, ordered the state's Department of Public Safety last week to conduct "enhanced safety inspections" of vehicles as they cross from Mexico into Texas in order to uncover smuggling of people and contraband.

The inspections were part of a broader effort to deter illegal immigration that included the busing of migrants to Washington and aimed to counter what Abbott called the "open borders" policies of Democratic President Joe Biden.

Mexican truck drivers blockaded bridges at the U.S. border earlier in the week to protest the delays, which some drivers said caused waits that spanned more than half a day.

Abbott on Wednesday said that his state would cease enhanced inspections from the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon after a separate border security agreement with that state's governor.

The stepped-up inspections will continue at other parts of the border with Mexico until agreements with those states have been reached, Abbott said.
The head of the U.N. World Food Program said people are being "starved to death" in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and he predicted the country's humanitarian crisis is likely to worsen as Russia intensifies its assault in the coming weeks.

WFP executive director David Beasley also warned in an interview Thursday with The Associated Press in Kyiv that Russia's invasion of grain-exporting Ukraine risks destabilizing nations far from its shores and could trigger waves of migrants seeking better lives elsewhere.

The war that began Feb. 24 was "devastating the people in Ukraine," he said, lamenting the lack of access faced by the WFP and other aid organizations in trying to reach those in need amid the conflict.

"I don't see any of that easing up. I just don't see it happening right now," he said.

The fluid nature of the conflict, which has seen fighting shift away from areas around the capital and toward eastern Ukraine, has made it especially difficult to reach hungry Ukrainians.

The WFP is trying to put food supplies now in areas that could be caught up in the fighting, but Beasley acknowledged that there are "a lot of complexities" as the situation rapidly evolves.

A lack of access is part of the problem, he said, but so is a shortage of manpower and fuel as resources are diverted to the war effort.

"It's not just going to be the next few days  but the next few weeks and few months could even get more complicated than it is now," he said. "In fact, it's getting worse and worse, concentrated in certain areas, and the front lines are going to be moving."

Beasley expressed particular concern about the port city of Mariupol, where a dwindling number of Ukrainian defenders is holding out against a Russian siege that has trapped well over 100,000 civilians in desperate need of food, water and heating.

Russian forces that control access to the city have not allowed in aid, even though the WFP has demanded access.

"We will not give up on the people of Mariupol and other people that we cannot reach. But it's a devastating situation: the people being starved to death," he said.

Russia is determined to seize the city so its forces from the annexed Crimean Peninsula can fully link up with troops elsewhere in the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine's industrial heartland and the target of the coming offensive.

The U.N. food chief warned of disastrous ripple effects due to Ukraine's role as major international grain supplier.

A global food shortage caused by the war could prompt "mass migration beyond anything we've seen since World War II," he said, echoing remarks he made to the U.N. Security Council last month.

Russia and Ukraine together produce 30% of the world's wheat supply and export about three-quarters of the world's sunflower seed oil. Half of the grain the WFP buys for distribution around the world comes from Ukraine.

Some 30 million metric tons of grain bound for export are unable to be shipped because of the war, Beasley said. Ukrainian farmers are struggling to access fertilizer and seed, and those who can plant may see their harvest rot in the fields if the war drags on and there's no way to ship it, he warned.

The shipping challenges have forced the WFP to halve rations for millions of people, many in Africa, and more cuts may be needed, he said.

"People are going to be starving to death," he said.

Beasley also visited areas near Kyiv that were ravaged by the Russian invasion, including the town of Bucha, where evidence of mass killings and other atrocities against civilians have shocked the world.

He described neighborhoods "completely decimated by bombings," likening what he saw to a nightmare that was impossible to believe.

But he stopped short of describing the killings a genocide, as U.S. President Joe Biden did this week.

"Well, I know one thing. People are dying," he said when asked about Biden's comments. "But there's no doubt in my mind this is a horror story and it is truly heartbreaking."
The United Nations atomic watchdog said Thursday it installed surveillance cameras to monitor a new centrifuge workshop at Iran's underground Natanz site after a request from Tehran, even as diplomatic efforts to restore Iran's tattered nuclear deal appear stalled.

The start of work at the new workshop comes after Iran's centrifuge facility in Karaj found itself targeted in what Iran described as a sabotage attack in June.

Natanz itself has twice been targeted in sabotage attacks amid uncertainty over the nuclear deal, assaults that Tehran has blamed on Israel. Iran has previously said it would be moving the plant at Karaj to Natanz.

The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said it installed cameras and removed seals from machines at the workshop on Tuesday. Those machines will be used to make centrifuge rotor tubes and bellows, crucial parts for the devices that spin at very high speeds to enrich uranium gas.

Iranian media later Thursday acknowledged the installation of the cameras and said that all footage from them would be held by Iran  and not given to the IAEA  amid the standoff over the nuclear deal.

Iran has been holding footage from IAEA surveillance cameras since February 2021 as a pressure tactic to restore the nuclear accord.

On Wednesday, "Iran informed the agency that the machines would start operating at the new workshop the same day," the IAEA said in a statement. It did not elaborate on the location of the workshop at Natanz, a vast facility that includes laboratories and enrichment halls buried underground to protect them from airstrikes.

Natanz became a flashpoint for Western fears about Iran's nuclear program in 2002, when satellite photos showed Iran building an underground facility at the site, some 200 kilometers south of the capital, Tehran.

Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, U.S. intelligence agencies and the IAEA believe Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.

In July 2020, Natanz found itself targeted in sabotage that blew up a centrifuge assembly building. In April 2021, a sabotage attack in its underground halls destroyed centrifuges. Iran since has begun building a new extension to Natanz in a nearby mountain, likely to further harden the site.

Israel, also suspected in the killing of a scientist who founded Iran's nuclear military program, has hinted it carried out the Natanz attacks.

The camera installation comes as efforts to restore the nuclear deal, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment for the lifting of economic sanctions, appear deadlocked over an Iranian demand for America to delist the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization.

Despite repeated Iranian claims that a separate deal would see billions of dollars in assets unfrozen, the State Department reiterated that no deal is imminent on either a prisoner swap or the nuclear deal.

"Our partners have not released these restricted funds to Iran, nor has the United States authorized or approved any such transfer of restricted funds to Iran," the State Department said late Wednesday.
Editor's note: Here is a fast take on what the international community has been up to this past week, as seen from the United Nations perch.

Impacts of Ukraine war reverberate globally

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday that because of Russias war in Ukraine, the developing world is facing a perfect storm threatening to devastate many of its economies. He said 1.7 billion people could be affected by disruptions in food, energy and finance systems.

UN Chief: Ukraine War Fallout Threatens Economic Crisis in Developing World

Sexual violence, trafficking growing in Ukrainian conflict

The United Nations said Monday that Ukrainian women and children are at heightened risk of sexual violence, rape and trafficking as reports grow of such violations. U.N. Women Executive Director Sima Bahous told the Security Council that young women and unaccompanied teenagers are at particular risk.

UN: Sexual Violence, Trafficking Increasing in Ukraine War

ICC prosecutor: Ukraine a crime scene

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan visited the Ukrainian town of Bucha on Tuesday, as workers dug up bodies wrapped in black plastic bags from mass graves. He said the country has become a crime scene. His office has opened an investigation into alleged crimes falling under the courts jurisdiction.

As Calls Grow for Justice on Ukraine, ICC Steps Forward

Millions of South Sudanese face growing hunger, famine

The U.N. said this week that more than 7 million South Sudanese will be facing a food crisis by July because of floods, drought and armed clashes. About 87,000 people in the Pibor administrative area and parts of Jonglei, Lakes and Unity states are also likely to be at catastrophic levels of famine by July. About 2.9 million people will be just one step lower, at emergency levels.

South Sudan Facing Food Crisis

Move in General Assembly to hold Security Council veto holders accountable

Nearly 40 countries plan to bring a draft resolution to the U.N. General Assembly that seeks to hold the five veto-wielding countries in the Security Council accountable when they exercise that right. If adopted, the resolution would require the General Assembly to meet when one of the five permanent Security Council members  Britain, China, France, Russia or the United States  uses its veto to block adoption of a council resolution.

UN Security Council Veto Holders Could Face Accountability

African states abstain on Russia resolutions, may signal revival of NAM

Some African nations' repeated abstentions on U.S.-led resolutions condemning Russia at the United Nations could be a subtle signal for the revival of the Non-Aligned Movement, analysts say.

African States May Be Pushing to Revive Non-Aligned Movement, Analysts Say

In brief

Secretary-General Guterres said Wednesday that despite U.N. efforts, he does not think a nationwide humanitarian cease-fire will happen right now in Ukraine. He is hopeful, however, that several proposals the U.N. made for local cease-fires, humanitarian corridors, humanitarian assistance and civilian evacuations might still be possible, and he is awaiting a response from Russia.

The United Nations warned Thursday that as many as 6 million Somalis could face the risk of famine if the rainy season fails as expected and global food prices continue to rise. Three poor consecutive rainy seasons have deepened the countrys drought, plunging millions of people to crisis levels of food insecurity. Somalia imports 85% of its wheat from Ukraine and Russia, and the war there has also complicated the countrys food crisis. A humanitarian response plan requesting $1.5 billion is only 4.4% funded.

The U.N. says it continues to be concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Myanmar. More than 900,000 people are displaced, including more than 560,000 who have been uprooted because of violence since the military coup in February 2021. The U.N. Refugee Agency estimates that 35,700 people from Myanmar have crossed into neighboring countries. A humanitarian appeal for $826 million to assist 6.2 million people is only 4% funded.

Quote of note

When the perpetrators walk free, the survivors walk in fear, carrying the burden of ostracism and shame.

-- Pramila Patten, special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict, to the U.N. Security Council on the need for accountability.

What we are watching next week

On April 19, the U.N. Security Council will be briefed on the situation in Ukraine by the director general of the International Organization for Migration as well as by the U.N. Refugee Agency. More than 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24
Six U.S. lawmakers visited Taiwan on Friday, expressing strong support for the island's sovereignty and promising that the United States will help it resist efforts by the Chinese government to exert authority over what Beijing views as a part of "one China."



The visit prompted a strong reaction from the Chinese government, which had requested that the five senators and one representative not visit Taiwan. In addition to official statements condemning the visit, the government in Beijing ordered large-scale military drills in the waters near Taiwan, including sending aircraft on combat alert patrols and conducting maritime assault drills.



Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson for the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement, "Those who play with fire will burn themselves. The command troops always maintain high alert and will firmly safeguard national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability."

The delegation included Senator Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina; Senator Richard Burr, Republican of North Carolina; Senator Robert Portman, Republican of Ohio; Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska; and Representative Ronny Jackson, Republican of Texas.

Among other things, members of the U.S. delegation criticized China for what they characterized as its continued support for Russia in the face of that country's invasion of Ukraine. They also drew parallels between Russia's actions and the possibility that China might attempt to assert control over Taiwan by force.

Some of the most aggressive rhetoric came from Graham, who said, "Here is my promise to you and the Taiwanese people: We are going to start making China pay a greater price for what they are doing all over the world. The support for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin must come with a price. The never-ending cyberattack on your economy and people by the Communist Chinese needs to come with a price."

'Every option' available if China invades

Graham also addressed the question of whether the U.S. would take military action against China if it were to invade Taiwan.

"Every option is on the table," Graham said. "We have a strong military, not to take other people's property, but to protect our freedom and the freedom of the world. We're here in this part of the world not to conquer but to be a good ally."

He continued, saying, "The last century taught us that when good people give in to evil, you live to regret it." Graham said that if the U.S. were to abandon Taiwan, it would "change the world fundamentally for the worse."



In an apparent message to Beijing, he said, "To the Communist Chinese Party: We do not seek conflict. But we will fight for our values."

Menendez continually referred to Taiwan as "a country" in his remarks, despite China's insistence that Taiwan is not an independent state and long-standing U.S. policy to not officially recognize Taiwan as such.



At a press conference, Menendez said, "We're here to support Taiwan. Our relationship is rock-solid. When a country, like Taiwan, has 90% of the high-end semiconductor industry, it is a country of global significance, of global economic consequence. And those who wish Taiwan ill must understand that the global community will look at that and say we cannot allow Taiwan to be negatively impacted, because the world's interests are involved."



When asked, Menendez said that he supported legislation before both houses of Congress that would rename the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office as the Taiwan Representative Office.

Chinese Foreign Ministry reacts

China responded harshly to the U.S. lawmakers' visit.



Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, in a regularly scheduled press briefing, said, "China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the U.S. and the Taiwan region."

Zhao rejected the comparison that the visiting U.S. lawmakers made between the Russian invasion of Ukraine and potential Chinese action against Taiwan, claiming that such comparisons were designed to "mislead the public."



Further, he echoed the comments from the People's Liberation Army, saying the lawmakers' statements amounted to "playing with fire" and suggested they could "change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait."

Since Joe Biden took office as U.S. president in 2021, his administration has approved three separate arms sales to Taiwan to raise the island's capacity for self-defense in case of Chinese attack.



In remarks last week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that if China took action against Taiwan, the administration would respond with economic sanctions like those imposed on Russia after it invaded Ukraine.



The administration has been less clear about its willingness to engage in direct conflict with China over Taiwan. Biden, in a town hall event last year, seemed to suggest the U.S. would intervene militarily, only to have his comments walked back by the White House. Other than that, the administration has held to the traditional U.S. position of "strategic ambiguity," which leaves its likely reaction to a Chinese attack on Taiwan unclear.

That ambiguity is defined by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, which states that "the United States will make available to Taiwan such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities," but it leaves open to interpretation what constitutes a sufficient capability.

Taiwanese doubt US commitment

In Taiwan, public expectations of U.S. support in the event of an invasion by China have waned considerably in recent months. In a poll conducted by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation last month, just 34.5% of the Taiwanese surveyed said they believed that the U.S. would intervene militarily if China invaded, down from 65% only six months earlier.

Lawmakers in the U.S. have been aggressive in their words and actions regarding Taiwan, with dozens of legislative proposals before Congress, including some preauthorizing the U.S. president to use force to repel a Chinese invasion. It is, however, unclear how strongly the American people feel about engaging in conflict there.

Little polling on the subject is available in the U.S., but in March 2021, only 30% of respondents to a Gallup survey saw conflict between China and Taiwan as a "critical threat to U.S. vital interests." In the same survey, 53% called the issue "important, but not critical," and 16% said it was "not important."
Nexans

Nexans receives approval from Colombias antitrust authority for Centelsa acquisition

_PRESS RELEASE_

Paris, France / Monterrey, Mexico, March 21, 2022  Nexans SA (Euronext Paris: NEX) announced today that it has received antitrust clearance from Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC) of Colombia, that will permit Nexans SA to proceed with the proposed acquisition, from Xignux SA, of Centelsa.

We are very pleased that the SIC has approved this transaction as it demonstrates the Groups firepower to become a Pure Electrification player. This significant step forward in the process that will see Centelsa part of the Nexans Group will generate significant benefits for all stakeholders." said Christopher Guerin, Nexans Chief Executive Officer.

About Centelsa

CENTELSA is a manufacturing company of cables for energy and communications, which has been part of the industry since 1955, during which time it has retained its position as a recognized cable manufacturer in Colombia. It has a network of strategically located offices to cover the national and international markets, thus offering outstanding service levels.

About Xignux

Xignux is a Mexico-based company dedicated to the energy and food industries with sales in more than 40 countries. Xignux was founded 65 years ago and employs more than 28,000 people in five countries. Xignux manages companies that energize life and society to contribute to a better world. www.xignux.com

About Nexans

For over a century, Nexans has played a crucial role in the electrification of the planet and is committed to electrify the future. With around 25,000 people in 42 countries, the Group is leading the charge to the new world of electrification: safe, sustainable, renewable, decarbonized and accessible to everyone. In 2021, Nexans generated 6.1 billion euros in standard sales. The Group is a leader in the design and manufacturing of cable systems and services across four main business areas: Building & Territories, High Voltage & Projects, Industry & Solutions and Telecom & Data. Nexans is the first company of its industry to create a Foundation supporting sustainable initiatives bringing access to energy to disadvantaged communities worldwide. The Group pledged to contribute to carbon neutrality by 2030.

Nexans. Electrify the future.

Story continues

Nexans is listed on Euronext Paris, compartment A.

For more information, please visit www.nexans.comwww.nexans.com

Contacts:

Communication







Elyette Roux

elyette.roux@nexans.com







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minaa.el_baz@nexans.com Investor relations







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Tel.: +33 (0)1 78 15 03 94

aurelia.baudey-vignaud@nexans.com







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The Biden administration appears set to discuss the international economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and, potentially, Ukraine's reconstruction as part of the November G-20 summit agenda. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this story.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris used a meeting Friday with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and emphasize how important it is for the world to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tanzania has abstained on all three resolutions related to the conflict at the U.N. General Assembly, including the vote demanding that Russia withdraw its military forces, provide civilian protection and humanitarian access in Ukraine, and the vote to suspend Moscow from the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Harris met the Tanzanian leader at the vice president's ceremonial office adjacent to the White House, a historic encounter between Tanzanias first female leader and the first American female vice president.

Before their meeting, Harris outlined to reporters three areas of discussion: strengthening democracy, investment and economic growth, and global health.

Our administration is deeply committed to strengthen the ties in Tanzania and to African countries in general, Harris said. This has been an area of attentional focus and priority for both the president [Joe Biden] and for me.

Aviation pact

The U.S. and Tanzania recently signed the Open Skies Air Transport Agreement, which establishes a civil aviation relationship between the two countries. The two leaders welcomed the investment of nearly $1 billion from American companies in Tanzanias tourism and energy sectors, according to a readout provided by the White House.

Suluhu, elevated from vice president when John Magufuli died in March 2021, has signaled she wants to steer Tanzanias foreign policy from inward-looking to one that draws more foreign investment. To that end, she has met leaders in Beijing, London, Brussels, Moscow and the Persian Gulf.

She used her speech at the 76th session of the U.N. General Assembly in September  the first time a Tanzanian leader has addressed the body since 2015  to market her country as a trading partner, promising business-friendly policy changes.

My government would like to see our relationship grow further and strengthen to greater heights, Suluhu told Harris. My only request here is to call the U.S. government to encourage more of the private sector from the U.S. to work with us.

Former Ambassador to Tanzania Mark Green, who is now president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, said the meeting was a good sign for bilateral relations as well as U.S. interests in the continent.

We know that the continent is looking for U.S. investment. We should pay attention, and we should look for opportunities to partner whenever we can, Green told VOA.

Under pressure from civil society, Suluhu is also trying to return Tanzania to the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, which would be another milestone in reopening her country.

Pandemic aid

Tanzania is one of 11 African countries the U.S. is supporting through the Initiative for Global Vaccine Access, or Global VAX, to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates in developing nations.

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power met virtually with Suluhu in March and announced an additional $25 million in aid for Tanzania. This was on top of the $42 million and the 4.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses that the U.S. government had provided the country for its pandemic response.

However, without a single dollar of the $5 billion that the administration requested for its global COVID-19 response approved by Congress, by September USAID will no longer be able to finance Global Vax for countries including Tanzania.

Africa policy

The Biden administration has laid out a set of priorities for its outreach to Africa, including working toward COVID-19 recovery, combating climate change, boosting trade and investment, and supporting democracy.

In a visit to Kenya in November, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington sees African countries as equal partners, as he outlined the administrations policies toward a continent that receives much of its foreign aid from China, a U.S. rival.

The United States firmly believes that its time to stop treating Africa as a subject of geopolitics  and start treating it as the major geopolitical player it has become, Blinken said in Abuja, Nigeria.

However, beyond the administrations effort to combat the pandemic on the continent, there has not been much movement in other areas. Build Back Better World  an infrastructure investment program that the administration has been touting as a better alternative to Beijings Belt and Road Initiative, scheduled to launch this year  has been delayed.

Russias February invasion of Ukraine is likely to continue to be the focus of the administration in the months to come.

Certainly there are a lot of fires burning right now and I think the Biden administration is spread thin, Green said.

In September 2021, Harris met with President Akufo-Addo of Ghana and President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia. Earlier this month, Biden spoke with President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.
The war in Ukraine has put China's rail connectivity to Europe at risk because most of its routes pass through Russia. It has also raised serious questions about the fate of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative for building infrastructure across dozens of countries.

Even if the war were to end soon, neither China nor Ukraine would be interested in going ahead with the BRI projects in Ukraine, analysts said.

"BRI projects in Ukraine are basically off the table. Even China may not be interested to continue investing in a country with a seriously damaged economy," Jacob Mardell, Research Fellow on global infrastructure and China's foreign policy at the Mercator Institute of Chinese Studies, told VOA.

The BRI is the worlds biggest infrastructure program, with projects in European, Asian and African countries. China is estimated to have invested $59.5 billion in BRI projects last year alone, and more than $800 billion since the program was launched in 2013.

Just a week before the war in Ukraine began on February 24, France agreed with China to jointly build $1.7 billion worth of infrastructure in Africa, Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. This plan may come under a cloud as some of the West's anger toward Russia may spill over onto China, seen by some as a tacit supporter of Moscow.

The China-Europe Railway Express is a transit route for Chinese exports, though it also carries a smaller amount of goods from Europe to Chinese cities. The network has 73 routes, connecting China with Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, France, and Spain. Freight trains moving along these routes made 3,630 trips in the first quarter of this year, according to official Chinese sources.

The number of these trips is expected to fall by half or more if European countries continue isolating Russia, which falls in the middle of these routes, experts said.

"It is very likely that Russian isolation will impact China's plans for further developing its BRI rail to Europe, much of which crosses Russian land, Dexter Roberts, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Asia Security Initiative, told VOA.

"That is almost certain to affect their willingness to accept large shipments of goods crossing Russian territory to and from European markets. And if Russia is being sanctioned, it is extremely unlikely it would allow European goods to transit its territory as well," said Roberts, author of The Myth of Chinese Capitalism.

Besides existing train routes, China has several rail routes in Europe under construction or still on the drawing board that will also be affected.

"China's enthusiasm for rail connectivity will have to be seriously curbed for now. Beyond the short term, China must bypass the Russian-Belarusian and maybe Ukrainian geography," said Mohammadbagher Forough, a research fellow at the German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Hamburg, in an article in The Diplomat.

Alternative routes

Faced with challenges in Europe, China may focus on BRI's Central Asia-West Asia corridor, which connects it with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and other countries. The idea would be to move more Chinese exports via Central Asian countries, the Caspian region, Iran and Turkey.

There are problems with this route, though.

"The rail corridor through Turkey has limited capacity compared to the one passing through Russia, " Mardell said. Besides, it involves travelling a part of the journey by sea. On the whole, it is more time-consuming and expensive.

For several years, Beijing has been hoping to strengthen the transit route in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which connects to the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea.

Pakistan, though, has recently gone through political upheaval, resulting in the installation of a new prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif. The new government is expected to face a new election by the end of the year. In addition, Pakistan is experiencing a serious financial crunch and is seeking International Monetary Fund aid.

Political observers say Pakistan might delay or cancel some of the CPEC projects because it cannot afford to take on more Chinese debt. Also, the IMF may be less enthusiastic about supporting a country with high levels of debt.

Some analysts have a different view of the situation. "Prime Minister Sharif is known as being skilled at balancing geopolitical relationships. Even as he may try to move closer to the U.S., he almost certainly will work to continue to maintain or more likely to strengthen relations with China," Roberts said.

Sharif might try to further strengthen CPEC because his Pakistan Muslim League party ushered in the project in 2013, he said.

Even if construction work on CPEC continues unabated, it will be a long time before the Gwadar port has the capacity to allow Chinese exporters to use the Arabian Sea route. It is not an answer to China's immediate problem, which is European resistance to the flow of Chinese cargo via Russian territory by train.
WASHINGTON  Russias nuclear saber-rattling has the attention of top U.S. intelligence officials, some of whom are expressing growing concern about the Kremlins willingness to unleash some of its nuclear arsenal as it faces potential desperation in Ukraine.

Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns warned Thursday that the world should not underestimate Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose appetite for risk has only grown as his grip on Russia has tightened.

"Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership given the setbacks that they've faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons," Burns said during a speech to students at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, also known as Georgia Tech.

"We're obviously very concerned," he said, noting that Putin has an almost mystical belief that his destiny is to restore Russia's sphere of influence," which includes bringing Ukraine under the Kremlins sway.

Russia first put its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert on February 27, just three days after sending troops into Ukraine, citing aggressive statements by NATO and economic sanctions from the West.

Another warning

On Thursday, one of Putins closest allies further warned that Russia would place nuclear warheads in the Baltics should Sweden and Finland decide to join the Atlantic alliance.

"There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic  the balance must be restored," said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council.

Medvedev said Russia would place warheads in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea that is 500 kilometers from Berlin and less than 1,400 kilometers from London and Paris.

Lithuanias defense minister downplayed the Russian threat, calling it nothing new.

"Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad ... the international community, the countries in the region, are perfectly aware of this, Arvydas Anusauskas told Lithuania's BNS news service.

'Troubled'

Still, the U.S. spy chief Thursday warned that Russias nuclear threats bear watching.

"I have learned over the years never to underestimate Putin's relentless determination, especially on Ukraine," said Burns, who met with Putin in Moscow last November, hoping to dissuade the Russian leader from invading Ukraine.

"I was troubled by what I heard," Burns said.

Despite his concern, the CIA director said U.S. intelligence has yet to see evidence Moscow is preparing to unleash any part of its nuclear arsenal.

"While we've seen some rhetorical posturing on the part of the Kremlin, moving to higher nuclear alert levels, so far we haven't seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern," he said.

U.S. defense officials have previously described Russias decision to put its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert in February as "escalatory and unnecessary," but say they have yet to see anything that would require a U.S. response.

"We're obviously watching that very closely," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters during a briefing Thursday. "We have seen nothing in the space out there that has given us cause to change that [nuclear deterrence] posture in any tangible way."

"It is not something that we take for granted," he added.

The latest U.S. security package for Ukraine, approved Wednesday, includes gear designed to protect Ukrainian forces from nuclear, biological and chemical exposure.

Russian war crimes

During his speech Thursday, Burns warned "the last chapter in Putins war has yet to be written," saying that Russia was unlikely to depart from its current, vicious strategies.

"I have no doubt about the cruel pain and damage that Putin can continue to inflict on Ukraine, or the raw brutality with which Russian force is being applied," he said.

China

The U.S. spy chief also called out China as "a silent partner in Putin's aggression" in Ukraine, adding that Beijing presents a threat to the United States and the West in its own right.

China "is our greatest challenge, in many ways the most profound test the CIA has ever faced," Burns said. "As an intelligence service, we have never had to deal with an adversary with more reach in more domains."

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
WASHINGTON  U.S. President Joe Biden said Thursday that he's considering sending a senior U.S. official to Ukraine, a high-profile visit that would underscore Washington's commitment to the besieged nation.

When asked whether he would dispatch an official, Biden replied, "We're making that decision now."

"Are you ready to go?" Biden joked to a reporter.

"Are you?" the reporter responded.

"Yeah," the president said.

Earlier in the week, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden did not have plans to visit Ukraine himself. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently made a surprise visit to Ukraine's capital, as have other European leaders.

As fighting continued in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, the 50th day of Moscow's invasion, Russia announced that the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, sank as it was being towed to port. The ship was heavily damaged by an onboard explosion, and the crew of about 500 sailors had been evacuated.

The Russian Defense Ministry blamed a fire that detonated ammunition on board the guided-missile cruiser, but Ukraine said it hit the ship in a missile attack.

"I cannot confirm the Ukrainian reports that it was hit by a missile," said Pentagon press secretary John Kirby on Thursday. "But we are also not in a position to refute that it could have been a Ukrainian missile which struck the ship. We just don't have perfect visibility on exactly what happened."

Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the vessel was badly damaged on Wednesday as a result of either "incompetence" or a successful attack by the Ukrainians.

"We've been in touch with the Ukrainians overnight, who said they struck the ship with anti-ship missiles," Sullivan told an audience at the Economic Club of Washington. "We don't have the capacity at this point to independently verify that, but certainly the way that this unfolded is a big blow to Russia."

Meanwhile, the verbal duel continued to escalate between Moscow and Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned European countries looking to replace energy purchases from Russia that it would be "quite painful for the initiators of such policies."

The Russian leader said, "Supplies from other countries that could be sent to Europe, primarily from the United States, would cost consumers many times more" and would "affect people's standard of living and the competitiveness of the European economy."

The European Union is dependent on Russia for 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil.

And Russia said that if Finland and Sweden revoked their longtime neutral stance between Moscow and the West and joined the U.S.-dominated NATO military alliance, then Russia would move nuclear weapons closer to the two Northern European countries.

Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to flood Ukraine with weapons. Biden informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday of a new $800 million U.S. arms shipment.

Later, in a statement, Biden said, "The Ukrainian military has used the weapons we are providing to devastating effect. The United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself."

The Pentagon said the new tranche of weaponry includes 500 Javelin missiles; 300 Switchblade drones; 300 armored vehicles; 16 helicopters; chemical, biological and nuclear protective gear; and 30,000 sets of body armor and helmets.

The U.S. is also providing an unknown quantity of anti-personnel munitions, which are configured to be only manually detonated.
Zimbabwes ambassador to South Africa, David Hamadziripi, was on Thursday booed when he attempted to make remarks at a memorial service of Elvis Nyathi, who was killed by a vigilante group in the countrys Diepsloot township last week.

Hamadziripi had to leave the hall in Johannesburg as some Zimbabweans attending the event heckled him, claiming that his government is to blame for Nyathis death.

The irate Zimbabweans said President Emmerson Mnangagwas government forced them to leave the country to seek work in South Africa earning meager wages far below the breadline.

Speaking soon after the event, Hamadziripi said, In situations like this there would always be comments that are made  The government of Zimbabwe is doing all it can. Its engaging the South African government in order to secure the safety of our nationals in this country.

Nyathi worked in the Johannesburg metropolitan region as a domestic worker.

Peter Moshosho, a South African citizen and chairperson of Africa Simunye, apologized on behalf of locals for the brutal death of the Zimbabwean.

Generally, I would like to apologize to Zimbabweans because we are not expecting as South Africans that thugs in South Africa can kill our fellow black brother in South Africa. So, thats why Im saying we really apologize for that. Im a Zimbabwean, Im a South African, Im a Mozambican, Im Sotho, Im a Nigerian. Africa must be one and we want one currency.

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently condemned Nyathis killing saying it was unAfrican.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africans should fight crime in their country instead of attacking immigrants.

In a statement, Ramaphosa reminded locals that the countrys constitution promotes democratic values, social justice and human rights.

He said, When our forebears drafted the Freedom Charter in 1955, whose principles have been incorporated in our constitution, and declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, they were seeking a society free from ethnic chauvinism, tribalism, racism and sexism. It is therefore deeply disturbing how the recent incidents of anti-foreigner sentiment in parts of the country echo our apartheid past.

We have seen people being stopped on the street by private citizens and being forced to produce identification to verify their immigration status. We have seen some political leaders making unscientific statements about immigrants to exploit peoples grievances for political gain. We have seen marches being led on peoples homes and their dwellings raided for evidence of criminal activity. We have seen people being attacked, hurt and even killed because of how they looked or because they have a particular accent.

He made these remarks at a time some South Africans killed a Zimbabwean immigrant, Elvis Ncube, by dousing him with gasoline and setting him on fire using vehicle tyres.

Ramaphosa said, This was how the apartheid oppressors operated. They said some people could only live in certain areas, operate certain businesses or take certain jobs. Under apartheid, black people were deemed suspects by default and stopped by police when found in so-called white areas. Black people were forced to produce a dompas and if they could not do so, they were jailed. We cannot allow such injustices to happen again.

The events in the Gauteng township of Diepsloot last week were a tragedy. In the course of a single weekend, seven people were killed, sparking protests. This loss of life is deplorable, as is the killing of a fellow African from Zimbabwe allegedly at the hands of vigilantes. Crime is a serious problem in this country. It affects all communities and people are justifiably tired of living in fear of criminals.

Ramaphosa noted that contrary to what is claimed by some anti-immigration groupings and individuals, the perpetrators of crime are both black and white, male and female, foreigner and citizen.

Crime, not migrants, is the common enemy we must work together to defeat. We cannot defeat crime through incitement, violence, intimidation and vigilantism aimed at foreign nationals, and specifically nationals from other African countries. We acknowledge many communities are frustrated by the apparent inability of the police to deal with criminals. Among the measures we are taking to capacitate the police is the recruitment of an additional 12,000 additional police officers.

We are also re-establishing community policing forums (CPFs) across the country. These forums bring communities and police representatives together to improve local safety and hold police accountable. Communities need to work with the police by actively participating in CPFs and reporting suspected acts of criminality.

He said as South Africa intensifies its fight against crime, there is no justification for people taking the law into their own hands.

At the same time, we recognise that illegal migration poses a risk to South Africas security, stability and economic progress. Illegal migration affects service delivery and places additional burdens on essential services such as health care and education. Like any sovereign nation, we have the right to implement policies and measures that guarantee the integrity of our borders, protect the rights of South Africans and provide that all who reside in our borders have a legal right to be here.

Controlling migration is the responsibility of government. No private citizen may assume the role of immigration or law enforcement authorities by demanding that foreign nationals produce identification. Under Section 41 of the Immigration Act, only a police member or immigration officer can ask someone to identify themselves as a citizen, permanent resident or foreign national. If these officers believe, on reasonable grounds, that the person is in the country unlawfully, they may be detained while an investigation into their status is conducted. When doing so, law enforcement authorities must respect that persons rights and dignity. They may not do so in a manner that is degrading or humiliating.

The South African president further said enforcement of migration legislation is a priority for government.

Gibbs Dube and Thuso Khumalo contributed to his article
WASHINGTON 

Fighting is raging around Mariupols Illich Steel and Iron Works plant as Ukraine tries to holds on in the southern city and break Russias siege. Meanwhile, Russia is threatening to increase its missile strikes on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.



Russia used long-range bombers to attack Mariupol on Friday for the first time since its February 24 invasion, Ukraine Defense Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said.



"The situation in Mariupol is difficult and hard. Fighting is happening right now, the Russian army is constantly calling on additional units to storm the city, but as of now, the Russians haven't managed to completely capture it, Motuzyanyk said.

Elsewhere, Russian forces were concentrating on seizing the cities of Rubizhne and Popasna, in Ukraine's east. Also in the region, Russian shelling hit a residential area in Kharkiv, killing seven people, including a small child, and injuring 34 others, the regional governor said Friday.



Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 2,864 people were evacuated from conflict areas Friday, including 363 from Mariupol, 370 from the Luhansk region in the east, and 2,131 people from cities in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Also, a senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. believes that Ukrainian forces struck the Russian warship Moskva with two Neptune missiles, causing it to sink. The confirmation Friday came after Ukrainian forces said they had attacked the cruiser in the Black Sea, while Russian officials claimed the ship had experienced a fire.

Tensions between Russia and the European Union increased Friday as Russia expelled 18 EU diplomats. The move comes in retaliation for Brussels' decision earlier this month to expel 19 Russians, members of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU in Brussels, for "engaging in activities contrary to their diplomatic status."

Russia's foreign ministry said in its statement it had summoned EU Ambassador to Russia Markus Ederer and handed him a note of protest. The EU diplomats must leave Russia as soon as possible, the ministry added.

The EU mission to Russia called the decision by the Russian authorities a retaliatory step."

The Washington Post reported on Friday that Moscow this week sent a formal diplomatic communique to the U.S. warning that shipments of the most sensitive weapons systems to Ukraine were adding fuel to the war and said that could result in unpredictable consequences.

The Post said it reviewed a copy of the diplomatic note, which came as U.S. President Joe Biden approved a major expansion of the military hardware being provided.

In an interview with CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed the concerns of CIA Director William Burns, who said that Russia, out of desperation, could consider using tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons. Zelenskyy said the whole world should be worrying.

For them, meaning Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the Russian military, life of people is nothing, Zelenskyy said.

More than 900 bodies of civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, according to the regional police chief, who spoke Friday at a briefing.

The jarring numbers came shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to ramp up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines alleged aggression on Russian territory.

Russian authorities accused Ukraine of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in a border region of Russia. Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia.



Russia pulled its troops out of northern Ukraine this month.

Moscow now says its main war aim is capturing the Donbas, an eastern region of two provinces that are already partly held by Russian-backed separatists and that Russia wants Kyiv to cede.

Russia has amassed thousands of troops in the east for what Ukraine anticipates will be a major assault.

Moscow says it hopes to seize all of Mariupol soon, which would make it the first large city it has captured.

The Black Sea port, home to 400,000 people before the war, has been reduced to rubble by seven weeks of siege and bombardment, with tens of thousands of people trapped inside.

Thousands of civilians have died there, Ukrainian officials have said.

Russia initially described its aims in Ukraine as disarming its neighbor and defeating nationalists there. Kyiv and its Western allies say those are bogus justifications for an unprovoked war of aggression that has driven a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters.
Czech Intelligence Services chief Colonel Michal Koudelka gave a press conference to caution against the new stratagems of the Russian secret services.

While noting that the expulsion of Russian diplomats and the travel ban on Russian businessmen depletes the Russian secret services of their staff, Colonel Koudelka anticipates possible Russian disinformation campaigns in the Czech Republic and more generally in the West.

He also described the 250,000 Ukrainian refugees in his country as amenable, overlooking reports that many of them showed up at Banderite-run camps and events. Finally, he floated the idea that Russian spies might be in their midst.

Close to MI6 and the CIA, Colonel Koudelka [1] had tried to overthrow Czech President Milos Zeman, by implicating him in a case that would have painted him as a Russian agent. Then he retrospectively accused the Kremlin of having organized the two explosions at the Vrbetice arms depots in 2014, enlisting the same agents that were used in the 2018 Skripal poisoning in London.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has replaced its staff with individuals who previously served as active officers in the NATO armies. They were granted diplomatic clearance by Kiev plus all the inherent protections.

Reports of espionage activities quickly emerged. Chairman of the Russian Federation Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin asked the Lugansk Peoples Republic to verify the allegations

Lugansk President Leonid Pasetchnik has just notified them of their expulsion.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman General Igor Konashenkov warned that his country would destroy the command center for sabotage operations in Kiev if such operations inside Russia continued.

Since the start of the conflict, the Russian armies have never threatened Kiev, which was not one of their targets. On the contrary, it was the Atlanticist propaganda that, obscuring the declarations of President Putin, kept signaling the forthcoming the battle of Kiev until the Russian withdrawal from the West and the North of the country.

The Moscow announcement attests to the severity of NATOs sabotage activities in Russia.
Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen has been sidelined from the federal election campaign trail after testing positive to COVID-19.

Mr Bowen confirmed the news via social media, saying he would spend the next seven days in isolation.

"I was looking forward to a few days campaigning in regional Queensland and Brisbane but it isn't to be," he tweeted on Saturday.

"Can't wait to get back on the trail with our magnificent candidates and make an Albanese government a reality."

It comes after Labor's home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally and Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews contracted the virus earlier this week.

More than 41,000 new infections were reported on Saturday along with a further 35 deaths, although seven of these were historical fatalities announced by authorities in Western Australia.

This follows almost 47,000 cases and 34 deaths reported nationally on Friday.

Net hospital admissions were up two dozen patients across the country on Saturday with seven more patients in intensive care.

Meanwhile, Health Victoria is monitoring the new BA.4 or BA.5 Omicron variant after samples were confirmed in a catchment at Tullamarine, north of Melbourne.

The sub-variant has been recently detected in a small number of cases in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The World Health Organisation says there are currently no known significant epidemiological differences between the new Omicron strain and the more dominant BA.2 strain.

"There is no cause for alarm with the emergence of the new sub-variants," WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said this week in a statement.

"We are not yet observing a major spike in cases, hospitalisations or deaths."

LATEST 24-HOUR COVID-19 DATA FROM ACROSS AUSTRALIA:

NSW: 13,601 cases, 18 deaths, 1491 in hospital, 72 in ICU

Victoria: 9559 cases, eight deaths, 403 in hospital, 21 in ICU

Northern Territory: 391 cases, no deaths, 28 in hospital, none in ICU

Story continues

Tasmania: 1334 cases, no deaths, 48 in hospital, one in ICU

Queensland: 5878 cases, one death, 538 in hospital, 22 in ICU

South Australia: 3749 cases, one death, 223 in hospital, eight in ICU

Western Australia: 6314 cases, seven historical deaths, 205 in hospital, eight in ICU

ACT: 856 cases, no deaths, 60 in hospital, two in ICU
The White House has announced that it does not plan to return the seized assets of Russian citizens.

The US Constitution does not guarantee the right to property. Until now, the US Congress has been preoccupied with the Russian governments respect for property. Thus the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012 prescribes penalties for the theft that the Russian state allegedly committed against Sergei Magnitsky.
The articles on Voltaire Network may be freely reproduced provided the source is cited, their integrity is respected and they are not used for commercial purposes (license CC BY-NC-ND).

Source: Kremlin concerned about its technological sovereignty, Voltaire Network, 15 April 2022, www.voltairenet.org/article216521.html
Photo: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

Making a live-action Barbie movie is one thing. Making a Barbie movie directed by indie darling Greta Gerwig of Lady Bird and Frances Ha fame is a completely different beast. Margot Robbie took on the starring role of the Mattel doll after Amy Schumer dropped out over creative differences, and Ryan Gosling will play Ken. The film has been snatching up Hollywood celebs in its manicured plastic fists. Heres all the casting, plot, and release information we know about so far. Cmon, jump in.

Gerwig and Noah Baumbach will co-write the script for Sony. Emma Mackey will star alongside Robbie, giving these two a chance to prove theyre not actually the same person in different fonts. (Now all we need is for Samara Weaving to join the cast and complete the look-alike trifecta.) In a meta-nod to the dolls creators, Will Ferrell is rumored to be taking on a role as the CEO of Mattel, the company that manufactures Barbies, Hot Wheels, and American Girl dolls. Simu Liu, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, and Alexandra Shipp will also be joining the Barbie cast in as yet unspecified roles.

Set for a 2023 theatrical release, Barbie is billed as a fish-out-of-water story about a doll who is ousted from toy society for not being perfect enough and then embarks on the time-old journey of realizing that whats inside matters more than whats on the outside. Life in plastic just wont be fantastic until we have more details.
James McAvoy as Cyrano. Photo: Marc Brenner

A bunch of macho British soldiers have torn off their shirts and are hoisting a fellow squaddie on their shoulders. Theyre all roaring. Up in the air, their favorite lad is none other than James McAvoy, roaring too, his eyes rolling wild as he crowd-surfs over his troop of rowdies.

Whos the man we always back? Cyrano de Bergerac! Who can take the fucking flak? Cyrano de Bergerac! Who is it that the twats attack? Cyrano de Bergerac! Here we go Cyrano

If youve encountered Edmond Rostands swashbuckling 1897 romance before  whether in the musical, or the movie of the musical, or one of its retellings, or, heck, the original play  this hype-em-up chant might not be the Cyrano de Bergerac you remember. There certainly isnt a rapier or a feathery hat in sight, though there are reams of verse. For Jamie Lloyds heart-stopping production now at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the program says that the text is a new version by Martin Crimp. Yes, well, in the sense that fire can be considered a new version of wood.

It takes nearly three hours, but this Cyrano still feels compact and almost claustrophobically compressed. Its just so goddamn fast: Actors spit Crimps poetry in rap battles and spoken-word flights; the language pivots and jukes like its trying to get a ball down the field. And in this word-crazy scrum, a phenomenal McAvoy goes faster and fiercer than anybody. He claims he has decelerated his Glaswegian patter for American audiences so we can understand him  but I cant believe it. Even when he sits still and silent, you can feel him hurtling along in his mind.

Apart from its obvious anachronisms (including winking comments about gender fluidity and the male gaze), Crimps plot is similar to Rostands. Its 1640. Brave, brilliant, ugly Cyrano yearns for Roxane (Evelyn Miller), who has fallen in love with pretty boy Christian (Eben Figueiredo), a soldier who has just enlisted in Cyranos tough-talking military regiment. Their circle is full of poets like Ligniere (Nima Taleghani) and cafe owner Ragueneau (Michele Austin), and as beatboxer Vaneeka Dadhria gives them a rhythm, they all dazzle one another with verse. Its a community, but Cyrano is alone inside it, tormented by his unrequited love, his hatred for his own enormous nose, and a contempt for aristocrats like the loathsome de Guiche (Tom Edden). He throws himself, therefore, under lifes wheels. Fight a hundred men? Hed love to. Crawl through a battlefield to fulfill a vow? His pleasure. And, of course, theres his bravest, stupidest choice of all: He ghostwrites Christians love letters to Roxane, pouring his heart into promises that another man will keep.

Were all so familiar with Cyrano we take the nose on faith  McAvoy doesnt wear one. But thats not to say the actor hasnt altered his body for the part. He has shaved his hair short and hulked out, the bunched muscles in his back fixed in the powerlifters permanent hunch. Under his black T-shirt, he has the high shoulders and the head-down movement of a bull. For this Cyrano, everything looks like the matadors red cape: He charges at friends, enemies, language, and danger with the same jacked-up energy. Only once, during a brief misunderstanding with Roxane, does this thrust go upward instead of forward and down. Thinking for a moment that she loves him, he pogos in place, shuddering like a rocket on the launchpad.

The Jamie Lloyd Companys production was the pride of London in 2019. Lloyd is, for good and ill, a stylist, fond of precise stage choreography that fixes his actors into hieroglyphic friezes: When the curtain (a plywood wall) flies up, the glowering company stands there, posed as if for a school picture  if every student wanted to kill you. Everything is flat and frontal. Actors, wearing what look like rehearsal clothes, are heavily miked, and they usually come forward and face the audience to deliver their lines, often not facing one another. Occasionally, the cast will explode into motion and hot violence  only for Lloyd to freeze the company into a rigid chess set again. Rhyming verse is a discipline, so Lloyd meets it with control.

Some of this hypermanagement struck me as mannered, but visually and sonically, the production is perfect. Costume and set designer Soutra Gilmours character touches are light but meaningful. She gives Roxane a silk bow to wear above her denim jumpsuit, and Christians blue windbreaker has a camouflage pattern. Gilmours set is also restrained but pointed: a plywood box, pale as paper, that in the second act becomes a set of stairs to nowhere. She and lighting designer Jon Clark make it starkly effective. After weve grown used to the shallow playing area, it feels almost like a special effect when we see how much black emptiness lies behind it. Just before the intermission, Christian and Cyrano go off to war, and as they walk off into that void, sound designers Ben and Max Ringham let us hear them murmur their farewells.

Theres a lot of darkness here, actually. The experience feels even more painful than it did three years ago. Miller as Roxane is more tremulous than the actress I saw in London, and her radiant, slightly shaking smile softens the character. Crimp is crueler to her than Rostand was; the final rapprochement scene, one full of old passions worn soft, has hardened under his hand. McAvoy, giving a performance Ill remember for the rest of my life, has hardened, too. He and Crimp and Lloyd see Cyranos bargains as ones he cant undo. I need them, Cyrano tells his friend Le Bret about the people he has antagonized. I need that hate / need them to isolate / me so that I can create. In 2019, this me-against-the-world momentum made him seem flawed but valiant; now, Cyrano seems utterly lost and destructive. There are no stars left in this productions eyes. Loneliness has no value. Self-hatred breaks you.

The elephant in the theater is, of course, McAvoys beauty. Its both a distorting and an amplifying force: The more Cyrano rages about how hideous he is, the more magnetic he gets. Crimps ideas, Lloyds production, the whole BAM Harvey Theater bends toward him  even Christian, his rival, is transfixed by his mouth. I havent worked it out yet, but there is something more complicated going on here than a handsome man pretending to be plain. McAvoy hasnt used prosthetics or uglifying makeup like every other actor in the part; instead, he has tried to further perfect himself, building himself a huge yoke of muscle. What does it mean to have done that sort of work for a play about male insecurity? One of Rostands deeper mysteries is Cyranos mixture of self-punishing integrity and self-aggrandizing style  what he calls his panache. For all the plays pages of verse, no one can quite get to the bottom of it. McAvoy proposes his own explanation of panache, but its not a thing he can say in words. If you go to BAM, youll see him perform a poem about loneliness and effort and pain that isnt actually in Crimps text. Its hard to quote it, and you cant write it down. Youll see it, though, I promise. His body is the pen; his body is the rhyme and meter, too.

Cyrano de Bergerac is at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

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Pope Francis has hinted that racism was behind the fact that many countries have been more welcoming to refugees from war-torn Ukraine than to those from other parts of the world.

Speaking to Italian television station RAI, the pontiff said the weakest always suffered the most in wars, adding: "The refugees are divided. First class, second class, by skin colour, whether you come from a developed country or a non-developed one.

"We are racists. And that's bad," the Pope said.

According to UN figures, more than 4.7 million Ukrainians have left the country since Russia invaded in late February.

Later on Good Friday, when Christians remember the death of Jesus, Pope Francis is due to hold a public service at St Peter's Basilica in Rome for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began over two years ago.

Francis told RAI that he accepted countries had a right to defend themselves, but said the general abandonment of peace was a problem.

"We live according to an idea where we kill each other because of the need for power, for security, for many things," the head of the Catholic Church said.

"I understand governments that buy weapons. I understand them, but I don't approve of it."
On 21 March 2002, Hartlepool prison officer John Darwin went out in his canoe. When he missed his shift at work and didnt return home, the alarm was raised and there was a huge search operation. He was a missing person, presumed dead. Little did the police know, John had actually faked his own death, with the help of his wife Anne, so that they could claim the life insurance money.

The couple lied to their two sons and the world. In 2007, after trying and failing to start a new life under a fake name in Panama with Anne, John turned up at a police station in London, claiming he had amnesia. The story exploded, and John was soon known as Canoe Man, but the pair were caught out when a member of the public found a photo online of the couple in Panama, taken in 2006. They were both convicted of fraud and sentenced to more than six years in prison.

Now, ten years on from Johns initial disappearance, ITV is dramatising the story in a new four-part seriesThe Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, with Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan playing the couple at the centre of the scandal.

The ITV series ends with Anne leaving prison and going to a halfway house in Leeds  but where are the Darwins now?

Anne separated from John just before she was released from prison. I hadnt realised how much John manipulated me until I was in prison. I had to see a psychologist to finally help me see things in a different light," she told The Guardian in 2016.

Until then Id always had his voice in my head. Finally, when it faded away, I could then make decisions for myself and I realised that I didnt have to depend on him. I could cope on my own.

In 2011, when Anne was released, John reportedly sent her a photograph of herself with a copyright symbol on it, to imply she was his property. They eventually divorced, with John citing unreasonable behaviour.

John Darwin and his second wife Mercy (Jamie Wiseman/ANL/Shutterstock)

Soon afterwards, Anne decided to tell her story. In 2016, she released a memoir, Out of My Depth. The blurb for the book reads: After years of remaining silent, Anne Darwin finally reveals the truth behind the crime that tore her family apart.

Story continues

Anne also got a job with the RSPCA using the qualifications she gained in prison. The proceeds from her book went to the RNLI and the RSPCA.

She is now retired and living alone in the north of England. She is reconciled with her two sons, Mark and Anthony, who had previously disowned her, and is a part of her grandchildrens lives.

John, meanwhile, remarried in 2015. He moved to Manila in the Philippines, where he helps his second wife, Mercy, run a market stall. She is 23 years younger than him.

The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe begins on ITV at 9pm on Sunday 17 April.
Pontiff resumes Holy Thursday prison tradition for first time in two years.

Pope Francis visited a prison near Rome to preside over a Holy Thursday Mass during which he washed and kissed the feet of 12 prisoners.

The private ceremony at the jail in the port town of Civitavecchia, 80km north-west of Rome, was held among inmates, prison staff and Italy's justice minister Marta Cartabia.

The foot-washing ritual commemorates the gesture of Jesus at the Last Supper when he washed the feet of his apostles, the night before he died, as a sign of humility and service.

The pontiff washed the feet of 12 inmates, men and women, including people of various ages and nationalities, reports Vatican News.

In a homily in the prison chapel Francis said: "Jesus teaches us this, simply, that you must wash each other's feet... We serve one another, without expecting a return: how beautiful it would be if it were possible to do this every day and to all people."

The pope added that "God forgives everything and God always forgives!"

Pope Francis presides over the Mass of the Lord's Supper with inmates at a penitentiary complex of Civitavecchia, a port city north of Rome. https://t.co/op4w51YTaJ pic.twitter.com/w7OrGTvh7u Vatican News (@VaticanNews) April 14, 2022

Part of the pontiff's liturgical programme leading up to Easter, the service saw Francis resume a tradition of visiting jails on Holy Thursday.

He began the custom after his election in 2013 but it was suspended for the last two years due to Italy's covid restrictions.

Pope Francis greets prisoners and staff at Civitavecchia jail. Photo Vatican Media.

On the night of Good Friday, 15 April, the pope will preside over the Via Crucis, a candle-lit ceremony that commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus, with Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum in Rome.

The Vatican's decision to have Ukrainians and Russians participate together in one of this year's stations has led to objections by Ukraine's embassy to the Holy See and the Ukrainian Byzantine-rite Catholic Church.

The pope will preside over an Easter Vigil Mass in St Peter's Basilica on Saturday evening and an Easter Sunday Mass in St Peter's Square at 10.00 followed by the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing.

Photo Vatican Media
The story of Crocifissione by Renato Guttuso.

This 1941 painting is considered a milestone in Italian 20th-century art and is among the best known works by the Sicilian painter Renato Guttuso (1912-1987).

It was commissioned by Alberto Della Ragione, an enlightened collector of works by Italian artists attached to the Corrente, an anti-fascist cultural movement based in Milan in the 1930s. A naval engineer from Genoa, Della Ragione used his vast wealth to support many young experimental artists, including Guttuso who viewed him as a hero in a heroic moment for Italian art.

When Della Ragione saw the finished Crocifissione, however, he was so stunned that he refused to let Guttuso part with it, insisting that such a masterpiece remain in the artists personal collection. In 1942, when Guttuso exhibited the enormous square canvas at the Premio Bergamo exhibition, it not only won second prize but also generated a storm of controversy.

Viewers were shocked by its widespread nudity, expressive nature and air of revolution. However it was the depiction of a naked Mary Magdalene that attracted the most criticism, particularly from the Vatican which declared the painting sacrilegious and labelled Guttuso a pictor diabolicus (devilish painter).

The artists atheist and communist credentials also saw his painting denounced by the fascists who claimed that it exploited religion to depict the horrors of war. The dramatic, richly-coloured crucifixion scene is made all the more graphic by the inclusion of instruments of torture: a hammer, large nails, a scissors and a knife.

The paintings power to shock and its strong cubist elements recall Guernica, painted by Picasso a few years earlier; the influence is particularly evident in the horse whose head writhes back from the terrible spectacle.

Guttusos unusual composition also disorientates the viewer  most of the faces are obscured, including Jesus who is identifiable by his pierced side and crown of thorns. Guttuso claimed later that the paintings lack of costume was not intended to provoke scandal but was his way of avoiding either an ancient or modern setting, describing it as a tragedy of today.

The painting must also be remembered in the context of its times. This is a time of war, Guttuso wrote in his diary, Abyssinia, gallows, decapitations, Spain. I wish to paint the agony of Christ as a contemporary scene...as a symbol of all those who, because of their ideas, endure outrage, imprisonment and torment. For the next five decades the controversial work remained in Guttusos private collection in Rome, according to the wishes of his venerated patron.

Della Ragione died in 1973 but not before donating some 260 paintings to the people of Florence as a gesture of solidarity following the citys devastating floods in 1966, with the short but touching dedication to the Florentines: I give you my life.

In December 1986, a few weeks before he died, Guttuso summoned Italys culture minister and several witnesses to his home in Piazza del Grillo in Romes Monti district. From his deathbed the artist donated 11 of his most cherished paintings, including Crocifissione, to the Galleria Nazionale dArte Moderna (GNAM) where it can be seen today.

Article by Andy Devane

Photo: Roma, Galleria Nazionale dArte Moderna e Contemporanea. Su concessione del Ministero dei Beni e delle Attivita Culturali e del Turismo.
World Press Photo Exhibition returns to Palazzo delle Esposizioni.

Rome hosts an exhibition dedicated to the World Press Photo 2022 at Palazzo delle Esposizioni on Via Nazionale from 28 April to 12 June.

The show presents a national preview of the finalist photos of the international photojournalism competition which awards the best professional photographers every year since 1955.

The 2022 winner of the World Press Photo of the Year went to Amber Bracken for her image of wooden crosses in remembrance of indigenous children who died at a former residential school in Canada following the discovery of 215 unmarked graves in Kamloops, British Columbia.

The 65th annual World Press Photo Contest drew entries from around the world: 4,066 photographers from 130 countries submitted more than 64,823 images.

Each year an independent jury at the World Press Photo Foundation in Amsterdam selects images for this prestigious recognition of international photojournalism, with winners chosen in eight categories including general news, sports, the environment and portraits.

The exhibition provides a fascinating and hard-hitting chance to look back over the dramatic world events that took place over the last year.

The show is promoted in Rome by Roma Capitale, conceived by the World Press Photo Foundation of Amsterdam and organised by the Azienda Speciale Palaexpo in collaboration with 10b Photography.

For visiting details see Palazzo delle Esposizioni website.

Cover image: Amber Bracken for The New York Times, World Press Photo of the Year 2022.
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Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia. David Beers, law firm partner Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight David Beers, 86, a Washington law firm partner who also was a senior legal adviser to the Episcopal Church, helping guide its legal strategy on issues including gay rights and protecting assets from conservative splinter groups, died April 3 at his home in Lewes, Del. The cause was a brain tumor, said his son-in-law, David Shenk.

Mr. Beers was born in New Haven, Conn. He joined Shea & Gardner in 1965, and the firm merged in 2004 with Goodwin Procter. He was counsel to the firm, now called Goodwin Law, until his death.

Through the firm, he began representing the Episcopal Church, initially as chancellor to the Diocese of Washington from 1977 to 1991, then as chancellor to the presiding bishop of the United States until 2018.

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He was a trustee of the Virginia Theological Seminary and St. Andrews Episcopal School in McLean, Va., and was a co-founder and board member of Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys in Washington. He was also a part-time lecturer in Greek and Latin at George Washington University.

In recent months, he moved from Washington to Lewes, where he had a part-time home. He was a former vestry member and senior warden at Washingtons St. Patricks Episcopal Church, where he was a parishioner for more than 50 years.

Nancy Hallsted, piano teacher

Nancy Hallsted, 83, a pianist and music educator who had taught at her home studio in Bethesda, Md., since 1971, died April 5 at a hospice center in Potomac, Md. The cause was complications of dysphagia, said her daughter, Sheila Hallsted-Baumert.

Mrs. Hallsted was born Nancy Everett in Reno, Nev. In the Washington area, she served on the piano faculty of the Levine School of Music and was a past president of the Friday Morning Music Club and the Montgomery County Music Teachers Association. She was an adjudicator for the National Guild of Piano Teachers. She was a member of Cathedral Choral Society and sang with what is now the Master Chorale of Washington.

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Her board memberships included Washington Performing Arts and the Strathmore Hall Arts Center Advisory Planning Board.

Edward Sestak, CIA staffer

Edward Sestak, 83, a retired CIA electrical engineer whose specialties included satellites, died Feb. 10 at a hospital in Fairfax County. The cause was pneumonia, said his wife, Kay Sestak.

Mr. Sestak, a Fairfax County resident, was born in St. Louis. He worked for the CIA from 1972 to 2005.

 From staff reports

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Obituaries of residents from the District, Maryland and Northern Virginia. Dilara Hashem, VOA broadcaster, author Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Dilara Hashem, 86, a noted author and Voice of America broadcaster who was a plaintiff in a massive sex-discrimination lawsuit against the agency, died March 19 at a hospital in Rockville, Md. The cause was congestive heart failure, said a daughter, Seemeen Hashem.

Mrs. Hashem, a resident of Bethesda, Md., was born Dilara Khanm in Jessore, a city then in India and now in Bangladesh. She worked in Karachi, in what was then West Pakistan, as a news reader for Radio Pakistan and in London for the BBC before moving to the Washington area in 1972 for a part-time VOA job with the Bangla language service.

A few years later, Mrs. Hashem was one of the group of 1,100 women who became part of a class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Information Agency and the VOA, which USIA once oversaw. Mrs. Hashem said she was repeatedly denied benefits and lost career advancement opportunities over men who failed or did poorly on assessment tests and oral exams.

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She said she lost the part-time job in 1975 over what her bosses described as budget cuts, even as VOA proceeded to fill her position with a man from Bangladesh who court records reportedly showed had failed his voice test and had been described as monotonous and artless by one of his graders.

He had no broadcasting experience, Mrs. Hashem told the New York Times. I felt so humiliated when they let me go.

After 23 years of litigation  during which time USIA merged into the State Department  the government reached a settlement with the women in 2000. Mrs. Hashem, who worked again for VOA full time from the late 1970s until the early 2010s, was awarded more than $200,000 in back pay and interest as part of the settlement.

In addition to her broadcasting work, she wrote about 30 volumes of novels, memoirs, short stories and poetry and won Bangladeshs most prestigious literary prize.

Charles Brown, Navy Department civilian

Charles Brown, 85, an engineer and civilian employee of Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) from the mid-1960s until his retirement in the late 1980s, died April 2 at a health care center in Fairfax County. The cause was complications from Lewy-body dementia, said a daughter-in-law, Amy Brown.

Mr. Brown, a Fairfax County resident, was born in Richmond. At Navsea, he worked on navigation matters and plane-landing strategies related to equipment used on Navy ships. In retirement, he worked part-time at the Lincolnia Senior Center.

 From staff reports

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Kent Brewer has been employed by the Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery in southern Prince Georges County since his release from prison. (Jasmine Hilton/The Post)

The program is part of an effort to reduce barriers and help people in prison reenter communities.


A Palestinian woman makes her way Tuesday toward Damascus Gate, one of the entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

For centuries, the Damascus Gate has stood as the portal to the Old City of Jerusalem, opening onto a packed bazaar of souvenir shops, teahouses and falafel joints  and the holiest places for Jews, Christians and Muslims.

On Tuesday, a watchful Israeli sniper was perched in one of the gates stone turrets, swiveling his scoped rifle, as Israeli border police milled about the entrance, warily eyeing the passersby, a mix of Palestinian hipsters in the latest jeans, doing some shopping for their moms, and elderly Jewish rabbis with long gray side curls who were escorted through the gate by private security guards in flak jackets.

The tourists and pilgrims still come, but for locals, the Damascus Gate is now a hot zone to be avoided, with squads of Israeli soldiers waiting in nearby buses and Palestinian teens frequently stopped, searched and sometimes led away.

View Graphic A new kind of terrorism in Israel

For the past five months, a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis has marked a deadly escalation in the two sides long-running conflict. According to a count by The Washington Post, more than 27 Israelis have been killed in knife, gun and vehicular attacks; more than 160 Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli forces, 110 while carrying out attacks and 50 during clashes.

The Damascus Gate has served as the backdrop  and the beacon  for at least 15 of those attacks.

Built in 1537 by Suleiman the Magnificent, the Damascus Gate is one of seven access points leading into Jerusalems Old City. The entrance is often busy with passersby: Jews, Palestinians, tourists, pilgrims and soldiers. It has also been a scene of violence. (Jason Aldag,William Booth/Ruth Eglash/The Washington Post)

In the last week alone, Palestinians have twice attacked Israeli police at the Damascus Gate, which sits in the heart of Palestinian East Jerusalem, just a block from bus stations and tram stops and close to Palestinian high schools. On Sunday, a pair of Palestinian 20-year-olds wielding automatic weapons were shot dead in a brief gun battle at the gate. One of the assailants was a member of the Palestinian Authority security forces. On Friday, a 20-year-old wielding a knife rushed at Border Police officers, stabbing one in the head. That assailant, too, was shot dead at the scene. In addition, police foiled two possible knife attacks on Monday and Tuesday.

The gate seen today was built by the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1537 on top of an earlier entry into the walled city that the Romans erected in the emperor Hadrians time. The Jews call it Shaar Schechem, or Nablus Gate. Arabs call it Bab al-Amud, Gate of the Column, for the obelisk left by the Romans.

Its English name reflects the fact that it faces north, toward Damascus. It may seem hard to believe amid todays wars and divisions, but it was once possible to hop into a taxi in Jerusalem and get driven to the Syrian capital.

It is the most beautiful gate of all, said Ahmed Dandes, 48, who owns a small shop selling gentlemens trousers inside the gate. It is the path of three religions, a reference to the Jews Western Wall, the Christians Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Muslims al-Aqsa Mosque.

It goes by many names, Dandes said. Today we could call it Gate of the Martyrs. Ten Palestinians have died. He pointed. Just out there.



Palestinian men pass through Damascus Gate, one of the entrances to the Old City of Jerusalem, on Tuesday. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

A Palestinian woman passes through the gate. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)



An ultra-Orthodox man and a Palestinian man pass through. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

A Palestinian vendor. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

Rabbi Menachem Ben Yaakov, who works at the Ateret Cohanim Yeshiva, in the Muslim quarter of the Old City not far from the Damascus Gate, passes through daily. Over the past few months, he has been accompanied by private guards hired to protect the rabbis and students at the yeshiva.

He said that he thinks the violence will eventually dissipate and that with the large contingent of police and soldiers, the area felt perfectly safe to him.

I dont feel threatened, he said. Jews should not be scared of going any place in Jerusalem. They have the security of the Great One  and Israeli security.

The Palestinians at the gate eye the Jews, and the Jews eye the Palestinians, who say they are careful not to make any sudden moves. These days, Palestinian youths are ordered not to congregate on the stone steps leading to the gate.

Every day, we come here after school. It refreshes our souls, said Mutasem Afaneh, 15, from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Ras al-Amud.

Asked why Palestinians chose the Damascus Gate as a site for attacks, the teen said, Because this is where the police harass and humiliate the girls and the boys.

That is reason to grab a knife?

For some, Afaneh said.



Israeli border policemen search Palestinians at Damascus Gate. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

An Israeli border police officer searches a Palestinian man. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

The first incident in the immediate area happened on

Oct. 4, when Palestinian teen Fadi Alloun was accused by nearby Israelis of attempting to attack them. The crowd chased Alloun into the central square, where he was shot by Israeli police officers who had responded to a call. Palestinians say Alloun was lynched. Israeli police said he had a knife. Since then, at least 11 Palestinians have been killed at the gate or at the nearby tram stop.

As the violence continues, the Damascus Gate has become a popular backdrop for journalists to film a visual seam in the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the gate is the most tense spot in the city.

The high level of security extended even to journalists. On Tuesday, while conducting interviews at the Damascus Gate, Washington Post bureau chief William Booth and correspondent Sufian Taha were briefly detained by police on suspicion of causing incitement. The police later issued an apology, saying the suspicions were without foundation.

Shai Glick, nephew of the Jewish activist Yehuda Glick, who was shot and wounded last year after advocating that Jews be allowed to pray at a contested religious site in the Old City, blamed the recent wave of violence on one incident, a stabbing that took place near the gate on Oct. 2.

The Muslims and Jews that come to this place are against the violence, and until four months ago it was all calm here, the market was full and the people were doing real business, he said. Then four months ago, a Palestinian teenager, not even from here, came and stabbed two people, killing them. After that, business has gone down by 90 percent and everyone is suffering.



Palestinians pass through Damascus Gate. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

Palestinian vendor Ahmed Dandes and his father, Abu Ziad Dandes, near Damascus Gate. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)



Muslim tourists pose for a selfie in front of Damascus Gate. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

A Palestinian woman passes in front of the bullet-riddled door of Damascus Gate. (David Vaaknin/For The Washington Post)

Anna Mazur and Yvgeny Fesenko, tourists from Kiev, Ukraine, said they had arrived in Jerusalem two days earlier and were planning to spend 10 more days touring the country.

The situation here does not bother us at all. We have a similar situation in Ukraine, Mazur said. We dont have Jews or Palestinians, but we have people fighting each other.

William Ek-Uvelius, a human rights advocate from Sweden, said, When I was here in March there was no sniper up there.

His colleague Elin Jansson Holmberg, a human rights lawyer, said the two were in the country as observers for a peace program.

We are trying to feel what the people here feel, she said. We understand that both sides are scared of each other.

Myong Su, a religious tourist from South Korea, said she was not afraid to come to the Damascus Gate.

There is nothing to be scared of here, she said. It is all in Gods hands. It is all written down when we will die.

Hatem Ganam, 57, sells duffel bags and backpacks at a shop just inside the Damascus Gate. All the tension, all the pressure, is concentrated right here. All the insults, humiliations, searches. All here. It is a terrifying atmosphere, I promise you.

Damascus Gate is our gate, the Palestinian merchant said. The more the Israelis pull, the tighter we hold on.

Sufian Taha contributed to this report.

Read more:

Israels new security minister and his 4 ideas for stopping violence

Israeli military confronts violent protests with increasingly lethal force

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Onefinestay, which AccorHotels bought in 2016, has a rental that comes with an indoor pool. (Onefinestay)

Hotel chains have been venturing into the short-term rental market, a domain long dominated by peer-to-peer platforms.
The Women's Fund of Central New York is now accepting grant applications from nonprofit organizations working to address key issues affecting women and girls in the area.

The fund will award 10 $5,000 grants to support such nonprofits in Cayuga, Onondaga, Madison and Oswego counties.

Those that operate under a fiscal sponsor should have the sponsor submit the application on the nonprofit's behalf. Each organization is eligible to submit one application.

Requests should not exceed $5,000, and preference will be given to organizations with an annual operating budget of $5 million or less.

The application deadline is June 15.

For more information, or to apply, visit womensfundofcny.org/grantmaking.

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The skyrocketing cost of living is really impacting Sarahs ability to make ends meet and putting pressure on her to work even more than she already is, the spokesman said.

The Greens Sarah Newman was also invited, but the university student who works at JB Hi-Fi declined to attend.

Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles hands out how-to-vote cards on Monday with the ALPs Chisholm candidate, Carina Garland, at a church in Mount Waverley. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Sitting MP Gladys Liu, Labor candidate Carina Garland and independent Wayne Tseng, a former Liberal Party member who is giving his preferences to Liu, will attend. Tseng was invited because of his Chinese background, and Liu and Garland as the major-party candidates.

The Age is partnering with three Chinese associations on Tuesday night to run a candidate forum featuring three of the hopefuls ahead of the May 21 federal election.

The forum starts at 7.30pm, is expected to run for two hours and is at the Mount Waverley Community Centre main hall, 47 Miller Crescent, Mount Waverley.

Liberal MP for Chisolm Gladys Liu also hands out how-to-vote cards at a pre-polling centre in Mount Waverley on Monday. Credit:Chris Hopkins

The event will be in English and translated into Mandarin. All voters in the seat are welcome to attend.

About 20 per cent of the population in Chisholm  which covers suburbs including Box Hill, Blackburn, Mount Waverley and Burwood  speaks Mandarin.

Chisholm is one of the countrys most multicultural electorates, with about 43 per cent of people speaking a language other than English at home (the national average is 21 per cent).

The forum has been organised by three Chinese-Australian associations, the Chinese Australian Accord, the Chinese Community Council of Australias Victoria branch, and the Chinese Australian Multicultural Association, in partnership with The Age.

Independent Chisholm candidate Wayne Tseng will attend them all, and was even the sole attendee on the ballot at a Scouts event on Thursday.

MPs and candidates in neighbouring electorates say they will have one, or perhaps no forum to attend.

Four forums have been held so far, and another three have been planned before election day.

Gladys Liu (in blue) at an event in Chisholm with Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week. Credit:James Brickwood

One of the ways in the ultra-marginal seat of Chisholm might be by attending candidate forums of one type or another  and there has been a proliferation of them in this seat, held by Liberal MP Gladys Liu by a margin of just 0.57 per cent.

If youre a candidate running for a seat in Parliament, how do you convince Australians, in the privacy of the voting booth with their stubby pencil, to write the number 1 next to your name on the ballot paper?

Chief executive Michael Smith said Lius office said in April the MP was unlikely to be able to make it. Two subsequent emails to Liu went unanswered, he said.

ABC Radio Melbourne held a forum last Friday, at which Liu agreed to attend, then declined, then agreed after host Raf Epstein said shed pulled out.

But among the forums held so far, a theme is emerging: the absence of Liu.

The Age is partnering with the Chinese community on the evening of Tuesday, May 10, to host The Chisholm Candidates Forum for the Chinese Community .

It wasnt political, it was more like a, yknow, show-and-tell thing. Like, What we do in an election? Because it was only kids, he said.

But the church has abandoned the event this election because neither Liu nor the Greens candidate can attend.

Its less like a debate than just giving people a chance to ask some questions, the churchs reverend, James Douglas, said.

Perhaps the most important forum Liu will miss is St Lukes Uniting Church candidates forum in Mount Waverley, held every election since 1990 and planned for next Thursday night.

The Chinese Interpreters and Translators Association of Australia last Sunday also hosted a candidates forum that Liu did not attend, angering organisers as they had ensured specialist translators were there for the 80 or so crowd members. Garland was quizzed for an hour on a variety of issues.

Last Saturday, the Chisholm chapter of School Strike for Climate put on a candidate forum . Tseng, Labors candidate Carina Garland, the Greens Sarah Newman and another independent went. Liu was an apology.

If youre too busy thats fine, but where else are you [during an election campaign]? Smith asked.

At the churchs 2019 event, Liu and the Labor and Greens candidates all came. This time, we would only have had Carina Garland, Douglas said.

In 2019 I got accused of spruiking for the Liberal Party because they got one or two more questions in than Labor, Douglas recalled ruefully. So if I ran an event only including Labor, it wouldnt look good.

Garland will go to almost all the forums (though she too was an apology to the Scouts). Asked what the events were like, Garland said they were a real pleasure.

I prioritise these events because I think its really important to speak to the community, particularly after the pandemic where weve been really limited in the way weve been able to reach people. The people that run these events put in so much effort so its just a matter of respect.

Liu was contacted on Friday about her attendance at forums but did not respond by deadline.

She will attend the Chinese community event on Tuesday, although she initially told organisers she would be unable to attend.

Unfortunately, Ms Liu is unable to attend due to clashing commitments she has already made a while ago, her office told organisers of The Chisholm Candidates Forum for the Chinese Community.

Liu changed her mind when approached by The Age on Thursday, with her campaign confirming she will be there.

Tseng, a former Liberal Party member who has given his preferences to Liu ahead of Garland, said it would have been a bad look for Liu not to be there, before adding that hes looking forward to all the forums. Ill be there.

May 5

With just over a fortnight before polling day, its time to look back at whats been promised so far by both major parties in Chisholm during the election campaign. And the answer is: sports facilities.

By Thursday, the Liberal and Labor parties had promised to spend $35.5 million in the ultra-marginal electorate, with $33.4 million of it going towards sporting reserve upgrades.

The seat, where the result at the last election was decided by just over 500 votes out of 99,000, has seen both sides promise generous renovations at two local reserves.

First cab off the rank was Mount Waverley Reserve, followed by Mirrabooka Reserve, a popular park in Blackburn South. Both parties then pledged to upgrade Box Hill City Oval.

Liberal MP for Chisholm Gladys Liu promised $7.5 million to make the ground wheelchair accessible, create community rooms and build womens change rooms for Hawthorns AFLW team. But the money was dependent on state Liberal leader Matthew Guy winning Novembers state election, at which point the Victorian government would chip in another $5 million.

Labors candidate for the seat, Carina Garland, promised a bigger upgrade, coming in at $13.6 million and not dependent on state funding.

The strangest funding announcement in the seat thus far was $1.25 million for Blackburn Cycling Club, quietly announced by Liu on a Sunday morning with no media present, but with Angus Taylor there, for no apparent reason other than that the Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Minister was in town and a cyclist himself.

Political parties focus on local sporting organisations because their reach across the community through hundreds of members, and across various age and multicultural groups, is second to none.

But that doesnt mean its money well-spent amid the many competing pressures on public funds. The Age asked Liu and Garlands campaign teams if each project had any sort of business case or quantifiable means of justifying its need in the community.

Garland said Labor had done extensive consultation with tenants of the grounds and councils.

Our investment is based on master plans for each facility that have been endorsed by [Whitehorse and Monash] councils. Importantly, these projects focus on increased participation, particularly of women, in sport and are focussed on areas of clear community need, she said.

She said the Mount Waverley Reserve funding was part of a Monash council master plan, while the Mirabooka Reserve and Box Hill upgrades were part of a Whitehorse Council plan.

Liu said that all the projects that had won Coalition support during the campaign were responding to specific needs in the community.

Project proponents provide a range of details to support their requests for support, including plans, costings and letters of support from other project partners, she said.

Kate Griffiths from the Grattan Institute will release research from the think-tank this year on the use of grants programs for political ends.

She said it was far-fetched that upgrades such as the ones promised to Chisholm were a federal government responsibility.

Election promises too often pre-empted legitimate grants programs, or they are directly providing funding for something that is, in this case, clearly not a Commonwealth responsibility at all, she said.

Griffiths, Grattans deputy program director of budgets and government, said Canberra should provide funds to state or local governments through a considered and open process.

Why is the Commonwealth getting involved at local or state-level activities? Thats never very clear in these announcements. Sometimes after the fact, they force-fit them into a grants program, because thats a means to allocate public money.

She said promises made during election campaigns were at least transparent, unlike many confidentially decided grants programs.

Its overt, out-in-the-open vote-buying, she said. But its still got the question of whether the Commonwealth should be doing it at all.

May 3

Billionaires and babies do mix, it turns out  even in an ultra-marginal seat in the heat of a close election campaign. Billionaire philanthropist Nicola Forrest was a special guest at Goodstart Early Learning in Box Hill on Tuesday to help boost the profile of childcare and kindergarten in an election campaign that has not had much to say about education.

Forrest, the co-chair of philanthropic organisation the Minderoo Foundation, had invited Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese to attend. In their honour came Liberal senator Sarah Henderson, Labor MP Ged Kearney and the woman who hopes to make the seat of Chisholm her own, Labors Carina Garland. No sign of sitting member Gladys Liu.

Philanthropist Nicola Forrest and Thrive by Five CEO Jay Weatherill in Box Hill on Tuesday. Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui

Forrests Thrive by Five campaign seeks a revamp of Australias early education system, including better pay for educators, higher childcare subsidies for families and 15 hours a week of funded kindergarten for three- and four-year-olds.

So, what does she think of the Coalition and Labor policies?

Look, I think there have been some good moves by the government and some announcements by the opposition, but you know, were not going to go away until we see this actually becoming a major part of the social infrastructure of this country, Forrest said. I think the disappointing thing is that were not seeing long-term vision and leadership for this country.

And one of the biggest investments that we need to make is in our most important asset, which is our children, and the future productivity of this nation.

Henderson said the government was proud of its early education policies and the countrys high workforce participation rate.

In the next budget, well be providing almost $11 billion for childcare for families, and our focus remains on targeting low- and middle-income families, she said. In the last two budgets, weve spent some $5.5 billion in our womens economic statements, across womens economic security, womens safety and womens health and, of course, childcare.

Labor has promised to boost the wages of poorly paid early educators and to rejig the childcare subsidy to make 96 per cent of families better off.

Kearney said early education was a major cost for families battling low wage growth and rising inflation.

One of the major costs for families is early childhood education and childcare. We know Australia has one of the most expensive childcare sectors in the OECD, the Labor MP said.

Im sure with Tanya Plibersek as education minister  which I know she will be, and its her absolute passion  there will be lots to say on education.

April 29

Is a federal anti-corruption commission important to voters in Chisholm? If so, a key moment on the campaign trail in the ultra-marginal seat, held by Liberal Party MP Gladys Liu by just 1100 votes, came on Thursday evening at The Glen shopping centre.

In a forum hosted by the ABCs Raf Epstein, Liu was asked repeatedly to explain an element of her governments proposed integrity commission. This is how it went.

EPSTEIN: The governments corruption commission wants to have ministers deciding whether or not investigations go ahead. Is there anybody outside of the Coalition who thinks its a good idea for a politician to have any say in an investigation?

LIU: What we dont want to see is having the media and the public to judge before 

EPSTEIN: Thats not an answer in any way to what I just asked you. Can you really stand before me as a sitting MP and tell me a politician should help determine if an investigation goes ahead, because thats the governments model.

LIU: This is exactly what I mean. These 350 pages detailed the content of the policy. It will go down to what is important, and we will see what will be done.

EPSTEIN: I will try that question once more. Do you, as a sitting MP in the federal parliament, think it is a good idea that a politician determines the course of an investigation? Because thats in your governments proposal.

LIU: I dont think that is in there. Let us get back to you on that one. What I am saying is that there are 350 pages that will be a lot of details that you can go to.

Liberal MP for Chisholm Gladys Liu (left), ABC journalist Raf Epstein, and Labors candidate for the seat Carina Garland at The Glen shopping centre in Glen Waverley on Thursday afternoon. Credit:Clay Lucas

The exposure draft outlining the Coalitions proposed integrity body nominates the federal attorney-general as being able to make referrals to the anti-corruption commission if they reasonably suspect an offence is being committed. Government ministers would also be able to make referrals to the agency, but it would ultimately be up to the integrity commissioner under the Coalitions plan to decide whether to pursue a corruption allegation.

Research last year for The Age by Resolve Strategic found that more than two-thirds of Australians supported the creation of a powerful federal anti-corruption watchdog, with Coalition voters slightly more in favour than those who support other parties.

And the failure of the Morrison government to establish a federal anti-corruption commission has helped fuel the campaigns of independent candidates in seats like Kooyong and Goldstein.

On Friday morning, Liu gave The Age a statement saying Epsteins line of questioning was not accurate.

Whether a matter is investigated will be a decision for the Commonwealth Integrity Commission and would depend on all of the available facts, her statement said. Under the Governments model, the Commonwealth Integrity Commission will receive referrals from all of the existing integrity agencies, such as the Australian Federal Police and the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

This will ensure that only the most serious types of criminal conduct are considered by the Commonwealth Integrity Commission  ensuring that the Commonwealth Integrity Commission resources are not wasted on referrals which are purely used for political purposes.

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The Commonwealth Integrity Commission will also be able to investigate a matter on its own motion where it discovers suspected criminal conduct in the course of an existing investigation, she said in the statement. The law enforcement division will still be able to take direct referrals from the public.

A spokesman for Labors shadow Attorney-General, Mark Dreyfus, however said that the ABCs line of questioning was accurate.

When politicians decide who gets investigated its not an integrity commission, its a cover-up commission, he said. The fake integrity commission Gladys Liu is backing would not be independent, would not be able to hold public hearings, and would not be retrospective.

Gladys Liu knows this and, like all Liberals, is terrified of what a genuinely independent anti-corruption commission would uncover about the scams, rorts and dirty deals for Liberal mates the Morrison government has been indulging in for years.

April 28

It was a case of on, off and then back on again for Chisholm MP Gladys Liu on Thursday afternoon at a live candidates event being hosted by ABC Radio Melbournes Raf Epstein in Glen Waverley.

Epstein said in the early afternoon that the Liberal Party MP had pulled out of the broadcast of his afternoon show, live from The Glen shopping centre. Liu then agreed to come on, although her campaign disputed the details of whether she had ever fully agreed to attend the event. Her spokesman confirmed she would debate Labors Carina Garland from 5pm.

The Age is holding its own live event in Chisholm on May 10, in partnership with a number of Chinese community organisations, at the Mount Waverley community centre, next to the railway station.

Four candidates from the field of 12  the most crowded field in an Australian lower house electorate at the 2022 federal election  have been invited to the forum: Liu, Garland, the Greens Sarah Newman and independent Wayne Tseng, the only other candidate besides Liu who was born overseas (Tseng was born to Chinese parents on a boat to Australia from Vietnam, but thats another story).

The forum will be moderated by Michael Bachelard, The Ages deputy editor, who was once a foreign correspondent in Indonesia and is also a former world editor. The event will give key candidates a chance to talk to voters from the Chinese community and answer their questions.

Among those at Thursdays event was Ranju, who declined to give her surname. She moved to Australia from India in 1990 and said while she had voted for the Liberal Party many times in the past, she was not sure who to vote for in Chisholm this time. She said she had emailed Liu about vaccination for chickenpox or something about, you know, the federal governments response to COVID.

I never got a response.

In fact, she said she had emailed her local MP several times in the years she had been in Australia. They always responded, Ranju said.

Then we met her at one of the cafes last year when all the lockdowns had lifted. My husband told her You didnt respond. So she [Liu] said What do you mean I didnt respond? Give me your name and number. And she didnt respond even then.

Also in the crowd was George Euripidou, who has lived in Wheelers Hill for more than 30 years and is a member of the Greek community.

In the latest boundaries drawn up by the Australian Electoral Commission, Euripidou will now be in the seat of Chisholm for the first time. He stopped by the event because he wanted to hear both candidates, and said after listening to them both he was still undecided.

Over my time Ive voted for both parties. But this time Im still undecided. I mean Im concerned about the cost of living, thats my top priority. He said Liu had attended a Greek Easter event last week that he was at.

Epstein asked Liu repeatedly why the Prime Minister had broken a promise to introduce a federal anti-corruption commission. Liu said she did not think one aspect of the bill that Epstein repeatedly put to her - that the Coalitions model would allow politicians to determine the course of an investigation - was not in the laws the government had proposed. I dont think that is in there, but lets get back to you on that one, she told Epstein.

Liu was also asked about signs that were put up at 29 polling booths around Chisholm on election day in 2019 that were in the same purple as official AEC signage. The signs instructed voters in Chinese that putting a 1 next to the Liberal Party candidate was the correct way to vote.

Polling day signs in Chinese instructing voters to put a 1 next to the Liberal Party in the electorate of Chisholm.

She said they had been authorised by Liberal Party headquarters, not her. And when I was asked that morning at the polling booth, I didnt know it was signed with anything that would violate [the rules], she said.

The signs were later challenged in the Federal Court. I didnt have to go to court because it wasnt authorised by me, Liu said. Asked if it was the wrong thing to do, she said: I think it has been dealt with and there will be no sign in any other colour other than blue [at Mays election]..

Labors Carina Garland struggled to answer a question put to her about how an Albanese government would have any impact on increasing peoples wages.

Anthony Albanese keeps on saying he can help peoples wages go up  Its a bit of a con isnt it? Epstein asked. Well, there are a lot of things we can do to reduce those pressures on families and on all people across our community, Garland said. I think that is a very complicated question.

April 26

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd joined the campaign trail in the ultra-marginal seat of Chisholm on Tuesday and dismissed Defence Minister Peter Duttons Anzac Day warning that Australia must prepare for war as little more than sounding off.

Rudd also said the Morrison government had badly damaged Australias relationship with Pacific Island nations.

Joining Labor candidate Carina Garland at Box Hill shopping centre in Victorias most marginal seat, Rudd was warmly greeted by store owners and shoppers, many of whom stopped him for a selfie.

Kevin Rudd with Labor candidate for Chisholm Carina Garland in Box Hill on Tuesday. Credit:Justin McManus

Rudd said the Morrison government had messed up in the Solomons by doing a whole bunch of silly things like cutting Radio Australia, cutting foreign aid, not standing up for climate change, turning your back on the Pacific Island countries for nearly 10 years.

Guess what? Doesnt turn out so well.

The Solomon Islands recently signed a security pact with China and, on Monday, Dutton warned that Australia needed to prepare for war and stare down any act of aggression from China.

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You can sound off as much as you like about China, Rudd said when asked about these comments, but unless youve got your defence lined up, which he hasnt, and unless youve got your foreign policy lined up, which the Solomon shows he hasnt, then people are just scratching their head.

Among those with an itch over Australias relationship with China was Mount Waverley resident Robert Chen, who stopped Rudd in the shopping centre and demanded of him: Why should we vote for Labor as opposed to Liberal?

Rudd said Labor, if elected, would stand up for Australias national interest and stand up for Australias national values, before moving on.

Mount Waverley resident Robert Chen questions Kevin Rudd on Labors China policies. Credit:Justin McManus

Chen later told The Age that Australias relationship with China was terrible as a result of developments in recent years.

Obviously, we have different policies, different value systems, but that doesnt stop us from being friendly to each other and having a working relationship. We should have at least a working relationship with China, but to get where we are today, the mismanagement of the government is incredible, Mr Chen said, adding that this didnt make a decision on how to vote easier. Labor and Liberal, they are amazingly similar on China.

Rudd also met with Labor campaign workers who were involved in calling voters with Chinese background to discuss Labors stance. In their conversations with a lot of the local Chinese community, one of the questions near the top is corruption, Rudd said. They want clean government.

Kevin Rudd hands out treats to shoppers and the media pack, bought by the former PM from stores in Box Hill Central shopping centre on Tuesday. Credit:Justin McManus

April 25

Victorias most marginal seat, Chisholm, is also the nations most crowded for candidates at next months election.

Twelve people have nominated for the seat, which the Australian Electoral Commission said was the biggest field running in Australias 151 electorates.

The ballot, finalised on Friday, has seen the Liberal MP Gladys Liu selected in the lucky first spot on the ballot paper while her Labor opponent Carina Garland is last.

Being at the bottom of a list of 12 makes it tough, said ABC election analyst Antony Green, who also noted that the donkey vote  simply voting for candidates in the order in which their names appear on the ballot paper  is generally estimated to be about 1 per cent of the final tally.

Liu won the seat by a margin of just 0.57 per cent at the 2019 election and later faced down a Federal Court challenge to the result over her use of signs at all 29 voting booths in the seat in the same purple colour scheme as official AEC banners. The signs told readers the correct way to vote was to put a 1 next to the Liberal box.

The signs outside a polling booth in Chisholm in 2019. Credit:Luke Hilakari

Labor has nominated Chisholm as its chief target in Victoria at the May 21 election.

Along with Labor, Liberal and the Greens, other parties to field candidates in Chisholms crowded field are Derryn Hinchs Justice Party, One Nation, the Animal Justice Party, the United Australia Party and independent and former Liberal Party member Wayne Tseng.

In all, across Australia, 1200 candidates nominated for the lower house  on average, eight people per seat. The award for the seats with the lowest number of candidates enrolled  five  was shared by eight electorates in NSW and Queensland (Barton, Blaxland, Cook, Kingsford Smith, Watson, Bonner, Griffith, and Oxley).

April 24

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has chastised Labor for an advertisement highlighting Liberal MP Gladys Lius links to donors suspected to be risks to Australias national security, claiming the opposition was engaging in racist campaigning.

They go after Gladys Liu because shes Chinese, Morrison said on Sunday. Theyre engaged in what I think is a sewer tactic here.

On Sunday, Labor released a new attack ad targeting the Hong Kong-born MPs record, including her involvement in a campaign against the LGBTI Safe Schools program and her campaigns use of controversial signage at the last election that appeared to mimic the Australian Electoral Commission.

One component of the ad stated that the Victorian division of the Liberal Party reportedly handed back $300,000 in donations because then prime minister Malcolm Turnbulls office was told the Chinese donors, invited to the 2015 event by Liu, were potential national security threats.

What do we know about Liberal Gladys Liu? a male voice says in the ad, with an ominous-sounding background track.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday that Liu was a proud Australian citizen and admonished the desperate, dishonest, racist attack ad by the Labor Party without specifically outlining why he believed it was inappropriate to reference Lius links to the donations.

Read the full story here.

April 21

Its a cliche in politics that every vote counts. But in Victorias ultra-marginal seat of Chisholm, where the result at the 2019 election was decided by just over 500 votes out of 99,000, the phrase rings true.

In these circumstances, the importance of big local sporting organisations cannot be underestimated. Their tentacles spread across the local community because of the hundreds of club members in local, senior, womens and multicultural programs. For political parties, getting these people onside can harness the cultural capital associated with the sporting club  the kind of resonance that trumps a pamphlet in the mailbox.

Gladys Liu at Box Hill City Oval Credit:Joe Armao

For this reason, both major parties are keen to promise a major upgrade for the Box Hill City Oval used by the Box Hill Hawks football club and Box Hill Cricket Club in the heart of the electorate.

But the Liberal Party beat Labor to the punch.

On Thursday morning, Liberal MP for Chisholm Gladys Liu was beaming, yellow Sherrin in hand, as she announced $7.5 million in federal funding for the site to make it wheelchair accessible, create council-run community rooms around the oval and build womens change rooms for Hawthorns AFLW team.

The Morrison governments strong economic management enables us to invest in local communities, she said on a wintry morning, standing on the wing of the pitch near female football players.

Thank you to the girls for giving me a few tips on how to do the handballs and the kicks  Go Box Hill Hawks!

Lius rival for the seat, Labor candidate Carina Garland, a former union official, would have been gutted. Two party sources have confirmed that she and her federal Labor team were due to make a funding announcement at the ground in early May.

Liu and Guy, with Menzies candidate Keith Wolahan behind. Credit:Joe Armao

At the planned announcement, Labor would have restated a funding commitment made before the 2019 election, when it was defeated in Chisholm.

People are right to be angry that it has taken three years and an election to be called before Gladys Liu bothered to finally do her job, Garland said in a written statement.

The near miss comes after, earlier this month, Liu made funding commitments to local reserves just days after Labor pledged money to the same places.

Lius millions promised to the Box Hill oval were almost matched by a $5 million pledge by Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, who welcomed Liu and Menzies candidate Keith Wolahan as he made one of his first forays into the federal election campaign.

The state opposition also needs to win back the seat of Box Hill, to be contested by Liberal candidate Nicole Werner, and surrounding seats that it held before its 2018 election drubbing.

The state government is apparently only invested in big projects. They want to build big things but theyre forgetting what is so important to so many and that is our backyards, our neighbourhoods, our communities, he said.

Guy filming a video for his social media channels with Liberal candidate Nicole Werner after the funding announcement. Credit:Joe Armao

Ed Sill, president of the Box Hill Hawks, said he had been campaigning for money for the oval for five years but had not yet received money from the Andrews government.

Former Liberal Premier Jeff Kennett, president of the Hawthorn Football Club whose VFL team is Box Hill Hawks, last year claimed the Andrews government was withholding funding from Hawthorn because of Kennetts frequent and dramatic criticism of Premier Daniel Andrews handling of the pandemic. The state government denied this.

Im not going to speculate, Sill said when asked if Kennetts presence at the club was a reason the state had not allocated funding.

April 20

Emily Kah doesnt pay much attention to politics, but the 18-year-old engineering student, who will vote in her first election next month, has heard enough to form the view that the Australian government just doesnt like China.

It makes me kind of uncomfortable, she told The Age outside the bustling Box Hill shopping centre.

Voters from Box Hill in the electorate of Chisholm discuss what is swaying their vote in the Federal election. Credit:Scott McNaughton

Kah, a second generation member of a migrant family is one of the thousands of residents of the ultra-marginal seat of Chisholm who lives in a Chinese-speaking household. This cohort makes up more than a quarter of the electorate in the must-win seat for Labor, and they are described by one expert as collateral damage in Australias diplomatic feud with Beijing.

Like any cohort, they will vote on different issues. Some of the dozen Chinese-Australian voters approached by The Age, are, like Kah, put off the government by suggestions from Coalition ministers that Australia could go to war with China over Taiwan. Alan Qu, who moved from the mainland 15 years ago and now sells apartments in Box Hill, said hed vote Labor because the Liberal Party is not friendly to China. Others are more interested in hip-pocket issues, although for those whose business interests are tied to Australias relationship with China, these are intertwined.

Read the full story here in English, here in simplified Chinese characters, and here in traditional Chinese characters.

April 17

Natalie Rabey lives in Chadstone  best known for its enormous shopping centre. But as all sides of politics talk about the cost of living, this 72-year-old pensioner and resident of the electorate of Chisholm, says mere survival is becoming tough.

The cost of food has skyrocketed. She had her family over for lunch on Sunday and It cost me $240, she says. I didnt buy much. Cold meats, dips, carrots, not much else. I nearly died. What the hell? Its my entire pension once my bills come in too.

Natalie Rabey at her home in Chadstone on Sunday. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Chisholm, held by the Liberals Gladys Liu on a wafer-thin margin, sits within Melbournes eastern suburbs mortgage belt, with an average weekly wage and home ownership rates that reflect the national average. But its western corner contains pockets of entrenched poverty.

The polling booths in this part of Chisholm  suburbs such as Ashwood, Burwood, Chadstone and Oakleigh  vote Labor. Last election, 11 out of 12 booths in the electorates west went to the ALP.

In this part of the electorate, inflation, housing, rental availability, petrol prices and the rising cost of food are likely to be real factors influencing peoples votes.

Rabey lives in public housing in a unit she got 20 years ago and says that having a home is the single most important cost-of-living issue. Having learned how much public housing helped her two decades ago, she is part of a housing group that tries to assist other people in the area in desperate circumstances.

She acknowledges there has been some social housing construction in the area in recent years and both state and federal governments have put money into building public and social housing. But we need more. Whoever wins the next election should use empty land in her suburb to build more cheap housing, she says.

Liu won Chisholm in 2019 by just 0.57 per cent. Rabey, a self-described one-eyed Labor voter, has encountered Liu in meetings with housing advocates and is scathing.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visits Wallies Lollies in Box Hill South with MP Gladys Liu on Saturday. Credit:James Brickwood

If you need anything just let me know, she says to us. We never hear from her again, says Rabey, Its all talk and no action.

She sings the praises of both Lius predecessor until 2016, Labors Anna Burke, and former Liberal state MP for the area, Graeme Watt. He was such a good advocate.

Liu says she takes housing affordability seriously, noting she was born and raised in public housing in Hong Kong before coming to Australia as an adult. I am always available to talk to local residents about their concerns and advocate on their behalf, she says, also pointing to almost $7 billion in rent assistance the federal government provides each year.

Labor is promising to create a Housing Australia Future Fund, which over five years would build 20,000 social housing properties, 4000 of them for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence and older women at risk of homelessness.

Labors Carina Garland. Credit:Paul Jeffers

Labors Carina Garland says the rising cost of housing is a big concern to voters in the seat and that housing affordability has got worse under the Morrison government. It needs to be a focus for the federal government, she says. There is no easy fix, but it does require leadership.

Rabey regularly pops into Ashwoods Power Neighbourhood House, which The Age visited during the campaigns first week. There, manager Carol Berger has just finished giving out $1200 worth of free food to people in the suburb who cant afford to feed themselves or their families.

Carol Berger manages Power Neighbourhood House in Ashwood, which does a weekly food giveaway each Tuesday. Credit:Paul Jeffers

We didnt do it prior to COVID, says Berger as she packs up food left over from that days giveaway. During the pandemic, she says, lots of people couldnt go anywhere and a lot of people lost jobs.

We thought we have to do something. People needed us more than ever. The extremes of the pandemic are fading, but the centre has kept the food parcel service going. The need for the food assistance was growing, Berger says.

Berger has run the Power Neighbourhood House for 15 years in Ashwood and lists food prices, the lack of access to bulk-billed health care and  most of all  affordable housing as the most pressing issues in the neighbourhood.

Consultant Kos Samaras, a former Labor assistant state secretary who now runs consulting firm RedBridge, says the cost of living is raised constantly at focus groups he runs for clients.

The vote in this part of the electorate is changing. At the last election at the Ashwood voting booth, while Labors primary vote dipped by 1 per cent and the Liberal vote fell by 8 per cent, right-wing and independent candidates got a swing of 9 per cent towards them.

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Monash University politics professor Paul Strangio says while the cost of living is the economic terrain most elections are fought on, there is little governments can do about it in the Australian system.

Its not like we have price controls, he says, noting the one area its very directly controlled is JobSeeker. On that, we have a bipartisan agreement that theyre not going to increase it.

April 15

Good Friday was a holy day on the campaign trail and Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a quick visit to Melbourne to perform some religious observances  Christian in the morning and Jewish in the afternoon (Passover is coinciding with Easter this year), but the day was not entirely devoid of politics.

His first stop was in the ultra-marginal electorate of Chisholm, where he hopes to woo enough voters to keep incumbent Gladys Liu in her seat as she battles Labors Carina Garland. To that end, Morrison visited the Syndal Baptist Church, which sits within an area the 2016 census shows has 28 per cent of residents with Chinese ancestry (the Australian average was around 4 per cent).

Scott Morrison (centre) and Gladys Liu (right) talk with Syndal Baptist Church pastor Chris Danes on Friday. Credit:James Brickwood

Chris Danes, senior pastor at the church, gave some insight into the scramble to organise events on the prime ministerial campaign roster. They rang yesterday and said, Would it be OK for the prime minister to come? Danes told The Age.

Were inclusive, anyone can come. If Albo rang up, wed say come on over.

It was, Danes thought, the first time a prime minister had visited the congregation in its 65-year history. However, he insisted to the political minders that the PM and his entourage of media and minders not take away from Jesus on Good Friday.

The scrum was respectful, Danes says, though he will face the real problem on Sunday: We got some very strong Labor supporters and some strong Liberal supporters. Weve got Greens too. Thats why I am going to cop it in the neck, at Sundays service, Danes said.

During the Friday service, Danes sat next to Morrison. I leaned over and said to him, This is as quiet as its going to be all day for you, and he said Yep. 

Danes says Morrison was focused on the service. The phone was in the pocket.

As for speaking, Morrison made only one short statement after stepping outside. Easter is about faith. Its about hope, he said.

Its about being able to look forward to the future with confidence encouraged by your beliefs. Its a very personal thing for me, and I really enjoyed the service this morning.

Church manager Clara Yeung on Friday was helping organise the first of the days Good Friday services being run in both Mandarin and Cantonese. She says around 200 people regularly attend the Mandarin and Cantonese services the church holds on Sundays. Asked whether the church leaned either way politically, Yeung laughed and said: We dont tend to talk about this at church.

Morrison later joined Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, the member for Kooyong, at a Passover service in Hawthorn East.

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Outside the church doors, debate was raging over Morrisons decision to abandon a pledge to set up a corruption watchdog, blaming Labor for not supporting his preferred plan.

While integrity in politics has been a major campaign point for teal candidates in other Victorian seats including Kooyong and Goldstein, the heat has been less intense on the federal Liberal MP Gladys Liu.

After the church service with Morrison, The Age asked Liu why her side of politics had not established an integrity commission during the term of government now coming to an end.

[We had] 350 pages of our policies and we really want to have bipartisan support for this very important issue, Liu replied. Unfortunately, Labor, they only came up with two pages. There is bipartisan support needed for this very important bill to pass.

Morrison did put forward a proposal for an anti-corruption commission, and Labor and others in the federal Parliament rejected it. But Morrison never introduced legislation to the parliament or attempted to negotiate a way forward with Labor, the minor parties, or the independents.

Liu is running in Chisholm against Labors Carina Garland, who says Morrison hates scrutiny, and that if she wins the seat, she hopes to be part of a Labor government that introduces a powerful, transparent and independent National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Garland says the anti-corruption commission proposal Morrison floated was almost universally denounced as being so weak it would cover up corruption.

Labor candidate for Chisholm Carina Garland. Credit:Paul Jeffers

April 14

Talk about awkward. Its just gone 8am on Thursday morning at Mount Waverley railway station and the Liberal MP for the seat of Chisholm, Gladys Liu, and Carina Garland, the Labor candidate trying to replace her, have just met for the first time.

Both are on the hustings, handing out flyers.

We said hello, we are civilised, says Liu, handing a brochure to a voter, asking him to re-elect her in the marginal seat she has held for the last three years.

Chisholm Liberal MP Gladys Liu, in blue, and Labor candidate Carina Garland, at Mount Waverley railway station. Credit:Clay Lucas

Two or three metres away stands Garland, handing out her flyers. Im Carina, Im the Labor candidate, she tells a commuter strolling up to catch the 8.06 from platform 1.

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Most greet her, and Liu, warmly enough. People I think are really very friendly, says Garland. Theyre very happy to have someone wish them good morning.

When The Age asks Liu and Garland how often theyre campaigning at railway stations, both respond  within earshot of the other  that their opponent is seldom seen.

After the last three years, people want to see someone on the ground, says Garland. Thats why were here, so people can see an active political representative in the community.

This is the first time Ive seen my opponent, says Liu, a backbencher with a high profile because of the controversies that have surrounded her since she was elected.

Commuters appear more generous to the pair than they are to each other. Every time I come, once a week, one of them is here, says Stephen Mackay after he arrives to board his city-bound train, and is handed a flyer on the way into the station by both.

Alongside the candidates is ABC Friends volunteer John Presley, also handing out leaflets supporting the national broadcaster. Its a good cause, he says while handing a flyer to another distracted worker dashing for the train.

The candidates with John Presley from Friends of the ABC. Credit:Clay Lucas

Presley got a call the night before from the ABC Friends, asking him to hand out at Mount Waverley. He loves that both candidates are there.

One of you is going to be the local MP once this is done, he tells Liu and Garland, gathering them together for a picture. They oblige, perhaps a touch reluctantly.

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Wandering past next is Mount Waverley resident Steve Pewtress, out walking his sons red heeler Razzle. The Liberal Party member stops to say hi to both candidates. Hes president of the Waverley Blues Football Club; in the opening week of the campaign, both Labor and the Coalition have promised millions to upgrade the teams clubrooms. Were somewhat pleased we live in a bellwether seat in Chisholm, he says.

For more than an hour, this scene plays out in front of Shila Patel. She runs Cafe Away, in a tiny nook on the railway stations city-bound side, each weekday from 6am to 10am.

Shila Patel in Cafe Away, which she runs at Mount Waverley railway station. Credit:Clay Lucas

She took on the cafe two months ago, when she was selling just one or two coffees a morning. Now, as people return to the office, shes selling 15 coffees on a good morning. Before the pandemic, the previous owner would sell 50 a morning.

Patel has seen the candidates there on previous days and says people are happy to take a flyer, and sometimes stop and talk to them. If they are running late, they dont want to speak to anyone. Or buy coffee, she says ruefully.

April 13

Chisholm vital to Labors poll puzzle. By Stephen Brook and Clay Lucas

Its difficult to overstate how much Labor needs the ultra-marginal seat of Chisholm to fall its way if it is to form government. In Labor circles its known as the 76th seat  the seat that gets them over the line in federal parliaments 151-seat chamber.

Its not even a bellwether; its a necessary seat, says pollster Peter Lewis, of Essential Media Communications. If it doesnt fall, they dont win.

With a wafer-thin margin of 0.6 per cent in favour of Liberal incumbent Liu, both sides are struggling to predict what will happen in the seat and are reluctant to make a call publicly. One Liberal Party elder doesnt expect his party to hold Chisholm, pointing to a predicted statewide swing against the Coalition that would eclipse Lius advantage.

We dont know what the Chinese vote will do, he adds, And we cant find out.

A large portion of Chisholms voters have Chinese heritage  under the seats previous boundaries, 17.6 per cent of this electorate spoke either Mandarin or Cantonese at home. It was why the ferocious battle for Chisholm in 2019 included the first-ever candidate debate conducted in Mandarin, between the Liberal Liu and her Labor challenger at that time, Taiwan-born Jennifer Yang.

On election night it looked like Labor had won the seat until Liu pulled ahead on pre-poll and postal votes to emerge victorious. If 545 votes had gone the other way, Yang wouldve been elected. There was also controversy over a Liberal Party sign. Printed in Chinese and in the same purple colour as Australian Electoral Commission signage, it appeared to translate as saying the correct way to vote was Liberal.

On the trail with Gladys Liu

As the election campaign kicked off, The Age joined Liu at Box Hill Central shopping plaza, where she mingled easily with voters. Some she approached, others sidled up to her for a chat after recognising the MP, who has a particularly high profile among Chinese-born voters. Among them was a self-confessed fan, Jennifer Teng, who asked The Age for an introduction to the Hong Kong-born MP.

Teng, from the Gold Coast but in Box Hill visiting family, moved to Australia from Singapore 26 years ago. She cant vote for Liu but recognised her  one of the few MPs with Chinese heritage  from TV. Teng wanted to meet Liu because she is a fighter who helped represent one of the minorities in our community, and, of course, we have Penny Wong too.

Jennifer Teng, a Gladys Liu fan. Credit:Wayne Taylor

Gladys, shes fighting very hard for us. I wish we had a voice like her in the Gold Coast as well. She works very hard for our Asian community, especially the Chinese community, says Teng, who also, without prompting, raises the issue of what she terms scandal surrounding Liu being a pro-Chinese spy before dismissing it. It has to be supported by evidence. If theres no evidence, you have to leave people alone, she says.

Liu, 58, has weathered controversy over claims she used WeChat to air anti-LGBTQ messages and persistent allegations over her links to Chinese organisations. Her membership of a Coalition that has stridently condemned the Chinese government also adds to the unpredictability of how this electorate might vote.

She could be caught as a victim of government-friendly fire as Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison attempt to wedge Labor on China, says Essential pollster Lewis.

Even former Labor campaign workers respect Lius skill, particularly her at-times controversial use of Chinese-language social media. Despite her air of incompetence, she is a pretty brutal operator, says one former ALP operative. You have got to respect the hustle.

Gladys Liu at Box Hill Central shopping centre on Monday. Credit:Wayne Taylor

The challenger

One certainty in Chisholm is that the winner of this seat will be a woman. Liu faces a challenge from Labors Carina Garland, a former Victorian Trades Hall Council assistant secretary who holds a PhD in gender and cultural studies.

Garland, 38, lives in Clayton. Her Italian heritage mirrors another aspect of this areas ethnic diversity. Her grandfather migrated from Italy in the 1950s and trained as a teacher at Burwood Teachers College. It paved the way for her father to become a doctor. Together with Garlands mother, a nurse, the couple ran a local GP practice in the south-east.

Its a positive migrant story that mirrors others in this area, says Garland, who graduated with an honours degree in English literature at Monash, and worked as an academic at the University of Sydney.

Garland says Labor also stands shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese-Australian community against racism and racially motivated attacks. I will work to unite communities, not divide them, she says.

The Greens candidate is Sarah Newman, a full-time university student who works at JB Hi-Fi. The party has no chance of winning the seat, but last election it polled 12 per cent of the primary vote. If Newman can maintain that, the preferences of her voters will be key to deciding the result. Liu and the Liberal Party must suppress the Greens vote to avoid Labor taking the seat.

The candidates will be seeking the support of voters not particularly engaged in the electoral process, and many voters who dont care about government. Thus, the campaign will be fought at shopping centres, weekend markets and during the morning commute along the two major train arteries, the Lilydale and Belgrave train lines that pass beneath Box Hill Central, and the Glen Waverley line that terminates at the giant The Glen shopping complex to the south.

Labor candidate for seat of Chisholm Carina Garland. Credit:Paul Jeffers

Apart from transport and road arterials, the electorate is also divided geopolitically, the Liberal-majority Whitehorse City Council in the north and the Labor-dominated Monash Council in the south. Adding to the uncertainty is a redistribution that slashed Lius majority from 0.6 per cent to a nominal 0.2 per cent. Polling is even more difficult because, while there are 109,000 eligible voters at the time of writing, there are an additional 19,000 adults living in the electorate who are ineligible to vote.

A sample of modern Australia

This electorates wealth falls squarely in the middle, according to the 2016 census. The average weekly wage for the area in 2019 was $1472  marginally above the national average at $1431. A third of voters own their home outright, also in line with the national average.

Housing affordability and the cost of living, along with national security, will form the key concerns for voters, says Theo Zographos, a Liberal councillor on Monash Council.

Its a good sample of modern Australia, and its obviously a very competitive seat. Its multicultural Australia, he says. While close to one-fifth of the electorate has mainland Chinese or Hong Kong heritage, almost 8 per cent were born in India and Sri Lanka, and 4 per cent Malaysia.

Issues like fuel prices will be front of mind, he says. In a seat like Chisholm, which is more a mortgage-belt type of seat, these are the issues that voters have been expressing.

Lets not forget the impact of the pandemic. Christo Christophidis has been the force behind local cafe Mocha Jos on the Kingsway at Glen Waverley for more than 20 years.

Christo Christophidis from Mocha Jos in Glen Waverley. Credit:Simon Schluter

In the last couple of years, the business community has taken second place to peoples lives. They have not been focusing on their neighbours. It has been all about you, says the president of the Glen Waverley Traders Association.

The pandemic took its toll and there is an undercurrent of fear among local shop owners. There are 12 vacancies out of 58 shops on the local strip and in a sign of how a key local issue can impact on a federal campaign, traders worry about how the looming Suburban Rail Loop will further hurt trade when a massive construction tunnel opens at the end of the street. Labor is banking on the transformational multibillion-dollar state government project being an electoral asset as it will improve transport links in the area.

The old high street shops on the Kingsway are still well patronised. Two locals nominate Mocha Jos as the place to meet when The Age visits, and his cafe is humming. Outside, a Buddhist monk sits sipping a cup of tea. But there is no denying the impact of the massive shopping complex The Glen, and its three gleaming luxury residential towers, fresh from a $490 million redevelopment. Its like Singapore; you can go shopping there and live upstairs. Its amazing, says Christophidis.

Opposite Mocha Jos at the Piatella Cafe, real estate agent Ming Xu sits outside and orders a green smoothie. He moved from China to study IT at Monash University about 20 years ago and never moved back to China.

In those days, Ming says his Chinese language skills were a disadvantage when he was starting out in the industry. But now, as a director of the Biggins & Scott real estate agency in Glen Waverley, catering to a clientele that includes Chinese, Indian, Malaysian and European, the opposite is true.

Ming Xu in Glen Waverley this week. Credit:Simon Schluter

So, how does he describe himself? In terms of being part of the community, to that extent I am Australian, but at the same time I still have Chinese blood in my body, he says.

We are looking for a government that can keep our community safe, thats why people are coming here, he says, also nominating education and small business assistance as priorities.

First-generation immigrant families move to the area attracted to high-achieving schools such as the state Glen Waverley Secondary College. They have helped to push the premium for houses in the schools central Glen Waverley catchment area by up to anywhere between $100,000 and $1 million. Its amazing  some of these houses behind the Kingsway go for $2.3 million or $2.6 million. You can still find a house on the edge of Glen Waverley for $1.3 million, Xu says.

A bridge to the community

To the north of where Xu sits lies The Glen, and a series of modern residential towers dominate the skyline. In 2012, the Village Cinemas near The Glen provided the stage for the launch of the 267-apartment Galleria development. And when the complexs developer, John Castran, needed a bridge to the Chinese community to sell the off-the-plan scheme, Gladys Liu stepped forward.

Then a multicultural adviser to Victorian Liberal premier Ted Baillieu after working as a speech pathologist, she was certainly an incredible cohesive force in the Chinese community, Castran recalls.

While some electors will vote against the government for its rhetoric against the Chinese government, many Hong Kong-born Chinese will support Liu for her criticism of the China-sponsored crackdown in Hong Kong, accusing Beijing of undermining its autonomy.

Real estate agent Xu says, while he does not want to get too political about the Australian governments relationship with the Chinese government, many Chinese-Australians like what Liu represents. It is good we can see that the parliament accepts an Asian voice, he says.

With a Chinese background, I also wish the Australian government and Chinese government will be friends  that will be more beneficial for the economy.

The Age asked Liu how she would win the seat again, and whether she would campaign this time around using WeChat, in particular, to reach Chinese voters. Liu said she had been in or near the electorate of Chisholm for three decades and knew its issues well. She had a plan, she said, that would deliver local jobs [and] better local facilities.

She would be using every means available to communicate the benefits of my local plan, she added.

By Tuesday, both Liu and Garland had promised millions of dollars to rebuild pavilions at two reserves, one in Blackburn South, the other in Mount Waverley. In both cases, Garland made her promise to sporting clubs first, only to see Liu days later make the same offer  but with an extra million dollars in funding thrown in.

April 11

The battle for Chisholm, Victorias most marginal seat, has begun with both Labor and Liberal candidates promising millions of dollars to rebuild sporting clubrooms at a popular Blackburn South park.

Chisholm is held by the Liberal Partys Gladys Liu, on a margin of just 0.6 per cent. Labors Carina Garland is trying to take back a seat held by the ALP for the six elections until 2016.

On Saturday, Garland met cricket and soccer clubs at Mirrabooka Reserve and promised $2 million to rebuild clubrooms there. On Monday, Liu met the clubs and promised $3 million.

If its a tie, we will take $5 million, joked Drew Sinclair, the president of the Blackburn South Cobras cricket club.

Stuart Baird from Blackburn Newhope Football Club, which also plays at the reserve and uses the clubrooms, also joked that members of the two sporting clubs were all single issue voters; our fear is a hung parliament.

Whitehorse Council has been in discussion with both clubs about rebuilding the rooms for several years, and Liu met the football club last November to discuss funding for the project.

The local clubs in our communities have been so persistent in their requests for funding and so passionate about the needs of their members, she said.

Garland, however, said that despite knowing the request for new clubrooms had been around for some time, it had taken Liu three years since being elected to make the promise.

Liu was scrambling to fix three years of inaction, not because she cares about locals, but because she is desperate to hang on to her job.

Labor has also promised $3 million to upgrade the Mount Waverley Reserve, also in Chisholm and home to 38 cricket and 16 Australian rules teams. Garland said it would improve the sporting pavilion there, providing mens and womens change rooms, more storage space and better social facilities.

Email Clay Lucas (clucas@theage.com.au) and Paul Sakkal (paul.sakkal@theage.com.au) to tell them whats happening in Chisholm during this election campaign.

Jacqueline Maley cuts through the noise of the federal election campaign with news, views and expert analysis. Sign up to our Australia Votes 2022 newsletter here.
A retiring Liberal MP who spoke out on the need for a federal corruption watchdog has suggested an imperfect model should be tested rather than continuing a drawn-out political war of attrition over the revived election issue.

Outgoing Bennelong MP John Alexander renewed his call for bipartisan co-operation after Prime Minister Scott Morrison refused on Thursday to commit to establishing an integrity commission in the next term of parliament, saying his government would only revive the issue if Labor backed its current proposal without amendments.

After Scott Morrison refused to commit to a federal integrity commission in the next term of parliament, outgoing MP John Alexander said a weak watchdog was better than nothing. Credit:James Brickwood/Dominic Lorrimer

A national integrity commission ranked as the second most important issue for voters canvassed by independent candidates in Goldstein, Mackellar and Wentworth, where independents are hoping to knock off Liberal MPs, as well as Warringah, where Zali Steggall is campaigning to retain the seat she won from former prime minister Tony Abbott in 2019.

Alexander said the attorney-general and shadow attorney-general needed to get involved, as well as independent MP Helen Haines and outspoken Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer, who crossed the floor in support of debating Haines integrity commission model, suggesting they be put in a room with lawyers until common ground was reached.
Jesus Christ drove the money lenders from the temple. But even he would struggle to get politicians out of a Good Friday church service in the middle of a federal election campaign.

In Melbourne and in Sydney, one of the holiest days of the Christian calendar involved a large dose of politics.

Labor frontbenchers (l-r) Tony Burke, Jason Clare and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese during St Charbels Good Friday liturgy in Punchbowl, western Sydney. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

At the Maronite service in Sydneys west, Labor leader Anthony Albanese and Jenny Morrison, the prime ministers wife, both delivered readings in front of a near-5000 strong congregation.

St Charbels church and monastery is the epicentre of the tight-knit Maronite community, which is spread through four marginal electorates, and is renowned for its Good Friday service that includes a mix of Arabic and English liturgy.
Jerusalem: Palestinians clashed with Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the holy month of Ramadan. Medics said more than 150 Palestinians were wounded in the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Masked Palestinians take position during a clash with Israeli security forces at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalems Old City on Friday. Credit:AP

The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalems Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.

Hours after the clashes began, the police said they had put an end to the violence and arrested hundreds of suspects. The mosque was re-opened, and some 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers midday, according to the Waqf, the Islamic endowment that administers the site.
OWASCO  The Owasco town council voted on Thursday to expand the membership of the municipality's ethics board after a councilor, who was its chair, was removed after raising ethical concerns as the committee looks into those complaints.

Councilor Fred Cornelius was removed at a Feb. 10 council meeting. Cornelius had informed the town the ethics board would look into concerns he had on Owasco government payments for work he had questioned, but the other council members voted to replace Cornelius as the chair at that meeting.

A public hearing to discuss adding two members to the existing three-person ethics board was held during a regular town council meeting at Owasco Town Hall Thursday.

About five minutes into the meeting, Cornelius made a motion for the resolution on the agenda to open the hearing be moved up. That was approved, and the resolution was approved, opening the hearing. Around an hour later into the meeting, the council reached the resolution to close the public hearing.

Owasco Town Supervisor Ed Wagner asked if anyone in the audience wanted to say anything about the expansion, but no one responded. The council closed the hearing.

When the council reached the resolution to modify the town's code to expand the ethics committee to five people, Wagner said council wouldn't nominate anyone for those seats at the meeting, and they could advertise for the seats. Wagner then turned to Councilor Jeremy VeVone, who is the new chair of the ethics board.

"Jeremy, your committee can decide whoever you want to recommend," Wagner said. "I'll let Jeremy take the lead on that."

The council unanimously approved expanding the ethics board to five members. That board, legally required in the state, is intended to provide advisory opinions to town officers and employees, according to the town's code.

Before the councilors went into executive session, VeVone said the ethics board is looking into Cornelius' concerns and has been gathering relevant information. VeVone said the board expansion wouldn't delay the process. He said the committee is following its current written procedures.

"A few times a week, we've been receiving our (replies) back from our information requests, and we're meeting and gathering and receiving and discussion (on) what's the next steps," VeVone said. "It's a work in progress."

Cornelius, a retired lieutenant with the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office, voted to expand the ethics board despite no longer serving as its chair. He had previously clashed with other town officials regarding his concerns, with Town Wagner previously saying Cornelius' concerns are without merit.

One of Cornelius' concerns is connected to Richard Knaul, a former Owasco town council member who is a retired town water and sewer department administrator, receiving payment from the town for what Cornelius said was previously described to be "volunteer" work. Earlier this year, Knaul issued the town an itemized bill for his services, totaling over $6,000. During an Owasco council meeting in January, Cornelius contended he had previously been told Knaul was volunteering and wasn't on the payroll.

At the Feb. 10 meeting, Cornelius asked the town's ethics board to investigate his concerns, including an incident involving work by elected Owasco Highway Superintendent Robert Bruno that was done at 69 Melrose Road, private property in the town.

Cornelius formerly led the ethics board, but Wagner pointed out at the Feb. 10 meeting that the ethics committee expired at the end of December and hadn't been renewed, so as of that point in February, the town didn't have an ethics board. Cornelius said the town code said that the ethics board, legally required in the state, needs to include a member or officer with the town and two other residents of the town, with Luke Carnicelli and Rachel Czyz previously being appointed.

The council ultimately voted for VeVone to head up the ethics board over Cornelius. A special meeting to select the other two members of the ethics board was then set for later that month. Carnicelli and Czyz were ultimately approved for the new ethics group at that special meeting.

During that Feb. 10 meeting, Cornelius talked about privately contracted work done on Melrose Road by Bruno and a town employee and private employee of Bruno's. Cornelius said the town employees received compensation and the resident at that property billed the town, with the town later paying $3,000.

Bruno and the employee found what was believed be an mistake made by a previous town contractor in which a sewer line was not properly connected to a lateral that connected to the private property's residence. Cornelius contends that upon finding the issue, Bruno should have stopped working on as a private employer and instead should have worked on it as a town employee on town time. Wagner said after the issue was discovered, Bruno put town employees, some of whom are also his private company employees, to work on it. Cornelius requested the ethics board look into his concerns regarding the payments to Knaul and Bruno.

During the special meeting Feb. 24 to appoint two people to the ethics board, VeVone said Carnicelli and Czyz said they wished to stay and VeVone noted other people indicated interest in the ethics board. Carnicelli and Czyz were appointed to the board by council, and it approved a motion to hold a public hearing to modify the town's code to expand the members of the ethics board to no more than five.

Cornelius, during another point in the meeting, said Knaul was essentially running the sewer department despite no longer being a town employee, adding a part of Bruno's town salary is picking up the work that Knaul had done before his retirement.

Cornelius told council he contacted the Public Integrity Bureau of the New York State Attorney General and the state fraud unit of the state Comptroller's Office about his concerns. Wagner later said Knaul was taking care of duties such as paperwork, documentation and more while Bruno was doing the physical work.

Earlier this month, Cornelius said his requests to the state agency hadn't gained much traction but work was being done internally to potentially resolve his concerns.

Staff writer Kelly Rocheleau can be reached at (315) 282-2243 or kelly.rocheleau@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @KellyRocheleau.

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For the final time, U.S. Rep. John Katko is inviting high school students in central New York to enter his annual Congressional Art Competition.

The contest is open to students in the existing 24th Congressional District, which is comprised of Cayuga, Onondaga and Wayne counties, plus the western part of Oswego County. The deadline for entries is May 2.

Artwork submitted for consideration can be up to 26 inches wide by 26 inches tall by four inches thick and it must not weigh more than 15 pounds. It must be two-dimensional and original in concept, design and execution.

According to the contest's guidelines, accepted forms of artwork include paintings, drawings, collages, prints, mixed media, computer-generated art and photography.

To enter the contest, students must complete a competition release form that can be found on Katko's House website, katko.house.gov. More information about the competition is also available on his website.

The artwork and the competition release form must be submitted to one of Katko's district offices by the May 2 deadline.

A panel of central New York judges will select the winning artwork. The winner will have their piece displayed in the U.S. Capitol for one year.

"This is an amazing opportunity for visitors from across the country and world to see firsthand the impressive artistic talent we have in central New York," Katko said.

Cayuga County students are among the past winners of Katko's annual art contest. Last year's winner was Angelia Scholz, a student at Union Springs High School.

This will be the last time Katko hosts the Congressional Art Competition. He announced in January that he will not seek reelection this year.

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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Italy is home to some of the most iconic automobile brands and has been closely associated with the conceptualization and development of many technologies and products - in the super premium, premium and mass-market segments. The market here has long held a place of prominence on a global stage but not any longer. According to numbers crunched by UK's Motor1, Italy dropped out of the list of top-10 biggest car markets in terms of sales of light vehicles in 2021. Light vehicles are the largest-selling crop of passenger cars and as such, the exit is likely comprehensive.

Recent years have dramatically changed the equations in the global automotive industry because of the prevailing, often unprecedented situations. The Covid-19 pandemic has been raging on since the early parts of 2020 while the crippling shortage of semiconductor chip too is having an effect. The shift towards electric vehicles and the volatility of international crude oil prices are two other major factors determining buyer preferences. Data reveals that while around 82 million passenger vehicles were sold the world over in 2021, a five per cent rise vis-a-vis 2020, some countries like Italy fared weaker.

The curious case of Italian automobile market

The Italian car market was the 12th largest, as per data based on global sales of light vehicles in 2021 compiled by Motor1. The country saw around two million sales and was placed behind Russia but managed to stay in front of Mexico. This is a shift of tectonic proportions because the Italian market has traditionally always found a place in the top 10.

Sales have dipped not just in Italy but in markets like Germany, France, UK and Spain as well even if most of these countries still figure in the list of top 10. Experts say that stringent emission norms in many of these countries means that either governments are prioritizing mass transit options, electric vehicles, or both. In the case of electric vehicles, a large majority of people may either still not be able to afford one or want to wait it out longer.

China fires on all cylinders

China remains the world's largest automotive market, both in terms of production and in sales. And by quite a distance. The country saw an estimated 26.3 million vehicles sold in 2021, a rise of four per cent from 2020. And this is still significantly higher than the around 15 million vehicles sold in the US last year. The US is placed second but China's boost to electric vehicles is likely to help the market here extend the lead over other markets.

India remains steady

There have been numerous challenges for the Indian automobile industry, some from even before pandemic times. The shift to BS 6 emission norms were followed by the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic while the semiconductor shortage remains omnipresent. The ground reality is that while demand for passenger cars here remains robust, as per Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the production and supply isn't exactly able to keep pace. Nonetheless, India is still the world's fourth-largest car market, behind Japan and ahead of Germany, France, UK, Brazil and South Korea.

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Beijing (Gasgoo)- Chinas major automotive electronics player Desay SV celebrated substantial growth in annual revenue and net profit in 2021, thanks to its intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving development, the company reported on April 14th.

Photo credit: Desay SV

In 2021, Desay SVs annual revenue amounted to RMB9.569 billion ($1.5 billion), representing a 40.75% year-on-year jump. Its net profit attributable to shareholders equaled RMB833 million ($130.7 million), surging 60.75% compared to a year ago.

The company has been actively optimizing its customer strategy and enhancing its client structure consisting of major international and domestic automakers, as well as up-rising auto startups. In the past year, Desay SV landed several new big name customers such as Lotus and PSA Stellantis.

Meanwhile, the company bagged numerous core platform project orders from well-known carmakers including FAW Group, SAIC Motor, GAC Group, Great Wall Motor, Geely Holding, BYD, Chery Auto, Li Auto, and XPeng. The massive order number resulted in over RMB1.2 billion ($188.3 million) of sales, soaring over 80% year over year, marking Desay SVs new sales record. Notably, orders for its intelligent driving and smart cockpit products saw a sharp increase from a year ago.

In line with its rapid growth in sales, Desay SV also became more and more attentive to technology iterations. In the past year, the company allocated roughly RMB1 billion ($157 million) in R&D, which accounted for 10% of its sales. Compared to 2020, the companys R&D team expanded by nearly 30%, taking up over 40% of Desay SVs entire roster. Moreover, the company has established two R&D centers in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and a new base in Weimar, Germany.
Some residents of Shanghai are able to leave their homes as China's largest city eases a two-week virus shutdown. That came after a video showed what was said to be people who ran out of food breaking into a supermarket. Police denied the incident occurred in Shanghai, but residents have said the sudden, severe shutdown left them without food or medicine and unable to look after elderly relatives. News outlet The Paper said about 6.6 million people will be allowed outdoors. The government said some markets and pharmacies would reopen. A health official warned Shanghai doesn't have the virus under control despite easing restrictions. Washington is withdrawing non-emergency U.S. government employees from its Shanghai Consulate.
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Beijing (Gasgoo)- On April 15th, Chinas tech giant Baidu formed a strategic partnership with VOYAH, the premium new energy vehicle brand of Dongfeng Motor, for automotive intelligence advancement.

Photo credit: Baidu



The partnership specifies that the two companies will primarily collaborate on intelligent driving, smart cockpit, intelligent driving simulation cloud, automotive safety, and intelligent maps. By virtue of eachs merits as a high-tech internet conglomerate or high-end new energy vehicle maker, Baidu and VOYAH aim to forge a valid technological alliance, exploring new commercialization opportunities for intelligent driving and intelligent V2X technologies. The duo plans to facilitate innovative business patterns and cooperation models as means to accelerate the premium auto brand development in China.

Currently, the country is promoting the internet and new energy principles on a macro level, Baidu and VOYAHs cooperation sets an example for the domestic intelligent auto industry to fuse and innovate. By working with leading companies in different fields, both parties will benefit from working out a new thinking pattern and creating novel things.

In this case, VOYAH can put Baidus experience accumulations in the internet user mindset onto its products and operations. Meanwhile, Baidu can benefit from the rigorous thinking of the automaker under design and R&D scenarios.
Northland Preparatory Academy science teacher Susan Brown was one of nine teachers selected by the Ecology Project International to travel to Baja, Mexico, for an eight-day teacher fellowship that took place April 2-9.

Shes been back to work this week, sharing what she learned with her students.

The fellowship was looking at the ecological diversity of Espiritu Santo Island, a UNESCO site Brown described as the mini Galapagos of Mexico. A press release on the fellowship notes that the island is home to 39% of marine mammal species in the world.

Fellowship teachers spent four days camping on the island, a two-hour boat ride offshore, without toilets or running water.

I think the kids were kind of shocked when I showed them some pictures, she said of her tent.

Despite braving one windy night, Brown said it was really great.

The group was served fish freshly caught from the ocean and at one point saw bioluminescence in the water at night.

While the group was there, the teachers participated in citizen science projects and learned about various education methods and ways they could be applied to the classroom.

Part of their work was helping a local researcher do a population count of crown of thorns starfish in the reefs. Overpopulation of these starfish has damaged the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, and a project done by this researcher from 2017 to 2019 found similar damage, Brown said.

The fellowship teachers joined his citizen science project designed to manage the problem, surveying the starfish population on different coasts.

Crown of thorns starfish are native to these area, Brown said, and will be found in a balanced ecosystem.

The problem is overpopulation.

When the ecosystem gets unhealthy, you can have an outbreak for a variety of reasons, she said. ...When the waters get warmer from agriculture, when you get phosphates in the water, it provides a lot of food for the babies and they grow. Theres not the predators there for the starfish, which is a certain snail [Giant Triton].

Other citizen science projects they were involved in included data collection for the Reef Environmental Education Fund and whale shark identification for Sharkbook. Each whale shark has a different pattern so that they can be assigned a number in the database.

According to a press release, EPI is a field science and conservation organization that partners scientists with local and international students and educators in ecology hot spots.

The Baja fellowship is EPIs 10th annual, designed to immerse teachers in the areas ecology, with underwater data collection and lessons on incorporating field studies into teaching.

Brown had traveled with EPI previously, taking a four-day workshop in Baja a few months before the pandemic. The opportunity to spend more time there and [dig deeper] into the areas biodiversity excited her, she said.

The EPI runs trips to talk about conservation: how do we conserve? Lets learn about our environment, Brown said. ...They always try to bring some par of it in, whether its talking about microplastics or what we can do to cut down on it, or do a beach cleanup. They also like to pull in authentic sciencelets go ahead and make observations and collect data and be part of whats going on out there.

She said she often tries to incorporate citizen science projects into her classroom as a way to involve her students in science and show it can have a purpose.

I always try to bring in a couple citizen science projects a year, because I feel authentic science and having students know that what theyre doing is valued, that Im not just doing an exercise to do an exercise in science class," she said. "This data is actually being used and it's going towards a bigger understanding.

Brown said her biggest takeaway from the trip was the opportunity to connect with other educators from across the country. They were all science teachers, from kindergarten to college.

Brown, who teaches seventh grade, said theyre still sharing lesson plans and ideas for their classrooms.

The collaboration is the best because were getting some of the top educators in the nation to get together and share ideas and work together, she said.

Brown has been incorporating the trip into her science classes. Before she left, Brown had her students research the crown of thorns starfish. When she returned, she gave a presentation on her trip and added some hands-on exercises.

Weve talked about food webs and what makes a healthy food web. So when I came back, I showed them pictures, she said.

She then asked questions such as: Which one looks healthy? What are the differences between them?...and we talked about what we werent seeing.

She also used the lesson to talk about climate change and microplastics, and what they could do in response as well as how species adapt to survive. Bajas environment is desert-y, Brown said, so she was able to make comparisons to what some of her students had observed in more southern parts of Arizona.

Being put back into a student mindset was a great reminder, Brown said.

When they first got to the island, the fellowship teachers were tasked with identifying the fish they saw using a set of reference books. After they had identified a few species and begun to learn more about them, the task was much easier.

When you went out there [at first], you tried to make observations, but it wasnt very specific, she said of the experience. ...They put us back into the position of being a student -- which was really great because it refreshes like, This is how a student feels when they dont know anything or how to make careful observations.'

Brown added: It was really refreshing to get that reminder and come back and be like, 'I know why you guys are struggling, I totally get it. Lets slow down today.'"

More about EPI can be found at ecologyproject.org.

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An energy-efficient alternative approach to air conditioning is making waves around Flagstaff. Its called a heat pump, and it can provide heating and cooling without the use of fossil fuels.

Once considered ineffective in cold weather climates, heat pumps are increasingly becoming a preferred system among Flagstaffs sustainability-minded contractors.

Indoor cooling systems used to be an unnecessary amenity in Flagstaffs generally cool climate, but as average temperatures around northern Arizona have climbed over the past 30 years, the demand for indoor cooling systems has increased. Since 2021, Flagstaff Heating and Cooling has seen requests for AC installations jump 75%, said contractor Rob Sorenson.

Last year was a record year for air conditioning sales, said Sorenson, who has worked in HVAC services for 23 years and lived in Flagstaff his entire life. It was hotter last summer than Ive ever seen.

As homeowners and building operators in Flagstaff go shopping for ways to beat the heat, Sorenson has joined ranks with a growing number of contractors that are steering people toward heat pumps. The general technology is nothing new  the first heat pump was constructed in 1855 by an Austrian mineral processor named Peter von Rittinger.

Heat pumps work by drawing heat from ambient air and they offer some immediate advantages over other HVAC systems. The first is that unlike traditional furnace/AC combos used to heat and cool a space, heat pumps can do both by reversing the direction that heat is pumped, effectively replacing two systems with one. Secondly, heat pumps can be run entirely on electricity and renewable energy, whereas traditional furnaces consume natural gas, a nonrenewable fossil fuel.

The freedom from fossil fuels is a big selling point for heat pumps. Residential prices for natural gas in Flagstaff are about 25% greater than the national average, and theyve increased over the last year by nearly 33%, rising from about $11 to $15 per thousand cubic feet. In January 2022, residential users in Flagstaff consumed about 81 million cubic feet of natural gas  spending a collective $1.2 million on the fossil fuel in one month alone.

Associated costs aside, using heat pumps to transition away from fossil fuels is the clear ethical choice, said contractor Tom Scheel, who has personally installed about a dozen heat pumps since 2018. That was the year he made the choice to stop installing natural gas systems.

Ive lost a little bit of business, but not much, Scheel said. I can't justify using my expertise to make global warming worse. When you add a boiler or gas furnace, you're making global warming worse.

In Scheel's perspective, heat pumps are one of the necessary tools to wean people off their fossil fuel addictions.

Electric cars, solar panels, heat pumps, they all hang together, Scheel said. If you have any climate awareness at all, you know this is a critical piece of the puzzle.

They sound good, but heat pumps are not yet cost effective, said Josh Serna, owner of Executive Heating and Cooling. Theres the installation and/or retrofit costs, and Serna said the real trouble comes with winters lower temperatures  10-15 degrees or lower  when heat pumps are less effective at drawing heat from ambient air.

To cope with Flagstaffs cold winters, Serna recommends customers trying to go all electric install a secondary heat source.

Thats typically electric heat strips, said Serna, explaining that this style of heating draws a lot of energy. They're going give up a $120 gas bill for a $300 electric bill. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Its a misconception that heat pumps require backup heating in cold climates, Sorenson said.

That was true in the 1980s, but newer cold climate units are completely viable to provide cooling and heating in places like Flagstaff.

Theyve come a long way in the last 20 years, Sorenson said. I just installed a system that heats down to minus-22 degrees.

Theres a need for more public awareness, said Ramon Alatorre, climate and energy coordinator for Flagstaffs sustainability program. Alatorre has been leading a charge to educate the community by hosting heat pump seminars for general and technical audiences.

Contractors in Flagstaff are used to pulling out someone's furnace and replacing it with another furnace, Alatorre said. We're trying to get the word out there that there's another option available.

Alatorre is also an early adopter of heat pumps in town; he installed a system in his home in December and so far has no complaints.

When I look at the combined energy bills of my electric and gas bills, compared to some of my colleagues and friends, I'm using less energy and I'm paying less total money, Alatorre said.

There are some differences to get used to.

He said his heat pump works at a slower pace  like a butter knife compared to the overpowered chainsaw of a furnace  so it cant change a spaces temperature as rapidly.

But it does the job, he said. And it was more than enough heat for what we needed.

This fiscal year, the Flagstaff sustainability office had about $20,000 in their energy rebate program that it dispersed to residents for energy-efficient improvements to homes. It offered a rebate of $300 for heat pump installations, and while the rebate funds were exhausted by December, Alatorre is hopeful that come this summer, the city will have a substantially greater fund to put toward rebates.

It looks like we will be receiving some federal funding to be able to be operate this rebate program at a different order of magnitude, he said. Rather than $20,000, we could be looking at more like $200,000.

Alatorre hopes that some of the funding will go to outfitting Flagstaff with a new generation of cold-climate, high-efficiency heat pumps.

These are not your grandparents heat pumps, he said.

For more information about Flagstaffs energy rebate program, visit www.flagstaff.az.gov/2912/Energy-Rebates.

Sean Golightly can be reached at sgolightly@azdailysun.com

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In the opening scene of this moving but sometimes frustrating drama, a middle-aged man stands alone in a stretch of flat country. He quietly takes off his glasses and then steps into the path of an oncoming train.

In the opening scene of this moving but sometimes frustrating drama, a middle-aged man stands alone in a stretch of flat country. He quietly takes off his glasses and then steps into the path of an oncoming train.

Movie review Click to Expand All My Puny Sorrows Starring Alison Pill, Sarah Gadon and Mare Winningham  Opens in Winnipeg Friday, April 22  103 minutes 1/2 out of five

As this traumatic flashback makes clear, All My Puny Sorrows will be full of pain and heavy with the weight of family history. But because the film is based on the semi-autobiographical 2014 novel by former Winnipegger Miriam Toews, there should also be a line of rich, wry, often laugh-out-loud human comedy.

So much of Toews writing, from early works like A Complicated Kindness to the recent Fight Night, comes down to an irresistible narrative voice, one that is funny and tragic, sharp and tender, irreverent and compassionate, somehow all at once.

Lottie (Mare Winningham, left) and Yoli (Alison Pill) in All My Puny Sorrows, an uneven adaptation of the Miriam Toews novel. (Mongrel Media)

Canadian director Michael McGowan (One Week, Still Mine), who also adapted the screenplay for Puny Sorrows, struggles to find a cinematic equivalent to that voice. The result is a film thats frequently powerful, often poignant and occasionally comic, but that ultimately feels disconnected.

After that harrowing first scene, we move into the main story, which takes place many years later but has not escaped the trauma of that bleak death. Yoli (Alison Pill of Snowpiercer and The Newsroom), a onetime Winnipegger now living in Toronto, feels adrift. Her novel has stalled out (shes having "structural problems"). Having initiated a divorce, she is now putting off signing the final papers. Shes dating, in a desultory sort of way, and squabbling, affectionately, with her teenage daughter Nora (Amybeth McNulty).

Then Yoli gets a call from her mother, Lottie (the always wonderful Mare Winningham), that sends her rushing home to Winnipeg. Her sister Elf (Sarah Gadon of Alias Grace and True Detective) has attempted suicide. In contrast to Yolis messy mid-life, mid-novel confusion, Elf  a gifted concert pianist with an adoring husband (Aly Mawji)  is coolly competent. But she lives with despair and depression and now seems intent on following the path of their father, Jake (Donal Logue), the suffering soul seen in the opening scene.

Elf wants to die, and Yoli wants her to live, which means they are "enemies who love each other," as Yoli says.

Mare Winningham is always wonderful. (Mongrel Media)

The beating heart of Puny Sorrows comes down to the central performances. This is an acting masterclass, with intense two-handers between Pill and Gadon, who convincingly convey a complex sisterly relationship. In-jokes, shared history, resentment, rage, forgiveness and especially love are all compressed into even their brief exchanges.

Pill, in particular, evokes a real Toewsian feel, in a portrayal thats freighted with difficult emotion while also sounding self-deprecating, offhand and funny. At one point, Yoli says to Elf, "Thanks for mentioning me in the suicide note. Can we talk about my placement?"

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Actors find connection as sisters in adaptation of Miriam Toews All My Puny Sorrows AMPS Productions Inc. From left: Sarah Gadon as Elf and Alison Pill as Yoli in All My Puny Sorrows. Posted: 7:00 PM Apr. 11, 2022 When we talk about onscreen chemistry, its often in the context of romantic leads. But Canadian actors Alison Pill (The Newsroom) and Sarah Gadon (Alias Grace), who star as sisters in All My Puny Sorrows, writer-director Michael McGowans affecting adaptation of Miriam Toews stunning semi-autobiographical 2014 novel of the same name, have sizzle in spades. (The film has been a hit on the festival circuit, and picked up a handful of nominations and two wins at the Canadian Screen Awards on Sunday night.) Read Full Story

Beyond the emotionally layered scenes between the sisters, though, the other characters and stories Elfs husband, Yolis placeholder boyfriend, a beloved aunt  never quite register. And while the story suggests the ways the past informs the present, with trauma resonating through generations, with matriarchal bonds holding things together, we dont get to see enough of this onscreen.

Take this short flashback set in Toews fictionalized Mennonite town of East Village when the sisters are growing up, in which some repressive religious elders call in at the family home to suggest that the teenage Elf going off to university might "give her ideas."

Jake asks, "Isnt that what universitys supposed to do?" while Lottie can be heard very aggressively pounding chicken schnitzel in the nearby kitchen. Through Winningham and Logues lovely, lovely work, we get some sense of Lotties angry strength and Jakes baffled decency. But we need more.

One last, completely Winnipeg-centric note: All My Puny Sorrows was filmed in North Bay, Ont. Winnipeg so often stands in for other places, it seems a shame that for this eminently Winnipeggy novel, we dont get to play ourselves.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca

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JERUSALEM (AP)  Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Medics said more than 150 Palestinians were wounded  Palestinians threw rocks and Israeli police fired stun grenades in what was the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

JERUSALEM (AP)  Palestinians and Israeli police clashed at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on Friday as thousands gathered for prayers during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Medics said more than 150 Palestinians were wounded  Palestinians threw rocks and Israeli police fired stun grenades in what was the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

The holy site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, has often been the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian unrest, and tensions were already heightened amid a recent wave of violence. Clashes at the site last year helped spark an 11-day war with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

The clashes come at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, a major weeklong Jewish holiday beginning Friday at sundown, and Christian holy week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. The holidays are expected to bring tens of thousands of faithful into Jerusalem's Old City, home to major sites sacred to all three religions.

Hours after the clashes began, the police said they had put an end to the violence and arrested hundreds of suspects. The mosque was re-opened, and some 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers midday, according to the Waqf, the Islamic endowment that administers the site.

After prayers, thousands of Palestinians marched around the esplanade, chanting with our souls, with our blood, we sacrifice for you, Al-Aqsa, in addition to slogans in support of Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Less than a kilometer (mile) away, thousands of Christians marched in a procession retracing the traditional journey of Jesus to the cross in honor of Good Friday. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was open to visitors, who are returning to the Holy Land in large numbers for the first time since before the pandemic. The violence was confined to the mosque compound.

Israeli authorities said that before the unrest broke out they had negotiated with Muslim leaders to try to ensure calm. But the police say Palestinians stockpiled rocks and other objects inside the compound and hurled stones at the Mughrabi Gate, which leads to the Western Wall  a major Jewish holy site  triggering the violence.

Palestinian witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of security concerns, said a small group of Palestinians threw rocks at police, who then entered the compound in force, setting off a wider conflagration. Palestinians view any large deployment of police at Al-Aqsa as a provocation.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinians threw rocks and fireworks, and police fired tear gas and stun grenades on the sprawling esplanade surrounding the mosque. Dozens of Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the mosque as they fought Israeli security forces.

Israeli police later entered the mosque and arrested people inside. The police rarely enter the building, which is seen by Palestinians as an escalation.

The Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service said it treated 152 people, many of them wounded by rubber-coated bullets or stun grenades.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Video footage showed police beating a photographer for the Waqf with batons before knocking him to ground and kicking him. The Waqf said the photographer, Rami Khatib, suffered a broken hand. There was no immediate comment from police.

The Israeli police said three officers were wounded from massive stone-throwing, with two evacuated from the scene for treatment.

Neighboring Jordan, which has custodianship over the holy site, and the Palestinian Authority issued a joint statement accusing Israel of a dangerous and condemnable escalation that threatens to explode the situation. Egypt also condemned the Israeli raid.

Masked Palestinians take position during clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israel's public security minister, Omer Barlev, who oversees the police force, said Israel had no interest in violence at the holy site but that police were forced to confront violent elements who attacked them with stones and metal bars. He said Israel was committed to freedom of worship for Jews and Muslims alike.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said authorities are working to calm things on the Temple Mount and throughout Israel. At the same time, we are prepared for any scenario."

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. It is built on a hilltop in Jerusalem's Old City that is the most sacred site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the site of the Jewish temples in antiquity. It has been a major flashpoint for Israeli-Palestinian violence for decades and was the epicenter of the 2000-2005 Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

Palestinians evacuate a wounded man during clashes with Israeli security forces, outside Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israel captured east Jerusalem, including the Old City, in the 1967 war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians want the eastern part of the city to be the capital of a future state including the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel also captured during the war nearly 55 years ago.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that killed 14 people inside Israel. Israeli troops have carried out a wave of arrests and military operations across the occupied West Bank, setting off clashes with Palestinians.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed, according to an Associated Press count. Many had carried out attacks or were involved in the clashes, but an unarmed woman and a lawyer who appears to have been a bystander were also among those killed.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Weeks of protests and clashes in and around Al-Aqsa during Ramadan last year helped ignite a fourth Gaza war between Israel and Hamas. This year, Israel has lifted restrictions and taken other steps to try and calm tensions, but the attacks and the military raids are fueling another cycle of unrest.

Hamas condemned what it said were brutal attacks" on worshippers at Al-Aqsa, saying Israel would bear all the consequences.

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Earlier this week, Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza had called on Palestinians to camp out at the Al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend. Palestinians have long feared that Israel plans to take over the site or partition it.

Palestinians clash with Israeli security forces at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Israeli authorities say they are committed to maintaining the status quo, but in recent years large groups of nationalist and religious Jews have regularly visited the site with police escorts.

A radical Jewish group recently called on people to bring animals to the site in order to sacrifice them for Passover, offering cash rewards for those who succeeded or even tried. Israeli police work to prevent such activities, but the call was widely circulated by Palestinians on social media, along with calls for Muslims to prevent any sacrifices from taking place.

Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, issued a statement calling on Muslim leaders to act to stop the violence. He also noted that bringing a sacrifice to the Temple Mount today is in opposition to the decision of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

___

Associated Press reporter Wafaa Shurafa in Gaza City, Gaza Strip contributed to this report.
ROME (AP)  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday Colosseum procession in Rome, after the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman to share bearing the cross with a Ukrainian woman had angered Ukrainians.

Prelates attend the Way of the Cross ceremony as part of the Holy Easter celebration, on the forecourt of Notre Dame Cathedral, in Paris, Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

ROME (AP)  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday Colosseum procession in Rome, after the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman to share bearing the cross with a Ukrainian woman had angered Ukrainians.

In an apparent attempt to defuse the objections, when the moment arrived for the two women, who work together at a Rome hospital, to walk with the cross together, the ceremony's participants were invited to pause in prayerful silence and pray in their heart for peace in the world.

The original script, written with the women's input, had spoken of prospects for reconciliation." That wording had sparked protests by both the Ukrainian ambassador to the Holy See and a Kyiv archbishop.

They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.

A view of the Colosseum where Pope Francis will preside over the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession on Good Friday in front of Rome's Colosseum, in Rome, Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

For the first time since before the pandemic, the solemn torchlit procession returned to the ancient arena in Rome Friday night. Thousands of pilgrims and tourists held small, lit candles as Pope Francis, looking pensive and wearing a white coat against the damp night air, sat under a canopy placed on an elevated viewing point.

At each Station of the Cross, reflecting details of Jesus suffering and death by crucifixion, a different family walked with the cross, and meditations, written by them, were read aloud.

The women were identified only by their first names in interviews on Italian Rai state TV: Irina, a nurse from Ukraine and Albina, a Russian nursing student.

Ahead of the procession, Albina told Rai that it was important to pray for the children who are no more, for the soldiers who lost their lives and cant even be buried. Irina described the sharing of the cross-carrying as a great responsibility.

The Vatican didnt respond to the protests. But apparently in reaction to the flap, the original meditation to be read while they shared bearing the cross, was shortened considerably for the procession.

Pope Francis presides over the 'In passione Domini' (in the passion of the Lord) Good Friday mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Friday, April 15, 2022. Usually at the Good Friday basilica service at the Vatican, the pontiff would prostrate himself in prayer. But this time Francis, hobbled by pain for weeks, didn't do so. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

The meditation said that in the face of death, silence is the most eloquent of words. Participants were then invited to pause iand pray for peace in the world. The two women looked somberly into each others eyes for a long moment as they carried the cross.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the text was shortened to allow people to stay in silence and in prayer.

Francis made no reference to the flap. Instead, at the processions conclusion, he prayed that God bring adversaries to shake hands, so that they taste reciprocal forgiveness. He also prayed that God disarm the hand raised by brother against brother, so that where there is hatred, harmony will bloom."

While Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a sacrilege, he has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor, although his references to Russian President Vladimir Putin have been clear.

SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops conference, said that several Ukrainian religious media refused this year to broadcast or report on the Colosseum procession in protest.

Two nurses from Russia and Ukraine hold the cross as they take part in the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) torchlight procession presided by Pope Francis on Good Friday in front of Rome's Colosseum, in Rome, Friday, April 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

But other faithful in the world applauded the decision to pair the two women.

In Paris, hundreds of Catholics gathered for Good Friday prayers on the forecourt of Notre Dame cathedral.

Jennifer Kilgore-Caradec, who is from the United States, told The AP at Notre Dame that having the two women hold the cross together was a "very moving and meaningful symbol. She added: I think that real people in the real world are concerned about peace. We want peace, we dont want war.

The faithful were not allowed inside the Paris cathedral, since it is still under reconstruction after a 2019 blaze collapsed its spire and destroyed its roof.

In St. Peter's Basilica, hours ahead of the Colosseum event, Francis, wearing red vestments to symbolize the blood of Jesus, limped up the central aisle for an early evening prayer service. Francis, 85, has been suffering from a knee ligament problem.

Usually at the Good Friday basilica service at the Vatican, the pontiff would prostrate himself in prayer. But this time Francis, hobbled by pain for weeks, didn't do so.

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Francis dispatched his official almsgiver, Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, to Kyiv to lead a Good Friday procession in the capital city of war-ravaged Ukraine. Italian Rai state TV showed the cardinal visiting Borodyanka, where he prayed over some of the bodies and leaned over to touch one, partially covered, body.

Good Friday is one of the main days for Christians during Holy Week, which culminates in Easter, on Sunday.

In Jerusalem, where tens of thousands of faithful traditionally converge on the Old City to visit sacred sites during Holy Week, Palestinians and Israeli police clashed Friday at the Al-Aqsa mosque. The site is sacred to Jews and Muslims. This year, Ramadan coincides with Passover as well as Holy Week.

Medics in Jerusalem said more than 150 Palestinians were injured in the most serious violence at the site in nearly a year.

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John Leicester and Oleg Cetinic contributed from Paris.
With towering pine trees and cool mountain breezes, a pocket of southern New Mexico draws thousands of tourists and horse racing fans every summer. It's also a community that knows how devastating wildfires can be.

A tree ignites as the McBride Fire spills down a mountainside near Ruidoso, New Mexico, on Wednesday April 13, 2022. Authorities say firefighters have kept a wind-driven blaze from pushing further into a mountain community in the southern part of the state. (Justin Garcia /The Las Cruces Sun News via AP)

With towering pine trees and cool mountain breezes, a pocket of southern New Mexico draws thousands of tourists and horse racing fans every summer. It's also a community that knows how devastating wildfires can be.

It was a decade ago that fire ripped through part of the village of Ruidoso, putting the vacation spot on the map with the most destructive wildfire in New Mexico's recorded history when more than 240 homes burned and nearly 70 square miles (181 square kilometers) of forest were blackened by a lightning-sparked blaze.

Now, Mayor Lynn Crawford is rallying heartbroken residents once again as firefighters on Friday tried to keep wind-whipped flames from making another run at the village and the hundreds of homes and summer cabins that dot the surrounding mountainsides.

More than 200 homes already have burned, and an elderly couple was found dead this week outside their charred residence. While power has been restored to all but a few hundred customers in the area, evacuations for close to 5,000 people remain in place.

Crawford said the village is overflowing with donations from surrounding communities.

Eric Vaughn surveys the wind damage to his roof at the Unique Boutique in Ruidoso, New Mexico, on Wednesday April 13, 2022. Authorities say firefighters have kept a wind-driven blaze from pushing further into a mountain community in the southern part of the state. (Justin Garcia/Las Cruces Sun-News via AP)

So we have plenty of food, we have plenty of clothes, those kinds of things but we still appreciate and need your prayers and your thoughts, the mayor said during a briefing. Again, our hearts go out to the family of the deceased, to those that have lost their homes.

Authorities have yet to release the names of the couple who died. Their bodies were found after worried family members contacted police, saying the couple had planned to evacuate Tuesday when the fire exploded but were unaccounted for later that day.

Near where the bodies were recovered, in Gavilan Canyon, the fire reduced homes to ash and metal. An 18-home RV park was completely destroyed.

This photo provided by the Village of Ruidoso shows a fire fighting air tanker dropping fire retardant across the mountains near the Village of Ruidoso, N.M., on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Officials say a wildfire has burned about 150 structures, including homes, in the New Mexico town of Ruidoso. (Kerry Gladden/Village of Ruidoso via AP)

I had like 10 people displaced, they lost their homes and everything, including my mom, said Douglas Siddens, who managed the park.

Siddens said his mother was at work when the fire broke out with just the clothes she had on and thats all she has left.

Everyone got out of the RV park safely before the flames hit but its completely leveled. Like, all thats left are metal frame rails and steel wheels, Siddens said.

The remains of a home left after a wildfire spread through the Village of Ruidoso, New Mexico, on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Officials say a wildfire has burned about 150 structures, including homes, in the New Mexico town of Ruidoso. (Alexander Meditz via AP)

While many older residents call Ruidoso home year round, the population of about 8,000 people expands to about 25,000 during the summer months as Texans and New Mexicans from hotter climates come seeking respite. Horse races at the Ruidoso Downs also draw crowds, as it's home to one of the sport's richest quarter-horse competitions. The racing season was expected to start May 27, and horses that board there aren't in any danger as fire officials use the facility as a staging ground.

Part-time residents have taken to social media over the last few days, pleading with fire officials for updates on certain neighborhoods, hoping their family cabins weren't among those damaged or destroyed.

The hotlines lit up Friday afternoon as people in the village called in to report more smoke. Fire information officer Mike DeFries said that was because there were flare-ups within the interior of the fire as the flames found pockets of unburned fuel.

The remains of a home left after a wildfire spread through the Village of Ruidoso, N.M. on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Officials say a wildfire has burned about 150 structures, including homes, in the New Mexico town of Ruidoso. (Alexander Meditz via AP)

While the fire didn't make any runs at the lines crews had established, he said it was still a tough day for firefighters due to single-digit humidity, warmer temperatures and the wind.

Authorities reiterated that it was still too early to start letting people in to see the damage. They asked for patience as fire crews continued to put out hot spots and tried to build a stronger perimeter around the blaze.

It's still an active fire area in there and it's not a safe place, DeFries said. It's going to require patience. At the same time, every step that we're taking is designed to suppress this fire and to get people back home as soon as possible.

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Smoke rises along a hillside in the Village of Ruidoso, N.M., on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Officials say a wildfire has burned about 150 structures, including homes, in the New Mexico town of Ruidoso. (Alexander Meditz via AP)

New Mexico authorities said they suspect the fire, which has torched more than 9.5 square miles (24 square kilometers) of forest and grass, was sparked by a downed power line and the investigation continued Friday.

Elsewhere in the U.S., large fires were reported this week in Texas, Colorado and Oklahoma.

Hotter and drier weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. The problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.

The National Interagency Fire Center reported Thursday that since the start of the year, 18,550 wildfires have burned about 1,250 square miles (3,237 square kilometers). Thats well above the 10-year U.S. average of 12,290 wildfires and 835 square miles (2163 square kilometers) burned for the same period.

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Cedar Attanasio contributed reporting from Santa Fe. Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.
BEIJING (AP)  Anti-virus controls that have shut down some of Chinas biggest cities and fueled public irritation are spreading as infections rise, hurting a weak economy and prompting warnings of possible global shockwaves.

A man wearing a face mask walks past blossoming trees at a public park in Beijing, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

BEIJING (AP)  Anti-virus controls that have shut down some of Chinas biggest cities and fueled public irritation are spreading as infections rise, hurting a weak economy and prompting warnings of possible global shockwaves.

Shanghai is easing rules that confined most of its 25 million people to their homes after complaints they had trouble getting food. But most of its businesses still are closed. Access to Guangzhou, an industrial center of 19 million people near Hong Kong, was suspended this week. Other cities are cutting off access or closing factories and schools.

In this image taken from video provided by Grape Chen, Grape Chen puts on goggles before heading out for a COVID-19 test as part of a mass coronavirus testing effort in Shanghai, China, Monday, April 4, 2022. Anti-virus controls that shut down some of China's biggest cities and fueled public irritation are spreading as infections rise, hurting a weak economy and prompting warnings of possible global shockwaves. Chen said she is panicking about being able to obtain medication for her father, who is recovering from a stroke. She called police after getting no response from an official hotline but was told quarantine rules prevented officers from helping. (Grape Chen via AP)

Spring planting by Chinese farmers who feed 1.4 billion people might be disrupted, Nomura economists warned Thursday. That could boost demand for imported wheat and other food, pushing up already high global prices.

The closures are an embarrassment to the ruling Communist Party and a setback for official efforts to shore up slumping growth in the worlds second-largest economy. They come during a sensitive year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader.

Beijing has promised to reduce the human and economic cost of its zero-COVID strategy, but Xi on Wednesday ruled out joining the United States and other governments that are dropping restrictions and trying to live with the virus.

Prevention and control work cannot be relaxed, Xi said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Persistence is victory.

The risk that China might tumble into recession is increasing, Ting Lu, Jing Wang and Harrison Zhang of Nomura warned in a report.

The logistics crunch is worsening, they said. The markets should also be concerned about the delayed spring planting of grain in China.

The government reported 29,411 new cases Thursday, all but 3,020 with no symptoms. Shanghai accounted for 95% of that total, or 27,719 cases. All but 2,573 had no symptoms.

A health official warned Wednesday that Shanghai didnt have the virus under control despite its easing restrictions.

Some 6.6 million people were allowed to leave their homes in areas that had no new cases for at least a week. But at least 15 million others still are barred from going outdoors.

Most people have obeyed despite grumbling about shortages of food, medicine and access to elderly relatives who need help. But videos on the popular Sina Weibo social media service show some trading punches with police.

Grape Chen, a data analyst in Shanghai, said she was panicking about getting medicines for her father, who is recovering from a stroke. She called police after getting no response from an official hotline but was told quarantine rules bar officers from helping.

We are willing to cooperate with the country, Chen said. But we also hope that our lives can be respected.

The city government of Suzhou, a center for smartphone manufacturing and other high-tech industry west of Shanghai, told its 18 million people to stay home when possible.

Taiyuan, a blue-collar city of 4 million in central China, suspended inter-city bus service, according to the official China News Service. Ningde in the southeast barred residents from leaving.

A restaurant cook in Taiyuan said his family has been confined to their apartment compound since April 3 after cases were found in neighboring compounds.

Our lives will be seriously affected if the restrictions last long, said the cook, who would give only his surname, Chen.

My wife and I are earning nothing, Chen said. We have three children to support.

All but 13 of Chinas 100 biggest cities by economic output are under some form of restrictions, according to Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm.

The intensity is increasing, Gavekal said in a report this week.

The volume of cargo handled by the Shanghai port, the worlds busiest, has fallen 40%, according to an estimate by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Automakers have suspended production due to disruption in deliveries of supplies.

Restrictions on areas that produce the world's smartphones, consumer electronics and other goods are prompting forecasters to cut expectations for this year's economic growth to as low as 5%, down sharply from last year's 8.1% expansion.

The ruling partys target is 5.5%. Growth slid to 4% over a year earlier in the final quarter of 2021 after tighter official controls on debt triggered a collapse in home sales and construction, industries that support millions of jobs.

Even before the latest shutdowns, the ruling party was promising tax refunds and other help for entrepreneurs who generate wealth and jobs.

Premier Li Keqiang, the No. 2 leader and top economic official, called this week for quicker rollout of aid for businesses that face a key juncture for survival, China News Service reported.

Under a strategy dubbed dynamic clearing, authorities are trying to use more targeted measures to isolate neighborhoods instead of whole cities with populations bigger than some countries. But some local leaders are imposing more sweeping controls.

Shanghai leaders were criticized for trying to minimize economic damage by ordering testing but no shutdown once cases were found last month. A citywide shutdown was ordered with only a few hours' warning after case numbers soared.

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That was in contrast to Shenzhen, a tech and finance center of 17.5 million people near Hong Kong that closed the city March 13 after an outbreak and ordered mass testing. It reopened a week later and business returned to normal.

Guangzhou has imitated Shenzhen. Most access to the city of 19 million was suspended Monday and mass testing ordered after 27 infections were found.

Li Guanyu, a 31-year-old woman in Guangzhou, said residents can leave her apartment compound only once every other day to buy food but stores are well-stocked.

This happened a bit suddenly," said Li. Maybe the Shanghai situation is so bad that Guangzhou started mass testing and lockdowns as soon as cases were discovered.

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AP researchers Yu Bing in Beijing and Chen Si in Shanghai and video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing contributed.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Americans are deeply divided over how much children in K-12 schools should be taught about racism and sexuality, according to a new poll released as Republicans across the country aim to make parental involvement in education a central campaign theme this election year.

FILE - History teacher Wendy Leighton holds a copy of "They Called us Enemy," about the internment of Japanese Americans, while speaking about marginalized with her students at Monte del Sol Charter School, Dec. 3, 2021, in Santa Fe, N.M. Americans are deeply divided over how much children in K-12 schools should be taught about racism and sexuality. That's according to a new poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio, File)

WASHINGTON (AP)  Americans are deeply divided over how much children in K-12 schools should be taught about racism and sexuality, according to a new poll released as Republicans across the country aim to make parental involvement in education a central campaign theme this election year.

Overall, Americans lean slightly toward expanding  not cutting back  discussions of racism and sexuality, but roughly 4 in 10 say the current approach is about right, including similar percentages across party lines. Still, the poll from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows stark differences between Republicans and Democrats who want to see schools make adjustments.

A new UChicago Harris/AP-NORC poll finds half of Americans say both parents and teachers have too little influence on K-12 curriculum. Two thirds of Republicans but only 4 in 10 Democrats say that of parents.

About 4 in 10 Republicans say teachers in local public schools discuss issues related to sexuality too much, while only about 1 in 10 say too little. Among Democrats, those numbers are reversed.

The findings reflect a sharply politicized national debate that has consumed local school boards and, increasingly, state capitols. Republicans see the fight over school curriculum as a winning culture war issue that will motivate their voters in the midterm elections.

In the meantime, a flurry of new state laws has been introduced, meant to curtail teaching about racism and sexuality and to establish a "parents bill of rights" that would champion curriculum transparency and allow parents to file complaints against teachers.

The push for legislation grew out of an elevated focus on K-12 schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, when angry parents crowded school board meetings to voice opposition to school closures, mask mandates and other restrictive measures intended to prevent the spread of illness.

"All that thats happening these days kind of goes against the longer history of school boards being relatively low salience government institutions and, in a lot of cases, they are nonpartisan offices," said Adam Zelizer, a professor at the University of Chicago Harris School researching school board legislation.

What distinguishes this moment, Zelizer said, is the "grassroots anger" in response to school policies and the national, coordinated effort to recruit partisan candidates for school boards and local offices.

What started as parents' concern about virtual learning and mask wearing has morphed into something larger, said Republican pollster Robert Blizzard, describing parents as thinking: "OK, now that we have the schools open, what are these kids learning in school?"

The poll shows 50% of Americans say parents have too little influence on curriculum, while 20% say they have too much and 27% say its about right. About half also say teachers have too little influence.

Kendra Schultz said she and her husband have decided their 1-year-old daughter will be homeschooled, at least initially, because of what friends have told them about their experiences with schools in Columbia, Missouri.

Most recently, she said, one 4-year-olds pre-K class talked about gender pronouns. Schultz offered that and mask requirements as examples of how the public school system "doesnt align with what we believe or how we would like to see our children educated."

"Im just like, youre a little kid, you should be learning your ABCs and your numbers and things like that," said Schultz, a 30-year-old conservative. "That's just not something that me and my husband would be interested in having teachers share with our children."

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in March signed into law a bill barring instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Opponents, including the White House, have dubbed it the "Dont Say Gay" law.

The poll shows Americans are slightly more likely to say the focus on sex and sexuality in local schools is too little rather than too much, 31% to 23%, but 40% say its about right. The poll didnt ask about specific grade levels.

Blizzard, who has been working with a group called N2 America to help GOP candidates in suburbs, said the schools issue resonates with the Republican base and can motivate voters.

In the Virginia governor's race last year, Republican Glenn Youngkin won after campaigning on boosting parental involvement in schools and banning critical race theory, an academic framework about systemic racism that has become a catch-all phrase for teaching about race in U.S. history. His Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, had said in a debate that parents shouldnt tell schools what to teach.

The poll also shows Americans have mixed views about schools' focus on racism in the U.S.

Charkia Lang-James, a mother of three who lives near Mobile, Alabama, said that she believes schools should be teaching the truest, fullest version of history, especially on issues that touch on race and racism.

"The truth should be taught, whether it looks good or bad," she said. "All of the truth."

Lang-James, who is Black and identifies as a political independent, said as an adult, she learned that many things she had been taught in school were lacking in depth and accuracy.

"We learned about Christopher Columbus, and how he discovered America," she said. "But how can he discover something that was already there?  I feel like its just not the whole history."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said parents and teachers alike are frustrated after pandemic disruptions and should partner to help kids recover. The efforts to predetermine curriculum and restrict teaching are getting in the way, she said.

"The people who are proposing them, theyve been pretty clear ... they just want to sow doubt and distrust because they want to end public education as we know it," Weingarten said.

Parents of school-age children arent more likely than other adults to say parents have too little influence in schools. But there is a wide partisan gap, with 65% of Republicans saying that, compared with 38% of Democrats.

Michael Henry, a father of three in Dacula, Georgia, says hes wrestled over what the right level of involvement is. It didnt sit right with him, for example, that his 6-year-old was taught about Columbus in an entirely positive light. He says hes reflected on "some of the lies" and "glorifications of history" in his own public school education and thinks race needs to be talked about more.

But ultimately, school curriculum is "outside my area of expertise," said Henry, 31, an actuary who is also the acting president of the Gwinnett County Young Democrats.

"I have to do a lot of studying and work to be able to make informed decisions, and I dont feel like parents generally have that kind of skill set" for curriculum, he said. "I think professionals should mostly be determining what the curriculum should be."

Henry worries that new restrictions are "adding extra hassle for teachers, who already have a lot on their plate, to solve a problem that doesnt exist."

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AP Education Writer Collin Binkley in Boston contributed to this report.

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Ma, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, writes about education and equity for APs Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/anniema15

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The AP-NORC poll of 1,082 adults was conducted March 17-21 using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The Coconino National Forest is conducting prescribed burns along Lake Mary Road in an area approximately four miles south of Flagstaff and across from the Sandys Canyon trailhead.

Smoke should be visible from the Flagstaff area and along Lake Mary Road. The east side of Flagstaff -- the neighborhoods of Smoke Rise, Continental, and Country Club -- are likely to experience light to moderate smoke impacts. Ignitions are scheduled to begin early in the day to allow most of the smoke to disperse before nightfall.

Forest crews plan to burn initially 348 acres as part of the Flagstaff Urban Interface Mountainaire 3E project. They will resume the 2400-acre project on Monday, and burns will continue through Friday, April 22.

Trail access will be restricted through the area during burn implementation, and Lake Mary Road could experience speed reductions and lane restrictions during the week of April 18. The round of prescribed burns is timed to take advantage of cooler temperatures in the forecast.

Prescribed burns like the Mountainaire 3E project are part of the U.S. Forest Services strategy for protecting communities and preventing catastrophic wildfire.

The Mountainaire 3E project takes place within the footprint of the Four Forest Restoration Initiative, which aims to implement forest restoration treatments on 2.4 million acres of Arizona forest. Nationally, the Forest Service plans to treat up to 20 million acres of National Forest System lands similarly, and up to 30 million acres of other federal, state, tribal and private lands.

Prescribed burns are dependent upon approval from Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). Public can view approved prescribed burns on ADEQs website at smoke.azdeq.gov.

For more information on why prescribed burns are conducted and how they benefit the landscape and help protect communities, visit the Forest Service's Prescribed Fire and Forest Health web page.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  Samantha Moala recalls she was taking a shower at her home in Tonga when she heard what sounded like a gunshot so powerful it hurt her ears.

In this photo supplied by the Royal Australian Navy, a resident of Nomuka Island in Tonga clears debris on Feb. 26, 2022, following the Jan. 15 2022 eruption of the Hunga TongaHunga Ha'apai volcano and subsequent tsunami. Three months on from a devastating volcano and tsunami in Tonga, the AP checks in on how the island nation is recovering. The bill from the tsunami is estimated at some $90 million and GDP is expected to fall by more than 7% this year. The cleanup has been hindered by an internet outage caused by the tsunami and the nations first outbreak of COVID-19. (LSCSO Rye Huckel/Royal Australian Navy via AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)  Samantha Moala recalls she was taking a shower at her home in Tonga when she heard what sounded like a gunshot so powerful it hurt her ears.

As she and her family scrambled to their car to drive inland, ash blackened the sky. The world's biggest volcanic eruption in 30 years sent a tsunami around the globe, and the first waves washed across the road as Moala drove to safety at the airport with her terrified husband and two sons.

A volunteer with the Tonga Red Cross, Moala, 39, was soon attending to the cuts other people had suffered as they escaped, and giving them psychological support. She said about 50 of them stayed for two days at the airport until they got the all-clear to go back home.

People were all shocked, she said. But I got to mingle with them, help them, get them to be confident. It's a small little island, and we got to know each other in two hours.

Three months after the eruption, Tongas rebuilding is slowly progressing, and the impact of the disaster has come into clearer focus. Last week, the prime minister handed over the keys to the first rebuilt home of the 468 the government plans to reconstruct across three islands as part of its recovery program.

Some 3,000 people whose homes were destroyed or damaged initially sought shelter in community halls or evacuation centers. Eighty percent of Tonga's population was impacted in some way.

In this photo supplied by the Royal Australian Navy, an Australian Defence Force MRH-90 Taipan helicopter provides aerial reconnaissance of Eua Island in Tonga on Feb. 21, 2022. Three months on from a devastating volcano and tsunami in Tonga, the AP checks in on how the island nation is recovering. The bill from the tsunami is estimated at some $90 million and GDP is expected to fall by more than 7% this year. The cleanup has been hindered by an internet outage caused by the tsunami and the nations first outbreak of COVID-19. (POIS Christopher Szumlanski/Royal Australian Navy via AP)

In the first few weeks after the eruption, Moala helped out by putting up tents and tarpaulins, and then by cooking food for other volunteers.

It took five long weeks for Tonga to restore its internet connection to the rest of the world after the tsunami severed a crucial fiber-optic cable. That delayed some families from abroad from being able to send financial help to their loved ones.

Three people in Tonga died from the tsunami and a fourth from what authorities described as related trauma. The sonic boom from the eruption was so loud it could be heard in Alaska and a mushroom plume of ash rocketed a record 58 kilometers (36 miles) into the sky.

The World Bank estimates the total bill for the damage is about $90 million. In the small island nation of 105,000 people, thats equivalent to more than 18% of gross domestic product.

The bank noted that many coastal tourism businesses  which bring in vital foreign revenue for Tonga  were particularly hard hit, with tourist cabins and wharves destroyed. The agriculture industry also suffered, with crops lost and reef fisheries damaged.

The ANZ bank says Tonga's GDP will likely contract by 7.4% this year, after it had been expected to grow by 3.7% before the volcano erupted.

The international community has been helping out, with Tonga able to secure $8 million in funding from the World Bank and $10 million from the Asian Development Bank, as well as aid assistance from many places including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the European Union, the U.S. and China.

But progress has been hampered by the nation's first outbreak of COVID-19, which was likely brought in by foreign military crews who raced to drop off supplies as the ash cleared. The outbreak prompted a series of lockdowns, and the country remains in a state of emergency.

Moala is among the more than 8,500 Tongans who have caught the coronavirus since it began spreading through the islands. Eleven people so far have died. Moala said the outbreak had affected many businesses, including her husband's work as a tattoo artist.

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But as the outbreak ebbs and the rebuilding progresses, the islands' familiar rhythms are returning for many people.

Among those who remain most affected are the 62 people who lived on Mango Island and about another 100 on Atata Island who may never be able to return home.

The islands are located very close to the Hunga Tonga Hunga Haapai volcano, and the villages were completed wiped out. Residents have now been offered land by Tonga's king to relocate onto one of Tonga's two main islands.

Sione Taumoefolau, the secretary-general of the Tonga Red Cross Society, said there is a lot of work to be done relocating the residents.

It's also been slow-going getting supplies to people on other far-flung islands, he said. Many of them remain without internet access after a domestic fiber-optic cable was also damaged and will likely not be repaired for months.

Three months later, people are starting to get back to normal," Taumoefolau said. But we can see they still need psychological and social support, those that were really impacted, especially those who have to relocate.
NEW YORK (AP)  Charlie Rose, whose career as a journalist imploded in 2017 due to sexual misconduct allegations, emerged Thursday by posting online a lengthy interview he conducted with investor Warren Buffett.

FILE -Charlie Rose walks through the Trump Tower, Monday, Nov. 21, 2016 in New York. Charlie Rose, whose career as a journalist imploded in 2017 due to sexual misconduct allegations, emerged Thursday, April 14, 2022 by posting online a lengthy interview he conducted with investor Warren Buffett.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

NEW YORK (AP)  Charlie Rose, whose career as a journalist imploded in 2017 due to sexual misconduct allegations, emerged Thursday by posting online a lengthy interview he conducted with investor Warren Buffett.

Rose said in a message on his website that he was proud to have the recent conversation with Buffett. The 80-year-old journalist said it was the first interview he had conducted in more than four years.

It's great to see you, Rose told Buffett, the 91-year-old chief of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the richest men in the world.

It's great to see you, Buffett answered. Their talk lasted 75 minutes and focused solely on Buffett. Rose's experiences were not discussed.

Rose's television talk show, which had aired on PBS since 1991, ended abruptly in November 2017 after The Washington Post published a story in which several women who had worked with him alleged a pattern of sexual misconduct that included groping and walking naked in front of them.

He called one 21-year-old staffer to tell her his fantasies of seeing her swim in the nude, the Post said in its investigation, published at the height of the #MeToo movement.

Rose apologized for his actions but it didn't save his job. He was also fired from CBS This Morning," which he had co-hosted with Gayle King since 2012.

On his website, Rose called the Buffett interview a step in a journey to engage the most interesting people and explore the most compelling ideas in the world.

In the interview, the two men talked about Buffett's career, which began when he bought stocks for $114.75 in 1942, when he was 11 years old. He described his typical day, which would include calling a co-worker a half hour before the stock market opened to direct him on what business to conduct  sometimes involving billions of dollars in buying and selling.

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Buffett talked about his company's annual meeting, on April 30, where he planned to talk to and answer questions from thousands of his investors.

To that end, he brushed aside some of Rose's specific questions, including when the interview broached the topic of the war in Ukraine.

It doesn't do me any good  and doesn't do the world any good  to have me talk about it, Buffett said.

Asked how time has changed him, Buffett said, I've gotten dumber but I've gotten wiser. He can't add numbers as quickly, sometimes forgets names and occasionally climbs to the top of the stairs and forgot what he came up for. But allocating capital, he said, I can do ... as well as ever.

Not everyone on social media welcomed Rose's return, with some people posting old articles on Twitter about what he was accused of. Rebecca Carroll, author of Surviving the White Gaze, posted her December 2017 Esquire article in which she wrote of the toxic and degrading atmosphere she found when she was a producer on Rose's PBS show, and the ramifications of the #MeToo movement for Black women.

Powerful white men will always reemerge, Carroll wrote on Twitter. They will always be fine.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea will remove most pandemic restrictions, including indoor gathering limits, as it slowly wiggles out of an omicron outbreak officials say is stabilizing.

People wearing face masks as a precaution against the coronavirus stroll under cherry blossoms in full bloom at a park in Goyang, South Korea, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  South Korea will remove most pandemic restrictions, including indoor gathering limits, as it slowly wiggles out of an omicron outbreak officials say is stabilizing.

People will still be required to wear masks indoors, but authorities could remove an outdoor mask mandate if the coronavirus further slows over the next two weeks, Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol said in a government briefing Friday.

Starting next week, authorities will remove a 10-person limit on private social gatherings and lift a midnight curfew at restaurants, coffee shops and other indoor businesses. Officials will also remove a ban on large political rallies and other events involving 300 or more people.

People will be allowed to eat inside movie theaters, religious facilities, bus terminals and train stations starting on April 25.

The new measures were announced as the country reported 125,846 new cases of the coronavirus, continuing a weekslong downward trend after infections peaked in mid-March. The countrys one-day record was 621,187 on March 17.

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While health workers reported 264 virus-related deaths in the latest 24 hours, more than half of the countrys 2,800 COVID-19 intensive care units remained available.

Kwon pleaded that people remain vigilant against the virus, saying officials will be forced to tighten social distancing again if the pandemic brings another huge wave of infections.

He said it has become difficult to prolong social distancing rules, considering peoples fatigue and frustration with extended restrictions and the toll on the service sector economy. Social distancing measures have become less effective as tools to slow transmissions because omicron has been so much more contagious than previous variants of the virus, said Son Youngrae, another Health Ministry official.

Omicron has forced South Korea to abandon a stringent COVID-19 response based on mass laboratory tests, aggressive contact tracing and quarantines to focus limited medical resources on high-risk groups, including people 60 and older and those with preexisting medical conditions.

Starting in late May, officials will remove a mandatory seven-day quarantine period for COVID-19 patients and allow them to receive treatment at hospitals and local clinics just like other illnesses.

The country had already eased quarantine restrictions and stopped requiring adults to show proof of vaccination or negative tests when entering potentially crowded spaces like restaurants so that more public and health workers could respond to rapidly expanding at-home treatments. More than 900,000 virus patients have been asked to isolate at home to save hospital space.
Canada has confirmed six cases of XE, Health Canada confirms.

First detected in the U.K., XE, the latest version of Omicron, is said to be the most transmissible variant yet, according to the World Health Organization. It is estimated to spread more easily than BA. 2, which was found to be more transmissible than original Omicron variant.

While the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths globally appear to decline for a third consecutive week, the WHO warns this decrease "should be interpreted with caution as several countries are progressively changing their COVID-19 testing strategies, resulting in lower overall numbers of tests performed and consequently lower numbers of cases detected."

Despite public health messaging by Canadian provinces in lifting pandemic restrictions, like mask mandates and capacity limits especially indoors in crowded spaces like schools, it still feels like COVID is everywhere.

So what do we know about XE?

What is the XE variant?

XE is a recombinant variant, which means it is a combination of genetic material from two or more different viruses. In this case, XE includes attributes of both BA. 1, the original Omicron strain, and BA.2.

The strain is now dominant in at least 68 countries, including the United States and makes up about 94 per cent of sequenced Omicron cases submitted to an international coronavirus database.

Early estimates show that the XE strain is 10 per cent more transmissible than BA. 2, but the WHO warns that this finding requires further confirmation.

XE has been given a "variant under monitoring" (VUM) designation by WHO.

"The XE recombinant is being tracked as part of the Omicron variant," said the World Health Organization in its weekly COVID-19 update on April 5. "Variants under monitoring (VUMs) are regularly assessed based on the risk posed to global public health."

Where has XE been detected?

"As of April 6, 2022, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is aware of six detections of the XE recombinant lineage of Omicron in Canada," a PHAC spokesperson told the Star in an email.

Canada has a strong monitoring program in place with the provinces and territories, said the public health agency, which works to identify COVID-19 variants in Canada, including the Omicron variant of concern and its sub-lineages, as well as recombinants such as XE.

XE was first detected in the United Kingdom on Jan. 19, 2022, and approximately 600 cases have been confirmed by the end of March 2022. It currently accounts for less than 1 per cent of total sequenced cases, according to information from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).

In early analyzing of growth rates for XE, researchers found that the variant was not significantly different from BA.2. However, recent data from the UKHSA up to March 16, 2022 shows XE is 9.8 per cent more transmissible than BA.2.

Mumbais city administration reported Indias first case of the XE variant on April 6. It was detected in a 50-year-old woman who had travelled to the city from South Africa in February, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said in a statement.

The asymptomatic patient had no comorbidities and had been quarantined after being diagnosed almost a month later in March, the BMC said.

There are reports the new variant has also been detected in China, Thailand, the United States, Ireland and Denmark.

Do current vaccines work against XE?

Thankfully, vaccines appear equally effective against both types of omicron, BA. 1 and BA.2. For both, vaccination plus a booster offers strong protection against severe illness and death.

Scientists are looking for signs that XE changes disease severity, transmissibility or impacts the effectiveness of diagnostic tests, says Canadas public health agency, including the efficacy of vaccines or treatments for COVID-19 against this latest strain.

"While preliminary international reports have shown that XE has modestly increased transmissibility (compared to BA. 2), more data is needed to confirm this finding," said the PHAC.

Ontario is currently offering second booster shots to eligible Canadians 60 and older.

Canada has already started rolling out the antiviral treatment Paxlovid, the first oral treatment of COVID-19.

Are there other new strains we should be aware of?

The WHO continues to monitor and study Omicron strains, including BA. 1, BA. 2 and BA.3.

The global health agency has detected strains BA. 4 and BA.5. A small number of cases of BA. 4 and BA. 5 have now been detected in a few countries, says WHO. Both have additional mutations in the spike region and "unique mutations" which could be "associated with potential immune escape characteristics."

WHO is also monitoring circulating recombinant variants like XE, including XD and XF.

XD, a hybrid of Delta and BA. 1, has been found in France, Denmark and the Netherlands.

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XF, also a hybrid of Delta and BA. 1, has been detected in the UK and Germany.

New variants will continue to appear, says the Public Health Agency of Canada.

"All viruses, including COVID-19, change over time. These changes are called mutations, and result in variants of the virus. Not all mutations are of concern. Most do not cause more severe illness," read Health Canadas website, adding that some variants require closer monitoring.

"We must remain vigilant and take all available measures to limit spread."

With files from the Associated Press and Bloomberg.

Ivy Mak is a team editor on the Stars breaking news desk, based in Toronto. Reach her via email: ivymak@thestar.ca
EDMONTON - Dozens of Canadian soldiers boarded a plane to Poland Friday for what their commander said would be an intense but gratifying mission to help Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression.

EDMONTON - Dozens of Canadian soldiers boarded a plane to Poland Friday for what their commander said would be an intense but gratifying mission to help Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression.

The roughly 80 soldiers who took off from Edmonton and another 20 from Trenton, Ont., will offer humanitarian assistance at reception centres throughout Poland, said Maj. Ryan Pridmore, a company commander with 3rd Battalion Princess Patricias Canadian Light Infantry.

They, along with a Canadian medical unit, are to support the Polish Territorial Defence Force on a two-month mission.

"Our soldiers are all exceedingly happy to be deploying," he said. "This is what we trained for. This is why we do this job. Our soldiers are ready to get in there and start helping make a difference."

Once boots are on the ground, Pridmore said, he expects the soldiers will be put straight to work.

"We have chaplains to provide spiritual guidance and as well as some mental health professionals when refugees arrive into the reception centres," said Pridmore, who has previously served in Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Some of the other soldiers have a background in linguistics, he added.

He said Canada is prepared to send about 50 more soldiers to help with the care, co-ordination and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland.

"We do have a team in place over there who's setting the stage so we're not rolling in blind but it'll definitely be a pretty quick start to business once we get on the ground."

On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said in Calgary it's appropriate to declare Russia's occupation a genocide  as U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have said  since thousands of Ukrainians have been killed and brutalized.

Freeland pointed to a "chilling document" on a Russian website published 10 days ago "that effectively laid out a plan for genocide in Ukraine, that called for the suffering, the punishment of people who chose, in the view of this document, wrongly and mistakenly to describe themselves as Ukrainian."

"That called for the word Ukraine to be erased," said Freeland, who also serves as Canada's finance minister.

The Department of National Defence said in a news release soldiers will also work with Immigration, Refugee, and Citizenship Canada and "act as a liaison with the Polish Armed Forces ... to support temporary residence for Ukrainians wishing to work and study in Canada."

On Friday, some soldiers in Edmonton joked about their nerves, whiles others slept at the airport lounge area before boarding their flight.

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"I've been on several missions before where I've seen people who go out the door overseas, and this one is hitting close to home for a lot of people because certain people in the task force do have Ukrainian heritage," said Lt. Kevin Moffat, a public affairs officer with the Canadian Armed Forces.

"I was very pleased to see that the morale was exceptionally high and, from my observation, I'd say the task force is going to be very effective in Poland."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2022.

-With files from Bill Graveland.

---

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Meta and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
A second chief is temporarily leading the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs until First Nations decide whether to keep Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, who faces allegations of sexual harassment, in the position.

A second chief is temporarily leading the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs until First Nations decide whether to keep Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, who faces allegations of sexual harassment, in the position.

On March 21, chiefs voted to suspend Dumas and installed Shamattawa Chief Eric Redhead as their acting grand chief, until a vote sometime in May on Dumass future with the organization.

On Thursday, Redhead stepped down, "due to time constraints and commitments," an AMC news release said.

AMCs cabinet has appointed Lake Manitoba Chief Cornell McLean as acting grand chief.

The assembly did not respond Thursday when asked whether it has set a date and time for the non-confidence vote.

Dumas, the most powerful Indigenous leader in Manitoba, is under investigation by the Winnipeg Police Service and also by external lawyers after a senior female co-worker accused him of sexual assault. None of the claims have been tested in court.

Dumas has faced calls to step down.

The woman made a complaint to the WPS sex crimes unit and, on Monday, formally notified the AMC executive council of chiefs that Dumas allegedly subjected her to "harassment, sexual harassment, and sexualized violence."

In her emailed complaint, she urged the council to respond with "urgency" because she suspects other women at the AMC have experienced "the same thing."

She claims Dumas harassed her virtually, by phone and in person, starting on her second day on the job.

"My personal experience of harassment and sexual misconduct has created an unsafe work environment where I have been subjected to gender-based violence," the woman wrote.

The Free Press revealed the complaint, and isnt naming the accuser because it involves an alleged sexual assault.

The AMC said it has tasked human-resources lawyers to investigate the issue, insisting they are "impartial, neutral and objective."

The council, which normally comprises 10 Manitoba chiefs, ordered reviews of the AMCs workplace harassment policies and constitution to identify potential amendments.

Two Winnipeg women previously accused Dumas of inappropriate behaviour.

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In 2019, Bethany Maytwayashing said he had sent her inappropriate texts and Facebook messages after they met at a restaurant when she was 22 and he was in his mid-40s.

Dumas previously called the allegations "entirely false" and then apologized for an "open and informal communication style," which he feared made women uncomfortable.

Renee Yetman, 36, said she met Dumas at a 2017 community event where she was singing in a female drum group.

Yetman said they had consensual sex after Dumas invited her to his home and said he was a single father, but days later he told her he was in a relationship. Dumas has never publicly responded to her claims.

The AMC is a political group that advocates for all but one of the 63 First Nations in Manitoba.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Pysanky for Ukraine Day, an annual event that fell on April 1, invited people from all walks of life to create pysanky  colourfully painted eggs adorned with traditional Ukrainian symbols and patterns  to show their support for the Eastern European nation.

Pysanky for Ukraine Day, an annual event that fell on April 1, invited people from all walks of life to create pysanky  colourfully painted eggs adorned with traditional Ukrainian symbols and patterns  to show their support for the Eastern European nation.

Tracy Rossier, a Headingley-based artist who operates an Etsy shop dubbed Pysanky by Tracy, took part again this year, and noticed a higher number of registrants than usual posting photos or TikTok videos of their finished products, owing, no doubt, to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

Not only that, more people in general seem to be exploring their Ukrainian heritage because of the Russian invasion, she says, seated in a Portage Avenue coffee shop, where other customers peek over to admire an assortment of eggs dyed pink, yellow, orange and blue that she brought along for show-and-tell purposes.

"The weeks leading up to Easter have always been a busy time for me but lately its been especially go, go, go," she continues, politely correcting our pronunciation  "Its pih-sahn-kah"  when we utter "pie-san-kee" in error.

"Its always nice to get newcomers to the (online) store; I just wish it was for an entirely different reason, is all."

Tracy Rossier operates an Etsy shop dubbed Pysanky by Tracy.

Rossier, whose maternal grandfather was Ukrainian, made her first pysanka 35 years ago at age six, when she and her sister signed up for an egg-painting class held at St. Vital Library, close to where they lived. It was a two-hour session during which they were taught the history of so-called Ukrainian Easter eggs ahead of being handed the necessary tools  hot-wax pens called kistkas  along with multiple jars of dye.

Her egg turned out fabulously, she recalls, other than dropping it on the floor 20 minutes before class was due to end, which left her scrambling to produce a second specimen to take home.

She kept at it as she got older, often making pysanky for family members as gifts. In 2010 she was a featured vendor at Folkloramas Ukraine-Kyiv pavilion and two years later, after a friend asked if she was familiar with Etsy, she opened a virtual store of her own, wholly devoted to the art form.

Rossier uses a small container of oil to hold down a pysanka in a jar of black dye.

Shes laughing when she says her original photos were "horrendous" and her self-composed bio wasnt much better, but she enjoyed close to a dozen sales during her first couple of months in business, enabling her to buy more supplies.

Rossier doesnt pigeonhole herself by turning out similar-looking eggs again and again. First of all, she doesnt plan ahead by sketching designs on paper, the way some of her counterparts do. She definitely has a pattern in mind when she begins  flowers one day, a checkerboard design the next  but by the time an egg is nearing completion, it rarely looks like what she initially envisioned, she admits.

She isnt particular about size, either. Besides conventional chicken eggs  she prefers farm-fresh canvases, finding they have tougher shells than whats available in grocery stores  she also dyes turkey, emu and ostrich eggs, the latter of which can take her as many as 100 hours to complete. ("Dont ask," she says, when questioned what her hourly rate of pay would work out to, in a situation such as that.)

Jars of dye sit ready for use. Rossier usually works on a few pysanka at a time.

And while pysanky are most closely associated with Easter, she turns out Christmas-themed eggs, as well as custom orders for special events. Not long ago, she made a pysanka for a pair of newlyweds, and included shades of yellow, green and red, meant to portray hopefulness and the joy of life. Following that, she crafted an egg for someone battling cancer. For that one she incorporated images of pine trees and pine-tree boughs, Ukrainian symbols of strength and determination.

"I thought I would but no, that hasnt turned out to be the case," she replies, when asked whether she ever has sellers remorse, considering every last pysanka is one-of-a-kind. "I enjoy thinking about them being prominently displayed in somebody elses home, and I absolutely love getting feedback about how seeing my eggs made a person think about a family member who used to paint eggs, too."

To date, Rossier has shipped pysanky to people in 19 U.S. states and every Canadian province and territory save Prince Edward Island and Nunavut. It wasnt as if she had to ramp up production at the onset of COVID  unlike bleach and toilet paper, pysanky wasnt a hot commodity, all of a sudden  but she did find herself spending more time in her four-season-porch-as-studio than she customarily did, simply as a way to take her mind off the pandemic.

Rossier dyes, then puts a final layer of beeswax on a pysanka.

"I manage a retail outlet full time, and because we were considered an essential service, there was no working from home or anything like that for me," she says, noting she often gets so lost in her work that her husband will poke his head through the door to let her know suppers been on the table for a few hours.

"After working all day when so many others were in full lockdown, doing my eggs gave me the peace and relaxation I so badly needed. There were probably days when I was making them more for me than as something to sell."

Besides her online store, Rossiers pysanky are also occasionally available at Kalyna Ukrainian Book Shop, 952 Main St. She has conducted a few workshops through the years  pre-COVID she was regularly invited to Lac du Bonnets Fire and Water Music Festival  and would love to get back to doing something similar in the near future.

Pysanky surround an emu travlenka (etched egg).

In the meantime, she has a couple of ready-and-willing students to share her expertise with.

"I have two nieces, nine and 11, and any time we get together its craft-time with auntie," she says, beaming. "We all decided that this is the year theyre going to make eggs. You need to be old enough to concentrate for a while, I told them, and both feel theyre ready to give it a go."

There is an added bonus to her vocation: because she makes a point of draining her eggs before applying dye  not everybody does, some leave the innards intact or hard-boil their eggs first  her husband Paul is on the receiving end of as many quiches, omelets and bennies as he can handle, she says.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca

David Sanderson

Dave Sanderson was born in Regina but please, dont hold that against him. Read full biography
For all intents and purposes, the spring storm that hammered Manitoba is finished, Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Carlson said Friday.

For all intents and purposes, the spring storm that hammered Manitoba is finished, Environment Canada meteorologist Dave Carlson said Friday.

"Its done," Carlson said.

All Environment Canada weather alerts for Manitoba have been lifted, and many roadways throughout the province have begun to reopen.

The clouds drifting through Winnipeg skies right now stem from Nova Scotia, Carlson said. Before landing in the prairies, the clouds streamed northwest over two provinces and the Hudson Bay.

Preliminary Environment Canada data from volunteers of the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) showed snowfall varied significantly throughout southern Manitoba.

Onanole, a town situated to the south of Riding Mountain National Park, garnered the heaviest reported snowfall, with 82 cm.

Jason Potter, the reeve for the municipality of Harrison Park, said snowplow operators were out in full force Friday.

"Theyre out there right now doing their best to open up all the roads," Potter said. "The community is really coming together."

Potter said hes shocked by the snowfall. Some residents are reporting three feet to four feet of snow, he said.

"I really feel for all the cattle producers out there," Potter said. "Theyre out there dealing with 10 ft. and 12 ft. snow drifts, and lots of times thats devastating to the baby cows; they get buried in those snow drifts."

Winnipeg saw 20 cm to 30 cm of total snow  which placed the total snowfall accumulation on track with the lower end of Environment Canadas prediction.

Areas to the north and west of Winnipeg encountered significantly heavier snowfall due to a "dry slot" that saw the storm shift beyond the city for a time. Selkirk, located just 40 km from Winnipeg, saw 45 cm of snow. Further north, St. Andrews saw 38 cm.

MIKE SUDOMA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Winnipeg saw 20 cm to 30 cm of total snow  which placed the total snowfall accumulation on track with the lower end of Environment Canadas prediction.

To the west, Neepawa and Portage la Prairie encountered 20 cm and 19 cm of snow, respectively. To the south, Morden saw 35 cm of snow. And closer to the U.S. border, Killarney was met with a whopping 60 cm of snow.

Areas east of Winnipeg, including Pinawa and The Whiteshell, saw snowfall ranging from 21 cm to 29 cm.

Carlson said the slightly wetter, heavier snow produced by this storm resulted from warmer temperatures in southern Manitoba and the "copious amount of moisture" entering the system from the Gulf of Mexico.

Snowfall in much of southern Manitoba is expected to taper off Friday, Environment Canada reports. However, the long-range forecast predicts more snow may be on the way.

"Were probably not looking at big snowfalls," Carlson said.

Environment Canada predicts up to 5 cm of snow will fall in Winnipeg and most of the Red River Valley Sunday afternoon and evening. Tuesday night through Wednesday will see a low-pressure system arrive from North Dakota and Minnesota, this time bringing snow or rain.

"If its snow, it shouldnt be more than 4 cm or 5 cm. And, if its rain, itll be just some light rain with a few millimeters coming through," Carlson said.

Next weekend will bring normal to above normal seasonal temperatures. This is when the melt will begin, Carlson said.

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The snowstorm that coated Winnipeg in recent days was the citys biggest April snowstorm since the notorious blizzard of 1997, showed Environment Canada records compiled by retired meteorologist Rob Paola.

Paola is a self-described "weather history buff" who reports on Manitobas weather and climate for the Meteorological Service of Canada and the CoCoRaHS. Paola shares his work through the moniker "Robs Obs."

This storm also registered as the fourth biggest April snowstorm in Winnipeg since 1872. The most severe April snowstorm hit Winnipeg from April 4 to 7, 1997. This storm dropped a total of 48 cm of snow on the provinces capital.

Paola noted all of the top five most historic storms to hit Winnipeg occurred outside the traditional winter season of December to February.

This month has, so far, amassed 30.6 cm of snow, making it the snowiest April since 1999, which saw 46 cm of snow.

Winnipegs current snowfall season is ranked seventh among the top snowiest seasons since 1872, Paola reported. The snowfall season is measured from October 1 to May 31 each year. As such, Winnipeg still has time to climb the chart.
With COVID-19 hospitalizations again on the rise and widespread reports of reinfection, its high time Manitoba public health officials started aggressively promoting the need for people to get their third vaccine dose.

With COVID-19 hospitalizations again on the rise and widespread reports of reinfection, its high time Manitoba public health officials started aggressively promoting the need for people to get their third vaccine dose.

Fresh data released last week shows even with the more contagious Omicron subvariant BA.2 in wide circulation, a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine provides significant protection against severe outcomes. Its something public health has done a poor job of communicating over the past few months.

Between Feb. 14 and March 28, the rate of hospitalization for unvaccinated Manitobans (age adjusted) was 651.7 per 100,000 people. For those with a third dose, it was only 32.6 per 100,000.

Unvaccinated Manitobans were 20 times more likely to end up in hospital than those with a booster shot.

Unvaccinated Manitobans were 20 times more likely to end up in hospital than those with a booster shot.

The disparity was even more stark for admission to intensive care units. Among the unvaccinated, 74.4 per 100,000 ended up in an ICU  25 times more likely than the 2.9 per 100,000 who were fully boosted.

The death rate for unvaccinated Manitobans was 60 times higher than those with a third dose.

Province of Manitoba

There was also a marked difference in effectiveness between second and third doses. There were 87.3 hospitalizations per 100,000 for Manitobans with only two doses, about 2.7 times the rate of those with a third shot. ICU admissions for people with a second dose was more than twice the rate of those with three doses. It was almost double for deaths.

Its important data because it shows even though the Omicron variant is far more transmissible than previous strains, vaccines are still by far the best way to protect against severe illness.

Somehow that message has been lost in recent months, probably because of confusion between protection against infection versus protection against severe illness.

The COVID-19 vaccine has not been terribly effective at preventing infection against the latest strains. However, it continues to be exceptionally good at reducing the risk of severe illness. Because so many people have been testing positive lately, even after three doses, it has fuelled perception vaccines "dont work."

Because so many people have been testing positive lately, even after three doses, it has fuelled perception vaccines dont work.

In fact, they do work  by significantly reducing the risk of severe outcomes, which is the main goal of managing the novel coronavirus.

Thats been a tough message to sell when so many people, including the vaccinated, have been contracting the disease.

Public health officials have dropped the ball on promoting the effectiveness of third doses in recent months. It is as if they gave up at some point, probably because of the political direction theyre getting from government to turn off the information taps.

Officials have had good data since at least January on how much better people are protected after a third dose compared with two shots. Yet, they have failed to widely disseminate that information.

JOHN WOODS / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Unvaccinated Manitobans were 20 times more likely to end up in hospital than those with a booster shot.

The focus instead by the Stefanson government has been to deprive the public of data while hoping the COVID-19 pandemic will go away on its own. The information ban itself has been a form of government propaganda.

Government has abandoned normal public health principles over the past several months. Instead of devising a plan with good information on how to move to the next phase of the pandemic  whether its endemic or not  including aggressively promoting third doses, government is trying to create a perception the pandemic is over.

Its a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil approach that has trickled down to public health.

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Its a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil approach that has trickled down to public health.

The consequences were predictable. In addition to some people getting really sick, including a minority requiring an ICU bed or ultimately dying, hospitals are struggling once again with a surge of COVID-19 patients.

Health-care staff will have to be redeployed once more to assist (some have still not returned to their normal jobs after the last pandemic wave), resulting in more surgical and diagnostic testing cancellations and postponements.

Only about half of eligible Manitobans have had a third dose of the vaccine (42 per cent of the total population, according to what little data the province still publishes).

Thats not nearly high enough to protect hospital capacity. The evidence of that is becoming more pronounced every week.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
It was a perfect storm for memes in Manitoba this week, as individuals used humour to make sense of  or make fun of  the spring storm.

It was a perfect storm for memes in Manitoba this week, as individuals used humour to make sense of  or make fun of  the spring storm.

Jokesters turned to social media to post photos and videos about the storm, which many found underwhelming in light of the initial forecast and warnings to be prepared for power outages. Some riffed on moments in pop culture, while others crafted original content.

Two Manitobans who shared their spin on Manitoba storm memes say theres often more to these posts than just laughs.

Nathan Bezoplenko turned to the user-driven platform, Reddit, to give his own take on the storm.

The 35-year-old small business owner posted an image to the Winnipeg subreddit of three orangutans that appear to be in conversation with one another on the set of a talk show. A text overlay reads When blizzard?

Every once in a while, theres some shared experience for people in Winnipeg, and I think memes are a funny way to add onto other peoples humour, Bezoplenko said. It also has this disarming effect. People can tend to take things pretty seriously, so it cuts through some of the emotion.

In some instances, Bezoplenko sees memes as a way to assume a neutral stance on a topical or hotly contested issue  a way to contribute to the conversation without necessarily taking a side.

It does feel like its that all-or-nothing approach that people kind of get drawn into in the online world, like we all have to be on the same page about how bad this storm is, or how bad it could be, Bezoplenko said.

He believes the buildup to the storm, from barren milk aisles in grocery stores to the pre-emptive closures of libraries to press conferences with Winnipegs mayor, likely contributed to the meme frenzy.

The storm has had a mild impact on Bezoplenko. Ahead of the storm, he purchased a few more grocery items than usual and didnt go into work on Wednesday.

I do recognize that the (storm) warnings maybe arent for everyone in the same way. I am able-bodied, so I can get around fairly easily, Bezoplenko said.

Eric Labaupa, 43, found himself looking to the sky outside his South Pointe home at 3 a.m. Wednesday in anticipation of a fierce storm. When he saw no snow to speak of, he became inspired to make his first satirical #snowmageddon2022 newscast video.

Im not trying to make any kind of commentary, per se, on whether there was a lack of snow or if it was underwhelming or anything like that; its more to poke fun at the whole situation, Labaupa said. I wanted to put something out there thats more positive.

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Labaupas videos show him as a news anchor presenting short weather report clips submitted to him by Manitobans and North Dakotans braving  and taking cracks at  the blizzard.

Theyve been coming in by boatload from all different areas, said Labaupa, who works in sales and marketing and is a leader in Manitobas angling community.

Both Bezoplenko and Labaupa pondered Manitobans reactions to this storm in the context of the pandemic. Labaupa wonders if the public may have been more easily riled up by the storm given the collective trauma of the past couple of years.

My commentary there was (that) its post-2020 vulnerability, Labaupa said. I wanted to make light of it, for people to take a step back and laugh at it, instead of panicking.

Both men noted how this weather event compelled many to voice their viewpoints online, as is the case with COVID-19. Polarized opinions aside, Bezoplenko and Labaupa and all other storm meme creators have shown that humour  at least as a concept  is something Manitobans can agree on.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca
The National (The Weekend), by Hamza Hendawi (Link: How Egypt's millennials are making Arabic their own)

My two cents: Many of these words I hardly know myself. Am I an old geezer or what?

Egypts colloquial Arabic once echoed across the region, with Egyptian television series, films and song lyrics reaching large audiences who found it descriptive, funny and a little bemusing.

But the Arabic spoken on Egypts streets has gone through unusually rapid changes in recent years, with the introduction of a wide range of new words and phrases which are understood almost exclusively by the young people using them.

The pace of change is rapid, with newly coined phrases quickly taking root in everyday usage.

While embraced enthusiastically by the young, these new additions to a beloved dialect are often seen as inappropriate or even vulgar by many of those who look back fondly on the language they grew up hearing.

Social media driving change

Like all dialects, Egyptian Arabic has slowly evolved over the years.

Egypts film industry reflects the changes that have come to the language, from the stiff propriety of the early black-and-white productions of the 1930s and 1940s, through the nationalist blockbusters of the 1950s and 1960s to the slapstick comedies and biting realism of the 1970s and 1990s.

Today, however, new forms of culture are driving the evolution of the language.

Egyptian linguists are tracking the changes in Egypts spoken Arabic in real life and on social media, looking at soap operas, rap and mahraganat, a new music genre in which social and linguistic boundaries are constantly pushed.

The speed at which new words and phrases have entered everyday use in Egypt is beginning to create a language barrier between young and old.

My parents tell me they barely understand what I am saying to my friends on the telephone, said Hala Gado, 22, an economics and marketing major studying at Cairos German University.

If you read my WhatsApp messages, you will not understand very much unless youre young.

Ammar Ali Hassan, a prominent author and sociologist, says the ongoing evolution of Egypts colloquial Arabic has gone off the rails and may not necessarily be beneficial to the language.

Our colloquial Arabic has slowly evolved over many centuries, taking a slow route that allowed it to ferment, mature and then spread widely. That includes the absorption of words from Italian, French and English, he said.

The problem with whats going on now is that the changes are finding their way to our spoken Arabic too quickly, without consensus or respect for our authentic vernacular. They also become in vogue for a time before they disappear, unlike older changes that stayed.

Video platforms like TikTok and Instagram are helping to accelerate the changes.

A new language barrier?

Such is the speed of change that Egyptian Arabic has never been farther removed from its standard cousin.

The widening gap between Egypts colloquial Arabic and its standard form has long been debated by Egyptian writers looking to translate the language of the streets to the page in an appropriate fashion.

Mohammed Hashem, a Cairo-based publisher with a track record of helping young writing talent, says the debate over what is deemed fit for written work was settled in his mind long ago.

Every author must be free to write what he feels to be right for his work. A fictional character must be allowed to express itself in the way that's familiar to it, he said.

Not everyone would agree with Mr Hashem, who claims he has no difficulty understanding young Egyptians because of his daily contact with them since a youth-led popular uprising in Egypt toppled autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

Supporters of the new lingua franca of Egypts youth say it is an improvement on the dialect with which their parents might be familiar.

Farida El Shirbiny, 23, an artist who runs her own handicraft business in Cairo, believes many of the phrases and words that have recently joined Egyptian Arabic are more expressive than those they replaced.

But some are fairly offensive that they might raise my parents eyebrows if I used them in their presence, said Ms El Shirbiny. They are just vulgar.

The difficulty outsiders now have in understanding colloquial Egyptian Arabic has weakened its appeal in the region, leading to a decline in influence in favour of dialects spoken in Lebanon, Syria, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Egypts place as a cultural and art centre is not as strong as it used to be, said Reem Bassiouney, a bestselling novelist and a linguistics lecturer at the American University in Cairo. People in the region are now exposed to other dialects beside the Egyptian one, thanks mainly to soap operas.
WILL birth rates doom humanity? Tech billionaire Elon Musk sounded an old alarm in December when he claimed declining births are one of the biggest risks to civilization.

Opinion

WILL birth rates doom humanity? Tech billionaire Elon Musk sounded an old alarm in December when he claimed declining births are one of the biggest risks to civilization.

Please look at the numbers, he implored The Wall Street Journals CEO council. If people dont have more children, civilization is going to crumble, mark my words.

Such population doomsaying is not limited to billionaires. Paleontologist Henry Gee argued in November that our species is destined for extinction  and soon. Low genetic variation, declining fertility and habitat degradation imperil homo sapiens, Gee claims, warning that (t)here comes a time in the progress of any species, even ones that seem to be thriving, when extinction will be inevitable, no matter what they might do to avert it.

Other prominent figures have naturalized doomsday  from the opposite direction. Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich famously predicted population growth would outpace food production in the 1970s, leading hundreds of millions to starve to death.

Even today, some scientists and environmentalists fear humans will exceed the planets carrying capacity and, in doing so, destroy themselves.

These two predictions at first seem completely contradictory. Simultaneous fears of overpopulation and underpopulation cannot both be right. But they share a logic: that the apocalypse will result from the natural laws of population dynamics, rather than from political and economic decisions.

As ecologists and anthropologists who study human evolution and human relations with the planet, we are deeply troubled by the continued naturalization of doomsday  the narrative that suffering and societal collapse are the inevitable outcomes of evolutionary forces. This narrative invites political nihilism and disinvestment in the present. It denies our ability and responsibility to create a better and more just future.

Concerns about underpopulation reduce humanity to a pool of genetic resources and mistakenly assume that a species ability to survive comes from population size. On the contrary, our species has survived as a result of its diverse array of behavioural, ecological, creative and collaborative capacities driven by social learning  in other words, our cultures.

At the same time, concerns about overpopulation flatten political and cultural differences in how people relate to their environments. They mistakenly assume overconsumption is guaranteed by natural selection rather than ad campaigns, governmental policies and economic structures.

Greed and exploitation are not inevitable. As demonstrated by the classic work of Elinor Ostrom, a Los Angeles native and the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in economics, self-organized groups around the world have found ways to sustainably consume and manage natural resources.

Any claim about the natural state of the human species is deeply political, both in its account of humanitys past and in its vision of the future.

In an essay published last fall, Luke Kemp of the University of Cambridges Centre for the Study of Existential Risk argued that only a few institutions truly have the power to imperil humanity. Scholars of catastrophic risk point to climate change, nuclear weapons, bioweapons, autonomous weapons and mass surveillance as humanitys greatest existential threats.

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All of these are the product of a small group of powerful industries dominated by a few actors, such as powerful CEOs and the U.S. government (which, for example, leads the world in spending on deadly autonomous weapons such as unmanned drones).

Climate change is a clear example of how decisions by small numbers of powerful humans, not population size, drive environmental degradation. The richest one per cent of the world, about 63 million people, is responsible for more than twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as the 3.1 billion people who made up the poorest half of humanity.

Just 20 fossil-fuel companies can be directly linked to more than one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions in the modern era. Regulating population size, as some have recommended to lower emissions, would infringe on the liberties of billions of people while failing to ameliorate climate change.

In addition to the climate crisis, we live in a time of war, inequality, white supremacist violence, backlash against womens rights, technological upheaval and fraying social networks. None of these dire conditions is a biological or ecological inevitability. Nor is human extinction.

To assert otherwise is to disavow responsibility for the policies and power structures that cause habitat degradation, income inequality and widespread injustice  conditions that already threaten the lives of countless people and other beings on this planet.

 Los Angeles Times
FOUR years after the Soviet Army fought its way into Berlin in 1945, Moscow built a huge memorial in Treptower Park to the 80,000 Russian and other Soviet soldiers who died taking the city. (Five thousand of them are actually buried in the park.) And Berliners instantly took to calling it the Tomb of the Unknown Rapist.

Opinion

FOUR years after the Soviet Army fought its way into Berlin in 1945, Moscow built a huge memorial in Treptower Park to the 80,000 Russian and other Soviet soldiers who died taking the city. (Five thousand of them are actually buried in the park.) And Berliners instantly took to calling it the Tomb of the Unknown Rapist.

As Soviet troops fought their way into the eastern half of Nazi Germany in the winter and spring of 1945, a great atrocity took place. The Russian soldiers were raping every German female from eight to eighty, wrote Natalya Geese, a war correspondent with the Red Army. It was an army of rapists.

Russian film director Zakhar Agranenko, who fought in Germany in 1945, wrote in his diary that Red Army soldiers dont believe in individual liaisons with German women. Nine, ten, twelve men at a time  they rape them on a collective basis. Historian Antony Beevor estimated that up to two million German females were raped, many of them multiple times.

The atrocities that are being uncovered in northern Ukraine as the Russian army moves its troops east are different in scale and in style. The number of civilians murdered in the occupied towns is in the low thousands at most, and the rapes probably in the hundreds or less. There are few reports of gang rapes. Yet it is essentially the same phenomenon.

The Russian soldiers are young, frightened, and often drunk. No excuse. They have been lied to, and keep asking villagers where the Nazis are. No excuse. They serve in an army that cant feed them, doesnt supervise them, didnt even make them get rid of the evidence before they left. No excuse.

Russians are not evil. War is such an extreme situation that many evil things become possible, and it is an armys duty to prevent them from happening. The Russian army is too corrupt and incompetent to try, so its soldiers ended up with the unlimited, unsupervised power of life or death over innocent civilians.

They flagrantly abused it, and in doing so they have wrought irreversible changes in two countries: Ukraine and their own.

For Ukraine, they have virtually eliminated the possibility of a negotiated peace with Moscow so long as Russian troops are on Ukrainian soil.

Listen to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking to Ukrainian journalists on April 4: Ukraine will definitely not be what we wanted it to be from the beginning. It is impossible.

(Dont) be surprised if we have (soldiers) in cinemas, supermarkets  people with weaponsSecurity will be issue No. 1 for the next 10 years. Thats Ukraines future: armed to the teeth and permanently awaiting the next attack.

And Russia is stuck with the big lie for a generation. Perhaps Russians could find a way to apologize for invading Ukraine if they got rid of President Vladimir Putin, but its unthinkable that they will ever acknowledge how their army has behaved in Ukraine. Theyre still denying what happened in Berlin in 1945.

The new narrative is already on display in an article that was published April 3 by the state news agency RIA Novosti entitled What should Russia do with Ukraine? The author, Timofei Sergeitsev, explained that Denazification is inevitably also De-Ukrainianization, because the very idea of Ukrainian culture and identity is fake.

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Ukraine, as history has shown, is unviable as a national state, and attempts to build one logically lead to Nazism, Sergeitsev wrote. Even the name Ukraine must be abolished, and the country will become part of the Motherland after victory under the name Little Russia (Malorossia).

It will then require a strong military presence for 30 years to re-educate the Nazified mass of the population, which technically cannot be subjected to direct punishment as war criminals. Collaborators with the Nazi regime will be sentenced to death or imprisonment, and everybody else will live happily ever after.

Sergeitsev is not some nutcase nobody. He was the political adviser to Ukrainian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian puppet who was overthrown in a popular uprising in 2014 after he cancelled an association agreement with the European Union and started negotiating a trade deal with Russia instead.

Sergeitsev may even be Moscows candidate for puppet ruler of occupied Ukraine once resistance is crushed. In any case, everybody now knows exactly where they stand, which means this war will go on until Ukraine is destroyed or Russia is defeated.

The stakes are getting higher, and we can no longer exclude the possibility that Russia will use poison gas or mini-nukes in Ukraine if it faces defeat in the conventional war. Yet knowing all this, how can NATO abandon Ukraine to its fate now?

Gwynne Dyers new book is The Shortest History of War.
Theres been a lot of chatter these days about the effectiveness of economic sanctions or warfare. But it bears repeating that the United States government has maintained its ill-conceived and wrong-headed blockade of Cuba for 60 years now.

Opinion

Theres been a lot of chatter these days about the effectiveness of economic sanctions or warfare. But it bears repeating that the United States government has maintained its ill-conceived and wrong-headed blockade of Cuba for 60 years now.

In early 1962, U.S. president John F. Kennedy  after securing a healthy supply of Cubas finest cigars  signed into law the U.S. blockade of Fidel Castros Cuba. While it has gone through many upgrades and modifications over the years, including the 1996 Helms-Burton Law, it still remains largely intact.

Essentially, it prevents Americans from trading with commercial partners on the island, or effectively spending money in Cuba. Although it does allow for the export of food and medicines to Cuba, along with some highly restrictive travel, there are many roadblocks in the way of U.S.-Cuba interaction.

Why did Kennedy impose the trade embargo in the first place? What explains why the U.S. government continues to maintain the blockade of Cuba? Lastly, what are the chances that the embargo will eventually be lifted by the U.S.?

There is no shortage of reasons why the Kennedy White House introduced the ban, including an intense personal dislike of Castro and what he stood for. At the heart of the matter, though, was the idea to make life difficult for ordinary Cubans so as to foment a popular uprising.

Part of the rationale was also to punish the Cuban government for nationalizing U.S. economic properties and businesses in the country. There was, in addition, the hope of using the blockade, after some period, as a bargaining tool to pressure Cuba to make major concessions to the U.S.

Of course, the punitive measure was designed to destabilize the Cuban government and lead to the overthrow of Castro. It was simply inconceivable to allow a country, just 140 kilometres away from the U.S., to embrace socialism (or communism, if you like) and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. So Castro had to go  even, if necessary, by countless Keystone Cop-like assassination attempts.

Most significantly, the Kennedy administration intended to use the embargo to force the Castro government to alter its behaviour and actions. The central point was to compel Cuba to fundamentally change its economic structure and political system of governance. Equally important was the potent message that was sent to other countries in the region: dont even think about embracing the Cuban revolutionary model.

Many of these reasons still underpin the U.S. justification for the ban today  with some important additions. Even after 60 years of a failed policy, the U.S. clings to the argument that the blockade will overthrow the Cuban government and bring about radical political and socio-economic change to Cuba. So relentlessly punishing the Cubans is still a key part of the overall plan.

There is also the historical carryover factor (or bureaucratic inertia) and the fact official Washington has a long memory and a desire to save face. Lets be honest: the U.S. just cant bring itself to admit its wrong or that the Cubans prevailed. Furthermore, there is ongoing support for the embargo within the CIA and the Pentagon, and the U.S. government still wants to send a powerful signal to the region and Moscow.

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Moreover, U.S. domestic political variables are primarily driving the maintenance of the embargo today. With roughly 1.3 million Cuban-Americans in the state of Florida (many of them anti-Cuba), and given its 29 electoral college votes and its swing-state status, few U.S. governments are willing to rock the boat electorally by rescinding the blockade of Cuba. And there continues to be strong support for the ban in the corridors of the U.S. Congress.

One could also argue the Cuban government itself has sought to use the U.S. blockade for its own domestic purposes. Indeed, the political leadership in Cuba has been skilful at using it to blame the U.S. for all that ails Cuba. It clearly provides Havana with a convenient scapegoat.

Additionally, the embargo serves to rally Cubans around their own government (and thus fortifying its grip on power) in the face of a common enemy, and allows Cubas leaders to deflect attention away from their own shortcomings. It also permits them to undermine the Cuban dissident community by linking them to the dastardly U.S. blockade.

Its a shame U.S./Cuba policy remains firmly locked in a Cold War time warp. But there is just no way for Washington to ever forgive Cubas open and continued defiance.

So when you add all of this up, the chances of the U.S. embargo staying in place in the short to near term are very good. While it is evident the U.S. business community would dearly love to take advantage of myriad commercial opportunities in Cuba, the raw politics in the U.S. simply works against it.

Peter McKenna is professor of political science at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Manitobans are reliably good in a weather-related crisis. Our ability to withstand the elements is baked into our provincial identity, our history, our collective where were you when memories. We know we can handle what Mother Nature throws at us, because weve done it before.

Manitobans are reliably good in a weather-related crisis. Our ability to withstand the elements is baked into our provincial identity, our history, our collective "where were you when" memories. We know we can handle what Mother Nature throws at us, because weve done it before.

And perhaps no one is more prepared for an April snowstorm than Manitobans who have lived through two years of a pandemic.

Indeed, the preparation for and response to the Colorado low that moved into the province on Wednesday had an unprecedented  and an unmistakably pandemic  feel. Even the directive was familiar: now is the time to stay home.

The RCMP declared highways would be closed as of midnight Tuesday (though that directive changed); some school divisions called snow days before the first flakes even fell.

The Jets postponed their Wednesday game against the Seattle Kraken. Local restaurants and businesses opted to close. Concerts were cancelled, sparing touring acts from getting hung up in a ditch. WestJet cancelled flights. Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre cancelled performances.

Offices decided to close and allow their employees to work remotely; the infrastructure to do so is, by now, well in place in a way those who worked through the 1997 or 1986 or 1966 blizzards couldnt have imagined. The storm has, functionally, locked us down.

Perhaps weve learned something from the pandemic after all, the panic-buying of bread and milk notwithstanding. We dont need to wait, and then scramble. We can make proactive decisions to close and cancel, instead of reacting when the snow is already falling and cars are already in the ditches.

We dont have to prove anything; none of that "In my day, we walked to school uphill both ways barefoot through four feet of snow" nonsense. We can keep each other safe.

Of course, all of this deliberate, forward-thinking preparation is the result of informed decision-making.

The province recognized a dangerous wave (of weather) was coming, assembled the necessary experts to dispense information and answer questions, presented the related data to the public, and laid out how Manitobans could best keep themselves safe and make decisions about travel, appointments and getting essentials  all things that no longer happen in relation to the pandemic.

Snowfall amounts will be tracked, as will subsequent water levels. Weather and flood reports will be updated and released. Manitobans will not be kept in the dark about the storm or its after-effects.

Shouldnt that same transparency and willingness to act be brought back to the pandemic, which is heading into new variant-driven waves? Imagine how much easier it would be to make informed decisions about our own health, and also regarding that of our communities most vulnerable.

Shouldnt that same transparency and willingness to act be brought back to the pandemic, which is heading into new variantdriven waves?

The short-term emergency created by a snowstorm isnt directly comparable the ongoing pandemic. Snowstorms are visible, for one, so perhaps they are easier to rally around. Snowstorms also tend to unite folks; theres no shortage of stories from past blizzards about neighbours digging out neighbours, or other acts of care and community. Extreme weather events tend to bring out our best.

The pandemic, meanwhile, has also incrementally brought out some of our worst as it has dragged on. "Were all in this together" was supplanted by "Everyone must look out for themselves"; community has too often been sidetracked for the sake of individualism.

The preparation for this weeks storm truly was encouraging. If snowstorms are part of Manitobans DNA, perhaps this one will help to remind us who we really are: a community whose leadership not only tells its members to "stay safe," but actually makes it possible for them to do so.
UNTED NATIONS (AP)  The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations accused Russia on Thursday of making the precarious food situation in Yemen and elsewhere even worse by invading Ukraine, calling it just another grim example of the ripple effect Russias unprovoked, unjust, unconscionable war is having on the worlds most vulnerable.

UNTED NATIONS (AP)  The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations accused Russia on Thursday of making the precarious food situation in Yemen and elsewhere even worse by invading Ukraine, calling it "just another grim example of the ripple effect Russias unprovoked, unjust, unconscionable war is having on the worlds most vulnerable."

Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a U.N. Security Council meeting on war-torn Yemen that the World Food Program identified the Arab worlds poorest nation as one of the countries most affected by wheat price increases and lack of imports from Ukraine.

Russias deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky shot back saying: "The main factor for instability and the source of the problem today is not the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, but sanctions measures imposed on our country seeking to cut off any supplies from Russia and the supply chain, apart from those supplies that those countries in the West need, in other words energy."

"If you really want to help the world avoid a food crisis you should lift the sanctions that you yourselves imposed, your sanctions of choice indeed, and poor countries will immediately feel the difference," he said. "And if youre not prepared to do that, then dont get involved in demagoguery, and dont mislead everybody."

The sharp exchange took place a day after a U.N. task force warned that the war threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries that are now facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched their report saying, "As many as 1.7 billion people -- one-third of whom are already living in poverty -- are now highly exposed to disruptions in food, energy and finance systems that are triggering increases in poverty and hunger."

Thirty-six countries rely on Russia and Ukraine for more than half their wheat imports, including some of the worlds poorest countries, he said, and wheat and corn prices have risen 30% just since the start of the year.

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Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the U.N. agency promoting trade and development who coordinated the task force, said the 1.7 billion people live in 107 countries that have "severe exposure" to at least one dimension of the crisis -- rising food prices, increasing energy prices and tightening financial conditions.

The task force said 69 of the countries, with a population of 1.2 billion people, face a "perfect storm" and are severely or significantly exposed to all three crises. They include 25 countries in Africa, 25 in Asia and the Pacific, and 19 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The United Nations on Thursday announced it was releasing $100 million from its emergency fund for seven hunger hotspots, Yemen and six African countries -- Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Nigeria.

"Hundreds of thousands of children are going to sleep hungry every night while their parents are worried sick about how to feed them," U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said in a statement. "A war halfway around the world makes their prospects even worse. This allocation will save lives."

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric was asked about Polyanskys comments and whether Guterres is concerned that sanctions are driving up food prices.

"I think it would be safe to say that there would be no sanctions if there were no conflict," Dujarric replied.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russia's withdrawal  most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were "simply executed.

A woman looks as Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  The bodies of more than 900 civilians have been discovered in the region surrounding the Ukrainian capital following Russia's withdrawal  most of them fatally shot, police said Friday, an indication that many people were "simply executed.

The jarring number emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to step up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines alleged assaults on Russian territory. That ominous warning followed the stunning loss of Moscow's flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. defense official said Friday was indeed hit by at least one Ukrainian missile.

Amid its threats, Moscow continued preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also went on in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol, where locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies. In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shelling of a residential area killed seven people, including a 7-month-old child, and wounded 34, according to regional Gov. Oleh Sinehubov.

Around Kyiv, Andriy Nebytov, the head of the capital's regional police force, said bodies were abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating 95% died from gunshot wounds.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said.

A woman looks for goods dropped from the apartment building partly damaged by shelling, in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

More bodies are being found every day under rubble and in mass graves, he added, with the largest number found in Bucha, where there were more than 350.

According to Nebytov, utility workers gathered and buried bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Russian troops, he added, were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian troops occupying parts of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in the south of terrorizing civilians and hunting for anyone who served in Ukraines military or government.

Volunteers carry the body of a man killed during the war to a refrigerated container in Bucha, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

The occupiers think this will make it easier for them to control this territory. But they are very wrong. They are fooling themselves, Zelenskyy said. Russias problem is that it is not accepted  and never will be accepted  by the entire Ukrainian people. Russia has lost Ukraine forever.

In his nightly video address to the nation, Zelenskyy also said he discussed the fate of Mariupol with top military and intelligence officials. He said he couldnt offer details, but we are doing everything we can to save our people.

Zelenskyy said peace and how many more Ukrainians the occupiers have time to kill depend on Ukraine receiving more outside support, and echoed calls for more and faster military aid, as well as an oil embargo on Russia.

In this image from video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks from Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

More violence could be in store for Kyiv after Russian authorities accused Ukraine of wounding seven people and damaging about 100 residential buildings with airstrikes in Bryansk, a region bordering Ukraine. Authorities in another border region of Russia also reported Ukrainian shelling Thursday.

The number and the scale of missile attacks on objects in Kyiv will be ramped up in response to the Kyiv nationalist regime committing any terrorist attacks or diversions on the Russian territory, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.

Russia used missiles to destroy a facility for the repair and production of missile systems in Kyiv, Konashenkov said.

A sticker with the image known as "Saint Javelin" depicting a saint holding a Javelin, an American-made portable anti-tank missile system, is displayed in an artists co-living studio space that is used as a bomb shelter and a place to help the Territorial Defense Units, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Ukrainian officials have not confirmed striking targets in Russia, and the reports could not be independently verified.

However, Ukrainian officials said forces did strike a key Russian warship with missiles. A senior U.S. defense official backed up the claim, saying the U.S. now believes the Moskva was hit by at least one Neptune anti-ship missile, and probably two. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an intelligence assessment.

The Moskva, named for the Russian capital, sank while being towed to port Thursday after taking heavy damage. Though Moscow did not acknowledge any attack, saying only that a fire had caused ammunition on board to detonate, the loss of the ship represents an important victory for Ukraine and a symbolic defeat for Russia.

FILE - In this photo provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, Russian navy missile cruiser Moskva is on patrol in the Mediterranean Sea near the Syrian coast on Dec. 17, 2015. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)

The sinking reduces Russias firepower in the Black Sea, although military analysts disagreed on the event's significance to the course of the war. Either way, the loss was viewed as emblematic of Moscow's fortunes in an eight-week invasion widely seen as a historic blunder following the retreat from the Kyiv region and much of northern Ukraine.

A flagship russian warship is a worthy diving site. We have one more diving spot in the Black Sea now. Will definitely visit the wreck after our victory in the war, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted Friday.

Russia's warning of renewed airstrikes did not stop Kyiv residents from taking advantage of a sunny and slightly warmer spring Friday as the weekend approached. More people than usual were out on the streets, walking dogs, riding electric scooters and strolling hand in hand.

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) servicemen enter a building during an operation to arrest suspected Russian collaborators in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

In one central park, a small group of people including a woman draped in a Ukrainian flag danced to the music of a portable speaker.

Such tentative signs of prewar life have resurfaced in the capital after Russian troops failed to capture the city and retreated to concentrate on eastern Ukraine, leaving behind evidence of possible war crimes. But a renewed bombardment could mean a return to the steady wail of air raid sirens heard during the early days of the invasion and to fearful nights sheltering in subway stations.

In Mariupol, the city council said Friday that locals reported seeing Russian troops digging up bodies buried in residential courtyards and not allowing new burials of people killed by them.

A cemetery worker carries a cross for the tomb of Tetyana Gramushnyak, 75, who was killed by shelling on March 19 while cooking food outside her home in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Why the exhumation is being carried out and where the bodies will be taken is unknown, the council said on the Telegram messaging app.

Fighting continued in industrial areas and the port, and Russia for the first time used the Tu-223 long-range bomber to attack the city, said Oleksandr Motuzyanyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Mariupol has been blockaded by Russian forces since the early days of the invasion, and dwindling numbers of Ukrainian defenders have held out against a siege that has come at a horrific cost to trapped and starving civilians.

A man takes photos and walks past an apartment building with windows covered by plywood due to shelling in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

The mayor said this week that the city's death toll could surpass 20,000. Other Ukrainian officials have said they expect to find evidence in Mariupol of atrocities like the ones discovered in Bucha and other towns outside Kyiv.

Mariupols capture would allow Russian forces in the south, which came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to fully link up with troops in the Donbas region, Ukraines eastern industrial heartland and the target of the looming offensive.

It's not certain when Russia will launch a full-scale campaign.

Firefighters try to extinguish the fire at a damaged factory following a Russian bombing in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Thursday, April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine. Russia has recognized the independence of two rebel-held areas of the region.

Also Friday a Russian rocket hit an airport at night in the central city of Oleksandriia, Mayor Serhiy Kuzmenko said via Facebook. He made no mention of casualties.

And a regional Ukrainian official said seven people were killed and 27 wounded when Russian forces fired on buses carrying civilians in the village of Borovaya, near Kharkiv. The claim could not be independently verified.

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A cemetery worker takes a rest from working on the graves of civilians killed in Bucha during the war with Russia, in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday April 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Dmytro Chubenko, a spokesman for the regional prosecutors office, told the Suspilne news website that authorities had opened criminal proceedings in connection with a suspected violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

Russia's Defense Ministry said strikes in the Kharkiv region had liquidated a squad of mercenaries from a Polish private military company of up to 30 people and liberated an iron and steel factory in Mariupol. The claims could not be independently verified.

___

Fisch reported from Kramatorsk. Burns reported from Washington. 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 lapsed pre-development agreement was given new life Tuesday when the Baraboo City Council unanimously approved entering into the contract with a potential new developer of city-owned land in the 200 block of Lynn Street after Ikwe Development of Balsam Lake allowed the contract to expire in December.

The contract is new, but has identical terms, City Administrator Casey Bradley said. A pre-development agreement guarantees the city will not pursue a partnership with another developer while the contract is in place.

Theyre going to do architectural renderings, theyre going to incur a lot of costs to size the facility, or facilities, on that property, so they want some assurance were not going to turn around and make a deal with somebody else, Bradley said.

The name of the interested developer has been on a number of recent projects within the community. Three Amigos Property Management LLC, of Tomah, has been finishing its more than 60-unit luxury apartment building Rapid River Apartments LLC in the 300 block of Lynn Street, roughly a block away from the parcels listed on this newest agreement.

The company entered a separate pre-development agreement Nov. 23 to build 29 townhomes along 2.2 acres of Lake Street north of Gall Road.

Ikwe Development had previously approached the city about developing a mix of business and housing buildings on three parcels owned by the city in the 200 block of Lynn Street, between Vine Street and Walnut Street. That pre-development agreement expired in December, allowing the city to pursue a new developer for the 1.5 acres of land. Ikwe is also pursuing development along Devils Lake, which has been a point of contention for some residents on the lakeshore who do not want to see more housing and rental properties being built there.

Three Amigos is also looking to use the space for a mix of commercial and housing structures.

A pre-development agreement does not guarantee the developer will be able to build on the land inquisition. It serves as a contract between the city and the company to ensure the city will not pursue other developers for the space. Bradley said this agreement will be in place until October, during which time the two parties will work to draft an agreement.

Bradley said if development were to happen, it would be the result of nearly two decades of efforts to revitalize the area, starting with the Ringling Redevelopment Plan.

The city has been trying to redevelop that land since 2006, Bradley said. Its been a blighted area for a while now.

Clean up at the site of a former Alliant Energy facility there was completed in 2013.

While City Council members approved the agreement during a closed session Tuesday, they also agreed to pursue a land acquisition within the block for roughly 6,000 square feet.

Mike Hardy, director of the city Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department, said Thursday that the area could be used for a linear park, which would serve as a green space with urban surroundings and as a connection to the Baraboo Riverwalk into other parks and downtown Baraboo.

Parks like this that are meant to provide some green space in an area that maybe doesnt have a lot of green space, provides access to the river, Hardy said. Its basically serving to protect much of that river corridor and that river bank, to protect development against it and provide an area for the public to access the river.

However, that would take some time to establish and would likely require multiple phases of funding and plans, Bradley said. Council members agreed Tuesday to allow the parks department to apply for a 2022 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Stewardship grant.

The grant application process is difficult to put together in a month, Hardy said, so it will be a close deadline to complete the application within less than a month, which is how much time they have. He said with the recent interest in development nearby, they do have some required data already gathered.

Part of that process includes an appraisal of the land. Hardy said three bids to do the appraisal came in this week and that staff planned to approve a bid so work could begin next week. The appraisal amount of the land determines how much grant funding will be provided. Hardy said it will likely be around $650,000.

Designs for the area will be considered by the Parks Commission. Members have an annual parks tour scheduled for their May meeting, during which Hardy said they will be able to visit the land and evaluate what would work best for the space. He said planners will also consult the community survey conducted during the drafting of the most recent Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Plan to see if the proposed 20th city park could meet any needs brought up by respondents.

All ideas are preliminary, but Hardy said the goal would be to use the project to connect the Riverwalk through this park to other parks and, if funding can be obtained, a bridge that would allow connection to downtown.

The main purpose of it is to serve as a green connection and I think thats what its going to do a very good job of, Hardy said.

Follow Bridget on Twitter @cookebridget or contact her at 608-745-3513.

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Update: 15-04-2022 | 12:24:46

On April 14, Mr. Vo Van Minh, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, received the delegation of Saigon Stec Co. Ltd. led by Mr. Wada Kazuhito, the company's General Director who had just finished his term as the leader of the delegation on their social greetings. Joining the delegation was Mr. Morimoto Hideaki, the new General Director of Saigon Stec and Mr. Nagata Kazuhito, General Director of Sharp Manufacturing Vietnam.

Chairman of Binh Duong provincial People's Committee, Mr. Vo Van Minh (right) receives Mr. Wada Kazuhito, General Director of Saigon Stec Co. Ltd.

At the meeting, Mr. Vo Van Minh highly appreciated the production and business results of Saigon Stec Co. Ltd. in recent years, especially the time when Mr. Wada Kazuhito was the CEO; he respectfully acknowledged the contribution of the company and Mr. Wada Kazuhito in the development process of Binh Duong. The chairman of the Provincial People's Committee affirmed that Binh Duong always offer an open investment environment and is with the businesses to overcome any drawbacks. He hoped that the company would continue to efficiently produce and expand investments in Binh Duong. The province has been creating favorable conditions for businesses in terms of mechanisms, policies, infrastructure, and traffic in the direction of connectivity and with a vision of regional linkage.

Mr. Wada Kazuhito thanked the Binh Duong provincial authority for offering the most favorable conditions for the company's development in recent years. He informed that Saigon Stec is a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation (Japan). The company was established in 2007, operating in the field of manufacturing electronic components and high-tech camera modules. In 2015, Saigon Stec officially started construction of the factory Phase 4 in Vietnam - Singapore Industrial Park II. He hoped that in the next term, his successor would continue to receive support from the provincial authority and join Binh Duong in implementing the development orientations in the coming time.

At the meeting, Mr. Nagata Kazuhito expressed his wish that the industries would provide adequate power supply for the company to quickly stabilize and catch up with production in Binh Duong. In this regard, functional sector leaders said they would work with Binh Duong Power Company to help the company to operate effectively.

Reported by Tieu My  Translated by Vi Bao
State officials announced a case of the highly contagious bird flu has been found in a Columbia County flock.

Columbia is one of three counties the new cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, referred to as HPAI, were found by state officials with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, according to a Thursday news release. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and DATCP are working with animal health officials on response efforts.

HPAI has now been found in seven domestic flocks across Wisconsin since March, when the virus was first confirmed in the state. The latest cases were identified in:

Columbia County, backyard mixed species

Sheboygan County, backyard mixed species

Polk County, commercial poultry

As avian influenza continues to affect poultry in Wisconsin and throughout the nation, were reminding flock owners that strong biosecurity is our best defense against this devastating disease, State Veterinarian Dr. Darlene Konkle said in the release. We urge everyone working around poultry to increase their biosecurity measures and continue reporting signs of illness to help us prevent spread of the virus.

Depopulation efforts are underway at each of the three locations. Anyone who would like to report increased mortality or signs of disease among domestic birds can contact DATCP at (608) 224-4872 (business hours) or (800) 943-0003 (after hours and weekends).

Signs of HPAI in infected birds include:

Sudden death without clinical signs

Lack of energy or appetite

Decrease in egg production; soft, misshapen eggs

Purple discoloration of wattles, comb, and legs

Difficulty breathing

Runny nose, coughing, sneezing

Stumbling or falling down

Diarrhea

The flock in Columbia County includes 44 birds, and DATCP lists its status as restricted. The new case in Polk County  20,000 birds at a commercial operation  will require the animals to be euthanized, according to DATCP data.

So far, the strain of avian flu, which is believed to affect domesticated and captive birds more than their wild counterparts, has resulted in the euthanizing of nearly three million birds in Wisconsin  the vast majority from a commercial operation in Jefferson County in mid-March.

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State Rep. Sondy Pope will not seek another term in the Assembly after serving 20 years in office, joining a growing list of state lawmakers departing the state Legislature leading up to the midterm election.

Both Pope, D-Mount Horeb, and Rep. Nick Milroy, D-South Range, announced plans to retire from the Legislature on Thursday. Nine Assembly Democrats have already decided not to seek reelection this fall, in addition to 13 Assembly Republicans who have also announced they won't seek another term. That means more than a fifth of the state's Assembly seats will be held by new lawmakers next year.

Pope, 71, was first elected to the chamber in 2002 and has spent time as chair and a ranking Democratic member of the Assembly education committee.

"I have cherished this work and the relationships built along the way," Pope said in a statement. "It is now time for me to step out of this role, and I look forward to the next generation of leaders and the work they will do.

Shortly after Pope's announcement, Dane County Supervisor Mike Bare, D-Verona, announced his candidacy for the 80th Assembly District seat, which covers the southwest portion of Dane County, as well as parts of Green and Iowa counties.

Bare, who currently represents the Dane County Boards 32nd District, owns the Biergarten at Olbrich Park in Madison and previously served on the Verona City Council. He also previously served as an aide to former Democratic U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold.

We have work to do on guaranteeing good schools, creating jobs and raising wages, and improving access to basic needs like healthcare and affordable housing, Bare said in a statement. Ive been working on these issues for my entire career, and Im ready to do more as a member of the State Assembly.

Bare has been endorsed by Verona Mayor Luke Diaz and Dane County Supervisor Elizabeth Doyle.

Bare added that he will not run for the Assembly seat if the states next legislative maps pair him with a Democratic incumbent.

Pope and Milroy join a growing list of state lawmakers to announce plans to depart from the Legislature, even though legislative boundaries for the upcoming election have yet to be formally established. Rep. Gary Hebl, D-Sun Prairie, who has represented parts of Dane County for almost 20 years, announced Wednesday that he will not seek another term in the Assembly.

In addition to the 22 Representatives not seeking another term, six state senators, three Republicans and three Democrats, have said they will not seek reelection this fall. Sen. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield, said earlier this year he would not challenge Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, if legislative maps drawn by Gov. Tony Evers stand this fall. Those maps relocated Kooyenga into Darling's district.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Democratic governor's legislative maps last month, kicking the matter back to the state court. The federal justices also accepted Evers' congressional boundaries, denying a request from the state's Republican congressional lawmakers seeking to block those boundaries.

The state Supreme Court is expected to rule any day on legislative boundaries, but it remains to be seen whether the court returns with Evers' maps backed by additional evidence, shifts over to boundaries drawn by legislative Republicans or others, or pursues a new avenue.
Dimensions of conservation: Augmented reality 3D mural to be revealed at Swem Library

Sarah Wicker 23, Sofia Geislinger 22 and Katie Lee 22 (left to right) make up the interdisciplinary team of students who worked on the mural. Courtesy photo Photo - of - Hide Caption

The following story originally appeared on the W&M Alumni Magazine website. - Ed.

As Enrique Sanchez-Rivera M.B.A. 07 points out, William & Mary is a school of firsts  the first U.S. institution with a royal charter, home of the first student honor code and Birthplace of the American College Fraternity with the founding of Phi Beta Kappa in 1776. With Sanchez-Riveras help, W&M is adding another label to that list as one of the first universities with an augmented reality mural in the heart of its campus.

Sanchez-Rivera teamed up with W&Ms Institute for Integrative Conservation (IIC) to create a competition to find the right team to design such a mural on the exterior of Swem Library. He brings expertise to the project as founder of Augmented Island Studios, a Portland, Oregon-based augmented and virtual reality development studio established in 2018 that focuses on creating immersive experiences for many different types of companies. Augmented reality (AR) superimposes virtual elements onto physical objects, giving 2D murals and other art forms 3D aspects when observed through a mobile device's camera.

With the final reveal scheduled for Tuesday, April 19, the mural focuses on the conservation of local flora and fauna and is designed to allow viewers to see nature and the world around them in a new light, explains Sofia Geislinger 22, one of the three students responsible for bringing the mural to life.

Geislinger, along with Katie Lee 22 and Sarah Wicker 23, began the process of designing this mural a year ago, when they entered the competition Sanchez-Rivera and the IIC put together. Geislinger, Lee and Wickers backgrounds in computer science, environmental science and studio art, respectively, made them the perfect candidates for an interdisciplinary student team to lead the project. They were supported by mentors from the Muscarelle Museum of Art, William & Mary's Art & Art History Department, W&M Libraries, the Institute for Integrative Conservation and Augmented Island Studios.

Wicker, who is head of the mural design, notes that the images to be displayed are inspired by the work of botanical photographer Craig Burrows. A specialist in ultraviolet light-induced visible fluorescence, Burrows has been featured in National Geographic magazine. He has said he hopes that those who view his photos will feel more interested and engaged in the natural world around us, which the W&M students have emphasized as a goal of their work as well. Through the AR component of the mural, images will transform from how humans see them to how they appear to insects under ultraviolet light.

In this perspective, explains Lee, the community engagement leader, we can have a better appreciation for all that natures doing and how were just one part of it.

Another motif the students have highlighted in their design of the mural is decolonization.

We are kind of rigid in our perspectives of nature, the idea that we take, take, take  how can we decolonize that and reconsider our relationship to nature? Wicker says. To promote that concept, she designed a pair of hands that are offering a flower to a hummingbird  giving, rather than taking.

Wicker also took care to design the hands to be those of a person of color, in tribute to the those who have historically worked with the land and to acknowledge the history of enslavement across America and within William & Mary.

We hope that this piece can lead to further discussions about enslavement both at the university and within the histories of how we interact with nature, she says.

Sanchez-Rivera, who was born and raised in Cali, Colombia, explains that this mural came to fruition for two reasons: I have always wanted to merge my work with doing good for society and educating others about our planet. This desire, combined with his loyalty to and love for W&Ms Raymond A. Mason School of Business, is what inspired him to work with W&M students. I love mentoring students, he says. I got a lot of value from the mentors that I had when I was in grad school at William & Mary, and so I wanted to give that opportunity back to students.

Sanchez-Rivera has been involved with many other projects that incorporate activism into AR. Most notably, he has worked on a mural in Columbus, Ohio, featuring an immigrant holding a Victorian house in her hands, symbolizing an open city. He has also worked with Conservation International on a project that used augmented reality to raise awareness about invasive species in Hawaii.

Sanchez-Rivera attended W&Ms business school in 2007 after graduating from the University of Connecticut in 1999 and gaining experience in the corporate world, and he appreciates how working prior to attending business school enhanced his learning experience.

I was able to apply problems and thoughts from my previous life to the program in a way that was very unique, he explains. He also notes that genuinely caring and invested professors is what made W&M the best fit for him. Without ethics, youre nobody, Sanchez-Rivera says. And in a world plagued with characters who trample on human beings, I really thought that the focus W&M professors gave to being an ethical person was very important.

An active William & Mary alumnus, Sanchez-Rivera co-founded the business schools Alumni of Color Network and serves as its vice president of programming and engagement. He also participated in the IIC virtual discussion Augmented Reality Application to Conservation with Matthew Ramsey, director of the Conservation International Hawai'i Program, about how they are using augmented reality to revolutionize the conservation of Hawai'is marine ecosystem and the sociocultural benefits it provides local people.

While Sanchez-Rivera is giving back to his alma mater through the mural project and involvement with other programs, Geislinger, Lee and Wicker are leaving a legacy for future students.

Were going to be gone in a year, Geislinger says, but whats not going to be gone is the mural, and its really cool that so many people are going to have experiences with it, so many people are going to walk past it and see it and to know what we were a part of it, that we left our mark on the campus, is really cool.

Sanchez-Rivera and the Augmented Island Studios team will be joining Geislinger, Lee and Wicker from Oregon and Colombia at the murals unveiling on Monday, April 19, from 4-6 p.m. The mural is painted on an exterior wall of Swem Library, just outside the Omohundro Institute, and the event will include food, music and other conservation-related activities.

This project was sponsored by the Institute for Integrative Conservation, W&M Libraries, Augmented Island Studios, the Muscarelle Museum of Art and W&M Sustainability, with support from the Art & Art History Department, W&M Facilities, W&M Public Safety Department and the W&M Design Review Board. In addition to Sanchez-Rivera, Augmented Island Studios' team for the project includes Guillermo Alvarez (chief technology officer), Mauricio Fernandez (art director) and Maria Jose Valencia (chief operating officer). William & Mary's team includes Steve Prince, Lisa Nickel, Tami Back, Joanna Good, Nikki Santiago and other volunteers.
W&M professors book reframes stories of people who have identified as Israelites

Origin of stories: Andrew Tobolowsky, assistant professor of religious studies at William & Mary, built on his expertise in the biblical 12 tribes tradition of Israelite history with his new book. Photo by Stephen Salpukas Photo - of - Hide Caption

History of people identifying as Israelites often is told and understood through stories presented in the Bible. But broadening out from those biblical histories reveals an array of groups developing aspirational identities, according to a new interpretation.

Andrew Tobolowsky, assistant professor of religious studies at William & Mary, built on his expertise in the biblical 12 tribes tradition of Israelite history with his new book.

The Myth of the Twelve Tribes of Israel: New Identities Across Time and Space was published in March, debuting as the No. 1 new release on Amazon in the categories of Judaism and ancient history.

Many different groups consider themselves Israelites because they think of themselves as part of the nation of Israel written about in the Bible, according to Tobolowsky. But theyre all constructing visions of Israelite identity somewhere else, outside of those biblical stories, in a context that shapes it in certain ways.

Its the first study to treat the history of claims to an Israelite identity as an ongoing historical phenomenon from biblical times to the present, according to publisher Cambridge University Press. By treating the Hebrew Bible's accounts of Israel as one of many efforts to construct an Israelite history, rather than source material for later legends, Tobolowsky brings a long-term comparative approach to biblical and nonbiblical Israelite histories.

W&M News asked Tobolowsky to discuss his work.

Does this build on your previous research?

Ive worked a lot on the 12 tribes of Israel. I had a first book thats called The Sons of Jacob and the Sons of Herakles and that was about this genealogical form the 12 tribes of Israel tradition has and how I think were misunderstanding them because I think it is a form that allows people to reinvent their identity more often and more rapidly than people think. And then you see that may be apparent actually with Greek mythology.

That for me laid the foundation both of thinking about people reinventing Israel and comparative work because I was already doing comparative work with ancient Greece.

By the end of that book I was already thinking all right, well, were thinking about the Bible as somebody doing something with an older 12 tribes tradition, making new visions of Israel and then weve got all these other new visions of Israel. So I really started naturally to look into that.

What is new here?

Youre not going to find any books that treat biblical and extra-biblical, post-biblical visions of Israelite identity essentially the same way. Youre going to get people who treat the biblical vision of Israel as the source for all these others, but sort of separate and unique.

I think that by saying we should just think of all of these as people doing something with the 12 tribes of Israel tradition really enabled me to understand what they were doing from the biblical context. So by sort of breaking down the barriers between what are usually treated as two different sets of traditions, I could write a new longer continuous history reaching back into biblical times of people doing interesting things that led to a comparison that helped me understand those interesting things better.

How much does the idea of an ethnic identity as a story that can or cannot be traced back resonate with people today?

When you look at do people care about these myths, do people care about the 12 tribes of Israel, I think you just have to think about how much do people care about the sort of legendary version of George Washingtons story? How much do people care about 1776?

When you get something like the 1619 Project  which what it is trying to do is say that Americas prehistory of slavery and long history of racial discrimination is in some ways more the origin of America in terms of giving shape to America than the famous 1776 myth of the founding  when you see the anger against that  youre seeing the power of myth in society. The visions of the past we have are very, very important to people. The idea of who were connected to in the past, and what we came out of and where histories begin and end is very, very important to people.

I think that was one of the thrills of writing a book that goes from the ancient to the present, that talks about what made Israel and the nation of Israel today, the Mormons in America today.

In terms of how much people care about what their pasts are in biological descent, nothings changed. And you feel the power of stories to make our world in various different ways and remake it all the time.

What can we learn from this?

The big takeaway for me is that we get obsessed about whether a story from the past is true or false. But whether a story is true or false, people never tell stories about the past for no reason. The way they tell those stories always has a reason. That reason shapes how its told. Stories preserve a kind of vocabulary of what we want, what were trying to do, what we hope for the future, what were afraid of.

You can see that in the 12 tribes of Israel tradition because its the same tradition, but its used in so many different ways. So its a language through which so many different people speak to try to create worlds and create futures. But you can see that anywhere.

At the end of the book, Im writing about Mount Rushmore where somebodys trying to create a vision of the past based on these four great, white men. That vision means different things to different people. To some people it is a national landmark, a wonderful thing.

But if you chose a different moment in American history to make that monument, youd probably have different presidents because the stories that we inherit from the past are a large vocabulary from which we draw from. Choosing to create that expression of that vocabulary in that place at that time will be an expression of what historical memory is in that time.

And then there will be competing narratives where people talk about this is a sacred Native region, so the monument itself means different things to different people. But some stories are very important, so they get used by different people in different ways. And if we pay attention to how theyre being told, were going to learn a lot about the people telling them.
Update: 15-04-2022 | 17:29:07

A recent article published on German travel website Travelbook.de highlighted the capital as one of the most popular travel destinations in Southeast Asia, with six attractions that tourists should explore whilst visiting the city.

German travel website Travelbook.de features One Pillar Pagoda in Hanoi.

Top of the list is a visit to Van Mieu, the Temple of Literature, which was an educational centre for gifted young people founded in 1076 and is considered to be the countrys first university.

The article said that for residents of Hanoi, the Temple of Literature not only has cultural importance, but is also one of the quietest and most peaceful places within the bustling metropolis. Indeed, many visitors from Europe describe the special harmony that can be felt in the almost thousand-year-old project as a "profound experience".

Elsewhere, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is an attractive destination that is worth visiting. Locating within Ba Dinh Square, the mausoleum is one of the most important sights in the country, with Vietnamese people going there to pay their respect to President Ho Chi Minh. Strict rules of conduct therefore apply in the building, such as a ban on talking, the need to don appropriate clothing, and a ban on photography.

According to the article, another spot that tourists shouldnt miss in Hanoi is One Pillar Pagoda, one of the oldest pagodas in the capital, which is also considered to be a landmark of Hanoi. The wooden temple was first built on a log more than 1,000 years ago, although in the 1950s the original tree trunk was replaced with a concrete pillar. It is also worth taking some time walking around the pagoda because of the residential buildings around it are among the most beautiful and impressive throughout the city.

Furthermore, taking a cycle rickshaw through the 36 alleys of the old centre is a must-do activity in the capital, it said. The tour will offer a positive impression of the special attitude towards life in the city. In addition to numerous restaurants and shops, the old town is characterised above all by its handicraft businesses, some of which have existed for several generations.

A visit to a water puppet theatre, where there are up to one-metre high puppets, is also a must, with many plays relating to local legends being staged there.

Travelbook suggested that visitors sample pho (noodle soup) at least once in Hanoi in the even that they haven't tried it elsewhere in Vietnam. The aromatic soup is prepared with plenty of fresh herbs, rice noodles, and beef. Vegetarian options are also on offer in some places.

It recommends that guests seek out information on entry requirements and the current COVID-19 situation in Vietnam on the website of the Federal Foreign Office.

VOV
Upcoming Lectures Take part in the William & Mary experience.

Through the Tack Faculty Lecture Series, a William & Mary professor will address the community at least once a semester.

Fall 2022

A lecture date and speaker for the fall 2022 Tack Lecture are in the process of being chosen. Check back later in the semester to learn more.
BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua)  The Communist Party of China (CPC) is asking the public to contribute opinions on its 20th national congress to be held in the second half of 2022.

The CPC will receive public opinions and suggestions on the full and strict Party governance, high-quality development, comprehensive reform and opening-up, whole-process people's democracy, law-based state governance, socialist cultural advancement, people's livelihoods and ecological progress.

Opinions and suggestions can be made via online platforms, including the websites and mobile apps of People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and China Media Group, from April 15 to May 16.

(Source: Xinhua)
Update: 15-04-2022 | 12:24:46

Early April 14, provincial Agencies and Enterprises Blocs Party Committee held a news conference in the first quarter of 2022. The event was attended by members of the Executive Committee, Standing Committee of the blocs Party Committee, secretaries and vice-secretaries of Party committees, cells under the bloc's Party Committee; members of the Inspection Commission of the blocs Party Committee, reporters of the blocs Party Committee; leaders of agencies, units and State-owned enterprises with Party organizations under the blocs Party Committee.

At the conference, Lieutenant Colonel - Dr. Le Hoang Viet Lam, lecturer of the Faculty of Political Theory at the People's Security University under the Ministry of Public Security quickly informed delegates of the current affairs of the locality, Russia and Ukraine, Vietnam - China relations, the East Sea situation, Vietnam's socio-economic situation in the first quarter of 2022.

A lot of new and important information was deployed at the conference to help officials and Party members promptly update to serve their work while orienting Party committees at all levels to well carry out political, ideological education and propaganda for cadres, Party members and employees at agencies, units and enterprises in the coming time.

Reported by Do Trong-Translated by Kim Tin
North Wales health board urges public to use healthcare services wisely over Easter weekend

The North Wales health board has urged the public to use its services wisely over Easter due to an unprecedented demand on the regions health and care system.

In a statement released today Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board says a combination of an increase of covid-19 patients, staff absences and delays discharging medically fit patients from hospital is leading to significant bed shortages.

The health board says that relatives of loved ones across the hospitals who have been assessed as being well enough to go home, but who are waiting to be discharged with homecare and community health support, may be able to help them get home more quickly if they or their family are in a position to support them at home.

Gill Harris, Executive Director of Integrated Clinical Services said: Spending as little time in hospital is better for patients and means that NHS beds can be freed up for others with urgent care needs.

Supporting older patients to get home from hospital efficiently is an important part of their recovery and it also protects them from negative consequences of hospital admission, such as hospital acquired infection, falls and a loss of independence.

If you feel you are able to facilitate hospital discharge for your loved one please speak to the ward manager or your social worker to explore this further.

To help ease pressure on the emergency services over the busy weekend doctors, paramedics and nurses are urging people to choose the right service for their health needs.

Health Board staff and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust are reminding people to choose well when they need health advice or support  by using NHS 111 Wales or visiting a community pharmacy.

Dr Richard Griffiths, Consultant in Emergency Medicine at Ysbyty Gwynedd, said: The best way the public can help our frontline staff, and ensure that they and their families can be seen quickly, is to use other health services within our community and reserve our Emergency Departments for serious or life threatening conditions.

If you begin to feel unwell and its not an emergency you visit the NHS 111 Wales website for free health advice and information or visit your local pharmacy. For urgent concerns, people can contact our GP Out of Hours service by calling 111.

Paramedic Dave Massey from Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust said: Bank holidays are always a busy time for the ambulance service, especially the Easter weekend when typically more people will be socialising with friends and family, which can lead to more people becoming ill or injured.

This puts our service under even more pressure than it already is, so were asking people to look after themselves and others and think carefully about whether an ambulance is most appropriate for their needs.

There are a full range of options available to you, including the NHS 111 Wales website, which should be your first port of call for health advice and information.

We want to ensure its a weekend that people will remember for the right reasons and, more importantly, that our ambulance crews are there for those who need them most, so please enjoy the Easter celebrations responsibly.

For those with urgent concerns or needing emergency dental care; the 111 telephone service can provide guidance to help people choose the right health service to best meet their individual needs  and to ensure emergency services are there for those who need it the most.

A local pharmacist can provide free, confidential advice, support and treatment on a range of common ailments and provide emergency medicine without needing to book an appointment. Opening times for pharmacies across North Wales over the Easter weekend can be found here

Minor Injury Units are located across North Wales and can treat injuries that are not critical or life threatening. They normally offer much shorter waiting times compared to other services that to prioritise the most seriously injured patients who need urgent care.

For further details visit: Local Health Services  Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (nhs.wales)
Rare Kemps Ridley turtle rescued from Talacre beach could soon be heading to Gulf of Mexico

A rare turtle found stranded 4,000 miles from home on Talacre beach could soon be released back into the sea.

Kemps Ridley sea turtles are the rarest and most-endangered species in the world.

Named Tally, the juvenile turtle was found barely alive on Flintshire beach in November.

Kemps Ridley turtles primarily live in the Gulf of Mexico where they forage in the warm waters of the continental shelf.

But experts believe Tally lost its way whilst journeying through warmer seas further south in the Atlantic, due to strong wind and currents caused by stormy weather.

The turtle was found on Talacre Beach by a couple out walking their dog, they initially thought the animal was dead, but decided to report the finding to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR).

Tally was taken to Anglesey Sea Zoo and treated for cold-water shock, it placed into a specially adapted incubator to help regulate its temperature which has aided recovery.

In December Frankie Hobro, Director and Owner of the Anglesey Sea Zoo said the turtle was on rehydration therapy, vitamins and antibiotics, but so far, there do not appear to be any underlying conditions of concern as a result of its cold-stranding and these early stages of recovery are currently going well and looking extremely promising.

BDMLR posted a video of Tally on their Facebook page today showing Tally looking lot better and bigger.

They said: Remember the Kemps ridley turtle that was rescued by BDMLR late last year at Talacre, North Wales?

Here she is now over with our colleagues at Anglesey Sea Zoo who have been doing a fab job rehabilitating her since she was picked up. Shes looking a lot better (and bigger!) now.

When she is ready the team there will be arranging for her to go back to the Gulf of Mexico for release, which will hopefully be quite soon.
Update: 15-04-2022 | 17:29:07

Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son had telephone talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on April 14.

Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son (R) has telephone talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on April 14 (Photo: VNA)

Son congratulated China on its achievements in socio-economic development and external relations, expressing his belief that China will successfully organise the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China in this year.

He affirmed that Vietnam attaches great importance to and hopes to further bolster the Vietnam-China ties in a stable and sustainable manner.

For his part, Wang affirmed that the Party and Government of China are interested in further developing the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership with Vietnam, considering it as a priority in its neighbourhood diplomatic strategy.

Both sides shared delight at the sound progress in the relations between the two Parties and countries, and concurred to continue increasing high-level exchanges and meeting, promoting practical cooperation across all fields, strengthening coordination in facilitating bilateral trade and removing barriers in border trade, and soon recognising each others vaccine passport to make travelling and exchange activities easier.

They had an open and straightforward discussion on the sea issues and agreed to work hard together to control and deal with disputes in the spirit of respecting each others legitimate rights and interest, strictly implementing agreements on the basic principles guiding the settlement of Vietnam-China sea-related issues and international law, including the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, and together with ASEAN reaching positive progress for the Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

The two FMs also exchanged viewpoints on regional and international matters of shared concern, including the Ukraine issue. FM Son underlined Vietnams consistent policy of supporting the settlement of disputes and differences by peaceful measures in line with the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law, ensuring security and safety for civilians, and protecting basic civil infrastructure system. Vietnam supports and is willing to make positive contributions to humanitarian relief activities, diplomatic processes, dialogues and negotiations as well as the reconstruction and recovery process in Ukraine, Son stated./.

VNA
As a result of the Quebec government lifting virtually all anti-COVID-19 mitigation measures over a matter of weeks in February and March, Canadas second most populous province now finds itself in the midst of a sixth wave of mass infections and death, driven by the highly contagious Omicron BA.2 variant.

Demonstration of health care workers protesting inhumane working conditions, including lack of PPE and endless hours of forced overtime, during the pandemics first wave in spring 2020. (Photo credit: Rank-and-file nurse)

The daily number of new infections is unknown, because the Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government has banned access to PCR testing for the general public. However, government health officials estimate that between 40,000 and 60,000 Quebecers are now being infected with the virus each day. These infection numbers are even higher than those during last winters Omicron wave, which, according to the government, infected approximately 3 million people or almost 40 percent of all Quebeckers.

Hospitalizations and deaths, lagging indicators for new cases, also provide insight into the magnitude of the current wave. On Tuesday, the province announced a net daily increase of 145 in hospitalizations, bringing the total to 1,938, up 31 percent from the previous week. There were also 35 deaths due to COVID, bringing the daily 7-day average to 20, a 41 percent increase in one week.

Ravaged by decades of capitalist austerity that have created permanent staff shortages, the public health system is once again being overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 infections. As of April 8, some 13,000 COVID-stricken health care workers were absent from the job. As a result, hospitals have had to cancel medical procedures deemed less urgent.

The government is keeping the system afloat with reckless and punitive policies. It is encouraging health care facilities to force employees who have contracted COVID to return to work after 5 days while they may still be contagious, and to continue their longstanding practice of subjecting workers to brutal schedules and workloads.

The CAQ government, led by multimillionaire former Air Transat CEO Francois Legault, is determined to continue its profits before lives policy of allowing the virus to spread freely and imposing no public health measures that would impinge on the ability of big business, banks and wealthy shareholders to exploit the working class and generate gargantuan profits.

At a press conference on April 8, Quebec Director of Public Health Dr. Luc Boileau admitted that he did not see any improvement for another two weeks. Despite this gloomy prediction, he reiterated that there is no question of reintroducing public health measures to combat the dangerous virus. Openly adopting the language of the libertarian far-right, Boileau rejected the imposition of health measures that will coerce people in favor of what he called reasonable [individual] behavior.

The type of necessary measures being rejected by Quebecs ruling elitelockdowns, mass testing, contact tracing, isolationhave represented the scientific basis of infectious disease control for decades.

But since the temporary lockdowns of spring 2020, largely provoked by work stoppages and other spontaneous working class protests, the capitalist ruling class has seen the public measures needed to suppress the virus as an unacceptable impediment to their profit-making. Ever more brazenly, they have pushed for workers in nonessential industries to remain on the job and in schools to provide in-class instruction, so their parents can be compelled to work, resulting in one wave of mass infection and death after anothereven after the development of COVID-19 vaccines.

This has been accompanied by an ever-escalating campaign on the part of governments and the corporate media dedicated to promoting the lie that basic life-saving measures are heavy-handed and are causing greater harm than COVID-19 itself.

The murderous character of the CAQ governments profits before lives policy, which has been implemented with the full support of Justin Trudeaus federal Liberal government, was inadvertently laid bare by Dr. Boileau in recent testimony before Quebecs parliamentary committee on Health and Social Services. This committee is studying Bill 28, legislation ostensibly aimed at putting an end to the provinces official health emergency.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the Legault government used the Public Health Act (PHA) to declare a health emergency and arrogate sweeping executive powers, including the right to order the temporary closure of businesses and schools, award contracts for medical supplies without a call for tenders, and override health workers collective agreements and work rules.

On its face, Bill 28 calls for an end to the health emergency that has been in effect since March 13, 2020. In reality, it extends it until December 31, 2022, since all decisions made by the government under the health emergency will remain in effect until that date. In addition, contracts awarded without competition since March 2020, with an estimated total value of $13 billion, can be extended for up to 5 years.

Since the Legault government has already lifted virtually all of the health measures imposed under the PHA, pledged to eliminate those that remain like the mask mandate by May 1, and repeatedly vowed it will do everything in its power to avoid reimposing them, it is blatantly obvious that the primary reason it wants to retain emergency powers until the end of the year is so it can continue to violate health workers rights and trample on their working conditions.

This is part of a reckless attempt to deal with the current wave of COVID-19 infections and the future waves that the government knows are inevitable, given its official policy of learning to live with the virus, without providing the health system with the massive injection of resources it requires to hire sufficient nurses and other health care staff and develop genuine surge capacity.

Boileau admitted as much in his testimony. He first confirmed that the government no longer intends to use its emergency powers to renew or recommend new public measures since Quebec is in a transitional phase of the pandemic during which the government, to use his words, is implementing the famous policy of living with the virus. The only reason he could then provide for the government maintaining transitional (emergency) powers was that they are necessary in hiring temporary personnel and for human resources management in the health network.

This admission was seized upon by Claire Samson, who recently defected from the CAQ to join the even more right-wing Conservative Party of Quebec (PCC). The PCC promotes the anti-vax movement and its leader, Eric Duhaime, was a full-throated supporter of the far-right Freedom Convoy and its demand that all anti-pandemic measures be lifted immediately.

Pressed by Samson to explain why emergency powers are still necessary since the government says COVID must be normalized, Dr. Boileau blurted out, If we stop all this (i.e., the health emergency measures), right now, were going to be heading towards huge risks and then were going to kill people.

This is a damning indictment of the entire pandemic policy of the ruling class. The refusal to pursue a Zero-COVID elimination strategy, and their premature lifting of the limited anti-COVID mitigation measures they did impose, has killed more than 14,500 Quebecers to date. And it will continue to kill them as long as the virus is allowed to circulate, and circulate ever more freely.

By extending the health emergency until the end of the year, while lifting the already insufficient public health measures against the pandemic, the CAQ government is setting the stage for the health care system to be brought once more to the verge of collapse. Its only response will be to use its emergency powers to force exhausted and psychologically taxed nurses and other health care workers to work additional hours, under brutal and unsafe conditions.

As for the opposition partiesthe Parti Quebecois, the Quebec Liberal Party and Quebec Solidairethey have all collaborated with the Legault government in implementing its profits before lives policy throughout the pandemic. The supposedly left-wing Quebec Solidaire, for instance, all but endorsed Legaults herd immunity policy of letting the virus rip through the population, pressing at times for an even more aggressive timetable for the reopening of businesses and schools.

Adopting language little different from the libertarian right, the opposition parties focus in recent weeks has been on denouncing the state health emergency as appalling, dangerous for democracy and authoritarian. During the parliamentary debate, they have doubled down on their attacks on Bill 28 from the right, with an increasingly hysterical and vociferous campaign.

Workers must oppose Bill 28 from the left, by demanding the repeal of the governments emergency powers to trample upon collective agreements in the public sector. Emergency measures must be taken, instead, to mobilize all of societys available resources, on the basis of science, to end the COVID-19 pandemic once and for all, by combining lockdowns with full financial compensation to all affected workers, mass testing, contact tracing and the speedy isolation and treatment of infected people.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel yesterday announced the details of their plan to offshore the processing of asylum seekers.

Building on their already draconian immigration system, most refugees and asylum seekers who are able to make it to Britain now stand no chance of receiving refuge. They will, within days of arriving, be flown 4,000 miles away to landlocked Rwanda in central Africa.

UK Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and Rwandan Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-Operation, Vincent Biruta sign the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (Credit Priti Patel/Twitter)

The Home Office said that those deemed to have arrived illegally will be refused asylum and detained in a former military base before being flown out on a one way ticket to Rwanda. The Daily Mail noted, Once in Rwanda they will no longer be under the UKs jurisdiction and subject to that country's refugee rules, with no legal right to return to Britain. If deemed by Rwanda not to have a legitimate asylum claim, they will be deported back to their home country. If found to have a valid claim, they will be allowed to stay in Rwanda for five years.

There is no limit to the number of refugees that can be sent to Rwanda, with Johnson boasting in his speech that the deal we have done is uncapped and Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead.

The offshoring system was pioneered by Australia, which began detaining asylum seekers in detention centres on the tiny Micronesia island country Nauru, and Manus Island in 2001. Thousands have been detained, with Australia making the operation permanent, despite a staggering $12 billion being spent in just the eight years to 2021.

A central aim of the Rwandan deal is to deter any migrants and refugees headed for Britain, with the threat of being shipped to one of the poorest countries in the world.

Even before the first refugee is booted out of the country, Johnson has placed the Ministry of Defence in charge of policing the English Channel and detaining those attempting to land in Britain on dinghies and other flimsy vessels.

Johnson said that to identify, intercept and investigate these boats, from today the Royal Navy will take over operational command from Border Force in the Channel, taking primacy for our operational response at sea with the aim that no boat makes it to the UK undetected.

The Telegraph reported a government source threatening, You are going to be met by the Army. They will drive you to the airport and send you straight to Rwanda. That is where you are going to end up in the hope that would be enough to deter migrants.

Rwanda has one of the most appalling human rights records on the planet. It is less than two decades since a war waged by an ethnic Hutu regime backed by France saw the extermination of between 800,000 and one million people, mainly from the countrys Tutsi ethnic minority.

Human Rights Watch says of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front that it continues to target those perceived as a threat to the government. Several high-profile critics have been arrested or threatened and authorities regularly fail to conduct credible investigations into cases of enforced disappearances and suspicious deaths of government opponents. Arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities is commonplace, and fair trial standards are routinely flouted in many sensitive political cases, in which security-related charges are often used to prosecute prominent government critics.

The scheme has been at least three years in the planning, with Patel making it her flagship policy to stop a few thousand people arriving annually via the dangerous English Channel route from claiming asylum in Britain. It is the basis of her Nationality and Borders Bill now passing through parliament that shreds the basic tenets of the 1951 Refugee Convention, requiring signatory countries to offer asylum to those fleeing war or persecution.

There were initial discussions within the Home Office about moving migrants to decommissioned oil platforms in the North Sea and old ferries off the UK coastline for processing. A host of countries and locations were considered for offshoring including Albania, Gibraltar, the Isle of Wight and another African state, Ghana. Sending refugees to the inhospitable volcanic Ascension Island, over 4,000 miles way in the South Atlantic Ocean, was also mooted.

Britain intends to offshore its anti-refugee policy on the cheap, with Rwanda receiving only around 120 million over five years as part of the deal. The poverty-stricken, war-torn country already accommodates 130,000 refugees. The BBC, which has seen accommodation the asylum seekers would be housed in, reported it is thought to have enough space for about 100 people at a time and to process up to 500 a year.

None of this matters to Britain. Johnson gave notice of a round-up of migrants who will be immediately deported, warning from today, our new Migration and Economic Development Partnership will mean that anyone entering the UK illegally as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1st may now be relocated to Rwanda.

Johnson pledged that another half a billion pounds will be spent in escalating the repression of men, woman and children fleeing homelands devastated by imperialist wars and proxy wars supported by the UK, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Sudan.

Speaking to troops and coast guard members at an airport near Dover, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said If you come here illegally across the Channel then you will be relocated from Dover, from this country, to Rwanda and the Rwandans will look after you. We hope that will be a strong deterrent to people who come across the Channel. (Source: screenshot from video clip--Boris Johnson/Twitter)

The Royal Navy will be supported with 50 million of new funding for new boats, aerial surveillance and military personnel in addition to the existing taskforce of patrol vessels, Wildcat helicopters, search and rescue aircraft, drones and remotely piloted aircraft.

People who do make it to the UK will be taken not to hotels at vast public expense, rather they will be housed in accommodation centres like those in Greece, with the first of these to open shortly. At the same time, we are expanding our immigration detention facilities, to assist with the removal of those with no right to remain in the UK.

Patel visited Greece last year to examine its anti-immigration infrastructure, declaring herself in awe of the repressive system in place, including a soon to be operational detention camp on the island of Samos.

No-one will be spared. The Times reported Thursday that it understood from a briefing the Rwanda policy would apply only to male migrants, but by the afternoon Sky News reported, Its been indicated that children and minors wont be included, with some earlier briefing that it would be only single men, but we are told thats not necessarily correct.

The Rwanda deal was announced now, despite being in place for weeks, in an attempt to shore up Johnsons support among his partys right-wing base. But this could end up helping Patel as a potential challenger, given that both Johnson and his Chancellor Rishi Sunak received fines from the Metropolitan Police this week for participating in illegal parties during the pandemic. She has announced the ultimate red meat policy for the frothing right-wing layers in the Tory ranks. Bill Wiggin MP said of his desired immigration policy, We want Ukrainians, we want Qataris, we dont want people in rubber boats.

Johnson appeals to these forces by declaring the initiative was made possible by Brexit freedoms he had secured. His government is prepared to fight any legal challenge by what he called a formidable army of politically-motivated lawyers.

The opposition Labour Party has no principled difference with the vicious persecution of migrants and refugees. Leader Sir Keir Starmer centred his opposition to the Rwanda deal on the criticism that it would be too expensive and is unworkable. Arch Blairite Chris Bryant tweeted, Rwanda plan will cost more than putting them up in the Ritz.
Popular protests at Galle Face Green in the centre of Colombo to press for the immediate resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his entire government have continued, day and night, since last Saturday.

Electric banner in front of the Presidential Secretariat at Galle Face Green (Facebook)

Cutting across the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim communal divides that the ruling class systematically cultivates, tens of thousands of people from across Sri Lanka have participated in the now nearly week-long protest.

On Sunday night, protesters started installing temporary tents so that they can stay nights, with supporters providing food, water and other essentials.

The government has adamantly refused to heed the popular outcry for it to step down. In an address to the nation on Monday evening, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, the Presidents elder brother, made a thinly veiled warning that the government will unleash brutal repression against the anti-government protests if they continue.

The government is being denounced for skyrocketing prices, shortages of fuel, medicine, and other essentials and hours of daily electricity blackouts. The Galle Face Green protest has largely been organised via social media under the hashtag #GoHomeGota2022. Following a demonstration last Saturday that drew more than 20,000, thousands of people have continued the protests, with large numbers flocking to join despite rainy weather.

Demonstrators occupying entrance to the Presidential Secretariat next to Galle Face Green on night of April 13, 2022 (WSWS media)

Members of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) have been intervening at the protest site daily. They are distributing copies of a SEP statement that outlines a program of action to mobilize the working class, and behind it the rural masses, to fight for its own socialist solution to the devastating social, economic, and political crisis.

The SEP/IYSSE campaigners have engaged in wide-ranging political discussions with workers, youths and professionals participating in the protests. Some of the protesters hail from Colombo and its suburbs, while others have travelled from faraway cities to voice their opposition to the government.

On Tuesday, the SEP/IYSSE supporters met a group of three youthsa software engineering student and two students from technical collegeswho reside in Horana about 50 kilometres from Colombo. Explaining the purpose of their participation in the anti-government protest, one of the technical students said, Corruption is rampant. The protests at city junctions (in cities and towns across the country) are less effective. Here the people are well disciplined, they have a goal, without making any trouble. And this protest is ongoing.

Joining the discussion, the engineering student said, We are making the maximum contribution possible for us. Commenting on the price rises and power cuts, he added, It has impacted on us, like all the other people. The power cuts mean we cannot do our school work as usual. We have to do group work in online classes, but when my friends do not have electricity I cannot work. Actually, we are unable to keep with our studies.

Commenting on the governments plans to impose another brutal round of austerity to secure an emergency International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, the engineering student said, The revenues and expenses will be calculated by the government according to their priorities. EPF (Employee Provident Fund, a benefits scheme) and ETF (Employee Trust Fund) and pensions will be curtailed. The government may stop expensive projects such as road-building projects. But all the debts will have to be paid by us. The rich will not be taxed, because this is the capitalist system.

Children taking part in the Galle Face Green protest on the night of April 13, 2022 (WSWS Media)

The SEP/IYSSE campaign met two young women, Nethmi and Dimitri, and their friend Ushan, who come from Piliyandala and Ratmalana, about 25 km from Colombo. They are all working, while going to school.

Explaining why he has joined the protests, Ushan said, We have no other option, than demanding the government go. We keep trying. I prefer that we had younger people in government, instead of the current corrupt politicians.  Because in our political system, from the small-time political operators to the top level minstersthey are all thieves.

Ushan then referenced the address the Prime Minister made to the nation on Monday, in which he defended the Sri Lankan states communal war on the Tamil minority and its massacre of 60,000 youth in the predominantly Sinhalese-speaking south in the late 1980s. He repeated the same thing: War, war and war, then the 1988-89 events, and that the Rajapakse family is not to blame for the terrible situation. In reality he was just warning, We can do what we want. We can open fire on you, or something like that.

After reading the paragraph in the SEP statement that points to the massive growth in social inequality, Ushan said: Correct, after 74 years (of independence from British colonial rule) this is what they have done.

Nethmi drew attention to the deepening poverty resulting from the food price increases and shortages and the ruling class failure to provide social support during several brief and improperly-prepared COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns: How can those without food live? she asked When the country was shut down, how was a daily labourer (without income) supposed to buy food? When you observe the condition in the slums, they are starving.

Wednesday the campaign team met Prasad Aluthwatte, a freelance artist. He said, The Rajapakse regime has largely degraded the living standards of the general masses in this country. We need to get rid of it soon. I think the executive presidency (which gives Rajapakse quasi-dictatorial powers) should be abolished under any government after this.

He added, I heard the speech of the new Governor of the Central Bank. He said that the oppressed masses will have to bear more austerity, but did not talk about ceasing the flow of profits to the capitalists.

Later he added, It has become clear to me as a result of our discussion that we, the artists, the students, the youth or any oppressed group can only be liberated by joining a mass movement under the leadership of the working class. It is the workers who produce the wealth under capitalism. The profits from their labour should stop going into the pockets of the capitalists. The wealth they create must be channelled to meet the real needs of the people.

I have not seen any other party presenting such a program. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) claim to be on the side of the people, but they are really on the side of the capitalists. JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake does not openly say whether he will implement IMF austerity or not if he comes to power. This is because the JVP definitely intends to do just that, impose IMF-dictated austerity.

Lakmal Perera in discussion with SEP supporter on April 12 (WSWS Media)

Lakmal Perera, a senior lecturer at the Open University in Nawala, an outer suburb of Colombo, said, I have no faith in the existing political parties. We need a socialist program. I don't believe these problems will be resolved within Sri Lanka alone. The war in Ukraine has great impact on us and the entire world. People have been dragged into a situation where they cannot live. It is clear that this is why people have come to struggle in this way. Social inequality has sharpened. As you say, an international program is needed to solve these problems.
The man suspected of having carried out the shooting on a subway in Brooklyn on Tuesday morning in which 29 people were injured, including 10 with gunshot wounds, but none killed, was apprehended by New York police without resistance in Manhattan early Wednesday afternoon.

The alleged attacker is 62-year-old Frank R. James. Initially identified as a person of interest, his identity was determined based on surveillance video in which he was seen at various locations in the vicinity of the attack and the recovery of a van he had rented in Philadelphia which was found some distance from the scene of the attack. Some reports indicate that James himself called the police to tell them where he was, others say he was identified by passersby based on widely circulated photos.

New York City Police, left, and law enforcement officials lead subway shooting suspect Frank R. James, 62, center, away from a police station, in New York, Wednesday, April 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

James is reportedly facing multiple charges, including a federal charge for a terroristic attack on mass transit.

Information so far reported indicates that James is a troubled individual, who had been arrested nine times between 1984 and 1998 on charges ranging from burglary, possession of burglar tools, and criminal sexual acts according to New York police, but no further information is currently available. Reports also indicate three arrests in New Jersey for trespass, larceny and disorderly conduct, in 1991, 1992 and 2007, respectively. Reports also indicate that he had made what are characterized as terroristic threats in New Jersey.

Individuals who knew him describe him as a loner. He has been estranged from his family for three years, according to his sister. She told the New York Post that he moved frequently and that she did not know how he made a living. In addition to New York, he has also lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Some neighbors described him as quiet and polite. Others report strange and hostile behavior.

In recent years, a series of social media posts and YouTube videos that have been uncovered seem to indicate a deteriorating mental state. He reportedly placed blame for his condition on his father and on New York Mayor Eric Adams. The videos include rants about homeless people in the subway, gun violence and accusing outreach workers of being homosexual predators. He also expressed rage over the war in Ukraine, predicting that it would lead to a race war to wipe out black people.

Despite the clear indication that James was a troubled individual who was acting erratically as a result of his illness, Tuesdays incident was immediately seized on to ramp up the right-wing trope that gun violence can only be controlled by a massive deployment of police and tightening of law enforcement aimed at affecting a substantial increase in incarceration.

Immediately following the attack, Mayor Adams, a Democrat and retired police captain, launched a media blitz to promote the law-and-order program on which he based his election campaign, announcing that he would double the number of New York Police Department (NYPD) officers in the subway. He attributed the increase in gun violence, which has occurred in many places across the country, to the proliferation of guns, as if the guns themselves are causing the violence. He stated on NY1, that the incident in Brooklyn really elevates the conversation regarding guns. This is terror, he said, someone attempted to terrorize our system.

Adams also referred to issues that have been part of the right-wing push to increase police and judicial repression against the working class that were recently enacted as part of the new state budget. These include increasing the imposition of cash bail, resulting in the lengthy pretrial incarceration of low-income individuals and reducing the rights of defendants to obtain the evidence against them. In a news conference shortly after the attack, Adams blamed a bottleneck in the courts that has persisted throughout the pandemic for slowing the prosecution of defendants and alleged that the system was too lenient on defendants. We witness what I call a revolving door criminal justice system, were treating people who have known to participate in criminal acts which are still on our streets...

The characterization of Tuesdays attack as an act of terrorism that must be addressed with increased police repression throughout the city was echoed in the press.

An opinion piece in the right-wing, Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post, titled Brooklyn subway terror is a tragic reminder of our leaders failures, stated, Tuesdays massacre was, in more ways than one, a perfect example of how far the city has slipped over the past two years. The writer went on to blame the attack and other violent incidents on the failures of their leaders to stem the bleeding. Notably, the piece describes the increase in violent crime as having occurred over the past two years without once identifying this as the span of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While conceding that the motives for the attack remain unclear, the Post writer speculates that it may have been a hate crime. He goes on to blame the increase in violent crime to the leniency of the states criminal-justice laws, especially the hotly contested bail reform, such offenders cycle on and off the street, with New Yorkers facing ever-escalating crimes while activist district attorneys turn a blind eye.

As the WSWS has previously reported, both politicians and the press have repeatedly alluded to the fact that violent crime has increased markedly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has occurred regardless of other factors, such as New York states 2019 bail reform. Nevertheless, despite the glaringly obvious relationship between the impact of the pandemic and the increase in social tensions resulting in some cases in an uptick in crime, this relationship is belittled or ignored entirely. Rather, the emphasis is placed on increasing repression as the only solution to this problem.

Based on what is known so far, it appears that James was not motivated based on any specific political ideology or overt agenda of any kind, contrary to what is being promoted in the media. Rather, his actions were the result of a severely troubled mental state.

In a rational society, his condition would have been identified and assistance provided. Instead, however, the diseased state of capitalist society, exacerbated by the uncontrolled pandemic, has created conditions of severe economic desperation and social dislocation. The marked increase in opioid overdose deaths, which are correctly characterized as deaths of despair and the sharp decline in life expectancy are symptoms of this intensifying crisis.

The effort by the capitalist elite and its political and media apologists to use Tuesdays shooting to justify increasing repression must be seen for what it isthe desperate act of a ruling class in mortal fear of losing control and willing to use any and all means to defend itself. There is no solution to this rapidly deteriorating situation within the bounds of capitalism.
Allegations of financial mismanagement among supposed leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM)as well as questions surrounding the true character of the organizationcontinue to unfold following a recent New York Magazine report revealing the group purchased a $6 million luxury home in southern California with money that had been donated to the BLMGNF (Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, the official title of the only actual national organization).

Patrisse Cullors speaking in Tottenham, north London as part of the Ferguson Solidarity Tour, January 2015.

According to the report, BLMGNF bought the 6,500 square-foot property, complete with seven bedrooms and bathrooms, a sound stage and music studio, a pool, and parking for almost 20 cars, in October 2020, to serve as a safehouse and headquarters for BLM leadership to create social media content. Last June, three BLM leadersPatrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza and Melina Abdullahrecorded a video outside the property while marking the first anniversary of George Floyds murder.

The report has further fueled questions about BLMs finances barely a year after it released the first look into its finances. The foundation said it collected over $90 million in 2020 alone and committed $21.7 million in funding to various BLM chapters and grassroots organizations. With its operating budget set at $8.4 million, more than $60 million was unaccounted for.

BLM released an official statement defending the purchase of the mansion while simultaneously performing damage control, promising to provide clarity and to increase transparency and accountability.

Despite past efforts, BLMGNF recognizes that there is more work to do to increase transparency and ensure transitions in leadership are clear, said a tweet from the official BLM account. We are redoubling our efforts to provide clarity about BLMGNFs work. In the coming weeks, we will unveil new initiatives to increase transparency and accountability, and to continue reshaping what radical philanthropy looks like for Black people.

BLM sought to justify the purchase of the California mansion, which they call the Creator House, by arguing that it was made to encourage Black creativity which is necessary and vital to Black survival.

Thats why Creators House was purchasedto provide a space for Black folks to share their gifts with the world and hone their craft as they see fit, under the conditions that work best for them and outside systems of oppression in creative industries.

Patrisse Cullors, co-founder and former executive director of BLMGNF, and Melina Abdullah, co-director of BLM Grassroots, spoke to reporters Monday in a closed roundtable discussion, according to NBC News, where the pair dismissed recent allegations as media attacks and misinformation. Cullors and Abdullah claimed that the purchase of the multimillion dollar property was out of concern for the leaders safety.

Almost immediately upon closing, the attacks on me, and BLM, which also means Melina and others, escalated, Cullors said. She also claimed that she stayed at the home for four nights while the FBI investigated a death threat against her. So we did use the campus as a haven, as a safe place. That derailed an announcement strategy. Conditions changed, and thats it.

Chelsea Fuller, who moderated the discussion, said BLMs current leadership declined to be part of the discussion and a spokesperson for the organization said that the Foundation intends to do its own media in the near future. Cullors officially stepped down as executive director a year ago and it is currently unclear who is in control of the organization and its tens of millions of dollars in donations.

The New York magazine expose included telling details about the groups efforts to cover up the actual property transaction. The $6 million house was bought in October 2020 by Dyane Pascall, the financial manager for an LLC operated by Cullors and her spouse, as well as for Trap Heals, a nonprofit run by Damon Turner, the father of Cullors only child.

The cash for the purchase came from $66.5 million that had just come in to BLMGNF from donor contributions. Pascall then quickly resold to a Delaware-based LLC, a maneuver that concealed the actual final owner of the property, who remains unidentified.

Last weeks revelations are just the most recent in a long line of allegations that expose the fraudulent nature of BLMGNF. Rather than being a genuine hub of expression for the mass opposition to police brutality, the group speaks for privileged sections of the middle class seeking to cash in on the promotion of racial politics to advance their own positions within the state and corporate America.

The Democratic Party and corporate media have incessantly promoted illusions in racial identity politics as part of an effort to promote racial divisions and obscure common class interests of all workers, including in the fight against police violence.

After the eruption of mass multi-racial protests against police violence triggered by George Floyds murder in May 2020, the Democratic Party and its pseudo-left allies worked to redirect popular opposition to police violence into racialist identity politics while promoting illusions that the police can be reformed.

In an article covering the numerous financial scandals of Black Lives Matter, the World Socialist Web Site explained the true character of the organization:

The facts that have emerged demonstrate that Black Lives Matter is largely a creation of the corporate media and the Democratic Party, not a genuine expression of insurgent popular opposition to the pervasive brutality and social inequality of American society. The revelations illustrate the venal and privileged social layers whose interests are expressed by the elevation of race, rather than class, as the essential dividing line in society.

The deadly force police regularly employ against the population is an inevitable result of a society riven with inequality and social contradictions. The victims of the police are of every race, ethnicity and genderpredominantly poor and working class. The fight against police brutality and racism can be won only through the abolition of the capitalist system and the struggle for socialism.
The following words will come as no surprise to anyone aware of the chronic bashing of China throughout the U.S.: The government has used its latest human rights report as another opportunity to advance its claim that China is a deeply flawed and dangerous nation because it maintains a dreadful human rights record.

The preface of the report, which was issued on April 12, states, "For nearly five decades, the United States has issued the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which strive to provide a factual and objective record on the status of human rights worldwide." China is one of five nations mentioned in the preface in which clear evidence is available to affirm that "human rights and democracy are under threat."

Readers soon learn that almost 200 countries across the globe were evaluated. Was the United States one of them? Of course, not.

Needless to say, the section about China, which totals 90 pages, identifies multiple examples that allow the U.S. to build a case that China is an awful place.

The Chinese government was quick to respond to that claim of a "factual and objective record." Foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on April 13 that the document was "full of political lies and ideological bias." Zhao added that the "hypocrisy and double standards" exhibited by the U.S. could not be ignored as it sought to make itself the "human rights judge."

That criticism  that the U.S. seeks to be the global "human rights judge"  is impossible to refute. Much like the U.S. is often guilty of wanting to be the world's policeman, it also leaves little doubt that it believes itself to be the home to the gold standard of human rights.

Perhaps that explains why the U.S. chose not to evaluate itself. That is unfortunate.

It would have been interesting to see how the American government described the legacy of racial animus that continues to exist in the U.S. Moreover, how would the U.S. government have explained the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes that drew domestic and international headlines during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic? What would such a report have stated about efforts in many states where authorities are making it more difficult for people, especially the poor and people of color, to vote? What would the report have mentioned when support for building walls and restricting immigration was reviewed? How would dubious tax laws that favor the wealthy over the needy have been defended? And, yes, what would such a report have stated about the pandemic, which has been responsible for the deaths of almost a million Americans, a number that dwarfs the death count in any other country?

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) took a look at the human rights situation in the United States. Calling attention to chronic problems, the report notes that "the United States continues to fail to fulfill its human rights commitments" while acknowledging the country's worst failings: "The U.S. continues to report the world's highest criminal incarceration rates, with nearly 2 million people held in state and federal jails and prisons on any given day and millions more on parole and probation. Despite some reductions in incarceration rates for Black people, they remain vastly overrepresented in jails and prisons."

Of course, when it comes to the United States, the legacy of wars  most recently in the Middle East and South Asia  that have crippled nations for decades must be factored into any human rights conversation. We know destroyed buildings can be rebuilt, but families that have been permanently torn apart by the loss of loved ones cannot. Do not forget that the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University has concluded that as many as 250,000 civilians died in Iraq and Afghanistan because of the U.S.-led invasions of both countries. The American record of "respecting" human rights elsewhere must be remembered.

No nation is perfect, and a friend or foe can easily identify shortcomings that exist inside any country. But one can't ignore the hypocrisy on display whenever the U.S. makes a case that other countries are guilty of human rights failings while at the same time either ignoring or attempting to sweep away its own terrible record.

(From CGTN)
After refusing the January 6 House Select Committees subpoena for months, Stephen Miller, former Senior Advisor to President Donald Trump, reversed course and testified Thursday. Miller was originally subpoenaed in November 2021 and up until recently had been resistant to the committees request, going so far as to sue the committee last month after they issued a subpoena for his phone records.

Stephen Miller [Credit: AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin]

As director of speechwriting, Miller was one of the most right-wing figures in the White House, identified especially with Trumps fascistic policies towards immigrants, including both the border wall and the separation of children and parents in detention camps. He was also among those urging maximum defiance of the results of the 2020 election, which Joe Biden won by a significant margin.

As of this writing, several sources are reporting that Miller did make a virtual appearance before the committee, but what was discussed has not been revealed.

In the select committees November 2021 letter requesting his appearance, Chairman Bennie Thompson (Democrat-Mississippi) wrote that Miller, by his own account participated in efforts to spread false information about alleged voter fraud in the November 2020 election, as well as efforts to encourage state legislatures to alter the outcome of the November 2020 election by appointing alternate slates of electors.

As Trumps head speechwriter, Miller lead the team that prepared Trumps speech at the Ellipse outside the White House on January 6, 2021, prior to the storming of the Capitol by Trump-aligned paramilitaries. In his call to violence, Trump urged his far-right supporters to fight like hell and implored them to march on the Capitol.

In addition to Miller, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy, Patrick Philbin, spoke with select committee investigators earlier this week. There is no question that Cipollone, who represented Trump during his first impeachment trial and throughout much of his presidency, is very familiar with Trumps multifaceted efforts to overthrow the election.

While Cipollone is a loyal Republican, he was opposed to Trumps overtly illegal and unconstitutional efforts to stay in power. Previous public reporting has established that Cipollone was present during a December 17, 2020 meeting at the White House during which fascist lawyer Sidney Powell, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne lobbied Trump to appoint Powell as a Special Counsel to investigate non-existent voter fraud.

In the same meeting, Flynn argued that Trump declare martial law and have the National Guard seize voting machines and re-run the election in key battleground states at gunpoint; Cipollone and Philbin argued against this plan.

On January 3, 2021, Cipollone and Philbin joined with Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and his deputy, Richard Donoghue, in threatening to quit if Trump fired Rosen and put deputy attorney general Jeffrey Clark in charge of the Department of Justice (DoJ). Clark made it known to Trump, that he, unlike Rosen, was willing to announce a wide-rangingand entirely boguselection fraud investigation into swing states Trump lost, giving Republican legislatures in those states the necessary pretext to reject Biden electors and appoint pro-Trump electors in their stead.

Cippolone was also opposed to Trump coup lawyer John Eastmans unconstitutional scheme, which called on Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally reject the Electoral College votes of states Trump lost during the congressional certification on January 6.

In addition to the former top White House lawyers and advisors, Trumps daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, have also testified before the committee in the last two weeks. One of two Republican members of the committee, Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, characterized Ivankas reported eight hours of testimony as helpful.

Ivanka, who at one point tweeted out her support for American patriots as the Capitol was under siege, was inside the White House throughout Trumps coup. Reporting from Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward and CBSs Robert Costa has claimed that Ivanka, on two separate occasions, perhaps once it became clear the coup had failed, tried to intervene and urge Trump to make a public statement urging his followers to cease their attack on Congress.

While Kushner, perhaps aware of the violence that was about to unfold, was not in Washington D.C. on January 6, he still reportedly spoke with the committee two weeks ago for over seven hours, providing valuable testimony, according to Virginia Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria.

The sudden willingness of so many of Trumps high-level advisers and even close family members to testify before the committeeafter months of foot-dragging and defiancemay indicate a turning point into the committees investigation. But the direction of that turn remains to be seen.

While members of the select committee have promised since its inception to hold public hearings in order to educate the public on Trumps wide-ranging plot to defy the election results and establish himself as a dictator, the committee has only held one public hearing so far, last July. Since that time members have in various points indicated hearings would be held, in the Spring or in March or April.

In a recent interview with the Washington Post, Rep. Jamie Raskin indicated public hearings may be held in May or June.

Despite months of investigations and ongoing testimony from Trumps accomplices, committee members have in recent weeks been downplaying the utility of sending a criminal referral summarizing their findings to the DoJsomething that, like their non-existent interim report and public hearings, was previously touted as a unique feature of the bipartisan committee.

After a New York Times report last week headlined Jan. 6 Panel Has Evidence for Criminal Referral of Trump, but Splits on Sending, Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-California) made an appearance on MSNBCs Deadline this week to call the article an error, saying the headline didnt match the story.

Lofgren said the committee had never met to discuss whether or not they were going to send a so-called referral to the Department of Justice, adding it was the not gist of the committee.

Without explaining why, Lofgren said the committee wouldnt be in a position to discuss the referral, until after the investigation was complete and we knew what it was we were sending to the department. Why the committee would be incapable of sending a criminal referral whenever they uncovered criminal activity she did not explain.

Downplaying the utility of a criminal referral, the California lawmaker added, just as a matter of fact a so-called referral has no legal impact.

Its basically sending a letter saying, you know, heres our opinion and heres some evidence. Later on in the interview, Lofgren further downplayed the possibility of a criminal referral emerging from the committee saying they would not even be in a position to discuss it, until the investigation was close to complete.

Despite the committee existing for over nine months, Lofgren added that members had yet to reach a decision on whether or not they would subpoena any of Trumps congressional co-conspirators, such as Republicans Mo Brooks (Alabama), Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs (Arizona), or Jim Jordan (Ohio).

Lofgren did not mention, nor did her host ask about, the possibility of the committee subpoenaing Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Text messages released last month between Ginni Thomas and former Trump aide Mark Meadows revealed that the longtime Republican operative was intimately involved with the coup plot from its inception up to and through January 6, 2021.
Benjamin Franklin is among the most important and fascinating figures of American history. Born the son of a Boston candlemaker in 1706, the runaway indentured servant and autodidact rose in Philadelphia as an artisan printer to become Americas foremost publisher, scientist, philosopher, inventor and humorist. His accomplishments in these and other fields made him world famous already by the 1750s. No less than Kant called Franklin the modern Prometheus.

Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky c. 1816, Benjamin West

Had Franklin stopped there he would be remembered today, alongside Jefferson, as the greatest of the Enlightenments American exponents. But Franklin was not done. Retiring from the day-to-day work of publishing, he entered the world of British imperial politics, spending long years in London as the envoy of the Pennsylvania assembly and challenging the aristocratic Penn familys proprietary control of the colony.

Franklin was still in London when the revolutionary crisis erupted over the Stamp Act. He had been a loyal subject of the King and Empire, but Franklin was made to answer for the disobedient colonists. In 1774, his public humiliation before the Privy Council in Whitehalls cockpit made him fathom that the differences with the mother country were irreparable. At first slow to disenthrall himself from monarchy, once Franklin made his break he moved more rapidly and more firmly than many others to the perspective of revolution. He risked much more than many in so doing: his fame, fortune and membership in Europes learned societies.

Instead Franklin returned to America in 1775, where the war was already underway, helping to steer Pennsylvania behind independenceand in the process breaking irrevocably with his son William, the royal governor of New Jersey. Together with Jefferson and Adams, Franklin served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson, aged 33, wrote the document, but Franklin, 70, made one crucial change. The younger man had written, We hold these truths to be sacred & undeniable Franklin, a notoriously irreligious deist, cut the reference to the sacred. He thought equality should be rooted in science and objective factthat it should be revealed as axiomatic. The resulting phrase is surely the most influential in the history of American letters: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal 

The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, John Trumbull, 1832

Franklin was by far the most worldly of the Founding Fathers and was therefore selected to represent the young republic in France, where he was feted as a celebrity in one event he was even embraced and kissed by Voltaire. Overcoming the House of Bourbons instinctive fear and loathing of revolution, Franklin gained the necessary French financial and military support for the colonists support Louis XVI would soon enough come to regret. Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1787, where he helped secure the ratification of the Constitution.

Franklin managed all of this with extraordinary humor. Jefferson later recalled one example of his legendary wit:

When Dr Franklin went to France, on his revolutionary mission, his eminence as a philosopher, his venerable appearance, and the cause on which he was sent, rendered him extremely popular.  He was therefore feasted and invited to all the court parties. At these he some times met the old Dutchess of Bourbon, who being a chess player of about his force, they very generally played together. Happening once to put her king into prise, the Doctor took it. Ah, says she, we do not take kings so. We do in America, said the Doctor.

A life of such length, richness and complexity does not lend itself to easy biographical summary. The task is made more difficult by the sediment of myth that has built over Franklin for 230 years. The Franklin legend, nearly as stultifying as that which once surrounded the names Washington and Lincoln, usually claimed that he was the first this or that: the first businessman, the first rags-to-riches story, the first great American. Mark Twain once observed that Franklins example had brought affliction to millions of boys since, forced by their fathers to strictly follow advice such as Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

Benjamin Franklin

More recently, like the rest of the Founding Fathers, Franklin has come under attack as a racist, a hypocrite and a beneficiary of slaverythough slavery was not a source of controversy until after the American Revolution, at which point Franklin came out publicly against it. The attack on the leading figures of the American Revolution, epitomized by the New York Times 1619 Project, is simply the inversion of the old narrative with demonology replacing hagiography. Both share the fatal weakness of anachronism. They evaluate the American Revolution from the standpoint of the moods and prejudices of the present.

Ken Burns Benjamin Franklin, which aired last week on PBS and is currently available for streaming, strains to account for the good old Franklin and the bad new Franklin, while still giving viewers a sense of his times and his enormous accomplishments. The results, unsurprisingly, are mixed.

The first of the two-part, two-hour episodes is by far the weaker. Presented in a straight, chronological manner, one has the sense of watching a long list unfurl. The listing is largely focused on the good Franklinthe up-from-the-ranks story, the wit, the inventor, the scientist, etc. To the extent this is interesting, it is because Franklins many feats, when presented together, are very nearly as astonishing to us as they were to his contemporaries.

On the other hand, the documentary gives us some facts about a different sort of Benjamin Franklin, one who can never live up to the standards of contemporary American identity and racialist politics. So, we learn that Franklin was for a long time indifferent to American Indians, that he owned a few slaves as domestic servants, that he did not publicly oppose slavery before the Revolution, that he once complained of the Swarthy complexion of Europeans who were not English, and that he all but abandoned his ailing wife for politics.

In Burns scale the good outweighs the bad. But his efforts to absolve Franklin lend a defensive air to the documentary. After hearing of Franklins racism, we are reminded of his courageous defense of the Susquehannock Indians, who were targeted in the blood revenge of Pennsylvania settlers in 1763. If an Indian injures me, does it follow that I may revenge that injury on all Indians? asked Franklin, whose outspokenness threatened his political career.

At the documentarys conclusion, in a vignette called Errata, Burns has Franklin making amends for his earlier indifference to slavery by accepting the presidency of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, the first antislavery society on the planet, and by authoring a brilliant anti-slavery petition to Congress. Burns does not ask whether or not the American Revolution might have had something to do with Franklins change. In any case, Burns finds no inner connection between any of the good or the bad. They are all just so many discrete aspects of Franklins life.

Nor is Franklin the scientist, inventor, and publisher connected to Franklin the revolutionary, who emerges in the second episode. Here something of the actual drama of the Revolution, as well as Franklins role in it, comes across. We get a sense that victory was not preordained, that at times things hung in the balance. We see Franklins crucially important role in Philadelphia in 1776 and again in 1787, and, in between, his masterwork in France gaining international support for the Revolution. In this second installment, Franklins personal lifethe tragic estrangement from his son and his larger-than-life personality in dealing with the Frenchintersects with the history.

Burns deploys all of his familiar documentary techniques in Benjamin Franklin. Honed in two dozen or so films to his credit, these methods have come to define the genre. The camera pans slowly across historical images and zooms in and out, as a narrator (Peter Coyote) speaks. Actors provide voice-overs. The rough-voiced Mandy Patinkin is Benjamin Franklin, and Josh Lucas gives voice to his son, William. Paul Giamatti reprises his role as the cantankerous (and Franklin-hating) John Adams, a role he delivered so effectively on screen in the HBO series John Adams of 2008. Liam Neeson appears briefly as Franklins Cockpit tormenter, House of Commons member Alexander Wedderburn (1733-1805).

William Franklin

Historians and Franklin biographers are interspersed to provide analysis and to help nudge the proceedings along. Among these are Gordon S. Wood, the author of an important biography of Franklin, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (2001) which places the man in his time, and Bernard Bailyn, the late Harvard historian of the colonial era and the American Revolution. There are probably a dozen other scholars interviewed, a complement of historians of various ages, colors and genders in the words of the Los Angeles Times. Most of the screen time is afforded to Walter Isaacson, the former president of CNN and author of a celebratory biography of Franklin. Many fine points are made, but the film does little to develop a narrative out of the expert commentary.

This problem is not new for Burns. His undeniable talent for visual storytelling has never been matched by depth of historical analysis. The airing of his epic, nine-part The Civil War in 1990 was a phenomenon. Attracting 15 million viewers, it captured the publics enduring fascination with that titanic struggle. But the series did not explain why the Civil War happened or why the course of the fighting went the way it did, transforming the war between the states into the Second American Revolution.

Similar problems emerged in Burns The Vietnam War (2017). While the horrific and essentially criminal character of the fighting comes across in images, the war itself is presented as the outcome of a series of mistaken policy decisions. Burns does not acknowledge that it was waged as part of the drive for an American Century, for which several presidents were prepared to destroy the village to save itthat is, to kill limitless numbers of Southeast Asians for geostrategic purposes.

Burns weakness of analysis reemerges with Benjamin Franklin. The viewer gains no sense of what forces could have produced such a genius, what drew him to the republican cause and, for that matter, what the American Revolution was. Of course, it may be protested that it is not even possible to make something approaching a coherent whole out of the many-sidedness of Franklinthe runaway indentured servant, the man on the rise, the publisher, the polymath and the revolutionist. But an understanding is possible.

Franklin lived in a time in which the best thought drew no sharp lines between science and philosophy. Scientists, or natural philosophers as they were then called, were fascinated by the hidden forces that dominated the natural world and that appeared to connect the universe: gravity, magnetism, the movement of the planets, air and wind currents and, of course, electricity.

The philosophy of the time was similarly fascinated by hidden forcesthose bonds that appeared to attract people to each other and that cohered them in commerce and under governments and rulers. In his attention to both science and society, Franklin was therefore no different than Bacon, Locke, Descartes, Spinoza and other Enlightenment philosophersor for that matter his friend Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), a sympathizer of the American and French revolutions who fled to Pennsylvania in 1793 a step or two ahead of Lord Pitts treason trials.

Joseph Priestley

Both the scientific and philosophical elements of Enlightenment thought shared a belief in the perfectibility of man, if only the darkness of superstition could be replaced by the light of reason. Franklins science was therefore at once abstract and appliedthere was no wall separating his calculations from his inventions, nor from their useful felicitousness for society. His studies in electricity, for example, led to his invention of the lightning rod, which at once saved lives and overturned the medieval conception that a vengeful God smote the buildings struck. The discovery angered the clerics of various persuasions, who followed evangelist Gilbert Tennent in calling lightning the awful artillery of heaven. To them, Franklin responded:

Surely the thunder of Heaven is no more supernatural than the rain, hail or sunshine of Heaven, against the inconvenience of which we guard by roofs and shades without scruple.

In Franklins case, the man was his age as few others have been. His long life straddled the Old World and the New, and the old monarchical age and the new bourgeois-democratic era. His rise from poverty and obscurity to the heights of science and politics demonstrates the enormous potential of the liberated human being, a basic tenet of Enlightenment thought. In this sense Franklin embodied, like no other Founding Father, the self-evident truth of human equality.
In the opening salvo of a renewed war on the Palestinians, Operation Break the Wave, Israeli security forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalems Old City early Friday.

They fired stun grenades, tear gas and live rounds at Palestinian worshippers marking the end of the second week of Ramadan. They beat and bound those captured, forcing them to lie face down in lines inside the mosque. Over a four-hour period, Israeli forces used baton rounds and tear gas to clear the compound, with police beating journalists and women.

According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, 153 Palestinians were hospitalised, while dozens of other injuries were treated at the scene. Nearly 400 people were arrested.

Israeli security forces take position during an attack on Palestinians demonstrators at the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, Friday, April 15, 2022 (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

The Israeli police claimed that dozens of masked men had set off fireworks in the compound before crowds hurled stones towards the Western Wall, injuring three soldiers. Omer Bar-Lev, Israeli public security minister, said the officers had acted 'bravely' in 'complex circumstances.'

Omar al-Kiswani, the director of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, flatly contradicted this lying narrative, telling AFP that an assault was made inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque and that More than 80 young people inside the holy mosque were displaced.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line, he added.

The mosque is the third holiest site in Islam, while the Western Wall, on the edge of the mosque compound, is one of Judaisms holiest sites.

Far-right religious zealots had threatened to sacrifice a goat and perform Passover prayers in al-Aqsa. With Jewish prayers in the mosque forbidden under an agreement with Jordan, which acts as the custodian of the mosque, Israeli authorities said they would stop any sacrifices being made. But since the security forces regularly turn a blind eye to Jews praying in the compound, the Palestinians stayed in the mosque over night to prevent any attempts.

Israels provocative attacks on worshippers and its storming of the al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan last year was one of the factors, along with brutal attacks on protests in East Jerusalem over the threatened eviction of six Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, that were the precursor to an 11-day murderous assault on Gaza.

The latest violence at the mosque comes at the start of the Jewish Passover and follows three weeks of increasing tensions in Israel and the West Bank that have seen 14 Israelis and 25 Palestinians killed in reprisal raids, including those suspected of targeting the Israelis, an unarmed woman and a lawyer, since March 22.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) has increased its forces in the West Bank and on Israels border with Gaza, while Prime Minister Naftali Bennett urged all Israelis licenced to do so to carry their weapons. Requests for arms purchases by Israeli citizens have risen by 350 percent since the same time last year, according to the Walla news website, with more than a thousand people submitting applications to purchase a gun in March.

Bennett announced he was considering a larger framework to involve civilian volunteers who want to help and be of assistance. This is little short of an open invitation to Israels far right settler groups to form militias. Gangs of armed settlers have long acted as vigilantes, attacking Palestinian farms, their property and homes on the West bank and even threatening their lives with chants of Death to the Arabs, egged on by Israeli politicians and under the protection of the IDF. Having long called for ethnic cleansing under the guise of population transfers, last year they incited riots in Israels mixed population towns to terrorise and drive out Palestinian citizens and judaicise the towns.

Bennetts call for civilian volunteers follows the formation of the Barel Rangers militia in the Negev, an armed Jewish vigilante group launched last month. Its founder is Almog Cohen, a former Israeli police officer and regional organiser of the far right Kahanist party, Otzma Yehudit.

The Negev is home to 90,000 of Israels 300,000 Bedouin citizens who live in at least 35 unrecognised villages that lack basic infrastructure and services. Classified as trespassers, between 2013 and 2019 more than 10,000 Bedouin homes in the Negev were demolished. Earlier this year, the announcement of a forestation plana thinly disguised cover for a land grab near Beer Shevaled to violent clashes with the security forces and a police crackdown, while vigilante attacks on the villagers have sown panic and fear.

According to the daily Haaretz, the militias website says that the group, made up of volunteers, will undergo training in fighting terror and show its presence and maintain security. They would not join the regular civil guard, but instead would act as an independent force with each volunteer having the authority, even when not accompanied by a policeman. Cohen wrote in a Facebook post, If there is a life-threatening situation its simple. Kill the source of danger. Its simple and easy.

While the police have supposedly withdrawn their support for the militia, they have declined to state whether they will prevent the groups operation.

Cohens aim is nothing short of the completion of the Nakba, or catastrophe, that struck the Palestinians between 1947 and 1949 when 750,000 Palestiniansabout half of mandate Palestine's Arab populationfled or were expelled from their homes, after the United Nations voted to partition Palestine and establish a Jewish State alongside a Palestine one. The Nakba saw entire Palestinian villages massacred, with Zionist gangs killing unarmed civilians.

Two weeks ago, Uzi Dayan, a former general and Knesset member, warned in a Channel 14 TV interview, The thing we need to tell the Arab community, even those who didn't participate in the attacks [on Israeli citizens], is to be careful. Israels 1.8 million Palestinian citizens make up 20 percent of the country's population. He added, If we reach a civil war situation, things will end in one word and a situation you know, which is Nakba. This is what will happen in the end.

In the past weeks, Israeli security forces have carried out repeated raids on the West Bank city of Jenin and the surrounding towns and villages. These areas have become the focal point of opposition to both the Israeli occupation and the corrupt government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that serves as the enforcer of Israels illegal occupation.

Israels attacks on the Palestinians take place as Bennetts fragile coalition government suffered the defection of Idit Silman, who served as chairperson of Bennetts Yamina Party, to Benjamin Netanyahus Likud Party. Her surprise move leaves Bennett with only 60 seats in the 120-seat Knesset. It came after Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz ordered hospitals to comply with a supreme court ruling overturning years of prohibition and allowing bread products into their facilities during the Passover holiday.

Mansour Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Raam party in the Knesset, also a member of Bennetts coalition, said the violent raid on the mosque could force his party to leave the coalition. He said, The continued damage to al-Aqsa Mosque is a red line for us, also regarding the stability of the coalition, adding, There are no political considerations when it comes to al-Aqsa.

Syrias state news agency Sana has reported that Israel had carried out air strikes on government positions near the Syrian capital of Damascus Thursday night. Syrian air defences had shot down some of the missiles fired and the strikes that hit the countryside caused only physical damage. Since the US-backed, proxy war for regime change in Syria began in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against targets inside the country, including government positions, Iranian facilities and those of its allies, fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah.
In the first week of the Australian federal election campaign, Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese has sought to capitalise on widespread anger over the dismal state of the public healthcare system.

Under conditions in which Labor is running a small target campaign, the health sector is one of the few areas in which Albanese has made any concrete policy announcements.

ALP leader Anthony Albanese addresses National Press Club in January this year [Source: ABC]

Even on their face value, Labors promises would do nothing to resolve a breakdown of the public health system that has taken on catastrophic proportions. And the threadbare pledges that Albanese has made on health are shot through with disclaimers and limits in the fine printthat is, to the extent that they are not worth the paper they are written on.

Speaking to a group of health workers, assembled by the corporatised, pro-Labor trade unions in the sector, Albanese declared on Wednesday: The tragic reality is that after two relentless years, nurses are leaving the profession. When we dont support our nurses, it has a ripple effect that is felt by every Australian. He added: If nothing else, the pandemic has given us some tough but vital lessons. And we must learn from every single one of them.

The comments point to the hypocrisy at the heart of Labors phony posturing. Lessons must undoubtedly be learnt from the pandemic, but they are not the ones contained in Albaneses soundbites.

Chief among those lessons is that Labor, the Liberal-National Coalition and the entire capitalist establishment have demonstrated during the pandemic that they are willing to sacrifice the health and the very lives of working people in the interests of corporate profit. Decades of cuts by Labor and Coalition governments, state and federal, have brought the public healthcare system to its greatest ever crisis, accelerated, but not caused by COVID.

Labor has backed and enforced the let it rip drive, which has resulted in an unprecedented coronavirus surge over the past four months. Albanese explicitly endorsed the unscientific reopening plan drawn up by the bipartisan national cabinet in JulyAugust last year. It advocated for COVID, a deadly illness that has claimed up to 20 million lives around the world, to be treated like the flu.

Albanese supported the implementation of this program, as the Delta variant continued to circulate and Omicron emerged last December. The Victorian state Labor government of Premier Daniel Andrews was at the forefront, lifting virtually all restrictions in tandem with the extreme right-wing Liberal government in New South Wales (NSW). As a result, at least five million people have been infected, more than four thousand have died this year alone, and there is a new surge of the even more infectious BA.2 Omicron subvariant.

All of this has greatly exacerbated the healthcare crisis and the pressure that has left many nurses burnt out, in Albaneses words. But while issuing meaningless statements of concern, Albanese is not proposing any change of course. Instead, his campaign website, to the extent that it refers to the pandemic, does so in the past tense.

Like Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Albanese is insisting that now is the time for an economic recovery, meaning no more pandemic safety measures, alongside stepped-up pro-business restructuring and social spending cuts to balance the budget. This will guarantee wave after wave of infection, millions of people suffering with Long COVID, continuous illness and death and no end to the pressure on nurses and other health workers.

With this as the unstated premise of all his health policies, what does Albanese propose to address the consequences of the let it rip program that he supports? The answer is very little.

In his headline announcement this week, Albanese declared that Labor would fund the creation of 50 GP clinics and community health centres, which would supposedly ease the burden on public hospitals. The clinics, however, are to be trialled, placing a question mark over whether they all will be established and operate into the future.

Albanese did not allocate a cent to public healthcare in his budget reply at the beginning of the month, meaning the clinic announcement is his first spending pledge for the sector of the campaign. It amounts to just $135 million, compared with the hundreds of billions in public funds handed to the corporations during the pandemic and the more than $600 billion in funding to the military over the decade, which is supported by both of the major parties.

The clinic plan was skewered by Australian Medical Association vice president Dr Chris Moy. He told the media that it was so far away from coherent policy in terms of really reforming health. Moy said the proposal tinkers around the edges, and compared it to an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff strategy. Neither party has really put their money where their mouth is, he said.

As Moy and other experts have noted, Labors plan will do nothing to address the key issues: there are not enough public hospitals and those that do exist have been cut to the bone. Australia went into the pandemic with one of the lowest hospital bed per capita ratios of an advanced OECD country.

A Medical Journal of Australia study, published last October found that two years into the pandemic, Australia actually had 200 fewer intensive care unit (ICU) beds than when the COVID crisis began. Victoria, with a population of 6.6 million had 476 staffed ICU beds, while New South Wales (NSW), with 8 million people, had 884.

The unbearable situation in the hospitals, with nurses and doctors forced to work double shifts, overtime and to care for a dangerously high number of patients, has led to an exodus from the sector. Some 20,000 nurses left last year, representing 5 percent of the workforce. The crisis is replicated in every area of the public system, with insufficient numbers of ambulances in most states, not enough paramedics and general practitioners overwhelmed.

Labor and the Coalition are not proposing a single measure that will address this dire situation, which is of their making. Albanese himself was a senior member of the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments, which pioneered national efficient prices, by which public hospitals would be funded only for current levels of activity on the basis of efficiencythat is, least cost.

Coming on top of decades of stagnant or declining funding, it gives hospitals no capacity to anticipate or deal with increasingly complex patient needs or even population growth. Like other measures by those Labor governments, its aim was to open up a key area of social need to the full forces of the market.

Albaneses other announcements have been desultory, with the largest being $31 million for regional telephone health services.

His policies on aged care, introduced in the budget reply, were no different. In an industry that has become a killing field during the pandemic, he declared Labor would mandate a registered nurse on premises at all facilities, 24/7. But Labor has since admitted there are not enough nurses and the policy would likely need to be paused.

Albanese has postured as a champion of lowly-paid nurses in the sector. But his only concrete policy, purportedly addressing their dire wages, was to support the matter being heard by the Fair Work Commission, the pro-business tribunal that has cut pay rates since it was created by the last Labor government.

Strikes by nurses and other health workers over recent months show the way forward. But the unions, aligned with Labor, are doing everything to isolate them, as they try and wear workers down to accept further sell-out enterprise agreements.

The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is the only party standing in the elections demanding that billions of dollars be allocated to establish a fully funded, high-quality public healthcare system, with decent wages and conditions for all workers in the sector.

The SEP completely opposes the let it rip COVID policies, openly or tacitly embraced by all of the parliamentary parties and advocates the scientifically grounded measures that can eliminate the virus and end the pandemic. This includes universal provision of N95 masks, free and widespread PCR testing, air filtration measures, and where necessary, the closure of schools and non-essential businesses with full compensation for all affected workers and small-business people.

But that perspective requires a political fight, against Labor, the unions and the entire political establishment. It requires new organisations of working-class struggle, including independent rank-and-file committees. And it raises the need for a socialist perspective that insists the social needs of the population, including to health, take priority over the profit interests of the corporate elite.

Authorised by Cheryl Crisp for the Socialist Equality Party, Suite 906, 185 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000.
Hundreds of people marched on the headquarters of the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD) Thursday evening to protest the execution-style murder of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old Congolese refugee, by a Grand Rapids cop. It was the third consecutive day of protest in the city, the largest in western Michigan.

Patrick Lyoya (family photo)

Popular anger and outrage were intensified nationwide by the release by the GRPD of video footage related to the April 4 killing of Lyoya, who was unarmed. Of the four sources of videothe officers body camera, a police car dashcam, a home surveillance system and the smartphone of the passenger in Lyoyas carthe smartphone video shows the moment that the young man was fatally shot by the policeman. Lyoya was lying face down on the ground with the cop kneeling on his back.

In the hours before the video was released, the GRPD headquarters in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan was fortified with barricades.

The GRPD has refused to release the name of the police officer pending an investigation by the Michigan State Police, which is routinely called in to probe officer-involved shootings in the state. The MSP will make a recommendation to the local prosecutoror an outside prosecutor if one is sought by the cityon whether the shooting is justified or unjustified, and whether the police action warrants prosecution.

Lyoya was killed by the police officer after he was pulled over for a license plate violation at approximately 8:00 a.m. on April 4. In the dashcam and bodycam footage, the audio of the traffic stop is redacted.

The footage shows the officer talking to Lyoya, who gets out of his car and appears confused when he is asked for his drivers license. When the young man asks the officer, For what?, the policemen mockingly asks, Do you speak English? When Lyoya closes the car door and turns to start walking away, the officer says, No, no, no, stop, stop, and puts his hands on the drivers shoulder and back.

Lyoya then backs away and starts running and the officer tackles him. The body camera recorded the physical confrontation during which the officer pulled out his taser, and Lyoya grabbed it and pulled it down and away from himself. The officer says, Let go of the taser, and then the body camera stopped filming at 8:14. According to GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom, this requires that a button be pressed for three seconds, but he claimed this may have happened by accident during the struggle.

The body camera resumed filming again at 8:22. The footage shows several officers taking turns performing chest compressions, though Lyoya himself is not visible. The audio from the first twenty-eight seconds of this video is also redacted.

The footage captured by the passenger in Lyoyas car shows most of the physical altercation between the officer and Lyoya and moment the officer let go of his taser and pulled out his handgun, and yelled, Drop the taser! He then shoved Lyoya hard into the dirt, pressed his gun firmly on the back of his head, and pulled the trigger. The officer got off Lyoya and walked away, saying into his radio, I was just involved in a shooting.

When more officers arrived, they first arrested Lyoyas passenger, who has not been identified. This was a drawn-out process in which they treated him as a potential threat and had him put his hands up and slowly back up toward them. It remains unclear if the passenger has been charged with a crime.

The videos then show the officers slowly approaching the car with their guns drawn, and they spent around forty seconds staring into the vehicle. An officer then says into his radio, The car is clear, well be moving up to, uh render aid. However, the officers hurry off in the opposite direction, and it is a full minute before they report that they are performing CPR.

Lyoyas family appeared at a press conference to voice their demands for prosecution of the policeman who killed their eldest son. His mother Dorcas appealed, through an interpreter, I need justice for my son. She added, I thought my son would bury me. What is astonishing is I bury my son.

Benjamin Crump, the well-known civil rights lawyer who now represents the family, said the videos were proof the killing was itself a crime. You see a police officer escalate a minor traffic stop into a deadly execution, he said.

The press conference was also attended by Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor, the young medical technician murdered by Louisville police in 2020 during a no-knock raid on her apartment.

After the press conference, Robert Womack, a Kent County commissioner who worked with the Lyoya family after the shooting, told reporters, the knee does go on the back, the gun goes to the back of the head, he pulls the trigger. And I believe that America is going to say, Theres a lot of other things that could have happened.

Crump told the press, It should be noted that Patrick never used violence against this officer, even though the officer used violence against him in several instances for what was a misdemeanor traffic stop. He added, The video clearly shows that this was an unnecessary, excessive, and fatal use of force against an unarmed black man who was confused by the encounter and terrified for his life.

The videos were released after a press conference given by Chief Winstrom, during which he was asked by reporters if he would release the name of the officer who killed Lyoya. He responded, Im going to treat the officer like I would anybody else, we dont name suspects. If the officer is charged with a crime, we will name him at that time, but the short answer is, no, Im not going to be naming the officer.

When asked to comment on whether the shooting was in compliance with GRPD use-of-force policy, Winstrom told reporters that he would not say anything until the Michigan State Police have finished their investigation. He went on to explain why the footage was being released, saying, Just to be clear, again, the reason that were having this today isthis is transparency about the use-of-force incident. I want to be as transparent as possible.

The killing of Lyoya came three days after another incident of police violence. Video of an April 1 GRPD traffic stop went viral, which showed a man driving to a vacant lot and going into his house. The police drew their guns on the man and his pregnant wife when they emerged from their home to talk to the officers.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued a statement of condolence to the Lyoya family while promising a full investigation. Her main concern was to tamp down any protests over yet another police killing in broad daylight. Patricks father asked me to convey his hope that any demonstrations in his sons honor remain peaceful, and as Governor I share this view, she said.

The Republican candidates opposing Whitmer in the November election blasted her pose of sympathy for the family as anti-police. The current frontrunner, former Detroit police chief James Craig, said, When an officer is faced with an imminent threat to his life or another person, deadly force may be the only option.

Republican Garrett Soldano essentially blamed the victim for running away and then struggling over the taser. If you do not resist, it is very, very, very rare that you are going to get shot by a police officer, if you do exactly what they tell you to do, he claimed.

The most unhinged statement came from former right-wing media pundit Tudor Dixon, who was introduced by Trump at his recent Michigan rally, although he did not explicitly endorse her campaign. She denounced Whitmer and the Democrats, saying they have predictably taken the side of the criminal Far more shamefully, though, even my Republican opponents are cowering in fear, issuing mealy-mouthed lets wait and see statements and hoping this all blows over.

If you want to commit crimes and jeopardize the lives of our men and women in blue, you can head on down to Chicago or wherever doesnt care if you hurt or kill people, Dixon continued. We will not let this officeror any officerbe sandbagged for reasonably protecting themselves by weak politicians who are afraid to say and do what is right.

This statement underscores the continued shift to the right by the Republican Party, and its open defense of fascistic violence directed against the working class.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern answers a question during a press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand. (Robert Kitchin/Pool Photo via AP)

On April 11, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a significant contribution to the Ukrainian military. An air force C-130 Hercules with 50 Defence Force personnel has been deployed to Europe, along with eight more logistics personnel in Germany. Nine intelligence personnel are already in Europe as part of the war effort. These forces are being integrated into NATOs war machine, which is flooding Ukraine with high-powered weapons, aimed at inflicting a decisive military defeat on Russia.

For the first time, New Zealands Labour Party-led government is also providing funding for lethal aid. According to a government statement, $7.5m will be used to contribute to weapons and ammunition procurement by the United Kingdom. A further $4.1 million will support commercial satellite access for the Ukrainian Defence Intelligence.

These amounts are in addition to $11 million that New Zealand has already contributed to non-lethal aid. NZ has also joined sweeping international sanctions aimed at crippling the Russian economy.

Air Marshal Kevin Short, NZs Chief of Defence Force, said the new deployment was the largest to Europe since about 250 personnel were sent to Bosnia from 19921996, following the bloody war that broke up Yugoslavia.

In a press conference, Ardern said New Zealand troops would not enter Ukraine, but would provide logistical support and people power to help distribute the enormous quantities of military support that countries are contributing to Ukraines military. She framed the intervention as defensive, saying it was part of a global effort to support Ukraine against Russias invasion [a] violent breach of international law.

In reality, the European and US imperialist powers deliberately provoked the Russian invasion. They supported the coup in Kiev in 2014 that overthrew the elected, pro-Russian government and triggered a civil war. Since then, the same powers have flooded Ukraine with weapons, many of which have gone into the hands of neo-fascist militias that are playing a major role in the fighting against Russian forces.

The US-NATO powers are now using the war as a pretext for escalating their military build-up against both Russia and China. The US ruling elite is seeking to reverse its long-term economic crisis, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, through military means. It views Russia and China as the major obstacles to US hegemony over Eurasia and the world.

The European powers, and other imperialist allies such as Australia and New Zealand, are supporting the US war effort to secure their seats at the table for the new redivision of the world. In the Pacific region, NZ and Australia are seeking US support to push back against China, which is seen as a threat to their neo-colonial dominance.

Without any democratic process, or even the fig-leaf of a debate in parliament, the Ardern government has taken New Zealand into a war, which threatens to escalate into a direct conflict between nuclear-armed powers.

In an interview with Newshub on April 12, NZ Defence Force Commander of Joint Forces Rear Admiral James Gilmour was asked: Is New Zealand technically at war? He replied that this was for the government to say, but then basically confirmed that it is the case, saying: I think its reasonably clear that our status as a neutral country has shifted.

Ardern emphasised that the war was continually changing, and that NZs deployment could be boosted again: We will continue to answer the calls of Ukraine, with regular reviews of how we can keep making the greatest difference from here in Aotearoa New Zealand. On April 13, Defence Minister Peeni Henare told Newshub that New Zealand would be ready to respond if called upon to play a more active role, and he did not rule out entering Ukraine.

Having participated in the criminal US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq over the last two decades, New Zealand is now fully integrated into US-led preparations for great power conflict. In 2016, the then-National Party government announced $20 billion worth of military spending over the next 15 years, to improve New Zealands interoperability with the US and other allies. In 2018, the Labour Party-Greens-NZ First coalition government issued a major defence strategy document that copied the Pentagon in identifying Russia and China as the major threats to the global order.

The political establishment and corporate media, joined by pseudo-left groups like the ISO, are involved in a full-blown propaganda campaign in support of the war. As in the US and other countries, the demonisation of Russia serves to divert attention from soaring social inequality at home, and the Ardern governments decision to allow COVID-19 to spread. The virus is killing more than 10 people per day in NZ, but this has been significantly downgraded as a news story, in favour of blanket coverage of Ukraine.

On April 12, the opposition National Party defence spokesman Gerry Brownlee expressed bipartisan support for the latest deployment of troops, telling Newshub it was a good step. He added that the government should send Javelin missiles to Ukraine and expel the Russian ambassador Georgii Zuev, who he accused of spreading misinformation about the Russian aggression in Ukraine.

Newshubs interviewer Ryan Bridge blamed Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook for allowing the Russian Embassy in Wellington to post material about the war in Ukraineessentially demanding that its posts be censored.

Another National Party MP, Simon OConnor, has proposed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky be invited to address New Zealands parliament. Zelenskys speeches to parliaments in Australia, the UK, Germany, the US and Japan, among other countries, have been used to glorify the right-wing, pro-NATO Ukrainian government and justify further military support.

Green Party defence spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman told Radio NZ the government should fund humanitarian relief instead of weapons. She made clear that this didnt signal any opposition to the NATO war effort. Rather, such aid was where New Zealand is best-placed to get engaged in this war, whereas providing weapons was contributing to something that we understand less of.

On Twitter, Ghahraman joined the National Party in calling for the Russian ambassador to be expelled because he refused to appear before a parliamentary committee to face questions about the war in Ukraine. She declared that his continued presence in NZ will only validate a war criminals regime.

The Green Party is an integral part of the Labour-led coalition government, with four ministerial positions. It fully supports the decision to take New Zealand into the war in Ukraine, and is playing its role in stoking anti-Russia hysteria. Its suggestion that New Zealand provide humanitarian rather direct military aid in no way changes its backing for the predatory US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine that can rapidly escalate into a direct clash between nuclear-armed powers.
Five teenagers, ages 14 to 17, died when their home was engulfed in flames in an early Monday morning fire in Genesee Township, Pennsylvania, on the north-central border with New York.

Killed in the fire were Raymond Erway, 17; Tristan Erway, 16; Evan Erway, 14; Krysta Kane, 16; and Mikalah Roulo, 16.

Raymond Erway, Tristan Erway, Evan Erway, Krysta Kane and Mikalah Roulo

The Erway boys parents, Charlie and Michele Erway, were severely injured in the blaze. Michele suffered from smoke inhalation and injuries suffered from jumping from the home.

She was airlifted to the burn unit at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester. Charles, who suffered first and second degree burns over much of his body, was taken by ambulance to the hospital more than 100 miles away. The two are still hospitalized and recovering slowly.

The fire broke out in the basement between 2:30 a.m. and 3 a.m. and quickly engulfed the entire home.

Wayne Erway, Charlies father who lived next door, said he was awoken by a loud boom. (Charlie) usually goes to work toward the morning, and I thought at first he had started his car. But when I looked out here, it wasnt car lights I was looking at. The house was pretty well engulfed, he told the Olean Times Herald.

Firefighters have not yet determined the cause of the fire and say they may never be certain as the entire wood-frame house burnt down in the fire. They believe that it began in the basement from the wood-burning furnace or within the chimney. They have stated that the fire was not deliberately started.

The family has received an outpouring of support from the community. People in the community describe the children as very loving and caring and very active in community activities, particularly taking part in the 4-H youth organization.

A GoFundMe page which was set up to raise $40,000 for Charles and Michele has already hit the goal and is approaching $50,000 in donations. One person wrote: Your family always had a delightful vegetable stand. Wishing you the strength to face the days ahead and warm memories to hold in your heart forever.

A student who donated $200 wrote: Sending love and prayers to everyone impacted by this tragedy. So many hearts are broken. Automotive isnt going to be the same without you Raymond. May everyone be surrounded in love, comfort, and care to get through.

Temperatures had fallen below freezing in the days before the fire. It is not clear if the home had a gas or fuel heating system or if a wood burner was the main source of heat. Many homes in rural areas use wood-burning furnaces as either their main source of heat or to supplement a gas or fuel heating system. The high cost of home heating fuel, which has gone up over 40 percent over the past year, is driving more people to turn to wood burners.

The US Fire Administration reports that there have been 873 people killed in home fires so far this year. Pennsylvania has seen the greatest share of those, with 68 people having been killed in fires followed by New York and Texas with 62 each. In addition, 25 firefighters have been killed while fighting fires. Last year 2,265 died in home fires.

There are no requirements for local authorities to report fire deaths. The US Fire Administration, a part of FEMA, collects information from reports in the media, meaning the data is not complete.

Two very tragic fires took place earlier in the first weeks of the year, in Philadelphia and New York. On January 5, a fire ripped through a city-owned row house in Philadelphia, killing 12 people, including eight children. Just a few days later, on January 9, an apartment fire filled the Twin Parks North West building in the Bronx borough of New York City with smoke, suffocating 17 residents to death, including nine children.

Most fires happen in the cooler months when people are using heating systems. Often the fires are the result of space heaters being used to save money or because utilities have been shut off. The vast majority of those killed in home fires are from working class or low income households in which people face overcrowding and lack some of the basic building and safety standards.
A recording of this perspective by the author is available here.

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden declared that Russia was engaged in genocide in Ukraine. The allegation tossed off by Biden is a lie, but it is more than this. It is a political provocation consciously aimed at whipping up a public hysteria to legitimize a massive escalation of the war, including the full-scale, open participation by the United States.

Genocide is a word stamped with profound historical content. There is no graver charge that can be leveled.

Demolished vehicles line Highway 80 the Highway of Death were destroyed as Iraqi forces retreated from Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm. April 8 1991

Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jew and lawyer, coined the word genocidea coupling of the Greek genos (race or people) with the Latin cide (killing)in 1944 in his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe. Both the word itself and its subsequent legal codification by the United Nations were inextricably bound up with the Holocaust. What the Allied forces uncovered at the end of World War II was evidence of the worst crime in human history: extermination camps, mass graves, gas chambers, the human ovens and the mounds of spectacles and human hair and extracted gold teeth. Lemkins neologism strained to contain this enormity: the carefully planned extermination by the Nazis of European Jewry, 6 million killed with industrial efficiency.

This experience called for a precision of formulation that would give legal force and ethical specificity to the injunction never again. The United Nations in 1948, in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, codified an international legal definition of genocide as specific crimes committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such.

The crimes of the Holocaust were seared in the consciousness of the world. Genocide was the premeditated and systematic extermination of a population because of its race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion. The monstrous crimes of imperialism and war were weighed in popular consciousness by this measure, and those that began to approximate its barbarisms were deemed genocidal. History was re-examined in this light, and it was found that Hitlers crimes were anticipated in the crimes of empire.

The westward expansion of American capitalism was fueled by railroad coal and genocidal acts. The indigenous populations of America were impediments to this progress, and cavalry and settlers systematically exterminated them. The Indian Removal Act of 1830, the Trail of Tears, Sand Creek Massacre, the forcible removal of childrenthe Sioux and Cheyenne, Comanche and Yuki were slaughtered. This is how the West was won.

The emergence of American imperialism with the conquest of the Philippines at the turn of the century, seizing a formal colony in Asia, was conducted on a scale and with a rapacity that was genocidal. Over 200,000 Filipinos were killed. They were tortured, their villages incinerated, and populations were forced into concentration camps. General Jacob Smith embodied the brutality of the conquest when he told his soldiers, I wish you to kill and burn, the more you kill and burn the better it will please me. Mass murder was a means to colonial conquest.

Each of the major colonial powers held grip on their possessions by genocidal force when they deemed it necessary. The Belgians secured rubber from the Congo with forced labor, mutilations, torture and mass murder. The British retained India by dint of repeated massacres. The French subdued Algeria with genocidal violence.

The dropping of atomic bombs by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were genocidal acts. The bombings killed nearly a quarter million people, the overwhelming majority of them civilians. It is undeniable that race was a critical factor. American citizens of Japanese ancestry were imprisoned in internment camps in the United States. The Japs were different, it was frequently argued, and they would not surrender unless you killed every last one of them. Hundreds of thousandsdoctors, high school students, grandmotherswere incinerated in the nuclear blasts; tens of thousands more died agonizing deaths from radiation poisoning.

The American ruling class sustained its Cold War hegemony by aiding and overseeing bloodshed around the world, often of genocidal dimensions. The Indonesian dictator Suharto rose to power in 1965 through the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of members of the Indonesian Communist Party. The United States coordinated this mass murder, keeping track of its progress and providing radio communication to the military and paramilitary units carrying it out. Communists and alleged communists were hacked to death with machetes and their mutilated corpses clogged the rivers of Sumatra, Java, and Bali.

When the UN Convention on Genocide was completed in 1948, the United States would not sign and did not do so for another forty years. There was a nervous awareness that charges might be raised against the United States for its wars in Korea and Vietnam, for the carpet bombing of Laos and Cambodia, and the use of Agent Orange and napalm. In 1988, when Washington finally signed the convention against genocide, it was with the stipulation that the United States was granted immunity from prosecution for genocide unless the US national government authorized it.

The last thirty years have witnessed the uninterrupted crimes of US empire in the Middle East and Central Asia. Hospitals and villages were deliberately bombed. Cities were reduced to rubble. Economic sanctions starved hundreds of thousands of children to death, and drone strikes killed them at play. Once proud civilizations are haunted ruins, picked bare by the dogs of war.

The only plausible defense that Bush, Obama and Trump could mount if they were charged with genocide, is that while they did launch and conduct wars of aggression that killed over a million Iraqis and hundreds of thousands of Afghans, they saw the deaths of men, women and children as a useful means to an end, and not as the end in itself. Their actions are undeniably genocidal.

Biden stands at the head of this blood-soaked power and accuses Russia of genocide. The charges deliberately mangle and distort both the contemporary facts and the historically established legal definition.

Biden points to specific eventscorpses in the streets of Mariupol, the bombing of a train stationwhich may be war crimes, but which require investigation. Neither the precise details nor the perpetrator have yet been established. No evidence whatsoever has been presented that Putin is intent upon eradicating the Ukrainian people.

Nothing that has happened in Ukraine can be measured on the genocidal scale established by the Nazis and the United States and other imperialist powers. Bidens accusation trivializes the Holocaust and does violence to history.

Bidens accusations of genocide are not the rhetorical overreach of moral indignation. They are the deliberate and reckless escalation of conflict in service to the interests of US imperialism and they target Washingtons enemies.

Washington cries genocide when Russia bombs Kiev, but not when Saudi Arabia drops US weapons on Yemen, killing more than 377,000 people. Biden accuses China of genocide for the treatment of the Uyghurs, but he says not a word about Israels systematic devastation of the Palestinians.

The atrocity stories told by Washington and the repeated, baseless accusations of genocide tell us far less of the events themselves and far more of the war fever that is convulsing the imperialist powers. Once genocide is invoked, there is no possible further rhetorical escalation.

The US is preparing for direct military conflict with Russia. Biden speaks of genocideblurring painfully acquired legal, historical, and moral distinctionsfor the purposes of war propaganda. Russianswho bear no responsibility for the actions of their governmentare now stigmatized, barred from international competitions, threatened and hounded internationally.

In an unmistakable sense, Biden is cultivating a genocidal frame of mind, marked by irrational scapegoating and hatred on the basis of nationality. Bidens false use of this term is setting into motion a global war which could prove to be genocidal, one in which the subject of the genocide is the human race itself.
The Russian Socialist Movement (RSM), and the Ukrainian group Sotsialnyi rukh (Social Movement, SR), a SYRIZA-style formation, published a joint statement on the Pabloite International Viewpoint website that calls for an escalation of NATOs proxy war in Ukraine against Russia.

The statement, Against Russian Imperialism, is explicitly addressed against anyone refusing to line up behind US imperialism in the conflict with Russia over Ukraine.

Demonstrators shout slogans during an action against Russias attack on Ukraine in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2022. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

It is Putin, not NATO, who is waging war on Ukraine, it declares. That is why it is essential to shift our focus from Western imperialism to Putins aggressive imperialism, which has an ideological and political basis in addition to an economic one.

This statement turns reality on its head.

While the RSM and SR proclaim that Putins aggression is hard to explain rationally, it was, in fact, deliberately provoked by decades of NATO expansion to Russias borders and, in particular, the heavy intervention of imperialism in Ukraine.

In 2014, the US backed the overthrow of the Yanukovich government that had rejected an association agreement with the European Union. The RSM supported the coup at the time and even justified collaboration with the neo-fascist forces that played the principal role in carrying it out.

Since then, Ukraine was built up as an attack dog against Russia. The countrys military was massively expanded and armed with NATO weapons. The new military strategy adopted by the Kiev government in March 2021 left no doubt that this military build-up was in preparation for war with Russia: it openly proclaimed that retaking the Black Sea peninsula Crimea and the Donbas was the military objective of Kiev. Throughout 2021, the US and NATO did everything to bolster these reckless provocations, openly backing the Crimean platform and staging one major NATO exercise on Russias border after another.

Against this background, the invasion of Ukraine by the Putin regime can be explained: it is a desperate and bankrupt attempt to defend the national interests of the Russian oligarchy and somehow force the imperialist powers to the bargaining table.

One can oppose the invasion and the Putin regime without lining up behind US imperialism, from the standpoint of revolutionary internationalism, fighting to unify workers in Russia, Ukraine, across Europe and the US in a joint struggle against imperialist war and for the overthrow of capitalism.

It is precisely against this genuinely left-wing opposition to the war that the statement by the RSM and SR is written.

The Pabloites effectively express support for NATOs military build-up against Russia. Their statement explicitly rejects calls to demilitarize Eastern Europe, as naive because this would only be appeasing Putin and will make Eastern European countries vulnerable to Putins aggression. Discourse about NATO expansion obscures Putins desire to divide the spheres of influence in Europe between the US and Russia.

In other words, the position of the RSM and SR is not only that Eastern Europe should remain a massive military base of operations for the NATO powers, above all the US, but the division of the region into spheres of influence should be resolved in favour of NATO.

The statement also provides a cover for the fascist shock troops of imperialism in the region. It describes the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, which openly places itself in the tradition of Nazi collaborationist, Ukrainian nationalist forces as a problem, but then, absurdly, claims that unlike in 2014, the far right is not playing a prominent role in todays war, which has become a peoples war.

This is an outright lie. The neo-Nazi Azov Battalion and similar far-right paramilitary formationswhich, as of 2020, constituted 100,000 troops or about 40 percent of Ukraines armed forces are central to the military and political operations of imperialism and the Kiev regime.

The Azov Battalion, now fully integrated into the army, forms the backbone of Ukraines military operation against Russias forces in Mariupol, a city of key strategic importance. Members of the Azov Battalion were among the first to enter Bucha near Kiev. Their commanders are being awarded orders of heroes of Ukraine by the government, and President Zelensky recently even invited a member of Azov to accompany him on his official trip to Greece.

Moreover, with open state backing, the Azov Battalion is recruiting far-right forces from all over the world who are using the war in Ukraine as a training ground where they can network and get combat experience with advanced NATO weapons systems.

The RSM and SR not only cover up this process, they even argue for its escalation.

Their statement explicitly calls for more NATO weapons for Ukrainemany of which are ending up in the hands of fascist formations like the Azov Battalion. To the Pabloites, the over $2.6 billion of NATO weapons delivered by the White House alone since the war began are not enough.

Claiming that the EU had already delivered weapons to Russia in the past, they write, The discussion about whether weapons sent to the region end up in the right or wrong hands sounds a bit belated. They are already in bad hands, and EU countries would only be righting their earlier wrongs by providing weapons to Ukraine.

In other words, the Pabloites opposition to Russian imperialism translates into the demand for the EU and NATO to deliver more weapons into the better hands of Ukraines military and fascist forces.

The statement also singles out as a specific demand the provision to Ukraine of air defence systemsthat is, advanced weaponry capable of shooting down Russian aircraft. This demand, which was published on April 9, was issued the very same weekend that the US and European powers announced that it would be doing exactly this, providing Ukraine with weapons that would allow it to strike territory within Russia. The Kremlin has long warned that it might consider such a move as direct NATO involvement in the war and respond accordingly.

In order to somehow present this right-wing tirade, which reads like a compilation of NATO talking points, as left-wing, the RSM and SR insist that Russia is an imperialist country. Making no serious attempt to justify this assessment, they only point to the rhetoric of the Putin regime and its nationalism. This argument has nothing in common with the Marxist understanding of imperialism and can provide the basis to designate virtually any country in the world that stands in the way of imperialism as itself imperialist.

While this position is both theoretically bankrupt and an act of political charlatanry, from a historical standpoint it is a logical extension of the Pabloites hostility to the socialist revolution of 1917 and their support for the Stalinist reaction against the revolution, which culminated in the restoration of capitalism and the destruction of the USSR in 1991.

Pabloism historically arose in the aftermath of World War II as a revisionist tendency within the Fourth International. Amidst the temporary restabilization of capitalism and the establishment of the buffer states by the Soviet bureaucracy in Eastern Europe, the Pabloites denied that the working class could play an independent revolutionary role and ascribed a progressive role to Stalinism.

On this basis, they advocated the liquidation of the Fourth International into the Stalinist bureaucracies and social democratic parties, claiming that the struggle for socialism could only be realized by pushing the bureaucracies to the left. In 1985-1991, the Pabloites lined up behind the drive of the bureaucracy toward the full restoration of capitalism, presenting this social counterrevolution as a progressive, democratic event and the realization of the self-reform of the bureaucracy that they had advocated.

Thirty years later, Russias position in the world economy is defined above all by its role as a raw material supplier to more advanced capitalist countriesthe hallmark not of an imperialist power but of a semi-colonial country. Not content with the only limited access they were granted to Russias vast raw material and social resources after 1991, the imperialist powers are now seeking to completely subjugate Russia through a combination of military and economic pressure over Ukraine and regime change operation in Moscow.

Having completed their integration into imperialist and bourgeois state politics, the Pabloites now lend their full support to these operations. Far from representing anything even resembling left-wing politics, they are speaking for layers of the upper-middle class that see a future for themselves in a capitalist Ukraine and a capitalist Russia without Putin, that would be controlled by pro-US oligarchs and integrated into NATO. That this means not only the imperialist arming and build-up of fascist forces in Ukraine and across the world, but the very real possibility of a nuclear escalation of the conflict is not of the slightest concern to these layers.

Any genuine anti-war movement in the working class must be built in irreconcilable opposition to these right-wing forces, and the long history of the struggle of the Trotskyist movement against both Stalinism and Pabloism.
Sri Lankas workers, youth and oppressed masses have taken to the streets across the island to demand the immediate resignation of President Gotabhaya Rajapakse and his big business, Sinhala-chauvinist government and the dissolution of parliament. Facing immense hardships, they are demanding immediate relief from punishing price rises and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and cooking gas, and an end to daily power cuts.

Youth demonstrate in Kandy to demand Sri Lankan president resign [WSWS Media]

This immense outburst of social opposition has staggered the Rajapakse regime and the entire ruling class. As in other countries, the devastating global COVID-19 pandemic and the US-NATO war against Russia over Ukraine have roiled Sri Lankas economy and deepened the already stark gulf between the bloated capitalist elite and the working class and rural toilers.

The government is now scrambling to stay in power after more than three dozen MPs deserted to the opposition.

It announced a temporary default on foreign debt payments this week, and is preparing to implement savage International Monetary Fund-dictated austerity measures to secure a bailout loan. This austerity program includes: raising income and value-added taxes; increasing fuel prices and electricity rates; instituting a market-determined flexible exchange rate; cutting the fiscal deficit, i.e., slashing social spending; and restructuring the state sector through privatisation, corporatisation and contracting-out. These measures will wipe out jobs, cut wages and otherwise trample on the social rights of working people.

Workers now confront the question of how to oppose this class war assault of the government and the entire ruling class.

The trade unions that ostensibly represent them are doing everything they can to prevent the working class from mobilizing its industrial and political power and to tie it to capitalism and parliamentary politics.

Precisely because the unions have been suppressing the class struggle, including a powerful strike wave that predates Rajapakses November 2019 election as president, the mass anti-government protests erupted completely outside themjust as they did independently of the opposition parties.

After remaining conspicuously silent for days as the Gota got to go protests swelled, the unions now claim to support the ongoing agitations. But they do so only with the aim of bringing them under control, and preventing them from developing into a challenge to capitalist rule.

Yesterday the Trade Unions and Mass Organisations (TUMO) announced it will hold a march on Saturday, April 16, in support of the protest that tens of thousands have been mounting in central Colombo for the past seven days to demand the resignation of President Rajapakse and his government.

Thirty-four trade unions, including the Ceylon Teachers Union (CTU), Ceylon Mercantile and General Workers Union (CMU) and Ceylon Bank Employees Union, are affiliated to the TUMO, as are the pseudo-left Frontline Socialist Partys Workers Struggle Center and fishermen group, and some non-government organizations (NGOs).

TUMO has chosen as the main slogan for its march Bow to mass opinion! Inefficient government, go home!

The TUMO says nothing about the composition or class character of the government that should replace the hated Rajapakse regime. But it is no secret it wants to pave the way for another capitalist government. Indeed, the TUMOs denunciation of the current government as inefficient echoes the main opposition party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), which has denounced Rajapakse for mismanaging the economy, including by not agreeing earlier to implement another round of IMF austerity.

On April 4, TUMO issued a statement calling for intellectuals and professionals to join with it in preparing a short term, midterm and long-term practical and scientific program to solve the peoples burning social-economic problems. This program, it went on to make clear, would not be directed at mobilizing the working class and oppressed masses to impose solutions that correspond with their class interests. Rather it would begin and end with what is possible within the confines of crisis-ridden capitalism and under the continuing domination of the Sri Lankan political establishment.

Based on this program, explained the statement, TUMO will take actions to pressure the rulers to bring short term solutions standing on the side of people and prepare a people-friendly constitution. It is calling on all trade unions, and professional groups, and civil organisations to come together without colour and party distinction  to make reality of this program.

In other words, what is being proposed is a popular front-type, multi-class movement, oriented to and most probably directly including parties of the capitalist establishment. It will be based on the canard that capitalismwhich on a global scale is mired in systemic crisis, vomiting up reaction and threatening to engulf humanity in a global military conflagrationcan be reformed. Such a movement will be used to tie the working class to the political establishment, suppress the class struggle and uphold capitalist rule, in which the trade unions today are thoroughly integrated.

There is a second trade union front, the Trade Union Coordinating Centre (TUCC). However, its politics are essentially no different. The TUCC brings together more than four dozen unions. Some of them are politically dominated by the opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), while others are independent unions that gravitate around the JVP.

On April 8, the TUCC sponsored protests and a one-day token strike of public sector workers in support of the ongoing anti-government agitation. It has said that it will give the Rajapakse government until April 18 to resolve the current crisis.

At a press conference last Saturday, the president of the TUCC-aligned Federation of Health Professionals (FHP) said if the government did not reach a justifiable solution to the protests by April 18 all the trade unions have decided to carry on the struggle by joining with peoples struggle [and] beginning an indefinite strike.

The TUCC unions threat of a general strike is not aimed at mobilizing the working class against the political establishment and in the fight for measures aimed at resolving the economic crisis at the expense of domestic and global big business and the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie. Rather by striking a pose of radical opposition, the unions are seeking to retain control over an increasingly radicalized rank-and-file who are demanding urgent action be taken to defend their sharply eroding living standards and oppose the governments privatization drive. A second, related aim is to tie the working class to the JVPs maneuvering with the government and other opposition parties.

Like the JVP, the JVP-led unions are calling for the setting up of an interim government based on the opposition parties after President Rajapakse and his government resign. They are also calling for fresh elections to bring a new government of professionals free of looting, corruption and frauds to power. This is nothing but another capitalist government. Significantly, the JVP has refused to rule out approaching the vampires of global capital at the IMF for support.

Recently employers in the Colombo free trade zone warned of growing unrest among workers over the surging cost of living. However, the unions are completely silent. At the same time, the General Secretary of the Free Trade Zone and General Workers Union, Anton Marcus, has denounced the ongoing protest against the Rajapakse government, calling them unorganised, indisciplined and violent. Like the ruling class, the unions are terrified by the mass anti-government upsurge and the growing demand of workers that they take action to defend their rights.

The last two years saw a wave of militant strikes and protests by public sector workers in the education, health, state administration, railway, port, petroleum and power sectors. There have also been continuous struggles on the part of plantation workers and strikes and protest in free trade zones.

Invariably, the unions have isolated and sold out these struggles, enabling the Rajapakse government to press forward with its drive to impose the burden of the crisis on working people. At the same time, the unions have collaborated with the government in implementing its profits before lives pandemic policy.

Last year about 250,000 teachers and principals engaged in a strike for more than 100 days, only to have the unions accept the governments offer of a pay rise equal to just one-third of what the education workers had demanded. At the outset of the strike, the leaders of the main unions involved, including the CTU and JVP-affiliated Teacher Services Unions, said in a discussion with the Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse that they understand the country is in economic crisis.

The media statement the leader of the Federation of Health Professionals, Ravi Kumudesh, made last month after betraying the health workers struggle is also highly significant. He admitted that unions had called limited strikes and protests to manage members who were pressing the union to fight for their demands.

Since June last year, President Rajapakse has again and again invoked the powers of the Essential Public Services Act to criminalise industrial actions at most public sector institutions. The unions have been completely silent about this draconian law. Nor have they condemned the threats made by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, President Gotabhaya Rajapakses elder brother, to use state violence to suppress the anti-government agitation, indicating their indifference to the democratic rights of the masses. And while they may criticize the authoritarian executive presidency, the unions truck and trade with the establishment parties that have upheld it for decades, and have no intention of making the fight for its abolition a lever for politically mobilising the masses against the capitalist establishment and for the reorganization of the economy on socialist lines.

In the present global capitalist crisis, working people cannot defend their rights or secure their basic needs by pressuring or pleading to the government and the capitalist class. Rather they must mobilize their independent class strength in the fight for a socialist action program to oppose austerity and the IMF and secure decent jobs, food, fuel and medicines for all!

To mobilize its class strength, the working class must break free of the suffocating political and organisational control of the pro-capitalist trade unions and build genuine organisations of working class struggle.

That is why the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) is calling for the formation of action committees in every workplace, factory and working class suburb, democratically elected and independent of the trade unions and all the capitalist parties.

These action committees will organize the fight for the essential measures needed to address the pressing needs of the people. These include establishing workers democratic control over the production and distribution of all essential items and other resources critical for the lives of people; cancelling the debts of the poor farmers; and nationalising the banks, large estates, major companies and fortunes of the super-rich so their resources can be redirected to providing decent living and social conditions to all working people.

The emerging network of action committees will serve as a rallying point for the rural poor and youth, and unite Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim workers, rejecting the chauvinist and communal filth propagated by the capitalists and their political representatives.

As the authority of the action committees grows, they will become organs of working class political power, providing the basis to fight for a workers and peasants government to implement the above socialism program. The essential allies of Sri Lankan workers in this struggle are their class brothers and sisters around the world.

All workers and youth who agree with this program should join and build the SEP as the revolutionary leadership of the working class and oppressed masses.
From the side, the large black and orange box looks just like any other vending machine.

But behind the glass, illuminated by sharp pale light, is something very different than plastic wrappers packed with Milky Ways and trail mix. And regular quarters wont get you anywhere.

The Great Dog Wash or El Gran Lavaperros reads one of the products names. Little Foxs Surprise reads anothers. In hardback and paperback, with pictures and without, dozens of books stand in rows behind rings, waiting for the special coins and combinations that will set them free.

Two of these Bookworm vending machines have made homes in Beatrice elementary schools. Paddock Lane Elementary School brought one in during the 2020-21 academic year. Now, Lincoln Elementary School has gotten its own and will stock it full of books in the weeks to come.

Paddock Lane Principal Betty Replogle said her students have loved the machine so far.

With reading, we can open up whole new worlds to these students, Replogle said. You may not get to travel a lot, but with a book you can travel somewhere else, in a sense Its amazing to see how hungry the kids are for it.

Replogle said there a couple ways to win gold coins for the vending machine. One is to be on the leaderboards of one of the 8, 40-person school houses. The other is to have an Awesome Office Visit, brought on by exceptional academic or interpersonal work.

Replogle brought three students to the office to for an Awesome Office Visit and gave them multiple coins. Each coin equals a book they can keep forever.

Their faces lit up as their eyes scoured the more than a dozen options. Some of the three even selected books to give to members of their family.

Lincoln Elementary Principal Kevin Janssen said he looks forward to bringing that unique way of encouraging reading to the school. Kids in Lincoln will get the gold coins for the same reason as kids in Paddock Lane, though Lincolns student run a punch card system. Acts of kindness and integrity often translate directly to a punch on the card.

They can get all kind of rewards for their punches, Janssen said. I think it helps inspire good behavior.

Janssen said, with the innumerable distractions cartwheeling around students every day, its important to encourage the slower but just as active passion of reading.

I think its more important now than ever to get students reading, Janssen said. Reading is something that you can and should do your whole life There are so many times in life when you can read a book, so any time we can encourage the love for reading, were going to benefit our kids long term.

Doris Martin, executive director at the Beatrice Educational Foundation, spoke at an event last week celebrating the entrance of the Bookworm vending machine in Lincoln and thanking the many donors who supported the effort. She said she looks forward to seeing how kids interact with the vending machine.

This gives us a chance to re-introduce the joy of holding a book in your hands, Martin said. Reading is even better in paper form. It gives kids a sense of accomplishment each time they turn the page.

Janssen said hes also excited to have a multi-lingual assortment of books in the machines for the schools English learner students.

Were going to get all these Berenstain Bears books in Spanish, he said.

Lincoln-Stoddard PTO has agreed to pay for books to fill the machine.

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On Thursday evening, French police stormed the Sorbonne University in central Paris. Students inside were forcibly dispersed, and at least one person was seriously injured. As of this writing, there are reports of ongoing police actions targeting protesters at the nearby Pantheon monument.

This is part of a broader crackdown against a wave of university occupations across France that began after the first round of the presidential elections set up a runoff between incumbent right-wing President Emmanuel Macron and neo-fascist candidate Marine Le Pen.

Banner reads: Sorbonne occupied against Macron, Le Pen and their world!

Earlier in the day, a group of students occupied the main building of Sciences Po (the political science university) in Paris. In the afternoon, this group was violently attacked by a group of far-right vigilantes.

At around 8:00 p.m., hundreds of armed police began a full assault on the Sorbonne. Most of the students surrendered or escaped, but around 40 were trapped inside and not allowed to leave for over two hours.

A video posted by one of them on Twitter stated: We are trapped inside by 200 police and gendarmes, some of us are minors, and one person needs urgent medical care. We are absolutely peaceful and non-violent. We simply wish to leave calmly. We simply protest for the planet and against the rise of far-right ideas. We are within our constitutional right to defend our political opinion. We tried to leave peacefully but the police used force against us.

The storming of the Sorbonne was carried out by heavily armed units from the Brigade to Repress Violent Action (BRAV). BRAV was a special unit set up by the Paris prefecture amid the yellow vest protests. All the streets around the university were surrounded with multiple vehicles from the National Police, the Paris police and the gendarmerie.

Police fire tear gas at protesters outside the Pantheon (Credit Twitter)

Also on Thursday, a group of around 40 students at Sciences Po peacefully occupied the universitys main building. At around 3:00 p.m. this group was assaulted by a vigilante group made up by militants from various neo-fascist student groups. The twitter page of La Cocarde Etudiante, a youth group associated with Marine Le Pens National Rally, claimed it led the action.

The group tweeted a video of its thugs assaulting protesters, writing: Faced with the inaction of the university administration and the State, we have taken matters into our own hands: the blockade of Sciences Po has just been cleared by us. It also claimed to have carried out the action with Generation Z, the youth movement of fascist candidate Eric Zemmour, and the Inter-university National Union, a right-wing student group linked to the Gaullists.

The Sorbonne had been occupied by students since Wednesday afternoon, in response to the administrations attempt to shut down a meeting organized to oppose Le Pen and Macron. Throughout Thursday morning, hundreds of police surrounded the university.

Cop armed with assault rifle outside peaceful occupation of Sorbonne University in Paris

The police presence in the Latin Quarter, the area immediately around the Sorbonne in central Paris, increased throughout the morning. By midday, the streets surrounding the Sorbonne were completely cordoned off, and the students inside the university were under siege. Hundreds of police were visible, armed with machine guns, riot shields and full body armor.

Throughout the day, multiple assaults were made on peaceful protesters supporting the occupation. At around 1:30 p.m. hundreds of riot police dispersed a crowd gathered on the Place de la Sorbonne, just adjacent to the universitys main entrance. Protesters were driven onto the Boulevard Saint-Michel, where after a few minutes they were attacked by another group of riot police striking protesters and passersby with riot shields and batons to clear the road.

Protesters gather on Sorbonne square in support of university occupation (WSWS media)

At around 6:00 p.m. new crowds simultaneously formed near the Place de la Sorbonne and on the Place de la Pantheon just a few hundred meters away. The meeting at the Pantheon had organized as a rally in defense of refugees, but as it became clear the police were preparing to storm the Sorbonne, hundreds of attendees attempted to march to the Sorbonne to support the occupation.

Both crowds were violently dispersed by heavily armed police using tear gas. Police from the BRAV unit also led this assault on protesters at the Sorbonne where several protesters were beaten by police officers. One video shows a protester pinned down by what appear to be plainclothes officers. Another video shows police charging at a group of protesters.

Two students, Michael and Edgar, who attended the protest at 1:30 in support of the Sorbonne occupation, spoke to the WSWS just after the police had cleared the Place de la Sorbonne.

They both voted for Melenchon in the first round. When asked if they would vote for Le Pen and Macron, Michael said: No, never. It is a false choice. I will abstain. He added, Le Pen is a fascist and openly racist against Muslims, and we know this. But I also will not vote for Macron, he is a hidden fascist posing as a liberal. He also attacked Muslims and worsened the economy for most people.

When asked about students decision to start an occupation, Michael said, They wanted to make a change, and they dont know how.

Edgar explained the situation that gave rise to the occupation, There was an assembly general for Sorbonne students yesterday, and the administration then threatened to bring in the police. They threatened to attack students gathering in their own university, so they responded with the occupation.

Asked about the police actions in clearing the Place de la Sorbonne, Michael said, Look at what the police are doing. How is this democracy? We want to show our frustration with Macron and Le Pen, and the police just respond with repression. This is France now; it is not democracy, it is repression.

Michael said that students wanted to fight back and to send a message to Macron, Le Pen, and the Police that they oppose their regime.  We need to spread this occupation. Like students who have occupied Sciences Po in Nancy and at Sciences Po in Paris this morning. We must send a message.

That both state and far-right vigilante violence is being meted out against peacefully protesting students under a Macron government exposes the lie that the incumbent president is a lesser evil compared to the openly neo-fascist Marine Le Pen. Regardless of who comes to power, the French police state will be directed against all youth and workers who oppose the ruling class program of austerity, mass infection and war.

This underscores the correctness of the Parti de legalite socialistes (PES) call to campaign for an active boycott of the presidential elections and to build a movement in the working class rejecting both Macron and Le Pen. The two candidates, and the entire French ruling class can be successfully opposed only by a mass movement of the working class based on an internationalist, socialist and revolutionary perspective.

The PES invites workers, youth and socialist-minded intellectuals to attend its online meeting on Monday, For a working class boycott of the Macron-Le Pen election.
Before being fined by the Metropolitan Police for breaking pandemic lockdown restrictions, Chancellor Rishi Sunak was already having a bad week over the exposure of his wife Akshata Murtys tax-avoidance.

In December 2020, the World Socialist Web Site described the multi-hundred millionaire as the living embodiment of government in the service of the financial oligarchy of rule of, by and for the oligarchy. The recent scandal has confirmed this characterisation.

On Wednesday last week, the Independent newspaper revealed that Murty had been claiming non-domicile tax status, at the bargain rate of 30,000 a year and a promise of her intention to return to India someday, meaning she does not pay UK taxes on income earned abroad.

Akshata Murty (left) and Sunak (right) at an event in 2018 (Credit: Rishi Sunak/Facebook)

That income is substantial. Murty owns a 0.91 percent stake in her fathers multibillion pound company Infosys, bringing her net worth to over half a billion poundsricher than the queen, as the press have pointed out. In the last seven and a half years, the Guardian reports, she has received dividend payments of 54.5 million.

Factoring in the different rates of tax charged on that income across that period, Murty would have been charged roughly 20 million in taxes were it not for her non-dom status. That money alone would cover the April energy price hikes of nearly 29,000 households.

Of course, this isnt the half of it. The declared wealth and income of the super-rich is always the tip of the iceberg. The Guardian revealed last November that Murty owns shares in International Market Management, a company which avoids Indian tax by funnelling investments through the tax haven Mauritius. According to the Independent, she is linked to several trusts in the Cayman and British Virgin Islands which manage her business affairs.

On several of the documents seen by the paper, Sunak is listed as a beneficiary. Theleme Partners, a hedge fund Sunak co-founded before leaving in 2013, is also registered in the Cayman Islands. It is not known whether he still has a stake in the firm.

Before setting up Theleme, the chancellor worked at investment bank Goldman Sachs and was a partner at another hedge fund. Until October 2021, 19 months into his chancellorship, he held a US Green Card, requiring him to pay US tax on worldwide income and to declare his intention to make America his permanent home. Most estimates place his personal wealth at 200 million.

Sunaks response to these exposures is also revealing. He bullishly told reporters of Murty, Every single penny she earns in the UK she pays UK taxes on and accused the press of awful behaviour and unpleasant smears.

The chancellor is a product of his social circle. By its standards, he leads a very normal life.

Parts of London has been transformed into a playground for the rich. Research published by the University of Warwick and the Economic and Social Research Council found that whereas fewer than three in a thousand people earning less than 100,000 a year claim non-dom status, more than four in 10 earning more than 5 million do, as do more than two in 10 bankers earning more than 125,000. In the Cities of London, and Westminster, and Kensington constituencies, they make up 12 percent of the population, rising to 20 percent in some local areas.

Rishi Sunak (left) and Sajid Javid in 2019 (Credit: Rishi Sunak/Facebook)

Among them for several years was Sunaks cabinet colleague, Health Secretary Sajid Javid, formerly chancellor himself. While working as a banker for Chase Manhattan and Deutsche Bank, earning up to 3 million a year, he was a tax resident in of the US between 1992 and 1996. He held non-dom status in the UK between 2000 and 2006 before leaving for Singapore. Becoming an MP in 2010, he held his wealth in an offshore trust until becoming a minister in 2012.

The two chancellors, Javid in the very lowest ranks, and their party are political representatives of a malignant social phenomenon supercharged by globalisationa global oligarchy possessing unimaginable fortunes looted from society and contributing nothing to it.

Between 1995 and 2020, the worlds richest 1 percent captured more than a third of all new wealth created, taking its share to 37.8 percent, according to the World Inequality Labs 2021 World Inequality Report. To place in the global 1 percent requires a personal wealth of roughly 710,000or, as Sunak would call it, chump change. Reaching the global top 0.1 percent requires close to 3 million. For the top 0.01 percent, the richest half a million people on the planet, the figure is just under 15 million, putting the chancellor of the United Kingdom and his wife in the global stratosphere.

These gains are a one-way street. The Economist reported in 2019 that the income share of Britains top 1 percent increased by more than a third in the 30 years to 2015. The share of the top 0.1 percent nearly doubled, and the share of the top 0.01 more than tripled.

Where there used to be a face-saving separation between the super-rich and their political representatives, their tightened grip on society and the putrefaction of democracy mean parliaments everywhere have become a direct tool of the oligarchy.

Sunak decided on a stint in politics for a shot at being PM. With that ship likely sailed, the Telegraph reports, based on sources close to him, If it became apparent he wasnt going to be prime minister, he would just go. The paper continues, he will move his family to Santa Monica, where they have a 5.5 million seafront penthouse, and pursue a career in Silicon Valley. He is known to refer to California as home.

Coming on the back of the Greensill Capital affair implicating former prime minister David Cameron and the Pandora Papers exposure of the UK as a cesspit of the super-rich, the Sunak scandal will surprise very few.

A timely YouGov survey released last weekend found that just 6 percent of voters felt their views were the main influences on government policy. Twenty five percent said the biggest influences were major donors to political parties, 16 percent said business groups and corporations, 13 percent newspapers and the media and 12 percent lobbyists and pressure groups. Just 19 percent of 1824-year-olds said British democracy served them well, and fewer than a quarter of 25-49-year-olds.

Millions recognise British democracy for the vast Ponzi scheme it really is. But what conclusions are to be drawn from this situation, and from the actions of the corporate and financial oligarchy it serves?

The line of the Labour Party and the media has been to attack Sunak as a hypocritical and out of touch politician incapable of representing the British people. But this is a reactionary diversion. The answer for the working class is not to find better representatives of some national interest. It is to recognise that no such interest exists, as Sunak and his fellow millionaires and billionaires understand very well even as they and the Labour opposition wave the Union Jack and spout patriotic drivel.

Their allegiance is to their class interest; a class which uses its enormous resources to find the best opportunities around the world for the exploitation of the working class, the securing of government handouts and the storage of its grotesque fortunes. The nation state, whichever suits at the time, is a tool for achieving those ends through its provision of ample financial support, pursuit of plunder and advantage abroad, and above all its suppression and division of the international working class.

Workers, too, have a class interest transcending all national boundaries: for the expropriation of this capitalist class and the reorganisation of economic life to fulfil social needs, not the private profits of a tiny few. Doing so requires a decisive break with all political and organisational obstacles to their ability to act as an international force and mobilise their full social power.

The primary obstacles in every country are the corporatist trade unions, which exist to tie the working class to their companies and nation states, and which have presided over an unprecedented transfer of wealth to the super-rich.

In opposition, the International Committee of the Fourth International has launched the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees, which, with the political assistance of the Fourth International and the Socialist Equality Parties, will strive to unify workers in a common worldwide struggle, opposing every effort by capitalist governments and the reactionary proponents of the innumerable forms of national, ethnic and racial chauvinism and identity politics to split up the working class into warring factions.

Only with this internationalist and socialist perspective can the working class end the domination of society and evisceration of democracy by the Sunaks and Murtys of this world.
Dont be surprised if the first words you hear from Olivia Weidner are I Love you.

The 4-year-old Beatrice girl loves talking to strangers  maybe too much, according to her parents  playing in the park and even roller skating.

Things you would expect a preschooler to do, but also things Olivias doctors warned she would probably never live to experience.

Olivia was diagnosed with Fontaine Progeroid Syndrome, a rare genetic disease that hinders growth and development both before and after birth.

They told us shed never talk, never walk, never crawl and she defeated all those odds within a year, said Crystal Everett, Olivias mother. We started with a walker, but she didn't want it.

The life expectancy for those with Fontaine Progeroid Syndrome is short, with many not living past infancy or early childhood. Everett said there's one child in Colorado with the condition who's now 13 years old, giving the family hope Olivia will be able to live a long life.

Olivia has made great strides and her family treats her like any other child, but her journey hasnt been an easy one.

She stopped growing when Everett was 27 weeks pregnant, and was two pounds, five ounces at birth. Olivia spent six months in the NICU, and wasn't able to go home until she was almost a year old.

It was just really hard, said Nick Weidner, Olivias father. Weve been struggling. It seemed like the first month she was born we couldnt even hold her. She was in the incubator and when we were finally able to hold her, I just walked out of work. I was so excited, I went there and fell asleep in the chair holding her.

Olivia is on oxygen at night, and most of her meals are through a feeding tube.

She has a lot of abnormalities in the back of her throat, Everett said. It hurts to swallow like a normal person would. She tries Cheetos and mashed potatoes, those are two things she can eat really well.

Her parents tried enrolling her in preschool this year, but she was pulled out when she got sick and was preparing for head surgery last fall. That surgery was postponed and is now scheduled for May 5 at University of Nebraska Medical Center, 10 days before Olivias Peppa Pig-themed fifth birthday party.

She was born with no top of her skull, Everett explained. It finally grew in, but now they have to go in and move it around to make room for the brain to grow into. Its just nerve wracking.

The family is going to take a few months after the surgery to let Olivia fully recover, then take a Florida vacation to Walt Disney World thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

A family member from Kansas encouraged them to reach out to the foundation, and they were surprised to learn Olivias wish to see Elsa, Anna and her other favorite characters from the Disney Movie Frozen is about to come true.

The entire family, Including Everetts 15 year old and Weidners 8 year old, will be going on the trip.

Its really nice to have help like that, Weidner said. We havent taken a vacation, we havent done anything since shes been born. I've been pretty much working nonstop, paying the bills as theyre coming in.

The looming surgery is expected to be the most extensive, but likely not the last. Olivia will probably need two to four more operations during her childhood.

But for now, the family is focused on the immediate future, getting through the operation in May, and taking a much-needed, and appreciated, vacation.

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The Nebraska Unicameral has completed 59 of the 60 days of the session, the last part of a two year biennium. This final week of work was mainly focused on final reading and passage of bills.

We will now be in recess for the next five days. This allows the Governor the time allotted by law to sign or veto any of the bills passed and sent to his desk. Should he veto a bill, that leaves one last day for a senator to move to override the veto. If that happens, we will take up those motions on our 60th day, which is April 20.

Major legislation in this 107th Legislature included a tax rate reduction / tax credit package, distribution of the unprecedented $1.04 billion in federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), and passing a budget that has had to account for a variety of factors.

My position on the Appropriations Committee the past four years made me keenly aware of the need to balance the needs and wants of our citizens. It is safe to say we all have recommendations for what the state should provide to us as tax paying citizens, while at the same time wanting our taxes to be as low as possible. I am firmly in that camp as well. It really is a balancing act to produce a balanced budget, but I have thoroughly enjoyed my work on the Committee.

As I have covered in this update in recent weeks, it took multiple efforts to get a tax package across the finish line. LB 873 became the vehicle for reducing income tax rates. This will occur over several years, and will reduce the top individual rate from 6.84% to 5.84% by tax year 2027. This bill also included provisions to eliminate state tax on social security and insure a refundable state income tax credit does not fall below its current amount of $548 million, first enacted in 2020. On the revenue side of this issue, the state general fund will be reduced by $115.5 million in the next fiscal year, and that amount is estimated to reach a reduction of $948 million by FY2027-28. This bill was signed into law on Wednesday by the Governor.

The ARPA funds coming into Nebraska were distributed through LB1014. Federal guidelines for these dollars included use for mitigating the effects of the pandemic, providing premium pay for essential works, and funding water, sewer, broadband and infrastructure projects. Physical and mental health services, care providers for those with developmental disabilities and non profits working with food assistance are some of the recipients. Workforce housing and shovel ready construction projects will also benefit from this federal program.

Some high profile legislation dealt with the proposed lake between Lincoln and Omaha, and the canal project to insure water flow into Nebraska from Colorado. Another measure will devote federal funds to qualified census tracts where poverty has become critical. This same bill also supports innovation hubs, airport business parks, affordable housing and some tourism projects, all designed to improve economic conditions.

Looking back at the work done by the Legislature since convening in January, there have been a number of very important issues discussed on the floor. Some were passed into law and others failed to advance. Such has been the case in every Legislature since 1867. We have to remember that every measure can be adjusted, if it doesnt work out as well as we hoped; and any bill can be reintroduced if it didnt succeed the first time. Or a second time, or more for that matter.

With that in mind, I commend the senators who have completed their terms in service to the state and will not return to the Legislature next year. They are: Sen. Friesen, Henderson; Sen. Gragert, Creighton; Sen. Matt Hansen, Lincoln; Sen. Hilkemann, Omaha; Sen. Hughes, Venango; Sen. Kolterman, Seward; Sen. Lindstrom, Omaha; Sen. McCollister, Omaha; Sen. Morfeld, Lincoln; Sen. Pansing Brooks, Lincoln; Sen. Stinner, Gering; and Sen. Williams, Gothenburg. Of these thirteen senators, eight of them chaired a committee. They will be missed for their valuable institutional knowledge.

I count it an honor to represent you in the Nebraska Legislature. If you have concerns, ideas for legislation, or questions about bills and laws, please contact me. The office is always available throughout the interim. mdorn@leg.ne.gov 402 471-2620 www.nebraskalegislature.gov PO Box 94604, Lincoln NE 68509-4604

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The Legislature shall provide by law the requirements for residence, registration, absentee voting, and administration of elections. It doesnt get much clearer than that line in Article IV, Section 3 of Montanas Constitution.

Unless of course youre an activist judge who doesnt like common sense laws duly passed by the peoples representatives, the democratically elected Legislature. In that case, youll just go ahead and block those laws in favor of your political allies, exactly as District Court Judge Michael Moses did recently.

The laws in question are entirely reasonable and are supported by Montanans throughout the state. One of them requires voter identification to ensure that a person seeking to vote in an election is eligible to do so because theyre indeed a citizen and a resident of Montana. The new law requires photo ID with a Montana address. Or, alternatively, you can use a photo ID without an address but also supply other proof of address. If even that doesnt work, you can sign an affidavit and still vote, but that vote can then be checked for eligibility and thrown out if the person isnt a legal voter.

The other three laws in question move the voter registration deadline to noon the day before the election, prohibit partisan political operatives from being paid to harvest ballots, and prohibit people from receiving ballots until theyve met the age and residency requirements to be eligible to vote.

Democrats dont like these sensible laws for some reason, but the laws are completely within the bounds of Montanas Constitution, further secure our elections, and dont prevent any eligible registered voter from exercising their fundamental constitutional right to vote. Which is why Judge Mosess recent ruling is so infuriating and so outside the bounds of our constitutional separation of powers.

Barely a month before ballots go out for the June primary, Judge Moses unilaterally blocked all these commonsense laws at the request of the Montana Democratic machine. His ruling hardly even touched on legal, constitutional analysis, let alone Article IV, Section 3 of the Constitution. Instead, he engaged mostly in a he said, she said debate between the parties in the lawsuit over whether they like the new laws or not.

In such a flimsy ruling, its no surprise that Moses sided with the activist liberals. He was originally appointed to the bench by a Democratic governor. Every partisan donation his household has made, over $1,500 in total, has gone to Democrats.

We have a lot of good judges in Montana who are committed to fulfilling their strictly judicial roles as required by the separation of powers in our Constitution. Unfortunately, we also have way too many activist judges who let their political and policy views cloud their decisions on the bench.

To them we say: if you want to go beyond assessing constitutionality, and instead express your own views of whats good or bad policy, if you want to change the law to fit your political preferences, if you want to advocate for policies, then run for the Legislature. Thats what we all did. The Legislature is the policymaking branch of government, not the judiciary. Your job is to interpret the laws. If you want to write them, or get rid of the ones you dont like, youre in the wrong office.

For too long, our part-time, citizen Legislature and the people of Montana havent paid enough attention to whats been going on within Montanas judicial branch of government. Thats over now. Judges are always happy to tell others when theyre in the wrong, but too many dont want the same accountability for themselves. Keep political activism out of our courts. Respect the separation of powers guaranteed under our Constitution. Judge Mosess unjustifiable activist ruling needs to be overturned immediately.

This opinion column is signed by 57 Republican members of the Legislature, including all House and Senate leadership, the sponsors of the four blocked election laws, the chairs of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, the chairs of the House and Senate State Administration Committees, and all Republican members of the Special Select Committee on Judicial Accountability and Transparency. Full list of signers is included online.

Rep. Sue Vinton, House Majority Leader, Billings; Rep. Casey Knudsen, House Speaker Pro Tempore, Malta; Rep. Wylie Galt, Speaker of the House, Martinsdale; Sen. Mark Blasdel, President of the Senate, Kalispell; Sen. Jason Ellsworth, Senate President Pro Tempore, Hamilton; Sen. Cary Smith, Senate Majority Leader, Billings; Rep. Sharon Greef, HB 176 sponsor, Florence; Sen. Mike Cuffe, SB 169 sponsor, Eureka; Rep. Paul Fielder, HB 506 sponsor, Thompson Falls; Rep. Wendy McKamey, HB 530 sponsor, Chair of House State Administration, Ulm; Sen. Greg Hertz, Chair of Special Select Committee on Judicial Accountability and Transparency, Polson; Sen. Keith Regier, Chair of Senate Judiciary, Kalispell; Rep. Barry Usher, Chair of House Judiciary, Billings; Sen. Doug Kary, Chair of Senate State Administration, Billings; Sen. Tom McGillvray, Special Select Committee on Judicial Accountability and Transparency, Billings; Rep. Amy Regier, Special Select Committee on Judicial Accountability and Transparency, Kalispell; Sen. Kenneth Bogner, Miles City; Rep. Ed Buttrey, Great Falls; Rep. Caleb Hinkle, Belgrade; Sen. John Esp, Big Timber; Rep. Seth Berglee, Joliet; Sen. Gordon Vance, Belgrade; Rep. John Fuller, Kalispell; Rep. Jeremy Trebas, Great Falls; Sen. Russ Tempel, Chester; Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, Billings; Sen. Carl Glimm, Kila; Rep. Sherry Essmann, Billings; Rep. Marta Bertoglio, Clancy; Rep. Steve Gunderson, Libby; Rep. Scot Kerns, Great Falls; Rep. Mallerie Stromswold, Billings; Rep. Ron Marshall, Hamilton; Sen. Brad Molnar, Laurel; Rep. Derek Skees, Kalispell; Rep. Brad Tschida, Missoula; Sen. David Howard, Park City; Rep. Rhonda Knudsen, Culbertson; Rep. David Bedey, Hamilton; Sen. Bob Brown, Thompson Falls; Rep. Jennifer Carlson, Manhattan; Sen. Steve Hinebauch, Wibaux; Rep. Terry Moore, Billings; Rep. Ken Walsh, Twin Bridges; Rep. Jedediah Hinkle, Belgrade; Rep. Vince Ricci, Laurel; Rep. Matt Regier, Kalispell; Rep. Steve Gist, Cascade; Rep. Becky Beard, Elliston; Rep. Llew Jones, Conrad; Rep. Jane Gillette, Bozeman; Rep. Linda Reksten, Polson; Rep. Bob Phalen, Lindsay; Rep. Jerry Schillinger, Circle; Rep. Steven Galloway, Great Falls; Rep. Fiona Nave, Columbus; Rep. Ross Fitzgerald, Fairfield

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Charlie Rose has returned to the public sphere more than four years after he was let go from his eponymous PBS series and CBS This Morning in light of allegations of sexual misconduct.

Rose on Thursday posted a sit-down interview that he conducted with Warren Buffett to Substack. This was the first interview on his Charlie Rose Conversations site, during which the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway reflected on his life and career.

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Im proud to share this recent conversation with Warren Buffett, Rose, 80, wrote on his personal website. It is his first interview on camera in almost a year and the first Ive done in more than 4 years. It is a step in a journey to engage the most interesting people and explore the most compelling ideas in the world.

In November 2017, the Washington Post spoke to eight women who worked for Rose between the late 1990s and 2011 and accused him of sexual misconduct. The next day, PBS and CBS ended their contracts with the media personality, whose work with PBS dated back to 1991; he debuted on CBS This Morning in January 2012.

Rose issued a statement at the time that read, in part, I have behaved insensitively at times, and I accept responsibility for that, though I do not believe that all of these allegations are accurate. I always felt that I was pursuing shared feelings, even though I now realize I was mistaken.

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Courtesy of The Family

On Tuesday, 5-year-old Rebekah Sullivan sat under a perfect blue sky outside her grief-stuck North Carolina home.

Where are the clouds? she asked her mothers cousin, Vanessa Krunich.

Oh, no clouds today, Krunich remembers replying. Its such a beautiful day.

I see my daddy in the clouds and he smiles at me, Rebekah said.

Rebekah Courtesy of The Family

Daddy was highly decorated Marine Master Sgt. Andrew Sully Sullivan, who retired on Sept. 11, 2021, the 20th anniversary of 9/11. He was 42 and had survived a dozen deployments during two decades of our longest wars only to encounter his toughest foe in the form of COVID-19. His wife, Julie Sullivan, was still hopeful he would survive when The Daily Beast reported on his fight in late March. The Beast also reported that little Rebekah had overcome her fear of needles and gotten the jab after she was told that everyone around her father would have to be vaccinated when he came home from the hospital.

Sully was himself fully vaccinated and boostered, but doctors say exposure to toxins from military burn pits compromised his lungs and left them vulnerable to the virus, which proceeded to trash them. He died on April 7 after a month-long struggle to become fit enough for a double transplant. Rebekah was left gazing heavenward for her father.

A cloudless Tuesday in Jacksonville, N.C., was followed by a clear night, and Rebekah was able to make out the stars that comprise Orions Belt.

Look, theres my daddys smile, Rebekah said. Those three stars right there.

Yep, it sure is, Krunich said.

On Thursday, Julie took Rebekah to the Jones Funeral Home in Jacksonville to see her fathers earthly remains. The girl stepped alone up to the shining black open casket with a red rose she had brought from one of the flower baskets that had arrived at their home. She had on a dark blue dress and lighter blue leggings, the single braid down her back tied with a baby blue bow. She was just tall enough to set her chin on the caskets edge and gaze down at him.

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Rebekah at her dad's coffin Courtesy of The Family

A Marine Corps emblem was affixed to the inside of the coffin lid, but Sully was not in uniform. That would have necessitated shaving the retirement beard he had been able to grow after leaving the Marine Corps, having enlisted at 17 and then serving for 23 years and eight months. He was instead dressed in the dark suit he wore to church, a Marine Corps pin in the lapel.

I can feel his heart in there, Rebekah said by Vanessas account. Is he going to wake up?

No, hes gone to heaven, her mother, Julie, replied. This is just his body.

Elite Marine Sniper's New Enemy Is a Disease We Cant Escape

Rebekah set the rose in the coffin and stepped away. The older children would be coming later. And on Friday, there would be a wake for all those who mourn him. He will be buried sometime in the near future at Arlington National Cemetery.

On April 27, Rebekah will turn six. A moment when she was 5 has been preserved by a picture taken on a morning at the start of the school year when a sunny, cloudless sky matched her spirits. The photo shows Sully walking Rebekah to her first day of kindergarten, her tiny left hand in his warriors right as they ambled down the sun-splashed sidewalk.

The beard had been a symbol of a retirement in which Sully would be able to enjoy family moments with Julie and their seven children such as he had too often missed during nearly a quarter-century of service. Sully began walking Rebekah to and from school each day. And he escorted her to dance class on Saturday mornings, always taking the same chair.

Then, in January, Julie and Sully fell ill with COVID. She quickly recovered but he had difficulty shaking it. And on Saturday, March 12, he felt too sick to take Rebekah to dance. He went instead to the medical center at Camp Lejeune, near their home.

As The Daily Beast has reported, Sully was flown from there by air ambulance to the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill. He was there placed on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, with the hope he would become fit enough for a double lung transplant.

Sully had seemed almost there when he developed a lung infection and gastrointestinal bleeding. He and Julie remained determined to get him well and back home. Julie got a video on her phone showing Rebekah in a pharmacy near their home with a Band-Aid on her right upper arm. A neighbor had just taken her to get a pediatric dose of the COVID vaccine.

But after The Daily Beasts report on Sully and his family, things began to unravel despite numerous procedures and various surgeries. His gallbladder was removed along with a large section of his stomach and part of his small intestine. He continued bleeding.

He was starting to ooze/bleed from pretty much everywhere, Julie wrote on April 3 in a Prayers for Sully post on Facebook.

Sully was sedated, then eased back toward consciousness only for his blood pressure to spike so that he required further sedation. But he proved that his protectors spirit was intact, that despite all his suffering, his primary concern was for Julie.

As I held his hand, he was actually rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb as to comfort me, Julie reported.

Sully and Julie Courtesy of The Family

He battled on through April 5.

Hes so strong! Still fighting/cheating death, July marveled in the post.

The doctors tried everything, but nothing seemed to help.

Just more of the same from the last several days no big change, she reported on April 6. We need the big win!! Calling on God for a miracle.

Later that day, Julie made a brief visit home. She took Rebekah to an after-school dance and afterwards read a bedtime story to her youngest child, 3-year-old Russell.

She then returned to the hotel near the hospital where she had been sleeping. She figured she would need some rest no matter what the next day brought.

I woke up 2 hours later with a jolt of adrenaline so I called [the hospital], she wrote. They said he was fine... I fell back asleep 30 mins and sat straight up again. So, I came over here about 4 this morning and put that hogs tooth where it belonged, in Andy's hand.

A hogs tooth is a bullet that a Marine sniper puts around his neck upon becoming a fully trained Hunter of Gunmen (HOG). Sully still had his in his left hand when he died just after 9:30 am. Julie was of course at his side and the hospital staff accorded her time alone with him.

They were really respectful and gave her that room for hours afterwards to continue to hold him, Krunich told The Daily Beast. She held him until he went cold. She said she couldnt leave while he was still warm.

Julie announced the loss on her blog.

I have to share the devastating news that my husband, our Sully passed away peacefully in my arms this morning he fought valiantly, as always. I know the only way we will all get through this is together so, I need you all. Right now, I have a supernatural peace and I believe hes still comforting and fighting for me I love you all.

She added, As part of our vows, Andy promised to never stop fighting for me.

Julie then had to tell the children that Sully would not be coming home. Rebekah began looking heavenward for her daddy, seeing him smiling from the clouds and the stars.

Julie now wore Sullys hogs tooth. An apple tree that he had planted in the yard had begun to blossom with the arrival of spring. The dance school put red roses and a sign on the chair where Sully always sat when he walked Rebekah to class.

This seat is reserved for MSgt. Andrew Sullivan, it read.

Sully and Rebekah Courtesy of The Family

Along with taking Rebekah to dance school, Sully had planned to continue his own education. He had a bachelors degree in psychology and figured on getting a masters. He could then provide mental health counseling to members of the military and their families.

No doubt some of those who arrive at the wake beginning at 1 p.m. Friday will expect to see the ultimate Marines Marine laid out in his uniform. He will instead be dressed just as he was when brave and loving Rebekah peered in the coffin the day before; in his best suit so as not to shave a symbol of what was to have been a richly deserved new life.

He was very proud of his retirement beard, Krunich said.

The wake is scheduled to end at 4 p.m. and the weather forecast for Jacksonville says there will be clouds in the late afternoon sky.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Sen. Mike Lee - Credit: CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag

The House Jan. 6 committee possesses nearly 100 text messages from two Republican lawmakers urging then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to overturn the 2020 presidential election, CNN reported on Friday.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Texas Congressman Chip Roy supported former President Trumps decision to not concede the election once it was called on Nov. 7, with Lee offering Meadows unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional remedy at your disposal to restore Americans faith in our elections.

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This fight is about the fundamental fairness and integrity of our election system, Lee added. The nation is depending upon your continued resolve. Stay strong and keep fighting Mr. President.

Lee, who prides himself as a legal scholar, also asked Meadows if he would facilitate getting conspiracy theorist and quack attorney Sidney Powell in front of Trump. Apparently she has a strategy to keep things alive and put several states back in play, Lee wrote. Can you help get her in?

Video: Rep. McGovern laments 'lack of curiosity about the truth' about Jan. 6 attack

Roy, meanwhile, urged Meadows to prepare for battle. We need ammo. We need fraud examples. We need it this weekend, he wrote.

But as the Trump campaign went on to lose lawsuit after lawsuit over its false claims of election fraud, both Lee and Roy became skeptical of the effort.

Hey brother  we need substance or people are going to break, Roy wrote on Nov. 19, following a press conference where Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis pushed conspiracy theories about the election.

Lee felt similarly. The potential defamation liability for the president is significant here, he wrote to Meadows. For the campaign and for the president personally. Unless Powell can back up everything she said, which I kind of doubt she can.

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I agree, Meadows replied. Very concerned.

The pair then honed in on attorney John Eastman to do what they had expected of Powell, but Lee still had his concerns about senators objecting to the election results. I think were now passed the point where we can expect anyone will do it without some direction and a strong evidentiary argument, he wrote on Dec. 16, asking Meadows for what arguments they should raise.

Roy had his doubts, too. The president should call everyone off. Its the only path, he wrote on New Years Eve. If we substitute the will of states through electors with a vote by congress every 4 years  we have destroyed the electoral college  Respectfully.

A few days later, Lee wrote he had grave concerns with the way my friend Ted is going about this effort, referring to Texas Sen. Ted Cruzs plans to object to certain states electors. Lee predicted the effort will end badly for Trump unless we have the Constitution on our side.

Lees communications director told CNN that the senator has been fully transparent, noting that he did end up not going along with Cruz and Missouris Josh Hawley in objecting to electoral votes on Jan. 6 from some states Biden won. Roys communications director told the outlet the messages speak for themselves.

The texts are more evidence that the effort to overturn the election was not limited to the Trump administration and the gaggle of hack lawyers it hired to challenge the results. It was actively pushed by a wide swatch of congressional Republicans and conservative activists like Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who texted Meadows furiously in the weeks following the election.

It maybe shouldnt be so surprising that Lee was involved, though. Were not a democracy, he wrote of the United States a month before the election. Democracy isnt the objective; liberty, peace, and prospefity are, he added. We want the human condition to flourish. Rank democracy can thwart that.

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Photo credit: GM

GM and Glencore sign deal for several years of cobalt supply, which is used in the production of Ultium batteries.

The cobalt for EV batteries will be mined from the Murrin Murrin site in Western Australia.

GM is among several automakers moving to secure long-term supplies for battery materials, as EV makers scramble for raw materials instead of relying entirely on suppliers.

General Motors revealed this week it has reached a multi-year deal with mining giant Glencore that will supply the automaker with cobalt from Australia. Crucial to the production of EV batteries, the cobalt will be mined at Glencore's Murrin Murrin site in the northeastern part of the Goldfields region in Western Australia, and used in battery cathodes of GM's Ultium lineup, which includes the Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Hummer EV, and the upcoming Chevrolet Silverado EV.

The multi-year sourcing agreement is the latest in a string of long-term deals between automakers and mining companies for raw materials, including lithium, that are key to uninterrupted battery production, even as automakers race to develop solid-state batteries that do not rely on the same mix of metals as current lithium-ion compositions.

"GM and our suppliers are building an EV ecosystem that is focused on sourcing critical raw materials in a secure sustainable manner," said Jeff Morrison, GM vice president, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain. "Importantly, given the critical role of EVs in reducing the carbon footprint of the transportation sector, this agreement is aligned with our approach to responsible sourcing and supply-chain management."

Photo credit: GM

Glencore and GM are both members of the Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI), with the Murrin Murrin site conforming with the OECD-aligned Responsible Minerals Assurance Process, which sets out due diligence guidance for sourcing minerals from high-risk areas.

The two companies have not disclosed the terms of the agreement, including the annual volume of cobalt the Murrin Murrin site will provide. But given the expected sharp increase in production of Ultium-platform vehicles, with the Cadillac Lyriq launching now, the agreement is expected to be long term.

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"Future-facing commodities like cobalt play a pivotal role in decarbonizing energy consumption and the electric-vehicle revolution," said Ash Lazenby, Glencore U.S. Cobalt marketer and trader. "Glencore is already a leading producer, recycler, and supplier of these commodities, which underpin our own ambition of achieving net zero total emissions by 2050."

GM's agreement with Glencore comes just a few months after the automaker reached a deal with POSCO Chemical to open a new plant for processing Cathode Active Material (CAM), also intended for Ultium battery cells. The POSCO site in Canada, slated to launch in 2024, will supply GM facilities in Lordstown, Ohio, and in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
NANTUCKET  Irish actor Kevin Ryan sat behind iron bars in ragged clothes, his face and hands made grimy by make-up artists, readying to tell fellow prisoners a story of daring battle in Canada that wouldnt be strictly true.

Movie-crew members last week dimly lit the wooden walls of his cell to indicate the bowels of the 18th-century ship in which Ryans character, Ethan Allen, was jailed as director Jay Craven sat just outside, relating the mistakes the famed Vermont founding father had made to get in that predicament.

It was a dark, hushed atmosphere, but on the other side of a black curtain, the scene was very different: A hive of college students and professional crew members filled the brightly lit and equipment-strewn American Legion Hall, talking into headsets, watching monitors, adjusting cords and wires.

Actor Kevin Ryan, playing Vermont founding father Ethan Allen, sits inside a ship's prison as he waits for filming to start on Jay Craven's new movie "Lost Nation." Craven brought dozens of students, actors and crew members to Nantucket over the past few months to make the film, using various parts of the island as Revolutionary War-era cities and locations.

This had become a familiar operation in recent weeks as many of them, working with construction coordinator Jacques Zimicki, had also previously turned part of the Legion space into two different floors of a Black familys Vermont log cabin.

Nantucket was last week finishing up its off-season role as both a movie studio in the middle of the ocean and an island classroom. Months of filmmaking wrapped up on a drama based on little-known Revolutionary War-era history about both Allen and pioneering poet Lucy Terry Prince, the first African American writer to ever be published.

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The story is Lost Nation, Vermont filmmaker Cravens fourth  and possibly his last  movie to use 21st-century Nantucket to represent multiple other towns in multiple other eras. In a time of year when island streets are almost eerily quiet, Craven brought 35 industry professionals (such as a production designer, art director and set decorator) also working as mentors, and 45 students from 14 colleges (including Wellesley, Skidmore, Swarthmore and Bates) to Nantucket for his unique Semester Cinema of experiential learning.

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Starting in January, the students got a liberal arts mix of classes in directing, history, culture, cinema studies, and writing the screenplay. They also started pre-production work right away on costumes, sets, sound, design or other chosen areas. In later weeks, there have been active, long days of moviemaking, with a final professional product of historical fiction that could be viewed by audiences around the country.

We see the transformation (of the students) in front of our eyes as they learn, Craven said, and its the great satisfaction of the project, truly.

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Nantucket as a campus

While Craven lives and bases his Kingdom County Productions company in northern Vermont, his island ties are many, from his past participation in the Nantucket Film Festival to his current annual work on a spring playwriting project with White Heron and local high school students. He has family on Cape Cod and has often shown his films here. This summer, he plans a tour of Cape theaters with Martin Eden, which he filmed on Nantucket through the same student process in 2019.

'Martin Eden': Jay Craven's movie became a Nantucket community project

For Lost Nation, students and professional actors and crews could be found all over versatile, preservation-minded Nantucket this winter and spring, with islanders again helping in various ways.

With the movie taking place between 1775 and 1785, cobblestoned streets and alleys were turned into colonial Philadelphia and New York  including a confrontation between Allen and Alexander Hamilton  and scenes were shot at historical properties that included the Thomas Macy House, the 1800 House, the Quaker Meetinghouse and The Oldest House (the 1686 Jethro Coffin House) that was turned into three different locations.

Movie director Jay Craven, left, talks last week with Michael Kopko, producing director and co-artistic director of the White Heron Theatre Company on Nantucket, before Kopko would play a British prison guard for a scene in Craven's "Lost Nation." He has filmed most of the movie at various Nantucket locations, including on sets largely created by college students in the American Legion Hall.

Many antiques and materials needed were sourced on the island. Base camp was White Heron Theatre, which offered classroom and editing space as well as producing director/co-artistic director Michael Kopko acting a role as Allens British ship jailer. Editing suites at Nantucket Community Television were used for the film, and for documentaries the students were making, including about erosion on Nantucket and what its like to work on the island.

The Nantucket Yacht Club became a dormitory and the industrial kitchen in the parish center at St. Pauls Church in Nantucket became a dining hall.

"It was beyond our expectations for how much fun it's been and how respectful the young people have been," said Father Max Wolf, rector at St. Paul's, where an office became a hair-and-makeup room and a wardrobe department took over the choir dressing room.

Some people involved with "Lost Nation" came to services there and interaction was daily. Wolf even dressed in a colonial outfit to be a background actor for a scene shot at the Quaker Meetinghouse, and the organist played a servant in another scene. Being part of the project has "been a delight for our parish," Wolf said.

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Using the many locations in town created what Lynne Bolton, White Heron president/artistic director, described as a campus feel that her organization hopes to emulate for theater training.

Its a great thing to import (so many) people into the historic downtown in the middle of winter, she said. The students have been wonderful  really engaged, polite and creative. And they've been working and learning, she said, at all times of the day.

Craven talked about how he loves Nantucket and the cooperation and generosity of so many who help on these projects. It easy to see why the credits for Martin Eden, which had been set in the early 20th century, finished with this message: Heartfelt thanks to the town and the people of Nantucket for a hundred daily kindnesses.

Opening new student opportunities

Semester Cinema can be a life-altering experience for the students. Blythe Alger-Meyer, a sophomore at Mount Holyoke College, wasnt a film major but thought this program could help give her some type of bridge to the film industry. She was put on the documentary team with filmmaker Harry Mavromichalis (whose credits include Olympia on actress Olympia Dukakis), and said she learned all aspects from camerawork to sound to editing, and realized this might be an avenue to accomplish her goals.

Karma Bridges, a senior at Spelman College in Atlanta, left, worked on Nantucket as both camera assistant and actress for Jay Craven's film "Lost Nation" as part of an experiential "Semester Cinema" program.

I was hesitant that the film industry wasnt doing enough to help make the world better, Alger-Meyer said in an on-set interview. But it feels like working on documentaries solves that problem. Im from Colorado and Id like to make an environmental documentary about the fires there and climate change.

As the group prepared last week to move to Vermont for more filming (we need hills and we need forests, Craven said), Alger-Meyer said she would miss Nantucket and the work there. I can work 12-hour days and still be in a good mood at the end, she said with a laugh.

Karma Bridges, a senior from Spelman College in Atlanta, had previously acted but applied for Cravens program because when I got to college, I wanted to explore behind the scenes and chose to major in documentary filmmaking. I knew this program would give me an inside scoop on what it would look like on a feature film and all the different careers I could go into.

Last week, Bridges was working inside the black-curtained prison-ship set as the cameras rolled, but she was also chosen after several auditions against professional actors to play Prince's daughter. Lost Nation, Bridges said, turned out to be the best of both worlds.

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From watching the process as an actor in three of Cravens films, Jeff Zinn, a Craven friend and former longtime artistic director at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, called the projects an amazing opportunity though high-pressure environment for students, and a unique and fun situation for actors to work with them alongside top professional crew members.

The result, Zinn said, is a film that is incredibly high quality and very professional at the top level.  I admire (Cravens) ambition and his resourcefulness because he really pulls it off.

Filmmaker Jay Craven talks about Revolutionary War history while sitting next to a dimly lit set for a ship's prison built at the American Legion Hall on Nantucket for his movie "Lost Nation."

History not many people know

The story of Lost Nation is what Zinn called Cravens passion project, and what Craven acknowledged thinking about turning into a movie for more than 15 years. Soon after moving to Vermont in the early 1970s, Craven said, he was injured and spent much of his recovery time learning his new states history, including about Allen.

Craven called Allen an enigmatic Founding Father who was a larger-than-life, flawed but driven character  a political instigator and a risk taker. He tried to seize Montreal with 38 guys and landed in a British prison ship for 2 1/2 years. He was controversial and interacted with better-known patriots and traitors of the time, Craven said, with Allen aspiring himself to have a legacy as a great man.

'CODA': Mashpee cameraman filmed the Academy Award-winning movie in Gloucester

Craven learned Princes story 15 years ago while making a documentary about Vermont. Her poem Bars Fight is considered the first-known piece of African-American literature. A slave since childhood to a western Massachusetts family, Craven said, Princes freedom was purchased by her future husband, and they moved to southern Vermont.

They got caught up in some of the political upheaval, which was magnified by one particular antagonist, a neighbor who just tried to drive them out essentially, he said. The two movie storylines connect thematically, he said, and characters intersect briefly as Vermont was disputed territory between New York and New Hampshire. There was a lot of tension and even violence that was going on and Ethan Allen invaded (the Princes) town twice, Craven said.

Actor Donovan Tolledo, playing a British prisoner during the Revolutionary War, gets "sweat" applied to his face by Alina Barreto during filming on Nantucket last week for Jay Craven's movie "Lost Nation."

He called Prince a very prominent figure that nobody in Vermont knows about, adding that there are very few films  that really focus on the question of enslavement in New England. It was difficult, he said, to find information on Prince because there are so few historical records on accomplishments and lives of women and Black people.

Prince took a case against her harassing white neighbor to the Vermont republic's highest court, he said, and her story is important both because of her writing and because it was so rare for a woman, particularly a Black woman, to be that bold.

A large and expensive project

Craven described Lost Nation as a very, very ambitious project and while he may have had bigger casts and bigger names for his early commercial films  such as Disappearances with Kris Kristofferson and Where the Rivers Flow North with Michael J. Fox and Rip Torn  Lost Nation is the largest for this college hybrid.

There are 43 speaking parts, with most actors transported to the island for their scenes, including Zinn (who played Revolutionary War general and Allen critic Jacob Bailey in scenes shot at the Chanticleer restaurant in Sconset) and movie and TV character actors including Gordon Clapp (NYPD Blue, Eight Men Out) and Rob Campbell (The Crucible, Unforgiven).

The budget will be more than $1 million, and while much was raised through the colleges and about $500,000 through private donations, Craven has a Kickstarter campaign through May 20 for another $100,000.

In the ideal world, this would be a six-part series, but then you get into the question of how movies are financed and how they're not financed and how you would ever be able to develop it in that context, Craven said. But maybe somebody will like it and think Oh, this should be a series. And, in fact, we're shooting enough material for it to be a three-part series.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Ethan Allen's Revolutionary War story the plot of Jay Craven's new movie
Scientists have detected invasive smallmouth bass DNA in a water sample collected along the upper Yellowstone River, just north of Yellowstone National Park. But samples collected along the nearby Gardner River have all produced negative results.

Adam Sepulveda, a research zoologist for the U.S. Geological Surveys Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, said the positive sample came from the spot where an angler reported catching a smallmouth bass on Feb. 19.

The angler did not know what he had caught, so he released the fish back into the river. It was the farthest upstream report of the species ever documented along the upper Yellowstone River, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Genetic material from the positive sample could belong to one fish, or it could belong to multiple fish, Sepulveda said. Bass DNA was not present in any of the water samples collected along the Gardner River.

Environmental DNA sampling is a screening tool for aquatic invasive species like smallmouth bass, but to be confident that a negative result is a true negative result, lots of samples need to be analyzed, according to Sepulveda.

We cant say with 100% confidence that there are no bass in the Gardner River, but we can be very confident there is not an established population, he said.

Smallmouth bass were stocked in the Tongue, Bighorn and Yellowstone rivers between Miles City and Billings in the 1960s up to the 1980s, and since then, the invasive, predatory fish species has steadily been moving upstream.

Over the last seven years, smallmouth bass have been found near Emigrant and near the Highway 89 Bridge, just above the confluence of the Shields and Yellowstone rivers. Scientists do not know where the most recently-reported bass came from.

Sepulveda and other researchers have been trying to determine how far upstream smallmouth bass can establish abundant populations as part of a study that began in 2016.

So far, theyve found no evidence of age-0 bass beyond the stretch of the Yellowstone River between Reed Point and Big Timber, he said.

The researchers initially thought that the factor limiting the fish species upstream establishment was water temperature, but theyve since determined that conditions farther upstream are warm enough to support a bass population, Sepulveda said.

We havent figured out why they are not upstream yet in much higher and more consistent numbers, he said.

Our hypothesis at this point is that it is related to density As one area gets too crowded, you have individuals that move a little bit further upstream to find their own space.

Officials worry that an established bass population could threaten native Yellowstone cutthroat trout in Yellowstone National Park.

In a statement released on March 9, Todd Koel, Yellowstones lead fisheries biologist, said that once the parks fishing season opens on Memorial Day weekend, anglers will be required to kill and report any smallmouth bass that they catch there.

Our goal is to protect native fish populations and natural ecosystems, Koel said. We will do everything in our power to prevent the establishment of smallmouth bass in the park and prevent them from preying on and displacing trout and other native fish.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission is scheduled to vote upon a mandatory catch, kill and report rule for smallmouth bass along a stretch of the Yellowstone River at their next meeting on April 19.

The rule would apply to the Yellowstone River between the border of the national park and the Springdale Bridge Fishing Access Site. It would also expand to the entirety of the Shields River.

Eric Roberts, fish management bureau chief for FWP, said whenever people do catch and report a fish, a lot of times the department will just take the tissues off of the fish that it needs, and then the person can have the fish back to eat it.

Officials have been aware of smallmouth bass in the Yellowstone River for quite a while, but the species movement upstream has been slow, he said.

If you think about where we typically find them  from Big Timber to Emigrant  thats quite a ways upstream. And from Emigrant to the confluence with the Gardner  thats another pretty big jump upstream, he said. Were more inclined to think (this bass) was moved by people as opposed to a natural pioneering of smallmouth upstream.

Catch, kill and report regulations will help the department to get a better idea of how established bass are in the stretch of the river north of the park, according to Roberts.

Otolith samples, or samples taken from the ear bones of fish, can help the department figure out where individual fish originate from, which may inform future management decisions around smallmouth bass.

(Next steps) really depend on how established the population is, Roberts said. If we determine that its still at a really low level, we may keep the catch, kill, report rule in place. If its more expansive than what we expect, we might institute a no-limit rule to allow anglers to harvest as many bass as possible.

Depending on the prevalence of bass, other suppression measures  like netting or electrofishing  could be used, but they also may impact the cold water fishery.

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Barrington School Board announces new Interim Superintendent of Schools

Deannah Rae

BARRINGTON  The Barrington School Board announced that Deannah Rae has been appointed to serve as Interim Superintendent of Schools for the Barrington School District effective July 1.

Rae has served in many key administrative roles since joining the district in 2014. Raes progressive experience began as the ECLC Principal and has led to her current role as Director of Student Services. In 2021, Rae was the recipient of the Barringtons Champion for Children Award, which recognizes outstanding involvement and support of the children and families in the Barrington School District.

Rae is a resident of Barrington and proud parent of two sons currently enrolled in high school and college. Prior to joining the Barrington School District, she taught at all levels from early childhood education to high school. She also brings a range of previous administrative experience including principal and adjunct professor.

School Board Chair, David Gibson, stated that We [the Barrington School Board] believe that Deannahs relevant experience, dedication to academic excellence, alignment with Board priorities, and deep understanding of the Barrington community will be integral to the district in the coming school year.

Im dedicated to this district and its success. said Rae. Barrington has invested so much in me, and Im very grateful for that. I want to give back to this community that has given me so much. I am excited for this new opportunity and look forward to the journey ahead.

Drew Bairstow named Cooperative Middle School Principal

Drew Bairstow

EXETER  The Exeter Region Cooperative School Board voted unanimously to hire Drew Bairstow, of Dover, as the new principal of the Cooperative Middle School. With 21 years of experience as an educator, Bairstow, who is currently the principal at Lincoln Street School in Exeter, assumes his new role as CMS principal on July 1.

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"We are so proud of the growth that Mr. Bairstow has led over the last seven years at Lincoln Street School and the positive impact that he has made with the students, families and community, said SAU 16 Superintendent Dr. David Ryan. He has a proven record of data-based decision-making, collaborating with staff in the change process, empathic leadership, technology integration, expanding professional staff knowledge and skills, and more in his 21 years in education. His experience as a middle school teacher and elementary principal makes him an ideal candidate to lead CMS.

As CMS principal, Bairstow will be responsible for providing leadership in all aspects of instructional programming and teaching practices for student learning, continuing strong relationships with parents and the community involvement, and managing the operations of the school including budget, staffing, etc. He will also have the unique opportunity of reconnecting with many past students from Lincoln Street School who are now at CMS.

Prior to serving as principal of Lincoln Street School, Bairstow was principal at the Fred C. Underhill School in Hooksett for four years and assistant principal at Hooksett Memorial School for three years. Before his educational leadership positions, Bairstow fulfilled various roles in multiple school districts in New Hampshire as a middle school reading and language arts teacher, special education instructional assistant and an English teacher in Thailand.

"I have enjoyed my time at Lincoln Street School working to foster a culture of learning and respect and building positive interpersonal relationships with all members of the community, said Bairstow. I am committed to dynamic methods of leadership with the best interest of children in mind. While I will miss my Lincoln Street School family immensely, I am thrilled to continue to serve in SAU 16 and cant wait to begin working with the students, families and faculty at Cooperative Middle School.

Bairstow earned both his Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Communications from Keene State College, Master of Education in Education Administration from Rivier College in Nashua and will soon earn a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Education Leadership at New England College in Henniker. He also earned principal and elementary education certifications in New Hampshire. Bairstow has lived in N.H. for more than 20 years and currently resides in Dover with his wife and children.

Cooperative Middle School, part of SAU 16, in Stratham, N.H. was originally built in 1998 and is home to 1,200 students in sixth, seventh and eighth grade from Brentwood, Exeter, East Kingston, Kensington, Newfields and Stratham.

Five rural schools selected for TeachUNITED customized supports

CONCORD  The New Hampshire Department of Education announced its new partnership with TeachUNITED, which will provide five rural schools in New Hampshire with individualized professional development for their leadership teams and educators.

Schools were selected for this unique opportunity based on their need and instructional improvement goals articulated in their applications. Awardees include Barnard Elementary School in South Hampton, Stevens High School in Claremont, Northwood Elementary School in Northwood, Cornish Elementary School in Cornish and Strong Foundations Charter School in Pembroke.

The focus of the program is to transform practices, engage youth and form professional learning communities within Rural Education Achievement Program school districts.

Designed for both teachers and school leaders, the coaching program highlights strategies for growth mindset, data-driven instruction and personalized and blended learning.

The initiative aims to empower rural district leaders and educators to master the most effective and impactful methods for supporting sustainable improvement in the classroom. The project is funded with Title II Part A of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and totals $170,000 through June 2023.

Portsmouth Career Technical Center students head to national competition

Left to right are Jade Remick and Zoe Morin

PORTSMOUTH  They have been waiting for news since late winter and on Friday, April 8, the news and the awards came pouring in. Following leadership and skills competitions at Southern New Hampshire University our local Educators Rising NH students have been anxiously awaiting the news of state level placements and learned they had placed in five competitions.

Congratulations to the following students: Riley Diemer, Mackenzie Leonard, and Kailyn Richards who were our states 1st place team for Ethical Dilemma;

Kendall Jaggars placed 5th in Childrens Literature Pre-K through Kindergarten

Ryan Scarlotto placed 3rd in Creative Lecture

Mackenzie Leonard placed 1st in Exploring Career Support Services

For the Job Interview competition, Katie Law placed 2nd, Jade Remick placed 3rd, and Zoe Morin placed 5th.

Left to right are Riley Diemer, MacKenzie Leonard, Kailyn Richards

All of the students that placed will have the opportunity to travel to the Educators Rising National Conference in Washington D.C. June 24 to June 27. They will be fundraising in order to support their national travel. If you would like to support the students in attaining their fundraising goals, contact their advisor Carla Frank via email at cfrank@sau52.org.

Zoe Morin had this to say of her success in the Educators Rising NH competitions, This was my second year participating in Job Interview. This event has helped me polish my resume and cover letter. I feel ready and comfortable for a job interview in their real world.

Left to right are Ryan Scarlotto, Jade Remick, Katie Law

Ryan Scarlotto said, I was honored to win 3rd place in the Creative Lecture event this year. The process was a great experience and I truly enjoyed presenting to the judges. I hope to improve my Ted Talk for nationals and I will strive for 1st place.

Kendall Jaggars

Mackenzie Leonard

Educators Rising NH Advisor and State Executive Director Carla Frank commented on her students' success, COVID has been a tough time for students and I am especially proud of my students for going the extra mile to not only put together their events but step outside their comfort zone and compete. The time that was spent preparing and prepping for these events was all done outside of class time. I am extremely proud of the work they accomplished and look forward to traveling to the national conference with them.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Schools announce new hires, Tech students head to Nationals: Seacoast education news
England came up against a wall of resistance on day three of their second Test against the West Indies, managing just two wickets in two sessions in Barbados.

Having enjoyed batting on a flat pitch, racking up 507 for nine declared, the tourists were unable to coax much joy out of it with the ball as Kraigg Brathwaite and Jermaine Blackwood held them off with a defiant stand.

After dismissing Shamarh Brooks and Nkrumah Bonner before lunch, England drew a blank in the afternoon as the hosts reached 196 for three.

Brathwaite was unbeaten on 79, having dug in for 242 balls, with Blackwood 50 not out from 116.

England will rue their failure to take a chance on DRS when Blackwood was still on nought, Ben Stokes waving away the idea of referring his own lbw appeal only for replays to show the ball taking out leg stump.

Despite the match being just over halfway through, there will already be fears that the teams are heading for a second-successive stalemate following last weeks draw in Antigua.

Englands weight of runs, and the West Indies relatively-restrained scoring rate, still gives Joe Roots side a chance to push the envelope but in conditions as benign as these, there is plenty of hard work ahead.

England celebrated the dismissal of Nkrumah Bonner (Ricardo Mazalan/AP)

With a weight of first-innings runs to play with, Root tossed the ball to Jack Leach first up and invited him to work away on an aggressive line with close catchers in place.

Leach was asking all the right questions with the gentle turn he was able to find only to strike with a rare loose delivery.

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Sensing a chance to score off a short ball, Brooks leant back and sliced a catch to Chris Woakes at backward point, giving away a hard-working 39.

But with Brathwaite looking in assured touch and Bonner, last weeks player of the match, joining him, England had a challenge on their hands.

Looking to make inroads in the afternoon session  Match Centre: https://t.co/N282Bi8Apj  #WIvENG  pic.twitter.com/v26dHjubbT  England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 18, 2022

Bonner had faced 493 balls for one dismissal in Antigua and swiftly took his tally past 500 before picking up the first boundaries of the day in the 14th over. Leach conceded both, straying down leg before offering up a half-volley, to end an otherwise searching spell.

That brought Stokes into the attack and he was elated to win a decision against Bonner, pogoing up and down in celebration.

He was made to wait for DRS confirmation and might have felt a touch fortunate that the third umpire ruled in his favour. UltraEdge appeared to raise the possibility of a concurrent inside edge but Nigel Duguids decision was allowed to stand.

Matthew Fisher (right) unsuccessfully appealed for the wicket of Kraigg Brathwaite (Ricardo Mazalan/AP)

Stokes would have picked up Blackwood for a duck had he referred another appeal against the new batter, but the bowler turned his back on a discussion with Root, seemingly convinced it was a dud. Replays duly showed Blackwood being struck clean in front of leg.

The West Indies added 82 without further drama in the afternoons play. Brathwaite grinding slowly towards three figures and Blackwood bringing up his half-century just before tea.

It was a day of steady but joyless work for debutants Matthew Fisher and Saqib Mahmood, both of whom were used more than Woakes, who was afforded just four overs before the second new ball arrived.
Ethan the Dog

Courtesy of Jeff Callaway

Life just keeps getting better for Ethan the dog.

The mastiff first made headlines in January 2021, when he was left in the Kentucky Humane Society (KHS) parking lot more than 50 pounds underweight and on the brink of death. Unable to walk or even lift his head, vets estimated that he had a less than 10 percent chance of survival.

Despite the odds, Ethan recovered as tens and thousands of fans followed his journey on social media. Today he is healthy, happy, and living with a KHS staff member, Jeff Callaway.

Ethan now goes to work at the humane society with Callaway every day, comforting and interacting with sick animals who are recovering from anything from spaying or neutering to limb removal. He recently supported another KHS dog named Travolta through his recovery after he too was found abandoned and severely emaciated.

"He loves all animals," Callaway told Southern Living. "Cats and dogs alike."

Ethan's trauma and miraculous recovery has made him a poster child for pet adoption and shelter pets. His good work and ambassadorship haven't gone unnoticed. Last week he was nominated for a 2022 American Humane Hero Dog Awardthe most prestigious honor in the world of doggy do-gooding.

"Whether its saving lives on the battlefield, lending sight or hearing to a human companion, or locating missing persons, dogs do so much to improve and even save our lives every day," Dr. Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of American Humane, said in a news release. "The Hero Dog Awards is our way of celebrating the power of the human-animal bond, which has been a core part of our organization's mission for 145 years. We hope you will join us in recognizing our nation's furry heroes."

The seven categories for 2022 include Law Enforcement and Detection Dogs, Military Dogs, Therapy Dogs, Service Dogs, Shelter Dogs, Search and Rescue Dogs and Guide/Hearing Dogs. Ethan is nominated in the Shelter Dogs category.

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This fall, the top dog in each category will appear at the star-studded Hero Dog Awards gala on November 11 in Palm Beach, Florida and one of the seven will be named the 2022 American Hero Dog.

WATCH: Ethan the Dog Uses Second Chance at Life to Inspire Others, Bring Comfort to Sick Animals

Dog lovers across the country are invited to visit herodogawards.org and vote once per day for their favorite contender in each of the seven categories. After the first round of voting ends on May 18, 21 semi-finalists (the top three in each category) will move on to the second round of voting.

Good luck to Ethan and to all the other very good boys and girls.
Demonstrators listen to speeches at a rally at Jefferson Square Park in downtown Louisville, Ky., Friday, March 4, 2022. A day earlier, a jury cleared former Louisville police Officer Brett Hankison of charges that he endangered neighbors when he fired shots into an apartment during the 2020 drug raid that ended with Breonna Taylors death.

No-knock warrants have become a national concern following the killing of Breonna Taylor and Amir Locke by police executing those types of warrants. Judges are the ones to sign off on no-knock warrant requests and rarely question the merit of them, according to an investigation by The Washington Post. Though the warrants arent meant to be used often, they have become common for drug searches, often leading to fatal interactions.



Criminal justice experts found police carry out thousands of no-knock warrant searches a year with little monitoring from their agencies. However, there is no exact number of how many warrants are executed. WashPo reported none of the 50 state court systems keep track of the use of no-knock warrants nor do any state government agencies keep track of the people harmed or killed during the raids.

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WashPos database of police shootings found 21 no-knock raids have killed 22 people since 2015. Of those 22 people, 13 of them were Black or Hispanic.

More on The Washington Posts investigation:

The full tally of fatalities from no-knock warrants is unknown: The Post database includes at least 24 other searches that ended in fatal shootings of civilians, but court officials and police departments were unable or declined to provide records clarifying whether the raids involved no-knock warrants. In 2017, the New York Times examined SWAT team raids and found that at least 81 civilians and 13 officers had died from 2010 through 2016 in searches that involved both no-knock warrants and knock-and-announce warrants. The requirements for no-knock warrants may vary by jurisdiction, but are generally guided by a 1997 Supreme Court opinion involving a forced-entry search by police. The court ruled that police seeking to conduct these searches must have a reasonable suspicion why knocking and announcing could be dangerous or result in the destruction of evidence. Police are generally expected to make this argument to judges when seeking approval for a no-knock warrant.

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The investigation included interviews from people who defended the raids and those who experienced them first hand. Marlon ONeal of St. Louis was asleep in his basement when he was awakened by who he thought were intruders. SWAT officers had flooded into his home and the home of one of his neighbors who was shot and killed by one of the officers, per WashPo.

Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said no-knock warrants carry a negative stigma. In reality, theres a whole lot of assessment that goes into determining whether a no-knock warrant is going to be executed, said Yoes.

However, a few states have placed limitations on no-knock warrant policies following fatal interactions including Maryland, South Carolina and most recently Minnesota following the shooting and killed of Amir Locke.

The whole system has devolved into a perfunctory bureaucracy that doesnt take any care or due diligence for how its done. That wouldnt be as big of a deal, except that were talking about a really extreme policing approach  breaking into peoples homes with a surprise entry with the possibility of finding evidence, said Peter Kraska, professor at Eastern Kentucky University professor who has studied no-knock raids for over 30 years via WashPo.
Apr. 15Authorities have extradited a California man nearly five years after he allegedly shot three teens, killing a 14-year-old, during a drug deal outside a restaurant in Southeast Albuquerque.

Derreck Flocco, 32, was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center on Wednesday.

He was brought to New Mexico to face charges of shooting at or from a motor vehicle resulting in death and conspiracy to commit distribution of marijuana in the July 21, 2017, death of Martin Recio.

The Albuquerque Police Department announced in June that Los Angeles police had arrested Flocco on unrelated charges and he would be extradited to New Mexico.

Flocco had been a fugitive since 2019, when he was indicted by a grand jury in Recio's death.

Authorities say Flocco shot Recio and two of his friends in the parking lot of the Dion's pizza restaurant near Gibson and University SE. The three were taken to a hospital, where Recio later died.

According to court records, Flocco shot all three boys during a drug deal.

Prosecutors say Flocco had "very limited ties" to New Mexico and had traveled to the state to oversee a drug deal when the shooting occurred.
The first bus carrying migrants processed by federal immigration authorities in Texas arrived in Washington on Wednesday, part of Gov. Greg Abbott's new policy to provide migrants with free transportation to the nation's capital.

The migrants, who are from Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, were dropped off blocks from the U.S. Capitol, according to Abbotts office, adding that a second bus is en route to Washington. Fox News reported that the migrants originally boarded the bus in the Del Rio area.

Abbott launched the effort in response to the Biden administration's plans to end the pandemic-era Title 42 program, which authorized immigration officials to expel migrants, even those seeking asylum.

More: Gov. Abbott said migrants will be bused to Washington. Then his office clarified his remarks.

"As the federal government continues to turn a blind eye to the border crisis, the State of Texas will remain steadfast in our efforts to fill in the gaps and keep Texans safe," Abbott said in a statement Wednesday after the bus arrived in Washington. "By busing migrants to Washington, D.C., the Biden Administration will be able to more immediately meet the needs of the people they are allowing to cross our border. Texas should not have to bear the burden of the Biden Administrations failure to secure our border."

Abbott also tweeted: Biden refuses to come see the mess hes made at the border. So Texas is bringing the border to him.

First Texas bus drops off illegal immigrants blocks from US Capitol in Washington, DC.



Biden refuses to come see the mess hes made at the border.



So Texas is bringing the border to him.https://t.co/wHZkwnD305  Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) April 13, 2022

More: 'Its going to affect all of us': Frustration grows as trucks block Texas-Mexico border

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Who is paying to charter Texas-Mexico border migrants to D.C.?

After Abbott announced the directive last week at a news conference in Weslaco, his office later clarified that the bus trips are voluntary and those eligible for the trip must have been processed and released by federal immigration authorities.

Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to facilitate and coordinate the logistics of chartering buses to take migrants to Washington.

The agency has not responded to the American-Statesmans questions regarding which charter companies have been hired for the trips to Washington, how much the effort is costing and where the money is coming from.

Fox News aired live footage of migrants stepping off the charter bus outside of a building that houses multiple news organizations, including Fox News, NBC News, and CSPAN, according to Fox anchor John Roberts.

The first bus of illegal immigrants from Texas arrived near Union Station on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. this morning  23 migrants were on board for the 1700+ mile drive from Del Rio. pic.twitter.com/l8AjGf1hpd  Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) April 13, 2022

Texas Governor @GregAbbott_TX carries out his pledge to transport illegal migrants to Washington, DC. The bus pulled up right in front of the building that houses @FoxNews , @NBCNews and @cspan pic.twitter.com/KsrP04LSuw  John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) April 13, 2022

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's migrant plan criticized

CNN reporter Priscilla Alvarez spoke to some of the migrants, five of whom said they were from Venezuela and had arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday.

They are seeking asylum and were released from custody while they go through their immigration proceedings, Alvarez tweeted. After being released, the migrants said they were offered a bus ride to Washington DC. It was voluntary.

The migrants told Alvarez they were provided with food and water during the 30-hour journey, and that many were planning on traveling to other U.S. cities from Washington.

Many conservatives have applauded Abbott for initiating the program.

U.S. Rep. Roger Williams, R-Austin, reacted to the news of the first bus arriving in Washington, tweeting: "Under President Biden's open-border agenda, every city is now a border city. Texas should not bear the burden of Democrats' failed immigration policies."

Under President Biden's open-border agenda, every city is now a border city.



Texas should not bear the burden of Democrats' failed immigration policies. https://t.co/piyedu16Dv  Rep. Roger Williams (@RepRWilliams) April 13, 2022

However, other Republicans responded with more skepticism, including state Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, who called it a gimmick.

Democrats and immigrant rights organizations have widely denounced Abbotts initiative, labeling it a political stunt.

Greg Abbott sending a bus full of migrants to Fox News HQ proves what we already know: Operation Lone Star is nothing more than a taxpayer-funded publicity stunt.



Texans deserve better. #txlege #AbbottFailedTexas https://t.co/xgw1pHWLPZ  Texas Democrats (@texasdemocrats) April 13, 2022

Of *course* Greg Abbott ordered the bus with migrants on it to show up in front of Fox News headquarters here in DC. It's an incredibly dehumanizing and cynical stunt, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, wrote in a Twitter thread.

Abbott's plan is, ironically, 95% of the way to a good idea. It's the last 5%, where the drop-offs are deliberately in front of Fox News HQ and local NGOs aren't notified, that turns it from a good idea to a deliberate cruelty that treats human beings like pawns. Disgusting.

When asked at a press briefing to respond to the bus arrival, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: "These are all migrants who have been processed by CBP and are free to travel, so it's nice the state of Texas is helping them get to their final destination as they await their outcome of their immigration proceedings. And they're all in immigration proceedings.

Edna Yang, co-director of the immigration rights nonprofit American Gateways, said that while the program is technically legal as long as the migrants voluntarily agree to the trip after having been processed by federal authorities, its not necessarily a viable or practical solution to the issues at the southern border.

It seems kind of confusing and counterintuitive, Yang said. It really should be, you know, This is how you apply for asylum. Here are your legal rights. This is what you're entitled to. Do you have community and family here in the United States, how can we help you rejoin that community and family so that you have stability and safety and that you're able to access our justice system in the manner that you are allowed to do so under our laws?

Yang said that federal authorities typically don't provide free transportation for asylum-seekers to cities across the country after they are released from custody. She says generally it is nonprofit and aid organizations that provide resources for migrants, including transportation to connect with family or other community members in the U.S.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: First bus of Texas-Mexico border migrants arrive in Washington, D.C.
Comedy Central

For his latest segment exposing card-carrying members of the MAGA cult, The Daily Shows Jordan Klepper ventured to this years CPAC in Orlando, Florida, where former President Donald Trump still appeared to have conservatives in a stranglehold.

At the conference, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) claimed the election was stolen; MyPillow conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell had a meltdown after being asked a simple question by a reporter; and Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin a genius for invading Ukraine. But Klepper was more interested in those who worship the former reality-show host.

I like how hes funny, one younger-looking fellow in a blazer said. The 2015 debate, he was like Little Marco, Youre fat, Youre stupid. I just loved it. I felt like his personality was my personality.

He had a 15-year-olds sense of humor, replied Klepper.

Exactly. But that is I loved that, the guy said.

So you wanted a 15-year-old as president and you got one, added Klepper.

A hundred percent, he responded.

Another woman alleged that the Democratic Party want to destroy the neutral [sic] family, claiming that you cant use the words mother, father.

When Klepper asked the woman, Am I gonna get in trouble if I use the word mother or father? she explained, Theyll try to correct you.

Bill Mahers HBO Special #Adulting Is Where Comedy Goes to Die

After observing a Trump sex swing and a gold statue of the ex-president, Klepper encountered an animated guy in a white Make America Great Again hat and a Biden Loves Minors T-shirt who said hes worried about schools indoctrinating kids into being transgender by placing the transgender pride flag in classrooms. He went on to say that the colors of the flag could be confusing to young kids, before admitting he had no idea what the colors of the flag are.

Then a man in a red MAGA hat was pressed by Klepper: When [Trump] called Vladimir Putin a genius, was that him being tough?

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I think he has a way of playing with words and then he gets the media riled up, the guy rather unconvincingly replied.

How Daily Show Contributor Jordan Klepper Became the King of Humiliating Trump Fans

Toward the end of the segment, Klepper found himself fascinated by CPAC attendees obsession with Hungary, which has moved far to the right under leader Viktor Orban. So Klepper traveled to Budapest to found out what the deal is.

For that, youll have to wait till his special Hungary for Democracy, airing April 21 on Comedy Central.

For more, listen to The Daily Shows Jordan Klepper on The Last Laugh podcast.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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The Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

Sweden and Finland are expected to apply for NATO membership in the coming months.

In response, Russian threatened to destroy the idea of a "nuclear-free Baltic."

Russian politician Dmitry Medvedev said on Telegram on Thursday the "balance must be restored."

Russia threatened to destroy the idea of a "nuclear-free Baltic" if Sweden and Finland end up joining NATO.

The Deputy Chairman of Russia's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said in a statement on Telegram on Thursday that there will be "no more talk of a nuclear-free Baltic" if the two countries decide to join the military alliance.

"There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic  the balance must be restored," he said.

"Until today, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to. If our hand is forced, well ... take note it was not our suggestion," he added. He did not specify where this would happen or what measures could be implemented.

His comments come a day after Swedish and Finnish prime ministers, Magdalena Andersson and Sanna Marin, met in Stockholm on Wednesday.

Marin then told reporters Finland will decide whether to apply to join Nato within "weeks, not months" adding that she saw no reason to delay the decision, The Guardian reported.

Andersson did not give a time frame but the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported on Wednesday that she was aiming to apply for membership by June at the latest.

Finland and Sweden are militarily non-aligned but Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has prompted public support in the countries for joining NATO.

Alexander Stubb, Finland's former prime minister, told Insider's Sinead Baker that he wasn't worried about Russia mounting a serious attack on his country because "Russia's military has been so weak in Ukraine already." He spoke to Insider before Russia made the threat of nuclear weapons.

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Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas told reporters Thursday that Medvedev's threat was confusing because Russia already has nuclear weapons in the Baltic region, according to Reuters.

"The current Russian threats look quite strange, when we know that, even without the present security situation, they keep the weapon 100 km from Lithuania's border," the minister said, as per Reuters.

"Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad ... the international community, the countries in the region, are perfectly aware of this ... They use it as a threat," he added.

Both Sweden and Finland have received public assurances from the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, according to The Washington Post.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A Spanish Civil Guard officer stands by the Tango in Palma de Mallorca on April 4, 2022. AP Photo/Francisco Ubilla

The US seized sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg's $90 million yacht in Spain on April 4.

Andrew Adams, director of the KleptoCapture inter-agency task force, broke down the seizure in a WaPo Q&A.

The US was "in some ways lucky" the 255-foot vessel was moored in a Spanish port, he admitted.

On April 4, the US seized a $90 million superyacht which it said belonged to sanctioned Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. It was the first yacht seized by the US under sanctions aimed at hurting wealthy Russians with links to Vladimir Putin.

Vekselberg, whose net worth Bloomberg puts at around $16.4 billion, is chairman of the metals, mining, and energy conglomerate Renova Group. He was sanctioned by the US in 2018 and again in March after Russia invaded Ukraine, with the Tango and his private aircraft designated as blocked property.

The 255-foot Tango was seized at the Marina Real in Palma De Mallorca, Spain, by Spain's Civil Guard and officials tied to KleptoCapture, a task force set up in early March by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) to seize the assets of sanctioned Russians.

In a live question and answer session with The Washington Post, Andrew Adams, director of KleptoCapture, detailed how and why his task force seized the vessel.

Making the case

The DOJ said Vekselberg bought Tango in 2011 but hid his ownership using shell companies to "avoid bank oversight into US dollar transactions related there." It said Vekselberg and people working on his behalf continued to make US dollar payments through US banks for the support and maintenance of the yacht, without obtaining the required license after he was sanctioned.

Adams said: "After having developed probable cause to demonstrate that the yacht was, in fact, the proceeds of sanctions evasion, as well as an asset involved in money laundering transactions, the mechanics get even more complicated."

However, he said the US was "in some ways lucky that the vessel was sitting where it was," in a "friendly port" in Spain.

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"The Spanish authorities have been for years particularly adept in the investigation and in asset seizures and freezing in the area of Russian organized crime," Adams said. "So, we knew that we had a good partner to work with in Spain."

Seizing the Tango

Adams said US officials had to obtain a domestic seizure warrant from a magistrate judge and have it effected in Spain. The DOJ said a Spanish prosecutor obtained a freezing order from a Spanish court following a request from the US, as part of a bilateral treaty for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters.

"Once we had the warrant in place, the efforts then become one to physically seize the boat" and execute a search warrant, Adams told The Post. Agents from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations were on site to help with the search and the seizure, he said.

Adams said the US had to maintain the yacht and keep it in good order. He said that yachts can become forfeitable through criminal cases, "which remains a possibility in this instance."

"There will be more to come with respect to this yacht before the United States can fully and finally divest Mr Vekselberg of his interests yet," Adams said.

He added that he wasn't ruling out the possibility that some of the forfeiture from the yacht could be given to Ukraine.

Read the original article on Business Insider
(Adds Kim Jong Un visit to mausoleum, national meeting)

By Josh Smith

SEOUL, April 15 (Reuters) - North Korea celebrated the 110th anniversary of the birth of late founder Kim Il Sung on Friday with fireworks, a procession, and an evening gala in Pyongyang's main square, with thousands of people in colourful traditional dress singing and dancing.

"The Day of the Sun" is North Korea's biggest annual public holiday. Kim, who died in 1994, founded the authoritarian regime now led by his grandson, Kim Jong Un.

This year's holiday marks 110 years since Kim Il Sung was born on April 15, 1912, and North Korea typically stages bigger celebrations on every fifth and tenth anniversary.

Leader Kim Jong Un visited his grandfather's mausoleum, and attended a "national meeting and a public procession" in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square, but gave no reported public remarks. A senior official spoke at the meeting, saying that North Korea would overcome all difficulties and always emerge victorious, state news agency KCNA said.

State media aired live footage of an evening gala in Kim Il Sung square after sundown on Friday, but gave no sign of an anticipated military parade.

Other earlier events included concerts, art exhibitions, and ideological seminars. A light festival opened in downtown Pyongyang, with dancing fountains and decorated boats on the Taedong River, KCNA reported.

The festival "artistically depicted" Kim Il Sung's native home and "the sacred mountain of revolution, Mt Paektu," KCNA said. Residents could take photos in front of arches lit with phrases such as "Pyongyang Is Best" and "We Are the Happiest in the World."

North Korea's economy has been battered by the border closures and international sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes, and aid organisations have warned of potential humanitarian crises.

Earlier in the week, Kim Jong Un gifted new apartments to some of his loyal elites, including the country's most famous TV presenter, and attended the opening of a major public housing project.

International monitors had said commercial satellite imagery showed preparations for a military parade in the run-up to the holiday, but there was no confirmation of a parade happening as of Friday evening.

The celebrations come after North Korea resumed testing in March its largest intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), for the first time since 2017, and officials in Seoul and Washington say there are signs it could soon resume nuclear weapons tests too. Major weapons tests are sometimes timed for key holidays. (Reporting by Josh Smith; editing by David Evans and Sandra Maler)
A Mandan man with a history of child sex crimes dating to the early 1990s has been ordered to spend 40 years in federal prison for several new offenses.

Maurice Thill, 60, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Bismarck on Tuesday for failing as a registered sex offender to report international travel, failing to update his sex offender registration, possessing child pornography, traveling with the intent to engage in sexual conduct with a minor, and committing a felony offense against a minor. He pleaded guilty last August.

Thill in December 2019 flew to Madagascar, Africa, without having notified sex offender registration authorities, according to U.S. Attorney Nicholas Chase. When Thill returned in January 2020, he was arrested on a related North Dakota warrant for failing to update his sex offender registration.

Authorities who searched his cellphone found evidence that he had been communicating with minors in Madagascar about sexual activity. They also found child porn and images of Thill engaging in sex with a minor in Madagascar, according to Chase.

Thill was a registered sex offender based on North Dakota convictions for gross sexual imposition in 1990, 1991 and 2004. He also was civilly committed as a sexually dangerous person from 2011-17. He had last updated his sex offender registration on Dec. 13, 2019, three days before his flight to Madagascar, Chase said.

U.S. District Judge Dan Traynor also sentenced Thill to a lifetime term of supervised release, $500 in special assessments and $3,000 in restitution.

Chase in a statement said, This investigation is a great example of coordinated efforts by federal, state and local law enforcement officials and their determined efforts to protect the public from sexual predators, and this sentence effectively ends (the) defendants ability to victimize children."

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Mandan Police Department and the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. State Department.

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WASHINGTON  If the Biden administration was looking for timely affirmation for its new effort to ban untraceable ghost guns, the case against accused New York subway attacker Frank James may stand apart.

Among the crucial pieces of evidence allegedly tying James to Tuesdays stunning attack is the 9 mm handgun recovered at the scene, bearing a serial number that linked the 62-year-old suspect to a 2011 purchase in Ohio.

The gun trace, authorities said, helped elevate James from a person of interest to the prime suspect in the attack in which 10 of the 23 injured suffered gunshot wounds. James was arrested following a sprawling manhunt and ordered detained Thursday pending trial on a charge involving a terrorist assault on the mass transit system.

Who is Frank James?: What we know about Frank James, suspect arrested in the Brooklyn subway shooting

'We got him':Brooklyn subway shooting suspect arrested after calling himself in

Recovered inside a bag that also contained a treasure trove of other materials, including a key to the U-Haul James allegedly rented in Philadelphia and credit cards, the firearm evidence emerged just days after the White House unveiled new regulations requiring manufacturers of self-assembled firearm kits to attach serial numbers so that they, too, can be traced to a purchaser and point of sale.

Brooklyn subway shooting suspect Frank R. James arrested, facing federal terrorism charge

"Here is the perfect example for why this (ghost gun) rule was needed," said David Chipman, the Biden administration's first nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. "I think you would be hard-pressed to find an argument against a (serial number) requirement based on what happened in New York."

Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the James case is a striking illustration of the need for regulation of untraceable firearms amid spiraling violent crime.

Law enforcement officials have long expressed concern about the rise in crimes involving ghost guns. Last year, about 20,000 such weapons were recovered in criminal investigations, a tenfold increase from 2016, the Justice Department found.

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Ghost gun regulations have been proposed on 'untraceable' firearm kits.

Biden's ghost guns regulations: Amid rise of gun violence, Biden unveils 'basic common sense' regulations targeting ghost guns

Merrick Garland:Ghost guns are real guns. And we'll regulate them to save lives.

As an increasing number of the untraceable weapons have surfaced across the country, some states, including California, have enacted laws to require serial numbers to be stamped on firearms. Meanwhile, cities also have mounted their own campaigns in the form of lawsuits and other legal challenges that accuse manufacturers of undermining law enforcement.

The new regulations, which already have drawn opposition from gun rights groups, include requirements to attach serial numbers on ghost guns already in circulation.

Licensed dealers and gunsmiths, for example, will be tasked with attaching serial numbers to any unmarked firearm in their inventories.

William Bratton, a former New York City Police commissioner, said the quick trace of the Glock 17 pistol allegedly used by James "clearly represents an argument" for the new regulations.

In this photo included in a federal complaint against Frank James, the serial number of a Glock 17 pistol appear to be defaced. According to the complaint, the firearm was recovered from the scene of a shooting in a Brooklyn subway station on April 12, 2022.

But he said the vast numbers of such weapons already in circulation, along with likely legal challenges to the new rules promised by groups, including Gun Owners of America, could prolong "the plague" of crimes involving untraceable firearms.

"I think it is too soon to tell what effect this executive action might have," Bratton said. "It could take months. We don't have any idea of how many guns are out there now."

Gun Owners of America have cast the administration's action as an attempt to create a national gun registry, vowing an aggressive legal challenge

"We plan on fighting this tooth and nail in the courts, as well as, in the halls of Congress," the group said earlier this week.

The National Rifle Association downplayed the significance of the gun evidence allegedly linking James to the attack, referring to a bounty of other materials recovered at the scene detailed in accounts of the suspect's arrest.

The fact remains he was apprehended because he was recognized and even made a call to the tip line himself," NRA spokesperson Amy Hunter said. "Any suggestion to the contrary ignores this salient point.

While law enforcement analysts agreed that the subway case highlighted an ideal outcome for serialized guns, they also acknowledged that quick traces to an actual suspect are not always possible, even with appropriately marked weapons.

Brooklyn subway shooting: How 'everyday New Yorkers' say they helped police find Brooklyn shooting suspect

It is not uncommon for investigators to encounter weapons that have been stolen from legal owners. In other cases, records may not be available from licensed dealers that have ceased doing business, even though such businesses are required to submit their records when they close.

In those cases, the initial trace represents only the start of a search for the source of the gun and a suspect.

"It's not always as easy as it appears," said Pasco, who also served as a former ATF official.

A rack of rifles are shown inside a New Jersey gun shop in July 2020. A two-year set of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives records found many of the weapons dealers recommended to lose their licenses instead kept them. The New Jersey shop was not cited in the records reviewed by reporters.

By all accounts, however, the case involving James moved extremely rapidly, aided by an inordinate amount of defining evidence left behind by the alleged shooter, including the gun.

Within 12 hours of the attack, federal authorities completed the gun trace, said John DeVito, chief of ATF's New York Field Division. A photograph of the weapon included in court documents, showed scratch marks on the serial number indicating that "an attempt was made to deface the serial number,"

"We tied that gun utilized in the shooting to our target, and now we have our target in custody," DeVito said at a briefing following James' Wednesday arrest.

Chipman, whose nomination to head the ATF was withdrawn in September amid strong opposition by Republicans and gun rights groups citing his work for gun control advocates, said there should be no argument against regulations that might assist in the quick identification against similar targets.

In this Sept. 25, 2019 file photo, David Chipman, a former federal agent and adviser at the gun control group Giffords, speaks at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on assault weapons on Capitol Hill in Washington. The White House will withdraw the nomination of Chipman, a gun-control advocate to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after he ran into bipartisan opposition in the Senate, a person familiar with the decision said Thursday.

He suggested that basic gun regulations should follow the lead requiring vehicle manufacturers to attach identification numbers to its products. In the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the 1995 attack on the Oklahoma City federal building, vehicle identification numbers recovered from rental vehicles carrying the explosives were key to pinpointing the bombers.

"If we regulated guns like cars, we give law enforcement the ability to hold people accountable," Chipman said.

Contributing: Michael Collins

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is Brooklyn subway shooting a case for Biden's ghost gun regulations?
Apr. 15A car crashed into the front porch of the Westbrook Inn on Cumberland Street just after 1:30 a.m. Friday, causing damage to the structure and forcing occupants to find other temporary shelter until repairs can be completed.

The driver, who had to be extracted from the vehicle, suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to Maine Medical Center for treatment, the Westbrook Fire Department said.

The Westbrook Inn is a nine-unit apartment building.

The crash occurred about 1:35 a.m., and severely damaged the front porch of the building, blocking its entrance, according to a statement. All residents were evacuated safely and spent the night at the Westbrook Community Center. It was not immediately clear how many people required emergency shelter.

The Red Cross is helping residents find temporary housing, and on Friday morning the building owner began arrangements to repair the damage, the city said.
Apr. 15As Passover begins Friday evening, the Chattanooga Times Free Press asked four area rabbis to reflect on the meaning of the holiday and the importance of the eight days in the faith tradition.

Each rabbi offered a response to the question: What is the importance of Passover?

Rabbi Keilah Lebell, spiritual counselor and lifecycle officiant

Although the Passover Seder begins in the evening and continues late into the night, we do not put our children to bed or send them off to play. On the contrary, their presence and participation at the Seder are essential to the experience, and even serve to guide it with their questions and interjections. In turn, the effect this ritual meal has on them is profound. By re-enacting the exodus story and incorporating our own particular family stories of struggle, our children learn resilience. Imagining themselves as slaves who became free, they identify with the experience of suffering and the possibility of redemption. They think: "If my ancestors were enslaved and then became free, then I have a right to freedom, too. If Grandma escaped Poland with only the clothes on her back and lived to see her grandchildren, then I can make it through whatever life throws at me." Whether you are Jewish or not, the tradition of Passover invites all of us to tell our children their family stories, to teach them that they are part of a chain of history, and, by virtue of that heritage, they have the muscle memory to face their own present challenges.

Rabbi Craig Lewis, Mizpah Congregation

The great football coach John Madden believed running was key to winning. Furthermore, "to run the ball, you have to have a lead blocker." A lead blocker does not touch the ball but charges through defenders, making space for the ball carrier. As one former player has noted, "You don't go to the Hall of Fame for blocking." It brings no glory. Nevertheless, it is an important position, and as coach Madden taught, it is a key to victory. The ancient Israelites, not known for football prowess, did, according to Jewish tradition, have a lead blocker who opened a path to victory. A midrash [rabbinic legend] speaks of Nachshon ben Aminadav, who, standing between the Sea of Reeds and a charging Egyptian army, bravely marched into the water. Only after his selfless show of faith and devotion did the waters part. Only then could Moses lead the nation to freedom. Nachshon is an unsung hero whose deed should be celebrated. For many of us, this Passover will be the first in nearly three years where we celebrate in large groups. When we sit down to our tables and ask, "Why is this night different from all other nights?" let us remember the Nachshons, the lead blockers, the unsung heroes who, in hospitals, police stations, fire departments, laboratories, factories, stores, all modes of transportation and so many other essential services, have worked so hard and selflessly making space for us to reach this season of freedom.

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Rabbi Shaul Perlstein, Chabad Jewish Center of Chattanooga

'Tis the season of renewal. We see it all around us with the blooming trees and our neighbor's full garbage as they attempt to freshen up their homes with spring cleaning.

Two weeks before the exodus of Egypt, the Jewish people received the first commandment, to sanctify the "new moon." It instructed them to create a lunar calendar that coincides with the seasons of a solar year. At the same time, they were instructed on how to celebrate the Festival of Liberation

There is an obvious difference between the sun and moon in the manner in which they provide light upon the Earth. The sun radiates in the same constant manner, without perceptible change day to day. On the other hand, the moon "renews" itself, or is "reborn" at the beginning of each Hebrew month.

Both these elements are necessary for true liberation and renewal. There are elements that must remain constant and the same. These include belief in G-d and the G-d-given tenets that guide us on how to reveal our true inner G-dly core  our soul.

At the same time, one is expected to generate renewal and resurgence of inspiration and joy in all spiritual matters. To build a personal relationship with G-d, to experience G-d's Torah as if it was given today. To constantly renew and refresh our spiritual pursuit.

On Passover, we celebrate not only our physical liberation but our spiritual freedom as well. Indeed, there really cannot be one without the other.

Rabbi Samuel Rotenberg, B'nai Zion Congregation

"In every generation, each person is obligated to see themselves as if they left Egypt." This principle, stated at every Passover Seder, is key to understanding the importance of the holiday. On Seder night, we relive the exodus through the magic of the Seder, experiencing the feeling of redemption for ourselves, imparting the memory of the exodus to the next generation. To see oneself as if they were personally taken from slavery to freedom only by the grace of God  this is the goal. Perhaps we take our freedom for granted, but not on Passover. To see oneself as if they were personally taken out of Egypt is to see the world through the eyes of one who crossed the Red Sea. It means we look at the world and know  not believe, but know  that miracles are possible. To see oneself as if they were a slave in Egypt means to know what it feels like to be a stranger in a strange land. To welcome the stranger with a heart open to the suffering of others, that is the goal. The importance of Passover is in the story  not in its mere telling, but in knowing you were there.

Contact Wyatt Massey at wmassey@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @news4mass.
In my life, Eric Schuster said, except for my father and father-in-law, there has been no man I respected more than Judge Joseph W. Hatchett.

Schuster is an attorney with Funk & Bolton in Baltimore, specializing in financial law and, specifically, creditor rights. In 1983, after he graduated from Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, he scored a clerkship with Hatchett, who at the time sat in Tallahassee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. (Judges on the 11th Circuit review and rule on cases from Florida, Georgia and Alabama.)

Hatchett was a trailblazing judge. He was the first Black man to sit on Floridas highest court. According to The New York Times, after President Jimmy Carter nominated Hatchett for the federal bench in 1979, he became the first Black man to serve on a circuit that covered the Deep South.

And keep this in mind: Hatchett received his law degree from Howard University in 1959, during the Jim Crow era. When he sat for the Florida bar, he was not allowed to stay in the hotel where the exam was administered.

After two decades as an appellate judge, Hatchett stepped down from the bench in 1999.

He died at age 88 last April.

In the time since then, members of Congress from Florida thought it appropriate to designate the courthouse and federal building on North Adams Street in Tallahassee the Joseph Woodrow Hatchett United States Courthouse and Federal Building. So they introduced a bill to that end in Congress.

Despite severe partisan divisions in Washington, the Senate gave unanimous consent in December, and the measure was expected to sail through the House. Such matters are generally routine.

But, as The Times reported this week, one Republican member of Congress, Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia, objected to the honor, citing Hatchetts ruling in 1999 that allowing prayers at a public school commencement violated constitutional protections of freedom of religion.

Apparently oblivious to precedent  the Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that school prayer violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, and in 1992 that graduation ceremony prayer constituted a state-sponsored and state-directed religious exercise  Republicans soon fell in line with Clyde, a member of the wacko right who once compared scenes from the Capitol insurrection to a normal tourist visit. (Clyde also refused to support giving the Congressional Gold Medal to police officers who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack.)

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In the end, even Republicans who sponsored the courthouse measure voted against it.

Marylanders will not be surprised to learn that Rep. Andy Harris was among the 186 Republicans who voted nay because expecting Harris to do anything decent or effective in Congress is like expecting Back River to turn to honey.

In March, Harris was one of only 16 members of the House, all Republicans, who opposed a bill directing the National Park Service to include in its educational materials the history of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. (The final vote was 406-16.)

Harris mocked and voted against a House measure to remember the 23 victims of a mass shooting in Texas by designating a healing garden in El Paso a national memorial. The measure passed overwhelmingly.

Last week, in the midst of Russian atrocities against Ukraine, Harris joined 62 other Republicans in opposing a House resolution affirming support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and calling on NATO to further its defense of democracy against authoritarianism. (The resolution passed, 362-63.)

When it came to the Florida courthouse name, Harris followed the right-wing herd.

This time, the vote was 238 to 187, falling short of the two-thirds threshold needed for passage. So Republicans killed the bill, apparently because of one ruling Hatchett made, based on Supreme Court precedent, while ignoring his accomplishments. (My request for an explanation for Harris vote went, like earlier requests, unanswered; his staff cant even be bothered to issue a no comment.)

In Baltimore, Eric Schuster read the Times account of how Republicans killed the honor for Hatchett and contacted me.

He was unbelievably smart, Schuster said of the judge. But, more importantly, he was a pioneer, a man of the utmost integrity. That is why I am at a loss for words to understand the actions of the House Republicans.

This is not me venting about political issues. It is me venting about the absence of simple human decency and about the total lack of respect shown for those who stood for justice.

Schuster recalled his interview four decades ago for the clerkship with Hatchett: He said something along the lines of, I can hire only Yale or Harvard Law School graduates if I wanted to, to be clerks. I was neither. But he was looking beyond names of schools and looking for people who could best assist him in his performance of his duties as a judge. I never forgot that.

Schuster shared a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., words he said he often cites: The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Hatchett, Schuster said, was a man who stood tall during times of challenge and controversy. He deserved so much better from this Congress.


MUNCIE, Ind.  The 2021 Delaware County Fair Queen placed in statewide competition recently  against two years' worth of competitors.

Kalyn Melham, a 2018 graduate of Yorktown High School and a junior at Ball State University, was named second runner-up in the Indiana State Fair Queen Pageant on April 10.

2020 Delaware County Fair Queen Kalyn Melham competes in the 2022 Indiana State Fair Queen Pageant on April 10, 2022, ultimately placing at second runner-up.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's competition included county fair queens from both 2020 and 2021. For similar reasons, the contest was postponed from its original dates in January, and ended up split between virtual interviews and prepared speeches early in the year and the in-person events this past weekend, Melham said.

While she appreciated the concern for safety that resulted in the last-minute delay in the original pageant dates, she was happy to have had a chance to actually meet the other 100+ young women involved, Melham said.

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Her goal was to qualify in the top 16 so she could do an interview in person, but she hadn't expected to feel "so blessed" to finish among the top contestants, she added.

At Ball State, Melham is majoring in English studies and minoring in professional writing and vocal performance.

The crowing of Melham's successor as Delaware County Fair queen is barely two months away. Applications are being taken now until May 15 for the 2022 Delaware County Fair Queen Contest. The competition will be at 7 p.m. June 18 at Muncie Central High School.

An informational meeting for anyone interested in entering the contest will be at 7 p.m. April 28 in the Memorial Building at the Delaware County Fairgrounds. Information/application: delawarecountyfair.net or facebook.com/MissDelwareCounty

Contact content coach Robin Gibson at ragibson@gannett.com or 765-213-5855. Follow her on Twitter @RobinGibsonTSP.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Indiana State Fair Queen Pageant: Delaware Co. queen nets 2nd runner-up
Kewanee Park Board President Andrew Verstraete passed out candy to the kids at last weekend's annual Easter egg hunt.

It appears consumers will pay more for eggs this Easter and beyond compared to last year.

A significant drop in production along with strong demand recently pushed wholesale table egg prices to more than $3 per dozen, up 170% from a year ago, according to the CME Groups Daily Livestock Report (DLR).

More: Photos: Despite cool weather, Kewanee kids flock to park district Easter egg hunt

The sharp increase in prices was due in large part to recent outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Nationwide, at least 11 million layers have been lost to the potent virus, according to a CoBank report, while estimates this month suggest total losses could reach 18 million birds, or 5.5% of the layer supply, DLR reported.

The impact of HPAI on the egg production industry has been devastating, which is also what the industry experienced in 2015, DLR authors noted. If 2015 is any guide, we could see more outbreaks and losses in the next two months, further worsening the egg supply situation and pricing.

With USDA reporting new cases of HPAI almost daily and depopulation of operations ranging from dozens to millions of birds, estimating total expected losses remains challenging, according to CoBank.

USDAs weekly shell egg demand indicator showed about five days of inventory on hand at the start of the month, which suggests a snug but not alarmingly tight supply, CoBank noted. However, it does not appear supplies will be able to accommodate the reduction in layers as a result of HPAI outbreaks, especially at a regional level.

More: Kewanee resident eggs on council to allow chickens in town

More: Are other Western Illinois towns squawking about having chickens within city limits?

The outbreak of HPAI is the latest blow to the egg layer industry, which is dealing with skyrocketing feed prices and struggled with a lack of packaging equipment and supplies needed for grocery sales at the height of the COVID pandemic.

U.S. producers have been hard-pressed to align supplies with market demand over the last two years, said Brian Earnest, lead animal protein economist with CoBank.

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The U.S. layer flock typically expands ahead of the surge in demand for Easter and contracts during the summer months, he continued. But recent losses due to HPAI have combined with high feed costs and other challenges that are severely limiting flock size management.

Overall, protein for Easter meals is expected to be more expensive than in years past. The lamb cutout value has averaged more than $6 per pound so far this year, down slightly from a record value of $6.39 per pound last August, but still well above average.

Meanwhile, the wholesale boneless beef ribeye price has averaged $8.43 per pound this year, more than $1 above the five-year average, ham prices remain above the five-year average and broiler prices gained 20% the first quarter of this year to $1.60 per pound, DLR reported.

Losses from HPAI also could affect sales to other countries. The U.S. exported 16.8 million dozen eggs in January, down 35% compared to last year, the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council reported.

And, while the value of chicken and turkey exports increased in January due to higher prices, volumes decreased 4.5% for chicken and 16.2% for turkey.

USDAs world ag supply and demand estimates project broiler sales could decline as higher prices reduce export opportunities. The forecast for turkey exports was lowered due in part to HPAI-related import restrictions to Mexico.

This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.

This article originally appeared on Star Courier: On Easter weekend, eggs are in short supply and 170% more expensive
Apr. 15The BDN Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom, and does not set policies or contribute to reporting or editing aticles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.

The Maine Community College System (MCCS) is an integral part of the ongoing efforts to build and sustain a skilled workforce here in the state. But more importantly, the system's students have proven to be an integral part of Maine's present and future.

Those students  and potential students  need support and encouragement, perhaps more than ever.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the steps taken to address it have taken a significant and unfair toll on students. That, along with a decent labor market, has surely played a role in the decline in student interest and enrollment in higher education. As NPR reported in January, this dip of more than 1 million college students has been acutely felt in America's community colleges.

With that backdrop, the $20 million proposal from Gov. Janet Mills to cover two years of community college tuition for high school graduates from the classes of 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 could do a lot of good  for students and for the state economy. The plan is expected to cover tuition for roughly 8,000 full-time community college students.

"This proposal is about our students, our workforce, our employers, and our future," Mills said in February. "Community college is a powerful tool and my proposal will ensure that high school students most impacted by the pandemic have the opportunity to earn a free college education and enter Maine's workforce with a reliable, good-paying, and in-demand job."

MCCS President David Daigler met with the BDN editorial board recently to discuss the proposal. Daigler said this funding "can address those students who were most impacted by this pandemic."

"And that impact was profound," Daigler added. There should be little doubt about that.

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We've noticed an interesting concern raised against this free community college proposal: That is unfair to those students who have already paid for their own education. This notion sounds an awful lot to us like, "I suffered, so other people must suffer too," which doesn't seem like a great way to approach public policy or our fellow citizens. But Daigler had a better takedown of this fairness argument when we asked him about it.

"It's been remarkable how unfair this pandemic has been to low-income families, people of color and others," Daigler told us. "So the pandemic itself has been terribly unfair."

He emphasized that the free community college proposal is trying to target the rural and most impoverished communities that have been particularly disrupted by the pandemic.

"There are a lot of things that aren't fair," Daigler also told us. "We've got to help the people who need the help now."

The $20 million for this free community college plan is part of Mills' proposed supplemental budget, which is being debated amid a projected $1.2 billion revenue surplus. It would be a single investment in a specific cohort of students, but should it prove successful, it could be worth replicating. That will require the Maine Legislature deciding to move forward with the plan, and the community college system taking steps to track and measure its success for the students it aims to help.

"My heart goes out to this group of students and what they've had to endure, and you know what, the resilience that they don't know that they've built up," Daigler told us. He said that Maine's community colleges can help students understand that resilience and give them the skills to "make them very powerful citizens in our workforce."

That sounds like a worthwhile investment to us, particularly after what these students have been through.
Tier  the Brooklyn, N.Y., brand launched by Nigeria Ealey, Esaie Jean-Simon and Victor James  is opening its first brick-and-mortar store at the Beverly Center shopping mall in Los Angeles on Friday.

Minimalistic and artistic is how Ealey described his vision for the 975-square-foot shop. He, Simon and James launched the label, which offers mens and womens wear, in 2014 while Ealey was an undergrad at Long Island University Brooklyn. Its contemporary, luxury streetwear, he said of Tier.

More from WWD

Often incorporating artwork into their apparel, its no surprise this is reflected in the store, which features paintings inspired by New York City and its boroughs, as well as various objects  from Dr. Seuss Oh, the Places Youll Go! to a New York skyline chess set  creating an intimate in-store experience.

A lot of the store concept came from a lot of my favorite stores and brands growing up and implementing just those things that Ive seen in certain retail spaces as a consumer, said Ealey.

One thing that I always relate back to is going into the [Billionaire Boys Club] ice cream store in SoHo when I was younger, he continued. Instantly when you walk in, it smells like ice cream, literally. And so, with that mind-set  thats another element of adding vision toward your space, right? Even the way it smells. How do people feel when they walk into this space? I thought about the minimalism of the Apple store and how easy it is to process transactions. I looked at one of my other favorite stores, Uniqlo, and the way that they have so much different product, but the way its organized and easy to navigate through.But creatively, I wanted it to feel welcoming. I wanted it to feel like a blend of New York and L.A.

Ranging in price from $100 to $800, in-store shoppers will find some L.A. exclusives, with about 15 new pieces. The Tier Essentials line, a logoed collection of crewnecks, hoodies, sweatpants, shorts and socks in various colors, has been the bestseller, according to Ealey. Tier hats, too, have been popular with fans of the brand  who include the likes of Rick Ross, Carmelo Anthony and Jimmy Butler.

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Im excited to see how the T L.A. hats do because our T N.Y. hats did really well over the past couple of years, he said of the caps, $65 each, which showcase a massive T logo superimposed with the letters N.Y.

Why was L.A. the right move?

It just felt like the perfect time, said Easley. The opportunity presented itself. We have a great community in L.A. as it comes to the brand. It was like, this is now time to not only be in a new market, in a new city, but we already have customers here, people transitioning from New York to L.A. We really want to do a lot of other cities also, but starting here with this, it just made sense for this time.And now that were in the Beverly Center, you know, its also a representation stance  being an independent brand for this long and being able to have our brand now on level seven on the luxury shopping retail floor of the Beverly Center, being kids from Brooklyn with that admiration and having it actualized and visualize, that just shows other people coming up that, Hey, like this is also possible for you. We want to have that impact, culturally.

The brand has partnerships in the works, and Tier will unveil its next collection, Project Five, in September during New York Fashion Week.

My mind-set, Im honestly really in a space of development and growth, he added.
WASHINGTON  A mix of emotions marked the Western North Dakota Honor Flight on Sunday and Monday as 93 veterans toured war memorials in Washington, D.C.

Its the first trip for the new chapter of the Honor Flight Network, which is dedicated to honoring military veterans with an expense-paid trip to the nations capital. In all, 151 people -- vets, escorts, Honor Flight staff and media -- boarded a chartered jet in Bismarck.

At the Vietnam Wall on Monday, vets sketched the names of fallen family and friends, and assisted others in finding names among the 58,318 etched into the surface of the memorial in order of their deaths.

Marvin Boehm, of Mandan, traced his brother Richards name, then the name next to it -- that of the man who would have been Richards best man at his wedding. The two died as they tried to escape enemy fire in 1971.

Its hard to talk about sometimes, Marvin Boehm said, adding as his voice trailed off, Its been 50-some years, but still ...

Vets lined up for photos below the North Dakota area at the World War II Memorial later in the day. Volunteer Carson Fleck picked a spot on a nearby wall to take photos as vets handed cellphones and cameras to him.

This is my favorite part of the whole trip, he said.

For Jim Weaver, an Air Force veteran, the memorial stands as a tribute to those, including his father, who fought in a war effort that Weaver believes made the world what it is today. The Vietnam and World War II memorials both evoke emotions for Weaver, a veteran of the Vietnam era, but the World War II memorial is special because my dad was a veteran, he said. His father died 11 years ago and I didnt make it down to Florida when he died, Weaver said.

A highlight for many on the first day was a welcome by members of the North Dakota National Guards 1-188th Air Defense Artillery unit who are deployed in D.C. Guard members formed an aisle inside Baltimore-Washington International airport, applauding and cheering as the veterans left the airplane.

National Guard members also lined the sidewalk and saluted as the four buses carrying veterans left the airport, capping what Vietnam vet Joe Gross, of Devils Lake, called the best welcome home I ever received. He came home to Fort Lewis, Washington, in 1970 to a greeting that included dirty diapers being flung at him. While he was deployed, his girlfriend lied to others about why he never visited her.

She told her friends I was in prison, he said.

Buses on Sunday shuttled the veterans from the airport to the Iwo Jima Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Honor Flight members watched the changing of guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Silence is required, and one guard during the Honor Flights visit asked a group of youngsters to quiet their footsteps. Guards dont display their rank out of respect to the unknown soldier, whose rank also is unknown.

A guards spot at Arlington is highly regarded. The precision of the guards -- each step silent and covering the same distance -- was not a job Lee Wolf, of Center, would have enjoyed. He was an engineer in Vietnam, building roads and airstrips, and helping locals with water projects -- much different tasks than the young men had at the Tomb.

You gotta be too precise, he said. Im not that kind of person.

The changing of the guard was meticulous, with each step counted and the time between another set of steps measured to the second. But vets heard -- and appreciated -- what some called the drag. Guards cant stop to recognize the veterans, but with a short but audible drag of their foot -- unnoticed by many -- give the vets a show of respect.

Honor Flight members as they left Arlington were approached by a group of visiting high school students. The students sought out as many veterans as they could, just to say thank you.

Veterans also spent considerable time at The National Archives on Monday, where they had a private viewing of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

"It's an amazing thing," said Air Force Veteran Stan Zalumskis, of Bismarck.

Not all the time spent on the tours was solemn. Veterans from different branches dont miss a chance to good-naturedly heckle one another, and no branch is immune. More than once, when someone mentioned the Navy, a Marine would chime in thats the Marines Uber. The Navy man saw it differently, saying Marines cant walk on water. They get their uniforms and their checks from us, a reference to the Marine Corps being a part of the U.S. Department of the Navy.

On the flight home, trip organizer Marty Presler surprised veterans with envelopes containing letters from family members, as well as questions and artwork from school students. The envelope for Wilbert Harsch, an Army veteran from Pick City, included letters from his children and grandchildren.

"It means a lot," he said, eyes swelling with tears.

Hundreds of people including an honor guard and a high school band turned out at the Bismarck Airport on Monday night to greet the veterans when they returned home.

About 200 veterans are on a waiting list for another Western North Dakota Honor Flight, organizers say. Each trip costs more than $160,000, which comes from business and private donations, service organizations and fundraisers.

Reach Travis Svihovec at 701-250-8260 or Travis.Svihovec@bismarcktribune.com

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Encore Beach Club in Las Vegas on April 2, 2022.

LAS VEGAS  The cashier in the hotel lobby shop practically apologized when I asked about the price for a small box of Band-Aid Hydro Seal Blister cushions.

They were $12.95. I had no choice but to swipe my debit card. The free generic band-aids a clerk at another store generously offered a day earlier when she saw me limping didn't do the job.

It was day three of four days at Las Vegas pool parties and my right heel was covered by a blister.

Blame it on poor footwear choices on day one. Las Vegas dayclubs have strict dress codes so I wore what I thought were practical but stylish Steve Madden wedges instead of flimsy Target flip flops.

ONE WEEKEND, 10 VEGAS POOL PARTIES: $50 cocktails, long lines for Snoop Dogg and twerking in thongs

NO SELFIE STICKS, EYE DROPS OR SOCKS WITH SANDALS: 8 crazy entry restrictions at Las Vegas' pool parties

Most Las Vegas dayclubs are tucked away at the back of the resort and require a winding walk through a casino, especially if you park or get dropped off at the hotel entrance. Add in endless time on your feet at the pool party and Band-Aids beckon.

If Las Vegas pool parties  where music festival meets nightclub  are on your next Vegas vacation agenda, these do's and don'ts will help set your expectations and save time, money and, maybe, your feet.

How do you get on a Vegas pool party guest list

Don't buy tickets in advance unless you need a pricey cabana, day bed or bungalow reservations. Get yourself on a guestlist for free admission.

Guest lists abound, especially for women. We used LasVegasNightClubs.com and nocovernightclubs.com and there was no catch. Club promoters also stroll the Strip and hotels with guestlist offers.

Some hotels offer guestlist desks on site. We spotted desks at Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and The Venetian  they tend to set up shop near the parking garage, hotel lobby or near the pool entrance and are easy to spot.

A table offering spots on the guest list for Daylight Beach Club on April 2, 2022.

We wasted $50 by booking two tickets to Wet Republic in advance and couldn't get a refund after we nabbed guest passes in Las Vegas.

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The exception here, especially during busy summer holiday weekends: Purchase tickets if there's a must-see act or dayclub on your list and missing it would ruin the vacation.

Some guest list passes include perks. Many places have expedited entry, saving time. (Elia Beach Club had only a single line, resulting in an hourlong wait to get in to see Snoop Dogg.)

At Daylight Beach Club at Mandalay Bay, the guest list admission included two free drinks on the Friday we visited. Ditto at Circa's Stadium Swim on a busy Monday night and Ayu Dayclub at Resorts World Las Vegas on a Saturday morning. We were supposed to get free drinks at Elia but they ran out of tickets before we got to the front of the line given strong demand for Snoop Dogg.

Video: Las Vegas resort releases ladybugs to attack pests

Read the fine print on your guest list admission, especially as it relates to arrival times. We planned to hit the newly renovated Tao Beach club early Saturday afternoon but our admission said we couldn't arrive until 4 p.m.

Check with your hotel to see if staying there gets you into any of the posh pool parties. We just showed our room key from the Flamingo Las Vegas to get into Drai's Beach Club for free. The Drai's admission came with a free towel, a $5 value. In downtown Las Vegas, a stay at Circa, the D Las Vegas or Golden Gate comes with two free passes to Circa's eye-popping Stadium Swim complex.

Stadium Swim, an amphitheater style pool that its part pool part sports bar, is located at Circa hotel in downtown Las Vegas.

Consider a pool party crawl. The tour we chose from LA Epic Crawls got us expedited admission into both Marquee and Wet Republic, plus a 30-minute party bus ride on the Strip. We paid $112 for two people before tips for the guides. The party started with a buy-one-get-one drink deal at our initial meeting spot at the Tipsy Robot bar inside the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood.

Laura Hill, of Melbourne, Australia, and Keegan Bradley of Austin, Texas, at the pool at Marquee Dayclub in Las Vegas during a pool party tour.

Laura Hill of Melbourne, Australia, books multiple dayclub and nightclub crawls sometimes in the same day, for the camaraderie. She visited Las Vegas twice in the past month to make up for lost time when international borders were closed.

"I just love crawls," she said. "I haven't had to need to meet randoms so far in Vegas because when you go on a crawl you have instant friends."

Don't expect to find a place to sit

Be prepared to stand. Las Vegas dayclubs make their money from cabanas and other exclusive seating areas with hefty food and drink minimums so they hog all the real estate around the generally small pools.

Ask an attendant at Drai's Beach Club about seating options and they'll say: "If it's red, they cost money." The place is a sea of red.

A row of cabanas at Drai's Beachclub in Las Vegas on April 2, 2022.

The only place to sit at most pool parties is on the edge of the pool and those spots fill up quickly when a big entertainer is in the house. The only other option is standing in the pool.

Of the 10 pool parties USA TODAY visited, just two offered free seating on our visit, though one of them you could hardly call a seat.

Stadium Swim at Circa has lounge chairs that are first come first serve, even during the final game of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. (VIP lounge chairs on the top level of the amphitheater cost extra.)

Encore Beach Club also offers padded cushions around its palm trees, but the seats tend to fill fast. Even if no one is seated, expect to find the cushion covered with shoes, coverups or towels.

The Stadium Swim amphitheater pool at Circa Resort and Casino, which is open every day unlike traditional pool parties, offers free lounge chairs on a first come, first served basis.

Eat before you go or prepare to pay a lot to eat standing up. In the sun.

Food choices are a mixed bag at dayclubs and the menu items are usually pricey. The carne asada nachos at Marquee Dayclub were delicious  and $36. A chipotle grilled chicken club at Encore Beach Club was $22. Tao Beach has a $52 crab Rangoon dip with caviar.

The carne asada nachos at Marquee Dayclub at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas resort were delicious  and $36.

Cheaper options are available, including $9 chicken tenders and $8 skinny fries at Drai's Beach Club and $14 for a Waygu beef hot dog at Stadium Swim.

Seats available for general admission guests at Encore Beach Club.

Price isn't the only problem. Since there are no free seats with general admission, there is no place to eat at most places.

A bartender at Daylight at Mandalay Bay said we could order food and eat at the bar but standing was the only option because there are no bar stools.

Encore Beach Club had tables near its food stand, although they were small with little shade and no chairs.

The most comfortable and affordable dining option we found was at Drai's Beach Club. The upscale concession stand counter is covered, has a couple tables (but no chairs) and boasts views of the Las Vegas Strip.

A $22 chipotle grilled chicken club from Encore Beach Club in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas pool parties can be packed. Here's how to manage the crowds

Do go on Friday or Sunday for lighter crowds. The pools we hit in the morning (11 a.m. Friday at Daylight, 11 a.m. Saturday at Ayu and noon on Sunday at Marquee) had little to no lines for entry.

If you have to wait, the guest list line at Encore Beach Club was tops for comfort. It was partially shaded, with fans and water stations to help keep guests cool. The 20-minute wait on a Saturday afternoon wasn't so painful.

At Stadium Swim, lines form inside, a major bonus in the summer.

At Elia Beach Club, in contrast, there was little shade and no water stations in a snaking an hourlong line on a Saturday when Snoop Dogg was the entertainment.

A couple has the pool to themselves at Daylight Beach Club at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Pool generally open at 11 a.m. but the crowds don't arrive until later. .

Don't bring a lot of stuff. Lockers are pricey, ranging from $20 to $75 per day at the pools we visited. But because many pools forbid large bags, guests are often stuck choosing between lugging their items around all day or forking over the money for a locker.

Inflation seems to have hit the pool party lockers. One security guard at Daylight told us the price doubled in the past year, from $20 to $40.

Pack light, too, so nothing is confiscated.

LAS VEGAS POOL PARTY ESSENTIALS: Details on admission, security and drink prices at Encore, Drais and 8 more

The lockers at Marquee Dayclub at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas cost $30 per day on April 3, 2022.

How hot is Vegas in the summer?

Slather yourself in sunscreen and stay hydrated. Shade is scarce  unless you pay up for it. Some cabanas and daybeds keep guests cool, but they can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Those $13 water bottles at the pool may be costly, but they're well worth it since mixing alcohol and heat can be a recipe for disaster. If you want to avoid buying an overpriced bottle of Fiji at the bar you can try asking for a cup of ice at the bar and filling it up at a water fountain. Some pools do offer free water stations.

Staying hydrated is always important in the Las Vegas heat (temperatures can exceed 110 in the summer), but it's even more crucial when day drinking. USA TODAY reporters witnessed visitors getting sick and fainting during a weekend trip to pool parties, and one Uber driver said he refuses pick-ups at pool parties if he sees someone being held up by their friends on their way to the car.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vegas pool party: 8 tips for dayclub first timers
Thunder Over Louisville returns on Saturday, April 23, bringing one of the nation's top air shows back to Louisville.

In a salute to the 75th Anniversary of the United States Air Force, the event will have a packed show showcasing both military and civilian aircraft.

Scheduled performances include the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor Demo, U.S. Air Force C-17 Demo, U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight, the Kentucky Air National Guard 123rd Airlift Wing with the new C-130J, and the Commemorative Air Forces B-29, B-24, and B-25, as well as the U.S. Navy E/A-18 Growler Demo with a Legacy Flight, Younkin Airshows, and many more, according to the Kentucky Derby Festival.

The first AC-130J gunship landed on the runway on Wednesday July 29, 2015 at Hurlburt Field.

You may like: What's the theme for 2022 Thunder Over Louisville? Here's your complete guide

The airshow returns with a Category 1 aerobatic box, which allows for more of the fast, loud aircraft as well as the demo teams.

UPS is a sponsor of the 2022 show and will have a team flying during the airshow. UPS First Officer Sheila Hyde, who is also a member of the United States military, is looking forward to being a part of the event.

The Air Force will always be a big part of my life and representing UPS as a pilot and veteran is very special," Hyde said. "Its something I can look back upon in my career and be very proud."

UPS B767 Captain Ken Kirk agreed and said showcasing the Boeing 767 in Thunder Over Louisville is a point of honor for his entire crew.

UPS is a huge part of this community, and we are honored to showcase an aircraft thats been providing support to communities around the world by delivering what matters," he said.

The theme of the 2022 event, heading into its 33rd year, is "The Legend Returns," and will also feature one of the nations largest annual fireworks shows, produced by Zambelli Fireworks International.

"After a two-year hiatus, 'The Legend Returns,' to the waterfront and we're so excited," KDF president Matt Gibson said previously. "The Louisville waterfront is one of the best venues for an airshow and fireworks in the country."

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A T-38 Talon, a twinge supersonic jet trainer, taxis on the runway at the Kentucky Air National Guard ahead of practice for Thunder Over Louisville in Louisville, Ky. on Friday, April 12, 2019.

You may like: What's the theme for 2022 Thunder Over Louisville? Here's your complete guide

The Kentucky Derby Festival is an independent community organization supported by 4,000 volunteers, 400 businesses and civic groups, Pegasus Pin sponsorships and event participation. It entertains more than 1.5 million people every spring and has a local economic impact of more than $127 million.

Here's everything you need to know about the air show lineup at Thunder Over Louisville 2022:

Thunder Over Louisville 2022 Air Show lineup

A UPS Boeing 767 flies by during the 2021 Thunder Air Show at Bowman Field, Saturday, Apr. 17, 2021 in Louisville Ky.

123rd Special Tactics Squadron Parachute Team (Louisville ANG Base, Kentucky)

A-1 Skyraider (Warbird Heritage Foundation, Waukegan, Illinois)

A-10C Thunderbolt II Warthog (107th FS, Selfridge ANG, Michigan)

AC-130J Gunship (1st Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Florida)

Acemaker Airshows (T-33 Demo)

B-2 Spirit (13th Bomb Squadron, Whiteman, Missouri)

B-24 Liberator (Diamond Lil, Commemorative Air Force, Ft. Worth, Texas)

B-25 Mitchell (Show Me, Commemorative Air Force, Missouri Wing)

B-29 Superfortress (FiFi, Commemorative Air Force, Ft. Worth, Texas)

B-52 Stratofortress (93rd Bomb Squadron, Barksdale AFB, Louisiana)

World War Two Victory Formation (B-25, B-24, B-29 and P-51D)

Boeing 767, UPS Airlines (Louisville IAP, Kentucky)

C-130J Super Hercules (Kentucky Air National Guard, Louisville ANG Base, Kentucky)

C-17 Globemaster III (437th Airlift Wing, Charleston AFB, South Carolina)

Carbon Cub Float Plane (Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky)

CH-53 Sea Stallion (Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14, Norfolk, NAS)

Coleman Aerobatics (Taylorcraft, Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky)

CV-22 Osprey (Marine Tilt Rotor Squadron 204, New River, North Carolina)

F-15E Strike Eagle (4th Fighter Squadron, Seymour-Johnson AFB, North Carolina)

F-16 Viper (112th Fighter Squadron, Toledo, Ohio)

F-16 Viper (176th Fighter Squadron, Madison, Wisconsin)

F-86 Sabre Demo (Warbird Heritage Foundation, Waukegan, Illinois

F-100 Super Sabre Demo (Ft. Wayne, Indiana)

Growler Demonstration Team, E/F-18G Growler (Electronic Attack Squadron 129, Whidbey Island NAS)

US Navy Legacy Flight (E/A-18G/F4U Corsair)

KC-46 Pegasus (305th Air Mobility Wing, McGuire AFB, New Jersey)

KC-135 Stratotanker (72nd Aerial Refueling Squadron, Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana)

P-51D Aerobatics (Swamp Fox, Concorde, North Carolina)

Raptor Demonstration Team, F-22 Raptor (1st Fighter Wing, Langley AFB, Virginia)

USAF Heritage Flight (F-22/P-51D Formation)

T-38 Talon (9th Reconnaissance Squadron, Beale AFB, California)

UH-60 Blackhawk (8th Battalion, 229th Aviation Regiment, Ft. Knox Kentucky)

Younkin Airshows (Twin Beech Aerobatics Demo)

Aircraft subject to change on show day.

Reach Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com or Twitter @kirbylouisville.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Thunder Over Louisville: Check out the 2022 air show lineup
WASHINGTON  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack expects to build on its collection of hundreds of pages of former President Donald Trump's diaries, call logs and the handwritten notes of aides when it receives another batch of Trump administration documents in preparation for hearings in the coming months.

The National Archives and Records Administration said this week it will provide the latest documents by April 28. The transfer would follow about 800 pages of contested administration records the committee already received.

The agency hasnt described publicly whats in the latest set of records. But previous documents included handwritten notes and White House call and visitor logs.

Trump fought the release of earlier documents in federal court, claiming executive privilege to keep communications with aides confidential. But President Joe Biden waived executive privilege for the investigation, opening up documents to the committee. The Supreme Court refused to consider Trumps appeal.

Can Congress get your phone records?: Jan. 6 lawsuits aim to find out

The pending document release comes after the National Archives discovered Trump had brought 15 boxes of White House records  some marked classified  to his home in Florida. The Justice Department is investigating a potential violation of the Presidential Records Act, which calls for administration records to be turned over to the National Archives.

Here's what the National Archives previously released to the committee:

Logs of presidential activities, calls, appointments

The House committee made a sweeping request in August for documents from the National Archives and other federal agencies as the panel pieces together what led to the attack on the Capitol and how the White House responded that day.

About 140 police officers were injured. Police fatally shot a woman outside the House chamber. And Congress temporarily halted counting Electoral College votes that certified Biden's victory while a mob of Trump supporters ransacked the Capitol.

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Billy Laster, director of the White House liaison division of the National Archives, described broadly in a court filing which records the agency received from the White House that fit the committees request for documents  and which ones Trump sought to keep confidential. The documents were grouped in four batches, with descriptions of three.

Jan. 6 committee: The Jan. 6 committee got a boost from a ruling on a confidential memo. What's next?

The initial set of 136 pages the National Archives retrieved for the committee included records from Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, senior adviser Stephen Miller, deputy counsel Patrick Philbin and Brian de Guzman, director of White House information services. The records also included the White House daily diary, a chronological record of Trumps movements, phone calls, trips, briefings, meetings and activities.

The agency determined that seven of the pages werent responsive to the committees request so they were removed. Trump sought to prevent the release of 46 pages under executive privilege. After the Supreme Court refused to hear the case Jan. 19, the National Archives transferred these pages and the other three batches of contested records to the committee Jan. 20.

Among the contested pages, 30 covered presidential diaries, schedules, appointment information showing visitors to the White House, activity logs, call logs and switchboard checklists showing calls to Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Thirteen pages featured drafts of speeches, remarks and correspondence about events Jan. 6. And three pages were handwritten notes about events Jan. 6 from Meadows files.

Trump documents: Trump documents will prompt 'very targeted, very specific questions' from House panel probing Jan. 6 attack on Capitol

President Donald Trump walks May 8, 2020, with chief of staff Mark Meadows after returning to the White House from an event at the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.

Handwritten notes about Jan. 6

The National Archives retrieved 742 pages in a second batch for the committee from files of Meadows, Miller, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and files from the White House executive clerk and Oval Office operations.

Trump asserted privilege over 656 pages. The bulk of the records  629 pages  were pages from binders of talking points for McEnany and a relatively small number of statements and documents about allegations of voter fraud, election security and other topics about the 2020 election.

D.C. protests: US Park Police, Secret Service agree to change policies to settle Black Lives Matter, protesters' lawsuits

Eleven pages covered presidential activity calendars and a handwritten note for Jan. 6. Ten pages were a draft of a speech for the Save America March. A two-page note from Meadows files listed potential or scheduled briefings and telephone calls about the Jan. 6 certification and other election issues. And four pages covered a draft executive order about election integrity.

In this image from video, White House deputy counsel Patrick Philbin answers a question during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020.

Documents alleging election irregularities

The third group of records totaled 146 pages from Philbins files. Trump sought to keep 68 pages confidential. One document was a 53-page draft proclamation honoring Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, who died in the days after the attack.

A four-page memo, which Laster said apparently originated outside the White House, dealt with a potential lawsuit against several states Biden won in the election. A three-page email chain originated from a state official discussing election issues. Three pages were talking points about alleged election irregularities in one Michigan county. Three pages contained presidential findings about the security of the 2020 election. Two pages were notes indicating who received the other documents.

The agency was still reviewing a fourth batch of 551 pages when the lawsuit was pending, but which werent described in the filing.

Ginni Thomas: House Jan. 6 panel discusses seeking testimony from Ginni Thomas about texts with Mark Meadows, but makes no decision

From left, Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., finish a meeting on Dec. 1, 2021.

The House Jan. 6 panel won't get everything it requested

Dana Remus, Bidens White House counsel, acknowledged in a letter Tuesday that archivist David Ferriero ruled some of the documents arent responsive to the committees request and so would be withheld. Remus said the committee also agreed to defer its request for some records so that others would be prioritized.

Ferriero then notified Trump by letter Wednesday that the prioritized records would be delivered to the committee within 15 days  unless prohibited by court order.

Who has been subpoenaed?: Who has been subpoenaed so far by the Jan. 6 committee?

Weeks of hearings are expected in the coming months, according to the committees vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.

More than 800 witnesses have cooperated with the committee, including a dozen White House officials, she said.

The House has cited four Trump aides for contempt: political strategist Steve Bannon, Meadows, trade adviser Peter Navarro and deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino. Bannon faces trial in July on criminal contempt charges and the Justice Department is considering whether to charge the other three.

The committee is also defending its subpoenas in more than 20 civil lawsuits filed by former Trump aides, political activists, election lawyers and the Republican National Committee. The lawsuits seek to keep confidential phone records and financial documents.

Our committee will continue to litigate to obtain the records we need, Cheney said.

This is insane: Lawmakers relive Jan. 6 horror alongside fresh trauma of effort to rewrite history

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump records heading to Jan. 6 committee. What has been released?
Joe Root has described his decision to step down as Englands Test captain as his most challenging but conceded it recently hit home how much of a toll the role had taken on him.

The 31-year-old resigns with a number of favourable records, but a disastrous 12 months of red-ball cricket essentially made his position untenable.

A recent 1-0 series defeat in the West Indies extended Englands winless run to five series, which included heavy losses away to India and Australia, and has seen the country taste victory only once in their last 17 Test matches.

Days after an all-too familiar capitulation in Grenada, Root highlighted the positives of the tour but has now brought his five-year tenure to an end in a move that could signal the beginning of the much-discussed red-ball reset.

As England Men's Test captain:  Most Matches (64) Most Wins (27)  Most Runs (5295) End of an era. pic.twitter.com/RH2ioeIzNi  England Cricket (@englandcricket) April 15, 2022

Root, who will continue as a batter, said: I have decided to step down as England mens Test captain.

It has been the most challenging decision I have had to make in my career but having discussed this with my family and those closest to me; I know the timing is right.

I am immensely proud to have captained my country and will look back on the past five years with enormous pride. It has been an honour to have done the job and to have been a custodian of what is the pinnacle of English cricket.

I have loved leading my country, but recently its hit home how much of a toll it has taken on me and the impact it has had on me away from the game.

Root took over as captain from Sir Alastair Cook in 2017 and while he oversaw a disappointing 4-0 loss Down Under, his side bounced back to thrash India at home the following year before they closed it out with victory in Sri Lanka.

Story continues

Months after 50-over World Cup glory in the summer of 2019, the Yorkshire batter was again unable to reclaim the urn after Australia secured a 2-2 draw in the home Ashes series.

Joe Root celebrates a century at Headingley (Nigel French/PA)

The arrival of Chris Silverwood as head coach was hoped to help England readdress their focus between red and white-ball cricket but the unexpected coronavirus pandemic occurred before an awful 2021.

A second successive 4-0 Ashes loss in Australia resulted in Silverwood, batting coach Graham Thorpe and Ashley Giles, who was managing director of England mens cricket, being dismissed but Root remained in post for the West Indies under the stewardship of interim head coach Paul Collingwood.

Positive signs were evident in the draws in Antigua and Barbados but, without key duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad who were surprisingly left at home, England were thrashed by 10 wickets in the final Test to go down 1-0 in Roots 64th Test as captain.

That figure alone is a record for the most number of matches as England skipper and his 27 victories puts him out in front in terms of overall wins, but another change of leadership has now occurred for the Test side.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my family, Carrie, Alfred and Bella, who have lived it all with me and been incredible pillars of love and support throughout, Englands second-highest run scorer in Tests added.

All of the players, coaches and support staff that have helped me during my tenure. It has been a great privilege to have been with them on this journey.

I would also like to thank all the England supporters for their unwavering support. We are lucky to have the best fans in the world, and wherever we play, that positivity is something we always cherish and admire, which is a huge drive for all of us out there.

I am excited to continue representing the Three Lions and producing performances that will enable the team to succeed. I look forward to helping the next captain, my teammates and coaches in whatever way I can.

Predecessors Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain and Michael Vaughan have all called on Root to step down in recent weeks but the latter praised his fellow Yorkshireman for being the games best role model.

Vaughan wrote on Twitter: He (Joe) gave it everything with very little support for the red-ball team under his watch, then he had to deal with Covid times.

He still is and will (be) the games best role model for many, many years.

Hussain talked up Ben Stokes last month as a possible replacement for Root, who has not let the toll of captaincy affect his batting following a record-breaking 2021 where he scored 1,708 runs.

He gave it everything with very little support for the Red ball team under his watch .. then he had to deal with Covid times .. he still is and will the games best role model for many many years .. now enjoy being the senior player for many more seasons @root66   Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 15, 2022

Vice-captain Stokes paid tribute to Root on Instagram, saying: Been a great ride with you my friend.

Watching one of my great mates lead us all out on to the field was a privilege. You have given everything to English cricket and we all want to say thank you for your sacrifices and hard work.

Stokes is one of the few candidates to replace Root with the futures of experienced duo Anderson and Broad up in the air and not many other players guaranteed a place in the XI.

Most Test wins as England Captain & a great human being, was Broads tribute, with the dropped bowler another potential replacement.

Tom Harrison, the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, talked up the integrity and humility of Root, but gave little mention of what is next for the Test side with a new captain, head coach and managing director all needed before the next series with New Zealand which begins in June.

Joe has been an exceptional role model during his tenure, balancing the demands of Test captaincy whilst continuing to shine brilliantly through his own personal performances, Harrison said.

It has been a privilege and a huge pleasure to have worked with him in his capacity as our Test captain, and I know hell continue to drive English cricket forward as a senior player.
The transit workers who kept calm and raced to help panicked survivors amid the chaos of the Brooklyn subway attack were honored Friday as heroes.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers received a special proclamation Friday morning at New York City Hall, where officials listed the names of crew members on the train and nearby who aided those injured as well the bus operators who helped take people to their destinations when the train system was disrupted.

"I want to thank you for your service to the city and your bravery on that morning," said Mayor Eric Adams, who presided over the ceremony virtually while isolating after testing positive for COVID-19. "... You stayed calm. You stayed focused, and you saved lives."

"Thanks to you, no passenger was left behind and no lives were lost," he added, thanking transit workers for their "courage, heroism, quick thinking and decisive action."

Twenty-nine people were injured in the Tuesday attack, including 10 who were shot, as passengers and transit workers sprang into action to help.

NIGHTMARE ON THE N TRAIN: Inside the terrifying moments during the Brooklyn subway shooting

During the ceremony in honor of the MTA workers, Earl Phillips, secretary-treasurer of New York's public transit union, showed a photo of a conductor directing passengers to escape by crossing a platform and boarding a train running in the opposite direction.

"Conductors and train operators were taking charge once again, doing what was necessary to get riders out of danger," Phillips said.

He thanked the mayor for giving transit workers "jut a little bit of the spotlight which they so richly deserve."

Meanwhile, a federal judge ordered on Thursday that the man charged in the shooting be held without bond. The suspect  charged with a terrorist or other violent attack against a mass transportation system  is accused of throwing smoke grenades and opening fire on a Manhattan-bound N train Tuesday.

Story continues

GHOST GUN REGULATIONS: Brooklyn subway shooting suspect was traced to firearm

New York City Transit workers arrive at subway stop in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Several people were shot Tuesday morning at the subway station in Brooklyn, New York, law enforcement sources said. Fire personnel responding to reports of smoke at the 36th Street station in the Sunset Park neighborhood found multiple people shot and undetonated devices, a New York City Fire Department spokesperson said.

At Thursday's hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann in Brooklyn, the suspect said nothing except telling the judge he understood the charges against him.

His lawyers, federal public defenders Deirdre von Dornum and Mia Eisner-Grynberg, agreed to the detention order and asked the judge to seek a psychiatric evaluation of the alleged shooter, to which Mann agreed before making clear the evaluation would not be to determine whether the defendant would be competent to stand trial.

NO BAIL: Brooklyn shooting suspect held without bail; prosecutor says he 'carefully planned' attack

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Winik said the suspect is dangerous to the community and argued that the attack was premeditated.

In a letter filed with the court before the hearing, she said the suspect picked up a U-Haul in Pennsylvania before the attack and prepared supplies including a Glock 17 pistol, a container of gasoline, a torch, fireworks with explosive powder, and a disguise composed of a yellow hard hat and an orange working jacket.

"The defendant terrifyingly opened fire on passengers on a crowded subway train, interrupting their morning commute in a way the city hasn't seen in ore than 20 years," Winik said at the hearing. "The defendant's attack was premeditated, was carefully planned, and it caused terror among the victims and our entire city."

HOW THE ARREST OCCURRED: How 'everyday New Yorkers' say they helped police find Brooklyn shooting suspect

Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brooklyn shooting: NYC Mayor Adams honors heroes, frontline workers
Dr. Richard Strauss

Ohio State University reached two more settlement agreements totaling nearly $2 million with more than 50 sexual abuse survivors in cases involving former university doctor Richard Strauss.

The university has settled with 289 survivors thus far, more than half of the plaintiffs whose lawsuits were dismissed by a federal court judge last fall. Altogether, these settlements total nearly $60 million.

Our deepest gratitude goes to the survivors of Strauss abuse for their courage in coming forward, OSU President Kristina M. Johnson said in a statement. They brought this terrible abuse to light, and the university is committed to continuing to work toward restorative justice.

More on the Strauss case: 'We want to be heard': Strauss survivors plead with OSU trustees to help them get justice

57 survivors receive settlements

Under the two new agreements, approximately 57 survivors from seven lawsuits, represented by five law firms, will receive an average settlement of $35,000. In addition, participating plaintiffs agree to dismiss their claims against the university. The settlement does not, however, prohibit individuals from talking about Strauss abuse.

"Our clients are pleased to have resolved this matter and wish to express their support for all the victims of Richard Strauss," said John Camillus, of the John C. Camillus law firm, and attorneys Ben Bianco and Mitch Schuster. of Meister Seelig & Fein, who representing some of the survivors.

In May 2021, Ohio State announced a new individual settlement program for plaintiffs in several outstanding lawsuits. Ohio State committed paying out settlements up to an average of about $252,000 per plaintiff as part of that program to settle with more survivors.

Those included in the two most-recent settlements had filed lawsuits too late to be eligible for federal court mediations and for last year's settlement program.

Related Strauss article: Everybody is failing us: Strauss victims offended by admission that bill to help them was never intended to pass

Story continues

To date there have been three previous settlements with other Strauss survivors, two through a court-administered mediation process and one through Ohio States public settlement program.

Strauss was a university-employed physician from 1978 to 1998. He died by suicide in 2005.

In 2019, investigators hired by Ohio State determined that Strauss sexually abused at least 177 students over a 20-year period, and that Ohio State's administration repeatedly failed to act.

Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. You can reach her at shendrix@dispatch.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @sheridan120. Sign up for her Mobile Newsroom newsletter here and her education newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State reaches settlements with more Richard Strauss survivors
Food waste is a rarely talked about contributor to global warming.

What is inflation and what causes it?

When food is wasted  whether its thrown out because of expiration date confusion or even boredom  it also wastes the energy and water that it took to grow and package it. Wasted food also ends up in landfills, which produce methane, a greenhouse gas that is more potent than carbon dioxide.

Launched in Denmark in 2015, Too Good To Go is an app that connects users with extra or leftover food from local restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops and grocery stores and sells the food at a lowered list price to help fight food waste.

The United States discards more food than any other country in the world  between 30% to 40% of the countrys food supply according to estimates  and, at the same time, over 35 million people are suffering from food insecurity.

Too Good To Gos origin story is a straightforward one. Co-founder Lucie Basch told Fortune in 2021 that one evening she noticed a baker throwing away a ton of baked goods.

I asked if I could have them, but the baker said he wasnt allowed to donate the food, she told the publication.  So I paid for it, and he ended up giving me three times more than what I had paid for. That made a light bulb go off.

From restaurants to grocery stores, businesses throw out edible food on a regular basis. Basch thought, what if there was a way to get people to buy that food instead?

As of reporting, Too Good To Go operates in several major cities and areas throughout the U.S., including New York.

I wanted to try it out for myself and I downloaded the app and combed through a variety of businesses within walking distance of my apartment. Every Surprise Bag listed in my area was between $3.99 and $6.99.

At first, my only concern was very conceited and superficial. I worried the employees wouldnt have any idea what I was talking about when Id tell them I was there to collect my $3.99 bag of food. The app made everything seem almost too easy  giving me hour-long timeframes to pick up and alerting me of how many food bags were still available at each location  and it had only launched in the U.S. in 2020.

Story continues

But everywhere I went  from my blocks local coffee shop to a salad chain  knew exactly what I meant when I asked for my Too Good To Go bag.

Its partly because Too Good To Go is not just a convenient and inexpensive way for me, a consumer, to grab some food. Its also a huge benefit for businesses that also dont want to contribute to food waste. Too Good To Go even exceeded its 2020 goal of partnering with 75,000 businesses.

Food retailers cant dictate customer behavior  but they can still influence how much ends up in the bin, an Oliver Wyman report says. The further down the value chain that food is wasted, the more costly it becomes, both in monetary and environmental terms.

I visited four different businesses with the app and got a ton of food from each one for less than $5. The nearby coffee shop, which I had never visited before, gave me a paper bag with croissants and danishes. A grocery store a few blocks away handed me two perfectly good salads that served as my lunches for the following two days.

The ease and convenience of the app are almost unsettling  and that was the co-founders point behind starting the app.

[Its] a solution for those in the food industry that is just as easy as throwing food away, Basch told Fortune.

Ending food waste will not happen overnight. There are systems and mindsets in place, particularly in the U.S., that consumers and businesses have to overcome. Solving the growing problem requires attacking the issue at its roots.

Recycle Track Systems (RTS) describes itself as a waste-conscious collection service that works to help companies and communities incorporate sustainability into daily routines. In an article on food waste in America, RTS showed that the top food waste sources are homes (43% of food waste) and restaurants, grocery stores and food service companies (40%).

Too Good To Go directly targets roughly 83% of food waste sources.

Our mission is to inspire and empower everyone to take action against food waste, Basch said in her interview. We fill the gap in the food rescue ecosystem.

The post Too Good To Go app fights food waste in a way thats as easy as throwing food away appeared first on In The Know.

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Apr. 15MORGANTOWN  Armed with a potent offense that leads the Big 12 in stolen bases and has averaged 9.4 runs scored over its last five games, West Virginia is about to embark on a three-game series against No. 6 Oklahoma State that will answer one crucial question:

Are the Mountaineers for real ?

That seemingly is always the question anytime a team exceeds expectations early in the season, which is exactly what WVU (21-10, 5-1 Big 12) has done.

"I don't even pay attention to that stuff, " WVU head coach Randy Mazey said after the Mountaineers swept Baylor last weekend. "It's early. Being in first place right now literally means nothing. It just means we've played great to this point, but that doesn't mean we'll play well next weekend."

WVU STATS Picked eighth out of nine teams in the preseason poll, the Mountaineers are on top of the league standings as the nationally ranked Cowboys (24-9, 7-2) come to Mon County Ballpark at 6:30 p.m. Friday to begin the series.

Oklahoma State is expected to start preseason All-American Justin Campbell (4-1, 3.40 ERA) on Friday. The 6-foot-7 sophomore right-hander leads the Big 12 with 73 strikeouts. WVU is expected to counter with junior Jacob Watters (2-1, 3.38 ERA), who has made 11 appearances this season, with four starts.

There are a number of reasons WVU has gotten to this point.

It used late-game theatrics to take a series against TCU, including Ben Abernathy stealing home in the ninth inning of Game 1 and then Braden Barry scoring right behind him when the ball got away from the catcher in a 3-2 win.

In the three-game sweep of Baylor, Ben Hampton proved his worth as a Big 12 starting pitcher and WVU's offense scored 22 runs on 32 hits.

That led to senior outfielder Austin Davis being named Big 12 Player of the Week after hitting.688 and nearly hitting for the cycle in the third game against the Bears.

West Virginia is on a six-game winning streak heading into the series, with its top five hitters in the lineup all batting.317 or higher.

Story continues

Victor Scott II and Davis are No. 1 and No. 2 in the Big 12 in stolen bases. Scott is ninth in RBIs, McGwire Holbrook is ninth in batting average, while Hampton is second in wins, innings pitched and fifth in ERA.

Hampton is expected to start against Oklahoma State on Saturday.

It all points to WVU being at its best against the Cowboys, who have been a thorn in the Mountaineers' side recently.

Oklahoma State is 5-3 against WVU since 2019, which includes a 5-2 victory in the 2019 Big 12 tournament championship game.

Oklahoma State was 3-1 against WVU last season.

The Cowboys have won six of their last eight games and their pitching staff is second in the Big 12 with a team 4.01 ERA, while opponents are hitting just.227.

In late innings, Oklahoma State closer Trevor Martin also leads the Big 12 with nine saves.

Senior Jake Thompson leads the offense with a.328 average and 31 RBIs.

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Selah School District stakeholders and community members heard from former Sunnyside and Zillah Superintendent Kevin McKay on Wednesday in the districts second day of interviews with superintendent finalists.
Much of North Dakota remained shut down on Thursday as a slow-moving blizzard pounded the state for a third straight day, but the end of the record-breaking storm was in sight.

A blizzard warning that had encompassed much of the state since Monday expired Thursday evening, after another day of howling winds blowing around snow that totaled 2 feet or more in some areas.

"There is a light at the end of the tunnel," National Weather Service Meteorologist Jeff Schild said.

Friday's forecast called for only "patchy blowing snow" statewide, and for partly sunny skies and winds of 10-20 mph in the Bismarck-Mandan area.

That compares with winds gusting in excess of 50 mph late Wednesday. To the west, gusts reached as high as 63 mph in Hettinger, according to weather service reports.

"They were some of the highest wind gusts that have been reported during the storm," Schild said. "It got pretty ugly."

The storm that started in the Pacific Northwest rolled over the Rockies and blasted into the Northern Plains early Tuesday. Bismarck got 10 inches of snow on Tuesday alone, shattering the city's April 12 record of 3 inches set in 1991, and the city narrowly missed another record on Wednesday.

The storm also left a trail of snowfall records from the Pacific Northwest to Montana, according to AccuWeather. Billings, Montana, on Tuesday had its snowiest April day in 67 years.

Bismarck as of early Thursday had received a storm total of 17.5 inches of snow -- coincidentally the exact same amount as during the devastating April 1997 blizzard. A bit more snow fell throughout the day Thursday, but less than an inch of accumulation was expected in southern North Dakota, with 2-3 more inches in the north, according to the National Weather Service. Fargo, which had escaped the blizzard, was expected to get an inch or two of snow.

Other storm totals as of Thursday afternoon included 17 inches in Williston, 18 in Watford City, 18.4 in Dickinson, 22 in Glen Ullin and McClusky, 22.5 in New Salem, 24 in Richardton and Hazen, 26 in Dunn Center, 26.5 in Hebron and 36 in Minot.

The death of a 73-year-old Minot woman was linked to the blizzard.

Police responded about 7:30 a.m. Thursday to a report of a woman in the snow near the post office. She was not adequately dressed for the severe weather, authorities said. Capt. Justin Sundheim said investigators do not suspect foul play, adding that the woman might have experienced mental health challenges. Her name was not immediately released.

Officials warned that the wet and heavy spring snow had the potential to bring down tree branches and power lines, but large-scale power outages did not occur during the storm. PowerOutage.us reported no people without electricity in North Dakota on Thursday evening.

Travel disruptions have been a wide-scale problem, however. The storm snarled in-city traffic and canceled numerous flights at the Bismarck Airport.

Interstate 94 remained closed Thursday from the Montana border to Jamestown. Most of U.S. Highways 2, 52 and 83 also were closed in the western two-thirds of the state, along with a portion of U.S. 85 in the oil patch, though stretches of those highways were being opened late in the day. No travel was advised in much of North Dakota, and many secondary roads in the southwest were blocked or impassable due to drifting. Statewide road conditions are at https://travel.dot.nd.gov/.

Morton County issued a plea for people to stay home, saying county snowplows were pulled from the roads Thursday afternoon due to the poor conditions.

Snowdrifts are as high as 10 feet in some areas of the county, and overpass on- and off-ramps have drifts too high for plows to remove. Some rural residents might not see plows for three to four days.

Please do not venture out at this time," Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said. "We want our highway department to be able to begin removing snow without needing to remove stranded vehicles first.

Truck stops in Bismarck were at capacity with stranded truckers. More than 100 18-wheelers were at the Stamart Truck Stop in east Bismarck, with many of the truckers waiting three days for the storm to pass and roads to reopen.

Mike Curt, of Bismarck, was helping dig out the semitrailers on Thursday.

"This is the third one I've shoveled out today," he said.

The Capitol and other state facilities in the Bismarck area remained closed, as did local government offices. They won't reopen until next week, with Good Friday being celebrated this week. The same holds true for in-person classes in public and private secondary schools in the metro area, and for local colleges and universities.

Bismarck Parks and Recreation facilities will remain closed Friday, and all programs canceled. Sanford Health said the north Bismarck and downtown Bismarck walk-in clinics will reopen Friday. All Sanford clinics in Dickinson opened Friday. Sanford clinics in Minot and Watford City remained closed Friday.

State Tax Commissioner Brian Kroshus extended the state filing deadline from this coming Monday to April 25.

Were aware of the impacts facing many North Dakotans due to the extreme weather conditions, he said. In response, we're providing a waiver, allowing taxpayers an extra week to file and pay their North Dakota income tax without fear of accruing penalty or interest charges. Given the magnitude of the storm, the waiver is appropriate and will hopefully provide a level of relief to some as the state slowly digs out."

The federal tax filing deadline remains Monday. Taxpayers can file for an extension if needed.

City officials in both Bismarck and Mandan said street plowing is taking longer than normal due to the wet and heavy nature of the snow. They've asked residents to help by getting parked vehicles off streets. Snow removal information is at https://bismarcknd.gov/249/Snow-Removal and https://www.cityofmandan.com/snowremoval.

Weather conditions in the metro area improved throughout the day. Arctic air and record or near-record overnight low temperatures were in the forecast on the heels of the wind and snow, but Schild said there was still reason for optimism.

"The low pressure system that's the heart of the blizzard -- it's moving off on its way," he said.

Reach News Editor Blake Nicholson at 701-250-8266 or blake.nicholson@bismarcktribune.com.

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Heavy rains and flooding have killed at least 341 people in South Africas eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, including the city of Durban, and more rainstorms are forecast in the coming days
Candidate Loren Culp says Facebook is canceling him. He may have fallen for a phishing scam
This weeks headlines about teen drug use cant help but make some parents blood run cold: Fatal overdoses are up.

Way up, in fact. Across the country, teen overdose deaths doubled from 2010 to 2020. And then they rose another 20% on top of that in 2021, according to The Journal of the American Medical Association.

So dramatic is the increase that Washington state health officials are urging people to carry naloxone, which can reverse overdoses in emergencies. Its readily available over the counter at pharmacies in nasal spray or injectable form.

The drug causing all this chaos and heartache is no stranger to the Yakima Valley. Most overdoses are from the synthetic opioid fentanyl. You know  the stuff that was in the 77,000 blue pills that local and federal authorities confiscated in March in one of the biggest drug busts in recent memory around here.

Authorities say surging supplies make the West Coast the epicenter of fentanyl use.

Its a nasty drug. Commonly stamped with M and 30 to make it look like oxycodone pills, fentanyl packs about 100 times the wallop as other opioids.

But kids dont know that. Or worse, maybe they do.

Fentanyl doesnt care either way. It just kills people.

Kids ages 14-18  particularly Native Americans and Latinos  are bearing the brunt, according to data from JAMA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Blues, as the pills are called, are easier for kids to say yes to, experts say. No scary needles, no smoke. Just take a little pill, relax and all your cares melt away for a while.

Or maybe longer.

As scary and upsetting as the headlines have been this week, its important to not overlook an encouraging trend in teen drug use: Fentanyl aside, overall substance use is down.

Way down, thankfully.

According to the latest Healthy Youth Survey, reported use of substances like alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes has steadily declined since 2010.

While 28% of high school sophomores admitted using alcohol in 2010, that number had dropped to 8% in the latest survey. Marijuana use fell from 20% to 7% during the same period. And cigarette use, according to the survey, slipped from 13% to just 2%.

The experts credit shifting cultural attitudes toward drug use, better education about health effects and tougher state laws with reining in the numbers.

The buttoning up of communities during the pandemic seems to have contributed to the drop-off, but it didnt cause it. Drug use among Washingtons kids has been trending down every year for more than a decade.

The survey is conducted every two years or so and most recently included more than 208,000 kids across the state.

So what do we make of such a mixed bag of headlines?

Unfortunately, the fentanyl crisis confirms that the fight against drug use isnt over  and considering the decades its gone on, perhaps it wont ever be.

But the other statistics say its still worth the effort. Clearly, work by educators, health professionals, law enforcement and yes, parents, has had some positive effects on kids.

If they can persuade teenagers to steer clear of alcohol, marijuana and cigarettes, were betting their work to turn teens against fentanyl will eventually make a difference, too.

Meantime, disrupting the supply of fentanyl is crucial, so it seems to us that getting those 77,000 blue pills off the street might be one of the most encouraging of this weeks headlines.
A blizzard with record snow that blasted North Dakota for three days moved out of the state on Friday but left potential record cold in its wake, along with numerous comparisons to past historic storms.

The three-day blizzard shut down state and local governments, schools, events and businesses. It canceled flights at the Bismarck Airport, snarled in-city traffic and closed highways.

Some major highways remained closed early Friday, but Interstate 94 from the Montana border to Jamestown and U.S. Highway 83 between Bismarck and Minot had reopened by midday. Some secondary roads in the southwest were still blocked or impassable due to drifting. No-travel advisories in the southwest and south central parts of the state were slowly lifted as the day went on. Statewide road conditions are at https://travel.dot.nd.gov/.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol on Friday reported that its troopers responded to numerous crashes, vehicles in ditches and stranded motorists around the state during the storm. A trooper was called out at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday to do a blood run delivery from Minot to Bottineau. The trip took nearly four hours, even with snowplows helping clear the way.

Bismarck got 18.3 inches of snow from the storm, with 10 inches of it falling on Tuesday, breaking a 31-year-old city record for the date. The wet, heavy snow had the equivalent of 1.61 inches of moisture, with 1.17 inches of that coming on Tuesday -- also a city record, according to the National Weather Service.

"In a spring storm, you're going to get a good liquefied amount with the snow," said Rick Krolak, observation program leader at the weather services Bismarck office.

Bismarck narrowly missed setting another snowfall record Wednesday. And the storm also left a trail of records from the Pacific Northwest to Montana, according to AccuWeather.

The top official snowfall total in Montana was 47 inches in Albro Lake. The top total in North Dakota was 36 inches in Minot.

Other snowfall totals from around western North Dakota included 22.5 inches in New Salem, 23 in Manning, 24 in Sentinel Butte and Hazen, 24.3 in Underwood, 26 in Grassy Butte, 26.5 in Hebron and 29.2 in Dickinson.

"Every 10, maybe 20 years, these seem to roll around," Krolak said.

Pictures of massive snowdrifts -- some as high as a house -- were common on social media, as were pleas for help in getting vehicles unstuck.

A look back

Chris Fisketjon had to work at freeing his pickup from the deep snow on Thursday morning in north Bismarck when the vehicle became high-centered -- stuck with all four wheels off the ground.

"This brings back old memories," he said while digging. "I'm 53 and have seen some pretty good snowstorms. I remember one storm back in 1983 on my dad's birthday; it was May 10 in Watford City. And there were still snow piles melting in July in Watford City."

Many have compared this week's storm to the devastating blizzard in April 1997.

Olivera Memovic, of Bismarck, was living in the city 25 years ago when that storm hit and dropped 17.5 inches of snow.

She thinks the weather a quarter-century ago was more intense, with snow piling up over about a day, while this week's blizzard was more prolonged.

"It's just North Dakota business," she said while waiting at a city intersection early Wednesday for a ride to her job in Mandan.

The 1997 storm was much like this years, with similar snowfall amounts and strong winds, up to 60 mph. But the 97 storm was much more destructive, leaving tens of thousands of homes without power, killing an estimated 100,000 cattle, leading to two fatalities and 16 injuries, and causing an estimated $45 million in damage, according to the weather service.

There were no widespread outages with this week's storm, according to Poweroutage.us, and no immediate reports of large-scale livestock losses. Authorities are investigating whether the weather contributed to the deaths of a 73-year-old woman in Minot and a 60-year-old man in Watford City. Both bodies were found in the snow.

Gene Harris thinks this week's storm hit his Killdeer ranch much harder than the blizzard of 97, and another storm he recalls in 1975.

Its crotch deep most everywhere, Harris said of the snow. Theres just a lot of it, and its blowing hard today (Thursday).

But advances in equipment and infrastructure made this years storm a little easier to handle, he said. In 1975, the equipment he had was either stuck in snowdrifts or had mechanical problems. The ranch also lost power for 14 days in that storm.

There was not one tractor or pickup operational on the ranch, Harris said.

In 97, Killdeer dodged the heavier snows that pounded the southern part of the state. This year, it will take weeks for the snow to melt off, Harris said. Some of the drifts are 20 feet deep.

We shut down all our pickups and side-by-sides about 3 oclock Tuesday morning, he said. We just travel by tractor, and were checking cattle around the clock.

Looking forward

Harris said the storm should be named The Drought Breaker.

Western North Dakota has been mired in drought for more than a year, forcing some ranchers to thin their herds so they have enough feed to get by.

We all questioned if it was going to work out," Harris said. "At least now were going to grow some grass and the dams will be full."

How much the new moisture will cut into the drought won't be known until next week. The U.S. Drought Monitor map -- a partnership of the National Drought Mitigation Center, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture -- is updated weekly on Thursdays, but with data through the preceding Monday. This week's blizzard hit the state early Tuesday.

The latest map still showed nearly all of the western half of the state as being abnormally dry or in some form of drought.

The weekly crop report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, released Monday, shows that cattle and calf conditions before the storm hit were rated mostly good to excellent, with death loss mostly average to light. But it also rated hay supplies as being 61% short or very short, and stockwater supplies as being 44% in those categories. Topsoil moisture was rated 42% short or very short and subsoil moisture 53% in those categories as farmers begin spring crop planting.

Wet fields could slow them down, as could cold weather, as a drop in the jet stream has allowed frigid Canadian air to flood in. Another factor in the unseasonable weather is the snow itself.

"At ground level, during the daytime, a vast area of deep snow cover alone will tend to cancel out the warming effects of strong April sunshine," AccuWeather Meteorologist Nicole LoBiondo said.

Wind chills early Friday were below zero in many areas, and record-cold high temperatures were expected in the region during the day, according to the weather service. Highs were forecast to be about 30 degrees below average. Overnight lows into Saturday also could threaten records.

The forecast for Bismarck-Mandan called for highs Friday and Saturday in the 20s, with the overnight low dropping into the single digits. Bismarck's record low for April 16 is 10 degrees, set in 1953. The city's record low daily maximum temperature for April 15 is 32, set in 2011, and for April 16 it's 28, set in 1953.

Forecasters say the cold weather means a slow melt, which should ease flooding concerns. More snow is expected to spread over the area Saturday night into Sunday. Accumulations aren't expected to be nearly as high as this week's, though they still could impact travel.

Areas of northern North Dakota have a greater than 70% chance of receiving 2 inches or more of snow, and there might be some areas that see up to 6 inches, according to the weather service. Bismarck-Mandan is in an area of "medium" risk -- 40-70% -- of 2 inches. There's a low chance -- less than 40% -- in the southwest.

City snow removal crews in the metro area report that it's taking three times longer than normal to clear streets because of the wet, heavy nature of the blizzard snow. They've asked residents to help by getting parked vehicles off streets. Snow removal information is at https://bismarcknd.gov/249/Snow-Removal and https://www.cityofmandan.com/snowremoval.

The U.S. Postal Service didn't comment on how big of a backlog there is with mail delivery, but district spokesman Desai Abdul-Razzaaq did say "We will flex our available resources to match the workload. We appreciate the patience of our customers and the efforts of employees in response to this severe snowstorm."

Residents are asked to dig out their mailboxes and to keep walking areas free of snow and ice to help with the process.

Easter is this Sunday, but it is not a federal holiday and will have no impact on delivery catch-up, Abdul-Razzaaq said.

(Photographer Tom Stromme contributed to this story.)

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Hungary's general election proved that "the motherland can count on the members of Hungarian communities beyond the border" and vice-versa, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvar).

Hungarys ruling alliance of Fidesz and the Christian democrats received a record number of votes in the April 3 election, giving them a record number of seats in parliament, Szijjarto noted at a press conference held jointly with Hunor Kelemen, head of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ).



Szijjarto said the election had decided not just the fate of Hungary but that of the entire nation, adding it had therefore been important to the government that all Hungarians take part in it.



He said that whereas this stance was natural for the nationally minded Christian civic side, the left represented the complete opposite view, and had always wanted to exclude Hungarians living beyond the borders from the nations shared decisions.



The minister welcomed that a record 318,083 mail-in votes had been cast in the election, 205,767 of which had been cast at the foreign mission accredited to Cluj-Napoca and Miercurea Ciuc (Csikszereda). Fidesz and the Christian Democrats received more than 251,000 of the mail-in votes, he added.



Good Relationships Benefit Both Countries

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Hungary had an interest in building the strongest possible cooperation with Romania, adding that hopefully relations between the two countries would keep going in the direction theyre headed in, which can benefit both countries.



In response to a question at a press conference held jointly with Hunor Kelemen, head of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (RMDSZ), Szijjarto said the Hungarian governments cross-border economic development schemes were successful, adding that Budapest and Bucharest were engaged in related talks, and the government was likely to be able to open a new round of applications.



Concerning the European Unions decision to approve an additional 500 million euros for military equipment for the Ukrainian army, Szijjarto said that although Hungary was not sending weapons to its north-eastern neighbour or allowing the transit of weapons deliveries through its territory into Ukraine, it was not blocking other EU member states from supporting Ukraine and respected their decision.



We expect the others to show the same respect to us and not comment on, label or criticise our decisions, he said. Szijjarto said the Hungarian people had made it clear in the election that they wanted Hungary to stay out of the war, adding that the government was committed to carrying out the will of the people.



On the topic of energy cooperation, Szijjarto said Hungary had an interest in diversifying its natural gas resources and was prepared to begin talks on importing gas from Romania once extraction was under way in the country.



Kelemen said the Transylvanian Hungarians who had backed Fidesz in the election had expressed their approval of the policy for Hungarians abroad the government had pursued over the last 12 years.



The goals of the coming period will be to boost relations with the Hungarian ruling parties and to continue deepening the relationship between Hungary and Romania, he said.





MTI Photo Gabor Kiss
YORK  A bench warrant was issued this week for Rafael Trujillo, 19, of Irving, Texas, after he failed to appear for sentencing in York County District Court in a case where he was caught with 53 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop in York.

The case began when a deputy with the York County Sheriffs Department stopped Trujillo for an alleged traffic stop on Highway 81, south of the York interchange.

The deputy says Trujillo told him he was traveling from California to Chicago, but I could only see one duffel bag inside the vehicle, the deputy said in his affidavit filed with the court. I did not feel he was truthful about visiting his aunt at this point. He also had a lot of Red Bull cans all over the floor board with two new ones in the cup holders. I asked Rafael whose vehicle it was and he at first said it was his aunts from California. Then he said it was her friends and they just let him borrow it to take a trip to Chicago.

He added in the affidavit that Trujillo told him there were no illegal drugs in the vehicle.

Dispatch indicated, according to court documents, that there was a protection order against Trujillo and he had been involved in an assault. Yet, when the deputy asked Trujillo if he had ever been in trouble with the law, he responded, just speeding tickets.

The deputy said Trujillo denied consent to search and the countys canine unit was dispatched to the location. The dog, Justice, immediately indicated to the odor of narcotics in the vehicle.

During a probable cause search, the deputies found approximately 53 pounds of marijuana in three different bags. According to the affidavit, the marijuana was wrapped in plastic bags and then vacuumed sealed in another plastic wrapping.

The deputies said there was also a food processor inside the vehicle, which is commonly used to seal bags of marijuana so there is no odor.

The marijuana was later field tested and weighed. It was determined to be 53.886 pounds of high grade marijuana.

His sentencing will be rescheduled after he is taken into custody.
14 Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports have been equipped with Ambulifts under the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan), to provide facilities to passengers with reduced mobility, and also help Divyangjan at airports where aerobridge facility is not available, said officials.

AAI procured 20 ambulifts for the airports having scheduled flight operations of Code C and other advanced level aircraft but do not have aerobridge facilities. The Ambulift has been manufactured indigenously under the Make in India policy.

"The facility is presently operating at 14 airports namely Dehradun, Gorakhpur, Patna, Bagdogra, Darbhanga, Imphal, Vijayawada, Port Blair, Jodhpur, Belgaum, Silchar, Jharsuguda, Rajkot, Hubli and remaining six are likely to be operational at Dimapur, Jorhat, Leh, Jamnagar, Bhuj and Kanpur airports by the end of this month," informed the Ministry of Civil Aviation in an official release.

Also read: Thiruvananthapuram Airport closes runway for 5 hours on April 15 to facilitate Painkuni festival celebration

The ambulifts can cater to six wheelchairs and two stretchers with an attendant at a time and are fitted with Heating Ventilation & Air-Conditioning system. Procured at a cost of Rs 63 lakhs per unit, AAI is set to provide the Ambulift facility at a nominal token charge to the operating airlines at its airports.

(With inputs from ANI)

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The runway at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport in Kerala will be blocked from 16:00 to 21:00 hours on April 15 to accommodate the Painkuni festival's Arattu procession of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple. Thiruvananthapuram's Painkuni Festival is a well-known cultural and religious event. The airport has also issued a passenger cautionary notice on Twitter for all passengers flying out on April 15th.

During this period, the domestic and international services have been rescheduled, said a press release from the airport. Thiruvananthapuram International Airport celebrates Vishu and Tamil new year (Puthandu) with extensive programs. The ten-day celebration begins with the 'kodiyettu,' or hoisting of the ceremonial flag, at the Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple.

We would like to inform the passengers transiting through #ThiruvananthapuramAirport that the flight services shall remain suspended from 1600 to 2100 hours on 15th April 2022 to ensure the smooth continuation of #Arattu procession.#PassengerAdvisory #GatewayToGoodness pic.twitter.com/gF8UqB1fnx  Thiruvananthapuram International Airport (@TRV_Airport_Off) April 14, 2022

The Arattu procession, in which idols of deities are taken from the temple in the evening, passing through the Fort area and the runway of Thiruvananthapuram International Airport before ending at the 'arattu mandapam' near Shanghumugham beach, brings the celebrations to a close. The runway will be blocked for five hours in the evening to ensure that the procession runs smoothly.

Also read: Ahmedabad Airport makes record, completes 3.5 km runway in 75 days

The bright yellow blooms of the Kanikkonna flowers and the traditional symbol of Vishu are placed at both international and domestic terminals, it said. As part of the celebrations, various competitions will be organised for the passengers on April 13 and 14 with attractive gifts. There will be offers for travellers in selected shopping centres of the airport, the release added further.

With inputs from ANI

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Vistara airline, today announced the addition of Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) to its domestic network, with direct flights to and from Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru beginning on May 20, 2022. Coimbatore is Vistara's 31st domestic destination, and the airline's second in the state of Tamil Nadu after Chennai. From 20 May and 27 May, respectively, the airline will fly daily flights to the city from Delhi and Mumbai, with double daily connectivity from Bengaluru beginning on June 3, 2022.

As per the announcement, there will be two flights commuting between Delhi and Coimbatore with flight numbers UK 0533 and UK 0534. Similarly, two flights will be for the Mumbai-Coimbatore routes with flight numbers UK 0521 and UK 0522. However, there will be four flights between Bengaluru and Coimbatore with flight numbers UK 0511, UK 0512, UK 0513 and UK 0514.

Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara, said, We are delighted to be adding Coimbatore to our domestic network and further strengthening our presence in the South of India. Coimbatore is a popular tourist destination and a key industrial hub of Tamil Nadu. We are confident that travellers will appreciate having the choice of flying Vistara on the routes and enjoy our award-winning product and services.

Also read: Multiple airports in India get Ambulifts to help passengers with reduced mobility

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Amy Wax is a neurologist and a lawyer. She's the Robert Mundheim Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She also has a penchant for racist remarks, which is why Tucker Carlson is pleased to let her come on his show and share them with his racist viewers.

During her most recent appearance on Carlson's Fox Nation program, she said Black and Asian people resent and feel shamed by "Western peoples' outsized achievements." She is particularly spiteful toward Indian Americans.

"They climb the ladder, they get the best education, we give them every opportunity, and they turn around and lead the charge on 'we're racist, we're an awful country.,'" she told Carlson. "On some level, their country is a shithole."

In the past, she said the U.S. would be "better off with fewer Asians."

From NBC News:

In her appearance on Carlson's show, Wax mocked the anti-racist efforts of South Asian women, particularly those at the Penn School of Medicine. "I feel like asking these people, why did you leave your country? Why are you here?" Carlson added, "You don't show up in someone else's country and start attacking them." Beyond the xenophobia, [executive director of the South Asian civic organization Indian American Impact, Neil] Makhija said, the attacks on Indian American physicians don't hold weight for a very simple reason. "What's extraordinary is most of those people she is attacking probably didn't even immigrate; they were born here," he said. "She's treating our own citizens as people who are less American and don't belong here."
New Delhi: Tesla CEO Elon Musk is said to be arriving in India in 2022, in what could be a positive step towards the launch of much-awaited Teslas swanky electric cars in the country. His visit to India could also fuel Starlinks ambitions of providing satellite internet to every nook and cranny.

According to a tweet by RedboxGlobal India, Elon Musk is said to be visiting India this year. TESLA ELON MUSK SAID TO VISIT INDIA THIS YEAR : GOVT SOURCES, the audio news platform said in its tweet.

Elon Musks visit to India comes on the heels of the Indian government asking Starlink to refund the money received in pre-orders to the customers until the company receives licences to operate in the country.

For the unversed, Starlink is a company under Musk-led SpaceX. The satellite internet provider had received over 5,000 pre-orders in India. However, it is still struggling to bag commercial licences without which the company cannot provide internet services in India, the country with the second-largest user base of internet users.

On the other hand, Musks Tesla has long been facing regulatory hurdles in the launch of its electric cars. The companys CEO Elon Musk had said, in January 2022, that the EV-maker is facing a lot of challenges for its car launch in India.

He has also said that the company is working with the government to overcome obstacles. Still working through a lot of challenges with the government," Musk had said in a tweet.

Musk is seeking a cut on the import duties of electric vehicles to sell Tesla cars at affordable rates in India. The worlds richest man is of the view that a 'temporary tariff relief for electric vehicles' will encourage Tesla and other global carmakers to make inroads in India. Also Read: Garena Free Fire Max Redeem Codes for today, April 15: Check how to redeem latest rewards

On its part, the Indian government has maintained that it will provide its support to Tesla only when it starts manufacturing in the country. In February 2022, transport minister Nitin Gadkari said that Tesla is welcome in India. However, it is "not a digestible concept" if it manufactures cars in China and sells them here, he had pointed out. Also Read: WhatsApp introduces Communities: 5 new features will improve the way we communicate on the platform

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New Delhi: Bike taxi platform Rapido on Friday said it has raised USD 180 million (over Rs 1,370 crore) in a Series D round of funding led by new investor Swiggy. The round also saw investment from TVS Motor Company, along with existing investors Westbridge, Shell Ventures and Nexus Ventures, the company said in a statement.

The funds would be used to bolster technology, amplify and strengthen teams across diverse sets of capabilities, and increase overall supply to create an enhanced consumer experience across a larger audience base in metros, tier I, II and III cities, it added.

Rapido said it will be investing these funds in all its three categories -- bike-taxi, auto and delivery -- to enhance its drive partners' earnings and improve customer experience in over 100 cities that it operates in.

"Swiggy's participation in this round will build on the synergies between the two companies," the company said.

Commenting on the fundraise, Rapido co-founder Aravind Sanka said, "We look forward to learning from Swiggy's experience to scale up throughout the country and enhance our captains' (driver-partners) / customers' experience, who are the backbone of our business."

Besides, he said, "TVS Motor, who are very passionate about EVs and the future of mobility, will help us in further expansion. We hope to accelerate our pace of becoming a household name as we increase our geographies and services, on the backbone of our robust, global-standard technology."

On the company's investment in Rapido, Swiggy co-founder and CEO Sriharsha Majety said, "Swiggy and Rapido share a vision to build a logistics platform that empowers riders through more opportunities and higher earnings."

"While we've already been working together, this investment facilitates closer alignment to leverage the synergies between the platforms and improve the value we provide to both consumers and delivery executives/captains across the country," Majety added. Also Read: Shot on iPhone Contest: Kolhapur-based engineer, 9 others win Apples competition -- In Pics

In the past, Rapido had raised USD 130 million from various investors. It is currently present in around 100 cities across the country with over 25 million customers and over 1.5 million driver-partners. Also Read: Petrol sold for Rs 1 per litre in Maharashtra city, buyers throng petrol pump

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New Delhi: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is inviting applications from engineering graduates from the year of passing 2019, 2020 and 2021. Interested applicants can submit their applications for the off-campus hiring programme on the companys official website. The last date to apply for the TCS Off Campus Hiring 2022 is today, April 15.

To harness the abundance of talent and ensure no great potential misses out on the opportunity to build a greater future with us, we present to you TCS Off Campus Hiring for engineering graduates from the year of passing (YOP) 2019, 2020 and 2021, TCS said on its official website.

TCS Off Campus Hiring Eligibility

Candidates who have completed their engineering degrees in 2019, 2020 or 2021 can apply for the jobs, provided they have a minimum aggregate (all subjects in all semesters) marks of 60% or 6 CGPA in each of Class Xth, Class XIIth, Diploma (if applicable), Graduation and Post-Graduation examination.

Candidates who have completed B.E./B.Tech/M.E./M.Tech/MCA/M.Sc from any specialisation offered by a recognised university or college are eligible. However, there should be no gap year in education and applicants should have completed their full-time education within the stipulated course duration.

In case of a gap or break in education, candidates are required to declare it in their application. Overall academic gap should not exceed 24 months until highest qualification. Relevant document proof, as applicable, will be checked for gaps in education, TCS said.

As far as the age limit is concerned, candidates should be 18 to 28 years of age to apply for the TCS Off Campus Hiring 2022. Also, applicants with pending backlogs are not eligible to apply for the job.

How to Apply For TCS Off-Campus Hiring

Step 1. Candidates are required to first log on to the TCS Next Step Portal at https://nextstep.tcs.com/campus/.

Step 2. On the homepage, candidates will have to create their accounts to apply for the TCS Off Campus hiring process. Registered users can use their credentials to log in to the portal.

Step 3: New users will have to click on the Apply For Drive option.

Step 4: Click on the Register Now option.

Step 5: You will now have to choose the category IT.

Step 6: Enter your details and submit the application form and click on Apply For Drive. Also Read: Big blow to common man in Pakistan! Petrol price could increase by Rs 83.5, diesel by Rs 119

Step 3. You can track your application by clicking on the "Track Your Application" option. The status should reflect as "Applied for Drive" if you have successfully submitted the application. Also Read: Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal tells employees company not 'held hostage' by Elon Musk offer

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New Delhi: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will hold a meeting on April 20 to discuss the current situation in wake of rising Covid-19 cases in the national capital. Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyendar Jain, and others will be present.

DDMA meeting on April 20 comes as Delhi is witnessing an uptick in Covid-19 cases. During the review meeting, the DDMA will discuss reimposing the mandatory use of face masks.

"The Delhi Disaster Management Authority meeting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday next week under the chairmanship of Lt Governor Anil Baijal. It will discuss the prevailing Covid situation, including the recent rise in the number of cases," a senior Delhi government official said.

The DDMA may reconsider its earlier decision to lift the fine on not wearing face masks in public places as a lot of people have stopped using them despite the increase in infections. The health department of the Delhi government, in an order on April 2, had said that fines will not be imposed for not wearing face masks in public places.

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor urged L-G Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to make face masks mandatory at all places, including public transport, offices, and shops and cinemas.

As per the official notice, the meeting will take place at 11 am on April 20. The ongoing vaccination programme in the national capital will also be discussed. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Delhi government is keeping an eye on the Covid-19 situation and there is no need to panic since hospitalisations are low.

His deputy, Manish Sisodia, said the government has also issued new guidelines for schools in view of the slight rise in Covid-19 cases. There have been reports of some school children testing positive for Covid-19 in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

Doctors have said it is "not a panic situation" as the daily case count is still low, even as they cautioned against lowering guard. No fresh fatality due to COVID-19 was recorded on Thursday.

Earlier this month, the DDMA decided to withdraw the fine on not wearing face masks in public places. In February, the DDMA lifted all restrictions in the wake of the significant improvement in the Covid-19 situation in the city.

Delhi reported 325 fresh COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a marked rise from 137 cases reported on Monday. The positivity rate stood at 2.39 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department.

The number of daily COVID-19 cases in Delhi had touched the record high of 28,867 on January 13 this year during the third wave of the pandemic. The city had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the third wave of the pandemic which was largely driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

(With PTI Inputs)

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Public sector oil marketing company Bharat Petroleum plans to set up 100 fast electric vehicle charging corridors having 2,000 stations along the busiest 100 national highways. The company recently said that it will invest around Rs 200 crore this fiscal year to set up the same.

The company has recently opened its first EV charging corridor along the Chennai-Trichi-Madurai highway with one charging unit. The second corridor will come upon the Kochi-Salem section of the National Highway 47 within the next two months, BPCL executive director for retail P S Ravi told PTI on April 13.

Ravi said in case a charging unit does not need a booster transformer, such a unit which will be a full-fledged centre offering restrooms, refreshments/food court, among other amenities can be ready at a cost varying from Rs 7-12 lakh, and if the unit needs a transformer then the cost will go up to Rs 25 lakh.

Also read: Toyota bZ4X electric SUV unveiled, first EV since 2014 RAV4

"Given this cost variance, we have budgeted for around Rs 200 crore investment this fiscal as we plan to set up as many as 2,000 fast-charging stations across 100 corridors by March 2023," Ravi said. He said for the long-term, the company has plans to have 7,000 fast EV charging stations by FY25. But he did not disclose the investment details.

He said the third corridor will most probably be the Mumbai-Bengaluru National Highway 4 and will have multiple units as the highway has the highest traffic. Ravi said the national oil refiner and marketer, which is the second-largest player with close to 30 percent retail market in petrol and diesel, hopes that the EV ecosystem will grow faster than forecasted earlier, and the company wants to play a big role in setting up the basic infrastructure for this ambitious drive.

The government has also announced plans to push domestic manufacturing and sales of electric vehicles. Ravi said his company will also seek some incentives from the Centre or the state government as the charging stations will not be commercially viable due to low footfalls in the initial stage.

Last week, auto dealers' body FADA had said that electric vehicle retail sales zoomed over three-fold in FY22 to 4,29,217 units from 1,34,821 units in fiscal 2021 and from 1,68,300 units in FY20. Electric two-wheelers, especially scooters contributed to a majority of the EV sales.

Also read: Indian Railways start 8 special trains following Bagdogra airport flight suspension

According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), electric passenger vehicle retail sales stood at 17,802 in FY22, up over three-fold from 4,984 units in FY21. Home-grown auto major Tata Motors leads the segment with retails of 15,198 units and a market share of 85.37 percent, up from 3,523 units in FY21, followed by MG Motor India selling 2,045 units and a market share of 11.49 percent.

It had retailed 1,115 units in FY21. Mahindra & Mahindra and Hyundai stood at third and fourth places with dispatches of 156 and 128 units respectively, both settling for a market share of less than 1 percent.

EV two-wheeler retail sales stood at 2,31,338 units, a jump of over five-fold from 41,046 units in FY21, and Hero Electric led the segment with 65,303 units, grabbing 28.23 percent share, followed by Okinawa Autotech (46,447 units) and Ampere Vehicles with (24,648 units). Hero MotoCorp-backed Ather Energy stood at fourth position by selling 19,971 units. While Ola Electric was in the sixth position selling 14,371 units, TVS Motor sold 9,458 units taking the seventh position.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Surat: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals party has said that Gujarats Patidar agitation leader Hardik Patel is most welcome to join their ranks if he is not happy with his association with the Congress.

If Hardik Patel is not liking in Congress, he should join a like-minded party like AAP. Instead of complaining to Congress, wasting his time, he should contribute here... A party like Congress would not have a place for dedicated people like him, Gopal Italia, AAP Gujarat chief, was quoted as saying by ANI.

If Hardik Patel is not liking in Congress, he should join a like-minded party like AAP. Instead of complaining to Congress, wasting his time, he should contribute here... A party like Congress would not have a place for dedicated people like him: Gopal Italia, AAP Gujarat chief pic.twitter.com/LjKZv31hL9  ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2022

The remarks from the Gujarat AAP chief came amid rumours about Hardik Patel mulling to quit Congress soon. However, Hardik Patel, who is Gujarat Congress Working President, has denied the rumours of leaving the party.

"There is a rumour that I am leaving Congress, I do not know who is spreading so," Patel said while attending an event in Surat on Thursday.

Patel further added, "I have given my 100 per cent to Congress till now, and will give the same in the coming days. We will do better development in Gujarat. There will be small fights and blame games within the party, but we have to work together to make Gujarat a better place."

"If speaking truth is a crime, consider me guilty. The people of Gujarat have expectations from us, we have to stand up to them," Gujarats Patel community leader added.

Hardik Patel emerged as the leader of the Patidar agitation demanding reservation for the community in Gujarat in 2015 and later joined Congress.

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New Delhi: After Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal made allegations about Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, national spokesperson of Aam Aadmi Party Raghav Chaddha slammed his remarks and said that they (SAD) are unable to digest their loss in assembly polls.

Raghav Chaddha told ANI, "There are some fired bullets of Punjab politics whose time is up. I think today after looting & destroying Punjab, these fired bullets have now resorted to character assassination of an elected CM. I condemn it and I would like to say that Bhagwant Mann`s character is purer than 24 karat gold."

Chaddha termed the Arvind Kejriwal-Bhagwant Mann duo as a superhit and said that the BJP, SAD, and Congress are jealous of this duo, adding "They cast an evil eye on this duo and levelled allegations. They should stop."

The AAP national spokesperson said, "They are the same people who used to say before the election that Arvind Kejriwal has a dark complexion and Bhagwant Mann has bad habits. They used to make personal attacks. AAP, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann replied to them through their work."

This comes after SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said that he didn`t want to speak for some time and wanted to give a free rein to the new government, but Bhagwant Mann`s actions were intolerable today, and added, "This was not the first time, he has earlier also visited Takht Sri Damdama Sahib in an inebriated condition besides Bargari dharna site."

Sukhbir Singh also accused Kejriwal of taking control of the administration in Punjab and said that he is using its resources including the State helicopter for electioneering in Himachal Pradesh.

SAD chief condemned Kejriwal`s meeting with Punjab government officials "in the absence" of the state chief minister and called it shameful.

"It`s shameful! CM Bhagwant Mann has surrendered his powers to AAP Convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who is not only taking meetings of Punjab officers in the absence of the CM but also ordering the postings of SSPs and DCs," he said.

Mann rules out purchasing new vehicles for ministers

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has ruled out the possibility of the state government purchasing new vehicles for the ministers, while interacting with the media after addressing a state-level function to mark the 131st birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar in Jalandhar on Thursday.

Mann was quoted as saying "Opposition was baselessly spreading such canards in dearth of any issue against the Punjab Government. There was no such move by the state government." There were reports in a section of media that the state government had plans to purchase SUVs for ministers and multi-utility vehicles for MLAs.

Punjab CM also slammed the "remote control" allegation of the opposition against the Punjab government saying that the senior officers had gone for training to New Delhi on his instructions.

"I will send my officers, wherever needed for sharpening their administrative skills and expertise. Opposition is making undue a hue and cry over the issue. Delhi government`s reforms in education, health and power sector are unmatched. There is no harm in getting training from them," ANI quoted him as saying.

Opposition parties had slammed AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal for meeting Punjab government officials "in the absence" of the state chief minister.

State procurement agencies directed to resume Mandi operations

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday directed the state procurement agencies to ensure the resumption of Mandi operations within hours of the stoppage of rain in various parts of the state.

According to the Chief Minister`s Office (CMO), Mann laid emphasis on the welfare of the farmer and directed the officials to ensure that farmers are not put to inconvenience as a result of inclement weather.

Notably, light rain accompanied by strong winds has lashed many parts of Punjab leading to the possibility of temporary disruption in Mandi operations on Friday.

Meanwhile, acting on the directions of the Chief Minister, senior officials of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Mandi Board, MARKFED, PUNSUP, FCI and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation met late in the evening on Thursday to chalk out a detailed plan to tackle the situation arising out of the adverse weather conditions existing in most parts of the state.

A detailed action plan has been chalked out and the Mandi Board has been asked to deploy all available resources in the State to make sure that any stagnant water is pumped out of the Mandi Yard within hours of stoppage of rain.

The Mandi Board has also been asked to direct the market committees to deploy unlimited manpower and pumping sets to tackle the problem on a war footing.

The state procurement agencies were asked to ensure that their officials visit the Mandis in the morning and personally meet the farmers and assure them of early resumption of purchase.

(With ANI Inputs)

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Ahmedabad: Amid rumours of Gujarat Congress Working President Hardik Patel quitting the party over infighting in the party, Aam Aadmi Party Gujarat chief Gopal Italia on Friday invited him to join a "like-minded party" like his and said that Congress would not have a place for the dedicated people like Patel.

Speaking to ANI, the AAP state chief said, "If Hardik Patel is not liked in Congress, he should join a like-minded party like AAP. Instead of complaining to Congress, wasting his time, he should contribute here... A party like Congress would not have a place for dedicated people like him."

However, Patel has refuted the rumours of him leaving the party stating that he will give 100 per cent for Congress.

"I have given my 100 per cent to Congress till now, and will give the same in the coming days. We will do better development in Gujarat. There will be small fights and blame games within the party, but we have to work together to make Gujarat a better place," Patel said.

Patel added, "If speaking truth is a crime, consider me guilty. The people of Gujarat have expectations from us, we have to stand up to them."

Hardik Patel emerged as the leader of the Patidar agitation demanding reservation for the community in Gujarat in 2015 and later joined Congress.

Legislative Assembly elections will be held in Gujarat in December 2022 to elect 182 members.

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Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue the present compensation grant system of Goods and Services Tax (GST) for another ten years.

In a letter written to PM Modi on Thursday, Baghel also said that the Central Government should make an alternative permanent arrangement for compensation of revenue to the producing states at the earliest.

Stating that discontinuation of GST compensation grant is a huge economic loss for producing states like Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister said, "Being a manufacturing state, our contribution in the development of the country`s economy is much more than those states which have been benefited in the GST tax system due to higher consumption of goods and services."

He said that if the GST compensation is not continued beyond June 2022, then Chhattisgarh is likely to face a revenue loss of nearly Rs 5,000 crore in the upcoming year.

"Similarly, many other states will also face revenue shortfall in the coming year. Due to this, it would be difficult to arrange for a shortfall in funds for the ongoing public welfare and development works in the state," he said.

In his letter, Baghel also gave the reference to the pre-budget consultation meetings for Budget 2022-23 chaired by the Union Finance Minister with the Chief Ministers and Finance Ministers, which were held in New Delhi in December 2021.

The Chief Minister said that after the implementation of the GST tax system, the autonomy of states in shaping tax policies has become very limited and there is not much revenue-related potential in the tax revenue other than commercial tax.

"Although, every effort is being made by us towards revenue generation, however, the present compensation grant system should be continued for the next 10 years to recover from the adverse impact of Covid-19 on the economy of states and till the time actual benefits of the GST tax system are realized," he added.

He has also appealed to the Central Government to devise an alternate permanent mechanism to compensate for the shortfall in revenue for manufacturing states.

The Chief Minister expressed hope that the Prime Minister will agree with the concerns of states and will act in the spirit of cooperative federalism to resolve the important issue involving the interests of all states.

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Defence Ministry Recruitment 2022: Indian Ministry of Defence has invited applications to fill the positions of Administrative and Judicial Member. Interested candidates can read the detailed notification or scroll down for more details.

Those who want to apply for these positions will have to apply in OFFLINE MODE. For the application form, candidates can visit the official website of the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Tribunal - 'mod.gov.in' and 'aftdelhi.nic.in'.'

Defence Ministry Recruitment 2022: The last date to apply

The last date to apply for the Administrative and Judicial Member positions is May 2, 2022. The application has to be submitted offline.

Defence Ministry Recruitment 2022: Vacancies

Vacancies are open for the posts of Administrative and Judicial Members:

Administrative Member - 12 Posts

Judicial Member - 12 Posts

Defence Ministry Recruitment 2022: Eligibility

For Administrative job: A candidate is eligible if he/she has held or has been holding the rank of Major General or above for a total period of three years in the Army or equivalent rank in the Navy or the Air Force, or has served for not less than one year as Judge Advocate General in the Army or the Navy or the Air Force, and is not below the rank of Major General, Commodore and Air Commodore respectively; or is a person of ability, integrity and standing having special knowledge of, and professional experience of not less than thirty years in, economics.

For Judicial Member: A candidate is eligible unless he/she is/has been, a Judge of a High Court; or has, for ten years, been an advocate with substantial experience in litigation in service matters in Central Administrative Tribunal, Armed Forces Tribunal, High Court or Supreme Court.

Defence Ministry Recruitment 2022: Age limit

The candidate must be younger than 50 years of age.

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For decades, the emptiness of the shuttered Bethlehem Steel complex stood as a symbol of the Buffalo Niagara region's struggles.

Now, with a smattering of new developments  and more on the way  it's becoming a sign of revival.

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Mark Poloncarz, the son and nephew of Bethlehem steelmakers, who grew up in the shadow of the plant, understands that symbolism. As Erie County executive, he's led the push to revive the 1,100-acre stretch of largely vacant and sometimes contaminated land along the shore of Lake Erie.

"It's kind of the fulfillment of the vision that, if we build it, they will come," the Lackawanna native said of private businesses. "And they have."

Over the past decade, Erie County and New York State have spent nearly $50 million to buy land, move rail lines and lay the groundwork for development. The county now owns almost a quarter of the Bethlehem Steel complex  mostly along Route 5  and that land has been cleaned up and is ready for redevelopment.

It's worked. Since then, the private sector has invested more than twice that amount  topping $100 million  to help turn the complex into a hub for manufacturing and warehouses.

So far:

 Welded Tube of Canada built a $48 million facility on 45 acres of land in 2013;

 North American Salt used part of the deepwater slip to unload and bag salt from ships, starting in 2015;

 The Steel Sun project installed 13,000 solar panels on the site, also in 2015;

 TMP Technologies constructed a $22.7 million factory across from Welded Tube, to make the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser;

 Sucro Sourcing of Miami invested $19 million to buy and refurbish several existing buildings into a new sugar refinery and storage operation; and

 Uniland Development Co. is building a 150,000-square-foot "spec" warehouse fronting Route 5, with plans for a second, 170,000-square-foot warehouse next door.

"This is huge for Lackawanna," said Mayor Annette Iafallo, whose father worked at Bethlehem Steel.

For most of the 20th century, the Bethlehem Steel site was the center of the Buffalo Niagara economy, employing 22,000 workers with good-paying jobs. But its demise left an enduring legacy, not only from the loss of jobs, but also from the miles-long, contaminated eyesore it left by the Lake Erie shoreline.

Many of the site's buildings were torn down a few years after the shutdown. Others remained, hollowed-out shells that are a stark reminder of what was. So did the slag piles and rubble.

Even with the recent activity, it has hundreds of acres that remain vacant. Some of it isn't suitable for large-scale development. Poloncarz pushed for Amazon to build the massive warehouse now going to the Town of Niagara on the Bethlehem Steel site, but the company ultimately rejected the site because of concerns about high construction costs and unknowns about hidden foundations that might be buried there.

So the recent flurry of activity has been a welcome sign of optimism.

It was a long time coming.

The plan

Ten years ago, Poloncarz announced a plan to clean up and restore the factory grounds that had earlier produced steel that drove Buffalo's growth. It was an ambitious plan, unveiled at a time when Buffalo's own economic revival was far from certain.

The county now owns more than 240 acres in the most visible and accessible portion of the site. It moved a railroad line that had split the property farther away from Route 5 to free space in front. It built a road into the heart of the property  the first of several that are planned. New water, sewer and power lines are being installed in the now-renamed Renaissance Commerce Park.

"There's a lot of folks who thought it was ridiculous that we'd be putting any kind of money into the site," Poloncarz said.

The site has always had advantages, local officials said. Its Lake Erie location offers easy access to shipping through the Port of Buffalo's 28 terminals. It is near major highways. A rail line runs through it. The Canadian border is a 15-minute drive away.

"Those were all serious advantages to the property 100 years ago, and those remain serious advantages to the property right now," said Deputy County Executive Maria Whyte.

There are financial advantages, too. Brownfield tax credits can offset much of the costs to build there.

Development officials said they're trying to be picky about the type of business that comes into the complex, with an emphasis on light and advanced manufacturing and distribution. The focus is on companies that generate good-paying jobs  not selling the available land to the highest bidder.

"We want to see things happen on the site, but we're really focusing on what are the needs in the community," said John Cappellino, the CEO of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, which has taken the lead in the redevelopment of the complex through an affiliate, the Industrial Land Development Corp.

Officials don't want cryptocurrency mining, data center or similar operations.

"There have been projects weve had to deny, because theyre not a good fit," Whyte said.

Long time coming

The revival of the Bethlehem Steel property has been a long time coming  ever since the plant that once employed 22,000 people closed in 1983.

Talk of redevelopment began as far back as 1987, but while many of the buildings are long gone, little happened aside from installation of windmills and solar panels.

Instead, the property has gone from one owner to another  International Steel Group, Mittal Steel, ArcelorMittal and now Ohio-based Cleveland-Cliffs, which owns it through Tecumseh Redevelopment.

The current effort has involved close collaboration between county departments, the ECIDA and ILDC, Tecumseh, the state Department of Environmental Conservation, and the City of Lackawanna. Officials have been meeting every two weeks for the past two years, both to discuss broad strokes but even to iron out nitty-gritty details and questions that arose along the way.

The plan  and Lackawanna's zoning  called for light manufacturing or warehouse near Route 5, medium industrial behind it, and heavy manufacturing in the back, including some areas that are so contaminated they are unlikely to ever be reused. That land  too dirty to clean up  would be converted to recreational use, allowing the public access to parts of the property and lakefront that they haven't had in a century.

"The central guiding principle is definitely the redevelopment of the land such that it supports high-quality jobs for our community," Whyte said. "But the other guiding principle is to support access to the land and to the water, in a way that the city of Lackawanna has really never fully enjoyed."

Laying the groundwork

Erie County buys 80 more acres for Lackawanna business park Erie County has purchased another 80 acres of land along Route 5 on either side of Smokes Creek to bolster the size of its new Renaissance Commerce Park on the site of the former Bethlehem Steel plant.

The county in 2017 purchased 148 acres of cleaned land from Tecumseh for $6.7 million. It added another 10 acres shortly afterward, and last year it agreed to buy 80 more acres from Tecumseh.

Meanwhile  after an initial $20 million cleanup dredged Smokes Creek and remediated the tar pits  Tecumseh has committed to spending another $69 million over the next five to 10 years to clean up another 489 acres. That includes removing the top layer of soil and putting down a foot of clean fill material  or paved surface  across the entire surface.

More groundwork is coming to improve utility service, and new roads into the site are envisioned at Ridge Road, Odell Steet and Madison Avenue, possibly starting later this year or early next year. The county is also extending the Shoreline Trail through the site, along Smokes Creek and over to Woodlawn Beach State Park in Hamburg.

The efforts are paying dividends. TMP Technologies built and opened its 290,000-square-foot facility in front of Welded Tube, while Sucro Sourcing is 60% done with its $21 million refurbishment of several existing buildings to create two sugar warehouses, a processing refinery and a packaging plant. "In my wildest dreams, I never thought wed find a reuse for those buildings. I figured eventually theyd have to come down," Poloncarz said.

Uniland poised to start work on Lackawanna warehouse Uniland is preparing to erect the warehouse on a 9.12-acre parcel of land that it acquired from an affiliate of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency.

Officials are now kicking off a second phase, seeking proposals from developers for two more parcels of vacant land, totaling 24 acres.

Meanwhile, on the other side

The northern end of the complex is less developed. About three-quarters of the 150 acres there is open for development. .

County officials said that's a good problem to have, especially at a time when warehouse space is in short supply and so is ready-to-build industrial land.

"To have tens of thousands of residents drive by this property every single day and finally see the redevelopment of it, it really does signify our renaissance," Whyte said. "It really is a good example of what the public sector can do to support private investment."

Buffalo Next Must-read local business coverage that exposes the trends, connects the dots and contextualizes the impact to Buffalo's economy. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, who has recently made headlines with his befitting response on Indias Russian energy purchase, on Friday held a "wide-ranging discussion" with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York and discussed the global impact of the Ukraine conflict as well as the situation in Afghanistan and Myanmar.

UN Chief expressed his interest in working with India 'to effectively address important contemporary challenges.'

Taking to Twitter, Jaishankar wrote, "Spoke about latest developments in respect of Afghanistan and Myanmar. Appreciate his interest in working with India to effectively address important contemporary challenges. The two leaders held wide-ranging discussions and exchanged views on the global impact of the Ukraine conflict, especially on food and energy security.

"A wide-ranging discussion with UNSG @antonioguterres. Exchanged views on the global impact of the Ukraine conflict, especially on food and energy security. Implications for developing countries are serious, he added.

A wide ranging discussion with UNSG @antonioguterres. Exchanged views on the global impact of the Ukraine conflict, especially on food and energy security. Implications for developing countries are serious. pic.twitter.com/8cSuiuinHI  Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 14, 2022

Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were in Washington for the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue with their US counterparts Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Jaishankar also held talks with US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai in Washington.

India-US on Taliban crisis

India and the US on Monday called on the Taliban to abide by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution to ensure that the Afghan territory does not become a breeding ground for terrorists to launch attacks against any country.

In a joint statement, the two sides called on the Taliban to adhere to the UNSC Resolution that demands that Afghan territory must never again be used to threaten or attack any country or shelter or train terrorists or plan or finance terrorist attacks.

India thanks the US for Covis aid

Jaishankar on Tuesday praised the US for helping India during the second deadly wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During an interaction with students of Howard University in Washington, Jaishankar recalled how the Covid experience has been enormously stressful for all the countries.

"If there was a silver lining to it, it also showed what friendships and relationships across the world could do...We have three vaccines in India, that we`re producing, which are a direct outcome of our relationship with the US," he said.

(With ANI inputs)

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New Delhi: After a steep decline in daily infection rate, Covid cases in India, especially in the NCR have shown an upward trend with daily cases constantly rising to leave us wondering if the fourth wave of Covid-19 is around the corner.

Amid the scare of another wave, the coronavirus positivity rate in Gurugram has seen an uptick and now stands at 8.5%, shows a study.

As per the health bulletin issued by the Haryana health department, of the 179 total Covid-19 cases reported on Wednesday across the state, 146 were from Gurugram itself.

What do experts say?

Experts, who have constantly been advising against lowering ones guard, believe that lifting all the Covid-related protocols, especially masks is behind this surge.

Immunologist Satyajit Rath said it was a mistake to pretend the pandemic is no longer the responsibility of the state but simply of individual people.

Persistently using law-and-order-style policies, such as all the restrictions is a mistake, especially when used widely and long, Rath, from Delhis National Institute of Immunology (NII), told PTI.

In March, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that lifting Covid restrictions and misinformation that the pandemic is over, the lifting of mask mandates, and ending physical distancing is responsible for rising cases, globally.

Fourth wave scare in Delhi?

Out of all the NCR cities, Delhi has seen the steepest uptick in daily cases, with infections rising by almost 50% on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Delhi reported 325 fresh Covid-19 cases with a positivity rate of 2.39 per cent, with the city government issuing a fresh advisory to schools after a few students tested positive for the infection.

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New Delhi: Several parts of the country are suffering from an early heatwave, but India, overall, is expecting a "normal" monsoon this year, the Met department said. "There'll be a normal monsoon this year in India as across the country there'll be 99% of rainfall," Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, IMD said.

He added, however, that some parts of the country can get below normal rainfall. "As per the prediction, there'll be a uniform distribution of rainfall. For the Northeast, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, J&K and parts of Punjab, Haryana & Himachal Pradesh, rainfall could be below normal," the IMD DG was quoted by ANI.

Meanwhile, the weather office on Thursday (April 14) had introduced a new all-India rainfall normal - 868.6 mm - for the southwest monsoon based on the data from 1971 to 2021, which will be used as the benchmark to measure rainfall in the country. The new rainfall normal, rounded off at 87 cm for the southwest monsoon season, is a marginal decline from the previous "normal" of 88 cm which was calculated on the basis of rainfall data from 1961-2010, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.

The IMD issues weather forecasts and summaries in terms of departures from the normal, which is a long period average (LPA) of rainfall received over a 50-year period. The 'normal' rainfall or the LPA is updated every 10 years. "Presently the southwest monsoon is passing through a dry epoch which started in the decade of 1971-80," he said. According to Mohapatra, the decadal average of all India's southwest monsoon rainfall for the 2011-20 decade is minus 3.8 per cent from the long-term mean.

"The next decade i.E. 2021-30 will come closer to normal and the southwest monsoon is likely to enter into the wet epoch from the decade of 2031-40," he said. The new all India annual rainfall normal, based on the 1971-2021 data, has been fixed at 1160.1 mm compared to the earlier normal of 1176.9 mm based on the 1961-2010 data.

Southwest monsoon rainfall, spread across the months of June-September, contributes 74.9 per cent to the annual rainfall, while the pre-monsoon rains - March-April-May - contributes 11.3 per cent. Post monsoon rainfall - October, November, December - contributes 10.4 per cent to the annual rainfall, while winter rains in January and February contribute 3.4 per cent to the yearly rainfall.

The new rainfall normal has been computed using rainfall data from 4,132 rain gauge stations distributed across 703 districts of the country.

(With Agency inputs)

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Pune: Countrys leading industrialist Ratan Tata had once asked Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to tell him if a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-linked hospital was meant only for Hindus.

Replying to it, Gadkari told Ratan Tata that the RSS does not discriminate on the basis of religion. The senior BJP leader revealed all this after inaugurating a charitable hospital in the Sinhagad area here.

Speaking on the occasion, Gadkari recalled a past incident when he was a minister in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra.

"A hospital named for late RSS chief KB Hedgewar was being inaugurated in Aurangabad. I was a minister in the state government then. A senior RSS functionary expressed a wish that the hospital be inaugurated by Ratan Tata, and asked me to help," Gadkari said.

He then contacted Tata and persuaded him to inaugurate the hospital citing Tata Cancer Hospital's contribution to providing cancer care to the poor in the country, he said.

"Upon reaching the hospital, Tata asked if the hospital is only for people from the Hindu community. I asked him 'why do you think so'. He immediately replied, 'because it belongs to the RSS'.

"I told him that the hospital is for all communities, and no such thing (discrimination on the basis of religion) happens in the RSS," the Union Minister said. Gadkari then explained several other things about RSS functioning to Ratan Tata and he the industrialist eventually "became very happy".

(With PTI Inputs)

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On the issue of Karauli violence, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said, Like riots happened in Karauli...those caught could be innocent too...Even in MP, those caught (for clashes) could be innocent. Whether innocent or guilty, they've taken this step to raze people's houses. Is this a bold step to demolish someone's house?

Reacting to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's remarks of Akhand Bharat in 15 years, Gehlot said that RSS is taking the names of Gandhi, Patel and Ambedkar just for winning elections; it never believed in them.

They talk about 'Akhand Bharat' but (Sardar) Patel had banned RSS. They (RSS) gave in written to never participate in politics, and that they will only indulge in cultural programs, he said.

Earlier, Gehlot had criticised BJP Yuva Morcha national president and MP Tejasvi Surya saying that he had come to Karauli to further provoke the situation.

The name is Tejasvi Surya but look for what they came here...Incident in Karauli is unfortunate, I already said that these people came to further provoke the situation...we were worried that Karauli-like incidents shouldn't happen in other places, he had said.

BJP Yuva Morcha national president and MP Tejasvi Surya, party's Rajasthan chief Satish Poonia and others were stopped from visiting violence-hit Karauli on Wednesday (April 13). They were stopped at the Dausa-Karauli border but kept demanding that they be allowed to meet victims of the April 2 violence, which broke out after a bike rally being carried out to mark Hindu new year was pelted with stones. Over 30 people were injured in the violence. (With agency inputs)

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New Delhi: Addressing the controversy around the Karnataka contractors suicide and his ministers alleged involvement, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said that KS Eshwarappa decided to resign of his own free will and said that a probe would be conducted in the matter, ANI reported.

Warning the opposition not to hinder the case, Bommai said that there is no need for the opposition to turn into investigative officials as proper bodies will do their work.

State Min KS Eshwarappa has decided to resign on his own & will tender his resignation today evening. No need for the opposition to become an investigation officer or judge as everything will come out after probe, ANI quoted Bommai as saying.

Meanwhile, in response to Bommais statements, Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar said that the protest by the opposition is not against the minister or his resignation but against the corruption in the state.

The protest is not for his resignation (KS Eshwarappa) but against corruption. CM said (Eshwarappa) has not done anything wrong. If he didn't do anything then why are you accepting his resignation? Congress leader told ANI.

Santhosh K Patil, 40, a contractor and BJP leader from Belagavi who made graft allegations against Eshwarappa, died by suicide by consuming poison in a lodge on Tuesday.

He had alleged that the minister had been harassing him for commissions to clear his bills for projects he had implemented for the government.

Eshwarappa is claiming that he does not know Patil and the work has been done without a work order.

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New Delhi: After a steep decline in daily infection rate, the Covid-19 cases in Noida are now showing an upward trend and it has become a cause of worry. More and more kids are being tested positive for coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar.

The cases of Covid-19, though still low, is witnessing an increasing trend, with children in Noida testing positive for the virus everyday. The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday (April 15, 2022) informed that as many as 44 children have tested positive in the last 7 days.

44 children tested Covid-19 positive in the last 7 days, of which 16 children are below 18 years. Overall cases in Noida 167. Percentage of children affected 26.3%, said the Chief Ministers Office.

Noida, Uttar Pradesh | 44 children tested COVID positive in the last 7 days, of which 16 children are below 18 years. Overall cases in Noida 167. Percentage of children affected 26.3%: CMO  ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) April 15, 2022

The number of active cases has crossed the 150-mark in Noida, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Sunil Kumar Sharma said.

Meanwhile, the authorities have directed all the schools across Noida and Greater Noida to immediately inform the health department about any child with cough, cold, fever, diarrhea, or showing any symptoms of Covid-19 for timely treatment.

Amid the scare of the fourth wave, India on Friday recorded 949 new Covid-19 infections. Indias death toll has climbed to 5,21,743 with 6 daily fatalities today. The active cases further declined to 11,191 in the country.

The country also reported 810 recoveries in a day. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has increased to 4,25,07,038, while the case fatality rate has been recorded at 1.21 per cent.

The daily positivity rate was recorded as 0.26 per cent and the weekly positivity rate as 0.25 per cent.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke with general secretary of the Communist party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong and exchanged views on regional and global issues, including the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the situation in the South China Sea.

In their telephonic conversation, the two leaders expressed satisfaction over the rapid pace of wide-ranging cooperation under the India-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership which was established during Modi's visit to Vietnam in 2016, the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said in a statement.

They complimented each other on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Prime Minister Modi reiterated Vietnam's importance as an important pillar of India's Act East Policy and Indo-Pacific Vision, and sought to enhance the scope of the bilateral relationship, besides working for expeditious progress on existing initiatives.

The prime minister also requested for greater facilitation of market access for India's pharma and agri-products in Vietnam, the statement said.

Prime Minister Modi highlighted the historical and civilisation links between the two countries and expressed his happiness on India's involvement in restoration of Cham monuments in Vietnam.

The leaders agreed to enhance defence partnership between the two countries, the PMO said.

They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of shared interest, including the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and the situation in South China Sea, the statement said.

China claims sovereignty over all of the South China Sea, a huge source of hydrocarbons. However, several ASEAN member countries, including Vietnam, Philippines and Brunei, have counter claims.

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New Delhi: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday assured tougher actions against Khargone violence culprits and said that poor, who lost their houses in the incident should not worry.

Chouhan, who is fondly called 'Maama' by his supporters said that "their maama will re-build their houses."

The leader has also come up with the Bulldozer reference to launch an attack on the miscreants trying to spark violence in the state.

Referencing the recent Khargone violence that took place during Ram Navmi celebrations in the state, Chouhan said, Shouldn't bulldozers be used against those who trouble the poor... the houses of the poor were burnt in Khargone. They should not worry as 'Mama' will build their houses. We will recover from those who burnt their houses.

The leader also alleged that the Khargone violence was a conspiracy to destroy peace and harmony in Madhya Pradesh and warned the architects of such violence that his government will be hard on such anti-social elements.

Some people are conspiring to destroy peace in the state, we saw this in Khargone. They want riots. This government is softer than a flower for the public but we will not let goons and criminals survive in the state, we'll not leave them, ANI quoted Chouhan as saying.

On April 10 several people including police personnel were injured when groups of people pelted stones at each other during a Ram Navami procession.

The stone-pelting started at the very beginning of the procession leaving around four people injured including a police inspector, police said.

After the miscreants set four houses on fire, the administration imposed a curfew in Talab Chowk, Gaushala Marg, and Motipura areas.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Gajendra Umrao Singh on Thursday met the family of Shivam Shukla, who is battling for his life at an Indore hospital, after being injured in the Khargone violence during the Ram Navami procession.

The BJP MP said that Shivam`s health is improving and said that the Madhya Pradesh government will bear all the expenses of his treatment.

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RBI Recruitment 2022: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a notification for the recruitment of eligible individuals for various posts. The bank is looking to fill over 300 vacancies through this recruitment drive.

As per a notification released on RBI's official website at https://rbi.org.in, the Reserve Bank of India Services Board (Board) has invited applications for the posts of Assistant Managers (Rajbhasha), Assistant Managers (Protocol & Security) in Grade A and Officers in Grade B.

Interested candidates need to note that the last to apply is April 18, 2022.

RBI Recruitment 2022: Vacancy details

Officers in Grade B(DR)- General: 238

Officers in Grade B(DR)- DEPR: 31

Officers in Grade B(DR)- DSIM: 25

Assistant Manager  Rajbhasha: 06

Assistant Manager  Protocol & Security: 03

Reserve Bank of India Recruitment 2022: Last date

The last date to apply is April 18 (till 6:00 PM).

RBI Jobs 2022: Application fee

For Officers in Grade B: The application fee for Gen, OBC, and EWS category candidates is Rs 850. For the candidates belonging to SC, ST, and PwBD categories, it is Rs 100.

For Assistant Manager: The application fee for Gen, OBC, and EWS category candidates is Rs 600. For SC, ST, and PwBD category candidates, it is Rs 100.

Interested and eligible candidates are advised to carefully fill and verify the details filled in the online applications as no change will be possible after submission.

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BEIJING (AP)  Anti-virus controls that have shut down some of Chinas biggest cities and fueled public irritation are spreading as infections rise, hurting a weak economy and prompting warnings of possible global shockwaves.

Shanghai is easing rules that confined most of its 25 million people to their homes after complaints they had trouble getting food. But most of its businesses still are closed. Access to Guangzhou, an industrial center of 19 million people near Hong Kong, was suspended this week. Other cities are cutting off access or closing factories and schools.

Spring planting by Chinese farmers who feed 1.4 billion people might be disrupted, Nomura economists warned Thursday. That could boost demand for imported wheat and other food, pushing up already high global prices.

The closures are an embarrassment to the ruling Communist Party and a setback for official efforts to shore up slumping growth in the worlds second-largest economy. They come during a sensitive year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to break with tradition and award himself a third five-year term as leader.

Beijing has promised to reduce the human and economic cost of its zero-COVID strategy, but Xi on Wednesday ruled out joining the United States and other governments that are dropping restrictions and trying to live with the virus.

Prevention and control work cannot be relaxed, Xi said, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Persistence is victory.

The risk that China might tumble into recession is increasing, Ting Lu, Jing Wang and Harrison Zhang of Nomura warned in a report.

The logistics crunch is worsening, they said. The markets should also be concerned about the delayed spring planting of grain in China.

The government reported 29,411 new cases Thursday, all but 3,020 with no symptoms. Shanghai accounted for 95% of that total, or 27,719 cases. All but 2,573 had no symptoms.

A health official warned Wednesday that Shanghai didnt have the virus under control despite its easing restrictions.

Some 6.6 million people were allowed to leave their homes in areas that had no new cases for at least a week. But at least 15 million others still are barred from going outdoors.

Most people have obeyed despite grumbling about shortages of food, medicine and access to elderly relatives who need help. But videos on the popular Sina Weibo social media service show some trading punches with police.

Grape Chen, a data analyst in Shanghai, said she was panicking about getting medicines for her father, who is recovering from a stroke. She called police after getting no response from an official hotline but was told quarantine rules bar officers from helping.

We are willing to cooperate with the country, Chen said. But we also hope that our lives can be respected.

The city government of Suzhou, a center for smartphone manufacturing and other high-tech industry west of Shanghai, told its 18 million people to stay home when possible.

Taiyuan, a blue-collar city of 4 million in central China, suspended inter-city bus service, according to the official China News Service. Ningde in the southeast barred residents from leaving.

A restaurant cook in Taiyuan said his family has been confined to their apartment compound since April 3 after cases were found in neighboring compounds.

Our lives will be seriously affected if the restrictions last long, said the cook, who would give only his surname, Chen.

My wife and I are earning nothing, Chen said. We have three children to support.

All but 13 of Chinas 100 biggest cities by economic output are under some form of restrictions, according to Gavekal Dragonomics, a research firm.

The intensity is increasing, Gavekal said in a report this week.

The volume of cargo handled by the Shanghai port, the worlds busiest, has fallen 40%, according to an estimate by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Automakers have suspended production due to disruption in deliveries of supplies.

Restrictions on areas that produce the world's smartphones, consumer electronics and other goods are prompting forecasters to cut expectations for this year's economic growth to as low as 5%, down sharply from last year's 8.1% expansion.

The ruling partys target is 5.5%. Growth slid to 4% over a year earlier in the final quarter of 2021 after tighter official controls on debt triggered a collapse in home sales and construction, industries that support millions of jobs.

Even before the latest shutdowns, the ruling party was promising tax refunds and other help for entrepreneurs who generate wealth and jobs.

Premier Li Keqiang, the No. 2 leader and top economic official, called this week for quicker rollout of aid for businesses that face a key juncture for survival, China News Service reported.

Under a strategy dubbed dynamic clearing, authorities are trying to use more targeted measures to isolate neighborhoods instead of whole cities with populations bigger than some countries. But some local leaders are imposing more sweeping controls.

Shanghai leaders were criticized for trying to minimize economic damage by ordering testing but no shutdown once cases were found last month. A citywide shutdown was ordered with only a few hours' warning after case numbers soared.

That was in contrast to Shenzhen, a tech and finance center of 17.5 million people near Hong Kong that closed the city March 13 after an outbreak and ordered mass testing. It reopened a week later and business returned to normal.

Guangzhou has imitated Shenzhen. Most access to the city of 19 million was suspended Monday and mass testing ordered after 27 infections were found.

Li Guanyu, a 31-year-old woman in Guangzhou, said residents can leave her apartment compound only once every other day to buy food but stores are well-stocked.

This happened a bit suddenly," said Li. Maybe the Shanghai situation is so bad that Guangzhou started mass testing and lockdowns as soon as cases were discovered.

AP researchers Yu Bing in Beijing and Chen Si in Shanghai and video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing contributed.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
New Delhi: In what can bring cheer to large parts of agrarian India, the south-west monsoon rainfall this year, over the country as a whole, is most likely to be normal - quantitatively 99 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA), the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Thursday.

Southwest Monsoon Seasonal (July to September ) rainfall over the country as a whole is most likely to be normal which is 96 to 104% of the Long Period Average (LPA), predicted Indian Meteorological Department in its April 14 release for the 2022 Southwest Monsoon Rainfall  ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2022

The IMD also announced a slight reduction in the new normal for all India rainfall based on decadal data. The LPA rainfall for the June to September period over the country as a whole for the period 1971-2020 is 87 cm.

This 87 cm is the new normal all India rainfall from this year that the IMD has introduced replacing the earlier 88 cm based on 1961-2010 data.

"Normal to above normal seasonal rainfall most likely over many areas of the northern peninsula and central India, along foothills of the Himalayas and some parts of northwest India, below normal rainfall is likely over many parts of northeast India, some parts of northwest India and southern parts of the south Peninsula," IMD Director General, Meteorology, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told media persons. That explains the quantitative forecast of 99 per cent plus/minus 5 per cent of model error.

The IMD would also provide forecasts for the monsoon convergence zone (MCZ), majorly central Indian portion, extending from Gujarat and Rajasthan to Odisha, which is largely rain-fed area (for agriculture) and therefore from last year, making IMD`s specific MCZ forecast more relevant for the farmers.

On the change of new normal rainfall for the whole of India from 88 cm to 87 cm, Mohapatra said: "This decrease is part of natural multi-decadal epochal variability of dry and wet epochs of all India rainfall. Presently it is a dry epoch, which started in the decade 1971-80. The decadal average of all India SW monsoon rainfall for the decade 2011-20 is (-) 3.8 per cent from the long-term mean. The next decade i.e. 2021-30 will come close to neutral and will likely to enter in the wet epoch from the decade 2031-40."

A cause of worry, if at all, is the likely presence of negative Indian Ocean Diapole (IOD) - the difference in warming/cooling of the west Indian Ocean and the east Indian Ocean - around the time of the beginning of the southwest monsoon season even when, at present, there is neutral IOD conditions over the Indian Ocean, Mohapatra said, adding: "However, we have to wait and watch how the situation pans out by then."

La Nina conditions prevail over the equatorial Pacific region and are likely to continue during the monsoon season. La Nina is associated with the cooling over the central and east Pacific Ocean. An El Nino (as against La Nina) is generally associated with deficient (surplus) monsoon rainfall over India. However, there is no one to one relationship between El Nino and the Indian monsoon.

Meanwhile, the IMD caters to the demands from different users and government authorities for forecasts of the spatial distribution of seasonal rainfall along with the regionally averaged rainfall forecasts for better regional level planning of activities. For this, from 2021, a Multi-Model Ensemble (MME) forecasting system based on coupled global climate models (CGCMs) from different global climate prediction and research centres, including IMD`s own Monsoon Mission Climate Forecast System (MMCFS), are used.

MME is a universally accepted technique used to improve the skill of forecasts and reduce forecast errors when compared to a single model-based approach. The performance improvements are completely attributed to the collective information of all models used in the MME forecasting system.

"Traditionally, IMD used statistical models for forecasts but since 2017, the dynamical forecast system has started using ocean-atmosphere coupled models for monsoon forecast and other forecasts such as district-level forecast and now-casts," Secretary, Earth Sciences, M. Ravichandran said.

After Thursday`s first stage forecast for the southwest monsoon, the IMD will issue the second stage, updated, forecast in the last week of May with chances of announcing the date when monsoon would hit the Kerala coast prior to that.

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New Delhi: Samajwadi Party leader Kasim Raeen on Thursday resigned from the party accusing party chief Akhilesh Yadav of inaction against rising atrocities against Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.

In a resignation letter released by news agency ANI, Raeen cited inaction by the party chief on the atrocious behaviour that the Muslim community is facing in the state.

While writing a letter to party leadership, Raeen flagged the guarded silence by Akhilesh Yadav and also quoted several instances to back his resignation.

In the letter, Raeen said that Azam Khan who, he claimed, was sent to jail along with his family, while Kairana MLA Nahid Hasan had been languishing in jail and Shahzil Islam, SP MLA from Bhojipura assembly segment in Bareilly district, booked for hate speech and his petrol pump was demolished.

The resignation comes amid reports of growing dissent among Muslim members of the Samajwadi Party, which enjoys a decent vote share in the community.

Earlier, Samajwadi MP from Sambhal, Shafiqur Rehman Barq had also expressed dissatisfaction about his partys silence regarding the issues of Muslims.

Interestingly, a Muslim cleric Maulana Shahabuddin Rizvi earlier asked Muslims to drop the anti-BJP tag and consider supporting the saffron party while accusing SP of abhorring and abandoning Muslims.

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New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court has summoned six Uttar Pradesh government officials, including the CEO of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), over the razing of a residential colony in Bulandshahr despite its stay order on demolition.

The court has fixed August 16 for the next hearing in the case and asked the YEIDA officials to appear in person and explain as to why contempt proceedings may not be initiated against them for the violation of its order passed in 2021.

Besides YEIDA CEO Arun Vir Singh, Officer on Special Duty Shailendra Kumar Singh, Senior Manager Vikas Kumar, Deputy General Manager Rajendra Kumar Bhati, Tehsildar Vinay Bhadauria and Sub-Divisional Magistrate Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr Rakesh Kumar have been summoned, according to an order issued by the court on April 8.

The YEIDA, along with Bulandshahr authorities, had demolished the construction work at the Aerocity Residency in Jhajhar village of the district on March 29 during an anti-encroachment campaign in close vicinity of the areas where the Noida International Airport is coming up.

"The demolition of our colony by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority and officials of the Bulandshahr district administration was illegal and incorrect. Our colony was approved by the Bulandshahr Zila Panchayat and we have all the legal documents that were shown to them before demolition, but they refused to see those," Yogesh Rajora, legal advisor of Aerocity Residency, told reporters.

"We then moved the Allahabad High Court, which has accepted our arguments and prima facie found YEIDA officials and Bulandshahr district officials guilty of contempt of court. The court has summoned them in person," he added.

Rajora claimed that the court has allowed the government officials to skip in-person appearance in court only on the condition that the compensation amount is fixed for the people affected by the demolition of the Aerocity Residency colony.

"If this condition is met, the officials can make their representation during the next hearing through their lawyers, otherwise they have to be present in court in person," he said.

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SRINAGAR: In more worrying developments, the Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmirs Baramulla and other areas have once again received threat letters asking them to leave the Kashmir Valley immediately. The threat letters issued to them have brought back the haunting memories and fear of the 1990s during which several minority community members had received similar threat letters asking them either to convert to Islam, leave Jammu and Kashmir or face death.

This time, the threat letters to the Kashmiri Pandits have been issued by a local terror outfit Lashker-e-Islam. The copies of the threat letters are widely in circulation on social media. The threat letters issued by Lashker-e-Islam have been addressed to the president of the Migrants Camp in Hawal and Migrants Camp in Baramulla.

The letter said, We order Kashmiri Pandits to leave Kashmir immediately, otherwise your entire family will be harmed - we are not scaring you but this land is only for Muslims and those who accept Islam, and this is the land of Allah, Hindus cannot stay here. The note ended with a warning, our brothers are attending what has been left unattended in 1990.

The issuance of the threat letters has once again instilled fear in the hearts of Kashmiris Pandits and they have been desperately calling the local authorities and their relatives to save them.

It may be mentioned that on the 13th of April, Satish Singh, a local Rajput belonging to Pombay Kakran village was shot dead which sent tremors across the whole minority community living in the Kashmir Valley. Earlier on April 4, Bal Krishan Bhat, whose family runs a medicine store in Chotigam of the Shopian district, was shot at by terrorists outside his shop. Bhat was admitted to the 92 Base Hospital of the Indian Army in Srinagar where his condition stabilised. 'The Resistance Front' - a shadow outfit of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba - later claimed responsibility for the attack. After the incident, the BJP demanded the formation of a commission to probe the Kashmiri Pandit genocide.

Satish Mahaldar, Chairman, J&K Peace forum, has appealed to the authorities and the majority population of Kashmir to help the minorities living under the shadow of constant fear and threat to their lives in Kashmir Valley.

He also urged the majority population to come forward and protect the existence and the ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within the region of Kashmir and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.

The letter was written by Satish Mahaldar, Chairman, J&K Peace forum, reads:

I take the view that it is part of my duty to reach out to every section of the people and understand their problems, their aspirations, their doubts, and their fears. It is my responsibility to communicate with my people about the nature of the task of building the Jammu and Kashmir state and the duty of every citizen to contribute to making Jammu and Kashmir a modern, strong, prosperous, just, humane and peaceful state. In this hour of time when minority communities, especially Kashmiri pandits are engulfed in rumours of violence and death, I urge the majority population to come forward and protect the existence and the ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic identity of minorities within the region of Kashmir and encourage conditions for the promotion of that identity.

Majority population should take measures to create favourable conditions to enable persons belonging to minorities to express their characteristics and develop their culture, language, religion, traditions and customs. It is the duty of the majority to protect the minority, be it religious, racial or linguistic. It is a self-evident rule. It is a rule that is firmly rooted in the universality of humanity. I urge muftis, ulemas, molvis and others across the Valley should come forward and save pluralistic society at large.

Nevertheless, we must always remember that pluralism is our inheritance. Pluralism should be our strength. It is only due to the thoughtless words and actions of some that we have, sadly, allowed our diversity to become differences. We should not turn our back on our history and our heritage. We should not discount or diminish our unique strength; nor view our pluralism as a source of perennial conflict.

There had been often lone actors informally aligned individuals who mobilize to violence with little or no clear organizational structure or direction. These individuals often consume material deliberately disseminated to recruit individuals to causes that attempt to provide a sense of belonging and fulfilment, however false that sense might be. Their ideologies are fluid, evolving, and overlapping.

And they can, in some instances, connect and intersect with conspiracy theories and other forms of disinformation and misinformation. One key aspect of todays threat emerges from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and networks whose racial, ethnic, or religious hatred leads them toward violence, as well as those whom they encourage to take violent action. In some cases, lone actors /individuals may develop their own idiosyncratic justifications for violence that defy ready categorization.

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Bengaluru: Hours after Karnataka Minister KS Eshwarappa announced to tender his resignation, the top opposition parties in the state - Congress and AAP  said that his resignation is not sufficient, and the BJP leader must be arrested immediately in connection with the suicide case of a civil contractor who held the minister directly responsible for his death.

The move came after the police had filed an abetment to suicide case against Eshwarappa, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, after Belagavi-based civil contractor, Santhosh Patil, was found dead at a lodge on Tuesday.

Patil, who had blamed Eshwarappa squarely for his death, had earlier accused the senior minister of demanding a 40 per cent cut for clearing bills for various works that he had taken up.

"I have worked as the RDPR minister till date under CM (Basavraj) Bommai`s leadership in the government. I have taken the decision to tender my resignation on Friday evening. I don`t want to cause embarrassment to my party and party leadership," Eshwarappa said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters, state Congress President D K Shivakumar said that Eshwarappa will not keep his words. "Our struggle won`t stop with his resignation. The FIR speaks many facts relating to corruption. He must be booked under Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and he must be arrested immediately," Shivakumar said.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah demanded that it is a `heinous crime` and a non-bailable offence. "In all heinous crimes, the accused persons are arrested immediately. But Eshwarappa has not been arrested yet. All are equal before the law," Siddaramaiah said.

"By deciding to submit his resignation, Eshwarappa has realised his mistakes. First, he claimed he did not know Santhosh at all. Did he lodge a defamation case against him without knowing Santhosh at all," Siddaramaiah asked.

Congress General Secretary and in-charge for Karnataka, Randeep Singh Surjewala, tweeted: "Minister Eshwarappa`s belated resignation is too little, too late. Eshwarappa has to be arrested. Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act must be added to the FIR. High Court-monitored SIT must investigate & file challan. Independent probe of 40% Commission Bommai Govt!"

Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that Eshwarappa has tendered his resignation on his own. He also denied any direction from the BJP high command in this regard.

"Eshwarappa spoke to me this evening. He told me that he is innocent and did not do anything. He also expressed confidence that he would come out clean in the investigation. He said he will meet me tomorrow (Friday) and also stated that he will not stay in his post as it might embarrass the party," Bommai said.

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Karachi: Imran Khan's ex-wife Reham Khan has taken a shot at the former Pakistan Prime Minister, saying he has "comedic talent" and that he could take a spot on 'The Kapil Sharma Show' in India.

Speaking to a Pakistani reporter, Reham joked about Imran Khan saying he should try his hand at Bollywood.

She was heard saying: "He has become emotional. I feel India should make space for him, maybe Bollywood. I believe he can give an Oscar-winning performance."

Asked if he should star as a hero or a villain, Reham replied: "That is up to him. In Bollywood, heroes become villains and villains become more popular. But I feel he also has comedic talent... If nothing else he can go for the vacancy on the Kapil Sharma Show. He can take Paaji's (Navjot Sidhu's) place. As we can see he is also into 'shero-shairi' (Urdu couplets) now."

"Also, he has a good rapport with Paaji so there can be some sharing with Paaji," she quipped.

The Pakistani reporter then said to the camera: "Kapil Sharma, I am sure you are listening to Reham."

According to reports, the comments came in when Imran Khan addressed a rally in Peshawar.
New Delhi: According to a report, the central government has denied pensioners' plea to release the dearness relief (DR) that was held during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. The money was set aside to cover additional immediate expenses during the lockdown. Here's everything you need to know about recent developments in dearness allowance (DA), which is paid to government employees, and dearness relief (DR), which is paid to retirees:

In light of the exceptional scenario created by the COVID-19 epidemic, the central government withheld three installments of DA and DR for January 1, 2020, July 1, 2020, and January 1, 2021. The DA and DR are updated twice every year, in January and July. In a written response to a Rajya Sabha question in August last year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that withholding DA and DR saved "about Rs 34,402 crore."

The freeze was lifted in July 2021, and the DA and DR allocations have since been raised three times.

The DA and DR have just been raised by the government. Since the freeze was lifted in July 2021, DA and DR have witnessed three rises and nearly doubled.

After a long gap, the Centre boosted the DA and DR for central government employees and pensioners to 28% and 17%, respectively, in July 2021. Again in October 2021, central government employees saw a 3% increase in Dearness Allowance. The DA for central government employees was then increased to 31%, beginning July 20, 2021. From January 2022, DA and DR will be paid to salaried employees at a rate of 34%, an increase from the previous rate of 31%.

Heres how to calculate DA:

In 2006, the central government revised the mechanism for calculating DA for central government employees and pensioners.

Dearness Allowance percent = ((Average of All-India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the previous 12 months -115.76)/115.76)*100 for central government employees.

Dearness Allowance percent = ((Average of All-India Consumer Price Index (Base Year 2001=100) for the previous three months -126.33)/126.33)*100

According to the latest data from the All-India Consumer Price Index, federal government employees should expect a 3% increase in their Dearness Allowance.

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New Delhi: In what could be good news for lakhs of central government employees and pensioners, the announcement of dearness allowance (DA) and dearness relief (DR) has finally come for those under the 5th Pay Commission and 6th Pay Commission. The news comes on the heels of the Indian government announcing a 3% DA hike for employees under the 7th Pay Commission last month.

According to the latest notification, the DA of central government employees under the 5th Pay Commission has increased by 13%. Such employees will now receive DA at a 381 per cent rate under the 5th Pay Commission, up from 368 per cent.

On the other hand, the DA of employees under the 6th Pay Commission has increased from 196 to 203 per cent. The revised for employees working with the Central Government and Central Autonomous Bodies (Public Sector Undertakings) has been hiked retrospectively, with effect from January 1, 2022.

"Revised rates of, Dearness Allowance to the employees of Central Government and Central Autonomous Bodies continuing to draw their pay in the pre-revised Pay Scale/Grade Pay as per 5th Central Pay Commission from 01.01.2022," the Department of Expenditure noted in an office memorandum.

Meanwhile, the Central government has recently revised the DR of pensioners to 34 per cent from the previous 31 per cent. The DR hike also comes into effect starting January 1, 2022.

The Central government has also increased the dearness allowance of government employees under the 7th Pay Commission to 31 per cent from 28 per cent, with the move to be implemented from January 1, 2022.

The recent DA hike will benefit employees and pensioners of Civilian Central Government/Family. Central Govt absorbee pensioners in PSU/Autonomous Bodies will also get revised benefits. Also Read: Elon Musk spars with Saudi Prince over Twitter offer, asks what are Kingdoms views on journalistic freedom?

Other employees that will receive the benefits include Armed Forces Pensioners, Civilian Pensioners paid out of the Defense Service, All India Service Pensioners, Railway Pensioners and family pensioners, among others. Also Read: Elon Musk could visit India soon: Will Tesla, Starlink get a green signal?

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New Delhi: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), on Wednesday (April 13), issued a notice warning customers against buying health insurance from an unauthorised and unregistered platform.

In the public notice, the regulator pointed out that the policies offered by Even Health arent health insurance plans. It also noted that the company is not registered with the insurance regulator.

The notice issued by Irdai noted that the entity named Even Healthcare Pvt Ltd, which runs a website www.even.in is offering health plans, which are not health insurance plans.

...the said entity is not a registered entity with Irdai. Public subscribing to these plans of Even Healthcare Pvt Ltd are advised to note that they are dealing at their own risk," Irdai said in its circular.

It is clarified that only Irdai-registered insurance companies or their appointed insurance agents and insurance intermediaries can sell insurance products. The public is hereby advised to exercise caution while dealing with unregulated entities and to avail of health insurance products and services from Irdai registered insurance companies," the regulator added.

The insurer also provided a link to the list of insurance companies registered with Irdai. You can check the official list here - https://www.irdai.gov.in/ADMINCMS/cms/NormalData_Layout.aspx?page=PageNo....

Even.in currently offers its membership at Rs 525 per month. The company claims to be offering unlimited consultations and diagnostics with its membership, along with a Rs 50 lakh hospital cover. However, according to Irdai, public subscribing to these plans are dealing at their own risk. Also Read: China's GDP growth seen slowing to 5.0% in 2022 amid Covid-19 onslaught

Even.in is backed by Khosla Ventures, Peter Thiel-led Founders Fund, Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora, Cred chief Kunal Shah, and Zerodha co-founder Nithin Kamath, among others. Also Read: Indian farmers are feeding the world, says Piyush Goyal as Egypt approves India as wheat supplier

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New Delhi: Elon Musk's bid to buy Twitter for $43 billion has spawned a slew of memes and jokes, but one segment of the Internet was taken aback when they realised that the staggering figure proposed by the world's richest man could wipe off an entire country's external debt. On Tuesday, Sri Lanka, which is experiencing its worst economic downturn since independence, defaulted on its $51 billion external debt.

After running out of foreign cash to buy badly needed products, the island nation described the decision as a "last resort," according to news agency AFP.

Elon Musk's offer to buy Twitter for $43 billion, according to Snapdeal CEO Kunal Bahl, is compared to Sri Lanka's debt. Bahl said, "He can buy it and call himself Ceylon Musk."

In reality, the WhatsApp joke has been making the rounds on the social media network.

Many, on the other hand, were less than amused, pointing out that one man's ability to bail out an entire country spoke a lot about wealth concentration and why it's a problem.

"Elon Musk is offering $43 billion to buy Twitter. Sri Lanka is battling a $45 billion debt to stay afloat. One Twitter user said, "There is something fundamentally wrong with the planet."

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, launched a hostile takeover attempt for Twitter on Thursday, insisting that the network must be reformed but admitting that his $43 billion proposal may fail.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made public on Thursday, the world's wealthiest person offered $54.20 per share, valuing the social networking company at $43 billion.

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A Fort Erie, Ont., man was arrested on the Peace Bridge on Thursday and accused of using wire cutters to cut a barbed wire fence and enter the United States.

Pawel Aleksander Grodkowski, 53, was charged with eluding examination of inspection by U.S. immigration officers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Prosecutors said that about 8:50 a.m., Grodkowski, 53, was observed on a security video monitor kneeling down on the pedestrian walkway on the U.S. side of the Peace Bridge. Two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers approached Grodkowski and noticed a pair of wire cutters protruding from a bag he was carrying. Grodkowski was taken for further inspection and arrested.

Security video showed Grodkowski climbing a security fence and cutting three separate stands of barbed wire, prosecutors said.

According to customs officials, Grodkowski entered the U.S. in a similar fashion on Aug. 4 and Sept. 6, 2021. Wire cutters were discovered on the Peace Bridge pedestrian walkway by customs officers during those times.

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New Delhi: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Friday took a jab at Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a major Twitter investor who rejected Musk`s hostile offer to acquire 100 per cent of the micro-blogging platform for $43 billion.

Questioning Saudi Arabia's own media laws, Musk tweeted: "Just two questions, if I may. How much of Twitter does the Kingdom own, directly & indirectly? What are the Kingdom`s views on journalistic freedom of speech?"

Musk reacted after the Saudi Prince rejected the Tesla CEO`s cash offer of $54.20 per Twitter share.

"I don`t believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of (Twitter) given its growth prospects. Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer," the prince tweeted.

I don't believe that the proposed offer by @elonmusk ($54.20) comes close to the intrinsic value of @Twitter given its growth prospects. Being one of the largest & long-term shareholders of Twitter, @Kingdom_KHC & I reject this offer.https://t.co/Jty05oJUTk pic.twitter.com/XpNHUAL6UX     (@Alwaleed_Talal) April 14, 2022

Alwaleed, who runs the Kingdom Holding Company and is a nephew of Saudi Arabia`s King Salman, said he was one of the oldest and largest shareholders in Twitter, reports Middle East Eye.

In 2015, he and his company owned a 5.2 per cent stake in the social media platform.

Musk on Friday started a new poll, with a tagline that "taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board. Also Read: Garena Free Fire Max Redeem Codes for today, April 15: Check how to redeem latest rewards

Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2022

"Will endeavour to keep as many shareholders in privatised Twitter as allowed by law," he tweeted. Also Read: Elon Musk could visit India soon: Will Tesla, Starlink get a green signal?

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New Delhi: Twitter, the micro-blogging service that Tesla CEO Elon Musk is attempting to acquire, allows users to share a wide range of content. Creativity thrives on the microblogging site, with unique films, photographs, and memes. Furthermore, it is the preferred location for major announcements and is frequently used by authorities to communicate information.

Regrettably, Twitter has recently become a hub of disinformation and hate speech. People frequently use the site to vent their rage, which ranges from meaningless discussions to hate-mongering. If you believe that remaining on the platform is no longer productive, you can choose to quit or take a break from it. Twitter users can delete their accounts at any time, and we will show you how.

Simply follow the steps below to delete your Twitter account using a browser.

Step 1: Log in to your Twitter account by opening the Twitter website in a browser.

Step 2: On the homepage, click the three-dot 'More' button in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Step 3: Select the 'Settings and privacy' option next.

Step 4: Select 'Your account.'

Step 5: Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the 'Deactivate your account' button.

Step 6: You must confirm the termination of your account by clicking 'Deactivate.'

Step 7: Twitter will prompt you to confirm the deactivation one more before the account is officially terminated.

Follow the instructions below to delete your Twitter account via the Twitter app.

Step 1: Open the Twitter app and ensure you are logged in to your account.

Step 2: Then, on your profile, select 'Settings and privacy.'

Step 3: Select 'Account.'

Step 4: 'Deactivate your account' should be selected.

Step 5: Deactivation must be confirmed.

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Kolkata: A five-member fact-finding committee constituted by BJP chief JP Nadda, which arrived in Hanskhali in West Bengals Nadia district where a 14-year-old girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped, on Friday demanded an apology from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her condemnable remarks on the incident.

The fact-finding committee also slammed the TMC government over the declining law and order situation in the state and demanded the immediate imposition of Presidents Rule in Bengal, as per ANI.

A woman CM (Mamata Banerjee) is making condemnable statements about the rape of a 14-year-old & overlooking the matter. She should apologize. We demand President's rule in the state; she should quit her seat, Khushbu Sundar, BJP leader told ANI.

Hanskhali rape-murder | A woman CM (Mamata Banerjee) is making condemnable statements about the rape of a 14-year-old & overlooking the matter. She should apologize. We demand President's rule in the state; she should quit her seat: Khushbu Sundar, BJP pic.twitter.com/OmgIZWMrtm  ANI (@ANI) April 15, 2022

The committee includes BJP MP Rekha Verma, Uttar Pradesh Minister Baby Rani Maurya, Tamil Nadu MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, Khusbu Sunder and West Bengal MLA Rupmitra Chaudhary. The BJP's fact-finding team met the victim's family in Hanskhali,

On Thursday, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team visited the residences of the Nadia gang-rape victim and the key accused to collect forensic samples. CBI DIG Akhilesh Singh along with CBI Joint Director Ghanshyam Upadhyay inspected the residence of the prime accused in which the minor girl was allegedly gang-raped by him and his friends in Ganrapota Bilpara Village.

They, however, found that the house of the key accused in the case was locked. The lock was then broken after which CBI officials entered the house. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) team collected samples from the alleged crime scene at the residence of the accused.

All this comes days after a 14-year-old girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped in Hanskhali in Nadia district earlier this month. The victim`s family has accused the son of a Trinamool Congress panchayat leader in the case. Calcutta High Court on Tuesday granted permission to the CBI to investigate the case.

In its detailed order, the High Court noted that in order to have a "fair investigation" and instil confidence in the family of the victim, the case is being handed over to the CBI. The state investigating agency was asked to hand over all papers relating to the investigation, as well as the custody of the accused to the central agency. The matter has been listed for the next hearing on May 2.

A case under sections 376(2)(G) (gangrape), 302 (murder), 204 (tampering with evidence) of the IPC and relevant sections of the POCSO) Act was registered in the case. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sougata Roy said the West Bengal government is extremely concerned about crime against women and even a single incident is quite a shame for the party.

"Everyone is extremely concerned about crime against women. Even a single incident in the state under the leadership of a woman Chief Minister is quite a shame for us. We have to have zero tolerance in these matters. I hope police and administration will take care of this," Roy said.

Notably, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday questioned if the minor girl was actually raped or had a love affair that got her pregnant. "How do you know if she was raped? The police are yet to ascertain the cause of the death. I had asked them. Was she pregnant or had a love affair or was sick? Even family knew it was a love affair. If a couple is in a relationship, how can I stop them," the chief minister said during an address at the inauguration of the `Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan`

"This is not Uttar Pradesh that I can do that in name of Love Jihad," she further said.

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Kolkata: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team visited the residences of the Nadia gang-rape victim and the key accused to collect forensic samples o Thursday. CBI DIG Akhilesh Singh along with CBI Joint Director Ghanshyam Upadhyay inspected the residence of the prime accused in which the minor girl was allegedly gang-raped by him and his friends in Ganrapota Bilpara Village.

They, however, found that the house of the key accused in the case was locked. The lock was then broken after which CBI officials entered the house. The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) team collected samples from the alleged crime scene at the residence of the accused.

All this comes days after a 14-year-old girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped in Hanskhali in Nadia district earlier this month. The victim`s family has accused the son of a Trinamool Congress panchayat leader in the case. Calcutta High Court on Tuesday granted permission to the CBI to investigate the case.

In its detailed order, the High Court noted that in order to have a "fair investigation" and instil confidence in the family of the victim, the case is being handed over to the CBI.

The state investigating agency was asked to hand over all papers relating to the investigation, as well as the custody of the accused to the central agency. The matter has been listed for the next hearing on May 2.

A case under sections 376(2)(G) (gangrape), 302 (murder), 204 (tampering with evidence) of the IPC and relevant sections of the POCSO) Act was registered in the case.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sougata Roy said the West Bengal government is extremely concerned about crime against women and even a single incident is quite a shame for the party.

"Everyone is extremely concerned about crime against women. Even a single incident in the state under the leadership of a woman Chief Minister is quite a shame for us. We have to have zero tolerance in these matters. I hope police and administration will take care of this," Roy said.

Notably, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday questioned if the minor girl was actually raped or had a love affair that got her pregnant. "How do you know if she was raped? The police are yet to ascertain the cause of the death. I had asked them. Was she pregnant or had a love affair or was sick? Even family knew it was a love affair. If a couple is in a relationship, how can I stop them?," the chief minister said during an address at the inauguration of the `Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan`

"This is not Uttar Pradesh that I can do that in name of Love Jihad," she further said.

Meanwhile, a five-member fact-finding committee constituted by BJP chief JP Nadda will visit Hanskhali on Friday. The Committee include BJP MP Rekha Verma, Uttar Pradesh Minister Baby Rani Maurya, Tamil Nadu MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, Khusbu Sunder and West Bengal MLA Rupmitra Chaudhary.

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Washington: US President Joe Biden on Friday extended wishes to the Jain community on the occasion of Mahavir Jayanti and encouraged people to follow Lord Mahavir`s path of non-violence, truthfulness, and compassion.

Taking to Twitter, Biden sends his regards writing "Jill and I send warm greetings on Mahavir Jayanti to people of the Jain faith. This is a day to strive for peace, happiness, and the success of all. May we each pursue the values Mahavir Swami embodied: to seek truth, turn from violence, and live in harmony with each other."

Jill and I send warm greetings on Mahavir Jayanti to people of the Jain faith. This is a day to strive for peace, happiness, and the success of all. May we each pursue the values Mahavir Swami embodied: to seek truth, turn from violence, and live in harmony with each other.  President Biden (@POTUS) April 14, 2022

Mahavir Jayanti is an important religious festival in Jainism that celebrates the birth of Lord Mahavir. The festival is marked with prayers and fasting.

The occasion marks the birth of the 24th and last Tirthankara, Lord Mahavir. This year, Mahavir Jayanti falls on April 14.

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Islamabad: Pakistan High Court on Thursday ordered the nations Election Commission to decide on the foreign funding case against ousted Prime Minister Imran Khans Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) within a month, ANI reported.

The Islamabad High Court Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani directed the ECP to decide the pending complaint within a "period of next 30 days by all means, after hearing the parties in accordance with the law," Dawn newspaper reported.

According to the court, if PTI received the funding from any prohibited sources then it would affect its status, including the chairman so it becomes important to dig out the truth.

"If any foreign funding has been received contrary to law and mandate of the Constitution, the petitioner has to face the music," the court judgement said.

It pointed out that the Supreme Court had not restricted the ECP in adopting any method to find out the truth regarding the foreign funding case, according to Dawn.

The foreign funding case is pending since November 14, 2014, and it was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar who had alleged that there are some financial irregularities in the PTI`s funding from Pakistan and abroad.

On January 4 this year, the ECP`s scrutiny committee submitted its report on the PTI`s foreign funding case after 95 hearings.

The ECP`s committee was formed in March 2018.

The report was based on eight volumes of records collected through the State Bank of Pakistan, proved that the PTI leaders had committed the violations of funding laws by allowing the collection of millions of dollars and billions of Pakistani Rupees without any source and details from foreigners, as per reported by Dawn.

Other than this, Justice Kayani also rejected the request to prevent giving access to case records to PTI`s Babar and a request to remove him from the case proceedings.

This comes after PTI filed the petition in Islamabad High Court, challenging the ECP`s decision of rejecting the above-mentioned plea of the party which was filed on January 25 and 31.

"The claim submitted by the petitioner (PTI) is not maintainable as petitioner itself is not able to demonstrate any of his legitimate rights when [it] itself is in agreement that respondent No 2 (Babar) can participate in the proceedings to the extent of information which he has provided to the scrutiny committee or the ECP, therefore, this petition is not based upon bona fide, rather filed with specific motive, just to stop respondent No 2 Akbar Sher Babar to participate in the proceedings, which has already been settled by this court in the previous proceedings," the court order was quoted as saying by Dawn.

"No restriction could be imposed upon ECP to adopt any process of inquiry, investigation, scrutiny to reach out the mandate of assigned duty in terms of Article 17(3)," the order added.

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Kyiv: In the latest development, Russia informed that its lead warship in the Black Sea sank after an explosion and fire that Ukraine claimed was caused by a missile strike.

Hours after the Russian warship sank, powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv early on Friday, and air raid sirens blared across Ukraine as residents braced for new Russian attacks.

Russia's damaged Black Sea flagship sinks in latest setback

Russia said its lead warship in the Black Sea sank on Thursday after an explosion and fire that Ukraine claimed was caused by a missile strike, dealing a blow to Moscow as it readied for new attacks that were likely to determine the conflict`s outcome.

The Moskva, Russia`s flagship in its Black Sea fleet, sank as it was being towed to port in stormy weather, Russian news agencies quoted the defence ministry as saying.

The loss of the warship named for the Russian capital is a devastating symbolic defeat for Moscow as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital, Kyiv.

Powerful explosions heard in Kyiv after Russian warship sinks

Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv early on Friday, and air raid sirens blared across Ukraine as residents braced for new Russian attacks after Moscow`s lead warship in the Black Sea sank following a fire.

The explosions appeared to be among the most significant in Ukraine`s capital region since Russian troops pulled back from the area earlier this month in preparation for battles in the south and east.

Ukraine claimed responsibility for sinking the Moskva, saying the Soviet-era flagship of Russia`s Black Sea fleet was struck by one of its missiles. The vessel sank late on Thursday as it was being towed to port, Russia`s defence ministry said.

Putin warns Western countries against phasing out Russian gas

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that Western countries' attempts to phase out Russian gas imports will have a negative impact on their economies. Speaking Thursday, Putin said European attempts to find alternatives to Russian gas shipments will be quite painful for the initiators of such policies.

He argued that there is simply no reasonable replacement for it in Europe now.

Putin noted that supplies from other countries that could be sent to Europe, primarily from the United States, would cost consumers many times more. He added it would affect people's standard of living and the competitiveness of the European economy.

Ukrainian FM, US Secy of State discuss new military aid

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said he had discussed new military aid for Ukraine with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone conversation.

"In our new call, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and I discussed the next military aid package for Ukraine," Kuleba tweeted on Thursday.

During the talks, the Ukrainian and the US parties also coordinated their positions on further sanctions which will be imposed on Russia over its conflict with Ukraine, he said.

Canada sends soldiers to Poland to help Ukrainian refugees

Canada is sending soldiers to Poland to help with the care, co-ordination and resettlement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland, including some who will come to Canada. Defense Minister Anita Anand announced the deployment of up to 150 troops Thursday.

More than 2.6 million Ukrainians have fled into Poland since the first Russian troops crossed into Ukraine on February 24 and over 2 million more have fled into other surrounding countries. Anand said the majority of the deployed troops will head to reception centers across Poland to help care for and register Ukrainian refugees.

Another group is being sent to help co-ordinate international aid efforts. Canada has deployed hundreds of additional troops to eastern Europe since Russia's invasion as the NATO military alliance seeks to both support Ukraine and prevent the conflict from expanding into a broader war.

(With agency inputs)

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World Art Day 2022: April 15 marks the World Art Day to honour the memory and work of the greatest artist of all time, Leonardo Da Vinci, who gave this world the Mona Lisa. It is his birth anniversary.

UNESCOs General Conference in 2012 declared April 15 World Art Day to celebrate and encourage various known and unsung art and artists. Vinci became a symbol of peace and harmony through his work.

On the occasion of Vincis birth anniversary, heres a log of some of his best works to date.

Mona Lisa

There cannot be a mention of Vinci without Mona Lisa. It wouldnt be wrong to say that two complements or rather complete each other. Several mysteries and myths continue to hover over Mona Lisa but it still remains one of Vincis best works to date.

Mona Lisa is famous for the sheer perfection of colours and blend that makes it almost impossible for a viewer to detect if it was painted by a brush.

The Vitruvian Man

According to critics, The Vitruvian Man is undoubtedly one of the most popular works by Vinci. It represents the ideal proportions of the human body.

The painting was based on the writings of Vitruvius. In this, Vinci places the human body in a circle and a square, with the navel and the genitals at the centre, and composes the body.

The Last Supper

It is believed that the 15th-century Milanese duke Ludovico Sforza, who asked Vinci to make this painting later made him one of the greatest artists in the world.

The Last Supper depicts the Last meal of Jesus Christ. The work on this began around 1495 and was completed around 1498.

The Last Supper is famous for its original technique for a fresco of the time, the use of dry paint on several preparatory layers usually left wet, which has weakened the work and has therefore since been restored many times.

La Vierge aux rochers

Created between 1483 and 1508, the Virgin of the Rocks depicts the encounter between Jesus of Nazareth and John the Baptist.

This painting was created in two different versions, the first between 1483 and 1486, and the second between 1491 and 1508, only the first version, exhibited in the Louvre, can however be attributed to Leonardo da Vinci with surety.

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The Lockport City School District didn't break the law when it awarded a contract for a now-illegal facial recognition security system without competitive bidding, a state audit said Wednesday.

But the district's tactics, which included allowing only one day to submit hardware proposals in a manner that only one company could have responded to, were not as transparent as they should have been, the State Comptroller's Office said.

Its audit was announced in March 2021, a month after Jim Shultz, a Lockport parent and staunch critic of the security system, asked for it.

In a response letter, Superintendent Michelle T. Bradley and Board of Education President Karen Young said the purchase "was in the district's best interests, and was obtained under fair and reasonable terms."

Previously, the state reimbursed Lockport $4.27 million for the security system, which included about 300 digital cameras to scan the faces of everyone entering district buildings and try to match them to a watch list of sex offenders and other persons banned from the schools.

District officials also said the cameras could detect weapons, but only if they were visible. The system had no X-ray capability.

"They spent $2.7 million on facial cameras without ever doing any kind of serious analysis as to whether it was a smart thing to do," Shultz said Wednesday. "They didn't engage in a competitive bidding process, although they they pretended to."

The audit also criticized Lockport for a lack of competition in professional services contracts and some purchases of goods by "piggybacking" on other districts' contracts. But both practices are allowed by state law.

"The District is pleased that following your staff's extensive review of aspects of the District's fiscal operations, there was not a single identified instance of financial irregularity," the Bradley-Young letter told the Comptroller's Office.

The districtwide security system was activated in January 2020. But in December 2020, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a law banning facial recognition security systems from New York schools.

Studies of such systems around the world have shown that the technology works well only for adult white males and is more prone to produce false matches when the subjects are females, children or people of color.

The law prohibits the Education Department from approving any facial recognition system until July 1, 2022, or when it completes a report on the system's impact on civil liberties, whichever is later.

Lockport's system, now switched off, also was supposed to detect guns being brought into the schools.

In 2016, the Lockport Board of Education hired a technology consultant, Tony Olivo of Orchard Park, to help it research and select a facial recognition security system.

The consultant issued a request for information from vendors on June 16, 2016, but responses were due only four days later, the state audit said.

The consultant told the district that vendors told him they would need time to develop software for such a system, or that the cost would exceed Lockport's budget. However, the audit said, the district had no written proof of that statement.

In June 2017, the district entered into a facial recognition software licensing agreement for a high school security system, choosing the AEGIS system produced by SN Technologies, an Ontario company. The district wasn't required to seek competitive bids, and it didn't, the audit said.

At the time, SN Technologies' website listed Olivo's company as a partner firm.

Two months later, the district issued a request for proposals for hardware for the security system and gave vendors one day to respond. SN Technologies was the only respondent.

"Seeking competition for the initial facial/object recognition software may have provided for a more transparent procurement process," the auditors wrote.

The security system was activated at Lockport High School that fall.

In February 2018, the Board of Education passed a resolution to standardize the software, requiring bidders to use the AEGIS software in bids for security gear at all other Lockport schools. That in effect ruled out all other vendors, said the audit, which called the resolution "inaccurate and misleading" because it said there had been a competitive process to select the software vendor.

"The District was fully justified in using a standardization approach to the procurement of its enhanced security system, given that the system was already operating in the High School, that District officials were already familiar with and satisfied by its operation, and that further implementing the enhanced security system District-wide was the most efficient and economical approach forward in order to protect the safety of District students, staff and visitors," the Bradley-Young letter said.

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Kelly Sullivan said she spent all day Thursday in a daze upon learning of the precarious condition of the USS The Sullivans docked in the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park.

The World War II era Navy destroyer is extremely important to her family. It was named in tribute to the five Sullivan brothers who perished along with over 680 other sailors aboard the USS Juneau nearly 80 years ago after it was struck by a Japanese torpedo in the Pacific Ocean.

Sullivan, a third-grade teacher in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and a granddaughter of the only married Sullivan brother, was apprised early Thursday by contacts in Buffalo that the vessel was leaning on its side and sinking in shallow waters in the Buffalo Inner Harbor after taking in 3 million gallons of water.

"I've had tons, literally hundreds, of messages from people all day," she said. "That ship is extremely special to a lot of people."

The 1943 destroyer was built with a thin hull for speed and maneuverability, but it was never meant to float for so long. In recent years, the naval park has repaired small holes in the hull every spring. But harsh winter weather and the pandemic-related shutdown apparently hastened the damage to the ship, and water began seeping into the leaky hull more than a year ago, causing the ship to list to port.

"The holes that are in the ship ... those have been in there for quite a while, and I've known about that," said Sullivan.

Still, she was not prepared for what eventually happened to the ship on Thursday.

"The naval park does a wonderful job of keeping the Sullivan family informed on what's happening, but then, last year, when it got really bad, that's when we started to raise the money for repairs," Sullivan said.

She made three trips to Buffalo last year for fundraisers that ultimately raised $1 million to make repairs to the ship and establish an endowment aimed at protecting the ship's legacy. Her most recent visit to Buffalo was a month ago to attend a fundraising event for the ship at Seneca One tower, owned by developer Douglas Jemal, who came forward with the initial $10,000 over a year ago as part of the Save The Sullivans campaign.

Sullivan said she was buoyed by hearing Paul Marzello, president and CEO of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, vow that the ship will be repaired and reopened to visitors.

"I am extremely confident in the people of the Buffalo naval park, and the people of Buffalo," she said, her voice breaking with emotion. "I know that they will come together and help."

In the meantime, she said her heart is with those in Buffalo who are working to preserve the destroyer.

"I've got family coming for Easter, but the only thing I want to do right now is pack my bags and get on a plane and come out there," said Sullivan.

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Save the date

Orchard Park Town Board members disagree about what to do about the sale of recreational cannabis when it becomes legalized in New York.

But maybe they're having a little fun with when they will decide the question.

To recap, the board recently put off a decision on the controversial matter. Some members think the shops should be treated the way strip clubs or stores that sell "adult" material are and zoned into industrial spaces. But one board member thinks that is short-sighted saying: "The Orchard Park Town Board is considering passing a half-baked  no pun intended  regressive, and unenforceable law concerning the location of cannabis dispensaries in town."

We'll see how this plays out when the board holds its next meeting, scheduled for Wednesday.

Wednesday is April 20, sometimes written as "4/20," sometimes known as the unofficial marijuana holiday, which may or may not be related to a group of high schoolers in the 1970s smoking marijuana every day at 4:20 p.m.

We're not sure if Town Board members know this, but we'll be checking to see who is chuckling under their breath at next week's meeting.

 Barbara O'Brien

From Russia, with disdain

Every one of Western New York's House members, Democrat and Republican alike, won punishment to be proud of this week: "sanctions" from the Russian Federation that will bar them from meandering through Moscow or sunning themselves in Sochi this summer.

Some 398 of the 435 House members  including Democratic Rep. Brian Higgins of Buffalo and Republican Reps. Chris Jacobs of Orchard Park and Tom Reed of Corning  were subjected to the sanctions. Rep. Claudia Tenney, the Utica-area Republican who plans on running to replace Reed, got sanctioned, too.

These individuals, including the leadership and committee chairmen of the lower house of the U.S. Congress, are placed on the Russian stop list on a permanent basis, the Russian Foreign Ministry harrumphed in a statement.

The sanctions came in retaliation to one of the Biden administration's moves to punish Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine: sanctions against 398 members of the Duma, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's puppet parliament.

Neither Higgins nor Reed seemed bothered by the sanctions.

"It just shows the bizarre nature of the Russian government under this delusional, paranoid and provocative president, Vladimir Putin," Higgins said.

Meanwhile, Reed said: "Being put on this permanent stop list by a dictator like Putin can only be seen as a badge of honor."

Russia chose not to so honor nearly 40 lawmakers, but there seemed to be little rhyme or reason to the list of those lawmakers who would still be welcomed with open arms by the Kremlin. Some lawmakers who have made comments seemingly sympathetic to Russia  such as Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia  got sanctioned. But for no apparent reason, two New York Democrats  Reps. Jerry Nadler and Gregory Meeks of New York City  were left off the list.

 Jerry Zremski

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Barbara O'Brien Reporter I grew up in Rochester, graduated from St. Bonaventure University and worked in radio before joining The Buffalo News. I report on issues in local communities. Over the years I have covered stories in every town in Erie County. Follow Barbara O'Brien 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
Somewhere in the lower right section of the hull of the USS The Sullivans is a hole.

Officials dont know how big of a problem it is, but say the worst of it is over.

Right now, Im looking at levels that look like  Im being optimistic here  but it looks like she had reached its worst point about an hour ago, said Paul Marzello, president and CEO of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, Thursday afternoon.

The WWII-era destroyer was leaning on its side and sinking Thursday in shallow waters in the Buffalo Inner Harbor.

The U.S. Coast Guard estimated Thursday afternoon there were more than 3 million gallons of water inside the ship.

But Marzello and other stakeholders vowed that the ship will be repaired and reopened to visitors.

Weve got some work to do. We are committed to making sure that shes fix that. This is not going to go down. Weve had a lot of inspirational messages from people around the country and other countries, and we just want to let people know this is a setback. This ship will rise again, and failure is not an option, said Marzello, who was joined by Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz at the park for an update Thursday afternoon.

Photos: USS The Sullivans lists after taking on water The USS The Sullivans has taken on water after a failure of a deteriorating section of hull and is listing to one side as crews begin the proc

The USS The Sullivans is a floating tribute to a working-class family that lost all five of its sons aboard the USS Juneau during World War II, when it was struck by a Japanese torpedo in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the deaths of 687 men.

Marzello said he discovered around 9 or 10 p.m. Wednesday that the ship was taking in water. The breach is aft of midship, on the starboard side of the ship, which is listing to one side.

We tried to figure out at what rate it was coming in. It was tough to tell last night, he said. I came down here at about 5 in the morning just to assess the damage and saw a significant increase in the amount of water just by checking the water line. Somewhere in that lower right section of the hull, we have a problem, and we dont know what it is.

Park staff put an emergency repair call into BIDCO Marine Group, the company hired to repair the hull of the decommissioned Fletcher-Class destroyer, Marzello said.

Divers were in the water earlier Thursday at the spot of the breach trying to determine the cause of the problem but were pulled out because the water temperature was very cold and the water was not clear, Marzello said.

Its more than a little bit dangerous to be swimming in through here, he said, pointing to the breach. As you can see, this is where the damage is. I cant see it but based on the listing of the ship ... the damage is here, whatever it is, and its just too dangerous to put them in the water. They checked it out, and we pulled them because it just wasnt safe.

By Thursday afternoon, BIDCO crews were beginning to set up equipment and operations on the side of the ship where the damage is located to find the cause of the problem and repair the ship. Other equipment was being brought in, as well.

Were coming into some industrial-size pumping now, Marzello said. Because we lost power; we dont have electrical power, theyre bringing in this industrial generator (to be hooked up) to these large size hoses, so well be able to pump out much greater and faster than we did earlier today and thats a good thing.

Up to that point, crews had been pumping out about 13,000 gallons per minute. The ship was taking in more water, but workers were pumping out water faster than the ship was taking it in, he said.

Officials said late Thursday that the ship is starting to slowly right itself as more water continues to be pumped out.

Crews are expected to be working around the clock and into the overnight, said city spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge.

We are all very, very saddened to see what has happened just in the last 24 hours, Poloncarz said. I think we all agree that were going to save this ship.

Obviously, we are all very deeply concerned about the condition of USS The Sullivans. This is an important part of our U.S. Naval heritage. The boat is very important, not only to us here in Buffalo and Western New York but important to people across the country and internationally, as well, Brown said.

Douglas Jemal, who spearheaded the fundraising efforts last year that brought in more than $1 million to repair the ships breached hull, said the latest incident is a bump in the water.

But well get past this, said Jemal, who did not attend the news conference. We will have a moral obligation to pick her back up again, dust her off and stand her up, and thats exactly what were going to do. All of us have bumps in the water. Thats life. You have to dust yourself off and get back to work again, and lets get this situation fixed, which we can.

BIDCO had been working on long-term repairs to the ship last year and discontinued operations in October for the winter because the water was too cold to do the work.

They needed at least 54 degrees to have their epoxy adhere to the steel," Marzello said.

Crews were to resume repairs Monday, Marzello said.

Reach Aaron at abesecker[at]buffnews.com or 716-849-4602.

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Crews working to right the USS The Sullivans have made some progress, but Friday's high winds aren't helping the effort, the head of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park said Friday morning.

Diesel pumps worked throughout the night and have reached a point of "equilibrium," in that they are pumping out as much water as is leaking into the vessel, said Paul Marzello, president and CEO of the park.

"The challenge right now is to try to get those pump hoses down into sections of the ship where she won't just draw air," Marzello said.

The WWII-era destroyer in the Buffalo Inner Harbor was leaning to its side and sinking Thursday in shallow harbor waters. Naval park officials said the ship started to list Wednesday night and it became more significant on Thursday.

They believe there's a hole in the lower right section of the hull.

At one point Thursday afternoon, the Coast Guard estimated the ship had more than 3 million gallons of water inside.

On Friday, crews from BIDCO Marine Group, an industrial diving company, are attempting to get to areas of the ship that remain full of water and then seal up the areas once the water is removed, Marzello said.

But they're being cautious about what kind of spaces they're going into because they don't want the divers to get trapped, he said.

The first task remains to get the water out of the vessel.

The Coast Guard and Miller Environmental Group, an environmental contractor, are also monitoring the water that's being pumped out of the ship and treating it, if necessary, Marzello said.

The decommissioned ship has "residual material" in places that aren't publicly accessible, so authorities are taking environmental precautions, he said.

No work has yet been done on patching or sealing the hole in the hull since Wednesday night. Crews had been able to do some preliminary dives to assess the scope of the problem, but it became too dangerous to have them in the water because of the ship's listing position.

"We don't know if she's going to move any further," Marzello said.

Gusty winds add another wrinkle to the efforts.

The winds could shift water levels up to 6 feet or more, he said, "which means now you're raising that ship, which is now top-heavy, leaning to starboard. What is it going to do? So we've got some concerns."

Once all the water is out, there will need to be some salvaging work done, as artifacts on the ship have been destroyed.

It remains "too early to tell" what the long-term prognosis is for The Sullivans, Marzello said.

Problems with the ship's hull prompted fundraising efforts last year that collected more than $1 million. Work to repair the hull went on for a couple months last year before work was halted in October due to water temperatures.

Marzello estimated less than 25% of the needed work was done before work stopped.

Work had been scheduled to resume on Monday. Marzello said he's not sure whether having the crews here earlier would have made a difference.

"As things turned out, we were a few days short of having them in here," he said. "Had they been in here and had an opportunity to be here to do their work, we might have been able to avoid this. I don't know."

Naval park officials and others have vowed the ship will be repaired and reopened to visitors.

The ship, a Fletcher-class destroyer, was named for an Iowa family that lost five sons  George, Madison, Albert, Francis and Joseph  who enlisted after Pearl Harbor and were killed when a Japanese torpedo sunk the USS Juneau in the Pacific Ocean in 1942.

Reach Aaron at abesecker[at]buffnews.com or 716-849-4602.

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BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP)  The first of four men accused in a failed plan to build a biotechnology plant in Vermont using tens of millions of dollars in foreign investors money raised through a special visa program was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in prison.

William Stenger, 73, the former president of the Jay Peak ski resort, also was sentenced to three years of supervisory release and ordered to pay $250,000 in restitution. He pleaded guilty last August to providing false documents. In exchange, nine fraud charges were dropped.

Stenger told the court he wished to apologize to his family, the employees of Jay Peak and Burke ski resorts, the state, the investors, and his community of Newport.

I let you down, he said, adding that he started out with the best intentions and got lost along the way.

Stenger and Miami businessman Ariel Quiros, the former owner of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain ski resorts, and two other men were indicted in 2019 over the failed plan to build the AnC Bio plant in Newport, Vermont, using millions raised through the EB-5 visa program that encourages foreigners to invest in U.S. projects that create jobs in exchange for a chance to earn permanent U.S. residency.

Rasha Mesharafa, who was from Egypt and invested $2 million, testified virtually Thursday that she had extensive communication with Stenger through email and became concerned about a lack of financial reports and delays with the AnC project. She said she went to Jay to meet with him and Stenger lied straight to my face.

All of a sudden there is no money, no jobs, no project, absolutely nothing, she said.

Mesharafa, who recently got her U.S. citizenship, said she lived this nightmare for four years and holds Stenger responsible.

Government lawyers say Stenger came up with the AnC Vermont EB-5 project idea, championed it, and lied to investors, the Vermont Regional Center, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Securities and Exchange Commission about its revenue and job prospects. They say Stenger was responsible for raising over $80 million from investors based on lies and deceit," according to a court filing.

The project was a fraud from the beginning, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul van de Graaf, who said Stenger was an excellent salesman."

The federal receiver appointed to oversee the ski resorts and the EB-5 projects provided partial restitution to the investors but the investor group is still out millions of dollars, prosecutors said in their court filing.

Stenger's lawyers said his primary motivation has been to develop and improve the economy of Vermont's rural Northeast Kingdom and he saw the EB-5 program as a chance to create good high-paying jobs, according to court documents. They said he was not motivated by money like Quiros and Kelly were, and has cooperated with and helped the receiver who was appointed by the court to oversee the resorts and projects.

Federal prosecutors requested a five-year sentence for Stenger, the maximum under the plea deal, while Stengers lawyers asked for home confinement.

U.S. District Court Judge Geoffrey Crawford said he considered Stengers age, health, family circumstances and financial responsibilities in taking care of his wife, who also has health issues, but said the impacts on the victims is clear.

"Mr. Stenger made this fraud possible because of business reputation and his contacts, and gave it a credibility that in hindsight it never should have had, Crawford said.

Three years before the criminal indictment, the federal Securities and Exchange Commission and the state of Vermont alleged that Quiros and Stenger took part in a massive eight-year fraudulent scheme. The civil allegations involved misusing more than $200 million of about $400 million raised from foreign investors for various ski area developments through the EB-5 visa program in Ponzi-like fashion.

Quiros and Stenger settled civil charges with the SEC, with Quiros surrendering more than $80 million in assets, including the two resorts. Quiros has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and the concealment of material information in the failed plant plan and awaits sentencing. William Kelly, an advisor to Quiros, has pleaded guilty to two charges. A fourth man, Jong Weon (Alex) Choi, a businessman in South Korea, remains at large, according to the federal court.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Stephen Miller, who served as a top aide to President Donald Trump, was questioned for hours Thursday by the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

Miller was a senior adviser for policy during the Trump administration and a central figure in many of the Republican's decisions. He had resisted previous efforts by the committee, filing a lawsuit last month seeking to quash a subpoena for his phone records.

Miller was interviewed virtually for about eight hours, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private testimony. A second person also confirmed that Miller appeared before the committee. A spokesperson for the committee said the panel had no comment, and Miller did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Miller is the latest in a series of sit-downs the committee has scored with those in Trumps inner circle as lawmakers move closer to the former president by questioning people who were with him on the day of the attack or were his confidants in the weeks leading up to it.

His appearance comes weeks after Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, also agreed to sit down with congressional investigators, months after the committee had first reached out.

Members of the panel said Kushners testimony in late March, which lasted more than six hours, was helpful. Ivanka Trump, who was with her father in the White House on Jan. 6, was questioned for eight hours last week as congressional investigators tried to piece together her fathers failed effort to delay the certification of the 2020 election results.

The nine-member panel subpoenaed the former Trump adviser in November along with Steve Bannon and former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the panel's chairman, said at the time that Miller was aware of and had participated in "efforts to spread false information about alleged voter fraud" and had encouraged state legislatures to alter the outcome of the 2020 election by appointing alternate electors.

Thompson has also said that Miller helped prepare Trump's remarks for a rally on the Ellipse that preceded the insurrection and was with Trump when he spoke.

The House voted last week to hold former Trump advisers Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in contempt for their monthlong refusal to comply with subpoenas. The move was the third time the panel has referred people in the former president's orbit to the Justice Department for potential prosecution for contempt. The first two referrals, sent late last year, were for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Bannon.

The contempt referral against Bannon resulted in an indictment, with a trial set to start in July. The Justice Department has been slower to decide whether to prosecute Meadows, much to the committee's frustration.

By agreeing to cooperate, Miller appears to be looking to avoid the fate of those former advisers and administration officials.

For the committee, comprised of seven Democrats and two Republicans, the central facts of the insurrection are known, but what members are hoping to do with the more than 850 interviews and over 100,000 documents is fill in the remaining gaps about the attack on the Capitol. Lawmakers say they are committed to presenting a full accounting to ensure it never happens again.

The panel is examining every aspect of the riot, including what Trump was doing while it unfolded and any connections between the White House and the Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol building.

Members plan to release information in the coming months as the committee begins to hold public hearings and eventually release a series of reports on the insurrection. While there have been discussions about the possibility of eventually pursuing a criminal referral against Trump, lawmakers have not made a final decision.

Associated Press writer Nomaan Merchant in Washington contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Any new superintendent entering the Buffalo Public Schools will have to grapple with academic achievement and safety issues, in addition to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. No one knows this better than interim Superintendent Tonja Williams. She has lived through the turbulence of the pandemic and, more recently, the sudden departure of the previous superintendent, Kriner Cash.

Still, the School Board should undertake a national search before filling the position, if for no reason than Buffalo students need the best possible leadership. Williams may be that person. If so, the title should come with the imprimatur of a thorough process.

Working in her favor is that superintendents hired from other regions can seem disconnected to the district. It did not help Cashs cause that many felt the Marthas Vineyard homeowner was away too frequently and for too long.

Cashs problems peaked in February following the stabbing of a student and shooting of a security guard at McKinley High School. Not long after, he resigned with a buyout worth more than $300,000.

When Cash was hired, he was the seventh superintendent or interim superintendent in Buffalo in four years. The turmoil that embroiled the district subsided after his hiring, but rose again toward the end of his seven years in the job. Some of that was tied to Cashs approach to the job but some was likely that all superintendents have an expiration date, especially in large, urban districts.

Someone with Williams experience and biography might well make for a welcome change. The interim superintendent was born, raised and educated in Buffalo and raised children here.

Williams has been on a listening tour as she takes the reins. She has traveled to churches and community centers listening to frustrated parents and promising to wait to devise a plan for the district until she completes her listening tour and compiles all the feedback. It is an admirable and worthwhile effort on her part. And it does suggest a candidate worthy of serious consideration.

Williams is engaged and passionate about education. Her qualifications are strong: guidance counselor in the Buffalo Public Schools for nearly a decade, followed by several more years as a principal. She was named an assistant superintendent in 2016 and became associate superintendent for student support services in 2019. The question is how that translates into improving a still-struggling school district. Is someone outside Buffalo better equipped to take on that task?

Even Williams should want to be measured against a national pool of candidates to make the case that she is the right person to lead the district as it raises the educational bar and equips students to take on the challenges of an increasingly global economy.

  

Whats your opinion? Send it to us at lettertoeditor@buffnews.com. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words and must convey an opinion. The column does not print poetry, announcements of community events or thank you letters. A writer or household may appear only once every 30 days. All letters are subject to fact-checking and editing.
Russias likely interest and intent regarding the Baltic states, as discussed in Michael Gersons recent column, highlights an important perspective on the Ukrainian crisis but omits an even more troubling aspect of that perspective. Vladimir Putins motives and strategy mimic and continue Stalins motives and strategy of the 1930s. Only Putins tactics are different from Stalins. As reported in great detail in Anne Applebaums book Red Famine, Stalin deliberately starved millions of Ukrainians to death (by forcibly taking away from them the very food they were producing) and removing millions of other to gulags, all in an effort to suppress Ukrainian nationalism. Many ethnic Russians were persuaded to move to Ukraine to replace those killed and displaced (where descendants of those immigrants are likely among those receptive to Putins efforts.) Curiously, Stalins cover-up for the starvation, suggesting numerous other reasons for it, was widely accepted, even in the U.S., well into the 1980s and 90s.
The Assyro-Chaldeans: Memory of a Repeating Tragedy

In his recent French book entitled "Les Assyro-Chaldeens : memoire d'une tragedie qui se repete" (The Assyro-Chaldeans: Memory of a Repeating Tragedy) and published in April 2021 by L'Harmattan, Paris, Professor Joseph Yacoub describes a unique chain of tragedies of the Assyro-Chaldeans which culminated in the genocide of 1915-1918, known as "Years of the Sword."

Joseph Yacoub is an Assyrian born in Hassake, Syria. He is Honorary Professor (Political Science) from the Catholic University of Lyon and was the first chair holder of UNESCO's 'Memory, cultures and interculturality', expert on minority issues, human rights and Eastern Christianity. His parents, originally from Iranian Azerbaijan (Salamas district), suffered during the Turkish genocide of Assyrians during World War I, taking refuge in the Caucasus (Georgia) before settling in Syria in 1921. Prof. Yacoub is author of several books [1], some translated into English.

According to the author, the events of 1915-18 were "a hellish and masterminded undertaking, decided at the highest level of the Ottoman State to eradicate the Christians of the Empire. Systematic deportations and massacres took place over a wide area inhabited dominantly by Assyrians and Armenians stretching from Cilicia to Eastern Anatolia, as well as to Persian Azerbaijan."

The book appears after several country parliaments, including Pope Francis, in 2015 and thereafter, recognized the 1915 genocide against the Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontic Greeks of Anatolia by the late Ottoman Empire [2]. Initiatives continue world-wide to erect memorial plaques and monuments where Assyro-Chaldeans live, with particular visibility in the Western diaspora (Europa, US and Australia). As the field of genocide research is widening and increasingly new sources are appearing, the academic journals, and the media is paying attention to the faith of the Assyrians.

The book cover states that convoys of deportees -- and corpses -- lined the roads to Mardin, Diyarbekir, Kharput, Sheikhan, Severek, Urfa, Ras-ul-Ain, Deir ez-Zor and Sinjar. As indicated above, the author's grandparents became victim to the exodus imposed on the community too. Hundreds of thousand people were killed. The physical genocide was accompanied by the dispossession of Assyrian land and property, as well as destruction of their cultural and religious heritage, both tangible and intangible. Historical monuments, schools, churches and monasteries were destroyed and left abandoned. Libraries containing rare books and rich manuscripts were devastated," the description continues.

With the title of the book emphasizing a "repeated tragedy", Prof. Yacoub makes also a reference to previous massacres and the current existential tragedy of Christians in Syria and Iraq who are suffering since decades and reviving the memory of the great catastrophe of the past, known as "Sayfo" (The Sword).

The book with its 280 pages is structured into thirteen chapters subdivided into multiple subsections, a conclusion, bibliography, while a few maps are included. As an introduction, chapter one (pp. 9-44) describes specifics of the Assyro-Chaldean tragedy and how this determined the destiny of the people in focus. In addition, the section sets the historical context of the existence of the Assyrians in Mesopotamia, which ties up to 612 B.C., the fall of the Assyrian capital Nineveh.

Chapter two (45-60) elaborates on the Syro-Mesopotamian region as a permanent war zone; Prof. Yacoub touches on the cultural domination and persecutions of the Greeks and Romans. He briefly outlines the early Christianization during the Partian era, while giving examples of the persecution under the Sassanids and Byzantium which were followed by the devastation of the Tatars, Mongols and Tamerlane, concluding with the oppression during the Ottoman era.

Chapter three (61-84) is titled "the spatial and temporal framework of the facts beginning of the 20th century," discussing the geopolitical situation in the north and north-eastern regions of Anatolia and Caucasus where Assyro-Chaldeans lived. The author emphasizes the structural weakness of the state and chronic instability of Iran/Persia as a state, explaining its conflict with the Ottoman Empire. He elaborates on the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907 to conclude the chapter with an outline of the Adana massacres of 1909 during the reign of the Young Turks (known as Committee of Union and Progress), the Balkan war and their impact on the situation of the Christians in the Ottoman Empire.

Chapter four (85-98) discusses precursory massacres in Persia and the Ottoman Empire as prelude to the looming great catastrophe which broke out 1915, with references to Surma Khanum's Diary, the sister of Mar Shimun XXI (1887-1918), the Patriarch of the Church of the East who was killed in an ambush after leaving a meeting with the Kurdish leader Ismael Agha (Simko) at Kohnashahr near Dilman (in the Salamas plain north of Urmia). The situation in the empire and the hatred towards Christians was heated up by the Ottoman's proclamation of Jihad against the "infidels" in November 1914 which, despite its obvious catastrophic consequences, Turkish historiography still interprets as an action not directed against the non-Muslim communities in the Ottoman Empire [3].

In chapter five (99-136) Prof. Yacoub treats the key topic of the calamities of 1915 in the Empire and the ordeal of the Assyro-Chaldean villages in the Van Sandjak and in Persia. The British Blue Book which he references here contained in its original version almost 100 pages on the Assyrian situation. Additional primary sources the author utilizes are from David Ilyan, Paul Bero, Abdelmassih Qarabashi, Jacques Manna and Israel Audo, the latter two being both eyewitness of the events in Van and Mardin respectively. This chapter covers also massacres and description of convoys of deportees from Diyarbekir, Mardin and Kharput during May and June 1915.

The events that followed the major tragedy in 1915 are treated in chapter six (137-168) which the author calls "The 3rd Act," unfolded in 1917-18 in the Turkish-Persian front, in Urmia, Azerbaijan, and Khosrawa. They resulted in the forced exodus of tens of thousands of Assyro-Chaldeans from Urmia to Iraq in July 1918. Here too, Prof. Yacoub refers to rarely utilized French sources such as the Lazarists and the Daughters of Charity, Sister Marie de Lapeyriere, and Pierre Franssen, who witnessed the massacres.

Chapter seven (169-188) discusses an interesting aspect related to the reception of the tragedy in Assyro-Chaldean memorial literature including classic Syriac sources, certainly a new aspect as it covers also complaints and lamentations describing exodus and disaster in locations such as Hakkari, Bashkale and Mardin. Furthermore, the witnesses have produced also ethical, moral, and theological reflections on the events.

As one of the best connoisseurs of diplomatic and military archives of France and Vatican, the author enriched the book with the chapters eight (189-204), nine (205-212), and ten (205-212) as they broaden Assyrian genocide research. Prof. Yacoub discusses in these subsequent chapters the role of French diplomacy as related to the Assyro-Chaldeans, the French Catholic Church's denouncing the massacres, and the Holy See's diplomatic and humanitarian role while referring to documents from related archives. The Vatican documents, particularly those from the pontificate of Pope Benedict XV, contain invaluable information about the events of 1915-1918.

The Assyro-Chaldean's efforts at the Peace Conference of Paris (1919-1920) are summarized in a short chapter eleven (219-226), while giving an overview of related publications and claims raised for autonomy in the south-eastern region of Anatolia.

Another short chapter twelve (227-232) summarizes the German parliament (Bundestag) recognition of the genocide of 1915 on June 2, 2016. The importance of this overdue recognition is that the German Empire was the key military ally of the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

In its main part, the German resolution explicitly acknowledges that Assyrians (also referred to as Syriacs, Chaldeans or Aramaic-speaking Christians) were affected by the deportations and massacres along with Armenians.

In a final chapter thirteen (233-260) Prof. Yacoub provides philosophical, political and moral reflections on the genocide, such as a theological interpretation, thoughts related to responsibility of the belligerents (Turkey, the Kurds, Germany, Persia, and England), and punishment, He also touches on needed future education on the genocide and on aspects of forgiveness by the victims.

Prof. Yacoub has succeeded in making an important and comprehensive contribution to the Assyrian genocide studies by covering the events related to the suffering of the Assyrians in their large spatial and temporal dimensions: from Adana to Hakkari and from Urmia, Azerbaijan to Mosul. In addition he has covered the pre-genocide developments that led to the catastrophe while providing new and important sources. He also covered the post-genocide diplomacy and novel aspects of philosophical, political and moral considerations along with the role of French diplomacy, the view of the French Catholic Church and the diplomatic actions of the Holy See.

As the author points out in his introduction, the tragedy described here goes beyond the national boundaries of the Assyrians and takes on other dimensions, questioning values of philosophy, politics, and religion, including morality. It makes us "think about evil and the meaning of history, the responsibility of the warring parties, the influence of the Bible, law and violence, justice and truth, political regimes and democracy, the great powers versus the small nations and the reason for wars," states Yacoub.

Abraham Yohannan (1853-1925), an Assyrian who was a professor at Columbia University in New York and author of "The Death of a Nation or the Eternal Persecuted Christian Assyrians," is cited describing the events of 1915 in Persia and Turkey as "shameful and terrible pages in the revealed history of mankind."

Prof. Yacoub's book is easy to read and nuanced even for non-experts. It is essential reading for those engaged in the study and research of genocide, provides important threads for further research and worth to be translated into English to reach broader audience.

Notes:

[1] Selected Books of Prof. Joseph Yacoub

LE MOYEN-ORIENT SYRIAQUE. La face meconnue des Chretiens d'Orient, Salvator, 2019

Year of the Sword: The Assyrian Christian Genocide, a History, Oxforf Press, 2016

Les assyro-chaldeens du Causase (with Claire Yacoub), CERF EDITIONS , 2015

Qui s'en souviendra?: 1915 : le genocide assyro-chaldeo-syriaque, CERF, 2014

[2] According to list by the Assyrian International News Agency, a dozen of country parliaments has recognized the Assyrian Genocide; see: http://www.aina.org/genocide100.html,

[3] Abdulmesih BarAbraham (2017). "Turkey's Key Arguments in Denying the Assyrian Genocide," in David Gaunt, Naures Atto and Soner O. Barthoma (Eds.), Let Them Not Return: Sayfo -- The Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire, New York: Berghahn Book, pp. 219-232, DOI:10.2307/j.ctvw049wf.16
A recent article about some anti-mask, anti-mandate, anti-this, anti-that groups who are seeking School Board positions was particularly unsettling. I thought a couple sentences about common sense, following the science, promoting the general welfare and working together would suffice. On rereading the article, it seemed so many of the antis sound bites use the same absurd drivel we hear from southern politicians. Then I began thinking about whats happened here at home to the Williamsville villages board and how divisive and contentious just about everything has become. Where is Thomas Paine when hes really needed? How do we find the clear and persuasive voices to encourage common people to come together and act sensibly?

Who would watch out for our students best interests, health, and wellness if these one issue candidates take control of our school boards? And what would be their next issue if elected? Using our tax money to file more frivolous lawsuits, burning science books, banning CRT, arming students? Could these be the same people who in the 50s, wouldve had children become paralyzed from polio? In the 70s, die from not wearing seatbelts or in the 80s without car seats?

And whats the deal with masks? How has such a simple little piece of cloth, used around the world for centuries to prevent the spread of infection, become so controversial, so political? I wouldnt want my surgical team unmasked. Or my children not allowed to wear masks on Halloween. And who really has the problem with masking  is it the children or the parents? I suspect the latter. The kids havent falsely claimed to be vaccinated, dreamt up bogus health problems, ranted at front line workers, or wear what my grandson calls chin diapers.

Before voting for School Board members, think hard about how our children have adapted through multiple waves of the pandemic. How they followed to rules and are alive, healthy and didnt bring Covid-19 home from school to grandma and grandpa? Is this the status quo you want to end? Then vote for the candidates who supported health mandates and worked to keep us all safe.

Paul Frey

Clarence
Lake Erie angler meeting set for April 26

Lake Erie Fisheries Research Unit and Region 9 Fisheries offices will present updates on the status of Lake Erie and Upper Niagara River fisheries April 26 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the lodge located within Woodlawn Beach State Park. The presentation is free and open to the public. Pre-registration is not required.

The meeting will feature information on Lake Erie fisheries management, assessment activities and research for prominent sport and restoration fisheries. The Lake Erie and the upper Niagara River rank among New York States top fishing destinations, especially for walleye, smallmouth bass and steelhead. For information about fishing Lake Erie and Western New York, go to dec.ny.gov/outdoor/9217.html.

NASP Winners announced for NY

Twenty-two schools in 16 counties were back to competing in person for state honors in the National Archery in the Schools Program. A total of 407 youth archers showed off their bow-bending skills at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. The competition was in three divisions: high school (grades 9-12); middle school (grades 6-8); and elementary school (grades 4-5). The states Department of Environmental Conservation coordinates the efforts for New York.

Anthony Marino, from St. Joseph by the Sea in Richmond County, had the top overall score and placed first among male archers in the high school division with a score of 292 of 300 possible points. Gabryelle Dezalia, from Schroon Lake Central School in Essex County, was the top overall female archer, earning first place in the high school division with a score of 278. Both winners will receive a trophy and a New York Champion Genesis bow and bow case. Awards were also given in each of the three divisions for the top 10 places.

St. Joseph by the Sea was the first-place team in the high school division for the eighth consecutive year. The first-place team in the middle school and elementary school divisions was Arkport Central School in Steuben County. For final results, check out nasptournaments.org/TournamentDetail.aspx?tid=7923.

The national tournament is scheduled for May 12-14 in Louisville. For more information on how to get your school involved, check out dec.ny.gov/education/81939.html.

Spring Youth Turkey Hunt April 23-24

Every spring, before the regular turkey season begins, the state makes provisions for a special youth hunt weekend to give young hunters an opportunity to take center stage with licensed mentors. Junior hunters ages 12 to 15 who are adequately licensed can hunt for turkeys with an adult. Youth ages 12-13 must be accompanied by a fully licensed parent, legal guardian or person over 21 with written permission. If the junior hunter is 14 or 15, the licensed mentor must be at least 18.

The licensed adult must have a current hunting license and turkey permit. That person may assist by calling, but they may not carry a firearm, bow or crossbow. The adult may not attempt to harvest a turkey during the youth hunt. Shooting hours are a half-hour before sunrise to noon. Only one bearded bird may be taken during the youth weekend and, if you are successful, this will be part of your two-bird limit for the regular season. All other wild turkey hunting regulations remain in effect.

Orvis to host in-person Fly Fishing 101 classes

Fly fishing store Buffalo Orvis will once again be opening its popular Fly Fishing 101 beginner classes to in-person instruction. Store manager Adam Schroeder said the store will provide all the necessary equipment, but encourages attendees to bring their own fly rod and reel if they have one. The free class starts with casting fly rods outside and then returns to the store to discuss rod set-ups, basic fly selection and knot tying. This is perfect for beginners to get started, no matter a persons age. Those under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

Once that is completed, attendees will be given the opportunity to sign up for free follow-up classes. The classes are Saturday mornings at 9 a.m. April classes are set for April 23 and 30. May classes are May 7, 14, 21, and 28. Sign up online at orvis.com/buffalo or call 276-7200.
Product Preview is a weekly series spotlighting the latest and greatest debuts in the marketplace. Check back every Friday for whats new and notable.

Hot on the heels of High Point, the spirited spring collections keep rolling in. From storage trays lined with natural hair-on-hide to bright floral-print dining tables, here are some highlights from the latest round of releases.

Selections from the Fragmented Materiality collection by Lemieux et Cie, including the Watercolor Stripe pillow in terra cotta Courtesy of Lemieux et Cie

Lemieux et Cie debuted an artful outdoor collection called Fragmented Materiality. Available on Monday, the sun-kissed assortment features an array of weather-resistant textiles adorned with handsketched motifs pulled from the brands archives, including an ombre terra cottahued pillow named Watercolor Stripe and Sakya, a Tibetan tigerclad flat-weave rug composed of recycled plastic.

Selections from the Hollywood collection, including the cocktail bar cart and wine cooler, by Martyn Lawrence Bullard for SV Casa Courtesy of SV Casa

Martyn Lawrence Bullard unveiled a characterful collaboration with SV Casa. The line offers three distinct decor collections aburst with bold contrasting hues and glamorous historical references, such as an old Hollywoodstyle cocktail bar trunk with a handinlaid key motif and an arch-covered tissue box inspired by the floors of the Palais Royal in Paris.

The Parsons dining table, dining chairs and bookshelf in Floral and Butterfly wallpaper by Mark D. Sikes for Anthropologie Courtesy of Anthropologie

Anthropologie called on Mark D. Sikes for a maximalist-minded collection. Named after the designers beloved French bulldog, Poppy, the series spans furniture, lighting, wallpaper and accessories in lively yet sophisticated major-impact prints ranging from a chic grid-lined bookcase to a vibrant floral-patterned dining table.

Woodland by Jacqueline Schmidt for Chasing Paper Courtesy of Chasing Paper

Chasing Paper tapped artist Jacqueline Schmidt to illustrate a dreamy line of wallcoverings. Available in both traditional and peel-and-stick options, the collection includes nine delicate nature-inspired designs in earthy colorways, such as a charming moss-hued fungi print named Mushroom and the soft beige flora-and-fauna-themed Woodland.

On the Edge in California Rustic by Kathryn Hunt Studio Courtesy of Kathryn Hunt Studio The brands Shadow Stripe in midnight Courtesy of Kathryn Hunt Studio Left: On the Edge in California Rustic by Kathryn Hunt Studio Courtesy of Kathryn Hunt Studio | Right: The brands Shadow Stripe in midnight Courtesy of Kathryn Hunt Studio

Connecticut-based design firm Kathryn Hunt Studio launched Playa de Lago, its inaugural line of wallcoverings. Available on clay paper or grasscloth grounds, the collection features 13 dainty patterns based on original artwork, including the dash-filled Shadow Stripe and the geometric On the Edge.

The Poe metal table lamp by Regina Andrew Detroit Courtesy of Regina Andrew Detroit he brands Dillon hair-on-hide trays Courtesy of Regina Andrew Detroit Left: The Poe metal table lamp by Regina Andrew Detroit Courtesy of Regina Andrew Detroit | Right: he brands Dillon hair-on-hide trays Courtesy of Regina Andrew Detroit

Regina Andrew Detroits spring collection is an ode to the great outdoors. Crafted from natural materials like linen, rattan and woven bamboo, the series is brimming with organic hues and motifs, and offers everything from hair-on-hide storage trays to textured metal table lamps.

The Josephine pouf, Elysee chairs and Furstenberg bench by Rinck and Fromental Gaspard Hermach/Rinck

French design brand Rinck teamed up with Fromental to release Ornements, a collaborative capsule collection of needlepoint-upholstered furniture. Designed in homage to early 20th-century tapestry artist Jean Lurcat, the series boasts three heirloom-worthy pieces: the sunburst-patterned Elysee chair, the graphic trompe loeilstyle Josephine pouf and a lavender floral bench named Furstenberg.

Architettura by Elitis Courtesy of Elitis

French fabric and wallcovering brand Elitis premiered an exuberant upholstery collection named Milano. Teeming with kaleidoscopic hues and high-contrast op art motifs, the line features three eye-catching jacquard patterns cast on buttery-smooth velvet, each available in multiple colorways.

The Lotus lounge chair in navy blue by Lazzoni Courtesy of Lazzoni

Lazzoni dropped a fresh line of outdoor furniture just in time for the warm weather seasons. Constructed from naturally weather-safe materials, such as wicker and wood, the series spans lounge chairs, sofas, dining sets and accent tables with simple silhouettes and soft neutral finishes to boot.

Marli indoor-outdoor hemp fabric in ivory, jute and oyster by Patterson Flynn

Patterson Flynn released an eco-friendly assortment of performance fabrics named Marli. Woven with naturally durable and waterproof hemp, the series, which is available through Schumacher, comes in three versatile hues forged from colorfast dyes that resist the sun, chlorine and seawatersans any pesky chemicals.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridges Caribbean tour faces further protests with Jamaican campaigners accusing the Queen and her predecessors of perpetuating slavery (Chris Jackson/PA) (PA Wire)

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridges Caribbean tour faces further protests with Jamaican campaigners accusing the Queen and her predecessors of perpetuating slavery.

As the country marks its 60th anniversary, a coalition of Jamaican politicians, business leaders, doctors and musicians have called in an open letter for the British monarchy to pay slavery reparations.

We note with great concern your visit to our country Jamaica, during a period when we are still in the throes of a global pandemic and bracing for the full impact of another global crisis associated with the Russian/Ukraine war, the letter states, according to a section quoted by The Independents race correspondent Nadine White.

NEW: A protest is due to take place in #Jamaica on Tuesday as Prince William & Kate visit the country during their royal tour. Organisers have also penned an open letter to the monarchy calling for slavery reparations. More on this soon. #Jamaica60 #AdvocatesNetwork pic.twitter.com/JUYSk1MUTv  Nadine White (@Nadine_Writes) March 20, 2022

We see no reason to celebrate 70 years of the ascension of your grandmother to the British throne because her leadership, and that of her predecessors, has perpetuated the greatest human rights tragedy in the history of humankind.

It is believed the group will stage a protest on Tuesday outside the British High Commission in Kingston, with the royals due to arrive that day in Jamaica where they will stay until Thursday when they depart for the Bahamas.

The apparent opposition in Jamaica comes after the tour began in controversial circumstances when opposition from villagers in Belize, who cited a range of issues including objections to the Cambridges helicopter landing site, forced a royal trip to a farm on Sunday to be scrapped.

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It was replaced with a visit to a chocolate producer before the royals travelled to the cultural centre of the Garifuna community in Hopkins.

The Cambridges were on Monday due to visit stunning ancient Maya ruins deep in the heartland of Belize.

William and Kate will be given a tour of the site and have the chance to take in Caana, or sky palace, which remains the tallest man-made structure in Belize.

The duke visited Belize as a teenager in 2000, when he reportedly learned jungle survival techniques with the Welsh Guards who were receiving training from the British Army Training Support Unit as part of Exercise Native Trail.

William was beginning a gap year before university at the time and while in the jungle, the then 18-year-old duke learned his A level results.

Belize is home to the worlds second largest barrier reef, thanks to decades of work to protect this incredible marine environment.



In 2017, offshore oil exploration was banned, resulting in the reef receiving UNESCO World Heritage Status  pic.twitter.com/0r1uKRYT63  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 21, 2022

The last engagement of the day will see the couple attend a reception hosted by the Governor General of Belize at the Maya ruins at Cahal Pech, near San Ignacio.

This special reception will be held in celebration of the Queens Platinum and William will give a speech.

During their first full day in Belize on Sunday, the couple toured a cocoa farm and danced during a cultural visit to a nearby village.
A boy receives a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Clalit Healthcare Services in the Israeli city of Holon near Tel Aviv on June 21. Jack Guez/AFP via Getty Images

In the US, the age minimum to receive a COVID-19 vaccines is 5.

US officials say a vaccine for younger kids is on its way, pending trial data.

Some countries have been vaccinating kids and toddlers against COVID-19 for months.

It's been nearly six months since the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authorized Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for everyone as young as 5 years old.

But officials are still holding off on vaccinating younger kids until Pfizer and Moderna conclude their trials testing baby doses for kids aged six months to 4 years old. Europe, meanwhile, is squarely focused on vaccinating kids over 5 years old  with the exception of Sweden, which decided against recommending shots for kids under 11 years old.

In fact, there are just seven countries in the world where younger kids are being vaccinated against COVID-19. Here's what we know about them:

China began vaccinating younger kids before the Omicron surge

China's COVID-19 cases have reached new highs this month, as the Omicron variant has spread swiftly and led to lockdowns in Shanghai.

Before the latest variant turned the tide, China's top priority was rolling out vaccines to its youngest citizens. About 84 million children had received two shots of the Sinovac vaccine by November 2021, when China's National Health Commission issued an update.

Kids aged 3 and older can get the Sinovac or Sinopharm shots. Vaccination for children is voluntary, officials said.

Vaccine clinics opened in schools around the country in the fall, although some regions are seeing a return to online class and work in recent months.

Hong Kong lowered the age limit for vaccine eligibility as Omicron set in

In Hong Kong, authorities recommended vaccinating children aged 3 and up in November 2021. But it wasn't until February this year that the age limit was lowered, and toddlers started receiving doses of Sinovac, the vaccine manufactured in China.

With the Omicron variant already causing new spikes in case counts around the world, parents were anxious to get their children vaccinated as soon as possible, the South China Morning Post reported February 15.

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Bahrain approved one of the Chinese-made vaccines for young kids

Bahrain signed off on the Sinopharm vaccine, which is also made in China, in October 2021.

Now, children aged 3-11 are eligible to get the Sinopharm vaccine in Bahrain.

Chile rolled out Sinovac to young kids, but says it hasn't held up well against Omicron

In December, health officials in Chile announced a plan to vaccinate all children ages 3-5.

Based on studies in China, the Sinovac vaccine had a higher rate of adverse reactions in older children than in younger ones, which officials said was a factor in their decision to authorize the shots.

Chilean children can get Sinovac's COVID-19 vaccine, known in the country as CoronaVac, but early data suggests it might not be very helpful in the fight against Omicron. A Chile-based study (not yet peer-reviewed) of the vaccine found it was 38.2% effective in preventing infections in kids ages 3-5 during the Omicron wave.

The vaccine was more effective when it came to preventing pediatric hospitalizations (64.5%) and deaths (69%).

Argentina authorized Sinopharm for children age 3 years old and up

Argentine health officials authorized the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use in children ages 3 and up in early October 2021, with the intention of vaccinating everyone who is eligible by 2022.

Health ministry data from January showed 46.3% of children between 3 and 11 were fully vaccinated, while 69.5% had gotten at least their first dose, according to EFE.

Cuba was the first country in the world to start vaccinating kids as young as 2

Cuba started out with ambitious targets for its vaccine rollout. The country aimed to vaccinate 90% of its population by December 2021 using Cuban-made vaccines: Abdala, Soberana-2, and Soberana-plus.

Now, more than 87% of the Cuban population is fully vaccinated, and that includes young children. In October 2021, the country authorized two of its vaccines  Soberana-2 and Soberana-plus  for kids as young as two years old.

Cuba has a reputation for high quality medicine, and researchers behind the nation's vaccines say they recorded no notable adverse effects in their clinical trials of young kids.

However, international researchers have voiced skepticism.

"None of the results have been published in peer-reviewed journals, so it's hard to discuss," Dr. Jon K Andrus, a professor of public health at George Washington University and a former immunization program director at the Pan American Health Organisation, told the Guardian.

Venezuela follow shortly after

In November, Venezuela authorized the emergency use of Soberana-2, one of Cuba's COVID-19 vaccines, in children aged 2-11.

By late March, the Venezuelan government said 73% of kids had received a dose of the vaccine.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The Prince Edward Island Potato Board says fertilizer prices have increased by 75 to 100 per cent. (Wayne Thibodeau/CBC - image credit)

Farmers across the Atlantic region say their operating costs have increased significantly with fertilizer imports from Russia under sanction, and some are looking for alternatives.

"We're pretty frustrated with the whole thing this year, it's really stressful," said Brian Adams, owner of Hilldale Potato Inc., in New Denmark, near Grand Falls.

Adams said he paid about $700 per tonne of fertilizer last year and is being quoted about $1,300 per tonne this year.

"All costs are up this year, machine repairs, fertilizer or sprays," he said. "It's going to bring our cost of production up dramatically."

Adams estimates that his operating costs overall will increase by over 60 per cent this year.

Reliance on imports

The Atlantic provinces rely heavily on fertilizer imports from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

Fertilizer Canada CEO Karen Proud said about 85 to 90 per cent of all nitrogen fertilizers used in the eastern provinces come from Russia.

Sanctions currently imposed on Russia have hindered the availability of these materials, including potash, nitrogen and phosphorus across Canada, she said.

"We were already facing a pretty tight season with fertilizer supply, this has just exacerbated that," said Proud.

Farmers across the country are desperately trying to source fertilizer supply elsewhere, she said.

Submitted by Fertilizer Canada

"We're concerned given that we're only four to six weeks away from seeding season".

Proud said about 30 to 40 shipments of fertilizer were already en route to Canada when the sanctions were imposed on Russia.

But only those that had already reached Canadian waters were allowed to dock and the rest had a more dire fate.

"Those would now be subject to the sanctions and either wouldn't be able to arrive at all or, if they did, would have the 35 per cent tariff on them," said Proud.

She said she does support the sanctions put in place by Canada and its allies, but they do have an effect on the supply and price of fertilizer.

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The fertilizer sector contributes about $23 billion to the economy each year, according to Fertilizer Canada.

Alternatives needed

In Prince Edward Island, the potato board reported that farmers are seeing fertilizer prices increase by 75 per cent to 100 per cent this year.

Because of this, farmers in the region have had to look for alternative solutions to common fertilizers or limit their intake.

Louis MacDonald, co-owner of M and M Farming Company Ltd. in Newfoundland and Labrador, said he's looking at ways to supplement fertilizer with local ingredients.

"In the long-term we're going to have to look at alternative methods, maybe supplemented with other items like seaweed, or liquid fertilizer," he told CBC News.

Known as residuals, these are often made out of by-products from other industries, including wood ash, fish bones, seashells and seaweed.

A Nova Scotia company, LP Consulting, has already been developing these fertilizer residuals which cost farmers about $160 per tonne.

Submitted by Dennis Skoworodko

"The return on investment is astronomical this year," said Misty Croney, LP consulting vice president. "We've been working with residuals a lot in all the Maritime provinces."

Croney said residuals aren't as concentrated as chemical fertilizers, so farmers require more of them.

Still, it's a cheaper alternative.

Croney said farmers haven't been keen to make the switch to residuals in the past, but she's noticed that they're starting to show interest.

Atlantic players try to meet demand

McCain Fertilizer in New Brunswick, and the Agromart Group and Cavendish Agri Services in Prince Edward Island, are some of the largest fertilizer companies on the east coast.

John MacKinnon, general manager of Cavendish Agri Services, told CBC News he's confident the company will meet the demand for fertilizer this season, but is uncertain about long-term impacts on supply.

"Like many organizations, we continue to monitor the ever-changing global market conditions to plan for future growing seasons," said MacKinnon in an emailed statement.

Sollio Agriculture in Quebec supplies fertilizer to farms across Atlantic Canada.

CEO Casper Kaastra called the situation a "wake-up" call for the sector.

"The expectation will be that some of the traditional trade routes will evolve and change. There will be purchases from Russia of fertilizer products at points in the future by some countries, and that will make them less dependent on supply sources from other regions," said Kaastra.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, has taken to blocking critics, including conservatives, on his official campaign Facebook page, a move that his office says is legal, citing guidance from the Legislature's attorneys.

In 2019, a federal judge ruled against Vos and other Republicans in a lawsuit after they blocked a progressive group, One Wisconsin Now, from their official Twitter pages. In short: It is illegal for public officials on their public accounts to limit discourse by blocking others.

Vos' office contends that it is legal to block members of the public from an official campaign's social media pages, as an elected official's office and his/her campaign are separate entities.

It isn't easy to tell the difference between the two Facebook pages. The Facebook page for Vos' office is called "Wisconsin State Representative Robin Vos" while his campaign page is called "Representative Robin Vos."

The advent of social media has ushered in a range of questions about what qualifies as a public space where speech can rarely be constrained, and what is a private forum where it can more readily be limited.

"Does the First Amendment prevent public officials from 'blocking' members of the public from their private social media?" The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin addresses this question in an online Q&A. "Short answer: No."

"People dont lose their free speech rights just by virtue of gaining public office. If public officials are using social media as private persons, the First Amendment protects their right to limit their audience and curate the messages on the page, just like any other private person. Re-election campaign accounts may be either personal or for government business, depending on how the official uses them."

On that same page, the ACLU responds to the question: "Does the First Amendment prevent government officials from blocking members of the public on social media?"

To that question, the ACLU responded: "Short answer: Sometimes. If social media is used by a public official to conduct government business, blocking members of the public from seeing the site or from posting comments may violate the First Amendment. Blocking people from a site used for government business because of the views they hold or express is particularly likely to violate the First Amendment. But the mere fact that a government official is using a social media site does not mean it is being used for government business or that the First Amendment applies."

Vos' office declined to comment on the record for this report.

Two Burlington residents who live in Vos' district, Matthew Snorek and Adrianne Melby, told The Journal Times they have recently been blocked from the "Representative Robin Vos" page.

Melby is the wife of Aaron Melby, who ran unsuccessfully for Burlington Area School Board earlier this month, despite having the endorsement of the Racine County Republican Party. Snorek ran unsuccessfully for Town of Burlington chairman last year.

Both of them criticized Vos in comments on posts on the campaign page.

Adrianne Melby had told Vos "You did nothing" in a Facebook comment regarding her effort to ban mask mandates in schools and said "Where were you?" as her husband and another GOP-backed candidate, Ryan Mueller, sought seats on the BASD board; she was blocked soon after.

Snorek, in a comment on Vos' campaign page, had expressed support for Adam Steen, who is challenging Vos in an Aug. 9 Republican primary to represent Assembly District 63.

After those comments were posted, Melby and Snorek were blocked from viewing and commenting on the page "Representative Robin Vos." Both told a reporter they cannot see the page from their own accounts.

Another example Another episode in the discourse around elected officials' ability to block social media comments aired this past year. After the Green Bay Press Gazette reported that state Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Gibson, had previously been referred for charges for child abuse (although charges were never formally filed), Sortwell for months closed his official Facebook posts to comments.

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The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday adopted Republican-drawn state legislative boundaries for the next 10-year political maps, reversing its previous decision after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Democratic governors proposal.

The state Supreme Court issued a 4-3 decision, with Justice Brian Hagedorn joining fellow conservatives on the court, in favor of maps drawn by legislative Republicans, which the majority determined to be race neutral because they did not consider race in drawing them.

Evers maps had factored in race to increase the number of Black majority Assembly districts from six to seven. The Republican-drawn maps chosen Friday reduce the number of Black majority districts to five.

Hagedorn, who was expected to be the deciding vote in the ruling, had previously sided with the courts three liberal justices in favor of Evers maps.

Evers called the ruling an outrageous decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

This is an unconscionable miscarriage of justice for which the people of this state will see no reprieve for another decade, Evers said.

In Fridays ruling, Hagedorn wrote that the court could have chosen to draw new boundaries itself, but added that time and our institutional limitations make that unrealistic at this juncture.

Friday was the first day candidates can begin circulating nomination papers to get on the August primary ballot.

The remaining option is to choose one of the proposed maps we received as the baseline, Hagedorn wrote. Only one proposal was represented as race-neutral in its construction: the maps submitted by the Legislature.

The nations highest court rejected the Democratic governors legislative maps last month, kicking the matter back to the state court. The federal court ruled March 23 that the state Supreme Court did not properly determine whether Evers maps, which create a new, seventh Black majority Assembly district in Milwaukee, complied with the federal Voting Rights Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court order stipulated that the states high court was free to take additional evidence if it prefers to reconsider Evers maps, but any new analysis, however, must comply with our equal protection jurisprudence.

Conservative Chief Justice Annette Ziegler said the court found insufficient evidence to justify drawing state legislative districts on the basis of race.

The maps proposed by the Wisconsin Legislature are race neutral. The Legislatures maps comply with the Equal Protection Clause, along with all other applicable federal and state legal requirements, Ziegler wrote. Further, the Legislatures maps exhibit minimal changes to the existing maps, in accordance with the least change approach we adopted.

Joining in the majority were justices Hagedorn, Patience Roggensack and Rebecca Grassl Bradley, who wrote a concurring opinion in which she compared Evers originally proposed maps to a Star Wars plot point that involves children being murdered.

Liberal justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Dallet and Jill Karofsky dissented.

Karofsky wrote that the case has been nothing short of an odyssey  a long wandering marked by many changes in fortune.

Like all odysseys, the travelers (this court) have had to make several navigational decisions along the way; unfortunately, we have taken numerous wrong turns, Karofsky wrote. The sum total of all that misdirection now leads us to the legally unacceptable maps submitted by the Legislature.

Drawn-out process

The ongoing battle over Wisconsins next 10-year political maps began when Evers vetoed GOP-drawn boundaries in mid-November. The governor had championed boundaries drawn by the Peoples Maps Commission, but a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling last year that the next maps must include minimal changes to existing boundaries forced the governor to draw and submit new districts.

The state Supreme Court on March 3 adopted maps drawn by Evers, which maintained, but reduced, GOP majorities in the Legislature. Republican lawmakers appealed to the federal court  with a focus on Evers decision to add a seventh majority-Black Assembly district in Milwaukee, which Republicans said would dilute the Black majority in the six existing districts. The Legislature argued the states high court never decided whether the seventh district was required by the Voting Rights Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled last month that the state court did not properly consider whether a race-neutral alternative that did not add a seventh majority-black district would deny black voters equal political opportunity and sent the matter back to the state court.

If, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Governors addition of a Milwaukee-area majority-minority district evinces a disqualifying consideration of race, then the Legislatures removal of a Milwaukee-area majority-minority district reveals an equally suspect, if not more egregious, sign of race-based line drawing, Karofsky wrote.

The courts latest ruling will almost certainly be appealed, but with the Aug. 9 primary less than four months away, its likely the GOP-drawn maps will be used in this falls midterm. Future legal challenges could result in additional changes leading up to the 2024 presidential election.

Without any legal basis or precedent, and ignoring a decision they made just a month ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is showing its true colors: political gain over judicial fairness, Fair Elections Project Director Sachin Chheda said in a statement Friday. Time and time again, our high courts have let the people of Wisconsin down.

Competitive edge

GOP-drawn maps for the Assembly would create 51 GOP-leaning districts, 35 Democratic-leaning districts and 13 competitive districts, according to a Princeton Gerrymandering Project analysis using past election results. In the Senate, 15 districts would lean Republican, 10 would lean Democratic and eight would be considered competitive.

Republicans currently hold a 61-38 majority in the Assembly and a 21-12 majority in the Senate.

We have thought our maps were the best option from the beginning, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, tweeted Friday. We appreciate the courts due diligence and are glad to move forward with these maps that make the least changes and comply with traditional redistricting criteria.

Congressional maps

While Evers legislative maps were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, his congressional maps were left untouched. Those boundaries increase the number of competitive congressional districts from one to two. Five of the states eight congressional districts are currently held by Republicans.

The Legislature must redraw political lines every decade based on the latest population figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2011, Republicans, working in secretive conditions, drew maps that packed Democratic voters into lopsided districts and spread out rural and suburban Republicans into districts with solid, but narrower, majorities. The maps allowed the GOP to hold more than 60% of legislative seats, even when Democrats won all statewide elections in 2018.

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In 1981, Patricia Anderson of Contra Costa, California began National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week as a way to honor dispatch workers, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

In 1994, former President Bill Clinton signed it into law, declaring the second week of April a week to honor and appreciate dispatch workers across the country.

Locally, the Columbus-Platte County Joint Communications Center provides emergency dispatch services for the area. Communications Director Rachel Pensick said dispatchers do more than most people realize.

I think a lot of people go into this thinking its a clerical thing. We are far from clerical, you have to have a thick skin, you know? Were dealing with things the average person wont ever hear, Pensick said.

Dispatchers, along with answering the phone, radio and in-person calls, have to know how to operate technical systems, search for information, keep track of several channels of communication with several people on each channel and provide relevant details in a timely and calm manner.

You have to be a multitasker. Its not just answering the phone and talking to people, theres a lot of multitasking in high-stress situations, Pensick said.

Samantha Higgins, a dispatcher, said the job can be high-stress, with multiple calls going on at once, many of them being time-sensitive.

All of your calls go through one dispatch so you could have several high-stress calls, when stuff happens all at once. You have to deal with multiple agencies as well, Higgins said.

Another stressor can be the level of uncertainty some days, Pensick added.

We have a great communication relationship with those in the field but sometimes we dont know the outcome, and that can be hard, Pensick said. Theyll send out a call and then its a waiting game. I know I have sent out calls and never heard back.

While the job can be stressful, it is rewarding.

Pensick said they will get calls from some people on a fairly regular basis, while some will only call once in their lives. For dispatchers, getting those people the information or help they need is why they do what they do.

It might be routine for us, but its a very big thing for them. Maybe there was a theft, something was damaged or a family member collapsed. I guess its knowing that were there in their time of need, Pensick said.

Crystal Stuthman, another dispatcher, agreed that being there for people who need help was the most satisfying part of their work.

Its just knowing that you were able to get someone help when they truly needed help, Stuthman said.

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What started as a joke of opening a bookstore ended up coming to a full-fledged reality for Terrace Books owner Dee Howerter.

Soon, Howerters store will be open to the public as a grand opening will be held from from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, April 30, at 2507 11th St. in Columbus.

It really started as a joke, Howerter said with a laugh. I come from health care and science. Ive been a nurse for 30-something years and I have degrees in psychology and neuroscience. I was just having a hard time finding my place.

Howerter said she then mulled over what she enjoyed and her thoughts always went back to books and music. As a self-described bibliophile, Howerter has collected novels throughout her life along with her son and daughter-in-law. Although she joked with her son that she was going to open a bookstore, the idea struck a chord with her.

I thought this could work and could really happen, she said, adding shes noticed the community supporting local new businesses when they first open their doors.

Howerter is pulling out all the stops for later this month.

The grand opening coincides with Independent Bookstore Day which is also on April 30. The store will see refreshments which include coffee and tea - the bookstore will have its own coffee bar - breakfast pastries from Wildflower Pastries and cookies and macaroons from Beautifully Baked Bakery. The first 100 customers will receive a free reusable Terrace Books Chico bag and for every in-store purchase, patrons names will be in the running for a gift bag drawing.

A childrens storytime hour will be from noon to 1 p.m. and a caricature artist will draw pictures from 1-4 p.m.

There will also be hidden discount coupons and gift cards throughout the day.

Howerter said her previous vision was to open the store in August around Columbus Days but everything was moving ahead of schedule so she decided to open her business a few months sooner.

Everything that was holding me back kind of fell into place really early, she said.

Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Membership and Community Engagement Director Sandie Fischer said she is excited that a local bookstore is opening in town.

Its such a great opportunity, Fischer said. There are so many people who like the touch and feel when it comes to reading  even the scent of the book. I am one of those who look at a book, you want to see what kind of photos and pictures are all in there. You cant do that when youre ordering a book online.

Terrace Books will have a selection of used novels which will cost $3, Howerter said. The store will also be home to Spanish-language books since Columbus has several Spanish-speaking residents, she added.

Howerter will also specialize in collectible books. Owing to her book collecting background, she said she will look for out of print, certain editions, antiques or hard to find novels for customers.

The bookstore, however, will not do book repairs, Howerter said.

The store received its name because of the buildings terrace in the back. Howerter said later this spring the ivy next to one of the walls will grow. She said she envisions the place will be a nice place for patrons to enjoy a coffee and a good book.

The store will be open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday and closed on Sunday.

For more information, visit terracebookstore.com or search Terrace Books on Facebook.

Andrew Kiser is a reporter for The Columbus Telegram. Reach him via email at andrew.kiser@lee.net.

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It touched most everyone who heard the shocking news of the sudden passing of Franklin Delano Roosevelt on April 12, 1945.

The President had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage during a visit to Warm Springs, Georgia, where he had often received treatment for polio.

Partisan politics were swept aside by the death of a chief executive who brought the U.S. back from the brink of the Great Depression and led the country through much of World War II.

The all Republican Carlisle borough council convened a meeting long enough to adjourn out of respect for a Democrat who, five months earlier, was elected to a fourth term in the White House.

Teachers said that the bewilderment that overtakes youth in the face of death and grief was manifest in school this morning, The Sentinel reported on April 13. Pupils were subdued, and there were no disciplinary problems. For most children, FDR was the only president they had known up to that point.

Across town, at the Carlisle Barracks, the loss of the commander-in-chief intensified the seriousness of soldiers who went about their training at the time when the main function on post was the Medical Field Service School. Nazi Germany was just weeks away from surrendering.

On April 14, 400 people gathered for a memorial service in the First Presbyterian Church on the Square. The history was not lost on The Sentinel reporter who mentioned how that same sanctuary had played host to the first president during his October 1794 visit to Carlisle.

Not far from where George Washington had prayed, the church had put up a memorial to Roosevelt that included a large portrait flanked by sheaves of white lilacs and a display of American flags.

In a eulogy, Rev. Glenn M. Shafer described Roosevelt as a champion of labor, an idol for the poor and underprivileged and a hope for minority races everywhere.

Even while he lived he was ceasing to be a man and was becoming a symbol, Shafer said. To those in other lands, even more than to his fellow Americans, he seemed the embodiment of the American spirit, of human freedom [and of] justice for the oppressed.

Shafer also mentioned how Roosevelt battled back from a crippling disease to earn the highest office in the land. If there were no other reasons to honor his memory, it would be sufficient that his heroic fight against cruel circumstances and his notable victory gives new courage and hope to stricken millions.

Other memorial services were held in Mount Holly Springs and at Dickinson College, Carlisle Barracks and in Carlisle public school buildings.

The Sentinel published wire service stories about world leaders expressing condolences for the death. Todays adversary was yesterdays uneasy ally. In what was then Soviet Russia, black-bordered red flags flew over official buildings in Moscow in keeping with a decree calling for two days of mourning.

Tour through Time runs Saturday in The Sentinel print edition. Reporter Joseph Cress will work with the Cumberland County Historical Society each week to look at the county through the years. Send any questions, feature ideas or tips to jcress@cumberlink.com.

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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LVIV, Ukraine  The bodies of more than 900 civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces, the regional police chief said in a briefing Friday.

Andriy Nebytov, the head of Kyivs regional police force, said the bodies had been abandoned in the streets or given temporary burials. He cited police data indicating that 95% of the casualties had died from sniper fire and gunshot wounds. He added that more bodies were being found every day, under the rubble and in mass graves.

Consequently, we understand that under the (Russian) occupation, people were simply executed in the streets, Nebytov said. The number of killed civilians has surpassed 900  and I emphasize, these are civilians, whose bodies we have discovered and handed over for forensic examination.

He added: The most victims were found in Bucha, where there are more than 350 corpses.

According to Nebytov, utilities workers in Bucha had been gathering up and burying bodies in the Kyiv suburb while it remained under Russian control. Nebytov added that Russian troops were tracking down people who expressed strong pro-Ukrainian views.

USA TODAY ON TELEGRAM: Join our new Russia-Ukraine war channel

Latest developments

Russians view of the U.S. dramatically deteriorated last month, according to polling by the Levada Center, an independent Russian research nonprofit organization. Some 72% of Russians viewed the U.S. badly in March, compared to 55% in February. Just 17% of Russians viewed the U.S. favorably in March, compared to 31% in February, the poll says.

President Joe Biden is not set to visit Ukraine, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told the podcast "Pod Save America" Thursday.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the consequences of Russias invasion were contributing to economic downgrades for 143 countries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said his nation had made considerable efforts to de-escalate the situation, defuse the crisis and rebuild peace." China has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine by strategic partner Russia, or even refer to the conflict as a war.

Story continues

Vatican gives Russian woman a Good Friday role, angering Ukrainians

ROME  The war in Ukraine loomed over the traditional Good Friday procession at the Colosseum in Rome because the Vaticans choice of a Russian woman as one of the cross-bearers angered Ukrainians.

Participants in the solemn torchlit procession in the ancient arena Friday night took turns carrying a plain, tall and slim cross as part of the commemoration of Jesus suffering and death by crucifixion.

Ukraines ambassador to the Vatican and the archbishop of Kyiv earlier this week denounced the Vaticans plan to have a Ukrainian woman and a Russian woman carry the cross together during the procession. They objected to projecting what they saw as the idea of reconciliation while Ukraine is ravaged by war unleashed by Russia.

The Vatican didnt respond to the protests. Pope Francis has denounced the Feb. 24 invasion and attacks on Ukraine as a sacrilege, but has refrained from naming Russia as the aggressor.

Other faithful applauded the decision to pair the two women. They work together in a palliative care section of a Rome hospital and are friends.

-The Associated Press

Shelling in Kharkiv kills 7, injures 34

The governor of the Kharkiv region says seven people, including a seven7-month-old child, were killed in shelling of a residential neighborhood in the city.

Oleh Sinehubov said Friday in a Telegram post that 34 other people were wounded.

Kharkiv, Ukraines second-largest city, has been heavily hit by shelling and rocket attacks during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The citys position about 25 miles south of Russia and 100 miles north of the separatist eastern regions of Ukraine gives it significant strategic importance.

 Associated Press

US confirms 2 Ukrainian missiles sank Russian flagship in Black Sea

Two Ukrainian Neptune missiles struck the Russian missile cruiser Moskva, which later sank, according to a senior U.S. Defense official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Pentagon officials had previously said they could not confirm the Ukrainian claim, but they also did not refute it.

The warship Moskva, which has a history that goes back to days of the Cold War, sank into the Black Sea on Thursday in the latest blow to Moscow's war effort in Ukraine.

Losing the vessel, built in Ukraine during the Soviet era and named after the Russian capital, represents a military setback and symbolic defeat for Russia as its troops regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after stumbling in the north.

-Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

Report: Ukraine is scanning faces of dead Russian soldiers, notifying family

Ukrainian officials are using facial recognition technology to scan the faces of Russian troops who have died in Ukraine and notify their families, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Ukraine has scanned more than 8,600 faces and notified hundreds of families since Russia invaded the country using software from the U.S. firm Clearview AI, according to the Post. The country's IT Army, which comprises volunteer hackers and activists, told the outlet they also sometimes send photos of the abandoned bodies of soldiers to their families.

The aim is to cause dissent from Russians and discourage other fighters, the Post reported. But critics said it could be a form of psychological warfare.

"If it were Russian soldiers doing this with Ukrainian mothers, we might say, Oh, my God, thats barbaric,'" said Stephanie Hare, a London-based surveillance researcher, told the Post. "And is it actually working? Or is it making them say: Look at these lawless, cruel Ukrainians, doing this to our boys?'"

A Clearview AI executive told the Post that Ukrainians are also using the software to confirm the identities of people at military checkpoints and make sure no Russians infiltrate. Hoan Ton-That, the chief executive, told the outlet that it could deter Russian troops from committing war crimes if they fear being identified by the software.

Russia expels 18 EU diplomats

Moscow on Friday said it will expel 18 members of the European Unions delegation from Russia, a retaliation for the EUs decision to expel Russian diplomats from Belgium earlier this month.

As a response to the unfriendly actions of the European Union, 18 employees of the EU Delegation to Russia have been declared persona non grata and will have to leave the territory of the Russian Federation in the near future, reads a statement by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In response to the move, the EU said Friday it deplores Russias unjustified, baseless decision to remove its diplomats, calling the decision a pure retaliatory step.

The EU on April 5 designated 19 Russian diplomats as personae non gratae for engaging in activities contrary to their diplomatic status, and ordered them to leave Belgium, where they were being hosted, according to Reuters.

-Ella Lee

Zelenskyy praised Ukrainian bravery in address marking 50 days of war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his country's bravery late Thursday and said Ukraine should be proud of having survived 50 days under Russian attack when the Russians gave us a maximum of five.

In a video address, Zelenskyy called it an achievement of millions of Ukrainians, of everyone who on Feb. 24 made the most important decision of their life  to fight. He added: "But they didnt know us either. And they did not know how brave Ukrainians are, how much we value freedom. Our opportunity to live the way we want."

Countries buying Russian oil are making money out of blood, Zelenskyy tells BBC

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized European countries that continue to purchase Russian oil in an interview with the BBC.

We dont understand how you can make money out of blood, Zelenskyy said. Unfortunately, this is what some countries have been doing  European countries.

Zelenskyy called out Germany and Hungary in particular for not participating in the Russian oil embargo many other countries, including the U.S., have put in place. He added that while countries like the U.K. and U.S. have been helpful in providing weapons, Ukraine needs them sooner and more of them.

The priority word is sooner, he said. The priority words quickly, the priority words now. Because we are fighting now.

The BBCs full interview with Zelenskyy will air April 16 on the BBC News Channel.

-Ella Lee

UN warns 2.7 million people with disabilities at risk in Ukraine

Some 2.7 million people with disabilities are at "grave risk of harm" due to the war in Ukraine, the United Nations warned Friday.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said it received reports that people with disabilities, including children, are stranded in homes, residential care institutions and orphanages without necessary medication, food, water or other basic needs. Many have been separated from their support networks, making it more difficult to navigate their surroundings, the committee said.

The group also warned that women with disabilities are at a greater risk of sexual violence that has been reported across Ukraine.

The group called on Russia to immediately end the war and observe and respect the principles of international human rights and humanitarian law.

-Ella Lee

Russia may 'scale up missile attacks' on Kyiv

Russias Defense Ministry on Friday promised to ramp up the scale of missile attacks on Kyiv in response to Ukraines diversions on the Russian territory.

The statement comes a day after Russian authorities accused Ukrainian forces of launching airstrikes on residential buildings in one of the countrys regions on the border with Ukraine, in which seven people sustained injuries.

According to Russian officials, some 100 residential buildings were damaged in Thursdays attack on the Klimovo village in the Bryansk region. The Defense Ministry said that the Russian forces in Ukraines Chernihiv region shut down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter that was allegedly involved in the attack on the Bryansk region.

Authorities in another border region, Belgorod, also reported Ukrainian shelling on Thursday.

 Associated Press

Moscow likely to change naval operation in Black Sea after loss of warship Moskva

Britains defense ministry says the loss of Russias naval flagship will likely force Moscow to change the way its naval forces operate in the Black Sea.

The Moskva sank after being damaged in disputed circumstances. Ukraine says it struck the vessel with missiles, while Moscow acknowledged a fire on board but not any attack.

In an update posted Friday on social media, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said the Soviet-era ship, which returned to operational service last year after a major refit, served a key role as both a command vessel and air defence node.

It said the sinking means Russia has now suffered damage to two key naval assets since invading Ukraine, the first being Russias Alligator-class landing ship Saratov on 24 March. Both events will likely lead Russia to review its maritime posture in the Black Sea.

 Associated Press

Russia threatens to move nukes closer if Finland, Sweden join NATO

The entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO would force Russia to strengthen its northwestern borders and place nuclear weapons in the region, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Thursday. Medvedev noted on his Telegram channel that the length of Russia's land border with the NATO alliance would more than double. One of Russia's explanations for its invasion of Ukraine was concern over possible NATO expansion there.

Naturally, these borders will have to be strengthened. The grouping of ground forces and air defense will be seriously strengthened, and significant naval forces will be deployed in the waters of the Gulf of Finland, Medvedev wrote, adding that keeping the region's non-nuclear status is "out of the question."

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine live updates: Over 900 bodies found in Kyiv region, police say
Husband and wife team Chuck and Chelley Odle, no strangers to the local radio game, have acquired Park Hills radio stations AM 1240 KFMO and B104.3 FM Classic Hits, forming C. Odle Enterprises and Odle Media Group in the process.

The two joined the 75-year-old radio station five years ago to work in management and sales. When longtime station manager Larry Joseph retired in September 2018, the two were tapped to lead the way by KFMO and B104.3 owner M.L. Steinmetz of MKS Broadcasting.

AM 1240 KMFO and B104.3 FM had been owned by MKS Broadcasting Inc. since 1992. Steinmetz indicated he saw the Odles as the obvious choice to take over ownership of the station.

I see the future of radio, not just over the air but also through technology. After owning KFMO and KDBB for 30 years, I felt it was time for new ownership that could continue to grow and serve the community, he said. The Odles past service to the stations and the connections they have to the community made them a natural choice to be the new owners and to continue to serve locally.

Steinmetz said he is grateful to listeners and advertisers over the course of the years.

I certainly want to thank the listeners and advertisers in the St Francois County area for their support. I would also like to thank Larry Joseph, the past general manager, in addition to all of the staff over the last 30 years for their hard work and commitment to the stations and their community, he was quoted as saying in a press release. The goal over the last 30 years was to provide the best programming to the community through KFMO and KDBB.

Chuck says he is excited about what the future holds for Odle Media Group.

After all the years of serving our community and the local businesses in our area and getting the chance to build so many great relationships, Chelley and I have been blessed with this amazing opportunity to start our own media company together and purchase KFMO and KDBB Radio, he said. The future of radio is very much alive along with a sea of possibilities to continue to support and serve our local communities.

The Odles arent the first couple to manage the station. Jim and Virginia Collins were brought from Cape Girardeau to run the fledgling radio station established in 1947 by Oscar Hersch. It was St. Francois Countys first radio station and, according to a 1966 article in the Lead Belt News, they were strong civic leaders, presiding on the hospital board, engaging in myriad charitable organizations and activities, and producing community events and initiatives.

The Odles have a similar background, locally, often serving on area chambers of commerce boards in leadership positions, volunteering for church and community initiatives, and staying active in industry organizations on the state and national levels. Chelley has also gained some fame for her singing, recording two albums and making appearances on Trinity Broadcast Network. They have two children and two grandchildren.

North County high school sweethearts since Chelley was a freshman and Chuck was a senior, the Odles have been together for 30 years and this is the second time theyve been working side-by-side on the job. Chuck had been a manager at local radio station J-98 FM/KREI AM 800 for 15 years when Chelley took the sales position there that was vacated by longtime media advertising saleswoman Lisa Ransom Sitler. When Chuck left the station after 23 years to sell insurance, Chelley left a few months afterward to direct the marketing at Serenity Hospice.

When Chelley eventually landed at KFMO, Chuck followed shortly thereafter, working side by side under station manager Larry Joseph, who retired in September 2018.

Since we have been married 30 years this year, we are well accustomed to working together, Chelley said. We have worked together in the past at other radio stations as a married couple and worked together in ministry. Its just a natural thing for us. We both have strengths, that when combined, create a pretty amazing team.

With a combined 41 years in radio, the two indicated they never thought theyd actually own their own station, but theyre looking forward to the experience.

It's so strange how, how it happened. We never thought five years ago that we would ever be sitting here today, Chelley said. Never thought it in a million years. And we're doing it. We love it and were doing it together. And that's just how we've always done everything, you know?

Sarah Haas is the assistant editor for the Daily Journal. She can be reached at 573-518-3617 or at shaas@dailyjournalonline.com.

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The Fredericktown City Council met for its regular meeting Monday, and among the agenda items, three new elected officials took their oaths of office.

In her last act as Fredericktown mayor, Kelly Korokis presented a resolution verifying election results from the general election held April 5.

"Before we get to oaths, I just want to say what an honor and privilege it has been to serve right beside you and all of the accomplishments we have made in the last ten years together," Korokis said to city aldermen and personnel. "I wish you all, the new mayor and the new aldermen, the best."

After the resolution was read "by title only" and unanimously approved, Travis Parker took his oath of office and became the new mayor of Fredericktown. Eddie Shankle, Ward 1, Bill Long, Ward 2 and Jim Miller, Ward 3, also took their oaths of office.

"I would just like to say, again, thanks to Harold Thomas and Kelly Korokis for all your years of service," Alderman Rick Polete said. "I know it isn't always easy. It is time consuming, and we appreciate your service to the city of Fredericktown."

"Ditto," Alderman Paul Brown said.

Thomas was presented with a plaque and Korokis recognized him for his 13 years of service on the council.

In Parker's first act as mayor of Fredericktown, he asked for nominations for the president of the board. The council members were quick to nominate and approve Polete to continue his post as president.

Next, Parker asked the board to approve the appointment of Belinda Lopez as city clerk, Theresa Harbison as deputy city clerk, Ashley Baudendistel as assistant deputy city clerk, Mary Boner as city attorney and James Joyce as municipal court judge. The council approved all of the appointments.

The council approved three ordinances that night. The first amends zoning regulations increasing the the age of newly-placed mobile homes from a maximum of 10 years old to 25 years. The second was regarding physical security measures on private property.

Then, the council passed an ordinance to amend the official zoning district map to reclassify property owned by BKC Properties, located at 220 Jennifer St., from R-2 to R-3 so that apartments could be built.

During work session, the council approved closing the alley behind Madison County Service Coordination on April 16 for the For MadCo Easter Block Party hosted by Calvary Church.

Also approved was a request to upgrade the Microsoft 365 services to a yearly business subscription. The new agreement will let the city place the software on all necessary computers and always be eligible for upgrades to the most current version.

The council approved 11 liquor licenses for 2022: Harps, The Beer Haus, Lalo's Mexican Grill, Chuck's Short Stop, Dollar General #13129, Walmart, Dollar General #1211, C-Barn, The Depot Cafe, Madison Co. Farm Supply, and BMW Convenience.

In other business, the council approved a request for Court Clerk Stephani Crump to attend the MSU conference. The expense is a budgeted item and something Crump attends every year.

The council also approved buying 30 40-foot utility poles, accepting the low bid of $9,570 from Bridgewell Resources.

The council sent a request for a special use permit for 210 W. College Ave. to the planning and zoning committee. The property is currently zoned as "residential" and the legal owners, Bennat Properties, would like to locate a Shelter Insurance office at the location.

The next meeting of the Fredericktown City Council will be April 25, immediately following the 5:30 p.m. work session at City Hall.

Victoria Kemper is a reporter for the Daily Journal. She can be reached at 573-783-3366 or at vkemper@democratnewsonline.com

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St. Paul Lutheran School's annual benefit auction and dinner, the schools largest fundraiser of the year, is set for April 30 at the school in Farmington with the theme "Starry Night."

They say, 'it takes a village' and that sentiment certainly applies at St. Paul Lutheran School, said Jill Kohut, auction chair. Unlike public schools, we dont receive state or federal funds  we must rely on tuition. The generous support of the St. Paul Lutheran Church congregation and fundraisers cover the costs of educating our children at a cost of approximately $4,700 per student.

We recognize that St. Pauls exceptional standard of high-quality Christian education is made possible in part by the generous financial support of our community. Our business sponsors receive valuable exposure before, during and after this event via the auctions website, media releases and interviews, as well as being featured in the auction book the night of the event.

"We invite you to partner with us in making the 2022 St. Paul Lutheran School Annual Benefit Dinner and Auction a success.

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DEAR READERS: At sundown, the first night of Passover begins. This major Jewish holiday celebrates the most momentous event in Jewish history -- the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Happy Passover to my readers who observe this important holiday. -- LOVE, ABBY

DEAR ABBY: A friend of mine lost her husband a couple of years ago. I didn't think she was looking for love or companionship, but all of a sudden she has met a younger man, and I'm concerned. I have observed several red flags, but I'm not sure if I should say something.

She owns a home in a big city and another smaller, very nice one with a view of the lake in a resort town three hours away. This man has posted on his main Facebook page a picture of "his" new cabin. (I don't have any details regarding who else was there.) I looked at his Facebook pictures and saw one of his daughter, who looks to be around 13, along with several pictures of a woman I assume to be his beautiful significant other posing with him and his daughter.

On my friend's birthday, he showed up at her door with a huge bouquet, balloons and all. She called a mutual friend about the flowers and was all giddy. This scenario makes me suspect he's a predator who may start asking her for money. What, if anything, should I do? -- FRIEND SEEING SIGNS

DEAR FRIEND: If it were me, I'd ask my friend how SHE enjoyed the family party at her lake house -- and whether she has seen what this new man in her life has posted about it on his FB. Then, I would tell her how seeing his claim that the place is "his" made you do a double-take. After that, I would simply listen.

DEAR ABBY: My mother-in-law, "Gladys," was never a particularly good mother as her kids were growing up. We don't get along very well. She interjects herself into every aspect of my family's life, especially when some sort of crisis happens. Most recently, it concerned the death of my wife's father's second wife. Gladys actually parked her truck in front of ours to prevent us from going over there to give him emotional support.

When she acts like this, my wife refuses to stand up to her. This woman has more than once come between me and my family. How should I confront her and my wife about this? I feel like Gladys had her chance, but now it is my place to call the shots. Please tell me if I am being unreasonable. -- HUSBAND AND DAD IN GEORGIA

DEAR HUSBAND: I don't think you are being unreasonable. I do think you need to have a serious, private conversation with your wife. You both need to learn how to set firm boundaries for her mother. If you need help doing that, consult a marriage counselor. A marriage in which one spouse feels sidelined is headed for trouble.

DEAR ABBY: I've dealt with anxiety and depression for decades, but I'm finally on a medication that works for me. I'm in my 40s and feel emotionally stable for the first time in my adult life. When I started the medication, I was in a bad place, but after a few months I broke up with my partner and began focusing on my career.

It has been a couple of years now, and I have no sex drive at all. I have been feeling the desire to start dating again, but even if I meet someone, I doubt my libido will return while I'm on this medication, which would be unfair to the other person. I'm afraid my choice is between future relationships and my mental health. My doctor offered to add another drug that might help, but it took so long to find something that works, I don't want to start experimenting again. Can you offer any advice? -- GOTTEN THIS FAR IN ILLINOIS

DEAR GOTTEN: I am pleased to know that after so much trial and error you've finally found a medication that has allowed you to get your life back. I urge you to listen to your doctor. If your physician thinks there is something that might help, give it a try. If it disrupts the strides you have made, you can always stop. But please don't deprive yourself of the opportunity to live a fuller life.

DEAR ABBY: I am engaged to "George," a wonderful man who has adult children. He and his ex went through a bitter divorce several years ago. His children mainly blame him, but he still tries to maintain relationships with them.

The younger two seem to have accepted it over time. His oldest daughter, however, is very close to her mother and still bitter. She's getting married and has expressed to him that she doesn't want him to bring any guests. George and I have been living together for the last year, and it was never a secret that we were dating before then. I don't know how to feel about this. I have no relationship with his children, but I would like to be there. How should I address this? -- LEFT OUT IN THE EAST

DEAR LEFT OUT: In plain English. Ask George how he feels about being expected to go unaccompanied to his daughter's wedding in light of the fact he has been cohabiting with you for a year. (Is he expected to participate?) When you do, point out to your fiance that if his daughter is allowed to dictate this, it will be only the beginning, because there will be other milestones from which you are also excluded.

DEAR ABBY: In about three years, my wife and I will be able to comfortably retire. The problem is she's 57 and has smoked since she was in her teens. In addition to tobacco, she also smokes reefer and consumes alcohol three or four nights a week, and her family medical history is not great. I indulge a little with her -- on weekends only -- and I'm not a smoker.

Needless to say, I'm becoming increasingly worried that our golden years will be difficult or cut short. I have tried talking to her about it, but she doesn't want to hear it. She's a great person and the love of my life, and I don't want to lose her before we can enjoy retirement and grandkids. What can I do? -- WORRIED SICK IN NEW JERSEY

DEAR WORRIED SICK: Try this approach: Tell your wife she's the love of your life and you would like to spend your golden years celebrating them with her while you both take full advantage of everything you have worked so hard to accumulate. Explain you're worried that her vices will shorten her life, which is why you "need" her to quit smoking cigarettes and cut down on the drinking.

If she refuses, add that if her life ends prematurely, your life will NOT be over, and what a shame it would be if everything you had worked and planned for couldn't be enjoyed together. If that doesn't motivate her, nothing will.

DEAR ABBY: I'm eight months pregnant with my first child. My usually happy and positive mother is becoming increasingly quick to become negative or angry. The change in her personality has my husband and me concerned about our little one growing up around her.

We don't want our child to assume these characteristics by imitating her grandmother. I can't imagine Mom not being around her first grandchild, and I know I'll need her help, but I can't bear the thought of our child mirroring these behaviors. How do we proceed? -- FIRST-TIME MOM IN FLORIDA

DEAR MOM: You may be worried needlessly, but try to figure out what is going on with your Mom that would account for her recent personality change. Talk to her about it and raise your concerns. I say this because she may need to be examined by her doctor to determine if something is medically or neurologically wrong with her. If nothing is wrong, you and your husband may need to decide if you would be more comfortable limiting your mother's time with the baby and hiring someone to help you care for your child.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a musician -- a bass guitar player. I've been playing for more than 50 years and have been told I'm very good. My problem is my neighbor. He plays guitar and writes songs, neither of which he does well.

From time to time, I'll help him out by laying down the bass track for his songs. But lately he has begun referring to me as "my bass player." I don't WANT to be his bass player. I get no enjoyment from playing with him.

I try my best to avoid him now because he constantly asks me to play. Most of the time, I give him some lame excuse to avoid it. Is there any way I can get out of playing without telling him how I feel about his music? -- NOT HIS BASS PLAYER

DEAR NOT HIS BASS: You could tell him that your schedule is so full you don't have time to do it, you have "other commitments" or you are concentrating on your own music these days. However, if those excuses don't work, I guarantee that telling him the whole truth will.

DEAR ABBY: My fiance and I have been having food wars with our parents ever since we started dating. Because of our lack of money, we can't move out of our parents' houses yet. My parents fight or yell at me for wanting to eat the kind of food we want to eat. My fiance's mother wants us to never buy our own food and to eat hamburgers and hot dogs every night. She even goes through the trash and yells at my fiance about spending money on food when it's his own money he is spending. How can we keep the peace? So far, we have been eating in the car like nomads. -- WHAT'S EATING US IN OHIO

DEAR WHAT'S EATING: Tolerating your parents' behavior is the price you and your fiance are paying for roofs over your heads until the two of you can save enough for a place of your own. Until that happens, you may have to bide your time and continue "eating in the car like nomads." (I hope you are both eating as healthfully as you can.)

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Contact Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069

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For more than two years, the Albemarle County School Board has voted, discussed the business of the school division and heard public comments virtually over zoom.

But on Thursday, board members left their homes and headed to the Albemarle County Office Building-McIntire to see one another in person for the first time since Feb. 27, 2020.

I am thrilled to be back, said board member Jonno Alcaro. What I missed most was just being here with all of you, and everybody who came to see us.  Its an honor to be back.

Alcaro stepped down as chairman of the board in June 2020. As one of the first orders of business, current chairman Graham Paige presented Alcaro with a commemorative gavel.

Dozens of division staff members and teachers attended the meeting, which had few technical hiccups and otherwise ran seamlessly. No one was accidentally muted  a regular occurrence of virtual meetings. The meeting was streamed online through the divisions website.

Division spokesman Phil Giaramita said turnout for the meeting was better than expected and more than what was typical in pre-pandemic meetings.

It shows the communitys interest, he said. I know the board is grateful for the opportunity to be back.

One section of the Lane Auditorium, where the School Board holds its meetings, had seats blocked off for social distancing while all the seats were open on the other side. Masks were not required.

Cheryl Knight was one of several teachers who wore red to the meeting in support of the Albemarle Education Association, which recently presented its petition for collective bargaining. The School Board is weighing that request.

Im thrilled, Knight said of being back to in-person meetings. Its just nice to see people in the flesh and not be staring at a zoom screen.

During public comment, the AEA members in attendance stood to show their support as AEA president Vernon Liechti spoke. Liechti called for the School Board to form a task force with AEA to review the resolution for collective bargaining.

Outside Lane Auditorium, the division laid out information about the school system, its strategic plan adopted in the last year, and other pamphlets on a folding table. Giaramita said they were following the lead of local government.

Albemarle County is one of the last localities in the region to return to in-person meetings since the COVID-19 pandemic shifted meetings online. Only the Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, and School Board are meeting in-person currently. Among that trio, the School Board is the last to gavel in on the dais of Lane Auditorium this month.

The Charlottesville School Board has regularly met in-person since May 2021.

Much of the logistics for restarting in-person meetings at Lane were handled by the local government side of Albemarle County.

That included blocking off the seats and changing the entrances. Community members are required to enter the auditorium through the center door in the back.

Before the meeting, schools Superintendent Matthew Haas greeted attendees and chatted with board members. He sported a rainbow bow tie for the occasion.

Im really excited to be back in person and feel the energy in the room, he said. Weve got lots of people attending tonight, and that makes it extra special to be back on the first night.

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More than four-fifths of Charlottesville City teachers are ready to form a union.

Organizers with the Charlottesville Education Association presented a resolution Thursday to the city School Board that would give employees the ability to collectively bargain a contract that would cover wages, hours and other work conditions. So far, 85% of licensed teachers have signed union authorization cards along with 57% of education support professionals, which includes instructional assistants, school nurses and custodians.

Jessica Taylor, a teacher at Clark Elementary and president of CEA, said the association has the highest percentage in the state of licensed educators on board.

People are ready, she said. They want this.

By forming a union, educators are hoping to secure higher wages, guaranteed planning time and a role in decisions make regarding what happens in the classroom. Although the pandemic has worsened teachers workload and increased their burnout, CEA organizers said that the pressures of the past two years are not new.

Planning time is not guaranteed for teachers at the elementary level, Taylor said. At Clark, she has five planning periods a week. However, three of those are taken up by meetings.

There are three days a week that we have 20 minutes for lunch, and thats the only time were not actively with students or in a meeting from 7:40 until 2:30, she said. ... That doesnt leave any time then for preparing for the next day or preparing for the next week.

Charlottesville City employees are the latest in the area to seek the right to unionize. Albemarle educators presented their petition last month. In December, Richmond Public Schools teachers became the first in the state to gain collective bargaining rights since a state law changed last May to allow public sector employees to unionize.

The Charlottesville School Board will have 120 days from Thursday to respond to the proposed resolution. The board doesnt have to grant its permission; however, many board members have voiced support for a teachers union in recent months.

In fact, at a School Board meeting in January, Superintendent Royal Gurley Jr. invited Taylor up to the podium to talk about collective bargaining with board members.

Im probably maybe the only superintendent standing up right now talking about collective bargaining, but I do feel that I dont want this to be something that we are running away from, Gurley said at that meeting. I do think that we can have this conversation together.

Organizers are hoping to have a resolution adopted by the end of the current school year and before educators depart for summer break.

This collective bargaining will guarantee that our voices are heard and that we are at the table actively trying to get whats best for our students, said Rae Regan, a reading specialist at Walker Upper Elementary School.

Regan, who spearheaded the organizing campaign with teacher David Koenig, said teachers are overworked and exhausted  and that she believes that collective bargaining can help to address the burnout and expected exodus of educators at the end of the school year.

People are saying I want [collective bargaining] because I want to be heard, said Koenig, a teacher with Lugo-McGinness Academy. I want us to have a voice in what our schools are like and how theyre run and what happens in our classrooms.

At the meeting, Koenig proposed that the School Board and CEA form a task force to work on the specific language in the resolution.

Charlottesville City Schools does not provide regular updates on staff retirements and resignations, but nationally, more teachers than usual are expected to leave the profession this year.

A survey from the National Education Association in February found that 55% of educators are planning to leave teaching earlier than planned. In August 2021, 37% of those surveyed said they would quit or retire earlier than planned.

Taylor said she thinks that collective bargaining could show stressed employees that theres a way out.

By working together, we could make our working conditions and the students learning conditions the best that could be, even in really difficult times, Taylor said. ... We will be there to speak collectively for what we need to make everything better for kids, which is ultimately what both sides want.

The proposed resolution could allow CEA  a local chapter of the statewide Virginia Education Association  to negotiate over a range of topics and issues, from curriculum to discipline. Under the resolution, there would be at least three bargaining groups for employees: licensed personnel, education support professionals and administrative personnel.

During the last weeks of March, CEA started collecting signed union authorization cards from employees, which allow the education association to represent them in negotiations concerning wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment, according to a news release.

Taylor said CEA has the highest percentage in the state of licensed educators on board.

Salary and wages are a big issue for employees, Taylor said. For example, many instructional assistants, who are hourly employees, have to work two jobs, she said, though she didnt provide a specific percentage. Instructional assistants start at $21,788 a year for a 200-day contract and receive benefits.

In the 2020-21 school year, the average salary for Charlottesville teachers is $64,543, according to state data. Statewide, the average is $61,692.

Shannon Gillikin, a Charlottesville teacher, said during public comment at Thursdays meeting 100% of the education support professionals at Jackson-Via Elementary, where she works, signed cards.

Traditionally, this group is overlooked, underpaid and their input is undervalued, she said. But by authorizing collective bargaining, you have an opportunity to change that.

Regan said the main priority overall is making sure that teachers are included in the decision-making process and on different committees.

Charlottesville preaches this culture of care, and we preach equity, but I havent found a teacher right now who feels like were cared about, Regan said.

Employees concerns dont just stem from the pandemic, she said.

A phrase I keep hearing is were asked to do more and more with less, she said. So they ask us to do something, and then they dont take anything off the plate.

By seeking to collectively bargain, Regan said the teachers and other school employees are trying to do what they see as the right thing.

I hope that people understand that were not trying to be the bad guys here, Regan said, adding that they want whats best for students. When this happens, you are going to see great gains in the classroom because teachers are going to be freed up to actually do their job. This has always been about the students.

No one spoke publicly during the first part of the meeting against the union effort.

Near the end of Thursdays meeting, board member Jennifer McKeever said she supported creating the task force.

Im not sure what the next step in this process is, but thats the only way forward at this point, she said. I just dont think that we need to be wasting time.

She said the board has the ability to get a resolution before them in six to eight weeks.

I just want to make sure that before we leave here tonight that we actually have a next step, so that we can be bargaining in good faith with the staff, she said. Theyve come together with 85%. Thats a very significant number.

Board chairwoman Lisa Larson-Torres thanked the CEA for their work

As far as collective bargaining, thank you for the work you have done. Havent had time to look and see what you gave us.

We all are committed to a path forward and trying to figure that out and I dont think I have answers, or that we have answers.  I think we need to talk some more about that, she said.

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The University of Virginia Police Department is reviewing its ban of graduate Jason Kessler ahead of the expiration of a 2018 no-trespass order.

Kessler, a key organizer of both the 2017 Unite the Right rally and a preceding torch march on UVa grounds, attracted much negative attention in April 2018 when he reportedly clashed with students at the UVa School of Law library.

On April 26 of the same year, the UVa Police Department issued a no-trespass order to Kessler valid for four years. Officers cited multiple reports from students that he threatened them based on protected characteristics and says he intentionally misled police about his UVa rally, held the night before the Unite the Right rally.

With the four-year expiration of Kesslers no-trespass order looming, the UVa police officials said they will review his case.

The University of Virginia Police Department will, on occasion, review evidence which led to the issuance of a trespass warning either at the request of the respondent or at the conclusion of the four-year time period, officials said. In this matter, we will be conducting such a review and will take action in accordance with university policy and law.

UVa policy is that no-trespass orders  also referred to as no-trespass warnings  can be reissued prior to the four-year expiration. Renewal can be made if a person is engaged in ongoing conduct that threatens the health, safety, or property of a member of the university or its Medical Center community, a patient or visitor at the Medical Center, the educational process, or for other reasons.

As a public university, UVa cant ban a person for having white supremacist or neo-Nazi beliefs. Instead, it can ban those who engage in criminal activity on Grounds, violate policy or threaten the health or safety of someone on school property.

Violating an order is a class 4 misdemeanor.

Kessler, who is a UVa graduate, is not the only figure connected to the violent summer of 2017 to be banned from UVa Grounds. When Kessler was initially given the no-trespass warning, only neo-Nazi podcaster Chris Cantwell had also received one.

Kessler attempted to appeal his no-trespass order in 2018. In his appeal Kessler accused the students of being evidence of Jews following him around and harassing him and said he himself was actually the victim of racial harassment.

However, an independent consultant did not agree with Kesslers assessment and upheld the universitys decision that Kessler had intentionally misled UVa police about his march, which ended in violence at the Rotunda.

It was not arbitrary and capricious for the [University Police Department] to issue the trespass warning based, among other things, on [an officers] sworn declaration of facts, the consultant wrote.

Following calls to expand no-trespass orders, in October 2018 UVa issued trespass warnings to 10 additional white supremacists based on their actions during a torch-lit rally on grounds on Aug. 11, 2017.

This wasnt a review of previous efforts; this was an ongoing investigation, said Tim Heaphy, then UVa General Counsel. And I dont think this is over. Law enforcement efforts continue.

Warnings were issued to various notable Unite The Right figures including Benjamin Daley, of Redondo Beach, California; Antonio Foreman, of Thousand Oaks, California; Thomas Gillen, of Redondo Beach, California; Elliott Kline, of Reading, Pennsylvania; Michael Miselis, of Lawndale, California; Vasillious Pistolis, of Charlotte, North Carolina; Robert Ray, of Frankston, Texas; Wil Smith, of Nocona, Texas; Richard Spencer, of Alexandria; and Cole White, of Clayton, California.

It remains to be seen whether the UVa Police Department will review these no-trespass warnings when they reach their four-year expirations on Oct. 25.

In the years since the torch march on UVa grounds, few of the participants have faced criminal charges, which has frustrated some Charlottesville area residents.

Many of the participants, including Kessler and fellow UVa graduate Spencer, have faced civil consequences via lawsuits. The most significant of these lawsuits was the Sines v. Kessler case, which in fall 2021 saw several former UVa students face more than a dozen key rally and march participants in Charlottesvilles federal court.

After a more than a month-long trial, a jury found the defendants to be liable for approximately $26 million in damages after determining they had engaged in a conspiracy to commit violence at UVa and in Charlottesville.

Many of the defendants, including Kessler, are attempting to have the damages reduced or be re-tried altogether.

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Kerrville, TX (78028)

Today

Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny this afternoon. Near record high temperatures. High around 95F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

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Mostly clear skies this evening will become overcast overnight. Low 72F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
Medicare has decided once and for all not to pay for Biogens new Alzheimers drug Aduhelm unless patients are enrolled in a clinical study.

The agencys final call was unsurprising, but blessedly rational. It corrects the Food and Drug Administrations mistake in letting Aduhelm onto the market. At the same time, it leaves room for future Alzheimers drugs to be covered  as long as studies show they are safe and effective.

This will encourage beneficial innovation in Alzheimers drug development, and ensure that patients get medicines that can truly help them.

The decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services marks a turning point in Aduhelms long and contentious journey. In 2014, the drug raised hopes among Alzheimers doctors and patients when, in a small phase 2 trial, it appeared to clear amyloid plaques in patients brains and  in a first for the field  ease their cognitive decline. Biogen promptly began a large, expensive phase 3 study to confirm those results and, to prepare for the drugs eventual approval, invested $2.5 billion in manufacturing capacity.

In larger trials, however, the stunning early results couldnt be replicated. And that seemed to end all hope for the drug  until Biogen said it found buried in the data a signal that the drug could still be effective. Then, according to an investigation by Stat News reporters, the company secretly lobbied the FDA for Aduhelms approval.

In 2020, the FDAs scientific advisory committee harshly criticized the companys data mining and overwhelmingly recommended against approving Aduhelm. Then the agency stunned everyone by approving the drug anyway, based on its ability to clear amyloid plaques, with the proviso that Biogen would run another trial to prove that the plaque-clearing would slow cognitive decline.

Biogen audaciously priced the drug at $56,000 per year. And Medicare, faced with the possibility of paying for treatment for millions of qualified Americans, had to schedule a big rise in monthly premiums for Part B coverage. (After an outcry, Biogen eventually halved the price.)

Now that CMS has settled on a way to limit spending on the drug until its benefit is proved, Medicare will be able to dial back that premium increase. The decision also likely spells the end of Aduhelm, which doctors were already shunning. In 2021, it brought in only $3 million in sales.

Biogen, patient advocacy groups and even some members of Congress have suggested that CMSs refusal to cover Aduhelm could have a chilling effect on innovation in Alzheimers. They have argued that drug companies will have no incentive to develop new medicines if insurers wont cover them.

But in a clear and sober explanation of its thinking on Aduhelm, CMS pointed out that the opposite is true: "The CMS final decision provides clarity on the criteria to receive coverage for any drug in this class (and thus what evidence is necessary to meet the standard for reasonable and necessary for this particular treatment)."

A drug can be considered innovative only if it actually improves patients lives. In a disease as devastating as Alzheimers, even marginal improvements matter. But evidence from several large clinical studies indicates that Aduhelm fails to offer that.

Medicare has laid a path for other companies to understand where the bar for coverage is set: A drug must be safe and offer a meaningful benefit to patients, and it must do so over time. This is good news for Eli Lilly & Co. and Roche, both of which have Alzheimers therapies that will soon be up for approval.

CMS, which is expected to foot the bill for Medicare patients drugs, perhaps had greater incentive than the FDA to make sure the drug works. But the FDA is the agency that should have set the bar. FDAs mandate is to follow the science. As it weighs other loaded decisions, particularly for neurodegenerative diseases, it should make sure that Medicare never again has to correct its mistakes.

Lisa Jarvis, the former executive editor of Chemical & Engineering News, writes about biotech, drug discovery and the pharmaceutical industry for Bloomberg Opinion.

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Home > 2022 > Maulana Hasrat Mohani (1878-1951): A Synonym for Syncretism | Sajad Hasan (...)

The acculturation and acquisition of many aesthetic sensibilities by Hindus and Muslims alike, giving way to a joint Hindu-Muslim syncretism in the Indian subcontinent since ages, has been one of the most significant forays of the Indian cultural aggregation. Starting with Amir Khusrau (1253-1325); Malik Mohammad Jaisi (b. 1498), Raskhan (1533-1618), Abdur Rahim Khan-e Khana (1556-1627), among a galaxy of other men and women; they expressed their love and devotion for Hindu gods and goddesses. Some of them even proclaimed love to be the only reason for every motion [1]. In the same fashion, another paragon of syncretism, Syed Fazlul Hassan (Hasrat Mohani 1878-1951) followed the same tradition.

Like other fascinators of this cultural synergy, Hasrat Mohani too displayed this attitude by portraying an undaunted reverence for the Hindu deity Lord Krishna. In fact, he was symbolizing the age old tradition, not something new, which becomes obvious when he himself, in defense of his love for Lord Krisha, argued that he was following the path of his spiritual mentor Hazrat Saiyyid Abdur Razzaq Bansavi. He writes:

Maslak-e ishq hai parastish-e husn

Ham nahin jaantey azaab-o-sawaab [2]

Born in 1878 in Mohan, District Unnao, (UP); Syed Fazlul Hassan (Hasrat Mohani) occupies a significant mention in the cultural, political and theological life of late colonial north India. His ancestors (a venerated/respectable branch of the family of the Prophet Mohammad)claiming to have descended from the family of Hazrat Imam Ali Musa Razahad settled in present-day Lucknow, after migrating from Nishapur (Iran), during the reign of Sultan Iltutmish (1210-36) [3]. Syed Azhar Hassan, his father, was perhaps born in the lineage of Sufi Shah Wajihuddin Mohammad. Azhar inherited several villagesin Haswa tehsil of Fatehpur districtowned by his paternal grandmother. Probably this was the only landed property owned (and later donated) by Hasrat Mohani.

Mohanibelonging to a petty zamindari family in Unnaorevealed a rich, integrated and colourful personality, which, decades of intellectual hammering by saints,sufis,poets, and wandering monks had so laboriously brought into his being. It appears that Hasrat Mohanis parents and ancestors had been the disciples of Shah Abdur Razaq Firangi Mahali. It was through them that he inherited a reverence for Shah Sahib. At the tender age of 16, he became a formal initiate of the mystical order and a pledged disciple of Abdul Wahab, the son and successor of Abdur Razzaq. Mohanis literary atmosphere at home had opened vast vistas for his Urdu poetry. His mother and grandmother admired Nasim Dehalvis (disciple of Moomin) poetry. Muzaffar Hanafi (1989) writes that his own family could boast of having produced such significant names in poetry as Hakim Mohammad Ishaq Hazik Mohani, Mohammad Ayub Sabir Mohani, Fakhrul Hassan Fitrat Mohani. Even, Hasrats school headmaster Lachhmi (lakshmi) Narain had predicted a place for Hasrat in Urdus rich poetic canon. With such a rich literary background, Hasrat Mohani had put his versified pen to paper by the time he was just 15 years of age, so much so that his ghazals had started to appear in many literary journals of high repute, such as Payaam-e Yaar.

One of the ancestors of Hasrat Mohani had written: morey piyare Kanhayya birajat hain, Mohe Brij bhai Bansa nagri. My dear Kanhayya still lives in Bansa which has become as sacred as Brij to me. And interestingly, Hasrat himself visited Mathura on Krishnas birthday, watched the dance and drama festival, and composed poems describing Krishna as the leader of the company of lovers. In this, he followed the example of his spiritual preceptor, Shah Abdur Razzaq; the poet Nazir Akbarabadi (d. 1830) who had written poems not only on Holi and Diwali but also on Krishnas birth and Mahadeos wedding; and the prolific writer K.H Nizami (d.1955) who dedicated an entire book to Lord Krishna in 1919, entitled Krishna Beeti [4].

In 1923, on the occasion of Janamashthami, (Hindu festival to mark Krishnas birth). Hasrat wrote his first love poem dedicated to Lord Krishna and observed:

When he cast at me his especially kind glance,

My eyes lit up with a nameless unending vision.

Revered Krishna, bestow something on me too,

For at your feet lies the entire realm of love.

May that you accept Hasrat too at Mathura,

I hear you are specially kind to lovers. [5]

Hasrats love for important religious figures was neither limited by religious prejudices nor biased over sectarian differences. Along with Hindu deities he also paid homage at Husains mausoleum in Karbala. Basra-o-Baghdad se ta Kazmain; Ho ke chala soo-e mazar-e Husain; Khubi-e qismat jo hui rehnuma Banda-e Maula-e Najaf bhi bana. From Basra and Baghdad to Kazmain; Then came the tomb of Imam Husain And as good fortune guided me, I became one of the slaves of the Maula of Najaf [Hazrat Ali].

Although, Hasrat Mohani was heavily influenced by Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who, it appears, had alienated the Muslim community during the Swadeshi Movement (1905-08) through his Shivaji and Ganapati processions. Yet, Mohani adhered to uphold secular credentials while celebrating Holi, Dewali and Eid- all alike, thus preserving and promoting the age-old composite culture of the Indian subcontinent. Once, on the occasion of Holi, the wife of Dr. Murari Lal (a friend of Mohani) splashed some colors on him and he wandered around for several days, even establishing namaz in the same color-stained clothes [6] Also, Hasrat was busy in composing love poems dedicated to Lord Krishna at a time when almost the whole of north India was witnessing spates of communal violence in the 1920s. He never let religion bypass his public life despite being a Sufi Moomin who would diligently observe all Islamic rites and go to Haj pilgrimage more than ten (10) times

In consonance with his praise for Krishna through poetry, Hasrat too buttressed the claim that there were many familiarities between the teachings of Islam and Gita. His thoughts revealed Krishna as an avataar of both beauty and love, hence regarded by many Sufis as a Vali (saint; a friend of God). Hasrat believed that Sri Krishnas spirituality was still alive and active throughout India. Abdul Shakur, the principal at a Kanpur college and a good friend of Hasrat Mohani, gives the first comprehensive account of Mohanis life along with his verse in 1946. Recalling a conversation with Hasrat, Shakur declares that Hasrat equated love with Allah, beauty with truth and invoked a perpetual love for the beloved while performing worldly tasks. Both the expressions find mention in Hasrats own verse and are reflected in his love for Krishna [7].

In much conformity with the Sufi tradition, Mohanis life too was characterized by the virtues of self-denial and self-sacrifice. He was a model of simplicity and sublimity. He always wore coarse handspun cloth. In essence, he acted literally on the golden principle, example is better than precept [8]. The meager income derived from his business ventures and editor-ship sufficed to meet the necessary pre-requisites of a family life. The decidedly oriental bent of Mohanis taste and temper was his mystical inclination towards Sufism, his deep absorption in literature and poetry, his distaste for imported commodities; and above all his unswerving commitment to live life on ones own terms in strict accordance with his particular code of ethics and beliefs. He described himself as a Sufi Moomin and Ishtiraki Muslim [9]; the term `moomin probably would serve as a metaphor of identification with the honest and pious common-folk, while the reference to sufism would point to egalitarianism.

This self-sacrificing attitude of Mohani also casts its impact on his politics. He always used to look more towards the interests of the nation and its people, rather than seeking his own ideas or benefits. May be, that is why he never subscribed wholly to any particular ideology or political institution, be it the INC, CPI, ML, or any other platform. Many Congress leaders, including Gandhi, criticized him because he did not support the concept of non-violence. Many League members, including Jinnah, criticized him because he did not subscribe to their many ideas. And several communist leaders, including Singaravelu and Satyabhakta attacked him for his propagation of that communism which was in complete sync with the doctrines of Islam.

Hasrat Mohanis politics, according to Nafees Ahmad Siddiqui, may be described as, Indian Nationalism and Hindu-Muslim unity, and whereby the two are completely interdependent. As a nationalist, his ideal was complete independence for India; and he considered amity between the Hindus and Muslims of India as a primary pre-requisite for national existence [10].

Hasrat, the gadfly prisoner in colonial India, spent the greater part of his confinement in Naini Jail but was set free before his term; Hasrat attributed this to the miracle of Ahmed Abdul Haq, who had earned a place of honour in the Sabri-Chisti school of Islamic mysticism. After his release, he went to Rudauli, a qasba in Barabanki district, to attend the urs.

In July-August 1928, the All-Parties Conference set out on a programme of constitutional experimentation. It served to show the problem of combining castes and communities in a stable form. Hasrat neither accepted a half-hearted federalism nor centralization. Instead he stuck to the demand for complete Independence or Long Live Revolution, and rejected the Nehru Report for recommending dominion status instead of purna swaraj. At this point, his estrangement from the Congress widened, and he also became a suspect in the eyes of radical Muslims. The CPI expelled him; it refused to approve of his links with the Congress and the League [11]. Hasrat, who had his identity spelt out, gravitated towards the venerated Sufis of Firangi Mahal (Shah Abdul Wahab, Shah Abdul Wali, Maulana Anwar Ali, and Shah Abdur Razzaq).

This political estrangement of Hasrat with the congress had in no way affected his attitude towards the question of culture in India. Again on the occasion of Janmashtami on 28 August 1928, he wrote the following poem at Barsana, Radhas birthplace in Mathura district:

I stand where Loves perfect knowledge is found.

Whose is the flute whose melody fills me?

Men of Heart obtain in Mathura that fragrance of Unity

Which eternally permeates all life.

What good fortune, Hasrat, that your heart brims

With a glowing love for that musk-hued Beauty!

These are not two parallel concurrent strands, but merely two compatible phases in Hasrats thinking. His devotion to Krishna was in the true Sufi spirit. It was said of the Greeks that they were formed of three parts: their tongue spoke one thing, their mind mediated another, and their actions accorded with neither. Hasrat was made of very different stuff from the time-serving politicians. His faith gave him the strength to carry on in spite of adversities.

Hasrat Mohani was elected in the U.P. Assembly as a member, in 1946 on the ML party-ticket. In the same year, he was also elected as a distinguished member of the Constituent Assembly (that was constituted in 1946-49) [12]. A member of the Constituent Assembly, Mohani broke with Jinnah over his insistence that India be partitioned; however, he refused to sign the constitutional document too, because he stood for a federation after freedom (outlining his scheme in Urdu-i-Mualla). In his view, the constitution of India should have been drafted and approved by a newly elected group that represented the freshly elected polity of the new nation and not the communally divided colonial government of the past. But, when the scheme of Pakistan in its final shape was made public and came before the Muslim league council for approval, Hasrat, the old rebel, took exception to it and challenged the leadership in his own style. In the storm of shouts, he stood high and firm to make his voice heard: look here Mr Jinnah, you are surrounded by political adventurers.

After partition, when many League members and Muslims decided to go to Pakistan, Mohani chose to remain in India, for he was a believer in Hindu-Muslim unity and strictly resisted the idea of partition, based on the Two-Nation theory. His unwillingness had several reasons; division of the country and the membership of Commonwealth being the main reasons, to which Mohani was irreconcilable.

In the midst of the communalization of social fabric in contemporary India, people are grappling with the solution to this menace. Amidst different responses, the importance of cultural dialogue between the two communities cannot be completely wiped out. Hasrat Mohani shows us a path of building cultural solidarities across various communities. His unswerving commitment to cultural syncretism calls upon the well wishers of peace and democracy to appropriate the syncretic cultural capital to again infuse civility in the political discourse of India.

(Author: Sajad Hassan Khan, Doctoral Candidate, Modern Indian History, Aligarh Muslim University)

References:

[1]: Mushirul Hasan, From Pluralism to Separatism: Qasbas in Colonial Awadh, OUP, 2004.

[2]: Kulliyat-e Hasrat Mohani, Hyderabad, Intizami Press, 1943.

[3]: Muzaffar Hanafi, Hasrat Mohani, NBT, 1989.

[4]: K. H. Nizami, Krishna Beeti, Lala Thakurdas Printing Works, Delhi, 1919.

[5]: C. M. Naim, The Maulana Who Loved Krishna, EPW, Vol.48, No.17 (April, 2013).

[6]: Mohammad Umar, Maulana Hasrat Mohani: A Political Study, Shree Niwas Publications, 2009.

[7]: Abdul Shakoor,Hasrat Mohani, Ishrat Publishing: Lahore, 1965 [1946].

[8]: Asar Bin Yahya Ansari, Hasrat Mohani: Aek Siyasi Diary, Alia Publications, Dholia, 1977.

[9]: K. H. Ansari, The Emergence of Socialist Thiught Among North Indian Muslims: 1917-47, University of California Press, 1990.

[10]:Nafees Ahmad Siddiqui, Hasrat Mohani aur Inquilab-e Azaadi, OUP, Karachi, 2004.

[11]: Bipan Chandra (ed.), The Indian Left: Critical Appraisals, Vikas Publications, 1983.

[12]: Venkat Dhulipala, Creating A New Medina: State Power, Islam, and the Quest for Pakistan in Late Colonial North India, Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2015.
Many members of the local community and relatives of the late Wayne Mixson turned out for a book signing event at Chipola College on Monday to celebrate the publication of local author Sid Rileys The Biography of John Wayne Mixson, Floridas 39th Governor.

The event also showcased the schools new selection of Mixson family memorabilia.

That grouping includes 51 of the 52 scrapbooks that Mixsons wife Margie Grace Mixson had put together throughout the political career of the legislator who also became Gov. Bob Grahams Lt. Governor and, for three days in a transition period, served as governor of Florida as Graham exited to take on his new role as a U.S. Senator.

Guests at Mondays event lingered over those and many other family treasures now housed in the library at Chipola, available for public viewing at any time during the regular business day of the college.

Riley may have had a cramp in his hand by the time he finished signing: One member of the Mixson clan, Virgil Mixson, bought seven copies and stood in a steady line of buyers to get autographs in each.

Margie Grace Mixson, now 98, had served as an instructor at Chipola for several years. Chipola College President Dr. Sarah Clemmons spoke of Mrs. Mixson at Mondays event, calling her and her husband great friends and supporters of the school before and after Mrs. Mixson taught English there.

Clemmons knew Mrs. Mixson in childhood, when she was still Margie Grace, a member of Gracevilles founding family. Their mothers are the same age. And back when Clemmons was still a student, Mrs. Mixson taught her for two semesters of English literature and steered Clemmons toward her early career days as an English teacher herself.

Clemmons also spoke of her mentors quiet courage in facing cancer and her many subsequent years of one-on-one outreach offering hope to other breast cancer survivors, often in the crucial time just after their diagnosis.

The local community will have another opportunity to learn more about Mrs. Mixson: The town of Graceville has declared Tuesday, April 19, Margie Grace Mixson Day. The public is invited to attend a special ceremony that day which will be 1-3 p.m. at the Graceville City Hall, where Graceville Mayor Arthur Obar will officially present and read the proclamation.

Riley will also sign copies of his book at the event.
The Florida Department of Health (FDOH) is responding to an outbreak of meningococcal disease in Florida.

State health officials say it can be prevented and treated, and that getting vaccinated is the best way to protect against meningococcal disease.

Thus far, the number of cases identified in 2022 surpasses the 5-year average of meningococcal disease cases in Florida. FDOH epidemiologists are investigating each case as well as contacting people with potential or direct exposure to known cases to provide them with information and treatment options.

According to FDOH, the following groups should consider vaccination with a meningococcal conjugate (MenACWY) vaccine during this outbreak:

College and university students;

Immunocompromised individuals;

People living with HIV;

Men who have sex with men;

People in any groups listed above who received their MenACWY vaccine more than 5 years ago.

Find meningococcal vaccines, including the MenACWY vaccine, by contacting a health care provider, county health department, or pharmacy. FDOH Jackson offers meningococcal vaccines. For more information, visit the FDOH Jackson website (jackson.floridahealth.gov) or call 850-526-2412.

This is a serious disease caused by bacteria called Neisseria meningitidis. Fortunately, these bacteria are not as contagious as germs that cause the common cold or flu. People do not catch the bacteria through casual contact or by breathing air where someone with meningococcal disease has been. It requires close contact over a period of time, or direct contact such as kissing or sharing drinks.

Early symptoms of the disease include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, confusion, and rash. Anyone who has been exposed or develops symptoms should be evaluated by a health care provider immediately. This is a rare but potentially devastating disease.

For more information, visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (cdc.gov) or the FDOH website (www.floridahealth.gov).
Reading from his own selected poems, Alabama poet Dr. Allen Berry gave Wallace Community College students some creative insights when he visited the Dothan campus on Thursday. Then, he led faculty members through a poetry writing exercise.

Wallace Community College-Dothan (WCCD) hosted Berry on campus for a poetry reading with English students. In addition, Berry conducted a poetry workshop for English faculty members. Both the reading and workshop were funded by Dr. Imogene Mathison Mixson through the Wallace Community College Foundations WCC Mixson Enhancement for Excellence Award.

Berry read selected poems from his published books to students, giving insights to his creative process and their creation, and answering student questions about the poetry writing process. Additionally, Berry debuted several new poems for the student audience.

Many people are intimidated by poetry, but a reading or hearing a poem can be a deeply meaningful experience, one whose reward quickly makes that initial hesitation irrelevant, said Brandi Wallace, WCCD English Communications instructor. The opportunity to hear a poet read from his own collection is a moment I hope our English students will remember the rest of their lives.

In the afternoon workshop, Berry led the English faculty through a series of poetry writing exercises. He suggested those in attendance write a poem every day. You cant write 365 bad poems, he encouraged, and then quipped, But dont take that as a challenge.

Berry was born and raised in Alabama and is a 2013 Ph.D. graduate of the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi. He is the author of four collections of poetry: Travel for Agoraphobics, Distractions and Illusions, Sitting up with the Dead, and most recently Separation Tango. In 2001, he founded the Limestone Dust Poetry Festival in Huntsville and served as its director from 2001 to 2006. His work has appeared in Steel Toe Review, The Birmingham Arts Journal, What Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama Poetry, The American Muse Magazine, and many other publications. In 2013, he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for the poem Paulis at the End. Berry teaches composition, literature, and creative writing at Calhoun Community College in Huntsville.
Auto dealers are taking advantage of limited supply to sell at above listes prices, force customers to buy bells and whistles, and delay delivery of base model units.

When buying a Toyota Veloz Cross, a much-awaited multi-purpose vehicle with a price tag of VND650-690 million ($28,400-30,000), customers are urged to spend an extra of VND20-50 million on optional bundles if they want delivery this month.

If they opt not to, they have to wait until July for delivery.

Thanks to their popularity and high demand, Toyota vehicles have been sold by dealers using such dubious tactics often in recent years.

Toyota Vietnam claims its business policy is first come, first served and it does not "tolerate" dealers forcing customers to buy extras.

A Toyota Veloz Cross on a street of HCMC. Photo courtesy of Toyota Vietnam

"Toyota Vietnam requires all dealers to comply with our policy to protect customers' interests. We are receiving feedback via our hotline and will take action if violations are found," a spokesperson said.

This is not the first time the Japanese automaker has responded thus after its dealers took advantage of limited supply to line their pockets.

This is now spreading to other car brands and even motorbikes.

Customers buying Ford and Hyundai cars have to shell out VND20-100 million to get delivery soon, this amount often being just to speed up things and not for extras.

Dealers are also demanding a 10-20 percent premium for popular motorbikes like Honda's SH, Air Blade and Future.

But insiders and experts said it is not easy to stop such tactics since there is no overt violation of the law.

"Carmakers and dealers are independent entities, and prices are governed by supply and demand," Huynh Phuoc Hiep, a HCMC lawyer, said.

"Once both seller and buyer agree on the price, it is impossible to say who is right and who is wrong".

Vinh Nam, an experienced luxury car dealer in HCMC, said this does not happen in Vietnam alone, and in the U.S. too customers pay for extras if they want the car sooner.

Dealers said they have to commit sales of not just cars to manufacturers but also of parts and other extras.

Besides, they could not sell just popular cars, meaning they have to make the most out of best-selling models to offset costs and make profits, they said.

Vietnam's auto sales in March returned to growth with a 17 percent increase year-on-year to 36,962 units after two consecutive months of decline, according to Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA).
American Learning Lab creates breakthroughs for children with its innovative English learning model, helping students adapt quickly to today's fast-paced digital world.

According to Global Language Monitor, a new word is born every 90 minutes, and currently, 1.5 billion people use English as a spoken language, with 100 percent of documents and information about technology and scientific progress written in English. This has led to the enormous growth in knowledge that showed by the popularity of English.

To quickly adapt to this fast-changing world, American Learning Lab (ALAB) offers English immersion 4.0 programs designed for children.

American Learning Lab values advancing programs and teaching methods. Photo by ALAB

Technology integration

Cloud, Big Data, AI... help in recording the details of students' learning process, thereby providing in-depth analysis to provide continuous progress and capacity reports, supporting teachers in understanding each child clearly and orientating them.

Each student at ALAB can use state-of-the-art tablets in the classroom, which helps record information and monitor each student's ability to acquire knowledge. More importantly, they learn English through interactions with smart devices and classmates to increase interest and engagement.

Additionally, students can practice, review and play with English whenever they want with Student App and "Quiz Monster". ALAB also integrates the most advanced methodology in the curricula: Real-time interaction, Collaborative learning approach, Multi-sensory learning techniques. This system of methods helps students learn English faster and more engagingly.

Exclusive program

ALAB cooperates with prestigious educational partners like Lego Education, Pearson, and Visang... Designed by the world's leading experts and educational partners from one of the top universities in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and South Korea, the curriculum is internationally recognized, modern, and suitable for the psychology of Vietnamese children.

English learning space at ALAB. Photo by ALAB

ALAB meets strict standards in terms of modern facilities, well-trained native teachers as well as professional operation by achieving two international high-quality standards: ISO 9001:2015 and NEAS..., the global certifications in quality management and educational training.

Through unique application (Parent App), parents can closely monitor their child's learning and development through detailed reports and assessments at each class session, thereby clearly seeing the development of students with different language skills including listening, speaking, reading, writing as well as grammar and vocabulary. Besides, the Parent App provides continuous information and fully stores students' creative products like images, audio, and videos during the learning process.

ALAB enhances the learning experience to maximize student results. Photo by ALAB

ALAB offers two programs: COSMOS (offline) and VIRTUAL (online). "We believe that our advantages will support students to achieve three efficiencies in a short period: being brilliant in English, possessing strong skills, and growing confident when taking international exams. We believe our exclusive programs integrated top-class technology would help students keep up with the speed of today's ever-changing digital world," a representative said.

ALAB's Integrated English Language System 4.0 has a presence across Ho Chi Minh City. Also, it provides an online program with unlimited access to students.

On this occasion, ALAB offers a scholarship worth up to 25 percent of the course.

Hotline: 1900 63 65 66

Website: https://alab.edu.vn/
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly has spoken about Vietnam's importance in her country's Indo-Pacific strategy and the prospects of bilateral cooperation.

While on a visit to Vietnam on April 13-14, she said at a press conference in Hanoi on Thursday that it was her first trip to Asia, and she had wanted to make sure that she came to Vietnam.

"We are in the midst of developing Canada's Indo Pacific strategy, and we see Vietnam as a very strategic partner."

The Indo-Pacific Strategy has been developed over the past few years and is expected to be released this summer.

In January Canada's leading newspaper The Globe and Mail quoted two sources as saying the strategy related to establishing a larger diplomatic footprint in the Indo-Pacific.

Responding to a question about Vietnam's role, Joly said the country would be extremely important to Canada's Indo Pacific strategy and "that is why I am in Vietnam."

"We're here to work with Vietnam, to work with ASEAN countries. And we think it's the best way to make sure that there's stability in the region, and that stability will help economic development and trade."

She said she had been amazed by the hospitality of the Vietnamese people.

Over the last 50 years Canada and Vietnam have established a strong relationship, but there is room to grow, she said.

There are very strong people-to-people ties between Vietnam and Canada, she said, pointing out that Vietnamese rank third in the number of international students in Canada, with 19,000-20,000 arriving annually.

"I'm here to make sure that we continue to be strong together, and that we can find solutions for the future to [ensure] stability in the region."

Despite Covid, bilateral trade increased by nearly 19 percent in 2021 to US$6 billion.

In the fight against the pandemic, Canada donated 120,000 masks to Vietnam and 3.5 million Canadian dollars (US$2.77 million) for the ASEAN Covid-19 Response Fund in 2021.

Speaking about cooperation in future, Joly said Canada is looking at the impacts of climate change on Vietnam and how it can help Vietnam make the transition, and it was part of conversations she had with Vietnamese leaders.

Vietnam is willing to make sure it becomes carbon neutral by 2050, and Canada has a lot of key technologies and solutions to help, she said.

Net zero emissions can be achieved by a transition to a green economy and renewable energy, with the remaining emissions absorbed by forests and oceans.

Canada could provide Vietnam with raw materials needed for clean tech, energy for the transition such as liquefied natural gas and financing for energy projects, Joly said.

"And that would be good for Vietnamese people, it would be good for Canadians as well. Because climate change impacts the entire planet, and it is important that we focus together on that priority."
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his premeditated, unprovoked, unjustified, and brutal invasion of Ukraine, said Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. And in just those few weeks, Russias ceaseless bombardment of Ukraines cities and critical infrastructure has created one of the fastest-growing humanitarian crises in recent decades.



In just five weeks, nearly a quarter of Ukraines population has been displaced, including more than half of the nations children. In just five weeks, more than four million people have fled Ukraine as refugees. Now, the World Food Program warns that 45 percent of the people in Ukraine  nearly half of the people living in one of the worlds great breadbaskets  are concerned about having enough to eat.



Speaking at the UN Security Council Briefing on the Humanitarian Impact of Russias War Against Ukraine, Deputy Secretary Sherman urged the international community to help provide food, water, shelter, and medicine for the Ukrainian people, and to support Ukraines neighbors, who have taken in millions of refugees. The United States is committed to doing our part to ease the human suffering caused by this war in Ukraine and elsewhere around the world, she said.



The United States is prepared to provide more than $1 billion in new humanitarian assistance for the Ukrainian people, those fleeing to neighboring countries, and those around the world feeling the effects of Putins war, including rising food insecurity.



But the fact remains, Deputy Secretary Sherman, that so long as Putin continues his war, so long as Russian forces continue to bombard Ukrainian cities and block aid convoys, so long as besieged civilians are unable to get to safety, this humanitarian crisis will only get worse  in Ukraine, for the Russian people, and around the world.



Russia must abide by its obligations under international humanitarian law on the protection of civilians, including those who are fleeing conflict and those who are providing humanitarian assistance."



We hope  we really hope  that President Putin will commit seriously to the peace talks underway. But we are focused on what Russian forces do, not what Russia says. Not what Putin says, Deputy Secretary Sherman.



And ultimately, the only way to end this humanitarian catastrophe is through a durable ceasefire and the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory and away from Ukraines borders.
When control of Hong Kong was transferred from Britain to the Peoples Republic of China in 1997, the PRC agreed to govern Hong Kong under the principle of "one country, two systems. According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, for 50 years the city would enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defense affairs" and the laws currently in force in Hong Kong [would] remain basically unchanged.



But as the U.S. State Departments recent Hong Kong Policy Act Report shows, the PRC is tightening its viselike grip on the city, as the 25th anniversary of Hong Kongs handover to Beijing approaches. In the words of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Over the past year, the Peoples Republic of China has continued to dismantle Hong Kongs democratic institutions, placed unprecedented pressure on the judiciary, and stifled academic, cultural and press freedoms. . .Hong Kongs freedoms are diminishing while the PRC tightens its rule.



The report notes that over the past year PRC authorities took actions that eliminated the ability of Hong Kongs pro-democracy opposition to play a meaningful role in governance. Peaceful political expression critical of Beijing or the local administration was criminalized. Sweeping changes to Hong Kongs electoral system blocked the participation of political groups not approved by Beijing and greatly diminished Hong Kong voters ability to elective representatives of their choice.

Among other acts of repression, authorities shut down two of Hong Kongs largest independent media outlets, Apple Daily and Stand News, and forced the closure of the June 4 Museum, which commemorated the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Using the 2020 National Security Law as a pretext, authorities filed charges against more than 160 individuals and organizations. This number includes activists and politicians detained in February 2021 for holding a primary election to select candidates who would represent the prodemocracy camp in the Legislative Council election.

Authorities also arrested and prosecuted activists for speech critical of the central or local governments or their policies, including for comments or posts on social media.

Beijing will ultimately force many of the citys best and brightest to flee, tarnishing Hong Kongs reputation and weakening its competitiveness. . . A fully functioning civil society, rule of law, and individual liberties form the bedrock on which vibrant societies grow, declared Secretary Blinken. We stand with the people of Hong Kong.
Boko Haram is a violent Nigeria-based terrorist group engaged in a years-long campaign to overthrow the Nigerian Government and replace it with a system of its own strict interpretation of Islamic law. From its base in northeastern Nigeria, since 2009 the group has conducted attacks in neighboring Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. Boko Haram is infamous for using extreme violence and brutality and has caused thousands of deaths, displaced millions of people, and exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad region.



Just like any other terrorist group, Boko Haram needs money to fund its activities. For that reason, it operates a network of cells whose members are tasked with raising funds.



On March 25, the United States Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control, or OFAC, sanctioned six individuals who set up a fund-raising cell in the United Arab Emirates. This action followed the UAE's designations, and conviction by a UAE court of these individuals for supporting terrorism.



Nigerian nationals Abdurrahman Ado Musa, Salihu Yusuf Adamu, Bashir Ali Yusuf, Muhammed Ibrahim Isa, Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad were added to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, as amended, for having materially or financially assisted, sponsored, or provided support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Boko Haram.



Last September, these six men stood trial in the United Arab Emirates. They were found guilty of transferring 782,000 dollars from Dubai to Boko Haram in Nigeria. Salihu Yusuf Adamu and Surajo Abubakar Muhammad were sentenced to life imprisonment for violations of UAE anti-terrorism laws, while the other four men received 10-year prison sentences, to be followed by deportation.



OFAC designated these individuals to ensure that none of their funds can be used to further support terrorism.



All property under U.S. jurisdiction in which these men have at least a 50 percent interest is blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with them.



With this action, the United States joins the UAE in targeting terrorist financing networks of mutual concern, said Under Secretary of the Treasury Brian Nelson. Treasury continues to target financial facilitators of terrorist activity worldwide. We welcome multilateral action on this Boko Haram network to ensure that it is not able to move any further funds through the international financial system.
DENVERNewmont Corp. released its 2021 Sustainability Report on April 14 as part of its suite of reports on the companys environmental, social and governance practices in areas that include health, safety and security, human rights, the environment, social acceptance, governance, and inclusion and diversity.

Newmont has a long tradition of setting and transparently reporting against public targets, said Tom Palmer, Newmont president and CEO. As the worlds leading gold company, our ESG practices are woven into the fabric of our company as we work to deliver on our purpose: to create value and improve lives through sustainable and responsible mining.

The Sustainability Report says Newmont achieved zero work-related fatalities for the third year in a row while continuing to make advances with its Fatality Risk Management program.

As part of its response to COVID-19, Newmont supported COVID-19 vaccines as they became available and adopted the position of requiring all employees and third-party workers to be fully vaccinated. With contributions through Newmonts Global Community Support Fund, the company supported COVID-19 testing facilities, vaccine awareness campaigns and vaccine rollouts in areas near Newmont operations.

Newmont said that on Dec. 6, 2021, it became the first company in the mining sector to issue a sustainability-linked bond, with a $1 billion offering of unsecured 10-year notes redeemable in 2032. The bond is a way of holding the company to account for meeting its 2030 emissions reductions targets and achieving gender parity in senior leadership roles by 2030.

The company said it has played an important role in creating economic value in host communities and jurisdictions, contributing $10.8 billion to its workforce, host communities and jurisdictions through wages and benefits, operating costs, capital spend, royalties and taxes.

In the United States, Newmont owns the Cripple Creek & Victor Mine west of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and is the 38.5% owner of Nevada Gold Mines. Barrick Gold Corporation is the 61.5% owner and operator of NGM.

The public policy section of Newmonts Sustainability Report says, In coordination with our Nevada Gold Mines joint venture partner, Barrick, Newmont advocated for reasonable federal royalties and taxes at the federal level. Senior leaders also met with Colorados U.S. Senator, John Hickenlooper, to discuss mining law reform, royalty proposals and the budget reconciliation process.

The report says, Newmonts U.S. political contributions totaled $35,000 in 2021 and did not include any contributions to individual candidates for office. In the aftermath of the riots at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, the NEWPAC Advisory Board voted to suspend all contributions and undertook an evaluation of NEWPAC contribution criteria to ensure all future contribution strategies fully align with Newmonts values and goals including respect for the rule of law and legally certified elections.

Regarding climate policy the report says, Newmont continued to pursue alignment with its associations and organizations, particularly in the area of climate change. In 2021, Newmont joined the National Mining Associations (NMA) ESG Task Force and worked to shape the NMAs first position statement on climate, which is an important first step in recognizing the industrys role in addressing climate change.

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ELKO  Join the Elko Area Chamber for Business After Hours from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21, at Granite Construction Supply, 4300 Idaho St.

Join in celebrating their third year in providing products and services to our community. Our hosts will be bringing the fun with a variety of food and beverages provided by local food truck Tacos las Brisas. Also be sure to enter for a chance to win some incredible raffle prizes, including a Milwaukee Tool Kit. Business After Hours is a free event thats open to the public, and gives both community and business members the chance to network in order to create/maintain business and community relationships, generate referrals, and learn about upcoming events in our area.

Granite Construction Supply (GCS) opened in August of 2019. Their goal is to give you the best customer service possible in a place where you can find what you need. They are open to all and have a variety of items for the general contractor or DIYer like survey supplies (paint, marking whiskers, lath), concrete supplies (cement, grout, and concrete tools), SWPP items (straw wattles and spill kits, rental tools (light plants, compressors, message and arrow boards, demo saws, jack hammer, traffic control items, and more. GCS have a huge supply of PPE (hardhats, jackets, hoodies, shirts, safety glasses, cleaners, N95 masks) Rite in the Rain notebooks, hand tools, cases of water and even ice. They also do propane refills. What they dont have they are happy to order in for you. For more information, call 775-738-0029.

We hope to see you there, and for any questions, please contact the Chamber at 775-738-7135.

Meghan Micheli is marketing and program coordinator for the Elko Area Chamber.

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SPRING CREEK  Two law enforcement officers and a local attorney vying for Elko Justice of the Peace answered questions about the status of public safety in Elko County at the Spring Creek Associations candidate forum Tuesday.

Elko Police Detective Sgt. Bryan Drake, attorney David Loreman and Elko County Sheriffs Lt. Adrienne Parry were asked what they would do if elected as the second judge to preside over Elko Township Department B and Municipal Court.

Each candidate expressed their qualifications for the bench. Drake, who has lived in Elko for about four decades, pointed to his experience as a law enforcement officer for 19 years and being responsible for investigating every single crime you can imagine.

As the justice of the peace, I believe its important to take all facts and circumstances into consideration in determining someones guilt or innocence and, if found guilty, making sure that they are held accountable appropriately, Drake said.

Loreman, who has practiced law for 38 years in both Nevada and Utah, said his background in both criminal and civil law was necessary for serving as justice of the peace, adding that they are equal halves of the Justice Courts workload.

The reason Im running is that I believe that Elko County deserves as much as Washoe or Clark [counties], he said. [The citizens] need somebody who is qualified for this position through and through and has done the job.

Parry described her background as working her way up through the Elko County Sheriffs office to overseeing the jail division. She said she learned about the Justice Court over the years serving as a deputy. Ive seen the procedures, I know the policy of the justice court system, and I know I can contribute to that.

But my main reason for running for judge is the mental health component that we see daily [in the jail] with narcotics, Parry said. Id like to see a mental health court going in Elko County.

Repeat offenders

Candidates were asked why the judicial and legal system allowed repeat offenders to be released without bail and how they would make changes if elected.

There are not many consequences to peoples actions, and that is one thing Id like to see changed, Parry responded. We start with the juvenile system where kids and parents arent responsible for anything they do. You cant even make those kids go out and work while theyre in juvenile detention.

Explaining that sentences are set by laws passed in the Legislature, Parry said, I know theres not a lot I can do as justice of the peace to help that situation  but I want to see people either do more time in jail or pay more fines. They have to have consequences, and Im not seeing a lot of that . We have to be able to hold them accountable.

Drake also pointed to Assembly Bill 424, which stemmed from the Nevada Supreme Courts ruling in the Valdez-Jimenez case, as the reason for the uptick in releases. He said there are criteria outlined in legislation and in the specific case law that I referenced that allows a lot of leeway for judges to make their decision.

It doesnt say they have to be released with no bail. It says bail must be reasonable, Drake continued. He added that he was learning how courts in Carson City and Sparks were handling AB 424, and lines of communication have been established between local law enforcement and the courts to arm the Justices of the Peace with all the appropriate information to make the correct decision.

Loreman said pretrial hearings for bail under AB 424 were intended to serve two purposes: protect the community and determine the means of that person as far as being able to cover their bail and appear at court. He also noted that it wasnt a guarantee as many Elko County arrests are made for failure to appear for a hearing.

One of the components of AB 424 is that ability to pay, Loreman said. What is reasonable [bail] for one person is not necessarily reasonable for another because if you put the bail too high, then you could be giving someone an unlawful pretrial detention based on the fact that you are considered innocent, not guilty, in America.

Domestic violence

On the topic of the seeming rise of domestic violence cases in the past four years, Loreman said honest numbers would show that there has been a higher number of domestic violence cases due to how they are now charged by the Elko County District Attorneys office as battery cases.

Loreman said domestic violence cases are now limited to either a guilty plea by the offender, a jury trial, or dismissal for lack of evidence. He believed the change would give prosecutors an opportunity to plea bargain and pointed to offenders being under the influence and the pandemic for the rise in domestic violence.

Drake said he was unsure cases were up from a numbers standpoint. I will say the cases we have seen have become increasingly more violent. He said he did not know of a specific cause but speculated it could be related to substance abuse.

For both parties in a domestic violence situation, Drake said he believed it was important to have counseling available, especially for the victims to have the necessary resources to hopefully alleviate their alliance, which is too often the suspect, and make sure they are available so [the victim] can remove themselves from those situations.

Parry also said she wasnt sure the number of domestic violence calls had increased but pointed to drug and alcohol abuse as a primary factor. Its generally a lot of substance abuse with domestic violence.

Parry offered two ideas to reduce the trend. One is to start family counseling for everyone involved in a situation. The other is to create an education program in schools to help youth understand that theres a cycle to domestic violence. They grow up seeing it in their families. They watch what theyve learned, and they live what theyve learned.

Mental health court

When asked about implementing a mental health court or working with the District Court to start one in Elko County, all candidates agreed it was a necessity in light of the rise in mental health cases housed at the jail over the past couple of years.

Drake said the topic was near and dear to his heart and that he would absolutely institute a mental health court program or some component thereof, if it were handled at the Justice Court level, noting he would visit other areas and learn the steps it takes to start a mental health court locally.

He added that substance abuse had to be considered one of the main factors for the rise in mental health issues. I cant remember the statistic off the top of my head, but its a large majority of our mental health. [Individuals] suffer from some form of addiction as well.

Loreman said he supported bringing a mental health court as soon as possible to Elko County, which would benefit this community with these individuals, and I believe it would help recidivism in these cases. It would also bring more mental health professionals to the area, which has a serious need.

Regarding funding, Loreman said specialty courts such as the Family Preservation Court and the Adult and Juvenile Drug Courts are all grant-driven. That is no different than what we can do for the mental health court.

Parry explained that the increase in mental health detentions became a driving force in advocating for a mental health court. We dont have the space in the jail to be a mental health facility, yet thats where the people end up, so Im dealing with it on a daily basis. I really want to see some help for those people out there.

Despite the election outcome, Parry said she plans to continue her efforts toward seeing a mental health court brought to Elko County. Whether I make justice of the peace or not, Ill still be working on that component with whoever is in.

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ELKO  Elko County School Districts tentative general fund budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year that begins July 1 has a projected ending fund balance of $10.75 million, which is roughly 10.11% of budgeted expenditures and well below the 16.6% limit, after which the state takes back money.

The tentative budget was presented to school trustees on April 12 but they decided not to take any action until the final presentation in May. They did vote, however, to declare a wide range of school positions as critical need to give retired employees who substituted extra hours during the pandemic a financial break.

The Nevada Department of Education considers any ending balance of more than 16.6% as extra, and it could be swept, said Julie Davis, chief financial officer for the school district. The department uses the term sweep to mean returning district money to the state. That sweeping policy means the school district must be careful saving up for future projects out of the general fund, she said in a call. Teresa Dastrup, the school boards president, said on April 12 that people have asked her why dont you put money aside for a rainy day, but we have a cap that can go to about 16% or the state says this is ours.

Elko County School District has been receiving a 75-cent, pay-as-you-go tax for school construction projects, but voters didnt renew that tax in 2020, and payments end June 30. Voters also rejected a bond proposal last year that would have been used for school construction.

The ending fund balance for this year that will carry-over into the new fiscal year is estimated at $21.18 million, or 22.2% of expenditures for this fiscal year.

Although the 22.2% is above the 16.6% threshold, Davis said its my understanding, at the moment, that the max is calculated based on the budgeted ending fund balance, not actual. Budgeted ending fund balance as a percentage of budgeted expenditures is less than 16.66%, so we should be good.

She also said that there are discussions among school districts and the state on how to calculate the percentage for the sweep and maximum ending fund balance.

The general fund revenue is estimated at $117.43 million with the opening fund balance of $21.18 million. A total of $83.37 million is coming from the Nevada Department of Education and $2.87 million from tax resources other than property taxes.

Expenditures for the general fund in the new fiscal year are estimated at $106 million, compared with the estimated $95.43 million for the current fiscal year, figures show.

Including all the funds that range from building and sites to state at-risk, gifted and talented and English learner revenue, grants and more, including self-insurance, workers compensation and unemployment compensation, the net of all funds is $181.1 million.

The capital projects fund is expected to have $14.78 million from the pay-as-you-go tax that ends June 30 of this year, but upcoming budgets wont have that category.

This proposed budget is very different from past budgets because the state implemented a new Pupil-Centered Funding Plan, Dastrup said.

Its still a work in progress from the states point of view. They dont know whether what they just did is going to work, right? asked Trustee Susan Neal.

The state provides money to the school district under its new Pupil-Centered Funding Plan that replaces the longtime plan for dividing money among all the districts based mainly on enrollment numbers, but the state is still gathering input and making changes, Davis said.

The Pupil-Centered Funding Plan sweeps more than 80 revenue streams into one giant education funding pot and establishes weights that will direct money to students based on their needs, according to an explanation published by the Nevada Independent during the 2021 legislative session.

The new fiscal year budget also estimates that the district will have 1,072 full-time equivalency employees, with 582 of them classroom teachers. The district is expected to end this fiscal year with 1,071.9 employees and 552 teachers. The fiscal year ending June 30, 2021, showed 598.36 teachers and 1,041.78 total employees.

Davis said the school board, school staff, parents and the general public can look over the budget on the schools website and provide comments before the final budget is finished.

These are very tentative numbers, Davis said.

The Elko County School District website has a Financial Transparency Center box to click on.

Critical needs

The declaration of critical need was for retired employees who are part of the Public Employees Retirement System.

We dont want those people to suffer financially because they were doing us a favor working for us, said Keith Walz, director of secondary education for the school district. He told the school board that those who worked more than the allowed hours would otherwise have to pay PERS back.

The critical needs list includes substitute teachers and substitute workers in a range of positions from nurses and health aides, secretaries, maintenance workers and bus drivers to food service people.

The designation would go from Aug. 1, 2020, through July 31, 2022, and applies to retired employees who are drawing from state retirement funds but have been working more hours than PERS allows. There will be no cost to the district.

The critical needs application form states that between Aug. 1, 2020, and April 12 of this year there were roughly 5,370 unfilled employee absences because of the pandemic, and there was a shortage of substitute teachers.

The district has had listings posted for many positions, including substitutes. The positions filled have not kept up with the vacancies made due to COVID-19, the application that PERS provided states.

Walz said the substitute situation has turned much, much closer back to normal over the past couple of months. We still have some bad days but nothing like it was a year ago or even four months ago.

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ELKO  Wintry storms boosted the snowpack in northeastern Nevadas mountains this week.

Nearly a foot of new snow was measured in Upper Lamoille Canyon, going from 44 inches earlier in the week to 55 inches on Thursday. Upper Tent Mountain in the East Humboldt saw a similar gain, going from 36 to 47 inches.

Corral Canyon in the far south Rubies increased from 22 to 29 inches.

Pole Creek Ranger Station in the Jarbidge received only 7 inches of new snow, on top of the existing 50 inches.

Upper Jacks Peak in the Independence range jumped from 21 inches to 34 inches.

Temperatures were increasing but another winter weather advisory was issued for Thursday night through Friday morning.

Elkos forecast calls for dry weather on Friday with a high of 58, followed by a 30% chance of rain Saturday.

High temperatures will peak in the mid-70s on Monday before another chance of showers returns Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

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China's Shenzhou XIII mission crew have completed all of their tasks and will return to Earth, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The agency said on Thursday night that the astronauts  Major General Zhai Zhigang, Senior Colonel Wang Yaping and Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu  will leave the Tiangong space station in due course. Their reentry capsule will touch down at the Dongfeng landing site in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

By Thursday night, the crew had finished preparations for their return and preparations on the ground were under way to welcome the astronauts, the agency said.

Zhai and his crewmates have set a record for China's longest manned spaceflight and laid a solid foundation for the next steps in the assembly of Tiangong in-orbit.

The crew arrived on the station on Oct 16, for a six-month stay.

Since then, they have carried out two spacewalks, two science lectures and a host of experiments and technological demonstrations.

In the coming weeks, China will launch the Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft with supplies, experimental materials and fuel for Tiangong, which has been orbiting the Earth for nearly a year.

The unmanned spaceship and its carrier  a Long March 7 rocket  have arrived in the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province and are undergoing final tests, according to the agency.

After Tianzhou 4's launch, the Shenzhou XIV mission crew will be flown up to Tiangong, where they will remain for six months. During their stay, two space labs  Wentian, or Quest for the Heavens, and Mengtian, or Dreaming of the Heavens  will be carried into orbit to complete work on the station.

Around the end of this year, the Tianzhou 5 cargo ship and the Shenzhou XV crew will dock at the station.




President Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) welcomes Chairman and CEO of Korea Credit Guarantee Fund Yoon Dae-hee (Photo: VNA)

President Phuc noted that the Republic of Korea (RoK) has been the largest investor in Vietnam, while trade between the two countries is expected to reach 100 billion USD next year and 150 billion USD in 2030, with RoK firms in Vietnam playing a significant role in realising the goals.

He added that the success of Korean investors is a reliable channel to promote Vietnams investment environment and attract more investors to the country.

The State leader hailed the funds opening of its representative office in Hanoi to support Korean firms, including small and medium-sized enterprises, in making investment, as well as its efforts to promote cooperation with Vietnamese authorised agencied in finance and credit.

He noted that only around 600 Korean investors have operated in the northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang and Quang Ninh, far below the potential of cooperation between the two sides in the field, and suggested that the fund make surveys on economic potentials and investment opportunities in these localities, thus laying foundation for businesses from the RoK to make investment there.

He affirmed that Vietnam wants to attract not only large businesses from the RoK but also small and medium-sized ones, as they are the major force in supporting industries and the source of high technology inventions, which is in line with Vietnams national development direction.

For his part, Yoon Dae-hee said that right after COVID-19 was put under control, Vietnam is the first foreign country that he has visited. He thanked the Vietnamese Government for backing the fund in opening its representative office in Vietnam.

He said that the fund is the largest of its kind in the RoK, which is a favourable condition for it to support Vietnamese small and medium-sized enterprises as well as Korean businesses investing in Vietnam in credit guarantee./.
The art performance at the event (Source: chinhphu.vn)

The event was held by Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of the Quang Ngai province in coordination with the Vietnam Students Association (VSA).

It was very meaningful, arousing national pride and love for the homeland in every Vietnamese, contributing to connecting the mainland with the seas and islands as well as soldiers who are on duty in these areas with their families and relatives. It also aimed to pay tribute to generations of Vietnamese who sacrificed their lives for peace in the nation.

On this occasion, the organiser handed over 100 presents, each worth 1 million VND (44 USD), to 100 families with difficult circumstances, and 20 scholarships, worth 1 million each, to 20 students in the island district. The Command of Military Region 5 also awarded 50 gift packages, worth 1 million VND each, to poor people in the locality./.
A scence in a work to honour President Ho Chi Minh (Source: qdnd.vn)

Le Ngoc stage started the play "The 72nd single letter" (La don thu 72), written by Hoang Thanh Du; directed by People's Artist Le Tien Tho and stage design by People's Artist Vuong Duy Bien.

Scenes from the art program in honor of President Ho Chi Minh by the Vietnam Drama Theater. Photo: Vietnam Drama Theater

The play present s the image of President Ho Chi Minh from the perspective of daily life, focusing on the working style, affection and heart of Uncle Ho towards the people, especially workers in society.

The play by author Nguyen The Ky is being urgently completed for performance on the occasion of May 19, at the Hanoi Opera House.

The People's Public Security Theater staged the musical work "The Helmsman", depic ting the life and revolutionary career of President Ho Chi Minh, since he left to find a way to save the country, to steer the revolutionary boat and lead our nation from one victory to another.

The Vietnam Drama Theater will continue to introduce to the audience the art program to honor the President at Stage 1, Trang Tien, Hanoi./.
The information was presented by Mr. Lee Jong Seob, General Director of KOTRA Hanoi, in an exchange with the press on the sidelines of Vietnam Expo 2022.

2022 is the 23rd consecutive year the RoK has participated in Vietnam Expo

According to Mr. Lee Jong Seob, in recent years, the Vietnamese Government has created favorable conditions and supported Korean enterprises to conduct trade and investment activities in Vietnam.

As a result, trade promotion activities between companies of the two countries have been carried out continuously, despite many travel restrictions in the past 2 years.

In 2021 alone, KOTRA Hanoi has carried out nearly 2,000 online transactions between Korean suppliers and Vietnamese buyers.

Sharing more about Koreas trade promotion activities with Vietnam in 2022, on the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Republic of Korea, Mr. Lee Jong Seob said that in the third week of April, a senior leadership team of KOTRA will visit and work in Hanoi.

The Vietnam - Korea Economic Cooperation Forum 2022, in parallel with meetings with leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Planning and Investment, will be held to strongly promote trade and investment activities between the two countries.

Mr. Lee Jong Seob said that 2022 is the 23rd consecutive year the RoK has participated in the Vietnam Expo.

The Korean National Pavilion gathers more than 71 Korean businesses with the support of KOTRA and other Korean agencies. More than 250 Vietnamese buyers have registered to meet online with Korean suppliers during the 4-day event./.
During the visit, Ambassador Pham Thi Kim Hoa paid a courtesy visit to Foreign Minister Cesar Landa Arroyo and had working sessions with Deputy Minister of Education Walter Hernandez Alcantara, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism Ana Cecilia Gervasi, Special Advisor to the Ministry of Health Karin Pardo and the Advisor to the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Ambassador Pham Thi Kim Hoa greets Foreign Minister of Peru Cesar Landa Arroyo (Photo: baoquocte.vn)

At the working sessions, the Ambassador introduced Vietnam, the good and friendly relationship between Vietnam and Peru over the past 28 years, and opportunities, potentials as well as difficulties and challenges in bilateral cooperation.



She was also pleased to announce that the two-way trade turnover continued to maintain its upward momentum, from 108 million USD in 2010 to 633 million USD in 2021, despite being heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Currently, Vietnam's main goods exported to Peru include footwear, clinker and cement, computers, electronics and components, plastics, textile fibers, rubber, aquatic products and furniture. Vietnam imports from Peru fish powder, fish oil, acrylic fibers and processing materials.

In the field of investment, Vietnam now has two large energy and communications corporations operating in Peru, including the Military Industry and Telecoms Group (Viettel) and the National Oil and Gas Group (PVN).

At the meetings, Ambassador Pham Thi Kim Hoa expressed her wish to continue to deepen the friendship and cooperation, especially in economy, trade and investment, on the basis that the two countries participate in international cooperation mechanisms and institutions, such as APEC and CPTPP.

In particular, the Ambassador suggested that the Government of Peru continue to create favorable conditions and support the effective implementation of telecommunications and oil and gas investment projects of Viettel and PVN.

The two sides discussed many measures to further promote bilateral relations in the coming time, such as enhancing the exchange of delegations at all levels, regularly and effectively maintaining the cooperation mechanism including the Intergovernmental Committee and political consultation between the foreign ministries of the two countries, as well as open up new areas of cooperation such as tourism, education and technology.

On the Peruvian side, the leaders of ministries expressed their interest in strengthening relations with Vietnam, considering Vietnam an important partner in Southeast Asia.

Peru believes that it will receive active cooperation from Vietnamese ministries and branches to update market information; thereby creating favorable conditions for the business community to effectively explore all economic potentials of the two countries, serve the development of Vietnam and Peru, and contribute to peace, stability, cooperation and development.

During the visit, Ambassador Pham Thi Kim Hoa hosted a reception and introduced Vietnamese cuisine to Peruvian representatives of ministries, sectors and businesses interested in cooperation with Vietnam.

Peru is one of the countries with a stable and high growth economy compared to other countries in South America in particular and the Latin American bloc and the Caribbean in general. Besides, the legal framework of Peru is quite open and very beneficial for foreign investors./.
Miss Universe H'hen Nie participates in planting and monitoring forests in Ben En Forest (Photo: Gaiavn.org)

Her return is a great source of inspiration, encouraging the public to respond to Earth Day 2022, and especially inspiring afforestation and nature protection among the public.



H'Hen Nie always pays special attention to nature, and constantly strives to spread positive values to the community - Miss H'hen Nie expressed her excitement and desire to feel and share the message of the importance of reforestation through the Journey entitled: The calling of the thousand-year trees.



Throughout the 4-day 3-night journey in Thanh Hoa province, she and Gaia participated in a series of extremely interesting experiences. In which, H'hen excitedly accompanied officials of Xuan Lien Nature Reserve and Ben En National Park, local people and students to participate in planting and monitoring forests in these two areas. In particular, H'Hen Nie also had the opportunity to visit and feel the change and green growth of the Po mu tree she planted herself in Xuan Lien Forest 20 days ago. She participated in discovering the amazing conifer forest at Xuan Lien Nature Reserve.



During this journey, Miss H'Hen Nie participated in supervising more than 18,000 new large trees planted in March 2022, in Xuan Lien forest of Xuan Lien Nature Reserve, planting and supervising more than 13,000 large trees in the area. Ben En forest belongs to Ben En National Park, Thanh Hoa province.



Miss H'Hen Nie enthusiastically participated in all forest monitoring activities with Gaia in these forests, from measuring the height and diameter of the tree trunk; taking pictures, locating trees monitored by GPS, setting up standard plots to check the number of plants and quickly assess the growth status of trees. She was also deeply impressed with the thousand-year-old Lim tree in Ben En National Park and enthusiastically planted more Lim trees for Ben En forest.



Afforestation needs everyone's cooperation. Only then will we be able to restore bare lands like Xuan Lien and Ben En for the sake of our own people. I hope that you will join hands with me to plant Xuan Lien-Ben En forests and forests throughout Vietnam," she said.



The newly planted forest will be cared for twice a year and monitored once a year. Individuals and businesses that contribute trees will receive an update report on the forest for four consecutive years.



In the coming time, Gaia will continue to make efforts to plant more watershed special-use forests throughout Vietnam. The organization is looking forward to receiving the support of all businesses, individuals and units for the program, together restoring forests and responding to climate change for a greener, healthier Vietnam./.
Reuters: Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham said today in his meeting with Taiwans Tsai Ing-wen that the US will start to make China pay a greater price for what they are doing all over the world, including what he described as never-ending cyber attacks on the Taiwanese people and its economy. What is Chinese response to these remarks?

Zhao Lijian: I stated Chinas solemn position on US lawmakers visit to Taiwan yesterday. China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region. Members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US governments one-China policy. The US side should abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiques, stop official exchanges with Taiwan and avoid making irresponsible remarks. The Chinese side will continue to take strong measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity. I believe you have all noticed the statement released by the PLA Eastern Theater Command. The relevant moves by the Chinese army are a countermeasure to the US negative actions recently, including the lawmakers visit to Taiwan.

TASS: First question. Alexander Sergeev, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said the other day the Chinese Academy of Sciences put their cooperation with their Russian counterpart on hold. Can you confirm this? How do you comment on the people-to-people exchanges between China and Russia on these areas? My second question is about Taiwan. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said yesterday that if China were to invade Taiwan, the US government policy is that were going to take every step we possibly can to ensure that never happens. Do such remarks amount to interference in Chinas internal affairs? US Senator Graham and others visited Chinas Taiwan region on April 14. Does the visit violate the one-China principle? Does the foreign ministry have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: On your first question, to our knowledge, China and Russia are continuing cooperation and exchange activities in science and technology as scheduled. Guided by the vision of everlasting friendship and win-win cooperation, the two sides will advance relevant cooperation in a practical manner.

Cooperation in science and technology, as an important part of China-Russia practical cooperation, has been gaining momentum in recent years. The China-Russia Year of Scientific and Technological Innovation was successfully held from 2020 to 2021, during which over 1,000 innovative cooperation and exchange activities were held, delivering fruitful results. This has opened new ground for future cooperation and testified to the immense potential and broad prospects of bilateral scientific and technological cooperation.

On your second question, there is but one China in the world, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory. The current situation across the Taiwan Strait faces a new round of tension. The root cause is that the Taiwan authorities have repeatedly tried to seek Taiwan independence by soliciting US support, while some in the US intend to contain China with the Taiwan question. The US and Taiwan have colluded with each other, and certain individual deliberately draws parallel between Taiwan and Ukraine despite they are two fundamentally different issues. Their aim is to mislead the public and profit from that. It is such move of playing with fire that would change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.

The Taiwan question is a legacy of the Chinese civil war. China must and will be reunified. We will strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and efforts. That being said, we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures in response to the interference of foreign forces and the secessionist activities of a handful of Taiwan independence separatists.

The so-called Taiwan Relations Act unilaterally concocted by the US side runs counter to the principles of the three China-US joint communiques and basic norms governing international relations. China has been firmly opposed to it since the very beginning. The US has no right to put its domestic law above international law, still less use it as a pretext to meddle in Chinas internal affairs. On the Taiwan question, the US should abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, not the so-called Taiwan Relations Act.

The US should abide by the one-China principle and stipulations in the three China-US joint communiques, cut off official interactions and military ties with Taiwan, stop arms sales to Taiwan and take concrete actions to fulfill its commitment of not supporting Taiwan independence.

As for the visit to Taiwan by the US Senate delegation, I answered this question earlier. This is obviously in violation of the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques.

Al Jazeera: From yesterday to today, Israel has been arresting and attacking Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In the West Bank, five Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces, the youngest being just 14 years old. What is Chinas comment on Israels aggression and slaughter? Like last year, Israel has chosen Muslims most sacred month of Ramadan to launch these provocative attacks on Palestinians. Will China play a role befitting its international stature?

Zhao Lijian: Recently China has been following with concern the escalating tension between Palestine and Israel, which has caused civilian casualties. We hope relevant parties will remain cool-headed and exercise restraint to prevent the situation from escalating further or even spiraling out of control.

China has been playing a constructive role in resolving the Palestine question. State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forward a three-point proposal for the implementation of the two-state solution last year. Going forward, we will continue to work relentlessly toward resolving the Palestine question and realizing the two-state solution together with the international community.

The Paper: It is reported that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently published an op-ed on an American newspaper, in which he mentioned Ukraine and Taiwan in the same breath and said the time has come for the US to make clear that it will defend Taiwan. Does China have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: Certain Japanese politician repeatedly makes wild talks on the Taiwan question and irresponsible remarks about Chinas internal affairs, in a vicious attempt to instigate confrontation between major countries. China firmly rejects this.

Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinas territory and the Taiwan question is entirely Chinas internal affair. The Taiwan question and the Ukraine issue are different in nature and are not comparable at all. During its colonial rule over Taiwan for half a century, Japan committed innumerable crimes, over which it bears grave historical responsibilities to the Chinese people. The Japanese politician should speak and act with extra prudence on the Taiwan question and avoid sending any wrong signal to Taiwan independence forces.

Macau Monthly: CIA Director William Burns delivered a speech on April 14, in which he called China a formidable competitor lacking in neither ambition nor capability, and that China is intent on replacing the US as the preeminent power in the Indo-Pacific. What is Chinas comment on this?

Zhao Lijian: The US has been constantly disseminating disinformation about the Ukraine crisis, flagrantly smearing China and driving a wedge between China and Russia with the agenda to profit from the repercussions of its blameshifting and confrontation incited among others. The US should focus more on its responsibility for the outbreak and escalation of the Ukraine crisis. I want to stress that China pursues development in order to bring better lives to the people, without any interests in challenging, still less replacing others. For too long, the US has been whipping up the China threat theory and throwing dirty water at China. But lies remain lies, no matter how many times they are repeated. The world can make fair judgement about Chinas contribution to world peace and development. Certain US politicians should discard the Cold War mentality, view Chinas development in an objective light, stop making things up, stop sowing discord between China and other countries that China has normal relations with, and do more things that are conducive to the development of China-US relations.

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Today is the seventh National Security Education Day. The National Security Law of the Peoples Republic of China, which came into force in July 2015, confirmed the guiding role of the overall national security outlook in the form of law and designated April 15 each year as National Security Education Day, where various kinds of activities for public security awareness are held. The overall national security outlook provides the fundamental guideline for the work on national security. It has become a consensus that the whole of society must have stronger awareness of the worst-case scenario and be alert to dangers in times of calm, advance development and security in a coordinated way and stay committed to scientific coordination, all of which is integral to the national security concept.

The current world is defined by interdependence between countries and economic globalization. No countries can pursue development behind closed doors, or seek security without contact with the outside world. General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the overall national security outlook, called for the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and emphasized that ones own security must go hand in hand with common security. This endeavor reflects the sense of responsibility of a major country and expresses the sincere aspiration of the Chinese people. For years, China has embraced a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable global security, which represents the shared expectation of peace-loving people across the world. China is a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of international order. We will uphold true multilateralism, actively implement the vision for global security, and work with all countries to build a world featuring lasting peace and universal security.
A group of Ukrainian and international experts analyzing the real impact of the sanctions applied against Russia have discovered shipments of Kazakh oil that may secretly contain Russian oil, Oleh Ustenko, the economic adviser to the president of Ukraine, said in a commentary to The Economist.

"A group of experts has already managed to detect shipments of Kazakh oil, which they believe contain part of the secretly loaded Russian oil," he was quoted on the website of the official website of the president of Ukraine on Friday.

The expert group tracks tankers carrying Russian oil using network analysis software, which, among other things, makes it possible to establish links between disparate data. The experts track the energy supply routes, thanks to the trade in which "Russia is desperately trying to finance its war machine."

Information to the group is provided by both international experts and members of the governments of other countries and even intelligence.

"The program analyzes the behavior of ships, taking into account various information. For example, the declared cargo, route and insurance data, as well as historical navigation patterns in various weather and market conditions. You can even see the tonnage of cargo on board the ship and understand if there is a suspicion that there may be more cargo on board than stated," the website notes with reference to Ustenko.

The experts, following the results of the analysis, send warnings to the relevant governments and companies, including Ukrainian departments.

In addition, a more modern approach is being taken, which involves the use of satellites in low orbits to receive signals from airborne radars.

"They're used for navigation and collision avoidance, so sailors don't tend to turn them off," the source explained.

New signal processing software determines the geolocation of the signal source, sometimes within a few hundred meters.
The current situation will allow us to count on a spring sowing season in Ukraine on 80% of the area, First Deputy Prime Minister, Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said at a meeting of President Volodymyr Zelensky with the Cabinet of Ministers on economic issues on Friday.

"80% of our areas are expected to be sown. The Ministry of Agriculture will provide individual reports," she said in a short video report, the text of which is posted on the President's Telegram channel.

According to the report, the meeting participants also discussed the current price situation in the country, in particular the rise in prices for onions and petroleum products.

As Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Svyrydenko explained, for onions, in addition to the traditional seasonal factor, the drop in supply while maintaining significant demand was influenced by the fact that its main producers are located in Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.

As for petroleum products, their rise in price is due to rising prices on the global market, as well as new logistics due to the cessation of supplies from Belarus and Russia.

"There is more logistical "leg" to the east: the farther to the east, the higher the price. This was not the case before, because diesel came from Belarus," Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky said, in particular, regarding diesel fuel.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Donetsk and Luhansk regions are the main target for Russia.

"During 50 days of invasion of the Russian Federation [into Ukraine], they showed that Donbas that is the main target for Russia. It is Donbas that Russia wants to destroy in the first place. It is Luhansk and Donetsk regions that are being destroyed, as if they want only stones to remain from them. So that there are no people left at all," Zelensky said in a video message on Friday night.

According to the president, Russia forcibly takes the inhabitants of these regions into its army and throws them into the most terrible battles."Literally in the forehead of our defense. They are destroying the cities and villages of Donbas. They burn everything that has withstood eight years of that war," he said.
The French Embassy in Ukraine, temporarily relocated in early March from Kyiv to Lviv, will soon return to its permanent headquarters, the French Foreign Ministry said.

"This relocation will take place in the very near future and will further deepen France's support for Ukraine in all areas...," the Foreign Ministry said in a communique quoted by Le Figaro ezine on Thursday.
The Moskva missile cruiser, the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet that caught fire on Thursday, has sunk, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"While being towed to the designated port, the ship lost stability due to the damage sustained from ammo detonation amid the fire. The ship sank in the stormy sea," the ministry said.

The cruiser crew was evacuated to other ships of the Black Sea Fleet present in the area, the ministry said.

Earlier, the Operational Command reported that in the Black Sea area of operations, the Neptune anti-ship missile struck the cruiser Moskva, which sustained significant damage. "A fire broke out. Other units of the ship's group tried to provide assistance, but the storm and a powerful explosion of ammunition overturned the cruiser and it began to sink," the report says.
EC analyzes Ukraine's compliance with two basic criteria for EU accession, this work to last until June - Maasikas

Head of the European Union Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas said that the European Commission is currently analyzing the compliance of the Ukrainian state with two basic criteria for joining the EU.

"Ukraine submitted its membership obligation on the fifth day of the war. The EU executive, the European Commission started working on its analysis, on its opinion as requested by EU member states. This work focuses on whether Ukraine fulfills two basic criteria for EU membership: functioning democracy and functioning market economy. We intend to be ready with this work by June," Maasikas said in an interview with CNN on Thursday, April 14.

According to him, after the European Commission gives its assessment, the decision to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership will be made by the member states of the Union.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has declared that the Russian military, like strangers, hordes and other invaders, are fighting in Ukraine for the sake of robbery and bullying.

The head of state noted that for 80 years, proud and tidy Kharkiv had not seen such torments that Russia had brought to it, while asking the question what can be the reasons to destroy it. "What can be achieved by burning Kharkiv? What exactly can destruction on Saltivka or on Freedom Square give to Russia? " he said.

"And these are no longer rhetorical questions. This is a question of how absurd this invasion of the Russian Federation is. How suicidal it is for everything that Russia allegedly protects. For Russian culture, for relations with this nation, even for the Russian language. Russia is burning all this with its weapons. For decades at least. For generations, " Zelensky said in a video message on Friday night.

According to him, another Ukrainian city Chernihiv, which is over a thousand years old, and which saw so many wars and so many invaders that at least in the XXI century it deserved peace and tranquility.

"But... Russia came. Came with the worst that Chernihiv has experienced since the X century. Since the period of Rus relation to which Russia once claimed. Now this myth is also burned. Rus would not destroy itself. Strangers did that to it. Horde and other invaders. That's who came to our land today. And they are fighting in the same way - for the sake of looting and for the sake of torture," Zelensky said.
The Russian army deliberately fired at Klimovo village in Bryansk region in order to blame Ukraine for this, the intercepted telephone conversations of the occupiers, made public by the Security Service of Ukraine, testify.

"These are ours who fire," the Russian invader, who is now in Donetsk region, explains to his wife. To the question "Why to do this?" he simply answers: "It's necessary. They do it to pretend that Ukrainians provoke them. And thats why they fire," the SBU reports.

The secret service notes that the Kremlin is indifferent not only to the Russian military, but also to civilian Russians, who also suffered from the shelling of the Russian troops.

"The same shit happened in the Chechen war. Apartments were blown up in Moscow, like they were terrorists. In fact, they are FSB officers. Because now, they (Ukraine) could not shoot from such a distance to Klimovo," the occupier adds. He says that after that he decided to write a refusal to further participate in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine," the secret service said.
Head of Ukrainian Presidents Office Andriy Yermak has held consultations with national security advisors from the United States and Great Britain.

"Had trilateral consultations with Jake Sullivan and Stephen Lovegrove. Informed the partners about the situation at the frontlines, about the aggressor's wickedness. We discussed the peace negotiations progress and prospects. The key issue is the mechanism of security guarantees for Ukraine," he said on Twitter Friday.
Today the Axiom astronauts aboard the International Space Station participated in a wide range of events, from HAM radio to the first-ever music duet performance in space to accomplishing more innovative science.

Ax-1 Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Neo-Classical Piano Prodigy BLKBOK made music and space history with their piano and keyboard duet performance of Stars (Ad Astra), a BLKBOK original composition. BLKBOK also performed Rocket Man, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, in a fitting tribute to the 50th anniversary of the iconic track, as well as to Commander Lopez-Alegria and the entire crew. The idea for this history-making performance from space stemmed from a desire by both Lopez-Alegria and BLKBOK to encourage a dialogue about music and education in general and to highlight the importance of STEAM as an educational discipline. As something that they both have experienced to spark their interest and lifelong love of the arts and sciences, they wanted to support the concept of including the Arts, along with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEAM), in education to prepare students to become innovators, in our ever-evolving world. Something they believe is mission critical, not only for the future of the students but for the future of us all.

Lopez-Alegria called to order the Executive Committee of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International Committee F47 on Commercial Space from 250 miles above the Earth. In addition to the agenda, Lopez-Alegria shared a congratulatory message to the committee in celebration of the 125th anniversary of ASTM International.

His research engagements for today included monitoring physiological and cognitive data using hardware and software to further understand the effects of microgravity during space missions.

Larry Connor, along with Lopez-Alegria, continued work on the Aging and Heart Health investigation, an experiment from the Mayo Clinic. This study analyzes human cells for genetic markers of cellular aging and explores cardiac-like cells' adaptation to microgravity.

Eytan Stibbe engaged with Israeli middle school students through a two-way radio communication system, a HAM radio. The students managed the radio communication independently from the ground station for satellite communication at the Science Center in Herzliya in Israel. The initiative is part of the Rakia Mission and was led by The Ramon Foundation, NASA, the Israeli Amateur Radio Association, the Israel Space Agency, and ARISS (American Amateur Radio Association).

Stibbe also spoke with students from the Israeli Space-Startup program. This educational initiative for fifth and sixth graders uses space entrepreneurship practices to inspire students' curiosity about the world around them. Stibbe and the students started working on this project before the mission, and today's conversation was an important and exciting milestone in their project. Space-Startup encourages young students to specialize and excel in STEAM fields.

In addition, a festive event took place at the Rakia Mission Control Center in Tel Aviv, in which the artists participating in the Rakia Mission art project spoke to Stibbe and held a series of discussions about the arts and space. During the event, Stibbe presented artwork that used the unique physical conditions of microgravity, such as a sculpture created by radio waves and a specially designed ring to be worn in space.

Mark Pathy answered questions from students attending Ecole Sir John Franklin High School in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Pathy shed light on how the rigorous training process prepared the crew for both the physical and mental aspects of the space mission.

Stibbe and Pathy spoke with students from the Selwyn House School, an independent K-11 boys' school located in Westmount, Quebec. They shared their experiences viewing Earth from the Cupola and some of their favorite experiments.

Pathy spent time in the Cupola with the blue planet in focus to gather imagery for Earth observation studies to gain deeper insights on changing planetary biology and human urbanization.





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Russian troops fire mortars from Russian territory at positions of Ukrainian border guards in Chernihiv region

Russian occupiers fired mortars at positions of Ukrainian border guards in Chernihiv region on Friday morning from Russian territory, the press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine has reported.

"At 08:25 and at 09:00 today, mortar shelling of the area adjacent to the state border of Ukraine near the village of Senkivka was recorded from Russian territory," the message reads.

It specifies that 13 shots were fired from the enemy territory.

"There were no casualties among the border guards or the local population. The data is being clarified. An enemy drone is constantly circling over the area," the State Border Guard Service reported.
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths called on the Ukrainian and Russian sides to agree on corridors for the evacuation of civilians from settlements where their life is under threat and the delivery of humanitarian aid there.

"I call on the parties to the conflict to immediately fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect the civilian population and civilian infrastructure throughout Ukraine. I also reiterate the appeal for the parties to the conflict to urgently agree on clear arrangements for the safe passage of civilians out of areas where their lives are at risk, as well as the safe, rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian assistance into areas where civilians are facing catastrophic levels of need, especially in areas that have been or remain besieged," the statement released on Friday said.

Griffiths said that recently it became known about the death in mid-March of the employees of the humanitarian organization "Caritas" together with their relatives in the besieged city of Mariupol, Donetsk region, and expressed his condolences.

"I am deeply saddened by the deaths of at least two aid workers who were killed, together with five of their relatives, during an attack that hit the office of the non-governmental organization Caritas in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, on March 15. The events took place nearly one month ago but the information has become available only now. Both employees dedicated their lives to serving the people while working for Caritas. On behalf of the UN and the humanitarian community, I express my sincere condolences to their families and colleagues, as well as to the loved ones of others who died at the Caritas office," the statement said.

According to him, this tragic event "is one example of the terrible consequences of war for civilians, including humanitarian workers."

"Tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol, which has been the center of terrible upheavals from the very beginning, and other places throughout Ukraine have been living in the zone of hostilities and shelling for 50 days. Since February 24, more than 1,932 civilians have died, including more than 150 children. This must stop," Griffiths said.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has held a meeting with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who is visiting the Ukrainian capital, during which an agreement was signed to establish friendly relations between the cities, Klitschko said.

"Friends! I met with Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, who visited Kyiv during this difficult time of war. With my colleague we signed an agreement on the establishment of friendly relations between our cities - Kyiv and Paris," the mayor of Kyiv wrote on Telegram on Friday.

According to him, Kyiv is grateful to the mayor's office in Paris for all the humanitarian assistance provided, both in France to the Ukrainians who were forced to become displaced, as well as for the assistance to Ukraine and the capital.

"A striking symbol of the partnership between our cities was a landmark event when on March 22, 2022, the City Council of Paris unanimously voted to grant the city of Kyiv the status of honorary citizenship. With this distinction, which was first awarded by Paris and received by Kyiv, Paris confirmed its support and friendship with the Ukrainian capital, which today is defending and fighting for its freedom," said Klitschko.

He added that the French capital is an important partner of Kyiv. "And we strive to develop effective economic relations, to implement common mutually beneficial projects in different areas of life of the cities," the mayor of Kyiv said.
Evacuation buses near Borova in Kharkiv region come under fire, up to 10 people killed, up to 30 wounded

The Russian military shelled evacuation buses near Borova village in Kharkiv region, killing and injuring civilians.

"The exact number of dead and injured, the circumstances and routes of the buses are being established. According to preliminary data at this time, up to 10 people died as a result of the shelling, and up to 30 more were wounded," Dmytro Chubenko, spokesman for the Kharkiv regional prosecutor's office, told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

According to him, the investigators of the Main Department of SBU in Kharkiv region under the procedural guidance of the regional prosecutor's office launched a pretrial investigation into this fact. Criminal proceedings were opened under Part 2 of Article 438 (violation of laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Another six Russian diplomats have been declared persona non grata, the Foreign Ministry of North Macedonia told Russian Ambassador Sergei Bazdnikin.

"Today, the Russian Ambassador to North Macedonia, Sergey Bazdnikin, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was handed over a Note Verbale with which six diplomats of the Embassy of the Russian Federation were declared persona non grata in North Macedonia," the country's Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

According to the document, the six Russian diplomats were engaging in activities contrary to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and are to leave the territory of the Republic of North Macedonia within the next five days.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has launched a new initiative to help the Ukrainian government respond to the crisis and coordinate actions.

"In response to the mounting humanitarian challenges and the increased risks of further deterioration of the socio-economic situation caused by the war in Ukraine, UNDP kicked off this new initiative to strengthen effectiveness in crisis coordination and response planning between the central government, the oblasts/rayons and other stakeholders like the international community, CSOs, and the private sector, building on the existing strategic partnerships," UNDP communications department in Ukraine says in a statement.

It is noted that the project focuses on the following four areas of work: strengthening the crisis/emergency governance structures; building data/information analysis systems to support prompt and efficient responses; creating an aid management system to better coordinate both humanitarian and development support through a new SpivDiia platform; enhancing the Government capacities in strategic communications through consular support to the temporarily displaced Ukrainians in the EU countries; and establishing an internal decision support unit to coordinate assessments, and provide capacity building and technical support to government and national institutions on damage and losses assessment.

According to the report, the project also will provide analytical support, for example, identifying the strengths and comparative advantages of Ukrainian businesses and assessing the potential trade turnover between Ukraine and the European Union as per Ukraines EU Association Agreement and the EU Green Deal.

"With this, UNDP will also assess the impact of war on Ukraines progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as on the specific needs of women, people with disabilities, elderly, and other vulnerable groups, and to build on gathered data and analysis to support in developing the National Recovery and Resilience Building Plan for Ukraine, " the message reads.

The UNDP project will also provide institutional support to the Government, including digital solutions for improved delivery of public services like state financial support and housing and will strengthen resilience of those communities hosting a growing number of internally displaced persons.

UNDP also will research and publish evidence-based products capturing the impact of the war on the social, physical, financial, human, and natural assets in Ukraine.
As a result of the invaders shelling of evacuation buses in the settlement of Borova in Kharkiv region, seven people were killed and 27 others were injured, according to the Prosecutor Generals Office (PGO).

"According to the investigation, on April 14, 2022, Russian servicemen shelled evacuation buses with civilians in Borova settlement of Izium district. According to preliminary data, seven people were killed. Another 27 people were wounded," the PGO said in a message on its Telegram channel on Friday.

Under the procedural guidance of Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, a pretrial investigation into the violation of laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) was launched.

The pretrial investigation in the criminal proceedings is carried out by the SBU Directorate in Kharkiv region.
Psaki does not confirm trip of US President Biden to Kyiv

U.S. President Joe Biden's Press Secretary Jennifer Psaki said that his trip to Ukraine is not planned.

"We are not sending the president to Ukraine," Psaki said on Friday at a live taping of the Pod Save America podcast. She is cited by the Fox News channel website.

This statement was made after Biden told reporters about his readiness to make a trip to Ukraine.
Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter was shot down on Friday night, its crew was killed, according to the Facebook page of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade Kholodny Yar.

"That night was extremely productive for one of the mechanized battalions of the 93rd Brigade's Kholodny Yar. A Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter made a forced landing in its area of responsibility, followed by a fry-up. The occupiers were planning to hit Kholodny Yar vehicles and manpower, however, our fighters made adjustments to their plans and sent their pilots to the Kobzon concert," the report reads.

The post is illustrated with photos of the downed helicopter, taken in the dark. The place where the aircraft was destroyed is not specified.

Later, Head of Kharkiv regional military administration Oleh Synehubov said that the helicopter was shot down in the sky over Kharkiv region.

"Our Armed Forces of Ukraine over Kharkiv region destroyed an enemy Ka-52 helicopter. The landing was not soft, the Russian pilots died. Thanks to our defenders!" Synehubov said in his Telegram channel.
Residents of Kyiv region who were under occupation either put on white armbands to protect themselves, or the Russian military forced them to do so, but even the presence of such a designation did not save people from executions, Chief of the Main Directorate of the National Police of Kyiv region Andriy Nyebytov said.

"Questions arose why the bodies of those who were shot, which we find, had white bandages. I want to tell you that during the occupation of our villages and cities, the occupiers forced citizens to wear white bandages  supposedly the person was checked and therefore they were not treated so biased," Nyebytov said at a briefing in Kyiv on Friday.

According to him, the Ukrainians themselves put on these bandages to protect themselves from shots, and hung white armbands on the fences near their houses. "But as you can see, it did not always work," he said.

According to Nyebytov, a convoy of cars of evacuating civilians was leaving Makarivsky district, the cars were marked with white ribbons, but they were still fired upon by Russian troops.
By Azernews





Azerbaijani and Turkish delegations discussed the implementation of the draft strategy for the use of airspace and the development of air navigation in the region on April 12 in Ankara.

The meeting was held between the delegation of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC and the General Directorate of State Airports Authority of Turkey (DHMI) led by Mr. Farhan Guliyev, Director of Azeraeronavigation Air Traffic Department (AZANS), and Mr. Huseyin Keskin, General Director of DHMI.

During the meeting, it was noted that this strategy will allow countries to jointly implement international requirements in the field of air navigation services and efficient use of airspace.

This cooperation is a clear example of the mutual support of the two fraternal states in the field of ensuring flight safety, improving the quality of air navigation services and ensuring the regularity of air transportation.

Turkey is a strategic partner of Azerbaijan, including in the field of civil aviation. The airspace of Azerbaijan and Turkey plays an important role in the large-scale air transportation chain linking Europe and Asia. This air corridor is also a continuation of the global transport project known as One Belt, One Road.

Over the past decade, the role of Azerbaijan as a transit state with developed ground and air transport has increased significantly. All this became possible and achievable thanks to President Ilham Aliyev's support and wise policy.

Another clear evidence of the significance and importance of the development of air transport and air traffic between the two fraternal countries was the opening of the International Airport in Fuzuli with the participation of the Azerbaijani and Turkish presidents.

In 2018, thanks to the well-coordinated work of AZANS, DHMI and ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), a new air corridor was opened, which today operates between the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (NAR) and Turkey. This route established direct air communication between the two countries, without using the airspace of neighboring states.

The opening of a new air corridor with Turkey has become a significant contribution to the performance of new international flights and the expansion of air communications with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

On June 15, 2021, the two countries signed a memorandum of alliance that cemented the existing military, political and economic cooperation.

Relations between the fraternal countries are developing in various areas. The Shusha Declaration on Allied Relations that President Ilham Aliyev and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed during the first official visit to Shusha eight months after Azerbaijans victory in the war with Armenia, also focuses on defence cooperation.

It affirms joint efforts by the two armies in the face of foreign threats. The declaration also pledges joint efforts for the restructuring and modernization of the armed forces. Moreover, the two nations affirm to encourage the execution of joint projects with the aim of developing capabilities in the field of sea, air, and space.

In an interview with Turkey's Anadolu Agency, President Ilham Aliyev said that the signing of the Shusha Declaration raised bilateral relations to an even higher level.
Seven killed, 34 wounded in Kharkiv as result of enemy shelling  Synehubov

On Friday, April 15, Russian invaders fired on one of the residential areas of Kharkiv, as a result, there are killed and wounded, including children, Head of the regional military administration Oleh Synehubov has said.

"Unfortunately, some 34 people were wounded, including three children. Seven people killed, among them one child of seven months. Doctors provide emergency assistance to all the victims,"  Synehubov said in his Telegram channel.

He urged Kharkiv residents not to go outside unless absolutely necessary.

"I ask you, residents of Kharkiv, not to be on the streets now unless absolutely necessary," Synehubov said.

"Not a single war crime of the occupiers will go unpunished!" the head of the regional military administration said.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) deepens cooperation with Ukraine amid the blocking of its maritime agricultural exports by warships of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, the issue of the purchase of Ukrainian grain by WFP and its subsequent delivery to countries that are threatened hunger is being discussed.

The relevant issue was discussed by Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solsky and WFP Executive Director David Muldow Beasley at a meeting in Kyiv, according to a Friday posting on the website of the Ukrainian ministry.

"The possibility of purchasing surplus grains in Ukraine at the expense of the World Food Program was discussed to provide food for the countries of Africa and the Middle East and prevent global famine in these regions, the threat of which is very real," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said that WFP has deployed large-scale humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians affected by the war. In particular, contacts have been established with bakeries, flour mills and food industry enterprises in Ukraine for the purchase of goods from them and subsequent delivery to the regions affected by the Russian military invasion.

"We are talking about 40,000 tonnes of food products. Seven warehouses have been opened in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Odesa and Kropyvnytsky. And in Lviv, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk regions, financial assistance is provided to immigrants," the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy said, citing Beasley.

In turn, Solsky during the meeting focused on the need to unblock Ukrainian seaports and shipping routes to ensure the export of agricultural products from Ukraine.

"To stabilize the situation, it is important to ensure the logistics of supplies of agricultural products from Ukraine through unblocked ports and alternative routes. In addition, small and medium-sized Ukrainian farms and agricultural enterprises, which play a big role in ensuring national and global food security, need urgent help," the minister said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN on Friday that "all of the countries of the world" should be prepared for Russian President Vladimir Putin to use tactical nuclear weapons in a war against Ukraine.

Zelensky told CNN's Jake Tapper in an exclusive interview from the President's Office in Kyiv on Friday that Putin could turn to either nuclear or chemical weapons because he does not value the lives of the people of Ukraine.

"Not only me  all of the world, all of the countries have to be worried because it can be not real real information, but it may be truth," Zelensky said, speaking in English.

"Chemical weapons, they should do it, they could do it, for them the life of the people, nothing. That is why," Zelensky said. "We should think not be afraid, not be afraid but be ready. But that is not a question for Ukraine, not only for Ukraine but for all the world, I think."
On Friday, the Russian military carried out three missile attacks on targets in Kyiv region, Head of Kyiv Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Pavliuk has said.

"Only today, three missile attacks were carried out on targets in Kyiv region. We do not exclude the possibility of repeated strikes on any targets, and we must be prepared for this," he said on the air of the national telethon on Friday.

Pavliuk also said "the danger of the return of the strike force in the direction of Kyiv, for which we are preparing, the danger of mined territories in the de-occupied territories, the possibility of enemy missile strikes both in Kyiv and throughout Ukraine remains."

"My recommendation is to leave the return [to Kyiv] for quieter times," the administration's head said.
Maasikas: Russia's abduction of Ukrainian children, their planned 'adoption' by Russian families is another appalling violation of intl humanitarian law

Head of the European Union Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas called the kidnapping by Russians of Ukrainian children and their planned "adoption" by Russian families another cynical, appalling violation of international humanitarian law.

"After Ukraine's journalists, activists, local officials, other civilians, Russia has begun to abduct Ukrainian children. This, as well as their planned so-called 'adoption' by Russian families is yet another cynical, appalling violation of International Humanitarian Law. Russia will be held accountable," Maasikas said on his Twitter.
Kim: Residential areas of Mykolaiv shelled with cluster shells, five people killed, another 15 wounded

As a result of the shelling of Mykolaiv with cluster shells, five people were killed and 15 more were wounded, Head of Mykolaiv regional military administration Vitaliy Kim has said.

"Daytime shelling of residential areas with cluster shells: some 15 wounded, five killed," he said on his Telegram channel on Friday.

Kim said that among the dead was a man who raised an unexploded shell. "I repeat again! Do not touch unknown objects. This can be fatal."
During evacuation of residents from Starobilsk to Dnipro, Russian troops open fire on buses, there are wounded, killed

Occupiers fired on buses that were trying to take people out of the territories of hostilities, while evacuating residents from Starobilsk (Luhansk region) to Dnipro, Russian troops opened fire on buses, there are wounded and killed, Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova has said.

"During the evacuation of residents from the city of Starobilsk, Luhansk region, to Dnipro, Russian occupiers opened fire on two buses, there are wounded and killed. More detailed information is being established. The occupier once again uses weapons to prevent the evacuation of civilians to territories controlled by Ukraine," she said on Facebook.

Denisova said such actions by the invaders are a war crime in accordance with Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and a gross violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilians in Time of War.

"I appeal to the UN Commission to investigate human rights violations during Russia's military invasion of Ukraine to take into account these facts of crimes and violations of human rights by Russia in Ukraine," she said.
Russian invaders are trying to launch an offensive in certain areas of Ukraine, air strikes on the city of Mariupol and a partial blockade of Kharkiv continue, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.

"During the current day, the situation has not changed significantly in all directions. The enemy does not stop launching missile strikes on industrial and civilian infrastructure facilities on the territory of Ukraine and is trying to launch an offensive in certain areas. Air strikes on the city of Mariupol continue. A partial blockade of Kharkiv continues," the AFU said on Facebook.

In Donetsk direction, the enemy tried to storm Maryinka, but had no success.

In addition, sabotage and reconnaissance groups of the enemy, in order to carry out sabotage on the territory of Ukraine, kidnap or, threatening with physical violence, take away vehicles and civilian clothing from local residents. To suppress the resistance of Ukrainians, the occupiers carry out filtration measures and search for persons related to military service.

"In the areas of Luhansk region temporarily occupied by the enemy, the use of buildings and nearby territories of educational institutions for the arrangement of additional field hospitals, locations for weapons, ammunition and military equipment is recorded," the AFU said.

In some localities, the enemy is trying to imitate elections and illegally appoint "local self-government agencies" from among local residents loyal to the occupation authorities.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has expressed confidence that the Ukrainian citizenship of detained parliamentarian Viktor Medvedchuk suspected of high treason will not be an obstacle to his swap for Ukrainian prisoners of war if all parties agree to it.

"I believe if a Ukrainian citizen agrees to such swap, such swap is possible," the prosecutor general said on TV on Friday.

Moreover, a court sentence in Medvedchuk's case is not necessary for the swap, she said.
Ihor Zhdanov, Information Defence Project , Open Policy Foundation

Informational Defence of Ukraine provides a daily review of the military-political situation in Ukraine as of April 14th, based on an analysis of open sources.

1. The Armed Forces of Ukraine liberated the Kyiv, Chernihiv and Sumy regions and continue counterattacks.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the russian occupiers are trying to complete preparations for the attacks in the eastern regions of Ukraine. The aviation group and the command and control system are currently being expanded.

Ukrainian intelligence also has information on the training of additional units of the Northern Fleet of the russian federation and the eighth Military Army of the Southern Military District, which are given equipment and ammunition from warehouses and long-term storage facilities.

In the Donbas, the russian occupiers, with the support of aircraft and artillery, continue to attack certain areas. The enemy attempted to capture Popasna, Rubizhne, Severodonetsk, and Sloviansk. Ukrainian intelligence also noticed preparations for a russian attack near Barvinkovo in the Kharkiv region.

The total combat losses of the enemy from February 24 to April 14 were approximately: combatants - about 19,900 people, tanks - 753 units, armoured combat vehicles - 1968 units, artillery systems - 366 units, MLRS - 122 units, air defence - 64 units, aircraft - 160 units, helicopters - 144 units, motor vehicles - 1437 units, ships / boats - 7 units, fuel tanks - 76, UAVs of operational and tactical level - 134, special equipment - 25, TBM / BRBM (tactical ballistic missile / battlefield range ballistic missile) launchers - 4.

In the evening of April 13th, it was reported that Ukrainian anti-ship missiles Neptune hit the missile cruiser Moscow  , the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet.

It was later reported that the cruiser sank due to the strike. After the Ukrainian defenders aimed at the missile cruiser Moscow, the total number of cruise missiles of the russian Black Sea Fleet ships in the Black Sea decreased from 72 to 56.

Forbes calculated the approximate cost by comparing Moscow with a cruiser of the same class "Ukraine", which in 1995 cost 720 million dollars.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, according to Forbes, russia has lost more than $10.8 billion in equipment. The Armed Forces of Ukraine turned it into scrap metal, valued by Forbes at $45 million.

2. Information summaries and assessments of foreign and Ukrainian intelligence.

According to UK intelligence on Twitter , russian president putin is interested in occupying the eastern regions of Ukraine and is preparing for a new attack.

Kramatorsk and Kostiantynivka are likely to be targeted for similar levels of violence by the russian authorities. It is noted that russia is trying to again combine massive missile and artillery strikes and concentrate forces for the attacks.

The UK Ministry of Defence reminded that a significant number of russian troops and equipment are now in Mariupol, which Ukrainian troops are defending.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence released two Ukrainian pilots who were held captive by the russian occupiers. Ivan Pepeliashko and Oleksii Chyzh were taken prisoners on March 8th near the village of Nova Basan in the Chernihiv region.

The Security Service of Ukraine claims that russia used crime to shake up the situation in Odesa region, and the leaders of the criminal group, including foreigners, introduced their people into the territorial defence for espionage - the criminals were detained.

4. The russian occupiers continue to violate international humanitarian law and carry out mass genocide of Ukrainians.

The Verkhovna Rada recognized the actions committed by russia during the military attack on Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

The official recognition of russia's actions in Ukraine as genocide will take a long time, but it is likely that such a decision will be made. This statement was made in an interview with CNN by the US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland.

She notes that President Biden, calling russias actions genocide, spoke from the heart when he called what we see in Ukraine as genocide committed by the russian federation and its army. The former US President Donald Trump has joined the opinion of President Biden, who called russias war in Ukraine genocide.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau believes that it is correct to call russia's aggression against Ukraine genocide.

Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez has recognised russia's actions in Ukraine as genocide. It is also noted that Colombia is ready to play a central role in providing Western countries with energy resources after sanctions against russia.

russian aggressors continue to kill Ukrainian children. More than 548 children have been injured in Ukraine since February 24 because of armed aggression by the russian federation - 197 children have died and more than three hundred have been injured.

According to the data received by juvenile prosecutors, the most affected children were in the regions of Donetsk - 115, Kyiv - 105, Kharkiv - 81, Chernihiv - 54, Mykolaiiv - 40, Kherson - 38, Luhansk - 36, Zaporizhzhia - 23, Sumy - 16, Zhytomyr  15, and Kyiv City  16.

Due to the russian militarys fixation with carrying out criminal attacks in Hostomel and Bucha, in the Kyiv region, the bodies of children aged 4 and 10 were found with injuries, as well as the burnt body of a 17-year-old boy.

russian invaders fire on civilians every day. Since the beginning of the war, russian shells and missiles have damaged 324 hospitals in Ukraine, 24 of which have been completely destroyed.

On the night of April 14th, russian troops continued to fire on the Kherson region, Kharkiv and Izium, in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions - under constant fire, civilians were not released from the blockaded Mariupol.

The occupiers continue to fire on the civilian population of Chernihiv with weapons prohibited by international law. According to the military, on April 14th, the invaders aimed at one of the private houses in the Horodna area.

On April 14th, some border settlements in the Sumy region were shelled with artillery or mortars. 120-mm mines were dropped, private houses were damaged. One mine destroyed a private house, flying straight into the house where the people were.

Abduction of peaceful Ukrainian citizens, hostage-taking and torture. There is a threat of illegal adoption of Ukrainian children by russian citizens without following all the necessary procedures set by the legislation of Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Such actions of the russian occupiers can be qualified as kidnapping and require a decisive reaction of the international community and relevant international organisations.

According to Mariupol Mayor's Adviser Petro Andriushchenko in the Telegram , in Mariupol, the russian occupiers are urging civilians to wear a white ribbon, which is a hostile symbol - they want to make people bait for Ukrainian snipers.

On April 13th, the russian forces in temporarily occupied Melitopol stole money from Ukrposhta to pay pensions, benefits, and subsidies to elderly citizens and vulnerable people in need of state support.

5. The evacuation of civilians continues under the attacks from the russian aggressors.

As of April 14th, 9 humanitarian corridors were confirmed in the regions of Ukraine, some of them only for private transport:

from Mariupol, Berdiansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar to Zaporizhzhia by own transport;

from Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, Rubizhne, Hirske to Bakhmut.

According to Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, 2,332 people arrived in Zaporizhzhia from Mariupol and Berdiansk on April 14th. 289 of them are from Mariupol; 2043 people are residents of cities of the Zaporizhzhia region (Polohy, Vasylivka, Berdiansk, and Melitopol).

225 people were also evacuated from Lysychansk, Severodonetsk, Rubizhne, Kreminna and Popasna in the Luhansk region. The occupying forces did not confirm that a ceasefire was in place again.

2,557 people were evacuated on April 14th.

The Ukrainian authorities held a fourth exchange of prisoners, 22 Ukrainian servicemen and 8 civilians are returning home.

6. Political and socio-economic situation in Ukraine, losses due to the russian aggression.

Ukraine's economy is suffering from war, the largest Ukrainian companies are sustaining losses due to the russian aggression. Again, the National Bank has not changed the discount rate to 10% and is recording increased inflationary pressures due to the war, as a result of which prices may rise by 20% for the year.

Small and medium business owners cut a third of their employees and sent another third on vacation. This is stated in the results of a study of the 4th wave of the Advanter Group.

In general, micro-business owners cut 42% of their employees, small businesses - 24%, medium - 18%.

Of those who remain employed, 42% receive a reduced salary. 21.6% of enterprises completely stopped working, another 34.3% - almost completely.

Kyiv and the Kyiv region are returning to normal life. Kyiv's road services have begun pothole repairs in the city, and fundamental and current repairs have been postponed due to the war.

Uber taxi service resumes its work in Kyiv after receiving a positive decision from the city authorities.

Two universities destroyed in Mariupol will continue their work in other cities. Mariupol State University temporarily "moved" to Kyiv, and Azov State Technical University moved to Dnipro.

Electricians managed to restore power supply to 7,579 families in 35 settlements of the Kyiv region. In Bucha, tin he Kyiv region, water supply has been restored, electricity and gas supplies will soon be restored to homes, and power is now being supplied to vital facilities.

7. International support and assistance to Ukraine.

The political support for Ukraine. Ukraine expects the new German government to pursue a new Ukrainian policy. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, commenting on the story of the German president's visit to Kyiv.

The Minister stressed that Ukraine has a great respect for Germany and its presidency: We do not always agree with German policy, but we respect Germany as a country, as a partner.

He insisted that Ukraine was not interested in aggravating bilateral relations. According to him, Ukraine stands for relations based on mutual respect and the creation of a new German policy towards Ukraine in the current circumstances.

President of France Emmanuel Macron on Thursday justified his decision not to use the word "genocide" in relation to russia's actions, arguing that "verbal escalation" would not "help Ukraine."

Military assistance to Ukraine. The new package of weapons handed over to Ukraine by the US government includes 200 American armoured personnel carriers, 11 helicopters, 18 howitzers, 500 missiles for Javelin anti-tank systems and several hundred Switchblade drones.

France has already provided 100 million euros in military aid to Ukraine and is planning new supplies.

Humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Fuentes de Andalusia in southern Spain was renamed Ukraine for a week to express solidarity with Ukrainians.

UkrZaliznytsia received 10 first-generation Starlink devices and 5 second-generation ones. These systems were provided to the railways by the IT company N-iX.

8. Provocations and fakes of the russian aggressors.

At a briefing, the russian Defence Ministry announced a new theory about the US biolabs in Ukraine. After reports that such laboratories were developing a plan to infect russians with dangerous diseases of the air, now russia has seen a water threat.

russia attributes to Ukraine and the United States the joint development of a project that could be used to infect russian water with particularly dangerous pathogens, including cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitis A and E.

The reason for such accusations was that in Ukraine water samples were taken in large rivers, including the Dnipro, the Danube, the Dniester, as well as in the North Crimean Canal. It is alleged that this activity was carried out by Ukrainians "under the control of American scientists."

The russian military did not specify in what way an investigation of water quality in rivers can pose a threat to russia.

russia's special services have begun implementing a plan to carry out terrorist attacks on their territory to fuel anti-Ukrainian hysteria.

So, in the morning on April 14th it was reported that the Armed Forces allegedly fired at the border checkpoint.

By noon, they changed their testimony - it turned out that two houses were damaged. The russians claim that seven people were allegedly injured, including a pregnant woman and a child.

The governor of the Belgorod region of the russian federation, Vyacheslav Gladkov, allegedly claimed that Ukraine had shelled the village of Zhuravlyovka, from which the residents had previously been evacuated, as well as the village of Spodaryushino

9. Political and socio-economic situation in russia, the impact of international sanctions on it.

New sanctions and restrictions are being imposed on Russia. The world's major trading companies plan to cut purchases of oil and fuel from russian state-owned oil companies on May 15th to avoid violating European Union sanctions against russia.

Australia has imposed another package of sanctions against russia due to the invasion of Ukraine - in particular, the sanctions list of Gazprom and Transneft.

13 companies are blacklisted. In addition to the oil and gas sector, Australia has imposed sanctions on russia's largest telecommunications company, Rostelecom, russia's largest electricity producer, RusHydro, shipping companies and ports, and the diamond mining company Alrosa.

The 25th World Energy Congress, to be held in St. Petersburg in October 2022, has been officially cancelled.

Ireland supports the imposition of an oil embargo on russia in the sixth package of EU sanctions.

Payment for russian gas in rubles. The European Union has warned member states that russian president putin's demand that "unfriendly countries" pay for russian gas in rubles would violate sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine.

The negative impact of sanctions on the russian economy. In March, the russians spent 160% more on medicine than last year, with demand for drugs rising amid sanctions and other restrictions on russia because of the war in Ukraine.

In russia, operators in the market for storage containers expect a serious shortage of containers after international lines leaving russia complete the evacuation of their fleet.

The font owner of the Times New Roman, Arial, Verdana, Tahoma and Helvetica - the American company Monotype - blocked access to their catalog on the site for russian users.

Against the background of the departure of foreign companies, the russians are buying up home appliances of russian and Belarusian production - in March, sales increased by 50-70%.

The world's leading manufacturer of disposable tableware and food packaging - Finland 's Huhtamaki - has initiated a process to close its activities in russia.
By Azernews





Azerbaijan has started to install automatic hydrological stations on the rivers in Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenian occupation in 2020.

The head of the Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry's environmental policy department, Faig Mutallimov, made the remarks on his Facebook page.

"Work has begun on the restoration of the Basitchay State Nature Reserve in Zangilan region. Moreover, a phased restoration of hydrometeorological activities in the territory is planned, Mutallimov said.

He noted that regular monitoring of the rivers is currently being carried out. The department chief underlined that 11 automatic hydrological stations had started to be installed on 10 rivers.

During our monitoring, the pollution of water resources by Armenia on the liberated territories was established. In order to prevent this, measures are also being taken on various platforms, in cooperation with international organizations, he said.

The representative stressed that along with landscaping, the work on sowing seeds was carried out in the liberated territories and the volume of mineral water reserves was studied.

He noted that against the background of the reduction of water resources, which occurs as a result of climate change, water resources in the liberated territories are very important.

At the same time, a plan is being developed for the restoration of water resources and their rational use," Mutallimov added.

Armenias three-decade occupation of Azerbaijani territories extensively damaged the ecosystem, wildlife, and natural resources in and around the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. Armenians also resorted to large-scale acts of ecological terror in regions they had to leave under the trilateral November peace deal which stipulated the return of Azerbaijans occupied territories.

Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes erupted for the second time in 2020, when Armenian forces stationed in occupied Azerbaijani territory targeted Azerbaijani civilian settlements and military positions, resulting in civilian and military casualties. Azerbaijan launched a six-week counter-offensive operation in the early hours of September 27. The operation resulted in the liberation of occupied Azerbaijani territory.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement brokered by Russia on November 10, 2020, bringing the two countries' war to an end. The Azerbaijani army declared victory over the Armenian forces. The signed agreement required Armenia to withdraw its troops from the occupied Azerbaijani territory.
'The glorious October war was not just a military battle in which Egypt fought and achieved its greatest victory; it was, however, a real test for the Egyptian people's ability to make the dream come true'

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Tuesday in a televised speech commemorating the 47th anniversary of the 6 October War that "the great victory taught us that the Egyptian nation is always able to stand up for its rights and earn considerable respect from others."

"The victory for which the Egyptians fought and sacrificed their blood in order to restore a precious and dear part of the homeland. We swore to protect it and preserve its soil and borders, whatever the cost and the sacrifices," El-Sisi said.

"I am talking to you today to learn from our historical experiences and lessons. The great October victory taught us that the Egyptian nation - is always able - to stand up for its rights and earn considerable respect from others. We have also known that the truth that is based on strength would prevail ultimately. The Egyptian people would never give up their land; they are able to protect it."

"The glorious October war was not just a military battle in which Egypt fought and achieved its greatest victory; it was, however, a real test for the Egyptian people's ability to make the dream come true. Nevertheless, the resulting effects were not limited to the time period of the war; they extended to bring rays of hope in all parts of Egypt and create a new spirit in the souls of all Egyptians, a soul that is characterized by persistence, challenge, and the ability to face difficulties and make achievements," the president added.

The president said the victory's anniversary Egypt celebrates "is reminiscent of the people's struggle for thousands of years, adding "Inspired by the sublimity of its past, Egypt has drawn a rightful path to follow in order to achieve its desired goals and the people's broad hopes."

"Greetings to the great October generation who achieved victory, raised the flag of the homeland on its sacred soil, and brought the Egyptian army its pride and glory. Greetings to the hero of war and peace, "Hero of the Crossing", the late President "Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat" who bore the consequences of that decision with the courage of knights and determination of men," the president said.

"Greetings to every Egyptian mother who instilled in her children a firm belief that the land cannot be relinquished, at any cost, and filled her own heart with great patience and absolute faith. May peace be upon the souls of our righteous martyrs who watered the pure land of Egypt with their noble blood and set a great example of sacrifice and redemption for the generations to come. Greetings to the men of the Egyptian armed forces who are now stationed at every corner of Egypt with their fellow policemen to safeguard Egypt's security, safety and stability," he added.

looming ambitions

"It is no secret that the ambitions in Egypt are still looming in the horizon and the dangers of threats, different as they might be, are no less. The world at large fell oblivious to the fact that Egypt's relentless efforts to bring about security and stability over the past few years are a great accomplishment. Preserving the security of a nation as great as Egypt in a challenging region and a turbulent world is undoubtedly a matter we must deem a proof of the uniqueness and resilience of this people and the exceptional ability of their armed forces and their state institutions," he stressed.

"Egypt, thereby, is moving towards adopting the approach of comprehensive sustainable development as it is the path towards a decent future for the people of Egypt. I assure you that the future of nations is not made by slogans and bombastic words. Peoples' capabilities cannot be left vulnerable to illusions and miscalculated policies. We, in Egypt, renew the pledge to continue working for the sake of preserving the dignity of this country and moving forward on the path of building, development, construction and peace," he explained.

"The glorious anniversary of the October victory will always be an occasion to be celebrated for all Egyptians; marking their willpower and strength and the competence and distinguished combat capacity of their armed forces which have written a timeless national epic on preserving the soil of this country and protecting its borders," he added.

"The memory of our righteous martyrs, their heroism and their precious sacrifices will always be remembered and will always be an incentive for us to further work and make more progress so as to shape the future that our great people aspire to have," he concluded.

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Al-Ahram Weekly reports on an ambitious research project that aims to address the scarcity of scientific studies on the cost of terrorism

The effects of terrorism go far and beyond the immediate violent act, since it also has profound social, economic, and cultural repercussions. Acting under a presidential mandate, Egypts Ministry of Social Solidarity has now launched a scientific research project dubbed the Cost of Terrorism with a view to tackling the different impacts of the phenomenon, particularly over the past three decades.

The project is being implemented in cooperation with the Egyptian Centre for Strategic Studies (ECSS), a Cairo-based independent think tank, with the participation of a slew of professors and experts concerned with the same field of study.

President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi had called for a research project on the impacts of terrorism in Egypt and the Islamic countries, said Minister of Social Solidarity Nevine Al-Qabbaj, who opened the first public symposium on the project on Monday.

Al-Sisi had also instructed that the research results should be made public so that the facts related to the magnitude of the losses incurred by the state and citizens as a result of the various waves of terrorism became better known, the minister added.

The move comes amid a scarcity of documented scientific studies focusing on inventorying the cost of terrorism either at the international or domestic levels, underscored Al-Qabbaj.

The Egyptian project encompasses four key axes  political, economic, social, and cultural  with each axis examined in terms of the cost of terrorism, its causes, and ways to counter it. The study represents the first initiative in Egypt to open a scientific dialogue about the phenomenon since the 1970s, ECSS Manager Khaled Okasha said.

The Egyptian state has incurred cumulative losses, some of which have had direct impacts, like human causalities, material damage to facilities and infrastructure, capital outflows, and expenses of repair, as a result of terrorism, according to Okasha.

Others have been in the form of indirect impacts, he added, including the states increased expenditure on the victims and their families, in addition to a hindrance to development and investment opportunities.

This had shifted the focus of the states resources to combating terrorism and addressing its repercussions, Okasha said. Social and cultural life was not isolated from the damage inflicted by terrorism, he added.

Terrorist organisations sought to threaten societal cohesion in order to establish extremist visions and exclusion-based values and also place restrictions on freedom of thought and creativity, he explained.

Women were a special target for groups whose mindsets viewed them as incompetent persons who are nonessential partners in societys battles for survival and construction.

He added that Egypt has suffered from the complex, deep, and extensive effects of terrorism over recent decades, a matter that has led the state to push ahead with efforts to restore security and stability based on the fact that both are necessary for development.

Terrorism activity throughout 2014-2015 had reached an unprecedented level in the countrys history, Okasha said. Following the 30 June Revolution in 2013, there had been several terrorist attacks. However, as a result of the countrys efforts, terrorist activities had retreated since then, he added.

The study, when finished, will offer a comprehensive Egyptian approach to reducing the repercussions of terrorism on the social, economic, political, and cultural sectors, he said.

It clarifies how terrorism begins as soft terror that seeks to intimidate the state and society through an ideological system that expands within institutions and society and later turns into hard terror that targets inflicting material sabotage and destruction, Okasha said.

Head of the project and member of the ECSS advisory board Gamal Abdel-Gawad said violent actions could be the tip of an iceberg. In like manner, terrorism could have its roots in society, culture, and the economy. Several steps precede the moment in which an individual becomes involved in terrorism, he added.

It is our work to find them, he said.

Mondays symposium tackled the preliminary findings of the research and strategies to reinforce the pillars of the modern state during two roundtable discussions.

Economic expert Abdel-Fattah Al-Gebali, principal researcher for the projects economic axis, pointed out that terrorism has taken a heavy toll on the countrys tourism sector, public expenditure, and economic development.

Initial findings had showed that direct losses in the tourism sector due to terrorism, especially from 2011 to 2016, had hit nearly $64 billion.

Terrorist operations had also affected the rate of public spending on vital sectors such as health and education, he noted. The government has increased its spending and investment in those sectors to offset the withdrawal of private investment in order to maintain living standards, he explained.

But the increased rate of spending had led to an increase in the budget deficit, which was why the researchers had found a direct link between terrorist acts and the deficit, he added.

Development rates had also witnessed a decline on the heels of terrorist incidents as a result of a decline in foreign and private investments.

Mustafa Al-Feki, a prominent diplomat and political commentator, said that poverty was a time bomb for Egypt as it represents an incubation environment for terrorism.

Poverty is one of the causes of frustration and this results in a rejection of reality that may be expressed by adopting violence, Al-Feki said. Poverty is not the only influential factor, but it is an important incubator for terrorism, he added.

Al-Qabbaj said that her ministry was facing up to terrorism by providing social protection, supporting economic empowerment, and entrenching citizenship.

The ministry and ECSS plan to hold a series of symposia to expand dialogue on the project, she added.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 14 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Russia's foreign ministry on Friday warned of unspecified "consequences" should Finland and Sweden join the US-led NATO defence alliance, after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

Moscow's military actions in Ukraine have sparked a dramatic U-turn in public and political opinion in both Finland and Sweden over long-held policies of military non-alignment.

Finland said this week it will decide whether to apply for NATO membership within weeks, and Sweden is also discussing joining the alliance.

"The choice is up to the authorities of Sweden and Finland. But they should understand the consequences of such a step for our bilateral relations and for the architecture of European security as a whole," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

She added that Sweden and Finland's membership in NATO is "unlikely to contribute to strengthening (their) international prestige".

Zakharova said that the non-alignment policy of the two countries "provided a reliable level of security", while membership in a military alliance is "not capable of strengthening their national security".

"They will automatically find themselves on the NATO frontline," Zakharova said.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned Thursday that Russia would deploy nuclear weapons close to the three Baltic states and Scandinavia if Finland or Sweden decided to join.

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A Cairo criminal court has sentenced a man to death and his daughter to life in prison for murdering the daughters fiance in August 2018 and burying him in a home in a Rehab City gated community in the eastern suburbs of the capital.

The court also handed prison sentences ranging from five to 10 years on Thursday to six other accomplices in the case, including a Syrian national.

A life sentence carries 25 years in jail, per the Egyptian penal code.

The rulings are not final and can be appealed.

The Egyptian public reacted in shock in August 2018 over the case known in media as the "Rehab student case", after police said they recovered the body of 23-year-old university student, Bassam Osama, who had been buried in a Rehab home.

Osama was strangled to death by the 55-year-old man, Ashraf Ragab, who then buried him under the homes kitchen.

Ragab's daughter, Habiba, who was 20 years old when the crime was committed, had lured her fiance to the apartment where he was killed, according to police investigations.

The father, who owned a contracting business, told police that he killed Osama because the young man had discovered Ragab was fleeing a life sentence verdict in a drug-trafficking case.

Ragab said he was told by his daughter that Osama was going to report to the authorities that he had forged a death certificate and lived incognito for years.

Police say the six other defendants in the case aided and abetted in the murder.

Police were first informed about the matter after the victim's brother reported his disappearance.

The brother said in comments to the media at the time that Osama had told him he was going to meet Habiba, but she called him hours later to say that Osama never showed up.

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Egypts Public Prosecution announced on Thursday that no imported chocolate bars in the Egyptian market contain narcotics, after a high-profile lawyer caused controversy on social media last week by claiming that the ingredients to a certain brand of chocolate include an opiate.

The prosecution says it questioned the owner of the company that imports the chocolate bar in question, who said the chocolates are imported from Germany in accordance with health regulations.

The owner said the German chocolate bars were tested and approved by the Egyptian Food Safety Authority (EFSA) before their sale in Egypt.

The prosecution also sent samples of the chocolate bars to the Forensic Medical Authority (FMA) for testing and no narcotics were found.

The FMA said the chocolate bars ingredients included poppy seeds, which contain no narcotics and have no psychoactive effects.

Although the poppy plant is the main ingredient in opiates like heroin and morphine, the plants seeds contain no psychoactive drug and are commonly used as flavouring in food products, including pastries, muffins, cake and bread.

The prosecution also questioned well-known lawyer and former president of Cairo University Gaber Nassar, who initially caused the controversy by alleging on social media that a brand of chocolate bar commonly sold in Egypt contains a proportion of the poppy drug.

Nassar told the prosecution that he had societys best interest at heart when he made the comments.

Nassar had said last week on his Facebook page that he had received complaints from people in high-profile positions who failed drug tests at their places of employment after presumably consuming the chocolate.

Nassar posted a picture of a chocolate bar packaging, on which the list of ingredients said it contained 2.3 percent poppy.

In a follow-up post, Nassar said experts on the matter contacted him and clarified that the chocolate contains poppy seeds, not opiates.

The lawyer blamed the manufacturing company for the confusion, saying it did not elaborate on the matter, especially since the poppy plant is criminalised under Egyptian law, Nassar stressed.

In 2021, Egypt ratified a law allowing the government to sack employees who test positive for illicit drugs.

The law stipulates that those who are seeking jobs in state authorities, state administrative units, public sector companies, public utility management companies, rehabilitation centres, kindergartens, schools, and hospitals must also test negative for drugs.

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Egypt condemned on Wednesday Israeli escalations in the occupied West Bank, including the use of force against Palestinians, which has led to a number of deaths, injuries and the detention of dozens of Palestinans.

In a statement, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesperson Ahmed Hafez asserted Egypts rejection of any inciting, including calls by right-wing Israeli settler groups to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Hafez stressed the necessity of containing these dangerously escalating developments.

Right-wing Israeli settler groups called this week for organising a mass storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque during the Jewish Passover and to offer animal sacrifices in its courtyards.

Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian in the city of Nablus on the fifth day of military operations in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said on Wednesday.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported 31 people injured at the site and in a nearby village, including 10 people hit with live ammunition.

The Israeli military has stepped up raids and arrests across the occupied West Bank after four attacks in Israel in the past three weeks left 14 people dead, including in a shooting spree last week in the heart of the coastal metropolis of Tel Aviv.

Israeli forces have killed 16 Palestinians, including assailants, in the same period, according to an AFP count.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club reported 14 new arrests overnight across the West Bank.

Earlier in April, Egypt condemned the Israeli escalation in the Palestinian territories, including settlers storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque under Israeli police protection and the continued targeting of Palestinian citizens.

Egypt has repeatedly called for the revival of direct peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis to reach a two-state solution along the borders of 1967.

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Meetings of the Libyan constitutional course committee continued on Friday for the third day in a row in Egypt with the participation of members of Libya's House of Representatives and the High Council of State.

The meetings, hosted by Egypt under the guardianship of the United Nations, are proceeding in a positive atmosphere amid keenness of all participants to consult in order to ensure that the Libyan national interest is above any considerations, Libyan sources said.

The sources added that the meetings touched on the executive mechanisms required to establish the constitutional and legislative basis for the national elections in Libya.

Egypt has steadfastly supported a political resolution for the crisis in Libya, coordinating with various Libyan political forces to push for ways to achieve stability and security in the country.

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In a statement on Friday afternoon, Ahmed Hafez, the spokesperson of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also called for "exercising self-restraint and providing full protection for Muslim worshipers and allowing them to perform their Islamic rituals in Al-Aqsa Mosque as an exclusive Islamic endowment for Muslims."

The foreign ministry spokesperson reiterated Egypt's rejection of violence and incitement in all its forms, including the calls to storm the holy Al-Aqsa Mosque during the great month of Ramadan," warning of "the consequences of this on stability and security in the Palestinian territories and the region."

Some 60,000 people attended the main Friday prayers midday in Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to the Islamic endowment that administers the site.

Thousands of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police after the Israeli storming of the mosque, the third holiest site in Islam that stands in the heart of occupied East Jerusalem.

More than 160 Palestinians were injured in clashes with the Israeli police, according to the Associated Press.

At least 25 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and 14 people inside Israel by Palestinian attackers in the last two weeks, also according to an AP count.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi performed Friday prayers at Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi Mosque in New Cairo - accompanied by top military and state officials - to mark the 49th anniversary of the 10th of Ramadan - 6 October 1973 - war victory.

The president was joined in the Friday prayers by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Defence Mohamed Zaki, and Egyptian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Osama Askar.

The prayers were also attended by Minister of Justice Amr Marwan, Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa, Minister of Interior Mahmoud Tawfik, Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawi, Minister of State for Military Production Mohmed Ahmed Morsy along with Cairo Governor Khaled Abdel-Aal and Egypt's Mufti Shawky Allam, in addition to a host of Armed Forces commanders, officers and soldiers.

The 6 October victory in the 1973 war against Israel to liberate Sinai fell on the 10th day of the holy month of Ramadan that year.

The 10th day of the holy month in 2022 fell on Monday 11 April.

After the prayers, the president held a meeting with the commanders of the Armed Forces, where he congratulated them on the occasion, according to a statement by Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Rady.

The president moderated a dialogue with the commanders, during which he dealt with all local, regional and global events and their impact on the region.

He also praised the efforts made by the Armed Forces in carrying out their tasks with dedication on all strategic fronts, saying "the Egyptian people appreciate the efforts and sacrifices made by the heroes of the Armed Forces for Egypt's security and safety."

The Friday prayers were led by Dr. El-Shahat Sayed Azazi who focused the sermon on the meaning of the fasting month of Ramadan and victories achieved during this holy month.



"Egyptians should be proud of their ancestors who achieved the 10th of Ramadan victory," Azazi said.

He also asked God "to preserve Egypt's security and prosperity and to protect its leader, army and people."

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By Trend

Azerbaijani students will present a project aimed at identifying oil-polluted waters in the Caspian Sea, as well as detecting oil leaks within the TEKNOFEST International Aviation, Space and Technology Festival in Baku, Phoenix team member Hasan Huseynov told Trend.

According to Huseynov, the concept of the project provides for the possibility of measuring the degree of oil pollution in a certain water area.

"To fulfill these tasks, we have developed our own model of an unmanned aerial vehicle, which is equipped with thermal and spectral cameras which will be able to transmit the coordinates of contaminated territories in real-time to the appropriate server, he said. In the future, with this project, we plan to establish cooperation with the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), as well as other relevant organizations, and with the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.

Another representative of the Phoenix team - Ali Huseynzade noted that the team participates in the TEKNOFEST festival not only to compete but also to gain experience from participating in such a large-scale project.

"We want to develop a perfect and professional tool which will be able to perform the assigned tasks, and enter the domestic and foreign markets with this solution," Huseynzade said.

The team expressed confidence that its achievements at the TEKNOFEST festival will allow it to take a place among the top three teams.

"We are aimed at taking first place in this competition and plan to direct the grant funds which we can receive to the development of our project. We see the need for our product and express confidence that the project will be successfully implemented," added Huseynov.

The upcoming TEKNOFEST festival will be held in Azerbaijan on May 26-29, 2022.

TEKNOFEST in Baku is held by the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan. At the same time, the TEKNOFEST production office operates in Baku. The full staff of the office consists of Azerbaijani specialists.

The event has been held annually since 2018, with the joint organization of the Turkish Technology Team Foundation, which is managed by the Turkish Ministry of Industry and Technology and the technical director of Baykar Makina, in partnership with more than 60 Turkish state institutions, universities and private companies.

The goal is to popularize such areas as aviation, space industry and digital economy, to encourage entrepreneurship in these areas, to identify the knowledge and skills of young engineers through competitions organized within the framework of the festival, as well as to present national technologies to the general public.

Trend News Agency, Day.Az, Milli.Az, Azernews, Eastweststream, Today.Az and Turkic.World are official media partners of TEKNOFEST.




Alexandria will become the second Egyptian city after Sharm El-Sheikh to ban the highly polluting single-use plastic bags from its beaches as the country takes steps toward a green economy.

The decision is part of the "No to Plastic Bags" initiative, spearheaded by the Environmental Affairs Authority in Alexandria under the patronage of the minister of environment and the governor of Alexandria.

The initiative aims to replace plastic bags with safe alternatives, setting a timetable to prevent the distribution of any free plastic bags or violating standard specifications.

Alexandria - known as the Jewel of the Mediterranean - is the country's second largest city with a population of more than five million and its historic beaches attract millions of Egyptian holiday-makers in summer.

In March, Sharm El-Sheikh, the popular tourist hub on the Red Sea in South Sinai, announced that the city will become completely free of single-use plastic bags as of this June, in parallel with various other measures to turn it into a green city, as part of its preparation to host the UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) this November.

The Alexandrian authorities will provide support to plastic bag manufacturers for the production of safe alternatives, promoting various short and long-term technological solutions to manufacture fully biodegradable bags.

Moreover, the initiative will also comprise a campaign to raise awareness about the danger of single-use plastic bags on the environment and public health in the governorate.

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China said its military staged exercises Friday to reinforce its threat to use force to bring Taiwan under its control, as US lawmakers visiting Taiwan made a pointed and public declaration of their support for the self-governing island democracy while issuing a warning to China.

The six lawmakers met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Friday morning and were also scheduled to meet with the island's defense minister.

The military drills conducted by the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theater Command in areas opposite Taiwan were ``a countermeasure to the recent negative actions of the U.S., including the visit of a delegation of lawmakers to Taiwan,'' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said.

China would ``continue to take strong measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity,'' Zhao added.

China is against any official exchanges between Taiwan's government and other foreign governments because it claims Taiwan is part of its national territory and not an independent country. China and Taiwan split after a civil war in 1949.

The Eastern Theater Command described the exercises in a statement as ``a necessary action based on the present security situation in the Taiwan Strait and the need to safeguard national sovereignty.''

``Taiwan is a sacred and inalienable part of Chinese territory. There is no room for any foreign interference on the Taiwan issue,'' the statement said.

As part of the delegation of visiting U.S. lawmakers, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey gave a speech Friday praising Taiwan's democracy and its global status as a manufacturer of semi-conductor chips used in everything from cars to smartphones, and warned of consequences if that status were jeopardized.

``It is a country of global significance, of global consequence, of global impact, and therefore it should be understood the security of Taiwan has a global impact for those who would wish it ill,'' said Menendez, the head of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, in a speech at Taiwan's Presidential Office.

He emphasized that ``we seek no conflict with China as I believe Taiwan seeks no conflict with China.''

The delegation, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, also includes Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Sen. Robert Portman of Ohio, Sen. Benjamin Sasse of Nebraska and Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas.

Tsai said she welcomed their visit and hoped it would help to further deepen US-Taiwan cooperation.

``Russia's invasion of Ukraine has proven that democracies must bolster their alliances and collectively we can defend ourselves from the threats posed by authoritarian nations that seek to disrupt regional peace,'' said Tsai.

The U.S. is the democratic island's biggest unofficial ally and has stepped up weapons sales to Taiwan in past years. By law, the U.S. is bound to help Taiwan with arms that are defensive in nature. However, the question of whether the U.S. would intervene in the case of a military invasion by China remains open.

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Once again the Jenin refugee camp, no larger than one square kilometre, is at the forefront of Palestinian politics after a series of developments involving repeated Israeli incursions there under various pretexts. The refugee camp, which the Israeli army calls the hornets nest, poses a difficult security challenge.

Developments in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, began to escalate in early April when the Israeli army killed three Palestinians in the heart of the city. The army claimed they were plotting an operation inside Israel, where several attacks  unseen in many years  had killed 15 Israelis. In response, the Israeli government took extensive security measures to prevent the recurrence of such attacks.

The escalation crescendoed further when the Jenin refugee camp was revealed to be the abode of the perpetrators of two fatal attacks in Tel Aviv. This raised the alarm in Israel about the camps increasing threat to its security, and it warned it would invade the camp in an extensive operation.

Jenin refugee camp was built by UNRWA in 1953, five years after Israel occupied large swaths of Palestine in 1948. Some 13,000 Palestinians live there, mostly refugees from Haifa and Mount Carmel, who have close ties with relatives who live in these cities under Israeli rule. This has resulted in a security loophole whereby Jenin residents can enter Israel without being subjected to extensive security measures, compared to other areas in the West Bank. In addition, there is geographical proximity between the city and areas within the Green Line.

However, the residents of the camp, which has become a haven for many suspects wanted by Israel because it is difficult to penetrate, suffer from harsh Israeli restrictions as well as endless attempts by Israel to storm its outskirts and penetrate it, whether by Israeli soldiers and machines or special forces or what is known as Mustaaribeen, undercover assassins posing as Arabs.

Unemployment rates have reached 22 per cent inside the refugee camp, according to the latest Palestinian figures, which is high compared to other areas in the West Bank where unemployment is at 16 per cent. In the latter areas, Palestinians can work inside Israel, trade across the border with Jordan, and find job opportunities in the private sector.

In Jenin and the refugee camp, however, Israel is pursuing a policy of economic strangulation through a series of restrictive steps that have a limited short-term effect but devastating cumulative impact on the lives of Palestinians. These measures also undermine the development of Palestinian economic and social life.

The repeated closure of Al-Jalama border crossing, through which shoppers from Arab cities in Israel enter Jenin, dealt a severe blow to the citys economy. The city relies on those shoppers and their high purchasing power as well as the economic activities associated with the flow of tourism: transportation, communication, etc.

Jenin, which was once considered the breadbasket of the West Bank, has become an area rife with unemployment and crime, and the spectre of poverty hangs over many of its residents. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority (PA) is gradually losing control over the security situation there.

The PAs loose security grip has enabled armed Palestinian factions to thrive in Jenin refugee camp, where militants from various factions have closed military ranks. Israel fears this will spread to other areas in the West Bank.

Among the groups that are thriving in Jenin refugee camp are Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing created by Fatah that later integrated with the security services of the PA. This step was mostly successful in reducing attacks by the Brigades against Israel. However, some Fatah militants who disapproved of the PAs handling of relations with Israel restructured themselves into a single military body.

Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, are also active in the camp and work closely with Fatahs Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. This is unlike most other areas in the West Bank, where Fatah and Islamic Jihad clash and boycott each other.

Hamas, which does not have a viable military presence in the camp, recently began to contribute to the militarisation of the camp by making token appearances at most military activities organised by Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades.

Although Israel was always alarmed by the growing militant activity at the camp, it shied away from any large-scale military operation there, until the recent wave of operations inside Israel. Diaa Hamarsheh and Raad Khazem  two young Palestinian men from Jenin who carried out two shootings in the Bnei Brak area and Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv in April  were the two names that emerged.

Khazem carried out the last attack, and it embarrassed Israel because it took ten hours to track him down and kill him when he arrived in Jaffa on foot, after walking there from the site of the operation in central Tel Aviv.

The Israeli army attempted to enter the camp on Saturday to arrest the perpetrators father, but was met with shots and home-made explosives by Palestinian gunmen who were holed up there. Israel failed to make an arrest, and gave the father a short deadline to surrender or it would raid the camp.

After these events, Israels Minister of Public Security Omer Bar-Lev said Israel is preparing for a large-scale operation in Jenin refugee camp, but indicated that Israel is working to exhaust all other options first. Bar-Lev was referring to repeating the 2002 invasion of the camp, when Israel fully breached the camp as part of a military operation that included all areas of the West Bank known as Operation Defensive Wall.

During this operation, militants from different factions and Palestinian security agencies fortified themselves at the heart of the camp, and engaged in ferocious clashes with the Israeli army. The fight killed 23 Israeli soldiers and 50 militants inside the camp, and Israel completely demolished hundreds of buildings and facilities in order to enter the centre.

The decision to raid the camp to eliminate the military presence of Palestinian factions inside will not be an easy option for the current Israeli government, as it faces more turbulence in its cabinet coalition and the possibility of collapse at any moment.

At the same time, a large-scale military operation in Jenin may push armed Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip, especially Islamic Jihad, to respond by firing rockets into Israel, as noted by Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziyad Al-Nakhalah. Al-Nakhalah said the factions in Gaza will not stand idly by while Israel launches a massive attack on Jenin.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 14 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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As Egypt gears up to host the COP27 meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh in November, it can lead the world in showing how climate can be integrated into development.

While Egypts economy has managed to weather the Covid-19 pandemic, supported by the comprehensive macroeconomic reforms that the government initiated eight years ago, the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine is still unfolding and the outlook remains uncertain.

The immediate priorities include the availability and affordability of food, especially for poorer households.

As a result, talking about climate change now might be perceived as an unaffordable luxury amid the present conflict and economic crisis.

Unfortunately, the climate crisis is already here, with the potential to compound the risks to the countrys economic well-being, including food security, unless the global community takes collective action.

Egypt has recognised the need to move towards a greener and more resilient and inclusive development path. Its Sustainable Development Strategy Vision 2030 and National Climate Change Strategy 2050 are proof of that.

Accelerating climate action will be important for Egypt because climate and development are tightly intertwined. Climate change has the potential to deepen vulnerabilities, such as disparities in human development among Egypts 100 million strong population.

Those with fewer resources to cope or respond to the effects of climate change are the poor and the most vulnerable. The irreversible effects of climate change on health have deeper impacts on groups such as the elderly, children, vulnerable women, and individuals with underlying health conditions. Often it is the poor in rural areas who suffer most.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is among the hottest and driest regions in the world. The quickening pace of climate change is adding uncertainty to existing problems of water availability and already affecting livability, biodiversity, food production, and the size of crop yields.

Exposure to the risks associated with climate change, such as high variability in water availability, extreme temperatures, and rising sea levels, is very high in Egypt, with over 70 per cent of the population of the countrys largest cities facing at least one climate risk. The expected growth in urban population over the next three decades may increase the exposure of people and assets to climate risks.

More adaptation measures such as better information and information systems to manage risks, less waste in natural resources through better land use, water use, and waste management, and more resilient infrastructure such as cleaner public transport, investments that consider nature-based solutions, and green building standards can all help Egypt minimise the impact of climate change.

Currently, energy, transport, and industry together account for 70 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Egypt. With global markets shifting towards consuming goods with a lower carbon content, reducing GHG emissions will be essential to strengthen Egypts economic competitiveness. In order to ensure Egypts continued growth, development needs to be integrated into a long term-decarbonisation strategy.

Over the last few years, Egypts transition to clean energy has gained momentum. The countrys location and potential for wind and solar energy gives it a strong start. More investment in these could generate jobs and create more local employment. Egypts targets for renewable energy and energy efficient technologies are expected to deliver 7.4 million new jobs over the 30-year period to 2050. This means an average of 247,000 additional job opportunities a year, which amounts to 0.85 per cent of the countrys 29 million-strong labour force or eight per cent of the unemployed in 2020.

Transitioning to low-carbon, climate-resilient development requires significant private investment and a shift in how the private sector makes decisions. The private sector has an important role to play as a financier, innovator, and provider of climate-friendly goods and services.

Finally, improving human capital and helping people acquire the skills required to work in climate-friendly sectors is critical in the transition towards decarbonisation. Because consumption patterns are often the result of social interactions and norms, investments in education and awareness can help to shape behaviour and reduce emissions.

As Egypt gears up to host the 27th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27), we have a unique opportunity. Egypt can lead the world and show how climate can be integrated into development, while building on the commitments made in 2021 during the Glasgow COP26 conference to accelerate its climate-change agenda.

* The writer is World Bank managing director of development policy and partnerships.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 14 April, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Moscow said Friday that 18 members of the EU mission in Russia had been declared "persona non grata" and must leave the country.

"Eighteen employees of the EU Delegation to Russia have been declared 'persona non grata' and will have to leave the territory of the Russian Federation in the near future," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

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A Russian court on Friday ordered the pre-trial detention of a Siberian news editor for alleging that 11 riot police members had refused to join Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine.

Since President Vladimir Putin sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, authorities have stepped up measures to silence critics of the military operation in Russia's pro-Western neighbour.

The Investigative Committee, which probes major cases, said the chief editor of a news website in Siberia's Khakassia region had been placed in pre-trial detention for spreading "deliberately false information".

If convicted, the journalist faces up to 10 years in prison, investigators said.

Earlier this week investigators raided his apartment and seized $15,000 and over 1,200 euros in cash, the Investigative Committee said.

The Khakassia branch of the Investigative Committee did not release the name of the journalist but he is understood to be Mikhail Afanasyev, editor of "Novyi Fokus" (New Focus), a news website in Khakassia.

In early April, Afanasyev, citing sources, reported that 11 members of Russia's OMON riot police faced pressure from authorities after refusing to go to Ukraine.

Afanasyev's report was widely cited on social media, and on Friday Russia's media regulator blocked the Russian-language website of the independent news outlet The Moscow Times after it cited the report in an article.

Afanasyev, 45, previously said he was not planning to leave Russia.

"I am not going to flee the country, I am stubborn and want to put up a fight," he told AFP in early April.

Afanasyev is an award-winning editor known for covering sensitive issues in Khakassia. He has for years been embroiled in multiple libel lawsuits over his independent reporting.

Russian authorities have imposed prison terms of up to 15 years for spreading information about the Russian military deemed false by the government.

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Russia first put its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert on Feb. 27, just three days after sending troops into Ukraine, citing aggressive statements by NATO and economic sanctions from the West.

"We're obviously very concerned," he said, noting that Putin has an "almost mystical belief that his destiny is to restore Russia's sphere of influence," which includes bringing Ukraine under the Kremlin's sway.

"Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership given the setbacks that they've faced so far militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons," Burns said during a speech to students at Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, also known as Georgia Tech.

Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns warned Thursday that the world should not underestimate Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose appetite for risk has only grown "as his grip on Russia has tightened."

Russia's nuclear saber-rattling has the attention of top U.S. intelligence officials, some of whom are expressing growing concern about the Kremlin's willingness to unleash some of its nuclear arsenal as it faces "potential desperation" in Ukraine.

 Another Warning

On Thursday, one of Putin's closest allies further warned that Russia would place nuclear warheads in the Baltics should Sweden and Finland decide to join the Atlantic alliance.

"There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic -- the balance must be restored," said Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council. Medvedev said Russia would place warheads in Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave on the Baltic Sea that is 500 km from Berlin and less than 1,400 km from London and Paris.

Lithuania's defense minister downplayed the Russian threat, calling it nothing new. "Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad... the international community, the countries in the region, are perfectly aware of this," Arvydas Anusauskas told Lithuania's BNS news service.

 'Troubled'

Still, the U.S. spy chief Thursday warned that Russia's nuclear threats bear watching.

"I have learned over the years never to underestimate Putin's relentless determination, especially on Ukraine," said Burns, who met with Putin in Moscow last November, hoping to dissuade the Russian leader from invading Ukraine. "I was troubled by what I heard," Burns said.

Despite his concern, the CIA director said U.S. intelligence has yet to see evidence Moscow is preparing to unleash any part of its nuclear arsenal. "While we've seen some rhetorical posturing on the part of the Kremlin, moving to higher nuclear alert levels, so far we haven't seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern," he said.

U.S. defense officials have previously described Russia's decision to put its nuclear deterrence forces on high alert in February as "escalatory and unnecessary," but say they have yet to see anything that would require a U.S. response.

"We're obviously watching that very closely," Pentagon press secretary John Kirby told reporters during a briefing Thursday. "We have seen nothing in the space out there that has given us cause to change that [nuclear deterrence] posture in any tangible way." "It is not something that we take for granted," he added.

The latest U.S. security package for Ukraine, approved Wednesday, includes gear designed to protect Ukrainian forces from nuclear, biological and chemical exposure.

 Russian War Crimes

During his speech Thursday, Burns warned "the last chapter in Putins war has yet to be written," saying that Russia was unlikely to depart from its current, vicious strategies. "I have no doubt about the cruel pain and damage that Putin can continue to inflict on Ukraine, or the raw brutality with which Russian force is being applied," he said.

 China

The U.S. spy chief also called out China as "a silent partner in Putin's aggression" in Ukraine, adding that Beijing presents a threat to the United States and the West in its own right. China "is our greatest challenge, in many ways the most profound test the CIA has ever faced," Burns said. "As an intelligence service, we have never had to deal with an adversary with more reach in more domains."
Director Park Chan-wook's new film "Decision to Leave" and Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda's Korean-backed movie "Broker" are among 18 films that will compete for the top prize.

Two Korean films have been invited to the competition section of this year's Cannes Film Festival, which announced its official selections on Thursday. The festival will run from May 17 through 28.

"Decision to Leave," starring Park Hae-il and Chinese actress Tang Wei, revolves around a police detective and the wife of the victim of a murder he investigates.

"Broker" portrays the unexpected journey of those whose lives are linked through a "baby box," where mothers who feel unable to raise a child can drop off their babies anonymously for adoption. It boasts a star-studded cast including Song Kang-ho, Kang Dong-won, Bae Doo-na and IU.

Both Park and Koreeda have won multiple awards at the French film festival.

Park won the Grand Prix for "Oldboy" in 2004 and the Jury Prize for "Thirst" in 2009, while "The Handmaiden" was invited to the competition section in 2016.

Koreeda won the Jury Prize for "Like Father, Like Son" in 2013 and the Palme d'Or for "Shoplifters" in 2018.

Park said, "It is great news for the entire cast and crew of 'Decision to Leave.' I will watch as many films as possible and give standing ovations longer than anyone else."

Lee Jung-jae, who shot to global fame starring in Netflix's hit Korean series "Squid Game," will also be at Cannes, as his directorial debut "Hunt" has been invited to the Midnight Screenings. He also plays the lead role in the film alongside his close friend Jung Woo-sung.

"I'm really honored to have the premiere of my directorial debut at Cannes," Lee said.
Top South Korean and U.S. brass have boarded the 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the East Sea to send a warning to North Korea.

Gen. Won In-choul, the chair of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. Paul LaCamera, the chief of Combined Forces Command, met aboard the Lincoln on Thursday, a military spokesman here said.

Won and LaCamera spent five or six hours aboard the carrier, where they had discussions and met with crew. They exchanged opinions on the tactical plans of the CFC and discussed an upcoming joint naval exercise that kicks off next Monday.
By Azernews





Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov and his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama have discussed the development of bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields.

Expressing satisfaction with the development of relations, the parties emphasized the importance of the Albanian prime ministers visit to Azerbaijan in terms of expanding bilateral cooperation.

The sides underlined that energy cooperation is one of the main directions of Azerbaijani-Albanian relations. In this regard, they noted the importance of joint implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor project.

Additionally, they discussed the strengthening of political ties between the two countries, and the prospects for expanding cooperation in trade and economic, energy, investment, tourism and other spheres.

It should be noted that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama arrived in Azerbaijan for an official visit on April 14. On the same day, President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Edi Rama held a one-on-one meeting.

The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Albania amounted to $4.9 million in 2021.

Both countries are predominantly Muslim and members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Council of Europe. Relations between the two countries were established on September 23, 1992, after Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union.

Albania and Azerbaijan are developing economic and cultural ties. Albania supports Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

On November 26, 2019, an earthquake struck Albania's Durres region. The Azerbaijani government provided  500,000 in humanitarian aid to Albania.
Faced with an ultra-low birth rate and rapid aging, Korea's population will fall below 50 million next year, much sooner than projected only a few years ago.

According to Statistics Korea on Thursday, the population of Korean citizens already stands at barely 50.03 million as of present and will plunge to 49.92 million in 2023 and to 48.03 million in 2040 at the current pace.

Including foreign residents, the country's total population is also expected to decline from the current 51.63 million to 50.19 million in 2040. But foreigners will make up for some of the shortfall as immigration increases, rising from 1.6 million or 3.1 percent of the population to 2.16 million or 4.3 percent over the period.

Korea is also graying rapidly. The population of people over 65 will increase from 8.92 million or 17.8 percent of the population this year to 16.98 million or a whopping 35.3 percent in 2040.

Korea will become an "ultra-aged" society with more than 20 percent of its population over 65 in 2025, when 10.45 million people will be 65 or older.

The working-age population aged 15 to 64 will fall apace from 35.26 million this year to just 26.76 million in 2040 or only about half of the total population. It will dwindle by 350,000 a year on average this decade, when the baby-boomers born between 1955 and 1963 reach pensionable age, and then decline by 550,000 a year in the next decade.

That means the number of senior citizens every 100 people in the working-age population must support will multiply from 25.3 to 63.4 over the next 18 years.
Bacau: Un tata si-a aruncat copiii intr-un lac de acumulare dupa o cearta cu sotia. Micutii, cu varste de 5 luni, respectiv 4 ani, au fost scosi din apa de un politist, dar nu mai sunt in viata
KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2022 - 22:51 | Others, All, Japan

Japan's population had its largest drop on record, falling by 644,000 to just over 125.5 million in 2021, reflecting a decline in foreign residents amid tighter border controls over the coronavirus pandemic and the rapidly aging society, government data showed Friday.

The population stood at 125,502,000 as of Oct. 1, down 644,000 from a year earlier for the 11th consecutive year of decline. The drop was the biggest since comparable data became available in 1950, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

The number of foreign nationals living in Japan dropped by 25,000 to 2,722,000 following the strict border controls that were put in place to mitigate imported coronavirus cases.

Japanese nationals totaled 122,780,000, a drop of 618,000 from a year earlier. While Japan saw 831,000 births in 2021, the number was outpaced by the year's 1.44 million deaths.

Japan faces the dual challenge of a declining workforce and a graying population. However, the pace of population decline had slowed in recent years, helped by an increase in foreign workers coming to the country under a relaxed visa system to help ease the labor shortage.

But the coronavirus border controls prevented businesses struggling with labor shortages from hiring foreign workers and prompted the business community to call for easing the measure.

The working population, or people between 15 and 64, dropped by 584,000 to 74,504,000, accounting for 59.4 percent of the overall population, a record low.

Those 14 and below accounted for an all-time low of 11.8 percent of the total population, while people 65 and over made up a record high of 28.9 percent.

Related coverage:

Tokyo's population dips 1st time in 26 years amid pandemic

Net population influx into Tokyo hits lowest in 2021 amid pandemic

Seniors account for record 29.1% of Japan's population
KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2022 - 22:26 | World, All, Japan

Japan and five Central Asian nations pledged Friday to closely communicate over responses to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

During online talks with ministers and officials of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi condemned Moscow's aggression on Ukraine that began in late February as a serious breach of international law, according to the ministry.

"The international community needs to keep in step to deal with (the Ukrainian crisis)," Hayashi was quoted by the ministry as saying.

Other participants were Uzbekistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade Sardor Umurzakov, Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev, Tajikistan's Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Kazakh Deputy Foreign Minister Adil Tursunov and Turkmenistan's Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Hajiyev.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Japan's establishment of diplomatic ties with the five Central Asian countries following their independence from the former Soviet Union.

Originally, Tokyo planned to host an in-person meeting of foreign ministers from the five nations by the end of June but switched it to a virtual format due to a scheduling conflict, Japanese government sources said.

The videoconference came as Hayashi is arranging a visit to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan starting in late April, according to the sources.

Launching the foreign ministerial dialogue with the Central Asian countries for regional development in 2004, Japan has been trying to enhance economic relations with Central Asia, in an apparent effort to counter growing Chinese clout in the area.

Beijing continues to invest in large-scale infrastructure in Central Asia through its "Belt and Road" initiative. President Xi Jinping held online talks with leaders from the same five nations in January.

Related coverage:

Russia says Black Sea ship sunk after Ukraine claims missile strike

Japan plans to send SDF plane for Ukraine refugee aid this month

Biden says Russia is committing "genocide" in Ukraine war
KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2022 - 13:41 | All, Japan

Japan's immigration authorities said it has sent letters containing information about support to 265 addresses hosting people who fled from Ukraine to Japan in the wake of Russia's invasion.

A total of 557 evacuees entered the country between March 2 and Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday. The letters in Japanese were sent to relatives or acquaintances hosting the evacuees.

The Immigration Services Agency of Japan is working to reach 16 individuals who currently have no known address or contact information.

Related coverage:

Ukraine evacuees to get up to $19 a day as living allowance in Japan

Japan accepts Ukrainian evacuees using commercial flight for 1st time

In the letters sent Thursday, evacuees were provided with a hotline number for the immigration agency and asked to register their e-mail address to enable electronic correspondence.

They were also informed that they could change their short-term visa granted upon entry into Japan to a "designated activities" status that will allow them to land a job.

The hotline began Friday providing support in Ukrainian for displaced persons.
KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2022 - 19:31 | World, All

A delegation of senior U.S. lawmakers reassured Taiwan on Friday of strong support as the island comes under intensifying pressure from China, dispelling doubts about Washington's commitment amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who is heading the bipartisan delegation, told President Tsai Ing-wen that "to abandon Taiwan is to abandon freedom and democracy" as well as "free trade" during their meeting.

The group of six lawmakers, including Bob Menendez, the Democratic chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, arrived in Taiwan on Thursday. The two-day unannounced visit has triggered an angry reaction from China, which regards the self-ruled island as part of its territory to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

China carried out military drills around Taiwan on Friday, with its People's Liberation Army saying they took place because of recent "wrong signals" sent by Washington.

Tsai said Russia's invasion proved that "democracies must bolster their alliances and collectively we can defend ourselves from the threats posed by authoritarian nations that seek to disrupt regional peace."

The United States and its other partners in Asia, including Japan, believe Russia's onslaught against Ukraine, which started in late February, threatens the rules-based international order and the ramifications go far beyond Europe.

Graham said the United States may be politically divided but regarding Taiwan it is united, adding that the war in Ukraine and China's "provocative behavior" have made Washington "unlike any time I've seen in recent memory."

"So here's my promise to you and the Taiwanese people. We're going to start making China pay a greater price for what they're doing all over the world," he said.

"The support for Putin must come with a price, the never-ending cyberattacks on your economy and your people by the Communist Chinese need to come with a price," he added.

Referring to Taiwan as "a country of global significance, of global consequence, of global impact," Menendez said the visit by the group, which he described as "not just diverse" but also "high ranking," is to reaffirm the "rock solid" relations between them.

Menendez revealed that Beijing was "very unhappy" about the visit, but that it "did not dissuade us from coming, and it won't dissuade us in the future in supporting Taiwan."

In Beijing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman publicly criticized the U.S. lawmakers, saying it firmly opposes any form of official exchanges between Washington and Taipei.

China "will take effective measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the spokesman, Zhao Lijian, told reporters.

He added Taiwan is "bound to be reunified" with the mainland.

Communist-led China and democratic Taiwan have been governed separately since they split in 1949 as the result of a civil war.

Related coverage:

U.S. congressional delegation arrives in Taiwan, draws China rebuke

U.S. House speaker postpones Asia trip after positive COVID test

More Taiwanese believe Japan will aid Taiwan if China invades: poll
KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2022 - 21:29 | All, Japan

Japan's greenhouse gas emissions hit a fresh low in fiscal 2020 for the third straight year due to reduced economic activity amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of renewable energy use, the government said Friday.

National emissions in fiscal 2020 totaled 1.15 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, down 5.1 percent from fiscal 2019 for the seventh straight yearly decline and the lowest figure since comparable data became available in fiscal 1990, the Environment Ministry said.

The ministry cited lower energy consumption caused by reduced production by manufacturers and a decrease in passenger and freight traffic amid the pandemic as factors contributing to the emissions cut.

"Now is the time for further accelerating the introduction of renewables and a thorough implementation of energy conservation measures in light of the situation in Ukraine and the current (energy) environment," Environment Minister Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi said at a press conference.

Russia's invasion of its neighbor Ukraine, launched in late February, has exposed risks for resource-poor Japan's dependence on energy imports from Moscow.

Emissions in the year through March 2021 marked an 18.4 percent drop compared with the fiscal 2013 level, which Japan uses as a base year in pursuing a 46 percent cut by fiscal 2030, mainly due to improved energy conservation and resumption of nuclear power plant operations.

Japan had previously sought a 26 percent reduction compared with the base year.

By gas types, emissions of CO2 decreased to 1.04 billion tons, down 5.8 percent from the previous year, while those of hydrofluorocarbons, which substitute ozone-depleting substances as refrigerants, continued on a rising trend, climbing 4.0 percent.

The industry sector reduced energy-related CO2 emissions by 8.1 percent from the previous year, while such emissions fell 10.2 percent in the transport sector.

Households saw emissions increase by 4.5 percent, likely as people spent more time at home during the pandemic.

The energy conversion sector, which includes power plants and oil refineries, cut emissions by 8.4 percent from the previous year, as emissions from the manufacturing of oil products decreased.

Removal of greenhouse gases by forests and other "carbon sink" measures has continued a declining trend of late, standing at 44.5 million tons of CO2 equivalent in fiscal 2020. The government plans to replace old trees, which are less efficient at absorbing carbon, with younger ones.

When gases absorbed by forests and other carbon sink measures are subtracted from the total emissions, the figure amounted to 1.11 billion tons of CO2 equivalent, a 21.5 percent decline from the fiscal 2013 level, according to the ministry.

Yamaguchi said he plans to submit the figures to the secretariat of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change on Friday as the country's greenhouse gas inventory.

Along with the United States and other countries, Japan aims to become carbon neutral -- an economy with net zero greenhouse gas emissions -- by 2050.

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KYODO NEWS - Apr 15, 2022 - 22:08 | World, All

North Korea on Friday marked the 110th anniversary of the birth of its founder, Kim Il Sung, the grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, amid mounting concern that it would conduct military provocations directed against the United States.

As speculation grew that North Korea may launch an intercontinental ballistic missile or carry out its seventh nuclear test on the occasion of the anniversary, the United States, Japan and South Korea strengthened surveillance on the country.

The ruling Workers' Party of Korea decided in January to "significantly" celebrate the April 15 anniversary -- the nation's biggest holiday known as the "Day of the Sun." North Korea usually stages larger celebrations on every fifth and 10th anniversary.

On the 105th anniversary in 2017, North Korea held a vast military parade in its capital Pyongyang, but a similar move has not been confirmed this year.

The latest anniversary came as Kim Jong Un has been trying to enhance the national prestige at a time when the country's economy has been languishing against a backdrop of a border blockage following the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

In the run-up to the anniversary, Kim Jong Un participated in a ceremony to celebrate the completion of a major housing project in Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday.

Kim was also quoted by KCNA as saying he has given a "marvelous dwelling house" to Ri Chun Hi, the nation's most famous TV anchor working for the state-run Korean Central Broadcasting Station.

As on past anniversaries, citizens on Friday laid flowers and bowed before giant statues of Kim Il Sung and his son, Kim Jong Il, the previous leader who died in 2011, on Mansu Hill in Pyongyang.

At night, Korean Central Television broadcast a live dance performance by young people held at Kim Il Sung Square and fireworks set off in the capital, while a lighting festival opened there on Thursday.

South Korea's Unification Ministry has said the North might stage a military parade in time for the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army, the predecessor of the present Korean People's Army, on April 25.

April 25, 1932, is the day that North Korea says Kim Il Sung started organizing an anti-Japanese guerrilla force.

Many foreign affairs experts also said North Korea may take provocative actions around Monday, from which U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises are scheduled to be conducted on a larger scale. Pyongyang has slammed them as a "rehearsal" for war.

Kim Jong Un recently said North Korea is "fully ready for long-standing confrontation with the U.S. imperialists," after hinting at resuming nuclear and ICBM tests earlier this year.

On March 24, North Korea made the first launch of such a missile since November 2017, marking an end to its self-imposed moratorium on ICBM tests since April 2018.

The United States and North Korea remain technically in a state of war as the 1950-1953 Korean War -- in which U.S.-led U.N. forces fought alongside the South against the North backed by China and the Soviet Union -- ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.

Related coverage:

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Mask requirements have been scrapped, free mass testing is a thing of the past ... As COVID-19 cases are soaring in the UK, experts are getting more and more concerned with the government's "Living With COVID" strategy.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service








Video: Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, urges Japan to face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, handle issues left over from history, such as the forced drafting of "comfort women," in a responsible manner. (Xinhua)

For decades, some forces in Japan have stubbornly adhered to misconceptions and attempted to deny and whitewash its history of aggression, Dai Bing said.



UNITED NATIONS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy on Wednesday urged Japan to face up to history on the issue of "comfort women" in World War II.

Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, made the appeal at a Security Council open debate on conflict-related sexual violence.

Nadia Murad, an Iraqi female winner of Noble Prize from the Iraqi Yazidi minority in Baghdad, briefed the council on Wednesday. As a survivor of sexual violence by the Islamic State terrorist group, she has been seeking accountability and justice for over seven years for Yazidi survivors of Iraq like her.

"In East Asia, there is also a group of victims of sexual violence in conflict, who have been living with nightmare memories, but have not been able to get justice even till their deaths," he said. "This group is the 'comfort women' forcibly drafted by the Japanese army during World War II."

During that period, hundreds of thousands of women and girls from China, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia and other countries and regions were forcibly conscripted by Japanese militarists as sex slaves and experienced horrific sexual violence, both mentally and physically, he noted.

A woman visits the exhibition of the Crimes of Japanese "Comfort Women" System at the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, Sept. 18, 2021. (Xinhua/Li Bo)

However, for decades, some forces in Japan have stubbornly adhered to misconceptions and attempted to deny and whitewash its history of aggression. As recent as last month, some of the textbooks approved by the Japanese government once again blurred historical facts through the play of words, attempting to downplay and evade the historical guilt of forced recruitment of "comfort women," he said.

"We solemnly urge Japan to face up to and reflect on its history of aggression, handle issues left over from history, such as the forced drafting of 'comfort women,' in a responsible manner, bring justice to the victims and survivors, and be accountable to the people of the invaded countries, so as not to further lose trust from its Asian neighbors and the international community," said Dai. 
By Azernews





Azerbaijani Ambassador to Italy Mammad Ahmadzada has said that Azerbaijan is the third-largest supplier of gas to Italy, thanks to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), Day.az has reported.

"Azerbaijan is the largest supplier of crude oil to Italy and now thanks to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline it is the third-largest supplier of gas," he said.

He recalled that last year Azerbaijan supplied about 7 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy.

"During his visit, Azerbaijani Energy Minister noted that if the current rate of production growth is maintained, our gas export to Italy may reach 9.5 billion cubic meters by the end of this year under long-term and spot contracts. The minister also noted that there is a possibility to transport a 10 percent hydrogen mixture via TAP after the pipeline expansion," he said.

The ambassador added that the TAP consortium management has announced that the pipeline will reach its maximum capacity.

"We are talking about 33 million cubic meters per day, or on average about 12 billion cubic meters per year, of which 10.5 billion cubic meters come for Italy," he said.

Azerbaijan is a major supplier of energy to Italy. Azerbaijan started commercial gas supplies to Europe via the Southern Gas Corridor, with the completion of the TAP construction on December 31, 2020. The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has transported 8.1 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe in 2021. Of the total amount of transported gas, over 6.8 billion cubic meters reached Italy.

Earlier, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that about 19 billion cubic meters of Azerbaijani gas will be exported in 2022. Of this volume, more than 8 billion cubic meters will be exported to Turkey and more than 7 billion cubic meters to Italy.

In Azerbaijan, over 100 Italian companies operating in various fields are registered. Italian firms have contracts worth more than  10 billion ($11.8 billion) for Azerbaijani projects both inside and outside the country.

Azerbaijan's total investment in the Italian economy is estimated to be around  1.7 billion ($2 billion), with Italy investing approximately  770 million ($910.8 million) in Azerbaijan.

Italy was Azerbaijan's top trade partner in January-February 2022, with a total trade turnover of $3.1 billion between the two countries.

Italy was also one of the first countries to express support for Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, as well as an interest in participating in restoration efforts in Azerbaijan's liberated territories. Thus, Italy and Israel have already begun work on a joint project to transform the liberated Zangilan region into a smart city.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta (R) and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel attend a partnership signing ceremony in Kigali, Rwanda, on April 14, 2022. Rwanda has agreed to host migrants to be relocated from the United Kingdom, under the Rwanda-UK Migration and Economic Development Partnership initiative, the government here announced Thursday. (Photo by Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua)

KIGALI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda has agreed to host migrants to be relocated from the United Kingdom, under the Rwanda-UK Migration and Economic Development Partnership initiative, the government here announced Thursday.

In a statement, Rwanda's Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta and UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said the partnership will address the urgent humanitarian crisis by tackling its roots.

Under the program, migrants will be integrated into communities across the East African country, where they will be entitled to full protection under Rwandan law, equal access to employment, and enrolment in healthcare and social care services, according to the statement.

Also, the UK's upfront investment of 120 million pounds will fund opportunities for Rwandans and migrants, including secondary qualifications, vocational and skills training, language lessons, and higher education, it said.

"There is a global responsibility to prioritize the safety and well-being of migrants, and Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal pathways to residence. This is about ensuring that people are protected, respected, and empowered to further their own ambitions and settle permanently in Rwanda if they choose," Biruta said.

Rwanda, with its "open policy," in 2019 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Refugee Agency, and the African Union to set up an emergency transit mechanism for refugees and asylum seekers evacuated from Libya.

Under the agreement, a total of 824 evacuees were received in the first seven batches, according to the Ministry in charge of Emergency Management. Among them, 565 were resettled to third countries, the ministry said last month.

The plan by the UK to relocate asylum seekers to Africa came amid criticism from some British opposition politicians and refugee groups who have condemned it as inhumane and ill-conceived. 

Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta (R) shakes hands with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel at a partnership signing ceremony in Kigali, Rwanda, on April 14, 2022. Rwanda has agreed to host migrants to be relocated from the United Kingdom, under the Rwanda-UK Migration and Economic Development Partnership initiative, the government here announced Thursday. (Photo by Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua)
Celebrations are held in various parts of Thailand to mark a non-wet Songkran festival, with water splashing festivities canceled for a third year due to COVID-19.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
NAIROBI, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict has negatively impacted Kenya's flowers export, the industry lobby said on Friday.

Clement Tulezi, CEO of Kenya Flower Council (KFC) said that orders for cut flowers and ornamental plants to Russia and Ukraine have been canceled since Feb. 24 when the conflict began.

"We have not been able to ship flowers and our fear is that we could lose the market if the Russia-Ukraine crisis is not resolved," Tulezi said during a telephone interview with Xinhua in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital.

According to KFC, Kenya exported to Russia and Ukraine cut flowers and ornamentals valued at approximately 18 billion shillings (155 million U.S. dollars) in 2021.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates that the east African nation exported approximately 210,000 tons of flowers worth 952 million U.S. dollars in 2021, making the fresh produce among the top foreign exchange earner alongside tea, diaspora remittances and tourism.

Tulezi observed that over 70 percent of flower exports are sold to the European Union mostly through the Dutch flower auction.

"Our other key markets include Japan, Australia, China and the Middle East region," he added.

He noted that flower growers, who were dependent on the Russian and Ukraine markets, are seeking alternative markets in order to remain afloat.

Ojepat Okisegere, CEO of Fresh Produce Consortium of Kenya, said that flower exports to Russia were stopped when the country was excluded from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) payment platform.

"Our exporters can no longer receive payments from Russia hence we cannot sell to them," Okisegere said.

He noted that the flower sector has also been affected by the Russian trade blockade as the country is also a key source of Kenya's fertilizer imports. 
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese embassy in the United States on Thursday expressed strong opposition to the ongoing visit to China's Taiwan region by six U.S. lawmakers of both chambers of Congress.

Responding to a request from the media, the embassy's spokesperson said the visit "gravely violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques."

"We urge the U.S. side to honor its commitment of adhering to the one-China policy, earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the three Sino-U.S. Joint Communiques, immediately stop all forms of official interactions with Taiwan and avoid sending wrong signals to the 'Taiwan independence' separatist forces, lest it should further undermine China-U.S. relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," the spokesperson said.

"The Chinese side will continue to take strong measures to resolutely safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity," the spokesperson added.

The U.S. congressional delegation -- led by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican serving as a ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee -- arrived in Taiwan on Thursday. 
Israeli security forces take position during clashes with Palestinian demonstrators at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, April 15, 2022.

According to Palestinian health officials, over 100 Palestinians have been injured so far in the clashes, while the Israeli police reported that three officers were lightly wounded. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua)

JERUSALEM, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Palestinians clashed with Israeli police forces on Friday at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, leaving more than 100 people wounded.

"Hundreds of rioters participated in the clashes, during which stones were thrown and fireworks launched at police forces," the Israeli police said in a statement.

The police "initiated a dialogue, warning the rioters and giving ample opportunities for independent dispersal and cessation of the violent disturbance, with no result," said the statement.

According to Palestinian health officials, over 100 Palestinians have been injured so far in the clashes, while the Israeli police reported that three officers were lightly wounded.

Thousands of worshippers gathered at the entrance to the holy compound since the early hours of Friday.

The tension between Israel and the Palestinians has flared up in the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the past three weeks as the Jewish festival of Passover overlap with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Last year, clashes in Jerusalem led to an 11-day conflict between Israel and the Gaza Strip. 

Israeli security forces take position during clashes with Palestinian demonstrators at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, April 15, 2022.

According to Palestinian health officials, over 100 Palestinians have been injured so far in the clashes, while the Israeli police reported that three officers were lightly wounded. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua)

Israeli security forces enter the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, April 15, 2022.

According to Palestinian health officials, over 100 Palestinians have been injured so far in the clashes, while the Israeli police reported that three officers were lightly wounded. (Photo by Muammar Awad/Xinhua)
Performers participate in a street parade celebrating the Songkran Festival in Ayutthaya, Thailand, April 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

The traditional new year Songkran Festival is being celebrated in Thailand. Despite the water splashing ban due to the COVID-19, many other events such as handicraft exhibits, buddha statue water-pouring rituals and food markets are promoted to make people get together to enjoy the festivities in a safer and dryer way.

BANGKOK, April 15 (Xinhua) -- For the third year in a row, Thailand is celebrating its traditional new year Songkran in a water-free mode, despite the country being set to lift most COVID-19 control measures once and for all in the near future.

A parade of young Thais in colorful traditional costumes, an elephant with a lady dressed elegantly as the "Songkran Goddess" on its back, and music performances and dancers, marked this year's new year celebration in the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya on Wednesday, the first day of Songkran.

Handicraft exhibits, buddha statue water-pouring rituals, together with a food market, the local authorities are trying hard to make people get together to enjoy the festivities in a safer and dryer way.

To better contain the spread of the COVID-19 in the country, the Thai government has prohibited water splashing, powder smearing and foam parties, which the Songkran festival is most famed for.

Performers participate in a street parade celebrating the Songkran Festival in Ayutthaya, Thailand, April 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

Instead, this year's event focused on the traditional and cultural angles of the holiday, such as family values and ancient ceremonies, according to Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT).

Ekarat, a Thai visitor on Wednesday night's show, told Xinhua he noticed the effort from the event organizers who try to explain the cultural stories of Thailand from historic scripts in the form of performances.

For foreigners like David, a young tourist from Singapore, it was exciting to see that larger events can be organized again in Thailand. However, he was a bit disappointed by the absence of any water spectacles.

Unlike the previous two years, the country's COVID-19 taskforce this year has allowed interprovincial travel and further eased border control measures in order to lure more international visitors.

Performers participate in a street parade celebrating the Songkran Festival in Ayutthaya, Thailand, April 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

Since the start of the Songkran week, the rail system has seen a huge increase in passenger traffic. TAT estimated that throughout the long holidays, the southeast Asian nation will host a total of 3.34 million Thai and foreign tourists.

Despite the water splashing ban, social media revealed that people played with water guns in some tourist hotspots such as Patong beach in Phuket island and Bangkok's busy Khaosan road Wednesday night, which prompted the government to reaffirm the ban the next day.

Special forces and tourist police were sent to the area on Thursday, to prevent COVID-19 measure violations. Several roadblocks with police control points have been set up at both ends of Khao San Road.

"The number of visitors is the same as yesterday," Champ, a vendor at Khaosan road, told Xinhua on Thursday. He is happy to see people flocking to the street to celebrate the festival which keeps his business floating.

This stands in stark contrast to how Khaosan road looked just a few months ago, when it resembled a ghost town.

Performers participate in a street parade celebrating the Songkran Festival in Ayutthaya, Thailand, April 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

However, popular spots with crowds celebrating Songkran also posed a risk for COVID-19 outbreaks, which are predicted by medical experts before the holiday.

Thailand's health ministry said that the long holidays could intensify the spread of the coronavirus, with the number of new cases expected to exceed 100,000 per day afterwards.

Prasit Watanapa, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said Thailand's mortality rate is currently 3-4 times the government's target of 0.1 percent.

He warned that in face of a post-Songkran surge of daily cases, the government must keep the number of single-day deaths below 200 and the number of hospitalizations manageable to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed.
Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds talks with Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, held talks with Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko via video link on Friday.

Commending China-Russia ties as mature, resilient, and stable, Li said that the bilateral relationship, which is based on the principle of non-alliance, non-confrontation, and non-targeting of any third party, is driven by strong internal dynamics and valued for its independence.

Li called on the two legislative bodies to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, and promote the implementation of the Treaty of Good-neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between China and Russia to facilitate the development of bilateral relations.

The two countries should give full play to the cooperative committee platform between the two legislative bodies, promote exchanges, consolidate the legal cooperation foundation, safeguard political security, and step up cooperation across the board, according to Li.

He called on both sides to continue with exchanges across different legislative levels and enhance experience sharing on state governance.

Regarding multilateral cooperation, Li voiced support for true multilateralism and economic globalization and called for the joint safeguarding of the UN-centered international system, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

Matviyenko said the Russian Federation Council stands ready to work with the NPC to contribute to bilateral cooperation spanning the economy, environmental protection, local issues, youth and sports, to cement the friendship between the two peoples. 

Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, holds talks with Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko via video link at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, April 15, 2022. (Xinhua/Yue Yuewei)
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China pursues development in order to bring better lives to the people, without any interests in challenging or replacing others, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a regular press briefing when asked to comment on CIA Director William Burns' speech on Thursday, in which he called China a "formidable competitor lacking in neither ambition nor capability," and said that China is "intent" on replacing the United States as "the preeminent power in the Indo-Pacific."

Zhao said the United States has been constantly disseminating disinformation about the Ukraine crisis, flagrantly slandering China and driving a wedge between China and Russia with an agenda of profiting from the repercussions of its blame-shifting and the confrontation it incites among others.

"The United States should focus more on its responsibility for the outbreak and escalation of the Ukraine crisis," Zhao said.

He stressed that China pursues development in order to bring better lives to the people, without any interests in challenging or replacing others.

"For too long, the United States has been whipping up the 'China threat theory' and throwing dirty water at China. But lies remain lies, no matter how many times they are repeated. The world can make a fair judgement about China's contributions to world peace and development," the spokesperson said.

Certain U.S. politicians should view China's development in an objective light, cease fabricating lies, stop sowing discord between China and other countries that China has normal relations with, and do more that is conducive to the development of China-U.S. relations, Zhao said. 
PARIS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The West bears some responsibility for the ongoing escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, two former French politicians have said in two separate articles, during which they expressed their concerns over sanctions against Russia.

In an article published in Le Figaro, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, a senior former diplomatic adviser to former French President Jacques Chirac, said that since the end of the Soviet Union, the hubris of the West has resulted in the loss of sight of the fact that security must be "arranged."

Russian warnings went unheeded or were ignored, Gourdault-Montagne said, adding that possible trust between Russia and the West has turned into mistrust and then into defiance.

Russia's request for a stop of NATO's eastward expansion and for the neutrality of Ukraine deserves to be heard, Gourdault-Montagne said in the article.

Similarly, former French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine has pleaded for dialogue with Russia. In another article published in Le Figaro, Vedrine wrote that the West bears some responsibility for the current situation.

In addition, both Gourdault-Montagne and Vedrine expressed their concerns over sanctions against Russia.

Vedrine warned that sanctions are not a panacea, noting that the United States' use of extraterritorial sanctions citing honorable reasons has only served its own interests for decades.

"We must be careful not to punish the peoples or to punish ourselves," Vedrine said, adding that "Russia will always be our neighbor, it is a geographical remark, not a political one."

Gourdault-Montagne, in his article, also called on people not to be deluded about the effectiveness of sanctions. 
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Friday slammed the visit to Taiwan by some members of the U.S. Congress.

The visit is a deliberate provocation that seriously violates the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, said Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense.

It is extremely hypocritical and untrustworthy for the United States to pledge not to support "Taiwan independence" on one hand and send a seriously wrong signal to the secessionist forces on the other hand, Wu said.

China firmly opposes this and has lodged solemn representations with the U.S. side, Wu noted.

The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has conducted a combined combat-readiness patrol and carried out targeted training exercises in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island, according to Wu.

The PLA has been in full combat readiness and will take all measures necessary to resolutely defeat the interference of external forces and thwart the secessionist attempts at "Taiwan independence", Wu stressed. 
By Trend

The amount of visitors from Azerbaijan traveling to Georgia in March 2022 amounted to 14,554 people, which is an increase of 244.4 percent, compared to the same month of 2021 (4,226), Trend reports via Georgian National Tourism Administration.

The same number, however, decreased by 66.5 percent, compared to 43,437 visitors in March 2020, and by 87.6 percent, compared to 117,050 visitors over the same month of 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic).

Thus, Azerbaijan ranked fifth among TOP-10 main countries of origin for visitors arriving in Georgia in March 2022, the report said. Meanwhile, Turkey ranked first on the list with 42,421 visitors to Georgia in the reporting period of 2022, followed by Russia (22,536), and Armenia (21,990).

The total number of international visitors to Georgia in March 2022 amounted to 211,484 visitors, which is an increase of 266.3 percent, compared to 57,728 over the same period of 2021.
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Mauritian counterpart, Prithvirajsing Roopun, exchanged congratulatory messages on Friday to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Xi pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic relations half a century ago, China-Mauritius ties have seen healthy and stable development, the traditional friendship has withstood the test of time and grown even stronger, and cooperation in all fields has been increasingly deepened.

Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, people of the two countries have helped each other to overcome the difficulties of the times together, showing a profound friendship sharing weal and woe, he added.

Xi stressed that he attaches great importance to the development of China-Mauritius relations, and is willing to work with President Roopun to take the 50th anniversary as an opportunity to enhance traditional friendship, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and promote common development, so as to benefit the two countries and their people.

In his message, Roopun said that over the past 50 years, Mauritius and China have forged a profound friendship, and exchanges and cooperation in various fields have developed in an all-round way.

Noting that the entry into force and the implementation of the bilateral free trade agreement has further strengthened the close ties between the two countries, Roopun said he hopes the two sides will take the 50th anniversary as an opportunity to explore innovation, consolidate and expand cooperation, and deepen friendship and mutual trust. 
Members of the Canadian Armed Forces wearing face masks walk outside a mobile hospital at a parking lot of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on April 30, 2021. (Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua)

With the immediate deployment of approximately 100 CAF personnel in the coming days they will provide assistance in reception centers operated by the Polish Territorial Defence Force located across the country, Canadian national defence minister said.

OTTAWA, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Minister of National Defence Anita Anand announced Thursday that up to 150 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel could deploy to Poland on a humanitarian mission to support Ukrainian refugees.

Anand said that with the immediate deployment of approximately 100 CAF personnel in the coming days they will provide assistance in reception centers operated by the Polish Territorial Defence Force located across the country. These centers are coordinating the onward movement of Ukrainian refugees in Poland and across Europe.

The CAF will provide support, limited medical care, mental health supports and spiritual services, enabled by Ukrainian-speaking CAF personnel to assist with the immediate care and processing of refugees, Anand said.

"In many ways, the world is a much less safe place than it was two years ago, and certainly two months ago, and we must take stock and take action in order to remain a valuable reliable ally and partner for decades to come," said Anand.

According to the Defence Ministry, Canada has committed 145 million Canadian dollars (116 million U.S. dollars) in humanitarian assistance, and 35 million Canadian dollars (28 million U.S. dollars) in development assistance to provide direct support to Ukrainians.

Canada has also announced more than 110 million Canadian dollars (88 million U.S. dollars) in military aid, and is providing military aid, both lethal and non-lethal, to support Ukraine.

Canada's Budget 2022 proposed to provide an additional 500 million Canadian dollars (400 million U.S. dollars) in 2022-23 to provide further military aid to Ukraine. 
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The naysayers would have you believe that the strict COVID-19 control measures in the economic hub of Shanghai will drag down the country's economic growth, hurt trade, and deter investment.

The argument that epidemic control comes at the cost of economic fundamentals is not only unsubstantiated but underestimates the potential and resilience of the Chinese economy.

There is no denying that Shanghai is undergoing hardship due to the recent resurgence of the virus, but it would be a mistake to assume that Shanghai alone represents China's overall economic landscape.

China has solid economic fundamentals able to withstand headwinds, which will only be strengthened once the Omicron variant is brought under control.

The cynics need to look no further than foreign trade to see this vitality in full play. The country's total imports and exports in the first quarter expanded 10.7 percent year on year to 9.42 trillion yuan (about 1.47 trillion U.S. dollars), the seventh consecutive quarter of growth.

Robust foreign direct investment (FDI) offers further evidence. FDI into the Chinese mainland during the first three months expanded 25.6 percent year on year to 379.87 billion yuan, with investment in high-tech industries logging an increase of 52.9 percent.

Moreover, China has a wide array of tools at its disposal to offset previous losses, build up momentum for future development, and maintain stable economic growth.

A State Council executive meeting last week stressed the importance of implementing prudent monetary policy to maintain reasonably sufficient liquidity; explore financial measures to bolster consumption and investment; and channel financing toward key fields and weak links.

On Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang highlighted measures to keep the economy stable and improve people's livelihoods, which included boosting consumption and increasing export tax rebates.

China has stayed true to its "dynamic zero-COVID approach" throughout its battle with the elusive Omicron variant. In March, Changchun, capital of Jilin Province in northeast China, was subject to stringent control measures under the strategy. Despite tens of thousands of infections, it successfully cut off all transmission chains out of its quarantine areas.

China was the first major economy to recover from the initial impact of COVID-19 in 2020 thanks to its swift and tough response, and economic resilience continued throughout 2021 despite more pervasive strains wreaking havoc worldwide.

Perhaps the critics would do well to look closer at the successes of the past years before they underestimate China's capacity to balance epidemic control and economic stability. 
People visit a job fair of Chinese-invested enterprises in Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 14, 2022. Thousands of job seekers on Thursday swarmed into the Gallagher Convention Center in Johannesburg, where Chinese-invested enterprises in South Africa threw a job fair in hopes of hiring local talent for localized development. (Photo by Yeshiel Panchi/Xinhua)

JOHANNESBURG, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of job seekers on Thursday swarmed into the Gallagher Convention Center in Johannesburg, where Chinese-invested enterprises in South Africa threw a job fair in hopes of hiring local talent for localized development.

Long queues of people waited to submit their CVs in front of the stands of their preferred companies. To prevent chaos, organizers had to limit admissions due to the sheer number of participants.

Chinese Ambassador Chen Xiaodong said the job Fair is a concrete initiative and effort to implement agreements between the leaders of the two countries. It not only creates jobs for South Africans but also provides an opportunity for Chinese enterprises to hire local talent and pursue localized development.

"Today, over 100 Chinese-invested enterprises pledge to provide 20,000 jobs directly for South Africans in the next three years. Their businesses cover infrastructure, communications, mining, automobile, agriculture and many other areas," said Chen. "For example, Huawei will provide 450 jobs and Pengxin will provide 3,500 jobs in the next three years."

South Africa's Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Alvin Botes said the job fair showed China's commitment to eradicating the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment, and inequality and was evidence of the depth of the two countries' partnership.

According to him, the job fair would not only generate much-needed jobs, but also lead to skills transfer, especially in ICT, mining clothing, information technology, and construction.

"I believe that the Chinese companies and enterprises participating in this event have already advertised job opportunities and I hope that many young South Africans would embrace these opportunities that are being offered by the Chinese business community," he said.

Botes said there were more than 200 Chinese enterprises in South Africa in different sectors including finance, mining, home appliances, communications, and construction machinery. Chinese-invested enterprises contribute to sustainable development in South Africa as the country was one of the largest investment destinations for Chinese companies in Africa.

"China's investment in South Africa exceeded 25 billion U.S. dollars in cumulative terms," Botes said. "While this Jobs Fair and the opportunities on offer should be seen as complementary to the South Africa-China strategic partnership, it could be viewed as a further opportunity to enrich the bonds of friendship and understanding that exist between our people, as well as our cultures."

South Africa's Minister of Employment and Labor Thulas Nxesi expressed his gratitude to the Chinese Embassy and Chinese businesses for hosting the Job Fair 2022 of Chinese-Invested Enterprises, which, he said, would contribute significantly to reducing unemployment in the country.

"The Jobs Fair is a milestone in our friendship that is built on trust and mutual respect. As very good friends, the Chinese government and companies are aware that the issue of employment creation is at the center of our government's programs and priorities," Nxesi said at the Job Fair.

According to Nxesi, the unemployment rate of South Africa stands at 35.3 percent for now. This ratio is much higher when it comes to the young people that are not economically engaged.

"On behalf of our government, I wish to express our gratitude to the people of China for this important gesture which will undoubtedly contribute to our efforts to reduce the current 35.3 percent unemployment rate," he said while calling on Chinese companies to partner with South African companies to create jobs in the country.

"These collaborations will ensure that these companies get a chance to scale up to compete globally," Nxesi said. "Moreover, we will improve our cooperation at the level of BRICS and other platforms to build labor markets that are resilient and responsive to the needs of our citizens." 

People take a selfie at a job fair of Chinese-invested enterprises in Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 14, 2022. Thousands of job seekers on Thursday swarmed into the Gallagher Convention Center in Johannesburg, where Chinese-invested enterprises in South Africa threw a job fair in hopes of hiring local talent for localized development. (Photo by Yeshiel Panchi/Xinhua)

South African Minister of Employment and Labor Thulas Nxesi speaks at a job fair of Chinese-invested enterprises in Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 14, 2022. Thousands of job seekers on Thursday swarmed into the Gallagher Convention Center in Johannesburg, where Chinese-invested enterprises in South Africa threw a job fair in hopes of hiring local talent for localized development. (Photo by Yeshiel Panchi/Xinhua)

Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Chen Xiaodong speaks at a job fair of Chinese-invested enterprises in Johannesburg, South Africa, on April 14, 2022. Thousands of job seekers on Thursday swarmed into the Gallagher Convention Center in Johannesburg, where Chinese-invested enterprises in South Africa threw a job fair in hopes of hiring local talent for localized development. (Photo by Yeshiel Panchi/Xinhua)
Photo taken on Nov. 23, 2021 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)

*The United States has been involved in most of the major warfares or military conflicts since WWII.

*"Human rights," "democracy" or "common values" are common rhetorics the United States uses to justify its aggression and intervention. However, they are all lies in the face of multiple human tragedies that it fuels, facilitates and reaps from.

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- To maintain its hegemony and global primacy, the United States has long been fanning tensions and creating chaos around the world.

Addicted to exercising raw military power and intoxicated with the immense political and economic gains from conflict instigation and arbitrary intervention, the United States, analysts and observers say, has become the greatest threat to world peace and stability.





ADDICTED TO WAR

In remarks made in April 2019, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said the United States has been at peace for only 16 of its 242 years as a nation, calling the country "the most warlike nation in the history of the world."

From directly launching wars, backing proxy wars, stirring up inter-state hostilities to engineering "color revolutions," the United States has been involved in most of the major warfares or military conflicts since WWII.

These wars and conflicts have devastated the invaded countries, killed millions of civilians, and displaced tens of millions.

A U.S. military vehicle runs past the Tal Tamr area in the countryside of Hasakah province, northeastern Syria, Nov. 14, 2019. (Str/Xinhua)

The unfolding Russia-Ukraine conflict is just the latest of many examples in which the United States seeks its own geopolitical interests by stirring up confrontations in other countries or regions.

William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review, has said that Russia's main concern about NATO eastward expansion has never been heeded by the United States, "which is only interested in maintaining its hegemonic status in Europe, and which has been steadily retreating from that collaborative policy which the West committed itself to after the Cold War."

In a dialogue with the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board on April 1, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on the United States not to make the Russia-Ukraine conflict "a battle of democracies against autocracies."

"You have to be very careful not to define the problem with Ukraine in such a way that automatically, China is already on the wrong side," Lee said, adding that the U.S.-China relationship is one of the things which will be complicated by the conflict.

"If you say democracies versus autocracies - plural - that already defines China into the wrong camp, and makes things even more difficult," he added.





SANCTIONS WREAKING HAVOC

The United States has kept fueling the fire after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, pumping weapons into Ukraine and pushing its allies to impose sweeping sanctions against Russia.

On March 29, when the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine made progress, U.S. treasury officials announced more sanctions against Russian economy and supply chains.

Photo taken on Feb. 28, 2022 shows the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

A major exporter of some of the world's most essential commodities as Russia is, massive U.S. economic sanctions have shocked the trade in commodities, disrupted global supply chains and thus weighed heavily on the fragile post-pandemic recovery of the global economy.

The international community is paying the prices of these unilateral sanctions, and Europe is among those who bear the brunt of the spillover effect, with energy bills and commodity prices soaring for households.

Meanwhile, poorer countries in northern Africa, Asia and the Middle East risk suffering significant food insecurity as the conflict is poised to drive up already soaring food prices in much of the globe.

While answering a question from a press conference in Brussels in late March, U.S. President Joe Biden admitted that sanctions against Russia have taken a toll on a large number of countries, with many of them having to face food shortages.

"We did talk about food shortages...and it is going to be real," said Biden. "The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, it is imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well."





HUMAN RIGHTS PREACHER OR DESTROYER?

"Human rights," "democracy" or "common values" are common rhetorics the United States uses to justify its aggression and intervention.

However, they are all lies in the face of multiple human tragedies that it fuels, facilitates and reaps from.

Migrating Afghans are seen at Islam Qala, a town along the border with Iran in the western Herat province of Afghanistan, March 3, 2022. (Photo by Mashal/Xinhua)

Iran's crude oil exports were slashed by more than 80 percent due to U.S.-imposed sanctions from 2017 to late 2020, which has dealt a heavy blow to the country's economy and inflicted misery on the Iranian people.

On June 23, 2021, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution for the 29th consecutive year to call on the United States to end embargo on Cuba and start dialogue to improve bilateral ties with the country.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the United States continues to impose the embargo and sanctions against Cuba in the face of COVID-19, causing huge losses to the Cuban economy and society, and the Cuban people are suffering from the harm caused by this extremely inhumane act.

Meanwhile, a 2019 study by the U.S.-based Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) found that as many as 40,000 people may have died in Venezuela from 2017 to 2018 as a result of U.S. sanctions.

"The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food and other essential imports," said Mark Weisbrot, CEPR co-director and co-author of the study. "This is illegal under U.S. and international law, and treaties that the U.S. has signed."

When the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, it immediately froze billions of U.S. dollars in foreign exchange reserves at the Afghan Central Bank, causing the Afghan economy to be on the brink of collapse and making life worse for the people.

In January, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that millions of Afghans were on the brink of death, urging the United States and the World Bank to unfreeze the country's assets. 
Police stand guard at a nearby street after a shooting took place at a subway station in Brooklyn, New York, the United States, on April 12, 2022. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

The combination of mental health stressors and the big surplus of guns in the United States typically end up with this increase in shootings and homicides, an expert said.



NEW YORK, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Local governments in New York face constraints in addressing gun violence if the U.S. federal government keeps existing laws unchanged, according to an expert from New York.

Without change in certain federal legislation, "we're limited as to what we can do on the local level. Cities like New York are not gonna be able to control a lot of the guns that come into the state and come into the city. But this has been a problem going on for decades," said Christopher Herrmann, assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the City University of New York.

There's not much that New York City can do to control guns, especially if the overwhelming majority of guns are coming in from out of state, Herrmann told Xinhua in an interview on Wednesday.

The gun control laws in states like Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia and even Pennsylvania are kind of causing headaches to New York, according to Herrmann.

"New York City has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, but the problem is that the overwhelming majority of guns that are used in crimes in New York City are out-of-state purchased guns," said Herrmann.

The significant increase of shootings and homicides in New York City and a lot of other cities around the United States over the last few years are linked to the pandemic, unemployment and financial stressors, which led to housing and food security issues as well as mental health stressors, according to Herrmann.

Herrmann said the combination of mental health stressors and the big surplus of guns in the United States typically end up with this increase in shootings and homicides.

Traditionally, violent crime sees about 20 percent to 30 percent increase in the summer as people spend more time outdoors and more alcohol sales, he added.

Policemen stand guard near a shooting scene in Times Square in New York, the United States, May 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

Herrmann said his research shows that about 6 percent of the streets in New York City experience one or more shootings. "This is a very localized problem that I feel like communities and the police can partner on and really create driving long term solutions," he said.

The unveiling of the Neighborhood Safety Teams in New York City is one of the easy things that the police department can do to start to address the gun violence problem in New York City, according to Herrmann.

"The mayor and the police department will also need to interact more with communities, specifically the communities that are experiencing these high gun violence problems," said Herrmann.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams' new initiative with the summer youth employment, Herrmann said, is going to be well received but most of the time gun violence interruption programs are not properly funded.

On Tuesday, New York City saw one of the most horrific shootings in decades when a gunman opened fire into commuters at a crowded subway station, leaving over 20 people shot or otherwise injured.

According to data from the New York City Police Department, the city is witnessing a surge of gun shootings with over 300 people shot so far this year. 
UNITED NATIONS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese envoy called on the parties to the conflict in Yemen to maintain the current two-month truce and work toward its renewal.

With the parties agreeing on a two-month truce starting on April 2, the Yemeni people entered the holy month of Ramadan free of fighting for the first time in seven years, said Dai Bing, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, at a UN Security Council briefing on Yemen on Thursday.

"Peace and stability is the common wish of the Yemeni people. It is in no one's interests to resume hostilities," Dai said.

"The current truce, hard-won and fragile, must be cherished with greater care by all parties. We call on all parties in Yemen to do their utmost to make it hold and make every effort to maintain the momentum for its renewal," he said.

The Yemen conflict should be resolved through a Yemeni-led and Yemeni-owned political process, he added.

With the truce in place, some goods have started to enter the Hodeidah port, and commercial flights have begun to depart from and land at Sanaa airport.

This will help ease Yemen's humanitarian situation. Dai said China applauds Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for offering economic support to Yemen and welcomes continued financial and material assistance from the international community. 
GUANGZHOU, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China's time-honored trade fair, the China Import and Export Fair, opened online Friday with a record number of exhibits amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 10-day event, also known as the Canton Fair, has attracted over 25,500 domestic and overseas exhibitors. It will offer them a variety of online services such as online showcases, business exchanges and product launches.

Participating companies have submitted more than 2.9 million exhibits, including over 900,000 new products and more than 480,000 green and low carbon products, all record highs, said Xu Bing, spokesperson for the fair.

Its import section hosts over 400 enterprises from 32 countries and regions with products in such sectors as household appliances, food, and home textiles.

The spring session includes online exhibitions, market match-making and cross-border e-commerce. It will introduce new services involving China-Europe freight trains and shipping, as well as new business forms such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehousing.

Organizers expect the online fair to help boost foreign trade and stabilize the global supply chain hit hard by the pandemic.

Held since 1957, the fair is organized twice a year to facilitate global trade. 
A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the Zhongxing-6D satellite blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 15, 2022.

The satellite has entered the planned orbit. It will provide reliable, stable and safe radio and television transmission and communication services. (Photo by Xie Qiyong/Xinhua)

XICHANG, April 15 (Xinhua) -- China successfully sent a new satellite into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province Friday.

The satellite, Zhongxing-6D, was launched at 8 p.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully. It will provide reliable, stable and safe radio and television transmission and communication services.

This launch marked the 415th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets. 

A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the Zhongxing-6D satellite blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 15, 2022.

The satellite has entered the planned orbit. It will provide reliable, stable and safe radio and television transmission and communication services. (Photo by Xie Qiyong/Xinhua)

A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the Zhongxing-6D satellite blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 15, 2022.

The satellite has entered the planned orbit. It will provide reliable, stable and safe radio and television transmission and communication services. (Photo by Xie Qiyong/Xinhua)

A Long March-3B carrier rocket carrying the Zhongxing-6D satellite blasts off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 15, 2022.

The satellite has entered the planned orbit. It will provide reliable, stable and safe radio and television transmission and communication services. (Photo by Xie Qiyong/Xinhua)
Habiba Amini knows a good opportunity when she sees one. Amini's workshop, more of a small factory really, was opened by Mawlawi Qudratullah Tareq, mayor of Mazar-i-Sharif couple of weeks ago.

"So far, I've created new jobs for 40 seamstresses," she told Xinhua recently. Amini likes to see women given the freedom to work outside home, and is more than thankful to the mayor for supporting her and other women who want or need to work. If they do not work, their families could go hungry.

The Rabia Balkhi Bazaar is the only market in Mazar-i-Sharif city where women run their own businesses, most shops and eateries.

"Mayor Tariq is very supportive. He understands the role of women within his capacity, and is ready to solve their problems if he can," Amini spoke happily.

More than 22 million people face outright hunger in today's Afghanistan, according to aid agencies reports.

Since the Taliban gained power last August, questions have been asked about the status of working women. Business is gradually reviving and the administration has assured openness to companies and individuals invested in the country.

Zahra Sediqi, a 40-year-old female worker at Amini's workshop, has six young mouths to feed at home. "I am very happy to be working here," she said, "I can feed my children, and I have always enjoyed embroidery and making handicrafts."

Produced by Xinhua Global Service
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

Every year on April 15, the world community celebrates the fine arts and promotes awareness of creativity.

A proposal to declare World Art Day was put forward at the 17th General Assembly of the International Association of Art with the first celebration held in 2012.

The date was decided in honor of the birthday of Leonardo da Vinci as a symbol of world peace, freedom of expression, tolerance, brotherhood and multiculturalism as well as arts importance to other fields.

Every nation in the world strives to promote and develop its culture and art, including Azerbaijan.

On World Art Day, let's remember some of the country's most talented artists like Tahir Salahov, Maral Rahmanzade, Sakit Mammadov, Nigar Narimanbayova come to mind.

Famous for their stunning art, these artists have left a deep mark in Azerbaijan's art history.

Tahir Salahov's art has been showcased worldwide. His paintings are kept in many private collections.

Salahov served as the chairman of the Union of Azerbaijan Artists, a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Republic.

In 1973, he was elected the first secretary of the Union of Artists of the USSR, and in 1997 he was elected vice-president of the Russian Academy of Arts.

Peoples Artist of Azerbaijan Tahir Salahov passed away in Germany this May.

In February, the Russian Tretyakov Gallery showcased artworks by the prominent artist.

Heydar Aliyev Foundation Vice-President Leyla Aliyeva attended the exhibition "Works from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery held during the Days of Azerbaijan in Moscow.

The exposition included some of the artist's well-known paintings such as "Gladioluses", "Portrait of Gara Garayev" and "Aydan". It also showcased works by Tahir Salahov in the genres of still life, landscape and portrait, covering various time periods.

Maral Rahmanzade is one of the brightest figures in the national visual arts. She has entered history as Azerbaijan's first female artist.

Rahmanzada presented her art pieces at over 50 exhibitions around the world.

Among them were the paintings "We Are in the Caspian Sea", "Women of Azerbaijan", "My Motherland", "My Sisters", "My Contemporaries", "Sumgait - Rustavi", picturesque works inspired by the country's beautiful corners and oilmen, as well as wonderful female images created by her in the series "Girls of the Country of Lights", "Three Flowers", "My Sisters".

World-famous artist Sakit Mammadov has stunned art lovers in Germany, France, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Australia and other countries.

He is the founder of the opalism art style. The etymology of the word opalism was derived from the opal stone.

The warm color pattern in the opal had won Sakit Mammadov's admiration from the youth. Almost all his works are inspired by this beautiful gemstone.

Sakit Mammadov is a member of the UNESCO Artists Union and the World Academy of Arts. He is an Honorary Academician of the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts and the European Academy of Natural Sciences, Count of the Heraldic Academy of the Vatican.

Famous for her brilliant works, world-famous artist Nigar Narimanbayova has captivated art enthusiasts.

World-famous artist Nigar Narimanbayova sees inspiration in the stunning surroundings of two wonderful cities - Paris and Baku.

Narimanbayova is a member of the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan and the International Association of Art.

Her paintings were stored in famous exhibition halls as well as in private collections.

Nigar Narimanbayova's five paintings including "The Puppet", "Kiss of a Nymph", "Magic of the Night", "Broken Wings" and "Confession of a Mermaid" were successfully showcased at the largest international exhibition of contemporary art Salon Business Art Fair 2017.

She was awarded an honorary diploma signed by the commissioner of the salon Georges Levy and art magazine La Gazette Des Arts, with the inscription "For the creation of a magical unique world filled with fairy tales and magic".
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese banks' bad loan ratio fell slightly in the first quarter and risks in the industry remained under control, data from the banking regulator showed Friday.

The non-performing loan ratio of Chinese banks stood at 1.79 percent in the first quarter, edging down slightly from the ratio seen at the start of the year, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission said Friday.

In the first quarter, the banks' outstanding bad loans amounted to 3.7 trillion yuan (about 579 billion U.S. dollars).

During the period, the banking industry reported total onshore assets of 351.1 trillion yuan, up 8.9 percent year on year, while their liabilities rose 8.8 percent to 321 trillion yuan. 
Photo taken on March 28, 2022 shows the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- In his 1863 Gettysburg Address, the then U.S. President Abraham Lincoln expressed the hope that the government "of the people, by the people, for the people" shall not perish from the earth. However, the heroic figure in American history may not have expected that the United States today has fallen far short of his expectations.

"We lied, we cheated, we stole... It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment." This "famous saying" by the former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is perfect for describing American politicians who have been backpedaling and reneging on their promises.

The American-style democracy now has descended into a game of transferring interests and political donations almost seen as "legitimate bribery." Political polarization is becoming the U.S.'s new label, and "vetocracy" makes the country run into trouble. A Pew Research Center survey found that just 20 percent of Americans say they trust the federal government just about always, or most of the time, a sign of public disappointment.

DETERIORATING HUMAN RIGHTS

Domestically, the United States is witnessing a deteriorating human rights record. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the pandemic response in the country has been taken as a chip by the Republican and Democratic parties to attack each other, leaving people's health and lives unattended. As a result, the United States, as the country with the most developed medical system, has reported more than 80 million confirmed cases and a death toll of 986,019 as of Tuesday, said the U.S. Johns Hopkins University, ranking first globally.

Notorious for its double standard regarding human rights, the United States, on the one hand, often accuses other countries of arbitrary detention and forced labor on no solid ground. On the other hand, they never mention the abuses of prisoners in their own country. The "black sites" worldwide, including the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, have arbitrarily detained and tortured people without trials.

The wanton pressure upon other countries and interference in other countries' internal affairs by the United States have led to massive human rights disasters. Statistics show over the past nearly 20 years, the so-called anti-terror wars waged by the U.S. have cost more than 929,000 lives. The persisting warfare and turbulence in Afghanistan have made one-third of its population refugees, and 3.5 million Afghans have become displaced because of conflicts.

MOCKABLE DOUBLE STANDARD

Some U.S. politicians have constantly lowered their "bottom line of morality," as demonstrated by the U.S. decision to "make up for" victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, and its inflaming Russia-Ukraine conflict for its military-industrial complex to reap from the warfare, among others.

Regarding the rules-based order, the United States has abided by it when its interests can be served and discarded it when they are not.

While claiming "the basic tenet that big countries cannot bully small countries" has been violated in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the United States seems to have forgotten what it has done. It waged attacks on Iraq without a mandate from the UN Security Council in 2003, resulting in casualties of several hundred thousand and more than a million displaced. The United States has wantonly imposed unilateral sanctions on Cuba over the years, despite UN resolutions calling for ending such economic blocks.

The world has seen all these illegal and cruel acts, and the United States attempts to whitewash them under the pretext of "maintaining the rules-based international order." What the U.S. politicians have done displays hypocrisy and double standards, making the country the biggest destabilizing element to world peace and stability. It is also the biggest threat to international order and the global rule of law.

HYPOCRISY, NOT DEMOCRACY

While U.S. politicians have been stuck in a quagmire of false democracy at home, they are still pointing fingers at other countries' political systems, exercising hegemony and bullying in the name of democracy. It has pushed for the neo-Monroe Doctrine in Latin America under the pretext of "promoting democracy," incited "color revolution" in Eurasia, and remotely controlled the "Arab Spring" in West Asia and North Africa.

In addition, under the "inspiration" of "the glory of the American experiment," the United States has arbitrarily set traps for or intimidated and coerced other countries, such as funding the White Helmets to fabricate evidence of Syria's chemical weapons.

The American politicians' dishonesty is rooted in their contempt for justice and disregard for faith to achieve short-term political goals by stealing concepts and confusing people. If the United States continues this way, it will only make itself an outcast by the international community and history. 
DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's Zanzibar on Wednesday marked 58 years of its revolution that overthrew the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by local African revolutionaries on Jan. 12, 1964.

Tanzania's Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi led tens of hundreds of Zanzibaris to mark the anniversary at the Amaan Stadium on Unguja Island.

President Mwinyi was joined by Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa and other current and retired leaders to watch a grand parade mounted by the country's armed forces.

Themed with Blue Economy for the Sustainable Development, the 58th Anniversary of the Zanzibar Revolution was also colored by military demonstrations mounted by the Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF) and traditional dances performed by various tribes.

On Tuesday night, President Mwinyi addressed the nation, saying Zanzibar registered 120 investment projects worth 787 million U.S. dollars between Nov. 2020 and Dec. 2021 and the 120 projects, which were registered through the state-run Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA), were expected to create 7,000 jobs for Zanzibaris.

Mwinyi added Zanzibar had received prospective investors on the 10 islets, which the government had opened up for high earned but environmental conscious tourism investments under the national drive to transform the country economically. 
DAR ES SALAAM, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian health authorities have released an updated COVID-19 international travel advisory in which fully vaccinated travelers, including Tanzanians, returning residents and those in transit, will be exempted from COVID-19 test requirements.

"Travelers will be required to present a valid vaccination certificate with QR code for verification upon arrival," said the updated COVID-19 travel advisory released late Friday by the Ministry of Health.

The travel advisory that became effective from March 17 and signed by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health Abel Makubi said the only accepted vaccines are those which have been approved by the government of Tanzania and the World Health Organization.

The travel advisory said travelers who are not fully vaccinated, unvaccinated and those not eligible for vaccination due to their country's policy will be required to present a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR or NAAT certificate with QR code obtained within 72 hours before departure. Travelers who are not fully vaccinated or unvaccinated and have no negative COVID-19 RT-PCR certificate will be tested for COVID-19 using RT PCR test at their own cost of 100 U.S. dollars for Tanzania mainland.

"Results will be sent to them while self-isolated," said the travel advisory, adding that travelers in transit by air transport are exempted from both vaccination and COVID-19 testing requirements unless stated otherwise by the conveyance to be used or countries of their final destinations.

It said all truck drivers including crew should hold a valid negative COVID-19 RT PCR or NAAT certificate obtained from an accredited national laboratory, adding that the validity of the certificate shall be 14 days only.

All truck drivers, including crew, will be subjected to enhanced health screening at points of entry and will either be isolated or quarantined at the designated facilities at their own cost if they are suspected of COVID-19 infection, said the travel advisory. 
CAPE TOWN, April 14 (Xinhua) -- A South African lawmaker on Thursday voiced support for the proposed public health regulations under the National Health Act after some others rejected them.

The new regulations on COVID-19 and other notifiable medical conditions include public health measures in points of entry, management of human remains and environmental health and others, according to a statement issued by the parliament after a briefing.

Kenneth Jacobs, chairperson of the parliament's Portfolio Committee on Health, said the regulations will fill a gap to manage notifiable diseases after the national state of disaster ended and deal with challenges of COVID-19.

"There is no way we can say that wearing of masks and other non-pharmaceutical interventions should discontinue," he said.

The statement didn't tell why some lawmakers rejected the regulations.

Also on Thursday, Michele Clarke, a committee member from the biggest opposition party Democratic Alliance, raised concerns over mandatory quarantine, testing, treatment and preventive actions in a positive case.

The new regulations will be finalized and promulgated under the National Health Act after public comment has been taken into account.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this month declared the termination of the national state of disaster, as certain transitional provisions will remain for 30 days and the new regulations will come into effect.

South Africa on Thursday reported 1,768 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national tally to over 3.73 million. 
NAIROBI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Single country efforts in the management of malaria are to blame for the upsurge in cases of the disease in the East African Community (EAC) economic bloc, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Health Mutahi Kagwe said Thursday.

Kagwe said during the launch of the cross-border malaria control and prevention interventions at the Kenya-Uganda border in Busia, in western Kenya, that it is high time the EAC member states embark on a joint cross-border effort to reduce and finally eliminate malaria in the region.

Kagwe said that joint efforts of countries can provide a unique opportunity in the region since malaria does not recognize administrative borders, stressing the need to harmonize and synchronize the implementation of various malaria control interventions such as indoor residual spraying among member states.

The official recommended harmonized distribution cycles and timelines to avoid the loss of mosquito nets from critical target areas to areas where distribution is not happening, noting that the Great Lakes Malaria Initiative (GLMI) strategy envisions a malaria-free Africa Great Lakes Region that can be achieved by establishing and sustaining regional coordination, partnership and accountability mechanisms.

He said that as an economic block and free market, EAC members should support local industries to manufacture malaria commodities and provide a market for them from a combined population of more than 260 million people. According to Kagwe, the EAC countries -- Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania -- contribute a significant proportion of the malaria burden worldwide.

Kagwe believed that malaria is spread across borders by the movement of both mosquitoes and persons infected with the parasite incessantly crossing the busy border post in both directions. And regional countries share other transmission risk factors such as climate change, water bodies, malaria vector species, insecticide resistance, population growth rate and limited resources.

The EAC region in 2017 contributed 24.7 percent of all reported malaria cases worldwide and 10.2 percent of deaths due to malaria in the world, according to Kagwe.

Speakers at the meeting, including Ugandan Minister of Health Jane Ocero, and Tharcisse Mpunga, minister of State in charge of Primary Healthcare in Rwanda, said they look forward to continuous engagement with the EAC Secretariat and the malaria experts' technical working group in steering the execution of the GLMI strategy and the operational plan.

According to the 2020 world malaria report, despite the progress that has been made in the fight against malaria in the EAC, the region is still in a precarious position fighting malaria. And the disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to 12 percent of deaths because of malaria. 
JOHANNESBURG, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A total of 395 people have been killed by flood in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal Province since Monday, a government official said on Friday.

As of Friday, a total of 40,723 people have been affected, and the latest number of fatalities stands at 395, Sipho Hlomuka, a member of the Executive Council for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KwaZulu-Natal, briefed the media about the recent floods.

Over 4,000 law enforcement members have been deployed to the affected areas to support relief efforts and maintain law and order, and staffs are busy repairing damaged infrastructure like roads, water supply, sanitation and electricity, he said.

According to the South African Weather Service, more rainfall is expected in parts of the province in the coming days.

"Damaging winds are forecast for areas along the coast from midday today into Saturday evening. Disruptive rain is forecast," Hlomuka said.

In line with the disaster management plan, provincial and municipal disaster management teams are on high alert to respond to communities known to be at high risk to avert and minimize the disaster impact, Hlomuka added.

It has been raining heavily in KwaZulu-Natal since the weekend, which damaged roads, homes, schools, electricity poles, and many government infrastructure. 
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. 
Civic groups and local residents take to the streets to protest against the U.S. biological labs near a U.S. military base in Busan, South Korea, April 5, 2022.(Photo by James Lee/Xinhua)

by Yoo Seungki

SEOUL, April 12 (Xinhua) -- South Korea has been gripped with rising fear over U.S. biological weapons laboratories operated by the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), aiming to transform the Asian country into its "overseas hub" for biological warfare experiments.

The United States has flouted international conventions by steadily advancing its germ warfare program here. It sees South Korea as a country "friendly" enough to let the U.S. military test lethal toxins without institutional hurdles.

Enraged at the opaqueness of the U.S. biological labs, civic groups and local residents have taken to the streets to demand the U.S. military take its hazardous weapons and vacate the country.

WHY SOUTH KOREA

The U.S. military has secretly run its biological weapons program in South Korea since at least 2009.

It was made known to the general public here in 2015 when live anthrax samples were sent from a U.S. military lab through postal service FedEx to the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, about 70 km south of the capital Seoul.

The USFK initially said it was the first time it experimented with deadly biological agents. But a joint panel investigation showed that the USFK brought in and tested dead anthrax samples 15 times at the Yongsan Garrison in central Seoul between 2009 and 2014.

In addition to the live anthrax samples delivered in 2015, one milliliter of inactivated plague samples was sent to the Osan Air Base, revealing the USFK's false explanation.

Article 9 of the South Korea-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) stipulates that a custom's examination "shall not be made" in case of "military cargo consigned to the U.S. armed forces," according to a document posted by the South Korean Foreign Ministry.

"According to the SOFA, the U.S. military cargo is exempt from customs inspection, allowing (the USFK) to bring in whatever it wants ... (South) Korea is a very friendly country for the United States to import germs and conduct tests," Lee Jang-hie, emeritus professor at law school of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, told Xinhua.

The law professor said the delivery of anthrax samples to South Korea violated the Biological Weapons Convention, signed by over 180 nations, including South Korea and the United States, to ban the development, production, stockpiling, acquisition or retention of biological agents or toxins.

The violation of the 1975 convention requires the UN Security Council's official investigation at the request of the country concerned.

"Lax regulations and the Korean government's reluctance to protest against it created an easy, favorable environment (for the U.S. military) to carry out experiments with germs here," Lee noted.

OVERSEAS HUB OF U.S. BIOWEAPONS EXPERIMENTS

The U.S. biological weapons program in South Korea has evolved over the past decade under the Joint USFK Portal and Integrated Threat Recognition (Jupitr) and the Capabilities to Enable NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) Threat Awareness, Understanding and Response (Centaur) projects.

"Figuratively speaking, Jupitr installed in the central headquarters serves as the brain. The Centaur, which operates in each regional military unit, constitutes the hands and feet of Jupitr to detect and send biochemical samples to it," Woo Hee-jong, professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Seoul National University, told Xinhua.

The Jupitr program was established between 2013 and 2018 after former U.S. President Barack Obama issued an executive order in July 2010 that read "a robust and productive scientific enterprise that utilizes biological select agents and toxins is essential to national security," according to the professor.

According to the U.S. Army website, the U.S. military touted Jupitr as its flagship program, saying in 2014 that Jupitr's presence on the Korean Peninsula aligns with its "strategy to rebalance military efforts toward the Asia-Pacific region."

The Centaur's basic framework was completed between 2019 and 2020. The U.S. military planned to run relevant experiments here by 2026 to advance Centaur and create an integrated system with Jupitr, Woo said, citing the U.S. Department of Defense budget estimates.

"The projects represent an overseas hub of information on the U.S. biological weapons experiments" as information on biochemical pathogens and samples, collected in South Korea for analysis from U.S. biological labs worldwide, is shared with the U.S. mainland and overseas military units, Woo said.

It was disclosed that the USFK had continuously conducted military biological activities here between 2017 and 2019 by bringing hundreds of vials of deadly biological samples, including botulinum, ricin and staphylococcal enterotoxin, into Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Kunsan Air Base, Osan Air Base and Busan Port's Pier 8.

The USFK claimed that the samples were rendered inactive and not dangerous as they were toxoids, or toxins whose toxicity is inactivated, according to the USFK report submitted to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, obtained by Rep. Lee Jae-jung of the ruling Democratic Party.

Each vial contained 2 nanograms of the biological agents. The division of the samples into 2 nanograms, equivalent to 2 billionths of a gram, indicated that the samples were lethal because there was no need to divide them into an infinitesimal amount if they were not toxic, Woo said.

Furthermore, the USFK delivery list included botulinum, widely seen as the deadliest toxin on the planet.

The professor said the UN Security Council should launch an investigation into biological labs here, considering the evidence that South Korea has been used as a test site to develop U.S. biological weapons.

STRUGGLE TO EXPEL

Despite the 2015 incident of live anthrax samples delivery, the USFK expanded biological labs into Busan Port's Pier 8 in 2016, Jeon Wi-bong, director of the Association to Push for Shutdown of U.S. Biochemical Experiments in Busan Port Pier 8, told Xinhua.

Faced with public protest, the USFK said no experiments with biological agent samples would be conducted. Still, the claim proved false, as seen in the USFK report, where the importation of deadly inactivated toxins, including botulinum, into the Busan Port lab continued from 2017 to 2019, said Jeon.

Citing the Pentagon's fiscal year 2019 budget estimates, the local daily Busan Ilbo reported that 3.5 million U.S. dollars were earmarked for the Jupitr project in Busan Port's Pier 8 alone that involves "live agent" tests.

The USFK claimed that the live agent tests were conducted in the United States, not South Korea. But civic groups and residents have raised doubts about the claim because of the project's repeated false explanations and opaqueness.

"Since 2015, the U.S. military was supposed to give a prior notification to (South) Korea when carrying in germ samples, but there was no advance notification as Korea has no right to do a customs inspection on USFK goods," said Jeon.

"Highly toxic agents had been brought in for three years since 2017, but the Korean government did not carry out any investigation. Korea is the only country in the world to do such a thing," Jeon noted.

A group of civic activists and citizens toured the country for a week through Sunday to inform the public of the deployment of U.S. biological weapons labs and other war weapons in South Korea.

"A person in charge of U.S. military biological labs said Korea is friendly to operate such labs. I got infuriated when I heard that because it belittles my country severely," Choi Won-seok, who joined the tour, told Xinhua near the Busan Port's Pier 8.

"(The USFK) gave no prior notification and carried out no discussion with Busan residents to build these dangerous biological labs," said the 28-year-old college student, who expressed fear over the impact a slight leak could have on the city's inhabitants.

Protesters against the USFK's biological lab in Busan have had enough. "This land is our land," they shouted. "Leave this land with your extremely dangerous germ weapons" at once. 

Civic groups and local residents take to the streets to protest against the U.S. biological labs near a U.S. military base in Busan, South Korea, April 5, 2022.(Photo by James Lee/Xinhua)
JAKARTA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Two female elephants were found dead with wounds on their rotting bodies in Aras Napal village, Langkat district, Indonesia's North Sumatra province, a conservation agency said Friday.

Acting head of the North Sumatra Natural Resources Conservation Agency, Irzal Azhar, said the carcass of the first elephant without left tusk was found in an orange plantation near a river about 150 meters from the Mount Leuser National Park, with footprints of the elephants around it suggesting a possibility of fighting.

People heard the roar of the elephant on April 9 and anglers found the elephant's body on the next day, Azhar said.

"The necropsy results concluded that the elephant died of blood loss with wounds on the chest and abdomen, which are identical to a male elephant's lust attack," Azhar said.

When they arrived at the site, officials found the skeleton of another elephant with a rotting body and incomplete bones, believed to have been dead for more than six months.

Forensic tests concluded that the tuskless elephant, with a fractured skull, presumably died after fighting with a male elephant.

The two elephants were buried at a nearby location. 
By Azernews





By Vugar Khalilov

In the late 20th century, the Azerbaijani people declared their commitment to constructing a free, democratic, and lawful society, as well as living in peace, friendship, and cooperation with other nations, while integrating closely with the world community.

In this regard, Azerbaijan immensely values cooperation with the United Nations, the world's most prestigious and influential international organization, and has worked hard to build, maintain, and enhance relations with it since its independence.

On March 2, 1992, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Azerbaijans admission as a member state to the organization at its 46th session, following Azerbaijan's application for membership. The resolution, which was proposed by 111 states, was voted unanimously by all UN members. The admission of Azerbaijan to the UN has become one of the key milestones in the country's history.

Multilateral cooperation within the UN enabled Azerbaijan to strengthen its position in the international arena in a relatively short period of time, to establish close ties with both member states and the organization itself.

Azerbaijans permanent mission to the United Nations was established on March 6, 1992, providing the country with a perfect chance to develop relations with this institution. The UN permanent mission to Azerbaijan was established in November of the same year.

The permanent mission of Azerbaijan to the UN developed collaboration with the organization and its specialized agencies in the political, economic, scientific, technological, cultural, and humanitarian domains in a short period of time.

On October 24, 2011, Azerbaijan saw a momentous and historic event in its history. Azerbaijan was elected a member of the UN Security Council at the elections. Azerbaijan's nomination was backed by 155 nations in a contentious and multi-round voting, and the country was elected a member of this organization.

UN, Karabakh conflict

Azerbaijan's admission to the UN played a critical role in attracting worldwide attention to the Karabakh conflict and establishing an objective world opinion at a time when Armenia's hostility against the country was intensifying.

The need for territorial integrity, sovereignty, and inviolability of Azerbaijan's borders was emphasized in six statements by the UN Security Council chairman in connection with the expansion of Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan in 1992-1993, as well as resolutions 822, 853, 874, and 884 of the organization.

The documents demanded the immediate withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijans occupied territories, the provision of a ceasefire, and a peaceful solution to the conflict.

However, Armenia ignored the aforementioned UN Security Council resolutions, keeping Azerbaijans internationally recognized territories under occupation for almost 30 years. During this period, Armenia destroyed Azerbaijani cities in the occupied lands inflicting huge financial, humanitarian, ecological and moral damages on the country.

Following the regime change in Armenia in 2018, the new leadership's inflammatory anti-Azerbaijan rhetoric destroyed any prospects for the conflict's peaceful settlement.

Moreover, in July 2020, Armenia launched military operations against Azerbaijan on the state border in Tovuz region, which was beyond the conflict zone, to occupy new territories.

All of these circumstances pushed Azerbaijan to react against Armenia with a full-scale counter-offensive on September 27, 2020, in order to avoid further Armenian military provocations and safeguard civilian safety.

Azerbaijan liberated its occupied territories as a result of the historic 44-day war with Armenia, fulfilling the terms of the four UN Security Council resolutions.

UN, post-conflict realities

As a result of Azerbaijans active cooperation with international organizations, the world's leading international organizations, including the UN have acknowledged the post-conflict realities created by Azerbaijan in the region.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described the international event dedicated to the 30th anniversary of Azerbaijan's membership in the UN, which was recently held in Shusha under the UN auspices, as a highly significant occasion.

It was a very significant event. It showed yet again that the UN is a body that fully recognizes the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, Aliyev said in a meeting dedicated to the results of the first quarter of 2022.

Aliyev underlined that the UN Security Council adopted fair decision against Armenia, when it had occupied Azerbaijani territories, but these resolution remained unfulfilled almost for 30 years.

However, the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, the unilateral settlement of it by Azerbaijan has also taken this burden off the UN. I would like to reiterate that this event in Shusha was of particular importance, and it is no coincidence that it triggered a wave of panic and hysteria in Armenia, Aliyev stressed.

Azerbaijan is currently working on rehabilitation and reconstruction projects in its liberated lands, in addition to achieving international recognition of the new realities produced by the historic victory gained in 2020 over Armenia.

The signing of a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia on the basis of the realities created by the 44-day war in 2020 is one of the key issues ahead.

In this sense, the creation of new forms of collaboration, the opening of communications, and the signing of a peace treaty with Armenia are critical to the regional peace and security.

But at the same time, the genocides, tragedies and inhuman war crimes committed by Armenia and its supporters against Azerbaijan in different periods of history should not be forgotten.

UNs demining support

One of Armenia's most significant war crimes is the planting of land mines in Azerbaijan's former occupied territory, and it is the main obstacle to the rehabilitation in these lands.

Azerbaijan is cooperating with various states and international organizations in demining its liberated territories. The UN is one of the important international institutions that supports Azerbaijans mine clearance endeavors.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) assisted in the establishment of the Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency (ANAMA) in 1999 and continues to support its work, which has included the clearance of over 806,000 mines and unexploded ordnance and the safe return of people to their homes.

On April 1, 2022, a Baku-based conference on "Humanitarian mine action and sustainable development goals (SDGs)" jointly organized by ANAMA and UNDP to draw international attention to Azerbaijans mine-littered lands.

The conference highlighted that millions of mines were planted by Armenians on Azerbaijans formerly occupied territories and Azerbaijan is working hard to clear the area of mines.
CANBERRA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia reported more than 40,000 new COVID-19 cases and more than 30 deaths on Friday, including 16 in New South Wales, the country's most populous state.

According to the latest Department of Health data, a total of 5,073,311 COVID-19 cases have been reported in Australia, including 6,693 deaths, and approximately 435,702 active cases as of Thursday afternoon.

There were 3,138 coronavirus cases being treated in Australian hospitals including 126 in intensive care units.

Over the past week, there have been an average of 49,474 new cases reported each day. The median age of all cases is 30 years and the median age of deaths is 83.

So far about 69 percent of the eligible population had received booster vaccines in the country.

On Friday, one state's strict coronavirus face mask mandate has been lifted after about nine months. People in South Australia (SA) are no longer required to wear masks in most public indoor spaces.

Masks are still required in high-risk settings such as hospitals, aged care facilities and public transport.

Peter Malinauskas, who was elected South Australian premier in March, said the new rules would give people more choice.

"Of course, if South Australians want to continue to wear masks, they really have that choice," he said.

Some local businesses hoped customers could still wear masks despite the mandate being dropped.

"I personally would prefer (wearing masks) for everyone's safety," Fernando Gutierrez, a restaurant owner, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "I know that a lot of them might get upset if I try to enforce something that by law is (optional). I can't do anything." 
A man runs on the beach at rural area near Melbourne, Australia, on April 12, 2022.

Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

SYDNEY, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday.

The National Australia Bank (NAB) estimated tourists would generate more than 890 million Australian dollars (about 663.3 million U.S. dollars) for regional economies throughout the holiday.

Julie Rynski, executive of Business Regional and Agribusiness Australia in NAB, said regional attractions were expected to have an 83 percent sales spike in comparison to the previous week, with winery sales up by 18 percent, while restaurants, bars, and hotels could see a 10 percent surge.

Rynski said it would be a "much-needed boost to small and medium businesses in these communities" which had struggled throughout the COVID-19 pandemic over the past two years.

"Every time we choose to holiday and visit regional Australia, we help boost businesses in these towns but also support ongoing investment in schools, hospitals and community infrastructure," she said.

It is a sentiment shared by Stuart Ayres, tourism minister for the state of New South Wales (NSW), who told Xinhua on Thursday that the state's "visitor economy is showing strong signs of recovery."

Ayres said he expected destinations such as the agricultural city of Orange in the state's Central Tablelands, Lord Howe Island and coastal retreats such as Byron Bay and Jervis Bay would all be particularly popular over Easter.

"There is a huge appetite for NSW as a holiday destination and this Easter weekend. We expect to see our tourism industry spring back to life," Ayres said.

North of NSW is the "sunshine state" of Queensland, home to Associate Professor Alexandra Coghlan from the Griffith Institute for tourism, who told Xinhua that Easter would be an exciting time for regional tourism.

"Travelling closer to home was something we saw a lot during the pandemic and it's wonderful to see it continuing as we emerge from what have been really tough times for tourism," she said.

Coghlan also noted that attracting visitors to regional areas was a "great way to diversify local economies because tourism is a complex sector, with a wide and diverse range of providers and suppliers."

Queensland Tourism Industry Council Chief Executive Officer Daniel Gschwind told Xinhua that tourism activity was a "complete turnaround" from recent years when the national tourism industry lost an estimated 146 billion Australian dollars (about 108.8 billion U.S. dollars) due to border closures and lockdowns.

"This extended long weekend is the first really strong sign of the revival," Gschwind said, adding that Queensland's airports were recording record numbers of domestic tourists.

Among those airports is Cairns in the state's far north, with the city's newspaper the Cairns Post reporting that more than 14,000 domestic passengers were due to land or depart on Thursday.

Meanwhile in south of the NSW border, regional tourism is also anticipating a "bumper long weekend", according to Victoria Tourism Industry Council (VTIC) Chief Executive Officer Felicia Mariani.

"This is going to be the first uninterrupted school holidays Victorians have had in more than two years, so there will be a wave of tourists due to that build up in demand," Mariani told Xinhua.

One business ready to ride that wave is Peninsular Hot Springs, whose owner Charles Davidson predicted a surge of visitors from the capital city of Melbourne, which is about a 90-minute drive away.

"Spots are filling up very quickly and we expect to be fully booked across the entire Easter and Anzac break (Monday, April 25)," Davidson said.

"The last few public holidays before winter are always our busiest season, so we're excited to be operating at capacity." 

A man rides a bicycle in a camp park in Warburton, a rural area near Melbourne, Australia on April 15, 2022.

Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

Two men look at the skyline at a view point of Mount Dandenong near Melbourne, Australia on April 15, 2022.

Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

Two children play under a tree in Warburton, a rural area near Melbourne, Australia, on April 15, 2022.

Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

Children take photos in Warburton, a rural area near Melbourne, Australia on April 15, 2022.

Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)

People visit a beach at rural area near Melbourne, Australia, on April 12, 2022.

Australia's regional tourism businesses are expecting a very busy and profitable four days as city visitors tour the countryside during the Easter break which begins on Friday. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)
BANGKOK, April 15 (Xinhua) -- For the third year in a row, Thailand is celebrating its traditional new year Songkran in a water-free mode, despite the country being set to lift most COVID-19 control measures once and for all in the near future.

A parade of young Thais in colorful traditional costumes, an elephant with a lady dressed elegantly as the "Songkran Goddess" on its back, and music performances and dancers, marked this year's new year celebration in the ancient Thai capital of Ayutthaya on Wednesday, the first day of Songkran.

Handicraft exhibits, buddha statue water-pouring rituals, together with a food market, the local authorities are trying hard to make people get together to enjoy the festivities in a safer and dryer way.

To better contain the spread of the COVID-19 in the country, the Thai government has prohibited water splashing, powder smearing and foam parties, which the Songkran festival is most famed for.

Instead, this year's event focused on the traditional and cultural angles of the holiday, such as family values and ancient ceremonies, according to Yuthasak Supasorn, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand(TAT).

Ekarat, a Thai visitor on Wednesday night's show, told Xinhua he noticed the effort from the event organizers who try to explain the cultural stories of Thailand from historic scripts in the form of performances.

For foreigners like David, a young tourist from Singapore, it was exciting to see that larger events can be organized again in Thailand. However, he was a bit disappointed by the absence of any water spectacles.

Unlike the previous two years, the country's COVID-19 taskforce this year has allowed interprovincial travel and further eased border control measures in order to lure more international visitors.

Since the start of the Songkran week, the rail system has seen a huge increase in passenger traffic. TAT estimated that throughout the long holidays, the southeast Asian nation will host a total of 3.34 million Thai and foreign tourists.

Despite the water splashing ban, social media revealed that people played with water guns in some tourist hotspots such as Patong beach in Phuket island and Bangkok's busy Khaosan road Wednesday night, which prompted the government to reaffirm the ban the next day.

Special forces and tourist police were sent to the area on Thursday, to prevent COVID-19 measure violations. Several roadblocks with police control points have been set up at both ends of Khao San Road.

"The number of visitors is the same as yesterday," Champ, a vendor at Khaosan road, told Xinhua on Thursday. He is happy to see people flocking to the street to celebrate the festival which keeps his business floating.

This stands in stark contrast to how Khaosan road looked just a few months ago, when it resembled a ghost town.

However, popular spots with crowds celebrating Songkran also posed a risk for COVID-19 outbreaks, which are predicted by medical experts before the holiday.

Thailand's health ministry said that the long holidays could intensify the spread of the coronavirus, with the number of new cases expected to exceed 100,000 per day afterwards.

Prasit Watanapa, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said Thailand's mortality rate is currently 3-4 times the government's target of 0.1 percent.

He warned that in face of a post-Songkran surge of daily cases, the government must keep the number of single-day deaths below 200 and the number of hospitalizations manageable to prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. 
Aerial photo taken on April 7, 2022 shows the Khlaing Primary School in Bavel district of Battambang province, Cambodia. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia, April 15 (Xinhua) -- A shortage of school materials and appropriate toilets and sanitary facilities used to be the key challenges for some primary schools here in the far-flung area of Bavel district, roughly 90 km west of the provincial town.

But the issues have been gradually addressed since 2019 after the Amity Foundation, a Chinese voluntary organization, has provided scholarships to students and helped build basic infrastructure such as toilets and handwashing facilities at those schools through Cambodian non-government organization Life With Dignity (LWD).

LWD's area program coordinator Chan Vanna said the Amity Foundation has provided scholarships to 310 poor students and some budget for the construction of toilets, handwashing facilities, and water systems at three schools in northwest Battambang province's Bavel district.

"The scholarships include learning materials, anti-COVID-19 hygiene kits, and some cash for those poor students," he told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The Amity Foundation has helped improve educational standards in rural areas, and has changed the future of rural children in Cambodia, Vanna said.

"I hope that in the future, the Amity Foundation will continue supporting Life With Dignity in the education sector at poor schools in other rural areas," he said.

Khong Theang, principal of the Khlaing Primary School, said like other rural schools, his school faced many difficulties such as a lack of electricity, teaching staff and school materials that caused the school's academic standards to fall behind the national average.

"But since 2019, the learning and living environment of the students and teachers has gradually been improved after the Amity Foundation, in cooperation with the Life with Dignity, has subsequently supported our school through providing school materials and financial resources as well as anti-COVID-19 hygiene kits," he told Xinhua.

"The Chinese charity has brought them new hope and I believe that when these children grow up, they will become valuable human resources for their families and the country and will be the messengers of Cambodia-China friendship," Theang said.

Phon Phiruon, principal of the Prey Thom Primary School, said previously, students were difficult to find places for pissing or defecating because of the shortage of toilets, so sometimes, they had to ask school neighbors for using their toilets.

"After receiving assistance from the Chinese organization, students are now convenient, they do not need to vie for toilets during the break ... and they no longer need to ask school neighbors for using their toilets," she said.

"And for the handwashing facilities, they're good, there are bars of soap and water for washing hands, so students can maintain good hygiene every day."

Tuon Kanhchaneath, a sixth-grade student at the Prey Thom Primary School, said in the past, she did not have adequate learning materials because of poverty, but with the support from the Chinese charity, now, she has sufficient school materials.

"I'm very excited to receive these learning materials, toilets, sanitary facilities and water tanks from the Amity Foundation, and this donation is very valuable and has brought us smiles and new hope," the 11-year-old schoolgirl said.

Sou Lyhong, another sixth-grade student at the Prey Thom Primary School, said the donation truly shows the kindness of the Chinese people towards rural Cambodian children and that he will remember this kindness in mind forever.

"I promise to study hard to fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor so that I will be able to help others and I will also be an ambassador of Cambodia-China friendship when I grow up," the 11-year-old schoolboy said. 

Students stand up in class at the Khlaing Primary School in Bavel district of Battambang province, Cambodia, April 7, 2022. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)

Students wash their hands at the Khlaing Primary School in Bavel district of Battambang province, Cambodia, April 7, 2022. (Photo by Van Pov/Xinhua)
ISLAMABAD, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Seven soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, a military statement said on Friday.

The incident happened on Thursday when the terrorists ambushed a military convoy near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in North Waziristan district of the province, the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in the statement.

Pakistani troops initiated a prompt response, and killed four terrorists, the statement said, adding that seven soldiers were killed in the intense exchange of fire. 
TIRANA, April 3 (Xinhua) -- Major cities across Albania kicked off on Sunday a new initiative to go car-free every first Sunday of the month, a national plan decided by the government, in a bid to improve air quality and reduce the use of cars amid an ongoing energy crisis.

The Albanian government last month decided to make every first Sunday of the month a car-free day, starting first in major cities and then expanding throughout the country.

On Sunday, the movement of vehicles was banned on several parts of streets between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time in 12 main cities across the country, including the capital city Tirana.

Lindita, 43, a middle school teacher from Elbasan, a city some 30 kilometers away from Tirana, told Xinhua: "I would agree with the car-free initiative if cities in Albania would have alternative means of public transport such as subway, train and tram."

Shaban, a retired man, told Xinhua that he was happy to see Elbasan is holding a car-free day like other major cities.

"I am an aged man and today reminds me of older times when we used to have less cars and use more bicycles," Shaban said.

Meanwhile, Liljana, 56, who worked for over 25 years in the metallurgic factory of the city, expressed her hope that this initiative "would help improve the air quality of the city."

"This is a very good step towards cleaner cities," she added.

The national car-free day initiative comes amid the energy crisis that has hit Albania hard as fuel prices reached some of the highest in the Balkan region. Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, fuel and gas prices in Albania have increased significantly. 
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The Russia-Ukraine conflict continued as Russia on Thursday said the flagship of its Black Sea Fleet, the Moskava missile cruiser, sank in stormy seas. The following are the latest developments:

Ukraine and Russia conducted their fourth prisoner swap since the start of the conflict, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Thursday.

Thirty Ukrainian prisoners-of-war, including 8 civilians, held by the Russian military were released, Vereshchuk said on Telegram, without specifying the number of captives freed by the Ukrainian side.

Out of the 22 Ukrainian troops released under the swap, there were five officers, she said.

Ukraine and Russia conducted their first prisoner exchange on March 24.

- - - -

Russia on Thursday said the Moskva missile cruiser, sank in stormy seas when it was being tugged to a port after having been damaged in a blast.

Due to the damage to the hull caused by explosions of ammunition onboard, Moskva lost stability, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that its crew members had been evacuated to other ships.

Moskva was "seriously damaged" by the detonation of ammunition onboard as a result of a fire, but it remained afloat after there were no open flames, the ministry said earlier in the day.

Maksim Marchenko, the governor of Ukraine's Odessa region, said on Telegram on Wednesday that Ukraine's border guards on Snake Island used Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles to deliver "very serious damage" to cruiser Moskva.

- - - -

The Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled the village of Klimovo near the border in Russia's Bryansk region on Thursday, regional governor Alexander Bogomaz said.

"Two residential buildings were damaged and there are victims among the residents," Bogomaz said on Telegram.

Authorities are working on the scene and people are now receiving all the necessary medical care, he added.

Seven people, including a pregnant woman and a child, were injured and two adults of them are in serious condition, TASS news agency reported, citing a local hospital source.

- - - -

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Thursday he had discussed new military aid for Ukraine with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a phone conversation.

"In our new call, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and I discussed the next military aid package for Ukraine," Kuleba tweeted.

During the talks, the two sides also coordinated their positions on further sanctions which will be imposed on Russia over its conflict with Ukraine, Kuleba said. 
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The China Society for Human Rights Studies on Friday released a report titled "Increasing Racial Discrimination Against Asians Exposes Overall Racist Nature of U.S. Society."

The following is the full text of the report.

Increasing Racial Discrimination Against Asians Exposes Overall Racist Nature of U.S. Society

The China Society for Human Rights Studies (CSHRS)

April, 2022

For years, Asian Americans have been labeled as "the model minority" by the mainstream society of the United States, but this labeling creates only an illusion that there is no racial discrimination against them. Incidents that occurred during the coronavirus pandemic, such as some U.S. politicians' unscrupulous racist remarks and the wave of harassment and attacks on Asian-Americans, further proved this point. Recently, shootings in Atlanta have set off a new wave of fear among Asian Americans. On March 16, 2021, the shootings at three spas in Atlanta, United States, resulted in the death of eight people, including six women of Asian origin. This tragedy is the consequence of the mounting anti-Asian hate in the United States.

In the United States, there was a continued rise in the anti-Asian incidents during the period when the coronavirus pandemic ran rampant in the country. According to a report published on Nov. 18, 2021 by the national coalition Stop Asian American and Pacific Islander Hate, from March 19, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021, a total of 10,370 hate incidents against Asian American and Pacific Islander people were reported to the organization, and a majority of the incidents took place in spaces open to the public like public streets and businesses. Statistics released by the New York City Police Department on Dec. 8, 2021 showed that anti-Asian hate crimes in the city rose by 361 percent from that of 2020. Some media commented that the actual number of hate crimes against Asian Americans in New York was much higher than the number announced above because many victims did not make any police reports. According to the public opinion survey jointly conducted by The Economist weekly magazine and YouGov in March 2021, 70 percent of respondents believed that Asian Americans were seriously discriminated against in the United States, and suffered more from racism than African Americans. Thomas Sowell, a U.S. scholar, writes in his Ethnic America: A History, "Color has obviously played a major role in determining the fate of many Americans." This irrefutable truth of American society has been confirmed again. The cold reality reflects that the United States still takes pride in recognizing itself as a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant country and that Asian Americans, African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans are subject to discrimination and violations in various forms, and cannot fully enjoy their human rights.

1. Asian Americans Facing Rise in Racist Attacks Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic, a serious public health crisis in the United States, has exposed various racial discrimination problems existing in the society. Black and Hispanic Americans are the direct victims of the pandemic, as their infection and mortality rates are much higher than those of the white population. Asian Americans, however, became the indirect victims, because of veiled or explicit racist words and deeds toward them amid the pandemic. The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) released a survey, showing that compared with 2019, hate crime cases in the United States decreased by 7 percent in 2020, but those against Asian Americans increased by 149 percent. In the first quarter of 2021, violent crimes against Asian Americans in the 15 large cities in the United States increased by 169 percent compared with the same period in 2020.

In the past two years, shocking racist attacks against Asian Americans have occurred frequently in the United States.

-- On March 14, 2020, inside a Texas supermarket, a man stabbed an Asian family in an attempt to kill them, including their children aged two and six.

-- On July 14, 2020, in New York City, an 89-year-old Chinese American woman was slapped in the face by two male strangers on the street, and when she tried to escape, the two strangers set her clothes on fire from behind.

-- On January 28, 2021, an 84-year-old Thai man died from injuries after being viciously slammed onto the ground by a man in San Francisco.

-- On March 16, 2021, Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old white man, opened fire in three Asian Massage shops and spas in Atlanta with a gun, killing a total of 8 people, including 6 Asian women.

-- On August 30, 2021, an elderly Filipino woman was pushed down the stairs by a white man in Rego Park Subway Station in Queens, New York, resulting in her sustaining serious facial and physical injuries.

-- On November 17, 2021, three Chinese American high school students in Philadelphia were attacked when they took the subway home from school. The local police said, "The victims were picked because they were Asian, obviously."

...

The New York Times published an article on April 3, 2021, which was entitled "Swelling Anti-Asian Violence: Who Is Being Attacked Where." The article started by pointing out the following facts: "Over the last year, in an unrelenting series of episodes with clear racial animus, people of Asian descent have been pushed, beaten, kicked, spat on, and verbally abused. Homes and businesses have been vandalized." According to the different forms of racist attacks on Asian Americans, the article uses three categories to sort and group the cases it collects, namely: "Beaten, pepper-sprayed, spat on," "Called names and racial slurs," and "Homes and businesses vandalized." The cases under the first category involve the acts of spitting on Asian Americans or using pepper spray and physical violence against them, and those under the second category are mainly subject to racial slurs and derogatory language. The third category groups are cases of malicious damage to the homes, shops, and other properties of Asian Americans, such as vandalizing and writing graffiti. This article that aims to reveal the Asian Americans' sufferings in the past year can hardly be called all-inclusive, but these exposed racist acts do arouse attention and protests from the U.S. society. Unfortunately, attacks against Asian Americans continue to occur, with vulnerable groups such as women and the elderly as the key targets.

2. Racism Against Asian Americans: Not Unique to the Coronavirus Pandemic

For a long time, racial discrimination against Asian Americans has not attracted enough attention in the United States. One reason is that the racial conflict between blacks and whites has been society's principal focus of attention, and the other reason is that the mainstream society always tends to cover up the suffering of Asian Americans in U.S. history. The Associated Press once observed that "Racism against Asian Americans has long been an ugly thread in the U.S. history."

The suffering of Chinese Americans is just the epitome of the discrimination and persecution against Asian Americans. In the mid-19th century, as the then U.S. economy was in badly need of cheap laborers, Asian people started immigrating to the United States, but in the late 19th century, some politicians and media deliberately stigmatized Asian Americans as "Yellow Peril," and deluded the mainstream society into believing that they constituted "racial threat," "economic threat" and "health threat" to American whites, sparking off a surge of hatred toward Asian Americans in the United States and making them suffer from long-time prejudice, exclusion, and racial violence. In 1854, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Asian Americans were not and could not be citizens in a case, and such restrictions on Asian Americans' access to citizenship were not finally abolished until around the 1940s. The earliest record of organized violence against Asian Americans was in 1871, when a group of whites rushed into an Asian community near Los Angeles' Chinatown, shooting and hanging 21 Chinese Americans to death, burning down the community, and driving the residents out of the city. The severe prejudice against Asian Americans eventually led to the prohibition of Asian immigrants in the United States: Chinese immigrants were restricted by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882; Japanese immigrants began to be restricted from 1907 to 1908; and in 1924, all Asians were forbidden to immigrate to the United States. The scapegoating of Asian Americans in a public health incident is not something new in U.S. history. For example, during the smallpox outbreak in San Francisco in the 1870s, Chinese Americans were falsely called the "culprits."

The United States has never compensated for or reflected on the sufferings it has caused to Asian Americans, and even tries its best to cover up or blur relevant facts. As such, the deep-rooted malice toward Asian Americans in U.S. society can never be eliminated. In the United States, Asian Americans are portrayed as outsiders in racial conflicts; the mainstream society denies the history of racial discrimination against Asian Americans and refuses to admit that there are racist attacks against Asian Americans at present. Erika Lee, a Chinese American historian, published her speech at the Congressional hearing on violence and discrimination against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. She said, "As shocking as these incidents are, it is so vital to understand that they are not random acts perpetrated by deranged individuals. They are an expression of our country's long history of systemic racism targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders." The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also expressed his profound concern over the rise in violence against people of Asian descent across the United States. He said, "Thousands of incidents across the past year have perpetuated a centuries-long history of intolerance, stereotyping, scapegoating, exploitation and abuse."

The racial discrimination against Asian Americans that has continued to the present time is probably a built-in and natural product of American colonialism, and it also reflects a mindset of the United States: bullying the weak. Asian Americans are in a weak position in U.S. society, which makes them vulnerable to racial attacks. Such weakness is mainly caused by the following reasons. The first one is the small population of Asian Americans in the United States. The total population of Asian Americans is about 24 million, accounting for about 6 percent of the total U.S. population, and being significantly outnumbered by whites, African Americans and Hispanics. The second reason is the huge internal differences among Asian Americans. Asian Americans include immigrants and their descendants from dozens of countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. These countries differed from one another in cultural traditions, economic status, political systems, religious customs, and languages, resulting in stark differences and disparities among Asian Americans. The third reason is that Asian Americans are never a cohesive group. Although they are perceived as Asian Americans by mainstream society, most of them think of the term as an imposed label. They simply do not agree that they belong to the same Asian ethnic group. Numerical inferiority, internal differences, and lack of coherence and political involvement make it impossible for Asian Americans to unite in resisting racial discrimination against them. Such weakness makes them more vulnerable to racist attacks.

The identification of Asian Americans in the United States makes them the target of racist exclusion. The growing racial discrimination against Asian Americans may also be related to the upsurge of xenophobia in the United States, as its mainstream society has long defined Asian Americans as "outsiders," or sometimes, as "colonial others." This definition is based on two reasons. Firstly, the growth of the Asian American population is largely due to immigration rather than natural growth, which means a large number of Asian Americans are born outside the United States. Secondly, most Asian Americans keep a certain distance from the mainstream society and culture of the United States. Therefore, xenophobic expressions such as "get out of our country," "return to your own country," "get out of here," and "you don't belong here," are frequently heard during the racist attacks against Asian Americans. Racists in the United States even regard this false identification as a reasonable support for launching racist attacks against Asian Americans, and their actions are widely recognized by U.S. society. Just as an Asian American actor named John Cho observed, "The rise in anti-Asian attacks (during the coronavirus pandemic) only reminds Asian Americans like me that our belonging is conditional. One moment we are Americans, the next we are all foreigners, who 'brought' the virus here."

3. Reasons Behind the Rising Anti-Asian Sentiment Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

(1) Some U.S. politicians' racist coronavirus attacks on China

Some U.S. politicians' manipulation of public opinion during the coronavirus pandemic is the direct cause of the increasingly rampant racial discrimination against Asian Americans. Former U.S. President Donald Trump is good at utilizing racial issues to achieve his political goals. During his four-year term of office, he repeatedly made explicitly racist remarks, resulting in mounting racial tensions in the United States. When the United States became the country hit most badly by the coronavirus due to the lack of adequate prevention and control measures, Trump, Pompeo and other U.S. politicians who were eager to shirk their responsibilities and ensure the success of the upcoming election, even attempted to make China the scapegoat by referring to the virus as "China virus" or other names that falsely accused China of being the pathogen's geographic origin, instead of using its internationally-recognized name. What they did led to a rise in racist sentiments toward Asian Americans of Chinese or other East Asian origins, making them suffer from various kinds of racist attacks featuring malicious defamation, denial of service, or brutal violence. Ms. E. Tendayi Achiume, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance once sharply pointed out that "politicians of relevant countries proactively refused to use the internationally-recognized name of the virus and deliberately replaced it with other names that linked this particular disease to a particular country or nation, which was an irresponsible and disturbing expression that came from and would give rise to racism, xenophobia, stigmatization, and exclusion of certain groups, and violence against certain groups." Faced with the rising Anti-Asian sentiments, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, also admitted that there was "no question" that the Trump administration's "damaging rhetoric" led to "elevated threats against Asian Americans." Frustratingly, when Trump left office, the U.S. government continued the manipulation of the public opinion and the act of politicizing COVID-19 origins tracing, further stoking the Anti-Asian sentiments within the United States.

(2) The effects of white supremacy

The hatred and exclusion suffered by Asian Americans during the pandemic are not very different from the long-term racial discrimination suffered by other U.S. ethnic minorities such as African Americans and Hispanics. All these problems are ultimately rooted in white supremacy that is embodied in the racial structure and social atmosphere of the United States. As Asian Americans have long been marginalized in the society, many Americans do not even realize or have the courage to admit the long-standing racial discrimination against them. The label "the model minority" has never helped Asian Americans to suffer less from the United States' systemic racism than other U.S. ethnic minorities do, and white supremacists have never shown more mercy toward "the model minority." Seventy-five percent of the attackers that have committed racial hate crimes against Asian Americans are white; hate crimes against Asians also occur most frequently in areas dominated by whites, and white politicians such as Trump and Pompeo are the ones who have first made Asian Americans the scapegoats for the pandemic. The mainstream society of the United States has long turned a deaf ear to Asian Americans' complaints of racism and discrimination. In September 2020, 164 Republican congressmen voted against the bill condemning discrimination against Asian Americans. Many vicious violent attacks against Asian Americans, such as setting a 90-year-old woman on fire, and stabbing a Chinese American man on the streets of Manhattan, were not filed as hate crimes. After the three shootings that occurred in Atlanta on March 16, 2021, Jay Baker, the spokesman of the local police office openly denied that it was a hate crime and even defended the shooter by claiming that he was having a "bad day."

(3) "The model minority" label shackling Asian Americans

In the mid and late 1960s, when African-Americans struggled to achieve civil rights equal to those of whites, a number of stories describing the success of some Asian Americans such as Japanese and Chinese Americans were published in mainstream U.S. newspapers and magazines, as the U.S. political, academic and media circles planned to label Asian Americans as "the model minority." Objectively speaking, this label was effective in reducing the long-existing stigma toward Asian Americans and praising some Asian Americans' hard work and success. Nevertheless, many in-depth analyses also reveal that this label was just a ridiculous idea invented to strengthen the U.S. racial hierarchy and rationalize its racist discrimination. For the following reasons, this seemingly glorious label actually shackled Asian Americans. To begin with, this label made the racial discrimination against Asian Americans sound far-fetched, and people started neglecting and even denying the discrimination against them. Along with the labeling, Asian Americans were stereotyped as well-educated with high incomes which deprived them of the right of enjoying favorable policies for U.S. ethnic minorities. Being labeled as a "successful minority," their economic difficulties are often overlooked. In fact, 13.5 percent of elderly Asian Americans currently live in poverty, and the proportion is much higher than the average poverty rate of the United States. Asian Americans also experience the longest average unemployment spell than other U.S. ethnic groups do, and they are obviously underrepresented in the leadership of politics, business, academia and law. Furthermore, "the model minority" label subdues the Asian Americans' resistance against racial discrimination. The U.S. mainstream media frequently describe Asian Americans as "independent, intelligent, diligent, obedient, and silent," and advocate that their cultural values are consistent with the country's Protestant ethics. Such seemingly commendatory remarks have successfully won the recognition of a considerable number of Asian Americans, making them willing to act low-key according to the expected image and behavior mode. As such, they become more tolerant toward discriminative speeches and deeds and even feel ashamed of mentioning them. Last but not least, "the model minority" label deteriorates the relationships among U.S. ethnic minorities and shifts their attention from opposing white supremacy. The act of labeling Asian Americans as "the model minority" during the African-American Civil Rights Movement, which implied criticism toward African Americans, was a policy of "divide and rule" used to contain the Civil Rights Movement. It caused acute conflicts among the U.S. ethnic minorities, making Asian Americans a common target for scorn, ridicule, etc.

(4) The antagonism between Asian Americans and other U.S. ethnic minorities

Relevant research shows that although all U.S. ethnic minorities suffer racist attacks mainly from whites, Asian Americans are more vulnerable to attacks from other ethnic minorities than African Americans and Hispanics. Seventy-five percent of attackers who committed hate crimes against Asian Americans were whites, and the remaining 25 percent were people of other ethnic minorities. This fact, to some extent, reflects the complex racial relations and conflicts within the United States. For instance, deceived by some U.S. politicians' and media's lies about the coronavirus pandemic, some African Americans mistook Asian Americans as their enemy and attacked Asian Americans to vent their anger. Such anger is also a result of the long-lasting antagonism and misunderstanding between Asian Americans and African Americans, which were created by the U.S. mainstream society's labeling of Asian Americans as "the model minority," and the two groups' differences in cultural traditions and values, their competition for jobs and other social resources, and their previous conflicts. Although both of them are victims of racial injustice in the United States, distrust between them makes Asian Americans more powerless to extricate themselves from the difficult position. In the end, it is worth noting that other U.S. ethnic groups clearly offered more support for the Black Lives Matter movement than they did for the Stop Asian Hate movement.

(5) Some U.S. politicians' actions that seriously undermine Sino-U.S. relations

In the U.S. history, the country's diplomatic relations with different countries could often determine its ways of treating its immigrants of different origins: the tension between the United States and a foreign country frequently led to discrimination and racist attacks against the immigrants from that foreign country. Such kinds of discrimination happened to German immigrants during World War I, Japanese immigrants during World War II, and immigrants from Muslim countries after the September 11 incident. The Sino-U.S. relations began to deteriorate even before the coronavirus outbreak, when the Trump administration adopted various policies to suppress China, made extreme remarks to criticize China's political system and harm China's sovereignty, launched the so-called trade war or tech war against China and attempted to decouple China and the United States. Affected by that, Chinese Americans began to encounter an increasing amount of discriminatory treatment in the United States, and the most typical example was the censorship and persecution of Chinese American intellectuals. When the coronavirus pandemic went out of control in the United States, the Trump administration continued using racist remarks to attack China as a way of covering up its ineffective epidemic response. This further worsened the Sino-U.S. relations and left the entire Asian American group, especially Chinese Americans, vulnerable to rampant racial discrimination. At present, the Biden administration still views China as a major strategic competitor, which continues stoking the anti-Asian sentiment in the United States. It can be inferred that in the post-pandemic era, even if the racial discrimination against Asian Americans may subside, the racial attacks against Chinese Americans will continue to rise. This increases our worry and requires our vigilance and the sustained attention of the international community. 
BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- To maintain its hegemony and global primacy, the United States has long been fanning tensions and creating chaos around the world.

Addicted to exercising raw military power and intoxicated with the immense political and economic gains from conflict instigation and arbitrary intervention, the United States, analysts and observers say, has become the greatest threat to world peace and stability.

ADDICTED TO WAR

In remarks made in April 2019, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said the United States has been at peace for only 16 of its 242 years as a nation, calling the country "the most warlike nation in the history of the world."

From directly launching wars, backing proxy wars, stirring up inter-state hostilities to engineering "color revolutions," the United States has been involved in most of the major warfares or military conflicts since WWII.

These wars and conflicts have devastated the invaded countries, killed millions of civilians, and displaced tens of millions.

The unfolding Russia-Ukraine conflict is just the latest of many examples in which the United States seeks its own geopolitical interests by stirring up confrontations in other countries or regions.

William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review, has said that Russia's main concern about NATO eastward expansion has never been heeded by the United States, "which is only interested in maintaining its hegemonic status in Europe, and which has been steadily retreating from that collaborative policy which the West committed itself to after the Cold War."

In a dialogue with the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board on April 1, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on the United States not to make the Russia-Ukraine conflict "a battle of democracies against autocracies."

"You have to be very careful not to define the problem with Ukraine in such a way that automatically, China is already on the wrong side," Lee said, adding that the U.S.-China relationship is one of the things which will be complicated by the conflict.

"If you say democracies versus autocracies - plural - that already defines China into the wrong camp, and makes things even more difficult," he added.

SANCTIONS WREAKING HAVOC

The United States has kept fueling the fire after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, pumping weapons into Ukraine and pushing its allies to impose sweeping sanctions against Russia.

On March 29, when the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine made progress, U.S. treasury officials announced more sanctions against Russian economy and supply chains.

A major exporter of some of the world's most essential commodities as Russia is, massive U.S. economic sanctions have shocked the trade in commodities, disrupted global supply chains and thus weighed heavily on the fragile post-pandemic recovery of the global economy.

The international community is paying the prices of these unilateral sanctions, and Europe is among those who bear the brunt of the spillover effect, with energy bills and commodity prices soaring for households.

Meanwhile, poorer countries in northern Africa, Asia and the Middle East risk suffering significant food insecurity as the conflict is poised to drive up already soaring food prices in much of the globe.

While answering a question from a press conference in Brussels in late March, U.S. President Joe Biden admitted that sanctions against Russia have taken a toll on a large number of countries, with many of them having to face food shortages.

"We did talk about food shortages...and it is going to be real," said Biden. "The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, it is imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well."

HUMAN RIGHTS PREACHER OR DESTROYER?

"Human rights," "democracy" or "common values" are common rhetorics the United States uses to justify its aggression and intervention.

However, they are all lies in the face of multiple human tragedies that it fuels, facilitates and reaps from.

Iran's crude oil exports were slashed by more than 80 percent due to U.S.-imposed sanctions from 2017 to late 2020, which has dealt a heavy blow to the country's economy and inflicted misery on the Iranian people.

On June 23, 2021, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution for the 29th consecutive year to call on the United States to end embargo on Cuba and start dialogue to improve bilateral ties with the country.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the United States continues to impose the embargo and sanctions against Cuba in the face of COVID-19, causing huge losses to the Cuban economy and society, and the Cuban people are suffering from the harm caused by this extremely inhumane act.

Meanwhile, a 2019 study by the U.S.-based Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) found that as many as 40,000 people may have died in Venezuela from 2017 to 2018 as a result of U.S. sanctions.

"The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food and other essential imports," said Mark Weisbrot, CEPR co-director and co-author of the study. "This is illegal under U.S. and international law, and treaties that the U.S. has signed."

When the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, it immediately froze billions of U.S. dollars in foreign exchange reserves at the Afghan Central Bank, causing the Afghan economy to be on the brink of collapse and making life worse for the people.

In January, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that millions of Afghans were on the brink of death, urging the United States and the World Bank to unfreeze the country's assets. 
Beijing: Shehbaz Sharif has become the new PM in place of Imran Khan in Pakistan. China, which supported Pakistan against India, on Thursday described Pakistan as its best friend. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, while talking to Pakistan's new PM Shehbaz Sharif, has said that it will always keep Pakistan on priority in terms of its neighbour diplomacy.

China has praised Shehbaz Sharif and termed him a better prime minister than Imran. In fact, behind this praise lies China's own advantages. China believes that during Imran Khan's tenure, the work of its ambitious project China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has taken place at a very slow pace. But, now after Shehbaz became the PM, China hopes that the work on this corridor will be expedited. Last Tuesday, Shehbaz had a meeting with Pang Chunxu, in charge of the Chinese embassy, at his office.

During the meeting, PM Sharif said that the present government of Pakistan attaches more importance to developing relations with China and is ready to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in agriculture, science and technology, education and eradicating poverty. Shahbaz Sharif said, "His government will take forward the construction of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with more strength and efficiency.''

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The Azerbaijani army is conducting a competition for the best radiological, chemical, and biological defence team title, the Defence Ministry reported on April 14.

The competition is being held under the Land Forces training plan for 2022, the report added.

The main attention during the competition was paid to improving the skills of military personnel in tactical-special training, special training, and protection from weapons of mass destruction, the use of devices, personal protective equipment, and the performance of drill movement during the fulfillment of chemical support tasks, as well as the improvement of high physical and moral-psychological endurance of military personnel, the ministry said.

The best radiology, chemical, and biological defence team will be decided based on the outcomes of the four-stage competition.

Azerbaijan periodically holds drills and contests to improve its military personnels combat readiness.

The drills also aim to improve interaction and combat coordination between the servicemen during operations, as well as to develop commanders' military decision-making and unit management skills.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) holds talks with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son in Anji of east China's Zhejiang Province, Dec. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Jiang Han)

In a time of unprecedented global changes, a once-in-a-century pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, China and Vietnam need to give full play to the political advantages of the two parties and two countries, and carry forward their traditional friendship of "comrades and brothers," said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday held a phone conversation with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son over bilateral ties.

China and Vietnam are close neighbors and both of them are pursuing a socialist path, Wang noted.

In a time of unprecedented global changes, a once-in-a-century pandemic and the Ukraine crisis, the two countries need to give full play to the political advantages of the two parties and two countries, and carry forward their traditional friendship of "comrades and brothers," said Wang.

The two countries need to run their own things well while maintaining the momentum for development and the revitalization, Wang said, adding they also need to strengthen strategic communication and make new contribution to safeguarding regional peace and stability.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced that China will donate 150 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to ASEAN members within the year, Wang said.

China is ready to continue to provide Vietnam with anti-pandemic assistance, including COVID-19 vaccines, medical supplies and COVID-19 drugs, while pushing for early delivery of assistance to Vietnamese people's livelihood, Wang said.

Wang called for efforts from both sides to strengthen joint prevention and control efforts in border port areas to ensure the safety of people at border ports and goods exported to China.

Wang also expressed hope that the two countries launch more cross-border railway services, promote connections with the new western land-sea corridor, and build a "green passage" with smoother logistics for high-quality Vietnamese agricultural products exported to China.

At present, the situation in the South China Sea has remained generally stable with the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, Wang said, adding that it is precisely some forces outside the region with ulterior motives who are anxious that the South China Sea will not be chaotic.

It serves the common interests of China and Vietnam to maintain peace in the South China Sea, Wang said, noting that it is necessary to give full play to the role of the land boundary negotiations and the three maritime working groups, push for substantive progress in demarcating the waters outside the mouth of the Beibu Gulf and joint development in the South China Sea, and avoid unilateral actions that may complicate the situation.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, Wang said, calling for relevant parties to take this opportunity to reach an early agreement on the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea, so as to provide a more solid guarantee for the long-term stability of the South China Sea.

Wang also expressed hope that Vietnam will play an active and constructive role in this regard.

For his part, Son extended congratulations on China's successful holding of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and wished the 20th national congress of the Communist Party of China a full success.

Always regarding the relationship with China as a top priority of its foreign policy, Vietnam, he said, is willing to strengthen strategic communication with China, consolidate political mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and push for continuous development of the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Expressing his gratitude for China's vigorous support to Vietnam in fighting the pandemic, he said Vietnam understands and respects China's COVID-19 prevention policy, and expects the two countries to continue to adopt flexible and effective measures to ensure the safety against COVID-19 and the smooth operation of ports.

Against the backdrop of complex international and regional changes, Vietnam is ready to work with China to implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, reach a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the South China Sea at an early date and maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea.

He expressed the hope that substantive progress will be made in the consultations of the three maritime working groups of the two sides, with the demarcation of the waters outside the mouth of the Beibu Gulf to be promoted as a priority.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue. Wang said the Ukraine issue has once again made Asian countries realize that maintaining peace and stability is precious and indulging in group confrontation will lead to endless risks.

The United States tries to create regional tension and provoke confrontation by pushing the "Indo-Pacific Strategy," which will seriously damage the hard-won peaceful development in the region and seriously erode the regional cooperation structure centered on ASEAN, he said.

We cannot let the Cold War mentality return to the region and the tragedy of Ukraine be repeated around us, Wang said.

Noting that both China and Vietnam are socialist countries, he said that China is willing to strengthen unity and cooperation with Vietnam, resist external risks, cope with the spillover impact of the Ukraine crisis on the region, and play an active role in maintaining regional peace and stability.

Son said that Vietnam welcomes China's contribution to promoting peace talks, ending conflicts and preventing humanitarian crises.

Vietnam maintains that all relevant parties should abide by the UN Charter and international law, and seek a long-term solution to differences on the basis of respecting the lawful rights and interests and interests of all parties.

Vietnam shares many similarities with China in its position and hopes to continue communication with China on the Ukrainian issue, Son said.
New Delhi: The news of the death of gangster Ali Budesh, considered to be the arch-enemy of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, is coming to light. It is being told that Budesh died due to the disease. He had fled India years ago and was reportedly living in Bahrain. In 2010, Budesh openly challenged Dawood Ibrahim and D-Company. Budesh had talked about killing Dawood.

Media reports quoting sources have informed that Ali Budesh has died due to illness. Budesh, who hails from Mumbai, had fled India many years ago and was living in Bahrain. It is reported that for the past several days, the investigating agencies were not getting the news from Ali Budesh. It is now being said that Budesh died in Bahrain due to illness. According to the report, once Dawood and Budesh's close relationship had turned into enmity. He had even vowed to kill Dawood.

In 2012, Dawood and Shakeel had allegedly sent a Mumbai-based gangster named Jan Mohammad to Bahrain to kill Budesh. However, he was not successful in this task. After which Bahrain's gangster Ali Budesh declared war on Dawood and D Company.

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New Delhi: The ban on Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), the institution of Islamic cleric Zakir Naik, will continue. The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) imposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs has been upheld. India's Home Ministry has declared the IRF an unlawful association. The central government banned the IRF on the basis of information related to various cases registered against Zakir Naik and other members of the IRF under the provisions of the IPC, the Information Technology Act and the UAPA, 1967.

The central government found that IRF founder and chief Zakir Naik was encouraging and helping his followers to try or promote them on the basis of feelings of religion, animosity or enmity, hatred or malice. The Centre also observed that even after fleeing to Malaysia in 2016, Zakir Naik continued to reach out to his followers. He propagated his radical thinking through videos and posts on social media. promoted hatred and enmity between different religious communities. The youth indulged in forced conversions. Not only this, Zakir had also made indecent statements against the Hindu community, Hindu gods and other religions.

At the same time, it has also been reported that the central government is also considering a ban on the Popular Front of India (PFI). Security agencies are investigating the involvement of PFI in the recent communal riots in the country. Madhya Pradesh BJP leader VD Sharma had said that the PFI was involved in the violence that broke out in Khargone in the state. Uttar Pradesh has already demanded the central government to ban PFI. Let us know that the PFI wants to impose the Talibani version of Islam in India. It seeks to remove liberal Muslim organizations. The PFI has trainers in place to make IED bombs and gather intelligence at the ground level. The PFI leadership often travels to gulf countries in the name of Hajj, but its real purpose is to raise funds. Which is used more in illegal activities.

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The United States has been involved in most of the major warfares or military conflicts since WWII.

"Human rights," "democracy" or "common values" are common rhetorics the United States uses to justify its aggression and intervention. However, they are all lies in the face of multiple human tragedies that it fuels, facilitates and reaps from.

BEIJING, April 15 (Xinhua) -- To maintain its hegemony and global primacy, the United States has long been fanning tensions and creating chaos around the world.

Addicted to exercising raw military power and intoxicated with the immense political and economic gains from conflict instigation and arbitrary intervention, the United States, analysts and observers say, has become the greatest threat to world peace and stability.

ADDICTED TO WAR

In remarks made in April 2019, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said the United States has been at peace for only 16 of its 242 years as a nation, calling the country "the most warlike nation in the history of the world."

From directly launching wars, backing proxy wars, stirring up inter-state hostilities to engineering "color revolutions," the United States has been involved in most of the major warfares or military conflicts since WWII.

These wars and conflicts have devastated the invaded countries, killed millions of civilians, and displaced tens of millions.

The unfolding Russia-Ukraine conflict is just the latest of many examples in which the United States seeks its own geopolitical interests by stirring up confrontations in other countries or regions.

William Jones, Washington bureau chief of the U.S. publication Executive Intelligence Review, has said that Russia's main concern about NATO eastward expansion has never been heeded by the United States, "which is only interested in maintaining its hegemonic status in Europe, and which has been steadily retreating from that collaborative policy which the West committed itself to after the Cold War."

In a dialogue with the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board on April 1, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on the United States not to make the Russia-Ukraine conflict "a battle of democracies against autocracies."

"You have to be very careful not to define the problem with Ukraine in such a way that automatically, China is already on the wrong side," Lee said, adding that the U.S.-China relationship is one of the things which will be complicated by the conflict.

"If you say democracies versus autocracies - plural - that already defines China into the wrong camp, and makes things even more difficult," he added.

SANCTIONS WREAKING HAVOC

The United States has kept fueling the fire after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, pumping weapons into Ukraine and pushing its allies to impose sweeping sanctions against Russia.

On March 29, when the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine made progress, U.S. treasury officials announced more sanctions against Russian economy and supply chains.

A major exporter of some of the world's most essential commodities as Russia is, massive U.S. economic sanctions have shocked the trade in commodities, disrupted global supply chains and thus weighed heavily on the fragile post-pandemic recovery of the global economy.

The international community is paying the prices of these unilateral sanctions, and Europe is among those who bear the brunt of the spillover effect, with energy bills and commodity prices soaring for households.

Meanwhile, poorer countries in northern Africa, Asia and the Middle East risk suffering significant food insecurity as the conflict is poised to drive up already soaring food prices in much of the globe.

While answering a question from a press conference in Brussels in late March, U.S. President Joe Biden admitted that sanctions against Russia have taken a toll on a large number of countries, with many of them having to face food shortages.

"We did talk about food shortages...and it is going to be real," said Biden. "The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia, it is imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well."

HUMAN RIGHTS PREACHER OR DESTROYER?

"Human rights," "democracy" or "common values" are common rhetorics the United States uses to justify its aggression and intervention.

However, they are all lies in the face of multiple human tragedies that it fuels, facilitates and reaps from.



Iran's crude oil exports were slashed by more than 80 percent due to U.S.-imposed sanctions from 2017 to late 2020, which has dealt a heavy blow to the country's economy and inflicted misery on the Iranian people.

On June 23, 2021, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution for the 29th consecutive year to call on the United States to end embargo on Cuba and start dialogue to improve bilateral ties with the country.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the United States continues to impose the embargo and sanctions against Cuba in the face of COVID-19, causing huge losses to the Cuban economy and society, and the Cuban people are suffering from the harm caused by this extremely inhumane act.

Meanwhile, a 2019 study by the U.S.-based Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) found that as many as 40,000 people may have died in Venezuela from 2017 to 2018 as a result of U.S. sanctions.

"The sanctions are depriving Venezuelans of lifesaving medicines, medical equipment, food and other essential imports," said Mark Weisbrot, CEPR co-director and co-author of the study. "This is illegal under U.S. and international law, and treaties that the U.S. has signed."

When the United States withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, it immediately froze billions of U.S. dollars in foreign exchange reserves at the Afghan Central Bank, causing the Afghan economy to be on the brink of collapse and making life worse for the people.

In January, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that millions of Afghans were on the brink of death, urging the United States and the World Bank to unfreeze the country's assets.

Photo taken on Nov. 23, 2021 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Photo by Ting Shen/Xinhua)
Home  Business  Nepal runs out of raw gold stock, but you can still buy readymade ornaments

Kathmandu, April 15

Owing to the restriction imposed on the import of luxury items, the Nepali market has run out of its raw gold stock.

It means people cannot order customised jewellery. Yet, they can buy readymade ornaments as long as they are in stock. Likewise, they can assign jewellers to mould their old ornaments into new ones.

Dharma Sundar Bajracharya, the general secretary of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers Association, says, If you want something on your own demand, you have to bring gold on your own.

It has been 11 days since we last imported gold, an official of Nepal Bankers Association, a group of commercial bank officials, says, Until last Friday, we had 16 kg in the raw gold stock. But, its over by now.

In Nepal, only commercial banks are authorised to import the precious metal in bulk, which they sell to the jewellers.

It is noted that this is one of the key wedding seasons in Nepal when the demand for gold ornaments is very high.
They say literature is a mirror of society, and this is true in most cases. Go watch Teen Transit, a play being stated at the Mandala Theatre in Kathmandu, if you still have doubts about it.

Nepal has witnessed a lot of political movements, and people from diverse backgrounds have participated in them. While being a part of such movements, some of them even lost their lives, and some of them sustained injuries for their entire life. Young people have remarkably participated in each of those movements for the sake of bringing change to the nation. But, are those people satisfied with the changes?

This is one of the biggest questions in todays political context of Nepal as each day thousands of youth from Nepal are leaving for foreign employment. Many of them are frustrated with the countrys socio-political system. They are deprived of opportunities despite being deserving ones. The political change that was supposed to bring contentment to all the youth has turned futile for many.

The play Teen Transit portrays the story of thousands of Nepali youth that were and are compelled to leave the country due to the ill political system. This student production of the theatre company is no more relevant than in the run-up to the round of elections now.

The other side of student politics

The play, Teen Transit, is a reflection of problems created by Nepali politics. Photo: Prasun Sangroula

Teen Transit directed by Somnath Khanal has a bizarre start. It is difficult to figure out what is happening. Under a red light, a group of actors, wearing white shirts, is showing strange movements in poignant music being played in the background.

As the movements stop, a journalist (Shasmil Pun Magar) wearing a press jacket with a camera comes onto the centre stage and tells what the play is about. He is a political reporter and has experience travelling to various other countries. In Teen Transit, he portrays the conversation that took place in three different international transit areas among Nepali youth.

One of these parts shows the agony of student leaders. It shows how the student leaders who devoted a long time to the political parties are propelled to leave the country and go for foreign employment.

Currently, there are a number of youth working on foreign soil who once used to be the cadre of political parties here. Despite serving the political parties for a long period, they get deprived of opportunities. All those student leaders can relate to Teen Transit.

It is often believed that the student leaders get the place wherever they want as they have a political backup, but things are different from what you believed. Apparently, not all student leaders can attain a powerful position and make their future bright; many of them suffer from the wrong practices that exist among political leaders.

On the other hand, Teen Transit also exposes the wrongdoings of the student leaders on the campuses. Whenever a scholarship is announced in government-run academic institutions, the student leaders actively interfere with it. They manage to provide the scholarship only to those who are close to their political parties. If you have ever been to a government academic institution, you can relate to this very well.

The American dream

The second transit features the youth who are heading towards the US. One of the couples is having an argument here. Rekha (Rekha Limbu) wants to return to Nepal and do social work. But, his husband is against her choice. He does not see any opportunities and a future in Nepal. He blames Nepals political leaders for it.

There are many people like Rekhas husband who went to study abroad with a promise to return homeland after completing their education but get demotivated to do so due to the existing political system. They believe Nepal will not give them appropriate opportunities. Not only the common people, but even the established figures of Nepal like to settle there permanently.

Although produced by students, the play Teen Transit is a joyful watch. Photo: Prasun Sangroula

Teen Transit entirely has a couple of scenes that are without dialogues, similar to its opening scene. But if you look at those scenes with depth, they also tell the story. Those actions and music in the background depict the feelings that occurred in transit, with a person leaving the country.

Making everything contextual

While the first and second transits are pessimistic, the third transit ends on an optimistic note. Some of the characters from earlier transit are now returning to Nepal. One of them wants to invest in politics and political leaders and make all the road contracts on his side, which is not a strong vision at all. The remaining others have really beautiful plans and visions to make the country a better place to live. They want to build an information centre in the country so that everybody can correct political information. They want to make Nepal corruption-free and end all kinds of violence and wrongdoings. And also aims to build a proper political road map of the country.

The last transit also shows that not everyone returns safely from foreign soil. A character whose right hand is amputated represents this fact.

Similarly, targeting the upcoming local elections, the makers have made Teen Transit very contextual. It clearly makes you aware of the importance of voting and the negative side of skipping voting.

Even if you are or are not voting this time, you must watch this play. The recently graduated actors have done marvellous jobs. Kudos to the entire team for staging such meaningful and relevant acting.

Hurry up. Teen Transit will run through April 17 at 5:00 pm every day in Mandala Theatre, Thapagaun. There will be an additional show on Saturday at 1:00 pm.
In 2021, the total of all economic costs per acre for growing corn in Illinois averaged $952 in the northern section, $960 in the central section for farmland with high soil ratings, $908 in the central section for farmland with low soil ratings, and $876 in the southern section. Soybean costs per acre were $704, $716, $660 and $668, respectively (see Table 1). Costs were lower in southern Illinois primarily because of lower land costs. The total of all economic costs per bushel in the different sections of the state ranged from $4.19 to $4.51 for corn and from $9.94 to $10.67 for soybeans. Variations in these costs were related to weather, yields, and land quality.

These figures were obtained from farm business records kept by farmers enrolled in the Illinois Farm Business Farm Management Association. The samples included only farms with more than 500 acres of productive and nearly level soils in each area of the state; these are farms without livestock. Farms located in the 22 counties north and northwest of the Illinois River are included in the sample for northern Illinois. Farms from 36 counties below a line from about Mattoon to Alton are in the sample for southern Illinois. The remaining 44 counties make up the sample for central Illinois. The sample farms averaged 1,625 tillable acres in northern Illinois, 1,550 acres in the central section with high soil ratings, 1,511 acres in the central section with lower soil ratings, and 1,885 acres in southern Illinois.

Cost of Production For Corn Compared to 2020

Costs per bushel of corn in 2021 as compared to 2020 were higher in all regions of the state besides southern Illinois. Costs were lower in southern Illinois due to much higher yields. Costs per bushel were increased even with higher yields due to greater fertility, pesticides, overhead costs as well as machinery repairs, fuel and machine hire costs. Costs per bushel were 17 cents higher in northern Illinois, 17 cents higher in central Illinois with the higher rated soils, 16 cents higher in central Illinois with the lower rated soils and 20 cents lower in southern Illinois.

The average corn yield in 2021 was 11 bushels per acre higher than 2020 in northern Illinois, 6 bushels to 7 bushel higher in central Illinois and 25 bushels higher than 2020 in southern Illinois. The 2021 average corn yield in the different geographical locations ranged from one bushel lower to 25 bushels per acre higher than the five-year average from 2017 to 2021.

Costs per acre for corn were higher in all the different geographic regions in Illinois compared to 2020. Across the state, total costs per acre to produce corn increased from 7 to 10 percent. Land and pesticide costs increased the most statewide.

Cost of Production For Soybeans Compared to 2020

Production costs per bushel of soybeans in 2021 in Illinois compared to 2020 varied across the state. Costs per bushel increased in northern Illinois because of higher seed costs and in the central section of Illinois with lower soil ratings due to less of an increase in yields. Costs were lower in central Illinois with higher soil ratings and southern Illinois due to a higher increase in yields. Soybean yields ranged from 5 to 7 bushels per acre higher in 2021 compared to 2020. Changes in costs per bushel ranged from 23 cents lower in southern Illinois to 14 cents higher in northern Illinois.

Total costs per acre for soybeans increased in Illinois when compared to 2020. Costs increased $72 per acre in northern Illinois, $56 per acre in central Illinois with the higher rated soils, $53 per acre in central Illinois with the lower rated soils and $60 per acre in southern Illinois when compared to 2020. Average soybean yields in the different areas ranged from 3 to 7 bushel higher per acre when comparing to the five-year average from 2017 to 2021.

State Averages

Total costs to produce corn for all combined areas of the state were $937 per acre. This is $69 per acre higher than 2020. Variable costs increased $34 per acre or 8 percent, other nonland costs increased $14 per acre, and land costs increased $21 per acre. In 2021, cash costs accounted for 47 percent of the total cost of production for corn, other nonland costs were 27 percent, and land costs were 26 percent. The average corn yield for all combined areas of the state was 213 bushels per acre resulting in a total cost of production of $4.40 per bushel. The average corn yield in 2021 was the highest in the last 3 years and 10 bushels to the acre more than 2020. Total costs per acre were the highest since 2013 while total costs per bushel were the second highest in the last five years.

Total cost per acre to produce soybeans increased, from $635 per acre in 2020 to $693 per acre in 2021. Variable cash costs accounted for 33 percent of the total cost of production for soybeans, other nonland costs 32 percent and land costs 35 percent. The average soybean yield for all combined areas of the state was 68 bushels per acre resulting in a total cost of production of $10.19 per bushel. The cost per bushel to raise soybeans the last five years averaged $10.23 per bushel.

Forecasts for Illinois production costs in 2022 look to increase using Gary Schnitkeys 2022 Crop Budgets and the USDAs Cost-of-Production Forecasts as a guide. For corn, 2022 variable costs are projected to increase 39 percent, mainly due to soil fertility costs. However, this increase could be more depending on when fertilizer was purchased. For 2022, soybeans have a larger projected percentage increase of variable costs of 46 percent. This increase is also primarily due to soil fertility costs. These increases coupled with monitoring overhead and land costs have the possibility to be offset with currently higher projected grain prices for 2022.

The author would like to acknowledge that data used in this study comes from Illinois Farm Business Farm Management (FBFM) Associations across the state. Without their cooperation, information as comprehensive and accurate as this would not be available for educational purposes. FBFM, which consists of 5,500 plus farmers and 60 plus professional field staff, is a not-for-profit organization available to all farm operators in Illinois. FBFM field staff provide on-farm counsel with recordkeeping, farm financial management, business entity planning and income tax management. For more information, please contact the State FBFM Office located at the University of Illinois Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at 217-333-8346 or visit the FBFM website at www.fbfm.org.

A more complete discussion of how some of the costs are calculated can be found under Illinois Farm Management Handbook in the management section of farmdoc: https://farmdoc.illinois.edu/handbook/cost-to-produce-corn-and-soybeans-in-illinois
BISMARCK  Representatives from several state agencies including the Governors Office, North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT) and the Department of Emergency Services gathered to review the framework for responding to a potential major cybersecurity incident.

While the war in Ukraine raised concerns about a potential major cyberattack on the United States, NDIT defended against 4.5 billion attacks on state government last year  more than double the number of attacks from two years earlier.

With the threat of cyberattacks ever present, the State Emergency Operations Center and key state and private entities must plan and exercise to maintain readiness. The state has participated in a series of cyber preparedness exercises since 2016.

The meeting was an organizational gathering of the states unified command to brief team members on response framework, with other agencies involved including the departments of Transportation, Environmental Quality, Commerce, Financial Institutions, Agriculture, Health and Human Services, the North Dakota Forest Service, the Highway Patrol and the North Dakota National Guard. Agency officials discussed the considerations for state government if North Dakota were to experience a significant disruption to the energy sector, internet-based communications or other critical infrastructure.

The governor and cabinet leaders meet on a regular basis to review policy and set strategy objectives for cyber preparedness, defense and response.

Its imperative that we take a proactive, whole-of-government approach to addressing cybersecurity threats for the protection of our citizens and the essential services and sensitive data they entrust to their state, local and tribal governments, Gov. Doug Burgum said. Todays meeting sets the stage for a statewide response while underscoring that prevention remains our first and best line of defense.

The state will conduct a cyber exercise in June to validate planning factors and increase the effectiveness of the whole-of-government team.

This article originally appeared on Devils Lake Journal: North Dakota preps for whole-of-government on potential cyber incident
Just 10 days ago, Elon Musk took what he called at the time a passive 9.2% stake in Twitter.

Shares of the social media giant soared in response, but that was just the start of the drama, as that passive part didnt last long.

On Thursday, April 14, Musk launched a hostile takeover bid for Twitter, revealing in an SEC filing his best and final offer of $43 billion, or $54.20 per share. The Tesla CEO says he wants to take Twitter private in order to ensure the platform stands for free speech around the globe.

I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy, Musk wrote Thursday in a letter to Twitter chairman Bret Taylor, according to an SEC filing. However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.

At the TED 2022 conference in Vancouver, shortly after announcing his Twitter bid, Musk added that the move is definitely not a way to sort of make money. But whether the worlds richest person is launching his takeover bid as a publicity stunt, to troll the Securities and Exchange Commission, or because he believes he can be an anticensorship white knight isnt important to Twitter investors.

For them, its a wild ride no matter the reasoning. And the move has left Wall Street analysts scrambling to predict whats coming next.

In a note to clients on Thursday, Bank of America analysts, led by Justin Post, laid out three possible scenarios for how Musks takeover bid could move Twitters stock in the coming weeksand one of them is unappealing for shareholders.

Scenario one

The first potential scenario Bank of America sees for Twitter: The board accepts the offer in its current form.

Analysts said they see this as a lower-probability scenario, as Twitters board likely sees more potential in the company based on internal growth targets and historical valuations. After all, Twitter stock has traded as high as $73.34 over the past 12 months.

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The current offer is also "non-binding," which means it will likely require financing, leaving significant uncertainties, the analysts said.

Other top Wall Street analysts argue Twitter is likely to accept the offer, however. Wedbushs Dan Ives said he sees this soap opera ending with Musk owning Twitter.

It would be hard for any other bidders/consortium to emerge and the Twitter board will be forced to accept this bid and/or run an active process to sell Twitter, Ives wrote in a Thursday note.

But some analysts arent so sure. Jefferies Brent Thill said that he suspects Musk will have to reconsider his offer if he wants Twitters board to bite.

No board in America is going to take that number, Thill told Yahoo Finance. Bring the bid to $60 and then put together a constructive structure around how they would run it. Then maybe, but that's what its going to take.

Scenario two

The second scenario, according to Bank of America, involves Twitters board rejecting the current offer and agreeing to a sweetened price with Musk or another firm.

In this scenario, stockholders could expect a roughly 10% jump in the final bid price to $60 per share, the analysts said.

Mr. Musk has indicated that the $54.20 bid is final, but the board has a duty to explore all options for getting a higher price, the analysts wrote. Other social media or tech companies could be interested in Twitter.

Thill said a deal with another tech firm is unlikely, however, due to antitrust regulation.

The government is going to say no to any large transaction even if the rest of tech wanted to do this, Thill explained. Its hard to see who the next logical player will be.

Scenario three

The final scenario Bank of America analysts flagged was the board rejecting the current and any revised offers, forcing Musk to abandon his takeover attempt.

The move wouldnt be surprising given reports by tech news site The Information that suggest Twitters board views the current offer as "unwelcome," and is willing to fight either for a better deal or to stay public.

If this happens, BofA analysts said investors should expect Twitters stock to fall to between $34 and $37. Given the stocks current price of around $45 per share, BofA said investors believe there is a serious possibility Musk walks away from his bid altogether.

We think that the board likely believes that Twitter has more than $54/share in value, the analysts wrote, but it must also evaluate the companys potential to reach its 2023 financial targets.

That would be 315 million daily active users and $7.5 billion in revenue versus the 217 million daily active users and roughly $5 billion in revenue it had in 2021. There will likely be extra scrutiny on hitting these targets if the board rejects Mr. Musk's offer, they added.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
City National Bank

NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- City National Rochdale (CNR) recently announced its newest managing director promotions. These leaders represent a talented and diverse group across various divisions who have made substantial contributions to CNR and its clients.



City National Rochdale is dedicated to providing an enriching workplace environment that encourages the development and growth of our colleagues, said Garrett DAlessandro, CEO, City National Rochdale. Our new managing directors are leaders in their field and will help City National Rochdale serve clients into the future.

Congratulations to CNRs newest managing directors:

Jason Fabozzi, Managing Director, Business Development Solutions

Fabozzi joined CNR in 2018 and has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. He is a member of CNRs Executive Management Team and is responsible for transforming the sales, portfolio management and service functions using cloud-based technology centered on Salesforce.

Cameron Killeen, CFA, Senior Investment Consultant

Killeen joined CNR in 2018 and has over 10 years of experience in the investment management industry. He is directly responsible for business development throughout the Southwest, where he partners with financial advisors and registered investment advisors to develop customized investment strategies for their high-net-worth clientele.

Charles Luke, CFA, Co-Director, Fixed Income

Luke joined City National Rochdale in 2018 and has 15 years of experience in the financial services industry. He is responsible for investment oversight, strategy, and performance of the taxable bond portfolios and funds. He manages the Taxable Fixed Income Investment Team and is also a co-portfolio manager of the City National Rochdale Fixed Income Opportunities Fund (RIMOX) and the City National Rochdale Strategic Credit Fund (CNROX). He is also a voting member of the Investment Strategy Committee.

Michael Nelson, CFA, Senior Investment Consultant

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Nelson joined CNR in 2017 and has over 17 years of experience in the financial services industry. Based in New York City, he is responsible for cultivating relationships in the New York area.

Jim Papadakos, Sales Strategy, Marketing, Client Experience

Papadakos joined CNR in 2018 and has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry. He is a member of the Executive Management Team and is responsible for leading the sales strategy, marketing and client experience functions, where he works closely with internal and external partners to identify opportunities that deliver greater value to clients.

Michael Taila, Co-Director, Fixed Income

Taila joined CNR in 2004 and has over 20 years of experience in the investment industry. He leads the Tax-Free Fixed Income Team, where he manages client relationships and is responsible for investment oversight, strategy and performance. Taila is also responsible for the management of the City National Rochdale California Tax Exempt Bond Fund and is a voting member of the Investment Strategy Committee.

About City National Bank

With $91.3 billion in assets, City National Bank provides banking, investment and trust services through 74 offices, including 19 full-service regional centers, in Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Nevada, New York City, Nashville, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., and Miami*. In addition, the company and its investment affiliates manage or administer $99.8 billion in client investment assets.

City National is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), one of North Americas leading diversified financial services companies. RBC serves more than 17 million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada, the United States and 27 other countries.

For more information about City National, visit the companys website at cnb.com.

*City National Bank does business in Miami and the state of Florida as CN Bank.

About City National Rochdale



For more than 30 years, City National Rochdale has specialized in intelligently personalized portfolio management for high-net worth individuals, families, and institutions, and provides clients with service that relates all investment decisions to each clients personal benchmark. City National Rochdale, headquartered in Beverly Hills and New York City with offices around the country, currently manages over $56.7 billion in assets (as of 1/31/2022) and is a wholly owned subsidiary of City National Bank. City National Rochdale is an affiliate of City National Bank, which is a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada. For more information, visit www.cnr.com.

Media Contact:

Tom Doelp, City National Bank, (201) 452-8681

Tom.Doelp@cnb.com




By Azernews





By Vafa Ismayiova

The Azerbaijani government has sent humanitarian aid to Moldova to provide emergency medical assistance to Ukrainian IDPs who entered Moldovan territory as a result of the crisis in Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry has said.

The plane carrying 29 tons of humanitarian aid worth more than AZN 1.7 million ($1 million) took off from Heydar Aliyev International Airport at 1000 a.m. (GMT +4) on April 15 and landed at Chisinau Airport, the ministry said.

On February 27 and March 12, 2022, a total of nearly 520 tons of humanitarian aid consisting of medicines, medical supplies, instruments and equipment, as well as food products, with a total amount of AZN 21.5 million (more than 11.5 million) was sent to Ukraine on the orders of Azerbaijan's leadership.

Some 6,163 citizens of Ukraine have arrived in Azerbaijan since February 24, 2022, Azerbaijani State Migration Servicemen Spokesperson Elnur Kalantarli earlier said.

In late March, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that about 20,000 Azerbaijanis left Ukraine due to the strained situation in the country.

Azerbaijan earlier called Moscow and Kyiv for dialogue to end the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov made the remarks in an address to the UN Human Rights Council meeting on March 2.

"Ongoing humanitarian crisis requires urgent measures to help those affected. Azerbaijan provided humanitarian assistance and calls on both sides to dialogue," he said.

The minister expressed Azerbaijan's regret over the situation in Ukraine. Bayramov noted that civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected, underlining that human rights must be constantly observed.

"Azerbaijan regrets that the ongoing situation in Ukraine leads to human casualties, especially among the civilian population," he said.
In Partnership with World Business Chicago, CoinFlip will Participate in Events for University Students

CHICAGO, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CoinFlip , a leading financial services platform focused on the digital economy, announces today its presenting sponsorship of ThinkChicago, a national STEM talent attraction & retention program led by World Business Chicago. Through this sponsorship, CoinFlip will support, present, and organize various ThinkChicago events to connect with university students and educate them about the opportunities within the fintech industry. The partnership further enhances CoinFlip's commitment to giving back and serving its hometown base of operations in Chicago.

Led by the Innovation & Venture Strategy Team of World Business Chicago, ThinkChicago connects talent with local innovative companies. ThinkChicago is committed to support university students' exploration around career-building opportunities and engage with Chicago technology companies who are hiring during these challenging times. CoinFlip Founder and Chairman, Daniel Polotsky, recently spoke at ThinkChicago's TechTalk, an exclusive event to discuss Chicago's dynamic tech ecosystem.

"We're extremely proud to have grown our business in Chicago and be at the epicenter of the technology revolution that is happening in our city. From ideating in our dorm room and bootstrapping our business in a completely new industry, we fully understand the challenges of turning an idea into a thriving organization," said Polotsky. "The opportunities that Chicago presents to young new talent are endless and helping our community is one of the core values and principles of CoinFlip."

Throughout the year, CoinFlip will participate in various events for recruitment and education, hosted by World Business Chicago and ThinkChicago. "We are thrilled to welcome CoinFlip as presenting sponsor of ThinkChicago 2022," said Michael Fassnacht, President and CEO, World Business Chicago, Chief Marketing Officer, City of Chicago. "CoinFlip, a fast-growing company, is a great example how Chicago's startup, tech and innovation ecosystem is driving accelerated and disruptive growth and expansion in business. With CoinFlip's support of ThinkChicago 2022, meaningful connections among participating students and top tech leaders, entrepreneurs, startups, jobs and opportunity are certain."

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Named the No. 1 fastest-growing company in Chicago by Crain's Chicago Business, CoinFlip had a five-year growth rate of 1,715,091.9% and revenue of $50 million in 2020 and nearly $100 million in 2021. The company was also ranked No. 60 on the Inc. 5000, the highest-ranking crypto company included on the list. Since inception, the company has expanded to over 3,500 ATMs across 49 states, taking its place on the frontline of a financial revolution where cryptocurrency and blockchain technology can empower investors across the country.

For more information about CoinFlip, please visit www.CoinFlip.tech and join the conversation on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram and LinkedIn .

About CoinFlip:

CoinFlip is a leading financial services platform focused on the digital economy. The company operates the world's largest network of cryptocurrency kiosks by transaction volume with over 3,500 machines across 49 states supporting the buying and selling of major cryptocurrencies with cash. In 2020, CoinFlip launched Trade Desk, an over-the-counter trading service that provides investors a personal account manager and competitive coin pricing. The company does not charge hidden fees, cuts typical transaction fees by as much as half, and provides 24/7 customer support.

CoinFlip was founded in 2015 by Daniel Polotsky, Kristoffer Dayrit, Alan Gurevich, and Benjamin Weiss. Headquartered in Chicago, CoinFlip placed 60th on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list as the top-ranked cryptocurrency company, was named the 2021 #1 fastest-growing company in Chicago by Crain's and was awarded the 2021 Silver Stevie  Award for Customer Service. For more information about CoinFlip, please visit www.CoinFlip.tech .

About World Business Chicago (WBC):

World Business Chicago is a public-private, non-profit partnership that drives inclusive economic growth and job creation, supports business, and promotes Chicago as a leading global city. Supported by a council of 250+ local leaders, WBC's Innovation & Venture portfolio of programs drive inclusive growth and opportunity for the city's tech economy and innovation ecosystem. Flagship programs include ThinkChicago, the Chicago Venture Summit, Startup Chicago, and Venture Engine with the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC).

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SOURCE CoinFlip
Photo by Paul Bruinooge/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images

Cuba Gooding Jr. has avoided jail time in a criminal case accusing the Oscar-winning actor of violating three different women.

Variety reports that Gooding Jr., who was facing up to a year behind bars for groping three women at Manhattan clubs in 2018 and 2019, pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon to one misdemeanor count of forcible touching. In six months, should the 54-year-old Jerry Maguire star comply with the terms of his deal, the misdemeanor will be reduced to a lesser violation of harassment.

As part of the plea, Gooding Jr. will avoid jail time. Still, he must continue his alcohol and behavior counseling for six months.

We fully credit and believe all of the survivors in this case and thank all of the women and other witnesses who cooperated with our office during the pendency of our investigation, Assistant District Attorney Coleen Balbert said during the actors court appearance.

Gooding was arrested in June 2019 after a woman accused him of squeezing her breast without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square. A few months later, he was charged in two additional cases from women accusing him of similar sexual abuse.

Gooding Jr. has faced allegations from seven women who have come forward to accuse the actor of sexual misconduct, according to reports. 22 women in total have accused Gooding Jr. of sexual misconduct.
The USS Orleck is scheduled to arrive in Jacksonville this weekend and will open as a floating Cold War museum in June.

The retired U.S. Navy destroyer that will serve as a floating Cold War museum is scheduled to arrive in downtown Jacksonville on Saturday.

The U.S.S. Orleck, which earned the nickname "The Grey Ghost of the Vietnam Coast" by firing more rounds in support of ground troops than any ship in the Navy, is under tow from Port Arthur, Texas, where it spent several months preparing for its journey across the Gulf of Mexico and around the southern tip of Florida.

Latham Smith of Smith Maritime in Green Cove Springs, the company towing the Orleck, said pulling a 390-foot warship across the gulf isn't as difficult as it sounds. The Orleck displaces about 1,000 tons, but the company pulled a 90,000-ton load all the way to Portugal last year.

"Thats a very small thing for us to tow," Smith said from Louisiana, where his company has a second shipyard. "The tug thats pulling it is accustomed to pulling 900-foot ships."

It is being pulled by the Elsbeth III, a tug that Smith built himself in Green Cove Springs. The tug, one of six in the company's fleet, has a 1,000-horsepower engine and three 8-foot propellers and has been all over the world, pulling ships and barges. "We just stay on this planet," Smith said. "We dont go anywhere else."

The USS Orleck got a new paint job and was made seaworthy in Port Arthur, Texas, in preparation for its trip to Jacksonville.

The shape of the Orleck causes more trouble than its size, Smith said. Barges are designed to be pulled by a tugboat, but warships, with their pointed bows, tend to zig-zag under tow.

"One of the characteristics of warships is that they tend to not tow nice and straight," Smith said. "We have to be very aware of the directional stability."

The Orleck is a "dead ship" while under tow, meaning that it has no power and no steering. Coast Guard regulations prohibit anyone from even being aboard the ship while it's being towed, Smith said.

The ship was near Key West on Tuesday afternoon and was slated to come up the Gulf Stream, then angle in toward the St. Johns River. It should be at the mouth of the river around dawn on Saturday. Depending on river traffic, it should take about four or five hours to travel to its temporary berth on the Northbank, just upstream from the Main Street bridge. It will be berthed parallel to the shoreline, with its starboard side facing the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront.

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Earlier: Anchors aweigh! Retired U.S. Navy destroyer headed for Jacksonville

What it means: Retired Navy ship USS Orleck could boost Jacksonville military tourism as part of riverfront park

Track the Orleck: Follow the progress of the Orleck's journey to Jacksonville with this map

Justin Weakland, vice president of the Jacksonville Historic Naval Ship Association, said the Orleck will stay at its temporary berth for a few months while work is completed on a pier, restrooms and ticket office on the Shipyards property in downtown Jacksonville.

Weakland said the Orleck will not be open for public tours until its permanent berth is completed. He said plans call for the ship to be in place and open by June 11, when the city is planning a large bicentennial celebration.

The Orleck will become a floating museum focusing on the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam era.

The ship has a long and colorful history. It's a Gearing Class destroyer that was built in Texas and launched in May of 1945, near the end of World War II, at a cost of $6.3 million. It operated as part of the Seventh Fleet during the Korean War, then underwent extensive renovations under the Navy's Fleet Rehabilitation and Maintenance program in 1962.

MOSH: 'A huge green light for us': MOSH moving forward with plans for new museum at Jacksonville's Shipyards

The ship earned 18 Battle Stars, four during the Korean conflict and 14 during the fighting in Vietnam.

It later served as a training ship and appeared in the TV miniseries "Winds of War." In 1982 it was transferred to the Turkish Navy, where it was renamed the TCG Yucetepe, serving until 2000.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: USS Orleck, Jacksonville's new museum ship, set to arrive Saturday
Substantial income tax credits offered by governments in some developed countries for electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles propels the hybrid cars market

Design of hybrid cars for reduced engine size and reduced car weight translating into increased mileage to favor the demand for these vehicles

ALBANY, N.Y., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Analysts at TMR estimate the hybrid cars market to expand at a CAGR of 21.9% during the forecast period from 2021 to 2031. Increasing shift in demand from conventional gasoline powered engine vehicles to environment-friendly engine vehicles is a key factor fueling the growth of the hybrid cars market. Consistent effort of automobile manufacturers for improved designs until commercialization is promising for the growth of hybrid cars market.

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Increasing consumer awareness for fuel-efficient vehicles and government regulations to curb vehicle emissions is leading to the rising demand for electric and hybrid vehicles. Hybrid vehicles receive power either from electric motor engine, natural gas engine, or internal combustion (IC) engine, with IC engines mostly used to power battery of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles for their low emissions.

Several governments the world over are playing a key role to increase awareness about electric and hybrid vehicles to reduce the use of conventional fuel-based engine vehicles in an effort to conserve the environment. Governments are providing several benefits and subsidies to increase the production capacity of electric and hybrid vehicles, and tax incentives to users for purchase of these vehicles. For instance, the U.S. Government offers up to US$ 7,500 federal income tax credits for all electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

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Hybrid Cars Market  Key Findings of Report

Design encompassing environment-friendly compact size engines, improved aero dynamics, and reduced car weight as compared to IC engine cars elevates the fuel efficiency of hybrid vehicles

Demand for series-parallel hybrid cars is at the fore among other leading product segments in the hybrid cars market. Superior functionality of series-parallel hybrid cars allows to split power, wherein power is routed from IC engine to the wheels of the vehicle. Nonetheless, plug-in hybrid cars are anticipated to witness high demand during the forecast period. The commercialization of plug-in hybrids that is attracting consumers to own battery-operated vehicles is providing substantial opportunities to this product segment of the hybrid cars market.

Hybrid car manufacturers in developed countries are leaning toward local production to strengthen their manufacturing capacity. This is proving to be beneficial to serve substantial demand in regional markets, and reduce cost of shipping of several raw materials used.

Exponential rise in vehicle ownership in several parts of the world leading to rise in pollution has alerted governments to adopt measures to reduce pollution. Several governments offer tax benefits for environment-friendly vehicles, and thus stimulate demand for hybrid cars market

Asia Pacific led the hybrid cars market in terms of revenue in 2020 due to the substantial demand for of IC engine and electric motor powered vehicles. Rising awareness among consumers for the adoption of low emission vehicles and incentives provided by several governments for use of electric and hybrid cars fuels the hybrid cars market in the region.

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Hybrid Cars Market  Growth Drivers

Growing consumer awareness about fuel-efficient vehicles and government regulations to curb vehicular emissions drives the hybrid cars market

Array of benefits and incentives offered by governments to vehicle manufacturers to increase the production capacity of electric and hybrid vehicles stimulates the hybrid cars market

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Hybrid Cars Market  Key Players

Some of the key players operating in the hybrid cars market are;

Volkswagen AG

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.

Hyundai Motor Co.

BorgWarner Inc.

Volvo Group

Allison Transmission

Toyota Motor Corp.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd.

Continental AG

Ford Motor Company

Daimler AG

ZF Friedrichshafen AG

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The hybrid cars market is segmented as follows;

Hybrid Cars Market, by Type

Series

Parallel

Plug-in

Series-Parallel

Hybrid Cars Market, by Energy Source

ICE Hybrid

Fuel Cell Hybrid

Solar Hybrid

Natural Gas Hybrid

Hybrid Cars Market, by Degree of Hybridization

Full Hybrid

Micro-Hybrid

Mild Hybrid

Hybrid Cars Market, by Vehicle Type

Passenger Vehicle

Light Commercial Vehicle

Hybrid Cars Market, by Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

Latin America

Browse Latest Automotive and Transport Industry Research Reports by TMR:

Autonomous Car Market

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/autonomous-cars-driverless-cars-market.html

Connected Car Market

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/connected-car.html

Hypercars Market

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hypercar-market.html

Self-driving Car Market

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/self-driving-car-market.html

About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research is a global market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. Our experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyse information.



Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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REYKJAVIK, Iceland, April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- DesignMarch, Iceland's largest design festival, is back and now in its 14th year. Taking place May 4-8 in Reykjavik, Iceland, DesignMarch brings together participants and guests to explore a world of progressive design and innovation. Reflecting the growth of the Icelandic design scene, DesignMarch will host over 250 events, parties, exclusive talks and over 100 exhibitions, showcasing the very best from the local Icelandic design scene as well as international figures.

DesignMarch, Icelands largest design festival, will take place May 4-8 in Reykjavik. DesignMarch covers a full spectrum of progressive design and innovation, including product design, fashion and textile design and architecture. The 2022 festival will explore key themes including innovation, experimentalism, sustainability, heritage, development, playfulness and growth.

Innovative and collaborative, DesignMarch is a platform for optimism and creativity to celebrate new, imaginative and surprising approaches in the world of design, architecture, fashion and beyond.

Covering the spectrum of the design remit, DesignMarch will explore key themes for 2022 including innovation, experimentalism, sustainability, heritage, development, playfulness and growth. Several of the anticipated showstoppers for this year include:

DesignTalks

DesignMarch's signature event will take place at Harpa Concert Hall on May 4. DesignTalks is curated by Hlin Helga Gulaugsdottir and this year the event will be moderated by Marcus Fairs, editor-in-chief and founder of Dezeen. The full-day program explores how design and architecture can help imagine and propose alternative futures and promote change. Speakers include Liam Young, sci-fi architect and director, and Giorgia Lupi, information designer and partner at Pentagram. "It will be a celebration of imagination and a moment for deep thinking," said curator Hlin Helga.

Product Design

Tobia Zambotti and Aleksi Saastamoinen will be showcasing their "Coat-19" puffer jacket at Skekk, Oinsgata. Using disinfected single-use face masks collected from the streets through the COVID-19 pandemic, this design highlights the unexpected effects of the pandemic and is a statement piece at the festival.

Fashion and Textile

Textile innovators Bergor Gunadottir and Joel Palsson from Farmers Market will be unveiling their Icelandic artificial fur designs in association with wool processing company, Istex. The "fur" is created from uncolored leftover wool that is not used in knitting, embodying the reuse and recycle ethos of the festival.

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Architecture

Combining playfulness with heritage and experientialism, DesignMarch visitors can experience architecture first-hand through "Run Around Reykjavik: Architecture and Observation." Hosted by The Architect Association of Iceland and starting at Groska, an innovation house in the heart of Reykjavik, this is a new way of enjoying the city's diverse architecture while working up a sweat.

Experience Design

Designer Elin Margot and chef Pola Sutryk have created a playful multi-sensory dining experience to delight and surprise guests at Nordic House.

"We are delighted to welcome people to Iceland for DesignMarch so they can experience the very best of the creative industries in Iceland from local and international artists," said orey Einarsdottir, Director of DesignMarch. "It has been a tough few years for designers, creators and innovators, but we are excited to have lots of visitors back this May to experience and celebrate the best in design, fashion, textiles and architecture. I am confident that this will be the most impressive DesignMarch we have ever seen. With hundreds of exhibitions, shows, new collections and talks there is something for everyone to enjoy. With these important new themes for 2022, we hope to spark people's creative drive and have them leave feeling inspired."

Visit designmarch.is and the DesignMarch Media Kit to see the full official program and for more information.

@designmarch #designmarch

Getting there: Return flights to Iceland are available from 118 with Icelandair



Where to stay: Hotel stays in Reykjavik city from 109 with Icelandair Hotel Reykjavik Marina

For further information contact the PR team: visiticeland@finnpartners.com / 07967372265

Coat-19, a puffer jacket filled with disinfected single-use masks collected from the streets, highlights pandemic-related pollution and is a statement piece of the 2022 DesignMarch festival. Designed by Tobia Zambotti and Aleksi Saastamoinen. Photo by Luca Ranghetti. Model Lorenzo Sabbatani.

Cision

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/iceland-welcomes-back-the-countrys-largest-design-festival-designmarch-2022-301525333.html

SOURCE DesignMarch
The Syrian man who inspired Americans with his vivid account of spotting the Brooklyn subway shooter suspect and helping to flag down police did not rest after his breathless day on Wednesday.

Hours later, Zack Tahhan headed to the North Hudson Islamic Educational Center in Union City, a mosque in the Hudson County city where he lives, to join the day's last prayers.

When he saw alleged gunman Frank James walking along a street in the East Village, the safety of millions of New Yorkers, and of his family still in Syria, weighed on his mind, he said.

I was just thinking I want to make the people safe, Tahhan, 21, said in an interview Wednesday night at the mosque, exhausted but still talkative. "We have to do that if we see somebody do something bad. I worry  maybe he was going to do it again and its going to be the same thing."

Zack Tahhan outside of North Hudson Islamic Educational Center in Union City on Wednesday night, April 13, 2022. Tahhan reportedly helped to flag down police after spotting alleged subway shooter Frank R. James.

Tahhan was with two other men when he spotted James and they jumped into action to alert police officers stopped at a red light. Police believe James called a tip line saying he was at a nearby McDonald's, but he had left by the time officers arrived at the restaurant, according to news reports.

For Tahhan, violence like the subway attack on Tuesday does not feel distant. Hes haunted by memories of Syria, and the destruction that rained down on his city of Aleppo. He saw people killed and buildings toppled. His uncle lost his legs during a bombing attack there.

He recalled a harrowing moment of finding his 4-year-old neighbor in the rubble of a neighboring home struck by a bomb.

I take him in hand. I was 13 years old," he said.

Syrian war: Thousands of Syrians fled to the US. Ten years later, their lives tell stories of resilience

Trending: Will Easter, Passover and Eid gatherings spur COVID spike in NJ? Here's what models show

Tahhan was born in Brooklyn, but his family moved back to Syria when he was 1. As a U.S.-born citizen, he was able to come to America when he was 18, but he knew no English and arrived alone, with only the name of a friend of his father in Union City.

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Having fled war, hes thankful for the chance hes been given, but worries for his family now in Turkey and Syria.

I need my family. Thats all. Im worried always. Im thinking about them. I cannot breathe sometimes, said Tahhan, for whom "Zack" is short for Sakaria.

The shooting in Brooklyn rattled him deeply. He said he could hardly sleep after seeing the news and the widely shared images of James.

'I want everybody to be safe'

"I was really, really upset. I don't want to talk too much. I want everybody to be safe with their family," said Tahhan, who works at North Bergen-based MACA Security, which installs and maintains surveillance equipment.

Amid that anxiety, he spotted the suspect with his own eyes on Wednesday morning, he said, while he was servicing a surveillance camera at an East Village hardware store. Tahhan shouted at people to step away. He saw a police car stopped at a red light and alerted the cops, he said.

Mohamed Cheikh, a co-worker from North Bergen, and Franciso Puebla, a manager at the store, were with Tahhan and all believed that the man they saw was the person police said they were seeking in connection with the shooting.

Zack Tahhan, a witness who reportedly notified police of Frank James' whereabouts, gives an interview after leaving the 9th Precinct where James is currently being held in police custody for his connection to yesterday's shooting at the 36th St subway station on April 13, 2022 in New York City.

Puebla said in an interview with USA TODAY that he also approached the police car to let them know the suspect was there. A swarm of police then arrested James near 1st Avenue and St. Marks Place.

The NYPD did not confirm the mens accounts or say how many tips they received before James' arrest. An artist having lunch with his family told Artnet news that he also flagged down police on St. Mark's Place.

Police say they were searching for James in the vicinity after the tip that he was at McDonald's.

"Officers responded. He was not there. They start driving around the neighborhood looking for him and see him on the corner of St. Mark's and First and they take him into custody," James Essig, chief of detectives for the New York Police Department, said at a press conference Wednesday.

Related: Brooklyn shooting highlights vulnerability of subways, a nightmare for victims, responders

More: NJ legal weed sales to begin on April 21, Gov. Phil Murphy announces

After the arrest, Tahhan became an instant sensation on social media, as videos circulated of him breathlessly describing the encounter: how he feared it was the man in photos distributed by police, how the suspect had a bag that worried him, and how he was fasting for the Ramadan holy month at the time.

In New Jersey, people cheered online as he blurted, Im from Syria. Im from Jersey!" in one interview.

(Center) Zack Tahhan outside of North Hudson Islamic Educational Center in Union City on Wednesday, April 13, 2022. Tahhan talks about spotting subway shooting suspect Frank R. James.

Tahhan had not been to school in a few years in Syria because of the war raging around him. When he arrived in the U.S., he went right to work, putting in six to seven days a week to earn money for his family back home.

In Hudson County, he has found a home at his local mosque, where he prays and volunteers for security and sets up for special events.

On Wednesday night, the mosque was busy for the Ramadan season. Many worshippers said they were proud of the good deed done by someone from their community.

A friend, Jessica Berrocal, described Tahhan as genuine and giving. Hes a very pure-hearted person, she said. Hes willing to put other people first before him.

Samer Elsammak, who employs Tahhan and Cheikh at MACA Security, said the two were like sons to him. They're known for helping out around the mosque, he added.

I was thrilled of the way they took action, Elsammak said.

"Alhamdulillah, thats good for everybodys sake, he added, using the Arabic phrase for praise be to God.

Hannan Adely is a diversity reporter covering Arab and Muslim communities for NorthJersey.com, where she focuses on social issues, politics, bias and civil rights. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: adely@northjersey.com

Twitter: @adelyreporter

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Zack Tahhan: NJ man on Frank James arrest, Brooklyn shooting
IRVINE, Calif., April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Karma Automotive, a Southern California-based luxury electric automaker, and Manhattan Motorcars, an award-winning retailer of luxury and performance vehicles, have partnered to showcase Karma's latest vehicle at the New York International Auto Show, from April 15th to April 24th, 2022.

KARMA AUTOMOTIVE SHOWCASES GS-6 SERIES AT THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW

The 2022 Karma GS-6, a luxury electric vehicle will be featured in Manhattan Motorcars' booth at the Jacob Javits Center. Alongside the Karma GS-6, Manhattan Motorcars will also showcase other luxury brands, such as Bentley, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, Porsche, and GTO Engineering.

"We have an exceptional partnership with Karma, who provide a unique luxury electric vehicle experience," states Paul Dumont, The general manager of Manhattan Motorcars. "There has never been a better time to buy an electric vehicle in the state of New York."

"It is great to be a part of the New York International Auto Show again, especially with a partner like Manhattan Motorcars," says William Monroe, Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing, and Customer Experience at Karma Automotive. "This auto show has been one of the largest publicly attended consumer events, which is fantastic for showcasing our vehicle's latest generation."

The 2022 Karma GS-6 can be experienced at Manhattan Motorcars's booth in the Jacob Javitz Center, located on Level 3, Booth #900.

ABOUT KARMA AUTOMOTIVE

Karma Automotive, founded in 2014, is a southern California based producer of luxury electric vehicles. Headquartered in Irvine, California with a production facility located in Moreno Valley, Karma sells vehicles via its dealer network in North America, Europe, South America and the Middle East. Karma's Innovation and Customization Center, which opened in 2017 offers world-class engineering, design, customization, and manufacturing services along with electrification platforms.

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Karma Launched its Revero and Revero GT in 2017 and 2019. Both vehicles were named Green Car Journal's Luxury Green Car of the Year award. In 2021 Karma announced the GS-6 Series which was honored with Green Car Journal's 2022 Green Car Product of Excellence award. Karma GS-6 is an electric vehicle powered by dual electric motors that embodies Karma's goal of offering leading technology with a luxury experience. Every Karma vehicle is created with unparalleled individual care and craftsmanship.

For more information, visit www.karmaautomotive.com, or www.karmanewsroom.com.

Cision

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SOURCE Karma Automotive
Michelin

Clermont-Ferrand, April 15, 2022

COMPAGNIE GENERALE DES ETABLISSEMENTS MICHELIN

Publication of the preparatory documentation for the

Annual Shareholders Meeting of May 13, 2022

The Annual Meeting of Michelin Shareholders will be held on Friday, May 13, 2022 from 9 a.m. at the Zenith d'Auvergne, 24 rue de Sarlieve, 63800 Cournon d'Auvergne, Puy-de-Dome, France. Shareholders of the Company who wish to attend the Annual Shareholders Meeting in person must comply with the health measures prevailing at the time the meeting is held. Shareholders are invited to regularly consult the Annual Shareholders Meeting section of the Company's website, www.michelin.com/en, to access all of the up-to-date information about the event.

As Michelin shares are exclusively registered shares, all shareholders receive a notice of meeting including a voting form, the Meeting agenda, the resolutions submitted to their approval, and the main terms and conditions for participating and voting. This document, as well as the preliminary notice of meeting published in the French journal of record, Bulletin des Annonces Legales Obligatoires, within the legal deadlines, are available on the website at https://www.michelin.com/en/finance/individual-shareholders/2022-annual-general-meeting/.

Shareholders can consult all of the documentation referred to in Article R. 225-83 of the French Commercial Code on the above website or at the Company's headquarters. This information may also be requested from the Company.

A live video recording of the Meeting will be broadcast on the www.michelin.com/en website unless technical reasons prevent or seriously disrupt the broadcast. The replay of the Meeting will be available on the www.michelin.com/en website as soon as possible after the Meeting.

Investor calendar

Quarterly information for the three months ended March 31, 2022: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 after close of trading

Annual Shareholders Meeting: Friday, May 13, 2022

Ex-dividend date: Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Payment date: Thursday, May 19, 2022

Results for the six months ending June 30, 2022 : Tuesday, July 26, 2022 after close of trading

Financial information for the nine months ending September 30, 2022: Tuesday, October 25, 2022 after close of trading

Michelin in Motion progress report (digital event): Tuesday, November 29, 2022

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Investor Relations







Guillaume Jullienne

+33 (0) 7 86 09 68 01

guillaume.jullienne@michelin.com







Pierre Hassairi

+33 (0) 6 84 32 90 81

pierre.hassairi@michelin.com



Flavien Huet

+33 (0) 7 77 85 04 82

flavien.huet@michelin.com Media Relations







+33 (0) 1 45 66 22 22

groupe-michelin.service.de.presse@michelin.com







Individual Shareholders







+33 (0) 4 73 32 23 05







Muriel Floc-Hlay

muriel.floc-hlay@michelin.com







Clemence Rodriguez

clemence.daturi-rodriguez@michelin.com





DISCLAIMER

This press release is not an offer to purchase or a solicitation to recommend the purchase of Michelin shares. To obtain more detailed information on Michelin, please consult the documents filed in France with the Autorite des Marches Financiers, which are also available from the www.michelin.com/en website.

This press release may contain a number of forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that these statements are based on reasonable assumptions at the time of publishing this document, they are by nature subject to risks and contingencies liable to translate into a difference between actual data and the forecasts made or inferred by these statements.

Attachment




If you've received one of the 24,000 warnings from the Delaware Department of Transportation for speeding in the I-95 construction zone, your grace period is almost up.

Starting on Monday, these violations will come with a price.

"Our objective here is not for people to get tickets," said DelDOT spokesman C.R. McLeod. "The objective here is for people to drive safely."

The I-95 Restore the Corridor project has been ongoing, often slowing traffic in the area as the Delaware Department of Transportation works to make the interstate that splits Wilmington more effective.

SPEED CAMERAS INTRODUCED: Why you may now get mailed a ticket for speeding in the Wilmington I-95 construction zone

A ROCKY START: Before enforcement could begin, Delaware's I-95 work zone speed cameras vandalized

Since the speed cameras rolled out in January, McLeod reported a 10% reduction in speeds in the work zone. He also noted a 37% decrease in crashes compared with the same time last year.

McLeod said that 1,551 drivers received multiple warnings for speeding during this trial period. Almost 400 of them were caught more than twice.

In one case, McLeod said, a single driver racked up 22 violations.

The penalties for speeding remain the same as when the program was first introduced. Fines are based on how far above the 45-miles-per-hour speed limit a car is traveling, and no points are added to drivers' licenses.

The fees, which begin with a base violation of $20 and an additional amount for each mile per hour over the posted work zone speed limit, will be used to fund the program and support other traffic safety initiatives.

Since the speed cameras rolled out in January, DelDOT spokesman C.R. McLeod reported a 37% decrease in crashes compared with the same time last year.

To help travelers understand the fine, DelDOT used the example of a violation for going 58 mph in the work zone. The speed violation itself is $20 plus an additional $13  $1 for each mile per hour over the 45-mph posted work zone speed limit  but don't forget about those "other fees" from the Delaware Code, bringing the total to $74.50.

FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Smyrna High School wanted murals that encouraged diversity. Then, they covered one up

In an effort to not "penalize people unfairly," McLeod said, drivers who are caught speeding but did not receive a violation during the three-month trial period will still get only a warning for their first offense.

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"By and large, people are observing (the speed limit) and slowing down," McLeod said. "We just ask that people continue to do that."

Send story tips or ideas to Hannah Edelman at hedelman@delawareonline.com. For more reporting, follow them on Twitter at @h_edelman.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Fines for speeding in Delaware's I-95 construction zone start Monday
It was a week wherein oil prices lost more steam but natural gas futures rallied to their highest since 2008.



On the news front, supermajors ExxonMobil XOM and Shell SHEL issued updates on their upcoming Q1 earnings. Announcements from Murphy Oil MUR, Equinor EQNR and Petrobras PBR also made it to the headlines.



Overall, it was a mixed seven-day period for the sector. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 1.2% to close at $98.26 per barrel but natural gas prices rose around 10% to end at $6.278 per million British thermal units (MMBtu). In particular, the oil market fell for the fourth time in five weeks.



Coming back to the week ended Apr 8, oil prices fell further below $100 after a government report showed builds in crude and distillate stockpiles. The possible release of crude by the International Energy Agency into the commercial market also dragged prices down, while a stronger greenback, which can weaken dollar-denominated commodities like oil, played its part too.



Meanwhile, natural gas finished up strongly, reflecting colder-than-normal weather, lower domestic output, strong LNG shipments and high coal prices.

Recap of the Weeks Most-Important Stories

1. ExxonMobil recently expressed optimism over the significantly higher oil and gas prices, contributing to its first-quarter 2022 upstream earnings.



XOM expects its upstream business to generate a maximum of $2.7 billion in additional earnings in the first quarter sequentially. The integrated energy giant expects operating profits from oil and gas operations of up to $9.3 billion, the highest for any quarter since 2017.



The company expects high oil and gas prices to boost earnings of its production business after Russias invasion of Ukraine pushed the commodity prices significantly higher. The company projects operating results in the first quarter from the oil and liquids businesses to improve $1.9-$2.3 billion compared with the December-end quarter of 2021, thanks to an uptick in oil prices. The improvement in natural gas prices is likely to have contributed up to $400 million to upstream business profits, as estimated by ExxonMobil. (ExxonMobil Projects $9.3B Worth Upstream Earnings for Q1)



2. Shell said it would take a $4-5 billion hit in the first quarter of this year after ceasing operations in Russia following Moscows invasion of Ukraine. The company released a preliminary report for the January-March period wherein the London-based energy biggie informed that apart from the cost of exit, the charges include other associated effects like loss of value on assets, non-payment of obligations and other credit losses.



Shell, however, maintained that the charges, which were previously thought to reach some $3.4 billion, wont impact adjusted earnings. The company also warned about adverse working capital movements to the tune of $7 billion due to highly fluctuating oil and gas prices.



On a positive note, the company expects surging commodity realizations to boost its first-quarter trading results, while its LNG unit is also set to benefit. Shell will separate its renewable energy business from the integrated gas segment, when it reports next month. (Shell Flags Possible $5B Q1 Hit From Russia Business)



3 Murphy Oil announced that its board of directors approved a 17% increase in the annualized dividend rate to 70 cents per share, up from the prior annualized rate of 60 cents.



The new quarterly dividend is payable Jun 1, 2022, to stockholders of record as of May 16, 2022. Murphy Oil has a long history of dividend payments and has paid dividends to shareholders consecutively since 1989. Since 2012, the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) upstream operator has returned $3.9 billion to its shareholders through buybacks and dividend payouts. Murphy Oils new dividend yield will be 1.72% compared with the Zacks S&P 500 composite's average of 1.45%.



You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Stable operating expenses, systematic hedges and strong production volumes will provide enough funds to sustain the dividend hike over the long term. (Murphy Oil Rewards Shareholders With 17% Dividend Hike)



4 Equinor received approval from the Canada government to proceed with the Bay du Nord development project to drive the Newfoundland and Labrador economy.



Discovered in 2013, Bay du Nord is situated in the Flemish Pass region off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. Once completed, it will be the first deepwater drilling site in Canada. The project, operated by Equinor, is currently expected to be valued at more than $12 billion.



The project involves three light oil discoveries in the Flemish Pass Basin, with estimated recoverable resources of 300 million oil barrels. Additional discoveries in the area could increase the estimate significantly. Bay du Nord is expected to commence production as early as 2028. (Equinor Gets Approval for Canada's Bay du Nord Project)



5. Brazilian government-owned oil giant, Petrobras, declared that it found a new oil accumulation in the southern part of the Campos Basin. The oil accumulation was discovered in a wildcat well in the Alto de Cabo Frio Central block, at a distance of about 140 miles from Rio de Janeiro, the water depth of which is 1,833 meters.



Petrobras took over the Alto de Cabo Frio Central block in October 2017 in the third bidding round of the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), under the production sharing regime, with Pre-Sal Petroleo S.A. as the manager. PBR, which is the operator of the block, owns a 50% stake.



Petrobras has an impressive portfolio of investments, particularly in Brazils pre-salt reservoirs that lie below the Espirito Santo, Campos and Santos basins in deep and ultra-deep water. The company is the operator in most of these exploration areas and holds interests in them ranging from 20% to 100%. (Petrobras Unearths New Pre-Salt Oil in Campos Basin)

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Price Performance

The following table shows the price movement of some major oil and gas players over the past week and during the last six months.



Company Last Week Last 6 Months

XOM +4.5% +41.1%

CVX +3.5% +58.6%

COP +2.5% +39.3%

OXY +6.4% +85.1%

SLB +2.1% +31.1%

RIG -4.1% +12.1%

VLO +1.9% +32.7%

MPC +2.5% +34.6%



The Energy Select Sector SPDR  a popular way to track energy companies  was up 3.2% last week. Over the past six months, the sector tracker has increased 41.1%.

Whats Next in the Energy World?

As the global oil consumption outlook strengthens amid tightening fundamentals, market participants will closely track the regular releases to watch for signs that could further validate the upward momentum. In this context, the U.S. Governments statistics on oil and natural gas  one of the few solid indicators that come out regularly  will be on energy traders' radar. Data on rig count from the oilfield service firm Baker Hughes, which is a pointer to the trends in U.S. crude production, is closely followed too. News related to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine geopolitical conflict and the potential demand hit from the resurgence of new coronavirus cases in China will be other factors that will dictate the near-term price direction for oil.



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. Petrobras (PBR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Murphy Oil Corporation (MUR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Equinor ASA (EQNR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (SHEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
By Azernews





By Sabina Mammadli

Against the backdrop of recent EU-mediated efforts to ensure a direct bilateral platform of talks between Baku and Yerevan, Moscow and Washington have recently expressed their willingness to assist Azerbaijan and Armenia in reaching a comprehensive peace treaty.

The most recent episodes, which seem to accelerate the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization process, are a clear indication that these predictions may become reality soon.

The first direct contact between Baku and Yerevan in many years that was not mediated by the OSCE, EU, or Russia; a series of new statements by Armenia's Prime Minister reaffirming that there is nothing unacceptable in Baku's five-point peace proposal and that there is no alternative for a peace agenda, emphasizing the inimical effect of being the only country that does not recognize Azerbaijan's territorial integrity - a first-rate ally of Turkey; President Ilham Aliyev's recent remarks expressing determination to move forward with practical value to achieve peace between the sides - the mere concept of all of this could not have been imagined a few months ago.

It is noteworthy that the April 6 trilateral meeting in Brussels between Aliyev, Pashinyan, and EU Council President Charles Michel paved the way for the acceleration of the signing of the peace treaty, marking it as an undeniably positive omen in the normalization process.

International interests

Some time ago, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov admitted that France and the U.S. refused to cooperate with Russia within the OSCE Minsk Group format.

Russia, which made the statement after the Brussels meeting, itself initiated its withdrawal from the already defunct group. To be clear, Russian co-chairman in the OSCE Minsk Group Igor Khovayev will continue his work in a new capacity. Moscow appointed him as the Russian foreign minister's special representative for promoting the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Moscow is determined to promote the conclusion of a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku.

"The basic principles for the establishment of interstate relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia proposed by Baku and Yerevan's reaction to them are intended to serve as the basis for the start of Azerbaijani-Armenian negotiations on a peace treaty," she said.

She stressed that the focus of Khovayev's attention will be the preparation of the aforementioned peace treaty.

We count on the support of the efforts of I. A. Khovaev from our allies and partners in Baku and Yerevan. Open for constructive interaction with other interested players," she added.

Soon after this statement from Russia, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that Washington stands ready to help Azerbaijan and Armenia achieve comprehensive peace, including through the OSCE Minsk Group.

He stressed that the U.S. remains committed to promoting a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous future for the South Caucasus region.

We welcome, as youve heard from us before in the readouts from Secretary Blinken, the April 6 meeting between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev in Brussels, including the positive momentum on preparations for peace talks and the formation of a bilateral commission on border delimitation, he noted.

He emphasized that they continue to encourage further peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Minsk Groups utter failure

De facto, the Minsk Group does not exist; it is invalid. The truth exists, and it has been confirmed by high-ranking officials from these co-chair countries, as well as by President Ilham Aliyev.

The Minsk Group was active for 28 years before the second Karabakh war. The result was zero. Although the mandate given to the Minsk Group to resolve the conflict is de jure in force, it can already be considered invalid de facto, the president recently states.

As Aliyev noted under the current circumstances, the Minsk Group and its co-chairs are virtually non-functional. Therefore, of course, there can be no talk of any group activity.

In light of the very complex political regional picture, Azerbaijan, through President Ilham Aliyev, emphasized that it is in favor of doing tangible work and has a very clear vision for the region's future development. Azerbaijan is confident that the region will be peaceful, that the South Caucasus will be calm, and that the risks of war will be greatly reduced.
A view of bricks lay on the ground outside a residence in the 3400 Block of Bassett Road on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, in East Price Hill. According to Cincinnati police, 28-year-old Christian Jones suffered a gunshot wound before crashing into the wall in his vehicle around 1:28 a.m. on Wednesday.

A man fatally shot by Cincinnati police officers Monday and another man are accused of robbing and killing a person in East Price Hill, according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office.

Prosecutors say Ali Coulter and Youssouf Niangane conspired to rob 28-year-old Christian Jones by arranging for Jones to give them a ride in exchange for money.

Niangane was indicted for two counts of aggravated murder and

one count of aggravated robbery.

The two men were in the back of Jones' car when they shot him in the back of the head three times, prosecutors said in a news release.

Officers responded around 1:28 a.m. on April 6 to a reported shooting and a crash at the 3400 block of Bassett Road, police said. Jones was declared dead at the scene.

Coulter was shot and killed by Cincinnati police officers who went to Covington to speak with his mother on Monday, officials said.

Video of the incident released Thursday shows officers entering the backyard of the residence when Coulter flees, jumping over a wooden fence.

Officers then confronted him in the front yard of another house and ordered Coulter several times to drop his handgun before they opened fire.

The shooting of Coulter is currently being investigated by Kentucky State Police and the Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

Police arrested Niangane, 18, on an open murder warrant on April 8, officials said. He's charged with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery, prosecutors said.

Niangane is being held at the Hamilton County Justice Center on a $1 million bond, prosecutors said. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison if convicted on all charges.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Covington shooting: Charges filed in East Price Hill shooting
A single mom who signed up for a $30,000 income-share agreement at a for-profit coding bootcamp has filed a lawsuit in California, alleging she entered the agreement under false pretenses.

Redmond, Washington-based Emily Bruner is suing Bloom Institute of Technology, formerly known as Lambda School, and its head Austen Allred, alleging they misrepresented job placement rates, operated without a license during her course of study, and hid the true nature of the schools financial interest in students success.

I feel like Lambda misled me at every turn  about their job placement rates and about how they would prepare us for jobs in the field. I was even more shocked when I found out they were operating illegally, Bruner said in a press release.

I took time away from my young son and other career opportunities to participate in a program based on lies," added Bruner, who's seeking a refund from the school as well as monetary damages. "While I'm thankful I opted out of arbitration so I can have my day in court, I wish my classmates who were also misled could be here with me.

Amid the tight labor market, some employers are dropping the requirement for a college degree during the hiring process, pushing more Americans to turn to short-term certificates or programs to gain skills such as coding.

But the Student Borrower Protection Center, an advocacy group, warns students of the potential harms of income-share agreements. The group contends that, rather than being a solution to the student debt crisis, these agreements can pose serious harms to borrowers.

Another advocacy group, the National Student Legal Defense Network, filed the lawsuit in San Francisco County Court on Friday afternoon on behalf of Bruner along with law firms Black & Buffone PLLC, and Cotchett, and Pitre & McCarthy LLPs.

"Its illegal and immoral for schools to lure students into costly income share agreements by promoting false job placement rates, but thats one of the many illegal things that Lambda School did, Alex Elson, Student Defense Vice President, said in a press release. Were proud to fight on behalf of students to hold Lambda and its executives accountable for the serious damage they have done.

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Screenshot of school website

ISAs gain steam

Income-share agreements, known as ISAs, are an alternative type of student loan financing where a borrower receives a loan, then pays a percentage of their income after graduation. The terms of an ISA depends on various factors, such as their major topic of study and projected future earnings.

Traditional colleges like Purdue have also dipped their toes into ISAs by offering them as an alternative to student loans, amid a national conversation about the cost of college and the possible need for student loan forgiveness.

Some schools like Purdue that offer ISAs characterize their products as neither a "loan" nor a "credit," but instead a "contingent debt" since a student doesn't have to pay the ISA until they find a job.

The federal government recently categorized ISAs as "private education loans."

Sample ISA contract from San Diego Workforce Partnership Inc.

Bruner's complaints

Bruner, the plaintiff, signed her ISA on June 29, 2019 when she was living in New Mexico because she could not pay the full tuition amount to attend Lambda full-time, according to the lawsuit. She says she moved back home to North Carolina to live with her parents, who would help her take care of her baby.

She took out $30,000 for its six- and 12-month computer science programs offered by San Francisco-based Lambda, according to the complaint. Bruner started school in September 2019 and finished the following August. Students at Lambda agree to pay 17% of their post-Lambda salary for 24 months once they make more than $50,000 a year, according to the lawsuit.

After graduating, she couldn't find a job as a web developer or a software engineer, and was, according to the lawsuit, told by employers that "she did not have the technical skills for the job, and that her education had not prepared her to be a web developer."

Bruner ended up going back to program management, a field she was working in prior to attending Lambda.

In the lawsuit, she alleged that Lambda misrepresented the fact that it did not have necessary approval from the state regulator, the California Bureau for Postsecondary Education. She also alleged that the school falsified and misrepresented the schools job placement rates.

Finally she also alleged that the school hid the true nature of its financial interest in students success  specifically by falsely representing that Lambda only was compensated when students found jobs and earned income.

Lambda School previously provided Yahoo Finance with the following statement when several students filed an arbitration against them: "Per policy, we dont speak about individual student or alumni situations in detail publicly, but were of course happy to review matters directly and will review any cases that are filed. In general, though, for any students ISA payments to be activated, they would have first signed an ISA contract and subsequently landed a role leveraging skills learned at Lambda School that pays $50K or more in salary."

Yahoo Finance has reached out to Lambda for an updated response.

Aarthi is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. She can be reached at aarthi@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.

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Vicar Gary Grinvalds wanted to become a wildlife biologist.

So he began as a fisheries and wildlife major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

But Grinvalds career path has found a different channel  from studying fish to becoming a fisher of men.

Grinvalds is serving Grace Lutheran Church near Swedeburg and Czech Presbyterian Church near Wahoo. Hes also part of the collaborative learning program at Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa.

Hes in his second year of a four-year program.

Grinvalds has a family history of ministry. His grandfather, Vitauts, was a pastor at a Lutheran church in Gothenburg. He was longtime pastor of St. Johns Lutheran Church in Yutan and later served a Lativan Lutheran Church in Lincoln.

Gary Grinvalds call to ministry came when he was a child growing up in Yutan.

I really latched onto church as a kid, he said.

Grinvalds was an elementary student when Sharon Josoff, Sunday school program director at St. Johns, heard hed like to be a minister when he grew up.

She started being very supportive of me being a pastor, he said. I really looked up to her. I thought she was great.

Grinvalds parents, Norman and Lori of Yutan, were supportive of his early day career goal.

He notes, however, how childrens career aspirations often change.

When youre a kid, you say you want to be everything when you grow up, he said.

In high school, Grinvalds wasnt so interested in being a pastor, but he did read the entire Bible and was involved in church.

I still kind of wanted to be everything, he said. I wanted to be a teacher and teach every subject.

Although Grinvalds began as a fisheries and wildlife major, he graduated with a degree in music education with a minor in religious studies in 2017.

His college pastor, the Rev. Adam White, had encouraged him to go to seminary. He also had the example of the Rev. Jon Gathje, who was his music teacher in Yutan from grades 5-8.

Gathje left teaching to go to seminary and is now pastor of Trinity North Lutheran Church in Omaha.

Grinvalds path to ministry didnt begin right out of college.

He first worked as a K-12, general and vocal music teacher at Elmwood-Murdock.

Grinvalds was in his second year of teaching, when he learned St. Johns was looking for a pastor and stepped in to preach in 2019.

They knew I was interested in the faith and they gave me that opportunity, he said. While I was there doing pulpit supply, I realized I felt comfortable doing it.

He found a fit.

I got the sense that  more and more  the things Im interested in, the skills I have fit well with ministry, more so than they fit with other things, he said. It just kind of became a good match.

He resigned from his teaching job at the end of the 2020 academic year.

Grinvalds entered the collaborative learning program. The Nebraska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) situated him at Grace Lutheran, which partnered with Czech Presbyterian.

He serves these churches while taking seminary classes online through Wartburg and looks forward to being ordained after hes finished the four-year program.

Grinvalds enjoys being a vicar.

It feels like Im using the skills I have in the right way. Its fulfilling, he said, describing his work. Part of the job is to read and learn and interpret Gods word for the world that we live in and to prepare sermons and to talk to people and to pray.

And hes continuing a legacy.

Grinvalds grandfather spent the last few years of his life in Lativa, where he was born. He died in 2020.

Gary Grinvalds wears his grandfathers robe.

I cant wear a stole (a long, flat band of colored cloth worn around the neck and down the front of a robe) until Im ordained, Grinvalds said. But when I am ordained, Ill have his stole. Im literally wearing his vestments.

Its exciting to carry on a family legacy.

Theres a certain sort of comfort to it in that Im kind of going back to territory that the Grinvalds family name has already established, he said.

Looking back, one of the reasons Grinvalds wanted to become a wildlife biologist was because he cares about the environment, animals and plants.

The ELCA also believes creation care is important.

So although Grinvalds didnt stay in fisheries and wildlife biology studies, he still gets to advocate that people need to care for the world.

He looks to the future.

I have never really outgrown the childhood tendency of wanting to do a little bit of everything, he said. As much as I would be happy and comfortable to be a pastor for the rest of my life, I could also see exploring all sorts of things.

He believes there are many amazing things worth giving attention to.

Fortunately, pastors can do a lot of things, he said. I could be serving in a parish or go on to teach seminary somewhere. I could do some sort of advocacy for the environment or positive social change.

There are many options.

I could see a lot in my future, he said. Im waiting and watching and seeing how it unfolds  where God calls me.

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For more than six decades, a local club has hosted a show thats become a tradition.

This year will be no exception.

The Fremont Coin Club will have its 63rd Annual Coin Show from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 1 in the Christensen Field Main Arena. Admission to the show is free and the public is welcome.

More than 20 coin dealers from Nebraska and surrounding states plan to attend the show.

Items available for purchase will include collector coins, gold and silver coins and bullion, supplies, tokens, old currency, world coins, and collectable items.

The Coin Show offers the community an opportunity to purchase coins and sell coins to dealers at the show.

In addition to coin dealers we are adding rock, gem and mineral dealers to our show for the first time. The Fremont Coin Club, who sponsors the show, felt this will be a great addition to the show and offer those attending an added benefit, said Bob Missel, show chairman.

The American Numismatic Association Certification Service (ANACS) will attend the show offering their professional grading services to those interested.

A representative from the Nebraska Numismatic Association will offer information on the hobby and membership opportunities.

To commemorate this years event the Fremont Coin Club has issued a commemorative $10 Historical Bank Note.

The club also is having a raffle for a genuine US $5 gold coin minted in 1901, tickets available at the show.

For more show information visit www.nebraskacoin.com

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Dodge County deputies have arrested a man suspected of arson in connection with a house fire that occurred Thursday at Ames.

Timothy J. Ladehoff, 29, of Ames has been arrested for second-degree arson.

No one was injured in the fire, which destroyed the home at 2076 County Road 15 Boulevard.

The Fremont Rural Fire Department was dispatched to the scene shortly after 5 p.m. After arriving, firefighters advised that the blaze was potentially a case of arson, the sheriffs office said in a news release.

Deputies went to the scene and after an investigation assisted by the Nebraska State Fire Marshals Office, it was determined the fire was intentionally set.

With assistance from the Nebraska State Patrol and the Colfax County Sheriffs Office, the suspect was apprehended in Rogers, after fleeing the original fire scene in Ames. Rogers is a village in Colfax County and is about 15 miles west of Ames.

The investigation is ongoing.

Fremont Rural Fire Department Chief Carl Nielsen said firefighters used between 40,000 and 50,000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze.

Nielsen told the Fremont Tribune Friday morning that the structure is a total loss and the fire is believed to have started in the basement.

Nielsen said when firefighters arrived fire was coming out of the basement windows and was on the back side of the house.

Firefighters attempted to get into the structure, but the floor had been compromised so they fought the blaze from the outside.

Due to the older buildings construction, fire was able to travel up one wall, across the roof and down the other wall. Winds coming from the west spread the fire.

You had all that wind blowing in there pushing the fire all over, he said. It was pretty windy at the onset. After the sun went down, the wind kind of died.

It took approximately three hours to get the fire under control.

Water had to be hauled from County Road 19 and U.S. Highway 30, where the countys shed is  an estimated distance of 4-and-a-half miles from the fire scene.

Nielsen said fire departments responded with tanker trucks with water and tanks were erected.

We put portable tanks on the ground so they could just dump and go, he said.

Fremont Rural firefighters initially responded to the fire.

They called the North Bend Volunteer Fire Department for mutual aid tankers and manpower and Fremont Fire Department for a rescue squad.

When they (Fremont rural) were on their way out there, they started seeing and smelling smoke so they had Nickerson respond with tankers and we were still running a little short on water a little ways into the fire so we had Hooper come down with a tanker, Nielsen said.

An estimated 35 to 40 firefighters responded to the scene.

Nielsen said a family lives in the home. A couple pets were missing as of Friday morning.

Were unsure if they got out and ran away or were still in there, he said.

Firefighters stayed on site until 10:30 p.m. Some returned at about 5 a.m. Friday to extinguish fire that had rekindled.

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Seven Pakistani soldiers have been killed in an attack in the countrys restive North Waziristan tribal region.

A senior military official told RFE/RLs Radio Mashaal that militants ambushed a military vehicle in Dattakhel area on April 14. Seven soldiers were killed in the exchange of fire, he added.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

The area is believed to be a stronghold of the Hafiz Gul Bahadar group of the banned Islamist group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani Taliban.

On April 13, two soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in the Shaam and Mirali Khadi areas of North Waziristan. The April 13 attacks were officially confirmed by the Pakistani military.

The fresh attack came hours after a Pakistani military spokesperson said there were no talks in progress with the TTP. Earlier, it was reported that a jirga assembly of influential tribal elders was negotiating with the TTP leadership hiding across the border in Afghanistan to agree on peace talks with the Pakistani authorities and an end to the violence.

As part of the ongoing negotiations, dozens of TTP prisoners have also been freed by the Pakistani authorities over the past two months. However, Major General Babar Iftikhar, a military spokesperson, told journalists on April 14 that there are no talks going on with the TTP.

Pakistani security forces have conducted numerous operations against the TTP and their affiliates in the tribal districts bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan conducted a massive anti-Taliban operation in June 2014. Officials claimed that they successfully pushed the Taliban into Afghanistan from the tribal region.

However, locals say the TTP has staged a gradual comeback in the area by increasing their attacks.
By Azernews





Over 700 mines and unexploded ordnance have been defused as a result of joint demining activities carried out in Azerbaijans liberated lands on April 1-14, Azertag has reported.

The next meeting of the Working Group on mine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) of the Interdepartmental Center under the Coordination Headquarters discussed the results of the mine clearance activities carried out in the liberated lands under the annual action plan approved by Azerbaijans Cabinet of Ministers by April 14.

The meeting was attended by officials of the Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency (ANAMA), as well as the Cabinet of Ministers, the Foreign Ministry, the Economy Ministry, the Defence Ministry, the Emergencies Ministry and the State Border Service.

As a result of humanitarian demining activities carried out by ANAMA on the liberated territories some 506.4 hectares of land were cleared, 595 mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) were neutralized on April 1-14. In general, some 8372.9 hectares of land were cleared, and 30,572 mines and UXO were defused from November 10, 2020, to April 14, 2022, by ANAMA in the area.

At the meeting, discussions were held on completed and ongoing demining projects based on the requests received by ANAMA.

It was noted that two civilians and one serviceman were injured in a mine explosion in Tartar and Zangilan regions in April.

The Defence Ministrys special engineering troops cleared some 492.06 hectares of land in Agdam, Kalbajar, Lachin, Gubadli, Shusha, Khojaly and Khojavand regions by neutralizing 71 units of munitions from April 1 to 14, 2022, the ministry reported.

According to the approved action plan, 19 of the ordered projects have already been completed, and work is underway on 14 projects. In general, the Defence Ministry cleared 15,026 hectares of land and neutralized 17,635 mines and UXO.

It was underlined that 13 MEMATT (Mechanical Demining Supply equipment produced by Turkey's ASFAT Company) are expected to be delivered by the end of the month to increase the number of mechanical mine-clearing vehicles to support humanitarian demining activities.

According to the Emergencies Ministry, a total of 1,147,872 square meters of land were cleared and 4,097 mines and unexploded ordnance were found in the direction of Aghdam and Fuzuli regions as of April 13, 2022. It added that the ministry's 50 mine detection units were involved in clearing the area from mines.

Moreover, the State Border Service cleared some 69 hectares of land defusing 38 mines and unexploded ordnance in April. In general, 775 hectares of land were cleared and 3,102 munitions were neutralized from November 10, 2020, to April 13, 2022, by the State Border Service.

Furthermore, the participants highlighted the importance of ANAMA's "Training of Trainers" for carrying out quality control in the cleared areas in line with certain methodology and standards.

ANAMA provided information on the study of minefields with the use of RAMS (Remote Aerial Minefield Survey) technology. It was noted that 18,000 hectares of land in Zangilan, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Tartar and Gubadli regions were analyzed last year through artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence software is capable of updating the memory of new objects found in the area. Additionally, depending on the degree of pollution in the area, the artificial intelligence software allows for the use of several cleaning methodologies.

The participants also stressed the importance of awareness-raising activities on the dangers of landmines and other explosive remnants of war, as well as encouraging civilians to be cautious and responsible in this regard.

The representatives of relevant government agencies also exchanged views on other issues relevant to the activities of the Working Group and analyzed ways to jointly address issues.

Meanwhile, under the auspices ANAMA, RPS Energy is conducting non-technical research with drones in Azerbaijans liberated lands, UK Operations and Special Projects Manager at RPS Energy  Explosives Engineering Services Dave Houghton told local media.

He mentioned that artificial intelligence is used to process the data collected throughout the study. It would take a person one day to do this task, while artificial intelligence would only need 90 minutes.

"Analysis of data per one square meter of land takes one second," the project manager added.

It should be noted that the Coordination Headquarters was established under the presidential order on November 24, 2020, to settle the problems in the liberated lands in a centralized manner and is led by the Head of the Presidential Administration Samir Nuriyev.

Armenia deliberately and constantly planted mines on Azerbaijani territories, in violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, thereby being a major threat to regional peace, security, and cooperation.

Previously, on June 12, Azerbaijan handed over 15 Armenian prisoners in exchange for a map detailing the location of 97,000 mines in formerly-occupied Aghdam.

On July 3, Armenia submitted to Azerbaijan maps of about 92,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines planted during the occupation of Fuzuli and Zangilan regions.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a Russia-brokered peace agreement on November 10, 2020, to end 44 days of fighting and work toward a comprehensive resolution.
The Colorado Springs Fire Department is enacting a burn restriction order for the city, effective Friday, officials announced.

Officials cited current drought conditions, dry fuel moisture levels and an increase in the occurrence of grass fires in undeveloped areas of the city .

The city had previously been under a burn restriction order from September 2021, officials said. The order was lifted Feb. 25. Under the restrictions, recreational fires are prohibited, as well as operating small-engine equipment such as chainsaws without a properly installed, maintained and functioning spark arrestor. Outdoor smoking is prohibited in all city-owned parks and open spaces. Outdoor fireplaces and outdoor cooking are still allowed.

According to the National Weather Service in Pueblo, Colorado Springs has had a drier year than most, recording only 1.53 inches of precipitation since Jan. 1. The normal average is 1.89 inches. In terms of snowfall, the area has seen 23.1 inches since July 1 of last year, compared to the normal amount of 29 inches.

Fountain and unincorporated areas of El Paso County are also under fire restrictions.

For full list of what is allowed under the burn restriction order, click here.
The Colorado Springs Fire Department is enacting a burn restriction order for the city, effective Friday, officials announced.

Officials cited current drought conditions, dry-fuel moisture levels and an increase in the occurrence of grass fires in undeveloped areas of the city.

The order came on Thursday as a number of fires were being fought across El Paso and Teller counties, and officials were announcing success against blazes that began earlier in the week in the southeastern portion of the state:

Woodland Park

A fire that broke out Thursday afternoon north of Woodland Park prompted mandatory and pre-evacuation notices.

At about 2:30 p.m., smoke was visible in the area of Mills Ranch Road. The neighborhood is about 3 miles north of Woodland Park.

A mandatory evacuation notice was sent out shortly after 3 p.m. for an area north of Mills Ranch Road, and east of Sour Dough Road. Triple B Ranch Road and the Red Rocks area were also under a pre-evacuation notice. Both notices were lifted shortly before 9 p.m.

The fire was reported to be 10% contained and was approximately 7 acres size Thursday night, according to the Teller County Sheriff's Office.

Ten agencies were dispatched to fight the blaze and aid affected residents.

Fort Carson

A fire broke out at a training ground on Fort Carson, officials with the U.S. Army installation confirmed Thursday.

The fire, which officials first learned about at 2:45 p.m., was about 30 acres in size by late afternoon, officials said. No individuals or structures were threatened, although smoke was visible along Colorado 115.

Fort Carson requested mutual aid, officials said, and added that the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Monument area

Officials with the U.S. Forest Service in the Pike-San Isabel National Forest area said a human-caused fire burned a quarter of an acre on Thursday.

The fire, which was reported on Pikes Peak Road, 6 miles west of Monument off Mount Herman Road, was contained as of 7:10 p.m., officials said.

Southeast Colorado

Firefighters are celebrating a key victory even as they continued Thursday to battle two wildfires in southeast Colorado that have burned thousands of acres, destroyed structures, and forced evacuations.

The firefighters were able to save Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, a two-story adobe compound built in 1976 in the likeness of the major trading post that rose in the 1830s.

It wouldve been a huge loss, La Junta Fire Chief Brad Davidson told Gazette news partner KKTV. Right when I got out here and I saw it was heading this way, I told all my staff and my crews, I said, 'We will protect that building.' And we prevailed.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said five wildfires erupted Tuesday in Bent and Otero counties, impacting three state wildlife areas. Oxbow and Fort Lyon were affected the most, with each having at least 75% of its land burned.

The area's largest blazes, however, are the Bent's Old Fort fire and Fort Lyon River fire, officials said. They have burned 1,800 and 2,900 acres, respectively, KKTV reported.

As of Thursday morning, the Bent's Old Fort fire was 25% contained while the Fort Lyon River fire was 50% contained.

With Thursday's order in Colorado Springs, the city returned to restrictions that had been in force from last September through Feb. 25 this year.

Under the restrictions, recreational fires are prohibited, as well as operating small-engine equipment such as chainsaws without a properly installed, maintained and functioning spark arrestor. Outdoor smoking is prohibited in all city-owned parks and open spaces. Outdoor fireplaces and outdoor cooking are still allowed.

According to the National Weather Service in Pueblo, Colorado Springs has had a drier year than most, recording only 1.53 inches of precipitation since Jan. 1. The normal average is 1.89 inches. In terms of snowfall, the area has seen 23.1 inches since July 1 of last year, compared to the normal amount of 29 inches.

Fountain and unincorporated areas of El Paso County are also under fire restrictions.

For a full list of what is allowed under the burn restriction order, click here.
Vietnamese Talent Awards 2022 honour outstanding inventions

Dozens of outstanding inventions in IT, sciences and technologies, medicine and environment were honoured at the Vietnamese Talent Awards 2022 that was held on April 15 in Hanoi.



The 16th Vietnamese Talent Awards saw the attendance of Politburo member and Chairwoman of Party Central Committee's Organisation Commission Truong Thi Mai, Secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Do Van Chien, member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung and his deputy Le Tan Dung, member of the CPV Central Committee and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee for Mass Mobilisation Pham Tat Thang, and Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa.













Representatives from the Vietnam Study Promotion Association including Former Vice State President and Chairwoman of the association Nguyen Thi Doan and vice chair and secretary of the association Le Manh Hung also attended the event.





Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and Chairman of the National Assembly Vuong Dinh Hue sent flower bouquets to the event.









A flower banquet sent by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong to the Vietnamese Talent Awards 2022



Speaking at the opening ceremony, Editor-in-Chief of Dantri/Dtinews Newspaper and vice head of the organising board, Pham Tuan Anh, said that the Vietnamese Talent Awards had become a prestigious national awards programme.









Editor-in-Chief of Dantri/Dtinews Newspaper and vice head of the Vietnamese Talent Awards 2022 organising board, Pham Tuan Anh speaks at the event



"The Vietnamese Talent Awards honours IT, scientific and technological, environmental, and medical innovations," he said. "During the past 16 years, the programme has received over 2,600 submissions in the IT category. Some 5,800 candidates from home and abroad have joined in the competition with the youngest just 8 and the oldest 79."

Self-Learning Awards

The prize for self-learning is intended to encourage individuals who have overcome difficulties to contribute to their community. Two projects this year won a prize with each receiving VND50 million (USD2,173). The winners were:-

This year, two projects won a prize with each receiving VND50 million (USD2,173). The winners were:

- Dang Ngoc Toan with his straw drying machines that have helped local farmers produce low-cost good quality dry rice straw to export to Japan.



- and Huynh Ngoc Mung with his invention of lemongrass oil extraction machines that helped local farmers more easily remove oil from lemongrass.



The prize was presented by Vice chairman and general secretary of the Vietnam Study Promotion Association Le Manh Hung.





Environment Awards

The environmental protection prize is usually granted to organisations or individuals who recorded outstanding achievements in environmental protection or successfully developed projects to address environmental pollution.

The first prize this year went to Dr Ho Thi Thanh Van from the HCM City University of Natural Resources and Environment for her two studies on transforming HCM City into a low carbon city and treating wastewater in industrial zones using Brachiaria mutica.













A prize worth VND200 million (USD8,695) was granted to Dr. Ho Thi Thanh Van by Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa.

Science and Technology Awards

The Vietnamese Talent Awards have honoured local scientists and others who have made a contribution to the countrys development since 2009. The Vietnam Fund for Supporting Technological Creations also made a great contribution.



The first prize was granted to an invention to process corn seeds in a more environmentally-friendly way by a group of scientists including Nguyen Dinh Tung, Mai Thanh Huyen, and Nguyen Van Tien from the Institute for Agricultural Machinery Design and Manufacturing under the Ministry of Industry and Trade.











The prize worth VND 200 million was awarded to the group by member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung.



Medical Awards



Many winners at the Vietnamese Talent Awards have gone on to win further national recognition and international awards. This year, the Medical Awards were handed to those with had a practical impact on peoples lives.



The first prize in the Medical category this year was given to Dr Tran Quyet Tien, former vice director of Cho Ray Hospital for successfully carrying out heart transplantations from donors exposed to brain stem death.













Secretary of the Party Central Committee and President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee Do Van Chien presented a VND200m award to Dr. Tran Quyet Tien.

Information and Technology Awards

Two third prizes in the Information and Technology category:

- 1Office - an application built to facilitate online working environment for enterprises



-ONE Telco Platform by VNPT Technology Company





Third prize winners received an award of VND50 million each from Deputy Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Tan Dung, and a representative from Vietinbank Le Thanh Tung.



Two second prizes in the Information and Technology category:



-akaBot - Robotic Process Automation by FPT Software Company. This solution supports banks and enterprises with UBot Invoice, UBot Meeting, and UBot epay.





- AI Call Center Virtual Assistant Platform

















Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, a representative from SunGroup Nguyen Viet Hung, and head of the organising board, Pham Huy Hoan presented an award of VND100 million to each of the second prize winners.



First prize in the Information and Technology category:





The Be taxi app by Be Group won this year's first prize in the Information and Technology category. This app is provides various services including delivery, booking travel tickets, and digital banking. Be is so far available in 28 provinces and cities with some 15 million downloads and between 3-4 million regular users.

Politburo member and Chairwoman of Party Central Committee's Organisation Commission Truong Thi Mai and Chairman of the Member Council of Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group To Dung Thai gave the Vietnamese Talent Awards Cup and a prize worth VND200 million to the first prize winner in Information and Technology.

Initiated in 2004 by the Vietnam Study Promotion Association and co-organised by the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group, Vietnam Television and Dantri/Dtinews online newspaper, the Vietnamese Talent Awards have become a prestigious annual programme.



Over the past 16 years, the Vietnamese Talent Awards have expanded to honour IT, scientific and technological, medical, environmental and educational and talent promotion. Given rapid global technological progress, the Vietnamese Talent Awards have adapted to these major developmental trends and the instruction of the party and the state on scientific and technological development.
By Trend

Azerbaijani MP Fazil Mustafa proposed to create an Armenian-Azerbaijani inter-parliamentary commission at the plenary session of Azerbaijans Parliament, Trend reports.

Mustafa noted that Armenian citizens recognized the fact that Armenia cannot develop without signing a peace agreement with Azerbaijan.

"They have already admitted this themselves, and we must use it. We must strengthen work with the Armenian parliament. There is a need to create a commission," the MP said.
The House and Senate on Thursday signed off on the next fiscal year's spending plan, but not without a few fireworks over what didn't make it to the final budget.

The Joint Budget Committee, acting as a conference committee, didn't exactly follow what representatives and senators voted for when the budget proposal went through their respective chambers.

Indeed, the final 2022-2023 spending plan hews closely to the original amount that legislators introduced: roughly $36.4 billion.

The House's version of HB 1329 added 12 amendments, which increased appropriations by $63.2 million, of which $8.7 million came from the general fund.

When the bill and its accompanying budget-balancing measures reached the Senate, that chamber kept 11 of the 12 amendments, and then added 10 more. The Senate's additions increased appropriations by $731 million, which included $522.5 million in general fund dollars and $152 million in cash funds for capital construction, according to a budget document.

"It was an extraordinary increase" that put the budget out of balance, JBC Chair Rep. Julie McCluskie, D-Dillon, told the House on Thursday.

All but about $5.5 million of those additions hit the cutting-room floor after the conference committee met Wednesday.
By Trend

The OSCE failed in resolving the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but hasnt yet exhausted all of its resources, Sergey Markov, director of the Institute for Political Studies, told Trend.

Markov stressed that the OSCE acts in various formats: on one hand, these are all OSCE organizations with many structures, on the other hand, the OSCE Minsk Group, which expressed desire to be moderators in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and three co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group represented by Russia, the US and France.

"Its clear that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs failed to fulfill the task assigned to them, that is, assistance in resolving the Karabakh conflict, he said. They didnt contribute to its settlement at all, but in fact for twenty five years covered Armenia's policy of freezing the conflict, maintaining the status quo, when Armenia occupied both Karabakh and the surrounding territories of Azerbaijan, and didnt make any concessions in the negotiation process. The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs did nothing to change this situation.

Markov noted that the co-chairs were the countries where the strongest and most influential Armenian diaspora is the US, France and Russia.

"The OSCE Minsk Group didnt play any role at all when the 2020 second Karabakh war began. Azerbaijan directly stated that the Minsk Group had nothing to do in this conflict, and can be dissolved. As a result, the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs was practically frozen," he noted.

Nevertheless, according to Markov, the OSCE still has other options.

"In particular, along with the Minsk Group co-chairs, there are other members of the OSCE Minsk Group - many countries that take both a neutral and allied position to Azerbaijan, for example Turkey. Therefore, its possible that the entire OSCE Minsk Group, and not just its co-chairs, will be activated, the expert said. Now there are several possible positions. Firstly, the OSCE can assist in the clearance of mines in the Azerbaijani territories liberated from the Armenian occupation [in the second Karabakh war].

Many OSCE member countries, such as the US and EU members, have extensive experience in mine clearance in various countries of Asia and Africa after regional conflicts. Therefore, sending sappers to Karabakh, is what the OSCE could do, Markov added.

He noted that another function which the OSCE can play is the promotion of humanitarian contacts.

"For example, it can contribute to the resumption of contacts between the civil societies of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the expert further said.
If you dont have matzah, or unleavened bread, for Friday nights Seder meal to kick off the eight-day Jewish holiday of Passover, Rabbi Moshe Liberow delivers.

This is the 20th year that Liberow, director of the Colorado Springs-headquartered Chabad Lubavitch of Southern Colorado, is traveling far and wide to leave handmade matzah at Jewish homes at no cost.

We do this to unite the Jewish spark, to find one more Jew, Liberow said. One human being can make a big impact in the world, and one Jew is part of the whole of Jewish people.

The message is even more urgent this year, Liberow said, as many Ukrainian Jews may not be able to celebrate Passover because of the war with Russia.

Chabad rabbis in Ukraine have asked that rabbis around the world seek to fill the customary fifth son chair  the person whos disconnected from the roots of Judaism and doesnt make it to the Seder  and not leave an empty seat this year.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro is the home of the Menorah Center, billed as the largest Chabad center in the world, which during the war has served as a temporary bomb shelter. The Jewish cultural and business center, which opened in 2012, also houses a Holocaust museum.

Passover celebrates the ancient Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, as related in Exodus, the second book of the Torah and the Old Testament.

The 15-step Seder feast involves retelling the story of Exodus, sharing ceremonial foods and reciting important prayers.

It is the replica of how were afflicted, Liberow said. We celebrate freedom, but we cant enjoy freedom until we remember the harder times.

Liberows Got Matzah distribution campaign has become more popular each year since he started it in 2002.

In the last few years, weve doubled and tripled our efforts, he said. And theres much more room for growth.

From word of mouth, Jewish residents from Guffey to Gunnison, from Monument to Trinidad, have requested that they receive the most essential food included on the Seder plate.

Matzah is known as the bread of faith and healing.

It represents the absolute trust the would be redeemed and liberated from Egypt, Liberow said. It has special energies and is a very spiritual food  it nourishes a persons faith.

Liberow hands out a special kind of matzah from Israel thats made by hand, not machine, using wheat grown under strict rabbinical supervision and oversight of the harvest, to ensure the process adheres to Jewish law. Three large rounds of the flatbread are delivered boxed.

The idea, Liberow said, is wherever a Jew is, is someplace we are there to distribute matzah.

Through its Roving Rabbis program, Chabad Lubavitch world headquarters in New York City sent volunteer rabbinical students around the nation to help with pre-Passover distribution. Two assisted with southern Colorados efforts last week.

The local initiative is part of a Chabad tradition that the Orthodox Jewish Hasidic organization instituted in 1954, encouraging emissaries in local communities to dispense authenticated matzah for the Seder meal.

Regional matzah deliveries are at about 160 and counting, Liberow said.

He will be hitting the matzah trail again on Friday to fulfill complimentary orders from any Jewish person of any background or affiliation who contacts him at 719-634-2345.

Even though Jewish people do not live close together and are very spread out around southern Colorado, this project gets more successful because people like it, he said. Matzah represents freedom, humility and our beginning experiences.

Chabad Lubavitch of Southern Colorado is hosting a public Passover Seder beginning at 8 p.m. Friday at the synagogue, 6616a Delmonico Drive. The cost is $45 for adults and $35 for children. RSVP at 719-634-2345.
The 4th Infantry Division based at Fort Carson is ready to "deploy, fight, and win in support of U.S. national interests" as the nation and world face "unprecedented challenges," Maj. Gen. David Hodne, 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson commanding general, said Thursday.

In a State of Fort Carson address to congressional and Pikes Peak community leaders at the post, Hodne introduced a new initiative, Mountain Post Ready, aimed at ensuring the 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson units "are prepared to meet the diverse and ever-evolving global security requirements of the nation," according to a press release announcing the event.

"This past year certainly hosted its fair share of uncertainty, apprehension and adventure," Hodne said, emphasizing the U.S.' withdrawal in August from Afghanistan after 20 years, Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February , "competition" in East Asia and persistent "violent extremism"  all occurring during a global pandemic.

"Despite this uncertainty, our people, our units, our families, our installation and our community remained ready to answer the nation's call," he said.

Division Command Sgt. Maj. Adam Nash said Fort Carson soldiers are trained and ready to outfight any enemy under any conditions. To prepare, Nash said, he challenges soldiers and units to master fundamentals in physical fitness, marksmanship, medical proficiency and small-unit drills.

Among various efforts in the past year, Hodne said, the division's 1st Stryker Brigade deployed to the Middle East to support a joint task force operation called Inherent Resolve in the fight against the Islamic State. The division's 2nd Stryker Brigade also was certified as the Army's newest Stryker brigade combat team, he said.

Other efforts outlined by Hodne:

 The 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team recently arrived in Europe as part of a regular training rotation with NATO allies.

 The 4th Combat Aviation Brigade returned from Afghanistan and is supporting national training and response missions.

 The 4th Division Sustainment Brigade deployed teams to the Middle East and Europe while helping the Army manage logistics and provided other support services like fuel, ammunition, medical supplies, and equipment and vehicle repairs.

 Division headquarters and artillery tested a new mobile command post to allow the division "to remain agile, survivable and mobile on the battlefield."

Soldiers also face uncertainty at home in aging barracks, unpredictable or unsustainable training schedules, and isolated environments as a result of the pandemic, he said  factors that can be stressful for soldiers and their families.

But post leaders are working to change that, said Col. Nate Springer, Fort Carson garrison commander.

The post is working on a traffic and weather app that will provide wait times at the post's gates to better facilitate travel in and out of the installation, he said. Officials also are improving housing units on the post and have increased soldiers' basic allowance for housing by 10%, he said.

Command Sgt. Maj. Marcus Brister also highlighted a $161 million regional effort to improve road safety and access to Colorado Springs military posts, including Carson. Part of the project includes improving a 7-mile segment of Interstate 25 from South Academy Boulevard to the Colorado 85/87 exit at Fountain, which exits to Fort Carson's Gate 19. The improvements will take pressure off Gate 20, Brister said, providing soldiers another option to enter and exit the post.

As part of two intergovernmental agreements signed in the past year, the city of Fountain will complete small public-works projects at Fort Carson, and Colorado Springs Utilities will now operate, maintain, and repair the post's electric and natural gas infrastructure, he said.

"Our collective resolve to be 'Mountain Post Ready,' combined with your unwavering support (and) the commitment of our friends and good neighbors in the Front Range community cannot help but ensure victory," Hodne said.
By Trend

International organizations, large foundations and charitable organizations havent provided any assistance to Azerbaijan despite the end of the 2020 second Karabakh war, Trend reports.

When wars take place in other parts of the world, these organizations become active, but they are silent toward Azerbaijan, which is a display of double standards.

Azerbaijani MP Javid Osmanov commenting on the issue said that after the end of wars, usually a lot of work is done to clear and demine the devastated territories, and international organizations are actively involved in these processes.

"During the 30-year Armenian occupation, the territories of Azerbaijan were completely destroyed, cities and villages were razed to the ground, the infrastructure was completely destroyed, and ecological genocide was committed on these lands. All the facts are examples of Armenian vandalism, Osmanov noted. However, unfortunately, so far no financial assistance or other forms of support has been provided to Azerbaijan in connection with the restoration of these territories.

Of course, we are well aware that after the end of wars and after so much destruction, donor conferences are held and projects connected with the restoration plans of international organizations are implemented, he further said. An example of this is the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II. If such a plan wasnt presented at that time, Europe could not have been restored for many years.

However, despite the destruction of the territories of Azerbaijan by Armenia, no assistance has been provided by any donor organizations so far. Of course, this is a display of double standards in relation to Azerbaijan," the MP noted.

Osmanov also noted that under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan is independently carrying out large-scale restoration and construction work in the territories liberated from Armenian occupation [in the second Karabakh war].

"For this, the necessary funds have been allocated from the state budget for 2021 and 2022, and work is being rapidly carried out," he added.

According to Vasif Huseynov, senior adviser at the Center for Analysis of International Relations, Azerbaijan's victory in the second Karabakh war delighted the country's friends abroad and caused anger and disappointment from unfriendly groups.

"As a result, they began to put pressure on organizations and governments willing to establish closer relations with Azerbaijan, to assist in the demining and construction work which should be carried out in the liberated territories, Huseynov said. We clearly feel this pressure and its consequences in our daily activities. We are witnessing unfounded and biased objections, actions not only in terms of the work in our liberated territories but also towards people who participate or want to participate in any conferences or scientific events.

In this context, we should also pay attention to the fact that international organizations, large foundations, and charitable organizations havent provided any assistance to Azerbaijan, despite the fact that a year and a half has passed since the second Karabakh war, he noted. Well continue to struggle against states and organizations acting against our country as a single fist just like during the war when we achieved results which seemed impossible to many people.

The expert also noted that the international community must recognize that not Armenia, but Azerbaijan is the country, the citizens of which were expelled from their native lands and subjected to unimaginable suffering during the former Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

"That's why refusal to help our country in the fight against the challenges and difficulties it faces in the issue of restoration of the liberated lands, and demonstration of a biased approach mean supporting Armenia," he concluded.
Don Angell, 64, was arrested earlier this week and taken to the Teller County jail on several misdemeanor counts, including harassment.
By Azernews





By Orkhan Amashov

After the 2020 November ceasefire that ended the Second Karabakh War, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that this is not a victory but there is no defeat until you consider yourself defeated. Back then, it looked like an attempt to put on a brave face at the time of the national disaster and a cheap remark to placate the disillusioned nation.

Perhaps, it was indeed a mere manifestation of an understandable desire to appear calm and morally unconquerable. After all, Pashinyan needed to say something not completely devoid of hope, however unsubstantiated. What happened, in truth, was a devastating defeat, and the document signed was an act of capitulation.

Now, in retrospect, it seems that perhaps inadvertently, without thinking of it as a part of any grand scheme, at that point, Pashinyan set in motion the process of explaining to the Armenian people the deeply uncomfortable and essential truth about what was to come. He needed to be emollient, use the right words and explain the dreadful in a manner which made it sound least vexing.

War-induced sea change

Pashinyan's recent statement calling for lowering the bar regarding the status demands seems integral to that rhetoric. Prior to the war, Yerevan had consistently viewed the then-ongoing conflict as one in which the status of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, inextricably linked with the right of its Armenian population for self-determination, took precedence over Azerbaijans territorial integrity. Baku was ready to discuss the autonomy of the region, provided its jurisdiction over Karabakh was recognised by the opposing side.

The Second Karabakh War has induced a sea change, as a result of which, the bargaining chips have been rearranged. Both countries altered their views of the term in question, not exactly in the same way, but in a way which was not entirely dissimilar.

Azerbaijans view on the issue is crystal-clear. President Aliyevs famous line on the fate of the status of the region, uttered on the day of the signing of the ceasefire agreement, does need any reiteration, as it has been so ineradicably fixed in the minds of all those remotely familiar with the case. For Baku, the very first s of the word status seems to give rise to vehement repudiation, let alone any substantive talk over it.

Yet things are different over there in Armenia. In fact, now that Yerevan has agreed to Bakus five-point plan, and Pashinyan himself reiterated the importance of recognising Azerbaijans territorial integrity, the status of Karabakh Armenians inside Azerbaijan happens to be the actual subject pervasively permeating the vanquished nation's world in the interim.

Aim-method distinction

The language employed by Pashinyan, during his recent address to the National Assembly, as to the status issue was measured and careful. Status in the current situation is not a goal, but rather a means to guarantee the security and rights of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh, he said.

In other words, what can be surmised on the basis of what he articulated is that the Armenian side will continue to try to ensure some status for Karabakh Armenians with the purpose of achieving the best possible deal, which would guarantee their security and rights. And that possible deal may fall short of a status, which is not the ultimate aim.

This part of his speech, upon closer examination, amounts to an implicit admission, albeit with some explicit tones, as to the impossibility of the status. At present, he perhaps could not have been clearer than that.

There is another thing that is to be reflected upon. Pashinyan has stated that Armenia has never had territorial claims on Azerbaijan and the Karabakh issue is not a matter of territory but rather a matter of rights. Again, the context is vital. There is nothing novel here in a literary sense, as the externally observable part is the same. But the meaning ascribed to the old precepts has changed, in particular, when one troubles oneself with the task of looking into Pashinyans newly expressed position in its full entirety.

Since Yerevan has already come to the point of recognising the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, with Karabakh included, the claim as to the former conflict being about rights not territorial claims  which is an old thesis  acquires a new interpretation. Here the crux of the debate is about the rights of Armenians inside Azerbaijan, not about their right for self-determination, which could have potentially given rise to a fully-fledged independence from Baku.

When Pashinyan says he is not the one surrendering Karabakh, he is evidently trying to prove that his aim is to achieve a greater recognition for the security and rights of the Armenian segment of the region. The incumbent PM's reference to the recent escalation over the Farrukh height is a clear demonstration of what he has meant. Pashinyan's view is that there is a danger of losing Karabakh piece by piece, in gradual stages", if a peace deal is not achieved.

One may assume that here by not losing Karabakh the PM means the protection of the Armenians presence there. Is it not incredibly close to what former Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrosyan said in the 1990s? What he roughly stipulated was that as long as the people were physically present in that territory, the objective could have been deemed achieved. Pashinyan has made quite a journey to nearly come to this worldview.

Then the question may arise that, if that is indeed the case, if Pashinyan has truly experienced a change of heart, why then his statement refers to the clarification of the final status of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani side maintains, and rightly so, that the administrative division with such a name does no longer exist.

The newly developed Armenian reasoning, on the other hand, is contingent on the formulation that the status is now a method not an ultimate end. So, it can be inferred, for the sake of clear thinking, that Nagorno-Karabakh is an anachronism, which here means no more than a former name of the territory where Armenians are physically present.

There is a journey ahead. Along its rock-strewn trajectory, there will be quite a few hurdles capable of causing relapses and excruciating moments of doubt. It should all end with the full and unreserved Armenian acceptance of the inevitable. Once there, the nation will find out that the status subject is a relic of a bygone age, incapable of being of any practical value for contemporary needs.
Residents at 208 Scott Street were awoken on Monday by city officials knocking on their doors telling them that they had to vacate the building, which had been deemed uninhabitable.

This came as quite a surprise to the tenants who lived in the building, according to Lisa Jenkins, who was told she and her husband had to pack up and leave immediately.

I had no clue, no warning, no anything, just woke up to a knock on the door, we gotta get our stuff out by five, Jenkins said.

From the outside, one could see the citys point. Multiple windows were missing or smashed on every side of the two-story building. The inside was even worse, Jenkins said.

I tried to keep the, you know, the hallways picked up, Jenkins said. It was worthless, its totally worthless. The writing on the wall, I freak out, I dont want to look at this (stuff), and the dirty hallways. I tried cleaning up, but theres, you know, theres only so much you can do when theres one person doing it.

It seems like in (recent) days, somebody had done extensive vandalism in there, Council Bluffs Mayor Matt Walsh said. Somebody went nuts with a cinder block and was throwing it through the windows and throwing it through the drywall.

Jenkins said that over the past few months there were constant fights in the hallways, and drug use. The building sits across the street from Kanesville Alternative Learning Center, a school for at-risk youth.

I was afraid for my life, Jenkins said. The fighting and arguing in the hallway? I never left my apartment.

Jenkins said she and her husband had been living in the building for about two years. Prior to that, they were homeless, and she is afraid they will be again. She thinks theyre going to try to get beds at a shelter, but she really hopes shell get to move in with her daughter and bond with her grandchildren.

Thatd be the ultimate for me, Jenkins said, to be a live-in babysitter.

Service agencies were on site to assist residents as they worked to find a place to stay.

We have some housing programs that have been assisting, said Mindy Paces, Heartland Family Services vice president of housing and financial stability. We have a homeless prevention diversion team in partnership with the city, so when a building has been identified as unlivable and there are tenants who are going to be displaced, we partner with them to help identify alternative housing in the community.

Many of the former residents of 208 Scott St. were able to find temporary housing with family, Paces said. HFS is now working to secure long-term housing for them.

The property at 208 Scott St. is owned by 208 Scott St LLC, based in Littleton, Colorado, according to county records. The LLC purchased the property in December. Attempts to contact the property owner were unsuccessful.

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On May 14, Danville Community College will host its first in-person graduation ceremony since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic on Daly Field at the Frank R. Campbell Stadium at Averett Universitys North Campus.

The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. with seating opening at 8:30 a.m. Guests must have a ticket to be admitted.

We are thrilled to be back to an in-person commencement ceremony at a venue where our students, faculty, staff and community can gather and feel safe, said Muriel Mickles, interim president at DCC. We cannot wait to see the smiling faces of our graduates as they walk across the stage and accomplish their goals.

This year, DCC has tapped President Emeritus Carlyle Ramsey as commencement speaker. Ramsey served as president of DCC for more than 20 years before retiring in August 2013.

Ramsey began his tenure at DCC in 1992 as the colleges fourth president. Prior to the acceptance of this role, Ramsey was the assistant vice chancellor of the Virginia Community College System from 1989-92. He also served as the dean of instruction and student development at DCC from 1987-88.

Danville Community College is proud to welcome Dr. Carlyle Ramsey as guest speaker for our commencement ceremony, said Mickles. His legacy at DCC is impressive and we know that he will bring knowledge, inspiration and excitement to our commencement event.

The 2022 DCC commencement will feature a bagpiper to lead the processional, an alumnus performing the National Anthem on saxophone, and more than 500 graduates who will receive a variety of credentials and degrees. The ceremony will honor fall 2021 and spring 2022 graduates, as well as summer 2022 candidates for graduation.

For more information, visit danville.edu/graduation.
Russias invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh week, shows no sign of abating. Vladimir Putins army has abandoned its assault on Kyiv, Ukraines capital, but is launching a new offensive in the countrys east. Ukraines allies, led by the United States and Britain, have stepped up their supplies of tanks and antiaircraft weapons.

But every war must end some day, whether in a victory for one side or a split-the-difference cease-fire. In Washington and other Western capitals, debate has begun over what terms Ukraine and its allies should seek for ending this one  or what goals they should hold out for.

At first glance, the question might appear simple: Ukraine and its allies want Putin to end the invasion and withdraw his troops. But the details get complicated quickly.

Some U.S. and European hawks see the unexpected success of Ukraines armed forces as a golden opportunity to cut Putin down to size and teach a lesson to other autocrats, beginning with Chinas Xi Jinping.

The Western objective must be to leave Russia profoundly weakened and militarily crippled ... internally divided until the point that an aging autocrat falls from power, Eliot A. Cohen of Johns Hopkins University, a former official in the George W. Bush administration, wrote recently.

But doves worry about threatening Putins survival in power to the point that he might consider using nuclear weapons. And some European leaders, led by French President Emmanuel Macron, have searched for a quick end to the war, if only to reduce the damage to their own economies.

In the middle, President Joe Biden and his aides have settled on what sounds like an elegant solution: endorse whatever outcome is acceptable to Ukraine.

Our job is to support the Ukrainians, Bidens national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said recently. They will set the military objectives. They will set the objectives at the bargaining table. We are not going to define the outcome of this for the Ukrainians. That is up for them to define and us to support them.

The logic is straightforward: The Ukrainians are doing the fighting and suffering horrendous civilian casualties, so theyve earned the right to decide what kind of settlement theyre willing to accept.

As long as the Ukrainians are saying they want to keep fighting, we cant tell them no, argued Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Kyiv.

Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, offered Putin terms for a cease-fire last month and included several concessions: He asked for a Russian withdrawal to the lines each army occupied before the Feb. 24 invasion, which would leave several chunks of Ukrainian territory in Russian hands. He said Ukraine would accept neutral status and give up its effort to become a member of NATO. In return, he said, Ukraine would need ironclad security guarantees to prevent another invasion.

Putins aides dismissed the offer as inadequate.

That was before the discovery of widespread atrocities against civilians by Russian troops north of Kyiv, which may have hardened Ukraines resolve to keep fighting. Zelenskyy has said he would submit the terms of any cease-fire to a referendum.

In any case, deferring to the Ukrainians on terms for ending the war is more complicated than it sounds because the likely terms will require active participation by the United States and its allies.

Take Zelenskyys demand for security guarantees. He wants a reliable, binding pledge that if Russia invades again, the United States and its allies will step in with the kind of sanctions and military aid they are supplying now, or more.

Whether Russia agrees to a settlement or not, Ukraine is going to need security guarantees, Ivo H. Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, told me.

Theres already an organization that does that, and its called NATO. How is NATO going to say no to membership for Ukraine after all of this has happened?

Another thorny issue will involve U.S. economic sanctions. In any talks over ending the war, Russia is certain to demand that sanctions be lifted. U.S. officials have said that sanctions relief will be up for discussion, but only after Russian troops are out of Ukraine.

But that was before Bucha, Daalder said. The atrocities have made it much more difficult to contemplate lifting any sanctions.

If a cease-fire takes hold, the United States will also be expected to play a leading role in helping Ukraine rebuild its armed forces, its economy and its shattered cities.

U.S. and allied support after the war will be just as important as it is now. Putin has invaded Ukraine three times since 2014; if his current offensive falls short, he can be expected to plan a fourth. One goal for U.S. policy should be to deter him from trying again.

The most damaging outcome for Putin would be a Ukraine that can regain its independence, defend its borders and show Russians that democracy can prosper in their part of the world. For anyone seeking to settle scores, that would be the best revenge.
President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree on awarding Aygun Attar with the Order of Dostlug.

According to the decree, Attar was awarded for special merits in the development of friendship and cooperation ties between Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Creed Burleson checked into the Radisson Blu in Kyiv on Feb. 22 with big plans. He would set up a new website design business in Ukraine over the coming days, stopping by the bank and submitting paperwork to establish the new company with local authorities.

Instead, Burleson, 62, an Army veteran from Marion in North Carolina, ended up in the hotels garage-turned-bunker two days later as Russias bombardment began. There was no way out because the trains were so packed, he told McClatchy.

The sounds of air raid sirens were constant as Burleson searched for an escape. At that point, in the early days of the war, the extent of Russias capabilities and its penetration of the capital werent clear. But Burleson did not believe that time was on his side.

So he reached out to Project Dynamo, an organization founded months earlier by three Florida men to help extract Americans from war zones the U.S. government wouldnt enter.

Project Dynamo put him through a secretive vetting process to confirm his identity. They told him to expect a text with a pickup location and to pack a single bag.

He received the text with coordinates around March 2 with four hours notice, and was soon on a bus toward an undisclosed location and told to turn off all his electronics.

All the security areas that we had to go through  some of the authorities came on and looked at you. Some of them collected our passports. Some of them went through our luggage. And you just hoped they were Ukrainians, and not Russians, because what if theyve infiltrated? Burleson recalled by phone, now safely out of Ukraine.

I was really, really happy to get the heck out of there, he added.

Private rescues

Project Dynamo began in the living room of Bryan Stern, a Tampa, Fla., resident and U.S. veteran who was among a small group of military first responders in New York on Sept. 11, 2001.

When the United States began pulling out of Afghanistan 20 years later, in August last year, and images emerged of Afghans falling off an airborne U.S. C-17 in their desperate effort to escape, Stern was reminded of that day in New York when men and women jumped to their deaths from the towers.

I called up a couple friends of mine, and said, This is what were going to do,  Stern said in an interview on an encrypted video call from a location in southern Ukraine. Two other Tampa residents help Stern with the business and legal side of the project.

We didnt have a very detailed plan  we had some ideas, we had some thoughts, he said. But we know enough to know that you have to get there first to understand the environment.

Project Dynamo was successful at conducting private rescues of Americans in Afghanistan at the end of the war there. After the U.S. military departed in September, with Taliban forces in full control, Dynamo chartered an aircraft that flew over 120 U.S. citizens and green card holders to the United States.

But some in the U.S. government expressed concern that the group took risks that other nonprofits would not. One of their flights out of Afghanistan in September had to be grounded in the United Arab Emirates en route to the United States, after Project Dynamo failed to share the manifest with U.S. authorities in advance. One individual on the flight was ultimately not allowed to enter the United States.

A State Department official would not comment on the work of Project Dynamo, instead directing U.S. citizens to the departments website for assistance leaving Ukraine.

We continue to be focused on communicating with U.S. citizens residing in Ukraine to urge them to depart immediately, an official said. U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine, and those in Ukraine should depart immediately using commercial or other privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so.

In January, as the group was wrapping up its operations in Afghanistan, another crisis brewed.

Stern arrived in Kyiv over Valentines Day weekend at the encouragement of a donor to begin planning for the possibility of a Russian invasion, building infrastructure for rescues. In an unfamiliar country, he had to find airfields, aircraft, buses and drivers, figure out escape routes and identify potential waypoints and safe houses.

Everyone we work with, I have personally met, Stern said. We take the time to drink the tea, eat the food, meet the family, smoke the hookah, smoke the cigars, drink the vodka  whatever it is  to make sure the people were talking to are the ones were supposed to be talking to.

It became clear as soon as the war began on Feb. 24 that Dynamos mission in Ukraine would look far different than its operations in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, all the land borders were closed. So all of our operations were by air, Stern said. In Ukraine, its the photo negative. The first thing they did was close the airspace, but all the land borders are open.

A spokesman for Project Dynamo said the organization has evacuated more than 400 people from Ukraine so far, with multiple rescue missions currently underway. Press for Project Dynamo is handled by Judge Public Relations, whose owner, James Judge, is running for Congress in Tampa as a Republican.

Unlike its mission in Afghanistan, Dynamos work in Ukraine is not limited to U.S. citizens and residents. Nationals of Ukraine, NATO countries, and others with claims for asylum, are eligible as well.

Deb, a Canadian volunteer for Project Dynamo who helps secure their database of case information and train case officers, said her work for the organization has been among the most fulfilling of her career.

For me, its the direct connection to the people in crisis  we have the messages from people asking for help, and some of those messages are very specific of the troubles theyre in, said Deb, who asked for her last name not to be published out of safety concerns.

All of the stories are heart-wrenching, she said. The ones that hurt me the most are the people in places like Mariupol where we literally dont have a way to get there safely to help people.

Babies and Holocaust survivors

The group has organized its rescue missions into several categories.

Gemini and Aquarius missions focus on bringing babies recently born through surrogacy out of Ukraine, and surrogate mothers to safer areas of the country where they can still give birth without compromising the parental rights of the child. Ukraine is one of the only countries in Europe where surrogacy is allowed, entangling expecting families around the world in the war.

Voyager missions focus on extracting Holocaust survivors  mostly Jewish Ukrainians  hoping to reach Israel.

Many of these people find themselves stuck in southern or eastern Ukraine, where the war has shifted since Russia was forced to retreat from its assault in Kyiv in the north.

Most people who wanted to leave en masse have left, Stern said, but theres a whole bunch of people who are stuck in the east and the south who are cut off. So instead of doing busloads, now were doing carloads.

While Mariupol has been surrounded and decimated by the Russians, other territories in the south and east remain contested and can become suddenly accessible to attempted rescue missions.

The fluidity of the war could continue for some time, Stern said.

When we were in Afghanistan, we were in the last 10 pages of a 400-page book, he said. Here were in the fifth week of World War Three. Who knows where this war goes.

McClatchy investigative reporter Ben Wieder contributed to this report.
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines arrived unexpectedly in war-torn Ukraine on Thursday, becoming one of the first members of Congress to do so.

The Montana Republican, who was on a planned tour of former Soviet states Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia, surfaced in Kyiv with U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, a Ukraine-born Republican lawmaker from Indiana.

The senators office issued footage of Daines visiting with someone wearing a war crimes investigation jacket, touring the destroyed home of the mayor of Bucha, and also a mass gravesite.

A New York Times reporter on the scene in Borodianka quoted Daines saying nothing can substitute for actually being here, seeing it first-hand, spending time with the people and leaders here in Ukraine who have been horribly affected by this war.

In the video of Daines visiting the Bucha mayor's home, a man can be heard talking about a sabotage group that was in the area, but left after five days.

The Ukrainian government had invited Spartz and Daines to tour the country and a government escort was provided, according to the Times.

Daines in a press release said evidence of war crimes are visible everywhere in Ukraine.

America and the world need to know about Putins atrocities against the innocent people of Ukraine, now, not after time has passed and the aftermath of evil and bloodshed have been cleaned up, Daines said. The sooner we can provide Ukraine with the lethal aid they need to win this war, the sooner we will end the war crimes. President Zelenskyy has been urging leaders from around the world to come to Ukraine  Im proud to help show that America stands shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine in their fight for freedom.

The senators words of support for arms to Ukraine have been strong over the past month, though he was one of 31 lawmakers to vote against a $13.5 billion Ukraine aid package on March 10. That aid was included in a must-pass $1.5 trillion bill to fund the federal government to which Daines objected. Several Republicans objected to the size of the omnibus.

The aid package vote was the single Ukraine weapons supply vote taken in the Senate so far this year. It included $3.5 billion specifically for military supplies, in addition to arms issued earlier in the year. Wednesday, the White House announced that it had released another $800 million in military aid. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the United States has sent $2.6 billion in military aid, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Earlier, Daines called on the Biden administration to facilitate the transfer of Russian-made MiG fighter jets from Poland to Ukraine. Poland offered the MiG 29 jets on the condition that they be delivered to a U.S. Air Force base in Germany for the handoff. The United States declined, saying the U.S.-to-Ukraine transfer would be viewed as escalatory by Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin.

Daines support for the MiG transfer was preceded by a meeting with members of the Ukraine government during a trip to Germany and Poland. That trip was organized by Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. Daines said the representatives of the Ukraine were emphatic that more lethal weapons were needed. Daines said transferring the jets wasnt escalatory, given that the United States was already supplying missiles to Ukraine.

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A state board told its staff Thursday to proceed with a change of operator request for a Shelby-based nonprofit that wants to take over 68 orphan oil and gas wells, which it intends to plug.

The request was made by the Well Done Foundation to the Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation.

We are very excited, Curtis Shuck, Well Done Foundation founder and chairman, said after the meeting. It is a great next chapter in our relationship with the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation and the state of Montana and our whole mission.

Well Done officials said the move will save Montana taxpayers more than $2 million that the state would need to pay to have the work done.

The foundation said it has submitted plugging notices to the board for the first five of these 68 Montana wells, beginning April 20, and has funding committed for more than 120 orphan and abandoned wells nationwide this year.

Ben Jones, petroleum engineer with the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation, said staff was told to proceed with request. He said Well Done can take over the wells and plugging.

Jones said some of the wells that Well Done will take over will be more costly to plug and require more technical skill than previously done by the foundation.

"The board wanted to make sure they knew what they were getting into," he said.

Shuck seemed excited by the challenge.

"Here we go, we have some wells to plug now, by golly," he said in telephone interview.

Shuck said the wells are primarily in Toole and Glacier counties.

Jones and Shuck said Well Done has to submit a $50,000 bond.

Well Done, founded in 2019, does not include any public funding. It says it works with regulators, surface owners and others.

According to the Well Done Foundation website, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates there are 2.5 million unplugged abandoned wells in the United States. That includes 31 states, emitting 7.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year. They say that is equal to 798 million gallons of gasoline used, 1.54 million passenger vehicles for a year, or 7.85 billion pounds of coal burned.

Using donations from around the world, Well Done said it has privately funded the plugging of 13 orphan wells so far in Montana alone, which has saved taxpayers nearly $400,000, Shuck said.

He said since 2020, Well Done has also directly supported Montana jobs, funding more than 8,000 hours in Toole County without a single workplace accident.

Shuck said Well Done plans to plug three wells on Earth Day, on its third anniversary, in Montana, Louisiana and Ohio.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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Panera Bread has signed a letter of intent to build a restaurant on the former site of the Capital Hill Mall in Helena, and if completed it will be the franchises fourth foray in Montana, a citizens group was told Thursday.

Members of Hometown Helena, a grass-roots group of residents, were given an update of construction on the 13-acre Capital Hill Town Center site sandwiched between 11th and Prospect avenues on the citys east side.

The property, being developed by D&M Development, is the former site of the Capital Hill Mall, which was razed in 2019.

Helena resident Rick Hays, who said he was speaking for the developer, said retaining wall work is underway along Prospect Avenue. He said the north side will be a boulevard and sidewalk. He said the Prospect Avenue side will have sidewalks as well as nice landscaping.

He said Helena Sand and Gravel is doing a rough grade of Vandelay Avenue.

Hays said First Interstate Bank is nearing completion on the southeast corner and should open in early May. He said Opportunity Bank is building an office complex near Starbucks. He said it will be a three-story building that will house its training center, customer service center and support staff. He said completion is expected in the fall.

To the east of that will be Panera.

Theyve signed a letter of intent and have indicated they would like to start construction in late fall or early spring, Hays said.

Panera Bread did not respond to two emails seeking comment. They have restaurants in Billings, Kalispell and Missoula, according to the Panera website.

As of late 2021, Panera had 2,118 bakery-cafes in 48 states and in Ontario, Canada. Panera Bread is part of Panera Brands, one of the worlds largest fast casual restaurant companies. For more information, visit www.PaneraBread.com.

Hays said Benefis Health System's Helena Specialty Center will be on the south side of Panera and completed in late 2023, and he said Stockman Bank will build next to Taco Bell.

He noted that one of the many benefits of the project is that there have been a number of local contractors employed.

Bob Heberly, vice president/project manager at Dick Anderson Construction in Helena, said after the meeting that one space remains empty.

Built in 1965, the mall was once a sign of bustling business in Helena. Over time, more and more tenants left the mall, leaving only a few businesses remaining in the 2010s. Tenants at one time included Dillard's and J.C. Penney. The mall's final tenant, Lucky Lil's Casino, closed in early 2019.

After changing hands several times over the last few years, the property was purchased by D&M Development, a company headed by Dick Anderson Construction president Dick Anderson and vice president Mark Esponda.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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DECATUR  When a person calls 911 scared and worried, Samantha Wood is one of the operators ready to help, no matter the situation.

She and her co-workers are the first first-responders.

The officers and firefighters first on the scene rely on the information given by the operators and dispatchers, such as Wood. Because without us, you really dont get help, she said.

Decorations, snacks and prize-filled Easter eggs embellished the building in honor of the holiday. The special day was established in 1994, to recognize the employees in the 911 industry, including the operators and dispatchers.

Emergency communication specialists are what we call them here in Macon County, said Desiree Wright, senior communications supervisor for the Central Illinois Regional Dispatch Center. But telecommunicators kind of encompass all of those people.

The specialists correspond with the Macon County Sheriffs Department, Decatur Police Department, city and county fire departments and 911 callers. Theres a lot of multitasking, Wright said about the job.

On Thursday, the Illinois Senate unanimously voted on the 3127 Bill to classify telecommunicators as first responders, making them eligible for more benefits. A telecommunicator is currently classified as a clerical position.

Wood said she has worked as a secretary in a doctors office. Its nowhere near the same, she said.

Wood is also a volunteer firefighter with the Long Creek fire department. She began her training as a communication specialist more than a year ago. I didnt know half the things that I know now that go on behind the scenes, she said. But I love helping people.

Each call is a different situation. The operators may help administer CPR, deliver a baby, or get someone arrested.

Its our responsibility to make sure were asking the right questions, were getting the right information for them (first responders), Wright said.

Training for a telecommunicator takes approximately 10 months. The intense work gives the employee hands-on experiences. Where we see the high turnover rate is in training, Wright said. Its moving very fast paced. You have to be able to make a quick decision.

Education includes information on local and state laws as well as emergency medical dispatch licensing. We try to keep people safe in an unsafe situation, Wright said.

The supervisors try to make the environment as positive and healthy as possible, considering the nature of the work. Nobodys calling us to tell us theyre having a great day, Wright said. Something has happened and theyre in some type of crisis.

At least four Macon County telecommunicators must be near the phones at all times, Wright said. And were taking on about 650 calls a day, she said.

Wright has a staff of experienced telecommunicators. You have to be dedicated to wanting to help your community, Wright said.

The supervisors have also noticed telecommunicators often have a Type A personality. Theyre all very independent, theyre all go-getters, Wright said. But we want every person that walks through the door to be successful.

Jayme Moore has been on the phone for 31 years. As a 911 operator, he has answered the calls of many distressed, scared and frustrated people.

From day one, the job has been exciting. My first day was New Years Eve, he said. I didnt want to come back.

He was 19 years old and questioned if this was the career for him. Now I cant imagine doing anything else, Moore said.

According to the operators, a patient personality is key to the job. Because you never know whats going to happen, Moore said. And you have to be able to take insults. People are calling you on their worst day. You cant take it personally.

One of Moores most memorable calls hit him personally when his mother passed away. She was in hospice care, Moore said. We dispatched the coroner and I had to speak to him.

Although the past week has been a time for appreciation and celebration among each other, the communication specialists do hear positive feedback from others in the community. Each Saturday they will receive a call from a woman, just to say how thankful she is for their work. And that shes praying for us, Moore said. When Miss Taylor calls in, its guaranteed to be a good thing.

The dispatchers and operators kept the fun going during the week with extra activities, including an ice cream bar, games and an Easter egg hunt.

We really celebrate our people, Wright said. Just try to make it as fun of a week as possible.

Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983. Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR

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April 19, 2022, marks 125 years since the founding of the organization now known as Memorial Health. This week, we will celebrate this milestone with our colleagues across central Illinois, including at Decatur Memorial Hospital, but this achievement doesnt belong to us alone.

Memorial Health began as a modest hospital and training school for nurses headquartered in a converted private home at Fifth Street and North Grand Avenue in Springfield. Today, we are truly a regional organization, serving patients across central and southern Illinois at our five hospitals and network of Memorial Care clinics. Our services encompass the entire breadth of health care, empowering people to live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

All of this would not be possible without the support of numerous partners in the communities we serve, as well as our talented physicians, our dedicated volunteers, our hard-working colleagues andmost of allthe individuals and families who entrust us with their care. With your help, we will continue to fulfill our mission to improve lives and build stronger communities through better health, now and in the decades to come. Thank you for helping to make our founders dreams a reality.
By Azernews





By News Center

Slovakia has taken an action to buy Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) from Turkey, Yeni Shafak newspaper has reported.

Slovakian Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad met with Baykar Defence General Manager Haluk Bayraktar to discuss the supply of Bayraktar TB2 UCAV to the Slovakian army, the report added.

In a post on his social media account, Nad announced that they had a good meeting with Bayraktar and that negotiations with other UCAV manufacturers are underway.

Works on acquiring drones for Slovak military are moving forward. Good talk today with Mr. Bayraktar from Turkey and discussions with other drone producers ongoing, Nad wrote.

Bayraktar TB2 UCAV has been exported to 22 different countries and approximately 300 Bayraktar TB2s have been produced so far.

Bayraktar TB2, which uses the Roketsan MAM-L and MAM-C ammunition, have been praised for its successes in the battles in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Karabakh and finally Ukraine.

The armed unmanned aerial vehicle Bayraktar TB-2 has resurfaced on the agenda, with films showing it blowing up Russian tanks, armored vehicles, and surface-to-air missile defence systems.

Earlier, the international media headlines described it as a "game-changer" with its spectacular performance in the second Karabakh war in 2020.

Since the first Bayraktar TB-2s was delivered to Qatar in 2018, the company has signed 19 export agreements, including ones with Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. Six new transactions have been added to these export deals in the last three months alone.

The Bayraktar TB2 is a Turkish medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) that can fly remotely or autonomously. Baykar Defence, a Turkish company, manufactures it primarily for the Turkish Armed Forces.

In the meantime, Turkey continues to work on its domestic National Combat Aircraft project. Turkish defence industry companies began to transfer their experience and knowledge to the Turkish Aerospace Industries' National Combat Aircraft (TAI). The aircraft, which is expected to be released from the hangar in 2023, has been ordered.
A Stafford County day care owner has been charged with three felony offenses after three 1-year-old children under her care were determined to have a psychoactive compound found in cannabis in their systems, police said.

Stafford Sheriff's Maj. Shawn Kimmitz said Deputy A.J. Deasy went to Stafford Hospital on March 2 after learning that several toddlers had been exposed to THC. The parents had brought the children to the emergency room after noticing "lethargic and uncoordinated" behavior and glassy, bloodshot eyes.

Testing confirmed that the children had been exposed to THC, police said. All three children were being cared for by a licensed home day care provider in the Windsor Forest subdivision.

Detective A. Sanchez began an investigation and searched the daycare. Goldfish crackers recovered from the highchairs of toddlers were sent to the state lab for testing and were confirmed positive for THC. Child Protective Services was notified, and the day care subsequently voluntarily surrendered its license.

Rebecca Swanner, 60, was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of cruelty and injury to children. She turned herself in and was released by a magistrate on a $2,000 unsecured bond.
Workers began installing the roof of the new Manufacturing Solutions Center in Conover this week.

On Wednesday, they lifted packs of insulation onto the building for installation. The arrival of some roof components has allowed the city to move forward after weeks of supply delays.

Conover City Manager Tom Hart said there was at least one seven-week delay involved in getting the roof.

Hart said he did not know when the roof will be completely finished but praised the work of Matthews Construction workers in doing as much as they could despite some of the constraints they faced.

Theyve got a lot of the utility systems and stuff like that, like your electrical and the plumbing, theyve got that about as in as you can get it before you start adding drywall, Hart said.

He has hesitated to say when, exactly, the building will be complete, but the goal is to have the structure completed this year.

Construction on the new $8.3 million, 75,000-square-foot building began last spring.

The structure is intended to add space for the center to serve its clients and provide an informational clearinghouse. Part of the building will be used by private companies.

The new building will free up space in the original Manufacturing Solutions Center for testing of personal protective equipment.

The city received $9 million in federal COVID-19 money appropriated by the state to assist with the project.

The Manufacturing Solutions Center dates to the late 1980s. Thats when a group from the hosiery industry asked Catawba Valley Community College to develop a training center. The center was established in 1990 and has become a testing site for local manufacturers, according to the centers website.

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

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CROWN POINT  A judge told a Chicago man he had shown himself to be dishonest, antisocial and predatory before sentencing him Thursday to a maximum of 105 years in prison for killing a 14-year-old girl in 2019.

Deonlashawn C. Simmons, 36, was convicted of murder after a jury trial in March and subsequently admitted to firearm and habitual offender enhancements.

Evidence presented at trial showed 14-year-old Takaylah Tribitt was a runaway who met Simmons on Sept. 8, 2019, at a girl's birthday party in Chicago.

Despite Simmons' claim he was trying to help Tribitt, her last Facebook location was recorded at 1:27 a.m. Sept. 14, 2019, in the area of Simmons' relative's home on Chicago's South Side.

Tribitt, who was known to her family as "Ladybug," was found dead about 9 a.m. Sept. 16, 2019, in an alley near East 20th Avenue and Pennsylvania Street in Gary. She was facedown and had automotive cords tied around her neck and wrists, which were bound behind her back.

DNA from two males was found on the cord wrapped around her wrists, and one of the profiles matched Simmons.

Investigators also determined Tribitt had been sexually assaulted multiple times, but Lake County prosecutors did not charge him with any sex crimes as part of their case.

Lake Criminal Court Judge Natalie Bokota said Tribitt was bound with a cord and robbed of any opportunity to act in self-defense or attempt escape.

"She was dumped in an alley, among the accumulating trash," the judge said. "She was discarded like garbage."

Tribitt's mother, Laura Tribitt, said she had to forgive Simmons as part of her own healing process but God would never forgive him.

"She was 14," Laura Tribitt said. "She was a baby. I don't want to say no more. I don't really want to look at him."

Another relative, Felisha Vernado, said Simmons was a predator and a coward, because he would never have killed a grown woman the way he murdered Tribitt.

"Whatever Ladybug had going on, you took her opportunity to get it right," Vernado said. "I don't forgive you. If there was a death penalty, I think you should have it."

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Douglas Shaw, who tried the case with Deputy Prosecutor Arturo Balcazar and intern Lindsey Lanham, said he would have asked for more than a maximum sentence of 105 years if the law allowed.

Shaw said it was difficult to imagine what Tribitt might have gone through before she was killed.

She was shot once in the front of her head at point-blank range, so Simmons was the last person she saw.

"I can't imagine a murder that's more aggravated than the execution of a defenseless child," he said.

Simmons admitted during his presentence investigation he has 25 children, but only knows the names of nine of them, Shaw said.

"That is abuse," he said. "That is a complete disrespect for women and a complete disregard for children in general."

Simmons didn't even know he had some of the children until their biological mothers showed up on his mother's doorstep, Shaw said.

Simmons had three juvenile adjudications at age 15 and five felony convictions, including promoting prostitution.

He was on parole in Illinois when he killed Tribitt. Every chance he's had at probation, he failed, Shaw said.

"This is a person that cannot ever be released," he said. "I don't want a 95-year-old Deonlashawn Simmons on the street. I don't trust that."

Shaw said a maximum sentence would protect society, so "our children and our children's children don't ever have to worry about him."

Simmons' attorney, Michael A. Campbell, said Simmons respected the jury's verdict but maintained his innocence.

He conceded Simmons' criminal history was significant, but argued Simmons had not previously been convicted of shooting anyone or attempting to kill.

Bokota declined to show leniency because Simmons' imprisonment could cause an undue hardship for his children, noting he had been accused of molesting or battering two of them.

Campbell asked the judge not to consider those accusations, which he described as "pure speculation." Simmons has never been charged with causing harm to his children, he said.

The defense attorney urged the judge to show some leniency, because Simmons grew up without his father and lost his brother in a homicide several years ago in Chicago.

Campbell asked for a 56-year sentence, with five years suspended in favor of probation.

Simmons offered his condolences to Tribitt's friends and family in a brief statement. Before Bokota pronounced sentence, he said he wanted to appeal.

Bokota said it was clear from Simmons' interviews with police that he lied at least once, when confronted with evidence that he was in Northwest Indiana around the time of Tribitt's murder.

Several members of Tribitt's family began clapping when Bokota sentenced Simmons to 105 years, but the judge held up a finger and said, "No. No. No."

The dignity of the court must always be upheld, she said.

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After more than five decades, it is time to let go of Earth Day. Conceived by peace activists and initially promoted by international labor unions, it has been the focus of mass mobilization and awareness campaigns.

In 1970, Sen. Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin called for a national teach-in at the first Earth Day. With the confidence found naturally only among members of Congress and teenage boys, he predicted that accelerating rates of air pollution could become so serious by the 1980s that many people may be forced on the worst days to wear breathing helmets to survive outdoors.

He was wrong about air pollution. He was wrong about Earth Day.

Its history is littered with slogans, speeches and grand pronouncements  but not with many environmental improvements. Each year Earth Day gets its share of pageantry and more than a little propaganda.

Its time to let it rest.

Despite the positive effects Earth Day may have had in the past to raise awareness and rally the grassroots, today we have a global class of professional activists committed to campaigning for bizarre, radical policies such as depopulation and decarbonization of the economy. These activists  and the billions of dollars they spend every year to shape public opinion in favor of more government restrictions on economic growth and mobility  are an obstacle to meaningful changes in public commitment to environmental goals.

Unlike professional activists, most people have other values in tension with their desire to protect the environment. Normal people balance multiple goals. They seek to save and invest, create food and housing security for themselves and their community, and avoid drastic restrictions on the ability to travel for work, play and to visit family.

Today we can do a lot more than we could in 1970 to improve the air, water and land around us because a society producing technological advances, paired with an increasingly wealthy population, has both the means and the motivation to prioritize environmental stewardship.

Perhaps the environmental issue of our time that has the greatest disconnect between the sloganeering of professional activists and the real world is climate change. With each passing year, greater emphasis is placed on models predicting catastrophic environmental outcomes decades in the future. However, when real-world data collected during the last 20 years is fed into these models, they fail to predict current observations about the climate, the seas or the behavior of the upper atmosphere.

The evidence does not support radical policy prescriptions that would reshape society and impoverish billions of people. That doesnt mean we dont have problems or room for improvement. The best approach to global challenges such as climate change is adaptation.

Adaption is a strategy that adds new resources to the fight. These resources become available because adaptation prioritizes growth and innovation. It views poor people moving into a stable middle class as a solution, not a problem. By its very nature, it is hyper-local, because we know every community does not face the same ecological challenges. It shuns the apocalyptic hyperbole of the contemporary environmental movement and Earth Day campaigns. It requires clear-eyed assessments of the world as it is.

All living things, even people whom we love very much, must die. Many years ago, my father took me aside before we drove to a quiet country cemetery for the funeral of a beloved elderly neighbor. I was a young boy, nervous about death. My father calmly explained that death is a part of life. It is natural.

What is true for all that lives is also true for everything we create. Each club, business, organization and institution comes to the end of a natural life cycle. It is a lesson we should all take to heart. It means that sometimes we must adapt strategies based on new evidence and let go of cherished institutions.

It is time to refocus on what works, and that means letting go of Earth Day.

Kent Lassman is president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market public policy organization in Washington.

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Winston-Salem police arrested two people Friday on charges in connection with Wednesdays fatal shooting at the Fish Hut Arcade, authorities said.

Reginald Anthony Williams, 25, of Bedford Street, is charged with murder, police said. Nautica Shanice Baldwin, 26, also of Bedford Street, is charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, police said.

Williams is accused of killing Arthur Little, according to his arrest warrant. Baldwin is accused of stealing $420 from Little that same day after she threatened Little with a handgun, according to her arrest warrant.

Williams and Baldwin were being held Friday in the Forsyth County Jail with no bond allowed for Williams, and Baldwins bond set at $25,000, police said.

Williams and Baldwin are scheduled to appear Monday in Forsyth District Court. Police didnt describe the relationship between Williams and Baldwin.

Little, 52, of New Greensboro Road, sustained a gunshot wound while inside the Fish Hut at 3500 S. Main St., police said. The Fish Hut is a sweepstakes business, where people can play games to win money.

When officers arrived at 4:39 p.m., they found Little unresponsive. Emergency medical technicians pronounced him dead at the scene, police said.

Another man was taken to a local hospital with a leg injury sustained in the incident, police said. Police havent identified the wounded man.

Investigators determined that Little was involved in an argument with another man inside the business before the shooting. The argument then escalated into a fight.

Multiple shots were fired, police said. No one else was reported injured.

Littles death is the citys 13th homicide this year, compared with eight homicides during the same period in 2021, police said.

Winston-Salem police are asking for the publics help in this case.

Anyone with information regarding the shooting can call Winston-Salem police at 336-773-7700, Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800 or its Spanish line at 336-728-3904. Crime Stoppers of Winston-Salem Forsyth County also is on Facebook.

The Text-A-Tip line at 336-276-1717 allows people to text tips, photos and videos to the police.

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By Trend

Foreign Ministers of Russia and Armenia Sergey Lavrov and Ararat Mirzoyan have discussed the prospects for agreeing a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan with the assistance of Moscow during a phone conversation, Trend reports citing the Russian ministry.

The ministers exchanged views on implementation of the statement signed between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on November 10, 2020 (following the second Karabakh war), as well as statements dated January 11 and November 26, 2021.

In this context, the parties emphasized further steps to open transport communications in the region and delimit the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, and also touched upon the prospects for agreeing a peace treaty between Yerevan and Baku with Russian assistance.
A second man has been charged in the killing of a Winston-Salem man who was dropped off at a local hospital in February.

Shakeem Mohammad Jones, 28, of Ryan Street in Salisbury, was charged with murder and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon in the Feb. 10 death of Darryl Wayne Smith, 56.

On March 25, U.S. Marshals arrested Melvin Lynn Pruitt, 46, on charges of murder and robbery with a dangerous weapon. Pruitt also was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon.

Winston-Salem police officers went to a local hospital to investigate a man there with a gunshot wound. Investigators later identified the man as Smith and said people who knew Smith dropped him off at the hospital. Officers believed Smith was at a place in the 700 block of Jonestown Road before he was shot.

Jones was already in the Rowan County Jail when he was charged in Smiths death and he is now being held at that jail with no bond allowed. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. Pruitt had been held in the Forsyth County Jail without bond, but the jail had no information about Pruitt on Friday.

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An Omaha construction company is working to settle an ongoing legal fight with Gretna Public Schools stemming from allegations that the district owes money on one of its elementary schools.

A Douglas County district judge in March ordered Gretna and Lueder Construction Co. to enter mediation after several months of back and forth over the construction of Falling Waters Elementary School, which began in December 2018, according to court records.

The legal battle surrounds the delayed opening of the $14 million school at 5909 S. 200th Ave. in Omaha. Both parties agreed that the school would be substantially complete by July 24, 2020, meaning that it could be used by the school. The contract also required that final completion be reached by Sept. 22, 2020.

The district instead had to delay Falling Waters opening to students for more than 10 days at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year because construction was not nearly finished. According to court records, students and staff could use only parts of the building for weeks as construction stretched past the substantial completion date.

Lueder sued in November 2021 when it allegedly didnt receive its full payment for the work when it finally was complete, said Gregory Scaglione, the construction companys attorney. Gretna has filed counterclaims denying Lueders allegations and seeking damages for the delayed completion of construction.

Scaglione said the disagreement is with the school board.

We have no problems with the school and support them, but the board has not been reasonable in dealing with us, Scaglione said.

Rich Beran, Gretnas superintendent, and David Gulizia, school board president, declined to comment because of the pending litigation.

The Omaha-based construction company, which specializes in building schools, had to delay construction of Falling Waters because of several obstacles that were out of its control, Scaglione said.

Scaglione said there were days when the weather caused the construction site to be wet and employees were not allowed to work. COVID-19 also brought on quarantines among the crew, he said, and materials were hard to come by because of supply chain disruptions.

Lueder also cited alleged delays caused by the projects architect, the Omaha firm DLR. Lueder filed a separate suit against DLR alleging that the firm refused to certify completion dates and failed in managing the design process. DLR denies these claims.

Lueder claims the delays should have resulted in a time extension of 44 working days, pushing the substantial completion date to the end of September.

In court documents, the company said it submitted a timely request for an extension of the project. The school district denied this assertion in a separate court filing.

Lueder was charged $1,000 a day for each day the project continued past the substantial completion date and an additional $500 a day for each day beyond the final completion date.

The school district said in its counterclaim that the projects architect, which certifies completion dates, didnt certify the substantial completion date of the project until Nov. 9, 2020, which meant Lueder was liable for the delay because no time extensions were granted.

In a court filing, the district argued Lueder was in violation of the contract and owed the district at least $120,000 for the delay.

Scaglione said the construction company never should have accumulated these damages because the delays were out of its control.

When construction finished, Scaglione said the district still owed Lueder close to $1 million. And because of the pending charges for delays, the company tried to work out a compromise with Gretna.

Lueder tried for about a year to achieve a workout or compromise that would pay for the construction of the school, so that Lueder could pay its subcontractors and suppliers, Scaglione said in an email.

He said when that failed, the company then presented a written claim to the board on July 2, 2021, but the board refused to respond or take any action on the claim.

Scaglione said the construction company resorted to a lawsuit in November to collect the money.

After the suit was filed, he said the school board submitted a partial payment for the work. In a court filing, the district denied this assertion.

The construction company asked the school district to agree to settle the remainder of the disputes. Scaglione said the school board refused and Lueder went to the district court to order them to participate in mediation. The school district filed its own motion to dismiss the case.

Last month, a judge denied Gretnas motion and ordered the school district and Lueder to enter mediation. Scaglione said the mediation will probably take place in June.

Lueder is hopeful to find an amicable resolution to the disputes during mediation, Scaglione said.

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NORFOLK  An Oakdale woman died in a house fire Thursday morning.

At 7:51 a.m., firefighters were called to 601 Walther St. in Oakdale after a passerby reported that a house was on fire, said Oakdale Assistant Fire Chief Aaron Kinnan. Fire personnel saw heavy smoke and flames coming from the roof upon arrival.

Linda James, 74, was pronounced dead at the scene. Antelope County Attorney Joe Abler has ordered an autopsy, Kinnan said.

Kinnan said that about 30 firefighters from Oakdale and Neligh worked the fire. Several personnel were on scene for about 5 hours, he said.

The fire remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshals Agency.

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From the vantage point of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the United States was the world's only "indispensable nation." Albright, who died last month, argued that America had repeatedly earned the title because: "We stand tall and we see further into the future."

That quote tickles my patriotism. And once upon a time, it may even have been true. But is it still the case today?

In 2022, does America really stand tall? Can the land of the free and the home of the brave still see far into the future? Or is America too distracted, and too afraid, to confront the world in all its ugliness?

I have my doubts.

Consider the ongoing tragedy in Ukraine, which will soon enter its second month.

President Joe Biden this week described as "genocide" the inhumanity that Russian forces are visiting upon the Ukrainian people. More than once, he has blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "war criminal." Tough talk is a Biden trademark.

Yet beyond combative rhetoric, the administration has been inept and timid in combating evil. It's reluctant to use the only weapon that evil understands: brute force.

There is reportedly in Ukraine a quip floating about that sounds like gallows humor. America, it is said, is ready to fight Russian aggression down to the last Ukrainian.

Biden probably won't write history, although he does have a knack for writing checks. Last week, he announced another $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine, expanding the scope of the weapons systems that have been given to include heavy artillery. This brings the total military aid since Russia invaded its neighbor in late February to more than $2.5 billion.

One way to write history is to welcome the stranger.

And that's why, in 2022, the world's actual indispensable nation is not far from Albright's birthplace of Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic -- the country of Poland.

The United Nations reports that, as of April 13, more than 4.7 million people have fled Ukraine. Of that number, about 2.7 million people have settled in Poland.

Thanks to the generosity and empathy of the Polish people, many Ukrainian refugees have found a warm welcome. They are not met with hostility but with hot soup -- and open arms.

Every day, Poles drive to the Polish-Ukrainian border, scoop up refugees and take them to their homes.

In America's immigration debate, the extremes won't give up an inch. In Poland, people are giving up their beds.

Refugees are often different, desperate and downtrodden. But that doesn't make them dangerous or defective. They show up at a border looking for safe haven and second chances, not the opportunity to make trouble or wreak havoc.

For instance, it is not an unwritten rule that refugees drag down the economy of any country that takes them in.

On the ground in Poland, the facts say otherwise. According to John Lynch, a founder and board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland, who lives east of Krakow -- about 2 hours from the Ukrainian border -- many of those refugees are actually having a positive influence on the economy.

"There was a labor shortage here a month ago," Lynch told Michael Smerconish on an episode of his Sirius/XM radio show. "We (had) advertisements looking for 25 new people for my factory, and we got about five applications. So it was actually a challenge, and now with all the Ukrainians here, we've solved the labor shortage."

Let's finally put an end to the slander that refugees destroy economies. There may be short-term strain from having thousands, or even millions, of people who speak a different language show up at the front door. But history is filled with examples of people who went somewhere with nothing and became something because they are hyper-motivated to rise from the rubble and make new lives for themselves and their families.

People like that aren't a burden. They're a blessing.

Ruben Navarrette writes for the Washington Post.

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By Trend

The construction of the Karabakh horse farm will start in Azerbaijan's Aghdam district [liberated from Armenian occupation in the 2020 second Karabakh war], the expert in equestrian sport Sarkhan Taghiyev told reporters during the auction of Karabakh horses at the Gobustan Livestock Demonstration Complex of Agroservice OJSC of the Ministry of Agriculture, Trend reports.

"Construction of the farm will start in the coming two or three months in Eyvazkhanli village of Aghdam district," he noted.

The farm will focus on Karabakh horse breed.

The Karabakh horse is currently the national animal of Azerbaijan and is the official symbol of the Aghdam district in Karabakh. The wealth of the Karabakh horse breed is preserved and today is supported by horse breeders of Azerbaijan.
RACINE  A dispute over public records requests continued Tuesday in Racine County Circuit Court between the City of Racine and activists who claim there was fraud in the 2020 election.

The activists claim they did not get all the documents they should have following a 2021 public records request. The city contends it provided all that it was asked to provide.

Attorney Erick Kaardal of Minnesota represents the plaintiffs, which include the local organization Honest, Open, Transparent (H.O.T.) Government and the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, one of several groups that aimed to overturn President Joe Bidens victory in the 2020 election over Donald Trump.

Kaardal argued the city has not fully complied with a records request in connection to a grant from the Center for Tech and Civil Life. CTCL is the nonprofit to which Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg provided hundreds of millions of dollars, which was then distributed to communities nationwide in assist in conduct of elections amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kaardal sought three actions:

A summary judgment in the case relating to the documents request.

The ability to bring in an expert to examine all the citys electronic devices (cellphones and computers) to ensure the relevant documents have been turned over.

An order for the city to pay the costs and attorney fees associated with the case.

A summary judgment is granted only when there is no genuine issue as to the facts of the case between the two parties. That is, the material facts as presented by one party are not disputed by the other.

However, there appear to be facts still in dispute.

Representing the city is Luke Martell of the firm Municipal Law & Litigation Group. Martell told the court the city turned over all the records within the scope of the search.

Judge Faye Flancher said she would issue a decision no later than Monday.

Background

In 2020, the City of Racine announced it was one of the municipalities in Wisconsin that would benefit from a CTCL grant.

CTCL, based in Chicago, has been described as liberal by critics and left-of-center by InfluenceWatch.org, a public policy watchdog website.

Critics in Wisconsin have made much of the fact CTCL benefited from a sizable donation by Zuckerberg.

Wisconsins five most populous cities  all of which reliably vote for Democratic Party candidates  divvied up grants from CTCL in 2020 that was intended to make elections safer. By Election Day 2020, more than 200 Wisconsin communities received grants from CTCL, but the lions share of the money was given to Racine, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay.

Called the Wisconsin Safer Voting Plan, the grant was to aid the cities hardest hit by the pandemic with running a safe election.

Right-leaning groups took issue with the CTCL grants because they allowed the funding to be used for get-out-the-vote efforts in urban areas, which are more likely to have stronger concentrations of Democratic-leaning voters.

Right-leaning groups also took issue with the use of drop boxes, which amid the pandemic were seen as safer than crowding into indoor spaces to vote. Some conservatives asserted drop boxes had the potential to facilitate fraudulent voting, although there has been no evidence of such. Drop boxes were set up throughout Wisconsin, not only in left-leaning areas.

While Kaardals experience is wide-ranging, he has long been associated with conservative causes. He is special counsel for the Thomas More Society and is described on its website as specializing in pro-life, family values, and election integrity.

Records request

A records request is complicated for both sides, especially in the electronic era.

Search engines have made it easier, but there are also a lot more documents in the form of emails and messages sent by text that are not readily, publicly available.

When making a records request, an individual or group submits keywords, and the respondent is typically required to provide all documents within a certain spectrum that include any of those keywords. If the search terms are too broad, the search becomes cumbersome for the respondent. If the search terms are too narrow, the search may not return the documents the requestor is seeking.

For example, one of the requests in this case included 16 keywords, which would have resulted in more than 41,000 documents. Another request, this one made by Kaardal, would have returned 248,000 responses.

In court, Martell described the five public records requests as voluminous and incredibly broad.

The city was able to work with the requesters to submit keywords for searches that were not overly broad, and therefore less burdensome, to the city. The requests resulted in more than 2,200 documents being turned over to the plaintiffs.

Martell noted the city provided each request with an attachment explaining the methodology used by the records administrator to cull the documents.

This wasnt some flippant one-page form letter, he said, adding the citys responses were 4 to 7 pages long, explaining the methodology used and how the city interpreted each request.

Fewer than Gableman received

Kaardal said the plaintiffs believe the city failed to comply fully with the records request because the number of documents they received on this issue was far fewer than those received by Michael Gableman, the special counsel appointed by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester. Gableman is leading the taxpayer-funded partisan probe of the 2020 election in Wisconsin.

Kaardal told the court Gableman received more than 2,000 documents from Racine.

Thats much more of an expansive response, Kaardal said. He added it was a problem that Gableman received many more documents when he was basically overlapping the activists investigation.

Those Kaardal is representing had requested documents from people who worked on the CTCL grant, such as Vicky Selkowe, the citys manager of strategic initiatives and community partnerships, and Mayor Cory Mason, as well as City Clerk Tara Coolidge, who is in charge of local elections.

According to documents filed in the case, the Wisconsin Voters Alliance received only 824 documents and H.O.T. received 733 in response to their records requests.

Martell pointed out Gableman did not file a records request. Instead, the city responded to a legislative subpoena for documents, a different type of request.

The plaintiffs case rests on a pretty interesting theory, Martell said. He added the plaintiffs believe, because the number of documents were different, that somehow means the city is hiding documents.

Kaardals other expressed concern is how few documents there were for certain weighty issues.

Selkowe reportedly had 198 emails relating to the grant.

Kaardal insisted to the court that there should be thousands of emails, rather than the 198 that were turned over, but he did not explain why he believed there should be thousands.

Affidavits

The city turned over the requested documents on July 27, 2021, along with a letter that the request was complete, which is typical practice.

Kaardal argued the letter was insufficient. He told the court there should have been affidavits from each of the city employees testifying to the completeness of the request, which is not customary.

It does not appear that anyone ever requested affidavits.

The city argued in documents filed with the court that, after July 27, 2021, there were no more requests received from the activists.

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WATERFORD  A Wisconsin-based brewery has purchased an old firehouse with plans to transform the property into a new attraction in Waterfords downtown.

MobCraft Beer Inc., which specializes in customer-suggested brews in exotic flavors, is the new owner of the former village fire station at 122 Second St.

Since 2018, village officials had been looking for a brewery operator to take over the firehouse and turn it into a beer-themed attraction along the Fox River.

Established in 2013, MobCraft bills itself as the worlds first crowd-sourced brewery, meaning that the company creates new beers based on customer ideas. The result has been brews flavored like apple pie, fruity breakfast cereal, blueberry waffles and peanut butter cups.

National exposure on the ABC competition game show Shark Tank helped the company open its first brewery in Milwaukee. The company then engaged Waterford officials with a proposal to transform the old firehouse into a brewery, winery, taproom, bar and restaurant.

Company officials could not be reached for comment, but they announced on social media this week that they had completed the fire station purchase.

Waterford village officials also confirmed that the property sale was scheduled to be finalized.

An agreement struck with the village last year called for MobCraft to purchase the fire station for $399,900, which the village then would rebate over three years, making the property a virtual gift. In exchange, MobCraft would build and operate the brewery attraction that Waterford officials had long wanted.

The village rebate would not begin until after MobCraft had occupied the property for one year.

Details of the new brewery opening have not been released.

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Madison businessman Eric Hovde will not be joining the GOP race for governor this fall, but instead is considering a run for U.S. Senate in 2024 for the seat currently held by Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

Hovde, who lost in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2012, had previously said he was considering a gubernatorial run this year, but said he decided now was not the best time to launch a statewide campaign, due in part to recent health issues with his father-in-law.

Family is the first thing in my life, Hovde said Friday. It was a tough decision.

Hovde added his primary interest in federal issues like spending and the economy may be better suited for the U.S. Senate seat, which Baldwin, D-Madison, has held since 2013.

Im taking a very serious, hard look at the Senate race, he said.

Republicans running in the Aug. 9 primary for governor already include former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Marine Corps veteran Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun, R-Campbellsport.

Im going to definitely be supporting whoever is victorious, Hovde said of the GOP primary.

The winner of the GOP primary will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking a second term this fall. The general election is Nov. 8.

Other potential additions to the GOP field include former Gov. Tommy Thompson and Tim Michels, who co-owns Michels Corp. construction company.

Thompson has said hell make a decision about whether to join the gubernatorial race by the end of April.

Michels said in a text Friday he had nothing new to report on whether hell run.

Business owner Robert Meyer, who unsuccessfully challenged former Gov. Scott Walker in the 2018 GOP primary, wrote in a guest column in the Sun Prairie Star earlier this month that he is also running for governor this year as a moderate Republican.

I look forward to seeing who ends up getting into the race, Hovde said.

A February Marquette Law School Poll found among likely GOP primary voters 30% support Kleefisch, 8% support Nicholson, 5% support Ramthun, and 54% have no preference.

Half of respondents said they havent heard of or have no opinion of Kleefisch, compared with 80% for Nicholson and 86% for Ramthun.

Candidates can begin circulating nomination papers Friday to get on the primary ballot. The deadline for gubernatorial candidates to secure 2,000 signatures is June 1.

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Gov. Tony Evers vetoed 28 bills on Friday, including GOP-authored legislation that Republicans say is geared toward addressing Wisconsins ongoing workforce shortage by restricting access to state unemployment benefits and forcing more people back into the labor pool.

The Democratic governor also vetoed GOP bills aimed at breaking up Milwaukees school district, which is the states largest, into up to eight smaller districts, and creating a Parental Bill of Rights, allowing parents to sue school officials for not using parents requested pronouns and gender identities for their children. Evers, a former educator and state superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, also vetoed a bill aimed at expanding private school vouchers in the state.

Many of Fridays vetoes were expected, but Republicans advanced the measures through the Legislature regardless. Many of the measures are expected to be major campaign talking points leading up to the Nov. 8 election, where Evers is seeking a second term.

Evers, who has pushed for increased spending on training and recruitment, as well as efforts to reduce employment barriers some individuals face to address workforce challenges in the state, was expected to veto the Republican unemployment bills.

Evers latest round of vetoes brings his record total to 126 since taking office. Republicans lack the votes needed in the Senate and Assembly for an override.

Workforce issues

Among bills vetoed, AB 937, would have tied the number of weekly unemployment benefits an individual could receive to the states overall unemployment rate. Currently, an individual can receive up to $370 in weekly state unemployment benefits for 26 weeks. Under the bill, the maximum number of weeks a claimant could receive benefits would be based on the states unemployment rate.

Claimants would have received 26 weeks of benefits if the state unemployment rate was greater than 9%, while the number of weekly benefits would be reduced to as few as 14 weeks if the rate was at 3.5% or lower.

I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to adding more barriers for individuals applying for and receiving economic assistance through programs largely designed to provide support when individuals and families are experiencing economic hardship, Evers wrote in a veto message for the bill.

Other workforce bills vetoed by Evers include:

, which would require the state Department of Health Services to determine a persons Medicaid eligibility every six months.

, which would require DHS to enforce a federal work requirement, including drug screenings, for able-bodied adults without dependents in order to take part in the states FoodShare program, which helps people with limited money buy food.

, which would remove an individuals Medicaid eligibility if they knowingly fail to accept an offer for legal, paid employment or an increase in paid hours.

, which would require DWD to consider reports of an individual declining a job offer or failing to attend a scheduled interview when determining a claimants eligibility for benefits.

The state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday that Wisconsins unemployment rate for March dropped to 2.8%, according to preliminary estimates.

In the schools

Evers also struck down AB 963, which had been dubbed by Republicans as a Parental Bill of Rights, which Evers described as another in a string of legislation aimed not at supporting our parents, our kids, and our schools, and fostering those relationships that improve student outcomes, but at dividing our schools.

The proposal would have allowed a parent or guardian to sue a school district or school official if they dont allow parents to: determine the names and pronouns used for the child while at school; review instructional materials and outlines used by the childs school; access any education-related information regarding the child; receive advance notice of any polls or surveys conducted in the childs classroom; request notice of when certain subjects will be taught or discussed; and opt out of a class or instructional materials for reasons based on either religious or personal conviction.

While its not surprising that Evers vetoed a bill he called radical before even seeing the text, its disappointing he would refuse to take the time to listen to parents concerns before nixing the bill, Republican Governors Association spokesperson Maddie Anderson said in a statement.

Evers also vetoed AB 970, a measure that would have vastly expanded private school vouchers by eliminating the income limits in the statewide, Milwaukee County and Racine County private school voucher programs, as well as create a temporary education expense reimbursement program for public school students. A fiscal report estimated the bill could raise property taxes as much as $577 million.

Another bill vetoed by Evers, AB 966, would have split up the Milwaukee Public Schools System by July 1, 2024, and replaced it with smaller districts, a move Republicans have said would increase accountability and lead to better performance in the smaller districts  and bolster low reading and math scores for Milwaukee public school students.

This bill represents yet another attempt by this Legislature to politicize our schools and an unprecedented intrusion on local control in our public school districts, Evers wrote in a veto message.

Chris Reader, executive vice president of the conservative group IRG Action, said Evers vetoes mean the future for children in Wisconsin is less bright today.

Instead of standing with kids and families, he stood with the failed status quo and the education establishment, Reader said in a statement. Now Wisconsin families will not have additional options on where their children go to school, students will not have access to new exceptional courses and materials, and the status quo will continue to perpetuate the failing Milwaukee Public School District. Its a sad day for Wisconsin.

Other bills

Evers also vetoed:

, which would have barred anyone from suing a firearm or ammunition manufacturer for damages related to those products design or use. The measure, which was supported by the National Rifle Association of America and Wisconsin Gun Owners Inc. and opposed by groups including the Wisconsin Council of Churches, would still allow lawsuits related to a breach of contract or death/damages caused by a defect in a firearm or ammunition.

, which would have prohibited any instruction at UW campuses and technical colleges that promotes race or sex stereotyping. The bill, aimed at prohibiting instruction about systemic racism, known broadly as critical race theory, and systemic sexism instruction, would have also prohibited training materials covering the same topics for UW System and technical college employees. Democrats have criticized the measure as an attempt by Republicans to insert themselves into higher education curriculum and to limit confronting uncomfortable components of the past.

, which would prohibit state and local governments from discriminating against anyone on the basis of whether or not they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

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Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised Actis, a global investor in sustainable infrastructure, on its entry into a share purchase agreement to acquire a 50% stake in Emirates District Cooling Company (Emicool) from Dubai Investments at an enterprise value of $1 billion, forming a joint venture for district cooling in the region.

The transaction will be one of the largest deals in the district cooling industry in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and underpins the growing demand for district cooling.

With an extensive network in multiple geographies, the JV will aim to make Emicool one of the leading providers of sustainable and efficient district cooling services in the wider Mena region.

Launched in 2003 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dubai Investments, Emicool currently serves more than 2,000 buildings across the UAE.

District cooling companies, growing at a rapid pace in the Middle East, deliver chilled water through insulated pipes to run air conditioning systems. They offer increased energy efficiency and higher reliability, saving up to 50% of energy compared to traditional air conditioning systems.

The Clifford Chance team was led by UAE Corporate/M&A partner Jason Mendens and supported by senior associate Rizwan Butt, associate Abhinav Yarrapotu and trainee Sam Robinson.

Additional support was provided by Finance: Nicola Reader (Partner, Abu Dhabi), Fayo Arowojolu (Associate, Dubai), Danny Wang (Associate, Abu Dhabi) and Mahmoud ElBanhawi (Associate, Dubai)

For Antitrust, the team comprising Jennifer Storey (Partner, London), and Sam Parry (Senior Associate, London) did a fine job as well as projects teaam of Richard Parris (Partner, Dubai) and Aditya Gaur (Senior Associate, Dubai).-TradeArabia News Service
Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Cloudy early, becoming mostly sunny this afternoon. Near record high temperatures. High near 95F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low around 75F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph.
1. Yes. If inflation remains high and interest rates rise, the economy will be a major factor.

2. Yes. If the nation goes into a recession, it will be the issue on the minds of most voters.

3. No. Inflation will likely moderate by then; if so, the economy wont be a major issue.

4.No. All the turmoil involving Russia and Roe v. Wade will probably take center stage.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say how the economy will play with voters at this point.

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The meat politics has created tensions inside the JNU campus, with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) beating up students for eating meat in hostels.

Nikita Jain | TwoCircles.net

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NEW DELHI  Days after clashes erupted at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi, saffron flagsallegedly put up by a right-wing group Hindu Senawere seen outside the campus on Friday.

The meat politics that has already created tensions inside the campus with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) youth wing of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) beating up students for eating meat in hostels, the new development has left many concerned.

It has been four days since violence erupted in JNUs Kaveri Hostel, as students sat to eat their lunch on April 10, ABVP members entered the mess and demanded that meat not be given to students. This led to heated arguments that eventually led to violence injuring many students.

More than 50 to 60 students were injured, all minor, but the police underplayed the number of injuries, an official inside the campus told TwoCircles.net.

On Sunday, the JNU campus saw violence as two student groups  left-wing student unions and the ABVP, a student body linked to the RSS  countered each others allegations.

As the environment inside campus still remains hostile, visuals shared on social media showed some posters and flags outside the campus. The posters were later removed by the police, according to reports. There has been no reaction from the JNU administration yet.

Speaking to TwoCircles.net, Neha, All India Students Associations (AISA) State Secretary Delhi said, Their agenda (right-wing) of infusing hatred by involving food, shops, the very existence of Muslims, the very existence of the daily wage workers of the vendors on the street. You are spewing hate against the very existence of their being and disregarding them.

Udita Yadav, a student at JNU, was beaten up by ABVP members during the clash. I received some injuries but they were minor. Many students faced the same fate, all because ABVP was creating havoc inside the campus, she said.

An FIR has been registered against some ABVP members but does not mention anyone, while the newly appointed Vice-Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit said that the university doesnt impose food choices on students and stressed that they can debate and agitate but should not indulge in violence.

The stage where we have reached, which can be called a fascist onslaught and has also increased, making something as essential as making food that affects everybody, making people think about what they are eating and dividing people on the basis of that, isolating a particular community on the basis of food is very dangerous. It indicates how their hate politics has reached a dangerous stage. This kind of atmosphere where what you eat and whether it is okay for you to eat indicates a larger problem, Neha added.

Using meat to attack Muslims

The right-wing has been using a meat ban as a way to unleash new ways to attack small businesses. In early April as both Ramzan and Navratri were going on, South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) Mayor Mukkesh Suryaan wrote a letter to the SDMC commissioner, instructing him to ensure all meat shops operating in the SDMC area remain closed during Navratri.

In the letter dated April 4, Mukesh Suryan asked the SDMC commissioner to ensure all meat shops in the SDMC limits remain closed till April 11, the last day of the Navrati festival. Suryan cited that during the Navratri, a majority of Delhi households dont even eat garlic and onions and hence, keeping in view the sentiments and feelings of the general public necessary orders may be issued for the closure of meat shops.

However, the Delhi Minority Commission sent out notices to South, East, and North civic bodies, asking under what legal provisions did the three civic bodies order or instruct the closure of meat shops in their areas during the Hindu festival.

Meanwhile, a few right-wing groups have been carrying out campaigns seeking a boycott of halal meat saying that Muslims perform rituals according to the Islamic faith before killing animals for halal meat which is then consumed by Hindus.

In his paper called Clash of Cultures in India, professor and social activist Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd who has openly spoken about food politics in the country wrote, The Muslims and the Christians of India, both socially and politically, got marginalized. A long-drawn-out campaign by the Hindutva forces that Muslims and Christians are un-Indian has an impact on their psyche. Their food culture came under huge attack. The Muslims were attacked as beef eaters, pro-Pakistanis and the Christians were attacked as proselytizers by supplying dollars. The Shudra/OBCs started believing in this propaganda as there were not many intellectuals among them to verify the propaganda from their point of view. Using this situation, the BJP and RSS and their sister organizations took up anti-Muslim and anti-Christian campaigns by massively deploying the vegetarian food cultural practice of a section of Brahmins, Baniyas and Jains and projected India as a vegetarian nation.

The simple way to change anything is to give power to those who support your cause. At JNU, the administration is as crippled as the opposition. We have been seeing a different side of JNU because the administration supported the ideology of the ring wing, an official from the university said.

JNU has witnessed major violent attacks with the Delhi police a mute spectator and the culprits are still not arrested.

Nikita Jain is an independent journalist. She tweets at @nikita_jain15
Residents will be able to keep the lawnmower in the garage a little longer this year if they want after the La Crosse Common Council adopted the No Mow May initiative Thursday night.

The new program allows La Crosse residents to skip mowing in the month of May as a way to promote growth of pollinating plants that pollinators, such as bees and butterflies, depend on as they emerge from their winter dormancy.

Residents will need to register with the city in order to participate and avoid fines, a detail that officials wrestled with.

Once registered, residents will receive a yard sign to indicate to neighbors they are participating in No Mow May and educate the community on the program.

Because of concerns that not everybody would have the access to register for the program, the city council for a time considered not requiring registrations at all, instead essentially lifting mowing requirements for the entire city during that month.

But with that came concerns about fair enforcement, and they also briefly considered offering registration while also not enforcing mowing rules for anyone in May, which would have had essentially the same effect.

The concern that arises from the city if we dont have any enforcement on this is not necessarily that were out to get anybody, but what we will see is a lot of phone calls, said Parks, Recreation & Forestry director Jay Odegaard.

Its hard to come up with a plan thats not going to have anybody fall through the cracks. I just dont know if thats possible, he said.

Officials eventually decided that  at least for the programs first year  clearer and simpler instructions were best.

For the purpose of encouraging and creating a clear communication with folks about what were doing and why. Because this is a new thing, its new to our city, said council member Rebecca Schwarz.

Schwarz said that she hopes the initiative eventually causes a culture shift in La Crosse and that the program becomes so much of a norm that the city could then roll-out a city-wide No Mow May.

Because people will understand and theyll know what were doing, Schwarz said.

City staff was supportive of registration also so it could better track the data and make sure its a successful program.

Those that register will not need to move from May 1-31, and they will then have until June 14 to slowly bring their lawn back to a compliant height. Staff emphasized that after letting your lawn grow for that long, it should be cut down over several mows, not all at once.

As of Thursday night there was no information about where residents should register to participate in No Mow May. The Tribune will publish that information when it becomes available.

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May 5 will be a day to raise awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous women in La Crosse, joining a nationwide effort.

The La Crosse Common Council approved the day of awareness Thursday night, which will be accompanied by a 5K run-walk hosted by the Ho-Chunk Nation in Riverside Park.

The day is meant to bring awareness on the disproportionate amount of Indigenous women who experience gender-based violence and receive fewer resources, supports and media attention when they do.

Common Council member Rebecca Schwarz read the resolution in entirety Thursday night, which states that in 2016, the National Crime Information Center reported nearly 6,000 cases of missing American Indian and Alaskan Native women and girls, although the U.S. Department of Justice was only tracking 119 cases.

May 5th honors the birthday of Hanna Harris, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe who was killed in 2013.

The citys resolution pointed out the lack of data kept on missing and murdered Indigenous women, and pointed to the differences in public outcry.

Indigenous experience racism and prejudice through invisibility, driven by a lack of media coverage. Instead of nationwide manhunts, alerts, and round-the-clock news coverage when an affluent, white woman goes missing, news coverage can be minimal to nonexistent when an Indigenous woman or girl goes missing, it states.

Many missing and murdered Indigenous women today remain unnamed and their disappearances unknown or unheard of, it states.

Additionally, the citys resolution highlights the disproportionate amount of Indigenous women who are exploited by sex trafficking. According to the Human Trafficking Institute, Wisconsin ranks sixth in the nation in sexual trafficking, which often occurs in urban centers and along the I-90/94 corridor.

The resolution also lists some of the Wisconsin Indigenous women that are known to be missing or murdered:

Bad River Ojibwe members Angeline Whitebird-Sweet, murdered in 1989, Charlene Couture, missing since 2009, Sheila St. Clair, missing since 2015, and Tess White, murdered in 2016

Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe members Susan Poupart, murdered in 1990, LaVonne Frank, murdered 1997, Donna (LaBarge) Peterson, murdered in 2004, and Emily Anne Marie Wayman, murdered in 2010

Ho Chunk members Jennifer Wesho, murdered in 1989, Jacinda Muir, murdered in 2015, and Kozee Decorah, murdered in May 2020

Menominee members Lisa Ninham, missing since 1980, Rae Elaine Tourtillot, murdered in 1986, Ingrid Washinawatok, murdered in 1999, Katelyn Kelley, murdered in July 2020, and Stephanie Greenspon, murdered in August 2020

Oneida members Lorraine Brown Bear, murdered in 2016, and Krystal Torres-Smith murdered in 2017

The resolution not only commits the city to recognizing May 5 as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Day of Awareness each year, but also to working with Indigenous communities in the area and local organizations to increase awareness and support their health and wellbeing.

The 5K will be held at Riverside Park on May 5. Registration will begin at 11 a.m., and there is a $5 registration fee. The program will begin at 11:30 a.m.

The event will also include resources, statistical information and a call to action to bring awareness to the issue.

More information can be found on the Ho-Chunk Nations Facebook page or by contacting Henry Greengrass at henry.greengrass@ho-chunk.com.

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George Harrison's childhood home is being transformed into an Airbnb rental and a house museum.

The Beatles star's former family home in Liverpool was recently acquired at auction by Ken Lambert and he's now turning the property into a destination for fans of the band.

Ken, 48 - who is in the business of commercial construction - told the New York Post newspaper: "Once I realized I was the winner, it was pretty shocking.

"I really started to think about what I was going to do with the property. Im not a wealthy individual. Its not like I go around buying up properties. Im a Beatles fan, yes, but I am a big George Harrison fan specifically."

Ken bought the property for 171,000 ($250,000) and is only the third person to have owned the home since the Harrison family.

The property owner ultimately decided to transform the landmark into an Airbnb and a house museum for weekly tours.

Ken took the decision after observing the success of house museums dedicated to John Lennon and Sir Paul McCartney.

He explained: "I think it was a shame that Georges house had no relevance to millions of Beatles fans, but theyre waiting in line to walk into John Lennons house.

"George is my favorite Beatle. I want to respect his legacy."

Ken walked through the property after he managed to buy it at auction, and he can still vividly remember the "surreal" experience.

He shared: "It was pretty insane when I was able to walk through the house. I was there by myself. I kind of walked through it after I owned it.

"It was a very surreal experience, it was a remarkable feeling."

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Shanghai boosts supply of necessities amid COVID-19 resurgence

Xinhua) 07:50, April 15, 2022

* Shanghai's 25 million residents have been living under closed-off management since late March due to the coronavirus resurgence and the megacity has been working hard to boost the supply of daily necessities.

* Data for Shanghai released on April 14 showed that 2,573 new local COVID-19 cases and 25,146 asymptomatic ones were registered on the previous day, bringing the total number of infections to over 200,000 in the recent resurgence.

* China has urged all possible efforts to ensure the city's smooth transportation of medical and epidemic-prevention supplies, daily necessities, postal and express deliveries, as well as production materials, so as to minimize the impact on economic and social activities.

An employee packs food for an online order at a Burger King store in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

SHANGHAI, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai has been working hard to boost the supply of daily necessities for its population of 25 million, which has been living under closed-off management since late March due to a resurgence of COVID-19.

The stringent requirements of closed-off management have resulted in a supply crunch, which authorities have been seeking to ease in various ways. Among the key moves in recent days has been the re-opening of selected retail businesses providing food and other necessities to the local population.

"I had freshly baked bread for the first time since the closure," said Zhou Ying, who lives in the downtown area.

Zhou's bread was supplied by a bakery called "THE CUE" that re-opened recently, bringing more delicious staple foods to the residents of surrounding communities.

"THE CUE" has sold nearly 1,000 bread items over three days, mostly baguettes, rye sourdough, cranberry toast and croissants -- a favorite with children. Nearby residents place their group orders using smartphones, with a minimum consumption of 300 yuan (about 47 U.S. dollars) and another 50 yuan for delivery. The bakery staff, who live in the store and take COVID-19 tests every day, deliver the bread themselves.

"We are also members of the community, and any infection would bring risks to our customers," said an employee called Ken. "We cherish the opportunity to return to work," he said.

Employees prepare food for online orders at a food store in east China's Shanghai, April 10, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Jianli)

Such efforts are being made in different districts across the city, based on instructions from the municipal government. At the district level, local governments have been contacting enterprises to encourage them to facilitate the flow of supplies.

In Pujiang Town under Minhang District, the local government contacted relevant enterprises in response to reports that infants were at risk of running out of food. Upon receiving the demand, a local dairy company prepared and transported milk powder to the community just before dawn. The community workers were already waiting to deliver it door to door.

The task with which authorities are faced is a big one. The COVID-19 epidemic situation in many parts of China has fluctuated since March, and the epidemic prevention situation in Shanghai is very serious.

Data for Shanghai released on April 14 showed that 2,573 new local COVID-19 cases and 25,146 asymptomatic ones were registered on the previous day, bringing the total number of infections to over 200,000 in the recent resurgence.

Despite the fierce situation, the re-opening of the city's supermarkets and stores in lower-risk areas is progressing steadily in line with certain epidemic prevention and control requirements.

Staff members of the online grocery platform Meituan Maicai sort and pack ordered groceries in east China's Shanghai, April 12, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

Inside a supermarket in Shanyang Town under Jinshan District that re-opened on Wednesday, all the staff were wearing protective gear as they went about their work. Products were in sufficient supply, and customers were seen wearing masks and queuing up to weigh or pay, maintaining a social distance of one meter.

Shen Chao, the acting manager, said the operation is well organized.

"We open at 9:00 a.m. and close at 5:00 p.m., or according to customer and government requirements. All areas of the market are disinfected thoroughly every day. Customers are required to provide their health code and nucleic acid test report, and to register their ID card," said Shen.

As of Thursday, the Lianhua supermarket chain has re-opened 721 stores, including those in risk areas that only offer online delivery. French retailer Carrefour also said it has doubled the number of online shops in operation compared with the previous week, and expects to re-open 80 percent of its stores in the city by the weekend.

Aerial photo shows volunteers sorting vegetables to be transported to Shanghai in an agricultural products distribution center in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning Province, April 11, 2022. (Xinhua)

More broadly, China has taken various steps to facilitate logistics and ensure the supply of necessities amid COVID-19 flare-ups. The government has urged all possible efforts to ensure the smooth transportation of medical and epidemic-prevention supplies, daily necessities, postal and express deliveries, as well as production materials, so as to minimize the impact on economic and social activities.

As of April 11, 11 provinces and regions have been mobilized to send a total of 18,000 tonnes of vegetables and other daily necessities to Shanghai, and donated more than 5,400 tonnes of bread and other food, said Li Danghui, an official with the Ministry of Commerce.

The ministry has also guided relevant departments of Shanghai to build transit stations for daily necessities and facilitate zero-contact distribution. Such stations can help prevent infections being passed on by truck drivers and unsterilized packaging.

Three such contactless stations have been built so far, and another one is under construction. Over 4,000 tonnes of goods have been transported into Shanghai via those stations as of Thursday.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Friday, April 15, 2022

The Iowa Supreme Court concluded that an attorney's misappropriation merited license revocation.

The court did not address other potential violations (including the below findings) in light of its conclusion.

AlphaGen Materials Technology, Inc. is an Iowa corporation. Fischer is a minority owner who has served as a director since its incorporation in 2008 and also serves as its vice president, secretary, and treasurer as well as its attorney. In March of 2012, AlphaGen was sued for breach of contract. Fischer filed an answer for the defendant and remained its counsel of record. In the months that followed, AlphaGen repeatedly failed to comply with discovery requests and court orders. After judgment was entered against the defendant, the plaintiffs pursued debtors examinations, and AlphaGen continued to disobey court orders. A settlement was negotiated, which included Fischer as a named party. When Fischer, AlphaGen, and AlphaGens president failed to honor the settlement, the plaintiffs filed a second lawsuit to enforce the settlement and pierce the corporate veil. Fischer was named as a defendant in the second lawsuit.

The pattern continued with more violations of discovery obligations and court orders. The court found the defendants, including Fischer, willfully and in bad faith violated court orders and imposed sanctions that ultimately included a default judgment. Fischer blamed an unresponsive client but offered no valid excuse for his personal failure to comply with document requests for records within his control.

In the entrusted funds matter

The Osborn matter was not included in the records reviewed by the auditor in 2019. Thus, Fischers client trust account was underfunded by over $16,000. Fischer testified he has no colorable future claim to the $7,500, which includes the $6,198 for the uncashed check to Travelers and the $1,302 he used to cover Jamess attorney fees. Fischer acknowledged: That was [Joshs] money, because [Travelers] didnt cash the check. I have no colorable claim, but I did not intentionally convert that to my own use. Fisher admitted to taking over $6,000 out from [his] trust account that rightfully belonged to Josh Osborn.

The court found

Fischer argues he lacked the requisite intent to misappropriate the $7,500 from Josh. We are not persuaded. Fischer has not provided a justification for taking the $7,500. Instead, he admits he did not have the authorization to use the $7,500 for anything besides payment toward the agreed settlement. Fischer is a seasoned attorney who should have at least looked into the status of the $6,198 check when Travelers moved for enforcement of the full $15,000 judgment. Also, he should not have taken the $1,302 from Josh towards his brothers fees because he was mad and without approval from his client.Fischers arguments that his actions were unintentional and just due to poor record-keeping do not square with the facts. Fischer did not inform his clients of Travelers motion to enforce the judgment, the hearing, and the judgment against them for over three years. Fischer did not and has not reimbursed Josh for the

$1,302 used to cover Jamess attorney fees. Thus, we conclude Fischer misappropriated $7,500 of settlement funds he received from Josh Osborn.

As night follows day

We conclude the Board has demonstrated by a convincing preponderance of the evidence that Fischers misappropriation was an intentional act of theft, not a technical violation, and revocation is the appropriate sanction.

(Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2022/04/the-iowa-supreme-court-concluded-that-an-attorneys-misappropriation-merited-license-revocation-alphagen-materials-technology.html
Friday, April 15, 2022

The Nevada Supreme Court affirmed a defense verdict in a case brought against David Copperfield, the MGM Grand Hotel and others

This is an appeal from a judgment on a defense verdict in a personal injury case. Appellants complain that the district court's evidentiary and instructional errors prejudiced their case, requiring reversal and remand for a new trial. Chief among the errors claimed is the district court's decision to admit six surveillance videos of appellant Gavin Cox walking easily and without assistance outside of court. The videos contradicted Cox's in-court presentation, where he used his attorney's or the marshal's arm to walk to and from the witness stand and testified that he uses assistance to walk even when not in court.

The videos qualified as impeachment-by-contradiction evidence, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting them. The other claimed errorsthat the district court did not adequately admonish defense counsel for improper statements during closing argument; that it misapprehended the record when it allowed the jury to consider comparative negligence; that it should have granted a new trial because the jury could not have followed the court's instructions and still returned the verdict it did; and that it should have told the jury why it canceled a jury viewalso fall short. Most involve matters entrusted to the district court's sound discretion; some, the Coxes invited or failed to preserve; and none supports that the district court abused its discretion in denying a new trial. We therefore affirm.

Beware the magic

Cox attended respondent David Copperfield's magic show at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. Cox volunteered, and Copperfield chose Cox, as one of 13 audience participants in the show's "Lucky #13 illusion.

As part of the show

The participants proceed along a stretch of the MGM's exterior, then reenter and reappear at the back of the showroom, as if by magic.

Cox fell during the outdoor portion of the runaround. The parties dispute where Cox fell and why.

At trial "videos [that] show Cox walking his dog on a leash, with his wife, and with his family on the way to trial, all unassisted" were admitted

Closing arguments focused on the conflicts in the evidenceincluding between Cox's trial and deposition testimonyas to the circumstances of his fall. Respondents urged the jury to consider the difference between the way Cox walked in court and in the videos in assessing Cox's credibility. MGM's counsel, Jerry Popovich, went further and argued that Cox has "been manipulating this jury from day one with every move he made. You shouldn't believe a word that comes out of his mouth . . . . He just wants a payoff." After the lunch recess, the Coxes objected to Popovich's comments but added "we're not asking for a mistrial. Were asking for an admonition." The district judge sustained the objection and, when the jury returned from lunch, admonished them to disregard Popovich's remarks.

The appeal followed a defense verdict in Cox v. Copperfield et al. (Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2022/04/the-nevada-supreme-court-this-is-an-appeal-from-a-judgment-on-a-defense-verdict-in-a-personal-injury-case-appellants-compla.html
Experts on China believe it is studying Russias war in Ukraine to improve its own battle plans and policies connected to Taiwan. It has long claimed the island as Chinese land that is partly self-ruled.

Russia makes similar claims about parts of Ukraine and gave such reason for invading the independent country February 24.

Russia has faced much stronger resistance in Ukraine than expected. International economic sanctions have weakened Russias effort and foreign military aid has strengthened Ukraines defense.

Some experts think China is looking at ways to take full control of Taiwan quickly. They think the military will attack the islands communications centers and major political institutions.

An attack by sea is more complex, suggests Chen Yi-fan. He is an assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University in Taiwan. He says China would require more preparation and weaponry, such as artillery and missiles attacking from the sea.

Most importantly, Chen said, China needs to command the moral high ground through cognitive warfare and media discourse, he said.

Talks between China and Taiwan ended in failure in 2016 after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen took office. Her political party opposes unification with China. Chinese air force planes fly through Taiwans air defense identification zone almost every day.

China has never ruled out using force to unite the two sides.

Alexander Huang is chairman of a military strategy research center in Taipei. He said China would look for a battle centered on disabling military systems and the ousting of Taiwanese leadership.

Like the rest of the world, China is witnessing the worlds reaction to Russias invasion and war in Ukraine. Chinese officials are likely rethinking their predictions on how the world might treat China if it attacked Taiwan, says Tong Zhao. He is with the Tsinghua Center for Global Policy in Beijing.

China is very surprised by the Wests reaction to the war, Zhao says. I think this shows that even  Russian experts ... didn't know there was going to be such strong international support to Ukraine. I think Chinese experts are starting to reevaluate these strategies and policies.

China depends more on foreign countries for economic strength than Russia does. China exported almost 15 percent of the worlds total manufactured goods from 1978 to 2020, U.N. estimates show.

Officials in Beijing are probably seeking a nonmilitary solution to the dispute, Alexander Huang said. Taiwan and China have disagreed since 2016 on how to treat each other - as separate countries, parts of China or something else.

The Ukraine war has signaled to China that disaster could result from a failed military solution.

That, Huang said, might lead Beijing to think more about other measures.

Im Caty Weaver.

Ralph Jennings reported on this story for VOA News. Jonathan Evans adapted this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver edited it.

Words in This Story

___________________________________________________________________

cognitive  adj. of, relating to, or being conscious intellectual activity, such as thinking, reasoning, remembering, imagining, or learning words)

discourse  n. conversation; a long talk or essay about a subject

reevaluate  v. to evaluate something or someone again, especially with regard to changes or new information

strategy  n. a carefully developed plan or method for achieving a goal or the skill in developing and undertaking such a plan or method
The Ukrainian port of Mariupol continues to resist Russias military attacks, more than six weeks after Russian forces invaded the country.

The normally busy eastern city on the Sea of Azov is home to 450,000 Ukrainians. Most have fled to escape Russias offensive. Mariupols Mayor Vadym Boychenko said that an estimated 120,000 Ukrainians remain.

Ukraines strong resistance has interfered with Russias war plans. It slowed Russian efforts to seize the Donbas region, the center of Ukraines industrial activity.

Mariupol has been a major interest of Russia since the start of its invasion on February 24. Capturing the city would permit Russia to establish a land path to Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Russia annexed the area in 2014.

Weeks of fierce attacks and resistance

A huge steel production center and other factories were heavily damaged by Russian attacks that flattened much of Mariupol. Thousands have been killed in bombings that also destroyed homes, hospitals and other public buildings.

The dead include about 300 people who had been sheltered at the Mariupol Drama Theater. Russia bombed the building, even though its roof had the Russian word for CHILDREN painted in huge white letters.

Boychenko told The Associated Press that at least 21,000 people were killed in Mariupol. He said bodies are all over the streets. He accused Russia of burning many more bodies to hide evidence.

Boychenko said that several Ukrainian groups are still fighting the Russians in Mariupol. They include the 36th Marine Brigade, the Azov Regiment, some Interior Ministry troops and border guards.

The Azov Regiment is an experienced volunteer force that is widely considered one of the countrys strongest. It is defending the Azovstal steel factory property, an area of almost 11 square kilometers.

The 36th Marine Brigade was holding defensive positions at two other factories but used all its supplies and ammunition. The Ukrainian fighters tried to break through Russias lines.

Boychenko said that some of the soldiers joined the Azov force and some were captured by the Russians. He did not provide more details.

Concern about possible chemical attacks

The Russian military said Thursday that a total of 1,160 Ukrainian troops surrendered this week. The report could not be independently confirmed.

Fear is growing in Mariupol that Russia might use chemical weapons to crush resistance at the Azovstal plant and other areas of the city.

Eduard Basurin is a Russia-allied separatist official in eastern Ukraine. He appeared to call for that Monday. On Russian state television, he said Russian-backed forces should block all the exits out of the factory and "use chemical troops to smoke them out of there.

He later said that no chemical weapons were used.

The Azov Regiment reported Monday that a drone had dropped a poisonous substance on its positions, but did not cause any serious injuries. A Ukrainian defense official said the attack possibly involved the chemical phosphorus.

Ukrainian officials have said that the Russian military has blocked humanitarian aid from reaching Mariupol, leaving the city without food, water and power. The Russian troops have also turned back buses sent to transport civilians to safety. About 150,000 have been able to flee the city in their own vehicles.

Boychenko said that at least 33,500, and, possibly, up to 50,000 Mariupol residents have been taken to filtration camps in the separatist-controlled east. He said Russia then sends the captured to distant, poor areas of Russia.

Mayor says Russia is spreading propaganda in the city

Mariupol has seen communications cut since the start of the attack. Russia has launched its own radio broadcasts in the city, spreading propaganda, Boychenko said.

The broadcasts are, in his words, telling people that Kyiv and other cities have been captured and they have been abandoned.

The fighting in Mariupol has forced the Russian military to keep a lot of troops in the city. That is delaying the start of its planned new offensive in eastern Ukraine.

As long as the street fighting is going on, Russia can't remove troops from Mariupol and deploy them to other areas, including Donbas, Oleh Zhdanov, an independent military expert, told the AP.

He said, Mariupol remains a major symbol of the Ukrainian resistance."

I'm Ashley Thompson.

Caty Weaver adapted this story for VOA Learning English from a report by The Associated Press.

_________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

region n. a part of a country, of the world, that is different or separate from other parts in some way

annex v. to add (an area or region) to a country, state; to take control of (a territory or place)

drone n. a kind of small aircraft that flies without a pilot

filtration n. the process of removing something unwanted from a liquid, such as water, or gas using a device called a filter

abandoned adj. left without needed protection or care; given up

symbol n. something that expresses or represents a particular idea or quality

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Ukrainian officials say their forces struck Russias flagship in the Black Sea with missiles, causing it to sink Thursday.

Russia said the ship was damaged but did not sink.

The Moskva is named for the Russian capital, Moscow.

If the ship did sink, it would be a major victory for Ukraine and a big loss for Russia.

Russia said a fire on the warship forced all crew members to leave but it was being taken back to a port. A spokesperson did not say the cause.

The ship carries 16 long-distance missiles. If it is not able to be used, it will reduce Russias firepower in the Black Sea while it is repaired.

Satellite images could not independently show if the ship was still afloat because of cloudy weather.

The news of the attack came at the same time Eastern European leaders gave statements of support for Ukraine. The country has been under attack by Russia since February 24.

Lithuanias president Gitanas Nauseda said the fight for Europes future is happening here.

U.S. President Joe Biden recently approved $800 million in new military aid for Ukraine, saying: We cannot rest now.

The news of the damaged ship took attention from the fighting going on in the southern city of Mariupol. Russian defense officials said over 1,000 Ukrainian soldiers recently surrendered there.

But Vadym Denysenko, an interior ministry official, said that was not correct and his soldiers were still fighting.

The area of Mariupol is critical for Russia because it would connect Russian troops in the Crimean Peninsula with allied Russian fighters in the Donbas area in eastern Ukraine.

If the Moskva is damaged or sunk, it might hold back those efforts.

Ukrainian military advisers said the removal of the ship had colossal significance because it carries 16 long-range missiles.

Russia said a fire on the ship caused an explosion.

American national security adviser Jake Sullivan said he could not confirm Ukraines claims of damaging the ship. But he said it is a big blow to Russia, because it shows either a successful Ukrainian attack or a mistake made by Russian crew members that caused a fire.

Neither is a particularly good outcome for them, he said.

The Associated Press said it could not independently confirm the incident.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reports by The Associated Press.
LEXINGTON  Construction projects at Morton, Sandoz and Bryan Elementary will be going to bid soon and will run concurrently when approved.

The Lexington school boards building and grounds committee met on April 8 to review the construction plans, Superintendent John Hakonson told the full board during their regular meeting on Monday, April 11.

The request for bids will be published around two weeks from the meeting date with a deadline of June 1.

Superintendent John Hakonson noted at a past meeting, the Lexington Public Schools Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) III grant was approved by the Nebraska Department of Education. The district then proceeded with their spending plan that was approved by the board in September.

The districts ESSER III funds have to be spent by September 2024.

Hakonson said at Morton they plan to add four new classrooms to bring classes in that are currently held in modular buildings.

At Sandoz, they plan to expand special education offerings by adding three rooms, including a launderette and kitchen, to help teach students life skills. Hakonson said students kindergarten through fifth grade could qualify for this, depending on their specific circumstances.

At Bryan, Hakonson said the addition will include three regular sized classrooms, to include art, counseling and a flex room. The goal was to have these subjects taught in their own specific rooms.

The board approved out of state travel requests from the boys and girls wrestling team.

The girls team will be traveling to Cedar Falls, Iowa in July, while the boys team will be going to Colorado wrestling camps in June.

There were also several curriculum items to be considered for purchase.

The first was 6-8 grade language arts materials from Amplify in the amount of $64,591.20. Hakonson said the quote includes initial professional development, print materials and a six-year license for all digital elements.

The language arts teachers reviewed several different options and picked Amplify as their preferred text. Hakonson said the materials will be paid for with ESSER III funds and that this is a curriculum cycle purchase based on Nebraska Department of Education standard updates.

The board also approved renewing an Acheive3000 subscription in the amount of $19,966.00.

Hakonson noted Achieve3000 is an online course used in Lexington Middle School reading classes for students who do not require a decoding reading intervention.

This subscription renewal is for materials that have been used in the past, Hakonson said, previously the district has purchased multi-year licenses but this time the recommendation was for a single year subscription so the district can be more responsive to changing student enrollment numbers.

Another item on the curriculum replacement cycle was high school biology materials from McGraw Hill in the amount of $22,094.87. Hakonson said this was another ESSER III expenditure and it covered high school biology and anatomy textbooks and digital access for three years.

The last purchase followed suit, an ESSER III expenditure for a curriculum cycle replacement for high school language arts materials from McGraw Hill in the amount of $86,656.50.

The board approved the resignations of Karen Allnutt, LHS science teacher; Abigail Brown, LMS social studies; Carol Carlson, LHS English; Emely Diaz, LHS math; Darren Hanson, LHS information technology; Mary Malcom, LMS special education; Cecilia Nunez, LMS math, Alex Woodside, Instrumental music; Emily Woodside, Bryan music.

Employment contracts were approved for Perla Camargo, Bryan 2nd Grade Spanish teacher; Audrey Feeney, LMS special education; Vicente Flores, LHS Spanish; Keri Housholder, Pershing 4th grade; Maxine Leick, LHS English; Tiffany Loeffelholz, Morton reading; Britany Louseberg, Sandoz special education.

Superintendent Hakonson contract for 2022-2024 was approved with a total package increase of 3.5 percent.

During the comment period, Hakonson congratulated Evan Stewart who won first place at the Nebraska SkillsUSA state competition for Automotive Service Technology this past weekend.

This qualifies Stewart for the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference held in Atlanta, Ga., this June. Teacher Shane Schmidt will accompany him.

The unveiling of the advanced art student mural led by Craig Pursley was scheduled on Thursday, April 14 at LHS.

Hakonson noted contract renewal agreements for certified staff are due by April 15, the district continues to work toward filling teacher vacancies for the next school year.

On that note, Hakonson offered congratulations and well wishes to Carol Carlson who is retiring, he said she leaves big shoes to fill and will be missed. A reception for retiring employees is tentatively scheduled for May 19 from 4-6 p.m. at the LMS cafeteria.
The technology has the potential to change the genes that cause certain diseases, which is why a Madison-area company has unveiled a post-doctoral research program to study it further.

Gene editing  despite mixed public opinion  is showing promise in curing diseases such as sickle cell anemia, said Thomas Machleidt, director of research for Fitchburg biotech giant Promegas advanced technologies group. Sickle cell anemia is a genetic defect that alters the shape of red blood cells in humans  normally round and flexible to carry oxygen to all parts of the body, the cells are instead deformed, he explained.

And so Promega, in partnership with multinational pharmaceutical and fellow biotech business AstraZeneca, has in the past few weeks announced the inaugural program, in which a team of about 4-6 scientists will spend several years researching and developing gene editing tech, he said.

The post-doctoral program comes as the overall medical field seeks to understand how drugs affect people and animals at the cellular level, said Poncho Meisenheimer, Promegas vice president of research and development.

At AstraZeneca we are committed to accelerating innovation in targeted genome editing, said Steve Rees, vice president of discovery biology at AstraZeneca in a statement. As part of our mentoring role in this exciting post-doctoral research program, we will welcome researchers to our labs who combine natural curiosity with technical ability to generate fresh ideas and challenge the way things are traditionally done.

It also comes as Promega within the last few years completed construction on its latest research and development facility, the Kornberg Center.

The scientists will spend the first two years of their tenure in Gothenburg, Sweden  at AstraZenecas research and development facility with a genome engineering team. Then theyll be housed for six months inside the Kornberg Center, which offers various amenities meant to encourage collaboration and creative thinking among employees, Machleidt said.

The Center, completed in 2021, is three stories and about 283,000 square feet. The design is reminiscent of a four-leaf clover, with laboratory wings at each of the leaves.

The labs include dedicated cell culture facilities, integrated instrument rooms and open space for meetings, among other things.

The science

The researchers will develop tech that enables the precise insertion of DNA sequences into a genome, which will enhance Promegas ability to look inside living cells.

Their potential methods for doing so were published last month in an article for peer-reviewed and open access scientific journal Nature Communications.

At the most basic level, Meisenheimer said, one of the scientists could program a cell to give off light using chemical reactions already found in organisms like the firefly. The light could help track the activity of a molecule used in drug therapies, he said.

For the post-doctoral program, Promega is supplying the bioluminescent reporter technology to make that possible, while AstraZeneca provides the gene editing capabilities. And the scientists not only get valuable experience, but also international exposure.

Going up the chain of complexity, you can start altering animal models to build disease models that are predictive for humans, Meisenheimer said.

Mixed reception

Americans have mixed feelings about gene editing, particularly to reduce a babys risk of conditions like sickle cell anemia and others, according to a 2016 survey by the Pew Research Center.

About two-thirds of adults (68%) said the prospect of gene editing made them very or somewhat worried, while roughly half (49%) said they are very or somewhat enthusiastic about the science.

Almost half (48%) of survey respondents said they would want to use gene editing for their infant. Religious beliefs affected whether someone would not use the tech  64% of people with a high religious commitment were against gene editing.

The public is also split over whether gene editing could be considered meddling with nature, according to survey results.

But Machleidt said there isnt an interest in building humanity 2.0, calling that pure science fiction.

Digest

A Madison startup that provides online internships for college students, Internship on Demand

, has raised about $60,000, the company said in a statement last week. Internship on Demand will use the money that it collected from friends and family to hire more marketing and business development employees, as well as testing software thats launching in June.

Madison design firm

has expanded into the Minneapolis area. The company said in a statement this will be the firms fifth location in its 40-year history, with four spaces across the Midwest.

has within the last couple of weeks officially hit the $5 billion in assets mark, following five years of accelerated growth and an expanding footprint in the Milwaukee area, the company said in a statement. The credit union serves nearly 31,500 members in Wisconsin.

The deadline to enter the statewide Wisconsin YES! business plan contest, produced by the Wisconsin Technology Council, has been extended to 5 p.m. Tuesday. Middle and high school students across the state with entrepreneurial ideas are encouraged to

.

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I get lots of questions  on my radio show, on TV and through my newspaper columns about COVID. Here are my thoughts on several recent ones.

Worried about COVID when you return to work? Getting vaccinated with your booster, thats the most important thing.

Forget those temperature checks. Most people with COVID are asymptomatic. They dont always have a temperature, which is a symptom of most infections.

Asking people to stay home if theyre sick and having them test at home are two worthy safeguards. And, of course, wearing a mask if youre concerned.

Now, what about deep cleaning? Its not worth the time. Simple cleaning of your desk, your workspace, does matter, but studies now show that most COVID is not spread on surfaces.

Want to make your workspace better when it comes to COVID safety? The answer is better air quality.

Most COVID transmission occurs indoors through aerosols  airborne virus-carrying particles that spread out when an infected person laughs, speaks, sings, yells or just breathes. These aerosols can linger in the air, even traveling across a room.

More fresh air. Better ventilation. Staying away from people who are sneezing and coughing. These precautions work.

And what about elevators? If you can avoid going into an elevator full of people, then do so. But many of us dont have that opportunity. Thats where an N95 or KF94 mask comes in handy. Put it on when youre in tight quarters.

How about international air travel? Many people worry about it. The COVID-19 rules for travelers are changing, in my mind, for the better.

Countries such as Ireland, Iceland and Norway have eliminated all rules for testing and vaccination. England and France have eliminated pre-departure testing for fully vaccinated people entering the country. Many countries have simplified entry requirements for fully vaccinated travelers.

That doesnt mean you shouldnt take precautions. Make sure you get fully vaccinated, including a booster. And if youre in a high-risk country  check the CDC website for that  wear a mask when youre indoors.

As for the airplane, follow the rules. But even if a mask is not required, I would still mask up when getting in line and when on the airplane. I would have no problem taking it off if the people right next to me were fully vaccinated.

But if you ask a stranger that information, you better be ready for a robust answer.

In restaurants and bars, many states, like Wisconsin, and many counties, like Dane and Milwaukee, have stopped requiring vaccinations to enter.

What should you do? Its an individual choice. Is there a risk? Certainly, there is always a risk. A crowded bar is riskier than a restaurant with well-placed tables.

So if you go out on a Saturday night, use your noggin. Decide how comfortable you are, and with what risk, and then make your choice.

I, for one, am tired of takeout food. A nice meal in a disposable container just doesnt feel the same to me, even though it might be made exactly the same.

And then, part of the joy of going out to a restaurant is not doing the dishes. Its about having someone wait on you, someone to take your order and someone do the dishes. Thats the joy.

Thats also why in this time of COVID, and the great resignation to all it means, I tip better than I ever did and am calm when it takes a bit of time for the waitstaff to do their thing.

Finally, what kind of mask should you wear? Those ubiquitous cloth masks that everyone with sewing skills made are not good unless you pair them with a surgical mask underneath. Now thats a fashion statement if I ever saw one.

KN95s and N95s are good if they fit snugly over your nose, mouth and chin. If a mask doesnt fit snugly, it doesnt work. Unfortunately, the snugger it fits, the more uncomfortable it is.

So heres what the CDC director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, recommends: People should wear the mask that has the best fit protection and filtration for them, and that they will wear consistently.

This is what I do. I cant stand an N95 in the airport or on an airplane, so I wear a surgical mask. It may not be optimal, but its what works for me. Stay well.

This column provides general health information. Always consult your personal health care provider about concerns. No ongoing relationship of any sort is implied or offered by Dr. Paster to people submitting questions. Any opinions expressed by Dr. Paster in his columns are personal and are not meant to represent or reflect the views of SSM Health.
Three men, two alleged to be from one gang and another from a rival gang, were charged Friday for their alleged roles in gunshots that were fired in November outside a town of Bristol strip club.

A criminal complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court charged JonPaul P. Dotson, 33, of Madison; Kevin B. Moore Jr., 39, of Sun Prairie; and Christopher E. Tibbs, 32, of Madison, with possession of a firearm by a felon. Dotson and Tibbs were also charged with first-degree reckless endangerment. Moore also faces two counts of felony bail jumping.

The charges all relate to a shooting that police said happened early on Nov. 14 outside Club Bristol at Highways N and V in North Bristol, about five miles north of Sun Prairie, that damaged vehicles and left behind at least a dozen bullet casings. The shooting, the complaint states, appeared to be between rival factions of the Black Disciples gang and prompted a short-term shutdown of the club.

Tibbs appeared Friday in court, where he was ordered jailed on $35,000 bail in the shooting case and $5,000 for an unrelated drug distribution case filed earlier this month.

Arrest warrants were issued for Dotson and Moore.

The 18-page complaint states that one group of members of the Block Boyz faction, which included Dotson and Tibbs, arrived at Club Bristol just before and slightly after midnight on Nov. 13 and 14. The rival group, which included Moore, arrived 10 to 15 minutes later, according to ID scans required to enter the club.

The complaint states that security video and witness accounts indicate Dotsons group appeared to see the group Moore was with as it entered. Tibbs and Dotson are seen on the video leaving the club then re-entering through an unsecured door, away from a weapons screening and ID scan station. Dotson is seen on the video holding a gun near his right jacket pocket when he comes back inside, the complaint states.

The group Moore was with then left through the front door and approached a Jeep Cherokee that part of the group had arrived in. They were fired upon, the complaint states, and left the scene on foot. A gun with blood on it was found in the Jeep afterward. Blood on the trigger is Moores according to DNA analysis.

The complaint does not state whether Moore had sought medical attention. At the time of the incident, the Dane County Sheriffs Office said someone possibly had been injured during the incident. The complaint states blood was also found on a trailer, a vehicle, a building and the ground across the street from Club Bristol.

Video appears to show Tibbs firing toward the Jeep, but the spread of casings left behind appears to indicate that both Tibbs and Dotson were firing guns, the complaint alleges.

Bullets struck a car that contained three women who were trying to leave. They told police they had to duck down inside the car to avoid being struck by gunfire, which shattered the cars back window.

The shooting was the fourth of 2021 outside Club Bristol. In April 2021, the club and the town of Bristol had reached an agreement that the club would relocate and would increase security in the meantime.

In January, a Mississippi man who drunkenly fired gunshots at the club after he was thrown out in March 2021 pleaded guilty to a felony and a misdemeanor. A sentencing date for Zachary M. Leonard, 30, has not been set.

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The Wisconsin claims board on Thursday asked the Legislature to award nearly $1 million to a Milwaukee man who spent 24 years in prison for crimes he did not commit.

The claims board, in its unanimous decision Thursday, awarded Daryl Dwayne Holloway $25,000, which is the most allowed by law, plus just over $100,000 in attorneys' fees. Also, because the maximum payment allowed "is not adequate in this case," the board asked the Legislature to approve an additional payment of $975,000.

To get that money, the Legislature would have to pass a bill approving the award.

The claims board justified requesting the nearly $1 million award, noting that Holloway was imprisoned during the most productive earning years of his life, suffered "significant and measurable economic damages," lost multiple relationships and has ongoing psychological and emotional trauma. He was 48 when he was released.

Holloway was convicted in two 1993 home invasion sexual assault cases and sentenced to 120 years in prison.

According to the claims board summary of his case, Holloway was convicted even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the assaults and no DNA testing was conducted at either crime scene. Furthermore, phone records and credible alibi witness testimony established that he was elsewhere when the assaults happened.

DNA testing related to the first assault conducted after the Wisconsin Innocence Project worked on the case found that he couldn't have committed the crime, leading to his exoneration and release from prison in 2016.

The claims board said that although the victim in the second case remains adamant that Holloway was her assailant, the evidence shows that her identification of him was mistaken. It was based on a police lineup and voice identification, which the claims board said has been shown to be unreliable.

The Milwaukee County attorney's office in 2016 dropped charges related to the second assault after determining it could not meet the burden of proof.
Madison businessman Eric Hovde will not be joining the GOP race for governor this fall, but instead is considering a run for U.S. Senate in 2024 for the seat currently held by Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

Hovde, who lost in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2012, had previously said he was considering a gubernatorial run this year, but said he decided now was not the best time to launch a statewide campaign, due in part to recent health issues with his father-in-law.

Family is the first thing in my life, Hovde said Friday. It was a tough decision.

Hovde added his primary interest in federal issues like spending and the economy may be better suited for the U.S. Senate seat, which Baldwin, D-Madison, has held since 2013.

Im taking a very serious, hard look at the Senate race, he said.

Republicans running in the Aug. 9 primary for governor already include former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Marine Corps veteran Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun, R-Campbellsport.

Im going to definitely be supporting whoever is victorious, Hovde said of the GOP primary.

The winner of the GOP primary will face Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is seeking a second term this fall. The general election is Nov. 8.

Other potential additions to the GOP field include former Gov. Tommy Thompson and Tim Michels, who co-owns Michels Corp. construction company.

Thompson has said hell make a decision about whether to join the gubernatorial race by the end of April.

Michels said in a text Friday he had nothing new to report on whether hell run.

Business owner Robert Meyer, who unsuccessfully challenged former Gov. Scott Walker in the 2018 GOP primary, wrote in a guest column in the Sun Prairie Star earlier this month that he is also running for governor this year as a moderate Republican.

I look forward to seeing who ends up getting into the race, Hovde said.

A February Marquette Law School Poll found among likely GOP primary voters 30% support Kleefisch, 8% support Nicholson, 5% support Ramthun, and 54% have no preference.

Half of respondents said they havent heard of or have no opinion of Kleefisch, compared with 80% for Nicholson and 86% for Ramthun.

Candidates can begin circulating nomination papers Friday to get on the primary ballot. The deadline for gubernatorial candidates to secure 2,000 signatures is June 1.

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Gov. Tony Evers vetoed 28 bills on Friday, including GOP-authored legislation that Republicans say is geared toward addressing Wisconsins ongoing workforce shortage by restricting access to state unemployment benefits and forcing more people back into the labor pool.

The Democratic governor also vetoed GOP bills aimed at breaking up Milwaukees school district, which is the states largest, into up to eight smaller districts, and creating a Parental Bill of Rights, allowing parents to sue school officials for not using parents requested pronouns and gender identities for their children. Evers, a former educator and state superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, also vetoed a bill aimed at expanding private school vouchers in the state.

Many of Fridays vetoes were expected, but Republicans advanced the measures through the Legislature regardless. Many of the measures are expected to be major campaign talking points leading up to the Nov. 8 election, where Evers is seeking a second term.

Evers, who has pushed for increased spending on training and recruitment, as well as efforts to reduce employment barriers some individuals face to address workforce challenges in the state, was expected to veto the Republican unemployment bills.

Evers latest round of vetoes brings his record total to 126 since taking office. Republicans lack the votes needed in the Senate and Assembly for an override.

Workforce issues

Among bills vetoed, AB 937, would have tied the number of weekly unemployment benefits an individual could receive to the states overall unemployment rate. Currently, an individual can receive up to $370 in weekly state unemployment benefits for 26 weeks. Under the bill, the maximum number of weeks a claimant could receive benefits would be based on the states unemployment rate.

Claimants would have received 26 weeks of benefits if the state unemployment rate was greater than 9%, while the number of weekly benefits would be reduced to as few as 14 weeks if the rate was at 3.5% or lower.

I am vetoing this bill in its entirety because I object to adding more barriers for individuals applying for and receiving economic assistance through programs largely designed to provide support when individuals and families are experiencing economic hardship, Evers wrote in a veto message for the bill.

Other workforce bills vetoed by Evers include:

, which would require the state Department of Health Services to determine a persons Medicaid eligibility every six months.

, which would require DHS to enforce a federal work requirement, including drug screenings, for able-bodied adults without dependents in order to take part in the states FoodShare program, which helps people with limited money buy food.

, which would remove an individuals Medicaid eligibility if they knowingly fail to accept an offer for legal, paid employment or an increase in paid hours.

, which would require DWD to consider reports of an individual declining a job offer or failing to attend a scheduled interview when determining a claimants eligibility for benefits.

The state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday that Wisconsins unemployment rate for March dropped to 2.8%, according to preliminary estimates.

In the schools

Evers also struck down AB 963, which had been dubbed by Republicans as a Parental Bill of Rights, which Evers described as another in a string of legislation aimed not at supporting our parents, our kids, and our schools, and fostering those relationships that improve student outcomes, but at dividing our schools.

The proposal would have allowed a parent or guardian to sue a school district or school official if they dont allow parents to: determine the names and pronouns used for the child while at school; review instructional materials and outlines used by the childs school; access any education-related information regarding the child; receive advance notice of any polls or surveys conducted in the childs classroom; request notice of when certain subjects will be taught or discussed; and opt out of a class or instructional materials for reasons based on either religious or personal conviction.

While its not surprising that Evers vetoed a bill he called radical before even seeing the text, its disappointing he would refuse to take the time to listen to parents concerns before nixing the bill, Republican Governors Association spokesperson Maddie Anderson said in a statement.

Evers also vetoed AB 970, a measure that would have vastly expanded private school vouchers by eliminating the income limits in the statewide, Milwaukee County and Racine County private school voucher programs, as well as create a temporary education expense reimbursement program for public school students. A fiscal report estimated the bill could raise property taxes as much as $577 million.

Another bill vetoed by Evers, AB 966, would have split up the Milwaukee Public Schools System by July 1, 2024, and replaced it with smaller districts, a move Republicans have said would increase accountability and lead to better performance in the smaller districts  and bolster low reading and math scores for Milwaukee public school students.

This bill represents yet another attempt by this Legislature to politicize our schools and an unprecedented intrusion on local control in our public school districts, Evers wrote in a veto message.

Chris Reader, executive vice president of the conservative group IRG Action, said Evers vetoes mean the future for children in Wisconsin is less bright today.

Instead of standing with kids and families, he stood with the failed status quo and the education establishment, Reader said in a statement. Now Wisconsin families will not have additional options on where their children go to school, students will not have access to new exceptional courses and materials, and the status quo will continue to perpetuate the failing Milwaukee Public School District. Its a sad day for Wisconsin.

Other bills

Evers also vetoed:

, which would have barred anyone from suing a firearm or ammunition manufacturer for damages related to those products design or use. The measure, which was supported by the National Rifle Association of America and Wisconsin Gun Owners Inc. and opposed by groups including the Wisconsin Council of Churches, would still allow lawsuits related to a breach of contract or death/damages caused by a defect in a firearm or ammunition.

, which would have prohibited any instruction at UW campuses and technical colleges that promotes race or sex stereotyping. The bill, aimed at prohibiting instruction about systemic racism, known broadly as critical race theory, and systemic sexism instruction, would have also prohibited training materials covering the same topics for UW System and technical college employees. Democrats have criticized the measure as an attempt by Republicans to insert themselves into higher education curriculum and to limit confronting uncomfortable components of the past.

, which would prohibit state and local governments from discriminating against anyone on the basis of whether or not they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.

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TOWN OF CHRISTIANA  As someone who lives near Cambridge in southeast Dane County, and as an intervenor against the Koshkonong solar project, I take offense when I and my community are called NIMBYs, which stands for not in my backyard.

Thats an oversimplification of an incredibly complex issue. The rural peace we enjoy will be displaced with an ocean of up to 1 million panels, buzzing inverters and dangerous battery storage.

To the degree that merchant and public utilities are allowed to force utility scale solar projects into rural communities across the state, rural neighbors deserve some protection. We have almost none. We are at the mercy of the state Public Service Commission  an agency that appears uninterested in the public interest and seems eager to accommodate the utilities.

In 2009, the Wisconsin Legislature directed the PSC to create rules related to utility scale wind. To date, the PSC still hasnt established siting rules or guidelines for solar plants. This allows merchant utilities, such as Invenergy, to mostly do what they want. Invenergy is building the Koshkonong Solar Energy Center on about 2,400 acres west of Cambridge.

The developer determined how far the solar arrays will be set back from property lines. The developer wont have to protect people from noise, blight and the glare of oceans of panels. The solar plant will displace and disrupt wildlife. And if it shuts down, it will leave enormous amounts of steel and other material below ground. The soil may never return to agriculture use  much less a better state. It wont contribute much to the rural economy or local schools.

Instead of deriding us as NIMBYs, help us and help rural Wisconsin. Our state needs to pause all utility-scale solar projects immediately. During that pause, the state must create fair guidelines to protect communities, and should ensure that companies such as Invenergy can no longer work back-room deals with public utilities and lock out competitors who want to offer alternatives that put together rooftop and parking-lot solar projects on already-developed land.

Environmental impact studies must be required for every project, because as we have learned in the town of Christiana, where I live, miles of topsoil will be graded off and ancient watersheds will be permanently altered.

We know that dozens of other utility scale plants are planned for Wisconsin in the next few years. With the PSC recently approving the Koshkonong plan  despite the very real concerns raised by the community of Cambridge  it signals to every merchant utility that all of Wisconsins land is available for solar development  including wetlands, forests and marshes.

And while my community is being derided as a NIMBY, acres of commercial and industrial rooftops across Madison, Milwaukee and other urban communities  areas already devoted to infrastructure  are free of solar panels. Why should some of the best cropland in Wisconsin be sacrificed when there are alternatives?

Wisconsin needs to pause all applications for solar until clear guidelines are in place and other alternatives are taken into consideration.

Too much is at stake to do anything less.

Vasby lives in the town of Christiana: tjvasby@gmail.com.
Hundreds of students, parents, teachers, and staff came out City Park to enjoy student performances, informational expo, games and food in the sunshine on Wednesday evening.

Engage in Education was planned as a celebration of the students, teachers, staff and parents of Twin Falls School District.
Before his death, Smith was involved in a shooting at Harmon Park on April 6 in Twin Falls, according to a news release from the Twin Falls Police Department.
Idahos government has been plagued in recent years by many office holders who are more interested in creating chaos and division than serving the public. The so-called Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) and its followers have thrived on creating political discord by advancing legislation to address non-existent problems.

The primary example of ginning up non-issues to mislead the public and score political points is critical race theory (CRT). The IFF crowd riled up folks last year with unfounded claims that CRT was being forced upon children in public schools from pre-k through college. In response, the Legislature enacted House Bill 377 to prohibit the teaching of CRT, although they could not seem to define what it was.

Because of the hysteria created by IFF, university budgets were reduced by $2.5 million.

An indoctrination task force convened by two IFF allies was unable to find any credible evidence of CRT in Idaho, simply because it does not exist. Yet, that has not stopped the IFF bunch from continually brandishing it as a weapon against the public school system, which IFF wants to replace with private and online schools.

This is the IFF playbook. It and its legislators have not displayed much interest in addressing real problems confronting the State, like improving roads and bridges, or protecting and preserving Idahos water and agricultural base, or other issues that are critical to our future. They merely set up hot-button non-issues and then furiously bat them down to get folks riled up in hopes of gaining voter support.

IFF and its legislative allies joined in the national furor about election integrity during this legislative session, even though Idaho elections are highly regarded for honesty and efficiency. They advanced any number of bills to suggest that there were election irregularities which required fixing. Some would have eliminated ballot drop boxes, which are a real benefit for rural voters. Others made it harder for Idahoans to register and vote. One IFF-supported bill, House Bill 439, would have prevented independent voters from registering as Republicans after March 11. It passed the House but not the Senate.

Election officials of both political parties from across the State were able to stop most of the unnecessary voter legislation, but IFF and its followers were able to get what they cravedlots of free publicity for their unfounded claims of election irregularities.

IFF often gives the impression of caring more about creating chaos and division as a means of gaining power than actually getting legislation passed. As soon as one issue has been milked for all its worth, they are off to another fake issue, like social justice or transgender youth or whatever else might be the culture war issue of the day. They thrive on the turmoil created by their continual fight against imaginary problems.

The voters can put a stop to this needless, unproductive tumult in Idaho politics. Everyone who can should vote in the Republican primary on May 17. Every one of Idahos more than 300,000 unaffiliated (independent) voters can register as a Republican, either through their County Clerk or the Secretary of States office. They can register in-person at their voting location on election day.

A number of organizations make ratings or endorsements of candidates. IFF has an index that gives top ratings to those who follow its every wish. Take Back Idaho, which Im affiliated with, has candidate endorsements. One can find our endorsements by googling takebackidaho. The two slates provide voters a stark choice between responsibility and dysfunction.

Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served 8 years as Idaho Attorney General (1983-1991) and 12 years as a Justice on the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He is currently a regular contributor to The Hill online news. He blogs at JJCommonTater.

Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho attorney general (1983-1991) and 12 years as justice of the Idaho Supreme Court (2005-2017). He is currently a regular contributor to The Hill online news. He blogs at JJCommonTater.

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Beware of teenagers with cameras  especially if youre smoking a cigarette or have your mouth full of chew.

Communities Helping Improve Local Lives (CHILL) members are participating in Drug-Free MHCs PhotoVoice project. That involves taking pictures around the area to get their perception of the environment and get their thoughts about what they feel about tobacco use and the impacts of it in their community, said Oziomachukwu Chinaka, a graduate student at Virginia Tech and an evaluator on Drug-Free MHCs tobacco project said.

The PhotoVoice project was discussed during Drug-Free MHCs recent regular meeting, held Wednesday over Zoom.

Bonnie Favero, prevention manager at Piedmont Community Services, said that CHILL members, made up of students from Bassett, Martinsville, Magna Vista and Martinsville high schools, will be taking the pictures: They were given the opportunity to throughout the community and take pictures of things that represented tobacco use in the community.

Chinaka will then get together with the CHILL members who participated and do a focus group with them, said Favero. The focus groups purpose will be to find out why they took that picture and what it meant to them.

Chinaka said, a PhotoVoice is just aimed on getting their understanding and their perception of ... tobacco use. So, theyre allowed to take pictures of anything they consider tobacco use  so were going to have discussions about why they picked certain pictures, what the images mean to them and how it relates to how they think about tobacco use.

In other matters:

Favero spoke on the three billboards that Drug-Free MHC has set up around the area giving statistics about tobacco and the usage by American youth. It also has public service announcement commercials about quitting tobacco use running on different TV networks and church bulletin inserts that Drug-Free MHC is hoping to get out soon.

The billboards display Youre targeted in large, bold text. Favero responded that there hasnt been any negative feedback to the wording that she has heard. The phrase is supposed to take the stigma off the smoker and say this is the tobacco industrys problem. Its their fault that this is happening, Favero added.

Favero that Menthol Sunday in May is a national observance day which engages in discussions about tobacco use and addiction.

Drug-Free MHC had six of their prevention specialist go through a 24-hour training on tobacco cessation, said Favero. This is so they can teach in-person, local classes on quitting tobacco.

Kristina Jiles, research assistant professor and public health extension specialist at Virginia Tech, gave an update on a community survey that was distributed at coffee shops and local colleges. She said that the graduate student in charge of the report is almost finished and just needs to complete some formatting. It did get some great feedback in terms of the responses from people in Martinsville, she added.

Holly Moser, a Virginia Tech student from Martinsville, is working on a social media project that focuses on educating area residents. My part of the project has been trying to create a social media plan in terms of creating an online space for individuals just to become more educated on how theyre being targeted, Moser said. She is looking for someone to take over the social media platform part of her project currently.

Regina Clark, prevention administrator and chair for Community Coalitions of Virginia, gave an update on the underage drinking task force.

Since April is Alcohol Awareness Month, Drug-Free MHC has commercials running through Comcast. One is targeted at kids to urge them to make choices their future selves will be grateful for, and the other is directed at parents to suggest they spend time making efforts to educate their children.

Clark also said that the underage drinking task force will be working with CHILL to participate in Project Sticker Shock at the end of June. The Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Authority website describes this project as participants place stickers and window clings that warn about the legal consequences for providing alcohol to underage youth and using a fake ID to purchase alcohol on cases and coolers of alcohol at local retailers.

Clark gave an update on a scavenger hunt being set up to be places around Jack Dalton Park.

Clark also gave an update on the regional opioid task force. They will be putting up billboards that will capture peoples attention. She said that, from their focus group studies, Drug-Free MHC has noticed that many people are not even aware that opioids use and overdosing are an issue.

An Rx Summit will be held May 26 at Patrick & Henry Community Colleges Stuart location.

The opioid task force has given out over 1,100 lock boxes and over 1,700 Deterra bags, said Clark. They also just started tracking their engagement with veterans and are partnering with veteran organizations to make sure to get lock boxes to veterans.

On April 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., there will be a drug take-back event at the Martinsville Fire Department.

Drug-Free MHC is working on completing two community assessments, one on gambling and the other on marijuana, Clark said.

The group is also working on a survey of young adults, ages 18-25. The survey will have incentives and participants will receive a gift card. The survey will need to be distributed in a specific way so as to avoid data skews from internet trolls and spam and bots. They will avoid this by, if they post on social media, using a QR code.

Favero announced ACEs training is on May 2 from 1-4 p.m. and is free and over Zoom. Following that, the next training day will be on June 21, and will be in person at a to-be-determined location.

Favero also announced a summit on May 12-13 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will feature Dr. Bruce Perry, who co-wrote What happened to you? with Oprah Winfrey, as a keynote speaker on the first day and Dr. David Ellis on the second day. There will also be break-out sessions and a panel later in the afternoons.

The next Drug-Free MHC meeting will be on May 18, and the group is looking into if they can safely resume meeting in person in the near future.

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Rescue workers found a person lying by the side of Stultz Road in Henry County and then responded to a two-vehicle collision less than a mile away Wednesday evening.

Shortly after 8 p.m. multiple agencies responded to a report of a womans body that was discovered along the side of the roadway on Stultz Road in Henry County about a mile from the intersection with Virginia Avenue.

Thursday afternoon Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry confirmed to the Bulletin that a person was having a medical emergency.

Although the Virginia State Police did not respond to the incident, troopers were in the area and VSP Sgt. Richard Garletts told the Bulletin that the person was a female who had a seizure and rescue responded and transported her to the hospital.

Crash and medical emergency unrelatedRescue workers returned to Stultz Road near the intersection with Virginia Avenue at 9:40 p.m. Wednesday night after someone reported a two-vehicle collision.

A white cargo van was stopped in the road with heavy damage to the front of the vehicle and a white Ford F-150 with limited damage was stopped behind the van.

One person was transported to the hospital, but the severity of injury was not made clear.

Garletts confirmed that the VSP did respond and investigated the crash, but the trooper on the scene had not filed his report by the Bulletins deadline. He said the crash was unrelated to the medical emergency earlier.

Both vehicles were towed to Kevins Auto and Collision at 2207 Virginia Avenue in Collinsville and shortly after midnight firefighters were called to the business where both vehicles, including several vehicles nearby, were found to be on fire.

The fire was extinguished, but several vehicles were totally destroyed.

No information has been made available as to the possible cause of the fire or the estimated loss.

Homicide investigationAlso on Wednesday deputies with the Henry County Sheriffs Department and officers with the Greensboro Police Department had closed off part of George Taylor Road in Henry County.

Perry told the Bulletin on Thursday that the Greensboro PD was investigating a homicide and that a body had been dumped off of George Taylor Road and his office was assisting Greensboro authorities with the recovery of the body.

It was not made clear where on George Taylor Road police were conducting their search. The road turns into Amostown Road at the state line and ends at the Spencer Penn Centre in Spencer, near U.S. 58.

Perry said he was told the Greensboro PD would be releasing a statement regarding the homicide on Thursday, but they had not done so by deadline and a call and email to their public information officer was not immediately returned.

Bill Wyatt is a reporter for the Martinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at 276-638-8801, Ext. 2360. Follow him @billdwyatt.

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Riyadh Chamber and China Foreign Trade Center also known as Canton Fair, have inked today a cooperation deal to enhance and expand commercial, industrial and investment relations through encouraging cooperation among businesspeople and facilitating the realization of mutual interests, Zawya reports citing the kingdoms press agency SPA.

Vice Chairman of Riyadh Chamber Naif bin Abdullah Al-Rajhi and Deputy Director General of China Foreign Trade Centre and Spokesperson of the Canton Fair Xu Bing signed the agreement on behalf of respective institutions.

Per the agreement both sides will enhance relations and boost commercial and economic cooperation among businesspeople in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and China, including the exchange of information, organizing delegations participating in the fair or other fairs that are organized by the center of its affiliate companies, offering assistance to center delegations that visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Both sides also per the deal, will offer assistance in organizing events and completing procedures related to government, industrial and commercial institutions, and enhancing cooperation between the two sides to conduct surveys and evaluations on the Canton Fair.
Rwanda has signed a multi-million dollar agreement with Britain to host asylum seekers and migrants of various nationalities seeking to enter the United Kingdom, authorities in Kigali said Thursday.

The aim, for London, is to crack down on illegal migration.

Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to welcome asylum seekers and migrants, and provide them with legal avenues of residence in the African nation, Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said in a statement issued during a visit by British Home Secretary Priti Patel.

The announcement comes hours before a speech by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was expected to outline his governments plan to tackle illegal immigration and small boat crossings of the English Channel.

Boris Johnson was elected in part on a promise to reduce illegal immigration, but his term in office has so far been marked by a record number of crossings of the English Channel.

The agreement with Rwanda will be funded by the U.K. to the tune of 120 million pounds ($157 million, or 144 million euros).
Seven policemen were killed and sixteen wounded in a new attack by suspected jihadists on the Petelkole border post between Niger and Burkina Faso, local sources said Wednesday.

The provisional death toll from this attack is seven policemen dead and sixteen wounded, said a municipal official from the region who visited the scene of the attack on Wednesday.

The attack carried out by heavily armed men, who arrived in large numbers, targeted the Petelkole police station on the border with Burkina Faso and at least four policemen were killed and several wounded, confirmed a local politician.

There are dead, wounded and material damage, a security source said, without specifying the number of dead or the circumstances of the assault.

The attackers, probably fighters of the Islamic State (EI) group which is rampant in the region, seized three vehicles and six other vehicles, three of which belonged to individuals, were burned, according to the municipal official.

The Nigerien government has not yet commented on the attack.

Located in the Tera department and Tillaberi region, Petelkole is a border checkpoint located 10 km from the border with Burkina, a neighboring country regularly hit by jihadists.

This post and its surroundings have been the target of several bloody attacks by suspected jihadists.
Didier Budimbu Ntubuanga, Minister of Hydrocarbons, was released on Thursday evening after spending a night in the premises of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) in Kinshasa. Very little information had been released about his hearings, which came after the arrest of Francois Beya, Felix Tshisekedis special adviser on security matters. Didier Budimbu Ntubuanga is the first member of the current government to be arrested and questioned by the powerful ANR.

Everything went quickly. After a meeting with his team on Wednesday around 3 p.m., he went by himself to the office of the ANRs No. 1, Jean-Herve Mbelu Biosha.

Those close to him indicate that it was an invitation for a working session. He had therefore gone there without much concern, they say. Until Thursday at noon, the members of his cabinet had not been able to have access to him, his lawyers no longer have. It was only Thursday evening that his wife was authorized to see him.

Some of his relatives simply explain that this is not a common law offense, but rather a case related to the internal security of the country. This is confirmed by security sources who say that he was questioned about his recent associations.

Questions were asked about his relationship with a person of Israeli nationality who is monitored by the security services. The name of this man was not revealed. And in this case, the private secretary of the minister had also been questioned and interviewed.

Close to the family of Felix Tshisekedi, Minister Didier Bidumbu Ntubuanga heads a political party allied with the presidential party, UDPS.
The M23 rebels have handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross three Congolese soldiers they captured during recent fighting in eastern DRC, the ICRC said Thursday.

In Rutshuru, a territory in North Kivu province bordering Uganda and Rwanda, the ICRC has facilitated the return of three members of the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) captured by the M23 group to the FARDC Command, Rachel Bernhard, the ICRCs head of delegation in the DRC, announced on Twitter.

In situations of armed confrontation, the ICRC offers its services as a neutral intermediary between the actors involved, she said.

The operation went well, in cooperation with the parties concerned, said Raphael Tenaud, head of the ICRC sub-delegation in Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

The release of these three prisoners attests to the good will of the M23, said Willy Ngoma, spokesman for M23. This shows the government that we want peace and the FARDC that we are not their enemies, he insisted.

Violent fighting pitted the Congolese army against the March 23 Movement rebels in Rutshuru territory for two days in late March, and again a week later.

Last Sunday, the M23 announced that it was withdrawing from villages that had come under its control, saying it wanted a peaceful resolution to the crisis.
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

In September 2020, Dr. Chaniece Wallace was a healthy 30-year-old physician, seven months pregnant. A photo from her baby shower shows her beaming, surrounded by pink and purple balloons, standing next to a 5-foot tall tower of blocks that spelled "BABY."

A month later, at her routine OB-GYN appointment, her blood pressure measured high enough to send her to the hospital. Wallace was admitted, and started having sharp stomach pains. She was drenched in sweat.

Clinicians at first said it must be a panic attack, her husband said. But when her blood pressure continued to climb and the pain in her belly wouldn't stop, they finally put it together: Wallace's liver had ruptured, a sign she was suffering from preeclampsia, a harbinger of a life-threatening pregnancy complication.

Her baby girl was safely delivered by emergency C-section. Over the next couple days, however, Wallace's condition deteriorated. Her kidneys began to fail. She'd developed eclampsia, and had a seizure. Overnight, she had a brain hemorrhage and died.

A chief pediatric resident at a children's hospital in Indianapolis, Wallace knew well the increased risk pregnancy poses for women of color.

Black women like her are three times more likely to die of causes related to childbirth than white women. Experts say the racial disparity stems from a confluence of factors including systemic racism and inequity, bias in medicine and a lack of health resources.

"She was an advocate for women that were experiencing this. And for it to be in our house, in our livesit was not only shocking. It was gut-wrenching," said Anthony Wallace, who would have celebrated their seventh anniversary this month. "With the knowledge we have about preeclampsia and eclampsia now, Chaniece should still be here."

As the nation recognizes Black Maternal Health Week this week, experts want to keep the stories of women and birthing people at the forefront. They want them to feel supported, their child bearing experiences celebrated and protected, and systems to be improved and held accountable.

The first year of the pandemic saw a surge of maternal deaths, particularly among women of color, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with the mortality rate of Black moms in 2020 increasing from 44 deaths to 55 deaths per 100,000.

As part of its Build Back Better package, the Biden administration introduced legislation in Congress last year aimed at improving Black maternal health. Advocates praise the effort but say action has been too long in coming.

"Black birthing individuals are deserving of all of the best that we have to offer. And they're not getting that from us right now," said Dr. Allison Bryant, an OB-GYN and senior medical director for health equity at Mass General Brigham health system. "We have to do better."

Renewed commitments to shape policy to improve maternal health comes follows the glaring inequities seen in COVID-19 deaths. But experts say the social foundation of these public health disparities have been known for decades.

"We've been screaming from the mountaintops for years," said Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, an OB-GYN at Ochsner Kenner Health and medical director of the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative. "There's sadness, because it feels to some degree, like Black women have been thrown away."

Monica McLemore, a nursing professor at University of California, San Francisco, said solving the systemic problem requires a holistic approach.

"We've described the problem relatively well. We know that it exists in terms of who's dying and why. But we have not funded the interventions or the strategies that would allow us to see improved outcomes," she said.

Tufts University Schools of Medicine public health professor Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, assistant dean for diversity and inclusion, researches reproductive health of people of color. She noted the increase in 2020 could have been due to more accurate reporting on death certificates, but the disparity is still exists.

"It's just an understatement to say that the health care system continues to fail Black and brown birth," she said. "It's getting more visibility, more messaging. It's on the policy agenda."

Amutah-Onukagha called the nation's health care infrastructure "broken," with people of color taking the brunt.

"It's always been we're peeling back the layers around racism, discrimination, these microaggressions, these acute instances that happened in labor and delivery," she said, "But now, we're putting it under a microscope."

Wallace's death was particularly striking to her.

"Her preeclampsia was so untreated that her organs and brain swelled," she said. "I shed tears for the opportunities that were cut short."

Anthony Wallace has worked hard to make sure his daughter Charlotte doesn't forget her mom. He points to pictures of her around the house, and says her name oftenso often that on a recent evening when he said "Chaniece" on the phone, Charlotte cooed, "mama."

"Yes, mama," he said to the little girl in his arms.

Eighteen months after Chaniece's death, Wallace still keeps her cell phone and black clutch tucked in his car. The loss of his charming, bright-eyed wife, the one he'd call in the middle of a rough day just so they could pray together, is "unexplainable," he said.

His wife talked frequently, he said, about how health professionals need to do a better job listening to women of color about how they feel in their bodies. He wants to "continue to be a voice" for her and other women, Wallace said.

"I think she was heard," he said of his wife. "But I don't think she was listened to."

Explore further US deaths of new mothers rose during pandemic, minorities hit hardest

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Graphical abstract. Credit: Cell Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110569

In the face of cancer, oncologists face a dual epidemic of overtreatment and undertreatment. Treating the disease often involves harsh chemotherapies and other interventions with extensive side effects. As a result, clinicians might delay treating a growth that looks harmless until it becomes life threatening and too late to treat. Or, they might overly treat a less aggressive cancer with harsh therapies that cause more harm to the patient than benefit.

Now, two researchers, including Yale's Jason Sheltzer, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery (oncology), have conducted a study analyzing the molecular features of 33 different human cancers in an effort to find a way to differentiate between non-threatening and aggressive forms of the disease and found surprising results. They published their findings in Cell Reports on March 29.

"This is the first time that we have had a comprehensive understanding of the genetic differences between fatal and relatively harmless human cancers across several dozen cancer types," says Sheltzer.

Biomarkers predict patients' cancer outcomes

The identification of prognostic biomarkers in cancer may help clinicians assess which cancer patients are most at risk of developing aggressive forms of the disease. But while there is a lot of genomic data that has been collected for cancer research, translating that data into actionable clinical insights has been difficult.

In 2006, the National Cancer Institute and National Human Genome Research Institute embarked on a large-scale, multi-year study called "The Cancer Genome Atlas Program." The project recruited 10,884 patients with 33 different types of cancer and performed molecular profiling on the tumors from these patients. They analyzed data including the tumors' gene expression, mutations, copy number alterations, DNA methylation, microRNA expression, and protein expression. Additionally, they collected information on the patients' clinical coursewhether they survived a few months or many years after surgery. "In our study, we linked these two pieces of data together," says Sheltzer.

Alongside first author and wife Joan Smith, a senior staff software engineer at Google, Sheltzer assessed whether any of the genomic biomarkers present in cancerous tumors were related to shorter or longer survival times across patients. The study yielded a number of surprising results. For instance, cancer researchers have shown significant interest in using data on mutations from certain cancers as a potential prognostic biomarker, believing that patients whose cancers had certain mutations in a particular gene may experience worse outcomes and need to be monitored more closely. However, the team's data suggest that mutations don't have much prognostic significance in cancer.

Deaths associated with chromosome numbers

In contrast, they found that copy number alterations were highly prognostic and significantly associated with patient outcomes across multiple cancer types. Most cells in the human body have 23 pairs of chromosomes. In cancers, copy number alterations tend to occur when cells gain or lose chromosomes, leading to extra or fewer numbers of a gene. Sheltzer says his lab will pay particularly close attention to copy number changes in genes and chromosomes, and why they are associated with deaths from cancer, in its upcoming research.

"One surprising finding is that mutations conveyed relatively little information, but other types of genomic measurements from cancer, in particular copy number measurements, contained a lot of prognostic information," says Sheltzer. Additionally, the team created a web portal that allows researchers to access the analyses they performed. They hope that their findings will help clinicians properly identify lesser cancers that don't require intense treatments, as well as life-threatening cancers that require stringent intervention.

"Our work can potentially improve cancer patient well-being by saving the harshest treatments for those who need the most aggressive interventions," says Sheltzer.

Explore further Taking uncertainty out of cancer prognosis

More information: Joan C. Smith et al, Genome-wide identification and analysis of prognostic features in human cancers, Cell Reports (2022). Journal information: Cell Reports Joan C. Smith et al, Genome-wide identification and analysis of prognostic features in human cancers,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110569
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The World Health Organization said Friday it was monitoring cases of hepatitis of unknown origin in dozens of children in Britain, some of whom required a liver transplant.

Britain initially reported 10 cases of severe acute hepatitis in Scotland to WHO on April 5, before reporting a total of 74 cases across the country three days later, the UN agency said.

WHO expects more cases to be reported in the coming days.

Some of the cases were so severe that patients had to be transferred to specialist children's liver units, while six children had liver transplants, WHO said in a statement.

"Less than five confirmed or possible" cases were reported in Ireland, and three confirmed cases in Spain. No deaths have been recorded.

The infection mainly affected children aged under 10 and symptoms included jaundice, diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

The known hepatitis viruses, from A to E, have not been detected in the children, so British health authorities have examined a link to common viruses, or other possible causes like COVID-19, infections or environmental factors.

The WHO said COVID-19 and/or common viruses had been detected "in several cases", but their role in the infection's development was "not yet clear".

Experts ruled out any link with COVID vaccines, none of which had been administered to any of the confirmed cases in Britain.

Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging infections at the UK Health Security Agency, a public health protection body, said "normal hygiene measures" such as handwashing "help to reduce the spread of many of the infections that we are investigating".

She also called on parents and guardians to be alert to the signs of hepatitis and "to contact a healthcare professional if they are concerned."

Explore further UK investigating puzzling spike in liver disease in children

 2022 AFP
Killer T cells (magenta) in action against cancer. Credit: Johanna Schafer

Patients with cancers stemming from non-reproductive organs, such as bladder and liver cancer, have striking discrepancies in incidence, progression, response to treatment and survival outcomes depending on their sex. In almost all cases, male patients have worse prognoses and outcomes. This phenomenon has puzzled the scientific community for decades.

A study published today in Science Immunology and led by researchers in the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology (PIIO) at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer CenterArthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCCJames) examined the differences in intratumoral immune responses between male and female cancers of non-reproductive origin

The focus of this research was the T cell immune response to malignancy, a key determinator of outcomes in cancer, and an important target that has contributed to the renaissance of cancer immunotherapy seen in recent years. The study reported a landmark finding that describes how male sex hormones contribute to cancer-related sex bias via the modulation of CD8+ T cellsa population of cells often referred to as cancer "killer" cells, which mediate adaptive immunity and are critical for mounting an anti-tumor response.

"Collectively, these findings highlight androgen-mediated promotion of CD8+ T cell dysfunction in cancer and suggest broader implications for therapeutic development to address sex disparities in health and disease," said the study's senior corresponding author Dr. Zihai Li, cancer immunologist, medical oncologist and founding director of the PIIO at OSUCCCJames.

Androgens are sex hormones more highly present in males. This study revealed that CD8+ T cells from cancers in male subjects, including human patients and mice, are more likely to have characteristics of a weakened anti-tumor immune function, also known as "exhausted" T cells. Androgen signaling promotes the progenitor exhausted CD8+ T cell phenotype via modulating expression of TCF1, a master regulator of CD8+ T cell function.

"Androgen-mediated promotion of CD8+ T cell dysfunction results in faster tumor growth and worsened outcomes, and targeting of this signaling cascade holds a crucial key to improving current cancer immunotherapies," said Li, who is also a professor in the Ohio State College of Medicine.

Explore further Researchers identify key characteristics of immune cells in ovarian cancer

More information: Hyunwoo Kwon et al, Androgen conspires with the CD8 + T cell exhaustion program and contributes to sex bias in cancer, Science Immunology (2022). Journal information: Science Immunology Hyunwoo Kwon et al, Androgen conspires with the CD8 + T cell exhaustion program and contributes to sex bias in cancer,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abq2630

Provided by Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London has assessed parental preference for a mandatory childhood vaccination scheme and finds that when rating different options for a mandatory vaccination scheme, the incentives for vaccinating and penalties for not vaccinating were the most influential factors in parents' decisions.

Rates of uptake for most child vaccines have been declining in recent years, raising questions as to how this can be improved. While there aren't currently any plans to introduce a mandatory vaccination scheme in England, the study, published in The Lancet Regional HealthEurope, explored parental preferences for a range of factors that might be considered by policymakers, in the event that childhood vaccination were to be made mandatory.

The investigators explored the opinions of 1,001 parents of children aged 5 years and under. Participants were shown a series of comparisons of hypothetical mandatory vaccination schemes and asked which they preferred. Schemes differed by:

Which vaccine would be made mandatory (6-in-1 or MMR)

At what age vaccination would be mandatory (2 years and above or 5 years and above)

Who could opt out of the scheme (medical exemptions only or medical and religious belief exemptions)

The type of incentive for vaccination offered (a 130 cash payout to the parent per vaccine dose, a 130 voucher for the child per vaccine dose, or no incentive)

Whether there should be a penalty for not vaccinating (a 450 fine for each dose missed, the child being unable to attend school or day-care if unvaccinated, or the parent not being able to claim Child Benefits if the child is not vaccinated)

Availability of a compensation scheme for severe adverse side effects (offered or not offered).

Parents were shown different combinations of these factors, and their relative preferences for each factor were calculated. The results showed that the most influential factor in parents' decisions was being paid an incentive (either to the parent or the child). Participants were also strongly influenced by the penalty for not vaccinating, with parents preferring schemes where unvaccinated children could not attend school or day care, and for those withholding financial benefits for parents of unvaccinated children, compared to receiving a fine.

Parents also preferred schemes that offered a compensation scheme, mandated vaccination in children aged two years and above, mandated the 6-in-1 vaccine, and that offered only medical exemptions. However, patterns of preferences differed by attitudes towards vaccination.

Dr. Louise Smith, the study's primary investigator, said, "Vaccines are an effective means of containing the spread of highly contagious illnesses, but vaccination rates have been falling. Our intention was to explore parents' preferences so that their views could be taken into account in the event that a mandatory vaccination scheme is proposed.

"Our findings present a diverse picture that reflect the complexity surrounding this issue. While our results suggest that if a mandatory vaccination scheme were suggested, parents prefer schemes that offer direct financial rewards, preferences may not indicate that someone feels a scheme is acceptable."

Dr. Ben Carter from King's IoPPN, the study's last author, said, "Making vaccines mandatory can have unintended negative consequences, including having the potential to make vaccination attitudes more negative in some people. Therefore, any proposal of such a scheme needs to be made with caution. Care also needs to be taken to ensure that schemes do not disproportionately affect those who are from lower income backgrounds."

Explore further New study examines parent hesitancy toward COVID-19 vaccines for children

More information: Louise E. Smith et al, Parental preferences for a mandatory vaccination scheme in England: A discrete choice experiment, The Lancet Regional HealthEurope (2022). Louise E. Smith et al, Parental preferences for a mandatory vaccination scheme in England: A discrete choice experiment,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.lanepe.2022.100359
There are 13 candidates who have filed to run for six trustee positions opening up across four districts this year to serve on the Missoula County Public Schools board.

The spring school election will be conducted through mail-in ballots that must be received by the county election office no later than 8 p.m. on election day, May 3. No polling places will be open on election day.

Voters will also be asked to decide on operational levies depending on where they reside.

Last month, trustees approved running a $294,791 elementary general fund levy, which would have an approximate annual tax increase of $2.78 on properties with an assessed value of $100,000. They also approved running a high school district general fund levy of $525,962, which would have an estimated annual tax increase of $2.76 on properties with an assessed value of $100,000.

Taxpayers who live in the MCPS Elementary District 1 would pay both the elementary and high school levies if approved by voters.

Regular voter registration is currently closed, however late registration is available through noon on Monday, May 2. Voters cannot register to vote on election day due to changes in state law.

For more information on how to register to vote or to check your voter registration status, visit the My Voter Page by the Montana Secretary of States Office online.

The Missoulian contacted all candidates running in the upcoming school election for a candidate Q&A. Their responses can be found below and have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Arlene Walker-Andrews

Age: Old enough to have grandchildren; too old to tell you.

Occupation: Retired, formerly professor of psychology (Rutgers University), Associate Provost (University of Montana)

Education: B.A. in psychology, University of Texas, Austin; Ph.D. in experimental (Developmental) psychology, Cornell University

Family: Husband, Dave Andrews. Two daughters, three grandchildren.

What inspired you to run for school board?

Public education is the foundation of our democracy. I believe in the transformative power of education and I am especially concerned with public education. It enables our childrens success as citizens who sustain that democracy and provides them with the knowledge and skills to reach their potential. I served on a school board for two terms when our daughters were young. I recognize the importance of the board in advocating for all students while stretching financial support and providing oversight. A board benefits from the diverse skills of the individual members as it collaborates on improving students achievement and well-being.

If you are elected to the board, how do you plan on facilitating the relationship between the school board and community?

Present polarization in our country spills over into all areas including schools. Fortunately, in Missoula, we have strong relationships to build on. Upon my appointment, I read and tallied all public comments from August into October. Of more than 500 comments and petitions, greater than 80% supported COVID mitigation steps made to keep schools open and safe. As potentially divisive issues arise, I trust we will collaborate because we share a concern for students. Formal board meetings allow little active engagement, so scheduling open meetings, as with the superintendent search, may help. Joint school-community committees provide another mechanism. I will continue to meet with anyone who requests it.

What goals do you hope to accomplish if elected to the board?

Immediate goals include (a) assessing and addressing academic and socio-emotional effects of the pandemic, (b) hiring a new superintendent, and (c) adapting to nationwide shortages in teachers and staff. Critical to reaching these goals is restoring and nurturing the interactions between parents, the Missoula community, and the teachers, staff, administrators, and members of the MCPS Board of Trustees, as discussed earlier.

Are there any issues in the Missoula County Public Schools district that you feel have not been addressed enough by the board in the past?

As we witnessed the concern for equity when a Billings student timed out of high school, it illustrated that many gaps plague our educational system and care of students. In Missoula, adult students may enroll in high school, but funding is inadequate for their needs and the interval between finishing and qualifying for additional programs is too large. We must work proactively with others to garner the support students and families need. We cannot wait for shortcomings to emerge by accident, but must discover difficulties in advance. Community listening sessions for identifying and devising solutions seem prudent, as well as conversations with all school employees to identify issues before they become problems.

By the end of this school year, MCPS is expected to have $15.2 million left of its COVID relief funds to be spent by December 2024. What areas of the district do you feel should be prioritized to receive those funds?

As required by regulations, the board surveyed staff and community members about these funds. My priorities, along with theirs, are (a) socio-emotional and mental health of students, and (b) programs and activities to assess and address the impacts of the pandemic on academic progress. Therefore, we must fund academic and behavioral interventions, hire more specialists to provide enrichment to give students and teachers opportunities to plan and work one-on-one or in small groups, improve retention of teachers by creating permanent substitutes, and upgrade our technology for students who can benefit from online opportunities.

What steps should MCPS take to retain and hire teachers and other support staff?

I dont have a quick answer for this. Factors influencing retention and hiring characterize all employees: pay and benefits, the number of people reaching retirement age, opportunities for professional development, leadership opportunities, workplace environment, active mentoring, and appreciation for a job well done. We must strive to enhance all of these despite limitations in our budgets and the reality of a nationwide shortage of teachers and support staff. We can look to our teacher preparation programs in Montana for help in identifying strong candidates and listen to what our present teachers and staff tell us about what they need. The board as a team should consider available options.

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There are 13 candidates who have filed to run for six trustee positions opening up across four districts this year to serve on the Missoula County Public Schools board.

The spring school election will be conducted through mail-in ballots that must be received by the county election office no later than 8 p.m. on election day, May 3. No polling places will be open on election day.

Voters will also be asked to decide on operational levies depending on where they reside.

Last month, trustees approved running a $294,791 elementary general fund levy, which would have an approximate annual tax increase of $2.78 on properties with an assessed value of $100,000. They also approved running a high school district general fund levy of $525,962, which would have an estimated annual tax increase of $2.76 on properties with an assessed value of $100,000.

Taxpayers who live in the MCPS Elementary District 1 would pay both the elementary and high school levies if approved by voters.

Regular voter registration is currently closed, however late registration is available through noon on Monday, May 2. Voters cannot register to vote on election day due to changes in state law.

For more information on how to register to vote or to check your voter registration status, visit the My Voter Page by the Montana Secretary of States Office online.

The Missoulian contacted all candidates running in the upcoming school election for a candidate Q&A. Their responses can be found below and have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Karen Sherman

Age: 57

Occupation: Small business owner

Education: College education

Family: Married with children

What inspired you to run for school board?

I feel like we are missing opportunities to enrich our childrens educations by building strong teams involving our students, parents and teachers. We can do so much more if the information is flowing in every direction.

If you are elected to the board, how do you plan on facilitating the relationship between the school board and community?

I would like to see complete transparency between our families, our educators and our administration. We can only work together if we trust one another and there has been a break in that trust in the past few years.

What goals do you hope to accomplish if elected to the board?

I would like to help form a board that welcomes the communitys participation. I would like to form subcommittees within the board to address some areas where we are currently deficient (Budget oversight, trade programs, and life after graduation preparation)

Are there any issues in the Missoula County Public Schools district that you feel have not been addressed enough by the board in the past?

I feel that MCPS needs a budget oversight committee within the school board. School taxes are the largest portion of your property taxes and I have spoken with many people in my district who would like some system of accountability.

By the end of this school year, MCPS is expected to have $15.2 million left of its COVID relief funds to be spent by December 2024. What areas of the district do you feel should be prioritized to receive those funds?

I would like to see us develop more programs that would help our secondary students that do not plan on attending college be confident that they will be able to find a job with a livable wage after high school. I do have a plan involving students and local businesses that would be mutually beneficial.

What steps should MCPS take to retain and hire teachers and other support staff?

Montana ranks last in starting teachers pay. That would certainly weigh in as a leading factor for any teacher. I think if we were to make some headway on closing that gap and become known as a district with parents that support our educators as valued members of our community, I think that would be very appealing, as well.

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There are 13 candidates who have filed to run for six trustee positions opening up across four districts this year to serve on the Missoula County Public Schools board.

The spring school election will be conducted through mail-in ballots that must be received by the county election office no later than 8 p.m. on election day, May 3. No polling places will be open on election day.

Voters will also be asked to decide on operational levies depending on where they reside.

Last month, trustees approved running a $294,791 elementary general fund levy, which would have an approximate annual tax increase of $2.78 on properties with an assessed value of $100,000. They also approved running a high school district general fund levy of $525,962, which would have an estimated annual tax increase of $2.76 on properties with an assessed value of $100,000.

Taxpayers who live in the MCPS Elementary District 1 would pay both the elementary and high school levies if approved by voters.

Regular voter registration is currently closed, however late registration is available through noon on Monday, May 2. Voters cannot register to vote on election day due to changes in state law.

For more information on how to register to vote or to check your voter registration status, visit the My Voter Page by the Montana Secretary of States Office online.

The Missoulian contacted all candidates running in the upcoming school election for a candidate Q&A. Their responses can be found below and have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Taylor Ramos

Age: 24

Occupation: Legal assistant

Education: I attended public high school at Bowman County Public High School in Bowman, North Dakota. I graduated in May 2020 from the University of Montana as a double major in psychology and political science.

Family: I am happily married to former city councilman Jesse Ramos, and we are proud dog parents to our mini golden doodle Rand. And hope to be proud parents of children someday soon.

What inspired you to run for school board?

As a young newly married woman, my husband and I started looking at the education system our future children would be a part of. Schools across the county and even right here in Missoula are not prioritizing the highest quality education. I could not sit on the sidelines while I watched our next generation continue to be put at risk. I may not have children of my own right now, but I care so deeply about ensuring this next generation receives the best education possible.

If you are elected to the board, how do you plan on facilitating the relationship between the school board and community?

In my point of view the school board should be representative of the community if not one and the same. It is important that our board is made up of everyday men and women who represent the vast majorities of our district. We need a board that is in touch with the everyday concerns of Missoulas parents.

What goals do you hope to accomplish if elected to the board?

My main goal is to provide some much-needed transparency to the board. I want to continue to provide support to the students, parents, and teachers in a way where they are getting the answers they need. So much of the current handlings seem to be a mystery until they are already done. I also want to ensure we are putting as much emphasis on STEM education as possible. As a high school representative, I find it incredibly important we are exposing students to a wide variety of career paths other than just the university track which may not be right for some students. The trades, for example, are often overlooked as a viable career choice.

Are there any issues in the Missoula County Public Schools district that you feel have not been addressed enough by the board in the past?

We need to bring rigorous debate and create a welcoming and tolerant environment for the free exchange of ideas of board members. For too long the Missoula County school board has been an echo chamber that only permits discussions on topics that are agreed upon by the board. Any dissenting topic is frowned upon and shunned and outright dismissed. The board needs to set an example for the students it represents that the free exchange of ideas and an openness to new topics is not only welcome but represents the bedrock of American education.

By the end of this school year, MCPS is expected to have $15.2 million left of its COVID relief funds to be spent by December 2024. What areas of the district do you feel should be prioritized to receive those funds?

The public school system of Missoula County needs to put those funds to use helping its lowest earners, which it claims to represent, be able to stay in Missoula. While those funds cannot directly be credited back to the taxpayers, they can be used to offset upcoming costs to offer relief to those lowest income earners in their district. While this might not result in a significant reduction in their constituents taxes, it would be one less household bill that skyrockets, pushing their ability to continue to live in Missoula further and further out of reach.

What steps should MCPS take to retain and hire teachers and other support staff?

Any steps that Missoula County takes to hire and retain staff must always be put behind the needs of both the students and the parents. At the end of the day the shareholders of MCPS are the citizens of Missoula, our clients are the children and parents of Missoula and teachers, and administration are staff. While critical to the objective, our job as board members is to cater first to the needs of the students and parents. My real concern is meeting the needs of the students and parents as I believe that is where MCPS has been failing.

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Police: More than 900 civilian bodies found in Kyiv region

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  More than 900 bodies of civilians were discovered in the Kyiv region following the withdrawal of Russian forces. That's according to the regional police chief, who spoke Friday. The jarring numbers emerged shortly after Russias Defense Ministry promised to ramp up missile attacks on Kyiv in response to alleged aggression on Russian territory. That warning followed the stunning loss of Moscows flagship in the Black Sea, which a senior U.S. official confirmed was hit by a Ukrainian missile. Amid its threats, Moscow continues preparations for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine. Fighting also continues in the pummeled southern port city of Mariupol.

It's not over: COVID-19 cases are on the rise again in US

The U.S. may be heading into another COVID-19 surge, with cases rising nationally and in most states after a two-month decline. Experts don't know how high the mountain will grow, but they don't expect a peak nearly as high as the last one, when the contagious omicron version of the coronavirus ripped through the population. Still, experts warn the coming wave will wash across the nation and push up hospitalizations in a growing number of states, especially those with low vaccination rates, in the coming weeks. Most cases are now being caused by a subvariant known as BA.2 that is thought to be 30% more contagious.

Ukrainian mom's pain at watching daughter's burial on phone

LVIV, Ukraine (AP)  Viktoria Kovalenko bore witness to the death of her husband and elder daughter when their car was hit by a shell in northern Ukraine. By the time her loved ones got a proper funeral weeks later, she was 500 kilometers away, able to watch the burial only on a cellphone video sent to her by relatives. Even in the relative peace of Lviv, a city little touched by violence in the war with Russia, it was an ordeal she couldnt endure. Tears do not let me watch until the end, she said as she played the video in a wooded area where she was pushing her one year-old daughter Varvara in a stroller.

Twitter adopts 'poison pill' defense in Musk takeover bid

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP)  Twitter said Friday that its board of directors has unanimously adopted a poison pill defense in response to Tesla CEO Elon Musks proposal to buy the company for more than $43 billion and take it private. The move would allow existing Twitter shareholders  except for Musk  to buy additional shares at a discount, thereby diluting Musks stake in the company and making it harder for him to corral a majority of shareholder votes in favor of the acquisition. Twitters plan would take effect if Musks roughly 9% stake grows to 15% or more.

Texas halts truck inspections that caused border gridlock

AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has repealed his traffic-clogging immigration order that backed up commercial trucks at the U.S.-Mexico border this week. The Republican on Friday ended a new policy that required all commercial trucks from Mexico to undergo extra inspections to stop the flow of migrants and drugs. The inspections led to delays, prompting wide backlash and fears of deep economic losses. Some truckers reported having to wait more than 30 hours to cross, and others blocked one of the worlds busiest trade bridges in protest. Abbott lifted the inspections after signing new border security agreements with neighboring Mexican states.

Officer's camera misses key moment of Patrick Lyoya's death

Body camera footage of Patrick Lyoyas fatal encounter with a Michigan police officer shows a close-up view of an intense struggle -- but the video goes dark 42 seconds before the officer shoots the Black man in the head. Its the latest in a handful of high-profile cases in which body cameras have somehow failed, leaving prosecutors and the public to rely on bystander video for a clearer picture of what happened. One expert says that if it was an accident, its likely that vendors, who have been responsive to the technologys limitations, will make changes to avoid such deactivations in the future. Attorneys for Lyoyas family are thankful his passenger, as well as doorbell video from a nearby home, recorded what happened.

After bullets flew, NYC subway workers kept their cool

NEW YORK (AP)  When smoke bombs and bullets were unleashed on a New York City subway train full of morning commuters, train driver David Artis said his first indication something was wrong was when passengers crowded near his cab door to report the chaos. Artis said his initial reaction was one of shock. But, his thoughts quickly shifted to concern for his passengers and he leaned on his emergency training. Artis and his fellow transit workers were honored by the mayor for their response to Tuesdays shooting. Train conductor Raven Haynes was among those honored. She says she had a stoic attitude after the attack to help keep the passengers calm.

'Detest me with moderation,' Paris attacks defendant pleads

PARIS (AP)  The only surviving member of the Islamic State attack team that terrorized Paris in 2015 has asked for forgiveness and expressed condolences for the victims. In emotional court testimony Friday, he pleaded with survivors to detest me with moderation. For years, Salah Abdeslam stayed silent about the attacks on the Bataclan theater, Paris cafes and the national stadium, and the 130 people who were killed. Then this week, his words started flowing, in lengthy and sometimes confused testimony. Survivors and victims families, who hope the extensive trial helps them find justice and clarity, had mixed reactions.

Trump backs GOPs JD Vance in US Senate primary in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP)  "Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance has received Donald Trumps coveted endorsement in the race for Ohios open U.S. Senate seat. The decision ends months of jockeying in a Republican Senate primary where his backing could be pivotal. And it marks a major blow for former state treasurer Josh Mandel, investment banker Mike Gibbons and former Ohio Republican Party chair Jane Timken, who had aggressively courted Trumps endorsement. The winner of the May 3 primary is likely to face Democratic frontrunner, U.S. Rep Tim Ryan, in November for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.

States scale back food stamp benefits even as prices soar

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)  Month by month, more of the roughly 40 million Americans who get help buying groceries through the federal food stamp program are seeing their benefits plunge. The reductions come even as the nation struggles with the biggest increase in food costs in decades. The payments to low-income individuals and families are dropping as governors end COVID-19 disaster declarations and opt out of a still-ongoing federal program that made their states eligible for dramatic increases in SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. The increased benefit were in response to surging unemployment after the COVID-19 pandemic swept over the country. The result is that depending on the politics of a state, people find themselves eligible for significantly different levels of help buying food.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP)  Former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano, once one of Long Island's most powerful elected officials, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for what a prosecutor described as widespread corruption and dishonesty.

Mangano, who was convicted in 2019 on corruption charges related to his relationship with businessman Harendra Singh, defended his actions at his sentencing in federal court on Long Island, according to Newsday.

I havent been able to say anything in the last seven years and I just want you to know the type of people we are, Mangano told U.S. District Judge Joan Azrack. He said he and his wife, Linda, who was also charged in the case, were not conspiring people" but "caring people.

But Azrack told Mangano, Your crimes were motivated by greed."

You were the Nassau County Executive and had tremendous political clout, the judge said. You were the Nassau County Executive and you led by your corrupt example.

Prosecutors said that Mangano, a Republican, used his influence as the countys top elected leader to help Singh get loan guarantees from the Town of Oyster Bay. They said he received gifts in exchange for including a no-show job for Linda Mangano as a food taster at Singhs restaurants.

Linda Mangano was sentenced to 15 months in prison on charges including conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI about her employment.

In my heart I just cant agree with it, she told the judge. I have been portrayed to be lazy, uncooperative and a liar ... that is not who I am.

Afterward, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace made a lengthy statement, saying Edward Mangano gave Nassau residents widespread corruption and dishonesty instead of truth and integrity.

The disgraceful and greedy conduct of the Manganos has been exposed and punished, he added. And the same fate awaits those in public service who abuse their positions to serve themselves and not the people.

This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Singh's first name.

Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Cramped chokecherries to the Montana State Legislatures dismantling of local government. New laws prevent cities and counties from addressing housing shortages and local health authorities from protecting their communities. In Missoula, losing the capability to adjust zoning rules to reflect market trends leaves everyone frustrated. Statewide, stripping local health boards of their rulemaking authority tosses highly scientific and nuanced issues to whims of any elected leader willing to play outrage politics. Viruses dont respond to public comments. A biennial legislature has little ability to tell one housing market from another. That was the genius of local government, where decisions with local effect got made closest to those affected. That used to be a principle of conservative politics.

Bargain-priced huckleberries to the local efforts of the Missoula City Council and North Missoula Community Development Corp. and Habitat for Humanity to assist construction of affordable housing in town. City tax-increment financing will back loans and purchase land for building one- to four-bedroom homes priced to fit the budgets of people making 120% of Missoulas median income or less. That makes it possible for those buffeted by market pressures beyond their control to remain a part of the community they helped create.

Enthusiastic huckleberries to the students and staff at Meadow Hill Middle School who so inspired STEM teacher Don Griffith to such teaching dedication. Griffith won the Missoula Education Foundations Educator of the Year award last week. It says something special when a school community has clicked together so well that it nominates 13 of its own for the award. As Griffith told a cheering gym full of students, the award is actually yours because you buy into what we are trying to do here. I want you guys to know that every teacher in this building loves you and cares about you  this is why we do what we do.

In the eat your words department, a heaping handful of chokecherries to the Montana Board of Education members and Lt. Gov. Kristin Juras who overrode their own legal adviser and held a vote on the Professional Educators of Montana Code of Ethics without proper public notice. Theyre now getting sued by the Montana Federation of Public Employees and the news organization Daily Montanan for taking action on a matter that was listed as informational  not ready for voting. In a state as physically big and politically contentious as Montana, a government that plays by its own rules is essential for public credibility. The fact that the question up for debate (and unscheduled vote) was the inclusion of the word equity into the code of ethics makes it all the more important that elected leaders understand the concept of fair play.

A memorial basket of huckleberries to the memory of Bob Campbell, the Montana Constitutional Convention delegate and Missoulian who died last week at the proud age of 81. Campbell and fellow delegate Mae Nan Ellingson co-authored the 1972 Constitutions preamble which reads: We the people of Montana grateful to God for the quiet beauty of our state, the grandeur of our mountains, the vastness of our rolling plains, and desiring to improve the quality of life, equality of opportunity and to secure the blessings of liberty for this and future generations do ordain and establish this constitution.

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Africa in April Cultural Awareness Festival will return for its 35th year next week. The celebration will take place April 20-24.

Each year, the festival honors a country in Africa. This year's salute will be in honor of the Republic of Malawi, which is located in southeastern Africa and has an artistically rich history.

"'A hand stretched out to give is also ready to receive.' This is a Malawi proverb," Africa in April associate director Yvonne B. Acey said. "We will remember a hand reached out to serve, a hand reached out to give information, a hand reached out to show us how to communicate and connect with the world."

The event kicks off April 20 with an International Entrepreneurs Luncheon, honoring professionals making an impact in college sports, medicine and other fields.

MEMPHIS IN MAY: Asante king to take part in festival's salute to Ghana

Aug. 7, 2021- The Africa in April returns for its 34th Anniversary Celebration of Cultural Awareness Festival.

The festival begins at 8 a.m. April 22 at Robert R. Church Park in Downtown with Children and Seniors Day. At 10 a.m., there will be an International Diversity Parade starting from the intersection of Ida B. Wells Street and Beale Street. The festival will last until 11 p.m.

Acey said 15 to 20 food vendors and more than 120 crafts, arts and clothes booths will be set up and available to visitors.

Musical guests performing genres from reggae to gospel to jazz will perform live sets throughout the weekend.

"You can enjoy the quality. You can enjoy the decorations. You can get to talk [to vendors] about how they developed their experiences, how they developed [their crafts] and so they can connect with you. They can also tell you what's going on in their country," Acey said.

AFRICA IN APRIL 2021: Third day of Africa in April festival in Memphis focuses on wellness, COVID-19 vaccines offered

The fun and festivities at Robert R. Church Park will continue through the weekend. April 23's theme is Health Wellness and Community Day, with events from 8 a.m. to midnight. April 24 will be International Music Day with live performances from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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Admission is $10 for each day of the festival.

Festival vendors are lined up to serve customers a variety of food, clothing and jewelry from different regions of Africa during the 34th Africa in April event in Downtown Memphis on Aug. 7, 2021.

Acey said that until the world begins to open up to safely traveling after the pandemic, students and community members in Memphis will have Africa in April to explore different cultures in the city.

"That's what we all about. Africa in April in Memphis, Tennessee, engaged in remembering our past, including African diaspora, as we celebrate our future and accept challenges and move beyond," she said.

For more information, visit https://www.africainapril.org.

Astrid Kayembe covers South Memphis, Whitehaven and Westwood. She can be reached at astrid.kayembe@commercialappeal.com, (901) 304-7929 or on Twitter @astridkayembe_.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Africa in April returns for 35th year: What to expect at Memphis event
Editor's Note: In honor or National Ag Week, this edition of the Devils Lake Daily Journal will spotlight agricultural events and features. We also encourage you to check out our special ad section located in the back of this edition. HAPPY NATIONAL AG WEEK!

NORTH DAKOTA - Currently 36% of North Dakota is experiencing some level of drought as drought conditions continue to persist in the western part of the state.

Drought impacts are at the forefront of many ranchers minds as we head into the 2022 grazing season, says Miranda Meehan, North Dakota State University (NDSU) Extension livestock environmental stewardship specialist. Concerns linger about long-term impacts of the drought on forage production as well as the risk of a continued drought throughout the year.

NDSU specialists will be hosting live webinars to help livestock producers address drought concerns. The webinars will be held at 1 p.m. CDT on March 31 and April 7.

The webinars will provide North Dakota livestock owners with an outlook on drought conditions, forage production and grazing, while providing management options. The webinars will also provide an opportunity for participants to express drought-related concerns.

Please join us to learn more about drought strategies and discuss your concerns.

Thursday March 31, Drought, Forage and Grazing Outlook

Thursday April 7, Considerations for Feeding Cattle

To register for the webinar, visit www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ag-hub/events/livestock-drought-outlook-webinars.

Participants may ask questions during the live webinar. The webinar will be recorded, and the recording will be archived at www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ag-hub/events/livestock-drought-outlook-webinars for later viewing.

The goal of these webinars is to help ranchers develop drought strategies, enabling them to make timely decisions if drought persists.

This article originally appeared on Devils Lake Journal: Extension to host livestock drought outlook webinars
Proponents and opponents alike have posted signs throughout Kennebunk in an attempt to make their case over whether RSU 21 School Board member Tim Stentiford should be removed from office during a recall election on March 29, 2022.

KENNEBUNK, Maine  Voters will have a recall and two zoning proposals on their plates when they report to the polls for a special town meeting on Tuesday, March 29.

Voters will answer a question that has divided the community for nearly four months: Shall Timothy J. Stentiford be recalled from the RSU 21 Board of Directors?

If the no vote prevails, Stentiford will remain in office for the remainder of his term, which ends June 30, and will decide whether to seek reelection during the annual town meeting earlier that month.

If the yes vote prevails, Stentiford will be removed from the School Board and replaced. Voters will have one choice on their ballots: Gayle Asmussen Spofford, who said she supports Stentiford and opposes the recall. Voters also may write in a candidate.

More: H.B. Provisions, the beloved general store in Kennebunk, is looking for its next owner

A person who votes no on the recall is able to vote yes for Spofford, according to Town Clerk Merton Brown.

Kennebunk resident Norm Archer set the recall process in motion in late November when he filed affidavits against Stentiford and School Board Chair Art LeBlanc, citing poor leadership, contentious behavior toward teachers and parents, a lack of a curriculum committee and increased administrative spending as evidence enough to remove them.

More: 'Exclusive strains' of medical marijuana: Grower proposes new facility in Wells, Maine

As required by the town charter, Archer and others later submitted petitions to Brown to recall Stentiford and LeBlanc. The petition to recall LeBlanc failed, falling one signature short of the required number of signatures from registered voters. The petition to recall Stentiford succeeded, with exactly the required number of signatures needed for the process to continue.

The Kennebunk Select Board accepted the certified petition from Brown at the end of January and in early February scheduled the recall election for this month.

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Zoning proposals also on the ballot

The selectpersons picked March 29, as they already had set the date for a special town meeting for two zoning proposals.

One of those proposals  Article 2 on the ballot  seeks to amend the towns zoning ordinance, so that the lot width for multi-family dwellings may decrease from 200 feet to 100 feet in the York Street Mixed Residential and Commercial Use District. Peter Gay, of Kennebunk, is requesting the amendment, given development plans he has for the area. The change, if approved by voters, would affect the entire district.

More: 'We have a duty': Kennebunk High students aiming to bring school's courtyard to life

The Select Board recommends passing this proposal, but does so with one dissenter in a 6-1 vote. The Planning Board unanimously offers a neutral recommendation, calling the proposal a sound planning tool.

Article 3 seeks approval for a Contract Zoning Agreement that would allow Home for Our Troops to build a new home on Perkins Lane for a local wounded veteran of the U.S. military. Both the Select Board and Planning Board unanimously recommend passing this article.

Home for Our Troops is a publicly funded nonprofit organization that builds and donates homes for severely injured veterans of the post-Sept. 11 era. The organization constructs these homes in the communities where the veteran wants to live.

Most of these veterans have sustained injuries, including multiple limb amputations, partial or full paralysis, and/or severe traumatic brain injury, the organization says on its website. These homes restore some of the freedom and independence our veterans sacrificed while defending our country, and enable them to focus on their family, recovery, and rebuilding their lives.

The polls will open bright and early on Tuesday at 6 a.m. in the Kennebunk Town Hall Auditorium at 1 Summer Street and will close at 8 p.m.

For more information about the two zoning proposals and about voting in general, please see the voters manual that Brown has posted on the Town of Kennebunks website.

Back to the recall ...

In the past few months, proponents and opponents have weighed in on the recall with signs throughout the community, comments during public meetings and letters to the editor.

Proponents have argued that the recall is about leadership, finances and the boards treatment of teachers and parents.

Opponents charge that the recall is part of a nationwide effort to target school boards over curriculum and, locally, is an effort based in homophobia and racism. Stentiford is openly gay, and RSU 21 Superintendent Terri Cooper, whom Archer once called unfit in a letter to potential recall supporters, is Black.

More: With new districts drawn, these candidates have their eyes on the Maine primary in June

Archer has called allegations of homophobia and racism repugnant and lazy.

The tension has surfaced in other ways, too. Some opponents of the recall say that the affidavits that started the process contain provably false statements, particularly about Stentiford and the accusations of fiscal mismanagement. Some proponents have received obscene materials at their homes that they are convinced were sent to them because they all petitioned in favor of the recall.

The School Board attempted to halt the recall, filing for an injunction in York County Superior Court in January, on the grounds that board members serve a regional school unit, and not a municipality, and are therefore not subject to the recall provisions in a town charter. Justice Wayne Douglas held a final hearing on the case earlier this month and later denied the School Boards request.

In his Memorandum of Decision and Order, Douglas stated that the Town of Kennebunk has the authority to recall RSU School Board members as a result of its charter, the principle of home rule, and the provisions of Maine state statute.

But Douglas also made something else clear.

This conclusion is in no way intended to, nor does, reflect upon Mr. Stentifords capacity or qualifications to continue serving as an RSU 21 Board Director, his performance in that office, or the merits or demerits of the recall initiative, he wrote.

Publicly, Stentiford has remained silent about the effort to recall him.

With Tuesday, March 29, now just days away, the matter is now in voters hands.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Kennebunk ME voters to settle RSU 21 recall, zoning proposals March 29
Penny Mordaunt calls on Conservative Party to consider disciplinary measures against major donor Alexander Temerko

Minister Penny Mordaunt in Downing Street. Dan Kitwood/Getty

Penny Mordaunt asked Tory chairman Oliver Dowden to consider disciplinary measures against a donor, sources say.

Alexander Temerko called Mordaunt an "uncontrollable woman" after she opposed his Aquind project.

Temerko was recently seen meeting with former minister Jeremy Hunt, among other Tory figures.

Penny Mordaunt has called for the Conservative Party to censure major donor Alexander Temerko after he called her an "uncontrollable woman" during a bitter dispute over a 1.2bn project to build an electricity link between England and France.

The minister for trade policy held a meeting with Oliver Dowden, the party co-chairman, and members of the party treasurer's team to consider disciplinary measures against the Ukrainian-born businessman, sources familiar with the situation said.

Mordaunt's message to party bosses was that it was "not appropriate for things to carry on as business as usual" and that it would be "very bad if this went unaddressed," sources told Insider.

Dowden was said to have been "receptive" but the sources suggested Mordaunt would consider a more formal complaints procedure if no action was taken against Temerko.

The Conservative Party code of conduct says all members must "treat others in a professional and straightforward manner" and "not use their position to bully, abuse, victimise, harass or unlawfully discriminate against others."

In January, Temerko threatened the trade minister with legal action after the Aquind project was blocked by Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, and described her as the "biggest threat to security." He also said he would write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whom he describes as a friend, regarding her position in the government.

He has since dropped his threat of legal action, though is ploughing ahead with a judicial review of Aquind.

Mordaunt was not involved in the decision but had spoken out against the interconnector project  which would lay cables through her constituency in Portsmouth  warning it posed a risk to Britain's energy security.

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She recently urged colleagues to stop doing business with Temerko, telling Insider that "everyone" was now aware of his threats towards her. She noted at the time that donors should abide by the same code of conduct as other party members.

Mordaunt told Insider: "Every member of our party is rightly held to a standard of conduct. This applies to donors too. If we don't address this kind of behaviour we are doing both our elected representatives and our donor community a disservice.

"It also undermines public trust. It is quite wrong and needs to be recognised as such."

Her intervention came as Temerko held meetings with Conservative figures, including former foreign secretary and one-time leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt.

Aquind and Temerko have donated a combined 1.1 million to the Tory party, which included contributions to 21 Tory MPs and ministers.

Temerko did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

A Conservative Party source told Insider: "We can't talk about private discussions in the chief whip's office."

Read the original article on Business Insider
The state of Montana has urged the National Park Service to withdraw its proposed update to Yellowstone National Parks bison management plan and work with the state on a new option for the plan. The park superintendent said on Wednesday that he is open to developing a new alternative with the states input.

Federal, state and tribal partners who manage Yellowstone bison under the Interagency Bison Management Plan discussed options for moving forward with the update during a meeting in Bozeman on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, the park service announced it would be updating Yellowstones plan as part of an effort to address changed circumstances and new information obtained since the approval of the Interagency Bison Management Plan in 2000.

The National Park Service proposed three different alternatives for the update, then collected public comments on them through the month of February. Yellowstones bison management plan functions under the umbrella of the interagency plan.

We have attempted  through this planning process  to set up a spectrum of alternatives that start with where (the interagency partners have) gotten to at this point, without going backwards, said Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly on Wednesday.

In public comments submitted to the National Park Service, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte urged the federal agency to withdraw its notice to update the plan. The comments were obtained by Yellowstone Public Radio through a public records request.

Gianforte wrote in the comments that the park service should withdraw its notice and engage in consultation with Montana to identify mutually acceptable alternatives, as the success of the proposed alternatives is contingent upon Montanas cooperation and agreement.

At Wednesdays meeting, Sholly said there are approximately 5,500 bison in the park, one of the highest populations recorded since Yellowstone was first set aside for protection in 1872.

Even with substantially higher bison numbers, the park has been able to achieve the objectives laid out in the interagency plan, according to Sholly. Because managers havent hit population reduction targets set during the last two years, that population is going to continue to grow, he said.

The three alternatives proposed by the park allow managers to sustain a healthy and viable bison population in Yellowstone, maintain genetic diversity and support an appropriate level of bison migration outside the park, he said.

Under the first alternative, park staff would work toward maintaining a population of 3,000 to 5,000 bison in Yellowstone. They would continue to send animals to slaughter as a means of controlling numbers, and they would support tribal and state hunting outside the park.

Park staff would allow the Yellowstone bison population to increase to between 4,000 and 6,000 animals under the second alternative. They would continue to emphasize tribal hunting opportunities outside of the park, and they would decrease shipment to slaughter.

(The 4,000 to 6,000 range) is generally where we are right now, Sholly said. That is generally where every single person sitting around this table, including the three state representatives, have agreed that we should be.

Under the third alternative, the park would allow the bison population to expand toward 8,000 to 10,000 animals, and shipment to slaughter would cease until the carrying capacity was reached. Staff would rely on natural selection and hunting outside of the park to regulate numbers.

Park staff are fully cognizant that the third option could shock the conscience a bit, but they felt it was appropriate to put it out for consideration, according to Sholly.

Staff developed the alternatives with the goal of supporting interagency objectives, park management objectives and trust responsibilities to tribes. Over the last week, Sholly offered the state an opportunity to help the park develop a fourth alternative for consideration, he said.

If the state would like to see a completely different alternative somewhere on that spectrum considered, we are absolutely willing to work with the state and cooperate with them to develop a fourth alternative and include it in the analysis for the (environmental impact statement), he said.

Mike Honeycutt, executive officer at the Montana Department of Livestock, said the interagency partners have achieved a population of 5,500 bison because they havent had the opportunity to reduce the numbers.

Its very difficult, as we have seen, to control removals. Some years that removal is going to be 70. Some years that removal is going to be 1,100-1,200, and thats all based on opportunity,  he said. This partner has never consented to 5,500 as a stable population target that we have accepted and said we would accept at that point in time.

Apart from some tolerance areas outside of the park, the state of Montana largely does not tolerate free-moving bison across its landscape. Thats because Yellowstone bison can carry brucellosis, and the disease could have significant economic consequences for the states livestock producers and industry.

Bison reproduce quickly, so to keep numbers steady in Yellowstone, park staff trap some of the animals annually during a natural migration in the winter. They send some bison to slaughter, and others are sent to quarantine, then shipped to tribal lands. Some bison are killed in state and tribal-regulated hunts outside of the park.

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The last few years have revealed long-standing, enormous structural problems with affordable and accessible healthcare. The pandemic increased Montanans need for responsive, dependable care while at the same time putting a sharp focus on just how hard medical bills can hit a family that is already struggling.

The pandemic is hitting Native people in Montana the hardest. Reservation borders were rightfully closed by some Tribes to protect their members from yet another virus threatening to devastate our communities. Unfortunately, the pandemic exacerbated the high rates of unemployment and poverty that our communities already experience.

Most people arent familiar with health care systems in Native communities. In addition to receiving a much lower number of services through IHS (Indian Health Services) on reservations, Native people also have to travel farther for more specialized care, and then deal not only with the hassles of Medicaid, Medicare, and hospital billing, but also with the IHS system itself. Native people are often thrust  either by accident or by irresponsible billing practices  into massive medical debt.

Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcies in the United States and Montana ranks 17th in the country for unpaid medical debt. This debt also affects People of Color more than their White counterparts. Add to this the fact that 43% of Native people are uninsured, and you have a recipe for debt and disaster resulting in nearly 27% of the Native community in Montana being weighed down by medical debt; compared to 13% of Montanas white population.

Whats worse, the avenues by which some people can pay down medical debt  taking out loans, using a credit card, etc., which no one should have to do  are often unavailable to Native people due to low incomes, unemployment, and racial discrimination in the banking, credit, and loan industries. This means that even a small amount of medical debt, like a few hundred dollars, can be insurmountable for a Native person and their family. Imagine what happens when the hospital bill you receive is for nearly $200,000 and an individual is threatened with legal action if they cant pay it immediately. Imagine then the anger and distrust you would feel toward the health care system when you find out it was a hospital billing error that caused all of the trouble. This has happened in Montana more often than one might think.

Native people are promised adequate health care and cost coverage by the U.S. government. That promise is constantly broken by poor service coverage, lack of service availability through IHS, and the lengths we have to go to identify and access decent care. Western Native Voice, as an organization, fights tooth and nail to pass policies like Medicaid expansion  something that is supported by nearly two-thirds of Montanans  in order to open up access to health care for Native people in Montana. Put simply, the Federal Government must do something about health care costs and toxic billing practices so Native people dont go further into debt and then be pursued by hospitals, insurance companies, and other debt collectors. It needs to fulfill its legal and moral obligation to native populations.

A recent survey demonstrates that more than four-in-five voters (82%) agree the amount they pay for health care goes up every year. A majority of those surveyed also said theyve struggled to pay a medical bill at one time. While Montanans favor caution regarding big changes to the healthcare system in the short term, theyre very clear that permanently expanding Medicaid (63%) and lowering health care costs (49%) are necessary steps.

Native people in Montana need the state and federal government to fulfill its obligation to provide healthcare to Tribes. Whether it be by permanent Medicaid expansion or other means, there needs to be a concerted effort to lower costs and ensure that Native people are not subject to exorbitant medical bills and/or pursued unfairly by hospitals and insurance companies. It is necessary to ensure the health of our states Native communities.

Ronnie Jo Horse is executive director of Western Native Voice.

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MUSCATINE  Since 2017, Land of Oz has served arcade game enthusiasts in Muscatine and around the globe, while keeping the legacy of one of Muscatines former arcades alive.

My dad worked at the Land of Oz Arcade back in 1983, and I was in there pretty much every day, owner Mike Rankins said. He showed me how to work on some of the machines.

To better serving local customers as well as those who travel for in-person games, Mike and his wife, Lee Rankins, have moved Land of Oz to 215 West 2nd St. Muscatine.

(Our former location) was very small, Lee explained. We needed something a lot bigger.

The couple started their business out of their garage, driven by Mikes passion for arcade games and a desire to start a project after their children moved out of the house.

Land of Oz has grown, delivering its products around the world while keeping a home-base location.

We hope that more traffic comes through here, Mike said. His goal is to add uniqueness to the block.

The Rankins products remain the same  custom arcade cabinets and dart boards, refurbished pinball machines, drivable coolers and Land of Oz-brand apparel.

Everything about our arcade cabinets are brand-new, so all the wiring that goes in them is brand-new. People can choose what cabinet they want, what they want on the cabinet and they can put up to 5,000 games in each cabinet, Lee said, adding that the array of games within the machines can span from classic arcade games to Atari, NES and SNES games, depending on what the customer wants.

Land of Oz will track down specific pinball machines for customers, sand down and shine its edges, replace the lightbulbs with safer and brighter LED lights, test the wires and do other maintenance before delivering it. Custom dart boards include a custom design for its exterior and smart touch-screen that plays music and makes it easy to keep score.

(What makes us so appealing) are probably our product offering and the quality of our products, Mike said. We manufacture everything ourselves and thats a big bonus versus just reselling something. We have a really fun and unique store here, youre not going to see any of this in any retail store from here to New York.

It can be stressful to own your own business at times, but its also very rewarding, Lee added.

For more information, visit www.landofozarcades.com or its Facebook page, @Arcade3110.

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MUSCATINE  Muscatine City Council members this week endorsed a proposal to provide tax incentives to build a $9 million five-story, mixed-use development of apartments and retail along the riverfront.

Council members reached a consensus during a special meeting Thursday to move ahead with an agreement with Merge Urban Development Group to develop Carver Corner, and voted unanimously to support Merges application for state tax credits to help finance the project.

The revised project proposed by Merge Managing Partner Brent Dahlstrom would construct a five-story complex on the site, between Hershey Avenue and Green Street. Muscatine has invested close to $750,000 in the area through direct costs and soft costs such as maintenance since the city acquired the former Carver Pump property in the 1990s.

If the project is realized, Merge, a Cedar Falls-based development team that works exclusively on real estate projects within Qualified Opportunity Zones in the Midwest, will buy the property from the city. Merge has also requested the city over 15 years divert 90% of the increase in tax revenues generated by the new development back to the developer in form of a tax refund to help finance the project.

If we want to apply for the workforce housing credits from the state of Iowa, we have to have a resolution of support from the city, and that allows us to enter into the competitive application process, Dahlstrom said. Last year about 30% of the applicants were selected so were hopeful to move this project forward. With rising construction costs its kind of a must to win this award.

Merge plans to build a five-story, mixed-use building with 56 apartments units above 6,000 square feet of ground-level retail space. The building would include 1- and 2-bedroom units with sizes from 450 square feet to 1,000 square feet.

Community development director Jodi Royal-Goodwin said that, as council directed, her department had reached back out to Merge to continue discussions on the development. In 2019 Merge was the only respondent to the city of Muscatines request for proposals for the redevelopment of Carver Corner. During the Oct. 3, 2019, meeting, the council voted to withdraw from discussions with Merge. During the Oct. 10, 2019 meeting, the council reconsidered and voted to move ahead with the proposal, only to find Merge had withdrawn.

Dahlstrom commented that the national average for rent on such apartments is $1,400 per month. He believes the apartments in the building would be rented for $850 to $1,500 per month. During a public hearing on moving ahead with the citys support of the application, resident Freedom Malek-Roberts said she would like to see the cost of rent capped at one-third of the average monthly salary. No council members made any motion in that regard.

Royal-Goodwin said the details of the development agreement still need to be worked out. She commented the standard TIF agreement the city made was 50% for 10 years, but also said that there have been several projects where the city has given much more.

Council member John Jindrich asked about the creation of a green zone during the initial project. Dahlstrom responded that the inclusion of green space could be made part of the development agreement.

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The Makowski brothers have always relished the natural beauty of their hometown and are now building an attraction that looks to emphasize it to visitors and locals.

The Land of Natura  a five-phase, 150-acre, $60 million development described by the three owners (Adam, Rich and Dave) as a natural adventure park  will feature a carved-out lake with an adjacent small, man-made mountain. The 40-acre first phase, which will include a canopy tour through part of the park, will open this summer.

Currently under construction, the new attraction will be located along the Lower Dells of the Wisconsin River close to downtown Wisconsin Dells on Grand Cambrian Drive (soon to be renamed Natura Drive) slightly west of Wisconsin Highway 16.

Our whole lives we grew up here, living 40-some years here and second generation, said Dave Makowski.

The brothers emphasized how they wanted to bring their family history of living in the Dells area to their newest development.

Its based on where the fun comes naturally, said Rich Makowski.

The entire attraction will take between three to five years to complete and will feature enough material to be open year-round by its completion, including many indoor activities, the brothers said.

Natura Treescape Resort, Hot Rocks restaurant, and The VUE are all owned by the Makowskis and located in the city. Visitors to The Land of Natura will receive preferred overnight rates at the resort properties, including Aloha Beach Resort, located in Lake Delton.

Bluff outcroppings, woodlands, marsh, prairie, rock formations and rolling topography all make up the large parcel of land where The Land of Natura will be located, fronting 2,000 feet of the Wisconsin River that will have boat docks.

The carved-out lake  dubbed Lake Wisconsin Dells  will be a 5-acre body of water filtered naturally by plants and beneficial bacteria and have no chlorine. It will be 20 feet deep in the middle and will feature Americas Largest Floating Waterpark, according to a March release from Natura Destinations and the attractions website.

A large assortment of inflatables and slides ranging from 100 feet to 150 feet off of Mt. Natura  the 60-feet-high mountain adjacent to Lake Wisconsin Dells  will make up the waterpark built on the lake, as well as a forest-themed splash pad with a dump bucket that looks like a ladybug with leaves, according to the release. Lake Wisconsin Dells will also feature a sand beach and volleyball court along with a walking path and backyard games.

What were doing is creating basically this natural playground as an attraction, Adam Makowski said. Thats why we called it The Land of Natura adventure park.

An 1,100-foot, self-guided canopy tour will take guests through the wooded area near the river on the south end of the park. Bridges and walkways suspended off the ground will run from tree to tree with themed platforms to blend in.

It takes you through the treetops at basically 20-30 feet up in the air through the forest, Adam Makowski said.

A similar attraction is located between two trees at Natura Treescape Resort, which also features a small pond with a natural filtration system as well as a mini slide into the pond.

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The supporters of a charter school planned for downtown Napa will take their case to California authorities, after being turned down by a local school district and county education office.

The nonprofit foundation organizing the Mayacamas Charter Middle School will appeal to the State Board of Education for the right to open the self-governing grade 6-8 academy in downtown Napa, according to Jolene Yee, a lead petitioner for the project.

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Petitioners moved ahead with the appeal after the charter was voted down by the Napa Valley Unified School District board in December, and again on appeal by trustees of the Napa County Office of Education last month. Opponents on the board, and a department study of the project, predicted Mayacamas creation would cut into NVUSD's attendance-based education funding from the state by draining off students, and risk contributing to program cuts and layoffs at other district schools.

In a news release Thursday afternoon, the Napa Foundation for Options in Education again blasted the Napa school district for what it called multiple, substantial, and prejudicial abuses of discretion as its staff recommended against approving the charter school, which has been slated to open this August with about 180 students and gradually raise enrollment to 336 by its fifth year.

Napa County Office of Education rejects petition for Mayacamas charter school The Tuesday vote was the second setback for the proposed charter academy, which the Napa school district vetoed in December.

When the county education board voted 5-2 against granting a charter to Mayacamas, it failed to support its decision with factual findings as required and did not provide them until days later, the foundation said in its statement.

Mayacamas organizers had appealed to NCOE after the Napa school board voted unanimously Dec. 9 against the charter school, citing what members described as poor planning, a shaky financial plan, and over-optimistic forecasts of enrollment growth while student numbers decline elsewhere in the school district.

Spokespeople for the Mayacamas charter have said the school would provide an alternative for young teens needing a small-school atmosphere with closer teacher attention to thrive, and also will offer a technology-focused education based on the model of Napas existing New Technology High. Supporters also have warned that rejecting such alternative schools would accelerate NVUSDs years-long enrollment loss by pushing more parents to enroll their children in private schools, or turn to homeschooling.

Napa school board rejects proposed Mayacamas Charter Middle School NVUSD's seven trustees all voted against the petition, which would have created a self-governing middle school in time for the 2022-23 year.

If approved for a charter, Mayacamas would operate inside the building at 983 Napa St. that housed St. John the Baptist Catholic School before it closed in 2020.

A message left late Thursday with NVUSD Superintendent Rosanna Mucetti was not immediately returned. Schools in the Napa district are closed this week for spring break.

NCOE spokesperson Seana Wagner declined to comment about the Mayacamas school foundation's latest appeal. Beyond the NCOE board's March ruling, "we do not have additional input to provide at this time," she said in an email Thursday.

New Napa middle school planned for St. Johns downtown school building These Napans hope to open a new charter middle school at the old St. John's elementary campus downtown.

Other local charter academies like River Middle School and the Napa Valley Language Academy have been taken under direct district control in recent years, and River is scheduled to close in June, to be replaced by the English-Spanish language academy Unidos Middle School. NVUSDs only active charter is Stone Bridge, which operates in east Napa on the former campus of Mt. George Elementary.

You can reach Howard Yune at 530-763-2266 or hyune@napanews.com
Stuffing Easter baskets, adding rows of extra chairs and making room to display oodles of lilies.

Such is life for Napa churches and congregations in the days before Easter Sunday.

Each parish or congregation has its own plan for Easter, depending on size and capabilities. Some churches plan to gather outside only. Others are opening the doors for inside, mask-optional seating. All are certain of one thing: they are glad to welcome worshipers again.

Its been an interesting two years, said Stacy Marks, a children and family pastor at Napas Hillside Christian Church. The church is located at 100 Anderson Road, near the Napa Valley Commons development.

Yes, Hillside held in-person Easter services last year, but We were still outdoors, she said, referring to the requirement in April 2021 that groups gather outdoor only. This Sunday, for the first time in two years, Hillside will offer indoor Easter services.

Theres a new excitement in all areas of life as we are reengaging with simple things, such as vacations and families, said Marks.

Yes, You see nervousness in people everywhere  but Ive (also) seen gratefulness when people come to service, said Marks. Being able to gather in person, is filling a void that was lost for so many of us.

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Marks noted that the church follows all state COVID requirements. It also maintains sanitizing stations for guests. And a number of members still choose to wear a mask, which is fine, said Marks.

Yes, Some people are still cautious with COVID, but I think in general the celebration of Easter is what people are looking forward to, said Marks.

Marks said that before the pandemic Hillside might expect 1,500 people on Easter Sunday, over three services.

For this Easter Marks said shes expecting roughly around 800, between two Easter services. Besides lingering COVID concerns, she also thinks that because the local public school spring break ends April 18, more families might have gone out of town until Monday.

Regardless, We added extra chairs to the auditorium for sure.

One big change that continues is that Hillside will live stream the gatherings on Facebook and other platforms.

Streaming services, which largely began during the pandemic, has given the world an opportunity to attend any church almost. Its a different world thats for sure.

Deacon Joe Oberting of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Napa said St. Johns will also welcome parishioners inside on Easter Sunday. Masks are no longer required and seating is no longer limited, as it was in Easter 2021.

People can come until seats are full, said Oberting. Hand sanitizing stations remain in place.

We welcome everyone to come back and theres no better time to come back than Easter Sunday to celebrate, said Oberting.

The deacon, who is also the financial officer for the whole diocese, said hes hearing that most people are comfortable gathering in person again. But its our most elderly (who) are still weighing whether or not to come back.

Attendance at St. Johns Catholic Church is back up to about 90% of pre-COVID rates. Notably, donations are about back to pre-COVID levels.

Thats very edifying, he said. I dont think that religion has been forgotten. It is important in peoples lives.

Oberting said St. Johns can hold about 1,100 people total, and predicted it will be full for the Easter vigil and Spanish masses. These days, 80 to 90% of all St. Johns parishioners are Hispanic and Latino, said Oberting. English masses on Easter should be about 70 to 80% of capacity.

The Rev. Joanne Martindale, the interim pastor at First Presbyterian Church on Third Street, said the historic church is very busy with a plethora of activities during the week, including reenacting the Lords Supper, Good Friday and Easter Sunday service, but also funerals and a wedding.

Shes happy that masks are now optional. Everyone was masked last Easter, she said.

In Easter 2021, we (took) everyones temperature, and all who attended had to register in advance or at the door, in case contract tracing became necessary. This Easter, were not doing that, Martindale said. Sanitizer is available and masks optional.

Martindale said First Presbyterian has about 250 members and 125 to 150 usually attend Sunday services.

My guess well get over 200 for Easter, she said.

Some people definitely want to be in the sanctuary for Easter. But we do have a group of people, more elderly, and they still arent comfortable coming in.

For that reason, the church continues its Zoom and YouTube coverage. You can watch it live or later. Whatever way you want to do it; theres a lot of options for people.

In fact, we do have some people that are very faithful to come to church but they are also looking at other churches too on Zoom, or other streaming platforms. Some want to go to three church services. You can do that nowadays with Zoom. You can get church from your living room.

Martindale said the church has gained about 12 members recently. But Ive done equally as many funerals.

We lost people during COVID and (some) havent made it back, she said. Its tough, but were getting there.

Its been a hard two and half years, said the Rev. Jay Lang, senior minister and spiritual director at the Napa Valley Center for Spiritual Living.

Im really excited that were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Lang said that his members have been meeting indoors.

However, with seating arrangements spread further apart for social distancing, only about 40 people can typically sit inside the Coombs Street center.

So on Easter, members will sit outdoors in the courtyard where we can handle probably 200 people.

There will be sanitizing stations And people can wear masks if they want to.

How does it feel to be back to a normal Easter season?

I think the community is feeling more relaxed about it and they can be more joyful in their celebrations. Theyre excited about connecting and being able to see each other.

Theres no better time to reconnect with a faith community, he said. After all, Easter is really about transformation and opening up the newness in their life.

Jehovahs Witnesses dont celebrate Easter, but a church representative recently announced that for the first time in two years, all congregations of Jehovahs Witnesses across the world were encouraged to begin holding in-person meetings starting April 1.

Napa residents Brian and Kristin Tucker are eager to return to their Napa congregation of Jehovahs Witnesses, they said.

For the 33 years, they have been married, they have attended meetings together regularly  the last two years being over Zoom.

Theres nothing that replaces just being around people and the interaction you have with them, Brian Tucker said.

Rabbi Niles Goldstein, of Napas Congregation Beth Shalom, noted that Passover begins in the evening of Friday, April 15 and ends Saturday, April 23.

In past years we have done a community-wide Seder on the second night of Passover but unfortunately this year we made the decision not to do it because of COVID concerns, said Goldstein.

The Seder is a communal meal that involves a lot of singing and physical contact, he explained.

Its very disappointing but we really wrestled with it and decided there were too many issues related to having a big community meal this year. Were encouraging people to celebrate at home.

That makes it the third year in a row the congregation hasnt been able to host the community Seder and while were all disappointed, were trying to put health concerns at the forefront.

However, on Friday, April 22, the congregation is hosting a community Shabbat and Passover observance at the synagogue on Elm Street.

Instead of eating, sitting in close quarters and interacting throughout the entire service, well have some wine and Passover appropriate food at the very end.

We tried to find a compromise that was safe but also honors the holiday, said the Rabbi.

Goldstein said that members seem to feel comfortable about gathering in person these days.

More and more people are coming out to the woodwork, which Im happy about, he said. They want to be in the presence of members of their community.

You can reach reporter Jennifer Huffman at 707-256-2218 or jhuffman@napanews.com

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Two newly introduced bills could significantly impact the early education landscape in California if they eventually become law.

State Sen. Susan Rubio, D-Baldwin Park, is championing a bill to make kindergarten mandatory while Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, has introduced legislation that would require school districts to offer full-day kindergarten. While both proposals have been put forth before, if these two pieces of legislation pass, they would fundamentally redefine and expand key aspects of the kindergarten experience.

These proposals may be a sign of the times, some say, reflecting heightened attention to the importance of early childhood education. After years of being overshadowed by other concerns, early childhood issues might finally be getting the attention they deserve.

From President Joe Biden's vision of universal preschool to California's pending expansion of transitional kindergarten, experts say, there is an emerging consensus, buttressed by extensive research, that high-quality early education can help develop the skills children need to become lifelong learners.

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"I'm optimistic that our society as a whole is beginning to see the importance of early childhood education," said Gennie Gorback, president of the California Kindergarten Association. "We know that early childhood education increases successful outcomes for kids later in life."

Making kindergarten mandatory will help close the state's achievement gap, advocates say, because some children who skip kindergarten have a hard time catching up with their peers. Children from low-income families enter school with fewer academic skills than their more advantaged classmates, an issue heightened by the pandemic.

"Mandating kindergarten is beneficial to children in our state," said Patricia Lozano, executive director of Early Edge, an early education advocacy organization. "Through this mandate, California is saying that kindergarten matters. It sets an expectation for parents and students alike and prepares students for school success."

The vast gulf in skills that students bring with them when entering school is one of the key factors that struck Rubio in her 17 years as a public school teacher and principal. Some children come to school already knowing how to read while others have scarcely been read to. That gap widens over time, Rubio realized.

"I have witnessed the detrimental impact on young students who miss out on fundamental early education," said Rubio, who introduced the bill. "The voluntary participation in kindergarten leaves students unprepared for the educational environment they will encounter in elementary school. The pandemic has exacerbated this reality."

Kindergarten is not compulsory in California and most other states, according to the Education Commission of the States, a research group that tracks education policy. Children are required to be enrolled in school at age 6, however only an estimated 5 percent to 7 percent of students do not enroll in kindergarten, according to the California Kindergarten Association, in an average year.

The pandemic, of course, is a different matter entirely, and many parents have kept children of all ages out of school because of fear of Covid transmission. Even now, surges in the virus sometimes lead parents to choose safety over schooling.

Senate Bill 70, which would require all students to complete a year in kindergarten before entering first grade to ensure children are prepared for elementary school, now heads to the state Assembly after passing in the Senate in a bipartisan vote.

It should be noted that a similar mandatory kindergarten bill passed the Legislature in 2014, but it was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown, who invoked the importance of parental choice.

"I would prefer to let parents determine what is best for their children," he said.

However, making kindergarten mandatory may be a way of signaling its significance, some say.

"If a grade isn't mandatory, it's seen as discretionary, and absences are higher," said Beth Graue, director of the Center for Research on Early Childhood Education at the University of Wisconsin. "It is hard to build a coherent curriculum if the experiences include children missing a grade level."

One central issue may be that kindergarten itself has changed over the years. While many parents may fondly remember the playful days of finger painting and naptime, research suggests children spend a smaller percentage of their day on activities like art, music and theater now than they once did. Kindergarten is now vital to prepare children for first grade, teachers say, which is more academically rigorous than it once was.

Another potential change in the state's kindergarten policy would be mandating that districts offer a full-day program. Proponents of the bill say more instruction time helps prepare students for first grade. Currently, some districts offer only part-day kindergarten.

"Full-day kindergarten gives students the time they need to engage in meaningful learning and play," McCarty said. "This can result in greater school readiness, self-confidence and student achievement compared to part-day programs."

Under Assembly Bill 1973, school districts would be required to offer full-day kindergarten programs to all students, starting in the 2025-26 school year. Schools would be able to offer part-day kindergarten in addition to the full-day program.

"We see study after study reporting better outcomes for children who attend a full-day program versus their peers who attend part-day," said Gorback. "We know that full-day programs are beneficial for our English language learners and our children who come from lower socio-economic backgrounds. We also know that full-day programs have more time to incorporate play into their schedule, which we see as incredibly important."

The concept of full-day kindergarten has also been broached before, notably in 2019 when Assemblymember Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, introduced Assembly Bill 197.

However, part-time kindergarten is preferred by some families, particularly those who believe a shorter school day is more developmentally appropriate for young children. That's one reason districts serving middle-class and affluent communities tend to offer part-day kindergarten, research shows, while poorer districts often offer full-day programs.

Nearly three-fourths of the state's elementary schools already offer full-day kindergarten, according to the Berkeley Early Childhood Think Tank. Since child care is often prohibitively expensive, only well-heeled families can afford to hire nannies, for instance, or arrange for a stay-at-home parent. That's why some experts say that expanding full-day kindergarten programs is unlikely to greatly impact low-income families.

"The governor and state lawmakers keep trumpeting the vital importance of narrowing disparities in early learning. But expanding full-day K would likely work against this virtuous aim," said Bruce Fuller, professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley. "Expanding full-day K would hold regressive effects, mostly benefiting economically better-off communities."
According to information published by Tass on April 15, 2022, the Lada-class submarine Kronstadt built by the Admiralty Wharves Shipyard has completed the second stage of its shipbuilder's sea trials.

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Russian Navy's Lada-class submarine Kronstadt (Picture source:   )

During the second stage which took place at ranges of the Gulf of Finland and lasted nine days, the submarine performed diving and its systems were checked.

After the submarine returns to the outfitting quay, the shipbuilders will start to prepare it for the third stage of its shipbuilder's sea trials.

The Admiralty Wharves Shipyard has already connected the hull structures of the third Project 677 submarine Velikiye Luki. Metal cutting work continues for the fourth and the fifth submarines. A contract for their construction was signed between the Admiralty Wharves Shipyard and the Defense Ministry in June 2019 at the Army 2019 forum.

The Project 677 submarine is a fourth-generation diesel-electric sub recognized as the most advanced conventional sub in terms of combat effectiveness and other performance characteristics. The Admiralty Wharves Shipyard is the sole manufacturer of submarines of this class.

Kronstadt is 68 m long and has a submerged displacement of 2,650 t. The submarine features a full underwater speed of 21 knots and a surface range of 6,000 nautical miles at a speed of 7 knots.

The combatant is armed with six 533 mm torpedo launchers and has a 37-strong crew. Unlike underwater combatants of previous generations, the Project 677 submarine can fire cruise missiles in salvo mode against sea targets.

She is fitted with a modern combat management system, cutting-edge sonar unit, new anti-sonar coating, and externally mounted extendable subsystems.
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Armenia has started paying in Russian rubles for the Russian natural gas. The minister of economy of Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, said this in an interview with RBC.

"As far as I know, the last few payments were made in rublesbut in accordance with the corresponding exchange rate," Kerobyan said.

According to him, the pricing is done in US dollars, but the payment is made in Russian rubles.

"Indeed, Gazprom's contract for the supply of [natural] gas to Armenia enables to pay for gas in rubles for several years now, and this opportunity is being used," Russian Gazprom company's official representative Sergey Kupriyanov told RBC.

Gazprom is the only supplier of natural gas that is sold to the consumers in Armenia.

In an interview with RBC, Kerobyan said that "there is an understanding" that "there is a need to move toward national currencies in the calculations between the EEU members," and "there is progress on the Russian side in that regard."

"The Armenian dram or the Kazakh tenge should not be ruled out as a possible means of payment. We believe that the central banks of the [EEU member] countries should create a corresponding environment for payments to be made in national currencieswith exchange rate visibility or predictability," he added.
The next meeting of the Special Representatives of Armenia and Turkey may take place in Vienna. Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan stated about this in an interview with Armenpress news agencyand regarding the process of the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations.

There is a preliminary understanding between the sides that the next meeting may take place in Vienna. As soon as the date and the place of the meeting are finally confirmed the public will be informed properly, Hunanyan said.

And when asked about Armenias position on the Turkish foreign ministers statementduring and interviewthat they would like the aforesaid meeting to take place in Armenia or Turkey, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson said as follows:

During the previous attempts of normalization, the meetings were held in Armenia and Turkey, both at the level of negotiators and even presidents, but, as you know, no result has been achieved. I mean, the important thing is the political will to reach a normalization and the readiness to undertake clear concrete steps. We demonstrate both, and we expect the same from Turkey. If there is a will, the place of the meeting will become a purely logistic issue.

Moreover, the proposal of holding the meetings of the special representatives in Armenia and Turkey indicates that in Turkey's perception, the process is solely bilateral. In this case, it would be logical not to observe almost weekly statements of the representatives of Turkey that they advance the process in coordination with Azerbaijan.

As for Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu's statement that "courageous" steps are needed for the normalization of Armenia-Turkey relations, the Armenian foreign ministry spokesperson noted as follows:

The Armenian side fully concurs with the need for making courageous steps. We have numerously showed readiness to move forward, including with the participation of our Foreign Minister in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum and the lifting of the economic embargo. The restoration of flights between Armenia and Turkey was also an important bilateral step.

We are convinced that the only path for moving forward implies continuous, clear steps. For example, we offered the Turkish side, for the first phase, to open the land border for persons holding diplomatic passports, however the Turkish side is delaying. We believe that this would be a small but substantive, most importantly logical step. We are hopeful that it will be possible to achieve results in this issue.
Israeli security forces broke into the Al-Aqsa mosque complex in Jerusalem before dawn, when thousands of Palestinians had gathered for prayer during the holy month of Ramadan. At least 67 Palestinians were injured in the clashes, AP reported.

The clashes come after three tense weeks of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank. Al-Aqsa is the third holiest site in Islam. The Jews call it the Temple Mount, referring to the two temples said to have stood there in antiquity. A sacred place for Jews and Muslims, it often became the epicenter of Israeli-Palestinian riots.

Collisions occur at a particularly sensitive time. Ramadan this year coincides with Passover, the main Jewish holiday that begins on Friday at sunset, and the Christian Holy Week, which culminates on Easter Sunday. During these holidays, tens of thousands of believers are expected to gather in the Old City of Jerusalem, where the main places sacred to all three religions are located.

Videos circulating online show Palestinians throwing rocks and police using tear gas and stun grenades.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency Service said it had evacuated 67 people to hospitals after being hit by rubber bullets, stun grenades or beaten with batons.

Israeli police said three officers were injured in a massive stoning and two were evacuated from the scene for medical treatment.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said dozens of masked men carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags marched to the compound early Friday morning and collected rocks.

Police were forced to enter the area to disperse the crowd and remove stones to prevent further violence, the statement said.

The police assured that they waited for the end of the prayer. The statement said the crowd began hurling rocks at the Western Wall, a nearby Jewish shrine, forcing the police to act. They assured that they did not go into the mosque itself.

The Palestinians view any police deployment to Al-Aqsa as a major provocation.

Tensions have risen sharply in recent weeks following a series of attacks by Palestinians that have killed 14 people. Israel has carried out a wave of arrests and military operations in the occupied West Bank, causing clashes with the Palestinians.
The Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict has never been and will never be an issue of any territorial claims for Armenia. Eduard Aghajanyan, Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and an MP from the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, stated about this during Fridays press briefings in the NA.

According to the MP of Armenias ruling force, the basis of the aforesaid conflict is the rights and security of the people of Karabakh, and their chance to live and create in their homeland.

"In that context, the status of Karabakh has always been a means of exercising those rights," Aghajanyan added.

The parliament of Artsakh on Thursday discussed at a special sitting its statement addressed to the authorities of Armenia and Russia, as well as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. In it, the Karabakh MPs demand that Armenias authorities renounce their catastrophic position of giving up the interests of Nagorno-Karabakh. Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia had stated that the international community demands from the Armenian side to "lower the bar" in the Artsakh issue.
There is no and cannot be any political process going on behind the Armenians of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Eduard Aghajanyan, Chair of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations and an MP from the ruling majority Civil Contract Faction of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, stated about this during Fridays press briefings in the NA.

He noted that the people of Artsakh are the most important beneficiaries of the negotiation process for the settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Commenting on the statement adopted by the Artsakh parliament Thursday, Aghajanyan assumed that "Karabakh's colleagues have not fully understood the content of the speech of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, which was voiced from the rostrum of the National Assembly.

The MP of the ruling wing of Armenia could not find any other explanation for that statement.

"The whole current process is aimed at the implementation and protection of the legal rights of the people of Karabakh," Aghajanyan assured.

The parliament of Artsakh on Thursday discussed at a special sitting its statement addressed to the authorities of Armenia and Russia, as well as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. In it, the Karabakh MPs demand that Armenias authorities renounce their catastrophic position of giving up the interests of Nagorno-Karabakh. Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia had stated that the international community demands from the Armenian side to "lower the bar" on the Artsakh issue.
We join the statement adopted by the Karabakh National Assembly. Andranik Tevanyan, an MP from the opposition "Armenia" Faction of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, stated this during Fridays press briefings in the NA.

According to the lawmaker, thanks to that statement, the principle of "consensus minus one " was in fact approved in the parliaments of Armenia and Karabakh.

"In other words, Karabakh, on behalf of its parliament and the Armenian parliamentary opposition, is 100 percent against the approach that presupposes its [i.e., Artsakhs] inclusion in Azerbaijan. They present this approach is in a very vague way, using various types of manipulations," Tevanyan said.

The parliamentarian said that the current authorities in Armenia have openly stated that the solution of the issue should satisfy the people of Karabakh, whereas the people of Karabakh are against such a decision and consider the incumbent authorities of Armenia illegitimate.

"We must do everything so that the principle of 'consensus minus [Armenia PM] Nikol Pashinyan' turns into a final political result; that is, that resolution must be capitalized in political terms, "the opposition MP concluded.

The parliament of Artsakh on Thursday discussed at a special sitting its statement addressed to the authorities of Armenia and Russia, as well as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. In it, the Karabakh MPs demand that Armenias authorities renounce their catastrophic position of giving up the interests of Nagorno-Karabakh. Earlier, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia had stated that the international community demands from the Armenian side to "lower the bar" on the Artsakh issue.
Deliveries of some Apple products, as well as Dell and Lenovo laptops, are likely to face delays if China's COVID-19 lockdown continues as restrictions force manufacturers to shut down and the closed loop becomes harder to maintain, analysts told Reuters.

China's push to stop the spread of COVID-19 has overwhelmed highways and ports, shutting down countless factories while waiting for government approval to reopen. These disruptions extend to global supply chains.

Apple Inc supplier Pegatron Corp said this week it will suspend operations at its factories in Shanghai and Kunshan, where it manufactures the iPhone 13, the iPhone SE series and other legacy models, experts say.

Quanta Computer Inc, which makes about three-quarters of Apple Macbooks worldwide, has also stopped production, which could have a bigger impact on shipments.

The ultimate impact on Apple's supply chain is unclear and depends on factors including how long the lockdowns last.

The company may also consider moving production from Shanghai and Kunshan to factories elsewhere, such as Shenzhen, which is currently open, analysts said.

Apple may consider transferring orders from Pegatron to Foxconn, but we expect volume may be limited due to logistical issues and the difficulty of setting up hardware, said Taipei-based Eddie Khan, senior analyst at Isaiah Research.

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and Xpeng Inc executives noted the huge economic cost if factories in Shanghai are unable to resume production soon.

Shanghai is approaching its third week of lockdown and there are no signs of reopening yet.

Forrest Chen, research manager at Trendforce, told Reuters that if restrictions are lifted in a few weeks, there is still a chance of recovery.

However, if the lockdown lasts longer than two months, there is no way to recover. There will be a shortage, he said.

Some suppliers may change the production route.

Laptop makers could also be affected, including Compal Electronics Inc, a Taiwanese company that builds PCs for Dell Technologies Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd at its Kunshan factories. Chen estimates that approximately 50% of Compal's notebook production is located in Kunshan.
In case of opening the border between Armenia and Turkey, the effect of economic growth can be up to 30 percent. The minister of economy of Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, said this in an interview with RBCand when asked whether there is any calculation of the economic effect if the aforementioned border is opened.

"Our team and the Institute of Economics are thinking, working. In addition, we also have international expert assessments on this matter. We expect that after the opening [of the Armenia-Turkey border], the effect of economic growth can be up to 30 percent; this is the direct effect of unblocking [regional] communications.

We see that now, in fact, import from Turkey is possible and allowed to Armenia, whereas export is not; that is, we [i.e., Armenia] will only win in this respect.

Of course, the political component is very important for having long-term peace. And now we are holding intensive negotiations with neighboring countries on this matter," Kerobyan said.
Russian oil and gas cannot be replaced on the world market within a five to the ten-year horizon, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak told Energy Policy magazine.

Even statements about the termination of energy supplies from Russia lead to surges in prices on world markets, while physical restrictions are fraught with new historical records.

He noted that after the imposition of sanctions against Russia in March, an unprecedented rise in energy prices and high volatility was recorded.

At its peak, the cost of gas reached almost $4,000 per thousand cubic meters, oil was close to $140 per barrel, and coal was traded at $460 per ton. And experts are sure that this is not the limit. Today, the world energy markets continue to be in an uncertain state, the Deputy Prime Minister said.

Commenting on the plans to impose new sanctions on the import of Russian energy resources by Europe, Novak noted that the share of oil supplies to the EU countries from Russia reaches 30%, gas - 40%, and the share of Russian coal in total European imports is about a third of all purchases.

The resolution of the European Parliament on the ban on the import of Russian energy resources notes that the decision must be accompanied by an action plan aimed at guaranteeing the security of the EU energy supply. However, key players in the industry agree that it is unlikely that it will be possible to completely replace Russian oil and gas in the next 5-10 years, he added.

He noted that in Europe they tried to reduce dependence on Russian gas with the help of coal, the price of which has also increased.

The rapid return to coal generation is taking place against the backdrop of statements by the EU countries on the decarbonization of the economy and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. According to the International Energy Agency, global carbon dioxide emissions in 2021 increased by an average of 6% and reached a record 36.3 billion tons. One of the leaders was the US and the EU with rates of about 7%. The main reason for the growth in emissions was just the use of coal, Novak commented, adding that Germans began to massively stock up on firewood.

At the same time, in March in Europe, there was a drop in electricity generation due to wind generation. For example, in the week from March 14 to March 20, wind farms provided an average of 17% of electricity generation in the EU, and on March 29 this figure fell to 7.5%, the lowest value since the end of December.

OPEC said they would not be able to compensate for the decline in Russian oil supplies to the world market.
The Georgian government on Friday published a questionnaire sent by the European Union, which will start a discussion on the start of negotiations on the republic's accession to the EU. The document contains issues related to the constitutional system of the republic, the principle of separation of branches of power and the rule of law.

In a document published in English on the website of the Georgian government, the EU asks how balanced the executive, legislative and judicial powers are. The European Union is also interested in the work of the Constitutional Court, the principles for the appointment of judges and the level of its independence.

Separate sections are devoted to the principles of work of the parliament, government and the judiciary as a whole. The republic's authorities will also have to answer questions related to civil society and the openness of state institutions. The European Union also expects from Georgia a description of the anti-corruption policy pursued in the country. The EU is interested in how fundamental human rights are protected in the country: the right to life, the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, the principle of inviolability of private and family life, the right to found a family, freedom of speech, media, political parties, religion.

The government will also have to answer questions such as the right to education, the right to property, equality between men and women, children's rights. The questionnaire also deals with the fight against xenophobia and racism, the protection of personal data. A separate chapter is devoted to economic issues. In particular, what are the macroeconomic stability of the country, the state of the financial sector, the business environment, and the influence of the state on the production market.

The EU handed over the questionnaire to Georgia on Monday. The document contains 369 questions. Georgian authorities hope to send responses in May.

The Georgian opposition has repeatedly taken the initiative to publish a questionnaire so that the residents of the republic would be clear what answers the government plans to prepare. However, the authorities referred to the fact that the document had been handed over on a confidential basis.

The European Commission's recommendation to the Council of the EU to launch negotiations on admission to the community is the first official step towards accession. Next, the country must agree with the European negotiators on a set of conditions or negotiating chapters to be met. The negotiation process can take anywhere from a few years to an indefinitely long period. Finland went the fastest way - in three years, - the longest - Turkey, which launched negotiations on joining the EU in the fall of 2005, at present, the prospect of their completion is not visible.
Int'l community voices concerns over Japan's planned release of radioactive wastewater

Xinhua) 07:51, April 15, 2022

People protest against Japan's decision to dump radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean outside Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea, April 14, 2021. (Photo by Xu Ruxi/Xinhua)

*It has been a year since Japan unilaterally announced its decision to dump radioactive wastewater accumulated at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

*Politicians, experts, and civic activists around the world have voiced their concerns.

BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Japan continued to push forward with its plan to discharge radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea despite a host of local and international opposition.

"The contaminated water released into the ocean will spread across the entire Pacific Ocean in 10 years and affect almost all of our sea," said South Korean Rep. Seo Sam-seok at a forum on Monday to seek ways of cooperating with neighboring countries to tackle Japan's plan to dump the nuclear wastewater next spring.

"Marine pollution will be inevitable, so the government and political circles should proactively act for the safety of the people," he added.

Civic activists in South Korea also voiced their concerns through protests. The Pohang Citizens Behavior, composed of six civic groups and residents, held a protest rally against Japan's plan last week. The port city is forecast to be one of the hardest-hit fishing areas by the polluted water.

The current Moon Jae-in government has banned imports of marine products caught in Japanese waters near Fukushima prefecture.

People protest against Japan's decision to dump radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean outside Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea, April 14, 2021. (Photo by Xu Ruxi/Xinhua)

The Japanese government's decision would cause danger to the safety of the maritime environment of the neighboring countries, said Anna Malindog-Uy, researcher of Philippine-BRICS Strategic Studies, noting the decision was made "unilaterally without sufficient consultation with neighboring countries."

"If something goes wrong with the sad plan, developing countries like the Philippines, like my country, we're surely be adversely affected and left on their own to suffer the negative consequences," she added.

"Japan should think twice before proceeding with its plan and prudently consult with countries that will directly be affected by such a decision," the researcher said.

The wastewater cannot be stripped of the radioactive element tritium by the two treatment methods used in Fukushima, namely filtering and chemical treatment, Maria Rosa Beccia, chemist and researcher at Cote d'Azur University, told La Croix newspaper.

Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar, pointed out that numerous scientific studies have linked radioactive elements contained in the water to public health risks.

"Given the interconnectedness of the world waterways and food systems, the move by Japan could see millions of people in faraway spaces, including Kenya, affected," he said.

"Japan is exposing the world to multiple and far-reaching consequences with the nuclear discharge," he added.

It has been a year since Japan unilaterally announced its decision to dump radioactive wastewater accumulated at the crisis-hit Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.

File photo taken on Oct. 12, 2017 shows huge tanks that store contaminated radioactive wastewater in Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. (Xinhua)

In December 2021, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant's operator, submitted an application to Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority with a detailed plan for discharging the contaminated water.

The controversial plan is proposed to begin in the spring of 2023.

The handling of the nuclear-contaminated water from Fukushima is not a private matter for Japan, said Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian. Instead, it bears on the marine environment and public health of the whole world.

Zhao added that Japan should heed the appeals of neighboring countries and the international community and rescind its decision to dump the water into the sea.

"It mustn't wantonly start the ocean discharge before reaching consensus with stakeholders and relevant international institutions through full consultations," Zhao said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 15.04.22

Important processes are taking place in the opposition field after Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan opened up on Nagorno-Karabakh war developments and noted his responsibility and fault in it.

The PM said he was guilty of not publicly saying in 2018 and 2019 that all friends of Armenia expected it would surrender the 7 regions to Azerbaijan in any configuration and to lower the threshold for the Artsakh status.

And this causes discussions among the Armenian society.

Now the work is coordinated by one of opposition leaders Ishkhan Saghatelyan, who holds active meetings with political forces, Past.am reports.

But this time it is not about discussions, but about the division of the work to be done. According to Past.am, the largest opposition force that has adopted the policy is presenting an effective program.

Sources on the website report that the opposition will soon make a clear call, but before the announcement there is a lot of preparatory work that needs to be done for the fight to succeed.

Resistance is formed on all fronts.

We must stop this endless chain of losses, Ishkhan Saghatelyan wrote on his Facebook.

The two discussed the PM Nikol Pashinyans visit to Russia on April 19 and 20, including the signing of a package of bilateral documents.

The FMs highlighted the future steps aimed at unblocking of transport communications in the region, demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Reference was made also to the prospects of agreeing upon a peace agreement between Yerevan and Baku, with the assistance of Russia.

The Azerbaijani and Turkish authorities have been sowing hatred towards everything Armenianand since childhood.

Earlier, a respective video was spread in which children in Azerbaijani kindergartens and schools were taught that their main enemy is the Armenians.

Within this Armenophobic policy, this time a group of Turkish schoolchildren were taken on a tour to the Azerbaijani-occupied Armenian city of Shushi, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

They even spent the night there, although earlier the Azerbaijani authorities had announced that they would allow only one-day visits to Shushi.

About 74,000 people have come to Armenia from Russia since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, the minister of economy, Vahan Kerobyan, told Russias RBC.

He noted that the number mainly includes the Armenian diaspora, while only 1,000-2,000 ethnic Ukrainians are now here.

As for the flow from Russia, according to the latest data, it is about 75 thousand peopleof which, again, about half have Armenian passports.

Meanwhile, the minister noted that Armenia has started paying in Russian rubles for the Russian natural gas.

According to him, the pricing is done in US dollars, but the payment is made in Russian rubles.

Kerobyan added that "there is an understanding" that "there is a need to move toward national currencies in the calculations between the EEU members," and "there is progress on the Russian side in that regard."

Earlier,Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian central bank, the government, and Gazprom to present proposals by March 31 for gas payments in rubles from "unfriendly countries," including all European Union states.

Russia is working out methods for accepting payments for its natural-gas exports in rubles and it will make decisions in due course should European countries refuse to pay in the Russian currency, the Kremlin said on March 28.
Starting with early voting on May 2, DeKalb County residents will be able to vote on Emorys Atlanta campus in the 1599 Building. Outside of the early voting period, DeKalb residents who have Emory University as their assigned polling place can vote here on election day. This includes students who live on campus. Parking is free during voting hours.

Emory students, faculty and staff have a long and storied history of civic participation, and this new on-campus polling site will serve individuals within Emory and along the Clifton Corridor as they exercise their right to vote, says Emory President Gregory L. Fenves. At Emory, we are proud to do our part in facilitating the democratic process and making voting more accessible.

Cameron Taylor, vice president of government and community affairs, adds, Emory is honored that DeKalb County selected our campus as a polling site. In March 2021, Emory announced the launch of our enterprise-wide community engagement strategy. Our goal is a deeper connection to our community; this is one way in which we are working toward that goal.

Increasing the Emory communitys engagement in the democratic process is the main goal of the Emory Votes Initiative (EVI), which started in 2018. EVI provides nonpartisan voter information, supports voter turnout and empowers the community with credible resources.

EVI offers several programs including voter registration, arranging rides to polling places, inviting guest lecturers to discuss civics issues and more. The initiative, which started as a grassroots project among students, faculty and staff, now has a full-time staff member and eight interns. Their latest effort, the Emory Votes Pledge, aims to get 10,000 students, faculty, staff and community members to commit to being registered and informed voters.

Part of being an anchor institution is implementing thoughtful ways we can give back to our community, says James Roland, senior director of civic and community engagement. Emory serves a tremendous public good by becoming a polling place, and it gives our neighbors a chance to see us giving back and upholding democratic values and institutions. It also opens up the opportunity for students to volunteer or be a part of the electoral process as poll workers.

EVI has increased voter turnout among Emory students from 17.9% in 2014 to 44.8% in 2018. For its continued efforts to support voter registration and education, Emory was recognized as a 2021-22 Voter Friendly Campus by Campus Vote Project and the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.

With the Georgia gubernatorial and midterm elections in November, EVI is ramping up voter education to make sure everyone has their voices heard. They are currently seeking student, faculty and staff volunteers to work in the 1599 Building during voting hours. They are also supporting DeKalb with poll worker recruitment; those interested in becoming poll workers will be employed and trained by the county.

Advance voting for the primary will take place May 2-20, Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Saturday advance voting days are May 7 and May 14 with available hours from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. Sunday advance voting days are May 8 and May 15 with available hours from noon until 5 p.m.

For more information about voter registration and election dates, visit the Secretary of States Office.
Chemists integrated computer functions into rolling DNA-based motors, opening a new realm of possibilities for miniature, molecular robots. Nature Nanotechnology published the development, the first DNA-based motors that combine computational power with the ability to burn fuel and move in an intentional direction.

One of our big innovations, beyond getting the DNA motors to perform logic computations, is finding a way to convert that information into a simple output signal  motion or no motion, says Selma Piranej, an Emory University PhD candidate in chemistry, and first author of the paper. This signal can be read by anyone holding a cell phone equipped with an inexpensive magnifying attachment.

Selmas breakthrough removes major roadblocks that stood in the way of making DNA computers useful and practical for a range of biomedical applications, says Khalid Salaita, senior author of the paper and an Emory professor of chemistry at Emory University. Salaita is also on the faculty of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, a joint program of Georgia Tech and Emory.

The motors can sense chemical information in their environment, process that information, and then respond accordingly, mimicking some basic properties of living cells.

Previous DNA computers did not have directed motion built in, Salaita says. But to get more sophisticated operations, you need to combine both computation and directed motion. Our DNA computers are essentially autonomous robots with sensing capabilities that determine whether they move or not.

The motors can be programmed to respond to a specific pathogen or DNA sequence, making them a potential technology for medical testing and diagnostics.

Tapping DNAs natural affinity

Another key advance is that each motor can operate independently, under different programs, while deployed as a group. That opens the door for a single massive array of the micron-sized motors to carry out a variety of tasks and perform motor-to-motor communication.

The ability for the DNA motors to communicate with one another is a step towards producing the kind of complex, collective action generated by swarms of ants or bacteria, Salaita says. It could even lead to emergent properties.

DNA nanotechnology takes advantage of the natural affinity for the DNA bases A, G, C and T to pair up with one another. By moving around the sequence of letters on synthetic strands of DNA, scientists can get the strands to bind together in ways that create different shapes and even build functioning machines.

The first rolling DNA-based motor

The Salaita lab, a leader in biophysics and nanotechnology, developed the first rolling DNA-based motor in 2015. The device was 1,000 times faster than any other synthetic motor, fast-tracking the burgeoning field of molecular robotics. Its high speed allows a simple smart phone microscope to capture its motion through video.

The motors chassis is a micron-sized glass sphere. Hundreds of DNA strands, or legs, are allowed to bind to the sphere. These DNA legs are placed on a glass slide coated with the reactant RNA, the motors fuel. The DNA legs are drawn to the RNA, but as soon as they set foot on it they erase it through the activity of an enzyme that is bound to the DNA and destroys only RNA. As the legs bind and then release from the substrate, they keep guiding the sphere along.

When Piranej joined the Salaita lab in 2018, she began working on a project to take the rolling motors to the next level by building in computer programming logic.

Its a major goal in the biomedical field to take advantage of DNA for computation, Piranej says. I love the idea of using something thats innate in all of us to engineer new forms of technology.

A biological computer chip

DNA is like a biological computer chip, storing vast amounts of information. The basic units of operation for DNA computation are short strands of synthetic DNA. Researchers can change the program of DNA by tweaking the sequences of AGTC on the strands.

Unlike a hard, silicon chip, DNA-based computers and motors can function in water and other liquid environments, Salaita says. And one of the big challenges in fabricating silicon computer chips is trying to pack more data into an ever-smaller footprint. DNA offers the potential to run many processing operations in parallel in a very small space. The density of operations you could run might even go to infinity.

Synthetic DNA is also biocompatible and cheap to make. You can replicate DNA using enzymes, copying and pasting it as many times as you want, Salaita says. Its virtually free.

Limitations remain, however, in the nascent field of DNA computation. A key hurdle is making the output of the computations easily readable. Current techniques heavily rely on tagging DNA with fluorescent molecules and then measuring the intensity of emitted light at different wavelengths. This process requires expensive, cumbersome equipment. It also limits the signals that can be read to those present in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Pairing computation with motion

Although trained as a chemist, Piranej began learning the basics of computer science and diving into bioengineering literature to try to overcome this hurdle. She came up with the idea of using a well-known reaction in bioengineering to perform the computation and pairing it with the motion of the rolling motors.

The reaction, known as toehold-mediated strand displacement, occurs on duplex DNA  two complementary strands. The strands are tightly hugging one another except for one loose, floppy end of a strand, known as the toe hold. The rolling motor can be programmed by coating it with duplex DNA that is complementary to a DNA target  a sequence of interest.

When the molecular motor encounters the DNA target as it rolls along its RNA track, the DNA target binds to the toe hold of the duplex DNA, strips it apart, and anchors the motor into place. The computer read out becomes simply motion or no motion.

When I first saw this concept work during an experiment, I made this really loud, excited sound, Piranej recalls. One of my colleagues came over and asked, Are you okay? Nothing compares to seeing your idea come to life like that. Thats a great moment.

Mimicking computer programs

These two basic logic gates of motion or no motion can be strung together to build more complicated operations, mimicking how regular computer programs build on the logic gates of zero or one.

Piranej took the project even further by finding a way to pack many different computer operations together and still easily read the output. She simply varied the size and materials of the microscopic spheres that form the chassis for the DNA-based rolling motors.

For instance, the spheres can range from three to five microns in diameter and be made of either silica or polystyrene. Each alteration provides slightly different optical properties that can be distinguished through a cell phone microscope.

The Salaita lab is working to establish a collaboration with scientists at the Atlanta Center for Microsystems Engineered Point-of-Care Technologies, an NIH-funded center established by Emory and Georgia Tech. They are exploring the potential for the use of the DNA-computing technology for home diagnostics of COVID-19 and other disease biomarkers.

Developing devices for biomedical applications is especially rewarding because its a chance to make a big impact in peoples lives, Piranej says. The challenges of this project have made it more fun for me, she adds.
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Story Highlights A global median of 33% approved of Russia's leadership in 2021

Approval was highest in Mali, at 84%

Fewer than one in 10 Danes, Swedes and Lithuanians approved, pre-invasion

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Before Russia's invasion of Ukraine this year, Russia's leadership remained relatively unpopular in most parts of the world, with a global median approval rating of 33% in 2021.

As unimpressive as this current rating seems, it's still a marked improvement from the 22% median approval rating in 2014, notably the last time Russia invaded Ukraine and ended up annexing Crimea. After Crimea, Russia's global reputation slowly started to improve, reaching as high as 34% in 2020.

These data come from Gallup surveys conducted in 116 countries and territories between April 2021 and January 2022. While these data were collected before Russia's invasion of Ukraine this year, they illustrate how Russia's leadership was positioned in the world as the conflict began.

Russia's Leadership Most Popular in Africa; Fewer Fans in Europe

Russia's leadership finds the most favor regionally in Africa, where a median 42% of the population approved in 2021.

African adults generally tend to rate the leadership of all major powers (the U.S., China, Russia and Germany) higher than adults in other regions do. However, among those countries, African adults were less likely to approve of Russia's leadership (42%) than those of the U.S. (60%), China (52%) or Germany (49%).

Russian leaders have attempted to reach out diplomatically and economically to Africa in recent years. However, their current 42% approval in Africa remains in the middle of the trend for the region and well below the 57% high in 2011.

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Median approval of Russia's leadership -- not surprisingly, given the current and past contentious relationship -- was the lowest in Europe, at 22%, among all geographic regions. This is on the higher end of the trend and well above the 14% low in 2014.

Many of these countries belong to NATO, among which median approval of Russia's leadership was similar to the European average, at 21%. Among most NATO member countries, approval in 2021 had recovered somewhat from record lows after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. Median disapproval among NATO countries jumped from 44% in 2013 to 67% in 2014 but had declined to 57% by 2021.

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Highest and Lowest Approval of Russia's Leadership

Given that Africa had the highest regional median approval of Russia's leadership, it is not surprising that many countries that give Russia's leadership the highest approval are located in this region. Malians were the most likely of any population to approve in 2021, with 84% of adults in that country saying so.

Countries in Russia's sphere also made the most-approving list -- as they typically do -- with 76% of Kyrgyzstanis, 73% of Mongolians, 69% of Uzbekistanis and 55% of Kazakhstanis approving of Russia's leadership. Traditional Russian ally Serbia was also among the countries with the highest approval levels, at 68%.

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In contrast, Russia's nearby European neighbors in Sweden, Denmark and Lithuania were the least likely to approve of Russia's leadership, with fewer than one in 10 doing so.

Ukraine is also not far from the bottom of the list. Before the invasion, 12% of Ukrainians approved of Russia's leadership.

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Bottom Line

Before the war in Ukraine, approval of Russia's leadership had largely recovered from the slump that occurred after the country's annexation of Crimea. However, it is likely that much, if not all, of that has been erased in the aftermath of Russia's invasion this year. The low level of approval for Russia's leadership likely eased the way for world leaders to take action to isolate the country from the global economy in the wake of the invasion.

The high levels of disapproval in Europe in particular may have helped make post-invasion sanctions on Russia more palatable for the publics in these countries, despite many European countries' dependence on Russian energy resources.

For other regions around the globe, especially Asia and Africa, higher approval levels for Russia's leadership and the impact on commodities markets because of the war in Ukraine and Russian sanctions may make isolating Russia a tougher sell with the public.

Read Gallup's latest Rating World Leaders report to see how the leadership of Russia, the U.S., Germany and China compare worldwide.

For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.


Zhang Li, deputy director of the Department of Support and Special Care of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of China, answers questions on preferential treatment cards for veterans and other special care recipients at a press conference on April 13, 2022. (Photo by Cao Shuhao/China.org.cn)

BEIJING, April 15 -- Chinas Ministry of Veterans Affairs (MVA) held a press conference on April 13 to answer questions on the application and issuance of preferential treatment cards for veterans and other special care recipients.

According to Zhang Li, deputy director of the Department of Support and Special Care of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, since the launch of preferential treatment certificates for veterans on December 14, 2021, the application and issuance work has been proceeding smoothly. As of the end of March, there were more than 2.6 million applications, of which more than 200,000 were approved.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs signed cooperation agreements with China UnionPay, Petro China, China Post, SF Group Ltd., Debon Logistics and China United Airlines on February 28. These enterprises promised to provide preferential and exclusive priority services for the cardholders based on the enterprises' respective domains.

Zhang Li emphasized that the MVA will further expand cooperation with enterprises and other parties in terms of the preferential treatment cards, and be committed to delivering care and support to the cardholders effectively.

It is reported that there are two types of preferential treatment certificates: "preferential treatment certificate for veterans of the People's Republic of China (PRC)", "preferential treatment certificate for families of martyrs, families of service members deceased on duty, and families of service members deceased due to disease".
Kennesaw State senior named Fulbright Scholar, headed to teach in Spain

KENNESAW, Ga. (Apr 15, 2022)  Kennesaw State University senior Sydney Tomlin has earned a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to teach English to students in a Model United Nations program in Spain starting in September. Tomlin said she took her first Spanish class in eighth grade and has had a passion for language since.

Tomlin, who has been a Presidents Emerging Global Scholar (PEGS) in KSU Journey Honors College during her time at the University, recently received an English Teaching Assistantship award through the Fulbright program and will spend the upcoming academic year with high school-aged students with Madrids Global Classrooms (Model UN) program. The Fulbright Scholarship is an award that recognizes the importance of building bridges between cultures. According to the Fulbright Committee, Tomlin is one of 30 grant recipients out of 2,000 English teaching assistants in Madrid.

Tomlins ability to achieve as much as she has during her college career and receive a Fulbright Scholarship before graduation illustrates the discipline and drive of KSU students, said Catherine Kaukinen, dean of the Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences.

Being able to boast on the success of hardworking students like Sydney is one of the prides of the job of a higher education leader, Kaukinen said. We look forward to seeing Sydney continue to excel during this once-in-a-lifetime experience and as an alumnus.

Michelle Miles, director of national and international scholarships and fellowships at KSU, called Tomlin a deeply valued member of KSU Journey Honors College who energized students and faculty alike.

Sydney has, first and foremost, a genuine vocation for language instruction, Miles said. She's committed to the fundamental link between communication and culture, and she recognizes the importance of immersing herself in both. Sydney is a natural, intuitive ambassador. Her passion for learning from others and sharing her own experiences and insights in turn immediately puts others in her company at ease.

In her time at Kennesaw State, Tomlin said her experiences in the Honors College, PEGS and developing relationships with her professors and college leaders have offered her opportunity, wisdom, support and encouragement to pursue her dreams.

KSU is quite a large institution, but with the professors we have access to, we as students certainly have the chance to receive a personalized educational experience, she said.

Tomlin is a Modern Language and Culture major with a concentration in Spanish and Foreign Language Education in the Department of World Languages and Cultures. She is finishing her student-teaching experience at Kell High School, before graduating from KSU on May 12.

Shortly after graduating, Tomlin will be the lead Spanish teacher for Horizons Atlantas summer program at KSU while she prepares to move to Spain in September.

In partnership with more than 140 countries, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers opportunities in all academic disciplines to graduating college seniors, graduate students and young professionals from all backgrounds. Program participants pursue graduate study, conduct research, or teach English abroad.

More than 2,200 U.S. students and 900 U.S. college and university faculty and administrators are awarded Fulbright awards annually, according to the organization.

 By Thomas Hartwell

Photos submitted

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A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its nearly 43,000 students. With 11 colleges on two metro Atlanta campuses, Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia. The universitys vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 6 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.
Police arrest 73-year-old suspect after bank robbery

Police arrest 73-year-old suspect after bank robbery

Police said early on Friday morning that they had arrested a man suspected of robbing a bank in Yau Ma Tei, hours after the robbery took place.



Officers had earlier reported that a man robbed the bank on Nathan Road of HK$14,000 in cash some time after 3.30pm on Thursday, then fled. He had brandished a gun-like object, they said.



Superintendent Alan Chung of the Kowloon West regional crime unit said officers tracked down the 73-year-old suspect to a village house in Pat Heung in Yuen Long at around 11pm on Thursday.



He said they recovered some of the cash robbed from the bank and found the clothes the suspect wore during the robbery.



Chung also said the object the suspect had held was a toy gun.



The force said the man came from Singapore and has overstayed in Hong Kong for more than 10 years.



They said the suspect does not have a job and that his wife, who is a foreigner with a Hong Kong ID, is retired. They said they believe he committed the crime because he was in debt.



Officers said they believe the suspect is linked to a case at a pharmacy in July 2020 in which a man brandished a lighter, threatening robbery, but later fled.
S Korea to lift most Covid-19 curbs as Omicron wanes

A woman in Seoul walks among posters promoting social distancing on Friday. Photo: AFP

South Korea said on Friday it will drop most Covid-19 pandemic-related restrictions next week, including a midnight curfew on eateries, as an Omicron surge in cases shows signs of waning, although people will still have to wear masks.



From April 18, the midnight curfew on restaurants and other businesses will be scrapped, along with a cap on private gatherings which had been set at 10, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a coronavirus response meeting.



The government will also allow rallies and other events with 300 or more people, while removing a 70% cap on capacity at religious facilities.



"Wearing masks is still a very important means to protect ourselves," Kim said. "It is inevitable to maintain the indoor mask mandate for a considerable period of time."



On the wearing of masks outdoors, Kim said the government will review whether to lift the existing restriction in two weeks, depending on the virus situation.



As the country seeks a gradual return to normality, the government will completely remove the seven-day self-quarantine requirement for Covid patients from late May, according to Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol.



The number of coronavirus cases in the country appears to have passed its peak after hovering over 620,000 a day in mid-March, with daily infections falling to below 130,000 on Friday.



South Korea has largely managed to limit deaths and critical cases through widespread vaccinations, and has scaled back its once-aggressive tracing and containment efforts.



Nearly 87 percent of the country's 52 million population are fully vaccinated, with 64 percent having also received booster shots, according to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) data.



On Wednesday, the government announced its plan to expand the rollout of second Covid-19 booster shots for people over 60. (Reuters)
Health authorities on Friday reported 946 new Covid-19 infections  the first time in around two months the number of new cases has dropped below 1,000.Of the 946 figures, 471 cases were detected via PCR tests, while 475 were from self-tests. Eleven of the cases were imported.Officials also reported 67 more deaths, including those of 36 people who had passed away at public hospitals, in the past 24 hours. The youngest among them was an unvaccinated 59-year-old woman who had Takayasu's arteritis, a vascular disorder, and was suspected of having lung cancer.In all, 8,856 people infected with Covid-19 have died during the fifth wave and the latest fatality rate is 0.748 percent.Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan from the Centre for Health Protection said the infection figure is now relatively low compared to the peak period of the fifth wave, but still high compared with daily figures during the first to fourth waves of the pandemic.She added that the reproductive number of local cases, as measured by the University of Hong Kong, is now around 0.4, suggesting that the citys virus situation is no longer on an upward trend.However, she again urged people to wear masks and maintain personal hygiene when going out during the Easter Holidays, stressing that its possible the virus situation may rebound.Officials also said the government was suspending a flight operated by Qatar Airways from Doha to Hong Kong for a week from April 16 to 22, after four passengers on the flight tested positive for Covid after arrival._____________________________General Covid-19 situation: https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/ Covid-19 testing: https://www.communitytest.gov.hk/en/ Community testing notice: https://bit.ly/3ivX2Ce Community Clinics for Covid-19 patients: https://bit.ly/3q3tz6G RAT reporting platform: https://www.chp.gov.hk/ratp/ Vaccination programme: https://www.covidvaccine.gov.hk/sen/ Vaccination pass scheme: https://www.coronavirus.gov.hk/eng/vaccine-pass.html Hotline for Covid-positive patients: 1836 115
Russia has claimed that two Ukrainian helicopters were responsible for an attack on the border village of Klimovo in the Bryansk Region on Thursday, which left seven persons injured. The incident had earlier been attributed to the Ukrainian military by the region's governor. An update on the attack was given by Russia's Investigative Committee, which said it was treating the incident as a criminal conspiracy, RT reported. Its statement said two Ukrainian military attack helicopters crossed into the Russian airspace at around midday local time, flying at a low altitude. The aircraft fired heavy weapons at the village, delivering at least six strikes on residential buildings, the statement said. Seven people were injured and six houses were damaged in the attack, the investigators said. Earlier, health officials said a two-year-old boy and his mother, who is pregnant, were among the seven victims of the attack. Two people were said to be in a serious condition, RT reported. The attack was one of two separate incidents in the border area on Thursday that Russian officials blamed on Ukrainian forces. The second one was an alleged Ukrainian shelling of a border crossing some 40km southwest of Klimovo. Russian border guards said a group of some 30 refugees from Ukraine came under mortar fire as they were passing the checkpoint. On April 1, a similar Ukrainian air raid targeted an oil storage facility in the Russian city of Belgorod. Investigators reported that two helicopters fired at least four missiles, causing significant damage on the ground. The Russian Defense Ministry had warned on Wednesday that it may escalate military action in Ukraine if the country's military conducts more attacks on targets in Russia. "Decision-making centres" in Kiev may be targeted, the statement said. --IANS san/arm ( 305 Words) 2022-04-14-22:12:03 (IANS)
Sweden and Finland will lose part of their sovereignty while compromising their security if they join NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned on Friday, referring to the two nations expected requests for formal membership in the US-led military bloc. Sweden and Finland have long been close to the organisation but have maintained formal non-alignment with NATO since the Cold War. Both may soon apply for membership amid the ongoing security crisis in Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry has warned that Sweden and Finland would not gain anything by moving forward with the plan, RT reported. NATO membership "is unlikely to help build Sweden and Finland's international prestige", ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a comment released by Russia. She said the two nations will lose the opportunity to act as "conveyors of many constructive, unifying initiatives" as they did in the past. "Naturally, the choice belongs to the authorities of Sweden and Finland. But they should realise the consequences of such a move to our bilateral relations and the European security architecture, which currently is in a state of crisis," she added. The official argued that the two nations would become platforms used by NATO to threaten Russia and that neither they, nor the region of northern Europe as a whole, would benefit from it. She added that NATO membership "implies de facto surrender of a part of sovereignty in making decisions on defence, and also on foreign policy". Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian President and Prime Minister, who is currently the Deputy Chairman of the country's Security Council, had implied earlier this week that if the two nations joined the trans-Atlantic bloc, Russia would deploy nuclear weapons in the Baltic region. --IANS san/arm ( 299 Words) 2022-04-15-20:44:02 (IANS)
Former Pakistan cabinet minister Shireen Mazari has categorically said that former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan had never called the military for help to break the 'political deadlock' ensuing from the National Assembly deputy speaker's ruling against the no-confidence resolution moved by the joint opposition, Express Tribune reported. "Let me be clear. I am stating on record PM (Imran Khan) did not call military for help on 'breaking political deadlock'. The military sought the meeting through then defence minister (Pervaiz) Khattak and they put forward the three proposals of either the PM resigning or taking part in VNC (vote of no confidence) or fresh elections," Mazari said in a series of tweets. "Why would Imran Khan give option of resigning when he had already stated categorically & repeatedly he would never resign! Makes no sense! Also Imran Khan had categorically rejected VNC as foreign regime change conspiracy. So why would he suggest these options. Absurd!" Mazari served as Federal Minister for Human Rights in the cabinet of Imran Khan. Her tweets came a day after the Pakistan military spokesperson said that the establishment had not put forth options before Imran Khan. He, however, said that during the political deadlock, the Prime Minister's Office had contacted the military leadership to resolve the matter. --IANS san/pgh ( 229 Words) 2022-04-15-22:08:03 (IANS)
In a tweet, the airline said: "Passengers holding tickets of Air India with a 4-digit flight number starting wiith '9' or 3-digit flight number starting with '9I' may please be informed that these bookings belong to Alliance Air.

"Bookings or Queries related to Alliance Air will not be handled by Air India from 15 April, 2022."

Last year, Tata Group bought the debt-ridden state-owned Air India from the Central government by placing a bid of over Rs 18,000 crore at an auction.

On January 27, 2022, it took over the full control of the airline.

--IANS rv/arm

( 124 Words)

2022-04-14-22:14:02 (IANS)
New Delhi [India], April 15 (ANI/PNN): It has been a long idle road for the majority of the SMEs and MSMEs sectors since the pandemic. The recovery does not seem to start just yet. The struggle to cover expenses such as power bills, rent, property, water taxes, and internet charges grew along with that of paying salaries to employees. An estimated 12.2 crore Indians lost their jobs during the lockdown in just the summer of 2020. While more companies started collapsing one after the other during the same time, it became hard for banks to provide their loans without prior networks. The older and the mightier firms had no such fear. Thus to fill the credit gap in this vast industry a new venture paved its way. 1click Capital will solve this financial crunch when it comes to paying the employees. It's a multi-speciality fintech company that provides easy loans to both Employees and organizations. Their premium services involve 1click Payroll where any Organization or Corporation can register and draw salaries for all their employees together. And, 1click Salary Advance where employees can draw advance salaries anytime. With no CIBIL, limited paperwork, flexible payment options, and faster process 1click capital seems to turn all hassles around. "Our long journey in the financial sector gave birth to this idea", says Harit (CEO and Managing Director). Its vision is to be among the world's top fintech companies, with a valuation of around 1000 crores in under 3 years. They have tied up with over 400 corporates and around 3750 individuals whom we have seamlessly financed. Their registered offices are in Delhi and Gurugram with a head office in Mumbai. This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
Bengaluru (Karnataka)/ Kolhapur (Maharashtra) [India], April 15 (ANI/PRNewswire): On 16th of April 2022, Star Air, the aviation arm of Sanjay Ghodawat Group will operate the first direct flight between Belagavi and Nagpur under the regional connectivity scheme UDAN. With no prior direct flights between the two cities, Star Air will become the first airline in the history of Indian aviation to achieve this remarkable feat. Also known as the Tiger Capital of India or the Orange City, Star Air views Nagpur as a captivating city that is widely famous for its delectable oranges, cleanliness, greenery, IT sectors, tiger reserves, and pilgrim sites. With the launch of a new destination, Star Air allows seamless and direct travel to the tourist destination of Nagpur while it caters to its passenger's needs with the utmost care and comfort, keeping their best interests in mind. The launch of the new route heralds the beginning of a new era for Nagpur, as it advocates for better connectivity within the state and the rest of the country. Commenting on the milestone achievement, Shrenik Ghodawat, Director - Star Air, said, "It gives me immense pleasure to announce that we are now directly connected to Nagpur via Belagavi. We are confident that this new route will not only boost our regional network but also continue to provide better connectivity and strengthen the tourism sector of both cities. We hope to continue connecting to many other regional cities of India in the time to come." Star Air will operate twice a week between Belagavi and Nagpur on Tuesday and Saturday. The schedule of these flights has been planned to offer passengers the most reasonable prices under the popular UDAN scheme. This historic flight service between Belagavi and Nagpur covers 762 Kms of air distance, and passengers now just have to spend 1 hour instead of 19+ hours as required from other modes of transportation. Currently, Star Air offers scheduled flight services to 16 Indian destinations that include Ahmedabad, Ajmer (Kishangarh), Bengaluru, Belagavi, Delhi (Hindon), Hubballi, Indore, Jodhpur, Kalaburagi, Mumbai, Nashik, Surat, Tirupati, Jamnagar, Hyderabad, and Nagpur. For more information, please visit www.starair.in Sanjay Ghodawat Group (SGG) is a prominent Indian business conglomerate that has a presence in various high-value business verticals. Aviation, Consumer Products, Education, Energy, Mining, Realty, Retail, and Textiles are some of its key business domains. SGG was founded in 1993 and since then it has witnessed impressive growth under the splendid stewardship of its Founder and Chairman- Sanjay Ghodawat. It has a strong base of millions of customers globally, an employee strength of over 10,000, and a student base of over 16,000. SGG is moving ahead with great vigour and bringing significant changes in people's lives with its wide range of high-quality products and services. For more information, please visit www.ghodawat.com This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)
New Delhi [India], April 15 (ANI/BusinessWire India): The Harvard College Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR), a Harvard University based student organisation which operates the largest student-run conference in Asia, today announced that India will be the host country for HPAIR ACONF 2022 in New Delhi. The objective of the conference is to create a forum that will connect young professionals and students with global leaders. Such forum creates multiple opportunities to interact with the leaders and learn various issues related to economic, political and social issues in Asia-Pacific region. "Delhi has emerged as a hub for hosting global conferences across various sectors. The Delhi Government recognizes the potential of the city and encourages its youth to participate in hosting prestigious conferences such as HPAIR. We are glad that students from our schools and colleges will be able to interact with global leaders and exchange cultural and academic knowledge with their peer participants at the HPAIR Conference 2020 being hosted in Delhi this year." -Jasmine Shah, Vice Chairperson, Dialogue and Development Commission of Delhi, Government of NCT of Delhi. Soham Roy, Co-President of HPAIR, said, "India is growing, it is growing big. Global countries are looking at India that has the largest youth population on this planet. 'HPAIR- Davos of Harvard for young global talents' has selected India for the first time in the last 30 years as the host nation to conduct the conference this year." Yogesh Chadha, Co-President of HPAIR, said, "It's been a roller coaster ride in the last one year. Our team has put heart and soul to win this bid to bring Harvard to India. Despite the odds faced by the COVID-19 induced pandemic, we have made this dream come true for the youth of our country. Now, it is India's turn to host HPAIR ACONF 2022 in Delhi. The venue details will be updated soon." "India is one of the largest emerging countries in the world and plays a key role in the Asia-Pacific region. For years, the HPAIR committee has been eagerly waiting to host the conference in India. Several teams from various countries participated in the bidding to host the conference. South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and 10 other Asian countries were among those in the bidding process. HPAIR is excited to announce that for the first time in 30 years, India has won the bid to host HPAIR ACONF 2022 in New Delhi." -Yoel Hawa, Co-President of HPAIR Global speakers from diverse backgrounds are expected to attend the event this year. Thousands of lives impacted through this conference paving the way to a bright future for the younger generation. The past conferences have witnessed delegates from 40+ countries. Some of the notable speakers who have attended HPAIR ACONF previously are N.R. Narayana Murthy- Founder of Infosys and Member of UN Foundation; Ajay Piramal - Chairman Of Piramal Group; Nathan Harrell East - Founding Member Of Fourplay; Richard Lui - First Asian American To Anchor A Major News Network; Ho Kwon Ping - Former Director Of Singapore Airlines; Steve Aoki - American Dj; Muhammad Yunus- Winner Of The Nobel Peace Prize In 2006, Founder Of The Grameen Bank. The HPAIR, a Harvard University student-run non-profit organization established in 1991, holds two annual conferences - one in Harvard University and one in a different Asian city each year. HPAIR's Asia Conference is a 5-day academic program encompassing panels, keynotes, workshops, and case study challenges on the most pressing issues facing the Asia-Pacific region. There are great opportunities open for the young folks to join the organizing team. Anyone interested could get in touch with the team on social media pages. Further details of the conference will be released shortly. Thank you all for your support. This story is provided by BusinessWire India. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/BusinessWire India)
New Delhi [India], April 15 (ANI/ATK): The art of cinematography has key elements like great acting skills, smooth direction, true depiction of emotions, etc and Ajit Pandit's new release is the perfect example of this. With just the right amount of drama, action, and romance 'Anupriya' is breaking all records. Ajit Pandit, an emerging actor, is also one of the rising shots in the Indian Cinema Industry. Although being from a small town, Charkhi Dadri, in the state of Haryana he has stunned everyone with his confidence and acting techniques, imagination skills, flexibility towards need of the hour, ability to market oneself with true dedication is what separates him from the crowd. His various depictions of art pieces include the web series 'Anu-Priya, released on Cinebox Prime OTT directed by M Irfan. The web series revolves around Anu, a goon who falls in love with Priya, a mentally unstable girl and how their love story is named Anu-Priya. Ajit Pandit has justified his role as a protagonist, playing the role of a shooter by pouring all his heart into the execution of this very role. Once, in conversation he told how the role of Anu is very much different from his real-life character and yet he enjoyed it and performed it to the level of brilliance. His debut in Bollywood was made through 'Hum to Huye Hain Tumhare' which was released in 2019 by Carnival in theaters. His golden record of achievements also includes single tracks for various platforms like Venus, Hungama, B4U, indie music label, MX player and many more. With his rising popularity and love among fans from almost every part of the country, his web films 'Queen of Sajjangarh' and 'Art of Loving' have also received a lot of appreciation. For the most part of his life, he has struggled through thick and thin, but his perseverance and resilience towards his dreams has turned out to be more fruitful than he ever imagined. His fans are desperately waiting for his upcoming projects 'Baby Babu Shona', 'Tape Recorder', '12AM', 'Kaali Sarhad' and 'Destiny'. His struggles and success have proved to be a motivation for the youth. Not only a perfectionist in reel life, but he is also a true gentleman in the real world. His way of life is spreading happiness to each and every person he could and that is what makes him a perfect person in all domains of life. This story is provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ATK)
New Delhi [India] April 15 (ANI/ATK): iDigiNxt, a Digital Marketing Services brand has been launched by Deo Biz & Services Pvt Ltd, a 12 (twelve) Year old Marketing and Consulting company. The company was founded in 2011 with the Vision to provide various Consulting Services focused on Startup's and SMEs. With their experience in helping many SMEs, Startup's and Corporates over the years, they have been operating "SenseNxt", their other brand specialising in providing GPS Tracking Services successfully for the last 8 years to thousands of Direct consumers and Corporate customers. The founder and CEO of Deo Biz & Services Pvt Ltd, Pratik Deo is an Alumni of IIM-Calcutta and Symbiosis Pune. He has an experience of over 15 (fifteen) years of working with numerous start-ups' in their early stages as well as a consultant to many a growing brand. His profound knowledge and en experience of over a decade in HR, Marketing and operations has helped many to grow. Deo Biz & Services Pvt Ltd was started with the core vision of helping brands increase their efficiency, manage their operations, and enhance their business. iDigiNxt is simply an extension of the same vision, into the Digital arena. When asked about his vision for iDigiNxt, Pratik Deo responded by saying, "At iDigiNxt, we are not the creators of Brand Visions, rather we are the extension of the vision that our client's already have. Our aim is to provide the necessary digital support required to sustain and grow a brand. We help our clients create their digital presence known to their target audience and help deliver the much-needed message. iDigiNxt moves your marketing needle ahead. With our consulting expertise and our customisable digital frameworks, we make your brand thrive and drive results." It is worth mentioning that the Corona Pandemic has been eye opener for many businesses and start-ups about the importance of Digital Marketing. Digital Marketing is no longer a choice, rather it has become a necessity. However, it also proved that a mere presence and a lack of expertise in the world gave worse than stagnant or even negative results to many businesses. Generating revenue for existing businesses or creating an additional supplementary source of income through Digital efforts are at the top priority of most people today. As many have realised, having your own real estate presence online can help you survive when other things do not work. Digital Marketing can not only help your brand survive, rather if done right, it has the potential to open infinite doors of possible growth and expansion. This is where iDigiNxt's innovative Digital Frameworks promise to help your brand navigate this web of opportunities the right way. When asked about their outlook about the services they offer, Rakesh Kumar, who takes care of Design at iDigiNxt said that not only they have their in-house team of expert graphic designers, video editors and content writers but they also believe in creating each composition from scratch, making each content generated for every client, unique. With the help of their various frameworks and unique content, they are capable to deliver very promising results for their clients under the expert guidance of their founder and team of Digital marketers. They also know that what works in marketing a Cafe or a Restaurant, the same strategy and methods can't be applied for an Automobile brand. Where many other Digital Marketers talk only about their one size fit all strategy about the number of posts or the number of keywords they plan to work on, the team of iDigiNxt brings a fresh perspective by talking about Target Persona, Sales Funnels and Digital Marketing and various other frameworks for making the presence of any brand bloom. They believe that each brand is different and hence the strategy for each of them has to be different, dynamic and progressive with the Market's and the Brand's needs. Team iDigiNxt understands that the Digital Arena will continue to evolve, with brand having their highs and lows. Hence, they foster an environment where their team members are actively encouraged to learn and grow their respective skills, keep in touch with the latest, anticipate what's going to change next. No matter if you are a Startup or an old brand, a business with a huge online presence or zero current digital footprint, iDigiNxt is worth getting in touch with for their Digital Marketing and Consulting Services. This story is provided by ATK. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/ATK)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 15 (ANI/PNN): Insurance Institute of India, a professional Institute devoted solely to insurance underwriting education released two survey outcomes, one on "risk" and another on "Telemedicine". The survey was conducted on 230 respondents from 29 organisations. Sharad Mathur, MD and CEO, Universal Sompo General Insurance Company Limited unveiled both the survey reports in a session held on 12th April 2022 at Insurance Institute of India (III) premises at BKC in Mumbai. The reports were released in the presence of Devesh Srivastava, Chairman cum Managing Director, GIC Re and Prof (Dr) Dilip Ukey Vice-Chancellor, Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), Deepak Godbole, Secretary-General of III, senior officials and other faculty members of the Institute. "Surveys provide people's opinions, views and reflect on behaviours that could help in taking important decisions and plan strategies. It is collective wisdom through knowledge sharing. This initiative of Insurance Institute of India to undertake a survey by the participation of decision-makers in the insurance industry and sharing results back to the industry by way of a report is greatly appreciated," said Sharad Mathur, MD and CEO, Universal Sompo. The 'risk' survey provides insights into the risk perception in the near future for the Indian insurance industry and the survey on 'Telemedicine' elaborates on the views of doctors and patients about the ease, practicalities, and usefulness of Telemedicine during and after the pandemic. The Telemedicine survey of 230 respondents across age groups, gender, location, and occupation was carried out to understand the awareness concerning usage and concerns related to telemedicine. Another reason to do this survey was to understand the feasibility of telemedicine in engaging patients on a digital platform and to study the rate of satisfaction achieved after using the mode of telemedicine. Survey reveals that the Indian insurance industry is resilient enough to continue to serve policyholders. Data management and analytics occur as a vital factor for successful operations in the long run and may remain beneficial for all stakeholders, including policyholders. Prof Dr Ukey shared that the Insurance Institute of India (III) and MNLU plan to launch a joint initiative for insurance industry participants in the area of insurance laws. Deepak Godbole, Secretary-General of III said, ''Collaboration between industry and academia is key to catalyse innovation and growth. Through survey reports, the Insurance Institute of India thought of compiling the feelings, expectations, and concerns of decision-makers in the Indian insurance industry. We hope to continuously improve the quality education on insurance underwriting in India and globally". Deepak added that the Insurance Institute of India is working on many new initiatives including creating a repository of case studies in insurance. Established in 1955, the Insurance Institute of India (III) has been playing an important role in insurance education, training, and capacity development for professionals in insurance services as also in spreading insurance awareness among the masses. The institute conducts examinations at various levels and is the only professional institute in India devoted solely to insurance-underwriting education. The Insurance Institute of India (III) is involved in devising and continuously upgrading the curriculums and imparting the training programs for the professionals in the insurance industry in India and abroad, to meet the needs of the ever-dynamic insurance sector. The certification by the institute is recognized by the insurance industry, regulators, and other internationally reputed insurance education providers. The Institute is also a member of the Institute of Global Insurance Education (IGIE). This story is provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PNN)
"Alliance Air, from 15th April 2022 will no longer be part of Air India after its disinvestment and will be run as an independent Business Unit under Government of India," according to an official statement released by Alliance Air.

In a statement, Vineet Sood, CEO, Alliance Air, said, "going forward with absolute efficiency, Alliance Air will now sell its tickets under Alliance Air banner."

Air India also posted an announcement on Twitter, "For the kind attention of our esteemed passengers: Alliance Air is no longer a subsidiary of Air India."

"Passengers holding tickets of Air India with a 4-digit flight number starting with 9 or 3-digit flight number starting with 91 may please be informed that these bookings belong to Alliance Air. Bookings/queries related to Alliance Air will not be handled by Air India from 15th April, 2022," Air India said.

The announcement comes less than three months after Tata Group took control of Air India from the Government of India. (ANI)
Countries importing textile products from Sri Lanka have now started moving towards Indian exporters as Sri Lanka continues to reel under its worst economic crisis, said the Ministry of Textile official on Friday. Speaking to ANI, UP Singh, Secretary, Ministry of Textile said, "Some countries who were earlier importing from Sri Lanka, have started contacting India, as Sri Lanka is under its worst economic crises. Some orders have already been given to companies in the Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu. Tirupur is the hub of the textile industry in Tamil Nadu." Singh said that last year's textile sector export was around USD 43 billion and this year the target has been set for 100 billion. He said India currently produces more than 340 lakh bells of cotton, but consumption is going to be more than production due to the order diversion from Sri Lanka due to the crisis. Textile Secretary pointed out that countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam have no import duties for importing cotton from Australia, Brazil and South Africa. "Conversely, our importers had to pay 11 per cent duty leading to high input cost which makes them uncompetitive. So our importers were demanding the government to lift the import duty. Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were getting the advantage in certain markets like European Union and the UK and our exporters were at disadvantage," Singh said. "Our exporters have to pay 9.5 per cent export duty which these countries do not have to pay. Now adding these 11 per cent import duty and 9.5 per cent export duty on cotton, it becomes very difficult for our textile exporters to compete with such countries. Since now we do not have to pay import duty on cotton, this will certainly make our exporters more competitive," emphasized the Textile Secretary. A Sakthivel, President, Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation said, "Buyers are now started making queries with Tirupur Exporters Association and other places in India because the situation in Sri Lanka is bad. Some queries may turn into orders. This is an opportunity. Good talks are happening and we expect some orders to divert from Sri Lanka to India." He said Indian exporters are getting queries from countries like the United Kingdom and European Union Countries. "Their queries are mainly for woven items, shirts, t-shirts and some baby garments. We are hopeful that these queries will turn in orders," Sakthivel hoped. Sri Lanka facing its worst economic crisis since independence with food and fuel shortages, soaring prices and power cuts affecting a large number of the people in the island nation. Sri Lanka's economy has been in a free-fall since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the crash of the tourism sector. Sri Lanka is also facing a foreign exchange shortage, which has affected its capacity to import food and fuel. The shortage of essential goods forced Sri Lanka to seek assistance from friendly countries. (ANI)
New Delhi [India], April 15 (ANI/SRV): Dayal Associate, one of India's fast-growing financial advisory firms, continues to achieve bigger milestones and set new benchmarks in the industry. The Haryana-based consultancy plans to launch RK Fortune Investment Pvt Ltd, as a part of its expansion plan. The new venture aims to empower upcoming start-ups by providing them with the necessary funding and guidance to fulfil goals and targets. Dayal Associate was founded by Karan Ahuja and Rahul Gupta in 2019. The company has carved a niche for itself as a leading financial advisor and specializes in trading and investment consultancy. Despite being only 2 years old, the company has projected immense growth. The firm made its first profit in 2019 when it bought shares of Idea Vodafone at INR 2.90 which scaled up to INR 11 in only six months. In the financial year 2021-22, Dayal Associate handled a delivery volume of 19,980 lakh equities and the highest delivery volume in March 2022 alone amounted to INR 6,700 lakh. The team manages client funds for each quarter in such a way that the return exceeds the investment. Dayal Associate analyses the equity market and employs a range of investment strategies that help in generating superior returns on investments for its client. Today the firm has a portfolio of 1400+ clients and caters its services both nationally and internationally. The firm also plans to set up offices in 10 to 15 more centers in the upcoming year. Founder and Director of Dayal Associate, Karan Ahuja had resolved to be a part of the equity market at a very early age. He began trying his hand at the share market in college and by 2018 he had set his foot into the market completely. After working as a money manager, between 2015 to 2019, for Arise Investment, SSL Investment, ABB Investment, and Upstox, he established Dayal Associate at the end of 2019 along with Co-founder Rahul Gupta, who comes from a business family. Born in Hisar, Rahul Gupta looked after the operations of a petrol pump. The ideals and discipline of running a business were ingrained in him at a very early age. His punctuality, perseverance, and client servicing abilities helped Dayal Associate create a strong clientele. With Karan Ahuja's prior experience as a seasoned stockbroker and Rahul Gupta's lineage from a business background, Dayal Associate was able to scale its potential to new heights. Karan Ahuja said, "We have achieved our objective to make a mark in the industry in a short span of time. At Dayal Associate, we leverage my experience as a stockbroker and my co-founder Rahul Gupta's managerial capabilities to help our clients in the best possible manner." "We are fortunate to have been blessed with a diligent and hardworking team because of whom we managed to almost double our delivery turnover from the last year", added Rahul Gupta. Dayal Associate, the independent equity research and advisory firm, started its journey by offering advisory services on equity and insurance. The firm gradually spanned its service spectrum and forayed into trading, mutual funds, equity market, loans, and every aspect related to finance. To know more visit: https://dayalassociate.com/ This story is provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV)
New Delhi [India], April 15 (ANI/Parijat): Integrated Crop Protection group, Parijat Industries India, announced its subsidiary technical manufacturing company Crimsun Organics having received its 9(3) export registration from CIB to manufacture Mesotrione Technical. Mesotrione technical is a Herbicide that helps in the pre- and post-emergence control of broad spectrum weed in the major international crops of maize and sugarcane. Parijat has also successfully received technical equivalence in the EU, USA, and Brazil and commenced exports and registration in Canada is underway. Furthermore, the company is expanding its footprint for international sales of this product and is in the process to register the product in Colombia, Ecuador, and Myanmar. It is also expecting to receive registration for the Indian domestic market at the end of 2022. The addition of Mesotrione to Parijat will further enhance the company's herbicide portfolio in India and global market, providing further depth to the company's product portfolio, that will open a potentially large segment in international export demand for this product by agrochemical companies in the global market, previously dependent on China. With this capability, Crimsun Organics (of Parijat group) has become among the very first Indian technical manufacturer to produce Mesotrione technical from the root base with purity of 98 per cent. Apart from the technical active ingredient, Parijat has also already developed formulations that will further expand the market to also include international sales of Formulations. With a strong Research and Development (R & D) infrastructure and international presence to bulwark its international portfolio, Parijat already has a footprint in countries across the planet with Parijat s propriety trademarked branded formulated products registered and sold in 45 countries and further extended by supplies to another 25 countries through its customers. In India, Parijat's branded products are sold in 18 states apart from supplies to P-to-P business. Being a member of a handful of Indian Integrated Agrochemical Manufacturing Groups with a reputation for its R & D, Technical and Formulation capability, Parijat's products have won the trust of local and international distribution partners and farmers. Parijat Industries (India) Private Limited, is a fully integrated agrochemical company with backward integration capability to manufacture Active Ingredients, presence in Indian and International markets, branded and P to P business and R & D. Parijat has consistently won awards for Safety and Environment and is adjudged among the 50 best Indian companies by Great Place to Work institute for successive years. This story is provided by Parijat. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Parijat)
Taking to her Instagram handle, Neetu shared an adorable picture from the wedding day in which the mother-son duo could be seen standing together while posing for the camera.

In the post's caption, she wrote, "This is dedicated to kapoor Saab. Your wish has been fulfilled."

Legendary actor Rishi Kapoor passed away on April 30, 2020, after battling cancer. Prior to his demise, he was in New York for his treatment with his wife.

Ranbir and Alia tied the knot on April 14 with family and close friends in attendance and though there were a lot of intimate celebrations with loved ones and happy inside pictures all over everyone's social media feeds, the absence of Rishi Kapoor was deeply felt.

On the wedding day, Neetu had paid a special tribute to her late husband during the mehendi ceremony by adding his name on her mehendi-adorned hand.

Prior to the wedding day, a special pooja had also been organised in Rishi Kapoor's remembrance. (ANI)
Hours after Ranbir and Alia tied the knot at the former's Bandra residence Vastu on Thursday, the groom's family members including mother Neetu Kapoor, sister Riddhima Kapoor Sahni and brother-in-law Bharat Sahni came out to greet the media.

When asked about the wedding reception, Neetu Kapoor said, "Aap sab khush rehna aur Alia aur Ranbir ko khushiyaan. Wish them all the best. Ho gaya sab kuch. Abhi aap aaraam se so jao (Everything is done. Now you all can sleep in peace)."

As per previous reports, the wedding reception was supposed to be held on April 17. (ANI)
According to Variety, next month 'Hunt' will be in the Cannes festival's Midnight Screening section. The other two films that will be receiving midnight screenings include 'Fumer Fait Tousser' and 'Moonage Daydream'.

'Hunt' is a 1980s-set Korean-language spy thriller that Lee got caught up in after buying the rights and rewriting the screenplay. Lee also stars in the picture alongside veteran Jung Woo-Sung.

His role as an elite agent working for the Agency for National Security Planning sees him hunting for a North Korean spy, and becoming increasingly aware of his own country's dark truths.

Lee has been an established star in South Korea since the late 1990s. But as the international success of 'Squid Game' snowballed Lee collected multiple U.S. awards also, as per Variety. (ANI)
Avian influenza (H5N1) scare has gripped Bihar's Supaul district with the administration on Thursday directing culling of chickens in poultry farms located in affected areas after samples of birds found dead there came out positive. District officials appealed to the people to avoid consumption of chicken in the region. Divisional Forest Officer, Supaul, Sunil Kumar Sharan said that more than four dozen birds, including crows, ducks, chickens, and other birds were found dead in mysterious circumstances in Chapkahi village under Sadar police station on March 31. The villagers of Chapkahi spotted the birds are found restless and dying in large numbers. They approached local veterinary doctors at that time and gave medicines and injections to some of the birds but they did not recover from the illness. During preliminary investigation, the animal husbandry officers hinted towards the symptoms of neurotic disease in the birds. They, however, collected the samples and sent them to the lab in Bhopal to find out the exact reason of deaths. "The officials of the Animal Husbandry department had collected the samples of birds and sent them to the lab in Bhopal for testing. Its report has come positive. Accordingly, an action plan for prevention, control and containment of avian influenza is activated in the region to prevent its further spread," Sharan said. "On the direction of District Magistrate Kaushal Kumar, 4 rapid response teams comprising specialist animal husbandry officers and veterinary doctors have been constituted for the culling of chickens in the poultry farms located in the one km radius of Chapkahi village followed by their burial in the soil. Area in a one km radius from Chapkahi village is declared as an infected area. Each team is working under the supervision of an SDO rank officer. Besides, the teams are also taking samples of chickens in the poultry farms located in the radius of 9 km from the Chapkahi village. The 9 km areas from the epicenter are declared as surveillance area," Sharan said. As per the directive of district administration, the places have been identified for the burial of chickens and ducks. The places are away from low lying areas and away from the water bodies to avoid groundwater contamination. The rapid response team will do the culling followed by putting them into the jute bags and sprinkle calcium carbonate powder before the burial. The district administration has provided PPE kits to every labourer who will do the culling. They will also be assigned to count the numbers and report to the team and the district civil surgeon will report to the District Magistrate office. --IANS ajk/vd ( 447 Words) 2022-04-14-23:26:02 (IANS)
A BA (German) second year student at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) suffered head injuries on Thursday after a portion of the bathroom ceiling in the Sabarmati Hostel came crashing down on him. The injured student has been taken to the Safdarjung Hospital for treatment. Following the incident, members of the All India Students' Union (AISA) complained against the hostel warden for not taking due care of the property. "The crumbling hostel infrastructure led to an unfortunate incident today. This is a clear case of criminal negligence on the part of the hostel wardens and the Dean of Students. We have time and again raised the issue of dilapidated hostel infrastructure and falling ceilings with the concerned authorities, but the JNU administration has been trying to digress the issue in the name of lack of funds. Stop putting the lives of students in danger," AISA said in a statement. It also urged students to reach the Sabarmati Hostel to demand answers from the warden. --IANS atk/arm ( 180 Words) 2022-04-14-20:28:03 (IANS)
Issuing the first phase forecast for the southwest monsoon 2022, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Thursday said the country, as a whole, will receive normal rainfall, however, there would be below normal rainfall over many parts of northeast India. "Normal to above normal seasonal rainfall most likely over many areas of northern peninsula and central India, along foothills of the Himalayas and some parts of northwest India, below normal rainfall is likely over many parts of northeast India, some parts of northwest India and southern parts of the South Peninsula," IMD Director General, Meteorology, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra told media persons. For NE states, the bad news was not restricted to the current SW monsoon forecast. Based on the new normal that IMD introduced from this year, there is no change in the spatial distribution of the rainfal, neither in annual, nor in monsoon, post-monsoon season. "However, comparing the meteorological subdivision wise data for 1961-2010 to 1971-2020, it shows that the northeastern states, especially Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are getting less rainfall during 1971-2020 compared to 1961-2010," he said. In other words, the normal annual rainfall based on 1971-2020 is higher than that based on 1961-2010 over west-central India, while it is less over Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura. In 2021 too, below normal rainfall was observed over northeast India (apart from extreme northwest India). Meanwhile, west-central India, especially, Saurashtra-Kutch, Rajasthan, and west Madhya Pradesh are getting higher rainfall during 1971-2020 as compared to 1961-2010. --IANS niv/vd ( 266 Words) 2022-04-14-20:30:04 (IANS)
Hours before underfire Karnataka minister K.S. Eshwarappa announced to tender his resignation in connection with the suicide of a civil contractor who held the senior BJP leader directly responsible for his death, former BJP minister Ramesh Jarkiholi called it a conspiracy by a Congress leader. Jarkiholi claimed on Thursday that the "great leader" behind his alleged 'sex CD case' was also behind the present suicide case. Jarkiholi was pointing fingers at his arch political rival and state Congress President D.K. Shivakumar. "The team which worked behind the 'sex CD' has conspired in this case also. Let the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigate this case," he said. Jarkiholi, who was one of the leaders who played a key role in installing the BJP government in the state by ensuring the collapse of the Congress-JD (S) alliance, had to resign from the cabinet following the release of the alleged sex CD. "I will hold a press conference on Monday after getting consent from the high command and elaborate more on this conspiracy," he said. The ruling BJP had also put out a tweet indirectly alleging the role of Shivakumar and his associate and Congress MLA Lakshmi Hebbalkar in the matter. Reacting to the allegations, Shivakumar challenged Jarkiholi to hold a press conference on Thursday itself. "Let their high command and state leaders conduct a conference. But first let them deliver justice in the case," he said. On Tuesday, the police had filed an abetment to suicide case against Eshwarappa, the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, after Belagavi-based civil contractor, Santhosh Patil, was found dead at a lodge on Tuesday. Patil, who had blamed Eshwarappa squarely for his death, had earlier accused the senior minister of demanding a 40 per cent cut for clearing bills for various works that he had taken up. Eshwarappa said on Thursday: "I have worked as the RDPR minister till date under CM (Basavraj) Bommai's leadership in the government. I have taken a decision to tender my resignation on Friday evening. I don't want to cause embarrassment to my party and party leadership." --IANS mka/arm ( 362 Words) 2022-04-14-21:06:02 (IANS)
A week after Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut accused the BJP of having declared a 'war' on the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, and three days after Raj Thackeray's barbs, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis dropped a series of 14 Twitter bombs at Nationalist Congress (NCP) Party supremo Sharad Pawar, here on Thursday. Fadnavis launched a blistering, no-holds-barred attack at Pawar, ranging from the Constitution to the mafia to 'The Kashmir Files' and the man who coined the word 'Hindu terror' -- though the immediate political provocation for the loaded verbal assault was not clear. Among other things, Fadnavis endorsed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's charges against Pawar of appeasing minorities and polarising the society on communal lines -- a day after the 81-year-old NCP chief rebuked Thackeray for his 'childish' outbursts on Tuesday against the Pawars and others. "On one hand, we are celebrating (today, 131st) birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkarji, who was against inclusion of Article 370 granting special status to Jammu & Kashmir. But look what is being said going against the wishes and values of Dr. Ambedkarji," posted Fadnavis. Talking of Pawar's statements on the film 'The Kashmir Files', Fadnavis said they were not surprising as they were in tune with the NCP's decades old track record of appeasement politics and polarising the society on communal lines. Fadnavis also pointed out that NCP minister Nawab Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Director for activities linked to alleged money-laundering of absconding mafia don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar, while in 2013, the NCP was on record declaring Ishrat Jahan as innocent, with its senior leaders extending help to her and even trying to demean the Intelligence Bureau though they were themselves in power at that time. In a brief reaction, NCP's Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil said that even in the past, Sharad Pawar was linked to the mafia and said it has become a favourite hobby of people to target the NCP chief. Fadnavis said in 2012, when the Congress-NCP ruled the state, the 'shameful' Azad Maidan violence took place in Mumbai, and the Amar Jawan Jyoti was desecrated, but the NCP, which held the home portfolio, went soft on the Raza Academy and instead removed the Mumbai Police Commissioner. Going back by three decades, Fadnavis asked what happened when Mumbai cried during the 12 serial blasts of March 12, 1993 that shook the city, but Pawar 'invented' a 13th blast in a Muslim area, and instead of law and order, appeasement was his first priority. The BJP leader said the NCP has 'grand' plans to introduce Muslim quota in Maharashtra though the Constitution has no such provision, adding that it is "shameful how vote-bank politics prevails over Constitutional values". Defending 'The Kashmir Files', Fadnavis said the movie is not against any religion but against those who chose to look the other way when people were suffering, because they felt that it suited their 'political agenda of appeasement, thereby achieving a communal divide', but such acts and approach of disturbing 'the harmony of society cannot be accepted by Ambedkar's India.' Referring to Pawar, Fadnavis asked 'any guess on who was the first person' to coin the term 'Hindu Terror', and a gem - 'Minorities decide whom to defeat' - and wondered whether such utterances have any place in our polity. --IANS qn/arm ( 567 Words) 2022-04-14-21:24:04 (IANS)
The Delhi government has allowed limited private schools to hike school fees marginally, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Thursday. Addressing a press conference here, Sisodia, who also holds charge of education, said that the AAP government has not allowed Delhi schools to increase their fees since 2015, and now private schools have been allowed to increase their fees only to 2 to 3 per cent. "Since 2015 we didn't permit the private schools to increase fees and continued till 2020 in wake of Covid. But now we've allowed very limited schools to increase by 2-3 per cent after the examination of their financial records and bank account," he said, adding that if there are schools increasing fees on their own, action will be taken against them. On the question of rising Covid cases in the city and cases detected in a private school, Sisodia said that the government is constantly monitoring the situation and there is no need to panic. "Covid cases have slightly increased but there is no rise in hospitalisation, so we need not worry. There is no need to panic but stay alert. We have to learn to live with Covid. We are constantly monitoring the situation," he said. --IANS avr/vd ( 222 Words) 2022-04-14-21:30:04 (IANS)
He arrived in Gurugram on Thursday evening for the event.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Union ministers Bhupender Yadav, Rao Inderjeet Singh and a large number of party leaders and functionaries were present on the occasion.

The office is spread over an area spanning 1 lakh sq ft and is located on the Delhi-Jaipur Expressway in Sector-30, Gurugram. It is equipped with all the modern facilities, and houses an IT cell as well.

While inaugurating the party office, which has been named Guru Kamal', Nadda said that the setting up of party offices at the state and district level is being done to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots level.

"The BJP will have a party office soon in all the 22 districts of Haryana," he added.

--IANS str/arm

( 154 Words)

2022-04-14-22:18:02 (IANS)
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Thursday called on Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh and discussed various issues ranging from development to placement of All India Services officers. Appreciating Singh's keen interest in development of northeast, he said that the people of the state always look upon him as their messenger in the national capital and he is always ready to follow up issues of their concern. The CM brought to the notice of the Minister issues related to deputation and placement of IAS officers in Nagaland. n response, Singh said, he will ask the Department to give due consideration to all these issues and examine what best can be done. Rio also requested the Union Minister to follow up with the Centre the progress of some of the other proposals of projects in Nagaland and Singh assured him that his office will take due cognisance of this. Singh also said that PM Narendra Modi's priority for the northeast was evident from the fact that in the first six years of his tenure before the Covid pandemic, he had undertaken more than 50 visits to the region, including frequent visits to Nagaland which was an all time high in comparison to all others PMs' visits. --IANS ams/vd ( 228 Words) 2022-04-14-22:24:04 (IANS)
Lawyer Jayshree Patil, wife of advocate Gunaratna Sadavarte, has been named as an accused by police in connection with the MSRTC protest outside Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar's residence here, an official said on Thursday. So far, the police have arrested 116 people, including Sadavarte, so far after a group of over 100 striking employees of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) staged a protest outside 'Silver Oak', Pawar's residence in the south Mumbai, last Friday. The attack on Sharad Pawar's residence took place on April 8, when a group of state transport workers tried to enter his residence and held a protest by hurling stones and slippers at his place. MSRTC workers tried to enter Pawar's residence and held a protest by hurling stones and slippers at his place. The protest came a day after the Bombay High Court asked the striking workers of the transport corporation to resume their duty by April 22. MSRTC staffers have been agitating since late October demanding a merger of the corporation with the state government, that would give them better salaries and greater job security. Of the total arrested, 113 people are in judicial custody and three people are in police custody. The search for Patil is underway. Currently, Sadavarte is under Mumbai Police's custody. According to the information received from the police, just a day before the attack on Sharad Pawar's house, a meeting of ST employees was held, in which Jayshree Patil was also present. Arrested accused Chandrakant Suryavanshi who is a journalist by profession, Marathi News Channel in his statement had said that Jayshree was present. Police on Sunday conducted searches at the residence of lawyer Gunaratna Sadavarte who was arrested in connection with the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) workers' protest outside the Mumbai residence of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar. The court also sent the other 109 accused in the case to 14-day judicial custody. (ANI)
The Delhi government on Thursday passed a budget of Rs 476.89 crore for the development of various mandis in the national capital, including over Rs 175 crore for the Aazadpur market. In a joint meeting chaired by Development Minister Gopal Rai with the officials of Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board (DAMB) and Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) today, regarding the development of Delhi's mandis, the board passed a budget of Rs 476 crores 89 lakhs for the development of mandis for the financial year 2022-23 at the meeting. The board has allocated approximately Rs 178.73 crore to APMC Azadpur, Rs 13.34 crore to the fruit and vegetable market in Ghazipur, Rs 13.96 crore to FP and EMC in Ghazipur, Rs 8 crore to the flower market, Rs 18.91 crore to APMC Keshopur, Rs 45.03 crore to APMC Narela, Rs 5.32 crore to APMC Najafgarh and Rs 193.57 crore to the Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board. Divulging more details on the same, Rai said, ''Along with the development of Tikri Khampur Wholesale Mandi, the development of Ghazipur's Fruit and Vegetable Mandi and Poultry Market, as well as the renovation of Ghazipur Flower Market, will be carried out, with a budget allocation of Rs 303 crores. The Kejriwal Government is committed to the development, expansion, and creation of better infrastructure in the Mandis.'' He further said that the government has issued orders for the renovation of Kisan Bhawan in order to protect farmers from similar difficulties and to provide better amenities.' ''In today's meeting with the Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board, instructions have also been given for the renovation of Kisan Bhawan of Azadpur Mandi. Farmers come to Azadpur Mandi to sell their vegetables and fruits and sometimes they have to stay in hotels around the Mandi for 1 to 2 days which costs them a lot. Our government has issued orders for the renovation of Kisan Bhawan in order to protect farmers from similar difficulties and to provide better amenities,' he added. Orders were also issued for the installation of CCTV cameras at all mandis in the national capital. ''To monitor the work being done in the Mandis, orders have been issued by the board to install CCTV cameras in all the Mandis in Delhi soon. With this, the security of the Mandis will be kept under strict surveillance and the movement of people will also be taken care of,'' he said. (ANI)
APPCB Chairman A. K. Parida also issued orders for disconnecting power to the unit at Akkireddygudem village in Musunuru mandal on Eluru.

The APPCB said the accident at bulk drug manufacturing industry occurred on Wednesday night due to explosion of a reactor while manufacturing 4-Nitro -N-methyl phtalimide , due to not implementation of standard operating procedures.

The accident took 6 lives leaving many injured and also caused environment damage in the form of emissions during the accident and hazardous waste generation, it said.

The APPCB took the action after an inspection by its officials. They found the company was not complying with CFO conditions and causing pollution in surrounding areas.

The unit was engaged in manufacture of bulk drugs and intermediates and speciality chemicals.

The board said the industry had not given any information to it about the accident after its occurrence.

--IANS ms/vd

( 192 Words)

2022-04-14-22:38:36 (IANS)
The President of Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC), Niranjan Patnaik, said on Thursday that there is need for a change of guard in state Congress and the sooner it happens, the better. Patnaik made this statement in the wake of demand for change of OPCC President by several Congress leaders following poor performance of the party in the recently-held panchayat and urban polls in the state. "Changing the leadership of PCC usually occurs every two-three years and the new president will not also stay in the post permanently. There is a need for change in the OPCC and the sooner it happens, the better," Patnaik told reporters here. When asked if he had sent a resignation letter to the party leadership, the Congress leader said, "I had offered to resign from my post in 2019. But when the All India Congress Committee (AICC) will take a call on this, it is up to them." Stating that there are many eligible leaders in the state Congress to replace him, Patnaik said that he will extend his full cooperation to the new state unit chief as he is not going to switch over to any other party. Commenting on this issue, party MLA Mohammed Moquim said, "Congress is a disciplined party. Whatever decision the AICC will take, we will work accordingly. I hope that Odisha Congress will witness a 'Nabakalebara' (complete revamp) by this month end." Patnaik has been the OPCC chief since 2018. During his tenure, Congress' position in state politics slipped to third from second following the 2019 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The BJP has emerged as the principal Opposition party in the state. The Congress also witnessed a debacle in the recently-concluded panchayat and urban elections. The party won only 37 Zilla Parishad seats out of the 852 seats in Odisha. In the 2017 panchayat elections, it had won 60 seats. In the urban polls, the Congress managed only 12 per cent of the total votes and won seven chairperson seats as against 13 seats in 2013-14. It failed to open its account in the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, with its mayoral candidate losing the deposit. Moreover, only one seat was won by the party in the Berhampur Municipal Corporation, which has 42 seats. --IANS bbm/arm ( 391 Words) 2022-04-14-22:52:53 (IANS)
Senior Haryana leader Kuldeep Bishnoi met Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday, setting off speculations of a change in leadership in the party's state unit. Sources say that for the new President of Haryana unit, state in-charge Vivek Bansal has sent the names of four leaders - Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Kuldeep Bishnoi, and Kiran Choudhary to the Congress President. However, before the final decision, the Congress high command is continuously holding discussions with the party leaders. In view of this, Gandhi discussed the situation in the state with Bishnoi, the Adampur MLA and a former MP. According to sources, Bishnoi can be given an important responsibility in the state unit. While he is seen as contender to head the party in the state, he is more likely to replace Hooda as the Leader of the Opposition. Hooda is being tipped as the next Haryana Congress president in place of Kumari Selja, who had agreed to step down from her post in a recent meeting with Gandhi. A two-time Chief Minister, Hooda was also the state party chief from 1996 to 2001. On the other hand, Selja can be accommodated in the upper house of parliament. Sources indicated that the Congress high command has advised the leaders of the Haryana unit to face all the challenges unitedly. In the 2019 state Assembly elections, the BJP emerged as the single largest party with 40 seats in the 90-member house, while Congress got only 31 seats, and Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) got 10 seats. Due to this, both the BJP and the Congress tried to persuade the independents and the JJP for a post-poll alliance, but the former succeeded. --IANS miz/ptk/vd ( 298 Words) 2022-04-14-23:03:38 (IANS)
Satish Kumar Singh, of Kakran village in Kulgam, was shot and injured by militants on Wednesday and succumbed in a Srinagar hospital during the night.

Scores of Muslims from Kakran and adjacent villages helped perform the last rites of Singh according to Hindu rituals.

Singh is survived by his wife and 3 daughters.

As his body reached Kakran on Thursday, people came out in large numbers to mourn his death and express sympathy with the bereaved family.

Local Muslims from Kakran and other adjacent villages have expressed shock over the killing which has also been widely condemned by various religious and political leaders.

--IANS sq/vd

( 145 Words)

2022-04-14-23:04:16 (IANS)
Bihar's ruling JD-U is not leaving any chance to slam the ally BJP and the Narendra Modi government and used the Ambedkar Jayanti on Thursday to hit out at it for ignoring its key demands. At a function to mark the birth anniversary of the Architect of the Indian Constitution, JD-U's national President Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said: "Those who are not giving special status to Bihar are playing with the dreams of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar. If we want to fulfil the dream of Baba Saheb, they have to give special status to Bihar." He said that the Narendra Modi government is doing injustice to the people of Bihar by not giving special status. "The NDA government at the Centre has given a special financial package to 17 states but Bihar is not included in that list. Moreover, the Centre has selected those states where financial management is not sound. Compared to them, Nitish Kumar has done exemplary financial management in Bihar. It is extremely unfortunate that the Centre has not given financial aid to Bihar," Lalan Singh said. "Baba Saheb dreamed about financial and social inequality in the country. It will not be removed if we do not give special status to Bihar," he said. Besides Lalan Singh, leaders like Upendra Kushwaha, Ashok Chaudhary, and Neeraj Kumar pointed out that Nitish Kumar is the real follower of Ambedkar, and Bihar has become the favourite state for people belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. --IANS ajk/vd ( 264 Words) 2022-04-14-23:12:03 (IANS)
Under attack from several quarters for using bulldozers to demolish properties of persons accused of rioting and other serious crimes, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has got support from the Central leadership for his actions. Endorsing the move to demolish properties of those accused of violence and heinous crimes, the party's in-charge for Madhya Pradesh, P. Murlidhar Rao, said on Thursday that Chouhan took action depending on the ground situation. "Depending on the situation on the ground, Chief Minister Chouhan took the action. Wherever a bulldozer is required, he (Chouhan) is using it," Rao said. After the recent violence in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh over a procession taken out of Ram Navami, the local administration demolished more than 50 houses and shops using bulldozers besides arresting around 100 persons. Chouhan followed the successful bulldozer' style of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and tried to send a strong message on the issue of law and order and his government's tough stance against people involved in rioting and heinous crimes. "People have started calling Chouhan bulldozer mama', just like Adityanath is popularly called bulldozer baba'. The bulldozer is not demolishing properties of innocent people, it is only demolishing properties of rioters and criminals. Many in the BJP, including me, think that there is nothing wrong in the state government's decision to use bulldozers against properties of anti-social elements," a BJP functionary said. Earlier, the Chouhan government had demolished properties of the accused persons in two separate criminal acts at Sheopur and Raisen districts. A party insider said that bulldozers will be more visible in the coming days against those who are involved in heinous crimes, as the BJP is all set to make law and order a major issue in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled next year. --IANS ssb/arm ( 314 Words) 2022-04-14-23:14:03 (IANS)
The girl, who was reportedly hearing and speech impaired, had climbed the wall of the metro station from platform No 2. The security staff and the police had tried to pacify her, but she suddenly jumped off the edge.

The girl, who received severe injuries all over her body, was admitted to the ICU of the to Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital.

The doctors treating her had told the police that she was not fit for making any ststement and her condition was critical.

"Her parents have been informed. She has suffered fractures on her leg and hand. The incident occured at 7.30 am on the platform Np. 2 side," the police had said earlier.

The exact reason behind her step taking the extreme step is yet to be ascertained.

--IANS atk/arm

( 178 Words)

2022-04-14-23:28:05 (IANS)
BJP MP Gajendra Umrao Singh on Thursday met the family of Shivam Shukla, who is battling for his life at an Indore hospital, after being injured in the Khargone violence during Ram Navami procession. The BJP MP said that Shivam's health is improving and said that the Madhya Pradesh government will bear all the expenses of his treatment. After discussion with Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP MP from Khargone met the family members of Shivam and assured all possible help to the family. Shivam Shukla, who was injured in the violence on the day of Ram Navami in Khargone district, has not regained consciousness for the last five days. He is fighting for life and death in a hospital in Indore. He has suffered a serious head injury. Speaking to ANI, BJP MP Singh said, "The incident that happened on the day of Ram Navami is quite unfortunate. It was a pre-planned conspiracy. Stones were pelted on innocent people. They also set houses on fire. Many are forced to migrate. These kinds of incidents work to create discrimination in the society." "Talked to the Chief Minister, he said that Madhya Pradesh government is bearing the entire expenses of Shivam's treatment. No obstructions will come in his treatment. We pray that Shivam gets well soon, now his health is improving a bit," he added. He said that the police, district administration and other teams are probing the incident. Shivam's maternal uncle Surendra Joshi said that during the Ram Navami procession Shivam had suffered a serious head injury. "Shivam is studying in the Polytechnic College in Khargone. On the day of Ram Navami, Shivam along with his family had participated in the procession of Ram Navami. He suffered a serious head injury due to stone pelting," said Joshi. He further said that Shivam was taken to Khargone Hospital from there he was taken to Indore after the doctor's advice. "While going to Indore, Shivam was a little conscious but on the way he had fainted, since then he has not regained consciousness. Now there was a slight movement in the hands and feet, I pray to God that he gets well soon and returns home. I appeal that those who are responsible for the violence should be punished," he added. Indore District Collector Manish Singh said that Shivam's health is improving and the ventilator has also been removed. "There is a lot of improvement in Shivam's health. Since yesterday his ventilator has also been removed, which has been more than 24 hours, and now he is responding well." The District Collector said that the Chief Minister is also continuously inquiring about his health and has instructed for better treatment. "The neurosurgeons treating Shivam at the CHL Hospital, are saying that he had a severe head injury due to which he was operated on. The government will make all arrangements for his treatment, and the hospital also has all the facilities," he added. On April 10 several people including police personnel were injured when groups of people pelted stones at each other during a Ram Navami procession. The stone-pelting started at the very beginning of the procession leaving around four people injured including a police inspector, police said. After the miscreants set four houses on fire, the administration imposed a curfew in Talab Chowk, Gaushala Marg, and Motipura areas. (ANI)
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to continue the present compensation grant system of Goods and Services Tax (GST) for another ten years. In a letter written to PM Modi on Thursday, Baghel also said that the Central Government should make an alternative permanent arrangement for compensation of revenue to the producing states at the earliest. Stating that discontinuation of GST compensation grant is a huge economic loss for producing states like Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister said, "Being a manufacturing state, our contribution in the development of the country's economy is much more than those states which have been benefited in the GST tax system due to higher consumption of goods and services." He said that if the GST compensation is not continued beyond June 2022, then Chhattisgarh is likely to face a revenue loss of nearly Rs 5,000 crore in the upcoming year. "Similarly, many other states will also face revenue shortfall in the coming year. Due to this, it would be difficult to arrange for a shortfall in funds for the ongoing public welfare and development works in the state," he said. In his letter, Baghel also gave the reference of the pre-budget consultation meetings for Budget 2022-23 chaired by the Union Finance Minister with the Chief Ministers and Finance Ministers, which was held in New Delhi in December 2021. The Chief Minister said that after the implementation of the GST tax system, the autonomy of states in shaping tax policies have become very limited and there is not much revenue-related potential in the tax revenue other than commercial tax. "Although, every effort is being made by us towards revenue generation, however, the present compensation grant system should be continued for the next 10 years to recover from the adverse impact of COVID-19 on the economy of states and till the time actual benefits of the GST tax system are realized," he added. He has also appealed to the Central Government to device an alternate permanent mechanism to compensate for the shortfall in revenue for manufacturing states. The Chief Minister expressed hope that the Prime Minister will agree with the concerns of states and will act in the spirit of cooperative federalism to resolve the important issue involving the interests of all states. (ANI)
According to IMD, the trough and wind discontinuity from west Vidarbha to South Interior Karnataka now runs from west Vidarbha to North Interior Karnataka across Marathwada at 0.9 km above mean sea level.

Sravani further said that the thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and gusty winds with wind speed (30-40 kmph) is very likely to occur at isolated places in a few districts of Telangana.

"Hyderabad weather for the next 24 hours is partly cloudy. Thunder clouds are likely to develop during the evening or night. Surface winds are likely to be Southerlies or South-Easterlies with wind speeds around 06-10 kmph," Sravani added.

The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 39 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius in the state. (ANI)
Eshwarappa announced his resignation on Thursday, following the row over his alleged role in the suicide of the contractor. He said that he will hand over his resignation to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday.

Eshwarappa said that he does not want to embarrass anybody including the high command leaders of the party.

Earlier, Congress leaders DK Shivakumar, Siddaramaiah, and others were detained as the police stopped them from marching toward Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai's residence to demand Eshwarappas's resignation.

The brother of the deceased contractor on Wednesday demanded the arrest of Eshwarappa "and his close aides Ramesh and Basawaraj". (ANI)
Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Thursday said that resignation is not a solution, a case of corruption has to be registered against state minister KS Eshwarappa and he should be arrested in connection with the death case of contractor Santosh Patil. "Resignation is not a solution. A case of corruption has to be registered, then he has to be arrested," said Shivakumar. The Congress leader questioned why FIR was not registered for asking for a 40 per cent commission from the contractor. "His mother, wife, brother, everyone has alleged that he was tortured and was asked for a 40 per cent commission; where's the FIR on that?... our agitation is not on behalf of DK Shivakumar or Congress, it is the voice of Karnataka," he added. The Congress state chief had also announced that the party would protest against the government in front of the Chief Minister's residence and in all districts. Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah demanded the arrest of the Minister. Meanwhile, Eshwarappa announced his resignation on Thursday, following the row over his alleged role in the suicide of the contractor. He said that he will hand over his resignation to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai tomorrow. Eshwarappa said that he does not want to embarrass anybody including the high command leaders of the party. Earlier, the brother of the deceased contractor Santosh Patil on Wednesday demanded the arrest of Karnataka Minister KS Eshwarappa and his close aides Ramesh and Basawaraj. A Congress delegation led by state party chief DK Shivakumar, and former chief minister Siddaramaiah also met the Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, demanding the expulsion of Eshwarappa from the state cabinet as well as his arrest over contractor Santosh Patil's death. (ANI)
Addressing the reporters here, Bommai said, "Eshwarappa has decided to resign on his own. He will tender his resignation today evening. He has expressed that he will come out from all allegations soon. The police will investigate the matter from all angles."

"No need for the Opposition to become an investigation officer or judge as everything will come out after probe," the Chief Minister said.

Congress has demanded the Eshwarappa's arrest in connection with the death of contractor Santosh Patil who had alleged corruption by the minister.

"Resignation is not a solution. A case of corruption has to be registered, then he has to be arrested," said Congress chief DK Shivakumar on Thursday.

Earlier, Eshwarappa announced his resignation following the row over his alleged role in the suicide of the contractor. He said that he will hand over his resignation to Chief Minister Bommai today.

Eshwarappa said that he does not want to embarrass anybody including the high command leaders of the party. (ANI)
"There is a rumour that I am leaving Congress, I do not know who is spreading so," Patel said while attending an event in Surat on Thursday.

He further added, "I have given my 100 per cent to Congress till now, and will give the same in the coming days. We will do better development in Gujarat. There will be small fights and blame games within the party, but we have to work together to make Gujarat a better place."

Patel added, "If speaking truth is a crime, consider me guilty. The people of Gujarat have expectations from us, we have to stand up to them."

Hardik Patel emerged as the leader of the Patidar agitation demanding reservation for the community in Gujarat in 2015 and later joined Congress. (ANI)
Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Friday said that strengthening the subordinate judiciary is the need of the hour and the most crucial issue affecting the Indian judiciary is the issue of pendency. Speaking at the inaugural session of the Conference of Telangana State Judicial Officers, the CJI said the purpose behind organizing the Conference is to introspect about various factors governing the administration of justice and to discover ways and means to bring qualitative improvement in the system. "Strengthening the subordinate Judiciary is the need of the hour. The performance of any organization delivering any form of service must be assessed in terms of its effectiveness in achieving its goals. The goal of the justice delivery system is to deliver timely justice, as contemplated in the Constitution," he said. The CJI added, "Talking about the effectiveness of achieving the goal of justice delivery, the most crucial issue affecting the Indian judiciary, and particularly the subordinate judiciary, is the issue of pendency." "I understand that your functioning is adversely affected due to lack of infrastructure and the large number of judicial vacancies. However, I assure you that I am giving my best, to address these issues on priority. It is my firm belief that better judicial infrastructure and filling up of judicial vacancies is essential for improving access to justice." CJI Ramana said that it has been his endeavour to fill up all the judicial vacancies at all levels and with cooperation from all the stakeholders considerable progress could be made on this front. "In the case of Telangana, we could go a step ahead. The strength of the High Court has gone up from 24 to 42. The working strength has gone up from 12 to 29. After I assumed office, so far 17 fresh appointments were made. You all know, out of those 17, 11 are from your fraternity. In the latest round, out of the 12 recommended, 10 were already appointed. I am trying to get the remaining two names also cleared," said Ramana. He further said, "On the infrastructure front, you all are aware of my efforts to create statutory Judicial Infrastructure Authorities at the national and State level. To deal with this and a host of other issues, I have taken initiative for hosting a joint conference of Chief Justices and Chief Ministers towards the end of this month. I hope and believe that the conference would yield desired results." The greatest strength of the Indian judiciary is the faith of people in the institution, CJI Ramana told the gathering. "Being the Court of First Instance, it is your responsibility to ensure that the litigants remain satisfied. Litigants form an opinion on the judiciary based on the conduct of Officers/Courts in the Subordinate Judiciary. This casts a great responsibility on your shoulders. You have to create a congenial environment for the litigants. Often, the litigants would be under a lot of stress. You should try to make them feel at ease." "Always remember the human aspects of the dispute. Law cannot be far from equity. It is important to project the human face of the Judiciary, whenever you have scope for invoking your discretion. Make the Court proceedings accessible. Consider the socio-economic background, language, education, etc. of the parties involved and deal with them suitably. You must sensitize yourself to different vulnerabilities of parties. Minors, women, persons belonging to the weaker sections of the society, persons with disabilities, etc., might all have different requirements. Treat everyone with respect," the CJI said. Most importantly, perform your judicial duties without any fear, CJI Ramana told the judicial officers. "I am aware of the increasing physical attacks on judges. I am doing my utmost to prevent such occurrences. Directions were issued to improve the security of judicial officials both inside and outside Courtrooms. I also urge all of you to take care of your health- both physical and mental. There is a lot of work and stress that we as judges must face...." "I know your financial well-being is a very important factor. Only when you are free from financial worries, you will be able to give your best. Let me assure you that I have taken up the issues related to pay commission and you will soon get good news on this front," said the CJI. He further said that a Judge is judged not only by the quality of his judgments, but also by his character, transparency, and impeccable integrity. In the last two years, we all have suffered immensely due to the pandemic, we tried to minimize the loss of Court hours by using modern technologies. With the pandemic becoming less intense, the Constitutional Courts have been functioning with full potential, he said. The CJI asked judicial officers to come out of the fear of pandemic and make sincere efforts to spare extra time for court, beyond regular Court hours to deal with the backlog. Without improving the internal efficiency of the system, we can not ensure effectiveness, he said, adding that targeted action and effective case management can bring about a big difference. Ramana said the need of the hour is to enhance the usage of technology in case management system. I would encourage all judicial officers to keep themselves updated on the status of cases pending before them through the National Judicial Data Grid, he added. "The District judiciary is the foundation of this institution. Only if the foundation is strong, the system will flourish. It is for all of you to work in that direction and see that the flag of the judiciary flies high. I have not hesitation in saying that my friend of many years and Chief Minister of Telangana Sri K Chandrasekhar Rao garu is one of the most pro-active Chief Ministers as far as facilitating the functioning of the Judiciary is concerned," CJI said. The judiciary of this State is fortunate to have the whole-hearted support of the government, he added. "All of you are aware how encouraging he has been in setting up of International Arbitration and Mediation Centre which is generating employment opportunities directly and indirectly. In these times, when the employment opportunities are dwindling everywhere, it is remarkable that the government of Telangana is doing its best to fill the vacancies in the government sector. I compliment the Chief Minister for his efforts in this direction," said CJI Ramana. The CJI requested the Chief Justice of the Telangana Justice Satish Chandra Sharma to expedite the process of recommending names for filling up of remaining vacancies. "I urge upon him to keep in mind the social diversity while making the recommendations for elevation. Inclusivity doesn't stop with the enhanced representation of women. Every segment of society should get due representation. Only then the society will develop a sense of belongingness with the judiciary," the CJI said. (ANI)
The Centre has introduced fresh Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Employees' Service) Regulations in the country seeking different modes of recruitment and proportion of posts. The fresh regulation is called the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Employces' Service) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022. It came into effect on Wednesday after the central government issued a gazette notification by amending the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Employees' Service) (Amendment) Regulations, 2015 by exercising the powers "conferred by subsection (2) of section 11 read with sub-clause (b) of subsection (2) of section 52 of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 2013 (Act no 23 of 2013)". Four earlier amendments were done to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (Employces' Service) (Amendment) Regulations, 2015. The first was done in 2015, the second in 2020, and two in 2021. As per the amendment, the mode of recruitment and the proportion of posts are to be filled up through different modes and it will impact promotion, the deputation from government regulatory bodies, Reserve Bank of India, banks, financial institutions and academic institutions direct recruitment. On a contract basis, two-thirds of the total posts are to be filled by internal candidates and one-third of posts are to be filled by deputation, direct recruitment and contract, mentioned the notification. "In case of non-availability in any category, it says, internal and deputation or direct recruitment contract, the post may be filled from other categories." In the schedule "under clause (b) of sub-regulation 4 of Regulation 6, in column 3, row 3 [under heading Age, Qualification and Experience for Direct recruits] for Grade D, E and F", the Notification said graduation needed from a recognized university and fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI) for officers in the Actuarial Stream. Under experience, it said, after the words "considered useful to the Authority, "a minimum of 11, 14, 17 years of post-qualification experience is needed in the officer cadre, five years as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries of India (IAI) for officers in the Actuarial Stream." (ANI)
Amid rumours of Gujarat Congress Working President Hardik Patel quitting the party over infighting in the party, Aam Aadmi Party Gujarat chief Gopal Italia on Friday invited him to join a "like-minded party" like his and said that Congress would not have a place for the dedicated people like Patel. Speaking to ANI, the AAP state chief said, "If Hardik Patel is not liking in Congress, he should join a like-minded party like AAP. Instead of complaining to Congress, wasting his time, he should contribute here... A party like Congress would not have a place for dedicated people like him." However, Patel has refuted the rumours of him leaving the party stating that he will give 100 per cent for Congress. "I have given my 100 per cent to Congress till now, and will give the same in the coming days. We will do better development in Gujarat. There will be small fights and blame games within the party, but we have to work together to make Gujarat a better place," Patel said. Patel added, "If speaking truth is a crime, consider me guilty. The people of Gujarat have expectations from us, we have to stand up to them." Hardik Patel emerged as the leader of the Patidar agitation demanding reservation for the community in Gujarat in 2015 and later joined Congress. (ANI)
In what could be a major boost for Make in India in defence, the Indian Navy and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited are looking at developing a new Utility Helicopter (Marine) to meet the warship requirements of the force. If the development of the new variant of the Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv is done successfully, the Indian Navy would be looking at placing orders for 50 of these choppers which would help the Indian Navy to deploy choppers on its warships on high seas, the government sources told ANI. The development of choppers at the helicopter division of the public sector undertaking is being torn up after HAL claimed to the forces that it has been successful in the development of foldable rotors, the sources said. Due to constraints of space on warships, Navies across the globe require helicopters and aircraft to have foldable wings which allow more assets to be parked there. The frigates and destroyers have relatively smaller parking spaces and foldable rotors of UH Marine would allow them to be kept easily, sources said. The Navy has more than 150 warships in its fleet and wants them to be equipped with at least one helicopter each and is looking at procuring them through the Make in India route first. In recent times, the Indian Navy has induced around 16 of these ALH Dhruv Mark 3 choppers along with an equal number of machines for the Indian Coast Guard too. For the Indian Navy also, the HAL has been offering a maritime version of the Dhruv but not much could be done due to the lack of capabilities that have been required by the maritime force for operations. The Indian Navy warships are deployed all along the Indian Ocean Region and warships are provided with helicopters for reconnaissance and surveillance along with other operations required by the fleet to be carried out. The force will soon get its first set of the 24 MH-60 Romeo choppers from the US which were contracted for in a Foreign Military Sales deal a couple of years ago to meet the urgent requirements of multirole attack and anti-submarine warfare choppers. (ANI)
Newly appointed Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja on Friday assured that the party will come to power in the state as soon as the internal frictions of the party get fixed, adding that these things should not be publicised. "We faced a major loss and were toppled out of government (due to factions within the party). I want to say that things should be kept within the Congress family and not be publicised. We'll return to power as soon as we fix these things," Raja told media persons here. Congress faced a huge debacle in the 2022 State Assembly elections including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa. Earlier on Monday, Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday asked Raja to strengthen the party's organization in the state. "We have met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and taken her blessings. Sonia ji has asked us to strengthen the party's organization," he said. As the Congress Disciplinary Committee sends notices to former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar for his public conduct against the party lines in recent times, Warring refused to comment on it and said that the notice is for him to respond to. "High command has given notice to Sunil Jakhar ji. Only he can tell (about it). It is not my jurisdiction. Sonia ji has asked us to go and meet the people and know where we were lacking, and why we lost the elections," he said. Raja was appointed as the PCC chief on April 9 by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, replacing Navjot Singh Sidhu who was asked to resign after the debacle in the Punjab Assembly polls. (ANI)
In the resignation letter shared by Raeen, he accused the party chief of inaction and questioned his silence over the incarceration of Azam Khan and his family.

"Akhilesh Yadav kept silent when Azam Khan and his family were put into jail. SP President did not raise his voice after Nahid Hasan was imprisoned and Sahijal Islam's petrol pump was demolished," he said in the letter.

"I am resigning from all the posts of the party after being angered with such behaviour of the SP President towards Muslims," he added.

Kasim Raeen was the sector in charge of the Sultanpur district. (ANI)
Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday appealed to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to abolish the quota of Members of Parliament and District Magistrates in Kendriya Vidyalaya admissions rather than putting it on hold. Speaking to ANI, Sushil Modi said, "I am happy that it has been decided to postpone the MPs and DMs quota in the admission of Kendriya Vidyalaya schools till further order, but I appeal to the Education Minister to make a decision immediately to abolish the quota of MPs and DMs permanently which is about 30,000 seats." "Children should get an opportunity to study in Kendriya Vidyalaya on the basis of their merits," he added. "There was a time when the quota of LPG, Telephone and other quotas for MPs were abolished then why this quota is running, it should also be abolished," the BJP MP told ANI. The former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar further said that no one should have any discretionary power in this democratic system, whether it is the Prime Minister, Chief Minister or District Magistrate. "That's why we have been demanding that it is not proper in a democratic system." "Hundred people come to the one MP and there is only 10 quota for admission and the rest are angry. this is also a big reason for the MP to lose the election and there was a lack of transparency in it," he added Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in a Circular informed that admission in Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Schools under special provisions including MPs and District Magistrate quotas has been put on hold till further order. Circular issued by Hyderabad division said, "as per the directions of KVs Headquarters New Delhi, you are hereby informed that no admissions should be done under Special Provisions" (under para 1 of Part-B - page no.8,9,10,11) till further orders." (ANI)
Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), the statutory body of Indian Railways, has invited bids for a vacant plot of land in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. According to the official information, an area of 32,011 square metres will be given to the eligible highest bidder as a leasehold property for 99 years. The reserve price for the site is Rs 89.40 crores. Some old railway quarters existing at the site shall be developed by RLDA at another location. The pre-bid meeting was held on March 23, 2022, in Gorakhpur where prominent state and local developers participated and showed keen interest in this land parcel. Vice-Chairman of RLDA Ved Parkash Dudeja said, "Gorakhpur has several industrial units, making it one of the most significant places in the state. The proposed site is located at a very strategic location at the Residential cum Commercial hub connected with other major parts of the city. Its development shall boost the already developing economy of Gorakhpur." As per information, the railway land which lies adjacent to Ramgarh Lake near Mohaddipur is primarily a residential and commercial neighbourhood located adjacent to the Railway area of Mohaddipur block. It is notable that Gorakhpur is the zonal headquarter of the North Eastern Railway. It is a major railway station in Uttar Pradesh connecting the Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Northern India to Bihar and Nepal. Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) is a statutory authority under the Ministry of Railways for the development of Railway land. It has four key mandates as a part of its development plan, namely leasing commercial sites, colony redevelopment, station redevelopment, and multi-functional complexes. During the Financial Year 2021-22, RLDA has leased out various sites at Chennai, Amaravati, Aurangabad of Maharashtra, Asansol of West Bengal, Bareilly of Uttar Pradesh, Ambari of Guwahati etc. RLDA has also leased out railway colonies like Chilkalguda & Rifle-Range colonies of Secunderabad and Rajkot Railway Colony in this financial year for redevelopment. (ANI)
People including Monks living in these Satras celebrated Rongali Bihu in their own unique way with Buka Bihu (playing in the mud).

When people of the state are celebrating Manuh Bihu on the first day of Assamese month Bohag, the people celebrated Buka Bihu across the different Satras of the river island district.

"There are many benefits of playing in the mud. Mud can cure skin diseases. It also helps to strengthen our brotherhood. Today, we have celebrated Buka Bihu and all our brothers gathered here," a youth of Majuli said.

Many Bihu celebration committees in Guwahati and other parts of the state have organized week-long Rongali Bihu programmes.

On the first day of Rongali Bihu - the cattle are washed, smeared with a paste of fresh turmeric, and black lentils and then the people of Assam also worship them.

The Assam government has also provided one-time financial assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh to each of more than 1,200 Bihu Committees across the state to celebrate the festival. (ANI)
The Goa government will write to the Bombay High Court to seek to list the Konkani language, in addition to English, as the official language to conduct court proceedings for Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Friday. "The Bombay High Court branch in Goa functions only in English but it should be both English and Konkani," Sawant said. Underlining the need for regional language in the legislature, he said, "When we go to the judiciary to seek justice, it will be our endeavour to ensure that it should function in English as well as in Konkani. We will write to the High Court." "Promoting Hindi will not only make India even more united in its diversity but will also help the country to emerge as Akhand Bharat," said Sawant in his address at the Bhasha Sahodari International Hindi conference (8th International Hindi Conference) at the Institute Menezes Braganza of Panaji. "For the dream of unity in diversity and Akhand Bharat, it is important to promote Hindi. We will do everything to promote Hindi in Goa and give equal importance to the regional languages," he added further. Konkani is the state's official language. (ANI)
Reconstruction of the Ram Janmabhoomi temple is not simply a high point in India's cultural history, it will also herald a new phase in the economy and development of the ancient city of Ayodhya and nearby areas, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday. Naidu's statement came after he along with his spouse Usha Naidu visited the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple site in Uttar Pradesh's Ayodhya. They were accompanied by the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Anandiben Patel and Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. "Spiritual tourism is a major employment generator in India and Ayodhya, one of the most ancient cities of the world, which is fast emerging as a preferred destination for national as well as international devotees," Naidu further said. "I am pleased to note that to meet the increasing requirements of surging tourist inflows, the Central and State governments have started many infrastructural works." A new International Airport is being constructed and redevelopment of Ayodhya Railway Station is also underway, said the Vice President. "The private sector is also investing in hotels, medical sector and food chains. All in all, this sacred region is witnessing an unprecedented scale of development and Ram Nagari is on course to regain its ancient glory." "My visit to Ayodhya and Darshan of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi today was the fulfilment of a long-cherished dream, one which, I am sure I share with millions of my countrymen," Naidu said. "The rebuilding of Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya symbolises India's cultural renaissance and our renewed commitment to the principles of Ram Rajya - a vision of democratic and righteous governance which ensures peace, justice and equality for all," he added. The Vice President said the message of the Ramayana has universal significance and transcends geographical boundaries, and that different adaptations of this timeless epic are hugely popular across various South East Asian countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos. With Prime Minister, Narendra Modi laying the foundation stone on August 5, 2020, Naidu said the reconstruction work of the temple is proceeding apace at the Ram Janmabhoomi site. "It was gladdening to know that experts from various institutions including IITs, Central Building Research Institute, L&T Constructions and Tata Consultancy Engineering Limited are working together as a large team overseeing this historic mission." (ANI)
The incident came to light when the woman reported the issue.

The accused molested the woman as she alighted a rickshaw on her way home.

Investigations are underway and teams have been deployed to arrest the suspects, police said. CCTV footage is also being considered so as to arrest the miscreants at the earliest, added the police.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)
The national weather forecasting agency has predicted that India will witness normal rainfall during the southwest monsoon season from June 5 to September 30 this year. The IMD has updated all-India 'rainfall normal' to 87 cm from the previous of 88 cm on the basis of the availability of new data from its network of rain gauges across the country which has been calculated on the basis of rainfall data over a 50-year period from 1971-2020. This will now be used as a benchmark to measure rainfall in India. "IMD conducts an analysis of rainfall on Long Period Average (LPA) - a long term data. IMD defines normal rainfall on the basis of rainfall data over a 50-year period. Until last year, the IMD used to consider the LPA of 88 cm of the 1961-2010 period. We've updated all-India 'rainfall normal' to 87cm for southwest monsoon for 1971-2020 based on data over a long period," Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology of IMD told ANI on Friday. This all-India 'rainfall normal' is updated every 10 years. There has been a decrease of 12 mm in mean rainfall during the Southwest monsoon season from 868.8 mm based on new data of 1971-2020 from 880.6 mm based on previous data of 1961-2010. IMD attributed the decrease in the average rainfall to natural multi-decadal epochal variability of dry and wet epochs of all India rainfall. Mohapatra said that nearly 99 per cent of rainfall has been predicted across the country with a model error of "plus minus 5 per cent" adding that it means the rainfall will be normal during the time this year. Noting that there will be a uniform distribution of rainfall across the country, the senior IMD official said that exceptions to this will be northeastern states, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir and parts of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh where rainfall could be below normal. Besides, there is more probability of normal and above normal rainfall across the country, he added. (ANI)
Delhi Police apprehended two drug peddlers including one woman for allegedly possessing heroin worth Rs 1.25 crores here, police said on Friday. Acting on secret information, the Narcotics cell of the Delhi Police arrested the two accused identified as 26-year-old Aamna and 22-year-old Ravi who are the residents of Narela district of New Delhi. The duo used to supply drugs within the district, an official said. Deputy Commissioner of Police of Outer North district, Brijendra Kumar Yadav said the accused Aamna is the main peddler who runs the racket and Ravi was working as her carrier. "A total of half kg heroin has been recovered from the possession of the two accused. In the raid carried out by the narcotic cell, 100 grams of heroin were recovered from Ravi and 400 grams of it were recovered from the possession of Aamna. Police also recovered packing material including an electronic weighing machine and polythene pouches of different sizes from the house of Aamna," he said. The police further said that the accused Aamna was receiving drugs from a person namely Imran. Earlier she used to receive it from another drug peddler namely Pramod Kumar alias Moola, who was apprehended by a special staff of the Narcotics department in an encounter held on November 2021. Also, in the year 2020, the Delhi police arrested one person namely Ajmera alias Kabri in a similar case who is the elder sister of Aamna. The police said she is in judicial custody. Police are on the lookout for the other associates of the two accused. An FIR has been filed in Narela Police station under sections 21, 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985. Further investigation into the case is underway. (ANI)
Instant messaging platform WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta, has announced that it would be introducing 'Communities', a feature for grouping together similar interest groups. According to The Verge, this feature will initially be rolled out to a small, select number of groups and will let thousands participate in a community that hosts multiple sub-group chats. The reason for introducing this feature is that various organizations, from a school to a business whose employees communicate on WhatsApp, can more easily organize discussions and have their admins message everyone across different groups. Users can create a community by adding groups featuring a similar theme and admins can then manage those groups within and send messages to all groups at the same time. This way individual conversations related to that group can continue while also getting announcements that impact all groups at the same time. 'Communities' will support end-to-end encryption. Regarding discoverability, WhatsApp has stated that it will not be adding the option to search or discover new communities unlike "other apps". It will also be reducing the ability to forward messages from the current limit of five to just one group at a time. This move is designed to proactively thwart the spread of potentially harmful posts, like spam and illegal sexual content. The platform will also be banning individual community members or admins, and disbanding a community if it becomes aware of illegal, violent, or hateful activities within a community. WhatsApp will also introduce improvements to how individual groups work, regardless of whether they are part of a community or not. Groups will be able to have emoji reactions for messages, so members can react to a particular message without sending separate emoji messages. As per GSM Arena, admins will also be able to delete messages in a group, which will then be removed from everyone's device. File sharing will be upgraded to support files up to 2GB in size and finally, one-tap voice calling will now support up to 32 members. (ANI)
During the visit, Shah will be in Madhya Pradesh on April 22 followed by Bihar on April 23 and Puducherry on April 24.

On April 22, the Home Minister will be participating in the 48th All India Police Science Congress (AIPSC) meeting in Bhopal as the chief guest at 11 am.

Madhya Pradesh Police in association with the Home Ministry and the Bureau of Police Research and Development is organising the event at the police headquarters in Bhopal. Police officers, academicians, researchers, judicial and scientific experts will present their papers at the meet

The Union Home Minister will visit Bihar to pay tributes to freedom fighter Veer Kunwar Singh on April 23. Shah will also attend a program in Jagdishpur in Bihar's Arrah district on the same day in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers will be present with 75 thousand flags.

"The programme will be a non-political event. The coming generation will be informed about the sacrifice of Veer Kunwar Singh. The programme will be organized under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th year of India's independence," said sources.

On April 23, the Home Minister will reach Puducherry to attend an event. (ANI)
In a bid to promote education, Senior Superintendent of Police Mandeep Singh Sidhu has launched an initiative with the assistance of a private company under which the fees of 3,000 students of government schools in Dhuri would be paid. Addressing a press conference, he said, "Now Punjab will become 'Padhta Punjab'. I started the movement on a small scale and people joined in and so did the contributions for promoting education in the state," said Sidhu. He also highlighted that the chairman of a private company had joined the cause for the future of these children studying in government schools. "School fees of around three thousand children would be paid by the Rasila group, which is really appreciable. Also, they would be helping the students from distant schools to get education smoothly," said Sidhu. A spokesperson from the private organization said that when they came to know that a mission is being run by Mandeep Singh Sidhu for helping children study, they really liked it. "Illiteracy is a curse. Life without education is incomplete. In view of this, we have decided to allocate Rs 50 lakh, so as to help these children," said the spokesperson. (ANI)
A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team on Friday arrived at the residence of Prabhakar Poddar, an accused in the case of gang rape and death of a minor girl. The team also included members of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) to collect samples. Notably, CBI DIG Akhilesh Singh with CBI Joint Director Ghanshyam Upadhyay on Thursday arrived at the house in Ganrapota Bilpara Village of the prime accused Braj Gopal Gayali in the case. A 14-year-old girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped in Hanskhali in Nadia district earlier this month. The victim's family has accused the son of a Trinamool Congress panchayat leader in the case. Calcutta High Court on Tuesday granted permission to the CBI to investigate the case. In its detailed order, the High Court noted that in order to have a "fair investigation" and instil confidence in the family of the victim, the case was being handed over to the CBI. The state investigating agency was asked to hand over all papers relating to the investigation, as well as the custody of the accused to the central agency. The matter has been listed for May 2.A case under sections 376(2)(G) (gangrape), 302 (murder), 204 (tampering with evidence) of the IPC and relevant sections of the POCSO) Act was registered in the case. Meanwhile, the five-member fact-finding committee constituted by BJP chief JP Nadda visited Hanskhali on Friday. The Committee includes BJP MP Rekha Verma, Uttar Pradesh Minister Baby Rani Maurya, Tamil Nadu MLA Vanathi Srinivasan, Khusbu Sunder and West Bengal MLA Rupmitra Chaudhary. Notably, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday questioned if the minor girl was actually raped or had a love affair that got her pregnant. (ANI)
State Ministers Bairati Basavaraj, MTB Nagaraj, Araga Jnanendra and MLA Ramesh Jharkiholi were also present at the Chief Minister's residence while Eshwarappa tendered his resignation. Notably, Eshwarappa represents the Shivamogga Assembly seat.

Before leaving for Bengaluru, Eshwarappa said the reason for his resignation is to set a benchmark for the workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who "should feel that they will not get power until they come out clean and innocent".

"All the workers, MLAs, and leaders across the state are calling and supporting me. They expressed confidence that no BJP worker can commit such a mistake," Eshwarappa said while adding that he is sure of coming out clean in the "Agni Pariksha".

Earlier today, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Dushyant Gautam said the minister needs to step down only if he is guilty in the contractor death case.

Bommai, on Friday, confirmed that Eshwarappa will tender his resignation from his ministerial post today.

Deceased contractor Santosh Patil had accused the Minister Eshwarappa of corruption. He was found dead in a lodge in Udupi on Tuesday. (ANI)
After a gap of over 2 years following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the annual Amarnath Yatra 2022 is set to commence this year and all preparations are underway. Several new facilities have been incorporated including Radio Frequency Identification tags for not just pilgrims but ponies as well, insurance cover for people has been increased from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and ponies have also been covered in insurance cover of Rs 50,000 with the coverage period for handlers increased to 1 year from the previous period of three months, said Nitishwar Kumar, CEO of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. He also said that in case of natural or accidental death of the ponies, the cost of the insurance will be borne by the National Livestock Mission and the Shrine Board of the temple adding that the pony handlers have to pay nothing at all. The newly-introduced RFID tags will ensure the safety of people. The tags will be helpful in tracking the pilgrims, providing them information on the nearest sanitation facility and weather updates, said Kumar. "It will be easier for the devotee to communicate with us and for us to communicate with them and track where they are in the particular stretch of the Yatra," he added. With an expectation of pilgrims arriving in double the strength this year as compared to previous years, Kumar said preparations have been enhanced accordingly including accommodation facilities, langar and sanitation. "We are expecting nearly 8 lakh devotees," he said. The pilgrimage starts from two sides - Baltal and Nunwan camp. On both the routes, he said 10,000 people on each route will be allowed per day. Those above 13 years and below 75 years are eligible to register for the Yatra along with a compulsory health certificate which they are required to produce. There are three ways for registration - through banks, on online portal and via mobile app available on the Google play store. It is for the first time the registration has been started through the app, said the CEO of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board. "The registration can be done through 550 branches of Punjab National bank, J&K Bank, Yes Bank and this year State Bank of India has also joined with more than 100 branches," Kumar said. Noting that it is the age of technology, he said that over the last four days, almost two-thirds of the registration has been recieved online - either through the website or the app. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, he said standard SOPs are in place for example following social distancing, wearing face masks, and usage of sanitisers. There will be random testing for the virus, he added. In case of any emergency situations, oxygen booths will be set up all across the route, Kumar noted. Chopper services will also be available at Baltal and Nunwan camps. Ensuring proper security arrangements, a high-level committee chaired by Lieutenant General Manoj Sinha has been formed, which is overseeing the arrangements. Taking precautions for natural calamities, mock drills are conducted by National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), mountain rescue teams and quick response teams. Along with this, heli-emergency services have been put in place and chopper services will be pulled into use in case of any untoward incident, Kumar said. Amarnath Yatra will commence on June 30 and conclude on August 11. (ANI)
A minor tribal girl was allegedly abducted and gang-raped by five men in Bolpur city of Birbhum district here while she was returning from a village fair on Thursday night, West Bengal police said on Friday. Superintendent of Police of Birbhum district, Narendra Nath Tripathi said that the incident took place in the Shanti Niketan police station area when the girl accompanied by a male friend was returning from the fair. "The girl and her male friend went to attend Charak Mela. On their way back they stopped at a nearby park and were sitting there when five men allegedly attacked them. The men abducted the girl and took her to the bank of a river where they took turns to rape her. The victim has been admitted to Bolpur Sub-divisional hospital for a medical checkup," he said. On the orders of Birbhum SP, a police force has been deployed for at the site of the crime and a search for the accused has been launched. A case has been registered by the police against at least five men. Further investigation into the case is underway. (ANI)
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday handed over appointment letters to 884 TET (Teacher Eligibility Test) qualified teachers on a regular and contractual basis in various categories under the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council. Sarma handed over the appointment letters in a programme held at Joysing Doloi Auditorium, Diphu in Karbi Anglong district. This includes 108 numbers Assistant Teachers and 25 numbers Maths and Science Teachers of Upper Primary, 192 numbers Assistant Teachers (Primary) under the Primary Education Department and 559 numbers Assistant Teacher (Contractual) under Axom Sarba Siksha Mission. The Assam Chief Minister also ceremonially distributed one-time financial assistance (Insurance premium) to DIPR registered and recognized 32 media persons and financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1 lakh each to 34 eminent writers of Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong District. Apart from this, Sarma also distributed financial assistance to the tune of Rs 50,000 each to the families of deceased journalists and Rs 15,000 each to 88 numbers Law graduates. "In recent years, Karbi Anglong has witnessed a renaissance of development and there is a new dawn in terms of progress in the district. If infrastructure like roads, and bridges are parts of the body of a human being, education and health can be considered as the soul. The state government is making all-out effort to develop the soul and has been spending 6 per cent of GDP in education and health sector," the Assam chief minister said. Stating that teaching should not be considered as a mere profession, the Assam Chief Minister urged the teachers to be accountable to the society as they are entrusted with the great task of developing human resources. "Though since 2012-13, the state government has recruited several thousand TET qualified teachers in the state and many have been appointed in Karbi Anglong. The academic condition has not improved, rather enrolment has recorded a downward turn. The situation in Karbi Anglong is no different," he said adding that "teachers who don't go to school and show negligence to their duties are enemies of society." The Assam Chief Minister made a call to the people of Karbi Anglong, especially the intellectual class to keep a vigil on the performance of teachers so that they carry out their responsibilities with utmost commitment. "Karbi Anglong has all the resources, but what is required the most for its fast development is quality education and better academic opportunities as education teaches us equality and leads us to development," Sarma said. Moreover, underlining the importance of venturing out of the district to find out more employment opportunities, the Assam Chief Minister urged the students of Karbi Anglong to learn as many languages as possible to make them more employable. (ANI)
Speaking on the occasion here, Jairam Thakur said, "Today's day is very special for all the people of Himachal. "Himachal Diwas" function has been organised today at Chamba. I greet you all on the occasion."

"The people of Himachal will now get free electricity up to 125 units. This will benefit 11.50 lakh families. Earlier, up to 60 units of free domestic electricity were being provided," he said.

The Chief Minister also spoke for the welfare of people living in rural areas.

"In rural areas, consumers will not have to pay water bills. Women will get 50 per cent discount on bus travel," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday also greeted the people of Himachal Pradesh on its statehood day saying the state has converted challenges into opportunities.

He also reiterated the commitment to take the nectar of development to every inhabitant of the state during the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'. (ANI)
In view of the increasing COVID-19 cases in Delhi, the Arvind Kejriwal Government has geared up to deal with the situation and has asked all hospitals to be on alert. In a statement on Friday, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, ''The Delhi Government is closely monitoring the situation and the government does not want to take any risk. We have completely overhauled our health infrastructure. Along with this, all hospitals have been advised to remain alert amidst increasing cases of COVID-19 in Delhi.'' ''To prevent the spread of Coronavirus, the Delhi Government is doing contact tracing of Coronavirus-infected patients. At the same time, RT-PCR testing will also be increased if needed. The Government is working on the principle of testing, tracing and treatment. Precaution doses of various vaccines will soon be provided free of cost to people in government hospitals by the Delhi government,'' he added. Satyendar Jain also appealed to the people to get vaccinated at the earliest and said, ''Prevention is better than cure. All those who have not yet taken the vaccine or have taken only the first dose, should be taken to their nearest health facility as soon as possible for complete vaccination." He said, "Even though cases of COVID-19 have increased in Delhi, the number of patients admitted to hospitals is still normal. Apart from this, the XE variant has not been included in the list of 'Variants of Concern' by the World Health Organization. So there is no need to panic. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) will meet on April 20 to discuss the rise in Corona cases and measures to contain the spread of the epidemic. In this future strategies will be discussed." It has been informed by the Delhi Government that ''On the orders of the Chief Minister, about 37,000 COVID-19 dedicated beds and 10,594 COVID-ICU beds have been prepared in the national capital. If the infection spreads, the government has planned to increase 100 oxygen beds in every ward of Delhi within two weeks. In such a situation, the Delhi government plans to prepare 65,000 beds, so that no person has to face shortage of beds in an emergency situation. If the cases increase again, the home isolation system will be implemented.'' According to the government, ''At present, the Delhi government has a capacity of 1363.73 MT of oxygen, including Liquid Medical Oxygen Storage (LMO), Liquid Medical Oxygen Buffer, and PSA Plant. At the same time, the medical institution has the capacity of oxygen cylinders of up to 217 metric tonnes. Apart from this, 6,000 D type cylinders have been kept in reserve for use in an emergency.'' ''Apart from the facility of COVID beds, the Delhi government is also emphasizing the availability of medicines in sufficient quantities, to ensure that there is no shortage of medicines in any situation. The Government is also emphasizing on increasing manpower for COVID-19 management, so that if the rate of infection accelerates, there is no shortage of doctors, nurses and paramedical staff. At the same time, a Covid helpline number- 1031 has been issued to help the corona infected during any problem. This helpline is available 24 hours a day to assist the people.'' Delhi has recorded 366 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours with a positivity rate of nearly four per cent (3.95 per cent). The national capital has been witnessing an uptick in coronavirus cases over the last few days. With this, Delhi's COVID-19 tally has increased to 18,67,572. The death count is at 26,158 with no deaths in a day. The city reported 325 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, while the positivity rate stood at 2.39 per cent. (ANI)
Following the announcement by The Kashmir Files' director Vivek Agnihotri of making his next film on the 1984 riots, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh on Friday said that Agnihotri is a government-sponsored producer who makes films over files. Gourav, while speaking to ANI said, "Have some courage to make a movie on Gujarat files, I will get you all the evidence of what the Chief Minister was doing...what Home minister of Gujarat was doing when Gujarat was burning. I will provide you all the relevant information and evidence provided you have that courage but unfortunately, I am aware that you are a government-sponsored producer, director and make films over files". Gourav said that the director is free to make films of his choice but if he is an unbiased and honest filmmaker, he must make films on the Gujarat riots and prove that he is not a government-sponsored filmmaker. "We are in a democracy. I understand Mr Agnihotri can make anything of his choice. But, please get some courage because you are an independent filmmaker, and not a government-sponsored producer and director, don't behave like one," he said. Gourav further said that Agnihotri might be residing in Mumbai because Bollywood is mainly centred in Mumbai. But while coming from Mumbai to Delhi there is one city called Ahmadabad. He questioned, "Why had the filmmaker not thought of making Gujarat Files?'' "Is somebody compelling you for not making Gujarat files or you do not have enough evidence or data, if you require evidence and data about what happened in Gujarat during the Narendra Modi Ji's Chief ministership, I can provide it to you," reiterated Gourav. Senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi also took a jibe at Agnihotri's tweet, he said, "I am not surprised that Agnihotri tweets and then it becomes the biggest news in the country. He should make a movie on the Gujarat riots if he is so honest. He should also make movies on all riots which took place in India in the past 70 years." He further said, "In fact, the PM should make one ministry on this, wherever the riot takes place make a movie on it." Meanwhile, Vivek Agnihotri on Saturday shared that he will soon start working on his next project 'The Delhi Files'. Agnihotri took to his Twitter handle on Friday and expressed gratitude to the people who watched 'The Kashmir Files' and said, "It's time for me to work on a new film." He wrote, "I thank all the people who owned #TheKashmirFiles. For the last 4 years, we worked very hard with utmost honesty & sincerity. I may have spammed your TL but it's important to make people aware of the GENOCIDE and injustice done to Kashmiri Hindus. It's time for me to work on a new film." (ANI)
Paediatric Gastroenterologist at Delhi's Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, Dr Smita Malhotra on Friday said that there is no need to shut schools because teachers and students are testing COVID-19 positive, and emphasised on taking precautionary measures instead. "There is no need at all for shutting down schools because schooling is a very important aspect of growth for children and not just educational growth, growth on other parameters like emotional, psychological, even physical aspects. So definitely, as of now, there is no indication for closure of schools," the Senior Consultant said. "Standard precautions which are there for others; frequent hand washing and good ventilation should be ensured in schools. Ensure proper screening. If you think any child has even minor symptoms, then ask that child to stay at home for a few days or get tested," she added. Dr Malhotra also believes that during growing age, children get exposed to various types of viruses and "whenever there is a changing season or there is a season for those particular viruses, they tend to catch viral infections." The only thing which is a matter of concern is that COVID should not spread rapidly, so much so that it overwhelms the system, she added. "There have been some reports of children getting COVID after the reopening of schools, but they are not having serious illnesses. They have mild flu-like symptoms, and cases have marginally increased after the schools reopened," she said. Notably, Delhi has recorded 366 Covid cases in the last 24 hours with a positivity rate of nearly four per cent (3.95 per cent). The national capital has been witnessing a rise in coronavirus cases over the last few days. (ANI)
Central government representative A.K. Mishra, who held the first round of talks with the major Naga groups including the NSCN-IM and other stakeholders in September last year in Nagaland, will visit the northeastern state on Monday to take forward the peace talks, officials said on Friday. A senior Nagaland government official said that Mishra, a former Special Director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), during his week-long stay in Nagaland, would meet Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, other Naga leaders and the leaders of Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) and Naga National Political Groups (NNPG). Mishra was entrusted with the Naga peace talks by the Central government after it transferred Nagaland Governor Ravindra Narayan Ravi to Tamil Nadu. Ravi was the Centre's interlocutor in the Naga peace talks for many years. During his last visit in Nagaland in September last year, Mishra also discussed the Naga peace talk issue with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the Convener of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA). Meanwhile, Chief Minister Rio, accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Yanthungo Patton, United Democratic Alliance (UDA) Chairman T.R. Zeliang and newly elected Rajya Sabha Member S. Phangnon Konyak met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday in New Delhi and discussed the Naga peace talk issue. However, the Nagaland leaders remained tight-lipped about the crucial discussions. During the Assembly session last month, all member, cutting across party lines, strongly demanded to settle the Naga peace process at the earliest. Rio had urged the negotiating parties to settle the issue, and that if a settlement cannot be reached, there should be fresh mandate by the people as to how to pursue the Naga political issue. Noting that 17 resolutions on the Naga political issue have been passed in the Assembly since 1964, he said: "But if a solution is not arrived at, and insurgency activities continue, the future of the younger generation remains at stake." The Centre has been separately holding peace talks with the NSCN-IM and eight other Naga groups, which came together a few years ago under the banner of NNPGs. The NSCN-IM and other outfits entered into a ceasefire agreement with the Centre in 1997 and since then, both sides held more than 85 rounds of negotiations. A Framework Agreement between the Centre and NSCN-IM was signed on August 3, 2015 and the agreed position between the government and the NNPG on November 17, 2017. --IANS sc/vd ( 427 Words) 2022-04-15-20:58:06 (IANS)
Delhi Police on Friday has launched an investigation into the alleged impersonation of Vivek Kumar, the private secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by an unidentified man who wrote an email to designer Kunal Merchant, informed Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana. "We have received a complaint regarding forgery, impersonation, and identity fraud of an office bearer at the Prime Minister's Office. The matter is under investigation," Asthana said in an official statement. The Police Commissioner also shared screenshots of the alleged impersonator after an Instagram story was posted by designer Kunal Merchant which shows their alleged email conversation. The images shared by Asthana showed a conversation between Merchant and an unidentified person who was impersonating Vivek Kumar Private Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi via email. "Dear Merchant, We are pleased to inform you that our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has identified you and your design practice to design and build a permanent installation/ executive table for exclusive use by the Prime Minister. The desk will be placed in the PMO and used by subsequent Prime Ministers to come," the email read which was sent from the impersonator read. In response to the alleged mail, the designer reportedly thanked PMO for considering his practice for a prestigious project. "Unfortunately due to my political and social views, I would like to respectfully decline this opportunity and wish not to be considered as a contender for the same. Had things been different and should I have been able to do this project, I would have liked to call this desk 'The Swaraj Desk," Merchant wrote. (ANI)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday urged the Central government to allow the state government to ship essential commodities from Thoothukudi port to the Sri Lankan Tamils as the island country is going through an unprecedented economic crisis. In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, the Chief Minister also requested for Centre's urgent intervention related to the plight of the 12 Indian fishermen, who were apprehended on March 23 and request to ensure all legal support and assistance for enabling the early release of fishermen. During his meeting in March, he had apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the Tamil Nadu Government's willingness to provide essential commodities and life-saving medicines to the Sri Lankan Tamils who are bearing the brunt of the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. "During our recent telephonic conversation on April 7, 2022, I had also brought to your notice that the State has been receiving Sri Lankan Tamils who are forced to leave their country amid the escalating economic crisis that is turning into a humanitarian crisis. It was informed then that such measures can be considered after due consultation with the Indian Mission in Sri Lanka," he said in a letter to Jaishankar. The Chief Minister reiterated the Tamil Nadu government's commitment to ship the essential supplies including food grain, vegetables and medicines and others from Thoothukudi port to the Sri Lankan Tamils living in Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka and Colombo, as well as those working in the plantations who are reeling under severe food crisis. "It has now been reported that the Union Government has enabled the shipping of food and other essential commodities to Sri Lanka. At this juncture, I would like to reiterate the commitment of my Government to ship the essential supplies including food grain, vegetables and medicines etc., from Thoothukudi port to the Sri Lankan Tamils living in Northern and Eastern parts of Sri Lanka and Colombo, as well as those working in the plantations who are reeling under severe food crisis. I request that this may be facilitated at the earliest in view of the worsening situation in Sri Lanka," he said. Stalin also drew the attention of Jaishankar to the plight of the 12 Indian fishermen, who were apprehended on March 23 this year and said that the Killinochchi court has adjourned the case to May 12 with the instructions that the fishermen could be released on bail on a personal bond of Lankan rupees 2 crore per person. "As this is a prohibitive amount, the fishermen can never furnish the same. They are presently lodged in the Jaffna prison. I request your urgent intervention in this regard and request you to ensure all legal support and assistance to the poor fishermen for enabling their early release," he added. The Chief Minister also interacted with refugees from Sri Lanka via video conferencing and enquired them about their essential needs, welfare, and ground situation in Sri Lanka amid the economic crisis in the country. Sri Lanka is facing an unprecedented economic crisis as the government's inability to import essential goods after the coronavirus pandemic torpedoed vital revenue from tourism and remittances.(ANI)
According to BSF officials, Singh reviewed the preparedness of the troops on the International Border with Pakistan including the Line of Control and asked the high ups of the Kashmir Frontier to maintain strict vigil.

The BSF DG also inspected the deployment of the troops deployed for law and order duty in Srinagar and took reports from the officials about the deployment in other sectors on the Kashmir Frontiers.

Appreciating the efforts of the troops for maintaining the security in Kashmir division, he asked the troopers to remain on highest alert to prevent any acts of the anti-India elements.

There has been an increase in attempts of infiltration from the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) after the end of the winter season every year.

Singh also asked the BSF officers to man the international border on the highest level and to increase the regular patrol on the borders.

He also planted one Chinar tree sapling in Panthachowk campus of the Force.

Singh also participated in the high level meeting on the preparedness for the Amarnath Yatra, chaired by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla along with the Intelligence Bureau Director Arvind Kumar.

The BSF also deploys its security personnel for the Amarnath Yatra and this year, the Force has been asked to spare more troops considering the high number of devotees this year.

--IANS ams/pgh

( 265 Words)

2022-04-15-21:48:06 (IANS)
Terrorists fired upon and critically injured Manzoor Ahmad, an independent Sarpanch, at Goshbugh area of Pattan in Baramulla. He was moved to hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Condemning the killing of Sarpanch, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) said the vicious cycle of violence seems to be unending.

"JKNC condemns the gruesome killing of BJP Sarpanch Manzoor Ahmad in North Kashmir's Goshbugh, Pattan in the strongest possible terms. The vicious cycle of violence seems to be unending. May Allah grant him a place in Jannat-ul-Firdous. Condolences to his family and loved ones," JKNC said.

"Another targeted killing, another family in mourning this evening. This unending cycle of violence is heartbreaking. My condolences to the family of Manzoor Bangroo. May he find place in Jannat," former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah tweeted.

Meanwhile, the BJP while condemning the killing of the Sarpanch said he was not associated with the BJP.

"Strongly denounce the barbaric killing of Sarpanch Manzoor Ahmed Bangroo of Goshubugh, Pattan by terrorists. Gruesome act, terrorists have no religion and mercy even during the fasting month of Ramadan. It is to clarify that slain Sarpanch was not affiliated with BJP as reported by a section of press," J&K BJP spokesperson Altaf Thakur said.

--IANS zi/pgh

( 239 Words)

2022-04-15-21:58:05 (IANS)
This reaction comes after a delegation of six US congressmen arrived on the island today on an unannounced visit for talks with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

The sides are expected to exchange views on US-Taiwan cooperation, the threat of China, and regional security, Taiwanese news agency CNA reported.

"China firmly opposes any form of official interaction between the US and the Taiwan region. Members of the US Congress should act in consistence with the US government's one-China policy," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian told a briefing.

Zhao noted that the US "should abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-US joint communiques" and stop any form of "official exchanges with Taiwan and avoid going further down this dangerous path."

He also reaffirmed Beijing's commitment to safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Taiwan's foreign ministry said this visit showed bipartisan support for Taiwan in the U.S. Congress.

This comes a few days after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cancelled a planned visit to Taiwan, after contracting COVID-19.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China for over seven decades.

Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan, which is a territory with its own democratically-elected government, maintains that it is an autonomous country. (ANI)
Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims gathered at Galle Face Green, the main beachfront in the capital Colombo, outside Sri Lankan President's secretariat and raised 'Go Gota Go' slogans and also held President Gotabaya Rajapaksa responsible for the country's economic situation. One of the protestors displayed his disappointment saying, "The protests are going on against the government and people are asking for justice as there is a lot of suffering. Sinhalese, Tamils, and Muslims everyone is here and all resonate with the same sentiment against the government. All the Sri Lankans demand justice." Expressing his dismay over the economic crisis in the country, another protestor said, "Today is Sri Lanka's New Year , we used to mark the new year with celebrations but this time everyone is protesting against the government. Things costing Rs 100 are now being sold at Rs 400. No one has money. What did the government do with the money? Why did the country go bankrupt? No one knows anything." Agitators are asking Rajapaksas to leave power, accusing them of corruption and misrule. "We are asking our president to come and tell us the reasons that led to this state of the economy. We urge him to show us the audit and the finance minister should also be responsible for the same. I call upon all the responsible people of the country to come together and seek a solution to this problem. We have all come together and we are united to bring the president down and all those who are responsible for the corruption," he added. With a deep sentiment of nationalism, the protestor added, "We want more people and professionals to come forward and save this beautiful nation." A massive protest erupted in the Galle Face Green area in the capital city of Colombo as the Island nation is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with food and fuel shortages, soaring prices, and power cuts. This comes at a time when Sri Lanka is celebrating its New Year. The Sri Lankans are protesting against the government's handling of the economic situation and demanded the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Protesters have been accusing Rajapaksa's government of corruption and misrule.Sri Lanka's Marxist party, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), plans to hold a massive march next week to support the public and dethrone the Rajapaksa government.Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, JVP General Secretary, Tilvin Silva, said that this public march will be the largest in the country's history and is scheduled to hold on April 17, 18 and 19, Colombo Page reported. Silva further stated that the march will start from Beruwala on April 17 at 9 am and will reach Colombo on April 19. "We are ready to give a new impetus to the struggle and turn it into a people's power that will end victoriously," the JVP General Secretary was quoted as saying by Colombo Page. "Artists, lawyers and experts from all walks of life have joined the people's struggle and are urging this government to go home. The government is stubbornly trying to stay in power by using various tactics without listening to the people's demands," he added.JVP General Secretary urged people to join hands with them to make their march successful. We need to create a people's power that will turn this into a struggle that the government will not be able to ignore the demands of the people. We have to create a people's power that will drive out the corrupt government, and create a people's government that punishes the corrupt...We urge the people to join hands with the measures and make it a success," JVP General Secretary said. Meanwhile, yesterday, the leader of the Opposition, Sajith Premadasa signed the impeachment motion against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the no-confidence motion against the government. The signatures were placed at the Opposition Leader's Office in Colombo in the presence of other Samagi Jana Balwegaya (SJB) MPs, reported Daily Mirror.The island nation is facing its worst economic crisis since independence with food and fuel shortages, soaring prices and power cuts affecting a large number of the people in Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka's economy has been in a free-fall since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the crash of the tourism sector.Sri Lanka is also facing a foreign exchange shortage, which has affected its capacity to import food and fuel. The shortage of essential goods forced Sri Lanka to seek assistance from friendly countries. (ANI)
Taking to Twitter, Biden sends his regards writing "Jill and I send warm greetings on Mahavir Jayanti to people of the Jain faith. This is a day to strive for peace, happiness, and the success of all. May we each pursue the values Mahavir Swami embodied: to seek truth, turn from violence, and live in harmony with each other."

Mahavir Jayanti is an important religious festival in Jainism that celebrates the birth of Lord Mahavir. The festival is marked with prayers and fasting.

The occasion marks the birth of the 24th and last Tirthankara, Lord Mahavir. This year, Mahavir Jayanti falls on April 14. (ANI)
The 62-year-old man Frank Robert James who was apprehended for the New York subway shooting had repeatedly espoused hatred toward African Americans and criticized the New York mayor in videos posted on YouTube, including one uploaded as recently as Monday. The suspect, James, had opened smoke grenades on the train and fired his gun 33 times, wounding at least 23 people on Tuesday morning and later was arrested on Wednesday by patrol officers in New York City's East Village. In a video posted last week, James, who is Black, rants about abuse in churches and racism in the workplace, using misogynistic and racist language, reported CNN News. After talking about community violence, James says, "We need to see more mass shootings. Yeah. ... We need to see more, there have to be more mass shootings to make a n***er understand. ... It's not about the shooter; it's about the environment in which he is, he has to exist." In one video posted online in February, James criticized a plan by New York City Mayor Eric Adams' administration to address safety and homelessness in the subway in part through an expanded presence of mental health professionals. In that racist and rambling recording, James said the new effort was "doomed to fail" and described his own negative experience with city health workers during a "crisis of mental health back in the '90s '80s and '70s," reported the news channel. Preliminary information indicated James mentioned homelessness, New York City and its mayor in online posts, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said on Tuesday. Sewell said the city would increase the mayor's security. In another video, James said that he had post-traumatic stress. In that video, James said he left his home in Milwaukee on March 20. During the trip eastward, he said he was heading to the "danger zone." "You know, it's triggering a lot of negative thoughts of course," he said in the video adding, "I do have a severe case of post-traumatic stress." James speech made in his YouTube videos had a common theme throughout, in which he repeatedly espoused hatred toward African Americans. Notably, New York police arrested James accused of shooting on a subway train in Brooklyn that left 10 people injured, New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. According to the US Attorney for Eastern District of New York Breon Peace, suspect Frank Robert James has a very rich history of arrests in previous years in several states."His arrest history in New York is nine prior arrests dating from 1990 to 1998, those include possession of burglary tools four times, criminal sex act, theft of service two times," Peace said during a press briefing. James is well known to law enforcement and has ties in the states of Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania, he added. The suspect also has three arrests in the state of New Jersey in 1991, 1992 and 2007, Peace said. (ANI)
Showing his bare-knuckle business tactics, Tesla Chief Elon Musk has posted an opinion poll on Twitter, saying that the company shareholders should decide on his "best and final" offer to acquire 100 per cent of social media giant with USD 54.20 per share in cash. Employing a corporate raider-style tactic, Musk took to Twitter, to put the decision of acquisition to a vote of all company shareholders. A corporate raider is an investor who buys a large number of shares in a corporation whose assets appear to be undervalued. The large share purchase would give the corporate raider significant voting rights, which could then be used to push changes in the company's leadership and management. This would increase share value and thus generate a massive return for the raider. "Taking Twitter private at $54.20 should be up to shareholders, not the board," Musk tweeted with the opinion poll with two options 'Yes' and 'No' . Implying that shareholders have to decide as they own the company, not the board of directors. This comes at a time when the world's richest man made the offer in an updated 13D filing earlier today. Musk offered a "best and final" bid to purchase 100 per cent of Twitter for USD 41.39 billion with USD 54.20 per share in cash. "I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," Musk said in his filing. "However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form," he said. In a separate Tweet, Musk mentioned that he will try hard to keep as many shareholders in privatized Twitter as allowed by law. He tweeted, "Will endeavor to keep as many shareholders in privatized Twitter as allowed by law." Tesla's chief also said he has a 'Plan B' if the board of the social media giant Twitter decides to reject his offer to buy the entire company, reported a local media outlet on Thursday. Twitter on Thursday said that it will be holding an emergency "all-hands meeting with employees" at 2 pm (local time) to discuss Elon Musk's hostile bid to buy the entire company. "The Twitter Board of Directors will carefully review the proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the Company and all Twitter stockholders," Twitter said in a statement. Musk's latest move toward Twitter comes just days after he turned down a seat on the board following his acquisition of a 9.2 per cent stake in the microblogging platform. (ANI)
Pakistanis are facing great difficulties as the government despite making tall claims of resolving the persistent issue of load shedding in Karachi even during the Taraweeh prayer timings and because of this people are forced to perform prayers in sheer darkness. Areas of Karachi include Korangi, Landhi, Railway Colony, Nusrat Bhutto Colony, Khawaja Ajmair Nagri, Paposh Nagar, Liaquat Market, Malir, Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block-2, Korangi Sector 30, 31 and others, reported ARY News. Not only did the Pakistani government claim to fix the load shedding issue, it also claimed that K-Electric (KE) operators are not registering their complaints about the power outages in their respective areas. Officials of the Power Division told Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif that there was no shortage of electricity and power plants were closed due to lack of fuel and technical failures. The brief was given in an urgent meeting on power and petroleum sectors with a focus on addressing the related challenges chaired by the Prime Minister. A report was also presented in the meeting and as per that, 27 power plants across the country had not been generating electricity due to fuel shortages and technical failures. As the outage issues in Pakistan's major city continues, the prime minister was informed that nine independent power producers (IPPs) had been closed due to non-supply of gas, RLNG and coal, while 18 power plants were not working due to technical reasons. (ANI)
Pakistan High Court on Thursday ordered the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to decide on the foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) within a month. The Islamabad High Court Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani directed the ECP to decide the pending complaint within a "period of next 30 days by all means, after hearing the parties in accordance with the law," Dawn newspaper reported. Justice Kayani said that if PTI received the funding from any prohibited sources then it would affect its status, including the chairman so it becomes important to dig out the truth. "If any foreign funding has been received contrary to law and mandate of the Constitution, the petitioner has to face the music," the court judgement said. It pointed out that the Supreme Court had not restricted the ECP in adopting any method to find out the truth regarding the foreign funding case, according to Dawn. The foreign funding case is pending since November 14, 2014, and it was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar who had alleged that there are some financial irregularities in the PTI's funding from Pakistan and abroad. On January 4 this year, the ECP's scrutiny committee submitted its report on the PTI's foreign funding case after 95 hearings. The ECP's committee was formed in March 2018. The report was based on eight volumes of records collected through the State Bank of Pakistan, proved that the PTI leaders had committed the violations of funding laws by allowing the collection of millions of dollars and billions of Pakistani Rupees without any source and details from foreigners, as per reported by Dawn. Other than this, Justice Kayani also rejected the request to prevent giving access to case records to PTI's Babar and a request to remove him from the case proceedings. This comes after PTI filed the petition in Islamabad High Court, challenging the ECP's decision of rejecting the above-mentioned plea of the party which was filed on January 25 and 31. "The claim submitted by the petitioner (PTI) is not maintainable as petitioner itself is not able to demonstrate any of his legitimate rights when [it] itself is in agreement that respondent No 2 (Babar) can participate in the proceedings to the extent of information which he has provided to the scrutiny committee or the ECP, therefore, this petition is not based upon bona fide, rather filed with specific motive, just to stop respondent No 2 Akbar Sher Babar to participate in the proceedings, which has already been settled by this court in the previous proceedings," the court order was quoted as saying by Dawn. "No restriction could be imposed upon ECP to adopt any process of inquiry, investigation, scrutiny to reach out the mandate of assigned duty in terms of Article 17(3)," the order added. (ANI)
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Mawlavi Makhdoom Abdul Salam Sadat in a meeting with directors of the ministry said that "employment opportunities will be created through projects including TAPI and Qush Tepae Canal projects", Ariana News reported.

"Efforts are underway to decrease the rate of unemployment and create employment opportunities. [I order] directors of the ministry to try honestly to create employment opportunities," said the ministry's statement, according to Ariana News.

This comes after the unemployed rate in the country spiked considerably after the fall of the previous government and the withdrawal of foreign troops in August last year.

"I was a street vendor, but we face a lack of work; we call on the government to provide employment opportunities," Ariana News quoted Muharram, a resident of Kabul as saying.

"I am not optimistic, but the government should pay attention to the poor people," said Gullam Mohammad, another Kabul resident.

The takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban caused not only a political crisis in the country but also uncertainty in business and unemployment.

The private sectors were "hit hard" as the businesses were halted and put to uncertainty, according to the latest survey conducted by the World Bank, reported Khaama Press.

Due to a shortage in sales, private companies have laid off more than half of their employees on average, rising concern about the unemployment rate in the country. (ANI)
The newly-elected Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided to add 12 National Assembly members of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and seven members of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to his federal cabinet, a local media reported citing sources. PPP member Raja Pervez Ashraf is the candidate for National Assembly Speaker after the Speaker Asad Qaiser decided to resign from his post on late Saturday while someone from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) might become the Deputy Speaker as Qasim Suri is currently facing no-confidence motion, Geo News reported citing sources. PM Sharif became the Prime minister on April 11, following the ouster of Imran Khan through a no-confidence motion, with this Khan became the first PM to be removed through the democratic process. According to sources, JUI-F will get three ministries and a state minister portfolio while, Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) will get the governorship of Sindh, PPP will get Punjab and JUI-F will get Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and BNP-M will get the governorship of Balochistan, Geo News reported. Meanwhile, PM Sharif has sought the support of MQM-P in the National Assembly (NA) speaker election. According to Ary News, a meeting was held by Sharif with MQM-P leaders during his visit to Karachi. It was attended by Amir Khan, Aminul Haque, Farogh Naseem, Nasreen Jalil and others. MQM-P was a key ally of the alliance led by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and its switching sides to the opposition parties led to the fall of the Imran Khan government. Sharif vowed that the promises made to the MQM-P leaders will be fulfilled. He urged coordinated efforts between the Centre and the province for the development of Sindh. Sharif also assured MQM-P of its inclusion in the consultative process for the development of Sindh. Sharif thanked the MQM-P for supporting the opposition parties in the no-trust motion against the former premier. He individually thanked the lawmakers who cast their votes in the NA, said the sources. He also expressed hope that MQM-P would continue to support the government in the upcoming elections for the NA speaker, reported Ary News. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, leader of MQM-P and a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan said he hopes for a resolution of issues in Karachi and urban parts of the Sindh. (ANI)
As per a statement issued from the military's media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the first attack took place in Datakhel town of North Waziristan when terrorists ambushed a moving military vehicle.

Terrorists used assault guns and a rocket-launched grenade in the attack.

Bodies of killed soldiers were moved to Miramshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan in a military helicopter.

The second attack between armed forces and insurgents took place in the Isham region of North Waziristan district, where Mianwali Sepoy, Asmatullah Khan was killed in a fire exchange, a local media reported citing military media wing ISPR.

A total of 105 army personnel lost lives in such terrorist attacks with the first three months of this year recording 97 soldiers and army officers.

In the corresponding period of attacks, 128 terrorists were killed and 270 have been arrested, said the Directorate of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR). (ANI)
A single People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) Shaanxi Y-8 electronic warfare plane entered the southwest corner of Taiwan's ADIZ, Taiwan News reported citing the Ministry of National Defense (MND).

In response, Taiwan sent aircraft, issued radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track the PLAAF plane, according to Taiwan News.

An ADIZ is an area that extends beyond a country's airspace where air traffic controllers ask incoming aircraft to identify themselves.

So far this month, 27 Chinese military aircraft have been tracked in Taiwan's identification zone, including 17 fighter jets, seven spotter planes, and three helicopters, Taiwan News reported.

Beijing claims full sovereignty over Taiwan, a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China, despite the fact that the two sides have been governed separately for more than seven decades.

Taipei, on the other hand, has countered the Chinese aggression by increasing strategic ties with democracies including the US, which has been repeatedly opposed by Beijing. China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war. (ANI)
Taking a grim view of the ban on schooling for female students in grades 7-12 in Afghanistan, a member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) Samira Hamidi said that the ban on girls is contrary to their commitment made to the international community. "We are witnessing the violation of all rights for women and girls. The Taliban didn't live with their promises regarding reopening the schools for girls. The international community must put women and girls' rights as its redline in the meetings with the Taliban. We urge the international community to hold the Taliban accountable," Hamidi was quoted as saying by Tolo News. Earlier, Aziz Ahmad Riyan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education of Afghanistan said that the country is trying to reopen the schools for female students in grades 7-12. "The Islamic Emirate is making serious efforts to form a mechanism in a bid to reopen schools for female students in grades 7-12 under an Islamic structure and based on Afghan tradition," Riyan said. The spokesperson for the United Nations Refugee Agency, Shabia Mantoo expressed concern over the situation of women in Afghanistan. She said, "We are extremely worried about the situation for women and girls. They are facing heightened risk and challenges affecting their ability to move around freely and to work." Amnesty International said that women's rights were violated since the Islamic Emirate came into power, as per reported by Tolo News. Earlier, Abdul Bari Jahani, former Minister of Information and Culture, in an open letter to the Islamic Emirate expressed his concerns over the current situation in Afghanistan and the closing of schools for girls. There was many other women's right activist who raised their voice against Afghanistan's ill-treatment of the women the country. Meena Habib, a women's rights activist said, "We call on the Islamic Emirate to immediately reopen the schools for girls because as much as we improve our knowledge, our girls and country will be developed." "Their (Islamic Emirate) children are in a calm situation and are making progress. They have no worries. But they don't consider the girls who are living in Afghanistan," said Sanowbar, a women's rights activist quoted as saying by Tolo News. Meanwhile, upon the ban on female students of grade 7 and above from attending the classes, over 50 French Parliament Members asked the country's president Emmanuel Macron to impose further sanctions on the Taliban over the violation of women's rights in Afghanistan. The MPs in a letter concentrated on the violation of women's rights in Afghanistan, preventing girls from getting an education, a travel ban on women, and depriving women of working, reported The Khaama Press. The letter that was signed by the MPs was sent both to President Macron and the parliament of the European Union. Since the Taliban took control, Afghan girls are facing restrictions on travel, work, and education, besides their deteriorating safety situation in the country. (ANI)
"We also consider the recognition of the interim government of Afghanistan conditional on the formation of an inclusive government in this country," TOLOnews quoted Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran as saying.

Meanwhile, in Kabul, the Development and Justice Party does not consider the current Afghan government to be "inclusive", the Afghanistan-based media said.

It further said that the leader of the party has called on the Islamic Emirate to establish a government in Afghanistan based on the share of all ethnic groups in the country.

"We ask the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to respond positively to the legitimate demands of the international community," TOLOnews quoted Sayed Javad Hosseini, leader of the Development and Justice Party as saying.

Hosseini also criticized human rights violations and a violation of the amnesty decree by the Islamic Emirate.

The situation of human rights in Afghanistan has worsened since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban's return to power in August last year.

Although the fighting in the country has ended, serious human rights violations continue unabated.

The Taliban have committed and continue to commit human rights violations including extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detentions, a massive rollback of the rights of women and girls, censorship of and attacks against the media. (ANI)
Members of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will face police action for manhandling journalists during former Prime Minister Imran Khan's first public meeting on Wednesday night, post his ouster through a no-confidence vote. General secretary of Peshawar Press Club, Shahzada Fahad, appointed for media coverage of the event stated his disappointment against the organizers of the meeting for placing only one container for journalists, Dawn newspaper reported as cited by Fahad. Before the speech of PTI chairman, ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan, over 50 rowdy youngsters mounted the container, thrashing media persons and throwing stones at them when they tried to stop the PTI workers. President of Khyber Photojournalists Association, Fayyaz Aziz's camera was damaged in the ruckus, cameraman Mohammad Sajjad passed out in the commotion, losing his laptop while the motorcycle of video-journalist Haji Maqsood was found mangled, a local media reported as stated by Khyber Photojournalists Association. About 7 reporters and camerapersons were injured in the scuffle between the PTI members and journalists. "In the first place, the container was too 'narrow' to place TV cameras and operate them," said Fahad. "I pleaded with event managers as well as the policemen deployed there to protect us [media persons] from attackers, but no one come to our help," he added. Nasir Hussain, President of Khyber Union of Journalists(KhUJ) disapproved of such an attack on journalists by PTI workers in a public meeting on Wednesday announcing that stringent measures will be taken against the attackers if the PTI failed to take necessary actions within a day. Ijaz Khan, Capital City Police Officer(CCPO) issued a statement confirming to look into this matter and identify the assailants. "Coercion against media personnel is not acceptable at all," he said. (ANI)